suits

— पाँच हजार पाँच सौ इक्कीस — After last night, when Gabriel, his brother Garret, his other friends Andy and Brian, and I all wound up walking through Bellevue's Snowflake Lane parade that happens nightly between November 24 and December 24, literally due to accidental timing, I wound up taking several photos. I got 15 shots for this photo album, making it the third time I've done this event, since first going in 2012. When I went in 2012, I went with Danielle and her kids, Morgan and Rylee (aged eight and four, respectively, at the time), with Snowflake Lane being the actual destination. Five years later, in 2017, Shobhit's cousin Anubhab from India was staying with his cousin Abhishek and Vinaya in Bothell, and they wanted to show Anubhab Snowflake Lane. We actually went over to hang out with them kind of last-minute, and I wound up with another photo album. Last night was more of an actual accident. We were all out at a restaurant by Bellevue Square, called Central Bar + Restaurant, and Gabriel will still only do outdoor seating in restaurants, which put us just several yards from a side street where the Snowflake Lake parade staging area occurred. We largely walked through it just as the parade was starting and the floats were launching out onto Bellevue Way, when we were all headed to our cars after dinner ended. I figured: I was there, it was a legit festive holiday event (albeit a little less novel given it happens every single night for a month—that seems a little nuts to me), I might as well get some pictures. I got 11 shots of the parade itself, or at least floats in the staging area, including a brief video while we were all walking along trying to find a spot to cut across the street. I added four more shots to the album, one of Gabriel and Lea's wrapped Christmas present; one of the festive interior of Bellevue Square; and two group shots of the five of us at dinner—the latter two are cross-posted with my already-begun photo album for Gabriel and Lea's wedding, even though that's not actually happening until May. But, planning events are happening! Which was primarily what yesterday actually was. But: in the end, my Snowflake Lane 2023 photo album thus featured 15 shots. Not bad for snapping several shots real quick while we were all trying to find our way back to parking after realizing the bad timing of when dinner ended. There was this big parade in the way of several people in our party getting back to their parking spaces. Gabriel and I had our own mini adventure after this. We went into the Lincoln Square parking garage, and could not for the life of us remember where he had parked the car. We were running late (of course) getting to Indochino in Bellevue Square, and were in such a rush we paid no attention to the color or number of the floor we parked on. And then, after getting exasperated by his alarm remote not beeping any cars on any one of the floors, Gabriel finally spoke to an attendant who noted that there's actually a second, separate parking garage at Lincoln Square! Jesus Christ. That one was where we had actually parked, and when we walked over there we found the car pretty quickly. — पाँच हजार पाँच सौ इक्कीस — — पाँच हजार पाँच सौ इक्कीस — The whole day was pretty chaotic, actually, or at least it was at times. We were rushing so much after I met up with Gabriel in downtown Seattle and then drove together to Bellevue, and he complained about my inability to keep up, I kind of thought: maybe I should have just taken the bus to meet up over there after all. It would have been a lot less stressful, that's for sure. I could have sat back and read my library book! It was fine in the end. I actually had a fun day. It was certainly different from any other day I have ever experience, because I actually got measured for a suit. First, though, I met Gabriel and Andy at a place on Pike, between 4th and 5th, called Self-Made Couture, where Gabriel was getting really extensive measurements to get an estimate for a fully custom made wedding suit. Gabriel had been under the impression that the place was at Pike Place Market, and I had just reached the Market when he texted me the address. This was about seven minutes before 1:30 which was when he suggested I get there, though, so this worked out fine: I had just enough time to turn back up Pike from Pine (the street I had walked downtown on) to 4th. There was some time needed for Gabriel to finish up there, and the rest of us were set to meet at Indochino in Bellevue at 2:30. Garret and Brian were on their way, and Andy left to go ahead of Gabriel and me just so that Garret and Brian would have someone to meet up with before we got there ourselves. Based on the few details I got on the suit Gabriel is working on, it sounds like it will look fantastic. The color will be burgundy, and I love that there will be no black, which is far too typical. And the rest of us were given huge flexibility to go with whatever worked for us personally; there's no mandate for us all to have matching outfits. The only mandate, and even this was very broad, was that whatever we wear not clash with the colors of the wedding dress (which Gabriel has not seen) or the wedding cake. The cake will be white with kind of paint stroke-like swatchs of colors, in cluding reds and greens. Indochino, our first stop in Bellevue Square, was a kind of all-over-the-place experience. First of all, the appointment was at 2:00 and Gabriel texted us all that it was at 2:30. The young man working there, evidently the only employee working a shift, could not (or would not) offer any flexibility on the consultation, which kind of proved moot anyway because the hope had been that they rent out suits and they do not. On the other hand, Garret found fabrics there that he really liked and decided he would order a suit to buy after all. I never felt it was all that sensible to buy a suit myself. One could argue that it could be a smart investment, something I might wear again in the future, except I just don't live a live that involves suit wearing. Andy and Brian did their own kind of browsing and different suit shops we then went on to check out, but the one place we could find, in the end, that actually rents suits was The Men's Warehouse. We had been checking out different stores for a little while, and it got to a point where I was kind of the only one not coming up with any concrete ideas for what I was going to wear. (Garret and I were both coming from a starting point of: I don't know what the hell I'm doing.) We got over to Men's Warehouse—which was outside the mall, we walked a little less than half a mile to it—confirmed that they rent, and then Andy found a jacket on the clearance rack for me to try on. I had already been asked what ideas I had, and I kind of had none, except that I didn't want my suit to be drab and boring. The more color, the better, the way I see it. I mentioned that people consistently tell me I look good in blue, so I was good with either blue or, if I wanted to go a bit gayer, maybe purple. The jacket Andy found on the clearance rack was a light blue, and the minute I put it on, both he and Garret noted how good I looked in it. Gabriel saw it and felt the same. There were two pairs of matching pants on the rack with it. The guy working there asked what my waist size is and I said 30"—because that's the waist size of all my jeans. Granted, my jeans are also a bit tight, but hey, maybe one of these days I'll finally lose a few pounds again! But, the 30-inch waist dress pants I tried on were super right. I tried on the 32-inch waist pants and they didn't feel any less tight, although at least the zipper closed more cleanly. I found that very weird, you would think two inches would make a bigger difference. Gabriel very sensibly suggested I just get measured for a suit rental rather than trying to buy off the clearance rack with a suit that didn't fit quite right. The color options for suit rentals are pretty limited, really only shades of black and blue. I chose the lightest blue they had, which was notably darker than the one on the clearance rack, but it worked. I became far more engaged with the process once I learned I could chose from a much wider range of colors for the shirt, vest and tie. I chose a paisley pink pattern for the vest, which at first I thought was what the front of the vest would look like, but then i was informed the paisley pattern would be only on the back, and the front would be more of a solid pink. I could make the tie the paisley pattern, though, so I liked that idea. (In other words, looking the photo at the top of this post, which I took to text to Shobhit: the color seen on the tie, and the paisley seen on the vest—just swap those, and that's how it will look.) Andy, who Gabriel really commended for how well he knows him when answering questions about design and tailor choices at Self-Made Coutur, was also a great help with me. He went and found a light pink dress shirt for me to wear instead of the plain white one that would have been part of the rental. The shirt had to be purchased outright, but it will be great as part of the suit. I truly never thought I would ever say or think such a thing, but: I'm actually rather looking forward to wearing that suit. Blue and pink! I mean, it has to look a little gay. How this is all getting paid for, with apparently varying definitions of what "traditionally" gets paid for by the parents of the bride, is evidently fairly muddled at the moment. At the time of purchase, Gabriel used his own card. If the suit rental can get covered (and that seems maybe-likely but perhaps not guaranteed), I'm perfectly happy accepting that. But, if Gabriel winds up just absorbing all the costs himself? I'm vaccilating on how comfortable I am with it. He did have a proposed, rough amount as to what would be reasonable without us having to cover these costs ourselves, and mine exceeded it a bit. I may pay him back for the shirt at the very least. That one I'll certainly wear again. Texting with Shobhit, he immediately went into "why don't you just save money" mode and asked why I never tried on any of his suits with the idea of wearing one of those. There are many reasons why this isn't the best idea, actually, not least of which is that I don't want to be the only person in the wedding party whose suit has not been fitted. I don't want to look like a comparative hobo. Furthermore, I also don't want to be the only person in the wedding party not wearing color, which has been at least to some degree individualized. (Shobhit suggested at one point that I wear the beautiful read Indian outfit I wore at our wedding, apparently not realizing how insanely tacky that would be: not only wearing my own wedding outfit, but being a white guy at a non-Indian wedding wearing traditional Indian garments, also making my outfit louder than the bride's. Just: no to all of that.) Anyway, I think Gabriel is generally on the same page as I am here. Shobhit also thinks it's way too early to be fitted for outfits given weight change that could occur between now and then. I do hope to lose a few pounds, but I'm been hoping for such things for several years now without much notable change, so let's get real. Also, weddings take a ton of advanced planning and this was when this part of it could get coordinated with all five of us. Granted, even Andy seemed to think doing this in January might have been better than December, but at this point I suppose that's neither here nor there. We did it, it's done. Or at least my part is—I think my suit for the wedding is the only one basically all settled. Gabriel's suit being settled probably depends largely on the estimate he gets from Self-Made Couture, which he learned about at a recent wedding expo, discovered they were Black-owned, and that rightly made him more inclined to support that business. I also hope that can work out. Garret did make appointments for further fittings with a bunch of stuff ordered at Indochino, so even if his suit isn't all settled, the road map for getting it settled has been laid. I know less about exactly where Andy and Brian are with it all. Gabriel didn't even seem to think the young man who took my measurements at The Men's Warehouse truly knew what he was doing, but nothing about him put me off in particular. I mean, he didn't seem to love (or hate, particularly) his job, but what do I know? I'm just going to trust that it'll be fine, and it probably will be. Conveniently, I was able to place an order where I can pick up the rental at the Men's Warehouse in downtown Seattle on May 1, and a return date on May 6. (The wedding is May 4.) When Gabriel first announced this "May the 4th" wedding as Star Wars-inspired, with even some element of cosplay encouraged, I thought I had that to worry about. But, then I was asked to be part of the wedding party, and I learned that suits will be worn by those in it (except Mandy, who will wear a dress, but will stand on Gabriel's side). As I recall, Andy was Gabriel's best man at his wedding to Stephanie in 2006. I honestly can't remember whether he was at Gabriel and Kornelija's wedding in 2012; my photos don't make it clear, largely because although I was merely a guest at the 2006 wedding, I was actually the officiant a the 2012 wedding, which means I didn't get any photos of the actual ceremony. Andy will be Best Man again at this one, though (if I recall correctly), and I'll be in the party but standing to the side. I remain so unhappy with the poor job I did officiating in 2012, I'm perfectly happy to occupy the space in that middle-ground. Anyway. Shobhit was making pizza for dinner so even though I joined everyone at the restaurant (I technically could have taken a bus home from the nearby Bellevue Transit Center but I had left my backpack in Gabriel's car, and being the only one to bail at dinner wouldn't have been a good look), I just had a cup of tomato basil soup, which was delicious, and a cup of earl gray tea. Everyone else ordered more to eat, and it was actually a really pleasant, fun evening out with all those guys. Even our fun waitress added to it, even though I had to go inside at one point to request that we get napkins and silverware. After all the aforementioned stuff with locating the car in the garage, Gabriel gave me a ride back home. We chatted about plenty, even plenty I could comment on here, but I've spent way too much time on this post already and I need to get back to work. — पाँच हजार पाँच सौ इक्कीस —