Sweet, Chill, Nerdy Double Birthday

The view of the pine grove out Jess' back door.

Birthday steaks over charcoal.

Jess and Tatum making dinner.

Written March 12, 2012
Fort Dauphin

    This weekend I celebrated my twenty-fourth birthday, and also Tatum’s twenty-seventh.  She met Jess and I at the American Cultural Center on Friday night.  As it was the last day before the Center travels back to Tana, I made sure to get my fill of CivCity: Rome, which is one of three games that are on the center computers.  The afternoon ended with me growling to myself, “They get rich enough and then they want slaves... And ya give ‘em slaves and they move out of their apartment above the butcher shop and get a fancy new villa and suddenly they won’t do a lick of work themselves... Damn one percent.”
    Yeah, it’s a pretty mediocre game.  Give me Age of Empires any day of the week.
    The next morning at Jess’ house I got up early and went for a walk.  A thunderstorm had appeared in the night and it was still drizzling.  Yet the air was just the right temperature, and the rain wasn’t heavy at all.  I bet the Japanese have a special term for this, I thought, a light rain that is actually quite pleasant to walk in.
    we made pancakes from the Bisquick Tatum had been saving for the occasion.  I brought my Nutella and Jess cooked up a savory breakfast skillet of potatoes and onions.  There was also fresh-squeezed orange juice from Jess’ fridge.  It turned out to be a pretty great brunch.
    We relaxed in the living room, drinking in the mid-morning breeze coming through the windows.  I told Jess about the trailers I’d seen for Season Two of Game of Thrones.  We’re both on tenterhooks waiting for it to premier.  Tatum had neither read the books nor seen the show.
    She picked up a food magazine and began reading aloud, “Winter is coming up, so get r--”
    “You just quoted Game of Thrones and you didn’t realize it!” I gushed.
    “What, ‘Winter is coming up?’” she asked.
    “‘Winter is Coming,’” I grinned.
    Jess adopted the serene expression that I suspect is her way of rolling her eyes.
    Tatum and I spent the afternoon at the market shopping for dinner, then went swimming.  For dinner we had pasta and steak.  Tatum made salsa, guacamole, and chips from packages her parents had sent her.
    And then we watched the first two episodes of Game of Thrones in an attempt to initiate Tatum into the fandom.  It’s like we were inducting her into the Cult of Mithras, such is the seductive power of Martin and HBO.  She didn’t take to it like we thought she might, but she’s still interested in reading the books.
    Pretty nice relaxing weekend.  Now I come into the Kaleta to do some Internet and I find an e-mail from the higher-ups about the study on the Peace Corps Madagascar Health Program.  The choicest part is: “Meetings with all ranges of individuals indicated that the PC/Madagascar Health project has little or no impact on the health of Malagasy.” (sic)
    So... great.  Washington has declared that the program in which I have been trained-- in which they trained me!-- is useless.  Ergo, I am useless.
    So what do I do now?  Keep barking at the townsfolk about health according to the same old methods that have been deemed unavailing?  Teach English to people?  Give lectures on American culture?  Lobby the regional officials to improve the roads here?  Pelt random men on the street with condoms?
    Lend a hand to other local organizations so I still feel like I have some purpose?
    Take pictures of absolutely everything?
    Those last two aren’t bad...