My first bachelor party experience - EVER

This past weekend, I experienced my first bachelor party EVER. I've been a part of two weddings now, but James Peter's party was the first time I was ever around all guys for an entire weekend for the explicit reason of being guys (I was briefly considered for attending the bridal showers of the two previous weddings, but seeing how I'd be the only hetero male at a bridal shower, that idea was apparently nixed).

Drunken debauchery? Strippers? Out all night? Epic hangovers? Humiliating the groom? You name it. We didnt' do it.

Our 7 man group consisted of religious and non religious people, climbers and non climbers, etc etc. The lowest common denominator our best man could come up with was a weekend camping trip on the beach in Santa Barbara. There, we drank beers and liquor (1 porter, 1 sierra nevada and a rum with coke got me going for the entire evening - go Asian genes!), chatted and hung out. And watched "V for Vendetta" at the end of the weekend. It was relaxing - something I've been desperately needing.

But let's take a second to explore our society's customs here: We, as the groom's men, are expected to humiliate, torture, embarass and otherwise harass / tempt the groom with all those non-christian things (sex, drinking, drugs, etc). As one man put it "we're supposed to remind the groom why he doesn't want to hang out with us and instead want to hang out with Theresa for the rest of his life".

The bride-to-be had a bridal shower in Temecula for a full day of wine tasting, staying in Temecula doing whatever girls do at night, and then a day at the spa. In other words, she gets pampered and enjoys the company of her friends.

Guys: torment. Girls: pamper. WTF mate?! I really need to work harder at getting myself invited to these bridal showers (not that going to a spa sounds particularly interesting, but helping someone achieve peace and relaxation is more in my nature than harrassing someone).