When we last left off, Peter was sleeping after just so much driving around and crap and stuff the day before the wedding.
Friday 9:00AM - 11:45 AM Woke up and showered. Ian asked to help drive him over to the church so we could meet the caterers. some people were following us, so of course we turned the wrong way on the road to get to george washington parkway. Once we got going the correct way, there was a really twisty part that was fun. We made it to the church just as the caterers were showing up.
11:50AM - 4:30 PM Drove with Ian and the couple who followed us to Costco in Pentagon city. We had to park in the garage because there was no room to park in the lot (it's ver crowded on Saturdays). We got all sorts of stuff in the costco, including a white rose bouquet. We also got some chafing dishes and sterno. I think it's cool that I know what those things are called now
. We went to look through some of the stores for formal attire for some of the guests but couldn't find anything good, Ian's phone was starting to die so he started using mine. We then drove over to the tux place to pick everything up, and we wanted to pick up ian's friend Andrea. She didn't show up and the bus was over an hour late. We kept driving around the general area to find something to eat, but the best we could find was "wacky taco" or something to that effect. It was scary. So, we just headed back to the church with instruction to return later. She showed up right after we got on the highway anyways. so we just went back to the church.
5:00PM - 7:00 PM I put on most of my tux at the tux place, and so did everyone else, They asked us not to put on our coats in the car because it would wrinkle stuff, so I put my leather jacket on instead. It was an... interesting look (I think I have a few pictures). Everyone was really hungry, so I set off to get some burger king food for everyone who was in the car trip (in my tux and tie and leather jacket). It was a warm drizzle on the walk over. The part of DC we were in was really close to Dupont circle. I got the food, it took them a while to make four burgers and fries because they were doing it to order. I got back, ate, and helped set up chafing dishes and such. I saw people arrive from my past. Nick Scott was there most of the previous day and it was cool talking to him. It was also neet to see Alex again. Andrea also got picked up.
I walked around the chapel some more, talked to Suzyn and the brides maids. She was being followed rather adeptly by the wedding photographer lady (and her assistant was following the groomsmen). I handed her the bouquet and mentioned it was from Costco. I then balked because it was probably not a good idea to mention the cheap source for wedding flowers. She was like "oh, I don't mind, I like to pay for what's important. See this photographer, it cost as much as a small used car to hire her for this.... are these /really/ from costco, because if they are that's really cool!". I also mentioned "oooh, if she cost so much, she can probably take a picture of me looking good in a tux for a gay-dot-com photo." She grabbed the photographer and asked rather loudly and blatantly if this would be possible... the photographer saw me kind of stunned and blushing and said "not standing there like that." I think I have been struck by Suzyn's miss-manners-polite-evil side
. I get handed the ring and basically maintain a deathgrip on it for an hour.
7:00 - 7:30 The wedding! I walked in with a lighter to the chapel where the ushers had been helpfully ushing (so I got to look silly lighting white candles in a bunch of photos). I lit a bunch of candles trying a lot of them for freedom to see whether or not I could stop using the lighter which was starting to get hot. I found an open candle in the candleabra and used it to light the rest. I walked back out and handed the lighter to Melani so she could light her and the others candles. Ian and I walk in followed by the other ushers. Ian cracks his back and neck right as we get into the chapel so he's less tense... Such an Ian thing to do. We line up and the organ starts to really get going. I leaned over to Ian and said "That's what we need to put in my car... an massive pipe organ!". He smiled a bit more.
The bridesmiads came down the aisle with the candles. followed by Suzyn and her dad. They looked spectacular. When they reached the altar everyone spun around to the minister. She was a cool lady. I liked the theme of the wedding basically "ya'll have been married for a while now. This is just a ceremony so that all your friends can come and recognize your condition of love for each other. It is not to make your love stronger because a wedding ceremony will not create the strong mairrage bonds, just acknowledge what is already there. " The readings were very good too. Both remembered their ring vows. I managed to give the beautiful ring to Ian at the right moment and it was done. The ceremony was deliciously breif.
7:30 to 8:00. Nick Cross was one of Ians groomsmen who was in a wheelchair. I managed to miss the receiving line because we were trying to find a way to get him into the reception hall. I couldn't find the "quick way in" that Ian and I had talked about the night before. We then found it but we had gone the long way around the church and had to go through some wet soft grass and then were confronted with some stairs. Some other people helped us out.. still had to carry him down a long flight of wet leafy stairs and then down a smaller flight of stairs. A passerby helped us. Nick is a very funny man, and kept making comments that made everyone laugh... and we were like "stop it... we don't wanna drop you... Bwa ahhahahahahaah". We got him in.
8:00 to 11:00 The dinner was really yummy. They had rice, mushroom and spinach stuffed chicken, oriental salmon, tasty veggies, and vegetarian lasagna. The rolls were also rather yummy. There was a bunch of food left over, and they left it behind for feeding the homeless (how cool is that!?) The other thing is that most of Suzyn's family was in the back room keeping the food coming and the dishes going through the dishwasher. Then the cake was brought out. It was a white cake with rasberry filling decked out to look like an iceberg with painted penguins on it. Most of the people visiting Suzyn asked "what are these painted birds for?" We now had an answer. They even had little wire glasses made. The cake was inscrutably super cute. The caterers also threw in, like, 5 other cakes that were really yummy.
Then they cleared out the inner table and we watched Ian and Suzyn do swing dancing to "l.o.v.e." and then watched Suzyn and her dad dance a waltz. Then, it was time for us to give the toasts. The band was nice enough to bring me over a cup of water so I'd have something to toast with. I basically did what I was thinking over: "Ian, I've known you so long I forgot how we met, but what I do remember is how I've had a wonderful time with you so many times when we'd have capers that we never knew how they'd turn out. But they always turned out better than we thought they would. Suzyn, I have also known you such a long time I forgot how we really met. I just remembered that you suddenly appeared in our adventures, and had just as much fun. I always think of you two as being together, and I wish you love and happiness forever." Melani's toast was probably better. She talked about how she was a great friend of Suzyn and then it had gone from Suzyn to Suzyn and Ian. Note that my recollection of the toast is sheilded by the power of delusion and the fact that I have editable text. The fact that my tux showed off my six pack abs and sizeable pectoral muscles and my hair looked perfect is just pure wicked exaggeration.
Then there was much pretty dancing and talking. Melani, Adam, and I tried to decorate the car with cake on the dashboard (on a plate) soap (but it was cheap hotel soap and it didn't write well) and cans hung by plastic strips (suzyn pulled them off later) and toilet paper (later wiped off too). Oh well.
People steadily dropped off and then it was time to get Nick back out of the auditorium. I will admit, the stairclimbing machine intrigued me, mainly because
A. It was a peice of technology I had never played with before and
B: I figured it would be much safer for a thing that didn't have a sense of humor to get nick back out of the lower floor.
This contraption (and my goodness, it was a contraption) is basically a chair on motorized rubber tractor treads that has two directions: up and down. it just slides up and down the stairs keeping the persons weight over a the wheeled fulcrum so you could orient them to the next set of stairs. It had a built in plastic carrying chair, but it also looked like it could have a wheelchair hooked up to it. We tried to hook up the wheelchair, but it wasn't high up enough.. so we moved nick to the chair and did it that way.
The first flight was a bit hair raising because people wanted to lift up on the chair and that kept pulling the tread up off full contact with the stairs. This angling-backwards caused it to slip on every third step. (causing a jolt) but we made it. On the second flight we asked the people below to make sure that they kept the tread flat against the stairs, and it was much easier going.
We then walked Nick back to his hotel and then dropped him off. I walked back to the church and loaded up my car with gifts in the rain. I thought we were dropping Nick off for the night, but he called wondering when we were coming back to get him as we were heading away. I felt bad because I was super-tired and I didn't want to go back and get him and we were already on our way home. However, Ian felt the same way and said "all anyone's doing when we get home is crashing/sleeping, how long are you in town for" and arranged to spend more time with him sunday and the day after.
11:00 - 12:00AM I was dog tired. I basically got out of the tux, made sure everything was packed away properly in the bag, filled up my bed and fell asleep
by the way... when I was describing this post to Yang (yangvalyang) as a "blow by blow of the wedding" he asked "did someone accidentally sleep with the bride or something" and I was like "no, just chronologue" and he asks "Have you used the word 'begat' more than once?"
I laughed my ass off. I told Yang he rocks... and he does.
9:00 AM - 10:00AM Sunday. I packed up, stuffed myself with some rolls, and chatted with Suzyn and Ian about how it felt to be newly married. Then I hit the road
10:00AM - 2:00 PM I drove to Durham, there was nasty traffic on 95 North of Richmond that delayed me about 45 mins. I called Karsten outside of Durham and he didn't want to do brunch, but he did want to meet up. I drove to his place and sat. He offered me gingerey pumpkin pie. We talked about the fact that we are both very much in love with our respective partners. Karsten was coming off a really good weekend, he got to drop the L-word to his boy because his boy dropped it first. It was nice to see him again
2:00- 7:00 I drove to my favorite truckstop-n-mcDonalds: the Wilco off of exit 35 in SC: having hit the two worst bits of traffic North of Charlotte and North of Spartanburg (ironically, however, after Gaffney... take that Augusta!). I got McNuggets, and apparently they had to go get new ones made so they made me sit in that little McPurgatory they have outside the window. I was waiting for 10 or so mins and had settled that I'd need to get gas after this. So when I got my food I turned the wheel to the right and prepared to make a speedy trip over to the pump.
I forgot, however that there was a curb and walkway next to my car.... I was so stunned when my car jumped up on the curb and jarred my body that I got pressed down in my seat. so the clutch went in and so did the gas. Thus, I revved as my car crept along the curve and then my rear tire went up, so I let up on the clutch went up right as I took my foot off the gas pedal. Then the front dropped off the other edge of the curb and I whaked the underside of my car on the curb edge... then finished rolling off. I can feel a small scratch on the "euro flare" from where I smacked the curb, but I think the biggest thing bruised was my ego. Considering everyone looked when they heard my car rev and then finished turning their head right before I racked the car on the curb *sigh*.
I also pulled way to close to the pump and was frazzled. Probably a good thing that I had the fuel-up time to calm down.
7:00 -10:00 PM Finish drive home. Spud calls me as I am pulling onto Morgan Falls, I talk and say lovey things, but then have to hang up so I can get my card out and unlock the gates. I get the headset and talk to spud while I unload the car. The first thing I do after I walk in separate all my laundry and put a load of colors in the washer. I haven't done laundry for two weeks, and now I have a large bounty of scrubbing and drying and folding ahead of me. Spud was well and enjoyed his holiday. We talked mostly nonsense however because we were both tired as hell.
10:00 - 11:30 I finished unpacking and took a night-time shower (since I hadn't showered that morning). Then plopped into bed.
So, a recount.
Number of hours on the road driving between cities: approx 40
Number of those hours that were really bad traffic: 4
Gallons of gas purchased: 50 (still cheaper than the plane ticket up there)
Number of Infinity G20's that I blew a kiss at (after I cut them off and they almost hit me): 1
Number of New people met that I remember their names: 2
Number of new people met that I don't remember their names: ~5
Number of people I've met before: 7
Number of people who got married: 2
Number of times I drove on a curb like a stupid idiot: 1
Number of mc-nuggets consumed during trip: 20
Number of minutes spent in McPurgatory: 10
Number of minutes spent balking at standalone mcdonalds with wrap-around parking lot but NO drive through: 20
Number of hours writing these damned posts: probably 2 or 3
Number of loads of laundry: 4 (2 colors, 1 load of honky wash, one green sweatshirt (yes, it was saved, yes, I am wearing it at work now... NO I didn't get peanut butter on it))
Number of Yangs who rock that I know: Just the one.
Other notable things: I like showering at night. It seems to make me more efficient at the whole process when I'm using it to wind down before I go to sleep. the other neat thing is, then in the morning I get to wash my face with sink water... just like in olden days.... with the washbasin and the washwater. Also, my hair seems to have just enough oil in it in the morning that when I style it, it remembers its style without me having to spray it or anything. It feels soft and nice as well.
Otherwise, I am so beat. Laundry kept me up last night as well and this morning I drive up to visit Eric, so you know I'll dawdle and get to sleep late tonight too.
Thanks for reading this much. It was fun to write. Also, Geoff's Birthday party is this weekend. We are trying to get a large horde together. But I'm thinking we might have two. I can make two cakes no problem.
