Monday, January 29, 2007
Best Weekend... EVER!
I have finally arrived as a shining star on the blogging scene and my arrival was capped off with an unprecedented link on the king of blogs (at least in his head), none other than Sensei Tran. I was informed via e-mail early this morning of the news and promptly called in sick to work to celebrate. After tearing through two whole chocolate bars in celebratory mode I changed my mind and went into work. Weren't they surprised to see that my leg was not actually in a cast at all!
Last week I got a mail from David inviting me up to his girlfriends "sports mansion" for a weekend of snow and sun. Not being one to turn down an opportunity like that I invited another buddy to keep me company on the road. Her place is awesome but there will be more on that later. I spent the week gearing up for this event and it didn't disappoint...
The weekend got off to a roaring start. I met up with a couple of friends for a quick bite before Ultan and I decided to get a move on. We were unsure just how long it was going to take us to get there. I stopped by and saw Kae for a second and she attempted to make a map for us off the Internet. It was gonna take far too long so we decided to just go "blind". We checked googlemaps and got an idea of where we were headed and ran for the door. We are IDIOTS! We left with no map or directions. Just a good general sense of where we wanted to end up. At least we thought it was a good general sense. We sparked a fine cigar in the car to start our journey (thanks Rory!). IF only we knew... we probably would have sparked it to celebrate the end of our journey. We decided to stick to the country roads to save ourselves some money. The high ways over here are all toll roads so it can be quite pricey getting around. We were making good time stopping at 7-11's whenever we felt a little lost. At one fine establishment the man behind the counter colour photocopied few pages out of a map book for us. We thanked this fine gentleman profusely... again if only we had known we might have sucker punched him in the gut! We followed our map making great time and enjoying the fact that our adrenaline was still pumping at 1:30 in the morning.
One last obstacle stood between us and our destination, a mountain. No problem, we have climbed bigger mountains than that! Plus we had a car this time, good old Logo La Chic, she's never let me down and she didn't fail me this time either. After reaching the top of the mountain, it started snowing! It was really quite beautiful, however the scene was quickly ruined by the massive piles of snow behind the road closed signs!!! We had to turn back down the mountain and back track for about an hour and drive around the thing. We were less than pleased but still quite confident we would make out alright.
We were wrong we were lost, without a map because we had driven off the map we had a copy of. I swore right then and there I was not gonna be cheap again. Then I promptly snipped a coupon out of the magazine I found on the bathroom floor.
We were passing through small town after small town and nothing was open because it was not about 4 AM. The adrenaline had ceased pumping hours ago. Finally I looked up and saw a sign that had never in my entire life failed me. It was a sign from the heavens, the next town we were cruising into was O-mama. My ma has lead me on the straight and narrow and never put me astray so I knew I would find directions in this town or we would pull over and nap there. I was right, even across the sea MAMA came through for me. Saved yet again by the 7-11...
I should note that we stopped and asked for directions a whole bunch of times but Japanese people do not like to say no. Which means if you ask someone if they know how to get somewhere, they will say YES, this usually means that have NO CLUE!!! One dude even drew us a map that got us NOWHERE!!!
The best quote of the weekend though was on the way home when we stopped for directions at one of the toll booths for the high way. Ultan ran in and asked the guy which way to go. He came back and relayed the directions which were slightly different than what we had.
"Ultan are you sure we just stay on this road and it will get us to the next interchange?"
"Well, if he's wrong at least we know where he's gonna be for the next couple hours..."
Endless laughter.
So we after getting the wrong directions again, we got it all sorted out and went on our merry way to meet up with the crew. It still took us until 6:45 to arrive at the condo. A mere 7 hours and 45 minutes after we sparked our cigar! We traveled a total of 431 KM in that time.
We got a couple of hours shut eye and then headed out to the hill which was conveniently located right beside the apartment. The conditions were pretty shabby but the hill was alright because it was a little flatter than usual so I was able to practice a jumping around from goofy and back. I also did something that I have never done before in my life but I think I might start doing it a little more often... I boarded without a ticket! Everyone was looking at my like I was crazy but I knew what I was doing. I have never been asked for a ticket the entire time I have been in Japan snowboarding. I always have had one but I keep it in the clear pocket under my coat so if I have to show it I can easily flip my coat up from the bottom and show the ticket. No one has ever asked me.
I rode for free all day and had a blast. The only thing better than snowboarding is free snowboarding! We met for lunch and I forgot the cheap lesson from the night before and decided to save myself 100 Yen on my lunch. I was sorely disappointed... Everyone else had a badass meal of U-dong noodles and curry which smelt delicious. I was stuck with ramen which is great when everyone is eating it but I was reminded of my cheapness with every bite!!! Ramen never tasted so bitter...
The last run of the day we decided to race. Ultan sissied out but James, Blessy and myself took the lift back up and bet a beer on the outcome. I should mention that James is a "two-plankered-wanker" meaning he skis. So its much easier for him to keep his balance while racing downhill. Blessy didn't make a single turn the entire way down, he won. James made one turn, he finished second. I got cut off by a kid and was forced to turn a few times. I finished a distant third. The beer still tasted great, even if I did have to buy it. T'was the least I could do. I rode for free all day!
That night we went out to the grocery store and picked up loads of food to make Nabe. Its a delicious meal (soup) with veggies, meat, and some idiots like to put Kimchi in it... I really enjoy it and its really easy to make. Of course we also picked up a case of beer. Once we returned we relaxed for a minute before getting seriously loose. It was such an awesome evening with everyone just hanging out and laughing. Later on we headed down to the onsen (bath) and rejuvenated our bodies. Its such a relaxing experience. I think we finally hit the sack about 3:30. There were plenty of great quotables however none are really blogworthy, mostly cause my mom reads this...
The most random thing I saw all weekend was a package that would be comparable to "peroni" pepperoni sticks back home. However, the brand on the package was "Homo Sausage". James couldn't eat enough of them... Some things are becoming clear...
We (I) slept in a little on Sunday and we didn't get off to the hill until about 1. The most disappointing thing of the weekend was that we didn't get there til 1 and I bought a ticket cause we had to take a gondola. I am a sucker! I definitely didn't need one cause yet again, no one asked to see any type of ticket from me all day! The hill was much better than the previous days bunny hill. We rode all day and I was having such a great time I didn't want to head home. I can feel myself improving each time I get out on the mountain. Our last run of the day though Ultan managed to smash his face up pretty good and I managed to put my foot in my mouth by yelling at him to get out of the way of the jump...
After seeing his face with blood dripping down off his chin my only concern was he missed the jump clinic I just put on for him. I promised to repeat the clinic next week.
So after riding we rocked over to McD's for a hard earned Big Mac. They have a promotion going on in Japan its called the Mega Mac. Its essentially a double Big Mac. My mouth was watering instantly upon hearing such a thing exists. They only sell 70 of them a day! We missed the cut by several strokes. I was so disappointed but its such a Japanese thing to do. Sell only 70 Mega Macs... Does it really matter if they sell 300? Are they gonna run out of something... I LOVE JAPAN!!!
We had a swim back at the apartment before heading out. The pool is amazing, upstairs there are three whirlpools, a steam room, and a lie down body massage thing. Sooo relaxing... After heading down the slide several times Blessy kindly pointed out the sign listing the age restrictions... Over 6 under 15... Oooops!
The ride back home was uneventful. We took the toll road cause we didn't want to bother with closed roads and 50 Km/H speed limits. We pretty much flew home and arrived in about 3 hours. Perhaps the toll roads are worth it...
In any event I love weekends over here. Snowboarding just makes them sooo much better. Its something to look forward to every Monday morning. I also really enjoyed just hanging out with some people that are closer to my age. Most people around town are older than me but Dave and the crew are all younger. I pass on the learned life's lessons...
Like, "Watch out for the fish cheese..."
Last week I got a mail from David inviting me up to his girlfriends "sports mansion" for a weekend of snow and sun. Not being one to turn down an opportunity like that I invited another buddy to keep me company on the road. Her place is awesome but there will be more on that later. I spent the week gearing up for this event and it didn't disappoint...
The weekend got off to a roaring start. I met up with a couple of friends for a quick bite before Ultan and I decided to get a move on. We were unsure just how long it was going to take us to get there. I stopped by and saw Kae for a second and she attempted to make a map for us off the Internet. It was gonna take far too long so we decided to just go "blind". We checked googlemaps and got an idea of where we were headed and ran for the door. We are IDIOTS! We left with no map or directions. Just a good general sense of where we wanted to end up. At least we thought it was a good general sense. We sparked a fine cigar in the car to start our journey (thanks Rory!). IF only we knew... we probably would have sparked it to celebrate the end of our journey. We decided to stick to the country roads to save ourselves some money. The high ways over here are all toll roads so it can be quite pricey getting around. We were making good time stopping at 7-11's whenever we felt a little lost. At one fine establishment the man behind the counter colour photocopied few pages out of a map book for us. We thanked this fine gentleman profusely... again if only we had known we might have sucker punched him in the gut! We followed our map making great time and enjoying the fact that our adrenaline was still pumping at 1:30 in the morning.
One last obstacle stood between us and our destination, a mountain. No problem, we have climbed bigger mountains than that! Plus we had a car this time, good old Logo La Chic, she's never let me down and she didn't fail me this time either. After reaching the top of the mountain, it started snowing! It was really quite beautiful, however the scene was quickly ruined by the massive piles of snow behind the road closed signs!!! We had to turn back down the mountain and back track for about an hour and drive around the thing. We were less than pleased but still quite confident we would make out alright.
We were wrong we were lost, without a map because we had driven off the map we had a copy of. I swore right then and there I was not gonna be cheap again. Then I promptly snipped a coupon out of the magazine I found on the bathroom floor.
We were passing through small town after small town and nothing was open because it was not about 4 AM. The adrenaline had ceased pumping hours ago. Finally I looked up and saw a sign that had never in my entire life failed me. It was a sign from the heavens, the next town we were cruising into was O-mama. My ma has lead me on the straight and narrow and never put me astray so I knew I would find directions in this town or we would pull over and nap there. I was right, even across the sea MAMA came through for me. Saved yet again by the 7-11...
I should note that we stopped and asked for directions a whole bunch of times but Japanese people do not like to say no. Which means if you ask someone if they know how to get somewhere, they will say YES, this usually means that have NO CLUE!!! One dude even drew us a map that got us NOWHERE!!!
The best quote of the weekend though was on the way home when we stopped for directions at one of the toll booths for the high way. Ultan ran in and asked the guy which way to go. He came back and relayed the directions which were slightly different than what we had.
"Ultan are you sure we just stay on this road and it will get us to the next interchange?"
"Well, if he's wrong at least we know where he's gonna be for the next couple hours..."
Endless laughter.
So we after getting the wrong directions again, we got it all sorted out and went on our merry way to meet up with the crew. It still took us until 6:45 to arrive at the condo. A mere 7 hours and 45 minutes after we sparked our cigar! We traveled a total of 431 KM in that time.
We got a couple of hours shut eye and then headed out to the hill which was conveniently located right beside the apartment. The conditions were pretty shabby but the hill was alright because it was a little flatter than usual so I was able to practice a jumping around from goofy and back. I also did something that I have never done before in my life but I think I might start doing it a little more often... I boarded without a ticket! Everyone was looking at my like I was crazy but I knew what I was doing. I have never been asked for a ticket the entire time I have been in Japan snowboarding. I always have had one but I keep it in the clear pocket under my coat so if I have to show it I can easily flip my coat up from the bottom and show the ticket. No one has ever asked me.
I rode for free all day and had a blast. The only thing better than snowboarding is free snowboarding! We met for lunch and I forgot the cheap lesson from the night before and decided to save myself 100 Yen on my lunch. I was sorely disappointed... Everyone else had a badass meal of U-dong noodles and curry which smelt delicious. I was stuck with ramen which is great when everyone is eating it but I was reminded of my cheapness with every bite!!! Ramen never tasted so bitter...
The last run of the day we decided to race. Ultan sissied out but James, Blessy and myself took the lift back up and bet a beer on the outcome. I should mention that James is a "two-plankered-wanker" meaning he skis. So its much easier for him to keep his balance while racing downhill. Blessy didn't make a single turn the entire way down, he won. James made one turn, he finished second. I got cut off by a kid and was forced to turn a few times. I finished a distant third. The beer still tasted great, even if I did have to buy it. T'was the least I could do. I rode for free all day!
That night we went out to the grocery store and picked up loads of food to make Nabe. Its a delicious meal (soup) with veggies, meat, and some idiots like to put Kimchi in it... I really enjoy it and its really easy to make. Of course we also picked up a case of beer. Once we returned we relaxed for a minute before getting seriously loose. It was such an awesome evening with everyone just hanging out and laughing. Later on we headed down to the onsen (bath) and rejuvenated our bodies. Its such a relaxing experience. I think we finally hit the sack about 3:30. There were plenty of great quotables however none are really blogworthy, mostly cause my mom reads this...
The most random thing I saw all weekend was a package that would be comparable to "peroni" pepperoni sticks back home. However, the brand on the package was "Homo Sausage". James couldn't eat enough of them... Some things are becoming clear...
We (I) slept in a little on Sunday and we didn't get off to the hill until about 1. The most disappointing thing of the weekend was that we didn't get there til 1 and I bought a ticket cause we had to take a gondola. I am a sucker! I definitely didn't need one cause yet again, no one asked to see any type of ticket from me all day! The hill was much better than the previous days bunny hill. We rode all day and I was having such a great time I didn't want to head home. I can feel myself improving each time I get out on the mountain. Our last run of the day though Ultan managed to smash his face up pretty good and I managed to put my foot in my mouth by yelling at him to get out of the way of the jump...
After seeing his face with blood dripping down off his chin my only concern was he missed the jump clinic I just put on for him. I promised to repeat the clinic next week.
So after riding we rocked over to McD's for a hard earned Big Mac. They have a promotion going on in Japan its called the Mega Mac. Its essentially a double Big Mac. My mouth was watering instantly upon hearing such a thing exists. They only sell 70 of them a day! We missed the cut by several strokes. I was so disappointed but its such a Japanese thing to do. Sell only 70 Mega Macs... Does it really matter if they sell 300? Are they gonna run out of something... I LOVE JAPAN!!!
We had a swim back at the apartment before heading out. The pool is amazing, upstairs there are three whirlpools, a steam room, and a lie down body massage thing. Sooo relaxing... After heading down the slide several times Blessy kindly pointed out the sign listing the age restrictions... Over 6 under 15... Oooops!
The ride back home was uneventful. We took the toll road cause we didn't want to bother with closed roads and 50 Km/H speed limits. We pretty much flew home and arrived in about 3 hours. Perhaps the toll roads are worth it...
In any event I love weekends over here. Snowboarding just makes them sooo much better. Its something to look forward to every Monday morning. I also really enjoyed just hanging out with some people that are closer to my age. Most people around town are older than me but Dave and the crew are all younger. I pass on the learned life's lessons...
Like, "Watch out for the fish cheese..."
# posted by ricky_pops @ 3:02 AM 
