Octoberfest'd!!

Man, I'm glad this is over.

Friday: Wound up taking off at noon in order to get to Joliet in a timely manner. Glad we did, as there was apparently a monsoon between Cville and Springfield, and it took us over 4 hours to get to J-town, maybe closer to 5. Hung out for a few minutes after checking it, and Liz/John showed up with Sarah in tow. Hung out waiting for Matt/Jeremy to pick up Sarah, and then rolled out to explore Joliet and find some grub.

Wound up at a Mexican joint called Señor Tequila, where the salsa was mind-numbing hot (awesome), the waiters were pushing the 46 oz. Margaritas (awesome), and also had holsters with bottles of tequila in them (awesome). Ordered some combo plate I can't remember the name of that whooped my ass something fierce with some incredible steak thing goin on. (awesome.) Headed to Jewel to get provisions for the weekend and stocking the fridge in our room, which apparently was the only fridge-equipped room in the Hampton. Figures. That comes into play later.

Watched the end of the World Series in our room whilest John and I drank Old Style Lite while the womens had vodka/juice products, and we played some random drinking games, drank too much, then decided it was a good idea to swim/jacuzzi. Played some drunken reverse chicken, had 9' swimming races. Good times. Went our seperate ways after that (I think). Went to bed at some point, I think.

Saturday: Woke up at some point, met Kerwins for shady continental breakfast. Hung out in room for a short while, met up with the Soon-to-be Schweigharts. Rolled out to the Mansion just before noon for rehersal action. Mansion was awesome. Wedding was rehearsed. Went back to hotel afterwards to chill out I think? I don't remember. Maybe not. Oh...no. Went to the mall afterwards. Women waitied around to get nails done, guys got tuxes and tried them on, and then food court food was had. Went back to the hotel after that for a bit. That sounds right. I worked on my best man speech, and people...watched TV and drank in our room I think. Maybe. I dunno.

Eventually made our way (after getting lost, and forgetting to tell Jim we were leaving) to the resturaunt for the rehersal dinner. Open bar with a halfway retarded bartender. (No, there's no Malibu in a Sapphire and Tonic. Also, my "Crown and Coke" was apparently poured out of some mystery cup of whiskey that we couldn't identify). But free booze is free booze, so I boozed it up. Had an awesome time hanging out with everyone, meeting new people, and having an incredible meal. Drank more. Headed back to the hotel, where we....drank more. Chris eventually gathered up all the guys and handed out the groomsmen gifts; fucking incredible personalized humidors stocked with Fuentes and all the trimmings. Way awesome. Went outside to freeze our balls off and smoke some stogies. Romeo was the man and rolled with a cooler bag, so we hung out around the lobby alternately smoking and drinking his beer until it was gone around 3a.

Sunday: I was awoken at 7:30 by the herds of women congregating in my room, which was volunteered for hair/makeup staging. Thusly, I was kicked out and left to my own devices. Took my laptop to the lobby, had some food, and finished composing my speech. Then being the awesome man I am, headed back to Jewel to get Mimosa items and fruit for the ladies. Had to kill time since they don't sell before 10a on sundays in joliet (bastards). Killed time, spent a shiteload of cash on items, and headed back. Delivered items, then tried to find a spot to plant my displaced self. Attempted to crash in Jim's room for a short while before giving up, then headed to Nate's room, slept for approxmiately 10 minutes, then decided to give up the idea of rest since we needed to eat, and I needed to bathe and prep for the wedding. Had some BK, which instantly made me non-hungover and awake. Thanks King!

Went back to the hotel, found a room to bathe and change in, then rolled to the mansion, where I was immediately innundated with one mini-catastrophe after another (where's this music, where's the frantic Japanese lady, where's the groom at, where are the unity candles, etc). Showtime came, and despite all the freaking out, the ceremony went awesome aside from some asshole blaring Ludacris through half of it. Cocktails, hours de vours were had during pictures, then the reception began, leading off with my suddenly-shaky self plodding through my best man speech and nearly knocking my glass over in an effort to toast the happy couple. Food and much more booze was had (hooray for open bars). Thriller, Footloose, James Brown, jig, dance-off, the Worm, and other random shite went down. Good party for a Sunday night. Wrapped around 11, made our way back to the hotel where our room was once again declared party central while the hardcore folks made their way to the casino. We basically kicked people out around 130, and hit the sack.

Monday: I woke up around 6 with the urge to hurl and a stomach that woudln't quit convulsing. Calmed items down with a string of burps and farts that would embarrass a llama. Helen's mom knocked on the door at 7, and we were up. In proper Kingston style, we crammed shit into bags, grabbed a quickie breakfast and were on the road at 8:30a. Cruise control was locked on 85, except for the cop festival outside of Springfield, and somehow we made it back to Collinsville in 3 hours flat via some sort of I55 south timewarp. Hit Ruby Tuesday for lunch, got the dog, headed home, unpacked, and I took a much-deserved nap until 6p. Was awoken by Ellen around then, had sex and chili dog (not at the same time), ellen went to bed shortly after watching a bit of TV, I stayed up till about 10 doinking around on the computer and playing xbox.

This weekend entails NOTHING. It'll rock.

Congrats once again to Chris and Cari, y'all rock. It was awesome seeing everyone and their brother, and meeting some decent Californians.

Red bull, take me away.