tgi...thursday???

its the end of the week, finally! i am curled up on the couch with a blanket dozing nicely. its a really good feeling. something made all the better by the fact that it is not often allowed. okay, not allowed isn't right....that there is not often time for.

today was another wicked crazy day. after this job i think i can pretty much do anything and handle anywhere. i rub shoulders with the heads of mission for 2/3 of the EU countries that have consulates in Jerusalem. nice people. they think i rock because i managed to get them in, have a room set-up for them (thank you model UN), provide them with tea/coffee/water, give them 30minutes extra for their meeting, and entertain their security. all in all they can't wait to come back to gaza after such a pleasant experience working with us.

it may have been many sleepless nights in the making, but when the head of a foreign mission greets you like a long lost friend and recounts the lunch you shared while gaza city was falling apart, its kind of a nice feeling.

oh, that and the swag :) i now have two ties from the Portuguese EU presidency, not sure what i can do with them, but eh, i move back to london you can wear pretty much anything and call it fashion!

my boss was also over the moon because they were happy. which is always a nice feeling. i feel a bit bad. i literally shuffled him out the door. i made him leave 50minutes early to make sure he beat them to the crossing. then i stalled them (the Europeans) for a good 15minutes to make sure that he got there first. eh, i know which master i serve.and he is now safely ensconced in amman awaiting his flight to ny.

you would think that that would make the work stop. you would be wrong.

its amazing. because people mock me for working such long hours and never leaving it be. the reason i can't leave it be is because you email me at 1900 on my thursday (read: your friday) evening and ask for a months worth of work. in two days. my two weekend days. and who gave me a lecture about forcing them to work the other weekend?

i don't mind the work. i don't mind you saying that you shouldn't have to work on weekends. no one should.

what i cannot abide is the hypocracy. that its not acceptable to ask you to work on the weekends (to pick out decent pictures for gods sake), but its acceptable to ask me to work over my weekend. and not to pick out pictures. no, you want me to write an entire report on the economic, health, and social implication of the closure that has been going on since june. based on accurate data. you want statistics for '2007' while we are still in 2007.

i know we're good. but please, not that good.

so this will also be a long weekend. we've already established a timetable. 1000hrs wake-up call, in the office by 1100hrs. back home by 1800-1830 in order to make pizza and have some semblance of a weekend. then back in on saturday to finish everything off. then back to work on sunday.

i miss the weekend. it wouldn't be so bad if i knew i could leave. but i know i can't leave.

believe it or not i am not in a bad mood, or really sad about this, mostly just musing.

really, nothing can deflate me right now. i passed my MA! and while my course grades were just fine, but dissertation was fantastic! a 69. i am really, really happy with that. considering that i have spent the last three months rewriting it in my head. i wish i got to see some kind of commentary on it. but, i don't think that will ever happen. i guess i'll have to sit down with the cp's and security sometime and discuss it. i mean, it apparently holds up in an academic environment. i wonder what someone with some real world experience would say.

but yes. happiness is: being to possessor of diplomatic-level swag and passing you MA. i'd say its been a fantastic week over all. yes, yes it has.