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Oct. 3rd, 2006 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
webofevilNews that the USA has moved to ban internet gambling overnight didn’t surprise me one jot after the massive gambling binge on the weekend that was ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pipistrellus and cornfedpig’s wedding (uniting them as a single entity henceforth to be known as pipipig). It was an example of exactly the kind of excess the Americans are looking to discourage. Spread bets were taken on the length of individual speeches, the number of prepositions in the father of the bride’s speech, how many Portuguese words could be formed without cheating from the letters in the first two paragraphs of the best man’s speech, the number of words the groom would say that would sound a bit like Ian Paisley muttering the word “Samurai”, the combined length of all the speeches, the combined length of all the bouquets, the combined length of all the relatives—and, it was briefly mooted, who the best man would cop off with. “You’ve got the pick of all the women here!” said one of the guests when this was being discussed, which I think would have come as a surprise to most of the happily attached women present. I’m not sure they had consented to him pimping the whole room.
Five years ago betting at weddings was still a hushed, underground affair, designed to take the edge off boring, awkward speeches by people who you didn’t know—or, worse, who you did. Now, though, like gambling generally, it has taken centre stage, so every wedding can feel like it’s in Vegas. On Saturday our MC prefaced each speech by announcing the next speaker, then the time accumulated so far and "the stopwatch starts NOW!". All through the meal beforehand people kept approaching the top table to plead that we keep our speeches really short, or prolong them to incredible lengths. Some people had put money on the speeches lasting well over an hour—what the hell weddings have they been going to? Anyway, I remained deaf to requests, on the grounds that I intended to be neither boring nor awkward, so the whole damn shebang didn’t apply to me in the first place. In the end someone called Stacey won. Well done Stacey.
Well bloody done all round, actually. A good day.pipipig sets off on its trip to the Galapagos, Easter Island, Ultima Thule and the Moon with cheers and merriment ringing in its ears, which is exactly as it should be. Good luck to the pair of them.
pipistrellus and cornfedpig’s wedding (uniting them as a single entity henceforth to be known as pipipig). It was an example of exactly the kind of excess the Americans are looking to discourage. Spread bets were taken on the length of individual speeches, the number of prepositions in the father of the bride’s speech, how many Portuguese words could be formed without cheating from the letters in the first two paragraphs of the best man’s speech, the number of words the groom would say that would sound a bit like Ian Paisley muttering the word “Samurai”, the combined length of all the speeches, the combined length of all the bouquets, the combined length of all the relatives—and, it was briefly mooted, who the best man would cop off with. “You’ve got the pick of all the women here!” said one of the guests when this was being discussed, which I think would have come as a surprise to most of the happily attached women present. I’m not sure they had consented to him pimping the whole room. Five years ago betting at weddings was still a hushed, underground affair, designed to take the edge off boring, awkward speeches by people who you didn’t know—or, worse, who you did. Now, though, like gambling generally, it has taken centre stage, so every wedding can feel like it’s in Vegas. On Saturday our MC prefaced each speech by announcing the next speaker, then the time accumulated so far and "the stopwatch starts NOW!". All through the meal beforehand people kept approaching the top table to plead that we keep our speeches really short, or prolong them to incredible lengths. Some people had put money on the speeches lasting well over an hour—what the hell weddings have they been going to? Anyway, I remained deaf to requests, on the grounds that I intended to be neither boring nor awkward, so the whole damn shebang didn’t apply to me in the first place. In the end someone called Stacey won. Well done Stacey. Well bloody done all round, actually. A good day.
pipipig sets off on its trip to the Galapagos, Easter Island, Ultima Thule and the Moon with cheers and merriment ringing in its ears, which is exactly as it should be. Good luck to the pair of them.
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Date: 2006-10-03 02:14 pm (UTC)Was a little disappointed there were not more people kilted.
Great day though.