Hey, everyone.  How was everyone's weekend so far?  Mine is still ongoing (hee hee) as it's still Saturday here where I'm at.

Nywhoo, wanted to post about my recent RC car info, since it was long overdue.  *sigh*  Yeah, I was supposed to have posted about this a heck-of-a-long time ago during the T&T Channel@ vid clip showing but, who cares.   I'm gonna post this anyway. =)

Well, for those of you who have wondered what Tamiya is or what an RC car is, let me explain.

For starters, I'll tell you all about the hobby I started into many years b4 I even knew T&T had gotten involved. lol  I had gotten into the sport ever since I married my hubby back in the early 2000's.  I've since gotten involved and took a heavy interest in it since I also find racing (cars) facinating and fun too.

I also met Mr. Tamiya himself and got his autograph & business card.  His office & official Tamiya HQ resides in Shizuoka, Japan.  Got his autobiography book and had him personally sign it as well.

I own a Tamiy rc car of my own and it's a Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM 2000 Team D2 silver rc car. (w/racing stickers)

It's an XB, meaning it's an 'expert built'.  It comes ready-made like this when you first purchase an XB one if a person chooses to not paint/put together the rc car itself. (like me...lol)  Now, I know I'm supposed to paint my own body shell, put together the entire car, etc. but at the time I got exposed to the hobby, it discouraged me completely to have to put the entire thing together.  One, it's time-consuming and two, I had NO CLUE how to put it together!   Are u NUTZ?? lol  And my hubby wasn't about to put another one together 4 me either so, he bought me one that was already done 4 you by Tamiya.  It was ready to race and all u had to do was take it out of the box and it was set to go. ^_^  Pretty cool.

Well, then as I got more involved with this new hobby of mine, I've come to learn all about the sport and how serious it is around the world.  Now, I've included two writeups all about Tamiya America USA and the Tamiya HQ in Japan.  I know these pics are blurred and you're unable to view them well.  But, if you click on them, it should show up 100% better.  These two articles I've collected from the showroom itself and talks all about the two HQs.

***(rescanning articles for better quality; will post them later)***

I've also come to know that there's a Tamiya America HQ (headquarters) located in Southern California, nestled in an upper-class town of Aliso Viejo.

In back of the HQ is their own racetrack where anyone (the public) can race their rc cars around the track when there's no competition race or special event.  But, there's one catch; all rc cars that play here 'for fun' has to be made by Tamiya.   Lucky for me, mine is a Tamiya.

Now, I've also been to several Tamiya Cons (conventions) already in the past as well as two competition races.  One race I attended had the winner end up in Shizuoka, Japan for the World Championships...sugoii!!!!

So far, it's been really fun and we've even brought our daughter along as well.  She loves watching them race around.  It was funny because the first time we brought her, she actually has said 'Go! Go! Go!' OUTLOUD too I might add.   Ohh gosh, it was quite hazukashii but everyone who was there ended up chuckling to themselves because they all were very used-to hearing young toddlers or children yelling like that. (I immediately thot to myself, if only T&T heard/saw her do that, I think they'd think how 'kawaii' she was.)

Our daughter has even played with a few hoppers we own.   She was so cute shown here playing w/them back then. (I think she was only 2yrs. old at the time I shot these pix of her.)  Good thing she isn't afraid of them. lol

Ok.  Now for the good stuff.  I even ended up meeting someone who also happens to live here in Cali where I'm at.  We met each other at a recent rc car championship race @ Tamiya in Aliso Viejo.  They just so happened to be walking in front of us and we ended up talking to each other w/our children.  One thing led to another and before I knew it, we swapped email addy's.

Well, here are a few pix I took too of the race itself while we were there.

*credits Tamiyausa.com for #'s 2-4 pics*

They live in Lake Forest area and her name's Sachie. (kireii name, I thot)  Her husband is Akihiro but he's known in the rc car business as 'Aki'.  They have one daughter, Yuta who's Preschool age (4) and a son, Shota who's 2 1/2 yrs. old.  Kawaii names for their children ne~  I spoke to Yuta in Japanese, chotto, and she understood. *yoshhh~*

Now, Aki works not only for HPI (High Performance Industries; another rc car company) but races for the company too.  He also helps martial their races as well.  Here is the car he used during the '07 Greedy Nat'l Championship RC race we recently went to not too long ago (May).  Isn't his blue car sugoii??

I've also included a couple of pix of a silver Lamborghini I saw driving by us while on the way to the race itself. @_@ *faints*  I know this area is chotto-rich but, geez.  To have a Lamborghini whiz by us on the way over to the rc race was SUPER cool.   Sorry these pix aren't much and are slightly 'blurr' but, hope it's enough.  They were taken from my keitai (cellphone).  Gomen -_-

And, I've included 2 cool videos as a 'sample' on HPI and Kyosho (2 rc car companies) in case some of you have never heard or seen what they can do or what an rc car is.  Enjoy~ XDD  To view them, just click on the 'video' tab bar above my site.  You'll find two of them for your viewing.  Hope they load properly.  Let me know if it's having problems or you were having trouble viewing it.  I totally recommend watching these because it's quite cool, esp. the music too to go along w/the video.

Well, for now, that's about it.  Tell me what you think and hope to hear from ya.  Dun hesitate to tell me your thoughts. =D

*Reiko-chan*

Ok...last night I had to scan these kirei/kakkoii  pics of Takki I jus found off my new Popolo June issue.  Omgosh, they're TO-DIE-FOR again.   This time though, I HONTONI think Takki took a really good photoshoot w/Popolo.

This issue showcases T&T together becuz it's Popolo's 15th anniversary issue and I'm not too sure too on this but, it seems it's also the 15th anniversary of some of the 'older' Johnny's groups too. (incl. T&T)  Good thing I bought this issue becuz it's one of the best issues out of all the magazines I own...period.

I also made a wallie too w/these photos, as I couldn't help it.  They're TOO KIREII to NOT do anything w/them. ^_^   Now, sorry for the pics not coming out the way I wanted.  Thot they still look chotto blurry-like and not sharp and clear.  I will reupl/d them here and redo the pix again when I d/l them off of Nere's gallery site once she scans them.  For now...hope you all enjoy. XDD ^_^

Also, doesn't Takki look soooooo *dreamy-looking* @_@ of the one of him w/the blk background, in the white shirt upclose portrait? *faints*

And the one of T&T together is just PERFECT~ XDDD xoxoxoxoxo  Sooooo niiiiiiice! *kyaaaaaaaaaaa*  Too bad though it looks like the words from behind (the other side of the same page) makes their faces look 'funny' w/the words on them. *sigh*

I also included a chisai T&T icon too. (you can cut them seperately)  It was taken off the cover of the mag. (cute)  Takki always looks so good smiling w/his kakkoii-dimples.

Anyway, tell me what you think.  Dun hesitate to drop a line and plez spread the word about my blog so other T&T fans can grab these pix too. XDD  Thanks~

All of my Takki-Luv, *chuu chuu...xoxoxoxoxox*

*Reiko-chan*

Thot I'd post some old news...sorry.   Just had to do this, as last night while I was chatting online on gmail with my fangirl friend, 'you', we talked about Takki's car too.  Remember Takki's red-flaming sportscar he owns, the Ferrari 360 Spider????   Just had to kyaaaaaaaaaa about it.  LOL

Here are a few pictures (so far) that I came across on google.com.  Now, granted that they're not THAT big but, hope u can bare with me here.  U can just type in google yourself and see how many pictures show up!  Gosh, dunno 'where' to start. lol

And I just HAD to post the FC IKEA pic of Takki w/his car in the background.   I guess I posted about his car becuz someone on 2wenty_2wo lj posted about the recent, new channela vid clip of T&T racing their RC cars...and something about Lamborghini's????   Daaaaaaaang, Takki!!!!  U ALWAYS seem to boggle my mind everytime about cars.  Gosh, u own a Ferrari...then u bought an RC car in the channela clip (one hobby I happen to like as well and got into by my hubby)...and now I'm interested in the 'real' car itself (even tho I HATED  Ferrari in the past due to F1 racing). LOL   Now I WANT this vid clip!!!!

But that's SO COOL that Takki's 'chotto' interested in RC cars!  Now there's another reason he and I have in common with each other, aside from Tokusatsu Sentai (Kamen Rider). ^_^

Just thot I'd run this by you all again.  Just another clear reminder of THE MOST KAKKOII-SEXY, *HOT* man alive in a red-*HOT* flaming sportscar...

*Reiko-chan*

Well...I FINALLY was able to dream of Takki the other nite.  *kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~*  For ONCE…(in a long time; too long, I’d say)…I dreamt of ♥YOU♥, Takki. ^_~  ‘BOUT TIME~  But, in that short amount of time I did dream of him, it ended right when I had to wake up!  I dreamt the dream just before I woke up. *cries*  ehhhhhhhhhhh??

Anywhoo...here goes my Takki-dream...

It started off when, smack dab in the middle, there was Takki sitting at a table with his manager from a restaurant.  He worked there as a waiter where I was eating with my parents for dinner one night.  It wasn't crowded at all; in fact, it was empty.  It was only us and another couple...that's IT! *whooohoooo!*   Takki was sitting at a table, drinking coffee or water in a small coffee mug, reading a newspaper (of all things! LOL).  We all didn’t notice him there, as I was too busy studying the menu.  *BAKA-Reiko* ne??!??  Our host told us that our waiter would be with us shortly so if we had any questions regarding the menu, don't hesitate to ask.

Then, from the corner of my eye, I noticed *TAKKI*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I never screamed, nor did anything as I didn't want anyone in the place to say anything, much less my parents.  And, I didn't want Takki himself to think, 'Whoa...what kind of girl is SHE anyway??'  Chotto 'kichigai' ne? (crazy) LOL  He was wearing a crisp, white, long-sleeve buttoned down shirt tucked in slimming white pants, with black work shoes and blk socks. (okok...so I noticed his socks too...)  He had his new hair like the pics we've all been seeing recently w/blk hair. *melts*  So, this was the NEW-Takki I saw...not the young chibi-Takki. lol  He also had on a black waiters' apron on (kawaii~) tied from the back.

As I studied the menu as to 'what' I wanted to eat, Takki came to our table!!!!   I was SOOOOOO NOT ready, man! LOL  1) I wasn't ready to order, 2) I was too stunned to even say 'hi!' to him, and 3) WHAT was I to order????  Only a measly 'hi' came out of my mouth (so soft too) and he immediately smiled at me and said 'good evening' anyway. @_@ *FAINT*  OHHHMYYYGAWWWD~ *heart beat pounding like mad*  To myself, I was thinkin' "Taaaaasketeeeee!!!!" LOL (helllllllllllp~)  I think I needed him to resussitate me back to life at that moment. lol  Then he asked, 'Do you all need more time?' (he noticed we looked like we weren't ready still)  I laughed and said 'Hai.' (he laughed a bit too and said 'It's ok...take your time.  I'll be back shortly.  In the meantime, what would you like to drink?'  Then I looked at my mother and she said 'hot tea'.  My father said 'hot tea', and I said Do you have a wine list?  He said 'Sure!  I'll be right back with the wine list.'

Then my father of all things said, 'Hey Reiko...isn't that your Japan idol star, Takizawa Hideaki?' (while smiling)  I smiled back at my father and said YES!  Then my father said why don't I take a photo of you & Takki together?  I was like, 'OMG!!  ARE U SERIOUS?!'  He said 'Why not?  He's YOUR idol isn't he?'  Goodgawd, I wanted to FREAK but at the same time, I said 'YEAH~!!' LOL  Then my father said 'Well, then.  Let's take a photo of you and Takki together.  I'm sure he wouldn't mind.  You just have to ask him, that's all.  And, it doesn't look busy at all so, I'm sure even more so he wouldn't mind.'  I was TOTALLY SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEing inside, and at the same time, I had to TRYYYYYYY to keep my composure. *buhaahhahahahahaha*  Yeahhhhhh riiiiiiiiiight! LMAO LOL

Not a moment later, Takki came back with the wine list for me. *aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh*

**inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale...breaaaathhhhe...*  I said 'arigatou gozaimasu', then he said 'dou itashimashite ne'.  Are you all ready to order (while looking at my parents)?  My mother said 'yes'. (to myself I was like, No I'm NOT!' LOL  Daaaang, Mom...chotto matte kudasai ne! LMAO LOL)  But, I didn't say anything.   I was like, Holycrap!  NOW what am I gonna order?  My father ordered Alaskan King Crab legs with butter and garlic sauce, rice pilaf and a spring vegetable medley.  My mother then ordered Blackened seasoned Ahi (a type of fish fr. Hawaii) with seasoned rice and a sour cream n'onion baked potato w/chives, butter, and other stuff in it.  Then, Takki looked at me and said 'And what will you be having this evening, maam?'  I was TOTALLY at a loss for words...SERIOUSLY. *gulp*   OMG...he's still looking, waiting patiently for me to order.  Then I said, 'Can I order the stuffed lobster/crab ravioli with garlic bread?'  He said 'Sure.  In fact, that's one of my favorites on the menu too.  Great choice!'  I nearly wanted to *SCREAM* or hug him but, kept my composure as usual.   I immediately thought, 'JACKPOT!  For once he and I liked the same thing.' *sigh*

Then, out of the blue, right after Takki took our menus, my father asked if it was okay he take a photo of him with his daughter.  He said, 'Sure...no problem'  AYA!  (double-shocked again)  He said 'YES' to take pictures with ME!!!! *FAINTS*  Goodlord! @_@  He stood right next to me, I mean...literally RIGHT NEXT to me.  He had his arm around my waist from behind and I had my arm around his waist too.  I had NO IDEA how the picture was to turn out so, I just trusted my father in taking it with his new digital camera.  He took chotto long becuz he wanted to NOT cut off our feet! ><  AYA~ LOL  And he took pictures of the both of us, twice!  That meant, twice Takki and I had to stand soooo long waiting for him to snap the photos. LMAO lol  I kept tellin' my father, 'Hayakuuu ojiichan!'  And I heard Takki chotto chuckle a bit while still smiling.  The second pic, Takki actually had his face (or cheek) right up next to mine while Takki had me sit down on a chair at the table! *FAINTS*   You know like how close friends would take a photo with each other?  Like THAT! @_@  Then I said 'arigatou gozaimaaaasu!'  Again, Takki was so polite in the whole ordeal and said 'dou itashimashite'.  Then in English, he said 'thanks' too. =D  He then told me 'And here is the wine list you requested.'  Just look it over and take your time.  I'll be right back.'  Then I said 'Ah...ima, I'm ready.'  He said 'Oh...you're sure?'  'Yes, I'm sure.'  'Ok...what would you like to order?'  'I'll have a glass of Reisling white wine'.  Then he said, 'Ah, great choice in wine too.' (while smiling at me)  I managed to flash him back a smile and he looked right in my eyes.   'I'll be right back with your wine.'

When he came back with my wine, he also said 'I hope you don't mind but, if you'd like, I have an 8x10 photo for you and I can autograph it. (whips it out)  I said, 'Ah!!  Hai, hai!  Arigatou gozaimasu...do sou.'  He signs it and asked first, '...namae wa desu ka?'  I told him to sign it as 'Reiko-san'.  All the while to myself, I was TOTALLY KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAing inside while he signed it.  Goodness gracious~  Here is Takki...in da flesh...signing an autographed 8x10 colored, glossy photo for me!! @_@  I couldn't believe my eyes what I was seeing, much less couldn't believe that it was actually *HIM* who was sitting in front of me, signing.  I watched his every move, the way he signed, the way he held his pen, the way he sat in his chair, even had the time to oogle at his hair a bit. *MELTS*   And the way he was looking intent/serious while signing. lol  He signed quite a bit on it, tho too bad it was written in Japanese! lol :p (Hints to my friend Maiko or Hinako-san:  Anou, Oiyyy~ Can u onegai shimasu, translate what da hell Takki wrote me in Japanese here? LOL j/k)  But...BUT, he DID sign his name both in kanji AND American way, 'Tackey!'   He even drew two hearts next to his name on it! *DIES*  After he signed it, he smiled, gave it to me and kissed me on the cheek!!!! * double FAINTS* THUDDDDDDDD ----------------------------- (flat-lined)

Well, after that, I woke up!   EHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!!  Eh, u noe...this was THEE first in a HELLA long white I dreamt of *TAKKI* and it had to END alreadyyyyy??!??  (fuming with fire now)  Geez, Satin (the devil), at least let me finish my damn dream, ne?! LOL :P  Oh well...

*sigh*~  Well, hope to hear from y'all soon & do comment your thoughts.  I'd like to hear/see what you all have to say.   Jya~ oyasumi...ima, chotto tired ne?  I developed a slight headache and will come back later. (my in-laws are still in town visiting)  U all take care, have a nice weekend, and cya back Monday. ^_^