BeMused

There’s gonna be some changes around here over the next few days as I get a chance to poke n’ prod at the site. So don’t be surprised to see a totally fubar’d layout now and then. I mean, c’mon, you know it wouldn’t be a Shad undertaking if I didn’t hork things up now and again.

I don’t understand what’s with me and cargo shorts. If you recall, a few weeks back I lost my cell phone in a pair at the store. Well, last week, I did something similar again: this time, I forgot my cell phone was in one of the extra pockets and I sent it through the laundry.

Apparently, cell phones don’t hold up so well when you do that. I tried letting it dry out totally, but it is well and truly dead.

So all week I’ve been on eBay shopping for cellphones. I didn’t have insurance on mine, so if I bought on from the store, it’d be a minimum of $200. I don’t understand their pricing schemes. Regardless, I’ve had three that I’ve bid on, and lost all three. So, I imagine I’ll find another today to bid on and lose as well.

I also sent my watch through the washing machine via the same method as my cell phone. Perhaps I should give up on wearing cargo shorts.

As a side note, I haven’t forgotten about this page. Things have been busy at work and at home with school, so I find I have very little time to create a new layout. I have something in mind, at least that’s a start. I’ll probably find a theme to download that will at least get rid of this default look. That’ll be a start.

For quite awhile (I’m talking years here), I’ve been fielding IMs from teenybopper gangsta’ wannabes thinking that I am Lil Bow Wow (or now, just Bow Wow). Why you might ask? Why would a mid-30’s white guy be mistaken for a young black rap star?

Glad you asked.

See, it seems Bow Wow’s real name is Shad Moss. And apparently, at least according to some of these people who’ve IM’d me, there can only be one Shad in this world. For awhile, I would respond to the emails, baiting the people who IM’d me, and generally making fools of them (or myself). I’d then proceed to share these conversations with friends of mine.

Recently the flow of IMs has dried up. Until someone went and created a profile on tagged.com, stating that they were Bow Wow and their IM name was Shad. So, naturally, the flood of IMs has started again. Which has prompted me to save a couple. So, I thought I’d share…

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This past Friday, I hopped a 5am train to NYC where I met my brother, and then he and I walked over to City Hall to meet his intended and her family and friends and watch them get married.

At least, that was the plan.

In reality, I woke up 45 minutes late, and despite my best efforts, as well as breaking several laws (speeding atrociously, illegal u-turns, running red lights), I missed my 5am train. It was an express, and the next train available was a local, so it was due into NYC an hour later. I called my brother and left a message, telling him I’d be late. When he called back, he greeted me with “Hiya Captain Monkey Wrench!”

When I finally got there he was naturally agitated, and not only because I was late. He’d been trying to reach his fiancé since 7am, and her phone was off. He’d left about a half-dozen voicemails, the first nice and calm, with the last one being full of grinding teeth sounds. As we were walking to City Hall, he discovered he had two voicemails, both from the fiancé; the first asking where he was, the second asking if he’d changed his mind. At this point, my brother started chain-smoking. When we arrived at City Hall, we found his fiancé waiting with her mother and her nephew. My brother’s fiancé is from Slovokia and speaks English well, but neither her mother or her four-year-old nephew do. So all day it was like someone hit the SAP button on the TV remote when the three of them would start talking.

After getting ourselves through security (which required me to get out of line, go to a security booth and check in my pocket knife), we went upstairs to the room where the marriage licenses and such take place. One thing about NYC; when it gets humid, it gets nasty. All those old buildings, with no central air. Most the rooms had big fans, which helped. My favorite spot was sitting right in front of those fans.

While we were waiting for our turn, my brother’s finacé took her nephew to the restroom. We were still waiting for her friends to show, and naturally, when it was just my brother and I sitting there, their names were called. My brother went to the judge, explained what was going on, and was subsequently bumped. If he could’ve smoked inside, I’m sure he would have just cut the top and bottom off the cigarette pack and just smoked the whole pack at once.

His fiancé finally arrived, along with her mother and the friends she was outside waiting for. They were nice couple who had played host family to my brother’s fiancé when she first arrived in the states. The wife was a beautiful woman from Slovokia as well, and her husband looked like he’d be quite comfortable on the deck of a yacht. Finally my brother’s name was called and we walked in.

The ceremony was over and done with in about two minutes and just like that, my brother was married. I took several photos and we left the judge’s chambers to go finish filling out paperwork. Because my brother’s wife was from out of the country, he had to fill out a couple of different forms.

While waiting, I was approached by a man who spoke in heavily accented English and asked if I would take photos of him and his new wife. I figured why not, and took several pictures. Apparently they thought I was a professional, and tried to pay me. I was feeling generous and declined, but the gentleman wanted to at least pay for the postage (they didn’t have email).

After getting their address, I found my brother and told him what’d happened. He looked at me briefly and then said, “I’m telling mom you were hustling at my wedding!” I had to laugh.

Afterwards we all went to lunch at some place in the Tribeca area that had the best damn chicken I’ve ever had. It was covered in a light flacky crust and cooked with asparagus and artichokes and covered in a sauce of some kind. Seriously good stuff.

We were invited back to my brother’s fiance’s host family’s place (did you get that?), and quite a place it was. It was on the Hudson River with a view of the Statue of Liberty. I’m guessing it was in the three to three and a half million price range. As we were getting the tour, I noticed several pictures that had been taken of our hostess, all professionally taken. She was *quite* the looker back in the day (still is actually), and as we were looking at them all, I noticed one with her and Sean Connery. Turns out she was a Bond Girl in The Spy Who Loved Me. Pretty damn cool.

After that, we headed back towards my brother’s place, getting caught in a torrential downpour on they way. Once at my brother’s place, we dried out a bit, and then my brother took me for a slice of pizza from Ray’s before I had to get on my train back home. If you’re ever in NYC and need a good slice of pizza, I heartily recommend Rays. So Good.

After that, it was getting on the train, getting home, and falling into bed exhausted.

But hey…I have a new sister-in-law. How cool is that?