mountainous mole-hills

gn1 did call eventually: just as i turned out the light to go to sleep. the conversation was way more comfortable, and for the next four hours i slept well.

i woke up at 6am, picked a random shirt and left for the bus. i got to herzeliya faster than i'd anticipated, giving me time for a cup of coffee and to make some headway into the merchant of venice. my cousins keep forgetting that i'm lactose intolerant, and due to my general discomfort with her father i've taken to suffering in silence - i didn't even get a chance to remind him before the coffee was in front of me.

the family began streaming in, and we boarded the bus. just the close family does a good job of filling one, and we were all very noisy all the way to jerusalem.

it was a beautiful day, and the barmitzvah's first torah reading and putting on of tefillin (phylacteries) went well - although a large proportion of the men at the wall seemed mighty uncomfortable with the back of my shirt, i hadn't realized that it bore a large picture of a half-naked woman :$

we had a wonderful lactose-laden lunch at the cinemateque (i didn't know they were cool enough to have one in jerusalem), and followed that with a short hike around a convent in ein karem. i stood for most of the bus ride back because i was talking to a canadian cousin, and the swaying of the bus plus the effects of lunch left me feeling motion-sick and extremely tired.

i stopped by my old boss on the way to the bus, and in addition to an enjoyable catch-up i was pleased to discover that he's now working with people and technology that are well-suited to what i'm planning on doing, and when he heard my idea he was intrigued. not only that, but he's another good contact to have when i'll need to find a comfortable job post-military.

i waited about half an hour for the bus, put on my blades when i returned home and went to meet gn1 at her office. in the five minutes i had to wait for her, my mood reverted to wednesday's brooding and the two of us had an even more complicated and aggravating talk than the day before... we eventually got everything out, but things were still a bit tense until this morning.

the primary problem is me: i need to chill. the second i began to relax i could communicate better, and that bleeds into everything. after walking back to my place so that i could shower, we took a taxi and *just* managed to catch the last train back to herzeliya. we were both exhausted - myself to the point where i was dreaming with my eyes open - and after she'd made food she was satisfied with (at 2am and in desperate need of sleep, i can't care if the penne doesn't have the right texture) we crashed.

i slept the sleep of the dead.

the morning was nice, definitely closer to our comfort zone. after some complications with her pc, i took a bus home and discovered that mine's screwed - i'm leaving for the climbing wall with the memory test still going, and hoping that it'll all be good when i get back.