lexington queen

This rain has got to stop. I guess I’ve been living out of Vancouver for so long I forgot how depressing it can be. I’ll take snow over this wet stuff any day. It’s so damp and chilly I don’t want to do anything. The average temperature is about 5 degrees but it feels like minus 10 with the dampness factor. Carrying an umbrella is too much; I have a hard enough time juggling my train pass and ipod.

My face now morphs into one of those sad commuter looks when I’m on the train. The routine is starting to catch up to me and this has me a little worried. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in another funk it’s just I tend to notice how much the weather can affect my state of mind.

Ah, two well deserved days off ahead of me. I think I’ll hunker down and catch up with you fine folks for a while.

On Sunday evening Joe and I went to a gaijin bar in Omiya called The George. The bartender looked like a person out of “Heavy Metal Parking Lot”. Long blonde mullet, really bad tattoos, a wife beater and a pair of Ray-Bans…wow! I wanted to know what his story was but I didn’t have nearly enough drinks to be so forward. He did have rather good taste in music though; I heard some Echo and the Bunnymen, PIL and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Unfortunately I left before Joe started dancing on the bar…tis a darn shame.

Poor Joe was quite “sick” the next day so I had to work by myself on Monday morning. It’s was rather nice, I like how quiet it can get at the Iwatsuki branch.

I pulled a 10 – 2 shift then went home, did some grocery shopping, danced to some music in the comfort of my dank apartment and got ready for the evenings plans.

My first all nighter in Tokyo was quite fun. I met my new friend Matt at Omiya station on the last car of the Takasaki line. He was kind enough to bring a couple of Asahi’s along for the ride. It’s quite lovely that one can crack open a can of beer where one chooses in this city. There’s nothing like swinging by the grocery store on your way home from work, picking up a tall can of beer and realizing “hey…wait a minute, I can crack this baby open right now!” It’s a beautiful thing.

So yeah, Matt and I met his friends Adam, Josh and Darren in Roppongi. We went to some famous bar called Lexington Queen. It was ladies night which means it cost me only 300yen for unlimited drinks. 300 yen = $3.00. Why pay anything at all? That’s almost the price of a street car token. The boys had to pay 4000 yen which is around $40.00. This is the second night club in the span of a month…not to worry though, I’m not sporting any Richmond Street attire just yet!

So yeah, Lexington Queen is quite the famous Tokyo night club and has had many celebrity patrons such as Charlie Sheen, Jean Claude Van Damme, Keanu Reeves, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Vin Diesel, Boston, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Def Leppard, Duran Duran, Earth Wind and Fire, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Motley Crue, Toto, Yngwie Malmsteen, David Copperfield, and Canada’s very own Sum 41, Celine Dion and Cheap Trick. There many Polaroid’s on the walls for people to peruse at their leisure.

Many gin and tonics were consumed and many beautiful people were there to be looked at. Every time I went to the washroom I found myself surrounded by tall Russian models elbowing each other for mirror space. I felt like an ugly duckling as they tossed me sideways glances. They were all very pretty girls but young young young and I don’t want to sound all catty but they really weren’t sexy at all. Just walking sticks with many a chip on their shoulder. Anyways, I had a good time chatting about this with Matt’s friend Adam from St. Louis. He said something interesting I hadn’t heard before. Men go to these bars and dress for the ladies, ladies go to these bars and dress for the other ladies…so so true.

5am came quickly. As the gin coursed through our blood streams, Matt and I sunk into a VIP couch. We were rebels you see, we hopped the velvet rope when the bouncer was looking the other way. Two slow songs were played and the florescent lights came on. I didn’t know they played slow songs at the end of club nights anymore, I felt like I was back at the Smokin’ Turtle Cabaret in good ol Ladner. They didn’t play “I’ve Got Friends in Low Places” or “Patience” but close enough. Shows how long it’s been since I’ve been clubbing. This place may sound swishy but it looked like a scaled down Dance Cave.

After the club Matt and I found a place to snack on some delicious udon, tempura and sushi. We hit the train home around 7am which was the beginning of rush hour. Matt was nice enough to wake me up at our transfer stations and supply my head with a shoulder to drool on during the ride.

I was in fine form for work the next day. I had slept about three hours and it was actually a nice experience. I was giddy with sleep deprivation and Joe managed to crack me up between lessons.

I may go out again tonight; I think I’m now caught up on sleep.

Cheers

d

Listening to Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan Ballad of Broken Seas