Thanksgiving Chicken

Is it sad that all I could think about when I wrote that title was the movie "Chicken Run"?

I've never even seen the movie. Thanksgiving was pretty great. Grant came over and we cooked probably the healthiest Thanksgiving dinner I've ever eaten.

Chicken with eggs, onions, chives, and cut up sweet potato. Oh, and spiced up green beans. It was actually pretty darn awesome. ^___^
Grant bought us Dessert!:

It's Belgium chocolate. I thought it was pretty good and am still eating the remains of it XD. Grant thought it tasted like a candle.
I like eating candles.

Yesterday, he came over to search for a 3DS game because he bought a 3DS too. It's a really pretty shade of blue.

Sorry, I had to.

Haha, we went around town for a bit. It was a typical day in Japan.

And we found another new Haagen Dazs flavor! This is a monthly occurence here. Pick it up, America.

Mascarpone Strawberry? Looks fabO___O!

It was the perfect rainy day to have an excuse to sit inside and play games all afternoon. It definitely is starting to feel like the Christmas season.
After gaming for awhile, I had to go meet up with Kazuya for kickboxing. AwwwWWww YeaAaaHh.

Earlier in the week, he had told me it was a National Holiday and there wouldn't be any classes held, which was fine, but I didn't realize the gym would be closing early too. He told me I could save my 10 time tickets for another day if I felt like the session would be too short. Since I was already there and so ready to be punching the heck out a bag like a pissed off Bubbles against the enemies who beat up her Powerpuff sisters,

I asked if I could just pay for one session for tonight and then the 10 time ticket. Kazuya said probably not =/. Still though, I wanted to know how to get to the place for future visits, so he showed me the way. =^.^=

When we got there, we had a little more than a half an hour. He talked to the manager working and he said that I could train there for free for the night! So. Awesome. I just had to help clean up a little after, which I had planned to ask to do anyways. XD
I was able to do my favorite kind of exercise - Punching/kicking combinations on focus pads that Kazuya held.

It was a pretty good session. I definitely have a lot to improve on. And 10 sessions to do so, wahaha. Something that was kind of a bummer was that I would need to buy my own gloves, leg guards, and wraps. I have wraps at home, but I needed them for last night, so I bought some there. Hopefully, I can find cheaper gloves and leg guards than the ones they sold there by the next session .___. But it's totally worth it. ^___^ Man, I love kickboxing. I'm not sure about fights yet, though. ^___^'

After cleaning up, we stopped in a few shops along the way to the station. One had a ton of collectibles. Apparently, from what I got from what the shop owner was saying to us, was that a lot of the stuff is very rare. "Maniacs"/serious collectors can't even find the items and/or have never seen them before.

I didn't take as many pictures as I would like, but the shop owner was right there and I'm guessing since this stuff is "rare" that he wouldn't want me to be taking pictures. Everything was so expensive too, it was kind of ridiculous. Then again, I haven't seen most of it before. The whole store was covered in collectibles, there was no wall to be seen. There was almost no floor to be seen either O___O. Shelves and drawers, and baskets and tables filled with stuff. Woof!

Then, Kazuya and I stopped in a gaming store and look what I found:

Maple Story! It's only 1-player, but still. I kind of wished I would have picked it up. Oh, and guess what else they had? The Animal Crossing 3DS for the original price T____T. I almost headbutted the glass case it was in. WHATEVER. I ALREADY PAID OFF MY FIRST HOUSE EXPANSION. And got to experience Thanksgiving!

Omg, I found out how to take pictures off of your 3DS to put on your computer. Technology, man.
You can take pictures while playing a game ^___^.
Okay, so here's the thing. I realized I was dressed like a Pilgrim on Thanksgiving after standing next to the turkey. I honestly did not plan that. lolol.
[Edit] I knew Beth would point out that I was dressed up more like a Native American than a Pilgrim...
I JUST WANTED TO BE MORE LIKE Lana Del Rey.

 And the turkey was like Girrrlll, plz.

And I was like, "Turkeeyyy, gimme something good to eat."

 And he didn't so I mocked him.

This was from a day earlier:

I made a friend! They gave me medicine when I had a bee sting. Then, I got another bee sting 3 minutes later.

I like how half my blog posts are Animal Crossing shots now because this is what my life is. lolol.

Oh yeah, and another awesome feature of the 3DS is the AR Cards it comes with.

Look, the characters are on my homework. You put the cards on a surface and the 3DS reads them and the characters pop up right in front of your eyes. Well, on the 3DS screen at least. You can move them around and even defeat monsters and stuff. Pretty darn awesome. Nintendo, you've done it again.

Grant got a care package from his family yesterday with precooked bacon, apple butter, REAL bread, cinnamon raisin monkey PB, and more. He's sharing it with me today and we are going to have a feast. ^___^ Wahaha. I'm so excited.

Speaking of Monkey PB, I forgot to write about the chocolate Monkey PB incident. By Grant's place, there's a store that sold the Chocolate Dreams monkey PB, but it's only half the size and nearly $7. I asked if we could just, you know, check it out again, see how it's doing. When we found it, we saw that it had expired this month. The thing is, is that the Monkey PB usually expires about 2 years later, which means that jar had been probably sitting there for 2 years. Oh gosh. How could no one pick this up?

Sweet mother of chocolatey goodness. Even that monkey is dreaming about it.

So I decided to test my Japanese skills and ask a manager if I could possibly buy it for cheaper. When I found the manager, he was very surprised and went to go check if they had more. He said they didn't and that it would be bad to eat. He probably would have gotten into trouble if he sold it to me and I got sick off of it T__T.

SO HE TOOK IT AWAY.

NooOOOo, Dark Chocolate Dreams. =[[[ So for now, I'm just having plain dreams.

*le sigh* 

Oh, these are pretty important to post from Thanksgiving (in America):

And Shawn joined us:

 

Time for some bacon. 

Virtual Life and Gaijins vs. Burgers

That's right. I ordered the Animal Crossing DS from Amazon Japan. ^____^ I couldn't help myself! I was like Twitch from "Holes."

Except instead of obsessing over a fancy car and stealing it, I was glued to Amazon, saw a darn good price and pounced on it (fully paid).

And nothing like this happened as a result:

You want to watch Holes now, don't you? I feel like Lauren's going to and then Shawn's going to rediscover his love for the movie.

Instead, this happened:

HAPPINESS. I'm all sweaty because I had just gone on a run. I had woken up and got to video chat with MoMo, Lauren, and Bethy for a bit. I was going to take another rest day, but decided the weather was too nice to waste and kind of just kept on running. I ended up running more than 5 miles. lololol. And I discovered a park! ^___^ More Maywynd picture opportunities.

Yeah, so I had ordered the 3DS a day before it came, so I didn't think it would be the package that I had missed. I ran to the post office after going for a run (lolwut), picked up this mysterious package, and opened it right outside. Bam. There it was in my hands. "Who sent me this?!," was my first thought.
The night before, I had checked the sender on the slip that says I missed the package and it was a Japanese name and they sent it to "Kat." I thought, "Who knows to call me Kat that lives in Japan and knows my address?" Apparently, I hadn't looked at the name right on Amazon, and it actually did end up being the seller I had bought from. Silly Kat. Well, I now know that Japan has crazy fast shipping. I also now know that Yamamoto Shogo is a famous baseball player in Japan because he has the same name of the sender that I googled. lololol.
Let's all take a moment to admire that form.

Truly amazing.

Anyways! I was so excited while walking home and was still confused as to who sent it to me (it was I who sent it to...me...I...myself..ugh) that I missed a turn and got lost for a bit, but found my way back soon after. Sort of. Hahaha. ^___^'

So, this game is amazing. It's even more awesome that I understand a good amount of what they're saying, as it's in Japanese. Here's a few shots for you:
Nook is still as fancy as ever.

 Of course I get stung on the first day:

 NOOOO, PINK LLAMA.

 Some new things I really like:
-You can change your socks
-The characters have a more human body
-More accessories!
-There are longer dresses you can wear
-You can customize and design the outside of your house
-You go around town and pick the exact place you want to put your house
-You can learn how to swim (though I am not sure how yet)
-When you swim, you can dive and catch other creatures (There's a whole different slot list for those creatures, besides the bug and fish slots.)
-The 3D is actually pretty awesome

The list shall keep growing, I'm sure. I've been playing this quite a lot and don't feel guilty about it, which is really rare when I play video games these days. I think it's because it's in Japanese and I'm learning a good amount of vocabulary, practicing reading, and understanding grammar a bit better. It's so nice to be excited about a game again. I feel like I'm in high school again, being excited to be able to relax and come home to play Animal Crossing. Where's my beefaroni at? Oh gosh...

What was I thinking...

Speaking of insane food, yesterday after class, some of my classmates wanted to go to Burger King to try the same "black burger Bi-king challenge" that Grant tried. You know me and watching people eat copious amounts of food.

Adam will always be my hero.

So naturally, I had to go watch.

We arrived at the destination. Contestants: Daan, Wendy, Tom, and Evan. Me, Kirsty, and Mitchell went for support. And so-

 

it begun. 

*ding, ding*

First round:

Tom's second round.

  Evan and Daan's second round and Mitchell's french fry-eating support.:

Evan: "You see this? I don't even want to eat this. It's like a baby's head."

This is actually Tom's 4th round. He was upset because he was skipped a few times and started hitting the "food wall" after waiting a long time. Sad service! But only 4 people were working and they were running around everywhere. They'll probably be relieved when this offer is over XD.

 He really did not want to eat this.

 BUT HE HAD TO. MAN, MAN, MAN! Well, More like Bi-king! (pronounced like Viking)

 And the results:
Evan - 2 burgers, 2 fries, 2 drinks
Daan - 2 burgers, 2 onion rings, 2 drinks
Tom - 4 burgers, 1 fries, 2 drinks
Wendy with Kirsty's help - 2 drinks, 1 fries, 1 onion rings, 1.5 drinks

They were planning on going clothes shopping, since we were in Shinjuku, but after eating all of that food, they decided to postpone that plan. lolol. Tom's hair was all messy at the end and I said he looked like a wreck. He was hurt. I'M SO MEAN. ^___^'

Today was pretty simple. I paid rent and my health insurance bill ^____^. Very exciting stuff. Haha. Here is something you probably won't see most places in the US:

That yellow guy is a safety helmet for earthquakes. Pretty slick!
lolol, slick? Kat, really?

As of yesterday, Tom's coins are all still on the balcony. I asked Yuuki why that might be and he said because people probably think it's a trick. I wonder if they would still think it's a trick if Tom put down a 500 yen coin. Oh man.

And here I am all adorable in Animal Crossing as a Bear (and in a tent).

I'm so happy that it's still November and mushroom season. I love that furniture set. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving so Grant and I will be hanging out and cooking a meal together ^___^.
I hope it's like the Gilmore Girl's Thanksgiving celebration.

Wait, that's 4 Thanksgiving meals in one day. Nevermind. All I want is Robin's homemade apple pie, man.