Archive for July, 2007
Feels like… burning
31 July 2007So, I get to Japan, and tried to pack relatively light. Meaning I packed the important or “can’t get it there” kind of stuff and decided to pick up the important stuff at a later time. Case in point, deodorant and shaving cream. So, I discover or remember, I’m not sure which, that the deodorant/antiperspirant “thing” in Japan isn’t exactly the same as the US. So I picked up some spray bottle thing that burns like the living Dickens whenever I put it on. I guess that’s how I know it’s working. I was concerned about this until I put on the shaving cream which also burned. I’ll for now assume that it’s my own skin reacting to slightly different chemicals, and not that my dumbass can’t read enough Japanese to properly pick out the correct stuff.
A Walk in the Park
27 July 2007My father just said to me “I can’t believe you’re leaving tomorrow.” and frankly, neither can I. I’ve run out of unique things to say on the topic, but it really has felt as if time has slowed down just for tonight. It’s quite intense. I’ve flown before, well, to Japan and NYC, so that’s not my worries. Hell, I’m not even really worried, but just packed with emotions. Dunno what to say really. But it’s great.
I guess I’m going to try to crash now, but I don’t for-see it going well, haha. Wish me luck, everyone.
It’s the Final Countdown!
27 July 2007
So I’m sitting in a hotel near JFK, waiting for my parents to finish up their continental breakfast
I’m pretty damn anxious, excited and all other sorts of emotions right now. I mean, whoa, I’m going to Japan! It’s hard to believe that by this time tomorrow I’ll be…well I’ll be waiting in JFK, but soon after that I’ll be in the air on my way. It is quite the awesome.
Well, time to head out. Maybe I’ll write tonight if I find the time.
And the honeymoon is over…
25 July 2007Sigh, and just as I start to get a tad sentimental for my hometown. I go upstairs to microwave myself a midnight bagel and find myself face to disfigured ugly of a cockroach the size of my big toe. A loud bang later and its pour unfortunate mass is now shared between a shoe and the tile.
I hope my apartment in Japan is relatively bug free.
Ha ha! Packing.
25 July 2007So for the second time this year I’m packing up a lot of shit and moving. Hooray. At least this time it is a tad more permanent. As I drove from a Games Workshop store today, where I played what is probably going to be my last game of 40k for a while, I drove through some areas that I’ll probably not drive through for many a year now.
It’s quite interesting how many business, houses and people we pass every day and they mean absolutely fuck all to us. And we pass them by as something as insignificant as a person in a car that they might never know. This is probably why some people find it interesting when they discover someone they just met drives past their hometown every day or something even more insignificant. I used to think such dialogues were incredibly petty, but driving through these little towns today on my way home struck me in a way I never had been before.
Painting Progress!
23 July 2007
It’s been about a month since I got into Warhammer 40k, and I’m ridiculously hooked. It’s like Magic the Gathering all over for me, only somehow cheaper. Above is one of my attempts at “higher level” painting skills and what the modeling folks call “conversions” or otherwise known as taking pieces from other models and slapping them somewhere else for awesome cool results.
Above is my Shadowseer, a cool cat who helps her unit by requiring the opponent to roll two six sided dice, double the total and if it is less than the distance between the two squads, mine can’t be shot at. Makes fun for me, not so much for my opponents. I loves it! She normally doesn’t have a wing, but I had one left over and figured if she’s supposed to be good at crafting illusions, having a bitching wing should apply.
HUZZAH for ingenuity!
23 July 2007My Macbook Pro’s latch seemingly broke the other day, and this concerned me. Especially with an upcoming flight across the globe. Don’t need the laptop popping open all the time. I finally noticed tonight that the button to open the laptop was lodged in a bit. Doing some interweb searching, I found naught but “Hit up an Apple store.” Honestly, I don’t have the time right now, and since I think Tokyo is the only Apple Store totting city in Japan, I don’t want to deal with that hassle.
But all is not lost! By using the lost mystical art of “messing with shit until it works” I managed to “pop” the latch back into gear by gently squeezing the area around the latch. Fantastic!
I think I’ll celebrate with a mini-burger. Aged to perfection!
I salute you, White Castle
16 July 2007While I had known about this retailer of miniature burgers prior to the lauded stoner flick that celebrated the tiny burgers, I can’t remember ever walking into a White Castle in my years. So this weekend when spending some time up in North Jersey with friends, I demanded we hit up this restaurant. For science’s sake, obviously. I had partaken in White Castle’s microwavable offerings but fresh from the grill was never had by I.
Waiting in line, I scoured the menu for something noteworthy. Something that would make an impact upon my life. I found this:
Fuck damn. That’s a lot of mini burgers. Thirty, to be exact. Steam grilled. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it reminded me of the patented Skinner Burger Recipe for Steamed Hams. So, I delved in.
It’s a sea of burgers!
And a close-up for those unfamiliar with these burgers.
I’m actually quite enamored with their taste. The company must follow my religion of condiment packing on burgers, because they managed to squeeze plenty of ketchup, cheese, pickles and sliced onions into every delicious bite. And as Orson Welles would say, they’re even better raw! Er, cold. But even then they’re still delicious. Shit, I’ve still got five left and I bought them on Friday. My stomach is sad that I won’t be eating more after these five, but my heart is probably glad.
Oh, and White Castle even packs terrible entertainment into the hamburger’s box. Click the image for the answer. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
There’s a Chunky in my pocket and I’m happy to see you.
12 July 2007I never had a Chunky™ candy bar until today. The surprising thing is there are raisins in these things. Raisins! In candy bars! What is this shit?
Besides delicious. Because they are delicious.
The Days Are Just Packed
11 July 2007Approaching my departure date I myself am approaching that “Delay everything that I can until the last minute” stage. It’s not that I don’t want to leave, I’m excited as all hell. But it’s going to be such a drastic change. For one, I’ve never lived by myself. Sure, I’ve lived away from my folks, but always with roommates. This will be the first time I have a place that is “mine”. And it will also be in another country. Mind blowing.
So you might notice that I changed the site a bit. Let me know how these menus function if there is a problem. I tried it in Safari, Firefox OS X, Firefox Windows and IE7. Not surprisingly, IE7 fucked up. But everything else works too nicely for me to really worry about IE7 being a little bitch. If you’re using that, sorry. Really. Maybe I’ll have it fixed in the coming weeks, but there is no rush.
So besides the site tweaking, I’ve been pounding down the Japanese studying. Not that I won’t be able to do this in Japan, but I figure my time spent at home with my friends and family busy would probably be better spent that way than trolling internet forums. I really have to kick that habit…
I’ve also found much love in the game known as Warhammer 40k. Holy shit I am hooked. Too much fun painting little figures and playing the big fucking games. Hopefully I’ll find some other players in Japan, but it seems TheTrin will be available for some games once in a while, so that’s awesome. So, if you’re in Japan and play 40k or are interested, let me know!