forced three

i got my three hours, but only because i unconsciously slept in. my body made a decision that i couldn't counter, and i felt like a real tit when i woke up at 7.30. i got into base *just* shy of the 10am "you're on holiday" cut-off, and i'm really glad because i can think of nothing worse than making an effort to get to base on time, failing, and turning what could have at least been a (paid for) free day into a pointless travel nightmare.

tuesday's post:
[health] my knees were in a bad way yesterday morning, as was my neck and upper back. my fall seems to have taken out my [rhomboid / trapezius, i can't really tell] as well (as could have been expected, but i'd been doing so well for the last while...).

i began the day in the doctor's office. he was not happy to see me. he gave me antihistamines and told me that friday night's sensation was probably purely psychological. he was agitated and rough when he checked my knees.
how am i supposed to know if i've done damage to them? i'm not a doctor. i'd rather err on the side of caution (he says ironically).

[code] i learned a big c# lesson in the morning: a function call in a boolean expression may not be evaluated. as in, on principle. this threw me out completely. i can't get behind a design decision like that. for instance, if i write
if (IndexOf("a") >= 0) {i would expect the IndexOf function to be called and its return value tested. is that just me?

[social] over lunch i discovered that a guy in my unit's friend's girlfriend's friend is the girl who moved into my old apartment when i left. i find the fact that i heard about this from him when i've never met her nor spoken to him to be a bit weird.

[code] i finished writing a replace function the wrong way. by this i mean that i find each instance of the queried text and create a new string from the text before it, the replacement string and the text after it. this ruined the undo functionality.
it didn't occur to me that search and replace would be built into the control. it sucks not being connected to the internet at work, and having no msdn.

i did create an incidental feature, though, and one which i would welcome in most of my environments. i don't limit the number of search and replace windows you can open, meaning i can perform multiple searches or replaces simultaneously :)

perl is llama hate juice. i spent most of the afternoon debugging the scripts i thought i'd finished.
a) i hadn't fully tested them. i made the incorrect assumption that the pre-processed stuff would be constructed in the same way. it's not. at all.
b) it would appear that the scripts run differently on my computer. this makes for an incredibly frustrating experience when running it from someone else's.
c) we've learned a lot. mostly about how annoying perl is.

on the move i had a nap on the shuttle home, that i sorely needed. lipgirl and i had made plans to meet for coffee, but she wasn't answering her phone so i headed off to the book store. they've been giving me alerts, this one for a pop-up version of a collection of dr seuss. it's not robert sabuda, but it's very good nonetheless.

[recreation] i made myself a quick supper and sat online, catching up and posting, until it was time to go. i made it on time, which meant that the group was going to leave late :P
i chatted with a cute girl that cycled with us a few weeks back, and she's decided she wants to blade as well. she was really excited when i offered lessons :)

we had a huge group last night: summer's definitely on its way! i had a long chat with one of the girls, and was turned shy on hearing that i've become a topic of conversation amongst the females of the pack :P
the route was long and there were plenty of hills. i was surprised to find myself and especially my knees in excellent shape - the longest run we did i sprinted with a beer in hand, and i handled the speedy south tel aviv streets with ease :)

a couple of us were shocked to discover that there's a guy with us who's not only vegan (the principled kind that i don't particularly appreciate) but doesn't like chocolate. i find the idea of not enjoying something as basic as that (to me, at any rate, i wouldn't last without it) really sad. having him regale us with horror stories of chocolate ice-cream was simply painful.

we finished off the evening at the penguin club - i've been wondering about its whereabouts for a while because they have supposedly good weekly trance parties. we all had fun trying to dance on blades, the music was pretty sweet and the vibe was comfortable. it was a shame to have to leave early.

as usual :P

i bladed back with a couple of my neighbours and got home around 2.30am. i sat online to finish posting, had a shower, and went to bed not really tired.

[moving] i went to sleep around 4am, and woke up at 6am. i hadn't received any responses to the messages i'd sent the night before, but i assumed i'd be able to catch our SC anyway. at 6.30am i forced myself to stop snoozing and prepared to get myself out of bed, but then i woke up and an hour had gone by. no responses to my frantic sms'es, shaving was a blur (and i was seeing funny colours) and every motion was a mission.

at least i had enough presence of mind to walk out with tea and biscuits.

i'm really bothered by one specific aspect of public transport: i'm exceptionally uncomfortable with rubbing my eyes after i've held on to any features in the bus :/

i read bits and napped bits on the way to the base, and was shocked to receive a call from my TL when i was already on the internal bus asking why i hadn't reported in. it was only after i got in that i discovered that my sat-phone wasn't working, hadn't been the entire night, and i'd missed a ton of calls and messages - most importantly from my SC :(

[bondage] i was thrown a roll for breakfast, as the first thing when i arrived - pre-coffee - was being dragged into a meeting about the project i was hoping to be done with already. as soon as that was done i gave the sat-phone company a call. after having vented as little as possible (it couldn't be helped, some things just had to be said as the calls are recorded :P) i was informed that "yeah, that shit happens from time to time and you'll just have to deal with it". wonderful!

military phones don't need to actually work, right?

i decided over lunch with him that i'm going to try ignoring captain incompetent, in spite of the fact that he's responsible for me as far as work is concerned. i'll probably get away with it.

i tried to get back to work, but i passed out at my desk. fortunately, i came around just before our unit commander arrived :$

perl anguish was put aside for spring cleaning. i haven't sat at my desk in almost two months, and one of my "team-mates" (all descriptions are tricky of late) came outside to "ask" (beg, plead, and guilt) me to clean it. i, erm, volunteered* to do them a favour and handled the basic dusting. then discovered that we're undergoing an inspection tomorrow and nobody had thought to inform me. i grabbed some cleaning equipment and rushed to my "office" to scrub and tidy, while my formal TL (the dog-tag breaker) shredded whatever remained of my personal effects.

he couldn't understand why i took umbrage.

* i was going to say "acquiesced". wrong word.

[society] the telephone technician called in an attempt to convince me to come home early tomorrow so he could install it at a time more convenient for him. i'm impressed that he caught my tone of voice so quickly when i explained that "i have a job".

[bondage] i sat with one of the guys, fighting with perl until the end of the day. i *think* i may be on to something. perl sucks.

[summary] after managing to get some rest on the shuttle home, i've been sitting at my pc posting, watching the big bang theory and how i met your mother, chatting online (wow - empathy for both facebook and google chat is impressive), and am finally getting up to go and see panic ensemble with scrapper.

dangerously high blood in alcohol levels

i'll probably realize how late it is when i reach 98% :P
[i meant 99.98%]

i'm going to attempt to get through monday / tuesday in a nutshell, but considering my propensity for elaboration this might end up a full week of continued posts.

---
i woke up at 5.30am to an sms from my ride letting me know that i could sleep in another hour. then i slept in a little more.

another dusty, hot and ugly day. the radio hosts were going on about the woman whose goal is to become the fattest woman in history; one of them was praising her for having a dream. honestly, i agree with him. it's not a particularly bright dream, but she is doing something she's good at and apparently deriving satisfaction. she's only harming herself, and she doesn't sound miserable. good for her!

i began the day at the clinic, but before i could see a medic they closed shop for a while so i went to work. having completed the perl project within days - as opposed to the others who waited an entire month for nothing to happen - i've decided to push those involved to write a report on how the problem was solved. it's cruel, but i'm praying that maybe one of them will learn from the experience and perhaps try to *solve* the next problem he runs into.

yeah, i know. i live in a fantasy world.

lunch was actually alright - pseudo-lasagna - but we had an argument over whether or not israelis need to be taught basic table manners before going abroad. the argument walked back with us to the office, where i discovered that the actual cause for disagreement wasn't the topic, rather the fact that i said "israelis" and it wasn't understood that that's because i *am* one and i care about how *my* people are represented.

*sigh*. israelis.

one of the guys had a good laugh at me when he realized that i've been using facebook events as a method of managing my schedule. that, my whiteboard and my phone are what keep me running :P

nystire and i had yet another communication battle, this one over my incorrect use of a word and his refusal to even attempt to understand what i was getting at. "you said x, that's all there is to it" isn't valid (in my opinion). it would most certainly be better if i'd said x, but i was only capable of saying y and the two letters are pretty damn close :/

i returned to my office feeling the need for some chocolate, so i dug into my now-traditional nutella-cornflakes before heading for coffee. one of the TL's opened up a tin of chocolates, and i'll be damned if i'm going to let something like having just eaten my fill prevent me from consuming more :D

we talked about the hebrew version of the urban dictionary while waiting for the water to boil. they have some highly entertaining entries.

i badger our unit commander every day about my status. monday's news was actually news - some of the bureaucratic backgrounders have been woken into action, and their lethargy is preferable to their apathy.

i added search functions to my project, and in c# that turned out to be a far sight more complicated than it needed to be. i finished with it this morning, and suddenly realized that i hadn't connected the search box to any specific variable, allowing the user to open more than one search / search and replace box and use whichever one suits them.

i think that's an incidental feature :)

the secretary that came with us to bind books on sunday has been paying me short visits over the last couple of days... i think she wants to be my friend. i'm cool with that, although we established very early on that we have nothing in common... i sense awkwardness in the near future.

i still felt sickly by the end of the day. i went home with the alternative ride, who tried unsuccessfully to convince me that replacing my original thursday dvd with a copy and personally printed stickers is good enough. in addition, he drove me nuts the whole way home for the same reason we usually don't get along; he's the kind of guy who thinks of himself as smarter than everyone else, and is not only patronizing in the extreme but he tries to play games with them to see how they'll react.
i really, really don't like people like that.

i have trouble tearing myself away from facebook. recently, specifically, it's from organizing the groups i've created :/

i got sucked into discussing politics with the dry cleaner, and went shopping. both the previous conversation and the fact that all the non-express tills were closed at the same time caused me to run late for the climbing wall... i unpacked the refrigerator stuff, hurriedly switched clothes and decided against pads, and scrambled to get to the wall...

the evening on the wall, while short, was challenging and social. i *must* buy myself shoes.

i eased my way home, hung up the washing and ate, then went to the alternative rock birthday party for ta2 and another friend. two tequilas, a beer, brit-pop (not really my thing) and some awkward socializing later i took my leave and headed to mafteach. i was amused to see some american students getting into the money cab, and when their friends who remained outside expressed confusion as to what the flashing lights were about i paused to explain and have a good laugh :)

i apparently walked into the club at exactly the right time. i grabbed a beer and hit the dancefloor, which was packed with people having a good time and enjoying the very funky prog trance. i must've been going about half an hour when the area around me was flooded by a bunch of confused and fairly young american girls, who were obviously looking for hook-ups and had hit the wrong place.

well, usually it would be the wrong place but there were a number of horny dudes up to the task of shoulder-tapping them and taking them away, which i found amusing. on a personal note, i kinda like that fact that music drives me more than sex.

it was after my home-time and the place was beginning to get cramped, so i headed out into the night. i was surprised to discover that there were a fascinating number of people waiting eagerly outside - i must have just beaten the rush :)

my knees were still a bit tender, but i walked home quickly and got my three hours.

gotta stop now, i'm getting less than my three hours and i haven't started tuesday yet :P

daze out

oh, boy. i've just finished sunday's post, and i haven't got enough time to catch up. i'll have to do it at stupid o'clock in the morning.

for the moment, i've just (well, prior to resuming posting) had my first taste of this watermelon season. it's not the best taste, but it does inspire hope :)

this is a delightfully dark calvin and hobbes. i hope the link stays alive, but just in case, i've tacked on the text to the end of the post. in black on black for your selection, so as to be less unsightly.

i've shared the same frustration with CMMI as dilbert. i feel that the connections between us are coalescing into a vortex that threatens to suck me into his world as one of the characters. probably alice.

i really like the idea of DIY green housing. it looks good, too!

seeing through one's tongue is just another piece of evidence for how wonderful our brains are.

i've just checked, and my upgrade to 2.5mbits is good. it doesn't feel so very different, though. i suppose i'll just believe.

"wow, you've made a lot of snowmen today!"
"yep. they're effigies. each one represents someone i hate. when the sun comes out, i'll watch their features slowly melt down their dripping bodies until they're nothing but noses and eyes floating in pools of water."
"i wasn't aware you even knew this many people."
"the ones i really hate are small, so they'll go faster."

tossing the llama

i didn't have too much trouble getting to the medical base on sunday; i stood observing the kids massing and then clawing their way into the "ideal" bus, and i walked out and into the next one calmly and easily.

i spent the bus ride wondering - if i find a girl who's fun and knows how to behave well, is it possible to do without the understanding? could it be that just enjoying each other's company is enough?

the guys who, once in a blue moon, organize me salt and vinegar chips have got competition. it's a hole in the middle of nowhere, and right next door someone's set up shop that mimicks them completely. did they piss someone off?

i made myself coffee, and went look for someone only to hear that they were currently eating cake to celebrate someone's birthday. i waltzed into his office, said hi to a few people and then made contact.
"hey, totalwaste! have some pastries!"
"am i invited?"
"of course! i sent you a... ah, um, right. shit. sorry." [much laughter from everyone in earshot] "dig in!"

there's nothing like being the only one without email access :P

i discovered that i'd misunderstood something basic from guitar tabs, and overcomplicated something very simple. instead of putting my forefinger over a bar, i managed (extremely awkwardly) to hold three distinct strings, putting my hand into a position akin to that of martin lawrence's in the opening scene of bad boys.

the birthday boy and i were grabbed by the secretariat to get booklets made... expending a lot of effort to sort the material by size / weight and then hearing that it didn't matter.
i made a comment on being built for carrying - as usual there was general surprise that i didn't require any help with the stack... i see it as basic exercise :P

lunch - surprisingly good soup. i had to finish my repetition of her description of men and woman as monkeys and dolphins *before* the rabbi sat down with us, and i managed it with mere seconds to spare.
men are monkeys and women are dolphins. watching two dolphins together is a beautiful thing. watching a monkey and a dolphin is disquieting. watching two monkeys together is gross.
[we're not talking about judging the action here, we're talking about watching it]

there were plenty of perl ups and downs, but i finally finished the scripts i had to write and returned the book an unconverted c-lingual (once again).

i finished the day by returning to my personal project. and making pretty desktop icons. pretty desktop icons are important.

---
our shuttle driver is an immigrant russian with a chip on his shoulder and the calmest street rage i've ever seen. he doesn't seem to realize how aggressively he drives, and he doesn't so much as blink while hooting like a madman and sitting on people's bums.

the serenity prayer occurred to me: all irritations and aggravations are not external, but rather internal. you cannot rightly say "he annoyed me" when it is more a question of you defining the kind of behaviour displayed as out-of-bounds. in the same way that birdsong will please some people and drive others to animal cruelty, it's a personal response to a personally defined situation. one can most certainly "choose" to not be annoyed.

having said that, i'm not suggesting for a moment that whatever it is that annoys you must be accepted. the whole "being at peace with the world" thing has never sat well with me. quite frankly, if you just accepted everything we'd never see any positive change.

---
the heat was unbearable. it was so the entire day, half the country was blanketed in a sickly sand-fog.

i called up hot when i got home to discover that my sweet-deal year was up and that i would have to upgrade. i figured i'd go with their offer to install a landline while i was on the phone with them.

i got in touch with the ticket seller and acquired my ticket to thursday night's goa reunion ^_^

atma: better than coffee. this got me all pumped up for einav jackson cohen's performance at cosa nostra. i was bouncy the entire bus and walk there :)
i picked up a lafa on the way, but i was certain i was late so when i got to the entrance i wrapped up the half that was left as appealingly as i could and left it in a spot i hoped some homeless person would find it.

the woman taking couvert seemed familiar. she was looking for an exact, and i began fishing. the following conversation took place with smiles:
"i hope i have the right amount"
"i have faith in you"
"me too, but not in my ability to control the past. i don't know what's in there"
"you've got it"
"and if i don't? then i'm supposed to feel bad?"

savannah's good. i only heard the last half-hour, and some of it was excellent.

the improvised toothpick: they were out of toothpicks, and after my dinner i was in need. when the bartender asked me for the second time if i was ready to order, i asked him if he was ready to help me with a toothpick. when he managed to make a fairly useful one out of a straw, i ordered the drink and added a bit to the tip :P

---
the temples of doom: gasoline and i found a spot that would've been alright if it wasn't all uncomfortable angles. i could deal, except that about halfway through my eyes started to lose focus and strain. my left eye in particular caused me a lot of grief, and i actually had to close it for a while, feeling a little self-conscious that i was looking lopsided.

i found myself driving fingers into my temples, with the odd result (at least the first few times, apparently it loses the effect quickly) of it seeming like my fingers were pushing my focus together. it's like pressing a button and having the camera auto-focus, only it comes complete with that lekker-seer* massage-into-tight-muscle sparkle.

* like the pain when your wisdom teeth push out. it hurts, but there's something about it that's enjoyable

---
gasoline and i weren't communicating on the shared bit of the walk home. it was a chat comprised of stock-standard responses and much nothing. i felt very awkward.

as soon as she went her way, i took a quick and snuffly walk to bed. the dust hadn't been doing me any favours.

that's all of sunday's news, finally tidied up (without modifying the post date) at 21.48 on tuesday.

swollen

i will be extremely pleased, and very lucky if i can comfortably walk tomorrow. it was stupid of me not to put on pads (and there was actually a moment's hesitation before i left), and they would've totally helped because the freak slip had me landing properly - exactly where the pads provide cover.

climbing the wall with a swollen hand and two bruised (and swollen, too) knees was tougher than it needed to be. we short-changed ourselves by arriving late and ended up with only an hour and a half of driving ourselves nuts on difficult routes... but in my state i wasn't really going to last much longer.

speaking of change, i was holding onto a few coins when i landed. the apple was abandoned immediately, but i realized after i got up that the coins hadn't budged. i have odd priorities.

i'm off to have a drink with ta2, maybe paying the weekly in-city trance party a visit on the way back. i'm definitely not going to be too pushy with my body though.

chippy : pre-post

ah-HA! i wasn't just imagining it - the glands behind my jaw are swollen, and that does make me look a bit different. nystire's response yesterday threw me: "you mean, more swollen than usual?"

bastard.

---
i came to a very grave conclusion yesterday: i'd rather have headaches from eye-strain than lose my ability to focus properly. it makes sense that my eye troubles are connected with my glasses, but because i've never worn glasses before the last couple of years i've never really thought about it too much.

and then i suddenly remembered that when i spent that half a year in the desert, i didn't wear them and i didn't fare so badly.

sundelay

i could've made it on time for a ride, but my body had other ideas. this is not totalwaste at peak performance.

mmm chicken

it obviously took me a while to get around to turning it off - i tried uploading photos (extremely unsuccessfully) while reading outside on the patio in the sunshine. i set the machine to upgrade, continued reading, and used the end of the upgrade as an excuse to shut down and crash on the couch.

i've had one of the songs from hatachtonim's e.p. (susa atzilit - "noble mare") stuck in my head the entire day.

i didn't go and play frisbee, which is probably a good thing.

a few hours later i woke up, and, well, got online again. i didn't mean for it to happen. penny arcade got me transfixed by steambirds. it's beautiful.

i took the bus to herzeliya pituach and bought blueberry vodka on the way to ze germans' place. we had a great evening, although it could have been much better if i hadn't been so stupidly exhausted. and it certainly wasn't a good time to be on a no-red-meat diet :(

i can't wait to wake up in less than five hours.

shutting down

do i always feel like i've never felt this way before
sad smileys face each other slowly swinging back and forth
garbage in my head and simply no space to retort
the sickness to my stomache giving brain solemn report
but what's this fiery itching, from everywhere i've skin
in all my secret spaces, and my eyes are burning in

those eyes that would betray me now
they're giving less and less
and each day that goes by would
have me less inclined to bless
those telomeres that seem to have abandoned me to you
how can i have done such wrong that for my heart you sue

"wait, wait, wait for the horse, wait for his hoofbeat applause"

---
in my defense, i was delirious when i wrote the above. i went to bed agitated; between posting and getting in the shower, i suddenly began to itch. randomly. particularly around my knees, but pretty much everywhere. i wasn't comfortable when i went to sleep.

i was even less so when i woke up, at stupid o'clock in the morning, dizzy and feeling sick and suddenly remembering that i'd consumed a fair amount of alcohol last night and hadn't had much to eat or drink. that might have explained the feverish state, but not the itching which had become even worse. i think i'm going to take my hypochondriac self to the doctor tomorrow.

is this a part of approaching thirty? having one's body do all sorts of randomly unpleasant things? am i just going through a period of bad luck? or is this all psychosomatic and everything will be fine when my life feels in order?

i'm turning off my computer for the day. maybe it'll help.

---
one woman faces the apocalypse: and is unable to defend us. as the teacher says in the first episode of invader zim:
"and will eventually implode in on itself. we're all doomed. DOOMED. DOOMED. DOOMED."

go on. you *know* you want to buy a jetpack.

the heading is incorrect, the summary complete rubbish, the comments insightful: MIT didn't disprove mythical man-month anything

HIV cures unlikely

the mongoose's superhero comics linkage

did you know? loopholed american stem-cell therapy

bubbly

could everyone please stop "growing up"? how do people "turn off" the things that they would enjoy if only society endorsed enjoying them past a certain age? it doesn't have to be that way. if something's cool to you now, there's no reason why it should be later.

for instance: we all like bubbles. they're pretty. they're completely and utterly pointless, they disappear after a few seconds, you know you can't catch them, and chances are that whoever's blowing them keeps getting soap in his / her face. but for all that, they're no less fun.

---
birthday party? i'd completely forgotten that dafna and the cookies were on the cards at levontin! i didn't nap, just played some crash bandicoot then walked that-aways.

there weren't too many people and we made it on time, so we stood right next to the stage. it's the third time i've seen them perform, but the first from up close and personal. the difference is astounding! i hope it's not just because my eyes are so bad of late. dafna is totally wild on stage, and the evening was fun and exciting and the music was terrific!

i didn't manage to get the bubbles to float over the stage though, which was kinda the point of me bringing them. i improved my technique after the show, however, and i blew bubbles until we arrived at the cosa nostra, blew bubbles at random intervals for the hour+ that we were there, and continued to blow bubbles all the way home.

at the bar, i ran into a guy i used to serve with (once upon a time).
"totalwaste! you're almost thirty, what the hell are you doing here?!"
[grinning] "just because i'm approaching thirty doesn't mean i've lost my taste"

---
it made my night to see how many people derived pleasure either from seeing me blow bubbles, or from grabbing the bottle and blowing them themselves ^_^

broken diet

i was on my way to coffeeholic when i remembered that karnaf was back in town, and i turned around to meet up with him for breakfast. we took a slow walk down to the street party, which was really good, and then a slow walk back, stopping for good pastries on the way.

it was only as we were buying beers on entering the street party that i suddenly realized that my breakfast had consisted of things that are specifically forbidden, and i'd totally forgotten about it :/

the party went on a little longer than i'd anticipated, and i definitely wasn't going to be able to make the sunset rollers - instead, i began a side-project organizing rides to nature parties for city-dwellers, and now i think i'm going to nap before the birthday party tonight.

---
women: it's about balance. yeah, a girl needs to care a little about how she looks, but not so much that how she looks becomes a "thing". a girl who invests heavily in herself looks it, and it's quite a turn-off. what's even more of a turn-off is a girl who invests heavily in being a fashion victim... that's just sad. that goes back to what i was saying about heels.

personally, i'm only looking at girls who can dress nicely without dressing expensively, and who know to apply make-up with finesse or not at all.

how was my day? (part ii)

... and we had a screaming match in front of our unit commander's desk that boiled down to nystire repeatedly making completely incorrect assumptions about what other people consider "the basics". he has a very different view of the world than the majority, yet expects everyone to be like him and is constantly shocked, disappointed and angry by their behaviour.

that's different from me because while i'm all three of those things, deep down i *know* that there aren't that many people who think like me.

i suddenly remembered that his TL made a comment this morning about "the nystire factor", that when nystire describes a situation one needs to take into account that the overlap between his description and our shared reality isn't usually very large, no matter how certain he is.

---
lunch was boring. my diet restricts most of what was served, but that didn't look particularly appetizing anyway. i had an apple, and some mostly-cooked chicken breast on bread. i explained to the kinder: i no longer complain because i understand that the food is as good as the majority of our base deserves. if nobody's motivated to complain, then they're voting silently in the wrong direction and they can suck it.

after lunch, i spent a while with a new guy and the wiki writing a tutorial in real-time for what we were learning to do with the application. it was a decidedly frustrating enterprise, but now we know what's going on and nobody will have to figure it out again.

from the results of our experiment, i learned quite a bit about one of the projects i'm working on. i approached the project manager, and we poured over the results while trying to prove each other wrong - and i was wrong. once the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, though, i had the solution in mind and it's all become a lot simpler. [hence the big-picture comment earlier]

on his way out, our unit commander saw me eating the cornflakes out of the nutella. "isn't that really sweet?"
i tipped the bottle to show him the cornflakes.
"if each cornflake merely *touches* the nutella, it's delicious!"

i don't know about anyone else, but i'm sold :)

---
captain incompetent (the idiot who's supposedly responsible for me and causes fights) made a snarky-sounding comment this afternoon, but neither i nor the guy with me could make out the words. when i asked him to repeat himself he got a stupid look on his face and refused; i said very loudly and clearly that it had obviously been something inappropriate. i hope i'm sending him the right signals.

---
the shuttle home would've been uneventful if not for the driver trying to befriend me by rubbing me the wrong way - i was the last out, and he started having a go at all of us because we have desk jobs and aren't serving in the "real" army. he couldn't have picked a worse person. i put him and his elitist shuttle-driver attitude in their place.

i Did Stuff Online and started blogging, rushing off halfway to meet with scrapper and his buddies for pre-show snickers on rabin square. the hardware dude rode past, and made me *extremely* jealous [he did something that i'll have to wait until i get released to even contemplate*], and we went off to tzivta.

* okay, i'm lying. i've definitely contemplated doing it.

the crowd mostly consisted of friends and family, but that's a large number so it was pretty cool. heck, one of the songs even got a mini-mosh pit going. the place was a bit weird, from the seating arrangement to the fact that all i could see were bottles of coke, no beers or waitrons in sight.

hatachtonim's (התחתונים, "underpants") performance started a bit fuzzily with an emotional yet silly piece on how his name isn't particularly good for a porn star, but they got in the swing of things really quickly and were absolutely phenomenal for the rest of the evening. they rock!

afterwards, i had an incredibly awkward moment with the cute superman girl from last week - who really didn't recognize me without my sunglasses and wearing a big shirt. at least the guys who were here a while back and i knew that we'd definitely met before :P

i came home and started completing this post, but suddenly felt completely drained and lay down on the couch, thinking to wake up around 1am for the party at the comfort. i did wake up at 1am, but was so wonderfully comfortable that i simply couldn't force myself to get up. i might have made a better effort if i hadn't known that the guy i was going to meet there wouldn't be going either. just in case, i set my alarm for another forty-five minutes, but by that stage i had absolutely no desire to party whatsoever.

i slept, dreaming strange dreams. after a dream involving being toyed with by a fishing line and studying for a qualification that i already had [i can't remember much more, and was sure i'd written it down], i suddenly found myself standing in a strange bathroom in the dark, feeling something weighing down my left upper arm.
i couldn't shake it off, so i reached for it with my right hand and found myself slowly, carefully, forcefully -and in flat panic - forcing a giant python to release its grip on me while praying that it wasn't going to bite.

i woke up a little upset, considering the likelihood of snakes infiltrating my apartment and what i would do if i had really been in that situation.

i had a shower and went to bed, waking up far too late to make the activism lecture at the idc [i knew there was something that needed doing] and beginning the day with the continuation of that tuesday morning's test. and posting.

Green Nuns On Ice - Alahambra and toires feat natacha atlas - sanati accompanied this post, and they're AMAZING.

how was my day? (part i)

i spent the majority of my day scripting perl. if anyone was to ask how my day went, i'd have to answer "i - don't - know".

i got into the right mode for it eventually, though, and after a few big-picture false starts i think i'm almost done. this is going to save the section a lot more time than originally planned :)

i'm beginning to get the impression that my unit commander really is making an effort to get me released, but that flies in the face of an exclamation of his during the afternoon - "damn! i can't release you, you're a great secretary!": to have use of a phone line, i have to take messages - he's not used to that being done in such a professional manner :P

---
i just missed my bus again this morning, and it happens suspiciously often - i don't leave the apartment at the same minute each day. specifically this morning i think it was just to taunt me for having had such a hard time waking up [i'm definitely not alone].

it suddenly occurred to me that i could catch my ride at a different point, and i hopped on the next bus and arrived with a few seconds to spare. my ride was blaring metallica - master of puppets in honour of the upcoming concert, and i haven't heard those songs in a long time - it always amuses me that the words and sounds are so deeply ingrained in my memory. i'm still not going to pay to see them, however. not since all their post-reload, napster, some kind of monster craptaculars.

[speaking of craptacular, there's now a way for your bowels to move when you're, well, on the move. toilet humour aside, this certainly does have a lot of positive potential.]

when one has no mail to read, sitting down in front of the computer pre-coffee just seems weird. instead, i paid a visit to my previous team-mate (aren't they all? the farmer, then) and we put up the poster i bought for them a while ago.

idiot girl invited me to the drinks and cakes she brought to celebrate, and she *invested*. the cakes were absolutely phenomenal. a fly got in during her short speech, though, and agreed with our appraisal. one of the guys, in his enthusiasm to remove the threat from our presence, lifted the apple pie and tried to squish the fly with it.
after an incident with his cup that occurred shortly after, the following popped into my head:
you've pounced on the fly with the apple pie,
then squirted your juice right into your eye

it's not everyday one can truthfully connect those thoughts.

i asked someone for help with an application we use very rarely, and was told that nystire was the expert. when i asked nystire for help, he got really agitated... [post cut short on account of my running off to see a show, to be continued]

i've been listening to sundance episode 19 while posting, and it's really good.

rubbing sleep from tired eyes

my word - the combination of sleep deprivation, great ambient trance and nag champa made that the most perfect 7+ hours i've had in a while. just five more minutes, ma.

no party party

i spent some time on my netbook, transferring some more of my journal and somehow getting caught up with facebook stuff. there are a number of exceptionally interesting-sounding parties coming up, and i'll be doing my damnedest to make sure i'm there :)

i don't think i'd have enjoyed the birthday party. i'll be going to bed early now.

also in moderation

... continued from previous post.

[this post begun bouncy with m.d.p.c - dosenoeffner]
i'll begin with another mention of just how strained my eyes are: i find it absolutely pathetic that my vision is this fuzzy without my glasses at the moment.

---i had a fight with my sort-of-previous TL, one that got us both pretty riled. i probably shouldn't have loudly and forcefully referred to him and our SC as absolute morons in front of the kids. eventually we managed to more-or-less clear up the misunderstandings, agreeing to disagree about the value of my time. assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups? it's all he bases his opinions on.

i fell asleep tweaking comments according to the advice given in an arbitrary issue of the msdn magazine (i didn't know they had one), and was sleeping so beautifully until someone buzzed the door to send a fax. the fax machine being broken, that was a completely unnecessary panic-attack. sitting at the entrance to the unit commander's office is not a positive experience.

lunchtime amusement with nystire: an old and brilliant story i remember reading on segfault.org about a guy who was an absolute genius or a complete asshole, maybe both, and reflecting on how to lose calories effectively (specifically no. 2 on the list).

i got to doing a bit of work, and was interrupted by our SC who took me aside for the chat. i'm surprised at how well it went, and we seem to have reached an understanding. i've explained to him that i'm not the happiest camper and that i want out, but also that if i have a job to do i'll do it and i'd appreciate being allowed to managed my own time. he let me know that they've been making an effort to get me on my way, and that until then they do appreciate the work i'm doing.

we seem to be all good, then.

i finally got perl installed on my machine, and began learning it from scratch (again). it's a good to know, for sure, but i'm not going to be converting from c anytime soon :P

wr and i had a number of conversations during the day - he called me up to ask if i was interested in a free ticket to a production in the area, and after a couple of updates he then called me up to apologize for the ticket being non-existent. great.

i developed an incredibly intense case of the munchies (i'd barely consumed anything the entire day), and was horrified to discover that our local cafeteria was closed. all that i could find was the remains of nutella and cornflakes, so i poured in the cornflakes and was pleasantly surprised at just how delicious it was ^_^

---the shuttle driver complained about the illegality of the place we asked for me to be dropped off at, then stopped somewhere way worse, and further away from where i needed to be :/

[i've been on a very odd diet since yesterday evening. i've got another five days to go. i hate thinking about food.]

i was reminded by my mother that it has been eight and seven years respectively since my grandmother and my uncle passed away... a lot has happened in that time. i went searching for an evening prayer service when i got home, but i was unfortunately too late :(

i decided to go for a run. the dean's son arrived shortly after i'd eaten, and during our first hour i got a vague idea of where he's at and set him his first task. it seemed like he "got" me, but i can only hope.

i was on time for the rollerblading group, and i was in AMAZING spirits. the group was fantastic, and when we weren't sprinting long stretches we were chatting and having a great time. i've discovered that a large number of them are currently writing exams to be inducted into the new police rollerblading unit, and am highly amused :)

i got home, and until hitting the shower i was focused on trying to organize munchkin games for all those who never get around to playing. this is Important Stuff, you know.

---hard wake up.
i saw it coming, though. and at least our SC picked me up at a [ha! relatively] reasonable time. on the radio a woman screamed about how parents compete in giving gifts to their kids that aren't appreciated, and usually don't deserve to be. i quite agree.
we picked up a couple of guys, fortunately for us the smelly one from last time wasn't of the first three waiting.

the kinder's been waiting a long time to go to thailand, and there's a chance he may be forced to cancel his ticket. i probably shouldn't rub his nose in it, but when almost all of our communication is humorously based on saying terrible things to each other it's hard not to.

i made some headway with the perl script until lunch. i mentioned to nystire that i couldn't eat vegetables, and he gave my plate a quizzical look and asked me why i'm eating couscous if it's vegetable. we actually argued about it before i discovered that he was classifying it in terms of "animal, vegetable, mineral".

*shakes head*

the chicken was dry and tasteless, too. on our way to the central store, we had a fight about slander which left a bad taste in my mouth, and i was arguing in defence of people i don't particularly care for nor think highly of. there are some statements that are simply not okay to pass on.

another moment of confusion, because i couldn't recall whether or not corn was on the list of things i can't eat. it was, but as a suggested food :P
i bought nutella and cornflakes.

the heat was unbearable, and it took a while to cool down once we were back in our building. shortly after settling down, i was called upon to assist in soaking idiot-girl to congratulate her on her promotion. we stood calmly chatting outside, and when she (having been conned) walked outside we caught her completely by surprise :D

the girl who spent most of the afternoon in my office (having trouble with the photocopier, apparently) was very happy that my ipod was having an avril lavigne day. i've never heard it play so many songs by the same artist in such close proximity before :P

i'm beginning to like taxi violence.

nystire and i had a quick-and-dirty training in the corridor. it would've been better if i hadn't picked the wrong tracksuit pants, they simply didn't allow much flexibility :/

last thought for the workday: some guy getting upset with me for not being familiar with my unit commander's calendar and taking my name. i'm not authorized to access his calendar, so i wish him the best of luck in whatever angry action he wishes to take.

the shuttle home was pleasant, half the ride i spent chatting about university with a girl who's being released within one day of my official date, and the other i spent tucked in an un-air-conditioned corner [much less uncomfortable] kipping.

---i've been online since i arrived back home. i should nap a bit. i'm not sure if i want to go to gn1's birthday party.

[post closed to daydin - dance with me]

---i'm not familiar with lady gaga; bad romance is a pretty cool video.

cheese advert: my sister finds some really cool stuff sometimes :)

men without hats - safety dance: have i never seen this before? it's genius!

i haven't heard a lot of good about it, but from the promo (obviously, yeah, i know) the ipad looks pretty cool. just putting that out there.

i missed the oscars. and i'm never ashamed. this year in particular.

i just ordered the annotated alice [i was irked by the audacity of the algebra op-ed] and dr horrible's sing-along blog. i didn't know that my copy of the name of the wind hadn't been sent yet, so it was a lucky click that brought me to that discovery.

you can combine orders? sweet! :)

more stuff i didn't know about japan. no eating and walking? bugger.

in moderation

i've just had the hot shower that i sorely needed, and after posting i'm going to sleep like an infant... i'll probably wake up screaming like one too, for that matter. i have a feeling that in addition to the 6am alarm being difficult i'm also going to have lost most of the use of my legs.
the route this evening was gruelling - great fun all round, but tough on muscles that had had their share of rough handling before we began :P

---
the walk along the beach last night was beautiful, peaceful, and put me in an extremely good mood. i glided back home serenely, had some rum and vodka that my housesitters had left behind, and stopped watching more full metal alchemist to talk to my mum. our chat was so engrossing that i completely forgot that i had plans, and had to jump fairly fast to make it to rabin square on time for an absolutely brilliant session.

in spite of the fact that my eyes are strained to the max, and i could barely see anything for all the fuzziness :(

we were joined towards the end (after scrapper and i'd already been going for about an hour and a half) by the old friend i ran into a couple of weeks ago. he wasn't bad, but we're quite beyond his level... irrelevant, though, because after we played a little i received a phone call from one of my old team-mates: last week when i saw them, i gave them cash to get me a ticket to the "lady day" concert... and forgotten about it completely. i had half an hour to get dressed and make it to the tmuna theatre.

i felt bad about cutting the session short, but scrapper was kind enough to take me there and i made it *just* in the nick of time. with very tired and stiff legs and a neck to match, but that's alright. i bought my round just ahead of tamar eisenman, and i was decidedly uncomfortable about whether or not to let her ahead of me even though i'd waited so long. she is made of awesome, you know.

to make things worse, she's 5'4" and she stood with her friends right behind me the entire evening. i tried to make myself shorter, i really did. by the time the performances (incredible female israeli artists singing cover songs in honour of women's day) were over, i was wobbly and wondering about fainting...

so the girl (i really need to give her a nickname, so gasoline it'll have to be) and i meandered on down to the chaser bar to pay ta2 a visit on the opening night of the new alternative line. the bar's a far sight better than the yehoshua, and we talked rubbish for a bit while consuming rum, jager and tequila.

i walked part of the way home with gasoline, the rest being quiet but with a decidedly distended belly. i'm definitely developing a complex, and in addition to nutrition and exercise i think i've changed my posture for the worse.

i went to sleep with the massage pillow doing wonders for my neck, and it received an encore for wake-up, too. i'm pleased i managed to drag myself out of bed, and i'm very happy with my decision to leave my jacket behind - it was another warm day.

there's a guy from my old base who i run into every few mornings. we've finally run out of things to say :/
i slept on the shuttle until we hit the speed bumps at full tilt, saw my SC on the way in and explained that we needed to talk, then went for a decent, greasy mushroom pastry for breakfast*.

* the guy behind me, at 8am, was complaining that if he didn't get an energy drink soon he would die. i can see him pegging from a heart attack or something related, and energy drinks being banned here as a response :(

my SC caught up with me in the corridor, and i was very happy to find myself expressing myself properly and beginning to get my situation across to him.
a pity we were cut short because he had to rush off somewhere.

my satellite phone's alright, especially compared to the previous one (so far), but it refuses to ring. i find that rather silly.
the guy in charge of communications on base told me he was on his way, and would be fixing my missing phone line within five minutes. i waited for about twenty, and eventually one of my old team-mates arrived and sorted it all out.

now i can take messages for the boss :P

after an unpleasant experience rescuing a cardboard toilet-roll tube from the toilets (ew)...

... to be continued, i'm exhausted.

i would like to thank...

... vibrasphere - floating free aerospace rmx for closing the therapeutic section of the evening. i just got back from running a bit over 11km, comfortably, in 1.05.
according to my watch, i was "in the zone" for 57 minutes, and it was a perfect evening (cool, misty / fuzzy). the last track on before i walked inside was keep pushing from esp volume 2 :)

i feel pretty damn good.

do i hear bells in the distance?

are they coming closer? i dunno. but our SC is angry with me, because i wasn't authorized to escort the two new kids yesterday. and neither of the TLs responsible for me thought to explain to him why i wasn't in the office this morning.

FAN-TASTIC.

he asked me if i don't have any work to do, to which i responded that i'm officially a pot-plant.
"you're only a pot-plant when you want to be; weren't you working on your old project?"
"yeah, but let's just say that no matter what i'm doing i'm not exactly earning my salary."
"whatever. next time, ask me first."

---
my bed was difficult to leave this morning, and i caught the bus and passed out. i'd confused two bus routes, and woke up in petach tikve (whoops), so i bought a bottle of coke and headed back. when i got to the building i was headed for, i discovered that the section that used to be stationed there had moved... this was a bit of a shock. i then ran into our base discipline officer when i left... this was also a bit of a shock. either he didn't recognize me, or didn't want to - that was alright with me.

i found the academic corps without too much trouble, dropped off the medical file and went to get my sat-phone upgraded. the signage was absolutely pathetic, and it took much longer to get there than it should have. the girl in charge was taking too long, so i skipped out for a double espresso and returned to upset the salesman. "phone only", i asked him, and he tried to impress upon the usefulness of bluetooth headsets. "yeah, but brad pitt..."

i didn't get to finish that sentence, because i was interrupted by the guffaw of one of the other representatives. i let him go on for a couple of chirps about how i shouldn't listen to celebrities.

"do you know what i was going to say about brad pitt, before you started mocking me?"
embarrassed silence.
"maybe not?"
"right. i was going to say that he acknowledged that even *he* could barely pull it off. and he's right. they make you look stupid."
"what?? no they don't!"
"okay, you keep wearing yours, i'll pass on mine"

actually, aside from the fact that i can't get my new phone to ring, it does everything in the same way and slightly better than the old one. could be worse.

on my way back i went searching for whoever could help me get my money back for the ambulance i paid for a couple of years ago, but nobody had a clue to whom to refer me. i gave up and stopped by the academic corps for a second cup of coffee (strong turkish, this time) and a chat with a guy i did the course in 2008 with, then had lunch in the officers' mess. the onion soup was particularly good.

i realized late that i'd forgotten to deliver something to the base i'd been on earlier, so after lunch i missioned back there (finding a shortcut) and was almost done for the day. i sat in the academic corps office until we all realized that they simply couldn't help me anymore, and i reported back to my now-previous TL that it was too late for me to return to base so i was going home.

on my way out i acquired a hebrew translation of joseph heller - catch 22 which will be donated to the new kids in the section to be read as part of their induction. it's better to meet those characters second hand before dealing with them in the flesh.

i arranged to meet with lipgirl on the beach [although she just called to bail], and daydreamed all the way back to tel aviv. i was getting ready to get up when the bus driver slammed on the brakes, causing me to fly forward and almost take out the two girls sitting facing me - i luckily managed to grab the window with two fingers, but was highly uncomfortable with the whole episode.

---
i've changed out of uniform, watched some full metal alchemist, napped for a bit, run laundry, talked to my SC... i'm now ready to make good on my promise to hit the beach. the hot,it's-gonna-be-a-sick-summer weather begs it.

role-modelling

at least i drank enough water before going to sleep that i didn't have too much of a hangover when i woke up, but either way i'm well impressed with myself for managing to get myself out of bed, shaved and dressed on time. i even remembered to take the canvas i'd prepared, paints and a brush [although we didn't end up using it], and a couple of cds for another round of attempting to encourage section-mates to listen to good music.

my knees and neck were pretty sore this morning.

i had breakfast with nystire, and that set the tone for a day of miscommunication.

the first person into my office was nyah-nyah, and i showed her danny gilboa's new music video (without sound, damned army machine). she called me up this evening to express how impressed she is with the sound :)

i spent the morning performing menial labour that could be handled using a short perl script and instead is taking me forever. the guy in charge and nystire were each convinced that the other had made it clear that installing perl on my machine and letting me sort it out was off the cards... right until i explained to both of them that they were in charge, at which point they both came around to seeing things my way.

amazing :/

we spent half an hour hearing funny stories from one of the guys who just got back from thailand, half an hour eating malteasers non-stop. right before lunch, too.

idiot girl asked me for help with something, and i took the opportunity to push the concept of using the wiki on her and her team-mates. i've been getting into the swing of things again, it seems.

i felt queasy during lunch - the lunch itself wasn't anything to write home about, but i don't think the chocolates helped too much either. nobody aside from nystire got that i was kidding about maybe showing symptoms of rabies. two eucalyptus-fresh academic officers have arrived to idiot-girl's section, and they ate with us.
afterwards, due to my lack of importance, i was asked to escort them for their first foray into forms hiking.

i took the opportunity to introduce them to as much as could possibly fit into such a short and eventful afternoon, and if they remember even half of what i said they'll have a solid advantage. they seem like good kids, and we got through everything with very few hiccups.

while we were sitting and talking outside the welfare officers' offices, i caught a girl stretching badly and complaining about what my best guess tells me is one of the adductors connecting the pelvis and the upper thigh. i intuitively knew the best way to stretch it, so i showed her, and gave her an explanation about how muscle fibres work so that she'd stop bouncing around so much.

---
from that we all got to discussing sport, then officers' course, and the different types of officer. that was when the guy sitting on the other side of the bench i was on piped about about officers having bad attitudes. i neither blinked nor hesitated in explaining - in no uncertain terms - that officers are not supposed to be as he described and that unfortunately not all of them behave the way they're supposed to: to get the job done while taking care of the human beings in their charge. the officers' course is essentially half a year of brainwashing about how to keep one's charges healthy and happy and motivated, and it frightens me how many forget that.

i gave the kid my number, and told him to give me a call if he needed anything. an hour or so later he did call, and when he explained what he was going through i calmed him down and told him, step by step, exactly what he needed to do in order to sort everything out. i also offered to help him file a formal complaint if what i told him to do is blocked by his superiors...

it never ceases to amaze me how much most long-term military types take advantage of average g.i. joe's [sorry, i had to] lack of familiarity with procedure and his rights.

he sounded very grateful, and expressed his wish that he would meet other officers like me. i really hope i'm not that rare. all one has to do is care.

---
the rest of the forms hike was quick, and the only other item of interest was the girl in the security office - first i corrected her hebrew (there's a horrid trend of using the third person future tense instead of the first person, and they don't know they're doing it because it sounds similar when you speak badly), then her handling of scissors.

i'm sure i've complained about this before, but israelis don't usually learn how to pass scissors from hand-to-hand because it's dangerous, so when they do need to do so they unthinkingly pass it point first.

i've been given an excuse to pay the induction base a visit tomorrow, and so i shall. it gives me a chance to sort out a couple of things, and make myself useful by delivering stuff for others, too. i'm enjoying my newfound freedom in lacking a concrete job description, and going back to being a jack-of-all-trades is fun :)

i dreamed on the shuttle home, finally got my photos uploaded and went to pick up my knee pads. the repair cost more than i'm really happy with, but the work looks surprisingly good. on the way back i stopped by a relatively new and very intimate sushi / soup place called sekai.

i should have stuck with the japanese menu, because the thai beef soup i ordered was absurdly filling and quite a bit of work to get through - and i'd been zoned out before i sat down :P

in addition to my body's aches and pains in responding to friday's half-workout, my jaw's feeling tight and i'm now hoping i'm not coming down with anything... at least i'm about to go to bed early; and wake up (relatively) late.

---
thank piraro: trolololo :)

tongue bifurcation always intrigues me, but doing it yourself?!?! the video in the responses makes a very, very strong case for it.

no frisbee

i decided it was time to go outside and enjoy the sunshine, and was on my way to the beach when i realized that i hadn't taken my frisbee with me. when i returned home, instead of taking the frisbee i cleaned the apartment and then took my netbook to cafeneto while the floors dried.

google docs was doing strange things. i saved all my work in open document format, and i'm hoping that it'll transfer back elegantly.
the tri-chocolate cake was good.

a neighbour of mine rocked up, and we continued a discussion we'd been having a while back... i'm very proud to have been a factor in his decision to study something that interests him; he's incredible satisfied, and he's been spreading the word. one studies to be educated, and there's no need to confuse education with profession, unless you're sharp enough to turn your field of interest into a profession.

don't study for cash. it's not worth it.

i've been trying to upload photos to facebook all afternoon, with no luck. something's wrong with my java installation - that seems to happen at every distribution upgrade :/

i watched some more full metal alchemist, then paid a visit to one of ze germans - aside from making great coffee, he might be able to help me with the Big Next Step :)
on my way back from his place, sun project - statistic was playing, the ringing occurring *just* after i crossed the road having had my spidey-sense tingle and being extra wary of the cars turning across the pedestrian crossing...

i discovered that the vodka my house-sitters left in my fridge is really good, then watched some more full metal alchemist while eating a slapped-together dinner. i enjoyed* the walk to the ozen bar to see danny gilboa putting on a brilliant show in honour of his new video [beautifully made, even if you don't understand hebrew you should watch it], and from there i joined ze germans (consisting of the aforementioned austrian, grootbek, the irish, the swedish, sjo and a couple of french guys) for a poker game.

having consumed three or four shots of rum, two shots of vodka and two beers, i was in the right mode for play. i walked out of the game having quadrupled my buy-in, off really shitty hands. and even if i'd walked away empty-handed, i still would have enjoyed myself :)

* "enjoyed": playing music so good that my head and hands were responding unconsciously, and when i realized what i was doing i decided i didn't care

inspiration day

you know that feeling, when the light suddenly dawns and you realize you've been staring at the solution all along and simply weren't focusing correctly?

that just happened to me. i thought i'd take a nap before settling into the apartment cleaning routine, but i couldn't close my eyes for all the sparking, buzzing and connecting going on between my neurons and in my mind's eye. hell, i even pseudo-dreamed about rollerblading while that was going on, and completing my train of thought in the process and afterwards managing to write it down.

it's a Grand Idea, the kind that leaves my heart skipping beats and my brain itching to figure out where to begin implementing it.

gyroscopes and infrared

i watched a couple of episodes of full metal alchemist with rum and burnt popcorn before going to bed. still bitter about the complete stranger who turned out to be a jerk and turned a terrific day into a shitty night. if he hadn't offered, i would've just slept and gone out to do something fun.

---
i woke up after five hours' sleep (more of that clock's effects), and have spent a few hours clearing my news reader and coming up with some strange and possibly practical ideas for my Big Next Step.

here are the thoughts for the day:
pale blue dot - ye olde carl sagan quote

here we go again - more sensationalism on video game violence. these idiots just have *all* the answers. at least the slashdot comments reflect some sensible thoughts.
why don't we just switch all gamers off with a mozart attack?

some more on nasa's inflation plans.

here are a few neat and environmentally sound ideas :)

an interesting look at evolution: apocalyptic ecology

micromanufacturing has hit prosthetics: we're not too far away from the neuromancer's bartender, methinks :)

so how was yours?

worst friday night ever. a night spent sitting in a biting cold wind, accompanied by rats and a toothless bus driver being harassed by a drunken immigrant trying to buy his bus.

i'm at a loss as to how to express such extreme disappointment in such an ill-fitting end to such an excellent day, and how much of that disappointment is based in the lack of the average middle-eastern's understanding of the concept of keeping one's word. and in the average israeli's lack of distinction in this from our slightly less cultured cousins and neighbours.

yet another reason to keep with the city-folk.

starting to feel the cold

i'm sitting at an arbitrary kiosk next to netanya's central bus station, two hours after leaving tel aviv. i know i have a lift back to tel aviv from the party, but i need to get there first and the guy i'm supposed to be riding with hasn't been in touch...

---i stopped by a kiosk on the way to the taxi rank for very expensive must-haves such as energy drinks and bubbles. it was just my luck that i was crossing the road when the shuttle took on board its last passenger, and i sat worrying for five minutes before discovering that they run every fifteen. i was all good :)

i didn't get mr stress, who made a big noise because the driver wasn't leaving fast enough for his liking, nor the two brothers loud, who chilled out just as i was getting ready to ask them to.

my neck, and the rest of my body, is a bit stiff.

i've been sitting for a while, fascinated by the natives and worried that some random group of arsim will notice that i'm reading shakespeare (or reading at all, for that matter) and assume that i'm either gay or too smart - i don't have the hometown cultural advantage.

come on, i need to dig!

"not yet"

i submitted a definition to the urban dictionary this morning, and they've accepted it - although that's not enough, apparently. for some reason, on a website that accepts some of the most retarded re-submissions, it will take a couple of days for bio-illogical clock to become available.

for those who simply can't wait that long:

bio-illogical clock

the internal physiological mechanism responsible for causing one to wake up at workday times on the weekend.

also responsible for any low-grade sleep disorders and the inability to stay awake during any meetings held after lunch.
"it's saturday, go back to sleep!"
"i can't, it's my bio-illogical clock on the fritz again."

i took the iliad to coffeeholic, and enjoyed my beef-parisian immensely. i was exhausted after that, and returned for a short (just shy of an hour) nap before going shopping.

a) i haven't been shopping in a while, and i'm a little embarrassed at the quantity of stuff that's been accumulating on my shopping list.
b) i took my old kneepads to a tailor, and he told me it wouldn't be a problem. he saw that i had a problem with the amount he asked for it, and dropped it by a sixth... i'm sure i could've gotten a better deal out of him if i'd made an effort, but i suck at bargaining :/

i made a quick snack that turned out to be a lot more food than i'd planned, got everything ready for both the climbing wall and the rollerblading afterwards, and headed out. i arrived on time, having remembered everything except a pair of shoes :P

i rented climbing shoes, and i have to admit that the difference they make is absolutely astounding! and in addition to that, my grip has improved and my overall technique is a far sight better - i'm really happy with the 2.5 hours i did today. i challenged myself constantly and had a lot of fun, even with the failures :)

one of scrapper's friends is a cute girl that he met playing frisbee, and we got into a serious debate about how good an idea a marathon of the original superman movies is, specifically the director's cuts. i'm downloading them now.

i was halfway up one of the most infuriating walls they have, when i was forced to let go and started spinning - it was about 4.30pm, and i was looking over the roller-rink, and that was when i realized that the group was leaving at 4.30 and not at 5pm as i'd seen on the forum. i've now properly given up trying to use the damn forum.

i scrambled down, hurriedly switched shoes for blades and said goodbye to everyone, making it just in time for the last half a minute of the route description before we headed out - lucky timing!

we rolled for three hours, with a great group and wonderful weather. i had a chat with the professor i've been meaning to get hold of concerning the project i want to take up when i'm released, and one of the guys from the first leg of 2008's course joined us halfway and we had a lot to talk about. it was a pretty serious route, so we definitely got exercise, but after the second beer i decided i was ready to calm down and had a dr. pepper at the last stop :P

i got home, and immediately went online to see if anyone had responded to my desperate request (i offered to part with fragments of my soul and petrol money) for a ride to tonight's nature party - and someone had! he's unfortunately leaving from netanya, which means i have to get there first... which means i can't sleep even a little, and i'm bothered that i'll arrive in netanya at the agreed time and he'll be excessively late - a situation i'm horribly familiar with. but i'll just have to take my chances.

i've just bought a book on mike's recommendation - i'm a sucker for penny arcade advice.

i'm now going to figure out what i'm taking with and how i'll dress - i don't want to get stuck with a bag like last time - and then going shopping for alcohol and energy drinks. hmmm... if i take a bag, then i can take a thermos... dammit, this is going to be a harder decision to make than i'd thought.

slow burn

i don't know how to count calories, and for some reason i was sure i'd have burned more. i checked it out using the calorie calculator, though, and the numbers make sense.

oh, well.

while verifying, i did find a link to bad gaming tattoos. and then terribly inappropriate gay animal photos.

egg-on-face-timer

my bio-illogical clock is at it again. i couldn't pull myself out of bed for the party last night, and that's with the assistance of a couple of phone calls by someone who was coming with me. and at 7.30am, i gave up trying to go back to sleep and decided to go for a run before breakfast instead.

this is ridiculous.

and to make things worse, there's a big party happening tonight and i have no way to get there :(

shuttleneck

the happiness and joy of the day began with our as-usual aggro shuttle driver, who - in addition to his blaring "eastern" music so loudly that i couldn't cancel it out with my ipod - hit a speedbump so violently that i felt my neck shunt into the base of my skull, and i've been uncomfortable since.

you know how people claim to be able to tell the future with tea leaves? in my case, the tea itself seeped out of the bag and sat at the bottom of the hot water this morning. it was a sign, i tell you. maybe i shouldn't have drunk it.

i enthusiastically added search capability to my big project (so excitedly, in fact, that i didn't drink first coffee until about 10am). i did that until the new moron (trucker) in charge of me* brought in one of our project managers to talk to me.

---
the project manager is the kind of guy who never gets his knickers in a knot; cool, calm and collected. he doesn't always understand everything, but he makes up for that with motivation and a level head. that's what made it especially unnerving when he walked in, furious with me and speaking in terms that were decidedly unfriendly.

i'm extremely proud of how i handled the situation. i didn't raise my voice, but i did raise all the points that were relevant and in a manner that left nothing unclear. i was perfectly confident in my position, and by the time he "got" me and we were both speaking the same language i felt the dual urge to both slap trucker very hard and to razz him with thumbs on temples and fingers a-wiggling.

he'd tried to pass the buck onto me for his incompetence and lack of a basic grasp of the situation. he messed with the wrong guy.

* he's not really in charge of me, because nobody is at the moment. nystire has been complaining about him for years, but because nystire complains about everybody i haven't really paid any heed. he's the guy i've been [fighting with], and this morning i actually told him that he's obviously unfocused and needs to get his act together.

incompetence is one thing, but add to that shirking his responsibilities in a manner that has the entire office (including our SC) throwing up their hands in vexation at every turn makes it a darker creature altogether.

---
i seem to have made the dean's (from my alma mater) other honour list. he called me up today, asking me to take on his son as a tutor.

[what the hell did i mean, "fix woes"?? i have got to stop doing this to myself]
[ah, yes. the kinder laughed at me for sitting at the secretary's desk, then required my assistance in something that i excel at more than most secretaries. unfortunately, he hit another block after i helped him and no less than three captains and a lieutenant were forced to give up. the fax machine appears to be broken.]

lunch wasn't bad, and there was much laughter at the table. the guy who gave me a ride back to our building was shocked that i identified marilyn manson - sweet dreams within a second of him putting it on: is there any other song with a remotely similar beginning?

i have acquired an assistant, and amassed a number of ideas for amusing short videos depicting different aspects of my current situation :)

after getting a bit of wiki-work done (that's what the [fighting]'s been about), my head started spinning and i crept over to nystire's office so i could take a nap without bothering the unit commander. i was woken in time for coffee and "rescue chocolates" that one of the girls keeps for just such emergencies. good chocolate ^_^

the weekly meeting was amusing - a few of the guys were concerned that without clearance i shouldn't be updated along with everyone else. in a show of cynicism, i stood with my hands over my ears :P

the girl who i've had a few difficult run-ins with over the last couple of years? i've heard now from a number of sources that it's not just me, and today i witnessed her explode over an innocent question that somebody else asked. i made it worse, of course, but by that stage i didn't care any more. some people make their own lives shit. it's a choice, you know.

ten of us left early to participate in a memorial service for a fallen soldier who'd served in our unit about twenty-five years ago. the service at the cemetery was quick and painless, and the ride to the family's home was fun. the service at their home was alright, although a bit long, but eventually i got a ride back to ramat gan.

it took an exceptionally long time for the bus to arrive, and when it did it was packed. as usual, the people at the front couldn't breathe and there was plenty of room at the back - i got dark looks as i slowly made my way there, and when i stood up and stretched i got surprised and embarrassed looks from those same faces.

i don't get why nobody thought to join me.

---
my eyes have been itching for a while now, and my legs randomly for the last couple of days. i don't think they're connected, but it's annoying. i believe it's mostly psychological, though.

---
i need to nap before going out. i know i made the right call by not going to the climbing wall today.

korpiklaani - vodka - i think i like this song.

a new zealand attempt: good on you, guys! i really hope their project succeeds :)

i have to thank my mum for this link: horse's pass. it may not be true, but it's a nice story.

the other side of sleepy

i'm *so* close to breaking... but i'm having so much fun getting there, that i don't really care ^_^

i just got back from michal geva's album debut performance, which was great fun and starred some really great guests. unfortunately, i was sitting at exactly the right angle to catch the bright red light that was lit to the max towards the end of the show, which hurt so much that i was either squinting painfully or watching with one eye shut tight. the show was still excellent :)

danny gilboa's new single has a brilliant new video :)

---
tuesday morning:
one of the guys in charge of the shuttle surprised us by appearing with a rifle at the very last possible stop, allowing us to continue on to base after we'd assumed we were going to have to get off and take the bus as we'd done on monday. i ate my miserable breakfast alone in the mess when we got there.

my previous TL (or my current, nobody knows what the hell is going on) caught me playing the guitar in the morning, and asked me if i didn't have anything productive to do. i had an excuse in hand, but the real reason was "i feel like it, so i'm doing it".

i caught the base discipline officer for the chat we needed to have. i'm still angered by his response, and this morning i passed it along to our SC who agreed with my plan of action.
the discipline officer informed me that he'd already canceled the illegal order i was complaining about, but that "it's not exactly a hard-and-fast rule, there's room to maneuver". i explained to him that there isn't.
"well, we're not doing it anymore. except for big events."

was he trying to upset me? our plan is to let this slide, and then to pull out all the stops if we catch him trying it again.

[i visited the medical base for a certain test. when i got back all i could think of was "i don't wanna talk about it". as i said to the girl in charge, that was one of the most emotionally difficult things i can remember doing.]

i had lunch with tahoma and nyah-nyah, and because i'm completely bombed right now i can't remember why i made a note to myself that says "(smacked back)" :/

i was thrown out of my new office (without clearance, i have to be at least two walls away from any interesting conversations) for a while, and was introduced to the religious heavies from our sister / nemesis section. they're not particularly sharp.

at the same time, one of the techie girls took an interest in my reading the iliad - i think she was flirting with me. i didn't notice anything until she said something quite unusual, and when i asked what she meant she ran away :P

[a fight over use of a script to automate work vs doing the work manually begins]

i've noticed that now that i'm back in uniform, i'm eating constantly again. not good. it reminds me of fat bastard. i put up two posters on my wall. the first is the number of months i have left in the worst case scenario that i'm not released early, with the title "the worst possible situation". the second is a sign that says that if you're not irritating and you're not bothering, then you're probably not influencing.

a few people came by to ask what the hell i was doing in my new office, and it took a while for some of them to "get" that my moving there is real...

i managed to nap a little on the shuttle home, and on arrival switched clothes for climbing and strapped on my blades. i went to megasport, bought shitty pads to use until mine are repaired and eight wheels that i discovered later are simply not good enough to put on my chassis. i went straight from there to buy four good wheels at the serious store, and the owner sorted me out without any hassles. he also informed me that everyone was planning on dressing up for the rollerblading...

i bladed from there to the sportec, most of the way eating a lafa. i'm well impressed with myself for not having made a mess, but i have to admit that eating such heavy food right before climbing was possibly not the most intelligent thing i could have done. and i started to feel a twinge in my left knee, which is worrying.

just before strapping on the harness, i became aware that my bladder was full - this is an area with no public facilities. i'm very proud of myself for overcoming my shy bladder and managing to relieve myself in nearby bushes. i don't remember how, a few days ago, i came across a web site dedicated to helping people with shy bladders, but it seems to have helped :)

we did a fair amount on the walls, but the going was tough and i'm fully aware of just how much work i have to do on my technique.

as soon as we were done, i scrambled back home to change - running into one of the girls on the way, who was dressed in moo cow - and managed to roll out ready on time. the group was fantastic, a lot of people showed up, and most of them dressed up. a night of silliness ensued.

moo cow and i sat at the dancing camel for a couple of beers, and i escorted her home before returning to mine, stopping on the way at a new kiosk to buy chocolate. i had a good laugh at the dude's expense because i was completely bombed and in dire need of sleep, and he was having more trouble than i was subtracting fourteen from twenty :P

this is the track i went to bed with: scorb - stupid science. it's very nice.

i noticed that a ton of laundry had accumulated...

---
this morning's wakeup took longer than expected; i had to take a taxi in order to arrive on time to meet our SC, and he was late as usual so i didn't have to spend that cash. he agreed to let me draw cash on our way to the base - you know, at 7.50am, one doesn't expect to run into a line for the atm.

the woman in front of me seemed to be doing all her banking using the atm. i held my breath, counted to many, and sighed when she eventually withdrew her card. it took her a while to put the cash she'd withdrawn in her purse, and i made my peace with that.

then she pulled out her other card.

*clenches fists*

i had a decent pastry for breakfast, and spent the morning napping and playing with the guitar. i was woken for lunch; the discussion around the table was about lord of the rings (the books vs the films) and braindead (why i think everyone should watch it).
when we got back to our building, nystire and i investigated head-mounted displays. they're expensive.

[the automation argument gets worse, nystire and i mission across base for nothing]

our unit commander is even happier with me as a secretary than he was yesterday :P
i read a bit, and dove into my project towards the end of the day, making some tangible improvements, and quite enjoying it :)

the shuttle home was uneventful, and i did manage to shut my eyes for a while. i hurriedly got my gear and my self sorted out for training in the park with nystire, but it was only after i'd left that i learned that he'd been waylaid. i warmed up and stretched while i waited, and we had a comfortable session when he arrived, primarily focused on balancing on the ball of the foot.

the training lasted a couple of hours. on the way back i was feeling a mite peckish, and stopped at the thai place that i usually don't even consider. they've just be upgraded from despised to delightful; not because of their crappy service or the slightly above-average food, but because the price is decent and they're finally using the standard chinese take-away boxes so i can eat while i roll.

i was taking out the laundry when i discovered that i'd forgotten about the show tonight, and hung it up and scrambled to arrive just in time :)

---
i'm definitely in need of my duvet.

catching (almost) six

i was good today, didn't nap at all. i remembered to take my outfit to "work", too, for dress-up day.

we had to get off the shuttle at the last tel aviv stop, which meant coming in from the other end of the base. i was still feeling a bit hung over, and *had* to do the salt and vinegar chips thing. the owners love me, and excitedly promised that they would be ready in five... they chirped and chirped while the oil bubbled, and about half an hour later the rain began pelting down and i sat down with my fresh chips and bowl of vinegar. i wasn't going anywhere.

at least the rain didn't last very long, although it was incredibly heavy. nobody would really have cared if i'd been late, anyway.

i made a pretty psychedelic background for my workstation, with "RELEASE ME" boldly pasted over it in a random yet funky font. after coffee and a little bit of time with the guitar, i got my work environment mostly set up and then changed into my outfit. everyone loved my spy disguise, and the fake 'tache i wore suits me; i don't think i could grow such a strong one, though. i reminded myself of the stranger.

i didn't speak to the discipline officer because i was dressed amusingly. our SC was terrified that i'd go out of my way to make him feel bad because i was proven 100% right in my assertion yesterday. i told him that if i'm not to file that complaint, then i can at least make sure he knows he has to inform his brethren in the Cabal of the Unrefined that they have to stop that shit.

an exchange of snow stories with one of the guys who just got back from a week at les arcs (where we were last year), and i'm aggravated that it doesn't look like i'll be able to go this year, all because of the weird situation with the army.

suck.

as my mom said, i'll have to make up for it either during the summer (argentina) or pull a serious stint during next year's academic vacation.

lunch was quick, and the whole "carnival" thing was less atrocious than last year's. they had tekken - i don't know which post-tag one it was, and i was beaten twice by some average kid with a shitty attitude... i'm so used to certain basic moves that i was completely thrown when they didn't work.

oh, well.

i spent the afternoon getting back into the swing of working on my project (at least something productive's possible), playing secretary and whining about the fact that the entire unit now has access to whatever munchies are on my desk; that, and whenever someone comes into the office i hear a buzz and a bang right behind me and my nerves are going to be shot if i don't get used to it quickly.

from the base we went to one of our section-mates' new apartment - a cool, refurbished hospital room in sisters' quarters. there was blood pooling in the corridor. while there and drinking (i forgot i was in uniform :P), we watched youtube videos, laughed about ordering pizza online (the user experience is excellent), and talked quite a bit. i left when the guys put a movie on, to catch a bus back home so that i could get some sleep.

if i hadn't been so wrapped up in the news, i would've been in bed ages ago.

an interesting story: prohibition poisoning

octopus using tools: i dunno, it doesn't seem to different from the hermit crab. thanks, nystire :)

a brief glance at the x prize plans

i'm meta-linking to the gore op-ed that says we can't wish climate change away

two hours later

and still totally worth it :D

3am

levontin.
pharagonescia - pharatropic.

the comfort was awesome - excellent progressive trance and the vibe was great; i have only one question. where do all those people come from? where do they work? i couldn't stop smiling thinking about the fact that i was having a great time grooving and i have to be up at 5.30am.

anti-valentine

i quickly post before hopping to the comfort to jump around a bit, still waking up from what was supposed to be a power nap on the couch and felt more like a nightmare on the couch - imaginary creepy-crawlies eating me and not even managing to complete watching the colour of magic.

now i need to bounce even more to make up for it.

---i *just* missed the bus this morning, but was fortunate to make the second bus and was only five minutes late to meet with our pointy-haired boss, who was kind enough to wait for me.

for someone who'd slept only two and a half hours after feeling terrible all weekend, i was doing just fine. breakfast with nystire was alright, and was completed by brownies one of my virtual team-mates made (i'm not certain how i fit in organizationally anymore). i spent the morning chatting [including to wr, who surprised me with a call] and practising with the guitar.

[i paid a visit to the doctor, and walked out having received both good news and bad news]

---i heard that one of the base discipline officer's cronies (a civilian "contractor") was holding one of our soldiers' id cards, and took offence. it's not only an illegal thing to take place from both sides, it's bloody stupid because without it a soldier on duty's got problems. i walked into his office, and asked him to show me the directive that makes his action legitimate.

"it's definitely okay, don't worry."
"show me."
"they're doing it on other bases, too."
"then that needs fixing. show me."
"okay, okay. here - i'm sending an email to verify."

i got him to cc that email to us, and if he can't back it up he's in deep shit. *and* i'll file a personal complaint, i don't like it when people lie to me. i don't like it at all.

---lunch wasn't particularly good, and the effects were felt almost immediately. i was still a bit lost (swimming in a sea of slipping consciousness as my digestive system was taxed to the max) when gn1 called. it had taken me forever to formulate an appropriate sms.

it then took forever for us to get through a breakup talk that was really painful for both of us. i think more for her than me, though. she had me feeling like a bit of a heel, actually.

i got a terrible haircut - counting off one closer to the last i'll have in the army - and was surprised by what appears to be the new trend. for the first time, i managed to explain to the guy not to "tidy" my fringe and temples and be understood. he didn't even try to trim them. however, without warning he swiped a blade between my eyebrows and temples - an area i definitely didn't need touching. frack, next they're going to start offering bikini waxes and shit.

...

i gave nyah-nyah her first guitar lesson, which went well. my TL rocked up, and discovered that the cd i needed to begin working was already sitting on the keyboard next to me, so i could've been productive from the morning already. if the idiot who'd organized it had *said* something about it to us, it might've been useful.

before setting up my new pc, i went shopping for myself, nystire and the kinder - i managed to leave wearing my undershirt and jacket only (regarding the top half of my uniform), and i'm really lucky that the discipline officer didn't catch me shirtless. especially after the morning's incident :/
i'd also forgotten that there aren't any plastic bags at the local, so i had quite a time trying to carry all the orders at once :P

setting up was amusing, i'm now sitting at the unit commander's secretary's desk. the makes all of us feel awkward. at one point i had to return a cable to nystire, and i threw it at him from the other side of his partition shouting "snake!" - which suitably freaked him out :)

a quick chat about the breakup with my TL in earshot, and he made a very good suggestion. on it, i've written a short list of the basic criteria for any girl i date, and i should probably [not] present it to any potential suitor in the form of a written questionnaire.

it poured with rain most of the day, and a few of us were caught in it trying to leave the base. as soon as the rain slowed, the sun came out for a gorgeous sunset. i went past dizengoff on the way home, bought a costume for tomorrow's base celebration (i'm dressing as a spy), and walked home (again in the rain) to try to nap before going out.

now i'm going out :)