Summary of the last few weeks...

Usually I do not force my readers to just trust me when I tell them stories.  I prefer to back it up with proof, generally in the form of photos.  This is probably a reflection of my personal way of looking at life, of which those who know me best are well aware.  However, this time I have no proof.

You'll have to take my word for it that I went to Nice, which is quite possibly the most beautiful (and most ridiculously wealthy) place in the world.  You'll have to trust me when I tell you that the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco is not nearly as impressive as they make it seem in James Bond-style movies (at least from the outside, and the parts of the inside they let us see).  You'll have to have faith that the Carnival parades in Nice are epically better than the New Orleans equivalents.  You will have to take my word for it, because after taking hundreds of pictures of it all, I also got mugged and subsequently have no more camera.  Which also means no more pictures.  Possibly forever.  (Cue life crumbling down around me and some Chicken Little-esque end-of-the-world lamentations.  Oh, drama.)

But I do have a nice black eye to show for it all.  My one souvenir.

Ok, the "forever" part might be a bit of an exaggeration.  Mom mailed me my old camera from before I bought my current one (which is now sitting in some Nice-ian pawn shop somewhere, no doubt).  It's a bit archaic in comparison but it will get the job done.  New problem: it does not have the USB cable that allows me to upload pictures to my computer.  I suppose I'll have to suddenly become adept at ebay shopping and see if I can dig one up on the cheap because otherwise I'll just have all these photos on a memory card and no way to share them with the world.  No one but my mother will read my blog anymore and my dreams of being an international freelance writer/journalist will die a slow and painful death.  (that last part was a lie, but you get the idea.) 

I also just realized that after years of being overshadowed by a dramatic sibling I now take full advantage of opportunities to let my dramatic side run away with me.  No healthy outlets, and look what happens.

So as a result of yet another near-death experience in a foreign country, I've been lying low for a bit and taking it easy.  No need to push my luck too much, if I haven't done that already.  Once I get my technology right again I will continue posting in the name of Project 365.  I haven't decided if I will just pick up where I left off, ending a few weeks into 2012, or if I will just consider these last few weeks "the dark ages" of my life and keep going, just missing a few days.  We shall see.

In other news, it appears that it is approaching pigeon mating season as they have taken to sitting in my window box and making what can only be a strange mating call and destroying my daffodils.  I still maintain that we should teach the homeless to catch and cook pigeons, we would feed the hungry and take care of the pigeon overpopulation, two birds with one stone.  Nothing could possibly go wrong with that plan.

Well, I have a rule that when pigeon-eating homeless people enter the picture it's time to call it a day.  Besides, it's almost time to go off to work, which frankly makes me feel a bit like this (just the face, not the caption...but we could get there...).  I'll conclude with a few pictures stolen from Alex's facebook to make up for an otherwise aesthetically mind-numbing post.