#nichome

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Not going to make any resolutions about writing here more, since I know I won't commit, but here's a bit about my Saturday.

Started off the day with a massage at my chiropractor. They always tell me that my upper body is super tense. Wonder if it's because I gym or because I have terrible posture and my muscles just clamp up to try keeping everything together.

This was followed by tidying up around home, catching up in Ai Nori, and a quick dinner at Matsuya before going to meet my friend. We barely kept in touch since I left JET, but I've always been fond of him. He was my buddy for finding Cantonese food in Osaka.

Both of us brought a friend. After some painfully slow decision making outside of Janice Wong's, we chose not to have a $40 dessert course, and headed over to Lumine EST instead. We settled on The Original Pancake House. I took over ordering because I know my sweets. My friend ordered a coffee. It didn't gain his approval though because practically all Australian friends of mine are coffee snobs.

After that we departed for nichome. I hardly consider myself an expert on the Shinjuku gay district, but I did my best to play good tour guide. First was some outdoor drinking at Aiiro Cafe. Once the 5 degree weather got the best of us, we relocated to Dragon. The bouncer was kind of rude, but there was a good size crowd there. All of the Top40 bops were playing. I ordered my second Malibu coke, and my friend got a sweet potato whiskey. Both my friend and I were surprised that they were playing an actual cum shot video on the bar TVs. Neither of us danced because my friend doesn't do that. I was a little sad that I missed out on the cardio, but I did come out specifically to spend time with him.

Next I took them to the porn shop on the main street. Spent some time looking at their cock rings and the array of Tenga goods. Passing the underwear section prompted an in-depth discussion on the mechanics of how underwear can give someone without a butt, the appearance of one. My friend also expressed his lack of understanding in the appeal of "sexy underwear". It was time for another drink.

We climbed the stairs to Wordup Bar, and took the counter seats in the center. Out of all our stops that night, Wordup had the highest concentration of attractive guys. The next logical step was figuring out whether they were Japanese or Taiwanese. I was on my third Malibu coke when we started reminiscing on what it was like dating my ex (another Osaka JET that my friend knew). We finished up there and decided to get some pho at Cocolo Cafe.

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For our combined birthdays, Katie and I went to Tokyo. Specifically, Shinjuku. We met up with a friend from college and his friends from his abroad program. I was extremely tired because the night before I visited Shibuya with my friend from home and I did not sleep enough to warrant the late night I knew I was in for. I had an awful stomach ache which I later realized was mostly anxiety. Saturday started easily. The weather was so nice, sunny but not hot. This was early October so it was not true fall weather in Japan yet. My friend and I went to Ueno Park and got Starbucks. There are no Starbucks near me so whenever I go into the city I love to get some. The park was huge. I didn't know it was going to be so large because the entrance was sitting next to the train station. But the walkway just kept going. It was lined by trees too. There was a baseball field with people playing, a cafe, a huge open space where there were many food trucks set up, and lots of people. I love seeing groups of people, especially tour groups of foreigners or tourists.  

Katie and Is birthday plans started in Shimokitazawa, a thrifty/ artsy area of Tokyo. We got fluffy pancakes at a cafe she really likes and gossiped at a volume too loud for the small space. We checked out multiple thrift stores. One was more like an artist collective? It was under the same roof but there were different small shops. It seemed more curated/ vintage than thrifting. There was a jewelry section as well and every artist who had items for sale had a small box decorated with their jewelry and they were stacked on top of eachother. The other thrift stores were more thrifty and offered tons of college sweatshirts, sportsware, and t-shirts. I even saw three Fairfield University ones! No Rutgers or Pitt though :\ I almost bought this oversized Giants long sleeve shirt but it was too overpriced. 

After thrifting we walked around the neighborhood. There were many small shops and art displays. We got dinner at this Taiwanese restaurant that was in between various places to eat. It amazes me how much they can fit in spaces here. The soup dumplings were amazing, and they gave you paper bibs so you don't mess up your clothes and these small cups to hold the dumpling in. After, we made our way back to the hotel we were staying in to get ready for the night. 

My stomach was still bad at this point but I love getting ready to go out. We played music and put on our outfits. I had brought my favorite makeup and all of my rings. I ended up wearing one of katies shirts instead of the one I brought because it looked more appropriate for the bars. 

We went to 4 bars during the night. Two of them were really fun and had great music selections. In popular areas, usually you have to pay a cover fee to get into the bar. It's not too expensive usually and it will often cover a drink or two. Waiting in line for said drink is another story but once you pay for it you gotta get it. Once I was sufficiently drunk, it was much easier for me to let loose and dance. Being in a large group prevented any unwanted attention as well which made the night go much smoother. My right contact lens fell out of my eye at like 10 pm but I didn't realize until we got back to our room at like 4am. I thought my eye was just irritated all night. Luckily, you don't really need to see clearly to have fun in a bar. After the bars, we all went to eat at a gyudon place close by. It is common for some restaurants to be open late/ all night in these areas because they can make a lot of money from drunk people like us, and people coming back from working insane hours. We slept from like 4-9 am and even though we had drank the hangover prevention medicine (which did help a lot) I felt so awful I was like im not drinking for months. This was a lie but it was a good 2 weeks maybe? I was deathly silent the whole train ride back to my house and Katie talked nonstop which reminded me of college.