October 29th, 2004 13:50 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Howard Hughes" by RIDE.
Feeling: full and sleepy.

Pumpkin pie kicks so much ass, you guys.

My girlfriend rules.

I need a nap.

October 29th, 2004 09:12 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Playstar Vista" by Supercar.
Feeling: skinny?

I've hardly played any games at all lately. I've been so tired when I get home that I can barely keep my eyes open. Sunday I should be able to spend some quality time with GTA. Cory is already neck deep in it. He bought the strategy guide and I swear it's an inch thick. It's massive. But it simply reflects how HUGE this game is. He was telling me tons of stuff that he's done in the game and I'm looking forward to it.

Supercar fucking rules.

It's way too warm outside for October 29th. It's in the high 70's today and humid. That's crazy.

I'm a bit bummed because I won't be signing up for the level 3 Japanese class. There's only 5 classes that session and due to my going to Japan and also Greensborough, I will miss three of the five classes. If It was on Wednesdays, I would only miss two of the classes. I would probably still take the class in that case. But I still have the books and the worksheets and I will be able to study with Maria, Chris and Anna. Yuka, of course is a huge help. She was quizzing me on Katakana last night and I finally have that set completely memorized.

People in my office have gone NUTS this year for Halloween. I was working late last night before class and witnessed Dustin attaching tons of cardboard boxes to his cubicle. He wouldn't say what it was for, though. I came in this morning and found another set of cubicles completely covered by a GIANT blue tarp and they've converted the entire area into a huge camp. And me? I'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I've had a serious creative block for Halloween the last few years. I didn't go through the effort of finding a costume just for the office. Besides, Seals and I are going to watch Saw tonight and I would feel silly wearing something to a movie like that.

Let's see..... I got into some hot water with my band mates about what I said in my journal last week. I didn't feel like anything I wrote was new or even surprising, but I admit that posting it on an on-line journal on my personal site was a poorly executed attempt at negative reinforcement. However, I meant what I said and I said what I meant. I have high standards for this band and I will voice my opinion if I feel they aren't met. Anyway, enough bullshit about my band.

Going to Jeff and Kim's party tomorrow night, which I'm extremely excited about. I owe so much to the two of them. Kim was my best friend back home and Jeff helped me get to Chicago, find and apartment, get me a job and got me to STAY in Chicago when I could have given up and gone back home. Anyway, they throw awesome Halloween parties.

Tomorrow I will get my hair cut, do laundry and carve a pumpkin. Sweet.

October 26th, 2004 09:55 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Friends In Flares" by Beaumont.
Feeling: dry and warm.

Let's see....... I got THREE new games yesterday. I ordered Katamari Damacy and Otogi 2 from ebgames on Monday, not realizing that I got free 1 day shipping, so that was a nice surprise. I rushed over to Circuit City right after work to pick up the new Grand Theft Auto. Also got a copy for Dave and delivered it to his house. He now owes me lunch. Awesome. I played Katamari Damacy a lot. It's addicting and I love the soundtrack.

I had almost forgotten that the new GTA came out yesterday until I went to Gamespot. I haven't been as excited for this one as I'm not a hip-hop or rap fan whatsoever and I wasn't at all excited about the soundtrack. Gamespot posted all the songs from each radio station and my jaw dropped when I saw "Fools Gold" from the Stone Roses on there. I really don't know what to think about that. Luckily it's on the only radio station that I will listen to in the entire game. That's a shame, though. Of well. And why is there only Double Pro Logic II this time and no DTS? That sucks. The game is the same as ever. The graphics are slightly better but you can tell that the PS2 is really showing it's age. I drove around for a long time last night. The game is freaking HUGE this time. But I'm already noticing graphical glitches left and right. But whatever. I'm sure I'll get into killing people soon enough. I still think having to eat food and work out is stupid. We'll see how much it takes away from my killing sprees.

October 25th, 2004 11:05 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Take It Easy, My Brother Charlie" by Kahimi Karie.
Feeling: sore. hahahaha

I had a nice weekend. Friday night I went with Seals to see The Grudge. Now, I've seen all 4 of the Japanese original Juon films, and I can honestly say that for an American remake, The Grudge is not that bad. Seriously. Yeah, Sarah Michele Gellar is pretty bland, but it's actually pretty good and pretty creepy. John and I knew exactly what to expect (he's seen the original 4 as well) and we were really happy to see the audience freaking out the way they were. That's pretty cool. I hope it gets people to go watch the originals. The crowd HATED the ending, which John and I laughed at because we knew it would end that way. But if you're looking for a good scare, go see The Grudge.

I met up with Diana at the Empty Bottle to see The Assassins. She had a spare ticket and I had planned on going anyway. They sounded a little weird this time. The mix, I mean. By the last song (which was new), they sounded like themselves. I dropped her off at Lucky Strike and went home. I didn't sleep well at all. Damn you, Kayako and Toshio!!!

Saturday I cleaned. I took my air conditioners out of the windows. Stella ran face first into the window in my bedroom. Note to self: cat is either stupid, or suicidal. Keep windows closed at all times.

Lisa came over and I cooked dinner. It was awesome. The plum sauce I bought for the stir fry is good, but it needs a little kick. Some red pepper would work well. We watched Hero and Hellboy and I drank 3/4 of the bottle of pear sake she brought.

I spent Sunday morning with Yuka. Then met up with Swati, who was in town visiting some relatives. We had lunch at Clarke's and went to some vintage clothes stores. I bought the new book of "Scooter Girl" at Chicago Comix. The scooter ride there and back was awesome. Perfect fall weather. I came home and took a cat nap with my cat and then started playing Fatal Frame 2 again. I'm just in the mood to be spooked out. Oh, I got some great pumpkin spice candles from Target and a candle holder in the shape of a huge haunted house. It's RAD. Yuka helped me with my homework and I started the final chapter of Battle Royale.

October 22nd, 2004 13:05 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Porcelain" by The Brother Kite.
Feeling: happy

October 20th, 2004 11:08 hours CST
Currently listening to: "White Horses" by Kitchens of Distinction.
Feeling: exhausted

The show last night was probably our worst ever, in my opinion. Things started off ok. We were joking around and The Dears caught our sound check and immediately came up and introduced themselves and said they loved our song. We hung out with the guitar player and drummer for a while and had some laughs. Then the usual happened. My band mates drank too much and started acting retarded. It all went downhill from here. The Dears never mentioned our name once, so everyone thought they were the last band. That pissed me off. So we had to bust our asses to get on stage as fast as we could. Cory lost his grip while helping me get my pedal board on stage and shit went flying everywhere. All my volume settings on my distortion pedals were fucked up. Our set was just sloppy. It was recorded and I don't even want to listen to it. Some friends of the band were saying absolutely ridiculous shit at full volume. So was Cory. It just drives me nuts that I have to do 95% of everything for this band and then I get treated to unprofessional crap from my own band and their friends simply because they can't behave themselves when they drink. Yeah, it's fun and I laugh at some of it, but I draw the line when we get on stage. Maybe I'm just jaded. I don't know. All I know is that I was embarrassed to be on that stage last night and I just wanted to go home. I tried to keep my composure afterwards. I had some seriously drunk people in my face praising the show and our sound. Cool as that was, I just didn't care. I can't suck it up and accept their compliments the way I should when I felt my performance and the bands performance isn't worth their praise.

Maybe I'm just saying this in this manner because I've only had 3 hours of sleep. I got an email from Taka of Hartfield last night. They are going to try to tour the US this spring. They want to play with us and I'm so excited about the idea, however I don't know what to tell them because right now I seriously doubt my bands ability to pull off anything so organized. That is, unless I arrange the entire thing, which I'll have to do anyway.

I just want to curl up in bed with my babies and listen to the sounds of a typhoon. But since I can't do that just yet, I'll just eat a ton of pocky.

October 18th, 2004 17:08 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Modern Girl" by Sing-sing.
Feeling: busy.

This day has been nuts. Busy busy busy. Yuka helped me with my homework this morning. High tech modern romances are so cool. I've eaten too much pocky.

Friday I went to Darkroom to drop off flyers and tickets for our show. It was 9:00 and hardly anyone was there. I talked with Nicole and Miguel for a while. I then went to Diversey Rock 'n' Bowl and had a blast with Tobias, Yasemin, John, Lisa, Jake Ayca and a few others. We only played one game because there were so many of us on the lane. We went back to Darkroom, taking a brief stop at Tuman's becuase Darkroom had a giant line outside of it. Tobias managed to get us inside for free. It was like being with a celebrity. Everyone asked me about Japan and I just about lost my voice. I got donuts on the way home. My late night drunk food.

I woke up rather late on Saturday and managed to get one load of laundry done, so I actually had clean underwear that day. I picked up Yasemin and Tobias and we went up to Mitsuwa. They LOVED this place. The immidetly grabbed shopping baskets and went wild. Tobi, of course, went directly for the junk food isles. I was following close behind him. I didn't find the soy sauce potato chips I wanted, but I did get a lot of food. Instant miso soup rules. We got some ingredients for okinamiyaki and then went back to the city. Yasemin's condo is gorgeous. I would kill to have a kitchen that size. We made food and had a really good time. The sake seemed a bit funky to me. It didn't smell or taste quite right. Tobias and I tried to pronounce everything we could possibly read on the labels of all the food we bought.

We went over to River East to watch Arakimentari, a documentary on Araki, a Japanese photographer who is highly praised and was also once arrested for his photographic nudity. He was so manic. Bjork and Kitano Takeshi were two celebrities interviewed for this and I loved what they both had to say. Afterwards, we went back to Yasemin's and played some of the Xbox games I'm letting them borrow. She just won and Xbox through her work at a company picnic. They loved Burnout 3. Tobias was well into a game of Fatal Frame, with the lights off, by the time I took off at 2 am.

Sunday was nice. Band practice went well. Maria made a fantastic dinner of acorn squash with sweet potatos. It was very remenicent of Thanksgiving. We also had instant miso soup that I brought over. Didn't match, but who cares? I stopped by Rainbo for Nikola's "good-bye" party. It was a nice little get together. I talked with a few people and had a couple beers and went home before midnight.

Gahhhhhh I gotta get out of this office.

October 14th, 2004 15:24 hours CST
Currently listening to: "If You Want Me" by Chapterhouse.
Feeling: busy.

Oddly enough, when I got home from practice last night I DIDN'T mess with my phone all night. Well, I messed with it a little but I started to watch Hero and subtitles make it hard to do anything else besides watch the movie. I went over to the Double Door last night but they didn't have any tickets printed out for us. Grrrrrr. I stopped by the grocery to get cat food and got a bunch of stuff for myself and completely forgot about the cat food. Great.

After finally making a customer service call to T-Mobile, I got my text messaging problem fixed. It's a WEIRD system they're using, but don't worry. The 2 people I know in Japan will receive text messages for me just fine as soon as they're awake. Hahahahaah. The annoying thing is that I used the web interface to send names and numbers to my phone, but nothing happened. Hmmppphh. Gotta enter them in the old fashioned way. Man, that sucks.

I have Japanese homework to finish before class. :/ I wouldn't be so worried, but Dave is working late tonight as well and I don't want to be studying at my desk if he's in a bad mood, which he is. Cornelia worked from home today and turned off the alarm without waking him up. Nice.

Hmmmmm, I think the cheap Chinese food I had at lunch is trying to make a comeback.

October 13th, 2004 11:32 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Swim" by Ambulance Ltd.
Feeling: hungry.

John, Dave and I went to see Battles Without Honor or Humanity last night as part of the Chicago International Film Festival. This film is based in the 40's and was filmed in the 70's. Over all, I was a bit disappointed with the film. The actor who played Shozo Hirono was actually quite good. He goes from a scared, defeated soldier to a capable crime functionary and leader throughout the course of this first film, which is a series of four. There were several moments where the audience laughed and I wonder if it's simply because of the fact that this film was made in the 70's and is a bit dated. I doubt this movie would have been as funny at the time it came out. I know little to nothing of the Yukaza beyond what I've seen in films, but Kinji Fukasaku's (Battle Royale) biographer was there and explained that the Yakuza loved these films and praised them for their realism. The gun fights were pretty realistic and lacked any sort of Hollywood polish in their execution. Seeing the American soldiers trying to rape a woman in broad daylight at the market was just creepy.

I'm still dealing with some Amazon.com crap. They're assuring me that the charges will not post to my account and I was able to verify that no more charges were attempted after the order was cancelled on the 11th. What a pain in the ass.

I just got off the phone with Dan and we SHOULD have airiel CD's to sell at the Double Door on Tuesday.

I restored my iPod today after updating. Hopefully it's just a battery indicator problem and not the actual battery going dead.

October 12th, 2004 10:36 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Trash & Lemon" by Supercar.
Feeling: loved.

Well, I think I finally have the issue with Amazon resolved. They emailed me back, apologizing profusely and cancelled my original order. They had me place a new order, assuring me that I would still get any rebates available when I placed the original order and they also gave me free 1-day shipping. So it should be here tomorrow. Rock!

Chris joined the study group last night. It's nice having a new person there. Not that I have any problems with Maria or nuthin. It's just nice to have a new person to talk with and study with. He's a good guy. We met up at Clarke's on Belmont and I rode my scooter. She wanted to be ridden. She likes the cold autumn air as much as I do. Nice to wear my parka and new goggles while driving around with dead leaves dancing across the road.

I finished Juon: The Curse part II last night. No Major mysteries solved in this one, although I think the last scene is the start of the scene we see in Joun: The Grudge part I, where the 4 or 5 high school girls break into the house while it's between owners. And the bit with Kayako crawling? I think they perfected that in this one. It's pretty awesome.

Everyone should listen to Supercar. They rock.

I'm thinking of songs to play at the Double Door next week. We should play Thinktank and also Airtight Angels. Maybe Where It Belongs, as well.

I get to pick up my oddbaby from Yasemnin today at lunch. He's going to be named Hiroki-kun. Web cam battles with Stella will ensue immediately. I HAD to play with Stella last night just to calm her down. I don't play with her enough anyway and I think that's making her fat. She no longer jumps up onto the papazan chair to get her mouse the way she used to. :/ I may get her a new pet house/chair thing this weekend. They had some at PetSmart last night on sale when I was there getting cat food.

John and Dave and I are seeing Battles Without Honor or Humanity tonight. It's part of the Chicago International Film Festival. I hope to see this one on Saturday.

Anything else? Hmmmmmmm oh! Kinsey is coming out soon. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he founded the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, which is one of the leading study centers of sexuality in the country. This is right in my home town, and yes, I took part in a few research studies when I was in college at IU. One of which involved getting my... uh... bits and pieces hooked up to some monitoring equipment while they made me watch porn. I'm not kidding. They would play scenes of kittens in the wild or something in between the different porn scenes. I'm not kidding about that either. No, I did not develop a sexual attraction to kittens. :P

October 11th, 2004 08:56 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Yayli" by Loop Guru.
Feeling: deaf.

I had a nice weekend. I wandered inside Virgin for a while, looking at DVD's that I want to buy. I didn't buy anything, though. I didn't have a lot of money his weekend. More on that later. Lisa met up with me and we watched Shaun Of The Dead, which had us laughing so hard that we were crying. The ending gets a little serious, but the actors all do a great job changing their emotions like that. I was impressed. We went for drinks at Trader Vics. I had two Navy Grog's, which is a tropical drink with lots of stuff in it, including rock candy. I'm not kidding. She asked me lots of questions about my future and I have some big decisions coming up, I feel.

I didn't do much on Saturday. I finally messed with the custom soundtrack option for the Xbox and Burnout 3 just became a lot cooler. There's something really awesome about crashing into cars with Underworld's "Pears Girl" blasting through your speakers. The show in Mt. Prospect went really well. I was initially a bit put off by the fact that we were playing last out at a tiny bar in the suburbs, but the show turned out to be really fun. Cory and I had a really good dinner at a local Japanese restaurant. I was impressed with the amount of Kana on the menu and the lack of English. Again, I'm frustrated. I can read these words but I don't know what they mean. I want to be able to TALK! The waitress picked up on the fact that I was a student when I said "sumimasen!" when we ran out of sake.

We didn't get on stage until 12:30. Cory was amazingly drunk. I watched him do a "tequila screamer". This was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen in my life. A tequila screamer involves snorting the salt up your nose, downing a shot of tequila, and then squirting a lime into your eye. I was almost on the floor, I was laughing so hard. I asked him "doesn't that hurt???" and he said "yeah, a little". The guy is insane.

We did a near-10 minute rock out at the end of Kiss Me Sadly. It was so much fun. I opened my eyes and discovered that everyone in the bar was suddenly right in front of the stage. That has never happened to me before. If we can pull that off at the Double Door next Tuesday...... wow.

I got up really late on Sunday. My ears were still ringing. I managed to clean up my apartment and play some more Burnout 3. Go figure. I made beef stew and the whole apartment smelled great. This weather is fantastic. Just cool enough that you can leave the windows open and wear a sweater. I may take the air conditioners out next weekend.

I had a great night with Yuka last night. I don't often drink when I'm at home, but it was fun. Still haven't opened the Yamazaki yet.

I checked my account balance when I got up and immediately assumed that my debit card had been hacked again. I called my bank and they explained to me that Amazon.com had charged me the same amount of money SIX TIMES. This was the cell phone and calling plan I bought last week that has yet to be shipped to me. Obviously something is wrong with their computers. This time I didn't have to go through all that mess like I did a few months ago. They were able to credit 5 of the 6 charges to my account right there and I already have that money back. That's awesome. I can actually buy lunch today. Iidesune!

October 7th, 2004 10:00 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Slow Hands" by Interpol.
Feeling: un-hung over, actually.

Wow, nothing makes you feel old like getting your three month prescription of propecia filled.

Went to SmartBar last night. Wrapped up in my parka and my new vintage goggles that I bought in Shibuya. Perfect combination for a chilly scooter ride at night. I talked with a bunch of people. Jason cleans up well and looks good in a suit and tie. I was also wearing a tie. Rare, I know. Danced a little. My back is so messed up. I was going to make an appointment for a massage but then I realized that Darlene, in my Japanese class, runs a spa in Bucktown. Maybe she'll give me a discount or something if one of her people works on my back.

October 6th, 2004 11:26 hours CST
Currently listening to: "I Mean Love" by Love Psychedelico.
Feeling: warm on the inside.

Yuka uploaded a bunch of CD's for me and now I FINALLY can hear this Love Psychedelico album again. It reminds me of her apartment and getting ready to go out for the day. Very cool!

Ok, something around here smells like baby powder. Which also means that something around hear smells like poo, since I associate those two smells rather closely. Not that I want to, mind you, but you can hardly have one without the other.

On the subject of things that aren't poo, Yas and Tobi read my journal for Japan and now want to get together to make okinomiyaki some night. Awesome. We'll probably go to Mitsuwa to get some final ingredients. They've never been there before anyway, so it will be fun. This will be occasion to open up one of my bottles of Yamazaki.

There's something a little freaky about watching someone on a webcam as they turn concerned and then tell you they just felt an 5.6 earthquake. Everything's ok, though.

I ordered a new cell phone and service plan from t-mobile via Amazon yesterday. I'm very excited. I'll finally be able to text message people and be able to understand who is sending me text messages. I don't care if work was paying for my cell phone and service before. It's not worth it to me to have to put up with a terrible phone and no text access. Pppptttthhhpppppp!

October 5th, 2004 10:00 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Number One" by Chaz Jankel.
Feeling: content.

I did lots of updates on the airiel site this morning. There are several new shows listings and 4 new studio clips. The big Japan entry is finally done, but I warn you, it's LENGTHY. The photos are linked in there so you have a vague idea of what's going on. Here you go. Have fun.

October 4th, 2004 17:05 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Dream Another Dream" by Rialto.
Feeling: rushed.

Ok, the big Japanese journal entry is being double checked, but is pretty much done. Sorry it took me so long, but it's LONG. I'm sure most of you will just skim it and click on the picture links anyway.

Friday night we played up at the Rock Shop near Milwaukee. We hadn't practice in so long so we met up at 3:00 and quickly played through 40 minutes of songs and then drove up there in the rain. I was so tired and I nearly fell asleep at the wheel more than once. Not good. I hate that feeling!

The show was a bit disappointing. They made us play last for some dumb reason. All the other bands got to pick when they played but they wouldn't let us have a say. Whatever. Our set was ok and we did this really cool psychedelic outro for Kiss Me Sadly. I kept playing and eventually got the other boys back up on the stage. Awesome. We crashed at Dan and Maria's afterwards, which was really nice of them. Despite the freezing temperature in the living room, I managed to sleep rather well on that couch with a sleeping bag around my feet.

I went to bed right when I got home. I got up and played the GREATEST FREAKING GAME EVER. Burnout 3 has taken over my life. It's really fun. The only things that suck about it are the DJ and the HORRIBLE soundtrack. It's all emo rock crap. Every song sounds the same. I can't stand it. So, I turned all that stuff off. I need to figure out how to do the Xbox's custom soundtrack function. The dolby digital "woooooshes" of cars passing by is cool as hell, but I need to some music. Like, Underworld or early Prodigy.

I did almost nothing but laundry, Burnout 3 and a bit of cleaning on Sunday. Awesome.