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I get emails from the Houston Symphony about possible shows that I might be interested in attending since I saw Video Games Live a few years ago. Nothing seemed to interest me until last year I saw The Blue Planet and just a few weeks ago, The Planets Plus Star Wars. A group of us also decided to go watch Wicked. I only knew it was about the Wizard of Oz or something and I heard it it got some good reviews.

The Planets Plus Star Wars
Date: July 16, 2010 | Location: Jones Hall
Overall Review: Four stars (first half: five stars; second half: two stars)

To be honest, all I had to see was “Star Wars” and I was sold. The Planets series kind of lured me in as well since I just watched the first season of History Channel‘s series, The Universe on Hulu. I was looking through the program and I realized they were not just going to play John Williams’ orchestra suite from Star Wars, but also excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Adventures on Earth from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. The music took me back to when I first watched these movies! It was completely amazing, wonderful and freaking awesome.

The conductor, Brett Mitchell, told us that when movies are made, orchestras typically play the music after the movie has been edited and lasts no more than thirty seconds to a minute. The difficult part for the conductor and orchestra is hitting keys points to make sure the music is kept in sync and harmony with the film. George Lucas and John Williams have collaborated in many movies before E.T. and for the last scene, Williams was supposed to produce fifteen minutes of music in synchronization with the movie – that’s about one hundred back to back sync points that had to be coordinated!

After a few unsuccessful takes, Williams took a break was frustrated with himself. Lucas came up to him and told him to just play the piece as he wanted without any concerns about the film. It was magnificent. Lucas then told the film editors to go back and re-edit the last fifteen minutes of the movie to this piece. It was complete faith and trust between Lucas and Williams. It’s something that completely boggles my mind about movie making and how music plays such a key component at the box office.

The actual Planets piece wasn’t as moving, even with the photos playing in the background. There needs to be a better film editing to make the video clips match Gustav Holst’s mood and feelings portrayed for each planet.

I’d watch the first half over and over again, but leave during intermission.

Wicked
Date: July 23, 2010 | Location: Sarofim Hall
Overall Review: Five stars

Have you ever wondered what happened to the witch to make her the way she is? Have you ever wondered how The Cowardly Lion, The Tin Man, and The Scarecrow came to be the way they are? This is the show to watch. It’s full of imagination, comedy and yes – singing.

Sometimes I feel like the singing is a little dragged out, but that’s because I’m just not that used to musicals. Other than that, it’s a great show!

Just as it sounds, the Fuji Q Highland theme park is set near Mount Fuji. What a perfect backdrop for all these rides.

We woke up late and almost missed out bus. It took a couple hours to get out there, but well worth it. There was even a Thomas Land, but we didn’t have time to go, BOO! I’ve been sporting Thomas the Train since 2007, lol!

Farewell, Japan

All I had time for Sunday morning was to pack and head to the airport. This is one of the best trips I’ve been on and I’m definitely planning on going back again. I’ll travel north of Tokyo and hopefully for skydiving and snowboarding!

Pictures are all finally posted and this will end my Japan Trip series. I hope you enjoyed it despite the fact that it took forever for me to get them uploaded.

[Japan Trip 2010 | Tokyo 1 | Kyoto 1 | Kyoto 2 | Hiroshima 1 | Hiroshima 2 | Tokyo 2 | Fuji Q]

We all pretty much knocked out the night on our way back to Tokyo, but after we all got settled in at Hotel Shirakawago, some of us got pretty hungry.

Even after that, Amy and I decided to make it out to a bar. After some walking around, we found our way to Shot Bar! It was pretty late when we got back, so instead of trying to get 2-3 hours of sleep, we decided to play dominoes through the night. Yup, no sleep. I haven’t done something like that since college!

Tsujiku Fish Market

Morning came and we went back upstairs to get ready to head out to the Tsujiku Fish Market. We even found some posted directions at our station for us tourists.

It took us a while to find where it was, but when we got there, we saw lots of packaged food, giant gutted fish, and even a styrofoam container filled with fish heads.

Hunger set in pretty quick and we found a little ramen place. Amy, Sarah and I stopped for ramen while Dan and Rami went somewhere else. After I finished my bowl of ramen, I went to go look for the guys and found them at a little breakfast sushi place. Nothing stopped me from even thinking twice about having another breakfast!

We walked around a little more and saw so much raw fish. I could stop by here for breakfast everyday, forever!

Ginza

Ginza was just a walk away, and on our way, we bumped into this crazy store, Don.K! They seriously have everything you can imagine there. From Halloween costumes to snacks and even hair styling stuff.

I was able to snag some videos at the Yamaha store while a demostration was going on:

• Attempting the “Licking the Glass” Pose – WTF, Amy? LOL!
• Yamaha Music Store Demo 1 – Mission Impossible Theme
  Yamaha Music Store Demo 2 – No idea, but sounds fun
• Yamaha Music Store Demo 3 – Lion King Theme

Yasukuni Shrine and some Sumo Wrestling

We went to go find the Yasukuni Shrine to check out some sumo wresting! Afterward, I found more vendor food and yes, I ate more.

Fugu Dinner

Yes, fugu. A lot of people said I shouldn’t eat it, but if this was going to be the last meal of my life, then let it be. Obviously, I’m fine and the dinner was great! Everything was fugu – sake, sashimi, appetizer, and dinner.

Jack Bar and Yet Another Late Night Snack

Fugu was great and we made our way around the area. After much debate and aimlessly walking around, we ended up at Jack Bar for some drinks, darts, and more drinks. Afterward, we stumbled upon a little restaurant to fill our hunger. Surprisingly, they served beer and we couldn’t say no.

Next up, Fuji Q Highland Park!

[Japan Trip 2010 | Tokyo 1 | Kyoto 1 | Kyoto 2 | Hiroshima 1 | Hiroshima 2 | Tokyo 2 | Fuji Q]

I woke up pretty early and no one was awake, so I ended up walking around the area by myself. I found out that almost every parking garage had Batman technology – equipped with a spinning base and vehicle elevator! Hunger kind of set in and luckily there was an awesome bakery near our hotel, One Coin Bakery. I dropped by to refuel, headed off in a different direction and found an outdoor mini mall.

Here’s the hotel we stayed at, Hiroshima Kokusai Hotel. Check out our backyard!

After I got back from my morning walk, I took the rest of the gang back to the bakery. Yeah, I had a second breakfast. The lady who served me early remembered me and had ultra smiles when she saw that I brought more people.

Atomic Bomb Dome

After breakfast, we all got ready for walking around. Just a short ride over and we stopped at the Atomic Bomb Dome. The structure stands as a memorial to those who lost their lives on August 6, 1945. I can’t say how many times I got chills down my spine and most of the time my mind was going a million miles a second about the idea of what happened about 65 years ago.

Little did I know that there was an entire park, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in the surrounding area, so we all walked around.

The Hall of Remembrance

After splitting up for a while, we all met back up around the museum. I have almost all the plaques, but I’ll upload them later when I can piece them all side by side.

Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound

There was a huge open area just in front of the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound, so I made a panoramic.

Okonomiyaki, Hiroshima-style

We walked across the bridge and made our way to find some okonomiyaki, Hiroshima-style. This was an awesome meal nonetheless. Ray wanted to introduce this, “taco wasabi” to me and I couldn’t imagine what the hell it looked like. When it came out on a little dish, I realized when he said “taco”, it was really, “tako” – octopus. It hit my nose hard, but it was freaking delicious! I need to find a place in the states that serves this.

We made our way back to the hotel, did some last minute shopping, packed up and got ready for our long trek back to Tokyo.

[Japan Trip 2010 | Tokyo 1 | Kyoto 1 | Kyoto 2 | Hiroshima 1 | Hiroshima 2 | Tokyo 2 | Fuji Q]

We woke up to pack and catch a Shinkensen to Hiroshima. Joseph was even with us in spirit…or just on a window really. At the station, we found a Cafe Du Monde!

On these trains, there’s a lady with a snack cart walking around and I found the best candy ever! We had a one transfer and after you know, we got to Hiroshima.

After checking in at our hotel, we made our way to Miyajima Island. It was a really long ride, but worth it.

After getting off the last stop, we walked just across the street to hop on a ferry and head to Miyajima Island!

We were looking for the Itsukushima Shrine and took a short path around the island. Walking through this gave me time to enjoy the sights and just reflect on life.

Some people started getting hungry and others were getting cranky-hungry. We walked back down the path and into a small walkway. This coolest little restaurant’s bar area was completely filled by us.

After dinner we made our way to the five-story pagoda. It was a dark and windy night and I didn’t have my tripod with me. So improvised my beanie as a base, played with some settings, turned on the timer and crossed my fingers.

We made it back to the ferry and the rail ride back to the hotel was a complete blur. I knocked out for most of the ride. Some of us decided to grab another late night meal and Amy learned to use an egg separator for the first time, so you know we had to video record it. On our way back we realized we were right next door to Round1, a 7 or 8 story game place. The other guys knocked out, so Sarah, Amy and I had a little fun playing BilliBowl and darts!

More Hiroshima coming up soon.

[Japan Trip 2010 | Tokyo 1 | Kyoto 1 | Kyoto 2 | Hiroshima 1 | Hiroshima 2 | Tokyo 2 | Fuji Q]

Sarah, Amy and I woke up early to find that Dan, Rami and Ray were still sleeping, so we decided to walk around and maybe find some breakfast. We found a crazy little corner store with ridiculously good looking, almost fake looking, fruits!

After Sarah got some strawberries, we went down some small alley and found the coolest little grocery store. Everything was perfectly packed – fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood – everything!

After getting back to the hotel we met up with the rest of the group and just decided we’d take a train to the Shijo Shopping District and walk around.

We got really hungry, so we stopped by some Tenkaippin near the Keihan Railway Gion-shijo place where you have to place your order at a ticket vending machine before coming in. There were a lot of these types of restaurants around Japan – so damn efficient!

This is a shopping district, so we shopped!

I was waiting outside of a shop and then all of the sudden a whole fleet of people in traditional Japanese attire walked down the street. Obviously, I had no idea why, can someone translate?

A the T-section of the shopping strip was a park. I still have no idea what the name of it is, but this was where the group of people congregated for a picture. Just inside were a lot of shrines and places with long strings with this prayer paper folded up and tied on them.

While walking down further, we ran in to a huge cherry blossom sitting area fully equipped with tables and tarp. I found a little stand with a ring of fish and had to grab one. It was delicious! We rested at a table and grab a couple beers.

Nearby, we found a really huge cherry blossom tree. It was completely blocked off and everyone stopped to take a picture.

I’m not sure how this park is maintained, but giant ravens flock around this area. Maybe it’s be because of the food. We ran into a group of girls all in traditional attire, a little creek, a teeny tiny waterfall, and walkways with run off on each side – so smart!

We met up with Brent and Kristine and had to wait for the dinner place to open. Kind of lame, but we had time to rest along the river and had some really good food!

After getting back to the hotel, for whatever reason we got hungry again, so we stopped by another ticket vending fast food place…YUMM.

On our way back, we just wandered around and even caught a couple break dancers doing their thing.

Next up, Hiroshima.

[Japan Trip 2010 | Tokyo 1 | Kyoto 1 | Kyoto 2 | Hiroshima 1 | Hiroshima 2 | Tokyo 2 | Fuji Q]

Ark Hotel – Day Time

After finding where to get our JR Passes and waiting in line to get them, we took a three hour Shinkensen ride to Kyoto, and then took a bus from the Kyoto Station to the Ark Hotel. We checked in and Amy found out that our defective window opened all the way and we walked outside on the ledge. The view was awesome!

Dinner, Part 1 of 2

After relaxing and walking around we randomly made our way to the best dinner ever at Gyuurakutei! I think the pictures speak for themselves.

We all headed off to find a bar and ran into some more cherry blossoms…can’t get enough. We ran around looking for some random places and for a while nothing seemed right for us.

Booze.K

We finally found a really tiny bar, Booze K, with one of the coolest setup and bartender. Here’s a video I found to give you a better idea of the size. There were tons of toys to play with, lots of drinks to choose from, and even a coaster from Saint Arnold’s. We pretty much took over the whole bar and before we left, we have him a dollar that we all signed with his little colored pencils.

Dinner, Part 2 of 2

Afterward, we then stumbled upon this little restaurant and had another dinner. Yes, multiple dinners a night became common for us. =)

After finding our way back to the hotel, we got a little distracted and stopped by a Starbucks and even a little hobby shop. Yes, I bought something from the toy store.

Ark Hotel – Night Time

When we got back to the hotel, some of us hung outside on the ledge. I’m not really good at taking night shots with people since it’s really hard to sit perfectly still for more than two seconds. I think most of these needed five to eight seconds at f/2.8 to come out like this. I think someone saw us through a window, so we decided to call it a night before getting kicked out.

We had free wifi and my dad sent me the awesomest email ever. He recently learned how to use GMail and still composes a new thread to reply, hehe. I made no modifications to the spacing. I died laughing. =)

Thanks. Have good time. Every thing is small and low.Please watch your head. HA ! HA ! HA ! ! ! ! !

[Japan Trip 2010 | Tokyo 1 | Kyoto 1 | Kyoto 2 | Hiroshima 1 | Hiroshima 2 | Tokyo 2 | Fuji Q]

One Whole Day Lost, Three Movies Gained

My brother dropped me off at the Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston on Saturday and I was in the air just before noon. I really wanted to sleep, but it must have been the anxiety and anxiousness that kept me awake. In order to help kill thirteen hours, I did about half of the crossword puzzle, watched some TED Talks podcasts, and read portion of a book or two. Somewhere in between I also ended up watching three movies:

• The Invention of Lying – This was ultimately hilarious, I’ll definitely be watching this again!
• The Men Who Stare at Goats – Meh, not at good as it was made out to be.
• Pulp Fiction – for the first time in my life in it’s entirety, awesome movie!

While sitting on the tarmac, I found out from a random conversation with the flight attendant that Continental started charging for my favorite seats: the exit row since it has more leg room. Not only that, the first week this was implemented, they made a million dollars!

Sitting next to me was an older guy who spoke broken English. I really hate it when people raise their voices as if that helps translate English to some magical universal language. I helped him get his bag in the upper compartments and ordering food and drinks. After hearing his accent for a while, I asked if he was Vietnamese and he was. We had a simple conversation and with my broken Vietnamese and his broken English, we talked for quite a while.

As we were landing, another flight attendant gave me one immigration form to fill out. I asked her for another form for the guy next to me and she gave me a confused look. I explained that we’re complete strangers and she gave me a sneer. Can’t two people who speak the same language sitting next to each other on a plane be unrelated?

Narita Station > Shinjuku Station > Ikebukuro Station

I was the last of the group [Ray, Sarah, Rami, Amy, Dan, and me] to land in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon (JST). It took over an hour to get through customs and then I was off to the Japan Rail booth to get a ticket from the Narita Airport directly to Ikebukuro Station. Little did I know, the one I took dropped me off early at the Shinjuku Station, but I should have known since I got two tickets. Luckily, a guy sitting in front of me helped me find my way to the platform to take me to the Ikebukuro Station via the Yamanote line. Fortunately, the Dai Ichi Inn Hotel was just right around the corner and with Rami’s directions, I got there quite easily.

Shibuya Station, Karaoke, and Food!

After checking in, I found my way back to Shibuya and met up with Rami at Hachikō, the famous dog – I didn’t know, but after reading the story, it’s a pretty neat story. We walked be over to karaoke place a couple blocks away. HOLY SHIT, MY FIRST NIGHT IN JAPAN!

After karaoke, we went with the group and some of Ray’s friends who live in Japan to a little restaurant, Village Vanguard Diner, that served an awesome burger with a fried egg and jalapenos. This is where I found out that despite how awesome the service, you don’t tip in Japan.

Dai Ichi Inn Hotel

Back at the hotel in Ikebukuro, Sarah, Amy, and I played blackjack and had some shots of sake from a paper carton that Dan bought earlier in the day. Ah, bed time.

Don’t drink sake from a paper carton, ever.

Waking up in the morning, I still could not believe I was in Japan. I looked out the window and realized that I needed to take photos of the comically small room I was in. The bathroom was really narrow, the tub itself was about one third the size of a normal on in America, even the ceiling was really low.

“Everything is small in Japan,” they weren’t joking.

Next city: Kyoto!

[Japan Trip 2010 | Tokyo 1 | Kyoto 1 | Kyoto 2 | Hiroshima 1 | Hiroshima 2 | Tokyo 2 | Fuji Q]

[Japan Trip 2010 | Tokyo 1 | Kyoto 1 | Kyoto 2 | Hiroshima 1 | Hiroshima 2 | Tokyo 2 | Fuji Q]

Thursday, the Farewell Feast

We all decided to have our last supper at Sinh Sinh. We had bunch of our favorite dishes – walnut shrimp, pan fried noodles, Peking duck, bo` lu’c la’c, and orange-peel beef. What a cheap and awesome dinner! Thanks to everyone who came out to say goodbye to our wisdom teeth!

Friday, the Operation

In the morning my brother and I had the operation at Sandalwood Dental on Friday by Dr. Bloom 7 am and 9 am, respectively. Our parents took care of us since we were wheel-chaired out to their car after our operation early Friday morning. After the operation, we’ve each been given a bottle of 30 Hydrocodone pills as a part of our pack.

Hydrocodone gets me really itchy and anxious and everything gets loopy. It’s like being high and drunk at the same time without the hangover and nausea. It cures pain like no other and it definitely helps me get through the days and nights. Without it, I’d be in bed all day to try and sleep through the pain.

Saturday and Sunday, the Pain

If you should ask, the second day after the operation is the worst. That day was Sunday for me and it started around 2 AM. I debated with myself for an hour to either try and sleep through the pain our get out of bed all groggy and dizzy to get another pill. The pain escalated ridiculously, so I stumbled out of bed to find where I last put the medicine bottle. On my way back, I realized my brother was also in pain and had a hard time sleeping, just like me.

Here’s a hint he gave me that I’ll pass on to everyone after this kind of operation: sleep with your head in a raised position. Sleep on a bunch of pillows!

While at my parents’ house, I found a Williams Sonoma I made it a point to learn a few recipes while at my mom’s house:

• Broccoli Cheese Soup
• Baked Potato Soup – add bits of real bacon!
• Chao – a Vietnamese rice porridge dish. It really quite easy.
• Homemade Chili – mix this with chao and it’s a bad ass meal!
• Gumbo – I’ll need a bigger pot if I’m going to do this myself.

Monday, the Recovery

I really thought I would be able to make it back to work on Monday, but when I woke up Monday morning, the nausea, headaches, and dizziness kicked in. It wasn’t due to the pain, it was all because of the medicine. I decided to reduce my intake from two pills every six hours to one pill every four hours. This way, I’m not on a crazy high/trip.

Anyway, I think I’m back to normal and I hope I can make it into work just fine tomorrow morning.