Saturday, 11 August 2012
Well, for the fifth time in as many weeks, I donned my reverend persona and officiated a wedding. And now, for the first time this calendar year, I have no weddings coming down the proverbial pipeline. Hold on, I’ll check.
Nope. No emails.
Here are a few observations I made about today’s wedding that I absolutely enjoyed:
*A reading
This is the second wedding in a row I’ve performed in which a family member was invited up to read something. I like that. It gives me time to take a breath.
*Asymmetrical bridal party
Yep, the groomsmen outnumbered the bridesmaids. I’m not saying this is better than the usual symmetry, I’m just saying I liked their nonconformance to what, hitherto, I always thought was an imperative. The groomsmen-to-bridesmaids ratio meant that a couple of the bridesmaids walked down the aisle with a groomsman on each arm. The maid of honor, meanwhile, walked down with her one-year old daughter. When reaching the stage, she picked up her daughter and held her through the ceremony. Very cool.
*Not walking down with dad
Again, not saying this is better, just saying I like the change: the bride was escorted down the aisle not by her father, or a grandfather, but by her own brother, who then served as the best man (he received double-billing in the program).
*Intraceremony license-signing
This couple chose to sign their license during the ceremony. Even though this could have been a little awkward (people on stage hunched over a clipboard), it worked out perfectly and, in retrospect, I wish my wife and I would have done this. After all, it only makes sense. The license signatures indicates the witnesses have affirmed the vows, and so, you might as well get all the legal, traditional, and (if you must) religious stuff out of the way during the ceremony.
To make things unique, this couple did not use their best man and maid of honor as the witnesses; they used their grandmothers. At the appropriate time, they took their license down to the front row where her grandma signed the paperwork, then embraced her granddaughter and her new grandson-in-law. This was repeated on the other side of the aisle with his grandma. The groom then handed me the license, which I perused quickly and then signed.
Again, very cool.
If you’re getting married sometime in the next few months…good news! I’m wide open for dates.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
So, the good folks over at the St. Paul Almanac have asked me (and, I assume, all the other contributors) to participate in their tour-of-coffee houses readings.
I’m already attending their big release party on September 13th, and I think I am assigned to read there, but I think it sounds fun to read at a coffee shop. It’s like all those times I’ve seen my friends play guitar at coffee shops, only I have far less talent!
Anyway, I’m reading my piece(s) at two coffee shops on two dates.
The first is at Fresh Grounds, at 1362 West Seventh Street, on Monday, October first.
The second is at Claddaugh Coffee at 459 West Seventh Street on Monday, November nineteenth.
What can I say? I guess I have a thing for West 7th coffee shops.
Here’s a complete list off all the reading dates. If you can’t attend one where I’m participating (or if you specifically want to avoid them), then pick from this list and support local writers.
Monday, 13 August 2012
Despite having loads of shelving space in our (relatively) new home, Jennifer and I always have difficulty agreeing on what to do with the books we are currently reading. She likes to pile them up wily-nily whereever there’s space; I like to put them away in their proper place in the book shelves. I complain her method is sloppy. She complains my method causes her to forget about the books she wants to read. And then there are the library books: where do we put those? The top of the toilet only fits so many books.
Here is my wife’s current solution, unique in that I’m not opposed to it:
This is the left-hand corner of our desk. Since our desk is, like, seven feet long, there’s no problem in using up a foot of it to temporarily house these books. It’s good for me ’cause it’s not messy. It’s good for she ’cause she won’t forget about them when they’re sitting out in the open like this.
But, wow, just look at all those books! The majority of these are books Jennifer intends to read. But I have a book sitting on my desk at work, another in my backpack, and another sitting in the bathroom downstairs. Then there’s the audiobook I’m listening to in the car. And if you look closely, there’s a book jacket nestled behind the books. That’s ’cause I outserted the book and am reading it sans jacket. On top of the books are a couple of zines. To my knowledge, we’ve both read them, so I thing they’re languishing there until we either find a zine home, or they grow up into full-fledged books. Either way, it’s not happening any time soon.
Also today: Happy Left-handers’ Day to all of my sinister friends!