Everybody Must Get Stoned - Shirt on a guy in Shibuya

I know I've been extremely neglectful as of late with updating my blog. (I think this is how I start every entry I write) Sorry!
I have been extremely distracted lately with my social calendar. I have been entertaining guests from out of town on the weekend, working overtime all week and having Halloween parties (those fell somewhere between work and play). I went to my first Japanese rock concert and I tell ya, that was very entertaining just watching the crowd. The band's name is Mucc... I enjoyed most of their songs even though they were all in Japanese. I think my favourite part of the concert was when the lead singer was trying to explain "trick or treat" to the crowd and then threw candy at them.
Recently, I've met a number of people into the music scene in Tokyo which has been awesome. I've met various bands and DJs from all over the world including one from Canada! Wooo. That brings the count of how many Canadians I've met here to three. This past Wednesday was a national holiday so I managed to swing partying for four days (with a short break to teach on Tuesday). I met so many people but unfortunately have another cold as a result.
What's on the up coming calendar?
-Tomorrow my friend Take is coming over, hopefully we'll take it easy.
-Sunday I have to go to a student's house for some dinner thing (blah)
-Monday I'm going to go shopping to find a birthday present for Dan, Takumi and Take. November is birthday season.
-Later this month I get a three day weekend so I'm hoping to hop on a bus/train and go to Osaka or Iwate.

Ignore Alien Orders - T-shirt at the Yokohama Oktoberfest

Another few weeks have gone by and I am still very neglectful with my blog. Apologies as always.

What have I been up to you ask? Well, let me fill you in!
-Teaching English to the masses (of course) that keeps me out of trouble for maybe four days of the week. :)
-I read a book. I really enjoyed it. I dont know if anyone who reads this would but hey... it's called "Rant" by Chuck Palahniuk. It's a pretty intense, strange book but rather amusing at parts and very creative at the very least. Warning - not for people with a weak stomach.
-I have been partying. As always. I introduced a friend to my new favourite bar in Shibuya. (name is Rock no Kokoro) It's a half foreigner half local bar, huge focus on indie DJs, the crowd is good and there's no cover. Need I say more?
-I went to my first Oktoberfest. It was grand! A bunch of us from our training group all went together and had a great time. The weather was excellent so we sat our in the sun and drank a bunch of beer and danced a bit to polka. I have a great beer mug from it. (you paid 1000 yen as a deposit on the glass and then if you wanted to keep it you could. So I did! It's great for tea.)
-I went to my first hostess bar. As I was making my tipsy way back home from Yokohama's Oktoberfest I received an email from my friend Wataru asking me if I was free.
"Yes, of course... what are we doing?"
"Meet me in Tachikawa."
"I dont see why not"
Upon finding each other in Tachikawa we start wandering down one of the roads... We make our way into an elevator with his friend and then voila! It didn't dawn on me for a while that I was at a hostess bar. It wasn't very special. But I didn't pay for anything so what do I really care where we drank? All in all it was alright, the hostess bar's "Mama" was celebrating her birthday that night. I asked her how old she was and she swore she was 24 but then she kept forgetting and telling me she was 20, and then 21... I think she was probably more like 30.
-I had ramen three times last weekend and it was delicious. If you've never tried Ramen, I highly suggest you do. Try shoyu (soy sauce) base or tonkotsu (the kind of broth used). I hear it isn't too healthy for you so you should only eat it like once a week... It's probably relatively high in sodium. Oh well.

What's on the schedule for the next while?
- My friend is in town! He arrives on Monday so I must go find him at the airport...
-Halloween is afoot! My school has three Halloween parties I must participate in, let alone the actual day where I plan to be out in full freak force! I'm going to a Japanese concert that day, but either way I'll be in costume for it! My costume is being imported from Canada courtesy of Bryan (the visiting friend)

On the news front...
My Mum is coming to visit for New Years! I'm very happy that I will get to see a familiar face for the holidays and get to share my love for this country with her! Hopefully afterwards she'll understand why I'm here! :)