Ok Jack! Time For Your Lobotomy!

To be lost in the forest
To be cut adrift
You’ve been trying to reach me
You bought me a book…

What a weekend! Friday night involved staying at Jen’s, we were have a file sharing/picture swapping/Scrubs watching party, me, Jen, and Keith. It was fortunate that we decided to do this, as Jen’s cell broke and Keith didn’t know where her place was.

Next morning Keith and I went to Spa World for a workout at the gym and then a quick dip in the baths. Then we met up with Vincent and Victor in Osaka, and headed on our way to Himeji Castle. Himeji’s quite impressive to see, a huge castle, you can go inside the walls and even to the top floor of the main tower. A couple pictures on my webalbum, and more when I steal the ones from the others.

Dinner was in Namba… we didn’t go to the place with the fried cheese balls, it was too busy, so we went to the place above it… which had bacon and cheese wrapped mochi… mmmm sooo good. Then some karaoke, and another night at Jens.

Don’t get offended if I seem absent-minded
Just keep telling me facts and keep making me smile
Don’t get offended if I seem absent-minded
I get tongue-tied…

Sunday I started on my solo quest to Tokyo… got there an hour or 2 before the first Bloc Party concert, so just went straight there. Spent the night in a capsule hotel, which was interesting… I took a few pictures, they’ll be posted soon. Looked around Tokyo a bit on Monday morning, unfortunately there wasn’t a lot to see, I’d already toured Tokyo quite a bit, so off to Nagoya.

Nagoya was a bit brutal to find the concert, I got lost many times. After the show I met up with Victor and we went to an isakaya for dinner. Good food, chicken wings, shrimp crackers, and fried cheese, then I spent the night at Victor’s, which was very nice of him. Next morning Victor had to get up early, so I was going to tour around Nagoya for a bit. But everything was closed and I was tired, so I went home for a nap, where I dreamt I was a fish like Nemo getting attacked by a giant version of Sebastian the crab from The Little Mermaid. And then I went to the final concert.

Ok, so the concerts were excellent. The opening band in Tokyo I don’t know the name to, but they were British, and the lead singer was a black woman playing electric bass… I shoulda bought their CD, I have to figure out who they are. The opening band for the other two shows was a Japanese band called Monobright, their music was alright, the lead singer was very… excited… and whenever he wasn’t singing he had a Buckley’s face going on.

Tokyo’s show was extremely moshy, and I learned a valuable lesson (thankfully not the hard way) about double knotting your shoes before a concert. Nagoya and Osaka were a little better, I was very center stage, two rows from the front for both those shows. At the Osaka show I was even talking to a girl from Winnipeg and her friend from Wales, they were trying to bribe their way to the front with drinks haha.

What are you holding out for?
What’s always in the way?
Why so damn absent-minded?
Why so scared of romance?

The music was awesome, of course they played all the big songs from both albums, and my own favorite, This Modern Love, but I was hoping for more variety between shows, and more of their less popular songs… the only song different between the shows was Two More Years added at Nagoya.

Then I went home and downloaded the new Arcade Fire album…

And now I’m back home, sleep deprived, dreaming every night, 117 hours left of work, and 3 weeks, 2 days left of Japan… Future events include hiking, souvenir shopping, and spending the night with the monks in a mountain temple. Though I should be careful, my horoscope this week was foreboding…: "In a tragic twist of fate, you'll be overwhelmed this week by both a sense of fear and a pack of wolves”…

Do you want to come over and kill some time?
Do you want to come over and kill some time?
Tell me facts, tell me facts, tell me facts, tell me facts…
Throw your arms around me…