Something in the water?

Is it just me, or is everyone and their mother getting engaged or married of late? I say "and their mother" in all seriousness because given the exponentially expanding group of friends I have who are declaring their eternal love for their partners, I wouldn't even bat an eye if among them, one of their mothers did indeed decide to jump on that bandwagon herself.

Don't get me wrong. I love weddings. This past weekend I had a wonderful time at the very beautiful wedding of my dear friend, Matt, to his lovely longtime girlfriend, Michelle. I had never been to a Catholic ceremony, and I must say, it was truly a spiritual experience. I am of the mind that weddings should be quite ceremonious and spiritual so that the couple can truly experience the intensity of the promise they are making to one another. No offense to my Atheist/Agnostic friends, but I can't imagine getting married in a completely secular ceremony, simply because to me, love itself is a miracle and a gift for which the universe should be thanked. On a more practical note, I think I'm going to have to start a Wedding Guest Fund or something because these people will put me in the poorhouse, what with the gift, the dress, the shoes, the hotel, etc... I'm complaining, but all in good humor. I am honored to be able to attend so many beautiful weddings and witness true love and romance. For those keeping score at home, in the past year I have attended two weddings (merely drops in the vast ocean of weddings flooding the UMass Medical School Class of 2007 in the last few weeks), and could have gone to a third, had that pesky USMLE Step 2 nonsense not gotten in the way last autumn.

All right, enough of that mushy hippie mumbo-jumbo. Mazel tov to my dear friend, Lisa, from college on her engagement! I've never met the lucky man, but he better know how lucky he is!

Behold, the updated 2007-08 Tie-the-Knot Tour:
September 8, 2007 - Marisa and Ed
June 2008 - Lisa and Stew
October 2008 - Laura and Alex

Anyone else? Speak now or forever hold your peace.

The American "justice" system

Okay, so explain to me how a multi-gajillionaire heiress - let's call her Madrid Marriott, for argument's sake - whose major endeavors in life include collecting and discarding small animals, not wearing the same outfit in 365 days or more, and generally acting like a spoiled, self-centered airhead manages to wriggle out of a 45-day sentence for drunk driving, settles for 23 days in "jail," and within 48 hours manages to be released under house arrest for "medical reasons?" Oh, I'm sorry. Did her skin suddenly start breaking out without tons of over-priced products to slather on it? Did her limbs shrivel up in the absence of a new outfit? ¡Pobrecita! I'm sure she'll learn her lesson and never, ever drink and drive again. I'm more than satisfied that she has finally learned to acknowledge there is a whole planet of human beings beyond her own little entourage, and that those human beings can be severely injured or killed by intoxicated drivers. She definitely gets it now.

Meanwhile, a crooked politician who lied about some things he may or may not have said, about people nobody has ever heard of, related to a war that nobody cares about and which should have never been started in the first place, lands himself a 30-month jail sentence. Whew. Now I can sleep at night.

You see now why my decision to become an American citizen was far from easy?