Recent Happenings

This is turning into much more of a movie blog than I had intended. Not that there's anything wrong with that - movies are a big part of my life, and a much more inclusive and far-reaching topic than my current areas of study - but I want to take a little break from movies. A few reasons: (1) My fiancee and I just realized our wedding is less than six months away! Coming so quickly. We've got most things decided - but I'm starting to feel unprepared. (2) A lot of interesting things have happened recently - time to talk about those things instead of more rants and critiques.

First things first: we're getting married! We've been engaged almost a year now, but it's finally starting to feel "real." That kind of sounds a little insensitive, considering all the planning we've done, but under six months... we're almost on one hand, month-wise. The sense of immediacy is growing. There are so many things to do still... I need to talk to my groomsmen in more detail, we need to figure out a bachelor party, what sort of music will play when, what tie am I going to where... so many questions!

City mouse/country mouse - that's us to a T.

The most important component is also the most nebulous: our ceremony. My fiancee didn't come from a real strict religious upbringing, and I've grown increasingly non-religious with age, so the ceremony isn't as simple or straight-forward as your regular Christian, Catholic, Hindu, whatever wedding. Our officiant is not a clergyman, he's a friend. What do we do? We can do virtually anything we want, so long as it's in good taste, but that much freedom is actually a little overwhelming. One thing I know I don't want is sappy music. In fact, probably no music at all during the ceremony itself. Whenever I attend weddings, I always find it a bit awkward to sit through a song; and I imagine it feels even more bizarre to be watched and fawned over during those few minutes when you're actually standing up there. To be honest, neither one of us want anything about the ceremony to be overly sappy or sentimental. We're independent adults in a loving relationship: we don't want any of that "you're my whole life"/"I'm nothing without you" kind of stuff. We love each other, but I don't think either one of us defines that sense of obsession as love. We've toyed with the idea of having a few readings as we're both book-lovers, but what to read? Poetry? Prose? My fiancee has mentioned maybe a few verses from a variety of religious texts, which I kind of like. No decisions yet, but it's time to start deciding.

I rarely make demands, but the one thing I said right at the start of the planning was that I refused to wear a bow tie. I just can't stand them. I used to wear them all the time as part of school functions, but it was never by choice, and I always think people just look silly wearing them. Like Tucker Carlson - I can't take him seriously. So once that was decided, the suit v. tux question came up, and we actually went with suit. A few reasons - more comfortable, more unique, multiple uses - but it really came down to Kate's vision and "theme." She refers to it as "soft focus" - very ethereal, soft, light. Grays, muted pinks - classic, clean, and elegant. The hard lines of a traditional black tux just didn't fit that idea. So then we started talking about the Old Hollywood look (her being an admirer of Cary Grant, me of Elizabeth Taylor), and that pretty much settled it: a charcoal suit inspired by that vintage feel. Double vents, three pieces, pocket square - the whole thing.

We actually bought the suit a few days ago. Very exciting. I love it. So comfortable, so well made. Needs a little tailoring since I lost some muscle mass, but not much; and I love the color. Seriously. My fiancee talked about maybe buying a couple to compare colors and then returning all but one, but once I saw the color my mind was made up. It's perfect. The picture goes a little too dark - it doesn't quite capture the shine or shade just right. It's very Mad Men-esque. My future father-in-law (a big Mad Men fan) has pointed out that the suit is definitely more '60s than '40s/'50s, but I'm okay with that. It's a classic look as opposed to a contemporary one, and that's what matters to me. After buying it, Kate jokingly asked if I would get a pocket watch to go with it... I didn't see what was so funny - I actually might! Maybe a little hokey, but a pocket watch totally fits the look, and I would kind of like having one. I'm very old-fashioned when it comes to certain things. So now we need to find a good tie/pocket square, and the wedding attire is all set.

The same day, I also got an official hair cut and shave. The "official" part simply means I paid for it. Basically, since I've known her, Kate has generously and graciously offered to cut my hair for free every once in a while. The hair was getting a little out of control, though, and we couldn't find any time to do it - so, a barber shop! I decided to try out the Art of Shaving store at the local mall. Overpriced certainly, but I had always been curious and thought the shave would be interesting considering the old-fashioned technique. Overall, it was a very nice experience. This is the shortest my hair has been in a long, long time (it's a very "professional" look, for lack of a better word), and the shave was very relaxing. Hot towel, brush/foam, straight blade - the whole routine. The barber actually discouraged me from using a straight blade on my own (she felt I was too thin and could risk cutting myself pretty badly), but she made it work regardless. I like that. I feel like I've entered a new stage of hair-life: as a kid, it was strictly the bowl cut; as a teen, I experimented with gel/spiking it/dying it/etc; in college, it became long, curly, and very "shaggy"... and it's been pretty similar to that since. I would trim it for interviews (speaking of which, my fiancee once gave an amazing short cut that we've never been able to replicate) but it always returned to the shaggy form. Mostly out of laziness, but also because I didn't know what to do with it, and I didn't want to pay money every few weeks for something so simple. The facial hair has been around in some form or other for a decade: the full beard won't be going away any time soon.

Next thing up: the Walnut Room. A bit of a big deal in the Chicago area, apparently, along with the giant window displays in the downtown Macy's (formerly Marshall Fields... everyone seems to agree that it's gone downhill since being run by Macy's - I wouldn't know). The Walnut Room is a restaurant which balances an upscale setting with down home comfort food. My fiancee suggested this on a whim a little over a week ago, and after shifting around the schedule a bit and balancing things as best as possible, we finally found an afternoon to do it. And that's the thing to understand - to actually get into the Walnut Room, you need time. A lot of time. They don't take reservations, and you can't just show up. The recommended method: come in around opening time and put in your name for a lunch request, which is what we did. Supposedly, if you try to just show up and eat right away, you'll wind up waiting for over three hours. No thank you.

So we went down early, put in a name, and then wandered the streets like vagabonds for a few hours. Seriously, we did a little Christmas browsing. No one seems real sure what they want this year, if anything, so the only things bought were a few work clothes for Kate. The weather was nice, thankfully (for November); and though you wouldn't think it, Macy's is over a mile from the "shops" on Michigan Avenue, so we actually walked a little over three miles by the end of the day. When we finally went back, it didn't take long for the pager to go off, and then we had a lovely meal. I tried the traditional favorite (and a personal favorite of mine) - chicken pot pie; Kate opted for the lighter option - a bit of chicken salad with string potatoes and various fruits. Overall, I was very pleased. I had read mediocre reviews of the restaurant online, but my guess is most of those came from people who actually waited for hours and were disappointed... and I guess if you were grumbling in line half the day, anything would probably be disappointing. For us, though, it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. We also went to the German Market - a tiny square of Christmas/German-themed shops in Daley Plaza - but as we were both stuffed and the main attraction seemed to be huge crowds, that wasn't so much fun. I prefer to think the day ended after the lovely meal. Just need to rewrite the memory a bit.

Lastly, on a completely unrelated subject... Herman Cain has withdrawn his candidacy! Hallelujah! I'm sorry, but in a field of goofy candidates, he was perhaps the goofiest. And I know he, his camp, and his fans are going to spin this somehow to blame the media and the Democrats, but seriously, Herman - if you can't survive wild accusations or allegations of any kind, you'll never be a successful politician. Part of being a politician is being disliked, and part of being a politician means people rooting through your past. Sometimes they're grasping at straws (see: the entire "birther" debate, Obama's middle name, etc), and sometimes they have legit concerns. In any case, if you can't handle it, you are definitely in the wrong field.