Thursday, June 22, 2006

Small Ball, Matrimony

It had been a long time since I'd seen a baseball game, so it was enjoyable on Saturday night to drive down to Bridgeport (city motto: Mayorally Drug-Free for Eighteen Months!) to see the Atlantic League Bluefish take on their rivals from Camden, NJ. I don't know the Camden team's name; that part of the electronic scoreboard was garbled. I went with a college friend of mine who just graduated from the law school here, and it was a good time — having beer & hot dogs, reminiscing about ballgames seen in youth, reflecting on how short many of these Bridgeport players were. Must be what's keeping them out of the major-league-affiliated minors: you get past the cleanup spot and everyone's about five-six. The game itself was a slow pitcher's duel with an exciting eighth inning, which put the Bluefish out ahead for the win — the crowd (probably about 1000?) was engaged & excitable, so it was actually a really fun time.

Beyond left field is a large warehouse; beyond right field, the Metro North tracks and then a large factory. They shot off fireworks near the shore after the win, one at a time, for about fifteen minutes.

Sunday I took aforementioned Metro North down to NYC and then the NJ Transit to a coastal spot near Monmouth, where my friend Jeremy from wind ensemble got married to his girlfriend of a few years, Rachel. Very cool wedding — snazzy but minimalistic decor, good food, and an excellent klezmer/bluegrass combo supplying the music. Jeremy joined them on clarinet for a couple of klezmer numbers during dinner, which strikes me as a very cool thing to do at one's own wedding. On the trains to & fro I joined some other wind ensemble friends; good to catch up. It'll be a shame not to see them during post-rehearsal drinks any more.

Some of us very nearly missed the actual ceremony due to a cab-catching snafu from the train station: apparently even fifteen or so NYC people going to the same wedding can overwhelm a small local cab company. Got there just in time to pop on a yarmulke & hear the vows exchanged about forty-five seconds later. Phew.

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