Been waiting to use that title ever since I found out there was a monkey park!
Once again I'm late on the blog, my sincerest apologies. Busy busy, what with studying, weekend activities, going to the gym...
Week and a half ago I went to the World Dental Show in Yokohama. The trip by shinkansen was of course covered by the company, which is by far the best way to travel. The show was interesting/gross. I got to see the different products my company and its competitors make, which was good. There's some fancy dental equipment that my dentist sure doesn't have. Panoramic X-rays machines that create a 3-D image on the computer, some very hi tech dental chairs, very cool stuff. One display showed off their product using Asimo! Which was neato! Of course some displays were a little gross, with videos of some very invasive dental operations... mmm... Having no place to stay in Tokyo, I just headed home afterwards...
That week Tuesday, I went with Dave to the Arashiyama Monkey Park! Monkeys! The monkeys aren't caged, they can go wherever they want! At the top you can go inside the house/cage and buy bananas/apples/peanuts and feed the monkeys from inside.
The park was excellent, but I hear it's even better in the fall (it's not fall here yet) when the leaves change... good thing I plan to go back with the CJP gang!
After the monkey park we went downtown, Dave showed me some cool stores I had overlooked... clothing stores, foreign food stores, anime stores, you know... stores! This of course means that I found peanut butter. This is good for two reasons. It tastes good. It's very fattening. In fact, since I bought the peanut butter, I've gained another 2 pounds! Coincidence? Probably, since the PB container's only 350g, but it helped.
This weekend I went down to Wakayama again for some JJs and wakeboarding action! The Wakayama JJs has basketball and soccer on the roof, unfortunately it's pretty run down, one hoop was torn off, the other is bent. Also played some vid games and pool. On Saturday me and Keith went with two girls from his work wakeboarding... in the river... in October. My history on boarding... never skateboarded, never snowboarded, and have no balance! And wakeboarding I went last summer, managed to get up my first time, and fell over promptly 2 seconds later. But this time I managed to get up and stay up for a while. No tricks though... but that can come later. Keith was really good! Jumps, turns, etc... showoff! Pictures of monkeys and wakeboarding on my webalbum.
That brings the total water sports count to 7! Wakeboarding, surfing, windsurfing, kayaking, scuba diving, skimboarding, and snorkeling! That's more activities than the nine years I spent in Calgary... too bad we didn't go rafting here too.
If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied...
Illuminate the "No"s on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks
I will follow you into the dark...
On the weekend I had a strange dream... it was the apocalypse and everyone died and heaven got full... so everyone got sent to hell! Which of course meant big lineups and crowding down there... The weird thing was that it was in the style of the Simpsons, it was as if a Treehouse of Horror episode was being broadcast to my head while I was asleep. If this ever becomes a real Simpsons episode, let this be evidence that I am indeed psychic.
Edit: South Park Already Did It
Since it's been years and years since I've seen the South Park movie, I forgot that Kenny gets rejected from Heaven since the population has reached maximum (1500 souls)... However there was no apocalypse, or rioting in hell, so it could still happen.
Showing posts with label Water Sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Water Sports. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Scientific Progress goes "Boink"?
If it can be broke, then it can be fixed.
If it can be fused, then it can be split.
It's all under control...
First, I should thank those who read my last blog and left me comments. I didn't think anyone would read the blog, let alone like it, so it made me very happy to see all the comments on there.
Over the past 4 months I've noticed something weird in Japan. I'll call it the Doppelganger Effect. Basically, some people in Japan that I've seen, or met, or even work with look (and act) very similar to people i knew back in Canada. One OL here, I keep thinking of her by the name of my friend's sister, who she looks exactly like. I'm always concerned I'll call her by the wrong name by accident. And one person I met looked like an Asian version of a friend in Calgary, and even had the same first name o.O.
If it was one or two people I could understand, but I can think of at least 6 occurrences... does anyone else get this effect or am I weird/hallucinating?
I wonder if the duplicates have ethicators with built-in moral compromise spectral release phantasmatron:
"Strictly speaking, I'm not Calvin. I'm the physical manifestation of Calvin's good side."
"If that were true, you'd be a lot smaller."
In other news... wow, guess I'm over a week behind in blogging... so I'll keep it short... Last weekend I did nothing on Friday. It was nice. On Saturday I went to a picnic in Nara with Anton and his friends/co-workers. It was nice. We ate food, played soccer/frisbee, talked, had fun. I impressed Anton with my artistic ability by drawing him a sign to protect him from bugs while he was napping. The picture is on my webalbum, along with other pictures from the past two weeks.
Anton and his friend Rie came along with me to JJs, where we met up with Boon-hau, Keith, and Byron. JJs is a wonderful place. At 105-en every 15 minutes ($4/hr) you have unlimited access to the video games, bowling, billiards, karaoke, basketball, ping pong, and lots more. That night most of our time was spent at karaoke, but we also played on a big blow up, cylinder shaped tube, that we'd run over each other with. Poor Keith forgot to remove any personal items before riding in the tube, and died. Oops, I mean, his camera broke ><. Which was unfortunate.
If it can be lost, then it can be won.
If it can be touched, then it can be turned.
All you need is time...
Headed towards Boon-Hau's place, where we were staying for the night, and stopped at a family restaurant along the way. Uneventful, cept when the forces of karma kicked Byron in the butt... Self serve drinks, so while we all ordered water, Byron got a glass of pop without paying for it, and promptly spilt it on his white shirt ><.
Sunday we woke up early to... rainy weather! On Ninja Day! Gah. 2 hour trip to Iga-Ueno, then an hour wait for the train to Uenoshi. We actually got there early, before the transfer train left. However, we were too busy taking pictures of the lovely pink train that we didn't realize it was the train we needed to be on. So we watched it leave the station without us. Haha.
Ninja village was interesting, we saw a ninja house, with all the trap doors and secret passages, and a museum showcasing various tools and clothes the ninja used. The highlight was the Ninja Show, where they performed stunts and demonstrations of the ninja weapons onstage. Afterwards you could pay to try your hand at throwing shuriken at a target too.
Following this was a long period of souvenir shopping, followed by the costume museum, which was interesting, but a little small and not very exciting. Ninja village was good to see, but maybe a bit too touristy. On the way home we stopped at a Brazillian restaurant... which was odd, because all the menus were in Portugese, and even the waiter didn't know what each item was. We needed the waiter to translate the menu into Japanese for us haha. Very interesting.
A sense of purpose and a sense of skill.
A sense of function but a disregard.
We will not be the first...
An exciting workweek, where I worked on another side project which resulted in a pretty, multicolored excel file that took me all week to make. Link's soldering skill increases by +0.5! Link's soldering skill reaches level 2.
The long weekend involved Byron's 2 month late welcoming party, but even though the party was for Byron, I had to give a short speech anyways, in Japanese, because nobody there knew me. Dave was tired cause I gave him Dead Like Me (Awesome tv show) to watch and he stayed up most of the night working through it.
On Saturday I went to Danjiri Matsuri in Kishiwada, with Keith, Tongxin, Rie, Jen, and some of Keith's coworkers. It was very cool, they have floats like at Gion Matsuri, only people ride on top of them, and then they are pulled as fast as possible around sharp corners. There have been a few deaths caused by this festival in the past, but thanks to my amazing agility and balance (and the fact that I was far back from the action) I survived. There were quite a few people out to see the events, it was rather busy. Went back to JJs after, and met up with Tyson and Boon-hau. Tyson is tall. This makes him good at 3v3 basketball. His team won. Grrr...
You said you were going to conquer new frontiers.
Go stick your bloody head in the jaws of the beast.
Keith and I attempted to go surfing on Saturday, expecting big waves since it was so windy. No go... the smallest waves we had ever seen there... so we went back, and took the bus to the windsurfing beach instead, rented 2 boards and wetsuits. Only, because the wind was so strong and the water so choppy, it was much more difficult this time. Not to mention the water was freezing... we didn't stay too long.
It makes me sad to admit it, but summertime is gone, and it may be years beforeI have the opportunity to surf again...
Spent the rest of Saturday studying Kanji with Keith, with a few breaks to watch Fullmetal Alchemist, which is an awesome anime. Or rather, I spent Saturday watching FMA with a few breaks to study Kanji.
Now it's already Wednesday, and more plans for the weekend than I can keep track of (or fit in)... everything from clubbing to stalking to poker to dental expo to Kobe steak eating... shouldbe fun no matter what I do.
By the way, Alfred followed me home...
We promised the world we'd tame it...
What were we hoping for?
We will not be the last...
- Kele Okereke ("Pioneers" - Bloc Party)
If it can be fused, then it can be split.
It's all under control...
First, I should thank those who read my last blog and left me comments. I didn't think anyone would read the blog, let alone like it, so it made me very happy to see all the comments on there.
Over the past 4 months I've noticed something weird in Japan. I'll call it the Doppelganger Effect. Basically, some people in Japan that I've seen, or met, or even work with look (and act) very similar to people i knew back in Canada. One OL here, I keep thinking of her by the name of my friend's sister, who she looks exactly like. I'm always concerned I'll call her by the wrong name by accident. And one person I met looked like an Asian version of a friend in Calgary, and even had the same first name o.O.
If it was one or two people I could understand, but I can think of at least 6 occurrences... does anyone else get this effect or am I weird/hallucinating?
I wonder if the duplicates have ethicators with built-in moral compromise spectral release phantasmatron:
"Strictly speaking, I'm not Calvin. I'm the physical manifestation of Calvin's good side."
"If that were true, you'd be a lot smaller."
In other news... wow, guess I'm over a week behind in blogging... so I'll keep it short... Last weekend I did nothing on Friday. It was nice. On Saturday I went to a picnic in Nara with Anton and his friends/co-workers. It was nice. We ate food, played soccer/frisbee, talked, had fun. I impressed Anton with my artistic ability by drawing him a sign to protect him from bugs while he was napping. The picture is on my webalbum, along with other pictures from the past two weeks.
Anton and his friend Rie came along with me to JJs, where we met up with Boon-hau, Keith, and Byron. JJs is a wonderful place. At 105-en every 15 minutes ($4/hr) you have unlimited access to the video games, bowling, billiards, karaoke, basketball, ping pong, and lots more. That night most of our time was spent at karaoke, but we also played on a big blow up, cylinder shaped tube, that we'd run over each other with. Poor Keith forgot to remove any personal items before riding in the tube, and died. Oops, I mean, his camera broke ><. Which was unfortunate.
If it can be lost, then it can be won.
If it can be touched, then it can be turned.
All you need is time...
Headed towards Boon-Hau's place, where we were staying for the night, and stopped at a family restaurant along the way. Uneventful, cept when the forces of karma kicked Byron in the butt... Self serve drinks, so while we all ordered water, Byron got a glass of pop without paying for it, and promptly spilt it on his white shirt ><.
Sunday we woke up early to... rainy weather! On Ninja Day! Gah. 2 hour trip to Iga-Ueno, then an hour wait for the train to Uenoshi. We actually got there early, before the transfer train left. However, we were too busy taking pictures of the lovely pink train that we didn't realize it was the train we needed to be on. So we watched it leave the station without us. Haha.
Ninja village was interesting, we saw a ninja house, with all the trap doors and secret passages, and a museum showcasing various tools and clothes the ninja used. The highlight was the Ninja Show, where they performed stunts and demonstrations of the ninja weapons onstage. Afterwards you could pay to try your hand at throwing shuriken at a target too.
Following this was a long period of souvenir shopping, followed by the costume museum, which was interesting, but a little small and not very exciting. Ninja village was good to see, but maybe a bit too touristy. On the way home we stopped at a Brazillian restaurant... which was odd, because all the menus were in Portugese, and even the waiter didn't know what each item was. We needed the waiter to translate the menu into Japanese for us haha. Very interesting.
A sense of purpose and a sense of skill.
A sense of function but a disregard.
We will not be the first...
An exciting workweek, where I worked on another side project which resulted in a pretty, multicolored excel file that took me all week to make. Link's soldering skill increases by +0.5! Link's soldering skill reaches level 2.
The long weekend involved Byron's 2 month late welcoming party, but even though the party was for Byron, I had to give a short speech anyways, in Japanese, because nobody there knew me. Dave was tired cause I gave him Dead Like Me (Awesome tv show) to watch and he stayed up most of the night working through it.
On Saturday I went to Danjiri Matsuri in Kishiwada, with Keith, Tongxin, Rie, Jen, and some of Keith's coworkers. It was very cool, they have floats like at Gion Matsuri, only people ride on top of them, and then they are pulled as fast as possible around sharp corners. There have been a few deaths caused by this festival in the past, but thanks to my amazing agility and balance (and the fact that I was far back from the action) I survived. There were quite a few people out to see the events, it was rather busy. Went back to JJs after, and met up with Tyson and Boon-hau. Tyson is tall. This makes him good at 3v3 basketball. His team won. Grrr...
You said you were going to conquer new frontiers.
Go stick your bloody head in the jaws of the beast.
Keith and I attempted to go surfing on Saturday, expecting big waves since it was so windy. No go... the smallest waves we had ever seen there... so we went back, and took the bus to the windsurfing beach instead, rented 2 boards and wetsuits. Only, because the wind was so strong and the water so choppy, it was much more difficult this time. Not to mention the water was freezing... we didn't stay too long.
It makes me sad to admit it, but summertime is gone, and it may be years beforeI have the opportunity to surf again...
Spent the rest of Saturday studying Kanji with Keith, with a few breaks to watch Fullmetal Alchemist, which is an awesome anime. Or rather, I spent Saturday watching FMA with a few breaks to study Kanji.
Now it's already Wednesday, and more plans for the weekend than I can keep track of (or fit in)... everything from clubbing to stalking to poker to dental expo to Kobe steak eating... shouldbe fun no matter what I do.
By the way, Alfred followed me home...
We promised the world we'd tame it...
What were we hoping for?
We will not be the last...
- Kele Okereke ("Pioneers" - Bloc Party)
Sunday, September 24, 2006
MY Words Speak Louder Than Actions!
After the internet café and another trip to the sento, we went for lunch at Lotteria Burger. Interesting to note is that inside the restaurant was a sign saying "Please use the rest room". Also interesting to note was the lack of restroom in the restaurant.
We went to Yoyogi Park next. On Sundays, Yoyogi plays host to Japanese… er, I’d say indie but that’d be an insult to indie music… bands of all different genres. One band, LooVee, looked as if they belonged on American Bandstand back in the 50’s. Matching red costumes, lots of brass, 2 girl singers and a male lead. At one point, the lead singer removed one of the guitarist’s pants, which was very nice of him. I guess that doesn’t happen on Bandstand too often.
Another band was very punk. The guitarist was pantless to begin with, making things easier, and the lead "singer" enjoyed shouting while writhing in pain apparently on the sidewalk. There were two somewhat decent bands though, and my favorite was a single guy jammin’ on the drums alone while waitin for his band members to show up.
Me, Keith and Mark played some hacky sack in the park while listening to a band play the same 5-second beat on the African drums, over and over, for half an hour. Boon Hau, Tyson, and Byron were exploring the park, and when we met up with them, they had joined a ukulele troupe. They even tought me how to play (I sucked) and gave us drinks, it was quite fun.
Next we went to Harajuku. I won’t try to describe it, because the pics here speak for themselves.
For the last part of our trip we met up with Clem and Neil and went to a Maid Café in Akihabara. Basically at this café, the waitresses are dressed up in maid costumes. Not revealing costumes or anything, quite covered up actually. For a fee you can do stuff with the maids.
No, not that kinda stuff… For 800-en you can play a PS2 fighting game against the maid, and you get your picture with the maid "if" you win. Or you can order a song or dance (500-en) which a maid will perform on the stage.
When not playing with the maid, the screen on stage keeps repeating a minute long video of a maid making coffee, then washing the cup, then making coffee, then washing the cup…
At the center table were some hardcore otaku. I will rely on the power of the human imagination and only state a few facts:
They were dressed up as anime characters.
The anime characters were female.
They had magic wands, hand puppets, and anime porn on their cell phones.
They sang and danced (and had all routines memorized) along with the maids.
This appears to be rather common for maid cafes (at least in Akihabara).
We left after one drink (600-en), and went to get food. After a quick meal and a game of DDR and House of the Dead 4, we headed back to Tokyo Station. Tyson bought what were apparently "Fried Dolls" as omiyage… which brought back haunting images from the previous day.
The journey back on the night bus was almost as fun as the journey there, but it was nice to go home and sleep after. In all, very fun trip, the Kansai Invasion was a success, thanks to Keith for his planning work.
This weekend (Sept 22-24) I met up with Anton at Kyoto Station to retrieve my pants (I left my pants at Anton’s when he had Jen’s welcoming party… because somebody spilt alcohol all over them), and to watch a high school dance performance at the station. Rather busy, and rather impressive actually, it was cool to see. Each school had a group of performers and a different dance, maybe I’ll be able to get some pictures off of Anton later and put em up on my webalbum.
Then it was off to Wakayama, where I met up with Keith, Boon-Hau and Tongxin. We stayed up till 4:30 playing cards, slapping each other, and eating excessive amounts of junk food, then on Saturday we went skimboarding <-- Video Link! I also had a sumo fight against Boon Hau on the beach (I lost of course) and we practiced our nunchaku skills, and frisbee skills, and swimming skills (you know! Skills!). We attempted a group study session for the JLPT test, then headed home.
Ja…
We went to Yoyogi Park next. On Sundays, Yoyogi plays host to Japanese… er, I’d say indie but that’d be an insult to indie music… bands of all different genres. One band, LooVee, looked as if they belonged on American Bandstand back in the 50’s. Matching red costumes, lots of brass, 2 girl singers and a male lead. At one point, the lead singer removed one of the guitarist’s pants, which was very nice of him. I guess that doesn’t happen on Bandstand too often.
Another band was very punk. The guitarist was pantless to begin with, making things easier, and the lead "singer" enjoyed shouting while writhing in pain apparently on the sidewalk. There were two somewhat decent bands though, and my favorite was a single guy jammin’ on the drums alone while waitin for his band members to show up.
Me, Keith and Mark played some hacky sack in the park while listening to a band play the same 5-second beat on the African drums, over and over, for half an hour. Boon Hau, Tyson, and Byron were exploring the park, and when we met up with them, they had joined a ukulele troupe. They even tought me how to play (I sucked) and gave us drinks, it was quite fun.
Next we went to Harajuku. I won’t try to describe it, because the pics here speak for themselves.
For the last part of our trip we met up with Clem and Neil and went to a Maid Café in Akihabara. Basically at this café, the waitresses are dressed up in maid costumes. Not revealing costumes or anything, quite covered up actually. For a fee you can do stuff with the maids.
No, not that kinda stuff… For 800-en you can play a PS2 fighting game against the maid, and you get your picture with the maid "if" you win. Or you can order a song or dance (500-en) which a maid will perform on the stage.
When not playing with the maid, the screen on stage keeps repeating a minute long video of a maid making coffee, then washing the cup, then making coffee, then washing the cup…
At the center table were some hardcore otaku. I will rely on the power of the human imagination and only state a few facts:
They were dressed up as anime characters.
The anime characters were female.
They had magic wands, hand puppets, and anime porn on their cell phones.
They sang and danced (and had all routines memorized) along with the maids.
This appears to be rather common for maid cafes (at least in Akihabara).
We left after one drink (600-en), and went to get food. After a quick meal and a game of DDR and House of the Dead 4, we headed back to Tokyo Station. Tyson bought what were apparently "Fried Dolls" as omiyage… which brought back haunting images from the previous day.
The journey back on the night bus was almost as fun as the journey there, but it was nice to go home and sleep after. In all, very fun trip, the Kansai Invasion was a success, thanks to Keith for his planning work.
This weekend (Sept 22-24) I met up with Anton at Kyoto Station to retrieve my pants (I left my pants at Anton’s when he had Jen’s welcoming party… because somebody spilt alcohol all over them), and to watch a high school dance performance at the station. Rather busy, and rather impressive actually, it was cool to see. Each school had a group of performers and a different dance, maybe I’ll be able to get some pictures off of Anton later and put em up on my webalbum.
Then it was off to Wakayama, where I met up with Keith, Boon-Hau and Tongxin. We stayed up till 4:30 playing cards, slapping each other, and eating excessive amounts of junk food, then on Saturday we went skimboarding <-- Video Link! I also had a sumo fight against Boon Hau on the beach (I lost of course) and we practiced our nunchaku skills, and frisbee skills, and swimming skills (you know! Skills!). We attempted a group study session for the JLPT test, then headed home.
Ja…
Friday, September 08, 2006
This One's Tricky... You Have to Use Imaginary Numbers, Like Eleventeen.
When I counted up my demons
Saw there was one for every day
With the good ones on my shoulder
I drove the other ones away
So if you ever feel neglected
If you think that all is lost
I'll be countin up my demons
Singin everything's not lost
Where to begin…
Well, it’s been two whole weeks since my last blog. The most important thing to note is that today marks my 100th day in Japan! Huzzah! Go me!
I’ll keep this short since there’s not a lot to cover. Two weekends ago I went up to Wakayama on the Friday night, then me and Keith went surfing! The weather was great this time, very sunny, but the waves were a little weak. But I did a lot better, could stand up on the board a lot easier this time. I’m really hoping that the weather stays warm so I can go again, but with plans this weekend and SUUUUMMMOOOO next weekend, it may be a few weeks before I even have time to go again…
Last weekend I did something quite cool (and similar)… Tongxin and I went down on the Friday night to Wakayama (déjà vu? Maybe yes). Stayed up late with Keith and one of Keith’s coworkers, playing cards and Tongxin demonstrating magic tricks, and going to eat ramen at 3:30 in the morning. The next day we went down to Marine City to the beach. We rented 2 windsurfing boards!
Windsurfing is quite fun, I wasn’t very good. It’s difficult to get up, since you have to balance on the board while pulling the sail up. And unfortunately it wasn’t too windy again, so we didn’t go too fast, but it was still good. Spent time playing Frisbee and stuff too.
Pictures of Wakayama on my webalbum: http://picasaweb.google.com/keidan.link
Joined the gym nearby, it’s a fortune, 89 bucks a month. But may be worth it. They also have martial arts classes, I’m considering joining. I know some people will be laughing at me: “Haha, Link, buff? Yeah right!”. And others may think “Aww, Brett, that’s so cute ^^”; Either way I can’t win…
Work’s going quite well this week. I’m doing PCB design work, on quite a big complicated project, and I’ve never done PCB design before. I believe you are supposed to have some practice in this field before attempting any serious projects, but what can you do? Not to mention the program is in Japanese, so pressing buttons often yields (bad and good) surprises. I keep having to restart, cause it turns out very messy, but it’s good practice. Also, I have no project requirements. In Japan, they give you vague details, you do the project, then they tell you what they want and you start all over again. Least that’s what I gather from my company.
My manager also wanted me to check over my calculations on an electrical circuit today, since the numbers were a little weird… so I had to explain to him, using trigonometry and complex (imaginary) numbers, why the calculations were the way they were. It was a bit difficult and a bit awkward, but I think he understood in the end (but I really have no idea what anyone thinks over here).
Went with Dave to a nearby restaurant (where he knows the owners) and had some okonomiyaki while we chatted with the people there. They were really nice but they thought I was both quiet (no way! Someone thinks Link is quiet?!?)… like a cat apparently, and that I looked younger than 21… (no way! Someone thinks Link looks young?!?)… cause I didn’t get enough of that back in Calgary ><.
Other random happenings in my life:
Been reading a lot, just finished Nineteen Eighty Four, which was very interesting. Now I’m into a book about a horse in a college bathroom, an Electric Monk (in case you don’t have enough time to believe in things yourself, you can buy an Electric Monk to do your believing for you), and a mysterious couch that got itself stuck in a staircase. It’s a very good book.
Also been watching Fullmetal Alchemist, which is one of the best anime series I have seen. Quite handy with my level of Japanese, since I can catch more words and learn new ones, and practice my listening comprehension.
Speaking of Japanese level, I’ve decided to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test… the main reason to take the test… just to give me more motivation to study and improve my language. Some days after work all you wanna do is chill out and watch TV. And a certificate proving your language ability never hurt anyone either.
Gotta go to bed now, Friday approaches soon…
Saw there was one for every day
With the good ones on my shoulder
I drove the other ones away
So if you ever feel neglected
If you think that all is lost
I'll be countin up my demons
Singin everything's not lost
Where to begin…
Well, it’s been two whole weeks since my last blog. The most important thing to note is that today marks my 100th day in Japan! Huzzah! Go me!
I’ll keep this short since there’s not a lot to cover. Two weekends ago I went up to Wakayama on the Friday night, then me and Keith went surfing! The weather was great this time, very sunny, but the waves were a little weak. But I did a lot better, could stand up on the board a lot easier this time. I’m really hoping that the weather stays warm so I can go again, but with plans this weekend and SUUUUMMMOOOO next weekend, it may be a few weeks before I even have time to go again…
Last weekend I did something quite cool (and similar)… Tongxin and I went down on the Friday night to Wakayama (déjà vu? Maybe yes). Stayed up late with Keith and one of Keith’s coworkers, playing cards and Tongxin demonstrating magic tricks, and going to eat ramen at 3:30 in the morning. The next day we went down to Marine City to the beach. We rented 2 windsurfing boards!
Windsurfing is quite fun, I wasn’t very good. It’s difficult to get up, since you have to balance on the board while pulling the sail up. And unfortunately it wasn’t too windy again, so we didn’t go too fast, but it was still good. Spent time playing Frisbee and stuff too.
Pictures of Wakayama on my webalbum: http://picasaweb.google.com/keidan.link
Joined the gym nearby, it’s a fortune, 89 bucks a month. But may be worth it. They also have martial arts classes, I’m considering joining. I know some people will be laughing at me: “Haha, Link, buff? Yeah right!”. And others may think “Aww, Brett, that’s so cute ^^”; Either way I can’t win…
Work’s going quite well this week. I’m doing PCB design work, on quite a big complicated project, and I’ve never done PCB design before. I believe you are supposed to have some practice in this field before attempting any serious projects, but what can you do? Not to mention the program is in Japanese, so pressing buttons often yields (bad and good) surprises. I keep having to restart, cause it turns out very messy, but it’s good practice. Also, I have no project requirements. In Japan, they give you vague details, you do the project, then they tell you what they want and you start all over again. Least that’s what I gather from my company.
My manager also wanted me to check over my calculations on an electrical circuit today, since the numbers were a little weird… so I had to explain to him, using trigonometry and complex (imaginary) numbers, why the calculations were the way they were. It was a bit difficult and a bit awkward, but I think he understood in the end (but I really have no idea what anyone thinks over here).
Went with Dave to a nearby restaurant (where he knows the owners) and had some okonomiyaki while we chatted with the people there. They were really nice but they thought I was both quiet (no way! Someone thinks Link is quiet?!?)… like a cat apparently, and that I looked younger than 21… (no way! Someone thinks Link looks young?!?)… cause I didn’t get enough of that back in Calgary ><.
Other random happenings in my life:
Been reading a lot, just finished Nineteen Eighty Four, which was very interesting. Now I’m into a book about a horse in a college bathroom, an Electric Monk (in case you don’t have enough time to believe in things yourself, you can buy an Electric Monk to do your believing for you), and a mysterious couch that got itself stuck in a staircase. It’s a very good book.
Also been watching Fullmetal Alchemist, which is one of the best anime series I have seen. Quite handy with my level of Japanese, since I can catch more words and learn new ones, and practice my listening comprehension.
Speaking of Japanese level, I’ve decided to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test… the main reason to take the test… just to give me more motivation to study and improve my language. Some days after work all you wanna do is chill out and watch TV. And a certificate proving your language ability never hurt anyone either.
Gotta go to bed now, Friday approaches soon…
Monday, August 21, 2006
The Problem With the French is that They Don’t Have a Word for Entrepreneur
I must have been distracted when I left my home because
Left or right I'm sure I went. (I wonder which it was!)
Anyway, I never veered: I walked in that direction
Utterly absorbed, it seems, in quiet introspection.
Quick summary of the week before Obon. Byron arrived August 3rd, and I went for dinner with him and his boss and coworker. We went to quite a nice restaurant nearby, where we had big slabs of beef sashimi. Omoshiroi, yes, ooishi, maybe no. (Interesting, but not tasty). I spent most of the weekend with Byron, explaining rules and showing him around. I tok him to all you can eat yakiniku on Friday, I ate more than him except for the cow stomach, which is gross. Also had pig cheek, which is very fatty. Saturday we explored Kyoto Station, downtown, and Toji Temple, then we traveled to Osaka, met Tongxin, Mark, and 2 girls (one foreigner) that we met at the train station.
Fireworks!!! They were amazing! Some of the best I’ve seen, and lasted long too, nearly an hour. The place was incredibly busy, with people nearly as far as you could see (though it was dark so…). Took about 45 minutes to walk a distance of 100m to the train station o.O.
Work was decent that week. I actually made some real progress improving George’s code, it works a lot nicer now. I think I’ll have a work related section later on in this post (Turns out no, maybe next post) , so… onto Okinawa!
Okinawa was awesome! There, got that outta the way. I put some of the best pictures on the bottom of this post, and there’s more at http://picasaweb.google.com/keidan.link I also uploaded about 100 more pictures recently and organized them all into nice neat piles. Some of the pictures have been on my blog before, but a lot of new ones too. Check em out, and leave comments if you want. Also, thanks everyone for the excellent comments on my blog. Some were maybe a bit subtle, but they all made me laugh, which is a good thing.
Ok, onto Okinawa (attempt 2!) To start, I told you deer were creepy! Almost as creepy as the miniature ponies that would give wagon rides during Stampede outside where I worked the past 3 summers. Thanks a lot Stacie for reminding me!
So yeah, Last Friday, the night before our flight, I met up with Keith for Nara’s candle festival. We got take-out food (with extra rice ><) and ate it near the pond near the deer park. After finishing we went to look for the main candle area. Apparently there is supposed to be a whole field of candles, like in the pictures, but we only found small paths of candles (which were quickly being extinguished and removed). Anton told us after that we didn’t go far enough, the main area was closer to Todaiji. Aah, well.
But yeah, I had a run in with a deer. I was carrying a plastic bag with the remains of the take out food when a deer sneak attacked me from behind! He ripped open the bag, spilling rice and garbage everywhere, and everyone laughed at me, and I laughed at me hardest. Told you they were creepy.
We went to Anton’s after, since our flight was semi-early the next day and we figured it would make most sense to travel to the airport together. So we spent a few hours talking, and me and Keith and a very involved game of War, in which after half an hour we were still quite even. I won after stealing all the cards when Keith wasn't looking.
Woke up the next day, and after having breakfast at the usual place, we took a 2 hour train ride to Kobe airport. Kobe seemed like a nice place judging by the limited view we had from the train, and the airport was very modern and new and clean. The flight to Okinawa was great, first class. Lots of legroom and big armrests. A cool thing about Japanese airlines is they have cameras in the front of the plane, so you can watch during takeoffs and landings. On the return flight there was of course, a Pokemon episode playing on the TVs, followed by a 20 minute instructional video on exercises you can do on the plane. How handy…
If Your Shoulders Aren’t Red by the End of the Day, You Ought to Seriously Re-examine Your Life
Being grown up isn’t half as fun as growing up
These are the best days of our lives.
The only thing that matters
Is just following your heart
And eventually you’ll finally get it right.
Ok, finally, onto Okinawa (attempt 3!) I guess this would be a good place to describe what/where/how Okinawa is… which brings us to tonight’s WØRD:
Okinawa
Okinawa is a tiny little island chain off the southern edge of Japan [It’s only 1000km long].
It’s pretty tropical, with palm trees and coral reefs [with sea urchins with foot long spikes!].
There’s a large American presence there, which is important! Bringing freedom to Japan!!! [Yes, exactly what they’re doing…].
The US was in control of Okinawa until 1972, but still has a large military force there, just in case the Japanese get outta hand! [Hmm… more likely that the Americans will].
But get this! Okinawa just loooooves to make contradictions! Native Okinawans have the longest life expectancy in the world, with men living on average 90.1 years, and women living 93.2 [Key Words: Native Okinawans]
And yet the island is having a big problem with obesity! A report just published today shows that the percentage of overweight men in okinawa has risen 5% in the past 6 years to 29%, and in Naha, the capital, 45.4% of men in their 40s and 50s are obese! How could this be? [Hmm… It couldn’t be the Americans with their A&W, or the excessive consumption of alcohol, could it?!]
And how can there be such beautiful beaches and water with such dangerous jellyfish [I shall name him Squishy and he shall be mine...] and sea urchins and scorpionfish in the water?! [Must be mother nature telling us to stay the heck out... what an environmentalist She is!].
Okinawa is kinda like ghetto Hawaii [in all ways but price]. It's got the beautiful beaches sure [but not enough of them], but a lot of the buildings and roads are old and decrepit, and who wants to live next to an army base? [Once again, probably not the Japanese].
And at the same time, it reminds me of a ghetto Las Vegas! Pachinko parlours, hotels with miniaturized historical landmarks [Pyramids, Arc de Triumphe, etc] outside. Light up Palm Trees! How tacky! [Gambling's not even legal!]
And I don’t know how to end this in a humorous way [Link = not smrt enough], so that’s tonight’s WØRD.
That was fun! I love using excessive brackets as it is, I should write in that style more often… in fact, I could make my own recurring segments in my blog. First there could be "Old Man in Japan", and "Brett vs the Bugs" (both self explanatory), then something to do with the daily poem/song that’s already in my blog. If anyone has any other suggestions, leave a comment, I’ll give you credit if I use it (and even if I don’t if it’s a bad enough idea).
So we arrived late afternoon on Saturday, took about 40-45 minutes to get to our hotel. Quite a nice hotel, got a balcony, 2 beds and a pull-out, a TV, fridge, and safe. The hotel had a few restaurants and a lounge and a spa. Keith and Anton wanted massages, but by the time they were ready for one, they were no longer ready… I don’t want to think how painful a massage would be with sunburns like ours. There was also a pool in the hotel, which we went to the first night, which was fun. The restaurant wasn’t that great for dinner. I got steak, which was good, but the veggies that came with weren’t that great (or warm) and the fries were very very soggy. We tried looking for a nightclub or something afterwards, but only found karaoke and hostess bars. Instead we went to play pool for a bit, then headed back to the hotel.
Mmm… buffet breakfast. We went every day, they had pancakes, we got laughed at. Everyone else took one or 2, we’d take 4-5 and go back for seconds or thirds. Other interesting things on the menu… the soggy soggy french fries, and Spam (which was bad even for Spam, according to Keith). But the pancakes and pineapple made up for it.
That day we went to the beach and were a little disappointed. Because of jellyfish, the total swimming area was not a lot bigger than a large swimming pool. And the water wasn’t clear at all. And Keith stole my sandals. So we rented ocean kayaks for an hour and had fun paddling in the clearer nicer water. A storm was coming in, so they were clearing the water, which was when we left.
Went to another beach, kinda run by a family or maybe the homes nearby. We rented some snorkels and went in the water. Some very very cool things in there, sea urchins with foot long spikes, and others with half inch spikes, plus schools of fish zipping past us as we swam. Went for dinner at a local restaurant, and I used the tried and true method of pointing randomly at an Okinawan specialty. Turned out not too too bad, it was a dish of three kinds of fish in a spinach salad. Not really my thing, but least I could eat it.
Second full day was scuba day!!! We met the shuttle in the lobby at 8am, took a half hour shuttle ride to the dock, then filled out forms and got on the boat. About 5 crew, maybe 10 guests on the boat. The boat ride was probably around an hour and a half. We got to sit at the front, which bounced up and down quite a bit with the waves. It was fun, and the view was amazing!
The scuba diving was great! A bit short, only lasted a half hour. The water was maybe 20 feet deep, but you could see the bottom from the boat, so clear! Us three went down with two guides, saw cool coral, schools of tropical fish, and most importantly, Nemo in his anemone!!! Sooo cool. Spend another few hours snorkeling and swimming, Anton was diving from the top of the boat. Swam to the beach and Keith and Anton were nice enough to bury me in sand so I could barely get out. They deserve to be poked. A picture’s worth a thousand words, so instead of trying to describe how beautiful it was, check out my web album.
On the way back we were in the front of the boat again, no shade either… so by the end we were all very sunburnt. Even as I type this I am shedding excessively. I've been peeling nastily since friday, and haven't stopped yet. My entire arms, face, hands, back, shoulders, neck, and feet have peeled. Half my lower back to go, and my legs just started peeling tonight. Gross.
Commander Coriander Salamander and ‘er Singlehander Bellylander
The last full day, Tuesday, was tourist day! We spent the day at the main tourist street in Okinawa. Along with omiyage, I bought a nice sharktooth necklace for myself, Anton got a super cool (and informative) T-shirt, and Keith bought snake alcohol, crazy guy. We stopped for ice cream, and Anton got a goya (bitter melon) float, which was one of the worst things I have ever tasted. I’d rather eat cow stomach, and you can quote me!
We had yakiniku for dinner, then around ten we went to a nightclub nearby, called Re-Green (odd, yes). When we entered, there were a whole three visible customers besides us. Yet the music (oh, the music! Mostly 80s and early 90s, like George Michael and stuff. The most recent song we heard was a remix of Men in Black… if only I couldn’t remember ><. And that movie came out in 97) and the smoke machine were both going full blast. We stayed around for 2 reasons: 1) We paid 15 bucks to get in, and 2) The staff said the place gets busy after midnight.
Now you’re all probably in suspense about whether the staff were honest or not. Stress and nervous tension are now serious social problems in all parts of the world, and it is in order that this situation should not in any way be exacerbated that the following facts will now be revealed in advance:
They were lying.
I (unfortunately) did not drink.
The girl I danced with showed me her scar.
In order that some sense of mystery should still be preserved, no revelation will yet be made concerning the location of the scar.
Thanks Mr Douglas Adams… so yeah, the music was really bad, but for 15 bucks, you could get unlimited pop, rum and cokes, or screwdrivers. I sure got my money’s worth, ordering one whole coke. And the screwdrivers apparently sucked, as they were made with orange drink, not orange juice. People slowly started trickling in, one guy was sure getting his funk on (solo), dancing pretty crazily, in the dark, by himself. Later a group of guys came in, and were dancing awfully weirdly and close together, causing us to question which orientation the club caters to. Not to mention both (as in there were only two) girls on the dance floor were dancing together and/or with the wall. And of course the music…
So maximum attendance that night… maybe just over a dozen people… We went on the dance floor for a bit, there were the two wall dancer girls, and another girl as well. The new girl started dancing with me and Keith, and she took us (separately) over to the bar to show us a large, maybe 2 inch scar, on her foot, then brought us back to the dance floor. "Time to go now" we said… So we left, trying to decide where to go.
There was another club across the street that looked shadier than Re-Green, and a nicer one down the street, but it charged $25 for cover, and it was already nearing 2am… so back to the hotel.
Not much left to write about… went home the next morning, and met two girls that stayed at the same hotel as us at the airport. We invited them for lunch, which was quite nice, got to practice Japanese a bit. I didn’t say much, but I could understand the entire conversation, so… Maybe I’m better at Japanese than I think, I just gotta get the courage to actually try speaking… but I’m even more shy trying to speak Japanese than I am trying to speak english back home.
So all in all, Okinawa was great. The scuba diving was the highlight of course, but everything else was either totally cool dudes, or overly interesting. Too overly maybe... Thanks to Keith for all the planning, and thanks to Anton to slapping me on the back when I had a sunburn!
Nothing else really happened since… work was kinda boring again, today I was given my next task with absolutely no information on how to go about it, no requirements, nothing… it’s the weirdest thing. So I’ll ask him tomorrow if he’s around.
Sounds like I missed a lot last weekend. The CJP crew climbed Fuji-san. I hear mixed reviews, Fuji-Q Highland was really good but long lineups, the climb was cold and difficult and the sunset may or may not have been worth it. I had work on Saturday, and was a bit low on funds after Okinawa, so I decided to skip out. And back home in Calgary, I missed a cabin party. You shoulda waited till April when I got back! Who else would stay sober and remind you of all the stupid stuff you did?! Who’s gonna tell you that yes, blood does indeed stain carpet?! /sigh.
And yes, another round of... Brett vs the Bugs!!! Last week I had an infestation of a different sort... cockroaches. I was sitting at my computer at about one at night when I feel something crawling on my leg... mmmm... so after panicking and shaking it off, it scurried away! After searching frantically for a whole 15 minutes, I found it under my desk. Taking decisive action I barricaded it in with books, then checked on the internet how long it can survive without food or water... "Needs water daily", Perfect! After coming back from Okinawa, I look under my desk to see if he's alive... and he's not there... where did he go? Is he dead? Maybe he's planning his next attack even as i type thAAAAAAAHHHHH!
Left or right I'm sure I went. (I wonder which it was!)
Anyway, I never veered: I walked in that direction
Utterly absorbed, it seems, in quiet introspection.
Quick summary of the week before Obon. Byron arrived August 3rd, and I went for dinner with him and his boss and coworker. We went to quite a nice restaurant nearby, where we had big slabs of beef sashimi. Omoshiroi, yes, ooishi, maybe no. (Interesting, but not tasty). I spent most of the weekend with Byron, explaining rules and showing him around. I tok him to all you can eat yakiniku on Friday, I ate more than him except for the cow stomach, which is gross. Also had pig cheek, which is very fatty. Saturday we explored Kyoto Station, downtown, and Toji Temple, then we traveled to Osaka, met Tongxin, Mark, and 2 girls (one foreigner) that we met at the train station.
Fireworks!!! They were amazing! Some of the best I’ve seen, and lasted long too, nearly an hour. The place was incredibly busy, with people nearly as far as you could see (though it was dark so…). Took about 45 minutes to walk a distance of 100m to the train station o.O.
Work was decent that week. I actually made some real progress improving George’s code, it works a lot nicer now. I think I’ll have a work related section later on in this post (Turns out no, maybe next post) , so… onto Okinawa!
Okinawa was awesome! There, got that outta the way. I put some of the best pictures on the bottom of this post, and there’s more at http://picasaweb.google.com/keidan.link I also uploaded about 100 more pictures recently and organized them all into nice neat piles. Some of the pictures have been on my blog before, but a lot of new ones too. Check em out, and leave comments if you want. Also, thanks everyone for the excellent comments on my blog. Some were maybe a bit subtle, but they all made me laugh, which is a good thing.
Ok, onto Okinawa (attempt 2!) To start, I told you deer were creepy! Almost as creepy as the miniature ponies that would give wagon rides during Stampede outside where I worked the past 3 summers. Thanks a lot Stacie for reminding me!
So yeah, Last Friday, the night before our flight, I met up with Keith for Nara’s candle festival. We got take-out food (with extra rice ><) and ate it near the pond near the deer park. After finishing we went to look for the main candle area. Apparently there is supposed to be a whole field of candles, like in the pictures, but we only found small paths of candles (which were quickly being extinguished and removed). Anton told us after that we didn’t go far enough, the main area was closer to Todaiji. Aah, well.
But yeah, I had a run in with a deer. I was carrying a plastic bag with the remains of the take out food when a deer sneak attacked me from behind! He ripped open the bag, spilling rice and garbage everywhere, and everyone laughed at me, and I laughed at me hardest. Told you they were creepy.
We went to Anton’s after, since our flight was semi-early the next day and we figured it would make most sense to travel to the airport together. So we spent a few hours talking, and me and Keith and a very involved game of War, in which after half an hour we were still quite even. I won after stealing all the cards when Keith wasn't looking.
Woke up the next day, and after having breakfast at the usual place, we took a 2 hour train ride to Kobe airport. Kobe seemed like a nice place judging by the limited view we had from the train, and the airport was very modern and new and clean. The flight to Okinawa was great, first class. Lots of legroom and big armrests. A cool thing about Japanese airlines is they have cameras in the front of the plane, so you can watch during takeoffs and landings. On the return flight there was of course, a Pokemon episode playing on the TVs, followed by a 20 minute instructional video on exercises you can do on the plane. How handy…
If Your Shoulders Aren’t Red by the End of the Day, You Ought to Seriously Re-examine Your Life
Being grown up isn’t half as fun as growing up
These are the best days of our lives.
The only thing that matters
Is just following your heart
And eventually you’ll finally get it right.
Ok, finally, onto Okinawa (attempt 3!) I guess this would be a good place to describe what/where/how Okinawa is… which brings us to tonight’s WØRD:
Okinawa
Okinawa is a tiny little island chain off the southern edge of Japan [It’s only 1000km long].
It’s pretty tropical, with palm trees and coral reefs [with sea urchins with foot long spikes!].
There’s a large American presence there, which is important! Bringing freedom to Japan!!! [Yes, exactly what they’re doing…].
The US was in control of Okinawa until 1972, but still has a large military force there, just in case the Japanese get outta hand! [Hmm… more likely that the Americans will].
But get this! Okinawa just loooooves to make contradictions! Native Okinawans have the longest life expectancy in the world, with men living on average 90.1 years, and women living 93.2 [Key Words: Native Okinawans]
And yet the island is having a big problem with obesity! A report just published today shows that the percentage of overweight men in okinawa has risen 5% in the past 6 years to 29%, and in Naha, the capital, 45.4% of men in their 40s and 50s are obese! How could this be? [Hmm… It couldn’t be the Americans with their A&W, or the excessive consumption of alcohol, could it?!]
And how can there be such beautiful beaches and water with such dangerous jellyfish [I shall name him Squishy and he shall be mine...] and sea urchins and scorpionfish in the water?! [Must be mother nature telling us to stay the heck out... what an environmentalist She is!].
Okinawa is kinda like ghetto Hawaii [in all ways but price]. It's got the beautiful beaches sure [but not enough of them], but a lot of the buildings and roads are old and decrepit, and who wants to live next to an army base? [Once again, probably not the Japanese].
And at the same time, it reminds me of a ghetto Las Vegas! Pachinko parlours, hotels with miniaturized historical landmarks [Pyramids, Arc de Triumphe, etc] outside. Light up Palm Trees! How tacky! [Gambling's not even legal!]
And I don’t know how to end this in a humorous way [Link = not smrt enough], so that’s tonight’s WØRD.
That was fun! I love using excessive brackets as it is, I should write in that style more often… in fact, I could make my own recurring segments in my blog. First there could be "Old Man in Japan", and "Brett vs the Bugs" (both self explanatory), then something to do with the daily poem/song that’s already in my blog. If anyone has any other suggestions, leave a comment, I’ll give you credit if I use it (and even if I don’t if it’s a bad enough idea).
So we arrived late afternoon on Saturday, took about 40-45 minutes to get to our hotel. Quite a nice hotel, got a balcony, 2 beds and a pull-out, a TV, fridge, and safe. The hotel had a few restaurants and a lounge and a spa. Keith and Anton wanted massages, but by the time they were ready for one, they were no longer ready… I don’t want to think how painful a massage would be with sunburns like ours. There was also a pool in the hotel, which we went to the first night, which was fun. The restaurant wasn’t that great for dinner. I got steak, which was good, but the veggies that came with weren’t that great (or warm) and the fries were very very soggy. We tried looking for a nightclub or something afterwards, but only found karaoke and hostess bars. Instead we went to play pool for a bit, then headed back to the hotel.
Mmm… buffet breakfast. We went every day, they had pancakes, we got laughed at. Everyone else took one or 2, we’d take 4-5 and go back for seconds or thirds. Other interesting things on the menu… the soggy soggy french fries, and Spam (which was bad even for Spam, according to Keith). But the pancakes and pineapple made up for it.
That day we went to the beach and were a little disappointed. Because of jellyfish, the total swimming area was not a lot bigger than a large swimming pool. And the water wasn’t clear at all. And Keith stole my sandals. So we rented ocean kayaks for an hour and had fun paddling in the clearer nicer water. A storm was coming in, so they were clearing the water, which was when we left.
Went to another beach, kinda run by a family or maybe the homes nearby. We rented some snorkels and went in the water. Some very very cool things in there, sea urchins with foot long spikes, and others with half inch spikes, plus schools of fish zipping past us as we swam. Went for dinner at a local restaurant, and I used the tried and true method of pointing randomly at an Okinawan specialty. Turned out not too too bad, it was a dish of three kinds of fish in a spinach salad. Not really my thing, but least I could eat it.
Second full day was scuba day!!! We met the shuttle in the lobby at 8am, took a half hour shuttle ride to the dock, then filled out forms and got on the boat. About 5 crew, maybe 10 guests on the boat. The boat ride was probably around an hour and a half. We got to sit at the front, which bounced up and down quite a bit with the waves. It was fun, and the view was amazing!
The scuba diving was great! A bit short, only lasted a half hour. The water was maybe 20 feet deep, but you could see the bottom from the boat, so clear! Us three went down with two guides, saw cool coral, schools of tropical fish, and most importantly, Nemo in his anemone!!! Sooo cool. Spend another few hours snorkeling and swimming, Anton was diving from the top of the boat. Swam to the beach and Keith and Anton were nice enough to bury me in sand so I could barely get out. They deserve to be poked. A picture’s worth a thousand words, so instead of trying to describe how beautiful it was, check out my web album.
On the way back we were in the front of the boat again, no shade either… so by the end we were all very sunburnt. Even as I type this I am shedding excessively. I've been peeling nastily since friday, and haven't stopped yet. My entire arms, face, hands, back, shoulders, neck, and feet have peeled. Half my lower back to go, and my legs just started peeling tonight. Gross.
Commander Coriander Salamander and ‘er Singlehander Bellylander
The last full day, Tuesday, was tourist day! We spent the day at the main tourist street in Okinawa. Along with omiyage, I bought a nice sharktooth necklace for myself, Anton got a super cool (and informative) T-shirt, and Keith bought snake alcohol, crazy guy. We stopped for ice cream, and Anton got a goya (bitter melon) float, which was one of the worst things I have ever tasted. I’d rather eat cow stomach, and you can quote me!
We had yakiniku for dinner, then around ten we went to a nightclub nearby, called Re-Green (odd, yes). When we entered, there were a whole three visible customers besides us. Yet the music (oh, the music! Mostly 80s and early 90s, like George Michael and stuff. The most recent song we heard was a remix of Men in Black… if only I couldn’t remember ><. And that movie came out in 97) and the smoke machine were both going full blast. We stayed around for 2 reasons: 1) We paid 15 bucks to get in, and 2) The staff said the place gets busy after midnight.
Now you’re all probably in suspense about whether the staff were honest or not. Stress and nervous tension are now serious social problems in all parts of the world, and it is in order that this situation should not in any way be exacerbated that the following facts will now be revealed in advance:
They were lying.
I (unfortunately) did not drink.
The girl I danced with showed me her scar.
In order that some sense of mystery should still be preserved, no revelation will yet be made concerning the location of the scar.
Thanks Mr Douglas Adams… so yeah, the music was really bad, but for 15 bucks, you could get unlimited pop, rum and cokes, or screwdrivers. I sure got my money’s worth, ordering one whole coke. And the screwdrivers apparently sucked, as they were made with orange drink, not orange juice. People slowly started trickling in, one guy was sure getting his funk on (solo), dancing pretty crazily, in the dark, by himself. Later a group of guys came in, and were dancing awfully weirdly and close together, causing us to question which orientation the club caters to. Not to mention both (as in there were only two) girls on the dance floor were dancing together and/or with the wall. And of course the music…
So maximum attendance that night… maybe just over a dozen people… We went on the dance floor for a bit, there were the two wall dancer girls, and another girl as well. The new girl started dancing with me and Keith, and she took us (separately) over to the bar to show us a large, maybe 2 inch scar, on her foot, then brought us back to the dance floor. "Time to go now" we said… So we left, trying to decide where to go.
There was another club across the street that looked shadier than Re-Green, and a nicer one down the street, but it charged $25 for cover, and it was already nearing 2am… so back to the hotel.
Not much left to write about… went home the next morning, and met two girls that stayed at the same hotel as us at the airport. We invited them for lunch, which was quite nice, got to practice Japanese a bit. I didn’t say much, but I could understand the entire conversation, so… Maybe I’m better at Japanese than I think, I just gotta get the courage to actually try speaking… but I’m even more shy trying to speak Japanese than I am trying to speak english back home.
So all in all, Okinawa was great. The scuba diving was the highlight of course, but everything else was either totally cool dudes, or overly interesting. Too overly maybe... Thanks to Keith for all the planning, and thanks to Anton to slapping me on the back when I had a sunburn!
Nothing else really happened since… work was kinda boring again, today I was given my next task with absolutely no information on how to go about it, no requirements, nothing… it’s the weirdest thing. So I’ll ask him tomorrow if he’s around.
Sounds like I missed a lot last weekend. The CJP crew climbed Fuji-san. I hear mixed reviews, Fuji-Q Highland was really good but long lineups, the climb was cold and difficult and the sunset may or may not have been worth it. I had work on Saturday, and was a bit low on funds after Okinawa, so I decided to skip out. And back home in Calgary, I missed a cabin party. You shoulda waited till April when I got back! Who else would stay sober and remind you of all the stupid stuff you did?! Who’s gonna tell you that yes, blood does indeed stain carpet?! /sigh.
And yes, another round of... Brett vs the Bugs!!! Last week I had an infestation of a different sort... cockroaches. I was sitting at my computer at about one at night when I feel something crawling on my leg... mmmm... so after panicking and shaking it off, it scurried away! After searching frantically for a whole 15 minutes, I found it under my desk. Taking decisive action I barricaded it in with books, then checked on the internet how long it can survive without food or water... "Needs water daily", Perfect! After coming back from Okinawa, I look under my desk to see if he's alive... and he's not there... where did he go? Is he dead? Maybe he's planning his next attack even as i type thAAAAAAAHHHHH!
Monday, July 31, 2006
The Trees are Really Sneezing Today
Link Adam, 21, goes on a weekend adventure surfing with friends. When he arrives, he sees things are not as they should be. He finds a city populated by demanding and slightly crazy restaurant owners, and by Jamaican Hawaiian Japanese surfer dudes. It’s a place where OMLGP has no effect. A city where currency… has no meaning! Link boarded the K-Limited Express Train… to the Twilight Zone!
Doo dee doo doo doo dee doo doo….
I’m writing this well after the actual events have occurred, and I don’t have any pics to remember it by, so here’s hoping my memory serves me correctly.
Two Saturdays ago I had work. It’s a lot of fun to work on Saturday. I’d highly recommend it. In the evening I went to Anton’s place, bring my effects, but not my hat. After dinner we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean in Nara. It was in English, hurrah, with Japanese subtitles (Me and Anton still don’t know how they managed to translate "Savvy?"). The theatre was small and very level compared to Canadian theatres. Seats are reserved, so no looking about trying to commandeer the best seats. As for the movie, not as good as the first, but still very good, with some excellent scenes, to be sure! However, it was probably not the most opportune moment to go; most trains stopped before the movie ended, so we only made it to Saidaiji station and had to take a cab the rest of the way.
The next day we got up early and went down to Wakayama to meet Keith. Taking advantage of the Everything’s Free in Wakayama train station policy to get to Keith’s station nearly free of charge. We went for breakfast #2 at the station, I had kekko desu ("I’m fine as I am thanks"), which has been the subject of many jokes directed at me since. Thank you Anton and Keith, my revenge will be swift and painful.
Then we headed to Isonura beach to rent some surfboards. The two rental shops, however, were both sold out! So we passed by a reggae bar, basically an old bus transformed into a… bar… painted in yellow and green with a Jamaican flag and reggae playing. The young dudes running the bar agree to rent us their surfboards, 4h for 2600 yen each, not too shabby, apparently we got 400 yen off the normal price cause we were so cool and hip and rad and stuff.
Surfing was a lot of fun, the water wasn’t too cold, and there were hundreds of surfers out there. To be fair, I sucked. It’s hard just getting out far enough, with the waves pulling you back towards the shore, especially for someone with no mass like me. Once out there though, it’s good, I was able to catch a wave quite easily, standing up was another matter. But still managed to a few times, for a few seconds, woohoo!
After a few hours I got cold and hungry and tired, (and I was a little bit wet) so I decided to head back and get changed. While waiting for Anton and Keith I hung with the Jamaicans, one guy knew a little bit of English… The conversation started out good, but eventually, without getting into too much detail, got a bit interesting, and some of the questions I got asked were… lacking good grammar and perhaps decency.
Anton and Keith arrived back, showered, changed, etc, then we went back to Wakayama. Where we had an crazy older lady, who ran a restaurant, pressuring us to come in. Anton and Keith wanted ramen, so they were reluctant at first. I was reluctant because there was a crazy older lady pressuring me into her store. But we finally broke down (pwned as Anton called it) and went in. We got the special I think? Pasta with ham and shrimp, and the lady talking to us the whole time we were eating. Eventually she went to a nearby restaurant and bought a plate of sushi, brought it to our table, and sat down and started sharing it with us. Which is very odd… But she didn’t charge us for it, and even gave us a bit of a discount on our meal. We eventually left (in my case, escaped) because I had to make it home for shower curfew.
And that was the exciting weekend. On Tuesday we went to Osaka to see the fireworks for Tenjin Matsuri. Unfortunately, with me being the only one on time, we missed them. But not totally a waste, had to meet Keith anyway, and we went for dinner for okonomiyaki and kekko desu. Anton and Keith bought beer off some attractive girls in bathing suits. And then I went home.
More to come on my Tokyo adventure, but that’s later, cause I’m too tired to write it tonight, and the cicadas will inevitably wake me up too early tomorrow.
And pics of Tokyo are up on my web album. picasaweb.google.com/keidan.link
Doo dee doo doo doo dee doo doo….
I’m writing this well after the actual events have occurred, and I don’t have any pics to remember it by, so here’s hoping my memory serves me correctly.
Two Saturdays ago I had work. It’s a lot of fun to work on Saturday. I’d highly recommend it. In the evening I went to Anton’s place, bring my effects, but not my hat. After dinner we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean in Nara. It was in English, hurrah, with Japanese subtitles (Me and Anton still don’t know how they managed to translate "Savvy?"). The theatre was small and very level compared to Canadian theatres. Seats are reserved, so no looking about trying to commandeer the best seats. As for the movie, not as good as the first, but still very good, with some excellent scenes, to be sure! However, it was probably not the most opportune moment to go; most trains stopped before the movie ended, so we only made it to Saidaiji station and had to take a cab the rest of the way.
The next day we got up early and went down to Wakayama to meet Keith. Taking advantage of the Everything’s Free in Wakayama train station policy to get to Keith’s station nearly free of charge. We went for breakfast #2 at the station, I had kekko desu ("I’m fine as I am thanks"), which has been the subject of many jokes directed at me since. Thank you Anton and Keith, my revenge will be swift and painful.
Then we headed to Isonura beach to rent some surfboards. The two rental shops, however, were both sold out! So we passed by a reggae bar, basically an old bus transformed into a… bar… painted in yellow and green with a Jamaican flag and reggae playing. The young dudes running the bar agree to rent us their surfboards, 4h for 2600 yen each, not too shabby, apparently we got 400 yen off the normal price cause we were so cool and hip and rad and stuff.
Surfing was a lot of fun, the water wasn’t too cold, and there were hundreds of surfers out there. To be fair, I sucked. It’s hard just getting out far enough, with the waves pulling you back towards the shore, especially for someone with no mass like me. Once out there though, it’s good, I was able to catch a wave quite easily, standing up was another matter. But still managed to a few times, for a few seconds, woohoo!
After a few hours I got cold and hungry and tired, (and I was a little bit wet) so I decided to head back and get changed. While waiting for Anton and Keith I hung with the Jamaicans, one guy knew a little bit of English… The conversation started out good, but eventually, without getting into too much detail, got a bit interesting, and some of the questions I got asked were… lacking good grammar and perhaps decency.
Anton and Keith arrived back, showered, changed, etc, then we went back to Wakayama. Where we had an crazy older lady, who ran a restaurant, pressuring us to come in. Anton and Keith wanted ramen, so they were reluctant at first. I was reluctant because there was a crazy older lady pressuring me into her store. But we finally broke down (pwned as Anton called it) and went in. We got the special I think? Pasta with ham and shrimp, and the lady talking to us the whole time we were eating. Eventually she went to a nearby restaurant and bought a plate of sushi, brought it to our table, and sat down and started sharing it with us. Which is very odd… But she didn’t charge us for it, and even gave us a bit of a discount on our meal. We eventually left (in my case, escaped) because I had to make it home for shower curfew.
And that was the exciting weekend. On Tuesday we went to Osaka to see the fireworks for Tenjin Matsuri. Unfortunately, with me being the only one on time, we missed them. But not totally a waste, had to meet Keith anyway, and we went for dinner for okonomiyaki and kekko desu. Anton and Keith bought beer off some attractive girls in bathing suits. And then I went home.
More to come on my Tokyo adventure, but that’s later, cause I’m too tired to write it tonight, and the cicadas will inevitably wake me up too early tomorrow.
And pics of Tokyo are up on my web album. picasaweb.google.com/keidan.link
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