launching...

i walked home fast from work last night, partly because there were lurkers at the beginning of the road and i didn't want them to see that i was... distrustful... i had a quick shower and went straight to bed.

i'm very lucky - as is pg - that after she got up at 6.30am and was getting ready to go to class, i began to stir and somehow registered that i hadn't informed her of the strike. we hadn't been sent any details, so she decided to take a chance and went back to bed. two hours later i got up for my class (with the same teacher), and i arrived on campus to discover that the lessons were indeed cancelled and that pg had gotten it right.

---so i went to work. they set me up in an office with two other guys (who seem nice enough, but then again i've only seen this company as having a good dynamic), and after a weird struggle with security settings i managed to get started. aside from two short breaks for phone calls and coffee, i worked straight through from 11-5 and *enjoyed* myself. not least of which was caused by my getting the basic underlying requirement functional.

i'm kinda proud of myself. and grateful to microsoft for their visual studio line. it has evolved into a set of exquisitely solid products and aside from a few nuances (almost nothing that a good forum hunt can't handle) they really do allow one to focus on the programmatical problems instead of the environmental.

---the bus back to tel aviv smelled bad. at certain hours of the day, the back of the bus is packed with less hygiene-orientated people and it's hard to concentrate on reading shakespeare (we're on taming of the shrew, and it turns out i don't remember any of it) in that sort of environment...

i met up at the lincoln with daddy-o, and we spent a good hour and a half catching up, arguing politics and getting into the games; i think the last time i saw him we were taking the judges examination together in order to be promoted to captains, and now we're both civilians (he's been out two weeks) we can discuss this stuff freely :)

late for a meeting with nystire - and slightly tipsy, and with my mind still racing from the debating - i rushed to azrieli to meet him and his wife for coffee and rather interesting conversation. then i rushed home to strap on blades for a really fun couple of hours around tel aviv.

now i'm about to hit the hay: i'm still really excited about the day in general. the only thing that mars it somewhat is hearing about the south african secrecy bill. well done, assholes.

---i wonder why stephen hawking thinks we can't manage? and who was that weirdo who used to say the same thing? oh, yes... timothy leary... you don't wanna listen to someone like that... </massive irony>

shine on you

i left work last night at the usual time, and bussed through to my old work. it was really nice seeing everyone again, quite a trip to go back to where i spent many long hours answering phones politely. being reintroduced to this girl i met in eilat, in an environment that we're both comfortable in, was rather a good idea.

i left around 1.30am, and took a taxi to the balcony. on the way in i ran into a couple of people i know from my base, so i stopped for a really short chat, then walked into what spot had promised me was a rocking party with fantastic music.

the first 5 songs played when i got in were good, but it was israeli rock and i was looking for hard rock / metal / alternative. after the first five, however, i was no longer disappointed. after a while my TL walked in to say hi - i'd missed him outside. i called over the cute bartender and introduced them, which had some entertaining results :)

we hung there until closing, when ta2 gave me and wr a ride home. well, mostly, he dropped me off at the lincoln, and i finally managed to catch the stunning waitress ^_^

i got about half an hour to warm up - after a full day's work, half a litre of guinness equivalent (murphy's), and a sambuca, i really needed it. we closed the table to get her 50% staff discount, and we played 10 games... ending in a tie, but the truth of the matter is that she's definitely better than me, and i could identify the mercy shots.

she made my weekend. our general chirping was thoroughly enjoyable, and with her hair down and her eyes focused, her body curved just right for each shot, i felt like i was flipping through a fashion magazine. surreal how beautiful she is when she isn't working, i felt like i was playing an angel.

hito me bore*, it may have been once - but now i'm totally lovestruck. and no, i didn't get her number. i'm sure everyone can understand that there are times when flirting just isn't appropriate. everything just was as it was, and it was great while it lasted.

* love at first sight. [i haven't a clue why i chose to reference japanese]

i took a taxi home, showered, and passed out. around 12.30, nystire woke me up, and i went out to meet him at our little strip mall. we bussed through to tel aviv, met up with two of his siblings and a friend of theirs, and went to agadir for a seriously good breakfast. i'm back at work after a slow walk, and now i'm seriously contemplating doing some actual work before going home for a nap.

...

640K will be more than enough

DOS has escaped! FreeDOS seems to be getting somewhere.

rape the spammer: anti-spamming conviction upheld.

transient documents by xerox, recyclable printouts

TLBSRI (Too Long, But Still - Read It): digital petitioning going very, very wrong