Hey hey Ya'll!
So I've had a very awesome weekend. I've got a pile of more cherry blossom photos since last thursday. They've peaked and I've got some good shots of them in full bloom. It's all downhill from there and it's been snowing petals in small flurries, which is really impossible to fully capture on a camera. Not that I didn't try but I wish I could drag ya'll out with me it's really amazing. Seeing as I can't, picture overload! The leaves have started to come in now and the blossoms will be pretty much all gone by the end of the week. The workouts are going well. I've also really been enjoying all the 10 random facts blogs ya'll been doing, I think I'll probably join in on this one too, it's fun learning more about ya'll. Lots of really awesome sets that I've been excited for came out too, so it's been a fantastic weekend here too!
First stop Yokohama! Remember that number I got my first friday night out here? Well I tried it out and got invited out to Yokohama for dinner and to a tour. I wasn't quite expecting that but I've been itching to get away from base so perfect opportunity! She brought a friend and suggested I do the same. So I brought along my Japanese speaking buddy and we set out on a train riding adventure. With much silliness leading up to it, this happened and I just had to share.
We make a good team. He speaks the language and was familiar with the train system and I have an uncanny sense of direction. Which I put to very good use. Once we got to Yokohama I located our hotel using the map on his phone and the compass on mine. We weren't using gps so the compass was handy. We then hopped back on the train to the next station (Yokohama is pretty big) to meet up with the gals. We had some time before that so I decided to explore to the east of the station and out towards the coast. I saw this really kewl building.
Which my phone camera failed miserably at but still came out pretty kewl. Then the ladies where ready and wanted to meet us at the Bay Quarter, which is a little mall/restaurant packed place across the street and to the left of the above building. See totally uncanny! Dinner was pretty awesome, we ate outside and it was a pretty nice night out, not too chilly but just a bit. It never ceases to amaze me how small the world is despite how many millions of people are in it. The gal who invited me out turned out to have dated the younger brother of a dude my friend went to high school with. Both of the gals spoke fluent english and had studied overseas. The one that invited me had been to the states, mostly Arizona, and is moving to Chicago soon. Which is a bit of bummer. Her friend has been to Sydney Australia, but didn't sound Aussie. Guess the only really heavy english accent that folks pick up is the oxford one. When I went to Germany in high school one of the German teachers had studied there and had a heavy oxford accent, which I found amusing, him being German an all. Anyway, dinner was really good. Smaller portions so we ordered a few plates of things and there was lots of jokes and innuendo. So we had tons of fun. Then we did a little tour, I got to see these.
The biggest Ferris Wheel in the world when it was made, also doubles as the world's biggest clock. Though I find Big Ben much more convincing in that regard, digital is cheating.
The second tallest building in all of Japan. You can see the lower half of it below along with the street.
A really kewl newish/old ship.
The tour was really awesome, I'll definitely be back. It was pretty late at this point, the gal that invited me out was off to party near the navy base with her friend. They had planned on going to Tokyo which I would've come along for but had a change of plans as her other friend found out she's pregnant. So that was that. A little bit of a bummer but risking busting curfew and getting in all sorts of unnecessary trouble was a no go. On the plus side I got invited back to a baseball game sometime! I also had to be back midday for an event that I'll tell ya'll about later. It was pretty neat and I got to see one of the big wigs and hear him speak. Which I like to do when I can and in his case is pretty rare.
The rest of my weekend was lots of walking around and taking pictures and I started reading a book I got for my birthday. So here are those! Orders a little all over the place.
Count the pigeons! Ran into a flock of em on saturday and snaped this one off while they where flocking. Turned out better than I'd expected.
I really liked this one, the older couple under the tree are holding hands, which is extremely uncommon in Japan. They frown on PDA, it's a very interesting culture.
Mt Fuji in the distance, ruling the silliness! Can't always see it so just wanted to toss this up. I'll get much much closer one of these days.
Snow blossoms! Make out the petal flurry if ya can ; )
What the tuna fish is thinking, I caught this walking back from the east side today and had to share. I'll have to investigate this place next = )
Trees hate being labeled too! This one is showing it's spite by sloowwwllllyyyy eating it. Nom nom lol
took these last thursday
The place I mentioned eating at in my last blog, it's kinda trippy how out of place it is = )
These two turned out really great and better than I thought, I'm thinking of putting the bottom one in a photo contest that's going down on base next month.
happy whale!
this one I took monday, you can see the leaves starting to come in
I'm not really a big fan of pigeons, I usually have the urge to punt them when they get this close. These ones didn't really bother me though, I was a little surprised they got so close.
I lol'd really 'hard' when I saw this and couldn't help taking a pic. Soo many things get lost in translation, I doubt they did this on purpose which makes it that much funnier. I think it's hair gel?
I mentioned there was some (ok a lot, kept dropping and I had to edit the last few in, super awesome day!) really awesome sets out from the lovely ladies I follow, so go feast ya'lls eyes and share some love!
Being in transit I somehow missed @gogo 's set Kafka on the Shore hitting the front page. Whether you missed it or not you should gogo check it out!
@saria 's set Birthplace dropped. Some very stunning shots, those eyes!
@salliss 's set What Does the Fox Say finally is here! It's super foxy and very fun = ) I actually saw a fox just off base today running into the woods, it was awesome!
@dimples 's set Cozy Up is here. She has such a radiant smile, it's quite contagious.
@marlene 's set The Lake is out so go for a swim! I really wanted to, awesome location, beautiful sunny day and beautiful lady, what else do you need? Not convinced? Check out the behind the scenes video then! She spoils us so <3
@flowerbomb 's first set The New Americana has finally arrived! Really neat location with an old car and the beautiful Flowerbomb, my blog wouldn't post and delayed doing so until this happened! Guess all the cherry blossom photos didn't want to drop on ya'll without her!
@chrysis 's newest set Well Behaved is out, go bask in her loveliness! = )
@emmameow 's third set is out! Fontas Sequanae has bubbles, bewbs and glitter! Leave her some love and help make this awesome aussie pink already!
@yugen 's set Crystal Clear is finally here!
Now that things are working properly again, and I've finally got this delayed blog to post >< @alteredangel has released not one but three super awesome fantastic mini sets Woodland Walk, Blue Cascade, and Red Hair with hair to match (last one being pretty straight forward lol).
Last I wanted to share an interesting video @ameline just did revisiting the Best/Worst Day Ever topic. I'm not exactly sure how to respond to it myself, but felt it should be noted.
That's it for me. Ya'll have an excellent week = )
