Long day yesterday — I drove an hour and a half each way to my little cousin's grad party, both to make an appearance and because my dad had tried to coordinate it so my immediate family would all show up at the same time. Unfortunately my parents were late and my brothers (understandably) didn't choose to make the drive, so I ended up milling around for while without anyone to really talk to. Even if I'd had a mind to, I was too exhausted from a string of very late nights to attempt smalltalk with strangers.

I imagine one of the pleasures of being an old man some day will be that I can just wander off by myself in that situation, without having to care that people might think I'm sad or crazy.

(Deleted a long, long section of the post here after some second thoughts. Don't worry! It wasn't about being sad or crazy! It might have been too personal though, or I might just be out of practice at that sort of sharing. Certainly I used to publish similar stuff. Probably I should start journaling again in, I dunno, my journal — but the Blogger 'New Post' window has a nice way of keeping my introspection moving.)

Eventually my parents did show up and we talked about the wedding for a bit. I guess I'll be playing golf next week: a game that, like tennis, I never got better than terrible at despite years of lessons. But it's a best-shot scramble! So I'm thinking I can just practice my putting and let everyone else do the rest of the work.

I now have a better sense of the whole wedding schedule, which I suppose is a useful thing for the co–best man to know. Oh, and I tried a Busch Lite at the grad party and hated it, and remembered why I hated it. Also useful info.

The drive back wasn't bad, especially since I'd already called Shelley and arranged to meet up with her for drinks in Maple Grove. I don't think I'd seen her at all since the 4th, so that was cool.

The main event yesterday was a showing of Dance Flick, my punishment for having lost a bet to my brother's-brother-in-law Paul at Josh's bachelor party a few weeks ago. That was what was waiting for me when I got back to St. Paul.

Josh and his wife-to-be Erin came over too for solidarity, but the movie was terrible. Not as terrible as I'd thought it would be, in that there were some good jokes, but there were still plenty of moments when I had to look away from the screen in disgust. Never ever watch Dance Flick, but I suppose if you're reading this you're either someone who knows that already or someone who'll watch it anyways.

(But! It was a victory for crazy bets, of which I am a huge fan. Got to keep my eye out for further opportunities.)

Afterwards I kicked everyone out and went straight to bed, the first time in many many days that I'd gone to sleep before 2 in the morning. Caitlin's going-away, Inception, the campfire I had Friday night — it's been a long week and I'm enjoying the chance to recover.