show or roll?

i've just completed the experiment, and now all that's left is to see how it washes... spraypaint on overalls? it makes sense, right?

[here i lose over an hour writing this post...]

i'm planning on going to see danny gilboa perform in an hour or so... but that's costing me joining the sunset rollers. i wouldn't be doing either if i'd gone to training - why does everything have to be a choice?!

today:

my alarm was set to wake me up at 12.50am, so that could make it to hear boris brejcha play the comfort... it almost did a good job, only i was so broken and exhausted that it took all of my strength just to send an sms to the organizer to explain the no-go before turning over again. waking up before 7am was still difficult... so it was probably the best decision i could've made.

i got all my gear together and meandered down to the american embassy, getting there a little early. i wasn't happy with having to deposit my phone and my keys - that made me feel rather naked - but the entire procedure was a lot less complicated than i'd anticipated (i'm used to army-style interrogation already, so answering a couple of simple questions wasn't a problem :P) and the most difficulty i experienced was standing in line when my legs were still sore from last night.

after i received approval, i walked up dizengoff (frau blau has a store, i *had* to take a photo - she's a crazy girl who appeared at a russian "japanese pop" party at the lizard once) to meet with karnaf, who's on his way to a snowboarding trip. i be MIGHTY jealous.

i went past ace to check out spotlights, then came home and finished spraying my overalls. i tried to verify something with my credit card online, but the site gave me shit about my password. it was only once i'd gone through the whole "i've lost my password" process that i realized that i'd been typing in the wrong bloody language... once i sorted that out, the site reported itself as being down and told me to come back later - not cool :/ [i did have to scream a little]

yesterday:

i tried to post on my way home last night - i got distracted...
i'm on the bus and unable to nap, so instead i'm going to mention a couple of points about my day and then fill in the blanks later. i'm quite surprised to be feeling this okay, considering that a short while ago i was pre-faint dizzy from an exceptionally painful stretch.

i actually did sleep well after i got home last night, it appears that good food, wine and company have a profound effect. waking up was rough as usual, which means far less difficult than the insanity of the past few days :p

the day began with an argument over how to be social. my TL is (as i'm sure i've mentioned before) a bit of a dick. as it's been the entire week - i found it mighty hard to concentrate on work. at least i seem to be doing alright anyway.

i was pleased to receive a personal telephone call inviting me to a party tonight - i'm going to go just to hear one specific set, otherwise there's no way i'll be capable of handling the visa application interview in the morning :p

the lunch effect was just as bad - if not worse - than usual. it happened later than it ordinarily does, however, which leads me to admit the possibility that it's not the lunch so much as a deep-seated desire for siesta.

a music video that i saw recently and was blown away by (it's sheer artistic genius, called trucker's delight) is also highly offensive in its content... otherwise i'd post the link here. nystire helped me acquire it to show a couple of people that i thought would appreciate it, and i was right - only there was no way to prevent unwanted eyes from peeking, so i hope nobody's upset too much by it.

that reminds me, the new kid's making a valiant attempt to teach me music theory :)

my right eye's been giving me trouble - hurting at random. nystire suggested that it may be a stye forming, which led me to wonder out loud what the army dress code has to say about wearing a stye-patch.

the shuttle home was chatty - the village idiot and i had a good laugh about our shared experiences with our SC and discussed the lessons we've learned from them.

training last night was difficult: although it wouldn't have been particularly challenging for any regular day, i was physically exhausted and everything hurt. while stretching (45 minutes, according to nystire) we discussed the old days and what it was we enjoyed so much about taekwondo. there're a lot of things we need to bring back, but the primary difference we identified was that in the days before most of us went into the army we didn't give a damn what the rest of the country was doing - we just focused on doing things the way we knew best. being concerned with everyone else is essentially took us down from a position of leadership to one of moderation :(

i'm shocked that according to my blog, i missed a day (wednesday) completely:

it was a cold morning, and unfortunate that i left too late to be able to go back for my jacket.

i had a spark of inspiration concerning a fix that someone else in our section needs for something, so i played around for a couple of minutes to see if i could get it to work. my TL suddenly appeared next to me, staring at my screen and not saying a word...
"this is related to your work, right?" he eventually asked. my temperature rose by about 3 degrees.
"no, and it was obvious to you that it isn't. why don't you just say what you have to say, instead of being sarcastic?"
"no, no! i wasn't being sarcastic at all! i thought it might be related to your work!"
"yeah, right. well, it isn't."
"you know that your current project is really high priority, right? that we're..."
"look, i've been working on this for a couple of minutes, and in less than one more i was planning on letting it go. this conversation has wasted more of the project's time than is entirely necessary."
"ah, only a couple of minutes. okay, carry on."

i finally put batteries into the witch i got on my birthday, filled her cauldron with candy and invited everyone to dig in. the response is entirely random, which was kinda disappointing. i think it's only effective if you hesitate, and the more times you get caught the more you do. now she mainly waves her broom and cackles when i want candy :/

i was highly amused to discover that she cackles when the lights go out. a girl in my team was completely terrified when she slept in the office on wednesday night }:D

this siesta thing is crazy. let's assume that it's my digestive system kicking in on disagreeable army food, because that's still the explanation that makes the most sense. it feels like it's sucking all the energy out of the rest of my body, i become really tired and my eyes strain just to identify light from dark. usually a five or ten minute nap does it, this week i've needed no less than half an hour each time - a bit tricky when your TL has a tendency to peak over his shoulder constantly.

...

at last! something positive to say about my lord and master: i called him over to give me feedback on what i've been doing this past week, a mammoth task that taxes me on a number of levels, not least of which being my comprehension of loads of technical hebrew. he was happy with my progress, which pleases me.

we began exercising, but were interrupted by a number of urgent items... i slept well on the shuttle home anyway.

in the evening, the electrician came by and tidied up a few points. i now have good lighting in my bedroom and the entrance hall is neater.

the mongoose picked me up, and we went to a place in jaffa called "just meat" (רק בשר), which is essentially a butchery with a great atmosphere and place to sit. the meat is excellent - you pick out your cuts, they prep it and bring it on a grill to your table. the prices are very reasonable and the wine is pretty much bottomless.

we ate too much.

it was great seeing the mongoose for more than five minutes - we had plenty to catch up on. i keep forgetting that i do have close friends in israel, i just barely get to see them :/