just chequing

it's only been two days? or was that three? three?! no shit!

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monday:

i began the day at the bank, taking my mum's advice and cashing the retainer cheque. it's enough money to make me stress less. it still feels a bit weird.

monday was hot. the heat + my ski jacket = not comfortable.

first class: i had shit to say but wasn't concentrating (distracting british girl asking me for off-topic help half the class) so i didn't know if it was appropriate... because i need the brownie points for the class participation marks, i approached the lecturer afterwards to share my ideas.
"that's very interesting! why didn't you say something?"
"erm... i've just had really bad timing today..."

i ate lunch hurriedly. the sauerkraut was a weird touch. i was in a hurry to get to class - i just wanted a quiet space to nap and study some more... instead, a couple of my classmates caught me in a discussion about veganism.

i'm anti-vegan. [meta-link]
why?
i'm as anti-vegan as i am anti-anti-vaccine, because both of these groups of people bring harm not only to themselves, but to everyone else. the vegans are just beginning to get their numbers up (with dodgy propaganda, too); if we leave it too long and they grow in force, it might be too late.

our second class: i was a goner. i hadn't read enough of the material, so while i still had the summaries at my disposal i could only chirp for half of the discussion. i sat in silence, horrified that the opportunity to wax lyrical on grape en abyme (in hebrew, mitz anavim is "grape juice" and we've been rolling the same "grape - grapes - vineyard" joke since the midterm) was being passed over. instead, i walked out with the following thoughts in my head:
do half-jews lay eggs? (there're some nasty things on the internet: the lolokaust, for example)
if a non-christian enters a church during the day, do the lights go out? (thank you, nathaniel hawthorne)

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the final midterm: was i cold? ill? that nervous? i had the shakes.
i'm very glad i borrowed a pen before we began, because mine died after a couple of lines... also, i really needed a bathroom break from about half an hour in. why does this keep happening?

i was terrified of the exam because we were told it would be short questions and multiple-choice only. those can be tricky... but we were touched by the divine and a shout rose from the back of the class where the papers were being handed out - there were no questions! a mistake!
a windfall, because we were given two essay questions instead.

and they were sweet essay questions. i enjoyed writing them ^_^

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on the way to the bus i met a girl from our class and was treated to a "are crocs okay" debate. i wasn't sure whether i was going straight to work or to meet pg for dinner, and when i stopped and explained that i didn't know where i was going she asked me if that was part of being a hippie.
"no, that's part of being incapable of making decisions"
in retrospect, i liked her idea better :P

i rode the bus home with tool in my head, contemplating with interest the relief of being financially comfortable after all that stress, even while not knowing what kind of a situation i'm actually in.

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it's winter, and i can sense the new season distancing me from them.

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to celebrate the money and the midterm, i'd offered to take pg out... we met, she picked a place, i ordered my favourite (i love their calzone) and sat down. that was when she surprised me by informing me that we were really celebrating something else - we've been together two months! that's a lot for me. and i'm well pleased the way things are :))

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i headed off to work, and for the second time got stuck with a bad situation... having to respond to a full mailbox of four days when customers are guaranteed a response within forty-eight hours?

not cool.

the night was so busy that i didn't really have the opportunity to do anything other than work - which is not what this job is about!
dammit.

i spoke to SxS for the first time in ages, and he reassured me about the cheque (he's worked for the same guy before). it was nice to be in touch again.

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tuesday:

after a long night i got back home a bit wired. i went through a bunch of old photos to ascertain that my hairline's not receding - it's always been a bit far back; pg making fun of me had me a little concerned :P

i crashed for about five hours, then dragged myself out of bed and used hair gel* before taking the culture bus** to a job interview

* *gasp* i don't like hair gel and i think i looked weird, but i was pretty certain that my isro wouldn't make the right impression for an avionics company.

** a bunch of noisy, vulgar and physically aggressive teens got on board and made everyone uncomfortable. while i didn't really want to exacerbate the scene, i really *wanted* to bitch about their offensive language and physically threatening antics. i *did* pipe up when one kid turned phonic thug. he mumbled something as he put his phone away... the guy next to me turned around to thank me for the intervention.

that was a good interview, i think. if i get the job, the big issue will be returning the retainer... i can think of worse situations.

after a chat with the flash boss on the bus, i walked into work and made a boo-boo... i mistakenly thought that my computer was locked by the girl i share it with the night before, and i logged her out forcefully instead of calling first. i won't be doing that again, i felt like a real heel and the unpleasantness most certainly wasn't worth it.

i discovered that the project i've been working on for a few weeks now was defined badly. i went upstairs to have it out with our r&d team, and was horrified to discover that they really don't get how the business works. when i explained just how critical something is to the customer, they told me not to stress because it wouldn't be *my* problem if the customers get pissed en masse, only the company's.

wankers.

i got back to scripting in perl... have i... yes, i've definitely mentioned not being a fan.

i walked home from work, irritated with all the horn happy rush hour bastards. one of them got me on a personal level - she wasn't pleased that she had to wait for me to cross at the pedestrian crossing. holding down your horn at someone from up close is nothing short of assault.

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i think that we should substantially decrease private transport ownership. just add an targeted tax for anyone who has a car that can only be used to upgrade the public transport system in a manner that would render most private transport completely unnecessary..

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the nystire incident:
a) a productive set of potentially work-related arguments
b) coming clean - catharsis? kind of.

i went shopping for the first time in too many days, then spent the rest of the evening / early morning studying. with pg and half the world through facebook - good thing for our class group on facebook, otherwise i wouldn't have been prepared for today at all :/

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today:

at stupid o'clock in the morning scrapper sent me a new article of his to edit. it has a few style issues and some typos, but other than that it was a great read - there's a kid with potential :)

pg and i eventually went to bed, and i was restless the entire night. she claims she didn't sleep at all. not nice :(

the ten extra minutes that i allowed myself after alarm were pure dream-time, though. i'd have woken up again more satisfied if i'd been able to remember any of it. i just recall it being worth recalling :S

before i left the house i checked mail: my mum sent a letter, through me, to pg. asking her to ask me to cut my hair. it's going to be a bitch to translate my mother's south african for her, but i'll pass it along. aside from being amused, i'm sharing this because i want to make it perfectly clear:

1. i've been dreaming for years about growing dreads. and i'm gonna.
2. unless i change my mind. unless i change my mind, not anyone else.
3. i don't know how they'll look on me. i might not like them.
4. the in-between stages are silly. i know.

first class: i, along with the rest of my class, was blown away by the professor who usually drives us crazy with her inane wordspew and ridiculous freud fascinations.

today, i asked a question. it was in response to a quote that every element in a narrative should have a function, and i borrowed the expression "to put a spoke in the wheels" to make my point. not only was she super pleased to steal my metaphor, she began to lucidly express a sentiment that turned into the first interesting, meaningful, thought-provoking thing we've learned in her class.

this from a woman who never finishes her damn sentences. she was on form.

so not only did i learn something, and discover that the professor is not a complete idiot, but i gave the class a break. when i was no longer being spoken to directly i returned my attention to the facebook page: loads of supportive "go totalwaste!"s and "what the hell are they talking about?" :P

so the prof knows nothing about singing guitars, but she knows her shit when it comes to analyzing them.

as for the second class:
no!
and yes!
oh, crap.

i sat next to the girl who shares a look with pg, which was amusing yet awkward. the lesson began with a pop-quiz. on the material for sunday's class. which is on the same topic but a completely different attitude to what we needed to learn for today. i, along with my fellow classmonkeys, drew blanks.

i scribbled something down eventually - although i'm sure it was rubbish.

this experience contrasted meaningfully with the rest: we discussed dracula and frankenstein's monster, dr jekyll and mr hyde.
i had a bit to say on everything, and fortunately only a couple of people heard my comment that had our lecturer's suggestion of checkov's lady being chopped up by her suitor and fed to her dog been realized, it would have made a more sophisticated and interesting device out of the otherwise fairly useless pomeranian.

along with the rest of the class, i followed the ta out of the building to pick up my midterm. pg caught me as we walked through the doors, and i decided to fetch the paper after lunch. we had a pleasant lunch, and after saying goodbye i went upstairs.

the ta had already left, but the lecturer was just walking by.
"she's in? no? you came for your grade? i can tell you your grade. you got -"

just then the ta returned, and she was as pleased as the lecturer. "this is a really original paper," the lecturer said. "it's rare to find someone who thinks like that". after a careful review of what i got back, i have to admit that *i* wouldn't have given myself a perfect score, but only because i'm a grammar nazi and i had a couple of typos ;)

(^_^) (^_^) (^_^)

i wasn't going to advertise my results to the rest of the class, but a few of them found out before i did so the cat's out of the bag. when i got into work it was with a big smile on my face and a lot of thanks for the manager who helped me out at 4am on hand-in day :)

the development hours at work were alright, although i was having difficulty focusing. at least i can be productive with my eyes closing - when the girl i share a machine with came in, a quick chat and i understood why her code's always a mess and barely functional.

because she doesn't code. she copies and pastes whatever she can find. she can't understand why i waste my time making sure that i understand exactly what's going on :S

since i moved over to the agent's chair, it's been a bit of a chill. there've been some calls (and the motherlode of events is coming up soon, i'm praying that things stay calm) but it's mostly been a chance to read comics, post, and idle.

... phone's ready...