Improbability Factor 1:1
I was in the Baltimore area this past weekend to see one of my good friends tie the knot. I've known zaph_redmantis for quite some time and though it wouldn't take much of an excuse to get me on a plane to go visit him, I cannot think of a better occasion to do so.
I flew out Friday morning, landing around lunch time because I understood that there were some pre-ceremonial festivities to attend. The flight itself was pretty uneventful except for the fact that I shared the plane with a couple dozen students from Duluth who were on their way to D.C. for a competition on the US Constitution. It was rather cool chatting with the chaperones, seeing what the competition was about as well as hearing their tour plans.
captain_squid graciously agreed to pick me up from the airport and we set off to the resort where all of this was taking place. It was a pretty classy establishment... basically a full blown country club. I felt thricely swankified when we walked into the place.
We went up to Squid and Lemur's room to wait and meet up with the Dance Commander. Turns out we had just missed him checking in on us, but we quickly got together and then set about getting the suite set up for the evening. The only thing really missing were some snack and beer provisions and since several of us were planning on hitting the inner harbor for a few hours, and pick up Caitlion from the train station, we just integrated it into the excursion.
With the plan set, we waited for Lemur to join us from her workout session and left the Dance Commander to his best man duties. I hadn't been to the inner harbor in at least five years and it was nice to see that it was largely unchanged. We walked around a bit, checking out the historic ships in harbor and did a little light shopping. There was a place that had an array of glass artwork that was fantastic. I still think the blown glass trout was my favorite. Afterward, we stopped in a brew pub for a beer and rested our feet.
Then it was a quick jaunt up to Penn Station to pick up Caitlion. We got there in time to find that the train was delayed. When it finally pulled in after twenty minutes, we were all getting serious hankerings for some food.
We ducked out of the heavy beltway traffic through the small college town of Townsend. There we parked and stopped into one of the bars there to get some dinner. It was probably our first mistake to pick a bar in a college town because the music was bad and loud, and bad... oh, and loud...
It was probably our second mistake not to pick up on the fact that it took someone fifteen minutes to get our drink order. By the time we killed an hour and a half in blaring smoky chipster hell with only a round of drinks and some cheese sticks for our efforts, we figured we enough.
The fact that our food order was still ten minutes plus minutes from being ready, we beat feet out of there with grumbling stomachs, errands to run and being late for the poker game.
We eventually got back to the suite where we met up with Zaphod, Dance Commander and a couple of the others in the wedding party. Arthur, who I hadn't seen since my McKeesport days, was also there. Rawk.
Anyway, we got down to the poker game in short order. We stuck to tournament rules hold em and I quickly found out that I was a table full of callers. Not that I really established myself as a strong player, but it was very difficult to bet high enough to where I felt they were seriously considering folding.
It took me the rest of that game to tighten up my play so that I wasn't bleeding chips on a draw. Eventually, Arthur and the Dance Commander split the pot so that we could start another round off.
We played a second round and then retired outside the front lobby for some cigars. And fine cigars they were. I try to steer clear of tobacco products because of my past history as a smoker, but this was a treat.
Once we were finished with the stogies, Squid slipped a pillow case over Zaph's head and we threw him in the trunk for a quick jaunt into the country. Down the road a bit, off a ways from the club and traffic, we pulled him out and slipped a mask onto his head.
Squid was given the honor of paintball executioner, mostly because revenge is the sweetest dessert of all. Zaph took a few whacks and when we all figured he had enough, we loaded back into the car and went back to the room.
The night wrapped up around there and though I knew it was late, I was shocked to realize that it was 4:30. Luckily we could sleep in a little bit because the ceremony wasn't until the evening. Still, we were looking a pretty groggy morning.
People started stirring around 11:00 which gave us about an hour to get ourselves cleaned up and move stuff out of the poker suite. It was slow going, but we managed to do it. Squid and Lemur had some last minute shopping to do and set out to do that, while I joined Caitlion, Dance Commander and Zaphod for some lunch.
When we sat down and started ordering, I looked up and saw that they had the NFL draft on the television. Now my interest in football (professional or otherwise) is somewhat muted. I like the sport, but not enough to consider the draft to be interesting programming. But it is a spectacle, especially with the hyped up production of the event in recent years.
To my surprise, I had a lot of fun watching the draft with my friends. I think this was largely due to the fact that the pretty boy from Boston College, Brady Quinn, was being passed up in the first round by team after team, even though he was a heavily favored pick. Now don't get me wrong... Zaph and the rest were genuinely interested in several of the other picks, but Quinn's squirming on camera was a endless font of amusement.
It was even on when we all reconvened at Squid and Lemur's room, designated base alpha for Mantid assemblage. Probably the most delicious was when Brady was finally drafted to Cleveland. It is pretty humbling to settle for the Browns, but since they are a long rival of Pittsburgh and many of us has some roots there, the karma seemed all too perfect.
While it was on, some of us started the traditional pre-wedding game of Settlers of Catan. It has roots back to Squid and Lemur's wedding where several people were nearly late for the ceremony because no one close to winning could seal the deal. Since then, the game has always popped up when one of us is getting hitched just for parity sake.
This game didn't drag out though and we even had time to fit in another game called Mall of Horror. It is a zombie game with an interesting mechanic where players have to make votes on who gets to raid the truck for equipment, who gets to be the security chief (and gets access to the security cameras), and who gets to be eaten by the zombies. It was very fun once we got the gist of it and I'll likely pick up a copy next time I find myself in a game store.
When we finished Mall of Horror, it was about the the right time to get dressed for the wedding. Everyone shuffled off to get themselves ready and then meet up in the lobby.
They held the ceremony in a gazebo on the grounds of the club. It was cozy and nice, under a couple of willow trees. Unfortunately, the weather was a touch temperamental... persistent drizzle with threats of outright rain. While it was a concern, it didn't turn into a factor.
This was the first Jewish ceremony I've been to. Pretty interesting and the rabbi kept it upbeat, though I imagine she was trying to help defray the precipitation. Before I knew it, the two were wed and we all made our way back inside to the reception.
It was quite a spread and I started off by slaking my undying thirst for Yuengling. As we noshed on finger food, I took this time to catch up with red_daly, Nuke and Arthur. I also had some words I wanted to pass onto the Dance Commander for his toast if he wanted to work the weather into the equation.
Soon after that, we were asked to take our places at table. They opened with the toasts and the Dance Commander nailed it, bringing himself and everyone in the room to tears. Hell, I still get choked up thinking about it.
Then the band got into their thing which called attention to the fact that our group seemed to be situated pretty close to them. It made for a louder evening, but it did encourage us to get up and dance. And dance, we did. They had a funk set that was pretty kicking and a few cult favorites I know Zaph probably requested.
During one of the breaks, they piped in Billy Jean and I had just the right amount of alcohol in my system to go retrieve my fedora from the coat check and make a fool out of myself in front of everyone present.
While it was easy to ignore the people applauding my Jackson impersonation, it was difficult to tune out the two cameras trained on me. I imagine this will find itself on the interwebs at some stage... just keep bugging Zaphod.
The night finally wore on and as the reception broke, I finally got a chance to meet the bride. She was, as one might guess... beautiful, charming, devastatingly intelligent and henceforth to be known as Trillian here because I like the symmetry.
After a few fond words and congratulations, I retired with some of the group back to Squid and Lemur's room. There we unwound and played another game of something before we decided to call it a night.
In the morning, everyone was busy packing up their stuff for their trip back to their respective homes. There was also a brunch for some of the folks in the wedding party. My flight was relatively early to the rest, so I set up a shuttle to take me back to the airport. We all said our goodbyes and made the inevitable comments about getting together more often.
The trip back was as interesting as the trip out. No delays and no issues getting on the light rail and going home. I spent a few hours puttering around the house and then drove back to the airport to give Squid and Lemur a lift back to their place.
It was a very fun time and I already miss each and every one of them dearly. It seems unlikely, certainly unfair, that a schmoo like myself could ever fall into such a cadre of intelligence, wit and integrity. It imbues me with both a sense of humility and greatness that I find difficult to express in words. Sufficed to say, that when we get together, I feel like we can move the world... and that ain't bad.
I flew out Friday morning, landing around lunch time because I understood that there were some pre-ceremonial festivities to attend. The flight itself was pretty uneventful except for the fact that I shared the plane with a couple dozen students from Duluth who were on their way to D.C. for a competition on the US Constitution. It was rather cool chatting with the chaperones, seeing what the competition was about as well as hearing their tour plans.
captain_squid graciously agreed to pick me up from the airport and we set off to the resort where all of this was taking place. It was a pretty classy establishment... basically a full blown country club. I felt thricely swankified when we walked into the place.
We went up to Squid and Lemur's room to wait and meet up with the Dance Commander. Turns out we had just missed him checking in on us, but we quickly got together and then set about getting the suite set up for the evening. The only thing really missing were some snack and beer provisions and since several of us were planning on hitting the inner harbor for a few hours, and pick up Caitlion from the train station, we just integrated it into the excursion.
With the plan set, we waited for Lemur to join us from her workout session and left the Dance Commander to his best man duties. I hadn't been to the inner harbor in at least five years and it was nice to see that it was largely unchanged. We walked around a bit, checking out the historic ships in harbor and did a little light shopping. There was a place that had an array of glass artwork that was fantastic. I still think the blown glass trout was my favorite. Afterward, we stopped in a brew pub for a beer and rested our feet.
Then it was a quick jaunt up to Penn Station to pick up Caitlion. We got there in time to find that the train was delayed. When it finally pulled in after twenty minutes, we were all getting serious hankerings for some food.
We ducked out of the heavy beltway traffic through the small college town of Townsend. There we parked and stopped into one of the bars there to get some dinner. It was probably our first mistake to pick a bar in a college town because the music was bad and loud, and bad... oh, and loud...
It was probably our second mistake not to pick up on the fact that it took someone fifteen minutes to get our drink order. By the time we killed an hour and a half in blaring smoky chipster hell with only a round of drinks and some cheese sticks for our efforts, we figured we enough.
The fact that our food order was still ten minutes plus minutes from being ready, we beat feet out of there with grumbling stomachs, errands to run and being late for the poker game.
We eventually got back to the suite where we met up with Zaphod, Dance Commander and a couple of the others in the wedding party. Arthur, who I hadn't seen since my McKeesport days, was also there. Rawk.
Anyway, we got down to the poker game in short order. We stuck to tournament rules hold em and I quickly found out that I was a table full of callers. Not that I really established myself as a strong player, but it was very difficult to bet high enough to where I felt they were seriously considering folding.
It took me the rest of that game to tighten up my play so that I wasn't bleeding chips on a draw. Eventually, Arthur and the Dance Commander split the pot so that we could start another round off.
We played a second round and then retired outside the front lobby for some cigars. And fine cigars they were. I try to steer clear of tobacco products because of my past history as a smoker, but this was a treat.
Once we were finished with the stogies, Squid slipped a pillow case over Zaph's head and we threw him in the trunk for a quick jaunt into the country. Down the road a bit, off a ways from the club and traffic, we pulled him out and slipped a mask onto his head.
Squid was given the honor of paintball executioner, mostly because revenge is the sweetest dessert of all. Zaph took a few whacks and when we all figured he had enough, we loaded back into the car and went back to the room.
The night wrapped up around there and though I knew it was late, I was shocked to realize that it was 4:30. Luckily we could sleep in a little bit because the ceremony wasn't until the evening. Still, we were looking a pretty groggy morning.
People started stirring around 11:00 which gave us about an hour to get ourselves cleaned up and move stuff out of the poker suite. It was slow going, but we managed to do it. Squid and Lemur had some last minute shopping to do and set out to do that, while I joined Caitlion, Dance Commander and Zaphod for some lunch.
When we sat down and started ordering, I looked up and saw that they had the NFL draft on the television. Now my interest in football (professional or otherwise) is somewhat muted. I like the sport, but not enough to consider the draft to be interesting programming. But it is a spectacle, especially with the hyped up production of the event in recent years.
To my surprise, I had a lot of fun watching the draft with my friends. I think this was largely due to the fact that the pretty boy from Boston College, Brady Quinn, was being passed up in the first round by team after team, even though he was a heavily favored pick. Now don't get me wrong... Zaph and the rest were genuinely interested in several of the other picks, but Quinn's squirming on camera was a endless font of amusement.
It was even on when we all reconvened at Squid and Lemur's room, designated base alpha for Mantid assemblage. Probably the most delicious was when Brady was finally drafted to Cleveland. It is pretty humbling to settle for the Browns, but since they are a long rival of Pittsburgh and many of us has some roots there, the karma seemed all too perfect.
While it was on, some of us started the traditional pre-wedding game of Settlers of Catan. It has roots back to Squid and Lemur's wedding where several people were nearly late for the ceremony because no one close to winning could seal the deal. Since then, the game has always popped up when one of us is getting hitched just for parity sake.
This game didn't drag out though and we even had time to fit in another game called Mall of Horror. It is a zombie game with an interesting mechanic where players have to make votes on who gets to raid the truck for equipment, who gets to be the security chief (and gets access to the security cameras), and who gets to be eaten by the zombies. It was very fun once we got the gist of it and I'll likely pick up a copy next time I find myself in a game store.
When we finished Mall of Horror, it was about the the right time to get dressed for the wedding. Everyone shuffled off to get themselves ready and then meet up in the lobby.
They held the ceremony in a gazebo on the grounds of the club. It was cozy and nice, under a couple of willow trees. Unfortunately, the weather was a touch temperamental... persistent drizzle with threats of outright rain. While it was a concern, it didn't turn into a factor.
This was the first Jewish ceremony I've been to. Pretty interesting and the rabbi kept it upbeat, though I imagine she was trying to help defray the precipitation. Before I knew it, the two were wed and we all made our way back inside to the reception.
It was quite a spread and I started off by slaking my undying thirst for Yuengling. As we noshed on finger food, I took this time to catch up with red_daly, Nuke and Arthur. I also had some words I wanted to pass onto the Dance Commander for his toast if he wanted to work the weather into the equation.
Soon after that, we were asked to take our places at table. They opened with the toasts and the Dance Commander nailed it, bringing himself and everyone in the room to tears. Hell, I still get choked up thinking about it.
Then the band got into their thing which called attention to the fact that our group seemed to be situated pretty close to them. It made for a louder evening, but it did encourage us to get up and dance. And dance, we did. They had a funk set that was pretty kicking and a few cult favorites I know Zaph probably requested.
During one of the breaks, they piped in Billy Jean and I had just the right amount of alcohol in my system to go retrieve my fedora from the coat check and make a fool out of myself in front of everyone present.
While it was easy to ignore the people applauding my Jackson impersonation, it was difficult to tune out the two cameras trained on me. I imagine this will find itself on the interwebs at some stage... just keep bugging Zaphod.
The night finally wore on and as the reception broke, I finally got a chance to meet the bride. She was, as one might guess... beautiful, charming, devastatingly intelligent and henceforth to be known as Trillian here because I like the symmetry.
After a few fond words and congratulations, I retired with some of the group back to Squid and Lemur's room. There we unwound and played another game of something before we decided to call it a night.
In the morning, everyone was busy packing up their stuff for their trip back to their respective homes. There was also a brunch for some of the folks in the wedding party. My flight was relatively early to the rest, so I set up a shuttle to take me back to the airport. We all said our goodbyes and made the inevitable comments about getting together more often.
The trip back was as interesting as the trip out. No delays and no issues getting on the light rail and going home. I spent a few hours puttering around the house and then drove back to the airport to give Squid and Lemur a lift back to their place.
It was a very fun time and I already miss each and every one of them dearly. It seems unlikely, certainly unfair, that a schmoo like myself could ever fall into such a cadre of intelligence, wit and integrity. It imbues me with both a sense of humility and greatness that I find difficult to express in words. Sufficed to say, that when we get together, I feel like we can move the world... and that ain't bad.