Thursday, July 2, 2009

A Unique Day

"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 ^_^

35 comments:

  1. it's great you meet Danny in person, I wanna see what Vancouver look like too ^^

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  2. lol, tat's really a day full of uniqueness! especially the bakudanyaki for me, never seen one ^^;

    ah, I hope I can meet Danny too, planning to go Tokyo on August.

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  3. @Yamada: I haven't met him in person yet, but perhaps in November in Vancouver :) Wanna come by? Kill two birds with one stone ^_^

    @YuKi~To: Oooh cool! I wish I can go to Japan sooner. Email him and see if you can meet up with him :D

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  4. that Taiga fanart made me go "dawwwww". ^_^

    It's been like 3 years since I visited Canada. I seriously need to get back, lovely weather and nice people.

    Japan, is a dream for now.

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  5. Gah, Traitor!! a "my life" post?? shame on you!!! XD

    how are you doing with your room pics. I'm pretty sure you'll be taking part with Dannys call to arms, being the winner and all.

    I have to redo all my pics cos I deleted the originals. orz
    Really weird seeing my room being used on the 2 page mockup danny's showing off too!

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  6. interesting and unique day!!
    Cool you got Chun's art! Was it expensive?

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  7. Darn I really want to visit Richmond olympics, but I have no way of transportation going there-_-

    Danny's already motivational just walking the streets. By Motivatianal speaker, kinda Kamina-ish or rebuplic like^^;;

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  8. Well, I wouldn't coming by for the Olympics ;) Canada isn't far away at all :p

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  9. Nice, it must've been interesting to talk to Danny. I'm hoping I'll have the time to meet up with him when he comes to T.O. since I'll have school and work at the same time. "orz

    Are you going to watch the 2010 games? The surrounding area must be very nice.

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  10. @necrophadian: I was squealing, "cute" over and over when she handed the fanart to me. I thought she was really going to type "lightningsabre is squealing like a girl in the store" in Puchi Blurbs XD

    Japan is a dream for all of us, but we have to make it a reality someday ^_^

    @gundamjehutykai: LoL I've done one before. It was a boring one, which is why I don't do many of them XD I did find a riding machine in my last "my life" post ^^

    I think Danny insisted that I repost mine ^^; I still have my originals and the ones on my blog are pretty big, but if I have time to retake pics of my room then I'll do it.

    @phossil: Hmm, let's just say it's a reasonable price ^_^ I don't even know if she has prices listed on her blog or not actually. Different prices for various sizes of art.

    @GunStray: Well if you REALLY want to see, we can always do a blogger meet-up and I can take you there. LoL I guess you can say Danny is somewhat Kamina-ish XD

    @Michael Flux: Remember that Canada is coast to coast lol, so it's very far depending on where you're going XD

    @T.I.P.: Oh yeah, you have front row seat to meet up when Danny visits Canada! Hopefully you can get time off from work if it is during work hours (I dunno about school ^^;).

    I'd like to go to the opening ceremonies at least, but that is prime ticket. It's expensive to go, so I didn't really buy any tickets -.- Will save up for Japan trip instead XD The surrounding areas is pretty much a quiet area actually... there's almost nothing around the rink!

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  11. Wow, the Bakudanyaki looks really tasty ! :]

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  12. Excuse me while I go hatch a master plan to steal your identity and life.

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  13. Wow nice you got to talk to Danny haha. Food is always great, stuff around where I live is only so-so on the asian variety.

    It's really neat that the room giveaway winners got their photo featured in the book cover, really cool thing Danny got going on with Kotobukiya.

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  14. @blaureiter: Yeah, it is! I'll take more pictures of the other flavours if I go there again ^^

    @Snark: LoL you really want this mundane life? XD

    @Wolfheinrich: That was very surprising when I was talking to him! That's unfortunate about lack of Asian food variety. You should drop by here one day and take a look at the variety!

    I really hope Kotobukiya can get a hold of Shokotan, I wanna see if they print a reaction of her looking at my room ^^;

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  15. So you got to talk to the big man, eh? Must be nice to break in your new phone with a call from DC. We'll see if he rings me up sometime. LOL!

    Sorry to be an enabler as you mention you wanna sell stuff, but I noticed Unity Mei on sale at HS for 3905. Weren't you looking at her awhile back? BTW... if you're selling, you don't have any Melissa Seraphy stuff you wanna get rid of do ya?

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  16. @FatB: LoL yep, it was nice to talk to the big cheese himself XD

    I saw that Unity Mei on sale >_< She's still under the "impulse" category, so unless I find something else I want from HS, I won't get her. Unfortunately I have nothing Melissa related for sale, but I know someone who does. :D

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  17. If you talk about it in passing, I wouldn't mind you asking the price plus shipping. I was thinkin you knew someone in Van for a quick, cheap transaction. Otherwise, I probably just buy her new from god knows where. Thanks Ecchi man.

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  18. @lightningsabre (@ your comment about Shokotan) you and your reactions ^^;;; LOL

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  19. @FatB: I'll ask her in a quick email. Not sure how I can contact you aside from Puchi Blurbs though... Email me? Email addy on Profile.

    @chun: Not THAT kind of reaction... >.<

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  20. Sounds like you had quite a day there! Do value your moments there as they don't come by easy.

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  21. @AstrayP03: I know, right?! :D

    @Q: I really am valuing this particular day since I had a bad one today.

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  22. That is so cool!!!
    You talked to Danny...on the phone!!!
    So cool!!!
    It must be surreal.
    I hope I can meet Danny on my trip to Japan in August!!!

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  23. Soooo awesome. It's not just an unique day; it is an unique and amazingly cool day.

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  24. Sweet you got to talk to Danny Choo. How? I have read some of his more business oriented articles and it's truly inspiring. Several years ago, he posted about how short life is, so it's good to see that he's still keeping up with it and encouraging you to reach your goals ASAP.

    Nice that you blogged about your day. You don't work on Thursdays? I should go visit Chun again soon too...

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  25. @Rin: It was surreal, whenever I watch Danny talking in one of the videos I'll be remembering him talking to me directly XD

    Good luck in your Danny search in Japan! Perhaps you can meet him in Toronto when he comes by :D

    @Yi: It was a hot summer day, but yea, a totally cool day! ^_^

    @radiantdreamer: Well... What happened was I [classified information] and suddenly [classified information] and then I was talking to Danny! The funny thing was that after we finished talking, I [classified information] XD It was so funny! LOL.

    Haha it's a bit classified, perhaps if we meet in person again or at another private time I'll tell you how :) Which is probably soon if you do visit Chun on Thursday. I usually have Wednesday to Friday off from work. I usually work 10 hour shift days for 4 days. ^^ You still have my number, right?

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  26. @Lightning Sabre:
    He's coming to Toronto? Or wait, he's going to Canada?

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  27. @Rin: Ya, he'll be coming to Canada. Toronto will be the main destination :)

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  28. Wow, Danny called u!
    What are the odds. it's just like winning the lottery. lol

    I'm sure u will remember this day forever.

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  29. Ugh that food looks unfit for human consumption...

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  30. @Optic: That was a really unique event for sure... I was honoured to receive the call even though I was mostly flabbergasted XD I will remember it for sure, but typing it out will make me remember all the details ^^

    @otakuinvancouver: I'd like to say, "don't knock it 'til you try it" but it isn't really for everyone ^^; It was still tasty for me though.

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  31. You got to talk with Danny!? Freaking awesome!

    Sounds like this is a day you'll be remembering for a long time to come ^^

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  32. @Coco: Freaking awesome indeed! Other than amnesia, I will remember it for a long time ^^

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  33. What a badass day!
    Im kinda jealous of the canadian Otaku community aswell...I wish we had such a thriving community over here.

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  34. @Blowfish: Well in Vancouver some of us are quiet and keep to ourselves, lol. I know they're a bit more active in Toronto. I just happen to know someone who works in a store that I go to ^^; I do hope to be more closer to the otaku communities here :)

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