Japan: Diamonds and Flowers ferris wheel & Kasairinkai koen 2012-08-31

After getting my fill of the fishes at the Sealife park, it was time to carry on and explore the outdoors.

Naturally, the looming figure of the Diamonds and Flowers ferris wheel made for a good point of destination, so I started heading off. 

Japan: Tokyo Sea Life Park in Kasairinkai Koen (park) 2012-08-31

You may or may not have noticed from my post of our trip to San Francisco's Aquarium of the Bay, but aquariums are among one of my favorite places to explore. As a child my grandparents would often take me to the Sea World in Ohio during my summer visits, which instilled an appreciation for aquatic lifeforms in me early on. While the ethics behind parks like Sea World are certainly questionable, the effect of seeing the majestic denizens of the seas and shores has had isn't. 

On one particularly lovely summer day in the Tokyo Bay area, I decided to pay a visit to Kasai Rinkai Koen. One of the more striking features of the park is this glass dome that houses the entrance to the Tokyo Sea Life Park, visible from the Keiyo line trains as they roll up to the station. The park itself is quite large, with expansive bay-side areas, grassy picnic fields, gardens, the Diamonds & Flowers Ferris wheel (2nd largest in Japan), a beer garden during the summer and much more! 

I've written an article about the park for Tokyo Cheapo in the past, so feel free to check it out!

This post will focus on the aquarium, with another post covering the Diamonds and Flowers ferris wheel and the rest of the park coming soon!

Japan: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo 2012-08-16

Not everything is quite what it seems...

One fine summer day I decided to embark upon a quest to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art  Tokyo, or MoT, an art gallery in the Miyoshi district of Tokyo.

It's a lovely art museum nestled into a quieter neighborhood of Tokyo, one not particularly bustling with tourists. Walking there ended up being something of a mission all in it's own, as my gps signal was unreliable and I found myself exploring wonderful little pockets of the town I hadn't expected to encounter!

Las Vegas: Visit from a little bee buddy

Just nature doing nature stuff.

This little bee landed in the little patch of astroturf we have here (be water smart, shop s-mart) and hung out for quite awhile, posing for us like a true professional.

I've never been spooked by bees, and I've been stung several times.

Stinging someone requires having their guts ripped out… o_o

Why would anyone want to do that?

Even bees aren't that cray cray unless you force them into a situation where they'd have to be.

 This little home-bee meant no harm!

And neither did we.

:)

These are the flowers that attract the little guys. They also attract humming birds!

Thanks for hanging out with us little buddy! 

Las Vegas: Fuel pump replacement with YourMechanic 2015/09/15

As is prone to happening in life, sometimes even our most reliable of things let us down from time to time. 

My car, Svetty, is an old dame. 

She runs exceptionally well most of the time, but this past summer she's begun experiencing an ongoing procession of hiccups and age related problems that has resulted in several costly replacement part installations. Between batteries, spark plugs, cables, hoses, and now a fuel pump, she's gobbled up a good portion of my finances. It's all well worth it to me in the end if I can get my old car up and running again, as I genuinely aim to keep her until she falls to pieces. Ideally I'd like to get her into the million mile club, but to get there I'm going to have to overcome obstacles like this from time to time. It's all part of the process. 

As she was incapable of driving, I ended up going with YourMechanic for the repairs as they were a mobile mechanic company that could diagnose and repair issues without having to leave your home. My mechanic, Patrick, was exceptionally pleasant and didn't mind my hanging around watching, photographing or asking questions throughout the process. 

Las Vegas: Candy Warpop Show at the Double Down Saloon 2015-09-11

Candy Warpop, in case you've been orbiting Pluto and haven't heard of them, are a badass group of musicians who craft some glorious angst anthems. With Anisa on drums, Josh on guitar, Jonas on bass and Amy on vocals, they combine their individual talents into a passionate performance every time they do a show. We've actually done a show with them before, back in the early days of 710 Visuals!

Trust no one who dislikes the song White Rabbit. 

It's fun seeing these old videos as it really demonstrates how far we've come since then! 

This show was at the Double Down Saloon, which is renowned throughout Vegas for their ass-juice and punk-rock aesthetic. The show went really well and we had a great time!

Check below for more photos and videos.

Project: Custom Painted Mermaid Guitar

How does one take a guitar from

this

   

to this? 

Well, that's what I'm going to share with you today! This is an absolutely fantastic project that my from CeeDro set me to task on, and I'm immensely grateful that he did! It's been a wonderful learning process and a whole lot of fun. I've always been really curious about customizing instruments and immensely flattered whenever anyone mentions their interest in such a project. This was one commission I took with great enthusiasm!

To learn more, read below!

Hair Update: Electric Lizard green

Antho and I have amassed something of a collection of hair dyes over these past few months!

As you may have noticed in my August updates post, I changed my hair…again…during the month of August. I took my faded Voodoo Blue to a shocking Electric lizard green!

I also decided to try trimming in bangs, which I'm pretty pleased with!

Before:

After:

What do you think?

It was really well received! 

One of my friends referred to me as woodland elf, which I'm totally ok with. ^_^

Would you ever dye your hair green?

Las Vegas: Fear the Watching Dear premier party 2015-08-23

Antho and I were recently invited to participate in the Fear the Watching Dead season premiere party hosted by Fatbeard and the cast of Evil Dead the Musical at Shakespeare's Grille & Pub. It was a freaking blast!!!

If you didn't know already, I'm a huge fan of all things horror! 

Ever since I was a little kid horror movies have been a favorite of mine, with The Thing, the Fly, Alien & Aliens, American Werewolf in London, the Evil Dead series, and the Nightmare on Elm Street series among my favorites, but I've also got a big sweet spot for zombie flicks. Shaun of the Dead, Dead Alive, Night of the Living Dead, Zombieland, Warm Bodies and more all hold very near and dear places in my heart. One of the biggest draws to the creepier side of the cinematic world for me is the practical effects utilized in a lot of the older movies. I was raised on a heavy diet of Jim Henson's astounding creations and was absolutely fascinated by the process I caught glimpses of in behind the scenes clips. Working in the world of creature effects and practical monster makeup has always been something of a dream job for me, and I geek out hard on videos showing how a talented team of professionals can turn a pretty little model into a crawling corpse. However, I'm currently much better at drawing, so I do! Being invited to events like this is always a great privilege and honor, and I'm happy to announce that we were invited back for the season finale! Yay!

Check out my art blog, Deviantart,  if you're curious to get a glimpse of some of the creepy stuff I love drawing, haha. Might not be suitable for the easily spooked. ;) 

More photos from the event below!

Japan: Maihama Sunset 2012-07-17 日本語も

Walking home from work many nights, I'd pass along Maihama station.

Maihama station is the official Disney resort station for the Tokyo Disney parks with busses and taxis available to take guests to their points of destination (be it the park or a nearby hotel), so it's usually quite the bustling hub of activity. I could catch one of the many busses that left the station for nearby neighborhoods but they were often crowded with a long queue as Maihama is also a popular residential area for young families. As someone who finds unwinding in quiet optimal for relaxing after a long day, the walks home were generally my preferred route. What better way to get to know my neighborhood and the little joys of life in Japan?

毎日仕事から帰りましたおさんぽする。舞浜駅はデズニーレソートーの一番となりだから人が多いです。バースとタクシーがあるでもおさんぽがいいね？ママチャリもいいね！「笑」

Japan: Ghibli Museum, Mitaka 日本語も

If you're a fan of animation then you've probably heard of Studio Ghibli, and if not, you should! Seriously, these guys are often referred to as "the Disney of Japan" and for very good reason! 

Stunningly detailed imagery drips from every frame, lush in all of their films and their iconic characters have become beloved icons the world around. Primarily focusing on a hand-drawn aesthetic, everything from the minutae of everyday life to resplendent scenes of mythological beings or nature are rendered and exaggerated with loving detail until every scene oozes with atmosphere and life.

Pretty legit stuff, guys.  

ギブリの映画を見ましたか？どちがすきな？

あたしの一番すきなは風の谷のナウシカともののけ姫です。

キキもかわいいですね？＾＾

トトロはとてもかわいいでもその映画ぜんぜん見ませんでした。

ほんとう！びっくりしたか？

友達たちの一緒に三鷹の森 ジブリ美術館を行きました。

すごい楽しかったよ！

So it was with great excitement that I agreed to go to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka with some of my friends. Tickets had to be purchased in advance through a kiosk in either Lawson or Family Mart, and they could sell out quickly if you didn't plan ahead! We found a date that worked best for everyone and set our calendars.

One of these things is not like the others… ^^; 

あらららら。。。いっぽんは違うな？「笑」

More photos below!

ここの下で写真がある！

Japan: Inagekaigan Hari 2012-07-2 日本語も

Have you ever had acupuncture?

針をしましたか？

Working at Tokyo Disney Sea, I often had to overexert myself physically just to match product demand. People would be lining up for drawings before we even opened in the morning and there were many times when the wait time was over three hours…that's right, three HOURS! x_x;

Most of the thrill rides have wait times that long, but for a simple drawing? They really like their drawings! ^_^

デイズニーシーの仕事中は難しいでした。。。

朝からお客様が多いでした！

本当にときどき三時間が待てました。

三時間？！！ x_x;

びっくりしたよ！！

みんなさん絵が大好きだからね？ ^_^

Drawing endlessly for 40-50 hours a week caught up with me pretty quick, and my muscles and joints became increasingly more painful and stiff. My coworker, Gamini, lived out in a quiet suburban village in Chiba and recommended an acupuncturist/physical therapist there. Being 20-30 minutes from Tokyo, the doctor was more reasonably priced than some in the city and had an affable and earnest demeanor that was endearing. Despite the shock-white hair that perfectly matched his scrubs (and socks, because no shoes in the clinic, thanks) he was an energetic young gent at a spritely 70 or 80 years young. During the massages that would accompany the acupuncture, he would often climb atop the table and dig his big toes into knots in my shoulders with deft dexterity and surprising agility. 

Japan: Ginza with Yuka 2012-06-28

The view of Ginza from the restaurant we had our dinner in, including the famous "Marui" building.

Ginza's name is derived from the silver coin mints that filled the area in it's earlier years and now-a-days it's a ritzy, classy neighborhood with glittering high-rises and gussied up pedestrians dipping into high-end restaurants or shops. It's not unusual to see women in fancy kimono or exorbitantly priced stilettos strutting the streets of Ginza. Even with it's high-class image, there are still plenty of reasonably priced activities and shops to take in!

There's even pineapples!

Japan: Cafe HOM+ 2012-06-28

Girls, assemble!!

Working at Disney, I made a lot of friends but the Ishizawa Sisters were among the first, the friendliest, and the funniest. Unabashedly silly and fun-loving, I could always count on having an adventure when we'd get together. 

After Kanae moved on from her position with us at Disney, she began working at a lovely little cafe called Cafe HOM+! Yuka and I ventured out to show our support and try their tempting treats!

2015 August Update

I can't believe it's already September! 

My, how time flies when you're having fun... 

It's been a busy one for us, with promotions at work, art projects, events, vehicular issues and more…

Since I've been neglecting my blog, I thought I'd sum up the month with a photo post!

More detailed posts to come!