My iBook tells me that it’s 11:08 PM. My cell phone tells me that it’s 10:08 PM. It’s not that my iBook is dishonest, it’s just misinformed. It still thinks that I’m in the Eastern time zone. My cell phone, while not smarter than my iBook, knows more about my location.

Which, if I were paranoid (like an old friend, Ishmael, was) would bother me.

I’m in the upstairs portion of the lobby of a hotel called the AmericInn, which conjures visions of jack boots and Texas and false dichotomy patriotism.

Could also have been the politics-laden sermon by the priest at the wedding. Which, by the way, is why I’m here in the first place. is cousin to the bride, and Matron of Honor. In his first sentence, he managed to emphasize that marriage is between a man and a woman and that this was to be a Christian wedding. I felt better when he couldn’t seem to hold a coherent thought stream together for more than twelve words. That was later countered by the realization that this man actually influences peoples’ points of view.

I want more Christians to look at their holy text critically. I want them to really read their book. I want them to dissect it, find the puzzles, and relate those puzzles to puzzles that they find within themselves. I want them to see the Jesus of the bible the way that I do[1], as a companion on the quest to become a better human being.

The officiant is not one to see things that way, from my admittedly limited experience of him.

The wedding has been pretty high-stress, and pretty high-alcohol, for many of those involved. I, for one, am glad that they are married, and can start to experience their marriage, which is what the wedding is really all about. A ritual to mark the change in life. A time out of normal space and time, in which we ritualistically acknowledge a change in mode. You, who were single, who were two, are now one. You are not as you were, and we all witness and acknowledge that fact. When we leave here, and go back to our normal lives, you will both be changed, forever after. These people will help you deal with living in this different state. When you leave here, normal space and time will resume. Get with the livin’.

The food was awesome, though.

[1]This makes me a bit of a hypocrite, as the Christians that I’m talking about want me to see Jesus the way that they do. But why would they want me to hate, when he says to love? Why would they want me to kill, when he says that’s bad? Why would they succumb to the base desires and animal-like territorial tendencies, when what is attributed to Jesus in the Holy Bible says to transcend that very thing?