Day 15-18 - Jan 20-23

NOTE: I broke this post up into two parts because it started getting really long. This is part 1.

Well I haven't updated this in a while.  Sorry about that, things got pretty crazy for a while with the workload (see my previous post).  Fortunately that has all passed and things are evened out nicely.  Except for my applications, I still need to do those and a lot of them are due next week >_<.  My 5-7 page paper for Business Ethics turned into a 9 page paper since I started talking about topic that were directly related to my research and the internship I did last summer.  Also, while searching for references for this paper I made a startling discovery:  I am genuinely interested in gender studies in the topic of video games o_o.  I know, scary.

My Japanese stuff all went well, no real issues there.  My 10 minute informational speech in Public Speaking went pretty well, considering I had only 4 hours of sleep the night before because I was writing it up.  I think I have midterms coming up in the next couple weeks?  I'm going to devote the entirety of this weekend to filling out applications.

Ok, now that the boring stuff is out of the way, on to what I've been doing outside of schoolwork for the past two weeks.

On Wed or Thurs (the 20th and 21st) I finally decided that I was going to see the premier of the Unlimited Blade Works movie.  I was just way too hyped up about it and I was the only person on the Mirror Moon forums who was able to go, so I decided to fulfill my duty.  Preordering the tickets online wasn't very difficult, and fortunately the nearest theater showing it was only two stop away on the train.  When I mentioned it Li said he wanted to go to, so I directed him towards where to get the tickets, and so we were set to go on Saturday the 23rd for our 12:00 showing (theaters in Japan have showings all day).  I will finish this story later...

On Friday the 22nd (Day 17) Tom, Li, and I decided to go out for some drinks.  Li said he knew of a place where everything on the menu was 270 yen (~$3).  There was about an hour wait to get in and then a two hour time limit if it was busy, that is unless you were being an especially good customer.  This place was really nice.  You had to take off your shoes at the door, and the tables were all in tatami-mat rooms where you sit on a cushion on the floor and there is a hole under the table where your legs can go.  There were also touch-screen menus at every table, so you just poke whichever item you want, select how many, and click order and a few minutes later your stuff will show up.  It was really cool, the workers were really nice, the atmosphere was great, the drinks were great, and the food was pretty darn good for only 270 yen.  We got seated a little bit after 21:00, and by the time we got out of there it was 2:30...  I think we closed the place too...  So yea, we were being rather good customers.  I don't think there was ever a point where one of us did not have a drink.  Occasionally we would even order an extra in advance.  That night marks the first time I've ever drank so much I couldn't remember what happened.  I can recall everything up until we were about half-way back to the dorms.  I do remember bits and pieces, like Li leaning against the wall throwing up and Tom and I each posing next to him taking pictures.  Apparently I got a picture of Li and Tom smoking as well, and shortly before we got to the part where Li was throwing up he and I were running down the (rather steep) hill that's on the way back, though I don't remember either of these.  The only other thing I remember after that was my ability to walk straight was so poor that I was swaying from one side of the lane to the other.  There were quite a few pictures taken during this whole trip back, but unfortunately only one survives since Tom deleted them all (the pictures from this night can be seen on my facebook).  Once I got back to my room my memory clears up somewhat.  I remember seeing the clock as I walked in saying 3:30, so somehow it took us an hour to make the 10 minute trip back.  After about 10 minutes in my room, the horror started.  It must have been the two peach highballs I had at the end (though they were over an hour prior to this?) which were quite sweet, but suddenly I decided that I needed to get to the bathroom immediately.  Unfortunately, I could only make it to the sink in my kitchenette.  I spent the next three hours alternating between occupying the sink and passing out next to it.  At one point early on I saw that I should turn the sink on to clean it out, however I had forgotten about the strainer-thing in the drain, which rather quickly became clogged.  Next time I wake up there is water pouring over the edge of the sink and all over the floor.  I quickly turned off the sink and thank god I had the sense to throw down a towel, though I lacked the energy to do anything beyond that and passed out over the sink one last time.  At 6:30 I finally deemed myself fit to actually go to bed, which I was very glad for.  I next wake up staring at the clock.  It says 12:46.  A whole range of thoughts go screaming through my head, generally consisting of: "PM right? No its bright and we got back after that" "NO" "Oh god" and various explicatives that I would rather not mention here.  Remember what I was talking about earlier?  How I was going to see a movie with Li on Saturday the 23rd at 12:00?  Well it was Saturday the 23rd, and well past 12:00.  The first thing I did after I threw myself out of bed was notice how much water there still was on the floor by the sink, so I squeezed the water out of the towel into the shower and threw it down again to soak up the rest.  I then got on facebook to find that Li had just gotten up at 12:30 as well.  At this point we were both very hungover, and even though we missed our showing and even though it was a premier so there probably wouldn't be any seats left, we still decided to leave immediately and try our best.  I squeezed out the towel one more time (the floor now being dry), got dressed and left without eating, since it was already 13:15 by then and the next showing was at 14:30.

Fortunately I was well prepared and had done the street view on Google Maps, so once we got off the train at Ikebukuro I knew just how to get to the Sunshine Theater.  There was a bit of a line, but we finally got up to get our tickets.  Remember, we are both extremely hungover and our Japanese skills are already pretty poor, but we were able enough to stumble through and get our tickets.  The guy looked quite confused when I handed him soaking wet money haha.  Now, you should know that Japanese theaters assign seats, so they can keep track of exactly how many spots are open and where.  We were extremely lucky that both the 14:30 and 17:00 showings could not be booked online since the voice actors were going to be speaking afterward.  Understandably, all the seats were already booked, but Japanese theaters allow a certain number of "standing" tickets to be sold, which means you get to see the movie, you just need to stand along the sides or back.  Even though we had to pay a little over $30 to see this movie (couldn't get a refund for our missed showing and Japanese movies are very expensive) we were still very happy to get the chance to see the premier.  I was thanking the gods when the movie started and there were still two seats right next to where we were standing still unoccupied.  Lets just say they didn't stay that way for long. 

The movie was AWESOME by the way.  Even though there were no subtitles I still knew most everything that was going on/being said since UBW is my favorite part of Fate/Stay Night.  I also had no idea what the voice actors were saying when they stood up on stage after the movie, but it was really cool seeing them too.  The three VAs were for Shirou, Rin, and Archer.  Outside the theater they had some new upcoming FSN figures on display in a case, which I took several pictures of (to be uploaded to my facebook soon since they're on my phone).  Elsewhere on the floor, there was a table where they were selling brand new UBW products, and a line to get to that table that went up a stairwell about three stories.  Being the rabid fanboys that we are, Li and I waited through this line and bought everything they had that wasn't sold out.  Lucky for our wallets, but not for us, the two most expensive items - the $300 FSN iPod with assorted covers and the $50 Archer messenger bag - were sold out.  I have since seen the iPod for sale elsewhere, but I can live without that.  That Archer bag on the other hand... if I ever come across someone who has it before I find one for sale I swear I will drag them down a dark alley and emerge with the bag.  Of course, Li says not if he gets to the guy first.

We left the theater with our bags in tow and very little money in our pockets at about 17:30.  By now we were both EXTREMELY hungry, seeing as how neither of us had anything to eat all day except me who had a bottle of water before the movie.  As we raised our gaze to look back up at the theater, we noticed that directly across the street was the wonderful glowing sign of a Denny's.  That french toast was possibly the greatest thing I have ever consumed in my life.  With food now in our stomachs, Li and I were rapidly progressing towards a food coma.  Luckily we were able to drag ourselves back to our rooms before finally passing out and ending this awesome yet horribly hungover day.