defining accomplishment

i was totally bombed yesterday. i was looking for work to do and passing out doing it. i was extremely glad to drag my feet out of there.

i got home and immediately began working on the t-shirts for the NIN concert on wednesday. when i'd done some work on it i went to join spot and a friend of his over coffee... we now have a "friends of spot" support group going. it's always easier when you know you're not the only one being frustrated by his state of being :P

i then bussed to singer's place. i suspected that i would get there, tell her how i feel, and be booted out really quickly, but it turns out that she feels the same way. and so i spent the night, exhausted as i was.

after an indecent night's sleep, i came home and roused the troops (the kid was already awake, so i only had to scream at spot) and spot and i went off to dizengoff center. i'm really glad the place we went to's printer was out of order, and that the second stop was horribly expensive, shitty quality and couldn't print anything larger than A3. after buying red acrylic paint and harrassing the guys at comikaza (walking away with slaine: books of invasions volume 1 and alice in sunderland) we found pongo...

it took a lot of discussion, but we printed three shirts (as above) which came out beautifully. the third one is for trent, we're going to try to throw it up on the stage during the concert ;)

progress. stop. work in. stop.

ha, spot walked in as i walked singer out this morning, and was good enough to make me real coffee - definitely a good start to the day.

bank dealings went well, smooth and correct! i already have my new card and have sorted out savings issues. and i got to wake up late in order to do so ^_^

loads of faffing happened all by itself today, and we all took a long lunch (although mine was only half-eaten, i've lost my appetite of late). when we returned i spent the day on organization and searching for things to do. i didn't do the things that actually did needed doing.

a long, hot way back home, and i didn't even bother turning on my pc before unwrapping a canvas, a pencil and an eraser and started etching - inspired by marilyn manson - if i was your vampire. i chomped way more liquorice than i should have, but i have a solid beginning.

i took my sketch book out for a smoke break, but i couldn't figure out what i wanted to complete my to-be painting with... i have an idea, but i can't seem to fit it in :S

i met up with spot's sister's friend (ssf) for dinner, which was most entertaining. about halfway through a conversation i mentioned singer, to which she responded "you drop that on me like that??"
i pointed out that i'd already offered to sleep with her a few times. we got to discussing singer, and i realize now what's been bothering me...

everything's great. the bed-sport's great (and it's been a while since i could say that), she's a great person and we have very interesting and amusing things to talk about. and she doesn't mess me about. but there's still no click, i don't feel that excited buzz and that's just not a good sign. i don't want to stop seeing her, but i can't see us getting serious - and that makes me feel like i'm messing her about.

after dinner i went to see ssf's new apartment, and it is *styling*. *and* she has good taste when it comes to furniture. i lay down on the thick carpet and simply didn't want to get up :P

i walked home, showered, and after this am getting my 5.5 hours of sleep. i could definitely do with more, though.

tired worker

we all went out to movieing last night, had a good chat and a great less-than-five-dollar shake - giant iced coffee with a solid scoop of ice-cream. soon after getting home singer came over.

this morning began a tad later than i would've liked. i arrived on base an hour and a half late, and in addition to the usual morning troubles actually got drawn into a debate with an ars on the problem of him pushing and shoving to get into a bus that had more than enough room for everyone.

i spent the morning handling email and finishing the request, then went out for lunch with xor and the space-cadet. it was a decent lunch, followed by a really amusing question from the space cadet.
"wait, so how does a molotov cocktail work? i fill it with gas, put in the rag, and throw?"

i'm sure history has plenty of cases of people throwing them, with the sudden dawning realization that there's nothing left to light.

i was completely bombed when we got back to the office, and actually passed out for about an hour. terrible feeling, that. even worse when some girl walked in for an impromptu meeting and couldn't understand why i kept staring at her blankly whenever she expected a response.

the rest of the afternoon was a hard push to make up for that hour, and left the office around 6.30pm. i've just got home after a long chat with my mum, and now i'm going to call singer and see if i'm going to be eating alone or not.

on the plus side, i get to wake up late tomorrow to go to the bank, and i plan on catching up on some sleep tonight.

drawn out drawings

i got a late start this morning, bussed through to the parking lot and dropped the car off at the rental agency. those bastards were really unpleasant, but they did manage to prove decisively that the gas station attendant and my inattendance were entirely to blame for my being ripped off on the engine coolant.

moral: never buy engine coolant.

that was an unpleasant experience, and i walked out hot and angry to find myself coffee and a croissant on the way to base.

the bussing took forever, and to make matters worse it took over an hour to get from the base's gate to my office because *our* gate's closed for the week. i dropped by the dentist to make an appointment, though, as it was on the way. i have to get my tooth redone - or veneered.

the afternoon was spent mailing, finishing my cv, writing a long request to go to officer's course^* and a smidgen of work. coffee time saw our commanders playing with a burned jelly-like substance prior to eating it - i honestly thought they'd been messing with garbage, not anything *actually* edible.

i had a good chat with my commander about the surgery i need, and he provided a solution that sees me having the operation performed in israel. apparently there are care centres for recovering soldiers, which quite frankly never crossed my mind before.

after work we went to an event where things can be bought on the cheap, with a gift hand-out to boot for permanent-forcers. some idiot really pissed me off while waiting for the gift, and then when i went to buy a scanner there was a total stuff-up at the till, and i wasn't giving my credit card to those monkeys.

i got home to do some chores, shopping, 'netting, and now i think it's time to go out.

^* i probably shouldn't finish off the request with
"and in addition to all that, if you don't authorize this i'll find out where you live, burn your house down, drink most of your children's blood and use the rest to write another request"

funnily enough, it took more time coming up with a disturbing threat than real reasons :P

my old lecturer's developed new tricks

stress climax

it was harder than i thought it would be to get up this morning. i was just in time for the shuttle that never came - i hadn't realized that it had been cancelled for the week, and i only called to find out after having waited for half an hour.

i had a cup of coffee on the bus, put it in a packet, and discovered just before i got off that the coffee had leaked all over my pants. that sucked. in light of recent experiences, i think i'm just going to begin each week by giving my uniform a solid dip so that any stains will match up.

my TL arrived too early for me to catch a nap.

i spent the entire morning trying to sort out the last couple of weeks' emails. i think i'm about a quarter of the way through, most of them now flagged "deal with soon".

i wasn't feeling too hot, so i paid the doctor a visit. he told me that until i begin showing serious symptoms i should just get back to work. half my family's horribly sick, and i'm almost *sure* that i'm going to be carrying for the rest of the people i know.

i spent a while sorting out my cv, then had a good lunch with the section. we got to playing with our food.

i had a meeting with the unit commander, which went well considering neither of us was sure what it was about. then my SC called me in and told me to write out my cv again, and that's what i spent the next hour and a half doing.

then my TL told me that i had more important things to worry about (although he'd been the one pushing me about the cv), and i spent the rest of the afternoon with nystire playing silly-buggers with numbers. it was quite fun, actually.

leaving the base caused instant stress, and it wasn't unwarranted. i bussed through to tel aviv, got some receipts from spot, bussed through to herzeliya, picked up my mom and her luggage, went through to ramat hasharon for dinner, then dropped her off at the airport.

then i was supposed to fill the car and drop it off at the rental agency, only we hadn't given them notice and it was all locked up. so i can only return it tomorrow morning 8.30, and it's going to cost us another day.

i'm very upset about this. more so about having screamed at the guy that it must've been a misunderstanding, and then on the way home realizing that they had told us to do that. that's just aweful.

now i'm tidying up my room a bit and going off to singer again. dancing with the devil, as apparently she's not feeling so hot either :S

four showers in one day

it's been getting hotter and hotter, and today we discovered that hell's not hot... relative to israel during a proper heat-wave.

22nd:

we lazed in netanya, with no energy to do more than make the couches sweaty. i began reading thud!, and i have this odd feeling that i've read it before but i don't actually remember much.

we did have shakshouka for lunch, and it was home-made by our tunisian cousin and it was the first time i've properly enjoyed it. and it was spicy enough that i sat there weeping joyfully.

we went back to herzeliya, i taught my mother a few tricks with word (and she was amazed), we visited other cousins for a stunning sunset view from their 9th floor penthouse and then i dropped my mother off in netanya before coming back to tel aviv for a date with the girl from monday night (singer).

i need to point out here that the trip to netanya and back is long and stressful. and i've done it more times than i'd care to recall.

we went out to a really nice bar right near my place, and had a really pleasant evening with only a little too much to drink. we began walking home, and got stuck on a traffic island near rabin square. while we were standing there talking, i heard my name called:

her: <my name here>!
me: hey! pull over to the side!
her: i can't - i'm DRUNK!
man walking across the road: careful! the police are hanging around the next corner!
someone else to me: is she serious?!

i ran over to say hi before the light changed, then ran back to continue the date. we found a bench to sit on for a while, then i chivalrously walked her home.

singer has a parquet floor.

23rd:

around 2pm i left for netanya. again. it was too - damn - hot. we drove to ceasarea, and got to the ralli museum just as they were closing. upset, and sweating, we drove to michmoret - banana beach was simply too much of a rip-off to eat there. we proceeded to get horribly lost in chofit, a small settlement designed like a very stupid maze. we eventually managed to extricate ourselves, and found a highway-side mall to have lunch.

i dropped my mum off in netanya, then drove to a settlement near god-forsaken hod hasharon. i arrived over an hour early for the section evening, so i read until everyone else began arriving.

being at an evening like that when i'm on holiday wasn't ideal. some of it was entertaining, but it was a draining experience. i got out of there around midnight, arrived at home to find everything pokerized, harrassed the stranger who'd taken my buddies' money, met up with singer and got a ride to the harbour area.

i hate it when israelis who're not from tel aviv tell tourists where to go. we went to meet my cousin who's here from south africa in a place completely packed with arsim. funnily enough, we got confused and went into "gogo" instead of "whiskey a-gogo", which is right next door. the music was actually better there :P

24th:

i slept over again, then drove to herzeliya to pick up a cousin to take him back to netanya. he got stuck in the elevator on the way down, much hilarity ensued. from netanya we drove back to herzeliya, to an odd aged shopping mall, then the arena mall, and then finally max brenner in our quest for a gift for the evening.

lunch at max brenner was good, the gift we got fantastic - because it was rediculously hot we decided to leave the gift with other cousins until the evening. i passed out while my mom did her online thing, then we drove to tel aviv to shower and change and returned to herzeliya. we went to pick up the gift on the way, but discovered too late that someone had thoughtfully taken it for us.

if we'd known someone had done us this favour we would have been on time for the dinner.

we had a great evening, fully catered affair (turned out i knew two of the waiters), i had an excellent lesson in dealing with small children talking about aliens, chatted with cousins over cigars (i didn't actually smoke any, though - i've learned my lesson), watched a doomed-to-fail attempt to remove a car that had been blocked, and gave one of the waitresses a ride back to tel aviv.

i discovered when i got there that i had no petrol, and calmy (outside, not inside) found a petrol station in the nick of time.

25th:

i slept over again, and left after a quick shower around 2pm. i went home to fight with spot and the kid about general untidiness and lack of chores having been done, had a quick bite to eat (pita, the only food i've had since friday night) and another shower (just leaving the air-conditioning caused a sea of sweat), and went to netanya to take my mom and cousins to the beach. we had a nice time - the water was fantastic, got back to take a quick sand-off shower, relax a bit, say goodbye to everyone and drive back (hopefully for the last time) to herzeliya. i parked there, bussed back to tel aviv, and got home to take a shower and go out with the guys for ice-cream and a long, unpleasant repeat discussion of our flatmate situation.

i don't actually know what we've decided on, but it's agreed that i should probably find my own place. although i can't see myself finding one within my budget and in such a great area. which basically means "deal with it" :/

i'm at singer's, and in five hours i have to be back in uniform and on my way to base for the first time in two weeks. this isn't going to be easy.

beach dance rescue

this morning was painful. i was totally bombed, and when i got to netanya i just passed out on the couch. not good for the neck, and i was treated to the fridge repairman's entire life story. it began with "when we were kids we used to eat the granules at the bottom of the coffee with a spoon," and simply went downhill from there.

my mom hurriedly woke me up an hour later and i had to drive, without a second cup of coffee, through to hod hasharon, yet another area where nobody normal need find himself. at least it wasn't too difficult to get to our destination. we had a pleasant meeting, munched on fresh bagels and then drove to tel aviv, where we stopped at cafeneto for lunch and coffee before coming home to nap.

we left here around 5pm for the bat-mitzva, which should have given us plenty of time. not only was the map useless, but there are NO signs (surprise!) on the highway, so we were in ashdod before we realized that we'd missed the turn-off. i'm not going to share too much about the grief, stress and long strings of curses, but on the way back we suddenly found ourselves on the wrong highway, and then got lost in rishon le'tzion before finding someone who could give us decent directions.

fortunately we only missed the first few minutes of the ceremony, and the rest of the evening was nice. having a bat-mitzva celebration on the beach itself was a great idea, and we danced in the water after the sun had gone down and generally had a good time. there was even a bonfire with marshmallows, and an amusing attempt at karaoke.

things with her were awkward at first, but we got to talking a bit later and everything was fine. the situation just magically improved when she set one of the kids on me, and i got chased by a child with a rattle through the sand for a couple of minutes - good tension-breaker :P

the drive back was wonderfully uneventful - not counting the freak in front of me just before i turned who kept swerving from lane to lane. at least he was driving slowly :S

late night posting

it's late, so this has to be hurried (good for you!)

i woke up early to meet my mother in the seven stars mall, but she was late. i milled around, purchased pencils for my next project, and tried unsuccessfully to find reading material so that i could use my waiting time productively.

we did a bit of shopping when she arrived, then had breakfast. that's me eating crepes, not really very healthy. on our way from foodcourtia, i happened to overhear the following conversation. a well-brought up child had lost his mommy, and had found a security guard to help him locate her.

child: can you stop helping me for a second? i just want to play this game quickly
guard (without smiling or batting an eyelid): i think we should just find your mommy first.

i had to translate for my mother, but we were so amused at the audacity of the child, and that once he'd done what he needed to do he was so completely relaxed :)

we went to cinema city, and after much harassing of the poor girl at the counter decided to go see the secrets, an israeli film about a religious girl trying to stay out of the kitchen. fantastic film - wonderful story, cinematography and the use of sound was nothing short of brilliant!

we returned to our cousins in herzeliya for dinner, which was enjoyable but there were simply too many people for too small an apartment. i drove back to tel aviv relatively early, and spot and i went to the cocktail room. they were hosting a really silly wedding party, which sucked, but crasher arrived out of nowhere with a couple of girls so i decided to join them, and spot joined us soon afterwards.

we spent a really pleasant couple of hours over dinner and beer, and i've taken a fancy to one of the girls: she's pretty, intelligent, works with the handicapped and is very pleasant company. i took her number but i'm not sure what her relationship status is :P

so i'm home now, much later than planned, and i have four hours to sleep before i have to arrive in netanya again.

saturday night dream

it all began with a flying dream. i realized as it began that it was a dream and decided to enjoy it, but then it acquired a disturbing degree of clarity and normal passage of time. i somehow found myself inside a seedy club, with a huge chessboard-like fighting pit.

the two contenders came out one at a time, but the second one, after taking his place on the board, began multiplying and filled up most of it as a team of giant, fearsome-looking warrior-creatures. i realized that it was all an illusion, that the actual contender wasn't on the field, and identified him in the crowd standing near me.

we had a whispered conversation after the fight had already begun, and when he told me to swear not to let on i tried to explain that he could trust me. not trusting me, he used a spell that every time i tried to talk i got confused, and eventually i tried so hard to speak to him that i passed out.

i woke up with a sense of everything being too real. i woke up in a bed in a 50's style house, and i picked up some things (including clothes, a book and a set of keys) and left.

i eventually got to a military base along the beach, and i noticed that in the shadows under the stairs of the neighbouring buildings there were soldiers lurking, camouflaged and menacing.

somehow related to the book i was carrying, one of the armed soldiers harrassed me and we had a fight. i had to break both of his arms before he would back down, and i hurried on.

after the base i came upon a waterpark, filled with people swimming and hanging about and with giant metal circular stairwells going down three floors into the water itself. i descended as far as the water before remembering the fight, and suddenly realized that i didn't know who was an avatar for the illusionist. on making my way back up the steps someone jumped out of the water below and grabbed onto the step in front of me, and not knowing whether or not his intentions were malicious i stood on his fingers and watched him fall back, hoping he wasn't a friend.

i came to a set of corridors, walking through with a group of refugees trolleying their belongings hurriedly. i was hurrying too, and i pushed past what turned out to be an older, hardened soldier. i carried on into a more open area, with a handrail bordering a two-floor drop with stained-glass windows on the far side. the soldier began chasing me, and i started ducking over and around the others and their trolleys to keep away, with all of them leering at me.

someone got hold of my belongings while he was threatening me. i wrested them from him and then confronted the soldier. we had a bit of a scrabble, and i found myself on top and stabbed him in the neck with a tiny, bronze, axe-shaped key, which i twisted and pulled thinking it would slow him down.
i tossed my belongings over the rail, which caught on hooks attached beneath the current level's windows, and jumped after them, gripping the book, the keys and the hooks altogether as the hooks tore off the wall and i dropped to the next set one floor below, these breaking off more easily but doing a good enough job to slow down my fall. i landed on my feet, hearing the sounds of someone above organizing a group to come after me.

an odd and very familiar figure appeared looking lost behind me. i chased him into the dark, stopped him from latching a door between us and squeezed my way through after him, calmly removing a padlock from the other side and closing the door behind me, to the sounds of the crowd closing in.

when waking up to where i'd fallen asleep, my padlock-hand gripping empty air, but still a lingering sensation of how real the rusty item had felt, how i don't know for sure that it was nothing more than a dream, that awareness of it being a dream didn't provide me any more control than i already had within the limitations of the imagined environment.

bad dreams and harsh reality

issues before the regular, boring programming, in chronological order.

a) love

i realized that she really is everything i'm looking for. and that it's a rare find indeed that exhibits the qualities that simply shine from her. it pains me no end that we've lost touch since we went into the army together.

b) life plan

i need to think a lot more about whether or not it's worth doing the officer's course. i need to figure out more specifically what it is that i want to be doing (i'm close enough now to focus on something more precise), and what i need to achieve it. it's all about nice-to-haves versus crucial-musts.

c) cat

on the way out of netanya i ran over a kitten. i shouldn't feel guilty about it, but it's really sad and unfortunate and i spent the ride home grieving angrily. the worst part was immediately after the bump, seeing it spasming up and down in its death-throes before i managed to come around to see that it was really dead.

i think the reason that i really feel guilty is that when i came around, a part of me didn't want to find that it had survived because i don't know what i'd have done in that case. aside from having a terrible issue with hygiene and stray animals and not being able to take care of a kitten myself currently, what kind of quality of life can a street-cat expect after an accident like that?

from that perspective, is it better to just run him over again (that's horrible), or take him to the vet to have him put down?

and here come the details.

friday:

i slept until 9am, took the bus to herzeliya, then drove back to nachalat binyamin. parking was a total bitch :/
there was a large group of foreigners there showing solidarity, walking around with flags and flyers and singing. a really cute german girl tried to explain it to me in hebrew, and i felt foolish after we stopped talking because i spoke to her in english to make it easier for her, and that wasn't as nice as would have been giving her a chance to practise and be proud of herself.

i said a quick goodbye to hdg, i couldn't make the farewell party as my mom's around. shit happens. my mom and i then walked around shopping, which always stresses me: i'm not a crowd person. we walked shenkin, i bought some cd's i've been looking for (metallica - ride the lightning and ac/dc - back in black) and we sat down for coffee on a crazy corner. it helped me relax a bit, but not completely.

once we were done in (dirty) south tel aviv, we were on our way back through rothschild when we saw a parking right next to my favourite sandwich hut. we sat down and enjoyed a great lunch, and the day was instantly better. that's not the first time that's happened.

on the way back to herzeliya we stopped at my place so that i could organize some clothes, when i got a call from freshmeat asking me about working during mandatory service. i had to explain to him that aside from it being unwise to mess with the authorities, permission to work is a "privilege" (it's hard) that someone who's living provided-for with his parents doesn't really deserve.

back in herzeliya i had a nap (i slept really well - except when spot's mother called me looking for him), i showered and we went off to her place for dinner. huge dinner, 40+ people and it was all really nice. i got my ass handed to me in table tennis, though.

her sister went with friends to leo bloom's, and after dropping my mother off at her grandparents' place i took a cousin from south africa and another from england and we drove off to the pub to meet them.

i got lost on the way. i'm amused that i managed to maintain a decent idea of where i was regardless of it being my first time driving there. and i did get there eventually, even if i did perform a few figure-eights on the way.

the pub with the girls was amusing and pleasant. we left quite late, but i'd gotten my bearings and it was all smooth sailing. i got home, showered and went to bed, but not without attacking the liquorice that my mum brought me. i'm doing that as i type, knowing full well that i should be saving them.

saturday:

i got up early, packed, and then wasted twenty minutes walking around looking for an open kiosk to buy cigarettes from. not knowing how long i was going to be out of tel aviv for, i bought four packs just in case. i drove to herzeliya, had breakfast, and then we drove to the kibbutz.

the day plans were canceled, so i napped instead. i was woken to go further north to visit my great-uncle, which had pleasant moments and some rather uncomfortable ones. senile dementia sucks. at least it was nice to see that his new home is in better condition than the last, cleaner and with better help.

i zoned out for the trip back thinking about her, and then being annoyed with spot's mother. i've told her before i'm not someone to call when he can't be found, and what pisses me off is that i can't get her to stop calling without burning a bridge and upsetting her properly. the truth can do that, but until now i've been loathe to use it on her. she's not a bad person, she's just not very... capable as a parent.

i enjoyed coffee and freshly-baked cranberry muffins (most interesting), then passed out on the couch. i was woken late to be moved (i drove, but i wasn't all there) to another small house, where my mom and i sat chatting for a while over coffee.

the shower was awful, a traditional israeli one, and i had a fight with a strange insect wherein it took me more than a few minutes to assert my superiority. i passed out on the couch under the air-conditioner, but i didn't manage to get in any quality sleep.

saturday night dream

sunday:

i slept badly. another lucid dream about a long day's work didn't give me that rested feeling.

we missioned over to our cousin's place, had coffee (and muffins), and began the wake-up process (not to be completed until i ran over that poor kitten). we dropped our cousin and her daughter off in afula, then hit the traffic to get to ra'anana.

we picked up my grandmother's cousin, then moved to batzera (written basra on the signs. well done.) to a place called tapuz, a nice little cottage-style restaurant to meet her son's family. nice people, good food and decent service.

then we drove to petach tikva. a total shit-hole, with no signage and an atmosphere reminiscent of certain less-elegant areas of the cape flats. after lots of being lost and frustrated, we found the place and went to visit another cousin.

nice man. very elderly, every movement hurts him which caused a twinge of guilt every time i said something that made him get up. we chatted for ages, which was a bit tough because i was completely bombed. eventually i coffee'd up and we hit the road.

straight into rush hour.

i managed to side-step a lot of it, and we visited the arena again to sit for an hour or two over beers and enjoy the sunset. we returned to her grandparents' for a visit, picked up the last of my mom's belongings and began driving to netanya.

i don't like netanya. i don't like the people in general, i don't like the place at all, i hate the lack of road-signs and i hate the distance from any reasonable area.

we took the wrong turn-off, and even once we'd corrected according to the map the route we'd found was completely stupid, a distorted run through side-streets, alleys and other haunts of insalubrious characters.

we eventually found the place, after i'd already reached boiling point and begun flinging curses and rude hand signals at all the other drivers and the city in general, and sat down for a good meal and good chatting.

i spoke to lipgirl - she's just been on a long mission to save a kitten she'd seen on the airport road. i find it odd (and unfortunate) that after hearing such a sweet story i then went and ran one over. she's looking for a place to stay in tel aviv though, which i find good news :)

about 1am i realized that i was the only person around the table who wasn't within mere feet of where he was going to be sleeping, so it was time to drive back home. now i'm going to bed. i've definitely consumed too much liquorice and spending more than an hour on typing this is just crazy.

japanese tetris!

and a moment of silence for the kitten and my pathetic love life.

artsy

today started well, spot and i had a slow breakfast at the cafeneto and i hopped a bus to herzeliya. my mom's plans didn't fall through, so we filled the car with petrol and returned to tel aviv, taking a bus from the parking lot to the tel aviv art museum.

not including a lunch break to a nice coffee shop on ibn gvirol, we spent three or four hours moving from exhibit to exhibit, some of which were truly stunning.

(a) nasal
i find it interesting that a lot of world-renowned artists seem to have issues with painting a decent nose. those that do succeed do it in interesting ways, especially with regards to (b)

(b) light
i know that real artists spend years studying and practising playing with shading and colour flow. i know. but that doesn't stop me from staring in awe with a stupid look upon my visage, wondering how in hell they manage to get that sort of thing right.

(c) power
some things were just plain weird (but in a good way!), and some of the work was simply magnificent.

we stopped at a coffee shop for a diet coke - my mom was having a moment - and then drove back to herzeliya. we took out the shoe polish and i began scrubbing the wheel where i touched on sunday, and after a lot of effort i figured out the method and i managed to get it all off.

i chilled reading a book and eating pistachios for a while, then decided that it was too hot and took the bus back to tel aviv. i was in a good mood waiting for the bus, happily bouncing, and due to space limitations (it was horribly packed) i had to stand up most of the way, so i figured i'd read my book in the aisle - bouncing a bit less.

by the time we'd gotten into the city, i'd made a bit of headway and hadn't once so much as lurched - i was feeling quite proud that i'd managed to keep reading with both hands on the book, while all around me were stumbling for the driver's klap-voet. we pulled up to the curb, and the lady next to me began shouting for the driver to open the door.

now this may not have happened exactly as it did if a couple of stops before the driver hadn't forgotten to open the doors: the woman shouted and then cursed about him being a retard. suddenly the cry went up (myself included) for the driver to open it, a frenzy of activity that fell on apparently deaf ears - i was convinced the girls next to him were a source of distraction. i wouldn't have blamed him if they were.

eventually (just before the light turned green), some old man came and stood next to us, and said quietly "i don't think this is the stop. i think it's on the next block."

i couldn't stop smiling and laughing at myself (and everyone else), for the guy was totally correct and the driver wouldn't have been allowed to open the doors even if he had heard us. how embarrassing :P

i went home and then joined the kid and a friend of his for ice-cream. we learned the story of where pavlova got its name, and sat down for a serious political debate. when the traffic cop rolled around and shouted "whose car is this?!", about ten people (ourselves included) jumped up to get out of there. i'd warned the kid's friend not to park there...

i was dropped off at a corner where spot and his girlfriend were waiting, only to run into ze germans (one of them's just moved to the neighbourhood) and help one of them find a decent parking. we said goodbye, spot and gf and i taxied to a hamburger joint, for a long argument over an idea i've been toying with. pity i wasn't in the mood to eat anything.

when we were done, we walked down to euphoria, for more chatter (now to crap hip-hop) and a drink. people only began arriving at 2am, when we were leaving, which sucks. we walked home, i showered, attempted once again to find the source of the smell emanating from the kitchen / laundry room (didn't succeed last night), and am now crashing.

lonely at the top

i know what i want. i'm looking for someone my fighting weight, the problem being that i'm pretty damn heavy.

aside from her meeting my aesthetic requirements, which are totally unfair and probably unrealistic, i need a girl who can challenge me, surprise me, put up with my irrationality, take my snarkiness and temper in stride, and automatically translate my intended speech from the confusing mess that oft-times spills out.

i know what i want. she's an artist, off-beat and on-the-button, the kind of wit that demands attention in order to keep up.

i need her to be sophisticated, tactful, charming and elegant, and i need her to be able to turn it all off to join me in engaging in some of the finer things in life. i need a driven woman, motivated to make this world a better place and smart enough to have fun doing so.

i do know what i want. i just don't have a clue what i'm willing to settle for.

new brolly

i woke up late, went to the bank branch near my apartment, and talked to them for ages before returning home to pick up my id and then going back again to instruct them to move my account. i know it's too early to get excited, but i may never have to return to that shit-hole of a branch in yad eliyahu again!

i bussed to herzeliya, had breakfast and then took my mum shopping. i don't like shopping. at least she found what she wanted (eventually), and we could go outside for lunch and a beer.

we manoeuvred through pituach to avoid traffic, which took longer than ploughing through the traffic itself would have, paused at our cousins' and then went off to ra'anana, to spend some time with my grandmother's cousin.

it's nice that she's been here half a year and is still enthusiastic. she's moved up all her belongings, and it's a bit of a madhouse with all the items that used to fill a huge house squeezed into a small apartment. the most amusing thing is walking into the bathroom and finding... a bath. one of those enormous ones with legs and everything.

we had coffee and a snack (apple pie, in my case) at a coffee-shop nearby, and our waitress was a girl i was friendly with until about five years ago when she went into the army. it was nice catching up.

we took a bit of a walk, and when we said goodbye she gave me
A BEACH UMBRELLA!
all that whinging and whining bitterly has paid off!

we went back to herzeliya planning on visiting her parents. who weren't in. i watched an interesting yugoslavian movie (made in 1982), sat with everyone telling really amusing stories, then went to wait for the bus. it took a while, and i bounced up and down to my goa collection - especially jumping up and down to saiko pod - tron.

i've just done some stitching, run the washing machine empty (it's been a tad smelly the last few days), and am about to shower off the day's stickiness and sleep.

love hate

i've just begun reading freakonomics, a fun look at finding interesting relations and debunking spurious ones.
freakonomics in the news

this morning was harsh. after breakfast some cousins came around, then my mother and i went to the bank. i was reminded what a banking experience is supposed to be like, and i'm thinking of transferring my account. i'd much rather have my money sitting with people who care. or at least pretend to.

we came to bazel for a good lunch, then spent an hour or two walking around in the heat trying in vain to find her a pair of sandals. we gave up around 5pm, and returned to herzeliya, where i napped for an hour, showered, and then took us through 45 minutes of traffic jam to meet cousins in pituach, where she works. the food was great, there was lots of it, the service was decent and aside from the noise generated by all the funky machines, the atmosphere was fun and the evening was enjoyable.

for once *i* got to chip in a bit, nobody else had cash for the tip :) [and for twenty people, the meal was cheap]

so i saw her at work, and apparently i've now seen her new boyfriend. i don't like him. yes, it's on principle. how come i can't jump from girlfriend to girlfriend like that? should i be jealous?

should i still want her so very much?

we all sat outside over ice-cream, mine was soya that was fabulous. some child was eating an ice-cream cone, and we were discussing the size of the cone relative to his head. imagine eating an ice-cream in a cone as large as that relative to your head - disgusting! so how can we do that to our kids?

i parked at her grandparents' place, bussed home, and it's now days past bedtime.

boss amusement
more real-life steampunk
we need a war on information overload
a decent home

distance roll

i crashed, but waking up was still rough. today's will be even more so. i had to, and will have to get to the parking lot early to release the vehicle for under NIS 30... and then go on to herzeliya to resume sleeping.

the morning and early afternoon were chilled, then i took my mom shopping. two malls - i don't like malls. and i ran into a couple of old friends milling around with their toddlers...

around 17.30 we hit rush hour, from herzeliya into tel aviv, i changed and drove back to herzeliya to drop off my mum, then continued on to ra'anana for nystire's we've-announced-a-date party.

around midnight i gave his parents a ride home to beit shemesh, then returned to ra'anana to drop off nystire (my navigator), and now i'm back home in tel aviv (note the time) and on my way to bed.

mommy returns

shouldn't have paid for the taxi to the station - i still managed to miss my train :(

i almost didn't recognize my mum, her hair's grown a bit. we took the packed train to tel aviv, had a pleasant walk to pick up the car, and then drove through to herzeliya. we spent a nice afternoon catching up with her grandparents, napped, and then went for a walk on the beach, stopping at the arena for beers before heading back.

what's really great is talking to her about all the things that aren't important or relevant, we never really do that on the phone. whole tangents of arbitrary discussion with her are so much fun!

i dropped her off, spoke to vision for a couple of minutes, then drove back, still chilled. what stressed me out was trying to find parking in tel aviv. all the prices for the lots have gone up. i found one close by that's not charging now, but i have to collect before 6.30am.
not just that, but i tried to park in a tight spot and i misjudged the turning circle... it doesn't matter that there's no damage, the fact that *i* know that i touched him pissed me right off.

now i've had something to eat, i think we're off to play some pool. or i'm just going to give up on the night and crash.

third strike

or "exclusively screwed"
or "the most expensive drive up north. ever."

i took a twenty minute nap on friday evening, and then a friend woke me up to give me a fifteen-minute warning. i was ready in ten. i was nursing a headache that would only increase in strength and intensity, and was completely exhausted.

we met up with ru55 at his place, played with the wii (quite fun, but i couldn't find a way to get a mii to look like... me), and i passed out on the couch. it appears that i slept for an hour, with my temple resting on my knuckles which in addition to the neurofen appears to have worked in alleviating the headache somewhat.

we left his place around 2am. to get to the starting point took about two hours, and we were stopped on the way by an enthusiastic junior policeman who was determined to search our car. he was puzzled and intrigued by south african sweet-wrappers, and his senior let him enjoy himself for a couple of minutes before loudly hinting at him that i'm an officer. he got this hurt look on his face, but let us go.

we arrived at a parking lot filled with crazy people, and we told to buy tickets and join the convoy. we weren't too trusting about the tickets, but we joined anyway for a mission that was something out of a movie. we travelled through farms and villages, mostly on dirt roads and with our lights off in the dark - no mean feat when we're talking about 60 - 80 cars.

while travelling up the unchartered mountain (according to the gps device), we discover that we can leave a virtual trail of breadcrumbs by indicating traffic cameras. this turned out very useful on the way out.

we bought our tickets on the way in, and were on our way... except we weren't. about five minutes after we acquired our tickets, we discovered that that party was shut down already. all the sneaking in the world won't help when you're sneaking TO a place crawling with cops. the organizers had managed to find a spot right next to another party, and because the pigs couldn't shut them down (private property, although that didn't seem to stop them last time) they shut us down instead.

the worst of that is that the other party was a bunch of arsim, and the cute policewoman was indoctrinated enough to tell *us* that *we* are bad people... the idiots just don't understand that they closed down one of the few exclusive parties for people who don't like stabbing incidents and balloons filled with nitrous.

so yeah, hundreds of us stood shaking our heads, confused and amused and frustrated, and apparently there were a lot of us who'd had our money grabbed at the last moment... it's entirely likely, even, that the girl who sold us our tickets had nothing to do with the organization and had found two innocents to reclaim her cash from :(

after a highly amsuing and odd morning, including bartering for entrance to the other party, we drove to tzemach, had a couple of cups of coffee at the local aroma, then drove past the kinneret, stopping to take photos for a few minutes before i got in the driver's seat and we made our way home.

we stopped halfway to visit my cousins on the kibbutz, it was nice to be able to surprise them for once :)

those earlier cups of coffee and a can of redbull kept me going until i was home and ru55 had rested enough for his return. i showered, had breakfast, watched NIN - closer with the kid, had a nap, cleaned, ate nachos watching 88 minutes, and promptly died until 3.50am. now i'm shaved and have brushed my teeth, done most of the dishes (i HATE the guys for not throwing out the food bits yesterday), and am putting on my uniform to train to the airport.

beginning on the bench

csn called me up to join her for a cigarette downstairs, and i found her and her friend (darksmile) lounging on the bench. her friend was massaging me, i was lying with her between my legs, and aside from a lot of sensual humour and flirtatious silliness, we spent a long while freaking out passers-by and occasionally drawing them into whatever ridiculous discussion was going on.

suddenly spot appeared, and i had to rush upstairs to put some clothes on [more respectable clothes, that is] - we went with a couple of friends to the cocktail room, where spot's sister's friend pitched up with someone else from her hostel (a french engineering student who doubles as a tobey maguire lookalike). we had a really nice evening, although i was exhausted before we got there - and hadn't eaten anything all day, and i got home around 2am completely incompetent and incoherent.

horrible early wake-up this morning, and unpleasant waking up the others. spot and i bought a shower-head and then wasted forty minutes walking around looking for the right bus stop because he hadn't read the bus route correctly. we quickly found the place we were looking for in jaffa - but they didn't have beach umbrellas either. we bought a couple of things for the apartment, then crossed the road to yet another place which had to have stock.

nothing doing. i was upset. the guy working there got totally offended because he thought i was pissed off at him. spot was pissed off because every mission for the last month has resulted in abysmal failure. i couldn't even obtain one at the damn petrol station.

we returned essentially empty-handed, hot, sweaty and tired. we bought meat at the butcher's (great place), i bought two new books that look highly amusing (jon ronson - the men who stare at goats and jennifer rardin - once bitten, twice shy), and then the kid joined us and we went to benedict's for breakfast.

good thing we'd brought something to read (well, me and the kid anyway), because we had a long wait to get inside. a friend of spot's joined us, and we sat down for a great breakfast. we all ordered english, and as satisfying as it was spot and i were disappointed because the portions are way smaller than they were last time.

on the way home i got ice-cream - whiskey, bitter chocolate, espresso and white chocolate with cardimon all mixed up. fantastic ^_^

our new shower configuration rocks, the kid and i made a cute hex-editor style file reader, i'm figuring out gimp things (yes, the above is an example) and karl schroeder - lady of mazes has kept me occupied. now i need to nap because it looks like i'm going up north tonight, on condition that i dress up as an orange ninja again.

armchair philosophy

i didn't get nearly enough sleep last night. i walked into my office this morning and immediately sat down to finish what was left from last night, and when it was all tidy i brought it through to the guy who so desperately needed it... who wasn't there.

i called him up to find out that he was going straight to his destination, so i'd need to get it to him electronically. i had a birthright meeting at 9.30, and 45 minutes simply wasn't enough.

mission failed.

i was so busy beating myself up about it, on top of beating off a crazy headache, that i pretty much lost my ability to focus and speak at the meeting. i didn't screw that up completely, but i could have been more useful.

maybe even smiled, but by that stage i was certain that my sense of humour had failed. i sleepwalked back to my base afterwards, mindlessly ate a sandwich for lunch, and wandered back to my office. i stopped outside to chat with a girl from our building, and she asked why i was looking so out of it.

"oh. well why didn't you just fax it?"

GOOD LORD. the idea of transferring paper to a distant destination by fax never even dawned on me. who uses such absurdly primitive technology?! i'm reminded of another amusing story... although i just found it being called on snopes. oh well, it's the principle of the thing, i guess :P

at least i got a good laugh out of it. i worked like a madman for the rest of the afternoon, driving myself nuts but actually managing to get a reasonable amount finished. cry freedom! from the hilltops! VACATION!!

i got home, and convinced spot to join me for coffee. we had an enthralling conversation about the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

literally.

we were still arguing back and forth when we got home, then went shopping, and it all ended with the following:

spot, if you write something worthy enough, i'll kill you myself.
then i'll tell people "it was his philosophy that killed him", and then tell everyone i know to read your book.

now that i've showered, blogged and learned some new things with the gimp^*, i'm about ready to drag my already wasted ass out to see if i can remember how to have proper fun.

^* post-mortem, so the picture above isn't representative.

swamped

now i know what the word means - it's the kind of thing you see in cartoons, not in real life. i was sitting at my desk, it being covered with about ten stacks of paper - you know when you stack documents crossways so that they're essentially separate, stacks on the floor, and the current stack on my lap. then i had to reach over and use the keyboard and i realized i'd run out of space, and i was in a hurry to finish it all up and go home.

i laughed about it for about two seconds before remembering that i actually had to make it all disappear without abusing the shredder.

i began my day ingeniously - instead of the usual bleary-eyed and dangerous shave, i made a point of making coffee and sitting outside on the bench with it, a cigarette, infected mushroom - suliman and a beautiful sunrise. that shifted my morning (and this was around 5.45am) from "the suck" to "ierie".

the day began with a meeting, that i didn't pay too much attention to, and then i spent the next nine hours minus one pouring over the paperwork and making sure that i hadn't missed anything. the hour subtracted was for lunch, and a ceremony congratulating me on joining the workforce in an official capacity, with no less than three severe lectures on responsibility regardless of the fact that i'm one of the most responsible people they have.

i got my TL to laugh during the ceremony, and he in turn cracked a joke. our commander sort of continued on but in a slightly more serious vein, and the unit commander took it seriously and gave me a stern warning.

figures.

in the middle of a quick meeting later on, i received a phone call from some female private informing me that i have to make an appointment for half a day on the medical base, fast for no less than fourteen hours prior to said appointment, because i'm over 25.

i told her i was in the middle of something, i asked if it would take long, she said no. she proceeded to mentally dawdle and i could *hear* her chatting with friends in the background, which really put my back up. i shouted at her and slammed down the phone - it drives me crazy when the kids in the army don't realize that there are people in the system who have real work to do.
even crazier when they maintain that attitude throughout their service, but that's a different complaint.

and besides, when did 26 become "old and decrepit"?? granted i'm not in peak physical condition, but i'm doing a hell of a lot better than most of the developers i work with.

the last hour of work was spent almost literally swimming through the stacks, and i left early (after only a twelve hour day, what a slacker) and got a ride through to my old base. i'd intended to spend no more than half an hour chatting with my previous TL, but as usual i kept bumping into old friends and got caught up in a few engaging conversations.

i miss those guys... but i'm SO glad that i'm loving the work i'm doing!

i bussed to cafeneto, sat with spot for coffee, and we came back to find the kid at home. a fun conversation later and spot and i were fighting about the conditions that we agreed upon to allow spot to stay. his feelings are hurt, and i don't care because if that's what it takes for the kid and myself to feel more comfortable, so be it. it's not nice, but then neither is being pissed off all the time because i'm feeling like somebody's nanny.

it's late, i'm tired, and my last day before the holiday is going to be even more strenuous than today was. DAMN.

id concerns

rough morning: i find that napping on the shuttle isn't helpful. it's not that not napping is, i simply can't win with an average morning being a false-start. getting through the bleary-eyed phase only to have to begin again when i arrive isn't healthy.

wait - waking up before noon isn't healthy. i definitely can't win.

my day was spent writing in hebrew - translating things i find difficult to express in english into something intelligible for non-english speakers. i found myself working spaced-out... i think that may have slowed things down, but everyone has their own personal form of escapism.

our new method of dealing with the kinder definitely amuses me, at least, and we got a good couple of laughs at his expense without him knowing exactly why.

nystire joined me for a bit of a mission for signatures after lunch, and i innocently passed on regards to a girl from a guy she's never met (he'd joked about it earlier). that spurred quite an embarrassing mini-interrogation, and when we got back to our offices we discovered that she'd actually called him up to find out what was going on }:)

i've finally got the certificates for my "raise" printed out. so i'm happy that that's another thing complete.

after a long afternoon of headachey work, i pressed a combination of keys that opened up an application that i'm not familiar with. an hour on the phone to our technical support to figure out that some dumbass had installed something on all our pc's with a windows shortcut key set. idiots.

i stayed late to work on something else, getting very frustrated when fifteen minutes before leaving i realized that i'd been approaching the task the wrong way. it's a not a waste if you learn from it, but i'm in a hurry so the theory doesn't make me feel any better about it.

on the way back home i had a chat with my previous TL about the kid. i discovered yesterday morning that his total bitch of a primary commander (the one that nystire and i locked horns with a number of times) has found a nasty way to make him do the reserve duty that he's exempt from. the only way to stop her is to give him reserve duty where he is, and that's almost as bad. his TL told me that he's not really involved, and that annoys me. i'm not his buffer anymore but if i was *i* certainly wouldn't just trust other people to take care of it.

i hope for his sake that things can get sorted out.

spot and i went out for coffee when i got home and changed, and i described where my head's at as follows:

i've got another few years of military service to go. in order to advance as much as possible, i have to *be* military, and that's not really who i am (in the sense that i follow all the rules and play all the games). aside from wanting a life where i can wake up late every day, sport stubble and wear comfortable clothes, i really want to be able to relax and show people my crazy face without repercussions.

i can't help but wonder what i'd be like right now if i hadn't continued to serve. a lot more social, definitely less tightly-wound. the social element is the kicker - i don't see a lot of my friends primarily because of the uniform. i do suffer for my art :S

since i've gotten home, i've learned about mp3 headers, and i've learned that gcc isn't fully installed in the standard ubuntu configuration.

searching... file not found.

it was great waking up late, having breakfast and coffee slowly. i took a bus to the immigration bureau, and that turned the morning on its head. the idiot woman doesn't understand that her job parameters are not merely defined by a bunch of rules, but that she's actually part of an organization whose function is to serve real-life human beings.

while i was shouting at her, rather harshly in retrospect, some american walked in at the end of his tether, and she began giving him bureaucratic grief too. we were both shouting at her when a guy from new zealand waltzed in, rolled his eyes and with an amused smile began studying the wall.

we eventually managed a breakthrough, and while i was waiting my turn the new zealander and i struck up a conversation, he's a surfer in the area so i might get it together sometime to join him. and the woman who dealt with me was the same cow as last time, but what needed doing took five minutes so i didn't have to crack my teeth on a frosty smile.



on the way to base, i discovered that i'd somehow managed to skip about half a chapter of lady of mazes, and i was so entranced going through it with flashes of "oooh, so that's what that was!" that i almost missed my stop.

the day was pretty much standard. i can't believe i'm saying that about a good day - it's so nice to be living the good life! the only source of irritation was calling up a wrong number due to a miscommunication, and having to deal with a really unhelpful prick.

i got a ride to azrieli, and couldn't find anything i was looking for. tower records have re-classified all forms of rock as "pop/rock", which is retarded. i don't want to go through all the latest crap to find real musicians :/

i did enjoy a great supper from shinto, though. they make their rice perfect for chopsticks!

i ran into ru55's girlfriend on the way home, we had a fun chat, and then i bussed home, with some weird old crusty making intermittent remarks like "you don't take responsibility for all your actions".

i drew cash, did some shopping, did the washing, showered, and have now spent more than enough time online.

thought for the day: "all i need is love".

t-shirt for the day:
[front]
i'm a good person,
i'm funny and
i'm smart, but

[back]
...it's been so long
i can't remember
if i'm a good lay

detained, but still a bit edgy

today just flew by. it began with my commander spilling coffee all over the place - and himself.

me, bringing him some toilet paper: "serves you right!"
my TL: "you're staying behind an extra hour today."
me: "no really, you're always taking a couple of sips and leaving your mug for two days. you don't respect your coffee enough!"
my TL: "that's another hour."
me: "fine by me, i have tons of work to do."
my TL: "the whole damn weekend, then."
me: "okay, but you're organizing a place for me to sleep here on base."
my TL:"okay, never mind the weekend."

there were quite a few laughing witnesses, but by the afternoon i'd forgotten why i had to stay. i tactfully brought it up when my SC was around, and he was horrified to learn that he had an officer being detained - i think he figured out from the general reaction that it wasn't serious, though.

at least, i hope so. aside from a pretty decent lunch, i spent the entire day working, so caught up in it that i got laughed at yet again for my reaction: "when the hell did it get to 16.30?!"

i started feeling jumpy for my last half an hour, and i left the base irritated by the world in general and unable even to enjoy music - whatever the genre. i met up with sammy at the cafeneto, though, and sitting with his kid for ten minutes calmed me down immensely.

i definitely have to get myself one of those, the only problem is the "first step" which involves finding a girlfriend :P

i'm so glad i can wake up late tomorrow.

pizza nightmare

this time, the weekend abused me. it all started after posting yesterday morning... not in the least helped by this strange, nagging feeling that something's wrong. a feeling that i simply cannot finger or fathom.

the kid and i did some shopping, and then began yet another mission to find a beach umbrella. this was even worse than before, and in fact the only beach umbrella we came across was in the hands of an understanding young woman who'd desperately pulled it from a trash can. the situation in this city is dire.

we came home disappointed, and i spent the rest of it in my room. around 7pm spot woke me up and invited me to dinner at his gran's, so i had a shower, dressed and we walked over there.

friday night family dinner should not involve ordering pizza. it wasn't bad pizza, it's just that it's a tacky thing to do. after dinner i went with spot's sister's friend to get some ice-cream and shuttle to visit hdg, then go on to euphoria, a really sweet little bar which was hosting a rather funky electro-session.

we weren't there long before some friends of hers dragged us off to the lansky, which is an absolutely stunning bar catering for an absolutely crap crowd. it was awkward to begin with, and then the horrid, disgraceful tech-middle-eastern music started, and the grossest of the gross got up to jiggle and wobble and make stupid noises. our cue to leave.

i got to bed around 2.30am, and suffered the most aweful pizza-dreams. i'm glad i don't remember much, but i struggled and tossed and turned until around 10am, and followed it up with a day of agitated fumbling. mostly reading karl schroeder - lady of mazes (which is getting interesting) and playing fallout 2.

i just can't set my mind on anything at the moment, and i don't know why.

our neighbour and her friend joined us for supper, and they cleaned up after us which was surprising and nice :)
we began watching flash gordon - great film - but were vetoed by our neighbour and forced (oh, the pain) to watch pulp fiction again. could've been worse.

now to begin another week. just one more of keeping it together before i take my leave.

welcoming the ISM...

... because more antisemitism and terrorism is exactly what this world needs.

The purpose of using internationals in the ISM is to threaten Israeli sovereignty and facilitate terrorist attacks against the Jewish state while its members claim to be “peace activists” engaging in “nonviolent resistance.”

i love the "nonviolent" keyword. would anyone like to enlighten me as to what would happen to any craft "resisting arrest" in american waters? this is like someone filming a documentary on police, and walking up to one waving a gun in his face while someone else is smashing his patrol car with a baseball bat to prove how aggressive the pigs are.

the problem is that most people are too lazy to research things. not only will they have a lot of support, but they'll be able to find volunteers to help them. unbelievable.

for details, see The ISM goes to sea over here. we're talking about 11 days from now.

two marshmallows for the price of...

my eyes are still sleep-fuzzy, and my monitor's so icy in this heat and humidity that the condensation is making everthing blur. i'm going to have a massive headache by the time i'm done :P

but i'm sitting with slug - on the run, and with my new speakers i'm getting the bass out of it ^_^

work yesterday involved writing lots of crap. lots of it. on a positive note, i'm officially eligible for a raise [i think it's about $100, so it's more the principle of the thing], and we just need to fill in the paperwork :)

the last half an hour sucked, though. i was sitting and waiting for someone, who kept telling me that he'd be done in just a minute. i took a stack of post-it notes and began drawing little animations. not very good ones, either.

i got home usual time, and spot and i meandered down to the lincoln. we played about an hour of pool before my team-mate arrived, and had an hour or so to teach him before the others arrived. while spot was playing him, i was staring at the super-cute girl at the next table: sexiness multiplies with good pool technique.

when her friend disappeared, she invited me to a game - but it never happened. a friend of my previous TL's walked in and took her for the night :( [although she's also very cute, i couldn't get past idle chit-chat]

after four hours of pool we went to zinc, but it really isn't as good when the manager picks crap music. the food was great as usual - i'd forgotten just how well they do calamari!

i walked home, slowly and carefully, and put myself to bed. now to abuse the weekend :)

flying time and alien abduction

i made it out early this morning! and the bus came early, so that was really lucky!

my day was document orientated, tricks with word and Other Fun Stuff. it really is impressive how much is packed into the office system, those of us who don't use even a tiny fraction of its features find it easy to be annoyed with the more trivial operations without looking at the bigger picture.

on the other hand, they could have done something more helpful with the interface. i'm just innately prejudiced against them.

lunch definitely wasn't as good as yesterday's. nystire and i went shopping, which involved a joint bitch and moan session regarding the kinder and his ability to be a complete tosser on command, the command being a general awareness of his presence. i've come up with a potential solution - it won't make him any less of a wanker but we might be able to derive some amusement from his idiocy.

the other idiot who left our office a couple of weeks ago took his speakers with him, so i bought myself an el-cheapo set that turned out to be so good that i've brought it home with me and am donating my old cruddy ones to the cause.
i'm sure my neighbours aren't happy with that decision, i was showering with the music still on and could feel the bass through the wall ^_^

on the way back, i stopped in to get a signature and the resident authority wasn't, well, resident. they told me that it would have to be done quickly, or all sorts of difficulties would arise - but considering the fact that the difficulties would be faced by the same people who aren't around when they're needed makes me worry a bit less.

i needed something from somebody outside of our unit, and nystire walked in and i asked if he could provide me with material covering brassieres... it took a couple of stumbles before i got the right word and the two of them stopped laughing at me :P

the last couple of hours went by without my noticing, and i was shocked to discover that i'd run out of time for the day! i guess it could be worse.

i finished terry pratchett - night watch on the way home, and all i have to say is that it's a long series of incredibly well-written and intelligent books. the man rocks!

i set up my speakers when i got home, got ac/dc - dirty deeds done dirt cheap stuck in my head and spot and i headed out for coffee and supper. lots of theology / philosophy, and staring at a foxy new-mother sitting next to us.

i spoke to my mum on the way home, and we've decided that it does make more sense for me to come down to south africa around easter time. she'll be here soon, so now i have to make a list of the things i miss :) [liquorice and biltong are the first items on it]

it's a bit further away, but it'll relieve work pressure and will still be fun :)

now that i've showered and am ready for bed, i'm hitting it.


[i'm still peeved about the selection tool, but some of the filters are so much fun to play with!]