Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

A neighbor's Christmas display

On Saturday, I met with The Paper to interview her for my book, My Wedding, My Way: Real Women, Real Weddings, Real Budgets. We got together at a diner near her place and, over a light lunch, talked about what went into planning her 1999 wedding, which she'd done for a very reasonable budget, in part because she took a long time to plan it and did a lot of comparison shopping.

She showed me her wedding album, which brought back memories, as I'd attended the wedding, which took place not long after my divorce from my first marriage.

As I got to the pictures of the reception, I looked for photos of myself. I found two. One was a posed photo of the people at our table, where I was smiling. The other was a candid shot taken during the bouquet toss.

At first I thought I wasn't in the picture, although I thought I remembered participating. Then I find myself, was standing several feet behind everyone else, with a grim expression and my hands behind my back!

The Paper observed, "I guess you weren't ready yet."

N0, and I wouldn't be for eight more years!

We talked in detail about what her process had been, plus chatted about a few other things, too. Then, I settled the tab and bid her good-luck on the holiday baking she was doing that day.

Later that afternoon, The Gryphon and I took care of holiday business of our own. First, we went to dinner at Brodeur's in Media. For some reason, it always feels like a party in there. Maybe it's because we've only been there near the holidays. As we ate, their bar area filled up with what appeared to be holiday revelers. In fact, some people dressed in Dickensian costumes came through to promote their version of A Christmas Carol, taking place at a nearby theater.

I had a coconut mojito and the sesame tuna, which was served with shrimp, scallops, rice and vegetables. It was delicious, and I had half of it boxed up for lunch the next day. The Gryphon had a ribs and chicken dish, which he had to box up, as well. We had a good time over dinner, just like we were on our honeymoon again. I've suggested to him that we take some long weekend trips next summer, to spend some quality time together. Most of the time when we go away, we're either visiting relatives or doing something related to work or Otakon.

Then we went to the Granite Run Mall, since we needed to pick up a few more gifts on our list, because even though we're doing a somewhat pared-down Christmas, we still needed to pick up a few things. This didn't take us very long, so we got some c0ffee in Starbucks until it was time to head over for the showing of I Am Legend for which we had purchased tickets when we arrived at the mall.

It was a Saturday night, and we saw the last showing, so the theater was packed full of teenagers and 20-somethings. They were quiet and respectful, though, except for exclamations when shocking things happened.

I have the book, but it's been a long time since I read it. I liked the movie. Will Smith is one of the few actors, along with Tom Hanks, who can carry a movie almost by himself. For much of the film, he's only talking to a dog. And the dog acts very dog-like, not like the sort of pantomime tricks that they do in, say, classic family films.

On Sunday, we had a quiet day at home. The Gryphon hung out with me in my office while I worked on Wild Violet and got a package together to send to my brother's family. I also wrote a thank-you note to a college friend who surprised us with a thoughtful gift of two books: H0w to Be the Almost Perfect Wife and How to Be the Almost Perfect Husband.

I made good progress on Wild Violet, finishing up graphics for the poetry and fiction sections. I also did issue graphics. This time around, the theme is mortality. I chose a subdued, organic-looking black-and-white background. All the tables will have a background of a light rose. The links have a deep, almost blood-like color. For the background of the title graphics, I'm using a microscopic photo of red blood cells, which pops from the black background nicely.

Later, while The Gryphon was at PAGE (Philadelphia Are Gaming Enthusiasts), I did the humor and "cuttings" section (which are short pieces, for which I don't do graphics).

I've still got the essays section, some of which have photos provided by the authors. I also have one interview for the "probes" section, by Serbian freelancer Rada Djurica. Then I've got to write up the reviews I'm including this time around. That will probably take the longest time.

If I don't get the issue done by Christmas, I should have no problem getting it done by New Year's. And then I can party like it's 1999!

Copyright 2007 by Alyce Wilson

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