happy hollow weenie

i almost managed to slip under the trick or treat radar this year. almost. i can't even remember if it was last year that i made my sad excuse for a costume. [this would be the killer whale hoodie i made] i say pathetic because being an artist someone always gives me grief for not finding this my favorite day of the year with my panties in a bunch stoked over showing off my creativity and twisted artist humor. something happened along the way that really put the poo in the flaming bag on my door stoop. you'll have to try blackmailing my therapist if you want to get some of that doctor patient privilege backstory.

so thanks to one of my bosses, heather [a real life anime character] i partook in the spirit of promoting accelerated tooth decay and type 2 diabetes in my fellow fremont residents. i was once again thrown outside my confort zone as heather [whose first name is mariko-so now i think of the little one over in the windy city whenever i work with her] dressed me up as a ninja. we 3 lunch monkeys [heather, scott and i] were ninjas. pretty cool because they included me and along with the kick ass servers put another tick for today in the ok column. its a small step for this little ninja neko. we did a group photo...but i that was on someone else's camera. i had my ususal unphotogenic face on so you're not missing anything. if i were a cool i'd have looked like the 3 dinner monkeys! [heather, mas, and scott]


and i have to show you all the store manager nicole. hapa girls rock. [she's irish+japanese] and my theory is still holding true: mom japanese=less asian looking. so, not only is the fremont store so fucking cool because i feel more at home, but its all girls in charge here. shit...look what my boss made and dressed up as! [she's a spicy tuna hand roll if you couldn't figure it out] kinda made me jealous that my creativity goes into hiding. i wish i had a group picture because the girls all made their own costumes and they were way cool.
so yeah. fremont rocks. i'm officially making my home there as of today. not only am i going to be getting more exercise since getting to fremont requires more walking [or teleporting-mental exercise] to the bus...but also a sore ass. i felt like i was getting my ass kicked today during lunch [which wasn't really busy] and it felt oh so good. finally a challenge. and my co-workers surprised me with a starbucks americano and breakfast muffin dealie. yes, i know. i am anti-starbucks. [not to mention i don't drink coffee...i'll have to tell them for next time] i am working on getting over that. some of you know why. time to move on make new experiences...better experiences. apparently the chefs treat each other. pretty cool. a tick for starbucks in the ok column.

so as october comes to a close i have 2 taiko lessons under my belt...giving me a workout, source of release, and another activity that is kicking me in the ass. damn. i'm going to need one of those hernia cushions pretty soon. last sunday my arms got all tounge tied with the new song we were learning...my short term memory went into full effect by the time we got to the third line because i then couldn't remember learning the first...and after the lesson my head felt like it was ready to do its own little don-kara-kara-don.

i did run into this mario style shroom out by auntie's place before i went to class. no, t-chan...i didn't eat it.

and this is what fall looks like in the fishbowl. [this was on a walk to work one day when i got off the bus at the wrong spot] ...[yeah, i know...one day i'll figure out this bus thing] living in my new home is such a treat. and a trip. as i still stare out my limo [metro] windows [or m's on a car ride-i'm like a puppy] at the water, boats, and hills right in the middle of the city! [weird]...and oh yes, my favorite...crisp slate sky above me...ready to take a leak at any given moment. i've already forgotten what the litterbox looks like...believe it or not. and the s.a.d. is kicking in as i am really missing my friends and everything is catching up to me. luckily there is a chocolate factory just around the corner from where i work. and they give out free chocolate samples! oh shit...


fremont really is the center of the universe!

taiko therapy

i had my first ever taiko lesson tonight. i've been waiting for a month to unload my frustrations on that giant drum...so you can imagine the looks on the seattle kokon taiko members faces when i broke not 1, but 3 of their drum heads!

actually i found that somewhere in the time between high school graduation and now i seem to have misplaced my coordination skills. 4 years of being in the marching band and playing music and moving in time with ease...easily navigating the symphony of choreography gone. or so it seems. perhaps just a bit rusty. like riding a bike. although just last month i managed to fall over within the first 5 minutes and 5 feet of having been gifted a new sweet bike by my rad neighbors. but i made it with no mishaps down to fremont with them my second time on it. and then the return trip which was a rui. [riding under the influence].

always happy to be the biggest dork and source of laugter and ridicule for others in the meantime.

back on the taiko tangent: what a work out! it was also extremely fun despite the perfectionist in me putting that furrowed brow [the asu scowl] of concentration on my face. but i was so in the moment. it was great! we did some stretching exercises, then it was time to bang the drums. [of course i can't remember the names for the different ones. the small stringed ones, the large stringed ones, the regular barrel drums, the big ones on the towers, and the taiko in training plastic ones. glorified garbage cans with packing tape heads. ] we even learned to play a song! this was all during the first 2 hour lesson.

i even made a friend without trying. i was loitering inside...putting off standing in the rain for the bus for 30 minutes when a lady came in and asked me if i had a ride! i said no, i'm taking the bus...why? do you have a ride? and that's how this new friendship began. i also got to meet her way cool bike messenger daugher [think japanese version of jessica alba in dark angel] and her 2 visiting friends. i am telling you all this so you can see that it was a full car already, but she said no problem to giving a total [crazy] stranger a ride that was a bit out of the way. so t-chan ...how is it i can so easily make friends even when i'm not trying? the trick is for me to be able to keep it, right? so my sansei friend [of the older end of the sansei generation] lives just a few blocks from auntie in queen anne [so i even scored a ride for the next time-her offer] and has a good friend that lives in phoenix. at the biltmore, or biltmore area. and has a friend that lives at bayview where auntie lives. small world indeed. i wonder if someone in the family knows her phoenican friend or if auntie knows her bayview friend.

so...3 more workshops to go...and then we'll see if i'm going to be adding taiko master to my list of abilities/hobbies/professions. or if i'll just throw my back out [AGAIN] or impale sensai unintentionally with a bachi. [drumstick] if anything i already know its a good experience for me. exercise, meditation, skill, socializing and yet another thing i can cross off my list of things to do before i die. and so you can stop laughing at me for having the ps2 taiko drum master game. what does that have to do with anything? go figure...does anything i say ever make sense?

drunken monkey...

a lot of interesting things have happened this month that i need to tell you about.

1. i found out that work is so much more enjoyable when you're a little buzzed. all those potheads, coke fiends, and alchies at ra actually had one up on me because the reason i was unhappy at work was due to my straight edge nature. hey, i didn't make vomit gunkan or pinki maki and managed to stay upright during the entire shift! and yes, it was only one midori sour. so even though i was being bad...i'm still a dork. i thank bartender nina for allowing me to live just a little bit more. i hope she is doing the same off in the french carribbean. yup, one of the nicest and most welcoming co-worker left this week for an adventure on a boat. something i could never do...so yet another person to live vicariously through.

2. i've already missed 4 days of work this month. which doesn't sound like a lot. but for someone who prides themselves on being punctual and reliable. [you can stop laughing now] well, that seems to have gotten buried in the litterbox. the last sick day resulted in being spared a sewer shower at work. no joke. a potty pipe broke up over the bar and got shit all over shit and they had to close the store! apparently corey [the resident artist that did the kids cups] ended up with a piece of poo on his shoulder as if it was trying to be his pirate friend and he nearly puked in response!

3. the sick days have led to the revelation that my digestive track has finally gone on strike. seems like i can't ingest fried fatty foods anymore. no more cheetos and spam. definately no more fish and chips and rootbeer. no more tempura or keiko chicken. won't be able to eat your unwanted prime rib fat. i might as well throw myself in front of the 75 bus instead of getting on it.

4. speaking of the 75 bus...one early foggy morning i sprinted down the street to the bus stop hoping the bus didn't come already. this is where my anxeity and stress now originate from. i think i have given birth to a bus ulcer. so imagine my relief when i saw the bus just a block away pulling up as i was a few feet from the bus stop. an old lady standing there also assured me the bus would stop. yeah, and how many coconuts have to fall on my head for me to quit standing under that palm tree? apparently its going to take me a bit longer to get the hang of this bus thing. because i was in the motion of getting out my bus pass when all of a sudden the bus sped up and away! yes, i did remember to put all of my clothes before leaving the house. i spied the old lady waving away the bus. ...the stupid fucking bitch!!! i could have sworn i yelled that out as i came up behind her and pushed her down in the gutter and kicked her until my leg got tired. [which wasn't very long] so how does the bus driver notice other people running down the street but not someone standing at the stop? the mysteries of the metro.

yes, i have anger management issues and boy is the seattle kokon taiko group going to be sorry come sunday when i break something as i get all my pent up frustrations out.

5. japanese people are racist. so maybe i got bachi for this one. now i know what it feels like to be treated like absolute shit by your own kind. imagine being on the receiving end of that racism stick by someone of your own race. if you come to seattle don't ever go into fuji restaurant unless you are flawless in your japanese. and japanese. what do you get if you're a gaijin or japanese american of the american kind? worst service ever! unless you're that black couple that is probably keeping the joint in business by patronizing it every day.

6. so big surprise at the vietnamese restaurant green leaf a few days later. after all those wonderful asian american studies classes i have learned that other asians generally don't like japanese. apparently neither do japanese. and wrongfully i just expected similar treatment. oh...how racist-i mean japanese of me! not only was the service the best i've ever had...the food was fucking delicious! and we scored a sweet desert! not the meat ice cream i asked for. but still just as oishii! [delicious] so how many of you think i've learned a lesson and will quit being anti-asian?


7. there's actually a udub cheerleader i work with at u village that is super rad. really nice and pretty darn cute. too bad i'm transfering to fremont. she said it made her really sad that i was leaving. me too. but we all know what the end result of that would have been anyway.

8. there's actually a japanese boy i work with that i like. yes, i said japanese and boy. i generally don't like asians. [there, wasn't that fast? lesson learned...where's my asian a+ bitch?] but this one is pretty cool. he is into music and art...so i have someone to talk to. he said he liked my drawing style after i invited him down to the zen den after he gave me a ride home. yeah...what a slut. haha. no really. all i did was show him my portfolio. could this also be a reason i wanted to go to fremont? [there's also a girl there that moved last year from prescott...a little bit of home, sorta]

9. today there was a freak 5 minute hail storm that bombarded us with golf ball sized hail. while standing at the window i wondered if that was a good idea should said window blow up. you know me...still standing there staring. i went out after and documented god's dirreah. after i stomped around in it a bit. [see my foot prints?] luckily today was my day off...but had i been loitering around the bus stop i would have been bruised but dry with my umbrella, knee length rain jacket and pink polka dotted galoshes. 3 items i've never owned, or had to think about owning in my life living in the litterbox.

10. i've just had a mike's hard lemonade and a glass of pinot evil at dinner. and i'm somehow still awake at 1:30. the lessons on being a lush are going well i'd say.

11. well, that would be projecting into the future 2 days when i go to my first taiko lesson. you'll have to check back later to see what transpired there!...