a (re)new(ed) hope?

for months, ignorant and brainwashed idiots (and smart people, too) all over the world have been calling our attempts to defend ourselves against genocide: "genocide". when, ironically, we're doing everything in our power to *not* harm innocents, which would be far easier and safer for us (we could have literally flattened gaza in a couple of days if that had been our intention).

because nobody can police stupidity on the internet, these ridiculous assertions have run wild and there's been no real platform for defending against them.

i have a feeling that we should be grateful to the criminally negligent and morally bankrupt south african government for taking us to the ICJ. it looks like all eyes will be on the proceedings and it'll give us an opportunity to defend ourselves in an actual court, as opposed to the court of public opinion.

...

this morning was really rough. mr smear continued with the awefulness of the past couple of days, crossing a line with his rudeness and trying to punish us for telling him what to do.

on the way to school - and considering the mood he was in i honestly don't know how i managed to get him talking - i asked him what it is that makes him think we're bad parents. he informed me that it's because we make rules he doesn't like. so i asked him what good parents would do, and he confirmed that they'd let him do whatever he wanted. then i asked him how he knows this, and he didn't want to think about it.

so, with that minor success but still heavy shitty feeling, i came home and gd and i had a go at cleaning the cupboard in his bedroom. it was an awful experience. i don't know if i got spores in my eyes, or bleach, but either things got rough. and i lost a good pair of socks, and had to shower and switch clothes before i left for work.

at least i managed to make the forex orders today.

the first order of business today was ordering a car and setting up a chair evaluation - a couple of my teammates joined me and we got the job done; i'm excited about the chair i'm going with and i'm pleased that it's only half the budget.

the work day itself was productive.

at around 6.30pm everyone in the office scrambled to get home before the weather turned - apparently their was a storm warning from the municipality. i'd taken an umbrella and worn my rainboots to work, so i was okay, and i even managed to pick up a couple of groceries and run an errand for gd along the way.

when i got home, we had a family meeting. it was less a family meeting, and more me telling mr smear how things are going to proceed, but he had a very important role to play and he played it surprisingly well: he didn't argue, he assured me that he understood, and by and large it felt like all three of us were clear and in agreement.

god knows what tomorrow will bring, but it gave me hope regardless.

dinner was nice (we watched carpet cleaning ASMR videos), mr smear's shower/bedtime went smoothly. i started falling asleep while reading to him, then crashed on the couch, then (around 10.30/11pm, i think?) jumped in the shower and got stuck into bloons adventure time. for a while.

i think i'm almost ready for bed.