Tag: Wedding

The Old Crew

2018-08-01, 7:01 am
Categories: Announcements, Stream of Consciousness

As part of my policy of updating the photo at the top of the homepage at least once a decade, I've updated the photo at the top of the homepage. It's cropped from this one:

Thad, Jim, David

That's me on the left. I grew a beard again. So for those of you who read this site for the Shaving tag and have spent the past nine months awaiting my next shaving post with bated breath, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you.

I don't usually dress that fancily. I am dressed fancily because I am at a wedding in that photograph. Specifically, Jim's wedding. Jim is the guy in the middle, and David (right) and I went to his wedding a few weeks back.

The three of us went to NAU together. I see David a few times a year, but hadn't seen Jim in years; it was nice to have a chance to catch up. Nice wedding, nice vacation, and his new wife Liz is a lovely person as well.

If you want some idea of the kind of wild party animals the three of us were in college, I leave you with this: when David and I introduced ourselves to Jim's mom, her response was, "Oh. Mystery Science Theater 3000."

I Remember I Remember Larry

2018-02-25, 9:45 pm
Categories: Music, Stream of Consciousness

Boy, it's been awhile, hasn't it?

I got sick, and busy. This post is about the Weird Al song I Remember Larry, and I originally intended to post it to coincide with Nathan Rabin's entry on I Remember Larry in his The Weird Accordion to Al series. That went up on December 20. So...yeah, I've been sitting on this one awhile.

In 1996, I moved back to my hometown and started high school. I met some new friends and started hanging out with them at lunchtime.

One day, one of them handed me his Walkman and his headphones and told me I had to listen to this song.

The tape was Bad Hair Day. I was something of a casual Weird Al fan by that point; I'd heard Amish Paradise and Gump. I may even have bought the Gump single by that point; I'm not sure. But I don't think I'd heard any of the other songs on the album, and I'd certainly never heard the one my friend played for me that day.

It was I Remember Larry and my friend was right: it was funny. It's one of Al's cheerful, upbeat songs that ends in murder (I don't think I'd heard Good Old Days yet at that point, but it's certainly reminiscent of that earlier song, albeit bouncier and featuring a much more relatable protagonist).

Some sixteen and a half years later, the kid who played I Remember Larry for me on his Walkman performed my wedding.

Brad performs a wedding

Now, I'm not saying there's a clear path from point A to point B here. I'm not saying that Brad and I became and remained close friends because of I Remember Larry. But I suspect our mutual appreciation for pitch-black humor wrapped in an ironically cheerful veneer is a big part of why we clicked.

He had me keep listening through Phony Calls and The Night Santa Went Crazy, too.

Keeping Busy

2013-03-22, 10:58 pm
Categories: Stream of Consciousness, Work

Kept busy enough today. Filled out more paperwork, got a drug test, submitted a voided check for direct deposit, had a brief and unexpected phone conversation with a prospective employer.

Spent most of the evening just kicking back with my brother; he's heading back to Maui in a few days. Here is a picture of the two of us at my wedding.

Groom Thad and Best Man Hannibal

Don't see enough of the kid anymore; it's been about three years since the last time. Will try and make it out to Maui again one of these days once I've got some money saved up. Which is why I'm filling out paperwork and peeing in cups.

Also, while my cold is getting better, my allergies were just awful today. Yeah, I get it, it's spring now.

Bowties are Cool

2013-03-18, 10:42 am
Categories: Stream of Consciousness

Here's the video I used to learn to tie a bowtie for my wedding:

When that didn't quite do it for me, I also tried tutorials at Beau Ties Ltd and about.com.

In the end I guess I did a passable job but never really got the knack. The last step is the hardest, the part where you pull the second bow through the loop behind the first one.

Here are some pictures of my dad helping me with my bowtie. (He does not know how to tie bowties either.)

Before
The Fixin'
After

I'll probably get some more wedding photos in here at some point. Seems like I should probably post some with the bride in them.

Sick and Tired

2013-03-13, 6:54 pm
Categories: Comics, Games, Status Updates, Stream of Consciousness

So I made it through the past couple weeks of being both sick and crazy busy with a wedding, without missing a blog post. So I guess I'd feel pretty silly to miss one now that I'm merely sick, and no longer crazy busy with a wedding.

Damn thing's still hanging on. Indeed, it's still in "too sick to go buy comics on Wednesday" territory. I'm improving, but not nearly damn fast enough.

Finally went to the doctor today and got some antibiotics. So, one more pill to take a couple of times a day; we'll see how it goes.

Mostly just trying to take it easy, heal up. Which is kind of a bummer because my dad and brother are still in town and I'd rather be out with them. Ah well -- plan on grabbing lunch with them tomorrow.

Reading: Just finished A Study in Scarlet. It spent rather a lot more time talking about the Mormon settlement of Utah than I expected.

Playing: Cthulhu Saves the World, and the original Half-Life in its new native-Linux version.

Memory

2013-03-11, 8:35 pm
Categories: Stream of Consciousness

Memory's a damned interesting thing.

I got married yesterday. Obviously this is one of those things that, barring brain damage or Alzheimer's, I will remember for the rest of my life.

And while nothing in life is ever perfect, if you do it right the good will supersede the bad.

If we remember, ten years from now, how sick we were on our wedding day and the days surrounding it, we'll remember how we pulled it together and made it happen anyway, spoke our vows and made our speeches and ate and drank and danced.

If we remember, ten years from now, how tight money was, we'll remember that we put together a beautiful ceremony and were surrounded by our friends and we didn't need bags of cash to do it.

And ten years from now I'm sure nobody will remember the dead rabbit right outside the bridal suite. (Bridal suite? Is that the right nomenclature? The building where she was getting her dress on, anyway.)

My life is pretty great right now -- even if I ache all over and can't breathe. That stuff? It'll pass. Way I figure it, we're just getting the "in sickness" part out of the way early.

It hasn't been a big change -- not really. I'm getting used to the feel of a ring on my finger, but other than that I feel about the same. We've been together nearly four years now -- marriage was a formality and an excuse for a big party.

Thanks against to everyone who came; I'm sure this isn't the last I'll say on the subject.

Tonight You Belong to Me

2013-03-10, 9:18 pm
Categories: Announcements, Movies, Music

So I got married today.

(Well, "today" by the time you read this. As I'm writing this it's still February 22. By the time this posts I expect to be nowhere near my keyboard. ...but there are still going to be people in my house. Don't try to rob the place.)

So, breaking from Zappa, here's the song we used for our first dance.

We connected on match.com, some four years ago. One of the first things we bonded over was a mutual appreciation of The Jerk. So, to that end, here's Tonight You Belong to Me, performed by Folk Uke:

Folk Uke are, as the name implies, a comedy folk ukelele duo, made up of Cathy Guthrie and Amy Nelson. They are the daughters of exactly the two famous musicians you think they are. You can buy their self-titled album, on which the studio version of Tonight You Belong to Me appears, on Amazon or direct from Rising Son Records.

Friends

2013-03-09, 1:22 am
Categories: Announcements

To my friends, and to my family:

I may not remember the details of this evening. Because, to be perfectly honest, you convinced me to drink rather a lot of beer.

But I will never forget that you were here.

Thank you. And I'll see you at the wedding.

Dranken

2013-03-08, 6:04 pm
Categories: Announcements, Music

By the time this posts I should be well into an evening of drunken revels. My good friends Brad and Felipe are furnishing homebrew for this, the party before my wedding. (Not really a bachelor party per se, as we've got ladies and children coming along as well.)

Maybe I'll have pictures to share later. In the meantime, here's my favorite drinking song:

Mushy Stuff

2013-03-07, 6:44 pm
Categories: Stream of Consciousness

I suppose that I should say a few words about the lady I'm marrying.

Longtime readers of this site have seen me bounce around -- I was still in high school when I put the original version up. In the years since, I've gone from school to school and job to job. Generally, I've been pretty happy (even during my "I hate you all" phase). But a lot of the time I was pretty lonely, and, at least since finishing college, I pretty consistently haven't known what was coming up next in my life.

I suppose that last is still true to some extent. At the moment I'm between temp jobs and don't know what the future may bring.

But I know who'll be there with me.

It's not just that I'm not lonely anymore. It's not just that I met a lady, or that I met a lady who's smart and kind and laughs at (most of) the same things I do. Or that we clicked pretty much immediately and have made it four years so far.

It's all of that. All of it together. It's that we make each other better. It's that whatever happens, we'll face it together, we'll be stronger for it and for each other, and it'll all come out in the end.