Rocktoberfest

Today I'm writing about Rocktoberfest. Which was almost a month ago on October 10th and 11th. Oh well. I had the pictures uploaded for quite awhile now but when I tried to upload the videos it wasn't working out. So then I would get frustrated and walk away. I think the video files are maybe too big. I'm gunna try and upload them in a separate post so we'll see. I really want you guys to see them but I may have to shorten them a bit and well....I like to procrastinate those sorta things.

Anyways, Rocktoberfest was basically an excuse to see the beach one last time before it got "cold" (I mean in the 70s), and to see a bunch of Japanese and Okinawan rock bands. It was at Torii Beach (where the jazz festival was) and it was a two day event. Originally, we were only gunna go on the first day but we had so much fun we decided to go the second day as well.

It gets dark really early here. Even in the summer the sun's down between 6 and 7pm. By the way, that's Adams in the picture with me. We brought him along (my suggestion actually) because he's a nice boy and we like him.

Even though he did this.

Lots of people were there sitting on the grass. We were the smart ones that brought towels though. Then I was the stupid one who wore a dress. Every time I had to use the bathroom or wanted to get food, it took me awhile to get off the ground in a way that wouldn't expose anything naughty.

The first night was more heavy metal type rock. Not my stuff but still fun to watch because they were mostly locals. This is a Okinawan band even though the lead singer had a Mexican wrestler's mask on.

We've actually seen this band before at a club! They're called FOD (don't ask me what it stands for. I still don't know) and the lead singer is American and I believe the rest were all Okinawan. They do all covers but really amazingly good. They got the biggest crowd. I think a lot of people were there just for them.

Uh...I don't remember. I think Dustin was taking pictures at this point.

Day 2! Official Rocktoberfest mugs with beer! Not for me, of course but the guys seemed to enjoy them.

There were a lot of pretty good food stands. And even though it was Rocktoberfest, there was only one stand with German brats. And the beer was Miller light. They were also selling a few Halloween costumes here.

It rained earlier that day but by the time we got there the sky decided to chill out. It was still pretty cloudy and windy like always.

Day 2 had more oldies rock and just more fun happy stuff. We loved this band and I have a video of them that I hope to get on here. They did all covers and were super cute and happy.

Dustin wanted to take pictures. I was having none of it.

But Adams is always up for a picture. As long as you keep him happy with beer.

Eventually I gave in. But there was no way I was gunna smile pretty.

So we were enjoying the music, eating and joking around blah blah blah, when this amazing lady got on the stage. Lord Almighty. If she was the only act that night it still would've been well worth the trip. She's Aria Asia and she's a rock violinist. She's been playing since she was only 2 years old and is hot shit in Japan. Especially Okinawa. She's adorable and completely amazing. She played beautiful original pieces and then also some covers. She got all the drunk Marines amped with her rendition of Smells Like Teen Spirit and Green Day's Basket Case. Her videos were the main ones I wanted you guys to see. Keep your fingers crossed.

Look how fast she's going! She likes to dance and sway while she's playing as well. The rest of her band were really talented too. If you're really interested, look her up on youtube. She's there.

We decided to buy her CD and DVD because we seriously could not get enough of her. She was nice enough to sign autographs and take pictures with everyone that wanted to. Look at her tiny top hat! She was so sweet and there was a line at her merchandise booth through the next two bands.

Adams pretty much wanted to marry her. He had been saying, just that day, that he had always wanted to learn how to play the violin. He has a long way to go if he ever wanted to be as good as her.

After Aria Asia, we were pretty much content with the night. But then All Japan Goith came on stage and Dustin really got excited. I don't know if you know this, but Dustin loves ska.

He bought their CD as well. They sang all in Japanese but were really fun to watch. There was one girl in the band who was super full of energy. She was like a little Jack Russell puppy. They pretty much ended the night for us. We had new local music and we were exhausted so we went home.

Sorry this took forever to post and I will try to upload those videos!

Chopsticks

I posted awhile back that we bought our own chopsticks but then didn't supply pictures because of my crappy camera. My camera is still a piece of poop but I figured out how to make it work a little bit better. How, you ask? I read the manual. I couldn't be bothered with it when I first got my camera from Dustin for my 21st birthday almost 2 years ago. I just didn't have the time or focus to sit down with it. I wish I did though.

First up, these are MY chopsticks. When I saw them I just knew we would have a beautiful future together. Because of course I needed chopsticks that looked like candy! They came in pretty much every colour combination you could think of but I needed pink.

Sometimes I think about bringing them everywhere with me so I can use them at restuarants instead of the disposable ones. But if I put them into my purse I'll probably never see them again and then I would be beyond depressed.

These are Dustin's chopsticks. Deffinetly not as cool as mine but decent. His came in many different colours too. The design that is. He doesn't use them as often because he doesn't eat as much sushi or noodles as me. Surprisingly, I'm braver as far as trying strange new foods. Most Okinawan foods Dustin won't even touch if he doesn't know what it is. And if it smells even the teeniest bit fishy, fugetaboutit.

For some reason Dustin was also allowed to get a cute little chopstick rest. Maybe I didn't want one. I really don't remember. But he hasn't used his at all so I don't think he really deserves it.

I'm weird when it comes to chopsticks. I know how to use them correctly but some days my fingers just don't wanna do it that way. They want to try a way that they think will be more comfortable but then causes me to drop everything and for my arthritis to act up. But only on some days. It's weird. I think it's because I also don't hold a fork the way everyone in the world does. I use far too many fingers because god forbid I drop the fork and my apple crumble doesn't make it to my mouth. I would die from shock, I think.

A tropical Saturday

I don't know about you guys but I can't wait for the summer. Especially now since I live on a tropical island and there's about 5,000 (or 80) beaches on the island. It's pretty short drive to get to one which is very exciting for me and Dustin. Neither of us have ever lived by a beach before. Let alone 5,000(or 80) beaches!! You don't even have to really plan a day at the beach in advance here. So we didn't, and we somehow ended up on a cute part of Sunset Beach that we haven't been to before.

It was right behind this massive resort hotel. I wanna stay at every resort on the island at least once because they put alot of money into them and they are so gorgeous! Plus, it's right on the beach.

Here are some lovely flowers I had to stop and take a picture of on the sidewalk. Are they lilies?? I have no idea. I just thought they were pretty and I was really excited to be outta the house for once. I think I'm getting cabin fever. If I don't get off base at least once I week I start to freak out.

This is how you know you're about to get to the lovely beach.

This is Sunset Beach! They have a windmill here for some reason. We liked it.

If it were about 5 or 10 degrees warmer, it would've been warm enough for us to go into the water. These people are crazy and acting like the water was fine. It was cold people! But we put our feet in anyways. Then we just laid out on our towels for awhile.

And took pictures. I was very excited to be at the beach and to be wearing one of the 4 new swim suits I bought towards the end of last summer. They still had the tags on them. To the left of me you can see Dustin's white hairy belly.

Dustin forgot to bring his sunglasses so I put his shirt on his head to shield his eyes from the sun. I'm helpful like that. I think Dustin appreciated it too.

The hotel again. This beach had a really small sandy area and then alot of these cement(I think) steps where mom's held all their kids' beach supplies while they played in the water. There's also a little ice cream cabana up there somewhere. It was very cute.

I love living here. And I get very excited thinking that we'll be here for 3 more summers after this.

After about 30 minutes of laying on the sand I started to get restless and Dustin started to get sleepy so we decided to explore. The sun had gone behind the clouds and it started to get a little cooler than comfortable as well. That's when I found this poor, dead puffer fish. At first I thought it was fake because it kinda looks like it might start talking. But then I saw it's battle scars on the side of it's belly. It wasn't a peaceful end for this guy.

This picture was taken to show how clear the water is here.

We walked along the sea wall for awhile.

People are allowed to decorate the sea walls here which is pretty awesome because every asian person can draw amazingly well. It's just a fact. I liked this one the best.

I've noticed that they really like dolphin statues here. I have no idea what this is for.

Here's the windmill again. We walked right past it.

I made Dustin pose like this because I was trying to get a candid picture before and he turned around and ruined everything. He's pointing at nothing. Actually, I think he was telling me that this chart thingy told you how fast the windmill was moving or some crap like that. He can't read kanji so I think he was just bullshitting me. But he was probably right. Sometimes I pretend I know how to read Japanese too but I'm usually just guessing. Most of the time I'm wrong.

This is a pineapple! At least that's what I said as I was taking this picture. But I really have no idea. It could be anything. It is Japan, after all.

These people were just sitting in this fountain/stream thingy by the resort. It was kinda weird and didn't seem like that was the sole purpose of the fountain. But I guess it's alright if they were doing it. I bet if I tried they'd totally kick me out. I'm not cool enough. :(

We were hungry after all the walking and decided to go to Ono Kau Kau and see what all the fuss was about. A lot of Americans come here to have some "Hawaiian" tasties. It was pretty ok. It was basically Japanese style Hawaiian so not totally what I was wanting. The Hawaiian place in Boise that catered Dave & Sammee's wedding was waaaaaaaaaaaay better. I really wanted some coconut rice but they only had plain rice.

Instead of napkins they had tissue boxes in the middle of every table. I'll tell you, tissues really don't work well in place of napkins.

We chose to eat outside since they didn't seem to have a/c inside. The place was kinda cute and they at least had Hawaiian music playing which made me feel like I was living on a tropical island.

Here I am deep in thought about food. I was looking at the picture menu when Dustin took this. He also took some other blurry pictures of my bottom half that I deleted when I found them later.

Here's another picture Dustin took. I'm not sure what he was aiming at, if anything. Maybe that ugly couple that was sitting back there. We're not very fond of the uglies. When we got our food we were so hungry that we forgot to take pictures. I was about halfway through my plate when Dustin suggested it. But it was just too late.

I only allow Dustin to take my picture so I can get away with making this face. How many pictures do I have of my face doing this? It's been going on for about 4 years. I will never get a different expression.

We ended the night attempting to get drunk. I had cran-raspberry mojitos to keep the whole tropical theme going. Dustin and I had about 2 drinks each over the course of about 5 hours. We're not very good at drinking. We don't particularly like shots and we hate getting full off of liquids. You know when you drink so much that when you move you can hear all the beverages sloshing around in your tummy? Yea, we hate that. I also like my drinks very very sweet so lately I've been getting a stomach ache from the sugar before I even get buzzed. We're total old people.

I will end this post with this kitty to show you all what an Okinawan kitty looks like. Notice the slanty eyes! This is the most Asian looking animal I've seen here.

Goodness, we love Totoro

Ever since I first saw it, years and years ago, I've been completely obsessed with My Neighbor Totoro. It's one of my all time favourite movies EVER. I love pretty much all of the Studio Ghibli movies but Totoro was the first one I'd ever seen and it was one the first movies made by Studio Ghibli over 20 years ago. I was happy to learn that the people of Japan and Okinawa are still beyond obsessed with Totoro today. They act as if it just came out yesterday. Everywhere I go there's something Totoro or any of the other characters from the movie. They find an excuse to put his face on almost everything. And every time I walk into a store that has Totoro things that I've never seen before, I have a complete heart attack.


All I had to do was type "Totoro" into google images and was amazed by how many Totoro things I found. I spent about 30 minutes looking at crazy pictures and choosing the craziest ones to put up here. Mostly Brittany and Kelly will appreciate this. Above me is a Cat bus car. I would happily get over my fear of driving just to have this car.

Totoro snowman. Of course.

Some artist that likes to draw anime characters all Simpson like did this. I think it's the single most amazing thing I've ever seen. But that's just me. I especially love Totoro and Mei's faces.

This made me laugh foreverrrrrrr. I love that they decided to dress up as a cat bus and just made it into a mask. It reminds me of something Kelly would do.

I've seen these toys and lots of other statues like it in alot of stores here. It's one of my favourite scenes from the movie.

This isn't my picture but I've actually seen this clock here! It was in this random old clock store that also had Disney clocks from the 80s. It was the most amazing store ever. And I never exaggerate.

Lego Totoro!

Even Hello Kitty sometimes gets beaten out by Totoro merchandise.

This is the Studio Ghibli symbol tattooed on the arm of someone way more obsessed than I am.

I don't even know what's going on here. All I know is that it's a big Totoro.

Bento box Totoro! If you don't know what bento boxes are and why they're so special here, then look it up. I'm too lazy to explain it right now.

I'm jealous. But I know a place not far away that would probably be able to do this to my nails. And the idea of that makes my little heart go pitter patter.

Hooray for Totoro cupcakes! If I attempted this I would surely fail miserably.

This is actually my picture. I took it at the store where I bought Britt's bday present not too long ago.

I took this yesterday at the Jusco bakery. I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be Totoro. What else could they be?? I didn't buy these because they looked kinda weird and I already had my tray full of lots of other tasties.

Now, when I say everyone is in love with the magic of Totoro here, I do mean EVERYONE. In January we went to the Nago Cherry Blossom Festival and a school marching band were playing the theme from the movie. You can watch it here:

And here we have a Japanese orchestra playing a medley of music from the movie:




And I'm convinced that every elementry school does this: