...my dear, i don't give a damn

being the super-anal grammar and language person that i am, i always notice when people say things repeatedly, or wrongly. when RL and i started dating he said "to tell you the truth" a lot, which i thought was funny. when i pointed it out he stopped doing it. i sure hope you're still telling me the truth RL!

he also said, "least we forget" until i corrected him. apparently all of his life he'd been laboring under the assumption that the least we could do is not forget.

my current boss' name is frank. he says "frankly" a lot. as in "frankly, i think the design isn't what we need right now." it's like he's using himself as an adjective. like, what other way are you going to do things but frankly? i wonder if he notices the inherent irony. i do things tee-plately. how do you do them?

one of my professors is moroccan, though he's lived in the states for awhile and is a working journalist. for the most part he's got the language down, but there are always a few words he just can't pronounce right. my cohort and i sit in class and make notes of his weird pronunciations and then compare after class. the other day he was telling us a story about a coroner, but the way he said it sounded like Tony Danza ordering a mexican beer. Cor-OWN-er ("Hey Angela, go get me a coroner."). it was hard not to giggle in class.

but my absolute favorite saying of this professor is the substitution of the word "gouge" for the word "gauge." as in, "think about your surroundings and gouge your stories appropriately." i'm sure he doesn't even think about it, but the word takes on a totally different meaning when you pronounce it this way. does this not happen in morocco?

It's like we were in National Geographic or something

Yeah, yeah, it's been awhile, but I've been busy. Last weekend I was busy attending wedding #3 of the summer (only one more to go!) in beautiful Jackson, Wyoming.

The highlights of the trip:

1) Staying in a fantabulous condo at Snow King resort (discounted courtesy of the bride and groom's connections). The master bathroom suite was bigger than our whole upstairs. And filled with Wyoming cowboy goodness.

2) RL's debut as "reverend" for the new couple. (He's already booked for several next year. What's the deal?)

3) Last but not least, an amazing float trip down the Snake River, at the foot of the Tetons. I was promised wildlife, but nothing like this. Within the first hour of the trip we looked over to the forest on the side of the river to see a herd of at least 100 bison tromping through the woods. We were all in shock, until, 10 minutes later, we see the bison actually crossing the water in front of us! We all got a little nervous when it looked like we were on a collision course for the guys just heading into the water. Everyone in my boat paddled quickly to make sure we didn't accidentally run into one of their horns (and end up in the water with them), and made it within 10 feet of them. A woman on our boat got these amazing pictures as we were passing them.








I have never before seen bison in the wild, and to come this close felt pretty surreal. We followed it up by an incredible bald eagle siting, and then a peek at a moose just hanging out in the woods (doubtless trying to not be seen).

Thank you, Wyoming!

Punchbug, in all its glory

RL and I pride ourselves on several things: making up silly words and phrases, blaming each other for our own misdeeds, and the most serious game of Punchbug the world has ever seen.

It's no longer just one punch when you see a Bug. It's two punches if the Bug's moving. You can punch someone multiple times if you see the Bug twice in a short amount of time (e.g. coming into and out of a parking lot), unless you have agreed that that Bug is off-limits. If you are alone and you see one you have to punch yourself, but you can also punch the other person when you get home for all the Bugs you saw without them. Lately RL has taken to just punching me as many times as possible before I scream "ow!"

Didn't I tell you it was serious?

The other day, as we embarked on a road trip to go camping, RL decided to pre-emptively punch me for all of the Bugs he was bound to see before me on our journey. I'm convinced that was why, as we slept in our tent later that night, RL woke up to ME punching HIM. Here's our verbatim, mostly asleep conversation.

Me, solidly asleep: (punch-punch-punch)
RL, waking up: What are you punching me for?
Me, groggily realizing that I have just dreamt about bugs, and that it doesn't count if they AREN'T REAL BUGS: Um, nothing, I was just dreaming about a bug.
RL: There was a bug in your dream and you want me to kill it?
Me: No, it was a Punchbug!
RL: Well if there was only one Bug, why did you punch me three times?
Me: There were two bugs.
RL, surprisingly lucid: That still doesn't count for three punches.
Me: I was sleeping. I don't really know what I was doing.

Sorry babe. But you started it.