Wedings...

I hate weddings!!! Well, at least weddings that appear to be nothing but a big show. Which is what I was subjected to this weekend...a big show.

The wedding was supposed to begin at 3:30pm. Most weddings run late and this was no different. The wedding didn't actually start until 5:00pm. My husband and I arrived around 4:30pm, anticipating a late start. Now, although the invitations said 3:30pm, I couldn't help but think that the wedding was actually supposed to start at 5:00pm. The cameraman and videographer were not completely in place yet. I later find out that this was the bride's plan all along. She didn't want anyone to walk in late for her performance. Had I been there on time at 3:30pm, by four, I would have been out the door.

The ceremony was nice, just a bit over done for my taste. And looooooooooong. It may have been only an hour, but that hour just seemed to drag to no end. When it finally did end and the wedding party left the church, the pastor called the wedding party back into the church just so he could preach a bit and recruit for about 10 minutes. Now, I realize that may be the only time that some of us heathens are going to set foot in the church, but is a wedding really the time to start recruiting for new members? It's more of a turn off for me. I hate being preached to. I hate having religion thrown in my face.

We get to the reception, about 6, 6:30pm. Of course, the wedding party has yet to arrive. They are off at the waterfront taking pictures. The guests are left to stand around and nibble on cheddar cheese and sip bargain basement liquor. I thought that I could at least get a liquor buzz. Shit, not off these watered down drinks. We weren't allowed into the reception room until the bride and groom arrived, which didn't seem to make much sense to me. Shouldn't we all be seated when the new couple make their grand entrance? Almost two hours later, the couple finally arrive. About damn time! We can at least eat now, right? Actually, we wait again, about another half hour. During the wait we are subjected to the requisite speeches from the best man and the two maids of honor. I didn't pay much attention, too busy looking for my plate of food, except for a comment made by one of the maids of honor...something about "liking it from the back". And the comments she made about the groom...she stopped short of telling the bride that she would take the groom if the the bride didn't treat him right. With friends like that around, it will be interesting to see how long the marriage actually last.

Finally, dinner is served. Or did we actually get the leftovers? Seriously, each table of ten people was served two lousy platters, one with vegetables and potatoes and one with spinach stuffed fish and flank steak. Fish and meat on the same platter seems like a no-no to me. Both the fish and meat was dry. There was a little gravy on meat in an attempt to cover that fact. The vegetables and potatoes were okay, but since we had to share with the table, there wasn't much to go around. It felt more like a snack than dinner. I can't believe they paid $65 a plate for that. I wonder how many people went out to McDonald's after that B.S. dinner. It was time for me to go. I was done.

In the end, I hope the bride got the wedding that she wanted. It was, after all, her day. But one would think that she would have had a little bit of consideration for the guests. It felt like one big ego trip.

High School Reunions

I can't believe that is has been 15 years since I graduated from high school. I don't feel that old!

My graduating class was pretty small, less than 100 girls (all girls, Catholic school). Over the years, I've stayed in contact with only one on a regular basis. A few years back, I got nostalgic and decided go back to the old school at an alumna open house. I was a little disappointed to see that only one other girl from my graduating class in attendance, unfortunately, not one that I was cool with back in the day, so we really didn't talk much. But I saw several from the class of '93. There was even a few from the class of '74. Seeing the group from the class of '74 intrigued me the most. For one, they were a group of black women. Why would that strike me? This school has always had a predominately white student population. When I went to school there, there may have been, maybe 10-15 of us out of about 96 students. So, I guess I assumed that there were far fewer than that in the '70s. The other thing was they were talking like old friends, not like old classmates that just happened to come to the 30 year class reunion to see a bunch of people with whom they would not normally socialize. So, I sat and talked to them a while. I made a comment about the fact that I was surprised to see a group of black women from that school still friends after so much time. They came from a '70s black pride frame of mind. For them, it was important to stick together. Over the years, aside from the school reunions, they have had their own reunion of sorts, a couple of times a year. That inspired me a bit.

I attempted to get in contact with a few of the black women with whom I graduated. I was able to contact three, not including the one that I have been in contact with the entire time. One of the women was one that I was good friends with in high school, but had a falling out with after college. Two of the three responded very positively. The third, the one I had a falling out with, had previous plans. That was fine, but I got the impression that she felt that I should coordinate the gathering around her schedule. Now, I'm thinking that I contacted her in plenty of time, but she took her sweet time with getting back to me. That's my fault? I don't think so.

Anyway, four of us got together for a little cookout at my mom's house. We had a pretty good time, catching up with one another. I hoped to do something like this maybe once or twice a year, alternating hosts and slowly, but surely connecting with more former classmates. However, I suppose that it wasn't fully meant to be. People stopped returning my phone calls. That was enough for me to lose interest. I would say that black pride is not as hardcore in the '90s as it was in the '70s. I would say that, but in our case, it is probably is just as simple as a lot of us just didn't get along.

Afterwards, I came back to my initial feelings about high school reunions. I will probably never, ever go to one of mine. There really isn't that many people from my graduating class, if any at all, that I am dying to see or are dying to see me. All of us have grown up and moved on. I'm sure there are a few of us that would prefer not to ever, ever, ever be reminded of their high school years. I am a bit indifferent. While my high school years were not the best years of my life, they certainly was not the worst. I still think the best is yet to come.

Negativity

If I didn't believe it before, I certainly believe it now. Way too much negativity can block creativity. Especially lingering negativity. It just exhausts the energy needed to create anything. Why do we waste so much time dwelling in negativity? It's just so easy to do! It is much easier to piss and moan on something than it is to let go. Some grudges are just not worth holding on to. Easy to say, hard to do.

I find myself too many times falling for the temporary comforts, whether the occasional drink, sweets or pleasures of the flesh. I'm not an addict in the traditional definition of the word. But sometimes, I feel as if I can relate. More often than not these days, I just want to get away.

I need a new laptop

That piece of crap that I brought a few years ago has been nothing but a pain from the day I purchased it. It was such a good deal, though. $999 with $300 rebate. But two things should have made me make better use of my charge card. First, it was a Celeron. Second, the brand name. I will never buy an E-machine again. I knew better. But my frugality got the better of me. So, now, I need a new laptop. I've been using my desktop computer, but I am beginning to need the freedom of a laptop. The freedom to write in this blog without the peering eyes and nosy questions of my husband. The freedom to take my computer into the single most place for writing my best thoughts; the bathroom. One of the few places that I can be alone in my house. I take a few dumps and no one wants to use the bathroom for at least 30 minutes. Alone with my muse. It's a wonderful thing.

I'm thinking about going Mac for this laptop. With its ability to dual boot, I figure if there are any Windows programs that I have to have, I won't have to abandon them fully. I am patiently waiting for Leopard to show its spots. Unlike Vista, there appears to be added functionality in Leopard that could actually be useful. The Stacks function on the Dock stood out for me, considering how cluttered I can leave my desktop. The new Quick Look feature stood out to me as well. Having a quick "snapshot" of a file instead of opening the application associated with it first would save a lot of time.

Well, that's it for me for now. Keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully, I can get that new Mac by the end of the year.

Damn, why you hating

Not all divas are bad. There are diva that are down to earth and are still flawless. They know what that want and are assertive without degrading someone. Then there is the diva bitch. The ones that feel that they are above reproach. You should feel honored to be in there presence, at least in their minds. They must have the most expensive of everything in life, even if they truly can't afford it. They can be belittling to anyone that they do not feel is worth their time or attention. These are divas that I strongly despise.

Blog of a mad woman

Ok,

I finally said to myself "let's try this blog thing out". Crap, everyone else has one, why can't I? I will probably be bitching and complaining most of the time. Some days, I just want to SCREAM TO THE WORLD!!! Other days, I may actually have something helpful to say. My catharsis begins.