それでもいい

[dr4b]

Dude. So I watched the Dragons-Tigers game tonight and the Dragons won, and Tony Blanco hit this gigantic home run, and so he and Takashi Ogasawara (starting pitcher) were game heroes, and... and Blanco actually talked in Spanish, with his interpreter translating. That's really wacky, I'm not sure I've heard a foreign player speak Spanish here like that -- usually even if they're from Latino countries they tend to speak pretty good English. I'm sure he's not the first, he's just the first one I saw in a hero interview, basically.

As for the rest of the day, I went to my company's office in Shibuya and filled out forms this afternoon. The guy who's basically "coordinator in charge of making sure ALTs have their act together" is going to go to Shinagawa on my behalf sometime next week and file for my visa renewal. He has my passport, which makes me a little nervous, but I'm sure it'll be okay.

I was weak and bought Krispy Kremes on the way home, because our office is up the Dogenzaka slope right by the Shibuya KK. They have a flavor called "Daddy's Coffee Chocolate" which basically is a chocolate-covered donut with coffeebeans on it. It's much better than it sounds.

And then I went and did karaoke by myself here in Akabane. Seriously, it's 80 cents an hour per person before 7pm, and you have to buy a drink. So it was 500 yen for me to do karaoke for an hour and a half, which is about as long as I could last by myself anyway (well, I coulda done two hours I think). I tried out some songs I'd wanted to, kind of failed to be able to read a bunch of them fast enough, had to play around with key signatures for a few others. Had a lot of fun trying to do 東京ラプソディー, which is an enka-esque polka from like 80 years ago, and actually recorded myself singing　東京の屋根の下に住む because I wondered how bad I actually sound (the answer: nowhere near as bad as I think). I really should learn more crazy old songs just for fun, or at least some actual enka (it's just that the few enka singers I listen to, none of them are female).

I still wish I had a regular karaoke buddy to go with, but it's actually totally fun to go by myself in a lot of ways, aside from the embarrassment when I first arrive at the place like "...yes... one person..." I mean, I don't have to feel nervous about screwing up, and I can pick whatever damn songs I want, and skip whatever I want. The downside is mostly that I lose my voice a lot quicker, and it's nice to learn new songs with people (and in some cases, it's nice to harmonize with people, though my best harmony buddy lives in freaking Nagoya).

But whatever. Anyway, I picked up stuff at Ito Yokado and then came home to watch baseball, and I did laundry while watching the game, and the stray cats seem to be gone, though my first floor smells weird now and I'm not sure why. To me it actually smells like "this house needs to be aired out" more than anything, but I'm not sure rainy season is going to be the time to air it out. Sigh.

Comments

[kawaru.livejournal.com]

Hi harmony buddy! (er, 勝手に assuming that's me) I sort of gave up on the solo karaoke thing as of a couple of months ago because I started to feel embarrassed. Maybe I should take it up again. Maybe I should just get my butt up to Tokyo.

Ah, and the last Dragons game I went to here, Blanco was the game hero (not a home run but he finally batted some people in-- home plate wasn't getting any love at all that game) and he spoke in Spanish with an interpreter then too. Maybe el no habla ingles?

[dr4b]

Yeah, I meant you :)
Were you embarrassed even for karaoke box stuff? I mean, aside from when you go in and when you leave, nobody REALLY knows you're alone... and plenty of people do karaoke practice from what I understand. And you should come to Tokyo. I need to come to Nagoya too, but who knows when I'll get down there.

I guess Blanco doesn't speak English, yeah. It would explain why a reporter friend of mine referred to him as being "as talkative as dirt".

[kawaru.livejournal.com]

Sweet. We're official harmony buddies! You're definitely MY number one harmony and duet partner. Join me, and we can rule Shidax as ... a couple of western devils? But yeah. I was talking to some girl and mentioned I don't do karaoke much these days since I don't have people to go with, and I said "and going by yourself is kind of weird right?" And she agreed, so I gave in to peer pressure. I should probably quit doing that and just do solo karaoke again.

I'll be in Tokyo next weekend but I don't think we'll be able to meet up. Let me know if there are any ball games or anything going on in Tokyo next month and I can probably get back up there!

[februaryfour]

You could always try me--especially July/August, when doubt72 is busy with finals or Not In Tokyo... ^_^

ETA: I'm surprised you didn't think you sounded good in karaoke! It was fun last time, and we should definitely do it again...

[dr4b]

Oh, this is very specifically this one song -- it's kind of a jazz piece from... hmm, looking it up it seems to be Showa 23, which I believe is 1948. I'll sing it next time we're at karaoke together, you'll see what I mean.

[februaryfour]

Haha, yes, do. That's older than MY MOTHER.

[teravell.livejournal.com]

Apparently going to karaoke alone isn't all that uncommon -- the teenage girls in my church were all talking about it a few weeks ago, and they've all done it. They call it ヒトカラ. ;)

[dr4b]

Yeah, I don't think it's that uncommon per se, but maybe I think I stick out more as a foreigner. Did the girls seem embarrassed about it or just like "yeah, I need to practice"?

[teravell.livejournal.com]

They were all excited, because one of the girls had gone for the first time. They were all like, 気楽だね！ and talking about how it's good stress relief and it's nice because you can pick your favorite songs and you don't have to wait for anyone else. It sounds awesome, but I'm still a bit too shy to try it myself, so I think you're pretty brave.