Wedding Weekend

The other family saw us as family... something truly amazing... but... ... something you can hardly understand... when the other family's FRIENDS saw us as family...

And it's one thing when you are given one night of celebration for something so awesome as a wedding... but something along the lines of 4 days... with each day something unique... special... memorable... each bringing its own special flavor to the week... I wouldn't bring it justice... to imagine to compare it to something so comparably mundane as a multi-course meal of the most favorite dishes of your life... dishes you never knew even existed until you tried them... and once tried... craved them ever after... A really expensive restaurant that somehow fit all of the best of your life inside... except the few that couldn't make it and had to find room in your heart... Pleasantly you find just enough time to talk with each... That each conversation was like the smoothest red wine... That each smile, the coolest white... And the laughter...

We drank on it for days straight... from the brim to the dregs... And 2 days later I'm still drunk on this thing called love...

It's a Small WOrld After All

A nerd circle is something you did in high school, or before, depending at what point of maturity you were at when you thought that picking on girls was a good way of getting them to like you...
A nerd circle is something you most definitely forfeit association with once you pass this stage...
But a nerd circle is still funny, in an extreme childish way, and thus, any time you are with guys, and only the guys, and definitely not around any girls...
And so in the most random encounter I met an extremely great girl I knew 10 years ago... friends with many of my old friends... MC at one of their weddings... happened to be on the wrong end of a few nerd circles... gracious enough to forgive my naivite...
Reminded me of something you always know, but sometimes forget... that a friend is a friend no matter what the distance or how long the time...

Two Roads Diverged in a yellow w-

Dear Robert, if only you were alive today...

... Roads come by the thousand these days...

... and roads on top of roads...

... overpasses we like to call'em.

So please, enough of this one or the other crap...

because More than one of these choices is less travelled

...and each choice makes all the difference...
and leaves the ache of losing the freedom to choose

... to miss out on life and experience
you can never go back...

So still I stay, and still I dream.            

Each day the choices are fewer, each year the abilities lesser,    

... but choice still remains,    

And as I wait; lives have come and gone,

... endless possibilities are themselves ended  

Past by.              

And such as it is, while dreaming,          

... the rest are overlooked, 

and so now there is no choice

... for rest is all I seek

The Big Question

  Chicago beat Vancouver...
  Montreal beat Pittsburgh...
... As a fan... do you want the team... that beat your team... to lose??? or win?

If they win, that means you lost to the best...
If they lose, that means you get to see the guys that beat... your team... get their butt kicked...

Immediate vindication... or moral victory...

Band Wagon!?

I was a fan of Pittsburgh all the way back in the time of Mario... which... is... honestly not that far back... but... IS... important for the time being... because... what am I doing trying to argue with some punk kid in a Pittsburgh jersey that I'm a dedicated fan and not just jumping on the band wagon...?

... And especially what am I doing trying to argue I'm a dedicated fan... when... in reality... (since Mario left) I could care less what's happened to the team... and feel no particular loyalty to anyone they have now... nostalgia alone takes me back into their fandom...

... sometimes it sucks to watch them... ... ... that small... what if?... pang... reminding me that I've been in the same room as these players... that I had my break and didn't make it... that because people like them succeeded it means I didn't... but... it also lets me be a fan again... because it left me with a knowledge that these are regular people... regular people that put their pants on one leg at a time, then go out and score 50 goals and be rockstars... but regular people nonetheless... and that I should be a fan of these guys because they're good guys... they play as a team... Crosby, of all people, diving to block a shot... Malkin finishing a hit... now that's something you cheer for... ... ... and I won't even fault him for complaining to the refs... because I know how much a ref can change a game... and because they didn't call that same penalty 3 times... then called in on Orpik... and Cammellerri scored... and it sucks... and that's why you complain... ... ... and I've done it... and I do it... and it doesn't help... but it's playoffs and emotions run high and emotions make people idiots...

... And so far I haven't heard anything crazily worrying about them off the ice... so I'll leave it at that...

And the rest of the story

... At 52 years old you tie a stone around your waist, walk to a sink hole, and throw yourself in... it's your duty to your family and your culture... and it's a great form of population control...

... Depending on where you live you will either have, ahem, your 4 front teeth pierced... your head crushed by a board till it's flat... your tongue cut in two and tied to your ears... or your eyes forcibly crossed... to show what part of the region you are from... and also... it also wasn't a bad way of population control...

... Younger than 18 you play an aggressive form of basketball... the winner gets to die... second place does the honors...

... And you predict world wars, presidential assassinations, and the end of the world in 2012...

We had...

... Double beds... so we changed rooms... but it was raining... and that room was flooded... with only 2 towels... BUT... it gave us Awesome waves...

We almost...

... bought a time-share (but it’s not a time-share)... got an upgrade, but no rooms available... had our laundry done, but left forced with nasty disgusting bed sheets that smelled like feet and had stains, and still have stains... but yet... almost had our spot taken, except big dudes with UFC cutoffs and barbwire tattoes saved our space in line after 35+ people try to cut in on the restaurant... "I never wait for anything, they wait for me"...‘umm... no, those guys there were first’...

We forgot...

... everything we ever learned about math... cause they said 9 restaurants and we could only count 3, sometimes 2, sometimes 1...

... and somehow 1 Mayan dollar equals $25 American... "almost free! one dollar! buy something for your honeymoon? no! oh... buy something for your mother-in-law!?"... and yet they still thought we might steal something at the flea market!... "Look at this watch! Does it look like I’m gonna steal anything!?"...

We took...

... an art class... as Danelle’s artistic skills with the sun scream made me a beautiful sunburn...

We..

... "Would you like to come to the bathroom with me"... wait... wha!?

We only...

... Only cried in 4 movies this time... wore shorts and sandals... and, can you believe it, skirts...

We...

... suntanned on the balcony... suntanned by the pool... suntanned on the beach... read 6 books... Flooded the bathtub... went Cliff-diving... boating... snorkelling... had the coral reef incident... "I’m more of a follow the rules kinda person... so, you wouldn’t like it if I did THIS!"... thought we saw a shark... got stalked by boys with guns... took a romantic walk around the pool... twice... almost got massages... twice... bought $25 Aloe Vera... bought 5 $5 bracelets... bought necklaces... bought another bracelet... is that a ring... do you like this... what do you think about this... "Hello, my name is Danelle, and I’m a shopping addict"...

Day 1: Cancun

GET YOUR FOOT... OUT OF THE DOOR...

But... -weeze- umm... -gasp-... here... our flight... tickets... we just ran... - breathe - ... here...

... YOUR TICKET WAS GIVEN AWAY... YOU WERE LATE...

...BANG... - SECURITY DOOR -... SLAM... s shut...

... closes in my face... I’ve just been through some sick, sick trick of American injustice... (American injustice... I add... like getting the wrong cup of coffee and then not getting a refund... not any real world injustice which I don't deserve to even talk about except to say that I'm not gonna talk about)... but my injustice... 7 minutes early... not early enough for a Delta flight... on a delayed flight... running down the concourse... ... ... 10 minutes or your seat is given away... even thought the clock on the door says 11 minutes...

... MUST BE SLOW...

And I’m not the only one... while pacing... as Danelle in her infinitely superior powers of patience is talking to the gate agent... I see all sorts of people running... bags loaded... to flights already given away... I see those incredulous looks... that spark of injustice still burning a hole... I see the anger... and no direction for it...

In fact... I’m not the only one so much that... once you miss your flight... once they give it away to someone else... they have machines at every gate for quick booking on future flights...

And in such a twisted, messed up chance of fate... as we’re escorted on to a flight 1 hr 15 minutes later I see people run up to our flight... my kind of people... regular people that in some other lifetime if we were both cats we could be friends... ... ... they were late for this flight... and their real tickets for real seats... were given away... so... in fact... their seats... denied because they were late... are now our seats...

... and as the door slams behind me... and in their face... what am I supposed to think... why am I so happy at their expense because I get to go home tonight!?...

...but... what I really mean to say is... I have to applaud the standards of a company to accept this as normal?... applaud the marketing division to keep this under wraps..