BLOG -- My Vacation Week (Jun. 8 - Jun. 16)

So, I had vacation this past week (Jun. 10 to Jun. 14). It was pretty uneventful, but I want to keep a record of it. This may not be interesting for you!

As much as I needed some vacation for all the late nights I've worked in the past couple months, I was pretty indifferent about having my vacation at this time. I tend to like using my vacation days for specific purposes, like when I'm attending a convention, or travelling (well, you kinda need to use vacation days when travelling). There was nothing specific I had to do this week, so it was, I guess, a "real" vacation -- a vacation meant just for relaxing.

I barely told anybody I was on vacation this time -- I needed the time for myself.

SATURDAY JUNE 8

This is just before my vacation starts, but I'll note it anyway.

I went over to my sister's place to do a gaming session with her, her hubby, and a friend. We tried a new board / card game called Root. It was an interesting game, but man... the instructions were soooooo not easy to follow. I think we spent about an hour reading through the manual before starting. And even then we weren't 100% confident when we started.

It ended up being quite fun, but the learning curve was very difficult. At least, it was very difficult for me. We played two rounds, and each one lasted about a few hours. I played the Woodland Alliance the first game (the mouse), and the Vagabond (the raccoon) the second game.

I might blog about Root in the future to explain (to the best of my knowledge) how to play it.

I ended up staying over at my sister's place since our 2nd round ended around 11 PM.

Root! The orange markers are the Marquise (the cats), 

the blue are the Eyrie Dynasty (the birds), the green are 

the Woodland Alliance (the mice), and the 

lone grey [if you can spot it!] is the Vagabond (the raccoon).

SUNDAY JUNE 9

I woke up at 7 AM, and caught up on some Criminal Minds while my sister slept. I think we're on the second last Season now. 

When my sister woke up, we tried making some mini-calzones. We cheated with the dough and used a pre-made croissant dough. It was messy, but it was fun making the mini-calzones.

After getting home, I blogged for a couple hours, and then watched Thor: Ragnarok. Even though I started my vacation with nothing specific to do, I came up with a list. One of the things was watching Avengers: Endgame in theatres, but first I had to do some catching up!

The mini-calzones my sister and I made.

The triangular ones were mine. 

The inside. Mmmmm, I'd like to make this again sometime!

MONDAY JUNE 10

It was raining, so I stayed indoors the whole day. 

Not too much happened. Only notable things were watching Avengers: Infinity War, and then watching The Lookout. Both movies were interesting in their own ways.

TUESDAY JUNE 11

Today was a busy day. I was heading out and had a lot of things to do, especially before noon!

Before heading out, though, I caught Stephen and Mal's Breakfast Stream on Twitch. I haven't tuned into their stream for a long time, so it was very nice!

It was around 10:30 AM when I went out. Before noon, around Bay / Yonge & Bloor, I did these tasks:

1. Return DVDs I rented (I rented 5 DVDs -- some were catch up for Avengers: Endgame)
2. Buy lottery tickets
3. Mail out a package

Then, around noon, I took the subway to the Scotiabank Theatre to catch Avengers: Endgame at 12:50 PM. I was the only one in the theatre which made me really uneasy! >__> Thankfully people started trickling in about five minutes before the movie started. 

I forgot that Avengers: Endgame was three hours long so it was a good thing I watched such an early showing! Once the credits finished rolling and after the new Spider-Man trailer finished playing (seriously do NOT watch the new Spider-Man trailer until AFTER watching Avengers: Endgame!), it was around 4:15 PM.

I rushed out of there to Spadina St. and hopped on a streetcar to Dundas. Then I walked quickly and met up with my sister and her hubby at OneZo Tapioca. 

I mentioned in a previous blog that I went to OneZo Tapioca to try out their limited time pokeball tapioca. I enjoyed it so much that I had to check out the place again. Sadly, they weren't offering pokeball tapioca anymore, but what I did have was yummy (mango green tea with crystal tapioca). For a bubble tea place, it's a bit on the pricy side, but it's fine to have every once in a while.

When it was nearing 5:15 PM, we left to our next destination: College Park at Yonge & College. After waiting for about five minutes and not seeing any streetcars, we decided to walk. 

We got to College Park around 5:40 PM. Around 5:45 PM, we met up with a friend and then headed to Bar+. The main event for the night: karaoke! Wheeeeeee!!! Hahaha XD 

We booked a room for two hours. Some memorable tunes were my sister's hubby trying to sing "My Heart Will Go On" (by Celine Dion) with a Western accent, all of us singing the English "Pokemon Theme song" (from Pokemon), and my friend and myself trying to sing "Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku" (opening theme to Dragon Ball GT -- I love this song so much!!). It was so much fun! ^_^

Afterwards, we had dinner at Boston Pizza. I got home around 11:30 PM.

Me singing "Hallelujah", Rufus Wainwright's version.

It's only audio, so feel free to click "Play" and do something else.

You might need to press "Play" twice.

I can't really hit the low notes, sadly.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 12

I didn't do too much today. I watched the 3rd Persona 3 movie. I also continued watching Orphan Black -- a TV series that's been on my "Currently watching" list for a long, long time.

I got a little sad partway through the day when I remembered it was Wednesday. I thought it was Tuesday... *sigh* My vacation is already halfway done!! T_____T

THURSDAY JUNE 13

During the morning, I caught Active NEETs' YouTube live stream. It was only the bassist (Aoi Setsuna), pianist (Akai Ryusei), and drummer (Shobon) from the group, but it was very fun and enjoyable. I was happy that I got to tune into the whole thing instead of commuting to work in the middle of it (like what happened to me last week).

I especially enjoyed Kobito of the Shining Needle (I got super excited when Akai Ryusei played a few chords of it before they started), a brief playing of Senbonzakura, a very brief playing of Secret of Mana's opening theme, and Megalovania. 

Here is the link to the YouTube stream if you want to check it out (it's not listed in their videos for some reason): here

After that, I spent the rest of the day watching Orphan Black. It's a pretty addictive show! Also, I wanted to finish it before my Crave subscription expired.

FRIDAY JUNE 14

I went over to my sister's place and her hubby drove us to Oomomo, this Japanese variety store that carries many products from Daiso, a Japanese 100-yen shop. Oomomo was really huge and played Japanese music. I kinda felt like I was back in Japan. Ahh, how I wish to be back there!

After spending a good hour inside Oomomo, my sister's hubby drove us to Galleria, a Korean supermarket. The place was huge, but just okay.

When I got home, I finished up Orphan Black. Overall, it was a pretty good show. I'm glad I gave it a chance all those years ago.

SATURDAY JUNE 15

I wasn't really sure what to do today. I was debating between watching some more shows on Crave or playing more of Kingdom Hearts Final Remix. I'll be attending a Kingdom Hearts orchestra around mid-July and I wanted to be more caught up with the series ('cuz, you know... I'm so behind, hahaha).

I decided to play some Kingdom Hearts for a couple hours... but instead I played it for the rest of the day, hahaha...

I'm almost done!

SUNDAY JUNE 16

I woke up at 6 AM (my practice for waking up for work). I did my usual tasks on Sunday mornings. Now I'm just blogging.

For the rest of the day (it's 5:10 PM right now), I am debating between trying to finish up Kingdom Hearts Final Remix so I could possibly start the next game soon (Chain of Memories... aggg, I am so behind!), starting another series on Crave (Twin Peaks), watching other things on Crave, or... just doing something else.

Whatever I decide -- it won't be a waste. I will spend my time well! :3



If you are still here, thanks for reading! As usual, if you have any questions or comments about anything, feel free! :)

Happy Father's Day to those celebrating Father's Day today! My sister and I will likely do something for Father's Day a couple weeks later (to avoid the crowds at restaurants).

Thanks again for reading! Take care and until next time! :)