Thursday, December 20, 2012

Bill Murray For A Day

The weather on Sunday was creepily warm. Grant and I wanted nothing more than to stay in and read more of "The Hobbit," but the sun gave us so many glares. Solar flares. Flares.

So we decided to meet up and hit Harajuku. ^___^
Grant bought me some pants for Christmas! Crazy pants! Who knows if they're really meant to be a skirt or shorts or pants? I'll have to post a picture sometime later.
After shopping around for awhile, we walked to Shibuya and didn't. get. froyo. What is. This life? haha, But we did see this random crowd of people, carrying around a button. They stood in front of store entrances and whenever someone exited the store, they would tell them to push the button and then did something obnoxious, like clap or scream and run up to them. BREAKING NORMS, MAN. They must be in a Sociology class....

I got Grant Animal Crossing for Christmas. It's his first version of the game. He seems to really like it so far. I'm just passing on my addiction. Happy Christmas.

In Monday's class, our teacher gave us each a Christmas card with a personal note in it.
I was pretty darn excited. I don't think a teacher I've had in the past has ever done this for everyone before. It reminds me of something MoMo would do if she had a class. ^___^

Since track season is over, I don't have practice anymore >___<. But Yuuki and I went to the gym after class anyways. After, he lent me this Manga about Jesus and Buddha as brothers:
I still need to start this, but I think it's going to be pretty great just by looking at the cover XD.

On Tuesday, I met up with Grant and Luke after Grant's class to go to the New York Bar in Shinjuku. It's the same bar that "Lost in Translation" was filmed in.
This is exactly how Grant and I looked as we sat there.
I've actually never seen this movie, but now I kind of want to. It's probably going to be exactly like The Virgin Suicides (same director), but in Japan. And with Bill Murray instead of Kirsten Dunst.
Lauren's going to kill me for saying that.

But first! Here is the outside of the building:
That triangle is a replica from Stargate.
I'm stepping inside next time. And bringing my rain boots because it's surrounded by water. I have no rain boots.

Wahaha, these are actually terrible pictures of trying to capture the awesomeness of this building. I am ashamed. But! We plan on going back soon, so I might bring my good camera.
There were 57 floors and the bar was on the 52nd. Only the 39th-52nd floors were for the hotel. It was incredibly fancy. We walked in with sneakers and school backpacks, so we completely fit in.
Fancy elevator mirror shot:
When the doors opened, it pretty much looked like the inside of Titanic, especially the dining areas. When we found the bar, we were told that there would be a seating fee after 8 P.M. A $25 seating fee. Thank goodness it was only 6 P.M. ^___^'

The view was amazing. I think I may prefer it over Tokyo Tower's view, which you could see from the bar.
Man, I really need to bring my better camera.
Actually, you could see everything like Tokyo Tower, the Sky Tree Tower, Tokyo Bay. So pretty much everything from Ginza, Harajuku, Shibuya, Tokyo, etc.
The mood of the bar was so chill too. It was very dark and didn't have a bar feel at all, really. The waiters spoke both English and Japanese, which was pretty awesome.
Grant and Luke both ordered fancy drinks:
They seemed to really like them, too. Whatever. My glass of water was from the finest springs in Fuji. Actually, it probably wasn't, but it was still good.
We all really want to go back and eat here sometime. It's just so expensive. The burger on the menu that sounded amazing (well, everything did, really), was over $50. woof. It must be worth it though. The people next to us ordered the fries on the menu, fried in duck fat, which smelled so good.

Oofa, it was an awesome experience though. It's definitely a place that makes you want to dress up and just enjoy the atmosphere of the place.

After, Grant and I went to his place and cooked some foodies and hung out for awhile ^___^.

Yesterday, I finally sent that devil of a package to America. lolol. I met up with Yuuki and his friend in the afternoon and we walked to the post office. There, they helped me to ask what the heck to do. While I filled out the EMS paper, they assembled the two boxes I bought. Man, we were a team. It was awesome.
Just so you guys know, your presents are in individual, random store bags, labeled with tape. I kind of slacked off on packing XD. I really hope everything is okay...the box seemed really sturdy though...right? oh noes...
Well, I'm really excited for you all to get your presents. It was pretty funny paying for shipping when Yuuki saw the price of it. The worker told me I couldn't use my card, so I gave her all the cash on me, which was luckily enough and immediately thought:
lololol. But anyways! I have an extra box now. I was walking outside with it on my head, saying "I have a box. I have a box. 箱がある(hako ga aru)。I have a 箱”. Typical day in Japan.
We went back to school to play a little Dragon Quest to pass the time since we were going to go to Shinjuku, meet up with Grant, and get some spicy ramen.
 Well, of course I made her a hat. XD
Grant and I have been looking for a restaurant with spicy food for a long time. When I asked Yuuki for ramen restaurant recommendations, he suggested Nakamoto in Shinjuku. Then, he invited us to go ^___^.
It's located underground in a building that Grant and I always pass. NOW WE KNOW.
Something I really like about a lot of ramen places in Japan, is that they have machines that you place your order with and it gives you a ticket to give to the worker. I think I mentioned them before...anyways, the menus had dishes ranging from 1-10 in spiciness (10 being the most spicy).

I decided to get a level 6 spicy dish. It's the same one that Yuuki had ordered last time. He had shown me a picture of it and it looked amazing. Well, it was more than amazing.
It was a huge bowl and I made it a goal to finish it all and I toats mcgoatz did. Seriously - the best ramen I've ever had. It was pretty spicy, too. At one point, I had got a bit of spice stuck in my throat. It didn't help that my throat was sore from being sick XD. lolol. Ow. TOTALLY WORTH THE PAIN.
Grant and I tried Yuuki's dish, which was level 9 on the spicy chart.
Grant got some spice stuck in his throat here and was dying while I took a picture. XD I really like how happy Yuuki is in the 2nd one.

They had tissue boxes right in front of you, knowing that you'll need them to blow your nose, wipe your eyes, or in Yuuki's case, wipe the sweat off your forehead.
Another thing I like about ramen places, is that you sit in a row instead of at a table or at booths, which pretty much means it's all about really enjoying your meal instead of staring deeply into the other person's eyes. Which is great and all, but this ramen required all attention.
I think I want to try eating the dish Yuuki had next time. It was definitely spicy, but I think it'd be a fun challenge. ^___^
The workers there were really awesome too. They're all in happy moods and just full of energy, yelling a welcome or goodbye to each customer.

After stuffing ourselves with ramen, we went to a random store called Tokyo Hands. Really, this store is random. Each floor is like you walked into a different building. There were floors of backpacks, camping gear, kitchenware, clothes, toys, games, etc.
Of course, we went to the toys and games floor. They had a ton of random stuff.
Evangelion Hello Kitty Stuff:
 Tofu packaged Notepads:
 A ton of Voo Doo dolls:
 Here's one of the Christmas costumes available. Of course, it has cat ears.
This is how Grant carries around his purchases:
lolol. The rest of the time, we pretty much just went around that floor, looking at all the random things. We also played with the Japanese puzzles, the ones that Shawn really likes, for awhile. We went home pretty early since I needed to study still and Grant also had his final the next day.
But we did pass these rainbow tunnel things that you could walk through along the way:
People moved at twice the speed for like 3ish seconds after.
 And more pretty Christmas decorations:
Today was an errand day. I paid rent, health insurance, and my phone bill. I also went grocery shopping because IT'S BANANA DAY! BANANAS FOR EVERYONE!
I have many bananas.
And this guy was chilling along the way:
Do you see him?

I also got to video chat with Lauren, Beth, and Shawn. I...don't think I can post any of the chat pictures on here. lolol.
Then, I read a bit more of The Hobbit and play some Animal Crossing. I should probably study. Bleh...I wanted to take it easy today so I feel better tomorrow for the Christmas party. It's really not that bad, just kind of annoying and I don't want to get anyone else sick. >___<

After class, Grant and I are going to meet up and go to Ueno to look around before the party ^___^. AwWwWww YeeaAahhHh.

Did I mention how my mom is the coolest?
Just her and her Boo. Er, Beth's Boo.

4 comments:

  1. I like how I thought of Zombieland when I read your blog post title. I think it would be impossible not to after watching it so much, haha.

    Congrats on the crazy pants!

    You didn't get fro yo?! Pshh, you are no sister of mine.

    What a great sociology experiment! We should just pretend to have buttons and go around the mall freaking out at people as they exit stores.

    Oh wow, Grants first time playing AC? That's so cool! I hope he likes the game. I can't imagine not playing the GameCube original game...

    Ughhh. I'm so jealous that you got to go to the same bar as Lost in Translation. That's, like, my life. -_____- I will basically fall over on the floor for any Sofia Coppola film. No joke. *sigh* And yes, you are in major poop for trying to switch out Kirsten for Bill. SHAME.

    I feel like every single view from a tall building in Tokyo is going to be beautiful.

    Haha. I like how you tried to make your glass of water sound like something fancy.

    I'm so excited for the package, bb! There are no words to explain my excitement... I hope my bag is the biggest one. MWA HAHAHA.

    It looks like you're spreading your love of hats (I Want My Hat Back) to everyone in Japan. I'm proud of you.

    Oh my gosh, I want that spicy ramen SO BADLY. There are no words. Like with the package excitement. THERE ARE NO WORDS.

    I think more US restaurants need to provide tissues for people at spicy restaurants.

    Omg! I wish I was an Evangelion fan because I would want one of those Hello Kitty plushies so bad... I still want one now. Haha.

    HAPPY BANANA DAY.

    I would have totally missed that cat if you hadn't pointed him out. That's so funny. "Yeah, just a regular day here... Chillin'..."

    Momo looks so cute in that pic! Ahhhh.

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  2. AIN'T NO PARTY LIKE A BILL MURRARY PARTY.

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  3. Ok the Hello Kitty with the Blue hair in the above pic with the giant hello kitty....SUPER CUTE!!!!!!! I LOVE THE BLUE HAIR!!

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