Finally I got some shots from the actual ceremony. Here are a few:

That's Mom lowering the veil. Her dress is called han-bok.

(a bigger version for those of you who want to see my dress more closely :) )

Hero Material's BFF took the close-up picture of the back of my dress:

That's me and Hero Material during the actual ceremony. You can see the attendant in the background, who took care of my ridiculously long train.

That's me signing the certificate:

That's an example of fancy envelopes people use to put wedding money inside. You get cash (crisp new bills only!) instead of gifts in Japan.

• Finished Ashwyn. It needs to sit and percolate a little more before I look at it for rewrites.
• Started outlining My Big Novel Project #1 (MBNP1).
• Wrote an online florist to file a complaint over a gift I ordered for my parents. The flowers were unsatisfactory. The florist offered to resend and refund my money, in addition to giving me a $20 credit. We'll see how the replacement looks. (Thank God, they were sent to Mom, who isn't shy about complaining. I'm just glad they weren't sent to professional colleagues or something…)
• Went to a local glasses shop to get my lenses recut. (Must go pick those up on Saturday…)
• Started watching Rome Season 2.
• Uploaded more pictures to my wedding photo gallery.
• Got my hair cut — about 3.5 inches gone.
• Did a rehab session.
• Went to the gym.

It's only Thursday now, so I have one more day or two of writing time. Saturday and Sunday are going to be tough tough tough because I have to work all weekend, plus have dinner with Hero Material and some friends who couldn't make it to our wedding.

Kimi-chan is a super nice friend of mine in Hiroshima, and out of the blue — meaning completely unexpectedly — she sent me and Hero Material a big box of oysters from her father's award-winning farm in Ootake-Shi, Hiroshima Prefecture (Mukai Suisan). The box contained one big bag of shelled oysters and ten oysters in shells.

Look at the picture below for the quality of the delish oysters! (Note the size and color. They're exceptionally juicy and flavorful. FYI — I'm the one holding the oyster, and my hand isn't small by any means. [wedding band size ~6])

Once you try them from her father's farm, you never want to eat other oysters. Arigatou, Kimi-chan! :wub:

If you're in Japan and want to order oysters from her father's farm, you can call (0827) 53-7121. (Japanese only; sorry they don't speak English…!)

I wasn't trying to live up to the cliché by having a cat in the photo with me. I'm fairly allergic to cats. It's actually a very well-fed stray in my neighborhood who decided to beg for food from me and the photographer by rubbing itself all over us!

The next day we went to Kyoto with our friends and family. I'm still not sure what this taxi company thinks its name means…

Our hotel in Kyoto. We were kinda wondering how bad the place was going to be based on its name, but it turned out to be fairly serviceable. It has an excellent breakfast bar (awesome pastries!) which is included in your room rate.

Kinkakuji — bling bling that puts the phattest crib to shame! It was originally a shogun's retirement home, but later converted into a temple.

Obligatory food p0rn: soba and tempura set. My family loved it. Kyoto has great soba and tofu and pickled veggies, but nothing else from what I understand.

Oyako-don a.k.a. Mother and Child Over Rice. It contains chicken and eggs, hence the name.

Shabu shabu!

I happened to see the poster below at a mall. It's actually an advertisement. Make sure to read the phrase on the woman's shirt before answering the question.

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Someone told me it was silly to post wedding photos without the bride and groom in them. Unfortunately we haven't gotten any until now. It's a snap shot taken with a cell phone by one of our guests. You can see me feeding Hero Material some of our delish cake.

FYI — the dress in the picture is not the wedding dress I wore to the actual ceremony. I had to change because the wedding dress had a huge train, and there was no way I could do anything without two people hovering around me to take care of the danged thing. (It was heavy too.)

More stories to come…! (When I'm more lucid.)

ETA: Kumi Lipman from Cleo did my hair and makeup. I can't even begin to describe how much I adore her.