a leafy story

I have to finish this paper. I know I’ve been saying this for a year, and also for the five years before that. But truly. This time. For reals.

On the way the library this morning I was thinking about sending out a mass email to everyone who has heard me bitch about this (and that is a lot of people, at this point). It would say:

Dear friends,
Calling in a favor here – or in case I've never done anything useful for you, I’ll owe you one after this. I have to finish this paper. Like, yesterday. I’m on my way to the library. If you believe in the power of prayer, pray for me. If you believe in karma, send some my way. If you believe it’s all hogwash, send me a note saying you’re thinking of me and if I know you’re watching, I’ll be that much more motivated to get this done so I don’t make a fool of myself. As our President says: thank you for your attention to this matter.
Love, Susannah

But I figured I should compose a paper and not an email, so I started, again, to sift through the reams of babble that I still hope might grow up to become a real paper someday. And at one point I wanted to write something about circle training and our facilitator Leaf, only instead of 'Leaf' I typed 'Leif' (also pronounced ‘leaf’) which is the name of a guy I was madly in love with when I was 22, oops Freudian slip, and then I glanced up and the view out the window is…[see below]...leaves upon leaves. So I decided that email or no, y’all are out there somewhere, rooting for me. And it helped, maybe. Though the darn thing still isn't finished. The end. 

Hot tip *top secret do not share*: the best place to work in all of Zurich is the library at the Landesmuseum, which no one knows about but it is open to the public and quiet and air conditioned (!) and has a stunning view of the [trees next to the] Limmat river.