Part Two

Okay, Okay, here it is. Sorry it took so long but I used up my internet access at home so I'm back to going to the library, which slows things down. Not to mention that I don't like assigned writing (even if I've assigned it to myself) which makes me even slower. But I'm writing now, so here it is.

So, I walked into the lobby of the church camera in hand. I was early enough that the ushers were ushering yet so I just stood there for a few minutes wondering what to do. Thankfully my Aunt and Uncle walked in right then so I followed them into the church and we sat down with another set of my relatives. I was right on the end of the pew and had an excellent view of the front of the church were everything would be taking place. As we were waiting and talking and looking, I noticed one of the ushers talking to my cousin Angela, one of the groom's sisters. A moment later the usher came over and asked us to move across the aisle on the groom's side of the church. ( Anyone know why they do that, anyway?). A bit chagrined we all stood up and changed sides. Now instead of being on the outside and having a clear view I was on the inside and had many heads blocking the procedings.

A quick side note here. Believe it or not I'm pretty sure that this was only the fourth wedding that I had ever been too. And the last one I attended was about five years ago, Shawn and Gretchen's for those who know them.

Also in case you hadn't noticed, I'm a guy and this is my blog so I'm going to skip most of the details, like colours, floral arrangements, what music they played and so forth. Actually I didn't notice or remember so I couldn't tell you even if I wanted. :-)

Okay, back to the story. People were seated. The groom and his men came in, then the bridesmaids, flower girl and ring bearer. The ring bearer was actually a girl, one of the relatives of the bride, something I found kind of interesting. The bride, Amanda Ashley, comes from a catholic family so much of the wedding was catholic based. The two mothers came down the aisle bearing candles and put them on either side of of a larger candle, to symbolize unity between the two families. Then there was a reading by the sisters of the bride and groom. This started the catholic phrase and response. What do I mean? Every now and then, either the priest or someone else would say a phrase, and the bride's side of the church would roar right back with the correct catholic response, while the groom's side of the church just sat there in mumbled confusion. Not being well trained in the catechism we didn't know the key phrases, or the response. The third or fourth time a phrase was said we would catch on and respond just as well, but as soon as we got one phrase they would change to a completely different phrase and response. This happened several different times and was both hilarious and maddening.

The actual service was very short. The priest talked about Jesus' first miracle and made some connection to marriage but I don't remember what. Then the vows, the exchanging of rings and the lighting of the unity candle. Remember the two candles the moms brought down. After the vows and rings the bride and groom each took one of the candles and light the big one in the middle, I suppose to signify the joining of the two families. They were presented, and then walked out (do people in a resetional recede?) to a traditional Irish song played on a guitar. Very cool. They had a recieving line, where I met the bride for the first time, and then joined up with my cousin, the sister of the groom.

I was hoping to finish this tonight, but I have things to do, so looks like there will be a part three. Hopefully it won't take as long to come as this one did.

Here they are

The Wedding, Part One.

The big day started with me following my Aunt and Uncle to the wedding. I had decided to follow them in my own car instead of travelling with them so that I would have the freedom to come and go as I chose. I had been given directions the night before in case we got separated but they were rather confusing so I did my best to stick with them, glancing at the directions occasionally to try and orient my self.
During a straight stretch I looked at the map a little to long and without realizing it, started vearing off the road! Thankfully I looked up right before the tires went off the shoulder and swerved back into the lane.

(Side note here. I loved driving in Canada because all the highway speed limits are roughly 70mph. Even though it didn't make any difference in how I drove it made a mental difference. I felt like such a speed demon in my little brown wagon.)

Things were going fine other than being nervous because I thought we were going to be late. It was a two hour drive from where I was staying to where I was going and we had left (I thought) exactly two hours before the wedding time. About three quarters of the way there we stopped at a Mickey D's for a snack. My Aunt and Uncle were all relaxed and talking about plenty of time and having to kill time and I was silently worrying because I saw that the clock was ticking. While we were eating my uncle asked me about the swerve. After I explained, he said 'Oh I thought maybe you had dozed off.' Apparently some of the Jones' have a predisposition to falling asleep while driving. We left after eating, me getting more nervous by the minute. As we drove through dartmouth (essentially the same city as halifax, just on the other side of the harbour) I was thoroughly thankfully I wasn't trying to find the way on my own, it was quite confusing. As we pulled into the church I was totally confused. We were late, but there was no one there! And then it dawned. I had been thinking Eastern Standard time, but all the clocks were set for Canada time. We still had over an our until the wedding started. I sat in my car and signed the card that I had purchased (yes I know I'm a procrastinator). When it was time, I grabbed my camera and headed inside.

Okay that's enough for today, I do have a life you know. Don't worry, I'll finish this up within the next two days. I don't know why writing is such a chore but it is. So I'm going to go enjoy the beautiful day outside now.

WooHoo!

Well as derrick mentioned at his site, I have purchased a new toy. Several weeks ago one of my co'workers mentioned that was really getting into an online game called World of Warcraft and was hardly ever using his X-box anymore. Being the game loving guy that I am, I perked up my ears and the next time he mentioned it, I told him I might be interested. After several delays (me getting cold feet, getting sick, him going to a different site) we finally got together and I bought his X-box. The console, one controller, and nine games. If I had bought it at a store the games combined would probably have been equal to the price I paid, so I essentially got the system for free. I felt like such a smart shopper :) Now, not only am I a smart shopper, but I'm also a smart gamer. Most games are much more fun when shared, so on my way home I bought another controller plus a racing game that I knew pretty much everybody would enjoy.

After helping my cousin move (a piece of cake for a strong healthy young man such as myself) I went over to my brothers house, thankfully only about a hundred feet away, and set it all up. Since it was fairly late we only played about two hours, but it was two hours of incredible fun. Racing, shooting, sword swinging, and generally trying to grind the other guy into the dust was so much fun. We put it away for the night but then picked it right back up again today. Right now the best games I have are Halo 2 and NfS Hot Pursuit 2. Both of these games have great multiplayer levels can even be fun for the whole family, well at least some of them. For now it is going to reside at my brothers (mostly so he can practice and get up to my level) but there is definitely going to be some fierce competitions in the future. Ahh, the ties that bind.

Ethics

I know that I'm supposed to be posting about the wedding but this is more current and up to date, so bear with me. I took today off as I was feeling very under the weather. Sore throat, headache, rumbling stomach, and extreme tiredness. I've been expecting this to happen ever since coming back from N.S. Why? Late nights, bad diets, not being responsible, and the like. Obviously this has all been self inflicted, and most of the symtoms all stem from simple exhaustion. So now I have an ethical dilemma in my mind. Is it all right to take off work because of irresponsibility? My only comfort is that when I don't work I don't get paid, so I'm not cheating my boss or anything like that. I'm simply not working a full forty hour week, right? Any thoughts, anyone?

Bear Hunting

Well as I promised, several blogs will be forthcoming about my trip north and the many experiences that happened therein. This shall be the first. The trip up was rather easy. I made it in two days, splitting the distance by stopping in Maine and staying with my Uncle Rick and Aunt Kathy. They have an incredible camp on the lake which they have turned into a year round residence. When I arrived it was too late to enjoy the great outdoors so we had a good time visiting. During our conversations it came up that they had just been up to Nova Scotia and while there had gone bear watching. Apparently the black bear population where I was headed is quite large and growing every year. He had been lucky enough to see four bear in the space of less than an hour, including a mother and her cub. Needless to say this excited me greatly and made me look forward to being up there even more. I left late the next day (I'm thinking about making a blog about all the driving, so I'll leave the boring details out here) and arrived at my destination about eight, local time. With Canada's time being an hour ahead of our own there was still plenty of time for a bear hunting expedition. As bears are dangerous creatures, it was decided that only the bravest and strongest of the men should go. Thus armed only with our eyes and a pair of binoculars my Uncle Phil and I set off. We drove around talking and looking mostly to no avail. We had two false alarms, a blocky wheel (don't ask, just accept it) and a dark bush in the distance. As we were giving up hope we spotted a large black object in road up ahead. It was far enough away that we couldn't tell so we slow down and whipped out the binocs. It was tall, and it was black but it was also just a stack of tires around a mailbox pole. Disappointed yet again, we persevered and drove on. A few minutes later, Success! A large black animal was sitting in the yard in front of somebody's house. Almost certainly we had cornered our prey at last. Large, black, pointy muzzle, and rounded head; we slowed down to get a good look at. It saw us and was watching us as we slowed down to a crawl, but didn't run away. The road was clear so when we were directly across from it we stopped. As soon as we stopped, it jumped up and started barking at us. We just had to laugh and shake our heads. We drove back home not seeing any bear (we did however see a racoon, a distant cousin to the bear) disappointed but happy for a good opportunity to visit and spend some time with each other. So all was well since it ended well, just like this post.

Happy Days Are Here Again

Currently--Glad to be home and overjoyed by a wonderful trip.

This is just to fill up space so that people will think that I actually can and do write blogs. I just returned home from a 1300 mile trip to Nova Scotia for my cousin's wedding. Oddly enough, instead of feeling tired I'm rather energized and am planning on taking a bike ride as soon as I'm done here. Also oddly (technically not odd, just unusual especially me) I just spend almost two hours of my evening talking to different people. This fourth of July has been spent differently than most, as I was driving for just under ten hours of it, instead of relaxing and enjoying it as most would do. However the whole day isn't destined to be unpatriotic, as I am thinking about going into the city to see whatever fireworks display is planned. It should be pretty good considering the show they put on for Memorial day. So a happy fourth to you all. And don't worry I will definitely write about my trip. No way am I letting such good blog fodder slip through my fingers.