Hooley Success!

Hi! High? Pecadoss's 2008 Hallowe'en Fancy Dress Hooley was a smashing success, if off schedule from the first minute on. Loads of people, some inspired - and some less so - costumes. Some dirty and some disturbing costumes. But then, what is Halloween if not an opportunity to be the skanky self you might not usually be? Plenty of music -- fabulous music. And again, Eshico burned the place down, showing why they are well worth the hype of having a TV crew on hand. Even live art, performed before our very eyes, accompanied by classical piano. All in all, an excellent chance to see and chat and dance with people who I haven't seen much of recently. Even Kaori, in from the capital, was on hand.

As for my costume? Well, my definition changed depending on my mood when you asked me. Diane's lesbian lover, porn star, madam of a bordello, mafioso, superstar DJ, Bonnie (as in "& Clyde"), queen of the universe, queen of her own mind, evangelist, foreigner... Much like my own life really, the change you see reflected in my own mind's state.

God, it is so time for bed now...

Fukuoka Ahoy?

Off for the weekend to Fukuoka with a scattering of random Niimi folk, a lot of whom I know already. Apparently I am to bring fair loads of cash to prepare myself for the copious quantities of alcohol we are expecting to drink. I love how this trip is qualifying as study / research and will probably recieve some funding from the city.

I also love how the city owns a building that anyone under 35 is allowed to use for free at nearly any time -- it has reasonably supplied music studio where I have been going to thump on the drums lately. It is also equipped with a pool table that I am looking forward to making use of some time soon.

As for other things, well, there is a St. Patrick's Day party coming up on the 17th; last weekend was drums, driving, drinking and drawing (and volleyball, but the 'v' doesn't really fit with the whole alliteration thing I have going on); the week before was absurdly skillful bowling (on my part anyway), driving and munching on strawberries. And what will follow? Who knows, but I am looking forward to it.

Live it up baby, live it up.

Mumpalicious

Mumps-a-lot. Mumparooney. Mumps away. Mumples.

Laid down by the mumps for the last week and a half, I spent a lot of quality time being bored off my rocker. Other than the first day or two when I had a fever, it wasn't a particular bad experience. Sure, it hurt and I couldn't eat solid food for quite a while, and I have to admit the mumps definitely didn't suit my haircut, what with becoming quite the Heian beauty (the bottom half of your face is wider than the top), and I was constantly sucking back the ibuprofen for the pain, as well as trying to spend as much time as possible sleeping in the hopes that time would pass faster, but hey, other than that, I was in fine fettle. Hell, I even went to a couple of parties the day after my fever broke (and despite the schools' paranoia that kept me out of the classrooms all last week) nobody I was in contact with caught them from me.

Where did I get them? Ah, lucky me picked them up at work. One of my local schools has had the mumps running through it for a couple of weeks now, and lucky me got to take part. I think I am the only adult in the bunch to come down with it too. I've always been a very lucky girl, what can I say...

They are gone now, and I am back to solid foods, however my appetite is still missing -- crying shame when you consider the luscious feast that was laid out at Diane's yesterday. Curry, turkey, stuffed gyoza that wasn't gyoza, some fabulous melt in your mouth pork roast, gravy, potato salad, pasta salad, veggie and fruit salad, and even more all laid out for the taking, followed up by some chocolate cakes, brownies, doughnuts, and creme-filled pastries. Well, I have a week now to work myself up to a home cooked Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, so here's hoping I find my appetite in the midst of all those culinary delights.

Murmurs, Mumbles, and Meanderings

Welcome to my 151st post! And just to warn you, I have nothing to say! Ha-hah! I do however have a curious predilection that involves overusing my exclamation mark!!

My set for the Christmas party is polished off, and it looks like I have decided to make this one a venture into funk and motown. Get a little nostalgic, shall we? Although I can't even really claim it as my own nostalgia, being a bit too young. But I suppose listening to it on my parents' radio station throughout my childhood could claim some of this retro-reminiscing as my own?

I have to say I am actually nervous about this one, and not entirely because I am unsure how my set will go down, but also because of one of the boys I am bringing. The same day I get to check him out on the drums, he gets to check me out on the decks. Here's hoping it goes so well as I should like it to...

I am currently sporting a new coiffure, short and sporty looking, with just the right amount of sass to keep me happy. Not nearly as pleased with this cut though as I was with the last one, as the hairdresser persisted in using those horrible thinning scissors that my hair desperately doesn't need. Next time, I will definitely ward her off, paying due heed to the words of wisdom Diane uttered.

Diane and Hiro's house is coming along very well. To repeat a statement I made many times wandering through the framing, it's absolutely huge! Looking forward to seeing this when it's done, and can completely appreciate the enthusiasm with which Hiro is filiming every step of the way.

Christmas shopping is nearly done -- the only person left to shop for is my father, and I am once again stymied. Books? Tools? Music? Clothes? Who knows? And I will only have 1 day after I arrive in Canada to take care of it, flying in as I do on the 23rd. Lord loves shopping that close to Christmas...

Adventures in badminton last week have shown me that I may be better at badminton than I am at volleyball, or they could have shown me that the people I was playing with are worse at badminton than I am. I am not sure yet which way I should lean on this, although my spike (volleyball) is getting better, but my serve remains weak.

The Christmas party is 3 days off and I am looking forward to it, however slightly less than normal as one of my favourite Yonago boys will be missing as he visits a very ill grandmother. Here's wishing him a safe flight home and hoping things go as well as they can.

Halloween Touring

Last weekend was the big event -- combination of the infamous Yonago Halloween party and the more sedate but no less fun Touring rally round Niimi.

Having gotten all my music sorted and decided with a couple of days to spare, I was left with the eternal dilemma -- what to be? Once again, I decided I had to wear the boots, seeing as how opportunities to do so in Niimi are few and far between, and that is as far as I got. I coupled it with my favourite and only leopard print cowboy hat and a smashing red shirt which works well in my favour and decided to go as a woman with a theme song. The theme song? "Hot girls in good moods" by Butch Walker and the Let's Go Out Tonites. Who needs a costume when you have a theme song.

The party this year ended smashing all previous records as 205 people attended, as much for the booze as for the music and dancing. There were a variety of clever costumes, from my favourite fallen Mormon to our hated North Korean president, to a flamenco dancer, a sexy and furry black cat, a pirate with a penchant for mascara, a white faced monster, a cute army captain, and on and on and on. My favourite Mormon, being the generous fallen soul that he is was good enough to treat me to dinner before the party, which was made even better for the company, followed by meeting up with more friends too long not seen. The music rocked, the venue was packed and favourite peoples abounded -- really, what more could I want from a party? Maybe not having to drive back to Niimi after, but that was my choice which also led to more fun.

Sunday morning's touring rally round Niimi with my two-meat sated navigators -- they feasted on yakiniku the night before, not really taken with the veggies so much as one might hope. The weather was gorgeous and has been for weeks. I have this fear that winter is merely hiding and laughing waiting the perfect moment to leap out and snow me under. We got our maps, which were barely that, and set off on our meanders around Niimi, losing roads and finding others, no arguing but lots of laughing and very little speeding. Each stage was followed by some kind of quiz or activity, and of the three I have discovered that I have a lot to learn when it comes to ground golf, a curious cross between golf and croquet. Hopefully I will do so before the tournament on November 19th...

Oh, and by the way, my lovely navigators, Datte and Ikeda Kun, and I managed to win the rally by a single point, despite constantly losing at rock scissors paper.

Prima Donna Demands

When asking me if I would be willing to DJ at the next Hi!High? event way back in April, Cian asked if I had any unreasonable demands I wanted to make. I said, yes, I require 50 green peanut M&Ms. Time is getting down to the wire, and Wednesday night I got a phone call from Cian.

"Not a single green M&M. I bought and opened 23 packets -- nope, 22-- 22 packets of M&Ms and there's not a single green one. I thought you might be putting me on, but there is a picture of the green one on the package. "

I couldn' stop laughing. I told him I would willingly accept red or something, but he said no, he was determined to succeed, and was going off hunting again last night in search of more. I have yet to hear how that turned out.

Spiderweb

Once again all wound up in music. Planning and plotting and dreaming about my next set at Hi! High? for the World Cup Party. Should prove a busy day, as I have to catch a 6:30am bus to Osaka for a 2 hour job interview at 11am. Arriving back in Yonago at 6:30, I rush straight off to Hi!High? to mess with the decks before going home to change and eat dinner. My 1am set will be followed by a PTA volleyball tournament the next morning. I seriously think the world is having me on right now. Maybe I can use the excuse of my messed up back to get out of it?? (My kids -- I love 'em, but the little bastards are trying to break me.)

Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, When I'm 55?

Junpei, the local Hi! High? master celebrated his 55th birthday on Monday night, and in a delayed celebration, Cian planned a dinner for him last night. Gathering in Spatula for delicious eats and treats, an assortment of Hi! High? party-goers and performers awaited the arrival of our willing party hoster. Junpei arrived in style, wearing sunglasses and an expression of surprise as he entered the restaurant and saw us all gathered around the table. His concern eased when he realized that, no, it wasn't a date for Cian and he, and so there was no longer any need for the disguise. He quickly doffed his hat and shades, taking a seat near the centre of the table to be feted and cheered by all.

In celebration of Junpei's fifty-fifth, we all ate too much and drank not enough. And conversation ran the gamut from Junpei's very suspicious demeanor, sidling into Cian's car as it were when he was picked up, to Junpei's first experience of Coca-Cola as a young boy (He was out as a young boy of 5 or so -- when the US military was occupying the country -- and recalls being called over by a group of soldiers who handed him a bottle of Coke and tried to get him to drink it. The colour and consistency were rather off-putting apparently, but he tried it anyways. Much to his surprise, it wasn't near as disgusting as the colour indicated it could be, and he really liked it.), giant cockroaches that bite, and anal sex gone horribly wrong and the secret belief that most men want to do it despite out and out public denials. To each his own, eh?