Friday, 7/2/04 - 15:44
Best Day was yesterday. That's what Ted wished me as he was rolling over between pager beeps, though he didn't remember it later. He'd already wished me happy anniversary five to ten times since 10:00 the previous evening, and I have to admit it was very cute. He spent most of Wednesday night at work, doing scheduled maintenance, though he got home by 5 or 6 AM to sleep while the LDAP server stealthily started to corrupt itself (as it turns out, power also corrupts computers). Anyway, our sleep schedules were rubbing against each other in ways liable to cause blisters, but it seemed like every time Ted woke up, he'd wish me a happy anniversary or, just once, a happy Best Day. I take this as an allusion to the ongoing argument that could be tearing apart our marriage, whether Ted or I is best. I've been riding high all week on that issue because in an e-mail about the upcoming family reunion, Mom-sub-B stated that Ted was the best, as I've long contended. On the other hand, Best Day is clearly a more general holiday than our anniversary, since it also incorporates Canada Day and our good friend Andrew's birthday.
One of the endearing things about Ted is that he's even sweeter than usual when he's drunk or asleep. Or at least he seems sweeter; that's probably predicated on the notion in our culture that drink will bring out the devil if there's a devil to bring out, or maybe corny behavior just seems particularly sweet when we're both mentally incapacitated. My favorite example of this is from JovianConsensus' birthday party three years ago. We grilled because it was a birthday, and got very drunk because it was a twenty-first birthday. Ted and I were snuggled up on the long couch by the window, watching Iron Chef, if memory serves me right. He took the engagement ring off of my left ring finger, moved it to the right ring finger, and said, "There. Now we're married." And why not? Weddings are one of the prime examples of performative speech; saying words is all you need to do to be married in some vague spiritual sense, if not in a legal one. It seemed quite reasonable to me, since we were both so sick with wedding planning and so ready for it to be over. The physical mechanism of ring movement reflected where I'd wear my engagement ring once we were married, as well as echoing the movement of one's graduation tassle from one side of the mortar board to the other.
Anyway, I felt better about wedding planning after that -- probably not so much because of the mock marriage, but because having a good time with our friends brought me back to life (by the power of Durkheim...). I no longer felt quite so alienated by the whole planning process. Another good thing about that party was that when we woke up the next morning, there was no mess and the dishes were in the sink. I like to contrast that with the behavior of my brother's friends while drunk.
Long live Diaryland!
The five most recent entries:
More Naval Gazing - Saturday, 8/13/05
Anniversary Diving - Friday, 8/12/05
Academic Tip of the Week - Tuesday, May. 17, 2005
How to tell a Midwesterner - Sunday, 4/24/05
Academic Feelings - Thursday, 4/21/05
Ted's most recent entry:
Monday, May 12