i have a lot to say but i don't have the time to type it all just now...



but i do have photos from the ian moore show on friday night...more on that later too...here are the photos...

...well, i made it back from new york...it was an adventure i'm gonna need lots of time to recover from...teddy & i left early friday morning to catch the blue line from damen to o'hare, but apparently we didn't leave early enough...i initially dropped teddy and all our luggage off @ half & half right by the damen 'L' stop...i drove back to my apartment and dropped off my car, and as i'm walking back to meet teddy, he calls to inform me that he forgot his ties...i run back to the apt, grab the ties, run back out, and a block later i realize i forgot my cell phone...i run back to the apt, grab my cell phone, and make it back to the 'L' station...we're running approximately 20 minutes behind schedule, and unfortunately, i hadn't figured in any extra time for emergencies...we make it to o'hare and run as fast as we can to an AA self-service check-in machine...unfortunately, we get an error that you have to check in at least 40 minutes prior to departure, and, well, we only had 23 minutes to departure...so we bug a ticket couter person, and she tells us we have 20 minutes left and to rush to gate H6...we somehow get through security and of course i fail in sneaking my lap top through, and so they open my suitcase, etc etc etc, and we run to our gate and are the 3rd to the last people to get on a very full flight to NYC...



...we make it to new york laguardia, but there's a bit of a traffic jam on the runways, and we're 12 minutes late getting off the plane...we have a 12:04 train north to beacon, ny that leaves from 125th & harlem, and it is now 11:18...it's only 6 miles from LGA to the train station, so you'd think 40 minutes is plenty of time to go 6 miles, but i obviously know nothing about NYC traffic cuz i get a call from lielle's voice teacher lynne who is in a cab on her way to catch the same train...she tells me i'm not gonna make the train with traffic the way it was and to just take the next train at 1:04 and that she & lielle would wait for us in beacon...teddy & i rush to a cab, and now it's 11:25...we tell the cab driver that we have a train to catch, and how long does he think it'll take to get to 125th & harlem and he says, 'well, it took me over an hour to get here from manhattan, but let me see what i can do...' and teddy tells him, 'you can do it...we've heard about you...' and the cabby takes side streets and what not and boy oh boy is it crowded but we make it to the train station by 12:00 and i manage to prebuy tickets and we have 2 minutes to breathe before our train gets there...lynne was flabbergasted to see me cuz she was so sure we'd never make it on time...



...and now we can breathe...it's a relaxing hour 15 minute train ride up to beacon, the stop before poughkeepsie, ny...josh & lielle are there to meet us...we go and grab a quick lunch before we go to the marriott in newburgh, ny where the rehearsal is to be that afternoon...we meet all of lielle's family when we get there, and olarn & connolly are already checked into the room we're all sharing, and they've got a car and everything so we're set...



we breeze throught the rehearsal, led by lielle & lynne...it's a jewish wedding which is news to me, and there's gonna be a rabbi who sings blessings and stuff and we in the wedding party translate what he sings in hebrew...



after the rehearsal, we get ready for the rehearsal dinner which is 15 minutes away in fishkill, ny...lielle's brother alex & his jazz trio are set up to play for the evening...they're really good...alex plays an electric upright bass, and he's so TIGHT...his best friend matt plays electric guitar with him...matt is in a band that just signed to kindercore and will be playing w/ dressy bessy @ cmj...they're all quite talented musicians...



the dinner is lovely, if a bit crowded in that room...there's like 40 people there, which is more than a third of the wedding guests...it's lovely, like a pre-wedding reception...food is yummy and the dessert is delectable...



...when we get back to the hotel that night, i tackle the tough issue of what to do about my dress...i hadn't had time to have it pressed, and it's got these crazy pleats on the bodice, and it's floor length, and it's been stuffed in a garment bag for the past 1000 miles...and did i mention i don't know how to iron? lucky for me, teddy is an expert ironman cuz his momma taught him well, and he volunteers to do it for me...we get it done pretty much except for the pleats which drive me crazy, and finally i send teddy away to watch the cubs game w/ the others and i lock myself in the bathroom, stuff a towel inbetween the dress and my bare flesh, and begin to iron my chest (on the dress i mean)...of course, i don't know what i'm doing so i end up creating pleats that weren't there, and i finally give up...by this time, what has become even more distressing to me than the wrinkles is that the top of my dress is rather big on me, and my chest is in danger of hanging out...i have no idea what to do about this but am determined to come up with something...by this time it's 1am, and so i retire, fed up and frustrated over a silly piece of floor-length black satin...i lie awake that night and it hits me...i know what i'm gonna do to keep all my body parts where they belong...DUCT TAPE!!!



...so i wake up at 6am and can't go back to sleep, and i lie there thinking about everything josh & i have been through, and yes, the emotions finally hit me and i cry...i cry cuz i'm so proud of this boy...that he had the courage to pursue the one he loved and to win her over...that he hasn't given up on his dream of flying, and now look at him...he's graduated more students at his flight school than any other flight instructor, and he's gonna be married that day to a beautiful girl who sings like an angel and is as smart as they come...a girl who's taught him how to love and to be loved...a girl whose family has taken him in as one of their own...



...i cry for about an hour, and by this time, connolly has woken up and gotten up and left the room...i get online to look for directions to the walmart so i can get some duct tape, and when connolly returns i get him to drive me there...while we're driving, connolly asks me why we're going to walmart...i tell him cuz i need duct tape...he asks me why i need duct tape...i say cuz my dress is too big on top...connolly's silent...it takes several attempts to explain to connolly what exactly i plan on doing w/ the duct tape before it finally sinks in with him...anyways, i get duct tape, a little sewing kit and some safety pins...we get back to the hotel room and i get to work...the duct tape could possibly work, but when teddy wakes up and finds out what i'm about to do, he gently insists we find another method...i finally decide to use safety pins, and these work lovely...i just have to keep my arms glued to my sides for the ceremony...



...so that being solved, i meet the girls for our hair & makeup appointments...now i guess i might as well mention that before i left chicago, i'd gotten my hair trimmed to get all the dead ends off so it would be easier to do an updo for the wedding...well, the stylist decided that the appropriate amount of hair to cut off was about 10 inches...so my hair is now the shortest it's been in YEARS...anyways, i get throughtthe hair and makeup and meet all the men @ a pizza place in a nearby town...



...by this time, i've mislocated my camera and i basically never find it again until after the wedding, which explains why i have no photos of the wedding posted here...



anyways, somehow we all make it out to chester, ny where the wedding is on the grounds of glenmere, a mansion, and it's beautiful...we've had quite a late start with the entire string quartet stuck in traffic on the way up from manhattan, but the photographer insists that we still do the photos while there's light (much to my relief)...and so the wedding doesn't start for probably an hour behind schedule...it's an absolutely lovely ceremony w/ beautiful music and flowers, and everyone looks so lovely...especially lielle the bride...josh looks like he's half awake but that's nothing new...



there's an open bar, great food, dancing beneath the stars & moon, etc etc and it's just absolutely lovely and we're all pretty much exhausted by the time it's all over...did i mention my feet are KILLING ME??!!



we survived...i just wish i had a picture...i'll have to wait for connolly to develop his...i think i nearly developed a twitch by the end of the night cuz i couldn't take any photos, and connolly knowing my need to shoot gave me his camera to take some photos...



so that's the wedding, and i think i must take a breather now...more later...

i was listening to ben gibbard's (death cab for cutie frontman) all-time quarterback project yesterday...that's the tape he'd made years ago before death cab got big of himself playing these instruments that he'd found at garage sales or were broken or were toys or whatnot...it's really a lovely recording...i got really nostalgic listening to it because i think he uses this mini casio keyboard in some of the songs, and i used to have one of those...if you wanna see what one looks like, go here to homestarrunner and click on characters...you'll see strong bad pop up w/ his head replaced by one of those casios and you'll hear the canned rock 'n' roll beat...it's called the casio vl-tone and it's also a calculator...like how whole brained is that? you can record your original musical compositions AND do your arithmetic homework on it!



anyways, me & my brother (and my dad) played that casio until the keys stuck...it had these canned beats that were really cheesy, but they fascinated me...



ben gibbard and the rest of death cab will be in town playing two shows this weekend...i won't be there...i'll be standing up in my best friend's wedding in chester, ny...that's ok...i'm gonna be in new york in autumn!



last saturday, a mere 5 days ago, teddy, dave & i were driving somewhere, and i noticed a maple tree whose leaves had all turned a bright red...it was the first tree we'd seen so far this fall that had changed colors...and now, this morning, as i was riding the shuttle bus to work from the metra station in lake forest, i was surprised at how so many trees have donned their autumnal robes...it's become fall overnight, although it's warm again in chicago...but not for long...



and the cubs won yesterday...no, they didn't just WIN...they TRIUMPHED! they TROUNCED those fish from florida!



and all of chicago (at least the northside) is high on a combination of cubs fever and the odor of rotting garbage piled up uncollected by striking teamsters...



been listening to--

little honda--yo la tango

s/t--all time quarterback

no good for no one now--owen (mike kinsella)

s/t--owen

surfa rosa/come on pilgrim--the pixies

so as of right now (thursday 9:30 am central time), here's the weather forcast for chester, ny for saturday:



partly cloudy, high of 71, winds from the NE @ 7mph (~6 knots), chance of precipitation 10%...



MUCH BETTER...thank you...



oh, and weather forecast for new york city next wednesday? SHOWERS...

I NEED GOOD WEATHER IN CHESTER, NY FOR THIS SATURDAY!!! preferably, partly cloudy with big puffy simpsons intro clouds like w/ a 5000' ceiling, high in the low 70s, gentle winds, around 5 knots or so...



i am gonna be in a partially outdoor wedding that early evening, and i don't need weather worries on top of my other worries...



things ain't looking good right now...



dear god, please...40% chance of rain is a bit more risk than i'm comfortable with...let it rain in new york next wednesday, when i'm outta there...pleeze???