Otaru & 15 Months

Two days ago my gf, her family and I went to Otaru to do a little sight seeing and pick up some seafood. It was a pretty cool place. The area we visited was, I think, one of the main tourist places. Most of the buildings looked so old and some were definitely historic or semi-historic at least. There was one restaurant/bar that was in an old train station. Down the middle of the building there was a hallway from one end to the other of the building with train tracks running along it and to one side there was a beautiful restaurant and to the other, a bar. Probably half of the shops were souvenir stores. Some of them were really cool. I bought some souvenirs for some of my family and friends and a couple for myself. I bought a "Kiki's Delivery Service" card holder. It's really cute and it's one of my favorite Miyazaki movies so I thought it would be a good souvenir.

My gf and I bought a 2 peice magnetic keychain with a guy's face and a girls face kissing haha. It's so cute. I think I'll bring back the girl side to Canada with me and she'll keep the guy's. And then we bought these little gems that were quite expensive. I chose 白 and my gf chose 緑色. Every color has a meaning and mine's kinda... everything. I guess they ran out of ideas or something. My color is supposed to adapt to the wearer's feelings or problems to fix them I guess. My gf's color, green, is supposed to help build a big heart and help with money I believe. They're kinda interesting... but expensive. For the 2 of them it was １７０００円 o_O but well, it's our anniversary so what can you do right? haha.

We also bought the most expensive chocolates I've ever seen hahaha. We only bought 2 because well... it was too expensive to buy more. Each peice of chocolate was ２４０円 so for 2 peices it was almost $5. We got a tiny little bag with pretty tape though. But sadly the chocolates weren't all that amazing. Sure, they were tasty, but what $5 chocolate isn't going to be tasty right? I wouldn't say it was worth $5, but maybe if I meet a chocolate fanatic I can tell them I ate Le Tao chocolate and they'll be impressed... if they know it hahaha. I believe it's only a small Japanese company since it doesn't have a link on Wikipedia and google only brings back results of Japan... Otaru specifically. It was good though.

Yesterday was our real anniversary day so we went downtown. We wanted to go for dinner but it was too early at the time so we went to an arcade to play some "metal" games. I took a picture of the one we played today the most. At this arcade there weren't really any interesting ones or big fancy ones so we decided on a cute little one that had a lot of minigames. It was really loud though and started to give us a headache after a while even with our scarfs stuffed infront of the speakers. We moved to a new one after a while but our coins disappeared pretty quick and we left haha.

We found what looked like a nice Izakaya and went in to eat. It was pretty good but nothing amazing. After dinner we went for some karaoke. I'm really starting to enjoy karaoke a lot. Maybe my singing is improving even! Still terrible, but now only... kinda terrible - I hope haha. I've been trying to sing some Japanese songs but it's hard to read Japanese so fast. But I'll keep trying =D so far my favorite song is 胸がドキドキ from the anime Detective Conan. It's fun to sing and I know the tune ^_^ Karaoke in Japan is much nicer than in Canada, as I've said before, but I have a picture to prove it now haha. In this room that we were in yesterday it's $3/h during the day and... $6/h at night. There's big flatscreen LCD TV and the karaoke machine has pretty lights (I know, completely useless, but if you like Apple computers you'll appreciate the pretty stuff like completely useless lights). You choose songs by 2 remote control LCD touch screen displays. Both English and Japanese interfaces (and Chinese too I believe... but I've never investigated the chinese button) and best of all... 2 large Bose speakers which pump out gorgeous karaoke sound. Actually the Bose speakers are kinda a pain because you realize how terrible you really are since you can't blame your terrible singing on sound quality hahaha.

Round 1 & Valentines

Round 1 is an arcade kind of place that has all sorts of stuff in it. You pay $15 and you get to stay for 3 hours and do whatever you want. They have a Tennis court, curling, batting cages, pitching practice, minigolf, volleyball, badminton, soccer, bowling, mini bowling, billiards, fishing and basketball for sports. Also there are massage chairs, manga, karaoke, rollerblading, a big arcade you can play as much as you want, a kids area with lots of balls and stuff and one of those electronic "bulls" which is in the background of the picture to the right. It's really cool. Fantastic idea and tonns of fun. For $15 you can't go wrong.

I went there one time with my gf and her brother and a few days ago I went again with her and her friend Kawa. After we played sports for a while we went to the kids area to check it out and were pleasantly suprised. There were 2 different small rooms full of balloons and fans. One had a tonn of small balloons and one had a bunch of giant balloons. The giant balloon room was a lot of fun so we took some pictures in there, as you might have noticed above ^_^. After, we went up a bunch of stairs and took a slide down into the "kids area"... and it was really staticy. I went down a big spiral-ey one first and I could see lightning bolts flying off my shoulders to the slide. It was also fairly noisy. The two girls didn't seem too inclined on going down the slide after that but I managed to convince them to go down the shorter, straight slide. My gf went first with the same result. She touched a metal railing at the bottom and got zapped pretty good haha. Her friend, I think, was a little more cautious about the railing but was overly cautious of the slide. She hugged herself and flew down it like no tomorrow, slamming into a padded wall at the bottom hahaha. The whole area was pretty full of static. We climbed through a little maze-like contraption which had metal bolts in it... 危ない。 My gf got zapped again from the bolts.

And then there were tricylces... It's been a long time since I tricylced, that's for sure. It was a tonn of fun too. We were there at around 11pm or 12pm so there were no kids so we had the whole place to ourselves haha. There was a path around the "kid area" for the trikes so we went around a couple times. It was pretty difficult for me to petal though - I think I'm a little too tall. My gf and her friend had some troubles too but they managed it easier than I, I think. Those are the massage chairs in the background of the picture of my gf and her friend. After we triked for a while we sat down to relax for a few minutes there.

We played some arcade games but didn't have very much time so we decided on a game of mini-bowling before we left. Almost every time my gf wins at bowling but for some reason today just wasn't her day. It was pretty fun though. The whole night was pretty fun. Canada should get a Round 1. I have no idea why it doesn't actually. I bet it would make a tonn of money. I think Canada's problem is they charge too much for everything. If it was cheaper, this stuff would be a lot more popular. Sucks.

For Valentines day my gf and I went to a different arcade and movie theatre and watched 28 weeks later. It was fairly mediocre. Nothing too amazing or fantastic - it was a little too busy for most of the movie. The action never ceases - never lets up - it gets a little tiring after a while. After that we played some coin games. In Japan they're a tonn of fun. In Canada it's a lot more expensive and the return is almost nil so the fun ends quite soon. We spent $20 and got 240 coins and played for 3 or 4 hours. At one point we had more than doubled our original coin count but in the end, of course, we ran out. Then it was off to Gusto. It's kinda like Denny's but a little bit tastier and a little less oily. Still expensive like Dennys but what can you do. Actually it was really cheap in the end... Actually Gusto paid me to eat there haha. I paid for our dinner with ５０００円 but the girl mistook it for １００００円 and gave me change accordingly. I actually wasn't sure myself who was at fault for a while. I also had a １００００円 bill in my wallet and a day or two previous I had 2 of them in my wallet so I had to do a little detective work to figure it out. At the time her mom was waiting for us so we had to hurry out so after we were in the car I started asking questions. I figured out that I, had, indeed, given her ５０００円.. Our dinner was ２７００円 so she gave me ７３００円 change for the ５０００円 I had given her. So in the end she more or less gave me ２３００円 to eat there which is roughly $22CAD. I feel really bad.. their register is going to be pretty off and we were already too far away to go back (it's nowhere near where she lives). Maybe some day we'll go back and buy a lot of food to kinda make up for it... or something.

A Man From Earth

A Man From Earth is a good movie. I watched it because... well mainly because I was bored. The 2nd reason was because it sounded interesting. More-so than most movies that have come out recently. The 3rd reason was because it's free to watch on certain websites. Now, I'm not condoning being a pirate however, on this site you don't actually have to download anything. It's great!! If you can find a movie hosted on Stage6 or S6 for short, you're laughin'. It's DVD quality and streams really fast. Wonderful website - use it while you can. (also the poster for the movie has no relevance to the actual movie itself... so don't be fooled - it's completely different haha)

ANYWAY the movie was really good. It's about this guy who's been around for 14,000 thousand years (or so he claims) and suddenly he just decides to tell his friends about it before he leaves town. The whole movie is situated in his living room (yes I know it sounds boring but bear with me) while he tells his story. His friends are all highly intellectual colleagues of differing professions. It's really well written, filmed and told. Despite it never changing location, it went by quicker than most movies - I was upset it was over so soon. But don't let the drab description I've given it dissuade you from watching it - go watch it because I said it's good. That is... if you like movies that make you think.

Skiing at Apex

Today my dad, his friend Chris, my sister and I all went up to Apex Ski Resort to go skiing. Well my sister and I were going skiing and my dad and his friend were going to go skating and play some hockey at the rink they have there. The forecast was for snow, moderate winds, and about -5 degrees... It ended up being quite different.

We arrived at about 10 and it was already snowing quite heavily and the wind was blowing pretty hard at 1500m (base elevation). I couldn't imagine what it would be like up the Quick Draw (that lead to the top of the mountain). But after getting some equipment and our passes that's where we were headed. One of the people working at Apex told us that if the winds hit 90km/h at the summit the Quad (Stock) chair would be closed. Meaning more than half the runs would be inaccessible. So we went fast haha.

We got on the chair and started riding it up and damn it was windy. It was really snowing hard and the wind wasn't helping it. My sister and I took cover under our jackets and kept our goggles on the entire time (except when we took pictures). Cold cold. Up at 2100m it was really cold and really windy... and really snowy too! I didn't even bother taking pictures because there was too much snow. The picture of me there is about 1/4 of the way down the mountain on the side that wasn't as windy haha. It was really fun though. After we went down the mountain once we went up the Triple Chair (Stock Chair) which is about 3/4 of the way up. It was also pretty windy but what can you do right? We went down a couple times then packed it in for lunch.

We went to the Apex Mountain Saloon if my memory serves me correctly and had a bite to eat at the restaurant. We took some pictures before ordering anything. My sisters face was just about frozen and mine had condensation all over it hahaha. Anyway, my sister ended up getting poutine and I had the chicken fingers. They were a little on the dry side but still pretty tasty. And anyway, who am I to complain - I'm hungry. The food did take quite a long time to arrive so we didn't tip very much ^_^. Time to head back to the mountain.

After we at lunch we discovered that the Quad had been closed. I guess the winds were above 90km/h now at the summit. Lame -_-' So we continued down to the Triple chair to get a couple more runs in. Overall it was a pretty good day. I haven't been skiing in soo long but it was really fun. I didn't even fall down! Then again we didn't do any black diamonds. BUT Apex blue's are pretty hard too - moguls and stuff.

I took some pictures of the scenery on the way home but none turned out all that well. It was cloudy, we were moving and I'm not a photographer haha. So because of that I'll just put this on picture here. Don't want to bombard you with crappy attempts at scenery photography.

On a side note, I watched I Am Legend last night with my brother. It was a pretty good movie but definitely nothing spectacular. I was really surprised at the ending. I won't spoil anything except the fact that there is almost no falling action. Really weird... There was the climax and then about 30 seconds more of the movie. When it ended my first thought was "that's it?". It doesn't leave it hanging for a sequel.. it just sorta ends haha. It's alright though. I like the idea and I like how it was made.. most of it.

Polar Bear Swim

I'm not sure who's familiar with a "polar bear swim" so I'll explain it. It's when crazy people run into freezing water in the winter to celebrate New Years. At least that's the definition for Penticton. Other cities might do it differently... but the 'crazy' part still stands haha. This new years afternoon my mom and I went down to watch this strange event. This is the first time it's been hosted in Penticton (It's our centennial year this year). There was quite a big turn out too! Usually it's in Summerland which is about 20 minutes out of town so it isn't so busy. This year there was a lot of people participating and a lot of people that just came down to watch.

The weather was pretty good - it wasn't windy. It wasn't snowing either though which is also good. But it was kinda cold. I think it was probably -2 or something near it. Also, as you can see on the left, the shore was completely frozen. That's a picture of some ice some of the kids that were there broke off before it started. The lake wasn't totally frozen obviously (only a very small part of it was) - but that's enough to keep me from going in haha.

Here's a shot of a bunch of the people getting ready to go in. If you look at the full size picture you might be able to see some people standing in the snow in their bare feet! (refer to my crazy statement) I was really surprised to see so many young girls going in - they'd be the last people I'd expect to go swimming in freezing water. There were also a lot of people in strange costumes too. There's a guy with a blue spiky plastic wig on, some sort of ladybug(?), a santa, some girl who just wanted to look eccentric, a guy in a Hawaiian t-shirt and some others I can't remember that aren't in the photos. Almost all the young girls in the picture were in an out of the water in just a couple seconds (before all the people were even in the water). There's a video of it at the end of this post if you want to check it out.

Also!! When I went to Kelowna a few days ago I found a place I thought was "Bon Appétit" but it was "Bone Appétit" I was a little bit disappointed but It was still interesting enough to take a picture. The reason I found it interesting was because Sam Soon from "My name is Kim Sam Soon" worked at a place called "Bon Appétit" so I wanted a picture of it. So here it is - even if it's not really what it was supposed to be haha.

And here's that video of the Polar bear swim I was talking about. I hope you enjoy it!

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)

My Hime's first day back

So my Hime came home this morning from Japan. I picked her up at the airport at just after 9:00. Her plane arrived earlier than it was supposed to so I was waiting in line for coffee when she arrived so I had to run to say hello. I was so glad to see her again. We ended up going to starbucks and getting drinks anyway. I had forgotten to call my work in the morning to let them know that I wouldn't be coming to work so I had to rush home after we finished our coffee. At my work we have to call in one hour before our shift or else we get a warning of sorts depending on where we are on the attendance or whatnot. I managed to get home and call at 10:50 (I start work at 12:00) So that was good. Hime went on to her apartment by herself on the bus (I got off at my stop to call) . After I called in to work I went to meet her at her apartment then we headed back to my place. I cooked up some chicken and made a garden salad with chicken on top. So tasty =D

Hime gave me some presents. They're awesome. She gave me some Hokkaido cookies and some tea and some presents. I got this giant Dragonball Z calander for 2007. Each month is a poster size ^_^. Its so great. Also she gave me this sweet Vegeta action figure (on the left there) and this hilarious little keychain thing with a boner (on the right). It's called Marimokkori and its, apparently, a really popular Hokkaido souvenir. It's so weird.

After that we started to watch Moulin Rouge but she fell asleep about 20 minutes into the movie so I paused the movie and she went to have a nap. She asked me to lay with her while she fell asleep so I did that. She fell asleep after about 10 minutes so I snuck out. I found japanese subtitles for her since Moulin Rouge is a really confusing movie and the people speak SO fast. Last time we tried to watch it I couldn't explain it fast enough.

At around 6:00 Hime went home and I installed Diablo II and started a campaign with Marth. I made a druid who goes by the name of Ninjin =D (it means carrot in japanese). I only got to play for a little while though before I had to go meet up with Hime. She had to go pick up some stuff from her friends place. Then we went to Blenz and had some hot chocolate.

Now shes nagging me and nagging me because she wants to play Cake Mania. I'm going to let her use my computer now. She's so crazy but I still love her. ^_^

THE有頂天ホテル

After work and a short D&D session, Hime and I got together to watch a movie Kenji lent me called 「THE有頂天ホテル」 or "The Uchoten Hotel". From what we watched, I really enjoyed it but I was too tired to watch the whole movie so we ended up stopping it with about 30 minutes or so left. I plan on watching it again though, it was, honestly, pretty funny. It had English subtitles so I was able to fully enjoy it as well.