[This is Part 7 in the multi-part epic describing the wedding I attended at the beginning of August 2002. Previous episodes: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6]

Saturday, August 3, 2002. I was awake before I could hear anyone else stir, as morning light gradually crept in on the Longview Luxury Suite. Meditation, contemplation of my role in the upcoming events, and listening to music. I did a little of each of these things as I waited for the day to begin.

I believe Captain Logan was the first to arise in our camp. I detected him entering and leaving the entryway, as he prepared for the day. The others gradually also got up one by one, and made their way over to the main building.

All except for the groom. He remained asleep in his chambers. Attempts by others to awaken him were not met with a positive response.

After the bulk of the groomsmen personnel had departed for breakfast, I made use of the shower facilities. I really had no idea what I was going to do with my morning. Not only was I not particularly comfortable with attending religious ceremonies on philosophical grounds, but I also hadn't bothered to pack dress clothes suitable to the event. The thought of going to church for the social interaction was somewhat appealing, but not enough to offset these combined factors. (And yes, I may have conveniently "forgetten" to pack dress clothes before ever leaving Colorado because I knew church and me don't mix.)

After completing my preparations for the day, I took a seat and meditated outside the groom's chambers as he continued to sleep. Several people, including the groom's parents, wandered in and out, querying whether he was getting ready, and asking whether I wanted breakfast. I decided that as best man, my official position was that I would eat breakfast when the groom ate breakfast; not before then.

Eventually, after being badgered by his parental units a few times, the groom did arise.

When the groom was suitably ready, we proceeded over to the main kitchen, and the groom's mother gave us a hearty breakfast consisting of english muffins, fruit, cereal, toast, juice, and I don't remember what else.

Another recent arrival was also present in the kitchen. The groom introduced me to his cousin. For the duration of this narrative, this individual shall be referred to as $supermodel_cousin, not because she is actually a supermodel, but because she could be, if she wanted to. Easily. Trust me.

Yes, one could say that I was sufficiently bewitched by $supermodel_cousin, though I made an effort to maintain my composure in the face of her overwhelming attractiveness. I couldn't help but think, "What kind of woman is this? Before even getting dressed for the day, she's wandering around the kitchen with flawlessly applied mascara, perfectly styled hair, and tattoos on her shoulders and waistline which are just visible enough around the edges of a tightly fitting tank top that it's really hard not to stare when she turns around and stretches up to lift something off the top shelf."

[Completely out of context, and from another occassion long, long, long after the wedding: "San Diego, my friend," said scottgalvin.com in a sagely manner. "San Diego."]

After eating breakfast, Jaeger and I marched back to the groomsmens quarters, where Jaeger made additional preparations for church, and I prepared my backpack for the journey ahead.

The plan went as follows: Jaeger would journey in Yoda to the Stone Estate, where we would pick up Kiesa on the way to the Longview church. I rode along, and there was an additional passenger as well. I believe that was Humblik. (Memory getting fuzzy.)

Once at the Stone Estate, I found the opportunity to ask Jaeger a question. Yanthor had suggested the night before that although the bachelor party was to be a surprise, we might want to make sure bowling was really something Jaeger would want to do. We were all fairly confident that he would, but since it was his wedding, it seemed prudent to ask him whether what we were going to "surprise" him with would really be what he wanted. I decided it was the best course to take. Now that there were a few moments at the Stone Estate, which was otherwise vacant, it might the best and only opportunity we would have to talk in private about it.

I informed Jaeger of the plan, and asked if it sounded agreeable to him. He said it sounded like fun. Afterwards, I questioned myself as to whether it had really been a good idea to spoil the surprise. But what had been done was done. I took what I perceived to be the best course of action at the time.

As Jaeger, Kiesa, and Humblik re-entered Yoda for the journey to church, I decided that this would be my chance to split. I told them I was going to go for a walk, and would see them "later." Probably at lunch. My intentions were clear, and didn't need further explaining to this crowd. They departed in Yoda, and I began to walk down the road through the woods, on the outskirts of the good Christian town of Longview.

Where to go? Up higher into the forest, or down into the town to explore? My initial inclination was to head out into nature, but a practical problem which became apparent fairly quickly made me change my mind. I hadn't worn these jeans since early spring. Either the pants had gotten bigger, or my waistline had gotten smaller. I hadn't brought a belt along. I was impossible to walk any significant distance without having them literally slide down my legs.

I decided to search for a store where I might buy a belt. As a temporary measure, I turned the waist straps on my backpack into a makeshift belt, which actually worked fairly well. I took out my disc player, put on some classic Garbage (Version 1.0), and walked (southbound?) down the railroad tracks toward what I sensed might be the downtown area.

I found my way into the main commercial sector of town easily enough. I was hoping to find a store something along the lines of Target or Wal Mart (or the local equivilant, if such a thing exists), but did not locate one. I found a thrift store, which had all sorts of interesting stuff for $1 apiece, but no belts.

As I walked through the commercial sector of the town, I noticed a sign. "Just Music, Inc." Obviously a record store. Obviously relatively small. Obviously a place I wanted to check out.

I wandered in, and began to explore. The place was fairly tiny as far a space went, but they made good use of the room they had. It had personality. I wandered down the middle aisle, and noticed lots of familiar old bands. Hair music, prominently displayed. Classic stuff like Savatage, Skid Row, Judas Priest. This store was cool, precisely because it made no attempt to keep up with the currently "in thing", nor did it consider itself too snobbish to adhere to popular taste. Depictions of the Princess of Pop were displayed prominently on the walls, amidst many other icons of this generation and those past. I approved.

At one point, an employee (quite an attractive employee) asked if she could help me find anything. I said I was just browsing, but thanks. :)

A lone cd on one of the upper display racks caught my eye. It had an image depicting a face I recognized. I had seen him in concert 5 years earlire, and on DVD video releases since, but I hadn't seen this cd. I picked it up and looked. Sure enough. "Geoff Tate."

Amazing. At this point, I knew I was going to be buying. I had seen or heard nothing of this release at stores back home like Best Buy. I decided it made sense, since this was his home state. The price tag was a little steep. $20. Most of the discs in the store had a similar price. Crazy. But on this particular occassion, it would be worth it. I picked up the disc, and continued to wander.

I spotted an archway to a slightly darkened room in the back. Around it were a bunch of slightly cheesy portrayals of demonic monsters, gargoyles, and other assorted freaky things. The sign above it was labeled, "Freaks only." Naturally, I had to go in and see what was there. :)

Within was the really crazy trippy music. A lifesize cardboard depiction of a naked woman rested against the wall with a bunch of markers below it, which random passers by could use to decorate her. I tried to add a few of my own touches to the portrayal, but the markers were pretty dry and faded. Oh well.

I perused the freak cds, and found another disc that greatly appealed. Type O Negative. Bloody Kisses. I grabbed it, wandered to the front, and began to peruse the used section.

David Helfgott. A classical piano cd, including a rendition of Clair de Lune, and several George Gershwin pieces. But it was the title of the disc as a whole that caught my eye. Brave New World. Also the title of a book I had been reading recently. $5. I added it.

Quickly, I proceeded to the checkout counter before I had a chance to discover any more "must have" treasures. Feeling adventures, I decided to try flirting with the clerk as she rang up my total. As a twist, I decided to try impersonating the icon known as scottgalvin.com, just for the fun of it.

"Hey uh... This is a great store you got here. I love small, locally owned businesses."

She smiled and nodded.

"It's a good store, it's got... personality. Lots of cool decorations. I like those cds hanging from the ceiling. Say! Have you ever thought of setting up a web site for this place? Because if you do, I know this great little place that can help you out. It's called Build Me A Site. Build Me A Site Dot Com, that is. If you ever need help setting up a web site, check it out."

She looked back blankly. "Sir, are you Washington?"

"Am I... Washington? You mean, is my name George Washington? No, my name is Scott Galvin Dot Com. But speaking of names, what's your name? Oh, silly me. I see! There it is, printed in glittery silver lettering right across your very... ahem... nice chest. 'Roxy.' Hello, Roxy!"

At this point, her patience was obviously getting a little bit worn. "Sir, are you exempt?"

"Am I exempt? Exempt from what? Do we even speak the same language? The words you are using sound like English, but I cannot seem to make sense of them."

"What state are you from?"

"I'm from Colorado! Thank you for asking. You should come visit there sometime."

Signs of exhasperation began to show on her face. "Sir, do you pay sales tax in your state?"

"Well, of course! Doesn't everybody?"

She rang up the total. I paid in cash. "Hey, it was nice meeting you... Roxy. Say, when do you get off work. We should hang out later."

A suspicious glare.

"Well, maybe not. Hey, it was nice meeting you then. And again, a great store."

[In true scottgalvin.com fashion, this narrative has been greatly embellished, with certain details fabricated entirely. But it does possess some element of truth. I leave it up to the reader to try to guess which portions are real, and which are the joke.]

After walking out of the store, I realized that I had been a blithering idiot. Had I had a clue, and thought about the conversation Jaeger and I had had two days prior, I would have remembered the correct answer in order to save myself a little money: Oregon. I'm from Oregon!

The morning had gone by quickly as I ventured around the town (or my walk had been long), so I began my trek back to the Stone Estate. On the way, I stopped at a gas station and bought a bottle of Gatorade, which was greatly refreshing after all the walking.

On the walk back, I listened to some of the music I had purchased. While listening to the Geoff Tate cd, track 7, "In Other Words" hit me the hardest. I knew this would be my favorite song off the album. Awesome stuff.

As I approached the Stone Estate, the clocked neared 13:00. I decided I was having a great walk, didn't really feel tired yet, and wanted to continue. So I did. I figured the rest of the party might probably hang out for a while after church anyway before lunch, so it would be ok to keep trekking.

I ventured further up the hill, where I saw more widely scattered houses, all with humungous yards.

I threw on the Type O Negative disc. The way the audio was mixed for Track 1 (Christian Woman) was crazy. The first part, the melodic opening was sooo soft, that I found myself turning the player up to max volume just to hear it. That proved to be a mistake. CRASH. The metal crescendo kicked in, nearly melting my eardrums. (The versions I had heard years before on the radio obviously used volume normalizers, as they typically do for radio.)

Very strange music to be listening to during the noon hour out in the forst. But it worked for me.

Finally, at what must have been around 14:00 (or something; there were different timezones on different clocks of mine), I headed back to the Stone Estate to rejoin the party for the afternoon.

As I walked up the driveway, there were many cars parked in the driveway. A rather sizable crowd was gathered inside the house. Having packed away my treasures from the morning adventures, I took a deep breath, and entered the milieu.

[Coming sometime later: Part 8. I'll dream up a title when I write it.]