buggery.org

In Vancouver. Off to the airport in a wee while for the long journey home. We have a seven hour layover at Narita on the way home, which I am really looking forward to. Not. Hopefully we can find a decent Japanese meal and some wireless access, that should pass the time a little faster.

Just to make the trip home that extra bit special, I’m struggling with a nasty chest cold which I caught from my husband. He’s all better now but I’m going to be coughing and spluttering all the way home. My big fear is that, on arrival in Sydney, they’ll take one look at my sorry, sickly state and the country I’m coming from (Canada) and march me off to quarantine.

So if Friday’s evening news includes a piece about a SARS scare at Sydney Airport, think of me.

I’m in Kamloops, British Columbia, this morning, lying in bed and taking advantage of free wireless internet provided by I-don’t-know-who. This is the first chance I’ve had to look at the news from home since we left Australia. (more…)

There hasn’t been much time, and even less net access, lately, to post. There still isn’t, but I figure I owe you guys at least a quick rundown of last weekend’s nuptials.

The venue was absolutely amazing — more spectacular, comfortable and welcoming than we dreamed it could be. Everyone was blown away by our choice of location and our luck in finding such a great place, sight unseen, on the internet.

View from our front porch at Nipika

The day of the ceremony was perfect: blue skies and not a cloud in them, so we got our wish and were able to have the ceremony outside, in a spectacular wild location above a canyon with a raging waterfall.

Do you take this man? You betcha!

The celebrant was lovely, we had three beautiful readings from WH Auden, Walt Whitman and Christopher Marlowe, some tears were cried (including by yours truly) and rings were exchanged. “By the authority vested in me by the Province of British Columbia, I now pronounce you husband and husband,” said the celebrant, and the deed was done.

Just married

These are the vows we wrote for ourselves:

I take you, Brent, to be my husband, lover and best friend and these things I promise to you:
I will be true to you.
I will respect, trust, help and care for you.
I will honour our past, treasure our present and build our future together.
I will share my life with you
For the rest of our lives.

More, including lots more photos, later. But before we leave, here’s one more. I’ll write later about how supportive and into the spirit all of Brent’s family were, but in the meantime, this is us with Brent’s Uncle who really got into the party spirit and chose to come to the wedding in a kind of septuagenarian Village-People-meets-the-Little-House-on-the-Prairies drag:

Uncle Fat

“Are you Happy in Vancouver?” That, we’re told, is how one broaches The Question in this town. Canadians are of course polite to a fault, and so perhaps it’s not surprising that they deal with the tricky business of serosorting – finding sex partners with a compatible HIV status – in such a calculatedly inoffensive way. HIV = Happy In Vancouver.

Am I Happy in Vancouver? Yes, I am.

It’s nice to be back here – it’s my first visit for a few years and the first time I’ve been here with Brent. Vancouver’s a pretty city, with a sparkling harbour and a spectacular urban park, but it’s also a city with a heart and soul. We arrived here on Sunday morning from Tokyo and we’ll be leaving again in a few hours, once the sun comes up.

Last night was the third of our prenuptial dinners, at Delilah’s, with about 15 of our family and friends. One of the best things about this wedding caper is that we’ve spent more time in the company of our friends in the last week than we usually ever get to. And there’s more of that to come.

Also yesterday we went to the Vital Statistics Office and purchased a marriage license. The whole process took about five minutes, and the folks in the office weren’t in the least bit fussed by the two poofs standing at the counter. Two men are getting married, something that would have been inconceivable a few years ago. The sky is not falling, people are sleeping safely in their beds. ‘Traditional marriage’ is not feeling the least bit threatened.

Alistair Nicholson in today’s Age:

None of the proponents of [the anti-same-sex marriage] legislation seem to have asked themselves if it is not a bit strange to fall back on 19th century definitions of marriage in seeking to define marriage in 2004.

In 1866, homosexual acts between adult males constituted a crime, and it was not long since adultery had been also described as “criminal conversation” in the law. There have been other changes to society far too numerous to set out here but they include the emancipation of women, the widespread introduction of anti-discrimination legislation, changing attitudes to human relationships and the adoption of international standards as to human rights, to which this country has always been a party. This latest legislation ignores all of those developments and treats them as if they had not occurred.

The legislation is a dangerous step in the direction of establishing religion in this country, for we must make no mistake that the sort of marriage the Government is talking about is Christian marriage. I am concerned that the Government, with the compliance of the Opposition, is attempting to entrench Christian dogma in relation to marriage on all of us, whatever our religious persuasion or lack of it.

[The Age, via Brent M.]

Japanese people love wearing T-Shirts with bizarre English slogans on them. But nothing prepared me for this:

RAW A.S.S. 3301 – what could it mean?

Round one of the wedding banquet: successfully completed. It’s very early in the morning as I write this and my head’s still a bit wooly, but I’m pretty sure we had fun last night.

The food at Jim’s Greek Tavern in Collingwood was as spectacular as promised, the company was charming, and we were in bed by midnight. Big love and thanks to all who were there.

Now we’re jumping on a plane to Sydney, for round two tonight.

UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has told the BBC that the Iraq War was illegal. Presumably this means that John Howard is a war criminal.

An independent legal report has found that David Hicks is unlikely to receive a fair trial at the hands of the US military commission, which the investigator says is not independent and lacks proper rules of evidence. Australia’s attorney-general, Phillip Ruddock, says the government will not protest against the sham trial.

Howard is asking that he, his attorney-general and the rest of his gang of thugs be re-elected.

Shame, Howard, shame.

John Howard, on television about 20 minutes ago.

My wedding starts today.

The actual ceremony isn’t until 25 September, but tonight is the first event on the wedding calendar – Brent and I have been invited to the Positive Living Centre in Prahran for dinner and a send-off. From there is just party, party party for the next two weeks:

Thu 16 Sep: big dinner with our Melbourne friends
Fri 17 Sep: big dinner with our Sydney friends
Sat 18 Sep: fly to Tokyo for a 24-hour stopover
Sun 19 Sep: evening flight to Vancouver, across the dateline, arriving Sunday morning
Mon 20 Sep: big dinner with our Vancouver friends
Tue-Wed-Thu: driving through British Columbia to the wedding venue
Fri 24 Sep: dinner with the early-arriving guests
Sat 25 Sep: wedding ceremony and reception
Wed 29 Sep: back across the dateline to Sydney via Tokyo, arriving in Sydney on Friday 1 Oct
Sat 2 Oct: Sleaze Ball
Mon 4 Oct: home to Melbourne

Add to that a (hopefully small) election night gathering at our house on October 9, and you can see we’re chock-a-block for the next few weeks.

If you’re planning to come to any of these events and haven’t yet RSVP’d, or if you’re wondering why you weren’t invited (probably not because we don’t like you, more likely we made a boo-boo) get in touch now.

There’s also the possibility of sending a telegram to the wedding, and if you’re a friend we’d be thrilled if you did that. The details are in the wedding invite – or email me.