I Spent The Weekend in Morioka & My Internet is Back

Like the title says, I was getting down in Morioka for Friday and Saturday. Morioka's the capitol of the prefecture I live in, Iwate. Its about 2 hours by train or bus from my town, so its not all that convenient to get there, nor is it a day-trip destination; you make a weekend of Morioka. Honestly, its not all that big, with a population of about 300k I think in the city proper. Iwate is funny like that - it is 100% a middle-of-nowhere kind of place, where even big cities are laughably small in comparison to the real thing.
Anyway, I met up with one of my coworkers and her boyfriend, who then had us all meet up with his friends/coworkers, and we all ended up at a club named Players Cafe (odd...) on Friday and Saturday. A few of their friends were guest DJs, so we all got in for less than the cover. Its funny stacking Morioka clubs up against Tokyo clubs: the latter tend to have a few stories, each devoted to a separate genre of music, with a cover fee of anywhere from 3.5k-6k, multiple DJs, lounges, and stupid expensive drinks (upwards of a base of about 1k). Morioka clubs have one room, really not that big, a cover of around 2k, free drink tickets, and like 3 DJs max. Its a totally different world.
In addition to the whole club scene, I got up there on Friday at about 7 so we didn't do too much else that night, but I got up at 9 Saturday morning, and:

Walked around the main drag, Oodoori, and got some seriously banging mushroom and spinach indian curry (with a bit of a kick too, which is a hell of a surprise in Japan);

Scoped out the tattoo parlors to see if theres any I might consider going to in a bit, and was pleasantly surprised with at least one, called Futurism, that does the whole traditional stick & poke thing;

Went to an art museum that was having a showing of a bunch of historical items from the latter half of the Tokugawa regime (so around 1730/50-1868) including some woodblock prints;

Got some okonomiyaki with Emily & Rylan;

Went to a rockabilly show... Holy hell were there some pompadours showing that night. Nice bar, with an owner stuck in his own fantasy of being a rockabilly legend, making all the patrons listen to his awful but admittedly well-intended attempts to cover various songs from the 50s. He's got his whole crew up front with their leather jackets RIDICULOUS hair snapping along, dancing, and cheering him on. Its kind of surreal, but I've gotta give the guy credit for, despite any objective short comings, constructing his own fantasy world and living the hell out of it. And of course, there were these 2 Japanese business men covering our tab.

Ended up back at Player's after that, and did my thing there. Grabbed a cab to the station this morning, where I had the best fucking fresh oysters 定食 (that's Tei-shoku, which is basically a set meal (for example, in this instance I got some fresh oysters on the half shell, a bowl of rice, a bowl of miso soup, a salad, 12 oysters fried in pairs, and some pickled cabbage and cucumbers) for a late breakfast (is that weird?), and caught the bus back here, where, upon arriving, I discovered that the internet source I'd been stealing from is once again working. Good weekend.

So this is Morioka station, and all of these igloos and snowmen were apparently built by some elementary schools or something.


Me at the "Rock-Splitting Cherry Tree" (How the hell do I rotate the video?)


Making Okonomiyaki #1&2

The Zest of Life

As you all know, it's been a weird couple of months for me. I came across this video I took over the summer, the weekend after MJ died. It shows the kind of weirdness that makes life awesome, and I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did/do.

My Internet is Down

Which really sucks, because now I have to rely on my school's computers to get things done online (which includes getting my schedules, which makes me a bit wary). However, where I was once paying 0 Yen to get free wifi internet from some chump in my apartment complex, I now am very much against actually paying for the service. Presumably, this situation will be rectified in the near future.

That brings me to another point: since I blew about $1k while in Tokyo I've been living on the cheap from the beginning of this year up until now. What does that mean? Mostly, I've been living on a diet of sticky rice, green tea, and vegetable juice - that is legit no lie. I don't turn on lights. I take showers as quickly as possible, and at the lowest possible acceptable temperature (which, unfortunately, is about the hiottest the water in my PARTICULAR apartment gets). This leaves me with a lot of time, as I'm not sitting around chowing down on fresh seafood or whatever and watching Trailer Park Boys... or whatever..., because if I was then my computer would be on, my kotatsu (heated table & blanket) would be on, my lights would be on, etc.

So what have I been doing instead of being lazy while not kicking ass in the classroom? Almost nothing aside from exercising, reading (as of now 3 books: Camus - The Plague, Embracing Defeat (history of post-war Japan. I forget the author), and Crowley - Magick in Theory and Practice), practicing guitar, studying for the Business Japanese exam (that's Nikyuu of the Nihongo Nouryoku Shiken (2nd tier of the Japanese Brain Power Exam (what a literal translation))), and planning lessons. Unbeknownst to me, this all started right about the time the New Year came in, so I guess it seems that I've accidentally started pursuing a New Year's Resolution of being productive. Weird how that happened, but when yr belly is empty and taste buds 100% unused, you really start looking for things of interest.

Unfortunately, that Brown winning in Mass. deal is one of those things of interest. Man I'm happy I'm not living over there now - the Steelers don't even make the play offs, its unseasonably cold for some strange reason unrelated to 'global warming', and now this Brown dude is pooping all over things that might've, at one point, been pretty ok. The headlines around me? We don't have sports teams outside of high school, weather is pretty normal, and we've got a cute little baby seal, called Tarou-chan, that got lost in one of the rivers of my town... He's alright.

http://mytown.asahi.com/iwate/news.php?k_id=03000001001170002

SINGLE GUYS GET ON THIS

‘Jersey Shore’s’ Snooki Snags Her Own Show
by Ann Murray-Yavar
Jan 19th, 2010 | 11:29 AM | Comments 15

Looks like a ‘Jersey Shore‘ star will soon be “snookin” for love on reality TV.

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is close to landing her own dating show.

“Definitely there is no set thing, but it has been talked about,” Snooki told UsMagazine.com about the possibility, adding “I got offers from VH1 and other reality networks.”

What type of man will she seek? “A guy I can be real with,” she explained. “I love to be a dork; I love a guy with a sense of humor!”

Perhaps much like her roommate, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, whom she revealed she hooked up with. “But it’s not a big deal,” she told Chelsea Handler last week. “It’s not awkward at all. If I wanna make out with him right now, I can. It’s not weird.”

This is what you were doing on new years

sorry it took so long

Bacon Candy

Facts About The Song "Black Betty"

1. Performed by the band "Ram Jam"
2. Phrase "Black Betty" is said 13 times
3. Phrase "bam-A-lam" is said 24 times
4. 4/5 members of Ram Jam have a moustache
5. This song rules.

The British Office is Better than the US Verison

What does this video mean to you