Of Weddings, Visits & Bikes

A few weeks to catch up on, I suppose. Fell out of the ol' blogging mood for a bit, but here we go.

Angela and Ben's wedding was fantastic. They had it out at Strathmere on the 8th, and luckily the weather cooperated nicely. Slightly overcast, but that actually works better for photographs (or so I'm told by people who know what they're doing). The venue was great, the ceremony was personal and without ornament, and the reception was tonnes of fun. In my opinion, they had just the right amount of people.

Angie and I got all dolled up in our Chinese clothes, the super secret ones I'd gotten with Lili's help in Beijing my last week in China. We received some nice comments about them, and Angie looked amazing in her dress. My shirt was somewhat nonconducive to eating, what with the sleeves and all, but I managed just fine. Many subtle flicks of the wrist were necessary. The bar wasn't expensive, either: a glass of wine was $6, and I think I only bought two glasses. The rest was provided as supper accompaniment. I even danced. (Scary, I know.)

That's been the major event up until this weekend, really. Otherwise, I've simply been sending out resumes, having a meeting here and there (agencies, not job interviews unfortunately), and being hopeful, job-wise. It's frustrating at times, but c'est la vie. I hooked up with Kevin B. last Monday around midnight, and we hung out til fairly early in the morning, chatting.

Oh, I house-sat for Jamie and Suzi, and it was good to get out of Aaron's for a bit to give him and August some of their own space. The animals were good, for the most part, and I got some writing done, watched plenty of movies, and played WoW. Aaron came over one evening for bbq, beer and to watch Tremors, a movie neither of us had seen since it came out way back when. Good times.

While I was there, I finished reading Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, which I wasn't a huge fan of. It was good, but not great. That tends to show in the movie, as it was a bit bland. The ending was good, and it was awesome that Helena Bonham Carter played Bellatrix Lestrange. Good casting on that. (I still despise Richard Harris' replacement, though.)

I've also finished The Silver Spike, She Is the Darkness and I'm well into Bleak Seasons (all Black Company books). It's quite a fun read. Nothing too heavy, and it moves along quite nicely with a great bunch of motley characters.

I've been down in Vankleek Hill since Weds afternoon, visiting Angie. Last night we went to see John and Linda at their place, fulfilling the promise made in Zhuhai. John bbq'd steaks and sausages and potatoes, and they both kept the flow of beer unhampered. Angie got a chance to chat with Linda while I mostly wrangled with John. I think Angie said it best when she said "even though I agree with a lot of John's opinions, it's still hard to agree with him". So true, and makes for some nice, heated discussions. It was very relaxing.

Something cool: my dad bought a Triumph, centennial edition. He had a '63 Triumph when he was a youngin', and for ages he's talked about getting one. Well, today he's back from Nashville where he went to pick it up (go eBay). I can't wait to see it, and it looks like I'll be able to on Weds or Thursday as I'm aiming to go down for a visit while my Nan's visiting. It's relatively rare for my dad to get excited about something, so it was fun to hear him on the phone.

He called first and just said, "Did you check your email? No? Go check it and call me back". He'd sent me an email with the picture of the bike and the invitation "Want to go to Nashville?". Any other time I'd have been all for a roadtrip, but girlfriends before father's dreams, I suppose.

I guess that's about it for now. I'll try to get back to my more frequent posting routine.