where am i? why? HOW long??

what an interesting weekend!

yogi picked me up, we went to his parents place, and installed the program we wrote last year. and it worked first time - yeeee-hah! very exciting.

we went to my favourite pizza parlour, and had these folded-over pizzas (don't remember the name at all), which were truly excellent. visited ru55, chilled for a couple of hours, and then he gave me a ride to the lizard.

danced around with the guys until about 2.45, got home and into bed at 3.30.

woke up at 6.40 (thank the lord for automatic snooze, i would've missed the alarm).

got to the base, signed in and went for coffee. i took half an hour, so i was told off by my commander. as punishment, i have to read a lengthy user manual in hebrew and pass a test on it. that REALLY sucks.

at the same time, i discovered that i was supposed to guard yesterday.

i spent the morning making repeated phone calls to the asshole in charge of guarding. eventually ended up guarding anyway - although i did get a great shift. so i slept, none too comfortably, from 6pm till 5.40am, and went to guard for four hours. it was actually alright.

met some guy yesterday on the base who surfs - said he'll call me if they go on friday / saturday morning! w00t!!

spent the rest of the day in konenut (reserve), which was actually quite fun. a whole group of the guys want to train with me (taekwondo) - so cool!!

i just got home about an hour ago - i'm doing laundry, showering, then cleaning up for my "date" at 20.30 :) i wish my washing machine didn't smell mouldy... i'm not actually sure what part of it is producing the smell, which is infuriating.

lost with a smile

the guys picked me up later than expected. fine. we then took an accidental detour through haifa. not only was the car *PACKED*, and very uncomfortable, but the drive there took about two hours more than necessary.

oh, and we did some serious shopping on the way - my wallet still hurts.

we got there around midnight - i was expecting the ambient trance to be starting, but i was all wrong. heavy, heavy psychedelic trance, the entire time. except when there was silence in the afternoon, or some ambient when everyone started leaving today.

NICE.

also, there were many, many beautiful and sexy girls - that never happens at a trance party!!

lots happened during the weekend, so to sum up - it was awesome. it totally rocked. it was really beautiful, the weather was great, and i stomped till i could stomp no more. i didn't sleep much, owing to my delicate jobnik body - sleeping on hard rock didn't do anything for me. but i didn't get too sunburned, which is not the usual :), and i thoroughly chilled.

and played loads of great frisbee.

so about to jump in a hard-earned shower, then off to yogi's. the girl i've been semi-dating (metalhead, i rate is appropriate) called me today, we're either meeting up tonight at the lizard, or tomorrow (either in my area, or at my place, it wasn't defined properly :P).

so, all in all - all good. two thumbs up for a well spent weekend.

it's such a perfect day

no, no - really!!

i never found breakfast, as such - but i did get a lot of shopping done: awesome muscle shirt for my uniform, some shaving foam, and two (three) cd's - the essential simon and garfunkle (2 cd's), and the best of jefferson airplane.
wicked!

got myself a great cup of coffee, dropped my shit off at home, missioned for breakfast (again) - and came up with strange biscuits and tortilla chips. not the healthiest, but certainly tasty ^_^

spoke to some friends online, listened to great music all day so far, had a long shower, shaved and brushed teeth, got all my packing done (so exciting!), and am now just arbing around until the guys come to pick me up in an hour or so.

wheeee!!!

slow breathing

i just got up - i slept soooooooooooooo well ^_^

possibly aided by the sms conversation i had with the girl from yesterday. i think she likes me too :)

i'm off to hunt for breakfast (and the slower, the better), and then to do some shopping. it's time!!

two days down

i feel like i've lost time...

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

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

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

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

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

and yes, i'm totally nervous about this.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

trundling in good weather

i wasted another hour of my life waiting for the damn bus home yesterday, but aside from that i got here without a hitch. i crashed for a couple of hours, then SxS came and picked me up, and we went off to the lincoln. actually, we went to another club first, but weren't allowed in on account of the age-limit being 25+.

it's been a loooooong time since my id wasn't good enough o_O

got home around 3.30, got to the base just before 8, and i'd LOVE to say i wasted today, but i worked pretty hard until about an hour before home-time.

some frustrating stuff, too. but i did play a game of volleyball, so not too much to worry about.

i went straight to the mall, to discover that none of my coupons are at ALL useful - rather annoying as i actually have rather a lot of stuff to buy.

about to shower, then off to SxS's place for a braai. can't complain too much ^_^

'n bietjie gebrand

i've turned all pink and shiny. almost edible, even :)

we spent the morning trekking around (me with my shirt off, hence the burn), visitng the horses and cows and ostrich and monkeys and so on and so on, even carrying around a lost chameleon - so cute!

that girl called back, spent 16 minutes on one of those random conversation calls. gonna have to hook up with her, i reckon.

we had a picnic up in the gilboa, nice area, very chilled. got back, watched a bit of mr. deeds, just got out the shower, and i'm gonna be on my way to afula in about an hour and a half. i hate having to go back early. however, i will be seeing SxS and yogi, at least - so tonight will probably be interesting.

*hopes*

generally nice day. the sky is visible again!!

*yawned* good morning

last night was certainly interesting. the seder itself was kinda nice, kinda awkward - the sound team made sure that we heard constant feedback, so that hurt a bit. the food was good though.

got back to a chilled evening. i was brushing my teeth when i noticed something small and black moving next to my foot - a friendly scorpion! boy, was it NOT happy when i shoved it outside, so i could kill it, box it, and toss it. i spent the rest of the evening paranoid about finding its friends.

just before bed i received an sms from this girl i met a few weeks ago, seems she does want to stay in touch. gonna have to check that out.

i still haven't woken up yet, but i'm looking forward to arbing around properly the entire day :)

< insert mantra here >

i watched all the die hard movies today - that was fun. that about covers everything so far... about to go and shower, then get ready for the first night seder.

it's weird to think that it's all because thousands of years ago, my ancestors escaped slavery, and witnessed crazy miracles.

that's not the only thing that got me thinking, but i got to thinking anyways:

we're emergent systems, hidden within an enormously emergent system, and it's funny that no matter how insignificant we may or may not be, each and every aspect of ourselves is so incredibly important to us as individuals.

i find it amazing that all we seem to want to do as individuals is share our sense of identity with other people, or exert influence over our environment. little kids squishing ants, environmentalists trying to save some arbitrary species at the brink of extinction, it's all the same. everyone looks for a mate that can also share in their understanding of life, the universe, etc., etc.... and that can more or less define us as a species.

i'm glad to be me. i'm don't harbour too many regrets, 'cause all the bad stuff is also a part of how i got here. i hope i succeed in what i consider to be my life's work, and if not, i'll still be happy that i'm on the path that i think is right. and i fantasize about the things i'd love to do, but can't.

i'm only writing this because of my need to share - this being my journal actually comes second, even if nobody actually reads this. what sparked this off? i was thinking of flying helicopters, and finding a soul-mate. neither of which might happen, but it feels good to play with these things in my mind.

and with that - happy holidays, and good luck to all of us as a species.

smile :)

clear-headed... but where the hell am i??

wow. what a journey.

a) work last night... SUCKED. BADLY. evil bastards kept the phones ringing the entire night, with the average waiting period between calls around 20 seconds. in addition to that (it's not like i was tired or anything), i got my first truly abusive caller.

and she called me "ignant". i'm more pissed off that it's forbidden to be impolite back than anything else. i really wanted to suggest her seeking anger management classes, or something.

i was bombed, as usual, by the time 4.30am rolled around. i got a ride from one of my co-workers, who dropped me off at spot's place. we had coffee, he finished packing, and we took a cab to the train station, where we breakfasted on coffee and muffins.

i got back home after 24.5 hours non-sleep, and hard work (man those calls KILLED me), and crashed for five hours. packing was a bitch, and as usual the busses sucked, but i eventually made it to the kibbutz alright. pity the weather here is as sucky as tel-aviv's, i wasn't expecting the sandstorm to be everywhere.

i got here, had an INCREDIBLE shower (i keep forgetting how good it is), and just finished watching an officer and a gentleman, for the first time. great movie. now about to get dressed, and off to supper.

where's pusssstulio when you need him?

today was an ugly, ugly day. the sandstorm's gone strong the whole damn week, and it most definitely puts a damper on things. not to mention the general tiredness that's been creeping up, none to shyly, on me.

didn't really do much work today. read a bit, napped every chance i got. we had an awefully boring gathering this morning, where they explained arbitrary and mundane things to think about (or not) during the holidays.

the mongoose constructed a BEAUTIFUL logo for our team... really sharp, really sexy. and the idiots STILL don't want it - they want their damn unrelated and simply stupid crossroads idea.
cretins.

i got home this evening for the first time in days, to do a bit of work, have a shower, and get back into uniform to get to work. if i'd walked, i would've been 15 minutes late - instead of half an hour. on the plus side, no-one here seems to care. and i changed out of uniform superman style - smooth and so fast nobody noticed.

i think.

never mind.

i'm tired.

coffee time.

i'm baaaaaack....

that was a long couple of days!!

i just got back from playing pool with spot, after a long, long day of doing nothing (being prepared for battle, or something). after guarding the 2-6am shift. which was kind of mediocre.

i've definitely slept too much. but i *did* finish michael crichton's eaters of the dead, which is BRILLIANT.

yesterday was *interesting*. the morning was insane, we had our primary production database go down, and i was helpless. eventually we found someone who could fix it, after hours of phone call after phone call, failed attempt after failed attempt.

we also went to the firing range... was fun!

tomorrow will hopefully be just another day, then working tomorrow night, and then off to the kibbutz for 3 or 4 days for passover! w00t!

bzzz *bop*

damn - i have a sunday AND a monday to recall, and my brain's been offline for both of them...

firstly - the apathy. the sheer, utter, and complete apathy. secondly - the weather.
both of them have caused me no end of sighing.

yesterday, the entire day, was a blur. sometime during the afternoon i developed a headache, which turned mean during the evening. spot went missing, and our section commander screamed at me for not being in touch with him, so in the evening i went to his place.
and found him. my commander called me a few minutes after he'd explained to me that we've been successful in bringing him to our section, to tell me the good news. good timing.

we went and played pool, then we waited for the bus for about half an hour, and my head was exploding.

i woke up this morning feeling better, but the weather did a superb job of bringing me down. the morning sucked, as we had to do an extra-strength clean of our office, but i did get plenty of time to read - i finally finished a study in scarlet, and i started reading terry pratchett - eric - i found the whole stuffed parrot thing too much, and my teammates kicked me out, still giggling hysterically and wiping tears from my eyes.

i met up with spot at the main gate, and started helping him with his "form hike". too bad they screwed something up at the main base, and now he has to do it all again tomorrow.

never mind.

oh - by the way - i scored 59% on the purity test. i'm actually quite embarrassed, and vow to improve my score. somehow.

spot and i then went to his "old" base - and like everyone in the region were attacked ferociously by gnats. gnats, gnats, EVERYWHERE. inhaled a few, got some in my eyes, my ears, clothing and hair were full of them. i hate gnats.

we had supper there, i stole some beautiful pictures from the psychotic american's new desk (he's green, he had it coming), and watched the closing ceremony for some course or other. stopped by spot's place on the way home, for coffee, and then made my way back here.

shower, and bed. that's all i have to say about that. i have this nagging feeling i'm forgetting something important, but never mind.

learning to talk... then forgetting again

i spent the day reading, and i did a *little* bit of work... i was using nurmras's machine to tunnel to lagnet, and had to learn how to use talk... not too complicated, when you know how :P

i met up with the mongoose at azrieli (after being harrassed by a newbie security guard), and we walked to the lizard. i had a double shot of sambuca for the first time in ages, which i thoroughly enjoyed. pity about those motor-skills... and my vision... i'm guessing it's the exhaustion. so i decided to come back home, and i'm now going to bed.

just so's you know - typing this is *HARD*.

bright - sunny - afternoon

and sleepy, too.

last night i crashed while waiting for the mongoose - i kept resetting my alarm, and so woke up every 5 minutes... for at least an hour and a half...

by the time he arrived, the plans had changed (without me knowing), so i was surprised with another double-date.
and i got the dog.
but no matter, i employed (deployed?) my newfound bad attitude, and we all had a lot of fun.

so we went to cinema city, and argued over which movie to see. i wanted to see hostage, and got overridden into getting tickets for white noise.
i had a GREAT bagel, a double-scoop of nougat ice-cream (my favourite), and we all sat talking codshit till (i think) about 2.30am, when the movie began.

with the possible exception of crossroads, which in my opinion had more saving graces, white noise is the crappest, dumbest, and most all-round boring and badly-made film i have ever seen.
it hurts to think that i paid money to see it.
money that could have been better spent on a mcdonald's meal.
and i hate mcdonald's.

i don't remember the name of the awards for sucky films [the razzies], but they definitely got my vote. oh - and we saw the trailer for hostage, and it looks fun.

so we had coffee at 5am - well, serious hot-chocolate at least, and then i got dropped off at home, and crashed.

i have done NOTHING of value this weekend. nada. not even cleaned my apartment. i suck.

pre-tty

very pretty. i LOVE the view of the sunset from my balcony.

after posting, i read some more, then walked to azrieli, and had coffee with yogi. we took a walk, then he visited my place for a bit before disappearing. i spent the early evening washing and reading, and chowing dubbelzout liquorice, and listening to limp bizkit.

life is good.

...

wow. just got up now, to a shower, reading sherlock holmes, and power sours.

i find coaching other people to be helpdesk agents to be hard work, but the guy yesterday was totally unprepared - that made things rather difficult. i kept passing out, and being rudely awakened by callers: it's HARD being helpful when your eyes won't open. but i was completely wasted.

i did manage to clear my email, though. and catch up on webcomics, and news, and so on...

brain's off, gonna read some more.

stretched and wound and ready for bed... but no.

first, the day:

long, long day. i was late for inspection this morning, and instead of just walking past, stood there stupidly waiting for the guy inspecting. fortunately, i misheard the time i was told to meet them, and by the time i saw them they didn't feel like dealing with me.

spot spent his day leaving his base, on his way to us. we've basically chucked the rude kid off the team to make space - i hope this all works out.

my commander and i managed to piss off the section commander this morning - that really didn't go well. my commander filed a joke report that stated how absolutely
crap i am, and the section commander took it seriously... let's just
say he's not pleased with either of us.

i tried to quit smoking, but without motivation it really is impossible.
i've lost NIS 120 (in the form of hours playing pool), and face, but deep down inside i don't wanna stop.

worked hard most of the day, t'was interesting.

went on a semi-date with this cute girl i met last week... i really like her, and we had fun, but in terms of physical attraction i think she's just alright, so i'm not sure if i'll pursue...

aside: the sherlock holmes stories - they're incredible!

i just found out i've been invited automatically to the kibbutz for passover, so i'll be there.

i'm now beginning to work - i'm going to be wasted by tomorrow morning.

absurd! fun! would you like to know more?

well. today was a loooooong day. i got enough sleep last night, which threw me off completely. i started my day slowly, went to the pain clinic for acupuncture (everything's a bit tender now), and then returned to the base for a fun-filled day in front of the pc.

actually, it included a rather not-good haircut, and a few interesting bits and pieces here and there.

i went from my base to spot's, arbed around there for about an hour (met a really nice girl... hmmm...), and then hopped a bus to herzeliya.

i visited the family i helped out for my community service... was a bit weird, and kinda as if i never left. odd. but pleasant nonetheless.

i walked through to kc's parents, and had coffee with her dad. not only was i regaled with the story of their visit (and i *am* a *bit* jealous), but i was given the care package from my mom...

let's see: power sours - check. chocolate - check. salt liquorice - check.

playstation controls - check.

SxS just reminded me that i'm missing beacon easter eggs, but my mom still has a couple of weeks to redeem herself :P

so i just got home, am waiting for hot water for a shower, and am planning on sleeping VERY well tonight.

sometimes i get the feeling that maybe i wasn't a baby-killer in a previous life. i really hope i'm right. (in other words, life is good)

*deep sniff* *choke*

i've just woken up - doing some work and then on to acupuncture! w00t!

monday night's continuation: i found spot passed out on a bench, having been locked out of his apartment. went for coffee, then took a taxi to the pub. no cute, sexy friend. that sucked.

we met up with the mongoose and a few of his friends, it was a fun evening. got home around 3am.

woke up at 6.30am. i don't know how. yesterday was hot - really, really hot, and i was exhausted. but owing to my current job function, i have to set a personal example, and couldn't sleep at my desk. i had nothing to do the whole morning... so, on the plus side, the other south african on the base has sent me a huge collection of books in txt and pdf format, so i started reading some random things.

lunch really sucked.

early afternoon our commander came by for a visit - we started working on some things and decided to restart one of our servers. this turned into quite an adventure. i spent the rest of the afternoon working. afterwards, i went to the main gate to visit the mongoose, who'd had to rush off to the firing range in order to guard - this promises hilarious results when he gets court-marshalled (probably today).

his parents gave me a ride to azrieli, from where i took a bus, got home, cold showered, and crashed.

*zooom*

sat night was kinda nice. even getting hit on by the excessively drunk girl didn't get to me.

sunday morning was filled with work... sunday afternoon / evening filled with guard duty. i got the prized task of opening, and closing, ad infinitum, the main gate.
wow.

did have some interesting run-ins with course-kiddies, though. some cute ones, even.

spoke to my mom, was dead tired when i finally arrived home.

today... today... today sucked. i discovered this morning that i had to go to rishon letzion to get my x-ray results. aside from being absolutely exhausted (i slept all the way there and back, nearly missing my stops), i made it back to my base *just* in time to begin guarding. same gate, same job, only in the sun with heat and humidity my only friends.

anyways, i just got home, showered, and am off to search for spot - he dropped his phone in the toilet this morning, so i need to figure out if he's joining us with his exceptionally cute and sexy friend.

and a good night to us all.

long day, but fun!

did the looong walk to spot's place. we arbed around the harbour area of tel-aviv, then made our way to mike's place. very busy. from there we walked to the lincoln, played some pool, then walked home (getting very lost along the way).

slept uncomfortably, had a great breakfast (at roughly 2pm), then went to the beach... was very nice. from there to coffee, from coffee to the lincoln, and i've just returned.

doing some arb html pages for a tutorial my boss has to give, then going out.

burble gurgle aargh

what a sucky, sucky day.
i think.

work last night:
was actually pretty cool, but we were quite busy, and i was very, very, VERY TIRED. we did get really nice company shirts, though.
and lots of caffeine.

i trained and bussed home this morning - an ugly morning, i might add. i had to have a shower before crashing, so i got to bed around 8.30, or 9, or something.

i had no idea why i woke up around 10 / 11. all i know is that i couldn't sleep, and the sky was grey, and it was hot and stuffy (windows and door wide open). i decided i may as well go shopping, so i put on sandals and shorts and a shirt, and shuffled off on my way.

i was talking on the phone, not paying attention to much else (my head still ringing from exhaustion), when i heard something behind me. i turned around, to some woman screaming and gesturing frantically. i stopped talking for a second, and managed to make out that she was telling me to get out of the street. so i turned around, carrying on my conversation in the other direction - quite pissed off at her stupidity.

if you're closing off and evacuating a street, make sure that anyone IN the street has some way of knowing. don't get all uppity because YOU haven't taken necessary precautions.
morons.

so i had to take a long route, did my shopping and then returned... we ended up sitting and waiting until about 2pm before we could go back. nothing in the news, so i haven't a clue what happened.

i went straight back to bed, and woke up roughly 9.30pm. had a quick just-add-water meal, got dressed, and walked here to spot's grandma. and we have rough plans for going out... buying tickets for DOOF tonight!!

cool cool.. the weekend!

right - today was weird and wobbly.

a) did as anticipated, arrived on base at 7.15 and left at 7.18, made my way to the medical base, and got my xrays done. cool sounding machine. luckily, through all the travelling and waiting, i got through the user manual for the RFID chips i'll be wrapping... a french company definitely in need of a better technical writer. in fact, if i hadn't taken so many computer science courses i wouldn't have understood a damn thing.

after waiting for the results for 20 minutes, i went to ask if i had time to get some breakfast - i got told the average wait for results is 1 - 1.5 hours.
fsck that.
so i went back to the base... stopping at the bank, quickly running home to get a change of clothing, and making it in time for the most awful lunch.
that didn't help much, considering i wasn't feeling good at all when i arrived. it's summer again - dehydration!!

b) first mails i received were from our absent commander - explaining to everyone in no uncertain terms that i am in charge. nice. and my team-mates' attitudes were noticeably improved.

spent the afternoon fixing bugs, cleaning the room, and working on important things, like my grid game. i missed the volleyball, but considering the state of my hand, it doesn't really matter.

c) dropped off my things at work, and met up with spot and the psychotic american (in uniform too), and we had coffee on dizengoff. it was actually really nice!

after the psychotic american left, i showed spot where a mutual friend of ours' lives... i was quite surprised to find it myself... and on the way to the bus stop we ran into a really cute, really nice french girl from his base. i HAVE to see her again.

d) made it back to work in time, and haven't shut up since. gotta work though... and i'm missing a good party tonight, which kinda sucks...
and i have no idea yet whether i'm staying in tel aviv tomorrow or not...

*blown away*

that was a crazy day.

no pizza nightmares, but waking up was still harsh. i went to the hospital, only to be informed that the secretary had got confused with my phone number, so couldn't get in touch with me to tell me that the appointment was moved to two days ago.
right.
so the appointment's next week.

i got back to the base to find serious problems. i tried fixing it, i did the same thing three times out of desperation, and when it didn't work (and due to other factors) i figured it was something else... so i gave them instructions on how to deal with it, and left for rehearsals.

later on i found out that my commander - aside from being upset with me for leaving them in the lurch - had gone into the office, done EXACTLY the same thing i did, and it worked.
colour me unimpressed.

the rehearsals were alright, but i had two lines to rap, and for some reason i just couldn't get them right the entire day.
i don't know why. maybe 'cause they don't quite make sense in english, but i think it was more the pressure.
so i screwed up the lines again in the actual performance... but it's okay, everything else was superb.

the event overall was actually quite nice. i got offered a ride home from the incredibly sexy girl who organized everything... and lives in my area... only to remember that i was supposed to visit my boss. she was kind enough to take me to herzliya and drop me off :) i like her...

i just got back now, busy studying RFID (OMFG i held one of the capsules that goes under your skin!!) all the way home. i forgot - AGAIN - to bring my referral with me. i don't know what the hell's wrong with my brain!! probably the same reason i can't handle my lines...

so i gotta go to the base first tomorrow, and THEN go to the medical base in rishon... i kill me. good night.

where am i?

i don't believe i just lost my post.

FSCK.

i just got back home, after waiting for a bus so long that it would have been way quicker to walk... although more painful, my right foot's been hurting the last couple of days.

1) i *HATE* the clinic on our base. almost everyone who "works" there sucks.

2) the problem kid's giving me grief, and i'm unimpressed.

3) we had tons of problems today, and i couldn't solve most of them - i found this extremely frustrating. only after i signed out and was on my way home, did my commander call and talk me through it all. all's well that ends well?

4) spot and i visited the new mall in my area, and then walked to the lincoln to play pool. i think i'm in love with the waitresses. dammit.

5) ate pizza for supper (anticipating nightmares)

loooooooooooooooong..........

i REALLY need to go to bed.

right: the wedding.
ab-so-lute-ly STUNNING. the wedding itself was magic, i think it's because i'm friendly with both the bride and groom, and the whole thing was really special.

it was uber-weird being in uniform. but i had fun anyway ;)

i got home around 1am...

to wake up at 6.30, hurriedly shave etc. before missing the bus. i got to the base to discover that the kid who was giving me shit yesterday wasn't arriving... great to know. i don't know what to do about him.

today was fairly busy, but amongst all the chaos i managed to learn how to do vb6 network communication, which is cool. on the other hand, i'm having a serious, serious problem with smoking. not cool.

i got home, put in a washload, slept for an hour, and went off to play pool with spot - it was GREAT fun, and i just got home now... t'was worth it :D

more is nog 'n dag - 5.30 wake up... yay...

[added later] KNEW i forgot something. i saw a doctor today, she told me the reason my hand's been hurting the last couple of months is because i've broken something. so i'm off to get x-rays sometime this week...

whoa. damn. wtf just happened? where am i??

i *just* got home. from a crazy, crazy day. after an AWESOME weekend!

thursday:

arbed the day along with little bits and pieces of work. i was bombed completely when we got to the beginning of the guard cycle, but i was looking forward to a relaxed weekend nonetheless.

when i got back to my office, i got the coolest email!! i'm officially replacing my commander for two weeks, while he's on a course - that puts me in charge of three other people, one of whom is higher ranking. i'm rather proud. and my commander's rather upset that's he's been replaced by a private.

almost all of the girls guarding this weekend were either troublemakers, or crying and in shock. that SUCKED ASS.

during my first shift, i found out that all the work i've been doing the last few weeks (outside of the army) has been for nought. not a good feeling, but i've learned a lot, and the pressure for the coming week has been reduced considerably.

i was joined for my shift by the mongoose and a couple of other guys, and we had fun. after the shift, i had to change the clocks on our servers - there was a girl from our section on duty, so she came by and helped out a lot. only problem is that we spent over an hour working on one of them, only to give up and report this to my commander... who says "whoops! forgot to tell you that we don't need that one".
bastard. i WILL get him back for it.
the girl was really cute, though.

so, i got to bed really late.

friday:

aside from everything else, due to the shift from daylight savings time we lost an hour of sleep. and i forgot to change *my* clocks. i arrived late for my shift, and the rest of the weekend the officer in charge didn't get off my back.

it was a dark, dark, sunny morning. the sun shone - directly into my face. i'd forgotten my glasses. i was exhausted. the commanding officers were constantly around my booth, so i couldn't sleep. it SUCKED. and it lasted a looooong time.

also, i tried all day to come up with a way to get my commander back - and failed.

the other south african came by, gave me a bandage for my sprained hand (awww...), and joined me in a shopping spree. yes, i got permission to leave the base to get cigarettes and birdseed. i am cool.

i got given some lessons in outlook calendars, the password to the internet machine, and a cup of coffee. a good recovery for the morning, all in all.

one of the guards called me smelly. i decided to take a (LONG) shower BEFORE sleeping. i didn't get any more complaints after that :P

it was an absolutely STUNNING day. hot, with a slight breeze.

had some really interesting discussions, took a nap (missing lunch, waking up only for a quick and rather pointless inspection... seated...), and then went up for my night shift.
which involved reading, supper (we were relieved for half an hour)... and a cute incident where the officer didn't notice i was smoking while talking to him, during my shift, totally forbidden.
:P

yesterday:

couldn't sleep during the night, the girls didn't stop screaming and singing into the walkie talkie - i was going NUTS. the mongoose called around 2am, which woke everyone up and almost killed me.

the run-up to the shift sucked.

i started my day with coffee and birdseed - funny thing is after a major wrestle with the coffee machine, i got back 14 shekels for the 2 i put in! never mind.

the afternoon was relaxed - had some interesting conversations, and slept and chilled. the shower totally rocked ^_^

and i came up with a way to get revenge on my commander. life is good.

lunch didn't rock though. this soupy thing that vaguely resembled beans and potato stew.
ew.
and i spilled some on myself as we carried round to the guys guarding :(

the evening shift was great. the mongoose visited, bringing excellent food, and we spent a few hours hanging. after he left, i was surprised by the guy who interviewed me - bringing me chocolates! yay!

after the shift i spoke to my mom, and then happily went to bed. i even managed to convince the girls to quiet down.

today:

today was insane. i finally slept enough, and made it to my shift on time - including a < 5 minute shave! the shift ROCKED. i took the main gate, so i spent my morning chatting and flirting - and had people running around organizing me breakfast and coffee, everything was grand.

no, really grand - i totally enjoyed my weekend!!

i went straight from guard duty (with full rights to go home) back to my office, and got hit with a mass of emails - our systems were screwed. i spent a frantic couple of hours working on them, and when i was done, i had to deal with our two new kids - who are NOT being helpful at all. it's actually quite rough to be in charge. but i think (i hope) i did okay before leaving. i'm about to shower and go to the wedding - empty-handed and in uniform :$

where is my mind

wow - i don't know where to start. it's been a crazy, crazy week, and i haven't been at home aside from sleeping.

today was a fun day - but i'm guarding from tomorrow until sunday afternoon.
at least i'll be sleeping this weekend.

side note: i'm developing a really bad habit of missing the bus.

yesterday i went to the pain clinic. they're a founding member of the World Institute of Pain. that sounds VERY suspicious. anyway, the doctor there, in spite of being russian, is the first intelligent, professional, and with good bedside manner doctor that i've been sent to in this country.
WOW.
he was most helpful, and not only proved himself capable, but has sent me through for more tests, and organized me acupuncture. my hero!!!

the only really bad news from yesterday is that my rollerblades are now to be spoken of in the past tense only. i have to go and find myself new ones. at least they lasted a good amount of time (the better part of 10 years, i think).

on monday i was interviewed for a university project of one of SSSO's cousins, which was a pleasant experience. the dog's helping me to transcribe the interview, 'cause i'm working while typing this. unfortunately, as i listen to the interview being played back, along with his comments, i feel the flush of embarrassment - i'm REALLY bad at being interviewed. i say stupid, stupid things.

THE BIG NEWS: (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

i have discovered that because i'm a true lonely soldier, the usual travel rules don't apply. not only can i split up my 30 days holiday, but i don't have to wait between visits. unfortunately, i can't save them, they expire the second my year is up (end of october).

what this means:
i can use them for the two weeks my mum's here.

i can (budget willing) use them to spend the high holy days in south africa.

i can use two weeks of next year's to come in december/january (whenever my cousin's barmitzvah is) - and i can add a week of the usual soldier's vacation to make it three.

and i can still (budget still willing) make it to my canadian cousins' bar/batmitvahs!!

is this not supercool?

[comments can't be resurrected manually]

moonflake said...
Wheeeee! Come to SA!!!

Budget willing??? just get yourself here...friends and family will take care of the rest! Even if we have to house, feed and clothe your sorry ass.

4/01/2005 12:49:00 PM

totalwaste said...
^_^

w-v: Zipping Quietly Over Floor Length

9/03/2005 12:43:00 AM

waitin' for the shower...

saturday:

i spent the afternoon "perfectionistically" cleaning my apartment. i decided to take a nap, and once again missed an incredible (or so i hear) party. i was fully rested by 2am, for the first time in months, and read for an hour or so before going back to sleep.

yesterday:

long day, some of which was extremely boring. i finally finished the project i've been working on - and received an ENORMOUS compliment from my commander: he was literally shocked that i succeeded!

turns out the guys working the kitchens pissed in the pots, and i *suffered* to eat there after finding this out... but i don't really have much choice :'(

evil bastards who go home to their mommies' home-cooked fscking meals...

in the evening i met up with the dog at azrieli for coffee, and we ended up playing pool near my office... we hadn't been playing 20 minutes before sammy arrived to pick me up, and we (minus the dog) went off to rehovot for a going-away / birthday party for that australian dude i like so much. i hadn't eaten much, and the guinness went straight to my head.

we had some very entertaining discussions.

today:

i got home about 1am, and woke up at 5.30 to organize hot water for my 6.10am shower. i made it *just* in time for the bus (i don't know why i keep doing this!)...

the movie we made became available today, so watched it again - AMAZING!! put some finishing touches on my project, and sorted out this whole hip-hop thing. we even played volleyball to finish off the day.

i went with the mongoose to azrieli for coffee (i do that a lot), and was then picked up by a cousin of SSSO, and we went to his place so he could interview me for a varsity project. t'was fun, but i only got back after midnight, and now i have to shower before getting very little sleep.

on the plus side - i'm waking up a bit late, and going to get acupuncture in the morning!!

w00t!!

buzzzz... and aren't *I* mister popular!

my word - i got to bed at 6, and between 6 and 1 i've had three calls:

1) my teammate singing along to "lean back". i couldn't understand half of what he was singing

2) the mongoose, who dropped me off at home at 6. shoulda known better.

3) my boss - who i'm now waiting for to call again

today is definitely cleaning day.

---------------
last night
---------------

i walked to the lizard, and it was cold. so cold.

the music sucked, but the mermaid was there, so i had to go and speak to her (which entailed dancing). i was expecting it to be weird, but it was actually quite alright. the mongoose got off work after about an hour or so, and we went off to the "dimension" (meimad).

which r0xx0red something silly. GREAT music, showings of freddy and zombie movies... and - the - girls - were - ab-so-lute-ly FABULOUS. i get chills thinking of some of them.

we didn't stop dancing / bouncing / pogoing the entire night. met up with some girls from the base (looking VERY sexy), and just before we left some girl came running after me with her friend's number (kinda cute, i'll play this game ^_^)... good for the ego =D

i'm now waiting for hot water, so's i can shower, then wash floors - and go back to sleep. my ears are SO not working.

pretty - pretty - and i can dress up!

as myself!! and people smile and think "he's in the purim spirit" :P well, i am, usually :)

i stopped off at azrieli, found two good books (one present, one for me), and a nice card. i then bladed to the tayelet, but didn't find anyone... this was because my informant was wrong, and the festival thingy was on dizengoff... which i found by accident. the festival thing sucked ASS. and i got into a fight over a line for a hot dog, and - i - do - NOT fight over food.

so i ate humus on ibn gvirol, which was tasty, but the shop itself was weird as hell. i took a bus to herzliya, visited a friend, then went off to her place. t'was fun, her sister liked my gift and they got dressed up for supper :P

supper was really nice, and i just got back now. i found a cockroach in my bathroom - i *HATE* cockroaches!! and that's about all that's interesting at the moment.

i'd crash for an hour, but i know i wouldn't wake up. party time on the way!

garbage day

wednesday night's party was aweful, so we ran out really quickly. there's a limit to how much sexy 17-year-old flesh one can be surrounded by before being tempted.

i hate not having a solar water heater - by the time i finally got to bed it was around 2.30am...

i had a GREAT start to my day yesterday: i found a sweet route to the base, one that doesn't equate blading with sweating. i left without pressure, i got there about 5 minutes after the bus would have, i got exercise, and i got to wear my overalls.
can't get much better than that to put a smile on my face ^_^

the day was a bit rough - trouble with cigarettes, and the work i was doing drove me NUTS. starting to get a better feel for it, though. and played a bit of frisbee, although the frisbee itself, and a couple of the players, really sucked.

the girl who asked if i could sing like a rapper got hold of us!! she wants me and one of my teammates to rap for about 2 minutes (damn!) for a function on tuesday night... we have to come up with a beat and the lyrics, and learn them, and i have no idea yet what the point of the song is going to be.
no pressure *huff* *huff* *huff*

bladed past the supermarket on my way home, there's a deal for lonely soldiers that they provide us with NIS 120 worth of goods each month. time to purchase myself some razor blades. and some skittles.

got home, did my laundry, showered, and tried to sleep for a couple of hours before going out. meaning, i didn't succeed in waking up until 7.30am... apparently i missed an INCREDIBLE trance party at the lizard. oh well. my system's still in shock that i've slept enough...

i've had a calm breakfast, done some work, and now have to go pressie shopping for kc's 17 year old sister... i have no clue what to get... i hate pressie shopping...

bobbing and weaving

and god continues to mix in the rewards with the punishments...

today began badly. that's the nicest thing i've said about this morning until now. i got up just fine, was out of the apartment in time, but was halfway to the central bus station - eagerly anticipating coffee, i might add (i just did?!) - when i realized i'd left my referral on the base.

so i hopped off, feeling pretty damn stupid, and got to a busstop for my usual line. i asked the group if my bus had passed already, and they said yes. completely dejected, i crossed the road and headed for another line... and watched as my line drove past the stop i'd just left. the bastards LIED. that just pissed me RIGHT off.

so i had to take a complicated route to the base, practially run to my office, get the forms, and literally RUN to the stop on the other side to catch a bus to the central station.

MAN that sucked. i HATE running for buses, and i was running late to boot.

i wasn't in the best of moods when i got to the orthopaedic building, with 10 minutes to spare. so having to wait for two hours, only to get sent to another waiting room for another hour, kinda didn't impress me. not only that, my appointment only lasted 5 minutes, the doctor simply giving me two MORE referrals.

because i obviously haven't received enough.

to be fair, the referrals are good ones (one for physiotherapy, one for acupuncture), and he even tested me to make sure that i haven't lost feeling in the relevant (upper) body parts.

so i made my way back to the base. ended up on a bus filled (to bursting) with russian teenagers on their way home. the kid next to me found a can of red spraypaint, and suddenly started spraying the poor bald kid next to him - totally covered his head and face. stank like hell, too.

it took me about an hour to calm down. on a better note, once i did i found out where the girl from last night sits, and arbed around with some friendly people. i didn't do a hell of a lot of work, and then suddenly it was home time! i'd received a call from the company i work helpdesk for, to say they needed me to come in at 7pm.

i missed the bus home by about half a minute.
again.

i eventually got home (rushed) at 18.30, picked up my spanky overalls and a pair of shoes, and fled to work... i took a wrong bus line, and had to walk rather a large distance in a hurry. i got to work ON TIME. it took about 20 minutes before anyone started explaining the job to me.

fsck sakes.

but that's okay - i finished a huge part of it, and it's always nice working here.

my mom called, so i filled her in on all the details. i also included the bit about me figuring out what tattoo i want - she is NOT impressed. surprise.

so, i'm planning on going to a crazy party within the next hour, i hope i get some sleep before the army tomorrow ;)

WHOA!!!

WOW! i am TOTALLY blown away. i'm in shock, and i haven't been this satisfied in AGES!! (notice excessive use of exlamation marks)

last night i finished a whole bunch of work before going to bed. Check.

this morning, i got dressed up in what turned out to be a seriously successful rapper outfit. we didn't work at all the entire day (aside from a few minutes in the morning, which involved me playing practical jokes on our client unit).

we spent the day in turn preparing for the evening events, in turn at the "carnival", which was a LOT of fun. jumping castle games, marshmellow chocolate fondue, some great music, and generally good fun.

in the evening, we had a live band (which SUCKED THE BIG ONE), suffered through a couple of speeches, and then had the dress-up competition. we didn't come first, but we SERIOUSLY had fun. we all got up, i said a couple of words ("we don't have to say shit, dj give us a phat beat"), we danced about, did some rabble rousing, and then paraded off to an enormous applause.
that was a real trip, i get high off of that shit.

afterwards, some total babe called me over and asked me if i could sing like a rapper. i didn't understand the question (t'was in hebrew), and i responded something inane and irrelevant. it was only afterwards that i thought about what she asked, and now i *have* to find her and find out what it's about... so curious...

we then *finally* watched the movie that i played Jay in. firstly, the entire movie ROCKED. it was totally professional, the story was good, and it was completely styling.
secondly, i was certain that we fucked up the scene i was in, and it turned out BEAUTIFULLY. man, i could almost swear i *was* Jay ^_^

so i've been on a complete and utter high since. i just got back from the base, after a pleasant walk, and i'm planning on doing a little work before going to bed.

my doctor's appointment's in the morning, so i get to chill a bit more... and there's a chance that the dog might be moving over to us tomorrow! i'm excited, even though we've been waiting for more than 2 / 3 months, and there's no guarantee...

whatever. life is goooooooooooooooooood.

wee-woo-wee-woo

horrible, horrible day. it began with me missing my bus, and running to *just* make it in time for a later stop.
i HATE running for buses.

most of the day simply sucked. although the project i'm currently working on IS interesting, and definitely challenging, i'm just not in the mood for ANYTHING.

i got a ride home, started adding laces to my overalls (so i can tie them to keep them from falling down). the dog called, and i went to meet him for coffee at azrieli. not only do i feel much better now, but i have a really cheesy (and expensive) hat to dress up tomorrow with!

i've got tons of work to do, so i'm quickly blogging and /.ing (whee! mod points!) before working/showering/sleeping.

beware the nothing, atreyu!

good heavens.

i spent most of my morning waiting for the doctor to see me... to tell me that i need to go back to the orthopaedist (and it only takes a month to get an appointment). after much screaming, shouting, and sitting around like a vegetable, i managed to get the appointment moved forward to wednesday.

does EVERYTHING in this country require aggression?!

i had very little to do today, and almost no concentration span. i arbed, and i arbed badly.

after getting home, i began a load of washing, and went for a blade. i got completely and utterly lost, and even though eventually i got back - i've no clue how.

i did manage to pick up a sewing kit on the way. good for me!

i got back to a stuck washing machine... turns out it has problems with one of the numbers on the dial. when i tried to deal with it, i managed to release a large quantity of water... that sucked. i managed to figure something out though.

i talked to my mom, showered, and have been doing bits and pieces of work since. i'm exhausted... i think it's bedtime.

c# - i'll get you if it's the last *urk*

dammit. i want to rant about the sheer stupidity of C# + ASP.NET + HTML forms, but it's SO not worth it.

the day was relaxed (aside from lunch that made me miss the food on base), but the bus ride home took TWO AND A HALF HOURS. damn traffic. at least my washing line's in one piece.

i came home, learned about C# + ASP.NET thumbnails - turned out to be really simple, and then went off to the lizard. there was some band playing

<inserted at appropriate moment> DAMMIT! i just tried to get rid of a cockroach, and it fscking DISAPPEARED as i tried to sweep it away! DISAPPEARED!! i had my eyes on it the whole time! DAMMIT! <end insert>

live, but they were so bad that less people turned up to see them than they have members. so sad. anyway, i chilled with the mongoose for an hour or so, before coming back to deal with aforementioned html forms... but the damn things are more complicated than the thumbnails.
thank you microsoft.

*happy ice-cream gurgle*

i was barely aware of supper and the ensueing after-dinner conversation. what did get my attention, however, was men in black 2.

DAMN. they done made that thar movie good. i could watch it again... and again... just like the first!

that, in combination with holy man that i watched this morning, make me wanna see independence day again...

i woke up around 3.30am, /.'d a bit, and finally found the c# solution i need. when i got back to bed, i had strange, strange dreams... one of them involved beating the crap out of a wife-beater, and then peeing on him. the second one also involved beating someone, but that's all i can recall. everything has this warped military kind of environment. i think the army may be getting to me.

it IS, if i consider the fact that my general level of politeness and consideration have dropped to barely above zero. it's insane how perfectly apathetic i'm becoming... and very slightly worrying.

daysleeper

it was a relaxing afternoon in general. i just found my nike shoes that i bought in south africa... and totally forgot about!! i *KNEW* i had a decent pair of shoes somewhere!!

w00t!

off to supper in a bit. that's all the excitement this day has brought. i like.

-buzz-

wow - i woke up a couple of hours ago, with a hangover and an almost empty wallet.

last night was gooooooood... excellent, in fact. murphy's sponsored the st. paddy's day party, and it was STYLING. the music totally, but TOTALLY rocked, and the company was great. fun overload!!

i'm on my way to the kibbutz, priority 1 is getting my washing line back here :P

*YAWN* *virtual stretch*

i just slept SO well, it hurts to be out of bed. but i do have work to do, and i should eat something before going out to celebrate st. paddy's day.

weather-wise, it was a great day. we had almost no work to be done, so i just arsed around. actually, i was trying to build something useful, but got stuck with windows' threading model.
it sucks when you copy and paste code from the msdn to vc++, and it STILL doesn't compile.
i've made it my mission to learn the MFC while we're still lacking pressure.

wow - that totally sums up my day!

third post: "weirded"

third post: i finally learned to copy text in case of net failure. only two tries!

i finally made that call, and said "goodbye". it was a sucky, sucky call. i guess the mermaid's not liking me very much right now - it's pretty safe to say that i handled it badly.

aside from that, the day was good. played ms pinball this morning, attended a farewell party, and fixed some bugs.

ooh - and it turns out i have a slipped disc. it's only been really screwed up for two months, apparently i complain too much.

i went to work in the evening, to spend some time with sammy before he goes off to a week in a five-star hotel in barcelona... lucky, lucky bastard!

i made the call when i got home, then bladed to the base. the round-trip, getting lost and almost killing myself multiple times, took about 45 minutes. i finished building my desk when i got back (it -is- nice to type this sitting on a chair!), had a shower, and i'm trying to do a bit of work before crashing.

yeah, not really succeeding on that score. and i am feeling kinda crap about the phone call.

now's good, now's good

that's a loose translation from the song i've been listening to, but it sums up my evening.
getting home with the box of wood was a bitch, but i dropped it off and put on my blades.

it took me about 15-20 minutes to get to rabin's square, where we played frisbee for well over an hour (6 people, 3 frisbees) - DAMN it's fun playing frisbee on blades!! and only 1 tiny injury (to a typing finger, but i'll survive ;>)

i just got back, begun putting my desk together (it's nice)... and now gonna shower and go to bed.

satisfied.

bump bump bump

*pleased sigh* listening to some seriously thumping trance streaming from work. and i can be fairly certain the pc won't crash - which actually makes the experience far more enjoyable than at home.

i tested my washine machine today - it works! IT WORKS! IT'S ALIVE!!!

i decided today that i'm pretty much sick of the whole mermaid story. i can't be fscked.

the day was very boring workwise, which was satisfying, as i had time to code in c (first time in yonks, it was such a pleasure ^_^). i built an xml parser to transfer a report of ours into outlook: i'm rather proud.

i had a huge fight with our new kid, who's got a big head and no experience... he was argueing with me over how wonderful and perfect his project is (i had to grade him), and it was absolutely aweful. in general it's not wise to tell your grader he has no idea what he's talking about, but to do it when your project's not even up to "shabby" is just rude.

wow - that about covers my day. oh, and carrying a moerse heavy desk on the bus home.
umm, and i've only had two smokes today... feeling a bit better, but i still want another one.

ooh - GREAT track. i'm gonna sit here and bounce a bit.

dunno. i just - don't - know.

today was LOUSY.
i think.

i tried to quit smoking, my tally at the end is 2.5 cigarettes. i was so aggro this morning that i shouted at the head of the support division... that was a pretty stupid thing to do.

workwise, i did f***all - my commander caught me sleeping towards the end of the day, and finally gave me an interesting task. in addition to that, tomorrow i'm all by myself, and responsible for the successful release of 800 soldiers. if anything goes wrong with the systems, the buck stops with me.
quite exciting o_O

and our section head decided today that i'm not learning hebrew fast enough. that sucks.

it took me 4 buses and a train to get to ra'anana, but i did remember to buy washing powder :) i spent a couple of hours at the mermaid's, which produced some seriously mixed feelings, and then dropped off the money i owe at the telfed offices.

bussing home took 2.5 HOURS. i can't say it's been productive.
i'm gonna test the washing machine in the morning (i realized on my way home i have no place to hang up washing - will have to make do with the shower), so i'm going to shower before bed and pray that i don't die from exhaustion in the morning.

smooth...

boy howdy, that shor wuz a big 'un!

i just transferred the most professional looking piece of asp crap to my boss. it's a time-bomb for the application we've been working for, in case the clients don't pay on time. so cute ^_^

today was weird as hell. GREAT morning (although i was totally wasted from last night), and i *did* get to sleep in the afternoon. had a couple of random embarrassing moments (due to my lacking hebrew, actually), and i discovered that the gundam book i spent NIS 55 on was a total waste of cash and processing time. i hope i can trade it or something.

oh, and the mongoose and i have decided to do the whole lent thing (minus the understanding due to our being jewish and all)... no smoking, no spending cash on the base.

ooh, ooh - st. paddy's coming up!!

i got my rollerblades back from SxS's parents >D
and i got my cheque from my boss >D
my washing machine is ready for testing (although i needs to gets me some washing powduh) >D
and i'm going to have a hot shower and go to bed now >D

funned out

what a weekend. almost nothing happened on friday night. i watched the garden state, which was BRILLIANT.
at 3.30am i got a call to join the mermaid for coffee, but there was no way in hell i was gonna get out of my warm, cozy bed, and then walk for 25 minutes in the freezing cold.

i got up around noon, chilled a bit, then met up with her and her boyfriend and went to her parents place for lunch. t'was yummy.
her father gave me a ride to the mermaid's place, where i had intended to break it all off on account of the sheer impracticality.
instead of being direct, i just started talking about it, and we came to an understanding that more than satisfies me - i'm left with no reservations about this girl whatsoever. i REALLY like her.

after a calm evening watching cartoons, her mom made brilliant pancakes (although i ate way too many), and then i took the bus to tel-aviv, where i met up with the mongoose and a couple of other friends from the base at the dance bar. we danced until about 1am, and i'm now waiting for hot water before i shower and crash.

i feel good about how today went.

gargling with life

i'm AMAZED that i'm not sleeping right now.

we finished work at 4am, i'd been sleeping fitfully - fortunately the quiet night stayed quiet. i left at 4.20, and made it back to my place at 5 - would've been find minues the exhaustion and freezing cold.

i slept till 12, had a FSCKING cold shower (i didn't have time to turn on the hot water cylinder), and met up with the mongoose at azrieli... mmmm, waffles. i almost passed out in the middle of my morning coffee. unusual.

we walked through some of the more interesting streets in tel aviv, and ended up playing pool at the lincoln. afterwards we came back to my place, and watched lots of invader zim.

planning this evening with the mermaid has been a bit difficult. i hope it all works out - would be FINE if one of us had a car.

i'm gonna try playing counterstrike now... i hope my pc doesn't fail...

what happened? where am i?

right. last night i went to bed, and woke up this morning. still not enough sleep - nothing to be done about that.

umm - nothing too remarkable happened today, aside from a short, pointless visit from the division head (we had to be on our best behaviour). oh, and i went to get my ct scan done. i would've felt much better if the doctor had said "keep your eyes closed", instead of reading a warning in english inside the machine that cautions against the effects of the laser on one's eyes.

i can feel the mutations beginning already.

got home, took my laundry to be done, sorted out the bank stuff (finally!), and took a slow walk to work.

we have a new guy listening in on my calls, fortunately (for me) it's been a quiet night. i'm praying that it lasts.

suddenly glad i never liked d&d

i just read an article affirming the general understanding we have in the army that d&d is unappreciated. hmm... suddenly i understand why the guys i tried playing with were so concerned about keeping it "hush-hush".

i just got back from a chocolate festival, which had AMAZING (and VERY tasty) wares. i'm totally satisfied.

yesterday was AWEFUL. the weather was smarmy, and i was not only exhausted, but irritable most of the day. not the mood to act the part of jay (sans good costume). my mood did pick up when the sun came out, after a combination of coffee, ice-cream, and cigarettes...

i went through to the mermaid's place last night, and we had a really enjoyable evening. when i left it was raining, and i was still tired (coffee has limits)... the bus driver stopped the bus halfway to scream at me for lying down (and my feet WEREN'T on the seats), and then i took a taxi: the driver showed me a massive knife, explaining that you never know what weirdos you'll run into in tel aviv in the middle of the night. after listening to him jabbering for 5 minutes, i was postive that HE's the psychotic one...

had an incredibly beautiful moment - watching the rain falling on a building spotlight from below. breathtaking in real life.

i don't have a clue how i got out of bed this morning... i slept every opportunity i got, and was still wasted by the time i got to the clinic at the tzrifin base. when the specialist finally saw me, he declared that he thinks i have a slipped disc (i've only waited a month to find that out), and i need to go for a CT scan... i managed to organize an emergency CT scan appointment due in one month and a week.

wow.

fortunately, they had a cancellation, so i got it moved forward to tomorrow. thank you, lucky star!

going to shower, going to bed.

only monday?!?!

i'm DYING from exhaustion, i'm dazed and confused... maybe i'm coming down with something. hope not!!

yesterday was amusing. i got to the train station at 9.50, and the dog got the *just* after me... he fell asleep on the way to his base (lol). i got to the base in time to do sweet f***all. the systems were all down (we got so bored we watched episodes of invader zim), and by 1pm my commander told me to go home.

i was -ON- my way to the bus, already visualizing a day at the beach... and i heard someone shout that the systems were back up.
SO depressing. i spent the day fixing the backlog of problems we'd been able to avoid since thursday... it sucked. it sucked all the joy outta my day.

when i got home, i found an abandoned washing machine with a sign saying "free - good condition" hanging on it. i turned the sign over, and wrote a message saying "this washine machine claimed by a lonely soldier. should you choose to ignore this sign, his suffering will be on your conscience." i then left it, and went to azrieli center, to have a chat with the dog, and then went to ra'anana for my third date with the mermaid.

the date went really well, considering i managed to break all sorts of dating taboo's, and it ended with the sweetest (and shortest reak) kiss i've had in YEARS. it put me in really good spirits.

today was boring as hell, and totally crazy. aside from feeling warped and woozy, and having relatively little to do... i've been informed that for the next few weeks, i'm in charge of my team. that's quite a responsibility, quite an honour.

i spent most of the day worrying about the mermaid. i'm not entirely sure i'm ready for a relationship, even though that is what i've been looking for. i'm so confused about how i feel, but i care about her enough that i don't want to hurt her - or not commit. strange.

we spent the day shooting a movie, fixing bugs, and generally arbing around. one of the guys from the base (too nice for his own good... i'll call him spite :P) came home with me, and helped me move the enormous washing machine up from the 2nd to the 3rd floor - and then helped me clean the stairwell afterwards.
damn.

got a visit from the previous owner - such a nice girl! she's really jealous that it's mine - all mine! ^_^

i just spoke to the mermaid, we're going to meet tomorrow. i'm emotionally bracing myself :P

*relaxed*

last night was really chilled, and i put myself to bed fairly early. with the 5th harry potter book - not bad, actually.

i woke up at 6.30am. WHY, PIGGY?? WHY?!?!

most of the day was spent moving my cousin's mother-in-law to a new home. it was fun, and good exercise, but by the time we were done i was spent. i got up an hour or so ago (watched most of save the last dance, VERY nice), and have decided to just chill and go back tomorrow instead.

of course, that means not meeting the mermaid - i didn't expect the phone call to go as well as it did. i really like her. really really.

-blank-

damn. i passed out last night, shortly after posting.
i got two phone calls... the first of which was really weird. i took the call, i recall having a vague idea of what was being said (it was her), and i was mumbling complete and utter crap. i still have no idea what was said, like someone else was talking through me. or something.

the second was the dog - all i remember was telling him to shut up, which was impolite, and that i'd meet him at the train station in the morning. at least it was more coherent.

i woke up at 6.45am.

i repeat: i woke up at 6.45am.

WTF?!?!

i spent the morning slashdotting (i got rated 50% funny, 50% troll for my second post ever!) and getting ready to come to the kibbutz... i met up with the dog at the train station, and the bus ride was quite enjoyable, ignoring the motion sickness i had by the time we arrived in afula.

we had some iced-coffees, he left and i went to visit my cousin. i crashed almost as soon as i got here (although i *had* to eat in the mess hall, the food is so much better than on base)... and now i'm just chilling.

:)

good heavens!

how could i possibly forget?? i just managed to get chocolate all over my face, and it reminded me of a really nice incident that occurred during the afternoon - i went to go visit my welfare officer, and walked in as they began a round of timtams and coffee... i got back to my office an hour later - had to explain myself to my commander, who politely pointed out that i had chocolate all over my chin...
*silly grin*

*extremely happy sigh*

every now and again i remember that EVERYTHING in life is about attitude.

last night, in spite of my exhaustion, i went to pool with the dog. we really enjoyed ourselves, and they serve GIANT coffee, which i really needed :)

also a plus, on the way home i got a taxi, and managed to win the traditional money argument. so i got all the way home for only twice the price of a bus... that never happens!

i got a lot more sleep this morning than i've gotten used to ^_^
i spent an hour at the bank, got mostly sorted out, and made my way to the base, for a really chilled day. the ceremony for which we did exercises yesterday was long and boring, but not TOO bad. our new badges SUCK though...

the rest of the day was awesome. i've almost completed my new tetris, i learned some cool shit with oracle, and i've been selected to play the part of jay (as in jay and silent bob) in a short movie being produced by our new unit - and they asked me to write the dialogue. that was cool.

early in the afternoon, our network went down, so we milled around, and got invited to play volleyball - YEAH! i really had fun.

on the way home i ran into a guy i did my basics with, and after he left i continued talking to the incredibly hot girl who works with him :) another ego boost...

i have my laundry, i'm planning on either going on another date tonight with the mermaid, or chilling and doing the date tomorrow. i am so chilled ^_^

smoking more, caring less. shit happens.

-_o

i had a much better day today. i woke up at 4.30, because the streaming audio channel switched from amazing ambient to what i can only describe as the sound of a man with a wooden leg walking on a tin roof.

couldn't get back to sleep.

the whole day was fairly peaceful, aside from standing in the sun for an hour's worth of exercises. forgot what it's like to be a soldier :P i discovered that the beautiful girl i was hunting was asking around looking for me, so my ego got quite the boost. and i'm almost done with an online tetris.

i'm finding it harder and harder to quit smoking. seriously, it's killing me.

as for the date last night, i'm finiding myself agitated at my lack of transport. i really enjoyed myself, but getting there without being able to stay there puts a damper on things... must fix the situation, i rate.

errr... where am i?

what a hectic day. i don't have a clue how i got out of bed this morning, and i got to the base late... i was a complete zmobie (yes, intentional) the entire day, and was on the verge of collapse until around 4pm.

i left the base early, made it just in time to the post office, paid my electricity bill, went and had a haircut (finally!), then made my way to ra'anana, and met up with the mermaid for coffee... went well, talked until there were no busses left to take me home ^_^

i was blessed with a kind taxi driver, who DIDN'T rip me off, gave me a cigarette, AND dropped me off closer to home than i expected.
wow.

so i'm feeling pretty chuffed, just started chatting with my mum, so must sign off.

good night ^_^

long, long day

and mixed up, too. i just got back from training, so my legs feel good and the rest of me broken - one of the new kids beat the snarf outta me... i really enjoyed myself ^_^

i started off the day pretty early, went to the immigrant authority first. on the way i overhead a "religious" american threatening his wife, and when i looked in their direction i saw she had a black eye.
i really wanted to do something, or say something, but i knew that anything i said or did would only make it worse for her.
life just sucks sometimes.

turned out i didn't need to be there - so i went off to the "city officer" for some papers. i wish they'd let them use airconditioners, the place was BOILING, and it wasn't very hot outside. i'd hate to think what summer there's like.

i called the girl from friday night - i was SO nervous before calling - and the phone call was nice and easy. i don't know why i panic so much.

i went to the jerusalem bank, which turned out to be a pleasant experience... minus the fact that i have to *HOPE* that the money they're supposed to give me goes through, because i didn't have my new account number.

i went to a random bank branch, they were most unhelpful. so i returned all the way to my bank branch, where i hit "rush hour". fortunately, after waiting 20 minutes some elderly gentleman let me talk to the manager, which took all of 5 seconds.
always happens like that.

i made my way back to the base.

i tried to quit smoking. i tried to chill a bit. but the second i resolved myself, everything in our office went completely nuts. one of our systems went down, and one of them needed working on. i had to learn a completely different system while trying to find the problem with the first. and my team leader disappeared.

let's just say my stress levels were nothing to be jealous of, and by the time suppertime rolled around i was ready to kill myself, and take everyone else down with me.

supper sucked, as per usual, and waiting for the bus home did nothing to lift my spirits. due to all these things, i hit upon the ingenious idea of going to training.

and it was totally worth it.

some girl from the university recognized me, but i have no idea who she is. when she saw me, she just stared, and i stared back - for about 10 seconds things were really quite awkward. after that it was fine, and we had an enjoyable conversation about stuff^tm.

met up with the dog, took the bus to training (i managed to lose my balance, and didn't catch onto a handrail in time... most unsoldierly of me - i hit the window to gasps and guffaws), and the rest is written.

so yeah, i let out a lot of aggression, and i feel better for it.

UGH.

what a pain! my brain hurts... a lot.

i was up until about 1/2am, trying to get the computer to behave nicely. a bit silly. i finished all the work i had to do... and mailed my boss previous versions of it :$ :$ :$

all a bit, umm, not good.

i have no clue how i got out of bed this morning. i missed the bus, and then missed breakfast. i had a splitting headache, but fortunately our commander wasn't in today, so we didn't really do much work.

just after noon, we all missioned to jerusalem, for an enormous braai... not only was the food excellent, but i drank about 3 glasses of chivas regal, and the rest of the afternoon was extremely chilled (as in, it would have been anyway ^_^).

aside: our section secretary has an amazing sword collection.

i just got home, and am about to jump in the shower before crashing... i'm exHAUSted.

whatta weekend!

thursday was nice. we did have some fun, although not as serious as expected... got back to his place around 2/3, woke up about 7, had breakfast, and then went our separate ways.

friday was totally chilled, i did nothing but backup tons of stuff on my personal pc, and mess around on the net.
around midnight, i made my way to the lizard. i watched the aftermath of the terror attack on the way, which put a damper on the evening. it's not very surprising, but it seriously sucks nonetheless... un-fscking-believable what these bastards get up to.

the beginning of the night was kinda weird. the dj was a bit crap, the mood was a bit dark (obvious following an attack), and i got into a fight with the bouncer 'cause he made a REALLY stupid comment - about the part i played during the apartheid - when he found out i was south african.
i wanted to smack the shit out of his stupid mouth. the mongoose held me back, and it took a while to calm down.

then two girl-friends of a guy who works there (and studies linguistics) came, and the evening picked up (along with the dj's music). we all danced (all respect, the gorgeous girl is on crutches, so she danced on her knees on a seat) until the club closed, and then we took turns carrying her as the four of us headed off to the -relatively- nearby coffee shop.

we had a great time, and left around 6am when the sun came up. the mongoose came back with me to my place, and we crashed for a couple of hours before going to his place. where we ate like pigs, i started reading jhonan vasquez's squee.

we went off to the beach, in bat-yam, walked for a bit, got excellent ice-creams, and met up with some of the mongoose's friends.

i told the story of japman's boss offering me his brand new porsche carreira if i'd be his boyfriend. every one of the guys was horrified that i didn't take the car! it was hysterical, hearing them describe the lengths they'd go to... haven't laughed that much in ages.
i was actually almost embarrassed about my decision :$

we returned to the mongoose's place, where the lack of sleep caught up with me. on my return home, i stopped by the local coffee shop, tanked up, and am now finishing some work before possibly going off to the lizard again.

thing is, i've been searching for a girl like the one we met last night since i broke up with her, and it turns out that she's apparently interested in me. the only thing is i've gotten so used to disappointment, that my expectations are rock bottom. i can't pray enough that this will work out.

*sigh* back to work. i've just figured out some cool shit with transact sql, hopefully i'm almost done.

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY

i'm so excited the weekend's here, it's pathetic.

a) had ac/dc's thunderstruck in my head the whole day - always good.

b) i took my computer in to the workshop this morning, and gave them explicit instructions on how to deal with it. they had it ready before lunch. it works now.

it only took two weeks.

c) the mongoose and i had humus "ful" for lunch, and it was brilliant.

d) got my computer set up, and finished the game i've been working on - i think it's a copy of something i saw as a child, called "math blaster" or some such rot. it's addictive. and i figured out a neat way of sharing high scores over the army network.

^_^

e) left the base for the weekend, got home in time to take my laundry in

f) did some work - my subconscious came up with a brilliant solution to a problem i was refusing to spend brain cycles on. amazing. so i got my work plan sorted out, and now...

after a long, long walk across tel aviv...

i'm at the dog's place, and we're soon off to do some serious fun-having!

better

i don't know why, but definitely better today. all our systems went down this morning, and subsequently killed my "personal" machine - it didn't get better alongside everything else... all i could access was visual basic, so i built myself a small and cute math game. it's fun, and pretty, but i'll be damned if i can get a decent score.

one of the guys in our section just finished the officers' course, so we all went to the training base to watch the ceremony. killed the rest of the day, and now that i'm home i'm contemplating whether to eat, get exercise, sleep, or perform some combination thereof. not at the same time.

on my way home, i had my third cigarette for the day - i'm slowing down - and in the mood i was in, walking against the rush-hour traffic jam, i hit upon the brilliantly silly idea of carrying a sign that says something cute to get people smiling. now to find something that's funny and not too corny.

yep, that about sums up the day. uh, huh.

-blank-

what a long, horrible day. i had difficulty getting out of bed this morning, and missed my bus by about a minute... i watched as it drove off, and had to discover a new route to the base. fortunately, it only took me fifteen minutes more, so that's a little less pressure each morning.

the combination of exercising last night, and trying not to smoke (unsuccessfully, btw) made today rather uncomfortable to begin with. couple that with our systems going down for 5 hours, 2/3 hours of "instruction" (in hebrew, dehydration included), and the rest of the day spent moving our new system to a different server...

we worked until about 20.30 - every single thing we did showed us a few more that we'd forgotten. i can't say i didn't learn a lot, but i - am - broken.

'nite.

A-*HEM*

good lord. i've been smoking again for about three weeks, and am now quitting again. not that i don't enjoy it.
what i'm most impressed about is that i just came back from a run, and i ran fairly quickly for about 40 minutes straight. and stretched when i got back... i'm so close to the splits that i can feel the ground beneath me - 10cm left to go!!

i was under a lot of pressure today, and of course TODAY i had major problems with the network - i was totally frustrated for the first 5 hours. and then, suddenly, with no reasonable explanation, everything started working again.

amazing.

i finished with plenty of time to spare. the new guy's having problems adjusting, so i tried to give him a helpful talk. unfortunately, we have a communication barrier, and i don't think he got the right message.

i did my best.

i've come to an important, and in my opinion mature decision:

FUCK KoL

it's a serious addiction that i REALLY don't need. even less than smoking.

and that's about it for the day. i've had a shower, i'm about to work for an hour (just because i read that it's not smart to sleep right after training), and hopefully i'll be able to sleep tonight. after the last few weeks, i have low expectations :(

but all in all, FEELING GOOD!

0_0

groaaaaaaaaan...

waking up was hell, i was sleeping SO well. i had to run to catch the bus, i tore one of my pockets. not a great start.

the morning was frustrating, the early afternoon was taken up with lunch at a fancy restaurant (expensive, not excellent). i ran into a couple of old friends in the area, which was interesting, and almost walked into ehud barak: he gave me a funny look, i said "hello" and carried on walking.

i got back to a ton of work, all high pressure, and some really daft bugs got the better of me. by the time i left the base, it was figuratively at a dead run... i was exhausted and crazy.

i planned to sleep a couple of hours, but it's now 2.35am. because of my back i can't continue to sleep - it's driving me nuts, so it's as good an excuse as any to get some work done.

i've been warned that if i can't finish a certain task tomorrow in time, that i'm staying on the base until i do. that sucks ASS.

noooooo! bring back my piggy!!!! i love you piggy!!!

what a wonderful weekend ^_^

the sun disappeared pretty early on, so no more beach weather for us. BUT - i *did* finish most of the work i had to, and learned SO much about online .NET in the process...

i met up with the dog at azrieli center, had some coffee, and then got picked up by sammy. pool at the lincoln was AWESOME. great company, great pool, great music, and the waitresses were ab-so-lute-ly fan-friggin-tastic. my superlatives do them no justice, they were truly mindblowing.
and very distracting :P

i then met up with the mongoose at the lizard, which was filled with fine women, and excellent music. it was REALLY difficult to leave.

i'm now all smelly and disgusting (but not tired!), so i'm KoLing (from home!) while waiting for hot water.

good night, good weekend!

first home post

this is my first post from my new apartment. it would have been a thrilled one, but i've been having so much trouble getting up and running (bad firewalls, random crashes, and my right speaker just REFUSES to work).

i have SO much work to do today. please, gods, let me finish in time to enjoy some beach weather.

sleepy good happy fun

i didn't sleep enough this morning... but i did clean my apartment, and i did do enough shopping, and i did go the promenade for a serious walk, and i did meet up with the dog for a guinness, and i did just have supper at the mongoose's place, and we're about to either go do stuff, or not...

*groaaaaaaaannnnnnn*

lack of sleep is catching up with me. i've been sleeping so badly, and working straight through (with my back aching as usual) isn't helping. thank you, coffee and cigarette.

umm. i had something else to say, but i've forgotten already. i REALLY need acupuncture. and a massage.

work earlier was actually quite fun - we had a british event for once, and doing helpdesk for england is SO much more pleasant. from the point of view of the level of customer intelligence as well as the accent :P

*phew*

i don't know where to begin, it's been a crazy, crazy week.

i got internet installed at home today. the last two days have
been intense: someone screwed up my computer in the army, and i had a
mini-holiday (the weather has been BRILLIANT) while getting it fixed.
it's set me back quite a bit workwise, and that's been a bit
frustrating... but nevermind.

i went on a blind double date last night, and i got stuck with the not-so-good-looking girl. nice enough, and the evening was fun, but it was totally weird.

the other thing about this week is that the guy who's been riding my
case has finally left. and the mood in the office has shot through the
roof - in addition, we have a new guy, and it's been fun sorting him
out and showing him the ropes.

i've remembered, because i actually forgot, that i'm manic depressive
- i'm attributing that as a factor to the past month's general
depression, and especially to the outrageously good mood i've been in
the last two days.

as far as work is concerned, it's rather tough, and i'm going to have
to spend most of my weekend on it... the guy whose code i'm fixing
left it in a complete mess.
very professional.

my back is completely wrecked. it's killing me. i'm using deep heat,
i'm working the muscles as much as possible (mainly by correcting my
posture, but it's not habitual so i keep relaxing).

i'm totally amused by the building organization. they miscalculated, and i owe them NIS 300. i received a check in the post for NIS 150, with a letter attached saying it's to assist with the cleaning expenses incurred during the move. it's really sweet, but couldn't they just have deducted it from the amount owed?

i went to a comic book convention on the weekend, that was totally lousy. and that's all i have to say about that.

ummm. the army's good, the work's good, the other work's alright, the
apartment's good... all i need to deal with is (training/requitting
smoking) and sleep deprivation, and everything'll be great!

as friday rolls around

the workload last night was quite alright, and i managed to catch up on almost all the news i've been missing... but the atmosphere at work sucked, and i was on edge and aggro until i left. i was bombed by the time the last event began, and just before we left my stomache began to HURT. i got a ride most of the way home, but i still had to walk half an hour, tired, in pain, and carrying an open cardboard box containing all my media and a dvd drive. the clouds were dripping, but i received a favour from the gods - it only started to rain AS i got home! i'm still incredibly grateful.

i went straight to bed, and woke up a few hours later to go pick up my laundry - it was raining, and i as i made my rounds i got progressively more soaked. but it was worth it - i had a great shower afterwards. i installed the dvd drive in my pc - i kept forgetting all sorts of stupid things... it's been a while... now everything works except the cd that i REALLY need to work.
figures.

i'm at a friend's, reading comics and watching zim. life could be worse.

*flip* *flop* week gone *flop* *flip*

dammit. i lost another one :D

last weekend:

parties - the tone was set by a rather crap one early friday night. the second party was alright, but i'd lost the mood already. if i'd had it to begin with.
on saturday i had lunch at her parents, and it was REALLY nice. surprisingly so, hence the CAPS.

sun:

we had to work late, until just after midnight. that about covers the entire day. i think.

mon:

i met up with a friend of a friend for a business-type startup-thingy meeting. it was educational. i love the idea, i don't think i'll be able to dedicate myself enough. got to arrive late to the base, just in time for lunch - i'm getting good at that :)

tues:

spent the morning at the clinic, for blood tests. it was kinda scary, they needed rather a lot of blood, and she kept wiggling the needle around to get more. it kinda hurt.

in the evening, unless i'm very much mistaken, my old / new bosses gave me a ride home, bringing a pc for me to use. i started working on the project, which is basically a resurrection effort - not so simple as i've never worked in these environments before... but i'm learning.

yesterday was just another day. lots of arb work, and a lesson at the end from the prick who's been riding my case the last while. it was a bit irritating, but we learned a lot, and he's almost gone.
YEAH.

finished off the day at the dance bar; drank a little too much...

today was quite alright. i still had to get up early... but i dropped off my laundry, and got sorted out at the bank (deposited a cheque - i can eat this month!). i had a tiny, tiny croissant, with an average cup of coffee, and then my new / old boss picked me up, and we went to the tax office.

which was SO much simpler with someone there to explain. got everything sorted out super-quick, and then sat down for coffee (with real croissants), to talk about the work. turns out i'm now getting a base-salary, with extra depending on the size of the projects... so basically contracts, but better.
YEAH.

the rest of the day was spent doing QA... it kind of sucked, but i did get moments of figuring cool shit out. i *WILL* learn to play with the oracle demon.

i've been at work since 6ish, and it's now 23.45, or thereabouts... there's a lot of us working, hopefully it won't be too interesting.

and i feel the weekend.

wheeeeee! kend

*HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF*

i can't decide whether to go backwards or forwards with my blog...

today:

got up late this morning (6.30 / 7am), met up with the other south african from my base, and went to herzliya. i sorted out my rent and deposit (i hope, only able to verify it on sunday), had a great breakfast, and then we joined a whole bunch of other lonely soldiers at the cinema, to watch closer. great movie (although i hate jude law's acting), and natalie portman is SO sexy.

we got back to the base in time for an INCREDIBLY average lunch, and i spent the rest of the day doing the most horrible job - comparing database scripts to the database to see if they'd run. it's the most menial pc task i think i've ever done.

yesterday:

it was a pretty crap day. mostly average. learned a lot, though. when i got home, i went for a jog, and turned back almost immediately. i got "rained out". by a slight drizzle. i did get very far in my attempts to do the splits, so i'm rather chuffed.

1st feb:

getting up in the morning was hell. real hell. my bed is SO comfortable (i'd forgotten), and i was feeling SO sick. i don't actually know how i did it.

i went straight to the clinic when i got to the base, and if i wasn't sick before, i should've been dying by the time i left. sitting there amidst the hacks and coughs of many squished people in a waiting room sans air-circulation.

i had great difficulty communicating with the medic who saw to me. and the less i understood, the LOUDER - SHE - TALKED. like an american tourist. after five minutes she was screaming at me, and i was seriously unimpressed with having everyone in a 100m radius knowing all my personal details.

we spent the morning moving some of the guys into the new room that's been assigned to our section. i was volunteered to help move, and clean. it's great being the lowest rank. on the plus side, during a period of arsing-around, i discovered the picture that i fell in love with many years ago (the one that inspired the "i've come for your daughter" shirt), and hopefully it'll be printed out soon - cause that baby's going on my wall.

i had to do 5 hours of guard duty - guarding the main gate. right next to the guard-commander and there're tons of people passing all the time. i managed to smoke, and drink a large hot-chocolate, without anyone seeing ^_^ so cocky. almost got caught by my section commander, but i'm sneaky enough :P

after the shift (accidentally forgetting to return a full uzzi ammo clip), went off with a couple of guys to a comic book store - great store, and i've ordered myself a TPB of rogue trooper!! w00tness in the extreme!
i also discovered that pvponline is also a real comic (and i've read them all, so nyeh), and that sandman comics are NOT what i read. so i don't know what i was reading...

31st:

spent most of the day cleaning / moving / learning... had a fight with my seargent, who might just become my team leader - not a wise move.

the preparation for guard duty was the longest ever - the guy took more than an hour to tell us all about the stuff we learned in basics. i guess he's a counterstrike enthusiast - he was coming up with all sorts of possible scenarios for attacks, and explaining how we should deal with them.
honestly.

my guard duty was boring, and i had a newspaper in hebrew. it's the first one i've ever read.

on my way home, i picked up a hotdog, and finished with a cigarette on my balcony. and remembered why i like smoking so much - it gives you a good reason to just stand and appreciate the view. i find that as a non-smoker, i look, say "wow", and then get bored.