Hokkaido

Nine days might have been a little excessive, but it's been a while since I've had that much good food and beer. It's also been a while since I've spent that much money, but I suppose I'll just worry about all that later. Hokkaido was freezing in May, so I can only imagine how cold it gets in the winter. Instead of buying warmer clothing, we simply elected to drink lots of whiskey...not that I'm complaining. I probably could have payed next month's rent with the sum of money that I spent on alcohol in Hokkaido, but at least we had ourselves a lot of fun.



From sakura trees...



...to snow-capped mountains. It felt more like Aspen up north.



Sapporo = BEER. The Sapporo Beer Factory is quite possibly my new favorite place in the world. A 3 beer sampler for a mere 400 yen, believe it or not.



Tokyo was good fun, but Sapporo is more my speed. If it weren't for the cold winters, I'd love to live there.



We pretty much stink at karaoke. But we do kick some serious ass with Weezer joints.



My first onsen experience...and I think I may have taken things a little too seriously. The hot springs are awesome if you can get past all the public nudity.



Oddly enough, most of the bears that we saw were of the polar sort. The Asahiyama Zoo was a little disappointing, especially after hearing people rave about it for so long.



John holding a glass of whiskey next to a picture of John holding a glass of whiskey.



Overall, Hokkaido was pretty incredible. I'll be back.

Off to...

...Hokkaido for nine days. I’m currently sick and I don’t think that adventure time in Hokkaido will do much for my cold, but I’m nonetheless pretty excited about it. Anyway, no updates for a while. Be back in nine unless I get eaten by a bear.

Do As Infinity ∞1

New single.



2009.6.17

小銭入れ

I finally caved and got myself a wallet for my coins. By definition, a wallet is something that holds “paper money and credit cards,” but I've also heard the term "coin wallet" used before, so...behold the coin wallet. Logic may tell you that it's a coin purse, but I humbly ask you to ignore logic for the sake of my masculinity.



A couple of weeks back, a bunch of the teachers and I were out at a popular drinking spot for the local college students here. We ended up playing this weird game where we set up an ashtray in the middle of the table, and each participant had to throw 100 yen into the pot whenever he/she said “sensei.” The idea was to do our best to not let the college kids know that we were instructors. It’s a lot harder than it sounds, especially since we’re so conditioned to saying “sensei” whenever we address each other during the day. You can imagine how difficult it can get once you’ve had a few drinks in your system. After a couple of hours had passed, people were dropping in 100 yen pieces left and right, but when I accidentally said the word, I had to throw in paper money because it’s all that I had on me. In fact, that’s usually how I roll unless I’m walking to the convenience store across the street from my apartment. Some of the other teachers interpreted it as me being too rich to carry coins, while the reality is that I simply don’t like the feeling of loose change jangling around in my pockets. Anyway, I didn’t need another reason for the other teachers to be giving me a hard time about the size of my salary, which was what eventually led to my latest purchase.

I haven't hit manbag territory yet, so I figure I'm still doing ok.

Nike Zoom MVP

The current object of my desire. It's the first real good looking Steve Nash sneaker, and the "Trash Talk" version is eco-friendly to boot. Nash:

"I have a passion for preserving our environment, so if I can wear a Nike basketball shoe that reuses waste, performs on the court and is packaged in a shoebox made from 100 percent recycled fiber, then that’s a winning combination."

Looks like the Trash Talk is a HoH exclusive, but I gotta have 'em.



Still kicking myself for sleeping on the Supreme "Monstrous Game"edition.





I'll get my hands on a pair sooner or later.

(Cat)Fight!!!

Word out of Lakerland is that Sasha Vujacic and Adam Morrison (apparently now a Laker) were getting into at practice. Via the Orange County Register:

Vujacic and Morrison were guarding each other in the Lakers’ 4-on-4 halfcourt practice, and Morrison loudly and angrily told Vujacic that he was sick of Vujacic’s grabs and elbows. Vujacic argued that Morrison was the one who initiated the problem by wrongly using his knee. The two argued for several minutes despite teammates and coaches trying to intervene, and when play resumed the two continued to go at each other with Morrison grabbing Vujacic’s jersey and the arguments sparking anew several times later.

Eventually co-captain Derek Fisher and assistant coach Brian Shaw tried to defuse the situation — although no one was overly concerned and Phil Jackson sat in the stands with some amusement as he watched it all. Still, both players remained clearly upset.

Let me just say - WORST FIGHT EVER.



Of course, the funniest thing about the situation is Phil Jackson watching it all and having himself a good time. Morrison looks like he should be playing for the Flint Tropics, but aside from that, I've really got no problems with the guy.

But Sasha Vujacic is a bitch.

WHO WANTS TO SEX MUTOMBO!!???

He says that he's 42, everyone really thinks that he's 52, but he got up and down the court like he was 32. The man was brilliant, spoke something like 10 languages, and was more generous than you and I could ever hope to be. Most NBA players buy a mansion, a Bentley, a Ferrari, a bunch of chains...Dikembe built a hospital. Arguably the best shot blocker of our time, and definitely the best taunter. 4-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year. 8-time NBA All-Star. Known for having the deadliest elbows this side of Mitsuharu Misawa. Dikembe even had the most incredible, straightforward pick up line that that would never work coming out of the mouth of a mortal man. And to top it all off, he sounds exactly like the Cookie Monster.

Let's here it for Deke.



Possibly the greatest man in the history of men. The NBA won't be the same without him.