vol. 16!

Crap show today... especially the "butt's mail sack" segment, and think I need to re-record the bumper... if you are brave, take a listen!

1 week left!

Make your peace, only 1 more week of this sweet mop!

Kekkonshiki!

Ah, the post that you've all been waiting for! The wedding in Nagoya!

Well, it wasn't in Nagoya, it was actually in Toyohashi, pretty close to Nagoya anyway.On Saturday I took the shinkansen and arrived at Toyohashi station around 1:45 in the afternoon and took a taxi to the shrine, named Hadahachiman-Jinja to take part in the ceremony. This was a very special thing as most of the time only family members are allowed to be there for the ceremony, especially for a traditional ceremony at a shrine. It was really an interesting experience because it is so very different than a Western style, Christian wedding. At the ceremony only myself and a long-time friend Le-chan were the only non-family members there, so I was a bit nervous, and of course, during the ceremony, and the reception after, I was the only gaijin. The ceremony started in a Japanese style room off to the side of the shrine complex where we all sat in the traditional "seiza" style on opposite sides of the room. On the left is the groom's family, and the right is the bride's family. The bride had too many guests so myself and Le-chan sat on the groom's side. Next the head of the family introduced everyone and after each introduction, the introduced person bows to the opposite group and says "Yoroshiku-onegaishimasu" meaning something like "please regard me favorably." After the introductions, and a bit of green tea, we all got up and lined up to head over to the main building of the shrine. After everyone was finished complaining about how their legs fell asleep from sitting "seiza" and we got our shoes on and walked over to the main building and sat down in some little folding chairs to witness the actual ceremony. Here's the real strange part. The most shocking thing about the traditional style Japanese wedding is the absence of music, no "here comes the bride", just the priest chanting and occasionally banging on a drum. It was a strange, surreal experience, and very, very interesting. Everybody does a lot of bowing, and drinks a little sake, and then it's all over. Everyone heads outside and takes pictures with the new couple in front of the shrine and then heads on over to the hotel to party!
The reception was very, very nice, and seemed to probably have been very, very expensive. It was in the Toyohashi Nikko Hotel on the 30th floor, and there was lots of food, and alcohol, and even gifts for the people attending. It was a pretty interesting experience all-around, except for the surprise speech that I had to give... during the 2nd half of the reception the MC (a lady whose obvious only talent in life is talking, and talking, and not shutting up ever!) went around to each table and chose one person to say something to the bride and groom (obviously previously chosen by the couple). When she arrived at our table I was praying that she wouldn't choose me... and then she did. I really didn't know what to say, in a room full of people I was nervous as all hell and then I gave the shortest speech of the night probably. It went something like this (in Japanese):

"Good evening...
I really don't know what to say...
Really, if you become happy, I think that's good.
Goodnight!"

Yeah, that was my speech. Lame? Yes, but I really, really hate talking in front of people, and I was extremely nervous. If I had a bit more warning I would have drank a whole lot more and probably been able to handle it. Anyway, that was it. Jumped back on the Shinkansen and headed back to Toyko. It was a pretty cool experience, and I just want to wish J-chi-chi and her hubby the best of luck, I hope that you make each other happier than you ever though imaginable! See you soon!

bowling for beer!

Last night I went bowling with a big ol' cast of characters, all of whom have made my time here in Japan memorable... two of them are leaving next week, moving to England to work, and three more are leaving in just over a month to tour China, Russia and Europe before returning to their home countries... ... ... It's sad. The two leaving next week are from Australia, a wonderful couple that are just really good people that I'll miss a bunch. The three leaving later are Mr. Deuce, Mr. A.O.S. and Ms. A.O.S.
Not much else to say, it was a good time, and It's sad to think that they won't be here anymore...

futbol? football? no, no, SOCCER!

As I've said before, I am now an official Kawasaki Frontale Fan! And today I went to my 2nd game this month over at Todoroki stadium and today was a beast! Before that... lets look at the last game:

On the 9th meltin faces, mornin and I went across the bridge and settled in to our seats for an afternoon of excitement. We got in a little late and ended up on the far end of the supporters section, the extreme far end and I was a little disappointed with the enthusiasm of the section. Pretty lame, but I was cheering like a maniac anyway. Ended up in a 1-1 draw that I talked about on the last show, but needless to say, it was a disappointment, but it was fun.
-actually checking my own blog now, I realize that I talked about this, oops-

...bringing us to today where mornin and I headed over the bridge to take in a Nabisco Cup game against JEF United Chiba. It was a driving rain storm with wicked wind blowing creating a dismal atmosphere. It was a terrible day to take in a game but also very fun. The final score was a 2-0 loss for us, but hey, it was just a Nabisco Cup game that doesn't count towards the J League standings and so many of the starters weren't playing including our favorite goalie, Kawashima! The crap part of the game was that the Frontale had countless chances in front of the net, put a few over, and around and who knows where, but soooooo many wasted chances! The chemistry of the team is taking a bit of time to work itself out, but if we continue to create these oppotunities I think it looks good for the season to come. We play JEF United again on the 30th in a J League game that I'll be at also, and hopefully we'll see Kawashima, Kengo, and Hulk lace 'em up and we can get our first win of the season. As I said last time, I was a bit underwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the section I sat in last time so this time we set up in the super supporter section and it was a serious workout. Lots of jumping and singing. I'm torn as to where to sit next time though... I like the singing and jumping, but it's a bit different than baseball in that there's no breaks! No time to drink and a bit hard to pay attention to the game as much as I'd like to... We'll see where I line up next game.

excuses concerning...

No show today/this week. In lieu of this week's show I am gonna put up the finished(ish) version of "...excuses concerning..." that was stuck on the end of "epico dos". I recorded it on the new Yamaha and it came out sounding pretty decent. The Yamaha's a bit difficult to play, the string action is a bit high, but oh well. I'll try and go with a double episode or two episodes next week... we shall see...
I also got another new guitar last week, this time it was just a little one that I leave at work now because sometimes I have breaks lasting 2, 3 hours... so it's nice to have a guitar to work on new songs and crap... even though it's a wee one! I was gonna put up a pic of it here but I can't seem to find one and since it's at work... gonna have to wait until next week! But, here's a picture of my new Big Muff! It sounds rad, and I got it on sale! Sweeeet!



Found a picture, here she is!

I knew it!

So, the day before I'm supposed to go to Nagoya for a wedding, I got sick. Yup, I actually would have put all the money I have on it happening. I wish I had, I'd have more money! Damn, I knew it was gonna happen, the only thing I'm hoping for is that I'll be feeling better by tomorrow. SHIT!

Yesterday I bought another guitar! I went over to Hard Off in Ooimachi and found a good deal on a "junk" Yamaha acoustic guitar.Only 6,300 yen. It was missing a string, and a pin, and it was strung classic (I think it's supposed to be steel string), so I bought some pins, and a pack of strings and brought her home, re-strung it, and she sounds pretty good! Nice full sound that my other acoustic (actually acoustic/electric) is somewhat lacking. The strings are new, and so it's a bit hard on the fingers to play for too long right now, but just needs a little breaking in. I think I got a pretty good deal. I think this one is going to stay at home with me, but I'm gonna head back over to Hard Off today to take another look at a mini guitar that I saw over there yesterday, and I might pick that one up to take with me to work, I'll let you know!

God, I hope I feel better tomorrow!

vol. 15!

Vol. 15! What more can I say? Well, how about: News! + 3 reviews! Reviews of: Winning 11 for the Wii! the BECK manga, and the BECK anime! I say "hard off!", we re-visit the previous "what's that sound?"!, a message from dude? and me doing laundry and drinking coffee!

say it a'int so...

An unfortunate theme for the bulk of today's post, "say it a'int so..."

On Sunday I headed across the bridge over the river Tama to Todoroki stadium with meltin faces and mornin to watch the Kawasaki Frontale take on a semi-rival, Tokyo Verdy. Tokyo Verdy was once known as Kawasaki Verdy (previously Yomiuri F.C.) and moved to Tokyo in 2001. It was an electric atmosphere! I was psyched up to see the game in the first place but the number of people that showed up was amazing, the concourses were packed and made movement nearly impossible. The seats we ended up with weren't the greatest, next time (March 30th) I will for sure be sitting closer to the crazy fan section because the people in the area we were sitting in were fairly lame, keeping mostly silent except for some sparse applause. A bit disappointing from that angle. Kawasaki put in a nice goal in the 33rd min of the game and was looking posed to come away with a win before a lame call for a penalty shot in loss time of the 2nd half... less than a min to play... and what's worse is that it wasn't a good call. Sure, there was a take down, but they hadn't been called all day! The ref was terrible! He missed calls all day! A glaring one was early in the first half on a great crossing play where there was a obvious hand ball! A disappointing end to a pretty well contested game, an exciting game, a poorly officiated game, but a fun day!

Last Friday, as I said, I headed over to Omori "hello work" for what would become the last time! I was in and out fairly quickly, but I must say that the order I was called up in had some questions as (at least) 2 people who put their info in the box after me were called up before me... fuckers! But as far as the chit-chat at the window, I was done probably the fastest, as meltin faces took longer and another teacher we knew, who was randomly there too, said she'd been there for about 2 hours! I was in and out in about 15-20 mins. Good news, last time I'll have to go there, badish news, gotta talk to the boss and have him fill out some paperwork for me about being hired, not too bad though.

I finally got paid on Monday, first time I've received a paycheck since September 2007, and I was very happy! So, I made my first big ticket purchase in a very looooong time, I got myself an mp3 player! I've had an iPod mini since dude? got married about 2 and a half years ago, and for about a year and half it's acted funny. I also had an iPod shuffle that I got at the same time (a gift for being best man) and that one's been completely out of commish for probably a year or more... I've had lots of problems with iPods since my first one, I was early on the wagon, so I've been through a few in my time, and I was determined not to get one this time... so, what did I get? I bought an iPod. Yeah, I know! I shopped around, I looked at all the other brands, iRiver, Sony, Zen.... etc... but I couldn't justify any of them. The amount of storage available and comparing prices, I would have been stupid not to get it. For an 80 GB iPod classic I payed about 29,000, and for around the same price, the closest memory I could get would be about 16 GB... The only difference is that other brands have options like FM radio, or TV, or recording functions. I'm going to get a new cellphone when my contract runs out next month, so the TV isn't needed, and most cellphones here also have FM radio function, so... the only other thing that I wanted was the portable recording function, but I figured for the difference in memory, I can just buy a portable recorder seperately. So there you go! By the way, her name is "Marpet Cuncher"

On Saturday I'm heading over to Aichi prefecture to attend my first Japanese wedding... I'm a bit excited, but also nervous. I think there is a good possibility that I will be the only "gaijin" there. I'm not nervous about having to speak Japanese (especially because many of my friends that will be there speak English, as we went to the same college in the U.S.) but I feel like I might get a lot of attention... Also, as I've said before, weddings are usually fairly expensive, and as you know I was laid off for a long time, I still haven't gotten my back pay (deuce, and meltin faces have).

ka-pow!

No show this week, I was too busy cleaning the crap out of my apartment, no submissions for "what's that sound?" and didn't play Winning 11 Wii with dude? yet, so wasn't ready for a review on that, so I bagged it. I could do one today, but instead I'm just gonna do a regular post.

Gotta go to Hello Work again, hopefully for the last time, since I've been working lately, there's really no reason to keep going, sweet! This month and into April are going to be pretty busy, let's take a look at the schedule (shout out to Woody!):

Mar 9:
Kawasaki Frontale vs. Tokyo Verdy
Mar 10:
My first payday since September 15th 2006!
Mar 10-14thish:
Should get my back pay sometime next week!
Mar 15:
Pure-child's wedding in Nagoya!
Mar 25:
Gonna get cornrows again
Mar 27:
1 year hair, so shaving down to a mohawk and then take er all off!
Mar 30:
Kawasaki Frontale vs. JEF United Chiba
Apr 2:
Yokohama Baystars vs. Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Apr 11:
Yokohama Baystars vs. Hanshin Tigers!

Probably gonna make a few more plans in there for some other games, and might include a vacation to either Home, or Hiroshima around April/May, and maybe Amsterdam in May, wow, busy, busy, busy!