The View From Kalamazoo

Since I mentioned the engagement in this post on social media, I would be remiss to not share this bit of happy news:

Trent Reznor married Mariqueen Maandig this past Saturday—October 17, 2009. Congratulations to them both, and may they enjoy many, many happy years together.

(Photo courtesy of Pink is the New Blog)

And I must admit I’ve been suffering from an acute case of nostalgia: yesterday was the twentieth anniversary of Nine Inch Nails’ first studio album, Pretty Hate Machine. Nearly that long ago I attended a Jesus and Mary Chain concert in Detroit… for which NIN was the opening band.

Am I really that old? Er… yeah. The smartass who sends me black balloons next year is getting his can kicked. 😛

A story:
Seventeen years ago I was on an intranet board at my university arguing with an infuriatingly contentious, egotistical pain in the ass.
Who, a month later, asked me out.
And we were incompatible, totally different, utterly ridiculous.
So, of course, two weeks after that first date he asked me to move in.
And two weeks later asked me to marry.
My beloved pain in the ass and I celebrated our sixteenth wedding anniversary this past June.

Why am I posting this? When I looked through his CD collection there was one—one!—title in common with mine: Pretty Hate Machine.

I considered it a good sign.

So thank you, Trent Reznor.

And congratulations, too, on twenty years of success—looking forward to what the next twenty hold!