circadian

/sз'keιdiən/, adj. of or having to do with a biological or behavioural process that recurs in an innate daily rhythm, such as the 24-hour cycle of sleep and wakefulness in humans.

This weekend just gone has been a pretty productive one. I’ve been busy during the week with lots of interpreting, and musical rehearsals during the evenings. Rachel and her Mum have been working on putting bridesmaids’ dresses together using old sheets!

On Saturday morning, we had another session of pre-marital counselling. This time, we were talking about finances. It was really interesting, I thought. Since money isn’t something Rachel and I have talked about in any great depth, it was good to chat about. It was nice to discuss some “short- and long-term goals” (which I’ve always shied away from in the past; I’ve generally just let things roll along). We’ve had different ideas about handling money previously, but have similar ideas about plans for the future. It’s going to take a more concerted effort on my part, because previously I’ve just been happy for things to happen automatically every time I get paid. As usual, Dave is a fantastic facilitator. We won’t get to meet for a couple of weeks now, because he’s involved in some other activities, but I’m looking forward to the next session in a fortnight.

That afternoon, we finally got our two families together! We’d been excited about this BBQ for ages, and it was the perfect opportunity, the perfect setting, and the perfect weather for siblings, parents, nieces and nephews to meet. Craig and Katrina were wonderful hosts, and there was about three times as much food as anybody needed ... Yum! It was a nice lazy afternoon that slowly wound away in company and conversation. Rachel had warned me beforehand that there might be the traditional “test” her family gives to future husbands (Craig and Daz had to endure something similar, I believe), so I should’ve been more prepared when it actually happened! (I also would have had the opportunity to cram for the exam!)

We got to see the first draft of our invitations, too! They are pretty good, and we’re really indebted to Troup, who’s put in the time and effort to listen to our design ideas and put something together. There are still a few little modifications to make (and I’m pretty fussy with my fonts!) but so far it’s looking pretty close to what we envisaged. Rachel commented that receiving the draft in her e-mail in-box made the whole wedding thing seem that little bit more “real”.

Our wedding night accommodation is booked and paid for, and I’ve also arranged another stay in a CBD hotel the following night. The day after that, we’re flying out to Fiji for the first week of the honeymoon! My sister, Tanni, has used her industry contacts to help us out with that, and we paid our air fares today. That’s very exciting, and we’re both really anticipating the weeks of relaxation we’re hoping to get.

I’ve been doing a fair few interpreting assignments outside of regular business hours lately. Typically, I’ve had one or two bookings every week at unusual times like 3:00am–6:00am, or 10:00pm–2:30am. The work itself has been interesting at times, but at other times quite tedious. I don’t mind doing it, and the money’s good, which is handy at the moment given I’m trying to save up for a wedding and honeymoon. But the strange hours knock me around a bit, and sometimes in the middle of the day I’ll get a little tired, as if I’ve got jet lag, without having been anywhere. I haven’t been sleeping that well either. So, I’m wondering whether it’s worth it? At what point do I put their need for an interpreter and my need for some cash after my health? Or am I just being a whinger?

Andy

compatible

/kəm'pætəbəl/ adj. able to exist together; that can get along well together; agreeing; in harmony. SYN: agreeable, congenial, congruous.

Apologies for the late posting, everyone! I nearly made it in time!

It’s been a busy weekend, after a few weeks of not really having much wedding planning to do ... at least, from my point of view! Rachel did remind me that while I’ve been kicking back, letting the weeks go by, she hasn’t been idle, looking for bridesmaids’ dress patterns and material; investigating hair, make-up and flowers ...

Still, we have both commented over recent days that things have been going really smoothly for us lately, and we’re both glad there hasn’t been that much stress involved.

As I said, though, the weekend was quite hectic. We started off by looking for wedding rings. We had a quick squiz in Parramatta Westfield, but decided there was nothing that was really grabbing us. So we decided to drive to Macquarie and look in the jewellers where we bought the engagement ring. They were very helpful. They didn’t have quite the sort of thing I was looking for, so let me flick through a couple of their order books, and have requested something in for me to try. Rachel had a look at a couple of rings, but decided she was feeling “indecisive,” so we’ll keep looking for hers. We had a nice lunch at Sumo Salad (one of my favourite “fast food” places, partly because they’re healthy, and also because they have a couple of gluten-free options on their menu!).

After that, we headed down to meet with Pastor Dave, who’s running our pre-marriage counselling. It was a great session. We’ve been waiting for weeks for the “results” of our on-line quiz! We each had to answer about 250 questions about all sorts of topics: communication, family background, ideas about intimacy and children, expectations of the wedding, financial plans ... you name it! Then our answers were analysed and presented to us on Saturday. It was really encouraging. We were stoked to find out that we actually share a lot in common and have similar ideas about a lot of things to do with married life and what our expectations are. Our personalities aren’t identical, but are pretty similar. So it was nice to hear. There are still a few things we need to talk about; we acknowledged we haven’t discussed a lot to do with finances, and we raised some ideas about spiritual growth, and exercise ... plenty for us to discuss. Dave is awesome. He is so good at what he does. Rachel made a similar comment; it was the first time she’s been able to work with him in a “professional” setting ... that is, seeing him do what he does for his job. We both appreciate his attitude, guidance, and spirit. Not to mention what a great support he is, and will continue to be. We’ve got at least another 3–4 sessions planned, which will be great, and’ll give us opportunity to discuss heaps more in the coming weeks.

Mum and Heather (Rachel’s mum) have spoken today to confirm some details for our big family get-together, which I’m very excited about. Our respective parents have had dinner once, and there’s been the odd impromptu meeting with our sisters, but this’ll be the first formal gathering where all the immediate relatives are together. I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll be in a couple of weeks, so I’ll have to make sure I post another blog entry after that!

Just before I close, I wanted to say how grateful I am for the last couple of Saturdays when I’ve had long phone conversations with my friend and groomsman, Gary. His openness, care and support have been much appreciated. Even though he’s in San Diego and I’m in Sydney, the chats we’ve had remind me how strong our friendship really is, despite time and distance.

Cheers,
Andy

counsel

/'kaυnsəl/ n. 1 the act of exchanging ideas; act of talking things over. 2 carefully considered advice.

Rachel and I had thought we’d get a bit of a break now that the biggest aspects of the wedding have been confirmed. We had our first “pre-marriage counselling” session with Pastor Dave on the weekend, and he’s given us plenty more stuff to keep us busy!

We handed him our “notice of intent” (I think it’s called), and he gave us a quick look through some sample orders-of-service, just to give us an idea of what to plan for. I hadn’t given much thought to singing, musicians, etc. but Rachel’s been mulling it over. We’ll have to chat a bit about it and work out some details. He asked us about various roles and responsibilities — “who’s doing what”, if you like. He also suggested we start thinking about when we’ll have the rehearsal. We haven’t even finalised what time the wedding itself will actually start, so we should get that organised, too! I need to organise some Auslan/English interpreters as well... Hmm...

It was a pretty productive session, and I thought it was really cool. Next time we catch up with him (in a couple of weeks) we get to run through the “Prepare” pre-marriage counselling quiz ... to work out where any possible areas of conflict might be!!

That’s a bit scary!

Cheers,
Andy