Jill, the party's going to go on for a while! Glad you could make it, and thanks!
Mosaic dude, the judge was very cool. She was very warm and compassionate with everyone, especially with the little kids who were having their names changed for various reasons -- mostly absent and/or abusive fathers, although there was one Somali man who was having his, his wife's, and their six kids' names changed because everyone in his building was also named Ali and their mail kept going astray. She found that to be a perfectly good reason, but she made sure to ask each of the kids, even the littlest who was maybe three, if this was OK with them. When my turn came, as I walked up to the podium I could almost hear her saying to herself, "Well, jeez, of course he can't go on being [absurd female name], and if I had that last name I'd change it, too!"
