Top 11 of 2011... Part 6

Since it's Christmas Eve and my little sister's birthday, it's only fitting that we should reach the point in the countdown celebrating MY birthday weekend, right?  That's not selfish, right?

#6.  Birthday Blowout

A large part of the reason that my birthday this year was so special was that I was home in my favorite state, Colorado.  The second part had to do with being with my favorite family and friends, even ones from out of town (thanks to a wedding!).  And the third part was all in thanks to Jordan, a serious contender for most unbelievable best friend.

It started the night prior to my birthday.  A Mexican dinner downtown with family that led to adventures in Uptown that happened to concur with Gay Pride weekend.  The night ended with dill-infused vodka, and lots of merriment.  Can't complain there.

Jordan wins for birthday day planning, starting with a hangover breakfast at Chick-fil-A (before I stopped supporting them, YUM!), and a trip down memory lane slipping and sliding at Water World in Hyland Hills!  The park was EMPTY and we had so much fun we didn't need to stay all day.  Hooray!

We next had tea and sandwiches for lunch downtown, and a nice quiet dinner and birthday cake with Jacque.  Bonus points for the candles being lit in binary.  Serious bonus points.

Surprisingly, the celebrations didn't end there.

Saturday morning arose with a glorious hike up to St. Mary's Glacier, having never been there all these years in Colorado.  Got some sun, snow, and great time with the best friend and his future fiancee...

 We may have even slid down the side of the mountain like we were skiing.  The wind was crazy but it was off the hook!

Then, I got to go to one of my best friend from childhood's wedding, and best was there to celebrate (she may be dating the bride's brother).

 Even had a mini middle school reunion!

 And of course, I was so popular in birthday land that I had to leave and go meet my sister for PICKLE SHOTS!!!!  Can you tell they're my favorite?  Yet another great night of dancing and drinking.

And last, but most important, got to celebrate with Momma both Father's Day and a late birthday dinner with homemade Pizza...

Jealous?

How's 29 gonna live up to that?

Birthday Musings

It's funny...

I thought today would instantly feel weirder, be harder, hold more grief.

Instead, I'm falling asleep to the sound of rain on my air conditioner and thunder echoing through the concrete valleys of New York City with my window wide open, blowing in the fresh air of another year on this Earth.

It feels so serene.  A celebration of life.  Not just my mother's gift of childbirth, but that of my birthday buddy with whom I shared 23 of these celebrations.  A celebration of my grandmother whose voice sings in me.  A celebration of my cousin, whose untimely passing challenged my deepest convictions about this business last year.

I didn't think I'd be able to be at peace today.

I know that's why I've been so calm about celebrating, because I didn't want to feel guilty.  And instead of that childlike party-sense, I'm enjoying reminiscing about the last year of my life and the joy it has brought.

So here we go.

Year 27.  I have a lot to learn, a lot to accomplish, and I'm starting over clean slate with no idea of what the future holds.

Gonna be one heck of a ride.

Birthday Buddies

I remember when I was a little boy, REALLY young, I remember my Great Auntie Babe coming to my birthday parties. And this continued, on and off, for many years. And as I grew and the years passed, as the visits to Arizona and Colorado became less frequent, I never lost the special connection I felt to my Great Aunt, even when she finally passed away a few years ago at 98. I always hoped she'd make it to her centennial and I could celebrate my quarter-centennial with her, because... well... see... she was exactly 75 years older than me!

She was my birthday buddy.

And then there's my brother Matt. I always liked his birthday, because it was the same number of the month as mine. But he wasn't ever as special as me, because he often had to share his birthday with that pesky national holiday celebrating the U.S. Presidents. And even though I sometimes had to share mine with Father's Day (I think I rather love that now that I'm older), I was special because I had my birthday buddy. But then my cousin came along and was born on Matt's 20th birthday.

And now she's his birthday buddy.

But I'm not jealous. Instead, I think there must be something special about me and my brothers, because today, magic struck again.

My brother Ben got his birthday buddy.

See, before today, we all thought Ben had found his birthday buddy in his wife Kimberly. Her birthday is the day after his, and that sure makes it easy for me to remember! But I guess that wasn't quite perfect enough.

Now Ben always wanted to have kids by the time he was 30. And though he and Kimberly met in their early-t0-mid twenties, they spent several years dating before marriage and a few years married before they tried for kids. And my brother Ben was ALWAYS a procrastinator. So it was no surprise that his first child would be due only 2 DAYS before his 30th birthday. But I guess the baby had other more magical ideas, like showing up ON his 30th birthday, pretty darn close to the same time in the evening when he was born.

75.

20.

30.

I think there's something magical about my family and birthday buddies.

Welcome to the world and our family, baby girl! We love you!

Another Week Goes By

Well, aren't I the little delinquent?

I have good excuses, I swear. But let's just get to the recap!

So I spent my final day with the family Sunday having a GREAT day! The weather finally warmed and cleared up a bit, and we decided to take it easy and enjoy the sunshine. We shipped off to Shibuya, where we briefly wandered the alleys before stopping by Yoyogi Park, which ended up being our main stop of the day, much to our surprise.

There was not one, but TWO huge food fairs going on, and we spent a solid hour or two getting free samples, trying AMAZING produce, experiencing a myriad of smells and flavors. It was really remarkable. We stopped for Yakisoba (since my aunt had been clamoring for it for the previous 10 days) and it was quite delightful. Since we weren't super hungry, we decided to keep exploring and make our way to the actual park and have a picnic and play some Pinochle.

The afternoon was simply delightful, and we headed back to the fair to get some Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki, though sadly there were no more grilled oysters! We had some beer, chocolate-covered soybeans, sakes, oranges, and more along the way! Simply OISHII!

Then I overwhelmed them by making our way down Takeshita-Dori to get the true Harajuku experience before heading home. We had one last fantastic night at karaoke, and all too soon it was time to wrap up their amazing vacation.

Monday I headed back to work brain-dead, exhausted, and looking forward to sleeping in my bed instead of on the floor.

By Tuesday, I had another excellent meal at an izakaya (a type of Japanese bar where they make home-cooked food) called Kakaiya, for Kasi's birthday. Though the night became a bit pricey, the food was PHENOMENAL. I came home reeking of fish, but those SHRIMP! And the best miso soup I've ever had, delicious red and long fish, amazing octopus, and TUNA SPARERIBS. I don't think I can really talk about anything else for a long time. yummmmmmmm.

Wednesday was my first day off back to myself, and I had lunch at the Oriental Hotel before seeing Sherlock Holmes with a Japanese friend. We ran into my favorite supervisor after the movie and they loved it too! And then it was time to welcome Gamble back to town and to head down to the Hub for St. Patrick's Day!

It was kind of an overwhelming night now that all the new casts are here, but it really rocked when I got to play darts and won ALL 3 GAMES! That's right, kids. I can hit a double bulls-eye like no one else in Urayasu, which means I've won 4 out of the 5 games in Japan so far.

Batting .800? Eat that, Yankees.

Thursday night I got to see my Summer Party peeps for probably the last time, which really made me realize how much I'm going to miss this place. It showed me how much I've grown, how many great friends I have, and that I am moving REALLY FAR AWAY again. Whoa. Monsoon was delicious as always, but it's the memories of those friends I'll treasure forever. They really rock.

Friday night I sadly couldn't celebrate my friend Todd's birthday since I already had rehearsal for the Saturday night Kasi's birthday show (we might as well call it the BBB Senior Showcase). That was a big bummer, but I committed a while back, and didn't wanna let people down since I was involved in so much. Rehearsal went smoothly, and all was set for the next night.

And Saturday night was the day of the show y'all! We had a GREAT time putting on our little show, despite the typhoon strength winds. But my favorite part was when we full-on mischievous-high-schooler-style STOLE a piano from the practice rooms right underneath our security guards' noses... While we're not really sure this wasn't allowed, we just kind of did it without telling anyone just in case.

And by the way, pianos not mounted on real casters are HEAVY. Just fyi.

So we got the piano in the room, I danced the opening to Chorus Line, sang a Fantasticks love duet with Blair, and then accompanied Chris and Destiny in their Ragtime medley. And then it was time for a drink, honey! The rest of the show was great, and the singers made fools of ourselves reenacting the Christmas Chippendale video as a surprise finale.

And then it was time for this Grandpa to hit the hay while everyone else went to the final Ageha night of the contract. And boy am I glad I did!

Today was a normal day of work, and the singer boys went out for a final Capriciosa dinner one last time together. Evan and I made some more plans for our trips, and now there're only 10 days left. I can't believe it's really happening and accelerating towards the end, but it's coming either way!

In other news, please keep my grandfather in your prayers as he is in the hospital for some very large kidney stones and some colon issues. And luckily my niece's chipped tooth was fixed nicely after she tumbled down the stairs!

Whew! What a week!

A Quickfire Cake

I don't know if any of you watch Top Chef like I do. Religiously that is.

I don't really consider myself much of a foodie. I mean, Bree, SPD, and other close friends of mine are, but I just really like food. I don't really care how expensive or gourmet it is, as long as it tastes delicious and feels really good in my tummy. That goes from McDonald's to fresh conger eel or the kobe beef skewers I've had here. I love any new and exciting combination that will make my mouth happy.

However, I can't lie, I simply adore Top Chef. I look forward to it each week, and I think that has something to do with the inspiration/art/competition mumbo-jumbo that is each week's episode. Seriously, I think it's incredible what these people can whip up (pun intended) in a super limited amount of time usually within some sort of time constraint and theme. It's like 24 hour musicals on crack.

It usually ends up inspiring me to try new combinations in the kitchen, and I often surprise myself with my ratio of success!

Like yesterday, when I decided to make fresh cornbread from scratch to go with my can of chili. Yes, that seems a bit odd, but a $3 can of chili seemed really pain-free and easy and I love baking more than 4 hours of simmering. But, as I heated it up, the chili was not quite as saucy as I would have liked, so I threw in a little pasta sauce I had sitting in the fridge, added a bit more salt, pepper, and garlic, and voila! We are talking a winter feast to die for...

All because those Bravo peeps made me less afraid to take a risk!

But the real coup de grace, was tonight. See, it's my best bud Evan's birthday today (Thursday), and we were all chilling up in Nikki's room, blissfully chatting away munching on Sloppy Joe's. But then... we realized Evan's birthday was rapidly approaching and we had nothing with which to celebrate and/or surprise him.

So, brilliant rockstars that we are, Nikki starts rummaging through her kitchen and decides (with 15 minutes till midnight), that we are gonna whip up a graham cracker frosting cake that will be to die for.

And the QUICKFIRE was ON!

Next thing I know, we're googling for quick frosting recipes, freaking out that she doesn't have any powdered sugar, and re-googling for something else that will work.

We stumble upon a 7 minute egg white recipe (she has a mixer) and get to work, only to realize too late that we were supposed to beat the egg whites separately....

So with 8 minutes to spare, we start over, I'm boiling sugar water as fast as I can on the stove and shouting at the pan, whilst Nikki is separating egg whites and beating them with the mixer waiting for my simple syrup to congeal.

With one minute left to midnight, my syrup has boiled, but sadly not quite string-ified, and we are mixing it all together.

With 15 seconds left the 8 other people in the room start the countdown and we are plating meringue/frosting mash-up "Glee" style onto cinnamon graham crackers hoping our concoction will suffice.

At at the stroke of Tokyo midnight, as the singing of "Happy Birthday" begins, I shout "Utensils down, Hands up!" (Padma would be so proud) to officially finish our quickfire.

Now, I don't think we would have won any competition with our final product, but I'm darn sure we got an A for effort.

And that my friends, is how I made a quickfire birthday cake for my friend Evan. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEIGHBOR!

2009 in Review

Well, seeing as how I'm going to spend the majority of New Year's Eve and Day at the Broadway Music Theatre, very far from the lights of Broadway (and for 14 hours, a decade ahead!), I've decided I'm going to get my year-end list in before 2010 races across the start line.

Side note: When did we leave the decade with no name (the aughts? the zeros?) behind? How did that happen? And is it just me, or is the next decade even weirder to write and envision?

Let's see... Here's what happened in 2009.

January started yet another audition season in New York, during which I spent the first 5 months of the year unemployed collecting a meager $140/week from the state. Countless auditions, Thursday Night Pizza Parties and outings with the bestie ruled my first 6 months as part of Actor's Equity Association.

In February, I set down roots in Astoria and bought furniture as a companion to my 1/3 of the lease, and watched that set-up change drastically by October. But there were countless weekday pancake brunches to cheer up the mood!

March saw many callbacks, and even a few final callbacks that raised expectations of job offers, only to find myself fighting off actor disappointment weeks later when phone calls never came.

April saw a visit from Lauren, me visiting my old town, DC, and a special event at the Bronx Zoo (my first time there!).

May was the month when fresh air blew in on my life and shook everything up! My best friend got engaged, and planned to move to Vegas for 2 years. I travelled home to see my little sister graduate nursing school, one of my proudest moments in recent memory. And best of all, I found out I would not only be working upstate for the summer, but I would then be moving to Japan for 8 months come fall.

In June I took my first East Coast camping trip with friends and found out just how beautiful upstate New York really is. I moved to Auburn to play a high school jock, and found out I had more school spirit for the Wildcats than I ever did for the Cardinals and the Mustangs. Well, maybe not the Mustangs. I lost a family member on my birthday, and re-learned the roughest, toughest lesson of all: That life, and this business will never cut you a break for your personal life.

In July, I ventured across the Canadian border on a whim to ride the Maid of the Mist into Niagara Falls, and I saw a triple feature at my first old-school drive-in movie theatre. I won a shop game of dodgeball on the 4th of July, and prepared myself to move overseas with only a 3 day window between contracts. And at the end of the month, I embarked upon the most life-changing adventure yet: I moved to Japan!

August was a gloriously hot month of adventure, learning a new language, becoming an official alien, embracing a new culture, making Japanese friends, learning 2 brand-new shows, watching the sunrise from the top of Mt. Fuji, traveling all over the Kanto Prefecture, and turning a hopital-like sterilized room into a home.

September brought cooler (and cloudier) weather, typhoons that cancelled trains and shows, an adventure to Japan's Cedar Point, the ONSEN, and great friends from the Diamond Horseshoe.

I returned to rehearsals (for Christmas) in October, spent time exploring the Chiba area around me, caught up with friends on tours from the States, found out that I will once again be an uncle come late March, and began my "bromance" with Evan.

November meant it was time for my first visitor to Japan, the scariest vocal problems I've ever experienced, an exploration into a health care system that puts the patient first (rather than profit), Thanksgiving dinner at 10:30 PM, and my first real Christmas show for the holidays!

And in December, I was blessed to ride my first shinkansen to Hiroshima/Miyajima, "bonzai" the Emperor on his birthday, work on Christmas Day for the first time ever, and use Skype to share the holidays with family and stave off homesickness.

It's been a long year since I returned to New York jobless and penniless. One that has brought many blessings, and also many trials that have fortified my character. Life has changed me this year in probably the most significant ways since I lost my father in 2002. And in a mere 3 months, I once again will be in New York jobless and penniless. Who knows what 2010 will bring?

I hope you enjoyed the ride. I know I have.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

And happy birthday to my little sister, now all grown up and sharing the joy (?) of working on her birthday AND Christmas. Sometimes I relish those days of old when all I had to do was wonder at night what surprises were going to show up under the tree Christmas morning!
But alas, I am in Japan, surrounded only by co-workers and tomidachi (friends) for the holidays, salivating more than anything for familial hugs (and spats) and Mom's home cooking...

And snow. I wouldn't mind a little snow.

Instead, I am spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day sharing the magic of Disney Christmas with Japanese guests, and looking forward to magical E-Village parties after work each night. I'm hoping to even make it to early Mass before work tomorrow.

I actually just got back from Christine's Italian Feast of the 7 Fishes Christmas Eve meal and it was amazing! Food, friends, drinks, and some good old-fashioned Muppet Christmas Carol (which is SO MUCH better than the crappy new Disney/Jim Carrey one), might have just made not having oyster stew a little less painful.

It's been a long week, but one more sleep till Christmas, and two sleeps till Christmas on Skype with the family. WOO HOO!

E-Vil Zoo

So I mentioned that I adventured to Costco last week, but if you aren't caught up and don't know that, well now you do.

What I didn't mention is that Michael and I are geniuses. And rockstars.

Maybe a combination of both? Rockiuses? Genistars!?

Anyway, we stumbled upon the most adorable blankets ever. And we didn't really care if they were for grown men or not.

In fact, we like them so much we tried to figure out how to justify buying 5 of them for everyone in our dressing room, since we really got inspired when we saw the blue bear and realized it was PERFECT for Adam's birthday.

And despite our debates and reservations, we got them all. And boy do we rock.

See, we gave one to Chris for some comfort while he was home sick this week (good thinking). Yet sadly, he's not pictured as his adorable little ducky self. I haven't even seen it, to be honest.

But the coup de grace was surprising Adam at midnight for his birthday last night, fully decked out in ours and surprising him with his!

I may have honestly taken the character impersonation too far. But heck, I can't help it if I'm KAWAI (cute!) in my outfit.

I may have even donned Michael's hungry hungry hippo (remember that amazing game?) and re-enacted my animal study from Alexander Technique. See, we were assigned animals whose nature is the opposite of our own, and I studied hippos at the zoo for about 2 hours one day. Then I had to go into class and move and make the sound of a hippo and occupy the physical space of one with my body. If I might say so myself, it was some of my best class work.

Last night's embodiment wasn't quite as stellar.

Yet Adam was so thrilled he decided his bear would be a gangster!

And here you can see the E-Village zoo come to life. If only our ducky could have completed the dressing room birthday party!

So it was quite the happy birthday to Adam, but the most pertinent observation to note is that I am having so much FUN with my dressing roommates.

And for the first time in my life, I'm think I'm closer with a far larger majority of boys than girls on this contract. In fact, one might suspect it's Boys vs. Girls around the BBB, even though it's not. It just happens to be that the girls keep to themselves and really own their space, and we do so as well.

And now we have the animal cuddlies to prove it!

Snuggie, eat your heart out!

Party Animal

It's been a crazy 2 days, and I've still got 2 more to go!

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Tomorrow will make my 3rd B-shift in a row, and that's followed by a full 5 shows on Monday, with at least 2, if not 3 "All of Me"s. Which means that I'm not even getting a break at work to compensate for all my partying!

Quickly, because it's 2 AM and I need sleep, I shall attempt to chronicle the insanity.

Friday was a relatively normal day at work, which was merely the placeholder before our complimentary tickets to the main event: the "Mega Thanks" party for all the TDR entertainers (foreign and Japanese) at Club Ikspiari. Free food, free beer and soft drinks, 100 yen alcoholic drinks (that's insane!) and lots of entertainment and giveaways.

I mean, we are talking sushi, curry, beer, a wall of desserts, western and Japanese style buffet, and $1 anything you wanted to drink? That's CRAZY!

It turned out to be a lot of fun and it was especially exceptional because I got to see so many of my Summer Party friends both on the bus on the way to work (since Halloween special events have started -- yes, we really had a Halloween party on September 18th -- welcome to Tokyo Disney) and at the party! And since nearly every cast was represented I got to mingle with my amazing Horseshoe friends and a lot of the new and different casts as well as some new Japanese friends! I mean, I worked that circuit like the WRF opening night party with the producers in Tulsa, OK!

There was an AWESOME dance battle, a bunch of skits and transformations I didn't fully understand, raffles for a bike, a Wii, Ikspiari gift certificates, and everyone else received a lottery ticket with a chance at 1,000,000 yen! Now that's what I call a free party!

We naturally took the party back to the Hub and I spent a bunch more of the night mingling and socializing, and I may have ridden home slightly intoxicated. Which is a crime in Japan, but unlike driving, the only person you are endangering is yourself. Not that I'm proud of my actions, but I made it home safely.

Which meant that today was slightly less fun than usual to get up, though I was more dehydrated than hungover. And a little sausage kolache pastry similar to the delicious ones in Houston, a hashbrown from MickeyD's, and some coffee set me straight! And then I had a few hours at work to nap and do yoga before I actually had to work! Woo hoo! And I was by far one of the better ones...

And I really had to snap it together since it was my first time having a friend coming to see the show when I was doing All of Me, which is pretty killer, especially after a night drinking and in a smoky bar (BOO JAPAN). But I thought I did a rather swell job for Loz, and seeing her in the audience really cheered me up.

Which is my subtle way of hinting that you should come visit me!

After work, I ate at the SOGOII OISHII Freshness Burger, which I am so shocked I haven't discovered yet, and rushed on down to the onsen to meet up for Patrick's day-of bday celebration. It ended up being a Guys' Night Out which was really fun because then we didn't have to split up to enjoy the Men's Only Naked Section.

Although apparently 12 year-old girls are fine with their dads in the men's section.

I'm not so sure Japan...

But Tom, Evan, Patrick and I had a LOT of fun and a great time relaxing...

We also tried a CRAZY new experience, but I'm going to wait to blog about it until I get the pics from tonight, because, well, it just wouldn't be the same without the evidence.

And then Loz had us all over for a delicious cake, presents, ice cream, and curry popcorn to keep ringing out Patrick's bday. And I'm just having so much fun that it kills me to come home at 1 AM and see that...

I haven't done the dishes. Or cleaned up my room. Or finished putting up pictures. Or written my blog for the day. Or written an email. Because I've been in my room for less than 8 hours a day and that includes sleeping, showering, getting ready for work, etc.

So seriously, if you are feeling unloved. Don't. It's just that I finally have a social life in Japan that happens to have 4 nights of partying in a row.

That force my normal 8:30 PM dinner/home time to check my email to be postponed until I'm a little tipsy at 2 AM. And well... there's only so much a guy can do before he passes out!

I need a day off stat! And I still am going clubbing tomorrow night in Shin-Kiba with the whole of E-Village and then karaoke-ing on Monday night after 5 shows for Joe's bday which basically means my day off will consist of rehydrating and sleeping.

And maybe finally buying my high tops!

Oh! And great news! My camera is ready to be picked up tomorrow so I can start photoblogging again, AND I got my new shoes today.

Insert sigh of happiness and exhaustion here and that's my life. Whoa.

Nihon-jin Majide desu!

So I need to get right to bed since Blair and I are leaving at 7:15 AM for Nikko, but I absolutely have to talk about my crazy day instead. So here are my thoughts in a time-saving, sleep-saving manner.

First, there is this Christina Aguilera version of "Car Wash" that I, for some strange reason, have not heard before. I have one reply. I do not like it. Girl can sing but the original is much better. Please leave it be.

Secondly, I had the privilege of chatting with the bestie this morning and it cheered me up so much, the Japanese were all like, why so genki (happy)? It made me very delighted and I miss her so much. Reminds me that I need to call Kate and Lauren too. The bestie has also ruined me. See, Yuki brought in his dance video to show us all his choreography and I haven't been quite able to place my finger on what it is about the Japanese dance style that feels weird. And after seeing a few numbers I realized that it's not the 80's jazz influence everywhere, but their inability to let go of their CENTER! They do all these crazy arms movements with lots of turning and ballet technique which suits their perfect posture, but it drives me nuts that all the movement originates from the shoulder or wrist! As bestie would say... USE YOUR BACK! And so now, as usual, her brilliance as a dancer has spoiled and ruined me. And she's probably loving that as she reads this.

Third, I never realized what was missing at MGR until like the last week of the run. Can I just say how nice it is to have a green room/common area again? They really need to fix that there...

Fourth, my band friend Yosuke has written this delightful "Kitty" ditty for ukelele and violin (played by Misuzu). I am OBSESSED. It is so charming and wonderful and it amazes me how talented everyone is. Just you know, jam sessions between shows with brilliant violin and uke players. You know... and they are characters for the mouse. WOW. I caught some video of it but I promised not to share it for copyright reasons...

Fifth, I am obsessed with Blair for booking our trip to Nikko via travel agent today while I was at work. New adventures to come!

Sixth, Jor and I are talking every day and it's like clockwork. The best thing about his cruddy situation right now is that we have reconnected and are finally back where we belong. Which also makes me genki.

Seventh, I basically spit coffee out my nose today because the Japanese are so CRAZY funny. They taught me to say three things that I absolutely do not understand that just tickle their fancies, and I truly haven't laughed that hard in ages. Genki again. They are: Kin-nikku-man wa onara de Tobundatte. Which has something do with a cartoon character flying off his farts. (think puzzlefarter.com). Also: Anatana no oraga meimas. Which has something to do with colors but I really don't understand. And finally, the sing-song: Kitakaze... gazo... o CANTALO. Which is some children's character name and they DIE. To the extent I have a new nickname. Cantalo. All because someone offered me "melon" today and I said, oh yummy! Cantaloupe. And you can fill in the rest. Those baka nihon-jin.

Finally, I had the joy of participating in a 4 person birthday celebration extravaganza complete with men in drag lip-synching "One Night Only" and Tophs in drag giving you Marilyn Monroe Happy Birthday to 4 Japanese women. I WOULDN'T EVER take pictures backstage because it's not allowed, but I'm so glad I have my tangible memories. Basically, I had a crazy day full of fun and laughter with a culture I can't even begin to understand but am completely in love with.

And on that note... time for bed to explore more tomorrow!