"Mae-wedge"

If anyone can tell me where post title comes from, you get bonus points. Today was my brothers wedding. so of course the last few days involved quite a bit of debauchery!

I drove down to San Diego on New years day and started getting ready for my brother bachelor party. It was nothing too elaborate, just all the guys over for booze, poker and some good times...

I was so tired when I woke up yesterday, that I almost slept through rehearsal. Showed up a couple minutes late, ran through the motions. Left the church and raced home to meet Jefferson who came down from LA for the wedding and was waiting at my parents place. We ate, socialized drank more and I finally was in bed at around 11 or so. No, 11 is not that late, but I was hurting really bad from the last 4 late nights.

I showed up to the church this morning, late, and got all ready. We took a ton of pics which I will be posting on my myspace soon, and then we were off to the races. During the ceremony, there was hard found a dry eye in the crowd. Towards the end, they did a unity candle along with a separate for my grandfather who passed 1 year and 6 days ago, and Allyson's younger sister Ashleigh who passed in the Paradise fire on October 26th, 2003. I lost it and started tearing up. I looked down at my grandma and she was blotting her eyes. So sad, but there was so much good happening everything was okay...

The rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch. The only other responsibility I had was to deliver the best man's toast. I procrastinated and did not write anything until the last minute. Friday afternoon, I E-mailed David a REALLY rough copy, and asked if he had any suggestions. He offered up a couple of awesome anecdotes, and the speech went really well. The two parts that David suggested I add were received well, and got some pretty hearty laughs! Thanks D.

I just got back to LA tonight and am now looking for something to do. I was exhausted earlier, but am now kinda bored and not too tired.

Oh, and for my San Diegans... How about them Chargers?!?!?!

Just a quick one

I have been home from work now for a few hours and have been thinking about some fond memories. I remember when my brother and I were 10 and 12 years old +/- a couple years. We would always go swimming at my grandparents. My grandpa always used to yell at us, NO PEEING IN MY POOL! Then he would call us over with a sample of pool water. He has a little bottle of magic elixir that told him which one of us had peed in the pool, if the water turned red, it was my brother, blue, me. We were so stupid back then, not realizing that he had a blue and red bottle of food coloring. We were both guilty of using the pool potty, but would not admit it. So when the water turned blue or red, we knew we were busted! Ohhh the Trickery!

The other memory was for Thanksgiving about 15 years ago. I reached across the table and grabbed a dinner roll with my hand. He watched me do it, looked at me and said "You want some mashed Potatoes too?" and used his bare hand grabbed a "handful" of mashed potatoes and plopped them onto my plate...It was legendary...

Miss you already Papa, can't believe its been a year...

Xmas Eve...

I left LA this AM at about 10AM and got down to SD at about noon. No traffic to speak of at all. I had an interesting drive home and was thinking about a lot of stuff. Much of which i do not normally post on this blog but probably should for your viewing pleasure. Anyways, as many of you know, my Grandpa passed away 1 year ago on the 29th, and it has been terribly hard on my grandma and my dad. That 1 year anniversary is coming up, and I feel like I need to be doing something. I got choked up on my drive down thinking about the good times we had with him.

This was the first time I had gotten that upset since last December at John's house in London. Jefferson, John and I were getting ready to go out to "Bar Code" in Vauxhall when he got an email form my Mom telling him to have me call her. I knew something was not right. My grandpa had passed. I cried. Then we went out and drank profusely. By the time the driver came to get us I could barely stand up. I did not shed a tear until I got back to the states on the January 4th.

I have a lot of pent-up emotions right now, and it is a bit stressful. I still slap on my happy face and my stupid personality everyday, and do what I do. I cannot change what happened, and can only stand in support of my grandma, who tonight was starting to get a little shaky. I will be back to LA on the 26th, and if any of my readers/friends would like to join me, I think I am going to go out on Monday night, the 29th, and have a beverage, Glenlivet 18, rocks.

On a festivities note, I had a great time tonight with the family and look forward to more family bonding tomorrow. For Xmas Eve tonight, I ended up getting some work clothes an igloo cooler, perfect for Car Bars!!! and some edible goodies. Cannot wait til tomorrow. Setting out the milk and cookies, stoking the fire, and hitting the hay! Talk at you all later!

Brandon