A Goodbye Israel Experience (28th July)

the day before the day before yesterday:

this day just sucked before it started. i was up at 6.45, and missed the first bus because i stood at the @!$%ing wrong bus stop. the bus ride took forever, as it was peak traffic time, and it was crowded and uncomfortable.
as i got off the bus, my mom called me to tell me that my father had died about an hour before, and after a quick (and not very
tear-filled) conversation i entered the student authority. although not upset, i was quite shaken - it put me into a weird state, and the already-high levels of tension for the day simply got a lot higher.

the student authority:

i had to wait for about half an hour, to be told that i didn't need to speak to anyone there. when you've begun by explaining that you're in a really shitty situation, it's not a pleasant experience. on the plus side, i spent the half an hour trying to get through to the relevant people from the army, and i finally managed to acquire the leave i needed.

i visited karnaf, dropped off a cd, had a quick cup of coffee, and he gave me a ride to the bus stop i needed. i took a minibus-taxi, and the ride was actually quite pleasant. i needed it to sort my head out a bit, but nothing could prepare me for the next phase of my day.

the bank:

i got taken around for about half an hour, and was lectured on the
impossibility of giving me dollars from my dollar account, on account (bleh) of it being a sunday. after the half an hour, they conceded that there's no conversion charge on dollars for dollars, so they finally agreed to let me take them.
by that stage the queue i needed to be in had lengthened dramatically, so i spent another 20 minutes (at least) hanging around waiting. fortunately, i managed to get through to the army again (after a LOT of effort and trauma - they don't answer their phones), and semi-sorted out my unit transfer.
i hope.
nothing more i can do about it now.

i then had to fight with some dude to keep my place in the queue, which resulted in a whole schpiel about "respecting your elders". it's a fucking QUEUE for chrissake - if we all gave up our places, we would never get to the teller.
mutha fucka. and he was only a couple of years older than me
anyhow.

getting the cash took two seconds. i hate all these slow people.

the post office:

i stood in the queue for about 20 minutes, which went nowhere as the two people in front were simply standing there. i'm not kidding. and there were about 6 or 7 of us waiting. then some russian woman
jumped the queue, and got served.
>@
i gave up, and moved to another section, where i had to fight with a few other people who thought i'd just let them sneak in front of me.
bastards.
dumb bastards.
dumb israeli bastards.
yes, especially the old women.

so, i get to the teller, holding american dollars. "i'd like to buy traveller's cheques, please."
she not-so-politely informs me that i can only buy dollar traveller's cheques with NIS (new israeli shekels).
"you're kidding, right?"
"no, i'm not. if you want to buy them, you need to trade your dollars for NIS, then use those to buy the cheques."
"you have GOT to be joking! do you have ANY idea what you've just
said?!"
a small argument ensued, which resulted in me simply walking out,
with my dollars as they were. i will NOT be double charged for a non-transaction. no - fucking - way.

i spent the 10 minute walk to campus cursing the sheer retardedness of the system, and the people in it, but it wasn't enough to calm
me down by the time i got there. SSSO (at least, that's what i *think* i nick'ed her before) got upset with me for being upset, so it took us a minute before everything was calmed down enough to talk.

she's helping me out, as usual, with everything - if nothing else it was nice to be able to really talk to someone about the day. it was also important to see her before i left: she's been my
caretaker for the last 4 years, and if it wasn't for her i never would have made it.

so, after saying goodbye, i walked home, picked up my surfboard and a crown she made for me, and walked to her place. by the time i got there i was dehydrated, exhausted, sweaty and hungry (i still hadn't had breakfast), and it took lunch and plenty of liquids before we could sit and sort out an email address for her. i hope she really understands how to use it :P

once i'd left, most of the pressure was off for the day. i spent the afternoon in the air-conditioner, chilling and eating instant meals. i finally cleared and did a basic clean of my room, and sammy was kind enough to give me a ride to the airport.

t'was a fun ride; we always have tons of crap to discuss. fortunately we had time for some coffee and a snack, and we said goodbye as i
began the security procedure. which was quite funny, as the one girl was in training, and even the experienced ones normally have difficulty keeping a straight face with me ^_^

i sat and meditated for a while, listening to k's choice and just contemplating all the issues of the day, the week, the year.
an old friend, who i haven't seen since LAST passover, sat down with me. it was entertaining company - he was accompanying his two little sisters, who were extremely cute (NOT in the sexy way), and we spent the hour or so talking and laughing, which i really needed.

i had Yet Another Israeli Experience - you can't buy from the duty-free without a passport and boarding pass. not even a box
of chewing gum.
now... HOW THE FUCK DID I GET IN THERE WITHOUT THOSE THINGS IN THE FIRST PLACE? HUH?
Yet Another Retarded Policy.

the beginning of the flight was quite funny. we tried to arrange a seat swap so that i could sit next to this friend of mine, and we ended up with a seriously comlex plan, that involved about ten people switching. this would've worked out alright, except that there was one too many demands for a window-seat (3 of 'em), and so although it was a switch that would've made most of us much happier, we had to stay in the same places.

disappointing.
but i still feel that my organizational skills have dramatically
improved :D

the day before yesterday:

the flight sucked ASS. i barely slept, although the steward/ess(e)s thought i was one of the security team, so i got preferential treatment. oh, and i watched starsky and hutch, which wasn't very funny, but it was another cute ben stiller flick.
oh, yeah. the food. not really food. so much as dehydrated just-add-water crap-inna-bucket. as if i didn't have enough problems, 'cause my stomache was already doing funny things from all the stress and bad eating from the previous days.

i was completely AMAZED in johannesburg. firstly, it was 3o, which is only about 30o colder than the day before. secondly, everything went so smoothly, than it felt like i basically slid from plane to plane. everyone was polite and efficient. not quite what i'm used to.

the second flight was a BAZILLION times better. the food was decent, the people were behaved, and it was far more comfortable.

i arrived in cape town, picked up my bag, and got a big hug from the mommy. it's taken me until this morning to register that i'm ACTUALLY in cape town - everything between landing and now has seemed like a sequence of too-beautiful photos (like the faked stuff from digitalblasphemy). we drove home, had a meeting with the rabbi about funeral protocol, showered, dressed, and drove to the funeral.

oh, yes. my brother and i aren't supposed to do anything fun for the next 11 months. yeah fucking right.

the funeral was a WEIRD experience, from start to finish. i haven't seen my younger sister in many years, and while she didn't look as bad as everyone described, she didn't look so good either. her profession's been catching up to her. i also met her mom, and i've never heard a good word about this woman, who was seriously overly-friendly.

there were a lot of well-wishing people, and a few friends came too. the first eulogy, from my uncle, was really good. he employed excellent doublespeak, and it was like listening to two completely different stories at the same time. we were all quite impressed.

the second was from the rabbi, and a lot of what he said just wasn't right. he really means well, but there are some things you just can't band-aid. it's like saying that joseph stalin really wasn't such a bad guy.

i realized, as we interred the body, that i don't really harbour ill-will towards his body. it's the controller that did a bum job. leaving was a bit complicated - everyone wants to say hi, and do the whole well-wishing thing. some of it was sweet, some was really uncomfortable, and some was just plain aweful. but we smiled the sad smile (at least i HOPE that's what it looked like), and after all was said and done, we went back to the house. the evening meal
was very simple, but pleasant nonetheless, but very soon we were all completely bombed and it was bedtime all around.

yesterday:

i got up around 8.30, and i have no idea why. i arbed around for a bit, had me a jungle-oats breakfast, and then went to my sister's for a long talk. i went to my visit my brother afterwards, and got there just in time to put a stop to a really aweful sequence of events - there were just a lot of unfortunate coincidences going around, and things were getting interesting (in a very bad sort of way).

not only did we sort everything out, but we also had a serious talk about stuff, which we really needed.

everyone came over, we had some interesting discussions, and then my sister and i gave an uncle a ride to the traffic station to recover his towed car. he was supposed to meet us outside when he was done, but forgot and drove straight home, so we sat for about half an hour there before we got fed-up and phoned him...
hmmph.

we went to clear stuff from the post office, and then moved on to woodstock, where i got my phone unblocked (for FAR cheaper than in
israel). by the time we'd done some shopping, and gotten home, it was 17.30, and we were meant to be in the synagogue by 17.45 - after i'd showered and gotten dressed, i made it there JUST in time to leave... whoops. my entrance was a TAD embarrassing.

the sunset was INCREDIBLE. the sky became a rainbow, with all the palm trees silhouetted against it, the water a deep blue dimming towards the horizon...

the evening was somewhat complicated, with lots of running around, but also very nice, with lots of interesting conversations and general togetherness - the funny part of all this is that we're supposed to be mourning my father: this is the first time the family's been all together, with everyone enjoying themselves, and it's mainly because he's not there to stuff it all up...

and the food was simply AMAZING. so much good stuff, i had to taste
a tiny bit of everything to make sure i got it all - AND there were serious leftovers, so when i got the munchies later there was plenty to choose from ^_^

my brother and i spent some time together after everyone left, which
was concluded by a drive to the ATM. that fscking car (my father's) is simply amazing.

this morning:

omfg - i finally got some internet time, and my mom's pc, and the internet in south africa in general, is rediculously outdated, clunky, and bizarre. this whole country needs some serious IT therapy.

omfg - i just had breakfast. a snackwich and coffee, standing on the balcony overlooking a scene so beautiful that my eyes hurt. and i thought last night's sunset was pretty...

24/07/04

alright! today went quite well.

^_^

basically, this morning our argentinian and i ran around packing and throwing etc. etc., and then suddenly he just left. and then it was me and grootbek. wow.

then my cousin's husband and daughter arrived, and we packed everything into the station-wagon, and then they just left without me!
how rude!
anyway, it made sense, as i have to be here at 7am tomorrow, and i hadn't completely thought the plan through... at least someone was awake.

i spent the remainder of the afternoon in front of the telly, watching romantic comedies and munching white-chocolate-covered oreos.
w00t!

erm. it's weird being in this room, without any of my stuff - all that's left is my flying kit...

*** later ***

my last post. i'm about to pack up my pc... catch y'all on the flip-side. hell, i'll even be catching myself on the flip-side!

23/07/04

*** yesterday ***

i basically spent the day packing. i went to visit her mom in the evening, and her sister seconded me into making chuparim, which are basically cute, and completely pointless little gifts.
t'was fun.

*** today ***

i went for a quick blade to campus this morning, to pick up a couple (literal) more boxes. i didn't strain, but i still had to shower immediately upon getting home - this summer is DISGUSTING.

i almost finished packing today, but there're always those last few things...

i played counterstrike for about half an hour or so this morning, which was the first completely non-productive thing i've done in days. and i played well.
^_^

she came over, and we spent the afternoon together. this included eating lots of ice-cream, some of which was aweful, and some of which was fantastic. we're convinced that they laced the first stuff we ate - we both got a bit crazy afterwards.

i passed out in front of the tv, and was just woken by my cousin from up north, informing me that we're moving my stuff tomorrow. and then i got a call from a friend, saying he can take take a few boxes too, so all in all quite good news :)

i'm just soooo tired. i've no idea why i'm typing and not sleeping.

22/07/04

on the 19th, i received a message informing me that my father's going to die really soon, and now i have to get packed and leave ASAP. as if i wasn't under enough pressure.

the thing is, i care rocks about the dude. my mother wants me to speak to him before he goes, for "closure", but although i have much to say to him, i know it's a waste of time. nothing i can say will change anything, or make him understand the damage he's done to everyone. and even if he did understand, i'm not so sure he'd care very much.

*** 19th ***

she slept over, and we slept late. we had a big breakfast, and then an argument (which turned into a really good conversation), she disappeared, and i went to yogi's to work. in the evening we played beach volleyball, which was nice.

*** 20th ***

i got up fairly early, and went searching for cardboard boxes to pack into. only the university (the last place i looked - duh!) had any. i got suckered into making some international PR phone calls, and then got a ride home with the boxes.

it was a SERIOUSLY hot day, and i spent hours on my blades. i sweated like a muthafunsta.

i spent the afternoon and evening sorting and packing, with a break to teach english (and DAMN that sucked), and after a quick shower i went to work.

*** yesterday ***

my last night at work, and it just HAD to be a busy one. the only real bother was that i had to do stuff^TM - i knew that i wouldn't get to sleep until i'd packed everything that was on my bed...

i got home around 5am, and spent an hour packing. i slept about four hours, before getting up to run around herzliyah. i paid a last visit to the volunteer center, and then had a great lunch with some friends.
i made a few calls to prospective IDC students, and began walking to my relatives to update them. halfway there, my flip-flops broke, and i had to walk home barefoot, wash my feet, and then return. at least my blades helped me make it there more-or-less on time, but WHY ME?!?!

after the visit, i faxed the army to ask for immediate leave, and then made a few more student-calls, before returning home to continue packing.

and pack i did.

*STRESS*

hmmph - my father's picked a fine time to start dying... now, instead of the crazy pressure of having under two weeks to pack and leave my apartment (and finish up with the project), i now have to be able to leave at any moment.
 
bugger.
 
19th:
 
she slept over, and we slept late. we had a big breakfast, and then an argument (which turned into a really good conversation), she disappeared, and i went to yogi's to work. in the evening we played beach volleyball, which was nice.
 
yesterday:
 
i got up fairly early, and went searching for cardboard boxes to pack into. only the university (the last place i looked - duh!) had any. i got suckered into making some international PR phone calls, and then got a ride home with the boxes.
 
i didn't mention it was SERIOUSLY hot yesterday, and i spent hours on my blades. i sweated like a muthafunsta.
 
i spent the afternoon and evening sorting and packing, with a break to teach english (damn that sucked), and after a quick shower i came to work.
 
today:
 
my last night at work, and it just HAD to be a busy one. the only real bother is that i have to do stuff^TM, and i can't get to sleep until i've packed everything that's on my bed...

18/07/04

hoo-boy, am i ever impressed! children of dune is simply all-powerful. many / much kudos.

*** today ***

while waiting in the queue for a social security consultation this morning, i received an interesting phone call... i got into the unit i wanted!

w00t!

so life isn't SO bad. i figured out something rather important with the project i'm doing, and had a pleasant and successful meeting about it on campus. after lunch, consisting of a bottle of sprite (it's simply too hot to eat), i went with a friend to his place, where we chilled and talked for a bit, before i had to go home to prepare for the tutoring session.

which promptly killed my day. i'm now teaching this 15-year old kid, who has a serious attitude problem, and is simply the most disrespectful person. it drove me nuts, and i'm still trying to decide if i'm going to teach him again.
offensive little brat.

on my way home, i indulged myself with an entire loaf of STYLING garlic bread.
yeeessss...

she met up with me at my place, for an hour or so of whine-time (mine, i needed to get this kid off my chest), and now i'm planning on a quiet, relaxed night.

17/07/04

*** yesterday ***

i somehow managed to get to the volleyball tournament yesterday - although i left on time, the bus took HOURS, as there was a lot of traffic...
i got a lot of reading done :)

the tournament was somewhat fun to watch - i got completely tranfixed on the women's volleyball, however. there was a pair of legs that took up all of my attention, so much so that i couldn't distinguish between the plays and the breaks ^_^

unfortunately, yogi didn't get very far, and i got quite badly sunburnt.

yogi and his girlfriend dropped me off at home in the late afternoon - i got some munchies from the store, and promptly passed out around 19.00 or 20.00... i was supposed to go for coffee later with her, but i literally couldn't wake up, not even while talking on the phone. i hate it when that happens.

*** today ***

i slept straight through till this morning, when my damn alarm reminded me that i had to go and visit my now-ex taekwondo instructor. aside from getting the video of my 5th fight, i finally had that long talk with her. and it was semi-productive: she's now going to use indemnity forms, and stop changing the way she teaches due to stupid parents.
we hope.

she picked me up around 13.30, and we went to her parents for lunch. it was quite pleasant :) her father even spoke to me like a human being!

lunch was great, and afterwards we went to the mall, where we both had a little shopping to do. the compressed-air cans are only available by order, so i ordered, and now have to wait a day or two. they're fscking expensive, but i had been warned...

we spent the rest of the afternoon together, and i've successfully introduced her to full metal jacket.
tee hee hee.

i'm going to watch children of dune now, and then get some more sleep. unless someone else makes changes in that plan, which can happen now that i'm finished my degree.
yes. finished en' klaar.
i hope :P

16/07/04

*** yesterday ***

after my last post, i realized that our apartment was an absolute FURNACE. i spent the evening sitting on the air-conditioner, and i was STILL sweating! i got a lot of reading done, though.

*** today ***

i just got home from watching spiderman 2. it's really nothing at all like the first one. this one has WAY too much story, and the story's not all that good. i got to hating peter parker so much during the first half an hour, that for the rest of the movie i simply couldn't sympathise with the protagonist at all.

doctor octopus is THE SHIZNIT, however. they did him INCREDIBLY well!

SxS, ru55, and goldenangel are all on their way to sa right now - i'm so not looking forward to the coming two weeks...

however, now that the idea that i'm no longer studying has dawned on me, i'm feeling a lessening of the general stress and disquiet that usually causes me to be a paranoid anxious freak.
hmmmm.

i'm gonna go to bed now, i have a volleyball tournament to witness in the morning.

15/07/04

why? why does EVERYTHING have to be a story?
huh? tell me!

i napped for about half an hour last night, then began some SERIOUS grafting on the project, systematically eliminating bugs... mmf and SxS came over quite late, around midnight, and we worked for three hours on the presentation, and the project. we were FINISHED by the time we left for SxS's, where we practically crashed on impact.

umm. except for the fact that i broke my "no sugar" rule, and had lemon merangue before bedtime. i barely slept the whole night (the sugar wasn't the only factor, to be fair: it was hot and i was uncomfortable on the couch).

i got up about 09.30, and finished up the design document, before we had a quick breakfast, and arrived on campus at 11.30 (for a 12.00 presentation).

our lecturer was in a meeting, in the presentation room, so we went and practised the presentation in one of the classrooms. when the meeting was over, we went back to the room to install the software, and the lecturer made us wait some more.
which was, without any doubt, the most rediculous turn of good fortune for us! if we hadn't been stalled, we would never have discovered that an entire section of our code was missing!!! without which, we would have failed our acceptance test. there i was, frantically last-minute coding...
(a feeling not wholly unfamiliar to me)

and we still had a tiny mistake :$... fortunately, it was too insignificant to notice, and i've already found it and fixed it.

the presentation went quite well, with very few hitches. it was such a relief to get out of there!

we spent the day at ru55's pool, playing full-contact water-basketball, which was VERY cool, but VERY painful, and tiring.

i've discovered, to my horror, that life in the army's going to be a little less simple than originally planned - i have no idea where / how i'm going to live, and i'm not going to have ANY money while i'm in. i don't have any idea how i'm gonna eat :'(

after a big lunch in ra'anana, SxS dropped me off at home, and i've just had an AMAZING cold shower, fixed up some more of the project (before i forget), uploaded it to the lecturer, and am about to crash.

and, unless i have to write supps...

i have a degree!!

14/07/04

today was the longest, hardest day i've had in a LONG, LONG time - and it's far from over.

*** yesterday ***

between last night and

*** today ***

this morning, i finally managed to get the simulated oracle section of our project complete!
w00t!

i slept really badly, and woke up really early. i continued working, and left at 08.30 for the bus station.

the bus was about half an hour late, which meant that i got to the base approximately four and a half minutes before i was due - just enough time to swallow a quick cup of coffee (without the cup).

aside from getting lost, i'd forgotten to shave properly. not a great first impression.
the interview was tough to follow, as it was all in hebrew. afterwards, the more i thought about it, the more i realized just how inadequate my answers to their questions were - with or without translation, i was off-guard, and i've spent the day really worried about whether or not i'm going to get in.

and if i DO get in, then i can't stay on the kibbutz, as it's too far away. my cousins are going to be almost as disappointed as i am. and i have to find a place to store all my belongings when i'm in cape town.

did i mention today was death-valley hot? it was absolutely disgusting from before i left the house, and EVERYONE (myself included) spent the day sweating like pigs.

i got to mmf's place, and we worked on our QA document and our final presentation for tomorrow.
s'very nice. professional. snide.

around 15.30, i left to wait at the busstop, in the blistering heat. the bus was about twenty minutes late. some experiences i've had in this country i can do without.

i hopped off just in time to do my community service - packing donated clothing into black bags. it is, without any doubt, the most revolting job i can think of doing. people in this city have no problem "donating" shoes that they've stepped in crap with, or fungus-infested / rotting / evolving things that they've found lying around the house, and nobody gave me any form of protection. i've never felt so icky in my life, not to mention the fact that it was about 50^o where i was working.

i skipped out a bit early, after over an hour of gruelling labour, 'cause i just couldn't take it any more.

i just had an AMAZING cold shower, have thrown my clothing straight into the washing machine, and am planning on a serious nap before continuing with the project.

13/07/04

*** yesterday ***

yesterday was a complete waste of a day that i sorely needed.

i spent around FIVE hours on campus, trying to prepare the computer for our presentation. i finally gave up, on the third failed attempt (on a freshly-installed system!) at installing oracle's database. oracle is, in conclusion, the crappest software i have EVER come across.

(one expects, when confronted with an "installation successful" page, that the installation was successful)

in addition, i came up with a solution that completely replaces the oracle workflow, does its job better, and with no overhead.
scummy bastards.

mmf and i spent an hour or so not-really-working at my place, as the internet went down at one point. he fucked off to install his new computer, and i worked on our project until SxS came to pick me, and we went to yogi's.

where i tried, repeatedly, to get them to work on our presentation (which just so happens to be THEIR responsibility).

*** today ***

eventually i gave up, and yogi gave me a ride home.
on the way to the car a bird shat on me. life just sucks sometimes.

i have to shower now, obviously, and then i HAVE to get some sleep - i'm still not over being sick, and i have to get up early in the morning for community service...

i've been neglecting to mention the weather we've been having lately - about three days ago summer moved in for real, and it is HOT all day, every day. even the israelis are sweating like pigs constantly, so its not just me.
at least the weather forecast appears to be cooling off - all the way down to 26 / 27! whoohoo!

*** later ***

it DID cool down today - only it was still disgustingly hot :(

i began my day all bright and early, and went to do my community service like the good lad that i am.

and there was nobody there.

that sucked, for twenty minutes.

so i went home, and spent the morning working on our project, which is MAYBE halfway done...

i spent three hours helping some kid with his math, which was much better than usual, and then had a haircut for the first time in a year. not bad, too.

sammy came over, we talked and played some tekken, and now i need to crash, before getting some more project work done. tonight's gonna be a bit rough, and tomorrow's my interview with the army.

must - speak - hebrew...

11/07/04

*** 9th ***

i kept passing out at work, and my manager was sitting right next to me :( at least i've quit already, and i didn't make any mistakes anyway :P

at one point i had a nightmare in which a cockroach jumped at my face, and i woke with a gasp like you see in the movies... that was kinda embarrassing :$

i got home around 6am. i played some counterstrike while waiting for the hot water cyclinder, had a much needed shower (it'd been a hot, sticky couple of days), and finally got to sleep around 7am.

i basically wasted the friday, reading and sleeping, and watching tv.
i did some shopping, at least :)

friday night i went with her to watch shrek 2, which was AWESOME. i wish i didn't take comedies so seriously... the parts in which prince charming was successful were a bit difficult for me :P

*** yesterday ***

i had a great breakfast, and watched kill me later, which is quite a cute movie. yogi picked me up, we had lunch with his family, and spent the afternoon studying for the IT exam.

*** today ***

i stayed over at SxS's last night - we didn't really get any more work done, and i didn't sleep so well. i would probably have slept better if i hadn't suddenly become sick during the night.

the first exceptionally sucky thing to happen this morning was that the coffee was too hot for me to so much as start drinking it before the exam... but finding that out cost me my tastebuds for the day.
hmmph.
the exam itself was alright - i really hope i did as well as i felt, but as usual there's no way to know. *pout*

after the exam, mmf and i tried to set up the presentation computer in preparation for thursday, to no avail. this is not going to be the easiest week ever. on the plus side, the person who the project is for approves of the design, which is always a good thing.

it took me forever to get home, and almost as soon as i arrived i had to go and do some community service: teaching this 13 year-old kid english. again. i really don't know how to deal with him, as i'm SURE that he's just fucking with me. :@

i crashed almost as soon as i got home - i spent the afternoon in bed, alternately sleeping and feeling absolutely abominable.

around 20.00 i started feeling well enough to get up, and have just finished watching nisuin nosah tel aviv, an israeli comedy from 1979. it was silly, yet cute. i need to watch more hebrew stuff...

i deperately need a shower, and then i'm going to have to get some more sleep. my brain is still completely buggered.

*studying* (no really!)

yesterday:

i kept passing out at work, and my manager was sitting right next to me :( at least i've quit already, and i didn't make any mistakes anyway :P

at one point i had a nightmare in which a cockroach jumped at my face, and i woke with a gasp like you see in the movies... that was kinda embarrassing :$

i got home around 6am. i played some counterstrike while waiting for the hot water cyclinder, had a much needed shower (it's been a hot, sticky couple of days), and finally got to sleep around 7.

i basically wasted yesterday, reading and sleeping, watching tv. i did some shopping, at least :)

last night i went with her to watch shrek 2, which was AWESOME. i wish i didn't take comedies so seriously... the parts where prince charming was successful were a bit difficult for me :P

today:

i had a great breakfast, and watched kill me later, which is quite a cute movie. yogi picked me up, we had lunch with his family, and we're now studying for the exam tomorrow - really hard, as you can see.
i've learned all sorts of interesting things,
really, i have.

gumption

yesterday:
food packing was fun! although i was hungry, and i had to keep fighting the urge to snack on the food of the needy.
I'm needy too.
after the packing, came the delivering, which was kind of fun. i got to practise some more hebrew...

i tried to get some sleep when i got home, but that didn't really happen. i read quite a bit - and then sammy came over for some coffee and a chat before work.

today:
work has so far been quite alright, but i'm exhausted. really exhausted. the world is all fuzzy 'n stuff.
and that's all i have to say about that.

08/07/04

*** yesterday ***

we got nothing done at yogi's last night. although the guys did manage to destroy a superb piece of electronic gadetry, the archos, during a most entertaining fight.

*** today ***

SxS and i met up wih ru55 and a friend on the beach on our way home, which was interesting - it's a nature reserve, with absolutely no lighting or decent paths.

i was supposed to work on the project when i got home, but i was way too tired.

she woke me up around 9.30 to pick something up, and i had difficulty getting back to sleep. my back's much better, now that i've been sleeping without a pillow, and standing up straight...

i got a phone call this morning from the army, informing me that i might get an interview with a programming unit. i have no idea who, and i was a bit embarrassed about asking as he was telling me that he's worried about my level of hebrew...

i spent the day worki... no, i spent the day assing around, doing a little bit of work in between. i realized that there's no way we're going to be ready by monday for our presentation, so i fortunately managed to procure Yet Another Postponement, this time till thursday.

and i've sort of figured out how to actually do the damn thing. converting an entire application to MDI in vb6 is a bit annoying, but well worth it. definitely prettier.

i finally finished watching about schmidt. it was a fun movie, but there were some things i didn't enjoy: neither the hot-tub scene, nor jack nicholson's butt are on my list of things to see.

i'm off to do some required good deeds aka community service, packing food and helping out the elderly, until i go to work tonight.
* silly grin *

07/07/04

*** yesterday ***

IGNORING the horrific pain and discomfort i was in, due to having slept badly two nights in a row (my neck and upper back are totally screwed up):
i did a lot of prep-work for the finance exam. it was an open-book exam. i took in LOTS of material. it was still a NASTY exam, with loads of tricky questions. it took me 2hrs 50mins out of a possible 3hrs. i have absolutely NO idea whether or not i got lucky enough, as it was all multiple choice => no partial credit.
although i did manage to learn (during the exam) how money market hedging works... and the lecturer did give me a free 5% ^v^...

i visited the social worker, and now i have more kids to teach. i hope this doesn't suck. on my way home, i organized a HUGE shuwarma, which was both tasty and very messy.

i rollerbladed to ru55's, which damn near killed me, and spent the afternoon chilling in the pool - which made my neck feel a bit better.
i discovered something rather interesting! if you hang upside down from the side of the pool, it's far easier to hold your breath - i think it's due to the blood flowing differently under water.

oh, and SxS threw my pants over the balcony. i still can't believe he did that. and they landed in a bowl of something, and were totally soaked when i went to fetch them.
mutha-funsta.

SxS dropped me off, and she came over with her video machine, and 21 grams. we went to the beach to watch yogi playing volleyball, but left early so that we could watch the movie. the movie is really well done, quite powerful.

*** today ***

i went to the volunteer center (where we have to go to do community service). the women i met with was most upset that i haven't been putting down "extras" in my hours, like the time it takes to walk there and back, and the time i could've done when i get stood up by the kids i'm teaching. i so could've been finished my service by now :(.

i've just finished my breakfast, watching discovery science, listening to them saying all the things i've been dreaming about the last few years. nice to know i'm not alone - we can get humanity off the planet!

time to do some work. or sleep. or something.

(oops! i completely forgot - i got 99% for my global marketing exam! w00t!)

*** later ***

i just got back from a four hour tutorial. it was the math kid again - he's explained to me how he's going to quit school and become a rapper.
yeah.
so i spent the four hours discussing the realities of life. i'm sure none of it meant anything to him, but i did get four hours of community service done, so #@$% it.

i discovered today that i accidentally left out a major portion of our project, which needs to be ready for testing tomorrow.
BRILLIANT.

so i dunno what's going to happen, and we also have to study for the next exam.

mmm - hmmm.

06/07/04

*** yesterday ***

i woke up intending to meet with the social worker, but that didn't happen. instead, i spent some time coding, and consumed a marvellous breakfast.
then the great studying began.

after a while, SxS joined me. then we went to nando's with yogi, where i had fiery buffalo wings that made me cry, and lose about 90% of my taste-buds. VERY tasty :)

we spent the evening studying at yogi's,

*** today ***

and SxS just dropped me off. we've got to be up early to get some photocopying / printing done - i really hope i can get to sleep!

05/07/04

*** yesterday ***

i did some actual studying for finance, and watched the last twenty minutes of the game - the dude with the spanish flag is simply a genius! and he has a sense of humour, too :)

*** today ***

SxS and i went to study at yogi's. we stopped on the way to get COMPLETELY ripped off at the kiosk - i'm not doing THAT again. mmf and yogi "forgot" to order pizza, so the two of us had to go hungry.

we did a bit of studying, not entirely unproductive, and then returned to our neck of the woods. we'll be resuming in the morning, just as soon as we're awake. i'm feeling more or less confident that the exam won't be SO bad...

i've just made some major adjustments to the project, and it is looking FINE. now it's bedtime.

bigjobs

the big news - i got a personal interview for the unit i want to get into! wheeeee!! it's just amazing that they're at all interested in me ^v^

yesterday:

i slept remarkably well, on the couch at all. goldenangel and i had coffee, while i wrote a touching thank you letter for a relative of mine, then i showered and she picked me up.

lunch was really nice, ignoring the fact that her father's still harbouring some serious issues about us. food was amazing.

on the way back, we stopped to make out in the park, which was a totally fun experience.

i tried to teach goldenangel some tekken, but it's difficult to give a crash course in something as intricate as that.
buttonmashers.

SxS came by, we went off to yogi's. we organized a pizza at almost half price, huge and with red peppers and onion (a SUPERB combination). we spent the evening semi-studying for the finance paper on tuesday, and i got some substantial work done on our project.
yippee!

today:

we went to a friend's place for a visit, around 3am or so, and had a singalong. afterwards we had sambusak in the industrial area, which was quite tasty, and we've just arrived home.
i'm off to the couch...

04/07/04

*** 2nd ***

i went to bed sometime between 00:30 and 01:00. i read for an hour or two, and tried to sleep, but failed. so i worked on our project until roughly 04:30am - it's #@$%ing STUNNING, but i was #@$%ing TIRED.

goldenangel woke me around 9ish, to say that she was 5 minutes from my apartment.
i was still half-dreaming when i met her at the corner. i tried to go back to sleep, but that didn't work. we had some coffee, and then went shopping.

i bought a book for my cousin's 80th birthday, and a sweet-yet-simple card, and we ate crepes for breakfast.
was nice.

i introduced her to invader zim ^v^ (although i can't believe no-one else had...)
i passed out, apparently for hours.
go figure.

she came over, bringing her video machine and a copy of the whole nine yards, as neither of them had seen it. afterwards, we had a STYLING supper at tal bagel's, and then watched the whole ten yards, which is simply AWESOME. it was loads of fun, and we couldn't stop smiling.

*** yesterday ***

we played a good couple of hours of pool, and were later joined by SxS and ru55.

all in all, it was a most enjoyable day.

i slept remarkably well, albeit on the couch. goldenangel and i had coffee, while i wrote a touching thank you letter for this cousin of mine, then i showered and she picked me up.

lunch was really nice, ignoring the fact that her father's still harbouring some serious issues about us. the food was amazing.

i tried to teach goldenangel some tekken, but it's difficult to give a crash course in something as intricate as that.
buttonmashers.

SxS came by, and we all went off to yogi's. we organized a pizza at almost half price: huge and with red peppers and onion (a SUPERB combination). we spent the evening semi-studying for the finance paper on tuesday, and i got some substantial work done on our project.
yippee!

the big news for the day - i got a personal interview for the unit i want to get into! wheeeee!! it's just amazing that they're at ALL interested in me
^v^

*** today ***

we went to a friend's place for a visit, around 3am or so, and had a singalong (SxS and our friend are learning to play guitar). afterwards we had sambusak in the industrial area, which was quite tasty, and we then returned home.

*** later ***

i slept well, again on the couch, but had to wake up far-too-early o'clock to take goldenangel to the busstop. instead of going back to sleep, i had a cool shower, and have just finished working out a bunch of bugs from our project. s'nice. s'very nice.

more good news - i got my leave extended! i'm coming to south africa for two months! w00t!

*** later ***

i'm losing patience teaching math. there's something very wrong with these kids i'm teaching. it shouldn't matter to me, but i hate the idea that i can't really give these kids as much help as they need.

i spent the afternoon with SxS and ru55 by the pool. we had a great time, acting like five-year-olds ^v^. i got a little overheated, so when i got home i passed out on the couch, watching cartoon network.
i'm *SUCH* a hard-worker.

i spoke to my cousin from the kibbutz, and it seems that everything's working out smoothly... this is all so very cool!

i've spent the past hour or so working on our project, and it annoys me because i keep getting bogged down with silly details. although, i am learning all sorts of new things about visual basic. sometimes bugs ARE features.

right. enough. finance time.

*yawn*

good heavens.

yesterday:
i went to bed around 00:30/1am. i read for an hour or two, and tried to sleep, but failed. so i worked on our project until roughly 04:30am - it's #@$%ing STUNNING, but i was #@$%ing TIRED.

goldenangel woke me around 9ish, to say that she was 5 minutes from my apartment.
i was still half-dreaming when i met her at the corner. i tried to go back to sleep, but that didn't work. we had some coffee, and then went shopping.

i bought a book for my cousin's 80th birthday, and a card which needs some serious filling, and we ate crepes for breakfast.
was nice.

i introduced her to invader zim ^v^
i passed out, apparently for hours.
go figure.

she came over, bringing her video machine and a copy on the whole nine yards, as neither of them had seen it. afterwards, we had an AWESOME supper at tal bagel's, and then watched the whole ten yards, which is simply AWESOME. loads of fun, we couldn't stop smiling.

today:
we played a good couple of hours of pool, later joined by SxS and ru55.

all in all, it was a most enjoyable day.

all in good time

30th:
both my bureaucracy paper, and my seminar (bullshit) paper are in. i faxed my request for army leave, unfortunately i forget to check whether they received it.
how embarrassing.

i helped some people in my class study for an exam that i'm not taking - it was interesting. some people just aren't destined to understand computer basics...

i slept a little this afternoon, and learned a Very Important Principle... again. it never ceases to amaze me: the only time anyone can get through to my cellphone when i'm in my bedroom (we have reception problems), it's a particularly annoying person asking a stupid question while i'm sleeping.
unbelievable.

i couldn't get back to sleep after that... so i continued reading brian herbert - the butlerian jihad, which is STILL interesting, and i'm about a quarter of the way through already. it's a bit fast-paced, but then again that's become my usual complaint. i like the story to be savoured, and i feel that lately authors are tending to put more and more stuff into simple storylines...

i got to work around 10pm, which was way too early (but i use public transport, so i don't really have much choice). i spent the evening clearing email, reading my book, and even catching an hour or two of sleep.

today:
i've been actually working since 3.30am (it's 4.30am currently), and so far it's been a quiet night (let's hope it stays that way). i've been playing kingdomofloathing, which is a nice change of pace from the past week or so :)

01/07/04

*** yesterday ***

i handed in both my bureaucracy paper, and my seminar (bullshit) paper. i faxed my request for army leave, but unfortunately i forgot to check whether they received it.
how embarrassing.

i helped some people in my class study for an exam that i'm not taking - it was interesting. some people just aren't destined to understand computer basics...

i slept a little in the afternoon, and learned a Very Important Principle... again. it never ceases to amaze me: the only time anyone can get through to my cellphone when i'm in my bedroom (we're experiencing reception problems), it's a particularly annoying person, asking a particularly stupid question, while i'm trying to sleep.
unbelievable.

i couldn't get back to sleep after that... so i continued reading brian herbert - the butlerian jihad, which is STILL interesting, and i'm almost a quarter of the way through it already. it's a bit fast-paced, but then again that's become my usual complaint. i like the story to be savoured, and i feel that lately authors are tending to give away too much of the story at once...

i got to work at 22.00, which was way too early (but i use public transport, so i don't really have much choice). i spent the evening clearing email, reading my book, and even catching an hour or two of sleep.

*** today ***

i only began to actually work from 03.30, and it was such a quiet night that i didn't really notice when we finished. i spent a lot of time playing kingdom of loathing, which was a nice change of pace from the past week or so :)

i finally got to sleep around 7am, and woke up around 09.30, to speak to the army. seems everything's okay, but i'll have to wait till sunday to get a more definite idea of what's happening.

aside from doing some heavy-duty shopping for the weekend, i spent my day at home, resting and doing some work on our final project. in fact, i'm not entirely certain about where my day went...

i've just gotten off the phone with her - and i just had a startling revelation.

i'm finishing my studies in TWELVE DAYS. i'm starting to move my life up north in TWELVE DAYS.
OMFG.

good night.

*ponder*

hmmm... seems like the day has been longer than i thought...

28th:
the kid i taught on monday night - his math hasn't really improved. maybe it's gotten worse. maybe he's just messing with me. either way, i've set him homework - going through his multiplication tables until he GETS the damn thing.

i kinda studied for the math exam. i sort of went through the sample exams, and i played some VERY good counterstrike. i r0xx0red, even.
yes, i can be 133+. promise.
(really.)

29th:
the math exam was EASY. the three hour paper took me an hour, and i spent a paranoid hour just checking the damn thing, 'cause i was SURE it couldn't be THAT easy... hmmph.
oh well. maybe, for once, (just once o' lord), i did as well as i feel.

i bought brian herbert - the butlerian jihad, which looks super cool, and i've enjoyed the first 7 pages. so i now have 3 new gigantic books to read, while i'm in the middle of exams and projects... very clever.
yes...

i spent the afternoon at yogi's, working on the seminar. unsuccessfully. eventually, around midnight, SxS came over and showed us the light, and our paper is now damn near complete.
WHOOPEE!!

30th:
we just had supper, and i'm about to crash. gotta be up early, as usual, and it's already 4.14 here...

30/06/04

*** 28th ***

the kid i taught on monday night - his math hasn't really improved. maybe it's gotten worse. maybe he's just messing with me. either way, i've set him homework - going through his multiplication tables until he GETS the damn thing.

i kinda studied for the math exam. i sort of went through the sample exams, and i played some VERY good counterstrike.
i r0xx0red, even.
yes, i can be 133+. promise.
(really.)

*** yesterday ***

the math exam was EASY. the three hour paper took me an hour, and i spent a paranoid hour just checking the damn thing, 'cause i was SURE it couldn't be THAT easy... hmmph.
oh well. maybe, for once, (just once o' lord), i did as well as i feel.

i bought brian herbert - the butlerian jihad, which looks super cool. so i now have three new gigantic books to read, while i'm in the middle of exams and projects... very clever.
yes...

i spent the afternoon at yogi's, working on the seminar. unsuccessfully. eventually, around midnight, SxS came over and showed us the light, and our paper damn near completed itself! phenomenal.
WHOOPEE!!

*** today ***

we had supper at what used to be the best sambusak place - it's now turned into just another kiosk. bastards.
i crashed around 04.15, and woke up around 9am... or 10... or something, i don't really remember.

after a quick shower, i continued working on our paper, and it's now FINISHED!! COMPLETE!! DONE!! STYLING!! SUPERB!! i now have TWO (2) (count 'em) papers that i'm finally handing in today, and that means i've completed SIX out of the nine courses i've taken this semester!

WHOO HOO!!

right, excitement over. time to do some printing, some faxing to the army, and continue working on the final project. maybe i'll start studying early for... naah. not gonna happen.

28/06/04

*** yesterday ***

the good news is that i finally figured out the answering machine message for my army unit - and managed to get through to the right person - who could understand my english / hebrew combination!
WHOO HOO!

i spent an hour yesterday morning teaching english. it was quite an experience. not bad, mind you, but definitely an experience.
this kid's english is even worse than the other one's, so everything i say in english i have to repeat in hebrew.
lovely.

i did some serious shopping on the way home, and yogi picked me up as soon as i'd put everything away. we went through to the industrial zone for lunch with his father, which was great.

after lunch, i faxed through my proof-of-loneliness to the army, and am now waiting for them to send me a form to fill in. once this is done, i can move to the kibbutz as a "lonely soldier", which is exactly what i've been trying to do.
SCORE.

yogi and i, aside from doing his shopping, spent the afternoon fretting over our seminar paper, which is going nowhere fast.

it's driving me nuts.

that's pretty much all my news for the day,

*** today ***

as i just got home, brushed my teeth, and am about to pass out.

*** later ***

i slept until roughly 09.30, had a lukewarm shower (i really dislike my flatmates), and went off to orange.
again.
they've replaced my cellphone.
again.

this time, however, i have bluetooth. it's nice to have, but i'm not sure i'll ever really get to use it.

i did some shopping while i waited - i bought a modern-day version of homer's iliad, greg tobin - the siege of troy. ok, so i'm the anti-purist, but i wanted to get the story without the difficult reading...

i also got me a very large book of hebrew stories and poetry (i had a similar one in english when i was a lad, and i really loved it), so i'll have something to keep practicing with when i'm in cape town.

ah - it feels good to say that. i'll say it again. WHEN I'M IN CAPE TOWN.

i slept away the early afternoon, and i think i'm pretty much back to normal again. i should be okay until i fsck it all up working on wednesday night...

i've been studying for the exam tomorrow - i'm totally not concerned. i'm more worried about this seminar paper of ours. at least we can see some light!

i'm teaching tonight, the kid who can't add - i hope it doesn't de-brain me too much.

27/06/04

*** yesterday ***

i spent yesterday morning working on our project, which is getting along nicely (although the interface needs work, and we all disagree on what it should look like).
i also spoke to dirk diggler - that bastard got a sweet job selling contracts for a gym (he gets to work out whenever he's not selling), and he "forgot" to tell me! so i spent a goodly few minutes cursing him out - i was rather worried about him.

yogi picked me up sometime in the early afternoon, and we began working on our seminar paper.
what a bummer.
in fact, we're practically nowhere near completion, and totally confused over what to write. bleh.

the good news:
1) i have almost as much guarantee as i'm going to get that i'll make it into the unit i want. while this is completely NOT a guarantee, it does make me feel a little better. the chances are, if i don't get into the unit, i'll get into something that's at least sort-of good for me.
2) i have been guaranteed a place on the kibbutz i want to live on! so i can stress less, knowing that i can move there as soon as i'm finished with exams, and that my stuff will be stored when i'm in south africa.

i had a long chat with my mum - it turns out my period of army leave might not affect my visit to london, so here's me holding thumbs...
*holds thumbs*

the only other good occurence for the day was the pastries we made for lunch - they came out beautifully, and were much greater value-for-money than we're used to.

*** today ***

i've just gotten home - warming up the hot-water cylinder is such a drag. i'm so tired.

a bit wobbly, but otherwise alright ^w^

my smilies seem to be getting worse...

last night was fan-friggin'-tastic. in spite of my mild sunstroke, i managed to stay awake for a visitor ^v^

i spent this morning working on our project, which is getting along nicely (although the interface needs work, and we all disagree on what it should look like).
i also spoke to dirk diggler - that bastard got a sweet job selling contracts for a gym (he gets to work out whenever he's not selling), and he "forgot" to tell me! so i spent a goodly few minutes cursing him out - i was rather worried about him.

yogi picked me up sometime in the early afternoon, and we began working on our seminar paper.
what a bummer.
in fact, we're practically nowhere near completion, and totally confused over what to write. bleh.

the good news:
1) i have almost as much guarantee as i'm going to get that i'll make it into the unit i want. while this is completely NOT a guarantee, it does make me feel a little better. the chances are, if i don't get into the unit, i'll get into something that's at least sort-of good for me.
2) i have been guaranteed a place on the kibbutz i want to live on! so i can stress less, knowing that i can move there as soon as i'm finished with exams, and that my stuff will be stored when i'm in south africa.

i just got off the phone with my mum - it turns out my period of army leave might not affect my visit to london, so here's me holding thumbs...
*holds thumbs*

*sigh*
hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work i go...

grrrr...

what a completely shite wakeup. i had WAY too little sleep, and then went to teach my new charge (the first one, at least :P) math (and english, supposedly). the kid is 15 years old, and he doesn't have the first clue about addition and subtraction. this is the first time i've been faced with the problems of having calculators so readily available for children.

and that's aside from the fact that i have to keep speaking in hebrew.

SxS picked me up, and we went to the good shuwarma place for lunch. we then picked up mmf, and went off to oracle.

first: they made us wait. after they'd already postponed out meeting for an hour, we sat in their meeting room (at least they have good air-conditioning) for over 15 minutes.
bastards.
then, when the person we had to meet finally arrived, she demonstrated a REALLY bad attitude.
i wonder if oracle knows about these people.
anyway, we now have our core project finished, and we've learned how to use oracle's obscure workflow application through just about any language. now we just need to rassle us up some fake QA documents, and we're home free. ^v^

we went to yogi's place for an hour or so, where i set up his project for deployment, and made some important patches to our application. mmf gave me a ride to work.
we got lost, and stuck in traffic.
i accidentally took his phone with me.
he's a little upset.

at least i learned how to divert all phone calls to a different number, that's very cool.

so far, work has been busy - we have an official visit from one of the guys from the US. must please the bosses.
*sigh* back to work

25/06/04

*** yesterday ***

grrrr...

what a completely shite wakeup. i had WAY too little sleep, and then went to teach my new charge (the first one, at least :P) math (and english, supposedly). the kid is fifteen years old, and he doesn't have the first clue about addition and subtraction. this is the first time i've been faced with the problems of having calculators so readily available for children.

and that's aside from the fact that i have to keep speaking in hebrew.

SxS picked me up, and we went to the good shuwarma place for lunch. we then picked up mmf, and went off to oracle.

first: they made us wait. after they'd already postponed out meeting for an hour, we sat in their meeting room (at least they have good air-conditioning) for over fifteen minutes.
bastards.
then, when the person we had to meet finally arrived, she demonstrated a REALLY bad attitude.
i wonder if oracle knows about these people.
anyway, we now have our core project finished, and we've learned how to use oracle's obscure workflow application through just about any language. now we just need to rassle us up some fake QA documents, and we're home free.
^v^

we went to yogi's place for an hour or so, where i set up his project for deployment, and made some important patches to our application. mmf gave me a ride to work.
we got lost, and stuck in traffic.
i accidentally took his phone with me.
he's a little upset.

at least i learned how to divert all phone calls to a different number, that's very cool.

at work, we had an official visit from one of the guys from the US. we had to please the bosses. made things a little edgy.

*** today ***

work was seriously busy last night. when it wasn't, however, we watched dodgeball, which is the first ben stiller movie where i've laughed the first time i watched it.
every shot was a pleasure >D

i just got home, and i have to wait another twenty minutes before i can shower... but then i get to sleep! ha ha!

*** later ***

* wobble *
i got up somewhere between 13.00 - 13.30, got dressed, and took the bus to the beach.
the - bus - took - almost - an - hour. it takes less time than that to WALK. not only that, but it was crammed full of kids all going to the beach, so it was hot, stuffy, cramped, and really loud.

i got there in time to watch yogi and his brother play in the volleyball tournament. it was fun, although i couldn't help but be distracted by the women volleyball players.
SO sexy.

i don't remember what time we all left, but yogi dropped me off at home (and took mmf's cellphone), and i passed out.

i woke up around 18.00, to take my washing out of the machine. i almost couldn't get out of bed... i've managed to acquire me some sunstroke.
BRILLIANT. go me.

i just made myself a good (and spicy) spaghetti dinner, and i'm gonna go back to sleep in a second. just felt like a little updation was in order.

24/06/04

*** 22nd ***

mmf came over in the early afternoon, and we spent the afternoon not finishing our homework. we worked on our project instead. much better.

SxS came over too, but he was studying for the exam, so he wasn't much help either.
uh, yeah...
we eventually got around to it. mmf and i took a break for a couple of hours, and gave each other haircuts. i cannot believe i actually cut my hair! i think i look a bit weird with "normal" hair.

we finished the homework, and arbed around until

*** yesterday ***

SxS came back (from wherever he went to), and we went to his place to crash.

i slept remarkably well.

i had a quick breakfast on campus, and walked into the exam as it was beginning (*phew*).

the exam was FAR too easy. it was so simple, in fact, that i'm really worried that i've done something COMPLETELY wrong. i kept rechecking everything, but i'm almost certain it's all okay (?!?!?!)...

SxS, mmf, yogi and i met up at my place after the exam, and we played a bit of tekken - it was alright. it's a bit of a bummer playing people who think they're amazing, when they're pre-amateur...

SxS and i went to ru55's - spent the day crashing, swimming, chilling in the sun.
nice.

we all went to the mega super-store, and that took quite a while. but we came back with plenty of good food - we had an awesome braai, while watching the football.
good football :)

after supper, we had a chocolate fondue (with grapes), and then zoned out watching wayne's world,

*** today ***

until SxS gave me a ride home. i have to take a shower now, then i'm up early-ish to teach math and english, and then visit oracle to finish (hopefully) our project.

22/06/04

*** 20th ***

yesterday: yogi picked me up (as usual), and we went through to his place to work. we worked most of the day. we ate lunch at his grandparents - good food - and then went through to university campus, where we sat around and waited (in the dark) for an hour and a half... bastards went two hours over on their presentation, and we needed to set up the machine >@

setting up the machine took a few minutes - or didn't, as we found a few bugs. so we went back to his place, and continued fixing things.

*** yesterday ***

around 1am, mmf came over. and we finally started working on OUR project. in a few short hours, we practically completed the interface! and it's SO pretty, it makes my heart skip each time i see it. we stole the idea of handdrawn images from kingdom of loathing - and it's worked incredibly well in both projects.
so pretty.
the only problem we had was that the internet was down, and so we had no documentation for the controls we needed - we sat for almost an hour figuring out how to play with everything (the treeview control is AWESOME).

i eventually stopped working at 5.30, when i realized that i'd spent enough time in front of a monitor that my irises were developing scan lines.

i made double backups of everything, and then crashed on the universe's most comfortable couch.

yogi woke me up 3 hours later. his girlfriend organized me a strong cup of turkish coffee, and as soon as i finished it we were on our way to the presentation.

aside from 3 major (and very embarrassing) crashes (i *told* him not to mess around with the acceptance test!), the presentation went well. the lecturer was most impressed with my work, and i'm hoping it will have some effect on my overall result for the course :P

that over, we went back to yogi's. i had an AMAZING shower (sorely needed). this is one of those showers that i don't want to forget. you don't get nice showers in this country. mmf and i spent most of the day working on our project, which is now so completely beautiful that i'm considering marriage.
*shudder*

we had the most amazing thai food for lunch - it's got to be the most i've eaten in YEARS. i just couldn't stop! and it was so goooood...

yogi gave me a ride to work.

*** today ***

work was alright, although i didn't really get much done in the way of homework assignments (the major one being due TOMORROW). apparently scientists have developed the ability to teleport atoms: that's very cool if it's true. what even cooler, however, is that the way that they describe it, it should be possible to replicate those atoms as opposed to teleporting them.
hmmm.

i was fortunate enough to get a ride home, and not have to wait an hour for the bus. i've just woken up, and have decided that i'm totally not going to stress for the exam tomorrow.
and that's all i have to say about that.

crazy at work

ok - i'm not really sure how much of the last couple of days i remember. it's all a bit of a blur.

yesterday: yogi picked me up (as usual), and we went through to his place to work. we worked most of the day. we ate lunch at his grandparents - good food - and then went through to university campus, where we sat around and waited (in the dark) for an hour and a half... bastards went two hours over on their presentation, and we needed to set up the machine >@

setting up the machine took a few minutes - or didn't, as we found a few bugs. so we went back to his place, and continued fixing things.

today: around 1am, mmf came over. and we finally started working on OUR project. in a few short hours, we practically completed the interface! and it's SO pretty, it makes my heart skip each time i see it. we stole the idea of handdrawn images from kingdom of loathing - and it's worked incredibly well in both projects.
so pretty.
the only problem we had was that the internet was down, and so we had no documentation for the controls we needed - we sat for almost an hour figuring out how to play with everything (the treeview control is AWESOME).

i eventually stopped working at 5.30, when i realized that i'd spent enough time in front of a monitor that my irises were developing scan lines.
i made double backups of everything, and then crashed on the universe's most comfortable couch.

yogi woke me up 3 hours later. his girlfriend organized me a strong cup of turkish coffee, and as soon as i finished it we were on our way to the presentation.

aside from 3 major (and very embarrassing) crashes (i *told* him not to mess around with the acceptance test!), the presentation went well. the lecturer was most impressed with my work, and i'm hoping it will have some effect on my overall result for the course :P

that over, we went back to yogi's. [added]i had an AMAZING shower (sorely needed). this is one of those showers that i don't want to forget. you don't get nice showers in this country.[added] mmf and i spent most of the day working on our project, which is now so completely beautiful that i'm considering marriage.
*shudder*

we had the most amazing thai food for lunch - it's got to be the most i've eaten in YEARS. i just couldn't stop! and it was so goooood...

yogi gave me a ride to work, and i've now been here for about an hour. probably time to actually do what i get paid for.

whoa!

i just figured out what this blog is for. it's for all the crap i can't post on my other one (due to people i know actually reading it).

my ex-girlfriend (we broke up just less than a month ago) came over yesterday. we talked for a bit, and then settled on becoming, um, friends-with-benefits (i can't think of a comfortable way to say that). we spent a pleasant afternoon together.
and i was tired to begin with.

"children of dune" is an INCREDIBLE series! far superior, and closer to the book, than the original "dune" series (plural? there's the sci-fi channel one too).

20/06/04

*** yesterday ***

yesterday afternoon was pleasant. sammy picked me up last night, and we went to his place to watch children of dune.

we had to watch holland vs. czech republic (czechoslovakia?), which was frustrating (bad sportsmanship, and an aweful referee).

we then watched two hours of children of dune.
WOW.
FAR superior to the original series, and much closer to the books. it's not really children of dune - it's also dune messiah, so visually you don't miss anything :)

** today ***

sammy gave me a ride home, and i stumbled into bed (after more fighting with flying roaches. these things get EVERYWHERE!). i've just gotten up, and the sheer dreariness of the next few weeks really gets me down.
exams.
exams.
exams.
and that's ignoring all the other crazy stuff - papers and projects, and so much community service i don't know what to do with myself.
BUGGER.

right. time for breakfast.

first blood

as it says on the tin...

good heavens - this is so much easier than my current blog! and i don't have to manually insert times and dates and stuff! or deal with ftp! whoo-hoo!

on the other hand, i'm not entirely sure i trust this site in terms of moderators, and stability. hmmm. EEnteresting. maybe i'll just post double and see what happens.

19/06/04

*** yesterday ***

well. that was all unexpected.

i went to buy munchies, and ran into a friend (mexico boy, or mb). we decided to go and see a movie: day after tomorrow.

got home, showered, had a HUGE fight with grootbek. it amazes me that i haven't physically hurt him during the last couple of years.

so mb came over, we watched the end of the match (italy vs. sweden, a disappointing end for italy fans), and then took a cab to the mall. where we organized our tickets,

** today ***

and hung around until the movie began. i got a phone call from her. she wanted to sleep over tonight. i have no idea why. weird.

good movie - and it has jake gyllenhaal! sweeeet... anyway, the movie was yet another reminder of why i'm doing what i'm doing - my main goal is (at least to start the process of) getting humans off the planet, and this, along with deep impact, and the problem of overpopulation, is just another good incentive.

we seriously need to find a way of creating self-sustaining space vessels. biodome technology, solar power, and oxygen regeneration are all within our grasp - all it would take is a little group effort, and clever design...

mb and i walked back home - a lot of extremely interesting conversation. turns out we have very similar religious experiences... it's always nice to find people with the same attitudes when it comes to these things.

after replacing my lightbulb in the dark, i found myself chatting on irc. to quote myself:
i'm trying to remember why i'm online, and not sleeping. i think my face is in "rest" position when facing a monitor...

right. enough.

*** later ***

restful morning. i got some laundry done, tidied up a bit, and watched once were warriors, which is a powerful, and difficult movie.
she's coming over now for a visit. i have no idea what to expect.

18/06/04

i slept about eleven hours last night... and it still wasn't enough.
hmmph.

aside from doing some shopping, i whiled away my day online, chatting and mindlessly playing computer games.

and napping. i napped a bit.

the only annoying thing that happened was the kid i was supposed to meet with today was unavailable. i need to do some serious community service, or i'm in deep shit.

17/06/04

*** yesterday ***

soon after posting, grootbek and i managed to create a GOOD invader zim ringtone. very cool. yogi picked me up, and we went to his place. i had a shower, we did a little work on our seminar paper, and i spent the remainder of the day working on his project.

*** today ***

until a couple of hours ago.

i'm now about to attempt the homework due in 5.5 hours...

*** later ***

* GROAN *

i was only a half an hour late to class. the lecturer was about two hours late, and we had to sit through that time listening to the tutor ramble on about nothing much in particular.
snark.

yogi and i found all the info we need for our seminar paper! GO US! so that shouldn't be a problem.
i hope.

so, umm. i got a ride home, and emailed this really nice guy all my cv details, which he agreed to take to the army for me.
my contact then told me to tell him not to.
that was a really embarrassing couple of emails.

i went to ru55's place, and SxS joined us. we watched invader zim on a big screen (w00t!), and spent the day in the pool, and then sleeping on the couch.

nice.

i'm now waiting for a shower. there's a chance she's coming by to pick up some stuff a bit later - either way i'm going to bed soon.

16/06/04

*** yesterday ***

pool was kind of fun - except for the fact that we all SUCKED the big one.
i blame the cues, and the table.
honest!

*** today ***

afterwards we went to mmf's birthday thingy, which was okay. this lasted till about 02.30. we went running around looking for food, and then i got dropped off at home.

i woke up around 11, and i've spent the morning trying to decide how to begin my day.
weird.

15/06/04

*** yesterday ***

OMG. i spent the whole freakin' day in front of yogi's pc, working on his project. my brain is JELLIFRIED. i was beginning to hallucinate at one point, but i was in a zone and had to continue...

it was about to be mmf's birthday, so a couple of friends came over, and we all chilled. played card games for money (i lost about NIS 15),

*** today ***

and SxS just dropped me off at home. i'm finishing my malt, taking a shower, and crashing.

*** later ***

i kinda slept late this morning - i was only interrupted by a couple of phone calls. i went to our final finance class of the semester, which scared the crap outta me (and everyone else who went - it was an exam review), and promptly made photocopies of all the relevant chapters after class.

i got a ride home, with a cute girl who told me she'd call me... we shall see :P

i went for an introduction meeting with the parents of a new kid i'm teaching - and they don't speak any english. that was a REALLY difficult 45 minutes... and when i'm under pressure i sweat profusely, which doesn't make life any easier.
good practice, though.

i've just discovered that i'm able to go to england for about a week in september - w00t! i'm totally seeing everyone, including that *ahem* really sweet israeli girl...

i've called another parent, who'll apparently call me back: between three kids, i should be able to do fifty hours of community service in the next month...

i've watched some invader zim, and played some counterstrike, and SxS and water and someone else and i are off to play pool ^v^

so later, then ;)

14/06/04

*** yesterday ***

i really felt the power of the shower yesterday morning, and had a GREAT sleep until 12.30 or so.

our last math class was fun - i spent the entire lesson having good laughs with the class and the lecturer.
yogi picked me up, handed me a shuwarma (which was pretty good), we paid a quick visit to SxS, picked up some sushi (which was a little, umm, not good), and went to his place.

i got picked up by a friend of a friend of a friend, who took me through to his company's office. we spent a goodly hour or two going through their traumatized (and most interesting) project, and i've agreed to help them (it's a REAL programming job - WHOO HOO!!). haven't settled on the money yet... soon, i hope.

i got dropped off at yogi's, and we spent the evening working on his project - i've never written a program that actually needed vast quantities of calculation time... it's kind of worrying. but it's pretty, and it works.

*** today ***

i just got home, and am hitting the shower in two seconds...

*** later ***

i woke up at 06.30 to start a washing cycle, and then went back to sleep. i had a really weird lucid dream before waking:

our university was an enormous gothic palace, filled with mazes of corridors, and huge chambers for classrooms, boarding rooms, cafeterias...
and lots of secret passageways and sections "under the stairs".
enclosed within the grounds were beautifully landscaped gardens, forests, and even swimming pools.

our argentinian flatmate and i decided to steal the keys to the secret passageways from the committee. the committee was having a meeting - for some reason one of the members held up the keys (how convenient!) and said something triumphant - our argentinian flatmate rushed in, ripped the keys from his hand, and threw it to me, as i waited by the door. nobody could identify me from the shadows, and the two of us fled immediately.

i can't remember why i had removed my shoes, but i moved around the palace looking for a place to put them on in a hurry. i sat in the gardens barefoot, dreading the impending approach of enraged professors. but none came - it was a pleasant afternoon, with a handful of students ambling around.

there were two keys, oddly shaped - kind of like tiny, shiny, smooth, one-sided allen keys - attached to a small, flat, rectangular keyring.
throughout the dream i kept hiding them in various pockets - i once attempted to hide them in my underwear, but that proved impossible. not only uncomfortable, but audible too.

i went back to the dorms, but it was approaching suppertime, and all the students were on their way to the mess hall. i tried to attract the attention of a friend of mine, and he refused to wait for me - there were plenty of respectable people sitting in the coffee shop as we walked past, and the two of us were having this rediculous argument very loudly, and a lot of them were staring at us.
this made me a little uncomfortable.

i gave up on him, and this was followed by a blur of doing stuff. my next clear moment is after dinner, with the committee trying a clever ploy to catch the thief. i didn't realize the glaring lack of logic while dreaming: they were calling all the students' cellphones, and playing really loud classical music. this was apparently so that if they called a phone, and heard the music through the phone as well, they would have a suspect - this doesn't make any sense. i guess it was an infiltration into my dream from some external source. i woke up when i realized that it was impossible to catch me like that, but in the dream i was terrified! i'd been fumbling with my phone, trying to figure out an excuse for it not working...

13/06/04

*** yesterday ***

yesterday was great! water and i met up at the central bus station, and took the bus to the lincoln. we got a table as soon as we walked in (and i forgot to reserve one), and played some serious pool (he's really good).

it was MOST enjoyable.

*** today ***

we walked to practically the other side of tel aviv, to a bar called "ice" - for 70's night. it took a bit of talking, but we got in for free: the music was pretty good disco, which is what we were looking for, and there was some great eye-candy.

after a few songs, however, the dj lost it, and played totally not-for-dancing 70's songs... and all the girls left...

i'm not sure i should be writing about the rest - we've been thinking that maybe it's better to forget...

we walked down allenby, to allenby 40, and had an interesting chat with the doorman. who gave us a tip that it was good inside.
ohmygod.
it's not a big place, but it was packed with unfortunate-looking singles, all desperately (and unsuccessfully) vying for each others' attention. the music was godaweful, and everyone was greasily, grimily sliding past one another in an attempt to escape the evils of their little sections.
and we stayed in there a while - we had had to SPEND MONEY to get inside! damn BASTARDS.

oh, and NIS 25 (close to R40) of beer got tossed by some big ugly f*cker, who refused outright to get us another one.

after finally escaping the clutches of club hell, we took a quick walk to noga, where the atmosphere was clean and metallica - nothing else matters was good for the brain. we spent some time there, listening to the barkeep telling his sad stories (he'd had a few too many himself), and focusing our stares between the big screen extreme tv, and the styling womenfolk.

we managed to con a taxi into bringing us back to herzliya for half price - SWEET. i just got home, am about to hit the shower, and then hopefully get some sleep before class at 10.00.

12/06/04

*** yesterday ***

i spent the remainder of the afternoon reading the da vinci code. downright inspiring (on the assumption, phycon, that you haven't heard all this before). got me thinking about what it really means to be jewish, and how much judaism has changed to preserve / hide its origins.

*** today ***

i read until about 00.30 or so, and decided that a shower was in order. but i had to wait for the hot-water cylinder, so i put on my freshly-downloaded crouching tiger, hidden dragon (which i'd never seen before).
crouching tiger, hidden dragon was goooood. i hated the running over the rooftops bits, i feel they were a little TOO extreme, but otherwise i enjoyed it all immensely.

i've just gotten up, with a bout of mental masturbation - a dream inspired some of it, i have to admit. check it out.

*** later ***

i'm bored. so i'm updating. i'm updating because i'm really, really bored.

let's see - i just finished reading the da vinci code, which is simply SUPERB. and it makes me more proud than ever of the magen david. although i still have a long way to go before figuring out exactly how to deal with all this information, in terms of my religious tradition, heritage, and spiritual beliefs.

i have done practically NOTHING of value today, i've been a total layabout. i've watched a few more episodes of invader zim, which were mildy amusing ("WHOOOO! anyone think that was cool?! please respond!" - the tiny, floaty member of the resisty)... oh, and i had an outing to the store... bleargh.

i have no idea what i'm gonna do until later - i'm so hoping our plans won't fall apart to go play pool...

11/06/04

the last week, i've been consuming as little sugar as possible: first effect - reduced munchies. second effect - feeling generally healthier. although these could both be in my head, i'm feeling really good about it!

*** yesterday ***

after posting last night, i watched terminator 3. now, the quality wasn't very good, and there were some rather crap drawbacks (like a really crap john conner), but it WAS a terminator film, and i quite liked the story - and even some of the "cool" stuff.

i woked up, had a relaxed morning, and went to waste time on campus - the classes were okay, the timewasting was quite fun!

i got some good news from a friend of mine - although it's only an indication of what might happen: someone Very Important from the army took a look at my cv and references yesterday, and he was enthusiastic about me.
please, oh please, oh please, oh please... * prays fervently *

i didn't get much chance to relax when i got home last night, as an hour later i had to leave for work. and i was pretty tired.
i enjoyed a memorable shuwarma (in a HUGE pita) on my way to the bus station (and now that i'm single, i can put on as much "amba" as i like - it's the atomic / radioactive spice-sauce that retains it's breath-effect for a day or so ^v^), and was on the bus with a girl from class, and two kids from taekwondo, which made me feel a little uncomfortable about reading my book :P (puck of pook's hill).

*** today ***

work last night was BOOOOORING as hell, all though there were some highlights - watching MK 22, the israeli version of southpark (similar style, about some idiots in the israeli army), and there was little enough work that most of us spent the morning playing flash / java games online.

i got home at roughly 06.00 - 06.30, and tried to watch donnie darko before bed. i don't think i made it past five minutes...

i woke up around 15.30, and had a grapefruit-sans-sugar breakfast, with cheesecake yoghurt (my favourite), and i think i'm going to spend my afternoon watching donnie darko, which looks pretty good, or reading the da vinci code, which is simply amazing.

*** later ***

#$@%ing UNBELIEVABLE. donnie darko has just joined my list of favourite movies of all time.
WOW.
i enjoyed every single second of that movie.

10/06/04

hmmm - nice day. the morning was a bit difficult - getting up was the first real mission, and then discovering that it was all for nought (the supposed "lecture" was a badly disguised sales pitch from SAP), wasn't the most ideal start for any day.

the second class was much better, and the social bits between the two almost made up for getting out of bed that early.

i spent the afternoon napping, reading, chatting, and generally being a layabout.
ooh - and i bought six bottles of tuborg non-alcoholic malt beer. tasty.
in the evening, my argentinian flatmate and i went to a meeting, where they praised our compulsory (not compulsive - thanks synkronos, sorry freud) volunteer work, and told us how important it is.
wow.

since i got home, i've been reading at a furious pace - the da vinci code is most enjoyable! i just played a bit of counterstrike, as i was feeling a bit of withdrawal: i got my ass KICKED. so badly.

i'm either about to fall asleep, or watch a movie.
no matter.

09/06/04

NOW i remember why my body was in much better shape four years ago!
i forgot just how much exercise one gets when rollerblading - i'm DYING right now... also, i spent the last half hour on my blades in SEVERE pain - i have (a) HUGE blister(s) on the sole of my right foot (i'm too scared to look before i get in the shower).

it got so bad that i blindly informed the really cute girl who was blading near me, although i wasn't too surprised when she began avoiding me :D

i haven't bladed like that in YEARS.

we did the length of tel aviv a couple of times, it was crazy -
the downhills were amazing
the park in the dark was amazing
the people: SO - MANY - PEOPLE
but -
good lord, the uphills almost killed me. i obviously need to do this more often (and get back into shape).

oh yeah - and two important things:
1) i was VERY lucky, there was someone from my area there who could give me a lift home, as i didn't want to pay NIS 60 (R90) for the taxi
2) i learned NOT to help the n00bs (<Phycon> helping n00b=ass on ground):
two very cute girls, who couldn't go faster than walking pace, almost got me left behind, and the only reason i went all the way to tel aviv in the first place was to travel with the group. so i had to be a bastard, which sucked, but i will NOT miss all the fun for two idiots trying to run before they can crawl.
highly shaggable, though - bit of a miss.

i hope there's hot water by now - i DESPERATELY need a shower, and some sleep. the sleep of kings, i tell you. kings.

08/06/04

* deep sigh *
what a long, long, dreary day.

i was up early, and spent my morning working on the presentation. the presentation was "okay", really not reflective of the amount of effort we put in.

i taught my new charge all about math, and why we need it, so that i could get him to stop using the calculator for simple quadratic equations...
that took two and a half hours.

i went home for two minutes, to change pants and put on rollerblades, and made it just in time for our final project's closing lecture.

it was all in hebrew, with lots of bitching and complaining - and then the students started doing it too.
* deep sigh *

i've just eaten for the first time since 10am, and it was a bowl of cereal (the food now), and after writing this i'm off to tel aviv, to rollerblade.
a bit silly, as i've no way of getting back to herzliyah, and nowhere to stay. if it looks hopeless, i'm going to have to pull out early, which really bites.

* deep sigh*

now to do my only truly selfish thing of the day (the blading, dumbass).

07/06/04

WTF?! today just disappeared!

last night, i really got into reading the da vinci code. a great read, so far, but i HATE it when authors have a chapter heading every couple of pages. it's just silly.

i woke up at 07.30, and went off to the army base - nothing much interesting happened, the highlight of the trip was burning my tongue on scalding hot decaf coffee - i didn't even get a wake-up from it.
* harrumph *

i went from the base to work, where i more or less officially resigned - i'm staying on till the end of july, and have already found a replacement.
weird.

so, after clearing my email for an hour, and hopefully getting paid for it too, i went home. my afternoon just flew by, as i chatted online, and - oh YEEEES - i watched the last samurai. good heavens! tom cruise ACTING! i scarcely believed my own eyes!
it is an AMAZING film, now in my top five movies of all time.

played a bit of KoL (i added the link under the games section), had spaghetti supper, watched a really funny episode of that 70's show (the one where eric buggers up kelso's van), and am now about to do some work on our finance presentation, which is for tomorrow.
good grief.

06/06/04

wow - great pool, great atmosphere - it's been a looooong time. that was the best-spent cash (and it cost a lot) in a while.

*** later ***

hrm - i pretty much spent my day on campus. a little bit of socializing, and some homework done, but otherwise a rather boring and unproductive day.

i went past psychotic american's place, sorted out our presentation for tuesday, and then ambled home.

where i've been sitting online, talking and KoLing (kingdom of loathing - alright, i'll post a link). i've just had "supper", and am more or less on my way to bed.

05/06/04

^v^ (my favourite emoticon)

today was a beeeyootiful day. aside from getting loads of work done, we had an enormous lunch at yogi's grandparents, and i'm on my way with sammy to play pool at the lincoln.
so i'm quite excited.

the only unhappy part of today was that dirk diggler's msn messenger account got hijacked (he forgot to log out in an internet cafe on picadilly circus - i can't spell that name), but fortunately these kids messed with me, and were dumb enough to use a webcam (so i knew he wasn't there). i managed to log him out, but it was unfortunately too late :(
there's a lesson to be learned from this...

04/06/04

*** yesterday ***

a fairly relaxed morning, i went to campus early, and stretched a bit with a friend of mine. class with santa claus (aka pappa smurf) was as usual, fortunately it ended particularly early.

i came home, and began playing world war ii - frontline command (WWIIFC).
what a great game!

in the evening, i went with our argentinian to the student day - meir banai was good, and infected mushroom played some amazing stuff, although they really weren't consistent.

i'm seriously planning on skydiving soon. i just got a huge discount, so it's finally affordable ^v^.

after the student day stuff, we went to tel aviv, to a really nice (but totally not my style) bar. fortunately, i knew a few of the people there, so it wasn't completely weird and unpleasant.

*** today ***

we got home around 3am, and i was totally exhausted. TGIF. i woke up around 11am, have had a decent breakfast, and am doing some washing. i played wwiifc a couple of times - the same first mission. and everytime i do it, it goes worse for me! i have to keep changing strategies... but the AI seems sooo good.

*** later ***

i had lunch with her, which was, erm, interesting.
i reinstalled my computer, again.
i read more rudyard kipling - puck of pook's hill.
i played counterstrike. because i could.
that's just about it.

02/06/04

hmmm - things are being suspiciously okay. i'm now waiting for them to catch up to me.

i had a major fight with my flatmates this morning - they keep hassling me over the hot-water cylinder. as if *i'm* the one using it all the time. and i ended up having a luke-warm shower.
bastards.

our first class was interesting, although the guy spent two and a half hours explaining something fairly uncomplicated, that could probably have been squeezed into a short paragraph.
i still don't really have a business mentality.

i had a good lunch, and our next class was fairly arbitrary, so i broke out the puzzle book on his ass :) (like i'd let him see it...)

i fell asleep when i got home, and woke up totally groggy and dehydrated... i called my new charge, and walked over to his place, which turned out to be far further away than i expected. next time i'll rollerblade.

i just got back from spending about five hours with him - aside from doing a little bit of english, and speaking to him almost completely in hebrew, i've borrowed a book on tcp/ip from him, and he had a copy of world war ii - frontline command, which i've been searching for for months - i have a new game to play!!!

i'm off to bed in a short while, but i'm sure i'll install and play a bit first. it's been a good day ^v^

01/06/04

so far, today has been another relaxed day! i got up at 7am, played some counterstrike, showered, and met with the social worker. we talked for about an hour, and i've been assigned to teach a fifteen-year-old maths and english. i understand he's exhausted the school's programming teaching, so it might be interesting.
at least we have something in common.

our applied project team (minus SxS, who's immobile), had to meet with the lecturer at 13.00. mmf and i finally got in his office at 13.20, at which he was most unimpressed.
having said that, he's been REALLY easy on us, and we have much less pressure now.
* DEEP SIGH *

finance class was boring as hell. fortunately, i have just bought a hebrew crossword / wordsearch book, which already has proved both entertaining, and educational.
SCORE!

after class, i came home - beat grootbek in tekken, and have just finished playing counterstrike.

some days are good days.
^v^

*** later ***

i did some work on our applied project - i actually learned stuff^TM... i watched the talented mr. ripley. good lord, what a disturbing and unhappy movie.
* shudder *

shudder. i keep forgetting that word. like articulate.