dine & crash

the arrangement for the section evening on thursday night was pool at the lincoln and israeli rock at the lizard. both of them were good, but only two guys from the section rocked up, so it was a bit less of a group-building exercise than intended.
the waitress was super-cute, though, and the games were alright (i don't play enough).

we ate at a nice place across the road from the pool hall, but after such a long day i was already having trouble keeping my eyes open. when the eating was over, we walked to the lizard. the party was great - it's been a long time since the israeli music line has been packed and as much fun!

i left a bit after the other guys, and narrowly avoided a fight with a couple of arsim on the way to the taxi stop.

i barely managed to shower and brush my teeth before hitting the hay.

we began friday with a planning session, and the kid and i walked to the gym. after much inspection, verification that we can rent out the fully-stocked underground studio and a bit of ogling young women in tights, we signed up and left for dizengoff center.

i picked up my art supplies, sans carving knife which i'm clueless as to where to organize, and we hit the crowd in home center for a Totally Fun Shopping Experience.

after a quick lunch, i fell asleep on the couch watching a documentary on fighting MiGs in korea, and woke up to queer eye for the straight guy. and was groggy ever after.

when the kid came back we paid the gym a visit. that's the first time i've ever done weight training, and *boy* are my arms tired. i'm suddenly extremely conscious of how weak i am - there's nothing worse than watching a cute, petit girl lifting heavier weights with less strain than myself.

to loosen up, the two of us went for a jog immediately afterwards, and we got home feeling *good*. i squeezed some orange juice and we sat down to watch a couple of episodes of how i met your mother, and then embarked on our adventure for the night.

the mission
we discovered that the dvd rental place next door is far better than movieing, their collection is mind-blowing and again, it's right next door. the kid's credit card has been giving him trouble, so after some slight embarrassment we paid in cash and began our hunt for "food in a social environment".
after all, if you're planning on spending a friday night watching a movie (or series, i hadn't been paying attention) then you need to offset it with something less lame.

we strolled to japanika, and when we eventually got there it was nothing short of creepy. the place was closed, nobody in sight, all the tables set... on a friday night. we debated trying the door, but enough horror movies have ingrained themselves in our minds and neither of us had the courage to proceed.

we walked a route with a bunch of good places to eat, and all of them were closed - what the hell? i didn't hear of anything special happening, no jewish or other holidays (and people living in tel aviv generally wouldn't care even if there were), but even the kiosk was closed - that NEVER happens!

it wasn't just a case of food, it was a mystery.

so we gingerly (sore legs *and* upper body) walked another couple of streets, until we saw a couple of guys walking a bit ahead of us and i decided to ask them if they knew what was going on. a short but highly amus(ed/ing) conversation later, and we were headed to the beach in disbelief bearing a message for the manager of a new restaurant called gordo.

it was a bit of a walk, but we found the place eventually, and relayed the story and message to the manager. he immediately found us a comfortable spot, and sent over a waitress to arrange our orders.

we went with fruit-shakes and cocktails, and a platter of mixed seafood - shrimps, blue crab, calamari, muscles all in a really interesting sauce. the atmosphere was really nice, with good music and excellent service, the food was great and they wouldn't let us go without giving us a very impressive dessert.

all this after we'd been walking there discussing whether they'd take care of us or give us a beating :P

these guys are fantastic, they made our night, and they really do deserve our repeat custom. and we'll be only too happy to pay :)

the kid's still in shock, their behaviour is the absolute antithesis of what i was complaining about all thursday. i'm still amazed that somebody was paying attention in class!

he's convinced that we did a dine & dash :)

and all the other good places being closed last night is still a mystery.

we picked up ssf on the way, and sat down to watch the first episode of terry pratchett - soul music... after that, we were all buggered and i took ssf to the stop to get a taxi, then returned to pass out easily.

i woke up frightening early this morning, watched a couple more episodes with hot chocolate and muesli, and struggled to get back to sleep. i read some more alice in sunderland instead, and am about to try again with alice through the looking glass in hebrew.

all-in-all, this weekend is GOOD.