Akihabara... Again, Tokyo 2016

Monday afternoon, we decided we should go back to Akihabara in the daytime. Andrew had over many Skype meetings told us about the Maid Cafes and how they highlighted the weirdness special to Japan. Andrew still hadn't had lunch and his favorite kabobs were nearby.

It's appropriate that Andrew's favorite kabob stand is under a big maid cafe sign.

This is the happiness Andrew experiences when eating a kabob.

Japanese version of a kabob does look yummy.

Akihabara in the daytime- way more fun than at night.

We went to a maid cafe in the Don Quijote building. It's called the At Home Cafe because they pretend you're coming home and they are your maids. Techinically, you're not allowed to take pictures in a maid cafe but this is strange because there are maids promoting the cafes in the street, and because there are promotional videos on youtube.

Maid from some other cafe

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Picture of Andrew's coffee (bear) and mine (me) at maid cafe. Maid in background. 

Maid cafes are extremely difficult to explain. They focus on the art of kawaii or cuteness. They cater to lonely men, young silly girls, and confused tourists. Some of the lonely men converse with the maids or play the occasional game of Connect Four with them. The maids serve you drinks and then cast spells on them. Tourists pay extra for pictures with maids. In a creepy twist you pick your favorite maid off a menu and pictures with highly requested maids cost extra. You take these pictures on a stage so that everyone at the cafe can watch your kawaii shame. I did some soul-searching and for the first time I passed on a picture opportunity. For further explanation (why would you need more explanation?) I'm embedding a youtube video:

You might experience disorientation after this- especially if you're a New Yorker.

We decided to round out our second Akihabara visit with a FuRyu photobooth. We found one in the basement of an arcade. You take some pictures which the machine automatically photoshops- giving you makeup and bigger eyes so if you're a Westerner you look a little alien-like. Then you have additional editing choices when you exit the booth like backgrounds, text, and stickers. However all the editing had Japanese directions so we gave up after a while.

Kevin and Andrew in the arcade.

We got a purple heart background on this one.

But we couldn't figure out how to decorate this one. Except for the floor.

Trying to use the editing machine.


Examining the finished result in the photobooth area.

Finally it was naptime! (Or Sunday night bedtime in the US, depending on your point of view.)

Diary of an Angry Pink Baby #4: Bronx Zoo 2011

Along with several packs of small schoolchildren and a surprisingly robust collection of Orthodox Jewish families, we went to the Bronx Zoo on Monday. Like all six-month babies who don't understand what hands are, let alone animals, James was desperate to go to the zoo. Considering his sterling history of going places, we were eager to oblige.

It costs $13 to park at the zoo. That made me an angry pink baby. James was actually pretty good, by which I mean asleep, when we arrived.

The first animals we saw were giraffes. James spends many hours a day salivating on a rubber giraffe that is indistinguishable from a dog toy, so we figured he'd be excited by the real thing. He was not. Nevertheless, I took him out of his stroller, so his mother could take thousands of photographs of him in front of the giraffes.

With the giraffes

Next we saw okapi. If a zebra mated with a not particularly potent horse, their spawn might look like an okapi. We saw elephants, which had the tired look that elephants that don't live in Africa or India or whatever have, and we saw a bunch of animals that looked like monkeys, though they all had crazy non-monkey names. James cared about none of these animals, and my wife photographed all of them.

With the Langurs

James would occasionally smile or get excited, but this never had anything to do with animals. Mostly, this had to do with Latin women, whom James enjoyed flirting with a great deal.

My favorite animals were the gorillas. You could get very close to them, and they would do wise and noble things, such as stare at grass and then eat it. I also enjoyed the polar bear that slept the entire time. Out of solidarity, or because he's a baby, James slept in front of the polar bear. The regular brown bear seemed nervous. It kept pacing around the rock like it had placed a bet it already regretted.

Napping with the polar bear

There's a monorail at the zoo! I didn't see that coming. It takes you on a totally random tour, featuring buffalo (or animals that look like buffalo), red pandas, and an extremely scary tiger. James loved the monorail because we let him eat a map the entire time. Probably, this was his favorite part of the zoo.

Eating zoo map on the monorail

Ericka's favorite part was the photo booth, as she'd left her camera at home, and this gave her an opportunity to commemorate the day. What's that? She brought her camera and took over 200 photos? Ericka's favorite part was the photo booth because she has a deep and incurable addiction. Thanks for the tickets, Teresa!

Cory and Robin's Wedding 2010

Robin and Cory started dating in 2003, after meeting at job where she was temping and he was interning. I met them in 2006, shortly after Kevin and I started dating.

Picture from when I met Robin for the first time, October 2006

Robin and Cory's wedding took place at the Briar Patch Bed and Breakfast in Virgina. The ceremony was outdoors on beautiful Saturday afternoon. The ceremony was very touching, and Kevin and I were both thrilled to participate in the wedding. Kevin was a groomsman, and the bride and groom had the significant others of the wedding party come down the aisle right before the wedding party came down the aisle. And I believe that our best friends' loved ones are our family too. So it's fitting.

Bridal party and spouses


Everyone, yay!

Everything was very personalized. Robin's sister designed the wedding invitations and the design on the wedding favor mugs. On top of that, she brought back lovely pashminas from Turkey for all the ladies. I have worn mine every day since the wedding. I chased around the server carrying cheese rangoon during the cocktail hour for seconds, and oh, fourths. I have seen photo booths at weddings before, but the booth attendants put copies of the photos directly in an scrap book and guests signed next to their photos. Best guestbook ever.

Lukas and Kevin gave beautiful and funny speeches at the reception.  (Sadly, Jinsoo did not give a speech.)  And I loved when Robin and Cory danced, Cory's parents danced, and Robin's parents danced all at the same time. Almost as beautiful as when Dancing Queen came on and all of the UVA men ran out to the dance floor and sang and danced together while the UVA Wives Club stood back and watched transfixed.

Congratulations Robin and Cory!

Christina and Dan's Wedding 2008

Congratulations to Dan and Christina! Dan and Christina met in 2005, and things got serious right away. I could tell from the way Christina talked about him that she really liked him, but more than that, I could tell I really liked him. He treated Christina the way every woman wants to be treated, and you could tell how much he loved her. I didn't meet him until 2007 when I had dinner with both them in New York. He was very quiet and seemed to be the yin to her yang. Christina is not quiet. She is the life of the party and a force of laughter and positivity. At their wedding though, it occurred to me that I might not have Dan totally figured out, and he was actually even more like Christina than I might have suspected. He partied like a man who knew he had a lot to celebrate.

Christina and Dan- the real deal

Christina's mom and bridesmaid Pam helping her get ready

The ceremony and reception was at a pretty hotel in New Jersey. Christina's bridesmaids were her two best friends from childhood Nikki and Pam, and her two teenage cousins. Dan's groomsmen were his two best friends from Texas.

Christina's dad walking her down the aisle

View from the back of the ceremony- Most of the GW gang is in the back row

Married and about to start partying!

Super awesome wedding party

The cocktail hour was super fancy with multiple signature cocktails and a monogrammed ice luge for chilling the cocktails, but also mainly for decorative purposes. The reception was even nicer with monogram lights, beautiful centerpieces, a gorgeous cake, and a band that was not afraid to play Gnarls Barkley.

Martini luge

First dance

Dan about to reveal his true self

 

Our table- look how seriously amazing that centerpiece is

Cutting the beautiful cake

One of the best parts of the wedding was the guest list. I am super close with my college friends, and we try to get together as a group at least once a year. But individually we see each other a lot more than that even though we're split up between New York and DC. More than that though, I love Christina's parents. They're the kind of parents that are just constantly supportive of Christina. I have never heard her complain about them in the slightest way in the 16 years I've known her, and I have a long memory. Christina's friends from growing up are great people, and I feel like I've gotten to know them better over the years. And her coworkers are New York City school teachers so that automatically makes them both best people and the hardest mofos you will ever meet. Suffice to say, people partied hard at this wedding. And there was a photo booth to prove it. I will spare you the worst of the evidence from the photo booth.

With some of my best friends in the whole world

Christina's proud parents

This party don't stop.

This is many of my favorite people in the world in one 

photo booth- I am in there too, being trampled

Proof that I was in there