This blog posting covers the whole day of July 26th, 2022. An exploration of Richmond neighborhood from south to central north. From Richmond’s farmer’s market area, to Gary’s point park, and into Richmond Mall. I probably should have spent more time at this farm area after finding out how I misread and interpreted the bus times.
Trip Index:
[Prelude/Prologue] – [Day 1] – [Day 2] – [Day 3] – [Day 4] – [Day 5] – [Day 6] – [Day 7] – [Day 8] – [Day 9] – [Day 10] – [Day 11]
Horrible Mistake:
I made a horrible mistake I shouldn’t have done. My impatience and social pressure made me board the wrong bus which goes halfway, not all the way through to my desired destination. I tried to be a bit clever, it backfired horribly. Especially on one of the hottest days in Vancouver during a heatwave.
The tour guide was awesome. He informed me of various things about the tram, where they went, and how they were able to do things. The usual informative stuff being all nice. I even asked him about posing my figure, he found it fine.
I was trying to get Renge in a certain pose, it sadly wasn’t working. At a certain point kids came up wondering what I was doing observing how I was posing Renge. It felt awkward, I however kept with it. I only had this on chance to get what I wanted done with Renge.
It’s either you’re fighting with the posing, or with the phone camera’s focus failing to capture what you’re desiring.
After failing to capture a few of Renge’s poses (posing stability) I slowly started drifting away from the tram to go to my next destination. Not really having a plan, I decided to head outwards to get some railway shots of Renge on the train tracks.
After much mental debating I circled back to the railway to capture Renge on the tracks. A sick elderly woman was coughing from an nearby apartment building giving everything a weird vibe, though the day itself was fairly nice. Tried to painstakingly capture the shots making sure nobody would steal my belongings on a nearby park table.
The above images of Renge are a neat start, though not ones I was seeking. I had to keep her in the shade for contrast purposes.
Feeling mostly satisfied I left the area in search of food. Renge safely in my pocket, CC Lemon candy consumed, I tried venturing my way towards ‘Win Win Chick-N’.
Oh? ‘Win Win Chick-N’ has their door locked? I was unable to open it. Confused, I tried pulling it twice. I waited a bit, checked my Google maps for suggestions….. Lost, confused, I decided to try out some seafood I was suggested.
Unsure of what to do next, my friend suggested heading towards Richmond Mall. It may however not have been allegedly “be much”, it was however neat to go there. While in the area I was also in search of water. My water bottle was long empty needing a long overdue refill. I needed water badly with Richmond Mall being a good place than any to go to.
All my decisions may have been effected by my lack of water.
While scouting the place I came across a much needed Shoppers Drug Mart. I genuinely needed water. Water! I finally have access to water! Holy shit! Water! I’m genuinely surprised there are no refill centers after having seen plenty around my trips across British Columbia. Various areas need water bottle refill areas, especially at Gary’s point park, and other areas.
After finally having my giant water bottle I decided to continue on exploring the mall shocked to find a Lego Store noted on both Google maps and the store directory. I’m now on a mission to find it!
I genuinely want that Lego Titanic set. I even joked I bought it to which my friend told me he would have forcefully made me return it. Even my roommates in Ottawa would have done the same. Sorry, I’m not allowed to have fun, especially with no space to really have it. I’m not allowed to do what I want to do.
For a world that is built on consumerism it’s only depressing you can’t really own this unless you’re financially rich, such as those in Vancouver in those mansions, luxury homes, etc. If I desired to buy this Titanic Lego set I would be genuinely hanged for this by both my friend and my roommates. It’s just one of those “No fun allowed” situations in life. It simply makes you depressed.
I sadly had to wait a few hours for my friend allowing me to play Azur Lane in the mall. I kept playing to the point I started falling asleep in the mall forcing me to awkwardly move around waiting for my friend. I went from one side to the other, even observing the Porsche below, and a family struggling to carry their oversized Lego set from the mall to the car. Kids were carrying the oversized box (as shown in above image in purple sticker and brown box) to which the mother eventually was forced to carry it. Amusing to watch.
I was taken to an authentic Japanese restaurant with a Chef from Tokyo. Everything done was done at the pace of the Japanese Elderly man’s pace. Whatever he says is what you get (whatever is in stock). Everything is slow, authentic, and proper.
I’ve even noticed my friend and I felt out of place, maybe even bothering a few folks by simply being there in presence. We however ate and did what we had to do. We had sake, I had gyoza and ramen.
My friend was “scolded” (jokingly) to eat rice the foreigner way with a fork. I sneakily used my chopsticks the Japanese way, the sneaky sliding way, as I’ve seen done in Anime and various Japanese media. I may have been overlooked and maybe forgotten, I however enjoyed my food. My friend got the most attention.
My friend and I were just happily talking about Vancouver life, making sacrifices to live in Vancouver, how much fun it is in Vancouver, how pricey, Skytrain rattling, planes, having a life in general (and in Vancouver), and finding a girl, etc. With everything going against me I’m simply not allowed to have fun the way other people have. Having lost Sparky (my dog), my mother, and then father hurt me heavily. Even before that Ottawa wasn’t kind to me, bullying me constantly for anything and everything. I wasn’t allowed to be me, nor was I allowed to do other things. Not allowed to have a girlfriend, even though there were interested ones. My depression scared them away for when I had the chances. Unlike anime girls, real world girls simply won’t help you as they would in an Anime, even though I knew good ones who wanted to help me. Just not to the degree Anime girls are shown to help to go above and beyond. Woman aren’t woman to the point even Japanese guys and woman are venting, and how North Americans are going overseas to pick up foreign Asian woman to fill in the natural void in life.
One such “desired girl” being Shikimori from ‘Shikimori’s Not just a Cutie‘ anime. It’s amazing how girls/woman/females are portrayed in Anime, something that’s desired from real world girls. Something past woman may have been, however have lost their way. They play “hard to get”, sometimes too much, to the point you skip past them.
My RNG luck is just trash, as it is for the rest of North Americans, unless they obtain their overseas Asian girlfriends.
I digress. The conversation we had was mostly positive, and about life. My friend was genuinely surprised I even managed to make my way to Vancouver, made it there personally, how surprised he was to see me being proactive, and just doing what I desired. Sure, he was frustrated from a lack of sleep (5 hours sleep at times), we’ve both done what we desired to do. He genuinely wanted to help me, even trying to help in the ways he can. He can only do so much, especially under his own pressures in Vancouver. I can see him stressing on both weekends (past and present of this blog posting) how life is taking a toll on both of us.
After enjoying the food, looking at Bordain’s review of the Japanese Chef (me getting overly excitable and ignored), we eventually made our way to an Arcade in an area I previously ventured to. Aberdeen Mall’s Arcade area. This native Japanese Chef my friend took me to showed us the Anthony Bordain segment because it dealt with true Japanese food, what “good food” actually is, and how he was praised by actual journalism, not the American trash ones we have in this era. The Japanese native was proud, and a bit of a troll. He knew how to dig at my friend while leaving me alone. I was a ghost to him.
Off to the arcades!
We tried playing many arcade games while trying to make sense of the 1990’s system of arcades. Tie Fighter arcade game, rhythm games, shooting games, darts, seeing hot taken Asian girls, older NES arcade games, and broken game with a disclaimer we refused to touch. You break it, you buy it, type deal. My friend was disappointed I wasn’t trying many arcade games. They were either priced too highly or simply not in my zone of interest. I thank my friend for bringing me here, he however was disappointed I wasn’t trying too many. We struggled to even play darts, if this is the correct arcade we had issues with.
Nothing major. The previous arcade was slightly better. I had fun, I however struggled to find interesting games to play. It was nice to be brought here, I however want to see a Gundam pod, F/GO arcade game, Kantai Collection, or even Busou Shinki arcade games in Vancouver.
It was a fun rewarding day, I enjoyed myself. A few things I could have done better, however nice.