Senorita Misteriosa

This is a story about the adventure of a lifetime. It's also a story about the wondrous powers of the internet to connect people in ways they'd never have imagined. It's a story for our time.

After a quiet retirement spent mostly inside her intriguing package, Señorita Misteriosa is off on an international adventure to meet her Señor and see the sights of New York and Mexico.

Late last year I received an email from a woman named Carin, asking where she might find a Señorita Misteriosa to join her Señor Misterioso.

Carin and her Señor have been together for many years and have traveled the world together. Then Carin met her fiance...

They dreamed of a wedding in Mexico with both Señor and Señorita Misteriosos at their sides, but Señorita, being the enigma that she is, can only be found if she wants to be found.

We don't know much about Señorita, except that she speaks twelve languages and has diplomatic passports from eight of the smallest nations in the world.

In Brazil her photo is often kept framed on the top of television sets, and no one can explain why this is or where the photos came from.

Her mysterious glowing dress is rarely worn but when it is, world events change drastically and plants within 50 feet undergo accelerated growth. There are claims of healing properties from being near the dress when she is wearing it, and this will be the subject of a Ken Burns PBS documentary.

Despite all her mystery, she was finally found one day in my Flickr photostream, the result of a random photograph taken last summer while procrastinating work.

Carin emailed me to ask if it might be possible to send Señorita to meet her in New York, to join Senor atop their wedding cake in Mexico early this year.

I consulted with Señorita and of course she was happy to oblige. We packed her things and put her on the first express plane to New York where she'll meet her new friends Carin and Gabriel.

Señorita's private photographer will capture her adventure and I look forward to posting the rest of the story and her photos.

Time & Energy

This morning I was reminded of something I heard on NPR this past weekend - stories about time, time travel, and a theory about how time is not linear at all. Time just is.

Every moment we experience just is - it's not past, present or future. It exists. Meaning, everything is what it is and we're all here experiencing moments that just are, and there isn't any free will.

Trippy, huh?

What got me thinking about time was energy... That there must be some sort of energy at work that I find fascinating. Before all the wedding hub-bub started, I wasn't unaware of the possibility of getting married. It had occurred to us both long before that time - we'd discussed our feelings about it, the pros & cons. It's not like it hadn't come up before.

But all that time, there were never any "signs" or coincidences that could have shown we were headed in one direction or another. Bear with me, I'll hopefully come to some sort of point in a moment.

So, last December we got engaged and Mom went loopy and started immediately planning everything -- but it was a very low key affair - low stress, low administration - mellow. Not much hub-bub at all, really.

This event didn't take over our lives or become an all out gonzo project requiring time off work. Life proceeded as normal, albeit a little busier than usual. I took Bart to work as I always do, I did a few crosswords now & then and passed the occasional street performer in the Bart station.

In the three months leading up to the wedding, nearly every crossword puzzle I did contained clues about getting married, though previous to this time period, I don't remember seeing any crosswords containing clues like that.

Also in that three month span, every time a certain saxophone player was in the Bart station (about twice a week) he played the same song - the song that's plays when Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford enter Trask's daughter's wedding reception in the movie Working Girl.

I'd never heard the saxophone player play that before and I would remember it if he had. I love that movie and when I hear that song I can see Melanie and Harrison walking into the crazy tiki reception.

So maybe all this was supposed to happen - or just is. As for the funny coincidences of the crossword puzzles and the saxophone player, I'm not sure how all that fits in.

Some would say that because I was about to get married, I was likely more aware of such things and that's why I noticed them - that it had been happening all along but I didn't realize it because getting married wasn't forefront in my mind.

Well, I've done a number of crosswords since the wedding and I've not come across one with a clue regarding marriage, weddings, cohabitation, dating - nuthin. And this morning the saxophone player was only blowing spit out of his horn.

We Did!

Cutest Cake in the World

Made by Jeff Gosche of Fabino. Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen? Only about 5" across. Adorable. And so tasty.

This was a tester for one of the flavors Jeff is making for the party. We're only doing this for the cake. And the booze. Booze and cake - breakfast of champions.

And now I think I know why women, before they get married, go on insane crash diets and lose their minds in the pursuit of losing a few pounds.

Regular, everyday clothes shopping generally doesn't require using a dressing room about the same size as your bathroom with a three-sided mirror covering an entire wall.

Most of us, when buying clothes for work or weekends, just grab what will likely fit - maybe do a rushed fitting in a tiny room with a standard door mirror and that's it - no big deal.

But to buy a nice dress, something you want to be sure will fit and look nice, you go to the nicer stores with the bigger dressing rooms and way too many mirror angles.

What you're able to see in those mirrors is a shock. How long has that been back there? Where did I pick that up? Why didn't anyone tell me my ass was getting wide? Is that really my ass? Did the last person in this fitting room leave some of their ass behind?

Sure, it happens as we get older. I know this. I've read about it many times. That doesn't really matter when you're looking at it square in front of you. Or behind you.

It's a bit too late to worry about all that now, but it does make me less inclined to throw down a Cinnabon.

Serenity Now!

Monday was a fluke - hardly anyone was in the office and somehow I ended up with only one half-hour meeting. Realizing such days are rare, I decided it would be a good day to visit the counter at Sear's.

Running out to wait in long lines to grab food to-go from places where you rarely get a seat during the short lunch hour is a drag.

I love a nice little coffee shop where I can sit at the counter & read the paper and leave all that mess behind.

And lately, maybe because of the crappy weather and stress, I'm seeking out all sorts of starchy goodness. Pancakes. Pancakes and a cup of coffee, and someone to bring it to me without me having to stand in line to order it.

I'm ready for my vacation. I'm ready to stop staying late at the office. I'm ready to get back to projects I've had to set aside to focus on not so fun things. I'm ready for all the hub bub of what was supposed to be a quiet wedding to be behind me. I'm ready for my mother to stop flipping out about people who haven't sent in their RSVP cards - the nerve of those people!

Paper Cuts

I'm wondering who invented the invite inside the envelope inside the other envelope, with the little tissue paper and yet another little envelope for the response card (the response card envelope actually makes some sense, but the rest just seems like overkill).

When I sat down this weekend to send out a handful of invites I was amazed at the amount of manual labor required. Fold the invite over (why isn't it printed on a single card?), put the little paper on top, then the other crap on top of that, then shove it into the one envelope, then cram all that into the only-a-wee-bit-bigger envelope and mail for $1.50. Or almost. Whoever thought all that up needs to have the edge of each envelope dragged slowly across a lip and a few fingers.

At least now that's all taken care of, but I'm still fighting this damn cold. The DayQuil helps with the hacking cough, but not the sneezing. The cough was so bad Friday night that I took a double dose of Robitussin and it worked to some degree. It mostly made it hard to walk in a straight line.

Boxing Day

As in, striking repeatedly. Another Christmas logged. I said logged. I need a week to myself on a deserted island.

Christmas was great - lovely and relaxing. It's all the wedding stuff that's making me crazy. It was supposed to be a low key, mellow deal, which I think it will be in the end, but the rush to get invites ordered immediately after Christmas seems a bit crazed.

I wanted to design them myself, not order them out of a book full of the ordinary. But whatever. In the big picture, no one cares about the invite. What really matters is making sure people know about the open bar and that there will be CAKE!

Ice

Finally picked up the ring today... It's similar to the original design, but seems like someone else's ring. It's taking time to get used to it. It's a solid symbol of what's coming - like now it's more real or serious. Not sure how I feel about that... I've really enjoyed all these years I've been married to myself. I think I'm going to miss that.

Holy Crap - What Have I Done?

I've been engaged since Friday. I've stressed to the Mother Parental Unit many times that there are NO plans as of this moment - this most current moment being the 3rd day since making this crazy move. I told her we've discussed the merits of a very small 'do at SF City Hall. To that, she replied:

"Question, when you say a small family wedding, who all are you thinking about? Just your brothers and familles, or your cousins, as in Mike and Sally etc?

We really need to sit down over a calendar and get organized. What sort of 'vacation time' do you guys have during the next 6 months? If you guys want to, would you like to come down here on Sat? We can talk over some ides and then have dinner.

I am always available to help you, but I don't want you to think I am being pushy. It is always good to brain storm some thoughts and see where we get to. Just let me know. This can be a really fun experience."

Holy crap. She's down there in San Jose putting together a float that she's gonna drive up here with a tank, and on that float she's gonna put every person she's ever spoken to about anything, and then she's going to grab David and I and throw us onto the front of that float and she's gonna drive that thing all over town.

How much vacation time? How much time could this possibly take? Do I have to apply for a leave of absence from work? Should I make sure I'm current on all my vaccinations? What the hell is happening?

We're going to have to leave the country.

Betrothed

I said I'd never do it again. But - I said yes. My Nana's ring is getting repaired in time to wear for Christmas.

It's weird. Nothing's changed, yet everything seems a little different. Like we moved all the furniture in the front room to the left a couple of inches. Mother and mother-in-law-to-be are asking when, where, etc. We don't know yet!

And now, for just for a little while, I want to be alone to sit with it. I'm sure by Monday I'll have forgotten this ever happened until my mother calls me for the tenth time to ask me when we're going shopping for invitations.