Well.  In case you were wondering (and I know you were) it actually IS possible to have a good time in Iowa!  I had one of the best weekends I can ever remember, mostly because I got to see a good friend get hitched, but also because I got to spend some quality time with my homies.  Heh. It’s been a long time since I had more than the space of a dinner to hang out with my good buddies from home.  And I’m again reminded that they’re some of the funniest and most devoted people I know.  I’m lucky to have them for friends, and to have had them in my life during the past 25 years.

So Thursday Don (his flight from Boston had a connection in ATL, conveniently) and I arrived in Moline, Illinois about 11:30 and drove across the state to Ames (the male half of the Canadians had told me that the drive was less than 2 hours, but it was no shorter than 3 hours and if I’d known that I would have coughed up the extra however much to fly into Des Moines which was only a half hour from our destination), stopping for lunch along the way at a shitty hotel restaurant with a water theme park inside the hotel.  The “water theme park” was really just a big pool with an elaborate water slide.  We got to the hotel about 3:30, just in time to shower and get ready to leave for the rehearsal at 4:30.  The rehearsal was fine, then we went to the Tick Toc club in Boone, Iowa for the rehearsal dinner which was pretty fun because we were at the awesome table.  We seriously were laughing out loud the entire time, and yes, we were THAT table.  After the dinner a bunch of us went back to our hotel bar where we stayed up doing shots until late.  Saturday morning I wanted to DIE, not as much as the other weekend after Vino Libro, but a lot.  So I went running in the fitness center and felt a little better.  Then we all went to Perkins for breakfast where I had the Hearty Man Meat Platter with pancakes and extra biscuit.  Heh.  After that I naturally had to take a nap, so I went back to my hotel room and took a 2 hour nap, after which I felt great.

The wedding was at 5:00 pm, and we left the hotel at 4:00 in order to be there in time to get ready (all the guys were in the wedding party – I hung out with the wives).  The wedding was fine, it was a Lutheran service and pretty Jesus-tastic.  At the reception there were all the usual toasts.  Don was videotaping the ceremony as well as the reception.  Once the dancing got under way we all stood in the bar area having a good time.  Bill did the most HILARIOUS Napoleon Dynamite dance to the song “Another One Bites the Dust,” which, oh my god, was so funny I almost had a hernia.  Bill and Branden danced a slow dance together, also hilarious.  After the reception we went back to our hotel bar where Branden convinced me to stay longer than I had wanted to because we had to leave at 7:30 in the morning.  I didn’t get to bed until 2 am, but since I didn’t really drink all that much I actually felt fine in the morning.  I was up by 7:00 and ready to go by 7:25.  We had a delightful drive back over to the Moline airport and arrived in plenty of time to get to our flights.

The flight home on Saturday was uneventful, got home by about 3:00 or so.  Dice and I took DVDs over to Kendall and Maura’s and watched TV there until T&R showed up with Fox Bros barbecue, which was delicious.  I was home and in bed before 10:30, so tired I was shaking.  Yesterday we lounged all day long, with a brief trip to the grocery store and the video store to rent movies.  Ordered pizzas from Stella (gorgonzola pizza!) and then I was in bed by 9:30.  Today, I STILL feel run-down and tired. I need another day or so to recuperate!

This week I am on serious financial and physical detox. We cannot afford to go out to eat every night anymore, both because of our bank account and our flab. After all the liver-pickling and crap foods, my body feels like it’s in the worst shape it’s been in in years. Not fun. As I’ve said many times before, until you are actually healthy and in shape, you really have no idea just how GOOD it feels to be healthy! I miss that. I’m constantly tired and feel droopy and moody. So detox is in order, at Month of Repentance scale! Let’s hope I have the necessary discipline. Scratch that, I really have no choice BUT to have the discipline.