Meeting Muse in the Forbidden Zone

Life is so random sometimes. Like the golden poo for sale in Hamanomachi. Like the "Don't Mess with Texas" sign on the road to Nagasaki. Like finding a video with the words "Forbidden Zone" handwritten on it.
.
. just some hidden random text to see who's paying attention
.
Like walking into a bar after an amazing concert experience, to see that the ENTIRE BAND is there!!!
But, let me backtrack a little bit...

Suzie, Kara, Katie and I were running late. After a car, ferry, bus, train, subway, and finally a taxi ride (I would give anything to have flying superpowers!) we staggered into the gig just as the first song was starting. Somehow, we managed to get very close to the front (still not sure how we pulled that off...Katie and Kara were right up against the stage!). For an hour and a half, we became one with the collective mass of bodies swaying with the music. I busted my lip on someone's head, had beer spilled on me and my feet stomped on, yet it was still the most polite mosh pit I've ever experienced.


Knights of Cydonia
Hysteria
Supermassive Black Hole
Map of the Problematique
Sing for Absolution
City of Delusion
Sunburn
Feeling Good
Soldier's Poem
Invincible
Plug In Baby
Time is Running Out
New Born
=========
Starlight
Stockholm Syndrome
Take a Bow

Stinky, sweaty, and disgusting, we emerged from the show on a high. I was feeling crazy and challenged everyone to a hitchhiking race: Me & Kara vs Suzie and Katie. After running up and down the main road with our thumbs out for half an hour, Kara and I got a ride with an adorable couple who were also at the show. We beat Suzie and Katie to Tenjin, but they got a ride with some interesting folks with orange hair in a blinging car. It's interesting how different our experiences were!

We dined at a nice restaurant that kept the drinks flowing and the food coming. There were a lot of nice conversations fueled by the excitement of the night: Lana and I were talking about how fantasy coexists with our daily lives. Sometime that evening, we fantasized about how cool it would be to run into the band at the bar.

Well, it happened: when we got to the Dark Room, they were there!

So there we were, hanging out with Muse at the bar! I didn't talk to them because I couldn't think of anything to say, except I said to Dom that I enjoyed the show (and smiled at him like an idiot!). Katie kept trying to get them to dance, Kara had a long conversation with Dom (I will envy her for life!), and everyone seemed to agree that Matt (the lead singer) is a normal guy without a big ego. Eventually, they ended up behind the bar, where Suzie took this amazing picture:



After a while the shock wore off and I stopped beating myself up for not talking to them, but feeling their presence in the bar made it so much better! At least 6 glasses were broken, there was lots of snogging, vomiting, and a few other things I can't mention...all in all, a typical night out in Fukuoka, except WITH MUSE!!

How do you follow a night like that?

At the subway station!


At the park!




Shopping!


And later...

Mexican food!


Did I forget to say that it was St. Patrick's Day? At the hundred yen store earlier, we bought props to wear out. I bought a green dog collar, Suzie a magnifying glass, and Katie a glittery shamrock wreath. We wandered into a random bar where we met these crazy guys: one had a guitar and serenaded us with David Bowie and U2, the other was this weird but funny Australian guy who kept telling us how pretty we were and tried to get us to go to another bar with him. We caved and ended up at the Dark Room again. They bought us whiskey shots and green beer, and Kara had a dance with the Aussie guy.







We finished the night at Keith Flack, where we danced to electro and funky house. Suzie has a flock of admirers:



Someone pinch me. Did this weekend really happen?

I hope my lip stays busted for a while so I can savor the memory...

A little surprise

I've been taking a lot of baths recently...usually I go to a public bath, but the other day I was feeling daring and decided to brave my own tub. It's not exactly the nicest tub in the world (it's a small cube - I have to sit with my knees to my chest and it's kind of rusty), but nothing beats sitting in hot water, listening to Damien Rice, and drinking a glass of red.

Anyway, as the water was running, I suddenly remembered that I still had a bath bomb I was given a long time ago. I tore open that sucker and dropped it in the water, watching it fizz and gradually disappear. Just before it disappeared, a small blue object emerged from the froth...

A baby rubber ducky!!!

I love you, Japan. Quack quack!

An atomic bomb survivor whom I heard speak today said that peace means understanding the suffering of others. An amazingly profound statement by an extremely brave woman, who identified the charred body of her dead mother, saw maggots growing on her sister's face, observed her sister throw herself in front of a train because she couldn't live with the pain, covered her eyes during bomb raids to keep them from popping out, yet she persevered. She is alive.

The world needs more people like this.

Incidental kanji discovery of the day

串

What do you suppose this means?

It makes sense, really! Suzie and I found this out by trial and error - we were in the local isakaya and this kanji appeared many times in the menu, so we decided to order the green pepper followed by this kanji. Guess what we got?

Green pepper on a stick!!!

Pilots, techno, and Hello Kitty Twister

Suzie and I met up with some people randomly who are all pilots-in-training. That means that in a few months, they will responsible for the lives of thousands of people. Now that I think about it, I understand why they didn't want to talk about it!

It was a bit awkward at first, but then turned into a fantastic night: we played drinking games (many shots of tequila were had, but thankfully not by me!), we played the most competitive game of foosball ever, and then the bartender let us christen his Hello Kitty Twister mat. I forgot the rules and ended up cheating, but everyone was too drunk to care.

We then headed to Isahaya and found the strangest club in the world. The minute we arrived I knew it was going to be interesting because the bartender introduced himself and proclaimed, "I'm gay!" That night they were having a Euro Trance Techno night, but it wasn't like any music I've ever heard. Even though you can't really see anything, this video captures what the music sounded like:




It was like being embedded in Dance Dance Revolution: the people had moves for every song, and they were all doing them in unison. It was by far the strangest clubbing experience I've ever had. Our pilots weren't enjoying themselves very much because I think the crowd was a little too queer for them. For example:



So we called it a night. Suzie and I came to the conclusion that we need to do this kind of thing more often.

Just some funny pictures of me drawn by elementary students:



And my favorite:

I seem to have lost my head...but come to think of it, how smart of them!

Slacker.

Ever since I got back to Japan, I've been a complete slackass. But I had a great visit with everyone back home, even though I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to see. One week in Raleigh just wasn't gonna cut it...

So life is good here in Japan. Our band has started practicing every Friday night, I've started training for a marathon, snowboarding season has begun, and I'm starting to wonder what the hell I'm going to do after my contract runs out. But instead of thinking about that, I'll bore you with some pics!

Suzie and I on the slopes:


Winter gimp extraordinare:


At Elizabeth's book exchange party:


My friends know what to do when I bring a leek:

(Are they singing karaoke with it? I don't know!!)

What's that smell?