Happy H1's Day!

Happy St. Patty's Day to all!

On this day, everyone should be celebrating H1's day unless you would like to be given the evil eye.  Such is the fate I met this morning when I needed to be reminded that I had not wished her greetings today.

It was scary for me.

Anyway, everyone's a little bit Irish on St. Patty's Day! This is why we spent our day eating St. Patty's Day Dim Sum.

What's that? You find that sentiment ridiculous and not very Irish of us?

If you don't think about it too much, it makes perfect sense.  Plus I'm hoping the lot of you are so drunk from your own bastardizations of St. Patty's Day activities that every thing I say is a sensible green... Green like the money you're about to give me.  Hooray!

...

If you are reading this while you're sober then please enjoy these dim sum pictures I took at our trip to Aberdeen, a dim sum house located in White Plains.  They're expensive as all hell and it's not the best dim sum I've put into my mouth but they're decent and close enough for me to keep visiting.  I may have spoken about them in the past but I can't recall.

Pork spare rib tips (upper right), soup dumplings (upper left), shrimp dumplings and a pot of tea.  Figure out which is which from that! ...

A Funny Thing This

Today, you should have all been watching your back.  In fact, you should all be watching your back still as it is still the Great Ides of March.

For those of you who live in countries in which the date is now March 16th, please breathe easy.

A funny thing I discovered though last week is that one of our good friends, Daniraj Pinaprap, celebrates his birthday on the Ides!

So Happy Birthday to him!

He's quite the funny fellow and that's exactly the kind of positive attitude one should have on this the most feared of days.

I mean, he should still beware the Ides though.

Birthday or not, it is the responsible thing to do.

Happy Pi Day!

Was your 3.14 day actually happy for you guys?

Our day was not because we did not eat pie today.  How we managed to let that happen is beyond me and disheartening.

Pie less on pie day is not how we want to greet the Ides of March.

This does not bode well for us.

I at least hope that CLee is wearing his shirt I bought him this day.  Are you, CLEE?! Hmmm?!?!

True. So, So True.

Zarnyx: The PSVita Edition

In the week and a half since I've had the PSVita, I've outfitted it with wallpaper but not wrist straps or figures.

That's not wowing you, is it?

It's wowed a few people and myself with the giant impressive, beautiful, sharp screen.  I've messaged friends and found a startling 11 people playing nearby my home location (that was scary!) the first night I had it using the built-in feature "Near".

Awesome Sightings on the Outside

We love the Brits and that's not a shocker to any of you lot, right?

What's not to love?

Among other things but just to name a few, there's Doctor Who, The Beatles, Peep Show, Heinz baked beans, the Crown Jewel (Bird's Custard, for you heathens), Harry Hotness, and Stockholm Syndrome.

Oh.  Well the last part is just a sad bit of my nature that you need not worry about.

And then there's BBC America that allows us to enjoy just some of the greatness of British television.

They've got the best sense of humour and for those who deny, such people must not be very humourous.

Honestly, what's not to love about this advert which is so brilliantly marketed?

Currently listening to: "Backmaskwarning" by Mindless Self Indulgence.  Huh.  Coincidental for this post? ....

Valentine's Day at the Hospital and at Kati

It may come as no surprise that Valentine's Day means nothing to The HOchieS, other than our recognizing that it is a horrible, vomit-inducing marketing scheme for a waste of red paper and the gifting of poor quality chocolates.

We don't do much by way of celebrating the day but we do bah humbug it quite a bit.  For instance, I gave H1 a really depressing and disturbing anime box set of Mushi-shi (go watch it for those of you who don't know it! It's uplifting and won't make you cringe or cry.  Honest!).

And she gave me diddly squat.

H-hey...what the Math?!

Newly found bitterness towards H1 aside, we spent our Valentine's Day at the hospital.

Ridiculous Sightings in Retail: Key Jobs and Pancakes

Since 2012, the HOchieS have been putting people out of a job.

We're heartless bastards but can you really blame us or the crazy automatic key maker we found in Lowes?

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit. Hare, Hare, Hare.

Last month turned out to be one of the worst in some regards.

That said, let's wish good luck to everyone again in the hopes that March will be without incident for all.

Good luck, all.

Warranted

I'm only writing a special note on the blog today signifying this leap day in this leap year because I am bored.

Also, we won't see one again for another four years.  So...

Hi, Leap Day.

Now get outta here so we can Beware the Ides of March.

The Ides is my jam.

Food Adventures, Now With 20% More Conveyor Belts

Come May of this year (come what May of this year?), it will be four years since Beetchie and I traipsed our way through Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

Four whole years is unreal, isn't it?

It's a sad reminder that I've not done any overseas vacations in quite the while.  But never you mind me and my First World problems; I'll get by.

Kyoto gave us a lot of things to eat, now that I'm flashing back (not flash dancing because I don't do that, H1) to that time.

I finally got to live out an anime fantasy and eat manju from a street cart.  Well, it wasn't on the side of a rural road but it counted.  Not that it mattered because I ended up disliking the soy bean type powder coating on said sweet dumpling.  I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I was.

Then there was our kobe steak dinner which cost us a tasty arm and leg.  And let us not forget the BEST freaking movie popcorn I ever ate.  It was all caramel and amazing and I'll never get to re-live those good times again.

We had many a foodie adventure in Japan but there was one that involved Conveyor Belt Sushi at an awesome little place in the grand indoor/outdoor mall in Kyoto.

It was there that we ate plates and plates of sushi each.  It was incredible and incredulous how many plates of sushi we ate.  But what I was really thankful for other than the fabulous tasting meal was the fact that I did not have to take Beetchie to the hospital because she decided to eat fugu.

I had to make sure that at least one of us was not dying in the street so that said person could take the other to the hospital.  It certainly was a good thing too because she came out of there feeling slightly light-headed.  Oh, but for full disclosure, since I had no idea how to get to a hospital and the Japanese could not direct me to any place because they didn't know, I think things may have been grim for Beetchie.

Ah yes, those were fun times because no one lost an eye...or their life.

But a fugu event was not going to happen at my second outing at a Conveyor Belt Sushi restaurant because that happened just a few weeks ago at the Palisades mall.  I highly doubt I will ever find fugu at the Palisades Mall but then, I was highly doubtful that I'd find a Conveyor Belt sushi restaurant there either.  Oh, but we did and you know? East Japanese Restaurant wasn't too cringe worthy.

Because Miracles Do Happen...

Is it any wonder that we actually remembered MC's birthday today?

Though it remains to be seen if we will actually call him because while we may remember this very second to post on the blog, we might not remember to call after the fact.

It's true, we might be mean to MC.

He would think less of us if we weren't though.

Happy Birthday, MC!

Happy Birthday!

Dear Alex,

Happy Birthday, Friend!

May you never be drunk and disorderly on the phone with me again...even if it is on your birthday.  That was a rather interesting experience for me and one that H1 cleverly avoided...

Lots of love,

Us Two.

Before the New Thing Without a Special Designation Arrives...A Celebratory Send Off of that Old Thing with the Special Designation

Barring any madness, in a few days from now I will be the proud owner of a PsVita, gifted to me by my Brother Bunji as a Christmas presento-pyo for 2011.

As with most of my Sony products and electronics in general, there may have to be a replacement of said unit before the year is up as I am notoriously known for my bad electronic luck.

There'll be days of excitement as with any launch of new game system hardware for me as I play exciting new entries, have heartbreak playing others and the simple entertainment I get with outfitting a new system with junk.

Until such time, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on 45009, the Japanese Limited Edition Final Fantasy VII PSP bundle I sold bits of my life for to save from Ebay in 2008.

For nearly four years, I've had little 45009.  He went from being in a clear plastic case, showing off his beautiful art to a hard metal case showcasing Star Wars and some cleverly placed stickers.

Ridiculous Sightings in Retail

These were some toys H1 and I spotted over Christmas last year at the Wholesale Club BJ's.

They seem...I don't know, a little bit racist maybe?

Just us?

To our cousin who is being buried today,

Your family will miss you and we love you.

We always will.

For My Own Benefit

I've got an incredibly shoddy memory now and thus, I'm putting this as a log here to list all the games I'm looking forward to playing/purchasing this year.

I know that's what Amazon Wish Lists are for but mine can get a slightly out of control, so I'll just leave this here.

1. Animal Crossing 3DS
2. Luigi's Mansion 2 (3DS)
3. Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS)
4. Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)
5. Uncharted: Golden Abyss (PSVita)
6. Sumioni (PSVita)
7. Sound Shapes (PSVita)
8. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 (DS)
9. Resident Evil 6 (PS3)
10.. FFXIII-2 (when it's cheap) (PS3)
11.  The Last of US (PS3) (but more so I just want to own it when it's cheap, because I might be too scared to play)
12.  Jak & Daxter HD Collection (PS3)
13.  Lollipop Chainsaw (PS3)

That's all I can think of at the moment.  I can't say I'm really looking forward to much.  But, I'm sure this list will grow a lot.  Psh.  Now let's see if I can remember to refer to it throughout the year. 

The Unexpected Friday

Our Friday plans did not go as planned.

There was supposed to be a dinner at Brasserie 8 1/2 but as the day wore on, work happened and other crazy stories involving a certain Frass happened (but best of luck to you!) and dinner was canceled.

It happens and that's that but H1 and I still managed to find some amusement after work obligations.

What we found was a "safe" haven in preparation for the future Zombie Apocalypse, Fandango Paper Bags getting the Handbag treatment, cutie owls in retail and Bitler.

In our ongoing series for preparation in Our Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, which many of you have chosen to ignore, H1 and I have continued to find plot our escape and scope out suspicious activity in Grand Central Terminal.

On Friday, we found one such suspicious thing.

We see some folks at Grand Central have been prepping and start construction on something but don't they freakin' know that zombies can climb ladders?! Not very smart, folks.  A re-design is in order.

Picture of the Week

It was Papa HOchie's Birthday this week.

We got him a cake.  What kind? It's a secret...

Currently listening to: "Giruvegan Mystery" by a whole bunch of people from the Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack.

Let's Recap: Pork + Birthday = Tasty Love

What better way to celebrate a Birthday than with pork? (Answers to Rhetorical question need not apply).

It's true that Momma HOchie loves us.  However, I am beginning to suspect that she may love Papa HOchie the most and why shouldn't she?

Well...I mean, he did deny her rum cake at the airport in Trinidad that one time... perhaps she forgot that little incident but who am I to remind her? Especially when I would not have wanted to deny myself a participation in the awesome time meal that she prepared for him for his Birthday on Thursday last.

When we got home, we were greeted by Chinese style West Indian food of the epic variety.

Roast belly pork? Yes, please.

The End of Year Review III: Video Games 2011, Part III

Finally, the Top 10 in my very late End of Year Reviews for 2011: Video Games.

Let's just get to them, shall we?

10.  Catherine

Developer: Atlus Persona Team

Publisher: Atlus

Play Time: ?

Status: Unfinished

The minute this game started, I loved the style of it.  From the very cool soundtrack to the sharp animation and the settings, it oozed style.  The presentation of a play/tv show/theatre house was interesting and then things got nightmarish.

I knew going in this was supposed to be a horror sort of game.  It's not Resident Evil scary but monsters lurked and the urban legend was laid out.

Happy Birthday!

Today we celebrate the birthday of young one, Papa HOchie.  He's a rock solid 26 this year.  Wooo! We hope you have a good day, Daddy. 

Don't let those blasted ground hogs steal your thunder or Winter...or Spring, as the case may be.  Or your...shadow?

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit. Hare, Hare, Hare.

Well, it's that time again - the first of the month!

Ooo, and it looks like we're in a leap year! That means we need extra good luck to cover that one extra day.  So, here's to wishing everyone the best of luck.