Sometimes, I wonder if the people at my school read my blog o_0

The most randomest thing just happened. The fesitval took place again today. I was bored, so I figured I'd go down there to check things out. It was past 4:30, so I missed the chance to see the dance performance. I hung out around my Egyptian friend's stand for a bit, and happened to bump into somebody I met at church! (that wasn't the random thing, but it still is random). He's an exchange student from the Phillipines. He was there with a friend who is also an exchange student at another college and a fellow student at his school in the Phillipines. We chatted for a bit, and we'll be seeing each other in church tomorrow.

The Egyptian stand is right across from the Korean stand where my friends were at. They called me over and gave me some free food (that's why you need friends who work at the stands ^_^V). I was standing there when these two boys walked up to me (this is the random thing). They were from the dance club (I recognized one of them from the dance performance yesterday). They wanted to know why I had stopped coming. I didn't really give them an answer for the "why?" (There are so many reasons, I'm not even sure why I stopped going). One of the boys was like "dansu yarou. Let's dance!" which communicated to me that they wanted me to come back again. I explained to them that I have tutoring on Wednesdays now when the dance club meets, but I would talk to my tutor about it.

It was a little scary being "cornered" by them, lol, but that's probably only because I feel guilty about ditching the club. But, I'm very glad they bothered to tell me to come back. I'm curious about what made them tell me to come back. I had made up my mind that I'd only go back if someone from the club told me to, and now someone has, so I'm going back. ^_^ yay! Maybe now that the festival is over, we won't be learning the survival dance anymore. That's what my Korean friend who went with me the first day told me.

Rest of the videos

Here we go!

Err..maybe they were the pop dancers? I dunno. Girls in black hoodies we can call them, hehe.
http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=35OTOXKD18INB05B29TMU6TN21

http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1MLQ0I6SYH54Q2BYP2LNM5IKOB

I think this was the rock music group. Unfortunately, I was running out of memory, so I had to start taking snips of performances. >_<

http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2SEYRNGJH9E071PEDS5T6731TK

http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3E21Q0476QNAM0ZCGB6V4J9UBI

I can't tell which dance group they're from, so let's call them group of three, hehe.

http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=03MD67UBV1Y0L3M3HYJFAKW7LB

http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3A3057WBRAAI01F8XA3CJFWJW1

http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0HJSI5O0WKKZA2I14YADGLILWV

This is the retar *cough* the "Survival Dance" I was learning when I first joined the club. It's the reason I quit. My friend had told me it was a "hip hop" dance club, so, when I got there and realized I'd have to learn this duffy techno dance, I was like "see ya!". I think another reason I left was the language barrier. I was feeling like a bother to them since most of the time I was giving them blank stares. Of course, now I wish I had just stayed in there especially, from the looks of it, I could have just stayed in the back and hidden behind someone. >_< But if I had stayed in, I would have had my regrets anyway.

http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0Y47KLT7ZY8LS39640XH5907JF

http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3NNRQ83X6RBVY0YHFXD1ZUKK13

This is the part I learned while I was there.
http://s10.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2G78OK97UA79J0NMSSS7CU74HX

Rini, you need to come to my school! The dance club is awesome!

I went to the cultural festival around 12 today. I got it wrong. Thursday was set up day; today was when everything started. I tried food from the places where my friends were (Latin America-tacos, Indonesia-fried soba, Arabia-something fried with egg and potatos in it). O, good gosh, while I was at the Indonesian stand, I got caught by some woman who must have been from the school newspaper or something(I dunno who she was, but there was a guy with a camer with her). She asked if she could take my picture and ask me some questions. I don't even want to see the transcript for that "interview". I had trouble understanding one question which I think she was asking what I was doing at the school. There were the "how is Japan? Where you surprised when you came here?" questions. Then it was finally over and they took my picture. And I probably looked like a moron (and no, i didn't give the peace sign. that incescent peace sign, lol) After that, I ate some food from my Egyptian friend's stand (it wasn't the food he made. they weren't serving that yet), then hung out at the Latin American stand with my friend, Yumi, until she got her break. (she's actually latin American from Peru, but her grandfather was Japanese. That's why her name is Yumi). Cheima (the spanish guy) had shown up by then, so the three of us got some food and ate it by the performance area. We got to watch two of our Korean friends perform several songs (one on alto sax, the other voice). They were both very good, but the third person didn't show up (she's my friend). Someone said her voice was swollen. Me and Yumi were so sad because on Wednesday we got her to sing a little bit for us. Her voice sounded REALLY good, and I was excited to hear her perform. ah, well T_T Yumi had to run back to work at the stand after the performance, so me and Cheima hung out a bit and talked about how much he, and everyone in Spain, hate Enricei Iglesias (they were playing music on loud speakers...and I know I probably butchered his name, but i'm too lazy to look it up). When we were leaving the performance area, I bumped into two of the girls I had met when I was in dance club. I introduced Chema to them (they were quite happy i remembered their names ^_^V), and when he said "yoroshiku" they were like "Huh...I love you?", haha! I caught him when he was finishing off a cookie, so he was mumbling with his hand in front of his mouth. They told me they'd be performing later today with the dance club and I should come. I told them I would, and I did. Chema came, too. It was lots of fun, and I have a lot of videos. The people in that club are awesome dancers. The Jazz dancers http://s12.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2EEWGI5HXK5SQ06E1487C1CHD2

http://s12.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1MS0OY0YAK3M83NM166LG63RO9

These are the two girls I met earlier in the day who told me to come. I met all four of them the first day I went to dance club. I missed what exactly the name of their group was. Since their names are Mari, Mariko, Marin (yeah, a lot of Mari's. We had a good laugh about then when they first introduced themselves to me), and the fourth girl's name ends with "ko", so I'm calling them
"Marinko"
(I know this song they danced to. I love it so much. BennieK (sp?) is the group it's from I believe)
http://s12.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=25KROYVJHNOQC1Q9CGE97482AL

http://s12.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0ITS69J7PB1HV2TBMXCD0XGBUJ

Break
http://s12.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3ATGTYU0F9GG816VJEXLNO4D4T

Cool dance
http://s12.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2UQCAELY047LZ0SWRZ9OF88CL4

I want to post more videos, but yousendit is being annoying right now.

It's so pink!

I just came back from a concert. No, it's wasn't H!P. It was The Pink Panda! I watched a music video and a live from them in August. I checked their lists of lives this week and saw there was one in Yokohama, so I headed down there today. It was lots of fun because it was a really small venue (probably less than 50 maybe even 40 people), and, even though they've been on tv, the band is probably still pretty unknown. I am guessing this from the size of the venue, the fact that anyone who wanted to be was less than an inch from the stage, and people were even jumping onto the stage (while they were performing!) and jumping off into the crowd. Their fans are completely crazy! There was a very dangerous mosh pit of about 10 people going on right in front of the stage(I was right next to them, but there were 2 guys between me and them); I was worried someone was going to get killed. I had to laugh at one point because there was this one guy who jumped on to the stage ready to jump off into the crowd (what crowd?! It was 10 people in front of the stage!), two small girls (who he would have landed on!) saw him and ran away from the stage, so he had to kind of jump off to the side onto this guy. Smart girls...

It was cool because after the concert I went to the back to buy some of their stuff (their cd and a wristband). While I was getting my money out, the drummer came out to the table. The lady selling me the stuff told her what I was buying. She was really happy and handed it to me herself and shook my hand. I told her they were "saiko" (the best), and then, being brave, asked her if I could get her signature. I had brought my textbook (the same textbook I had DAI sign, so it's kind of becoming an autograph book), so I asked her to sign that. She told me the other members would be coming out, so I could wait if I wanted their sigs. I was only able to get the guitarist's (i love the star she had over her eye! It's so cool!), but that's ok. There's always next time.

There were several other bands playing along with them (they were the fifth band). I saw the band before and after them(i came late), and bought the cd of the former band. It was cheap, and I thought they were pretty good. (plus, they're indie. why not help em out?). The singer appreciated it. He came out to the table right after I had bought the cd. When the guy at the table told him I'd bought the cd, he shook my hand and thanked me. Another guy (who I'm guessing was his friend) shook my hand and thanked me, too.

Another holiday...already?

So today I found out we're having a four day weekend because the school is having a cultural festivalish type thing starting tomorrow. Did I mention I love Japan? We already had a 3 day weekend last week. Now we get four days off. Works for me. I'm not exactly sure what's going on because I haven't gotten a pamphlet about it yet, but I know a friend is performing on Friday. The dance club I was in for a short time was going to perform this week, too, so I guess Friday is a day full of performances. (Yes, I was actually in a dance club, but I quit because I would have been performing with them this friday. I've never danced in my life. There's no way you're getting me on a stage in front of the whole school after less than a month of practicing only 2 times per week.)

I think tomorrow is going to be a culture food day because two of my friends who are foreign students (Egypt & Peru) said they'd be serving food from their countries. I don't think I'm going to go near the food my Egyptian friend is serving. He was laughing today that it would be his first time making whatever dish it is. Lucky for him, he's in the middle of Ramadan, so he doesn't have to taste his own cooking.

I'll see if I can get some pictures and videos.

You look like a monkey...and you smell like one too!

(stupid me deleted my entire post and had to rewrite it >_<>
Tomorrow is a friend’s birthday, so I bought her a dvd of “Hitch” she said she wanted. I’ll give it to her tomorrow when I see her at lunch. She likes Will Smith. I asked her if she had seen “Fresh Prince of Belair(sp?)”, but she hadn’t heard of it. Maybe I’ll try to find a dvd of that since it’s so hilarious. I loved that show growing up. It reminded me of my own family because we also had a cousin living with us during my childhood. Even the ages and genders of the children were the same (oldest a girl, middle a boy, youngest a girl). And, yes, my cousin was just as crazy as Will Smith’s character.


How did my hair come out? Well, I basically paid 100 dollars to get my hair relaxed because he didn’t really style it. He dried it then used a straightening iron on it, so it came out dead straight in a very none stylish way. At least, he did a good job with the relaxing, but I’d be much better off doing the relax myself at home. Besides the fact that my mom can spend 9 dollars a box in the US (that can be used twice) and ship it to me, I also wouldn’t have to take an hour and a half trip (one way) out to Roppongi. Plus, I think the owner is crazy. o_0 He isn’t the one who did my hair (a Japanese guy named Ikko did it), but I heard him talking while he was cutting another customers her. It was things like “I know a man who can get me a gun. I am going to get a gun and shoot him”, “If he doesn’t give me my money, I am going to break into his apartment and smash all of his things”, etc. Maybe it’s all talk, but I’d just rather not be there. O, and he’s not Japanese by the way. He’s a huge black guy from the West Indies(I think). Speaking of him, he thought I was Japanese. o_0 I had been speaking in Japanese a little bit with Ikko, and the owner told me my accent sounded natural. He thought maybe one of my parents was black and the other was Japanese, and I had grown up in the states or something. But I told him both my parents were Jamaican.

Just got in...

*waves* Hi Barbara! Hi Crystal! haha, I guess you guys know when my birthday is now, huh? Thanks for the message! And thanks so much to you both for helping to get this stuff straightened out with Avery. o_0

Well, today was a pretty full day. This morning I went to church. It was a lot of fun. The people there are very nice, and it's not that far from where I am. I'll probably be going back next week. There's quite a language barrier, though, because the sermon is in Japanese, lol! But today someone was translating for me. Quite a few of the people there speak english very well, or, at least, can say a little bit. Doesn't matter, though, because I'm suppose to be learning Japanese. They gave presents to the guests which turned out to be the new testament in Japanese. It's so cool, lol! I was looking through it when I got back to my dorm. Praying in Japanese during the service was very interesting, too.

O, and so after church, I figured I'd mosey on down to Kanagawa prefecture and stop by the Green Hall to see Goto Maki in concert! yay! I found awesome tickets at a ticket shop in Shinjuku. It was pretty expensive (ok, it was 14,800 yen), but I didn't work those countless hours of over time for nothing! And besides, just getting my hair relaxed in Roppongi was almost 10, 000 yen which luckily was a birthday present from my mom. *waves* ( ^_^) / If I can spend that much on my hair, I can definitely spend it on a concert I'll never get the chance to go to again after I get back to the US. And I was in the 10th row! It was so much fun. I'm going again! Yes! I'm going down to one of those tickets shops, getting another ticket, and going! Because it was just that awesome! And I'm going to make sure she notices me this time! I think I'll bring a sign that says "America loves you Maki" or something along those lines. Anything that will get her to stop and stare for a few seconds, lol! (I'll of course put it in Japanese).

Ok, I've got class, so I'm off to bed now. I leave you with a picture of my ticket and the goods that I bought at the concert (a fan and wristband). The writing on the wrist band says "hatachi" which means 20 years old. Maki turned 20 last month (hey, she can drink now...legally, haha, kidding), so it's the theme of her tour this fall it seems.


^_^V

Now that's what I call a birthday! w00t!

Train tickets to Yokohama and back...1580 yen
Ticket to H!P event...1800 yen
Getting to see Morning Musume, Biyuuden, Abe Natsumi, Nakazawa Yuuko, Iida Kaori, Yaguchi Mari, Ayaka, Yasuda Kei, and almost all of the rest of H!P in person from 50 feet away...AWESOME!

I just had the best birthday ever! Ok, so after I made that other post Saturday night, I went to jpop.com's forum and noticed a thread. It was about Bunkasai 2005 which is basically an event going on in Yokohama where H!P promotes awareness of the environment and stuff. I thought I might not have a chance to get in, but I got up early Sunday morning and went anyway. Getting the tickets were easy (I just bought at the train station outside the event), and getting a ticket to the main stage event was pretty easy, too. I just stood in a "very" long line and waited till I got up front and was handed a little yellow paper letting me into the performance at 3.

It was so much fun. It was like an anime convention except...it wasn't anime. It was H!P! yay! Except I couldn't find any merch to buy; I guess it wasn't there. But anyway, the performance was great because I basically got to see EVERYBODY in H!P; that is like 50 something people by the way! It started off with a skit featuring Morning Musume (and H!P kids as extras who just walked across the stage) where I'm guessing they were showing the importance of environmental conservation...I don't know. o_0 Then there was a game show type thing next where MM and other H!P members competed in (kaori's team won. yay!). Last, the magician who appeared on their show did some magic tricks (which unfortunately, I had seen every single one from the show). There was no singing except for one song Morning Musume did to promote the whole "save the planet" idea, but that's just fine with me! I just wanted to see them. The goddess herself wasn't there(aka. Goto Maki!), but I'm still planning to go ticket shopping. I'm so glad I got to this event because now I can be content no matter the outcome of concert going this semester. I've at least seen just about everybody. ^^V

O, and I'm probably not going to see DAI's final concert. The tickets went on sale at 10 am this morning, but the two online places I tried to buy it from are sold out. Those tickets must have sold out in like 5 minutes because I was online from 10:01. o_0 But I decided yesterday at the H!P event I didn't want to go.

Yesterday, you were allowed to stand at a distance and watch the performances before you went in (so even if you didn't get a ticket you could still see it. You just couldn't get closer). I was standing kind of far away, but it wasn't "that" far away. I couldn't even make out their faces; I had to watch the giant tv screen to see who was who. (luckily, when they opened the gates, I got in really close and could see them). Nippon Budokan is a HUGE place. I most likely will be very far away from the stage; I don't feel like wasting money, time, and energy for Ryo and Tomiko to be a dot on the stage. Not when I've been at a concert where they were 20 feet away from me. I don't think I will even buy tickets if I see them in a ticket shop. If they are good seats, I'm sure they'll be like 200 hundred dollars. (Well, I might, but I'm going to try waiting till litterally the last minute when they'll probably drop the prices. )

Now that I think about it, Tomiko can't hold her emotions in to save her life. She's going to be crying the whole time; I just know it (there's already lots of footage of her crying on stage for various reasons). I think I will just be mature and not go at all. I have the wonderful memories of seeing them in Dallas, Texas. I'm sure there are probably a lot of Japanese fans who have been fans for years that would be green with envy if I told them about my experience being a DAI fan. I think I got it all wrong. I'm not lucky that I came to Japan just when they were breaking up; I'm lucky because I came in time to see their new beginning. I'll save my money and energy for Ryo's new band and Tomiko's solo gig.

Lock and load boys...tomorrow...we're going ticket shopping!

Yeah, so tomorrow is my B-day right? And how am I going to spend it? Trapsing all over Tokyo in search of tickets...that's how!

Ok, not only did I NOT find (non-ridiculously priced) tickets to the Goto Maki concert in Saitama, I also found out she has a concert IN TOKYO! Well, actually I didn't 'find out' because I already knew about it; I had just forgotten. >_< gah! The concert was never announced on the official H!P website. I learned about it from a fan site. The concert still hadn't been posted on the official site after I got here, too. They must have just posted it on the official website a week or more ago. (stinkers!) The tickets went on sale on 10/1. Guess what else! I think they might be sold out already. o_0 I tried the Lawson Loppi and every single online store, but everything is sold out. The H!P website doesn't show the concert as "sold out". I'm guessing I'm going to have to do a walk in buy, but you can forget that. I'm probably going to get "ichiban tooi" tickets again like I got for Morning Musume. I'm going to just go to the other ticket resale shops in Tokyo and see what I can find.

I'm staring at this Abe Natsumi Saitama concert ticket I bought today. I'm debating about keeping it or trying to sell it back. I got it for less than the original ticket price at the Shinjuku resale shop, but they of course are all the way in the back. I'm thinking maybe if I go to a different store and act like I'm the original buyer, I can sell it back for the same price I paid (or maybe even make a profit...yeah right)What's annoying me is that she (o, by the way, it just hit Midnight. I'm officially 21 years old. In Japan, anyway) also has a concert in Tokyo next month. I don't know where that came from because it wasn't on the fan website; it must have just been posted on the official website. I probably will just go ahead and keep the ticket.

*sigh* Well, at least, the Biyuuden concert tickets still haven't gone on the market yet (though, they may have started the presale o_0). At least, I can try to be ready for those tickets.

T_T Life stinks!

I didn't get it! aaaah! All that time spent translating the stupid online application to sign up...wasted! I feel so depressed again. I was really hoping to get one of those tickets. I guess I'll have to wait for the general sale on Monday. Good thing it's a holiday, too, so I can camp outside the store till 10.

I hope I can find those Goto Maki concert tickekts at the ticket resale shop today. That might make me feel better. *sigh*

nooooooooooo!

It turned into a lot...which of course it would. It's DAI's last concert ever for goodness sake. Well, the notification period starts at 10 tomorrow and ends at 11 on Sunday. Crossing my fingers here! >_<

yeah! go me!

I am officially signed up to go to Do As Infinity's final concert at Budokan! yeah! I had got a link to Eplus online ticket selling store ( http://eee.eplus.co.jp/index.html ) from off daiforum a week ago. I went to the site again today to check on the ticket situation. They don't officially start selling them everywhere till the 10th, but I saw you could preorder them starting today. I had planned to just go to Shibuya 109 on monday to buy the tickets, but I thought "what the hay. why not try to preorder them?". And now I am sitting here an hour and a half later basking in the thought of sharing DAI's last moments on stage. ^___^V yay!
I just hope a lot of people don't preorder because it said, if that happens, the tickets are given out by lot. The preorder ends Thursday at 6pm. If it turns into a lot, I'll know by this weekend if I got a ticket. I guess that is good because, if I don't get a ticket, I can just go to Shibuya 109 like I'd originally planned.
I actually have no idea where in the stadium I'll be sitting...but the tickets are reserved and since I'm preordering...I guess I'll get the good seats right? The preordering only opened today at 12:00, and I'm coming only 5 hours later. O, well, good seats would just be an extra big bonus. As long as I'm inside, it's all good. ^^V

http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english = the best online translator ever!

*stabs bablefish*