worms, odds, no ends really

today mandy was about to eat a dried fig from a package i bought at a whole foods store and it burst as she picked it up, revealing an entirely too long and too wily larva. after some shared moments of girly screaming and indecision, she bravely ran down three flights of stairs with the infected fruits and threw them in the dumpster (the kitchen trashcan was not trash-y enough). so i think along with coffee we can add figs to the list of things i am cutting out of my (odd) diet for the moment, this time purely out of squeamishness.

last night was the 23rd birthday of a german named mattias in my flat building. he's been here the whole year like myself, and is admittedly not my favorite person to interact with, for he is, whether he knows it or not, one of the creepiest males i've ever encountered in terms of enforcing predator-prey gender dynamics. he's a close talker. but he lives in the flat where several of my american friends/acquaintances were last semester, and i haven't been back to visit since the newbies arrived, and mandy insisted i stop by after work last night, so i did. i hadn't talked to mattias in a long time, but i brought him an avocado for his birthday - it is actually a prized possession to me, and it was also organic - and he didn't know what it was - the drunken reception was "is it fruit?" mainly i just thought it was funny. he probably won't use it or will be in for a surprise if he does, but as long as i'm still laughing, i suppose.

i was amazed to learn recently (though perhaps i should not have been) that all of my male saudi friends here were supposed to be studying in the u.s. for their full undergraduate degree - at northwestern, usc, ut austin, etc - but were set to matriculate in fall 2002, and so the question of their visa approvals was infinitely put off in the aftermath of 9/11. it was for only that reason that they all ended up here in one group. any females were still allowed to go over to the states, but males within a certain age range...talk about global consequences on individual lives.

i am reading so much about this architect right now and am pretty stressed out about my presentation, not because it will be difficult to do but because i have to synthesize about 40 books on this national icon into a 5 minute presentation and all but one are checked out and that one is on reserve at the library and happens to be 400 pages long. tomorrow i will head to edinburgh college of art to get another book, thankfully i can use their library too, and hopefully dig up some slides to talk about. argh to the way these people do research.

i really do need to get back this revered organic-y art, but i wanted to take this moment to raise a toast, even if i'm the only one with a glass. cheers to lovely lady rachel duffie, who has recently sent me across the ocean one of the crucial elements of my favorite cocktails, sour mix, which is not sold in the uk. i am, somewhat embarassedly, sipping on an amaretto sour right now because it has such a delightful taste, and in her name i necessarily revel in it. mandy is celebrating her 20th birthday on friday and i think i will bring it along to share the american goods with the partygoers. thank you again, madame.

alright, it's off to the races. or perhaps something less rollicking. it's off, anyway.