Stacked Deck
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Meet The Parents
Woohoo!
Ets managed to get hols from the 17th to the 24th! Yay! ^_^
Now all she has to do is get tickets.
And she got the day off on the 5th too which means that we can get all dressed up in our yukatas and head off to see the fireworks ^_^
Things are looking up!
w00t!
Ets managed to get hols from the 17th to the 24th! Yay! ^_^
Now all she has to do is get tickets.
And she got the day off on the 5th too which means that we can get all dressed up in our yukatas and head off to see the fireworks ^_^
Things are looking up!
w00t!
Monday, July 24, 2006
Shots
And a lot of them!
It was Sean's stag night on Saturday to mark his last official night of debauchery.
We started off in Motoyowata for dinner which was normal enough. Jin and I thought it'd be fun to make Sean wear the bunny suit on the train on the way to Chiba.
So here's Sean, on the train, wearing a bunny suit that is a lot warmer than you might think.
Jon, Sean and Steve, getting some of the few free seats on the train.
After awhile, when some other people left, we decided to sit on the opposite row and see if anyone would be brave enough to sit next to the sweaty gaijin in the pink bunny suit.
True enough. None would sit next to Sean. Except for that lone girl who was busy studying English and may not have noticed Sean in the first place (which is highly unlikely). We noticed that people would crowd around the doors and not even stand nearby let alone sit down next to him. Poor bunny.
We saw this yukata display in Chiba station.
Sean jumped the small barrier and gave us this weird kodak moment.
Our next stop was a snack pub somewhere in Chiba.
Personally, I don't see the appeal of paying to have moderately attractive girls pour your drinks for you but there you go. Here's Sean tearing it up on the karaoke machine.
Before our final stop at Raver's, we went to Balearic to say hi to Shinji and get Sean a 649. I'd never heard of this particular drink until about half a year ago. Now most bars have three rows of spirits mounted on the wall behind the counter. A 649 is simply this, the 6th bottle from the left on the top, the 4th bottle from the right on the middle row, and the 9th bottle from the left from the bottom row. Take one shot from each and pour into a shooter.
So each bar would produce a different combination.
In Balearic, the order was Awamori, Pernod, and some weird passionfruit liquer. The fact that Awamori was the first up should have been warning enough. Awamori is Okinawan firewater that is a lot stronger than shochu and some varieties can be as strong as 120-proof.
The resulting drink smelled not unlike licorice and if Sean's reaction was anything to go by, not that pleasant.
With that done, we were off to Raver's.
And to round up ... girls with shots!
It was Sean's stag night on Saturday to mark his last official night of debauchery.
We started off in Motoyowata for dinner which was normal enough. Jin and I thought it'd be fun to make Sean wear the bunny suit on the train on the way to Chiba.
So here's Sean, on the train, wearing a bunny suit that is a lot warmer than you might think.
Jon, Sean and Steve, getting some of the few free seats on the train.After awhile, when some other people left, we decided to sit on the opposite row and see if anyone would be brave enough to sit next to the sweaty gaijin in the pink bunny suit.
True enough. None would sit next to Sean. Except for that lone girl who was busy studying English and may not have noticed Sean in the first place (which is highly unlikely). We noticed that people would crowd around the doors and not even stand nearby let alone sit down next to him. Poor bunny.
We saw this yukata display in Chiba station.Sean jumped the small barrier and gave us this weird kodak moment.
Our next stop was a snack pub somewhere in Chiba.
Personally, I don't see the appeal of paying to have moderately attractive girls pour your drinks for you but there you go. Here's Sean tearing it up on the karaoke machine.
Before our final stop at Raver's, we went to Balearic to say hi to Shinji and get Sean a 649. I'd never heard of this particular drink until about half a year ago. Now most bars have three rows of spirits mounted on the wall behind the counter. A 649 is simply this, the 6th bottle from the left on the top, the 4th bottle from the right on the middle row, and the 9th bottle from the left from the bottom row. Take one shot from each and pour into a shooter.So each bar would produce a different combination.
In Balearic, the order was Awamori, Pernod, and some weird passionfruit liquer. The fact that Awamori was the first up should have been warning enough. Awamori is Okinawan firewater that is a lot stronger than shochu and some varieties can be as strong as 120-proof.
The resulting drink smelled not unlike licorice and if Sean's reaction was anything to go by, not that pleasant.
With that done, we were off to Raver's.
And to round up ... girls with shots!
Saturday, July 15, 2006
More Shopping
Ets and I headed into Jiyugaoka to have a wander around and also stop by the Next store there. Even though Jiyugaoka is the best part of an hour away by train, we decided to go there because (1) the Next store there is fairly large sitting in its own three-storey building, (2) it's the last day of Sale Season and (3) Jiyugaoka has a nice mix of ambience and merchandise. Indeed, you'd be hard pressed to find the likes of Godiva, Eddie Bauer, and Laura Ashley located in a plush, almost British, suburb elsewhere in Kanto.
Armed with the latest weather information (cloudy all day at a balmy 30 degrees), we set out at about 10ish and had lunch at the local Starbucks upon our arrival. Just as we started out for our wanderings, we felt some large raindrops fall and decided to head for the nearest cafe just in case. Just as luck would have it, no sooner had we stepped into the cafe when all the celestial floodgates opened with the accompanying cacophony of a huge thunderstorm. ("cloudy all day" ... pah!)
Despite being told by the cafe staff that all the seats were taken, we went upstairs and managed to secure seating by the windows overlooking the train station. After acquiring suitable refreshment, we did our best to convey using gestures and such to the less-than-dry masses outside that our iced coffees were in fact very delicious and almost as delectable as the dryness inside the cafe. Yes, we be ebil.
Fortunately, I correctly guessed that this was a passing summer shower. 15 minutes later, the sky soon brightened up and the rain stopped causing welts on those not under the protection of the umbrella goddess. And thus did we continue our wanderings.
In the end, I picked up a nice linen shirt from Next and Ets got a nice bag. Oh yeah, we be stylin' ^_^
Looks like the rainy season will start soon >_<
On the plus side, I finish work on Wednesday and won't have to go back until the summer hols are over ^ヮ^
Armed with the latest weather information (cloudy all day at a balmy 30 degrees), we set out at about 10ish and had lunch at the local Starbucks upon our arrival. Just as we started out for our wanderings, we felt some large raindrops fall and decided to head for the nearest cafe just in case. Just as luck would have it, no sooner had we stepped into the cafe when all the celestial floodgates opened with the accompanying cacophony of a huge thunderstorm. ("cloudy all day" ... pah!)
Despite being told by the cafe staff that all the seats were taken, we went upstairs and managed to secure seating by the windows overlooking the train station. After acquiring suitable refreshment, we did our best to convey using gestures and such to the less-than-dry masses outside that our iced coffees were in fact very delicious and almost as delectable as the dryness inside the cafe. Yes, we be ebil.
Fortunately, I correctly guessed that this was a passing summer shower. 15 minutes later, the sky soon brightened up and the rain stopped causing welts on those not under the protection of the umbrella goddess. And thus did we continue our wanderings.
In the end, I picked up a nice linen shirt from Next and Ets got a nice bag. Oh yeah, we be stylin' ^_^
Looks like the rainy season will start soon >_<
On the plus side, I finish work on Wednesday and won't have to go back until the summer hols are over ^ヮ^
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
How Many Clowns?
In what must be the most amusing ad I've seen in recent years, Mini (the car) has made rather good use of the entrances and exits of underpasses and escalators to "correct the misconception" that the Mini (the car) is not mini(the size).
Standing directly in front of the life-size ad, it looks like, over the course of a day, what must be a bajillion people going into and leaving the car.
Standing directly in front of the life-size ad, it looks like, over the course of a day, what must be a bajillion people going into and leaving the car.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Consumerism Madness
As one might surmise from the title above, I went on a mad shopping spree with Ets today after work today and came away with more than I'd ever bought at any one time in the past.
The original plan was me meeting up with Ets for dinner at Lalaport after I finished work at 5. Until then, I had to bide my time in the air-conditioned comfort of the career-guidance room at school. The annoying thing was that the students had their end-of-term exams to do which meant that I had no classes to teach. So what was I doing at school? My sole purpose this very day was to help a student with her entry for the speech contest. After her exams. But I still had to arrive by 8.20 and wait until she was done at about noon.
Noon came and went and I found myself still waiting for the promised one to make an appearance. The teacher who had a hand in scheduling this rather poorly-timed meeting, with a suitably puzzled expression, began searching for this lost sheep. After making a few enquiries, it turns out that this 'lost sheep' wasn't lost. She had merely gone home.
Well THAT was worth waiting for.
Armed with this new knowledge, the teacher (who I fondly call Adolf, for it is like he of the Third Reich whom she reminds me of) says that I can now take my leave.
So I meet up with Ets at Lalaport to go shopping with her. It's also sale season so most everything is on sale.
In the end, I came away with two short-sleeved collared shirts for work, three polo shirts, and one pair of black casual trousers. Ets on the other hand accumulated quite the haul of twelve different articles of clothing. One of the nice things about the shopping centre is that they have little places where you can leave your shopping. Just take your bags to the counter and a nice clerk will give you a ticket and keep your bags for you. A procedure not unlike a cloakroom.
After 5 hours of wandering around and satisfying the gods of retail, we went for a buffet dinner to replenish our energy and possibly further deplete our funds.
It feels like Saturday.
The original plan was me meeting up with Ets for dinner at Lalaport after I finished work at 5. Until then, I had to bide my time in the air-conditioned comfort of the career-guidance room at school. The annoying thing was that the students had their end-of-term exams to do which meant that I had no classes to teach. So what was I doing at school? My sole purpose this very day was to help a student with her entry for the speech contest. After her exams. But I still had to arrive by 8.20 and wait until she was done at about noon.
Noon came and went and I found myself still waiting for the promised one to make an appearance. The teacher who had a hand in scheduling this rather poorly-timed meeting, with a suitably puzzled expression, began searching for this lost sheep. After making a few enquiries, it turns out that this 'lost sheep' wasn't lost. She had merely gone home.
Well THAT was worth waiting for.
Armed with this new knowledge, the teacher (who I fondly call Adolf, for it is like he of the Third Reich whom she reminds me of) says that I can now take my leave.
So I meet up with Ets at Lalaport to go shopping with her. It's also sale season so most everything is on sale.
In the end, I came away with two short-sleeved collared shirts for work, three polo shirts, and one pair of black casual trousers. Ets on the other hand accumulated quite the haul of twelve different articles of clothing. One of the nice things about the shopping centre is that they have little places where you can leave your shopping. Just take your bags to the counter and a nice clerk will give you a ticket and keep your bags for you. A procedure not unlike a cloakroom.
After 5 hours of wandering around and satisfying the gods of retail, we went for a buffet dinner to replenish our energy and possibly further deplete our funds.
It feels like Saturday.
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