bad series

it's been a rough, rough day. it started off with my sitting almost patiently for an hour, waiting my turn to approach the window of the immigration office at the canadian embassy. all i was innocently looking for was information regarding studying there, and i was confidently sent up there by two security guards, the second of whom was forced to put my iphone and kindle in a locker. so i couldn't read anything, or play angry birds, and the telly was showing stuff that couldn't have been very interesting even if they had cranked the volume way up to an audible level. all i had to occupy myself with were overheard snippets of "the people vs bureaucracy".

then, by sheer narrative imperative, i was informed that the room i'd been consciously doing nothing in for so long could not provide me assistance in any way, shape or form, other than to refer me to the embassy's website. fan-bloody-tastic! i stormed off, grabbing my oh-so-obviously-dangerous electronic devices from the locker while spitting my complaint at the new security guard, who had no idea what i was talking about. in my defense, i was a tad irritated and i'd already begun complaining before noticing that he was a different person.

i then shared my feelings with the other security guard downstairs - this time because the first guy was busy talking to someone else - who told me that what i really needed to do was go to the same floor, but using the other elevator. for a moment i thought he was having me on, but i got up there and explained my case to yet another guard, who waved me through the detector with my totally weaponized electronic war devices that james bond would be proud to carry. i approached the window, and was greeted by a secretary who only took a minute to get back to me.

nope, nobody to talk to there either. "there is no such person in our offices," she told me, but she did give me a business card with an email address and an instruction to write the email in english.

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while i was unavailable, netvision called me. i wasn't about to spend another fifteen minutes on hold deciding that an email would be better, so i figured i'd get around to them eventually. in the meanwhile, my cousin hadn't called me back... i do hope my aunt and uncle have managed to extend their trip.

i stopped by the skate shop to pick up new wheels, and a complete set of new bearings. it was a fun and social bit, there were two others there who might be coming this afternoon for the jerusalem - tel aviv route so we had some planning to do :)

i was almost home when i received an sms informing me that there'd been a horrible crisis at work the night before, and our shift was being moved forward by two hours. i was dazed and agitated when i woke pg up to come shopping with me, and actually had to stop and spazz out and shout my frustration out. that wasn't the best wake up i could have offered her, i'll bet.

it took about half an hour on the roof to switch out all my wheels. the physicality of it calmed me down somewhat.

we had breakfast in a nice place on bograshov; it might have been even better if we hadn't sat next to loud people whose conversation drowned out our own and made me feel like my iq was dropping... afterwards, we bought the tent we'd come for and headed off to dizengoff center, where pg bought herself a copy of watchmen and i exerted some self-control and handled two very practical (and cheap) umbrellas. i would probably have done something about my sunglasses (i'm looking for new lenses) but the store i bought my jawbones in doesn't deal with them any more :(

netvision tried to connect with me while pg and i were in bograshov, but they didn't let the phone ring long enough :/

the fifteen minute nap i had when i got home was AMAZING. i then strapped on my blades, and coasted to work. it feels like flying with these new wheels!

everything at work was stressed. i pulled a twelve hour shift, and the tension was high from the get-go. i made a snide remark just after i arrived, and my boss whipped around and said "fuck you" before apologizing - that's the first time i've ever heard him swear at all, and once i was on my guard i became fully aware of just how much strain he's been taking. a comment later on by our office aspie and another co-worker about the future of the company definitely put the possibility of an ending in our near future.

which is a pity, because it's a great product and a nice office environment. if even half the employees would stop covering their arses and start making an effort, we'd really be able to pick things up.

netvision: third try. i'm actually impressed. the girl i spoke to was good enough to try to organize a deal whereby i don't get screwed with the penalty clause - we'll see how that goes.

there was loads of work to be done, and of primary concern was an operational decision by the higher-ups that we were all convinced was doomed to certain failure. by sheer luck, things were okay, and in spite of it being a really tough night we were fully aware that it could have been much worse.

arbitraries for the night:
the office aspie and i had an unpleasant altercation over automation and problem solving; 100% impossible to communicate with her :S
i signed surety for a cousin with a health concern in order to appease a bureaucratic organization. it was a weird letter to write. i warned the guys that i shouldn't be the one to order food - we were damn lucky that the guy came back after i missed the call by half an hour... an abusive caller sent us an email to which i had to respond - i was super-polite, but the cow was blatantly lying (we'd heard the conversation in real-time) and was trying to get the support agent fired. charming.

it was a night full of apologies and ugly grud-work. and mosquitoes. i frikkin' hate mosquitoes.

so: a twelve hour shift and getting home in time for a quick shower and this posting. now it's REALLY late.

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one of the emails i came across was signed thus:
"and thou that seekest to know me, know that thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not, unless thou knowest the mystery: if that which thou seekest, thou findest not within thyself, thou wilt never find it without. for behold, I have been with thee from the beginning, and i am that which is attained at the end of desire."
yep - it works.