I'm trying something a little different with this blog, granted it's still me writing the same manner as I normally write, but with a different purpose. Obviously, by now, if you have been on MySpace within the last week or so, you will know that I was in
The last couple of times I went out of town, I kept a running diary, but I thought I would keep it in the same vane. A couple of weeks I was talking with a friend online and they said how they like to travel all over the world, I told her I would be going to Chicago and right then and there, I decided to try and find something out. A lot of people I know say they like to travel to different places. Some people like traveling around the city, other the state, some around the country, and others, the world. I want to try and determine what actually makes traveling so fun? Is it the uniqueness of a new place, the culture of the area you are in, the food, the people, what? This is what I wanted to try and find out what makes traveling so fun, at least in my experiences.
I went along with Mike, Jason's older brother, my roommate, in addition to Mike's girlfriend, Alex. For the first couple of days it was the 3 of us, but after a while we meet up with the rest of the crew from the
Originally, I wanted to keep a running diary, but to be honest with you, that would take up waaay to long to write, and well, I doubt very many would read something like 10 pages long, so I would throw out some of the better points of the trip. So, what I'm trying to say is instead of reading something like 10 pages long, it'll only be about 4 pages or so…regardless it should at least make for some entertaining reading.
When I finally got back home from the wedding, everyone asked me about the trip and how it was, and honestly, the trip itself was fun, actually I had a blast. There could have been a thousand things I could have done this past week instead of flying up to the
One of the best times I had, and a lifelong goal to achieve, was visiting Wrigley field and watching the Cubs play a game. It was everything I thought it would be: bad beer, an old venue, and some of the rowdiest fans this side of the
Singing "Take me out to the ballgame" at Wrigley was unbelievable…it's just like what you see on TV, but only better because I was there this time. Throw in the fact that I sung, almost drunkenly, "Deep in the Heart of Texas" afterwards, only makes it that much better. There are only 2 more parks I want to visit before I die: Fenway and Yankee Stadium, I am 1/3 done with the Holy Trinity of Baseball Stadiums.
If you've ever been to a Cubs game, you have undoubtedly heard of the bar across the street called The Cubby Bear. Well, put it this way, they had no idea what they were getting into when they let me into that place. First of all, the place is awesome; it is pretty sizable and has an area for a live band. Guess what they had on the main stage that night? Yep, karaoke. Only with a caveat: There was a live backing band to the songs sung by the karaokers. Because it was a live band, there were only certain songs available to sing…which meant no New Kids on the Block. So, I went with my next option, Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name. If you know me, you wont be surprised to hear I killed it, I brought down the entire place, it was truly one of the coolest times in my life, I only wish they had New Kids.
Yeah, there were other times I had that were pretty fun. Navy Pier was one of them, it's basically like this huge ass pier that leads into
The beauty about going to a wedding is that generally you aren't actually in the wedding, well, unless you get asked to be in one (Riv, I'm still your best man). But, as I was saying, when you are actually in the wedding you have responsibilities: whether it's being there for moral support, being a witness, or hooking up with a bridesmaid, there are responsibilities for those involved. One of those is the wedding rehearsal, well as I was saying, I wasn't actually in the wedding, so I didn't need to be at the rehearsal, but I thought I would go anyway, because, well, staying with my roommate's girlfriend in a hotel room is just creepy. So I went, and damn, I am glad I went.
Initially, I just wanted to go and watch the rehearsal and eat the free food afterwards. Well, some of the people who were supposed to be in the wedding were running late for the rehearsal, so I willingly filled in for them. Of course, they were bridesmaids, so I got to walk down the altar with one of the groomsman, it's okay though, I am comfortable with my sexuality. So, there I was walking down the aisle with cat-calls abound. But it was fun; I thought I was hot. But, it gets better, the actual wedding was a traditional Jewish wedding, and obviously I'm not Jewish. As you can imagine, it would hard to have a rehearsal without the rabbi. Guess who filled in for the rabbi? Yep, Steven. So, there I am, a Mexican Rabbi, who looks completely out of place, it was awesome. I even said "mazel tov" to the people. Needless to say, in the history of rabbis, I had to have been in the Top 10. I think it's safe to say, I was the hit of the wedding rehearsal…like you would expect anything else out of me. It's actually funnier when you hear me tell the story in person.
Hell, that was nothing though. I've known Mike for about 4 years now, and we're pretty good friends, through the years I have met his other two brothers and have gotten along pretty well. We went to Vegas and Windsor together for the bachelor parties, and well, it was pretty much a given that I became adopted by the family. Well, this was all speculation until I met their dad. When I met the father, it became official; I became an honorary brother, concluded by their dad. So, now in addition to my real family, I also have a white family…at the rate I am going, I will be called Tyree Jenkins by next spring.
Following the rehearsal, we had a dinner for those invited, with an open bar. My new dad warned me about the dangers of an open bar. He said that he paid for 50 people to have all they can drink in 2 hours, but there would only be 46 people there, so basically I had to pick up the slack for 4 other people. Yep, he challenged me to drink as much beer as I could in 2 hours. As Mike says, that was like throwing gas on a wild fire. We ended up at Stone Wood Ale House, and I drank just about every beer they had on tap there, all the top-shelf stuff, so as you can imagine, there was no Pabst, Old Style, Milwaukee's Best…but I did have my very first Schiltz, what did I tell you; nothing but of top shelf. Needless to say by the time we left that place, the entire party was feeling pretty good, why stop a good thing right? So what did about 20 of the people in attendance, myself included do? Naturally we went to the hotel bar and preceded do 3 more shots and drink more and more beer. It truly was a blast; I knew maybe 5 people going into the dinner, by the time I came out of there, everyone knew who I was and knew about Steven. There are certain things I can do well in this life, have fun and make friends, on this night I was in prime form, it was allsome. Of course, now everyone expected me to be the hit of the wedding reception, uh, did they know who they were talking to?
But, before we get to the actual wedding, we have to get to what was possibly the greatest sporting spectacle in the
If you know me, you know how much I love sports, college football in particular, especially the Texas Longhorns. The wedding was Saturday night at
I was pretty upset, I haven't missed a weekend of washers in quite sometime, and this was looking like that rare occasion, that is until I went to Champs Sports Bar. Unknowingly, we went to the sports bar to kill some time and watch college football, that much we knew, what we didn't know what they had an actual "Cornhole" tournament going on in the restaurant, and it was open to the public.
("Cornhole" is similar to washers; cornhole you use beanbags and throw them in a hole, "washers" uses actual washers and anywhere from 1-3 holes, while trying to get them in the hole, needless to say it's a lot harder.)
Anyway, when Mike and I walked into the place and they announced this, I nearly pissed my pants; words can't describe how excited I was. There was a Cornhole tournament going on, you had to sign up and play other patrons in the bar. Guess who won the entire tournament? Yep, Steven did. I swear to God, I ran through that tournament like a red light and won the grand prize of $25 which went straight to our tab. The coolest part was taunting my opponents and having my friends cheer me on.
The other cool part? Remember when I said, I always listen to
And, we finally get to the wedding. Well, since I had no idea how a Jewish wedding went down, I didn't know what to expect, except to scream "Mazel Tov" when the glass is broken, I learned this thanks to Wedding Crashers. I was just hoping the rabbi didn't show up because I was all rehearsed and everything, nothing like having your wedding done by Rabbi Ramirez. I kid, though…the wedding ceremony was great, it's was different than traditional Catholic (read: Mexican) wedding and a lot shorter; the entire ceremony lasted maybe 30 minutes, which was great because I could keep up with the game at the reception. When Jason broke the glass, as they do in traditional Jewish weddings, I think I was the first one to scream out "Mazel Tov"; I traveled 800 miles to be that guy. It was allsome (note: the difference in "allsome" opposed to simply "awesome")
The reception? Oh my Lord…put it this way: open bar. Enough said, who do you think was the guy double-fisting? Yep, again Steven. Before we actually started to all get our drink on, we all had dinner, and had the blessing of the bread, followed by the speeches. Mike gave a solid one, I even got mentioned in the best man speech. The bridesmaid? Eh, they cheated…the gave one simultaneously…you cant do that! But after the speeches and the dinner, we danced, and boy, did I dance.
Look, I'm not a great dancer, and I'm obviously not shy, but that didn't stop me. By now, pretty much all of Jason's friends from college/work and their significant others had heard about me, but never really saw me in action. That changed quickly. First off, we did the "Hava Nagila", a Jewish dance where you kick and spin around in circles. Look, I took a folk dancing class in college (yeah, seriously) and never in my wildest dreams did I think I would use any other those dances other than college credit. I was wrong. I had to have been the best non-Jewish person dancing that song; I think I was even better than some of the ones who were. Pictures and words don't do it justice, as a matter of fact, I'm ready to go again.
Hey, remember that scene in Wedding Crashers when Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn start pushing the groom up and down overhead in a chair? Yeah, that scene…well, I did that. I got picked to help with the lifting of Jason. 3 other guys and myself were lifting up Jason in unison…nevermind that we got tired and he fell out the chair, it was still a great time. I thought I was in shape, but I'm not prepared to military press 200 pounds during a 4-minute song, I mean, there's just some things I cant do.
Finally we get to the actual reception and much to my pleasure; they played every one of the best dance songs. Yeah, I did the electric slide flawlessly; seriously, I was even throwing new spins and turns in there. Earlier in the trip, I asked Jason if they would play "Billie Jean" and he didn't know. Well, they did…and well, if you thought I brought down the house at the Cubby Bear with Bon Jovi, this was way cooler. If you've never seen me do my Michael Jackson impression during "Billie Jean"; it's a sight so see. Speaking of sight to see, you should know my guilty pleasure is New Kids on the Block's The Right Stuff, it's my bread and butter. Guess who danced this song in front of complete strangers? Yep, again Steven. I swear I put on an exhibition of kick-ass dancing, like Justin Timberlake with a good tan. The odd thing? I wasn't drunk while dancing. Now, that's impressive.
Once
Overall, it was a great time and there were so many more things I left out because of the kick-assness that it was. Eating at Gino's pizza, getting a picture with a pirate, doing the back spin on the dance floor, earning some street cred from Mike's little nephew. I go could on and on and on. Would I visit
I've been all over the world, from
So, I asked myself this question and wanted to find out for myself, "What makes traveling so fun" What is it about traveling that everyone seems to enjoy? Sure there are headaches that come from it like hotels, lost luggage, expensive drinks, ect, but for the most part people enjoy traveling. And here's what I came up with, for me, what I love about traveling isn't the people, it's not the food, the drinks, the sites. For me, the best part about traveling is the memories I have and the good times they bring back to me. It's even better when you travel with someone because it's something you can share together.
When I look back 10 years from now, and someone asks if I've been to
I don't know much in this world, but I do know that I'm already looking forward to my next trip, I don't know when it'll be, but I'll be ready for it. So, if you excuse me, I'm gonna go finish my laundry, because even though I love traveling, I hate doing laundry from afterwards…until next week.
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