How to Become Creepy

Hey guys!

How was your valentine's day?
Last year I posted about valentine's day and how it is all about marketing scheme and we are all victims of marketing master minds.

But I still love valentine's day. I just like festivities in general. Or just excuses to consume alcohol perhaps.

ANYWAYS, today I am going to write about ways to become creepy.
There are creepy people everywhere I realized.
But then, it got me thinking, "what exactly defines creepy for me?"
So I went through my memories and thought about some creepy people I have encountered and before and tried to dissect the Creepy-ness, in my 20 minutes of bath time I just had. So this guide is probably going to be quite incomplete but hey, what was ever complete in my past blog posts, what the heck.
So here we go!

1. Completely believe that you are totally desirable by everyone and act as if you are doing people favor by showing you are also interested in them. 
 - What does it mean? It's easy. Believe that the person you are hitting on (or harassing them) are also totally in love with you, without any plausible evidence. What? He/she looks like they are denying you? No, no, no way. They are just shy. Keep doing that, no worries. They are getting red-faced... ohhhh maybe you are turning them on too. Yikes for creeps!

2. Be obsessive about someone in "out-of-norms" manner.
- It's hard to define what out-of-norms are. But maybe something like, collecting his/her strings of hair and keep them into your wallet like a lucky charm. Or steal their dirty sock (somehow) and sleep with it, next to your face. Or go through their trash and re-chew the gum that they chewed and spat out. Yes, it's kinda like a cult. Of course, you can do all these things in a secretive or non-secretive, or perhaps the most difficult semi-secretive manner. Semi-secretive manner is that you are not doing these acts in broad daylight for everyone to notice, but just bold enough so that the person of your obsession sorta realizes. Way to go!

3. Make us think (imagine) what you are thinking (imagining) about, when you are imagining something that should probably be kept as a secret. 
- Perhaps somewhat similar to the first one. Yeah tell us your dirty fantasy. Tell us about OUR baby's name, though we only spoke to each other only once before. Tell us how you want to put life-size dolls that look like us which you can talk to and eat with everyday. That's pretty damn creepy (wink).

4. Be obsessed with violence. 
- Everyone likes a little bit of violence. We are human. It's our nature. But no, BE OBSESSED. Like your daily morning routine should include watching a horror (really gory kind) movie just to get you started. When you watch it, you shouldn't be able to help but smile watching all that blood and disfigured corpses.  And of course, be so obsessed that you tell everyone that you one day want to try the movie scene yourself. When you tell that to people, don't forget to look dazed, to slightly smile, to use really low or hyper voice, to make your lips tremble with excitement, and to describe in details how you would. That's out of the world creepy. Maybe more like dangerous. You might have people calling cops on you. That's the down-side.

5. Look dirty and proactively approach people in a really uncomfortable way
- Get your hair greasy. Wear some dirty clothes. Don't brush your teeth or wash your face. Approach people panting. Stand to them really close, as you are panting. With the stereotype "creepy-ness" so deeply imprinted in us through media, this is an easy way for you to get labeled as "that creepy person."

These are all I could come up with during my 20 minutes bath time. It may not have covered all the qualities of creepy-ness, I think practicing these will definitely get ME to think that you are creepy.

I think definition of creepy differs from person to person. I don't immediately think of a physically unattractive guy hitting on a girl at a bar as "a creepy guy." It's when he is completely in belief that the girl is loving it though she is saying "fuck off" that makes him "creepy" to me. Or I don't immediately think of a girl stalking a guy on facebook being creepy. It's when she prints out all the conversation history on his facebook wall and make it into a book so that she can read every night that makes me kind of label her as "creepy."

It's all subjective right. It's all subjective and a very obscure line. We all are creeps in some ways or others. We all fantasize or do things that you may not want everyone in the world to know.

But, it comes out creepy to me when people are in utter belief that other people totally agree or approves whatever you do / say / think. Maybe it is a combination of ignorance and self-centeredness mixed in with adult desires that create creepy-ness... Still can't put my finger on it.

What is YOUR definition of creepy?

Word of the Day

Hey guys-

One of my colleague left the company for another company.
It was for good and I am truly happy for his advancement in career but at the same time, I was quite sad to see him go, as he was kind of like a big brother in the office for me.

Before he left, earlier in the week, he taught me one word that he thought was so important and captures the beauty of Japanese language, which hit me as well so I would like to share that with you.

The word is "お陰さまです," (Okagesama Desu).

The word "Kage" means "shadow" in Japanese. So the directly translation would probably be like "your dear shadow."

"Shadow" in Japanese can mean a lot of things. like we use idioms like "he was supporting you in shadows," meaning "he was supporting you secretly or quietly or unnoticeable ways in the back."

But this idiom is used more as "thanks you" or "fortunately." It's not even a big word or anything special. In fact, it is used in a pretty light way a lot of times.

"Okagesama Desu." The mentality of this word is more for showing gratitude for those who have been supporting you in very non-obvious ways.

There are a lot of people who support us in very un-noticeable ways.

I think when we achieve great things or accomplish something, we are often tempted to credit ourselves.
True, in a competitive place, you have to find a way to shine and beat the race.

But this simple word, though people use it as a "thank you" linguistically, has its beauty in its mentality to remind us that we can never accomplish anything ourselves.

Yes, if you are a project manager, you should be the one in the spotlight. But when you are making a big presentation in front of these clients or management board or something, probably you are not the only one who worked on that presentation, especially if you are in a corporate setting.

You may have 3 bar charts in your slides, which 3 different people took 3 hours to come up with using complicated database.

In the eyes of audience, these may be just 3 bar charts. But you should never forget that these people also took time and effort to complete your slides.

It is quite easy to forget that there are army of people who are behind your back, when you are so blinded by the bright spotlight to make you shine.

"Okagesama Desu." That's what my colleague taught me.
And I will be forever in his debt to be reminded that I should never forget the fact that whatever I achieve, I could not have done it alone.

Oh there's also great read if you are interested in the relationship between "shadow" and japanese culture. It's called "In Praise of Shadows" It is a beautifully written essay and I highly recommend it!

Les Not-That Miserable Me

Hey Guys!

From the title, some of you... probably most of you can already guess what this post is going to be about.

Yes, it is going to be about food.


Just kidding!!! Of course it's going to be about the movie "Les Miserable," starring Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe, Anne Hathaway and of course, the gorgeous Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne. Oh yeah and Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena B Carter as well.

I had no idea Cohen is starring the movie and I was like "is that... Borat...?" in the theatre. yeah ok, whatever.

I am here NOT to write critique for the movie.

I am actually here to talk about how I learned something new.
About how to prepare myself before watching a movie.

Embarrassingly, I didn't know the synopses of Les Miserable before.
Never read the book or never watched other versions of the novel's movie.

SO, basically I was asking around if anyone has seen this "Les Miserable" and if they have, I also asked them, "how was it?" or "what did you think?" or "did you eat popcorn?" or just you know, mediocre questions.

I was told by several people that they balwed their eyes out in the movie.
OR some told me that they were depressed or thought about life and stuff like that.

After hearing all these comments and such, I decided I should DEFINITELY bring something to wipe my tears and snot during the movie.

I thought, handkerchief?  Oh no. It wouldn't cut it if I need to blow my nose. Snot all over your face if you need to wipe your tears after blowing your nose?
GROSS.

So I bought myself 4 new packs of pocket tissue papers. You know what those are right?
These.

Not particularly these but I bought the ones that were soft and had moisturizers in them and all these fancy stuff to treat my nose nicely.

I watched the movie last Friday.

What happened to the tissue papers?

I USED NONE. WHAT! WHAT!

I did NOT shed a single tear before, during or after the movie.

I was in shock. with myself. I was thinking, "am I so cold-hearted that I couldn't cry in a movie that others bawled???"

But then, after the discussion with those I watched the movie with, we concluded that we were over-hyped or over-prepared to shed thousand tears.
You know, it's kinda like... uh... when you are SO hungry and dying to eat tacos and thinking you can gobble down 500 tacos but when you actually sit down for tacos, you only manage to eat 2 tacos.

Do you get it? I was just over-prepared.
I thought I would look puffy-eyed, red nosed, and still hiccuping coming out from the theatre. ... I guess at least I didn't look gross and miserable that way... but I was SO ready to cry.

The movie itself was good! and I liked the music and stuff.

BUT next time I know that I can't be over-hyped or over-prepared or set the expectation to cry or laugh or be scared or be hungry too high. I can save tissue money that way. Lesson learned.

HENCE, I shouldn't be asking around people about the movie that they have watched, which I have not watched but want to watch.

... Does that make sense...?

Well, I don't watch much of movies anyway. Pff, whatever.

Anyways, if anyone has not it yet, I recommend it.
Trust me, you won't cry. or maybe.... maybe not...

Go away mucus.

Hey there.

I'm sick. I was SO sick yesterday that I could barely function to eat dinner, which was quite rare for me.

When I get sick, I usually get sore throat or headache but I usually function fine.

But this time, I have to blow my nose even at the platform of train station and spit out gross mucus every 20 seconds or so. On top of that, my head feels like I'm carrying a 3 tons of cow or something.

Anyway, so much about my symptoms.
When I had to spit out mucus every 20 seconds ( now it's more like every 1 minute. I'm getting much better!!), I was thinking how wasteful it is to use tissue for every shit that I spit out.

And then I remembered. Apparently there was a thing called "Mucus Jar" in Japan. In Japanese it's called "Tan-Tsubo" (たん壷). I was not sure if it was something mythical or real. I've only vaguely heard of it.

So what do I do? I googled.
And yes, there was.

As gross and disgusting as it sounds, in 1951, there was a law referring to this "Mucus Jar." In short, there were mucus jars in train stations, or even IN trains for people to spit out this bacteria-filled crap.

WHY???? Mainly to prevent the spread of tuberculosis, by having people spit out the contagious stuff into A JAR. Well...I guess it seemed like it was a pretty good idea...
But think about it. If there were such jars, obviously someone had to clean right???? Ew.

Instead, I present alternative solution.

How about personal mucus jars that are filled with chemicals that turns mucus into sand which is harmless. We can even use the sand as nutrient for plants.
Can someone invent stuff like that?

Instead of using tons of tissues, ultimately killing trees OR using mucus jars that may expose the jar cleaners to the evil tuberculosis bacterias, we can turn our gross shit to something that actually is nice. Pretty hybrid, no?

These jars, however, are not in stations or trains anymore, since tuberculosis is quite preventable in other ways now. THANK GOD.

Sorry if anyone read this before eating. I just had to share, cause the idea of mucus jars was too gross not to share.


I'm not sick anymore, by the way. Thanks for caring.
What, you forgot about the fact that I was sick cause the topic of this post was too gross. OH WELL! Sorry!

ALERT ALERT! Watch your blood sugar level!

Hey Guys!!!

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG Time No Write!

Since I have been SO absent from this little blogging of mine, I won't even bother trying to come up with excuses for WHY I haven't posted anything in 1 year.

But thanks to those who told me to "start blogging again!" for such a random and kind of pointless blabbing outlet of mine.

Anyways, let's go straight to today's topic eh?

Something pretty interesting happened to me today at first day of work, after the world turned to the year 2013, safe and sound, despite all the hysteria about "OMG THE WORLD IS GOING TO END IN 2012 Decemberrrrr!!!"

Remember how I wrote in one of my first posts that Japanese people go to shrine in New Year to wish for a good year to come?
So my team at work decided to go to nearby shrine right before lunch today.
It was around noon time.
And the shrine is called Atago Shrine, which is famous for having a long ass stairs like this:

It may NOT look like much, but each step is like 30cm high alright. 

Legend has it that a man who climbed up these stairs by horse had gotten fast track to promotion. (Mind you that the legend is set in ancient times of Samurai and such) 

SO, What Do I Fucking DO? 

Climb up the stairs as fast as I can before ANYONE ELSE for the fastest promotion. Greedy greedy. tsk tsk. 

After furiously running up those magnificent things, I stood on top, looking down on my fellow teammates. I was taking pictures of those who were struggling to climb up and was making fun of them and what-not, when I started feeling strange....

I started seeing stars in my eyes, I was nauseous, I was dizzy, I had urge of vomiting, I was shaking like an alcoholic, I felt disoriented.... so on and so forth.  

All of the above? Symptom of goddamn glucose crash after intense exercise. 

Shame on you YURI SHAME ON YOU!!!!! All these eating and sleeping and being lazy had finally hit me physically, after blindly lured by this legend of fast promotion. More embarrassing thing was that Everyone else seemed totally and completely FINE. What. I mean what's wrong with these people. 

So, Moral of today's story

Do NOT climb up 100 stairs too fast when:

1. You are Hungry

2. You haven't exercised in a long time

3. You are doing this because you are purely greedy and doing it just to show off and want to laugh at those who are climbing slower than you. 

Because you are just going to feel sick and look stupid. Those people who went with their pace were.... uh .... smart. 

I felt fine after lunch though. Oh maybe next time I should eat a banana or something before climbing up. 

So here's another moral of today's story:

Promotion does not come easy, and you should stock up before you furiously try to climb to the top... 

What a great analogy. Yes. 

But please watch out for your sugar level. I swear it is NOT a good feeling to have your blood losing all this precious sugar. 

See you soon in next post!! 

If you'd like to melt your heart...

It's been quite cold these days in Tokyo...

and my heart is cold too...


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED SOME LOVE AND WARMTH!!!!!!


I didn't actually scream these words but you know what I mean?

No? NO? what? I'm not lame and sad like you Yuri...??


fine then....

BUT if anybody is feeling low and cold, I have a perfect website for you. before that take this survey to find out if you are suitable for this site:


1. Do you like animals in general?
2. Do you like small things?
3. Are you feeling low and cold?

The survey was kind of a spoiler but WHATEVER.
If you answered yes to all the questions, you will be addicted.

one warning tho; you might get addicted and might not able to get out of this site.

ENJOY!
http://attackofthecute.com/

creative ad...?

HI!!!!!


I was flattered to find quite a few view counts of my last post after my long absence.


It definitely pumped me up to start blogging about.... ehhhhh random crap that I see/come up with/ think about/ hear or even dream about again. 


But really my excuse was probably way too lame so I'm not going to keep my hopes up about attracting too many readers... 
BUT I SWEAR I WAS SO SO OVERWHELMED BY WORK!!!!!! 


It's funny because when I physically talk a lot, which I did for the first month of my full-employment, I tend to not talk to myself too much. Like I'm doing right now. Obviously, I didn't talk to real people much today. 








What? Yuri, your excuse is still too lame, now shut the fudge up??? 


No, I can't. I'm sorry..... 


What??? then why don't you either stop talking to real people OR stop mumbling to yourself completely so you can focus on one thing at a time???




HEEEEHHHH, good idea mate. But that is going to make me socially inept soooooo no. 










ANYWAYS. Today I would like to talk about this creative advertisement(?) that I saw in Shinagawa station couple weeks back. 


For those who are not familiar with Shinagawa station, it is one of the central stations in Tokyo, which is a nearby station from my house. 
It's pretty scary in the morning, since there are probably 1,123,940,946 people walking to the SAME direction towards to their offices. We have a lot of office buildings around the station.
Unfortunately, I go against the heavy current of 12039846570870976543 people every morning when I go TOWARDS the station. 
GO AHEAD OFFICE PEOPLE, DROWN ME HERE. NOW.


YURI GET BACK TO THE MAIN POINT!!!! sorry. 


So yeah, in a ginormous station, there was an ad for Sony. I saw this around 6pm after coming back from work. Here are some photos. 

NOW everybody, find differences between the two photos. 

hmmm, what? yeah there's a guy in front of the box on the bottom photo. true true. 

What? ok fine, the angle of the photos is different. yup the screen is showing different things. great!!!

NO, YOU BLIND, THE GUY INSIDE HAS MOVED, GODDAMN IT. 

There was a real human inside this glass box in the MIDDLE of the station. 

No idea how long he had been in there or FOR WHAT PURPOSE, but he was there. 

Viewing something through that robotic, futuristic, and kind of unstylish headset thing. 

It's called HMZ, 3-D TV set. 

WOW. REALLY. 

The 3-D movies have been in some serious trends but now TV??? 

WITH THAT HEADSET??

Apparently, that headset itself IS like a TV and you can enjoy watching 3-D Spider-Man through by wearing it. How cool.

And it's only $799.99, £799.99 or ￥59,800!!!! WHAT A BARGAIN!!!! 

My suggestion?? We should all buy them and gather up in one room and watch a movie through that headset TOGETHER. 

No, no, it doesn't matter if we all look dorky or maybe even a little creepy. 

I feel like Sony kind of left out that movie watching is also a group activity/entertainment for some people... including me. 

Of course, for those who like watching movie regardless, this headset should be quite ecstatic. 

Good job on the advertisement though Sony!! 

But I must say the guy inside the glass box looked a little... mmm weird. that's all. 

Why I stopped Blogging

Ya'll probably wondering why I haven't updated my blog for the longest time.

What? I know you Yuri you are just plain lazy rotten little thing...?


Well... I got no excuse... I'm sorry....

BUT HEY!!!! I GOT NEWS!!

I STARTED WORKING!!!!!!!!! wheeeeee!!!

What? That's still not good reason to stop blogging.??

With all respects, you know WHAT, you're right. I'm so rotten.


But really I started working, like really working, like wake up at 7:30 am in the morning and come home at 6:30 pm in the evening working, I realized how EXHAUSTING real work is. DAMN IT.

Now I miss my 4 months long bum life terribly!!!

But the real problem with me blogging is that my blog is way too frigging long.

WAY TOO LONG. I WRITE TOO MUCH.

SHUSH YURI SHUSH! STOP TALKING AND SHUT UP!

but all these words come up and I just can't stop once I start writing.
Hence, I stopped blogging cause it's just gonna disrupt my sleep.

SO, from now on, I will try to cut down on my blabber and condense my contents...

BUT IT'S SO HARRRRRRDDDDD. see? all I wanted to say in this post was,
"i'm sorry i stopped blogging. it's because i'm too wordy and lazy."

there you have it.

my blog is going to be like that from now on. although quite unlikely.
if you would like shortened version on my blabber follow me at

yuriistweeting on twitter.


but twitter requires me more thinking that blogging. how ironic.

but a french mathmatician called Blaise Pascal  once said in his letter,

"I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time."

It takes so much more time and effort to write short and concisely eh?

Wait.... does that mean I'm without effort and too dumb....???

WHATEVER BLAISE.

see you next post in... a few days.... I promise.... this time....

you lucky people.

HELLO YOU LUCKY READERS.

Why lucky? 

Because you got 2 posts in one day.

That's a miracle.

You don't get 2 posts in the same day on Yuri's blog.

OH BY THE WAY

I just started twitter so if you.... just IN CASE you wanted to follow me, my twitter name (is that what you call?) is yuriistweeting 

SO ORIGINAL RIGHT?

I wanted to be "yuriisontwitter" but apparently it was already taken. Fascinating. 

I really have nothing much to tweet about but I gave into the peer pressure and the temptation to look "cool and trendy."

.... I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING.

'YURI YOU ARE SO BEHIND THE GAME, JUST LIKE WHEN YOU STARTED THIS STUPID BLOG."

well.... I know I'm actually just a tech deaf trying to keep up but just a loser who is unable to do so... 

whatever. bite me.

that's all.

How to get rid of garlic smells.

Ok, so last post was quite heavy and it had nothing to do with "guide" per se.

But I just had to do it!!!! I needed an outlet for my confusion and anger. And therefore this blog was  the victim.

But let's talk about something totally random and trivial and not-so-useful for some but extremely useful for others.

GARLIC. Right. Let's talk about garlic.

I'm sure most of you have eaten it.

It's pungent. Yes. That may be an understatement but it smells.

I love that smell in the food personally, but some despise it.

But I'm not here to talk about how to get rid of the garlic smell after you eat.
What? That's what you expected? Well, too bad. haaarrhaaarrrr

I mean you can brush your teeth and chew gum or something!!
I heard eating apple also erases the garlic breath but not sure.

What I'm talking about is the garlic smells that you get on your HAND when you cook with it!!!


What??? I don't actually handle garlic, I just buy the ones that's already processed in jars???




Well, I have one word for you: GET OUT.

For those of you who use ACTUAL garlic and suffer from its lasting smell on your hands, here is the solution:

Any guess what this is??????

Wanna know??

Wanna know????

Drumrolll.....

It's just a pebble!!!!!

JK. it's a stainless steel stone.

Believe or not, after you handle garlic, you just use soap and just use this stainless steel pebble to rub your hands and finger, magically the un-sexy garlic smell goes away. 

now you can go ahead and touch some hotties in a bar without those people telling you "are you a chinese cook food by any chance?" and get into an awkward situation. 

you can thank me later. What? where to get it? 

I don't know.... my mom had it and forgot to ask.... JUST AMAZON IT GODDAMNIT.

Somebody please explain to me.

Why Troy Davis was executed?

Yes,I know everyone's sick of this topic and I am just here to write another entry like EVERYONE ELSE to cry out the injustice of this messed up world.

No but really, why?

For anyone who's taken basic law class, which I did when I was in college (although it was business law class, it also covered basic criminal laws), there is a term called "reasonable doubt" when somebody is being tried. It's one of the fundamental rules in criminal laws, well, at least that's how I perceived.

And? How was Davis executed "beyond reasonable doubt?" After 7 out of 9 witnesses flipped their stories? And when there was no physical evidence present? And when some witnesses named another guy as the real murderer? When most witnesses confessed that they were pressured by police?

And all these claims were dismissed as "it was too late" and without "substantive claim of innocence?"




REALLYYYY????? REALLY????? HOW????


Yes, maybe some years passed when these witnesses flipped stories. But 7 out of 9???? And did these prosecutors and justices think these witnesses have forgotten or developed Alzheimer that the new claims were bogus or not "substantive" enough????




And after all these organizations and public figures and millions of people protested against
so-obviously-not-legally-justified sentence, the Georgia state still had the authority to kill this man, who was potentially innocent.





I would like to know, what kind of legal loop hole this is.


Troy Davis, we would never know now whether you were truly innocent now.
If you were, I am so sorry and please rest in peace.

Driver's License Boot Camp.

That's right, you heard me. I said I would talk about it in last post.

Driver's License Boot Camp.

Did I just hear a loud "HUH??" from you?

Well, I don't blame you. Not this time.

Even if you live in Japan for a long time, if you are not really part of local community (for various reasons, maybe you are foreigners, went to American schools, etc etc), you might not know the existence of this camp. Hell, if you have never lived in Japan, you would probably never understand this concept from just the name of it.


It's pretty straight forward though.
It's a camp for those people who want to learn how to drive.

That's all!!! See you guys til next post!!!......

What? Too simple? Explain more?
Ay fine. I will do, since I promised that I would...

okaaaaayyy. So some of you may know, in Japan, to get a driver's license is quite lengthy and expensive. Pretty much everyone who is a first timer needs to go to driving school to learn how to drive in school's property with this special car that has sub-brake and sub-accelerator in the passenger seat. All the while you are practicing, instructor is sitting next to you the whole time.
You will also have to take classes to learn all these rules of driving and also some ethic classes to prepare for you to be a driver with a manner.... well it's mostly to prepare you for the written test OBVIOUSLY. Then you take the written AND road test to get the freaking permit. THEN you can drive on the normal road WITH instructor next to you. After like 20 hours of driving, you are finally allowed to take the road test to just GRADUATE the driving school. After you graduate, you have to take the final written test at your local police center or whatever and FINALLY GET THE LICENSE.






God, I hate writing so much. My head hurts now. Can I quit now? What? You haven't even talked about the camp part? UGHHHHH FINEEEEE. But now you get how lengthy it is.

SO the whole point of this camp is to do ALLLLLLL that stuff in only 2 weeks!!! You can indeed do all that in local driving school but it's harder to do, especially during summer vacation, since it could be crowded and harder to make reservation for each lesson/class. And in metro area like Tokyo, it's more expensive.

How expensive???


About.......Three F$%king Thousand Dollars.

I'm not exaggerating. And that amount is calculated as if 1 dollar is 100 yen. Right now 1dollar is about 80 yen or less so that would make it a little shy of $4,000.

Ridiculous right? Yeah I agree too. I'm sure there is a cheaper, more manual way to get a license on your own, but typically people go to schools and pay that much.

Boot camp is a little cheaper, since you usually go to country side and stay there fore 2 weeks and take classes intensively. They also provides you accommodation (usually business hotels) and  3 meals per day (through meal coupon kind of thing). Everything included it was $2400 per person ($1.00 = 100 Yen). Good deal right? Since it's a country side, it's quite nice to relax and people are generally nice... Some people say you can make friends with other camp kids. But being anti-social, I didn't make a single friend. Thank god I went with my sister.

I went to Niigata by the way.

No, no worries about radiation. well.... at least for now.

Did I get a license in the end???



YES.


So a piece of advice from me?

Get a driver's license elsewhere in the world and convert that into Japanese one.
You would save tons.

I should have f$%king gotten a license when I was in states...

When you are away for one month....

Things change so much that it hurts your brain.

No? Well, it freaking hurts mine.

I was away from this blogger for one month and what is this?
The whole thing changed!!!!!

I JUST got used to this blogger thing and they change everything!

And is it necessarily a lot user friendlier than before???

I'm really not sure.

AND ALSO.
I was away for an intensive driving camp (which I will talk about in details in next post) and I only had an access to internet through my new iPhone 4.
So I wasn't at all isolated or deserted from all things cyber, like when I was in Sardinia.

BUUUTTTT I just opened my facebook page through my laptop this morning after returning and

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???

I mean what is this new privacy setting thing and what is this new photo viewers and what what WHATTTTTT!!!!!!! And now we can video call through facebook?

Am I the only panicking over these matters? Am I not able to keep up with this constant changes in social network or technology in general? Maybe this is a sign that I am getting old and being pushed back as a "generation before"....

I just can't do with this mothereffing technology.

Do you feel the same way?
I seriously should open a technology rehab center. 

Sardinia, oh Sardinia Part II

After the last post, i realized that I only talked about food and nothing else.

But hey, you guys should know me by now!! and so do I... about myself.


Today, however, I will show you SOME other things about Sardinia, IN ADDITION TO food stuff.
Sorry, can't get away with it.

BUT I KNOW YOU LIKE IT. I KNOW IT. ADMIT IT.

did I just hear roar of "YES"? great spirit kids!

Enough of chit chat now, here are the photos.

After the great experience at Stazzu, we fell in love with agriturismo in general.

But due to the lack of internet at that time (our agriturismo hotel did not have internet OR TV), we couldn't consult with our smartest friend, Mr. Google. So we had to resort to the old fashioned way of searching:  DRIVING AROUND. And one night we stumbled upon this place called: 

Su Barroccu

we were kiiiinnndd of hoping we could score some roasted pigs but they only offered sea food and fish menu that day. "ok why not," though uncertain, we just gave it a shot.

Appetizers: 

Top photo: potatoes with bottarga (cured fish roe of grey mullet, it's a delicacy!), marinated anchovies

Bottom photo: marinated octopus salad, flounder in spicy tomato sauce

Bottom: Pecorino cheese and anchovies wrapped in grilled eggplants

Those were the appetizers. They were very fresh and quite delicious, although I wasn't a big fan of the eggplant dish. Marinated anchovies were the bomb though. Mmmmmm..... 

First course: Fregole with sea food. Fregole is a type of pasta particular to Sardinia. It looks like lentils but has consistency of soft rice... MMMM DELISH

Another first course: Spaghetti with bottarga. It was simple but flavorful.

NOWW on to the second: this huge grilled fish 

At this point, we were pretty worried because we didn't ask the price in the beginning.

Being all dish fish and seafood, we thought it would be expensive but what the heck it was too late! We kept on eating... and eating...and eating

AND 4 huge grilled shrimps and small fried fish and squid. OMG our stomachs were about to burst at this point. There was one more second dish GRILLED SQUID but we kindly declined. 

The waitress that served us were so eager to feed us, I was skeptical that this place might charge us by plate and we panicked. OMG WE ATE TOO MUCH. but oh well, it was too late anyway.

After the whole course ended with fresh fruits, espresso, and digestive, we asked for the check. 

We were too full and fat to run fast enough to escape so we took the check like men.

The total??

30 euros each. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wow, sardinia, I hail before thee. 

The next night we went back there to eat pizza, not the course. we need to let our stomachs rest once in a while you know. but again, we were faced with feast. 

Barroccu, you are another legend. 

Info Here: http://www.subarroccu.it/ 

Anyways!! I hope you enjoyed my post again with this food porn!! Hope you come back for my next.... OH WAIT, that's right, I promised that I will show other things about Sardegna. Got too excited.

Here are the photos.

The most fascinating part of Sardegna (aside from food) is the landscape I think.

Some people prefer the north east coast called Costa Smeralda since it is a popular vacation spot for rich and famous. It is indeed pretty there but also the rest of Sardegna, which is surrounded by mountain and abundant nature, is something you shouldn't miss. 

Old Spanish town Alghero. Very pretty.

Below is the Neptune's Cave. Discovered in 1400s but been there for millions of years... It was quite magnificent I might say. 

Spectacular interior of the cave

We had an idea of turning this place into a disco club but we thought neptune (greek god of sea by the way) will strike us dead if we do that so i guess not. booo.

random cows in the field. OH did I tell you that we bumped into a herd of sheep led by shepherd dog at NIGHT? it was like 12 o clock after coming back from dinner. It was like legit highway and these motherfu%#ing sheep are like "baaahhhh" in our faces. and after that there was a bull on the side of the road... we quickly drove away in fear of the bull charging us... what a great experience eh?

Agriturismo where we stayed for 4 nights. It was literally middle of NOWHERE. at night their sheep are like "baaahhh." 

Last but not least, the beautiful sea of Sardinia. just forever blue blue bluuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeee. 

Unfortunately the weather wasn't so great when we were there but I recommend going to the beach if you visit there!!

Alright. Thanks for sticking with me through this lengthy narrative of my journey. I hope you enjoyed/ found it useful for when you have a chance to visit these places. 

What? I can do all that without your help since we have tripadvisor and google on hands??? 

True... 

Thanks anyway for reading!!

Sardinia, oh Sardinia

WARNING: These photos and messages that entail may be disturbing to some viewers. 


Where to start....

Oh yes, Sardinia!!

that's right. You read my warning. And I did tell you that this trip was all about food: my greatest gastronomic journey yet.
So without fluff and chit chat, let's get down to business folks.

But WAIT!!!! if you are hungry, you may not be suited to view this post. Now is your time. Go grab some snacks quick!!!!






ok, ok. Let us begin the show....

Agriturismo Stazzu Li Paladini

 Everyone knows that the essence of traveling around Italy is to savor their cuisine, and Sardegna is no exception to that. In Sardegna, going to Agriturismo restaurants, (restaurants that are run by local farmers and such who offer particular dishes made from fresh ingredients) would be the best thing to do, if you are looking for an extraordinary gastronomic experience. We went to an Agriturismo called Stazzu near Palau, which we now refer to as "the legend."Anyway, you will have to drive to top of the mountain and wait til they open (at 8:30pm, yes dinner only). 

Piggiesss!!!! Do we eat them? You will see...

We arrived at 8pm so we will have to wait for half an hour. Meanwhile, the restaurant gave us couple glasses of free white wine. That's what I call "southern hospitality." Not quite the same as Ludacris' description but hey! it works for me! 

Finally, hungry as a pair of beasts, we sat down at the table and started devouring Pane Carasau.

It is something between tortilla chips and phyllo. It's thin and crunchy and you eat it like bread. It seems so light so you just forget how much you eat BUT!!! Be careful because you don't wanna be too filled up before the real meal.  Now with a litter of red wine, we are all pumped and ready for war.

Variety of cold cuts, including salumi, lardo and crudo and such. 

The further dish behind cold cuts  was cooked pork (i think) marinated in pickled cucumber, tomatoes, garlic, and onion. It was meaty and tangy at the same time. My favorite appetizers among all!

Roasted zucchini: I think the inside was taken out and mixed with some honey and cheese and then put back to its skin casing. It had natural sweetness similar to pumpkin. Mmmmm delish... 

Mazza Frissa; a traditional dish made of flour, honey and cream. It's definitely heavy but soo sooooo good. It was warm and sweet and fatty and so comforting. 

Polenta cooked with pancetta. Unlike liquid-y gooey polenta, these were cubed. It had also some sweetness but subtle enough to not taste like desert. 

NOW, these were only APPETIZERS. In the midst of devouring, we reminded ourselves that there are first courses AND second courses after these so we fought the urges to finish everything and left some room for our stomach. Nonetheless, everything was so delicious it was difficult to not clean up the plates. 

Now, top photo is ravioli stuffed with ricotta and honey with tomato sauce. It was so particular, as I never ate pasta that had sweetness. Honey is frequently used in Sardinian cuisine and I thought it was weird that savory dishes would have honey in it. But I stand corrected; it was AWESOME.

Below is gnochetti (small gnocchi-like pasta) with white ragu (meat sauce without tomatoes). Oh man it was so meaty and heavy and greasy and indeed heavenly.

Below was Zuppa Galluresi. Zuppa means "soup" in Italian so I was relieved for a few seconds thinking it would be a light dish. I was SO WRONG. This was the heaviest dish among all. Basically these are panfried cheese-ball-like-casserole with meat in it. Enough said. At this point, our stomachs were on the verge of exploding. 

Veggies ( i think fennel?) that helps you digest before you move on to second course. 

The main and famous dish; roasted pork. Remember the piggies in the photo? That's right. 

It might sound cruel to those who practice veganism and vegetarianism BUT I think this way, we could really appreciate the life that was sacrificed to feed us. Beside the meat, there was also homemade sausage.

NOW dessert: Seadas. We only got one dessert instead of TWO for each person. This is also particular dish from Sardinia. Dough stuffed with gooey Pecorino cheese and fried. You eat it with honey on top. Heavy? Absolutely. Delicious, OHHH YOU BET.

Two digestives: Red Mirto and white Mirto. Digestive that is very local to Sardinia region. It is made from the myrtle plant that grows in the region. It has herbal, almost tea-like aroma and is very sweet. Perfect ending for such hearty and filling meal... and of course, espresso afterwards. 

Thus was the ENTIRE meal, which we sat through for two and a half hours. 

Everything pretty much was home-made, home-grown and freshly cooked.

"Oh it must be expensive...being all organic and stuff..." you may wonder.

The whole package?

35 euros per person. 

Unfreakingbelievable.

We were stuffed til the next night. 

If you have a chance to visit Sardinia, please visit Stazzu.

Info Here: http://www.agriturismolipaladini.com/

Next post will be about another agriturismo that we visited! Stay tuned and be hungry!

Mmmmmm MYKONOS!!!! Part II

No, I didn't forget nor was I too lazy to write another post.

I didn't have internet for one week.
I freaking week without internet.

Why? Because I was in rural area in a great island called Sardinia.
And I will write about it obviously in next post,
because it was one of the most fascinating gastronomic trips I have ever taken.

Anyways, as I promised a week ago, I would like to further introduce the island of Mykonos from my point of view!! which makes this guide totally UNthorough as a travel guide. OH WELL!

So, in addition to renting a car and randomly driving around this rocky island, I highly recommend you to take a ferry and go to its neighbor island called Delos.

What's in Delos?

One of the most important archeological centers in Greece BABY!!!

Sounds geeky? Oh yes it is, you can bet your behind.

If you are familiar with Greek myth, Delos was a sacred place where Artemis and Apollo were born. 

Delos was once a center for trading and finance in Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Hence, all these ruins of ancient city remain still.
Now, after a long painful decline, no one resides in Delos island; in fact, all the tourists have to return to where they came from by 3 pm.

Mosaic in House of Dolphine

Looong looong way to get to the peak of Mount Kinthos....

Anyways, it was an interesting experience as you basically walk through the ancient city on foot. 

From the top of Kinthos, you can see how big this city once was. 

I highly recommend it for a day trip!

More Info Here: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/delos

SOOOOO!! MOVING ON TO FOOD!!!!

What can I say, tis the most important topic.

I would like to warn you, however, the choices in Mykonos are pretty limited, 

since the island is an touristic site than anything else.

You can find pretty good food nontheless!!

Here are some dishes!

At Kounelas Fish Tavern

 I highly recommend this restaurant!!! 

They have mainly fish dishes, as the name suggests and they are fresh and delicious!

After you choose your appetizers (optional of course), you go downstairs and choose fresh fish to be grilled on the spot!! All the fish are in drawers... Interesting sight ain't it?

Fokos Taverna

They serve you fresh traditional Greek dishes. 

You have to drive to Fokos beach from main city to get to this taverna.

The photo is of lentil salad with feta, cucumber, tomatos and garlic.

They also grill fish for you on the spot but it is quite pricy compared to Kounelas.

And of course, how can we forget gyros.

It is the cheapest and the most filling meal if you are looking for wallet friendly food.

BUTTTT! I must warn you such things come with price: HEARTBURN.

There is an alternative though: crepes.

Somehow, the island has many creperies that make both sweet and savory crepes, big enough to fill you up for dinner.

Soooooo That's IT!!!!! Sorry for such an incomplete travel guide, from totally biased point of view. 

We did go to numbers other restaurants but didn't think that was great... unfortunately.

The bars are great too! As I told you in part I, nightlife is great in this island but we were too lazy and lame to go clubbing during our stay.

These two bars are our favorites though

Kastro 

(famous for being gay bar but we thought it was pretty family friendly too)

 very nice ocean view from windows!

Leonidas 

(chocolatier during the day and bar at night. 

If you are lucky they might give you free chocolate! Our favorite spot!)

Outside seatings only!

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed my lengthy and half-a$$ guide. Next post will be about gastronomic journey in rural Sardinia!! Stay tuned!