getting settled

i've just watched the first episode of the second battlestar galactica season, and loved it! especially the bit where i was lying on the couch, beer in hand, at *just* the right angle and distance. the only thing i'm missing now is an lcd monitor that can handle inputs from my dvd player and playstation and i'll be sorted.

as it is, i finally cleared the majority of stuff (in other words, i've emptied all the cardboard boxes and more or less arranged their contents in seemingly correct places - and i haven't yet constructed the second set of drawers), began painting the kitchen wall (where the cupboard was removed from) and aside from not having cleaned the floors yet the apartment feels right ^_^

i did go to coffeeholic for dinner, primarily because i hadn't been outside the entire day, and i did some shopping too - it's really weird (and nice!) to have a fridge all to myself, i've been using the tiniest corner of the other apartment's for months and it's been driving me crazy...

now going back there to shower and bring over a couple more things, as usual :P

aaaaaaargh! mosquito season and my legs have been chewed!

archer: this girl is incredible!

a bit tidier now

i've spent the afternoon filtering the remnants of my life with plastic dividers, morphine - the night, full metal jacket and saiko-pod (koxbox lab) setting the tone.

i built a spare bed today:

just another item off the checklist. now for an entrance table and space to store shoes.

i caught up online, and actually laughed out loud a couple of times:
craiglist: if you know who jim darkmagic is, let's talk
xkcd: a dangerous shopping list

too much comfort

southern.

the evening was very nice but long, i don't manage hebrew karaoke because i can't read fast enough :(

now that i'm back from a slow walk through tel aviv, i'm going to crash so that i'll have the energy for all the necessary construction tomorrow. ooh! that made me smile :)

a far-away grin

after all that craziness, a shower and a nap were pretty much all i needed - after moving things around a bit and watching the rest of the animated pvp series i got dressed and took a happy walk to the train station.

happy, because in addition to the day having been quite successful and the evening very pretty, i keep thinking about where i am as far as my service is concerned and i'm definitely ready for the change i feel coming :)

i'm regaining my sense of self and my perspective, and i haven't felt like smiling like this in ages!

exhausted and dirty

but hey, i have a good-looking kitchen unit, a new toilet tank, unsightly spaces filled and a good section of wall suddenly in need of paint, a fridge, a washing machine awaiting a technician (and it fit without incident! yay!), a pretty shelf above my bed and a ton of ikea goods to build.

it's just that everyone came all at once, which was kind of crazy - and my place is a complete mess :P

breakfast was awesome, then five hours of carpentry, drilling and playing, quick shopping and a snack, and now i'm about ready to go have a shower and then nap before tonight's 50th birthday celebration out of town.

a mosquito in my fly

so that's the third time in a couple of weeks that there's been a mosquito buzzing around my legs while i've been relieving myself on base, and i've been wondering how unpleasant it could be if it were to nip inside my pants while i was zipping up... i think that would be bad.

if i don't like wasting time in eilat, and i don't like hanging around hotels when i could be "doing things". two people were concerned this morning because i wasn't enthusiastic about a reduced-price vacation to a hotel in eilat. i'd rather stay in tel aviv, thanks. and go to the beach. and come back to the wonders of home.

i found my charger! i'm so embarrassed that i left it at work.

the call i've been waiting for since [last] [wednesday] came in, and i will answer it in another few days. i keep running speeches through my head even though i know that when the time comes i won't know where to begin and won't have anything coherent to say. i'm better at writing stuff.

why opening one's heart and one's network is undesirable - being responsible for whatever traffic passes through your system sucks. what happens when you follow the instructions - i burned my wireless router and have to take it back now. i should have gone with my instincts.

quote of the day: "programmers have to be inhibited; if they'd do it all in their heads everything would be fine". [kind of like the legend of QUERTY]

ikea 2: nystire and i went to ikea, and i must admit it was far easier arriving with a decent list and company. i won't complain about the salted liquorice, either. i'm shocked that i arrived at pretty much the same sum as last time... it's been a really expensive month.

we ran into mmf and his wife while there, so i got a ride home with them. aside from the amusing talk on the way, he assured me that there's still a decent jump-point for me with him whenever i finish my service. this is comforting :)
i set up my night light [very cool little lamp that turns on when there's no bright light around it] and my funky bedside lamp, learned that horrible lesson about the router, showered, loaded the washing machine, arrived at coffeeholic too late for food (so i drank coffee and chatted with the other regulars), ate a "buddha burger" [a wonderfully surprising vegetarian burger], removed laundry, came home to catch up online and post this, and am crashing in another few minutes.

tomorrow's a big "can we fit the washing machine into the bathroom" and "let's build furniture" day. good night!

traditional independence barbeque

it was long day filled (literally: non-stop) with delicious dead animals, swimming, good friends (and all their children - am i getting older?!), great music, loads of beer and even more laughter!

now i'm absolutely exhausted. it doesn't help that it's taken me more than half an hour to figure out how to upload a torrent, but upload i have!

it's only taken me 51 weeks.

i'm going to sleep so well now ^_^

night celebration complete

some of it was really fun, some quite boring. we made an unfortunate mistake and chose the wrong starting point, and the best party was closed down by the time we got there because it was a good party.

that's what happens in these parts.

i'm completely exhausted, just got back from a shower at the old apartment and am definitely going to sleep well.

i - am - exhausted

and israel's 61st birthday is nigh!

i keep forgetting just how much exercise i'm getting moving all my stuff. it's constant weight training between all the unpacking and sorting, and i'm beat. i just passed out for an hour, but i'm not sure that that's enough to hold me for a night of serious partying...

and party we shall ;)

i couldn't help myself [find my comment]: wired's article on the guidestones forced my hand. i'm now a big fan of the commissioners, and convinced that it's a large group of enlightened individuals who are *gasp* trying to do some good.

it's MINE! all MINE! MWUHAHAHA!

an internet connection of my very own. SWEET!

still no sound, and selling a couch online is a bitch. the morning was quite boring, although it was nice to shave in my own bathroom :)

the israeli/arab service experience

when i spoke to the movers yesterday and asked if i could move in the evening, they told me "absolutely not, the only time we have is 4 to 5", so i signed on a day's vacation and left the base early, because the army doesn't show mercy towards normal people.

obviously, when they eventually arrived at 7.35pm i was pleased. i'll be fair, the guy almost seemed apologetic, they were quite efficient and it wasn't their fault that the larger of the sofas won't get through the door - still, i think it was unreasonable to have the two arabs pushing me for a tip afterwards, especially when the cost of the move was CLEARLY a lot higher than it should have been. and the nasty girl i spoke to on the phone was trying desperately to wheedle ever last cent out of me because she caught a whiff of my accent.

a real class act. unfortunately, no worse than the others.

at least i got stuff done in the afternoon - two sabuda pop-ups and a new toilet, umm, thing (the top bit what flushes) and i had time to vacuum the bedroom i've vacated. once the movers were gone, i fiddled a bit and then went to the ceremony, running into a dutch friend and a couple of the ski-trip girls. it was i good ceremony, but long and we're all complaining of sore feet.

so now i have to find a buyer for the big couch, i'm on my last transport mission for the night and i have no pc until tomorrow.

at least i'm sleeping under my own roof!

disconnecting pc

long day - i slept through the night but not well. i did manage to walk out in a good mood - it's funny, but now that i've screwed things up i'm totally relaxed, all the shit that's been driving me beserk for the last very long time seems to have dissipated.

is it all about attitude? i think so. is it a pity that i've been caring so much for so long? definitely.

can't go back. time to move on.

i cannot tell a lie

(story of my life, but here i'm referring to a specific instance in time), i'm actually quite thrilled about moving tomorrow!

long, slow, steady

as if the day went by in a dream, i'm not healthy yet and i didn't have any coffee, the work was either mindless or bottomless and i have the strangest sense that i've taken myself outside of the picture that is my office.

the ceremony for the base's fallen soldiers was pretty and the singers were fantastic, and the pre-ceremony dinner's laughter was raucous and spiritually cleansing: or at least it would have been if it hadn't been us laughing about "wear your boss to work" day...

i've organized the primary move to take place tomorrow, and i have to admit to a *NEED* to be there already. and the washing machine and fridge will follow me on friday :)

again with the insomnia?!

i'm trying bitter chocolate and comics this time. i'm still running simulations in my head, but they're a lot less freaky than they've been the past couple of days.

i think i'm getting the current situation through my head. now for some sleep! before i wake up again at stupid o'clock!

even smiling a little

i've finally gotten over the initial shock and horror, and begun to think a little more rationally about the whole thing: well, i'm still screwed, but it's not the end of the world. i even managed to laugh with karnaf about it over coffee (i had to get out of the house), and i've done a few more lifts across to the pad and written down phone numbers for movers tomorrow.

i'm now going to have another shower (it's not the moving so much as the pre-move dusting), and then hit the sack for another glorious early morning in uniform.

i've been thinking that there's very little hopeful that i've been writing about, and maybe that'll be a part of the change i feel coming. as i sat with one of ze germans this evening, we discussed that - it's a period of transition for a lot of us right now. let's see which way the wind blows.

speaking to mommy

it always helps :)

i'm almost back to normal, if a bit tired, and i've been doing a bit of moving (item by item sort of thing). i would've showered there if i had a towel-rail installed :P

got a bit of fire back in me after watching some of the woodstock documentary's director's cut - i don't know if it's different from the other version, but seeing that many happy people always brightens things a bit.

today's morbid poetry corner

[sponsored the the word "state"]

entity of the state
from being an entity of the state
all porcelain, shading my true fate
becoming an enemy of that self-same state
a sludged-concrete vassal, to direct its hate

from years of keeping still and sighing
aeons hiding my sanity
i've come out and shot myself
i'll pay now for my vanity

i'm drawn like a fly
into their grey feast
they let me eat myself alive
they wait and watch
with eyes gleaming like ice
to be hung up, torn up, and drunk
by the mad, blind beast

ugly state
i don't quite feel like smiling
not right now, not today
neither do i feel like rhyming
i just gave my whole world away

all was bright, now no longer shining
my whole new soul sold out and iced
my head deep down into the fray
signing off on my decline
wasting a decade sacrificed

deep in desperate hour of ire
and all because i could refuse
to keep my promise to myself
to be honest and remain a liar

i'm feeling a bit better

but the damage is done. i think it's just the most unfortunate and unnecessary thing i've ever allowed to happen to myself.

the shelf fit, and the shower installation went more or less successfully - i should be able to use it within the next few hours, and now i'm fretting over getting the rest of the move completed.

in the meanwhile, i'm not completely healthy yet so i'm going back to bed.