Pool Hall
Didn't do much today. Just went out with Yumi to lunch at this cafe next door to the Cowboy Bar. They had these sofas to sit on while you eat, and they were too low so I had to raise my shoulders to eat and because of that, my shoulder muscles are all sore now. After lunch, I headed over to have class with Violet, Jack, and Daisy. Daisy wasn't back yet apparently and Violet showed up 30 minutes late. Thanks for being on time. I am going thru a review of the book since the Cambridge course is finishing up end of May. The class went ok. Their minds lost some info during the vacation.
After class, I wanted to go to the gym, but it was so friggin' hot that I didnt feel like it. It blows. The weather was so cold that I didnt' want to go, now its super hot and I don't want to go. Aiya. So, i headed home and started taking care of this sword engraving thing. Basically, I threw a little poem/well wish to Guo Sifu and had Amy translate it for me.
"May your life be long, your Qi & gong fu be strong, your children bring you honor, and your love for lion and dragon dancing last forever. Thanks for everything. -Fei Long"
Amy translated it, not directly, because there are some chinese sayings that are like that, but not exactly, so she used those. But then she said, I should prolly do it in English, because Sifu wants to be proud of this and having it in Chinese is just like nay other gift. I understood this, but I want something on the blade, and I wouldn't be able to have the english written on the blade and have it look good, so I have planned to have a plate attached to the scabbard with the english version of it.
I took it to the Bond office around 530pm where I met up with Wing and she took me around the corner to some shops. We found one that claimed they could do it. I worked with them closely on getting the translation adn written exactly the way I wanted. They wanted to do it one on to make it symetrical, and I wanted anything but symettrical, because i felt it would look good otherwise. I found the writing style and everything that I wanted and they said sure. I told them that they had to be careful and not make any mistakes because there is no redo on this. In my mind, I am like, I have another sword, but I don't want any of them wasted. They said, 100RMB and it would be done tomorrow. Wing got them to 80RMB and done tomorrow. I was initially surprised at that esitmate of one day. I dont believe it. It better be perfect. When I pick it up, if its good, I will comission them to make a plate with english. I need to be there to write it or else they will turn it into chinglish.
After spending about 1.5 hours doing this, I called up Yumi and a few others to fin out what everyone was doing. They were at teh pool hall.
I went to Yumi's to pick her up around 830pm. She had made some pancakes because I mentioned we should have some for lunch, then she got all excited and made some. She wanted to make some Osaka style pancakes "okunamegyaku" which are like a cross between omlettes and pancakes.
We headed to the pool hall and it was me, Yumi, New John, Miguel, Ash, and a new guy James that has been here for 2 weeks. He is a nice guy. He's irish but a North Londoner. He is a big soccer fan...duh. My favourite thing about the British Iles are soccer hooligans. Initially, he reminded me of the old guy from "Traispotting", the unstable guy that started fights all the time.
I called Nick and Jolene. So, later on, Peter, Nick, Jolene, and Wing showed up. Nick had gone to the pool by Longshan Park today with Megan, Amy, and Moses. He was teaching Megan how to swim. He said she kneed him in the face while he was holding her up in the water. We started realizing that teaching someone something that seems to come natural is really tuff. Since we have known how to swim since we were little, how do explain it?
I told him to look it up online.
well, its late. Goodnite all.