This past “bachelor summer” I bought an inexpensive classical guitar for myself to play. I haven’t really played guitar before (I’ve played keyboard and bass a bit), but Koa has taken a year of lessons and it looked so fun and sounded great. I thought I could have some fun noodling around on the guitar too. And yes, after watching a bunch of YouTube videos and practicing a bit, I could actually play some chords that don’t sound half bad!
I realize that with my current level of commitment I won’t ever excel at guitar, but even at my beginner/hobbyist level there is a lot of value for me in playing my ~5 chords. Look out, here comes a list!
Playing my guitar:
exercises a new part of my brain
improves hand-eye coordination
stretches out the fingers
is relaxing!
I also like to goof around on my bass guitar which is also fun. The problem is that I need to plug into an amp, and I don’t have a proper bass amp anymore. It just doesn’t sound right going through a tiny practice amp.
But what is neat about playing both guitar and bass is that you can sort of piece things together between the two instruments, and when things click and make sense, it’s a nice thing. It’s kind of obvious since they are essentially the same instrument, but it is still really satisfying to make the connection.
Satisfying enough to bring a huge smile to my face.
Just returned from a 4.4 mile run. There is a huge storm coming tomorrow so I wanted to get a run in this evening. When I left the house it was barely drizzling but after about 5 minutes, I was running in the rain. I splashed through a few puddles and got my feet soaked. I thought it would suck.
One common thought that enters my mind as I am running my daily route is a kind of fun way to think of how my mind and body are related. In Haruki Murakami’s book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Vintage International), he compared the human body to a beast of burden, in that if you stress your muscles, they will complain at first but then eventually comply to the extra effort. I have for a long time thought of my body as some kind of machine or robot, sort of like one of those Japanese giant robots, where my brain is the pilot of this running machine, and I have to keep watch on the functions of the different parts of the machine.
The pilot keeps tabs on the status of my knees, ankles, leg muscles in general, breathing, and hydration level. For the most part, I let my body run on auto-pilot, never needing to actually adjust my speed (except when crossing intersections), and just monitor the statuses. My breathing also never really changes except when I go on a long uphill. It’s actually fun to notice that my body requires more oxygen, and imagine the “pilot” order the body to inhale and exhale with more force and more speed. Then at the top of the hill, the body goes into a “recovery mode” and the heart and breathing rate drop back down to normal.
Since I have been nursing a sore knee the past month or so, the pilot’s control center is a little more lively in that his status displays show some damage to the right knee. I am visualizing a picture of my body as if it were viewed by a heat-sensitive night-vision-goggle type of thing or MRI. When my knee hurts, that part of the scan is glowing red. And sometimes my shoulder would get a little sore before it loosens up, and I’d imagine the pilot in my brain having to monitor that part of the machine as well.
It’s really bizarre what goes through my mind sometimes! But I think it’s actually kind of fun too, and just another aspect of running that makes it so enjoyable to me. I never know where my thoughts are going to take me, but I always end my run feeling way better than at the beginning.
Last night I visited my friend Mikey for our eagerly awaited “Idol Nite”. It’s well-known that Mikey is a HUGE Morning Musume fan – he’s traveled to California and NYC to see them in concert, owns so many DVDs and CDs and is generally super Momusu Otaku. On the other hand, I don’t know much about Momusu, but I do love SCANDAL, which is sort of like an idol band, in that they also have their legions of groupies. Mikey likes SCANDAL as well, so we decided to get together and geek out and watch videos and variety shows starring Morning Musume, SCANDAL and whatever else Mikey had in his iTunes library.
Sparkling Saké
Of course it’s also a great opportunity to enjoy some saké, so we had a variety to drink. Plus beer and snacks and we were all set. When I arrived at Mikey’s house, I was surprised to see his livingroom was all prepared with Momusu photobooks to peruse, Sayumi fans diplayed on the tables, and even glowsticks at the ready! I used two of the glowsticks for mood lighting in the Fuchiko photos as you can see below. Yes, I had to bring over Fuchiko (フチ子) for the festivities! I’m glad I did because we had a lot of fun taking photos (before we got too drunk).
Sayumi + Fuchiko
I had two favorite shows of the evening. The first one was of an elaborate prank played on Morning Musume, where all the girls spent the night in this small room, but it was actually a fake room built on a stage of an outdoor concert venue. The girls were brought there late at night, and it was so dark, they just thought it was a regular hotel type room with tatami. The next morning, Morning Musume fans filled the seats and then when everyone was ready, the walls of the fake room fell away, and all the girls woke up to a huge surprise. It was a little awkward but really funny. Then the music started playing and they had to sing a couple of songs while still half asleep and in their pajamas! They actually got into it pretty quickly and did a good job.
The second show I really enjoyed was of SCANDAL revisiting the old neighborhood where they used to hang out before they got big. It was funny to find out that they had to buy their outfits at Daiei, and their budget was 1,000 yen per outfit! They said they spent most of their money on studio time. They also stopped by the hostess bar, where they took their name from. The manager of the club came out and they confessed to him that they took the name for their band from the club, and apologized. The manager said he already knew! It was pretty funny. I really want to check out those locations where they hung out and even get a picture outside Scandal club!
Anyways, besides Morning Musume and SCANDAL, we watched some AKB48, some other HP! spin-off groups, and even some older Morning Musume when the girls were all different. It was so much fun, I learned so much, and there is so much more to watch that I am looking forward to Idol Nite 2!!
I have been in love with Japan for a very long time now, I think it started when I was 12 and I saw the miniseries Shogun on television. I was fascinated with the setting and the characters. I may be mistaken, but the character thought that … was super cool, and I believe the character Lady Mariko was my first crush. Ever since then, I have been a Japanophile.
From that time until my mid-twenties, I spent a lot of time watching Japanese dramas, listening to Japanese bands, and visiting Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. But it wasn’t until I visited Japan that it really changed my life.
In 1995 I went on vacation with my parents to Tokyo. It was about a 5-day trip, and my parents acted as tour guides for me since they had visited Japan a few times before. We saw so many cool sights including Shinjuku, Tsukiji, Asakusa, Nikko, and Kamakura. It was such an amazing trip! Tokyo was everything I thought it would be: fast-paced, crowded, clean, and modern. It’s funny to think about it, but I remember feeling like that should be my home.
Tsukiji Breakfast. That’s me at 27 years old! My dad is the guy wearing sunglasses.
And when we returned back to the States, I felt what I think is homesickness. Isn’t that weird? But even though I was only in Japan for 5 days, I missed it so much and I was in a blue mood for a couple weeks.
At that time I was working at UCLA and was enjoying my life but after my trip I knew I had to move to Japan. It was a certainty. I didn’t know how I would do it, but I decided to give myself half a year to move there, and after I made the decision, my blue mood was instantly replaced with excitement.
More on this story to come…
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