karaoke confessional

before we get into the events of today, I want to shoutout my girl Shiina Ringo, formerly of Yonohonmachi (train stop after mine!). I really should have put her up here sooner, since I heard her way back in February when we were checking out the huge Starbucks/CD store in Shibuya. yep, it was fascination at first listen. and she was the first Jpop-er I sung at karaoke...!

but that's not the confession... so okay, back to today. I wasn't entirely sure if I should post about it or not, but it was so weird that I think it's more helpful to think of it more as disturbingly hilarious instead of disturbingly disturbing.

this afternoon, I went for some karaoke with a friend of mine, who at present shall remain anonymous. going after school is really the best time to do it, because it's about a third of the price and all of the fun! anyway, he was chilling, singing some crazy song with high-pitched precision while I was jumping up and down like a five year old, showing him a little Jay-Z and then failing at M-flo (Japanese rappers, impossible for karaoke). I absently wondered if I was jumping around too much, and as if he had read my mind, that's when his gaze dropped decidedly below my face:

おっぱい大きいね？　your chest is pretty big, isn't it?
....
(WHAAAT??!! Where did THAT come from?!)

何いってんなっ？！ちょっと失礼だろう？(what are you saying? umm... that's a little rude, don't you think?!)

completely unfazed, eyes still locked on target: 何センチ？(how many centimeters?)

(not only was I at a loss for words at this point, but I was starting to worry at the situation... in the kind of way that makes you note exactly how far your foot is from the offender's nether regions. you gotta understand, this kid and I are cool and pretty casual with each other, but there was no precedent for this kind of question-asking! I can also confidently say that there are no feelings of that type at all on either side! AT ALL)

me, laughing in utter disbelief: 分かんねーよ！I don't know! (why won't he change the subject?!)

now, coming closer almost as if to touch them: how much do they weigh?

me, panicking, slapping away his hand. 全然だめだよ、そんな話！This kind of talk is really wrong! then still looking innocently unfazed, the kid just starts talking about something else. it took me a while to register just what it was in my relief, but somehow, he ended up mentioning that he had had a girlfriend for a year and change and that they had broken up just a few months ago! whoa... color me shocked. I definitely thought that he was a total newb to the love scene. but get this... when I asked him why they split up, he said I was being rude.　ドンダケー？！

Man. Talk about miscommunication. Long story shorter, I got him to see that talking about my chest was a serious no-no and that someone he didn't know as well would surely punch his lights out. He apologized for making me uncomfortable, and I apologized for bringing up his (still? really?) painful memories of his ex.

we'll still be cool, I think. his apology was sincere, and the behavior out of character, so for now we'll keep this incident a minor footnote in the great Tokyo scheme of things. or maybe a medium-sized question mark.

sex, drugs and rock n' roll... minus the drugs... and the rock n' roll? (june 14 -17)

had another marathon fashion club meeting this past thursday, and the topics were sanctuary and territory. thankfully, I was not the only one who didn't understand how the presenter planned to parlay territory as a concept into actual design... anyway, afterwards I took the train home with some of the guys, and of course, talk deteriorated into ero-convo. It's hard to keep a straight face when people are trying to teach you SM language, or showing you pictures of questionable "art" on their cell phones, or matter-of-factly saying what body parts they love about their girlfriends.

btw, my professor and I have come to see that I am not going to be able to get good data in time for my Japanese masculinity project just by observing the fashion club, so I'm switching to straight up interviews with all the guys I can trick into doing it.

For now, though, all I could handle this week was Guitar Ensemble. I've been skipping a lot of practices (three hours on a Saturday is rough, man) lately, but I guess I chose the right time to feel guilty because the Spring Concert was this Saturday! I am a beginner's beginner, but they were nice enough to let me participate, and so I've been at extra practices every other day this week working on the song they've got me doing.

yay
shinjuku imperial gardens from the music hall, and my photography skillz

"I love you, too," and other words that we couldn't say

Bull in Shibuya, or where the Fashion Club had our next nomi-kai. Nice atmosphere, arty and chill

Kakeshi and I are throwing up some very different signs

Reppin' the Dynasty

Some of the girls with Ducky-san the Bubble-maker

part of the post title comes from a Cowboy Bebop (yep, it's an anime) song that I used to looove back in middle school. I would play it over and over on the computer, and without fail my mom would put down whatever she was doing and say dramatically, screwing up her face, "You know Gina, sometimes I think you're a little bit funny. Do you know what this sounds like? Ghanaian Death music." I'd say I loved funerals and explain to her what a hater is, she'd laugh unkindly at my penchant for the melancholy, and Daddy, coming out of nowhere, would shuffle by saying something about Kabuki.

that anecdote is only tangentially related to what I'm trying to get at, but I guess I miss my parents a little more than I thought :)

anyway back to this weekend's nomi-kai... kids here in general are really cool, and as interested in me as I am in them. more of the same was going on at this nomi-kai party then there was the one guy saying who kept saying "I love you" in English and messing with my headband... at first it was funny, but when he came back and started doing it again at the end of the night, his actions took on a shade of something less fun.

no, not at all in that way... I just felt like a thing. like his toy, there for his amusement. and it's not only because of the alcohol or him - well, maybe the alcohol a good bit - I felt that way with a lot of different people that night. call on me and I can spit out a fancy expression here and there, and boy if you ask me where I come from, I can tell you so fast and in so many ways it would make your head spin! but that's it. nothing real, you know. don't ask me what I think about anything, because I can't tell you and you don't want to hear.

now there is nothing romantic about the rising frustration one might feel in being able to get nothing but stuttered nonsense out of one's mouth, but I kind of like setting my sadness to a little Amerie... no, not "1 Thing," fool. though that is a sassy song. I'm talking about "Rolling Down My Face." In fact, I think we should make it the vid of the week!

no idea who this guy is, but props anyways

I know I should focus on studying more and being patient and all, but these things is what they is...