that explains the eye

the walk to my office from the bus was a killer - i woke up desperately needing to pee and i had to step gingerly :(

it takes twenty minutes to get to the base hairdresser - who's an ars - and he informed me that there was no way i was getting a haircut. i was pissed, and it was too late for him to explain that he was just kidding. his response to me shouting at him made me even angrier, and i should know better than to fight with these idiots (especially seeing as one of them was about to close in on me with a razor blade), but i couldn't control myself.

the actual haircut took place in silence, with him avoiding my stare and trying to be as unoffensive as possible (which is quite something for an ars).

after giving me a standard army buzz, his parting shot [sorry] went something along the lines of "why stress? as a civilian you'd pay NIS 50 [R75] for that haircut."

no, i wouldn't. i'd shave my head myself. i'll probably have a dreadlock phase when i'm released. either way though, i find it horrifying that these ****ers are earning over NIS 100 per hour. that's more than *i'm* earning as an educated and experienced software engineer!

who lets these idiots get away with this?! another case of severely bad consumerism.

after lunch i went to buy an ice-cream, and someone asked how i was going to fill the event in in my hours - i didn't hesitate to reply "mandatory military activity".

i was asked to use the shredder today, and i figured out a method so efficient that the machine broke down with smoke pouring out of it.

oops.

half an hour later, while i was wondering how i was going to explain this to the authorities, someone came in and discovered that it was working again. it just needed a breather, apparently.

i've spent the last couple of days struggling with a unix script that wasn't working properly. our resident unix fetishists had plenty to say, but couldn't figure out the problem either... then i discovered that if there's any whitespace after a line-continuation slash it invalidates the line.

whoever's responsible for that pernicious [regarding mental health] shell feature should be shot, twice.

the shuttle arrived late and there were too many people. the solution to the problem is well-defined, but some religious private began griefing and it took ten minutes to get rid of him. the sad thing for him is that instead of unhappily taking the bus one day, he's probably going to spend the rest of his service taking the bus because he pissed everyone off.

i went to see the optometrist, and was absolutely appalled at just how bad the vision in my left eye is. i spent ages trying on different frames, eventually settling for something particularly geek chic, and discovered that prescription glasses cost a bloody fortune.

so in a few days time i'll see if i become any smarter.

i received an sms from number 6969, then another, then a couple more - i don't take to spam very well. i called up orange twice (both times the menu confused me, the second time i just made a lucky guess), and eventually got through to a guy who was helpful enough to inform me that it's actually possible to block all messages from companies like b contact. my newfound freedom will be activated within 72 hours ^_^

the kid and i trained hard tonight. when we got there he discovered that his right glove was missing, and i lost my left one on the way home so we've got to organize another pair now.

yet again the topic of what / when to study raised its ugly head.

we've now eaten a serious supper (which means i got the dishes, yay), and i've been asked by songbird to go over something for her when i've got three other things i wanted to sort out before bedtime.

i'd make a remark about how wonderful it would be to have another couple of hours in the day, only i know that if they were squeezed in we'd use them for work.