I like tattoos part 4 - Work in progress

Here's my latest tattoo. Work is being done by Shoko Sonoda. She is an amazing tattoo artist and specializes in traditional Japanese style tattoos. Check her site - www.sumiya.ca.
The Chinese characters are a separate tattoo which she will incorporate.
Enjoy.

Crazy Chinese woman

At my job, I deal with people over the phone and face to face. I have to ask a lot of questions. So this old Chinese woman came in and started talking to me in Mandarin. I tried to explain to her that I don't speak or understand Mandarin but she continued. I was doing my best to tell her with hand signals that I had no idea what she was saying. Most people would walk away because we don't speak the same language but this lady just kept on talking to me in Mandarin. She seemed like she really wanted help so I called my buddy Nel on my cell cause he's my Taiwanese hook up and the only person I know that could speak Mandarin and then translate.

Here's the crazy part......I passed my cell over to the woman and she started speaking Cantonese!!! I may not be entirely fluent in Cantonese but I understood most of what she said. I thought to myself, "Man, I didn't know Nel understood so much Cantonese!" Anyways, she passed my cell back to me and I thanked Nel and told him I didn't know why she didn't try speaking to me in Cantonese.

Ok, so this is where it get's crazier....I started speaking to her in Cantonese and I thought ok, we're gonna get somewhere because she knew I knew she could speak Cantonese......WRONG!
She replied in Mandarin!!! I thought "Really? Are you really doing that to me?" I kept on speaking to her in Cantonese, and tried to tell her the best I could that I don't speak Mandarin!! Can't you hear i'm speaking Cantonese to you??????? I finally got the information I needed.

What today taught me is that I gotta get on that Rosetta Stone and learn me some Mandarin.
She she knee baba!

Diggin for beats

This is what i'm watching on youtube right now. When I used to download music, I would check the liners in my cds of my favorite songs and try to find the original sample. It was a lot of work but gratifying when I found the original. Vince would help a lot too and make me mixed cds with the original samples of famous hip hop tracks.

DJ Funkual is dope and his crates are mad deep. Funny guy and I definitely appreciate his love of funk, orginal samples and old skool breaks. Go on youtube and check his channel. I think he's up to episode 30 and I hope he keeps making them.

Eating of Noah's Ark

Warning: Those who are vegan or vegetarian due to reasons that eating animals are cruel, do not read on.

Now that i've done my due diligence to warn my vegetable friendly readers, let's begin. Friday night I was invited over to my buddy Tom's place for dinner. This guy is a crazy cook. He whipped up bacon wrapped chicken breast, steak on the bbq and grilled salmon. Jax made some delicious broccoli soup and garlic mashed potatoes. Tom also has this amazing massage chair. Nothing like a great meal and a massage to bring on the Itis.

Saturday, me and the JL had dinner at the Kobe Steak House. For those of you who don't know, go to www.koberestaurant.com. It's a teppanyaki restaurant which means they cook in front of you and do some tricks to make it entertaining. Maybe cause it's close to the holidays but there were so many people. We had reservations for 8pm but didn't get in until 9:15pm. It may sound like i'm complaining but i'm not. I think it's worth the wait. The "hot chicks with douche bags" were definitely reprazenting that night too. I haven't seen so many juiced up dudes wearing tacky "tattoo" print tshirts and bleach blonde girls with "bolt ons" since.......ever actually. There were really tall girls there too. I mean like 6'5 "I can't get a date and no I don't play basketball" tall.

Anyways, everytime I go eat at Kobe, which isn't very often I get the Ultimate. Check the menu on the website if you don't believe me but this is what you get. Steak, chicken, scallops, lobster and some veggies. They have this mustard sauce for the steak that tastes so good with rice. It's pretty pricey at about $65 but freakin delicious and plenty of food! Kobe is a place you have to experience at least once in your life. Enjoy the pics and happy eating!

Here is Jax and Tom cooking.

Me, Rich and Elaine.
Our chef cooking up some steaks.
Derrick eating some rice and Danny enjoying the sweet nectar known as beer. His face says it all. Mmmmmm beer.

Swimming

Many of you know that I can't swim or couldn't up until this summer. I took some private swim lessons with a coach by the name of Peter Scott. Check his website: www.seahiker.com.

Anyways, i've had a fear of water for a long time. I can get into a pool ok but once it gets too deep, my anxiety kicks up a notch big time....With the lessons I took with Peter, that anxiety is slowly going away and i'm actually enjoying being in the pool. Today was a good day in the pool. My friend and co-worker Jen at the gym I work at gave me some awesome tips and I had an amazing time in the pool.

You know that feeling that you've got over that "bump" in the road that will help you get to where you want to go? I got that feeling and it feels freakin great!!! Wish I could bottle this up and drink it when I need the boost.

My plan is to do a triathlon in May 2010 at UBC. I sending this out there cause i'll need the motivation to keep me on track. I'm happy that I got good people in my life to help me out when I need it.

Sugoi Friends & Family Sale and Tasty Tacos

Today was Sugoi's friends and family sale. The deals were ridiculous. If you're into technical running / swimming / cycling gear, this sale was the one to be at. This weekend opens up to the general public and i'm sure the deals will still be great but today's sale had additional % off. It was crazy busy too! If you're going this weekend, make sure to bring cash cause that line up was waaaaaaaaay shorter than the debit/credit line.

Here's some pics of the gear I got. I basically have my outfit for next Spring / Summer cycling season.All that only cost me just under $140. That's right, $140!!! I bought one bike jersey from La Bicicletta and it cost me about the same. Look at all that gear I got for that price!!!

Vince took me to Dona Cata for some authentic Mexican tacos afterwards. It was my first time there and the food was delicious. I was pretty hungry after all that deal finding. If you haven't been, go check out Dona Cata. They're located at 5076 Victoria Drive. You can also order the meat in bulk if you want to do a Taco Party. When Vince get's back from Hawaii, we gonna organize one of those.

Dru's song of the month - November 2009