We've booked

Heather was just on the phone to someone at the Toronto City Clerk's office and ... we've booked our wedding ceremony! We will be getting married on December 2 at Toronto City Hall. We wanted to do it on the 1st of December, but they don't perform weddings on Thursdays. So, Friday the 2nd it is. Yay!

Convenience vs necessity

Heather bought more invitations today. We have the whole design planned; we've done some test-runs, and we're pretty excited with how they look. In fact, along with our flatmate Emma, who's been helping us with the aesthetic decisions, we've been bandying the word 'classy' around quite a bit.

Heather's been increasingly involved with the preparations as time goes on. Now, since I am really close to submitting my thesis (read: going half mad and turning into a bitch), Heather is actually more interested than I am in the preparations. She had the scissors, card, and ribbons out this afternoon and was anxiously discussing the likelihood of finding a guillotine, which we need to cut the various papers and cards we'll be using. I think we'll be able to con some people at uni into letting us borrow the School's guillotine. But Heather is talking about buying one.

This is one of those issues to which we have .. erm ... differing approaches. I think it might have something to do with my dad. I remember being fourteen and wanting to buy a sleek and stylish racing bike from my friend Lisa. Dad, being Dad, refused this request.

"I'm not buying you a bloody bike," he said. "If you want a bike, we'll go down to the cop shop and tell them you lost one. Pick one up for free."

I'm ashamed to say it, but I think Dad's approach has shaped my attitude to money more than I had realised. (Although, I must point out that I harassed Dad for so long that I did get the bike, eventually.)

In short, I don't tend to buy anything unless I have to (unless it's fun, or edible, or both). On the other hand, Heather's middle name is convenience. If it makes things simpler, she'll buy it. Now, a guillotine is not, in my opinion, fun, and it's certainly not edible. But it would be convenient to have one at home during this process. The debate will continue.

Rally report

Heather and I went along to the rally on Saturday with our friends Kylie and Miranda. There were only about 35 people there altogether, which was a bit disappointing. It was incredibly cold that day (or so everyone kept saying), so that may account in part for the poor turnout.

All of the speakers were interesting, and I learned things I hadn't previously known. For example, the Democrats' Andrew Bartlett said that, although there was meant to be a Senate inquiry into John Howard's proposed legislation to amend the marriage Act, the Government actually rushed through the legislation after listening only to conservative commentators at an anti gay marriage forum. Although many thousands of people made submissions to the inquiry, these submissions were not considered, and the legislation was passed.

I also learned about two more groups who support marriage equality: Australian Coalition for Equality and Action Reform Change Queensland. I'll be adding these to my links list soon.

Romantic comedies

I spoke to one of my brothers on the phone tonight (not the married one). I didn't tell him about the wedding, but Mum did, after my meltdown a week ago. He told me that the news didn't bother him, since he's "pretty liberal about these things", and he thinks I should do whatever I want.

"Are you going to have kids?" he asked.

"I don't know," I told him.

"'Cause they can do that now, you know. With donors, and all that."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not sure. We'll have to see."

It was kind of cool to have that discussion, although I must admit to finding this talk of children a bit unsettling. Someone else asked me the same question at a party earlier today. I didn't expect that anyone would ask us that. At least, I didn't expect that anyone would ask it quite so quickly after hearing of the wedding. I knew that it happens to straight couples, but it didn't occur to me that the same would happen to us.

On another note, tonight I watched Sweet Home Alabama, the Reese Witherspoon movie. I also must confess that I watched The Wedding Planner on TV last week. Yes, I did. Let's call it research, not poor taste, okay? Please stop reading now if you haven't seen these films and don't want the ending spoiled ...

What bothers me about both films is the ridiculous premise that you can be romantically involved with someone (for years, in one case), plan to marry them, and then leave them at the altar for:
a) the person who was designated your soul mate at the age of ten amid an electrical storm; or b) someone you've known for about three days and haven't even kissed.

And the dumpee realises immediately, and with great serenity and no hard feelings, that the thoughtless git who is dumping them is actually making the right decision for all concerned. Come on! This is a romantic comedy? I don't mean to be a spoilsport, but when did being a deceitful, irresponsible arsehole suddenly become so romantic? Maybe I'm expecting too much from my J. Lo movies.