I got a new digital watch. It’s pretty stylish, yet it’s also very nerdy. Yes, it comes from the ye olde show Neon Genesis Evangelion. When you press one of the side buttons, the time shows up on the LCD screen.
The best part? It only cost me 500Y which is just a bit over $5 CDN.
Here is the first video of 2012! It features the first sunrise of 2012 seen here on top of Jyouyama. It’s also the very first video I captured of the year and also the very first video I edited on Final Cut Pro. Did I mention I finally bought myself a new laptop, a 15″ MacBook Pro, strictly for video editing?
I am still learning the quirks of it, but I hope to become proficient in it.
Another year gone by and let’s see how well I did:
Online
- Made 22 YouTube videos; 4 or so were in HD 720p!
- As of now, I have written 121 blog posts. This post makes that count 122.
Health and Fashion
- Began a 365 Run-Everyday Challenge; December 31, 2011 is Day 239.
- Lost about 2kgs.
- Started taking Shorinji Kempo classes.
- Bought my first pair of Vivienne Westwood shoes.
- Hiked up Jyouyama 5 times, Kintoki-yama 1 time, Numazu Alps 1 time.
- Ran uphill through a mountain range for 12K on the way to Atami with Marc and Chris.
- Ran an unofficial half-marathon with Marc, Chris, and Maria.
- Swam with fishes for the first time and improved my swimming.
- Swam naked at night on a beach without getting caught. (2nd time!)
- Perfected my Apple Crisp.
Personal Random Stuff
- Got engaged to this guy.
- Bought a MacBook Pro with cash … like a boss.
- Left my job, got a new one.
- Left my old apartment, got a new one.
- Almost finished God of War 3; Bought Shadow of the Colossus (Remastered for the PS3) in Japanese.
- Recorded a song in a recording studio for fun.
- Ate dolphin meat.
- Got my JLPT N3 (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) results: ACED IT!
- Bought 3 Olympus cameras: an EPL-1, another EPL-1 for the pancake lens (and just in case, ’cause I’m a klutz), and a classic PEN-EES film camera. And 3 Nikkor lenses.
- Learned a whole lot about cameras and lenses.
All in all. It was a pretty good year. Goodbye 2011! Here’s to the Year of the Dragon, 2012!
I had originally made this Christmas card for my (soon to be) sister-in-law, Tessa, for a card exchange. The cheesiness of the video was to reflect the old online cards from the late 90s: cheesy song, broken animation, choppy … well, everything.
Marc and I set up a tripod on the beach near Numazu, I dressed up in a Santa outfit and boom — a stop-motion experiment in the form of a Christmas card.
I changed the original card today and now present this card to everyone as a cheesy gift from me to you.
Marc and I, with a few of our friends, gathered together for “a rock painting day.” This event was exactly how it sounds like: we painted rocks. Marc thought it was clever to paint a Christmas tree on one rock. It easily toppled to its side, so Marc painted a “present” rock to stabilize it. Because we are too cheap, we adopted the two as our Christmas tree for this year. I painted some “bokeh” rocks to reflect the globular blur of lights from Christmas trees.
Oh god. I went to Jam Rock Jamaican Cafe & Restaurant with Marc the other week and I thought I was going to burst. Admittedly, I haven’t tasted Jamaican food before but I know tasty when I taste it — and this was tasty. We treated ourselves with a little bit of everything from the menu and gorged.
Marc works at the Numazu College of Technology, a prestigious local high school, and this weekend they held their annual school fair. School fairs is an event for students, made by students: all the entertainment and food are provided and lovingly made by the students in hopes of impressing each other and earning money for their club activities. It’s also a good way to promote their school to other prospective students.
We went to watch some of our students and this was the result of our visit:
Some of you may remember Jyouyama from the engagement video. The two of us returned to hike the mountain in a more leisurely fashion; we had invited two of our friends along and we brought along our cameras. Here are some of the textures of Jyouyama in the fall.
BONUS! VIDEO OF SPIDERS!
Note: Sorry for the current videos and their inconsistent sizes. I’m still learning and I hope to better improve the quality soon.
Autumn reminds me of school, school supplies, and apples. Most notable of the three, apples. Using my tiny toaster oven, I indulged in a little Autumn favourite of mine, the Apple Crisp.
The AllRecipes page I linked to above is the best version of apple crisp I have ever made and tasted. It’s simple and the crumbly topping is soooooooooooo good. Not convinced yet? Read this: Soooooooooooo good. Try it, love it.
Here’s one more being showcased by my little Lego Artist.
I love McDonalds. I do. May be it’s because I grew up with it as a treat to eat with my family, but I still have many positive opinions of McDonalds. That is not to say I eat there for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but I enjoy going to the McDonalds in my neighbourhood almost every day to read a book: it’s more of a cafe. I sit down on their comfortable leather seats with a mocha and read. It’s cheaper than Starbucks and has a small separate area with mood lighting and jazz.
I know.
Not at all what you would expect from a McDonalds.
Anyway, September is “Moon-Viewing” season. Most people enjoy watching the full moon with rabbit-shaped sweets or mochi, but for me I go to McDonalds and try their September specialty, the “tsukimi” burger. More or less, it’s a hamburger with special sauce, bacon, and a full egg to resemble the full moon. Awesome.
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