US Open

Today I went to the US Open with mom. I got to see Andy Murray play at Arthur Ashe Stadium and a few matches at the courts including Tatsuma Ito from Japan. Unfortunately Ito lost.

It was scorching hot today. I feel like I got a nice tan again. I can maintain my tan from Hawaii!

The view from our seats

Hurricane Irene Aftermath

60mph gusts were recorded at Central Park this morning. Nearly record breaking tides near the Battery as well. But that's about it.

Some of my friends were disappointed about Irene, anticipating a much intense storm. Why? Because we never, and I mean never, experienced any hurricane or any other tropical storm. And we're curious about what it feels like to be in one.

Irene's wind remnants are still hanging out around this area, but the heavy rain has stopped and the sun has slowly started to become visible again.

Here comes the sun, dodododoo!

Hurricane Irene

The impending Hurricane Irene is set to storm over New York tonight, as people started to prepare for the unprecedented. Supermarkets immediately sold out water and bread, leaving the shelves nearly empty, and most restaurants and other stores seemed to close at 3pm if not closed for the entire weekend. All mass transit and flights were stopped by noon. Mayor Bloomberg advised that everyone should stay indoors. Those who lived near the ocean had a mandatory evacuation.

According to 1010wins, there is supposedly going to be 60-80mph winds. But at the same time, various news channels state that Irene's speed has slow down.

Right now, it is just raining moderately. Nothing worth mentioning... yet.

Athletics vs. Yankees

Was at the epic Yankee game today. Final score, 22-9.

Holy Cow!

The first team in major league baseball history to hit three grand slams in a game-- Robinson Cano, Russell Martin, and Curtis Granderson.

Despite the rain delay, this game was boss.

Glad to spectate a lot Yankee history, from Jeter's 3000th hit to this 3 grand slam game.

今日はヤンキースです。勝ちました、２２−９！！！！！

いっこの試合でグランドスラム３かいもうったぞ！

earthquake in ny?

Heard there was a 5.9 magnitude earthquake in the northeastern US, specifically the DC area around 2pm. Where was I? I was at Kinokuniya, checking out the CD's and manga. But after, mom's phone service was not really responding well, and a whole bunch of office workers were gathered around the streets due to evacuation. Glad to hear that there were no minor injuries.

今日昼に地震があったみたいだな。僕はそのとき、キノクニヤで本を見てた。えっ？地震あったの？って思いました。なんのかんじがなかったです。

Hawai'i

Finally home from the aloha state, yesterday morning. What a long trip-- Connecting flights sure are hectic. My mom and I missed our second flight from Dallas to NY because the first one landed a tad late. Eventually, though, we were able to get safely back home.

Now, Honolulu was a blast. Going in the crystal blue ocean was refreshing, although not much waves to bodyboard; had great Kaki Gori (shaved ice), although didn't have a chance to go to the north shore to stop by Matsumoto's :(; had awesome ahi poki; was taught an extremely helpful private ukulele lesson from Bruce Shimabukuro, the brother of the widely known ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro; saw a lot of hot asian girls, including the locals with their sagging bikinis; walked down the streets of Waikiki; shopped 'till I dropped at Ala Moana (not really); feasted on loco moco; got a nice tan, almost to the point where I can say that I'm as tan as Kona coffee; spent hours at Kailua beach; snorkeled at Hanauma bay, although did not quite see that many tropical fish; saw my mom's friend that told us that he found a pair of perfect fitting shorts that somehow fell from someone's terrace one floor up-- he wore them when we met and he did not lie; bought essentials and gifts at the typical ABC Stores; and last but not least, bought a beautifully and lovingly handcrafted ukulele made in Hawaii.

I've been here 4 times, and each time I come here I feel real happy. First and foremost, I cannot overstate the wide variety of asian delights here. You got your food-- go to a grocery store or deli and you'd find onigiri and/or spam, no doubt. And hey, the Shirokiya food court is packed with delicious bento from takoyaki to negitoro! Everything here, well, everything meaning around Waikiki, is all written in Japanese. English is the main language here, but in some cases, it seems that Japanese is the second most spoken language. That is awesome!

Anyways, I had a real great time. The next day, though, which was today, I had to attend cram school-- sucks, I know, regarding the jetlag and all that other crap. But sometime's things gotta happen, and now is the time. Here I am now sitting in my room, back to reality, listening to the construction across the street when I was just at Waikiki Beach working on a tan while listening to the waves crash by the shore. Where was I? I feel.

昨日の朝ハワイから帰ってきました。めっちゃ楽しかったな。立派な海でボディーボードをやったし（でもあんまりいいウエーブがこなかったけど）、アヒポキもおいしかったし、ロコモコもおいしかったな～そしてかき氷もおいしかったぁ～～でも今年は松本かき氷店に行くチャンスがなかった。食べ物ばっかだなｗｗｗ

しろきやフードコートにはいっぱい弁当があったや。たこやきやねぎとろがあったんだ。俺、ゆめをみてんのがな～って思いましたよ。

さらに、ビーチの気持ちさはヤバイでした。パーム木のリーフがうごきながら僕、目を閉じてじっくりと寝ました。いい気持ちだった。ワイキキビーチ、カイルアビーチとハナウマベイに行きました。火にやけた、コナコーヒーの色になっちゃったかもｗｗｗ冗談や。

そしてな、いっぱい可愛い女の子たちがいたんだよ～ん。ローカルの女もけっこかっこいい。目との接触がけっこあったな。はずかしっ！＞＿＜

ホノルルにくろのは俺の４回目だから何があるかほとんど知っています。だからな、あんまり新しい事なかったけど、リラックスしたからそれだけでいいかなって母さんと二人で思います。

母さんの友達にあったとき、めっちゃおもしろい事をやったな。友達の名はマーボーなんだけどさ、テニスをやってる途中でだれかのパンツが上のテラスから落ちてそのままはいたらサイズがぴったしだったって言いましたね。それであったらうそをついてなかったｗｗｗ　どういう生活してんねん？！大笑い。

ほんで（ごめんな、関西弁が混じって）ウクレレレッスンを二つしました。ひとつのは無料、もうひとつのはブルースシマブクロから習いました。そして最後の日に素敵なウクレレを買いました。


With Bruce Shimabukuro after the lesson.
ブルースシマブクロと写真！

Hanauma Bay
ここはハナウマベイです。

Relaxing in the pleasing and calm waters of Kailua Beach.
波があんまりこないカイルアビーチでボーっトしてる俺。

Working on that tan.
リラックス

Picture with a friend.
マーボーと写真。

ALOHA!

Sparks' Dear John

I just recently finished reading Nicholas Sparks' Dear John. I enjoyed it, really. It is very romantic and cute. A story about how tough long distance relationships can be. After all these two have been through... the knot crumbles when she chooses another path.

The one quote that just touched my heart:

Wherever you are and no matter what's going on in your life, when it's the first night of the full moon-- like it was the first time we met-- I want you to find it in the nighttime sky. I want you to think about me and the week we shared, because wherever I am and no matter what's going on in my life, that's exactly what I'll be doing. If we can't be together, at least we can share that, and maybe between the two of us, we can make this last forever."

Read it, or see it. But read it first, lol.

Mario Kart DS sound realization

After playing Mario Kart DS-- yes, I know I'm spending too much time on this rather dull game according to the people who play Street Fighter, Tekken, and the like-- with quality headphones, I've finally reached a plausible conclusion that only a patient, and true Mario nerd would notice.

Only a true Mario nerd would notice that the sound of a standard kart going full speed in Mario Kart DS is the extended sound of Birdo when she spits out eggs in Super Mario Advance.

Boom.

Sun

About 7 ish on a fine Tuesday afternoon.

When I was just about to close the window blind, I saw the sun, round as ever betwixt the afternoon clouds, shining its final brightness before its eventual descent. It suddenly caught my attention, my eyes drifting immediately towards it like an indecent man glaring at the iridescent features of an attractive woman walking on the street. Holding the window blind string, I stared at it for a while. Right then I felt that the sun was trying to tell me something-- something that would bring good luck. The feeling just caught my attention. This is similar to the extremely convincing dream I had weeks ago about seeing two suns from my window, I thought. Maybe the sun and I have some sort of connection. I smiled, and let the blinds down.

It did bring good luck in tkd class.

Yesturrrday

All from yesterday..
全部昨日です。

Tomato marks from the dish turned out to make a smiley!
トマトのあとがスマイリーになった！




And now, I feel really sorry for this Hello Kitty. A USB design fail.
ほんで、このUSBのデザインちょっとわるくない？かわいそうなHELLOKITTYや。

defeated Mario Kart DS staff ghost

マリオカートDSのスタッフゴーストデータを勝ちました。

スタッフの時間は
２：１９：６６１

俺の時間は
２：１９：０７２

イエエイ！

I beat one of the Mario Kart DS staff ghosts! Although just slightly ahead, I managed to conquer this staff in just one attempt. I feel proud. Staff ghosts are known to be the ones who created this game, thus are extremely tough to beat their competitive times. But hey, I beat one of them!

competitive class

今激しいテコンドークラスから帰りました。

今夜のクラスは思ってたより激しかった。
ドリルをやると思ってたのになんとスパーリングがメインだった。

ギアーをもってこなかったのに～

あしがいてー
明日の状態はどうでしょう。

でもブルガリアからきた先生もいたし、ほかの学校からきた人もいっぱいいたしな。なんと、よかったかも。

This late evening I attended a competitive class, or should I say competitive sparring class. This, for me, was entirely unprecedented. I didn't even bring my gear-- I had to borrow them.

I sparred, and realized in the end that I had a muscle strain on my right foot. It's hard for me to walk.

But it was nice training with an athlete from Bulgaria who I haven't seen for a long time, other people from other schools, and the usual buds.

scary dream

The dream I had yesterday night was so terrifying that I don't think I can even explain it.

It all had to do with a dead man. Somehow he was in my apartment. I picked the corpse up and put it inside some machine that dries the body. The first time I put it in, it didn't really dry, so I tried again. The second time I did it, the body opened its eyes while pieces of skin fell off from the body. Quickly, I took it out of the machine, put it in some huge box, and brought it to the rubbish. It lay there, squirming around, as I came back to my apartment safely in relief.
______

Then I woke up.