I need an adult.

the thing is, what is it?

[marzipants]

Evan sent this to me with the following caption: "Dear America, Please hold onto your telephones. (One year's worth of 21st-Century roadkill collected during daily bike commute in Asheville, NC.)" Thanks, Evan!

[marzipants]

hi fronds. some things:

maybe someday soon I’ll post an actual update re: camp and finish sharing the rest of the pictures from france. however:

my uncle died suddenly this week and I am pretty all over the place

I am not thinking super clearly and would appreciate gentle distractions

on a brighter note, it’s my mom’s birthday tomorrow. happy birthday, tm!!!

[mistylondonadventure]

Mary turned up! I killed time in the morning waiting for her to get in to the city from the airport, and we went straight out for a little light adventuring: lunch (in French) at Veget’halles, which was a pun I UNDERSTOOD, and then a wander around near the Louvre and a walk along the Seine while drinking wine. Also we saw this cat just sitting on a sofa outside a shop and then realized it was beside a pet store, and then realized every store on that street was either a garden shop or a pet store.

[marzipants]

The street of only garden shops and pet shops was quite surprising indeed. Sitting along the riverbank with some wine, though, was preeeetty alright.

Also, in one of the photos, I’m pretending to ride a bicycle, because in January we rode bikes around that mini Arc de Triomphe. Riding a bike works better when you have a bike.

[mistylondonadventure]

When I was done with the Louvre, I headed to the neighborhood around the Arc de Triomphe to meet our host who would let me into his airbnb flat. This is the view from the window, 7 floors up from the street in the dormer apartments that were clearly once servants’ quarters. There was no lift.

[marzipants]

Yep, this was the view from our flat in Paris. PAS MAL.

[marzipants]

new boss: how many inches is in one foot?

me: 12

new boss: oh!!!?!?!?!!!?!!?!?!

me: ...yep.

[marzipants]

Heyyyyyy, internet buddies, I’ve done a poor job updating you on all of the totally thrilling and definitely scintillating things I’ve been up to.  I know you’re all dying for updates! Here’s a list:

I went to Paris on a work trip (FOR REAL), which was actually a good and productive and educational and very silly and linguistically confusing trip, but also got to hang out with Elinor for a few days and cause some trouble with her. We stayed in an excellent apartment and ate mostly only bread for days and had a weird time in museums and it was grand. We went to the Museum of Natural History, which included a building just FULLA SKELETONS, and we found the perfect tie-in to my incessant quoting of Eddie Izzard talking about le singe est sur la branche:

I was very happy to find a building full of plants at the Natural History Museum/situation -- Elinor had her building of skeletons, I needed a bunch of plants:

(Draw me like one of your French girls.)

Then I came back to the US and played a lot of ultimate (surprise!) and wrapped up the team that I was captaining:

My parents and I went to go visit a big chunk of family and we saw many small children, most of them relatives, and I held a couple babies. One of them had a very teeny amount of face and cheeks for daaaays. She was very cute. So many babies.

I went to Philly for a few days, where I spent a large portion of my time reading on a very good front porch. I saw a NUMBER of excellent people I like very much, including these guys:

Work continues to be a festive time -- for the month of June, I have not one but two bosses! I like the new one quite well so far, but two is a lot of bosses to have, and for my coworker to stress over.

In a last minute decision, I am going back to work at camp for a week and a half starting on Wednesday! I am very pleased about this, but also need to remember how to manage 35 children between the ages of 7 and 10. I am very much looking forward to June in the mountains and sleeping in a tent. Some of my co-counselors were my campers and helpers; I find this hilarious and strange.

[marzipants]

This past Saturday, I went to the wedding of one of my oldest friends. First of my close/old friends to get married, which, let me tell you, threw me for a really big loop. I spent a lot of time anticipating and feeling weird. I did have a nice time, though, and was really glad I went. I went alone and didn’t know anyone besides her family, but I did have a nice time with them. Hadn’t seen them in about ten years, which was nuts. Turns out you don’t get to hang out with the bride at her wedding, though, big surprise.

After the wedding, I had some questionable Thai food, rode in the back of a convertible while looking at the stars and listening to this song, played in a tournament without really eating, and getting a sunburn because my sunscreen melted off.

[marzipants]

I am a grown-up who is very professional at all times and who can definitely take a normal picture.

aka I go to Paris and Elinor comes to visit me and we cause a lot of trouble, by which I mean “are bad at ordering food in French” and “giggle a lot.”

[mistyzeo]

Rainy morning in Paris. ☔️🇫🇷 #rooftops #nofilter

[marzipants]

Hi I’m in Paris. Yesterday was sunny and beautiful, today looks like prime snuggling in bed weather. We still have one baguette left, so we’ll be good here for a little bit longer at least.

[marzipants]

Coworker: I made an appointment for my computer, it's having a problem with the letters. Maybe they can, what is it, wiederbeleben?

Me: I don't know?

Coworker: You know, when somebody's almost dead.

Me: [LAUGHS VERY LOUDLY]

Coworker: You know? You know what I mean?

Me: [still laughing] Revive. You mean revive!

Coworker: Yeah, maybe then can do that to him.

[marzipants]

Guess who came to visit me this weekend! YEP. Can you believe this is only the second time I’ve seen this guy since graduation? We used to spend, like, many hours a day together, every day. Nuts. Anyway, it just happened to be the most beautiful weekend (HELLO, APRIL) and we spent the whole time walking around the city, pretty much. D and I tried to see the cherry blossoms (pictured here, sort of, with Mr. Jefferson in the background), but it was uncomfortably packed with tourists, so we meandered elsewhere instead.  I also met D’s friend J from grad school, who was great and fit right in with our irreverent snarking, Mean Girls quotes, enjoyment of walking, and fondness for whiskey and card games. We saw All The Things, basically, and ate the rest of them. I am about as pleased as pleased can be. I also had a lovely visit with Ess on Friday evening, and then a silly roof time afterwards.  Oh, and my housemates repainted the dining room in our house -- no longer is it a terrible semi-gloss dark red, now we have a light and airy light blue. 

[marzipants]

HELLO INTERNET.  I went to North Carolina this past weekend, which was great, obviously, besides stupid travel hiccups.*  Did you know that it’s fun to see people you like a lot?  Turns out it is.  Went for some walks, ate a lot, read a lot, played some word games, did some crosswords, drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway, looked at the beginnings of some tiny wildflowers, hung out in front of the wood stove, the usual.  Oh ho, also at one point E and I were rolling around in the sunbeams on the floor, like very large and funny-shaped cats.  A good time in general.

Anyway, I have a four day weekend, because the Germans care about Easter a lot.  I have done one productive thing so far -- dealt with the plumber!! an Important Task! -- so I am resting on my laurels, by which I mean lounging around and listening to the rain and this song (on repeat, for reasons that are mysterious, but somehow it Feels Right for this rainy day soundtrack).  Today I’ll probably finally sharpen our incredibly dull cooking knives, and maybe also make a pie.

Last night I invited one person over for hanging out and reading on the porch, which somehow turned into eight people hanging out on the porch and me cooking two pounds of pasta.  Tomorrow we’re supposed to have a game, but it will likely be rained out like every other game this season, so I invited my team over for brunch, which will likely turn into me making a lot of quiches (yum).  Apparently I want to be hosting a lot of things!  Come over to my house for brunch tomorrow, maybe!

*My flight from CTL to AVL, which is an incredibly short one, was canceled, so I made two new friends in line and rented a car to drive us to AVL instead.  It was very frustrating.

[marzipants]

Remember that time I was in Berlin and D and E came to visit and we went to the top of the Reichstag and took this picture?  Gosh look at their FACES!  Ahhhhh good.

[marzipants]

[marzipants]

GREAT news guys, the immediate stop-gap solution for making my foot hurt less basically seems to be Wear Hiking Boots Twenty Four Hours A Day. This fits so well with my life-long intense dislike of wearing shoes, any shoes, especially when I am home and doing things like “sitting” and “reading a book” and “wearing sweatpants” and “hanging out” and “trying to relax.”  Also “trying to dress like a professional adult at a workplace” and “dressing for occasions that aren’t hiking.”  Wear hiking boots all day long for the foreseeable future.  I mean, it works, but it might actually drive me crazy in the meantime.  Cool.  I’m handling this very maturely.  I’m being very whiny about it and I’m sorry, I’m sorry you’re reading this.

[marzipants]

Heyyyyy internet, greeeeeaaaaat news. I’m about to be VERY whiny, so turn back now. Remember that time I had an ear infection two months ago? Turns out I have fluid in my inner ears and also maybe a sinus infection, which is why my ears and head hurt all the time! Oh yeah, and remember how my foot hurts a lot pretty much whenever I walk more than two or three blocks? Turns out that is degenerative arthritis in my toe, which means my foot is going to hurt for the rest of my life and is only going to get worse. It’s also called hallux rigidus and it means that maybe I’ll get my big toe joint replaced one day, and then later maybe fused. Cool. Normal stuff. Definitely normal when the end goal/best aspiration is fusing your joints so they’re immobile. Toes are so stupid, but also really important for walking, the most basic human movement??? Did you remember that I walk, uhh, everywhere, constantly, and with great pleasure, and that I’m only two dozen years old? I am not ready to deal with this shit. I can’t hurt every time I walk down the street, for the rest of my life. I can’t. But I guess that’s what’s happening, and I don’t know what to do.

[marzipants]

Happy snow day!  I have spent it draped over many surfaces, peering at the constant snowflakes, and eating lots of peanut noodles.  Later I will make a hot toddy, probably.  I'm ready for spring (SO MUCH), but this is nice for now.