exam times - part ii

[... continued]

i had breakfast with karnaf, then hunted the sunshine spots on the way home. it was a beautiful day! i had a shower then hopped off to visit my piercer and get my helix put back in :)

i've spent the afternoon either writing this or chilling with pg, and now... gonna study. by reading a good book ^_^

---the union has been playing in the background, and i still can't get over the bit on incarceration. the following segment on the pharmaceutical industry is extremely aggravating, too.

... and speaking of pharmaceuticals, here're a couple of great tracks, one slightly more ambient and one slightly less. (you see what i did there?)

pain, cookies, elbows and machine-gods

quote for the day: "freud is to psychology what l. ron hubbard is to religion"

we slept well last night. sleep of the dead. on my way in to class, wr caught up with me to tell me that he and his girlfriend just got back together - sweet news! and then the painful second-last class happened. two hours of summarizing and uncharitable questions and disappointing answers and misery. only one more, though!

our study session in the library turned me into a shocking (literally) teacher, but we did have cookies. everyone seemed to get things in the end - i hope it helped. then i went for lunch with pg, who detected an unusual amount of peas in her noodles. noodles shouldn't have peas, and her pea-to-noodle ratio was border on 50% :S

on the way out we ran into karnaf at the main gate, and i sarcastically wished him a happy new year - i don't get why he's been so difficult to talk to of late...

work was work, and after a couple of frustrating hours i got things untangled and am almost done. after discovering an unidentifiable purchase label on my credit card report last night, i was surprised today to receive an email from a company of the same name. i sent them a response asking them what it is they do and what they think i bought from them - i was certain that someone had snapped up my credit details and that i was in trouble.

a minute or two after sending the mail (having gone to their website to check, just in case) it suddenly occurred to me that this was the company in charge of promoting the marathon i signed up for - what kind of moronic "marketing" company doesn't think to be specific on a credit listing, or, for that matter, not send out a receipt for a purchase?

assholes.

on the bus home i continued to read olalla - and i heartily advise not reading anything that might contain spoilers.

i was standing and reading, and some asswipe came and stood right next to me. what made him an asswipe is that he was constantly switching things between pockets, and his elbow kept approaching my phone... eventually touching my hand, i politely asked him to keep his distance. what, am i invisible?! then, after getting off the bus without further incident i was walking on the right side of the sidewalk past an old man walking in the middle, when less than a two metres before me he veered left, almost smashing into me. i skipped sideways just in time - good thing i look at everyone i pass - and looked back to see him stopping and staring up, completely unaware that anything was amiss.

*sigh*
it's a sign of a lousy lecturer when students get excited to hear that they're ill and that the lessons are cancelled. our italian is out of commission, and i am *PLEASED*. i know i shouldn't be, i don't actually wish him ill but the readings for the next class are absurdly long and i really was desperate for a god to come out of the machine.

---to my husband is really sweet - and sometimes hysterically funny :)

just another couple of hours

*breathes deeply*

this is nuts - i'm still not packed, and my apartment's still not clean. the trauma of having the washing machine stick and blink (turned out i'd overloaded it, but the manual says* "check the filter" - grimy fingers for nothing) added to the surprise discovery that on friday night's date i managed to step in something unsavoury (at least it was dry already... i didn't notice?!) on top of the distracting heat and distracting facebook and distracting netbook upgrade (shouldn'a done that)...

on the plus side, i handed over a spare to karnaf and got skype working on my n95 (it can do that?! it runs on symbian and works fantastically over the neighbour's wireless). now i *have* to shower and get this shit sorted out before crashing.

* yes. i keep manuals lying around. and i read them. my mommy taught me well.

---
another great olde find: a banned mastercard ad

outflow

i'm back from playing ultimate frisbee for the very first time - great game! damn near killed me, though... i'm going to have to practice while i'm away... so i have two things to keep me physically occupied: frisbee and martial arts. it'll be good :)

---
the hardware dude convinced me (with a verification call before leaving work) to get home at 2pm... and then only arrived more than half an hour later :/
he did bring me a going-away present, though (a much appreciated one) and he did good work for less money than the guy who *didn't* rock up the morning before :P

that time was more than enough for me to discover the dirt beneath the couch - i haven't moved it in a while :$

i returned to work, and between the lead and i we finally closed a nasty chapter in our development history :)

i said goodbye to everyone (except the boss, who was busy), and rushed off to tahoma's birthday picnic. on the bus to jaffa, i realized what everyone's been laughing about... the new stickers on police cars inspired the following thought: if i see something that needs to be reported, i'm going to call them up and say "hello! i'd like to participate in the war against crime." before giving them any useful information :P

jaffa has a giant indoor flea market called "supershuk", which translates to "supermarket" :P

i passed a little girl walking in tears, and wished that there was some appropriate / helpful reaction.

the sunset picnic was pretty cool; it was great seeing tahoma and his fiancé, and a couple of the guys from work rocked up eventually and it was nice chatting with them. one of them gave me a ride to the central station - i needed to be at home to meet with someone (who didn't pitch) - the station intrigues me every time as a haven for tangled masses of uncensored and unbleached humanity. the expression "human swarm" comes to mind.

i find it really easy to connect.

i showered and shopped, then went to bed early.

...

i was supposed to wake up at 9.30am on friday to do some things; at 11.30 i got up to a phone call asking where i was. i hopped on the bus and eventually managed to find the place in spite of awfully bad directions... there's a new area in south tel aviv that's just opened up, and it's really nice. breakfast was good, cheap, and fun.

as usual, piles and i had a lot of serious stuff to talk about, like music and studies... i'm still in mentor mode with him :P

he gave me a ride to piercer, who cleaned me up (i haven't been hard enough with my helix) before we did the chilling-on-the-bench chatting and staring at the passers-by. really interesting people :)

i visited the taekwondo group - the instructor just doesn't get why i'm not coming back, even though i keep explaining it to her. i was shocked to see how poorly the students are doing :S

my final sunset roll for the summer was amazing! and educational - one of the guys had a go at me because he didn't like the way i was reacting to idiots hooting. i heard him out, and tried his way - much better. every time someone hooted, we waved and said thanks. the irritated drivers were made to feel silly, and for the rest there's not a lot of positive to be done.

i had thirty minutes to cool down, shower and be ready for the date with pretty girl (pg). the weather wasn't particularly supportive: we walked to the rogatka, and her pace was fast enough to break a sweat :P

strangely awesome vegans? the place is very much to my liking, and the only vegan item they have are hotdogs. everything else is cheap liqor. we drank - and i can drink again! :P

dafna and the cookies gave an amazing performance! two hours, with some really fun and funny adlibbing, and some sounds that were powerful enough to get me high. brilliant! and pg seemed to be enjoying herself, too :)
we had a last round before heading out, and went through my favourite park on the way. i'm guessing we spent at least an hour on the swings, talking and singing and... wait. singing? wow! that *never* happens!

we almost stopped for waffles but continued to my place, where we watched three episodes of invader zim before i walked her home (practically next door). the goodbye was shy but smily, as the entire evening had been. i walked home with a giant grin and a bouncy gait ^_^

---
karnaf woke me up with a coffee call - we sat chatting for quite a while before i went south to have the chef's breakfast with urchin. great breakfast :)
the talk was great too - she's been offered an opportunity to exhibit her photography soon :)

urchin came with me to pick up a key, and made me a really grand offer - she's willing to take care of anything that i don't manage to sort out before i go... *breathes easier*

i was going to begin sorting out my apartment, but decided that a last frisbee session would be a better idea :)

---
i am *SO* glad that i went on that date last night! stupid as it may have been (considering that i'm leaving so soon), i had an amazing time and have met someone that i really like. the alternative was not meeting her, so my only concern is whether or when to be in touch before i go...

---
i dig piraro

comic instructions are exactly what i needed. they don't make me feel any more comfortable with the idea, however...

lists:
weird creatures
super powers
mental conditions

this is how i feel right now :)

the ascent

[it's *really* hard for me to type right now]

breakfast turned out to be a bit complicated: the irish member of ze germans and an english friend of ours made it fairly clear that they're not interested in breaking bread with us anymore, so the german birthday girl from last week [breakfast girl] and i arranged to meet at ducks.

it was an ice-cold day, and my sweater wasn't cutting it. i found a table that was more or less sheltered from the elements to wait a few minutes for breakfast girl and her friend to arrive. we sat talking and debating the menu for a short while, and were belatedly informed that ducks don't serve breakfast after 2pm anymore... that's not in line with the general tel aviv attitude.

we missioned up and down dizengof (we went a bit too far due to a navigational accident that i blame myself for) until we found a place that looked good - can't recall the name - and sat down to what turned into a highly enjoyable hour or two of eating really good food and talking a lot. the pace wasn't even broken when breakfast girl's awkwardly quiet sister joined us :P

i was on my way home when scrapper called, and he and a friend were waiting for me at rabin square when i arrived there ten minutes later. we began with "the downing of the snickers" - scrapper has a thing about snickers, which is nothing to complain about - and commenced another frisbee-in-the-rain session that was a lot of fun.
slippery, dangerous fun :)

we missioned to le gufre afterwards for hot chocolate and their fantastic heaters (one in particular worked its magic and caused steam to rise from our hair), and after that i returned home for an amazing hot shower. i don't really recall much between that point and gn1's arrival.

gn1 is particularly critical about my style of living - i have to admit i'm quite amused to hear that i'm living the typical bachelor's life :P

we went for a fairly long walk about the city until we settled at jeremiah's for dinner. their food is always fantastic. we were both absolutely exhausted by the time we left.

...

i woke up an hour or two before i got out of bed this morning, and fairly soon received a phone call from scrapper letting me know that he'd be picking me up soon. i made quick-and-dirty sandwiches, dressed appropriately, and we headed off to the sportec's climbing wall accompanied by system of a down.

i've been wanting to do this since it opened.

it was a great day, we all learned a lot, and we've agreed to try and do this weekly. during my second climb i almost fainted, but some apple juice and a coke got me back into the groove. by my last attempt my arms were simply unresponsive, though... even now i'm still finding it difficult to grip things :P

i got a ride home, read comics and skimmed through some news, and began watching another episode of battlestar galactica before being distracted by preparations for frisbeer with karnaf. by the time i got to his side of the city it had gotten too dark to play, though, so we sat at jeremiah's over beers, whiskeys and soup, and talked for an hour or two. then it was time to head back...

i've just spoken to my mum, had a shower, and talked to gn1 - in about half an hour she's picking me up and the evening events will begin. i think i might require some caffeine :P

two days down

i feel like i've lost time...

the braai at SxS's place was awesome - saw a lot of friends i've been out of touch with, the food was great, and i thoroughly enjoyed playing texas hold'em, even though i got my butt whipped.

i left his place around 7am, went straight to the ministry of interior, to discover that they've moved, and i'll only be able to go from the 3rd... oh well. i arrived to a totally quiet base, spent the morning juggling between arbing and grafting.

at 3pm i asked for permission to leave, and my commander gave me an ultimatum: if i finished the prog i was working on successfully by 3.30, i could leave - if not, i leave at 8pm... not very nice, as i've never tried to run the damn thing before.

at approximately 3.25, i gingerly clicked the "work, dammit!" button - and i'll be damned, it ran first time! not only was i very excited, but my commander was severely disappointed, 'cause he had to let me go ^_^

we went to a tattoo parlour in dizengoff - a friend from the base's cousin works their, and i saw his portfolio, and had a chat with him. his work is AMAZING, and as far as money is concerned he said we can work something out. now i just have to do the damn thing.

and yes, i'm totally nervous about this.

humorous aside: we're going to redo their website for them (i hope i find the time). it's one way to pay for the tat ;)

the mongoose and i went to go pick up the tickets - getting lost on the way, but we succeeded in the end. we ate good shuwarma, then took the bus to holon. went to the video store - awesome video store - and got AvP and big fish.

omfg - my first opportunity to see AvP!! my enthusiasm wasn't enough, i was so exhausted that i fell asleep after about half an hour. i LOVED what i did get to see though, so there is hope.

i slept REALLY badly. in the early afternoon, we rushed to return the videos, and then had a brilliant breakfast. we sat down for some serious (read: very tasty) ice-cream, but had to take it with us as his mom came to pick us up.

i took the bus to tel aviv, and walked-very-fast home, where i showered and changed in about 2 minutes (no shit - i'm most impressed), as i was late for a date with this girl i met a few weeks ago.

i am one lucky SOB. the bus arrived AS i got to the stop (aided by a little running). i arrived with time to spare - so i treated myself to neil gaiman - american gods.

i couldn't remember how this girl looks, so i was more than pleasantly surprised when she arrived, and turned out to be FINE. very cute, very sexy. and really nice - we sat talking over coffee for about an hour before she left. unfortunately, as is not usually the case, i'm all enthusiastic, and i'm not sure how she feels - but the situation is definitely an improvement over the norm :D

i walked through to karnaf's pad, got my tickets and sat for coffee. i started reading the book, and the first few pages are simply great. good buy.

the mongoose picked me up, and we drove to get the last ticket, then stopped for a hot dog. damn kosher-for-passover rolls taste like crap. ran into an old friend from the university though, which was nice.

he just dropped me off, i'm doing laundry, planning on reading a bit, and then - who knows??

i really need to slow down my smoking, i'm way out of control.

i'm totally excited about the festival - we're leaving tomorrow!! this is gonna be killer.