Wild Waves 2007

I took the family to Wild Waves as part of the annual Play Hooky day. I deserved a day off; life has been just a little stressful between the backlog at work and some legal crap and just general life.

We met our twelve or so compatriots at the gate: tabbifli had bought tickets already with talek. kendaer was there, as was the very lovely V with her two delightful children, fallenpegasus, lisakit, and a few others whose names I know but won't freely deploy in public.

Kouryou-chan and friend

We did the dry runs first. Kouryou-chan was finally tall enough to go on most of the rides, and as you can see she had a heck of a good time, enjoying them all. Her reaction to the roller coaster was "That was fun! That was it?" Yeah, kid, that's about it: less than sixty seconds.

Lunch was greasy, but you expect that from a theme park.

After lunch, we did the water rides. Omaha and I managed to foist Kouryou-chan off on V, and after going around the silly river thing a few times we did the white water rides. I caught up with V and her kids and mine, and ended up with one of hers and mine over at the wave pool. Eventually fallenpegasus and lisakit took Kouryou-chan over to the hot tubs and I ended up with one kid who wasn't even mine.

Eventually, we got the kids sorted out and I sat in the hottub with lisakit, honoring Heinlein and giving her a footrub. There was more time in the river loop, more time with the children, and I got a horrific sunburn. Yeah, I doubled my chances of skin cancer, again.

Dinner was at the Olive Garden, where everyone looked very tired, but happy. All in all, a good time.

A man in a skirt!

Omaha kilt a man once.

So, after many months of trying to convince me, omahas and fallenpegasus finally talked me into getting a Utilikilt. We tried to get one on Friday but the store was closed, so we tried again Saturday morning.

The woman who oversaw my selection was delightful, completely professional, absolutely ready to be One Of Us if that's what it took. She led us through the selection criteria. After showing the various different models, I settled on a black original Utilikilt, which is actually their cheapest model, but she was clearly on the "You're gonna like this, and you're gonna come back to buy a Mocker, Jeans or Survivor model" sales pitch. She regretted not having a belt that she could sell with the kilt.

Right there, on the sales floor, she shielded my body with her own from the streetside view, held the kilt open, and said, "Drop trou." So I did, and she wrapped me in the one I wanted. I eventually picked one a little bit longer, one that covered the knees, and we bought it.

Pretty much after the first ten minutes you kinda forget that you're wearing it. It works just like pants should, it's decent, comfortable, and the pockets are huge. Yeah, it's a pricey bit of boutique clothing, but I don't mind. A couple of months out, if I'm still enjoying it, the saleswoman is probably right that I'll buy another one.

Every kilt comes with a couple of business cards for the store, cards you can give to people who ask you what that is that you're wearing and where they can get one of their own. In a way, wearing a Utilikilt is like owning a Mac: you're a member of an 'in' group that's just widespread enough to be able to perform the secret handshake on a daily basis.

The wedding of Anne and Peter

Having bought a skirt, the family hurtled over to the Ballard Oddfellow's Hall to attend the wedding of Peter Joseph and Anne Honeycutt. Anne has been around our family a lot, belonging to our circle of friends in odd ways. She's babysat the kids, hung out with the coven, and all sort of other little tics along the way.

The groom wore a black shirt and red vest, the bride wore an off-white dress with broad red trim that went well with her black goth haircut. The ceremony was much more pagan than anything, including a handfasting. The fraternal hall was ripe with history, including century-old tapestries with illustrations of the order's mission: "Heal the sick, Teach the Orphans, Bury the Dead," and all the little oddities of titles and fezzes and so on that one expects from a place like that.

kaelisinger and Leith did the ceremony. Kaeli said Leith's haircut looks like mine but I was more inspired to think of Brother Caedfael when I saw it. Maybe it was the officiating outfit he wore. Her own haircut looked like more trouble than it was worth; she had it done on a recent trip overseas and the Parisian hairdresser apparently took, shall we say, liberties.

After the "You may kiss" and the jumping of the broom, there was food, and toasts, and then instead of garters and bouquets and all that, Anne decided there were going to be pinatas. The wedding cake had skeletons: her favorite holiday is the Mexican tradition of The Day of the Dead, February 1st, so that's what we got. The Pinatas had bubble stuff, pop caps, and the garter, and they had to be broken open violently, with a hockey stick.

After all that, they cut the cake-- and immediately smashed the pieces into each other's faces. "Wedding bukakke," I heard someone say, a phrase I desperately hoped went over the groom's rather mundane parents.

Kouryou-chan ate so many sweets her tummy hurt. I helped the wind-down, cleaning up a little bit, and then we all headed home. It was good to see so many people, just like at Wild Waves. I have great communities. And damn if Kaeli doesn't look fine, except for the, y'know, anime haircut.