in fact, not only do i have a blog but i have a website too! www.geoffropuff.com or www.blog.geoffropuff.com for just the blog. see you guys over there!

oh well, we’ll see how it goes.  until i make a firm decision, you can continue coming here for all my thoughts on life in the motherland.  yall come back now, ya hear?

now that i’m back in the motherland and all settled in my new digs, you can expect to hear from me more often again.  for now, i’ll recap some of the stuff i did while you didn’t hear from me.

first off, i moved.  i no longer live the insect infested craphole known as kyouinjuutaku.  and i mean craphole in the best way possible.  my old apartment was great to me, it provided me with shelter and a place where i could rest after all of my shenanigans in the motherland.  plus, this is the first time i’m living alone so it kinda holds a special place in my heart.

BUT, craphole.  mosquitos and cockroaches galore.  a cockroach literally fell on my head.  i walked into my toilet (it’s not bathroom in japan cuz the toilet and the bath are in different rooms) and i felt something hit my head then shoulder.  when i looked into the toilet, it was a cockroach the size of a fifty-cent piece.  flushed that bad boy away but it was too late to stop the hibi-jibis, which lasted for the next 36 hours.

my new place is pretty awesome but i don’t have pictures.  left all the pictures of my old and new apartment on my hard drive in LA, so i’ll have mickie send them to me.  post to come.

i went home for summer break.  saved basically all of my vacation time from the past year so i could spend a full month at home.  lots of family time, going to vegas, having a couple mtgs with friends, and most importantly MEXICAN FOOD!!!!!  i think that may have been more important than seeing mickie…seriously…

of course there were plenty of other things i did, places i went, and food i ate, but i’m too lazy and you’re too bored so let’s skip it.

my 26th birthday (NOT late-20's, mid-20's)

bodega with the sd girls...and freddie

half yard margaritas

half yard margarita demolished

the sexy boogie boarders

tonight, i went out to dinner with the starbucks club folks.  it was naoko’s birthday so we hit a thai restaurant, hakase thai (“professor thai”).  the food was good, the company was better, and the crab risotto was the best.

naoko's bday

some of the sbux crew at naoko's bday

me and marcus

i guess one last thing to mention, ken (radomski, the new ALT) and i were walking in akihabara and saw the craziest thing: kirsten dunst dancing in a blue wig and sailor moon type outfit.  we kept flipping back and forth, “is that kirsten dunst?” “no, that’s not her” “that’s TOTALLY her” “is it really her?” “that’s her for sure” “hmmmm” etc.  well, here’s the proof:

kirsten dunst in akihabara

and now you’re caught up with my life.  you’ll be hearing from me very soon.

it’s weird, cuz in japan i’ve seen SOOO many twins for people back home.  (i’ve even seen MY twin.  check out my facebook profile pictures to see what i’m talking about)  i guess when you live in a country that’s almost all japanese, you tend to find people that look similar to others.  (i just watched a drama with an actor that looks just like matsu jun, another actor, but that’s a different point)

anyways, here’s my good old buddy todd.

eiffel tower!

okay, that’s not a good picture cuz you can’t see his face very well, but todd and i are eiffel towering tak.  if you don’t know what that is, well, imagine us with no clothes with these same looks on our faces.  btw, tak is visiting me soon.  can’t wait for that.  maybe we’ll eiffel tower an old obachan on the girls’ car of the train!

whatever, here’s a picture of my good buddy, todd.

todd

and here’s todd’s twin brother.  it’s uncanny, i swear…

todd's twin brother fa sho

now tell me that isn’t crazy-go-nuts (shout out to you homestarrunner fans, errr strongbad fans).  i seriously cracked up out loud when i saw that photo on the train.  people were looking at me wondering, “why is this guy laughing at the picture?  and why is he taking a photo of it?”  you know why i did it?  to share it with all of YOU.  telling the story doesn’t do the picture justice.  so there, enjoy.

truly amazing…

1. cicadas won’t shut up

2. you see more couples walking around

and finally

3. your testicles won’t stop sticking to your leg

i hope you enjoyed this quick thought from your favorite blogger

okay, the real reason for this post is to show you what i made for dinner.  yes, as the title suggests, i made nachos.  nothing too fancy but it looks pretty gangsta.  corn tortilla chips, pinto beans, chicken, avocado, cheese, and salsa.  probably not the healthiest thing in the world but when you get that itch for mexican food….you scratch that badboy with fat on a plate.  pictures to follow:

nachos and salsa

yes, that is a whole avocado on the top of my nachos

(i’m trying to figure out a way to post that file.  maybe in a future post.  until then, this photo will have to do.)

EDIT: GOT IT!  (check the bottom for possibly the greatest video of our time)

anyways, he came to japan for vacation and decided to stay at my pad for a couple nights.  he’s a big dude (i mean his name is “big dawg”, so he either eats a lot or really likes animals) so i took him two places where he could eat however much he wanted: kaiten-sushi and yakiniku.  recently, big dawg saw grant’s trip photo’s from golden week.  he proudly proclaimed “i can top that haha” so i decided to see if that was true.

it was...

then tonight, we went for some yakiniku.  half-price steak is always a good thing.  these steaks were pretty big, i’d venture to say about 1lbs. steaks.  between the two of us, we ate 4.

that's less than 1 of the steaks

also, this place has a ridiculous rice bowl.  the rice comes in 4 sizes: 250 grams, 500 grams, 1.5 kilograms, and 2.5 kilograms.  koroki and i got 1.5 kg.

yeah, that's a lot of rice

and we finished it!

tonight, we didn’t really go for much variety, it was pretty much all steak.  we each had 3 little sausage type things but the rest was meat.  MEAT!  (those were some good TGI Friday’s commericals, right?)

flipping the sausage

MEAT!

by the end of the meal, koroki and i both felt like you could have rolled us home.

stuffed koroki (hard to imagine but it does actually happen)

seriously about to hurl...

and lucky for you guys, we had a video blog on the way home.  yeah, it’s not all that funny but it’s my new thing, and this is my blog, so deal.

i hope i didn’t build it up too much, but here’s audio of the famous “what chall drive?!” with video reaction by none other than himself, DJ Bass a.k.a. David Koroki, what’s up foo!

anyway, grant’s last day in japan was spent resting. we had traveled and walked SO much during the rest of the week that we just needed a break. we stayed around kashiwa, ate sushi, went to an ofuro (public bath), karaoke, and dinner at an izakaya.

we slept in a little bit because we were completely exhausted. i think cary woke up at like 6am and waited for me and grant to get up at 11am. some people are early risers, and some people just need to take it easy. guess which one cary is….HAHA j/k. grant and i like teasing cary, but he’s a real good sport about it.

mummy grant

around noon, we met up with emiko for some sushi. yeah, i know, that was sushi for like the fifth time in 6 days, but we love fish. gaten sushi has this one sushi called “aburi salmon” which is seared salmon (with a blowtorch) served with deep fried stuff on top. i say stuff cuz we aren’t sure what it is, maybe onion strips? it is DEEEERICIOUS. grant proclaimed it his second favorite sushi in the world, the first being tsukiji fish market unagi.  we topped off the meal with some pineapple.  that’s right, pineapple on a dish, on a conveyer belt, in a sushi restaurant, in japan.  you get the idea.

cary and emiko in my backseat

aburi salmon

pineapple sushi

the fellas at gaten sushi

later, we got some popsicles because they reminded grant of childhood.  awww, touching….*gag*  after popsicles, we were gonna go to an ofuro but grant’s tattoo was too big.  yeah, in japan, image is everything and it just so happens that tattoos project an image of yakuza.  grant only wishes he was that badass.  anyways, we had to cover up his tattoo since we couldn’t find an ofuro that accepted tattoos.  i didn’t go to the ofuro, not because my peepee is too small like cary and grant were saying, but because i wasn’t feeling too well.  while they all went to the bath house, i stayed home and relaxed, and maybe blew up the toilet a couple times, i dunno…

grant's childhood popsicle

cary taping up grant's tattoo

cary isn't taping grant anymore, just touching him for good measure...

since i didn’t go, i didn’t see what went on there but here are some of grant’s pictures.

kirari public bath house

after a bath

after nice baths, we decided to go karaoke.  kinda weird, but between grant and myself, neither of us took any pictures of that.  HOWEVER, i took some awesome videos, the best of which are posted at the bottom.  grant thinks he’s kelly clarkson.  edit: i found a couple pictures grant took.

karaoke room

crazy karaoke remote

after karaoke, we all went to dinner at an izakaya.  we met up steve, a high school friend who also happens to be working in japan.  the place wasn’t special at all, but the company was awesome.  no super stories about it, just a nice way to end an awesome trip.

grant kept saying steve looked like shredder from ninja turtles

izakaya food

kanpai with the fellas

good times with good friends

cary looks tiny, huh...

fun with our keitais (cellphones)

and last but not least, grant and i went home to go to bed cuz he had a flight and i had work the next day.  one last picture for the road.

the boys

i was totally wearing a retainer in the first two pictures, but i looked retarded.

anyways, i guess that’s it.  i went to work the next day and grant went home.  it was an AMAZING trip.  who ever thought that me and my best friend woud be tearing it up in the motherland?  i sure didn’t.  i still can’t believe it happened.  man, i can’t wait to go home and tear it up again.

lastly, here’s the last bit of our video blogs.  be sure to check out grant’s kelly clarkson impression.

when we first got to the area, there was this huge poster of a chef welcoming you to tsukiji.  i’m sorry, but he had the craziest cocked eye i’d ever seen.  kinda funny, kinda sad.

cock eyed chef

we made it into the fish market and it was kinda crazy.  fish heads lying all over the place, just seafood everywhere.

a look into the fish market

these were totally just chillin on the floor

then we went to eat.  SOOOOOO good.

looks delicious right?

after the fish market, grant and i hit the world trade center building.  it’s the top floor of a building with lots of windows.  it’s great to look at all of tokyo.

city view from world trade center tower

grant thinks he's godzilla or something

and i thought a tokyo tower hat would be very stylish

tokyo tower in the background

later, we hit up shibuya and went to another book off.  also, grant got to look at a bunch of girls with short skirts and shorts.  after that, we hit harajuku’s shrine and did a little shopping on the back streets.

this one is for mickie

grant waited 5 minutes to get this picture cuz a girl was standing there

cary takes some funny ass pictures. grant took this creepy one.

this is me earning the name geoffropuff

grant playing taiko at harajuku's shrine

an awesome picture of me after i took an awesome picture of cary. i seriously LOL everytime i look at this

later, we met up with atsushi (the guy who stayed at grant’s house during our high school exchange) and emiko for some yakiniku.  after dinner, we hit the hub for drinks.  mango beer was strangely good.

grant and atsushi. they look like brothers, don't they?

the group at yakiniku

mango beer

after the hub, we were pretty drunk.  grant was trying to pee in the street so, of course, i had to record it.  don’t worry, i didn’t get his weewee.  it was just funny.  here are some more of our video blogs.

we went to this one temple, which wasn’t all that great but had a pretty good sand garden.

a sand mound. not quite sure what it's for, but it's a mound of sand...

not sure what this is either, but it looks like some handy work with a rake

i know this has nothing to do with anything, and you’ll probably think i’m immature, but there were boobs on a door.  i was trying to figure out what they were, but they served no functional purpose.  they were boobs on a door.

with gumdrop nipples!

don’t remember what this place is but i got a good picture of grant standing in front of the gate.

don't remember what this place is but grant looks happy

grant lighting incense

and here are the pictures from kiyomizudera.  this place was amazing.  wonderful view, nice atmosphere with the omiyage booths around the area, and even a little samurai doggy.  plus, grant and i got our fortunes told.  i got BEST LUCKY and grant got NO LUCK, and we got it on film.  it was legen-wait for it-and i hope you’re not lactose intolerant cuz the next part of this word is-DARY.  (i’ve been watching too much how i met your mother lately…

samurai doggy

this was the busy path to kiyomizudera

the beautiful scenery behind the shrine

dressed up statues

grant and i on the kiyomizudera observation deck

directly from this shrine we had to head to the train station.  to be honest, we almost missed our shinkansen back to tokyo.  we made it to the train station with about 10 minutes to spare.  since grant and i only traveled with one backpack each, we didn’t really buy anything, even omiyage, but we did eat a little package of yatsuhashi on the train.  mmm mmm.

me and yatsuhashi

grant and yatsuhashi

back in tokyo, we went to see the imperial palace but it was too rainy and dark to see much.  after that, we went to ginza cuz grant wanted to see one of the baller sections of tokyo.  it was a pain in the butt finding a yakiniku place for dinner, but it was fun anyways.

imperial palace famous bridge, in the dark and the rain...

billboard in ginza. is that a man or a woman?

yakiniku and beer

when we finally made it back to my place, we took stock of our cd stacks.  i pulled slightly ahead of grant.

our cd stacks after day 5, i was winning but he added his video game to make it even

here’s a few more of our video blogs.  if you’re gonna watch any of them, number 10 is a doozy: