RockiN JunK FooD

Arrived at Snoopy town (Harajuku, omatasanduru exit) on perfect time. Shuji was waiting for me, he mis timed his trip and ended up being there 30 mins early but he too,like me as long as we have music we could wait for hours for people (and have waited for hours for people!!!). Anyway as soon as we met, Shuji whipped out the magazine he had talked about earlier and it was the exact same one that i was browsing through in the book shop. It is packed with jewelry and shop addresses etc (i wanted to buy the mag, but thought it would only make me want things that i couldnt afford). But it just so happened that Shuji wanted to find the jewelry shop which i had already been too previously. We followed that map and i found it. HE found a wicked skull braclet that he likes (costs around $900-$1000), We took mental notes, then i showed him the rock shop i had been earlier..

He was amazed, it had everybody he knew, although nothing really caught his eye, given this was my second time in this shop, i had decided to buy the slash tee shirt. Its black with his face in white, a little expensive but looks awesome. Not sure if im still going to have it after thailand tho.. We`ll see...

Shuji then lead me into every single shop that i had browsed with nami in the exact same route, i was amazed. It happens alot with my crew, even tho we`re seperated by distance, the similarities never cease.

After our little shopping field trip we went in search of food. We had taken the wrong direction and both didnt know where we were, so we kept walking. We ended up at a burger resturant that i had gone with Nami back in 05 after we had our hair cuts.

The order system was crazy and Shuji and I both got extremely confused when we ordered. The lady kept asking us if we wanted a set and shuji said yeah if we can have the drink as a beer. Then she repeated (this went on for several minutes) .. Compelety lost Shuji just said yes, yes yes... We ended up with two sets each, as well as a super big bowl of fries... Why is is this guy always gets too much chips.. hehe

We were soo full afterwards (didnt help that we ordered 1/2lb meat patties). Stomaches hanging out, we slowly drifted towards Shibuya.

We did our usual singing at the usual place, we didnt see any famous stars and drunk fairly lightly. We joked about ordering more food and sung all sorts of songs (most were ones we only knew the chorus =P).
After two hours our thoats were starting to give up (i sung three days in a row). So we headed off....

We both werent quite ready to go home, i suggested fridays which shuji agreed. After a few mis guidements i finally lead us to the right place.. We thought it`d be funny to pack ourselves with more junk, So i ordered Loaded potato skins, Nachos and two friday ice creams. Not to mention a couple of beers.. The food was alright, but when they brought out the ice creams me and shuji felt ill... We finished it, sat and talked and laughed about how stupid we were... We then got pretty tired and decided to make it an early nite. So we headed to the trianstations and parted ways.. We`re not sure if we can meet again before i go, but it was nice, typical X styles... "never say goodbye"....

I ended up coming home well under time, so i headed home and waited for Nami to finish work. I met her at the trainstation around 10.30ish and we went to Mos burgers for din dins (i didnt eat tho, way too much chips in my system).. Then headed to the game centre where we played the fishing game. WE lost all of our saved coins and brought some new ones (just like the casino except you dont win any money back hehe). And won back our lost coins.. WE banked it and came home. Where Nami surfed the net, educating me on the different stars etc and we checked out the TOP 100 women and discussed our different tastes. Thats it yo, Peace..

notenotes

I have gotten a little behind on the entries recently now havent I?! Not too worry i have taken notes, i just gotta load up some photos etc. Been extremely busy with meeting Nami`s friends, shuji and hairdresser brother and I`ll fill you in on that later, i will be out again today, but on the 2nd i have the whole day to catch up with this stuff, so expect mass entries.. aiite holler at yall soon,. PEACE

free DRINKS

I spent the most part of the day indoors at home, grabbing the latest how i Met your mother (or prehaps i was behind on the season) and watched them.. At 6 i made my way to shujis work. I was running a little late but when i arrived, Shuji was still working (gotta love Japan`s working ethics). So i sat at the bar, I was taken by suprise when i arrived, as one of the waitresses called out to me by name. She speaks fluent english and Shuji informed her that i was coming. She will also be in Thailand in the same time that i will be. SO we`ll meet up if we can.. I thought i`d be showing her around but she`s lived in Thailand for 3 years..

Anyway back to the bar, I sat there, had a beer and drew on my arm till shuji finished. He joined me and handed me a plate of whale.. I wasnt exactly in the mood for Whale but thought I had to try everything once.. It was a real werid taste, fish like with a meat texture.. It was sashimi but luckily there was sauce to mask the taste. We then ordered a few more drinks and talked about music. When we left we didnt have to pay for anything.. Shuji said its his works style.. (here i was thinking i had it good with free food but free booze... DAMN!) hehe..

Since we saved on drinks, we decided to taxi to roppongi which was a lot cheaper than i expected. We got to our kareoke place and met a Famous japanese Idol.. WE acutally waited in the elevator so we could ride with her. Shuji asked if we could take a picture but she shyly declined (Stick up little toffy nose!!) hehe but it was fun..

Shuji ordered too many chips once again, but we had awesome calamari.. We rocked with all the usual rock songs and the odd rap ones. THen walked around in the pissing rain for a bit before coming home..

I was later than i expected, but i had already informed Nami was going to be late, so i met her at home. We talked a little then she went to sleep and im here.. Im going shopping with shuji tomorrow so i best be hitting the hay.. Peace outs!

If only Kaz was Here

Today was awesome. Nami and I woke up a little late, rushed to the trainstation and transfered twice to meet DTB at Saiyu buying supplies for the BBQ. The atmosphere was a little cold as most were tired but that wasnt going to last long. After we gathered our suppies we took a bus to our location, where we set up our rented tent and bbq.

The day was action packed, from cooking, to drinking and just playing around. I cant explain how good it was to see everyone out of their suits, I felt like i was back at school. Rather than explain everything that happened, i`ll just briefly comment on the photos that come up.. FIrstly on the left, was sessan and his skateboard doing ollies. Hes been playing for over 10 years. He rocks!!

This is Nori, he was our main chef, who had brought his own gloves, he also lead us in pitching the tent.. It was a lot of fun, considering i couldnt understand the instructions i think we did pretty well. It was cool, the boys pitched the tent and got the bbq going while the girls cut the veges, hehe us boys started drinking first. =P

This is the crew, from left Nori, Sessan, I-chan, Me and Yoohei.. THe bottom two are Takumi and youske... We all played Dodge ball with that yellow thing. It took about half the game for me to get the rules and when i finally did i got out.. I didnt contribute much to our team winning but due to the drinks my hands werent exactly connected to my eyes.. hehe.. THe other team "begged" for a rematch. Which we accepted but after a drinking break we forgot about it.

This is Sessan, Nami and Izumi.. Sessan took me to the harbourside (which involved jumping a fence). He explained a fish "BORRAHH" and that theme stayed with us the whole nite.. Nami is munching on some noodles that we cooked up as a grand fanale. Izumi is a lot of fun, full of energy.

This photo is of Nami and Ikumi (Youske`s girlfriend). I have met Ikumi two years ago. It was nice to see her face, i like talking to her, although i dont always understand her japanese she always tries to get what im saying and it ends up being quite a conversation. Its so cute watching her and Youske playing around together. Shes sweet.

<--- Izumi and Muscle man Youhei!.. hehe I have a stack of crazy photos of him making all sorts of funny poses. Him and Youske are the ones that always loook after me although i usually cant get their Slang..

This is I-chan eating four little fish in one mouthful. Inspired by the drunken proposition that Takumi put forward. Which I-chan achieved easily. THe other photos are harlirious!.

Rio on the left and marippe on the left. Rio was cool, a little typsy and was talking all these serious relationsihp stuff with me, it was nice. And Marippe was the one who organized this ROCKIN day. rock on HOmie!.

After serveral hours, and bottles after, we lugged our rubbish out and took down the tents, then we all stumbled on board the bus. THis is Takumi reprentin` with Izumi and Nami. The bus layout was pretty stink, single file and i was near the end so me and Takumi didnt get seats. It didnt really matter tho, we were just dancing around..

When we arrived back at the orginatl trainstation i got a huge suprise... BIG GORI was there!! Its been 2 years since i`ve seen him. He has moved out of tokyo to teach. He was the guy came with Nami to the airport to pick me up and drove me home when i first came to tokyo. Hes like my big brother here.. and hes MASSIVE..

We then headed on the train to a different area where we went to BIg echo and sung our hearts out. Their was a little confusion on the way, e.g i lost my train ticket, we misplaced a person (who we found later) etc.

But it was great, I sung delimma with Nami and the crew chose me a eminem song to sing.. I was a little guttered that i didnt get to hear takumi really sing (he was a lead singer in a band) but that just means we have to sing together again sometime. It was a lot of fun, we drunk more, and ate nibbles..

After singing we met outside in the rain and Gori annouced his big news.. He had been to his partners parents house and asked permission to marry their daughter, he got it and is planning on getting married sometime in the next couple of years..

Today was such a breath of fresh air, we all drunk at a reasonable rate, we were all relaxed and it was just a stack loads of fun. I havent had this kinda outdoor time in years.... It beats loud music at a club anyday. So to the DTB family, thank you for your company. You really are my TOkyo Whanau.. Peace!!..

ps: FYI you can click on the pics which will open the picture in a window, you can then right click the image and save it.. OR you can just get a better look at the photos... Sorry for those whos internet is a little slow, it musta taken you ages to load up.. Thanx.. Outies

foOd mmmm

Today i woke up feeling extremely hungry, so we went to eat italian at this 500 yen shop. The daycore was awesome but service and food was exactly 500yen style... If not worst.... The spagetti was hard and the water foul and it was quite a mission getting the waiters attention. Although the chief looked pretty cool, he was in a shirt and pants, felt like we were at his house and he was cooking in the kitchen. =P

After our brunch, i made Nami rush off to a drink machine to buy some tea. We then jumped on the train and went to Shinjuku. We hit a couple of floors in a shopping centre and got to re visit some of the shops i had been when i first came to Tokyo back in 2005. Nothing really caught our eye so we headed off to get some coffee.. Most places were packed so we settled for grabbing coffee to go and drinking it outside. We just chilled and observed our surroundings. There was this one guy who was trying to get people to go to his karaoke place. Nami told me his job was tough, as that place is known to be real crap and far away. The guy also wasnt very good at his job, he asked a couple of 70 year olds if they wanted to go. hehe

Then went into the medicine shop to look at the prices of hair dye, went to the east exit game centres and played a few ufo catchers (Nami won a little banana soft toy with a cute little black top hat). I decided i wasnt having a good hair day so we gave the sticker photos a miss..

Outside there was heaps of noise so we went to check it out and it was a live band rocking outside the trainstation. Although there werent many people there was ton of head bobbing movements.

Dinner time rolled up and we went deep into the train station in search of somewhere to eat. We got side tracked a little and ended up looking at fish but finally we made our way towards TOnkatsu Nami has been wanting it for sometime. It was awesome value, the set menu was only $12 approx.. The soup was great and just as we had finished i realised some kanji on the wall and asked Nami what it said. She said it read "free refills for rice, salad and soup". I was so full but i loved the miso soup so i made Nami order another bowl for me. =) I still wanted more but i wasnt sure if i should or not and the shop was closing.. I chose not to, we can always go back..

Feeling fully full we crammed onto the train and came home. When then got a call that Naoyan was coming over. SO we roughy cleared a few things and played games till he arrived. He was like Santa and had brought me a ton of gifts, two hats and a polo. Naoyan`s best friend has a clothing company and wanted to hook me up wiht some stuff.. They were sooo cool. We took photos to send to him and the pic on the right is Aki, Naoyan and me, all wearing his mates hats.. We then all hung out in our bedroom and played this game where you match up little fluffy balls to make them disapear. It was a lot of fun and highly addictive. Time rolled on and before we knew it, it was time for Naoyan to jet, so we said our goodbyes and thanx, and watched him ride off into the nite. PEACE

950yen

Well what can i say, today was much the same as yesterday except for our choice in dinner. I spent most of the day learning how to use some music programs that i have at home via youtube. There are some great posts on there and i felt like i spent a day with a professional teacher one on one. It felt so good to learn something new again and "study". It still gets me how when we are a student its like the last thing we want to be, but once we are out of that situation we realise how good we had it. Today i learnt that when you study something you are actually interested in, knowledge just seaps in.. =)

I made Nami go to mcdonalds today, i have been missing it for quite some while. Nami had some vouchers that we got in the mail and after a little disscusion and some calculations Nami came up with the perfect mix for less than $10.. I also got to try the MEGA MAC!!.. I didnt think i could eat it intially but it wasnt that big, the meat patties seemed thinner than usual. It was a usual big mac, with extra cheese and extra two meat patties.

Afterwards we decided to go do something fun as tmr was going to be Nami's day off. So we went down to race!.. I lost. AGIAN (i still havent beat her yet) i had the mitsubishi evo and she drove the supra.. I was pretty close this time tho, only 2 seconds behind her.. hehe

We came home, sent a few texts out to catch up with people and im back here.. Just going to go search for some music players on the net. Peace out yallizz

2nd life

I spent most of the day recovering from last nites episode and spent a bit of time budgeting the last remaining yen and semi planning little things to do in thailand. I also descovered the likes of Gwen Stefani, and TI..

I ate the only packet of noodles left, which were these ones that dont have soup. It was quite salty but satisfied the hunger none the less..

Nami finished work at her usual time of 10pm and we conversed about our families and revisited yesterdays events over spagetti. We got a lot of good talking and although we get to talk on the phone everyday nothing beats being able to talk face to face with someone you want to listen to..

Nami's getting ready for bed, it must have been a super long day for her, im going to have a shower and wash up too, peace yall..

Train RidaH

I woke up today with the determination to buy some of the things i have been thinking about. I came to the conclusion that when im with Nami i search for approval before i buy something. This time i just got, what i wanted..

I left the house around 4 and as i had a arranged meeting with Nami`s friend in UENO at 7.30 i planned my day. I started by tripping off to Nakano where i went straight to the underground shop to buy a one strap bag. I figured since i had finished school it was about time i stopped carrying a school bag. So i grabbed that, then my ipod shuffle clicked and stopped playing in the right ear (the headphones are fine) so i felt a little bummed.. But i didnt let that dishearten me, i then tranfered two trains to Harajuku.

I spent a good 30 mins looking at a business card and following the directions to this underground jewelry shop (pic above) to purchase a skull-ish ring. The guy speaks english and explained that he not only designed the jewelry but made it himself. Its a very common piece but this has a lot more style to it, thiner and more detail. I then looked at some street shops and got a couple of bracelets.

I then jumped back on the train and worked my way to Ueno.. ( i was lucky Nami had written the name in japanese). I timed it perfectly and arrived at 7.20... I was feeling nervous meeting Nami`s friend so i grabbed to mixers from the convient store, drunk them and waited. Bang on 7.30 Takumi (Nami`s friends boyfriend) came up behind me.. We talked and he took me to the park where we met SAIGO DON (Last samurai).

Givin the description was explained in Japanese, i got that he lived around the Meji period and was famous for his way of thinking rather than his fighting skills.

The park was huge, but not very well lit, there were a lot of city dwellers around so we decided to gap it and walk around the city.

Then Takumi`s girlfriend called and we met up with her, she gave me a cd that is limited to her work only and we talked and searched for a good place to eat. We tried three of the five floors and all were fully booked.

Nami called, and she met up with us and before i knew it the time alone with her friends had passed. We settle in a Japanese pub and ordered a stack load of food. We then changed tables (to the next floor). The waiters brought up all the food and alligned it the way we had it downstairs, good memory or what!!.

This is a sashimi dish, we also ate some grilled fish and deep fried chicken, along with cold noodles, veges and a stack load of Nama beers. Nami and her friend spent most of the time talking to eachother which was cool as me and Takumi could talk. Although hes 27 he thinks a lot like me, and we share similar interests (helps that Nami and her friend react the same to situations too) so he was cool to vent too....
But the main reason for todays meeting was for us all to meet Nami`s friend, Marippe`s boyfriend. They both had work and didnt arrive till after 10ish. We all thought he would bve shy but he was real open and fun. We all connected real well (such a relief, i had been a bit sceptical about meeting Nami`s friends, since the last time). So yeah, the photo on the left shows Koji (right) and Takumi left.

Then we have the girls, Marippe (left), Nami and Rio. The boys all wanted to go to kareoke, but as some had work and the time was coming to a closing we decided to make it next time.. Takumi and Rio gave me a good luck charm/toy for a going away present and birthday present. Its real cool, It`ll be on my stereo when i get home..

Well, time passed by real fast, before we knew it we were saying our good byes at the trainstation. Nami and i headed up to our train only to realise that we were 20 seconds late. Which meant we had missed our last transfer train.. So we were going to be stuck in Shinjuku. Taxi`s are mega expensive but we didnt really have a choice (unless we stayed in a net cafe). So we jumped on the next train and on the way there, Nami fell asleep. I woke her up to check if we had missed our stop and she said yes so we got off.. Then we both realised we hadnt but there were no more trains. So now we were really stuck.

Nami went to every police box to ask for directions (she even asked one police man how much a a taxi would be! hehe) and we were posed in the right direction when i realised a sign and thought we should enquire into the cost of a taxi from there. It was much cheaper than we expected ($30) for a 15-20 min ride. So i said lets take it and we came home. I felt like i was in thailand (coz we only travel via taxi`s there).

We made it to asagaya station tired and a little sore, we went to lawsons brought some junk food and put ourselves to bed. =) ......

P P PEACE YALLIZE

I love Korean (f00d)

Yo, today i spent the most part of the day chilling at home, dispite my intentions to go out and make up for yesterday, i didnt get a text from Nami till it was too late to go anywhere.. Ah well, tomorrow I`ll definately go out n rock tokyo OTL style. =)

I met Nami in Shinjuku, we looked at a few shops (wicked jewelry shop, but soo expensive) and ended up at the 7th floor of a shopping complex to grab dinner.. It was quite a cool floor, like a foodcourt, but instead of the little stores they were resturants. THey had cool lighing and those egg seats.

Nami picked out Korean.. and As you know me, i wasnt too wrapped by the idea but what the heck, we havent had korean food together in japan and i havent eaten korean food for over 2 years. So we walked in.. We were served by a Korean man, and when we asked what the cheese (korean un yongs words etc) was he replied "bread with lots of different cheeses.. Nami said it sounded boring but ordered it anyway. It was alrite, cheesy...and they gave us a side of chilli mixture to dip it in..

The next dish was Fried rice. It came in a hot plate, with different veges kinda liked the chinese "baked" rice. It was pretty crunchy and the veges were hard. Then ordered some fried chicken, it was coated in a chilli batter. I liked it, although you cant really go wrong with chicken now can you.. Lasty we tried ordering soup but the waiter said the price shown was only for one serving enough for one, so he advised we order two.. At $15 a serving we just thought we`d flag the soup.. WE were pretty full anyway..

So we came home, being getting ready for bed and Nami`s friend Rio just called and has planned my life for tomorrow (without confirming with me!!!!). So looks like im going to an unknown place via train alone, then meeting her friends without her... FUn fun...Peace....

I dont get Annoyed Easily....

I gotta learn to trust my feelings. YOu know those days when You just know things arent going to go your way.. Well today was one of them... I got the feeling when we were 2 hrs behind our designated leaving the house time and that set everything back..I had a list of things to buy in harajuku and a time schedule. Not to mention Nami had a letter to send and I had to transfter some money..Well....

We first went to MIZUHO bank to transfer some money into an account (Im trying to help one of my boys buy some car parts). Now in Tokyo you can do bank transfers via the ATM, unfortunatly this was unavaiable for the english section and Nami had to do it in Japanese (which annoyed her).. ANd the stupid car company gave us their bank details in english. e.g. BANK NAME: TAMA SHIN-KIN bank.. Now THere was no listing of this, only a TAMA SHIN blah blah KIN blah blah etc.. So we took a guess,... Then once we entered the account details it then showed a different company name from that in which the company gave me.. I was so annoyed i figured we'd just trust it... I'll check the details tmr and fingers crossed its alright..(This transfer took us over 30 mins to do)...

ok, then we went to our local cafe which is normally dead.. TOday was packed, the line was huge and we were squished for seats, on top of that they misheard my order and gave me the wrong one.. So feelin uneased and dishearted i comtemplated canning today and just heading back home. But Nami's days off are scarce so we went on a head..

WE finally make it to Harajuku (3hrs behind planned time) only to find that a) Everything i was looking for was too expensive, b)Nami wasnt in a shopping mood and c) the shops gave us wrong directions. SO after spending last nite complying a list of things to get, i got nothing.... The item that really got me was these sunglasses.. I spoted them two days ago and figured that i really liked them and today i was going to get it.. It just so happens that the only pair of sunglasses not on the stand today was the GREEN ONES!!..man...

We then got thai food, which wasnt as good as it usually is, but on the up side at least we got a seat, we've been turned away twice since i've been here.. We then came home, and forgot to send a letter which was important..

So empty handed, annoyed and fustrated i can only hope that tomorrow will be the coolest day ever aver being delt todays fustrations.. Peace

note: i wrote this in a babble, if it doesnt make sense dont worry about it.. NOthing really here but the Grrrrrr sensation.....

Expensive Taste

Today started off with a mad rush to the train station as Nami had booked us seats to her workmates play. It started at 2 and required 3 transfers. We didnt leave the house till 10 past 1. The lack of food lead to a lack of energy which resulted in missing the train by 30 seconds.. Luckliy for us another one came 2 minutes later. We made it into the threthe bang on 2pm and had asle seats (so we didnt disturb anyone.. even tho the play hadnt even started yet).. Pic to the left is the threthe..

The Show was much better than i had expected. (seeing as it was a play in japanese with no subtitles i had anticipated sitting there for 2 hrs clueless). However there was a 10 min intermission in which Nami filled me in and the story line wasnt very complicated.. IT was about a company blowing up, creating monsters and "the company" trying to cover it up. It was quite intense. Nami`s workmate was one of the monsters and had a lead singing role.. (it was kinda a musical too, with maids singing and dancing.).. hehe

We were starving after the play and as the plays location is famous for Sushi and Sashimi (because its near the port and has the biggest, seafood market where most tokyoians get their supplies from) we naturally went for Shuji.. Now i havent eaten Sushi properly since Ive been in japan (only had the rotating sushi once). So i didnt know what to expect..

We picked our place and were seated at the counter, where the chief smiled and talked cheerfully while we called out what we wanted. He was curious about me and asked many questions (also gave me a bloody plate to catch the food coz he thought i couldnt handle chopsticks well). The picture on the left shows some kinda japanese fish (which was extremely hard and rubber like) and the other samon.

THe next picture shows some lightly grilled tuna (right side) which tasted amazing.. And so it should have for 530 yen each ($6 NZD). The other was another kinda fish. WE ordered serveral other sushi`s and one soup, i stopped quite early as i didnt see how 350yen average per mouthful was worth it. But Nami contiued (apparently Forigners and Japanese think differently. FOr japanese Sushi is an expensive dish and this pricing is expected).

When we decided to leave, we were hit with a whopping 8000yen bill (thats like 90 bucks!!). Nami paid for it as she said shse was the one who chose the place and wanted sushi. I thought it was cool but felt a little bad for spending that much on sushi!!.. but to their credit it was nice sushi and the atmostphere was wicked..

(while trying to snap a photo of the sushi shop i caught two Japanese doing their bowing offs. hehe Sushi and Bowing SOOO TYPICAL). SO as you`ve probally figured i dont think I will be taking any of yous here well not until im making ma millions. =P

With seafood smelling breath, Nami suggested we hit Tullys for a bit of a wake up hit. SO yeah, i got a double shot of espresso and ice cream. HEAVEN!! They use to have a Espresso shake which i Drunk soildly when Nami worked for TUllys but they have since taken it off the menu...

We took a stack load of movies and photos as we had a whole room to ourselves. Prehaps you`ll see em pop up some where around the net..

I then decided that i would like to have a look at some shops and given our location we opted for Harajuku as it was close. When we got there we roamed the back streets and found heaps of cool stores that i had never seen before. I found heaps of stuff i wanted, but also those were things that were way beyond my kinda income.. hehe.. To those living or going to london, look for the jewelry shop "crazy pig" they have wicked designs.. This one shop that we found that suppied them said that they have to order it and it`ll take 8months to a year to get done.. (no idea how that works)..

Time whizzed by and before we knew it the doors were coming down and people were exiting.. So we too made our way to the trainstation.. This is where i brought a 190 yen ticket (when i fully knew it costs 160 to go home) and got jam packed in the train.. But all n all good ol tokyo fun..

We were still pretty full from the sushi (or prehaps we were full coz it costs so much). So we went for ice cream in our station. (thats twice today, turning into moony!). Nami had green tea, i had bananas, brownies, and box of choclate ice cream.. THen we grabbed a piece of chicken from lawsons and came home..

Nami has been busy writting a report. Which for once isnt due tomorrow. And Im about to sign off and do some drawing.. Aki is going to use the computer tomorrow so Im gonna have to figure something else to do to keep myself occupied.. aiity homies.. p to the e to the captial A little c e.

2 hr Nami Time

Man, today i have pretty much spent the whole day alone.. Nami had work from 8am till 10pm. WE met at the trainstation and decided to go to Mos burgers. Where we completely over ordered yet again. We got a mos burger, fish burger, chips, drinks, chicken nuggets and a nan taco (nan bread, with curry beef, corn chips and salad). CRAZZZYY .. But we finished it all..

We then went to the game centre and realised that they had taken away our Shanghai game.. They replaced it with a fighting game (the type Im hopeless at) so we settled for a round of car racing.. Nami tore me up in the first game, then when we played the second time,we got interrupted by two challengers, the game froze and Nami and I had to race separately.. So i didnt get a chance to redeem myself.. oh well...

When we got home, Nami lay down on the bed and Bang.. out like a light.. With makeup and contact lens fully intacted.. SO i have been online surfing around and learning a thing or two on youtube. I should head to sleep now. Better wake Nami up first to take out her contact lens.. Dont want those red eyes ay!!.. Peace zay!

MaRio tATToos BurGERs

I watched 5 episodes of Full House today.. Gotta love the cheese-e-ness... Life seemed much happier back then... Not to mention the endless amounts of moral teaching present.. I learnt alot. =)

I met Nami in Shinjuku today. I was suprisingly on time considering when i got the text message and the arranged meeting time. I think my legs have started moving faster.. Perhaps I`ve started floating. Whatever the reason, Im liking it..

I also managed to draw this picture on my arm between nakano and Shinjuku (4 mins). I thought I`d make the most of the seat that i had so fortunatly obtained. =P

Nami was hungry and let me choose the place for dinner. OF course i said FRESHNESS BURGERS!!.. She agreed.. WOW! hehe. ORdered the usual and during our dinner i managed to get garlic sauce all over my hands (they have ridiculous paper cupcake holders for sauce!!). Luckily they had super good soap in the toilet..

We then went for a shop. Just browsing, found a real up market shoe shop with an awesome daycore, unfortunately we werent allowed to take photos.. Then we went up to the top floor of a shopping centre and browsed thru the magazines.. When the music went off we figured it was time to go to the game centre..

The Game centre was having a special PRIZE day where all UFO machines were 100yen (200yen usually). So.. Naturally we started playing, i lost the first game and then Nami played and won some little fish so i became motivated.. I played twice and i got...Yeah Mario! Its pretty big and Nami wont let me leave it here, so i was thinking i could either hide it somewhere in her room or i could carry it on the plane.. (it could help my customs image). WE took a few sticker photos but they didnt come out too well..

Then walked home. The train was packed.. We bumped into Aki in the trainstation reading a magazine and we all walked home together. They are still talking, I should go and "watch" Tv. Gotta be socialable. =)

Peace out Yall

Hair ROCKERS

Man Firehouse ROcks!!.. After discovering the likes of Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, kiss, twisted sister, Slaughter etc i went on a mission to fully exploit Japans Internet capabilities. So today, I watched 7th heaven and.... 8 albums later... MISSION completed.. But of course I dont just use the internet all day in tokyo now do I?..

I eat instant noodles and potato chips.. =) Well today Nami had to talk with a worker after work about exchanging shifts. (which the other worker agreed to, but ended up booking herself into a baseball game, so we are unavailable to watch Nami`s friend sing... Damn...) So we didnt end up meetin up till 8pm in Asagaya where we went and got Chinese food (ramen, fried rice, gyoza, veges n pork and karaage). THe conversation was pretty minimal as Nami was pretty peeved at the other worker.. But after a full stomach she cheered up..

We then went to Lawsons... On the way there we saw three drunk oldies... And.. I felt like a drink.. So we brought two bottles of RTDs (Vodka and Lime and the New Gingerbeer and Vodka). Both were aiite but as with any RTD (ready to drink) bottling up on a taste equivlent to sugar water isnt easy. Although Nami did quite well..

THe weather was good and Nami felt like walking so we went to 7/11 .. Where we brought some vege juice, chips, tea and ice blocks... YUM!!!..

We arrived home, got ready for bed and although Aki had booked the computer she ended up just talking to Nami till 1am so she thought she`d hit the hay.. Nami stayed up till 3ish getting ready for tomorrows Shiseido lesson while i went about the usual internet surfing..

Thats all for today.. AEPEC

SHINJUKS

I made a tostie for Nami today (as she had requested last nite) and what an effort.. We hadnt slept much after Dream girls took us to 5am. So blurry eyed I hovvered over the pan and cooked up a storm. =P

Nami ate, said her goodbyes and went off to work... I promised myself to not go back to sleep as im getting tired of laying in bed unable to sleep. So i booked up my day with tidying, washing, cleaning and writting.. Time flew by and before I knew it i had 20 mins to hang up the washing and have a shower..

I made it, rushed to Shinjuku, Met Nami and she took me to eat italian.. We got two Spagetti`s. salad, steak bits and chips. It was real nice but we stayed there a litle longer than anticipated so we settled for browsing around the electronic shop below. . . (the layout of this place was so stupid, they had the headphones up againist the wall where people line up.... now i know they put it there so that customers waiting in line can listen to music but what about those of us who want to look at the headphones.. the customers in line have already made up their minds on their purchases its not like expensive headphones are going to be an impluse buy... c`mon japanese marketers!!)

Had a quick look aorund the shopping centre (in the trainstation). Nami brought cat earrings (even tho she hasnt got her ears pierced =P ) hung around in HMV then came home..

We tried to play games in our local station but the game we liked was occupied so instead of playing that game Nami tried getting a big toy (no luck...)... yup yup thats about it. ECAEP　p.s Bon JOvi unplugged rocks.. So does Firehouse, DEF Leppard and Talib kweli.. X

LOCALZ

Nami had another day off!! (for those who dont know, Nami getting two days off in a row is rare as she works shift hours). It was also a public holiday which meant their were less/slower trains. (we have two kinds of trains from our station 1) Chou Rapid 2)Chou local. The Chou local takes 3 minutes longer to reach a destination and comes less often. This is the only avaiable train during weekends and public holidays).

So with that in mind, I decided it was better to go to the cities closest to us as opposed to going to Shibuya or Harajuku etc. Nami agreed and we went off to Nakano. I love this place as its full of unique toys and clothes which are rare for other tokyoians to get hold of as this area is not on the way to any of the main cities except for those coming from our direction. Anyhoo..

We started off our Nakano trip by eating their famous ramen and were treated to a traditional street dance by about 60 boys and girls singing and banging on drums. Nami had no idea as to what they were celebrating but i`m guessing it had something to do with the day being a public holiday.

After the Power eating (this place is popular and limited seats, u wanna eat as fast as you can so others dont have to wait.. its quite a sight watching everyone eat on fast forward) we began shopping. I decided againist buying the spray can necklace as it looked a little too bling blingy for me. LIttle things caught our eye so we memorised them sat out for a coffee break and re thought.

Then went to my favorite shop (heaps of old things e.g. alf cards, tmnt toys, ET, music icons etc) i love the retro stuff you can find here. The tee shirts were pretty expensive and nothing that really stood out, but i did find a dj...

Nami liked the look of it too and decided to by it for me. It came in a massive box, hand paiinted and well detailed (although the pic doesnt capture it hehe) I also saw a plain bag that i might get. Nami suggested i wait as its quite a common design and we could prehaps find it somewhere cheaper.. (but for $25 i thought it was cheap enough plus i like the owner of the shop). Oh they were also playing some funky music so Nami asked who it was and it was.... BRUCE SPRINGSTON..... (So guess what im going to be gettin tonite) =P

Well most shops started closing their doors so we figured it was time to stop shopping. We popped into a magazine shop and got a couple of fashion magazines and UNIQLO for some singlets (3 for $9) then proceeded to KFC... FINALLY!!......

We ordered a twister (with mayo) two hot and spicy chicken pieces, a little pie thingy and chips n drinks. The chips werent nice and for a large they were very small. The chicken was alight and the twister was decent. But... I wonder why is it, we get cravings for KFC but after we eat it we wish we hadnt and swear not to eat it again then what you know the craving is back....

We came home and watched "Dream Girls".. Nami actually stayed up for the whole movie but what a waste of time.. They sung all their arguements but not in a musical way, in a sorta forced "i sing loud" style.. grrrrr... Didnt help that it was obviously based on the supremes and motown but used different names. Seems to me the story they told was not told in the prespective that reflected Motown in a postive light thus they stopped them from using the real names.. If this was true, why did Beyonce sink to this.... I can understand the american idol runner up but.. ah well, no more movies by Nycks Choices anymore.. note to self: dont trust ratings!..

GRRRR.... its over now... off to hit the hay.. peac---------->E

Tokyo Mid town

TOKYO MID TOWN!! located in Roppongi (Nami`s work area) opened about 6 months ago. Nami has been wanting to take me there since it opened so we figured that she had to go to her work to hand in a report, that it we should make a day of it in Roppongi and go to Mid Town. It is an amazing shopping complex, 7 or so stories high, bamboo plants, water falls, indoor outdoor flow and had all the modern features. We hadnt eaten lunch yet, so we made our way into the foodcourt. IT was busy, esp considering it was around 3-4 pmish.

This is the foodcourt. Where they have the front counter facing the walkway and to the side a seating area. There are also blocks in the gap of each shop for people to wait. THe lines were packed and there was another food court connected to this one which was a lot more typical, with wide space and little shops where you buy your food and sit anywhere you choose, however the food didnt really appeal to us so we settled for "PHO" Vietnamese food.

We Had Chicken noodles. It Tasted great and the spring rolls were to die for. Although the dish was a little hot for Nami (they only put one slice chili but it was powerful) but she liked it. Like any ethnic food, its always great hearing the cooks speak in their native language, coz then your mind plays tricks on you and you are more inclined to believe that the food is authentic.

After lunch we took a stroll though the park. Its so nice to see greenery in a concrete jungle. However you could tell we were in a business orientated area as they had signs around the grass saying "do not walk here" and no playgrounds etc. Obviously not child friendly. Although they did have some wicked archy pieces and little water pathways etc. It was a nice relaxing walk.

We then ended up at Nami`s work, so she went in and i waited outside. Little did i realise that she was going to take 30 mins to hand in a report and it would rain in me, i got drenched and tired. I should have just gone into the shop!!..

Tired and wet we proceeded home (which involved a transfer in Shinjuku). After the train ride I got to Shiinjuku refreshed and a desire to play games. SO we got starbucks and toddled off to the game centre, played time crisis and took sticker photos..

It was about time to eat and i had a craving for KFC. But after discussion and impractical planning (jumped on wrong train, backtracked, still wrong area) we decided to give it a miss. We hired two dvds Dream Girls and Mamiya Brothers (kyodai) and ate curry at Nakau.

When we got home, Nami wanted to give me a facial massage and put on makeup as practice for her work. Unfortunately we did the later one first.

and.... I never did get that massage..

After a tedious 30 mins in the bath learning how to take off makeup, i was ready for bed. We started watching Mamiya brothers and in typical Nami fashion she was out like a light within the first hr. I stayed up.. It was a slice of life kinda movie, about two Innocent brothers who lived together. It wasnt really a feel good movie and although they had girl crushes it was not a love story just a story that left you relaxed i guess...

anyhoo im out.. peace...

p.s Have gotten a little behind on the whole posting entries recently due to the discovery of Mininova.. Go-men.. will do a massive catchup .. X

Shorties

Massive sleep. After yesterdays run in with insomnia i slept till 5pm while Nami was at work. I awoke as Aki went out, so i had the house to myself. I watched serveral episodes of "heroes" that my sister had sent before i realised that i had seen those episodes already... hehe ah well it was a good catch up..I was amazingly hungry too, i ate two bags of chips and noodles in one episode.. golly gosh.. must be the weather. =P

We didnt get up to much at nite, I met Nami and we went to Mcdonalds. I love the way they fill up their chips, i gotta take a photo of it next time. We came home and Nami finished off her report. Thats it... hehe another great "do-nothing" day..

I`m outies yall.. peace

Shanghai Homie

Finally!! NAMCO Land opened!! I noticed the sign when i first arrived in Asagaya train station and have been egarly anticipating its opening and today was the day!!.. Believe it or not, i had a feeling.. See, we were going to grab mcdonalds for dinner (as I have been hanging out for it for quite some time) but thought we`d get curry instead and on the way we could check the status of the game centre..

I jumped up n down when i saw it, I snapped a photo and rushed in. Nami asked the lady what time they opened till and she said they were open till 12pm so Nami dragged me off to eat.. I gobbled down my food rushed her back and we took a tour around the two story complex..but... There was some bad news.... No sticker photo machines and no GUN GAMES!! ARRRGGHHH.. All the excitement just seems to drain away as the realization of being GUNLESS in Asagaya sinked in... OH well..

We played Shanghai and Nami and I both were evenly matched.. She won 2 out of 3 games.. So hopefully i can drag her accross there tomorrow for a rematch..

Well other than that nothing else happened really. usual net stuff, got the instant noodles back again so was into that, ate chips n washed dishes.. Nami`s suppose to be writting her report but said "im just going to sleep for 10 mins then i`ll be wide awake" that was two hours ago, Ive tried waking her but she hasnt been interested so im going to put my head down too.. P to the E yo. PEACE

Short post long Hair

Since i wrote heaps yesterday i thought I`d keep this one short. . . I checked my online and found out the team we were going for last nite won the game and the score was unchanged from the the score we had left at.

I didnt end up stocking up on instant noodles so i grabbed a microwave burger from 7-11 and rushed that home. It cooked in 20 seconds and was nice considering it was microwaved. The package gloated about their meat pattie bein made with aussie beef (hmm since when was aussie beef any good?!). I also added extra cheese to fill it out a bit.

Then spent a couple of hours surfing the net, you tubing replying to emails etc and went about like any other day at home. At nite i met Nami and while i wanted Mcdoanalds Nami felt like italian. So we went to our usual and ordered our usual.. I was going to get an extra pizza but thought I shouldnt over eat..

After that, we went to Saiyu and brought noodles, chips toys and drinks. Came Home, Nami started filling out a form and i watched 7th heaven.. Thats about it.. hehe short n sweet.. Aiite Peace-izzles

711

Today.. Very different from a normal 11th of July day but fun none the less. Nami and I woke up quite late and were 30 mins late to our reservation at Shuji`s resturant. But like all good places, when you have the hook ups you can pretty much arrive anytime you want.

We had no idea what name the table was booked under so we mentioned shuji and the waiter smiled and lead us to our table. It was seated outside with speical chairs (coloured ones as opposed to everyone elses plain white ones). Once seated we were then approached by a different waiter who reconized me and asked what we would like to drink. We ordered and were just about to ask for a menu when the waiter said it was all taken care of. Although i was a little unsure I thought it was great, as we didnt have to think or choose.

We started with an entree of fish, two kinds of meat veges and egg omlette. Each tasting unqiuely different. I couldnt desribe you the flavours just know that they were great. We could only wonder what Shuji had instore for us next....

Then the main arrived, two kinds of spagetti. One on the left was a Chicken and corn with a salty kinda flavouring and the other, Meat sauce with seafood. Both nice, and extremely filling.

Then Shuji came out to wish us happy birthday. He was allowed to sit with us for a while as he timed his break so that he could hang. There was actually a little confusion as to who`s birthday it was but thats another story. We basically just kicked back and reminisced on our old times together. Since I`ve known him everytime in auckland Ive taken him out to a food court for dinner. It use to be quite a big thing, but i guess times change when you start making money.

Shuji ducked back inside and came out with another two dishes.. Another Main... This was their version of a "Surf n Turf". Japanese fish lightly fried with special sauces on top of a selection of mixed veges (broc, cauli, pumpkin, baby corn, bak choi etc). THe meat was cooked medium rare with an amazing gravy and potato mash under neath. It was great. But we were maxed out (although we still managed to finish it all) hehe.

Then the biggest surprise, desert!!!. Gelato, jelly and cake. Had candles and Shuji and some of the waiters gathered around and sung happy birthday.

It was ROckinG!. Shuji really looked after us. The meal costs next to nothing. SHUJI ROCKS Just organizing so much food, considering what I liked, being able to sit with us, sing etc... Man... Couldnt thank him enough. If hes still working there when you guys come over I`ll take ya fo sho!..

Buzzing from lunch we waited in the rain for Nami`s dad. Who had kindly driven up to tokyo to drive us to a baseball game. We met him shook hands etc and waited in the car for Aki. Nami and I both werent expecting her (as Aki and her dad had arranged to meet before her dad met us) but yeah, she was cool. After just arriving from Vietnam she had that glowing look that one gets after just traveling. We looked at photos and Aki ended up joining us to watch the baseball. Which i was happy with, i felt a lot more comfortable with her around.

It was a 2 hr drive or so up north, we talked, slept and went to 7-11 where we brought tea and coffee.. I dont ride in cars very often in Japan so it was quite an experience in itself.

When we arrived at the dome, we were ushered to VIP parking and ran into Nami`s uncle and Aunty. I also got to meet Hana (one of Nami`s cousins children) again. She was sooo cute. Hana was shy when we first met, but after a couple of minutes she was back to her usual self. She reconized me and was educating me on her likes and dis-likes. This conversation was in Japanese however she can speak english and given shes only 5, i think she`ll be the only one in Nami`s family who i`ll be able to talk to properly as she gets older.

The game had just started, so we rushed along to our seats. There were three ticket checks along the way.

Nami`s dad had got us wicked seats. They were soft (Sofa like) right behind the backstop. The crowd was loud and after years of playing "Triple play" with puggy I knew the rules inside out.

Mid way through the game, Nami`s aunty took us all out for dinner. It was a buffet and Hana and I ran wild on the ice machine and noodles. Although Nami and I were full from dinner we couldnt help but stuff ourselves some more. Her aunty got everyone to cheers and wished "happy birthday" in english...

When we got back to the game we were lucky as nothing had happened. We sat back down and watched our team slowly fill up the bases. Once all three were filled, 2 outs had accumulated and

the batter was on 2 balls and 2 strikes and then.... WHAM!!!.. Straight out da PAARRKK!!!.. WHOO HOOO...!! WE yelled, clapped and waved our hands. (our team was down one) and that was the winning hit (unfortunately Nami`s dad had his head down when the big shot took place hehe). We then decided to leave before the game ended to beat the traffic.

Upon our departure there was a massive bang and fireworks started shooting and more bangs, although these fireworks werent up in the sky nor had the game ended.. We just saw crowds rushing towards us, so we quickly got our tickets for the train and said our goodbyes and thanx and jumped on.. (if it was anything big we`d hear about it on the news).

2hrs later we arrived home and in the front of my door was a parcel from nz... My family had sent me biscuts, boxers, a mouse and Prison break and hereos dvds etc (cheers puggy!!). What pefect timing.. Aparently Aki came home for one hour and in that time the parcel arrived, normally we dont answer the door but Aki felt like she needed to answer it.. COol huh!!..

So while today was without the usual Sixth sense, long islands, hip hop music, stacks of text messages and family gathering etc Nami and her family were great, i felt at home and got to experience a live game as well as a nice dinner. Nami was extremely thoughtful and Shuji... ROCKED MY DAY!.. I also got a few emails and e-cards.. Cheers.. Peace.....