waaaaaaaay too much butt?

Here's a little something I put together to honor the many different looks I've rocked here in Japan. *!warning!* may induce vomiting!

vol. 7!

A wicked special Christmas/Emperor's B-day episode! Featuring: new year's Japanese, possible workforce reinstatement? And 4 songs! 2 versions of "Kimigayo", the kick off of the *new* Wang Bangers? project "32 causes of...", and a butt? 2006 original "Merry fuckin' Christmas!"

a merry christmas to you!

So I guess today is Christmas, coulda fooled me. It's not done up as much as it is back home, and thank god for that! I'm not a big fan of the holiday, or the season so much, crowded stores, ridiculous advertising and people worked up into a frenzy over nothing. I could go off on a rant here, but I just don't want to... I don't like Christmas. But Here's a picture of La Cittidella (sp?) out in Kawasaki all done up for Christmas, enjoy!
Also, the problem with English in Japan is that there's no checking with native speakers, case in point: this is a test picture for some printers at Yodobashi Camera in Kawasaki. The kid's shirt says "wuschkdc? dyke drugs". Is that something you would let your children wear?

Hail to the chief!

Over the weekend (officially observed on Monday) we celebrated the birthday of the reigning emperor, Mr. Akihito! Yeah! He was born Dec. 23rd 1933 and was just a boy when his father, Hirohito, was in the chair for Japan's attempt at taking over the world, remember? Many people in the west don't realize that the Emperor's position is one of little to no power, and was also so during Hirohito's time. Akihito ascended to the throne in 1989 after his father's death creating the "Heisei" period. 2008 will mark "Heisei 20," the 20th year of the Heisei emperor, and if you live here, you'll need to remember that for official documents. He is the 125th* Emperor in Japanese history (according to tradition) and he's a little old man who is a noted ichthyological researcher (fish zooology). Here's to you Akihito! Banzai~! Banzai~! Banzai~!

epico dos, part 1! (32 causes of...)

I finally finished recording the opening part to the new project that dude? and I are working on. It's tentatively titled "epico dos" and it kicks off with a little diddy called "32 causes of..."
It took me a little longer than I thought to get this done because I went trough about 7 different ideas before settling on this one, I'll probably come back to some of those other ideas as the project progresses. Take a listen, hope you enjoy, should get dude?'s response by next monday (maybe tuesday).

To find out more info about the project please click on the link on the right side of this page for the "Home by 8 Drunk by 10" page.

good news, bad news, great news!

(i think this might be left over from some sign that was hung up here long ago, looks like a person no? Click it, you'll see!)

So to start I dusted off bikun to get him all ready for monday's epic ride to the mouth of the Tama river. He was in a sad state. I haven't ridden bikun in several months, and his tires were flat, his bell was still busted and the basket cover I put on to deter people from putting their garbage (namely empty coffee cans) in his basket was falling apart. I put on a new bell, a new basket cover and pumped up his tires and took him out for a spin. 30 mins turned into an hour, and an hour gave way to 2. It was a great ride! I got lost a couple of times and visited a number of neighborhoods, namely:

Denenchofu x2
Okusawa
Tamagawa
Chidori-cho x2
Kugahara x2
Ikegami
South & East Yukigaya
Ishikawadai

and a few others all leading me back to Yukigayaotsuka in the most round-about way possible. It was intense, according to some rough calculations I went for about 15-17 miles or so. Pretty good preperation for the 23.5 mile adventure on monday...
ah, the bad news, the bike ride on monday has been postponed! I'm pretty torn up about it, but wait, there's some great news! I got the papers that's I've been waiting for for basically 3 months as of today! Jubilation! Because of getting my papers I had to postpone the trip with melvis on monday so we can head down to Hello Work and begin to get our F'n money baby! You take the good, you take the bad... and there you have, the facts of life! SWEEEEEEET!!!! 3 months of waiting for this day. I'm sure there'll be much more about that next week, but back to today's ride...
While in Ikegami I stopped in at Mr. Donuts and had myself a cup of coffee and a "The Simpsons Donut" it was "mixed berry" flavor, and it wasn't all that good. They have 2 options, this or some banana one. I also observed this sweet sign, which makes me wonder, how often do police remove bikes that look like this?

an allegory...

It's the last day of high school...
You've met an amazing group of people that you will know for the rest of time, I mean, these bonds are made forever right? Sure, some people may be headed across the country to a better art school, or law school than is offered in your neck of the woods, but they'll be back for holidays, and you'll visit them for spring break... right? The bonds made here are lasting, they're un-breakable. The greatest moment of of your life will continue forever, and the people you know will never change. The common ground forced upon you will for sure keep you together for all eternity. Things change. People change. The 5 best friends I had in high school I talk to in only random myspace posts. My best friend now I barely knew in high school. My 3 best friends in college I rarely hear from now-a-days. The wonderful people I met while on my study abroad, I have no idea what happened to them and only randomly run into them hundreds of miles away in front of a Starbucks in Osaka... The greatest experiences of your life have yet to happen. It's hard to believe, but it's quite possibly true. We, and I myself most of all, wish to believe that time is a frozen moment, one which we can hold on to forever, one which no matter what shakes it will result in the same outcome, but it isn't. The end of an era has approached me. It is a sad day. When I arrived at a little school in Gotanda, Tokyo I was witness to an end of an era myself. I wasn't involved in it personally, so what did it matter? But I know that to the people there before me, it was over... just a few stragglers hanging on to what had been. The day I arrived change had begun. Old teachers were leaving, and new ones were on their way. I don't regret not having come earlier, I'm am only greatfull that I came when I did. First was me (excluding 3 of the best people that I've ever known that hung on for the next generation, A.O.S. Crow, and Naj) and then came Mr. Matt Damon look-a-like, and then Deuce, next was Doogle, and Melvis, eventually and (in-between) teachers came and went, transfered and quit, but a bond was formed between us. The same kind of bond you feel whenever common ground is thrust upon people who are willing to accept. The kind of bond that makes you promise to visit on holidays. The kind of bond that will never be broken... I love those guys. Love all of them, just hope things don't turn out like high school, hope that I mean it this time....

vol. 6!

Here comes vol. 6! Sound of the week answered, and a new sound of the week. Some news, a Wii games review, and a long ass electronical song to end the show, enjoy! (man I wish I could put up these episodes as I recorded them, but I have to compress them a ton to get them up on the internet, so they sound like shit!)

*new address*

For anyone who's got an answer for this week's "what's that sound?" or who is just planning to send a mail, I had to change it because for some reason my old account was de-activated :(

The new address is noairplaybutt@gmail.com
check it out!

vol 5!

*!WARNING!* this episode is terrible! terrible! The one silver lining is deuce's contribution to the show, an epic techno track! Rock!



this way to "Rio Glande"... you'd think that they would do some research for something that's going to be permanent...

vol 4!

Back with fury for vol 4! missed you all! I talked about the JLPT test, some restaurant vocab, and a song by Melvis!

pure frustration...

Man, it's been nearly 3 months since I've been paid and frustration has finally seized me. Today was the first time I've felt absolutely worthless since I stopped going to work nearly 2 months ago. At least until last weekend I had the JLPT test to study for. Since I've finished the test I've had nothing. The first two days went by, and I thought "hey, just take a little break." Well, I took a break and it was nice, watched some football, some TV, played some games and cruised the info-super-highway, but today it was more of the same. Fucking boring. I thought about recording an episode, but didn't (I'll do it tomorrow, promise). Did nothing. The worst part is that since I didn't teach so much over the past 2 weeks I really have no spending money at all, so even going out to grab my favorite sandwich or some canned coffee has been shelved. Just sitting in my room, waiting for something to fucking happen, and by "something" I mean of course for my previous employer to send me my fucking unemployment papers! God I'm getting frustrated. Good news is on the horizon as I have 3 classes over the next 3 days to get a little money in the pocket, and also I've got a Gotanda Christmas party (for some reason in Shibuya?) this weekend, so hopefully that'll take my mind of the despair for a bit. Also, according to law (not that VONA cares much about that), the aforementioned unemployment papers should be sent out within 10 days of the official bankruptcy which was on the 30th of November, meaning that I should receive them in the next 4-6 days. God I hope that I do... but that's not the end. At that point I can apply for my money... more waiting... FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!! The waiting is really getting to me man! Hopefully by putting this up it'll at least get it off my mind a bit so that I can go back to relishing the hours and hours of time I have to kill. Here's to that dream!

...the test...poetic waxing...wine...pictures to follow...

Well, it's over! Thanks, thanks. Lets see... there are 3 sections to the test, first is Vocab, 2nd is listening, and 3rd is reading/grammar. First section I'd say I rocked in around a 65% or so, it was alright, on the upper end I'd go as high as 70% I guess. Second section was always my strongest, on the low end I'd go 80% and on the high end 90%. Man, I've got a penchant for listening. I've always been pretty good at it, and wasn't worried about this section whatsoever. The last part was... well... lets say... god awful. Yeah, that's right, going in I needed (according to my rough calculations) about a 50% to pass, and I think I just completely blew the captain on that one. Wow. I really had no idea what the questions were, and what the answers might be. According to percentages, just guessing you'd think I would have got at least 25%, you know 1 in 4 chance right? Well, there's also a possibility that I got 0%, and that's the one I'm thinking that I was closer to. Wow.

After the test I came home, completely sunk, and went ahead with something that I'd been thinking about for awhile. No hints, just pictures to follow.

After that mornin and I headed out to deuce's place at his invite to partake in some good 'ol times. I'm actually really glad I went. I've been blowing off so many invites lately because of studying that I almost blew this one off too because I was so disappointed with my performance on the test, but I ponied up and headed out. 3 1/2 bottles of wine later I am drunk and home. I gotta say that of all the people I've met in Japan, deuce is by far my most favorite. Don't know what it is. I've got some theories though: could be because he's basically from the same area as me, could be because his girl rocks, could be because although he likes some puss ass bands he also likey the rock, could be because we both started at the greatest Eikaiwa in history at about the same time, could be because he's the only mofo I know that can rock New Balance shoes for futsol and still take a wicked break-away to the house, or could be because everytime I see see him he sports the same cap that makes me think "communist" or "emo" but not in a bad way. Don't know what it is, but sure am glad I met him. If you've ever read my blog you know that I love all the people I've worked with. I fiercely represent the places that I'm from. And I'm just greatful that I met the people I did, where I did, when I did. Thanks deuce! Thanks G-town crew!

T-minus 17 hours...

So, it is now 4:45pm on saturday, 17 hours until my test kicks off! I hate tests! I usually do pretty well and was fairly proud that during my entire college career I finished first (that's time, not score ;) on every test except for one! F'n psychology test back in my sophmore year. Anyway I'm pretty nervous. Honestly don't think I will do great, could be wrong, but doubt it. But one thing that I've decided already is that no matter how the results come back (should get them in Feb.) I'm going to take level 1 next december. I know it'll be tough, especially if I'm not up to the mustard on level 2 this year, but I don't care. That's the goal. So, 17 hours and 365 days (unless it's a leap year...) from now, I'll be opening my test book for the Nouryoku Shiken 1 kyu (JLPT level 1)! GANBARUZOU!!!