My apologies, dear readers, for the radio silence on the blog for the past week. I took a much-needed long weekend and flew to Dublin, Ohio, land of real autumn, lots of quaint looking brick buildings (even McDonalds, which was an adorable house, missing the famous golden arches) and loads of football fans, but most importantly, the hometown and now-current town of my friend JV, who got married this weekend. I did myself the favor of staying as far away from computers as possible (except for a minor dalliance into email checking in the Marriott Business Center on Saturday — just couldn’t resist), and it made this weekend one of the most (mentally, at least) relaxing times I’ve had in recent memory.
The wedding was very nice, the bride was gorgeous and had an amazing dress, and even the first dance (which she was nervous about) went off without a hitch. The highlights of the weekend, though, went beyond those fundamental wedding things. Here are some tidbits, in no particular order:
First, one of the groom’s friends was a former stripper. Yes, a male stripper. All the girls were talking about it before we met him on the night of the rehearsal dinner, so we were prepared. After the rehearsal dinner, we all went to a local bar and I ended up talking to the stripper (disguised as a normal guy in a button down shirt and purposely-ripped jeans). Remembering that the groom had warned us not to ask him about his previous career, I asked him innocently, “So D. says you’re a DJ?” “Yeah,” he replied, “I DJ at a strip club.” All righty then!
Anyway, Stripper ended up being fun to talk to. And what does Little Miss Law find to chat about with a stripper, you ask? That’s right . . . our cats. (No, I’m not kidding. His is named Mayhem.) Still, the following night when Stripper and I were chatting again (he was seated at our table), the groom’s brother came over and was hovering around us looking concerned. He apparently later pulled my friend J. aside and told her to “look out” for me. What? A guy who stripped for EIGHT YEARS isn’t the most wholesome, dateable guy? Shocker, and here I was planning our wedding. Thanks for the concern, though, guys!
Second, dear readers, I had a realization. Not that I was planning on it, but I am definitely not moving to the Midwest. In fact, even though I have recently been picturing myself in my flannel shirt, writing books on my small town porch, I think I can scratch out anything that’s not a city. Yes, Dublin had something of a storybook feel to it, with all the brilliant fall leaves, the pine trees, and all the brick. But let’s just say that our encounters with the locals left something to be desired. Two reasons: 1) The most common thing said to me (with a slight accent) was “You’re from L.A.?? No shit!” and 2) In Dublin there appears to be nothing to do but drink beer and watch Buckeye football. Now, I can certainly watch football and drink a cold one on the weekend. Fine. Do I want to do this at the local bar from 8 am to midnight, wearing my Ohio State sweatshirt? Um … I think I might pass on that. And indeed, when J. and I went to the much-hyped “Dub Pub” after the wedding, we encountered nothing but die-hard Buckeye fans, all crammed into a packed sports bar in a strip mall, right next to the dry cleaner. One guy, who from afar we dubbed “Varsity Blues,” was sporting a Buckeye jersey and a Chris Carmack-esque jock look. J. asked him whether he was a current student at Ohio State, or whether he was an alum. “Neither,” he replied. (This phenomenon is summed up perfectly by the poster we saw at the airport, advertising the Ohio State merchandise store: “If you wear the sweatshirt, they’ll think you graduated.” Yeeeeah.)
Third, did you know that Dublin has a whole field of human-sized corn ears? K., my friend T.’s boyfriend, wanted to stop because he didn’t believe, looking at the corn from the road, that it was really human-sized. (We vetoed him because we were cold and tired.) He joked that perhaps it was T.-sized, (who is 5’3″) but certainly not his height (6’4″). Well, K., I’ll have you know that the corn is indeed 6 feet tall — perhaps not as tall as you, but I think it can safely be called “human-size.”
Finally, I lived one of my dreams and visited White Castle, which I have wanted to do ever since watching Harold & Kumar. Sadly, I had just eaten lunch and so I couldn’t bring myself to eat even one tiny burger, so K. took one for the team and ordered it. But I have to say, the food smelled disgusting. It was bad in the restaurant and then it filled the entire rental car with its smell. So I guess my fantasies can end and I’ll stick to In-N-Out.
Dear readers, I have more stories but I am somewhat jetlagged (after all, it’s 2 a.m. in Dublin).
To be continued…