my "new year" post!

i blame crackbook for not writing much in here... lol
reflections of 2009:
1. japan was awesome~ i hope i get to go again...!
2. 1 year wedding anniversary, that's always exciting!
3. my awesome ipod touch jgood got me for xmas~
4. started iaido class
5. our lil garden with herbs and crazy big tomato plants
6. started our vermicompost box, and also restarted it when it didn't work out
7. first camping trip in the summer
now time to get to the not-so-cool memorable stuff
8. some insect or bug made my hand swell up double during the summer (pics on crackbook)
9. NOV: another nasty cold/flu at the beginning of the month, an infection that took three trips to the doctor (aka i had to try three antibiotics before hitting one that worked)
10. DEC: 2 vasovagal episodes, with the first one landing me into ER for five hours >.>, a gastroesophageal reflux which made it hurt to breathe for a day, did something to my ulnar nerve, another cold

things to look forward to in 2010:
1. C's baby!!
2. jgood graduating
3. maybe moving

awesome day in hk!

started off with dim sum...  then went to OCEAN PARK!  fav park since i was a kid!

opend at 10am n we were the first ones in to take the long gondola to the other side of the park to start.  first was the roller coasters - i rushed there so i didn't have to wait in line later.  first ones on, no line-ups! 

since jgood doesn't so rides... he went and got me a ticket for dolphin encounter, cuz we saw the ad when we went in.  it showed people petting the dolphins!  we figured it was worth the money to do this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! 

watched the ocean show which has dolphins doing cool tricks and a sea lion too!  then it was time for my dolphin encounter!!  we had a lesson about dolphins... then put on a suit.  disinfected our hands (also disinfected our shoes before entering where the lesson was).  jgood watched - just me and another woman signed up for it~  her husband was watching / taking pics too XD  lol  i like how the women get to play XD

i got to go into the water to pet the dolphin.  gave it signals to do things like wave and dance.  examined it closely.  take photos with it.  figure out its gender.  feed it.  i had a great time~~~  then went back for more lessons / fill out questionnaires~  it took about 1.5hr overall.

after that we went to the atoll aquarium to check out the feeding.  then there was the jelly fish exhibit in lots of cool colours.  finally we took the gondola back to see the panda exhibit.

while we were there we also got to see an acrobatic show and checked out the place for children~  yay~  fun~~  too bad they closed at 6.... 

had dinner with family.  then went to 188 - where i got 42 books of manga!  i still have some missing though... ^^"  i'll need to do more hunting!

went to tokyo yesterday.  jgood was sick so he didn't come. 

it was almost a 3 hr ride to tokyo from kyoto on the hikari line.  when we got there we noticed a statue of three naked women at tokyo station... hmm... 

we first headed off to akihabara.  wow!  anime and electronics galore!  wish i had a ton of money...  noticed one of the stores had cosplay costumes... and it turned out to be way more than just a cosplay store ^^"  wandered around there for a bit, but i guess it was still too early for crowds!

went to the book district... seems like some of them close on sundays!  boo!  but there were still some manga!

next we went to the sony building.  we saw some new modesl of things and got to try out some of their products.  the coolest stuff i think was on the first floor - the musical staircase and the 3d model of the building.  they've got a lot of detail in that!

tried to go to nishiki market but turns out it was closed cuz it's sunday...  ah well...

then went to tokyo tower!  woot!  the stuff of anime!  the line-up was long.  there was also another line-up to get to the very top.  i did wait and went up XD  i took a panoramic which i'll piece together when i get back to vancouver on my laptop.  now i can say i've been to major anime spots!  XD

next was shibuya.  found the 109 building.  it was quite a busy area.  i didn't do any shopping (i'm not a hip young teenager... never was hip... lol).  i just took pictures of crosswalks and major things there.  like the moyai statue cuz that's in the game "the world ends with you" that i played XD 

then i headed back to kyoto~