Saturday Oct 2: I decided that against my better judgment I answered an early morning phone call by my friend Pa asking if I wanted to hangout in Takaoka that Saturday. Considering that I hadn’t been there in a while, and it was a change to hang out with another one of the new girls Chuma I decided to get up and go. We got there and of course ate at the Brazilian place. Instead of getting a burger like normal I went for the buffet. It was a bit more expensive but I was able to get some variety of things instead of just a burger meal. Once the three of us finished lunch we walked over to Aeon mall and along the way we say a man dressed up in a Piccolo costume trying to bring people into a Docomo store, or at least I think it was a Docomo store. Once we made it to the mall we ended up just looking around not doing too much while we were there. In fact I don’t recall what we did. XD The only thing I can remember is me purchasing a cute pair of boots which in the end didn’t fit me! >.< lol
October 9th-11th: Kyoto Weekend Trip (separate blog)
October 16th-17th: Early Saturday morning (16th) I woke up and drove to Colare where I tutored the kids selected to travel to Macon, Georgia as a cultural exchange program they have here in my city school system. It was nothing special though I was surprised to find out that one of those kids I had taught last year was really good at English and had lived in Brittan for ten years prior. It was oddly scary and kind of cool sounding to hear a Japanese school kid speak English in a British accent.
When that was all over Lawrence and I headed to another room after grabbing some food at the kombini for band rehearsal. The puppet show was that night and both him and I were singing in the band for it. The rehearsal was quick and before I knew it I was rushing home to change into something nice for the show. I hurried back and they had dinner prepared for us. Once that was over it was SHOW TIME!, and thankfully everything went well. I sung the best I could despite being ridiculously nervous. We all received a good amount of praise and some flowers from one of my bosses in the Board of Education. It was an over all success and relieved everything went well we spent the rest of the night at the local bar drinking and having a good time.
The following Sunday we had a cookout at Jack’s house ( the guy who’s show I sung at the night before) and it was nice because I got to meet a lot of new people, mostly Japanese which I like since I would like to have roots here when I come back to visit Japan later on in life. I met this rowdy bunch from Osaka and some new girls that seem pretty cool and are my age. I had a good and fulfilling weekend!
Saturday October 23rd: This weekend kicked off the Halloween haze of the month. I decided to go as a cowgirl and went to a small gathering of a few Niikawa ALT’s and Japanese people. This took place at a local bar called Hanabsa. It was a cute get together and not MUCH was done. We participated in a little quiz and a few drinks here or there. It was a good start to what was going to be a interesting Saturday night. Once the event was over (only about a two hour long thing). When the event was over I decided to head out to Toyama to meet up with Xue, Akeem and Tina for some late night Karaoke. Jarrad even joined in on the fun as well. It was a crazy night at Karaoke cause I got to hear Tina sing. She was amazingly good, and Akeem was good as well. It should be interesting when Charity Show rolls around if the try out of singing roles. I also managed to save Jarrads life whilst singing. That’s always something to note! Hahaha
Saturday October 30th: Soooo today was the big Halloween Party, the one ppl had being planning for, for the last two to three months. Ofcourse I couldn’t devote my Saturday morning to getting my costume prepared and ready, but I had to attend a music concert thing at my school on a Saturday morning which lasted the whole day. I was freezing and didn’t get home till around 3 something. My wig that I had been waiting in the mail for had also not arrived so I was frantic in trying to figure out what I was going to do for my hair. I ended up makeshift turning my white wig red, but overall I was totally disappointed with the results. Unfortunately by this point and time there was nothing I could really do about. So I gave up the ghost and fixed my makeup and put on most of my costume before driving over to Pa’s house to finish changing and heading to the party which started at 8:00~8:30.
Once I made it to Pa’s place they strapped my up and I helped Chuma and Pa get their costumes ready. Xue was doing her own make-up following a tutorial she saw online. ( something I need to work on doing >.<;) Once we were all dressed we bravely walked those 8 minutes to Banana’s. Bravely you may ask ? Well we were dressed as Poison Ivy, Yuna ( ffX), a gothic Lolita , and a cheetah in the streets of a fairly low-key town in Japan. Needless to say we got stares. However not nearly as much as the twenty man strong dressed up crew from Takaoka we met at the door when we arrived. It was awesome to see and Trevor ( a man after my own heart) was doned in Steampunk attire that he fashioned mostly himself! Oh he’s so good at making things like that. I need to get better!!!!!.
Anyway TONS of people were there and the costumes were amazing as expected. The music wasn’t so bad either and I had a couple of moments of getting down. I never actually took of my cape the whole night, though I was thinking about it cause it was getting super hot with all the people there. I got to dance with Nat and he was charming as usual. It was just good fun. Ppl got trashed pretty quickly as well! And all the Japanese Girls couldn’t stop commenting on my costume and how they wish they had some of my assets ahem.. <.< YEA! So it was prize time and I ended up wining Sexiest costume at the party! I was super happy. My friend Yui won best female which she should have since she came as Princess Mononoke! The party ended around 2am when most ppl had to catch the late train back to their respective cities. I ended up crashing at Pa’s and was sleep the moment my head hit the pillow. I was a bit drunk, which hadn’t happened in a very long time! However the positive/is I don’t get hangovers or act crazy! Yay for self control!!!!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sports Day and Enkai 2010
*pictures coming soon*
September 11th:
So today was my jr.high school, Takase’s annual sports day. An Undokai (sports day) is an event set up by most schools in Japan full of competitive sporting events and cheering competitions. The goal is to win some king of trophies or prize, and you tend to receive a trophy for both the athletic and cheering parts of the sporting event. I showed up bright and early at 9am on a Saturday ( >.< ) at the school and found a spot under the tent to watch all the events. I was really excited to see that the two teams had Sengoku Basara banners representing their respective teams. Yukimura represented the red team and Date Masamune represented the white team.
The sports day was much like the ones I saw last year, cept this time I didn't have to juggle two sports days at different schools at once, AND I knew what was going on XD At the end of it I believe the Red team won the overall sports competition while the white team won the cheering contest. Most of the time I assume if one wins the sports competition the other team automatically wins the other trophy as to be fair. At least it seemed that way at the sports days I attended last year. However this year, the division was truly clear between the teams athletic ability and cheering strengths.
Of course even though the reason why I would be bothered to be awake at 9am on a Saturday for school was for the sport competition, this was not the highlight of the day. As usual I was looking forward to the Enkai we would be having later on that evening. I decided to drive there and realized that the place ( Kintaro Onsen) was actually the same Onsen I had my very first Enkai at by the same school. After being escorted to the room where we were to wait for dinner I sat down and watched a little TV. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but it had been so long since I watched TV (not TV shows, but TV itself) it kept me interested.
When it was time to eat the staff drew numbers to see where each person would sit, opening remarks were made, and then we were free to eat. I talked with the teachers around me, and served them beer like any other Enaki and karaoke was brought up. I was asked to sing and so I sung two songs. One dedicated to a young female teacher because she was so happy about me singing. She really is the cutest thing and only one year older than I.
Of course this didn’t end the night, after dinner we all jumped on the bus and headed to a karaoke bar near where I live and there we spent another two hours singing and having a good time. Right as we leaving the karaoke bar a group of 10 to 15 Japanese people came in. They looked to be around my age and for some reason I had an unshakeable desire to join them. So I did. I said goodbye my fellow teachers and even convinced one to stay behind and party with me. She agreed and we joined the group. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! And the first time I took it upon myself to mingle with Japanese people that weren’t connected to people I was already with or knew. They talked with me so much and we partied and they bought me shots and one even changed the name in a song he sung to my name. I had a blast! When it was time to leave I had ever intention of walking home. However for some reason the bartender stopped me and asked me to sit down. I thought I was in trouble for something. He asked me to sing another song and then closed the bar down. His wife and him said they wanted to take me home so I let them. It was rather strange how that happened but I was out of the rain and I didn’t have to walk. So nothing but pluses!
September 11th:
So today was my jr.high school, Takase’s annual sports day. An Undokai (sports day) is an event set up by most schools in Japan full of competitive sporting events and cheering competitions. The goal is to win some king of trophies or prize, and you tend to receive a trophy for both the athletic and cheering parts of the sporting event. I showed up bright and early at 9am on a Saturday ( >.< ) at the school and found a spot under the tent to watch all the events. I was really excited to see that the two teams had Sengoku Basara banners representing their respective teams. Yukimura represented the red team and Date Masamune represented the white team.
The sports day was much like the ones I saw last year, cept this time I didn't have to juggle two sports days at different schools at once, AND I knew what was going on XD At the end of it I believe the Red team won the overall sports competition while the white team won the cheering contest. Most of the time I assume if one wins the sports competition the other team automatically wins the other trophy as to be fair. At least it seemed that way at the sports days I attended last year. However this year, the division was truly clear between the teams athletic ability and cheering strengths.
Of course even though the reason why I would be bothered to be awake at 9am on a Saturday for school was for the sport competition, this was not the highlight of the day. As usual I was looking forward to the Enkai we would be having later on that evening. I decided to drive there and realized that the place ( Kintaro Onsen) was actually the same Onsen I had my very first Enkai at by the same school. After being escorted to the room where we were to wait for dinner I sat down and watched a little TV. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but it had been so long since I watched TV (not TV shows, but TV itself) it kept me interested.
When it was time to eat the staff drew numbers to see where each person would sit, opening remarks were made, and then we were free to eat. I talked with the teachers around me, and served them beer like any other Enaki and karaoke was brought up. I was asked to sing and so I sung two songs. One dedicated to a young female teacher because she was so happy about me singing. She really is the cutest thing and only one year older than I.
Of course this didn’t end the night, after dinner we all jumped on the bus and headed to a karaoke bar near where I live and there we spent another two hours singing and having a good time. Right as we leaving the karaoke bar a group of 10 to 15 Japanese people came in. They looked to be around my age and for some reason I had an unshakeable desire to join them. So I did. I said goodbye my fellow teachers and even convinced one to stay behind and party with me. She agreed and we joined the group. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! And the first time I took it upon myself to mingle with Japanese people that weren’t connected to people I was already with or knew. They talked with me so much and we partied and they bought me shots and one even changed the name in a song he sung to my name. I had a blast! When it was time to leave I had ever intention of walking home. However for some reason the bartender stopped me and asked me to sit down. I thought I was in trouble for something. He asked me to sing another song and then closed the bar down. His wife and him said they wanted to take me home so I let them. It was rather strange how that happened but I was out of the rain and I didn’t have to walk. So nothing but pluses!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
September 3rd: Owara Matsuri
Since I did traveling and all kinds of other things during the summer I didn’t really have the opportunity to go to a Matsuri ( festival) or wear a yukata (not that I look great in them XD). So even though I normally don’t travel that far out, Pa, Julia and I got ready in Uozu before catching the train to Yatsuo for the Owara festival. [The Owara festival is for Locals of Yatsuo-machi in Toyama take time out from work to don traditional costume and celebrate the Owara Kaze-no-Bon Festival. Their singing, dancing and lantern-lighting are thought to protect the town from wind damage and encourage a successful autumnal harvest.] Pa and I wore yukata and even though we missed the first two trains there >.> we finally caught one around seven. It was really cramped on the second train and Pa was holding on to me for dear life since she was too short to reach the over head handles. It was kind of cute really. It was like she was my lil wife or something. ^^ Finally we got there (lost Julia right away) but that was ok cause I couldn’t walk that fast in the yukata ( though upon further look I might have actually been wearing kimono) and it was blazing hot. It was funny though because no sooner did we get in line and my shaved ice did some women come up and ask us for out picture. We smiled and let her take our picture, but I think it was simply because we were foreigners dressed up in traditional Japanese attire.
The two of us walked along way down the road until we finally met up with Matt and some other people that were there. We walked around with them for a long while, looking at various things like the Owara dancers and the shops. Met up with all the people from Takaoka and other places as well. It was good to see everyone since a lot of people had I hadn’t seen in a while because of summer break. Then I finally split with Pa and went roaming around with Tiffany and a few others since I was to stay with Tiffany for the night. Met up with Akeem as well who was really good in Japanese which of course he had to be, being a CIR. Before we retired back to Tiffanies place we walked through the part of town that was kept in the olden style with tons of paper lanterns. It was really pretty, and a lot of Japanese people were talking about me in my kimono and how they thought I looked nice. I only know this cause Akeem told me! ^^ Finally it was time to head out (which was good cause I was dying at that point from over-heating), and we rested at Tiffanies placed, talked and laughed for a little while before we all passed out
The two of us walked along way down the road until we finally met up with Matt and some other people that were there. We walked around with them for a long while, looking at various things like the Owara dancers and the shops. Met up with all the people from Takaoka and other places as well. It was good to see everyone since a lot of people had I hadn’t seen in a while because of summer break. Then I finally split with Pa and went roaming around with Tiffany and a few others since I was to stay with Tiffany for the night. Met up with Akeem as well who was really good in Japanese which of course he had to be, being a CIR. Before we retired back to Tiffanies place we walked through the part of town that was kept in the olden style with tons of paper lanterns. It was really pretty, and a lot of Japanese people were talking about me in my kimono and how they thought I looked nice. I only know this cause Akeem told me! ^^ Finally it was time to head out (which was good cause I was dying at that point from over-heating), and we rested at Tiffanies placed, talked and laughed for a little while before we all passed out
Wrap up of August
( *pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs* Can’t believe I’ve managed to fall nearly two months behind in writing. *Cracks knuckles* let’s makes this short and sweet. )
August 23rd to the 27th was a week I simply hung out with the new Uozu Jets. Pa and Julia to be precise. We ate dinner out a few times and had karaoke with some new Namerikawa Jets and old friends. Turns out that Julia is a good singer. This all led up to Friday night’s poker game (in which I earned a nice bounty) and to the crowning moment of the week “Welcome Weekend”.
August 28th-29th:
So deciding that my car would make it I picked up Julia and Pa and we took the 1hr~1 1/2hr drive to Toga. It was a pretty fun drive and we saw a rainbow as well. Once we got there we managed to land bunks because we made it to the site relatively early. Once we did that we kinda lagged around a bit and finally met up with people. We walked down to the area where the actual party was held. It was relatively fun and it was just simple talking and light drinking until later on that night when everyone was there. I happened to wear a “Doug” shirt to the party and I was told that I had the most awesome shirt at the party. It was pretty amazing how many people knew about the nickelodeon show. People from Britain, Australia and other countries told me that they loved that show. I guess that such greatness was indeed and rightfully shared with the world XD.
The Night in general had its up’s and downs. The music wasn’t very good but we danced to what we could. Had a conversation with a friend that was very sad. However I think we are ok now. I’m not sure really. Had a random meeting with an Interac person and that turned into a wild and crazy night. It took me a solid week to get all the grass out of my hair, and at least a solid two weeks for all the mosquito bites to go away. Darn bugs, I was ate ALIVE! I also made a few more bonds with new people that are paying off today. Even got a nickname out of it. It’s was nice.
August 23rd to the 27th was a week I simply hung out with the new Uozu Jets. Pa and Julia to be precise. We ate dinner out a few times and had karaoke with some new Namerikawa Jets and old friends. Turns out that Julia is a good singer. This all led up to Friday night’s poker game (in which I earned a nice bounty) and to the crowning moment of the week “Welcome Weekend”.
August 28th-29th:
So deciding that my car would make it I picked up Julia and Pa and we took the 1hr~1 1/2hr drive to Toga. It was a pretty fun drive and we saw a rainbow as well. Once we got there we managed to land bunks because we made it to the site relatively early. Once we did that we kinda lagged around a bit and finally met up with people. We walked down to the area where the actual party was held. It was relatively fun and it was just simple talking and light drinking until later on that night when everyone was there. I happened to wear a “Doug” shirt to the party and I was told that I had the most awesome shirt at the party. It was pretty amazing how many people knew about the nickelodeon show. People from Britain, Australia and other countries told me that they loved that show. I guess that such greatness was indeed and rightfully shared with the world XD.
The Night in general had its up’s and downs. The music wasn’t very good but we danced to what we could. Had a conversation with a friend that was very sad. However I think we are ok now. I’m not sure really. Had a random meeting with an Interac person and that turned into a wild and crazy night. It took me a solid week to get all the grass out of my hair, and at least a solid two weeks for all the mosquito bites to go away. Darn bugs, I was ate ALIVE! I also made a few more bonds with new people that are paying off today. Even got a nickname out of it. It’s was nice.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Tokyo Game Show Specs and Journal:
So the game show was awesome. Got there after a six hour night bus from Toyama Prefecture to Shinjuku, Tokyo. The six of us didn’t waste anytime getting to the game show. We arrived at the convention area where the show was being held around 7:30-8:00 am and waited in line till entry. To give you an idea of what the line looked like look at the picture below. It beat an Otakon line any day.
Once we finally entered the building I lost literally almost everyone I came with and went off on my own looking and wondering about. Below are pictures of the convention and some of the things I saw.
And ofcourse you have your Game Cosplayers. It wouldn't be a Japanese event if you didn't see cosplay somewhere!
So for a little run down of the things being offered in the near future (though I’m sure all you gamers know what’s going on anyway, here goes nothing):
* Release Dates are Japanese only unless specified*
PLAYSTATION 3:
Playstaion 3 HDD 160GB 29,980円
Playstation 3 HDD 320GB 34,980円
Playstaion MOVE : release date: 10/21/2010 at 5,980円
Playstation Portable 2tone RD: 11/18/2010 17,800円
PSP GO 26800円
Playstation Games in 3D (not all):
KIllZONE 3
Summer Memories
Sly Cooper Collection
Me&My Pet
PowerSmash 4
MotorStorm 3
Gran Turismo 5
Persoanl Game interests:
KillZONE 3
Summer Memoris
Playstation Games(not all):
Grand Turismo 5- release date: 11/3/2010
KILLZONE 3- release date: 2011
Final Fantasy XIV ONLINE- release date: March 2011
Little Big Planet 2- release date: 2011
Gundam Musou 3- release date: December 2010
Metal Gear Solid Rising (lightning bolt action)- release date: TBS
Castlevania:lord of shadows- release date: 2010
Arcana Hearts 3- release date: 1/13/2011
Of the End- release date: 2011
MotorStorm3-release date: 2011
SOCOM:U.S. Navy Seals 4-release date: 2011
Tokyo Jungle
Sly Cooper Collection
Front Mission Evolved
Call of Duty Black Ops- release date: 11/18/2010
Dues EX
VANQUISH-release date: 10/21/2010
Tales of Graces-release date: 12/2/2010
Personal Game interests :
Metal Gear Solid Rising (lightning bolt action) Here
Final Fantasy XIV ONLINE Here
Castlevania:lord of shadows Here
Playstation Portable (not all):
Monster Hunter Portable 3rd- release date: 12/1/2010
Dogma Wars-RD:2011
Unrecorded Chronicles 3- release date: 1/27/2011
Patapon 3-RD: TBS
God of War-RD: 11/11/2010
Lord of Arcana-RD: 10/14/2010
Tactics Ogre-RD: 11/11/2010
The 3rd Birthday
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep-RD:2011
Final Fantasy: DISSIDIA 012-RD:2011
RADIANT MYTHOLOGY 3-RD:2011
Phantasy Star Portable
Shining Hearts-RD:12/16/2010
Personal Game interests :
The 3rd Birthday Here
Monster Hunter Portable 3rd Here
Lord of Arcana Here
Final Fantasy: DISSIDIA 012 Here
Shining Hearts Here
GAMANIA:
(online games I was personally really impressed with)
Core Blaze-release date: 2011
DIVINA
Reign of Assassins- release date: 2010 (along with a movie)
Langrisset Schwartz- release date: TBS (from renowned jp console game Langrisser)
Soul Captor
Warrior of Dragon
Tiara Concerto
Personal Game interests :
Tiara Concerto Here
Warrior of Dragon
Langrisset Schwartz
NINTENDO DS:
Shiren5 Here
XBOX 360:
Dead Rising 2- release date: 9/302010
FABLE 3-release date: 10/28/2010
Halo Reach-release date:
Monster Hunter FRONTIER 9.0-release date: 9/29/2010 JAPAN ONLY
Personal Game interests :
FABLE 3 Here
MY SWAG! YES THIS WAS ALL THE FREE STUFF!!!!
Just a picture is needed for this ridiculousness:
MY SWAG!! BOUGHT AND PAID FOR!
Bought mostly from SQUARE ENIX SHOWCASE:
Why was this shit in the floor!?! I was like WTF Sephiroth!!
A list for you all
Lightening Key Chain: Here
Serah Engagement Pendant: Here
Lightening Perfume: Here
Squall Lionheart Keychain: Here
Tonberry Keychain: Here
Kuroshitsuji Keyring/phone charm: Here
Mirror Kerby Plushie!: Here
XIV Moogle Plushie!: Here
Squall and Tidus drinking mugs: Here
PSP COVER (not psp itself):
PLAYSTATION 3 COVER (not ps3 itself):
Persona 4 bag (used as my PSP carrying case):
Whew! I think that is all for now lol
Once we finally entered the building I lost literally almost everyone I came with and went off on my own looking and wondering about. Below are pictures of the convention and some of the things I saw.
And ofcourse you have your Game Cosplayers. It wouldn't be a Japanese event if you didn't see cosplay somewhere!
So for a little run down of the things being offered in the near future (though I’m sure all you gamers know what’s going on anyway, here goes nothing):
* Release Dates are Japanese only unless specified*
PLAYSTATION 3:
Playstaion 3 HDD 160GB 29,980円
Playstation 3 HDD 320GB 34,980円
Playstaion MOVE : release date: 10/21/2010 at 5,980円
Playstation Portable 2tone RD: 11/18/2010 17,800円
PSP GO 26800円
Playstation Games in 3D (not all):
KIllZONE 3
Summer Memories
Sly Cooper Collection
Me&My Pet
PowerSmash 4
MotorStorm 3
Gran Turismo 5
Persoanl Game interests:
KillZONE 3
Summer Memoris
Playstation Games(not all):
Grand Turismo 5- release date: 11/3/2010
KILLZONE 3- release date: 2011
Final Fantasy XIV ONLINE- release date: March 2011
Little Big Planet 2- release date: 2011
Gundam Musou 3- release date: December 2010
Metal Gear Solid Rising (lightning bolt action)- release date: TBS
Castlevania:lord of shadows- release date: 2010
Arcana Hearts 3- release date: 1/13/2011
Of the End- release date: 2011
MotorStorm3-release date: 2011
SOCOM:U.S. Navy Seals 4-release date: 2011
Tokyo Jungle
Sly Cooper Collection
Front Mission Evolved
Call of Duty Black Ops- release date: 11/18/2010
Dues EX
VANQUISH-release date: 10/21/2010
Tales of Graces-release date: 12/2/2010
Personal Game interests :
Metal Gear Solid Rising (lightning bolt action) Here
Final Fantasy XIV ONLINE Here
Castlevania:lord of shadows Here
Playstation Portable (not all):
Monster Hunter Portable 3rd- release date: 12/1/2010
Dogma Wars-RD:2011
Unrecorded Chronicles 3- release date: 1/27/2011
Patapon 3-RD: TBS
God of War-RD: 11/11/2010
Lord of Arcana-RD: 10/14/2010
Tactics Ogre-RD: 11/11/2010
The 3rd Birthday
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep-RD:2011
Final Fantasy: DISSIDIA 012-RD:2011
RADIANT MYTHOLOGY 3-RD:2011
Phantasy Star Portable
Shining Hearts-RD:12/16/2010
Personal Game interests :
The 3rd Birthday Here
Monster Hunter Portable 3rd Here
Lord of Arcana Here
Final Fantasy: DISSIDIA 012 Here
Shining Hearts Here
GAMANIA:
(online games I was personally really impressed with)
Core Blaze-release date: 2011
DIVINA
Reign of Assassins- release date: 2010 (along with a movie)
Langrisset Schwartz- release date: TBS (from renowned jp console game Langrisser)
Soul Captor
Warrior of Dragon
Tiara Concerto
Personal Game interests :
Tiara Concerto Here
Warrior of Dragon
Langrisset Schwartz
NINTENDO DS:
Shiren5 Here
XBOX 360:
Dead Rising 2- release date: 9/302010
FABLE 3-release date: 10/28/2010
Halo Reach-release date:
Monster Hunter FRONTIER 9.0-release date: 9/29/2010 JAPAN ONLY
Personal Game interests :
FABLE 3 Here
MY SWAG! YES THIS WAS ALL THE FREE STUFF!!!!
Just a picture is needed for this ridiculousness:
MY SWAG!! BOUGHT AND PAID FOR!
Bought mostly from SQUARE ENIX SHOWCASE:
Why was this shit in the floor!?! I was like WTF Sephiroth!!
A list for you all
Lightening Key Chain: Here
Serah Engagement Pendant: Here
Lightening Perfume: Here
Squall Lionheart Keychain: Here
Tonberry Keychain: Here
Kuroshitsuji Keyring/phone charm: Here
Mirror Kerby Plushie!: Here
XIV Moogle Plushie!: Here
Squall and Tidus drinking mugs: Here
PSP COVER (not psp itself):
PLAYSTATION 3 COVER (not ps3 itself):
Persona 4 bag (used as my PSP carrying case):
Whew! I think that is all for now lol
Friday, September 10, 2010
Anothe Fun Weekend
Izikaya night August 21st-22nd:
No rest for the weary as they say, especially when one has good friends. So out the door I went to Toyama to meet with Hilda and Debbie for drinks at an izakaiya with our Brazilian friends. After eating a quick dinner at Sizeriya and doing and hour of karaoke with Maranna we meet up with the boys (to interrupt their “boys night” out) at the bottom of the CIC building (ironically enough I go to the CIC building quite often and still have no idea what ‘CIC’ actually stands for O.o) At any rate we all had a great time together talking about random things and seeing who could fit a bear bottle the furthest down their own throat O.o We also played “never have I ever” which in truth is a very dangerous game. That game can either reveal too much, cause someone to get severely angry or if you’re with the right crowd; find out funny and rather interesting things about your friends in which you can smile and laugh off later. We were at the bar for quite a long time and truthfully I became a bit listless towards the end. That and one of the boys managed to get himself sick from drinking too much so when we called Nobuki’s wife to pick him up we all went home. Hilda and I however had no way home since the trains had stopped running, so we spent the night at Marianna’s and Wagner’s home.
The following morning instead of going home or to Sukiyaki the four of us ( after Mc Donalds and Ice-cream ^^) headed to HImi beach or one of those beaches in the Takaoka-esque region. It was a very pretty day and the three of them jumped in the water as soon as we got to the beach. Me however had no bathing suit so I sat on the beach and watched them. Not too long after however they told me to walk in up to my knees just so I could chat with them, and after doing so Wangner ended up splashing me. Eventually I just gave up and swam around in my street clothes. What was odd however is that Wagner, Marianna and Hilda managed to get bit or stung by something. I didn’t get stung but that was enough to end the beach excursion. We packed it all in and Hilda and I were dropped off at the station after we took a pit stop at her house and she let me borrow her clothes. Before we went our separate ways Hilda and I ate dinner at Santoshi’s and even landed free mango lassi. Apparently she always gets free lassi when she is with a small number of people. Which to me is a pretty sweet deal. Tired and ready to sleep I hopped the train to Kurobe and went home.
No rest for the weary as they say, especially when one has good friends. So out the door I went to Toyama to meet with Hilda and Debbie for drinks at an izakaiya with our Brazilian friends. After eating a quick dinner at Sizeriya and doing and hour of karaoke with Maranna we meet up with the boys (to interrupt their “boys night” out) at the bottom of the CIC building (ironically enough I go to the CIC building quite often and still have no idea what ‘CIC’ actually stands for O.o) At any rate we all had a great time together talking about random things and seeing who could fit a bear bottle the furthest down their own throat O.o We also played “never have I ever” which in truth is a very dangerous game. That game can either reveal too much, cause someone to get severely angry or if you’re with the right crowd; find out funny and rather interesting things about your friends in which you can smile and laugh off later. We were at the bar for quite a long time and truthfully I became a bit listless towards the end. That and one of the boys managed to get himself sick from drinking too much so when we called Nobuki’s wife to pick him up we all went home. Hilda and I however had no way home since the trains had stopped running, so we spent the night at Marianna’s and Wagner’s home.
The following morning instead of going home or to Sukiyaki the four of us ( after Mc Donalds and Ice-cream ^^) headed to HImi beach or one of those beaches in the Takaoka-esque region. It was a very pretty day and the three of them jumped in the water as soon as we got to the beach. Me however had no bathing suit so I sat on the beach and watched them. Not too long after however they told me to walk in up to my knees just so I could chat with them, and after doing so Wangner ended up splashing me. Eventually I just gave up and swam around in my street clothes. What was odd however is that Wagner, Marianna and Hilda managed to get bit or stung by something. I didn’t get stung but that was enough to end the beach excursion. We packed it all in and Hilda and I were dropped off at the station after we took a pit stop at her house and she let me borrow her clothes. Before we went our separate ways Hilda and I ate dinner at Santoshi’s and even landed free mango lassi. Apparently she always gets free lassi when she is with a small number of people. Which to me is a pretty sweet deal. Tired and ready to sleep I hopped the train to Kurobe and went home.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
English Camp!
English Summer Camp August 18th 20th: English camp rolled around so much faster then I thought it would. I was lazy about my craft I was to prepare for the kids, but thankfully it was simple enough that things couldn’t go TOO wrong. XD So once again I went with Rosa to the game early Wednesday morning and we were the first Jets to arrive. Then David the new Kurobe Jet came. It was the first time I had met him so we talked for a short while as the other ALT’s were making there way in. My group ended up being a nice group of girls and two rowdy boys. We went through the normal ice-breaking, getting into teams, making a team name and flag ( our name was the Amazing Happy Cherry Fighters!) and getting to know each other. The first day went by pretty smooth and even though I organized sports day to be a water sport day it didn’t go as smoothly as I wanted it but apparently most of the kids thought it was fun anyway. My workshop (making paper sun catchers) went well also. The kids patiently made their sun catchers and in the end it turned out to look very pretty. I love it when things turn out well with little to no planning! XD
One day two I was pretty exhausted because the night before we had gathered together to have a “meeting” around ten o’clock with all the ALT’s, JTE’S and other BOE workers that stayed over night. This meeting consisted of eating snacks and drinking (my kind of meeting) and ironically enough the Japanese people talked amongst themselves and all the ALT’s talked to each other. Despite it being kind of a split room we all had a good time.
Despite that day two started bright and early. We had work shops and team time (which is when we made our English skits for last day presentation) we made it to the BBQ. It was interesting cooking all the meat for the kababs and on this day high school students came to assist the each group. They were a nice bunch of kids and typical High schoolers. It’s honestly really weird to note that High School was closing in on seven years ago.
Later on that night we had a campfire and we played games around it and ate smores. Smores are sooo delicious and every time I eat one I think of my girl scout days. Going to have to get back into the girl scouting community when I return to the states. Much like the night before, once the kids were showered and in their rooms we had another meeting and pretty much the shame shenanigans ensued. However Tommy and I met up with two college baseball girls chatting in the hallway as we made our way up to our rooms. We ended up stopping and having a long and fun conversation with them. There was dancing and singing and Tommy coaxed me into singing the one line of “Country Roads” I knew for the girls. I did and one of the girls cried. It was kinda shocking. For some reason that song is like Y.M.C.A for Americans. Everyone loves that country roads song and I have NO idea why! XP
The last day comes and I’m ready to go home. However I had much better sleep this summer camp then last. I came prepared with extra pillows and blankets so I won’t feel like someone punched me in my body all night as I slept. The last day was fairly simple. Breakfast, final workshop and giving our English skit presentations. My group did alright but possibly took on too much. Nevertheless we received a warm applause, and at the very least we all looked rather fancy in our cherry hats made out of construction paper and glue!
One day two I was pretty exhausted because the night before we had gathered together to have a “meeting” around ten o’clock with all the ALT’s, JTE’S and other BOE workers that stayed over night. This meeting consisted of eating snacks and drinking (my kind of meeting) and ironically enough the Japanese people talked amongst themselves and all the ALT’s talked to each other. Despite it being kind of a split room we all had a good time.
Despite that day two started bright and early. We had work shops and team time (which is when we made our English skits for last day presentation) we made it to the BBQ. It was interesting cooking all the meat for the kababs and on this day high school students came to assist the each group. They were a nice bunch of kids and typical High schoolers. It’s honestly really weird to note that High School was closing in on seven years ago.
Later on that night we had a campfire and we played games around it and ate smores. Smores are sooo delicious and every time I eat one I think of my girl scout days. Going to have to get back into the girl scouting community when I return to the states. Much like the night before, once the kids were showered and in their rooms we had another meeting and pretty much the shame shenanigans ensued. However Tommy and I met up with two college baseball girls chatting in the hallway as we made our way up to our rooms. We ended up stopping and having a long and fun conversation with them. There was dancing and singing and Tommy coaxed me into singing the one line of “Country Roads” I knew for the girls. I did and one of the girls cried. It was kinda shocking. For some reason that song is like Y.M.C.A for Americans. Everyone loves that country roads song and I have NO idea why! XP
The last day comes and I’m ready to go home. However I had much better sleep this summer camp then last. I came prepared with extra pillows and blankets so I won’t feel like someone punched me in my body all night as I slept. The last day was fairly simple. Breakfast, final workshop and giving our English skit presentations. My group did alright but possibly took on too much. Nevertheless we received a warm applause, and at the very least we all looked rather fancy in our cherry hats made out of construction paper and glue!
The start of a busy summer in Japan
Return to Japan August 6th: My return to Japan was a bit sad in comparison to the first time I left a year ago. I was sad to leave my family and everyone because I really didn’t get a chance to absorb them in. Time went by so quickly, and I wish I could have stayed the summer. Nevertheless I will continue what I have been doing and stay in touch as much as I can with whatever means I have. Another downside (but an expected one) was the Economy flight back to Japan lol. Though I did get to sit next to a hot Brazilian the whole way. That was fun ^^
Seclusion and Illness: Once I returned to Japan, I experience the worst Jetlag I have ever had. The only thing I did was eat in sleep for what it seemed liked half a week. Then because it’s Japan ( and literally 75% of ppl who have come here on Jet that I know get sick more here than their respective home countries) I ended up feeling ill. Come to find out that I acquired lymphnoiditis ( link ) and was given four different kinds of medicine to treat it. I don’t know if it’s just my logic but that kind of illness seems pretty damn random. Like who gets that kind of sick really O.o Oh Japan you hate my immune system!
Beer Garden & Kanazawa Beach August 14th: So after a little over a week of staying home and doing minimal amounts of work of any kind I decided to go (even though I still felt icky) to Beer Garden to have dinner with the new comers. I had yet to meet any of them and I figured I should get started. So I got dressed in a bunch of my new clothes ( yay America for real clothes sizes!) I got there, met up with a large group of old and new Jets and made my way to the garden. The new group of Jets seem very up for anything. Not quite as BAM as our group but they all seem quite nice, and quite young. ( Look at me trying to sound like a Senpai! Lol ) Nevertheless, got there, hugged and kissed the friends I hadn’t seen in a while, found a place to sit and ate very little. The heat prevented me from really enjoying the food. However I must admit there were some really random yet awesome things that happened at beer garden besides meeting the new comers. I walked over to Adam who was with a small group of Japanese people who were apparently Gospel singers or liked gospel. They asked me if I knew any, and I tried to help them with some words. I ended up being the lead singer and they backed me up for like five minutes while Adam recorded it. It was so embarrassing but awkwardly cool/funny at the same time. I also met a guy named Akeem (new comer) and I believe he is the new CIR or he just happens to have ridiculously good Japanese. He ended up running up to me followed by two Japanese girls. He proceeded to tell me that the college girl was interested in fashion and was admiring my clothes and style from afar and she wanted to tell me that. The mother found it to be just as impressive and eventually they asked to take pictures of me. I obliged and had a conversation with them (through Akeem of course) and it was quite enjoyable. From that point other new Jets insisted on telling me that I was the most snazzy dressed person out of the group and that I should take a shot of sake to celebrate this fact. I also obliged that request as well! XD
FINALLY it was time to leave and despite my better judgment decided to take the trek up to Kanazawa for a night beach party they were having. The walk there was kinda horrible considering I was wearing heels. Tiffany thankfully gave me her flip flops to wear and the walk there was much better though my feet looked kinda worse for wear despite it. Once I got to the beach I kinda just walked around, ran into a circus troop of really attractive Australians, South Africans and Cubans and conversated with them for a while. The night was overall pretty chill, with a bit of dancing. Not as much as I would have liked because the DJ was stupid. However while dancing I ended up speaking with the Brazilian women who got my attention by telling how beautiful she thought my body was O.o Obviously they are very open in Brazil… Nevertheless it was one hell of a conversation starter!! XD! The rest of the night was fairly uneventful after this and I just kinda lounged around on the hammocks provided until the trains started running again in the morning.
Seclusion and Illness: Once I returned to Japan, I experience the worst Jetlag I have ever had. The only thing I did was eat in sleep for what it seemed liked half a week. Then because it’s Japan ( and literally 75% of ppl who have come here on Jet that I know get sick more here than their respective home countries) I ended up feeling ill. Come to find out that I acquired lymphnoiditis ( link ) and was given four different kinds of medicine to treat it. I don’t know if it’s just my logic but that kind of illness seems pretty damn random. Like who gets that kind of sick really O.o Oh Japan you hate my immune system!
Beer Garden & Kanazawa Beach August 14th: So after a little over a week of staying home and doing minimal amounts of work of any kind I decided to go (even though I still felt icky) to Beer Garden to have dinner with the new comers. I had yet to meet any of them and I figured I should get started. So I got dressed in a bunch of my new clothes ( yay America for real clothes sizes!) I got there, met up with a large group of old and new Jets and made my way to the garden. The new group of Jets seem very up for anything. Not quite as BAM as our group but they all seem quite nice, and quite young. ( Look at me trying to sound like a Senpai! Lol ) Nevertheless, got there, hugged and kissed the friends I hadn’t seen in a while, found a place to sit and ate very little. The heat prevented me from really enjoying the food. However I must admit there were some really random yet awesome things that happened at beer garden besides meeting the new comers. I walked over to Adam who was with a small group of Japanese people who were apparently Gospel singers or liked gospel. They asked me if I knew any, and I tried to help them with some words. I ended up being the lead singer and they backed me up for like five minutes while Adam recorded it. It was so embarrassing but awkwardly cool/funny at the same time. I also met a guy named Akeem (new comer) and I believe he is the new CIR or he just happens to have ridiculously good Japanese. He ended up running up to me followed by two Japanese girls. He proceeded to tell me that the college girl was interested in fashion and was admiring my clothes and style from afar and she wanted to tell me that. The mother found it to be just as impressive and eventually they asked to take pictures of me. I obliged and had a conversation with them (through Akeem of course) and it was quite enjoyable. From that point other new Jets insisted on telling me that I was the most snazzy dressed person out of the group and that I should take a shot of sake to celebrate this fact. I also obliged that request as well! XD
FINALLY it was time to leave and despite my better judgment decided to take the trek up to Kanazawa for a night beach party they were having. The walk there was kinda horrible considering I was wearing heels. Tiffany thankfully gave me her flip flops to wear and the walk there was much better though my feet looked kinda worse for wear despite it. Once I got to the beach I kinda just walked around, ran into a circus troop of really attractive Australians, South Africans and Cubans and conversated with them for a while. The night was overall pretty chill, with a bit of dancing. Not as much as I would have liked because the DJ was stupid. However while dancing I ended up speaking with the Brazilian women who got my attention by telling how beautiful she thought my body was O.o Obviously they are very open in Brazil… Nevertheless it was one hell of a conversation starter!! XD! The rest of the night was fairly uneventful after this and I just kinda lounged around on the hammocks provided until the trains started running again in the morning.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
A whirlwind summary of July!
** so late >.<**
Well it’s been rather busy and crazy on my end so I am here about a month behind on blog writing. So I figured I should try and sum up my July here in Japan before I talk about my vacation back in the states. So here goes nothing:
Ally’s Cookout & Niikawa Music Night (July 9th): After work I made my way over to Ally’s place for a cookout he had planned with some of his good friends. He was a leaver this year so a few last shindigs were to be expected. Val, Christine and many others came. It was one of the first times I’ve had good conversation with Val and I was glad cause I always wanted to. For the most part we were just there talking and eating up all the junk food since Takahiro hadn’t come with the actual cookout food yet. It wasn’t till perhaps 45 minutes before I and several others had to leave when the food (burgers and dogs) were ready to serve. They were quite delicious so it was worth the wait even though I was kinda full from the junk food ^^;; Before I knew it , it was time to head out back to Kurobe for Nikkawa music night. When I got there, there was already an impressive number of ppl there. It was also the first time I met Lelita. She was so happy to see me I blushed a little. It was kinda embarrassing o^_^o
After that Lawrence and his band got together and did their set. It was wonderful to listen to. It never ceases to amaze me how much talent managed to settle in one prefecture of Jets. It’s a wonderful thing. Once their set was over I just hung around until most of the acts were over. Then me and other Jets went to MoMo bar a few doors down and had food and drinks there. I even karaoked there a bit which was really random! I didn’t even know the bar had karaoke. Either way I did two songs and the owners were all impressed and wondered why I never sang there before. It was fun ^^ So motivating karaoke was, a group of us left there and went to ANOTHER bar and had more karaoke and drinks. I didn’t even make it home until 4:30 am in the morning. It was quite a night.
Indian dinner with my Brazilian friends! (July 11th):
So with a random phone call from Hilda I found myself meeting her in Toyama. We waited around for a while and eventually met up with Marianna and Wagner and after sometime met up with Ebi, Nobuki, Asako and the this Indian restaurant called Kashmir near Takaoka. There we all sat and talked together. Fun dinner as usual really ^^ I ordered a lot of food as I always do at Indian restaurants and boy was I full afterwards. I can’t say that I like Kashmir better than Santoshi’s or Indira, but they are pretty good. Down side is that there selection is rather limited in comparisons to the other two restaurants I frequent. Once we left the restaurant we went to this game center and bowled for a bit. I suck pretty bad at bowling so I was near the bottom rungs of the group. However it was fun that if I said certain words to ppl while bowling I would cause them NOT to bowl well. It was pretty humorous. Needless to say after all this it was rather late and when bowling was over and some pictures were taken of my friends in bowling pin costumes ( I don’t know *shakes head* lol ) I was taken to the station and I went home.
Final Loose Kingdom Performance & Glee karaoke (July 18th):
The final concert for Loose Kingdom and the last time I’d get to see my friend Johnny Fantastic play. He indeed was an awesome person who was quick to learn and super talented. I was glad I was able to get to know him a bit better since he was the music writer for the charity show (play) I was in. The concert was a lot of fun to watch and I was glad to be there to support him. When the concert was over I gave him a hug and it was probably the last time I actually saw him. It was a bit sad to know that he was leaving, as well as all the other people I had gotten to know through charity show or other venues and left this year. I’m glad though that I had an opportunity to meet them nevertheless. When the concert was said and done and after a quick bite of ramen with Will and Van I eventually met up with Alexis and a few others for Glee Karaoke. The gist was to play/sing songs that were from the TV show Glee’s soundtrack. I do believe we covered most If not all of the songs ever sung in that show. The craziest part of it was that we were there from around 11pm to 5am in the morning. There was a special deal if you stayed at Karaoke from around midnight till 5am your fee was only 1200yen a person. It was a rather nice deal considering the length of time. It was also fun because there were several people I got to spend time with before they too left the Jet program. Nevertheless by the time 5am rolled around I was all kinds of tired. So I ended up taking Christine with me and I dropped her off in Uozu before I got home and stumbled into bed.
Closing Ceremonies ( July 20th-21st):
Well it was about that time. I finally reached the point where I would have to say goodbye to my Chuo and Koshino kids. It was sad on both counts especially when the flowers were presented. I nearly cried when one of my elementary school kids that was reading my farewell speech burst into tears. I wanted to drop everything and hug her then and there but I held my ground. The children at my elementary school were especially touching. I received many letters from them and a lot of personal ones. I even received Puri Kura from one of my treasured students Yuri-chan. I even got candy and other things that the kids would have had to go home and ask their parents for. I was really touched. One of the nicest things about it also was in the letters many of the kids told me that they didn’t enjoy English class before me, and because of me they became interested and wanted to learn. It truly solidified the idea that I was indeed a good teacher/ALT and it made me proud to be doing what I was doing. It’s truly rewarding as a teacher when your students grow because of your tutelage . I do wonder however I will fare with my new students at Ishida and Ikuji following summer vacation..
Well it’s been rather busy and crazy on my end so I am here about a month behind on blog writing. So I figured I should try and sum up my July here in Japan before I talk about my vacation back in the states. So here goes nothing:
Ally’s Cookout & Niikawa Music Night (July 9th): After work I made my way over to Ally’s place for a cookout he had planned with some of his good friends. He was a leaver this year so a few last shindigs were to be expected. Val, Christine and many others came. It was one of the first times I’ve had good conversation with Val and I was glad cause I always wanted to. For the most part we were just there talking and eating up all the junk food since Takahiro hadn’t come with the actual cookout food yet. It wasn’t till perhaps 45 minutes before I and several others had to leave when the food (burgers and dogs) were ready to serve. They were quite delicious so it was worth the wait even though I was kinda full from the junk food ^^;; Before I knew it , it was time to head out back to Kurobe for Nikkawa music night. When I got there, there was already an impressive number of ppl there. It was also the first time I met Lelita. She was so happy to see me I blushed a little. It was kinda embarrassing o^_^o
After that Lawrence and his band got together and did their set. It was wonderful to listen to. It never ceases to amaze me how much talent managed to settle in one prefecture of Jets. It’s a wonderful thing. Once their set was over I just hung around until most of the acts were over. Then me and other Jets went to MoMo bar a few doors down and had food and drinks there. I even karaoked there a bit which was really random! I didn’t even know the bar had karaoke. Either way I did two songs and the owners were all impressed and wondered why I never sang there before. It was fun ^^ So motivating karaoke was, a group of us left there and went to ANOTHER bar and had more karaoke and drinks. I didn’t even make it home until 4:30 am in the morning. It was quite a night.
Indian dinner with my Brazilian friends! (July 11th):
So with a random phone call from Hilda I found myself meeting her in Toyama. We waited around for a while and eventually met up with Marianna and Wagner and after sometime met up with Ebi, Nobuki, Asako and the this Indian restaurant called Kashmir near Takaoka. There we all sat and talked together. Fun dinner as usual really ^^ I ordered a lot of food as I always do at Indian restaurants and boy was I full afterwards. I can’t say that I like Kashmir better than Santoshi’s or Indira, but they are pretty good. Down side is that there selection is rather limited in comparisons to the other two restaurants I frequent. Once we left the restaurant we went to this game center and bowled for a bit. I suck pretty bad at bowling so I was near the bottom rungs of the group. However it was fun that if I said certain words to ppl while bowling I would cause them NOT to bowl well. It was pretty humorous. Needless to say after all this it was rather late and when bowling was over and some pictures were taken of my friends in bowling pin costumes ( I don’t know *shakes head* lol ) I was taken to the station and I went home.
Final Loose Kingdom Performance & Glee karaoke (July 18th):
The final concert for Loose Kingdom and the last time I’d get to see my friend Johnny Fantastic play. He indeed was an awesome person who was quick to learn and super talented. I was glad I was able to get to know him a bit better since he was the music writer for the charity show (play) I was in. The concert was a lot of fun to watch and I was glad to be there to support him. When the concert was over I gave him a hug and it was probably the last time I actually saw him. It was a bit sad to know that he was leaving, as well as all the other people I had gotten to know through charity show or other venues and left this year. I’m glad though that I had an opportunity to meet them nevertheless. When the concert was said and done and after a quick bite of ramen with Will and Van I eventually met up with Alexis and a few others for Glee Karaoke. The gist was to play/sing songs that were from the TV show Glee’s soundtrack. I do believe we covered most If not all of the songs ever sung in that show. The craziest part of it was that we were there from around 11pm to 5am in the morning. There was a special deal if you stayed at Karaoke from around midnight till 5am your fee was only 1200yen a person. It was a rather nice deal considering the length of time. It was also fun because there were several people I got to spend time with before they too left the Jet program. Nevertheless by the time 5am rolled around I was all kinds of tired. So I ended up taking Christine with me and I dropped her off in Uozu before I got home and stumbled into bed.
Closing Ceremonies ( July 20th-21st):
Well it was about that time. I finally reached the point where I would have to say goodbye to my Chuo and Koshino kids. It was sad on both counts especially when the flowers were presented. I nearly cried when one of my elementary school kids that was reading my farewell speech burst into tears. I wanted to drop everything and hug her then and there but I held my ground. The children at my elementary school were especially touching. I received many letters from them and a lot of personal ones. I even received Puri Kura from one of my treasured students Yuri-chan. I even got candy and other things that the kids would have had to go home and ask their parents for. I was really touched. One of the nicest things about it also was in the letters many of the kids told me that they didn’t enjoy English class before me, and because of me they became interested and wanted to learn. It truly solidified the idea that I was indeed a good teacher/ALT and it made me proud to be doing what I was doing. It’s truly rewarding as a teacher when your students grow because of your tutelage . I do wonder however I will fare with my new students at Ishida and Ikuji following summer vacation..
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Colare Leavers Dinner & Niikawas Leavers Din
July 1st (a Thursday)
I find out last minute via email at work that Colare was having its monthly dinners that day. However what was special about this dinner is that it was to celebrate the time the Colare members had with the leaving JETs in our area. I ended up sitting with most of the JET girls that were there as we ate. Lawrence sung for us as the musical entertainment (awesome as usual). There was another singer before Lawrence but I don’t recall his songs to be all that memorable. In any case it was simple eating and listening. However Brett had a quiz game for everyone to play. Our teams were made up of the members of the table we were sitting at. There were questions about Toyama, FIFA, Colare and others. With fierce determination and a brute desire to crush our opponents our team won! Unfortunately the only thing we won was bragging rights XD However this was enough for us, and a lot of people got a kick out of our excitement. It indeed livened up the evening. It wasn’t too long after that we let the leavers say a few words and took a picture with them. Then it was time to take home the leftover foodz and go home. It was a good evening.
July2nd (Friday)
Today was the official Niikawa leavers dinner was today after work. We all met up in the same restaurant as our first welcome dinner in Toyama. Even Rosa came out and if you haven’t seen the name in a while it shows how often she does anything. My JTE Tommy came as well. He was invited by Lawrence I believe and considering he’s our age it makes sense. So it was dinner as usual really. Chatting about bands, and our times there, and any other random thing that came across our minds. A moment I personally enjoyed was when Christine ate a sizable portion of something green and realized later that it was wasabi. Her reaction and the way she was guzzling down beer was priceless. We lingered at dinner for some time since the boys kept ordering beers. When we finally left however we decided that being bums in a park was a good thing to do (since the original plan of action after dinner was karaoke).
SO the gang stopped off at the seven eleven, collected the nessary items (alcohol and snacks) and we walked to the park. There we did more of the same. Talking and joking around. There were two highlights while in the park bumming around with everyone. One being the heated but friendly conversation Christine, Ally, Maddy, Lawrence and I were having about the differences between British English and American English. It was interesting and definitely brought up some funny moments. The second one was when Tommy (who was blasted drunk by this point) was holding races with the rest of the group (or at least those that wanted to race). When it was a large group of racer and I said “go” for the final race, Tommy raced ahead and beat everyone else, but Brett did this slow motion run with a beer in his hand. It was HILARIOUS. I wish I caught that one film!!! Before we knew it though it was time for people to catch trains or just head home. Lawrence and I went over Ally’s to watch the world cup match between Brazil and Holland. It was interesting and through out the match we kept switching and forth between FIFA, Wimbledon and some crazy looking Jdrama that kept panning to some chick in a wheelchair with a white-haired man servant. By the time we decided to call it quits it was 2am in the morning and we both undoubtedly passed out when we crawled into bed.
I find out last minute via email at work that Colare was having its monthly dinners that day. However what was special about this dinner is that it was to celebrate the time the Colare members had with the leaving JETs in our area. I ended up sitting with most of the JET girls that were there as we ate. Lawrence sung for us as the musical entertainment (awesome as usual). There was another singer before Lawrence but I don’t recall his songs to be all that memorable. In any case it was simple eating and listening. However Brett had a quiz game for everyone to play. Our teams were made up of the members of the table we were sitting at. There were questions about Toyama, FIFA, Colare and others. With fierce determination and a brute desire to crush our opponents our team won! Unfortunately the only thing we won was bragging rights XD However this was enough for us, and a lot of people got a kick out of our excitement. It indeed livened up the evening. It wasn’t too long after that we let the leavers say a few words and took a picture with them. Then it was time to take home the leftover foodz and go home. It was a good evening.
July2nd (Friday)
Today was the official Niikawa leavers dinner was today after work. We all met up in the same restaurant as our first welcome dinner in Toyama. Even Rosa came out and if you haven’t seen the name in a while it shows how often she does anything. My JTE Tommy came as well. He was invited by Lawrence I believe and considering he’s our age it makes sense. So it was dinner as usual really. Chatting about bands, and our times there, and any other random thing that came across our minds. A moment I personally enjoyed was when Christine ate a sizable portion of something green and realized later that it was wasabi. Her reaction and the way she was guzzling down beer was priceless. We lingered at dinner for some time since the boys kept ordering beers. When we finally left however we decided that being bums in a park was a good thing to do (since the original plan of action after dinner was karaoke).
SO the gang stopped off at the seven eleven, collected the nessary items (alcohol and snacks) and we walked to the park. There we did more of the same. Talking and joking around. There were two highlights while in the park bumming around with everyone. One being the heated but friendly conversation Christine, Ally, Maddy, Lawrence and I were having about the differences between British English and American English. It was interesting and definitely brought up some funny moments. The second one was when Tommy (who was blasted drunk by this point) was holding races with the rest of the group (or at least those that wanted to race). When it was a large group of racer and I said “go” for the final race, Tommy raced ahead and beat everyone else, but Brett did this slow motion run with a beer in his hand. It was HILARIOUS. I wish I caught that one film!!! Before we knew it though it was time for people to catch trains or just head home. Lawrence and I went over Ally’s to watch the world cup match between Brazil and Holland. It was interesting and through out the match we kept switching and forth between FIFA, Wimbledon and some crazy looking Jdrama that kept panning to some chick in a wheelchair with a white-haired man servant. By the time we decided to call it quits it was 2am in the morning and we both undoubtedly passed out when we crawled into bed.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
PUFFY
So this the next few posts are going to be a bit out of order ^^;; すみません！
July 6th
So on a regular day of the week (a Tuesday) I came home for work and started to get ready for the Puffy concert that evening. I was never really a fan of Puffy, but I figured I couldn’t/shouldn’t miss the opportunity to see a pretty famous Jpop group especially since the venue was a mere five minutes from my apartment. So I ended up getting a bit dressed up and waited in the Colare Lobby for my friends to arrive. When they finally did, I realized I was the only that decided to dress up. I was told that I looked good and then we checked out tickets. Apparently Val bought everyone else’s ticket with hers so they had seats beside each other. I purchased mine separately so I was seated by myself on the opposite side of the auditorium. It felt a bit awkward but I resolved to enjoy myself anyway.
When the concert started it was a lot of fun. I had never heard any of those songs before but there were quite enjoyable to listen to. One song in particular “Puffy is a Monster” was a fun song because the backup dancers came on stage and taught us the Para that went along with the song. It’s always fun when the crowd can get involved with the performance. The only think I regret about this concert was the fact I was wearing leather three inch boots. This wouldn’t have been so bad if it was a standing/sitting affair. However when they came on stage the crowd stood and remained standing for the entirety of the concert. After hour one and a half my feet no longer approved. XD Nevertheless the concert ended and the five of us met back in the lobby long enough for quick goodbyes. Most everyone had a train to catch, and I have to say it’s a weird experience when I’m not the one running to catch a train or need to get home by a certain time. I quite like it XP Considering that I did not eat dinner I decided to take a fifteen minute drive to a Mc Donald’s (cause greasy food after a concert just feels right lol ) grabbed food and went to down on it. It was indeed a good night ^^
July 6th
So on a regular day of the week (a Tuesday) I came home for work and started to get ready for the Puffy concert that evening. I was never really a fan of Puffy, but I figured I couldn’t/shouldn’t miss the opportunity to see a pretty famous Jpop group especially since the venue was a mere five minutes from my apartment. So I ended up getting a bit dressed up and waited in the Colare Lobby for my friends to arrive. When they finally did, I realized I was the only that decided to dress up. I was told that I looked good and then we checked out tickets. Apparently Val bought everyone else’s ticket with hers so they had seats beside each other. I purchased mine separately so I was seated by myself on the opposite side of the auditorium. It felt a bit awkward but I resolved to enjoy myself anyway.
When the concert started it was a lot of fun. I had never heard any of those songs before but there were quite enjoyable to listen to. One song in particular “Puffy is a Monster” was a fun song because the backup dancers came on stage and taught us the Para that went along with the song. It’s always fun when the crowd can get involved with the performance. The only think I regret about this concert was the fact I was wearing leather three inch boots. This wouldn’t have been so bad if it was a standing/sitting affair. However when they came on stage the crowd stood and remained standing for the entirety of the concert. After hour one and a half my feet no longer approved. XD Nevertheless the concert ended and the five of us met back in the lobby long enough for quick goodbyes. Most everyone had a train to catch, and I have to say it’s a weird experience when I’m not the one running to catch a train or need to get home by a certain time. I quite like it XP Considering that I did not eat dinner I decided to take a fifteen minute drive to a Mc Donald’s (cause greasy food after a concert just feels right lol ) grabbed food and went to down on it. It was indeed a good night ^^
Monday, July 19, 2010
Bowling, Enkai, Leavers
June 23rd: Randomly I get messaged by Hilda for a Wednesday night get together with Mr. Fantastic. I ended up rushing over there last minute because instead of doing nothing at home I choose to spend the evening with other people. I met Hilda and the gang at Santoshi’s. It was quite amusing since they ordered my food for me and even though I was the last to arrive my food came out first. Gotta love the irony of that. Dinner was enjoyable and after we all finished our meals off, to bowling we went. Granted I’m not a huge fan of bowling and it showed when I played. LOL I have learned however if I just put power behind and aim for the middle instead of being cautious with my throws I am more likely to get a decent overall score. Good information for later…when ever later is for bowling lol. Got home relatively early and called it a night.
June 25th: After work that Friday I ran home and changed. Many of my coworkers were telling me about Jin Jin matsuri that was happening around the bank in my area. At first I didn’t think I’d have time to go but I decided to go there for forty minutes or so just to look around. I ended up running into my JTE Tommy which I knew I would and we ended up walking around with kids together. I think it’s funny cause a lot of kids think that we have “something* going on. XD Oh well. After that we both went to our separate vehicles for the Enkai at Jalapelon (sp?). Unfortunately cause I am directionally challenged in this country I LITERALLY lost my car. I parked on a side street I had never been on before and walked up and down a few blocks while enjoying the festival. In the end I lost track of where I entered the festival so I had to walk back to the school. Luckily the teacher who was taking me to the restaurant wasn’t ready so I had time to cool down before heading over there. When we finally did make it there I sat at the table with most of the people I knew from the year before and some new faces as well.
It was a fun and crazy time as usual. Enakis at Chuo elementary school are the absolute best. I spent time trying to make Tommy act normal (for him anyways) cause he is even more crazy when intoxicated. He was busy cursing out the teachers in English mostly in fun and I had to tell him to chill. It’s interesting the dynamic we have <.< Anyways it was really fun. It was also at this enkai that Tommy dropped the bomb that I was leaving Chuo. The teachers looked very surprised and I honestly think they will miss me way more then the children do/will. Su-chan said that when she has cookouts at her house I should come to say a part of and in touch with the community at Chuo. It was nice of her and it made me feel very welcomed.
OFCOURSE after drinking quite a bit, and being the most tipsy I have been in a very long time the dinner ended. A few of us then went to Karaoke at some bar called Spirits. Of course I sang and they cheered and we all had more drinks and generally had a wonderful time. One of the teachers actually got sick and didn’t even make it into the Karaoke bar. He ended up bailing and going home. I’m not sure when we actually finished Karaoke and went our separate ways, but I walked home and after thirty minutes of searching located my car, and drove home! XD
June 26th and 27th; Leavers Weekend:
So needless to say the night before I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. However I couldn’t sleep in too late because I had to shower and get ready for Leavers Weekend. So around 2pm Sayuri came and picked me up from my apartment. It was really nice of her to give me a ride. I didn’t know how I was going to make it up there without her seeing as I have no GPS to find the place in the mountains, and the simple fact that my car is just not running well enough for such a long trip; especially not up mountains and through forest. Nevertheless we made our way there. The trip up was enjoyable with talk, Mc Donald’s and Semi getting lost. The only issue was some of the roads on the mountains were incredibly narrow and had no side railings. So more than once we thought we were going to just drive off the side of the mountain O.o
Once we arrived we did our best to find places to sleep. I ended up landing a futon on the floor which is lucky compared to some people. I think a good chunk of people got the floor with out much cushion at all. I lingered around a bit and then with a group of others walked down to the campsite where they were making dinner (large tubs of yakisoba) and drinking. This was pretty much the jist of being there. To drink, eat and hang with the people who were leaving the JET programme this summer. For the first couple of hours it was simply people talking. Then Johnny and some others hopped on the instruments and started playing music. Some ppl gathered around and danced and sung along if they knew the tune. Whilst this was going on there was a contest in place. There were a bunch of categories lined up on a table and you had to vote which person best fit that category. There were such categories as “most hairy”, “ biggest animation nerd”, “ facebook stalker”, “ party all night”, “karaoke star” and so on. When it came to announce the winners I was SURE that I wouldn’t be chosen for any of the fifteen categories up for voting that night. I of course was wrong. Some how I managed to win the “Most likely to Cosplay at work” category. I was shocked XD Not only did I win that category the prize was no real prize at all. All the prizes were 3 shots of Tequila a piece. I recorded most of it but not until after I won mine. It would have been interesting to have gotten that on film. XD After this there was simply a continuation of the former activities. Lots of conversations and drinking. If they had, had dance music it would have been even more fun, but apparently someone forgot the cord that would connect an iPod to the speaker so it didn’t happen. I didn’t end up taking myself to bed until around 2am and slept fairly well considering it being very hot and being on a futon. Then again my bed isn’t all that comfortable these days. :/
The following morning I got up and went down to the camp site. There was peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, along with orange juice…or at least I think it was orange juice O.o This is where we all sat around getting ready to head back to our respective cities and to bed for a good number of us. We received the first or perhaps the leavers addition of “The Tram” which is a Jet publication done by the reps in our area. Within it had messages from all the leavers. It was nice parting gift. All in all I have to say that this was one hell of a weekend, and probably the most intoxicated one I’ve had while in Japan. Still haven’t managed drunkenness yet, but I’m pretty sure that’s a GOOD thing. XD
June 25th: After work that Friday I ran home and changed. Many of my coworkers were telling me about Jin Jin matsuri that was happening around the bank in my area. At first I didn’t think I’d have time to go but I decided to go there for forty minutes or so just to look around. I ended up running into my JTE Tommy which I knew I would and we ended up walking around with kids together. I think it’s funny cause a lot of kids think that we have “something* going on. XD Oh well. After that we both went to our separate vehicles for the Enkai at Jalapelon (sp?). Unfortunately cause I am directionally challenged in this country I LITERALLY lost my car. I parked on a side street I had never been on before and walked up and down a few blocks while enjoying the festival. In the end I lost track of where I entered the festival so I had to walk back to the school. Luckily the teacher who was taking me to the restaurant wasn’t ready so I had time to cool down before heading over there. When we finally did make it there I sat at the table with most of the people I knew from the year before and some new faces as well.
It was a fun and crazy time as usual. Enakis at Chuo elementary school are the absolute best. I spent time trying to make Tommy act normal (for him anyways) cause he is even more crazy when intoxicated. He was busy cursing out the teachers in English mostly in fun and I had to tell him to chill. It’s interesting the dynamic we have <.< Anyways it was really fun. It was also at this enkai that Tommy dropped the bomb that I was leaving Chuo. The teachers looked very surprised and I honestly think they will miss me way more then the children do/will. Su-chan said that when she has cookouts at her house I should come to say a part of and in touch with the community at Chuo. It was nice of her and it made me feel very welcomed.
OFCOURSE after drinking quite a bit, and being the most tipsy I have been in a very long time the dinner ended. A few of us then went to Karaoke at some bar called Spirits. Of course I sang and they cheered and we all had more drinks and generally had a wonderful time. One of the teachers actually got sick and didn’t even make it into the Karaoke bar. He ended up bailing and going home. I’m not sure when we actually finished Karaoke and went our separate ways, but I walked home and after thirty minutes of searching located my car, and drove home! XD
June 26th and 27th; Leavers Weekend:
So needless to say the night before I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. However I couldn’t sleep in too late because I had to shower and get ready for Leavers Weekend. So around 2pm Sayuri came and picked me up from my apartment. It was really nice of her to give me a ride. I didn’t know how I was going to make it up there without her seeing as I have no GPS to find the place in the mountains, and the simple fact that my car is just not running well enough for such a long trip; especially not up mountains and through forest. Nevertheless we made our way there. The trip up was enjoyable with talk, Mc Donald’s and Semi getting lost. The only issue was some of the roads on the mountains were incredibly narrow and had no side railings. So more than once we thought we were going to just drive off the side of the mountain O.o
Once we arrived we did our best to find places to sleep. I ended up landing a futon on the floor which is lucky compared to some people. I think a good chunk of people got the floor with out much cushion at all. I lingered around a bit and then with a group of others walked down to the campsite where they were making dinner (large tubs of yakisoba) and drinking. This was pretty much the jist of being there. To drink, eat and hang with the people who were leaving the JET programme this summer. For the first couple of hours it was simply people talking. Then Johnny and some others hopped on the instruments and started playing music. Some ppl gathered around and danced and sung along if they knew the tune. Whilst this was going on there was a contest in place. There were a bunch of categories lined up on a table and you had to vote which person best fit that category. There were such categories as “most hairy”, “ biggest animation nerd”, “ facebook stalker”, “ party all night”, “karaoke star” and so on. When it came to announce the winners I was SURE that I wouldn’t be chosen for any of the fifteen categories up for voting that night. I of course was wrong. Some how I managed to win the “Most likely to Cosplay at work” category. I was shocked XD Not only did I win that category the prize was no real prize at all. All the prizes were 3 shots of Tequila a piece. I recorded most of it but not until after I won mine. It would have been interesting to have gotten that on film. XD After this there was simply a continuation of the former activities. Lots of conversations and drinking. If they had, had dance music it would have been even more fun, but apparently someone forgot the cord that would connect an iPod to the speaker so it didn’t happen. I didn’t end up taking myself to bed until around 2am and slept fairly well considering it being very hot and being on a futon. Then again my bed isn’t all that comfortable these days. :/
The following morning I got up and went down to the camp site. There was peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, along with orange juice…or at least I think it was orange juice O.o This is where we all sat around getting ready to head back to our respective cities and to bed for a good number of us. We received the first or perhaps the leavers addition of “The Tram” which is a Jet publication done by the reps in our area. Within it had messages from all the leavers. It was nice parting gift. All in all I have to say that this was one hell of a weekend, and probably the most intoxicated one I’ve had while in Japan. Still haven’t managed drunkenness yet, but I’m pretty sure that’s a GOOD thing. XD
Sunday, June 27, 2010
A feelings post OH NO!
Well I have managed to be here in Japan nearly one year now. It's hard to believe that it's been that long already. When it all started time was going so slowly, and then I decided to get into EVERYTHING and now I never have time. Heh, that's how things go I guess. However lately despite the good times the world has been kicking me pretty hard. I want to say the ball started rolling towards then end of March when my Iphone was stolen till now when I am unsure I will be able to get a Jap License based on a rather stupid stipulation. I think I've just hit my limit of bad things to the point where I can't hide my weary anymore. On top with the longest (I would like a significant other) stint in my twenty-four years of life, things can get a bit complicated. It's pretty crazy. I cry at every movie that has a touching ending. Not balling or anything but misty eyed. I get pissed at Japans attempts to make me feel bad for being black even when these "attempts" aren't direct.
From the sound of it, it makes it seem like my year was rather sour which couldn't be further from the truth. I've had a hell of a year and my experiences have been fantastic. Hence why I’ve probably waited till now to actually whine/dwell about the bad things that’ve happened. However I feel that I should lay out a Positives/Achievements vs. Negatives/Failures list to see what I've done.
Positives/Achievements
Lead Role as Yamamba for the Charity Shows 20th performance the “Idol of Oz”
Created the Tickets for the Charity Show
Helped with Costume Design for the Charity Show
Advanced my make-up ability being the Lead Make-up artist for the Charity Show and for Van’s Fashion Show, MASQUED.
Traveled to three countries outside of Japan; Vietnam, Thailand, and Hong Kong China
ENJOYED teaching my students, especially my Chuo and Koshino kids.
Made good friends
Attempted relationships
Gained a measure of Fame with the JET and Japanese communities
Improved my Art skills and maintained moderate frequency in creating it.
Had NO drama with JETS.
Maintained most of Lent
Went to other parts of Japan; Sapporo, Osaka, Tokyo.
Watched a SUMO tournament
Went to the (biggest) Yuki Matsuri (snow festival) in Japan.
Learned to eat food I thought I’d never eat. Ex: Squid, Quail Eggs, Seaweed etc…
Started sewing ( bought a machine.. need to actually use it! Heh)
If there are more please help me list them. I’d like to make a note of it to myself.
Negatives/Failures
Didn’t loose any weight really. Maybe a few pounds here or there
Had my Iphone Stolen in Vietnam
Had bronchitis during Silver Week
Back went out for about two weeks
Vietnam Visa flop
Jap License dilemma (on going)
Didn’t save at least 5k this year.
Didn’t learn much Japanese
Did not climb Mt. Tateyama
Lost my house key (on going dilemma)
Haven’t been devoted enough
Accepted that in Japan I’m always going to be the “best-friend” and never the Girlfriend.
I should be writing more but I am at work and actually pretty sleepy T_T Laterz!
From the sound of it, it makes it seem like my year was rather sour which couldn't be further from the truth. I've had a hell of a year and my experiences have been fantastic. Hence why I’ve probably waited till now to actually whine/dwell about the bad things that’ve happened. However I feel that I should lay out a Positives/Achievements vs. Negatives/Failures list to see what I've done.
Positives/Achievements
Lead Role as Yamamba for the Charity Shows 20th performance the “Idol of Oz”
Created the Tickets for the Charity Show
Helped with Costume Design for the Charity Show
Advanced my make-up ability being the Lead Make-up artist for the Charity Show and for Van’s Fashion Show, MASQUED.
Traveled to three countries outside of Japan; Vietnam, Thailand, and Hong Kong China
ENJOYED teaching my students, especially my Chuo and Koshino kids.
Made good friends
Attempted relationships
Gained a measure of Fame with the JET and Japanese communities
Improved my Art skills and maintained moderate frequency in creating it.
Had NO drama with JETS.
Maintained most of Lent
Went to other parts of Japan; Sapporo, Osaka, Tokyo.
Watched a SUMO tournament
Went to the (biggest) Yuki Matsuri (snow festival) in Japan.
Learned to eat food I thought I’d never eat. Ex: Squid, Quail Eggs, Seaweed etc…
Started sewing ( bought a machine.. need to actually use it! Heh)
If there are more please help me list them. I’d like to make a note of it to myself.
Negatives/Failures
Didn’t loose any weight really. Maybe a few pounds here or there
Had my Iphone Stolen in Vietnam
Had bronchitis during Silver Week
Back went out for about two weeks
Vietnam Visa flop
Jap License dilemma (on going)
Didn’t save at least 5k this year.
Didn’t learn much Japanese
Did not climb Mt. Tateyama
Lost my house key (on going dilemma)
Haven’t been devoted enough
Accepted that in Japan I’m always going to be the “best-friend” and never the Girlfriend.
I should be writing more but I am at work and actually pretty sleepy T_T Laterz!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Movie Night & MASQUED!
*This post will be a summary of my last two weekends since I simply don’t feel like writing them in separate posts. *
June 11th-13th
Friday June 11th was a normal Friday but Adam, Lawrence, Christine and I were to eat at Pizza Jam before we went to play poker at Bryans place. Unfortunately Pizza Jam was closed (which is horribly odd for a Friday) and we resorted to eating at Gustos where Saiyuri meet up with us. After that Christine decided to go home and Saiyuri and I headed over to Bryans. Zack and Diku ended up making an appearance and so it was an eight player group for poker. Of course this eliminated quite a few games we could play since most games require that you have no more than seven players. Nevertheless it was a night of poker and on the TV FIFA world cup was playing. I have never been one for soccer but since I am in a country where soccer is pretty important and I have quite a few European friends the world cup is serious business. The game is interesting enough during world cup time so it was an overall “guys” Friday night. Poker lasted till around one in the morning and with that I drove home and hit the hay.
The following morning (12th) I woke up and made my way to Toyama to practice at the venue with my group. We needed to practice the skit they were to perform for the show. It was a pretty quick practice. It lasted no longer than an hour and then we were off our separated ways. This was good because I needed to go home and prepare my dish for Movie Night that started at Christine’s place at six. I ended up preparing fried potatoes as my dish since I recently just learned or (attempted is more the right word) to make them like my mom, and I have to say I did a darn good job. After I drove to Uozu I managed to get fairly lost trying to find her house on foot. I was this close to turning around and going home but finally I found it (thirty minutes later) and went in. Thankfully everyone adhered to the “not everyone brink desserts” rule and ended up with one or two desserts but several dishes of food to eat. Everything was good and people really liked the potatoes so I was glad. We had basically eaten before we started watching movies. It was decided that we would watch Kick Ass, which was a pretty decent movie. It was far more raw than I thought it would be and the amount of gore was impressive considering that Kick Ass is somewhat a Super Hero Parody. I would also like to say that no little girl should be able to do that. O.o After that movie we kinda just chilled out, a few of us went over to Ally’s to chat and then back to Christine’s. It wasn’t long after that, when I decided to drive home. It was an all together good weekend.
July 18th-20th
This Friday I want to say that I did something be in all honesty if I did, what I did escapes me ^^; All I know is I prepared my make-up, clothes and sketches to leave early the following morning to Toyama for the Fashion Show preparation that day. I ended up not landing much sleep because of an impromptu conversation with Trevor till 3am in the morning. I managed to make it to Toyama and after a while of waiting and two missed tram opportunities to the venue I was picked up and taken to Mau Fine Arts where the fashion show was to be held. Once I arrived I helped to set up a bit but most of my work really didn’t kick in until we started doing skit and run way walks. We got the models in their corsets and vests after practicing that morning and had a full run. Vannie was there to watch the first run and I took it upon myself to do a second run of the show because there was some fine tuning to be done with the skits and such. Once the second run was over most everyone went and acquired some kind of dinner and or lunch or simply just left for a while. I didn’t have much of an appetite and even when I was hungry I was too busy to really eat. So I just sat around and did nothing when I could.
Finally about two and a half hours before the show we began putting makeup on the models, fixing hair and dressing them in their corsets and vests. It was truly and hectic few hours and there were several break downs. Thankfully everyone got it together, I didn’t go crazy and everything that needed to be done was done (for the models anyway) Vannie and I hurried to get dressed in something decent (I looked a hot mess in my opinion) and waited for the show to start. Thankfully the show went well and the crowd seemed to like it. Once the last skit was over Vannie and I ran out waving crazy at the camera. The runway walk through the two bottom floors went well to as we followed the models waving and thanking the audience. When it was ALL OVER the models posed on the stage and then mingled with the crowd. I did as well and was trying not to die from heat. It was a job well done, but I was tired, and really tense for some reason. A few Japanese woman came up to me and told me how nice they thought the make-up was and then made the “oh wait Ive seen you before” face and asked if I was in the Play. I told them I was Yamamba and they freaked out and were really excited. They asked to take another picture with me as the Make Up designer of the Fashion Show. They wanted to have pictures of that as well as the pictures they took with me at the Play. It was really sweet of them. Made me happy that they thought I did a good job. As the party went on things were ok till around 11:30 or so when there was some serious rifts between the owner and some models. He cursed one of them out for one reason or another and it just started a snow ball effect of tense conversations and us ultimately having to leave the venue three plus hours early. As a result to this debacle people were extremely upset, sad, pissed, and tired. It was a little more than crazy. Sara moved the party to Ajito where I went later after packing things up. I spent another two plus hours there dancing and such, but in truth I was just exhausted the whole time. I was just spent for that day. I was happy to then drive home in Lawrence’s car because he had drank. Either way it got me home to be in my bed, in my apartment in peace and quiet. My head hit the pillow at five am Sunday morning and I didn’t leave my bed again till five pm that evening.
June 11th-13th
Friday June 11th was a normal Friday but Adam, Lawrence, Christine and I were to eat at Pizza Jam before we went to play poker at Bryans place. Unfortunately Pizza Jam was closed (which is horribly odd for a Friday) and we resorted to eating at Gustos where Saiyuri meet up with us. After that Christine decided to go home and Saiyuri and I headed over to Bryans. Zack and Diku ended up making an appearance and so it was an eight player group for poker. Of course this eliminated quite a few games we could play since most games require that you have no more than seven players. Nevertheless it was a night of poker and on the TV FIFA world cup was playing. I have never been one for soccer but since I am in a country where soccer is pretty important and I have quite a few European friends the world cup is serious business. The game is interesting enough during world cup time so it was an overall “guys” Friday night. Poker lasted till around one in the morning and with that I drove home and hit the hay.
The following morning (12th) I woke up and made my way to Toyama to practice at the venue with my group. We needed to practice the skit they were to perform for the show. It was a pretty quick practice. It lasted no longer than an hour and then we were off our separated ways. This was good because I needed to go home and prepare my dish for Movie Night that started at Christine’s place at six. I ended up preparing fried potatoes as my dish since I recently just learned or (attempted is more the right word) to make them like my mom, and I have to say I did a darn good job. After I drove to Uozu I managed to get fairly lost trying to find her house on foot. I was this close to turning around and going home but finally I found it (thirty minutes later) and went in. Thankfully everyone adhered to the “not everyone brink desserts” rule and ended up with one or two desserts but several dishes of food to eat. Everything was good and people really liked the potatoes so I was glad. We had basically eaten before we started watching movies. It was decided that we would watch Kick Ass, which was a pretty decent movie. It was far more raw than I thought it would be and the amount of gore was impressive considering that Kick Ass is somewhat a Super Hero Parody. I would also like to say that no little girl should be able to do that. O.o After that movie we kinda just chilled out, a few of us went over to Ally’s to chat and then back to Christine’s. It wasn’t long after that, when I decided to drive home. It was an all together good weekend.
July 18th-20th
This Friday I want to say that I did something be in all honesty if I did, what I did escapes me ^^; All I know is I prepared my make-up, clothes and sketches to leave early the following morning to Toyama for the Fashion Show preparation that day. I ended up not landing much sleep because of an impromptu conversation with Trevor till 3am in the morning. I managed to make it to Toyama and after a while of waiting and two missed tram opportunities to the venue I was picked up and taken to Mau Fine Arts where the fashion show was to be held. Once I arrived I helped to set up a bit but most of my work really didn’t kick in until we started doing skit and run way walks. We got the models in their corsets and vests after practicing that morning and had a full run. Vannie was there to watch the first run and I took it upon myself to do a second run of the show because there was some fine tuning to be done with the skits and such. Once the second run was over most everyone went and acquired some kind of dinner and or lunch or simply just left for a while. I didn’t have much of an appetite and even when I was hungry I was too busy to really eat. So I just sat around and did nothing when I could.
Finally about two and a half hours before the show we began putting makeup on the models, fixing hair and dressing them in their corsets and vests. It was truly and hectic few hours and there were several break downs. Thankfully everyone got it together, I didn’t go crazy and everything that needed to be done was done (for the models anyway) Vannie and I hurried to get dressed in something decent (I looked a hot mess in my opinion) and waited for the show to start. Thankfully the show went well and the crowd seemed to like it. Once the last skit was over Vannie and I ran out waving crazy at the camera. The runway walk through the two bottom floors went well to as we followed the models waving and thanking the audience. When it was ALL OVER the models posed on the stage and then mingled with the crowd. I did as well and was trying not to die from heat. It was a job well done, but I was tired, and really tense for some reason. A few Japanese woman came up to me and told me how nice they thought the make-up was and then made the “oh wait Ive seen you before” face and asked if I was in the Play. I told them I was Yamamba and they freaked out and were really excited. They asked to take another picture with me as the Make Up designer of the Fashion Show. They wanted to have pictures of that as well as the pictures they took with me at the Play. It was really sweet of them. Made me happy that they thought I did a good job. As the party went on things were ok till around 11:30 or so when there was some serious rifts between the owner and some models. He cursed one of them out for one reason or another and it just started a snow ball effect of tense conversations and us ultimately having to leave the venue three plus hours early. As a result to this debacle people were extremely upset, sad, pissed, and tired. It was a little more than crazy. Sara moved the party to Ajito where I went later after packing things up. I spent another two plus hours there dancing and such, but in truth I was just exhausted the whole time. I was just spent for that day. I was happy to then drive home in Lawrence’s car because he had drank. Either way it got me home to be in my bed, in my apartment in peace and quiet. My head hit the pillow at five am Sunday morning and I didn’t leave my bed again till five pm that evening.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Closing Night!
Considering I’m writing this two/three weeks after it happened the details of the week are pretty sketchy. However it all ended up leading to that Fridays (4th of June) trip to Takaoka to prepare for Saturdays final shows. The ride up was enjoyable mainly because Niikawa members of the play were all on the same train. The one bad point about this is that I left my sketch book on the train because I was talking with people. As far as I know there wasn’t anything of much note in the sketch book except a Soul Eater drawing I had finished just before leaving work that day. Nevertheless I got there and had a tech run that night in costume. At the end of the night ( I was tired as balls) went to the Brazilian restaurant to eat. It was delicious as always and I am always happy to eat real cow when I have the chance. ^^ After that I camped out at Nicole and Ryan’s place for the night.
Saturday June 5th: The following morning I woke up early to catch the tram to the venue at eight in the morning. I met a few friends at the station and proceeded to tell them about a dream I had that involved most if not all the charity show (play) members. The got a real kick out of it, and it carried all the way to the dressing room where I informed everyone about their roles played in my dream. It was a running joke for the rest of the day. ^^ As usual the dress rehearsals were long but needed and we all ate our fill of Mc Donalds. The sheer amount of cast members that bought food there is quite hilarious. Fast food is truly the best when your stressed out and over-worked and want something quick, salty and greasy! When it was time for the first show we were a bit nervous but it all worked out. I said all my lines perfectly and sung my song. However the second performance at night who had more ppl I messed up one of my lines again, but once again no one noticed. I must be really good at hiding my f’ups hehe. However when it was time to go out and greet the audience as they were leaving the venue, I couldn’t have received more compliments whether it be on makeup or my singing voice or my costume (which the lovely Van made). A lot of people also mentioned that the felt I didn’t have enough time in the play and that they wanted to see more of my character. It was really flattering. I was also asked about next year’s play (which I haven’t even thought about joining really) and if told to pursue acting as a career O.o It was crazy hehe.
After the show we cleared out and I went to have dinner at Gustos before getting ready and heading to Clover Hall where the after party was being held. The after party was indeed and interesting venture. I danced a lot, people called me gorgeous because I decided to curl my hair a little. In fact people straight up didn’t recognize me which was weird in and of itself. It was a good time and people got pretty wasted. I had maybe two drinks and didn’t have anything even resembling a buzz. That was ok though. It’s interesting however to note that I think I might just drink less there then I did when I had parties in the states. I don’t know how that happened. O.o
Nevertheless the party didn’t end till 4am in the morning and Ryan, Nicole and I walked zombified back to their place where we crashed HARD.
The following morning though I was tired as balls I work up around twelve to gather my stuff to meet at Café skew for the Fashion show meeting.. The meeting lasted quite a while but we managed to get buffet lunch at the Brazilian restaurant, and having good food like that makes having long meetings far more bearable. It wasn’t till around six o’clock, a trip to the fabric store, and picking up my things did I get a ride with Everson back to Toyama along with Vannie. From there Vannie waited with me for my train and we managed to have some time together when we weren’t talking about something that was business related. It was nice and we both acknowledge how good it was. FINALLY I made it home that weekend and honestly once I did I have no clue what I did the rest of the night. LOL
Saturday June 5th: The following morning I woke up early to catch the tram to the venue at eight in the morning. I met a few friends at the station and proceeded to tell them about a dream I had that involved most if not all the charity show (play) members. The got a real kick out of it, and it carried all the way to the dressing room where I informed everyone about their roles played in my dream. It was a running joke for the rest of the day. ^^ As usual the dress rehearsals were long but needed and we all ate our fill of Mc Donalds. The sheer amount of cast members that bought food there is quite hilarious. Fast food is truly the best when your stressed out and over-worked and want something quick, salty and greasy! When it was time for the first show we were a bit nervous but it all worked out. I said all my lines perfectly and sung my song. However the second performance at night who had more ppl I messed up one of my lines again, but once again no one noticed. I must be really good at hiding my f’ups hehe. However when it was time to go out and greet the audience as they were leaving the venue, I couldn’t have received more compliments whether it be on makeup or my singing voice or my costume (which the lovely Van made). A lot of people also mentioned that the felt I didn’t have enough time in the play and that they wanted to see more of my character. It was really flattering. I was also asked about next year’s play (which I haven’t even thought about joining really) and if told to pursue acting as a career O.o It was crazy hehe.
After the show we cleared out and I went to have dinner at Gustos before getting ready and heading to Clover Hall where the after party was being held. The after party was indeed and interesting venture. I danced a lot, people called me gorgeous because I decided to curl my hair a little. In fact people straight up didn’t recognize me which was weird in and of itself. It was a good time and people got pretty wasted. I had maybe two drinks and didn’t have anything even resembling a buzz. That was ok though. It’s interesting however to note that I think I might just drink less there then I did when I had parties in the states. I don’t know how that happened. O.o
Nevertheless the party didn’t end till 4am in the morning and Ryan, Nicole and I walked zombified back to their place where we crashed HARD.
The following morning though I was tired as balls I work up around twelve to gather my stuff to meet at Café skew for the Fashion show meeting.. The meeting lasted quite a while but we managed to get buffet lunch at the Brazilian restaurant, and having good food like that makes having long meetings far more bearable. It wasn’t till around six o’clock, a trip to the fabric store, and picking up my things did I get a ride with Everson back to Toyama along with Vannie. From there Vannie waited with me for my train and we managed to have some time together when we weren’t talking about something that was business related. It was nice and we both acknowledge how good it was. FINALLY I made it home that weekend and honestly once I did I have no clue what I did the rest of the night. LOL
Hong Kong Trip: Part 2
Day 5: Lantau Island: Waking up early the three of us took the tram to central and took the ferry ride to Lantau Island. It was a nice ride though I was half conscious during most of it. When we arrived and got off the ferry we took in the sights. It was quite a pretty little island. It was also hot as all balls as well. So we leisurely walked down to the beach area and took refuge at a table under a tree on the beach. At first Hilda and I sat and chatted an just enjoyed relaxing while Debbie went off and played on the beach. It was amusing to watch her. Hilda and I both commented on the about of genki that girl had and that I could not remember a time where I was just super genki for no reason. After an hour she came back to the table where we were sitting and asked if we wanted to go play with her. Since I was younger Hilda said it was my job to go. Laughing, I rolled up my pants legs and took a stroll down the beach with Debbie. We came to a place at the end where there was a pretty rock mass and both her and I took several pictures there. My pants got soaked all the way to the upper thigh but it was cool so it was nice. After that we returned to Hilda and Debbie took a rest while I took pics of Hilda on the beach. We attempted jump pictures as well and they turned out “interesting” lol.
Once we had enough of the beach we decided to take the bus to the Tian Tan Buddha (Big Buddha) site. Before we left however we had lunch overlooking the ocean. It was truly pleasant and the food was good as well. The bus ride to the Buddha site took much longer than I expected, but the view was absolutely beautiful. When we reached the site we had a good number of stairs to climb before we reached the top of the hill where the monument was. The Tian Tan Buddha was the largest bronze Buddha erected until recently weighing in at 250 metric tons. Us visitors also had the privilege of climbing 268 steps to get to the base. I felt every one of those steps. God I’m out of shape lol It was worth it though. If I were to have a rocky moment that moment would have been it haha.
The view was really nice from the top of the hill and many pictures were taken. Unfortunately there might not be any evidence of these events because Hilda’s camera (the one person who had a camera on this tour really) SD card got messed up. So in the end she might not be able to retrieve her photos. *crosses fingers in hopes she does* While up there I ended up purchasing a jade flower necklace from inside the shop at the base of the Buddha. In truth I think we stayed up there as long as we did simply because it took so much effort to get up there el oh el. When we finally did leave we went over to this gold(or at least it looked like gold) palace where entered, looked around for a short time in then just sat in the court yard talking and enjoying the shade. It was pretty late in the day by this point and being high up we managed a decent breeze. At one point I would have even deemed it chilly. The turning back point was the sun beginning to set. So we started the journey back to Hong Kong Island for the night.
Macau: Well today was an exciting day, not only because we were going to another island, but also because traveling to Macau requires you to have a passport, THUS getting another passport stamp. For some reason, the three of us are very anxious and excited to get a passport stamp. In reality after this Christmas I might need a new passport. Customs don’t go about stamping your passports neatly so there are things all over the place, and thus there was no effort in saving space. That and the stupid Vietnam visa that didn’t work *grumble* ANYWAY out to central and another ferry for the trip to Macau. Macau is known for its Pilipino influence as well as its reputation of being mini-Vegas. After we passed into Macau we were bombarded with people trying to get us to go to their hotels.
We decided that we would try the MGM hotel first since it looked like it had some interesting things to see. Once inside I knew why they called Macau the mini-Vegas. Before entering other hotels later it was the most elegant and filthy rich hotel I had EVER been in. I could just feel my wallet crying just for standing in the lobby. We ended up taking a bunch of pictures with the zodiac replicas they made out of flowers that filled the inner mall at the MGM. We also watched the fountain display in front of the Wynn hotel before we went back to the MGM lobby to watch the dragon dancers. At first it didn’t seem like it was going to be much of a show, but when the two dancers who wore the dragon costume came on it was pure awesomeness. It was completely worth every minute I spent watching it, and besides being cool to watch it was also FREE yatta! After this we decided to head toward St. Peters (I think) arch ruins. It was a long and tasty walk. Once we got around the general area there were tons of street venders selling sweets and procured/multi-seasoned meats. We grabbed a few samples on the way to the ruins. There, we sat and chatted a while. There wasn’t much too see. It was a huge arch, but nothing compared to the architectural genius I’ve seen in France and Rome. Once we decided to head back we were on the look out to find another heritage site. A Historical Church that I can’t quite recall the name of. The fun part was stopping and tasting nearly every available sample as we walked down the street of venders and shops. It was quite yummy and both Hilda and Debbie ended up buying something. The church was also not that impressive, or at least not anymore impressive than my own church in the states, but because of it’s history it was worth a look. After that it was relax time in the square. The three of us sat on the fountain in the middle of the courtyard of the main streets. There we simply talked and goofed off for a few hours, enjoying the breeze and each other. When it became a bit dark we decided to walk back to the hotels and there we did much of the same, sitting outside talking and enjoying the night. It was so cool to see all the casinos light up and people watch. I quite liked Macau .
The last full day in Hong Kong we decided to look around at museums. We went to the art museum and the science and space museum. They were both interesting though museums at large don’t do too much for entertainment. However I do like museums depending on what type of art I’m looking at and if I just learned about what I am seeing. This was the focus of the day until the evening when I was supposed to meet up with my friend Lydia( whom I was trying to hook up with all week). Unfortunately we got the museums mixed up and I ended up missing her. It was really sad cause I don’t know the next time I’ll be in Hong Kong or when she will visit Japan. After some serious frustration and brooding on my part I watched the Symphony of lights with the others ( it was alright, but nothing of what I expected it to be) and then made our way back to the night markets on the other side of the island to do some last minute shopping. We had some money to burn because we opted out of going to HK Disneyland. That and the exchange rate back to yen would have hurt us more than just keeping the HKD. After a few more hours at the night markets we decided to call it a night on our HK trip. The following morning we packed up, at Popeyes at the airport, bought omiyage (of course) and headed back home for Japan!
Once we had enough of the beach we decided to take the bus to the Tian Tan Buddha (Big Buddha) site. Before we left however we had lunch overlooking the ocean. It was truly pleasant and the food was good as well. The bus ride to the Buddha site took much longer than I expected, but the view was absolutely beautiful. When we reached the site we had a good number of stairs to climb before we reached the top of the hill where the monument was. The Tian Tan Buddha was the largest bronze Buddha erected until recently weighing in at 250 metric tons. Us visitors also had the privilege of climbing 268 steps to get to the base. I felt every one of those steps. God I’m out of shape lol It was worth it though. If I were to have a rocky moment that moment would have been it haha.
The view was really nice from the top of the hill and many pictures were taken. Unfortunately there might not be any evidence of these events because Hilda’s camera (the one person who had a camera on this tour really) SD card got messed up. So in the end she might not be able to retrieve her photos. *crosses fingers in hopes she does* While up there I ended up purchasing a jade flower necklace from inside the shop at the base of the Buddha. In truth I think we stayed up there as long as we did simply because it took so much effort to get up there el oh el. When we finally did leave we went over to this gold(or at least it looked like gold) palace where entered, looked around for a short time in then just sat in the court yard talking and enjoying the shade. It was pretty late in the day by this point and being high up we managed a decent breeze. At one point I would have even deemed it chilly. The turning back point was the sun beginning to set. So we started the journey back to Hong Kong Island for the night.
Macau: Well today was an exciting day, not only because we were going to another island, but also because traveling to Macau requires you to have a passport, THUS getting another passport stamp. For some reason, the three of us are very anxious and excited to get a passport stamp. In reality after this Christmas I might need a new passport. Customs don’t go about stamping your passports neatly so there are things all over the place, and thus there was no effort in saving space. That and the stupid Vietnam visa that didn’t work *grumble* ANYWAY out to central and another ferry for the trip to Macau. Macau is known for its Pilipino influence as well as its reputation of being mini-Vegas. After we passed into Macau we were bombarded with people trying to get us to go to their hotels.
We decided that we would try the MGM hotel first since it looked like it had some interesting things to see. Once inside I knew why they called Macau the mini-Vegas. Before entering other hotels later it was the most elegant and filthy rich hotel I had EVER been in. I could just feel my wallet crying just for standing in the lobby. We ended up taking a bunch of pictures with the zodiac replicas they made out of flowers that filled the inner mall at the MGM. We also watched the fountain display in front of the Wynn hotel before we went back to the MGM lobby to watch the dragon dancers. At first it didn’t seem like it was going to be much of a show, but when the two dancers who wore the dragon costume came on it was pure awesomeness. It was completely worth every minute I spent watching it, and besides being cool to watch it was also FREE yatta! After this we decided to head toward St. Peters (I think) arch ruins. It was a long and tasty walk. Once we got around the general area there were tons of street venders selling sweets and procured/multi-seasoned meats. We grabbed a few samples on the way to the ruins. There, we sat and chatted a while. There wasn’t much too see. It was a huge arch, but nothing compared to the architectural genius I’ve seen in France and Rome. Once we decided to head back we were on the look out to find another heritage site. A Historical Church that I can’t quite recall the name of. The fun part was stopping and tasting nearly every available sample as we walked down the street of venders and shops. It was quite yummy and both Hilda and Debbie ended up buying something. The church was also not that impressive, or at least not anymore impressive than my own church in the states, but because of it’s history it was worth a look. After that it was relax time in the square. The three of us sat on the fountain in the middle of the courtyard of the main streets. There we simply talked and goofed off for a few hours, enjoying the breeze and each other. When it became a bit dark we decided to walk back to the hotels and there we did much of the same, sitting outside talking and enjoying the night. It was so cool to see all the casinos light up and people watch. I quite liked Macau .
The last full day in Hong Kong we decided to look around at museums. We went to the art museum and the science and space museum. They were both interesting though museums at large don’t do too much for entertainment. However I do like museums depending on what type of art I’m looking at and if I just learned about what I am seeing. This was the focus of the day until the evening when I was supposed to meet up with my friend Lydia( whom I was trying to hook up with all week). Unfortunately we got the museums mixed up and I ended up missing her. It was really sad cause I don’t know the next time I’ll be in Hong Kong or when she will visit Japan. After some serious frustration and brooding on my part I watched the Symphony of lights with the others ( it was alright, but nothing of what I expected it to be) and then made our way back to the night markets on the other side of the island to do some last minute shopping. We had some money to burn because we opted out of going to HK Disneyland. That and the exchange rate back to yen would have hurt us more than just keeping the HKD. After a few more hours at the night markets we decided to call it a night on our HK trip. The following morning we packed up, at Popeyes at the airport, bought omiyage (of course) and headed back home for Japan!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Golden Week: Hong Kong Adventures part 1
Sooo reports on the international vacations at last. I’ll go into the Hong Kong excursion first since it’s a bit more fresh in my memory, and Vietnam just had A LOT of things that happened which I can’t remember in sequence or day to save my life at the moment. Perhaps looking at pictures will help me remember! ANYWAY *pics to come*
Departure & Arrival in HK: Hilda, Debbie and I left Toyama via night bus Wednesday night on the 28th of April. As usual it didn’t land us in Osaka till the following morning. Then we took the train to Kansai airport and off we went (after some much deserved Starbucks and Subway) on our flight to HK. After the WORST FLIGHT KNOW TO MAN( so much turbulence on entry that we had to circle back four times towards the ocean in hopes for LESS turbulence to land in) we arrived to a rain sodden HK. This didn’t lift our spirits seeing that the forecast predicted rain for the entirety of our stay. Nevertheless we made it to our hostel in Fortress Hill and then went to a local restaurant to eat. The first meal choice was not supreme and because of the rain and my LACK of umbrella I managed to catch a cold the first night I was there. After dinner we made a night of it, and hit the sack early.
Day two: Ocean Park: So to our delight the day brought sun to our doorstep and with this we decided that today would be the best day for the amusement park. Ocean tends to be recommended over HK Disney. I don’t know why since we didn’t manage the opportunity to go to HK Disney. Nevertheless we arrived there and the park was situated with a wonderful ocean view true to its name. First things first we grabbed some lunch (which was surprisingly very tasty), then Hilda and Debbie to a ride on the rollercoaster. After that we grabbed some snacks and played a few games but unfortunately we all came up empty handed. Close by there was a small aquarium that we moseyed through while we were waiting for the dolphin show to start. When we went to the stage area for the show a mariachi band played before the performance, and one of the guys was eyeing my friend Hilda. It was quite amusing to watch them play eye tag back and forth during their performance. The dolphin show itself was cute. A show worth seeing but nothing overly spectacular, though the seals stole the show somewhat. The trainers would gave them high-fives and the “wink and finger” pose whenever they did a good job. Needless to say this action stuck with me and Hilda for the rest of our HK trip ^^. After the dolphin show it was onwards to watch the bird show (ok performance, but the birds were pretty!) and then to see the PANDAS! They were so cute ^^. The red pandas were adorable and spunky as well. The two Giant Pandas were busy eating their bamboo leaves. One even tried to take some from the others pile and that panda promptly got up took his food back and continued eating. It was too hilarious. The panda gift show was soo tempting but I managed to keep my hands in my pockets while I was there. Things were simply too expensive there and only being on day two of my trip I wasn’t willing to spend all my money in one place. Before leaving the park around six that evening we stopped to take pictures with some of the life size dragon models in the “How to train a Dragon” section of the park. I know a few people who would have quite enjoyed that part of the park. I was thinking of you guys when I was there ^^. By the end of my time there I was ready to head out. T’was a long and fun day and after I returned to our hostel area we grabbed food and everything else was of no particular importance. We hit the hay and it was onward to day three!
Day 3:The Night Market: Today was a slow start, which was good for me because I was sick, and getting a bit more sleep on my otherwise sleep deprivation antics on vacations. We decided to go to the other side of the island and look around. Before we took the short ferry ride to the other side we stopped and watched a Pilipino fashion show for a few minutes. When we got to the other side we hung around the cultural center to see if there were any free shows going on that day. There turned out to be nothing of note going on so we kind of just past the time talking and sitting around the building out of the beaming hot sun. I think this day was probably one of the hottest days of the entire trip. Finally we set off towards the night markets. They were quite far from the pier area and we passed tons of shopping areas. I completely understand why china is the number one consumer of name brand goods after being on the strip. Before the night markets we took a stop in this electronic store when I ended up getting talked into buying this James Bond pen. It writes and is also a 4gig memory stick that takes photos and video. I haven’t till this day fully figured it out but it was an interesting purchase, one I wouldn’t make again if I were to turn back time, but one I don’t mind all at the same time. When we finally reached the night market we decided to grab some food before we went shopping. Though once we were satiated it was time to bargain. I quite enjoyed the aspect of bargaining with the vendors, and I managed to get a few souvenir like items for my trouble. Most of the stalls sold some of the same things so it made it easier to still get what you wanted even if a certain vendor wouldn’t lower their goods down to an acceptable prize. All in all the experience was quite fun and there were so many people and foreigners there. It was crazy how well most people we met in HK could speak English. They must all have had GREAT ALT’s lol. They put the Japanese to shame as far as English speaking is concerned. When the three of us finally decided to call it a night my feet were on fire. We had shopped for seven long but fun hours.
Day 4:The Peak: Day four and my feet were still a bit bleh. Granted the next two days are a bit of a blur. I’m not sure if they happened on that said day or vice versa. So just saying the event should suffice. On this day we decided to check out the Botanical Park. I had no idea what kind of adventure I was in store for. It was hot as it always is in HK and the amount of stairs and hills I had to climb to reach this garden was insane. It doesn’t help that I am out of shape. However I think if it just wasn’t 90 degrees outside I might have faired a bit better. All the same we finally made it there and walked around in the park, Hilda and I still hot as all get out. There were a lot of animals in the park and I was particular entertained by the lemurs. I have no doubt that the love for them came mostly from the Madagascar movies. In fact when Hilda and I saw the Lemurs we (most appropriately I might add) began to sing the ‘I like to move it move it!” song. An for a few quick amazingly quick moments a few of the lemurs seemed to like it. It was a nice park but zoo like atmospheres can only keep me entertained for so long. So after an hour or so we made our way back down the hill taking mind to stop at the near by Starbucks for a well deserved frappuccino. Then it was back to the grind to find our way to the Peak lifts. When we got there the line was out of the building and up the street. I was sure we were going to be there for the rest of the day or perhaps not even make it to the lifts. We got inline anyway and thankfully the line moved fairly fast. However the whole time there were a bunch of Indian guys in front of us that was Starring at Hilda the WHOLE time. Its like damn she’s got some big boobs (and yes they are indeed great, but only for friends like moi! lol) By the time we made it to the lifts we managed to loose them on the way up to the peak.
The view on the lift to the Peak area was quite nice, and the incline up the mountain was nearly 90degrees. When we reached the top the lift let us out directly into the souvenir shop. I happened to buy a mirror in there and then met the others. The giant and quite cool building inside was basically and modern and quite high-end mall. Since we had no money for that or did we want to spend money on that we found a way to look outside at the view and take a few pictures. Then we went to the level area outside, sat and ate bagels we had picked up on the way down from the Botanical Gardens and just chilled out. It was nice to stop moving/standing and since night had fallen by this point it was no longer hot. We stayed up there for quite a while when we decided that it was time to find some real food. The ride back down took a quarter of the time and we made our way to this steak place called Ruth’s back at central. It was a really nice place and the waitresses English was impeccable. Once we looked at the menu we knew exactly why. The prizes for a hardy meal for one could have very well killed a day or twos spending money. Just to order a side of vegetable is was 75 HGD (Hong Kong dollars) which is roughly $10 American dollars just for a side of vegetables. In the end we decided we couldn’t afford to eat their so we left (oh my pride >.<;;). Instead we found a party of central that we had yet to see before. The streets were lined with restaurants and clubs/bars. We chose to eat at this Middle Eastern restaurant and the food there was quite scrumptious. Even though I did have my heart on steak I’m glad we had a chance to eat at that restaurant.
Departure & Arrival in HK: Hilda, Debbie and I left Toyama via night bus Wednesday night on the 28th of April. As usual it didn’t land us in Osaka till the following morning. Then we took the train to Kansai airport and off we went (after some much deserved Starbucks and Subway) on our flight to HK. After the WORST FLIGHT KNOW TO MAN( so much turbulence on entry that we had to circle back four times towards the ocean in hopes for LESS turbulence to land in) we arrived to a rain sodden HK. This didn’t lift our spirits seeing that the forecast predicted rain for the entirety of our stay. Nevertheless we made it to our hostel in Fortress Hill and then went to a local restaurant to eat. The first meal choice was not supreme and because of the rain and my LACK of umbrella I managed to catch a cold the first night I was there. After dinner we made a night of it, and hit the sack early.
Day two: Ocean Park: So to our delight the day brought sun to our doorstep and with this we decided that today would be the best day for the amusement park. Ocean tends to be recommended over HK Disney. I don’t know why since we didn’t manage the opportunity to go to HK Disney. Nevertheless we arrived there and the park was situated with a wonderful ocean view true to its name. First things first we grabbed some lunch (which was surprisingly very tasty), then Hilda and Debbie to a ride on the rollercoaster. After that we grabbed some snacks and played a few games but unfortunately we all came up empty handed. Close by there was a small aquarium that we moseyed through while we were waiting for the dolphin show to start. When we went to the stage area for the show a mariachi band played before the performance, and one of the guys was eyeing my friend Hilda. It was quite amusing to watch them play eye tag back and forth during their performance. The dolphin show itself was cute. A show worth seeing but nothing overly spectacular, though the seals stole the show somewhat. The trainers would gave them high-fives and the “wink and finger” pose whenever they did a good job. Needless to say this action stuck with me and Hilda for the rest of our HK trip ^^. After the dolphin show it was onwards to watch the bird show (ok performance, but the birds were pretty!) and then to see the PANDAS! They were so cute ^^. The red pandas were adorable and spunky as well. The two Giant Pandas were busy eating their bamboo leaves. One even tried to take some from the others pile and that panda promptly got up took his food back and continued eating. It was too hilarious. The panda gift show was soo tempting but I managed to keep my hands in my pockets while I was there. Things were simply too expensive there and only being on day two of my trip I wasn’t willing to spend all my money in one place. Before leaving the park around six that evening we stopped to take pictures with some of the life size dragon models in the “How to train a Dragon” section of the park. I know a few people who would have quite enjoyed that part of the park. I was thinking of you guys when I was there ^^. By the end of my time there I was ready to head out. T’was a long and fun day and after I returned to our hostel area we grabbed food and everything else was of no particular importance. We hit the hay and it was onward to day three!
Day 3:The Night Market: Today was a slow start, which was good for me because I was sick, and getting a bit more sleep on my otherwise sleep deprivation antics on vacations. We decided to go to the other side of the island and look around. Before we took the short ferry ride to the other side we stopped and watched a Pilipino fashion show for a few minutes. When we got to the other side we hung around the cultural center to see if there were any free shows going on that day. There turned out to be nothing of note going on so we kind of just past the time talking and sitting around the building out of the beaming hot sun. I think this day was probably one of the hottest days of the entire trip. Finally we set off towards the night markets. They were quite far from the pier area and we passed tons of shopping areas. I completely understand why china is the number one consumer of name brand goods after being on the strip. Before the night markets we took a stop in this electronic store when I ended up getting talked into buying this James Bond pen. It writes and is also a 4gig memory stick that takes photos and video. I haven’t till this day fully figured it out but it was an interesting purchase, one I wouldn’t make again if I were to turn back time, but one I don’t mind all at the same time. When we finally reached the night market we decided to grab some food before we went shopping. Though once we were satiated it was time to bargain. I quite enjoyed the aspect of bargaining with the vendors, and I managed to get a few souvenir like items for my trouble. Most of the stalls sold some of the same things so it made it easier to still get what you wanted even if a certain vendor wouldn’t lower their goods down to an acceptable prize. All in all the experience was quite fun and there were so many people and foreigners there. It was crazy how well most people we met in HK could speak English. They must all have had GREAT ALT’s lol. They put the Japanese to shame as far as English speaking is concerned. When the three of us finally decided to call it a night my feet were on fire. We had shopped for seven long but fun hours.
Day 4:The Peak: Day four and my feet were still a bit bleh. Granted the next two days are a bit of a blur. I’m not sure if they happened on that said day or vice versa. So just saying the event should suffice. On this day we decided to check out the Botanical Park. I had no idea what kind of adventure I was in store for. It was hot as it always is in HK and the amount of stairs and hills I had to climb to reach this garden was insane. It doesn’t help that I am out of shape. However I think if it just wasn’t 90 degrees outside I might have faired a bit better. All the same we finally made it there and walked around in the park, Hilda and I still hot as all get out. There were a lot of animals in the park and I was particular entertained by the lemurs. I have no doubt that the love for them came mostly from the Madagascar movies. In fact when Hilda and I saw the Lemurs we (most appropriately I might add) began to sing the ‘I like to move it move it!” song. An for a few quick amazingly quick moments a few of the lemurs seemed to like it. It was a nice park but zoo like atmospheres can only keep me entertained for so long. So after an hour or so we made our way back down the hill taking mind to stop at the near by Starbucks for a well deserved frappuccino. Then it was back to the grind to find our way to the Peak lifts. When we got there the line was out of the building and up the street. I was sure we were going to be there for the rest of the day or perhaps not even make it to the lifts. We got inline anyway and thankfully the line moved fairly fast. However the whole time there were a bunch of Indian guys in front of us that was Starring at Hilda the WHOLE time. Its like damn she’s got some big boobs (and yes they are indeed great, but only for friends like moi! lol) By the time we made it to the lifts we managed to loose them on the way up to the peak.
The view on the lift to the Peak area was quite nice, and the incline up the mountain was nearly 90degrees. When we reached the top the lift let us out directly into the souvenir shop. I happened to buy a mirror in there and then met the others. The giant and quite cool building inside was basically and modern and quite high-end mall. Since we had no money for that or did we want to spend money on that we found a way to look outside at the view and take a few pictures. Then we went to the level area outside, sat and ate bagels we had picked up on the way down from the Botanical Gardens and just chilled out. It was nice to stop moving/standing and since night had fallen by this point it was no longer hot. We stayed up there for quite a while when we decided that it was time to find some real food. The ride back down took a quarter of the time and we made our way to this steak place called Ruth’s back at central. It was a really nice place and the waitresses English was impeccable. Once we looked at the menu we knew exactly why. The prizes for a hardy meal for one could have very well killed a day or twos spending money. Just to order a side of vegetable is was 75 HGD (Hong Kong dollars) which is roughly $10 American dollars just for a side of vegetables. In the end we decided we couldn’t afford to eat their so we left (oh my pride >.<;;). Instead we found a party of central that we had yet to see before. The streets were lined with restaurants and clubs/bars. We chose to eat at this Middle Eastern restaurant and the food there was quite scrumptious. Even though I did have my heart on steak I’m glad we had a chance to eat at that restaurant.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Injuries and Opening Night!
Last weekend was a very long and extensive rehearsal for the charity show, and it was also the day I realized that there was something seriously wrong with my back. By the end of the night on my way home I could barely walk. This kind of pain has happened once before and it only lasted two days or so. To my continuing misfortunate that has not been the case. Sunday the 16th of May through the 20th I stayed home and didn’t go to work. I was taken to the hospital by one of my fellow Board of Education employees. I didn’t find out much except that I should lose 80kilos. If you are wondering, 80kilos is 176 pounds. So if I lost that much weight I’d be the size of a vanilla wafer. This experience has only strengthened my belief that Japanese closed mindedness to anything that isn’t Japanese and their medicine is quite useless if you are foreign. They simply just don’t know what to do or say to you. So I paid about 2man that visit and have a bunch of medicines that might as well be sugar pills for all they help. The two pluses about this week of none work and little to no movement is one; the fact that I don’t have to go into work and two; I managed to get a lot of art related projects done. I totally beefed up my DeviantArt page and am in the process of doing more art work soon.
On the 20th I did make it to our first dress rehearsal practice at the venue. I went down with Dee since he decided to drive. It saved me the hassle of getting there myself, money and the company was nice. Once there we all got dressed and didn’t manage to do anything but sit there in out costumes while we did a tech run. The most we had to do was stand in out respective spots during each scene then move when the next scene was ready to be plotted out. Since I am only in one scene for a decent length of time I didn’t have to do much standing which was nice. However I was far from being comfortable. Having a bad back and in a semi-corset and dress for four hours is not what I call fun. After the tech rehearsal a group of us went to a small Isakaiya and had dinner. It was yummy and it’s always nice to hang out with Toyama-ites. Finally when it was time to go home I managed to mess up my foot because there was a dip in the pavement and I tripped over it. Unlucky for me I had flip-flops on so there was nothing to block the impact of my foot from the pavement. There was a lot of blood. I tended it when I reached Alexis house (where I was to crash for the night) and then laid down. We talked for a good bit, and it was nice because I got to get to know her better and then we both passed the hell out.
Saturday the 22nd and the Big Day! Alexis and I woke up and what seemed like the crack of dawn, scrambled over to the konbini to grab some food and taxied over to the venue. This day was a LONG day. In costumes by nine-thirty and three runs of the play. Let’s say for the most part ALL the actors while in the dressing rooms had a wonderful time. We were all pissed when we were around sets. There was just too much tension going on. Our producer and Set leader were basically ready to slit each others throats so the Actors got the backlash from it. T’was not cool.
However before the show the cast sang a medley of Disney songs together and we were all much happier for it. Alexis who is allergic to a lot of things ended up having a small asthma attack because I sprayed a bit of perfume on myself. I had no idea it would make her react. Thankfully we had about twenty minutes before the show for her to breathe in some fresh air outside. She managed to compose herself and beasted in her parts during the play. I was back stage watching it and we were all so excited for each other. We all did a magnificent job. When it was my scene I was bit nervous and I think I might have even messed up one of my lines slightly. Thankfully though I pulled out my song and received the most applause for their song/scene than any other actor. It was incredible and I am truly honored to have been thought in such high standings. When the play ended we took our bows and we were all so happy. Dee and I were asked to hold donation buckets outside as the crowd was leaving. The other actors came out to greet the crowd as well. We managed some donations as well and we were asked to take pictures by the audience and other ALTs that came to see the show.
Around 9:00 I returned to the dressing room and changed back into street clothes. I had had my costume on for around twelve hours. A group of us went to grab some tasty milkshakes at Esqe-Café and then Dee and I made our way over to Banana Pop. There was supposed to be a gathering for people who all had a birthday recently. The main person was Michael our Charity Show advertisement leader. There were tons of people in the bar and I was there for two hours or so just mingling with people. Bryan and Rie were there as well to my surprise and I was happy to see them. I don’t see them too often these days but hopefully that will change in the near future. At least it was time to leave. I hopped into Dee’s car and off we went back to Kurobe. It was a overall good day but I was truly ready to go home.
On the 20th I did make it to our first dress rehearsal practice at the venue. I went down with Dee since he decided to drive. It saved me the hassle of getting there myself, money and the company was nice. Once there we all got dressed and didn’t manage to do anything but sit there in out costumes while we did a tech run. The most we had to do was stand in out respective spots during each scene then move when the next scene was ready to be plotted out. Since I am only in one scene for a decent length of time I didn’t have to do much standing which was nice. However I was far from being comfortable. Having a bad back and in a semi-corset and dress for four hours is not what I call fun. After the tech rehearsal a group of us went to a small Isakaiya and had dinner. It was yummy and it’s always nice to hang out with Toyama-ites. Finally when it was time to go home I managed to mess up my foot because there was a dip in the pavement and I tripped over it. Unlucky for me I had flip-flops on so there was nothing to block the impact of my foot from the pavement. There was a lot of blood. I tended it when I reached Alexis house (where I was to crash for the night) and then laid down. We talked for a good bit, and it was nice because I got to get to know her better and then we both passed the hell out.
Saturday the 22nd and the Big Day! Alexis and I woke up and what seemed like the crack of dawn, scrambled over to the konbini to grab some food and taxied over to the venue. This day was a LONG day. In costumes by nine-thirty and three runs of the play. Let’s say for the most part ALL the actors while in the dressing rooms had a wonderful time. We were all pissed when we were around sets. There was just too much tension going on. Our producer and Set leader were basically ready to slit each others throats so the Actors got the backlash from it. T’was not cool.
However before the show the cast sang a medley of Disney songs together and we were all much happier for it. Alexis who is allergic to a lot of things ended up having a small asthma attack because I sprayed a bit of perfume on myself. I had no idea it would make her react. Thankfully we had about twenty minutes before the show for her to breathe in some fresh air outside. She managed to compose herself and beasted in her parts during the play. I was back stage watching it and we were all so excited for each other. We all did a magnificent job. When it was my scene I was bit nervous and I think I might have even messed up one of my lines slightly. Thankfully though I pulled out my song and received the most applause for their song/scene than any other actor. It was incredible and I am truly honored to have been thought in such high standings. When the play ended we took our bows and we were all so happy. Dee and I were asked to hold donation buckets outside as the crowd was leaving. The other actors came out to greet the crowd as well. We managed some donations as well and we were asked to take pictures by the audience and other ALTs that came to see the show. Around 9:00 I returned to the dressing room and changed back into street clothes. I had had my costume on for around twelve hours. A group of us went to grab some tasty milkshakes at Esqe-Café and then Dee and I made our way over to Banana Pop. There was supposed to be a gathering for people who all had a birthday recently. The main person was Michael our Charity Show advertisement leader. There were tons of people in the bar and I was there for two hours or so just mingling with people. Bryan and Rie were there as well to my surprise and I was happy to see them. I don’t see them too often these days but hopefully that will change in the near future. At least it was time to leave. I hopped into Dee’s car and off we went back to Kurobe. It was a overall good day but I was truly ready to go home.
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