Twenty-Third Sixteen

The first post made as a freshly-upgraded 23-year-old hits the Internet today. While yesterday could count, today's the day where I can comment on me being 23 and everything that goes along with it.

This photograph proves how silly it is to use a small Pokémon (like a Horsea) as your Surfing Pokémon.
Consequently, this also applies to your Flying Pokémon. Admit it; you used a Pidgey! Argue all you want, but it's not a question of where it grips it - it's a simple question of weight ratios! A four pound bird could not carry a hundred-plus pound Pokémon trainer!
(Yes, I just subtly referenced Monty Python and the Holy Grail.)

So mount up and lock and load, readers, and prepare for my first quality entry as a 23-year-old! ¡Ven conmigo! *rides off*





CURRENT MUSIC:
Namie Amuro - "Can't Sleep, Can't Eat, I'm Sick"
Play

Opening the Current Music section for us today is a rather jazzy Japanese pop song by one of the queens of the genre: Namie Amuro. The second single from her 2007 album Play, "Can't Sleep, Can't Eat, I'm Sick" holds the lyrics of a lovestruck girl and mixes it with an eclectic mix of the soul of an R&B song and the active fanfares of a summer hit.

It's a pretty nice song that I find myself blaring sometimes on day drives by myself when I'm casually driving through the suburbs. Also, I can picture people performing some kind of dance routine alongside this piece - and that's before you even think about the official music video. (I could also say that the lyrics and upbeat tone somewhat apply to my relationship, but that's just making me sound all cheesy-romantic. =P)


Bear McCreary - "Razor Main Title"
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan and Razor Original Soundtrack

The second track in the album, "Razor Main Title" should be a no-brainer as to what it was used for. As the opening track for the interquel movie Razor, it definitely does its job as the opening plays, bringing us to speed and reminding us about the actions of the Pegasus commanding officers. The piece laid the groundwork for the television movie and also introduced us to the "Kendra Theme," a leitmotif for the featured character Kendra Shaw.

Honestly, when I first listened to this track on its own, it didn't exactly sound like music I'd hear in the opening credits sequence. I pictured a scene where someone enters a strange and subtly exotic land. The cameras focus on their gaze as they take in their surroundings, and as they prepare to move forward, they do so cautiously.

Strangely enough, this track seems to work better in an aquatic environment (which is probably why this piece works so well for Battlestar Galactica). After thinking of this, I quickly logged on World of Warcraft and had one of my characters make the trip to the aquatic region of Vashj'ir. Sure enough, diving underwater and taking in the sights of the area seemed more interesting with this piece. Hm. Maybe I should put this in my exploration playlist...





Good day, everypony! As it's officially been more than 24 hours since I turned 23*, I guess that means that my age is here to stay. Whoo. It's like I achieved some kind of monotony, but at the same time, I know that getting older is anything but. Besides, this makes it more interesting because I can say that I've matured a little bit more (but we all know how much maturity and "maturity" I have under my belt). It's just lame, really - having to realize that on this day 23 years ago I was born, and since then I've accomplished oh-so-little.

Now, that's not to say that I thought that my birthday is unimportant - nor does it mean that what I have accomplished doesn't mean anything.. I find it to be a fun time, and depending on the mindset of the people I'm with that day, it can be either an entertaining adventure or a trying venture into monotony - and either way, it involves me getting lampooned for being one more year older. Also, it gives me a bit of time to reflect and gauge just how life is going. But rather than gripe about how bad it is to be 23 22+1 21 and some change and wonder what I'm doing with myself, I'm going to go ahead and talk about some stuff I'm sure somepony will be interested in. And that means yesterday.

* = From a technical standpoint, I've only been 23 for a little under a day. If I recall correctly, my birth certificate said I was born some time after 2200. Not sure about it because I don't have the thing on me (which is probably a bad thing, huh?)





Yesterday was quite fun, I'd say. As the seventh day in my vacation, it was bound to be full of interesting and entertaining options. As it was my actual birthday, however, this not only reinforced that theory, but it also heralded more fun and surprises.

I woke up at around 0900 and got prepared to start the day. After a long and comforting shower (it's my birthday; I deserved one), some time getting groomed and dressed, and some frantic searching for my iPod (because driving without music sucks), I took off to pick up my girlfriend before we headed over to the rendezvous point at my friend's house.

After all of us showed up, we left Camarillo. After driving south down the 101 arrived near Universal Studios at... maybe 1230. We entered one of my free parking lots, parked, and proceeded to walk our way over to the nearby Metro station underground. We boarded the Red Line and had fun striking up conversations for a half-hour while the subway made its way to downtown Los Angeles. After a brief pit stop at Union Station, we hopped on the Gold Line and headed to J-Town.

My friends strike up a conversation inside Daikokuy while waiting for their orders to arrive.

At Little Tokyo, we hit up our first stop: Daikokuya, a small Los Angeles-based chain of ramen shops. After going through various ramen places over the years my friends and I visted Little Tokyo, one of my friends told me that I had to try this place. She was with us on the trip, and I had earlier agreed to her suggestion, so it was obvious where we got our lunch fix.

Daikokuya's signature dish: the Daikoku Ramen, described here. I could try to describe what it tasted like, but my description would probably underplay the foodgasmic quality of the stuff.

The place looked small and simple (especially when you consider the fact that they only create one kind of pork ramen), and there were small groups of people waiting to be seated. It actually took us about... let's say 15 minutes or so before a big table opened up for us. Despite how plain it looked, the taste was anything but. The bowl of ramen that greeted me turned out to be one of the best ramen bowls I have ever tasted.

Daikoku Ramen in the flesh.

I ordered a regular bowl and by recommendation by a friend ordered it "kotteri-style" - which, if you didn't read the picture above this one, adds a bit of soup base from pork back fat. Now, I'm used to ramen and how good it makes me feel. If I eat the whole thing and drink the base, I'm happy and quite content. With kotteri-style Daikoku ramen, however, the ramen became hearty and even more flavorful than most other ramen places I've visited. Matter-of-fact, it was so hearty that I ended up getting full long before I was able to finish my soup base. That's a first - I'm usually able to take on both my noodles, the various other ingredients, and the soup base and still have a bit of room for some rice and a drink. This one? No - I was gone.

(As a testament to how hearty it was, I was actually full from then 'til about 1215 this morning. Keep in mind that we probably got our stuff at around 1345.)

So, with some of us sated and the rest of us (read: me) going through a happy food coma, we decided to walk around the shops in Little Tokyo. We browsed around before hitting up one of the local arcades, where I got to get a glimpse of my Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition chops and how bad they were. Out of three matches, I did 1-2. All fights were against one of my friends who is pretty much one of the fighting game pros amongst my massive friend pool, and all fights had us going at our all.

Taiko Drum Master, anyone?

Of course, there were other games we played - air hockey, Puzzle Fighter II, King of Fighters XIII, some game that involved maracas... and Taiko Drum Master! I'm not that good, but it's a great and fun game! After that, we hit up a couple of Japanese supermarkets in search of random foods and drinks before heading back to the rendezvous point.

Most of my friends were craving food badly at that point (after a lengthy debate on what to get, they settled on cooking curry), so they headed off to the local Vons and procured some stuff necessary for their decision. When they came back, I found myself surprised, because I was presented with (birthday) presents! Yaaay!

Dianne showing her birthday offering: A 2010 cabernet sauvignon.

As they walked in the door, they yelled for me and asked if I was ready to get drunk. Right before I had a chance to answer, I was presented with a bottle of wine. Now, this wasn't just any bottle of wine - it was a bottle of wine with my name on it. I was amazed (I think my eyes went wide upon presentation) and got a big kick out of it.

Now, in my alcohol history, I don't recall ever drinking much wine. I didn't get to sample any wine during my 21^st birthday celebration (there was some hard liquor, beer, and some mixed drinks, but no wine... weird), and since then I've probably only had a small glass of some kind of white wine (this kinda indicates how memorable it was). This would be an interesting encounter, and I found myself laughing with amusement over the thought of me getting drunk off of this bottle. (And in case you were wondering about the question: no; I was not ready to get drunk.)

Joe presenting his birthday offering: heroin puffs Cheetos Natural White Cheddar Puffs.

Right as I was recovering from my amusement, I was then shown another birthday present: a bag of white cheddar cheese puffs. Some of you are probably wondering what the hell kind of present that is - but if you're a good friend, you'll appreciate the gift - no matter how simple or complex (or cheap or expensive) it is.

A bit of backstory: a few years back I had discovered this particular kind of cheese puffs and decided to try them out on a whim. At the time, they were a limited edition flavor, so I figured, "Why not?" I opened the bag and popped a few puffs into my mouth, and I remembered nothing but pure deliciousness. Super-tasty... super-addicting... and the funny part was I remember saying that it was like eating heroin. Since then, I've referred to these kinds of snacks as "heroin puffs" due to how amazing they tasted.

Me nuzzling against a birthday offering: the novelized adaptation of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

Then my girlfriend showed me a blue bag with some wrapped things inside of it. I opened it up and saw two objects wrapped in tissue paper. I grabbed the bulkier of the two and slowly unwrapped the object. It turned out to be Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots by Project Itoh - a book I had been eyeing for some time after I discovered it at Barnes & Noble. This was a great present, I'd say - I had wanted to somehow get myself back into reading things that I like reading, but I never had the heart or willpower (or more importantly: the attention span) to do so. Maybe this'll be of great influence.

My girlfriend Wendy enjoying the "new CD" smell of one of her birthday offerings: a Battlestar Galactica soundtrack.

So after marveling at my new book, I proceeded to reach in the bag and fetch the second wrapped item. By its weight and size, I could immediately tell that this was a CD, but of what? I slowly unwrapped the tissue paper (I have a habit of opening presents slowly) and found myself frozen in place as I found out what it was: Battlestar Galactica: The Plan and Razor Original Soundtrack.

Those of you who've seen my birthday wish list probably recognize it as one of the things I actually asked for. I wanted it because it was the one BSG soundtrack I did not own a physical copy of. Well, that changed yesterday - I can now listen to the music from the television specials of one of my favorite series! Huzzah!

Beef curry and a fried rice egg omelette. Mmm!

But while I was looking at presents, food was being cooked for our late-night din-din - curry and eggs! My, oh my, it was delicious! Words could not describe how good this tasted. (Of course, this was consumed well past midnight, and if you remember: food tastes better after midnight.

(Those of you who know my circle of friends are probably wondering where's Ryan in all this gift-giving. After some debate about driving plans (and jerkass me using the "birthday" card), he offered to drive the group to and from Los Angeles. That, and he helped make the curry.)

After enjoying some delicious food and having some fun conversations, I found that I was getting a bit tired. It was a long and fun birthday, but alas, I was tired after all the fun I got to experience with everypony. Eventually we all parted ways... and that's how my 23^rd birthday ended.





Well, that about wraps things up here. I'll see y'all tomorrow, eh?