2005.07.01 Friday - Rehearsal              [ Link to Pictures ]

The purpose of going to Philly was to aide in Woo's wedding. As one of my closest friends, I felt honored to be invited to help out and assist in any function he wanted me too. But, being that I was asked to be in the wedding party and then demoted, I thought that was messed up too. But alas, that's life. So anyways, had the duties of an org-er but none of the privileges.

But let me stop here and say that if you can't take sarcasm, some fun humor, and lotttttts of finger pointing, then you better stop reading here and jump to the pictures.

So, James (the best man) and I took the Thursday red-eye to Philly so we could make it in time for the wedding rehearsal and dinner. We had planned on just taking an early Friday flight but got bitched out like no tomorrow for even thinking about it. So we arrived Friday early morning and made our way to Kevin's hotel room. From there we went to the King of Prussia mall and got some Chick-fil-A for lunch. We wandered around for a while after visiting some shops and chilling while trying to burn some time before Woo's rehearsal.

About 15 minutes after getting to the rehearsal, Francine (Woo's wife to be) showed up as BRIDE-ZILLLLLLA! Man was she pissed off. She threatened me with "You better not take a picture of me or I'll..." and I snapped a picture and cringed in fear of her deadly wrath. Fortunately, I'm still here. She was horribly upset with the flower arrangements and decorations that the florist was using. They weren't up to par and she was angered. Woo attempted to mitigate the situation, but alas bride-zilla just left in a flurry.

At that point, Kevin, James, Woo, and myself went into the main sanctuary to fix the bow's that she was complaining about as well. The florists had originally used white pipe cleaners to attach the bows to the side of the seats and was pretty ugly. So, Woo brought over ribbon and I taught Kevin and James how to tie the bows to the pews using the ribbon. It didn't look the best but at least better than before.

So, in an hour or so, every finally arrived and we were set to begin. Oh, let me also say that we were early while most everyone else was late; but I got bitched out for wearing shorts (although I specifically asked if I should dress up for the occasion). Anyways, let me tell you my viewpoint on the whole drama with the rehearsal. A few things went wrong that prolly could have been fixed.

First, for some reason we were waiting on two pastors. This didn't make sense to me at first, but it all came into play once they both arrived. The first pastor was the pastor of the church that the wedding was being held at. The second pastor was the pastor that was supposed to preside and marry Woo & Francine. We started the rehearsal goofing off somewhat and joking around maybe a little too much. This is when the first pastor decided to step in. He started off with a prayer and then said that everyone should keep their ideas to themselves and let Woo & Francine decide on what should happen and when. I thought that was great. A good idea. But then, all of the sudden he says that the one who runs the show is the pastor and he started inputting his ideas and taking over the proceeding. I was thinking, wait a second... what the! The wedding coordinator tried to take control back. But she was immediately denounced by him. (Comment: she totally shoulda told him off and said "Look buddy, this is Woo & Francine's wedding. Not yours and didn't you just say that we should let them decide what's goin on?" That would have totally told him off and put him in his place). But alas, she went back to her corner like a lil baby.

So, we did a full dry run and not before Francine burst into tears about the whole thing. All I can say is sorry about that. I should have totally stepped in and done some arguing and bitching. You know, since that's my specialty. But I didn't think it was my place too. Sigh... looking back, that's how I feel about the trip.

After the rehearsal, we all went to dinner together and had a happy time there. Well, mostly because I drank a good amount and got jolly. You can ask Woo about that. After playing musical chairs for a while, I was able to sit down next to Kevin (to my left) and Francine's brother's girlfriend (to my right). I have to admit that Kevin was pretty hot. The chic, well, she was really nice and even put some food on my plate... I guess retrospectively, she wasn't that useless after all. (FYI, an inside joke... we were talking about the character Sakura from the anime series Naruto and we were saying how recently (around episode 140) she was so useless and weak. I know she gets all crazy and like Tsunade Granny later on... but oh man was she just totally in the way. So anyways, that was this chic's new nickname). And Francine's brother was awesome too. He introduced us to YinLing which is the local Philly lager.

At first I was thinking, "eh? Asian beer?" but nope...it is just a local Philly brewed beer. So thumbs up buddy and good job drinking those two beers you got at the tail end of dinner, ahem, alchy.

Well, that was that...and we called it a day and headed back. According to Kevin (my faithful sober driver), I passed out and woke up about every 5 minutes begging to stop so I could pee. But I would pass out right after so he thought I'd be cool to drive a lil more. Well, without my knowledge we drove all the way back to the airport to pick up Jae and after some time, were finally able to stop and pee in behind a dumpster since stupid CVS wouldn't let me use their facilities. It's so convenient being a guy (and it also means I'm totally not useless).

So, we got a midnight snack and I dropped Kevin & Jae at the Hilton and went back to the Warrick Radisson. I passed out and slept like a baby until ...