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Earnil_II
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Name: Melissa
Country: United States
State: Washington
Interests: Books, computers, writing, books, Lord of the Rings, motorcycles, books, the latest Batman movie, books, most handcrafts, martial arts, books, screenwriting, London, books, and did I mention books?
Message: message me
AIM:  Earnil II
Member Since:
7/17/2005
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| So I've been spending a lot of time on wedding plans lately. We have a date (January 18th) and a location, which is good. Next step: invitations. Blegh. One part of this whole thing that I really have no passion for. Let's talk about flowers instead!
Or better yet, money. As in, how much should I spend, how much do my friends think I should spend, how much does the wedding industry think I should spend. I've been browsing wedding magazines for ideas - taking it all with a grain of salt, of course, because their idea of a 'normal' wedding is rather ridiculous. Sure, I'm going to spend $100 each on 'little' thank-you gifts for my bridesmaids (at least four of them, plus a maid of honor), after taking them all to a $50-a-plate restaurant, followed by facials and manicures all around, by way of a pre-wedding get-together. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends, and I'd love to have that kind of money to spend on them. But I don't, and neither does anyone I know. How about getting together at my house, making pizza, and doing each other's nails? That'd be just as fun, and more my style anyway.
The point really got driven home by the last magazine I picked up, though. The cover said 'An amazing wedding for $10,000 (you won't believe what you can do!)' Cool, I thought. That's more than a little over my budget, but I'll bet they have some good ideas. Well, once I got to the article, it turns out that the $10,000 dollar wedding is only half the story - it's the 'budget' party that they're comparing to a high-end $50,000 party. Oh, and by the way, it's just the reception. It doesn't include the ceremony site, decorations, music, or any clothing. The final kicker? It doesn't include the site fee, either. So apparently $10,000 isn't enough for a reception, let alone a whole wedding. To be fair, half of that went to food - it was a sit-down meal for 150 - but still. This is what they think is normal? Even 'budget'?
By contrast, I'm trying to fit all wedding expenses (including a location, clothes, dinner, decorations, honeymoon, and several sets of cross-country plane tickets) into far less than $10,000. My family is very much middle-class American. I get the feeling I'm normal, and my wedding plans are pretty normal as well. So why are these magazines trying to tell me that a $4000 gown is a necessity? I know we're a materialistic society... but this is ridiculous.
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| "I've never really liked the Yanks."
"They're really very nice people, you know."
"Yes, but you can't trust people who pick up the ball all the time when they play football."
I do so love Pterry. Or in the case of Good Omens, collaboration by Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman. It's a wonderfully irreverent take on the end times, which I'm enjoying immensely, even if the underlying humanism gets a little annoying at times.
In other news, I'm flying to NY in seven days and thirty-nine minutes. I'm not excited at all.
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| I took a ballet class tonight, for the first time in a few months. I was the only person who showed up for the class - first time I've had a private lesson, albeit unintentionally! But it gave me the chance to really observe myself after some time away from the mirror. My form is not too shabby, I understand what I need to do and I'm coordinated enough that my body usually cooperates. But then when I'm supposed to actually dance, I'm so worried about doing it right that I trip over my own feet and do nothing at all. As you might suspect, this has the practical result of making me a pretty bad dancer.
And I'm kind of excited about that.
Because it means I have a lot to learn, and I can see what I need to learn, and I think progress will come swiftly. I'm bad - now. Tomorrow I'll be better. The day after that - better still. Eventually, I'll be good. And that'll be a real accomplishment, not just something that sort of dropped in my lap. I'm looking forward to this.
Also, when I'm out of practice, spinning makes me really motion sick.
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| My diploma arrived yesterday. I guess it's for real now.  
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| So. I'm graduated, home, and working. To take it in order: I shook hands with President Mullen and walked across the stage. I feel like I should have something witty or poignant to say about this, but I really don't. They handed us empty white tubes with a ribbon tied around them, rather than handing out the real diplomas. I wrote 'this tube cost $100,000' on mine. The trip home was fun, even if driving with a chair strapped to the roof and my mother in the front seat made it slightly less sexy than road trips are usually portrayed as being. But we saw the South Dakota badlands and Mt. Rushmore, which were cool. At least, the badlands were cool. Mt. Rushmore is an oversized sculpture. As much as they tried to build up the park with a visitor's center and interpretive walkway, it's still just an oversized sculpture. There's only so many photographs you can take before it gets boring. It made for a good break from driving, at least. There is one place where you can see George in profile, though, which is kind of cool. 
Oh, and never, never, EVER travel with something strapped to the car that wasn't explicitly designed to be strapped to the car. That goes double for trying to travel more than 30 miles or over 30 mph. That goes triple for anything wrapped in a tarp. Besides acting like a giant sail (and we fought stiff cross winds three days out of five, it was physically exhausting to hold the car on the road), the tarp peeled open one day, requiring massive repairs. The end result... well, let's just say there's now a Hermanson family tartan. It's grey stripes on blue, with a little yellow and red thrown in. 
Work is good, I accepted the inventory management position at Puget Custom Computers, and just finished my first week. I used to work summers there, and it's every bit as awesome as I remember. I love the people, it's the right kind of work for me, and the business is small enough to be very flexible and open to ideas. All in all, it's the best I could reasonably have hoped for. Now, if only it didn't mean putting three time zones and an entire continent between myself and everyone at Houghton, I would be completely happy. As it is, I'm lonely and missing all of you. And missing some in particular. I'm jealous of those getting married this summer - I'm not ready (yet) to take that step myself, but I envy you the ability to share your days with the one you love. My brother just called dinner, so I guess that is all for the moment. I hope you're all keeping well - and keep in touch! That is an order! | | |
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