What do you call a meeting with 8 people, 4 handouts, and 10 tables?...

Today's ALT meeting which was way too freaking long. I am so glad that is over.

I had the best haircut ever today. I went in on the recommendation of the 3rd year English teacher at my middle school. No, not the extremely socially awkward one that brings frustration in little chocolate eggs like an annoying Cadbury Bunny, but the really cool, laid back one that is cultured and really good at and interested in English. When he told me it was going to be 3800 yen, around 36 bucks, I was like ?!?! in my head, but said, oh okay. 3800 yen? That is like...wow, I don't even need to say any more. Still, I figured I could go for it this time since he was going out of his way to show it to me.

So I get in the chair. Nice, comfortable. Get off to a nice conversation with the barber. Talkin' bout stuff. Get the hair down to a nice level, nice. He puts some cream about my cheek and chin, oh cool you're gonna shave my beard, okay, I guess I can go for that. Oh nevermind, you're just trimming around it. He goes off to the side, starts to have a smoke. Then his wife comes over, pushes a button, and my chair starts leaning back. Next thing I know, I've got some kind of gel all over my face, a steaming hot yellow cloth around the bottom half of my face, covered by another, cooler, white cloth. Soon, she's taking out a shaving blade and paper and going over my whole face. Holy what the heck. THEN, she pushes a button and something in the chair start pounding my back lightly like a masseuse! What?! Then, I'm back up after having all sorts of different towels and creams and blades on my face, and I'm having my hair washed in a sink basin that just unfolded out of the wall in front of me! Then guy comes back and finishes off my hair with some kind of spray-lotion thing that felt really good.

When I left that place, I felt so, so, SO relaxed and good. I just wanted to like...walk around or something...or just be there. Haha, I felt like I was going to fall asleep when I had my head in that basin. Definitely worth the money. That's the second time I've spent more money than I usually would on a haircut in Japan and been quite pleasantly surprised. I don't think my students would even recognize me now. My hair was getting reeeaally long and my beard was growing back in earlier today. So...that could be cool in case one of their older brothers or sisters, or sister's or brother's friends or some kind of acquaitance sees me at the freaky music festival this weekend in Osaka. Although with the possibility of rain tomorrow, and the fact that I'll be staying the next two nights in a campsite without a tent, it is too bad I just did away with some good, thick, long fur that could have afforded me some extra heat.

GOCHA MATSURI. A phonecall brought pleasant news of this event this weekend. Whereas I thought it would be cool to see Afrirampo on Saturday, little did I know that their show would be part of a two-day festival in a campground that you get to by taking a train from Osaka, then a bus from where that train takes you, then walking to a campsite from where the bus drops you off. Yes. And many good bands are to bed had, including Oshiripenpenz, Afrirampo, Water Fai, Melt-Banana, Tonchi (! I've been wanting to see her!...if it is, in fact, the same Tonchi of which I am thinking), Doddodo (I don't know if they're good yet, but they sure look cool!), plus at least 10 other bands. At least. And art. And a whole campground of people to talk to and get to know.

Latest cooking adventure: mochi. I went to an AWEsome festival which included children's sumo, starring the students from the most inaka (rural, isolated, NOT city) of my schools. It also featured DELICIOUS ODEN, which is for sure one of my favorite Japanese foods, with hardboiled eggs, daikon (radish?), chikuwa (fish sausage?), beef stomach, ginger, Japanese mustard (oh so gooodd), and other amazingly tasty treats. I love it. And they served amazake (I think it's called), which is hot drink made out of mochi rice, I think. It's really sweet and reminded me of champurado, but it was white and not as thick and not made of the same thing...haha, maybe just the feel of lots of people who know each other having a celebration together and drinking warm drinks as the weather starts to get colder reminded me of that ohhhh I want champurrado so muchOKAY but ANYWAYS. It was awesome. This old man, some kind of community figure, kept trying to get me to drink amazake with sake in it, but I had driven there so I couldn't. He kept saying, "Oh, it's the afternoon, it'll be okay," and I didn't know if he meant there were no police around or there were no other drivers.

At the end, some of the members of the community threw a BUNCH of little mochi cakes into the churning, swirling mass of people below. Actually, it was just them throwing them from a higher level of the shrine, where the festival was being held, to all the children and their families below who were trying to catch them and running around with smiles on their faces. I caught a few, but my supervisor gave me all of his, so now I have around 20-3o small mochi cakes. So those are the new, exciting component of my dinners! It seems that as soon as I use up most of one huge batch of food I received for free, I am blessed with another bestowance of free food! I love it. Yesterday, I melted some mochi into my rice in the cooker with satsuma imo (I love that stuff) and added in some fried mochi, okra, and carrots for a hearty meal. Today I fried/simmered/smashed up together thinly sliced kabocha with mochi in a shoyu (soy sauce), miso (made especially in my town and "matured" for three years!!), and honey "stock" (?). Then I added in chunkier bits of kabocha and satsuma imo and simmered that for a while. When it was done, I poured it on a good helping of rice for a delicious, and surprisingly filling meal. The miso was PERFECT this time! Just the right amount of taste. Mmm. No pictures this time, maybe later. For the sake of the people reading this from work and needing the strength to make it to lunch :).

Speaking of blessings, I've been thinking a bit about the way I pray. For the past couple of years, I've gone through cycles where I pray more formally, then more casually, then I go back, and write now I'm in a casual period. It's kind of cool, kind of not as cool. But I wonder if there are any other ways. Pondering.

My friends make awesome music.

I'm listening to pinx, Beetle Bug. So good. So trippy. So an entire third of the band I'm in.
I'm lucky and happy.

That sounded like I was talking about being married or in a relationship or something. Well, I suppose it is a relationship, but just not a romantic one. I don't think we need to follow this train of thought, although it would probably get pretty interesting talking about what defines romantic and is music romance.

Haha, okay, I'm going to go get ready for the weekend a bit.

Oh yeah, ADVISE PLEASE. I have been singing so much since I've been here. In my car. In my house. And I feel like I'm not getting better, just continuing with the same basic stuff I can do. And the past couple of weeks my throat has been getting hoarser. I think it has to do with singing so much and talking so much in a loud voice for English class. Any advice for singing without having to worry about always damaging my vocal chords? And maybe excercises to get better? Like increase my range and consistancy, ability to hold a note? If you don't leave any, I'm gonna hunt you down on the internet and ask you anyways. You know who you are.

And I know who I am.

I don't actually think any of us know who we are.

But we're finding out. Or making it up.