really, really in the army

okay - long, long day.

yesterday, after i got to karnaf's place, i slept and slept (and watched
some movies) and slept until 6.15... i made it out of the apartment
just in time, but was almost at the base before realizing that i'd
forgotten all my important documents.

brilliant.

fortunately, i didn't need it at the induction base - same guys from
yesterday, sorted me out in 2 seconds. see what a personal call can
do?

i got sent to the main base in tel aviv, but took a little longer than
i should have as i made the detour to pick up my things. which i
definitely, definitely needed. i love making good calls.

the rest of the day would have been a lot of fun, if i hadn't been
carrying my kit-bag, and if it hadn't been so hot and icky, and if i
hadn't been under time pressure.
i couldn't stop sweating, which increased my general discomfort.
t'wasn't lovely at all.

anyway, the day began with an interview, where the guy was kind enough
to speak in english for most of it. nice guy, heads the unit that MY
unit is a branch of. i got into the unit!

that's actually the main news for the day. the rest of the afternoon
was what they call "form hiking", where you go from office to office
trying to get the right forms filled out. of interest:

the personal-situation commander (what she's going to be) discovered
that the academic corps FORGOT to inform the system that i'd returned
to service.
excellent.

the medical offices are outside the base, quite far away. i walked all
the way there, got a signature, and walked all the way back.

only to get sent all the way back to get the second signature.
DOH!

i completed everything at 16.10, and was promptly instructed to be on
the base in ramat gan at 16.00.
yeah, right.
so, i did my best, and got there at 16.55, just before my commander
(no more "potential") left, and he introduced me to some of the guys,
showed me my desk and pc, and explained what sunday will be like.

sunday will be exactly like today, only on a different base.

also, my kit-bag has been banned from the base (it's considered
offensive), and i've been instructed to come to the base on sunday
with my beret properly prepared (it's new): so i'm now sitting and
shaving it with a disposable razor, and tomorrow i'll find a suitable
container to soak it in.

i finally taught myself to do the laces on the boots properly, so i'm
rather proud, and at some point today i got back into soldier-mode, so
i reckon i'm going to be okay.

now, i get a weekend!

i walked in to my cousins' place, and was told i looked "cute". NOBODY gets pictures,
that's the third person to make that comment. my feelings are hurt.

in the army now

work last night was HORRIBLE. we had technical difficulties, and difficult clients. and when it wasn't going crazy, i was tired and bored.

i got to bed at four am, and woke up at 6.15, shaved, showered, packed and stressed off to get the bus. i was stressing because i forgot to plan my route.

a cousin of mine always says the army mentality is "hurry up and wait". i made it there by 8am, and then waited. after about half an hour, they sent us off to get new uniforms, and this took until around 10-10.30... i'd forgotten little things like how to lace up my boots, etc., but i do now have a uniform that fits.

after another little wait, we got taken to the assignments office. i waited there from 11am till 3.30pm, with a short break for lunch.
i'm not kidding.
apparently this is normal.

at the end of the wait, i received papers that told me to go to "tzrifin" base (where she's doing her basics) in the morning, so that they could send me back here to the ramat gan base.
brilliant.

i made my way home, finally not paying for public transport, and was in almost constant communication with my soon-to-be commander. i have never in my life heard ANYONE speak so fast, and it was all in high-level hebrew. i'm having to make do with understanding the concepts of what he's trying to say, even if word-for-word i'm clueless.

anyway, he's managed to sort out that tomorrow morning i'll go back to the same base, and he'll pick me up from there.
which is nice.

i had a shower, and then crashed - a relative called while i was sleeping, i shouldn't have answered. i was totally not in any state to talk to human beings at the time.

it's amazing how much difference two hours of sleep can make.

and i have strange tan lines because i kept falling asleep in odd places.

so that's my news - i'm happy to be in the army, but it's definitely going to take some getting used to. the reason i'm not working tonight is that a) i'm too tired and b) karnaf just reminded me that it's illegal without authorization.

they'll just have to suffer a man short.

i'm probably going back to bed now, i'm still lacking sleep from about 3 days now.

*exhausted*

i got a ride back to karnaf's, where i had a shower and CRASHED. i got up a few hours later, maybe 5, and fscked off to herzliyah, where i ran around getting signatures. i only ran into one spot of trouble, and that's cause this new employee is a totally nasty person, just looking to piss people off.

got that sorted out eventually.

i stopped by some relatives for lunch, which was really nice, and made it back to karnaf's in time to put on shoes and get my ass to work, where i've been "actually working" ever since.

*sigh*

i'm so tired. so, so tired.

what day IS today??

well, technically, it's the early morning of the 26th of october. i'm sitting here at work, listening to hiphop while waiting for the abuse of stupid americans. i'm kinda tired, but still kinda wired, for which a suitable explanation ensues.

the 24th (not yesterday. the day before. approximately):

t'was a day for watching loads of telly. and ready good ol' 'arry potter. a cousin and i went through to afula for a bit, missioning unsuccessfully for decent chocolate.

oh, and i ate blue blueberry muffins all day. was a pretty good day, i guess.

in the evening, i called the army to find out what my assignment was, only to discover that nobody was assigned. i explained my situation, again, only this time to a male. i am not sexist, but this is the first person who's had the good grace to apologize for them taking so long, and promised me i'd get a call the following day.

false hope or not, i didn't care. i got excited.

yesterday:

around midnight, i went to take out the trash. suddenly got hit by a spark of inspiration - the paved parking lot is ideal for doing taekwondo forms. so i did. i had a good shower afterwards, and slept really badly afterwards.

after waking up, i began sorting through all my army gear, which was amusing. i packed all my things, had lunch with the cousins, and then we all went to afula, from where i was planning to go to work.

coffee: the really cute waitress dropped (in slow-motion, we all got the effect) my cappuccino, immediately after which i received *THE* phone call. i start my army service on wednesday morning!!

SO typical, it's murphy: it's all because i came back to work.

anyway, i was so excited, that i bounced all the way to my cousin's office, to tell her the news. i'd left the girls behind, they were just behind me, and i said "oh, good, you're sitting down.", as we'd laughed earlier that she'd fall off her chair if the army called me back.

she almost had a heart-attack. she went into shock, and it was only then that i realized that out of context, me arriving without the girls, and making a comment about remaining seated, was completely inappropriate. i guess i was just a little too excited for my own good.

anyways, that got sorted out eventually, and the whole ride home i was bouncing up and down, so excited that i would've screamed if it hadn't been for the company.

i got back to the kibbutz, packed my gear into my kit bag, said goodbye to everyone, and did the bus thing. it's been a while since i lugged the bag around - that thing by f@$%!ing HEAVY.

oh, and got two calls on the way -
1) from the university. my degree is more or less closed, i just have to run through tomorrow (today?) to a couple of offices on campus, and finalize things.
2) my mom, who's almost as excited as i am.

got to work, still excited, to tell the boss "thanks for hiring me back, gotta go"... i can't not find the whole thing funny. now i've got to find people to replace me :P

work's been alright, although a bit on the boring side. but my news r0xx0rs SO much, it's just amazes me. and i've gotten in touch with all sorts of interesting people, friends i ain't been able to get hold of for a while.

t'was a good evening. some of the calls this morning have been a bit shitty, but i now have no reason to care. whatsoever.

a GREAT wake-up

i've just been informed that instead of bringing my army service forward, like they promised... those bastards moved it back ANOTHER day.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

DAMMIT.

so ja, just gonna take it easy for a day, then find out what the hell's going on.

too much KoL

it's true. it can be bad for you.

after my unusual wake-up, i joined the family for a trip up north, to the enormous druze village of daliyat-al-karmel. very pretty, and we had a rather nice time. great lunch.

when we got back, we did the whole farm-tour-thing, which was great, and then had a huge braai, all really good food. i've spent the last hour or so online, and now it's time to get to bed. i've found out that the army's called me up, so i have to find out what for in the morning, but i'm not sure if i'm going to come back here tomorrow evening...

Lovecraftian morning.

OMFG. a large group of CLAWcreatures weren eating around a large dining-room table. during the dinner, i remembered a dessert-bowl of food i'd placed "temporarily" in a corner the last time we'd been there, and scrabbled through some boxes on the side of the room, and found it sitting untouched on the floor.

the bowl was still warm.

fascinated, i stared at the contents of the bowl, which warped and wobbled, and suddenly began shrinking, as if something at the bottom was sucking it all up really quickly.

it had, actually, sucked itself up, and was, in fact, a tiny cthuloid gnocchi-beast. it burped a tiny burp, and then threw up everything it had just consumed - only it threw up a little more than that, so the bowl was dripping with overflow.
it then proceeded to suck it all up again.

this happened a few times, each time dribbling a bit out of the bowl, and we were all fascinated and intrigued: a REAL cthuloid gnocchi-beast!

during a spew-period, i attempted to move the bowl to a placemat, but spilled some of the gushing, semi-transparent, slimy liquid. one last, gigantic suck, and a tiny gibletish thing was all that remained.
the gnocchi-beast was gone.

*later*

we were all watching through some form of portal, as the caretaker of a large, rather bouncy and energetic cthuloid creature explained that the date-aid had been removed. a crucial part of it must have been in the "soup" that slopped over, and the tiny gibletish thing was undoubtedly its remains. without the date-aid, the cthuloid could not be combined with a partner, and so had separated out, thankfully, into another dimension. i don't know what happened to the gnocchi.

this was the dream i woke up to this morning. needless to say, i *bounded* out of bed to write it down before it disappeared!

yesterday:

i got up fairly early, and i hadn't really slept, so i wasn't feeling too good. we went to afula, had some breakfast and coffee, did a little shopping, walked around, and then came back to the kibbutz.

where i passed out. after my nap, i either watched tv, or read a bit of the fourth harry potter book, or talked with the cousins.

aside from doing the communal supper thing, that was pretty much my day. in the evening, in a flash of giant stupidity, i completely destroyed my cousins' computer - i not only managed to repair it, but improved the installation as well.

and then ghosted the sucker. oh yeah, i felt pretty good when i got to bed, finally, at 2am...

back at the ranch

yesterday:

work was actually quite fun: i got sammy interested in kingdom of loathing, and got to talk on irc again! i love working there.

i slept at sammy's, and during the afternoon got him completely addicted to counterstrike. i'm a selfish, bad person. but proud of it, too.

in the late afternoon, i went through to visit a friend in herzliyah, and then went with SxS and a friend for drinks and snacks at medzzo, a really uppity restaurant in the industrial area.

late night caught us playing texas holden, a really cool variation on poker. i did REALLY well at the beginning, but ultimately got left with nothing. oh well, it's my first time.

today:

i slept really badly, and woke up early to go sort out social security. the security by the door really pissed me off, as they confiscated my bag due to a pair of nailclippers. i almost lost my rag.

sorting out SS wasn't too rough - i paid it off at the bank. i had a haircut, and then met up with an old associate for steaks and dealing: seems i might be getting a salary for a bit... db project, sounds interesting enough. now i just gotta guarantee that i get paid.

he dropped me off at the bus station, and i took the buses to the kibbutz, where i met a second cousin for the first time. so we've all been chatting, and arbing, and eating, and by now it's way past time to be showering, as the haircut's left me all itchy.

w00t! i have clean clothes now!

a curry-filled day

i woke up this morning, and watching the rocky horror picture show. for the first time. and it was quite fun :) prolly not as good as the real thing, but i still enjoyed it.

i spent the day reading through the looking glass, which was very different from how i remembered it. and i see now where the odd bits from the disney movie came from.

i took a long walk to work, and started work with an absolutely BRILLIANT order of curry noodles. with chutney. god bless the thai.

right, working now. or something. $$$

the 18th. kinda like the 18th hole. but different.

right. i felt much better when i went to bed last night, and much better when i woke up. i felt much better when yogi dropped me off at the bus stop, and much better as i had a humungous breakfast with karnaf. i felt incredible as i walked around the city, trying to locate the central office of the kibbutzim, and got the phone number of the one person in the country who can actually help me.

and it turns out he's the same person who helped me before, to get onto the current kibbutz in the first place - now i just hope he won't have any problem moving me to the centre of the country.

i felt good as i made my way to my old workplace, and felt amazing as they told me that not only did they not mind rehiring me until i go into active duty, but that they want me to start immediately. and they'll deal with my social security.

the 3.5 hours of work i did today (retraining) covers my transport costs for the week, and tomorrow night i'm working an 8 hour shift.

AH-YEAH!

i missed the last bus back to afula, which was quite upsetting, but karnaf has been good enough to let me stay here again. after an emergency shower, we sat down to watch clerks. it's just as good the second time around... perhaps better.

oh - and a little afterthought: my previous ex-girlfriend actually called me back today, and we had a quick 10-minute chat. it's good to have at least a clue about what's been happening with her, even if the updates weren't all good.

i feel good about how today went. i feel very, very good about it.

later that same day... kinda

i've just discovered my new bible. aren't i fickle? it's at

this place, over here. i'm a link. click me!

i've decided it's alright for me to become a "normal" human being now. me, just more so. *evil giggle*

i managed to do sweet bugger-all for the rest of the day. i been online, i watched some tv (best fear factor ever - so many things that i wanna try!), and had long arguments with yogi and his girlfriend about moving into yogi's parents' place for a few weeks. maybe i will.

right, back to my big self-realization.

the 17th. a better day.

right. i'm feeling pretty good - i've been introduced to something called "gat", and leaf that makes you happy when you chew it. nice one.

i literally slept the whole of yesterday. i woke up around 8/9pm, and had a pizza for breakfast. sometime after midnight SxS took me through to yogi's, where we talked until 4am before crashing.

this morning, yogi's girlfriend gave me a ride to campus, where i finally dropped off the scotch and gifts i've been luggin around, saw some people, and had breakfast.

i then visited some friends in my old area, and had coffee and a cigarette (i've been smoking quite a bit in the last while, and i just don't care). yogi picked me up, and we went to see the kibbutz in herzliyah. turns out they're fully booked, and so is another kibbutz i tried.
oh well.
i'll just have to wait.
some more.

i joined yogi for some shopping, had some of this "gat" (which i'm most satisfied with), and then returned to his place. i've been introducing him to gmail, which has been quite entertaining, and am now about to spend a few hours assing around, maybe watching some telly. go me!

the 15th. a day of depression (16th)

harsh. i feel numb, and alone. yet, strangely comfortable, familiar with that feeling.

last night i went to her grandfather's surprise birthday party, and it was the first time i've been at her place since i've been back. her new boyfriend was there, and what really got me started on this thought process was the fact that he's allowed to sleep over, whereas i had to avoid her place altogether.
needless to say, i really am jealous.

her father seems to be back to normal with me, which i guess means that he's realized that we're not getting married anytime soon. or that he's growing up.
whichever.
i don't care.

i've been okay with the idea of us not going out since we broke up, but tonight i really felt single for the first time in years.

it also dawned on me that although i may have dealt with all my issues apropos my father dying, i never really dealt with all the other shit surrounding it, like seeing my younger sister in a bad way, and the family drama that occurred during the week after the funeral.

all in all, i've got a lot of dealing to do.

back to the more mundane:

early yesterday afternoon, i got on the bus from ra'anana to afula. about 10 minutes into the bus ride, her mom called to invite me to the birthday party.

now, i don't really mind that she forgot to invite me before that, but her timing was aweful. i got to the kibbutz, did some frantic packing, had to search through their storage facility-thingy to find my jeans, and then...

i got the times all wrong from the bus-company's website, so i didn't think i had enough time to wait for the bus to afula from the kibbutz. i unsuccessfully tried to hitchhike, but was desperate enough to take a cab.

now, the cab fair is 5 times the price of the bus fare, and i'd already spent a fair amount on travelling for the day. not only that, but the taxi driver had to make a detour to go pick something, so i was unimpressed and in a huge hurry.

we started talking, and i explained my homeless situation to the taxi driver. he then explained that the solution is obvious: all i need to do is find a girl who'll move into an apartment with me, thereby reducing all my costs.

yeah, fucking right.

so i explain to him that that's a lot easier said than done, meaning that it's difficult to find a suitable girl, who's happy enough with you, etc., but he misunderstood and tried to set me up with some girl he either knows / is related to.
my god.
no way.
so i politely attempt to explain to him that that kind of setting up is just not a part of my culture, so sorry.
the rest of the drive was silent.

it turned out that the bus would've been on time >@, but whatever. i passed out on the bus, and got off in the industrial area of herzliya.
great, but noone could come and pick me up. so after some frantic organizing, i walked through to a friend's place, and she picked me up from there.

after dinner, during which i successfully defended my fingers at the buffet (at the cost of eating decently), i got dropped off at said friend's place again, and a group of us went for a walk and a sit-down in a park.
t'was nice.
aside from the introspection.
we walked back, ate quite a bit (i had some catching up to do), and i'm now at ru55's, where i'm about to crash.

it must be some kind of record!

we just got back, at 2.30am, from a braai 'n chill, to discover that SxS is rather unSxSful when it comes to keeping pet fish... his goldfish lasted about 28 hours before going belly up.

*sigh*

the 14th. *DOOM*

boy, have i been feeling like crap. the whole day.

i slept quite a bit, but got to the point where i just couldn't sleep anymore. i spent the day disorientated, dazed, and confused.
and slow.
very, very slow.

i had a nap in the evening, after which i felt much better, and i'm really lucky that i remembered to phone her mom for her birthday. i *HATE* speaking on phones, but i managed to pull through, and it's alright now.
*phew*

ummm, after wearing these overalls for a couple of days, i've finally decided that i've found my style. now i just gotta organize myself a few more pairs (pairs?)... they gotta be at least 2 sizes too big for me, have a drawstring or backpack-type belt, and tons o' pockets, and then i'll have all the clothing i could wish for ^_^

and that's about all the intelligence that's coming out of me today.

orange evening of the 13th

yes. i went all the way to the base, getting severely screwed over by a bus driver on the way, to get told a simple line that could have saved much aggravation yesterday if it had only been said ON THE GODDAMN PHONE.

2 seconds after walking in, i then had to walk back out and catch a bus back to where i'd started my morning.

karnaf and i had breakfast on dizengoff, which was rather nice, and after a too-quick 10 minute nap, i was off to the campus in herzliyah.
i hate travelling.

a few of us made a presentation to potential south african / australian students, which was alright, and visited some friends.

turns out that the entire project that i've been working on during my holiday was flawed from the start, and they've built a completely new system from scratch, which totally makes my work worthless.

great.

i've been chilling with SxS, we've been to the airport and back, and now i'm trying to get my paws on some food.

i say it's been an orange evening, 'cause i been wearing my overalls in public again. i *LIKE* my overalls.

early morning of the 13th

and it is. it really is.

yesterday:

i got up stupid-early (around 6.30am), got my blades, packed in a hurry, had a 3-minute shower, and got a ride to afula, from where i took a bus to herzliyah.

and then WALKED. i walked a long, long way. s'what happens when you get off at the wrong stop, in the middle of nowhere.

i spent the rest of the morning on campus, sorted some things out *1, and then she came to fetch me, and we went to the mall. from there we went to her grandparents, for a really nice lunch.

after that i went to SxS's, and from there to our friend in pituach's, for an awesome chicken salad feast.

and then we went to the alumni "do" at the university. was quite pretentious, but we got some spiffy promo things (a glass chess set, and an organizer incl.).

i left early, and bladed HARD to get to the bus-stop. after being dropped off in tel-aviv i bladed HARD to get to karnaf's place. only to find out that i wasn't late.

*sigh*

i put on my bright orange primi piatti overalls, and joined the group.

the group's alright, nothing special. the route sucks ASS. they can fuck right off, i'm not doing that again.

not that i completed it in the first place. too of us got completely friggin' lost, and had to take a taxi back to tel-aviv at 1am. 'cause we'd bladed to the next friggin' city. that sucked.

not to mention that it's the first time i've bladed in forever. i got a lot of exercise, but i also got blisters on my feet, and i made it back to karnaf's just before they started to get serious on me.

today:

i just got up, i'm drinkin' ma' coffee, and then i'm off to the base. 'cause i TRIED to call them yesterday. i can't go in my overalls, 'cause they don't have no pockets.

*1: i called the army yesterday. each person i spoke to tried to convince me that i was talking to the wrong person, so i got switched several times. in one of the conversations, i spent AGES trying to explain my situation to this one girl. eventually, she gave up, and asked me for my personal number, which i promptly gave her. she then goes "oh! it's --insert my name here--! how are you? why didn't you tell me it was you?", has a quick laugh with whoever was with her, and then puts me through to someone else entirely, who couldn't help me at all.

12th already...

i gotta be up in 6 hours, so i can go BACK to herzliya.
rediculous.

i completely wasted yet another day. got up at 12, farted around for five hours, and then SxS dropped me off at the bus-stop.

i've just watched the second harry potter movie: not NEARLY as good as the book. some parts were alright, but they skipped important bits, and included nonsense. why, oh WHY, do i expect more??

g'nite.

-bombed-

we just watched hellboy. i fell asleep almost from the start.

not good.

went bowling earlier. i sucked the big one.

*yawn*. it's totally bedtime.

oct 10th

wow. i been here almost three weeks. crazy, man... crazy.

before i forget, here is a link to translated hunter x hunter manga.
my favourite.

last night i came to karnaf's place. we watched mivtzah savtah (operation grandmother) before crashing. i slept rather well, and have spent the entire day so far (i'm still waking up early from the past week) catching up on webcomics, and listening to good trance. simultaneously, even.

in a bit i'm probably off to herzliya. or ra'anana. or wherever. what sucks is that i'm gonna have to go back up north at some stage, and i'm too busy being bored down here :(

all tuckered out

i've been napping all afternoon - i'm completely drained, but feeling good nonetheless.

all good things must come to an end: in about half an hour or so, i'm gonna have to leave this apartment, and the cheshire cat :( *sniff* *sob*

i read more harry potter this morning, then slept until the cat got to me, showered, and spent the day finishing the 3^rd book. what a great book! i can't wait to see the movies, if only to satisfy my curiosity as to how close to the books they are.

and that about sums up the value of my day. as my cousin so succinctly put it (we were discussing our incapacity to enjoy holidays): "i'm a bum!".

it's the 9th already!

alright. here goes. i spent a lot of the evening reading the third harry potter book. i found out that j. k. rowling's not just some housewife who happened to write some good stuff, but that she's an academic and has actually put a lot of work into the series. apparently it's targeted for adults, which isn't too surprising. i have to say that i've been completely drawn in ^_^

SxS and co. came to the rescue. we went out to a club called self, which is where we couldn't get in on halloween owing to my costume (and the fact that israeli's don't celebrate all-hallow's eve).
the dance music sucked, but the hip-hop was cool, and i had great fun. so many stunning girls, and i had no idea whatsoever of how to initiate a conversation. my lack of confidence is mostly due to the fact that you can't hear a damn thing in clubs, and my hebrew's not too good either... i lose no matter what. so i just danced with and eyeballed the girls of interest, until home time.

actually, at one point there were so many people that it became more of a moshpit, but i held my ground until things cooled off a bit. at least, our section cooled off a bit :)

but DAMN, them girls was FINE.

i got back home to a cat that was absolutely PINING for me! it's so cute! almost, but not quite, makes up for me coming home alone.

right, it's a toss-up between more harry potter, and a shower and bed. hmmm...

*phew*

well, my friend finally called me, to let me know that they're alright. took bloody long enough, too.

umm, i went to training this afternoon:
a) i really don't have as much energy as i'd like, i'm totally unfit
b) nothing's changed. at all. i'm just severely disappointed

i came home, a bit morbid (i still am), and had a shower, then a nap. which i'm feeling more-or-less in the middle of, but i'll read a bit before resuming.

shocked (8th)

i just read about the bombing in taba, and that's pretty fucked up. my friend and his girlfriend (who i'm housesitting for) are somewhere in sinai, so it's not only fucked up, but a bit close to home.

yesterday and today:

been bored. done very little, aside from reading harry potter, listening to streaming trance, and taking the occasional walk. the cat woke me up this morning by pawing my nose, as if it were an "on" button.
it worked, dammit.
i think that cat knows something.

i just came back from shopping. on a friday. i should know better.
i'm sure the old people make everything difficult on purpose.

all is quiet

i just finished watching shaun of the dead. good movie.

it's officially holiday time, and it feels like everything's come to a complete standstill. i have the urge to do absolutely nothing.

today went better after i managed to get the sleep out of my eyes. i cleaned the kitty litter, which wasn't nearly as bad as i expected, and did some basic shopping. my mother would be ashamed if she knew what i bought, but nevermind.

i walked a good deal again, had a cup of coffee at azrieli center, and then SxS and i played some pool at the lincoln. and i actually won, for the first time in ages... i wish i could say it was due to me improving...

i had a good nap this afternoon, and the cat obviously didn't notice :)

here's to my boring holiday. *bleargh*

*groaaaaaaaan*

oh god. help me please.

i was woken at 4am, or something, with a face full of fur. only problem is that this pussy mews LOUD. and then, not only did it take me forever to get back to sleep, but the cat gets cranky and noisy at 7am PRECISELY - because he's run out of food.

and i haven't exactly gotten quality sleep... i'm allergic to cats so my nose is partially blocked.

and i thought my headache was bad when i went to bed...

i think the cat, gorgeous as he is, has it in for me. and i haven't yet had the pleasure of cleaning the kitty litter.

*throb* my brain hurts! *throb* (5th Oct)

oh wow - hectic day!

1) somehow managed to get up early, unloaded / loaded the dishwasher, shaved, showered, picked up my laundry, packed, and left

2) sorted myself out with cash and a shuwarma in afula

3) arrived in herzliya's industrial area, waited half an hour for her to arrive, had coffee, walked around, and got dropped off at the train station

4) took the train to tel aviv, got picked up by karnaf, and was introduced to the apartment, it's owner, and the cheshire cat

nice bloody apartment. i can most certainly deal with staying here for a few days. the cat's diabetic, so it consumes a lot = it produces a lot.
but that's alright.

i decided to walk, so i could learn a bit of the area, and the bus routes. i walked all the way to azrieli centre, arbed and wombled around there, then walked to kikar rabin.
that's quite a lot of exercise.

i bussed back here, with no problem, and have just received a call from an old friend. i would have met up with her tomorrow, but we realized that it's impossible for me to get back here to look after the cat, so we'll just have to wait...

right, i'm gonna nap a little, then i guess i'm off to yogi's place.

later that same day...

we justed watched jackass: the movie. some of it was hysterical (pandas, golf), a lot of it was just tasteless and horrible. still, haven't laughed like that in a long time...

uncoil (4th)

wow. i have got to learn to just accept people for the way they are. it's not my business to teach anyone how to behave. other than my own children, of course.

the other big realization for the day is that the story of my life is in the process of unfolding, and i have to stop living only for the future. everything i've been doing has been for the current phase, and i've got a long way to go for the next one. my unfortunate news for the day is that apparently there's nothing i can do about my army service till it's begun... and the way i was spoken to today, i get the feeling that my position in this unit isn't as secure as i thought.

so, basically, it's all just wait-and-see. so i may as well do that. and i really do have to learn to just relax, and enjoy myself. i actually do have time.

in case it's not readily apparent, i did practically nothing today.

wobble 'n wooze (3rd)

well.
well, well, well.
well.

i say, "well!".

i managed to go to sleep after posting my last post, and this is a basic summary of what i dreamed:

we were shooting some sci-fi movie, us being lookalikes for the actual cast. the movie ends with my character's girlfriend crashing in to the rescue. or something.

we took the train back. the train passed through private tracks, owned by the university i've just finished attending. michael j. fox was working as the conductor, and we had to give him cash for the ticket. angel (our CLAW one) goes absolutely dotty over him, while i try to act all nonchalant. she climbs into a tiny cupboard / compartment thingy at the front of the train, from where she proceeds to make train announcements (interesting acoustics).


i must be alright :)

i woke up to a cup of coffee, and got a ride into afula. i caught the bus at 8am, and arrived on the base just before 10am. it's ALWAYS better to do these things in person - i think the girl i spoke to understood me, and it appears that things should go smoother now if i just chill and wait for a response.

i got in touch with an old flame, without having to circuitously get to her through her parents... but i'll have to wait and see if she actually wants to get in touch with me.
*sigh*

i had a great coffee / breakfast with karnaf, who then extremely considerately gave me a ride all the way to hadera. i would have stopped in herzliya, but i was wearing my i've come for your daughter shirt, and her parents and grandparents would NOT be okay with it.
*silly chortle*

the bus back sucked, as it was packed and i had to stand. by the time i got back to the kibbutz, i was wasted, and i totally crashed. i woke up in the evening, in time to catch most of the fellowship of the ring, supper, and rush hour. now that this computer's been re-installed, it's working alright, but i can't wait till tuesday - gonna be housesitting, and will have access to a REAL pc. w00t!

right, more tv, then bedtime.
yup, definitely bedtime.

shoot me. shoot me now.

great - i have to be up at 7am, so OBVIOUSLY i can't get to sleep. i've been tossing and turning, trying to remember the hebrew word for squirrel.
i hate myself sometimes.

yesterday evening my cousin's brother took us out for coffee, which was nice, and after getting back, i whiled away the time reading, watching tv, and going for a long walk.
good on me, eh?

dammit, i feel like crap. and by that, i mean that i don't feel so good.

ho hum... (2nd Oct)

yesterday:

i didn't sleep so well. went to bed around 6am-ish, woke up a couple of hours later. i gave the dog's cousin a good lesson in tekken, although he really wasn't bad, and had a decent breakfast while re-watching the first spiderman. there was a lot of army conversation / jealous argument going around, and i found it rather interesting / amusing.

i took a bus to afula, and from there back to the kibbutz. dinner last night was quite pleasant, and we watched gorgeous in the evening, which was quite entertaining, and contained some of jackie chan's most amusing work. i got to bed rather early.

today:

i woke up quite late, after dreaming some extremely strange dreams (including running around naked in a futuristic school / synagogue / gigantic colloseum-type thing). i've had a pretty lazy day, but am now quite frustrated due to a bad copy of rush hour 2. i'm totally disappointed, and i haven't seen the ending. my cousin's husband has been sorting out his pen collection. i'm really trying to take an interest. really, i am. honest. they want me to upgrade their computer, which wouldn't be a biggie, but they want everything in hebrew... i think i'm going to go bury myself in my new book.

*bzzz* (30th)

*sigh*
so tired.
all the time.

yesterday:

i went for a drive with the cousins to an enormous meat mall, and watched brother bear. i had a good nap, and we had a birthday supper for one of the cousins, which was rather nice.

i took the bus to tel-aviv, where i met up with the dog, who i haven't seen in years, and we played pool, and generally arbed all over the city.
*womble*

mmmmmm... so many pretty girls. mmmmmm.

this morning:

i'm busy introducing him to KoL, and am about to steal his copy of the elegant universe, which i've been looking for for ages.
*glee*

*yawn* *stretch* (20th)

yesterday:

well, i did shower, and i did shave. i feel a bit more human. i ate lunch in the mess hall, and then spent the afternoon relaxing and napping.

in the evening i called my relatives, to say hi, and while i was doing this i called her mom, who has the flu. now i hate talking on phones, but never so much as when the person on the other side isn't in the mood to talk either. i was really uncomfortable.

we went to fetch my great-uncle from the home, and came back for supper. to celebrate the festival (tabernacles, i think it's called in english), we all set up on the grass with coffee and cake, and watched a cute show (singing, dancing, stories...). one of the girls really made an impression: incredible singer, and totally hot: i thought she was 16, turns out she's older than me.
DAMN.
i'm really bad at this... the soldier girls here don't look more than 15. boy, am i EVER in trouble!

last night we watched a couple of movies, the score and october sky. october sky was great, simply inspirational, and it was nice to see the score from the beginning.

*groggy* (29th)

hmmph. i'm typing this on a computer that's set up for hebrew, is virused to shit, and i can't see what i've typed until i've finished each sentence. superb.

yesterday:

i took a bus through to herzliyah, to my old apartment. nobody home, and i didn't feel comfortable using my keys. damn south-african culture. i went off to the idc campus, handed over the bottle of bells, spoke to some friends, and got threatened by the new person in charge of student housing. the nasty person. managed to get around her, thankfully. and i put in a request to close my degree. and double-re-checked that i don't owe the university any money.

i checked my bank account, bought myself a falaffel, and met up with her, while waiting for the new student in my old apartment to arrive. i got my mail, and received assurance that my bed and books would be fine. nice.

she and i went to the mall, where we had a non-alcoholic liquid lunch, and ran into a girl i haven't seen in years, who i kind of dated at one stage, and upset terribly with my lack of interest. she seems to have gotten over it (she didn't talk to me for months).

i visited SSSO, who's due to give birth within the next few weeks. it was nice to catch up, and we talked for quite a while.

now for the army situation:

i expected to have to go into service immediately. the academic corps has set my return date to the 8th of november. that's more than a month from now. that means two months with no place to live, and the unit i'm in needs me to begin immediately, as i have to replace someone. so now we're all fighting with my old commander to move the date forward.

i went back to kfar saba, picked up my gear from sammy's, and he gave me a ride to SxS's, where i discovered how upset they were with me about their cape town experience. we went off to the industrial area of herzliyah, had supper, and he then dropped me off at the bus-stop.

the bus ride was long, and uncomfortable. i did study some more japanese, but i'm progressing rather slowly. i have time, though :)
i got picked up by my cousins, and we talked quite a bit during the drive, and when we got to the kibbutz, but we were all exhausted, so i had a quick shower and crashed.

today:

i woke up late, and have spent WAY too long updating this site... this computer is STUFFED. i'm off to shower and shave.

confuzzed again (28th)

last night:

i finally made my shirts, and they came out BEEEE-YOOTifully. i'm rather proud, and i own some very pretty shirts. yes indeedy.

sandman came over, and we began the packing procedure. then protoplasm and associate came over, and we all sat around and talked for ages. they all left, i read my book, and then airplane and co. picked me up.
we went to erte, where they totally ignored my order, the bastards. we then fucked off to the beach, and talked a lot. this talking included the israeli-palestinian situation, general anti-bush/thabo sentiment, and the idea that corporations ruling instead of governments wouldn't be any worse.
i finally finished across the nightingale floor, and had a quick shower, finished packing, and left for the airport.

DAMN.

boy, was i ever nervous, and couple that with sleep deprivation, and you have an idea of what i was going through.

i made it JUST in time for the SAA flight to johannesburg, i got totally lost in the airport there, and for the first time ever i got taken to that special place for checking bags.
thank the lord that the dude wasn't being a prick.

i did some shopping, and bought goodies (like expensive whiskeys and biltong), and ran into SxS's dad, which was amusing.
after a long, boring wait to board, i began a 9 hour cycle of sleeping and learning japanese - i'm getting the idea, i reckon.

and the food was surprisingly good.

there was a mix up when i landed, and i had two people coming to fetch me... how unlucky am i? :P
the luggage took a full bloody hour to get onto the baggage claim, and then the bastards made me put it through the customs check.

maybe i should shave.

sammy and his wife have really made tonight easy. i quite like it here. i'm off to bed.

*sniff* (26th)

i can't believe i'm leaving tomorrow. it's been so good, and now i just have to leave it all for a great unknown.
crap.

yesterday:

supper was interesting, but my predictive posts are almost always wrong: i came home and went to bed.

today:

we started off our mission at my sister's, with no luck finding a working printer. we then went to my cousin's in kenilworth, where i printed all five of the transfers BACKWARDS.

DOH.

so i had to reprint them. they came out beautifully, however. we then went shopping, and i found replacement trousers - didn't think that would happen.
my mom dropped me off at schpatcon, for a day of munchkin and tekken. was a nice day, and i'm sad to say goodbye to all my friends...
and to cape town...
and to a nice, easy life on holiday...

the rest of it (25th)

alright. i woke up a bit late, but not too late :)

the module this morning was quite fun, and we did rather well. the tekken tournament, aside from some bungling, went just fine, and turned out to be quite fair as well. i wasn't allowed to play, but as promised, i did beat the winner.

and that's more or less how the day went. we played a munchkin game that lasted WAY too long, and it was basically them against me until the end.
figures.

i'm waiting now for my mum to arrive, and then it's big supper time. then i'm off to sweetiepie's to watch a video.

g'nite.

nooo! nooooo!(25 Sept)

i can't believe it's the 25th already! how sucky is THAT?!?!

yesterday morning, before going to bed at 5am, i managed to get hold of my mum's forgotten info, without having to touch windows 98. SO proud of myself.

two hours later, we went to my uncle's place, for coffee, and to be blown away by the 60/70 inch plasma screen. and full home theatre sound. and i'm so jealous it's disgusting.

after coffee, my mom dropped me off on middle campus, and i spent the afternoon in charge of the tekken players - the tournament begins today, so yesterday was more or less the training camp ;) i had to leave early for the whole yom kippur thing, so i couldn't play in moonflake and zenstar's module :'(, i was rather disappointed. and i'm going to have to leave early tonight, too...

after supper, i read for an hour or two, then passed out. and didn't wake up to let my mom in when she got home - whoops. nevermind.

right, i'm going back to sleep now.

*wooze* (24th)

i've just come back from upstairs - great fscking party. but i gotta be up early, so i had to leave :(

i'm a bit on the tipsy side, so this might come out a bit weird...

tuesday:

what an upsetting day. i put the pc together, paranoid all the way, only to discover that i had the wrong power supply. so i drove all the way to rectron, bought a new one, installed the damn thing, and the system refused to boot.

*INSTANT PANIC*

i was sure i'd screwed something up. i didn't feel so good about it. i haven't felt so bad about anything in a long, long time.

my friend with no nick (erm, hellraiser) took our pc under his wing, and i had to run off and drive my mom around town. which only added to my stress. the good news: by the time i'd gotten back, he'd figured out what the problem was (the video card), and i cannot express my relief in words. talk about saving the day.

we had some coffee, then met up with another friend of mine for drinks and kareoke. t'was interesting. more coffee after that, and then it was definitely bedtime.

yesterday:

i started the day reading across the nightingale floor - i'm about halfway through, and it's fan-bloody-tastic. i'm rather enthralled.

i ran through to rectron, bought a video card (far superior to mine in israel), and finally got this machine up & running. i can't believe windows XP takes so long to install, and i've discovered that my mother forgot to backup something crucial, so i'll have to re-install the old windows 98 to get it.
crap.

my mum and i went through to my aunt's in the evening for coffee, and i made it in time for TNM at shadowslight's. we watched dagon, which was great fun. and we played munchkin. the game took a bit too long, so we gave up and watched the gamers.

and then protoplasm dragged me off to the club.

continued (21st)

crap. day.

tkd almost killed the lot of us (three, really). at one point i was seeing in flashes - my body simply was not coping.

my mom aggravated me majorly, i had to sit like an idiot and wait for her for about half an hour, and i really didn't enjoy that. i then fscked off to rectron, and after a bit of a struggle i managed to organize the components i need. now to not destroy them when setting everything up. i'll have to do it tomorrow.

went off to canal walk, ran into an old friend, and bought across the nightingale floor: can't wait to read it. we had pretty good chinese for supper, and bought a packet of white rabbit! yay!! certainly can't get those in israel. and they had the coconut milk inna can, too.

i just spent an hour or so with my sister, catching up and scanning in some photo's, which i'll put online one day, i guess, maybe. i *have* to print my transfers, the waiting is killing me!

my neck! my legs! (21st Sept)

i went to training yesterday morning, against my better judgement. fortunately, i was the only one there, so i did my own thing, and rewarded myself by leaving early. sloth, you say?
never.

after a much needed shower, i made my way to campus, for a serious cup of not-so-serious coffee, and then moved on to my aunt's place, where i read some news and sorted out most of my email (they're clearing the mail server. again.).

i went back to town, and came up with a rough estimate for my mom's pc's upgrade... today's the day to get it over and done with.

in the late afternoon, i had a too-quick ten-minute nap, and then went to training again. t'was nice, but painful. did all sorts of damage, sweating, and generally exhausting things.
and got hold of the demo dvd - w00t!

spent last night watching the emmy's, and the first half of the documentary "the world according to bush". interesting, and it does lend a different perspective to the most dangerous man on the planet.

*bounce* *splat* (19th Sept)

i got up REALLY early this morning, around 9.30am, to go to the cemetary. there was a lot of visiting to do.
i just realized this morning that i've actually gotten something right. my late grandmother made me promise not to get married until after i'd finished studying. i'm finished studying. i haven't married anyone yet. i'm sure this normally wouldn't elicit comment, but considering what i've been through, it wasn't entirely out of the picture.

i read quite a bit of the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, then showered and got dragged off to the jewish museum, and then the national gallery.
interesting.

i picked up buffalo wings at nando's, and enjoyed them thoroughly while finishing the book. awesome bloody book. and thank heavens i've now been to london, or there were a couple of chapters i wouldn't have appreciated at all...

i joined sandman and his girlfriend in obs, and after a bite to eat we moved to cavendish. bookworms, the lot of us. i have a list of things to read. again.
we did a coffee thing, and then went to watch king arthur.

right. let's not talk about suspension of disbelief, and raging anachronisms. let's talk about king arthur being a roman.
um, ah... no.
let's talk about lancelot being a dodgy ponce with no romantic interest in guinevere.
ummm, errr.... no.
let's talk about keira knightley being a sexy, sexy, sexyⁿ woman.
oh, yes.

on my way home, i was annoyed by a set of brights right behind me. so i slowed down to let the idiot pass. and the idiot slowed down. so i slowed down some more. so did he.
this went on till we were doing about 30-40 kph, and i was getting really, really angry. he sped up a little, and i sat behind him for a while with my brights on, and he seemed to get the idea and fucked off.
but - WHY?!?!

and then i got home to find that some prick had parked across our parking entrance. WTF?!?!

watching the paralympics is inspiring. we're taping a documentary on bush's stupidity (can't wait!). i'm irritated that i finally have shirts and transfer paper, and our printer sucks and the scanner ain't workin'.
@!$%.

drained... cont'd (18th Sept)

less drained, ACTUALLY. firstfallen's surplise party was really, really nice. good food, good company, and she ACTUALLY like my pressie! yay!

not only did we find out about synkronos' 2000AD collection (*DAMN*), but we had a rather entertaining general CLAWs meeting, which was unusually productive.

my car got stuck in the mud outside moonflake's, and i only discovered a solution once they were already outside. so i had a moral support team, and it seems to have helped ;)

time for bed. or pre-bed reading. whichever.

-- oh my! i might get to an offspring concert tomorrow night! w00t!! --

drained (18th Sept)

thursday (16th):

thursday night supper was cool, and the food was good. i quite enjoyed being with my cousins again.

yesterday:

training yesterday morning was more educational than usual: i've been informed that i'm flat-footed when i fight, so i now have something to work on.

i managed to recruit some people into KAOS, and i made it to the Annual Gnarlyburr Marathon, which i haven't seen since '99...

my mum and i went to acupuncture together, which was really nice. cleansing.

supper last night was chilled, and babyacid's birthday thingum was rather nice, but i had to go home early due to general fatigue and a lack of breathing potential (too much smoke).

today so far:

i hate malls, and i started my day off in one. pre-breakfast. i picked up a couple of t-shirts, but that was as productive as it got. we then picked up some iron-on transfer paper, and went to the waterfront for breakfast and prezzie-shopping.

breakfast was nice - waffles with cream, and serious chocachino. i felt much better for it, less agitated. my mom has now officially missed shrek ii, as with so many other great films, and i'm a tad disappointed.
i got myself the curious incident of the dog in the night, for not too much money, and two books that will apparently start me off on the road to speaking japanese.

instead of doing some work, i'm about to nap for a bit (and read, too), and then later on i'll just see who's where.

and the days go on... (16th Sept)

supper last night was nice.

training this morning was nice. only two of us, doing forms. my legs still hurt badly afterwards, though.

lunch this afternoon was not so nice. rather uncomfortable, didn't know anyone, many elderly, the only person my age was a not-so-cute chick.

we tried to visit an art gallery in town, but they've had this brilliant idea and turned all the paintings around, so that we can see what's written on the backs of them. they can fuck right off, that's just stupid, and not exactly art.

napping this afternoon was alright. that's about everything so far.

laze... (15th Sept)

yesterday:

i slept most of yesterday, and went to training in the evening. training was cool, very cool. but i'm sore now. *sigh*

today:

i drove my mom around this morning, to reduce stress levels and to acquire the use of the car for the day. i was going to go to training, but i thought i'd rather sleep in instead. and so i did.

i went to campus, to discover just how bad the KAOS situation is... i'm actually rather embarrassed about the clawmembers - they are completely uninspired and unmotivated... they're just a bunch of useless nerds. i am ashamed to be in any way associated with them.

i picked up my mom from work, we did some last minute shopping, and i've been arbing around while she's at the synagogue. i'm a really good jew. really.

so, happy new year!

home (14th Sept)

friday (10th):

hyper_viper and i started off the day at the starbuck's in green park. she met us there, and we all went off to the science museum. nice, but not quite as cool as i'd hoped. rather disappointing.
we then went off to the tate modern - now THAT was cool. we didn't have enough time to see everything, but we certainly tried, and it's just filled with awesome things.

we went back to st. paul's cathedral for a few minutes (she hadn't been there before), and then back to the eerie pub, for a couple of drinks and a good chat.

it was then time for supper, so we parted company. supper was really, really nice.

saturday:

after we got home, i watched school of rock, which was amusing. that's a lot less than i was expecting, but never mind.

she and i started off the day with oxford and regent streets, which included hamley's - good heavens. we then moved on to camden town, for a gander and some lunch (i had the lemon chicken *grin*). while shopping around, i found THE trousers (damn the word "pants", you british bastards) of my dreams, and tried them on. they were STUNNING, but very expensive. as i leaned over to pick up my wallet, to see if i had enough money on me, i heard an aweful ripping sound.
right cunts, i'm not spending THAT much money on crap. we left in a right huff.
we hung around lloyd's for a while, waiting for hyper_viper to join us. all three of us went to kilburn, to find out about the evening's events - turned out to be a bit more difficult than we'd anticipated. oh well.

we took her to the green park station, said goodbye, and then returned to highgate for a quick shower 'n coffee.

we had some drinks in leicester square, where we talked a lot, and were unfortunately interrupted by an annoying homosexual somalian, who figured he'd found a good time to hit on us. after giving up trying to get rid of him, we left. we met up with a friend, and hit another pub, before embarking on our journey into london's nightlife.

boy, did that trip ever go wrong. three times we got on the wrong tube... how?!?!

we ended up at frantic. aside from the music, the place was absolutely brilliant, and the crowd was great. we quite enjoyed ourselves (aside from three pints costing about R150 - we drank very slowly). i passed out on the night-bus home.

sunday:

we got to bed around 3am. all three of our phones rang simultaneously at about 9am or so... this not only woke us up, but confused the crap outta us at the same time. turned out to be the girls playing a prank on us.

we went for a drive into heartfordshire (did i spell that right? do i care?), and came across a sign that states: "panshanger". so, when we entered the pub, i asked "are we shanging?"
in a snobby english pub, this was not entirely appreciated. oops.

i've never eaten a bunny before, so i ordered myself the braised rabbit. t'was good. the chocolate brownies for desert were simply too good...

hyper_viper and his girlfriend did me an ENORMOUS favour, and drove me around london so i could do all the things i had to before leaving. this included a cup of coffee with some cousins, who have pet bunnies, and children who don't like the idea of rabbits as nourishment.
it was all i could do to keep myself from laughing: hyper_viper's girlfriend was pointing out the pieces i'd consumed, and hyper_viper was saying things like "should've been named tasty"... BASTARDS.

unfortunately, driving through london is a lot slower than taking the tube, which resulted in some rather bad timing. the circle line was out of service, i didn't have a zone 6 ticket, and the train changed destinations (WHAT?!) between stops. needless to say, i was rather stressed and tense by the time i got to heathrow airport. and i made the check-in by TWO MINUTES.
*gasp*

so i was just in time to board, and off i went.

yesterday:

the flight was AWESOME, and i actually felt sorry for the idiots in business class. we flew on a 747-400, and the plane was practically empty, so almost all the economy class had four seats each.
with personal displays - i watched garfield, and van helsing.
and i'm so glad i didn't pay to see them.

i was exhausted by the time i got back home. i didn't even have the energy to go out for food, so we ordered a debonairs sub for lunch, and i slept the afternoon away. i went to shadowslight's in the evening, for some tv goodness, which was cool.

today:

due to a time-zone change, i missed my dentist appointment this morning. my mom is pissed, and i think it might be because it's the second missed appointment this holiday.

i'm currently reading introducing relativity. and my brain hurts.

i have slept an aweful lot today, i think my body may be hinting at me.

hot, wet, ... (10th Sept)

it's warm, and raining, and i can't figure out if i should be wearing a jacket or a vest.
*STEAM*

yesterday:

i forgot, until i got to the entrance of westminster abbey, that i didn't have any money.
crapicus.
so i had to walk for AGES to find a place to change dollars for me, and then i had to walk for AGES to get back. luckily, starbucks improved the return trip.

due to my inferior timing, i did a brisk walk through the abbey, which is not only interesting, but architecturally stunning, and i didn't have time to see everything - i'll have to come back someday. i did get to see charles darwin, though, which is cool (i almost stepped on him).

i met up with hyper_viper for overly-expensive drinks, and we went missioning off to the national gallery. due to our inferior timing (and some serious stomache-grumbling), we had to skip some sections. all in all, it was incredible.

we had chinese in camden town, and then went shopping at cyberdog - i wasn't allowed to leave without something, so i'm now wearing a super-cool vest that cost me lots and lots of money: but it does have a cyberdog label.

we stopped off at lloyd's for drinks, where i managed to slow my intake to a single pint of guinness, and we then made our way back towards the station. omfg - i have tried on the leather trenchcoat (matrix-neo style), and it is good. i don't know if i have enough cash for it, however...

rabbi_e met us up on the way, and hyper_viper went home to change, and the two of us went through to leicester square, and met up with a couple of his buddies. i went to the bathroom to blow my nose, and i was wiping off a tiny piece of tissue from my nose when the female bartender walked in, and she reckoned i'd been doing coke... got that sorted out, though :)
no, i can't give you any!

hyper_viper joined us, we drank another pint, and then the three of us went to another pub, where i had a smirnoff ice. at least i'm handling, but i probably shouldn't be drinking this much :P.

hyper_viper went home, rabbi_e and i visited his friends in a nice little apartment ON leicester square (bastards! that's a LOT of fscking money!), before i decided to come back here and get me some shuteye.

hurry! (9th Sept)

right, i gotta have a quick shower and get myself over to westminster abbey, so i'd better be quick... or else!

two days ago:

the braai was AWESOME, hyper_viper KNOWS what the hell he's doing. met some very weird girls, was most disturbing, and we didn't watch shaun of the dead because one of the guys had an exam in the morning.

and my word, i'd had FAR too much to drink.

yesterday:

a much earlier start to the day, hyper_viper and i did a peremtory clean-up, and did the highgate showering thing. we had a serious starbucks breakfast, and waited for AGES for rabbi_e to show up.

we all went through the greenwich, and visited the maritime museum, and then the observatory, both of which were very cool.
then it was back to the pub. i'm starting to love guinness.

we met up with addict on the southwark bridge, and we all went off to the eerie pub (that place just ROCKS), and consumed until it was time to run along.
i was a bit concerned about paying £3 for coffee, and then the waitress turned up with an entire jug of filter coffee. which i felt obliged to finish.

TOO - MUCH - COFFEE.

i took a leisurely stroll to my relatives place, who i'd never met before, and we had a lovely dinner, and talked a LOT.
t'was nice.

i got a ride back to kilburn, and had decaf coffee with my hosts, which was quite pleasant, and then discovered that she was around. turns out the reason she hadn't contacted me was that my hosts' son had forgotten to give her my number.
brilliant.
so we all chatted until about 2am.

today:

coughing my lungs out. thank you london for the fresh air, but at least i'm getting used to it. to be fair, i wasn't in too good a state when i left cape town, either.

right, that's me, buggering off.

*crick* (7th Sept)

well. well, well, well.
i'm still in london - so nyah nyah!!

yesterday:

i got up late, and went through to leicester square, for an excellent white choc mocha and a brownie from starbucks, which is far better here than in israel. surprisingly.

i organized a sim-card for my phone, which has helped tremendously, and we arbed around london, which included buckingham palace, the sherlock holmes, the millenium bridge (and another bridge), st. paul's cathedral (which is under restoration, i'm sure it's even more impressive in its normal state), a seriously gothik bar (abso-fuckin'-lutely AWESOME), and more to drink than is good for me.

after a quick bite to eat with my hosts, i made a mission to high barnet. the pool was good, and the bar was great until we had an incident with a zimbabwean and zambian, and we left just before the fists (ours) started flying. rather unpleasant.

we spent the remainder of the evening at a friend's place, which was really nice, and went to bed around 6am.

today:

after a quick breakfast, we took a bus down to highgate, had coffee and a shower, and then went back to c. london, where we saw the tower of london, and london bridge, and then stopped off desperately at kfc before returning to highgate - we're now on our way back to high barnet for a braai, and to watch shaun of the dead!!!

w00t!!

london! london! london!! (5th Sept)

wow!
wow!
wow wow wow! this is all so cool! ^_^

the flight sucked, and we all panicked as the wheel hydraulics where damaged, and we were stuck on an active runway for over an hour.
listening to herschelle gibbs' girlfriend mouthing off about her modelling career (she's not that pretty)...

first things first. it's summer here. hot, sunny weather. i don't know what it's really like here normally :P

the airport was confusing, the money was confusing, my phone doesn't work at all. i eventually managed to figure everything out, though (but with stress, as usual), and managed to get to kilburn a-ok. found the place with little hassle, had a shower, said hi to everyone, and then went with her and her cousin to central london, to see trafalgar square, whitehall (avenue?), big ben, the thames (much less blue than anticipated), and then back to trafalgar square to meet up with dirk diggler.

we walked through soho and oxford street, and the girls went home, while we went to camden town.

WOW.
AWESOME.
EXACTLY my style.
i thoroughly enjoyed myself, and i'm going to have to spend more time there.
i came back to base to change into smarter clothes (seriously busy household: lots of kids all covered in flour from making pizza, and the soccer buddies were all over, so it was quite loud), and then went to leicester square, which, on a saturday night, is a real experience. so many people... so many things going on...

hyper_viper met up with me with about 5 friends of his, and we went for drinks. and then to chinatown, to a moroccan restaurant (in chinatown??) for more drinks, a nargila, and the usual humous and pita etc.
and it totally wasn't my idea.

we walked through tottenham court road, which was quite entertaining (some serious freaks hanging around there), and then took the night bus to highgate. it was about 2am, and i was literally falling over.
we had coffee when we got to hyper_viper's girlfriend's place, and talked until the coffee wore off.

this morning, we were woken up with a serious breakfast - croissants, crumpets, coffee, and orange juice. i quite like crumpets.

after a shower, and borrowing clothing (hee hee - a unity top), we took a bus (i'm learning to abuse a 1-2 zone pass) all the way to high barnett (zone 6, no extra charge), to spend the day lounging around in the sun, drinking, talking, playing pool, running around with a rugby ball, and generally having a good time. we actually left london for an out-of-the-way pub, where i was introduced to a sunday roast lamb (with yorkshire pudding, weird stuff that), which was SU-PERB.

i just got back to base (my hosts have been in and out the whole weekend, so i haven't really seen them), and am about to get into the shower and then go to sleep.

hyper_viper has actually moved to london yesterday (as in, no longer lives in leeds), and i couldn't have picked a better time to get here. we're going to be running around london doing all the touristy things until i'm out of here.

so that's my news, i'm absolutely LOVING it here, it's wonderful and exciting and fun. the money's a bit weird, but i'm not converting - just going with everyone's advice and letting that see me through.
and letting them buy me drinks, of course :P

i've just had decaf coffee and biscuits, and now it's bedtime. *happy sigh*

arrival (4th Sept) (in progress)

due to lack of updation, some of the following may be inaccurate.

tuesday (31st Aug):

i'd forgotten to eat during the day, so i never made it to training. that about sums up my day.

wednesday (1st Sept):

i'd forgotten about it being spring. it rains in spring, but it's hot. hmmm.
i trained hard in the morning, went through to zenstar's, had an incredible shower (he has an incredible shower), watched jackie chan's police stories (1 and 2), trained some more, and my mom and i ordered pizza for supper. a good day, all in all.

thursday:

i had a good training in the morning, followed by good doughnuts.
mmm, doughnuts.

after a good shower, i went off to do some shopping in milnerton, which never got done. my mom had to work, and i ended up following her around. it sucked.

i had about an hour's nap in the afternoon, before going to fetch my mom from work. i wanted to go to shadowlight's for TNM, but my mom was busy and i had to wait again. more frustration, and i missed the first half of hellboy - AAARGH! and it was good enough that i thoroughly enjoyed the second half!
we then watched the first episode of stargate: atlantis, which was AMAZING. we settled on some things apropos KAOS, and then shadowslight dropped me off at home. which included coffee, and a fantastic piece of oriental translation.

friday:

i slept late. i called the danish consulate, beginning my attempt to re-connect with my ex-girlfriend through her family. that sounds a lot dodgier than it is.
i drove my mom to town, and picked up my second mum on the way back. ran into security guards wielding uzi's - don't they know that it's best used as a throwing weapon?
i went through to century city, and acquired an international student card. now i have to remember to USE the damn thing...

lunch was made up of more samoosas, which is happily consumed before returning home for a nap. i then went to town, picked up my mom and went with her to milnerton, where we did some last minute mr. price shopping. we then went to the waterfront to buy gifts for my host families, had some coffee while there, before going home to pack and say goodbye.

saturday (4th):

i slept terribly, and it was a LONG flight.
bugger.

the food was aweful, and the landing was absolutely frightening.
-- continued in next post ---

*twitch* (31st Aug)

my word, that was an EXCELLENT way to begin the day. 8.30 saw me entering the acupuncturist's, for an hour of prickly meditation. very nice.

the only problem is that i'm still completely stiff... the training yesterday really did me in.

sunday:

i can't believe i wasted all that time watching the preliminaries - they were bloody aweful. my mom picked me up, and we went to a picnic birthday celebration for my aunt. i couldn't keep my eyes open, so i spent a couple of hours on my back in the grass.
t'was pleasant.

in the evening shadowslight picked me up, and we went through to play in babyacid's vampire game. i really enjoyed myself - both the game, and the evening in general.

yesterday:

i got up around 7.30, drove my mom to work, then went to training. firstly, it was really nice being welcomed back so readily. secondly, the last time i trained so hard (and properly, too) was a year ago, when i was here last.

i also found out the story behind the south african olympic team - these guys were selected FIVE YEARS AGO. we have SO much better here, and they just weren't given a chance.
that's really stupid, and most unfortunate.

i was quite sore after training, and went home and had a good, hot shower. after lunch, i drove through to my aunt's, where i started on the invoicing system - i've realized that i have a LONG way to go with this, and i'm not so sure i'll be able to finish before i leave.
whoops.

i went to training in the evening, too. it took a lot of courage, but i was compelled to make the most of my time here (no comments about not training till now, i had to WANT to train).
boy, was that EVER a mistake. i feel disabled at the moment, completely and utterly beaten. my body is totally unresponsive, and everything hurts.

^_^ at least it's for a good reason ^_^

i watched the heavyweight final last night, which was far more interesting than the rest of the tournament, and then had a hot bath before going to bed.
i slept like a king.

today:

i've been up since 7.30, having sorted out my mom's car (brakes), and getting acupunctured. and eating way too many salt & vinegar chips for breakfast.

time to work.

after the fact (29th)

wow. i can't work out if i didn't sleep at all, or if i just spent the few hours on the mattress dreaming of explosions, gunfire, and angry screams. the lan party was quite fun, either way :)

yesterday:

i spent the day resting. at some point, i worked up the courage to stretch, and spent 40 minutes doing some serious work. unfortunately, i'm paying for it now, but if i'm going to return to taekwondo then i really do need it.

today:

i've been up since 6.45, watching the taekwondo. it's disappointing, to say the least. there had BETTER be some good stuff coming up.

confusion in the ranks(28th Aug)

well, the last couple of days have been hell. i haven't been able to sleep, as my sinuses are rebelling, and breathing has become associated with trauma.

thursday (26th):

i watched the flyweight taekwondo preliminaries, which inspired me to get back into it (as soon as i can breathe again). i went off to campus, spent some time chilling and coffee-ing, and then returned to town to pick up my mom from work. we went and got my ticket to london.
we went and got my ticket to london.
we went, and got, my ticket to london.
paid for by my late father - the cute thing is that this is my entire inheritance, and it was ill-gotten. ^_^

we had coffee, and did a little shopping, at the waterfront, and my mom then dropped me off at shadowslight's. we watched the new the punisher. now that movie would've SUCKED the big one, if it hadn't been a good group of friends to MST3K it back to life. i thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
oh, and the peppadew, mushroom and pepperoni pizza DIDN'T give me nightmares! w00t!

yesterday:

no sleep for me. i gurgled around and blew my nose the entire night. it sucked.

i took a taxi into town in the early afternoon, and my mom dropped me off in obs, where i had a quick snack, and joined the boys for our more-or-less weekly universalis game. which was terribly entertaining, although we didn't get that much actual story in.
and i have been formally introduced to devil may cry. what a cool freakin' game.

last night we had a standard friday night supper, and we were graced with sweetiepie's presence. it was a most enjoyable evening. afterwards we went for drinks, then coffee, and had a jolly good chat, which i really needed. i'm actually feeling quite a bit better.

today:

i slept a lot better, but still not great. i'm supposed to be going to the LAN party today, but i don't have a clue when / where / how.
*sigh*

*grumble* (26th Aug)

it's fucking 6AM, but my sinuses and a post-nasal drip have denied me any more "sleep".
CRAPICUS.

yesterday was, erm, interesting.
i lie.
i spent the morning reading, and in the afternoon went to campus, finished the book, handed it in to the library, met up with zenstar and moonflake, and went back to town. waited for my mom for an hour at her work, before getting back to sea point for an evening wasted.

grrr (24th Aug)

stupid trojan horse writers. stupid antivirus programs. i just wasted almost an hour dealing with a non-issue, when i should have been doing the invoice system.

sunday (22nd):

whoops - a day's missing. oh well. i'm fairly certain i didn't do anything interesting. at all. the entire day. go me!

yesterday:

got up early, took my mom to work. i returned home, ate a few breakfasts, passed out on the couch for an hour or so, and then went through to work on the project.
denied - the systems were virused. so i paid a visit to my cousin at work, and we went for some coffee at cavendish.

i then visited a friend at his work, before going to get my mom from hers. which took FOREVER, so i got to clear my mail (finally!).

thank you shadowslight! i have gmail! weee!!

last night i went to shadowslight's, where we watched a LOT of tv (las vegas is COOL), and then protoplasm picked me up, and we went to some club.
lots of cute girls, some great music (although some shitty music too), so some spading was in order. almost successful, too :P

today:

i got home from -insert club name here- around 3 / 4am, and got to watch women's beach volleyball! w00t!

i got up around 10 / 11am, took a taxi to town, scaled my mom's car, and drove to campus. quite fun, really - i love lunchtime. ^_^

i've spent the last couple of hours working on the project, which has been going alright (fingers crossed) for once, but time's almost up. i did wash the car, which was an experience. i'm sure it'll get dirty again soon.

lonely saturday night :_( (21st Aug)

thursday night:

there were two too many prince charmings in the house... but it made the conversation that much more entertaining. the tv at shadowslight's was bust, so we made do with good company, and some chez geek, which was quite fun.
i had to leave a bit early though - i had to get to bed responsibly.

yesterday:

i got up at 6.45, to take a shower and have a cup of coffee before running my mom to work, and then my niece and nephew to school. i went back to bed for an hour, and then hurriedly re-dressed to go to plumstead.
after a completely pointless meander around the area i was meant to be in (due to unnecessary earliness), i entered the quiet, peaceful home practice.

they use long needles. cool. they hurt me. not cool.

i lay there for an hour, imagining all sorts of creative deaths, as the one in my solar plexus REALLY $@%!ing hurt, and i was lying on another one...
i also bled quite a bit, i'm not so sure that's supposed to happen...

a couple of us played a demonstration game of universalis, which got really interesting - we have a super-cool story to start with, which shall be continued (dot, dot, dot).

i had a short nap when i got home, before we went to my great uncle and aunt's for supper, which was very nice.

after supper, i finally managed to get some family stories out of my mom. i'm still in shock over the amount of stuff i didn't know about my own history / heritage, and some of it is incredibly good, some incredibly upsetting. it's going to take a while to assimilate all of it.
and it does, to a degree, change the way i view myself. interesting.

today:

i got up fairly early, and my mom and i went to look at some apartments (out of interest, really). i had a quick, mostly insignificant lunch, and then took my niece to blouberg for a ballet thing, which gave me a chance to read, and listen to the cd that karnaf gave me (for the first time). it really is an awesome cd. and the book's good too (the science of discworld ii).

after zoning out to wrestling for a bit, my mom convinced (forced, guilted, whatever) me to go with her for a walk on the beachfront. it was very pretty, and inspired me to go for another run.

i ran about half the distance i did the last time, but i ran far more consistently, and it was much easier. although i'm now completely buggered, i do feel better for it.

the rest of the evening was spent rewatching edtv, and the olympics, and now it's bedtime again.

yeeeeee-HAH!!!

dammit that took too fucking long! i not only got the two serious bugs kicked out, but i solved another major dilemma at the same time! and it WAS my error, but it had nothing to do with the section i had changed, so OF COURSE i couldn't find the damn thing.

funny how one has to give up on something in order to get it. like when you have a girlfriend, and that's when all the other chicks dig you.

i think i'm gonna go throw up now - the BOMB has been making me nauseous...

another missed birthday (19th Aug)

well, today's rabbi_e's birfday, another one i've missed.
* sigh *
oh well. this damn growing-up stuff is still annoying.

live and let die is complete rubbish.

i got up really early this morning, and gave my nephew a ride to school - i promised his teacher i'd visit, so i did. being back in my old high-school was WEIRD.

i then spent the morning up on varsity campus, which was quite fun :) i got out a book on java, so i can brush up on the AWT stuff, and met up with an old friend... t'was very nice. i did drink too much coffee, however.

saturday (14th Aug):

my mom and i went shoe-shopping in the morning, and we got a beautiful pair of nike's. and a masala-steak toasted sandwich, with really good slap-chips (vinegar'ed completely).
^v^

i spent the majority of the day watching firefly. firefly is the shiznit. so pretty, SUCH good stories... mmmmm ^_^ (pretty girls too)

in the evening we went to the one ring, where we played some fun pool, and generally had a good laugh. unfortunately, i had a couple of cigarettes, which i paid for on the 17th...

four days ago:

i woke up at 06.25 to go for a run. i switched off my alarm, said "nuh uh", and promptly woke up around 11.15. a much sounder plan.

i did some more watching of firefly, and then went through to my aunt's for supper. her parents are incredibly opinionated people, and they had way too much to say about the israeli situation - we had some rather loud and aggressive arguments. was kinda fun, but it's getting old...

i then went through to sweetiepie's (her nick, not mine!) mom's place, and set up a printer for them. we then watched a movie, the contender, which is a great film. sweetiepie really made me feel at ease, and at home, which is why the following happened...

three days ago:

i spent my day in complete emotional shock / turmoil, thinking about the past few years, and how difficult some of the things i've been through really were.
and confused about my feelings regarding my relationships. very confused.

in the evening, i went through to shadowslight's mom's place to see how the renovations are coming along. jesus h., i'm so completely jealous and in awe of the place. it's totally cool and stylish.

after dinner, i went through to shadowslight's, and moonflake, zenstar, shadowslight and i played lots of lunch money, and chez greek, which was awesome.

the day before yesterday:

i actually went for a run! i lasted about 2km before my lungs began to throb, hum, and agonize. oh, the pain! that was some serious discomfort.

protoplasm and i did a basic tour of a couple of arb places - one of them was call a pizza, which has become more interesting than normal pizza parlours, one of them was a cute bar(s) with a REALLY decent pool table, and one of them was springboks, which is as dodgy as springfield's was. but most amusing, nevertheless - trust protoplasm to get caught between a rock (the girl he'd dumped that morning) and a hard place (his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend). the really cute girl disappeared before i could decide on whether or not to hit on her :(

yesterday:

my legs were killing me the whole day! i took a taxi into town, which turned into a rather humourous (spelling?!) event - we were overloaded completely, with Very Large People, and i was sitting in the back corner... and i had to get out first...
so everyone had a good laugh as the whole taxi was re-arranged to let me go :P

i spent the afternoon coding, and am having severe problems with the BOMB, which are completely nonsensical and are driving me totally nuts. i did do some messing around with the KoL, which is always good.

... has left the building (14th Aug)

well. well, well, well.
well.
i've just returned from the gallery. that place still exists - amazing. i've discovered, to my shock and dismay, that i have totally outgrown house music - and
everything related to it. it was a cute trip down memory-lane, but nothing more.
how sad :'(

the day before yesterday (12th):

TNM was quite fun! we watched eurotrip, which was entertaining ("scotty doesn't know!"), and played lunch money and chez grunt well into the morning...

yesterday:

i slept REALLY badly. i had horrible pizza nightmares - really aweful. and the worst part was that i was aware of the pizza during the dreams. some pizzas just don't know when to stop hassling.

to make up for it, i spent the entire day in bed, getting up only to go to dinner at my sister's, and to watch the olympic opening with everyone. which wasn't QUITE as spectacular (although spectaculary boring watching all the nations entering) as i expected, but the firework show afterwards was incredible.

workaholic (12th Aug)

i finally resumed working on the project yesterday: i'd forgotten that i'd almost finished. i set up a machine to work on, and solved an important problem... things could be worse :)

yesterday evening i went with sandman to the video store, and we spent over an hour going through the videos to find one we both wanted to watch - mystic river was an EXCELLENT film, but quite sickening. nice to see kevin bacon on the other side of sleepers.

this morning i went through to visit some friends in somerset west, and it was quite a fun experience. i'm now working (so very hard, as you can see) on the project again, and a bit later it'll be TNM, although i'm supposed to fetch my cousin from constantia, which is most inconvenient.
oh well.

bombed (10th Aug)

i basically slept the day away. aside from breakfast, intermittently reading my book, and going for a brisk walk on the beachfront with my mommy, i've been in bed or chilling on the floor at my sister's place.

amazing.

*YAWN* *stretch* (10th Aug)

i just had an AWESOME sleep, which i've sorely needed ^_^

i woke up early yesterday, and spent THE ENTIRE DAY playing munchkin. it was fun, and i did make it into the final.
where three of us screwed up SO badly that we essentially gave the game away.
oh well.

last night was prize-giving / the afterparty for the convention, and it was quite fun. i finally met the girl who played sleeping beauty in real life ;)

Riddick-ulous (9th Aug)

i just got back from watching chronicles of riddick - it was absolutely fan-friggin'-tastic! beee-YOO-tiful. and incredibly, gratuitously sexy.
mmmmmmm. pure turn-on from start to finish ^_^

three days before yesterday (5th):

i woke up quite late, which was to be expected, and we rushed off a friend to the airport. it was a hair-raising drive, but we managed to fly through rush-hour inside of an hour, which was simply dangerous and unnatural. there are some experiences i'd rather not have.

i was picked up by aeroplane in the evening, and went off to his place (with one minor detour for drinks).

two days before yesterday (6th):

we spent the day chilling at aeroplane's, which is the coolest crib i have ever set eyes on. it's every teenager's wet dream *jealous*.

i got dropped off at home with a couple of hours to nap before supper. supper was very busy, but really good.

after supper i went off to protoplasm's place, where we watched most of trainspotting. this movie upsets me more and more every time.

the day before yesterday (7th):

we spent the morning at upstairs at mama africa - this gave me much time to meditate, which i really needed (and still need) to do, and the music was great from the word go. protoplasm and his partner got screwed, as they were listed to start playing at 5am, and by that time no-one was left on the dancefloor. i went home shortly after.

i was woken up with an sms telling me that i was late for the role-playing module, so i RUSHED and made it to campus just in time. the module was quite fun, but then it was an absolute RUSH back home to change into a princely outfit and RUSH back for the LARP. shadowslight and i RAN in the rain, only to discover that everyone else was late too.
bastards.
the larp was cool, but confusing. but i was typecast: prince charming ^_^ it was a lot of fun... i've never come up with so many innuendo-filled one-liners before, and the girls i used them on simply had to be intrigued. i even got to sleep with the evil queen (esmeralda, to those in the know) *evil grin*

yesterday:

i finally got to bed around 2am, after a night-cap with my sister's boyfriend, which also involved a religious / philosophical debate.
ugh.

i got up around 11.30, and rushed to get to campus, and managed to slip my way into a module - which was rather entertaining. i spent the rest of the afternoon playing munchkin, and sucking at it, and we then went as a group to watch the movie.

Unhealthily pacifistic (5th Aug)

right now:

good heavens! i just got back from a club (for which i had to get all dressed up), that contained more INCREDIBLY beautiful specimens of female than i've ever seen in one place.
very nice.
also, i saw a couple of people i haven't seen in years, and the music was quite funky.

i also got pickpocketed - luckily i caught the little bastard, but i just didn't feel that beating him up would do any good. i'm also way bigger than him. and i didn't feel like dragging him off to the police station.
thanks to the gods that i didn't have to lose my cellphone... that would have been absolutely debilitating.

two days before yesterday:

i took the guys on a tour of uct campus, which was most refreshing. afterwards, i went to shadowslight's, which was fun, and i saw not only arad, but zenstar and moonflake too :)

the day before yesterday:

i woke up at cockfart in the morning, and went to moonflake's astro lecture... it was @$%!ing freezing, but very interesting.
zenstar, moonflake and i went to canal walk to watch walking tall, which was fun and humourous.
yes.
we also saw the preview for chronicles of riddick, which looks fan-friggin'-tastic, and the teaser for avp.
AVP!! AVP!!

afterwards we sat at moonflake's for coffee, and i got to borrow terry pratchett (et al) - the science of discworld, which is what i've been looking for.
tres cool ^_^

i then met up with sandman, whom i haven't seen in yonks, and his girlfriend. we had coffee with my mom, and then went off for drinks at a touch of madness, which is a super-cool place.

yesterday:

i finally finished orson scott card - ender's game, and it was just as amazing as everyone told me ^_^. i have begun the science of discworld.

the guys and i spent the day at canal walk, which included go-karting.
i sucked, but i did enjoy myself.
afterwards, they came to supper along with shadowslight and moonflake, which was nice,
and then we went off in search of a party.

whoa... (1st aug)

29th:

even more family stuff in the morning.

i went around cape town with my mom, and discovered that she has a really awesome job. veeeery interesting. she manages huge properties, like mall lots and so on, and it's amazing how much stuff (and the different kinds of it) she has to deal with.

supper at my cousins, absolutely amazing. we even played a board game, which was incredibly non-characteristic of our family dynamic.

SxS and ru55 had arrived, and i met up with them after supper. we did some arbing around camps bay, then eventually settled on steers for supper, and played pool at the sea point stones. sucky place, severely sucky tables.

yesterday:

ru55 and i got to getafix around 3am, and left around 5am.

saturday's mostly a blur, aside from a great lunch at some cousins.

we had a birthday party for one of our uncles after the synagogue, and half the evening was seriously unpleasant - our family's disfunction reared it's ugly had, and it was most upsetting. the food was good though.

i rescued SxS and ru55 from somerset road, and we went through to obs to play pool at the one ring with protoplasm and some other friends. was nice.

today:

we moved through to getafix around 2am. protoplasm and i met these two girls, and we had some seriously warped sexual discussions - i've never been so turned on by talking. crazy shit.

we stayed there until about 6am, i showered and got to bed around 7. i was rudely awoken by my mother at 11am, with a fake cup of coffee (damn decaf), and spent the morning/afternoon saying goodbye to the family, and then going to take my brother to the airport.

i went over to SxS and ru55's with the psOne, so we had a bit of a tekken session, which is always fun. we played tons of table-tennis and pool at the hotel - i couldn't see straight, and i still did quite alright ^_^

we've been sitting in cafe erte for a while now - good enough coffee, great music, and the internet more or less works. sign off time soon... $$$

ho hum (29th July)

yesterday:

i drove yesterday. in my sister's car. which was NICE. far better than her car.

we all spent the day telling hysterical stories from our childhood, which are INFINITELY funnier now than they were at the time. we're going to have to start writing this shit down. we did a couple of shopping missions, and i managed to be late for the evening prayers, which is quite embarrassing as a son of the deceased.

the evening was quite pleasant, i saw and spoke to many people who i haven't seen in a while.

today:

another lovely sunrise, although not as photogenic as yesterday (and i didn't have film yesterday...).