sinned
July 30, 2004
Well this truly was a great day. After a pretty busy day at work I met up with one of the few people (unused for sexual purposes) that I’d bring with me to a deserted island: Dennis.
As many of you know, he’s touring Japan with his band sinned and his band Abuse and another band. Even though I won’t be seeing him much during his short stay in Japan (Osaka and Tokyo), I saw him much of the afternoon and evening and it was truly awesome.
It all started with a big giant walk from Tower Records in Namba to Tower Records in Amemura because Dennis conned me into thinking he was there. Then we walked around Shinsaibashi and headed over to Den Den Town for a bit. We then went back to my place for a pit stop and had some cheap sushi at the place near my apartment. The night was still young so we went to Umeda but realized there’s nothing to see but people (… pretty pretty people some of them) so we went back to his hotel.
I got to meet a few of his bandmates and let me say they’re weird in a party dude way. Dennis put it best after the meeting - the whole 10 minutes was basically, “Nice to meet you Jerry, here’s a picture of drunk dude #1’s naked naked body.” I wish I was exaggerating. I appreciated the no frills, direct honesty with people but I’d hate to bunk with them for more than 15 minutes. (Enjoy your trip, Dennis).
We’d end our night in a local bar in the area. I’d had half a beer and Dennis finished his and mine. I hate beer. It was really good seeing a good friend again even though I’d only seen him a couple weeks ago.
The biggest treat of all: Dennis gave me a sinned T-shirt and a sinned CD! Actually no… the biggest treat was that I am thanked with my full, legal name in the CD booklet. Never in my little dreams had I imagined my name being printed on a CD booklet. Truly I was honored and will show this to every person in the world. Although I’m not a huge fan of Grind Metal (or is it Death Metal??), I believe people should do what they love and follow dreams. I’ll throw down my support for Dennis forever and with respect very few have earned.
Tomorrow I’ll be finally seeing him play live. I’m going to think in a little corner of my mind that in my very young days, had I stuck to the whole music thing and somehow ended up liking this genre of music more, it might have been me thanking someone else! Nah, I’ll leave the whole rockstarring to Dennis.
From my gallery:
Under Construction
July 23, 2004
Well I’ve finally updated the webcam. This time I’ve taken a picture from ancient times and thrust it into that little box down there. It’s a picture of Dennis, myself, and Justin when we were in grade 11… circa 1997 I guess.
I’ve decided to go trek Mt. Fuji sometime soon but with whom, when, how, and why I don’t know. Perhaps it’s in faint hope of catching the Brocken Effect like these lucky asses did?
The damn photo gallery is finally fixed. Turns out the the permissions for all the files where suddenly changed. It was such a simple fix really but before I realized what it was, I went and lost all the writing that went with the pictures. Curses! I’m slowly in the process of rewriting it all. In the meantime, you dirty pervs can still enjoy the picture of me going down the waterslide since I’m topless.
I’ve neglected to mention that my little sister has started a blog! Or rather, I started it up and put a gun to her head and said, “Type… now”. So go leave nice little comments there.
And I’ve updated the links to include more people’s sites. I guess I’ll plug Mike’s travel site since it features some pretty good information about Osaka. I have a site at virtualtourist.com too but it contains nothing.
And this month is probably one of the busiest in terms of visitors. Four good friends will be visiting Osaka in these next two weekends. I’ll be having plenty of drinks and snapping lots of pictures I hope. Sign up now for bootleg copies of Dennis’ performance in Osaka!
Oh God I am 24 years old now too… I’d write about what I did on my birthday but I’d be banned from most countries since it involved naughty naughty things.
ebb and flow
July 15, 2004
My current and previous jobs have taught my a lot of things about interpersonal communication that I will take with me forever. However, the most important lesson I learned from both these places is that life isn’t static and constant, instead, it ebbs and flows as much as the tides or full moon.
In both these jobs, I’ve seen many friends come and go. That’s the nature of both these places. I shared great times with great friends only to have them say goodbye in a few months or a year. Although I don’t believe in goodbyes (I believe in “See ya later”), I know inside that I will never see most of these people again in my life.
It took a change in attitude to adjust to the situation. I remember my first month at the ELI very well. I remember meeting two Korean students whom became very good friends of mine. I remember visiting their place nearly every weekend for a homecooked dinner and as much booze and cigarettes as I wanted. I became really close to them and felt like my first love stabbed me in the ass when they returned home. After that, I developed a sort of wall so that I could never feel like that again.
Slowly through the years though, I’ve realized that friends coming and going, loved ones being born and dying, and things fading in and fading out are all part of life. The process is usually a very long drawn one but once in awhile, things happen suddenly. Most of us are at a loss on how to deal with sudden changes in our lives and become extremely depressed. While I don’t hold myself to a higher standard nor am I apathetic when something happens, I try to deal with the situation in a natural way. It was going to happen, sulking won’t benefit anything, and I have many more things to look forward to.
I’m writing this update knowing that during my visit to Canada last week, I saw my grandmother for probably the last time. I’m saddened that someone who had a big hand in raising me will be dying but I also know death is as natural as birth. Should there be an afterlife, we’ll all meet and speak of old times. Should there not be, well then I won’t have to worry when bacteria start munching on my beautiful skin.
In addition, I’ve been in Japan for nearly two years now and I’ve said “bubbye” to many people. Thankfully, most were ones whom I didn’t know very well and therefore I didn’t care. However, I’ve become “attached” to some and I know they will have to leave Japan and go onto their next thing. I don’t look forward to that day but you gotta do what you gotta do right?
Still, a true friend, I’ve noticed, will always be a true friend no matter where you are and how long you haven’t seen each other. And the ones who don’t, well, they can kiss my shining, sentimental arse.
Edit - 2005/09/22
Here are some pictures from my visit with friends and family.
Dawn of the Cicadas
July 11, 2004
July 11, 2004. Mark this one in the almanac. I woke up today with the full screeches of those wretched cicadas. Luckily, being on the tenth floor in a neighborhood with fewer trees than the last place really cuts down on the noise. Closing the window and turning on the air con completely cuts out the noise. I don’t remember if they were out yesterday morning but I had the window closed yesterday so they may have been out.
Me thinks a lot more sleep will be lost starting from today.
Leaving on a jet plane
July 08, 2004
Well my short return home has drawn to an end. I’m on the plane in about 12 hours to return to the mundane, yet very happy little life that I have forged for myself in Japan. In these 6 days, I’ve done all that I had set out to do, save for a few things to buy. In the end, the rather expensive airplane ticket was worth it since it let me do some important things.
Primarily, I got to see my grandmother everyday while I was here. Her condition has been between bismal and upbeat. Yesterday she had a tube inserted directly into her stomach so that they can feed her. She had been on the malnutritious drips for the past week and was pretty much just wasting away. The doctor wouldn’t place a tube via esophagus because the cancer had grown too much. Anyway, with this stomach tube, she’ll have some more time. I jumped on the airplane expecting her to go at any time and I leave knowing she has a bit more time. (How much time I have no idea - the doctor is rather vague ALL the time).
Nxt, I saw some people whom I haven’t seen in a long time. I also didn’t have the time to see people I would have liked to see too. For those I saw - thank you for making this unexpected visit so much fun and I hope to see you soon again. For those I missed, I’m sorry I missed you.
did quite a lot of shopping - mostly for entertainment. I bought a couple Gamecube games, a couple PC games, and a couple of books. I will also be bringing back a few pictures that were printed and some that I took.
I’m feeling a range of emotions from happy to sad. I don’t even know how to feel now. I’m pretty damn tired from running around everyday all week so I wasn’t in a very good mood for yet another huge family dinner. For reasons I can understand, our entire extended has been seeing each other a lot more. In the past, we’d barely see one another 2 or 3 times a year. I even got to hang out with cousins whom I rarely ever see. It’s weird that I don’t really know my own relatives.
See you back in Japan.
hurry
July 02, 2004
I will be going back to Vancouver for about 5 days. Unfortunately, I return not in happy spirits because I’m returning to see my grandmother for what may very well be the last time. She has been ill for awhile as I mentioned before. Her condition does not look good so I am going to rush home. As much as I would like to meet my friends, I don’t think I’ll have the time nor the right mood to do so. They’ll all forgive me.
