stress, Stress, STRESS!

On Wednesday we had the last meeting with our officiant. After getting all the little details out of the way she asked a question I've been hearing more and more "So, how are the stress levels?"

Honestly, we're both pretty cool. I can count on one hand the times I have wanted to strangle someone with a piece of tulle while planning this schindig.

In fact I've been more stressed about some sciencey lab thing at work (for those in the know it's running an SDS-gel in a lab that has never done it before. It's going okay right now, but I'm not getting enough mA for some reason).

I don't know if I'm missing out on something by not being constantly on edge as endorphins pump through me, but we've generally spent our nights catching up on old British tv shows (hurray for Spaced's release in the states) or finishing Lego Batman.

At this point any little plans I may have had or things I wanted to do have long been abandoned and left to the ether and anything else is so done we could have this thing today.

I'm so cool that I think it's starting to stress out all those around me.

Has any one else experienced an almost Nirvana calm as the wedding got near instead of the stereotypical freak out?

Also a wedding blog shout out to Jen of She Weds and Jenna of That Bride as they get married tomorrow. Hopefully it all goes just how you want it to.

Nerdy Counseling

In honor of our recent counseling talk with the minister (and the fact I am a huge nerd) I give you MST3K: Are you ready for marriage.

Who's your favorite muppet?

It was a long and unexpected kinda weekend. My Dad was having his 50th birthday party and as my MOH lives near him I thought I'd drop by and hang out with her for a few hours before going to the party. (Her son is adorable, and after watching him I think I need to have a challenge where people eat an ice cream cone without their hands).

We figured we'd just head back home after the party (a nice two hour drive) but alas God was against that idea. About 30 miles out of town we had a tire blow. It was the first for either of us but there really weren't any screaming matches, no one freaked out, and in the end we got it all fixed up and left on Sunday.

It did get me thinking about all those marriage questionnaires they make out there for people to take. The Catholic one, FOCCUS, is well known and feared. If not only for the fact that a priest could call off your marriage if you fail but also for the length. I hear they recommend an 18 month engagement just so you have time to finish it.

Though if anyone has to go in for some pre-marriage counseling there is a damn good chance you will have to pull out your number two pencil, answer random questions about your life, your likes, and what's your ideal birthday party (really). I remember taking those tests as a kid and as you get older you realize that there is no one right answer.

For example, Who drives the car?

• You
• Him
• Well it depends on if we're going somewhere we've always been or if it's somewhere new

Somehow I doubt that last one is in there. No questionnaire should really determine if someone should get married or not. (Or you could just take a quick quiz to see how long you should wait to have kids in case it all falls apart.) I'm sorry, but a piece of paper with a few random bubbles filled in (and a doodle of a tree, I take tests fast and then get bored) has no idea how we spend our nights, if we fight like cats and then make up as such, or if neither of us is really romantic and would rather both get vacuums for presents.

There's nothing wrong with some counseling before (especially as we have no idea what to do with planning the ceremony and really need some help there) but having the pastor/priest/minister/hobo on the street rely on a test where if you really want to you can cheat using the cap method makes no sense.

No one is the same, and some of us really couldn't give a crap what kind of birthday party we have (or if the pinata matches the petting zoo).