Hey, what a weekend!  Hey, what a start to the week!  The sun is shining brightly on my arms and face as I walk to get lunch in Chinatown, and as the dog days of August come into full force, many changes have occurred around here.  Saturday was quite the event.  The Johnny Wander Crew was moving to Brooklyn, and the FRC turned out in force to schlep heavy items up the many flights of stairs to their enormous walk-up apartment.  Five of them are splitting the rent, so it works out to be fairly cheap, but man, was I ever so envious of an apartment as I am of theirs!  They have roof access and a clear view of the Manhattan skyline, and I see it as a perfect place to be young and full of art.  Jaa, but we made quick work of the moving.  I feel sometimes like our group of friends is like some kind of magic force that you can call upon in times of need, and when summoned descends in a big, overwhelming wave to perform the task of hand.  Nat-chan and J. even came, even though it was J’s birthday party that night (they brought an unfortunate fanboy acquaintance from Otakon, who I doubt was expecting hard labor.) We got sweaty and sore, but in a little over an hour, we had the truck empty and the furniture installed in more or less the right places.  I brought a change of clothes, but the sweaty boys were forced to buy 2 dollar t-shirts at the bodega on the corner.  By the end of the experience, it looked like a uniform of white shirts and jeans had taken over.  I finally got to meet Aido’s mom and pop (both awesome) and hope to be visiting the Wander Crew from time to time.  Damn, Rym and I missed you guys!

Following the move, the white shirt brigade (minus Aido, Ananth, and Conrad, who needed a little time to recuperate) headed back to Manhattan to go see Ponyo.  We barely made the movie because the E train was totally full of fail, but we got there, hungry and tired but happy and settled in for big screen Ghibli time.  I had been very skeptical about Disney’s dubbing ability, but every character was spot on.  Tina Fey as the main character’s mother pulled off a particularly good performance, and Liam Neeson was really well cast as the sea wizard.  It was so great!  This is the first time in a long while I have been this pleased with an anime dub.  Later, we headed up to a Japanese bar called Riki on 45th, where I had reserved a party room for J’s party.  We sat on cushions, ordered Japanese comfort food, and sang Karaoke for hours.  It was not the best karaoke outing, but it had been a while, and we used the Japanese machine.  We did about half ani-song karaoke, which is tough but always a plus despite my warbling.  Out of town Fanboy was a karaoke n00b and a microphone whore, though.  I had this mental image of Jumba from Lilo and Stich shouting “Share!” and apparently that was the general mood of the group.  Next time, we will not go to an izakaya, but to a regular karaoke box.  I hear the one above the sushi train on 3rd has free lunch specials…