JamieJakov Blog

South Park The Stick of Truth

June 3rd, 2014

south_park_the_stick_of_truth

They announced it at E3 2012, they showed a glimpse of it at EB Expo 2012, and now, almost 1 and a half year later, it is out! And wow what a game it is! So South Park The Stick of Truth is an RPG where you play as the new kid in town who just arrived and is trying to make friends with the local boys (and girls). During his adventures, sir Douchebag (thats the name you are given) must help the human kingdom, led by the Grand Wisard Cartman, take back from the Elves, led by Hight Elf Kyle, the ancient relic of immense power – the Stick of Truth. No spoiler version.

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Two years down the road

May 30th, 2014

The cake is a lie

Wow, I can’t believe that it has already been 2 years since I set up this blog and made my first post. It has been a long ride, and I can only look back the past with sweet memories of writing up these blog posts that mostly consist of my own opinions or just random cool stuff. Like for example last year instead of celebrating a year of blogging, I was too busy being excited for Armikrog! (which still hasn’t come out)

My blog made a long way… I changed domains twice, changed to private hosting, and had 3 theme design changes. Not only did my blogs design improve with the improvement of my HTML and CSS skills, but also the content has become more interesting and more consistent. I have improved as a writer, and I am more willing to voice my own opinion.

All of this is thanks to Ruben, who inspired me to start blogging. Ruben, you will be getting a few surprises from me soon™.

Tonikaku, Happy birthday JamieJakov.me (.lv .com). Lets make a lot more good memories together!

How many countries have I been to?

May 28th, 2014

48 countries map

Traveling sure is fun, isn’t it? You get to see and experience the world where we live in and get to be a part of the vast diversity of cultures that people have created for themselves. Most people don’t have the opportunity to explore the world, due to time or money constraints. I, on the other hand, had the time, and my family had the finances to support traveling to over 45 countries in our world. Ever since I was 3 years old, my parents would take me abroad, starting with nearby countries such as Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, etc.; but then expanding to places like Kenya, Brazil and even Australia.

Mentioning this to people who have yet to travel outside of their home country or have just traveled once in their life, surprises or even scares them. Not everyone has this possibility and that is why I am grateful to my parents, that they gave me this opportunity to visit a large number of countries on the Earth.

Here I would like to list all the countries I have been to so far in an order from left to right, based 0n the image above. Whenever I visit a new country, I will make a new map and a new post, so you can see the evolution of my travels.

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Appearing naked on Japanese TV – check!

May 15th, 2014

onsen for foreigners

Onsen (温泉) is the Japanese word for hot spring and public bath. These bath houses are a very essential part of Japanese culture and there is even a fictional story about it (Thermae Romae). The reason I came to Japan was to experience all of its cultural aspects, and so I find myself going to an event for foreign exchange students to learn about the culture of Onsen.

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С Днём Победы! 69 лет спустя

May 9th, 2014

9May

Вот Девятое мая настало,
И поздравить мы всех поспешим
С тем, что гнета фашистов не стало,
И народ наш непобедим.
Мы желаем всем думать о мире,
Но и помнить всегда о войне.
Улыбайтесь сегодня пошире —
День Победы на нашей земле!
Автор: Наталья Сухомлин

Golden Week in Kansai

May 8th, 2014

Kinkakuji

Golden Week is a holiday in Japan which consists of multiple celebrations such as Showa day, Constitution Memorial day, Greenery day, Children’s day. It is the time of year, where pretty much all of Japan starts traveling around to visit places that they haven’t been to, or places that they would want to visit again. Even though neither Amy nor me are Japanese, we decided to embark on a journey of our own. From the 2nd till the 7th of May we went to Kansai (one of the central regions of Japan) and visited the cities of Kyoto, Nara and Osaka.

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С Днём Рождения Unk!

April 28th, 2014

Дядя Валера! Хочу поздравить тебя с днём рождения! Желаю счастья, здоровья, всего наилучшего в жизни, удачи и успеха в бесконечной стройке дома. Так же надеюсь, что все в Украине наладится и мир восстановится. Надеюсь, что в ближайшие несколько лет нам удастся встретиться где-нибудь в этом мире, в Европе, Америке, Австралии или, например, Японии.

Надеюсь, что ты находишь время “играть” со своим компьютером. Я имею ввиду чтение техно блогов, испытание различных новых программ или аддонов, или даже покупку и добавку нового харда в сам комп.

Твой, на данный момент японский, племянник Вадим.

unk2

Fukurōka 福ロ岡

April 28th, 2014

owl

Now that Tac has arrived in Japan last week for the JET program, we can once again go out to anime shops and arcades together! And thats pretty much what we did this weekend. Not quite. It all started in Saga. I came to see Amy and we went around Saga castle and Saga shrine. Very nice places: pretty, calm, beautiful; just like most of the things in Japan. The next day was more interesting, but also more painful (for our feet). We got to meet up with Tac in the (early) morning and catch a train to Hakata (Fukuoka). There was a rose exhibition there at the station, so we managed to get a lot of beautiful photos of roses! And you know what else they have there? A POKéMON centre! It is beautiful! So many Pikachus, Froakies, Chespins, Fennekins, etc… My love for Pokémon, which I thought to have died when I was 10 years old came back so I couldn’t help but spend a bit of money on some gorgeous goods.

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Climbing Mt.Takachihonomine 高千穂峰登山

April 19th, 2014

Takachihono

Today we went hiking in the mountains, walking up a mountain to be precise. In a car with 5 people we drove to Kirishima National Park and climbed (walked) to the top of Takachihono-mine mountain. After waking up at 8am, gathering at about 8:45, a almost 2 hour drive to the mountain, our walk to the top began. Tip for anyone who wants to go up mountains in Japan, buy these sock things that cover your shoes that prevent pebbles from getting in, by the end of our descent my shoes were completely full with pebbles and that was really annoying a bit painful. Unfortunately it has been really cloudy the past few days in Kagoshima, so we didn’t get any view from the mountain, but when we were going down, we got to see the crater of the volcano (the mountain used to be a volcano), which was at least something! We also visited a farm there, which is apparently really famous for their ice-cream, but we didn’t have any, we just bought some souvenirs (food).

It was definitely a fun thing to do, and I would love to go there again when the sun is out so I can take some amazing pictures! I did take some, so here they are:

Full moon over Kagoshima

April 16th, 2014

Full Moon over Sakurajima

Today, on the 15th of April, most of world could witness the lunar eclipse. We managed to get some great shots of the full moon in yellow and red colors. It was another great event/gathering organized by our friend Çağcan, thank you for organizing. Looking forward to spending the next 6 months with you, Calvin and other ryuugakusei who will only stay for another semester, and the next year with all the other newbies like me. Also cheers to Enchan for the tripod, without it I would not have been able to take such beautiful photos, which you can find right here:

In other news, I have almost finished settling in. Just need to receive the credit card from Kagoshima Bank (which they said might take up to 3-4 weeks) and buy myself a phone sim from bmobile as SoftBank does not allow me to use my own phone… Aside from that, I am done. And so my new life in Japan has officially begun!