Groovy

Another weekend has come to an end and back to work this morning. Every week going back to work gets easier as I get more and more used to it. I have a lot more power at work now, particularly as I only have about 4 months left there so I don't really care anymore what happens. Yay! It would be so funny to hop in a time machine and go back to myself about 5 months ago when I was so freaked out and say "See, it really is going to be OK."

To say weekend is probably an understatement. I actually had an extended weekend that lasted all week! Tuesday night last week went out with Michiko and some of her friends for dinner at an Okinawan restaurant near Shiki. Good food, good company, good atmosphere. Good feeling of sitting next to my beautiful friend Michiko and feeling her warmth. I dropped in at a cool bar on my way home for a drink and chatted with a bunch of tanked people who were celebrating somebody's birthday party. Then finally went home to bed.

On Wednesday I went to the arts and crafts exhibition as mentioned in previous post. Then Thursday went to a bar in Ebisu where my friend Ian was playing some nice progressive/psy beats and my friend Jaime was having a little birthday party. Then went to a little bar in Waseda and spent the night immersed in a cloud of good conversation and cheap beer. This was the coolest bar I've ever been too! Had lots of fun talking to old friends and new. Got home finally at about 7:30 am and stayed up for hours crying and writing on facebook. Felt thoroughly purged when I finally went to bed at about 10am and then had lots of fun trying to stay awake at work.

Then Friday night went to Ikebukuro to have dinner with Dwight, yay! Dwight has arrived in Japan. We spent ages trying to find somewhere promising to eat but ended up at a chain izakaya (Japanese bar/restaurant). Great to catch up and hang out with someone I have actually known for more than 5 minutes. Dwight just got back from his first two weeks in Japan which were spent in Hokkaido snowboarding and visiting the Ice festival in Sapporo.

Saturday night was earth groove. I have been looking forward to this party for quite a while. Valentine's day at work was rather saturated with chocolate so I left there feeling vaguely sick. Went home and had some dinner and then got ready to go out. I wanted to stop at a bar in Koenji on my way but ended up getting there so late I could only stay for about half an hour. Nevertheless, at least I got to hang out with some groovy people and get myself ready for the earth groove. A really nice American guy called Jeremy runs the bar on a Saturday night. He has lived in Japan for several years and speaks really good Japanese. Then got an email from Michiko that said no can do short term relationship. Sad. But OK. It was fun. Felt beautiful again.

Finally arrived in Aoyama and after walking straight past the venue and along the street for quite some distance made my way there. Earth Groove was organised by Emilie whom I have heard about but never met. She organises parties under the name Parties for Peace. The parties are meant to promote peace and this one being a fundraiser for a campaign to protect Patagonia. The music is techno/house which means it doesn't have quite the deep bass that I'm used to. It was good for hanging out and chatting to. I met lots of people and finally chatted properly to Ian and Mitsu who are a really beautiful couple. Thought about trying to flirt a bit but only ended up talking to women already in relationships! I think I just didn't have it in me. I've been a little too introspective lately. Not really the kind of mood that can sustain flirtation. The wheel keeps turning and these kinds of moods take hold of me for a while, move through me and then go. Finally left the party at about 5am and walked to the station with Ian and Mitsu. I managed to sleep on the train at every point and wake up exactly at my station - I must be getting used to this.

Sunday was quiet. Went for a swim and then Dwight came over and we carried his boxes to his new place in Itabashi ward. So exciting! His place is nice, quite roomy. He cooked me dinner and we talked about Japan, relatioships, music, parties, the arrogance of most DJs and about a thousand other things. So nice to have a good friend come to live in Japan. Monday I spent at home pretending to write my research proposal and finally actually started doing some real work on it very late at night. Went swimming on Sunday and Monday at a pool in Asaka. Now here we are! It's Tuesday again - ready for another week? Well, ready or not.