Ladies' Arm Wrestling

Last weekend was full of events. Tyler went to the Stephen Colbert/Jon Stewart Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear with Marina and Kate. Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post volunteered to bus any New Yorker who wanted to go -- for free. I couldn't go because I had to work, but I'm kind of glad I didn't go after hearing Tyler's stories of the subway shutting down because of the overflow of people, not eating for over twelve hours, waiting in line for an hour and a half for a Chipotle burrito, and the 7.5 hour bus ride home because one of the bridges was out (it normally takes about 3-4 hours).

Hopefully Tyler will make a post about the rally later...he took some great pictures of all the funny signs people were holding up. But this post is entirely dedicated to duckduck's first ever Ladies' Arm Wrestling Tournament, of which yours truly was a participant.

At first, arm wrestling didn't seem like something I wanted to do on Halloween night. But then I thought, Why not? You get a free "shot of courage," a t-shirt if you advance, and it just seemed like fun. Jenny, Marina, Brita, and Ginger signed up too.

Plus, Joe Ryan, Kate's brother (and both Omahans) had JUST -- as in, that night -- completed his move cross-country from California to New York. For a few months, Joe moved to California to stay with Tyler's brother Ryan and help with the wine/grape harvest. But Brooklyn kept calling him back. And Tyler is so, so happy to have more guy friends.

Also who moved back to town: B-Ray, one of Tyler's favorite dudes.

Just...don't even try to analyze the homoeroticism of this photo. I'll have to explain this picture later. B-Ray lived in LA for a long, long time but traveled back and forth to Brooklyn because he produces TV shows or something like that. Video editing, maybe? All I know is he works on stuff on Lifetime and HBO and stuff. He's a super nice guy and I'm glad he's back, too.

But back to wrestling. Like any true sporting event, the National Anthem must first be sung.

These ladies and gent were the Anthem singers, and I thought they were going to be really good. The girl on the far left was going to sign it for the 'hard of hearing.'

They weren't good. At all.

But that was the funny part. Off-key, the sign language not sign language at ALL -- the song ended with everyone in the bar belting the anthem at the top of their lungs and it was a great start to gettin' everybody's blood pumping for ARM WRASSLIN'.

First up: Don Queen (aka Marina) and Bridezilla (aka Ginger). The box of Sugar Daddies in the middle was the grand prize, and was left there to keep us motivated.

Ginger is a chef. Does that mean she was big muscles? I don't know, but somehow I think the two correlate. She beat Don Queen and advanced to the next round.

The next round: Tomb Raider and some other girl whose name I don't remember. Tomb Raider did not win.

Next round, me and some other girl. I don't remember her name because I WHOOPED HER ASS in 10 seconds.

Surprised?

So was Tyler. "I honestly didn't think you would make it very far," he said. At least we have an honest relationship.


Then, two more girls. I don't remember their names either, but the girl on the left in the brown sweater was Mama-something and ended up the semi-finalist runner up. She was strong. And left handed, which sucked for everyone else.

Then little Brita and little Jess. Jess was dressed up as a cute flapper. The race was close, but Brita (I love her hair in this picture) took her down!

There might've been a little pulling, but the ref never blew the whistle, so oh well.

Then...JENNY!
Jenny owns duckduck with her partner, Dave. Dave dressed as a lady and registered in the contest, and everyone was shocked!!

Not really, though.

Dave doesn't know how to sit with a short dress on, though. He also doesn't know that you can't bend over too far in a dress like that. The whole bar was scarred by what we had to see.

Dave threw off his capelet. He brushed the dirt off his shoulder. Jenny was no match for him.

But then things got a little out of hand, and Jenny, a theatre major and not to be one-upped, TOOK HER SHIRT OFF AND WAVED IT AROUND, and proceeded to arm wrestle Dave in her BRA.

Then the fight could begin.

How Dave struggled!

But Jenny won, of course.

Then the next round! Jenny and Brita! They sure did make a show of getting ready for this match.

Eventually they got so worked up Jenny had to take her shirt off again. But not to be outdone, Brita did the same. And they wrestled. In their bras. I bet you wish you had been there, huh?

I could provide some social commentary about the crowd of guys who couldn't get any closer, who threw bets down, and the feminist theories about why these two women fighting a man's game without their shirts on...but really...it's not necessary.

It was just a good time!

It was a long, drawn-out battle...

But ultimately Jenny won and advanced to the next round.

I just love the guys standing there ogling.

Bridezilla had disappeared, so by default Don Queen was back in the running to fight for the win.
She won!

Then it was my turn to fight against...

...gulp...

BLOODBATH.

This girl had the firmest grip on my hand and started wrestling before he even blew the whistle. But honestly, there was no way I could've beat her. Look at the fierce competition in her face!

I don't want to spoil the fun for you, but she won the entire contest. That's why I don't feel so bad about losing. She was the ultimate champion. And her muscles are way bigger than mine.

I kind of look like a boy in that picture.

So, I lost, then Don Queen had to go up against Bloodbath.

I love this picture.

You already know who won! Because I just told you!

Championship round: Mama-something and Bloodbath.

The fight lasted awhile, actually! They were well-matched. Bets were going all over the place.


I won ten dollars!

Then I lost it.

Such is the cycle of gambling. At least I know I can never be a gambling addict, because the loss is far more bitter than the thrill of winning. I could've done so much with those ten dollars!

Bloodbath threw down, won those sugar daddies, and then we got t-shirts.

My wrestling name was Sarawr.

Sweet on the outside...

But watch out! I'll unleash my inner lionness!


And now, and explanation about this picture:

For some reason, Brita likes ripping shirts. She did it on the Just the Tip Booze Cruise and then lashed out at Tyler from across the table and ripped his favorite, softest, cleanest, least-armpit-crusted t-shirt from Target (alas! Wherever shall we find a new one?). Everyone was just having fun, but Tyler was kind of bummed at first. B-Ray was comforting him. What a nice guy.

Marina thought it was funny.

I just sat there and gave a look of resignation, which was captured perfectly in this picture:

Then Tyler just ripped the rest of his shirt down the middle. The thoughts going through my head at this time were something along the lines of God dammit. I liked that shirt. Why? WHY?

But I forgive you, Brita!