Getting Married? Try this....

So, I've been hearing alot about marriage lately. My best friend is working out his wedding plans, a few friends are attending  weddings and basically all of creation is consumed with the prospect of nuptials. I'm sure it's because I'm married now, but it seems like all married people talk to other married people about is being or getting married. It's marriage-palooza.

Anyway, I was asked to comment on attending a wedding or funeral for someone I don't know. Since funerals are a complete waste of time and fundamentally useless to me, I'll do the married guy thing and talk about weddings.

A wedding is a joyous occasion in which family, friends and strangers gather together to be completely miserable and pretend to like each other for a few hours for the sake of a couple of people who won't even have the time to notice or care that you are there. That being said, they can be fun if done correctly.

I like going to weddings for people you don't know or barely know. That way there is no pretense. Everybody there knows that your just there to throw a toaster at the bride/groom, eat free food and then bow out and go do something enjoyable with your time, so you don't have to worry about anything.

As I mentioned, weddings can be fun though. If you have the right people getting married in the right place, it's a blast. Best weddings are usually thrown by Jews, Mexicans and anyone willing to go to Vegas. In my humble, yet all important opinion, weddings shouldn't be formal occasions. Your supposed to be celebrating. There will be enough suffering after you're actually married, so there is no reason to put yourself out anyone else through an entire day of stress and drudgery to get things started.

The Opening Salvo.....

It has begun.

The Salt Lake Comic Con began today and oh boy, what a way to start.

From the moment I got in line to the moment I left I was grinning from ear to ear. I know there are a few people who read this who will never understand how great this whole thing really is for someone like me, but I will do my best to explain.

I am a passionate man, but I'm also a reserved and logical one. So for me to be completely immersed in something that means so much to me and to be in the presence of such talent and enthusiasm is one of the purest forms of joy I will ever be able to experience and few things will ever measure up to it.

There is no way to describe how it feels to see so many people gathered together to celebrate nothing more or less than unbridled imagination. This is not about dressing up like your favorite character or meeting a celebrity from an old TV show or movie. This is about basking in one of the most fundamental building blocks of the human experience. Everyone dreams, everyone wants to escape and everyone wants to be something more than they are and this convention is about the unapologetic embrace of those desires. There were people there today from every walk of life and of every age and they all had the same gleam of wonder in their eyes.

A lot of people it seems think that we are walking around in a make believe fantasy world or that we can't cope with real life. But the truth of the matter is that most people who are truly passionate about these "geeky" things simply understand that real is whatever we want it to be.

Sure, it's fun to dress up and the sense of community is nice and it's pretty neat to see famous people and meet childhood icons. But for me, the real fun comes from knowing that I am in a place where reality is elastic, among people who look at the world like a blank canvas or an empty page and understand that all they have to do is dream it and it will be as real as the ground beneath their feet and the sun on their face.

There is a tangible kind of power in this way of life and though I've always known it in my head, today was the first time I have felt it in my soul.

So say what you will about my comic books and Magic cards. Poke fun at my Pokemon and my Star Wars obsession. Because while you sit and wonder what to do with your "real" life, I will be living a multitude of them.

Oh, and in most of my lives, I have a fucking lightsaber. So who's really coming out on top?

The Final Countdown....

And now you have that Europe song stuck in your head. You're welcome.

A day like today requires a dramatic, yet campy soundtrack, because It is the final day before Comic Con and the fate of Middle Earth stands balanced on the edge of a knife.....

Actually, all that's really happening is that I have to make it through a really rough day at work so I can be on vacation and I kinda don't want to, which is basically the same thing as carrying the ring into Mordor. And those damn eagles better be ready.

I got a cool new phone that not only allows me to better document my geekiness, but also make doing this on the go A LOT easier, so yay for technology, boo for work and may the force be ever in your favor, Harry.

Let's do this.