BLOG - Recap of July

July was fairly busy. My birthday came and passed. My boyfriend bought me the tiramisu scoop cake from Costco, which was something I wanted to try out. It wasn't that good in my opinion. 

Outings / Events in July:

- Met up with some former co-workers for a sushi buffet lunch. It was fun.

- Did an escape room with my friend, boyfriend, sister, and her husband for my birthday. We did the "Last Resort" room and was one puzzle away from getting out! It was a good and scary time.

- I took advantage of a promotion and am subscribed to Amazon Prime for a couple months. I can catch up on some shows now. I'll definitely be re-watching Project Hail Mary at some point.

Exposures:

- Nothing this month.

Finished...

Watching:

- (Movie): Dressed to Kill -- Some parts of it are definitely dated, but overall I thought it was a decent movie. Some of the twists were unexpected or amusing.

- (Movie): Tár -- I really enjoyed this.

- (Movie): Lars and the Real Girl -- For such an odd premise, I really liked how the subject matter was treated. Very beautiful and emotional.

- (Movie): 12 Angry Men (1957) -- I'm not one for black and white movies, but this kept my attention throughout. I think it'd be great if more people watched this awesome movie.

- (Movie): The Sheep Detectives -- It was a lot more thought-provoking than I expected. I really enjoyed it.

- (Movie): To Freedom -- The low movie budget really shows.

- (Movie): La Cage aux Folles -- It's not really my kind of movie, but it's okay.

- (Movie): City of God -- It was well done, but too grim for my liking.

- (Series): The Boys -- The first few seasons were good, and it was just okay afterwards. I'm glad it's finally over.

Playing:

- (PC): Divinity: Original Sin (Enhanced Edition) -- It was a long game but my boyfriend and I finally beat it. I enjoyed all the exploration and looting.

- (PS4): Black Bird -- I surprised myself when I finally cleared the True Mode. I got the worst ending but I'm counting it! It was a crazy experience but I enjoyed it.

Reading:

- Nothing this month.

Currently... 

Playing (not all at once):

- (PS5): Gal Guardians: Demon Purge

- (PS4): Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!!

- (PS4): Dark Cloud 2

- (PS4): Skyrim
- (PS4): Moon: Remix RPG Adventure

- (PS4): Baldur's Gate I: Enhanced Edition

- (PS4): My Time At Portia

- (PSP): Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure

- (3DS): Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies
- (GBA): The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition   
- (Wii): Fortune Street 
- (PC): UnEpic  
- (PC): Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry)

- (PC): Crusader Kings III

- (PC): The Planet Crafter

- (Mobile): Dragon Quest III

- (Mobile): Bloons TD 6

Watching:

- (Series): Criminal Minds: Evolution (Season 2)

- (Series): The Goldbergs (Season 5)
- (Series): Huff (Season 1 - Episode 10)
- (Series): Stranger Things (Season 5 - Episode 5)

- (Series): Bob's Burgers (Season 5 - Episode 6)

- (Series): Squid Game (Season 3)

- (Series): House of the Dragon (Season 3)

- (Series): Shrinking (Season 4)

- (Series): Invincible (Season 4)

- (Anime): Log Horizon (Season 4)

- (Anime): Pyscho-Pass (Season 4?)
- (Anime): Kakegurui (Season 3?)
- (Anime): Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls (Episode 2)

- (Anime): Gintama (Episode 13)

- (Anime): Tokyo Revengers (Season 4)

- (Anime): Gurren Lagann (Episode 10)

- (Anime): Chihayafuru (Season 4?)

- (Anime): One Punch Man (Season 3?)

- (Anime): Junji Ito's Japanese Tales of the Macabre (Episode 5)

- (Anime): Demon Slayers (Season 4 - Movie 2)

- (Anime): Jujutsu Kaisen (Season 3 - Episode 54)

- (Anime): Naruto: Shippuden (Season 3 - Episode 54)

- (Anime): Umamusume: Pretty Derby (Season 4?)

- (Anime): Made in Abyss (Season 1 - Episode 8)

- (YouTube): StephenVlogs (Day 1061)

Reading:

- (Manga): One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (Volume ?? -- Chapter 1148) <-- I'm behind again
- (Manga): Berserk by Kentaro Miura (Volume 2)

- (Manga): Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi (Volume 10)

- (Novel): 86 by Asato Asato (Volume 2)

That's it for July. Here are a couple pics, some screenshots, and a couple videos I screen recorded of my races in Umamusume.

Some of the stuff ordered at the sushi buffet.

I found out that 86 was no longer on Crunchyroll so my boyfriend got the Blu-Ray for me as a birthday gift. I will never forget! <3

Summer Gold Ship came at 30 rolls!

Copano Rickey came at 21 rolls! To balance my insane luck, I did 400 rolls in the Light Hello / Agnes Tachyon banner and got nothing in the last 200 rolls.

One of the Leo Cup races where Copano Rickey (with C Turf) won :). You might need to enlarge it to see the video properly.

This is the Leo Cup Finals. I won but which uma in my team won? Did you guess correctly? I'm so proud of her 'cuz she's rank S+ against a sea of SS & UG ranked umas! :) <3

Thanks for reading! The next blog will likely be different from the usual Japan blogs as I gotta ramble on a change in one of the gacha games.

As usual, if you have any questions / comments about anything, feel free.

Take care and until next time! :)

BLOG -- My Trip to Japan V.5 -- ADVENTURE PART 3 (Shinsaibashi, Tennoji)

Here is Part 3 of my Japan blogs. We briefly explored a couple new areas -- one to get a souvenir for a friend and the other to check out a couple temples.

SHINSAIBASHI

DAYS SPENT: 0.5

OVERALL THOUGHTS: We came here mainly to get a souvenir for a friend and spent some time in line to get that souvenir. After checking online, I found out that Shinsaibashi is next to Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi has a large shopping street (Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping Street) that leads to Dotonbori. We have explored that large shopping street multiple times and didn't realize it was part of Shinsaibashi. ^^;

PLACES VISITED:

America-mura (American Village)

If you are looking for "non-mainstream" fashion, America-mura is the place to check out. We did some window shopping, but didn't step inside 'cuz of the pricing on the displayed T-shirts. If the T-shirts costed 3000-4500 yen, how much would other clothing cost? Close to the end of our exploration, we saw a BOOKOFF shop and went inside. What a relief to see T-shirts at more reasonable prices (around 1350 yen), even though the clothing was secondhand.

If we had more time, I think I'd like to come back. I'm almost certain we missed some shops. There should be a small Statue of Liberty in America-mura, but we missed seeing it. ^^;

A shot of America-mura.

The line we were in to get the souvenir. The shop is called Lilo Coffee Roasters.

The inner goth / punk in me wanted to check this shop out (Volcan & Aphrodite), but I was too shy to walk in.

TENNOJI

DAYS SPENT: 0.5

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Tennoji was our area for visiting temples. There were two temples within walking distance of each other. There was also a zoo and a museum but they were closed (we were the area way too early). If you plan to visit the zoo and the museum, aim to get to the Tennoji area after 9:30 AM and not on a Monday. There was a place I missed exploring so I'll definitely come back to Tennoji again. 

PLACES VISITED:

Isshin-ji Temple

This was a temple with some interesting statues. It was raining so we kept the visit pretty short. The greenery gave a serene atmosphere and the front entrance had an interesting canopy design.

A back entrance to Isshin-ji Temple.

A statue among some greenery.

The front entrance. Those statues look intimidating.

Shitennoji Temple (outside)

The walk to Shitennoji Temple was about 8-10 minutes from Isshin-ji Temple. As we were walking, we noticed a number of children in school uniforms walking in the same direction. My initial thought was, 'Is there a school trip going on?'. It turns out that there is a school right next to the temple! There was a sign next to the school's entrance expressing that this is a school and to please not take pictures. 

When we reached Shitennoji Temple, we realized that we were in a "lobby area" and we had to pay an admission to really enter the temple. There were three different admissions: 300 yen to the inner precinct, 300 yen to the garden, and 500 yen to the treasure house (why was there so many different admissions?). With our schedule being a bit tight that day, we ended up not paying the admission and instead briefly exploring the lobby area before heading towards our next destination (which was the Hikaru no Go exhibit in Den Den Town).

The entrance to Shitennoji temple.

A map. It looks pretty huge!

A glimpse of what we would have seen if we had paid the admission.

This souvenir shop has been taken in by the gacha. The first 4 green characters in the sign above reads "omiyage", which loosely translates to souvenirs for friends, colleagues, and family from a destination.

OTHER PHOTOS:

A vibrant mural in Dobutsuen-Mae station.

The entrance to Shinsekai, a place I wanted to check out in the evening.

All the stalls in Shinsekai were closed in the morning.

A long bridge towards the Osaka Museum of Fine Arts.

That's it for Part 3. Thanks for reading! If you are still here despite all the long pauses in between, thank you for sticking around! XD

If you have any questions or comments about any of these places I visited, feel free to say something in the comments box or fill out a contact form!

Take care, stay safe, and until next time! :)

BLOG -- Recap of June

June was pretty busy but pretty uneventful. I am still on-track with my "watch one movie every week" resolution :)

Outings / Events in June:

- Did temp work at my friend's uncle's trophy shop. It was busy work for a few weeks.

Exposures:

- Nothing this month.

Finished...

Watching:

- (Movie): Wolfwalkers -- I enjoyed the animation and music a lot.

- (Movie): Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father -- Really grim, but heartfelt, and worth watching. Have a box of tissues next to you if you ever decide to watch check it out.

- (Movie): Eternity -- I thought the world-building was interesting.

- (Anime - Movie): Josee, the Tiger and the Fish -- I enjoyed it.

Playing:

- (PS4): Yakuza 6: Song of Life -- I finally beat it! A blog will be coming... after most of the Japan blogs have been done ^^;

- (PS5): Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights -- I reached Ending A so I'm counting it. I'll keep playing it, though, until I've explored everything and seen all the endings.

Reading:

- Nothing this month.

Currently... 

Playing (not all at once):

- (PS5): Gal Guardians: Demon Purge

- (PS4): Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!!

- (PS4): Dark Cloud 2

- (PS4): Skyrim
- (PS4): Moon: Remix RPG Adventure

- (PS4): Baldur's Gate I: Enhanced Edition

- (PS4): Black Bird

- (PSP): Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure

- (3DS): Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies
- (GBA): The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition   
- (Wii): Fortune Street 
- (PC): UnEpic  
- (PC): Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry)

- (PC): Crusader Kings III

- (PC): Divinity: Original Sin

- (Mobile): Dragon Quest III

- (Mobile): Bloons TD 6

Watching:

- (Series): Criminal Minds: Evolution (Season 2)

- (Series): The Goldbergs (Season 5)
- (Series): Huff (Season 1 - Episode 10)
- (Series): Stranger Things (Season 5 - Episode 5)

- (Series): The Boys (Season 5)

- (Series): Bob's Burgers (Season 5 - Episode 6)

- (Series): Squid Game (Season 3)

- (Series): House of the Dragon (Season 3)

- (Series): Shrinking (Season 4)

- (Series): Invincible (Season 4)

- (Anime): Log Horizon (Season 4)

- (Anime): Pyscho-Pass (Season 4?)
- (Anime): Kakegurui (Season 3?)
- (Anime): Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls (Episode 2)

- (Anime): Gintama (Episode 13)

- (Anime): Tokyo Revengers (Season 4)

- (Anime): Gurren Lagann (Episode 10)

- (Anime): Chihayafuru (Season 4?)

- (Anime): One Punch Man (Season 3?)

- (Anime): Junji Ito's Japanese Tales of the Macabre (Episode 5)

- (Anime): Demon Slayers (Season 4 - Movie 2)

- (Anime): Jujutsu Kaisen (Season 3)

- (Anime): Naruto: Shippuden (Season 2 - Episode 39)

- (Anime): Umamusume: Pretty Derby (Season 4?)

- (YouTube): StephenVlogs (Day 1061)

Reading:

- (Manga): One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (Volume ?? -- Chapter 1148) <-- I'm behind again
- (Manga): Berserk by Kentaro Miura (Volume 2)

- (Manga): Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi (Volume 10)

- (Novel): 86 by Asato Asato (Volume 2)

That's it for June. Here are a couple pics I took this month, some pics of my gacha pulls in Blue Archive, plus a YouTube video I watched.

Some sushi after finishing the temp. work. Yum!

A funny dialogue in Divinity: Original Sin.

After the free 100 pulls, I pulled 100 more and got Rio (Armed) along the way.

When Aris (Armed) and Kei's banners released, I got them before reaching pity.

I also got Yuzu (Armed) and Eimi (Armed) before reaching pity! No more pulling in Blue Archive for a while ^^

"The Internet's Most Documented Man" by Bowlmyshoes. I still have to watch the rest of his vlogs.

Thanks for reading! Happy Canada Day for those celebrating Canada Day and happy early Independence Day for those celebrating Independence Day in a few days.

As usual, if you have any questions / comments about anything, feel free.

Take care and until next time! :)