"Goats will float on boats in our goat moat"

I've been busy these past couple of weeks, and to the extent that you're interested, I apologize for the dearth of updates. My parents were here... last week? A little while ago. I met them down in Minneapolis, where we spent a couple of days doing the things I usually do with my parents on vacation, including shopping, eating good food, and arguing about reparations. I was excited for my dad to see Fargo because he'd never been here before, and I was able to give my parents a very complete tour of the city in less than two days, which should really tell you something. We had a nice time, though -- they got to see where I live and work, plus Scheels, obviously. Last Friday I drove them to the Minneapolis airport (and then immediately drove back to Fargo, so that was a fun day), but I'll be seeing them again in a couple of weeks in Boston. 

Back in Fargo, I went out Friday night with the Meetup folks for Joel's going away party. It's a little funny to go to a going away party for someone you've talked to maybe four times, but it was a fun time: we did Wurst Bier Hall, Vinyl Taco, HoDo, and this new place called the Boiler Room. I learned a lot about home brewing; we talked about Seattle, Joel's new city; I scolded everybody for never having seen The Room; and we ended the evening around 1 in a pathetically exhausted state for a bunch of young people. I went out with them again on Tuesday for trivia, where we placed second (!) and got $20 off of our tabs. I was pretty pleased with myself because the last question, on which we wagered half of our points, was about the Mercalli Scale. EM ftw. So nice to have friends again!

And speaking of friends (and trivia), yesterday I drove back down to Minneapolis to see Will, who was in town with his girlfriend Ellen as part of the world's most indirect road trip from North Carolina to Ohio. I met up with them, along with Jenny and Morgan, at Lake Calhoun, where I got to hear all about Will's work writing trivia questions (never fails to strike me as the most perfect job for him), future plans in Ohio, and the trip thus far. We all drove over to the co-op on Lyndale, got preparations for dinner, and then went to Dan's apartment to cook and eat. Julia and Teddy came a little later, and we had tacos, beer, wine and good times out on Dan's perfect deck. We were considering seeing a movie, but because it was such a nice night, we decided to go to Como Park and throw a frisbee around, talk about how great bridges are, and complain about mosquitoes. Ellen, Morgan and I watched the rest of the group playing frisbee, and I got to talk more to Ellen, who seems great and not only because she didn't argue with me too much about Indiana being the worst state in the country. When it started getting dark we went back to Dan's house and talked in a lot of detail about the commune we're going to start in Detroit. Basically a perfect night. 

I got back to Fargo today, and I'm pleased to report that things are going pretty well for me at home, too. There's a bunch of stuff going on this weekend: I get to see Jared again after many weeks, I may be officiating a vow renewal tomorrow night (?) (as an aside though, if you need to get married, I'm now "ordained," and may (may) legally be able to perform marriage ceremonies, and, as my mom said, I've finally made something of my life), Julia's coming on Saturday to explore the... several... things Fargo has to offer, and I've been invited to at least three parties. Basically killing it socially. Plus I just made some really great juice, I can finally access the USDA system, I've been listening to a lot of Nina Simone over the past few days, and I've got a trip scheduled to see three of my favorite people in the entire world in September. I've peaked, guys.