incendies

i had a terrible day yesterday, partially caused by the intense heat that i had to brave to my mum's bank and then to work, and mostly by azure sql being completely unscalable and inept. i discovered that it's been dropping the ball for a week (and we don't have centralized error reporting for that system yet), and i spent the day trying to solve a problem that has little to do with us.

that kinda ruined my day. and i didn't make it any easier on myself because i spoke to my "customer" (one of the guys in marketing): i feel a responsibility to explain to him that things aren't working and that he should slow down on increasing system load. unfortunately, he has a responsibility to report to his boss who's very aggressive, and all of a sudden a shitstorm was raining down from above, and my boss was very upset because i'd tarred him with the same feather even if the issue wasn't our fault.

i was stressed because i wanted to go and see incendies on a friend's roof. the screening was due to begin at 8pm and it's the first time he's held a screening on a day that i could make it. at 6.30pm i'd done what i could and needed to get going in order to catch the bus... only the boss was unsatisfied and he kept me there for the next forty-five minutes, hurriedly running load testing to prove that everything was as i'd stated.

so much for trust. so i was running late, and the evening was still hot and sticky, and the buses were completely packed with smelly people (as usual on those buses at those hours)...

the bus dropped me off at 8.05pm and about twenty minutes walk from the apartment. i picked up a bottle of coke and a box of pringles, and only registered after i'd left that i'd paid NIS 27 - that's such a ridiculous price that if i'd stopped to think i would've rather gone out of my way to find another source. that pricing's just offensive, and i fell for it :S

i arrived about twenty minutes later, finding my way even though google maps failed me and the neighbourhood doesn't believe in street signs. i walked up the many flights of stairs to find about seven people on the roof. it would take another half an hour at least before we began the screening...

*sigh*

why is it that after twelve years in this country i still believe that an agreed upon time is not just a polite suggestion?

...

anyway, the movie is unbelievably good. i was blown away, and its theme and its gut-wrenching drama is still sliding around my mind. the bonus is that we watched it with english subtitles (on a surprisingly high quality projector) and it's primarily in canadian french; i found myself getting quite comfortable with it - it's one hell of a way to practice :)

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i took pg out for waffles, and we had an early night (2-3am counts). and a late morning filled with dreams. my day began with a shopping mission, picking up pg's mom's dog, and then doing almost nothing of value. i've tried to get some of my paper done, but it's not really happening.