Working Holiday Visa!

So, I just got back from the big town of Vancouver last night. I was applying for my Working Holiday Visa. I'm not sure how exactly it all works... but it seemed like I was going to get it, they just had to process all my info and actually make the visa for me which might take a couple weeks. So they're going to give me a call when it's all ready to go then I'm going to have to go down there again to pick it up.

It was a long weekend though. Highway 97 from Penticton to Kelowna is closed right now so the buses weren't running as often as usual, and were also taking a different route - through Princeton to Hope. I got on the bus at 8:15 Sunday morning and arrived in Vancouver at 5:00pm. REDICULOUS!!! 9 hours?! I couldn't believe how long it took. I was so greatful for the wonders of laptop computers, iPods and Nintendo DS's haha. Without those 3 things I would have gone crazy. Anyway, I went to a nice cafe with wireless internet so I could work on some stuff and get my Visa all ready to go. I got some coffee and a tasty beef wrap. The next morning I had food poisoning -_-' So far it was turning out to be an awesome trip haha.

I got everything done for my Visa though then headed on my way to go drop it off at the office and lo and behold, when I was walking up to the building was my buddy who was already supposed to be in Japan with a Working Holiday Visa. Apparently his Visa came in late and he had to change his flight. Sucks :( So, he came up to the consulate with me and sat as I finished filling out my paper work the he and I walked up to Robson together. He had to meet a friend and so did I so we parted ways and hopefully I'll see him in Japan!!

Food poisoning is a real bummer. I didn't want to eat or drink anything when I was with my friends so it was kinda lame. *sigh* But the rest of the night was alright. I stayed with my old roommates and we talked for a couple hours then played games for a bit then it was sleepy time.

When I woke up I felt a lot better so I walked with my roommate to work and got a wrap since I was pretty hungry, then we got on the skytrain together. We said bye at Stadium Skytrain (where he works) and I headed off to the Greyhound bus depot.

When I got there they told me there was no bus that left at 9:45 to Penticton. WTF!? The lady in Penticton told me specifically that there were only 2 buses... one at 6:15 and one at 9:45. Stupid. So I had to go to Westbank, then catch a bus there down to the "water taxi" then take the "water taxi" to summerland, THEN call for a ride to Penticton. In the end I got home at 8pm. So that was 10 hours and 30 minutes. So sad.

Then I had to work the next day!! (this morning) I ended up sleeping through my alarm somehow but still managed to get to work by about 7:30 thanks to my mom haha. Phew, that was a long weekend.

Canada

So here I am again. Back in Canada. For some reason I find it so much harder to blog when I'm in Canada and I'm not really sure why haha. I think part of it had to do with the convenience of being able to blog from my phone in Japan. So I could write while I was waiting for the Subway (or riding the subway) or any number of things.

Anyway, So I'm back for a while. Right now I'm a little hurting for money so I think I'll have to work for a monthish before I go back (lame eh?) And I'm going to have to go to Vancouver to get my working holiday visa. For some reason you have to apply IN PERSON. So I can't just mail it to Vancouver, I have to actually take the bus (or drive) there to drop off a sheet of paper, then come home. LAME!

Well yeah, so, I don't have too much to say haha. My teachers (from Ai) are in Japan right now having a good time and I'm jelous hehe - good thing facebook is here for me to look at their pictures.

My Japanese is kinda coming along, but not as well as I had hoped. Learning a new language is definitely not something to take lightly I guess (not that I do).

This post is completely random and has no structure lol. My appologies. Please forgive my random story stuff. Anyway, with that said... Before I left Japan I had a sports drink that tasted like fruitloops. IMAGINE THAT!!! I'd say it was disgusting but... fruitloops aren't really that gross so I can't complain too much. My only complaint is that sports drinks should NOT taste like that.

See you next post!!

P.S. I'll be posting something in Japanese soon I think (on my Japanese blog [translated]). I have an interesting story to tell... but I'm saving it for Japanese practice. I'm not sure how interesting English people might find it so I won't bother buahaha. I'll put a link to the post here after I write it - it might take me a while.

Flin Flon

Last week I took a short drive out to Flin Flon, Manitoba with my dad to visit relatives. I'm going to be moving to Japan at the end of next month so I wanted to see my grandparents, especially, before I left since I'm not sure how long I'll be gone for. On the way out there I took a lot of pictures... But I won't make you suffer through them all. I did find this interesting old house on a hill near the highway though so I snapped a picture of that. Sorry, it's a little overcast but there's not too much I could do about that haha. The picture on the left is of Flin Flon as you're driving in to town through Creighton. You can see the giant smoke stack in the background puffing away 24 hours a day haha. You can see it everywhere you go. Actually I just found out it's the 7th largest building in Canada o_O it's 251.5m that's kinda interesting.

After I got there I went to see my grandparents and they're doing pretty good. I was there for 4 days and visited them 3 so I think I did pretty good haha. We went out for dinner one night too, it was nice. I haven't actually been to Flin Flon since probably 2002 so it was pretty nostalgic to see the city and all the people there. My grandparents have moved from their house I remember to a retirement center but it's a nice place and they seem pretty happy where they are :) Especially my grandpa, he kept bragging they have one of the only 2 bedroom places haha.

After that I spent some time with my uncle and dad fishing from the dock at my uncle's cabin. It was really cold and windy but we actually managed to catch one! Surprising eh? It was pretty fun though, I also haven't gone fishing since the last time I went to Flin Flon so.... like 6 years ago probably. It might have even been longer, I don't really remember. And then my aunt and I went to a club and ended up drinking quite a bit together haha. It was a pretty fun night. We were swing dancing together making fools of ourselves probably. Everyone else was grinding away around us and we were bumping into them spinning around and whatnot. I think we probably took up a quarter of the dance floor for the most part. Most people moved out of the way haha. I don't have any pictures of that though, I didn't bring my camera =/

Well after all the fun in Flin Flon it was time to head out. We stopped at a few places on the way home so I have a couple pictures to share. But first, I found where Bill Gates took his picture for Windows XP haha. That's not from Saskatchewan suprisingly, it is just out of Drumheller on the way to Calgary ^_^ Then it was off to BC!!

Our first stop was Drumheller (which is before the previous picture hehe oops). Anyway, I got my picture taken with a giant freakin' dinosaur. This thing is gigantic!! You'll probably have to click on it then find me standing on it's toe before you really notice the sheer size of this thing. I was blown away haha. For a little reference I'm 6' tall or 183cm (I'm a little taller than it's toe).

Then off to Banff to the Banff Springs Hotel for a bite to eat for lunch. Now that hotel.... is a nice hotel. It's like an old castle turned into a hotel. It's amazing and the architecture is beautiful. It's one of those places you just want to go explore for hours and hours until you get lost and have to explore your way back. The food there was a little pricey, but it was good. And it's not too often I get the chance to go eat there anyway haha. It ended up being a little over $50 for 2 sandwiches and 2 coffees haha. But what can you do right? The view was awesome. I took that picture from my seat (we sat on the patio). I just turned to the left and pointed my camera over the railing. I didn't even need to stand up haha.

After that it was a short drive to Lake Louise to see what they had to see. We didn't stay long (it started to rain) but it was pretty neat place too. I'd say Banff is much more interesting, especially since there's a city nearby and stuff to do, but I guess some people might disagree ^_^ It was nice all the same though. Other than that, it was a short drive back to Penticton so nothing interesting to report there haha.

20th is When I Leave

It's confirmed. I fly out on the 20th. This morning I woke up, went and picked up my passport and went straight to buy my ticket. I'll be leaving Canada on January the 20th and comin' back home on the 13th of April. I'm pretty excited =D I can't even imagine what it'll be like. Right now it feels like it's all a dream - like I'm not actually going there. It's a pretty amazing feeling. My gf has been at work all day so I haven't been able to share the excitement yet but I think she'll finish soon ^_^

Here's some numbers:

• The passport took me about 2 weeks to get. I applied in person and picked it up in person. It cost me $97 I believe (with the $10 pickup charge).
• The plane ticket cost me $1057 (incl. tax) for a round trip flying economy on JAL Airlines. It's a flight to Sapporo (In Hokkaido - Northern Japan) so I'll transfer in Narita to Chitose.
• Other than that.. no numbers haha. Once I'm in Japan I might be able to give a little more insight but that's it for now.

I'll be moving out of my apartment before I fly off to Japan. I'm moving back home to Penticton so I can save more money and live with my family before permanently moving to Japan later in 2008. I'm kinda sad to say bye to my friends here in Vancouver but well, we'll only be a flight away ^_^ I'm not sure if anybody reads my friend's blogs I've linked on the right (at the moment only 2 update) but Bodhi is who will be moving in. She's mentioned it in her blog too but I thought I'd point that out. She has an interesting blog so go read it if you're looking for more reading material. If you're studying English, also go read it as she uses a lot of interesting grammatical styles that you probably won't find very often.

I'm going to Japan!!

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!

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 ^_^

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.

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.

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.

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.