Tokyo: or "Dude, I'm so stoked on this brodeo..."

Cool things that happened:

- Realized that for an ugly guy who likes music that can strip paint at 100 yards, I do get hit on a lot.

- Got confused for a male model in Ueno Park. Had my picture taken by teenage girls, old creepy dudes, and some keener American "journalist" who gave me a thumbs up after thinking my baleful stare at him was a "pose" and not a prelude to an ass-kicking. Why not, you know, just ASK ME?

- Ran into a dude I came over with on the initial orientation and had a rabble rousing day of harajuku joke-makery and American food destruction. Also discussed Chomsky's linguistic theories, violitional deviations, slang, and the applied studies in foreign languages.

- Schooled a teenaged Colorado girl on Joy Division after she started going all "Hard Day's Night" on my Death From Above shirt. Extrapolate from there. Geekdom has advantages.

- Record shopping in Koeinji. Picked up CDs by Battles, Year Future and Your Enemies Friends. Stoked.

- Went to that バロック (Barok), a crazy-ass "serial killer, death, autopsy, creepy art" store in Koeinji that just scared the ever-loving shit out of me. You know the movie 8mm? Well, combine that with an underground record shop and there you are. This little bald guy in a booth with glasses just glared and didn't move the whole time while I looked at various things.

CREEPY.

- Finally popped my "internet cafe pass-out" cherry and crashed out in Shibuya after my retarded "friend" from Hawaii started suffering from "gaijin sickness." Rock.

Less than cool things:

- Confused for a gangster in Shinjuku... just because a man wears a suit and doesn't smile...

- Didn't get my hair cut after all. I still look like Paul Weller does now, which is pissing me off.

- Went through a debilitating "man, I don't want to hang out with foreigners" phase while, you guessed it, eating at Outback steakhouse and observing foreigners. The self-hate has reached it's vintage stage, sir.

- Had a friend do that "I don't really know him" thing on me for no reason. Moody old dope smoker, eh? Here's to damaged Hawaiian girls. May the road rise to meet you, and your compulsive memory problems.