One of my teachers was wearing a shirt that looked like it was made entirely out of those sun-protecting arm bands. WTF. so ugly.

I've got sunshiiiiine~ On a clouudy dayyyy~

I'm basking in this reprieve from ZA--ZA--RAIN and hoping this two day streak will last at least one more? Although I spent last night alone in the apartment making weird-tasting vegan boston-cream cupcakes (the custard filling was just too soy-y but the chocolate ganache was brilliant) I was still in a pretty decent mood (the caster of Asti probably helped). Sunshine always makes me happy. That, and I've gotten to go running these past two mornings without too much fear for getting drenched by a sudden change in the weather's mood.

I've spent wayyy too much money already this month, and it doesn't seem to be letting up.... I'm going to have a 150$ spa treatment on Saturday morning, and then I want to go to Matsuyama for a Forget Me Not, Turn Coat and Circle Flex show. There's also a The Lion's/Balladmen show next weekend in Kyoto which I kinda wanted to drive to.... and then on the 18th, there's the Pall Mall, Thirsty Chords, Parkmates, and Slydingman show! So many good shows to go to this month but most are out of the fucking prefecture ('cept for the Kawakami Forever show, which I'm going to on Sunday night of this weekend). Gah. しょうがないね.

Great show in Tokushima on Sunday. Although I didn't get home and in bed until 3AM.... seeing Infro and Thirsty Chords was AWESOME and I got the new 7 inch (as well as some other much wanted CDs~) So I am quite pleased. :D

‎"Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. It's just not worth it."-American History X

sometimes living here really feels like a removed life.

イライラ

I've been a ball of irritated energy today. I just couldn't stand the mere EXISTENCE of Komatsu sensei today, and those first/second grader's voices at A-D are just GRATING. Seriously, I wanted to rip my ear drums out.... That, and that many first and second graders is just impossible sometimes... I also can't deal with the fact that I spoke Japanese through the entire class to the 2nd graders, just to have them AGAIN say "日本語しゃべって！"I just don't understand what is going through their heads! Do they think they are hearing English?

Yesterday, I made another button and bought some gel medium (and inking pens). I wish I had my copics from 'merica but I'm gonna have to drop around 5000 yen on some new ones I think (if I want to make a pretty demo cover). Oh well. I'll use them so... not a waste.

Yesterday was a good day. I got to make hamburGU with Nat-chan and Ryoku-chan as well as watch "Ocean's 11" with the Japanese subtitles. Huzzah! Yummy meal and my favorite movie. :) That, and I taught them the words "Silver Fox" and "Cougar." Totally useful, でしょう？ Nat-chan was teaching me about 四文字熟語 (four letter sentences, essentially) which are really interesting and I'd like to do some 調べる-ing for in order to understand some of them. They had a pretty excellent online dictionary she was using so... GOOGLE.

Classy drinking button. Cuz whiskey suicide = classiness of course.

Been busy making things (out of boredom) for Whiskey Suicide, now that we have no drummer, we're gonna have some free time... I think I'll try and figure out the DIY screen print stuff too in the next two weeks or so... but for now, I'm working on our hand-made demo cases and silly things like buttons and our website. I also have the drivers test this Friday... so I should probably work on that too... Yeah. I wrote out the three courses in directions that are easy for me to remember, so hopefully after the practice on Thursday, I'll vaguely know the courses so that when I get assigned one I can more easily remember that one.

Delish cakes from Decembre. They had mousse on top or something.

 I hung out with Sea on Sunday, after an interesting Saturday night at Ireland's (after not seeing most of the people there for a few months). We went to a free baseball game and lunch and chatted about what's been going on the past month.

Yes. Strapped in.

I also got a new dehumidifier, which the guy at Off-House kindly buckled into the backseat of Sea's car. How thoughtful.

Yesterday also marked the return of Monday Funday! Seeing that De- has finally returned to her true home of Japan from the odd other-world that is America. She came bearing gifts of course. I got some yummy-looking sparkling mead and Matto got his long sought-after Camels and a FOUR LOCO. Not terribly looking forward to the day he breaks that thing out and blacks out in two seconds. Anyway... hanging out with Nat-chan again tonight. Same thing we did last Tuesday which means a movie and dinner at Ryoku-chan's house. Fun fun! It's also a BEAUTIFUL day out today, so no bike riding in the rain tonight. :)

ゴールデンウィーク

Golden week was fun times, but of course my highlight was going to the show on Tuesday night. I got some really fun pictures that I recently printed out (though I want to print them out even larger next time...). There was much sight-seeing and lots of drinking while walking by the river. I was a dumbass and wore my new chucks during the trip, resulting in THREE bloody feet days (my toe nails squish and dig into the sides of my other toes). Our hostel was pretty good too, Sakura House. It had no curfew and the dorm room was cold, quiet, and comfortable, which is exactly what I wanted. Nothing fancy, just people who won't bother you, good employees and good location (we were right near Kyomizudera).

We rented bikes from the hostel the second day we were there and went sight seeing. By some stroke of (horrid horrid) luck, we nearly ran into Panda and The Bison at Kinkakuji. The Bison had texted my phone while we were bike riding around the city, saying "LOLOLOL we saw you from the bus we're in!" I took it as a warning, rather than a funny coincidence. Hell no were Panda and The Bison going to ruin MY vacation. Anyway, we get to Kinkakuji, take the obligatory photos by the water and then wander over to this weird wooden structure that everyone is standing in line for. Luckily, at the moment, me and Matto hadn't been talking because I suddenly saw Panda trip in front of me, turned straight around, gave Matto a look and we both bolted from the scene, retracing our steps to sit in a weird little out-of-the-way area until we thought the coast was clear. Who knows if they saw us.... I later realized that there may have been two other awful people there with them, but I didn't spot them, and nothing has been said to us about our escape-plan so.... all is well in the world.

The show line-up was Navel, Aiwana, Louder, SLYDINGMAN, Parkmates, The Tiffs, WHAT-A-NIGHT'S, Back to Basics, and M.O.T.O (from Chicago/New Orleans). It was an AMAZING show and super packed with people. It was also sooo great to get there (albeit early) and be recognized by various people from bands like Balladmen and Parkmates. I just wanna go play another show ASAP with these people. Tongu was also there, so we got to chill with him for a bit (but being the old salary man that he is, he got too drunk and went home early) as well as a friend of Matto's from Tokyo who lives with a member of the Balladmen/The Tiffs. Much beer, much wild swaying, much record/shit buying. Good night, to say the least. :)

Taught Nat-chan the phrase "who's your daddy" and "It's not you, it's me" nearly as good entertainment as teaching Mall cliche break-up phrases. Ohhhhhh Japanese friends..... <3