I Officiated a Wedding

Many months ago, I was asked to officiate a wedding for two friends. I accepted without giving it much thought, because I think it's always a good idea to do what is necessary to make a bride happy on her wedding day. If they would have asked me to come up with a choreographed fire dance, I would have done that too, but I'm really glad that it was just officiating, as this job didn't lead to third degree burns. It almost did, but we'll get to that later.

In advance of the wedding, I got ordained through the American Marriage Ministries. It was super easy, like to the point where I thought it was too easy, and I was really questioning whether I had read everything correctly. I kept reading everything through, and it all seemed legit, so I really hope that I was properly ordained as a minister, and if not, then I am super sorry to the married (well, I guess still not married) couple.

So becoming an ordained minister, even if it's simple, seems like it should be some sort of religious experience. It was definitely not that for me. I have an open mind when it comes to religion; if it makes you happy and a decent person, great, but it personally doesn't mean anything to me, so I don't really practice it. Well, the script I was given by the happy couple contained a whole shitload of Jesus. For me, I would say it was an uncomfortable amount of Jesus; hell, they even mentioned Paul, and I think he was one of the writers of the bible - that's a deep cut. But ultimately, it was there day, so if my sacrilegious activities led to my eternal damnation, then so be it.

But before I could join these two in the holiest of matrimonies, the Matron of Honor volunteered me to drive people around during the day before the ceremony, so ladies could get their hair and makeup done, and people could be chauffered for pictures. I would have straight up told the MoH to mind her own business, but she also happens to be my wife, so what she says goes. Things did not start smoothly, as my second pickup was all of the bridesmaids, and they were so loud. I wanted to tell them to chill out, but if there's one thing crappy romantic comedies have taught me is that weddings make the ladies go cray cray. I stayed quiet and smiled, just like the little bitch boy they wanted me to be. Luckily, things quieted down after that. The only unfortunate thing is they did not build in enough time for me to get intoxicated before I started officiating; hell, they barely gave me enough time to shower, but as a newly formed man of God, I did my duty.

But no good officiating story would be complete without me fucking something up, so, yeah, I delayed the start of the ceremony. So, here's the deal: They decided to have a candle lit ceremony. This meant that reading was going to be an issue, but I had bigger fish to fry as I was supposed to get the microphone set up. Why I was doing this instead of the wedding planner is beyond me, but I didn't think to ask questions as I am a man of action.

Unfortunately, as I was trying to get the microphone set up, I wasn't paying attention to where I was stepping, and I managed to kick over three candles. There was no fire to worry about, just some broken glass, so I figured, ah, not ideal, but no big deal. What I did not notice is that when I kicked over the candles, my left shoe and pant leg had become covered in candle wax. It was not unnoticeable. So, I left the wedding planner to get the mic set up while I ran to the bathroom to start scraping wax off of my pant leg and shoe with wet paper towels. It wasn't the smoothest operation, but I got most of it off before the wedding planner came in and told me that they were just waiting on me to start the ceremony.

So I walked that aisle as I styled and profiled, but something was amiss. When I walked up the aisle, I noticed that the microphone was about 10 feet behind where the couple was standing. They brought a corded microphone that would not come close to actually reaching where I needed to stand. I confirmed that this was as far as the cord stretched and decided I would utilize my booming voice instead of relying on a microphone. I just wish I would have known that before I spilled wax all over myself in efforts for a microphone that was useless.

But then I delivered the words that were provided, put a little bit of extra personality on it, and joined people in the holiest of matrimonies, even if I knew God wanted to strike me down for it. But I persevered, and although God tried to burn me, I knew that I could overcome anything due to that old saying, "Wax on, wax off."

Breaking Down the Chicago Bears Fourth Round Pick: Miami Safety - Deon Bush

The NFL Draft has come and gone, and it appears that the Bears have a plan in place. Did I agree with that plan at every twist and turn? No, not really, but I also really enjoyed some of their moves so it all balances out. And they were active, and that definitely made for an exciting weekend. But what's done is done. The picks I like will obviously work out, and hopefully my genius fails me on the picks that I didn't like. So far, I have had the chance to break down:

First Round Pick: Leonard Floyd, Linebacker, Georgia
Second Round Pick: Cody Whitehair, Offensive Guard, Kansas State
Third Round Pick: Jonathan Bullard, Defensive Lineman, Florida
Fourth Round Pick: Nick Kwiatkoski, Linebacker, West Virginia

And today, we take a look at the Bears second fourth-round pick, Deon Bush, a safety out of Miami. As you probably could have guessed from a fourth round safety, he's not some incredible athlete that set the combine on fire. He is nothing special athletically, but doesn't look to be a liability either. Safety is always a tough position to evaluate, as they aren't even on camera half the time from the normal television feed. Luckily, the good people over at Draft Breakdown had the tape from his games against Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, and Nebraska.

One of Bush's strengths as a safety is that he can come up and make a hit when necessary. There were a few examples where he worked through blocks to impact a running play. This was one where he took the easy way out and just avoided the fullback and took down the quarterback on this failed sweep attempt.

More importantly, he'll lay the wood on a receiver going over the middle.

If that isn't Tyler Boyd going across the middle, that's probably going to be an incomplete pass.

And here's an example of that.

As you can see, for a less talented (white) receiver, they aren't able to hold onto the ball, as he does a very good job of breaking downfield on the receiver and knocking the ball loose.

Maybe the most impressive aspect of Bush is that he clearly has Jesus Christ himself doing him favors.

You can work hard as a safety to make great plays, but it always helps to have the Big Guy on your side.

As I stated, safety tape is limited. Still, from what Bush showed in these games, he has the ability to be a successful safety in the NFL. His athleticism isn't great, but his instincts seem to be there. With the Bears lack of talent on the defensive side of the ball, Bush has the ability to come in and start on day one. I don't think there's pro bowls in his future, but even without elite athleticism, I think he has enough instincts to not be a liability in the secondary. Worst case, he's a special teams contributor, which means he is exactly the type of player you're hoping to find in the middle of the draft. 

We Need To Talk About DJ MuscleBoy's "MuscleBells"

The holidays may be over, but there is still some brilliance trickling out from this joyous season. One of these things is DJ MuscleBoy's Christmas hit, "MuscleBells." If you're anything like me, you are sick and tired of all those tired Christmas songs about weaklings. Christmas is not a holiday for the weak; it's one for the strong, and finally DJ MuscleBoy has supplied us with our anthem.

There is a lot to take in during this video. Let's address the elephant in the room: Hot chicks. There are good looking women in this video and closeups of just about every part of their anatomy. Bravo to the director of the video. I really can't offer much more insight on that regard, but I have thoughts about many other things in this video.

Let's start at the beginning. Santa Claus is looking into the distance. For what? A child in need? A homeless shelter to bring joy to?

Oh no, he's looking for a barbell, because you bet your ass it is time to do some dead lifts.

This establishes everything for the video. Some other highlights include:

DJ MuscleBoy is really getting into the Santa character as he is handing out supps that would make even the jolly guy slightly envious. Boys, ladies, everybody gets to get a premium pump this holiday season.

There isn't much that actually has to do with a Christmas in this song, but he does drop some great one liners. Let's rank the top three.

3. "Who needs Jingle Bells when you have dumbbells?"
This is an excellent question, and I hereby announce my support the abolishment of Jingle Bells. If somebody wants to play Jingle Bells, point them to the dumbbells and improve their life for the better.

2. "Drop the bass Jesus"
This one is put as a hashtag for the song, and it seems pretty positive for Jesus. Maybe this is a religious song?

1. "Goddamn, that's a muscular Jesus...come on Jesus, pump the Goddamn weight."
So, yeah...I don't think this is a religious song. It seems that it was rather needless to use the Lord's name in vein twice, but he did it. At first, he at least compliments Jesus, but he quickly follows that up by saying that Jesus needs to give him more in the weight room. But everybody knows that Jesus was not a mass guy, he was a wiry strength guy.

That's all great, but nothing compares to him acting as Santa. He goes into a baby's room, and gives that little baby boy a present.

Yep, he just gave that baby Anabolic Freak, a testosterone/hormone stimulator. It would have been more responsible to give that baby unmarked needles and let the kid go wild. But this is not about responsibility, this is about gains, and that baby is about to be jacked to the gills.

I know that Christmas may have come and gone, but this song is great year-round. New Year's Day? More like New Year's Gains.  More like Valentine's Day? More Like MAXentine's Day. St. Patrick's Day? That one's easy, St. Lat Raise Day. The list goes on and on. So eat right, supp right, and lift everything in sight.

I Hate Wine

I hate wine so much. It is the worst. I think back to the legendary Jesus tale where he turned a barrel of water into wine, and when I was a child, I used to think it was awesome, but now I hate that story. I would have been so pissed had I just wanted a glass of water and instead I got some Pinot Grigio instead. Even if Jesus had done this after he died for our sins, I still would have taken a sip, and said, "Thanks for nothing, Jesus." He would have been so hurt at my emphasis on nothing, and I probably would have felt bad about it later, but seriously, some people just want a glass of water so we don't get hungover the next day, and it's a real dick move to deprive me of that opportunity.

Um, I did not know that I was going to go in that direction. Let's try to get back on track.

I am getting married, and everyone on both sides of the family seems to think wine is awesome. I disagree, as I don't like the taste, and really, don't even like the idea of wine. But they go to wineries and live it up. And you know what? Good for them. I am happy that they are enjoying life, as I don't ever want to deprive people of a good time. But you know what is not sold at wineries? Natural Light. And I'm pretty sure it's frowned upon to come waltzing into a winery with a 30 pack of Natties on your shoulder. Sorry I like to party.

Wine also takes up a lot of valuable real estate. These wine drinkers open up a bottle and have a glass. They then put a cork in the wine and put it in the fridge. The next night (or even worse, that same night), they grab a different bottle and have a glass of that, put a cork in that and put it in the fridge. Pretty soon, we have three bottles of wine taking up valuable real estate in the fridge. It's not like I drink half a Natty Light and then have a Brooklyn Winter Ale (practically the same beers) before corking them and putting them in the fridge for later use. Because of all this wine, my milk no longer has its special area inside the door. I understand that it is illogical for me to be mad that I have to put my milk in a different spot in the fridge, but this is the type of stuff that really grinds my gears.

So if you love wine, good for you, you should keep drinking it, because it makes you happy. But if you could do me a favor and just finish one bottle before starting another, it would probably lead to world peace. If you have two bottles open at once, don't come complaining to me when another war starts; that one's on you.