New York Field Trip!

Squids just look so damn cool

Ever since Japanese class ended I've been having a hankering to visit the Japanese Grocery Mitsuwa in Edgewater, NJ. Problem is, its about an hour and a half drive away up the turnpike, and costs about 15 dollars in gas and another 7 in tolls to get there. That's kind of a lot of money to only go to one place for the whole day, and a lot of time traveling for only a small thing. So Mike and I decided that instead of taking that route (and since we had not been able to spend much time together recently aww) we would make an entire Saturday adventure out of it by taking the train to NYC and doing some New York stuff then taking the Mitsuwa shuttle to the store.


Though we didn't get as early of a start as we both would have liked, we ended up in the city around 1230/1, and traveled down to Chinatown to check out a place I think called "Elizabeth Place" on Elizabeth St. It was my first time really walking down Canal St. in the middle of the day, so I got pretty excited when I saw this squid hanging in the window. I bought some cherries, too.

The first thing I noticed when I got down the escalator was a giant tare panda (lazy panda) plush in the window of one of the stores. I dropped my jaw, as I have heard of such wonderful treasure but I had never seen it in the flesh. Before I could say the words "Lazy Panda" Mike was purchasing it at the register. Happy birthday to me! And yes, we carried it in the giant plastic bag it came in all the way through New York city for the rest of the day. But it was well worth it. The rest of the items in the basement of this place was mostly random jewelry, plushes, key chains, charms posters and the likes. I could have spent most of the day in there just picking out tiny things as gifts for people, but instead I made a mental note of what I saw for internet purchases when people's birthdays come up and the likes.

Mike and I smile in celebration of delicious food

After we headed out of there we both realized how ridiculously hungry we were, which was pretty stupid of us because we had planned to eat as soon as we got there. I kind of had an issue because I had eaten Chinese for the last three nights, but as luck would have it we found a place that had Pho, and inside this wonderfully cheaply priced place I was able to get the rice noodle dish with beef that I used to get for lunch when I worked in Pennsauken. I don't think I've ever mentioned it before, but we would seriously go a week eating this stuff for lunch every day, and I seriously missed it. I knew that I would be able to find something similar to the combo platter we used to get, but this was the exact same thing- even spring rolls on the side. I knew I would be able to find it one day, but I did not expect this to be the day. Even better was the fact that we got to sit in the window door jawn, and the two meals plus some chicken stick thing we got came to under 20 bucks. Such an awesome thing to have happened.

Mike vs. Pop Burger

We took the subway up to FAO Shwartz and checked that place out. They had a wall of stuffed pandas, a giant dragon over the front of the store, guys in toy soldier suits at the doors, and that giant keyboard that Tom Hanks and that chick played on in the movie Big! They had retro robot toys and jack in the box and really nifty Harry Potter merch. The store was neat to see mostly because of the giant stuffed things they had about. Across from there we saw a place called "Pop Burger". We had to go in to check it out, and Mike ended up ordering the 2 pop burger item.

As it turns out, Pop Burger has really great burgers. The 6 dollar item was basically 2 small White Castle sized burgers, but the patties were pretty damn thick, and the bun was a serious roll rather than thin white bread like roll. Mike swears it was worth it, and I had a taste and it was a pretty damn good burger, though six for two of those guys was asking a little much if you want my opinion. We then headed down to Nintendo World, and the whole place was plastered with Wii Fit posters. Up and downstairs every system was playing Wii Fit, and all the new clothing was Wii Fit Yoga stuff. I thought that was kind of lame. We DID find snorlax items though! Never before had we been there and they have had them. Mike and I both got the small 2" figure, while he bought the 6" plush. I'm pretty jealous that I didn't get one now that I've had the chance to hold it. He also got himself the keychain that I got for free when I subscribed to Nintendo Power that I lost at the Bloomsburg fair.

Mike Vs. Takoyaki

Lastly we headed over to the Port Authority and took the shuttle to Mitsuwa, where I bought two new books at Sanseido called "ehon o yonde roli poli" (read a picture book roly poly" and "Papa is Ultraseven". It turns out at Mitsuwa that day they were selling fresh takoyaki (fried octopus balls) of which I am seriously not a fan (but it was really awesome watching them make it!). Mike bought some and it turns out that he really likes them. I tried one because I am a sport, and I couldn't even swallow it. I did get some pretty decent sake though, and ice cream mochi which is probably my new favorite Japanese dessert. We didn't end up getting a real meal there since we were kind of still full from earlier and it was pretty crowded, but we did get the shuttle back to the city just in enough time to walk to Penn Station and basically walk right onto a train going home!

The train ride home was really crowded, so we had to stand for a few exits but kept ourselves entertained by playing a game Mike learned about from Excel Saga. When we stopped at Newark airport it smelled pretty bad for some reason. When we did finally get a seat we spent the rest of the time reading Ehon O Yonde Roli Poli out loud. We certainly peaked a few people's interests reading a picture book in a language they probably couldn't place and laughing pretty hard.

The end of the day was topped off by me beating Mike in Pokemon Puzzle League! Huzzah!

I have something to say!

There are a few things that I would like to get off my chest, so lets consider this post my first and hopefully last where I actually talk about my feelings outside of superficial daily life happenings.

1. Its way too windy where I work.
This is pretty surface evident. When I leave my house at 830, its 70 degrees and warm. When I get to work, its 50 and cold. My place of employment's parking lot is basically a giant wind tunnel, and I just want everyone out there to know how much of an effect this has on the outcome of my day depending on how many times I have to go out into it. The wind is basically one of the largest problems I have with having to go to the work building every day, and this morning it really bummed me out. So now that I have that off my chest, lets move on.

2. Sometimes I sound like a complete asshole.
Last Wednesday we had our final Japanese class at MCCC, and since there were only 8 of us in the class we all agreed to take our sensei out for dinner and have a little post-class horrah. Sensei thought it would be fun to hear what the reasons for everyone getting into the Japanese language class were. As I was listening to everyone else's reasons I was preparing a list in my head of what exactly it is I love about Japan and its culture. I was half listening to the reasons everyone was giving and half exploring the feelings I had, trying to make sense of something that I really hadn't talked about in a long time. I had a bit of trouble, because I really have made this whole Japan thing a part of who I am, rather than just being a fan of anime and video games. Everyone had pretty interesting reasons, especially Nelly-san, who went on to explain her love for Japanese art and print making, and how she had grown up in Peru surrounded by her father's art books and literature. That woman is truly something amazing by the way.

When it finally came to be my turn, something inside of me completely collapsed, and I ended up saying how I had always been a fan of video games and anime, but never really fell in love with Japan until I went there and realized 'how much better it was there'.

How much better it was?

Are you kidding me, Molly? What exactly does that mean? Are you saying that Japanese people are better? Are you saying that America is such a crappy place to live? Do you really think that all in all that country is just 'better' than it is here? I never really got to explain myself. I think I might have gotten out something about how much prettier it is, but at this point I don't really remember. I can only remember being so saddened by the actual words that came out of my mouth and following it up with how I want to live there, but only in Tokyo (prompting my sensei to later refer to me as a 'snob') and also having to defend myself about my dislike for Japanese food.

How in the hell did I become so socially akward? Have I always been this way? Is this why people think I am such a retard? I never actually am able to say what I am thinking until hours later, it seems. Even when I do put a lot of thought into what I am trying to say.

Well to save some kind of face, what I did mean to say in those five minutes that I had, was that I feel that Japan feels like it would generally be a better place for me to exist in. That it is much more aesthetically pleasing there. That the care that goes into such simple things like the shapes of trees and landscaping and the general relationship between nature and the city is a wonder to me. That there are things in Japan that I am more interested in than in America. That I feel that push-button eateries are much more fun to eat in than a diner. That the McDonalds tastes better there. That the subways and trains are always on time. That the country is cleaner. That the people are more beautiful. That the fashion is more forward and innovative. That the music is more captivating. That the language sounds more pleasing to my ear. That it smells so much more like the Earth seemingly should smell there. That there is a culture there that people respect and love. That people are more efficient. That the television is more interesting and funny.

The reason I only want to live in Tokyo, also, is that it is a city! I'm not saying that ONLY TOKYO ONLY ALL THE TIME, but I am saying that if I am going to move across the earth you can be sure that I am going to move to a place where there are a lot of people and also there are going to be other gaijin. Not to mention I have only spent a lot of time in Tokyo, so if I am going to ship there for awhile I am going to, for my sanity, have to spend time there before I can gather the ambition to try living somewhere else. Japan, for me, is a land of complete unfamiliarities, which scares the shit out of me. Tokyo, I believe, would make that transition much easier. I believe it would serve as more of a stepping stone, rather than the only place in the country I deem good enough for me to live in.

I mean I could go on but I think at this point you can see how incredibly ridiculous I felt after saying 'its better'. So I while I apologize to everyone sitting at that table for sounding somewhat arrogant, I do want to stand by the fact that once you go there for yourself I believe strongly that you will better understand what exactly I mean when I say 'better'. I know very personally that Japan is not an awesome place all the time, especially for foreigners. However, I do also feel that Japan's feelings for gaijin are occasionally justified, and I feel that those downs that I have so brutally experienced first hand are a small price to pay for the bigger picture.

3. What the fuck is up with my art?
This is the last thing I am going to talk about. Its more of a curiosity thing than anything. I've been working with the same kind of style of art for awhile, and while I believe that the quality of the work I've been doing has somewhat been compromised by quantity, I used to get a lot of positive feedback about what I was doing. Lately, I've been putting things up for sale at etsy.com, and while many people have been saying, oh your art is great, no one ever buys some.

I have sold two custom pieces, but thats not enough for me.

Now I know buying art isn't really something people do as often as buying clothes or music or whatever, but its lead to me thinking about how much people like my art as opposed to how many people that I know and are my friends like to TELL me they like my art. I don't really have the same kind of access to critiquing that I used to when I was in school, and I guess its lead me to question the authenticity of what people have to say about what I do. Maybe I just need a break from producing illustrated things for awhile, maybe I really have been too focused on making many ok art pieces rather than a few great ones, or maybe I am trying to hard to make new kinds of art (objects etc), or maybe I need to move onto a new medium for awhile?

If you read this blog, I'd be happy to hear what you have to say about what I do. pandakabobs.etsy.com. I'm not trying to get you to go there to buy things. I want some honest feedback. I think about what kinds of art I make a lot, and criticism is something that I honestly take to heart, especially from strangers who can give me a fresh look on something that I really spend a lot of time doing instead of thinking about.

So thats all, hopefully something rad will happen soon that is worth blogging about.

THE INTERNET IS NOT WORKING

dream come true!

Guess who went camping again!?!?

Me!

So let me tell you how it went.

Thursday I left work early to get some things done, and around 2 my brother, father, and I headed out to our friend Ralph's 200+ acre property in Loomis, NY (about an four hour drive). On the way there we stopped at the Chester diner, which quite possibly was the worst diner I had ever eaten at ever. I'm not even kidding you when I tell you that the cole slaw was bad. I know you're sitting there thinking, who the hell eats diner cole slaw. Well I do. My dad does. Its a thing. My dad tried the slaw, said, "Damn this shit is bad." I said, "Pops, all diner slaw isn't that great," then I tried it. It was so horrible. It was the worst diner slaw that ever existed.

We stopped at a liquor store that a nice old lady worked at. I remember her because she was smiley and helpful and nice, and she had a very well put together hair do. She was from Jersey, as it turns out. We left Chester.

Driving up to Loomis none of us remembered seeing signs for the Panda's Parlor. This kind of put a new level of excitement to the weekend - we were all wondering if the place was still there. I don't know if I talked about that place or not, but in case you're unfamiliar with it Panda's Parlor is an ice cream/carwash/coffe joint. Panda-themed. Heaven.

The first thing my dad did once we got up to Ralph's was get his truck stuck in a ditch.



After that was taken care of, we headed into the trailer for some much needed winding down with some box wine.



Ralph had a sandwich, because pulling vans out of the mud is hard work.



Truthfully, he was going to take us out to dinner, but we had already eaten at that horrible diner.

The next day we woke up to snow, and temperatures quite colder than the day before. We were now accompanied by our pal Jun, and made our way into the nearest town, Walton. Walton has a castle in it. It also has the largest walk in cooler around. I'm inclined to believe they have the ONLY walk in cooler around. You could also purchase girls underwear at the hardware store. I thought that odd. We had lunch at a different diner, which had


freedom toast

But their food was bangin. The locals stared at us for quite awhile when we came in, all eight of them. It was kind of eerie, but I knew it was going to be the last time in 3 days I was going to be inside somewhere and warm, so I stuck it out.

After pickin up a tarp, some groceries, and food from the dollar store we headed back to Loomis mountain and hiked everything up to the campsite in the ATVs. Set everything up, got rained on for a few hours, drank quite a bit. It took us about 2 hours to get a solid fire going. After we finally had the opportunity to warm up and grab some firewood, we realized we had no dinner. Lucky for us, my trusty new cell phone got text message service up there, and we entrusted Ralph Jr. with the task of bringing hot dogs.

Ralph showed up about an hour later, not only bringing hot dogs, but the warmer weather with him. It stopped raining, which made things a bit more comfortable. Ralph and Jun and I at one point headed up to the phone booth at Lake Flappenralph (the phone booth is just a spot on the top of the hill where most people can get cell phone service). There was a bit of snow on the ground, and Ralph decided to do some donuts in it. That is how he flipped the ATV, which you see at the top of this post. We all kind of dicked around for the rest of the day, until the night brought in the fog.

The thick, horrifying, blacker than the blackest black fog. You could not see more than 20 feet in front of you near the fire. When you left the fire, it was basically pitch black. Since we were expecting company soon and Ralph Sr. needed to know when to take the ATV back down to the trailer to pick them up, Ralph Jr convinced me to take the ATV with him back to the phone booth. We honestly could not see a thing. Even with the headlights of the ATV on it was incredibly hard to see. I'm not embellishing in the slightest when I tell you it was exactly like a horror movie. When we got to the top of the hill, Ralph flipped the lights of the ATV off - I was riding on the back -- and I couldn't even see the back of his head. I'm not talking about closing your eyes maybe seeing a little light behind the lids darkness, I mean I can't see my hand when I hold it in front of my face dark. We even got lost on the way back trying to find the entrance to the next field, passing it twice before finally using the light of the distant campfire to find it. I honestly was terrified, and though I usually get scared over the dark and dumb shit like that, this was a kind of darkness that I had never experienced before, and I doubt that many people have ever experienced it.

That night we were joined by a family of four, Ralph's sister in law (ex sister in law? hm) and her 2 kids and her husband. Two more people showed up at about 3am, but stayed in the trailer and came up the next morning.

The next day I woke up to see the trees - which is not supposed to happen considering I have a flap that goes over the top of my tent. Well that flap, and the tarp, were blown over by the wind that night. No one slept well, and everyone was freezing cold. My brother's things and tent were soaked, so he came and sat in my tent while we listened to the state of the art stereo system, which was really just my ipod and headphones hanging from the hook in the middle of my tent. The day was spent trying to keep warm, going for ATV rides, chopping firewood, exploring the rock quarry, and playing DS. I had brought my markers and some plastic to draw on, but it was certainly way too cold to even consider that. It did get nicer over the course of the day, and we spent about an hour that evening trying to track down the sound of turkeys coming from a distant field. Turkeys sound just like a bunch of kids laughing and fighting. Its kinda funny. We never did get to see the turkeys, but that just gives me something to look forward to next time. Dinner was ab fab spaghetti and home made sauce, accompanied by a tasty salad concocted by yours truly.

We got pretty wasted that night.

The next morning we all woke up a little chilly, but the weather was gorgeous. My dad went down and slept in the trailer with Ralph because he was startin to hurt (first real thing he's done since he got out of surgery), so Ricky got to stay dry by sleeping in dad's tent. I was ready to jet - present company was really getting on my nerves and I didn't want to spend six to eight hours stuck in traffic like the last time we came home from Loomis. We ended up leaving around 1. I do hate leaving that place, because its just so damn beautiful, but because of the rain, and the mud, and the snow, and the wind, I just felt horrifyingly dirty. This is coming from a girl who sometimes goes a week without showering. Thats how dirty I felt. And I smelled bad. Not the usual camping woft, but this was some brutal camp fire mud shit smell.

On the way home we DID see Panda's Parlor, so we stopped, but the ice cream place was still closed. I got some coffee from Panda's Java Joint instead. It was pretty damn good coffee! I actually didn't expect it to taste good at all, considering we were in the middle of nowhere and I figured that pot had to be stewing all day long. I was wrong. And it was only a dollar. Plus I got a cup with a Panda on it. How rad.

So thats about it - I'll probably have to come back and amend this if I think of anything else super rad that happened - but in the meantime here is a link to the pictures I took. Can't wait for next time!

Photos of us camping!

Photos of artsy things around Breezy Acres

What a funny looking food

The orange I ate today was slightly more deformed than normal.



Also Dan and Mike and I went to see the Pillows and Noodles in NYC on Friday. We had a great time because instead of rushing right to the show we actually had a good amount of time to spend in the village and Toy Tokyo. We ate at a very good Korean restaurant, and Mike paid an extra 4 dollars for his meal to come in a stone bowl, something that he swears was worth the extra money and still is talking about to this day.

I also want to mention something that is not so obvious but impossible to ignore - that the New York City subway is so incredibly fucked. Why is it that Tokyo is so awesome, but NYC's is so horrible? Why is this? Are subways across the earth like this, with Tokyo as the exception? If so, why?

Noodles is my second favorite all girl Asian rock band, but they were not as interesting and pleasant to listen to live than they are recorded. Their songs have a pretty slow pace, and though they sounded tight, I did not get the same kind of satisfaction seeing them live as I thought I would. My opinion of them has not faltered though, I still love them. They were all sold out of L and M concert shirts though, since NYC was their last stop on the tour, which I think totally sucked.

The Pillows basically played the FLCL soundtrack, which I guess was to be expected, but it was honestly a good thing to hear after being such a fan for so long. They sounded great, they had a lot more energy than I thought they would given their ages (their drummer looked like he was late for his blood pressure screening), and the singer was extremely funny to listen to when he talked. He did the kind of things that would sound really silly for me to repeat here, but believe me when I tell you that Dan and Mike and I will be cracking jokes in the singer's fashion for some time to come.

I came home to my house full of people, which was to be expected, but the window was open and the smoke and music was pouring out loudly - at 130am. Some floozy was making out with a boy with his car running and headlights on in front of my house so I could not park.

Needless to say that my brother and I are having some words this week about him not having parties anymore, and relinquishing his house keys when I am not around on a weekend.

Other things that interest me this week:
Bioshock (360), Smash Bros. Brawl, new earrings, my dog knocked over my new shoji screen and broke a panel, Rock of Love 2 written by Steve Revesz (Sara and Steve's house is very awesome by the way), and I'm going camping next weekend with a possible pre-game Saturday.

Kinda gross, hilarious

Sometimes I wipe my boogers on things. Boogers are funny. A few weeks ago, a few days ago, I don't remember when, I wiped a booger on the wall of a bathroom stall. I figured someone would clean it up.



totally still there! Wonder how long it will live there for??

In other news, I've been playing Bioshock. I know I'm pretty late on the train for this one, but fuck is that game awesome. The best part about it? Now I understand all the "little sister" jokes all the video game cartoons had been making.

Grocery Store Novels

Not much that I find interesting enough to blog about has been happening. I threw a party last week that went alright, I've been doing a lot of cleaning and rearranging of the house, taking care of my dog's ear infection, and also doing a lot of sewing and drawing. Its apparent to me from my drawings that I am very out of practice and I haven't done anything that I'm particularly fond of yet, but you can check out my etsy store to see what I've been up to. Right now I'm working on a commissioned piece for an old friend of mine. I've been getting better at sewing, I finished a skirt that I have to alter, I made a bag that could be better, but my skills are slowly improving. I haven't sewn in over a week because I've been constructing a studio area in the front of my house, but that's irrelevant to this blog.

Mike and I went to the grocery store the other day to get a salad. We are both on a health kick. My doctor put me on a weight loss program that involves vitamin b-12 shots and once a day appetite suppressant pills that are basically amphetamine, and Mike had some blood work done that came back in not the best shape, so we're working on the getting healthier thing. The salad bar was closed when we got there.

On the way out we stopped at the novel section of the grocery store to see if we could locate a book that we saw at a Rite Aid once - Habeas Corpses - which from the title I can only assume you understand how awesome this book probably is.

//sidenote// I was just doing a google search for information on the book to share with you and found out that Habeas Corpses is also episode 8 of season 4 of the television show Angel. Disclaimer: I do not watch/endorse watching the show Angel. //sidenote//

I feel that the cover art of this book speaks for itself:


But here's the Habeas Corpses plot summary just in case that didn't sell you:

Summary:
[From author's web site] Two years ago Christopher Cséjthe survived a blood transfusion with a master vampire only to discover that he was infected with one of the two viruses that transform the living into the undead. Since then he has survived by his wits as men, monsters, and government agencies have hunted him for secrets his mutated blood may hold.

His personal life is almost as troublesome as the assassins that keep turning up in ever increasing numbers: his bodyguard is a sexy vampire, his jealous werewolf lover can't abide his touch after a silver bullet poisons his blood, and the ghost of his dead wife is being siphoned off by some dark and mysterious force that transcends the grave. The "neighbors" from the cemetary next door tend to drop by every night and someone is sending him grotesque messages in the form of dismembered body parts that are still alive!

Being almost undead has already provided a coffin-load of challenges. But this time around an assassin's bullet knocks Csejthe out of his body and into the afterlife as he journeys through the realm of the truly dead before a final showdown with an evil spawned in Nazi Germany. An evil kept alive through genetic manipulation and nanotechnology and waiting only for Csejthe's blood to overcome the last hurdle to immortality!

How could you not want to read this book? And what kind of person does it take to write this stuff? Turns out that William Mark Simmons, author of Habeas Corpses, seems like a normal dude..

From his wikipedia page:

Simmons has worked a journalist, educator, entertainer, and broadcaster, spending over 30 years in the latter category working in classical music formats and NPR affiliates.

So anyway, we're in the Giant, looking for this book, and though we didn't find it, I came across some other gems that I thought I would share.

Now the lone cowboy had more than his honor to uphold—he had a petite, pregnant powerhouse running his senses wild.

Elle James, the author, is not fortunate to have a wiki written about her, but she does have her own web page, located here. It features a flattering black and white portrait of her with a red rose in her hair, a biography where you can learn about her "military brat" and "exotic bird raising" past and present. She describes her books as

written especially for those who like a little mystery and a lot of edge-of-the-seat suspense.

Lastly, be sure to check out her blog: http://ellejames.blogspot.com/ I seriously suggest you head over there, because her most recent blog is about the research she did on cowboys for this novel.

Next we have a set of two from what seems to be a series of baby-romance themed books.



The only thing I am going to say about these books is that one author (from their respective web sites) is from St. Paul, Michigan "with a Bichon-poo who thinks he is human", and the other "knows how to use a credit card as a lethal weapon, and proves it regularly by putting major dents in the household budget. Abby and her family recently moved back to the city after a few years in the country. Watch out, malls, here she comes!" Abby Gaines has also written The Natural
in A NASCAR Holiday 2.

Finally we have

The emperor has outlawed dragons and dragonborn ordering them killed though he has bonded with a dragon. Natiya is the surviving daughter of two dragonborn whom the emperor had murdered. She dreams of avenging the deaths of her parents while hiding the queen dragon egg she is carrying hidden in plain sight as a naval jewel; one day that Unhatched dragon will live in a sacred bond with her.

I implore you to read Jade Lee's biography. It features an entire list of ancient Chinese rumors about her family. My favorite line explores the relationship she has with her current family:

At home, her husband and two daughters try to ignore her stacks of zen sexual texts.

Other books by Jade Lee include:

• The Tao of Sex
  
• Tigress Erotic Romance Series (including Cornered Tigress (#5) and Hungry Tigress (#2)
  
• Miss Woodley's Experiment and
  
• a book that falls under the category of "Futuristic Paranormal Romance" called Oracle

I don't make this stuff up.