More from Florida...

So back to the trip...

...after we checked into the hotel on Saturday, we went over to Uncle Ken & Aunt Eileen's house for awhile where we met Ken's sister, Diane (?), and her husband, Loren, and my cousin David. After hanging around, we went to the rehearsal dinner at Dave & Buster's.

That was probably the highlight of the trip! It was very similar to Jillian's, with the food, the arcade, and the pool tables. After the taco buffet (I give bonus points to Brian and Michelle for the choice of food), I joined the guys in the arcade. I had already lucked out before dinner on this one machine where you have to hit the button so that the mving light is in between these colored arches. Every light has a number next to it, so where the light stops, that's how many tickets you get. If you get the bonus spot, you get a jackpot of tickets.

Anyway, after dinner, I ended up there again. I did okay, and i wanted to win something for J. I had picked out a teddy bear, when I ran into Brian. He had a pile of tickets and voucher for over 3000 points. Somehow, I ended up with a huge Garfield. I guess that works out okay. My parents will notice Garfield missing (more importantly Dad will) and I don't know how J would explain the appearance of a huge Garfield. Plus she has so many stuffed animals already. The last thing she needs is another one!

So anyway, we came back to the hotel. On Saturday, we went to a football game--the Jacksonville Jaguars vs. the Cleveland Browns. Before the game, we went to a Jacksonville-sponsored tailgate party with appearances by a handful of the Jaguar cheerleaders (boring) and the mascot, Jaxson, who was cute and funny. In fact, during the cheerleading routine between the 3rd and 4th quarters, Jaxson tried to sneak up on a bird that was sitting on the field, as if he was going to pounce and eat it. Unfortunately, the bird flew away.

Oh and the Jaguars lost.

We all went to Maria's Place after the game for food and cake (David's 30th birthday is in a few weeks).

And then yesterday was the wedding. The service was okay, though I didn't enjoy the homily or the choice of lessons. The first was okay...a letter to the Corinthians maybe. The second was an accounting of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Canann...which asie from it being at a wedding, I saw no relevance to a marriage. However, the photographer and the reception made up for the ceremony. The photographer was lively and hilarious. She scolded Dad for taking pictures of her pictures--he'd wait til she'd taken her picture and then snap a shot...which she still didn't like. She half-jokingly threatedned to take his camera away and I do believe she would have! :-) Then at the reception, we got into an M&M fight. It was our table (we were joined by Don & Diane and their daughter Heather who used to live near Ken, Eileen, David, & Brian in Virginia Beach) versus the wedding party table (primarily Brian & David).

so it's been a good trip...though I'm kind of lonely. I miss J. I also miss Jake & Paula and Jen and Jen. I want to hang around people who already know my life story so I can make vague references. I want to be around people that I know I can talk about J or even just make references to "my girlfriend". That's the main problem with this trip--I feel so unimportant, quiet, lonely.

The other problem is the smell of this hotel room. There's an odor of disinfectant which is making me nauseated. The water seems off as well. I shower and I feel ickier than before. I feel like I'm bathing in chlorinated water. Plus my hair is looking drabber than usual. I'll be re-dying it first thing when I get home. I'll shower and wash my hair Friday night and then dye it Saturday morning. Althought I really want to see J, but Monday is our anniversary so maybe I'll hold off til then. Oh well, I'm calling her tonight at 10pm, so maybe we'll figure it out. I love her and I can't wait to talk to her. It's even more important to me to talk to her than to watch the Buffy season premiere tonight. :-) Yup, that's love for you!