chilled... worked well and resting

i spent the day in the kitchens, and i quite enjoyed it. worked hard, too, and that made me the happier. gots me some exercise ^_^

now i'm at mmf's place, while he gets packing. doing nothing. listening to good tunes. ogling my crib for the next month and a half. and i'll have a fridge, too. and this pc is the bazomb.

machine-gunning it into the eagle's nest

the evening: slashdotting and catch-ups, helping out sammy's buddy with his website, and the following email to my boss:

hi

we began the project over a year ago, and i've spent most of it waiting. there've been one or two times when coworker waited for me (and that's due to the army), but usually it's the other way around. now, her situation is also forgivable, but it doesn't help me when it comes to earning money. and i really can't perform proper testing without her. in fact, there's relatively little i can do without her and her flash results. and her ability to change things in the flash if need be. and her ability to tell me what she needs when i get it wrong (yes, these things happen).

so, could we please, in the meantime, get started on the project for the other guy? you never sent me the summaries we discussed, by the way...

all i really need to begin are the example lines of server data in the database (and by example, i mean one or two of each, not all 50MBs :P), and a description of what i need to do with it.

i'm looking forward to doing something for money...

maybe that'll get something happening... hopefully not too much shit will rain down upon her head. i know he's fairly sensitive about her mothering issues too, and having two kids of his own he can sympathise...

i read some interesting game reviews, and was inspired to do some of my own. gaming, that is. and counterstrike is my quick-start of choice.

i joined a random server, used my usual tactic of "glock only" until i had enough cash, and then went for the machine gun. and, oh yes, i used it properly. mad rushes staight into the gaping maw of an enemy stronghold (bombsite campers are my favourite), gun blazing and fragments of the enemy being spewed all over the place.

over, and over, and over again - different angles of attack and the team i was with was playing beautifully (i love rushers). i actually planned to log off after 20 minutes, but decided to wait until i was killed. three or four rounds over my limit, and i rushed alone into a bombsite with a few police lurking to make my last stand. i took one down with me in a magnificent finale... and that is the most satsified and energised i've felt leaving a game.

short of my 6 kill round and being the only one to survive, and *still* winning. but that was a long time ago, to be sure. probably on a server far, far away...

another day...

and i may as well link if i'm going to wax political.

i had a fairly arbitrary day. walked straight past the base's discipline c*nt with earphones in and non-compliant half-gloves (full gloves only - you tell ME that's logical when soldiers normally need to be able to pull a trigger). i wasn't paying attention (good music), but one of the guys walking with me directed my attention and explained to me that this wasn't such a great idea.

i was supposed to find out travel details from my welfare officer, but they were preparing for an internal inspection, so they weren't being helpful today. i sorted things out with my guard duty: the guy in charge has put me down for three shifts, and when i told him that he'd have to replace me due to my exemption he just smiled and said "okay. bring it to me when you renew it." that's silly, but anyway.

i had practically no work today, so i had a long lunch instead. i then bussed to tel aviv, walked around with mmf, then returned to base in time to leave.

ssso picked me up, and we went for coffee while she made a presentation for a pyramid scheme. funnily enough, if i could afford the initial investment i'd go in - just because the product is actually worth owning and using. unfortunately, it's too expensive at this point, and i don't have time or energy to go around recruiting. it was a long presentation, and at least i helped her out with transrations and things. it was amusing to be explaining to her certain things about it, because it's tech that i'm familiar with. as a kindness i won't specify any more details.

can't sleep

for the past hour i've been taking turns replaying what happened friday night through my head - and what should've / could've happened - and taking out my frustration on household objects.

the sheer stupidity of letting the little prick take my attention away from his friends kills me. and i cannot accept that the guys with me didn't do anything.

i keep thinking of more and more things that i'm capable of that would have been effective, but that didn't occur to me out of sheer disbelief that it was actually going to escalate.

i'm PISSED. and that's not helping me wake up early in the morning. this is like the night before a tournament... only worse.

*SHOCKED*

gobsmacked. speechless. WOWed. BLOWN AWAY. that was phenomenal. screw you ALL. AvP was MINDBLOWING. SENSATIONAL. FANTASTIC. STUNNING.

i loved it. i really did.

and now i'm going to bed. with gooseflesh.

two at a time

that friend came to pick up his car at 4am - scared the shit out of me when he called, and immediately began thumping on the door.

i got up around 9.30, and shuffled my way to the bank. i looked and felt like something out of a bad drug movie - sun was shining, and i had on my dark glasses and my hood up. i was FREEZING. on the way spot called to say he's taking sick leave, with the same complaints i have. so i decided to go and check myself out.

i got to the city officer, and waited for 30-45 minutes. when i got in to see the medic, he said "hey! this is your actual clinic! go upstairs, and get a regular appointment."

not only did that waste all the waiting time, but that means that every complaint that's sent me to our base's clinic could have been dealt in a manner that's far more professional, efficient, and pleasant. DAMN. good to know.

while waiting for the next visit, i met this british girl (with an american accent), and we chatted for ages. so much so that i missed my turn, and had to wait again :(

if she was good-looking, i would totally dial the phone-number she slipped into my pocket. always my case.

i ate another huge lunch at shinto - mainly because i knew what to expect - and i got chopsticks this time. then i shuffled to the bus to get home. i began watching frankenhooker - it's a really crap film. i mean BAAAAAAAAAAD. i passed out about 3/4 through, and didn't feel like i'd missed anything when i woke up and it was over.

so i set some laundry in motion, and began watching the fantastic four. DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!!!!!!!!!!! what a great film! BEAUTIFULLY done!! great stuff.

mmf called me, we're going to meet tomorrow, and he's going to pass me over the keys to his apartment. so i'm now house-sitting an AWESOME little pad in the middle of tel aviv for two months. i can SO deal with that :) my payment is that i have to backup everything on his pc to dvd. no problems there.

as i began posting this, i received a pps with photos from the recent fire. that's some crazy shit. most upsetting, actually. my aunt and cousins who live up on the side were in serious danger, and it's not the first time. i can't help wondering if there's no form of protection that they can get? from her email, they didn't have time to do anything but flee...

unloading laundry now, then rustling me up some grub (tuna, sweetcorn, and chicken soup - that's all i got right now), and probably watching AvP.

can't really think of a good one. can't really think.

work on friday was fine. afterwards i got a ride to the lizard, for a very not-interesting party.

well, it wasn't interesting until i was ready to leave. i was standing at the cafe, talking to a friend of the mongoose (joker), when some guy came in with a sliced hand, asking for napkins to clean it up. he gave him some, but the asshole stood there cleaning it over the sweet containers. joker asked him to step away, and was ignored, so i asked him. he looked at me and said "what, so you work in the cafe now?"
what the fuck? after a bit more shouting at him, we got him to go, but he'd gotten us both annoyed.

around 3am i walked through the dance floor to say goodbye to some friends, and i felt something unusual. i turned around, looking straight into the face of some kid, and i told him that i was trying to pass, no need for punching.

he punched me again. by this point i wasn't sure what was going on, i thought i'd misunderstood something, and when i tried to continue walking i was suddenly confronted by four or five guys, one of them absolutely massive (and taller than me, not a good combination), and all looking like they wanted a fight. i tried talking to the oversized one, when the guy who'd started it all launched himself at me. i flung him off, and suddenly i was on the ground, and it was all i could do to protect my face while i got the shit kicked out of me.

that was nice. real nice. especially nice that my "friends" made such a solid attempt to help me. they were able to describe what happened just fine - "wow! i couldn't believe what i was seeing!", but at the time they just waited until these assholes had finished with me and then helped me get up. i'm so pleased.

primary thing that upset me? i could have taken any one of them, probably a couple at least, and i really didn't get a chance. that makes me feel the opposite of warm and squishy inside.

i'd been kicked quite hard in the forehead, so i was dazed and confused... the mongoose, the bartender, joker and the bouncer went in and cleared the guys out, but it was too little too late. and i was really feeling like shit. those great friends of mine took me to the "city officer" to see a doctor.

the doctor was totally cool. he performed some tests, then we had what should have been an arb conversation (i suspect it was part of the testing), to make sure there was no neurological damage. aside from me seeing weird colours for an hour or so. the arb conversation got interesting because he's in a similar situation to me army-wise, so we got silly. he gave me a referral to an emergency facility, but told me that was only because it's procedure, and personally he didn't think it was necessary. he also gave me until monday to return to base, and for that he's a king.

the guys dropped me off at the mongoose's place, his parents were awake when i got there at 5am and fussed over me, which was really nice. the mongoose came home, and they made me stay awake about half an hour before letting me crash... the doctor had told me to go straight to the hospital if i threw up, and i was feeling the urge. but i didn't. go me!

i basically slept most of today, got up around 3pm for his mom's cooking, which is the shit. aside from being a little slow, and sensitive, and my neck hurting, i'm actually alright now. but my nose bled for most of the day, which didn't help me. i KNOW i'm paranoid enough without things like that.

we spent the evening watching tv, then took a taxi to the lizard. i hung around there chatting until about 12.30, then drove a friend's car home (he's coming soon to pick it up). now i'm going to shower, and in the morning it's a slightly less-early wake up. which does make me happy.

@work

i slept alright, was woken up by her sister asking if i wanted to go to the family dinner tonight. so again i had to apologize... they want me to come over for lunch tomorrow, but i've already made arrangements to see mmf before he's off to mexico. maybe i'll go there tomorrow evening for coffee. that sounds alright.

i patched up my pants, while eating a wickedly good kiwi and drinking hot chocolate (the corner store was finally in stock!), and i tried unsuccessfully to initiate a conversion on irc with: i would change my nick to "seamstress", but i don't think people would automatically get the reference to demolition man. not a blue bean in return.

on my way here, i stopped by a cafe to get a bar of chocolate. as i put the money down my puffy, oversized jacket pushed a tray on the counter forward, and when i stepped back it took a pack of gum with it. pregnant pause. the girl working there burst out laughing, and told me that it's not surprising when i'm dressed like that.

and made a remark that went something along the lines of "isn't it supposed to be women who find it colder?" BURNED :(

the walk was pleasant, and now it's time for coffee before getting down to business.

to firstfallen:

i don't think anything that's happened in the last five years has made one iota of a difference to the political situation.

even the fence did nothing more than help us protect ourselves.

the bottom line: the arabs don't like us. never have. considering their "educational" system, probably never will.
it always intrigues me that people (specifically the media) are fascinated by this area and the charades played by the arabs.
if they really had wanted to, the other arab nations could have helped the so-called "palestinians" out, instead of forcing them into becoming the most ass-backward warmongering nation on the face of the earth.

and that's all i have to say about that.

90%

that's where my "retrieving moolah" progress bar is hovering right now. i actually managed to get out of bed, and made my way to the bank on time. i'd gotten all my documents together... except for my id.

that was silly.

so if i'm to have a chance at seeing some of the governmental cash i'm entitled to during this coming month... the month wherein i need it the most... then i have to make it back there with id on sunday morning 9am. no pressure.

i bussed back to azrieli, had an ENORMOUS lunch at shinto - it's the second time i've had decent rice (first being at yakimono) in this country, and they didn't give me chopsticks. bastards.

i still can't believe i ate that much. i walked back, and am now going to crash until i have to get ready for work.

should i?

i'm finally off to bed, after finding out that the other problem i had to deal with is, in all likelihood, not on my side... i hope...

should i wake up at 8.30am to go the bank?

btw moonflake: re: banking THAT SUCKS.

on the flip side

sleep deprivation + tanked on meds + the "other" pc:

this is content of the email i just sent off to my boss and co-worker:

PROBLEM SOLVED.

Please tell co-worker as soon as you've installed this file on the server, so that she can test it out. It works just fine on my side - quite fast, too.

And PLEASE note the time sent - it took me minutes to write the code, and about two hours to work around a known bug in VBScript (because I was SURE it was *my* fault!). I hope that's all my whining for the day.

the known bug / feature / whatever is that VBScript refuses to recognize a function like Left() or InStr() if there's any possibility that the argument contains a null value. no trust in the scripter AT ALL. so i had to rewrite all my loops to if statements contained within a manually controlled loop. that sucked.

pc hopping

a quick post prior to doing some work. i feel like absolute shit slopping over the side of an already grimy bucket. i spent most of the day with a nosebleed, unable to breathe properly (read barely, mostly through my mouth and now even that's a bitch).

i actually made it to the base on time for inspection this morning - i don't remember when last that happened. normally there're about 30 people in all. this morning there were hundreds. most of our unit turned up, and the process took over half an hour as opposed to the usual 4 minutes.

that was an amusing start to the day. everyone went straight off to the cafeteria afterwards, causing massive logistical problems for them. score 2!

i got back to the office, talked online with and then went to visit a gorgeous girl close by, and then returned to begin cleaning our office - it's been months.

almost done, and spot informs me that it completely slipped his mind that he'd arranged to meet this guy we're doing a site for, and that he's just received a call to say he's waiting for us. SCHMUCK.

so we have this meeting, which went alright, i guess, and then returned to finish the job.

the rest of the early afternoon sailed by arbitrarily, and then i went to herzeliya.

i managed somehow to get the bus to netanya - fortunately i realized in time to get off close to the right stop in herzeliya pituach, but had to walk in the rain to get there. and then wait 20 minutes for a bus to the station, and then wait half an hour for my boss's wife to pick me up because i have no umbrella.

on the bus to the station, i ran into the cute french girl from our base, and her boyfriend. a bit weird meeting a guy who you know probably shouldn't trust his girl 100%... and she takes advantage of the fact that the poor sod barely speaks hebrew, and is a paratrooper who spends most of his time up north. hmmm...

the meeting with the boss went extremely well. i got a ride to the mall, where sammy picked me up, and we came to the coffee shop next to my place for a great chat. then to my place for EXCELLENT tekken (yes, he did some damage), and we watched most of nightwatch before everything got woozy for me. sammy left, and i'm about to get busy fixing these bugs so that i can sleep late.

DAMN do i feel like crap. hey sammy - i haven't missed the trash can yet!

great big *sigh*

i just remembered why i enjoy doing what i do...

supper was great, coffee afterwards was great, and then i took the train and a bus home. nothing eventful there.

i received all the problem test data, and began comparisons. i went through everything - but i mean EVERYTHING - with a fine-tooth comb, and was starting to go crazy when suddenly i hit upon the bug, and everything fell into place...

w00t!

i have to go to bed right now, to wake up on time for inspection, so no chilling for me - but i'm most satisfied that i figured out the correct algorithm, and have sent myself a copy of the code so i can work on it tomorrow from the base.

bedtime.

not bad at all - or at least not all bad

okay, aside from my health, today was great!

i took pleasure in the walk to the base. i jumped over the back fence, so that i wouldn't have to walk the length of the base 3 times (i'd left my toiletries bag in my office), and was shocked to discover that my body was in such bad shape (specifically due to my sinusitus) that i was sweating, feeling feint, displaying a serious lack of blood in my upper body, and i was shaking violently.

that was freaky. and i still had to go brush my teeth and shave. i sneaked some bread from the mess hall when nobody was around, and walked past the guard hut to say hi to freshmeat... that turned into a very weird conversation because i didn't want the others to know that i'd jumped the fence, and freshmeat was demonstrating an upsetting lack of tact.

i performed the ablutions, then returned to my office. unable to sleep, i got some work done, and eventually went to bed around 6am. i woke up at 9, took my time getting sleep out of my eyes, then bussed to a branch of my bank to try and sort out my cash problems.

i don't know how it works in the rest of the world, so anyone reading this consider yourself begged to explain this to me:

i cannot do ANYTHING with my bank account if i'm not at *my* registered branch. each branch is essentially it's own mini-bank, and none of them communicate between each other.
the only thing i can do is draw my money from any of my bank's atm's.

is that right? it certainly frustrated me today, because it totally stripped the purpose of the trip away. at least i paid my water bill at the post office on my way back.

lunch was alright, the guy i worked with the other day organized me a decent helping of schnitzel (we normally only get one piece, which sucks for someone who weighs over 70kg's). the scout and i took a walk with the dude (dude) from our prefab, and the dude and i are now planning a trip to the skate-park when the weather's good. we also happened upon a section with friendlies that up until now we knew was on our base, but didn't know where... got some coffee and biscuits out of that ^_^

ran into our now-ex-commander (NEC, i'm getting tired of typing that), who gave us some work to do... our client section hasn't yet figured out that he's left - and we went to get to it. which involved waking spot (who slept way more than i did today, his excuse being him getting some action last night: it doesn't happen often enough for me to have anything to say), which involved a trip to the base cafeteria for "sachlav".

when we finally got back, i finished my work for the week - involved some amusing correspondence between me and the NEC - and did some missioning in gta, then came to work.

i got to work on time for the meeting! surprised myself, i did. the meeting was actually fun, aside from my crying over my nasal passages and everyone thinking that i got emotional... i'm now waiting for our food to arrive, then going home to do some work. and chill.

all done for the night

that wasn't a bad shift at all :)

of note: penny arcade got me reading the galactic civilizations 2 journals, which have me hooked (erm... hook, line and sinker?) completely. i know that this is a game i would spend money on, the only thing that scares me is how much of my life will disappear due to playtime.

it's now time to go home, or in my case back to the base. i'm ready to do some heavy sleeping...

farmboy monkey-sex

i don't know what the association is, really i don't.

so i had a hot shower, and read some more rogue trooper before passing out. i missed my alarm, and got up at 9.45 (as opposed to 8.30).

sometimes i really hate my body. but REALLY. my sinusitis is at full steam [sic] and i don't know if my upper-back muscular pain is connected, or just because i slept skew. either way, between the two things i can't focus, and my head hurts, and i'm generally being disgusting (i can't decide which is the worse between spitting and blowing my nose).

i hurriedly brushed teeth and packed and dressed (i love my overalls, and with these strap-on pockets they're even better!). i was going to walk to the train station, but realized on the way that i wasn't going to make it in time. i then waited over half an hour for a bus that's meant to come every 15-20 minutes... at least i didn't have to pay. i showed the guy my soldier's id and put on a puppy face, and he told me to put on my army windbreaker and try not to look like a civilian.

so i got here too late to order food - another night of bread and humus for supper... we're beginning in 30 minutes and i'm totally not looking forward to it. i think another round of caffeine is in order.

not quite clearheaded...

i slept that last half an hour, all was quiet, and it was the most peaceful, beautiful (okay, most appreciated) sleep i've had in ages.

and then i was woken up - "don't you wanna go home?"

everything was hazy and wobbly, i felt like shit and i was having trouble breathing.

i walked to the base - with a slightly embarrassing incident of me trying to explain to someone who couldn't give me a ride that it really was okay (knowing that i appeared not-so-okay) - and had a short argument with the dickhead in charge before he let me in. i brushed my teeth, staring at the ghost in the mirror, and shuffled my way to my office. (4.30am)

i crashed for around 7 hours... DAMN. NOBODY could wake me up this morning! sinusitis was at full blast - i can't believe my luck in discovering all my medicine in my bag!

had lunch - semi-alright... okay... not really okay but whatever... got some amusement from the mongoose and his section-mates, and then returned for a "goodbye" meeting with my now ex-commander. it was actually quite funny. and he had some touching things to say, even if it was said in a slightly roundabout kind of way.

played some gta - kicked ass, and then found myself on the receiving end of a "whoopin". by then it was 3pm, and i spent the rest of the afternoon on the volleyball court. and i got to play! as in, only one game babysitting the girl standing next to me (she's afraid of the ball, it's very frustrating that she comes onto the court anyway), and the rest were on decent teams.

spot and i got to the toilet stall to wash our hands, and it was closed, with a foot peeking out. "oy! it appears to be a foot sticking out of the door! i wonder if it's attached to a person? let's kick it!"
i was about to mime kicking it, when the person attached to the foot gave a high-pitched scream, the foot disappeared, and when the girl came out i got slapped - (in hebrew) "you're lucky i understand english!" (my hebrew) "that made it better!"

we've been serving in the same prefab for over a year, and that's the second time she's said anything to me (the first time i offered her the israeli equivalent of a sweetie pie, and she offered to squish it)... spot and i were in hysterics for the next 5 minutes :P

i bussed home, spoke to the boss, and we agreed to meet on thursday instead - by which stage he'll know if he can spot me some cash. i also discovered that we've resumed work on the hospital project (as in, i've received bug reports and didn't notice), so i cleared those up on arrival, and now i'm showering before crashing a bit before going to work again, and once again going straight to the base.

heavens to betsy!

i'm BREAKING!

not an entirely unfamiliar feeling, but nevertheless... it's been a long, long night. lots of calls. i feel like i got the worst ones, but the others got bad ones too.

f'rinstance, i got every tech-support's nightmare: a user who (classically) should return their pc to the store on grounds that they're too stupid to use one. and some guy phoning to teach me about a problem that our system - in HIS stupid opinion - has. moron. wanker. sod. he was bloody rude, and shouted, and the fucker's getting $100 (US) for an hour of his time, whether or not his answer is EXACTLY true.

schmuck. ponce. scum. dooshbag. penishead. knobgobbler.

i worked on a very basic (yet rather elegant, in my opinion) template for a website for a friend of sammy's... and managed to finish it despite constantly being on the phone.

another half an hour to go...

huh?

dammit. i'm having misgivings about the job i've taken... i just feel it's very amateur and i don't see a lot of money coming from it.

anyways, yogi arrived last night, and we spent the evening playing some hardcore tekken. a few times he royally fucked me up, but overall (and by the skin of my teeth each time - and that's not a lot, i brush regularly) i won by something like 30 games to 5... or something. but it was exciting!

he left around 1 / 1.30am, and i decided to shower and shave when i woke up.

big mistake.

not enough sleep + seriously cold + extremely warm duvet = "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

how it actually went is a bit hazy... alright, a lot hazy... but i made it to the mess hall on time, had breakfast, and then the day began.

kitchen duty was better this time - quite a few really cute girls, and the team in charge of us know how to respect their elders... in fact, i ended up volunteering for things because i was bored :)

on our way for coffee, spot and i were interviewed by some artillery boys for an army documentary that's supposedly going to air on tv at some stage... we spoke a bit about ourselves, and then made fun of our base and complained about how badly we've been screwed - and how awefully boring it is :P

i made a complete ass of myself - he asked me my name and i gave him my full name... doos. that was stupid.

all in all, it was fun. had a silly few moments with some more cute girls (but no, sadly, still not that interesting) over coffee, had some intense gta action, had a crazy fight over a bowl of cereal with the mongoose that got all of us thrown out of his section's prefab, and then had a meeting with spot, the mongoose, and this guy with the job.

yes, i know. leave it.

anyway, the others are interested, but nobody's under the impression that anything major's going to happen.

and besides, during the day my boss called, and told me that tomorrow evening we're having a meeting - apparently our hospital project is going to continue - and the guy with the rfid cellphone thing is joining us. so that at least excites me. that, and the possibility that i might be able to get a cash advance... although i'm not holding my breath.

i'm at work now, supposed to be until 3.15am, then i walk to the base and begin a new day. then the meeting, then i'm working tomorrow night as well... good thing i had a fun day on base today!