i’m going to keep this post very short and sweet. if you’re like me, and have noticed that both Naruto and Bleach are in their lame filler episodes, you’re probably wanting something new to keep your mind off things. yes, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is definitely your best bet, but here’s another new anime that i highly recommend checking out.

Katanagatari:

“Katanagatari (sword story) centers on Yasuri Shichika, the seventh head of the  “swordless style” of Japanese sword martial arts. One day, a girl named Togame, arrives on the island where Shichika and his older sister Nanami lives with a favor to ask from him. She tells him that she is on a mission to find and collect the final twelve swords forged by a master swordsmith by the name of Shikizaki Kiki and she needs his help. They then both leave the island together to seek out the swords.” -Wikipedia

the art style is absolutely beautiful and the animation is very fluent. the interesting thing about this mini-series is that there are only 12 episodes. one episode per sword. each episode is 1 hour long and they only release once a month. not something you see many shows do often.

check out this HD promo video below. it’s very cool. if you wan’t to see it with the English subtitles, click the video to watch it with them on the actual youtube link.

the second episode of the 12 should be airing very soon. if you like samurai, swords, or hand to hand combat, deff give this show a looksie.

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Apart from what I am wearing on the bicycle which is cycling shorts, shirt, glasses, gloves, socks and shoes, I am carrying these items with me on this four month journey through Asia. It is absolutely not the bare minimum, that would be a credit card, but it wasn’t intended to be. It is still travelling very light, 7,5 kilos in a small backpack, while being reasonably comfortable, too. I live in my travels, it is not just a journey. This could be half the size and weight if you go without digital gadgets, toys and tools. And coffee.

- Macbook Air

- Leica DLux 4 camera + extra battery

- telephone + extra battery

- iPod nano

- 2 x 8 GB USB sticks

- notebook + pen

- map

- Sugoi Helium Jacket raincoat (not even a hundred grams)

- Sugoi Wallaroo long sleeve jersey

- Fast drying 3/4 trousers

- pair of shorts

- pair of boxers

- T shirt

- singlet

- Adidas watershoes (lightweight and ok for the occasional short run)

- allen key multi tool

- adjustable spanner

- 4 spare spokes

- 2 spare Schwalbe tubes

- spare Schwalbe Durano tyre

- 2 sets of spare brake pads

- puncture repair kit

- pump

- small tail light

- toothbrush + paste

- razor + soap

- sunscreen SPF 30

- hair wax

- Ibuprofen

- bandage and tape

- multi vitamins

- water heater

- mug

- instant coffee

Sugoi sponsors us with some top of the range items. The RS Shorts for example seem a perfect fit on body and saddle. The padding is, Sugoi made sure there can be no doubt, made for us. Makes me wonder what the women’s RS short’s padding looks like.

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It’s cold out there, but nothing is going to stop us from hitting the trails this winter. With the proper winter gear you can be rockin out on your bike all winter long. Here is a list of our favorite gloves for the winter season!

1. Sugoi Firewall Z Gloves -$74.99
When it’s so cold outside your waterbottles freeze, Sugoi’s Firewall Z Gloves ensure your hands don’t do the same.

2. Louis Garneau Typhoon Gloves -$64.99 These sweet mitts boast a stellar combination of Teflon, 3M Drytex and Thinsulate for the ultimate in protection and breathability.

3. Louis Garneau Womens Tornado Gloves – $ 44.99
Their Softshell exterior and 3M Thinsulate lining keep wind and cold out while keeping you toasty warm and dry.

To check out other great winter geat click below!

http://thebikelane.com/product-list/clothing-66/gloves-70/

AKA: Happy New Year!

Music: Ikimono Gakari – Yell

Mood: Swings and roundabouts.

Well, it’s been a long time since my last update. Happy belated New Year to you all!

A few things have happened since the last time; Christmas, New Year, and the various other happenings that go on in Kumamoto.

Christmas was nice; 2 Christmas dinners (one on the 24th and one on the 25th) and lots of presents. They were mostly of the edible kind, and therefore didn’t last very long. The first Christmas dinner was preceded by my attendance of a Japanese Catholic Mass with a member of my host family. It was interesting, completely confusing, and utterly incomprehensible. OK, not utterly incomprehensible; the service was easy enough to follow, and the tunes to the hymns were familiar enough (Silent Night in Japanese is definitely something to hear), but I still don’t understand Keigo (polite language – nowadays only used in shops, when addressing the public, someone much higher in status than you, etc).  The priest was italian (apparently) and spoke no English (or so I was told). After the Mass, there was a small party in the building next door. Plates of sushi, fruit and cake … No surprises there.

When I returned from the Mass, I went to the first of the two Christmas dinners. It was so much more enjoyable than the party with the Japanese Catholics. Nothing against the Japanese Catholics, but I prefer parties if the other people speak the same languages as me, and are friendlier with each other. Dining with one’s friends is always happier and more comfortable than dining with people you don’t know, whose language you can only partially speak, and you don’t quite know what you’re supposed to do or where you’re supposed to sit etc.

At that dinner, everyone brought something to eat (except me – I had no idea when the Mass would finish), and just sat around the table, chatting. It was a nice end to the day.

Christmas Day was mostly uneventful, but consisted of me watching The Muppets Christmas Carol (a must at that time of year), opening presents (both sharing and eating some of them with my flatmates), and a quiet dinner with friends in the evening. A nice time was had by all.

New Year’s was interesting. In Japan, the first 3 days of the new year are national holidays, and the temples are open to distribute blessings and good luck charms (for a small fee, of course). My host family took me to a remote shrine in the mountains surrounding Kumamoto (I think it was called Heitate?). Jiro told me to be ready at 7.15am – which meant me waking up at 6.30am.

At 8am I received a very apologetic email – he’d overslept. I don’t mind early mornings, but unnecessarily early mornings disagree with my system. In other words; let me sleep!

The shrine itself was pretty enough. It was famous for having a spring that offered very pure drinkable water, so I was advised to take a PET bottle with me. (Photos etc are on facebook.)

On the second day of the New Year holiday, I was invited to a sukiyaki dinner with my host family. After an afternoon at the local temple (which had lots of food, prize and souvenir stalls lining the road) with the French girls Lea and Pauline, I rushed home in time to be driven to the family residence. I was assigned a seat, and after a few minutes of awkward chatting (ie; them asking me something in Japanese, me answering in Japanese, them asking me something more complex, me not understanding, Jiro translating, me lapsing into simple English) I was handed a bowl of sukiyaki and the slow gorging process began.

Sukiyaki (for those who don’t know) is a winter meal in Japan, where the family sits around the table or kotatsu (heated table with a quilt – very comfy!) and cooks the meal in a pot on the table. It’s very companionable, and everybody helps themselves to what they want, putting what they want into the pot. Our sukiyaki had some very tender beef, various vegetables and dashi stock – along with sugar and shoyu (Japanese soy sauce). I was slowly fed, and fed, and fed, whilst being asked various things that I either answered correctly or wrongly. It was interesting trying to explain to explain my mother’s career at the dinner table, where’s it’s considered offensive to bring up topics similar to the lavatory, reproduction and the like…

Once I couldn’t face anything more, we were given dessert – aduki bean jelly, which was surprisingly sweet and tasty, as well as being light. Then the confusion began. The father of the host family, who is the director of one of the local hospitals, began to talk about his fascination with Arsenic poisoning. Granted, it is an interesting topic that he is very knowledgable in (he has written a book about it – and given me a free copy of it), but when he talks, it’s in a mix of Japanese and English, in the Kumamoto regional dialect. It also doesn’t help that half the time not one of the rest of us knew what he was on about.

Day 3 of the New Year’s national holiday was also interesting. Jiro from my host family took me to Kumamoto castle, where there was a performance including kyuudo (archery), shooting (with real guns/rifles), along with an elderly Japanese guy who sang an old poem, complete with elderly ladies accompanying him with drums and yelping. Very nice, very Japanese, but it made me realise how little Japanese I know. Cue slight depression.

Today was special. The second Monday of January is the seijinshiki – the coming of age ceremony, for all those who turn 20 from the 1st of April the previous year till 31st March that year. Since I turned 20 in November last year, that meant I got to participate.

I went with a group of other girls to the prefectural office at 8am, arriving there at 8.20am. Once there, we were spoken to by a group of kind ladies, who promptly bustled us off into our kimono. Now, kimono take over an hour to put on properly. There are so many layers! Towels, underdresses and sashes galore. It didn’t help that I was taller than almost everyone in the room. However, once my kimono was on and the obi tied, I was bundled off to have my hair seen to. A lovely lady redid the efforts that my friend offered at 7.25am this morning, and put flowers and clips into it. I was told that it was very pretty.

The actual ceremony was preceded by a shower of photographs. So many of them … Most people will know that I dislike having my photo taken, but I felt that I had to relax that rule for today. There was no escaping it. (The ones that were taken with my camera are now up on facebook.)

After the myriad of photos, we headed to the main hall, along with the billions of other “new” adults (girls dressed in beautiful kimono, guys dressed in smart western suits; the only guys that were dressed in traditional Japanese male garb were the foreigners) and took our seats. The opening ceremony showcased the admirable talents of those who do Taiko drumming. I remain in awe of those boys and girls. Haunting flute music teamed with timed shouts, rhythmic pounding and team performance.

Awesome.

Then came the speeches. There was no escaping them. It was like callover at Ranelagh all over again, but this time I had to sit up straight (you can’t slouch in a kimono), on a chair, and listen to elderly Japanese men talking at me in keigo and random English phrases. “~~~~~Nihon no yume. Japanese dream.~~~~~”

I mean, come on …?

There were also a few certificates given out (not sure why), and a young school group played bells for us. Very cute, but I got the feeling that it might have been a special needs school; at least two of the children had Downs Syndrome, and a couple of the other children were obviously slightly simple-minded. Nevertheless, they performed very well, and they were adorable – as all Japanese children are.

After the ceremony, everyone crowded around outside. In Japan, after the seijinshiki, it’s traditional for those who are celebrating to go drinking with friends to “properly” celebrate. The foreigners on the other hand, simply went back up to the rooms we were dressed in, and stripped of our kimono. It was fun, nonetheless. After all, I’ve yet to pay my rent, so excessive spending is not the best idea in the world. Plenty of other opportunities to go to bars to come, I’m sure.

Well, this has been a long post, so I shall leave you with this quote.

QotD:

A wise girl kisses but doesn’t love, listens but doesn’t believe, and leaves before she is left. ~ Marilyn Monroe

Since I wrote a post about what I wanted for Christmas, I figured I ought to write a little follow up post.  Well wouldn’t you believe it, I must have been really good this year because I got everything on my list (except for Stanley, but I’m willing to extend Santa’s deadline on that one).  I’m loving my new Garmin Forerunner 350, Sugoi hoodie, Under Armour gloves, water belt, and all the other awesome gear I got.

I spent my Christmas break in the tri-state area: CT, NY and NJ.  And boy was it cold.  Aside from one slightly warmer day where I was able to get out and run the hills around my mother’s house, I was pretty much confined to the treadmill the rest of time.  But it’s just as well that I stayed away from any strenuous workout since my shin splints are giving me a real hard time and my 18-week marathon training plan begins this week.

So here you go.  Enjoy the pics of my presents.  I’m enjoying them myself.

Sugoi hoodie + Fox = happy runner

Mood: Cold.

Music: Victoire – Shy’M

An early Christmas present for you – a new blog! Seriously though, I have posted almost all of the presents I’ve bought for people this year. If you haven’t sent me an email/message wth your address, chances are you won’t get one. Sorry about that.

As you may have noticed, new photos are up on facebook of me after escaping the hairdressers. Now, I don’t often feel comfortable in a hair salon. It’s often fairly expensive, lots of people chattering about stuff I don’t understand (usually the stuff in cheap magazines/the latest X Factor/BB results etc), the perfume of dangerous chemicals plus the roaring of hairdriers makes for a less than tranquil environment in my opinion – not forgetting the obvious sharp implements next to my neck, ears and head. Of course, this stress is doubled when the people are chattering about things in Japanese, along with trying to explain complex terminology to someone who doesn’t even understand it in English. However, I needed to get my hair colour redone. When I came to Japan, it was a nice dark red/purple colour, but it had faded to a light red, through which tones of my natural brown could be seen.

Obviously, I did a bit of scouting around for the cheapest decent hairdressers in Kumamoto town centre. Now, in Bracknell, I go to the local training college, where I can get two colours and a haircut for less than £25, but I knew that this would be pretty hard to match in Japan. One of the German exchange students had gone to a salon called “EARTH”, and recommended it to me. I went to see what the price list was … And abruptly left again when I saw just how much my purse would despise me if I decided to go there. Fortunately, the salon next to “EARTH” (I think it was called “courreges”?) was quite a bit cheaper (i.e., less than 10 000YEN [£69]), and it looked like a good, clean place to go. I booked an appointment for the following day, and managed to ask for a skin test in case I had a reaction to the dye they used. (Yes, I might be in Japan after a year of learning Japanese at a decent university, and learning new grammar/vocab every day, but in off-the-cuff situations, my mind always always ALWAYS reverts to “basic” mode, which involves me pointing, nodding or shaking my head and, frequently, getting a headache and giving up.)

The next day I arrived at the salon, got “Irasshaimase!” shouted at me, and was politely asked to sit down and wait for a few minutes. I signed my name on the chart I was given and my hoodie and bag were taken away and placed in a cupboard. I put on a white coat and was guided to a free seat. Two minutes later, a smiling Japanese lady came over and introduced herself. We talked for about five minutes about what I wanted, and she got the colour chart, and explained to me about five times that “murasaki” (purple) would be very difficult to apply to my hair because of my original colour/the state of the colour in it at that moment. She pointed out the colours that would be better suited to me, and then left me to decide what I wanted. Once I decided, she then left for a few minutes, coming back with a small amount of dye, and proceeded to recolour my roots, after having given me a choice of magazines to flip through.

When she finished, and had left the dye to settle for five minutes, I was sent to the sinks to have the dye washed out. The chairs by the sinks were electronic, like the chairs at the dentist’s. If I hadn’t been warned by Alina (the German exchange student who had recommended “EARTH”) that the chairs would move of their own accord, this would have taken me by surprise. The lady then placed a small towel over my face and proceeded to wash my hair. Quite why they put towels on the faces of those whose hair they wash, I don’t know … Possibly so that the hairdresser isn’t distracted by the frightened gaze of the customer, or the male customer can’t use the time to look down the top of the hairdresser.

After the first lot of dye was washed out, I was guided back to my seat, and the second and third lots of dye were put in. I was given ear baggies. Ear baggies! I love this country! I was left for either 10 or 15 minutes with my hair swathed in cling film, and then she beckoned me to the sinks again. My hair was washed for the second time and then I was guided to a different seat, my hairdresser brandishing her scissors behind me. By this time, I was on my fourth or fifth magazine, and I watched her out of the corner of my eye. She sort of ran her scissors through my hair without seemingly cutting it, but the long shorn tresses on the coat I had been given told a different story.

About three hours after I went in, I left the hair salon about 8000YEN lighter, with slightly shorter dark purple/red hair. The staff were all very friendly, despite the cautious stares at the “gaijin” (me), and very patient.

It was a pity that I sliced my thumb open that evening. Ah well. Better luck next time. ^^

A very merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all.

Quote of the Day:

“A broken clock is right twice a day.”

Happy Holidays!

It’s finally here.  The Cold, Cold Snow…

This morning found me pawing through my cold weather running gear and thinking about which items I couldn’t possibly live run without.  So, if you’re looking for some Christmas gift ideas for a runner in your life, here are a few suggestions:

Saucony’s Ulti-Mitt: A glove and mitten all in one!  The Drylete glove will keep your hands toasty, but when it’s just “not enough”, slip your gloved fingers into the mitt.  It’s amazing how lightweight and bulk free; yet warm these gloves are.  Most runners will agree with me, that cold hands make for a miserable run.

Warm hands = Happy runner

Sugoi’s MidZero Thermal Tube: Great for keeping the neck and lower face protected from the elements.  It has a fleeced inner layer for amazing warmth and comfort without all the bulk.  I wear this ALL the time!  Not just when I’m out running.

A must have!

Sugoi’s SubZero Arm Warmers: These are my ultimate favorite.  Because my arms need a little extra warmth, I will wear these under my base layer.  They have a fleeced inner side which makes them super cozy.  They are made of wicking material and have arm grips that keep them in place during your runs.  These are perfect for fall running when a long sleeved shirt is too much, but a short sleeved T is not enough.  Definitely worth getting two pairs!

Buy two pair! They're worth it.

Tifosi Scatto T-F770 Sunglasses: These lightweight glasses are perfect for my small face.  Amazingly comfortable and has adjustable temples and nose piece.  These offer 100% UVA & UVB Protection with glare guard.  This is a must for those bright winter runs when the sun reflects off of the snow.  These will decrease eye fatigue and shelter your eyes from the ‘eye stinging’ winter winds.

No more glare induced headaches.

Garmin Forerunner 310XT: A great piece of technology that gives you feedback.  And when you’ve finished your harsh winter run, then you can take it inside, and over a cup of hot cocoa, analyze your data.

Garmin Forerunner 310XT

iTunes Gift Card: These make fantastic gifts for runners.  We’re looking for any excuse to stay inside (where it’s warm) and work on a running playlist for that inevitable day, when we are forced to stride it out on the treadmill.

Can't go wrong with music!

Now if only I could find some warm running tights or pants…  Any suggestions?

Run warm.  Run Happy.  Smile!

“Whether the weather be fine, Whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold, Whether the weather be hot, We’ll weather the weather, Whatever the weather, Whether we like it or not”

“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”  -John Ruskin

A 12ª FERP acabou!

Bom? Ruim?

Foi um trabalho que feito com muito carinho, dedicação, vontade, paciência, garra, entusiasmo e que proporcionou alegrias, sensação de dever cumprido e muito orgulho. Mesmo com tristezas, pedras no caminho, divergências de opiniões e momentos de irritação e raiva no fim o dever cumprido foi realizado e os momentos de sucesso que ficarão marcados!

Obrigada Sugoi!

Aline, Ângela, Bruna, Carol, Lia e Lilian! Parabéns!!!

Agradecemos muito aos professores:
Carmen, Julio, Ceiça, Bruno e Andreia!

Professoras do futuro Xymena e Fabi.
Ao bedel e monitor, Cris e Serjão.

A indústria agrícola Tozan, especialmente a Miki, Relações Públicas.

Ao grupo Yuushin Taiko.

A gueixa Analu e ao amigo Diego.

Aos amigos do RPCC!

As nossas famílias, namorados e a Deus!

Arigatou gozaimashita!

MUITO OBRIGADO!

Agora anunciaremos os ganhadores das cestas Tozan!

Carla Marques

Claudia Marinho

Omedetou!

PARABÉNS!

Algumas fotos  da apresentação e exposição:

A FERP acabou, mas o blog continuará vivo até o fim de 2009.

Arigatô!

Mood: Happy

Music: Apocolyptica – Quutamo

First, I’d like to thank everyone for their birthday messages – it made me feel so loved! ^^ I’m not twenty – I’m twenteen …

Second, I apologise for the HUGE delay in updating – lack of internet plus continually forgetting to bring my laptop into uni does prevent fast updates.

Anyways, new accommodation! It’s so pretty and new, and clean and white! Yes, my room is smaller than the one I had in Leeds, but it’s my own room, and it has a proper bed (plus a futon for some reason), a desk (that helpfully covers up the plug sockets, so that I need to wrestle with it to be able to access electricity) and a cupboard, as well as a couple of shelves. I aslo have a sliding door onto the balcony, and the view is pretty awesome (photos to be available soon). The only downside is that I’m facing the road, which is quite busy even at midnight. It doesn’t help that the walls are quite thin as well. However, it is a lot nicer than Golden Toukai was. My flatmates are both Chinese (Shu-Etsu and Li-Chou), and neither speaks a lot of English, so I get to practise my Japanese all the time. Etsu-san has started teaching me a little bit of Chinese, and she’s promised to teach me how to cook some of the cuisine. I can’t wait! ^^

The weekend of 7th and 8th November was a party weekend.

One of the other exchange students, a French guy called Antoine, had his birthday on 8th November, but was holding the party on the 7th – compared with my birthday on the 7th and my party on the 8th. ^^*

I rode on the back of Kay Kay’s bike part of the way there, until we overbalanced. I got off lightly, with only a few scrapes on my wrist, but Kay Kay had an impressive-looking cut above her knee. We all got to the party OK in the end though.

Antoine’s party was OK – yakiniku restaurant (you all sit down at a table and cook your own food from the selection provided – mostly meat, with a few vegetables) and two surprise cakes; one sponge, one chestnut. The sponge one was pretty good. After the party, the group split into two; some went to a bar/club, and the rest of us went to karaoke, which was funny and awesome. The amount of songs available is incredible – both Japanese and English. There are even Chinese and Korean songs available! Not that I know any, but still! I sang quite a bit, and everyone just sang along to everyone else’s songs as well. If I wasn’t used to singing a lot, I would probably have been hoarse the next day.

Sunday was wonderful. I’m so glad that I have a tutor like Kaori, because she was the one who organised everything. We went to a tabenomihoudai place (all you can eat/drink) which had some vegetarian options (so Sophie was happy). It was pretty cheap – I think about 2000YEN per person? There were about 5 Japanese people there (including my tutor), three Chinese girls (two of which were my flatmates) and some of the international students. Everyone was so friendly, and had a really good time – and I got a birthday cake!!! I got a sponge birthday cake with (lots of!) cream and fruit and a little chocolate square with “Otanjoubi omedetou Jenni!” on it. It was so pretty, and so lovely. I received lots of presents as well, which I wasn’t quite expecting. My friends (Japanese and otherwise) are all so so wonderful.

After the restaurant, we all went to karaoke, which was fantastic. Lots of songs, English, Chinese and Japanese were sung, and everyone got home pretty late; sign of a good time, ne? I had no idea that every Japanese person I know has a brilliant singing voice! It’s kind of scary, in a way.

In other news, I have a bike now, and I’ve joined the badminton club at uni. It’s good to be more active, instead of just cycling to and from uni and town. The guy at the International Student Office was so sweet about the bike. We went down to where the bikes were stored and he took out the key, looking for the one I was supposed to receive, and then decided that the bike in question was too rusty. Therefore he went back up to the Office and brought down another key. He couldn’t find the right bike for the second key, so he returned to the Office for a third time – and then I got a brand new bike! It’s so pretty and shiny and silver … and it has a basket on the front for my bag.

Ah … what else is there to say? Thursday was fun, as I went to karaoke again with Kyoko and Chika (some friends I met at Chie’s housewarming party, back on the 1st November). Kyoko and Chika paid for everything, saying that it was my birthday present! So sweet of them …

Unfortunately, Friday was bad, as I missed class due to illness. Yay. A temperature and a hacking cough. Wonderful. I got some medicine from the Health Center, but given that I still have the cough after the last tablet was taken …

Oh well.

QOTD:

The most common form of marriage proposal; “YOU’RE WHAT!?”

Ontem, dia 11/11/2009 será um dia que ficará marcado na memória e no coração da Equipe de Comunicação do Sugoi Culinária Japonesa. A apresentação sobre a rede de restaurantes foi mais do que um sucesso, mais do que sensacional, mais do que linda, foi SURPREENDETE, palavra utilizada pelos jurados da banca.
Muito nervosismo, ansiedade, impaciência tomaram conta das 6 meninas/mulheres que estavam representando a organização. Minutos antes, todas sabiam seus textos, o grupo de Taiko já estava preparado com seus instrumentos, a gueixa só esperava o sinal de positivo para poder colocar seu sapato do figurino… Todos, ou melhor dizendo, todas estavam eufóricas!
Quando o gongo foi tocado fazendo o auditório da Faculdade Cásper Líbero balançar o grupo de música japonesa adentrou pela platéia causando um forte impacto em todos ali presentes. As batidas nos tambores, o toque suave da flauta arrepiavam cada pessoa que estava naquele local. O grupo que estava prestes a subir ao palco quando pulava, ria, tremia de emoção. Quando o Taiko saiu do palco, veio a entrada triunfal da gueixa que tirou seus sapatos e reverenciou a todos em sinal de respeito, um gesto de tradição e cultura nipônica.
Começa a apresentação. A equipe é apresentada, história, obstáculos e conquistas do restaurante são mencionados, ações de fidelização do cliente e de comunicação interna foram apresentadas por Aline Inoue e Bruna Pereira. Logo em seguida a agência Keep One, formada por alunas do 1º ano de Relações Públicas apresentam o projeto do Jornal Mural. Um mais lindo que o outro! Feitos de madeira e hashi estavam ‘a cara do Sugoi’! Voltamos com a apresentação da empresa e Ângela Di Loreto explica sobre comunicação institucional, programa de responsabilidade social e sustentabilidade. Por fim, conta a novidade de dezembro de 2009, um novo formato de restaurante, em quiosque na praia de Copacabana no Rio de Janeiro.
Então, nesse momento as pernas pararam de tremer, a mão parou de suar e a calma reinou nos corpos das 6 integrantes do grupo. Lia Palácios e Lilian Siqueira, posicionadas ao lado dos jurados sorriam de nervoso ou de alegria? Quem sabe de todas as emoções misturadas.
Agradecimentos especiais para Miki, Relações Públicas da empresa Tozan que nos ajudou muito com produtos, grupo Yuushin Taiko que alegrou e encantou a noite e a gueixa Analucia Tanaka que abrilhantou nossa abertura. Por fim, Caroline Momose, que ficou responsável pelos slides sobe ao palco. Todas se juntam no centro e… ARIGATÔ! Agradecem a todos, saem do palco.
Acabou.

Não! Não acabou! Aí vieram os comentários e perguntas da banca julgadora.
SURPRESA, mais uma vez! Elogios, dicas, toques e 2 ou 3 críticas foram feitas! Perfeito? Não… mas quase chegamos lá! O importante é a sensação de dever cumprido.
O que temos a dizer… SUGOI!
Para quem não sabe quer dizer, maravilha, exuberante, extraordinário!
Foi isso! Fomos extraordinárias e com tropeços, caídas, erros é que conseguimos conquistar confiança, atitudes e melhorar a cada dia!
A FERP ainda está acontecendo. Temos um totem lindo para divulgar e uma cesta cheia de produtos Tozan para sortear!
Esperamos vocês, que não conseguiram nos assistir, na nossa exposição. E para você que foi às 21h no auditório do 3º andar da Cásper, nosso muito obrigado!

Momento de descontração!

E não esqueçam, enquanto existirmos apreciem a arte de servir tradição!

Arigatô!

Continental Bike Shop presents the Spoken Wrench vol5 no10
November, Movies Movies! And more Parties!

This edition of the Spoken Wrench is brought to you by the Spoke Wrench.  This is the tool, according to Randy, that can either make you a hero or a scape goat.  Or, a little knowledge can kill you.  Truing your wheels is important, very important.  Doing it right is even more important.  A little tension goes a long way.  Too much tension, and your previously mostly true wheel can resemble a taco.  And while a spoke wrench is the key to a true wheel, at least as important is knowing what to do with that spoke wrench.  So watch for our classes in January, so you can learn to use this tool.

Movie Night and PARTY!
Repairs for Spring!
Trainers are In!
Road Bikes, Single Speeds and Cyclocross, Oh My!
Sugoi clothing
Electra offering a rebate!
Gift Cards!

Movie Night and PARTY!
Monday, November 30 7PM David, Art Bull and Trevor Smith will host a slide presentation on their Great Canadian Adventure to Montreal and Quebec this past summer.  This is also David’s good-bye party, as he embarks on a new adventure to New York City.  As usual, with movie nights, Hors d’œuvre and drinks will be served.  RSVPs are a must, call the shop, or email Randy, bicycledoctor@continentalbikeshop.com

Repairs for Spring!
I know, its not spring yet.  Its not even technically winter yet, but its been pretty cold, and then again, pretty warm this month.  But, now is the perfect time to bring your bike in.  You can get it back quickly, stock up on some cold weather riding gear, and most importantly, beat the spring rush.  Or, instead of getting your bike back quickly, you can leave your bike for its own vacation, and we can upgrade your kit, do a drive train clean and tune up, and make your bike better than new for spring.

Trainers are in!
Cyclops trainers are here!  We’ve got the Mag, Mag+, Magneto, Fluid2, and rollers in the store.  Trainers are a great way to get a head start on spring, and keep riding.  They’re also a great way to use up a mostly used tire that’s still got some life in it, because the last thing you want to do is put your brand new Vittoria tire on a trainer.

Road Bikes, Single Speeds and Cyclocross, Oh My!
700c go fast bikes are on sale!  From 15% to 25% off, depending on the bike!  Sale applies to in stock bikes only!  Come in and test ride before the bikes are gone and the snow flies!

Sugoi Clothing
Need some cool weather gear?  We’ve got it from Sugoi, the newest addition to our clothing line up.  We’ve got arm and leg warmers, balaclavas, gloves, tights, and shoe covers for your cool weather riding pleasure.

Electra Rebate!
Electra has decided to reward cool weather cruisers.  If you buy any Electra bike, with a retail price of $399 or more, between now and 12-31, you can get a $25 rebate right from Electra.  We’re not sure why they decided to do it, we’re just happy they are.  Every Electra you buy qualifies for the rebate, and if you buy two, then well, you get $50 back.  If your chosen Electra retails for less than $399, don’t worry, they will still send you a rebate.  This time for $10.

Gift Cards!
It is that time of year!  Get your holiday shopping done right!  Know someone who likes to shop at Continental?  Want to convert your ridding buddies into Continental customers?  There’s no better gift than a gift card then.  They never expire, we’ve upgraded to real cards, no more paper gift certificates, and we don’t charge pesky fees like some credit card companies do if you don’t use your card.  So stop in, or give us a call, and make your holidays a cheery yellow and black.

We are happy to announce that our streamlined setup has now been completed with the sponsoring of Sugoi clothing. The word Sugoi is a Japanese term for “Incredible”. Looks like the Osmosno Brothers need to do only one thing then: be incredible in it.

www.sugoi.com

Oh yes the title is what it says.

Anyways on with my first entry ever, today I take a look through my phone and find a lot of sky scenery pictures.

“WHOA.” Said Jon-Michael

Indeed though when I took a look again through my pics, these pictures were pretty sugoi~

Here Just Scroll down duh.

Oh yeah, this too.

same as well…

Later that evening…

^The ones above were taken during the summer season^

Sugoi sugoi! Hai so desu nee.

Cool so now autumn is up.

HUZZAH!

I like the random street lights, fits in surprisingly.

Evening duh.

^_^Oh sugoi, this one has a street lamp as well ^_^

Okay from where I left off…

Got some nice shots, and I mean really nice

Even though I’m using a camera phone XD

Sooner or perhaps later I might get myself a Nikon, You know those cameras that look PRO =D

Woot~~~

How did HE get in my shot? XD

SUGOi~~~ I think this is my best so far ^_^

I LOVE the one above ^_^ it a nicely detailed scenery.. with a STREETLAMP :3

wavey ripples? its like an ocean above us y'know?

So far that’s all I have for now.

Check back once in a while since I am going to update this blog with sceneries and stuffs.

But it all varies on the weather, can’t take good pictures unless nature cooperates ^_^;

Oh yeah I have a DSi btw, fun little gadget filled with entertainment and what not

I'll "update" my blog eventually fufufu...

X’D haha…

ROFL'd

X’DD HAHA… pfft…

My best work so far on my DSi XD

It’s like a portable photoshop to me, I LOVE the DSi!

Will update “soon” promise lol not XD

]]> http://theprankster.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/ohwowzer/ Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:28:40 +0000 theprankster http://theprankster.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/ohwowzer/ http://ryuu77.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/manic-week/ Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:48:57 +0000 ryuu77 http://ryuu77.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/manic-week/

Kamis,  it’s been a long time!

Our accommodation is a little different from what we were expecting. We were driven to a building called Goulden Toukai, and told that we would be living here until the 7th November, when we would move into the new international student accommodation. Goulden Toukai is really quaint, and the rooms are quite nice and traditional Japanese (and therefore, obviously, very small by our standards), but because it’s a traditional Japanese building, there is no ‘new’ technology. We have no phone (the one that Rosie and I found in the wardrobe is ANCIENT and broken/doesn’ work) and we have no internet – so we have to use the computer corners in the university library.

For cooking, we have an induction heater, which is sugoi-amazing! It’s very efficient (it boils water in a saucepan in about2 minutes) and easy to use, but there’s only one of it. There’s no room for more than one saucepan at a time. However, I have successfully made rolled omelette with it – my cooking is obviously good enough to be eaten and enjoyed … even halfway around the world! We also have a fridge/freezer which is also very good … and very cold. I think the fridge may be a couple of degrees colder than the one back home. At least it does its job.

The toilet is tiny – smaller than the one at home (which is saying something), but there is a tap on top of the cistern which you use to wash your hands. The bathroom is also tiny, with a Japanese bath and shower; ie, you shower first and then get in the bath and soak for a bit. However, we had no hot water for three days, so taking cold showers was not fun. ><

Rosie and I share a room, and we sleep on futons on the floor! I think that the sheets we were provided with are from a different pack, because they don’t quite fit. Oh well – we’ve made do, and we’ve eventually managed to shake off the jetlag and sleep through the night.

Kumamoto university has been a little disorganised from our point of view. We’ve been told how to separate the rubbish into the correct bags at length – twice. I mean, how interesting can rubbish bags really be?? There are three types of bag: a clear one for recycling; a blue one for burnables; a green one for landfill. We went through it twice. Twice! Since we have about one more orientation to go through, my hopes aren’t high. -sigh-

(Wednesday) At the first orientation, we were told that we should arrange to go through all the bureaucratic stuff (getting a bank account, alien registration, health insurance …) with our tutors. This is how the conversation went:

“You need to do the things that are outlined on this sheet …”

“When should we do them?”

“Get your tutors to help you with them.”

“We don’t have tutors. We haven’t been told anything about tutors.”

“Then you need to call the International Student Office to arrange to meet your tutors.”

“We don’t have phones.”

“Ah … then you should go to the International Student Office and do it in person.”

“Where is the International Student Office?”

“You don’t know? Oh dear …”

After about 10 minutes of them frantically communicating with various people/offices, we were taken there by a staff member, and told that we should return there the next day between 9am and 5pm to meet our tutors, and go there at 1pm as well to get our student ID cards.

(Thursday) Well, we arrived there at about 9.30am … and we were told that we’d been booked in only at 1pm. OK, that was fine – we were going to return there then anyway. We left, wandered around a shopping alley for a few hours and came back at 1pm. We were then told that we should ask for our ID cards at the Department of Letters, which is our parent Department whilst we’re here. Only one tutor arrived, and he said that he was Sophie’s tutor. It appeared that he was the only person who had signed up to be a tutor for us, so he was obliged to take all three of us to town and get our registration stuff sorted out. To his credit, he was very patient, very helpful and didn’t speak any English at all. We managed to commicate well enough. We only managed to get the health insurance and alien registration done that day, but we arranged to meet at 9am the next day to get the bank accounts sorted.

(Friday) We got the bank accounts done after 2 1/2 hours … but they were done! So we went back to Kumamoto university to try and see where our student ID cards were. When we found the Department of Letters, we found out that whilst Sophie and George were registered in D’ment of Letters, Rosie and I were over in the Department of Education! This wasn’t helpful, especially as I was very stressed and slightly ill (those that know me well know that I start to cry when I’m ill). We went to the D’ment of Education and told that we would receive our ID cards sometime the following week (probably on Tuesday). Since Sophie had received her ID card at the D’ment of Letters, we went to the Library so that she could use the internet and send a few emails (I was frantically trying to wipe away my tears as we walked across campus in the pouring rain at this point). After about 10 minutes, the lady from the D’ment of Education found us in the Library and handed Rosie’s and my ID cards to us – we could use the internet!!!

That is the reason why there hasn’t been an update since the first one.

Anyway … yesterday (Saturday) we went into Kumamoto town centre for a decent shop and to se if we could find any of the things that we decided we needed rather urgently, eg; the Leeds uni textbook, birthday cards/presents for various people, and a mobile phone for Rosie (she’s already 20). We eventually found a HUGE Denki-ya (electronics shop) that had about 5 floors, and we approached the mobile phone area. The guy that served us spoke pretty good English, and we were able to ask everything we needed to – and more importantly, we were able to understand the answers! Rosie almost bought a phone … the only thing stopping her was a lack of bank card or credit card. Still, it helped both of us to think about what kind of phone would be best (prepaid [PAYG] or contract) and what prices they were, so it was still useful.

Whilst we were in the shopping arcades, there were parades of Japanese students dressed up in kimono or fancy dress, and they often had a small group of guys carrying huge mascots on litters. I think it was an autumn festival occurance, where the university/school classes have to organise something as a class. On our way back, we saw the same students packing up their stuff in the park, so I think they must have had a day out doing that. It looked awesome and fun anyway – especially since the mascots were dazzling: one of them was an enormous wolf, there was a rock with paper-mache mermaids on it (life-size) amongst others. I wish I had taken photos, but I didn’t have my camera with me.    .__.

The buses are really nice here. They have a very good system, where you take a printed slip when you get on that tells you the stop number, and when you get off, you pay the machine the amount required. Bus cards are also available, and a lot easier to use. You get on at the back and leave at the front, paying the driver as you do so.

It’s a little disconcerting, seeing how often I tower over the locals … especially in my heels.

Wow, this was a looonnnnggg post … I’ll try not to leave it so long next time, though this time was out of my control. ^^*

Ja ne!

You, in this case, being I. Nor can I escape rainbows.  I’ve now listened to the rainbow(or niji) track from the E7 ost, well, over 400 times. For whatever reason I have several versions of the track, but the main one I listen to has a playcount of 330. Even just rounding up to 400 (and I’m positive it is higher) churns out 4400 minutes that I have been listening to it. Of course, not counting the times it’s played on my mp3 player and xbox too. Is it possible to listen to a single track too much? Quite possibly! I can’t help it though, it’s on my playlist of soothing apa-melodies, which is basically playing 70% of the time as I’m angry 70% of the time.

Some other interesting statistics on my playlist; (this is mostly from like mid 2008 onwards, which is when I started using foobar and tracking them)

• Bump of Chicken – Karma  221x
• Faunts – M4 part II 115x
• Tool – Vicarious 184x

Those are the most random/impressive, but pretty much the entire E7 OST has like 30-50x. Soilwork, Tool, SA, Blind Guardian albums all have about 70x+ for the most part. There’s also a depressingly huge amount of music here that I’ve got 0x on. Mostly, stuff from Brawl, I downloaded the soundtrack ages ago, but never listened to it once I swapped to foobar. One of the most startling though, is that space jam/blazblue remix, I’ve got like 150x on that and I’ve only had it for a week or so. YEAH IT’S TIME TO HOOT, SO TOOT BABY TOOT.

I’ve been playing Oblivion for the most part recently, if you didn’t gather from the previous post (which was so I could show BIG MIKE how strange my character looks.) I’ve been screwing about in Shivering Isles for the most part, having completed the main quest and the fighter’s guild and arena quests in the main game. There’s a ton of other quests I could do, mage guild, thieves’ guild and dark brotherhood amongst them. I’m contemplating whether I should make a new character for them or not. Probably not, as I’m lazy.

The summer season of anime has now finished more or less, so I’ll give a brief rundown on the series I watched.

Canaan

I more or less enjoyed Canaan, it was a tad different to what I expected however. I dunno, I think there was some connection to F/SN/KNK author, so I assumed it would have all the uh..crazy stuff that those normally have. However Canaan was for the most part just mindless action in my eyes, which is all well and good I suppose. I didn’t find myself really caring about Canaan or Captain Sugoi. There were also moments that were both pointless and lacking in logic. Overall though, I did enjoy it, but the ending was crap. It did spawn Liang Qi though, [ALPHA TANGENT] much like Dio, Mao and Apachai before her, she joins the PLANT HALL OF FAME. What is this you cry? I’ll tell you so stop crying before I punch the tears back into your eyes. It’s a thing for awesome characters who were in awesome (or not!) shows, yet did not get enough screentime and or did not play a large enough role in the story, HOWEVER it’s also possible that if they did play a bigger role, they would become less awesome. There are a few other honorary members I should poin-NEE IMA DOUSHITTA NO CRITTA jesus christ that surprised me, I forgot I slamma’D my entire music folder into foobar, so I happily listening to some sweet DOA tunes when it suddenly cranka-no-swappa’D to Casshern’s soundtrack, namely, the OP. Casshern was a pretty decent show of, what was it, 2008? Uh, anyway yeah. Canaan wasn’t bad, nor was it good. It was average. It’s not really a show I would label as MUST-WATCH, but perhaps the movie versions will be more tolerable and have less

YOU ARE MY FRIEND, AHH~ AHH~ DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN I SUGOI CHOMPED THAT ICE CREAM?

..and more of this

A SNEAKY SURPRISE ATTACK AT THE START OF THE ROUND.

Canaan’s rating? 5 GET SOMES out of 10.

Bakemonogatari / Ghostory

Eh, what is there to say about Bakemonowhatever. It’s basically an episodic(?!) show about some douche who deals with specific characters with their specific animal crap blah blah, yeah, my interest really wasn’t very high in this show, but I watched it anyway. I’ll be frank, I didn’t really like this show that much, why? I read books, I watch films and I watch anime. I don’t watch anime so I can read books. Bakemonogatari is basically a book with pictures. There’s rarely any animation, it’s somewhat slideshowesque in nature, and the animation itself, like a lot of SHAFT stuff, is a tad stylised. WORDS WORDS WORDS the anime, you could say. There’ll be almost an entire episode which is just them sitting there talking, it’s not bad per se, it’s just not my thing, it’s under utilising the visual medium in my opinion. I don’t really know what else to say to be honest, it was alright I guess? The end was superior to Canaan, if nothing else. (Although I think it’s actually not finished, and there’s another 3 episodes which are webcasts, shrug) In the end, it was perhaps negatively effected by what I call the SHAFT effect, which is something they seem to do to everything, it’s sort of like when Tim Burton directs a movie, he turns it..Tim Burtony. Overall though, Bakemonogatari wasn’t a show I liked very much.

Bakemonogatari gets 6 staplers out of 10, potentially 7.

Well that’s it, Zan Goodbye Frahlo You Cunt isn’t actually finished yet (it is, but GG are slow and need to stop playing koreaboo MMORPGS. Everything else I’m watching (namely FMA and Gintama) are still airing and I imagine they will still be airing for a good while. (Hopefully Gintama will still be airing this time next year.) Speaking of Gintama, there’s a new season starting today/yesterday or so, new OP isn’t too bad, nor is the new ED, and it’s also the start of a new story arc, back to Yoshiwara it seems, and it was off to a good start, kunai-crushing-Gintoki gags aside.

What is it with anime people and german suplexes?

Well that’s all I suppose, Borderlands comes out in just 22 days. 2008 was a year of two big let downs, Brawl and Fable 2. Brawl I’ll admit was mostly a let down just because of the online, I underestimated how much it would suck. Come to think of it, it’s the same with Fable 2, the crappy co-op somewhat ruined it. Oh well. Brawl I was awaiting for almost half a decade, Fable 2 not so much, Borderlands only since I first heard of it, which was either early 08 or late 07, regardless, it is by far my most wanted game this year. Next year? Well, if we go by EARLY next year, it’s probably got to be Mass Effect 2, Bayonetta’s looking pretty good too (annoying main character aside.)

As for me, I’m wasting my time in the usual way. I’ve also created a new plan to read (what’s translated so far) Fate/Zero, as it sounds pretty cool. Why? Well, Berserker catching Gilgamesh’s weapons and using them against him, not to mention using an F15 jet as his noble phantasm for one thing, Alexander the Great being Rider is another. I’ve also been writing FFID as usual, I’m currently working on the “Part 2 Finale” you could compare it to a season finale of a TV show, it’s twice as long, twice as badass, and hopefully, twice as good. I say twice as long, but it’s currently looking like it’ll be 10,000+ words long. (That’s this entire post x10, basically)

I’ve also been thinking up ways to make BIG MIKE’s internet load as slow as possible, examples include the comic page with its millions of image, another example would be me purposefully putting as many giant images in this post as I can fit. Simple tasks and simple problems with mostly easy solutions, if only my anger had a similar solution!

A problem shared is a problem halved.

Shame my rage is infinite.