The Mall of America broke my brain!

[baratron]

A brief rant:
Argh! I have just spent a very frustrating half hour in the alt.polycon consuite trying to figure out why my damn phone wouldn't connect to WiFi and kept attempting to dial up Orange GPRS instead. It transpires that I can only use my hotel WiFi username and password in my room. Argh!

The Mall of America is a scary, scary place. I'm not sure I can sum up succinctly why. The fact it contains a wedding chapel where you can get legally married (providing you are an opposite-sex couple and neither of you is already married) may have something to do with it. Also the food courts were absolutely terrifying. The only things I saw that did not contain more fat in just one meal than I usually eat in an entire day were the fruit juices and water. The level of artificial colourants was also fearsome. In the UK we have recognised that these things are bad for you and taken steps to limit their use: not so here where cookies contain alarming levels of bright red, blue and green.

I hit the Hot Topic, both Gamestops, and a shop selling Minnesota souvenirs. Then I headed back to the hotel for the alt.polycon introductions panel.

Comments

[redbird]

Note: in the U.S. what that wedding chapel means is that they're promising to have a minister, justice of the peace, or other person who is legally qualified to perform a wedding on premises at certain hours. The location itself is legally irrelevant: if two people (who fit the local qualifications, meaning not already married and, unless in Massachusetts, of different genders) want to get married in their back yard, or on the Brooklyn Bridge, or at a professional sporting event, they just need to find a willing officiant and get the license. [I've known people who got married in each of those locations, by the way.]

What it means that someone would choose to get married at the Mall of America is another question.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what the law in the UK is. Until a few years ago it was only legal to get married in a Church of England church or registry office. Some other religious organisations got their ministers and places of worship accredited, but it was necessary to do this as they were not regarded as legal marriages otherwise.

Now the law says something about any "suitable" place, so anywhere that is regarded as properly ceremonial may apply for a license to hold legal marriage and civil partnership ceremonies. Apart from places of worship, other "suitable" places are museums, castles, old buildings and some hotels. The London Eye is licensed, and we're thinking of holding our legal ceremony there - not least of all because the size of the capsules strictly limits the number of guests to 25!

I'm flying into NY tomorrow. Staying in the YMCA in Queens the first night (in part because it's near the airport and I'm going to the mall there), and the Vanderbilt the second night (which is near the Rockefeller Center where the Nintendo World store is - I think it's on 47th St). If you're free for lunch or dinner on Tuesday or Wednesday I'd love to meet up. My flight out on Wednesday leaves at 11.30pm, so I'll be aiming to arrive at the airport at 8.30pm - as having missed my flight once I certainly don't want to do that again!

I have access to a "real" computer until 9.30am tomorrow, maybe as late as 11am if I don't bother trying to do something else before going to the airport for my lunchtime flight :)

[redbird]

Lunch Wednesday might work, if I can figure out a suitable place near my job (suitable meaning they can feed both of us and have seating rather than just take-out). Call me on 212-942-1710 (home) or 646-721-4041 (mobile) once you're in New York.