Necktie Birthday Party

As it is the first day of my 3-Day Vacation and also my birthday, let's start with Saturday.

Nothing really happened much during the day. In fact, everyone was out and I was left alone at home doing chores. The friend who promised to come didn't, so the plan to go to Omiya was out. I just went out to buy the foodstuff for the dinner later that night and made the preparations for the chocolate pudding.

After a few hours later when the sun went down...

My friends began to come trickling back from whence they came, and the place started to get lively as people wailed that they're hungry and have no energy to help. Well I can't cook a feast by myself, so I told them they could either help me or go to sleep.

I guess they weren't sleepy.

In fact, rolls of chicken sushi began to mound up on plates. There were also roasted and fried chicken, candied fruits, and other bountiful dishes that filled the tables. Someone even went into the trouble of buying a cake. All while I was in the kitchen cooking the carbonara. Actually, they were rushing me with the pasta so much, that I forgot to add cornstarch and made some kind of "carbonara soup" instead. Still quite a fun dish overall.

With the cooking done, we turned up the music, turned down the lights, grabbed some plates, and went into some photo-shooting frenzy. Donning on neckties I wear for work, we dubbed it the Necktie Birthday Party while posing in front of the cam and doing some wacky shots. Good thing someone owned an SLR, I don't think regular cameras would work with such dark lighting and fast movements.

We ate, laughed, danced, and posed some more. Much so that we went past midnight and drained all our calories. It was like our own private disco club, minus the awkward strangers. We were on our own fun little world and it was the best.

The gifts came later and I got some chocolate rice balls, a Tokyo Dome mechanical eraser thingy, a mousepad, and of course the cake. By that time, everyone was already half-asleep, and I was left to clean out the room and put away the dishes.

Tired, content, and overflowing with happiness, I ushered the people back to their homes, closed the door, rolled out my futon, and went into a dreamless sleep. I didn't have to blow a candle to have my wish come true.

Thank you guys, that night was awesome. Happy birthday to meee~!

Summer + BBQ + Party + Japan

That's me at the front, 2nd guy from the right, wearing khaki shorts, beaming quite happily. You could never find a happier person in Inage-kaigan that day.

This was yesterday. And what a day it was!

Actually this has been my 2nd time at a BBQ party in Japan, but now with more people, more sizzling beef, more clouds, and more roasted bananas!

Yes! Even though it was drizzling throughout the day, the beach deserted and stinks of rotting fish, and that my lower-right molar tooth shattered the night before, I can still manage to beam that wonderful smile and have an awesome party with my friends and office mates.

The highlight of the day was the overflowing beef; sizzling, soft, tasty and oh-so-juicy! They also grilled lots of veggies, sweet potatoes, buttered potatoes, and of course, bananas. There were also tons of yakisoba; stir-fried noodles with veggies and meat, topped with different sauces and served on paper plates.

After eating non-stop for 2-3 hours, we decided that now's a good time to have an appendicitis and headed down to a nearby open field to play soccer, badminton, volleyball, dodgeball, and we even threw in some frisbee. Well no one had an appendicitis, but everyone had so much fun! Not being sportsy, I settled with playing badminton and frisbee, while taking pics during breaks. It was constantly drizzling, but thankfully it didn't fully rain. That would've dampened everyone's spirits.

The best part was that it was FREE! Yep, the only thing I spent my Yen on was the transpo from my house to the beach. Not much considering I had a train pass. And because of such, I managed to buy a couple of ice cream cones from a vending machine nearby. Talk about convenience; where else can you get choco mint and chocochip cookies ice cream cones from a vending machine but in Japan? Heaven I tell you, heaven!

Although there was a beach, no one was swimming in it. Maybe because the lifeguard stops you from stepping close to the water, or maybe because it smelled like a dead whale. The smell goes away every minute or so, but everytime you're about to enjoy the fresh salty air, it dives back to make your face distort itself to oblivion. It sounds like a cynical exaggeration, but you haven't smelled what we smelled, so there.

All in all, it was an event memorable and everlasting. Roasted bananas FTW!