All right all right, I hyped up the surprise at dinner after the show, so I feel like I should just get it out and not wait on pictures to surface.
The Everything Else Atheist and I are now engaged. There, I said it. In a highly unconventional move, since we are godless heretics who scoff at tradition, she proposed to me.
Obviously none of this was a surprise to me since I announced it in advance. We had discussed marriage already and I already knew that she was planning to pull this off at dinner. What I was not expecting, though, was that she enlisted three of her coworkers at Texas Campaign for the Environment to show up dressed as the Bad Horse chorus from Doctor Horrible’s Singalong Blog. They sang the song, but the lyrics were, er… modified, to warn me of dire consequences unless I said yes.
I said yes.
The turnout was great, with about 30 people in total showing up. Among those attending were my son Ben, and a rare appearance by my sister Keryn and her husband Michael, and of course the usual crew along with numerous show cohosts.
Thanks everyone, for being there! And to everyone who knew exactly what was about to happen, thanks for keeping the secret.
41 comments
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DrJ
December 14, 2009 at 10:30 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congrats Russell. Like me you, after a long period of reluctance, opted into "the club."It should be a time of much celebration, and given the description of the goings-on at Threadgill's it sounds like it was. There is much to celebrate, and consider that your wedding may be the most eventful day of your life.Again, congrats.
otakursed
December 14, 2009 at 10:41 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations!! And that chorus tactic is the awesome, though I fear the "Hammer" jokes that likely followed suit ^^
BeamStalk
December 14, 2009 at 10:50 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations to you both.
Scott
December 14, 2009 at 10:52 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations and best of luck to you Kazim…that's awesome!
Kargoneth
December 14, 2009 at 11:24 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations Russell and to your wife to be. May you both live long and prosper.(I thought you were already married… my mistake)
Kazim
December 14, 2009 at 11:30 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Kargoneth:Yes, I was already married before. Not for the last couple of years, though.
Mythnam
December 14, 2009 at 11:38 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congrats, Russell!
Ing
December 14, 2009 at 12:22 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
congratulations!
DavidCT
December 14, 2009 at 12:42 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations Russell!! You both looked happy so that's a good start. Best wishes for making it long term.
Cafeeine Addicted
December 14, 2009 at 2:00 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations Russell!
James A. Brown
December 14, 2009 at 2:07 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Fantastic! Congratulations to you both. Anyone who pulls off a stunt like that which appeals to the inner geek sounds like a keeper.
BathTub
December 14, 2009 at 2:14 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Aha! I see, Congrats to the both of you.
Spurll
December 14, 2009 at 2:17 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations to you both. I hope that you will both continue to be very happy. And well done to EEA to break with tradition!One quibble: When's she going to be blogging again? Her blog is one of my very favourites (ever since you linked to her review of Fireproof), and I'm sure that I'm not the only one waiting with bated breath for her next post! Is she perhaps going to be joining you here at the AE blog, or perhaps even joining the show (hint, hint)?
Guillaume
December 14, 2009 at 2:33 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congrats Kazim.
Whateverman
December 14, 2009 at 3:15 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations! Long life, good health and much happiness to your new family
Martin
December 14, 2009 at 3:30 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Well, that flake of a sister of yours still hasn't sent the photos that I only asked her, oh, like 10 times to send. Still, the singing telegram proposal was pretty epic!
Steve
December 14, 2009 at 4:11 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congrats.
dreamking00
December 14, 2009 at 4:18 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Video! Grats man! My wife and I had a secular wedding two months back, but I don't expect you'll have any problem pulling that off.
Franco
December 14, 2009 at 10:06 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations!
Joshua
December 14, 2009 at 10:12 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations! And the Horrible geekery makes this all the better! Mazel tov.
No 2 Religion
December 14, 2009 at 10:28 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congrats. When can we expects invites or should we just just crash the wedding like the immoral godless heathens we are?
Rhys Halliwell
December 15, 2009 at 2:22 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I don't trust her man. I think she is trying to pull a Yoko and break up the show. Sure eveything may be fine now but in a few months she will be demanding that her name goes in all the credits wether she did anything or not. Next thing you know Russell will be under her spell hanging her ridiculous artworks in the background of the set. He will stay in bed for days to protest the intrusion of religion into politics and as a result the show will be cancelled leaving millions of devistated fans. A few years later Russell will be shot outside a hotel in New York. Don't say you weren't warned.P.S. Congratulations man
some other guy
December 15, 2009 at 4:27 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congtas Russel! Don't worry about getting married being "a religous tradition". Marriages were probably around long before religion.
Kazim
December 15, 2009 at 5:57 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
@Rhys Halliwell:Spoiler alert: The next episode that I am on will consist only of me and the cohost repeating the phrase "number nine" for 90 minutes.
Sparrowhawk
December 15, 2009 at 7:17 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations, Russell.
Alexrkr7
December 15, 2009 at 9:50 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Oh Russell, you lucky a-hole. And if people haven't said it enough, congratulations!
leo-rcc
December 15, 2009 at 12:58 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations Russel. I hope the both of you will be very happy together.
Michael McGill
December 15, 2009 at 2:33 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations Kazim! Truly oustanding.
marco100
December 15, 2009 at 5:35 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Marrying another atheist didn't work out the first time around. I hope this one doesn't chop up the neighbor's cactus.
George From NY
December 15, 2009 at 5:49 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
(sings)"One night at Threadgill's makes a hard man humble…"Gr4tz0rz, Russell.You do realize that following the wedding you two MUST do a husband-wife TAE episode, right?
Moonglade
December 15, 2009 at 6:25 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congrats, Kazim.
Ptah
December 16, 2009 at 1:36 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Soo, Kazim: you learned nothing the first time around.
Martin
December 16, 2009 at 2:18 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Heh. Well, not being a big marriage proponent myself, I will say that having met E.E.A., Kazim's probably getting a better deal this time around.
Crocodile Ghandi
December 16, 2009 at 5:03 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Kazim, it is not like you to misquote the Simpsons! The correct line is 'number eight'. Unless, of course, you were purposely picking a different number for your own purposes.
Kazim
December 16, 2009 at 5:58 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
You didn't do the research far enough, Croc. The "number eight" joke on The Simpsons was simply a parody of the "number nine" phrase from the real song.
askegg
December 16, 2009 at 6:11 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Crocodile Ghandi
December 16, 2009 at 9:39 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
My sincerest apologies, Kazim. This is what happens when your frame of knowledge goes no farther than The Simpsons. Not to say that is a bad frame of knowledge to have. You can learn more from watching The Simpsons than from listening to most news outlets.
The Everything Else Atheist
December 16, 2009 at 11:06 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Hey-o! Thanks everyone for the well-wishes and congratulations! I'm looking forward to being with the biggest atheist nerd on the planet, so thank you for saying yes!As for me, I've been away from the blog working on another project (a text-based adventure game) which has been taking up as much time or more as blogging with all the writing. It's almost playable, but nowhere near ready still.
Stephan
December 16, 2009 at 11:13 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congratulations Russell! There is nothing weird about atheists getting engaged/married…how else are you supposed to:1) Be sure marrying said person is a good idea…engagement is a trial period.2) Figure out the wedding (if you are having one)3) Save money for the weddingAnyways, congrats again and I'm glad to hear that things are working out well.
Five Strangers Films Ltd
December 16, 2009 at 11:14 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Congrats Russell
Ing
December 18, 2009 at 8:15 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
"As for me, I've been away from the blog working on another project (a text-based adventure game) which has been taking up as much time or more as blogging with all the writing. It's almost playable, but nowhere near ready still"Awesome, where can we get more details/track it down when it's ready?