Insane Stints

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Over the weekend, I did a couple of really crazy stuffs. I went snowboarding which was great as I am getting better with each session. But things were a little different this time round as I rode thru beaten "out of bounds" courses. Took on steeper drops, went in and out of trees and forest paths, cruise on powder all with only 6 amateur sessions in my entire life.

These insane stunts were all ridden by my fellow snowboarders with at a minimum of 8 years in their record but for me and another amateur daredevil, Nigel, we were flying along side with the big boys. Yeah the occasional collapse of our leg muscles lead to tumbles and crashes, none were really that fatal. Swimming in deep powder and performing cartwheels were all in day's work for our snowboarding routine. We were significantly the upcoming stars of this extreme winter sport.

Snowboarding aside, I drove to Nagano city for the weekend to grab some essential Japanese JLPT 2 books and also to savour the great Tonkotsu Ramen. It was a clear Sunday morning and I was pretty frugal on my expenses so I decided to park my little car in an open private parking lot. But little did I realised that this would be my greatest escape feat till date. Yep the Great Escape occurred at approximately a quater past 1 in the afternoon where the carpark was locked up with an automated chain barrier.

There were 3 feasible options for me to leave the carpark -

1. Called the hotline and pay a hefty fine to remove my car.
2. Drive over the curb to exit.
3. Drive thru a precise 0.01% wide gap.

Option 1 is out for me as I am not paying the fine and getting myself into a whole lot of trouble after that.

Option 2 is out too as the curb was way higher than the allowed ground clearence of my car.

Option 3 was chosen but here are the governing factors. The gap was almost the exact width of my car with a mere 3cm gap allowance on each side. Crammed between 2 right angled walls I have to position the car at exactly half way thru the walls and make a turn to either a right or left as a perpendicular road connects the gap. Any errors would either scrapped the side of my car or leave me stuck in a werid position.

Accessing the situation, I shook my head in disgust as the gap looks almost impossible. I took a 5 min breather and went for the Greatest Escape of my driving career. Carefully navigating the gap with my windows down, I managed to squeeze the car into the exact exit position. Now it's just the timing of exact angle to turn out to the perpendicular road. 2 minutes and 1 reverse was all I took to free myself. No scratches, bumps or fines, I became the freeman...Haha.

Looking back, I almost died when I freed myself from the carpark to the extent I actually wanted to drive back and take pictures of it. That escape feat which seem impossible was eventually accomplished and I have to thank Mr Guts, Mr Experience and Mr Insanity for granting me such immerse power to pull off that stunt.

Now adding another new driving stunt to my record, I can only say in times of dire situations, a hero will be born.

皆は同じだよね

- Never Stop Dreaming -

さぁ、上のタイトルはお金の事にかけてだよ。皆もう同じと思うんでしょう、もっとお金が欲しいだ。僕ね最近この事をよく考えたけど、どうやてもっとお金をもらうはちょっと難しいなぁ！違うんの仕事を探すは良いなチョイスだと思うんけど、僕の日本語はまだって、金融の仕事に入らない。僕は金融業から卒業したが、もちろん金融とか、銀行とかの仕事をやるだろう。だって、僕は自分の夢を叶うんのために、日本で働く来た。今の仕事は簡単だし、給料もう高いし、本当には不満がないよね。ハハ、全部は多分僕自分の問題だろう、素敵な車が欲しいし、カッコいいな服が欲しいし、うまいな食べ物をたべたいし、可愛いな恋人に付きたいし、さぁどうしょうかなぁ？　

今僕は仕事がある、それでいて僕もう始めたいろいろな仕事を捜してって、来年請負が終わったら新しいな仕事を変わってが欲しいだ。

Susumu Mukai Mitts

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Recently, I have refunded my crappy Burton gloves to bet my YEN on other non-trash products and so I opted to go for SP-DESIGN's Perfection Mitts with gloves inserts. Well, given that SP-DESIGN's stuffs are from Japan to Japan only, I am pretty sure they are nothing like trash mentioned earlier.

The regular mitts are all sold out which further justifies my personal endorsement for this prduct and I needed a sweet pair of mitt desperately so I picked up the Susumu Mukai's pair. Well Mukai's a pretty famous designer who also happens to do Medicom's stuffs so I was pretty lucky to be once again affliated to my plastics instincts. The mitts were great with leather palm and a fantastic 2 layer Gore-Tex outter shell dabbed in one of Mukai's works. There was even a Medicom Toy tag on the side...! The inner gloves were made outta Gore-Tex Windstopper material and there were nonetheless awesome but a little thin.

Tried and tested, these mitts performed well as I had them on to build my frozen throne and scrapped uneven ice sheets off the car. No damages so far but since I chose a L size over the M size due to uncertainty, they were pretty roomy. I have since tried Thinsulate's gloves with the outter shells and the whole mitt simply puffed up like Fugu.

Well seriously I really have no complains about the mitts as they look great, work great and they come with a bunch of cool stickers, a Mukai's design fabric bag and of course the awesome mitts.

If you ever desire for uber cool mitts for all your snow conquests, I would recommend these but don't bother about looking for them in English, for they are all in Japanese only.

Cheers.

楽しい見に待ってる！

- Never Stop Dreaming -

やっぱり、僕慎重なアプローチは良いと思うだよね。もし毎日ずっと彼女のメーセージが待てる、じゃ仕事とか何でもできないだ。だが自分の気持ちは彼女のメーセージが欲しいだけど、それはやっだぁやっだぁ！恋愛の事は本当に難しいだと、気をつけほうが良いよね。さあ、自分が欲しいな物とできるの物はいつも違うんだろう。僕が夢に存在するの事はいつも嬉しいって、時々現実に起こされるなぁ。

今週の土曜日は僕と彼女２回の会うことって、僕はとても緊張するよね。心はずっとずっとどきどきの声を出して、僕は段々あの彼女の世界に引かれると思う。本当は好きかどうかもう答えを捜すけど、僕はこのまだ未定の道にゆっくり歩いて。この新鮮の感じは久しぶりで、また戻るはラッキーだね。

今頭でいろいろ美しいな画像が見えるよ、一緒に買い物するし、一緒に食事するし、一緒に遊びし...本当に完璧な夢見たいだ。じゃ土曜日を楽しい見に待ってるよ！

Frozen Throne

- Never Stop Dreaming -

If you are thinking World of Warcraft then you will be badly disappointed and misled by the title. Nope this ain't Warcraft or anything related to the game but rather it's my colossal master piece made entirely outta snow with my bare hands, a shovel and a flat piece of broken wood off the door frame. Since I do not have any proper tools, the edges were shabby. The original concept was far from this and numerous modifications were made. The "crown" was inspired by my favorite Stussy designs.

Since that weird idea dawn upon me sometime ago and that I had ample snow outside my house, why not test the potential of my creativity. No prior experience so being the only maiden project, this is probably the worst I could do.

Alrite let the pictures speak for themselves...as this is the REAL frozen throne.

Nozawa Pics

- Never Stop Dreaming -

Ever wondered how Nozawa Onsen ski resort that I had mentioned before looks like? Well I don't have the pics of the runs or gondolas but here's the pics of the carpark in the midst of a passing blizzard to infer the full experience.





My car had been "beautifully" crafted out before I was able to retrieve the camera so that explains the missing pieces.

これは何なんだ？

- Never Stop Dreaming -

最初日本語ができないな皆さんちょっとあやまる、ごめんね。このポストはすべて日本語でって、もし日本語が解からないのばいは、仕方なぁ。実ね僕は去年七月日本へ来たして以来、今までもうそろそろ七月なっただろう。全部の事もう同じだと、心配しないで。だが多分２週間前に僕と友達と一緒住宅近くのパブで遊ぶの時、あの彼女に初めて会った。僕ね中国の服を着たが、日本人の中でとてもかっこいいと思えた。実はかっこいいな事は僕の言葉じゃなくて、本当かどうか僕もうわからないなぁ。とにかくあの彼女は僕の事を知りたいって、僕は帰る前に携帯番号を交換した。

さぁ、僕ねその日から何も考えない、全部の事もうすべて同じだろう。初めメールを貰ったから、段々あの彼女は僕の事が好きだと思う。これはもちろん幸せって、悪くないだけど、僕はどうすればいいのって言う事よくわからない。寂しいかも、恋人が欲しいかも、いろいろ理由が存在なので、どうちらは一番大切な理由か？それは困ったなぁ...だが最近僕の友達は皆新しい恋人に付き合ったら、僕は熱意かな！

ここから僕は何をするもう考えて、まだ決める。恋愛の道に歩くて、自分の答えを探す。