Halloween Eve Eve

Can there be a Halloween Eve? Because isn't Halloween actually the eve of some other thing? I'm gonna look this up...

Dude, I was totally right, it's the eve of "All hallow's day" or "all saints day"! Sweet.

Anyways, it's been almost a month since last I wrote. Halloween is two days away. I figure this is as good a day as any to update. Life is good. I've been thinking today (also in general, but today more than other days) how much I miss Japan. I miss my friends. I miss Aya. I miss Yuki. I miss Taro, Tani, Otsuka, Natsumi, Ayumi. I miss going to izakayas or the Ruby Room. I miss living in the same building as Japanese, Chinese, Ghanan, French, and Brazilian people.

This morning I was reminded how much I miss heated seats on the toilet. brrrrrrr....!

Life's not all depressing, though. I went to the city museum on Friday night for their 10th Anniversary Party. it was a 21-and-over event, with bars and performances throughout the evening. We watched a band called "Earl" play some pretty good country music and they were
followed by a (bizarre) burlesque show. Perhaps it was a normal burlesque show (I've never seen one before), but it was really weird to me. And I tend to feel like I'm very comfortable with public sexuality, etc... hmmm. High point of the evening, however, was when I began to play the piano on the third floor. At first there was nobody around. The first girl that came to listen to me play looked to be about 30 years old, and after I finished a song, she came close to me and said "if you were about 10 years older, I would definitely fuck you tonight." I gave her a wink and a smile and said "I'd be a damn lucky man," and then she walked away. That was amazing. And then it got better. I drew a pretty good crowd with people coming and going, and then after maybe a half hour or so these 2 VERY drunk country boys, Tim and Stephan, came over and just ranted at me and at each other non-stop. At first I just wanted them to fuckin leave, but after about 5 minutes I was just cracking up because they were SO outrageous. They demanded I play ragtime or blues, or some "honky-tonk shit" and when Tim fell over in his chair, he picked it up, yelled "this shit is faulty! I need a new chair!" and grabbed a stack of two chairs and sat on top of those. Stephan yelled in my face to play some ragtime when I started playing the asshole song, so I just sang it right back into his face. Tim said he worked as a cement-layer for the City Museum and they were gonna build some new stuff, but the owner, Bob, didn't have the permit yet, but Tim said "I don't need a motherfuckin' permit! I'll lay cement piles bigger than Cahokia Mounds!" They were very entertaining, and pretty much made the evening for me.

Also, big shocker when Tiffany (Myra's (Brad's (My roommate) girlfriend) roommate) (<-- did you follow that?) started to sing along to "I do." I'm pretty sure I've never met anyone who knew about Jude before I told them, let alone someone who could sing along with some songs! Needless to say, I was impressed. We shall hang out more in the future.

In other news, my sister has requested I play piano at her engagement party/wedding. I'm not only more than willing to do so, but am REALLY excited to! I've always wanted to play for events like that, but I wouldn't really know how to go about doing it, so this is opportunity number one! heh. The only problem is that most of the songs I know are about breakups. I need to learn more songs over the next few months. I asked her to let me know if there are any songs in particular she wants me to play, but she hasn't given me any. All I've got is that my mom asked me to learn James Taylor's "Shower the people you love with love" (I'm not sure if that's the title of the song or not, but you know the song). I'll have to start making a list of possible wedding/love songs I know/should learn. So far, here's the list:

Shower the People, James Taylor (I looked it up, and that's the actual title)
The Luckiest, Ben Folds
Ice Cream, Sarah McLachlan
Secrets Revealed, Paul and Denes (?)
One Thing to Teach, Paul and Denes (?)
Here We Go, Jon Brion (?)
Can I Stay, Ray LaMontagne
Tomorrow, Sean Lennon (?)

There's probably more, but this is just for starters. I should maybe go for some of the cliche songs, if I can, like "At last," or "The Way You Look Tonight."

Suggestions?

Monday night baseball

Well, how about the Rockies?! That was quite a goddamn game!

I'm writing now from my couch, on my brand new iPod Touch, watching
'Californication.' I am a creature of the now. All I need now is my
sister's Prius, and I'll have the yuppie collection complete!

Guitar lesson this morning. I'm afraid he thinks I'm better than I
really am because he gave me way more things to work on this week than
previously.

Note to self: all-nighters are bad news.

Also, this iPod is AMAZING

Sacrifice the Fear

I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. Shit tends to get in the way. We have a blog for my Japanese class in which I must write every Tuesday and comment on the other posts all the other days of the week. It is, of course, in Japanese, so if you happen to read my blog, and happen to be able to read Japanese then go ahead and check it out: http://j462fa07.blogspot.com/

Tonight I am going to St. Peters to be in a horror movie called "Sacrifice the Fear." I will probably be killed. It sounds fun.

I've been doing the NYTimes crosswords more and more and I've been getting a lot better. I got over halfway through yesterday's (Friday!) puzzle. I'm really, almost unreasonably, proud of myself for that.

I should practice guitar more. I had my first lesson this week. I'm rather excited.

I should probably shower.

Car Talk

The most amazing thing has happened to my car:

Somehow, the wiper fluid spray nozzle for the rear window got bent. It no longer sprays onto the window, which is unfortunate, but instead sprays diagonally upwards, straight backwards. It is truly remarkable. I can punish someone behind me for being too close. I have known about this for a while now, but had yet to use it until today, when I pulled up to a red light at Clayton and Hanley, and the car behind me came right up on my ass. So right when the light turned green, I gave him a little shower and sped off towards home. It was soooooo gratifying. I must use this more often.

New Semester, New Song

These are some new song lyrics I just wanted to get written down:

I remember the way you looked at me,
Shaky smile, glossy eyes as we said "goodbye,"

When you laughed, you touched me as if we were lovers and
You drove me mad; those things you said run through my head

You'll never know the way I feel
I always wanted more

I remember the way you sang with me,
Every note a whisper on my ear; I wish you were here,
With me; A picture's not worth a single word from you,
"Hello," or "goodnight," your voice is in my dream tonight

You'll never know the way I feel
I always wanted more
But I'll never get to know your feel
And you're always on my mind.

Friday afternoon thoughts

I've been thinking a lot about my time in Japan. Mostly because I just miss it so damn much and cannot wait to go back. But seriously, when I think about this past summer and the people I met and the things that I learned there is one things that I have realized. For the first time in my life I actually feel like I am a part of something bigger. And that is so comforting. I have been struggling to create a path for myself and now I am finally seeing one open before me. I can't believe how lucky I am.

I feel like my ADD is killing my creativity. I used to be able to sit for hours in front of my keyboard or in front of a notebook and play or write until my fingers were sore, but now I can hardly sit still for thirty minutes just to write a few paragraphs or play a few songs. It's so goddamn frustrating to feel like I can't control my own mind.

Maybe I'm trying to focus on the wrong things...

Back in the U.S. of A. (sung to the tune of "Back in the U.S.S.R.")

So, I'm back in my humble home in Saint Louis! It was an amazing two months and I certainly did not want to leave, but I am also glad to be back here in many ways. I got a haircut and trimmed my beard and I feel quite refreshed.

The final week was fun with my parents, but I have no pictures, and all of you who read this will probably hear about it from them so I am not going to go into too much detail. We basically just saw the sights of Tokyo (without walking too much as Father has foot troubles), and it was a really good week.

I may continue to update the blog with various pictures and stories from time to time, but I certainly do not intend to update it on a regular basis, so for all intents and purposes, this is the end. Thank you all for reading! to close out, I leave you with a few pictures from my final night at the Ruby Room, sent to me from my friend Natsumi.