So over the weekend, I went to the first wedding where I’ve been sort of involved with the wedding party since Phillip’s sister’s wedding several years ago. Up to that point, I’d been a bridesmaid many a time, I’d been a bride, I’d been a maid and a matron both. And I always had a nice time. But I had never been an usher. Chuck, the Best Man, canceled on Brian, my brother-in-law, the day before the wedding. An unbelievably crappy thing to do, you ask me. I offered to put on Chuck’s tux and stand up for my new brother-in-law, and once he realized I was serious, he took me up on it. I had a terrific time! The rented pants were a little bit itchy, but everything else about the tux was groovy. Plus, scotch and cigars, and nothing any too fussy. In other words: perfect.

So over the weekend, Phillip and I were at the wedding of the other lovely lady who wore a tux to MY wedding. I also had a great time there, and not just because Phillip was in a kilt. That man does wonderful things for a kilt. Makes me want to emigrate to Scotland…

Oh yeah, the point is that I dressed with the ladies and the bride’s party, which was perfectly nice. They are fun ladies. But there was no scotch, no cigars. The clothes were fussy. There were kids running around. It just wasn’t the SAME. I missed the Balvenie.

So I’m starting a stitch & bitch group at DeVry. There are some very cool young women there and not much opportunity for them to get together or support each other, plus I think I’d like to hang out with them more anyway. We’ll see what happens. In the meantime, the green scarf is probably about 4 feet long. I’m thinking about taking it along to New Jersey later this week, but it might be a little bulky, and I think I have to get different knitting needles, like maybe wooden or plastic ones or something.

So far the new term is going well. I have a sociology class and a humanities class, and last night I accepted a professional writing class. It’s a little more workload than I would like, but we could use the money right now, and I just taught a section of professional writing last term, so it should take a lot less of my time.

Today I’m trying to get my beginning-of-the-term stuff squared away. It’ll be too heavy and unweildy to take much of that stuff with me, plus I’m probably going to be pretty wiped out come Monday morning and in no kind of shape to plan a clever, fun little class. I am, however, planning on taking stuff with me to finish my dissertation lit review.

Anyway, I’ve been getting occasional sex column questions from folks I assume are just discovering the archives. We’ve been pretty tame around here for a while, no? Perhaps next week I’ll have something shocking to say…

You already know that I dig birthdays, and that my own birthday is no exception. You also know that I treat my birthday like a national holiday, do whatever I want on that day, have Cheap Fun Day, and generally aspire to make it the kind of two-week-long party peasants used to have in feudal Europe, minus the general filth and pestilence. My friends, I am well on my way!

Festivities began on February 28th with the arrival of the first package. So far, two cakes, both chocolate, some cards, and several great presents. I have more or less planned Cheap Fun Day. On my actual birthday, I have many fabulous activities planned, including tea at the Brown Palace and a trip to the zoo. Today, though, I received birthday wishes from western Asia, making my birthday, at last, an international event.

The only problem is, of course, that I am terribly unfocused, as I always am at this time of year. I’m trying really hard to finish the lit review of my dissertation, and I seem to be able to do it for, oh, half an hour at a time. I am also trying to finish preparing for my DeVry courses that start next week. I’m not having the kind of luck with either one of those that I would like, but at least progress is happening.

In the future, when my birthday is a two-week general holiday, nobody will have to do such things during MegFest.