Sunday, I went to a wedding reception. My father supervises the inspector-engineers for the LA County Sanitation District. (The city of La Reina de Los Angeles has its own Sanitation Department.) One of these, Froiland Urfano, asked my father to serve as his best man. 58 year old Philippine immigrant has worked with him for twenty-five years. This event marked his second marriage, but his bride’s first, so they splurged with an open bar and inviting 175 people. Some cancelled their reservations early so my father substituted my sister, her boyfriend, and me.

Unlike virtually every other occasion, the wedding was extremely close by. My father’s condominium is five or so blocks from the termination of the 55 freeway. Froi chose the ‘Turnip Rose’ in a building that sits at that intersection where the 55 transitions into Newport Boulevard. Given the opportunity, I delayed more than necessary and arrived as the entourage had begun taking pictures in all the permutations: only the bridesmaids, only the groomsmen, each group with the bride and/or the groom plus the whole family.

My father wore a tuxedo chosen by the wedding planner. His coat had a half mandarin collar over a grey vest. Beneath that, he wore a white shirt, and, to his chagrin, a pink tie. The groom wore a similar outfit but he and Kun-shan maintained the Asian tradition of changing clothes several times. Froi later affected a grey coat with red piping.

I chose a look I saw in the movie Scotland, PA, albeit during a funeral scene. I wore all black except a thin white tie. The convention center relaxed its policy on facial hair last week, so many of my peers arrived with goatees. I considered growing my first full beard but confronted the realization that desire sprang from contrariness and curiosity. Nevertheless, not shaving allows for a bit more sleep, so I skipped the treatment then. Besides, I have been growing some longer side-burns already. After bathing, I decided to compromise and now sport an Amish beard.

My sister arrived ten or twenty minutes after me because she and her date worked until an hour before the wedding began. Monica brought a short, white sundress with orange flowers on it. Tom joined a black pixel tie with a light blue long-sleeved shirt that he resolutely kept at his elbows.

When I arrived, Kun-shan had on a normal strapless bridal gown of light peach. A royal blue strapless dress followed during dinner and during the money dance. Rather than damage the gown with pins, I believe they used stickers to hold up the bills. After dinner, she put on a red dress which may have had a collar. She may have changed another time, but I left soon thereafter. I woke six hours later to prepare for work. Mind, I begin Monday at 4:40, so the party undoubtedly continued.

Let’s return to the moment the reception opened and the guests tramped inside from the courtyard. My father had introduced me to Dan, the third and newest supervisor. Though it escaped me at the time, he looks like David Letterman, down to the gap teeth. Inevitably, age asks youth about education, so I told him I am studying History. He asked why the Roman Empire fell. He expressed concern that ‘the basis of our civilization, incorporating so many people just collapsed.’  Surprised, I gave an unsatisfactory answer comparing [Edward Gibbon’s] theory against Graeme Snooks’.

Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (which I own but avoid) is the famous exposition of the opinion that ‘decadence’ ground down the structure. I guessed that he cited the death fixation via gladiatorial games. The Wikipedia entry’s author(s) clarify that he believed the Romans entrusted their vassal Barbarians with all the important work and took to navel-gazing Christianity. While there are criticisms of his argument, understand that he published the three volume work in 1776.

Graeme Snooks, in Ephemeral Civilization, instead emphasizes the lack of growth after the Emperor Trajan. I made some ineffectual sounds about soldiers and land and gave up (so we could take our seats). Snooks classes the Empire as one of the conquest societies (as opposed to a trade or industrial society). In particular, the economy funded and drew predominantly from military conquests. So, when the Legions conquered a region, the officers were given governorships over the area and locals conscripted into the army. When the Empire failed to conquer new lands, the strategy soured and introduced proximate causes: tax evasion, provincial resistance, and so on. The military hierarchy could no longer promise its members adequate rewards for attrition warfare and so on. Though I think it the best of the interpretations I am aware of, it is one of many.

The reception proceeded, much of the rest pertains to the unified families rather than me. Perhaps I may relate the intricacies of her courtship, as revealed in five speeches given by Froi’s children and sisters, some other night.