| The Chronicles | Birminghamptonshire | ||||||
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 Random picture of my brother and his girlfriend Arika downtown. Prologue Well, turns out I'm still mildly sick if I stop the meds. I really suppose I ought to go see a doctor. I just hate it when you feel like you're almost over something - a doctor's appointment would just be a waste. Luckily, I was feeling well enough about a week ago to make the trip to Birmingham. I stayed up late last Wednesday. Around 3am, I was watching tv when my mom shuffled in sleepily (she has a habit of awaking a couple of times per night) and requested if I'd make a delivery for work the next day. I'm not sure what she would've done if I hadn't been awake. Anyway, I obliged, but not before being an idiot and staying up a few more hours. I got very little sleep before rushing down to work. Instead of just one delivery, I actually ended up working the decent part of the afternoon. Which reminds me... The Restaurant Biz I'm sure I've told a lot of you, but I don't think I mentioned it previously in here. The cafe has been struggling a bit. A couple of weeks ago, the harsh reality of having a gigantic staff really struck. My mom had to lay off almost 80% of it in order to stay open. At this point, we're working on a skeleton crew (my siblings and I are volunteers), and we cut our hours back to lunch on weekdays, dinner on Friday and Saturday. Since then, we've been doing decently...at least enough to survive. Part of the problem was that we tried to grow too fast. The stress of everything was really frustrating my mom, but she seems to be doing better lately. Hopefully she can build the business back up. Her hope has been to create something that she can survive on without us having to support her. If you can make it by the cafe for lunch sometime, I'd really appreciate it. If not, keep her in your prayers. Guys' Night Out Anyway, back to the narrative. After working that afternoon, I embarked on my trip to Birmingham. Long car trips are nice opportunities to make phone calls and catch up with people. In this case, I had a good chat with Patrick. I hope I get to see him again sometime soon. I made my way to the hotel without much trouble and met up with the guys (Kevin, Mike, Ros, and Clark). After a bit of lounging around the pool/hot tub, we went downtown for probably one of the most expensive dinners of my life. Ros' family is rich...like really really rich. My family may appear rich, and by a lot of standards we are, but we do struggle with finances (but that's a whole different entry). I have little doubt that Ros' family does not worry about such things. Anyway, his parents offered to treat us to dinner (despite not coming with us). We went to this really ritzy restaurant (alliteration is fun!) called Ocean. To give you an idea of the "ritziness", they had a separate oyster menu. You could get oysters from about a dozen different geographical locations. All in all, the food was excellent. I managed to stuff myself with calamari and scallops. I also had my first espresso, which wasn't actually that bad, and was one of the cheaper things on the dessert menu. Regardless of my thriftiness, between five of us, the bill before tip was $360...and Kevin ate for free since we told them he was getting married. Yes, we tipped the waiter well. If you think about it, it makes sense - five appetizers, four entrees, desserts, a $50 bottle of wine, and other drinks. When I went to the bachelor party a couple of weeks before, I was really close to succumbing to having a drink. I can't help wanting to wait until I turn 21 though. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it's this thing. Well, I caved a tiny bit at Ocean. I figured that it's not every day that one of your best friends get married and had a few sips of red wine with the guys. They kept trying to get me to take this shot called a brain damage, but after the effect I saw it have on Ros, I politely declined. Besides, I was the designated driver. Pubbin' As we were finishing dinner, Nate showed up, and we decided to check out a pub that the waiter recommended called Innisfree. So we headed over there and hooked up with Aaron (aka BK). Being that I was the only one under 21 in our group, I was a little worried about getting in. I showed the bouncer my ID, he looked at it, and handed it back to me. Score. We were in, and it was pretty packed for a Thursday night. I idly played darts for a while and managed to hit a lot of bull's-eyes. After a while, the guys grabbed a large booth and I sat towards the middle. I kept encouraging Mike to talk to some of the ladies that were by themselves, but he kept giving me excuses about them being out of his league. In fact, if you want to know what we told him, look at quote 4 on this page. Eventually, we noticed a couple of cute girls in their early 20's by themselves and sitting across from us at the bar. We tried to pump up Mike and Ros (the guys on the ends) to go talk to them. They kept wimping out. At some point, a couple of really plastered guys in their 40's went over and started hanging all over the girls. I could tell the girls were amused, but in that "What is this creepy old guy thinking?" sort of way. I told Mike and Ros that they were looking to be rescued and they could pull off something pretty suave. After watching enough hesitation, I declared that I'd do something about it. So, I walked over and asked if the girls would like to join us for a drink. They agreed to come over in a few minutes...I suppose they didn't want to be rude to the old guys. I chatted with the two of them for probably around 20-30 minutes. Found out their names were Haley and Amelia...one was 23, the other was almost 23...and they went to UA (requisite "boo, hiss") for grad school. Early into the conversation, Haley asked what made me so much more brave than the other guys. I explained that I'd try to get them involved. She said that she felt bad for them...that they looked so bored. After a while of that and discussing a lot of topics, they came over and sat with us for a bit. I guess they weren't really digging the group though, because they eventually excused themselves to the bathroom (girl code: left and didn't come back). Regardless, I was still feeling a confidence boost. I don't really go for those tribal analogies, but if I did, this would've been when I impressed the tribe. Mike kept laying plaudits on me like "That's why we call him 'Big Sexy'." It was really pretty amusing. =) Interlude The next day, we planned to lounge around the pool, but woke up late and went to the mall to make sure our tuxes fit and get some lunch. While there, I played some DDR (hadn't really played much in a couple of weeks) and bought an MP3-CD player. At $35 it was hard to pass up. Rehearsing Later that evening, we went to the rehearsal. Natalie brought a suit for me from Auburn. After searching frantically for a belt that fit, I was ready to go. It wasn't too difficult learning where to walk and stand. I ended up being paired up with Amber; Ros was with Natalie; Nate was with Sara Jane; Clark was with Susan. Afterwards, we went over to a country club for another great meal - the rehearsal dinner. It was a bit smaller than I figured it would be, but it was excellent. The bride, groom, bridesmaids, and groomsmen all sat at a table together and we had some good conversations. Again, it was a special occasion, so I had a little bit of champagne for toasts. I thought of my toast pretty late in the game, but I think it went well. I don't think it was as good as the other groomsmen's, and it wasn't too long, but it got me a little more confidence in public speaking, which is always good. We wanted to go out for a little while afterwards, but the girls weren't very cooperative. Us guys prayed over Kevin before heading out for a stunted night. The bars were a little more strict on a Friday night, so it was a bit of a wash. Going To The Chapel We slept in the next morning and got to the church early Saturday afternoon in order to change. About a half an hour before the wedding, we started escorting people to their seats. My mom and sister came, and I also got a chance to see a bunch of folks from Auburn and Anna again. It didn't really hit me that they were really getting married until the music started playing and I was walking down the aisle to take my place on the steps. It was pretty surreal, but in a good way. For a little while, I was doing a very slight, unconscious swing/rock thing. I don't think anyone picked up on it except my mom and sister. As soon as I noticed, I did my best to stand more still. D and Kevin both looked great, and watching the way they smiled at each other made me really optimistic. I haven't known Kevin as long as the other guys have known him, but I'm really grateful that he included me in something this special.  The happy couple (click to enlarge) After the ceremony, we headed to the reception. The food was good (at least the little bit that I was able to try), and people seemed to enjoy themselves. I wish there'd been some dancing, and it seemed a tad short, but other than that, no major complaints. During the reception, the guys went out to decorate the car. I think we did a pretty good job, but our efforts were mostly for naught. Sadly, Nate discovered most of our hard work in a trash can at a nearby gas station. They could've at least left it on until Atlanta. hehe.  The girls about to catch the bouquet...scarily, my sister almost caught it (click to enlarge) Party Of 20 That night, I helped organize a big group to go out. I think there were around 20 of us. We made reservations at P.F. Chang's for around 8. Coincidentally, my mom and sister decided to eat before they left and ended up randomly running into us there...so they joined us for dinner. Once again, excellent food (crispy honey shrimp) and conversation. I even got a chance to do a little more public speaking as Mike compelled me to give a quick toast for Susan on her birthday. The only sad, slightly amusing part of the dinner was that I spent a lot of it trying to ignore my mom telling stories about me to one end while my sister drooled over Mike and Matt (she really enjoyed the attention).  Matt, my sister, and Mike...you can tell she's happy Cue The Loud Music (DaRude's "Sandstorm") Three hours after we sat down, we finally left to go check out the Birmingham scene again. It's tough to coordinate a five vehicle caravan across town, but we somehow managed it. We decided to go to Innisfree again. Once again, I got in fine, and Clark's 18-year-old sister Haley got in also. Unfortunately, between twenty of us, it was pretty jam-packed and most of our group wasn't really digging the whole pub atmosphere. A bunch of the girls wanted to dance. As guys must always oblige the girls, we walked down the street to Club...Chaos!!! Dun-dun-dun! Yeah, really, with a name like Club Chaos, it had to be great, right? It was an 18+ dance club, and I think we would've brought the average age way up if we'd decided to wait in the long line stretching down the street outside. Unperturbed, we decided to try a different club called Tiki Bob's. Unfortunately, Mr. Bob isn't friendly to those under 21...even if they're designated drivers for a large group. Clark ended up taking Haley and I back along with Scotty. Man...just another month and a half before I'll be able to go wherever I want. I still can't help feeling kind of old though. Anyway, it was still a fun night regardless. Interlude Part 2 I got up the next morning, packed, and went to church with Mike and Matt. It was the same church, Briarwood Presbyterian, where the wedding was held. Probably one of the largest Presbyterian churches that I've been in. We met a couple of Matt's friends there and went out to lunch with them and some of the Auburn girls afterwards. Oh, and Devin and his girlfriend came too. Nice catching up with them and Cat. We ate at California Pizza Kitchen, which sounds suspiciously like West Coast Pizza Kitchen, but apparently they're completely different. Eh well. The barbeque pizza was quite good. Headed home after that. Lack Of Sleepin' I really haven't done much since then. I've mostly been lounging around and whacking out my sleeping schedule. I do have a website to blame though... Last night, I was up pretty late...into the wee hours of the morning. Just as I was getting ready to go to bed...I'd crawled under the covers actually...I decided to check this thread on premarital sex. That led to me checking the journal of jialin (aka purplepaperdoll). Now, generally speaking, I avoid reading other journals like the plague. The problem is that I often enjoy them too much. If you read through a couple of years worth of entries, you feel like you know a person. Sadly, you've never met them...you've never talked with them. Often times, you're never likely to meet them, particularly if they live in Singapore. hehe. Anyway, you find out about a person and want to be their friend. Meanwhile, they know pretty much nothing about you. That's one of the reasons that I kind of like my journal actually. People can meet me, get to know me, and I don't really have to put much effort into it since I've written it already. Anyway, I e-mailed her, thanking her for doing her part to brighten up the internet. Turns out, she checked out my journal too, and we actually have someone in common that we know - the author of the New Adventures of Bobbin. Kind of crazy considering she's the only other person I've ever talked to from Singapore. What really struck me about her journal is her writing. There's a style to it that really takes hold of you. One line of particular note from this entry: "i looked at her sisters and brother and her parents and her fiance and saw how they smiled perfunctory smiles at well wishers, smiles that never reached their eyes." That last little description of their smiles...wow. That just blew me away for some reason. I've never heard that idea verbalized so well. From attending a couple of funerals in that past couple of years, I know those "smiles" well. Well, I think I've rambled on long enough...particularly since you guys won't see this until someone gets the right answer to last week's riddle. Just had to get it down in writing though. Wow...upon reflection, I realized that this is certainly my longest entry in a year. Actually, it's the second longest entry ever after the first one. So, congratulations to you non-skimmers if you actually managed to made it through. Announcin' Oh, quick news brief...I'm still planning on getting a big group to go to Atlanta from September 5th-7th. Braves game(s) Friday, Auburn @ Georgia Tech Saturday, and Six Flags Sunday. I've got all the accomodations. If you're interested in going, let me know. | |||||||
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