Thursday, December 29, 2005

   The 25th, the 26th, and the 27th . . .
I'm just gonna up and say now that this is gonna be honkin' long. If you're just gonna comment to say that you didn't read it, I don't care, so please continue on your way.

December 25th: Stella Artois and Granville Island Pale Ale . . .
That said, Christmas morning was pretty rockin'. I woke up at about 9am because I got bored lying in bed or something, and then I just played on the piano for a bit; my younger brother alleges that it was to wake everyone up, but I dunno . . . maybe. The aniki made his way over for the morning, so he still hasn't missed a gift-opening time with us; his tonsils were less gigantic that day. Anyway, This is more or less what I got:
-iPod (new kind that plays videos) and assorted iPod accessories. Totally shocked to get this, no doubt.
-"Civilization IV" for PC. In other words, I'm never sleeping ever again for the rest of my life. Very addictive.
-UFC DVD and a Ken Shamrock book that shows you how to fight. "Come here, let me try something..."
-Socks and underwear. Me loves my mother.

There were some other little heres and theres, but those are what stick in my mind the most. Anyway, we had some brunch afterwards with bacon and eggs and stuff, and then we all proceeded to play around with all our new stuff . . . well, the aniki left because he had to go fight crime, as you may had gathered from the poem below . . . but yeah, we all just sorta hung out until time for the party . . .

I finally got a hold of "Faramir" and the OOT; they were downtown at a time when they should have probably been heading back to the civilization of New Westminster . . . but, I can only blame myself for not calling them sooner (playing "Civ IV", it already wrecked me . . . funny info bit, though, "Civ IV" actually has a built-in alarm clock! Cracks me up that they would think to add it . . .).

But yeah, as people slowly came, suddenly I had a LOT of friends over! "Boromir" and his family were here, as were "Pippin" and his family. There were the two houses of neighbours as well (including the young 3 and 5 year old kids). And finally, "Faramir" and the OOT called for a ride from the station.

Oh yeah, and "Boromir" brought THE SWORDS!!! Check the post below, you can see pics of a few of the cardboard masterpieces we've boardsmithed in the back room of Superstore . . . me loves my Zangetsu . . . I should paint it!

The night rocked so hard! So many of us whom we hadn't seen in so long, and it was just . . . . . yeah, it ruled. I don't know what the older people did upstairs (probably just talking), but the younger people were watching "Pirates of the Caribbean" while we ate in the basement - the older younger people cracked out some drinks too (the brother stocked the fridge well). Oh yeah, and then "Faramir's" sister came over too (the OOT loves her). But yeah, a little "NHL 2006", a touch of "Soul Calibur 2", and then a rockin' game of Cranium and then Trivial Pursuit. In any case, we didn't finish until about 1:30am or later . . . so yeah, I drove "Pippin", his sister, and the OOT home . . . it was a very leisurely drive, gotta say . . .

Oh yeah, the OOT got me a Washington, DC touque and Pocky for Christmas. That was enjoyable.


December 26th: Beer, Crown Royale and Baileys . . .

The night before, "Faramir", the OOT and I were contemplating maybe going skiing on Boxing Day. Well, I woke up early-ish (but dead tired, seeing as it was practically 3am when I got home the night before after driving downtown and back again), and called everyone. In any case, the consensus seemed to be that since it was RAINING up on the ski mountains, skiing would be a bad idea . . . instead, we all went back to sleep. Rawk on.

Now, I had told the OOT to give me a call once she did wake up so we could figure out what to do . . . but she didn't and went shopping by herself. Burn, ne? Ah well . . . anyway, I spent most of the day playing "Civ IV" some more (great game, by the way) until "Faramir" called me asking what we were doing today . . . I had no idea, so then he suggested maybe we go see a movie . . .

I checked the listings. "Faramir" had no interest in "Memoirs of a Geisha" or a few other winter movies . . . then when I sorta jokingly mentioned "Harry Potter", then he perked up.
"Oh! [The OOT] said she wanted to see that!" he said. Now this amused me for a couple reasons. One, "Faramir" would NEVER go see "Harry Potter" of his own accord; indeed, that he had no interest in the movie was a prime cause in my not seeing it earlier this month. But two, now I finally had an excuse to see it.

So I drove over to "Faramir's" house, picked him up, and then we went downtown to pick up the OOT. We were running a really tight schedule and basically got to the theater 5 minutes before the 7:40pm showing . . . . . needless to say, with Boxing Day and all that, it was sold out . . . burn on us. So, we got tickets for the 10:50 showing and went off to get some food and stuff.

The three of us went to a wings place . . . aptly named "Wings", in fact. Really, it was just our excuse to get some drinks before seeing the movie . . . the wings were good, make no mistake, but let's face it, Crown Royal whisky, well . . . um . . . . . . it comes in a nice bottle. Baileys isn't bad either . . . . . again, let me stress that I didn't drink nearly as much as the other two, seeing as I was driving in about 5 hours.

With an hour to kill before the movie, we went to a Starbucks to chill and chat. Um . . . yeah, really there's nothing else to add to that, so we'll get on with it.

I really liked "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". It ends on such a downer compared to the other ones! Heh . . . I guess this makes up for my misgivings with the ending of the first movie. But yeah, Chinese girl with a Scottish accent (played by a girl with the same last name as me, no less) was good, as was a lot of other stuff . . . heh. But yeah, good warm-up for when I read the book for Children's Lit' this semester . . .

After the movie (1:30am), got the OOT back to her hostel again, and got "Faramir" and myself back home. Then I played "Civ IV" for a little longer before bed. Idiot me.


December 27th: Plum wine, gin and coke, screwdriver . . .

I came to notice that I was drinking a lot this week . . . just sorta happened . . . . . I mean, the OOT's not gonna get to do it much once she's back at Lee University in Tennessee, so why not?

Tuesday was the last day the OOT was gonna be in Vancouver. So again, "Faramir" and I drove downtown, picked the girl up, and then went to get lunch at some super-expensive Japanese-Korean restaurant downtown (I forget if I've mentioned this, "Faramir" is Korean). Anyway, the restaurant was closed since we got there at about 2pm or so, past their lunch time. Instead, we went to an expensive dim sum restaurant next to it (I, of course being Chinese, thought this would be my chance to shine . . . I failed, of course). But yeah, we chatted some more, talked about how it's interesting that I was so willing to pour tea for everyone else, other ways in which our cultures differed . . . fun times.

The restaurant wasn't even that good, though, to be honest . . .

After lunch, we walked around downtown for a bit more since I still had about 40 minutes of paid parking time left. We went to HMV to look at music and DVDs and stuff. The OOT picked up a season of "Friends" and . . . something else. I got "Serenity" and a couple "Sharpe" movies starring Sean Bean (you all HAVE to find these if you can!). Afterwards, we all got back into my car.

We drove the OOT back to the hostel so she could check out, and then we all went back to my house to bum around (it was about 5pm by this time) . . . . . well, technically we made a side-stop to the liquor store first, but that's beside the point. The REAL point was that we tried calling a couple other people to come over and hang out as well, but no one could make it.

Instead, it was "Faramir", the OOT, and myself in my basement again. Oh, and my brother for the first while too . . . but yeah, on the way back to New Westminster (our city), "Faramir" requested a stop at his house to get his laptop since he had some horror movies on it or something. Anyway, for those first few hours there were four computers running down here: my desktop one, "Faramir's" laptop, the OOT's laptop, and my brother's laptop. It was a little ridiculous . . .

But fun! I made the other two watch some of the shows I've downloaded, like "Yakitate!! Japan" and "Yawara". The OOT used to watch "Yawara" back when she was in Japan, so she was happy. Oh, fun fact: did you know that the Japanese judo athlete who competed at Barcelona was in fact nicknamed "Yawara-chan" because of the manga/anime? Ryoko Tamura, look her up . . . it's kinda amusing.

So that took up the first little bit of time. The rest was a little more talky . . . you see, the OOT's friend (the ORIGINAL OOT who came by the same summer the other year AND last April) was online. We convinced her to get Skype, and then for the next couple hours my computer was more or less commandeered by Japanese girls. I still tried to chat with my people as well, of course . . . but then "Faramir" commandeered the keyboard and confused many girls and one guy. Ahh, it's fun to introduce him to people . . .

Well, we cracked out the drinks in time to wish Molly a Happy Birthday as it clicked 12am in Kansas (oh yeah, everyone go wish Molletta a happy birthday if you haven't!), and then went back to the couch and coffee table to watch a Thai horror flick on "Faramir's" lappy. Heh . . . by this point it was the three of us sitting quite close with each other . . . well, more technically it was "Faramir" and I sitting quite close with the OOT between us . . . . . details, I'm sure.

But yeah, this Thai movie ("Shutter", 2004) was pretty cool! If you can find it, check it out if you like scary movies . . . heh . . . by this point the OOT was getting pretty drunk, so "Faramir" and I had to cut her off and force her to hydrate herself and stuff . . . again, I had long since given up and was sucking coke rest of the night.

After the movie, I popped in the first "PMK" DVD since I wanted to show this show to the OOT . . . . . hehe. The whole time she kept resisting the idea that Souji was a guy . . . that, or that he was gay. But yeah, she didn't do history, so she really didn't know much about the Shinsengumi . . . a shame . . . she kept saying that her younger brother back in Japan probably knew about the show, though.

Anyway, by the end of the third episode, the three of us were now all sitting on the couch under a shared blanket. Thus, I CLEARLY had to put in a "Ranma" DVD. Hehe . . . we watched the first episode with Shampoo and had fun (we all loves the Shampoo). I dunno, we were all sittin' pretty close . . . I wanna call it flirtatious, but there was just a sense that we were all so close to each other and stuff . . . I dunno, it was a comfortable closeness, I'll say. I just remember lamenting later in the night that "Faramir" and I don't know more girls with whom we can just hang out with and watch anime like that . . .

Once it was over, we gathered up all of the OOT's stuff and got it in the car: we were going to the airport. Her flight was 6am, and she feared missing her flight like she once had before . . . thus, we left at 2am (the main reason for hangin' out at my house that night). The whole drive to the airport the OOT kept talking about how much she likes Vancouver, how she wants to come back again . . . and apparently how really super nice I am, apprently. Ah, the Japanese are funny . . . even when they're drunk . . . . .

. . . hey, don't look at me like that . . . . .

But yeah, we got her to the airport, "Faramir" bought her a bottle of water just in case, and . . . then we found her a seat to wait until someone came to the desk to process the flights (people were sleeping all over the airport at this point, being about 2:30am). Again, the OOT reminded me that I was to believe that I was a nice person, we told her to be careful, gave her each a big hug, and then left her to chill at the airport (our parking time was ticking up, after all). By the time I got home, it was about 3:15am or so . . . . .



And thus ends the visit with the OOT. Very fun girl. Big Miyazaki fan, you'd all like her. I played a mix CD in the car with "Itsumo Nan Demo" from Spirited Away, and she kept repeating the track . . . she also does Taekwondo and used to do kendo. And she fights back. Yeah, it was a fun visit . . .

Oh, "Faramir's" pretty okay too. Sometimes it takes a while to get used to him, though . . .


Alright, I should be at kung-fu. See ya guys!
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