Impulse purchase.  Everyone is guilty about it.  Consumerism has taken over our life that it’s hard to imagine life without it.  Everywhere we turn, it has left its mark there.  On the webpage, in the magazine and even the email, the only way to conquer it is to actually use it.  That’s why Ben and I went to Thunder Road Cafe on Saturday for lunch, to use the voucher she bought months before.  Paid €28 for a €60 value meal, do we feel bad about it?  Not quite, the meal was delicious.  We had the sweet chilli battered prawn, garlic bread with cheese, prawn fajita and vegetable burger.  We were so stuffed, we decided not to get the dessert (I still have vouchers for froyo).  Didn’t even use up the full €60 value for the meal. 

Afterward, Ben headed to watch Godzilla in cineworld while I head towards Grand Canal Dock for Docklands Summer Festival.  The weather was warm and sunny, it feels wasteful to spend the day indoor.  Sitting next to the dock and hanging your feet at the edge while watching wakeboard surfers performs, it hard not to notice that summer has finally arrive in Ireland.  The charity duck race didn’t quite live up to my imagination, but it’ll do. 

I recall bumping into Benny Lewis, a globe-trotter who started up Fluent In 3 Months website, on Thursday.  What a luck as I only went into Easons that day to browse for more travel books.  His website encourages people, not only to learn foreign languages but also to open their life for new cultures and friendship from around the world.  That is exactly what I’m passionate about and so I signed up for a language exchange program Italki.  So far I’ve had 30-min Japanese trial lessons from 2 teachers; Tomoko sensei and Rinko sensei.  Previously I had believed I’ve conquered the basic pronunciation of the Nihon go I can use to converse with Japanese locals.  I was wrong.  As soon as we started the Skype lesson, I went stumped.  I couldn’t make my message across but they were so kind and helpful to assist me starting up again.  If I had more time before leaving on Saturday, I would schedule another session with them and make it into a full hour.  Wish me luck! 

Last Friday, I attended an event organised by The Arcade to celebrate the magazine’s 4th anniversary.  The Arcade is an online magazine dedicated to all aspect of geek lifestyles; gaming, videos, music, movies and costume playing.  The attendees, consists of the writers, its supporters and loyal fans started to fill the space after 9pm.  To be honest, most of the gang would take any reason to meet up and have a night out together.  This time, we decided to hold it at the basement of The Black Sheep at Capel Street.  This pub was known for holding frequent boardgame events, along with its selection of craft beers, had been a recording site of a Dublin-based podcast, The Irish Pubcast. 

Typical party treats were delivered, finger food, cake, boardgames and card games such as Munchkin, Love Letter, Cards Against Humanity was each distributed to each table.  We were also introduced to a new game, Mr Jack.  As always, CAH was the biggest hit that night.  I’m starting to get the hang on Mr Jack game strategy, it’s rely on your wits to mislead your opponent without being caught at.  I’m considering to purchase it, if only I have someone to constantly play a boardgame with me. 

The day after, I went rafting along Liffey River with my DAS buddies.  That needs its own post so I will talk about it later.  In the evening, I went to Banyi to celebrate Tayo’s 27th birthday with Nani and Ben.  Aaaaah, 27.  I remember that year.  I’ve only been to this restaurant once before.  We all love Japanese food, we haven’t found a single Japanese restaurant that we didn’t love.  Even more special this restaurant just reach its first year milestone.  They gave us 20% discount on the bill (had I known, I would’ve ordered more sushi) and even kind enough to give Tayo a free dessert. 

After the meal, we went to a 7D cinema for a quick virtual simulator.  Nani needed a little convincing since she can get sick easily but in the end, she faced her fear.  We chose Horror Park experience, which is filled with creepy doll ghost, neck-cracking ghost and loud shrieking ghost.  After it was over, the staff gave us a second ride for free, that was so nice of him.  He even chose the movie for us, Paradise Island that was a smoother ride compared to the one we had before.  I just wish there were bubbles like the first movie I went to weeks earlier.  We had a great time that weekend, and it wasn’t even Sunday yet.  That’s for relaxing! 

Earlier today, I was invited by Anastacia to join Tayo and herself on Dublin Bay Cruises from Dublin city centre to Howth.  I’ve went for another cruise with this company before, from Dun Laoghaire to city centre.  It seems a great opportunity to visit Howth again.  We departed at 11am from Sir John Rogersons’s Quay. 

The weather was warm although it’s rather cloudy then, I was contemplating whether to bring a jacket with me or not.  It was a right decision to bring one, as it became very windy and cold when we’re out in the open sea.  The girls definitely enjoyed themselves, especially Anastacia.  Tayo still has a fear to go the end of the boat, kept holding on the rail for fear of falling into the water.  Half way through the cruise, I got a little seasick and decided to stay in the cabin while watching a documentary about whales and deep sea life. 

After an hour and half, we finally arrived in Howth, just in time for lunch.  We went to a tapas restaurant, Octopussy, mainly because of its name and it also serves non-seafood items (Anastacia doesn’t like seafood).  Later, I discovered it was ranked 3rd in Top 10 Great Places to Eat Outdoors by Lovin Dublin.  Only 9 more to find and dine.  Summer, please come soon!Anastacia ordered chicken wings, Tayo had a platter and I got myself a seafood chowder.  Everything was remarkably delicious, although the patata brava didn’t quite live up the expectation.  I’m quite surprise how much I enjoyed the lightly battered anchovy.  I’m glad we went in early to the restaurant since it got packed very quickly afterward.  3 groups were put in a 20-min queue to get seated in.  We decided not to linger around after we finished the food due to this. Afterward we walked around Howth Market.  I love food market, the smell of freshly baked goods, beautiful decorated dessert.  I don’t quite know what to buy, quite relieved that I was stuffed from lunch.  Otherwise I’d probably ended up buying dozens of the mini cupcakes. 

But I can’t totally control myself so I bought ONE mini Oreo cupcake, just to satisfy the craving.  Plus a woven bracelet, it matches to the mori girl look I’m working on for Hakone trip.  Afterward Anastacia and I shared a scoop of black forest ice cream.  That should be enough for my diet (I hope). 

I call this tree next to the Olympic House “Candle Tree”.  Doesn’t it look like there are dozens of candle attached to it?  Ready to be ignited. 

In the evening I met Anna from Grumpy Bear Creation to discuss a Harajuku hairpiece commission.  I ended up buying beautiful ponytails hairpiece made of foams and cyberlox.  More to come soon but here’s the preview..

There’s a long-running debate over whether or not Sailor Moon is actually for little girls.  On the one hand, the series’ core cast of heroines are all 14-year-olds, and the magazine the comic was originally serialized in, Nakayoshi, has elementary and middle schoolers as it target demographic. 

Still, the legions of adult Sailor Moon fans around the world would argue the story has plenty of witty self-referential humor and mature content, including romance and violence.  Why, just look at Sailor Saturn, whose powers of death and destruction give her the capability to annihilate entire worlds. 

Of course, the character doesn’t look nearly so intimidating when she’s being cosplayed as by an adorable toddler. 

On Saturday, 26th April 2014, I went to Dublin Bay Prawn Festival in Howth with Ben, my housemate Seafood has always been my favourite dish and I rarely turn down any opportunity to sample different types of seafood dishes.  The moment we stepped into the food marquee, the smell of freshly cooked seafood was overwhelming.  All dishes cost €5 each which is a good value considering a typical fish&chip in Dublin costs over €7.  I especially loved the battered calamari and chilli grilled prawn (pictured above).  Too bad we couldn’t stay there longer since the rain has been on and off the whole day.  We decided to leave early so we can prepare ourselves for paragliding session the day after. Thankfully the weather has cleared up in the morning.  Perfect blue and sunny sky with little clouds during the whole journey from Dublin to Clare.  We picked up Louise in Galway along the way and meet the tandem instructor from Paraglide West in Ballyvaughan.  Then we made our way to Gleninagh Hill for a short but steep hike to the top. 

I have to admit we are not the fittest hiker ever.  It took us over 40min to reach the spot, including 3 breaks along the path.  Still we made it alive, barely. 

We waited for the right wind speed for the paraglide while eating the food we brought along.  Didn’t think I’ve ever had a more scenic picnic.  I made a self-note to do more hiking this summer.  Even after we waited for over 3 hours the experience was still worthwhile.  In the end, our instructor decided to call off the day.  Instead of taking all of us paragliding, he could only take one passenger to paraglide down to the hill bottom.  So we let Ben had a first go. 

It almost feels like a waste of time coming all the way for nothing, but it was no point in moaning.  I’m hopeful for the future, we may even able to book a session near Dublin.  Also, I wish that Tayo will experience a glide soon, especially since her skydiving was cancelled last year.  Poor girl, as if she’s cursed (!)