Today Sascha and I watched Kirikou. It is just as cute as I had remembered.

It's been a busy weekend. On Friday I had an upsetting conversation with the head of my department at work (although I've decided we were both kind of justified, if not logically, at least emotionally, in giving each other a hard time. So I'm trying not to obsess about it and about what I could have done differently.) Then I left work early and met my parents for lunch. Then my Mom and I went shopping for wedding stuff and after that we met Sascha's dad for dinner. It was one of those days when you can hardly believe by dinnertime that you are still having the same day that you were having that morning.

Yesterday, we went and bought the fabric for my wedding dress before going up to New Rochelle for dinner with Sascha's mom and his grandma.

The best thing that has come out of this whole wedding thing so far is discovering the fabric stores on 39th and 40th Streets and the bead and button stores around 38th Street and Broadway. Every store has a different selection and a different specialty, but in my opinion the best is Poli Fabrics on 40th. When I went in there on Thursday, the owner met me at the door with a big grin and "We've been waiting for you! Come in! How can we help you?!" And when I said I was getting married, "But no! You are only 20! 21! You are too young to marry!" He charmed the pants off my mom on Saturday too, and I ended up accidentally getting the same fabric swatch from him twice, so we figured it was obviously the right one.

My dad cannot believe that I am doing all of this girlie wedding stuff. I am having a hard time believing it myself. On the other hand, I have always liked throwing parties and making things, so maybe it is not such a big surprise.

Look here! Birthday presents for hypochondriacs! As a hypochondriac, I love these, expecially the common cold. The common cold is adorable.

I might have linked to Book Crossing before, when I found one of their books on a table at Burritoville. Sascha and I are cleaning out our bookcases...I think we should set our books free as well.

Meanwhile, I am very annoyed that all of the wedding shops, magazines, websites, and whatnot in the world are invariably referred to as "bridal". Okay, that might be appropriate if they would ever legalize girl-on-girl marriage in this country, but I am personally getting a little annoyed. My wedding is going to have a groom in it too. That is the best part of it. So why don't they acknowledge his existence? Why do most pictures in wedding magazines feature the bride, alone, looking rapturously happy? Why aren't there more pictures of happy couples? Why don't they try selling him some crap for a change?

What I'm listening to right now: Mosquitos. This CD makes you feel like you are in a hammock waiting for the sun to go down on a too-hot day. It sounds like the summer we aren't having this year. It's just what I needed.

In the DVD player: Six Feet Under: The Complete First Season. Never having had HBO, I'd never seen this show. I can't believe what I've been missing...it is incredible.

This is the first paragraph of White Apples by Jonathan Carroll (I think it's really beautiful):

"Patience never wants Wonder to enter the house: because Wonder is a wretched guest. It uses all of you but is not careful with what is most fragile or irreplaceable. If it breaks you, it shrugs and moves on. Without asking, Wonder often brings along dubious friends: doubt, jealousy, greed. Together they take over; rearrange the furniture in every one of your rooms for their own comfort. They speak odd languages but make no attempt to translate for you. They cook strange meals in your heart that leave odd tastes and smells. When they finally go are you happy or miserable? Patience is always left holding the broom."

I've always been sad that I was born too late for the really good fads, like flagpole sitting and telephone booth stuffing-into, so I am thrilled to the gills that this mob thing has come along. And not a moment too soon! On Thursday evening, Bee, RH, Sascha and I were in a mob in Times Square. It was quite wonderful.

There are plenty of people blogging about the mob, much much more thoroughly than I am going to. So I suggest you go to Satanslaundromat.com to find out more. If you look closely at the second and third photos on this site, you will once again catch a glimpse of my co-worker James (pinkish shirt and sideburns), and also his cousin (yellow shirt, baseball cap). Whoever this Laundromat guy is, he was standing right behind me.

Another good mob-blog is here. I have some very deep thoughts about the mob, but since I am writing this in an internet cafe in Philadelphia on the way to Jen's wedding, the deep thoughts are going to have to wait.

Well, here I am at work, once again slacking off to post in my blog. But really I can't resist, and it is in fact somewhat work-related. My colleague James is in today's Onion. Well, it's actually just his head on someone else's body. Next to someone else's article. Written under a pseudonym.

But still...how incredibly cool.

Someone in my office felt the need to tell my boss that I post to this blog during working hours, and now I am supposed to "read over the relevant sections in the employee handbook to ensure that my behavior is professional".

Well, dear someone. You are a complete shit.