An emotional rollercoaster
eliciting confused whooping and hollering.

Well, that’s what this weekend felt like. Friday night I perhaps became the first person ever to successfully mix out of Britney Spears’s “Crazy” into Mudhoney’s “Touch Me I’m Sick” without missing a beat. That sort of derring-do was much on display as Rudy and I tore up InnJoy. There was lots of dancing, an instant two-for-one shot special declared by the bar’s owner that compleyely caught the bartenders off guard and lots and lots of pretty girls and boys. It was a smashing success and they were already trying to get us to commit to another appearance before the end of the month.

Saturday was my dad’s funeral, so that was a bit stressful. The priest decided to dedicate the homily to my father’s life and it was pretty apparent about a minute and a half in that this guy had never met my dad and had no idea what kind of person he was. My brother actually wrote out a eulogy to print out and pass out and I think it did a much better job of capturing my dad. I guess this church had banned eulogies since they tended to get out of hand, but I really wish we could’ve just read ours. It had me in tears so it probably would’ve had the whole congregation sobbing. You can read the whole eulogy here.

I noticed they did bring out The Resurrection Choir to sing for my dad! Unfortunately The Resurrection Choir actually did look like they had just recently been exhumed and the resulting “joyful noise” more appropriately approximated a “deflated murmur.” At the end of the ceremony I was in charge of bringing his ashes back home so I kept telling Photogal she would have to ride in the back of her own Jeep so my dad could ride shotgun.

My dad had requested we throw a party in his honor after the funeral, so we did. Everyone got really drunk, ate a lot of food and generally had a good time. My dad would’ve had a blast.

I also realized as the evening went on that I think I now miss him more than I did just after he died and I’m having great difficulty putting this behind me and moving on. Maybe I never will. I guess as more time passes I become more aware of the fact that I’ll never see him again, that he’ll never hold any of my kids in his arms and that I’ll never be able to tease him for running out to Best Buy every Tuesday to buy a bunch of DVDs and CDs he’ll never even take out of the shrink wrap.

The evening wrapped up with one of my oldest and closest friends Garrick driving me home and regaling me with stories from the nightclub his little brother works at in New York named Plunge. Then we started watching old episodes of Sledge hammer and I think I conked out shortly after that.

Sunday had a completely different tone since it was the baptism of my nephew. I can’t really think to write too much on this subject aside from the fact that Alexander handled the whole thing like a pro with nary a peep, even when he was having water poured all over his head. What an awesome baby. It does freak me out a little though, since he looks exactly like my brother…it’s as if he spawned a little mini-me version of himself. I also realized that my family’s genes are pretty strong and tend to bulldoze the genes of those we, um, procreate with. So if you’re looking for blonde-haired/blue-eyed children, we are your men.

Also, at the celebration afterwards I ate so much brisket and cake I actually had to lay down and nap for a while. At least no one tried to burp me.

I wrapped up the day with a viewing of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and smacked myself for not watching this movie sooner. It was awesome. Quite possibly one of the sweetest love stories I have ever seen. Lovely.