Hidaka Banri - VB Rose, vol. 01-02 (Eng. trans.)

Why yes, Bob, I am trying to get rid of my posting backlog!

Ageha's beloved older sister Hibari has decided to get married since she's pregnant. Ageha, who's always idolized and loved her sister, begins to get jealous, especially because she thinks Hibari's now-fiance is entirely too boring for Hibari. But in order to stay a part of the wedding, Ageha ends up joining Velvet Blue Rose, a boutique shop for custom-made wedding dresses run by two guys, Arisaka and Kuromine.

Kuromine's pretty much your standard flitty flirt who has moments of seriousness, while Arisaka is the grumpy bishounen with the sometimes soft heart.

So far, the story isn't remarkable, though I do like HibakiHidaka's art a lot. But I very much like the focus on the two sisters in the first volume, and the crafter in me really enjoys all the details of dress-making and purse-making.

Sweet and fluffy.

Hong Kong: food and the occasional building

Alas, I am not still in Hong Kong, though I really wish I were. Instead, I am about two months late in posting these pictures!

ETA: apologies for some of the smudgy photos; I hadn't realized I had a fingerprint on my lens for about ten pictures or so.

( Giant pictures of Hong Kong )

New York: Museums

Note: Not in New York, just incredibly behind in writing stuff up!

This time visiting New York, I actually had time to go around and explore, as opposed to trying to grab everyone and socialize (which is also fun! And I did that too!). Since I've been to NY quite a few times before and seen some of the more well-known museums, I decided to go to slightly less famous ones this time around.

(Though I still went to the Met for the superhero exhibition.)

( Museum of Sex )

( National Museum of the American Indian )

( Museum of Jewish Heritage )

( Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology )

And then, on my way out, some jerk decided to randomly konnichiwa/ni hao/annyeong me. And I couldn't think of what to do, and I wasn't sure if I should even do anything. I was trying to calculate if I could run, if anyone would help me if the guy didn't back down, if if if, and in the end, I didn't look at him and went the subway. I hate that SO MUCH, the helplessness and the anger and the fear. And while this is irrational, I was even more pissed off because there was an E. Asian guy next to the white guy harassing me, and he didn't say a thing, and I felt so betrayed.

Which makes three for New York. Last Thanksgiving some white guy babbled at me, and when I thought he didn't know English and was trying to figure out how to say "croissant," he asked me if I knew Chinese. "Uh. Yes," I said, then quickly wished I hadn't answered. "Well, so do I," he said proudly. "So?" I said back to him, and he looked so affronted that I didn't want to help him practice. Neither of these were as scary as when a guy on the street yelled at my sister, her friend and I to get out of the US, but still. And it makes me sad that the first reaction is: "At least it wasn't as scary as..."