creeeeaapy crawlers.

i'm not sure if everyone is aware of this, but manhattan was repeatedly shunted with outrageous weather this summer: tornadoes, multiple accounts of hail, and boatload* of rain. this has created somewhat of a new biosphere of which i was previously unfamiliar. it sits somewhere between the prairies and the rainforest now. we've acquired the lush vegetation of the rainforests, and it is a rather beautiful sight driving into one of the greenest areas i've experienced recently.

the crappy thing about this abundantly fresh vegetation is how it comes complete with INSECTS GALORE. they're everywhere. i mean everywhere. walking campus at night is a lizard's paradise with all the crickets; you can't even walk the paths without accidentally smashing a couple every few steps. beetles the size of Sacagawea dollars have turned up a handful of times - on sand volleyball courts, under couches, in my shoe once.

but the worst worst worst part: freaking mosquitoes. oh my goodness they're everywhere. i swear i sweat sugar, cause they will not leave me alone. i'm not going to count** the number of bites i've got, but i'm going to be one scarred individual when its all said and done. i'm not someone to show patience with itches on my body. i'm a scratcher. i'm also a toosie roll pop biter and a coca cola classic chugger.

"i don't scratch my head unless it itches, i don't dance unless i hear some music. i will not be intimidated. thats just the way it is."

coincidentally, the greatest mosquito army i've had to battle thus far was at a wedding i attended yesterday evening. it was outdoors and really really great - but there were so many blood sucking creatures. oy vey, it was awful. my friends bari and rotem actually ditched the wedding early cause they couldn't handle the brutality of the insects. at least everything was green so the wedding at least looked gorgeous.

anyway. other than the insects - i'm rather happy to be back here. except that some mornings i get calls from a multitude of hillcrest middle schoolers telling me to come back for church. happens on sundays sometimes...so far we're 1/1.

-ap.

* - a slight unit variation from a "buttload." a boatload is slightly larger (i base this on the fact that boats, on average, are larger than butts); however, culturally America has the lowest boatload to buttload ratio in the world (that's a clever way of saying we're fat).
** - i just made a typo on this word and caught it when i proofread. yikes. phew.