Hello all, I've been kicking around here for a few months, and I registered a month ago after finally ordering my kilt. It's been a bit over a month, but it's finally come.

My name is Craig Temple, I was born 26 years ago in Vancouver. I've lived here most of my life, except for a 7 year stint living in New York and Connecticut (proof, because I can spell it) from grades 1-7.

This is my fist kilt, but not my first time kilted. I've rented a couple times. One time about 7 years ago was a UBC Student Council retreat in Whistler that was a James Bond casino theme. Knowing that everybody'd be in a tux, I rented the full PC á la On Her Majesty's Secret Service, kept it a secret until I strolled into the 'casino' and wowed the crowd.

I've been thinking about owning my own kilt for about 8 or 9 years, but have never had the spare cash to drop hundreds on a kilt (I've really only wanted a traditional tank so far). Now that the vast majority of my friends that are going to get married any time soon have all gotten married this Summer, I decided to finally order it. Impeccable timing, as always.

I was doing my research when I discovered xmarks, and have been reading the board every few hours for the past few months. I feel I already know you guys, but that might be more from standing outside your houses and rooting through your recycling than reading your posts. Er, scratch that, I was only kidding.

After a month or two of research and waffling, I ordered 'The Balmoral' from kiltstore.net (with the xmarks discount of course). A nice traditional 8yd 16oz Macdonald of the Isles Ancient Hunting. It cost me the shirt off my back (it would have been a bit more convinient if it'd cost the pants off my legs), but it's worth every penny.

With it, I ordered a semi-dress sealskin (clubbing baby seals is our second national sport in Canada) sporran, a Macdonald clan kilt pin (which is delayed so they sent me a generic claymore). From scottishkilts.net I ordered the exact same tweed Argyll and waistcoat that Grahm bought (a week or so before him actually, but I'm more than happy to be on the Grahm bandwagon), and some nice charcoal hose. So pretty much the full kit, all or nothing for this boy.

I've got a Christmas party at work on Friday the 2nd. I work for a software company so the attire is anywhere from 'this is the best shirt I own that has long sleeves and no Sun Microsystems logo' to people my age wearing suits. I've kept the order and the terrible jonseing a secret, so I'll get to really surprise them on Friday.

Saturday I've got my girlfriend's Christmas party too. She just started a new job at a fancy shmancy elective medical clinic, and their Christmas party has a jacket and tie dress code. It's a good thing this thing arrived, because I'd have not been able to go otherwise! I'll post pics of me in my full getup after the parties.

By the way, is there going to be a Kilt night on Saturday? It looked like they were happening the first Saturday of every month, and my girl friend and I were hoping to swing by Doolin's after her party. If there is going to be one, I'll buy the first pitcher...

Anyway, this is quite an opus, but I figured if a first post is worth doing, it's worth doing right.

Craig

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Space

PS: Please excuse the mess, I'm moving downtown on Wednesday and my place looks like a clutter bomb went off.