i can haz wheat and ore?
so one of my dearest friends who is also a former student has this marvelous boyfriend whom i shall now call lord of catan! lord is hands down the biggest computer geek i have ever known. and his geekosity is grand and wonderous to behold. he is a gamer, of course, and works with computers and does these huge lan parties where everyone drinks energy drinks and plays games and only vaguely socializes with the 500 other people who are in the same room. and even though i'm relatively computer savvy (although based on my less than stellar work trying to upload that damn brotp moodset one might say differently (although i think i may have figured it out. i just haven't had time to devote to it)) he talks about things which go completely over my head, i look up and see them whooshing by as he talks. for realz.
tonight he called me and asked me to come over to play settlers of catan (hence the name of lord of catan) , a board game that's sort of like life and risk and monopoly all melded together (you know, you build things and buy things and trade things and try to fuck over your neighbors--just your basic capitalism!yay kinda game). it was fun even though i lost hugely and i'll definitely try it again though i'm not nearly as enthralled as he and his friends are. but the whole point of my even posting about this is that he speaks in lolcatz. srsly he does. and i think he thought i was beyond super awesome when i responded to him earlier today at the zoo after he'd asked "i can haz cheeseburger?" and i said "no but you can haz trainride." huge points for me at that moment.
speaking of the zoo, enzo and i invited lord and lady catan to join us there this morning. so i picked him up at 9 (i was talking to jenn on the sidewalk and he ran up to me and threw his arms around my legs--ok i died and went to heaven right there) and then we went to collect the aristocrats. the portland zoo is pretty cool as zoos go. they've made a huge effort in the last 20 years or so to build actual habitats for the animals who live there. my favorite area is the northwest trail which is this huge loop through the forest past black bears, bobcats, and bald eagles, down into the river valley with the salmon, sturgeon, and ducks. it's really cool. aside from the hordes of people out on only the second sunny saturday in 6 months, you almost get the feeling that you're in the woods and the animals are all around. enzo was like an unchained puppy--he ran and ran all the way down and when we got to the covered bridge that leads to the eagles he ran through shouting "yeahhhhhhhhhh tunnel!!!!" and then "tunnel done" "tunnel out" when he got to the end. after the eagles (which are amazing btw) we continued along to the salmon exhibit which is sort also underground so you can see the fish at eye level. huge windows full of lots of salmon and sturgeon. enzo has a hard time in there....he likes to stand and look at the fish for a few minutes but then wants me to pick him up fter which i have to carry him through the rest of the exhibit. but it's cool with me. cuddling him is a damn good thing.
after the northwest trail, we headed to the train which does a loop through the zoo. lord and lady catan were very helpful as i was running after enzo and there was a stroller to mind as well. lady catan is excellent at pushing a stroller even though she should probably have a servant do it. we waited forever for the train, and enzo who is obsessed (the whole trip was preceded this past monday by his asking me if we could "zoo choo choo ride?") was amazingly patient for a 2 year old. he rode my shoulders and periodically wailed "choo choo ride?" and i would explain that we had to wait a little longer for the tickets. then once we got the tickets and were in the next line to ride the damn thing, we missed a train by moments so had to wait again, he cried as though his little heart was breaking when the train pulled out. huge tears running down his face, as he waved to the departing train and wailed "choo choo ride choo choo gone?" it was kind of heartbreaking. but the ride was great. it's such a pleasure to just sit with him on my lap and watch the zoo go by and talk to him about elephants and elk. my heart broke again though when we had to disembark and he began to cry. again, waving at the people in line waiting to get on the train, tears just streaming down, sobbing "choo choo ride done? choo choo ride?" this boy. you guys. this boy is incredible. i adore him to pieces. then he fell asleep in the car on the way home. it was a great day at the zoo.