aw, but ain't that america...

so, here i am in north carolina for my cousin's wedding. all of the family is staying at a hotel in chapel hill, but the wedding itself is in rocky mount, which is about an hour and a half's drive away (no, i don't know why we're staying so far away -- i wasn't responsible for making these arrangements). anyway, so my aunt and uncle chartered a bus to haul all of us from the hotel to the rehearsal dinner last night and then to the wedding this evening. the trip to the rehearsal dinner was relatively tame, except for the beer i spilled on my crotch about 15 minutes into the trip. lucky for me, i had a long ride ahead of me and my pants dried before we arrived.

however, on the trip back, everybody had a few drinks in their systems, and somebody (my uncle pat) got a hold of the microphone that the bus driver had for announcements. and a singalong ensued...

hilarious!

it started with christmas carols, then turned into a karaoke free-for-all. my particular favorite was the bus-wide rendition of "pink houses", by john cougar mellencamp. fucking amazing! my brother and i were adding lots of harmonies and obnoxious background vocals to all of the tunes. at one point i yelled out, "sing tiny dancer!" but i think only my brother and i appreciated the _almost famous_ reference.

of course, things kept devolving... the songs got worse, people started grabbing the microphone and telling jokes. somebody told a stupid racist joke at one point, and i yelled out, "BOO!!!" to which one of my uncles yelled, "shut up, emily!" and i said, "how did you know it was me?" he said, "are you kidding?"

aw man... family time! it's pretty fantastic. i'm pleased as punch to be with this crew. but my cousin informed me last night that he's expecting me to share a particular story from our childhoods at the reception tonight. ugh -- no pressure there!

okay, gotta hit the books for a little bit until it's time to get ready for the wedding.