wednesday's child

tuesday's addendum:

i forgot to mention the “bloody hell mary”, a ridiculously overpowered (over-peppered) cocktail that nearly killed a couple of us at the braai.

wednesday's child:

another dusty heat wave, another sneaky no-gun morning shuttle, bouncy and squishy and reminding me forcefully to mention that i suspect the auto companies of intentionally designing the suspension to violently toss about anyone sitting in the back – the only seats that aren't directly beneath the overpowered overhead speakers usually blaring “middle-eastern” (mizrachit) music.

i waited for about ten minutes for nystire to get to the mess hall, observing the strange and pathetic creatures that make up the core of our base's nco's and civilian workers and noting that the palm trees would be prettier if someone would remove the dead leaves.

my commander called me into his office first thing. as one of the people being honoured in the section farewell, the last thing i expected was to be informed that i'd have to chip in for the gifts. essentially, that means that i had to pay in for my own present. i believe that could safely be referred to as “bad planning”.

i discovered, to my great dismay, that the reason my SC hadn't been answering my calls was that my sat-phone had switched to dialing his office number... of *course* he'd answer that one on a saturday night :S

nyah nyah came into my office looking for an idea for a photography project of hers – *of course* i had something in mind. thank you, lewis carroll :)

i have a parting gift planned for the unit, and after lunch i went to the gift shop to buy a dedication plate for it... that's the second time i've had to argue with the shop-owner because he's a blithering idiot. his prices are good, though, so i'll suffer him and try to be polite anyway.

at least i finally found incense sticks; i'm quite surprised that they're available on base :P

i got organized regarding information on the vaccinations i'll need for my upcoming travels, and had an enlightening discussion with a couple of guys on the how-not-tos of travelling. i finally read the magazine my SC gave me, and was uninspired by what i saw. i think i'll skip the competition.

i was tense and slightly puzzled when i got home, and set about verifying who would be my guests for the munchkin night. i was surprised and embarrassed to learn that two of the guys hadn't received the update that i'd sent out... and they in turn expressed regret that they couldn't make it. i had an intense facebook session (uploading everything, took a few tries), picked up the cake for the farewell evening and then went shopping for the masses. a stunning girl waiting in line for the next till had me wondering how people flirt in supermarkets.

the game was nuts - about halfway through i finally caught onto the fact that everyone was cheating like crazy, and it took me a while to get into the mode... one of the guys was taking the game way too seriously, and the game finally came to an end when a traditional loud argument caused the cards' owner to pack it all up. we sat cooling down for half an hour afterwards, with one of my guests exclaiming that my guitar strings have rusted.

that's a bummer. and embarrassing.

i made a comment (regarding vertigo) during the parting conversation that might not have been particularly appropriate - not for two people still serving in the military, at least. i think it was brushed off lightly enough, though.

on my way to bed, i came across a link SxS had posted: malema kicking out the white man. malema's a complete wanker, a racist pseudo-communist aggressively ignorant leech and a prime example of why south africa's future isn't so bright :(

i wrote the dedication of the book i planned to give at the farewell, then discovered that (my financial situation affording) hido's and girlfriend are okay with me being there for a week or two: i'm finally going to be able to tick off another dreamed-about item on my list! i'll have to update that sometime soon ^_^