Meat

Wow, what a weekend. I don’t even remember everything that happened. What the hell did I do on Friday? I’m 80% sure I stayed home and relaxed…it was an incredibly long week, and I needed to just sit and *chill.* I spent some time playing Street Fighter X Tekken, which is easily becoming one of my favorite fighting games, for the sheer fun (and competition!) it provides.

Gonna go on a video game side tangent right now. Feel free to skip this paragraph if you have no interest in SFXT or fighting games. So, there is an online ranking system in which you (as the player) are given Battle Points (BP) after you win a battle, and you lose BP when you lose a battle. You start at D rank; next is D+, then C, then C+, and so on. I’ve only ever seen up to B+, even on videos online. I assume it goes up to A+; maybe even higher for tournament champions. Tekken has a similar system, but rather than a letter grade, it gives a title, such as “Destroyer” or “Shihan,” for example. Anyway, I’ve been playing it a lot this past week, and I manage to rack up 2000 BP (YAY!) which puts me closer to C+. I notice that when I battle people B Rank and up, they beat me. Not necessarily “easily;” I certainly give a good fight, but most of the time, they win. Watching videos online and simply facing more skilled opponents has improved my game a lot. But I find that my losses are due to either a slipup of the controls, or my lack of knowledge of opponents’ techniques and strategies. If I spent as much time learning the ins and outs of SFXT like I did with Tekken Tag and Tekken 4, back in the day, I would probably be a B Rank in no time. In case you were curious, my main team is composed of Ryu and Kazuya; not combo-heavy characters, but hard hitting. Kind of like how I fight, actually. When I first picked up Kazuya, it was pretty amazing learning his move set and abilities. He’s incredibly fun to play, and very different from Ryu. So much so, that I was in a bit of Ryu funk, and used mostly Kazuya when I played. It seemed like Ryu was underpowered all of a sudden, his lack of a “bounce” move, and having only one crappy mid attack made me want to use him even less. But luckily, I spent time in the Training room, and learned a few new tricks with both Ryu and Kazuya, learning some decent team combos and strats. Ah, love this game. Gotta play some tonight after doing karate.

So what did I do on Friday? Oh! I remember now! I went to a Sri Lanka/Italian restaurant! The guy who owns it actually had a different one last year, but had to ditch it and move to Osaka due to the big earthquake. But he missed the area, so he came back! I had Guinness, gnocchi, Brazilian sausage with beans, and Baileys. Good times.


On Saturday, I went out with an old friend I hadn't seen in a while and a former co-worker I hadn't hung out with in a while. We went to an all-you-can-eat barbeque place. DELISH.


And on Sunday, I went to my friend's house 'cause she and her family were holding a barbeque. YES! MORE MEAT! I hadn't had ribs in a while; yum. There was also mashed potatoes, bacon gravy (crazy right?), grilled clams, tira misu, a chocolate cake, yakitori, various cheeses, and other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy their various wines, beers, and home-made plum wine, because I drove there. But her dad and I got into many discussions about sports cars (he owns a Nissan Fairlady Z), motorcycles, and touring around Japan. My buddy was also there, and we discussed plans for an organization I'm in (he was a former co-president, and I'm a new co-president). Yes, my life will continue to be busy.


I feel so fat.


Word of the Day: デブ　「でぶ」 "debu," which means "fat" or "chubbie." It's often used as a derogatory term to make fun of or insult someone. "You fattie!" That kinda thing.