(no subject)

[mr_bad_example]

I went back to Cedar Falls this weekend for my friend Paul's wedding.

I began the weekend by leaving work on Friday, heading south on the freeway, and promptly getting stuck in the Lakeville Tar Pit. When faced with the prospect of extended road work, other, more sensible states and municipalities often close the road altogether and set up detours. Here, the fashion is to close all lanes except one in each direction. This leads to a situation in which...well, it helps if you've read Sartre. The experience could have only been completed by an unblinking valet escorting me down the road.

I spent Friday night at my parents' house in Des Moines because I could only get my motel room for one night. (Ordinarily, I stay with Paul when I visit Cedar Falls, but since he was the one getting married, I didn't want to inconvenience him. I'm considerate like that.)

I drove to Cedar Falls/Waterloo early the next morning because I had some business to take care of. I had closed my account at the credit union when I moved, but for some mysterious reason they kept sending me ATM cards. So every two years I'd receive an invitation to commit fraud.

I took care of the credit union stuff and found myself with an hour to kill, so I checked out Waterloo's new Barnes and Noble. It's a bookstore and it's in Waterloo, so I pretty much had the place to myself. Before I left, I ended up running into a couple of old friends from the SCA. We had a pleasant time catching up, then I went to check into my motel.

Ran into a bit of a problem at the motel. They had me scheduled to check in the next day. They had me scheduled for 18 nights. I went all Roast Beef and speculated as to why that was (...desk clerk all disgruntled that day...all thinking he was getting laid off...all in a fugue state...). Bless the desk clerk's heart, she tried to fix it, but the people in my assigned room hadn't checked out yet. I agreed to come back later. I further agreed to come back unarmed.

Off to the wedding. I showed up, dropped off my gift, and ran into my dear friend Kristy who was evidently put in charge of the affair. She asked me if I would handle the music. They didn't really have anything planned along those lines; the idea was that anybody would be able to go over to the boombox and pick out music. All I was asked to do was start the music as people started to file into the reception, and to announce the three dances that were planned (bride and groom, bride and groom's father, &c., &c.). I agreed to do it, but I explained that I'd only take action when specifically ordered to do so, because A) I didn't know what the schedule was or what was planned, and B) I'm an irresponsible drunk.

Lovely ceremony. It's nice to go to an outdoor wedding and have the weather cooperate. It's also nice to go to a wedding and be happy to be there. Paul said that he estimated about 75 percent of the people there knew what a d20 was. My suspicion was that not only did they know what it was, but chances were several of them had one on their person.

The reception was what every wedding reception should be: Low-key, delicious buffet, booze flowing as if out of a damn hydrant. Had a very pleasant time catching up with many people I hadn't seen in a very long time. The planned dances ended up not happening -- the bride's shoes looked very uncomfortable, which may have been a factor -- so I continued having a fine time. I helped take down some of the decorations, then back to the motel.

I came to find out that my room was upgraded to one with a whirlpool and a fireplace. God bless you, Heartland Inn!

Later that evening I got together with my old friend Steph. We talked of many things.

Back to the motel, had a lovely soak in the whirlpool, while watching Running Scared.(Ohhhh nooooooo.) I debated getting some cham-pan-ya, but decided it would be too...too.

I came back to the Twin Cities this afternoon. I avoided the Lakeville Lacuna by going through Northfield (Motto: Huh. This is Northfield.). Came home, decompressed, and saw Spider-Man 2.

All in all, a lovely weekend. I'm looking forward to going to work tomorrow so I can rest.