a new beginning - part i

[this post divided retroactively]

wednesday aftermath

okay, the jordanians are some of the best pilots i've seen in my travels. the indians are the worst, hands down (we suspected them of being drunk). our flight back from amman was hell; it was a forty-five minute trip with no air-conditioning (it was about 35ᵒ) and the stewardesses made a point of ignoring us.

landing in israel... strange. i've been gone so long it feels like i'm on holiday here :P

pg was the only person who remembered what date i was due to arrive... i thought i was landing on thursday, my kibbutz cousin (my travel agent) thought the weekend. i grooved while waiting for the baggage, said goodbye to a couple of fellow travellers and found my pick up :)

she dropped me off at home, i shaved and showered and felt weird about being in what feels like someone else's life, then went to pg's new place.

holy shit.

it's AWESOME.

i presented my gifts - whoo hoo! majimaji patchouli survived all the way from tokyo! - and even got one in return from her trip to london, i opened a bottle of johnny walker and she a bottle of wine and we sat on her roof - crap! she has an awesome rooftop in *our* area of tel aviv! - and talked under the stars (now a few less than i'm used to seeing :P) for a while.

we went for dinner at cafesito, but we were too tired to stay there long. i walked her back to her place then continued to mine, spoke to a few people (including my mum) and handled some internet urgents, then went to bed. umm... not before having an awful line pop into my head:
"did anyone else notice that indians talks about green vegetables like the germans talk about their parents?"

it was getting into bed that a spider bit my knee. i didn't see what kind it was, but was fortunate enough to catch it in time to squeeze out all the poison. however, being as paranoid as i am, i spent the next hour online fact-checking until i ascertained that one only really needs to worry about a spider bite if it doesn't start getting better within 24 hours.

cool.

i realized that new moon rising is wanna take you higher (from 7:16): sweet!

i crashed.

---i woke up yesterday morning at 7.30am to backup my photos from my phone and find my computer dead. bummer. i went to the bank to sort out my account; all the problems were solved but i still haven't found a satisfactory explanation for dollars being treated differently :S

i met urchin for coffee at cafesito; not only was the service lousy, her health news was as well :(
at least her exhibit went well, though, and i'm really glad she's opened a door for her career!

i took my pc to the shop for repair, then strapped on my blades and headed to the doctor. it felt good to have them on again!
i was overheating when i arrived, so a bit sweaty but that *was* the first proper effort i've made since the bronx... the old lady next to me was a bit creepy, though. the secretary and i both stared in horror as she made horrible noises scratching her feet on the couch.

i have perfect timing - the doctor and the clinic's nurse were going through some things when i walked in, and i heard them discussing what to do about the clinic secretary's farewell gift.
"mind if i interject?"
"sure."
"did you guys have a house-warming for her new apartment?"
how did i remember that?? they were well pleased for the suggestion :)

the doctor provided the referrals for the last (hopefully) of my tests, allayed my fears regarding the spider bite and sent me on my way. once home, i got ready to roll out to the university... on the way, i called up ze british german to arrange to meet.

and lo! he was on his way to visit his accountant. so we met up and i joined him. he was quite surprised to see how much hair i have :)

the accountant and i consulted in trade for me fixing his printer. he explained to me everything i need to know about freelancing, which is a lot simpler than i expected. now to see how things play out.

i walked past my office intending to say hi, but nobody was around. good thing i remembered the security code - that could have been embarrassing! i spoke to the it dept (embarrassing myself by not remembering their names) and got reinstated, quickly scanned email then left for campus.

registering for my courses was EXTREMELY exciting ^_^

i ate a crappy meal while reading wired (with a great big smile on my face) before heading back to work, this time catching the boss and main manager and spending an hour and a half reintegrating and sorting out my study schedule. aside from an embarrassing incident involving a forgotten password and mild irritation with google's calendar - repeated events are problematic to move - i have discovered that one of the girls from the rollerblading group will be taking most of my courses with me! and wr may or may not take the same seminar... i really hope he does.

[continued...]