Sam and Xia Get Married

This weekend, we headed up north for Sam and Xia's wedding. We weren't supposed to be there. Stina was going to do her Tri that weekend, but due to sustained injury, she decided to postpone racing until early November. Fortunatly, that meant we got to go to the amazing wedding.

They rented out a campsite eastish of Sacremento in the middle of frickin nowhere. I have no idea how they ran across such a site. It was totally gorgeous, right along a river. It was a true destination wedding, as everyone spent the whole weekend together. Sam and Xia's folks cooked up some really tasty dinners, and Shoomer reigned supreme for Saturday brunch. Of the 50 people there, I knew probably 40, and went to college with at least 20 of them. All in all, it was too much fun.

Now Stiners and I are pretty pathetic campers. We are rather attached to our creature comforts. Going camping a means we'll need our Aerobed and an adapter for the car so we can pump it up (while its inside the tent).



Fortunately, it turned out that this wasn't really camping. It was all the benefits of camping - clean air, lots of gorgeous nature - without any of the hardships that camping usually entails (for me). There was electricity, toilets, showers, a huge kitchen/barbeque area, a keg, and a hot tub that fit 15 people.



We played frisbee,


drove the 4x4,

learned the new secret jew sign,

hiked out to the swimhole (I did not partake - it smacked of effort),

and watched JJ breakdance on the lawn.


Eventually, there was a wedding. Ben Z serinaded the couple on the way in.

And then they got hitched. There was much rejoicing, especially from the couple who survived the ceremony.


There was snacks, followed by a BBQ feast. Somehow, drunkedness happened. Hans captured a potent moment while Thriller was blasting out of the stereo.


I would like to point out that that moment seriously pales in comparision to a similar moment in Hans life.


Anyhow, we had a ridiculously good time. Now there were no caterers or bartenders or anything at this wedding. So I went in with the attitude that I wanted to really pitch in to help Sam and Xia enjoy their weekend more. One of my favorite moments was after dinner on Saturday. I was trying to clean up the tables in the rapidly diminishing light. I wasn't sure if I should collect all the silverware - since we might need some for cake. I approach Xia, who had a hell of day, and was totally ready to kick back. I asked what the deal with cake was. She looked at me with blank eyes - she clearly had forgotten about the cake. She took a deep breath, and said: "You know what, fuck it. We'll do cake tomorrow or something". Sam walked up to her right then, and Xia said to him "James asked about the cake. I said we should skip it." Sam, who had no idea that was coming, was probably assuming it was time to deal with the cake. He looked at her for moment, and I saw one of the most responsible people I've ever met, fully aware that people we're ready for cake say "Totally. Fuck it."

It was brilliant.