OK! By popular (5 people) demand, I will return to active blogging!

I will start by moving my California excerpts from Japanese community site mixi, and throwing them all here!

To those who remember, I went to California last winter with 2 of my friends (one who has yet to TALK to me since returning to Japan. Some "friend"...the other still calls and texts) from Nagoya.

The continuation of the Cali adventure!

Fourth day in California short diary!

I woke up at my dad's and headed back home to see my siter, but first I went to my old office AGAIN, and had a small Christmas party with them! It was so much fun, and we laughed a lot! I also got to meet two girls there who BOTH want to go to Japan and teach like I do!

My old boss and friend Eric were soo happy to see me again, that they invited me to their Christmas Eve party at my friend Eric's house and I went there after going home to sleep for a bit.

When I got to the party, it was obvious, everyone had been drinking! They were playing board games and laughing soooo much! I got to eat one of my favorite Mexican foods, tamales, that their mom cooked, and it was so good! They started telling stories about Christ, and Christmas, and after that, began opening presents.

It got late, so everyone got ready to go home, after packing food that their mom/grandma cooked, and I headed home too, to go sleep!

The next day is Christmas, and the return of the girls to California!

Fifth day in California, short diary! Christmas!

So today was the day the girls return from their short trip to Sedona and White Sands national park.

I bought some more alcohol, and picked them up from the airport, and we went to Mitsuwa so they could buy some Japanese food for themselves.

We headed home, they got to unwind, share pictures of their trip, and we began to eat some of the food my mom cooked for us!

We ate soooo much!

Shortly after, my friends Ken and Kazumi (both Japanese, living and working here in Irvine California!), came and our party turned into a kind of Japanese style nomikai! Lot's of drinking and laughing, until it was time for them to go home and us to sleep!

Sixth day in California, short diary! Lunch, El Torito and bowling!

This day we met with my old manager Kelly, and her friends that I used to hang with in Long Beach.

We went to a great restaurant called Yard House and ate some great food, that was, again, too much for us, with our small Japanese sized stomachs! (yeah me too!)

After lunch and catching up with old friends, we headed to Kelly's house and played Wii with her daughter Jillian, who has taught us some great "knock knock" jokes and how to dance like a hip hop video star!

After Wii, we drove to El Torito (mexican food!) to meet a LOT more friends, and drink and eat!

We all ate and drank a lot, and people even told them it was Akiyo's birthday and we had them sing her the song (in Spanish, and English! They called her Akichita!). After a lot of food and drinks, we headed to the bowling alley for 2 hours of...MORE drinking and bowling!

I had some decent scores the 2 games we played (over 100 at least!) and as soon as it all began, it ended... Sad sad Tommy indeed! But it was great to see my friends and everyone all over again!

Seventh day in California, short diary! Akiyo's birthday!

On this day, we celebrated Akiyo's birthday!

I woke up and prepared the room with decorations and ballons (only 2) and laid out her gifts (from my mom and Mutsumi and I) and did it all while they were sleeping!

It was around 4am, at some random time I woke up, and thought it would be perfect. I set up some streamers and everything, but everytime they would move I would jump behind the couch so they wouldn't see me!

When I finished I went to sleep, but they woke up about 2 houtrs later to the surprise, but I was just waking up again, super tired! Haha.

We sang happy birthday, wore masks, cut and ate cake, and chilled a bit at the apartment before beginning our tour of "The OC"!

Akiyo loves the drama The OC, so we did a small tour of some places from the show! We went to Fashion Island, where I let the girls loose on a 2 hour shopping spree, with expensive results! This was after having a great, but way too filling lunch at California Pizza Kitchen!

After the mall, we headed to Balboa Peninsula, to check out a beach I used to be able to go to and no one was around, but on this day, there were SOOO many people there!

We tried touching the water and it was TOO cold, but we enjoyed walking along the beach and enjoying the weather (which has been GREAT everyday so far, besides the FIRST day the girls arrived!).

After the beach we went to another mall to buy Krispy Kreme (which is half the price of the one in Japan! 6 dollars for a dozen! Japan is 1500 yen!). Then we went to the nearby Virgin Megastore to buy some CDs and blu-ray DVDs! Virgin Megastore is going out of business, so everything is 50 - 70% off! Crazy!

After shopping, we got tired, and returned home to get some rest!

Eight day in California, short diary! Let's go to Los Angeles!

Now this day was fun!

We went to LA, and my best friend Mark joined us!

We started by eating at a FAMOUS hot dog stand called Pink's, where we all ate some very delicious, and BIG hot dogs. We drove up Melrose, looking for the Bathing Ape store, and found it, so we parked and went inside. Once done, we did a bit of walking and shopping in the surrounding area, but did the most at a place called Johnny Cupcakes! This store is about to get big soon and we all think it would be perfect in Harajuku! We all bought something from there!

After this, we went to the Beverly Center in Beverly Hills, where the girls went shopping, and us guys, well, drank... Too much!

When it was time to meet the girls, we were TOO drunk, so we wanted to go get some food and walk it off, but we ran into the girls RIGHT when we got out of the bar! CAUGHT! They thought it was funny, and we all went to get some food and drink, before the drive to Irvine to have dinner with friends!

We made it back, picked up Atsuhi from his place in Irvine, and then we went to Pei Wei, to eat some great asian food (they have a fusion of all types of Asian foods!). After everyone came to my place, to talk, eat cake, and hear the story of me meeting Chaki from the Lowbrows, and making Stay Faceless. I showed everyone pictures from different events in Japan, and soon everyone (besides Mark, who was still gone from the alcohol at the bar), went home for the night!

All in all, we had, Atsushi, Phong and his new fiancee Lynda, Mark, Micah, Akiyo, Mutsumi, and I. The ride back to my apartment was sooo hilarious, but I don't want to post it, because it is WAY inappropriate English, haha!

Ninth day in California, short diary! San Diego!

Mark hung out with us again since he was there anyway, so now I had a shopping buddy for when the girls would leave me to go shop.

Our first stop was Carlsbad Outlets, about 30 or so minutes from San Diego. We did a bit of shopping and I got some good deals on some jeans and shirts (2 jeans, 2 shirts, nice brands, 40 bucks!). We waited till we got to San Diego to eat, where we found a nice outdoor area, where we ate at a restaurant on a pier! The view was great!

After eating, we went to Coronado Island, and visited the Hotel Del Coronado. We walked on the beach, visited the inside of the hotel and walked to a nearby coffee stand, and got some coffee.

We made our way back to the car, took some photos of the amazing view, and made our way back to Orange County.

When we got home, we said our final goodbyes to Mark and went upstairs to drink, relax while talking to Ken.

Tenth day in California, short diary! Not too busy!

We woke up and decided to enjoy the great weather and walk to Fat Burger.

We all did it again, and ate way too much food and just sat in a very nice outdoor eating area.

When we were done, we went to do a little shopping at South Coast Plaza, and then headed to Corona, for dinner with my friend Adam's dad!

We ate at a place called Mill Creek, where we had some great BBQ chicken mini sandwiches. We also ate friend zuccini and onion rings!

I started feeling sick though, almost like I had a cold, and when I got home, I took medicine and went to sleep. Mutsumi also had a rough night from eating too much fried food. Akiyo is the only one not sick of us 3, but she is getting tired!

No pictures from me for the day, but the girls did take pictures. When I get them, I will post!

Eleventh day in California, short diary! New Year's Eve PAAAARTY!

What a day!

We woke up sick, and tired from all of these plans we have had, and we didn't want to do ANYTHING!

I called my boss to let her know, her house sounded like the best idea, since it would be real laid back, but then she told me to call her brother, my friend Eric, and see what he is doing. He told me to call Norman, to see what he was doing, then Norm told me there would be a chill rooftop party in downtown LA.

The girls said they wanted to go, so we did!

Eric and his girlfriend Yen, picke dus up and we made it to Los Angeles a bit later than planned, due to traffic. When we got there, there was pizza waiting for us! We drank a bit then headed to a nearby apartment, to enjoy a gorgeous night view of Downtown LA.

Here we drank a LOT until we decided we got too cold to stay, so we headed to the host's apartment to put the alcohol away, then go find a bar, but we ended up staying at the apartment the whole time!

We drank, danced, talked, took pics, and did the countdown all at the same place! So many good people, very international (Had a girl doing a student exchange from Germany, she was really cool!), and we got to listen to some old school hip hop (not the crap you hear in clubs in Nagoya:( )!

I got BEYOOOOND drunk and my friend Eric drove us all home, after scaring the girls that he was about to pass out when driving (god I laugh so hard when I think about this!), but he was just faking it!

Such a great night! I miss parties like this! They make me want to live in California again...

Twelth day in California, shrot diary! A day of rest...

After such a looooong day, we did nothing but relax.

We went to Jamba Juice to buy something to drink We went to pick up some cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory, and came home to some home cooked food from mom!

A veeeeeery eeeeeeeeeasy day!

Thirteenth day in California, short diary! One last day of shopping...

So this is officially our last day in California. So what better way to spend it than to go shopping in LA one last time!

We headed straight to Johnny Cupcakes!

http://www.johnnycupcakes.com/browse/all

This is a really cool clothing company, which is kind of like America's "Bape"! Today was LUCKY, because we got to meet the man himseld, Mr. Johnny Cupcakes! I bought 3 shirts, and 6 pins, and the girls got some more shirts and pins. We got to take pics with him, he took pics of us, and he signed our boxes and pictures!

After this, the girl headed to American Apparel, and I went to some vintage T-Shirt shop to buy some AMAZING shirts to wear out and about in Nagoya (I am now addicted to cool T-Shirts).

After this, we were EXTREMELY hungry, we all only ate a little before leaving and it was about 5 PM! So we went back to Irvine, I got a milkshake from In-N-Out, Akiyo a milkshake from Fatburger, all of us some food from El Pollo Loco, AND 2 large pizzas, and a mini pizza!

We barely ate much of it, and went to sleep sick from the amount we COULD eat!

Ken and Kazumi stayed over a bit (Ken lives there!) and I was talking with them with Mutsumi (sometimes) until around midnight, knowing the alarm would go off at 3AM...

The alarm went off, I woke up and showered, and said my good byes to my mom, grandma, and Ken. Ken helped us down with the luggage, and we were off on a shuttle bus!

Now I sit here in LAX, surrounded by Spanish speakers, trying to see what I can pick up, drinking a coffee, and using some free airport internet! Soon I will need a charger, but for now, I will just browse the internet, should last 2 more hours!

DONE!!!!

View all pics from this trip here!

I will start posting about my life as of recent, so you guys will miss out on pretty much 3 months of my life. Just fill in the holes. It is pretty much the same though. Party, DJ, Party, DJ, and some work thrown in for measure.

Does anyone still read this?

If so, I will continue updating from where I left off soon. If not, I will get to it when I get to it, hehe.

Third day in Cali! Time with old coworkers again, college professor and my dad's family!

I kept SHORT SHORT diaries on mixi, of every single day, and promised I would rewrite them with more detail here, since people would b able to appreciate the full details here in English! So you will see posts and pics at a rapid succession from me for my whole trip, as long as I have internet and power (at LAX now, 3 hours of sleep, getting free internet, no plug in sight...)

And here it begins...

So my third day found me heading out to my dad's house out in Rialto.

I visitied my old office and college again, to see people I didn't get to see the day before. My old bosses were soooo happy to see me and old me not to lose any more weight! I was flattered because the people I have been hanging out with lately, have been telling me I am chubby! Screw that! I gave everyone some CDs of the songs that I got to be on, and then they made me sign them, in case I become big, they can say they have some originals! After a quick hello, goodbye, see ya later, I headed out to the Inland Empire.

I went to get gas (which is much cheaper than the last time I was here! Almost 3x cheaper!) and headed to and through my old neighborhood (where I spent most of my life!). Driving north on the 57 is something I used to do every weekday to go to work/college full time (none of thise part tme job crap my students get away with in Japan. Or, GASP, not working at all!) or sometimes weekends to visit friends or my ex girlfriend. The drive felt new, yet so familiar!

The weather was way different than it was in Orange County, a lot more gloomy, and the mountains were covered in snow! It was almost like everything got dark suddenly, and I could just see the sunlight and brightness of Orange County in my rear view mirror.

I tried to visit some old friends, but they had all moved, or weren't home! I first tried Jacob Navas' family, to find a For Sale sign up on their lawn! What?!?! They have lived there like forever! I found out later, they moved up to Colorado with Jake! Then I went to visit Jake Holker's family, to get his address and say hi, but no one was home! Just my luck!

I gave up and tried again to buy the Marc Ecko, Star Wars Real Storm Trooper hoodie (parka) I wanted at a mall nearby, but couldn't find it, so I left the mall with my head hung in shame....

Before heading to my dad's I made a quick pit stop at Red Robin to enjoy the return of the A1 Peppercorn Burger! When I first ate at Red Robin years ago, it was the first and only burger I ate! Then one, dark and stormy night, no, one day I went there and the burger was gone! I tried other burgers there, and none did it for me. Red Robin was just average for me. So on my second return to Cali from Japan, the burger was back, and the best thing ever! I killed it in 10 minutes or less, and was on my way out, after paying tip for the first time, since coming back...

I got to my dad's house, and knocked on the door to see him peep his head through the window, but something was different...

His beard was kinda long, and it was ALL white! He let me in, we hugged, and we began talking right off the bat (just like an Adams!). He showed me his stash of liquor and told me to pour whatever I wanted, so I made some rum and cokes, and he drank some whiskey. We had some good talks, he started talking about his childhood, travelling while a Marine, and things I never heard from him before, and soon we were joined by his wife and my half-sister Andrea. We also had my step-niece Lariah, who was in her room watching cartoons. She missed me sooo much, but only really saw me when she was like 2 or 3! Such a cute girl!

Midnight came, and all that was left was my dad and his wife, and they decided to clock out and I went to bed soon after.

A good way to start my vacation, getting drunk with my dad!

Second day in Cali - The arrival of Mutsumi and Akiyo (and an explanation of who they are).

So yeah, the interesting part of this little trip to California. The addition of Mutsumi and Akiyo.

Mutsumi and Akiyo, are 2 girls I met by pure random chance...

I was at Hub, back when I was DJing at Arena a while back, with my friend Adam, who just arrived to Japan (at this time he, it was his first weekend here). We were drinking to calm me down, and hang out before I went on to DJ. He saw a cute girl and tried to get her attention, but she was obviously ignoring him. This girl went to the bathroom and when she came back, Adam grabbed her, and asked her to sit. She was KIND OF scared and got her friend to come sit with us too.

I was a bit embarassed at my friend, and let him do the talking, because I had a girlfriend at the time, but then I noticed something common in Nagoya. These girls spoke NO English! Just basic words, and phrases, at best! So my big bud was struggling to get anywhere.

I tried my best to translate for him, to try to make them laugh with his jokes and such, and they were laughing at the situation and felt bad for me. The one that Adam grabbed, Mutsumi, exchanged information with me before we left, and said she would stay in touch.

A month goes by, no contact, but finally I got a message from Mutsumi, saying her and her friend Akiyo were going out to drink at Hub. I was already going to be there before a DJ night, so I said I would meet up with them. I got there, and they were surrounded by guys trying for their attention, but as soon as I got there, they both started talking to only me, and the guys eventually left. We all left together, and I went to DJ, and they went off to do their thing.

Fast forward to a meeting at a Starbucks one night, when they were near my corporate lesson, and asked if I wanted to meet for coffee. While talking (always in Japanese, 100%) they asked what I was doing for winter vacation, and I said going to California, and being SUPER lazy! They were envious of me, because their plans were just work, and hanging out with family.

Without thinking (I mean who would have guessed this would happen...?) I jokingly said they should come with me to California, stay at my mom's place because it is big, and I could show them around, since I would be doing nothing anyway. They checked their schedules, and thought about it, but we just laughed it off, finished our coffee, and went our seperate ways.

The next day at work, came the surprise. A surprise like no other. They had booked their trip to California... They were on a waiting list, but said it sounded good, that they would be able to make it...

Great! Now what do I do? I had a girlfriend, who would get a little jealous sometimes, and here I am now, stuck with not one, but TWO girls going with me to California, girls that she doesn't know, girls that are just friends (as far as I know, and even to this day, there is no love/like interests amongst any of us, just friends). What do I do?

So time goes by, they get off the waiting list, and are now 100% going to Cali, but also made plans to go to Sedona and White Sands National Park. Not just this, but it is Akiyo's birthday on the 27th, and Mutsumi and I would meet up sometimes, to plan a surprise for her, buy her a card and shirt, and draw some stuff on the shirt for her, to make her brithday in California a great/memorable one.

Well the time came and went, and they arrived to LAX the day after I did.

I woke up after partying with norm all night, and drove to LAX, getting there an hour before their arrival (15 minutes earlier than expected).

I got to the terminal and waited with some woman who was picking up her son in law from the same terminal as the girls, who is a marine in Japan. We talked a bit until he came, and shortly after the girls arrived!

As soon as they saw me, they started cheering my name, and everyone started looking at me (I forgot to mention, these girls are CRAZY! They are soooooo extroverted and not shy, and insanely funny, and to top it off, they are SOO much alike!). I took one look at them though, and knew, we couldn't go meet with my sister and go shopping like we had planned. Plus it was raining extremely hard! So I took them to my mom's apartment. They both slept pretty much the whole way there, they were severely jet lagged!



When we arrived, I introduced them to my mom, and we gave them the towels my mom bought and stitched their names into. I really think they almost cried at the sight of those towels. They took some pictures, and we began to eat some food my mom made us. Shortly after this, we were exhausted, so we decided to take a nap before I had to take them to the airport to go to Sedona/White Sands. We all knocked out QUICK, and couldn't get up even after the alarm.





We eventually got up, headed to the airport and they were off!

After dropping them off, I went to see my old coworkers at JoshuaCasey, but I missed my old bosses! I chatted for a long time, and then went to my old college after. I BARELY missed my old teacher (for the second time, it happened last year too!) and decided to go to Cheesecake Factory after that.

I got there, got a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cheesecake, while watching the Packer game. I wanted to enjoy it at home, so finished the cake (I can't finish a slice without getting sick!) and headed home, to watch the guy.

I got home, took another nap while watching the game, then got a call from Ken (my old TA from my Japanese class, who now lives in my old room here in Irvine!) wanting to make plans with Eric (old classmate from Japanese class) and Kazumi (another TA from Japanese class). We made plans, and met up at a Chinesese restaraunt, to eat talk and catch up. It was a mix of Japanese and English, and Eric was ordering all of our food in Taiwanese (his parents are from there). After eating, we headed back to my apartment, and drank and talked until midnight. From midnight to 2AM, Ken and I talked until he wanted to sleep for work that day.

My next day had, visiting my old company to see the bosses again, my old teacher at college, then shopping, then heading to see my dad in Rialto! I will save that for the next blog I write, once I wake up!

Going to California, and first day! Sunday twice!

So I woke up early and was luckily already packed to go.

I got to every station the time I needed to and was checked in over 2 hours early, now I just needed to wait for Susannah, so I had someone to talk to.

I was a bit bummed to find out she upgraded for a better seat and wouldn't be behind me, but then we got a surprise, to a fellow Aeon teacher also taking the same flight (Mel, who has played football with us before!). Not just that, but he will be in LA, and returning on the same day and flight as I am! Coincidence!

We get to Tokyo, to see that the flight wouldn't take off until 1.5 hours after we were supposed to board and leave. 1.5 turned to 2, and we boarded. We got a message of a plane problem and were told to sit back and wait for it to get fixed, this happened 2 more times. I woke up to the sound of the intercom saying that we had to change planes, and take everything we had and take it to the new plane, which would take off shortly!

We rapidly head for the plane and are met with, 45 minutes of waiting!

They gave us a $10 food voucher, which I used for MCDonalds. But come on, $10? OK, for that...

EVERYONE, NEVER USE Northwest Airlines, to fly to or from ANYWHERE? Your time and plans are worth $10 in airport food to them!

Ok...

I got to Cali, waited in a long line for Customs, had a cop open up the line in front of me to go through customs, so I was out sooner than expected. I even got my luggage quick.

I went outside and my friend Ken (he lives in my old apartment room in Irvine, and volunteered to pick me up at LAX. We didn't have time to do the shopping I wanted to do, so we went straigh home!

I got home, saw mom and grandma, and did some warming up to them. Shortly after I went out shopping for jeans and looking around my old stomping grounds. Sooo strange... The pople were so different than what I get back home. Ruder, bigger, women are curvier (love that), etc.

At night, my friend Norm suggested that I stay at his house, since it's closer to LAX, and we expected rain. So last minute, I go to his place, we start with 2 shots of Grey Goose vodka, drove to get Mexican Food (sooo safe huh?), drove back, walked to The Standard (popular bar/club)and went to it's rooftop to drink and party! It was great and we met some Japanese people and I had a great time. One of the girls was from Nagoya, but studying in California, and she had a friend visiting who was also from Nagoya. A few of us exhaged info, and now we are friends on Facebook, nice!

We partied till closing (2AMish), walked to his apt, drove to get mexican food after.
We finished talking and eating around 3:50 ish, and I had to wake up at 5, to shower and get my car out of the parking to pick up my friends form LAX.

Such a long day...

I am still super tired!

WOW! Just fell asleep and typed like a 1000 1s...

Time to take a nap,
I am going to a party soon...

I will update the second, third, and 4th days soon!

Last weekend started HORRIBLE, but ended BEYOND AMAZING!

What a roller coaster this weekend was!

So The Undercats second gig at Maverick was a disaster. It was completely out of our control!

We got there, and when our friends started to arrive, they wouldn't let them in for half off like we were promised they would if they had a cell phone flyer and came before 10:30. Time was severely wasted getting them in...

After this, the club staff wouldn't let us switch in our equipment and get theirs out, as theirs was pretty archaic and just not functional for a house/electro/drum n bass night. Their mixer only has low and high EQ knobs (no mids?!?!?), the headphone was popping and cracking constantly, and there were no effects!

Ryan went up first, and he just wasn't feeling it because he felt he sounded bad, so he asked me to go up and save him. I went up and realized how shit the system was when I tried to mix into one song and out of another. Just wasn't working...

I did my hour set after many fuck ups, the worst being when some big rugby player came up to REQUEST that I play that "Baby don't hurt me" song. I don't do requests, not that kind of DJ. So while I spent minutes talking to him about this, I lost track of what CDJ I was on, and hit next track to mix in a new song, and yep, it was the live CDJ... DISASTER, and embarassing.

The club promoter came up shortly after to say the hip hop DJs (this main room is a hip hop room and that is what Nagoya likes unfortunately... So fucking lame!) were going to be coming in to do their magic... Yeah, whatever.

The only good thing was during my set, and after, the pole dancers were out in force, and it made people actually enjoy my set more than they should...

We left early because they didn't even let Shane DJ AT ALL! We went to the location of our second party, and our friends paid their fees to get in and got their drink tix. We went in to see a pretty decent sized reggae party going on (for the location). After a while, the bad news struck. We would only get 30 minutes to DJ... Not 30 minutes each, 30 minutes TOTAL, for 3 people. Nagoya really doesn't want us to DJ huh?

This pissed us and a lot of drunk friends off, but Shane did his set, we partied, and drunkenly walked out and towards a new friend's house who lived close. We got halfway there, and I came to my senses that, yes, my student who came to watch us, was not with us... Where in the hell...

So we (Morgan, Darlene and I) walk back, in super cold weather to go back to where we were for the second party and met up with my student and the friend of a friend. The place's owner felt bad for SCREWING us, that he cooked us some AMAZING curry for free and fed us. We sat and talked till it came time for first train. During this madness, my friend Mutsumi called to say her and her friends were close and asked if we were still DJing. Haha, no we weren't. But they drunkenly stumbled over to the place and hung out until my friends and I left. They were celebrating her friend's bday, and it looked like they celebrated, hard... Haha!

So went home to get my sleep and I was bummed. I felt bad because it was Sayaka's last day living here, and I was tired, drunk, and SO TENSION DOWN (haha love that phrase). I caught my cat nap, and had some plans in Gifu in a few hours. So I woke up, said my byes to Sayaka and had to rush to the station, still drunk... After Gifu, I had a gyoza party to do which was a ton of fun. Was hard speaking mostly Japanese the whole time, but it helps me out a lot.

After this I was driven to Obata station so I could make it to Sakae to go party HARD at JBs. I told Darlene I would meet her at 9, and the train didn't make it till 9:04. This was my first time taking this train to get to Sakae, so it was kind of fun.

I met up with Darlene, and we went to go get our pre drink on. We met up with Shane, he got his water on, and we went in the club to get lockers, and then do more pre drinking. We downed our drinks and went in to see Tom (from Tiny, our friends and best party hosts when it comes to electro events in Nagoya! We need them here!) finish his set, then my friend Yousuke start his FIRST PCDJ set. It was really good!

Then things picked up as DJ Kyoko (who introduced me to Chaki from Lowbrows!!!) took the decks and showed off her AMAZING beat matching and mixing skills! She is too young to be this good... So jealous!

After Kyoko was Chaki, who dominated the decks as usual! He does so many amazing things on the tables, it brings tears to my eyes... But the surprise came before his set. He grabbed me and told me, when he plays "Stay Faceless" he wants me to go up there with him... Hype man style! When he motioned to me to go up, his management, and the club staff kept kicking me out of the booth, so Chaki kinda got mad at them when he had the song he was mixing out of on a loop and they were delaying the start of Stay Faceless. The song went on, I lipped my lyrics, and people in the club knew the lyrics, it was crazy! My first time ever seeing people sing the words to a song I wrote and was rapping. Surreal... We ended the song with us covering our faces and I was out and in front of the booth ready to party to Danger!

If you don't know Danger, you better learn! Check out his MySpace.

So his set was a live set, in the likes of a Justice or Daft Punk show. He had a mac and a midi controller controlling every part of his set, which was 100% his songs. The energy from his songs is so intense, so we were all head banging, bopping, bouncing, yelling, everything! Every now and then Chaki would come through and rock the mixer and effects to great result! AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING!

After Danger's set, YATT came on and we rocked to them a bit, but it was SOO hot, we wanted to go outside and cool off. On my way to the exit Chaki is getting out of the VIP room and sees me and hugs me and told me he loved me, haha. The result of too much alcohol... But then Danger, unmasked (didn't recognize him without his mask) sees me and tells me to come into the VIP room. He shakes my hand and hugs me for rocking out so hard to his set, and working the crowd more. His friend/manager introduces himself, gives me a glass of some mysterious STRONG cocktail and I am now part of a game of singing and drinking in Japanese. I down my drink, get a hug from Danger, his friend, and some other random people. We did this many other times, I ended up finishing off 1/5 of a bottle of some wine Danger couldn't down. Things got very blurry around here. I got my friends in, we partied, took pics, with Danger, Chaki and the other DJs, sang, ate pocky, other stuff (don't wanna embarass or screw over any of the guilty peeps during this time...)and it was amazing. Danger and his friend demanded my info when it was time to close up shop after the last DJ. We shook hands, hugged, and parted ways. Chaki and his manager gave me a copy of the Lowbrows CD, hugged and parted ways. Shane, Darlene, and I parted ways at the subway and I made it home somehow...

Woke up yesterday morning with a sore neck, and the worst stomach feeling. I was bed ridden the whole morning... I couldn't even make it Ryan's bday thing at Red Rock, I felt so bad. I showered, got dressed and everything, but stomach wasn't having it... I spent the rest of the night under the covers relaxing...

Woke up this morning and decided to write a blog after what seems like forever. Going to California this weekend for a 2 week vacation! It will be very eventful, so please stay tuned for that! This work week is going to fly...

Someone stole the seat to my bike...

I don't want to cuss anymore.

This is the only thing I am saying...

"Stay Faceless", the song I recorded with Lowbrows, is on their MySpace!

The Lowbrows, a well known production duo, consisting of Chaki (a musician and DJ) and Emi (a classically trained musician) are releasing their new CD December 24th (if everything works out) and I recorded a song with them!

The song is called "Stay Faceless", and they just put it up on their MySpace yesterday (Japan time). Go check it out!

http://www.myspace.com/thelowbrows

Just so you know, yeah it doesn't sound like me, because the pitch was edited a lot, but everything is me, even the "Daft Punk" like vocoder parts. All production by The Lowbrows!

Go show them love on their MySpace and buy their album for Christmas if you are in Japan and love Electro!

Hiroko's wedding!

I really wish I had the energy to do this post justice, but I have had a busy weekend!

I spent all yesterday (yes, this is not as late as the last post!) celebrating the marriage of my friend/old assistant manager Hiroko!

Started the day waking up late and doing laundry to the point of losing track of time and having to make my coworker wait for me, as I missed the train I should have caught to be on time. I caught the next train and made it there fine. We got to the ceremony hall and were happy one of the people there knew me, and helped us sign the guest book in English. Yes! She was a head teacher at another school and aparently was an on the job training person at Chikusa, while I was there, but I didn't recognize her! A while later, Hiroko's friends from Korea came, and I helped them out a bit since they speak NO Japanese. Yes, me, an America, helping with basic Japanese translation, for 2 people from Korea... Wait till the end, it gets better! The ceremony was much shorter than I was used to from American weddings (and being the first wedding I haven't really been a part of!) but Hiroko looked SOOO beautiful in her dress! She and her new husband looked sooo happy by the end of the ceremony!

This is where things were different from American weddings. IMMMEDIATELY after the ceremony, in the same place, the reception began! Lots of good food, and alcohol were consumed and all had a good time! Hiroko changed into a kimono, as did her husband, and both looked excellent!

Everything ended, and I returned home to change clothes and get Sayaka to go to the SECOND party. This is called NIJIKAI and is a party AFTER the reception for friends and coworkers. The ceremony is usually family only, but Hiroko invited her friends from Korea, my cowrker and I, so we all felt very honored to be there! The second party found my manager, head teacher, and staff from the Sakae school there, along with many other people, 120 to be exact! This is the biggest NIJIKAI I have been to (I have been to 5 before this, maybe 5...). It was at the same location as the first NIJIKAI I ever went to so I was looking forward to eating a bit of Chinese food (was still full from the French food from the wedding!). I socialized as much as I could and was ready to join the games every NIJIKAI has.

Now I never win ANYTHING at these. I hardly ever get a chance to compete, and when I have, I lost! Last night was different!

THey were asking a lot of different questions and there were many prizes, like a crab all you can eat, fish all you can eat, and a onsen for couples!

One question comes up and I only caught "Spaingo" which means Spanish. I asked Sayaka what the question was, and she told me "What does the word "AHO" mean in Spanish?" Many people raised their hands, but everyone was wrong. Here is where my High School Spanish classes paid off. I raised my hand, and in Japanese answered "NINIKU!" aka garlic! I was greeted with a CORRECT in Japanese, and everyone cheered for me. Surprised. Yes, here is a black American, at a Japanese wedding, winning a prize for answering a Spanish question. Only in Japan...

I had to choose 1 of 4 cards to see what prize I would get, so I closed my eyes, and got the onsen for couples! I was asked to give a greeting to the couple (only me, talk about on the spot and it was super short, but I made people laugh. I took a picture with the bride and groom as they congratulated me and went back hands in the air to my seat with my prize, but not before the game host asked me who I would take, and I said Sayaka and she stood up and was totally embarassed!

The rest of the night went on, lots of laughs, pictures, and fun and things came to a close. I took so many pictures, I still need to sort through them and upload them. Once I do, I will update this post, or make a new one.

I spent today, getting DJ headphones for my first big event on November 15th 2008, since my previous headphones were too weak for a club setting. I came home and began work on a new song, to celebrate my new purchase. Let's see if I ever finish this one! I have a ton of work in progresses I have yet to release...

Finally a new post! Ganban Night weeekend!

All of this happened 2 weeks ago, but I have been insanely busy since this to write the blog, so here it is! Hope people still remember me!



WHAT a weekend!

This marks my first trip to Tokyo with my new iPod Touch 2G, which replaces my older iPod which replaces a need for friends when I travel alone to Tokyo!

During work on Thursday, I went to the 99 yen shop and bought an eye mask, toothpaste, cotton swabs, and a bath towel. I used the new eye mask on the way to Tokyo (on a bus with only 5 other people) and slept better than I ever have on a bus. I got to Tokyo station around 5:25 and went straight to Akihabara to do what? Find an internet café and SLEEP! I did sleep better than usual, but it doesn’t mean it was a lot! After I woke up, I went to a nearby Denny’s to grab some pasta for breakfast and then I ion exwas on my way to meet my friend Norm (who was visiting Japan for 3 weeks!). I call Norm around the time he wanted to be called, and was told he wouldn’t be ready for another 3 hours, so I headed to Shibuya, to just let the time go.

I went straight to Starbucks, sat and waited for a while until Norm showed up. We met near the station and headed to TGIFridays for a slow lunch, with lots of talking and reflecting on his time in Japan. After we ate I wanted to check out the Bape store, where we met a staff member who was born in Hawaii and spoke pretty much fluent English. Him and I convinced Norm to buy his first pair of Bathing Ape shoes! Nice!

As time went on, we did a lot of walking around, then made plans with other friends to go check out a club event in Omote Sando. So we wanted to pre drink, to avoid the expensive club fees for alcohol, so we went to Roppongi, Mistake and a half. Not just for time, but for the whole innocence that even a drug dealer could lose, just for saying the name, let alone going there.

We get there and we are overrun by the myriad of Africans trying to get English speaking foreigners to go to the clubs they goon for. They will run up and walk with you and say, “Want to see beautiful girl?” What guy wouldn’t? But why would any guy want to be lead by an African, in Japan, to see these beautiful girls? Not us. So The first guy that came up, I responded, “We already have beautiful girl, thanks.” This made him try harder, as he was met with similar versions of the same story, until he eventually left. The next guy got, “Do you have any fat girls? Short fat girls?” He stumbled to find words to reply, but came up with nothing but “Do you want to see beautiful girl? Come on, beautiful girl is waiting!” As we walked away he started shouting “Were you mocking me?! Saying you want fat girl, you mocking me!” Yes. I was. The last ones to approach, was the best result. I told them I was Christian… This time there were 3 guys and upon hearing this they surrounded me, one started dry humping me with a few feet between us, and they asked why did I come to Roppongi if I was Christian. I told them I was looking for a church, and they started taunting me about not having a bible and such. I think they got it that I was kidding, and just shook my hand and said to have fun.
While looking for a cheap bar, we got a call from Norm’s friend, saying he would join us for the night and we would meet in Omote-Sando. To save money, I thought it would be a good idea to walk to Shibuya, then OS after that. We saw a sign that said 2km to Shibuya, so we headed in that direction to get there…
50 minutes later we arrived to familiar ground. 2km my ass!
Now the walk to OS is about 15 mins to OS, so we made the walk and waited at McDonalds for friends to arrive. Before we got there though, we saw a guy walking, a rather big, brown monkey. It was so random, we just stopped, stared, and continued on, without mentioning it too much. It got better when we were waiting at McDonalds and the guy with the monkey came by again! Shortly after monkey spotting, Norm’s friend PJ and his girlfriend Lucia showed up! They missed him!
We sat and chatted a bit and headed to the conbini to begin the pre party tradition of pre drinking. I introduced everyone to the world of Strong Chu Hi, and the power hit em half a can into it! We started feelin the swerve when Haruka called to say she was in OS. Haruka is a friend Ryan and I met back during our weekend in Tokyo last time, with her Frenchy Kevin! She was gonna roll with us to the party and meet up with Luke and Tom. She knew how to get to Ever, the club we were going to, and we headed there, after getting more to drink!
We found our way to the club, and it was pretty packed and beautifully decorated. Loads of people were there, and it was just pulsating with electro house, or a live band performance! Crazy! A short time after, we found, err, Tom and Luke found me! They run up, shout Tommy, and I get hugged (and I think kissed) by 2 of my fav underage partiers! It was officially time to party the night away.
Lots of music, alcohol, and dancing later, it was last song and we found ourselves stumbling back to McDonalds. We grabbed quick food, and said our goodbyes.
I was now alone...
Drunk, I headed to Shibuya, then wanted to go to a familiar stop, 3 stops away, to get a 5800 yen hotel. Easy enough right? Of course not in this story! I passed out and woke up 30 minutes later, on the other side of the Yamanote line! I got off the first stop after waking up, stumbled to the gate, to have it beep at me for having a ticket that was 30 yen off. I pay my 30 yen at the gate, and stumble into unfamiliar territory. I wandered the streets for a few minutes (maybe), and made it to a capsule hotel. 1600 yen, for 10 hours and a sento (public bath)? DEAL!
I woke up after setting the alarm, and was shocked to see I was in a capsule hotel! Everything I mentioned was a rough guess at what happened, but I really don’t remember much after getting on the train, just know I woke up in the capsule hotel. So I took a bath, left the hotel, and did some minor alone time in Shibuya. I told everyone when to meet up and everyone (Haruka, Hiro, and Susannah) got there roughly on time. We get there and I thought I lost my ticket to the show! I was panicked, everyone panicked, but alas! It was in my back pocket! Safe! But my friends hated me! Haha! We got alcohol, food, and downed all of the above and made our way to Messe to begin a night of amazing partying for Gan Ban night! We were eventually met by Ryan, Tom, Luke, and another friend Nami. Even more surprised to see some DJs from Tiny (Nagoya’s best DJ crew IMO). We all danced and partied the night away together and it was amazing.
Highlights from the show for me:
Waving to Daruma from Dex Pistols during Justice’s set, and him recognizing me and waving back, with a thumbs up!
Busy P, giving our section 2 cups of Red Bull and vodka!
Busy P, giving just ME a cup full of what I think was rum! He then gave me the funniest look when he saw it was gone in less than 10 seconds!
Being front row for people I thoroughly respect in this industry! Crookers, Basement Jaxx, Boys Noize, Sebastian, Justice, Busy P, and Dex Pistols.
Such an amazing night, but it was waiting to be topped by the next day.
Morning comes, and I stumble to the same capsule hotel for a few hours of sleep and a bath. I made plans to meet with Chaki from The Lowbrows, and do some recording for him. Before this day, I had made and sent recordings from my laptop, of a low quality, but he liked them, but said he wanted some more. So we meet in Shibuya with him and his girlfriend, and take a subway to get to his place. On the way, we run into one of his friends James, who is a foreigner studying at UCLA now, but in Japan for part of a class (I believe). Really cool guy in my book.
We get off the subway, part ways with James, and board a train to Chaki’s house/studio. I was amazed at everything I saw inside of there! Pure awe…admiration…jealousy! I got to meet Emi of Lowbrows and listen to the track I had recorded for previously. It was a lot different than previously heard, but still cool as hell! So Chaki drops the bomb, and tells me to write a rap. Great, but I don’t rap, but for a chance to be on their CD, I sat down and wrote something to music playing. After several takes, we got something that sounded amazing! We played with it over and over and over, until it sounded like something complete. This started at 4PM and it was around 3AM when I woke up from falling asleep while working on the track. Chaki was also tired, but we were both hungry, so we braved typhoon like weather to go to the conbini and grab some food. We got back ate, and were awake, so we played some Playstation 3. Our game for the night (morning), Call of Duty 4!
I already had a ton of respect for Chaki for doing what I want to do, extremely well (he is VERY experienced at DJing and being a musician), but to see him DEMOLISH people in Call of Duty, and laugh and taunt people like a typical American gamer, I had to bow down. One of his friends from Roc Trax was online playing with him and I was laughing at how slow he was moving. So careful and slow, but not getting any kills! It was my first time playing on PS3, so I was horrid, for a bit, but after a while, I was racking up the kills and having him show me respect for how I played. After an hour or so, we called it a night (morning) and we both passed out. I woke up to the alarm on his phone (he was in his room sleeping, I was in the living room, with his phone…haha!) and just sat there thinking of everything I just did this weekend.
Amazing party Friday night, amazing concert, Saturday night, and Sunday recording with one of Japan’s up and coming electro acts. Why me?
It was time for me to head to Tokyo station to catch the bus back home, and I bought some Krispy Kreme for Sayaka and I toe at back in Nagoya. I got on the bus and slept for most of the trip home. The most sleep I got the whole weekend!
As usual, it was GREAT to be back home in familiar, quiet, Nagoya, but it really made me feel like living in Tokyo is going to be great! Next year!

Check out the pictures from the weekend!