Jury Duty, Mariachi Bands, Bitter Friends, Insurance and Bad Handwriting
♦ I have jury duty in a couple of weeks. This is all well and good because I view this as an opportunity to do some heavy-duty reading and avoid work. I realize that there is a chance I may end up selected for a trial, but as long as the trial ends the day before I’m scheduled to leave for Michigan, all will be well. I will, however, take along my flight receipt and also drag along some thick bridal magazines. I plan to intone the following if necessary:
“I’m willing to serve, but I do have a flight to Michigan next week. And it’s to see family and select my wedding venue – let me assure you that there will be another trial, probably Murder One, for my mother if I am blocked from traveling in any way, shape or form. Here, she’s on the phone threatening me right now, check it out. Do you have more donuts?”
♦ We have begun to tentatively discuss the musical selection for our wedding reception and we so far have three competing ideas: 1) play our own music (which makes me nervous because I don’t think anyone in our crowd could play DJ well), b) hire a DJ (which makes us both nervous because we don’t want any assholic behavior from said DJ to get people out onto the dance floor – we’d also like to avoid current pop and R&B music from invading our nuptials, and III) a mariachi band. The mariachi band would be a fabulous idea that can be limited by two things: noise restrictions in our space and/or cost. Doing some searching today I finally found lots of mariachi bands listed in the Detroit area and gave my father the number for a Detroit band that played with Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Campo at the University of Michigan in 2006 – Mariachi Especial Alma de Mexico. I initially found them through a search that led me to Mojo’s Mariachi Wake-Up, done for 95.5 FM’s morning show. Ah, Mojo. I remember you well. I preferred the 89X morning show, though.
And yes, we would have the mariachi band play more than the standard “Cielito Lindo.” It’s a beautiful song, but is that the only other mariachi song gringos know besides “El Jarabe Tapatío” (Mexican hat dance to all you cretins)? Also, logistics are on my mind here: After dinner entertainment? Cocktail hour? Stick to boleros? Let them play the raucous stuff at some point? Switch to DJ or DIY music at some point? GAH! Stupid logistics. This is why I prefer research. I can find the information for you but I hate providing a time line.
♦ I have informed Friend L, gently but firmly, that she is not going to be a part of my bridal party. Her reaction so far has been the silent treatment – but I’m not even attempting to get in touch at this point. Either she will get over it or nurse it as a grudge for years to come (I vote the latter); unless I hear from her telling me that she does not want to be invited to the wedding, I’ll still send her an invitation. I know that she’s plenty angry at the moment, but it comes down to selecting people who I think have been real friends to me over the years. It’s always been difficult with her, and this year really is the straw that broke the camel’s back. I also want my bridesmaids to have fun, relax and get along (no expensive parties, no ridiculous dresses, no unreasonable demands from yours truly – the only thing I really want for them is to enjoy themselves) – Friend L is currently too self-absorbed to enjoy the moment or other people. In picking the two people that I did, I ensure that we’ll all have a great time, be laid back about everything, and not have many awkward situations.
♦ I finally got around to insuring my engagement ring this week. The cost wasn’t outrageous and I’m very happy that IP and I went ahead and did so. What prompted me was that I’ve noticed that one of the prongs on my setting is loose – the prong will have to be tightened to secure the emerald in place. Since emeralds aren’t as tough as diamonds, I didn’t want to take the ring to a jeweler uninsured only to have the jeweler destroy the stone (that would cue a very pissed off WordNerd and IP). Now that the ring is insured, I plan to take the ring to a local, small business gemologist who will presumably know how to work with emeralds. I don’t think the emerald is going to fall out of the setting anytime soon, but the sound of the stone moving on the setting is alarming. Thank jebus for our helpful and friendly insurance agent (and for the electronic form of the appraisal that IP and I have on hand).
♦ I will admit, without remorse or compunction that I have been practicing one thing that I will need to do frequently after the wedding: sign my new name. While I plan to keep my maiden name professionally, I will add IP’s last name to my already long string of names socially. I am not dropping a thing – I will have four names, and three of those names will all be last names (my mom’s maiden name is my middle name). Socially, I will introduce myself as WordNerd WordNerdia IPa – I won’t hyphenate IP’s last name, but I will make a special effort to make sure that WordNerdia is always included when people are addressing me. I also like how WordNerdia breaks up “WordNerd” and “IPa” – there’s some assonance going on there and it sounds jarring to my ears. Insert “WordNerdia” and it’s all good. However, the reason I have been practicing is because of this: the letter with which my future husband’s last name begins looks awful in my handwriting. I will even go so far to admit that I printed out a practice sheet (yep, just like the ones they use in second grade) and attempted to teach myself a nice cursive capital letter [message redacted]. Alas, it still looks awful. I guess I have about a year to practice.
Wedding update complete!
