California knows how to party

For the first time ever, I almost got on a plane drunk. Luckily, the horrible hangover sobered me up pretty quickly and I was able to suffer through a last hour of packing and get to the airport on time.

I almost never go out the night before a flight because I've usually got like 6 hours of packing waiting for me. But last Saturday, I'd already done the bulk of the time-consuming packing, so I figured why not. I'd get home around 2am and still have time to finish packing and sleep a bit (luckily I didn't have to leave for my flight until around 10am).

Yeeeah... that didn't happen.

What did happen was a lot of fun with a lot of fun people. See exhibits A through J:































































































































Anyway, long story short, fun was had by all. All I can say is that I won't be going to anymore bars that have sawdust on the floors unless I'm in an area of the world where cowboy boots are actually a daily accoutrement.

California Dreamin'

California is still here, no earthquake having plunged it into the Pacific. The weather is a not too hot, not too cool 75 degrees Farenheit (or about 22-23 Celcius for all you weird metric people). The foggy marine layer that comes from being only 15 minutes from the ocean has burned off by noon every day, like clockwork, revealing beautiful, sunny blue skies for the afternoon and into the the early evening. Yes, I am trying to make you jealous. Truth be told though, this kind of weather is pretty boring when it's all you've got all year round. I wouldn't appreciate it nearly as much if I weren't coming from still-cold Tokyo and looking ahead to two months of rain. I much prefer having seasons where leaves change color in the fall, snow falls in the winter (usually), trees and flowers bloom in the spring, and where you want shave your head and shower twice a day because it's sooo hot in the summer.

I have been reveling in all things Americana since landing Friday morning: freshly baked cookies from tube dough bought at the supermarket (yes!), rice krispy treats based on my own recipe (it's a secret), catching up on good TV (especially my Law & Order and The Daily Show fixes), buying things that are not a total rip-off in price, walking on carpet (instead of flooring), getting a mani-pedi for only 30 bucks (you can be sure that I'll be getting another one before I leave), driving a car... fast!, and riding bikes with my dad and shopping with my mom. As a wise man at McDonald's once said, "I'm lovin' it!"

If you're still not sure what a mani-pedi is, here's an idea of how a typical visit goes:

Oops! I did it again!

Okay, clearly I wasn't as blog-productive this week as I'd intended to be. But, I'll do my best this weekend while Tibbie-sitting. I'm off to bed now as I have to be up and out for my class and then flight in just a few hours. In the meantime, I leave you with a picture of who I'll be spending my weekend with. She's the baby!

Oh la la! Nouvelle Star!!

Thank you to La Coquette and her sister for opening up the world of French television to me - 2 years after I left. I still contend that French TV generally isn't all that enthralling (read: not interesting at all), but this may be the cherry and sprinkles. Below I have posted a clip from the French version of American Idol, called Nouvelle Star. This guy, Tigane, gets TONS of praise for his "soul," "light," "great tone to his voice," and his willingness and ability to sing "white" songs so well. Yes, folks, the 3rd judge goes on and on about how he loves when "blacks" sing "white" songs and when "whites" sing "black" songs. Um, yeah. Maybe this is why there were riots in France last year. Anybody? Anybody?

Anyway, they're falling all over themselves to praise him and tell him how much they adore his voice. Ugh! Gimme a break!



I think he just turned my day bad.

And maybe, just maybe, these kids should all just generally avoid singing in English - because this chick is making even Sanjaya-mania look good. (Don't ask me why or how I'm following this stuff in Japan. Suffice it to say, I have my sources.)



Okay, the good thing is that this has now made me look forward to studying for my kanji test tomorrow.

p.s. They generally love the chick's rendition of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," except the first judge, who was just not interested by the song basically.

Just breathe...

That's what I can finally do. Yesterday marked the last day of my month-long visitoraganza. First, I had Eddie with me for almost three weeks and then, the day after Eddie left, Christie arrived to stay with me for about ten days. It was suuuuuuuuuper fun having them here, please do not get me wrong, but it definitely was more fun and more immediate to go out sight-seeing and showing off this great, big lightbulb the rest of the world calls Tokyo than sit at home and be diligent about keeping up the blog and answering emails in a timely fashion. So, to those who have been wondering where I've been and why haven't I written back or posted more than the occasional photo of some random hugger in Tokyo, now you know, I've been perfecting my skills as a "social animator" - a.k.a. tour guide - as one tipsy fellow bar patron guessed my profession to be. If only! How awesome to get paid to visit places!

Okay, so, as we speak, I'm hard at work finishing up my post about Kyoto, starting some more on Eddie's and Christie's visits, and thinking up other post ideas with amazing insights into modern Tokyo living (including the one I alluded to a few posts ago involving a crotch... just thought I'd throw that little bit in as a teaser to keep you coming back). The only possible glitch in this plan of absolute diligence is the fact that I'll be heading home for a week starting next Friday. My time will have some serious Target and Nordstrom forays to contend with not to mention the friend-seeing, dog-kissing-and-cuddling, parent-hanging-out-with, heated-pool-and-jacuzzi-swimming, Pacific-Coast-Highway-too-fast-driving, and easy-vegetarian-eating that will undoubtedly be vying for my eight fun-filled days home. I'll do my best to get a lot of posting in this week before I go, but, as a wise woman once said, there are no guarantees in life - except that for sure you're gonna have to pay taxes and then eventually die. (That little "quote" - courtesy of yours truly - was an homage to Biff of "Back to the Future" fame.)

In the meantime, I leave you with this photo I took of two girls just out and about for a night of fun - and work - out on the town. I love it! How often do you catch a couple of maiko-san just relaxed and unawares and laughing away like the two teenage girls they are? This was after a dance performance they had just finished and had surely been nervous about. I don't know what they were talking about, but it looks like they're feeling that same post-performance sense of accomplishment mixed with a heavy dose of adrenaline that we all get after being on stage.

Eddie Joe was here.

I'm soooo behind on posts, I know. I'm super sorry about that, but I've had good reason. First, a month ago, I went to Kyoto for the weekend with my dad. We had a really fun time and I'm in the process of writing that up. Then, Eddie Joe came to visit for almost 3 weeks, so, of course, there's much to write about. Rather than letting the task of writing about Eddie's whole visit overwhelm me, I'm going to write in short stories with lots of pictures and hope they do the 1000-word talking for me that they're supposed to do.

Okay, so, who's Eddie?












Eddie and I lived on the same floor in our dorm at American University. More specifically, Leonard Hall. Even more specifically, the infamous 5th floor. Even more specifically, Room 506 - sort of. Katy and I lived in Room 506 the year after Eddie lived in it, so there is a Leonard Hall bond that goes beyond just the usual clicque-ishness of the 5th floor. Anyway, that's how we became friends and stayed friends - we've got the 506 bond.

As most of you know - at least, I hope you do, there's a standing open invitation to all my friends to come stay with me wherever in the world I might be living. Oddly, I didn't get many takers for Paris - I guess it's not exotic enough for the AU crowd - but I have had a rather sudden line up of guests for Tokyo. Eddie decided to take me up on the offer and readied himself for his first trans-oceanic, non-Spanish-speaking, First World vacation. There will be more stories to come, but just know that Eddie's final verdict on Tokyo was that he loves it here and was super sad to leave this very cool city where he had lots of fun, ate lots of different food (including raw horsemeat), and made lots of new friends. I had a pretty wicked cold for part of Eddie's visit, so, suffice it to say, that probably his craziest stories happened when I wasn't around. You'll just have to ask him about them the next time you see him.



One fun thing that we did that I can tell you about was Eddie's first visit to a gay club. For those of you who know Eddie, you're probably having a heart attack right now. But, let me assure you, it was good times. He came to Tokyo with the attitude of this is a vacation of firsts (first trans-oceanic, first non-Spanish-speaking country, etc.), so why not try whatever is thrown at him. As we both love to dance, I mentioned to him that my GBF (gay boyfriend - he's the best!) is a really, really good dancer and that we should go dancing with him some night. I explained that we didn't have to go to a gay club as Akira (a.k.a. my GBF/DBF = gay/dance boyfriend) is cool with straight clubs too. But with a $10 all-you-can-drink-until-9pm deal and hip-hop music to boot at Aki's fave gay club, Eddie decided to add a visit to a gay club to his list of firsts on this trip.




























As evidenced by the pics, we had tons of fun. The music was great, even if it was a little heavy on the Beyonce at the beginning. It's definitely on my list of fave Tokyo spots now. I did try my best to get my money's worth and managed to consume 2.5 drinks before time was called on our all-you-can-drink extravaganza. Needless to say, Eddie and Aki were definitely better able to take advantage of the deal. After dancing, I headed home to sleep off those 2.5 drinks while Eddie ventured out into the night on his own for his first (of many!) infamous Tokyo all-nighters. Like I said, you'll have to ask him if you wanna know more.