Revisited

Warning: Those of you with low tolerance for bad singing should NOT watch the below video.

I've had my 4th group of Kiwi visitors come and go last week, with Caroline & Edwina dragging along a couple of mates and camping out in my spare room for 6 days.
We took the girls along for a long-awaited sesh in the karaoke rooms, with the Energizer Bucky (he just keeps going when he's on the mike) and "Dios" Mio (who is indeed a vocal OMG).
We hit a point 2 hours in with 3 tracks - Bohemian Rhapsody, In The End and Wannabe (yes, we are shameless) where the energy was so high that...well, it's been a long time since karaoke like that. We should have sung "Like a Virgin", because that's how it felt. I even think there was bleeding.

Looking back on the videos, however, is a bit like seeing drunken photos. Did I really look that munted? Or, in this case, did we really sound that bad?
I had a feeling we did - well, that *I* did, as recently I lose my voice after an hour of the 'roke. But I didn't expect we'd sound like sick dogs going down a coal-chute.
Still, this video is very entertaining, if only for Mio's reaction to our stupidity.
Enjoy. At least, don't judge me. More than you already have.

ExhAugusted

Warning: This post has nothing worth warning you about in it.
So August has come and gone, and my summer is basically over. I'd say the end came just after Mr. Chris's visit around Obon, as I spent the rest of the month in China. Looking back, it was all a bit intense:

- The locals of the last year all began to depart back to their countries of origin, and we lost a few good men and women. Still, I increased my potential locations to crash while travelling, if one is looking on the bright side. See you soon guys.

- Jake arrived and we hit Summer Sonic, which I was too busy to even do a delayed "live blog" for. If you're feeling ripped off, Jake's report on it sums the 2 days up well. While I missed Soulwax and Birdy Nam Nam, I did get to see NIN in their last tour (who were most excellent), and Aphex Twin, who was also quite intense. Boo-urns to Phoenix and Placebo for letting little things like their health get in the way of playing - you shall be redeemed when you come back for a separate tour. All in all, not as good as Fuji, but at least my clothes didn't get permanent mudstains.

- Jake left, to be replace by another certain Wellytownian. Chris and I, along with a tiny but fierce Swiss girl trekked down to Shikoku to Tokushima's Awa Odori. Thousands of dancers, tens of thousands of tourists, a warm evening by a river and more taiko than you can shake a drumstick at. Good times, though as our host was right to point out, it's OK to watch, but much more fun to do. And do I...uh...did.

- Chris moved on to bigger things (Europe), but not before getting his karaoke on - good times. Then I was left with 2 precious nights with the missus, one of which I had couch surfers, the other one she had work. Fantastic. Oh well - off to China.

- Various work-related crises overted, I return home to find my cellphone bill for roaming in China is 94,000yen. 940USD. 9 Bajillion New Zealand Dollars. Oh well - not using the iPhone overseas again...

- I made a mix of some tracks I got in August, and some tracks I've wanted to hear in a mix but haven't. It's terribly amateur at times, the volume needs normalising for starters, but hey it's a start. Start of what? We'll see, if I actually do continue trying to mix music. The mix is here.

- Somewhere in between China and coming back, all the Gaidai exchange students left, so now I have no friends I can pretend to be 20 with.

- Mio left for Spain for 3 weeks, completing my bereavement and leaving me with a next-door-neighbour, 2 random german guys crashing at my house and 3 bottles of South gin. Dangerous parameters.

September is gunning to be 3 weeks of recuperation, abstinence, exercise and work, with a final week with the parentals on a 5 day tiki tour of Japan. All of which are well needed.

Buddha Pest

Warning: This post requires warmer clothing.

Part of my trip to Europe over New Years was around 20 hours in Budapest, mainly to visit Andris (a mate since '06: he went to Gaidai and we met at the kid's camp I mentioned earlier). He's just had a kid with his wife Adrian, a bouncing bubble-cheeked girl named Viktoria. Anyway, my lack of time and money meant I flew over in the afternoon and back out at midday the following day, but it was worth it to catch up and see where the man is at these days.


I flew via Wizz Air - I think they're Hungarian, and they have hot pink planes. They also have very cheap flights. It ended up costing me 60EUR or so each way, but that's with a week's notice and at the end of the year. I can't get prices like that in NZ or Japan even if I book 4 months in advance for a Tuesday morning in February.
The flipside is that the flights are almost guaranteed to be delayed 1-2 hours and there's no meal (nor seat-allocation), but hey - what you pay is what you get.

My impression of Budapest (all 5 hours or so of it) was one of a country sitting on the fence between developed and developing, between Eastern Europe and Western culture, with layer upon layer of ancient architecture, relics of Soviet control, and, well, Tesco's. It felt beautiful and also withered - but maybe that's just what winter does to a place.

The Hungarian women, who are vaunted by men (though it is mentioned in Lonely Planet that hotties are often used as bait for muggings in bars) certainly stood out, but they're not really my type. Something about the fashion or the extensive eyebrow-waxing just feels like they're trying too hard. The girls who tone it down a bit are probably very attractive, but so many look a bit "cheap". Or is that "expensive"? Certainly either way they look like they have a price.


Photos are on Facebook and Flickr of our "Budapest in 90 minutes" tour across the city in the morning. There's also a few videos I took of Andris's apartment and driving over the famous Budapest "chain bridge". Good times.




Thanks for having me Andris & family - I'll come see you next time I want cheap DVDs and vicious Eastern European spirits. Take care!

Who needs photos of a "pissing boy"

Manneken Pis, and his audience

Warning: This post is affected by climate.

January's come and gone. What the hell? I still haven't gotten used to writing '09 instead of '08. While simultaneously from a work perspective I'm already declaring February a lost cause for sales and working in the realm of March.
One thing I don't really like about my job is that I hardly consider the present. Forward planning is lovely, but I wouldn't mind stopping and smelling the roses a little more. Christmas comes in August, otherwise it won't arrive at Walmart on time. My next travel plans are 15 months away. My last ones were already a month ago - a visit to Mr. Sam in Belgium.

Anyone had bets that the first non-Asian countries I'd visit would be America and Belgium? That quinella would have paid handsomely once upon a time - I'm instinctively adverse to so much pop culture and politics from America, and I didn't even know where Belgium was ("in Europe somewhere near France") until about a year ago. Home of good chocolate and beer, it was on the list, but surely Spain or Germany first?
But no, just after Christmas I invited myself to Sam's house in sweet (and historically preserved) Ghent (spelt "Gent" in Flemish, but for some reason we add an "h"). Sam's a mate from the good old days in Gaidai - in fact, my very first post on this blog features a weekend summer camp trip we helped out on). Korean-born, Belgian-raised and fairly charming, I felt it was high-time for something of a reunion with the man.
Sam works at a chocolate company. This stereotype of Belgians should have had excellent dividends in the cocoa-souvenir department, but sadly I was unable to get him to smuggle any "work-materials" back for "sampling". I trust that next time I see him this will be remedied.

So, Belgium. I called my parents while I was there, and my father said "how is it? People tell me it's boring." Well, so's Lower Hutt in the winter, really. And we don't have old buildings to look at. We just have Queensgate.
I didn't find Belgium boring. I may have if I was a tourist, but I wasn't. I don't really like visiting countries for touristy reasons - I'll have much more fun meeting someone, eating dinner or riding public transport than I will taking cliched photos of the Eiffel Tower. There are some exceptions, sure: I'd like to see The Great Wall. I had a Canadian couchsurfer at my old place who said he slipped past the barriers of the tourist part to see sections people can't normally go to. Much as Chinese authority scares me, that sounds excellent - tourist groups just irritate me.


A few of the patron saints of Belgium.
Well, beers made by monks.

The best moments in Belgium had to include the beer. First night out with jetlag, I thought I was a bit of a lightweight in only putting away 4 handles (ジョッキ), but then I realise that the beer is 9-11%. Seeing as Japanese beer is glorified water, this is like going from Malibu to Coruba. Good luck keeping up the pace.

Sam's family are as mildly-neurotic as he is, and a bunch of good souls at heart. I don't think I gave enough thanks for the various gifts thrust my way, from cigars to fries with excellent mayonnaise, and several thousand mp3s courtesy of Sam's younger brother Hein ("Henn"). His friends were also good sorts - nice enough to revert to English even for conversation I wasn't directly involved in. It was easy to forget that none of them were native speakers - if there's one thing Flanders-Belgians can boast, it's language skills. Even under the influence of New Year's Eve champagne on a rooftop at -6C, they were still making jokes that many so-called "native speakers" would struggle to produce.

New Years Eve itself was a 4 course meal, and I'm fairly sure 90% of the dishes contained cheese. Oh cheese. I missed you so. We were never meant to be apart so long, but Japanese cheese doesn't make the grade and imported stuff costs much for mediocrity.
Good wine, food and highly unsuccessful scratch-and-win tickets finished with, we headed into town without specific plans, which is always a bad idea on New Years because anywhere good is full and anywhere else is too expensive for how terrible it is. Anti-climax aside, it was a good night and my 4th different country to bring in the new year.

Other highlights included seeing Andris and his lovely wife and kid in Budapest, and an Amazing Race-esque circuit of the sights around town in the few hours I had before my flight back (I only stayed 20 hours), the coffee (thank God, I was so deprived I was beginning to think Starbucks was kinda good) and strolling around Ghent thinking it was beautiful but needed a touch of green (guess I'll have to go back in summer). But most of all it was the awesome people - my favourite part of going places. Meeting someone amazing/malicious can make/break my whole opinion of a place. And I didn't meet a single person in Belgium who wasn't top notch.

ライフ Through A レンズ

Warning: These pictures feel like a silent movie.
Piers has been slowly uploading the photos he took over here, and I'm impressed with the results. It does make Japan look like a cold concrete jungle (it's not as bad as all that), but as artistic work it's quite lovely. Can't wait to see more.
Pics available on flickr here

Holla back at ya boi

Warning: This post is dedicated to you.

Most Likely to Win a Rake

The above pic is courtesy of yearbookyourself.com - one of those fabulous ways to kill time needlessly on the internet. With dozens of facetypes to choose from, who wouldn't want to become a timeless piece of high school history?

Isn't it nice to have friends. I sure think so. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, not to mention orders of magnitude: from the "BFF(ROFLMAO)", the Drinking Buddy all the way to the Facebook Friend and the Workmate. These guys tend to be the ones who care you're still alive (before you ask, no I'm not suicidal). They might be the ones who listen to you ranting like a moron. Or the jokers who want to pose for photos with your ugly mug at parties. Hopefully they laugh at your vain attempts at humour, or at least don't leave you stranded at 3am in a nightclub with no ride home. In some cases, they might just be that guy you know in that far-off place who wouldn't mind if you crashed on the couch for a few. Note: These people are not to be confused with family, who are legally obliged to do all that (unless they're a Jerry Springer family).

So, in celebration of friends everywhere (the world's best volunteers!), here's a shout out to all of my mates who deserve a bit of Mcluvin. If you didn't make the cut, don't worry - I've merely temporarily forgotten you exist! Feel free to remind me. I'm looking forward to writhing in guilt.

Alan: Yes, you're my friend. I bet you wish you weren't! When you die I will inherit your hats.

Alex: I know you're my ex-roommate, but you can still be my boyfriend. Just wear lippy more often. Looking forward to the next gig dude.

Andris: Congrats on being a dad! Can I come see the little damburger in January? I didn't say damburger, I said damburger!

Angelo: You sexy beast - why haven't we slept together yet? Probably because our combined libido would make the bed explode. That and you having a penis and all. Miss you dude! Come by Osaka some time!

Mr. Chris: Loving the shaved head dude. It's a shame we didn't see the Phoenix together, but it was still awesome to hang out as much as we did. Don't be a stranger man - you're a more important friend to me than our lack of contact would suggest. Possibly the nicest guy I know.

Daniel K: I'm finally back in the saka of O, so lets hit the Blarney!

Danny: You are my favourite Greek. Yeah - more favouriter than Achilles and Stankopolos!

Dhiresh: How's the mines, Mocha Bear? I wonder if I should call you Hot Fuzz (some play on the fact that you work with copper). You have no idea how awesome it was to see you in Welly - and to get some of that Bill action!

Diana: I miss you! You're the only one who ever called me "Kiwi"!

Dora: I don't think I'll ever visit Hokkaido again - hanging with you there is the best image and I don't want to taint it. Or maybe I'll just come visit you. In Croatia would be awesome though!

Eion: That was too long between meetings dude. I know it's my turn to visit you, but I still wanna see you come hang in Osaka. Next year might be your last chance! Also cool to see Teresa all fun & friendly. She still can't steal my cat though. PS. I want to be a lion tamer! I've got a hat!

Flapy: Hola Espanol! Como es Madrid? When you get back here, let's go to karaoke and take pictures of my girlfriend!

Gemma S: Don't think you ever read my blog, but you were the best thing about 2nd year physics. You wanna host me in London if you're still there in 2010?

Grant: I tried to visit you one weekend on Muritai Rd and you were in Taupo, you SOB. Just for that you owe me a trip out here. I'm waiting. Glad we did touch base though. Need to more often.

Hannah: Now I know you don't read my blog, but I still like you. And your little guy! He's so kyute! ;) Keep up the big work, lil' sis.

Ingrid: Still haven't worked out that nickname. But missing you and all our movie watching immensely. I still owe you one for hanging out with my incapacitated self.

Jess T: Row, row, row your boat honey. How'd your fancy dress party go?

Jenbee: What's up, Rainbow Brite? Hope England hasn't turned you into a coarse hooligan. Though that might be entertaining... Keep on rockin', become a famous improv actor and I'll see you at the Globe when I'm next over! Mwah.

Kat: Acoustic Flowers in The Wind? I hate you so much I think I like you. Hope Scotland doesn't take your life or your FREEEEEEEDOOOOMM...I left green tea for you with Chris. Raak his Asian ass up for it.

Laura W: Tall and amusing as ever, I see. Next time lets hang some more - wanna come visit me over here? PS. I think I'm in love with your boyfriend. Is that OK?

Louise K: I know you're quitting and starting up German translation study (which is awesome), but you'll always be a "planner" to me. Actually, you'll always be the chica with a good Python memory! Now, bring me a shrubbery!

Luke: Hope the eye's all good. Don't slack off just yet! I'm forming an itinerary for our Japan escapade. Do you like penguins?

Mindy: Was awesome to have coffee and catch up. You're still the coolest!

Mel R: Tiny, tiny Mel. What can I say? I actually had more fun seeing you in September than all the other times put together. You's a'ight wit' me.

Melissa: You're in London? Man, you get around. I'm like, way jealous and stuff. Miss your smiley face!

Rajeev: The fact that you would suffer the asthmatic nature of Prescott's apartment just to pop by and see me speaks more for itself than, I dunno, a thousand speaking birthday card things. Was great to see you're well - looking forward to the next ICW production.

Rivan: I promise you I will visit you in Kouchi one day. During which time I will make you the most popular man on the island. Oh, and I'm reading a book about a guy in Bombay - sounds awesome. When can I visit?

Sam De V: Bonjour Chocolat ;) Looking forward to seeing you on New Years man. Underworld play in Ghent in November at I Luv Techno - gutted! I know you want to hit somewhere down south for NYE, but are there any good gigs on in Ghent around that time?

Sarah/OhDarling: You know, me and you were in the same country for 3 days, and I didn't even realise. Enjoy being back in Welly - see you next time! PS. Now I can finally read your blog, I'm loving it ;)

Sukanda/Ben: How come I no see you online no more? Remember how we used to hang out and stuff? Gimme suma that!

Tom M: I think you have a very photogenic memory too. Next time I come to Melbourne I am so photogening it. Hope you're there next year!

Travis: Your sexy ass might just be enough reason to come visit you in the States. I'm working on the job thing, but I only have one as a call girl. Do you swallow?

Mr. Whore: All that relaxing and having fun in Melbourne can't be good for you. I command you to go back home. PS. You have no idea how big a grudge I hold over your seeing Boy 8-Bit before I did.

Yesterday's Shisha in Shinsaibashi

I had work today (being Saturday), which is once-a-month thing. I'm hardly going to let that ruin my Friday nights though.
There's a great bar in Shinsaibashi (the young clubbing area of Osaka, with a primarily Hip-hop/Reggaeton base) called Cafe Absinthe, a bar/cafe that serves the deadly drink for about 9 bucks, in a plethora of different forms. Tastefully done the stuff is nice, but you don't want to lose control when you're working with absinthe. The body has a habit of treating it like paint thinner (which it could be used for).

The place also serves shisha, also known as hookah or a thousand other names depending on the Asian country. All of them refer to the water-based pipe (a "bong" if you're crude) which uses a flavoured mix without the tar and most of the nicotine of tobacco (now this IS a topic I've wiki-ed). More than getting a buzz from the hookah (there is a mild one), its a very social activity, keeping your hands busy and involving interaction while you chat about whatever it is drunk social people talk about. Puppies and rainbows.

Here's some vids of said Shisha smoking:

How to use your blog to your advantage

David & I melt the camera. (Photo March 07)
DISCLAIMER: This is a blatant plug.

Last night I went out for okonomiyaki with my Spanish mate David. David's gig is a PhD in Nara, but he's more well-known for his blog. And I don't mean like, World Famous In New Zealand kind of famous. I mean like, Borderline Political Influence famous. There are people who read his blog besides the people he's already met. His blog pays a percentage of his mortgage on his house in Madrid. Even more exciting is the term connections. Especially when accompanied by the term business.

So, naturally, the first thing I did was tactically grill him for his fame-inducing techniques. Lord knows my middle name is I-want-to-be-famous-in-Japan. After an hour of conversation over garlic chips, beef&konjac okonomiyaki and beer, I had learned next-to-nothing. No get-rich-quick schemes, no secret password, not even a phone number for blogging consultants.
However, like I said, I learned "next-to-nothing". David got his blog famous by accident. OK, that might be stretching the concept, but he didn't go out of his way to get there. The two things he did do were:

1. Post every day.
2. Comment on everyone else's blogs.

And lets not forget

3. Write in Spanish.

If you're clever, it only takes 20 mins a day to do the first, and around 20 mins a day for the second too (NB: I'm not clever. It takes me hours to post. I'm the equivalent of a writer who balls up the paper he's writing on and three-points it in the trashcan every 5 mins). But number three? Damn, got me there.

These days everything imaginable has been blogged, at least in English. The Spanish advantage comes in that the ratio of English to Spanish blogs has got to be more than 3:1 (Wikipedia will tell you that English, as a first or second language, is used by around 1.8 billion people). Add in the fact that Japan is having a vogue phase in Spain (both in culture and business), and suddenly people want to know what you have to say. Loads of his followers are Japanese language students in Spain & South America, hoping to lift a bit of information about the country they're studying.

All this made me feel fairly inferior, but mostly confused. What does his blog offer that my blog doesn't? I can read enough Spanish to know I'm a more creative writer than he is - isn't that all people want in literature? Something that's interesting to read?
I think I've sussed it out though. Firstly it was the information he supplied in his blog: telling you stuff you might be able to learn in books, but as more of an "eye witness", confirming that yes, Japan has temples and tanuki and silent trains. Now it's got to the point that the following is the self-sustaining point about it. It's almost like a BBS with a forced topic each day. He sets up posts to go off daily, sometimes weeks in advance, and plans out topics for up to a month's worth of blogging. Talk about turning it into an industry.
99% of money he gets in the blog is from banner ads requested by companies (eg. La Liga betting), but occasionally he gets a mail from some company who want a bit more in the way of "product placement". "We'll pay you 200EUR to mention that you used our flights website to get the cheapest flights back to Spain." That's perfectly good business, but does anyone else feel a bit dirty when they read that? As far as I know, David doesn't write anything he doesn't believe in, so rest assured, you can trust his word. (Having said that, he's a convoluted bloke when it comes to relationships, something I both envy and think is a bit wrong. But then again, it seems to be the status quo for any guy in Europe to have a few on the take)

For those of you who read Español, check out David's blog (Flapy). For those, like me, who just want to look at the pretty pictures, check out his Flickr (Destebani). He's not too shabby with a camera.

Quotes from birthday mails

...your cunningness in moving to china means your birthday is actually 28 hours long (I think). And that means I feel kinda ripped off coz not only was mine normal length but all I got was this lousy T-shirt.... Wouldn't that be strange? If we printed T-shirts that said all of ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ that? I think they'd fly off the shelves. Not literally fly, of course, we're not in Finland! Not anymore!

～No, indeed we are not. But who could forget those fajitas.

There's not a lot of interesting stuff you can write about birthdays anymore. You already got your presents and I'm stumped if I have any idea of how to get any more to you nowadays. Seems you've removed yourself from the known face of the postal-planet as far as I'm concerned. At least that was my excuse for not getting up and wandering around figuring out what to get you.

～You're off the hook. I don't think that excuse would get you out of paying a speeding ticket though, so you'll have to show a little cleavage if you ever get stopped.

Your father took off for a month overseas when you were 6 months old, this coincided with the extension finished and your new bedroom next door to ours ready for you. And that was the start of your life, 23 years later with 2 brothers and 1 sister, a few cats, mice, rats, fish, girlfriends and of course the old parents, you are being fashioned into the man you are now. These years for you are supposed to be good years though I know sometimes you do things that are maybe not so much fun on the way to something that should be great. At least you have family and friends who love you even though we cannot be with you on this day.

～Father took off eh? That's probably why I'm such a mummy's boy. That, and who wouldn't be, with a mum like you?

Vanilla Bear...
Today is the first day of another 365 day journey around the sun. Hope you enjoy the ride =)
I wish you health, wealth and happiness ! (but in the order of: health, happiness, wealth). It just doesn't sound as good when you say it though =)
Have a wicked awesome day. Miss ya loads !

～Miss you too Mocha Bear. Glad to hear you think the earth revolving around the sun revolves around my birthday. You and me both☆

Tim今日たんじょーびじゃん♪おめでと～ (。・ｘ・)ゝ
23だったよね♪　良い年になりますよーに！！

～ありがとうちゃん～23歳やけど、絶対まだおっさんじゃないよ！「親父ギャグ」大好きけどね☆

Happy birthday, sweetness, I hope you have an excellent day. You're old like us now! Get your workmates to shout you booze.

～Ta lady - day was OK, but I'm hoping for a better average over the course of the year ;) PS. I'm not old like you, I'm young like me. Suspiciously, exactly like me. Hmmm.

Today is the day you become the grand age of twenty-three (and it's also the national holiday of Sweden), with grand being the first part of grandparent. Or grandfather. Or grandmother. I remember when grandmother was a huge word in spelling tests - that and wheelbarrow. But you're not a wheelbarrow. Nor a grand-anything, unless you mean a grand person! See, I always find a way to flatter someone.

～Your mail was my favourite. If your mail was a friend, it would be the kind that took me out for a picnic and then opened the basket to find lemurs inside, and then we would all take polaroids and stick them on bus windows. It would be the best day ever!


～You always go to great lengths for people's birthdays, but I think here you outdid yourself. I haven't had a car cake since my 8th birthday! Score!

Thanks guys, I really appreciate yous ;) And to everyone else who got in touch with me. A waitress in our hotel was really excited about being on time to say Happy Birthday to me today, and I felt a bit bad about having to tell her that she'd mistaken the other 6 for a 9...still nice though. I think I'll buy her peroxide for her birthday.