Swamp Girl Run Amok

Gaaaaaaah, I hate moving. I do like unpacking, but I won’t get to that part for a while.

I don’t even have bedding. Oh dear lord, my life is a mess. But I have a house!

(a là McSweeney’s)

Dear Joyce Pub Quiz (and $3 Corona Night),

We were new tonight.  Pub quiz virgins, you might say.  But we will return.  We will come early, stake out seats, think of a cleverer name that doesn’t invoke a much loathed acronym, grind through grainy images of random movies, strain our ears to make out what the hell Pub Quiz Girl is saying over the intercom, pool what knowledge we have to answer some and entertain ourselves making up answers to the others.

And one night?  One night we will defeat you, Pub Quiz.  We will beat the grad students, the lingering alumni, the random Durhamites, and all other comers.  But most of all we will defeat you and your cruel arbitrary nature.  (Leprosy?  Really?) One night we will earn that $75 bar tab and the glory it represents.  On that night we will probably also field a full team, make sure Jordy isn’t drunk at a Navy Party, include a boy and have a clue about what we’re doing, but that’s what I mean.  We will be there, every week, drinking Corona and Longbow until we get it right.  Until we overcome.

One night, Pub Quiz.  One night.  You’ll see.

Sincerely,

Megan Elizabeth

mariellie:

our beverly hills store recently received a letter, handwritten on looseleaf paper with an $80 check enclosed.  the THREE PAGE note explained that way back in 2001, the sender traveled from england to california with her then boyfriend, whose full name (along with the title ‘esquire’) is given.  she purchased a pair of shoes from our store but the sales associate gave her two pairs in error, and when she called to report the mistake, they told her to put the shoes in a cab and send them back to the store.  predictably the shoes were lost, but roughly eight years later, this woman randomly remembered, and righted the wrong, accounting for exchange rate and depreciation.

why?

On a slightly different but similar note: if you go to the Petrified Forest there are a ton of signs and warnings not to take any rocks from the park because then someday there wouldn’t be any left.  I felt more compelled to take something after reading the signs than before, but in any case, the visitor’s center has a whole display of letters from people who have mailed back rocks after the fact.  Some people seemed to think their whole life had been cursed since they took the rock (external locus of control much?), others just regretted something they did as a kid, others just felt like it was the right thing to do.  The letters spanned 75 years and were part of a collection of nearly a thousand.

Yes, all because of rocks that used to be wood.  People are weird.

1) Between this (via Molly) and this (via Kevin) I will be more than set for the summer for fun.

2) I actually kind of did miss FACing while I was gone.

Strike the “kind of.”  I really missed FACing.  I got to play with spreadsheets today.  And it was magical.

3) Undeniable greatness in TV: Gossip Girl season finale, Greek season 3(?), Jon and Kate plus 8, Gilmore Girls reruns.

Epic TV Fail: 10 Things I Hate About You. the Series.  I saw the ads upon arriving back in civilization and it made me want to cry.

4) Nicole and I are having mad bonding over JK+8, GG, beating Pike seniors (alumni?  ack) at beer pog, and having no homes.  Being an effective nomad means being flexible about where you sleep, ability to sense available wifi at fifty paces and keeping a large portion of your wardrobe in the trunk/back seat of your car.

(On that note, pleasepleapleasepleaseplease don’t let my car get stolen.  I would be very lacking in clothing.)

5) Speaking of clothes: go to Target.  Buy this and this.  So brighly colored.  So comfy.  So cheap.

6) Finally watched Twilight.  It was remakably enjoyable.

7) Textsfromlastnight is like the most amazing thing ever.  It truly makes the world better.  (352) ones are of course particularly entertaining.

8) New additions to the summer fun list: FAC Board Dinners recommence, Danielle (starting Saturday!), housewarming party soon, NYC June 19-21, America Celebrates Nicole going to DC on July 4, GNV Send-Off Party at my house on July 12.  Fun!

I have missed you.

(Like yes actually. It still hasn’t stopped surprising me a little that I think of coming back to Durham as coming home.)

Today, I saw baby buffalo. And they were adorable. That is all. I love to share the adorable things of the world.

That is all. I wander, they should know this by now.

This morning, before breakfast, when we had all woken up at 7AM because no one has adjusted to West Coast time, we went for a hike.  This is kind of what we do on family vacations generally— drive places and then walk into the wilderness until Daddy lets us go back.  This morning’s hike reinforced several long standing rules of hiking for me:

1) I like to be in the middle of the train.  That way I’m less likely to trip of a yet-unforeseen log or off a cliff or into a tree because someon else will do it first but also my slow-ass self is less likely to get left behind/eaten by coyotes.

2) Stamina-wise, I can walk all day.  My limit on distance is how far I can go before the flying bugs freak me out too much. (…That is not a very far distance.)

3) Daddy making comments about how I will probably be bitten by a rattlesnake (bear/lizard/scary animal) is never appreciated.

4) When climbing up and down (in boat shoes, natch) the rock face, there is no shame in taking advantage of long legs by sitting down to scoot down the sheerer inclines.  NONE.

5) While I enjoy hiking/mountain walking more than most people who know me would probably expect, I prefer stalking down city blocks in NYC to traipsing up and down washout trails.  I need to book tickets to come see Caryn, Moyer and Gab up in the Big Apple (like seriously, ASAP).

And now we head off into the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest.  Onward!

The sky here is so blue and the hills and mountains glow golden and red. Not a single cloud and the sun owns the entire Western horizon.

There is something so stark and jagged and surreal about this part of the world. It makes you want to read cowboy novels by Cormac McCarthy to try and realize the reality of life in the beating sun and rambling scrub and endless ranges. It makes you want to saddle up and head off the road, make for the next ridgeline and the next and the next…*

*All overly romantacized impulses severely limited by current location in back of an RV, air conditioned and still glued to my phone. I probably am also loopy from altitude sickness.

We’re seniors. Let the freaking out begin.

Win. During 7th Inning Stretch. So much win. A whole crowd was treated to my dancing. w00t

Bulls down by eight. But two guys on base so perhaps we will at least score.