Mmmmm-mm! Looks good, doesn’t it? Well let me tell you, creating a delicious home-made pizza is hardwork. It requires time, patience, and important ingredients liek red wine, salad, and a Macbook Pro. You will also need a friend who can cook, cause I sure can’t. Thanks Saray.

So graduate school is over. It’s strange, knowing that my degree is on its way to my home in New Jersey, where my mother will frame it and place it next to my high school diploma and Kean University undergrad degree, two other pieces of paper I never bothered to collect in person. Being a student has forever been a piece of my identity, and I’m not going to lie, I reveled in the identity of a graduate student. I don’t know, there’s just something about it, a fun air of sophistication in saying “I’m working on my Masters in English literature.” Or maybe I’m just a cocky, pretentious douche. Whatever.

I had the Dean send a letter home to my parents so they’d believe me that I finished…

Graduation party in September. New Jersey folk, get ready. Philly friends, grab a car from Philly Car Share or buy a SEPTA ticket, cause this bash is going to be in the Garden State.

FTW!

My friends all ask me how I do it. How do I attend the wedding of an ex-girlfriend, without losing my mind or falling into a horrible depression. Really, it isn’t all that hard. As many of you know, I’ve certainly done it before, and in that one case, I was one of the groomsmen in the actual wedding ceremony.

1. Show up. Seriously, you were lucky enough to be invited. Don’t be cliche and throw away the invitation. Make sure you RSVP (I forgot) and, if you can, bring a date! Also, be sure to have some sort of notepad on hand, so you can be absolutely certain your future wedding is just as awesome, if not better.

With the case of Christina and Josh’s wedding, it might be hard to top. They had a beautiful ceremony and a really nice reception. Bravo.

2. During speeches about the bride’s past, don’t punch the people that look at you. Shut up Glen. Yeah, you’re one of those crappy relationships. Just deal with it. Don’t be that guy who makes a scene. Resist the urge to punch Glen Tickle, Stephanie Rath, Jency Thomas, Nick Solomon your caring and affectionate friends in the face. They mean well, and admit it, it’s pretty damn funny. If you aren’t ready to laugh at yourself, you probably shouldn’t be there.

3. Buy an awesome present. Let’s face it, you’re the ex-boyfriend, so chances are, you’ve got several years of horrible gifts to make up for. Remember all those stuffed animals you thought were awesome at the time? Well, they weren’t. Now is your chance to make things right.

That being said, my gift didn’t show up in time for the wedding. Classic.

4. Loosen up. Have a few drinks, especially if the bride and groom have their own custom martinis (Christini and Josh’s Juice). This will help you relax and enable you to dance to Living On A Prayer by Bon Jovi in a “small asian child having a seizure after watching too much pokemon” kind of way.

Everyone likes the Jersey guy who does that.

Everyone.

5. Say hi to the family. Remember the father who was incredibly scary and intimidating? Guess what! He still is! Be a good man, say hello, and shake hands. You can spend the rest of the day dodging them out of sheer fear and terror, with the knowledge that hey, if he does decide to cut you with a knife, at least you tried.

6. Be happy you’re still friends. Cause seriously, if you weren’t still buddies, you’d be missing out. Plus you probably wouldn’t be able to take sweet pictures like this one.

Congrats Christina. I expect to see you at me and Heather’s wedding in three years.

Few more pictures after the jump and a ton over on the ol’ Facebook.

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