Something new

Pete seems to think that I am slacking on my blogging duties, but I really think that I am letting the blog rest while I finish my moving/wedding duties. One day, Pete will be in my spot and I'll give him loads of shit for not blogging.

First, I have a confession to make. I am two days from my wedding and I'm having second thoughts. You see, Amanda is not the same person that I proposed to 14 months ago. She's spending more time at our apartment and I have learned a new dirty secret: she watches "Charmed". Yep, that show about witches starring Shannon Doherty and Alyssa Milano. Now, you need to realize that this show is no longer in production and I've seen her watch 2-3 consecutive episodes in one sitting. These are things you need to share with a person before he gives you the ring.

Second, my bachelor party. Well, this was actually bachelor party #2 although the first was more focused on World Cup and tattoos than bachelorness. So we watched U.S. vs. Italy and then my brother and I settled a bet we made with each other at the beginning of the last MLS season. Since the Galaxy won the MLS Cup, we got two stars on our arms in recognition of their two MLS Cup titles. In the soccer world, stars are put on your uniform to signify the number of championships you have won. So when you look at England's national team uniform, you will see one star above their crest because they won the World Cup in 1966.

The "real" bachelor party was almost two weeks ago and I'm just now getting back to drinking alcohol again. We went to Gordon Biersch (sp?) for dinner, where I had a few of their Summer Beer's, which were good. We went from there to Jake's, a pool hall in Old Town. That's where the trouble started. Jake's has a "large beer" that is basically a 32 oz. mug. This seems like a great idea until you realize that they already serve their beer only slightly below room temperature and then you add in the fact that you can't drink it fast enough since there is so much. However, the 2 (well, I left about a third of the second beer) giant mugs of Newcastle added to the 4 pints of SummerBrew weren't what did me in. It was the mixing of that with a kamikaze shot and several shots of Bushmills. Bushmills and I have a strange relationship. The times that I have been the most drunk were almost all due to this lovely yet dangerous distilled spirit. This night, I saw the dark side of my friendship with this particular Irish Whiskey. In any case, I was feeling very little pain.

This is where it gets a little hazy. At some point, we left Jake's and headed to the Crown to meet with Amanda and her posse, which dwindled pretty fast with all of the new mothers involved. I honestly have almost no recollection of the walk from Jake's to the Crown. However, as Pete commented elsewhere, there was a public urination incident. I need to defend myself here a bit. First, it was public, but at a construction area behind a giant dumpster. Second, I don't think it is all that uncommon for me to piss in public, especially when its after midnight on a dark street. I've done it on several occasions while completely sober. My dad, my uncle, my buddy Ryan and I all pissed on some wall of ivy while walking to the Rose Bowl to see the Eagles back in '95. I pissed on my brother's truck in the parking lot of the Home Depot Center. I watered a bush on Los Robles walking back to my car at 3 am after getting back from a road trip to San Jose to see a Galaxy game. In my humble opinion, this is not inappropriate behavior.

Getting back to the events of the evening. I remember a few things from the Crown. First, Pete bought me another shot of Bushmills, which is what caused the 2nd and 3rd things that I remembered. After the shot, I felt a little off and went to the bathroom to solve the problem. As I bent over to puke, my glasses fell into the toilet. I would have liked to keep this a secret, but Amanda mentioned it on the Rat Race blog. This is also why I feel OK about revealing her love of "Charmed" to the world. However, there was no puke or other material besides water in the toilet, so I grabbed my glasses, wiped them off, and put them in my pocket. Then I did what I came there to do. I did this same thing again the next morning in Amanda's apartment and then later in the bathroom at the CookShack while a bunch of women waited in line. Yes, I am that classy. Sundy was a wasted day and Monday at work was interesting. However, by the following Friday I could stomach champagne at Amanda's parents and had a beer at a party we went to on Saturday evening. I did, however, enjoy the bachelor party.

This brings me to my 3rd and final comment for today. I am too old to drink in the amount that I drank at my bachelor party. Back in the day, I could get hammered like that, wake up, get a breakfast burrito or something else greasy, and I was back on my feet. This time I was ruined until Monday evening. My body can't handle it anymore. I can go beer only all night and be OK, but the hard stuff is just more than my liver wants to deal with anymore. Plus, now that I'm getting married I have to behave more, except when soccer is on.

That's it for today. I might not be able to post again until after the wedding, but I promise to get back into the political discussions since I have a lot to say about this whole Israel/Lebanon thing and the upcoming Congressional elections.