another bonus of the trip to arizona was the opportunity to spend some time with my family in the area. my Uncle Roland and his family lives in Phoenix and his kids are growning up so quickly! i flew into phoenix with the explicit goal of spending some time with his family and they were a lot of fun. yesterday, i had a couple of hours to kill before my flight so i went to the mall with them. i guess i can look forward to having a brood of my own someday. =)

my first jewish wedding was an interesting experience. maria's family rabbi proceeded over the ceremony and it was quite fascinating. the ceremony was held underneath a canopy and instead of a traditional bridal party surrounding the bride and groom-- this ceremony emphasized the importance of family with parents and siblings forming a circle. among other things there were prayers in hebrew and the passage of a glass from which each member of the family drank. a part of me wishes that chinese weddings were more inclusive of family members in their ceremonies. our banquets usually involve introductions of the families which is sort of cool.

[NOTE: i had rewritten this blog but it appears that i didn't update it correctly on blogger. darn it]

one of the cooler things from the reception was that Maria and Andrew opened up the floor for an open mic session. any family member or family friend could take the mic and share a story about the couple. a lot of the speakers were very touching and the positive wishes were quite heartfelt. there were a couple of speakers who weren't crowd favorites--- especially an uncle who had a bunch of anti-wedding jokes. his acumen at bombing jokes reminded me of Fozzie Bear from the Muppets-- only we didn't have any tomatoes. Plus Fozzie's jokes might have actually been considered appropriate or funny....

i didn't share my story with the audience at the wedding--- but i think that i'll send it to the bride and groom later. i'll even publish it here for folks to read. props out to Irene and Victoria on their respective graduations. Happy Birthday wishes go out to my beefyfolk ladies, Ying and Monica. more later, readers!