Cherry Blossoms, Monsters and Aliens

Currently Reading: God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert

Well, I did say I'd try and post blog entries more often than once a month. Of course, I intended to go back to writing them once a week but I just kept putting it off for one reason or another. And you know, I can't even say that I had nothing to write about because we actually DID do some things, stuff has happened, I have topics to write about.

Let's go back a few weeks. You read it in CC's blog already, but I've got some more pictures from the trip to the Botanic Center and the Cherry Blossom Festival. No, wait, that's not entirely correct. I have pictures from the Botanic Center. I didn't take any pictures from inside where the festival events were taking place. All of my shots come from outside, after we looked at the displays and so forth.

First up though, about those displays. Let me tell you, writing in Japanese is REALLY tricky. Maybe that's a bit over-stated. Writing NEATLY? Writing with STYLE? Calligraphy? Yeah, that's all pretty hard. You see people doing it in the movies and they make it look pretty easy, graceful, artistic. Then you pick up a brush, look at the character you're supposed to be doing and, well like I joked after my first attempt, "I tried to do dream but I think I did nightmare." Oh, and yes, I know the pictures don't really match. I took a lot of shots and I'm trying to work them all in.

CC and I each did two fans with Japanese . . . no, wait a second, she only did ONE. Now that I think about it, the lady running the festival did the first one. We just watched. Then I did one, she did one and I did a second one because, again, dream vs nightmare. My second one, mind, came out pretty well but, as to be expected of me, it's slightly warped so, yes, I have a warped mind (insert drumfill).

They had a huge spread of sushi, which CC sampled. Me, I like the kind they DIDN'T have. See, there's two main types that you find in restaurants. The first type is the rolled kind. It's all laid out in a seaweed wrapper, rolled up then sliced. CC likes that kind. Me, I find the seaweed wrapper a bit strong so I go for the other kind which is pretty much just slap of fish on a hunk of rice. Sounds simple and I suppose it is but that's what I prefer. I usually get the salmon but from time to time I go more exotic and get eel instead.

They also had a little origami table. Now, if you go back and scan some of the older posts, back to August or September, you'll see some of the pictures I took at the Tokyo airport where they had a HUGE display of very complex origami. This wasn't anything like that. This was a more hands-on approach. They encouraged you to take a little piece of paper, pre-cut to the right size and shape, and make a small crane. Then you could take that crane, glue it to a bookmark and decorate it. So I did. And it came out rather well I think. I also took the time to make a few frogs in case anyone wanted to use them instead. For whatever reason, the jumping origami frog is the only one I can remember without having to look at the plans. Even the crane, though I've made lots, I have to look at the plan.

After spending some time inside absorbing Japanese culture, it was off to the great outdoors to feed the koi. You'll recall from CC's entry that she bought 4 bags of fish food at the front desk because we've been through this before. They have a really nice koi pond with a LOT of really HUGE koi and it's fun to stand at the edge of the pond and feed them. It generally turns into a sort of koi battle royale though. Then the ducks and swans get into the fray and you're chucking fish food all over just to keep everyone happy.

We weren't the only ones wandering around in the garden of course. There was supposed to be an actual viewing of the cherry blossoms but they peaked a little too soon this year and most of them had fallen. There were still some blossoms on the trees of course and I have pictures of them to prove it but it's not quite the same as when the whole tree is in bloom.

Anyway, back to the koi. We were standing at the edge of the pond, starting a big fish fight, when some of the other people at the viewing came out and were watching us. CC gave them some food so they could join in and they seemed to enjoy it. We had quite a crowd of fish and fowl following us around. Next came a group of younger people, mostly college age I would say. They were also watching us and I could see they wanted to feed the koi too, especially a girl on crutches so I gave them the remains of my second bag. They had a good time. I think if you look close enough you can make out the crutches, if not the girl using them. That's our handy work (the crowd now the crutches). I think even more people gathered around after we left.

I also noticed there were at least two other groups of people getting portrait pictures taken around the gardens. One couple looked like they were having prom pictures taken. The other group was having wedding shots done. Not the usual white gown and tux shots though. They were dressed in some sort of traditional Asian costume (not Japanese, probably Chinese but could be Thai or something like that).

CC and I both had a good time and it wasn't too cold out there. Lots of nice pictures and even a little bit of exercise :-)

That was two weeks ago. LAST weekend CC and I went to see Monsters vs Aliens. If you haven't seen it yet, my advice is to break down and find a place showing it in 3D and pay the extra couple of bucks. It is SO much better in 3D. At least, I THINK it is. I haven't seen it in normal mode so I'm just guessing, but in 3D it was REALLY cool. They didn't spend too much time trying to make things pop out of the screen, which was nice because when they try to make things pop out of the screen, it gets a little fuzzy and my eyes cross and I get headaches. There was one really nice bit with a paddle ball though that almost had me ducking.

If you like animated films or if you like watching movies in 3D, go see Monsters vs Aliens. I'm not going to give an in depth review or anything like that. No spoilers, no pictures, no links. Just go see it. Not like there's much else to watch out there right now :-)