role-modelling

at least i drank enough water before going to sleep that i didn't have too much of a hangover when i woke up, but either way i'm well impressed with myself for managing to get myself out of bed, shaved and dressed on time. i even remembered to take the canvas i'd prepared, paints and a brush [although we didn't end up using it], and a couple of cds for another round of attempting to encourage section-mates to listen to good music.

my knees and neck were pretty sore this morning.

i had breakfast with nystire, and that set the tone for a day of miscommunication.

the first person into my office was nyah-nyah, and i showed her danny gilboa's new music video (without sound, damned army machine). she called me up this evening to express how impressed she is with the sound :)

i spent the morning performing menial labour that could be handled using a short perl script and instead is taking me forever. the guy in charge and nystire were each convinced that the other had made it clear that installing perl on my machine and letting me sort it out was off the cards... right until i explained to both of them that they were in charge, at which point they both came around to seeing things my way.

amazing :/

we spent half an hour hearing funny stories from one of the guys who just got back from thailand, half an hour eating malteasers non-stop. right before lunch, too.

idiot girl asked me for help with something, and i took the opportunity to push the concept of using the wiki on her and her team-mates. i've been getting into the swing of things again, it seems.

i felt queasy during lunch - the lunch itself wasn't anything to write home about, but i don't think the chocolates helped too much either. nobody aside from nystire got that i was kidding about maybe showing symptoms of rabies. two eucalyptus-fresh academic officers have arrived to idiot-girl's section, and they ate with us.
afterwards, due to my lack of importance, i was asked to escort them for their first foray into forms hiking.

i took the opportunity to introduce them to as much as could possibly fit into such a short and eventful afternoon, and if they remember even half of what i said they'll have a solid advantage. they seem like good kids, and we got through everything with very few hiccups.

while we were sitting and talking outside the welfare officers' offices, i caught a girl stretching badly and complaining about what my best guess tells me is one of the adductors connecting the pelvis and the upper thigh. i intuitively knew the best way to stretch it, so i showed her, and gave her an explanation about how muscle fibres work so that she'd stop bouncing around so much.

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from that we all got to discussing sport, then officers' course, and the different types of officer. that was when the guy sitting on the other side of the bench i was on piped about about officers having bad attitudes. i neither blinked nor hesitated in explaining - in no uncertain terms - that officers are not supposed to be as he described and that unfortunately not all of them behave the way they're supposed to: to get the job done while taking care of the human beings in their charge. the officers' course is essentially half a year of brainwashing about how to keep one's charges healthy and happy and motivated, and it frightens me how many forget that.

i gave the kid my number, and told him to give me a call if he needed anything. an hour or so later he did call, and when he explained what he was going through i calmed him down and told him, step by step, exactly what he needed to do in order to sort everything out. i also offered to help him file a formal complaint if what i told him to do is blocked by his superiors...

it never ceases to amaze me how much most long-term military types take advantage of average g.i. joe's [sorry, i had to] lack of familiarity with procedure and his rights.

he sounded very grateful, and expressed his wish that he would meet other officers like me. i really hope i'm not that rare. all one has to do is care.

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the rest of the forms hike was quick, and the only other item of interest was the girl in the security office - first i corrected her hebrew (there's a horrid trend of using the third person future tense instead of the first person, and they don't know they're doing it because it sounds similar when you speak badly), then her handling of scissors.

i'm sure i've complained about this before, but israelis don't usually learn how to pass scissors from hand-to-hand because it's dangerous, so when they do need to do so they unthinkingly pass it point first.

i've been given an excuse to pay the induction base a visit tomorrow, and so i shall. it gives me a chance to sort out a couple of things, and make myself useful by delivering stuff for others, too. i'm enjoying my newfound freedom in lacking a concrete job description, and going back to being a jack-of-all-trades is fun :)

i dreamed on the shuttle home, finally got my photos uploaded and went to pick up my knee pads. the repair cost more than i'm really happy with, but the work looks surprisingly good. on the way back i stopped by a relatively new and very intimate sushi / soup place called sekai.

i should have stuck with the japanese menu, because the thai beef soup i ordered was absurdly filling and quite a bit of work to get through - and i'd been zoned out before i sat down :P

in addition to my body's aches and pains in responding to friday's half-workout, my jaw's feeling tight and i'm now hoping i'm not coming down with anything... at least i'm about to go to bed early; and wake up (relatively) late.

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thank piraro: trolololo :)

tongue bifurcation always intrigues me, but doing it yourself?!?! the video in the responses makes a very, very strong case for it.