i live on one of the busiest streets in tel-aviv and have gotten used to sleeping through the noise coming in through the windows in the mornings (buses, cars, yelling voices, people in coffee shops etc). this morning, however, was slightly different. although i noticed there was some extra yelling and some police sirens, i continued sleeping until a really loud bang woke me up. it was a suspicious object that was blown up by the police after they cleared a huge chunk of this very busy street. then i was left thinking about how differently things of this sort are handled here and in new york. in isreal - the minute someone reports a suspicious object (and they do, a lot), the police and bomb squad are immediately called in. they test and probe and finally kill whatever it was. you really never want to forget your bag anywhere cuz it will likely not be stolen, but rather blown up. on the other hand, in new york i had seen countless abandoned bags and packages that no one took any notice of (including me, actually). and when someone did make the effort and reported the object - police were not called to the area and the incident was usually just ignored and overlooked.
i got a raise =D i wasn't due for one till about a month and a half from now, but my boss decided to give me one anyway.
joy!
Posted by
Dina on 10.30.06 @ 01:23 PM EEST :: [link]
Sunday, October 29th
two wheel goodness
music: nothing mood: yay!
so on friday daniel and i headed over to matzman to get me a bike. i ended up getting a raleigh. it's not too expensive, but it's better than what i was originally going to get. i didn't think i should spend too much money on something i wasn't sure i was going to use all too often. but daniel wouldn't allow me to get a piece of crap, either. heh. i have to say that so far i'm very happy with my purchase.
even though most of the weekend was nice and rainy (and thudery and lightening-y =P), by last night the streets were mostly dry and i took my bike out with daniel for about an hour. it was soooooooo much fun.
i hope to be doing the same thing with shani tonight =)
last night was pretty amazing. as daniel and i headed out for dinner (it's right down the block - nothing too exciting), the thunder storm had already begun. it was even raining already as we walked the short distance. dinner was consumed and we came back to watch some tv and have a drink or two. at some point we realized that it was thundering pretty hard and that we'd probably be better off powering down our computers. as we did this, the lightening and thunder got even more intense and it started pouring!! i think it hailed, too. i stood for a while watching this from my window and found myself wishing i could be on some beach in this incredible thunder storm. instead, i fell asleep to the wonderful sounds of rain and thunder =)
music: in my head: queen - bicycle race mood: wheee!
on friday daniel will be accompanying me on my quest to purchase a bike. since i know nothing about them and he does - i adopted him for this task. i will not be getting anything fancy or expensive. for starters, i'd like to get something cheap so i can see if i actually want to get into the whole riding thing. if i see that i take the bike out often enough and if it starts falling apart after a few months, i'll know that it's time to invest in something more worthwhile. until then, a cheap bike will do the trick =)
Posted by
Dina on 10.24.06 @ 11:11 AM EEST :: [link]
Monday, October 23rd
and just when i thought...
music: nothing mood: heh
that's two out of two days during which someone tried to pick me up on the bus. lol.
yesterday, someone at the bus stop actually got up and asked me if i was seeing anyone cuz he had someone he wanted to introduce me to. haha! it was amusing, but seriously - someone to introduce me to??? do you even know me at all to know i'd be interested in this person or vice versa? also, it's really funny to use 'my friend is interested in you' as an excuse when you're not even standing in the presence of your so called friend, like you'd do in a club setting etc.
this morning as i walked on to the bus and took my regular seat in the back, the guy who was sitting in the seat in front of me actually turned around and stared at me. i tried to ignore him as i put my button-down shirt on (on top of the tank top i wear out of the house - it's too hot) but he just kept staring and finally said 'excuse me'. when i snapped at him, he continued 'it's really a shame that you're covering up all of that beautiful work' and smiled some sort of goofy smile. so i rolled my eyes at him cuz the last thing i want in the morning is someone bugging me when all i wish i could do is go back to sleep. still, it took him a while to turn around again and mind his own business.
the weekend was pleasant enough... on friday i went to visit my sister after we wandered around ikea for a while. i love my sister and her family and this visit was long overdue. other than that, my weekend mostly consisted of being lazy. since my bedroom is now almost complete, i like staying home and hanging out in bed, in front of the tv. i really am just a lazy girl. last night, however, shani and i went out for sushi and then headed over to the cheers for drinks. it was amusing but at some point i just couldn't sit there anymore cuz the smoke was killing my eyes. when i left the cheers, i went to the bloom to say hi since i haven't been there in a few weeks. i had a lengthy conversation with ran about how wrong my attitude is if i intend on meeting someone to date. this is a conversation i've had before. with many people. i know my flaws. i know it's impossible to meet anyone new if i don't like people and tell them all to piss off without giving them so much as a minute to say a word or two. yet i bitch about being single. my conclusion last night (which is the same as it always is) was that i need to open up to the experience of people and not ignore or be a bitch to everyone i don't know. easier said than done. heh. well, at least i know where my error is.
after work yesterday i sat around for a bit, waiting for daniel to get home. he had volunteered to go TV shopping with me. so the minute he came through the door, we headed back out towards the center. we were going to go to shekem electric to see what they had in stock. the thing was that i really wanted to buy something and take it home with me on the spot. nothing like instant gratification, eh? if i were the patient type, i would have gone there only to see what the TVs looked like and then ordered my television of choice on zap. but that would have taken days, if not weeks... and i am obviously not the patient type. so we walk in there, and they have a few interesting looking sets. there were a few things by phillips that looked really good, but i was leaning more towards a sony. however, when i asked about the availability for taking it home now, they said it'll take a couple of days. this didn't make me happy. we tried to see if there were other options, and our attention was pointed towards a store across the street. and that's where i found what i was looking for. we went in, looked at a few other TV sets and with daniel's help - i decided on this one (sony bravia).
so that was my TV purchasing adventure.
this morning was a whole new story.
i was supposed to have cable installed. and only later in the day, my furniture was supposed to arrive as well. but at about 8:30am, i got a phone call from the furniture dude asking me how late i was going to be at home. and since i was already going to be there for the cable dude, i was obviously going to be there till about 10:30-11:00 or so. so he decided to bring the stuff this morning, too. don't get me wrong, i'm very pleased that they were coming early... but even though my bedroom isn't small - it was kind of small for a guy crawling around on the floor, connecting able and a guy putting together a rather tall closet - all across the bedroom floor. it was amusing, and there was quite a bit of acrobatics involved. now i have all of the essential components for my bedroom, but i had to run out before arranging anything cuz it was time to get my ass to work.
as mentioned, i started feeling under the weather on wednesday. i went home and tried to sleep off a fever. i took some cold meds (which turned out to suck) and hoped i'd be feeling better by morning. unfortunately, this was not the case. i woke up on thursday feeling like crap, still with a fever and now with a hint of a cough. great. i headed into work and did what i was able to do (with the fever and cough) and headed home at about noon. from the time i got home on thursday until sometime last night - i was in bed or somewhere around the house, drinking copious amounts of tea and trying all kinds of cough drops to sooth my poor throat. fortunately, my fever broke on friday afternoon, but i still had no desire to be outside. i figured that the more rest i got, the better off i'd be on sunday morning for work. as of last night, my cough has gotten about a zillion times worse (cough syrop is not something that's sold over the counter here... at least not anything effective) but i was feeling ok. i ended up helping daniel take apart his old bed and get everything else in his room rearranged and cleaned up in preparation from his new furniture. it's still a mess, but he's getting there =)
today, i came to work on time hoping my voice, or lack thereof, wouldn't really get in my way. at first, i was doing ok. however, as time progressed my voice decided that it doesn't like me abusing it and seemingly vanished. my boss recommended that i might go home slightly early due to said circumstances, but in all honesty i think it would be a waste. i feel fine... i just really have no use of my voice.
i really do hope this cough vanishes and my voice comes back very soon. i feel weird when i'm on mute. heh.
Posted by
Dina on 10.13.06 @ 09:39 AM EEST :: [link]
Wednesday, October 11th
sick
music: the sound of cars from outside mood: ick
well as it turns out, my sudden attack of fatigue was none other than the begining of a fever.
after a few hours of feeling really sleepy, i started getting shaky and achy. then i realized i had a fever and took something to reduce it. i also proceded to the nearest exit and went home.
i slept for a couple of hours and have been drinking a lot of water. my fever isn't too ridiculous, but it's definitely still there. i will soon be taking some better suited meds for a fever and a cough (yes i have one of those, too) and likely be falling asleep shortly thereafter.
i really don't want to be sick tomorrow too. i'd like to be able to go to work and get everything done, plus manage to go out in the evening.
last night, instead of hanging out with daniel, the way we had planned - i fell asleep. i had been out for food and drinks with benji and was just exhausted when i got home.
so i slept nine hours. not too shabby, if i may say so myself.
i was fine all morning. i cleaned out a seriously messy area in the office and then went to lunch. i had some sushi. not a lot... just one roll and some sashimi. however, just as soon as i was done eating, i became extremely tired. and now i'm actually wondering how the hell i'm going to keep my eyes open. i have plenty to do, but i can't do almost any of it due to the current holiday; no one seems to be working this week.
i don't want tonight to be another one of those nights on which i just fall asleep and end up doing nothing. shani said she wanted to go out and i'd love to. i hope i make it =P
about ten minutes ago, as i was calling one of the people who had come here to see my boss - what appeared to have been the other party my boss was waiting for, walked up to me as well. i took one look at him and said 'yariv?' and he said 'dina?' as it turns out, i used to know this guy way-back-when in the army. we weren't best friends but we got along well enough on base. we haven't so much as run into each other in twelve years. now he's sitting in my boss' office discussing god-knows-what. heh.
in other news, i have come to the conclusion that couples sitting on the same side of the table at restaurants is an israeli trend. i see this so often and i'm always baffled by it. why the hell would you want to sit next to the only person you are going to be having conversation with during the meal? doesn't it make more sense to sit across from him/her? i don't know about you, but if i had to turn my head through out the entire meal, i would end up with crazy cramps.
on a different note, i'm sick of failed relationship attempts.
that is all.
Posted by
Dina on 10.09.06 @ 07:14 PM EEST :: [link]
Saturday, October 7th
productivity
music: nothing mood: getting tired
this morning i woke up at 9am. daniel and i had plans to go furniture shopping on hertzel street and we wanted to get an early start. we managed to get out of the house when we wanted to and caught a cab to our destination. once we were there, we decided to simply walk up one side of the street and come back down the other. i managed to place an order for a black dresser and closet and also purchased a shiny new black toilet seat and other things for the bathroom. daniel ordered a new mattress (which has already arrived), a custom bed frame and closet. we were both very happy with our purchases as we headed home.
later on, i managed to do my laundry, do the dishes, clean a good portion of the kitchen (which has not been cleaned in months or years), fix up the bathroom with new stuff, paint both mine and daniel's door frame (black, if you must know) and wrap the door in black fabric (the doors in this apartment are made mostly of glass - which is ever so slightly impractical).
all this is after i hung my curtains, some hooks and some of my pictures in my room yesterday.
now that i know i'm staying here, it's easy to want to do more in the apartment. see, i moved into an apartment where two single guys live. while one of them isn't quite a typical messy 'single guy' stereotype, when i moved in here the place was mostly disgusting nonetheless. i cleaned a lot of it, but didn't put all of my energy (and some cash, too) into it cuz i didn't think i was going to be staying on. but now, i'm kicking things into shape... and this apartment will no longer look as though only two messy boys live in it.
i like clean and shiny =D
Posted by
Dina on 10.07.06 @ 06:27 AM EEST :: [link]
Thursday, October 5th
yea...
music: the TV from the apartment next door mood: awake
was in the office yesterday for thirteen hours.
got out at 10:30pm and walked home.
got in at around 11pm, said hi to lior and ate dinner.
crashed at about midnight.
now i'm awake an hour before i need to be, because my mind is trying to wrap itself around all kinds of things that are on the agenda for today.
after some debate and negotiation, it has been decided that i will be staying in my current location. instead of going through the all-too-annoying process of looking for a place to live and actually securing it, i will stay put and even have a great rate on rent. and since i already know i love my roommates, i guess now all that remains is to finally start buying furniture and decorating =D
sunday was a short day. it was only supposed to be about 3.5 hours long. however, since i not only got there about a half an hour early, but rather managed to completely ignore the fact that the time was changed to one hour back - i was there a total of five. heh. oh well. at 1pm i made my way home on foot. it was nice out and i wasn't in a rush.
for the fast itself (yom kipur) i did absolutely nothing. well, aside from make food with lior and a friend of his and watch a couple of movies.
once the fast was over, daniel and i made reservations at the moon for some sushi. their sushi rocks. but i have to admit that so far 'sakura' is my favorite sushi place. not only is their food much better than the rest of the places that i've tried, but they don't seem to be as expensive. heh.
anyway, this morning i have to get my ass to the bank before work so i can get some things sorted out. later today i'm going to a wedding. lol. the girl who's getting married is a friend of a couple of friends of mine and we only sorta know one another. but since we ran into each other a couple of weeks ago, she decided to invite me as well. i'm still wondering if i'm actually really going to end up going... but odds are in that direction. we shall see...
as i have mentioned in the past, i don't usually remember my dreams. in fact, i rarely even remember that i had a dream to begin with. but last night, for some really odd reason, i dreamt that daniel and i decided to get married. i woke up shaking my head and thinking 'where the hell the THAT come from??'. i suppose he made his way into my dream cuz i had recieved a text from him about wanting sushi a little before i fell asleep. but marriage? i cannot even begin to express how much is wrong with that. lol. don't get me wrong, i adore the guy... but there are many reasons we did not work out as a couple. not to mention that i'm not into the whole idea of marriage to begin with.