posted Aug 29, 2006, 11:11 PM | 11 Comments
I could tell you more about our honeymoon-in-progress, eating good food, kayaking through ocean lagoons. But why bother, when the first paragraph of this email from my mom is so much more entertaining?
Hi Jenny and Ryan,
It was wonderful to hear from you and we are glad you are enjoying the
honeymoon! Maybe you could acquire a few Thai recipes? Yummmmmm. In the
meantime, watch out for those dogs--Rabies is a very serious,
potentially fatal affliction. You must avoid getting near a possible dog
bite at all costs--even if you have to scurry away to another part of
the street. There are vast neurological ramifications of contact with a
rabid dog.
To her credit, we have seen dogs everywhere. Bless that woman.
posted Aug 25, 2006, 08:29 PM | 1 Comments
The talented Mr. Sam Bennet took candids during our wedding. His highlights are so beautiful that I thought they deserved a new entry. Click through. They capture the day well.
Jenny and I have been staying for several days in Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. Great people here. It doesn't feel so different from anywhere else.
It's odd. From the other side of the Pacific, the whole wedding whirlwind seems far away, like I'm not quite sure it really happened. That day was a blur, of course. And now, missing home isn't a simple thing - home was Santa Barbara for two weeks before the wedding, home has been Massachusetts for the past year. When I think about home, I'm not sure of where to think.
Travel enough and you start to feel at home everywhere. Carry like a camel.
posted Aug 20, 2006, 12:34 PM | 3 Comments
So, our wedding day was one of the best days of my life. All of our months of planning came together perfectly thanks to a full day of hard work from our friends and Jenny's family. Amazing to get so many of the people I love together in one place, and I'm only sorry that it flew by so quickly, that I didn't get a chance to talk to everyone long enough. A bunch of the guests told us it was the best wedding they'd ever attended, and you can't ask for much more than that. I wish I could have invited everyone I know, but we tried to keep it on the small side.
Quick thoughts on event planning:
- Invite smart, fun people.
- Take care in choosing atmospherics (music, decorations, flowers, setting) that will put people in the right mood without them even realizing it.
- Add projects. Something whimsical and community building, like a craft activity table. Help people create their own experience
- Deputize talented people to put it together. Trust them.
- When the day arrives, trust in your preparation and focus on enjoying yourself. That's why you decided to host an event, right?
More on the wedding later: family, ceremony, vows. Here, our friend Jason put together a set of wedding photos to get you started.
Jenny and I now find ourselves in Bangkok, three days into what is already proving to be a pretty fucking rad honeymoon. Life here seems crazy alive. Everything is cheap. Everwhere we see bad English translations, cool graphic design, fruit stands, wild dogs. The air hangs thick and I'm wearing special travel underwear. We love each other.
posted Aug 5, 2006, 02:11 PM | 9 Comments
Isn't it interesting how we analyze children in ways we rarely analyze ourselves? When a little kid is crying, it's usually obvious that he's just tired, or overwhelmed, or hasn't eaten in a while. My nephew-to-be is pretty easy to read.
But with Jenny and me (and others I've observed) sometimes a whole argument or an entire day will pass before some underlying cause becomes clear: I haven't eaten, or Jenny's surfing the crimson wave, or it's humid and I'm uncomfortable.
And when we don't ask the right questions (am I on a caffeine crash? have I eaten?) we filter those underlying causes through bullshit minutia until we convince ourselves that something else bothers us. Suddenly I'm hyper-critical of Jenny's driving. She's offended by some small thing I said.
People must live entire lives like this.
Ah, kids. They're not yet cursed with the illusion of consciousness.
posted Aug 2, 2006, 03:12 PM | 1 Comments
Looking for a fun game? Try this. Tune in to NPR once or twice a day, and see how much time passes before you hear the word "Israel" or "Hezbollah" spoken aloud.
If it takes less than 15 seconds (and it will), drive to the nearest McBurger Kingdy's and gorge yourself on the biggest Value Meal they offer. It helps reinforce Judeo-Christian capitalism AND helps you forget the problems of the world all in one swell foop. Yay!
posted Aug 2, 2006, 02:59 PM | 1 Comments
Oh, Internet. We've been through so much together. Good times and bad. Sometimes I forget about you, but do you not still know that I love? In those wee hours, when I fall to you for the mindless viewing of viral videos, you are there for me. In the mid-morning hours, when I need to order photo albums and personlized gifts and special strings of lights and other wedding crap you accept me with open arms. I appreciate that.
But the rest of the time, LEARN TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, INTERNET. There are how many hundreds of millions of people enjoying you, and you demand all my attention? Please. I'm moving on to bigger and better things, I'm getting married in 10 days, Internet. I'm sorry.
(But you know I'll be back. Secretly you'll always be my one true love.)