Day 88 - April 4

Hooray, I'm caught up!

On Friday, Allison was bored and wanted to do something so after Anime Club I met her and Li in Akihabara and we went out to a maid cafe.  This time we went to the Kimono themed version of @home cafe, which marks my third visit to an @home cafe and only two more until I level up!  While I certainly liked the Kimono theme and the atmosphere was a lot more laid back so it was a nice change of pace, I think I like the standard maid cafe more.  Its more moe XD.  We didn't get out until about 9:30 I think, so most of the places in Akiba were closing up at that point when we realized we were all pretty hungry.  Li and I were, as usual, indecisive so Allison decided upon going to the Royal Host.  While the name implies that it might be a Butler cafe or host club, the truth is not even close.  RH is just another chain of 24 hour diners/restaurants very similar to Denny's but with a little more focus on Japanese-ish food.  I say 'ish' because most everything was deep-fried anyways.  The food was alright, not terribly great, but it served its purpose.  We made it back to 'baba not long before last train, but fortunately Allison had enough time to catch the train leading back to wherever it is she lives.

Yesterday, Saturday, I had plans with Li, Kira, and Allison to go out to Mo Mo Paradise for all you can eat sukiyaki.  I feel like I've talked about Mo Mo Paradise, but a quick glance back to my previous posts and it doesn't seem that I have.  If I'm repeating myself, then I apologize.  Sometime in the past month (before Kyoto) Li and I went to a restaurant in Ikebukuro called Mo Mo Paradise, which is supposed to stand for "Moo Moo Paradise" since they specialize in sukiyaki tabehoudai and shabu shabu tabehoudai (tabehoudai = all you can eat).  When we went before it was only the two of us, and by the time our 90 minutes was up we had each consumed six plates of meat and at least two bowls of rice.  The two of us could barely walk by the time we left, and were barely able to maintain consciousness for the two stops back to 'baba.  Thus, I decided that "Moo Moo Paradise" was a state of being (which we were in at the time) and coined the phrase, "You go to Mo Mo Paradise and leave in Moo Moo Paradise."

This time we had four people instead of just two, so Li and I were hoping we would be able to pace ourselves better and do more than six plates each.  Unfortunately, the girls didn't help much and we only ended with 15 plates consumed with around 5-6 for Li and I each.  Still though, it was a good time.  During dinner Allison added on the concept of "Moo Moo Heaven," which is where you go when you die from "Moo Moo Paradise."

After eating the girls decided they wanted to walk off the food by looking around Ikebukuro a bit.  Li and I disagreed, but didn't have enough energy to oppose them.  We passed several arcades with UFO catchers and the girls had to physically restrain me from entering.  Our goal was to make it to the Animate store before it closed, which we managed to do with around 5 minutes to spare.  The spirit of consumption consumed me once more and gave me the strength to cover all 6 floors within the time allotted.  I saw things in there which made me very sad, but also very happy that I didn't have enough money to procure at the time.  Once we were kicked out of Animate we made our way back towards the station, but this time they let me go into the arcades and check out the UFO catchers.  While there were some things that were appealing, nothing really demanded my attention.  Li and I stopped to play a few rounds of Melty Blood on the really nice cabinets they had in this one arcade, and I finally realized why none of my combos were working:  I wasn't returning the stick all the way to neutral >_<.  Unfortunately I didn't figure it out until our last game, so Li and his button-mashing repeatedly beat me down.

We had planned with Allison to go out to Mari's once we got back, but Kira needed to get home to her host family so we parted ways at the station.  Mari's was fun, and as usual our "only one drink" turned into several.  Since we were all having a good time and didn't want to leave just yet, Allison decided she would stay with one of us (it ended up being Li) instead of leaving early to make the last train.  I didn't really notice it until we left (and apparently neither did she) but Allison got totally smashed.  Li and I could both see her throwing up as inevitable, which by his account the next morning we were correct about.  Overall it was a really good time and I can't wait to take Tsuki there when she gets here.

Today I was supposed to be getting work done but failed miserably.  At least I beat Infinite Space and watched all of Durarara, and now that I'm done updating my blog there isn't anything to get in the way of me being productive!