A relatively calm and uneventful week.
I went to Choshi a couple of times on one-day gigs to do test assessment.
There’s actually really nothing in Choshi. The area around the hotel I stayed is basically just little gift shops and some (extortionately-priced) restaurants.
The hotel room was small but comfy, and everyone at the hotel was very nice to me.
The IC I work with in Choshi is also very nice, very bubbly, very interested in talking to me. And we talk basically all in Japanese, so I’m finally getting some good solid practise of talking more than a couple of minutes in a row.
This is the hotel room.
Got the Japanese breakfast the first day.
Pudding!
My IC gave me this snack. It’s thin wafers filled with chocolate.
Let’s Paki! ( *｀ω´)
This was my dinner the second time I was there. The only place that wouldn’t put me in the poorhouse to get food from is the conbini, so I usually go get bentou there.
This time it was roast chicken, pickled taro, and rice with some spaghetti.
Stopped into a little bake shop and got a fluffy French roll.
And really, that’s about all that happened this week. I went into the office once for about three hours and then I came back.
The trips out to Ibaraki are actually really brutal. It’s funny how travel is that way. Even if you’re just sitting there, it still exhausts you. To get to Ibaraki, I need to ride the metro to Ōji, switch to a train and ride to Tokyo or Hamamatsucho Station. There, I get on a bus and ride that for two and a half hours, and then I’m in Choshi. If I stayed for a week, it wouldn’t be so bad, but these get-there-one-night-leave-the-next-afternoon trips are really wearing on me. It basically means that in the space of about 30 hours, I’m in transit for about 6 or 7 of those hours total. And after a day of work, that’s no fun.
I can do it, it just means I’m super-tired the next day. xD
So that’s been my life for the last week: nothing going on.
Random pictures, including things I’ve bought over the past few weeks that I’ve not posted pictures of until now:
Doggie! So cute. ( *｀ω´)
He started barking at me after I took the picture. xD
Bought this little fella to help me keep my ears clean. xD
The benches at Hatogaya Station have little doves on them. x3
”Hatogaya” means “Valley of Doves”, so that’s why.
(Look at my Blackmoral PC case isn’t it coool 8D)
Fried up some egg and sausage with dashi, soy sauce, and mirin to put over rice for breakfast one day.
Turned out pretty well… not exactly the consistency I wanted (I cooked it until it was basically just scrambled egg) but it tasted good!
This guy looked like he was trying to be an idol trying to hide.
But maybe he was a real star and I’m just clueless lol.
So LeoPalace had a security system installed in my apartment.
Too bad I have to register and pay for that service. Not happening, friends.
Political campaigns! On bicycles!
And more!
The only thing about Japan that I’ve honestly truly come to hate are these campaigns. They ride bikes, stalk in huge group down streets, and – the most irritating thing – get cars with mounted megaphones to drive around at all hours of the day blaring messages. I have been woken up at 7:30 AM by a car that decided it was going to stop and park right outside the complex for five minutes while the speakers, for some reason just as loud as the speakers at the GazettE live, went off. I about went to the window and yelled at them to go away, haha.
I don’t know WHY they think that is an effective way to campaign, but they definitely don’t have my vote. Every time these cars go by, I’m literally deaf until they’re several blocks away. I’ll have to stop homework, stop my movie, be awoken grumpily from sleep, and all sorts of other things. Basically life stops because it’s so hard to function with the shrill noise.
Japan, please don’t.
/that rant
PEANUT BUTTER.
Taylor isn’t going back to the base so I just bought a Japanese-size jar. x3
I want everyone to just guess why I bought these. Go on. Guess.
A mini-loaf of sweet bread I bought. This is super-tasty, but really rich. x3
I finally got to listen to Dream Theater’s new album, “A Dramatic Turn Of Events”, while I was on the bus to Choshi on Monday. It’s an amazing album! Probably my absolute favourite that I’ve listened to this year. I’m still very sad that Mike Portnoy is no longer part of the band, but the new drummer does a good job of playing the same style and keeping up with the rest, so they don’t sound really very different at all.
I’m really enjoying the lyrics. Dream Theater always has really beautiful and artistic music and very thought-provoking lyrics. I spent most of the ride just watching the scenery go by, thinking about the words. This album really expresses a lot of things I have inside right now, both in an abstract way and in a direct way, so it’s actually quite soothing. I think everyone should give this album a try. It’s a very gentle-sounding album, and if you like Matenrou Opera or Versailles (especially especially Versailles!), this is a band you need to listen to.
Taylor brought these omiyage back from Tokushima. They were just thin wafers with some fruit-flavoured cream inside… except I could hardly taste the fruit. xD Very very good though!
Don! Reita and Kai’s bass and drums book! The photos are gorgeous and the interviews are super-interesting so far! Plus all the scores make me happy~ Kai’s drum sets are beautiful *___* I want soooo bad!
Reita why so attractive.
This is the newest RR magazine, with Aoi as the main feature. His clothes make me really sad. xD They’re the ones he wears for encore on the current tour. I know RR usually does all sorts of interesting photoshoots, but that doesn’t mean they don’t make me sad inside. xD
(Also this magazine has an interview with Aoi and Hiroto concerning aoi with bon:cra-z, and Yu from Matenrou Opera.)
I’m still baffled by this xD It does look a lot better without the wig though.
I bought Matenrou Opera’s tote bag from their Abyss tour for all my one-day travel stints because lugging a suitcase around Japan is not easy. This thing is HUGE. I’m not worried about space issues at all.
The design is really beautiful too~ (・ω・)
This still makes me laugh every time I see it xD.
B=PASS magazine with the GazettE feature. This was a super-beautiful photoshoot… and Reita and Uruha were close so of course I liked that too. xD
The magazine came with a poster of this. I soooo want to frame it and put it up somewhere.
Blackmoral wristband~
the GazettE’s Maximum Royal Disorder DVD! I found it for really cheap!
I’m so excited, this is a really nice live.
(I still can’t get over their old band name xD “Dainippon Itan Geisha Gazetto”. “The Royal Japanese Empire Heretic Artists Gazette”. Who came up with that?)
Finally, Kai and Jasmine You’s R&R magazine was super-cheap, so I got it too.
So excited to read it~
I’m heading off to Choshi again probably in the next hour. I’ll be there until Tuesday around noon, and then I’m coming straight back and going to… the GazettE! I have tickets to see both their shows in Ōmiya, which is in Saitama and near where I live. Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be very exciting for me, so you will hear all about those this week.
UNTIL THEN. I WILL TAKE IT LIKE A MAN SPARTAAAAA
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