Snowboarding in Shichinohe

Today I went snowboarding with Michelle and Satoko. The guys couldn't come because they've been working A LOT and on really crazy schedules so they needed to sleep and relax. We had a blast! We went to a place in Shichinohe called Sogamori. We started off on the bunny slopes where I got off to a really rough start. I kept falling, I needed help getting up, it was crazy. But Michelle and Satoko were starting to look bored so I decided let's just go up, it's a small slope anyway. Here's a picture of how big it is.

(This is the front, we went down the back.)

So I decided let's just go on the lift. I got on the lift great, getting off was a much different story. I was still holding on to the chair and the guy starts yelling at me... needless to say I ate some serious shit. I twisted my leg wrong, but luckily I landed on my board so I sort of just sledded off to the side out of the way. My leg hurt pretty badly but I decided to keep going. Man, the first go it took me FOREVER to get down. I continued to bust ass but Michelle and Satoko were very patient with me. Satoko even had to get out of her board a few times to come help me up. lol It was pretty bad. So when we finally got to the bottom (like an hour and a half later, no joke) we decided we needed a break. We had already unstrapped from our boards and there was a small hill on the way to the rest area so we decided to sled it (which we had done earlier in the day) and somehow I got turned around and then I looked over my shoulder and saw a board hauling ass down the hill toward the building and I look down and I'm not on my board. I looked up in terror (it was a rented board) as it slammed against the building and bounced off. It was pretty amusing, I wish someone had gotten it on video. Obviously the board was fine (it even got all the snow cleaned off from the impact :D) and we went in for a break. After a short breather Satoko went down once alone and seriously only took like 10 minutes (lift included) and then we decided to go down it together once more.

The second time around I did SOOOOO much better. I only fell a couple of times, I was able to get up by myself. It was a blast. We made it down in like 10 to 15 minutes (not including the lift). I didn't fall directly off the lift but there is a barrier and I thought I wasn't going to be able to stop so I grabbed on to Satoko but when she tried to stop my board ran into hers and I accidentally brought her down right on top of me. It was amusing, it's too bad Michelle didn't see it. Satoko is so funny, because even though it was completely my fault she kept apologizing to me. I didn't even get hurt because she weighs like, nothing. Anyway, point is, snowboarding is awesome. I can't wait to go again. Sky and I might go by ourselves next weekend so he can give me some one on one training. But here, enjoy some action shots of me.






Okay, well now I'm tired and want to go to bed. Oyasumi.

"Is it true that there's a point on a man's head where if you shoot it, it will blow up?"
Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) Hot Fuzz

=___=

I know, I suck, my bad!

First, my Yokosuka trip. I went to see Danielle for her birthday! I wasn't sure it was going to happen since I had to rely on Space A and sometimes that isn't easy to catch. But obviously I did, and it was fine. So I flew in to see her and stayed for a week. When I first got there we mostly just hung out at her house and prepped for her party. We also started watching Glee so now there's another show I have to keep watching! (Way to go, Danielle :p) I had a blast with them though.

The big thing we did was our trip to Tokyo where we went to H&M and Forever21 in Harajuku, stopped and checked out one of the busiest intersections in the word in Shibuya, went to the Square Enix store in Shinagawa, and stopped in Yokohama for sticker pictures and the store with a ton of Totoro stuff! I didn't take pictures of that store because I thought I would die from all the cute. Seriously, Danielle and I were freaking out. But here are pictures from everything else.

Walking from the train station to the stores in Harajuku

Danielle and I at H&M

Weird, creepy, shady rabbit thing on the wall of H&M

Shoe art at Forever21

Lulz

Unfortunately pictures weren't allowed to be taken on the inside. I was sad faced because there was some pretty amusing stuff in there! But here's another picture of the outside.

For some reason those condoms are named George and Emily. So after Harajuku we headed over to Shibuya... by accident. We thought that's where the Square Enix store was but after further investigation we discovered it was actually in Shinagawa. But we took advantage of our misdirection and took some pictures and video of one of the busiest intersections in the world... well in Japan at least. Here is a photo of all the people waiting to cross. That's right outside Shibuya station, we're in the Starbucks across the street.

And here are people crossing.

So yeah, that scene in the Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift... Complete bullshit. Just in case you were wondering. So yeah, after we watched that like a billion times we headed back into the train station (holding hands as we crossed like a bunch of foreigners) to head to Shinagawa.

In Shinagawa we only did the Square Enix store. Here are some pictures of that. We took a billion so I'm not going to put them all in here, just a few.
Here was the front.

Giant Cactuar!

On the "first floor" (there were like three stairs) had all the plush dolls and less pricey stuff. "Upstairs" were the more detailed collectibles and jewelery and stuff. And in the ground there was a giant Sephiroth replica.

I thought it was amazing, so here is a close up.

And now I'm getting lazy so I'm just going to add some of the pictures of the figurines and if you don't know them ask, look them up, or ... too bad for you. :)





Word.

And now I'm too tired to discuss anything else. Came home. School ended (got an A). Went to a going away. People got drunk. It was funny. Made a new friend. School started. I'm going snowboarding soon so I'll be back to post about that. Later!

"It breathes fire, Marshall!"
Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) How I met your Mother

Our trip to Aomori

Bright and early Sunday morning Sky and I headed over to Michelle and Gian's house. Satoko met us there and then we all headed out to Aomori. Michelle and Satoko were going horseback riding and Gian took Sky and I to the big Buddha. It was so amazing. Check out the photos!

This is the temple that was on the way.

This is a little fountain/waterfall thing that I thought was pretty on the way.

Here is the outside of the big Buddha.

Oh it was so beautiful. You have to take off your shoes and it was FREEZING in there! But so worth it. Here are some photos of the inside.







These were on the walls in the middle. Also in the area was a little shrine here's a picture of that.

Then there was a little statue. Here is Sky and I in front of it.

I told you it was cold in there! After we took some pictures in there we went upstairs and saw these:

I guess people purchase these and they get engraved and they are prayed for every day. I wanted to buy one and just take it home! I bet they were kind of pricey though. So that was the big Buddha.

After that and when Michelle and Satoko were done riding we went for lunch at Tony Roma's. One was just built out there. It was delicious! Too bad it's so damn far away. After our amazing lunch we went by a second hand shop to look for a snowboard for me. Michelle had found one there for a great deal and I wanted to see if I could get one as well. Unfortunately I struck out so I'm still looking, Satoko is helping out a lot. She is checking all the Japanese sites and auctions for me. Hopefully I can find one soon so that we can go sometime. I guess I can rent from outdoor rec if it's taking a while. Anyway, I will update when there's more on that. Well that's my update, hope you enjoyed it. :)

"It's gonna be legend-... wait for it... and I hope you're not lactose intolerant because the second half of that word is DAIRY!"
Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) How I Met Your Mother