What the hell?!



"Ha ha ha. Those hapless stu-dents will never know what hit them. Eat my photons, smallheads!"

Amazing Technicolour Doomsday



This was what the sky looked like last week after a day of gustiness and thunderstorms. The whole sky was a deep yellow...very scary. But hey presto! A rainbow! You can juuuuuust see a second arc to the right.

Was alone all weekend because Bento and Wnd went home. Just me and my music, mostly new indie songs from music blogs, which are the best thing since sliced cheese (cheese always beats bread). I recently had to write (read: BS) an essay for my computing ethics class about why MP3s can help the music industry; music blogs were part of my main argument. It's free, it's (mostly) legal, it's wonderful. It's indie-riffic. Here are some:

• Cerulean's Love of Music: weekly "Five Songs I'm Loving This Week" posts & a tendency towards happy/rainy-day music, often featuring music by Euroopean bands. Recently admitted to (gasp!) liking rap. The red background makes this blog a little hard to read without retinal incineration, but really excellent music.


• Pitchfork Media: online music magazine featuring "paid promotions" i.e. free mp3s as paid for and hosted by the band/band's label. The descriptions of the songs tend to be overly-enthusiastic ("Brand New Corndog is a Seattle-based punk-emo-indie-jazz quartet with Big Dreams and a Big Sound! Their 2005 release, 'Buy Me Ketchup, Bitch', is sure to rock the house, make your ears sweat and cure that nasty zit on the inside of your nose. It slices. It dices. It makes Julienne fries.") but there are many great indie gems to be found here.


• Work For It: the writer of this blog has some mysterious connection with Kingston; the songs used to be hosted at the Clark Hall Pub site. But anyway, a lot of rock and amazing remixes and collaborations hosted here. Also, songs with very long titles. Who doesn't want to be Robbie Alomar Jr.?


• Said the Gramophone: probably my favourite. I haven't heard a song from this blog that I didn't like. To get a sense of the type of music posted here, 'it would probably make a lot of sense to just say "THIS"'.

"I think we should call it your grave!"



I have a disturbing habit of naming things. Like today I randomly wandered into Bento's room and decided that Dimples would be a fantastic name for a penguin. A cigar-smoking, stubble-coated, surly, cranky, kitten-hating penguin that kicks small children for no reason. I don't know why, or how I came to this conclusion. I have named my computer, my house, my old house and all my stuffed animals. I think of new nicknames (such as Ratface) for people who already have perfectly appropriate handles (I'm not saying who).

So it was only natural that I gave secret nicknames to people at the Castle this summer. Very Secret Nicknames.

Luke Skywalker: very nice guy named Mike. Similar moppish hair as the young weeny Jedi that we all love.

The Syphilis Boys: oh so promiscuous, oh so affectionate, oh so syphilitic. There was a whole bunch of them, though not so bright. One of them insisted on flirting with girls in front of his girlfriend, who was understandably upset with him.

Abercrombie Girls: roomates, very giggly, very blonde, very SCS, very unamiable. One of them is also known as Kissyface; she was the one who drunkenly kissed me on the cheek at the nightclub in Brighton (?).

T.A.B. (Token Asian Boy): the token Asian boy. Actually there were two Chinese guys, but one of them was a total mack, so I just called him the Mack (in my head).

Giovanni Ribisi: A sweet lad, who roomed across from us in Bader Hall. He also looks a little like the aforementioned actor, and hung out a lot with two girls down the hall (Asian), and sometimes me and Wnd (also Asian). Hence, I told him maybe he was also an Asian Girl...at Heart. Having come from a rather conservative background, he was a little taken aback by this realization.

"SHUT UP!": our other neighbours in res. They would regularly stay up until 4AM talking, which wouldn't have been a problem except they talked into the very thin, uninsulated walls. Once, they left their alarm clock on when they went away for the weekend; for four days, there would be this harsh BREEPing from 9 to 11 am. Argh.

The Weeny: guy in my history class who talked a lot, made of lot of comments in class, and must have had a perfect participation mark. But outside of class, he whined all the time about how infantile and irrelevant the lectures were. What an ass. Actually, that's the new nickname for him. Weeny McAssface.

Harry & Ron: a redhead and a black-haired boy (w/ glasses!) who hung out together all the time. They were together on my flight to London, sat together on the bus to the Castle, roomed together at Bader, got drunk together in Dieppe, etc. Ha.

I was, uh, doing homework

...in Tijuana. Yes, that must be it. Sorry about the (unexplained) hiatus. No excuses, I just didn't feel like blogging, even though plenty has happened.

Things to Write About:
- Belgium/London
- visit from Maggie
- Minger's wedding
- last driving lesson/exam EVER
- yet another aspect of Christian ghetto life
- Nova & (hopefully) future ex-pat life in Japan
- Homecoming tan, Thanksgiving turkey congee

Things to Bitch About:
- unholy undergraduate project
- cold toes
- expensive film development
- no Scrubs until 2006!

Things:
- Fisheye lomo camera
- missing umbrella

People:
- people from the Castle, and their Very Secret Nicknames
- boy hussies next door
- Biku & her apartment (plus Girly Day in the T-dot! Jiggy schnitzel.)
- funny Victorian Lit prof
- them crazy ladies, Poonar & Bento

I've got a lot of writing to catch up on. Tally ho!

Hulk Smash

DigitalRice is shunning me. So temporary blogspot address until the DR people start responding to emails/forum posts. I don't know why I can't use kobuta.blogspot.com, even though my old site from August last year is still there...not like anyone is using it.

Will write about Belgium and London soon. :)

Second smashing topic: QCARD, which will not allow me to login to enter my course requests. ARGH!

Third smashery: power outage last night. I didn't really miss the power (except for the fridge...my pie!) but it made me feel like a horrible power-sucking creature with my dependence on air conditioning. So I didn't turn on the AC until right now because the house has become a sweatbox.

I still need a job. But I also still like toast. The world moves on.

Off we go, weeeeh

And now to Belguim! Post when home.

Free Spirit Time

My parents have realized that MSN is a much cheaper way to communicate with me, so they've pretty much commandeered my brother's account to talk every night. It spawns some interesting conversations: my mom takes full advantage of the emoticons and my dad...well, he's my dad. The following exchange is from 11.30 GMT (6.30 EST) this morning:

:HitMaN: says:
Its dad
Kobuta's fingernails shine like justice says:
hi hi dad...why are you up so early?
:HitMaN: says:
have to go and make a living,its dad
Kobuta's fingernails shine like justice says:
add oil dad! gah yow
:HitMaN: says:
what us your time?had dinner yet
Kobuta's fingernails shine like justice says:
it's 11.30 am...almost lunchtime
Kobuta's fingernails shine like justice says:
i have my last exam tonight
:HitMaN: says:
When is examination ?
Kobuta's fingernails shine like justice says:
tonight at 7pm
:HitMaN: says:
last one?
Kobuta's fingernails shine like justice says:
yup
:HitMaN: says:
so tomorrow is free spirit time?
Kobuta's fingernails shine like justice says:
yes
Kobuta's fingernails shine like justice says:
free spirit time
Kobuta's fingernails shine like justice says:
i will run around and throw flowers in the air

(Shows Wnd the 'free spirit time' line. Bust out laughing.)
(Here, Daddy inexplicably hits the CAPS button.)

:HitMaN: says:
LOVE YOU -SEE YOU SAT
Kobuta's fingernails shine like justice says:
bye bye i miss you!
:HitMaN: says:
mOM HAD RECEIVED YOUR MAP OF HEATHROW - WE SHALL LOOK FOR YOU AT ???
Kobuta's fingernails shine like justice says:
the W.H.Smith store...there are some chairs in front of it
:HitMaN: says:
WANT US BRING YOU WHAT?
:HitMaN: says:
LOOK UP SOME INFO FOR THINGS
:HitMaN: says:
THINGS YOU AND HM CAN DO FOR ONE DAY IN LONDON
:HitMaN: says:
(angry face)
:HitMaN: says:
HAVE TO GO TO WORK NOW BYE

Oh my dad amuses me so...

Atlantis

Where the drinks are cheap, the boys are creepy and the floor will probably give you syphilis.

I forgot to report about my first clubbing experience. Went last Wednesday night (student night) to Atlantis in Eastbourne. The clubbing group (basically my entire floor and then some) were going, so I thought, "Hey! What better way to disguise your Flailing-Groove-Fu than by going to a club you've never been to with a bunch of people who barely know you and who will be too drunk out of their skulls to remember anyway? Tally-ho!" Oh, and the Pooner went too.

Wore a suitably "clubby" top with jeans and my Ecco sandals (the website makes Ecco look like it's a really really sexy shoe brand, but it really really isn't). Got to Eastbourne Pier and then got in line: very scary bouncers in black wandering around looking for people to hurl into the ocean, crazy football fans cavorting around giving them ample opportunity to do so, and a bloke in a tiny t-shirt and mini-skirt. Ha!

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Obi Wan was obviously referring to Mos Eisley's local nightclub: scummy floors and villainously smoky air. I've come to appreciate the smoking ban in Canada. Anyway. Three hours of dancing, which was fun in spite of the Creepy Boy that tries to forces himself into your group of friends and the Creepy Old Men that line the dance floor, drinking beer and watching. *shudder*

Inhibitions were scattering the floor by the end of the night, not that anyone seemed worried about losing them. Wnd transformed into the jubilantly happy creature that she becomes whenever she takes in more than three drinks ("I'm FABULOUS.") Boy From Across the Hall was a little to gregarious for his girlfriend's comfort. After squashing my foot by accident and berating me for drinking water, he gave me a big ol' hug to make up for it. Um, do I know you? And yours truly was greeted to the club by Girl From Down the Hall with first a "Hey!" and then a smack on the cheek. WTF, mate? Myself, only a rum & coke, and then a bottle of water. The rum tasted like ass, but the water was excellent. *sigh* I will never make it as a pirate with this attitude.

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine": The attitude of most of my floormates, in reponse to their raging, walrus-slaying hangovers. Would I go again? Probably, but the price is a bit of a deterrent: taxi rides, cover and 1 drink is almost 20 pounds = approx CAN$50. Egads.

Les singes de reddition qui mangent du fromage


Also a cheese eater.

We went to Dieppe two weekends ago. After a four hour ferry ride, we arrived at the dock, searched for the customs building, gave up and waltzed out into the city. Ha. Some impressions from the trip:

• French food is both delicious and cheap
• You can eat chocolate crepe for lunch and have wine at breakfast and no one really cares
• Actually, in many cases, wine is cheaper than water, so what the heck
• Brandishing a meter-long baguette over your shoulder like a baseball bat is entirely normal.
• The average pain au chocolat costs about 70 (Euro) cents = CAN$1.10
• French food is, on the whole, better than English food
• My gosh I miss French food
• French boys often have boundary issues (re: wolf-whistling, circling hotel parking lot to gawk at girls in hotel lobby, etc.)
• Especially the sailors (re: boob-grabbage, impromptu kissing, etc.)
• French people are, as a whole, very nice. They are neither surrender...ers, nor monkeys, although they do eat a lot of cheese. Though the English might disagree.

Dieppe is a beautiful little town; loads of shops and restaurants. We were only there for one night, but people managed to buy their own weight in wine...and they drank about half of it on the ferry ride back to England. Harry and Ron (as I like to call them. More on my secret nicknames later) got completely plastered from a large portion of their 24 bottles of wine, and I half expected them to tipple off the boat.

This weekend we had a history trip to London (Southall & Westminster) and a British Studies trip to Portsmouth Harbour. Thirty degrees in London that day, eeeyow! Kobuta turned into roast pork. Highly inappropriate because Southall is an Indian/Bengali area and home to the largest Sikh temple outside of India. Ate a jalebi (deep-fried honey dough pretzel thing yum), which was free because I only wanted to buy one (just wanted to try it, 10 pence each). I think the guy in the store was taken aback by my ridiculously small order feminine wiles, so he just gave me the damn thing and waved me out the door. I love my frugal heritage.

Oh, and a film crew was hanging around the Castle all week to film a promotional video (heavily censored...no mentioning of other universities please), so they came with us to London. They also "requested" that our history tutorial be held outside, on the lawn in front of the Castle. We were reluctant, even though it was a sunny warm day, because that lawn is covered in goosepoop. Bleugh.

Anyway. Back to Portsmouth. A different vision of French-English relations. The major exihibit was the HMS Victory, commanded by the very brilliant, very short Lord Horatio Nelson in 1805 to punch the French & Spanish fleet in the mouth. Unfortunately, Lord Nelson died in the battle, 4 hours after being shot by a French sniper. Probably because Nelson was wearing more bling than the love child of Donald Trump and 50 Cent. Surprisingly, lots of French tourists come to see the ship; the site is pretty tactful, with less "Hey, look how bad we beat the French!" and more "You pretend to be a British sailor and we'll pretend to saw your leg off."

However, some resentment is still fostered:

Picnic table set up next to the Victory. Ironically, it was also next to a cart that sold crepes.

I am ten bounty hunters



The ISC actually organised a trip to see Episode III next week, but only three people sign up. The student activity coordinator/cruise director seemed a mite disappointed; I would have sign up if a)it wasn't cutting into my art history class and b)it wasn't going to suck. Ming's MSN name already says "Rise...Lord Vader." I think my reaction would be "Up Yours...George Lucas." But however bad it'll be, I still want to see it...geekdom and all.

(Thousands of miles away, on Skywalker Ranch, Lucas rubs his hands and laughs maniacally. Millions of geeks the world over will see his festering turd of a movie, purely out of a sense of duty to their geekliness! BWAAAAA HA HA HA HA!)

I do want one of these, purely out of a sense of duty to my right to stomp on things. Anyone got 36 million yen?

My Feet! My Feet!

Another week, another exercise in metatarsal pain. It was worth it though; the school days passed uneventfullly, but not quietly (I have the great fortune in being roomed on the party floor). Also, have somehow been incorporated into the Chinese Girl Dining Hall Posse.

Saturday trip to London, this time to the British Museum and then the National Gallery for art history course. Also the Tower of London in the morning; a morbid trip, what with the Bloody Tower and the Artillery Museum. That one was full of guns and swords that were shiny and artfully placed behind glass walls but were once used to blast and skewer people. A disturbing display of Britain's past gaijin smashery.

Sunday trip to Windsor Castle; the Queen was in residence ("Dude, she totally gave me the finger!") but sadly we didn't see her or her royal grandsons. Is it bad that I enjoyed walking around the town more than ogling the gold ceilings/chairs/toilets of the state apartments?

After all that walking, going back to the coach was a welcome relief. What are the chances of the ISC being persuaded to get a coach like this one?


I really don't think it says Focker...

Why, Lucas? Why?

Okay, although my brother swears that he believes Lucas will "pull it together" for Episode III, I have not one iota of faith that The George will make a decent movie out of it. Look how awful Episodes I & II were: the writing was atrocious (Anakin obsessing over Amidala for TEN years? Since he was 9? That's not romantic, that's creepy), the casting dubious, etc. But since I have to go to class now I leave you with this, from The Bynk Zone:

"So now, every time I see Vader saying great lines like 'Obi-wan was wise to hide her existence from me. Now his failure is complete', I'll be hearing 'Neener-neener, I know who she is now, and i'm gonna maker her evil so we can do evil things, like...like wear black and worship SATAN!' My god, Lucas turned Darth Vader into DARK HELMET!"

So when I do get around to watching Ep. III, I'll always see Rick Moranis instead of Hayden Christiansen. "Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb."

Classes? What classes?



Okay, one week of classes gone, two field trips and I am completely tuckered out. I never realized how many pages of notes you can take in three hours of class. Two papers due next week, one of which is the art history essay, 10 pages, 50% of my mark :o Egads!

The picture is from the bathroom at ASDA, the huge Walmart-ish store owned by...Walmart. Except that they sell fresh produce and have a liquor aisle. We took the ISC minibus there last week for food (bought HobNobs and popcorn).

Friday, everyone went to London for a Jack the Ripper walking tour and to see The Tempest at the Globe theatre. Walking tour slightly boring, the Globe was alightly awesome (standing yard tickets, 2 hours long). Miranda was played by a guy in a nightgown, and Caliban looked they way Antonio-the-gay-pirate-from-Twelfth-Night should have looked, ha ha. The coach buses here must be higher than the ones in Canada because lots of people had motion sickness (me included). Looks like I'll need that Gravol after all.

Saturday, art history trip to Canterbury Cathedral. After walking around London all day yesterday, getting out of bed that morning was not entirely appealing, but I did anyway. Cold rainy windy day, but the cathedral was indeed very breathtaking, pointy, old, etc. We went to a pub (The Jolly Sailor) in the afternoon, cos it's England and everyone's doing it.

There are now ducklings wandering the Castle grounds. Eeee!

Skin...Identity...Bangers and Mash



First day of classes today; so far I've had IDIS 304 (British Studies), which is an examination of British identity and culture through history, geography and literature. Very excited about this course...is it wrong that I'm so much more motived by this topic than I am about system architectures and databases? Oh well.

Talked about what we (Canadians/North Americans) view as inherently British/part of British culture. I'm currently listening to the Amelie soundtrack, which is a study of Englishness in itself (damn those Frenchies!). We have three profs for the course, of varying degrees of Britishness. I kept on finding myself comparing British and Canadian cultures during class (my Canadian Lit prof from last year would be proud), like the ideas about British/otherness, London/everywhere else, immigration, etc. It's going to be very interesting.

Went exploring a little bit after class; the Castle is surprisingly difficult to navigate. Loads of wooden doors leading into corridors and staiwells that don't always lead to an unlocked door. Tiny doorways indicate the older parts of the building. Apparently only the Castle walls date from medieval times, the rest of the castle (interiors, panelling, etc) are from a 1920s restoration. Herstmonceux Castle used to be in ruins until that time. It's used as a backdrop for films and weddings and stuff: I think the old Narnia series was filmed here in part and it was transformed into Hogwarts for a Coke promotion a while back. COOL.

This is our room:




The food is yum. Lots of stodge (my favourite kind) and Malteser ice creamsicles for dessert everyday. Loads better than the Sodexho sludge from Ban Righ, but really fatty...I'll have to restrain from eating the sausages at breakfast (which are really good, not the wimpy skinny burnt ones from Ban Righ), or else I'll end up with no arteries.

Off to Art History.

31 minutes remaining

Okay I'm in the Castle (well, Bader Hall, really) and I have 31 minutes left on the laptop battery before it dies on me. Will buy a plug adaptor with three frigging prongs tomorrow, if the Castle Shop is open.

A few things:
- rural England looks a lot like rural Canada, only more gentle (read: wimpy, ha ha). Just kidding. Lot of dainty little shrubs and trees. More intense greens. Sheep everywhere, perched on the green between highway lanes, looking like bemused cotton balls chewing cud. Baaaa...
- the first Briton I saw coming off the plane was standing at the exit from the connecting corridor. He looked like Prince Charles, craggy nose and all. Also horrifying teeth. Perfect!
- day one: one fire alarm caused by a 110 volt hair curler with 230 volts running through it until the whole thing melted. Whoo!
- there are about thirty cows in the little pasture about twenty metres from my window. They moo in an amusing manner. Moo.

75%

Three quarters of my way through university. I had my last exam this morning (Operating Systems - the one with the silly dinosaur laden textbook), which was pretty straightforward. The hard part came afterward: packing all my things into boxes, despairing over how much I'm lugging home, discovering things I had forgotton that I owned ("Oh look, long underwear!"), weeping over containers that won't close properly, etc.

Leaving for the Castle on Friday...sometime. I shold really check to see what time my flight is.

Okay: Things to do before I leave --
- check flight times
- get together with Tiff and the G/Jens
- call terrifying driving instructor to book lessons/G test for August
- get haircut
- get money from bank T_T
- unpack boxes
- repack suitcase
- check out Katie's laptop
- pig out at All-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant
- burn a mix CD (yes, a mix CD) for the trip

I also have to apply to 4th year for Computing, but I think the Computing main office may be closed all week (stupidness). We'll see about that.

It's 8PM and still light out

I miss that. It still throws me off because it's still sunny out when we're eating dinner; I keep thinking that dinner should be later because it's not even dusk yet outside, but it's still past 6.

I had a dream last night that it was sunny and summery warm, and going outside feels like you're stepping into an oven. But without the crispifying. An orange kind of day. I wore sandals and my toes were happy to be free and wiggly. Meh, today: sunny and sandals. Two out of three ain't bad. 25 celsius would be nice but 14 is good too.

Woke up in a foul mood for some reason, no idea why. Wandered around the used bookstore for a while, got a newspaper, Matilda and some Kit Pearson. Still mystified by bad mood, went home, growled, retreated into room, came back out, watched curling and suddenly felt better.

Epiphany: Curling is wonderful to the extent of being a mood elevator.

I love Ferby. And I'm enjoying the hockey strike. Seriously, it's been a wonderful thing: good movies on CBC on Saturday nights, full curling coverage, less silly beer commercials, etc. Muhar.

It's SPRING!

But true to form, our good old Ontary-ary-ario climate is throwing a nice little winter storm at us. Wet snow, heavy rain, gusting up to 80 km, the whole shebang. I don't mind so much...but I'm sure the people who were already wearing shorts and flip-flops will be a little upset.

Easter last weekend; I went to church with Anne, who punched me the instant she saw me T_T most likely because I haven't been to Bethel in weeks. But it was the first time in a long time that I found the service meaningful. It can be really easy to tune out any service when you've grown up in the church ("....Easter...sacriment...blood....oh yeah, and SACRIFICE..."), but this service really struck home for some reason. Yay Bethel! Now if only I would go back to fellowship, become a first-class pianist, join the worship team, and convert all my pagan friends my mother would be perfectly happy.

This year's Easter treats: Sunday service, "Milk chocolate flavoured Easter candies" and acceptance for the Spring term at the Castle! EXCLAMATION POINT!!!



Will be studying Art History, British Studies I and British History Since 1850 at Herstmonceaux Castle in England. The ISC office sent me an amusing student handbook along with the other paperwork; it included a list of approximate sundries costs (one load of laundry for 2 pounds = almost CAN$5) and a handy guide to English slang ("Chuffed" = Pleased, "Inverted commas" = Quotation marks, "Rubber" = ....eraser). V excited but I forget I'm going sometimes.

More randomosity -- Songs that are furiously infectious:
     Feist - Mushaboom
     Jack Johnson - Banana Pancakes
     Aqualung - Brighter Than Sunshine
     The opening song to Dead Like Me

And, last but most certainly not least, Bento is the bestest housemate evar. She brought us SPÖKAs from Ikea. From left to right, mine, Bento's and Wnd's:

Who says you can't judge a book by it's cover?

According to this face analyser, I am:

80% South East Asian
20% Chinese

Gender: FEMALE

Intelligence 6.2 Average Intelligence
Risk 4.1 Low Risk
Ambition 5.3 Average Ambition
Gay Factor 1.1 Very Low Gay Factor
Honor 5.3 Average Honor
Politeness 5.3 Average Politeness
Income 5.4 $30,000 - $50,000
Sociability 5.8 Average Sociability
Promiscuity 2.9 Very Unpromiscuous

YOUR ARCHETYPE: White Collar
Personality Profile: "You particularly enjoy the traditional way of life. Having drinks with your friends, attending parties and relaxing while watching TV are some of the simple pleasures you indulge in. You may also enjoy physical exercise. Your driving force is to retire as early as possible, so that you can do the things you enjoy more often. Your main source of ambition comes from this desire.

You don't particularly like your job but you do it without complaining. You realize that the income that it provides is essential to your lifestyle. You are friendly yet competitive with your co-workers. This competitiveness may lead you to squander your earnings to match other peoples' possessions. You operate most effectively when there is a set power structure, and the lines of authority are clear. You know your place in the ranks, you play by the rules, and will deliver what is expected of you. You do not care for responsibility; you would rather be care free."

Somewhat accurate. But this picture had the website at a loss:



0% East Indian
0% Middle Eastern
0% Eastern European
0% Southern European
0% Anglo Saxon
0% South East Asian
0% Korean/Japanese
0% Chinese

Gender: ?

YOUR ARCHETYPE: No archetype found!

They really need to include "Boy Robot" or "Superhero" in their list of archetypes.

I love my Operating Systems textbook

Reading it is like stuffing your mouth with sawdust in the middle of the Sahara, but it's so wonderfully geeky that I just about bust my pants laughing when I look at it.

The cover: OPERATING SYSTEM CONCEPTS: SIXTH EDITION. This exciting, thrilling, titillating title is printed underneath an illustration of a prehistoric landscape full of dinosaurs. It's one of those idyllic paintings featuring ponderous herbivores gazing benignly at the carnivores that love (to eat) them, absolutely unmindful of the fact that the crocodile that they're making googly eyes at just ate one of their offspring.

And the crocodile is so thinking "Mmmm...babies..."

On the back cover of the textbook, more happy co-existing sauropods and the following:

For the past two decades, dinosaurs have roamed the cover of Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne's OPERATING SYSTEM CONCEPTS. The product of a long process fo evolutionary adaptations, this best-selling text has continually evolved to address the latest trends in operating system design...

Dinosaurs. Operating systems. Dinosaurs. Memory management. The link between paleontology and computer science is so obvious that I wonder why my Database Management textbook doesn't have a T-Rex on the front of it (it has cows, actually. Moo to that.).

Then you open the book to read the following on the first page:

It is just after sunrise in a quiet river valley in an area of the world that will eventually be called the state of Montana. It is the Upper or Late Cretaceous period which ended approximately 65 million years ago with the extinction fo the dinosaurs. In this scene, a small family group of Alamosaurus heads down river past a wading Pachycephalosaurus and an Anklyosaurus browsing for tender cycad fronds...

"Tender cycad fronds." BWAAAAhahahaha!

Nuttin

Nothing interesting to say or report. School, Reading Week, more school.

Reading Week was painful: internet hassles for the first half of the week, horrific neck pain during the second and then a shyteload of work afterwords. I seriously think Reading Week should be abolished; it creates too much stress.

The usual questions about what I'll do this summer, next year, after graduation. Slushy weather everyday. Reading Henry Huggins and other Beverly Cleary books for fun. Spilled tea on self. Kicked into high-gear for two midterms and three assignments. Had an epiphany or, at the very least, a deep thought. Read the first three books by Jasper Fforde. Fuf-orfe. Fff-orde. Fjord. Whatever.

All in all, a very uneventful end of February and beginning of March.

"Sitting around the house
Watching the sun trace shadows on the floor
Searching for signs of life but there's nobody home"
~Better Than Ezra, "Good"

La la la lee lee loo...

I Love Cheese


Anti-Valentines Day cookie from the Fine Arts bake sale. ^_^ Yum.

Anyway, biting my thumb at the spirit of the day, I did not buy any chocolate or cards (although I plan to purchase many of the former at Shoppers tomorrow, when all choco-love is on sale). But I do recommend the following "romantic" movie to everyone -- My Sassy Girl.

I'm sure many of you have seen this already, but for those who haven't 'tis very good. Actually a good romantic comedy. I mean, it's SLAPSTICK. Excellent. It was released in 2001 in Korea and is about:

The story kicks off with college student Kyun-woo crossing paths with a drunk girl on a late-night subway. Just before she passes out, the girl looks at Kyun-woo and calls him 'honey'. The other passengers, assuming him to be the hapless girl's boyfriend, demand that Kyun-woo look after her. After carrying her on his back for what seems to be miles, Kyun-woo drops the girl off at a yeogwon (cheap motel). But instead of leaving her and getting on his way, Kyun-woo finds himself intrigued by the nameless girl and vows to do whatever he can to heal her sorrow.

She's having none of that sissy crap though and her dramatic mood swings are outmatched only by her penchant for sociopathic behaviour. Plus she quickly manages to wrap our wimp hero around her little finger, and finds ways to torment his as their quirky friendship and romance grows.

Go watch. Go, go.

Damnation



That's lovely weather to start the week with. I especially like the way the little raindrops on Monday morning transform into pointy, toothy, stabby triangles that will embed themselves into the horrified students below.

One week 'til reading week...

Laundry Woes

Ran out of socks, hence laundry trip yesterday. Unfortunately, the machine I chose for my coloured load was cursed; everything came out covered in cat hairs. Dammit. Spent half an hour picking them off before hurling everything into the dryer in exasperation. Luckily, almost all of it came off in the dryer, but I still lint-brushed everything, inside and out, when I got home.

Some smarmy furball is out there, missing half of it's pelt. If I see it, I'll punt it. Or maybe I'll just throw a snowball at the owner and then maybe they'll remember to wipe the washer after using it next time. Grr...

"Anonymity & Anxiety"

I heard that phrase last year in my Canadian Literature class* regarding the feeling of disconnection in large cities.

Very accurate description of my feelings for the future: to be independent, but a little afraid of it. Partly because it means I'd have to rely on myself (not entirely reassuring; I can't even get through the day with toes unstubbed), but also because it would require partially cutting my parents out of the picture.

Don't know what I'll be doing in five years; I'm afraid if I stay at home I'll stagnate in my parent's Vision of What Will Be, but if I move out/away, I'll alienate them. And not just them; there's a whole group of people (the rest of the family, the church posse, CELLTRON RAAR, etc) that goes with them.

This is mostly my own neurotic self worrying about life after graduation. I get along swimmingly with my parents, but they are controlling and sometimes over protective. And did I mention Chinese? That implies the fear-of-losing-face and also the don't-forget-you're-part-of-the-family thing.**

Bringing me to the idea of "the city". When I move out, it might as well be to somewhere completely new. And I don't mean Outside of Markham. Also I say "when" because it would be pathetic to say "if". The thought of going to a new city (Vancouver, HK, who knows) not just to visit but moving there both terrifies and excites me, not just what I'll find there, but also what I'd be leaving behind.*** It's the same feeling you get when you're taking a walk in a crowd of strangers. Doesn't happen too often in Kingston, but you know what I mean.

Blargh. I worry too much. Except that I'm not really worried, just curious as to how I would pull it off. Meh. I want Smart Food.****

~~~~~~~~~~

* i.e. "Skin....identity...unpack this. Now sing me some Stan Rogers."

** But it also implies the fun family dinners where it sounds like everyone is pissed at everyone else but they're actually having a good time and they only sound angry because they're all speaking in Cantonese and when you speak in Cantonese you always sound like you're tearing someone a new one. To quote Wanbro: "Cantonese. I had forgotten just how loud this language is. It’s like everyone here is having a permanent shit-fit with everyone else."

*** So sappy, like a greeting card I spout on and on. Ha ha.

**** Mmmm. Smart Food.

Mmm pancakes

Giving up coffee for Lent was made much easier today by the pancake sale that was goign on in Walter Light Hall today (i.e. where almost all of my courses are this semester). However, somehow I think there won't be pancakes everyday for the next 40 days to tide me over until Easter.

Most unfortunate.

Happy Lunar-Rooster-Lai-See New Years!


Mugen wishes you a happy new year, too. Punk.

Happy news for a new year: my cousin and his wife are expecting a baby! Yay! I just found out from my brother over MSN. My poh-poh must be ecstatic; the little pooper will be her first great-grandchild. Also the first baby in the family for thirteen years.

My cousin being a huge Star Trek fan, maybe his baby will look like this:

Detail from the cutlery at a dessert place in Hong Kong

More Hong Kong & Tokyo pics here.

Tokyo: Land of Yum



Dramatis Personae
Kev: tour guide extraordinaire, navigational system
Ming: Ayumi's new Number One Fan
Kobuta: a pair of sore shoulders and a full stomach

Day the First (Jan. 3rd): Tokyo, ho! Got up before dawn and dragged our groggy selves out of the apartment and to the bus stop. Mom was painfully nonchalant about her only children leaving for a foreign country for a week, but hey whatever. Spending spree at the airport to "get rid of leftover HK money" (read: hey look, candy!). Plane ride uneventful except for a dilemma over the TVs: we didn't figure out the screens were stowed away under the seat until halfway into the flight. Oops.

Arrived at Narita in the afternoon and trucked on over to the OMF Guest Home (at Ichikawa station) where we were going to be staying. I took one look at the train map and had a heart attack. Kev says the main lines form a circle with a line going through it (gong dai wa!); there are 32 train lines. Egads.

After we dropped off our luggage, we had ramen for dinner (mmm) and then went to Shibuya to walk around a bit. We stopped into an arcade to look around and met a celebrity:


Why, Mr. Solo, how are you this fine evening? Good? Me too!

CD shopping is excellent in Tokyo; lots of used CD stores it seems (I got Heated and Hemivision by Big Sugar for less than CAN$20!). After observing several strange fashions (rocker-goth, punk-goth, skanky-rocker, Rainbow Brite, bunny rabbit, gothic-Rainbow-skater-hamburger-doll, etc), we stopped off for okonomiyaki (pizza-y pancake-ky yummy thing) and yakisoba (fried noodles in yum sauce) and the best fizzy drink ever, Calpis.

As if that wasn't enough, on the way home, we stopped off at the convenience store ("The Daily Yamazaki") and bought a bunch of onigiri. Oh and we got free bread , so we bought some jam and some scary sugary peanut butter.


Complicated plastic wrapping keeps the seaweed from getting soggy, but also keeps me from eating it sooner.

Day the Second (Jan.4th): Guitar shopping in Ochanomizu. Ming and Kev transfixed by the racks and rows and shops full of guitars. The whole block was full of music stores, but I was more interested a truck parked nearby:


It's a shipping company called Yamato Transport, and it has the cutest corporate logo ever.

Anyway, my stinky brother bought a Japanese Fender (gold-coloured, shiny) and named it Ayumi after the only female J-pop star he'd heard of so far. Ha ha.

Lunch at Yoshinoya (tonkatsu over rice, 680 yen), then over to the amusement park next to the Tokyo Dome. Ming and Kev wanted to go on the rollercoaster so I sat down to babysit Ayumi and make faces at the chubby toddler who seemed both terrified and fascinated by me and my guitar.

Afterwards, we went to Shinkjuku. We went to this comic book cafe where you're charged depending on how long you want to stay (200 yen for 2 hours, unlimited drinks and manga!). Kev wanted to meet up with a friend so Ming and I assured him that we could safely walk around by ourselves for a while and then make it back to Ichikawa without losing any limbs.


Shinjuku at dusk


True to form, we got lost. Fortunately, a friendly Power Ranger (with a round of machine gun ammo around his waist) was nearby to help us out.

After several train mishaps (wrong line, then wrong direction, then wrong train), made it home, vowing together that Kev must never know of these difficulties. Hush now. Watched Japanese TV (scary, hilarious Iron-Man/American Gladiators competition), ate at a tempura restaurant and then went to an izakaya (Japanese bar?) for munchies (edamame, ice cream, sashimi) and drinks (Bailey's in milk and sake. It burns! It buuuurns!).

Day the Third (Jan. 5th): Odaiba! Rode the elevated train (very cool), shopping and lunch at Decks Tokyo Beach. We bought a ton of those little capsule toys (100-300 yen each); too cute to pass up and just cheap enough to justify buying. Afternoon at Tokyo Joypolis. My recollection of this day is a little blurry, mostly because I'm relying on my digicam pics to remind myself if what happened each day, and I ran out of memory that day. Oops.

Ha ha, I just remembered we saw Tokyo Tower on the way to Odaiba. Kev called it the gay man's Eiffel Tower. Ha ha, I still laugh at that.

Anyway, after walking around these malls and such all day, we just walked around a little in Ginza and then headed back to Ichikawa early. Dinner and much snackage bought from the convenience store. Ate the surprisingly nummy food at the guest home while watching The Hunt for Red October (blessedly, in English).

Day the Fourth (Jan. 6th): Breakfast at Mr. Donut! We passed this place everyday on the way to the train station and each time, the stereo outside was blasting this commercial. All I could understand, of course, was "MEESTA DONUT!"


Damned if I was going to miss a chance to eat a Pon de Lion donut. Mmm...

After our sugary breakfast, we went to the weekly OMF prayer meeting. Really neat to meet the missionaries, most of which were older Europeans/Americans who had been in Japan for over 10 years, but some were younger locals. Ming somewhat embarrassedly played a song for them (on a guitar called "Deep Fried"...excellent!) and gave some CDs out. Sandwhiches for lunch, yum.


Visited Sensoji Temple along with a million other people. This pic was taken as we entered the avenue leading from the Kaminarimon to the temple itself.

After seeing the temple and the monstrous Kaminarimon, we were heading back home when Kev suddenly swerved into a store. Little did I know it was a karaoke place. So we went karaoke-ing: Green Day, Bon Jovi, U2, Disney's Under the Sea and L'Arc en Ciel. I spent most of the time laughing.

For dinner, we headed to Akihabara with Ruth, a missionary from New Zealand that Kev had worked with the previous summer. Can't waste an opportunity to shop in Akihabara Electric Town, so I got new earphones. Ruth took us to a sushi place...one of those conveyer belt ones (kaiten sushi, I think). Awesome. I ate many things I would never ever have tried on my own. Including sea urchin...that one was hard to get down.


We (four people) ate this much. 28 normally priced plates, three discounted plates, four special plates and four ice cream cones. Ruth and I had sesame flavoured, Ming had tofu flavoured (really yummy) and Kev had wasabi flavoured. Poor guy couldn't get through it. Too much wasabi power. Payback for the sea urchin.

Day the Fifth (Jan. 7th): We found out the day before that we needed to vacate the guest home right away for a missionary family that was arriving, so we packed up and moved to Ryokan Kangetsu. Not an easy task, as we needed to move all our crap from Ichikawa to Kamata stations, about an hour of trains and train switching. It was worth it though; on the inside, the ryokan grounds looked like a little traditional village or something: little bridges everywhere, lots of plants, etc. The street entrance had a sensor in place so that whenever anyone came in, it would say "Irrashaimasen!" ("Welcome!"), and then "Arigatou gozaimashita!" ("Thank you very much!") when someone left.


Our room at the ryokan; three futons on the ground don't leave much floor space. We each got a yukata, too.

Tsukiji fish market in the afternoon; unfortunately the big market is only open in the mornings, so we ate lunch (sushi again, very fresh; we tried horsemeat....guh.) and walked around the smaller side markets. Saw a tuna head; man those things are massive! Next to the head was a picture of a happy Japanese fisherman gutting a 6 foot long tuna. Whee!


Common sight on Tokyo trains. How do they wake up in just in time to get off at the right station? It's a mystery.

Dinner at a jazz lounge in Shinagawa, a major city center. How do I know this? Because on the train map, "Shinagawa" is in big letters, like "Shinjuku" and "Ikebukuro". Waha! Urban geography by Kobuta! The band was really good, but we were really out of place, being the only ones in jeans, under thirty and not coming straight from the office.


Shinagawa station: here is where Ming forlornly ran out of money.

Day the Sixth (Jan. 8th): A day with Kev's friends! They all hail from Toronto, but now work in Tokyo. One of them looked like Kevin Spacey, ha ha. We met up with them at Shinjuku, (south exit) and had ramen for lunch again (yum, 700 yen). Then over to the government office buildings to look at the city from above. And I thought Hong Kong was crowded; Tokyo streches off in every direction, completely jammed with buildings. Not many high-rises though, strangely.


Takeshita St. in Harajuku; loads of neat little stores here, some odd fashions too. The two orange signs on the right are for Yoshinoya and a restaurant called Wolfgang Puck Express.

We went from Shinjuku to Harakjuku to Shibuya, where they kindly brought us to the Tower Records stores, where helped me find Tank! The Best! Yay! Dinner in Shibuya; I don't know what kind of restaurant it was, but it was good. You take off your shoes at the entrance and let the staff put them into the little wooden lockers. Being Canadian, we tried to put them away ourselves, but were very politely told to leave them where they were and it would be taken care of.

After dinner we went to a Starbucks; as one of Kev's friends explained, since it's considered inappropriate to eat or drink while walking around, no one carries their latte's around. So instead, everyone sits down at the coffee shop and finishes them there. Hence, the Starbuckses (which were everywhere in Tokyo) are enormous, to accomodate everyone who orders anything. We went outside to the patio to drink our coffee because it was too crowded inside (to quote Smuu, we are from CANADUR. *flexes*)

We went back to the inn after that. Of course, when you're at a ryokan that has an outdoor bath, you've got to try the outdoor bath. Luckily for me, the entrance to the women's bath was right next our room, whereas the men's one was outside of our building, right in front of the main desk, ha.

So, I went into the women's bath entrance, put my clothes and glasses into a wicked basket and go into the open air bath with a towel wrapped around me (nakedness ew). Inside were two women (or perhaps animated slabs of tofu; I couldn't see anything) already in the bath. I tell you, 10 degrees Celsius is really cold when you're not wearing pants. Or a shirt for that matter. Toss towel over to the side, grab a stool. Hurredly turn on the shower to 'hot', wash up and rinse. Hurredly climb into the steaming hot bath. Hurredly get into a position where one is not too close to naked strangers or exposing too much to said strangers. Actually it wasn't too awkward because, as I've said, I was pretty much blind. You don't really feel naked when you can't see anything. I had a chat with the two women (one from Osaka, one from Nara), and then got out after half an hour. Too pickled. The two women, who had already been in the bath for an hour and a half when I arrived, stayed until closing probably.

Day the Last (Jan. 9th): Ming and Kev were going to take the train to Aomori ( northern tip of Japan's main island, I was leaving that day, so we were packed up and checked out by mid-morning. Train to Tokyo station, where both the super-bullet trains to the north and the airport express trains left from. After lunch (I finally got to try omurice), said good-bye and I left for Narita on the aiport express. Funny how my trips to Asia always end with me travelling by myself, terrified, on the last day. The train ride was quite long, about an hour or so, but I got to the terminal in plenty of time.

Had to wait for the Air Canada desks to open, so I sat nearby and watched this adorable toddler try to climb her parents' luggage. Hee. After I got my boarding pass, I walked around the shopping area a bit. There were stores of all kinds (even a little grocery store) and a lot of restaurants. Too bad I had already given Ming most of my remaining money. Oh well. I got one last onigiri, a pack of mentos, a barley tea drink from the vending machine and a pack of those yummy koala biscuits filled with chocolate. Oh and Bleach Vol. 4 (credit carded that one). Then onto the plane...

Bye bye Japan!


Sunset at Ichikawa station

Argh

I swear I swear I swear I meant to finish and post the Tokyo half of my trip but I haven't even started yet. Well I started but then I got sidetracked by photo tweaking and Scrubs. Plus I just had a test today and I have an assignment due tomolo and a graphics assignment and an essay due next week so I am wigging out.

But hopefully (I say this with yearning in my heart and fire in my eyes and a giraffe in the backyard) I will start and finish post this afternoon.

You'd better be knocking on wood over there.

Describe yourself using one band and song titles from that band
Created by naw5689 and taken 15229 times on bzoink!
Choose a band/artist and answer only in song TITLES by that band:	Big Sugar
Are you male or female:	Nicotina (She's All That)
Describe yourself:	Sugar in My Coffee
How do some people feel about you:	Empty Head
How do you feel about yourself:	Better Get Used to It
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend:	Heart Refuse to Pound
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend:	Still Waitin'
Describe where you want to be:	O Canada
Describe what you want to be:	So Many Roads
Describe how you live:	Let it Ride
Describe how you love:	Round & Round
Share a few words of wisdom	Rolling Pin
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Hong Kong: Land of the Twisted Doughnut



Dramatis Personae
Dad: camera-buff, occasionally boorish
Mom: tiny marathon shopper, hypochondriac
Homing/Stinky Brother: "Ming", guitar buff, occasionally boorish
Kev: Ming's bandmate, tourist, not dead
Kobuta: me, clumsy, occasionally boorish

...Plus about 30 other family members/friends

Day the First (Christmas Eve): Got up at 4 AM and trucked over to Pearson. Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver! There was a big snowstorm two days ago, so we just squeaked by with a mere thirty minute delay. Crawled onto the plane with Ming and Kev (Mom and Dad were on a separate flight). Flew all day, constantly annoyed by Small Fat Child next to self, who elbowed me every 3 minutes. There was a kid with a big forehead kicking me seat from behind, too. Gar.

Day the Second (Christmas Day): Arrived at Chep Lak Kok (ha ha, "Kok") Airport in the mid-afternoon, fuzzy-eyed and scuzzy-toothed. Took the bus to the apartment we were staying at, in Wan Chai. We went to eat an early dinner with my dad's brother and sister (and her husband) at a restaurant with a most attractive display of fish tanks...right next to the fish chopping block. Mmm...appetizing. Afterwards, we went to the waterfront to see the skyline and, somewhat bizarrely, Christmas fireworks. I tell you, you haven't seen overblown Christmas decorations until you've seen a skyscraper festooned with lights depicting a hundred foot tall Santa smiling like the Marshmallow Man. And you haven't seen phallic until you've seen the Two International Finance Centre tower. Ugh.


The much more picturesque Bank of China building.

Day the Third (Boxing Day): I woke up and realized my "bed" (wooden board with a sheet thrown over it) was giving me hip-bruises. Ming, Kev and I went out to breakfast at Cafe de Coral (Chinese fast-food chain) and then took a stroll along Henessey. Walked to Causeway Bay and window shopped a bit (nothing opens until 10.30am, I've learned). Emerged from a flood of domestic helpers on their day off to take the subway home, just in time to meet Mom and Dad who had just arrived from the airport. Dim sum for lunch and then was dragged around town by my aunt and uncle.

It was sunny and warm out (hooray for t-shirts when all the locals are wearing fur parkas!) but the three of us were so jetlagged it wasn't exactly fun. Ming walked into traffic and I walked into a pole, so I guess Kev won that round. In spite of the warm weather, Mom was convinced it was cold and put on another sweater. Actually I saw a woman wearing a fur jacket even though it was 18 Celsius and sunny. Meh, to each her own.

Day the Fourth (Wedding Dinner): Breakfast at Fairwood (another fast-food chain). Watched my cousin's fiance humiliate himself and his groomsmen in order to win his bride over, as required by Chinese tradition. Off to Mongkok after another dim sum lunch (am surely turning into a greaseball by now). Strong-armed my way throught to crowds and left with a green bag for school, two hair clips and clothes that smelled of smoke. We introduced Kev to the typical Hong Kong neighbourhood diner, a.k.a. fly-filled wonton shop. It was cheap and tasted good and we didn't get sick, so I guess it was a successful venture. Dad bought a new camera lens, Mom enshrouded herself in another sweater and bought a pile of dresses for approximately CAN$4.



Wedding dinner at the Excelsior Hotel. The waiters were mightily confused when I tried to put my empty glass on a side table instead of giving it to them to carry over on a tray. Oh, and the hotel across the street later stole the juice from our hotel's engines so that it could blast across space to save Leonard Nimoy and obliterate some Klingons.

Day the Fifth (Dec. 28): Immigration day! After breakfast at a hole-in-the-wall congee place (CAN $20 for five people, excellent), we walked over to the scary, looming Immigration building to apply for our HK identity cards. The whole thing smacked of tricking the government into believing that I wanted to renounce my Canadian citizenship and become a bonafide Hong Konger. But it meant I wouldn't need a visa to enter HK in the future, so whatever. And I got to stay a Canadian, w00t. Met up with Maggie (SCS buddy from grade 10) in Causeway bay for food and shopping.


Maggie and me

I also met up with my old friend, Lee Kum Kei:



Dinner with my mom's somewhat snooty university friend and her family. The thing I hate about Hong Kong culture is that showiness and face are so damn important to some people. This dinner was at Jardine House, which is an impressive building, but auntie booked a private room for the meal, and it was pretty much the wedding meal from the previous night all over again. Considering it was supposed to be a happy reunion between two friends and their families, it was a little over the top, what with the lobster and shrimp and duck and wine and personal waitress and pre-printed menu with the auntie's name on it. It bothered me.

Day the Sixth (Dec. 29): Kev downed by a bad cold. We honoured our fallen comrade by buying him breakfast and going shopping without him. Mom, Ming and I went to a Chinese-style clothes store in Central (called "Kenki", ha ha). The store employees must have been overjoyed by the time we left: we all bought stuff. Damn them and their persuasiveness. They talked Ming into buying a Jackie Chan-esque shirt and jacket, and a blue silk lined jacket for Katie. I got the same jacket, only with a light purple lining. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why and where I could possibly wear it. The store ladies seemed amused by us, possibly because they turned around while attending to my mom to find me jiving to the background music in the corner because I was bored.


Snarking at HKU. "How cold is the water frosh?" "SO COLD!"

Checked on Kev at home (still breathing) and then met up with Dad (and his other, new camera lens) at Hong Kong University to take a look at his and Mom's alma mater. Dinner and dessert (daofu fa, yum) with my dad's other brother and his wife.

Day the Seventh (Dec. 30): More eating, more shopping. Kev watched movies and clung to life. Went to Times Square in Causeway Bay (U2 jacket, v. nice) and saw the scariest Christmas tree known to man:


Very noooooo! Don't eat meeeee!

Yes, five full days after Christmas and all the ornaments were still up, the carols were still playing and the employees were still wearing the elf hats. Poor souls. Oh, and we watched Battle Royale. Went to bed highly disturbed.

Day the Eighth (New Year's Eve): back to the scary Immigration tower to complete applications and take pictures for the ID cards. Kev still out of commission, so Ming and I went to Tsim Sha Tsui's Harbour City for New Year's. Talk about luxury brands: Fendi, Chanel, Dior, Burberry. Unfortunately, by 9PM we were both exhausted (in adjusting to the time difference, we all adjusted to waking up at 7AM and sleeping at 10PM. Oops) so we just had dinner at Delifrance and then went home. Chinese people love all things francais. Oo la la. However, the good folks at Delifrance need to learn that sandwhiches require mayo.


I'll make a wish that can't backfire. I wish for a turkey sandwich, on rye bread, with lettuce and mustard. And I don't want any zombie turkeys, I don't want to turn into a turkey myself and I don't want any other weird surprises. You got it? Hey! Not bad. Nice, hot mustard. Good bread. The turkey's a little dry. The turkey's a little dry?! Oh, foe, the cursed teeth! What demon from the depths of hell created thee!!

Day the Ninth (New Year's Day): Morning with Dad and some of his siblings; went to visit my grandparents' and my eldest aunt's graves in Chai Wan. Really, not as fun as it sounds. Interesting to see my grandmother's picture (it was on her gravestone). She died long before I was born and I didn't even know what she looked like. She was pretty.

Kev was feeling better, so we went up to the Peak for some salubrious mountain air and the good view. Mom apparently went there to shop; she left to find a bathroom and came back with a new jacket, which she promptly put on. The electronic harp and scary plastic bus driver are still at Ripley's. Saw my first cockroach...at Marche! Ew ew ew. Dinner at another swanky hotel with more of Mom's uni friends.


We weren't supposed to open the windows in the apartment we stayed in (it was borrowed) but I couldn't resist sliding one open and taking this pic from the living room window.

Day the Tenth (Last day): Finally did a really touristy thing and went to Lantau Island's giant Buddha statue. It's quite a trip, from MTR, to train, to little teeny bus. The seats on the bus must have been made for tiny grandmothers or children, or maybe people with no rear ends. Scariest road ever, because it only had one lane for both directions. And it was really windy (both up and down to the sides). Somehow we made it there alive, had lunch and then lurched back to the train station in the TinyBus. Met up with Maggie one more time (poor girl was sick, but insisted on going out for dinner and, you guessed it, shopping) in Mongkok.

Day the Eleventh: Woke up before dawn and took the bus to the airport with Ming and Kev. Cathay Pacific, 4 hours to Tokyo! More on that later.