In 16 Days We'll be Married
I've
been lax at posting here the past few weeks mostly
because I feel
that I can't do justice to the amazing events that have transpired in
that time, so in an effort to purge my writer's block, I've decided to
simply do my best to convey the feeling of the many fun nights of the
past 14 days.
New York is an amazing city.
Jersey is NOT an amazing state.
It takes a lot to get me to leave my favorite island for the J-State. Someday I'll relate the story of 3 cars breaking down, the sky's opening up, and being stuck in a gas station parking lot for 14 hours in Jersey here on the blog, but for know, just know that my hatred isn't unfounded.
Only the Lure of going to Medieval Times for the first time could get me back in Jersey's clutches, and I was afraid that once again the fates would conspire to keep me trapped in Jersey forever.
Somehow, though, the ominous
backdrop of Jersey was a fitting setting
for the weird and wonderful cheesiness that is Medieval Times. If you've
ever seen The Cable Guy, the actual experience of going to MT is much
the same as it is depicted in the movie, but with both more and less
glitz at times.
Unlike Ren-Faires, MT freely breaks the illusion, taking you from flashing LED colors in a "commemorative mug" to the actors talking in (thankfully well practiced) accents and decently engrossing plot, back to glow-necklaces and Pepsi, and back again to the show.
The juxtaposition of MT being smack in the middle of Jersey, next to a hotel and a bank, seems to fit remarkably well in light of the dual worlds that MT itself maintains. Once your brain adjusts and suspends disbelief, you're both in the middle of the action and at your table eating, drinking, and buying knick-knacks at once.
Remarkably, the food itself was excellent, and eating with your fingers does satisfy some voracious need you didn't know you had until you start doing it. Meg + Co had gotten me a one size fits all "groom" hat, which, not surprisingly, didn't fit on my massive noggin, so I'm sure i got some chicken grease on the brim as I shifted it up and down to keep the blood from pooling in my brain.
Two things stuck with me as I thought about the night later. First - the show was remarkable. I've been part of and seen my share of stage combat, and these guys broke all the rules, swinging full force withing "strike range" of each others heads and bodies. If the block wasn't there, I don't believe they could have stopped any of the hits, and some of them could have been crippling, dulled sword or not. Either they're really really good, or really careless. Seeing as no one got hurt and they're doing this 7 nights a week, I think they might just be awesome.
The second thing comes from the other "world" of MT, as I walked back from the bathroom complete with plastic ball and chain around my ankle, groom hat, and goofy grin, and two of the waitresses asked me what was going on.
"I'm here for my bachelor's party"
"You're HERE?" one of the girls replied, rolling her eyes at the other girl. They were lost in the business world of MT, unable to see the show, the fun. This was the placed where they worked, decidedly not cool.
"Yeah, it's great" I said, smiling at them. I was proud of it. I loved the cheesiness - I loved that my friends had all gone to such lengths to put it together and to be there - I loved everything about the night. To me, this was 1000 times cooler than being at some seedy strip joint.
One of the girls stopped with her tray and smiled back. I think she saw a little bit of what I saw, and that maybe, just a little bit, her job was once again as cool as I thought it was.
The weeks that followed have been a blur of goodbye celebrations for Christin and other festivities, and then my upstate bachelor's party with my brother and best friend.
The upstate party was
wonderful in its own way, giving me time to
kick back and just enjoy the company as we played hours of poker and
playstation 2. Rye and I have made a tradition of returning to our roots
rather than trying to go out and find stuff to do in suburbia, and it
has yet to fail us. We played SSX
tricky until we couldn't stay awake
any longer, and damn near beat the game in a weekend.
