last wednesday matt met me in iwatsuki for indian food in saty market. there's a small games centre on the same floor as the restaurant so we played some taiko drums then headed for the crazy photo booth. this one was quite different from the one we tried before. upon hitting the button a crazy techno song starts and a high pitched japanese lady commands you to pose...at least i think that's what she's doing. this booth had three camera angles and about four back drops. we had to look in a small monitor to see where the next shot was being taken from. while we were concentrating on looking our best, backdrops kept changing and dropping down on our heads. here's one of the results. please excuse the quality as i have no scanner : (



my papa lands in about 10 minutes!!! he'll be crashing at my place for about a week. xo d

Reading Barrel Fever by David Sedaris

when your food looks at you

there’s nothing like taking a short pause in the day, sitting back and eating a savory snack. i’ve always been a fan of delicious rice crackers and recently i’ve discovered a variety with a peanut in the centre! just the other day i decided to partake in a package at the train station. i gently opened the bag, poured some of its contents into my hand and much to my surprise i found these little fellows peeking out from under the treats.
i tried one and it tasted fishy. i think i'll send some to jenny in her next care package. then again maybe not cuze she might have second thoughts about coming to visit ; )

strange saturday

i had a strange day last saturday.

my morning was the same routine: i got up nice and early, walked to omiya station to the sound of royskopp then I got my train nice and early so I had plenty of time to ease into my day. i got a usual seat in the front, women only car, and changed my soundtrack to some lloyd cole. when the train got to omiya koen station it didn’t move for a very long time. i chilled out a bit, relieved that i had plenty of time to spare. the conductor kept making announcements and the only thing i could make out was that something had gone wrong at the station one stop ahead.

the first thing anyone says when there’s a major train delay is “it must be a jumper”. there’s such a strange feeling when you see people frustrated about getting somewhere and some poor soul has just died a brutal death. i decided to go sit on a platform bench and take in a little bit of 30 degree weather. it was very quiet and there was a gentle breeze.

my manager called to see if i was going to make my first lesson of the day and i told him it didn’t look like we were going to move any time soon. at this point the conductor was no where in sight and people slowly started searching for other ways to get to their destinations.

about half an hour later another work staff member called to see what the status was on my train and i told her it would probably be another hour. she told me i should take a cab and that the company would cover the cost. i exited the station and joined the taxi lineup. by this time i was already going to miss my second lesson of the day.

omiya koen is a small town so taxis are few and far between. the lineup finally dwindled down to myself and a salary man. he was kind enough to turn around and ask me where i was going. he too was headed for iwatsuki so we shared the cab. of course the traffic was horrendous so i missed yet another lesson.

i finally got to work about 2 hours late and the salary man refused to take my money when it came time to pay. i insisted but he would have none of it so i politely accepted his generosity.

here’s the kicker, i don’t get paid for any of the classes i missed !!!! oh i tell you it’s such a joy working for this company. there was no way i could make it to work and it gets docked off my cheque…i’m just a LITTLE fumed about it. luckily i’m getting reimbursed for the cab ride which was the cost of about 2 lessons. thank you mr.salary man for helping me make some of my wages back.

that afternoon was also a little strange. my first lesson was man to man with a kinder which was fine but then i had to take my lunch break. after my break i had three no shows and ended my shift with a junior man to man. we had a small earthquake around 2pm and a typhoon around 4pm.

that evening matt and i went to say one last goodbye to joe : ( i’m sad that my gay boyfriend is gone, workdays at iwatsuki and all nighter karaoke will never be the same…sniff.

today was jaime’s last day at work as well, she’s off to america to attend graduate school at yale and i wish her all the best. i can’t wait to be in joe and jaime’s shoes, it will be such a good feeling to walk into my very last day at work. only 8 months to go !!!

here's a picture of me at work

listening to sunset rubdown shut up i am dreaming

beck's soundtrack

i'm sitting in a coffee shop chain called beck's fueling up for my 2pm private lesson and the soundtrack to this little pause in the day is really rather interesting. i took my first sip of 'american coffee' to lou reed and the velvet underground and my last sip to "jesus christ superstar do you think you're what they say you are?". i'm now listening to the original, non moulin rouge version of lady marmalade...it may be too early in the day for this...any day.

a suave business man is sitting behind me desperately trying to suck every last drop of his iced coffee through a straw. he’s creating a racket but every so often he stops to take a drag off of his lark-brand cigarette.

i wonder what song will accompany my grand exit...here it comes...ah tears of a clown. the caffeine has settled in, i'm now going to twirl my umbrella and skip on down to the platform.

the strangest thing happens here with westerners.

i was walking home this evening in yono when suddenly i noticed a westerner coming from the opposite direction. it was just the two of us walking on a quiet suburban street. we quickly did a double take glance to see if perhaps we had maybe met one another other somewhere before. i didn’t recognize her nor she me so we simply avoided eye contact and passed in silence.

it kinda feels like when you’re walking in your home town, you see a familiar face and try your darnest to figure out where you know them from. could it have been a drunken embarrassing night? could it have been at work? instead of smiling you pretend you didn’t see them. oh dear, I sound like a terrible person. am i the only one who does this?....anyways back to the japan thing. it’s common here to eventually ignore other westerners. i guess maybe you get so used to being a ghost that you become afraid of your own reflection.

Listening to Radiohead - Kid A

golden week

it feels like summer here, the past two days have been simply beautiful. unfortunately rainy season is just around the corner so we have to enjoy it while it lasts. it's golden week here in japan and yono feels like a ghost town cuz everyone's gone on vacation.

matt and i went to ikebukuro for dinner last night. we found a quaint little 4 table Indian food restaurant hidden in the basement of a side street. the chef was rather excited about us being there. he told us he had 5 brothers and sisters who are all chefs as well. one lives in toronto, one in new york, one in tokyo, one in osaka and one in london. he asked for matty’s email address and told him we will eat for free in london if we go to his brothers restaurant. he also gave us a delicious mango dessert.

i’m still taking pictures of myself in public washrooms and i think i’ve finally mastered the art of the squat toilet.

X o d

Listening to CBC Podcast #42 (SXSW Edition)