Yo ho ho! What a great two days it has been.

Sunday morning, I woke up, talked to some lovely people online, and took a much needed shower. Since I've been able to tie my hair back, the greasiness can go unnoticed... which means that I can go for days without a shower. This time, it was a bit of a stretch and my hair would stay in any position I swept it into. When you sit up in bed and your hair doesn't fall into your face, you know something's wrong.

After a refreshing shower, I met up with my mom for an excellent lunch of ja-ja-men and mango pudding. Over lunch, she asked me "so, do you want to go get it now?" This "it" was the camera that she said I could have for Christmas for my struggles this year (and because I'm such a good little kid.) After some research, we had found the cheapest place to buy one and I knew exactly what she was talking about. "If it's not too much trouble," I said. "I guess not," she replied.

So, we finished our lunch, got onto the train, and headed towards Shinjuku. The lady servicing us (*snicker*) at the electronics store was a pain in the ass. She wouldn't tell us prices until she went to fetch all the possible memory sticks, colors, etc., etc., etc. that we could get with the camera. Eventually, we got it and I metaphorically kissed my mother's feet.

We then headed over to the bookstore and my mom fed me half of a cookie on the way there. I ate it and suddenly my stomach started jabbing at me from the inside and my throat felt swollen. Needless to say, I felt like shit and spent much of the time in the bookstore and on the train hunched over and looking miserable. She probably thought I wasn't grateful for the camera, so I occasionally opened the bag where the camera box was, smiled at her and jiggled happily. Like my iPod, this was one of those life presents that will be within my reach at every hour for as long as they last.

I would later prove that this camera will be put to excellent use. That night, I was going to see Shonen Knife with Dave and my sister, although she would join us later from her work place. (More about her work later.) I took the train to the station where the venue was somewhere and proceeded to stumble upon it by chance. Excellent conicidence. Perhaps its gravitational rock pull was so high that it just drew me to it.

Dave wasn't at the door, so I entered and on my way down the stairs, encountered some coin lockers. They had handed me a shit load of flyers, I had my coat on, and my wallet was still with me. I didn't really want to take these things in to the show, but lockers were three hundred yen, aka a total rip off. So, I stood there for about ten minutes, debating with myself whether or not to get one, when I realized that they were already all full. (Doh!)

I went in, stood in the back for a while where things were ridiculously dull and went further into the crowd in the middle of Electric Eel Shock's set and miraculously found Dave. We said our greetings and I enjoyed the show much than in the back. These guys are insane; stealing beer from the crowd, playing their guitars on their heads, singing along to their own guitar solos, and just their speeches between songs were pretty great too. The drummer took his shirt off towards the beginning of the show, and in the middle, stood up to get a drink of water. I finally noticed that all he was wearing was a sock, Red Hot Chili Peppers style. I want to buy a CD of their silly, Engrish punk rock. (Click here for their homepage.)

Between the sets, they played DEVO over the speaker system and Dave and I sang along to our favorite album of the '80s. DEVO rocks our socks. Very hard. We also shook our bon-bons and did the twist.

Next was Polysics, an awesome band with amazing stage presence and musical originality. They perform every show wearing hunter orange cover-alls and censor strip-esque sunglasses. Their main inspiration is DEVO, but they have some punk influence as well, so it's like New Wave Punk-rock; Synths, power chords, and lots of crazy vocals. (Their newest album, Hey! Bob! My Friend! is on the iTunes music store, so help yourself to some 30 second previews.) They to had an amaaaazing stage presence. The keyboardist was totally devoid of emotion or motion for that matter, which made her strangely intriguing. During one song, she jumped up and down robotically with gold cheerleader pom poms. They were just... just... awesome. Mia got to the show during the set and couldn't find us, so dug her way into the mosh pit. She eventually spotted us and pulled us in. I'm grateful, as the show was much more enjoyable from there.

On the last song, the lead singer put away his guitar and brought out a huge plastic hammer, kinda like a whack-a-mole, that made robot noises when it was hit against anything. He bonked himself on the head a few times and then got on the edge of the stage, was bombarded by the front of the pit, and proceeded to play whack-a-mosher.

NOTE: Listening to the previews, I realized that the guitar was much crazier during live shows and that was where the punk-rock sound came from. They kind of remind me of the B-52's as well with the screeching female vocals.

Shonen Knife came on and we bobbed like crazy to their punk riffs and j-pop vocals/lyrics. If you don't think you know Shonen Knife, you've probably still heard the song that they did for the Powerpuff Girls. It's called "Super Girl" and more like "Supah Gaal" in their wonderful Engrish. During their set, this bald guy soaked in sweat kept doing death metal salutes to these J-poppin' girls in matching Piet Mondrian dresses.

Although all three were Japanese bands, over half of the crowd was not Japanese. About a third of the Japanese crowd was middle aged men. There was this one guy standing near where I was and he was just blankly staring at the stage, singing along to every single Shonen Knife song with no hesitation as far as lyrics go. Creepy? I think so to...

So, after the show was over, Mia and I were hungry like hippos and walked to Wendy's where we each had a spicy chicken sandwich set and talked about the show, told sick jokes, and discussed the disgusting things you can see on the internet. Mia and I then said goodbye to Dave at the train station, lost our way on the walk home and just ended up following the highway back to the apartment, which was now proof that Mia is a slob. We put down our futons and fell right into a deep, rock and roll dream driven sleep.

Now that day one is over, here are links to pictures (JPEG) and videos (AVI) that I took. The majority of the pictures were taken without a flash. Without flash, the exposure is longer in order to take in more light, but with flash, all you get is the closest thing, which is usually the back of someone's head. That explains the blurriness. Also, the sound on the movies is really crappy. I've learned since then that you have to cover the little microphone in order to muffle it and actually pick up the music rather than excessive loudness. So... turn down your speakers and you might sort of get an idea.

A note to the weak of stomach (aka Dad): these videos were taken in a mass of people jumping around, so they may be a bit queaze inducing.

PIC: The clearest picture of Electric Eel Shock that I got.

MOV: Electric Eel Shock, advertising.
"We'll be playing live on NHK radio the day after tomorrow..."
*silence*
"Uhhh, I guess we'll do it even without your approval."

MOV: Electric Eel Shock, rocking.

PIC: Polysics: Hayashi (guitar) and Kayo (synth)

PIC: Polysics: that pictures makes me very dizzy.

MOV: Polysics, being crazy and me being short.

MOV: By far my favorite of the evening: The chaos of the mosh pit trying to touch Hayashi during a guitar solo.

PIC: Shonen Knife in their matching Piet Mondrian dresses, doing the windmill.

PIC: Shonen Knife: one of few successful photographs. I wish I had realized earlier that, without peoples heads in the way, the stage is the main focus. Doh!

PIC: Shonen Knife's encore in Santa hats. I was very tempted to add a face to that person's hand in Photoshop, but God led me away from the temptation of Lucifer. OR NOT!!

(Sometimes I confuse myself beyond the point of being able to explain my words or actions. This seems to be one of those times.)

MOV: Shonen Knife and their happy go lucky songs. They don't move much, so it's pretty much a forced side-to-side swing that they do while playing. They also bow like the Beatles after every song. Chooo kawaii!!!!

PIC: Dave and I, looking startled during our post-concert dinner at Wendy's.

Monday morning, Mia and I woke up dark and early. She would be heading out to her place of work and I got up to join her. When she realized that I had the key to the apartment as well, she felt bad for waking me up, but I insisted that it was good for me to do so. After she left, I started to clean like a domestic slave. Sweeping the floors. folding the linens, washing the dishes, scrubbing the counters, organizing papers, etc., etc., etc. When I finished, I slapped my hands clean, looked upon the spotless apartment and felt good that I had actually accomplished something. Plus, it was Monday, and I didn't have to be at school. What a relief.

After taking out the trash, I returned home where I, of course, got onto the computer and proceeded uploaded all of my photos and talk to lovely people again. Then, my mom and I were asked to purchase some gifts for the traditional "it's the end of the year and you helped us out!" gifts from Mia's cake shop. So, we rode the train, stopped by an awesome Italian furniture store, went to her patiserie, ate, got loads of boxed goodies, and hauled them back home. Yes, a long story cut quite short. I'm tired of typing.

I'll add pictures tomorrow. I'm Z-O-N-K-E-D zonked!

EDIT: Click here for a slide show of Monday's activities. The last two were just me screwing around with the camera. Excellent!