Are you excited about the wedding?
Ian and I are flying to Florida for our wedding trip later this morning. I slept only 5 hours, waking at 5:40, too excited to sleep! My sleep has definitely been suffering lately with everything going on in my life. Between my brain's inability to simply shut down at night and this crazy little caffeine addiction I seem to have developed, hoo boy! Sleeping better is on the To Do List for after the wedding (well, okay, and maybe the honeymoon -- wink wink, nudge nudge).
Ian is just... incredible. I'm so excited to forge a legal and binding pact of lifetime partnership with this incredible person! (Yes, for my religious friends who are either bold enough to sometimes ask, or wonder in polite silence how atheists consider bonds of marriage without the union of souls in the eyes of God -- there ya go.) He's been just an extra helping of Wonderful lately. He knows I don't manage change well in life -- I could win the lottery, and have a fanclub (that happened once), and all kinds of wonderful things happen to me, and it would still take a little freak out time in the adjustment. That's all it is, and I know it -- but fortunately for me, he knows it. I appointed him Vice President In Charge of the Move. He immediately shared the responsibility with Hero Bear, that among our stuffed animal friends who is most responsible and organized (Lawful Good), whom he named Executive Director under him in charge of the move. Between the two of them, they interviewed several movers. We eventually decided to go with the first guy we screened. His price was best, but equally as important, his customer service and attitude were exemplary. We not only gave him our business, but two referrals for the next month.
I worked late last night, trying to get as much nailed down as possible before I left the office. Then I went to get my nails done. As you can imagine on the night before my trip, this ended up being somewhat more burdensome than joyful as a perceived "to do" rather than luxury (and sheesh, at $23 before tip? That's some luxury! How do women consent to have this done on a regular basis?) -- although it did come with TV screens to watch "The Biggest Loser" (didn't finish watching weigh-in, don't know who got voted off even though I suspect strongly it was Brown Dad finally), and a surprise neck rub which was exquisite. Greasy food in a bag for dinner. But like the story in Dido's, "Thank You," I came home, Ian was positively bubbling over with happy energy, and it was indeed like the best day of my life.
We joked again about, "Are you excited about the wedding?" and the inevitable, "How is married life treating you?" after we've been dating for over five-and-a-half-years. Ian says now he's getting a lot of, "Are you excited to go to work for BioWare?" even from his professors. I reminded him that people just want to make a polite inquiry about important issues, and this is indeed why people look at me funny when I ask more direct questions rather than the polite ones... It reminds me of two different things I read from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. Once she wrote that a long lost friend greeted her after awhile and remarked that Rowling appeared to have lost weight. The writer was incensed. She commented that since she'd last seen her friend, she'd had so many bestsellers and all these monumental things happen in her life, but human beings are so obsessed with appearance, that all the friend could think to remark was on the topic of weightloss. I kinda made this face at J.K. -- O.o -- since I had a totally different interpretation of it. I put myself in the friend's shoes, and thought, This woman probably hasn't had a conversation about anything but Harry Potter in nearly 10 years. I bet she'd like to be human for a change and talk about something normal. I wondered how Rowling reacted to the friend, and I wondered if the friend felt brushed off? Only jatrina and a few others will really get how my brain can really overwork a topic like this! Here's the punchline to the story, though. Last year Rowling began her commencement speech at Harvard with these words, "The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation!"
We received a wedding gift yesterday which surprised me. One of Ian's artist classmates just got hired at BioWare as well on Tuesday -- HUGE NEWS. We're not especially close to him, although I'm sure we'll be bound by future adventures. He turned up yesterday with a really elegant leather-bound, gilded-cover unabridged edition of the complete Sherlock Holmes for us. What a really thoughtful and creative gift! And from a totally unexpected source -- gift-wrapped and with an inscription for us, and accompanying debate as to whether we are the "Moriartys" or "Moriarties." We all agree on y-s, although I would argue that it's properly, "Moriarty's," but everyone knows I have a bias favoring the apostrophe. The gesture really surprised me, and sometimes it's the random, unexpected kindness from people you don't expect to go out of their way for you that are profoundly touching. I was already happy to have another familiar face with us in Austin. Now I'm particularly looking forward to inviting That One* over for Hobbit Sunday Dinners in the future.
* Natch, a term of endearment from a President Obama fangirl.
Incidentally, for the record? No, I'm not especially excited about the wedding! I'm very happy. I'm excited to be going on vacation! This just seems natural, already fait d'complete (the spelling of which I may be horribly butchering, but please cut me some slack, my father made me take Spanish). Like my friends elena23 and waywalker say of their relationship, they knew from the start that they would marry. I'm not sure Ian and I were quite so far-seeing. In fact, we were both quite certain what we had would be limited to a summer fling in 2003! But come September, when the Awesome hadn't worn off, I think we knew back then. We've always practiced our relationship like it was For Keeps. Our finances have been integrated for years, and Ian still won't integrate our MP3 music files! This wedding is really just tying up some loose ends for us, completing a transformation rather than entering one. As I remarked earlier, indeed, this is how nonbelievers roll -- I'm looking forward to having the same name as Ian, to both of us having the legal right to make phone calls and get information and deal with bureaucracies with and on behalf of each other! It's also so much socially easier to convey a great deal of meaning into one word when I introduce "my husband," rather than, "partner - oh, but I mean a man, I'm not gay," or, "when I said my partner was a man, I thought you knew that I'm not," in the case of the Internet, or, "my fiance' but really, we've been living together for years," or -- as Bloom County once summed up this exact debate, "This is Ian. He does my wash."
One last funny story, and then I'm off to shower -- laying in bed last night, the gears in my head turning, going over what I packed, making sure I had everything, I realized there was one thing I had indeed forgotten to pack: THE WEDDING RINGS! Yep. I actually missed them on the first pass!
See you on the other side, friends,
Trace
Ian is just... incredible. I'm so excited to forge a legal and binding pact of lifetime partnership with this incredible person! (Yes, for my religious friends who are either bold enough to sometimes ask, or wonder in polite silence how atheists consider bonds of marriage without the union of souls in the eyes of God -- there ya go.) He's been just an extra helping of Wonderful lately. He knows I don't manage change well in life -- I could win the lottery, and have a fanclub (that happened once), and all kinds of wonderful things happen to me, and it would still take a little freak out time in the adjustment. That's all it is, and I know it -- but fortunately for me, he knows it. I appointed him Vice President In Charge of the Move. He immediately shared the responsibility with Hero Bear, that among our stuffed animal friends who is most responsible and organized (Lawful Good), whom he named Executive Director under him in charge of the move. Between the two of them, they interviewed several movers. We eventually decided to go with the first guy we screened. His price was best, but equally as important, his customer service and attitude were exemplary. We not only gave him our business, but two referrals for the next month.
I worked late last night, trying to get as much nailed down as possible before I left the office. Then I went to get my nails done. As you can imagine on the night before my trip, this ended up being somewhat more burdensome than joyful as a perceived "to do" rather than luxury (and sheesh, at $23 before tip? That's some luxury! How do women consent to have this done on a regular basis?) -- although it did come with TV screens to watch "The Biggest Loser" (didn't finish watching weigh-in, don't know who got voted off even though I suspect strongly it was Brown Dad finally), and a surprise neck rub which was exquisite. Greasy food in a bag for dinner. But like the story in Dido's, "Thank You," I came home, Ian was positively bubbling over with happy energy, and it was indeed like the best day of my life.
We joked again about, "Are you excited about the wedding?" and the inevitable, "How is married life treating you?" after we've been dating for over five-and-a-half-years. Ian says now he's getting a lot of, "Are you excited to go to work for BioWare?" even from his professors. I reminded him that people just want to make a polite inquiry about important issues, and this is indeed why people look at me funny when I ask more direct questions rather than the polite ones... It reminds me of two different things I read from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. Once she wrote that a long lost friend greeted her after awhile and remarked that Rowling appeared to have lost weight. The writer was incensed. She commented that since she'd last seen her friend, she'd had so many bestsellers and all these monumental things happen in her life, but human beings are so obsessed with appearance, that all the friend could think to remark was on the topic of weightloss. I kinda made this face at J.K. -- O.o -- since I had a totally different interpretation of it. I put myself in the friend's shoes, and thought, This woman probably hasn't had a conversation about anything but Harry Potter in nearly 10 years. I bet she'd like to be human for a change and talk about something normal. I wondered how Rowling reacted to the friend, and I wondered if the friend felt brushed off? Only jatrina and a few others will really get how my brain can really overwork a topic like this! Here's the punchline to the story, though. Last year Rowling began her commencement speech at Harvard with these words, "The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation!"
We received a wedding gift yesterday which surprised me. One of Ian's artist classmates just got hired at BioWare as well on Tuesday -- HUGE NEWS. We're not especially close to him, although I'm sure we'll be bound by future adventures. He turned up yesterday with a really elegant leather-bound, gilded-cover unabridged edition of the complete Sherlock Holmes for us. What a really thoughtful and creative gift! And from a totally unexpected source -- gift-wrapped and with an inscription for us, and accompanying debate as to whether we are the "Moriartys" or "Moriarties." We all agree on y-s, although I would argue that it's properly, "Moriarty's," but everyone knows I have a bias favoring the apostrophe. The gesture really surprised me, and sometimes it's the random, unexpected kindness from people you don't expect to go out of their way for you that are profoundly touching. I was already happy to have another familiar face with us in Austin. Now I'm particularly looking forward to inviting That One* over for Hobbit Sunday Dinners in the future.
* Natch, a term of endearment from a President Obama fangirl.
Incidentally, for the record? No, I'm not especially excited about the wedding! I'm very happy. I'm excited to be going on vacation! This just seems natural, already fait d'complete (the spelling of which I may be horribly butchering, but please cut me some slack, my father made me take Spanish). Like my friends elena23 and waywalker say of their relationship, they knew from the start that they would marry. I'm not sure Ian and I were quite so far-seeing. In fact, we were both quite certain what we had would be limited to a summer fling in 2003! But come September, when the Awesome hadn't worn off, I think we knew back then. We've always practiced our relationship like it was For Keeps. Our finances have been integrated for years, and Ian still won't integrate our MP3 music files! This wedding is really just tying up some loose ends for us, completing a transformation rather than entering one. As I remarked earlier, indeed, this is how nonbelievers roll -- I'm looking forward to having the same name as Ian, to both of us having the legal right to make phone calls and get information and deal with bureaucracies with and on behalf of each other! It's also so much socially easier to convey a great deal of meaning into one word when I introduce "my husband," rather than, "partner - oh, but I mean a man, I'm not gay," or, "when I said my partner was a man, I thought you knew that I'm not," in the case of the Internet, or, "my fiance' but really, we've been living together for years," or -- as Bloom County once summed up this exact debate, "This is Ian. He does my wash."
One last funny story, and then I'm off to shower -- laying in bed last night, the gears in my head turning, going over what I packed, making sure I had everything, I realized there was one thing I had indeed forgotten to pack: THE WEDDING RINGS! Yep. I actually missed them on the first pass!
See you on the other side, friends,
Trace