Playing virtual dress up

On the 'oh-for-crying-out-loud, are-we-supposed-to-be-children?!' front, theknot.com has a little tool with which you can create an "inner bride" avatar for yourself -- pick the facial features, the hair, the body, the skin tone, the dress, the accessories, the setting.... Because we can never get enough of paper dolls and Barbie, even as we age. That's why Second Life is popular (among people with whom it's popular).

Even with all the options provided, this unlikely creature is what I come up with for my "inner bride" --



The body options are limited in the extreme. One can be thin or thinner. The hair options allow for no Louise Brooks bobs (who, like Veronica Lake, seems to be remembered almost exclusively for her hair). In spite of various options for facial features, every face comes out looking pretty much the same. And, of course, all we brides stand in exactly the same coquettish pose.

Getting back into the groove

I haven't posted since November 19th. I was aware that it's been a while, but I had no idea it was quite that much of a while. When the mood strikes, there it is, and when it doesn't, I disappear like a rabbit run to earth.

To assure one and all, my silence should not be read in any kind of foreboding way vis a vis the nuptials. Rather, I got tired of wedding stuff. I don't know how people spend every waking moment planning that one day for a year or more without suffering extreme ennui -- I use that term as opposed to 'boredom', because it better captures the depression that can come from over exposure to the wedding-industrial complex. That said, as I stare into my Blue Wave GoLite P2, it does occur to me that maybe it's just me.

Perhaps because the days are slowly getting longer or perhaps because I did take that six week break from obsession with all things wedding, I'm ready to think about it again. I'm even ready to gather up a group of gurlfriends to go see what promises to be a train wreck of a wedding movie about train wreck bridezillas: Bride Wars. It has garnered comments on Rotten Tomatoes like, "appallingly simple-minded," and "a retrograde comedy that makes women look like shallow, scheming, selfish creatures who worship consumerism and fret about their hips." Well, the bridal mags seem to assume that's precisely what we all are, and work very hard to foster those characteristics, and I have noted before the pop culture obsession with brides and bridal parties behaving badly. This movie is just more of the same neo(?)-misogynist dross, I'm sure, but it will give me something to critique.

David M. offered to go see it with me, but it was made in a tone as to suggest that Slum Dog Millionaire might be more to his liking. As with his offer to go see Sex and the City with me, it was charming of him, and surely points to just how profoundly the man is in love, but perhaps due to the profundity of my own affection for him, I feel the need to shield him from the cruel ravishes of the really bad chick flick.

But my question is, why, then, is he so intolerant of Say Yes to the Dress?

As for the actual wedding, David M missed the entire last week of school before Christmas break because of snow and ice. This means that in all likelihood, the scheme of going down to Santa Cruz for a family-only marriage formalization, followed by the Corvallis reception hoopla the next weekend is shot. His school year is probably going to extend into that first week of summer break. June 20th is still a go for the party; it will just have to include the marriage bit, too, and sadly without the presence of Mama M, as she is not big on travel these days anymore -- the reason for the summer plans and Santa Cruz scheme, to begin with.

Na ja ("oh well," as a German might say it). That does promise to save some money, which will be put to good use on a honeymoon. I think we are now decided on Kauai. It's a little on the 'typisch' side, but it beats Lincoln City. I've heard nothing but 'rave reviews' and 'glowing comments' from anyone who has ever been. Of course, I know someone who responded to my snipey little comments about Lincoln City with, "I like Lincoln City," so who knows how I'll feel about it, but it seems like it would be hard to go wrong with the quintessential island paradise.