jawnbc | Friday

I so desperately want to recount all this perfectly . . . though I can't possibly. So think of this as merely conveying a sense of what it was all like.

Friday morning we enjoyed a bit of a respite, after Wednesday's frenetic pace (3 vendor appointments, shopping for clothes, voting) and Thursday's anxieties (a sibling who didn't show up, the oblgatory Big Fight, out of town guest arrivals). We breakfasted with the New York posse, picked up our ~~trousers~~ pants, checked into the hotel (though our room wasn't ready, so they stowed our luggage) and toddled off to lunch with Twyla.

Twyla is a friend

querrelle acquired during his time with Gary. She's a Canuck who lived in the UK for a few years (hence knowing Gary);

querrelle's and Gary's migration route to Oz (AMS-LON-YVR-HNL-NAD-AKL-SYD) included a stay with Twyla and her family. Apparently some folks are a bit phreaked when their partner seeks to maintain friendships with friends "owned" (vis à vis, first met) by their ex. I find that baffling and silly: could everyone who's acquired too many lovely, faboo people in their life please raise their hands? Thought so . . .

I've been jonesing for a proper California maki (sushi) for months. Here in Sydney they seem to only offer big honkin' hand rolls (conical)--and for some reason use raw salmon instead of genuine imitation crab leg. Ker-ew! I suggested Japanese and Twyla picked the joint: a resto on West 4th, in Vancouver's Kitsilano. Twyla is, of course, lovely. We had a great time,

querrelle had his first California roll in his bento, and time flew by. I'm looking forward to spending some time with Twyla when we settle in Hongcouver.

We nabbed a big cheap extra bag (in case we got some actual wedding presents), then we checked our digs in the hotel. Years ago (in my previous incarnation as a travel ~~diva~~ agent) I'd done some business with the Coast Plaza Stanley Park, and knew the location to be ideal for out-of-towners: 2 blocks from the beach, 3 from Stanley Park, and dozens of restos within walking distance. Our guests got a great rate, and we treated ourselves to a mini-honeymoon, in the form of a jacuzzi suite. Our room was on the 33rd floor, with a great view and big ole jacuzzi--not one of those jacuzzi/bathtubs. We were chuffed.

I left

querrelle to get my high school girlfriend at the airport. Yeah, you heard me. High school. Girl riend. Sweah ta Gawd!

Judi and I dated in grade 9 (she was in grade 10). We met raking leaves at our local Catlick Church (I was serving penance for being mouthy in CCD; she was new to town from Brooklyn, and trying to make connections). We went out for several months and decided to be pals instead. About a month ago she sent me a "what's new since our annual Xmas chat" email. To which I responded "I'm marrying a man in Vancouver over Columbus Day Weekend--wanna come?"

Getting to the airport was a nightmare: I hit Vancouver's relatively short (430-530pm) rush hour, on a Friday night. Her flight was due at 505pm, but I'd not got any details (where from, which airline). My guestimate was UA via Chicago (after non-stop AC or AA flights, the easiest routing is usually via ORD), then I panicked: what if she flew via YUL or YYZ and was arriving at the Canuck Domestic (rather than International) Terminal? Maudit Christ! Turns out I guessed right. Her flight was 25 minutes late, and she came through Customs just after 6pm. We headed directly to dinner with Everyone.

In a "normal"* Oirish Catlick wedding, there's a wedding party dinner a couple of nights before the wedding. We decided to appropriate that idea, but make the dinner for our out-of-town guests and the core group of Vancouver family. We booked for 20 and had 16--pretty good. In picking a resto the following criteria were important:

1.) accomodating a groups of 20 without splitting into several small tables or one really, really long one
2.) representing something Vancouverian or Canadian, since for many it was their first visit
3.) not being too "ethnic" because my family isn't known for being adventurous when it comes to food

Chinese seemed an obvious choice, so we booked into Szechuan ChongQing (2808 Commercial, @ 12th Ave). It's been a favourite for years, and they're super great people. We ended up with 2 big tables in a private dining room. Everyone loved the food, even my cousin who gets migraines from MSG-laden Chinese back in NYC. It's a lively place and the interactions--among folks from New Zealand, Canada, the US, UK--was equally animated. It was grand in every respect.

If Friday night was any indication, everyone was gonna have a great time on Sunday, at the wedding itself.

*as a drag queen once told me, "honey normal is cycle on a washing machine, ain't no other normal."