 
 (defun ngender-emacs-path-add (dir-path)
 	"ensure directory path is on emacs load-path"
-	(if (eq symbol 'load-path) (message "load-path += %S" dir-path))
-	(if (numberp (car load-path)) (message "loadpath.0 = %d" (car load-path)))
+	(ngender-debug-warn t "load-path += %S" dir-path)
+	(if (numberp (car load-path))
+		(ngender-debug-warn t "loadpath contains %S!" (seq-filter #'numberp load-path)) )
 	(when (ngender-validate dir-path #'file-directory-p "directory")
-		(ngender-update-union-with-bags 'load-path dir-path) ) )
+		(ngender-update-union-with-items 'load-path dir-path) ) )
+
+;; something is causing numbers to be pushed onto load-path; patch:
+;; (setq load-path (seq-filter (lambda (x) (not (numberp x))) load-path))
 
 (defmacro ngender-emacs-path (dir-name parent-path-symbol)
 	`(ngender-emacs-path-add (expand-file-name ,(ngender-a-string dir-name) ,parent-path-symbol)) )

			(package-install p) ) ) )

(defmacro ngender-package (&rest packages)
	(cons 'ngender-package-function (mapcar #'ngender-a-string packages)) )

;; (macroexpand-1 '(ngender-package org))


			(ngender-warn module "module")
			(let ( (features (seq-filter #'consp (mapcar #'ngender-normalize-feature features))) )
				(let ( (module+features (cons module features)) )
					(if (assoc module+features *ngender-modules-loading*)
						(warn "%s already in *ngender-modules-loading*" module+features)
						(setq *ngender-modules-loading* (cons module+features *ngender-modules-loading*)) )
					(ngender-load-module module) ) ) ) ) ) ; module can pull features off loading list

(defun ngender-require (module &rest features)
