drained - part i

örmagörd. i can't believe it's sunday after 6pm as i begin writing this, and i haven't had a chance to breathe the entire week nor the entire weekend. i've been super tired and busy and i really, really need a rest. to be clear, the weekend's chores are far from over :(

---sunday:

after saturday night's blogging, 1.30am to bed, followed by a good sleep. more blogging and chores - including trying and failing to take a good photo of me for the slam team's fundraising efforts. on our way to midi 6 for breakfast i remembered to take pieces of chalk, and i took *just* enough to cross out "A LIE" from
BEAUTY IS
A LIEand replace it with
BEAUTY IS
SUBJECTIVE
BLINDNESS
IS A CHOICE"
i felt much better after that.

midi 6 was great, and our second attempt to take a photo of me was a fantastic success!

my beard was all scratchy and called for an emergency shave. airplane sent me some work he's done recently and it's EPIC comic work! more blogging and chores, then suddenly not feeling good at all.

gd and i don't agree on the current ebola situation, and i'm siding with these people. the ad preceding the video was for dr pepper, though, with the doctor moving through a hospital treating patients with soda. that's messed up.

my mother surprised me by calling using facetime - it must've been about 3am her time, and she was testing it out. apparently she's more of an "early" adopter than i am :P

we watched some being human, i felt a bit better, the weekend ended.

---monday:

as opposed to a photo of me from the end of last year that garnered a lot of likes, the approval for my new profile picture has actually been flattering :)

i got up early, did a ton of dishes and buggered about with google play music and somehow left late in spite of my best intentions. i tweaked my latest poems, which i'm *really* pleased with, arrived at work and spent the morning focused.

arguing with my building manager: that awkward feeling when you're talking to someone who obviously didn't think about what they just said, it was incredibly stupid and you don't want to sound condescending because you need them to do you a favour :/

i booked a hotel room for gd and i for the cfsw! very cool, we got a king-sized bed for the same price as a regular discounted room :D

work: there's little more worrying than when shit SHOULDN'T work and it does. i began a big refactor, and i wrote down "constants fudging" but i don't remember why.

i rushed out in a hurry to meet gd and get to godmother's for dinner, which was absolutely delicious (in particular the veggie burgers). yang was there and we were all cool for the first time in a while. we went on a yeh! mission afterwards, then returned home to construct shelving that gd bought for our bathroom.

it's unbelievable how much difference it makes not having all sorts of shit around the sink.

---tuesday:

light rls during the night and too much internet time were followed by a garbage and dishes morning.

on my way into the building i ran into a friend of newk'd's who's just started working for my company.

the morning was filled with javascript closure binding issues - completely mental - and was *really* bad timing for me to install a version of our software that has a major bug in it that made testing my changes a nightmare.

it's amazing to me that when i walk out looking for privacy and quiet in order to be interviewed for a future job, i'm blasted by trucks, bells, horns and wind. the thing about the interview is that it's a personal connection that i tapped back in february and it took until now to score the phone call; i felt obligated to hear these guys out. and it's a really, really interesting opportunity, so i explained that i'm committed for the next while and that i'll be in touch when i'm ready.

it's nice to have options!

airplane suggested that i listen to the make comics podcast, and the first episode i downloaded basically told me not to work with the kind of people that i've been working with :S

the afternoon was spent dealing with closure binding and ogg vorbis oddities, and once i was done i *needed* kickboxing. the class was a killer, primarily because i was working through breathing difficulties (allergy season?), it was humid and i was dizzy and i ended up hurting my hand because my new gloves aren't good for pads and bags. so i need to sell those, now, and buy bag gloves. i'm not happy with that at all :(

badger and i continued our argument over israel / gaza, and the jolly moroccan joined in. it took a while for me to realize that he wasn't referring to israel's actions as criminal, rather it's existence. so that was the end of arguing with him. as far as i'm concerned, even though a lasting peace in the middle east is impossible, we can still ease the palestinian suffering. and i believe that israel's the only player that can do that, and that it should.

badger and i went on a loblaws mission, i was harassed by spiders (one in the car climbing down to my lap, and a couple on the way home). i'm not a fan of spiders.

[continued...]

layers and stages - part ii

[... continued]

sunday:

oh, the rain. the endless rain :(

the workshop for the slam finalists was quite fun, it was nice meeting all the other poets and some of the exercises weren't bad at all. i kinda messed with the program because i had to leave early, but they were accommodating enough to switch things up so that i could get feedback on one of my works before leaving.

did the others really use works they might actually perform? seems silly to show your hand to your competition.

...

the places along the way where i would've eaten dinner were either closed or out of vegan options, and i didn't have time to go shopping. i stopped in at home to pick up the french materials that vfmp had loaned me, scarfed down a frozen meal and went to vfmp's. i would've stayed longer than the minute or two if i'd known that the next buses were going to take forever - i would've known that if i'd looked at the "sunday" schedules instead of the regular weekday ones. that made me feel silly.

i had a stick of liquorice in my jacket which i was very good about not eating because gd likes it too; i wasn't paying attention and she finished the whole thing without me, looking very ashamed when she realized what she'd done :P

i was too tired to move, and passed out on her couch to an episode of angel and the inexplicable universe with neil degrasse tyson. neither of them were particularly engaging.

---monday:

being able to sleep in was amazing!

i spoke to the recruitment agency, and things weren't looking good. i spoke to SxS, and while things aren't so good for him right now it was nice to catch up and introduce him to gd. it looks like we might meet up soon, too.

gd went to see her dentist, which is right next to my starbucks so i sat there working on my comics until she was done. which was a long, long time. it was during that time that my throat began to get scratchy and i started coughing a bit, which would slowly but surely progress until i developed full-blown sinusitis. it's not clear if it's an allergy thing or not, but what is clear is that this is not at all good timing.

once gd was done and i'd eaten something, we went to the further supermarket and found the vegan cheese we'd been seeking the day before. i called up a recruiter who's a contact of hers to introduce myself, then phoned the tax authority to see if i'd be able to pay them yet. gd was in hysterics as i tried to reason with the agent, eventually reaching the conclusion that i'm going to have to call once a week until i'm allowed to pay them. and the interest for not having paid them on time.
the bureaucracy is astounding.

muay thai: i partnered with a girl who's much shorter than me. we worked well, but everything was more difficult for both of us. when i say well, i mean really hard and my body went all rubbery when i started the boxing class afterwards. i was partnered with army brat, who i managed to upset so severely that at one point she didn't want to continue to work with me. on the one hand i felt bad, but on the other hand the second she got angry she actually got off her ass an worked.

we ended the class amiably, and i can't figure out if she was exaggerating or if i was really being such an asshole. i hope it's not the latter, i'm going to do my best not to be that guy :/

i chugged a triple-liquid dinner when i got home (protein shake, orange juice and tonic water, each downed separately) then slowly moved my developing sore throat to gd's. that was when i listened to my voicemail and heard that the company i interviewed for last week wants me on board.

fantastic! only the other company that i really, really want to work for was only supposed to get back to me tomorrow, so at 4am her time i called up my mother for advice on how to delay things.

...

gd may not be vegan, but she's 100% vegan-friendly. her vegan étagé is absolutely delicious! ^_^

---yesterday:

we went to sleep after watching orgasm inc. - it's a great documentary and highlights just how disturbingly bad we are at defining "normal", the baseline for all medicine and psychological treatment. it's all sad and ugly.

i slept well but my throat infection was in full swing; then gd had a rough morning so the day wasn't terrific from the get-go.

i spent an hour or two posting, worried about how to not accept the job graciously, then hopped off to meet with vector to discuss turning one of my poems into a short movie. we bounced ideas off each other until we were both enthusiastic and excited, and he's now done with his studies so he has time to begin implementing. nice!
we were both intrigued to hear tracks from nine inch nails - hesitation marks playing at starbucks.

i shaved, overdressed (!) and went to the offices to discuss my contract and take a tour. everyone's really nice, the initial terms on the contract were what i was going to ask for and everything, including the dress code, is to my liking. i even got along well with the egyptian security guard while waiting to be shown in.

i walked out with the unpleasant feeling that not taking the job would be disloyal after all that.

...

gd's recruiter-friend's partner called me up to discuss my status and what i'm looking for. he has plenty of work for me, but nothing that can wait for a permit application.

a couple of weeks ago i got bloodwork done, and i called them up to see if the results were in.
"yes, sir - they came in the next day."
i love how they let us know - i would've checked sooner but they always say "up to three weeks" :(

...

kickboxing: the jolly moroccan makes for a tough partner, impact with him was killer and i received tons of important corrections from our trainer. i was quite impressed with myself because my breathing and my cardio were just fine in spite of my throat hating me.

i hurriedly prepared my self and a salad before going to gd's. she's having serious back trouble so we watched stand-up for a bit and then went to bed.

oh, flip

i've just published my modernized version of narcissus and echo after deciding that it's good enough without my pretentiously ruining it with rhyme. i came to the starbucks intending to sort out an nda for mti but my netbook is seriously griefing me. also, i don't feel like doing anything else until i finish posting, it's been a crazy few days and the weekend's probably going to be interesting too.

i'll start with a quick summary of the things at the forefront of my mind right now:
(in no particular order)

1. job hunting. i interviewed yesterday for the aerospace job. it's not exactly what i expected but it's still an awesome entry point and it has room for mobility in the right direction if i play my cards right. long story short, i interviewed well and already received feedback that i'm their top candidate. my recruiter's pressuring them to move quickly in light of my final interviews for the other super-exciting opportunity on tuesday and while writing this post received a callback.

2. gd. i've been weird about things for the last few days, but it's more psychological sabotage than anything real. everything's fantastic in spite of skeptical me and feels right.

3. i retook the french oral comprehension exam this morning. my oral comprehension has definitely gotten better, but the number of "je ne sais pas" answers has increased noticeably. i hope i improved my score!

---tuesday evening:

the gym experience was full of amusing faux pas (mainly with the kickboxing couple) but was primarily a good, solid training. the jolly moroccan has been implementing the diet and was eager to report that he was feeling really good on it ^_^

the dark, quiet and wet streets on the way to gd's felt like home. i love that sensation, it reminds me of misty middle-of-the-night streets in cape town. gd gave me a quick pre-interview haircut, after which i was totally bombed and fell into bed.

---wednesday:

i slept amazingly well, though it included a long dream in which i needed to escape from brother bear and i felt like i'd done something illegal. waking up was perfectly comfortable, and i left with gd who advised me to go to winners to find a tie for my big interview. winners wasn't open that early, so i spent the forty-five minutes waiting with a cup of tea and half-heartedly trying to produce poetry.

ties are stupidly expensive. i managed to find a couple that i liked and happened to be "discounted", but i think paying $10 for a tie is ridiculous so when i see a scratched out $50 i just don't know where to file the information. as it is, i was on my way out when i noticed a loose thread on one of them and i guess that was the reason for the "good" price.

---i came home insanely hungry, peanut-buttered a couple of slices of toast and was walking past my desk calendar on my way to my computer when i noticed that i had made an appointment with army brat's recruiter that was going to begin in half an hour and i'd completely forgotten about it. what absurdly fortunate timing! i hurriedly stuffed the food into my mouth while pulling on some smart duds, left the recruiter a message to say i'd be a little late and fast-walked to the metro.

when i arrived, fifteen minutes late, the receptionist directed me to a computer where i'd have to fill out a form. annoyed - wasn't this supposed to be a meeting with a recruiter who already had my resume? - i started filling in my details but stopped when they asked for my social insurance number and i couldn't proceed without it. i returned to the receptionist's desk and told her i wasn't comfortable providing that, which prompted her to call the recruiter and disdainfully inform her that i wasn't playing ball.

the recruiter came out and asked what the problem was. she then explained to me that i could simply enter zeros in that field instead, told me that the receptionist was supposed to have let me know, and that i could ignore all the fields aside from the basic personal data. i certainly wasn't about to spend an hour telling them what's on my resume... which they had already... so i entered null data as much as i could so that they could let me sit down with the person i'd come to see.

let's just say they didn't make the greatest first impression on me ever. although, to be fair, it's better than another recruiting company that took over a year to contact me.

...

the actual meeting was pleasant, and the woman seemed to have a vague idea of what i'm about by the time i left. although she did say something really weird: apparently she has a number of employees who had to physically leave the country in order to apply for permanent residence. nobody else i know had that experience and that's certainly not what the immigration site says, so i can't help but feel that somebody there's doing something very wrong indeed.

---i had a big lunch (i was still hungry) and then napped with french radio in the background. the cleaning lady arrived and gave me some very helpful immigration info - a real-life contact that i can consult for free! hooray! i napped a bit more and then hit the starbucks. i got some studying done and was comfortable except for a weird minute or two when i noticed that one of the eyes of a creepy-looking dude with a squint was on me and i couldn't figure out if he was staring at me or out the window.

i went to the further supermarket to pick up sublingual b12 for gd, and the walk there and back was consumed by my working on the performance of my latest piece. it's one thing to remember it all, it's quite another to get the emotions right :)

i made it to muay thai, which wasn't a great class for technique (i partnered with a beginner again) but it was excellent for conditioning. he made us work really, really hard. i chased that with boxing, but skipped sparring because i'm *not* risking concussion before two important interviews :P

gd came over for another relaxed evening.

---yesterday:

i slept well, and woke up slowly and pleasantly. once gd had left i called back a company i'd applied for and the woman i spoke to was really nice; the only issue is that halfway through the call she informed me that their bread-and-butter is adult content. i decided that i'll interview anyway, but i'm not sure i'd accept a job like that.

the big interview: the only real preparation i had to do was dressing nicely. i gave gd a chance to vet my clothing before she left, and i walked out feeling capital! as in, like a capital letter. irrationally presentable, and just as confident without the fancy dress. but confident i most certainly was.

which is good, because i didn't have a chance to pick up coffee on the way. i was comfortably anyway, and i'd done some research so i ended up demonstrating my skill-set by asking more questions than they had the answers to. by the time i walked out i was feeling really good about our hour together, although there were a couple of things that i wasn't entirely happy with. i'd referred to "remote terminal" as "remote desktop" on a couple of occasions and they'd asked me to quantify my customer-facing experience. on the spot, i didn't really have anything to go on and i'd only figure out a rough estimate in the evening.

i walked out exhausted, i'd drawn on a lot more energy than i'd realized. i was under pressure to get passport photos taken, print out my convocation and registration form for the french exam, pick up coffee and write a follow-up email before getting to morgan stanley for their recruitment event. the last two items didn't get done, the former because there was a long line at the starbucks and the latter because i'd only really figure out the numbers i needed to send later.

of course, when you're in a hurry and dressed nicely the street-cleaning truck has to drive precisely along the route you're taking to the metro :/
*and* a girl careened through a stop street and would've taken me out if i hadn't suspected that that was going to happen.
*and* running to get into the metro car and having the person just ahead of me *stop* as they stepped inside.

once i got to the right metro station i took a bit of a wrong turn, but by that stage i was a little more relaxed and less certain that the world was hating on me personally. as i met up with my friend* and we walked inside my phone rang. it was the recruiter, calling to let me know that i was the top candidate. that totally made our day! and gave us a good excuse to pick up some wine from the bar :P

* the name tag i'd been given said "totalwaste" with the title "friend" underneath.

we had a good time talking, i finally met her husband and we've made up some good excuses to see more of each other.

the first developers i met were a really nice bunch and we all hit it off. the guy who presented at the end made his job sound fantastically boring.

...

i finally got home, had a quick chat with my mom, sent the email that needed to be sent, got all my exam stuff together and ordered indian to gd's place. i was completely braindead on the metro, and arrived just before my food did. we couldn't find any french movies that we agreed on, and ended up watching an episode from the first season of heroes instead before heading to bed.

---today:

i barely slept, i woke up with a sore throat, a sore back and running late for the exam. fortunately everything was better by the time i arrived with coffee in hand, and just as fortunately the two degrees celsius wasn't particularly cold because i didn't have a sweater.

registration was efficient, there was a little confusion prior to the test but everything went smoothly.

i went straight home after the exam, lay down on the couch and resumed watching rebellion, a very clever french movie about imbecility in war. i fell asleep long before getting to the end of it, and when i woke up i came here to try and Get Stuff Done.

aside from this, though, that hasn't really happened. but i'm in "i'm a little distracted by the insanely good news and i don't care too much about anything" mode ^_^

light stepping - step ii

[...continued]

kickboxing: one beginner (why was he in the advanced class?) and a spanish dude, both of whom are training to fight. the jolly moroccan invented a new set of gruelling exercises and i was most pleased to find myself the only one totally handling everything :)
in spite of my butt. and my back that's still not 100%.

when i got home i sent the jolly moroccan photos of all the foodstuffs i have and an explanation of my routine. he's decided to try vegan but i had to explain to him that just cutting out non-vegan foods is NOT healthy. we'll see how he handles my lazy take on things.

i ate a delicious salad (the medium-firm tofu is still excitingly good in my salads) while finishing antz (ugh. it's not a great film). while preparing dinner i watched katt williams: kattpacalypse and sleepwalk with me. the former is amusing but i really don't appreciate what he's saying to the point where i simply had to stop watching. the latter? i don't know. it's not as funny as i was expecting. it's not really funny at all.

---i woke up in the middle of the night having wrenched my finally-healing back muscles again, and proceeded to spend the rest of it miserably uncomfortable. my butt's still aching, too. this sucks.

...

right. good coffee? check. internet random? check. posting? check. now for lunch, and to get serious for the rest of the day. there's a horse i need to get back on.

---another reason to like the french: they regulate after-hours electronic harassment. i don't know if they're doing it right, but they've definitely got their attitude sorted out!
an article on how we're waking up wrong adds a good argument for it, too.

...

most free-to-play games are done wrong. here's how to do it right!

a lazy man's training diet

when i got home last night i sent the jolly moroccan photos of all the foodstuffs i have and an explanation of my routine. he's decided to try vegan but i had to explain to him that just cutting out non-vegan foods is NOT healthy. we'll see how he handles my take on things. in case you're interested i'm posting it here, and because i might want to look back on this list one day in the unforeseeable future.

if you have any comments, criticisms, questions or suggestions, leave a comment :)

• progressive vegessentials as a breakfast shake. this has almost all of the stuff you need for the day. vega also makes one, vega one, but most of us prefer the taste of progressive
• fruit. kiwis are very healthy, and bananas and apples are an easy source of important stuff.
• there’re plenty of tasty breads with all sorts of grains and seeds. avoid breads with sugar (country harvest, for example) and keep in mind that the whole gluten-free thing is utter bullshit.
• hummus. and peanut butter. they're both good for putting on the bread when you want to snack. although if you want to lose weight, choose the hummus and leave the peanut butter alone.
• milled / ground flax seed. flax is VERY important. not a lot - just a spoon a day - but it's very important, especially if you stop eating fish (it's a great omega-3 source). The “milled” or "ground" part is important, our bodies don't digest whole flax seeds.
• commensal's frozen meals. about 20g of protein in the chinese stir-fry and thai delight (the mexican three-bean chilli’s good too), they're vegan and they taste good. they have other options, but they're not as high in protein and they use tofu. you don't want to eat a lot of tofu because you get soya in almost everything and more than five servings a day is bad.
• trail mix - in particular, joe's indulgence mix. there're many different kinds. as long as there are plenty of nuts it's good: all nuts are healthy and will make you burn fat even when you're not moving. even peanuts, which are technically not nuts - go figure.
• vega sport: great-tasting protein shake with all the amino acids (not the same as a breakfast shake!). if you're eating everything else on this list you probably won't need this, but for days when you're really training hard it's a good idea.
• vitamin B12 supplements. SUPER important. if you don't take any your brain will start doing strange things. taking 1000mcg per day sublingually is the quickest, cheapest, easiest way to get it. preferably methylcobalamin, but b12 is b12.
• vega protein bars, or clif builder bars if vega’s aren’t available. an enjoyable way to inject 15-20g of protein on the run.

and then there's the main meal, which should include vegetables and protein. i usually steam greens like bok choy, broccoli, spring onion) and add some color like tomatoes, pickled onions and peppers, and olives, then add tofu or beans. don’t forget, salt is important if you’re not consuming animal products.

and, because i'm a junk-food addict, a fair amount of dark (70%) chocolate, wasabi peas, skittles and kettle chips (it's disturbing how many brands of chips have milk products in them).

primary source: nutritionfacts.org. because science.

april 1st

there's a man outside with a leafblower going up and down the parking lot and making a lot of noise. i watched him for a few moments, fascinated by the fact that there're no leaves to be seen anywhere. he must be doing a particularly good job.

---it's gotta be the yoga, i woke up yesterday feeling indescribably relaxed and comfortable, and "well"... i didn't want to get out of bed at all. i woke up this morning feeling the same. is this a thing? i really want it to be a thing.

i wanted to do something for april fool's, and settled on posting what i thought was ridiculously obvious: i've decided it's time for another tattoo... i'm thinking on my lower back this time. something tribal, maybe? what do you guys think?
some of the responses were in on the joke and hysterically funny, some of them were just as funny but surprised me with their seriousness - it was such fun! i got a few good laughs out of it, which i'd soon discover that i'd really need...

---the h&r "specialist" i had an appointment with is a russian with bad english. for an hour we talked at cross purposes and struggled over all the tax rules and the documentation that i'd brought. half the time she was trying to explain things to me that didn't need explaining, generating immense confusion. the entire process was tedious to say the least, but eventually we got through it.

now, the way people here have been talking about tax returns i understood that it's something that you have to do, but that by and large the tax that's automatically taken out of each salary payment is usually too much and that if one does things correctly one can expect a bit of cash back. the only disappointment i was expecting was to walk away $120 poorer (the 80 that i was quoted for the filing, and another 40 for reprinting the supporting documentation).

i felt like my chair had been pulled out from under me when she explained that i owe the canadian government $1000. i was shocked, i was unhappy, and it took the woman a while to explain this to me (albeit unsatisfactorily) - i even sent messages to aota and newk'd to verify that what she was saying made any sort of sense. before they could respond, though, the woman hit me with a bigger surprise.

i felt like the ground had opened up beneath me when she explained that in addition to owing the canadian government $1000, i owe québéc $2000. i went from shocked to traumatized, and was horrified when both aota and newk'd told me that this kind of thing is normal. then how the hell has nobody even mentioned this before?!?!

why is godmother, who's lived here for thirty years, also surprised?!

this was all bad enough, but to add insult to injury i was then informed that having h&r fill out my forms for me would actually cost $300.
"i'm so sorry," she informed me, "but it's the system, not me."

beneath the distress, anger bubbled. i will not be robbed on top of being robbed. i explained that they'd quoted me at 80, and that i wouldn't be paying more than 80. she seemed genuinely sorry, and i tried to explain that i was grateful for her services but that i would be taking my custom elsewhere. i took all my documentation and i walked. thinking about how very stupid they are for being dishonest... or at least not forthcoming with their quotes... because the poor woman just struggled through an hour of providing me the best service she could and nobody's going to see a cent for it.

*shakes head*

i kept hoping she'd call me back and yell "april fool" into the phone, tell me that it was all a shitty prank and that i should come back to finish filing and receive my return :(

---i sat in the food court forcing myself to eat and breathe and re-evaluate my position. i cooled down a bit when i realized that this puts me into my worst-case scenario of having to find a job within a month and a half before having to leave. not much consolation, but consolation nonetheless. i had a date scheduled for the afternoon and i would've cancelled otherwise. there's no point going on a date in a distressed state.

so i had my first coffee and reworked a bit of my comic script, then hurried home. i had little time between arriving home and leaving for the date, and most of it was consumed with communicating. the most important call was with my mother, who's offered a backup plan that relieves a solid layer of stress.

---the date? i thought it was really nice and that we had a good time. she was more attractive than in her photos, she's fascinating and she speaks in imperfect english with a really cute british accent (she's french but lived in england); when we said goodbye she sent me a massively mixed signal by gripping my arm in a way that could either mean she didn't want to let go OR that she's pitying me because she did. considering the fact that she hasn't responded to a message i sent her last night i'm guessing it's the latter. which is a bummer.

...

when i wanted to pay and leave there was a sudden influx of customers - one of whom shamelessly cut in front of me, which was weird, and even weirder when she apologized after she'd paid. then i was facing the girl behind the counter with a long line behind me, trying to explain in french that i wanted to pay for our coffees and "delay" a bowl of soup. there was nothing complicated about what i was saying, but she couldn't understand me and after trying twice i said it in english.
so then she got loud. "OH. YOU WANT TO PAY? FOR YOUR COFFEE? THANK YOU! AND YOU WANT TO DELAY A SOUP! THANK YOU!" she shared with the entire building.

i was so embarrassed :$

---rush hour on the metro. ugh.

for the first time in ages i went to jiu-jitsu. i really had trouble with last night's exercises and i was feeling a bit stupid. then there was an exercise where i was sure that my partner was doing it wrong. i tried to explain it to him but he showed me why i was confused, so i apologized for wasting his time and gave him some of my "turn" as compensation. then zahabi called us all in to explain that a few of us were off, and in slow-motion showed us precisely what i'd been trying to explain in the first place.

so there was that...

the dude destroyed me during rolling, i just couldn't get my shit together. i cut early to prepare for kickboxing. i was telling the jolly moroccan about my april fool's prank and my yoga instructor asked me what a "tramp stamp" is. when i told her, she was mortified because... she has one.
*facepalm*
between that and the shark thing, i'm going to need to vet everything i say in front of her before i open my mouth :P

the amount of leg kicks we had to absorb last night was ridiculous. i walked out thinking "the beatings continued and morale improved", went home and spent the next hour or so applying ice packs and watching thérèse. it's weird seeing audrey tautou playing not-amélie right after seeing amélie. i barely understood what was going on. i'm going to need to re-watch it until i do.

---i was supposed to meet with vfmp this morning but he's been unreachable. instead, i applied for a couple of jobs and wrote this. now i'm going to do some studying.

distractions - part ii

[... continued]

about halfway through the night i registered that the boxing ring was set up in an emptied swimming pool. awesome!

the first fight was a bit weird, because after all the show of the pre-fight ceremony the guys barely moved. i expect people who weight 40lbs less than me to be quicker and more intense than me, not slower.

in one of the fights a combatant was doing a kind of mma hand-waving thing that's entirely inappropriate for muay thai. his opponent was so much better than him that in the middle of a round he made fun of him by doing the same hand motions. it was bizarre.

one of the fights was a kid we've all seen at the gym but who none of us have seen sparring. he trains with his shirt on, so we were all shocked when he stepped into the ring looking like he'd been drawn in a comic book. huge pecs and tiny waist, but he'd obviously been skipping leg day. friends don't let friends skip leg day.
his opponent was obviously high level and super-aggressive, and i was blown away by how quickly this dude recovered, figured his shit out and proceeded to dish out punishment. he didn't look like he had it in him!

one of the fighters i was really looking forward to was the guy who took our class a couple of weeks ago, and we were disappointed because while he did a good job, he barely used his legs! it turned out later that his opponent was so tough that after one or two kicks he understood that they'd be totally ineffectual and so he focused on the guy's face. that's hardcore, it's not like there could have been a significant weight difference.

the jolly moroccan: he had a good fight, but i was expecting fireworks. it was exciting, but not as exciting as i expected :(

the last couple of fights on the card were great, and really brought the night to a close on a good note.

...

i travelled most of the way home with one of the guys i train with, and we talked non-stop until parting company. i ate and watched freaks and geeks, then went straight to bed.

---today:

i slept late and woke up still really tired. i broke another glass this morning... one of the new, thicker ones. dammit :(
at least it didn't shatter.

i started posting and suddenly found myself running late for my date! and of course, there's nothing like running late and then just missing the metro. fortunately, even with the combined transportation delays i was only fifteen minutes late.

---the date:

it was immediately apparent, and i mean within a second of seeing her, that she's not my type. we met at myriade, a small connoisseurs coffee shop near guy-concordia, and the coffee was AMAZING. after sorting mine out i sat down across from her and we began chatting; for the first few minutes all i could think about was whether i should be cutting the date short instead of wasting our time. after a few minutes, though, i started trying to find her attractive (nonsensical, i know), because i really, really wanted to. to justify that, neither of us noticed the three hours that flew by as we discussed psychology, society and culture, the academy, performances, politics and language... she's interesting and engaging and awesome!

i hope we can be friends, and by that i mean that i hope i'm wrong about the look she gave me when we said goodbye - a look that i read as a hurt "shit, you're not into me". i feel really bad about that.

---otherwise, it was a beautiful afternoon and well spent! i didn't have much time to rest before the poetry slam, so i settled on watching the guild while hurriedly eating. season 7 is available on netflix! sweet :)

the crap news, though is that the filling that's been giving me trouble since the dentist had his way with it? the one that i haven't been able to eat with? well, i felt and heard something crack today, and now it's sensitive to everything. *LONG STRING OF EXPLETIVES DELETED HERE*

...

i rushed off to sign up, arriving late but in time. i met a couple of other poets and we entertained each other non-stop. horseman, newk'd, newk'd's girlfriend and friend showed up soon after everything began, and i must say that it was quite a relief to have support :)

---i went with preacher. apparently my performance was spot on, except for the very last word... it's like they keep shouting in the gym: "finish strong! finish strong!" - fail :(
but shit happens.

i didn't make it to round two, unfortunately - i guess the judges didn't like my style, but what was really moving for me was the rest of the audience's reaction; to know that there were people that i actually managed to touch to the point of yelling and cheering mid-performance, and to get such a warm response from random strangers afterwards was amazing! ^_^

i could yell "i was robbed" until i was blue in the face; i know how hard it is to judge and how subjective it is, and i'll just have to hope that my attempt next month manages to blow them away.

---newk'd and girlfriend and i went to aux vivres for dinner, eating and talking until they kicked us out. i've spent a little time on another case solved, and now that i've posted i'm going to hit the hay. i need to get cracking on my interview preparation in the morning.

---this article on time management covers me and distractions.

this old lecture on vegans and heart disease is still relevant. long, but full of interesting information. if you want a summary, though, eat ground flax and take b12 supplements.

distractions - part i

i watched the last two episodes of freaks and geeks last night. how does a series go from "harmless fun" through to "insanely brilliant" so quickly?!

and then just end???

i may have narrative closure, but i feel like i need to re-watch the whole thing. i really am sad that it's over.

---friday:

i installed eclipse to play with java - which i haven't touched in a while - and did that for a while. i did some more of the book review, hitting a short story that's absolutely wonderful but suffers such a huge plot issue that i've actually offered him big suggestions; i hope he's not too offended :P

i went shopping, and was pleased to discover that using the points card i've already earned myself a $20 discount. that card *is* worth it.

boxing class was good, i partnered with a guy i know who's really tough and experienced and we worked particularly well together. when it was time to go hard on the punching bags, i was letting it all out and that included my breathing; "totalwaste, shut up!" shouted the coach, "you're not even hitting it that hard!"
that pissed me off, the combination of being told that and the possibility that he might be right. i hope he was wrong :(

impact was a treat, we both consistently scored solid liver shots but were both supportive of each other. and that dude hits hard, that did my confidence some good.

a couple of us talked about work until late, i rushed home for a quick dinner and headed over to vfmp's. on the way i set up two dates, one for sunday and one for tuesday, which was cool. then i got off the bus two stops too early and felt like an idiot. at least the weather was comfortable :P

we watched a decent episode of house of cards and played a great game of carcassonne, but there wasn't much conversation and i got the feeling his heart wasn't into it.

when i got home i felt lazy as usual. i totally spaced out playing another case solved (i really am addicted, its meta-game is really that good), then used book reviewing as an excuse to consume lots of junk food before bed.

i went to bed with a big toe really hurting. the air's been really dry in my apartment the last few days and it's messing with everything; cracked skin's no fun :(

---yesterday:

it was a gorgeous, warm-ish, sunny day!

i enjoyed a slow, late wake up right until i realized that i needed to rush to get to la panthère verte on time :$
bnw and i went over the script, everything looks good and she's ready to rock. awesome!

we sat there long enough for two coffees and lunch, about a third of that time involved the comics and the rest talking about everything. she and her husband are going through a weird phase and i really hope they get their shit all sorted out...

the girl sitting about a metre away from me for most of the afternoon looked so remarkably like pulse that it was uncanny. i caught her eye once and she didn't respond to my smile, so i assumed it wasn't her but i couldn't shake the feeling that it was and that she was pretending not to know me... the only explanation for that being that she thought that bnw and i were on a date. when she went to the washroom for a minute i asked her friend if she's who i thought she was, and her friend gave me another name. it was enough to make my head spin!

i didn't try the maple taffy on our way in to the metro, but i really must. apparently, spring has arrived :P

i was completely bombed on the metro, i was slipping in and out of consciousness until i got home.

---i spoke to my mum, and the more i think about it the less patient i become to hear good news from her post-op. i'm sure she'll be fine, but i think i finally understand what she goes through whenever something happens to me. we're really far away.

---i sent a message to pulse regarding the earlier non-incident, and was surprised to find myself in a long, really positive text conversation. we talked about all sorts of things, to the point where it just seemed right to invite her to the slam tonight. she said she might come, which would make things super dramatic if today's date goes well because if it does i wouldn't not invite her to the slam too! i'm laughing at myself right now, i think this is hysterically stupid of me.

ssso got in touch with me on facebook - it's been more than nine years! how good friendships disappear... it was nice to catch up, though.

i went to watch the jolly moroccan fight last night, and discovered that muay thai fights have been banned or something so these were all defined as amateur exhibitions...

[continued...]

drawing blanks

okay, i'm ready for a (relatively) early night. chris porter: ugly and angry is unbelievably funny, the second half was even better than the first!

---i slept terribly last night. i woke up to a message from comixology explaining that due to their servers being hacked we'd need to reset our passwords and change any similar passwords on other sites or services. well, it sounds like they weren't particularly diligent. i'm not impressed.

i spoke to a recruiter today and he seemed kinda enthusiastic. we'll see.

the cleaning lady came in after lunch, and we talked for a while about immigration politics and taxes. apparently i need to file my taxes soon. oh, shit. newk'd's pretty good with these things, i'm very glad he's willing to help me...

i wanted lunch but our subway doesn't do falafel, so i took a metro to another subway. or a subway to a subway. egads. anyway, it was good and while i was there i read this wired article about silicon valley that makes a very good case for social responsibility.

i then returned to my local starbucks to work on my comics. i got some good stuff done, excitingly so!

---while there my mother messaged me to remind me that it's been eleven years since her brother passed away. i started responding and got emotional, then erased what i was writing because i realized that it was for me, not for her. i don't usually get emotional about death, but eleven years ago when i found out i cried like a baby, and today i was taken by surprise to be tearing up in public.

---horseman arrived and i packed up, we walked the icy, icy walk to the metro and headed to la belle province - an uber-dodgy diner. as we completed ordering some old guy came up and began harassing us for not buying the delicious muffins that were on sale, because they're delicious *and* the proceeds go towards the children. how heartless could we be? he himself claims to be diabetic, so if it's important enough that *he* risks it then we should feel obliged. or heartless.

he was so up-in-our-faces about it, i actually expected things to get physical. people, man... people. i suspect he was just attempting to flirt with the disinterested teen behind the counter.

horseman and i talked about all sorts of things in french, then i headed back to hit the gym. jiu-jitsu felt a bit slow but eventually i got the basic techniques of the day. kickboxing began on an aggravating note because the class dumbass (i've mentioned him before) made a comment about israelis invading and stealing palestinian land. he wouldn't shut up when i told him to, and was shocked to discover that i'm an israeli. one of the guys is a palestinian refugee, his family having left in '48, and we couldn't just let it all slide...

... fortunately, the two of us share some of our views and we presented the mess together to the clueless who were interested. once that was off our collective chest we got into training; it was a particularly tough beginner's class and i was partnered with a first-timer. so it was up to me to teach him the basics and i spent some time with him on the bags afterwards. he's a football player, once he gets the kicks he'll be fine :P

...

after showering, i watched a couple more episodes of freaks and geeks and the better it gets the sadder i get that there's only one season :'(

that's it. that's my day. now to climb into bed and hope to wake up refreshed for tomorrow morning's telephone interview. or whatever it's supposed to be.

t minus two days

it's been almost a year. if this was a movie, i'd be readying myself for a fight already! instead i'm still looking frustrated in the beginner's sandbox at the beginning of the montage sequence. if this were chess, i'd be playing with a timer and wasting each turn trying to remember how the pieces move instead of strategizing and thinking two moves ahead. in the ring, each time i'm told to use my brain i mentally put my hands up and shut down.

i will get better.

---icing my toe didn't help very much. and my back's been giving me a bit of grief. i read and snacked the night away - snacking continuously is kind of how i read - until late and then woke up to continue where i'd left off. it was a slow-brain day.

facebook etiquette: there's a tel aviv poetry group i'm a part of, and i've been receiving notifications because some jerk has been posting entirely unrelated things. nobody's said anything and facebook tells me how many views each post has had. so i posted a snarky poll:

has this page become a place for posts that aren't related to poetry in israel?
• yes, you should leave it if you're not into random food posts.
• no, but maybe if we ignore it the problem will go away by itself.
• no, can we go back to how things were?

eight people saw the poll, one voted on the second option and nobody's said a word. huh.

horseman arrived early and we spent two hours chatting, some topics funny and some bleak, and my forgetting words i know when i need them is very frustrating. when he left, i detoxed on xkcd volume 0 (where did i get that? a humble bundle?) and then read some more before passing out for a while.

i was drawn out of my siesta reverie by a phone call, then proceeded to prepare for training. i met kgb and we worked flexibility, struggled a bit with kicks and pads, and then it was time for the next class. there were only two of us in advanced kickboxing and i asked the jolly moroccan if we could do sparring drills. both liked the idea, we spent the class working up to full (light) sparring, which culminated in (accidentally) trading kicks and knees to the groin that called an end to the evening. not including those, we've agreed that we could definitely use a lot more practice.

the first episode of freaks and geeks is super awkward and fun. i've been posting and half watching it, which probably wasn't the most efficient of ideas!

t minus three days

i got up relatively early today, did some career research and sent a mail to pulse's connected friend, then went to pick up my jacket (which had just been cleaned, so it was too damp to wear immediately), find out about our building's parking and purchase tickets for friday night's boxing fights and the muay thai fights that the jolly moroccan is featuring in. i spent the next couple of hours reading before horseman came over, we talked for an hour or two and then i headed to the gym.

---a couple of weeks ago when i rented a car and parked it outside? i'm now familiar with the town of mont royal's by-laws, and i'm bloody lucky that i didn't get a ticket. turns out one needs a special permit to park in the street at night regardless of what the signs say, and during the day, unless otherwise authorized, a car can only remain parked on any street for four hours at a time. they explicitly state that as long as your car doesn't remain on the same block for more than four hours it's okay - that if you move your car back and forth every four hours you can stay all day. wtf?!

anyway, the good news is that obtaining authorization is as simple as calling in the car's details to them, so as soon as i have the car this saturday i'll make a phone call and then relax about parking until noon the following day. awesome. especially as it's "white night" and i probably won't be getting much sleep after i get back to the city ;)

---the muay thai class was taken by a substitute, and it was a really, really good class. by good i mean it was hellishly tough but productive in that we learned and practiced some ridiculously useful knee technique! the rounds really felt like they were going on forever, though, and for those of us who didn't flag or slow down it was a truly hardcore experience. later, when the substitute saw me leaving he commented on my good performance and that felt almost as good as finishing the last round had :)

the only bit that sucked was that i reset from a push kick badly and simultaneously felt and heard one of my toes crack. it's an ice night tonight :(

between classes i sat talking to one of the girls in french. everything was going smoothly until i mispronounced "comics" in a way that sounded like "designed penises"; everybody went into hysterics while i sat there, embarrassed, not understanding at all what was funny about it :$

i was paired up with one of the gym's veteran mma big boys for boxing, and that made for a very good class indeed! we worked well together and impact was just right for both of us :D

---i've added another previously unpublished poem to my memorized collection (that makes eight in total): your first snow. this one's inspired by pg's first snowboarding days and has been idling on my phone until now...

packing up

on sunday night i watched ungrip at sq's behest. i have two things to say about it:

1. WOW. the implications are mind-bending!

2. the comments about the medical and pharmaceutical industries at the beginning demonstrate that this man knows very little about these fields and should keep his mouth shut about them. his opinions on the matter damage his credibility. there is incompetence in the industry, but everyone's working to reduce it - there's no malice and there's no conspiracy.
conventional medicine has been studying the placebo effect for years, it's not exclusively the domain of homeopathy. eating a plant-based diet, exercising properly and living in an earth-ship are all good things to do and they certainly reduce one's risk of disease dramatically, but it doesn't eliminate risk! there are genetic factors and environmental factors to contend with as well. and you might get run over by a bus.

---monday:

i tried to nap, but was too tired to really wake up. when i realized that i was sitting up and dreaming with my eyes open i put myself to bed instead.

...

it was a slow morning. i took a long walk to print the power of attorney forms, but google's printing services search failed and when i found the office it turned out to be for printing import / export. i was going to go to walmart when i remembered that i live next to a ups store, so i walked all the way back and then to there. it was cold, i was dressed warmly, my body temperature was all over the place.

the printing and the scanning were a pleasure, and i hurried back for online coffee with sq. that was the call when we agreed to go to burning man together. it must be!

i had some shopping to do, i wanted to do it at the rockland mall but stm has cancelled the 100 bus. what?! sod it, i thought, and took the metro downtown. i wasn't sure exactly where i needed to be, so instead of getting off at peel i got off at atwater and walked all the way. i entered the shop and it was christmas mayhem - i'm so proud of myself for not turning and fleeing! i found what i wanted without too much trouble (i was lucky to find assistance) and walked out feeling very brave indeed :)

i treated myself to sukiyaki lunch: how the hell do they consistently get their fast-food tofu so right?

i returned home and horseman came over for amazing tekken. there was a little trash talking, i put it down with my virtual fists.
we discussed taking pride in one's art:

1. you can't get up on stage, share your work with an audience and then say "i did it for myself". then why the hell did you get up on the stage?

2. if you're going to do something, you need to present it and present it properly. even if you know that you've got work to do to up your game. all you can do is make sure that your present work shows your best efforts, respect your audience and make sure that your following work improves upon it. don't be like phil fish who kept restarting fez every time he learned something new [i see now that he finally released it, so i just bought it. the guy deserves a break regardless! and it's on sale right now!]. or like the guys who took over the duke nukem franchise. it's better to put out what you have and then turn the improvements into a sequel. this holds as well for rhymes and painting as for games.

i headed downtown for pre-christmas drinks with the kickboxing crew. serendipity? the jolly moroccan trains in a gym across from where we were going, but had misunderstood and was on his way to another pub on the other side of town. i walked out of the station just as he was walking in and we walked to the right place together :)
vfmp joined us, but nobody else made it so until some girls the jolly moroccan had invited joined us we were three. it was a fun evening anyway, and the last round was on vfmp. he ordered rum for the table, and it's the first time he's had alcohol in years - i'm supposed to keep that a secret, which i find pretty funny.

---yesterday:

hours slipped by speaking to sq before going to bed. i woke up late - OH NOES! it was christmas eve and everything closes early, i rushed down to the natural store concerned that i'd have to travel without clif builder bars. and i was about to run out of vega one. what a relief to find them open! and to discover two new flavours to boot! i risked an entire box of crunchy peanut butter, but only took a single bar of vanilla almond. which turned out to be a mistake, because it's a great flavour :)

i got home, sq and i talked some more, and aota called me up to plan a jewish christmas dinner. those plans fell through later because her daughter had come home very sick and i'm not risking that one day before flying...

i went out for lunch and travel shopping, the approaching sunset was heart-achingly beautiful. i was thinking about this on the way back: i've been blessed to live in three great cities, cape town and montreal are so beautiful, and with tel aviv all three are filled with the beauty of arts and culture and nightlife that's exceptional for the countries they're located in.

when i got home i sorted out my mobile phone for england - bell's got pretty good deals - and talked for a while with my mum about what i need to pack and what i'll do when there. shit's getting real!

i watched most of the black power mixtape 1967 - 1975, and the footage and commentaries are incredible. i don't think i'd appreciate it as much if i hadn't learned so much american history during my studies.

in the evening, check-in opened and i hopped online and booked my seats. easy, british airways, well done! not so easy: i could download my boarding pass for montreal - london but the pass for johannesburg - cape town is unavailable. wtf?!

i spent a long time posting about the weekend, and was bombed by the time i was done. so i went to bed. now that i'm done posting this, i'm ready to pack. only a few hours to go, and then i'm on my way!

---the items that i've found interesting or absolutely mind-blowing over the past few days: warning! some of them are pretty damn emotional.

interesting:

companies caring about their employees... and succeeding

health:

cavities versus coronaries
ending the heart disease epidemic
fish and pregnancies (seriously, don't risk this!)

the voice of a child of the anti-vaccine movement

life imitating art:

if only guns shot flowers!

emotional:

wounda released into the wild
iconic lgbt moments of 2013
christmas from beyond the grave

mind-blowing:

goldfish - we come together has 3.5 million views? how have i never seen this?!
viktoriya yermolyeva - master of puppets. on a piano. holy shit!
does holland have talent? this 9 year-old girl gave me the shivers

a totalwaste christmas story

it all started a few weeks ago with the beast's backfist. concerned that i had suffered a concussion, i cancelled a sparring session with one of the guys who's training for a fight in january.

after waiting a couple of weeks so as not to compound the injury, i was going to resume sparring but i kept getting injured in different ways. two weeks ago the coach began making fun of me. in the meanwhile, badger and the jolly moroccan worked with me to improve my game, drilling me on all the basics.

as it's my last weekend, i really wanted to make as much use of the facilities as possible. yesterday i went in and met another boxing coach, an old-school 71 year-old rocky-style instructor and after we got to talking he took a shine to me: he gave me some really interesting advice and then cornered me through a sparring session with the kid who always hits too hard. and i did much better than the last time!

after snowboarding today i went to the gym for a final hour. the guy i'd originally stood up was on duty, and he and a few others were preparing to train late with our regular (abusive) coach. after some bag work (hurt my wrist a little, didn't tell anyone) and some shadowboxing to practice yesterday's coach's advice, i waited to spar. eventually i gave up, misunderstanding the coach and thinking that he didn't want me sparring so i took off my wraps and prepared to watch a bit before going home.

but he did want me to spar! so i got warmed up again, bouncing, shadowboxing and popping my shoulders in time to the awesome old-school hip-hop that was playing while observing the first pair sparring. then it was our turn, me and the guy i'd stood up. we put vaseline on our faces (i've now finally had that explained to me), geared up and got in the ring.

first round: it took me half the round to realize that i was facing a southpaw and that the reason he kept cracking me with his left was because i was stepping into it. so much for strategy! as soon as i fixed that everything changed.

i went three rounds with the guy. i demonstrated ring control, and when he did corner me i gave him nothing. i listened to what the coach was saying - to both of us - and adjusted accordingly. i didn't back up, i didn't let up, even though by the third round i could barely lift my arms; i actually spent a large percentage of the time making contact with his head and gut, surprising him with my new-found ability to close distance while striking and finally using jabs and straights defensively. as tired as i was, during the intervals i kept moving in time with the music, which was good for my breathing and my spirit. by the end of the third round, i wasn't the one with the bloodied nose and feeling disorientated.

i don't feel good about those last two, because i really like the guy. but afterwards we spent five minutes together analyzing everything and advising each other, and i think i've helped him with his fight preparation.

but here's the thing: the coach. the coach was stunned. he had the biggest smile on his face, and his pride filled me with pride.

"i take back everything i said about you, man. you proved me wrong tonight."
he repeated that a few times. and each time, it felt like christmas.

ego and elbow

after posting yesterday, i ate an entire bag of salt and pepper chips and a fair share of a tub of hummus. this is only interesting because it came to my attention on my way to the gym that i hadn't finished digesting them...
i napped a bit too; as i've repeated many a time, there's no sleep as sweet as that when you need to get up :P

lesson 1: wear a cup for jiu-jitsu. the guy i partnered with weighs about ten pounds more than me and the drill we were doing involved leveraging a knee on the groin.

we rolled afterwards. i felt like was being rolled into a pretzel.

lesson 2: badger was late for our drill session, but the jolly moroccan was only too happy to oblige. we worked hands and feet (badger was a little angry when she arrived and saw that, i'm supposed to be only working hands) and he was so quick to catch my kicks and put me on the floor that i became as hesitant to throw as i was scared of being hit... but eventually the things he was telling me started getting through and it became more of a game; at which point i started relaxing a bit. badger on the side screaming at me to stop backing up was really helpful, apparently i did great when i stopped that shit.

which is hard for me, because a decade of taekwondo has taught me to back the hell up.

each time i ended up on the floor dealt a bit of a blow to my ego, and it happened a lot. badger actually warned him to chill a bit before i get demotivated... fortunately, i was in full learning mode so that only real ego bruising was my not getting things quickly enough.

lesson 3: badger. i wanna get to the end of the damned montage sequence already! everything she's teaching me is so basic and so important, and even though i'm getting them while we drill i need to be getting them when we're not drilling too!

lesson 4: the damage to my left tricep from boxing the night before and the snowboarding bruise on my elbow were exacerbated by the end of our training. i was forced to stop if i was to entertain any notion of sparring this afternoon, which i definitely don't want to miss! our boxing instructor has been goading me non-stop and it's becoming a point of pride thing. i mean, i won't go if i'm too damaged, but every time i skip it's another week of him being justified in making fun of me :P

the hot bath was good. the icepack on my ridiculously large elbow bruise was good. i actually had an appetite for once, though instead of making salad i put together a microwave meal and toast... i watched a few episodes of once upon a time.... okay, the writing's not up to first season standards at all but it's still fun to watch and i've heard that season three gets better, so i'm enjoying it mindlessly.

...

oh gods, i slept so deeply, so well and so late today!

there's about twenty hours left of the gog.com fallout series giveaway, you might want to see to that. i was upset at first because i already owned one and so couldn't "re-purchase" it, but then i realized that i could simply deselect the one i had :)

thank you, facebook: someone told me i should check out faster than light, someone else mentioned that it was a part of a recent humble bundle, and then someone else sent me a redemption code for it. win!

...

i asked wire where he's been 'cause we haven't seen him in a while, and the answer was he's been out of work and unable to gather the cash for a course he needs if he wants to work this season. i've decided to loan him the cash for the course, to see him back on his feet. he's an honest laborer and a good guy, i feel he deserves a chance. so now i'm off to deliver.

---
i remember how shocked i was when i saw bent because the only story of the holocaust i'd ever really thought about was that of the jews... israel has erected a memorial for the gays killed in the holocaust, and i find that quite touching!

...

speaking of memorials, the embarrassing incident with the signer at the mandela memorial? here's an article on it that's as pertinent as it is amusing.