Back from Japan

So we're safely back from Japan. It was bittersweet because the reason I went back was to visit my ailing grandmother who is doing well for her age but sadly seems to be on the decline.

I brought back a bunch of gifts and of course jet lag. Sooo, while I clean up and edit the pictures and debate whether or not to do the macarons post here's my homage to our future robot overlords.



And some quick reading on the horrible troubles of being rich

Still, he sold two motorcycles he didn't use and called his Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet "the Volkswagen of supercars." He and his wife have given more than $100,000 to a nonprofit she founded that promotes employment for people with Asperger syndrome, he said. 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bonus-withdrawal-puts-bankers-malaise-050100338.html

Mo' money mo' problems.

Bucket List

My bucket list may be a bit different from other men. For one, I don't know many men who has: Attend a fashion show as one of the things he wants to do before he dies. In any case, today I got to knock that off my list. Through work I was able to get a ticket to the Custo Barcelona Fall Collection.

I remember seeing the Custo Barcelona stores while I was still living in Barcelona so I kinda knew the style and design of the clothing. Being that this is a fashion show I figured none of what I would see would be ever sold in retail.

MB has been sponsoring Fashion Week ever since I've been in NYC. Fashion and cars. They go hand in hand?

The new SL. The fun part was watching all the people take their model shots in front of the car. I also saw a guy in a red snuggie thingie with stuffed pandas all over him taking his "model" shot so I use model very loosely.  

The whole thing reminded me of an auto show. It's a fairly good analogy. The clothing at a fashion show is like concept cars. You'll never see them on the road and they're just supposed to look pretty. One's powered by gasoline and the other powered by cocaine and cigarettes. 

They were doing free styling at the Tresseme salon. 

The other main sponsor of Fashion Week. 

Before the start of the show. I never thought I'd be so close to the runway. 

The models walking by. Not to be overly critical but runway models are not very good looking. They are definitely very tall and very skinny but they wouldn't be what you'd call beautiful. The point for these models is to make the clothing look beautiful, which they 100% did.

Blue Steel everywhere. 

My seat was right at the top of the catwalk so I got to see the model stop, do their turn and head back. They didn't pose really and mostly just sulked from one end to the other with a quick turn at the end. 

Strut, strut, turn, strut, strut. I could do that. If only I was about a foot taller, ten pounds slimmer and had higher cheekbones.

The music was cranked to the max. Good thing the whole show was only 10 minutes long. I don't know how much more bass I could take.

I'm really glad that I got to go. So who do I need to pay, sleep with, kiss up to to get a seat in the front row at a Paris show. 

Apparently this blog serves to cure your boredom

This blog seems to serve a purpose. Relieve boredom. Not my boredom but the boredom of the office drones of the world.

Well, let me fight that boredom corporate drone #3! To you I serve up this post.

The SO had to go back to LA for some work. The timing  aligned perfectly with a wedding and the SO's birthday so we made a mini vacation out of it. Mini in the sense that I got to spend more than 30 hours in LA.

The no longer-TARP funded large retail bank the SO works for paid for her accommodations so I got to stay in some luxury. I won't name the hotel but it's a Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall Hotel.

I flew in on Thursday night and worked from the hotel Friday. Since I had to work East Coast hours in LA, I started the day at 6am. With such an early day I had to get breakfast in bed. I had to okay.

The view from the room was quite spectacular. I was surprisingly productive. Maybe a nice view doesn't hurt. I think I'll bring it up during my next performance evaluation. I'm pretty sure that will go over well.

I'm sure the Chinese are delighted knowing that their beautiful wares are being  re-purposed as a lamp.

They had a complimentary shoe shine service so I felt obliged to try it out. I can't say no to free stuff. Unless it's "free" and you know what that means. 

The SO's birthday was a week before but she had to work that day. We gathered some of her closest work and college friends for a grand you're getting old you're only 30 birthday party. She loves the band Muse and her favorite album is Origin of Symmetry so I got a custom cake for her. 

It was a tad difficult to wake her up on Saturday morning due to the drinking, eating and socializing. The only truly effective way to lure the SO out of bed....

.....almost...

Yes that would definitely work. 

The wedding we went to was amazing, touching and just a really good time. I love how each wedding highlights the bride and groom's taste and personalities. 

The wedding was held on the grounds of Pomona College in Claremont where the couple attended college. Last year Pomona College was ranked third happiest college in America. It's also an amazing academic school as it was ranked 4th in liberal arts schools by US News. Needless to say the students work hard and party hard as evidenced by my many hazy recollections of weekends spent at Pomona. 

The bride and groom making their grand entrance. 

The ridiculous cake they had. Oh so delicious. 

I went back for thirds so I can attest to the fact that the food was good. 

Parting gifts were provided via a candy buffet. They had pre-packaged bags but I decided to be a fatty and stuffed my own bag full of candy. Thanks J!

The wedding and the birthday were our big social gatherings as the rest of the weekend was spent with the SO's family. 

Once we got back it was back to the grind of NYC. The grind being eating, drinking and socializing.

My old roommate from ESADE came to visit the SO and I the weekend after we got back from LA. He worked his magic and got us amazing seats for the Knicks game. This is also the same man who managed to get us into Apotheke by sweet talking the 6'5 bouncer with offers of cupcakes. 

The Knicks were playing the Nuggets so it was Carmelo playing against his old team. 

The seats were awesome. 

The SO was more interested about the nachos. 

The Knicks City dancers gyrating their way into the hearts of lonely men. 

The game was quite close and it ended up going into double overtime. It also pushed our dinner back to 10:30, which was the bigger concern for the ladies. 

He shoots he misses. The Knicks ended up falling flat in the 2nd overtime and lost the game. I don't think I can really adopt the Knicks as my team like I've somewhat adopted the NY Giants as my hometown team. My basketball team will always be the Lakers so watching the Knicks is like extra crispy fries. I like them when they're there but I'll never search them out. An added bonus, if you will. 

Next post: Macarons - The soft yet crunchy mini dessert burger from France.