Whats my next craze?

Something on my mind of late has been my sense of indecisiveness. I've probably been aware of it subconsciously for a long time but I only started thinking about it when a friend of mind said "I cant wait for your next craze!". He meant it in a good way because he was so excited about it but it got me thinking...

So before my hobby switching stint, which I suppose it still ongoing, I used to learn Kung Fu. I started off learning traditional lion dancing ( the ones you see at Chinese New Year celebrations and new asian shop openings sometimes) and after a short while, probably after the second lesson I started kung fu training and I was hooked. That lasted for about 5 years and ranged from training 1-2 times a week, up to 5 days a week. They only had 5 days a week so if they had more I probably would have trained everyday if they had a class. I would train with my friends before and after classes as well but its different just training one on one with a mate.

One time I was training with my friend and he was teaching me how to spar, which I'm really crap at, and I ended up kneeing him in the knee and giving myself a bruised knee! It was so painful.

There are heaps of injury stores. When my best friend and I were learning a metal fan sparring set she dropped the fan on my face right near my eye and we were so freaked out that she had blinded me. It was scary at the time but now its a funny story because we went out of the training hall when it happened and when we came back in, I was fine and my best friend was in tears because she had been so freaked out that she could've been seriously injured. That set took ages to master after that because we didn't want to get too close together =p. There are quite a few injury stories which kind really does remind me of why I stopped even though I loved it so much.

Training it was the best carefree years of my life. It helped that this was just after high school and I was becoming independent getting to go out and meet new people and go out whenever I wanted. I met my two best friends at training as well, bonding over bruises =).

So after I stopped kung fu I didn't really pick up another hobby. I'd always done some craft stuff but not often, I'd probably just make a card here and there when I needed one.

I'm actually not sure how many hobbies I've run through in the last few years so I'm going to number them:

1. Sewing - I've always liked to sew and I love buttons and fabrics, they're so pretty! I made some wallet pouches for my sisters and mum ( It's so then you can have your wallet on a rope around your wrist when you go to the shops to pick up something quickly and it stops your keys from scratching your nice leather wallet.
2. I picked up playing guitar again when my friend said she wanted to start playing. I'd borrowed a guitar a long time ago and taught myself one or two songs before returning it. This time a different friend lent me his guitar for a couple of months before I bought my own semi acoustic guitar =). Its beautiful Yamaha with it a inbuilt tuner =). I've since taught myself more songs gotten obsessed with fingerstyle picking, finally learnt how to sing while playing and tried to wrap my head around some music theory. Actually tonight a friend from my hubbys work gave me a classical guitar and lent me a electric to muck around with. I've set the guitar aside for about 6 months now so I think it's time i get back into it.
3. I created this blog just as something to document what I had been up to because I have a bad memory and as a guide to reference stuff like restaurants we'd been to and recipes I've tried (even though I've been pretty slack for ages now). Starting to blog also helped my to get my thoughts in order so I should make time to write more.
4. I've always liked to cook and try new recipes. A friend of mine started coming over on my girls night and she taught me how to make Macarons, so we started baking something new and trying out a new dish every week. After about 2 months we noticed some pudge happening so we cut back on the baking. This coincided with getting busier at work and then having the next craze start.
5. My fish craze! This started in March 2012 (I think) when my yabby (Hermione) , which I'd had for about 1.5 years was accidentally killed by my hubby ( >.< ). I wanted a replacement pet but not another yabby because I'd had a yabby before Hermione (Herman - haha i know.. my sister named Hermione because Herman was a escape artist and I was very upset that he had died on his exploration attempt!). So I did my research and decided I wanted either a fighting fish or an axolotl. Now I have both and heaps of other fish. Its calmed down a bit now so I've got it stable at 3 tanks atm =). It was a super craze! there was fish stuff everywhere! I think I got up to 8 tanks around the house at one stage.
6. Knitting and crocheting came after the fish. My eldest sister knits and even though we all used to knit as kids I never knitted anything more then a scarf (lots of them for my toys until my mum told me to stop haha) and I never knew how to finish it off. So my sister taught me how to start the stitches on the needed, to do a knit and a purl. Out of these 3 I got 2 wrong "(@.@). So one and a half balls of yarn later, I saw a crocheted octopus in a shop window and I thought it was so cute! The next day, out of the blue my best friend gave me a amigurumi crochet book! I hadn't even mentioned to her that I saw it. So I bought a crochet hook and started crocheting with the help of the book, websites and youtube! I've since made a 20cm high minion toy, an assortment of other cute toys and a couple of beanies. Yarn everywhere!
7. This one is more of a project rather then hobby. After the Avengers came out a while ago my hubby has been mentioning that it would be cool to make an Ironman suit. Sure I'd wear it to a convention as well but there's a particular nook at our place that I think would be awesome to have a full suit displayed =). So we decided we are going to make a Mark XII Ironman suit. We had a crazy of ebay, getting all the materials and now I've just got to find the time to make the parts. We're using the pepakura method.
8. Youtube addiction! and iPhone games! so these aren't really hobbies but they are HUGE time wasters. I'm currently spending heaps of my time playing TribeZ.. it's just a build and expand kinda game, simple, cute graphics and I'm playing right now!! On Youtube I've discovered a few web series I like. I watched The Guild ages ago so I was subscribed to the Geek and Sundry channel which is how I discovered the show TableTop hosted by Will Wheaton. Damn it's reminded me how much I love to play board games! Then many related links later I came across nerdy nummies - a cooking show with nerdy themed foods, Coffeh time with Dodger - a daily vlog and whatever related link that looks interesting.

So 8ish hobbies within the last few years. Seems like too many, I thought that by the time I finished this post I'd have an idea of what I should do but I still don't really have a clue. I think the main thing is to try and keep up and definitely finish what I've already started.

The Ironman suit is probably the project that has me most excited (it the most recent too) so if we finish that I'll be so super excited.

Thanks for reading if anyone has read the whole thing. Sometimes its just really nice to write it all down and get it organized in my head.

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Japan destinations

Tokyo:

The first 3 points are all things we did in odaiba. For specifics on how to get to each place google works really well. and you might want to google other things to do there cos it is about an hr away from Akiharbara area.

Giant Gundam in front of Diver City

1. Big Gundam and Gundam Cafe are in Odaiba. Catch the JR to Shinbashi (yamanote line) and change to the Odaiba island monorail. I think the stop to get off is Daiba station. You should be able to see the big Gundam from the monorail. Its right in front of a big shopping center called Diver city Tokyo. The light show is at 7.30pm and 8.30 pm weekdays, 7.30 and 8.15 weekends.

Diver City is quite big so you can do heaps of shopping here.

Open 2 wheeler at Megaweb

2. Mega web: The toyota showroom where you can see toyotas technology and test drive cars. Theres a booking system and you may or may not need your international drivers license to be able to participate. So check out the details beforehand if you think you might want to drive any of the cars.

3. Joypolis an amusement park/ arcade. Ken and I went here only for the Intial D cars. Theres a few other interactive games but only the halfpipe game and the jet shooting game looked interesting. Theres an all day pass you can buy for unlimited rides and if you go later at night theres a cheaper rate.

Initial D game at Joypolis

4. Remm Akihabara: We stayed here for the week we were in tokyo. It was about $150 per night. The room was small ish but really well set out and functional. Theres also an awesome massage chair that was really cool.

The best thing about staying at the Remm was location! The station is right next to the hotel and on the other side of the station is a 7 story yodobashi. The station is on the yamanote line and chuo lines.

Ken also checked out a hotel called the Washington hotel akiharbara. Its accross the street from the Remm. He chose Remm because its newer and the rooms didnt look as nice.

5. Main tokyo suburbs:

Akihabara: Heaps of models and figures and Tech. Look around before you buy everything, prices vary a bit for the same item and chances are you'll see it in another store. If you plan to do electronic shopping theres a website that lists the best prices around akihabara (kakaku.com). And if you shop at yodobashi or softmap we have loyalty cards that you can borrow, you get 10% (@yodobashi, 1% at softmap) of the purchase price as points and you can redeem it for other items. Great if you plan on getting any big ticket items.

Don Quijoto is akihabara is a 5 storey variety store. Its where you can get the theme onesies, funny hats in the shape of taiyakis or takoyaki and lots of snacks. Its a franschise so we also went to one in osaka.

takeshita street in harajuku

Ginza: Sony and panasonic flagship stores are there. Its the more posh areas for shopping.

Harajuku: not as many harajuku girls here anymore but the park is nice and there are still lots of people there performing (drums, dj painter, old people dancing to Elvis music etc). Theres also a main shopping strip in harajuku and home to many crepe places. The street is on the opposite side of the station from the park. cross the street and head left. just follow the crowds.

Random dj painter in the park @ harajuku

Shinjuku: Mainly fashion and shopping. Heaps of restaurants that looked interesting.

Shibuya: This is where the huge intersection is that you see in movies. Its on the corner just as you come out of the station.

6. Ghibli Museum: You can get tickets from JTB in townhall its about $15pp. Just look them up and fill in the online order sheet, they'll have tickets for you in a few days to pick up. you can also order your JR pass from them.

Nice place to visit if you're into the ghibi art and movies. Gift shop there sucks though so if you only want to go there for the merchandise then just look for a ghibli store in the main suburbs somewhere. The museum is in Mitaka about 40 mins away from akihabara.

 

Kyoto:

7. Contact the Good Samaritan Club: you can fill in a registration form on their website and nominate what days you would like to have a guide. Its free, you just shout them to lunch and pay for their ticket into the temples. They have a guide pass for some of the temples but not all of them. We had three days with them and all three of them were really fun and nice to hang out with for the day.

The mochi at the stalls around the temples are yum make sure you try the free samples. Kiyomizudera is the temple at the top of the hill, its surrounded but the old style city, It's one of the nicest areas. They'll probably take you there but if not you should ask them to take you its a nice area.

8. Melon Pan!!! ok this is actually the hokkaido melon pan but we found it first in Kyoto. Its the only melon pan that has the melon filling. It so delicious we had it every time we saw it! its the one with the smooth green top and only the one in Kyoto had the nice smooth rockmelon filling. The ones in tokyo had a different kind of melon filling and whipped cream. The kyoto one was better.

Hokkaido Melon pan!! *Drooooooools*

 

9. Shinkyugoku and Ninja Restaurant: This is just a fun ninja themed restaurant you might want to try. It's on the main shopping strip on Kyoto called Shinkyogoku street. There is a big department store across the street and street main shopping strips. Two of them are shops for clothes and souviners and one of the strips is all food.

The ninja restaurant is off one of these strips. You should try the maze after you have dinner. It's not hard just a bit of fun.

10.

 

More info:

I came across this website that has all the clubs that offer tours in different areas. http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/travel/guide/list_volunteerGuides_a-n.html

 

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