Bloggieちゃん!!

OK, dividing this into relevant bits.

WHAAA!?!?!??! L'arc CESSATION OF ACTIVITIES UNTIL 2011?????
All I have to say on this topic, is that there is no clear answer regarding this HORRIFYING rumor yet. There hasn't been any clarification if this is only in reference to live performances, creation and releasing of tracks, or of any activity at all. Until there's an official announcement on the official website, I am going to pray that it's just a groundless and foul rumor, and that if it has to be right, that they were only referring to lives (because I wont be around to see the lives perform anyway). If one day I lock myself in my room and refuse to leave for a week, however, and you hear me wailing "WHY, DEAR GOD, WHY!?!?!?", you'll know that it didn't go my way.

Where have you been recently?
Well. There's a question. The answer? I'm still in Nagoya, and I'm super super busy. There is a LOT, and I mean a LOT for me to do before I leave, and I'll be leaving in a week and a half. I'm trying to enjoy my last days here to the fullest, and spend as much time with the people that I have here as I can, before I have to leave them forever. I have to decide what I want to mail to the US, and what I want to cram into my suitcases. I have to clean my room before the room inspection. Gah, and I still haven't gotten all of my scholarship money in yet. I won't find out what happened to the rest of it until Monday, though. It's so frustrating ><
My mp3 player broke, by the way, and Creative has such bad customer service, that I think I'll end up just getting a freaking ipod, and crying. But that'll have to wait until I have money again. Since I'm flat broke. ><  geh. Which means that I'll have to get a job but I can't do that unless I have a means of transportation to and from, which means that I'll need to get a license. And the summer is going to be a bit short for that. So there's some stress about that.
I'm going to miss my friends here so bad. Rob, Hans, Karwai, Ucchi, Shiho. They've become like family to me over the course of these months, and it's been so hard to confront the idea of leaving them. I've only got a week and a half left in Japan, and I won't be like this with them ever again. Even if I come back to Japan, Ucchi and Shiho will have become shakai-jin, and it wont be the same. Rob, Hans, and Karwai, are not going to be here ever again, at the same time. This is my only chance to experience these friends in this lifestyle, and I mourn the fact that I didn't get to meet these people in the "real world". You know what I mean? They're in and out of my life, but I've come to love them so much and I don't want to let them go.
So I've been busy, and I haven't been around, because I've been taking care of things, and taking advantage of my last days here. That's where I've been.

Any good music recently?
MSI has a new album called "If", and it's so so so good!! And what else is up in terms of music? Saw a few good underground bands at a live recently, and that was pretty sweet. As for new albums or singles? Nothing really has been coming out. D came out with their first major single, called "birth", and it's pretty damn rocking. A bit poppy, but that's sort of an expected shift since they're gone major label. But they still have the awesome hair and  costumes. Listening to a lot of Karaoke favorites recently.... Spitz-Cherry, Mongol800-Chiisana koi no uta, KObukuro - Tsubomi, etc.etc. But in the field of muzzak, nothing really new has been coming out.
And the Protomen wrote a song about beards. And they're working on album number 2 <3 Very very very excited about that coming out. Though the shirts and the like that we ordered never got here, so that kind of sucks. Blach.

I have an unhealthy infatuation with Liszt's "La Campanella", and though my thing is mostly for the Piano+Orchestra version, I can't seem to find it anywhere, and only just the piano version. It. Is. Beautiful.
Wanna give it a listen? Download it here:     http://www.usaupload.net/d/vsrwtu3178p
The tempo on this version is actually a bit slow, and the rhythm at the end is a bit too syncopated which makes it sound just a tad odd, but it's still La Campanella, and it's really quite lovely. Enchanting actually, and I can't stop listening to it. That, and the main theme from the movie The Piano. I'm haunted by piano music recently.

Anyway, I went to see a D concert last night, and it pains to me that it's probably the last time I'll ever see them. Asagi was wonderful. They all were, actually, and they ended the concert with Eden, which is one of my favorite songs of theirs, and they just let the audience sing the chorus, the band stopped playing, so they could hear all our voices singing it. Wanna hear it? http://www.usaupload.net/d/70usby1n1hg
ただ僕を包んで  (<--- This part Asagi sang on his own each time, to cue us that we were still doing the same chorus. After that, it was just the people in the audience singing, stage shining blue, the band listening)
暖かな光と、その声とその愛で
もう何も迷わない
この全てささげよう
いつまでも,いつまでも、とめどなく

Ahhh, it was a wonderful way to end the concert.

And then I went home and slept for 17 hours.

Things have been very peaceful recently. There's a dance party coming up on Friday, which I'm really excited about, and after that we're going to Onsen, again. Me, Hans, Rob, Karwai, Ucchi, Shiho, and Alexia. Very, VERY exciting. The thing I love about Onsen, is that we're always like, "DUDE, ONSEN, THIS IS GONNA BE A BLAST! W00T!!! OK, SEE YA LATERZ", and we split up into boys and girls baths. Then when we're done bathing, we're like "DUDE, ONSEN, IT WAS AWESOME DUDE, W00T!!!" 
It's funny, isnt' it?

So it's like three in the morning and I'm unable to sleep. The truth is that I have an assignment due tomorrow that I haven't done yet. But I'll turn it in on time, I promise. I'm a good student. Just haven't had the やる気, you know, the will to get off my lazy ass and do it.

Good news in the world of concerts. Bought my ticket to go and see D before I leave. Sadly, it seems I'll be going alone, since Rob will be in Ise the night of the concert. But that's fine with me, I want to go and enjoy them on my own for a while. The purchase dates for D'espairs and Dir en Grey are also coming up, which is really exciting. Since I finally got my bank card in and can withdraw cash, I can afford to pay for those tickets when the time comes. They'll be on sale as of Saturday and Sunday, respectively. I do want to go and see L'arc again before I leave, as I mentioned before, but that depends on whether or not I can get a ticket. I'd have to run to Tokyo too, to see them, and then the next day be back in Nagoya to fly out of Japan and go on my way home.

Miyavi released his new album, btw. I bought it in all its colorful and awesome glory, and will give it a well thought out review when I get the chance.

I was thinking that you guys might get a shock when we meet again. I feel like, maybe I've changed a lot. The things I do, how I spend my time, what I think about, what I spend my money on. Even how I perceive myself. It's all different. I think I'm still essentially the same person, just, how I am is different, maybe. The things I'm ready for, looking for. The things I find frightening, the things that weigh me down. I didn't realize how long 9 months can be.
I was thinking I'd go to Karaoke tomorrow and sing away all of my troubles. Depends. I can get an hour for 100 yen during the week, and I haven't been in so long I think my throat is rotting. So long, btw, is about three weeks. THATS A WHOLE MONTH. It's too long.

So what else can I share with you? I haven't been blogging for a while, so it's hard to think of what I can write. Well, there was a thing with a Dutch guy, Daan, that lasted for about a month. It wasn't serious, we weren't dating, but I think we both enjoyed the time we had together. It didn't end up lasting or working out, but we're still friends, and that's good. I am a bit sad it's done with, because it was nice it was nice having someone again, for the little while that it did go on. But it was neither love, nor particularly strong emotional attachment at all, so things ended cleanly and I feel like this is another experience under my belt, to teach me what it is that I am looking for in a partner. Even if it was a short-lived non-relationship, I think I've learned a lot about myself from it.

I look forward to the future. In that vein, I consulted Cosmo to find out what the stars see in my future... for this month: Proceed with caution. Indecision has you questioning a friendship, but your suspicions could be groundless. Single? A new guy you meet isn’t as nice as he acts. Attached? Reconnect on a moonlit walk followed by hot cocoa at home.
Yahoo!, as usual, gave a vastly different horoscope for the latter half of the month...: On the 13th and 14th, don't let a perceived paucity of romance get you down. By the 18th and 19th, you should be swimming in romantic possibility. Stretch those arms! Kick those legs! Breathe! On the 23rd, the more you express yourself, the more luck you'll have with your emotional attachments. On the 28th and 29th, you and a special someone are cooking up something very, very romantic indeed.
Sigh, horoscopes. I love horoscopes, because you have to be just the silliest person ever to really take these things seriously.

Aside from the Daan thing, nothing of any romantic or social interest has been happening at all recently. My friends, as I mentioned before, left to Tokyo to see Punk Spring, and left me all alone. I was going to go and party at Club ID on Saturday with some of my other friends, but I broke out into a fever and was unable to go. >L<  Lame. OH! The 七百ラブラブ温泉旅行 (IJ700 Love-Love Hot Spring Vacation) is coming up next weekend. I am so very very excited about that. That's a good social event to look forward to. Also, the dance party our dorm is hosting is coming up. It's going to be a really good time. I'm gonna wear the skanky black dress we bought at Forever 21, Mom, that I haven't had the chance to wear ever. It's going to be a lot of fun! Free food, free drinks, and lots of music.

BTW, the h.NAOTO Spring-Summer 2008 Collection and I were meant to be together. It's ridiculous. Actually, Rob and I stop by h.NAOTO so very often, that the store clerk there - a very nice, very cool chick, who always speaks slowly for us and talks to us about all sorts of things - gave us both these huuuuge photobooks of the collection from a few years back. A gift for our frequent patronage. It's incredible! I was really quite moved. Rob and I keep saying we need to invite her to come and drink with us. Ah, And Hirooka-Sensei is going to be coming to our H. Naoto branch store in late May. I can't wait to meet him! He makes clothing that I wish i could drown myself in. I have to put up pictures of me dressed in mah h. NAOTO gear. Or you can just see it when I get back to the USA, because I'm gonna be wearing it all the time. Speaking of which, I have to go and take my clothes to the dry cleaner so that they can be beautiful again <3 

It's already almost 4 AM, so I should probably hit the shower and start getting up. Much love and kisses.

It's been a while.

I don't quite know where to start. A lot has been going on. I say that every time, but even still, there's very little I can say about it, when it comes down to it. We've been engaging in the marvelous act of going to Hanami, recently. It's been a whole lot of fun. But that will be ending soon. For Japanese, Sakura season is the marker of new beginnings. Another year of school, another fiscal year, another new Spring. But for me, the falling sakura blossoms are like falling snow, marking the winter of my time here in Japan.

I'm a bucket of mixed feelings right now.

I've had some severe trouble sleeping recently so I went ahead and went to the doctor. I mentioned off hand that I had a runny nose as well, and she told me she'd give me two pills to take, twice a day. They're anti-runny-nose, with a drowsy-ing side affect, which "should help with the sleeping, lolz",  as the doctor said. We didn't talk about anything helpful or anything at all. I was there for a total of half an hour, five minutes of which I spent with the doctor. I hate the medical system, everywhere in the world. It's not a "drowsy side-effect, so you'll be fine" sleeping issue. It's a week and a half of barely any sleep whatsoever. Gawd.

But really, I'm doing alright. Just tired, obviously.

The guys are leaving me this weekend to go and see Punk Spring in Tokyo. I'm a bit envious, I wanted to go too, but oh well, what can you do. I'm in some serious financial issues right now, since the freaking bank card stopped working and I have no way of taking out cash, and very few places take card. You guys ><
The time to enroll is coming up. That will be exciting. Except for some reason this time I haven't gotten to look at the timetable.


By the way, the sunset always sets beautifully in Japan. Every day I have walked home and seen the sun set over the hills, I have had to pause and catch my breath. It really is beautiful here. I have come to love it so much!

Oh and mom and dad, college tuition in Japan is even cheaper than instate tuition. Just thought you should know.

I went to see Kagrra live tonight. They were AWESOME. They were full of energy, had a lot of fun on stage, joked around a lot, gave us an inspirational message, and played Kotodama for crying out loud. They were a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the live, a lot.

Im going to go and see Tokyo again for a few days, soon. And tomorrow is the Penis Festival. Expect omiyage, hehehehe.

in a rush, but i love yous!!


regi

So, here's what's been going down: Not a whole lot, lol.

I got back from the USA, and it's been rather uneventful since.
There are a few interesting things coming up soon, in terms of music...
3/14 Kagrra Concert that I may or may not go to.
3/19 Miyavi releases his next album! Good times! About three or four of the tracks on the list are from singles, but that's to be expected I suppose.
3/21  MACHINE CONCERT!!!!!!! (I think I might have messed up the date here, but w/e, too lazy to check
4/19 D plays!! I wanna go.
4/26 LARC TICKETS GO ON SALE. I am SO going to be there and buy them.
5/8, 5/9  Dir en Grey performs again
5/17 D'espairs Ray performs again
5/31 L'Arc in Tokyo.
Those are the bigger concerts, though. I wanna hit up some of the smaller venues and see some more bands play in a more intimate setting, I thinks.

Ill write more inspired-ly later. Loves.

Regi


[Edit]
So I ended up buying the tickets to see Kagrra. Good times. ^^  That means, I can check Kagrra off my list of upcoming performances to see. Yay!
Tonight I'm going to cook some pig for dinner, and I'm going to make sandwiches for a late-night snack. Good times. I like making foods. What else is going on in the marvelous world of Regi? I've been thinking a lot recently, about how I'm going to miss it here. The Spring is coming, and that means that my time in Japan is ending. Don't get me wrong-- I am so happy about going back home as well, to the people I love -- but I'm also going to have a huge gap for Japan as well. You know what I mean? I was walking down the hill to Valor to pick up some things for food tonight, and I was walking down a narrow side street with no sidewalks, and over-lapping lanes and bikes parked all along the sides of the road, and the sun was shining and the air was crisp and the construction workers were yelling "haroooooo" at me, and I was like, "Ah, I'm going to miss this."
I mentioned it before, at the beginning of my time here. There's just something about Japan. There's something in the air, something in the water, maybe-- but it just feels different, and it feels really good. And there are the bad things and the non-great things about Japan as well, but even considering those, I feel like my time here has been wonderful, and I don't want to let it go as early as I'll have to. And then, I also know that my time here has been spent as a worry-less student in a large international community, and that living here as an actual member of society would be far lonelier and far less fun, but still. I think that in and of itself, it would be an experience I would enjoy.
I want to do Grad School in Japan. I've been considering it, but I haven't actually decided to make a plan to do so until now.

Right, I just have to lord over all you Video-Game lovers and losers that I've played Brawl already, and that it rocks--- and that I can play it whenever I want because the dorm owns a Wii, and they bought us Brawl. Yes, that's right. It's a brawlfest 24/7 in the community room. Good times.
Okay, as per promised. About L'Arc.

Alright, so Wednesday night last week, I'm sitting in the small community room with all the other closet-geek cool kids (there's like 6 of us), finishing up the prep for our Vampire game--- its like D&D, but about Vampires. Good times. --- anyway, and we're sitting there, just chilling. And all of a sudden, my phone goes "doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo DOO DOO" And I'm like, "Oh my, there's a text message", and I was confused, because I was like "who could possibly be texting me? The only people I really ever text with are here in this room!"
So I look at the caller ID thing which says who it is that my  text is from, and I'm like, Oh, It's Taka. Taka is this Chinese girl I met when I went with Rob to go and see D'espairs Ray live, and we bonded in our love for L'Arc, and went to buy KISS together when it was released, originally. Anyway, I hadn't heard from her in a while, and I was surprised and excited to get a mail from her, considering that, you know, I'd not heard from her in a while. So I open up my phone and I had A HEART ATTACK. I MEAN LITERALLY, CARDIAC ARREST. She's like, "Hey Regina, it's been a while, how's it going?" (This is all in Japanese, and a rough translation as I can recall the text from memory, since my phone is elsewhere and though I value accurate reporting, I am far too lazy and a bum to go and get it for these purposes. Anyway, after every word or so, imagine about 20 emoticons lined up in a row, because that's how Japanese people text) " I have a friend who has tickets to go and see L'arc~en~Ciel tomorrow at Nihon Gaishi Hall that she's trying to sell, are you interested in going?" AND I WAS LIKE DEATH I NEED TO GO REVIVAL OMFG OMFG OMFG, and I texted her back and I was like "I'llgoI'llgoI'llgoI'llgoI'llgoI'llgoI'llgoI'llgoI'llgoI'llgoI'llgoI'llgoI'llgo!!!!!!!!!!!!!<3<3<3<3<3<3<3" And then I was spazzing in the little community room and everyone was looking at me like I was an insane-o.
So a series of mails later, here's the situation. Taka gives me the text and phone number of Mai, who is a friend of the girl that is trying to sell the tickets. I start talking to Mai, and Mai tells me that I can get the tickets for the original price -  9000 yen, if you want to do the math - if they're not sold yet, she has to get in touch with the chick. On that note, the day ends, and I get into bed. The next day, I had a migraine because I was so nervous about whether or not I could get the ticket to go and see them. I mean, I had tried to buy the tickets when they had first begun being sold, but to no avail-- they were sold out already by the time I went (two days after the start of the sale) -- and I had been heartbroken, quite frankly. I didn't want to be disappointed again. At around 3 though, I get another text from Mai, telling me it's all A-OK, and that I can go and see them!!! That she'll meet me at the Hall, and we'll pick up the tickets then. So, I bought my tickets from a friend of a friend of a friend of mine. Lol, コネ are a great thing.
So I put on my coat, hop onto the metro. Take the Meijo Line to Kanayama, Transfer to the JR line, and ride it ten minutes to Kasadera station, where I get off the train and walk out to a crowd of people heading in the direction of Nihon Gaishi Hall. Which, interestingly, used to be known as "Rainbow Hall", appropriately. Hyde made a comment about that during the live... saying that every time they go there, they'll be sure to show us a rainbow.... *sigh*
Anyway. There's people left and right and in front and behind-- I was there really early, doors were at 6, concert start at 7, and I was there at like 4:45 -- it was crowded but not terrible, just yet. I made my way to the merchandise stands, and bought pretty much everything they were selling, all of which will be locked into an air-tight safe and never opened, only worshiped, until the day I die. (A lie. I already opened up one of the shirts that I bought and wore it to school)
Having bought everything I could possibly buy, I waited for Mai to get there. She and her Mom showed up, and the three of us went to the parking lot, where we met their friend, who gave me the ticket in exchange for the 9000 yen for the ticket. It was beautiful. Anyway, I told the chick that I was so happy, that seeing L'Arc had been a dream for me since forever, and that she had no idea how happy it made me. She was like, "I'm glad I could sell my ticket to someone like you", and I think she meant it. There really were people standing just outside the station, holding up signs that said "Please sell me a ticket". And there were scalpers around too, selling tickets for 80,000 billion times the price at the door, which of course had very limited amount of tickets.
We wait around outside. There's people cosplaying a Hyde of every era. Blurry Eyes Hyde. Fuzzy Hat Era Hyde. Bondagey leather and spiked hair Hyde. And of course they're all women. There was an astounding amount of men in the crowd too. L'Arc is still considered Visual Kei, even though, depsite being awesome-looking, they haven't been "visual" for about a decade. So the people in the audience, are half dressed like normal people, half dressed in Visual Kei gear. And in my experience of Visual Kei concerts, theres about 99% women, and 1% men. L'Arc, however, was different, and there was a sizable male population.

I get into the theater, and WOW.

The stage is covered by a huge, heavy red curtain, draped beautifully. On the left and the right of the stage, there are these huge screens, also "draped by curtains" (they were actually just images of curtains). Above the main curtain, there's the crowning piece -- A huge... I don't even know what to call it--- the words "Theater of Kiss" On these bars like rose thorns, curving and twisting, above the stage. A nervous hour in my seat. I was back, and to the left, but centered enough. I could see everyone at any time, but they weren't real-people sized, unfortunately. That's reserved for smaller venues, and it's been ages, again, since L'Arc has played in one of those.
All of a sudden, the lights drop. Everyone goes wild. The curtains on the screens are drawn, and there's a gigantic bunny-man popping his head out of either screen. They start talking, in ridiculous sentences, copying each other and teasing one another, and the audience laughs, of course. They fall out of the screens, and appear on the stage. There's thunder and lightning, the curtains draw back, and the band is there. This is their track list:

01 THE BLACK ROSE
02 SEVENTH HEAVEN
03 Medley: Killing Me`New World`Driver's High

-MC hyde-
03 Driver's High`Shinsoku -lose control-`Promised land`AS ONE ~ STAY AWAY ~ HEAVEN'S DRIVE~ Shi no Hai (teaser) Kuchizuke(teaser)
-- by teaser, I mean, they played the first few bars of Shi no Hai, just enough for you to recognize the song, and then stopped. Then they started Kuchizuke, and made it until "Kuchizuke wo kawasou", before they stopped. Hyde went "thank you", and they paused again before starting the next song.

04 SHINE
05 spiral
06 DAYBREAK'S BELL
07 ALONE EN LA VIDA
08 Sunadokei
09 Umibe
10 MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM

-MC ken- (this one was about how he didn't like bunnies. He blamed it on their shi--... er, poo)

11 DRINK IT DOWN
12 REVELATION
13 Pretty girl
14 Link

P'UNK~EN~CIEL
15 natsu no yuutsu [SEA IN BLOOD 2007]
16 I Wish 2007

17 fate
18 READY STEADY GO
19 Shout at the Devil
20 Yuki no Ashiato

-MC hyde- (this one was him talking about liking snow, which lead to a bunch of puns about Yukihiro, talking about loving drinking alcohol, and the bad character of Ken and Tetsu. He was adorable. Called himself Boku which was such a lie)

21 Hurry Xmas

Dear God, when the curtains pulled back, and the music began, I could not stop the tears flowing down my cheeks. I cried so hard for the entire first two minutes or so of the concert, and then I entered this state of complete and total euphoria.  I can't begin to tell you how amazing it was. I know I've said this about every concert I've ever been to, but none of them ever have even compared to this at all. Not just on the scale, no. The quality, the atmosphere, the skill--- it was all unsurpassed. Incredible. Hyde can sing, yes, but he was perfect. On key, hit every note, missed no lines (except for one, but there was a reason--- a girl in the front, I'm assuming, grabbed her boobs while he was looking down at her, and he made a face and imitated the gesture, and laughed. That's a good excuse for missing a line, I should think). They were funny, they rocked, they were moving, they rocked, they were beautiful and wonderful and incredible and amazing, and I could die happy now, I could die.
I left the concert hall, ran to the station and made it on the first train back, but I was squished Tokyo-style in the train, and it was most uncomfortable. None of us cared though. It was a freezing night, but we were all warm, heated up. I got back to the dorm, spent some time in the community room, and then went up to my room, and I bawled online with my mother, and again afterwards.
You don't understand, probably, how much being able to go and see them affected me. I feel like I've come full circle. I started liking Japan and Japanese because of the music. And I started liking the music with L'Arc. They didn't play either of the first two songs of theirs I loved, unfortunately, but they played a few songs that I never would have thought I'd get to see in concert. It was just so incredible, just so amazing. It was so worth every cent I paid for the ticket (and merchandise), and more than that, so much more than that. It's a shame I didn't have anyone to go with to share the experience, but at the same time, that memory is all mine. It's my own, private treasure, and I can hold on to it as my own. I love that. I love them so much.
I can't even tell you. I want to buy their tour DVD, so I can watch it, and remember it. And probably start crying again.


Anyway, I'm home. I will be until next Wednesday. J is being a darling and flying up to see me tomorrow o(^_^)o  That's exciting. My cat is adorable and constantly by my side, and the sweetest thing ever. My mother and father are wonderful, and they're spoiling me because I haven't seen them since August of last year. And I have a new piece to play on the oboe--- Vivaldi's Concerto for Oboe in La Minore, all three movements. It's a lovely piece, and hard to play because I'm out of practice, and I was never really that good to begin with.
I'm happy to be home, and feel a bit like i just woke up from a long, strange dream. Japan really is the twilight zone. Moon-Land needs to be escaped from, on occasion, it would seem.
Anyway, much love. More to come later.

I got my address wrong. Here's what it actually is:    Regina Maria Estrada
         Apartment A2b-3 
         50 Yamazato-cho
        Showa-ku Nagoya-shi
        Aichi-ken 466-0824
        Japan


And I promise I'll write about L'Arc soon. I'm still digesting. It was incredible.

alright, so

I GOT TICKET TO GO AND SEE LARC EN CIEL
OMG
OMG
OMG
OMG

LOLZ0RZZ  HAXORZXXOZ!!

The Principles

Leibniz variously invoked one or another of seven fundamental philosophical Principles (Mates 1986: chpts. 7.3, 9):

• Identity / Contradiction. If a proposition is true, then its negation is false and vice versa.
• Identity of indiscernibles. Two things are identical if and only if they share the same properties. Frequently invoked in modern logic and philosophy.
• Sufficient reason. "There must be a sufficient reason [often known only to God] for anything to exist, for any event to occur, for any truth to obtain." (LL 717).
• Pre-established harmony. See Jolley (1995: 129–31), Woolhouse and Francks (1998), and Mercer (2001). "[T]he appropriate nature of each substance brings it about that what happens to one corresponds to what happens to all the others, without, however, their acting upon one another directly." (Discourse on Metaphysics, XIV) A dropped glass shatters because it "knows" it has hit the ground, and not because the impact with the ground "compels" the glass to split.
• Continuity. Natura non saltum facit. A mathematical analog to this principle would go as follows. If a function describes a transformation of something to which continuity applies, then its domain and range are both dense sets.
• Optimism. "God assuredly always chooses the best." (LL 311).
• Plenitude. "Leibniz believed that the best of all possible worlds would actualize every genuine possibility, and argued in Théodicée that this best of all possible worlds will contain all possibilities, with our finite experience of eternity giving no reason to dispute nature's perfection." (From Plenitude.)

The second principle here is often referred to as Leibniz's Law [2]. The Identity of Indiscernibles has attracted the most controversy and criticism, especially from corpuscular philosophy and quantum mechanics.

Leibniz would on occasion give a speech for a specific principle, but more often took them for granted. For a precis of what Leibniz meant by these and other Principles, see Mercer (2001: 473–84). For a classic discussion of Sufficient Reason and Plenitude, see Lovejoy (1957).

Remind me to facebook this later ....... company slogan EQUALS     your kibou is our zetsubou

Dear my loves:

School has begun. I mentioned this last time, but now that it has begun, that has become the center of my universe. Alas, you will read many a complaint about my classes from here on out. I apologize in advance. Which is to say, that I acknowledge that what I'm doing is wrong, but I plan on doing it anyway.
What do you call that, anyway? Another thing that has been bothering me, about English. Winston may have heard me wonder about this when Winston was here to visit. Imagine the following situation. Rob, Visual Kei extraordinaire, is walking up a hill from Lawson, back to the dorm. Wearing his highly Visual-Kei-ey shoes, which have huge platforms, he trips on his way up the hill. He still has not lived this down. Now, as for the question. Is it proper English to say: "I really hate this hill. I bet you do too. [ I mean, it was really embarassing when you fell up it.]"  Can you say "up it"? It has always seemed odd to me. And its limited to certain things. Consider an elevator. Can you go up it, the elevator? Does that sound more or less correct than to go up it, the hill?
Away from this ridiculous topic which concerns me only, really.
IJ 700 is surprisingly more enjoyable and easy-going than 600 was. They treat us more like people. That said, today Yokoi Sensei showed us a list of ALL 1945 KANJI that we're supposed to know by the end of the semester, and I nearly passed out. I have some MAD kanji-practice to do this semester, because I intend on KNOWING them all. Is that an impossible goal to set, or what, you guys? I think I'm at least a bit on my way, though. That is to say, I know AT LEAST 500 kanji, (i think) by now. So I'm like, a fourth of the way there!! Isn't that awesome?
Aside from school, now that I have money again, I'm looking to invest in some concerts. There's a HUGE punk-rock two-day festival in Osaka with some AWESOME big-name bands coming up in February, (tickets are about 一万二千円) which I'm considering going to. Aside from that, more locally...
On Satuday,  the following bands are playing at one live:  ν(ニュー) / -OZ- / SEX-ANDROID / 新興宗教楽団NoGoD / Arc ～大人になりたくないコドモ達～ / ClearVeil / Kaya      of which I've seen NoGod, and Kaya. I've heard of Sex-Android and OZ, but never heard any of their music. I may check this live out, considering that the only other Nagoya Live is featuring: VIP LINK / Long Castle Million Street / lycaon / A.C.E / nico / [D J]T.K.S(VIP LINK) .... none of which I have EVER heard of.
On Sunday... some interesting things are going on, but NEXT SATUDAY, Dio is playing, and I would like to go and see them. Rob loves them too so chances are that that is going to happen. Dio is playing, and so is Panic Channel, which is a band with maniacal fangirls that are just absolutely inSANE. Apparently, btw, the VK scene here is downright dirty. I won't get into the details, but there is a lot of bullying, hierarchies, sex, and other crazy shit going on. I am so glad that I go to concerts, rock out, and go home. I don't want to be a part of a scene that is all..... corrupt, you know?
Anyway. Good times. Oh! I have not yet reviewed Miyavi's new single (featuring Sugizo, yet another legendary figure in the world of Japanese Rock and Rollllll). I'll do that later.
Hmmm, what else can I say to keep you wonderful people in  the know? AH! I'm going back to the States during Spring Break #1. We get two spring breaks. But during #1, I will be in the United States of America. Expect phone calls, my dearest darlings. I want to talk to all of you, like you can't even guess. Don't think for a second you're forgotten or unimportant. I miss you. A LOT. And I'll be in the USA for the span of about a week, so I'll be around for tele-communications. Exciting news, I know. I will be getting a hair cut, before that date. Probably the day before that date. Mom, expect to be shocked when you see my lovely new cabeza. It is in the middle of being planned. All I have to say is.... my hair isn't too long right now, so there's not TOO much room for free movement, but. YOU KNOW.

REQUEST: things that you've thought looked good on my head, before. IE, colors, styles, shapes. Let me know, I need ideas.

And on that note. I have an exam tomorrow on something we never covered in class, so I have to go and do some study.

Love and kisses.

Trevor: In case you read this, and Takeshi forgets to tell you. Listen to The Protomen. They sing about Megaman, and they rock the faces off of everything.
Winston: I hope you got home alright. I miss you already. The cookies and snacks were delicious, thank you. Let me know what people thought about the things we got them. I'll be sending you D very soon, I promise. ^^
Mom: I need to talk to you. Re: my problem of over break. Just when I thought it was getting better.

Things are settling down a bit, finally. Class has begun. I am taking: Japanese 700, Ikebana, Foreign Policy, and Creative Writing. It's a nice schedule, in my opinion. I get my scholarship on Monday so I'll be financially alive again as of then. Good times.
I can't possibly recount the rest of my adventures over break--- not a lot happened really. Just parties. And more parties. And drinking, and then more parties. I went to SamaSama with some friends, and while I was there, the waiter dropped my camera and broke it. It cost about 100 dollars to repair, but I was reimbursed, in cash, by the owner of the bar (it's not really a bar, it's an 居酒屋) and that was good. Now the camera works like a dream again. ^^ Yay!

Im gonna head to bed. Just wanted to inform those of you that read this, that I am still alive. We'll talk again soon. Much love. I'll have things to post not too long from now. <3

You guys, I have 2000 yen to last me until next Monday. Sorry. Now I have 1700. I spent 300 on lunch.
I AM SO SCREWWWWWE~~~~~~~D.

Okay.

So today is the 30^th of December. I am now a full-fledged, key-holding resident of the dorms. Exciting? You have no idea. But before I get to that, let me summarize, in extensive detail, our adventure in Osaka.

To put Osaka into 3 words/phrases: Beer, 40-year-old-ho’s, and Porn.

There is porn everywhere in Osaka. Go to an arcade, and you can play Mah Jong games that have porn clips between rounds. Walk down the street, and people are hanging out flyers for companies that offer all sorts of services—pick from a variety of different kinds of women – lolis, nurses, big-breasted beauties , etc. – and they will be at your beck and call for the minimal price of about 200 dollars for an hour and a half. Sound too expensive? Well, you can always hit a certain building in Nanba, subtitled “the masturbation room of the oncoming generation”, and watch their extensive collection of pornography whilst in a room for yourself.

Anyway, allow me to recount the tale of 5 Nubile, Young College-Students, and their Bizarre Adventures in Osaka, Japan.

The party consisted of Phillip Schaus, Hans Wilbers, Phil Greenspan, and Rob Szatmari and Me. We left for Osaka at around 12:35 by train, and got there around 2ish hours later. Checked into the hostel, which was tiny tiny tiny, but clean, with friendly staff. There were 2 sets of 3 bunks in a room no bigger than about 9x9 feet, in my estimation. The bunks looked to be made of balsa wood, pretty much, and I doubt they could have held up people a lot heavier than we were, and the beams were not sanded so apparently splinters happened a lot. Personally, I didn’t experience that issue though.

As it just so happened, we were lucky enough to get to the hostel on the 3^rd Saturday of the month, which is when there’s a pub-crawl. It was interesting—we went to dinner and then lounged around waiting for one of the guides of the pub-crawl to come and get us. She got us lost on the way to the pub-crawl meeting point, but after that, was a reliable guide. Anyway, for those of you that don’t know, a pub-crawl is basically a tour of a whole bunch of local bars. We paid 2500 yen, and in exchange paid no entrance fees into any bars, and got tons of free drinks. We got our money’s worth. Times a thousand.

The pub-crawl was fun, really. There were 6 pubs on the list but we went home after the 5^th, because it was late, and we were tired and drunk and if we had drunk any more, things would have gotten messy. It was about 3 when we got back to the hostel. Crazy night. The next morning, Rob and I left the hostel at like noon, awake since 10 AM, and headed to find some foods. We found a cool little café, where we drank coffee, ate toast, and did a crossword together. The café was blaring Mariah Carey’s Christmas song, and played it more than 20 times in a row. I wanted to shoot myself. We left there after we finished our crossword, and met up with the rest of the gang for some touring. We saw the longest covered shopping street in Japan, and it was full of really crummy, boring stores >< We then went to Den Den town, and engaged in some more shoppings. Finally, we went out again, and began our search for bars. We could not find ONE, for like an hour and a half, that was open. When we found the darts bar, we went ahead on in, and drank beers while playing the absolute worst game of darts I have ever witnessed.

I did hit the bull’s eye though, a few times (like twice). Eventually it was time for moving on, and so we did. Left the darts bar, and started wandering in search of another bar. Interestingly, we found ourselves at Zerro, one of the bars we had been to for the pub crawl. Excited,  we went in, claimed our spot at the foosball table, and continued drinking and playing foosball. The boys were considerably better at foosball than they were at darts, and I was considerably worse. Anyway, this is where things get interesting.

We were playing our game innocently in our corner, drinking beers and random other drinks, depending on who bought which round (we had Sex on the Beaches at one point. They were tasty), and behind us there’s this group of foreigners and Japanese women. At first glance, the Japanese women looked to be young, but when you looked (as opposed to glanced), you could quite clearly see that they were not, in fact, young ladies, but women in their late thirties/early forties, dressed like women in their 20s. Anyway, they were dancing with the foreigners, and suddenly, we all hear a “WOooooooaoaooOOOaaaaah!!!” from the group. We turn and look, and there is one of the Obasans, humping the corner of the wall, and then shaking her booty on a man in a chair, and then the foosball table…. It was really odd, and really funny. I have it on video (snicker).

Anyway, after the woman has finished raping our foosball table, we started hanging out with them. And before long we find out that they’re a group of Office Ladies that works hard all week long and then parties even harder on the weekend. They were doing a bar tour that night (lucky us!) and invited us to follow them to the next place they knew, which was supposed to be really cool. And so, because in part, we were slightly inebriated, and because we had nothing better to do, really, we followed them to the next bar. This is where it gets good.

We get to the next place, which was completely empty, as in, entirely devoid of customers other than them – crazy Japanese middle-aged women – and us. As a result, we were waived a cover charge to enter the bar. Which was less of a bar and more a dance club with a bar. And less a dance club with a bar as it was a refuge for closet pole-dancers (there were three poles on platforms) with a bar. Yeah. So the foreign kids start dancing right away, and then the ladies come and join us. It was… interesting. They pole-danced like really bad pros (I have video ><). And the part where they started taking off their clothing, that was also interesting (I have photos ><). When they took the clothes off of a certain member of our party, that was also interesting (I have photos ><) But don’t worry Mom, it was all really PG. They only took off their tops, but not their bras. And one of them pulled her pants down but it was over so quick I couldn’t even get out my camera. As for the thing with Mr. Greenspan, his clothes went back on quite quickly, and we didn’t see anything vital. Very, very PG.

Anyway, eventually they say it’s time for the next bar, and so follow them with the intention of going in. But we get there, and there are coin lockers outside because apparently the place was run by Yakuza and people in there would steal everything off of you. So, to keep ourselves safe, we decided not to go in, under the guise of “having to leave the next day”. The Japanese grannies were most hospitable, however, and offered us to stay at their place over night so we wouldn’t have to worry about going back to the hostel, and in retrospect, maybe we should have. It would have made the story a lot better. But either way, the five of us did not enter the club, and opted instead to go home. It was about 5:30 when we got to the hostel, and we drunken fools passed out in our balsa-wood bunks and did not wake up until noon the next morning.

When we woke up, we opted to eat breakfast in the hostel instead of going out. When we did leave the hostel it was around 3, and the five of us were freaking exhausted. We went to Umeda, where we found a gigantic Yodobashi Camera and spent quite a while perusing their shiny, silly gadgets. Yet again, they were blasting the Mariah Carey Christmas song, OVER AND OVER AND OVER, and our heads were exploding. It being the 24^th of December, we decided to treat ourselves to some nice, good sushi. A toast: “Happy Beer and Fun Day!”. (Beer and Fun Day is an event that extends from the 21^st of December to the end of the year, which consists of drinking booze, usually beer, and having fun). The plan for tonight? Karaoke!

So we headed to a Big Echo which gypped us by denying that beer was part of Nomihoudai, and giving us such weak cocktails that we ended up paying for the beers anyway. The Karaoke we sang at Osaka was probably one of the best ones, in terms of musical quality, though one of the video clips that Phil took will definitely say differently. But anyway, we got free posters, and then at around three or so in the morning headed home for a good night of sleep before our return journey home.

The 25^th. Wake up, get ready. Check out of the hostel. Head to the station where we’ll be catching the trains back, and find ourselves some Okonomiyaki. It definitely is better in Osaka. God knows why. After we eat, we buy our train tickets, and then jump on the first train back to Nagoya, which happened to be the slow one with the most stops, so we ended up taking about 4 hours to get home. Oops.  For dinner, we eat a Nagoya specialty—miso-katsu-don. Delicious. Schau-chan and I headed back to the host family's house - aka the frozen tundra - to get a nice shower in, and then we came back to the dorms to hang out and party a bit more, since it was Christmas. Get back at two AM, and pass out.

We were exhausted. Still are.

But thusly ends the recounting of the tale of 5 Nubile, Young College-Students, and their Bizarre Adventures in Osaka, Japan.

The next day, Schau-chan and I left the house for about an hour to see off Phil for his return trip home. We’re going to miss that bum. But aside from that, we stayed at the house all day. I napped and napped and napped, and he used the computer. Then, I tossed everything I owned into two suitcases, one carryon, a gigantic plastic bag, my Fossil bag, and my backpack, and we went to bed. It was a tiring, tiring trip and we were still recovering.

Comes the 27^th. I cleaned my room in the morning, and we moved me out at around 3. We chilled at the dorm and then there was a dinner with the Host Family, now former, where we sat and listened to an old man talk for a long long time. We got back, and there was a party happening, as usual. I didn’t unpack anything, really.  I unpacked for a total of ten minutes – just shoved clothes into my closet to get them out of the suitcases, and then we headed down to Rob’s to listen to awesome music and talk about stupid things. It was about three when I was passing out from tired, and thusly I returned to my room for a wonderful night of sleep – true the pillow is shittier, but the air was warm, for once, and I didn’t have to worry about waking up with a sore throat and getting dressed into clothes that were practically made of ice. It was really wonderful. Like paradise!

Then the 28^th. What did we do the 28^th? Schau-chan accompanied me on my highly boring expedition to Jusco to purchase things for the apartment. But when we got back to dorm, as usual, a party was happening. So, the 29^th. We went all over town the 29^th, looking for random things and experiencing the wonders of Osu and the immediate area surrounding it. We got back to the dorm and had a farewell party for Justin, who is moving out of the dorms, which lasted again, until about 5 in the morning. Schauchan wasn’t supposed to be in the dorm, but he most definitely was. At about 5 though, he had to go to catch the first train back to the hotel so he could actually get some sleep, and in order to not get caught by the dorm people, since he was inside illegally.

I woke up at around 2, and now, I am doing laundry. Good time, laundry. Not really. Schau-chan is in Sakae, doing some shopping at PARCO—I think we needed a breather from each other. Just for a day, at least. But I’ll be with him tonight, so it’s okay. It’s just really tiring when you’re with the same people 24-7, the entire week. Haven't seen Rob or Hans today either. What’s for dinner tonight? I don’t know. Indian food, maybe?  I’m not sure.  God, could I go for a nap ><.

Regi's WINTER BREAK PLANS, FOR YOUR REFERENCE!!!!

December 21st: 9:20 - Final exam
                               2:00 ish - Phillip gets to Nagoya   
                              3:30 - Farewell Party at school
                              11:00 - Final 600-Karaoke
December 22nd: Leave for Osaka. I don't know what time.
            |
            |       Regi, Schauchan, Phil, Hans and Rob's Lovely Trip to Osaka <3
            v
December 25th: Get back from Osaka. I don't know what time
December 27th: Move into the dorms!! NO INTERNET UNTIL JANUARY 7th!!!
December 31st: Chill with the then-ex-host-fam making mochi, celebrate the new year with friends
January 3rd:  Schau-chan goes home ><
January 7th: GET INTERNET. THANK GOD.
January 8th: Michelle Comes to Nagoya <3
January 10th: Two hour housing orientation I see no need to go to.
January 12th: Michelle goes away ><
January 14th: Classes start? I'm not sure. I have no idea.

IF YOU NEED TO CONTACT ME (AND Michelle, you absolutely DO!)
Phone number:  090-6640-6830
Phone email: (real emails may be sent here as well)  reginamaria@softbank.ne.jp
Mailing address, as of the 27th of December, until My Last Day In Japan (note dramatic capitalization):
        Regina Maria Estrada
         Apartment A2b-3 
         50 Yamazato-cho
        Showa-ku Nagoya 466-0824
        Japan
      

Please note the highly professional use of two different kinds of bodily waste in that subject line.

I got home after an awesome evening tonight, in an awesome mood. Everything went really well, we all had a blast at dinner celebrating Archer-san's birthday, and I even caught the last bus home, saving me a cab-ride that I wasn't willing to pay, really. Great night. Take off my shoes, drop my jacket off in my room, and head into the family room to spend some time with the family. I don't know how it happened, but somehow, the conversation quickly turned into one about when it was that I would be moving into the dorm.
When I first told Okaasan that I was going to be moving into the dorm, I asked if I could stay until the tenth, because I wanted to live with them until the last day I had to move out, because although at times I bitch about living with them, we really get along and everything is fine. She said she'd look at her schedule and see when it was easiest for her to help me move my things--- sweet of her to do, because technically, she doesnt need to help me move anything.
Apparently, they want me out of the house on the 26th or 27th. That's 9 days away. I don't even know if the dorm is letting people move in by then. I can see why they would want to have the New Years to themselves, since they're going to be cleaning the whole house and want to spend the time as a family. It's not unreasonable. But still. Talk about short notice. I asked what I'd do with Phil, and I think that she got offended, and I tried to fix it, because it wasn't like I was asking to let him stay here, at all.
But basically, what this means, is that I have to have all my shit packed up and ready to go by this Friday, since we're going to Osaka between the 22nd and the 25th.
Basically, they're kicking me out as soon as they can. And I was really hurt, and I know she is probably really hurt, but I don't know how to fix her misunderstanding. She thinks I'm moving out so that I can party. And while this is not wholly untrue-- one of the benefits of living in the dorm will be that I'll be living with my friends --- but that's not why I need to move out. Homestay is costing me too much money I can't afford to spend-- that's the problem.
But they don't get that. And I'm kicked out.

Fuck.

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After Tokyo was another painful week of school.
And then came.... the SECOND 600-level Fun+Bonding=LOVE Karaoke expedition!!
There weren't as many of us for round two, sadly... but we still had a blast, I assure you. Then, I went to Karaoke with Marla the next night, and we did three and a half hours of karaoke, the TWO of us, and during that entire time, sang ALL OF THREE SONGS in English. Ahrahahahhaa, we're dorks.
Then was the soccer game, then the DeG live. Now, there's this weekend. More to write tomorrow, I'm sure.
I'm working on a big, giggle-tastic project. Ask me about it.

Oh, and I'm moving into the dorms. More info on that comes later.
LOvE!

Regi

So!

The last Friday of November, Rob and I left school at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, to head for Tokyo. We had bought tickets to see Machine, Hakuei's side project band which rocks like you don't even know. We got on the Meijo line to Motoyama, where we switched to the Higashiyama line to Nagoya station, where we switched to the JR line and got on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo. We managed to get two seats together in a non-smoking car. Never, EVER ride the smoking cars in the train. They SMELL LIKE CRAP. It's enough to make you sick.
Anyway, at the station I realized that I was a complete idiot and left my camera at home, and hence, I was completely unable to take any photographic evidence of this trip. My apologies. Anyway, on the train, we turn on my laptop, and watch music videos for pretty much the entirety of the two hours it takes us to get to Tokyo. I felt bad for the people who would glance at my screen and see the sorts of PVs we were watching-- we warmed up with some Pierrot and Dir en Grey and the like, and then moved onto some Penicillin, since that's the closest I could get to Machine PVs on my computer-- and there were some pretty crazy images that strangers would perhaps find indecent.
Get off the Shinkansen, and switch to the insane subway system in Tokyo, to get to Shibuya, where the live was being held. Locked our things in a coin locker once we got to the station, and then used a crazy map and the directions of a waitress at a Chinese food restaurant to get to the Live Hall, whose name escapes me at present. There was a surprisingly large amount of middle-aged women there, but I guess it makes sense. Hakuei's been around for at least a decade, I'm sure, and they probably got into his music when he started making it, so it's not too far fetched. We made our way to the front, and got to be about fourth row from front, maybe a bit closer.
There was a DJ playing, who turned out to be the synth player for the band, and  he was playing all music that was like a decade old at least, haha. Rob and I spent our pre-live time thinking up billion-dollar ideas. The two of us are one money-making machine, really. We come up with these ridiculous enterprises left and right, and are going to have build our own entertainment complex to see them all to fruition. One of our more recent ones was road-side 5-minute-capped karaoke booths, for those moments when you just need to take a few minutes out of real life to sing a song. Sound good? Wait five or ten years and they'll be all over Japan, thanks to RR Inc (that's not our official name yet, just something I was toying with).
Anyway. Hakuei is just as gorgeous in real life as he is in all the pictures. It was an incredible performance. They played a few wonderful songs--- Double Love Shock, Falcon, Seven Years after Genesis, and quite a few others. Again, the band was deliciously shirtless for the majority of the live, but Machine entertained us with some chit-chat and MCing, which not all bands (ie DeG) do. They were really funny, too. The Synth player in the back shared an anecdote about him and Hakuei going to karaoke the two of them while in Kyoto, and Hakuei was like "Yeah, and he sang the ENTIRE TIME". So some girls are like "SING!" to the synth-player, and Kiyoshi (guitar/the other official member of Machine) goes, "HEY, we're MACHINE!!" Good times, good laughs. (「歌って！」　「おい！俺ら、マシーンだぞ！」)
Machine was awesome. I can swear I had an eye-contact moment with Hakuei, but he was really good at flirting with the audience.
Moving on. We got out of the live and met with Sisco, who let us stay at his homestay, since the hostel we were planning on staying at was like impossible to get in touch with. We ended up going out for 2 hours of karaoke after that, and then by the time we got back, it was like 2 AM.
Next day we went to Kichijouji to get Rob a rock-esque beanie, and then to Harajuku, where I tried on clothes but bought nothing. Then, we went to dinner, and finally, to a 300 yen bar that Sisco knows. Sisco is awesome. We spent a while there, downing beer and shots and gin and god knows what else because it was all 300 yen a pop. We met some wasted Japanese people tha    t were pretty friendly, and then caught one of the last trains back to Shinjuku. We went to a hookah bar that Sisco knows, and hung out there for quiiiiite a while. WHICH IS WHERE SOMETHING REALLY INTERESTING AND HORRIFYING HAPPENED!!!
I went to go to the bathroom, which happened to be outdoors, and a public, co-ed bathroom, so there was a man standing at a urinal when I walked in, and I freaked out. Anyway, so I wait for the dude to come out and then I do my business. Okay. So later on in the evening, it so happens that I have to go to the bathroom again. Rob and Sisco are dorking out upstairs so I just duck out for a moment, and head to the bathroom, but it just so happens that both stalls are full.
So I, being the silly girl I am, wait outside the bathroom. Out of a shady alley comes this random strange Japanese business man, and he kind of saunters over to me. "Hey", he says (「こんばんは」) , and I kind of give him one of those reluctant I-don't-know-why-you're-talking-to-me smiles. And he goes, "What are you doing after this?" (「これからは？」) and I was like. OMF BALLZING G, HE'S SOLICITING ME FOR SEX!!!! OMFG OMFG OMFG OMFG!!!! And then someone gets out of the bathroom, so I'm like, "I've got friends here", and I dash inside the restroom and lock myself in the stall. I had to have one of the guys come down and rescue me, and after that, I was accompanied to the restroom by armed escort.
Next day, we pretty much spent the entire day at Akihabara, doing techy-anime-y shoppingses. And then, we hung out at a bar for the last few minutes before we had to go and catch the overnight bus home. Rob and I were DESTROYED. Super tired, slept like shit. It was an awesome time, except we didn't get to talk as much as we would have liked.
Tokyo kicked ass.