results, a confession pt 1

[post re-divided retroactively]

a big week has gone by. mostly, it's not over yet. i'm not even certain i'm ready to post this right now, although it really must be done. i'm using the fact that the youtube upload is taking *forever* and audacity's so bad with silence detection and maintaining the sound's quality when left alone that i'm now ripping tracks from my minidiscs one by one...

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monday:

the bus changes have been chaotic, but mostly alright. the one glaring exception is egged - they're totally new to the electronic card system and when their machines don't work, their drivers don't know how to respond. or they respond a little bit too pedantically: the card reader read me as empty, even though i have a full year pass. after rubbing the card's magnetic strip on his trouser leg, which bothered me, he began investigating. "show me your receipt," he said. i was surprised, i've never thought to travel with it and don't really want to. i have an electronic card, you see. that's what it's for. "take a look at my photo, on the back. look at what the card says."
he read it out loud, which was unnecessary.
"so you see, i -"
"where's your receipt? who travels without a receipt?! you need to bring your receipt."

i'll tell you who: nobody i know. tahoma laughed at me when i called him to find out what that was all about, but the damage had been done and i was uncomfortable getting on egged buses the entire week.

---i'd been on my way to the old office. as it turned out, it was to discover a better way of handling time-zone differences - every time i have to deal with something, i realize how little thought my predecessors put into their work... i spend far more time overwriting rubbish than i do solving real issues. it's good for my ego, at least.

i found pg in a great mood, and i was exhausted and stressed but pretty much satisfied with the day, so we went hunting food. up and down ben gurion we went, unable to find anything suitable, eventually giving up and taking a bus to the frozen yoghurt place - but she spotted an interesting looking place across the road, and we ended up there instead. it was pretty good, but we both ate *way* too much. and the beer and the coffee on top of that crossed the line.

the apartment looked... different. pg had taken it upon herself to paint the table i'd wheeled over green, and it took up a lot of space. i set down my bag, then took a walk to see my family.

on the way, an odd thought struck: words have power, and they shape the way we think. perhaps it would be wiser to speak in the imperative, and decisively?
"you will care, things will change"
as opposed to
"you should care, things have to change"?
yang came back home with me to meet pg and join us in watching the darwin awards - a surprisingly entertaining movie. i thought some of winona's acting came off a bit contrived, which is unfortunate because i really like her.

...

on going to bed: i scored a 93 for the shakespeare course! *phew*. and YAY!

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tuesday:

waking up early to drive up north: but not too early; half an hour later than intended, in fact. my alarm clock decided that i'd meant to set it for the next day :S

we had coffee and a pleasant drive north, going through afula by mistake but fortunately coming out on the right side and then arriving on the kibbutz for breakfast. it was a very sweet reunion - i think our kibbutz cousin was a bit overwhelmed. it was a very pleasant morning, and then we were off...

the ride back was a bit stressful. not necessarily good stress, although i must say that my aunt can certainly dish it out and she posed some very interesting challenges. we were primarily arguing about the value of fiction and fantasy, and exposure versus choice. that last all the way back, and made the driving time feel like a few minutes :P

i was exhausted, so i decided to take a nap. i set my alarm, and again it didn't go off - that was when i discovered that my iphone was selecting my "schooldays" alarm by default even though i haven't used it since the semester ended. and that alarm never works on tuesdays.

wonderful.

so i was late, and irritated about being late. i'd wanted to take them to see the university, but there wasn't enough time left so i went with them to the palmach museum next, saying goodbye and then discovering that they couldn't get in because they didn't have their passports on them - i flashed my reserve duty card and the gate opened. very nice. a very weird sensation.

[continued...]