free food?

Celia made a friend at one of her temp jobs last April, who invited us to attend her wedding this evening at a ranch north of town. Though I had never met this person I decided I was game to tag along. The ceremony was fairly short and to the point, and the outdoor setting lovely (the ranch apparently having been remodeled from cattle business to outdoor wedding business some time back), and the guests were thoughtfully assigned to sit at tables with people they were most likely to know. We sat with some of Ce's other acquaintences from the temp job, a small accounting firm. I have been trying to understand my attraction to parties and events where I may or may not have particularly strong connections to very many people, since I don't consider myself especially outgoing or eager to make small talk.

I think it's mostly about food. I will make small talk for hors d'oeuvres. This wedding reception also involved a full buffet-style dinner in addition to the hors d'oeuvres, and the other thing everyone was buzzing about was the Chocolate Fountain. They had a table with a fountain of warm chocolate and various fruits, pastries, cookies, and marshmallows on sticks that one could stick into the chocolate waterfall. Sort of a Willy Wonka wedding attraction.

Oh--there was also a bride and groom getting married. I heard a little of their story and it was very sweet; they have known each other since they were kids and are now in their thirties. Though I just met them for the first time tonight I understand that the bride is a football fan and her new husband is not, which in some way might partly account for Celia getting invited to the wedding. The bride-to-be, meeting Celia at the accounting firm, was thrilled to learn that she will be able to come over to our apartment on Any Given Sunday / Monday night and watch football to her heart's content. As for me, I like football mostly because of the food. My attention span is pretty much linked to the supply of tater tots; I get fidgety when they're gone.

Last night I went to a law school alumni / 1L student shmoozy event in Sacramento. I remembered that when I went as a 1L (1st-year law student) the food was really good. No memory whatsoever of who I talked to four years ago, but I remember the chicken satay with peanut sauce. However, last night in between bites of miniature quiches and salmon mousse canapes I also gave away all of my Legal Services business cards to 1Ls who were on a mission to interrogate as many alums as they could about our jobs. I could not have forseen myself engaged in this activity five years ago. What a weird culture I have landed in. Fortunately legal aid lawyers have their own culture within (or not quite within) the rest of the attorney world. We are allowed to wear comfortable shoes and we sometimes go to work in jeans. My office is staffed entirely by women and in a year's time I have seen nary hose nor heels. This is the right place.

Post-return from Sacramento and pre-wedding I had just time to add air to the tires and go for a bike ride, some loops around the airport, about 50 minutes. Wanted to run after the ride but I'll have to leave the running for tomorrow. I swam yesterday, about 32 laps, but I used my fins part of the time so as to fit more laps into a shorter amout of time since I got to the pool LATE again.

I realize my posts are long and a number of people, though they love me, can't quite take it all in. Still trying to figure out what this blog is really for. Makes sense that if I really wanted people to read it all, fewer words and more pictures would be helpful. Lacking a picture that really goes with this posting I'll just stick one in from last Sunday morning when I stole Celia's sleeping bag after she left it, rather like a mountain-going hermit crab. It's a cheap tactic to boost readership but I'm not above it.