Welcome spring! What I did over "spring break"
The past two weeks have been a giant whirlwind of travel and wedding plans and one extreme to the other in weather and seemingly culture.
The wedding gown looks wonderful! I went in for the second fitting yesterday, and it's lovely! Damn me for deciding to wear high heels, however. Those suckers are getting kicked off as soon as pictures are finished, you can bet. I've decided not to wear nylons. They're so not me. I accepted my high school diploma in bare feet, no real reason why my wedding should be any different, I suppose. Besides, my toes are cute!
Found my garter at that fancy-schmancy lingerie shop in Phipp's Plaza while in Atlanta last weekend...no real understanding why I bought it. It's weird without stockings. Regardless, I'm nervous about wearing it for fear it'll slide down around my ankle and get kicked into the audience as I'm cruising down the aisle. We're so not doing that toss the garter thing. It's just happy and seems like something a bride should have! If Auntie comes through, it'll give me a place to attach the button from her old black overcoat, the one she wore when Sean Connery touched her elbow and said, "Excuse me," the same one I wore when Sting kissed me! That would be an excellent good luck charm!
Now I'm just down to something borrowed. Not sure where to go there....
Dave had his bachelor party this weekend, an affair of all-day Warhammer then pool by night with plenty of beer and BBQ in between. He assures me the house was properly filled with whores ("who-ahs," as he pronounces in proper northeastern fashion) as any bachelor party should be. No doubt.
I took advantage of his distraction to steal another trip to Atlanta to help my girlfriend J celebrate a landmark birthday. What a delight! It's a real treat to get to visit with her, in particular, so frequently with Everhate one weekend, the birthday the next, and her trip to my wedding in a few weeks. The whole weekend was packed with visiting an unusual assortment of Atlantan friends, which was a treat. We kicked it off with 80s Night at Masquerade on Thursday, straight from the airport. Ten friends showed up to boogie the night away with us, virtually all of whom play Everhate save for MW ("Chit"), a friend from Wildlands, who blended charismatically with the crowd. There was drama, of course, there always is. One expects game conversation in such a gathering. I got the impression from some of the talk that a potentially emotionally-charged situation at the game may be taken past my comfort level by some other players. We'll see where that goes; it has potential to end in tears, as they say. The evening wouldn't have been complete without a dose of real life drama, of course. Pouting over long lost (or should I suggest "cast away") love, and potentially inappropriate consolation from someone whose flirtation level strikes me as UnsafeTM. Yeah, that'll definitely end in tears...It made me celebrate my friend's birthday with more greatly genuine glee as I thought to myself, "It's nice to be older than those choices in my own life." That may not make a lot of sense to some readers without backup, and I apologize for that. Point is: We all dare Fate when we're Young. Looking at 31 straight in the eyes now, owning a house, about to marry, all Settled Down, I'm just happy to escort certain types of Drama out the door in my own life.
Friday found us in Underground Atlanta into which I had actually never set foot in five years of living in that city! We met delathi and jah_lila for lunch at Mick's, complete with zesty peach marmalade of some kind, Oreo milkshakes for them, and the Season's First Lemonade for J and me. I once wrote about Ceremonials for Common Days, the quotidian joys we find in every hour that make life sparkle and animate. The Season's First Lemonade should certainly be added to that list of small wonders in everyday life that shouldn't be allowed to pass unnoticed. ("I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.") We made more of a Do of it on Sunday afternoon when J and I had finally had enough of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle and spent that gorgeous, sunny afternoon on her back porch, in her newly planted herb garden, brushing sunlight into our hair, and drinking freshly made lemonade out of crystal goblets, with sprigs of fresh mint as garnish! I mentioned to my lovely hostess several times that was my favorite part of the trip. It's certainly a memory of springtime and our friendship I'll cherish for a long while.
Back to lunch, however, the all-too-brief hour recalled to mind a project I've been meaning to dust off from the attic of my mind: Resurrecting the Art of Conversation. I forget to ask people about themselves. I'm surrounded by people I'm certain are interesting, and have potential to inspire, uplift, entertain, and I consistently forget to give them the opportunity to do so simply by indulging in the best art, opening conversation. Poor Delathi and Jah Lila graciously suffered through my rusty attempts to resurrect this art of exchange and dialogue with my interrogation of them. I did get to learn a little bit more about those two whom I really don't know at all, however. I'm glad I asked.
Friday afternoon was all about girlie glamour as we zoomed over to Carter Barnes Hair Artisans at Phipp's Plaza -- to date, I still have not found a hair dresser here in the Winter Kingdom. I take advantage of my frequent trips back to Atlanta to visit Ray Vaughn, the world's most fabulously talented, charming, screamingly gay and therefore incredibly tasteful hair dresser. I've got a shoulder-length cut that reminds me a little bit of Chloe on "Smallville," and had the mop dyed my natural color to bring out the highlights a little and make it shine for the wedding. J got a cut from this fabulously snobby European woman whom I think is a Russian mail order bride -- I thought she was a cross dressing man when we first met her! She joked with another client about her evening plans of "sitting around with my husband and talking shit about Americans...we love this country, but that's just what we Europeans do, talk shit about Americans!" She introduced one of the great theme lines of the weekend, however. J tried to explain what she wanted done with her hair do. She wanted something she didn't have to fuss with, "and I like what you've done with your hair," she completed the mail order bride. "Yes, but I fuss," came the heavily accented reply.
The second great line of the weekend came at the end of its celebration Sunday night when Chef arkhamrefugee hosted a dinner party. J and I told some war story from Everhate and didn't know a particular Player Character's name, so we nicknamed him Fuck Fuck the Skeleton as this kid is the reason for the Five Fuck Maximum in our cabin. That struck us funny, and he's gone from being vilified by the name to enshrined by the caricature of a comic strip Smokey the Bear type purveyor of cautionary notices since then! Poor Fuck Fuck.
We made a great discovery Friday night! For whatever reason, we ended up asking our dinner date to meet us at Hooter's for eats. I had some of the best chicken wings of my life there! Yummy! They tasted homemade, and were tasty and fresh! I was a little surprised by the number of families in the restaurant, too. I guess it's not the "titty bar" I perceived it to be...of course, having only been there with Richard in the past, how could I think otherwise? All the world's a titty bar to Richard, and we are merely Hooter Girls....
Again with the things I never did while living in Atlanta, we ventured into the hallowed halls of the World of Coke on Saturday. I was disappointed. I take pride in being a walking encyclopedia of useless knowledge. I seem to have an excellent memory for trivia provided by A&E and the History Channel, and the like. Coca-Cola has a fascinating history to it! Unfortunately, the World of Coke is really just the World of Coke Advertising, and doesn't cover the actual history much at all. Too bad. The shows I've watched about it were really interesting -- as is another source, a nonfiction book I recently read, Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser. That book in particular has some interesting insight into similarities and competition between McDonald's and Disney, actually. Apparently McDonald's Playlands were Ray Kroc's answer to Disneyland and his individual competition with Walt Disney. Interesting read, and it doesn't cover much of The Jungle type stuff like "What's really in the meat?" It won't make you ill at the thought of eating fast food; it focuses pretty much on the consumerism, marketing, etc.
Got the cheese enchilada hookup at my favorite Atlanta restaurant, Don Pablo's Saturday night, again with the friends and the merry making. Then off to a late show of "Blade II," where we ran into darkangel65, washell, mistresskelley, slvdrgn, and their party...dude! No one mentioned what a fox washell is! She is apparently just as lovely on the outside as she is on the inside from how I've gotten to know her through LiveJournal, let me tell you.
Now I'm telling this with a sigh ages and ages hence since the weekend, it seems. I'm tired, and glad to be home, cold rainy weather and all! I missed Dave. We're terribly happy and in love, and really looking forward to the wedding. I feared we'd be nervous enough to be biting each other's heads off. I remain fearful that may happen next week when it comes to traveling, which is always stressful on people, and which Dave doesn't like in particular. The whole celebration of the wedding with so many friends (31 guests at last count) is going to be just a dream! My life is a good life. I'm a very lucky person. I hope I give enough thanks to the universe and the people around me for making it all true.
Traceroo
The wedding gown looks wonderful! I went in for the second fitting yesterday, and it's lovely! Damn me for deciding to wear high heels, however. Those suckers are getting kicked off as soon as pictures are finished, you can bet. I've decided not to wear nylons. They're so not me. I accepted my high school diploma in bare feet, no real reason why my wedding should be any different, I suppose. Besides, my toes are cute!
Found my garter at that fancy-schmancy lingerie shop in Phipp's Plaza while in Atlanta last weekend...no real understanding why I bought it. It's weird without stockings. Regardless, I'm nervous about wearing it for fear it'll slide down around my ankle and get kicked into the audience as I'm cruising down the aisle. We're so not doing that toss the garter thing. It's just happy and seems like something a bride should have! If Auntie comes through, it'll give me a place to attach the button from her old black overcoat, the one she wore when Sean Connery touched her elbow and said, "Excuse me," the same one I wore when Sting kissed me! That would be an excellent good luck charm!
Now I'm just down to something borrowed. Not sure where to go there....
Dave had his bachelor party this weekend, an affair of all-day Warhammer then pool by night with plenty of beer and BBQ in between. He assures me the house was properly filled with whores ("who-ahs," as he pronounces in proper northeastern fashion) as any bachelor party should be. No doubt.
I took advantage of his distraction to steal another trip to Atlanta to help my girlfriend J celebrate a landmark birthday. What a delight! It's a real treat to get to visit with her, in particular, so frequently with Everhate one weekend, the birthday the next, and her trip to my wedding in a few weeks. The whole weekend was packed with visiting an unusual assortment of Atlantan friends, which was a treat. We kicked it off with 80s Night at Masquerade on Thursday, straight from the airport. Ten friends showed up to boogie the night away with us, virtually all of whom play Everhate save for MW ("Chit"), a friend from Wildlands, who blended charismatically with the crowd. There was drama, of course, there always is. One expects game conversation in such a gathering. I got the impression from some of the talk that a potentially emotionally-charged situation at the game may be taken past my comfort level by some other players. We'll see where that goes; it has potential to end in tears, as they say. The evening wouldn't have been complete without a dose of real life drama, of course. Pouting over long lost (or should I suggest "cast away") love, and potentially inappropriate consolation from someone whose flirtation level strikes me as UnsafeTM. Yeah, that'll definitely end in tears...It made me celebrate my friend's birthday with more greatly genuine glee as I thought to myself, "It's nice to be older than those choices in my own life." That may not make a lot of sense to some readers without backup, and I apologize for that. Point is: We all dare Fate when we're Young. Looking at 31 straight in the eyes now, owning a house, about to marry, all Settled Down, I'm just happy to escort certain types of Drama out the door in my own life.
Friday found us in Underground Atlanta into which I had actually never set foot in five years of living in that city! We met delathi and jah_lila for lunch at Mick's, complete with zesty peach marmalade of some kind, Oreo milkshakes for them, and the Season's First Lemonade for J and me. I once wrote about Ceremonials for Common Days, the quotidian joys we find in every hour that make life sparkle and animate. The Season's First Lemonade should certainly be added to that list of small wonders in everyday life that shouldn't be allowed to pass unnoticed. ("I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.") We made more of a Do of it on Sunday afternoon when J and I had finally had enough of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle and spent that gorgeous, sunny afternoon on her back porch, in her newly planted herb garden, brushing sunlight into our hair, and drinking freshly made lemonade out of crystal goblets, with sprigs of fresh mint as garnish! I mentioned to my lovely hostess several times that was my favorite part of the trip. It's certainly a memory of springtime and our friendship I'll cherish for a long while.
Back to lunch, however, the all-too-brief hour recalled to mind a project I've been meaning to dust off from the attic of my mind: Resurrecting the Art of Conversation. I forget to ask people about themselves. I'm surrounded by people I'm certain are interesting, and have potential to inspire, uplift, entertain, and I consistently forget to give them the opportunity to do so simply by indulging in the best art, opening conversation. Poor Delathi and Jah Lila graciously suffered through my rusty attempts to resurrect this art of exchange and dialogue with my interrogation of them. I did get to learn a little bit more about those two whom I really don't know at all, however. I'm glad I asked.
Friday afternoon was all about girlie glamour as we zoomed over to Carter Barnes Hair Artisans at Phipp's Plaza -- to date, I still have not found a hair dresser here in the Winter Kingdom. I take advantage of my frequent trips back to Atlanta to visit Ray Vaughn, the world's most fabulously talented, charming, screamingly gay and therefore incredibly tasteful hair dresser. I've got a shoulder-length cut that reminds me a little bit of Chloe on "Smallville," and had the mop dyed my natural color to bring out the highlights a little and make it shine for the wedding. J got a cut from this fabulously snobby European woman whom I think is a Russian mail order bride -- I thought she was a cross dressing man when we first met her! She joked with another client about her evening plans of "sitting around with my husband and talking shit about Americans...we love this country, but that's just what we Europeans do, talk shit about Americans!" She introduced one of the great theme lines of the weekend, however. J tried to explain what she wanted done with her hair do. She wanted something she didn't have to fuss with, "and I like what you've done with your hair," she completed the mail order bride. "Yes, but I fuss," came the heavily accented reply.
The second great line of the weekend came at the end of its celebration Sunday night when Chef arkhamrefugee hosted a dinner party. J and I told some war story from Everhate and didn't know a particular Player Character's name, so we nicknamed him Fuck Fuck the Skeleton as this kid is the reason for the Five Fuck Maximum in our cabin. That struck us funny, and he's gone from being vilified by the name to enshrined by the caricature of a comic strip Smokey the Bear type purveyor of cautionary notices since then! Poor Fuck Fuck.
We made a great discovery Friday night! For whatever reason, we ended up asking our dinner date to meet us at Hooter's for eats. I had some of the best chicken wings of my life there! Yummy! They tasted homemade, and were tasty and fresh! I was a little surprised by the number of families in the restaurant, too. I guess it's not the "titty bar" I perceived it to be...of course, having only been there with Richard in the past, how could I think otherwise? All the world's a titty bar to Richard, and we are merely Hooter Girls....
Again with the things I never did while living in Atlanta, we ventured into the hallowed halls of the World of Coke on Saturday. I was disappointed. I take pride in being a walking encyclopedia of useless knowledge. I seem to have an excellent memory for trivia provided by A&E and the History Channel, and the like. Coca-Cola has a fascinating history to it! Unfortunately, the World of Coke is really just the World of Coke Advertising, and doesn't cover the actual history much at all. Too bad. The shows I've watched about it were really interesting -- as is another source, a nonfiction book I recently read, Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser. That book in particular has some interesting insight into similarities and competition between McDonald's and Disney, actually. Apparently McDonald's Playlands were Ray Kroc's answer to Disneyland and his individual competition with Walt Disney. Interesting read, and it doesn't cover much of The Jungle type stuff like "What's really in the meat?" It won't make you ill at the thought of eating fast food; it focuses pretty much on the consumerism, marketing, etc.
Got the cheese enchilada hookup at my favorite Atlanta restaurant, Don Pablo's Saturday night, again with the friends and the merry making. Then off to a late show of "Blade II," where we ran into darkangel65, washell, mistresskelley, slvdrgn, and their party...dude! No one mentioned what a fox washell is! She is apparently just as lovely on the outside as she is on the inside from how I've gotten to know her through LiveJournal, let me tell you.
Now I'm telling this with a sigh ages and ages hence since the weekend, it seems. I'm tired, and glad to be home, cold rainy weather and all! I missed Dave. We're terribly happy and in love, and really looking forward to the wedding. I feared we'd be nervous enough to be biting each other's heads off. I remain fearful that may happen next week when it comes to traveling, which is always stressful on people, and which Dave doesn't like in particular. The whole celebration of the wedding with so many friends (31 guests at last count) is going to be just a dream! My life is a good life. I'm a very lucky person. I hope I give enough thanks to the universe and the people around me for making it all true.
Traceroo