My sister Tai got married this weekend. Friday the 9th, actually. The ceremony was in the Portland Mormon temple. I, being the inactive churchgoer I am, was not allowed to actually witness the ceremony proper. I did, however, get the distinct pleasure of wandering about the grounds in my suit in the 90 degree heat and having my picture taken.

That night was the reception. Maybe 1500 square feet of space and like 200 people. You do the math. It was crowded, hot, and vastly disorganized. We had cheesecake, veggie trays, and lemon-flavored water. For being on such a budget, I have to congratulate Mom for pulling it off; it could have been way worse.

I was the Designated Cinematographer. That is, I got to film the process of getting the pictures taken as well as the reception afterwards. So I kept busy, but it was also sort of a pain. I didn’t really get to see anything because I was always behind the camera.

I guess several people showed up the next night to the house we held the reception at. I don’t remember seeing it, but from what I hear, the invitations read something like “Reception the evening following the ceremony.” So people read that as “the following evening” and showed up a day late. That sucks, ‘cause the house the reception was at is way out in Gresham and is actually pretty hard to find. It took Jenn and I almost an hour to get there.

So now Tai’s married. Good for her. Do I like the groom (Dan)? Honestly, I don’t know him. I never really hung out with them, and only really saw him in passing most of the time. I can’t say I dislike him; he seems nice enough. I just don’t know him. I look forward to getting to know him, though. I think it’ll be good.

Going through this whole ordeal gave me sort of an epiphany, though: My sister has a whole life, a whole separate side of her, that I know absolutely nothing about. I guess I used to feel in tune with what she was up to and where she was in life… but I realize now that I haven’t a clue. She’s got her own thing she’s doing, and while I think that’s great, I can’t help but think we either used to be much closer or maybe neither of us had much going on before. Maybe it’s my inherent need to control my surroundings and now she’s not within “my control.” Whatever. Life moves on.

Walking through Target the other day, Jenn and I saw they have these new “snack bars” out: “Cookies & <insert name of candy here>”. They had all different types… “Cookies & Milky Way”… “Cookies & M&Ms”… Basically, a cookie bar on the bottom with a topping made out of whatever candy. So I say, “Hey, Jenn, check this out - it’s like Twix, but with other candies.” Then Jenn promptly points at the box of “Cookies & Twix.” What? Cookies & Twix? Isn’t that what Twix is?

The logic befuddles me.

Saw this Jet Li movie, Contract Killer, the other day. It was pretty good. It was a tiny bit disappointing after seeing something as big as xXx, but it was still a lot of fun.