TJ + Megan's Wedding in Las Vegas

Before we knew it, nightfall crept in like it often does and we were treated to a different variation of the Las Vegas Strip. Personally I prefer the twilight version but to each their own. They say a different sort of people come out at night. People that you don't normally see. People that you don't want to see. Las Vegas changes when the sun goes down and the lights come on. Thankfully I was safely up here on the rooftop patio of The Platinum Hotel, far away from the debauchery that was no doubt happening down below.

I spent as much time (and money) that I could at the casino before calling it a night, but I still wasn't ready for bed. So instead I went in the hot tub, which like a lot of things in Las Vegas is open 24 hours a day. This truck driver joined me and told me his entire life story. I would have preferred to sit here in peace but must have been on some kind of drugs and felt the need to unleash every single detail of his life. Only in Las Vegas...

Lee (far left) was my roommate my sophomore year at UW-Oshkosh. That's how I met TJ. We also worked together at UW-Milwaukee. I haven't hung out too much in recent years, but we picked up right where we left off. This was a great weekend.

Aaron + Melissa's youngest (and my Godchild) Sophie was born 4 months ago, so this one their first extended adult time sans kids. I know they love their children, but they no doubt needed this weekend retreat. It must be hard having kids. I wouldn't know.

Weddings are pretty standard no matter where you choose to have them. I have yet to attend a wedding that blew my socks off because it strayed so far from the norm. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because you can expect moments like the First Dance to happen and you can put yourself in a position to document it. I'm all about capturing the moment so that I can reference it at a later date, so I can appreciate some continuity at said events. This wedding didn't let me down. So here are the Bride and Groom folks - the lovely (and huggable) Mr. and Mrs. Bodden.

We are dancing. And we are laughing. This truly was a great time and I am overjoyed to have been a part of it. At the time I needed a weekend of nonsense and celebration. In fact, I could use another one. Any of my friends getting married soon?

You can take the wedding out of Wisconsin, but you can't take the Wisconsin out of the wedding. That having been said, it was no surprise to anyone that a polka song was played. So Aaron danced with Melissa and Lee danced with TJ's Mom.

I'm not much of a dancer. I've been known to boot, scoot and boogie from time to time but I just don't have the stamina to keep it going over the course of an evening. My skinnier friends certainly had the advantage on me and I was relegated to taking pictures until my body was ready to go back on the dance floor for another round. It must be nice to be one of the normies. I wouldn't know...

I love TJ. Always have. There is something about him that just makes you want to wrap your arms around him and squeeze. I can't always be there for him. We lived with each other for many years but our lives have gone separate ways. If I can't look out for him, I'm glad that he has found someone who can. Megan is fantastic and we should all be so lucky to find someone to love us in ways we never even dreamed about.

I was spending parts of this night alone much like I always do, so I decided to experiment with my cell phone camera and take some pictures with the different options/filters. I hear that is what the kids are doing these days. I always try to stay hip and cool. Yes, I do realize that by saying that I have set myself back a couple of steps. So be it. The first one is using the solarize filter. I'm not sure what it does exactly, but it produced the picture on the left. The second one was taken using the depth of field filter. As you can see, it focuses only on the pyramid of the Luxor while leaving the rest of the Strip out of focus. Cool right? I have a lot of free time...

I wasn't ready to go to bed. I never am. I want to stay up and rage. I went to the Ellis Island Casino to gamble some more. I took off my suit jacket and loosened my tie like a business man winding down after a tough day at the office. I lost some money that night. Looks like my secretary isn't getting that bonus.

Some people just aren't cut out for Las Vegas. The wedding ended and we all went our separate ways. Most people, like Brodey, were all tuckered out from a weekend of insanity. I can't say that I blame them. Few can rage until the wheels fall off. But of all people out here, I would have thought Brodey could have.