"Unique" has always been I strive for when I post something on my blog. I try to avoid anything that's popular at the time because a lot of people will be posting about them already, so I want to do something different. This post is about a day in my life, but it turned out to be one of the most unique days I've had.
I woke up early thinking I would head out to Richmond early to meet with Chun, but instead I got caught up with browsing the internet... The reason was I was going to buy Chun's art of Taiga eating a donut. I wanted to get it during Anime Evolution last month, but didn't manage to get one there. Eventually I managed to head out around 2 PM, but first I had to get some money. On the way to the mall where Chun worked a gust of wind blew my cap. That was rare of me to lose my hat while it's on my head... A bad omen? Turned out it's not :)
I finally bought her art as shown above. If you like the art as well do check out Chun's site and maybe she can hook you up as well ^^ Ummm... don't mind the tissue box in that picture, I just need it to prop it up on the slippery surface >.>
Along with the art she also attached an envelope that has a souvenir from Japan inside:
Yup! Danny's business card! Oh great, now I feel like making my own business card XD
Speaking of Danny... What made today unique was that I was able to talk to Danny Choo on the phone! It was quite a surreal experience. I instantly recognized that voice that I've heard from the videos of himself that he's posted. I was almost babbling at the beginning. Once I regained some composure I managed to talk almost normally with him, maybe even joking around a little bit. We talked about a lot of things. Most of all he asked me where I see myself next year. I could never answer that kind of question unfortunately and I told him that... I don't remember exactly what he said (I have a bad memory ^^;), but it was along the lines of finding a goal and follow through, and how it gives you motivation to get there. I don't know what I'll be doing next year, but I know for sure that I want to go to Japan in 2 years time. Only visiting, but it is something I want to do for the longest time. Again, I'm not confident at most times, but he tells me to do it "as soon as possible" so that I can focus on that goal. Man, he's one good motivational speaker! I am feeling a little bit more confident and perhaps even wanting to make more goals so I can be more motivated.
Aside from my rant above of what happened, we also talked about figure.fm and dannychoo.com in general. About what I can do with figure.fm. Oh and since I do have that infamous room we just had to talk about that. I am planning to sell some things, but right now I am just not able to get any of those things I want to sell until I have some spare room to walk around in ^^; And yeah, that's what I talked to him about. He understands the collectors mentality, but also the fact that some of stuff still lying around in their original plastic bags doesn't make them enjoyable. Hmm... perhaps he has a reason why he was talking to me about my room and figure.fm ^_^
It was still early morning in Japan, so he had a lot of things to do before the day started. It was not a short call at all, so it was quite satisfying to actually talk to him like that. Lastly we talked about his trip to Canada. For now Toronto is his main destination, but Vancouver is not out of the question ;)
Back to my visit to Chun... I was only there briefly after buying the Taiga art since the store where she was working had a sudden rush of customers/browsers. But at that short time she noticed my new LG Rumor phone briefly. And she knew it was new even though she did only see my old phone briefly at Anime Evolution ^^; I guess the keyboard gave it away, but still... Good eye, Chun ^^
So here is my phone... not so unique really, but hey, I'm the only one in my family to have one to have a phone with the slide out keyboard :P
I've been wanting a phone that slides around. Me no like flip phones. I don't like that clapping noise when the phone closes... I'm really liking this slide out keyboard phone, but I haven't figured out how to do a soft enter to go to the next line of text yet ^^; Anyone know how to do it on an LG Rumor?
One thing that surprised me about this phone was that it has a pretty decent camera even though it's only 1.3 megapixels! Chun requested a picture of a food I was planning to get in Richmond, but I didn't bring a camera, lol. So I told her I'd take it on my phone. I was wary about camera phones because my last one, Nokia 6275i, had 2.0 megapixels camera on it but it never turn out that well... But you can see the results below and see what you think of the quality.
Oh I actually got lost on the way to my next destination, but instead I found the Richmond Olympic Oval! It was so funny because I never know or find out where it is, but here it is showing up right before my eyes XD
I went to park underground, pretty much empty. A lot of construction machines are still around the building doing finishing touches before the 2010 Winter Olympic. I mean it's done, but I guess there are some work that needs to be done outside.
This is the first shot right as I exit the door from the parking lot. Some kind of creek? No idea what that wooden fence thing is for... I love how the grass is sticking out of the water like that. Kinda like a rice field.
Here is the logo of the building. I took a picture of the trucks outside too because it had all sorts of 2010 Olympic stuff on the side ^^;
Here's a winding path from the top of the creek to the parking entrance below...
... but why go the winding path when there's a stone path that you can climb over here? Much shorter time ^^
A sign near that "rice field" I've mentioned. So we're still called a Crown Colony, eh?
Oh yea?? How am I supposed to pay when there aren't any numbers on the stalls? :P Ah well they haven't really started this pay system I think. It was pretty much an empty parking lot...
And now for lunch...
Today I'm having a bakudanyaki. I found out about this through ZeroAquaduct's blog and his post on DannyChoo.com. The above picture shows a better representation of what it is. It basically looks like a large takoyaki. There are more inside it though. It was almost like a ball-shaped okonomiyaki.
They always seem to serve it in these Chinese takeout containers though, so it's hard to see the shape, but it is ball-shaped. This is the original flavour, but they also have other ones like chili, pizza and others. I have to try those later and see how they compare.
You know that kids' joke where they ask you if "you wanna seafood" and then open their mouth so you can see the food being chewed? Well this shot is pretty much similar to that XD This is just to show you what the insides are. Lots of red and green and white. The pinkish red is ginger. A bit too much in there for my liking, but I didn't find it too strong.
For my drink I bought this blueberry flavoured green tea. Kinda sour, but I like my blueberry flavoured stuff ^^ Oh and anyone see anything you might recognize in this picture? ^_~
This is the side of the container. They even have the website on here! Visit them to see where they are located and what's on the menu. The website have all these bomb themes going, that's because "bakudan" means "bomb" or "explosion". Pretty appropriate since it's like a blown up takoyaki XD
Hehe I loves puns ^^ I'll be visiting them again, gonna have to try some of the other flavours. Going there is a bit tricky though since I got lost the first time, lol. But if you are in Vancouver area or visiting then it's a good food stall to visit. I was pretty satisfied with just one even though I didn't eat anything before this.
Oh and since I'm a figure maniac I can't help but ask the owner(?) to take a picture of the figure he has in the front counter. Kyuuto meido with a huge takoyaki or should I say bakudanyaki? ^^
To end the day I visited Richmond Centre to browse around. Didn't see much. I wanted a dessert, but I wanted ice cream that was not Dairy Queen... failure. Until I saw this Big Orange bubble tea stand in the mall. I browsed through their menu and got the above murky concoction. It's chocolate and mint bubble tea! YUM! I'm always a sucker for unique flavours like this. Oh there's that word again, "unique" ^^ Unfortunately they didn't serve it as cold as I'd hoped, but the mint made it quite refreshing. Instead of the pearls I opted for the coconut jelly. I like that stuff better than the pearls anyway.
Ah what a nice unique day today! I guess there are some interesting bits happening in the everyday mundane life that I'm living after all ^_^
Continue reading...
Art by Yakuri Moe
One of the things I wanted to improve was also shading. I didn't do any shading on the bunnygirl Mikuru... so I wanted to try it out. I saw a little bit of samples from Gelbooru.com and also looked at RadiantDreamer's colouring tutorial. I think he uses a tablet though, so he has better results. The above art is done without shading. Not too much difference since I've only begun doing it this way. Hopefully I'll improve again. Good thing this is all in the computer so it can always be revised. I really wish I can draw too because I want to add a swimming pool in the background... I can always Photoshop one in, but that's cheating >_< 
I made multiple layers and also learned how to make layer set in Photoshop. So convenient with that layer set now. I made sure that every colour has different layers this time around, so now I can always change the colour of the float and Saber's & Rei's swimsuit. Anyone got a better colour scheme? I'd love to add a logo on the float, but I was too tired to think of one and how to do it... Probably the design on Saber's armor.
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