a very merry be-day
This is an interesting article about being a grown-up . . . and ties in with some points of my Theory of Being a Responsible Adult, one major point of which is taking responsibility for your own well-being. I liken it to what I learned in the first aid course I took, which specifically addressed how to approach a crisis situation. When faced with a situation where a person is lying before you, injured, the first thing we were taught was to look around, checking for hazards or potential threats before we went to help the person. The reason for this was that if you rushed in without looking around, you could be hurt yourself, and then you would be adding to the problem rather than solving it. Basically, if you really want to help others, make sure that you yourself are taken care of so that you won't become someone else's burden.
And so I look out for my own mental, emotional, and physical well-being. For instance, I try to eat right and get exercise, to go out when I feel restless and stay in when I'm reaching the end of my endurance. When I start feeling sick, I stop drinking coffee and start drowning myself in orange juice. When I'm sad, I pursue those activities most likely to return to me my mental equilibrium. When I need company, I arrange a dinner or time with my friends. I do many things for the simple reason that I enjoy them.
So in keeping with my theory, as I would be unhappy if I didn't have a birthday party each year, I make it a point to arrange one. And while I take other people into account somewhat (I try not to choose anywhere too expensive, and people can come or go from the festivities according to the demands of their schedules or wallets), I always do things that I enjoy.
This year was no different, but of course. I was so excited beforehand that I was practically bursting at the seams over it. I was actually dreaming of it before the fact. And it was just as awesome as I hoped!
The first thing that happened was not so awesome-- I was delayed at work due to the hemming and hawing of an indecisive teacher. Which meant that although I had planned to be at least 30 minutes early to meet up with everyone, I instead ended up being 15 minutes late. It seems like I'm 15 minutes late to everything these days, it's really frustrating.
But then my ever-wonderful friends sent me this picture . . .
. . . of them waiting, and it cheered me up immeasurably.
So after that I depended on the expertise of mydochas to lead us to . . . Chinese Viking! "Viking" meaning "all you can eat" in this strange land of bizarre loan words, but of course. BUT COME ON YOU'RE INTRIGUED BY THE THOUGHT OF CHINESE VIKINGS. I totally am. In my movie, the lead Chinese Viking is played by Kaneshiro Takeshi . . .
::coughs:: Along the way I changed into my Party Clothes, which I had brought special for the occasion-- sixH jeans and an Algonquins shirt. And my hat, can't forget the hat. As for the restaurant, it was basically like an American dim sum place. Actually I've never been to an American dim sum place, but if they're anything like this one . . . it was delicious! I stuffed myself on all manner of great Chinese food, topped it off with a toasted sesame dumpling, and was well pleased.
Here are the Chinese Viking pics! We all thought that the first pic would make a great beer commercial:
That white hat is actually mine . . .
Now shots of everybody kickin' back like it's feast time in Valhalla!
Of course, then my "friends" decided it was high time for the annual public humiliation, so they sang me The Birthday Song (TM). I hid under my hat. And then they gave me presents, which I was not expecting at all. Because, you know, I'm kinda a MORON and people can waltz around blatantly carrying a big bag from That One Shop I Like, on my birthday, and I won't notice at all.
OMG they got me The Hat. The one I've been drooling over. The one I put back on the shelf saying, "if I manage to stay under-budget this month . . ." The one made of gorgeous awesome such that my head is unworthy to support it.
The Hat:
That would be Nishijin fabric, yes, and the reason why The Hat was so expensive. It's from a store in Kyoto called M-Hero, which uses Nishijin fabric to make modern accessories-- hats, belts, phone hangers, shoes, etc. Credit for the purchase goes to the 3v1l designs of chocolate_chip, who was with me when I last wandered through M-Hero and found The Hat. She also made me a card!
Do I have the best friends in the world? Why yes, yes I do. I am in awe. I am not worthy. I maybe hate them a litte. <3
So after that everyone headed to the capsule hotel down in Ame-mura-- ironically right in front of the Mandarake; you'd think I would have noticed it before considering how often I'm in the area. Shows how much attention I pay to signs. We were just there to drop stuff off, really, because it was time for . . .
. . . karaoke! Seeing as we were in Osaka, and moreover near Dontonburi, this proved to be rather expensive (sorry, guys!). But there was no way I wouldn't have karaoke on my birthday, as I adore it. It was great fun, and I got to sing lots of songs. And I had a parfait, because it was my birthday. :-D
Yeah, my Valhalla totally has karaoke. Heaven for this particular warrior would not be complete without it.
My parfait was called "the Manhattan." When I think of "Manhattan" I think of atomic bombs. This is possibly because, despite growing up near NYC, I have very strong memories of being pulled out of elementary school to go with my father to a seminar on the Manhattan Project he was attending in the basement of the Natural History Museum. Who brings their 9-year-old to a seminar on the Manhattan Project, anyway? Although at a certain point he told me to go enjoy the museum, and I ran off to look at dinosaur bones and stuffed animals and had a marvelous time.
::coughs:: Anyway it was a good parfait. I have adjusted to the presence of cornflakes in my ice cream.
As per everyone's request, I uploaded some of my favorite Japanese karaoke numbers:
SUPER DRIVE, by サカノウエヨースケ (my warm-up song)
島歌, the BOOM (classic!)
varuna, ナイトメア
Sakitama～幸魂～, by Rin'
truth, by 嵐
Come, by 安室奈美恵 (hard to sing, but good exercise! If I follow it up with Shakira's Eyes Like Yours my stomach is sore afterwards from the strain)
Season's Call, by hyde (this is actually misspaulette's, but I poach it on those sad occasions when she's not around)
笑顔の訳, 引田香織
冬の幻, Acid Black Cherry
Forever Love, X Japan (I seldom sing the whole thing since it's really long, but it's sooooooo 気持ちいいいいいいいいいいい!!!)
White Reflection, TWO MIX
If anyone can think of one that I've forgotten, by all means ask and I'll upload it.
We usually end with Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, but we didn't have time for it-- after two and a half hours we cleared out. At that point it was after midnight, and I told everyone they should feel free to go back to the capsule hotel-- I was waiting for my friend Janet, who had finally managed to finish her work and was coming to meet us. No one did. Instead they all trooped over to Dotonbori Bridge with me to wait and make fun of host boys and play spot-the-best-host-boy-hair. I climbed up on the railing of the bridge to sit, and we amused ourselves by talking about various unimportant things, and had fun people-watching. Somehow the conversation got around to how we hadn't sung Bohemian Rhapsody-- and someone (me?) started . . ."Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?" And then someone (misspaulette?) jumped in-- "Caught in a landslide . . ."
AND THEN WE ALL SPONTANEOUSLY SANG BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. Sitting on the bridge at Dotonbori. Loudly. Complete with air guitar, air piano, gestures, spitting, and headbanging. We split up the layered parts. We even sang the instrumental sections. We had serious three-part harmony going.
OMG IT WAS EPIC.
Janet arrived and we headed to MickeyD's to get her something to eat, where we saw two host boys in deep and serious consultation with a white-haired old lady. We spent some time sneakily watching them and taking pictures of them, trying to figure out what exactly they were doing.
To be sneaky we had misspaulette stand in front while I took pictures over her shoulder.
Leading theory was that Old Lady was their pimp, and was explaining certain important Matters of Business to them, before we figured out that she was in fact a palm reader doing an in-depth consultation.
WHICH IS JUST AS AWESOME IF NOT MORE.
And then it was back to the capsule hotel, to take advantage of the communal bath (love me some Japanese baths!), change into the hotel jammies, and cocoon ourselves in our capsules. Mine had a TV and everything! They weren't exactly what I was expecting (probably a good thing; I dreamed about capsule hotels the Monday beforehand. In my dream the capsule was more like a pull-out drawer in an airplane galley), but mine was perfectly comfortable. I felt like a kid hanging out in my secret base. It was great!
Here's Jared modeling the hotel-provided jammies before being banished to the realm of Stinky Boys:
Here's my capsule!
My capsule had a TV!
And here's my feet, with Janet at the end:
Her capsule was directly above mine.
All tucked in . . .
Good morning, misspaulette!
For some reason when the alarm in my capsule went off it also turned on my TV. So I watched TV in my capsule for a little while.
Morning found us in Starbucks for breakfast, at which point the party broke up a little-- people had stuff to do, understandable. A diminished number of us headed for the big Animate at Tennoji to waste some time until we were hungry for lunch. We all ended up buying more than we'd intended to, and had a great time wandering around the shelves pointing out this or that cute thing or this or that series. After which we went to eat Organic Viking! At the wonderful, wonderful organic place near Tennoji, which is so incredibly delicious it's unbelievable. ::tries to imagine Organic Vikings::
Some fabulous things spotted around Osaka. Sewer covers in Osaka feature Osaka Castle.
This is the sign of a love hotel, front and back:
They read, respectively, "Hotel?" and "Hotel!!"
We put our extraneous stuff in a storage locker so we wouldn't have to carry it.
After lunch we intended to return to Ame-mura and hit up Pure Sound and h.Naoto, but we only actually managed to get to Pure Sound. Mostly because we spent so much time browsing and trying things on at Pure Sound that we ran out of time to get to h.Naoto (this has happened every time I've tried to go to h.Naoto, bizarrely). Not that any of us really minded-- buying stuff used at Pure Sound is a better deal any day, you just have to dig through to find what's good. I myself ended up with a pair of pants and a vest. I wasn't sure about the pants . . . I liked the design a lot, but they were a bit more . . . er. Risqué than I usually go for. But then I tried them on, and they fit perfectly. And I walked out of the dressing room to get a second opinion, and misspaulette was all "OMG BUY."
So I did.
And that was my wonderful, fabulous, exciting, fun birthday. <3
And so I look out for my own mental, emotional, and physical well-being. For instance, I try to eat right and get exercise, to go out when I feel restless and stay in when I'm reaching the end of my endurance. When I start feeling sick, I stop drinking coffee and start drowning myself in orange juice. When I'm sad, I pursue those activities most likely to return to me my mental equilibrium. When I need company, I arrange a dinner or time with my friends. I do many things for the simple reason that I enjoy them.
So in keeping with my theory, as I would be unhappy if I didn't have a birthday party each year, I make it a point to arrange one. And while I take other people into account somewhat (I try not to choose anywhere too expensive, and people can come or go from the festivities according to the demands of their schedules or wallets), I always do things that I enjoy.
This year was no different, but of course. I was so excited beforehand that I was practically bursting at the seams over it. I was actually dreaming of it before the fact. And it was just as awesome as I hoped!
The first thing that happened was not so awesome-- I was delayed at work due to the hemming and hawing of an indecisive teacher. Which meant that although I had planned to be at least 30 minutes early to meet up with everyone, I instead ended up being 15 minutes late. It seems like I'm 15 minutes late to everything these days, it's really frustrating.
But then my ever-wonderful friends sent me this picture . . .
. . . of them waiting, and it cheered me up immeasurably.
So after that I depended on the expertise of mydochas to lead us to . . . Chinese Viking! "Viking" meaning "all you can eat" in this strange land of bizarre loan words, but of course. BUT COME ON YOU'RE INTRIGUED BY THE THOUGHT OF CHINESE VIKINGS. I totally am. In my movie, the lead Chinese Viking is played by Kaneshiro Takeshi . . .
::coughs:: Along the way I changed into my Party Clothes, which I had brought special for the occasion-- sixH jeans and an Algonquins shirt. And my hat, can't forget the hat. As for the restaurant, it was basically like an American dim sum place. Actually I've never been to an American dim sum place, but if they're anything like this one . . . it was delicious! I stuffed myself on all manner of great Chinese food, topped it off with a toasted sesame dumpling, and was well pleased.
Here are the Chinese Viking pics! We all thought that the first pic would make a great beer commercial:
That white hat is actually mine . . .
Now shots of everybody kickin' back like it's feast time in Valhalla!
Of course, then my "friends" decided it was high time for the annual public humiliation, so they sang me The Birthday Song (TM). I hid under my hat. And then they gave me presents, which I was not expecting at all. Because, you know, I'm kinda a MORON and people can waltz around blatantly carrying a big bag from That One Shop I Like, on my birthday, and I won't notice at all.
OMG they got me The Hat. The one I've been drooling over. The one I put back on the shelf saying, "if I manage to stay under-budget this month . . ." The one made of gorgeous awesome such that my head is unworthy to support it.
The Hat:
That would be Nishijin fabric, yes, and the reason why The Hat was so expensive. It's from a store in Kyoto called M-Hero, which uses Nishijin fabric to make modern accessories-- hats, belts, phone hangers, shoes, etc. Credit for the purchase goes to the 3v1l designs of chocolate_chip, who was with me when I last wandered through M-Hero and found The Hat. She also made me a card!
Do I have the best friends in the world? Why yes, yes I do. I am in awe. I am not worthy. I maybe hate them a litte. <3
So after that everyone headed to the capsule hotel down in Ame-mura-- ironically right in front of the Mandarake; you'd think I would have noticed it before considering how often I'm in the area. Shows how much attention I pay to signs. We were just there to drop stuff off, really, because it was time for . . .
. . . karaoke! Seeing as we were in Osaka, and moreover near Dontonburi, this proved to be rather expensive (sorry, guys!). But there was no way I wouldn't have karaoke on my birthday, as I adore it. It was great fun, and I got to sing lots of songs. And I had a parfait, because it was my birthday. :-D
Yeah, my Valhalla totally has karaoke. Heaven for this particular warrior would not be complete without it.
My parfait was called "the Manhattan." When I think of "Manhattan" I think of atomic bombs. This is possibly because, despite growing up near NYC, I have very strong memories of being pulled out of elementary school to go with my father to a seminar on the Manhattan Project he was attending in the basement of the Natural History Museum. Who brings their 9-year-old to a seminar on the Manhattan Project, anyway? Although at a certain point he told me to go enjoy the museum, and I ran off to look at dinosaur bones and stuffed animals and had a marvelous time.
::coughs:: Anyway it was a good parfait. I have adjusted to the presence of cornflakes in my ice cream.
As per everyone's request, I uploaded some of my favorite Japanese karaoke numbers:
SUPER DRIVE, by サカノウエヨースケ (my warm-up song)
島歌, the BOOM (classic!)
varuna, ナイトメア
Sakitama～幸魂～, by Rin'
truth, by 嵐
Come, by 安室奈美恵 (hard to sing, but good exercise! If I follow it up with Shakira's Eyes Like Yours my stomach is sore afterwards from the strain)
Season's Call, by hyde (this is actually misspaulette's, but I poach it on those sad occasions when she's not around)
笑顔の訳, 引田香織
冬の幻, Acid Black Cherry
Forever Love, X Japan (I seldom sing the whole thing since it's really long, but it's sooooooo 気持ちいいいいいいいいいいい!!!)
White Reflection, TWO MIX
If anyone can think of one that I've forgotten, by all means ask and I'll upload it.
We usually end with Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, but we didn't have time for it-- after two and a half hours we cleared out. At that point it was after midnight, and I told everyone they should feel free to go back to the capsule hotel-- I was waiting for my friend Janet, who had finally managed to finish her work and was coming to meet us. No one did. Instead they all trooped over to Dotonbori Bridge with me to wait and make fun of host boys and play spot-the-best-host-boy-hair. I climbed up on the railing of the bridge to sit, and we amused ourselves by talking about various unimportant things, and had fun people-watching. Somehow the conversation got around to how we hadn't sung Bohemian Rhapsody-- and someone (me?) started . . ."Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?" And then someone (misspaulette?) jumped in-- "Caught in a landslide . . ."
AND THEN WE ALL SPONTANEOUSLY SANG BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY. Sitting on the bridge at Dotonbori. Loudly. Complete with air guitar, air piano, gestures, spitting, and headbanging. We split up the layered parts. We even sang the instrumental sections. We had serious three-part harmony going.
OMG IT WAS EPIC.
Janet arrived and we headed to MickeyD's to get her something to eat, where we saw two host boys in deep and serious consultation with a white-haired old lady. We spent some time sneakily watching them and taking pictures of them, trying to figure out what exactly they were doing.
To be sneaky we had misspaulette stand in front while I took pictures over her shoulder.
Leading theory was that Old Lady was their pimp, and was explaining certain important Matters of Business to them, before we figured out that she was in fact a palm reader doing an in-depth consultation.
WHICH IS JUST AS AWESOME IF NOT MORE.
And then it was back to the capsule hotel, to take advantage of the communal bath (love me some Japanese baths!), change into the hotel jammies, and cocoon ourselves in our capsules. Mine had a TV and everything! They weren't exactly what I was expecting (probably a good thing; I dreamed about capsule hotels the Monday beforehand. In my dream the capsule was more like a pull-out drawer in an airplane galley), but mine was perfectly comfortable. I felt like a kid hanging out in my secret base. It was great!
Here's Jared modeling the hotel-provided jammies before being banished to the realm of Stinky Boys:
Here's my capsule!
My capsule had a TV!
And here's my feet, with Janet at the end:
Her capsule was directly above mine.
All tucked in . . .
Good morning, misspaulette!
For some reason when the alarm in my capsule went off it also turned on my TV. So I watched TV in my capsule for a little while.
Morning found us in Starbucks for breakfast, at which point the party broke up a little-- people had stuff to do, understandable. A diminished number of us headed for the big Animate at Tennoji to waste some time until we were hungry for lunch. We all ended up buying more than we'd intended to, and had a great time wandering around the shelves pointing out this or that cute thing or this or that series. After which we went to eat Organic Viking! At the wonderful, wonderful organic place near Tennoji, which is so incredibly delicious it's unbelievable. ::tries to imagine Organic Vikings::
Some fabulous things spotted around Osaka. Sewer covers in Osaka feature Osaka Castle.
This is the sign of a love hotel, front and back:
They read, respectively, "Hotel?" and "Hotel!!"
We put our extraneous stuff in a storage locker so we wouldn't have to carry it.
After lunch we intended to return to Ame-mura and hit up Pure Sound and h.Naoto, but we only actually managed to get to Pure Sound. Mostly because we spent so much time browsing and trying things on at Pure Sound that we ran out of time to get to h.Naoto (this has happened every time I've tried to go to h.Naoto, bizarrely). Not that any of us really minded-- buying stuff used at Pure Sound is a better deal any day, you just have to dig through to find what's good. I myself ended up with a pair of pants and a vest. I wasn't sure about the pants . . . I liked the design a lot, but they were a bit more . . . er. Risqué than I usually go for. But then I tried them on, and they fit perfectly. And I walked out of the dressing room to get a second opinion, and misspaulette was all "OMG BUY."
So I did.
And that was my wonderful, fabulous, exciting, fun birthday. <3