Today marked the arrival of PL and KT to Marseille, and the two girls turned out to be an excellent addition to our party. Ninja M* and I spent Thursday evening exploring more of the city and eating at a tiny establishment run by a white-haired lady from the south of France with no teeth, our conversations degenerated and silly. At one point during supper when neither of us understood what either was saying, Ninja M broke out his new phrase/metaphor: the conversation train**.
"You need to get on the conversation train," he said.
Wittily, I responded, "This conversation train is off the tracks."
"This is a great metaphor. I'm really excited about this. Let's write it down."
"No."
"Here's my pad. Let me borrow a pen. Write this down."
"No."
"The conversation train is traveling on multiple lines. Haha. What else is good? The conversation train - "
"This conversation train is on the railroad to nowhere."
"That's good, write it down."
"No."
"This conversation train has reached the end of the line."
It had. Tonight at supper Ninja M feigned shock and fury upon "learning" that I failed to write the more clever ones down. It pains me to admit that I could not think of all the puns we put together, mostly because when I tried to sneakily ask him if he remembered any more he made fun of me.
Luckily PL and KT are exactly the type of people who both appreciate and augment this type of humorous exchange. This evening while enjoying a chocolate cake and tea in the waiting area of the psychologist's office above which Ninja M lives (typical Ninja M habitation), a certain ninja dropped a sticky piece of cake on my freshly washed foot. I stared at my chocolatey appendage in disgust before asking if I could wipe it on his pajama pants. He refused, noting that, like my foot, they were newly clean. PL chimed, "My pajama pants are dirty!"
This dissolved the two of us into liquid laughter, best described as the type of laughter that encompasses the body so fully and makes you shake so hard that you release liquid (in the form of tears, pee, or both).
During the day PL and I followed Ninja M around as he rattled off tour-guide facts about Marseille and allowed us to stop and take pictures while pretending he did not know the white American tourist chicks giggling at him***. We retired to the beach at around 5 and spent an hour lying on the sand judging the breasts of the women who deigned to forego tops. On the whole we determined that nice breasts are typically kept hidden away by those possessing them, as their owners seem to understand that charity is only worthwhile if you get a tax break.
The supper party tonight made an interesting crowd: of the five of us gathered close to the Vieux Port for an outside dining experience, four spoke English, four spoke French, two spoke Portuguese, three spoke Spanish, and one spoke German. As I comprehend enough French to be a stowaway on that conversation train, so the evening consisted mostly of French with English drifting through occasionally like the gracious, well-dressed first-class passenger it is, allowing the hobo its short ride of acclaim. Ninja M repeated two jokes in French and English and developed a knack for translating only the words I understood, so eventually I politely asked him to just knock it off. I believe I affected a slight air of mystery - as if I held within me that certain je ne sais pas that set me just aloft of the conversation. I intended this chicanery to cover my lack of ability to contribute verbally to the evening (though certainly the table members felt graced by my presence nonetheless). It should be obvious that this fits in well with my desire to emulate Daisy Buchanan.
Advancements in my life (a list that will henceforth appear in every post - get excited starting NOW):
1. created a Twitter account (bookerlcb)
2. determined to surround myself with more people like Ninja M, who challenges my wit
3. applied for several jobs in DC
4. tested myself and confirmed that I still remember my license plate number
*Formerly known as MHK
**The following dialogue is paraphrased.
***Complete descriptions of sites visited to come in its own post after Ninja M sits down with me for a recap
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