Sunday with vom_marlowe!

[oyceter]

First things first, I actually woke up in time for the farmers' market! I have not been for months and months, and given the pattern of this year and last year, I think I will simply assume that I will end up not market-ing for the winter months. I swear, it's the greyness. I didn't take home all that much, as I am just gearing up, but I got PEAS! English peas for the first time since October! Joy! I also got a basket of strawberries, which were sweet and not watery like the supermarket ones, a quiche and a little cherry galette from one of the bakers, a bag of homemade frozen dumplings, and... cherries! There are cherries out! I got a pound of garnets, which I don't remember having before. There were some other kinds as well, but the garnets were the sweetest. And there were peaches and apricots, though I didn't get any, as they looked like the season was just starting.

Oh summer! I missed you!

And then I headed over to SF to see vom_marlowe and take her around the city (if by "take her around" you mean "go anime and manga shopping"). We had lunch at Samovar, with very wonderful polenta waffles and roast duck; the duck was almost unbearably salty, which went perfectly with the syrup and the waffles, and I have decided polenta waffles are the newest Best Thing Ever, as the cornmeal adds some crunchiness and chewiness. Then we ran off to the big anime/manga store, which sadly did not have any good manga on their 60% off shelf. But I did not leave empty-handed, as I managed to score an Evil Shoujo Rukia figurine. Whoo!

Then it was off to Kinokuniya. Though first, I think we managed to terrify everyone on the bus by our conversation:

vom_marlowe introduced me to the zany world of Weiss Kreuz: "Yes! So they are florists by day and assassins by night. And they have code names based on their individual flowers of DOOM! Except they also have code names based on cats! And Yohji has a wristwatch with a wire he can draw out to strangle people! Oh! And then there's this side plot in which people end up in swimming pools missing a kidney. And eventually, one of them [Yohji?] decides that he likes strangling women for fun (with his hands, not his wristwatch."

(note: do not ask people for an introduction to WK on public transporation, as you will nearly die attempting not to laugh so hard you fall off your seat)

"Oh, then I checked poisons up on Wikipedia -- " said vom_marlowe

"Wiki! They have the latest information on Naruto down to the second, but only two sentences on the history of socks," I interrupted.

VM: "They had a lot on poisons too! Cain clearly uses belladonna."

And every so often, there would be insane giggling punctuated with: "Heads! In jars! Muraki! He is so insane!"

I fear that the bus denizens thought we were a plotting duo planning on poisoning people, reaping their kidneys, and then decapitating them for our collection of heads in jars.

We spent entirely too much time in Kinokuniya, which seems to do that to people. I managed to not spend a giant chunk of money on yet another Minekura artbook, despite the gorgeousness of the Wild Adaptor guys on the cover. But I did get my grubby little hands on Honey and Clover merchandise! There's this little book called "Seishun no Alubamu" (Album of Adolescence) that goes through all of the first season of the anime! With colored pictures! Episode by episode, with notes on what year Takemoto and Hagu are through it all! OMG, this will be so useful for fic.

Also, so pretty!

I nearly got H&C vol. 10 and some manga-sized H&C fanbook that will probably have tons of Japanese that I will be too lazy to read, but I put them down in favor of vom_marlowe's rec of Shojo Beat's Manga Artist Academy. Review to come (um, yes, I finished on the train)... And I got an Izumi figurine on sale! I am tempted to go back and get the King Bradley figurine too.

After being very full from curry, sizzling platters and green tea crepes, we wandered off to the bus stop, only to wait. And wait. And wait. And wait.

"Should we try the other line?" I asked.

"It's up to you?"

"Hrm. The second we get up, the bus is going to come, isn't it?"

"Such is the way of buses," VM agreed.

We waited some more.

"Argh! Other line or taxi!" I threatened the bus with. We walked off, only to (of course) hear the bus pull up just as we had gotten three blocks away. We raced to the bus, which paused. I swear the driver saw us.

And then it closed its doors and pulled away, leaving us to pant, curse, and wave our ineffectual fists of rage at the evil thing.

Thankfully, we got to the other bus line just as that bus pulled up, and this one waited for us instead of mocking us for our who-knows-how-long wait.

Comments

[oyceter]

Heee! I was trying so hard not to fall off my chair.