Congratulations Gina and Matt! (and New Things #136-138)

I just got home from my second (and last) ex-girlfriend Gina's awesome wedding. (New Thing #136: that was the first Greek Orthodox wedding I've ever been to.) (I thought it was interesting that they have the same "share from the same cup" tradition that us Jews have, except they don't break the glass like us Jews do.) (Oh, and I've been to a lot of weddings lately [New Thing #137, which I meant to write about a month ago, but never did, and I'm afraid it's going to stay in the "blog entry to write" file forever and I won't get credit for the new things I did, so I might as well just say that I went to another very lovely wedding last month, of my friends Sara and David, and the wedding was in Napa, so--New Thing #137: I went to Napa Valley for the first time and New Thing #138: I went to my first wine tasting {where I learned that if you swish the wine around in your mouth a lot, not only does it open up your taste buds so that you can really taste the wine, but it actually opens up your taste buds to an almost painful degree and if you're not used to waking up your taste buds in quite that manner, then you're in for a painful treat}] and at all of the weddings I've been to, I've been taking mental notes of things I might want to do if I ever get married {again} and one of the things I loved about the actual wedding ceremony were the very traditional customs that they performed, in particular the "ceremonial walk," which, if you haven't been to a Greek wedding {big, fat, or otherwise} is this moment when the priest walks the couple around a table three times, which is supposed to represent the unending journey of a marriage. I like the symbolism, first of all, but I also like the activity. I think every wedding ceremony should have at least one or two bursts of activity.)

Like I said, the wedding was lovely and the party afterwards was a great time. I was at a table with many old friends from high school (including Jesse; Lanie and her husband Mitch; and Laurie, who I haven't seen in at least ten years, and her husband David).

Gina's entire British, Greek family was there, and everyone in her family is either hot, hot, or hot, so there was a lot of (sadly straight) eye candy. But the highlight of the evening was watching Gina and her new husband Matt--they are deeply in love and you can tell and I wish them a wonderful life together. They deserve nothing but the best. Love you Gina. (You are the best ex-girlfriend evah.)

Okay, now that I've given them my best wishes, I just dug up some embarrassing photos from high school that I thought would be fun to share with Gina on her big day. GINA...as you begin this new chapter of your life, let's take a tiny stroll down ye olde memorie laine:

This first picture was taken in Gina's parents kitchen. I'm pretty sure I took the picture, and I think I was like "give me some attitude" and Jesse (back row, right), Gina (front row, right), and Lanie (front row, middle) took my direction very well (very fierce, y'all), but Jen (front row, left) and Justin (back row, left) aren't giving the camera any fucking attitude at all. (And they would so be kicked off Erik's Next Top Model for not taking my direction) (speaking of Next Top Model, are you going to watch this season? I'm conflicted. I crave the show, but I feel like I should support the writers of the show who are striking. So I don't think I'm going to watch. But the thought of not watching pains me.) Oh, and I believe this picture was taken in 1993, or thereabouts:

This next picture is just Gina ("Just Gina!") (I can't believe I just made a Will and Grace reference, I hate Will and Grace) (but I like Jack and Karen, so it's okay) standing in "the drama hallway," i.e. the hallway outside the drama room, which is basically where we spent our entire four years of high school. Those lockers on the right side of the picture? Yeah, my locker was on the top row, fourth from the right. We would literally spend hours just sitting on that cold linoleum floor taking about nothing in particular (but it felt like everything, you know? because we were in high school) and now it kinda grosses me out that we spent so much time sitting in that hallway because look at the bottom right corner of this picture. The ground is gross.

Okay, this next picture is a terrible photo (Gina, your eyes are closed, I'm sorry to be posting this picture), but I'm posting it for several reasons. First, let's look at the photo:

You looked at it, right? Okay, I have so much to say.

1. This picture was taken at the big "raging" party I threw for New Years' one year when my parents went out of town for the holidays and they left me alone in the house for a week and of fucking course I was going to throw a party, no ifs ands or buts about it. Of fucking course.

2. I didn't tell my folks I threw the party until several years later, and they said they knew I'd thrown a party because the house was cleaner when they returned home from the trip than it had been when they left. And since there's no reason I would ever clean the house unless I was hiding something, they'd figured: party.

3. What the fuck am I wearing?

4. Seriously, what the fuck am I wearing?

5. The red hair, the satin shirt, the bow...if I didn't know that the party was NOT a costume party, I'd think that maybe I was dressed as Ronald McDonald.

6. I mean, seriously.

7. And what are we looking at on Jen's elbow?

8. And yes, those red cups ARE filled with booze, and yes, I AM sixteen-years-old in the photo. (I was SUCH a rebel.)

9. Gina, are you blinking or are you totally blitzed?

This next photo is from the same night. I'm posting this next photo because I love how young Gina and Jesse look and I think that maybe Jesse was dressed as Ronald McDonald too, and I also love that my old beloved dog Coco is sitting on the couch in the bottom right corner. (I miss Coco.)

This last photo is from Winter Formal, sophomore year. Gina and I were dating at the time, but she'd already graduated (yes, I was a total stud, dating a college girl), so I went to the dance with this other girl Arynne McCrary (I'm not sure if that's how she spelled her name--it was pronounced like "erin" but she spelled it with many, many n's and y's) (Gina, I have no idea where this photo was taken--do you recognize the house we're in?)

Okay, thanks for letting me have this little trip down memory lane. You looked beautiful tonight, Gina, and I'm so happy for both of you. Take your penis out of your pants and headbang to some awesome rock music!