停止中.....KEEP DISTANCE

Saw this in the women's bathroom in the grocery store.  I'm confused.  No more social distancing?

是我文法不好？還是英文不好？還是中文不好？

Matsumoto Castle & Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route

Matsumoto Castle was so pretty from outside, but inside was empty.  All the weapon displays were guns.  What happened to samurais with swords?  Too bad people were not allowed to walk on the red bridge.

Matsumoto Castle entry ¥700/person

Apparently Matsumoto people eat horses.  I've tried horse sashimi once.  It was not as good as fish sashimi.

Horse Meat Cuisine

From Matsumoto to Tateyama Kurobe Alpine route was easy and not easy.  First, it was one-hour train ride from Matsumoto to Shinano Omachi, ¥680/person one way.  Even though the train was Japan Rail, it did not accept Suica.  We had to buy paper tickets.  Then it was 40-minute bus from Shinano Omachi to Ogizawa, ¥2,500/person round trip.

Shinano Omachi Eki

Shinano Omachi to Ogizawa

From Ogizawa, the Alpine route started.  Ogizawa to Murodo (or as Math Teacher called it, Mordor), it was ¥9,470/person round trip.  It was a lot of transportation.  It looked so confusing when I was researching online.  However, it was well-organized.  We didn't get lost. Followed the tourist crowd, and everything was all right.  Every stop took about 15-minute for transportation and half an hour for sightseeing.  I would highly recommend pack own picnic, as the food up in the mountains were very basic to none.  Besides, there was nothing better than to have a picnic surrounded by beautiful white snow under the bright blue sky.

Ogizawa to Murodo, ¥9,470/person round trip

Murodo was the top of the mountain with the snow wall.  It was only half way through the Alpine route, but it was enough.  Even though it was at the end of May, the snow wall was 14 meters high, and it didn't feel cold at all.

Of course I had to buy local beer as souvenir.  The red and gold tasted sweet and great; the black one tasted funny.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

I wasn't going to see this movie because I felt it was a two-hour advertisement for US military.  I also worried that, after 30 years, they wouldn't come up with original plot, just like Star Wars.

Math Teacher really wanted to see it, exactly because it was a two-hour advertisement for US military.  Then I got new contact lenses.  What better way to try out new lenses in a dark theater?

I was right.  The whole movie was an advertisement for US military.  The plot didn't change at all.  Tom Cruise was still the baddest ass pilot ever.  Same competition amongst pilots storyline, only with young generations.

They tried to be diverse with the young generation by throwing in an Asian man, with a codename "Yale". Heh, how original.  I don't believe he uttered a word in the entire movie.

This time they flew into enemy's country to destroy their infrastructure.  Nobody had a problem with US flying into a sovereign nation and stole the enemy's fighter jet?  Nobody had a problem that those enemy pilots were only defending their own sovereignty?  Because they threw in "Geneva Convention", that made everything ok?  What happened to diplomacy and talk?  This movie was saying because US didn't like something, US had every right to destroy it.  And it was sold as heroism.  What bullshit.

Go back to watch the original Top Gun.  It was better in every way.

Book PROMOTIONS!!! Memorial Day Sale!

I TAKE THEE will be free on Amazon 5/28 ~ 6/1!!!

I TAKE THEE

Book 2 FROM THIS DAY FORWARD and book 3 TO HOLD & TO CHERISH will be discounted at $0.99!!!  Boost my sales and leave good reviews!!!

Thanks a million to everyone!

goodreads

I am not familiar with this website:  goodreads.  Apparently it's imdb.com for books.

A reader rated five-star for I TAKE THEE and FROM THIS DAY FORWARD.

I TAKE THEE

FROM THIS DAY FORWARD

The author names were different on goodreads.com.  I was being a dumbass in the beginning of my "writing career" that I didn't know how to choose a pen name.  So I switched names after book 1 was published.

Apparently this reader has figured out that both author names were me, and enjoyed both books.  I'm so touched!

It's a great feeling to have such a dedicated reader.  However, I'm not tech-savvy enough to get in contact with the reader.  The internet's advice is to set up a mailing list so I could collect email addresses.  Then I could send out news, promotions, etc.  Unfortunately, I didn't even know how to set up a mailing list.

I'm sorry, my precious reader.  Please keep reading my books.  I'll do my best to write awesome stories that you'd like to read.

Shibazakura Festival

Shibazakura Festival was beautiful!

We got lucky.  It was raining in the morning so not a lot of people went to the festival.  By the time we got to the festival, however, the rain stopped.  Even though it was cloudy, Mt. Fuji was out and about!  It was a great day to walk in the garden and under the shade of Mt. Fuji.

The shibazakura were tiny flowers on the ground.  So they actually looked better from far away than close up.

The festival also featured Peter Rabbit theme.  I didn't quite understand, but perhaps Peter Rabbit was famous in Japan?  However, they did an half-assed job about the English theme.  The sandwich shop didn't sell cucumber finger sandwich.  Math Teacher tried the strawberry sandwich.  It was one dry hotdog bun with strawberry cream and chocolate cream.  He was disappointed.  He thought it would be a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich.  I laughed at him, saying peanut-butter and jelly sandwich was an American thing.  We were at the festival around lunch time; the restaurant wouldn't sell us take-out beverages because it wasn't tea time yet (we both didn't understand the logic).  So I had no idea how "English" the tea was.

Overall, it was a great place to walk around for an hour.  Pack own picnic.  Don't buy any food and drinks there.

The Lost City (2022)

Fun, entertaining.  I haven't watched a good romantic comedy movie for a long time.

Sandra Bullock was so beautiful.

Channing Tatum had a dumb face, which was a big plus for this movie.

Brad Pitt, oh so handsome.

Daniel Radcliffe was hilarious as a villain.

Together all four seemed to enjoy making this movie together.  The acting was great.  They played off each other nicely.  There were real character growth and development.  Then there were the sexual innuendos that made me giggle 😄

Married Life / 婚姻生活, #4

I woke up this morning to find an entire gallon of milk in the freezer ⁉️

Math Teacher claimed there was no space in the fridge so he put the milk in the freezer.  There was plenty of space in the fridge if he had just pushed things around and rearranged a little bit.

The milk had become a block of frozen ice.  It could've been a murder weapon!

I learned a new science fact.  If an unopened bottle of water was left in the freezer, it would explode.  Apparently not frozen milk ice.  It was fine.

The gallon took 4+ hours to thaw 😐

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

I was so surprised.  A few hours before the movie, I thought, hmm, who would the villain be?  I watched only one trailer, and I didn't see a villain in there.

SPOILERS!

It turned out to be Scarlet Witch!  Shock!

Like Shang-Chi was a complete Hong Kong martial arts movie trope, Doctor Strange 2 was a complete horror movie trope.  Witches, zombies, evil book, crawling out of mirrors, blood everywhere.  I don't watch any scary movies because I get scared easily, but mix horror into Marvel sci-fi action movie, I totally enjoyed the gore and violence.

The only thing I didn't like was, I felt I needed to watch a lot of Disney+ shows to understand Marvel movies now.  I didn't know how Scarlet Witch got the evil book; I didn't know she turned evil; I didn't know how she knew the young girl could open dimensions.  It used to be just watching the Marvel movies were good enough.  I hope this is not a trend, because I don't have the money nor time to invest in TV shows.

Spring-Rolled Asparagus

Ingredients:

• Spring roll wrappers
• Asparagus
• Butter
• Garlic powder
• Italian seasoning
• Black pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Steps:

1. Add the garlic powder, the Italian seasoning, and the black pepper onto the butter.  Melt the butter in the microwave oven.
2. Lay one piece of spring roll wrapper flat.
3. Brush the butter mixture on the wrapper.
4. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on the wrapper.
5. Put one asparagus* on the wrapper.
6. Roll up the wrapper.
7. Fry the rolled up asparagus.  OR
8. Bake the rolled up asparagus in toaster oven until crispy.

*If skinny asparagus, put two.  If thick asparagus, one is good enough.

I did not use salt because I felt the parmesan cheese was salty enough.

I do not like frying food at home so I baked them.  Delicious bar snack!  Made me want to drink beer 😋🍺

Wrapped Asparagus