Still Alive, Just Slacking

I see I've been slacking on this whole blog thing, shame on me. Since I have nothing of any real interest to talk about I'll ramble a bit about a couple odds and ends, at least you'll know I'm still alive.

I put on a suit and tie and attended my first full on Catholic wedding, complete with chanting/singing priests. It was quite the experience, and at well over an hour it was the longest wedding I'd ever been to. I was beginning to think that it would never end and the poor couple would die of old age before they managed to tie the knot, but they made it through. I was not aware that the Catholic service was so ritualized, just knowing when to stand or sit or knowing what to say in response to the priest and when to say it must take some time to learn. It seemed more like a well rehearsed choreography than a wedding service, but I'm not much of a church goer so what do I know? I have to admit that the building itself was stunning. All hand worked stone, massive wood beams holding up a ceiling with multiple arches, and a lot of stained glass.

Next, the reception. The bride chose a restaurant in the Chinatown section of Killadelphia as the location for her reception. I'm guessing it was for her family's sake, they comprised the bulk of the 300+ reception guests (she is Vietnamese). The place was dirty and smelled of dead fish, most likely from the dead fish I saw in the tanks down in the front of the restaurant. The tables were set up wrong, and numbered wrong, and they forgot a gift table, and one for the cake. The cake arrived 45 minutes after the guests, 15 minutes later the right one showed up but only partially decorated. After that it got a lot better! 

The menu was a traditional 12 course Chinese meal, being the pig that I am I naturally ate all of my portions of all 12 courses, plus a little extra. Oink. Jellyfish, coddle fish and shark fin soup were but a few of the items on the menu. We're talking foods most Americans have never even seen before, much less eaten. Suffice it to say that a lot of them went home hungry or were stopping at McDonald's on the way home. It was fun just watching a couple of the guys at my table as they examined each dish, then braved a taste. The faces they made were great!! The kicker was after the last course, restaurant staff started bringing out Styrofoam "to go" boxes to all the tables. That was definitely a first.

Today I had the pleasure of staying home with a nasty stomach virus. Out of the 365 days in a year it just had to be today, ruining a day I'd been looking forward to for quite some time. I was supposed to meet up with someone I met online years ago while playing gin. We've become very close since then and I was looking forward to spending some time in her company. Instead, I had to call her at 2am and tell her that I was in no condition to be able to meet up with her. What a disappointment :(