| Bwaha |
[02 Feb 2010|10:08pm] |
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Fake Blood |
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I passed the JLPT test with a 339/400.
Writing and Vocab: 91/100
Listening: 82/100 (although missing one question in this section costs a lot of points. I bet I only missed 1 or 2 ;p)
Reading and Grammar: 166/200 (particles are my enemy)
So I've proved that I can take a complicated Japanese test after going to a massive rave, sleeping for 3 hours and waking up with a killer hang over. I guess I'll take the next level. Go me! Actually, I've been studying Japanese for years so I'm sort of disappointed in my score but I always put the hobby down and pick it up off and on so I always have to relearn a lot of what I forgot in the off time ;p
But I looked at the average scores and I scored well above average, like, ridiculously so. So my teachers and Tomoko were right, it was WAY TOO EASY for me and I needed to take a higher level. But if I did that, I couldn't have gone to that party and I really wanted to go. Ha, you see where my priorities lie...
Damn, I need defrag my hard drive. My computer is not happy right now...
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| Life is good |
[02 Feb 2010|01:36am] |
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Cartoon Heroes- Aqua |
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The past few days have been amazing. I went to Nagoya to see my host family, met my new host brother, spent a lot of time sharing love with the fam, took a trip to kami-sama mountain, Masa actually e-mailed me and we've been chatting a bit, ate a lot of good food, took a beautiful trip to through the mountains on the way back to Tokyo, accidentally made it snow (lol), had fun with my students, finished The Crying Lot of 49 and kicked it with Coco. I also did a little snow magic. I was caught up in negative thoughts for a tiny bit today because I was sad that I had to leave Nagoya but it turns out Tokyo was pretty rad today because the rain changed to snow and it's still coming down :)
Things are pretty great. I can't complain. I need to get my focus back and start manifesting things again. I started with the snow, let's see if I can keep the ball rolling. lol.
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[26 Jan 2010|03:10am] |
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Yesterday was fun. I tried to watch Lost Highway but I totally got freaked out by this part
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZLQW2qr5Hs
It was broad daylight and that part freaked me out so much that I left the house as soon as it was dark and headed to Brenna's. lol. Before I went to Brenna's, I tried to call Masa but his phone was off so I sent him a message asking if he's going to Easter Island and if I could call and ask him some questions about the party. He hasn't e-mailed me or called me back so I seriously doubt he's going to so I'm on my own with figuring out how to get there. That's cool. If I do get there and I see his stupid face at the party you know who better not say hi to me ;p
Anyway, the trip to Brenna's was OK. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. We met at the station near her house, picked up some red wine and headed back to her apartment. It's weird to think that at this time last year, I was living there. Man, things can change a lot in a year, right?
Brenna cooked dinner and I played with the cat that they're fostering, Cecil, who I got in the bad habbit of calling the boys way of saying it. lol. Brenna made the most delicious dinner of salmon, rice, tofu, miso and a salad. We killed the bottle of wine together and got caught up. I really haven't had one on one chill time with Brenna in like, 3 years. Ever since I came back to Japan there's always been people around...Micah, Conor, Nic, Take...other randoms. So it was really refreshing.
Micah came home but I was on my way out the door since I had to catch last train. Micah and Brenna accompanied me to the stationg and I said bye bye. We promised to kick it soon because I don't have to work until late on Mondays from now on.
I got home around midnight and went to sleep trying not to think about that freaky Mystery Man in Lost Highway.
I woke up with the Monday blues. You know how it goes, when you have a great weekend sometimes Monday can really get you down. I slept in because I didn't sleep at all Saturday night. I dicked around the house and then I went to work.
I showed Hiroko these papers that came in the mail and aparently, the government wants $1000 from me in income taxes. That's a bunch of bull shit. I was so upset because it had these monthly fees that were only like, $100 each but since I didn't know about it, I couldn't pay it. Hiroko called one of her friends about it because I was really upset since I'm trying to plan my get away and her friend said that she never pays the tax and I shouldn't worry about it. I don't know if that will bite me in the ass later if I try to come live here again...but we'll see...I have a feeling I'll end up back in Japan someday...it's kind of like an old boyfriend I just can't get rid of even though he hurts my feelings sometimes and makes me feel really lonely...
Anyway, the twins I teach had their last lesson with me today. They gave me some chocolates and told me they're going to miss me. I'm really going to miss them too. Stupid juku. But I did get a new class today...actually, it's Conor's favorite class...the brother and sister used to live in Chicago and they're REALLY SMART. I'm going to have to be on my toes for that class. But they can't come during the usual time that Conor teaches them and the other times they can come Conor has class so now they're mine...I hope Conor isn't mad about that. But that put me in a better mood.
I came home from work and cooked dinner and then Conor helped me finish Lost Highway. I stopped watching it half way through yesterday and I told Conor it was too scary to watch by myself. Too bad the rest of it wasn't really that scary and it was just a lot of sex...when it was over Conor was like, "That wasn't scary at all." I was like, "Yeah, well, the Mystery Man really scared me."
When the movie was over I was like, "What the fuck was that about?" so I read about it a little online and the speculations were actually really interesting but I sort of thought that's what was going on anyway. I enjoyed the film even if it was a little slow at parts and the sex scenes were kind of obnoxious since I'm not getting any right now and won't get any for god knows how long ;p
After the movie I did some poking around online about David Lynch and Thomas Pynchon because I really would like to see those two collaborate and I was wondering if they've ever met but they haven't. Oh well. They're both pretty old so I hope it happens before one of them dies!
I've also started moving towards selling stuff online to accumulate some money for my get away. I'm going to sell a bunch of stuff but first I gotta get it all together. Oh yeah, and I worked on a job app. So it's been a pretty productive evening. I'm fucking hungry though ::whimpers:: I should go to bed soon I guess. I feel like I'm fighting a nasty cold.
Miki and I are probably getting together sometime this week. I hope Masa hasn't called him even though he always does that because he's too chicken shit to talk to me directly and always talks through her and it's never, "Leave me alone." It's more like "I still care about you but I can't talk to you." Only when we started talking again did I realize that he probably does still have some feelings for me--probably not as strong as mine are for him but there's probably still something there. So maybe it's best if we don't talk...because I don't think it would be good to be thrown back into THAT again and I don't know if we could be friends with each other. The passion that was there when we were together and pain when it ended last time almost drove me insane. I don't think I could handle that kind of pain again.
On a happier, less complicated note, this weekend I'm going to Nagoya so that's yea. It will be good to see my family. Thank god. It's been too long since I've seen them.
And that's about it. I think I'm going to eat some cheese bread, drink some orange juice and go to bed.
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| "You can't stop me because I'm on a mother fuckin' boat." |
[20 Jan 2010|12:33am] |
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Around the World- Daft Punk |
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Well, you know me and my silly goals...or rather, lack of direction and commitment to anything. I still haven't completely given up on the Easter Island party because I really fucking want to go since I couldn't go to that damn party on Amami Oshima. There's no plane tickets left so I'm like fuuuuck. Then I thought, "Wonder if I go by boat...." I started looking into the possibility and I found some blogs about traveling by cargo ship. So I'm going to poke around a little more and see if I could actually travel by cargo ship...I've heard it's relatively cheap and even if it's boring, I'd get to Easter Island. Plus, I could see a couple more places by ship if I took this course as well. Huuuuuuuum. Could it work...maybe.... Found a ship out of NZ. Will look into this further.
Anyway, here's to the possible boat adventure!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU
I dunno, this is gonna require a lot of organization and planning. I wonder if I could actually pull it off. If I do, then I'll give myself 8489798998 cool points. lol.
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[18 Jan 2010|12:24am] |
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Let the Game Begin- DJ Tiesto (shut your face) |
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Random ass, crazy, weird Sunday. I live for days like this. Haha.
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| More Abstract Thinking for the Absant Minded |
[12 Jan 2010|01:34am] |
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Boards of Canada |
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Ho hum. I should try to get back into the habit of updating daily. It's good for my piece of mind and good for my memory. I was just SO BUSY at the end of the year last year...mainly busy trying to forget solve or forget my problems and I didn't feel like writing was helping me any. But now that period of sadness (which led to phenomenal self growth) is over, I feel like I can write again and that's refreshing. I was honestly afraid that I'd lost it for good.
Now, I keep promising New Year's stories, and I REALLY WANT TO REMEMBER New Year's so I will get around to it, but I'd like to get up early tomorrow and get some things done so I can't really tell them tonight. Excuses, excuses, right?
Anyway, today was nice. I was going to go to yoga but I still felt under the weather and exhausted this morning so I canceled and dozed until 11. I had several strange dreams; I was in the back of a taxi and chatting with Shion about strange things that didn't make any sense; a horse in a field; I was in a car with Gio and my mom and my sister and there was a gigantic jet/rocket in the sky; Working at a Halloween haunted house that had a room filled with gigantic, plastic, dismembered manican limbs labeled "genitlia" (although the boxes were clearly filled with plastic arms and legs and torsos and heads); a big truck that I thought was a black hearse in my apartment complex...those kinds of dreams. Everytime I would get freaked out in a dream I'd realize it was just a dream and change the story completely but I always forgot I was dreaming again and the cycle continued. I find that when I try to stay lost in dream land well past my due time there, my dreams become increasingly morbid until I can't stand it anymore and wake up. It's been that way for years. It's dream world's way of kicking me out and saying, "You're time's up here. Time to go back to the other world and live over there fore a while. You can't maintain your manifestation here for much longer." I guess that's why I learned to lucid dream. I've been able to do it for so long...I can't possibly remember when it started. All I know is that sometimes I prefer to sleep because having control over the abstract dream world is a lot more fun than being awake sometimes. I view dreaming as moving between two worlds and when I'm asleep here, I'm awake somewhere else...so I'm not really killing my time sleeping...I just prefer to be living in the other world at the moment.
Ah whatever. I'm talking like a dreamer again. Haaaaaaaaaaah. Pun intended.
Anyway, I woke up and did some laundry. Then I looked at the app for the next big adventure I want to go on. I can't tell you the exact details because I don't want any competition because it's HIGHLY COMPETITIVE and I know English teachers may read this. But basically this opportunity would take me around the world in 3 months teaching English. All expenses would be paid for and all I would have to cover are extra things like supervision and party time and the what not. And so on Wednesday night, after work, I will take my ass to the electronics store, purchase a printer scanner and start on the application. I can't put off not having a printer/scanner for much longer. I have projects that need to get done and I need a printer scanner to do them. But like hell I'm leaving it here for Hiroko. She can buy it off me if she wants the next teachers to be able to use it. If push comes to shove and I can't find anyone to take it from me before I leave. I'm putting it out for junk collection before I give it to her cheap ass. She refuses to let me print at work and won't get a printer for the house so yeaaah.
I taught Luka today and work was good too. The only part that sucked is that the twins I teach didn't bother to show up or call and say they weren't going to be there, which worked out better in the end anyway because I was able to rest my voice, which still hurt.
After work I cooked a nice dinner, dicked around online doing more fashion research for my project that I want to do and then I finished To Kill a Mocking Bird which I was re-reading. I read it in 6th grade but I didn't really appriciate it fully. It was an amazing book. I can make a whole other post about this. And I think Atticus Fitch is the embodiment of a sexy daddy. I hope I'm lucky enough to marry a wise, intelligent, hot, well spoken, successful, good hearted man like Atticus Fitch.
Plus, reading To Kill a Mocking Bird was a nice break from the works of Thomas Pynchon. Yeah, I've been hooked on Pynchon for about a year, but after I lost V. on the plane because I was too tired and then VOLA! lost all the fucking notes I took when I was about 50-150 pages away from finishing it and on the verge to actually MODERATELY understanding the story, POOF! It was gone and that really put me off. Sometimes I think only literary masochist read Thomas Pynchon. He makes me feel like a damn idiot and I constantly question myself and wonder, "Am I as literate as I think I am?" The answer is, "YES," because after reading Pynchon, reading To Kill a Mocking Bird and understanding all the language and symbolism was as easy as reading Dick and Jane. At least I know I'm not stupid. Haaaaaa.
Bed time. I need to get up before 10 tomorrow and write a summary of this STUPID Amy Tan book that Hiroko is having me read to her. If you want to talk about literary GARBAGE at it's finest, let's talk about Amy Tan. What a crummy writer. I enjoyed her works when I was a teenager and but I totally outgrew them. It's depressing that most contemporary writers write sacks of shit. Yeah, they're published and I'm not but I'm too fucking jaded to try to actually become a "writer" whatever that means. That's what the internet is for. Let's face it, it's a terrible time to be a writer and everyone knows it because everyone is BECOMING writers. The internet will pick apart who's good and who's not. We just have to wait and see how it's sorted out.
For now, I'm just going to keep writing because it's all I know how to do.
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[10 Jan 2010|11:31pm] |
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It's funny how doing almost absolutely nothing can make me exhausted. I guess I'm sick with something. My voice is back but I still have a bad cough. Honestly, I'm just tired and achy...but the achenes could come from flipping and flopping between the futon on the floor and the couch all night long. I'd give anything to have a proper bed that I'm not allergic to again. That sounds like heaven to me. If I could have a bed to sleep comfortably in every night, I think I'd go to bed every night immediately after work and thank god that I have a bed to sleep in again. I've been thinking about buying a cot...which is halfway between a bed and a couch. Then at least I can stay in one spot all night. I don't know how the Japanese, a pretty much Westernized group of people, can still feel comfortable sleeping on the floor with rock hard bean bag pillows every night. Even old people do it. It fucking baffles me. Hiroko actually tired to send me home from work yesterday but I took a cab to work and I only had 3 classes (one Conor took) and just sucked it up and dealt with teaching at a whisper. I was surprised she tried to send me home. She wouldn't send me home when I had a fever. ::shrugs:: Go figure.
Anyway, besides being extremely uncomfortable, I've enjoyed my time relaxing this weekend. After the past week of exhaustion and the two weeks of traveling, I really just had no motivation to get back into my busy schedule of running here and there. I just want to rest. So yesterday I took a long nap after work and then snuggled up with To Kill a Mocking Bird (which I helped a student finish so I decided to read the whole thing by myself) and read for a long time. I also attempted to make stir fried rice, but in the middle of cooking my rice, the latch on the rice cooker flew off the contraption and hence the lid refuses to stay shut now. I put a pan on top of it but the pressure from the steam inside the rice cooker forced the top open and the pan fell off and almost broke a ceramic cup on the table. I finally found an old, broken flashlight and used it as a weight but by this time my rice was ruined. When it was finished, I just had a white, mooshy soup that resembled oatmeal. I tried to make stir-fry with that but it was fucking nasty.
Nic came over for a bit to rip some music off my computer and I discovered my voice had returned. We chilled out for a while and had fun. He stayed for maybe 3 hours and then went home. After he left I made the living room a bit more coozy by bringing the lamp from my room (which I've completely abandoned save for my wardrobe and some medication) and plugged it into a plug in the corner so now I have nice lamp light to read by instead of a garish overhead light. Then I went to sleep.
Today wasn't interesting. I passed the time reading and cleaning and chatting with friends online. I finally got around to doing a little laundry too. I'm tired and I'm going to bed now. I'm going to yoga in the morning.
I'll try to write about New Year's once I have the energy. I've just been exhausted lately.
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| Yokoso Japan |
[04 Jan 2010|08:19am] |
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Rainbow Voodoo- Clark (this song is amazing. lol) |
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My flight back to Japan was kind of annoying. A family with two little boys sat behind me and the boys cried during the entire flight. There was also a girl with some kind of mental disability in front of me and she was fighting with her sister and shouting during the whole flight too. So I cranked up my iPod and went through the scores and scores of music that I got from people while I was in the States. Luckily, I was in the middle row of the plane and there were three empty seats so I got to stretch out, relax and listen to music. The airport staff in Chicago and the flight attendants were kind of rude but I think that's just the way Americans talk to each other sometimes and I'm just not used to it anymore.
When I got back to Japan I was pretty tired and I headed home. I kept getting stared at on the train and one lady gave me the Japanese "shame on you" dirty look when I put my back pack in the over head storage on the train. I don't know what that was all about. Now I have to get used to the Japanese people all over again too. Ugh. It's annoying going between two cultures that are totally different and having to adjust my perception of rudeness/politeness depending on where I am.
When I got home Conor announced that we have no gas in the apartment so we have no hot water or heat. AWESOME. He said he texted Hiroko and she ignored him. Figures. I'm still really dirty from the plane and I'm really not looking foward to dealing with Hiroko trying to tell us that there's nothing wrong with our shower again -_- I wish I had the money to bail on her and go traveling but I don't right now so I can't. I need to formulate a plot because summer will be here before I know it and I've gotta figure out where I'm going next and how I'm going to get there.
I went to bed super early last night and woke up at 4:30 AM. I have a class at 10 so I need to leave soon since my bike is at school and I have to take the train and bus. Whoopie for rush hour ;p
Now that the complaints are out of the way, I've got a fashion project that I'll elaborate on later but here's the general jist. When I was back in the States I went to a couple of rave parties for New Year's in Chicago and I saw a lot of people wearing gyaru and ganguro influenced make up and styles. I've done a little poking around online about this and there's a lot of American YouTube videos and a few blogs that have popped up recently giving tutorials
on how to be gyaru or ganguro so I'm guessing these trends that are pretty much out here are picking up overseas. I'm going to track down some of the girls on the blogs and ask them some questions about how they got into the style because I'm really curious as to how this trend is going to surface as it gains more popularity overseas. I'm actually wondering if gangoru is going to resurface in Japan since I've been seeing them around more recently. I saw one IRL and I saw this white girl on a blog who is actually in the ganguro scene and I'm REALLY INTERESTED in talking to her. If she's in Tokyo I'd love to interview her. I'm going to see if Gio will shoot some photos of some of the American gyaru and ganguro styles at parties and send them to me so I can pair them up with things and maybe do something on the web with it or show it to this fashion site that said I can shoot street fashion photos for them. I see here so that's my little project I'm planning for 2010 but I may need to become less busy so I can actually do this.
I'm also toying with the idea of making a web show about Japanese fashion. A lot of people back home were REALLY INTERESTED in the fashion magazines I brought back so if I can grab some magazines and do a little weekly show about what people are wearing and maybe back it up with some street fashion photos of my own I think it would actually be a success on YouTube IF I did it right. I'm really bad at getting hits on YouTube so I need to figure out how to make a good video.
Oh yes, and the fact that Masa e-mailed me opens up room for me to invite him to the birthday party that Miki and I are going to plan to have together so I need to e-mail her about that today too.
Anyway, I have to take out the trash and leave for work.
I'm hungry. Waaaaah.
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[02 Jan 2010|06:05pm] |
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New Year's was AWESOME. I went to two very different but very fun parties and saw a lot of my friends. When I walked into the Burner party my friends screamed like they saw a ghost and started shouting, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE HERE!" Then they wrapped me in the warmest hugs and I felt so very loved. Gio and I had a long talk about our relationship. I e-mailed Masa and told him happy new year and I miss him and he e-mailed me back so I guess we may be talking again...I head back to Japan in a couple hours. Crazy.
Needless to say, it's turning out to be a pretty interesting year...
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| Gangoru |
[16 Dec 2009|01:55am] |
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Since I got several responses from the last post I thought I'd post this video because I think it's a really good segment on gangoru. If I ever find one of these tours you bet your ass I'll drop $40 to do it! XD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyK66UHcrY4
OK, so gangoru is my favorite Japanese subculture that really died out. When I used to go to mountain parties in Gifu the gangoru girls were always really nice and cute and friendly. They had really toned down the makeup at that point and only wore a little bit of silver around the eyes and on the checks and a silver stripe down the nose. I actually wanted to try that subtle gangoru makeup but I never had the guts to.
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| Hey yeah! |
[16 Dec 2009|01:14am] |
This is the TEST shipment you asked for
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter
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| Japan's decline as demonstrated by the decline in fashion |
[15 Dec 2009|10:57pm] |
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Floating Free- Vibrasphere |
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http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/opinion/15iht-edcohen.html#postComment
I agree with this but the opinion article but I think it really didn't convey a lot of evidence that I see everyday to back this up. The idea is good and valid but his evidence just wasn't there. I don't like how he used the word "otaku" to describe the boredom in Japan because he really didn't define the word well. Otaku are the extreme nerds...the weird guys that go to Akihabara to buy porn and Gundam figures or the girls who dress up in maid costumes to pick up boyfriends. There really aren't as many of those as people think. He implies that people fiddling around on their cell phones or DS systems or reading manga on the trains are otaku but that's just normal. Everyone does that. Otaku are extreme with their geekdom and he seems to be saying that most Japanese are otaku, which is false. I think the thing he was really trying to say is that the Japanese are extreme with their hobbies because of boredom. I mean, from what this guy said, even fire spinners who are passionate about their art form fall into the category of "otaku".
So let me bring up a point of evidence to embellish this this writer's idea. I mentioned in my last entry that one of the biggest indicators that points to the decay of the Japanese culture that amused and infatuated everyone over the last 30 years is the decline in Japanese fashion. Call me superficial and flaky but as someone who watches street fashion and subculture fashion closely, the decline in Japanese fashion has been something that is a sign of the times. Japan has been declining for a while, that's true. But when I lived in Japan 3 years ago it was still pretty common to see people wearing amazing, original pieces of clothing on the street or at school everyday. Even the more conservative people had interesting outfits with elaborate bows and lace and long tresses of hair stacked up or teased out to outrageous proportions. Not so much today. A lot of it probably has to do with economics because as the value of the yen sky rockets (the dollar is currently worth 88 yen. That's about 88 cents), people are making less money and they can't afford to buy the outrageous, expensive, crazy clothes they used to be able to afford. A really cool pair of tights or a hair barrette could cost up to $50 in the small boutiques I poke around in. The most fascinating clothes cost a pretty penny and the money to buy those clothes just isn't here anymore. It also costs a lot to dye hair, buy hair products and buy the makeup to cake on your face.
I watched this interesting but sort of outdated video about gangaru girls a while ago. They use fake tanner, and gops and gops of makeup. If you have to put it on everyday, it's going to run out soon and that stuff is NOT CHEAP. So really, I blame economics and the rise of China, which this artist also touched on but didn't elboarte.
But back to Japan. Gone are the gangoru/yamamba girls (I saw a yamamba two weeks ago near my station and I was ESTATIC to see one), the gothic lolita, the visual Kei kids, the Cyber Punk kids...the list just goes on and on of all the fashion styles.
gangoru/yamamba
More below the cut. Image Heavy( Read more... )
And so my theory is (and it's a no brainer) is that as a country's economy declines, so does it's style. And I didn't make an argument for this but I do want to mention a topic a student and mine discussed when I was helping her write an essay. She's in 6th grade so I was really shocked she came up with this idea. All the styles that I've mentioned are uncomfortable. As women become more active, they dress more and more comfortably. So another reason why fashion in Japan may be on the decline is that the amount of mothers entering the work force along with the rising number of single parent households due to the rising number of divorces. I'd never met a divorced Japanese woman until this year, which means it is a fresh and increasingly popular trend in Japanese society. Also, young women are choosing to work or travel and not get married. So a lot of the decline in fashion may also have to do with the changing roles of women in Japanese society.
I'm actually sort of interested in what's happening with fashion in China because I really have my doubts that there's a street fashion movement in China, simply because everything is so restricted and I haven't heard anything about any music, which often drives underground style, coming out of China. I haven't heard of any big Chinese rock groups or DJ's and it makes me think that the music scene hasn't developed enough yet to push any sort of style, which can also be linked to rebellion. But I'll be the first to say that I don't know much about China and the only way for me to really find out is to go have a look around, which I may do someday. Actually, I'm way more interested in what's coming out of India because most of the really interesting clothes I've seen/bought recently have come from India. If we're looking at the next place where fashion will develop, I'm calling the shots on India. There's a reason why everyone is flocking to India and I intend to go check it out next year. India has a rich history of fashion and I think that it's probably the next place where we're going to see some really cool stuff happen in fashion. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, India also has an underground music scene and I will debate this with ANYONE and win-- mark my words, street fashion is linked to music movement. If you want to meet people who like the same music and the culture surrounding it as you, you dress like that as seen with punk, grunge, hippie and rave styles in the past.
but I think there's hope in the future. There will always be people who want to wear outfits they can't find anywhere else and I think that this will lead to the revival of home made clothes. I was never any good at it, I gave it a try but I failed miserably because I didn't get the mathematics behind it. So on the flip side, fashion has to decline but it'll bounce back once the market is completely devoid of interesting clothing and we'll see a Renaissance in street fashion again. I'll probably be like, 45 by the time that happens, but I'll still go out and take pictures and show the young ladies I meet pictures of all the wacky stuff I used to wear. lol. I mean, we're in a musical Renassiance right now because people who wanted to make music said, "Fuck you," to the labels because they wouldn't record their shit and now the record companies are in deep shit and there's SO MUCH music to hear. I think the same thing will happen with fashion.
And that's my rant on that. I should write an article about this topic and send it into a fashion magazine to make some money. I'm super lazy though. lol.
I wanna read Thomas Pynchon but I gotta put my clothes away, while we're on the topic of fashion. lol.
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[13 Dec 2009|08:15pm] |
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My weekend has been really good. Yesterday I went to the fire spinner Christmas Party at Chuge and Hiromi`s house. Genki, Daisuke, Yuta, Yuki, Otapanki (sp?), Janika, Iyoiyo and this guy whoes name I can never remember were there. Hiromi and Chuge were dressed like Santa. I wore a reindeer antlers headband and Janika came as Sexy Santa in a red、velvet, mini dress complete with a garter. Then she busted out stuff to make everyone drinks. Everyone loves Janika because she`s awesome. I wish I could be that awesome.
We did a gift exchange and I got a 30 pack of hand warmers from Chuge. Hahaha. And they`ve already come in handy (no pun intended)! I used them today at when I was helping Miki sell her artwork outside! I left the party around 10:30 and headed to Miki`s house.
Miki and I chilled out and colored a picture from my Alponse Mucha coloring book together. This is the picture we colored
It turned out really nice. I wish I could post a picture but the stupid camera on my phone is a piece of shit and only takes pictures in focus at noon in direct sunlight ;p Seriously, I paid $400 for that fucking phone. It should at least have a decent camera. I dunno, fuck Docomo and their lost phone policy.
Anyway, after chillaxing and coloring we went to bed. I slept so well because I actually got to sleep in a bed for the first time in a fortnight. I`ve had to result to sleeping on the floor at the kotatsu or on the couch recently because I can`t sleep in my room without getting a sinus infection thanks to all the mold problem that Hiroko denies. Thanks Hiroko! I have to go to the doctor tomorrow because I have another fucking sinus infection and I have to fly back to America in a week so sinus infection+plane= fuck no.
This morning we woke up early and drove to Kashiwa where Miki was selling her artwork today. The shrine was fairly new but very nice. When we arrived, there were maybe about 10 other booths set up in the small courtyard lining the path to the shrine. Miki`s booth was so nice! She used all kinds of knarled brancehes to make a really neat disply from which she hung her dream catchers and sun catchers. Then she used logs and driftwood and bamboo to display her paintings on the table. They were very small but very nice. The whole booth had a very Miki vibe to it.
The other vendors were also selling very nice things. One guy carved shapes into gourds to make lamps. When the light shines out from the gord, they project the patterns on the wall. I really wanted to buy one for my mom for Christmas since she used to grow gourds but it would have been difficult to travel with :/
A friend of Miki`s stopped by our booth so while they talked Miki gave me some yarn and a ball made from interwoven twigs and told me to make something to sell. I made a funny little string sculpture. No one bought it but that`s OK. Miki gave it to me and I can hang it up at home :)
I decided to do more coloring while we were working at the market so I picked this picture.
(which is the compliment to the picture Miki and I colored last night)
My coloring actually attracted a lot of attention. Everyone kept coming up to me and saying that my picture was very beautiful and praising my coloring. A little girl and her dad watched me for a long time. The little girl really wanted my picture but I was only half finished with it. I should have gotten her address so I could have sent it to her when I was finished. She stood and watched me for a half hour so I know it would have made her happy but I just didn`t think about it. It was nice to have random strangers say nice things about my art. I stopped doing art because Gio always said that my art sucks so I just decided I sucked too much to do art. But since I moved away from him, I`ve slowly started doing art again and it feels good to do it without anyone critizing me over my shoulder. Miki told me to finish the picture and try to sell it. I did but no one bought it. However, it wasn`t in a frame and the Japanese are really particular about display. ::shrugs::
Miki and I chilled all day, watching the booth, and eating food we bought from the old laidies selling their cooking. lol. It was really nice. I felt really peaceful. The area we went to was really interesting, actually. Miki calls it Shibuya in Chiba. lol. There were lots of people in interesting clothes and interesting places to shop. I want to go back and take some street fashion pictures soon because I think that orginality in style is dead in inner city Tokyo thanks to big chains like Forever 21 and H&M moving into Tokyo and running small, quirky boutiques out of business. It`s really sad because I feel like I`m attending the funeral of Tokyo style. Honestly, if you want my opinion, if you`re looking for the creative street style that made Japanese fashion famous, don`t look in Tokyo. Go to places like Nagoya, Osaka and Kashiwa where the big chains haven`t dug in their roots and the small boutiques are still around. I`ve noticed that Tokyo people have been lacking that flare that I used to love in Japanese fashion recently and it was really nice to see it alive and well in my own fucking preficture today. For the first time in a long time, I actually wanted to take pictures of what people were wearing.
A lot of Miki`s friends and family came by and bought her paintings but her paintings are really nice. She gave me a painting of a sky god embracing the ocean godess in a kiss. It`s a really beautiful picture because the same vibe the picture gives off I`ve felt while making love before and it`s so nice. All of Miki`s family and friends were colorful and interesting and although I couldn`t really participate in conversations, I listened and enjoyed being able to partially participate. Miki also sold a sun catcher and I`m buying another 2 off of her for Christmas presents. Who wouldn`t want awesome hand made art from Japan for Christmas??
Miki`s friends from high school stopped by and they were hilarious. They`re all wild mama`s who dress in sexy clothes and go out clopping around in high heels with their kids. lol. They`re loud and they seem like they like to drink, smoke and party. All their kids were dressed up in stylish outfits too. Miki said they`re all bad girls and didn`t graduate from high school. lol. They were funny. I would have really enjoyed talking to them but I can`t formulate sentences quickly enough to converse freely with people sometimes.
We finished working the market around 4 and then we ate Takoyaki and looked in some of the shops. The shopping was so cheap! It reminded me of Osu in Nagoya. There was a really good DJ spinning outside of a hippie store and Miki told me he`s a very well know DJ in Japan. He was just throwing down sick tracks right outside of a shop. It was pretty cool.
Miki invited me to spend the night again so here I am, sitting at her house and typing on the computer while she makes pasta for me and Taka. I love Miki and Taka`s house. It`s so peaceful. I`m happy that my friendship with Miki blossomed out of my terrible break up with Masa because they really have the same kind of vibe. Hopefully, someday, once I`ve changed my heart enough, Masa and I can be friends because I`d really like to be able to chill with him and Miki and Taka someday. I`ve started a journey to really change myself and it took going through a lot of hard shit to take a good look at myself and decide what kind of person I want to become. Life is strange like that.
Anyway, yeah, blah blah. This week is gonna be crazy. I leave for America on the 21st. How fucked up is that? I`m scared...
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| Fire Spinning Party 2009.11.28ボー燃会＠秦野Nakid Truth |
[08 Dec 2009|09:37pm] |
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Here's some videos from the last fire spinning party! I know it's been a while since I've posted any but Sven, the Cameraman, left. Actually, I think Yuta took these but I'm not sure. Enjoy! One of me actually made it onto the internet. I was surprised because I suck so hard next to these people ^^ Like, I'm hands down the worst fire spinner in the group ^^ Plus, I wasn't really feeling it that night. I was spinning with my buddy, Kumi, because we wanted to go up together. I think the video was actually supposed to be of her and I just sort of found my way into it on accident ^^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScE9Ob1KTkM
This is actually a really good summary video of the party. All of my friends are on too. There's two close ups of me, one with poi and one with palm torches.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMHkSFnKrWs
This is the show Janika made. It's pretty awesome! My favorite part is the part she does with the floating stick and she's pretty nasty at poi. She's representing Finland. Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjPId_8ueYQ
This is the first of a beautiful 3 part piece Coco (my teacher, who I'm so lucky to have had the chance to study with), Genki, Togo (he's Yuta's protege and he's supposed to be one of the best up and coming poi spinners in the world) and some guy I've never seen before did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1Vu8E2sZ1w
This is Genki's solo piece. He said he wasn't happy with it because he was traveling around to different temples for a lot of the fall on a pilgrimage so he didn't practice much. It still looks good to me...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfIJVFfXOuI
This is Coco being amazing. She's truly and incredible dancer. I'm honored to be her student and I hope I can work with her more when she comes back from traveling in Dubai and Africa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQkHq2k-SFU
I don't know why the fuck this made it on there. Probably because Kumi is awesome. I'm the girl on the right. Can someone please cut me out of the video? I look stupid ^^
Hope you enjoyed the videos! I certainly did ;D
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| I'm about to do something really stupid. |
[05 Dec 2009|09:26pm] |
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I have to take the JLPT test at 9:45 tomorrow morning. I was playing with the idea of going to Womb Adventure at Makuhari Messe because it's in Chiba and I live in Chiba and will be taking the test in Chiba but I hadn't really made up my mind. I told Nic I was thinking about going and he e-mailed me and asked if it was OK if his roommate got a pre-sale ticket for me. Makuhari Messe is HUGE and I know the party won't sell out so I told him, "No, I'll get my tic at the door if I decide to go." I replied almost immediately but about a half hour later he e-mailed me back and said his friend had gotten tickets for everyone, including me. That's fucking $60 that I have to pay and if I don't go, I have to pay AND no one will use the ticket. So now I'm going to the party tonight because I don't want to waste that money. Hum, I hope I can find a boy to play with because hooking up with a hottie would make fucking up the test worthwhile ;p
I pray to GOD I don't flunk the test tomorrow because of this. The test is about 4 hours long and it's broken into sections. I can fly through the whole thing in about 40 minutes and I've never really FAILED a practice test but the thing that's going to kill me is the fact that the whole thing is timed and broken into sections and I have to wait for everyone else over the course of 4 hours. I tried to go to sleep after I came home today but I just couldn't sleep for more than 3 hours.
Anyway, the good thing is that I can easily catch a cab home if I leave the party early and get some rest or study.
Anyway, looks like it's back to my college life behavior tonight-- go to big party and then take a test. Hopefully I'll ace it like I aced all my tests in college. Here's hoping. And if I fail, well, it will be because I'm stupid and I didn't get enough rest or study hard enough and I can try again next summer.
Now I have to get ready for the party. I'm going 100% sober-- no drinking or anything. Getting drunk would be a BAD IDEA the night before a test ^^
Btw, this week has been totally crazy and I had no time to update about it. I can try to update this upcoming week but I have to clean the house because Hiroko wants to come over and inspect and the following week is the last week of work. Then I'm State side again for about 2 weeks.
Damn, this year is almost over. Craziness. I don't even know what to say about everything that happened this year...it's just absurd and bizarre. I feel like it was all just some kind of strange film that I accidentally became the star of...
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