The act August 9, 2008

It’s funny.

Tonight was my last at my job. I did my duties for the last time, quadruple-checking, safeguarding myself from catastrophic mistakes. (Or trying.) And it was so odd, knowing that, five, six years ago, I wanted nothing more than to do the duties I was then performing for the last time.

I got my shot at those duties.

And it turned out that I really didn’t want to have anything to do with them. And further, as the industry crumbles around me, and with that the increasing pressure from the tightly coiled web of management above, I ceased to care. I long ceased to have fun. I hardened myself just to survive.

I didn’t like it. Most of the time I dreaded it, my mood turning stormy every time I crawled out of my car and went into the building.

But this job has always been way more than a job. Even that first week, when I went home from it and cried, every night, wondering what I had gotten myself into. But this job was my salvation. My freedom. Lizzie moved to California three months ahead of me. When we fell asleep her last night in the Midwest, exhausted from a whirlwind of packing and moving and cleaning… when we awoke early in the morning, just as the sun was rising, and I had to watch her turn and walk out the door, I had no idea when/if I’d be able to join her. She was setting up a new life thousands of miles away. And I stood, alone, newly in love, staring at a closed door, and realizing just how big the chasm was opening in my life.

Sabotage July 12, 2008

This future lawyer has no clue how to counter claims of brainwashing.

Answer 1: No I’m not. (Response: So brainwashed.)

Answer 2: Yes I am. (God, glad she’s admitted it.)

Heh heh. More conversations with no point. No communication happening. Just… brainwashing.

Carry on.

Quick post June 17, 2008

We did it.

More later.

(And note: The world hasn’t ended yet. Woo hoo.)

More photos June 11, 2008

At last, I’m ready to post a few more pictures of our wedding. This time from our photographer friend. I also have been messing around for a least a month, making a photo slideshow with music to put on DVD. However, because of privacy concerns, Jade doesn’t want me to put the video up on YouTube. Which is the only way that I currently have the tools to put it on our blog. There are ways I can make it more private, but it boils down to never put anything up on the Internet that you don’t want somehow coming back to haunt you later.

It’s just as well. It’s 7 minutes of looking at someone else’s pictures. Right now, in the background, I’m making about 10 copies to send to our friends. Who are getting them whether they want them or not. My best friend informs me she doesn’t want a copy because she doesn’t have 7 minutes to spare because of her toddler.

So if you want to waste your time with just a handful of the pictures … (Click on them for full captions)

Peeking outside

Our feet

We walk to the gazebo along our aisle of flowers

We're getting ready to walk

Imagine

The rings

A cute moment

The wedding party, such as it is

Don't know what's so funny

Our rings

The kiss

Go ahead, make my day June 4, 2008

Calif. court refuses to stay gay marriage ruling

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer 57 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO - California’s highest court Wednesday refused to stay its decision legalizing same-sex marriage in the state, clearing the final hurdle for gay couples to start tying the knot this month.

Conservative religious and legal groups had asked the California Supreme Court to stop its May 15 order requiring state and local officials to sanction same-sex unions from becoming effective until voters have the chance to consider the issue in November. The justices’ decisions typically become final after 30 days.

More here.

Suck it, bitches.

I *almost* wish I could be more decorous about it, but I’m tired of hearing about how I’m going to start fucking children and pets and lightpoles and how my stable relationship is the Armageddon of good, clean Christian society.

Lizzie and I will be down at the county clerk as soon as feasible.

Repurposing invitations March 22, 2008

We like to save money. And blow it on other things. We had a general idea of how expensive ordering invitations would be. And we really don’t have a lot of people coming.

We wanted to design our invitations anyway. Anything we could do is probably more creative than 75% of the invitations out there. Or that’s what we told ourselves.

But we don’t know the first thing about getting things printed in a print shop. If we had our stuff professionally printed, we needed to figure out where. We needed to figure out what dimensions we were talking about, what kind of paper. We needed the right size envelopes.

The task became more unpleasant the later it became.

Until we discovered invitation kits at Target. You can buy invitations, response cards and their corresponding envelopes all in the same package. We didn’t have to worry about designing an invitation we had printed ourselves to fit a standard-sized envelope. It was all color-coordinated and done.

The hardest part was making sure we could get everything to print within a simple, raised decorative border. It required a lot of trial and error. And the kit contained 50 invites, so we had plenty of extras to burn in our printer.

Or so we thought.

We didn’t know if we wanted to do programs, but eventually agreed that it would be nice to offer some sort of general outline of what was going on, as well as acknowledge all the people helping us.

• Problem 1: We had a copy of what the minister is going to say, but we don’t have one right now. And I only vaguely remember what order everything is supposed to be in. Are we going to bluff our way through the programs? Probably. Which reminds me: I really need to locate and print out my vows, because I didn’t memorize them, and won’t have time. Without Jade seeing them.

• Problem 2: We tried to find program kits but they are sold in quantities we do not need. And then I found a program kit that looked exactly like the stuff we used for our invitations. And we still have quite a few left over. The problem? Do we have enough left over for programs? Well, we’re going to try it.

• Problem 3: The leftovers are one-sided, because they are going to be repurposed invites. So we have to fit whatever we want to fit on one side. It honestly hadn’t occurred to me that we would even need more space until I saw the program kits, and how many of them are designed to be folded, two-sided deals.

• Problem 4: We probably would like to design our programs so that they echo the design of our invites, but now we don’t have extras to burn. And part of the problem was getting everything lined up properly. Much trial and error. The good news is that we can use the template we built. The bad news is that it just may not be worth it. Plus, if we add lots of fanciness, we leave even less room for the actual information on the program. Designers: Love images more than words.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should also point out that when we found invite kits at Target, we were ecstatic. Our search was over.

But Jade is a shopper. It takes her months, sometimes years, to decide on a momentous purchase. It requires lots of research, window-shopping and hair pulling. And I’m the impatient one. If I like something, and want it, I buy it. This probably explains the difference in our savings account balances.

Jade wanted to shop around. And being new to the invite kit game, I told her look, this is a great price, we really need to get working on these invites, and where else is going to have these anyway?