The Best of Mytwoyenworth For 2007.

I understand that there's a Blogger tradition to go through your past years' posts and choose your favourites. Who am I to buck tradition?

From January 25/07 was my post on National Gorilla Day. Unfortunately, the widow of Don Martin has insisted that this day be no longer "National Gorilla Suit Day" be celebrated no longer. Thus, this'll be the last time I mention it in this blog.

I'll cheat a little because I like two posts from Feb/07. The first being scans of my school pictures. Damn I'm cute. Since tomorrow is New Year's Day, at school last Friday, I spent the day writing 年賀状 or (nengajo=New Year's Cards). So this post on happy-chinese-new-year-but-because.html">Chinese New Year is sort of appropriate for today. We're gonna be in The Year of the Rat from now on, so stock up on mousetraps.

I was really a busy blogger last March (lots of free time & no students makes Jack anything but dull, boy) with lots of posts. I wrote ad nauseum about my University life and Curtain Call, but Gidget Goes to Guelph had to be my favourite.

This Penis Parade Post was pretty funny and this Yamato post was fairly informative but for the cutest post of last April, you'd have to go with this one on Kaede!

We all get a week off in May, so I had lots of posts during Golden Week. The most impressive would have to be my spelunking expedition.

There was slim pickings to choose from for last June, so let's indulge in the madness of Cucumber Pepsi!

I went to a lot of concerts last July, including Monkey Majik but for me at my nerdiest, you'd have to admit that Powerpuff Girls Z is pushing the otaku envelope too far. Because YouTube are so anal about removing videos, half of my videos are defunct, including one for PPGZ and all my Monkey Majik ones. Bastards!

I'm a bit of an idiot, so somehow, I managed to delete all the scanned entries for my Wizard of Oz post. When I have time, I'll try and re-submit them. So it looks like I'll go with this entry on the Toronto Zoo that I visited last August.

September includes the awesome Atomu, the magnificent Michiko, another trip to magical Matsushima, amazing Animal Treasure Island and some Spiderman silliness.

2007 had some awesome Echophonyk parties and October had some interesting Halloween posts. Put the two together and you get Echo-Halloween!

We're getting into fairly recent history, so just check out my trips to Yamagata or Tokyo.

And that brings us to this past month. I had a lot of Santa gigs this year, so just scroll back and check them out. But while I have you here, lets revisit my post on Santa Comics.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope your next year will be as awesome as my last year was. This here photo was sent to me from Notorious Nori who is spending the holiday with his family in Aomori. I don't know how he wrote it in the snow without leaving any tracks. I suspect aliens!

Alienated.

CARNAC: Alienated.
ED McMAHON: Alienated?
(Carnac rips the envelope open and removes the card,)
CARNAC (reading): What happened to the Predator at dinnertime.

I picked up a box set of Alien-Predator Annihilation Collection for a belated birthday present yesterday. So far, I've watched Alien, Aliens and am about to watch Alien Cubed. I'll give a review of all the movies once I finish.















Here's what I got for about 50 bucks (with discounts, coupons and triple-points for Gold HMV Members!) 4 Alien movies, 2 Predator flicks and an AVP in a pear tree.





On New Year's Day, it'll be slightly cheaper to see a movie, so I'll be off to see AVP2. Can't wait!

Happy New Year's Eve Eve.

If you're in the neighbourhood tomorrow night, I highly recommend going to the Countdown Party at Shaft. DJ Mokugohan will spin at 9:00 and DJ Mixture at 1:00am, making it a mini-Echophonyk. The early you get there, the more free drinks you get. WooHoo!

Here's the Schedule ripped from the Shaft Homepage:

21：00～　【CLUB SHAFT COUNT DOWN PARTY 2007-2008】ALL GENLE (I know, it should be spelled GENRE but, I told you, I ripped it from the homepage.)

21:00～22:00　\1500（3 Drinks）
22:00～23:00　\1500（2 Drinks）
23:00～ 　\1500（1 Drink）

DJ TIME TABLE／

21:00-21:45 ALEX (Echophonyk)
21:45-22:30 makoto、yarimizu (SOUL CONNECTION)
22:30-23:15 YOSHIKAZ (with you)
23:15-24-15 COSMIC.KAZ (EBS）& JARO (EBS）
24-15-01:00 kaaanji (AFTER DARK)
01:00-01:45 Mixture (Echophonyk)
01:45-02:30 drop (Leaf & Villain)
02:30-03:15 BOW (DA-DA-DA?)
03:15-LAST Stephane (Veil)

And now for no particular reason, here is the Popeye Scat.



(OKAY DAVID, I PLUGGED THE EVENT! CAN I GO BACK TO WATCHING MY MOVIES NOW?)

It's Not Just For Snacktime Any Longer.

It's official. You can now eat Pocky for Dessert. Here is ショコラのショートケーキ flavoured Pocky. Described as "Dessert Pocky", you can enjoy Chocolate Shortcake. I like how they pronounce Chocolate as the French would instead of their usual pronunciation of "Choko" only. I suppose a bit of French makes it sound more Dessert-worthy. On your way to "Pocky Street", why not try one of these games? I rarely eat dessert, so I personally haven't tried them yet. I plan to send the box to a friend.










I did, though, try new Strawberry-flavoured KitKat. It tastes exactly like you'd expect, strawberries!

What will they think of next?

It's Better To Give Than To Receive...

That's actually a bit of a crock. I like receiving, but I always end up giving and giving and giving. I know I don't have to, but I have so much crap and I need to get rid of my stuff. So, I give...and I rarely receive.

What did I receive?

I got a great shirt from DJ Mixture & I got a heart-shaped hand warmer from Yukiko.












I got an FF t-shirt (M-size) from a co-worker who was regifting it from a student's parent. (It's the thought that counts: in this case-I love it.)
















Another co-worker gave me this lovely little basket with some Christmassy-items. I learned the hard way that the brown Snowmen/Santas are not in fact chocolates, but candles. I wish I'd checked them more carefully before I tried to take a bite out of one.








I gave each of my English department co-workers Christmas cds that I'd burned and printed. Two of either a Jazzy, Classical or Carols cd. Other than the above, I got diddley-squat (not that I was really expecting anything though.)














I got this rather odd little package from a friend of a friend that includes a lizard-like neck warmer, a banana pen and a Michael Jackson "Off the Wall" button. Very strange but worthwhile.













I got this cool Maneki-Neko Bobble-head card with 2 pairs of socks and some homemade cookies from the Hamatsuka family in Tokyo. (I just sent them the 3 Xmas cds today.)















I gave out about 180 little gift bags filled with candies that we'd put together for the Echophonyk, Ernie and Pirate party. I received several hugs and a few snogs, so that was a worthy investment.

I gave presents to Alex's family and I will be receiving a dvd later, but since they're broke, I wasn't expecting anything. Besides, they threw a kick-ass Christmas/Birthday party, I got to pig out on a chicken dinner and got a nice cake, too.















I also gave presents to a few drinking buddies who showed up including some naughty J-pop/anime lighters, Moomin or Gundam cups, an Argos towel and other goodies. As expected, I received nada. Unfortunately, the naughtiest anime lighter was left behind and later discovered by Alex's mother-in-law. She was not amused!












One of the owners of 305 gave me this nifty rubber pig.

















When you throw it on the floor, it splats into a puddle and then reforms immediately. One of my favourite gifts.















After I gave out presents to each of the organizers at the Pirate after-party, the Captain guiltily gave me his cool pair of shades.











So apart from the terrific Atomu light, that's it! Thank goodness, I'm not materialistic!

If There Is Not Treasure, I Take Your Heart!

This was the logo on the poster from this event. We held it last Sunday from 7-10 and it went off without a hitch (well, a few hitches did occur, the Sound Recording is fubar for example.)

It started off with Alwida singing her little heart out and I preferred her performance that night to when I saw her last.

Destiny were great, a bunch of young kids with fluent English and the vocalist has a terrific range.

While DJ Mixture spun, a couple of disco dancers strutted their stuff, to the great delight of the crowd.













Spiral sang several mellow folky staples, but this was the first time I've heard Stairway To Heaven done Bossa Nova style!










Santa & his トナカイ (tonakai=reindeer) collected toys from the masses, but to be honest, it was a VERY disappointing collection. 80% of the toys were provided by me and a buddy from 305 (another UFO catch maniac.) There were some nice toys though, including 2 expensive remote-control cars. There were some Celebs who paid for a premium ticket, but I didn't see them donate anything. Oh well, maybe next time.


Elvis sang with his band, The 70's Kings and he was excellent. He really knew how to get the crowd hopping and Santa & the Reindeer twisted the night away.










According to Elvis, My Way is a Christmas song...who knew? But Santa got to dance with Akemi, which was nice.










They had an elaborate back story, where Santa presents the presents to the Captain of the pirates. Much to the surprise of the hostess and Captain, I sang a few tunes (Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas) to tremendous appreciation by the crowd.





After tidying up, everyone gathered at a restaurant and for some reason, as soon as the event expired, my colitis decided to flare up. I joined them for an hour or two, but skipped out early and went home. Fortunately my health improved the next day. The high point of my entire year took place when everyone there (about 50 musicians and staff, Dave, Dom & Adam) sang Happy Birthday to me. It was the first time that I have had HB sung to me in a bar (Ernie's didn't count...I commissioned it.) I left a very contented fellow.

For a change, I'm not going to bother with posting a whole bunch of photos (I'm actually running low on the allotted photo space provided by Blogger), so I'm linking to a Flickr account. Enjoy the pics.

See you at the next Pirated event...

Kringle Catch-up!

On December 22nd, I saw the Snots beat the Rabbits 11-3, had a quick drink with Akari at 305 before heading to the little shindig at Ernie's since he'd asked me to garb up and pass out goodies to his patrons.

Dave, Ernie and a Ho.














I showed up around 11, gave out some treats and they surprised me with a nice shirt and a cake and sang Happy Birthday to me. Awwww.

We popped over to McDonalds for a meal (I got a Pokemon Happy Set) and en route back, in full Santa regale, I belted out "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" right in the middle of Kokubuncho, the entertainment capital of Sendai, much to the astonished looks of the drunken crowd.



I handed out a few more snacks and popped over to Suu's where I met a charming young lass named Asuka. (She needs a shave.)











Back to Ernie's to give out the last of the stocking stuffers and pose with a couple of amazons.

On my way to my bike, I treated the Hide & Seek crowd to a glance at St. Nick. I sure got my money's worth out of the costume that night.

メリークリスマス！

It's been a long long weekend and I haven't had the energy to post anything original, so here is something I dug up for you...



Have a good one, everyone, I'm going to bed!
(Oh man, it's my last birthday before my half-century mark!)

Naughty or Nice II.

A tribute to Bully's Top Ten list (Except I did 14!

Naughty or Nice?

I can certifiably say that last night was a success. We had at least 93 guests, which is a pretty fair turnout. Yippee!











Santa made an appearance and had his belly stroked several times and not just for the bags of goodies. He even had his rooster teased by two different women named Aya. One disappeared when Santa skipped to the loo, the other continued flirting even when in the company of her very large boyfriend. Very Naughty!

Shaft's bartendress...very Nice.














Naughty and Nice (I'll let you decide which is which.)











Techno girl...fairly Naughty.













I don't remember this person, so I'll vote: Nice.















She's Nice, he's Naughty.

















They were very friendly to Santa, so they get to be Nice.







More Santa shenanigans tonight at Ernie's!

Pocky Art.

Pocky's latest marketing ploy is to take their infamous Almond Crush line and give them an artistic box. The Crush shares the same skinny cookie center, but it's been generously rolled in nuts, then double-dipped in thick, rich chocolate.

First, I got Tournesols (1889) a while back. I'm guessing that "Tournesols" means Sunflowers, and the Japanese love their sunflowers over here, which they call
"ひまわり" (himawari).














If you can get all six, you'll enjoy works by Van Gogh, Klimt, Manet, Monet and two by Renoir. I saw the Klimt, but I'm not familiar with his work, so I didn't bother grabbing it. Haven't seen the Manet or Monet works yet.

I just picked up Renoir's Petite fille a la gerbe (1888). Alas, I can't translate the Japanese, but I think it means "Little Girl of Gerber".





I don't think I'll bother trying to track the others down, but I am looking forward to sharing my booty with my Echophonyk buddies this weekend during one of my several parties.

Atom Attack!

I may not be getting any, but I am getting some nice gifts! I haven't seen Fumika in about 2 months, when we last met it was her birthday and I gave her a B.C.-Jade husky necklace. She was overjoyed. Tonight she returned the favour by giving me this cool Atomu-light. I'm a happy camper now!

Up and Atom!

I just gave her this cute (but cheap) Jack-cap and an Xmassy cd I prepared.

I'm beginning to have hope that I may actually have a good birthday after all...