Wedding Crashers

My Birthday is in the Fall, Winter brings Christmas, Spring has, well, Spring Break, and Summer delights with Wedding Season!

I thought I had finished my Summer's worth of weddings last month when I attended two awesome weddings. The first was one of my best friends from College who had probably the most fun wedding I've been to. Aside from some of my really good friends who hardly get to see anymore being there, there was AMAZING food (always adds mucho points to any festivity in my book) as well as an open bar (ditto).

Postulate 58 in "Arun's Guide to Lifetime Awesomeness" states: Weddings shall be planned such that the ceremony is kept to minimal length (15 minutes max) such that extra time may be added to the reception (the real reason everyone goes to weddings anyways). Reception shall include Ample food and booze, as well as a regulation dance floor, and at least one beautiful, single, woman.

Becca's wedding satisfied all of my criteria of awesomeness.

The second was Jeff's sister's wedding.

Apparently, Jeff's Mom was quite happy I attended. According to Jeff, I was the M.E.G. ("Most Entertaining Guest) of the night.

So this last Saturday brought me to yet another wedding, and of COURSE I wanted to keep up my reputation as the M.E.G., only this time, I didn't know the Bride OR the Groom.

Allow me to expound.

I was supposed to go to this bowling alley/bar downtown on Saturday evening for a friends birthday shindig. In the afternoon though, I was invited to someone's pool party, so I thought, "Hey! What better way to warm up for a birthday party, than by going to a pool party before hand!" Seemed logical enough.

So my friend AK and I head over and meet our friends Jenny and Rashelle over there. The one thing you need to know about Jenny and Rashelle is that they LOVE to play Flip Cup (a popular competitive drinking game).

One hour later, half the party is involved in a giant flip cup game. Fast forward another couple of hours and it's about 6:30. AK and I were supposed to be at the birthday thing at 4:30.

Oops.

As we get ready to take off, Rashelle enlightens us with this little tidbit. "There's a Padres game at 7:00, so not only will you be fighting traffic all the way downtown, but parking is gonna be a bitch! Why don't you guys come to Kate Sessions Park with us and continue the flip cup magic, then go downtown when the traffic has settled?!?"

As we established earlier, I'm not one to argue with good logic, so to the park we went!

Upon re-commencement of our flip cup game, we noticed a wedding reception just beginning. The DJ was awesome so we set up our table nearby to enjoy the tunes. Soon, wedding goers started noticing our awesome game and migrated over to have a peek. Yes, they wanted to join in.

The more the merrier, so soon, a bunch of people from the wedding party were rabidly involved in a flip cup battle! As the battle waged on, we noticed, as part of the reception, they had one of those huge inflatable bouncy rooms.

Suffice to say, we ended the game and got our bounce on. I was bouncing so hard, I managed to bounce my way to a broken belt. Once thoroughly exhausted, we joined the dance party at the reception and enjoyed whatever delicious dessert it was they were serving. We were dancing up such a storm that the wedding photographer was taking a bunch of action shots of us...should be interesting when the bride and groom get the pics and wonder who the hell we are :) When it came "Garter Belt toss" time, AK and I joined in! (Though I wonder what would've happened if one of us caught it).

At this point the Birthday party was thoroughly forgotten and I was only focused on maintaining my reputation as the M.E.G.

Until next wedding season...

How to Spend Lots of Money in Vegas Without Gambling

Vegas is always a good time. BUT, a good time in Vegas frequently runs you a buck or two. Usually people return from Vegas lamenting about how far "up" they were before a streak of "bad luck" (also know as "normal luck") took them into the red.

Well I recently returned from Vegas in the red alright, but it sure wasn't because of gambling. In fact, I almost never gamble in Vegas. I HATE giving money to casinos and even losing twenty bucks makes me cringe.

But, for those of you interested in throwing lots of money around without gambling in Vegas, I've constructed an easy-to-follow, step by step guide for your spending pleasure!

Step 1: Go with a friend(s) who likes to spend money. When people around you start spending, you generally follow suit. My buddy 'CT' was the originator of the Vegas plan and he definitely likes to drop change...he's also a professional online poker player. And when I say professional, I mean he has no other job other than playing poker online and making a comfortable living off of everyone else's money!

This seemed pretty glamorous to me for awhile, but the amount of time I would have to spend to get as good as he is, is simply not worth it.

Step 2: Have said friend book the hotel for the trip. In my previous visits to Las Vegas, I have stayed at Mandalay Bay, The Venetian, and the Rio - all reasonably priced. This time however, CT booked us in the "Tower Suites" of the Wynn Hotel. According to Wikipedia, the Tower Suites are the only 5 star rated suites in Vegas.

The nice bonus here is that I really don't know exactly how much this cost. CT owed me a bunch of money for some consulting work I did for him, so rather than having to write him a check, I actually just RECEIVED a big deposit from him with the amount deducted...as far as I was concerned, I was making money!

Step 3: Fly to Vegas. The previous three trips, I had driven. Driving there is all fine and dandy - the excitement makes it worth it. BUT, driving back is HELL. You're tired and battered, and you won't get back until late Sunday, just in time to prepare for Monday work.

Flying was awesome! San Diego to Vegas is less than an hour, and in all fairness, the rates weren't that bad, although I had to change my ticket date at the last minute which added a little expense. On the plane, I probably looked like your typical Vegas tourist as I sat there reading "Bringing Down the House: How a Group of MIT students took Vegas for Millions!" I suppose in order for me to do that, I'd have to start gambling.

Step 4: Lose Credit Card Roulette at dinner the first night. Me and some of my friends do this on occasion by having the waiter pick a random credit card to foot the bill. I've generally had good luck at "CCR" and in the spirit of Vegas, we decided to roll the dice.

Welp...the dice rolled right into my pocket and moseyed on out carrying $140 bucks.

Step 5: Order Bottle Service at Tryst in the Wynn. Tryst was awesome and it was great having a table and not having to wait in line, but I don't think I have to elaborate on the extravagant prices of bottle service at a top Vegas club.

Step 6: Go see the Cirque Du Soleil: 'O' at the Bellagio. Tickets are pricey, but honestly, really worth it. I've now seen three Cirque shows in Vegas: Mystere, Ka, and now 'O', and the later was the BEST one yet! If you don't mind shelling out, I'd definitely recommend it.

Step 7: DON'T have a friend you know in Vegas get you in places for free. OK, ok...I have to confess. The last night in Vegas, my friend who lives there came out and used his connections to get us into places without paying or waiting in line. So if you are just burning to burn some Benji's, then by all means order bottle service again.

Step 8: Buy pointless stuff and eat out a lot I got suckered into buying some silly magic trick at the magic store in New York New York. We also ate out for our meals. My "cheap" meal was a Panini Sandwich with no sides for a measly 12 bucks. TWELVE DOLLARS for some freakin toasted bread, chicken and cheese!?!

So there you have it. Happy spending! And if you still have some extra desire to burn some more dough, I am available as a personal consultant for you to spend money on in Vegas as well :)