Congrats Paul and Stephanie!

Went out to Stephenville on Thursday for Paul & Stephanie's wedding. Man, I needed a trip like that -- it was a fantastic time:

• Thursday: Rolled into Stephenville at around 6:30. This was much sooner than I thought, given the 10:00am departure owing to the goofing around getting the rental car. Had the stag party that night at Clancy's Pub. Lots of drinks consumed, stories shared, pool played, and good times had.
• Friday: Nursed a tiny hangover at a deli called Hartery's -- like a combination of "hard" and "artery", which was very apt considering the greasy feed we had. Managed to buy a hacky sack at the dollar store there, so that entertained us throughout the afternoon. In the evening, we all went to the rehearsal party. More good times, in spite of the presence of asthma-triggering dogs.
• Saturday: Another grease-laden breakfast, this time at the Holiday Inn. Got all decked out and went to the wedding, which was nice and short. In the 3 hour interim, we non-wedding-party folk went to our hotel's lounge, tied a few on, and chewed the fat. Rarely do I see the folks who were there. Then off to the reception, which was awesome. Dandy feed, cheap bar, and a live band along with the DJ. Danced the night away...
• Sunday: Still wondering when I'll get the bill for the hangover I should have had. In the meantime, we hit the road early, pit-stopped at Deer Lake for breakfast with B&M, and drove back home. This was exhausting, so I was in bed by 9 last night.

A good trip. And here's to Paul and Stephanie, and many, many happy years together!

There we are... hopefully that'll sustain my massive readership for the next three week lapse.

Of getting older (pt. 28)

Birthday pub crawl on Friday was an overwhelming success! Thanks to all who participated. It was meant to be a dive crawl, but only one place truly fit the bill. I'll give my impressions of the destinations:

1. Turner's Tavern -- seemed a little hipper than I anticipated. Some accounts said that it smelled terrible, so I'll give it a dive rating of 3/5. 1 drink had.
2. Windsock -- Went in, no music on, and a bunch of hens seemingly having a potluck. Seems like we caught them off guard. Drinks were affordable. But no place with a grand piano and a cleverly executed airplane theme can be a dive. 1/5. 2 drinks.
3. Rose and Thistle -- The Rose is the Rose. I had no pretentions of it being a dive, but it was along the way. N/A. 2 drinks, including God-awful Jagrmeister
4. Nautical Nellies -- As above, but I've never been there in a truly pub capacity. Received a mysterious free drink - I suspect J&L. N/A 2 drinks had.
5. Stetson -- $4 cover. Fuck that. But I'll judge it to be 4/5 on the dive scale anyways, just because I'm petty.
6. Fiddlers -- Oh man. Within one minute of being there, I was labelled a hippy and told to get a job by some drunk, waste-o'-space denizen. Many of our numbers went to Mustang's during this time, but the rest of us had a grand ol' chat, and surprisingly intelligent at this point of the evening. Later got asked to dance by said denizen. Thankfully Lynette fell on that grenade for me. 3 drinks had ($2.75 each, can't lose!) 7/5 dive rating!
7. Sports Bar -- Alas, closed when we got there. But the broken toilet outside, and pretty well everything else about it spelled dive. N/A.
8. Peter Easton -- This was a fucking blast. Looks like a real shithole on the outside, but opening the door reveals a bar that is improbably massive on the inside. Best part: karaoke! I was told I should be on Canadian Idol, which I took with a grain shaker of salt. I was loving singing Free Bird. And lots of dancing flailing to be had. Can't remember how many drinks were had. I suspect 2. 3/5 dive rating.

There we have it. My actual birthday was on the 7th, and not nearly as rosy. Mudder hurt herself, so I was late for J&J's shindig. I was also forced to drive (i.e., not drink). They totally surprised me with a kick-ass cheesecake, so that was awesome. But then my team got knocked out of the playoffs after blowing a 2 goal lead (thankfully the aggressors later got what was coming to them). Thus drained, and not wanting to afflict people with my mopish mood, I called it an early night.

Oh, and long weekends are a good thing. Especially good after a vast, depressing expanse of the year that does not have them. Looking forward to May 2-4 now. Actually, the last week of April will be write-off as it includes a two-day first-aid course and two days of going to Stephenville for Paul's wedding. It'll be like a micro-vacation.

Right, work...