TFI Friday

To those of you in the know, the post title translates as “Thank F**k It’s Friday”. It’s been one of those weeks, it hasn’t been overly long or arduous but it makes you long for the weekend.

That aside, you may have noticed that I have updated the look and feel of the blog, I wanted something that was a bit easier on the eye, kept things where they needed to be and allowed posts to have a bit more screen real estate.

Quickly moving from the virtual world to the real, this weekend looks to be an easy pursuit, not much has been planned other than the possibility of going to see the newest in the “Saw” film franchise; Saw 5.

I have been getting to grips with my new Xbox 360 games, getting stuck into both Fable 2 and Fallout 3. Katie has been none too impressed with being made a 360 widow, not liking the vast expanse of gaming arenas that both games bring. What’s worse is that Gears of War 2 has been released today with me still not anywhere near completing Fallout 3. I may wait until Josh gets his copy and then co-op our way through the toughest difficulty.

I have forgotten to share with you my tattoo that I got a couple of weeks back, both Katie and I got tattoo’s to celebrate our marriage, they are embedded below:

My Tattoo

Katie’s Tattoo

In case you are wondering, my tattoo details our wedding date (7/7/2008) in Roman Numerals. If you have noticed the date today, we are indeed celebrating 4 months of marriage!

Two Months (and one day!) On

I can’t believe it’s been two months since I walked down the aisle and married the woman I love.

In this time we have secured a marital home, furnished it from top to bottom with some very nice pieces and started new businesses and jobs. All signs point to good times ahead, especially now I look forward to events as a team, share experiences with my partner.

The football season is upon us and I have managed to shed six pounds since our Honeymoon which has cheered me up no end! Katie and I are regular gym goers, walking to as many places as we can to get that extra bit of fitness.

No news on my car as yet, I have spoken to a few dealers now and they recommend selling it privately and then paying off the finance company direct, instead of taking a hit on a part exchange. That doesn’t worry me though, I will get it sorted in the long run

One worrying thing is, I will be turning 25 at the end of this month, I am now looking down the barrel at 30……*cue dramatic music* With the addition of two kittens next month and hopefully some little sprogs a little further down the line, I will be a happy man.

The Wedding Video!

It’s here, edited and ready for your viewing.

Embarassing? Yes
Cringeworthy? Yes
Best Day Of My Life? Without A Doubt

Keep an eye out for when the vicar says the first prayer of the service and how I say “Amen” at the end. I hope the ground opens up and swallows me whole!

The Wedding - Part One

Part One deals with the lead up to the Wedding and the ceremony itself. The latter parts will include the reception and the honeymoon.

With all the planning, stress, worry and doubt, the Wedding finally went ahead and now Katie and I are married! The day itself was something of a whirlwind, it flew past at a million miles an hour but we both had probably the best day of our lives.

The Build Up

On the day before the Wedding (a Sunday) the mother’s of both Katie and myself joined us at the church for a blessing service, shortly after I returned back home to pack all the things needed to take over to my parents where I would be staying that night. The realisation that I was getting married still hadn’t quite set in, it seemed too weird that after a whole year of planning, I would be officially be Katie’s husband the very next day.

Arriving at my parents, I quickly set to unpacking all I needed and got the Wedding Suit hung and ready for the morning. I set out all the presents for the Grooms Party (Tiffany Cufflinks), a small thank you for having such good friends who would eventually make the day go so smoothly. My best man came round and I practised my speech (at first by myself in front of the mirror), taking any minor criticisms and amending my speech accordingly. A couple of glasses of champagne would be consumed before retiring to sleep my last sleep as an engaged man.

The Wedding Day

I was awoken at around 6am by a text message from a very excited Katie. Rolling over and trying to sleep again didn’t really work so I headed downstairs and waited the couple of hours before the rest of my Groom’s party and the photographer joined me.

The Wedding itself was scheduled for 1pm, so we had plenty of time to get ready. I was joined around 10am by the guys and we sat around having breakfast and chatting whilst the photographer took pictures, I could only imagine what was happening at that time the other side of Rochford where Katie and her bridal party were rushing to get everything ready.

As soon as most people had donned their suits and sculpted their hair, it was time to jump into the limousine and head for the church. I am subjected to multiple instances of “Are You Nervous?!” on the twenty-five minute journey to the church…..and no, I wasn’t in the slightest bit panicky!

As we arrived at the church, I ventured inside to see if anything needed to be sorted with the vicar. The ushers prepared the buttonholes for the guests, people flapped about and slowly but surely the venue started to fill up. The feelings going through my head at that time were not of nervousness or reluctance to go through with proceedings, I was simply worried that Katie would have been persuaded to leave me at the altar, leaving me ashen faced and heartbroken! (Luckily that wasn’t the case!).

The church grew to about three-quarters full and 1pm ticked by.

Not wanting to see Katie arrive, I kept my eyes forward and joked quietly with Graeme, my Best Man. I remained seated until I heard noises coming from the back of the church, my family and friends subtly letting me know that Katie had arrived. The music began, my heart pounded and the rest of the congregation looked back in amazement at how stunning Katie looked. I waited until Katie had reached the last few pews before I turned to see her, mouthing “You look fantastic” as I took in the emotion of seeing Katie looking so stunning. I tried to walk with her to the altar down the aisle but due to the sheer width of the dress, it was a definite case of ladies first!

In my mind I was buzzing, I couldn’t believe I was marrying someone so beautiful, her radiance further brightened the church on an already bright day! I walked upto the altar where we met the vicar and waited in anticipation as we prepared for the marriage ceremony.

The ceremony itself was something of a blur. We sung three hymns, had two reading and overall the ceremony lasted just over an hour. My brother and Luke, one of my best mates excelled themselves with their readings, the bridesmaids cried into their tissues and Graeme made everyone laugh when he tried to run off with the rings.

We were blessed and we turned to see the congregation and walked back down the aisle to wide smiles and pats on the back……we were officially married…….and best of all, Katie was my wife!

Faith

Katie and I went to church again yesterday evening. We are going every other Sunday evening in order to qualify for our presence on the electoral role, our banns to be read and have our wedding at that particular church.

The topic of last nights discussion was the three wise men and the story relating to the birth of Jesus. In a QI style Q+A, the reverend asked us to think of the points we could remember about the story (the gifts, the wise men themselves, the fact they followed the star etc) and he would point out whether they were indeed half truths or referenced in the Bible.

As we progressed, I found that the reverend was clutching at different facts to make the story seem real for himself and obviously make us believe it too. I don’t go to church as a non-believer, I attend to know more about the stories that Christians relate to and educate myself so I can enter a debate and raise relevant points.

In this instance, he was talking about the “Star” that guided the three wise men to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The reverend told us that researchers had found that at around 7BC (700 hundred years before the birth of Christ), there was a celestial event which caused three of the planets in our solar system to eclipse with one another, and that it could have been the star that they may have followed. He explained that the person who had taken the time periods from the Bible and equated them to modern day lengths of time, had miscalculated the event that happened at 7BC, which had infact taken place on or around the birth of Jesus.

The Bible is the foundation of a Christians faith, the fact it was written by first hand eyewitnesses, but to non-believers, this is also something that cannot be tangible evidence that there is infact a God. In this case, I found the reverend to be grasping at events and relating them to verses in the Bible and also to historical fact, feeling to me like basing a suggestion upon another suggestion (how can we be so sure the eclipse of the planets did happen then?!).

The reverend then suggested we shouldn’t look to Astrology for answers as it was out of the question that science could explain what was essentially God’s work. I thought that was a tad weird, but if he wasn’t reliant on Astrology, how comes he was using a researchers notion that an eclipse happened in 7BC and that it was what may have led the wise men to Israel?

I’m not here to dispel the fact there is no God, I believe there maybe something that governs over all of us. I am very interested in the events that happened, I am even more so captured by stories of the Knights Templar and other religous secret societies. I just feel exasperated by the hearsay that religious leaders use to base theories on.

Perhaps all that we hear from ancient times is hearsay, they didnt have the internet, they only had messengers on horses. I believe Jesus existed and that the book was probably written about him, I just believe he was what we would know as a modern day magician, a psychologist who could manipulate and cast doubt on other people. Who knows?

If you are interested, here is the Bible passage we read:

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH,
ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH;
FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER
WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’”
7 Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.”
9 After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

From this, we could deduce that the following were “false”:

• They were not kings. (Referred to as Magi, they may have been priest like.)
• They didn’t have camels (for some reason all Christmas cards have them on camels!)
• There were no donkeys or lambs at the birth (refers to the point above).

I find that side of it very interesting, it helps me grasp an idea of other peoples beliefs. If I have offended, I am sorry. It’s just one man’s view on what is put in front of him.

Done, done and done…

There have been a few sleepless nights in Chez Brian in the last week or so, mainly because of the pending house move. I have been busy transferring funds from different internet accounts into my main savings account, paying off outstanding Direct Debits and generally trying to make the financial minefield that has been my situation, an orderly fiscal environment. This was done in the background while I filled out mortgage papers, liaised with the mortgage people and solicitors. I would wake up earlier than I wanted in the morning, think about what I would have to do that day and not be able to get back to sleep, I will readily admit it was a new experience to me.

For the majority of my life I have been in complete control of things, at University it was a case of how small the debt I was in would stay and as I gained respect in my jobs then after, how much money I could save whilst enjoying myself. Now it has all been laid bare for the financial companies to judge me, I have had to list purchases on my 0% credit card as outstanding debt, my car loan also. You then submit the application, hold your breath and hope that you come out with the money/mortgage you need!

After a discussion this afternoon, I have a mortgage proposal in principle and all looks to be angling towards completion. Done #1!

I have all but finished my Christmas shopping, this year being an easy year as I did it all very early and spread the cost My brother will be getting clothing, my mother a brand new iPod Nano and my stepdad a new digital camera (no I didnt shell out for it all, it was spread across the other members of the family). Katie’s presents I will not divulge as she reads this blog, but she is a master at getting me to divulge secrets so she knows a good few already. So you could say, Done #2!

All of my family and friends have now got their wedding suits fitted, meaning we are all go for the July deadline, thats a relief, I just hope I don’t start piling on the pounds in the next 6 months! On a wedding related note, the honeymoon is booked, Cuba is our destination of choice. Done #3? You bet you. See the pics below for our resort in Cuba, we should be staying in one of the lake houses.

I have been a little worried but it seems things have come together