Conquered

This guy was worth every cent of other people's hard earnt $35. Fitting that it was ME ME ME that conquered the MAXI CLAW. I would love to boast that it came down to my supreme skill and dexterity that nabbed the sucker, but nay, it was the combination of mathematical probability and an element of kismet that led to the rare sticky grip of the Maxi Claw.

In 3 crisp moments of palpitating excitement:

... Lucifer-Anpanman was secured, in a dignified way (i.e. face up), in the 3 pronged Maxi Claw.

... an eternity of doubtful reservations yet secret hopes - we've been burnt before - as we watched, with our faces pressed against the glass walls, Lucifer-Anpanman wobble his way along the treacherous route.

... pause, pause, pause

.... *insert pandemonium and school girl screams that are way too inappropriate for 30 year olds*

No footage of the actual manoeuvre, but the aftermath of the excitement was captured.

This fella is so big, that I mistook him for an intrusive stranger when I caught a glimpse of him on my couch.

Suckers for Punishment

We succumbed to the allure of Big-Head-Lucifer-Anpanman/Maxi-Claw Machine again (the word 'maxi' conjures up thoughts of sanitary pads ... with wings. Redbull!).

After burning $25 worth of attempts with no prize to show, it is safe to conclude that we have been comprehensively DEFEATED by the Maxi Claw Machine. We probably could have convinced the vendors to sell us the damn toy for $25.

Our attempts were again captured on video. The first one is slightly lengthy but worth the viewing just to hear:

• Shar's weird comment: "maybe you need to grab it at the neck". Hey Shar, Anpanman doesn't have a neck!
• the school girls screams at the 1.20 minute mark.

Heavy Head thwarts jaws of Victory

It was a normal Thursday lunch, on a normal (albeit slightly windy and underwhelming) day.

A casual whim to take a stroll to Capitol Square to search for an iPod cover (not mine - haven't quite gotten past my iTunes frustrations yet) turned out to be quite the adventure. Safely tucked away upstairs, amidst the jungle of cartoon/cute toys wannabes was ...

ANPANMAN - with an evil suit on.

The odds were against us, and at $1 per go, Lucifer-anpanman seemed even more elusive. This roused our propensity to take on the improbable odds ... and building crowd of 3.

...

In the end, his massive head proved too powerful.

Stock take

Did you know that the brain is about 70% fat? My fat-ass head is literally fat!

All that fat will come in handy next week when we begin our annual Japan pilgrimage. On the to do list so far are:

• Hunt down and purchase Anpanman paraphernalia
• Go to the largest aquarium tank in the world and take photo of the gigantic whale shark
• See snow monkeys and giggle while they scrub themselves down. Wonder if they pee in the shower?
• Get Dougie to strategically position himself to make more photo magic

Time for a quick stock take of the last half of 2008, using the letters of the only acronym that matters at the moment - G, F and C. Sorry Colonel Sanders. Close but no chicken.

G for Golf
Golf at Barnbougle Dunes. Beautiful and memorable course, made even more memorable by chance meeting with Ian Healy and his mates who happened to be also playing on the same day. They invited us as guests to their dinner party and the night panned out to be most enjoyable. Nice way to forget about my front 9 performance: measly 4 points and 10 errant balls no thanks to the dreaded BUTTON grass. You will see YDG surveying a par 3 in the photo below - hmmm where to place the ball when there are bunkers all around, an undulating green, and a death trap in the middle. More golf played during xmas/new year break at Gold Coast. An unsurprising correlation between no. of games played and increasing crappiness of golf game. I guess we can't all have a natural swing arc like S (ux) - and I am not referring to Serena Van Der Woodsen.


F for Football
State Cup 2008 came and went. Best result yet for the team. We actually played on Sunday, and Sunday is traditionally a rest/go home day for us. Although we didn't find out that we were playing on Sunday until after we ordered the 2 buckets of KFC and Dominos Pizza. Wasn't a smart move.


C for Christmas and the Coast
Christmas came and went, then straight to the Gold Coast on Boxing Day. Came to the obvious realisation that I'm too old for theme parks. We went to Dreamworld, aptly named for the state that you are lulled into when queuing up in those never-ending lines. My farewell to 2008 and welcome to 2009 consisted of:

• tripping over stairs and grazing my knee of really dirty/manky carpet
• losing my beloved blackberry on new year's eve/new year's day on Broadbeach.

Off to a good start ...

/Furano - Snow Galore

Day 2 at Furano will be now known as Snow-rano - it was snowing for the entire day. Quite amazing when you consider how rare it is for it to rain ALL DAY in Sydney. Should be a fantastic day on the mountain tomorrow.




Here are our Furano mugshots. They have photo-sticker-esque machines when you purchase your lift pass. I had to stand WAY far back to fit my whole (even larger with helmet) head into the picture.









These mugshots would have lived up to its name if we were caught 'ducking rope' today. Going out of bounds is a no-no in Furano as a precaution to potential avalanches. We 'ducked rope' on our last run, right after we got yelled at for invading the downhill slalom course. How was I suppose to know that it was only for the little training kids? And because of the frequency of which I say "arigato gozaimashita" during the course of a day, I ended up yelling back "thank you" when the dude yelled at us to get off the course. You may call it a fright reflex.

An update on my food baby menu today: miso ramen and picked rice with vending machine coffee for lunch; 2 asahi beers and nuts before dinner; nabe, crab croquet and salmon with roe rice along with a ume shu sour for dinner.

Can you believe they had an anpanman snowman on the mountain today?! I am now searching for anpanman stomp pad for my new snowboard.

/Tokyo - Gochisoosama*

* to express gratitude for cooking and serving (just after eating)

It has been an eating spree in Tokyo. Traveling with 5 perpetually hungry boys with bottomless pit stomachs is helping me bring my food baby to full term. I suspect that our voracious appetite scared some of Binny's Jap pals at last night's dinner. Today was no exception with a visit to the inspiration behind the scene where The Bride battles Go Go Yubari. The chocolate pudding with black sesame ice cream was sublime!






This is our last night in Tokyo and our living abode - Oakwood Apartments Shinjuku - for the past 4 nights. The 180 degree views from our apartment are spectacular ...







... and pity we only discovered the "sky lounge" on the last night. The lounge is secluded and decked with an awesome view; has a bar system based on 'honesty'; and a computerised piano that has good enough taste to leave out Richard Clayderman on its play list.




We were yet again caught in the rush hour subway chaos coming back from Akihabara Electric Town (秋葉原電気街). If Sunday @ 5:30pm generates this much traffic, I shudder at the thought of traveling on a weekday at the major stations. Being stuck in the mob and contending with the surge of bodies en masse is similar to being stuck in a strong rip, i.e. there is nothing you can do about it ... you must just go with the flow and assure yourself that the poor old grandma that you knocked over will live another day (despite the additional food baby weight).



Yodobashi at Akihabara is indeed a geek's fantasy. Lucky for me, fantasy-land also had an impressive range of anpanman paraphernalia.

Bucketing Coconut Shavings

Am currently in Niseko, and it's been snowing like crazy. I've been told that it was snowing at a rate of 10cms/hr. Sometimes, powder is not your friend. One example is when you become marooned on a flat in knee-deep snow (in a roped off area) with nil visibility and nil helpers. I seriously thought I was going to die, a la Titanic (or similar) tragedy. Managed to 'save' myself after 15 minutes of seemingly futile wriggling/jumping/crawling/sobbing etc. And all I got out of that exercise was a pair of FOGGY GOGGLES!

Took the train to Sapporo yesterday for the Sapporo Snow Festival - very pretty sight despite the cold weather. However some of the sculptures were starting to have the Dali effect due to the unusually warmer weather (didn't feel warm to me):





Can't finish a blog with an Anpanman reference:

Oishii = Delicious/Yummy

Today's blog title is courtesy of Andrew Murphy, and the lovely lady we met at the traditional tapas style Japanese restaurant.

Short entry today: too much saké and early start tomorrow morning to maximise the last day of boarding in Furano.

The day started with an extremely early bus ride to Asahiyama (1.5 hrs) to catch the "Penguin March" at Asahiyama Zoo. Below is the main road leading to the mountain, aka Furano Prince Snow resort. There is enough snow on the footpaths for us to sit on our boards and toboggan all the way back to our Pension - very convenient mode of transport after an entire day's worth of boarding.



Asahiyama was ridiculously COLD. Nice for penguins, polar bears etc ... not so nice for yellow-skinned Asian with bad circulation. Asahiyama Zoo is infamous for the marching penguins. This essentially involves a bunch of locked up Penguins that have been trained to walk between 2 pink tram lines. It was very kawaii (cute)... and the Japanese do seem to have a heightened appreciation for anything cute - lots of clapping and squealing. There were other extinct/rare animals locked up in various enclosures. Pacing was the common behaviour, including those of us that had to wait forever to use the SQUAT toilets *shudder* What are we?? Animals?? ;p
We did see some pretty funny things e.g. the male lion deciding to fart/pee at bystanders - there was some force in his expulsion; and the snow monkeys going at it with hammer and tongs. Both instances were greeted with clapping and squeals.






We bummed around Asahiyama city after the zoo. Despite the extremely cold weather and the heavy snowfall, people still insist on the minimalist look with the added effect of stiletto heels. How they don't catch pneumonia or slip on the very slippery, icy walkways is beyond me.



The day concluded with a fantastic dinner at a traditional Japanese restaurant in Furano. Our host was, as with most Japanese hospitality, gracious, sweet and entertaining. We taught her elegant words such as: yummy, opera house and Melbourne Cup. She in turn gave us oishii (delicious/yummy) food, sake and origami as gifts. She was very cute, despite using the sake ember to stub her cigarette. But hey, for 320 yen per pack (less than $4 AUS) ... who can blame her.




The search for the elusive Anpanman toy in vending machine continues. I think I have all but for the crème de la crème

Totemo Sagoi! (Very Fantastic)

We were treated to a full day's worth of snow fall. And not just the dandruff stuff, but the mega 6-fold dihedral symmetrical snowflakes. The generous conditions allowed us to engage in some riding through the trees. However, getting stuck in the thick snow (between trees) is NOT FUN.



In fact, it snowed so much that giant snowballs were starting to wreak havoc:



There has been a two-fold increase in the level of pain/soreness ... Wayne's crash in my kneecap did not help. Right knee is currently sporting a hard boiled egg. So tonight, I am relaxing in bed with not Asahi, but some cheap-ass Japanese "original brew" beer. Taste like VB ... guess all cheap beer taste the same huh?

Request for more snowboarding pictures has been acknowledged:




We started the day with Pension-provided brekkie (oh so healthy); and ended the day with sushi train.




The sushi train joint had vending machines jammed packed with Japanese goodies, including Anpanman and friends. We spent around 7 Aust dollars trying to score THE ANPANMAN ... but alas, all that spat out of the machine were his dodgy friends.



Think we might be going to the zoo tomorrow. Time for bed ...