Kyuu! Archive- January 2005 ----------------- Snap here and there, randomness xD ---------------------------------- OMG, look I actually managed to put a few photos in my photo section xD. Actually I did that because I just had to put a few of the Japanophile photos that we took on Friday, lol they were so random xD. My brother's having a party for his birthday tomorrow, which means gahh, I'm stuck with a bunch of boys for a long while >_> -January 29, 2005 ----------------- Switches and Shoutouts ---------------------------------- Well, Science class today, we found out that....we're not swtiching teachers after our Chem. unit after all!!! yay!!! I was happy today.lol at first our teacher told us that we wouldn't be switching teachers after first term(because normally whave to switch teachers after doing 2 units in Science, yep stupid I know xD), then she told us that we had to(noo, I don't want a repeat of Grade 9 Physics and Astronomy experiences T_T), and finally today it's been finalized that we don't have to switch, sooo yay!!! <3333. Oh, today is also my brother's birthday, he turns 13 today(yes 1 year older, which means more chores *hey, that's what I got, so it's only fair xD*), he's having a party this Sunday which means I'll stuck with 8 other guys in the house, *sigh* >_> -January 28, 2005 ----------------- Shortening Scheds ---------------------------------- YAY, for all of this week, up till Feb 2nd, Our school has a shortened day running from 9am till 1:30pm. Oi, today I was almost going to being late for school O.o, apparenlty there were lots of accidents around. In fact these were so many that some of the major highways were really jammed. Overall it took me an hour to get to school when it usually took 20mins >_>, I missed doing a make-up Science quiz too, so I gotta write it tomorrow morning >o< (I hate it when I need to be early I'm not when I am I don't need to -_-) -January 27, 2005 ----------------- nooo, "Eternal Snow" ---------------------------------- wahhhh, I've lost my posts!!! T_T, while doing something on my blog, I accidently saved over this page *snif sniff* anyway, here was my last entry: -- wow!!!! seirously, snow snow snow, that's all I've been seeing today. Woke up at 7am for yoa class at 8:30am, and it was snowing!! A LOT!! oi, I swear I can't see anything out my bedroom window(cept for the cherry tree in the backyard because it's prtty much right in front of my window xDDDD). It was also very windy today, like, as soon as I got off the bus to walk to my Math class wooo, I got lots on snow in my face through my glasses, on my bag and my head. lots and lots of snow. Yep, so it's been snowing all day and it's also very cold(about -17 degrees celcius. bad weather today xD -January 22, 2005 ----------------- There and back again.. ---------------------------------- lol, well I was actually going to put this up the day I came back but lol, ha it is 5 days late xDDDD. Yep anyway, just came back from California on January 2nd(that was a Sunday) at 6am in Toronto(and it would've been 3am over in Cali. xD) . Overall I had a nice time there, though most of the time I was spending time with my relatives, and my grandfather's friend- s lol. So here's basically what I did. First day, we arrived in San Francisco around 3pm in the afternoon. Got our rental car (which had an awsome GPS in it ^o^ lol we never got lost with that x3) and then headed off to my grand-cousin's (err, i honestly don't know how to say it in English..uh Chinese thing ^^;;;)place. They owned a convenience store so that was cool, we pretty much got whatever we wanted from there. (bwahaha, no we didn't abuse it ^^)Whoa, one thing that was really cool yet also scary was that San Francisco had a lot of hills(or at least in the area I was in xD), woo! up and down every single day xD. Anyway, first night we didn't do much, We drove down to Pier 39 and just walked around there, wow, again I said in an ealier post. The seagulls down at Fisherman's Wharf are huuuge! They're seriously twice as big as the ones here in Toronto xD. And oh sealions, smelly, and noisy and lol they're just laying there in a blob xD. We also bought candy(or.. I think it was taffee*blah bad spelling xD*) at the Candy Baron. mm...I love tootsie rolls ^^. We headed back around 5:30 and went back to my relatives place for dinner and then just slept (I slept on the couch, my parnets slept on the air matress we brought with us and my brother and my grandfath slept in a bed, yes A BED xD). Next day another one of my relatives(uh, these are all people on my mom's side of the family, I don't know them xD I only know everyone on my dad's side and only the few on my mom's side who live in Canada) took us down the "crooked street" which is literally crooked xD. We also went through Lombard St. (another crooked street xD). When went down to Chinatown for lunch at Gold Mountain(no, there's no gold in it xD), mm..dim sum..After that we started heading down to the Japanese Tea garden^^ We had to stop by at a gas station for a pit stop because we all drank too much tea xDD (cept my brother...he didn't need to go....weirdo >_> xD). When we got to the garden we just walked around and took lots of pictures^^ It was very very very pretty (boy, I'd love to have a backyard like that xD, yeah...I wish). Oh later on when we left we also went down to Japan town, and went to the Japanese Culture Centre, oi!!! It was so cool there, I found one bookstore that had pretty much every anime/manga related items you can find. (cept for things like plushies, keychains and that stuff, but they had tons of manga *original and English translated*, dvds, artbooks, posters and music cds) I bought the artbook with Arina Tanemura's work (she does animes/mangas like Full Moon, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Time Stranger Kyoko, Route L. etc. Originally I was going to buy the D.N Angel artbook but, I've never seen Arina's artbook so I bought hers, and will buy the D.N. Angel one at another con.). After my 45min of being hyper and jumpy, we left(and never went back T_T wah) and went out for dinner at another Chinese restaurant xD. Uh, my brother and I weren't feeling so great that day(I felt really congested from something >_>) so we didn't have that much of an appetite.(*sniff* and the food looked so good T_T). Yep after that we all went back and went to bed,*snore* The next next day(which was Thursday), we went down to Sacremento(California's capital) to visit my mom's uncle. oi, he had a pretty big house(argh! but no internet >< T_T). His son and their family live in it too, and they've got 3 dogs!(which didn't like us very much cause they kept barking at us xD), On the same day we also went down to Old Sacremento and walked around there, that place was very old styled, well in a Western way, just think of those old cowboy movie settings cause that -'s what it looks like xD. That night we went out for a buffet(food!), it was pretty good, but oi, not enough desserts O.o xDDD(and with ice cream they have one of those ice-cream dispensers like the ones you'd find in ice-cream trucks xD.See back home here, we've got buckets with different flavours you can pick from^^*much better =3*). After dinner we drove back to San Franscisco.(Oh, I forgot to mention that we crossed over the Bay Bridge, which is a bridge that's parallel to the Golden Gate Bridge. Bay Bridge is a toll bridge though, so you don't pay when you cross over from San Fransisco but you have to pay $3.00 (American) when you come back). The next next next day(Friday/Christmas Eve) we went down to Chinatown again, but this time we went to visit one of my grandfather's old friends, we went out for lunch, then just walked around Chinatown for a while. Yes that wasn't very interesting. Oh that night we went to Todai in Daly City. I tell you that it is the best Japanese buffet you will find, mm..great food, lots of sushi(that goes fast xD). Yup I definitely had my appetite back for that xDDDD, on our way back we stopped by another one of my relatives house(his house was big too, about the same size as my uncle's house *he lives in Grimsby, but I like my uncles house better xD*), oh we got Christmas presents from them so that was cool, and my brother had fun fascinating himself with the 6 cars that were in the garage xD. That night we weren't very tired so we stayed up longer and watch James Bond movies xD). The next next next next day(Saturday/Christmas day), we went down to Chinatown...again xD to visit another one of my grandfather's friends. (She gave us money, yay!^^ *$50 American =3*)We went and bought some food for the Christmas dinner we were going to have that night too. My parents also spent a lot of time taking pictures of the buuildings in Chinatown xD. (oh, Chinatown is also very very crowded and there are always tons of traffic jams, especially on Grant and Clay Street.) That night, my grand-couse Mary cooked us dinner, mm...it was really good, I loved here potatoes(uh, am kinda a potato-head according to my parents >_>*which is not true, I just really like potatoes xD*) and here noodle salad, yum that was good^^ After dinner we exchanged and opened presents. I got a pillow(that feels like a beanie baby, but is very squishy. It was really helpful for sleeping in the car^_^), an address book(woo, I collects lots of address books^^), a wallet(with a geuine 2-dollar bill) and a pretty star pendant necklace.^^ We took pictures and then after all that we had dessert. (At the same time my relatives sons took over the t.v. *nooo, then again, that's o.k. we'll get it back xD. One is in grade 12 and the other is in grade 8. *oi, the one that was in grade 8 is really tall, xD I mean I'm 2 years older, but he's probably at least 3 inches taller xD), After my parents were done talking(and they talk a lot xD) we went to bed(finally! xD *snore*) The next next next next next day(Sunday), we packed some of our stuff and then drove to Stockton(on our way there, we crossed over the Golden Gate bridge too^^). And I have one comment about Stockton....people there are..rich, really rich xD. Stockton pretty much consists of many gated communities.(You can't get in any of them without a pass, and all of them have guards xD) Yes, we went to visit my aunt Betty, she had a biiiiig house which had a man-made lake in the backyard(you can even fish there x3). We were staying over at her house so that's why we brought some of our stuff. Oh, she's got a bunch of tropical birds and fish in a room, which are very very cool. I even got to hold one of the birds^^. She also had a dog, which she kept in it's cage most of the time because her dog always gets really excited when it sees people so it..pees xD (don't want that happening^^;;) Oh..and.....she..had a computer!!! with internet!! yes!!! lifesaver, lol that's where I made my first entry from California.^-^ Oh her son also likes anime(or Love Hina to be exact, he has a lot of the mangas and plus he's got a wallpaper of Motoko on his computer xD), I read some of his Newtype magazines while my brother was on the computer. =P Oh, that day we(again) went to a Chinese restaurant xD, and then went shopping at the mall(not much there, so I was bored >_>). We then went to a restaurant for dinner, mm... I had a salad and pasta.(oh, and bad thing about their "iced-tea" is that when you want "iced-tea" they'll actually give you iced-tea xD), dinner was nice though^^ Yep so we went back, and we hooked up their modem to our laptop(which we brought with us on the trip originally to watch dvds) and I was on the net for umm..who knows how many hours xD. Finally went to bed, ah...the bed was very comfy so I got a good-nights rest even though it was my first night there. =P The next next next next next next day(Monday) We left early and headed off for Las Vegas, which would be a 7 1/2 hour road trip from Stockton>_>. Yep we were cramped in the car for 7 1/2hours xD. While we were driving through Bakersfield, we went through this area that was really really dusty, it was like driving through a sandstorm xD. They also had shrubs that were flying(or more like rolling, but I like to call them "flying shrubs" xD) across the road. Ya...and...we hit a few xDDD. Anyway after 7 1/2 long hours we got to Las Vegas and quickly headed out for dinner before going to the hotel. We stayed at Tropicana(a very less interesting hotel compared to all the other ones on the South and Central strip in Las Vegas as Mandy pointed out to me before the holidays xD)in the rooms that were around the garden area(nope, we didn't stay in the towers xD) . Our hotel room had a view of MGM Grand and the Tropicana parking lot xDDDDDD. We were pretty tired that night, so we just went to bed as soon as we got to our hotel room. The next next next next next next next(Tuesday, and Wednesday and Thursday) day. We didn't do very much, it was raining and that morning I woke up with a bad fever so we stayed for a couple of hours in the hotel. But later on we wnet down to Excalibur(a medival themed hotel, that is in the shape of a castle *very cool*) for a breakfast buffet. I was pretty sick so I really didn't eat much. After breakfast went walked around Excalibur and went down to Luxor(Egypt themed hotel*which I wish we stayed at xD* in the shape of a Pyramid). I bought a cartouche keychain that had my name in Egyptian hieroglyphs. (I actually wanted to go buy a cartouche pendant but pfft, mom wouldn't let me T_T). After that we just went back to the hotel to rest, and plus it was still raining so, not much to do anyway. Later on my parents and my grandfather left to go visit a friend and so my brother and I were left at the hotel. (yay, free time in the hotel room^^). They came back later and we all went out for dinner at...yes you guessed it, another Chinese restaurant xD. Wednesday, the weather was o.k. we went down to Hover Dam and took some pictures(of a regular typical dam, which wasn't very interesting xD), and then drove back to Vegas and visited a few hotels. We went to the Venetian(Venice themed hotel, which is very pretty, you can ride a gondola in the river that's inside the hotel, and they had a big fresco that painted on the ceiling in the main hall)and The Mirage (which had a biiiiig fish tank in their lobby xD, lots of fish in there), my dad actually ment to go to Treasure Island (pirate themed hotel) but he accidently drove into the Mirage's parking lot xD(but that's o.k^^). Thursday was the day that we left Vegas, we packed up and left around 11am. We stopped by at, yes a Chinese restaurant xD, and had lunch. Then we started driving to San Luis Obispo(don't think I spelt that right xD), that took about 6 1/2 hours. By the time we got there it was dark(we stopped by Wenday's a bit earlier to but ourselves something to eat and some dinner to eat at the hotel). While we were driving there we drove through this area that had tons and tons and tons of "snake roads", which means that the road turns..a lot. xD. so here am I sitting in the middle in betweent my grandfather and my brother falling left and right everytime the car turned, and I watched the GPS turn too xD(that was fun to watch xD). Anyway, at the hotel, didn't do much, ate and slept. Saturday morning, I was happy to find out that my dad found that the hotel had free internet^^ so we got a wireless modem and hooked it up to the computer. I was on the net for a while(the internet connection also kept dying out, lol that's why it's free I guess xD). After a while we went down to where the lobby area was and had breakfast in their common room. It was a continental breakfast so it was free, and there was lots of food^^ (yay! for Best Western^^). After breakfast we packed up again, and left and went to Hearst Castle. wow!!! the castle is really big, it's on top of a hills with a ranch surrounding it and it's got a view of the ocean^^. (we drove by some goats too xD). The tour was cool, and the place was really nice(I mean talk about a guy that had tons of money xD, should've seen those ceilings xDDD). After Hearst Castle we started driving back to San Fransisco, which took about 4 1/2 hours. We went back to my relatives place and slept there, for our last night.(which was New Years Eve =P) Finally....the last day, Saturday January 1st,2005, New Years Day. We went out to yes, Chinatown again xD and had lunch there with my mom's friends, then we went down to Fisherman's Wharf so I could stop by to buy a video game. (lol, I more or less bugged my parents to go xD). After that, we drove around took some more pictures and then went back to my relatives place for dinner before we had to leave(we'd already packed everything in the morning). Dinner was mmm..good again. lol Mary is really good at cooking^^ and that night I really had my appetite so I ate a lot =P. After dinner we all gathered around and looked at some of the pictures we took. And after dessert it was time to leave. We got to San Fransisco airport around 9pm, went through customs(oh, and I have to mention that they made us take off our shoes while going through customs O.o). The flight back home was 4 hours long, I slept for the half the trip and didn't touch the dinner that we had (which, that time was gross >_>). By the time we got back to Toronto it was 6am, so we went home and just slept. lol I slept until 2:30pm in the afternoon(yep, jetlag xD). wooo!!! the was one looonnnnng post and I just spent that last 2 hours typing it xD. Overall it was a great trip, a long trip though(10 days to be exact xD), *sigh* sad that we missed our family's traditional Christmas dinner and...I slept on New Years Eve!(oi, what's wrong with me xD well...then again...I was sick^^;;;) But yep, very fun. Pictures will be coming soon^^ so from Toronto, Canada, where it is currently 3:20am xD good night!!!^~ *drops dead asleep xD*(Oh overall on my trip I have "collected" over $200 American dollars(It would've been more, but I'm a prone spender when I see things I like xD), and have learned that we should really try other cuisines besides Chinese xD. And that I really can't live without my internet xDDDDDDDDDDD -January 7, 2005