start up the coffee pot to get the day started right. pick up that old guitar and start pickin, kickin it all day long. the human-mechanical jukebox, sure - ill play you another song.
wasnt quite sure how to start this one, so i figured id just put in some spiel of the musical kind to get things kicking. today, after being thrown off for a little while, i finally got back on schedule. went to bed at 7 last night and woke up right at 4 this morning. finally. ah, this feels good. went out to the convenience store around the corner and got some vegetable juice to get the day started good. when i got back i broke out my japanese studying books and worked on that for about an hour. lets hope we can get back into that groove, and atleast work on studying 30 minutes a day. better to get a little done everyday than alot on one day and not look at it for another week. on the recommendations of one of my american housemates (who just started working at a japanese bank, by the way) and my korean housemate as well, i went out and bought a book called minna no nihongo, or, everyones japanese.
what ive been doing everyday after that is getting on the train at around 830, to get to shinjuku station, where i transfer to the yamanote line. see, this yamanote line goes round in circles. so i get on, wait a few stops for the heavy crowd to clear, and take a seat and konk out for one or two hours. it takes exactly one hour to go round, so i usually do about two. then, i get off at harajuku station, usually at 1030-1100 and walk to yoyogi park. harajuku station is right behind yoyogi park, so its actually closer than getting off at the yoyogi stop.... strange indeed. then i find a neat little spot in the park to sit down, usually around the fountains or the like, get some hot tea from the vending machine and start playing, and mainly writing, music. i do that untill about 5 or 6 pm. sometimes ill jam with some (japanese) folks around the park. yoyogi kouen (kouen means park) is a popular spot for musicians to come and practice. took me a little to get back into the groove, but i seem to have been writing about a song a day. just ike when i was with abe. working on performance too, getting my confidence together. its one thing to play music with one, two or three guys behind you, having your back, but man, alone its a whole nother ballgame. but today, today was a good day. everything just worked for me. my voice, my playing, the songs, so that helped a bunchload, man. the sun barely came out untill 4 pm, but i had a good day all the same. someone gave me a flower too, funny. its this trippy thing with leaves on the bottom, a bamboo-like stem and bright, dark yellow flowers on top. i dig it much. put it in some water at the house. in an empty suntory `zen` whiskey bottle, what a hoot! got home at the usual time, but i went out and did some shopping errands. needle, thread and thermos. i had to leave my thermos in the US because of the liquid-container lauws on airships. everyones a terrorist.... and i didnt properly fix my jacket up when i spend some time at scottys, so i had to fix that as well. didnt take too long, cause most of it was done pretty well. i also got a pair of gloves and cut the finger tips off of it, so i can play guitar when its cold. got most of this at the 100 yen shop, so i got off cheap, but the thermos was 2500 yen, which is a good 20 bucks, ouch! but it was a good day, i tell you, i just felt allright and good, kind of warm inside. confident. now lord if it all just dont come crashing down tomorrow, like it allways does.... itll be allright. up and down, lifes like the mountains, peaks and valleys. its all the same, allright all the same, as the captain he would say. but i aint seen the captain, in so many days.....
