Nihongo-a-Go-Go :: Mandy's Journal

For the record:

These are the foods my body has requested that I never eat again:

Breaded gristle
Raw salmon
Liver

I sincerely agree with it. *looks green*

In other news, I'm getting sick again. Feels like another cold, *sigh*. It's no fair! Well, as long as I'm not sick for my vacation. Christmas is coming, finally! I can feel it.

I don't really have much news. Aimee brought home the most delightful little desserts. They're like....little chocolate foamie waffles filled with cold thickish whipped cream and topped with...hmm, well, I don't know what it is. It's like strands of ivory colored...hardish paste? Blah. It tends to be on top of things listed as Mont Blanc. It tasted vaguely strawberry to me. Anyway, these were absolutely delicious!

Tomorrow is another early morning in Sakae, blah. I doubt there will be news tomorrow, but I'll try to keep it real. :) Love you guys!

We could be Japanese...

Just for one day.

Today we met with Aimee's Japanese friend and one of her friends. Actually, before that, we ran some errands. Finally mailed out the Christmas packages, thank goodness. It was very expensive because we ended up sending them via EMS. It was cheaper than airmail (go figure) and the SAL shipping would have taken two months. So...EMS it was. In good news, it means everyone will certainly have their pressies for Christmas. Mom, you'll even have your birthday pressie by your birthday, hopefully!

We tried to pay the rent, but the office was closed. *huff* Which it wasn't supposed to be. We also stopped at the Sanrio store. There's a necklace I love, a sparkly cross charm and a little silver cat charm, and they have been selling out quickly. Yes...I bought one. I tried to be strong, but I failed. :) I'm totally in love with it.

We met our Japanese friends at Animate, then went on to Gstore and Volks. Basically, all the places we love to go in Japan. Then we walked from Sakae to Osu, which is basically a used shopping district. Definitely a place to go back to. *nods* We went to an anime shop that has a Gothic Lolita coffee shop on the second floor. Gothic Lolita is a style in Japan where girls try to look like Victorian dolls, sort of. Knee length floofy skirts, girls, aprons, knee socks, lacy gloves and parasols, big clunky shoes. Mostly in blacks and burgundies and whites. I sort of like it. Anyway, this little coffee shop is primarily for guys, since the waitresses dress like this and call them "Master," like little Victorian maids. The decor and food selection mirrors this. I had tea and apple mousse pie, very tasty. We couldn't take any pictures, unfortunately. Apparently on the fifth floor of the same building there's a coffee shop where the waitresses dress up as shrine maidens. Heh, I wanna find the coffee shops where the boys dress up. :) I think I'm going to start planning one...Catboy Cafe. Pretty boys in tails and ears and collars with bells...mmm...

After that, we headed to Big Echo. Heh, this would be a huge 6 floor karaoke building. We rented one of the rooms. This place was so space age!

The rates are very cheap, but you have to order a drink. They also try to get you to buy food and stuff. I was so super shy about it. The girls that we were with had good voices and absolutely no reservations about bursting into song. Aimee sang first, doing Jewel's "Foolish Games," but the chick brought our drinks and interupted. I had hoped to get away with not singing, but I was guilted into it. I sang Madonna's "Like a Prayer"...badly! Hehehe. I was so nervous! Aimee sang "Ziggy Stardust" in honor of KT. I think I want to do it again. It was pretty fun!

After that we headed back to Nagoya station in search of someplace to eat. There are so many Christmas lights up.

Some of them totally miss the mark, like the bright seizure-causing flashes on some of the trees. However, there is a sheet of lights down the front of Nagoya Station that seems to...drip glimmering purple lights. It's absolutely beautiful; it reminds me of Niagara Falls. I'd take a picture, but I just dont' think that would really do it justice.

The first izakaya we went to for dinner was full, so we headed down a bit to another one. The atmosphere is very nice, very cozy. The menu was all pictures, though some of the stuff is still a bit of a mystery. We let the other girls order, since they knew what everything was. The price of each dish was about 250-380 yen, so not bad. We ordered lots of stuff. At an izakaya, everyone at the table shares, so it's pretty cool. Now...let me tell you all the odd things I consumed.

First I ordered a cookies and cream alcoholic drink. Yum! Then I had a bit of a veggie and cabbage salad. Then they started bringing on the dishes. I tried....sashimi, the raw salmon stuff. My stomach is negotiating. Steak with some sauce, fried chicken pieces, cheese rolls (like quesedillas) dripped with honey, and salad. Those are the normal things. Then I tried...breaded fried chicken gristle, chicken liver, fried chicken skin on a stick. Mm. As I said, my stomach is still negotiating. I was so brave though! Hehe...I alost died when I was told it was gristle. *shudder* And then the Japanese get horrified when I tell them we eat chicken wings. What the heck!

After that, we headed home. Very full day, lots of fun. Sort of like packing as much of Japan into one day as possible. And chicken pieces. Today I ate almost every part of the chicken. Heh, it's better not to think about it.

Despamming.

Note from Aimee:
We've been having some comment spam issues over the last day or so, so I've installed MT Blacklist. This program resides on our server and will prevent comments that contain links to adult websites.
I'm not certain that I installed it correctly, so if you encounter posting comments, please drop an e-mail to nihongoagogo (at) gmail (dot) com.

A few odd things

Good evening! I've been so good about posting lately! And today I promise not to post any doll things. *sticks tongue out at Dad*

Today was Aimee and my common day off, so we ran errands. We went to the Sanrio store, and picked up our stockings. I'm not posting pictures yet, because Christmas is still too far off. We also got some cheap Christmas lights, and all of these things are tucked away in the closet. :)

The day seemed to take forever, and we ended up not having time to mail out our Christmas packages again. *sigh* But as of right now, the package is all packed up, taped, addressed, etc, and just waiting to go. I bought SOOOOOOOOO many kinds of candy to send home. You guys are going to have a ball trying this stuff out. I included traditional stuff as well as some of my new favorites.

Anyway, we stopped at Book Off so Aimee could get a few gifts and I found the new treasure of my life. Read on to see...

This is not just "Nightmare Before Christmas" with Japanese subtitles. This is NMBC IN JAPANESE!!! *swoons* We watched it over dinner, and it's so funny! The guy that does Jack's voice is pretty good, though I was a little disappointed by his evil hysterical laughter. None the less, it is now a cherished piece of my NMBC collection. I love how much stuff I can find here. And this was used!

Speaking of dinner, we stopped at the little onigiri place. I got some chicken and a tuna onigiri. This is a pretty typical dinner on a Friday, actually. Either that or a fruit and custard filled crepe from Dipper Dan. :)

Lastly, we went to the grocery store for the aforementioned candy. Heh, the cashier must have thought we were seriously pigs. :) Anyway, right before we checked out, I spotted the biggest box of those choccie-filled koala cookies I'd ever seen. Here it is next to the iron for context.

Mm...can't wait to dig into those. I have to work tomorrow, blah, no fun. At least it's an earlier shift. I do have my horrible kids' class though...I hope they behave! *crosses fingers*

Fun day!

Hmm...well, this ate my first post, so let's try again.

Anyway, today wasn't very exciting, just some Christmas shopping. It's very bizarre to me to see all the Christmas stuff in the stores. Christmas here is devoid of any religiosity whatsoever. It's odd, since even in the States, where it is rather secular, there is still the religious core, since one can't rely deny the Christian core of the holiday. Even at KMart you see the nativity sets and angels intersperced with the light-up Santas and glass tree ornaments. Here's there's absolutely nothing to hint that the holiday could be religious, except the tinkling renditions of "Angels We Have Heard on High" that some of the novelty items play. I do rather like the Christmas trees though, especially the fiber optics ones. The lights are so expensive though! We're talking 50 dollars for a string of lights. Granted, they're seizure-inducing LED lights, but still...Heh, and there's a life-size singing/dancing Santa that haunts my dreams. *shudders*

I did buy a few things for me today as well. Firstly, I got an adorable Nightmare Before Christmas mug. I needed a mug anyway, to drink tea. So this was a great choice. :)

Aimee and I also went to Geestore...and there was a huge sale on doll clothes! *swoons* Eighty percent off! I got a few outfits for my dollies. Shown here...some dolls are happier with their outfits than others.

On the left, we have Foster who is delighted with his cosplay costume that makes him look like a Jpop star. On the right we have Apollo, who would like to kill me for making him look like Oliver Twist. Eh, you win some, you lose some. :)

Also, for those of you still interested in the odd things I'm eating, behold my new favorite. It's an orange jelly (jelly more as in Jello) but it has the texture of a peach...sort of. I adore it!

Modified rapture!

Well, life has been mostly boring on this side of the world. It doesn't matter where you are, work is work. :) I go, I come home, I eat, I sleep. Blah blah blah. I had kids follow up training on Monday. It was okay. I don't know how much it really helped me. Ah well!

Monday was also payday! Which is always a good thing. I do have a few things on the list to buy, so huzzah to having money with which to buy them. Some of them are fun, but some of them are not (toilet paper, blah).

SALT.

Okay, I have no clue why I just typed that. *blush*

Oh! Wait! I do have something marvelous to tell! Sunday I ordered my FCS dollie at Volks. We zoomed over there after work. I was so excited. One of my friends from work, Kirsten, went with us. We're hoping to get her addicted as well. :) The girl that always helps us out was there, and she'd brought in her little English-Japanese electronic dictionary thing in anticipation. Everything was already set up. She was very excited that we were born the same year. Go 1980! She also learned our names (making sure she knew I was Mandy, not Amanda as my registration card says) and told us her name, Mayumi. Sugoi! Once I'd picked the head, she went and got the sample and the cases of eyes for me to try them out. I ended up with the dark grey 18mm eyes for the F-09 MSD head. Black Hewitt wig, long legs, delicate hands...Thomas is a poet, after all. I also opted for the carrier bag as an accessory. I just feel bad that he'll be nekkid when I get him. I can't have a Blessing Ceremony for him *sniff* because I work on Sundays, rar! But if I get another one, I'll figure it out somehow. But I can pick him up any day after December 14. I'm so excited! My copy of the receipt/order form is in a pretty little envelope that says "Angel's Sweet Home: This is the place your angels are." I want my little angel now! These four weeks are going to seem so long!

It's also gotten rather chilly. I fought against it for awhile, but I've given in and started wearing my winter coat. I got a Jack Skellington zipper pull though, so life is okay. :) I love how much Nightmare Before Christmas stuff there is. Too bad I can't afford most of it. ;)

Just in case you were wondering...

Jack....all hail the pumpkin king!


Which Nightmare Before Christmas Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

That's right! I am the Pumpkin King! Christmas is coming, mwahahahah!

(And I promise to post more intelligently later. :) )

Beware the tomato...

Well, today in Sakae was...today in Sakae. :) I don't have that much to write about, but in deference to my Mandy-driven -literature-derived Dad, I thought I'd put in a little update.

After work, Aimee and I headed over to Volks, as per usual. The one girl's that's always there working was there; she always waves and tries to speak English to us. Very very sweet! Today we managed to communicate that I'm putting in my order for my FCS next Sunday *excited*. She was almost as excited as me, and wanted to know all about which doll I was picking. We almost had a conversation. :) She's so nice about explaining to us how things work, telling me that if I could explain to her the makeup I wanted on Thomas' face, she would write it down in Japanese, and that this was her "Big Fight!" Heheh, super fun. I can't wait for next week!

Tomorrow is my observation at work that will determine if I can get off probation. I hope it goes well! Then I can get more money, yay! And stop getting observed constantly! Which is almost as important. If all goes well, I can bring in my MA on Tuesday for the area manager to see, which will mean I get even more money, yay! :) So, if you see this, think of me tomorrow and say a prayer for me! I'd be very grateful!

For your humorous tidbit of the day (in lieu of a picture, since I forgot my camera), here's a sign I saw in Sakae on a big poster at McDonald's. It was a bit picture of what looked like a chicken sandwich. You know, with lettuce and tomato. In big red block lettering on top of the poster it said:

"Tomato is coming."

Heheh. A big giant Godzilla-like tomato, apparently. Rawr! :)

Full full day

Heya, world!

Well, I just finished up another mound of training. It was only four hours today, though it was right in the middle of my day off. That was a bit uncool. But now I'm certified to level people up. W00t pour moi!

After training, I fought off my cold and handled some last remnants of Christmas shopping. Yay for me! I think I have everything now, except for some tasty treats to send home. I got stuff for Gramma, Oma, and Grandpa today. I hope they like what I got them! I had to think about what to get them for awhile.

I also bought another set of chopsticks and a rice bowl. I wasn't going to, but I couldn't help it! They're Cinnamoroll, from Sanrio. So cute! I also bought two Gundam markers so I can finish up the custom I'm working on. It's a Pinky custom, from Dad's great suggestion. It's a hockey Pinky! Heheheh...I think he'll be a young Rob Ray. If you have a suggestion of a player you think it should be, let me know. I'll post him when I'm done. I still need to find a fine red marker...for edging the numbers and the buffalo head. Hmm....I'll post pictures when he's done.

For dinner, Aimee and I weren't sure what to do. We really hadn't eaten anything all day, and weren't really in a cooking mood. We went into the basement of JR Takashimaya, a big department store at Nagoya Station. Many of the department stores have food places in the basement. There were all sorts of little counters with fancy candy and fresh head-ful, eye-ful fish. Oh, oh! And we saw these clams that couldn't even close their shells because their bodies were so big and fat. Their feet thingies were extended and big. Really...scary, actually.

Anyway, dinner. The bento boxes actually looked really tasty tonight, regardless of the fact that the only things easily identifiable were the tempura shrimp (yuck) and rice (yum). Since it was close to the end of the evening, a lot of the food was 100 yen off. I got ....

This!

Heh, it didn't look this gross in person. :) The ketchup on top of the egg sort of slid off, which is why it looks odd. It was, from big egg thing clockwise, scrambled egg thing over rice mixed with ketchup and little bits of chicken, two battered chicken pieces, a few baked potato wedges, a little pink cupcake cup of coleslaw and a little cherry tomato, and a little cup of pickled mushroom salad. It was tasty! I ate it with my new chopsticks, which may be the cutest thing ever made. :)

Anyway, yes, I still have a cold, tomorrow I have to work...and Monday I have my probation observation. Here's hoping!

Pinkies!

Well, I'm off to work in a few. Let it be known that I am still sick, blah. :) The weather has become sunny and stuff here now. I seriously don't understand...I missed everyone for Halloween. I didn't really do anything aside from eat special Halloween ice cream and listen to my "Nightmare Before Christmas" soundtrack. Not very exciting, hmm?

Anyway, this week is almost over for me, at least. I work today, normal hours, then early shift tomorrow for whatever holiday it is. I'll try to most more of interest tonight, but for now, I had to share my plastic wonder with the world. Behold...my Pinkies.

Well, okay, two of them are Aimee's (the one on the end, left, and the one with the grey long coat), but the rest are mine! Mwahahah! I love them! Soon I will have even more, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!

Heh, yeah, I'm off to work now. Heaven help me...