A Perfect Day

Fun was had by all last Wednesday when the four of us (Gree, Spish, Chris & I) spent the day at Korakuen (an amusment park right next to Tokyo Dome). For Dave and I it had been about ten years since we had last been there together. It had also been ten years since we first stepped on these shores. Things have changed a little since then. They now have a killer roller coaster called the Thunder Dolphin that weaves it's way around and through a shopping complex. Nice also to be able to spy Mt Fuji in the distance just as the carriage is about to plummet into free fall down the first drop. My concentration on the distant spectacle broken only by my trusty companions yelling out "floppy!" - A word that ranked equal best quote of the day (see Gree's blogger). Nothing quite like brand new, super-smooth, super-fast roller coasters that push the boundries of physics and fun. Suffice to say, the Thunder Dolphin gets my thumbs up approval. Also, full points to us for buying the all-day, all-you-can-ride-ticket which set us back 4000yen (except for Spish who bought the Ladies' Day ticket for 3500yen - cow!) but allowed us to exhaust ourselves blissfully on all rides, crap and cool. I'd tell you more about the Tower Hacker but I really don't want to talk about it. Also, I totted up the total amount of money we would have spent had we bought single ride tickets and it came to 14000yen! All in all, quality time well spent (except for the fucking hotdogs, Dave).

By the way, this photo is of the ride that was voted most crap by Dave. I can't remember what it's called so I have decided to call it Dave's Bane. Personally I thought this one was ok but the others were not convinced. My vote for the crappest ride of the day went to the Geo Panic - an underground, in-the-dark roller coaster that was truely crap and physically painful due to sudden turns and bumps.

Local Rudeness

I had to take a picture of this one in a local hardware store in Japan. In fact I had a strong desire to find the manager of the store and compliment him on his tasteful humour. In other news, I seem to have recovered from my sudden sickness that robbed me of the ability to partake in Christmas festivities at Gree's joint.

First Entry - A Shredful beginning

I begin my Blog. It is Christmas Day and I am recovering from a short expedition down to the local mart where I just bought an Enya cd as prez for my girlfriend today. Fortunately she had to work this morning and I was granted a few hours grace to slip away and save my ass from Christmas tree-side disgrace. Oh I did buy her a metronome for her drum practice, but only one gift is not really love. But it doesn't seem right to me. No just because I wasted my money on a middle-of-a-very-wide-road cd, but because the shops were full of people on the actual day of Christmas, here in Higashi Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan, where I live. I was hoping to get a half-priced Christmas Cake (strawberry shortcake), but they were still selling them at the regular price of about $18/kilo. Maybe my calculations are a bit out. Maybe tomorrow is the day when all the cakes become unwanted. Anyway, I went for two individual slices rather than the whole slab. I plan to fill my belly with Kentucky tonight and I could do with a few less calories in the cake department. The cool thing is, I discovered a few days ago that if you go to the top floor (9th) of my apartment building, you can see Mt Fuji! I have been going up there everyday since just to check the monster out. I used to be able to see Tokyo Tower too until some cocky construction company erected their new high-rise block right in my line of sight.

How was that for a first entry Dave?