Kick Up Some Dust and Watch It Settle

It's taken me awhile to find time to sit down and write this post. Now that the dust has settled from the wedding, the honeymoon, the move, and the transition to the new job; now that I have a bit more perspective and distance I can look back and say that Kat I had a freaking awesome wedding. I know, that's the adjective that everyone wants to describe their wedding: "freaking", but the whole thing was great. We rode up to the altar in a fancy car. We said our own vows. We put on the rings, said "I do," and that was it. Cut the cake, dance a little bit. The whole thing worked out great. And the best thing is that it's over. The wedding was fun, but it's a hassle to get everything together, to get everyone together, and get everything right. Once it's done you can finally take that deep breath and relax.

One thing I found interesting is that the reception is more for the guests than anything. The bride and groom are always getting shuttled everywhere to get pictures taken, to cut the cake, to do special dances, to throw things. Maybe the groom just wants to sit down for a second and drink a beer with friends and family. Did anyone ever think about that? Next time I have a wedding I'm going to schedule that in. Oh wait...

And that last part was a joke. Kat knows that (you know that don't you sweety?). It's been a month and a week of pure marriage bliss and we're still married.

Right after the wedding Kat and I went to Santa Barbara for some surfing. We decided to sign up for group lessons as neither of us is too skilled on a board. While I was in the water, waiting for a wave, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I looked to where I spied the motion, and about 100 yards from me, a shark jumped completely out of the water. I saw the silhouette perfectly and I've watched enough shark week to recognize the big scary fish when I see it. It was medium sized (about five feet from head to tail) and far enough out that I didn't think much of it. I did tell the instructor who then told me to keep my big yap shut. He said it in a more polite fashion than that. He just didn't want the other surfers to get spooked. Fine by me.

I attempted to do some more surfing, was paddling back out, when three dorsal fins surfaced about ten feet in front of me. Since I saw a shark before, I thought I was done. I had two thoughts 1) Well, Kat had a short marriage, and 2) I didn't know sharks traveled in schools. Luckily, it was a school of dolphins, sent by Neptune to bless and protect me, at least that's what I chose to believe. A few minutes later, a seal popped up to check out all the funny looking people trying to surf. It was a sea safari out there. That night Kat and I ate sushi

After SB, we drove up to Salvang to ride bikes and drink wine, a fine combination. The combination of those two event is actually exhausting. It's not like we did any extreme biking. Rather, we just rode from one winery to the next but the combination of pedaling, drinking, and baking in the mid-day sun completely exhausted me. When we got back to the hotel I slept the sleep of a baby, a drunken, sunburnt baby.

I like wine tasting, but I always feel slightly out of my element when doing it. When I drink alcohol, I like to do it in a place that has at least one pool table, a sporting event on TV, and buffalo wings. Wineries are different sort of places. I know, these are not the local watering holes that I'm used to and the idea is to taste, not drink. Still, I'm often confused by the lingo and customs of the semi-professional wine tasters. The guy next to me usually says something like, "Its got an oaky finish with a hint of rosemary," and I'll say something like, "Ooo, it's sparkly." I love the mystique of wine and the romance of its production, but I have a palate more suited for hops rather than grapes. Still, that does mean that don't enjoy the learning process.

After all that, Kat and I went to L.A., back to Korea, moved our apartment and started our new jobs. There's some omitted details in that last sentence but that will have to wait for another post. I've had a glass or two of wine and I'm quite sleepy. Maybe Solvang did rub off on me.

I said in my wedding toast, the best gift that we received was to see all our friends and family together. The money and the presents were great (very great, give more if you feel like it), but Kat and I are in Korea for such long stretches that we rarely get to see small groups of friends and family together, let alone everyone in one spot. I want to thank everyone for making our wedding and the days leading up to it truly wonderful. I especially want to thank Kat, after all, she's the one with the courage and wrecklessness to marry a guy like me.