holidays on the way

it's been a politically active weekend, and pg and i got back to normal. my sleep patterns are definitely not anywhere near normal, i'm suffering the most awful insomnia that usually lets me rest only when i have less than two hours until i have to wake up. it's either too hot, or my legs are too cramped, or i've got too much on my mind to just chill out. and the last few days have seen me with a lack of appetite, too. this is a bit worrying.

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thursday:

what a strange sensation! thursday was quiet, mostly. the testing went fine, the issues we did have were few and mostly uncomplicated. i spent a lot of timing discussing revolutions. the biggest thing that happened was that i finally, after almost a month, got hold of the people on the list that urchin provided me... and then i received an email from wordsworth slamming my efforts.

worst part - he was right, i did it badly :(

in the evening someone contacted me about the printer i've been trying to get rid of, and although the price i got for it was laughable it was better than putting it on the street and hoping that it wouldn't be trashed. now for the rest of the shit :P

scrapper and botchman picked me up on our way to visit the tents on rothschild, and the number of miscommunications before we found each other made me wonder if our phone conversations had crossed over with an alternate reality. finding parking was another long mission...

the reason for the new manifesto is that by and large, the idiots out camping in protest do not understand the basics of economics and capitalism. they're calling for the government to regulate rent pricing instead of forcing the government to use its glorious tax surplus for the benefit of the population, i.e. improving infrastructure and public transport so that poorer people will have a choice of where to live.

after a tour, we stopped in the theatre square to play vtm until 3am. it was great fun.

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friday:

after relatively little sleep, i had a quick pre-training breakfast and then paid a visit to the hardware store. the hardware dude... he's a nice guy, although sometimes i'm not sure if he's really interested in my life or if he's just looking to butter up my wallet.

i was going to hit rothschild again to hear organik play, but there wasn't enough time and i was tired so i had a nap instead.

training: killer. little oxygen, lots of sweat, pain, and then much more pain than usual when scrapper landed a solid kick to my face. my nose is still hurting two days later, and it's a little swollen, but if it wasn't too tough to carry on fighting then it can't be *real* damage :P

after getting home and showering, pg and i watched friends till dinner. i had a long argument with her brother - it feels weird explaining the basics of capitalism and free market economies to a student. why don't they teach this stuff in high school? why did i have to study business science in order to learn something so fundamentally connected to the way i live??

i only had about half an hour or so to nap again - boy, was i ever tired - before the kid picked me up* and we drove to nitzanim for a kibbutz party to celebrate the release of a girl we served with. it was a fun pool party :)

* a good excuse to get rid of a fat stack of books of his i've been holding on to - pg's pleased.

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saturday:

i feel a bit shitty for having passed out for most of the drive home. i crashed on arrival, and was woken up about five hours later for breakfast with one of pg's friends. she swung by afterwards to inspect our apartment and play tekken, and i was well pleased when she got excited by the surfboard chc left behind. so now the surfboard has an owner and it looks like i might have someone to hit the water with when pg and i get back from sa ^_^

after more online arguments (with facebook cutting some of them in half, without warning, thanks so much), pg's friend left and we watched sherlock jr. - it is a good film. i drank too much araq while watching it, though, and it was an effort to drag myself to bed for a nap once it ended.

i dreamed of releasing insects and bugs - i don't remember what that means but they were those sort of dreams, and woke up when it should have been time to make the march. a quick check and i learned that the march was to be integrated with the tent-dwellers', so i made a couple of big signs and pg and i headed off.

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"the government silences instead of constructing, it doesn't subsidize and it doesn't care. without democracy, there won't be any change"

"capitalism is good. a government that doesn't build for its citizens is not. don't punish the land-owners, demand improvements from the source!"

we arrived late, but not so late that we could be seen and heard. i was pleased that some of the marchers were appreciative of my signs, disappointed by some of them for instantly dismissing them, and glad for the opportunity to argue with people who climbed into me, and walked off accepting my position because it doesn't actually interfere with their goals.

it was really hot, though. and there were a LOT of people. sixty thousand in tel aviv that we felt, and another ninety thousand around the country. as much as i'm desperately concerned about the direction that's being pushed, i'm pleased to note that the newspapers are reporting things in a manner that lead me to believe that we might actually get it right.

here's hoping this isn't just a spark. it's time for fire.

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we watched the rest of bladerunner when we got home, then went to bed. i had a terrible night. and a tough morning. at least work's been alright today. and someone i used to study with got in touch with me about an potentially interesting project... i'm being labelled an "activist", as if it's a profession. dammit, people, it's something everyone should be!