The Personality of Cities

I was strolling along Manhattan the other day in the wrong direction, as usual.  The snow was beating against my sad, limp excuse for an umbrella as i used it to shield my face from the headwind.  I got lost in China town again, and I managed to use the most unnecessarily expensive route via the subway because every time I thought I was close to my destination I got off only to realize that I was far as fuck.

But like any city I'm not accustomed to, the transportation becomes muscle memory with routine use.  This is assuming I have muscles (I hardly believe it myself, but I do!).  During my stay in Tokyo, I noticed the city was planned out with various side streets that led to more side streets on the sides of streets.  You can gain your bearings pretty easily for routes you frequent.  But— that is only a select few areas.  I've wandered over 4 hours through Tokyo suburbs at night following the wrong set of train tracks with a beer and cigarette to light my way.  I considered sleeping in a playground and feared i would startle locals in the area.  Luckily, I scrounged up some broken Japanese to ask a police officer standing outside his outpost how to get home.  He put his guard up when I approached him initially until he realized I was lost and trying to get home. He proceeded to happily pull out a map and gave me directions (THAT I UNDERSTOOD!).  And the second time, well, I don't know why I thought I knew where I was going after my first journey.  This was the flaw of going out in a city that shuts down their trains in the early hours of the next day.

There is also another thing that brews in highly populated areas, and that is the strange.  Maybe not necessarily strange —more different.  It seems that it is in human nature to try and prove one's unique ability; ranging from, the ostentatious fashion to the projecting personality.  Some people seem to dislike being categorized as ants buzzing around doing ant things.

Or cat things

That being said, I am one of those people (not a master cat trainer unfortunately).  I desperately try to stand out otherwise I have this gut feeling of being lost inside humanity.  I don't want to be a grain of sand in the hourglass, I want to be the one staring at it from the outside.  This is why i love to create.  It is an ability to say "Hey i'm something"  and even if it is a small something... it's better than nothing.

However, not everyone wants to show off.  Introverts exist in the background of all our lives.  They peacefully try to co-exist in-between the big acts.  Carefully crafting their own little worlds for themselves to live in.

Do I think everyone needs to prove something? No, not unless they want to prove something.  I have my own reasons for doing what I do.  Don't you?

It is up to all of us to lead our own lives.  I think the biggest thing I've learned by living is that...you should be living for whatever it is you enjoy.  Not what someone else enjoys, not what you "should" enjoy, but what makes your face flicker in content and passion.  Even if that means letting cats perch upon your head in public.

-Joe

A little flicker of home

I just woke up, and in my hometown, that would be normal.  Except it is the equivalent of 8:00 pm here.  This is because in honor of my 21st birthday celebration  a concert was the plan to perpetuate the drunken harmonics of sound.

Firstly, we saw a few bands from Okinawa.  My first impression was, holy shit they remind me so much of home.  The music scene ranged from similarities with So Cal' punk, to New Jersey Ska styled licks.  It was a pretty homely feeling, especially when seeing a bunch of people skanking in the middle of Shibuya Japan, it brings back memories of New Jersey.  The venue, branded "Milky Way"  was very laid back and people would jump all over the stage dancing (one song had a hilarious choreographed dance that the crowd all knew) and they even managed to crowd surf despite the size of the venue (which is small).  There were times where multiple people would sandwich each other and they'd be carried into the crowd like some mangled mutant being.  My friend was able to converse around but i just smoked cigarettes to pass my awkward language alienation.  Though, i thought it was funny when i tried to reach in between to guys to get to the ash tray and they other one jumped 30 feet away because it scared him.

Initially our plans to meet up with many people after this concert to go somewhere till the trains started back up again around 5 am.  Yet,  everyone backed out, or just didn't respond.  HELL WITH YOU GUYS, you are now the enemy.

we had great fucking night anyway, and decided to go off to another concert where our friends were playing at.  Yea, we concert hopped all the way to Shinkjuku to see our good ole' friends Hate no Hate and a little liquor.  One of the drummers bought us curry and the guitarist tried to give us a discount, ahh, they are so good to us!!  We love them!

 This being an all night concert it was very laxed, very chill with an awesome awesome range of music.  I was surprised how good all the bands were and the crowd was just as crazy as the last one.  The band that was playing when we walked in sang a lot of English lyrics, it was very nostalgic for me and they were a pretty fucking good band in my opinion too.

I was approached by a foreigner, he asked me in japanese, if i well...spoke japanese, and his accent was obviously not Japanese.  So i just responded in English and we chatted for a while. He was very drunk, and from Australia, takes pictures of one band that was playing tonight.  He tried to get with 2 Japanese girls, and for a while he had one under each arm and was dancing obstructively in front of us.   Then he ditched one of them and tried to make a move to the other but was flat out rejected many a time, ha ha.  The ditched girl was very lost and confused looking.  After rejection he passed out leaning on the wall.  His expression read like his brain stopped functioning and he had 1 little brain cell chugging along all the neuron tubes. Eventually that brain cell got tired and he fell to the ground, i was surprised he managed to stay standing for that long.  The other girl that he ditched came to his rescue with some tea, and he immediately passed out on her shoulder.  After regaining the ability to walk, he tried to take her outside.  He failed as you may have thought.

My one question is,  why was this one fellow in biker shorts  walking around hitting things with drum sticks all night?

Dancing by the Shinkansen

Yes, i love to dance.

i don't know why i was holding my ear at the end but ill just say it was part of the dance.

enjoy!

Stars replaced with lights and signs

ooooh my god my stomach has a giant expanding riceball filled with curry and chips
why have i eaten this much'

so last night was quite the experience, my friend tequila and i went to another concert.
Tequila became the life of the party as it starting whoring itself around the room.  It also decided it would be funny if it randomly dropped on my foot as soon as i bought it.  I was in pain, but it didn't break!!! wooo~

 The concert had all you can eat candy.  Someone kept giving me the really odd flavors thinking it would be funny.  I don't think regurgitated wasabi flavored taffy is funny.  especially if its on your shoes, no?

Anyway,  we came to see one band, and they were really friendly.  They also really liked tequila so i shared it and watched the reactions of half their faces go like "ITS STRONG" -Except the drummer, who claims that him being puerto rican allows him to drink straight tequila like it was water.  We went out drinking with them at this restaurant afterward and decided to wander around Shibuya all night until the trains start back up again at 5 am.  We met many friends, especially infront of convenience stores until we were shoo'd out by the manager.  I tried to skateboard and failed miserably because it was on a hill.  I think i have weak knees.

im slowly getting better at japanese,
but it is very.
very.
slow.

i have to buy more cigarettes, curse all.

-joe