Fortune Cookies

Why do they even make these? Do people actually take to heart what they say? Today I had Chinese food and got pretty lucky when I opened my wonderful fortune cookie. I didn't get 1 fortune... nor even 2! I got three! That's right, three small little pieces of paper with my destiny foretold:

1. "You would be wise not to seek too much from others, at this time."
2. "No Obstacles will stand in the way of your success this month."
3. "An admirer is concealing his affection for you."

Sadly the month is almost over so my success for this month better happen pretty quick. But I personally like the last the most. I'm not gay so I'm not really quite sure where the fortune cookie fairy gets her information but it always keeps you guessing. The first one does have a ring of truth in it though. I really shouldn't ask for so much - which I have been recently. I'll try my best.

New Jacket

This post is dedicated to my new jacket. Such an exciting topic eh? For me it is! I've finally got a new jacket after many... many years of using the same one. My dad bought it for me as an early birthday gift since I'll be needing one when I'm in Japan. I looked through most of the stores in Penticton and one in Summerland and I wasn't able to find any decent jacket. I found 1 I liked at The Bay but it didn't seem warm enough. Then I thought I found an acceptable one at Mark's Work Wearhouse but the sleeves were way too short. I had planned on going to Kelowna to look for one at some stores there but on our way home from Summerland today, my dad asked if I wanted to take a look at Canadian Tire. I said "sure" and we went inside. Immediately I found 2 jackets I liked - one more than the other. I chose one and tried it on and decided "I like this". I looked at the other one but it wasn't as appealing. I wore it around a bit to see if it was comfortable - it was great. So I decided to get it. Actually I made my dad take a picture of me so I could see it on myself. I thought it looked pretty good too. It's kinda long but whatever. The sleeves are long enough and and its warm. It's a down filled jacket so it should keep me pretty warm. Here's a link to the beige version if you're interested for whatever reason. It's a North 49 jacket from the brand World Famous of Sales. I don't think it's a very big name brand but it's a nice jacket so I'm not complaining.

Weather here is nice though. Today it was positive 1 but the snow stayed on the ground. I love the dry cold. I don't miss Vancouver's weather one bit. The picture above is near my place in Penticton and the one on the right is down mainstreet at the beginning of downtown. So this is a view of Penticton's downtown. Busy, isn't it?

This tasty looking treat is a shrimp dip my mom made to dip crackers in to. I'm not sure exactly how it's made but it has guacamole in it. It's super tasty and I ended up eating quite a bit of it. She made a giant plate of it and it was gone in no-time. I'll have to get the recipe from her and bring it to Japan with me =D (if I can even make it).

Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!! =D I hope everybody had a good day today. And if you're not Christian then Happy Holidays to you! haha.

This picture is first thing in the morning this morning. 8:30am!! Usually we don't start the Christmas opening until a little bit later I thought but apparently not this year. My brother came down at 8am and turned on the light in my room. After a futile effort of trying to fend off the light I gave in and decided to get up. I went upstairs, had some coffee and then there we are - all ready to open presents. That's my sister, me and my brother from front to back. My brother and I are wearing our TMNT toques that we got in our Christmas stockings.

All in all everyone had a pretty good Christmas, including the dogs as you can see in the picture. They're all fighting over a new toy they got. In the end the big one (spotted) decided it was his and kept it haha.

I got some really nice presents including an Ipod Classic 80gb, FujiFilm A820 8.3MP Digital Camera, a new suitcase for my trip to Japan, GT4, the new Tolkien book, the next book in the series I used to read!! (My sister randomly chose the book thinking I might like it and it just happened to be the next book in the series I was reading. She didn't even know I had any of them), a gift certificate to The Gap, some cash, a t-shirt and some other presents ^_^. Thank you to everybody!!

After all the craziness of opening presents we had some Eggs Benedict for breakfast. I had 3 and was pretty stuffed after that. For the rest of the day up until dinner we were pretty busy with our gifts that we got. My sister got Guitar Hero 3, my brother got WoW, and my mom got a karaoke machine. Actually my mom was most busy making us food so thank you mom!! We had cheese and crackers for lunch and a wonderful turkey dinner as is tradition =D I ate so much and was totally stuffed after that too. Today was a pretty good day for food actually! I really can't complain hahaha.

Today it snowed also! So I got my wish, we had a white Christmas here in Penticton. It was pretty clear out for most of the day but in the evening it started snowing quite a bit - windy too. But it was really nice. Today was one of those days you don't really go outside so who cares if it's windy ^_^ This evening we played a game called Mad Gab - it's super fun. You have to try to read these seemingly nonsensical sentences but really you're saying something else... It's kind of hard to explain. Maybe check the wikipedia for more help. It was really fun though. We played with my whole family and my old baby sitter from when I was a kid. It was nice seeing her again. I haven't seen her in years! I won't put a picture of her because I'm not sure if she'd want me to but it was really fun. We played 'old vs. young' or "parents & babysitter" vs. "kids" and we won!! Take that adults! But in all honesty, it was a really close game. We played to 25 and we only won by 1 or 2 points. I don't remember exactly. This, on the left, is my Donatello toque I got in my stocking. It was an awesome day.

Merry Christmas again!!

Christmas Eve

So here we are at Christmas eve. It's just right around the bend and everyone seems to be in the holidays spirit. We got the Christmas tree all ready and it's getting all populated with presents. Sadly it's pretty warm here today and the sun is shining so the snow is starting to melt. It better all be back tomorrow morning haha. Despite the snow melting it is very nice weather though - far better than Vancouver =D

I've got all my shopping done and am ready for the big day. Tonight We'll be going to a Christmas church service before all opening one present each (as is tradition in our family on Christmas eve).

Earlier today my mom found my "school history" book which she's compiled for each year of school I was in from Preschool to grade 12. It was really fun to look through and see all the class pictures of each year and some of the assignments I did. It really took me back. On Facebook I stole a picture my friend Kate uploaded of our Kindergarten class and put it on the group for my Elementary school and went through and tried to tag as many people as possible. I missed a few and I was kind of unsure of a couple others but I got about 75% of the class. I'm 2nd from the right in the middle row wearing a while button-up shirt. Pudgy eh? I've really changed since I was a kid (>_<). Some of the other people in that class I'm still friends with to this day and I graduated with almost all of them. Also there are triplets who were in my class. All of them are in the front row. The 2 on the left side and the 3rd girl from the right in the white shirt. Pretty interesting eh?

I just got off the phone with my girlfriend - I was her wakeup call but I was an hour too early. すみません姫君。I was calling because it's Christmas Day in Japan right now so I thought I'd say Merry Christmas to her first thing in the morning hehe. Also Merry Christmas to all you other guys in Japan =D I hope you have a wonderful day ^^ even if you have to work (>_<)

Snow!!

For the first time since I've been home it's snowed, and for the first time it's been moderately cold. Today it's a little bit brisk outside - temperature is 0 the last time I checked and it's snowing! Though hardly any is on the ground. I hope we have a white Christmas this year - the past few years it's been green and then we've had crazy flurries the following days (>_<) so we'll have to see. Christmas is getting close!! I didn't even realize its only 3 days away - I'm not even done my shopping yet!! Yeesh, what to buy what to buy.

I was supposed to go to a party last night but I didn't really want to go alone and I realized I don't have anybody's phone number in Penticton anymore. Like no-one. So I ended up contemplating it until it was too late to go anyway - but I had to stay home and make sure my sister and her friends weren't up to no good. She had a party here last night and damn it was noisy. Made me wonder if all my house parties in the past were the same. I asked my mom and she said they were. I felt pretty bad. I really had no idea parties were so loud - you never really notice until you're not part of them. I was upstairs in my kitchen listening to their music through my feet until late at night. I had to stay up until they went to sleep... which meant I didn't get to sleep until about 3:30am -_-' but whatever. As like all parties there were a few small issues but they got it sorted out and seemed to enjoy themselves. I think she had a good time so I'm happy despite being sleepy.

Home for the Holidays

And do you know what that means? A haircut! It's pretty short now and I'm not really sure if I like it but well, it's a bit too late to go back now so I'll have to enjoy it hahaha. What do you guys think? Good? Bad? I'm not really sure if I prefer it short or a little bit longer. Hmmm such hard decisions haha. In any case, Penticton is just how I remember it - well actually the past couple days have been warmer than Vancouver surprisingly.

I've been shopping and chatting with my family the past few days (and probably most all the days until I leave haha). I bought lots of stuff but I can't really put anything on here since they might read it so... Not until after the 25th haha. I also went to see a few of my friends last night. That was pretty fun. Two of them I probably won't see for a long time. One is going to Egypt and then to Afgan (he's in our army) and the other is going on a cruise to Hawaii! It's really interesting (>_<)

On another note, I finished watching My Name is Kim Sam Soon and I'm really impressed. It's a really well made drama and should be watched by all!! ありがとう私のお姫様と姫さんのお母さん。

I'll probably post a few more times while I'm here in Penticton. I hope all you guys in Vancouver are having a good time!! 隆さん、ゲームを頑張ってね。楽します下さい。 (Actually I'm not even sure if that's correct) but I hope you enjoy ^_^

My name is Kim Sam Soon

Or "My Lovely Sam Soon" if you want a translated name. Or 내 이름은 김삼순 if you can read Korean (I believe it's correct... but I could be totally wrong haha). Also here's the link to the Japanese wikipedia on it too if you'd rather look at it in Japanese. But DO NOT read all the spoilers because, well, that's just lame. I put the link there for reference. Use it wisely.

But, it's very good. It's a 16 episode Korean TV drama - Each episode is about an hour long. It might be a little bit hard to find in stores though.. I haven't checked myself. I've actually only watched a little less than half but I'm really enjoying it. It's quite hard to put down. My girlfriend introduced this drama to me because her mother told her to watch it. So now I'm telling all of you to watch it too. I don't have a true opinion about it since I'm not finished - but even watching the first 5 episodes is worth your time.

It's about a 30 year old girl named Kim Sam Soom (if you didn't already guess) who's love is baking. She's single and a little overweight (like all patissiers), doesn't have a college degree, but has a Cordon Blue certification from Paris. It's mainly about her guy troubles.

In any case, if you don't believe me, believe the facts. I'll list some for you. It won 12 different awards (check the wiki) and the finale was watched by 50.5% of the population of South Korea. FIFTY PERCENT. I was shocked. Actually I still am. That's quite amazing.

Watch it! If you do watch it, leave me a comment and let me know what you thought =D (but no spoilers)

150 Finally achieved!

To be honest, in my Anki deck I have more than 150 but I don't really want to mess with the numbering scheme at the moment in the list I'm using because I have it all set up for Mnemonics and whatnot. So after I finish the 318 words in the list that comes with Anki, I'll add the rest of the words in my deck. I'm at 151 to be exact! That's the number of Pokémon in the Red/Blue versions isn't it? What an interesting coincidence o_O

Okay, enough random game references. It's time to start learning grammar. I've learned some in the past so hopefully I'll just pick up where I left off... Or something along those lines =D

Also for anybody that's interested in learning Japanese I've been slowly adding links on the right to different websites and blogs that should help you in learning Japanese. Some are better than others and I've tried my best to put them in order of Best to Really Good (because none of the links are mediocre). However the list of blogs is not in any specific order so if for some reason you're on my site and see your blog in the list and it's in 4th or something - it means nothing and is not any kind of personal slander. It's there because it's worth looking at.

If you're wanting to read all the posts I've made about studying and Japanese you can click on this link here or you can click on "Japanese" under "Sort By:" and it will pull up a list for you.

Unofficially Unemployed

I was laid off yesterday but technically not from the right employer. I was working for Electronic Arts as a contracted employee of the company Angus One. And let's just say Angus One's "Professional Recruitment & Templine" isn't all so professional. Throughout my employment with them I watched a lot of people get laid off. Most were given only a couple days notice of their termination. For us it was same-day notice. Well actually that's wrong... and that's why I'm "unofficially unemployed". Angus one has yet to contact us to let us know we've been let go. Electronic Arts apologized profusely for the lack of professionalism on Angus One's behalf (in nicer words of course) and told us that Friday was to be our last day. EA was pretty good about it though - I give them props. I would have rather stayed but you can't have everything, right? The entire day of work yesterday consisted of Street Fighter, Guitar Hero, Rayman Raving Rabbids on the Wii, Memphis Blues, Pizza, Pop, and other various snacks. It was a pretty nice last day at work.

So now income might be a problem since I have none. And since I'm planning on going to Japan in January sometime and I'm going home for the holidays to visit family, I'm not sure how I'm going to make any money. I've been trying to think of some simple "get rich quick" scheme but none seem too promising. But there's gotta be something I can do back home. Maybe shovel people's driveways in the morning? That's what it might come down to unless I can find a job in some warehouse - possibly for a liquor store. We'll see, we'll see.

Sick Days?

So today I was sick so I stayed home from work. I felt like crap when I woke up and I didn't even want to call work to say I was sick hahaha. I ended up falling asleep again and then waking up at around 10:30 to call in - which isn't good at all, but I figured... at least I am calling in. When I called I surprised myself when I started to talk - my voice was all weird sounding. I hadn't actually talked to anybody this morning so I had no idea. It was pretty strange.

Actually, apparently my gf is also sick. Interesting eh? I wish she wasn't sick but at the same time it's kind of interesting that we both got sick the same day haha. So it's actually not as bad as I thought ^_^

Recently I've been studying Japanese a lot. I've been trying to learn at least 10 words a day and so far it's working out!! 10 words a day is surprisingly easy. I've been doing it with the help of that Anki program I mentioned in a previous post and my own short 10 word lists I've been bringing with me to work and wherever else I go during the day. I've compiled a list of the words I've learned recently from the Japanese Proficiency Level 4 word list here and I've also put a link under the "Japanese Study" heading in the right column if you want to check it out. I've also been writing some of my mnemonics... which might be useful for some people (but they are my own so it might be hard to grasp why I chose the certain mnemonic) but help yourself!!

Hopefully soon I'll be learning some more grammar and then I might be able to actually speak a little Japanese! =D I'm really excited. I really miss my gf though. I hope I can get my passport soon so I can book my flight... I don't want to get a flight if I can't get my passport in time. But... I'll get it all figured out eventually.

To Japan!

Actually, I'm not quite there yet. I'm still working on this passport thing and trying to get the money together but so far it's looking up. My pending day of departure is early January and I'll be staying there for a few months... if all goes as planned.

But that's the problem! I'm not sure what that plan is. I gotta figure out if I'm going to keep my apartment, move back to Penticton, sell all my stuff, keep all my stuff, etc etc etc. It's tough. I've been talking to my parents about it a little bit but I think they're also in the dark with what I should be doing.

I finally got most of my Passport stuff together - Just need a guarantor to sign my picture to say that I am who I say I am. Then I'm ready to go! Passport Canada is pretty strict about this whole guarantor thing though yeesh.

But I'm still super excited despite all this crazy stress about what's going to happen. I know it'll all work out - I just gotta figure out how to make it haha.

In the mean-time I gotta study and plan and study and plan. And work sometimes too.

あなたが そこに いるだけで

This book, my Hime sent me from Japan for our Anniversary. It's all in Japanese so it's kinda difficult to understand but I had my good friend 隆さん (Ryu) translate it for me.　It roughly means "You're presence is all I need" or "Being with you is all I need" or something along those lines.It's a super pretty book and I really wish I better knew Japanese so I could understand it more clearly. My roommate isn't home right now so maybe later I will put some pictures of it on this blog. Update: And Now they're here! (as you may have already noticed - ありがとう隆さん). This is the bookmark it comes with (even though you don't really need a bookmark because it's short) but the bookmark is also so nice. And in English too. Interesting. (Japanese people really like English) Anyway, I took a picture of one of the pages I like a lot (which is every one but I had to choose one). The Japanese on this page means something like this "When I'm alone, I can't see. When we're together I can see." I know it's a little bit strange but the sentence is backwards - If it was written in English it might say "I can only truly see when we're together". Actually there's another page I really like that says something along the lines of "When we're together all my life's complications are fixed". So pretty >_< . Now I gotta get crackin' on my Japanese study! I know I mentioned it in a previous post - but it never really happened. Well now's the time! I gotta learn enough to be able to understand this book! =D

And for those of you who are curious. Here's a picture of what I got for her. Did you know... sending stuff to Japan is terribly expensive. I talk about things being expensive a lot don't I?　僕は少しけちと思います。 It took me a long time to find a present I thought she'd like and I think she liked it =D I think she liked the card more but it's kinda personal. But I'll post up the cover of it! It sucks we weren't able to actually spend time together this anniversary but there's always next one =D This time next year I should be enjoying my time in Japan! I might have to start a new blog for that... or continue this one - I'm not sure. Either way it's gonna be awesome and I'm super excited.

暗記 (Anki)

This wonderful program I found thanks to Clay on Youtube (profile) has really increased my retention for Japanese. It's called Anki (暗記) which means "Memorization" or "learning from heart" - a very apt name. And the best part about it is it's free! Of course you can donate if you'd like to (which I would suggest if you start using this program regularly) but it is free. As a side note - Watch Clay's FAQ. I've provided a bunch of links but he makes it clear: 'no stalkers' so be forewarned. But back to the subject at hand.

This program is awesome. Download it, use it, donate.

I was not asked to advertise or promote this program. I am doing so solely because this program is good.

1 Year Anniversary

Yesterday was our 1 Year anniversary. Such a long time but seems so short. Time really does go by like that. I still can't put pictures of the present I got her because she hasn't got it yet but there is something I can put on my blog and thats a video I made of us together this past year. It's to the song 大好き (Daisuki) or "I love you" in English. By the singer 広末涼子 "Ryoko Hirosue". I chose this song for a couple reasons... Because my girlfriend used to always sing it in Kareoke and it's also so happy so how could I not choose it right? Well, without further ado, here it is:

If you can't get it working just put your mouse over it and click on the line at the bottom and the controls should appear then just click on the play button on the bottom left. If it's still not working you can also watch it here.

愛してる～

3 More Days

I know I made a post named 3:00 and now this one is 3 more days but whatever. 3 Is a good number is it not? But yeah.. the significance to this 3 is our real one year anniversary. "But you just met her on the 12th!" I know! It just seemed right. It was less than a week actually (6 days for you those of you who aren't good at subtraction). Weird eh?

Right now she's in Japan as you may remember (from an older post) so we can't actually spend our anniversary together sadly but that doesn't stop me from sending a present!! I'd say what that present is buuut.... she also reads this blog so that'll have to wait for another time. Let's just say I'm really happy with what I found (I just hope she likes it >_<) Today wasn't a very eventful day actually. I snagged a PS2 with a mod chip from a guy at work so now I can play import games on my PS2!! I'm kinda excited about that. Also I saw a friend from school on the bus on my way back home after getting the PS2. I haven't talked to her in a really long time and it was nice to chat again ^_^

I started an excel document to record where I'm spending all my money because it seems to disappear pretty quick and I can't have that happen any more. I gotta save!!! If anybody wants a blank copy of this document so they, also, can watch their money, send me a message on MSN and I'll send it over =D (But I think it might be Office 2007 only).

The cute Japanese girl with a tuque

Yesterday I went to Triple O's to call my girlfriend at dinner. Weird you say? Well not entirely. November 12th, 2006 I met hime at Triple O's. At around 6pm to be exact. So that's when I called her. I sat in the same seat she was sitting in when I first met her and reminisced about that day...

It was raining and cold. I used to work at Triple O's so I was going there at the time to see some of the employees and I remember as I walked in I saw this girl sitting at the "bar" table (It's not really a bar, its on the other side of a magazine rack but it only has seats on one side - like a bar). I remember stopping at the door just after entering the store to look at her. I remember thinking "she's beautiful" but I knew it was pointless to think that because, well, I knew it'd be impossible for me to ever be her friend. So I enjoyed the short moment and went to talk to my friends (I didn't want her to notice me and think I was weird).

I talked to the people working there for quite a while but then it got busy and they had to actually start working again so I was waiting around (I had no other plans). But it was busy for too long... And that girl was still there. It looked like she was studying something. "Maybe English," I remember thinking to myself, "she looks Japanese". I had just started really learning Japanese and I was kinda excited to try saying something so.... I went for it. I went for it! I've never talked to a stranger in my life. An absolute stranger and I talked to her. (Well it took me about 10 minutes to get enough courage to say hi but it was totally worth it.. Even though it didn't seem to be at the time.) I remember I said "excuse me?"... no answer.

I was devastated. The first time I had spoken to a stranger and she didn't answer. But wait! She was wearing headphones. Maybe she couldn't hear me? I tried again... "excuse me?" Once again no answer. Well I've gone this far I might as well continue. So I tried a different tact, "sumimasen". (she's gotta know I'm talking to her now). But still! no answer. What should I do. This is the time when my heart started to pound. Should I give up? Keep going? ドキドキ I decided.

I put my hand down slowly on the table, close to her (I knew it was weird) and I inched it towards her. She finally noticed it and looked at me. Our eyes met and my heart stopped. WHAT DO I SAY NOW?! "Are you Japanese?" I think is the first thing that came to mind. She answered smoothly. "Are you studying English?" my thoughts started to blur. Wow, I'm talking to her. I believe she asked me "Do you know Japanese?" and I said "No, not really. Well a little bit" then I said what I had been learning. 「私は・日本語を・勉強しています・でも・まだ・上手じゃありません」 "I'm learning Japanese but I'm not skilled yet". She laughed and laughed and laughed. I had given some kind of impression apparently. It seemed to be good. I was excited.

We talked for hours and hours. We talked for a little over 6 hours. From about 6 to a little after midnight. It was the most exciting and interesting night I've ever had. I believe some people refer to it as "Love at first sight". I wanted to see her again. I had to see her again... but that required that "courage" thing again that I'm not very good with. But hell, I've already faced my fears once and I didn't want to pass up this once in a life time opportunity. I knew I'd never see her again if I didn't act. So I asked for her number, and she gave it to me! I gave her mine also. A little while after that we said goodbye and parted ways. Little did I know that she would be the girl I fell in love with.

Thinking back now... I'm so glad I talked to her. I'm also so glad that I'm kinda persistent. If I wasn't I would have given up trying to say hello and I wouldn't have ever been with the girl of my dreams.

So that's my story of last night. And that's my story of last night - one year ago.

三時

Today I went out with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. I met her in Blenz on the corner of Bute and Davie. なつかしいね、けんじさん？ But yeah... she's had some guy problems recently (quite big problems) and she wanted to go to the clinic to get "checked" I guess is how you'd say it. The past week or so I've been talking to her on the phone quite a bit and she's really worried but she was also too scared to go alone so I said I'd go with her. We had originally planned to go on Friday but we switched it to today because she wanted to get it out of the way. BUT... today it was closed. So we met at about 1:30 and she had to work at 3 and the clinic was closed. Sucks. So we ended up going out for Korean food on Robson at a place called Nor Boo. It's really good and inexpensive also. Actually I had to give her a going away card for a different friend I hadn't spoken with for over a year. So I got that out of the way as well.

After I finish writing this I think I'll go to Konbiniya again to pick up some stuff. Today is the last day of their huge sale they have going on right now so now or never I guess. After that I'm probably going to go to Triple O's to hang out. I haven't been there in a long long time. Then... I guess we'll see! If anything exciting happens maybe I'll post again.

Making Progress

Today was good. I studied a bunch, I got to sleep in and I played games. I also tried out this interesting kind of Japanese energy drink from Konbiniya. They're having this huge sale on now because it's their 14th (i think) Anniversary! So everything is quite cheap there. They're also selling this neat little gadget that lets you watch Japanese TV right here in Canada over the internet or something. It's pretty interesting. They had it on display today.

In 10 minutes it'll have been a year since I met Hime. A year! It totally doesn't seem like its been that long. Time goes by like *that* eh? It's pretty crazy. (It's not REALLY our anniversary per se, it's just the first time we met. First time we talked). It's hard to believe. A year. It's amazing =D

Right now the weather in Vancouver is terrible (but when is it not, right?). Right now its like 10 degrees, the wind is blowing at about 45km/h and its rainy. Beautiful eh? Well yesterday was nice (cold, but nice).

I also found out some interesting information about Japanese Working Holiday Visa too. It is only valid for 6 or 12 months. 悲しい。 But I will get one soon I hope. I will need a Passport first though I guess eh? And a medical exam!? >_< くそ

今日本語勉強しています

That means "Now I'm studying Japanese" because well.. I need to get crackin'. Today I downloaded a flashcard program that will hopefully help me out a lot. I have my own flashcards here at home but they take a while to make and it's hard to test myself with them. This way will hopefully be a lot better.

Here's what I'm using if you're interested:

Flash Card Manager - This flashcard program is awesome. It's super easy to put in all the cards you want and then while you're testing yourself you actually click on what rating you give yourself (like Positive, guessed, fail etc) It's great. If you fail something it will keep showing it to you until you get it right and it tracks your stats too so you know how many you still have to memorize and how many you've memorized so far. Amazing!

JquickTrans - It's got pretty much any word you could imagine. I got it for free when I bought Instant Immersion Japanese Deluxe but It's totally worth the $10 it costs online. Sometimes it's almost too much help because it has so much information. It has romaji also (If you're worried you don't see any romaji in the screenshot)

Instant Immersion Japanese Deluxe - If you're going to buy it DO NOT buy it from Amazon though. I just provided a link there to see the details. In Canada (as you may have noticed) things are extremely expensive compared the United States ($85CAD / $49USD which is about $45 Canadian). So you're paying almost double if you buy it on Amazon. If you want it - Find some way to order it from the states or find a place that will sell it for a decent price. (But with all that aside, it's an awesome program.

Kanji Gold - This is a flashcard program for Kanji. Already pre-set with all the kanji in the different "grades". It works with the JWPce databases so check that out too if you want this. I think this program would be really good for starting to study for the Japanese Proficiency Exam as it goes through the grades as an Elementary student would go through them.

Today I am probably going to study for a long time. I haven't spent too much time studying and I'm really regretting it. Wish me luck!

Shopping on West 4th

As I mentioned in the morning, today I was going shopping with my friends. We left a little bit later than I thought we would but that's because I'm slow. すみませんね。 We took the bus over the bridge to West 5th, then started shopping on West 4th under the bridge. We went into a few stores then finally found one that was giving away free hotdogs and had this minigolf game where you could win stuff. It was pretty interesting... I won a scarf hahaha (I'm terrible at minigolf).

We walked up west 4th into the Kitsalano area before turning around and walking home over the Burrard Bridge. After we were back to the downtown core we went to Daikichi Sushi (I mentioned it in one of my first posts) however, now it's not near as good as it used to be. ほんとに悲しいです。 The service isn't as good and the food isn't as tasty. It's also not very busy any more... I think most of the regulars are probably having the same reaction as me. It's really too bad. I withdraw my recommendation for Daikichi. Musashi on Denman is 100x better. Go there. I love it.

I emailed my friend Kenji yesterday because I hadn't talked to him in soo long. He used to teach me Japanese when he was in Canada. He's a teacher in Japan and he's been teaching so I think he's pretty busy. I'm excited to see him again (even though I won't be able to until after I move to Japan haha).

Long Weekend

Today I'm going to go shopping with my friend フラミンゴさん if you remember who that is :) Actually these nicknames I use are kinda なつかしぃ. But in any case we're going to go look for snowboard gear, I believe. I actually just woke up (it's now 1pm) - I was pretty sleepy but I think I'm good to go now. Tonight I might be going to a friends' birthday party from work. I haven't really decided yet but I don't have any other plans and he's a good guy so I might go.

そして日本にでんわするのは高すぎますね～ちょ高いよ。。でもオケイです。 If my sentences are wrong I apologize (I'm just practicing hehe).

Right now my hime is in Sapporo with her friends so I'm not able to call so much any more (calling a cell phone is really expensive) She'll be home next week and I'll get to talk to her more often then. Luckily I can send emails to her cell phone so we're always in contact やった！

Sunday and Monday I have no plans as of yet. Maybe I'll clean a little bit because I haven't cleaned very much recently.

THAT REMINDS ME. I have a new roommate! But I don't think he has a nickname yet. Maybe I will call him 隆 (リュウ)(Ryu) because he likes Street Fighter so much. He moved in last week so we've only been living together for a week but it's really fun. I'm so happy he is living here now and not our old roommate (who was quite antisocial and messy) He moved in a week after my gf left so it's been good. We play games together all the time. Actually he is kinda otaku like me. Its a good otaku though haha. でも、隆さんはゲーム上手だ。I always lose haha but it's fun.

Okay maybe I will blog again this weekend sometime. Now I have to go get ready to go out. My friends are probably waiting for me >_< またね

Notes for reading this post:
なつかしい (Natsukashii) = A feeling of nostalgia. It kinda translates to "Wow that really brings back some good memories, doesn't it."

Long time no post.

姫さんがここにいないので、僕は悲しいです。姫さんは日本に帰りました。

I haven't written on here for a really long time mainly because I didn't really have the time. My gf just went back to Japan this morning so I have a lot more free time with nothing to do... So I'll probably post on here more frequently.

It's pretty sad that she's gone now. Our room feels so... empty. I still have a lot of cleaning to do and I'm sure that after I'm finished it will be even more empty. めちゃ悲しいぃ。

Now I gotta go get some kind of Visa to go live in Japan myself =D I've started studying Japanese again and as I said earlier, I have a lot more free time so I'll be able to study lots I hope :) I'm really excited and sad all at the same time.

Our Trip to Disneyland

Oct 20 - This is just after we arrived in Los Angeles at about lunch time. Right now we're just at the airport waiting on the little cement island for our Shuttle bus to our Hotel in Anaheim. It took so long for the bus to come and there were literally a hundred buses that came by (and we had no idea what it was supposed to look like). But finally a big bus pulled up with Disneyland written across it's side and Disney characters all around. I asked just to make sure... It was it! So we boarded and tried to catch some shuteye... but it was hard with all the excitement. We went to Disneyland until late that night after we checked in to our Hotel and dropped our stuff in our room.

Oct 21 - The second day of our trip we ended up sleeping in without even meaning to. We were so tired from the 2 days before (we had an overnight layover in Seattle on our way here and we stayed up most of the night because airport seats aren't meant for sleeping). This is probably around 11am. It was probably around 30°C and damn it was windy. This day we spend just about the entire day in Disneyland. After this day we had taken just about every ride and seen every attraction that was there (except the boring ones of course). We were only missing a few and we had one more day of Disneyland to go so we were pretty confident we could do it :)

Oct 22 - This day we went to Universal Studios. It's not really what it's all made out to be. Most of the attractions (shows) aren't very interesting or even entertaining (in my opinion), but the only two actual 'rides' that they have are definitely better than Disneyland. They have Jurrasic Park (my favorite) and The Mummy (Hime's favorite). They're both super fun. Jurrasic park has this huuuge drop at the end of it (you're floating in a boat) and you get soaked! It's great. The Mummy, instead of using gravity to gain speed (going up and then back down), it actually suddenly accelerates you foreword really fast. It's really interesting - I've never been on a ride like that. Also when you think its all over.. instead of actually ending, you start going backward - it's awesome.

Oct 23 - This was a weird day. We went to Disneyland in the morning thinking that today was our last day in LA but... it wasn't. So we finished our shopping early in the morning, then came back to our hotel, checked out, grabbed the shuttle bus back to the LA Airport, and attempted to check-in. After quite a while they finally figured figured out why we weren't booked for the flight that evening... because we weren't leaving until the 24th! Very embarrassing. Luckily we had got a stamp when we left Disneyland so... We took the shuttle bus BACK to Anaheim, checked BACK in to our hotel (luckily they let us) and went back to Disneyland. This day we stayed right up until it closed to make up for our lost time. We tried every ride we wanted to so it was all good in the end.

Oct 24 - So today was our actual departure date so we went to LA in the late morning so we could do some shopping downtown. Sadly, as we discovered, downtown LA is ugly and shopping is hard to find. We had to tote around all our luggage as well since we weren't able to check it in until 4 hours before our flight (which was at 8pm). We went right into the heart of downtown and visited the Fashion District and Jewelry district. Both of these areas seemed very dirty and they weren't very busy at all. But we went and found the LA Library which is actually super nice and from there we looked around and found one tiny little shopping center so we had some food at the food court and headed out again. We didn't really find anything interesting except for the yoshinoya Japanese restaurant. It was pretty tasty. Then we headed back to the airport just in time to take our flight to Seattle.

Oct 25 - We didn't take any pictures this day but we did do a lot of shopping. First thing we did was we went to the Greyhound bus station to buy our bus ticket back to Vancouver, then we put all our luggage into a locker (LA doesn't have them at the airport). So we were able to shop without luggage! It was amazing. We ate lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in the Greyhound bus station. The food was pretty good but the service wasn't so much. After that we took a stroll in downtown Seattle. It's way nicer than downtown LA and there's actually places to shop and things to look at (not just broken windows and run down buildings). We found an arcade and played games for a while then had some Nachos there too (but they weren't as good as the nachos at our hotel in Anaheim). Hime bought a nice jacket JUST before we had to come back. It looked so warm >_<. Then... we came back to Vancouver! And thus ends our trip to Disneyland.

Summer Recap!

It's Canada Day!! Actually we took this picture while we were still in Vancouver (It was a really sunny day... that's why my eyes are not open haha). Such beautiful scenery around here... I was actually pretty suprised. But anyway... And so it begins, our trip to Sechelt, B.C.

We went to a few different cities and towns along the way. The first place we stopped at was Gibsons because, well, that's where the ferry stops. This was the day before Canada day we got here. And DAMN does Gibsons have a huge hill!!! It was pretty crazy... and we walked up it. Actually our hotel was at the top and I just had a map from google so we figured we'd adventure a little bit but it was really tiring. In this picture we were about 1/3 or so of the way up the hill. We had no idea how much longer it was going to go on for... we just knew we had to keep going haha.

Day 2 it was Canada Day and we were still in Gibsons. We walked back down that crazy hill, all the way to the bottom where the actual downtown area is and went out on to one of the many piers. Again, it was a beautiful day. It was hot, the sun was shining and there were people milling around all over the place. We were in a 'festive spirit', I guess you could say. This is definitely the reason people come to Canada. The beautiful scenery (and the people of course ^_^) We didn't stay in Gibsons for too long today though, we had plans to begin our trip to Seachelt! But we had to try those tasty smelling hot dogs the cadets had on sale. They were a little on the expensive side but they were really good. And it was vacation! Who cares if a hotdog costs a bit too much, it's time to enjoy! But, we had had our time to enjoy already and it was time to get on a bus and head off to Seachelt.

On the way over there we got a little sidetracks and suddenly decided to get off the bus to explore a beach we saw (It's public transit so it was all good). We wandered over to the beach and started to fish around in the sand for anything living. Crabs, oysters, etc. Sadly we couldn't find anything too interesting. Then it started to get a little overcast and our spirits started to drop a little bit but not to fear, the tide is coming in! We had to evacuate the beach along with everyone else who was enjoying their time there. But it was interesting watching the tide come in on such a flat beach. Very cool. After the beach we crossed the street and went over to a small little farmers market where they were selling vegetables and fruits. We bought some raspberries and cherries and then went next door to a little store that sold collectibles, juice, hand-made jewelry and the like. We bought a fruit punch smoothie there... it was alright - nothing spectacular, that's for sure. And then off to the Fish and Chips place! We bought some fries and were just sitting down to eat when the bus came! What's up with that? So we ran to get on the bus and were informed that we can't eat on the bus. So we ended up just looking at our fries being hungry until we got to Seachelt.

Now this is Seachelt. Actually, I'm sorry, I don't have a picture of the city but I do have a picture of us together on the coastline! (I know that doesn't help haha) This picture you might have seen before... Actually I know you've seen it before because it's both my display picture on MSN and it's my picture on this blog also. I really like it, as you might have guessed. Seachelt is a pretty small town - I'm actually not really sure what there is to do here, I just remembered the coastline was so pretty - that's why I wanted to bring my Hime here to see it. We went for dinner at one of the few restaurants I know of and we had Halibut - it was really good actually... but expensive haha. The next morning we took some pictures at the local Drug Store with cute animal hats on. It was actually really fun - I've never done something like this before - just put something on and taken pictures hahaha. After we finished looking around the Drug store we were off to go back home.

And that was our Canada Day weekend and our trip to Seachelt. I really had a lot of fun - I love traveling and it's so much better when you're doing it with someone you love. We're trying to plan another trip.. but we're not quite sure where to yet. Maybe Disneyland =D

My mom and sister came to visit us in Vancouver for a night then we all went back to Penticton together for the weekend. Sadly Penticton wasn't very hot the few days we were there, which is pretty strange - usually it's in the 30's. But we still floated the channel.. but were freezing the entire time because it was so windy. Actually we had a little mishap with one of the floaties... I was holding on to my sisters' and then I thought she grabbed it but apparently she didn't so we both let go and whoosh, it was gone upstream. I attempted to swim upstream after it. It didn't have any trouble continuing upstream but I sure did. I was so, incredibly tired when I finally got to it. I didn't even have enough energy to talk once I managed my way back to Hime and my sister. Whew, interesting experience. But we still had a good time and still managed to get suntanned despite it only being 26 (which, I guess, is still pretty warm in most places)

Back in Vancouver and... our roommate is now gone. She was pretty cool and I kind of miss her. And now we have a new roommate and he's not really... well he's kinda anti-social actually haha. He never does anything outside of his bedroom. He always either eats out or eats cup noodle. Strange guy.

Right now I'm working a lot of overtime at work. I've been working from 9am-9pm Monday to Friday and 9am-5:30pm on Saturdays... It really sucks. Lots of money, but no time to spend with my girlfriend. I'm so happy she's good about it though. Actually she cooks me lunch and dinner everyday. So nice! I love you Hime - ありがとう!!! Actually, I got somewhat of a promotion at work. Mainly just more responsibilities but I see it as a way to show what I can do. They asked me if I would like to be the Point of Contact for the Economy in our game and I gladly accepted. So my roll is to coordinate the testing of our in-game economy. It's pretty cool. I'm so happy I was given this opportunity - I hope it pays off.

Karaoke is awesome!! Man, I love it. I'm a terrible singer but I really like karaoke. The first time I tried it I was with Hime and her best friend and I was so nervous. I sang a couple songs alone and then I tried singing one with Hime's friend but I was so off key we couldn't even sing together hahaha. Recently I've gone with Hime a bunch of times and I'm really liking it. Sadly it's really expensive... not even just kinda expensive. It's super expensive. More than dinner for 2!!! It's crazy.

フラミンゴさん (Ming) came back from Monterey in Mexico and brought with him some souvenirs! I love souvenirs haha. He brought me a coffee mug that says Monterey on it so I brought it to work and use it every day. Thanks!!

Now its なっとさん's (Nat's) turn to go back to Japan. Actually I was never very good friends with her but she's really cool and a good friend of Kenji so it was kinda sad saying bye. Hime and I went together to her party to say goodbye at a restaurant called Ebisu on the 2nd floor on the corner or Robson and Bute. We didn't actually stay to order any food or have any drinks so I don't really have any comments on the restaurant but the ambiance seemed pretty good for hanging out in groups. Actually I told Nat that Hime and I had just got back from Penticton and going down the channel because I remembered she told me she had done the same thing back in December of 2006 at Ming's birthday party but she said she had never told me... but she gone to Penticton to go down the channel. Hime also remembers our conversation at Ming's party so we had no idea what was going on hahaha. It was pretty funny though. Still now I have no idea.

We're Moved In!

Hime and I moved in on Monday of this week and it went pretty smoothly. No major hassles or anything. The move itself went just about as smooth as you could ask for. Nothing broken and so far nothing lost. The major problem we ran into was after the move when we discovered we were missing a lot of essential things such as a pot, a can opener, bowls, microwavable plates, plastic wrap, a toaster, oven mitts, some kind of sharp knife, and a few other things. Actually I just remembered I do have a couple of sharp knives... but my old roommates must have packed them up with their stuff by accident. I'll have to call them later and get them back.

Our new apartment is really nice; I'm super happy with it. It's fairly large and it has a wonderful layout. Can't ask for too much more. Oh, it also has a balcony and is a block from Robson street =D. We still have to get a little bit more furniture such as a coffee table or a TV stand (since the TV is currently on my coffee table), a dining room table, a second desk for Hime and a few other things. We also will be looking for a roommate soon so we will have to buy a second bed for the roommate to sleep on and probably a desk for them to do their work on. The kitchen is great. There's lots of cupboard space for the size of kitchen it is and still enough counter space too. Also, this time, the counters are the right height. In my last apartment the counters were made for midgets, I swear. I feel so comfortable here. I'm so happy we found this place and I'm with my hime.

By the way, I finished reading Ancestors of Avalon and it wasn't very good. It also took me a terribly long time to read. I plan on reading a good book next.

Our New Apartment

Hime and I found an apartment the other day. Its on the 7th floor of a highrise. Beautiful apartment. Its about 650sq ft (60.4sq m) and has 1 bedroom, kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom, and a balcony. Its a block from Robson street (downtown blocks are incredibly short - maybe 1 minute walk) but its still in a fairly quiet area as the street we're on runs parallel and is a dense residential area (if you've played Sim City you'll know what this means). I'm really happy with the apartment we chose. We looked at a different suite in the same building in February but it was 525sq ft and far too small for us so we didn't take it. But this one is great. The hotel also has a gym and sauna. I can't wait to move. After we move in we'll take some pictures and I'll post them up here.

Also I've decided to start with a healthier diet. I've decided to quit eating potato chips and drinking coffee. I plan to quit more things in the future but for now this is fine. I don't want to quit it 100% but... 95%. I plan on eating chips every few months maybe and I'll have coffee to be polite if I'm at someones house and am offered coffee and no tea. I just want to start eating more healthy. I also don't drink milk but I haven't drank milk in a really long time.

Valentines Day

Valentines day was great. We checked in at our hotel after buying some snacks and dinner. We bought chocolate to melt and strawberries to go with it for a snack. For dinner we bought a frozen pizza and some KFC. We also bought a bottle of wine for the occassion. I hadn't had KFC in sooo long. It was interesting. Good though. The lady at the hotel had listened to our request to move from room 2406 to one of the other larger ones and when we checked in she informed us that she had given us 2409 which is a corner suite. It was a beautiful room with a beautiful view.

We exchanged presents and then sat down to eat dinner. I gave her "The Notebook" book and a little mood ring and panda stuffed animal (だれぱんだ). She said that Darepanda is her "most hated" thing in Japan but she will keep it anyway. She gave me a promising note and a box of chocolates that were quite tasty. I will post up a picture of some of the presents after I censor the names ^^.

We had quite the time. The jacuzzi was wonderful. Not too much more we could have asked for except maybe a clear sky for a better view, but the view wasn't bad anyway. It was good. We had one accident. A wine glass got broken while we were in the jacuzzi so we had to evacuate and then I cleaned it up a little bit later.

Hime's Parents!?

Last week I met Hime's parents. They came to Canada from Japan for a week (well about a week). They arrived Monday but on Tuesday they left for Las Vegas and brought Hime with them. They came back from Las Vegas on Thursday morning and I saw them again for most of the day Thursday and Friday. They left to go back to Japan on Saturday at around noon but I was at work so I had to say goodbye to them on Friday night.

It was really interesting meeting them. I couldn't have much of a conversation so Hime ended up translating a lot but they were really cool. I really enjoyed thier company. They took me out for dinner and lunch a number of times and wouldn't let me pay. I wrote a letter for them in Japanese with help from Kenji though. I wrote it in English and then he translated it into Japanese for me and then I rewrote it in Japanese. I gave her parents both the English copy and the Japanese copy. I think they liked it. I hope so.

Today is Valentines day and Hime and I rented a room at the Sandman hotel on Davie. We got the Jacuzzi Queen Suite on the Penthouse floor (24). Its a really nice view of the city. I can't wait until tonight ^_^. It is suprisingly inexpensive for what you get.. Top floor of a nice hotel with a beautiful room.... AND a jacuzzi for $204 a night. I bought her a couple little things that I hope she likes. I guess I'll find out tonight. Next blog I'll talk about what I bought and put up some pictures of our room and the view. ^^