There's a whole lot of new stuff under the sun, but I'll just summarize it all by saying that my boyfriend refers to Tyra Banks as "broccoli".

Didn't expect the Taste of Chaos final night to converge with real life and collapse into a supermassive black hole of PURE AWESOMENESS. More about this when I talk to the people involved and figure out what the hell is going on.

<3

P.S.: Cannot wait for Disneyland Sunday.

Ranchuu mosh pit might have made it to my list of favorite things in the world. :D But more on this later (I have a lot to say and I'm trying to keep it chronological-ish).

Trip was super fun. I went down to Kyoto first, then Nara, Kobe, Osaka, Himeji, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Beppu and Fukuoka, where I stayed at my friend's place for two days before going back to Tokyo. I saw a lot of mindblowing things, ate delicious food and had plenty of time to do a lot of soul-searching (which prompted me to have a very random breakdown after I was back in Tokyo, but let's skip this part :D).

( Recap and links to pictures )

Whew!

Expect a concert-related entry and a people-related entry soon.

Insert paragraph here about how BITTER I am that the year I spend in Japan is the one that MUCC choose to basically fuck off to my backyard. Not cool, that. D:<

Buuuuuut, in non-bitter news, OH EM GEE COBRA STARSHIP WERE LIKE, THE BEST THING EVER. I might have a crush or twenty millions on Gabe. He's so... 90's fabulous. :D They had extremely cool merch, so our budgets got shot to hell and we all got t-shirts and matching hoodies. I can has door that leads to The City Is At War mosh pit anytime I want yes?

Recent(-ish) happenings include going to kabuki, eating whale (and no, I don't want to hear about how awful I am for that), eating at the Alcatraz E.R. (a medical prison theme izakaya), going to the temple in Asakusa, shopping like crazy during the Grand Bazaar at Harajuku Laforet and the sales at Marui Young, and managing a sacroiliac sprain somehow (which is getting better, thankfully). We also went to the Extasy Spirits event where La Vie En Rose were having their revival live. Ironically, I actually liked Backlash Sound Wave, the opening band, the best - highly danceable electro punk and very cool. LVER were fun and it made me very nostalgic to see them again after all this time. Following were Tokyo Yankees and... honestly, I felt like I wouldn't be able to listen to music ever again. It was that bad. We actually decided to leave during the set of Ra:In, who were good, but we had had enough, and then we ran into some people at the merch tables. Cue a week long gloom.

In the other wonders of my life, I purchased MUCC's Ageha single... 24 hours in advance. It's quite mysterious, really. Anyway, I was really hyped about this single and immediately went on a translation binge – those who are interested probably saw them already, but I'm going to be annoying and post a link anyway. Another mystery: on top of the posters, I also got a can of juice as a present.

This week, I went on a two-day pilgrimage to Ibaraki (it's the prefecture just north of Tokyo and famous for not much except its nattou and its rock bands). Telling people that you're going there usually gets you laughter and a "Why exactly are you going?" Still, it's MUCC and LVER's home prefecture, so when Myna invited me to go to D'espairs Ray concert with her at the Light House in Mito, I figured, why not?

My first stop was Ushiku, where the tallest statue of the world is located. It's 120 meters tall - very impressive from the outside, but the museum located inside the statue struck me as being in very bad taste, somehow. It seemed like it was more about it being the world's record than an homage to Buddha and that ticked me off very much. The exhibits were mostly about the construction of the statue and there seemed to have much emphasis on how big it is more than anything else. Even the display of 3,500 Buddha statuettes wasn't that impressive considering that they were visibly manufactured. Call me difficult, but after Sanjusangendo's 1,001 handmade Kanon statues, it was a considerable letdown. So much for Buddha's teachings, really.

I then made my way to Mito to meet up with mini_myna and her mother. They are both incredibly nice and spoiled me rotten >_<; Myna and I then headed to the Light House for D'espairs Ray's live, which was a lot of fun! I had enjoyed their set at the American Syndrome event, and once again, I had a great time. They are so incredibly energetic. The drummer (Tsukasa?) recommended nattou followed by Pocari Sweat as a sample of what hell is like, and of course, I'm really tempted to try it. Bassist person spat out his water on us and I got drenched. Afterwards, I used my drink ticket on a Chu-hi and it hit me like a running train - mostly due to the fact that I hadn't slept the night before. We then backtracked to the hotel and watched the Ageha DVD while porking on Mister Donuts.

The next morning, we had Mito's famous nattou for breakfast. The first time I had nattou in 2005, I couldn't even swallow it, but I'll be damned if I didn't like it this time around. Mission accomplished! I can freak out the Japanese even more than I already do now.

We then wanted to go to the hairdresser, but it turns out that their teikyuubi is Tuesday. Very disappointing indeed. Instead, we stopped by Ishioka (Miya and Yukke's hometown) to go to the ostrich farm that MUCC like. Ishioka is... well. It's basically an intersection full of shrewish, get-off-my-lawn elderly. :< It has a school, a train station that's smaller than my house and "fashion boutiques" that sell shirts with patterns of flower bouquets. Twenty- and thirty-year-olds are strangely absent. But take a cab through the fields for 15 minutes and you end up in Dachou Oukoku – Ostriches Kingdom. :D

( IBAAAAARRRRRRAKI (picture heavy, you've been warned) )

I also managed to catch a cold. *sniffles*

I haven't had much luck with microwaves these days - last week I ended up carbonating a korokke by forgetting it in the microwave while I was washing the dishes, only to turn around and see a cloud of smoke above it. The poor korokke inside had somehow expanded and there was a black circle crisped onto it... I did not bother checking the taste :( The following day, I tried microwaving a waffle that I had left in the original package - unbeknownst to me was that said package was made of aluminium, and so the inside of the microwave lit up with a "BZZ!" sound (thankfully, it still works, and the waffle tasted good, but the packaging looked... weird after that, to say the least). A few days later, I put a bag of sweet yam pastries in the microwave only to hear the same "BZZ!", and only then realized that the bag closure was made of metal and had melted down together, so I had to cut trough the bag with scissors.

And then there's the laundry, that I push back until I have nothing to wear, the clothes that I forget at the dry cleaner's, and the cleaning that I can't ever be bothered to do. It's gotten to the point where I just slip under the covers and sleep with a ton of clothes and random crap on top of me. Oh, and I carefully avoid anything that resembles cooking by buying bento boxes at the convenience store. I'm really not fit for this whole hitorigurashi thing.

( School & JLPT )

I don't have much to do this week for once, so I will try to sort the 1300 pictures (!!) that I took during my trip and post some soon.

Here's my Rainy Rave Final report, also known as the embodiment of TL;DR (you might want to skip to the second cut to avoid most of the random). I also apologize for ignoring poor rhythm section through most of it.

( Before the live (random stuff) )

( Actual live )

( After the live (more random stuff) )

Anyway, I managed to get my hands on a ticket for the American Syndrome event, so I don't even have to feel guilty about missing out on Taste of Chaos 8D

That live report is coming up next, I promise. I thought I would give some news because I'm making people worry about me again it seems :<

* Turned 21. Had delicious vegetable stew, poutine (YES) and biwa cake. And maybe chocolate cake. And maybe another chocolate cake.

* Got delicious cassis jam and blueberry jam as a gift! Québec blueberries!

* Hit a pasta viking (all you can eat pasta restaurant) in Harajuku, which turned out to be absolutely great. They had pasta, pizza, gratin, salads, bread, curry, pilaf, cake, pancakes, ice cream and crepes, and a bunch of toppings for the desserts (maple syrup, chocolate syrup, fruit jam, candies, whipped cream, etc.) Also, hip hop music. Also, it was insanely cheap.

* Had delicious Indonesian food, delicious Thai food and delicious German food, in addition to the usual delicious Japanese food.

* Completely failing at diet.

* Never heard again from the """"boyfriend"""" three days after my post about him (a good thing).

* Am renewing visa.

I also got to meet An tonight! The last time I met her was last summer in Ottawa so I was really happy to see her again. We had a great time! We met up in Shinjuku and headed to Shimokitazawa for dinner. We walked around the area for a while and finally decided to eat at Saizeriya. We ordered caprese, foccacia, shrimp and macaroni gratin, margherita pizza and mushroom cream spaghetti. It was really good and since we shared everything and split the bill, it came out as ridiculously cheap. Then she took me to a coffee shop called Mikeneko-sha, which was absolutely adorable. It has a very wam and cozy atmosphere and a very "Shouwa" feel to it, somehow. We ended up ordering all three cakes they had on the menu (banana cake, cherry tart and sesame cheese cake) and they were all delicious. I also had Guatemalan coffee which was the best I have ever had (I definitely need to spend more time in Shimokitazawa instead of Shibuya and the likes). On top of all this, we also shared some really rewarding and fun conversation about translation, music, being a foreigner in Japan, and education, among other things, and stopped at a very crowded game center for some purikura. A lovely evening.

In other news:

( Hakanakutomo )

* Amazing live.

* Synyster Tool.

* Making it to our seats literally one second before start.

* Best placing ever.

* Miya = belles p'tites fesses no yatsu. Also, cheekbones.

* Tatsurou NOT sucking donkey balls. I am actually impressed.

* Dancing like idiots during Anjaberu.

* Hilarious equipment fuck-up during Ranchuu.

* No Sorawasure?!

* Shitty encore set list.

* Failing at enquette.

* STFU onegai itashimasu.

* Language that is not Japanese = English.

* Getting drunk in gay district. Having underwear thrown at me. Alaska is in Canada. "I teach H! *boob gesture*"

* Nightmare = visible fail.

* Shitty karaoke experience.

* Coffee until 9AM.

* Shuuchishin.

* Still hyper at 12.

Proper report later? Maybe.

ETA: Boobies.

Come on, come on, come on, move back, move back! All right! Look out! Move back, move back! It's dangerous! Move back, move back! The Dog God company is coming through! Pick pockets and shoplifters, purse snatchers, fornication, adultery, murder-suicides... What else? Infanticides and parenticides... No doubt, this world is a living hell! A cursed love that blossomed in hell... So ardently in love that it's hell too! Here's the parade of the Dog God circus troup going straight down the path to hell! All right, move back, move back! Come on, move back!

( Yuuyake )

( Yokubou )

( Sagashimono )

( Orugooru )

( Shinisokanai Rhapsody )

( Tsukimono )

( Tsuioku )

( Jinmenchou )

I somehow found this incredibly easy (if I wasn't so lazy it would have been up last week), so I wonder if I didn't make some grotesque errors... *_* Anyway, I meant to write more but I'm too tired to be coherent so just enjoy this for now!

And I did something incredibly stupid today.

I was supposed to get my bangs trimmed, but came out of the salon with a new haircut and a new color. The haircut is great (it doesn't look that different but will do some good to my poor, damaged hair), but the color... I have VERY mixed feelings about it. Basically, I wanted "different", and since I have had dark hair for several years, I asked for a lighter color. The colorist suggested blond highlights all over and we went with that. The result looks good and fits me, but... I just don't like it. It doesn't feel like "me", if that makes any sense. He suggested that I wait two or three days until I get used to it, and said that he'd change it if I still don't like it then.

I sincerely don't feel like it's a matter of getting used to it though. Sure, it was quite a shock when I looked at myself in the mirror the first time around, but I'm over that. And as I said, it in fact looks quite pretty, but I feel like dark hair just matches my personality and style much better (also looks great with my glasses). I don't know. The thing is that I'd feel horrible if I went back to the salon to get it done all over again. The guy did a great job and after all, did what I asked him to... so I feel like it's just me being a brat :(

To change the subject completely, I managed to write down some notes about ( Akaneko & Taiheiyou Belt (03.20 @ Takadanobaba Club Phase). )

I also met huiwei last week and had fun hanging around Shinjuku with her, had an AMAZING time at BIG BANG's first Japan concert, bought MUCC's CD and quite enjoyed it, shopped shopped shopped, had a placement test this morning and am officially starting school tomorrow. Also, can't wait to go back to work Thursday.

( Why I am never using Pia again (mostly venting, feel free to skip) )

Anyway, the good news is that I have tickets for their Studio Coast live on May 26, so Gen and I will at last get to see them :3 (I'm also thinking of, you know, conveniently being in Fukuoka on the 7th and 8th).

On related news, Gen came over yesterday night (at like 1AM lol) and we watched the Nihon no Rock Box special on Nihon TV. It was really cool! I wish I could have taped it, but we unfortunately don't have VCRs. The first third was an interview with HYDE and footage of the L'arc~en~ciel live with Takuro (?) from GLAY, and the second third was MUCC & Sid, then ROACH and then some more HYDE.

The MUCC segment was really interesting. They aired the FUZZ performance from the JACK IN THE BOX live and then there was the interview with Sid. I somehow feel like they completely failed to present Sid in a flattering light - the bit where they talked was mostly about L'arc~en~ciel (rehearsing with them and everything) and then they didn't get to participate much at all while MUCC were talking (except for the host asking them if they could do an American tour of the same scale as MUCC, and Sid admitting that they couldn't handle it). Anyway, there was the mandatory sequences of foreign MUCCers, but we also got to see some footage of MUCC's American lives, which was hilarious; the faces of clueless American ToC-ers were absolutely priceless. They unfortunately didn't air any of the new songs, but we got a good look at Miya's new hair instead.

Okay, seriously, what the hell? It's like his 2003 hedgehog hairstyle came back with a vengeance. It's... about 1cm long, a little longer on top so it sort of looks like a mohawk, except it's way too short for that, and there are some... random, curly whips of hair on the back (extensions?), so it sort of looks like a mullet, except not really. I'd like to say that I'm making it sound worse than it is, but I probably am not. Part of me wants to say that it's kind of cool, but then it's way too crackpot a hairstyle to look good on anyone, IMO. Anyway, sorry to make a big fuss (haha I typed "fuzz" at first) about Miya's hair, but I'm sincerely impressed by his ability to choose the most complicated and yet unflattering hairstyles x_X

Next!

The ROACH segment was a lot of fun as well. The crew went to Okinawa to visit them in their hometown and they showed footage of a "surprise live" they did in a club (?). The audience mostly consisted of American soldiers and they immediately started moshing around right when the first song began, so it was funny to watch ^^; I was really glad that ROACH got some air time (HAHAHAHA I typed "hairstyle"... Can you tell I have had only three hours of sleep?). I was expecting the show to be mostly around HYDE and Sid, but it was all about my Danger Crue favorites 8D

( I'm lame so I took pictures of my TV screen. )

OH MY GODDD *_________________*

Today's awesomeness so totally made up for yesterday's craptacularity!

( Angélique, Gonin Isshu, Strawberry Song Orchestra & Inugami Circus-dan @ Omotesando FAB 2008.02.20 )

Anyway, what an amazing night! I also got a call from Las Chicas, and I got the job! So that makes it even more amazing :D

Oh shoot, I failed at going to sleep AGAIN.

I got tagged by rai_ei! Okay, so only for the seven facts meme, but I decided to steal the other one too. Sorry, this LJ is turning into a meme-a-fest of some sort ^^;

( 20 Music Questions )

( Seven Facts )

In other news, I actually did something productive recently. I have been trying to find work since my funds are starting to run low. I got a job as an English teacher. The only thing is that it's one-on-one with the student, and so far I have only one (I have my first lesson on Sunday). I assume that I'm going to meet her only once a week for one hour or two, so there's no way I'm going to make a living with 2000 or 4000 yen a week ^^;

At least I have two interviews next week. One is for a café named Las Chicas and it seems really cool! I really hope I get the job. The other is at an English conversation café. Wish me luck!

Today I went to Kinokuniya since I needed textbooks for my English lessons... I also ended up buying kanji flash cards for JLPT levels 4, 3 and 2. I want to take the level 2 this year, but I'm really behind in kanji *_* These flash cards are really well made and I'm motivated to learn now. I'll be carrying them in my purse and looking like an idiot studying them in the train ^^;

Last, I started translating MUCC's blog entries. I started having second thoughts about this project right with the title of the first post, but I think I can do it and it's a good way to learn some crazy slang and stuff. I'm actually up to date, which is scary. I just need some help with a few sentences here and there, but that shouldn't take a long before I figure them out. I'm reluctant about posting them to itai_tegami since someone else started translating them as well, so I'll put them here for the time being.

( MUCC blog entries 1 to 7 )

I'm going to try and keep up with them... Do you think it would be worth creating a separate LJ for this? I don't want to cluster my LJ or any community with it, and I'm too lazy to put them up on my website, so... suggestions?

( LVER meme from saitou_null )

( MUCC meme from rai_ei )

Oh, and Tanya, this is for you. I don't know if you know them already, but either way I figured you'd be just as excited about them as I am *_*

ETA:

I'm feeling kind of melancholic since yesterday. The reason is really stupid so I won't be going into it, but... Meh, let's just say that despite everything, I really miss how things were last winter. It was so much more exciting. Now I'm not too sure what to look forward to by being here, except fluency (hopefully).

Anyway, two or three days ago, Gen, Josh & I hit downtown. It was a lot of fun! It was my first time going back to Shibuya this winter and they showed me the Bape Store which looks incredible! When you walk in, the floor is made of glass lit by blue lights and there are Bape shoes moving from side to side under it. I wanted to take a picture of it but I doubt they would have let me so I didn't. Then of course I went to Tower Records and bought Big Bang's mini-album, Rurutia's Water Forest and MUCC's Psychedelic Analysis. Gen and I wanted to have a crepe so we stopped by a game center to have one. I usually take banana, chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, but right when I was about to order I spotted a promo poster for a winter only flavor and decided to try it. It was soooo good *_* It was a chocolate orgy - chocolate gelato, chocolate flakes, chocolate sauce, chocolate cake, whipped cream and some other chocolate things which I'm forgetting. I really need to get another one soon D:

In the same game center they also sold "bakudan-yaki" (fried bombs). Gen and I got really intrigued by it and decided to try some. They look like huge takoyaki, except the stuffing is not the same at all. It's actually made of pretty much everything you could imagine - sausages, squid, corn, shrimps, eggs, etc. There were also different seasonings to choose from so Gen and I both chose kimcheese (kimchi + cheese sauce). It was actually quite good, but as soon as you open the bomb to eat it, everything blends together and it really looked like someone had puked in my bowl XD Gross, but it was an experience, I guess ^^;

We then went to Shinjuku to have a look at the scary clerks of Jesus Diamante before visiting Marui City 1 & 2. On our way there, I spotted a kimono store and as I love kimono, I wanted to have a look. Actually I wasn't even sure if it was an actual kimono boutique at first - the signboard outside only said "kimono" with no other information. We had to ride an elevator in a building that looked very business-like, but we entered in a tatami floor with gorgeous kimono all around :D I asked if we could have a look around and not only did the lady let us, she then asked me what color I like and let me try on a beautiful white furisode with pink patterns of chrysanthemums, peonies and butterflies. At first I thought she would only let me put on the sleeves to see what the overall look would be like, but she tied it up properly and actually spent a lot of time choosing the obi and accessories. It was so beautiful! She even let us take pictures of me wearing it, but I'm stupid and deleted all my camera's files by mistake before I got a chance to transfer them to my computer... What a shame, really :/

After that, I decided to buy a kanzashi (handmade hair ornament) and the staff suddenly decided to shower us with gifts. The male clerk brought Gen and I flowers that can be worn in the hair or as a corsage "in honor of the friendship of Japan and Canada" ^^; He then brought us postcards with original Japanese designs (again, in honor of the friendship of Japan and Canada) and another lady there then gave us maccha bowls which are traditionally used in the tea ceremony. It was a bit embarassing to say the truth, but I'm not about to complain! I then inquired about the possibility of taking a kimono wearing course and apparently they offer it there :D Their schedule is not yet decided, so as soon as I'm getting a cellphone I'll contact them about it.

We eventually made it to Marui City-2, had fast-foody takoyaki at Lotteria and then actual takoyaki near the Seibu-Shinjuku station. The evening ended at Karaoke ZOO, of course :D

( Pandemic @ Shibuya Chelsea Hotel 2008.01.17 )

On another subject completely, my parents asked me for pictures of my room so I figured I might as well post them here too. It's incredibly small so there's not much to show but anyway ^^;

( My room )

Wow, I've been here for only a couple of days and so much has happened already @_@

( Moving in )

( My shoelace adventure )

( Cooking )

( Firemen parade )

( Kabuki-chou & Ni-choume )

( Party )

This morning Makoto showed me around the neighborhood and I took the opportunity to buy tickets for Pandemic's show on 1.17 and y.k.united in February :D Anyway, this could last for another 10 pages, so I'll just end this here and go to sleep.

(Too lazy to re-read what I wrote so bear with me @_@)

F-list, I need your help! I have an appointment on January 3rd for a haircut (and I'll take another one for the color as well), but the problem is, of course, that I have no idea what to get.

( Suggestions? )

In other news, what's up? Here, there's many things for once.

1 - First of all, and certainly most importantly, school is finally OVER. And by this I mean that until further notice, I'm graduating and I'll never step into a CÉGEP ever again *dries happy teardrop* I already received my grades for Russian and Story of Language and they're, let's say, satisfactory ;)

2 - Japan is almost completely set up. I now have a place to live (big step). It's thirty minutes from Shinjuku station, and I'll have my own TV and fridge. Not bad, eh? Now that I think about it, all that's left is getting some Japanese moonies. I'm leaving on January 7th, so if anyone wants to see me, now is the time :O

3 - I got my navel pierced two weeks ago. It's beautiful, but I have some trouble getting it to heal... it's not infected, just irritated. I suspect that cleaning it twice a day is too much, since I noticed that it goes from red-ish to bright red when I'm done cleaning it. The only reason why I chose the navel over the smiley was because I didn't want my mom to find it out, but she did. Oh well. I'll get my smiley done in Japan *cackles*

Also, I translated Ieji a little while ago, but never got around posting it. I think that it's a most beautiful song - the lyrics are very interesting and completely different from what we usually read from Tatsurou et al. I wanted to translate it for a very long time and here it is! Yay!

( Ieji )

( And a re-interpretation of Kimi ni Sachi are )

Also, are these really the official translations for Gokusai? I can't decide between laughing and crying :|

Identify four personal barriers/excuses of why you do not exercise on a regular basis.

1. I'm too tired.
   
2. I don't have time.
   
3. I don't feel like it.
   
4. I'm too busy translating MUCC albums instead.

Yup, so this is what I have been doing all weekend. I love every song off this album; I think they're all wonderful in their own right, and even moreso considering that the guys were about my age when they wrote them @_@ It unfortunately tends to be forgotten since it's quite old... but now is time to put it back in the spotlight! I present you with MUCC's Tsuuzetsu!

( Itai Tegami )

( Shoufu )

( Chintsuuzai )

( Hai )

( Suna no Shiro )

( Yoru )

( Haitoku no Hito )

( Moumoku dearu ga Yue no Sogaikan )

( Danzetsu )

I'm really really really happy with this. I actually tried doing this a long time ago, but it was much too overwhelming back then (I re-read my first attempts for Itai Tegami, Shoufu and Danzetsu and had a good laugh). To say the truth, it was still a challenge now; I think that maybe I should have waited a bit more, but it's done now and I'm really satisfied with the end result. I'm still not too sure about how I will translate the title though. I'm thinking "Absolute Pain" for now, which is certainly the more literal translation, but it's also very corny. Suggestions?

Anyway, I hope that someone reads it and enjoys it!!

On the more negative side, I forgot my wallet at home, which means no lunch, and more importantly, no coffee. D: How am I supposed to get through the rest of the day?!

Hum, I just randomly deleted the contents of this entry by mistake.