Top 11 of 2011... Part 1

As 2011 comes to a close, a rollercoaster of a year with its share of breathtakingly high peaks and devastatingly low valleys, I thought I'd take the time to countdown the 11 best moments of my 2011 and share them with you.

And so we begin...

#11.  MistleTones Merriment.

Last year, my friend Jason got me a gig with what has turned out to be one of the most joyous, fun, rewarding, and challenging jobs with which I've been blessed.  I never thought a simple caroling gig could be so soul-fulfilling.

Honestly, it's the little moments of surprise that elevate singing in the MistleTones from simple caroling to a brilliant job.

Singing on a trolley in Yonkers, and surprising two young women not having the best day with our voices.  And then compounding that surprise with even more surprise at our serious talent and musicianship.  Hitting a jazz chord and hearing their audible "OH!  You guys are GOOD!"

Watching Autumn's womb grow wings as a magical child is utterly entranced by her personality and our singing.  Joey's big brown eyes repeatedly imploring her to hold him again.

Making astounding new friends in the business and making serious MUSIC with them.

A new arrangement of Santa Baby that is KILLER.

Finding the pocket of Joy to the World, killing it while belting your face off, and giving some serious listening and LEVELS.

Making jokes, bad puns, and making each other laugh to get through 5-hour, 30-degrees-outside gigs.

Playing with Petey the Penguin, a giant piano, Frosty the Snowman, and the Man with a Bag.  And some seriously crazy Nutcrackers.

Meeting a little boy named Hayden from Australia that redefines the limits of how intelligent, bold, charming, and delightful a child can be.

And lest you need evidence, check out the serious fun we have shooting our own YouTube sensations...

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.

Far From Home

Today felt like Christmas. Like a REAL Christmas.

It's probably because I got to wake up and stay at home next to the Christmas tree for several hours drinking a mimosa and a Blendy whilst Skype-ing with my family on the computer. I mean, THAT feels like Christmas. Family and chilling out at home. Oh, and that whole opening presents thing.

And then I joined several of my castmates for an afternoon showing of "Avatar" in 3-D, and that felt like my first Christmas away from home (in Hilton Head seeing "Sweeney Todd") as well as that random one in Houston when the Buehner's and sis and I went to see "Ocean's Eleven"... or Twelve. I'm not really sure.

And then I came home and cleaned my room and decorated and ate leftovers and just enjoyed being at home for Christmas. And then Evan and I watched "The Road Warrior" which I later found out was actually Mad Max 2. Which fits, since during the movie I thought, "this guy Max seems pretty mad. I wonder if they realized that makes him sound like Mad Max". HA!

So yeah. Today felt like Christmas. I was surrounded by family and a great friend, and I got to relax and celebrate and enjoy the day and the sunshine.

And well, then there's that whole Avatar thing.

A movie, that, I don't think I could have been so deeply affected by, were I not living in a foreign country and trying to live amongst and understand the native people. Who, like the movie characters, speak English almost as well as their native language.

The movie affirmed for me how precious it is for us to understand each other, and how important it is to be in tune with nature. I was telling Evan after the movie that I sometimes just have to escape and go hiking and find myself breathing again in a forest, and that people don't always understand that.

So yeah. It's a great film, and I believe it's message is topical and pertinent and crucial in today's society.

Now if only I could have an extra day off EVERY week...

Oh, and sadly, but much to my expectations, walking through Ikspiari today I saw that Japan truly does make Christmas disappear instantaneously December 26th. Not a decoration, light, sign, or greeting of glad tidings was anywhere in sight. Even the brilliant Christmas tree was merely a hollow steel shell waiting for its full breakdown.

So, in response, I think my Christmas tree in my room might hang around a bit longer than usual. Why not? Those lights are wonderfully ambient.

And my nephew wiggles his butt like Donald Duck when he walks.

Now THAT's Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

So Christmas on the Eastern side of the world is a bit different.

Like, really different.

But still lovely.

I trucked to Roppongi for sunrise mass at 8 AM before work today, which meant I only got 4 hours of sleep this morning, but that just ended up justifying a nice Christmas trip to Starbucks after mass!

That being said, it was quite weird seeing the sun rise whilst riding a train jam-packed with commuters and business men to whom the words "Merry Christmas" mean very little. Sad, but true. Christmas at rush hour.

Now, church was small and relatively empty, but a friendly parish, despite the fire-and-brimstone sermon from the ancient priest. But it made me think... have you ever noticed the similarities between the American Dream and Jesus's life? Just food for thought. And wow, do I have to admit that a sermon about the hellish ideologies of the 20th Century (Nazism, Hitler, Communism) being compared to secularism and separation of church from government did not feel very Christmas-y to me.

So instead I found my Christmas joy talking after mass to the really awesome deacon Russell who happened to live about 5 minutes away from me in Astoria back in the day!

However, there was one major difference in this service (despite being in English and foreigner-heavy) that blew my mind. People didn't TOUCH each other at the sign of peace. No handshakes, no hugs, not even amongst family members.

HUH?

Seriously, they all bowed to each other and said "peace be with you", which of course I wasn't quite prepared for, and therefore was quite awkward when I attempted to shake the woman behind me's hands. Yeah, that was weird.

And I've definitely been in Japan too long, because when the priest said "the body of Christ" to me, I almost said "Onegaishimasu" (Please) and/or "Arigato Gozaimasu" (Thank you) and bowed instead of "Amen". Luckily my brain fart only lasted about 3 seconds, but the indecision felt like forever!

But, many things were the same, the Christmas carols, the simple setting, and mostly the Christmas peace and connection I felt with my family. If only I could have found a midnight mass!

The rest of the day was delightful. I did two shows and was completely GENKI during all of the Christmas parts (since it was our closing day). My favorite part, however, is that no matter how silly or stupid or goofball we were during any of the Christmas section, we never got notes. However, during my last show, in the opening speech I added, "Thank you, ladies and gentleman, Merry Christmas, and welcome to our tribute to swing jazz, Big Band Beat". And I GOT FREAKING DAME'D about it. Because, apparently, it's really really really bad to welcome people on Christmas Day by saying Merry Christmas during a CHRISTMAS version of our show.

But shouting "Feliz Navidad" after the show is over into your mic, and changing the choreography, and full on screaming at Santa onstage is okay.

Yeah, color me confused.

I slept most of the afternoon to compensate for my early morning, and the whole cast had an amazing potluck dinner for Christmas which was MUCH better than our trip to Roppongi for Thanksgiving. Side note: I find it ironic that my whole intention on Christmas was not to go to Roppongi again, and I ended up there for Mass. HA!

My cranberries were a hit (as expected), and now the real magic of Christmas begins with Skype, sleeping, and more Skypeing and presents in the morning. WOO HOO!

As that random elf in Savannah would say:

ARITE CHRISTMAS!

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!

Procrastinator Extraordinaire

I'm behind.

Yes. I haven't updated in 2 weeks. And I regret that fact. But as Rafiki said... it's in the past.

I mean, those 2 weeks consisted of crazy amounts of trying to get better whilst enjoying the company a guest...

Steroids. Which are a gift from the heavens.

Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday!

Hours of sleep gladly lost to video-chatting with my family at home...

And staving off a repeat occurrence of getting sick whilst planning my amazing visit to Hiroshima and Miyajima!

And it was amazing. And tomorrow I will try to sort through the 500 pictures I took over two days so everyone can have a glimpse.

But until then, just knowing that I had an amazing day at home catching up on sleep, making phone calls home, and putting up a Christmas tree is enough!

Seriously. My room is gloriously Christmas, and in 21st century fashion, I felt like listening to my favorite old record/tape from my childhood.

Conway Twitty's a Twistmas Album replete with the Twitty Bird.

And $9.99 and few clicks later, I was reminiscing to my favorite songs of old.

Christmas is here. My health has returned. This blog is about to be back on track.

And I am happy.

And well, since my grandparents really do love my blog, I guess I'd better not slack off again.

So goodnight to all, and to all, a goodnight!

Red Cup Day

There is something magical about red cup day.

Yes, I know. In the olden days, people used to get excited about the crispness in the air, the change in the leaves, the first snowfall, cranberry harvests, and sleigh rides.

They also used to walk uphill both ways barefoot in a storm to school.

But this is 2009, and I'm in Japan. So Red Cup Day was extra special this year.

There's just something about the first Starbucks drink of the season from a red, Christmas-y cup that puts a whole lotta joy on my face. And since I NEVER GOT A PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE (wtf, Japanese Starbucks?), I was more than ecstatic to accept a delicious, tasty Gingerbread Latte today as an oishii consolation prize.

Alright, I know. Stop right there. "But Christopher-san", you say, "I thought that you pretty much hated Starbucks coffee and its big business practices and that you championed local coffee shops instead."

And you're right. I do. But, like any red-blooded American, I occasionally love a really good Starbucks latte, especially when I'm 7000 miles from home and guess what?!, a red cup feels like home.

So that Gingerbread Latte was quite delicious, and though we are lacking in the Eggnog, Pumpkin Spice (seriously, WTF?) and Peppermint Mocha varieties, I am looking forward to tasting the Dark Cherry Mocha and the Caramel Eclair (it supposedly tastes sweet AND salty).

And yes, I just spent the last 10 paragraphs talking about Starbucks.

But I mean, that's what I love Red Cup of LIFE day.

And then we had 3 dress rehearsals for Christmas BBB of which I got to watch 2. And even though we've been rehearsing it for over a month, I HAD NO IDEA HOW AMAZING AND INCREDIBLE OUR CHRISTMAS SHOW IS.

Sorry, I'll really try to stop type-shouting at you. Gomen nosai.

But seriously, if I thought that one coffee corporation I previously mentioned could be magical with a red cup, just imagine what the huge-normous corporation I work for could do with a big band, tap dancers, crazy singers, some of their flagship characters, and some snazzy jazzy Christmas tunes.

I mean, who needs to do White Christmas on Broadway when I get to SING "White Christmas" solo on a fog-covered stage with a big band, a french horn solo, while Mickey and Minnie Mouse dance a SICK (and touching) pas de deux? OH. And I ALSO get to do the best solo arrangement of "Let It Snow" you've ever heard, and, by the way, make it SNOW on the audience.

Eat your heart out Randy Skinner.

So thanks, Disney. Who needs Broadway when you are giving me some of the best spectacle I've ever seen in 15 minutes? I mean, Donald Duck on a scooter? 8 foot snowballs? A giant moving Frosty? And the most glamorous throwing up of red onstage (sorry HSM) I've ever seen? You better WORK.

And I apologize to all my real Radio City friends out there, but these Japanese girls are kicking their faces and READY to take over if any of you can't quite make it onstage. They are phenomenal.

So yeah. Christmas BBB and Red Cups and Gingerbread Lattes make me MECHA genki.

And then Evan and I lived it up at Zensushi across the street and the onsen.

AND I don't have to do anything but show up to work tomorrow AND we get out 3 hours earlier than a normal day AND I'm going to Outback AND Blair and I are going to sing and play together.

I'm definitely in the Christmas spirit!

All in an aka ipai day!

Naps and Fans

Well I'm beat.

Despite taking a 3 hour nap at work today. I mean, who gets paid to nap?

And we're not talking your pleasant little cat nap. I'm talking a full-tilt, eye mask on, ear plugs in, legs sprawled on the futon, towel placed to protect your pillow from drool, covered in a fleece blanket kind of nap. Where you dream and sleep away your migraine.

Is it a little silly that I have to be at work when I'm not performing? Yeah. But at least I get paid to sleep and watch TV. That's not so bad...

And we had our first Christmas run-through onstage after work which was pretty amazing. I mean, I nearly get attacked by a 6 foot snowball, there are Japanese rockettes, Goofy is Santa, there are reindeer tap dancers and Donald Duck, and I get to sing "White Christmas" while the entire stage is covered by fog and Mickey and Minnie dance a pas de deux.

That's pretty freakin' cool.

There was a rehearsal about 2 weeks ago where every single performer (sans the band) was called in, and it was amazing to see nearly 100 people in one room working towards one goal! Thinking about that, and the fact that the Japanese way is that nearly everyone (except myself, for some strange reason), including the technicians, have multiple tracks within their job, made me realize something. It's a very realistic probability that there probably has never been the exact same cast of performers or technicians at BBB on any given day. With all the switching and people and interchangeable parts, I have to applaud the fact that our show is a well-oiled and high-functioning machine.

It'd only be better if I was 100% sure I knew everyone's name...

Oops.

I do have one teeny tiny complaint, however. Frosty is in our Xmas show, and he moves pretty darn magically. But I don't really understand why he's so ugly. Seriously, he has a batwing bustle sticking on his 3rd snowball bottom that I guess is supposed to be a cape, but honestly looks like Jack Skellington came in threw some black on his back. I don't get it. Everything at our stage is PHENOMENAL, but Frosty is kinda lame.

Sorry. But it's true.

Also, that leads me to point out that I have an amazing job. While yes, I work for Disney, I really feel more like I'm doing a great regional job in Japan that just happens to also star Mickey Mouse. I'm not playing some costume character or surrounded by Disney magic all day. I literally get paid to sing my face off, dance a little bit, be in a multi-cultural bi-lingual environment, nap (as I've mentioned) and go home to my fierce studio at night. So I really can't complain.

However, our fans are really nuts. If there'll be one good thing about this lottery system, it's that I won't see the same 5 faces in the front row every show. Not that I think that's as terrible as our administration does, but still...

Today a woman literally put both hands on the side of her head and mimed scissors in an attempt to comment on and let me know she noticed and liked my haircut.

Making sure I noticed that she noticed.

While, by the way, I was working and PERFORMING ONSTAGE. Kinda sweet, kinda crazy, and kinda rude.

I think some of them actually think they know us when in reality they just see my show 5 times a day. Which, by the way, seems strange to me.

Can you imagine watching your favorite movie every day 5 times? Overkill, much?

Hence why they can't be exactly all ther upstairs, but heck, if I'm bringing joy to their lives, that's all I signed up for. And I'm guessing I am since they keep coming back. Go me.

And on that note. I have another day sans rehearsal tomorrow, so I better rest up the magic.

Two Days of Christmas, Mermaids, and Odaiba

Christmas makes me genki.

Seriously.

What is it about singing Christmas Carols in October that just feels perfectly right? You know you've been in show business for a long time when it doesn't bother you to sing Christmas music before Halloween has even started to roll around.

As long as you don't see decorated department stores or hear the music on the radio. That's just wrong.

But I think being in Japan makes Christmas even more special. Especially Disney Christmas. Because it's something so warm and home-y and comforting when you are basically illiterate in this country. It just feels like sipped, warm cocoa going down your throat.

So the holiday is still a good 85 days away (and not 85 in the sense of Topher's favorite number for exaggeration and hyperbole usage... it's actually quite a good estimate!) but we have begun rehearsals and it's a lovely new energy for our cast. And I just can't wait to see Goofy dressed up as Santa and Donald Duck with antlers on a scooter!

After rehearsal and B-shift yesterday, Evan and I went to jazz night at the Hub, which I rarely visit since it is basically a one-stop shop for secondhand-smoke-induced lung cancer. But jazz night is delightful and a J-size Tarantula is a great way to start off your day off! And, even though the Shiner's-red-coat-wearing Japanese jazz band plays the same set every week, it still blows my mind that the leader of the band sounds EXACTLY LIKE Louis Armstrong.

Seriously. He's not an imitation.

Maybe that's because he actually learned how to sing from Louis back in the day. So, when you think about it, I was one degree away from Louis last night, which is as close as I'll ever get, and who'd've thought that'd be in Japan?!

His growl is just spectacular and the throaty belt of the little Japanese woman is remarkable. I honestly have to say that listening to them is such an unexpected treat. And I got the chance to meet a couple of the new mermaids last night, with whom I ended up having a great conversation that lasted all the way through our bike ride home. One was Charlotte who we got to see in the show the other day. (As soon as I finish my DisneySea post you'll understand why I was so pleased to recognize her and tell her how much I loved her and her show).

So all in all, yesterday was just a pleasant day with Christmas and mermaids and Louis.

Today I had the pleasure of sleeping in, enjoying the blazing sunshine (!), and seeing/hearing this outside E-Village:

Turns out the Japanese love a garage sale as much as we Americans do, they just don't have garages. So they do it on the sidewalk outside the D2.

Evan and I headed off to Odaiba for the day, per his suggestion, which, quite fortunately, turned out to be much more fun than my previous trip. Though that post only has words; the pictures are here. At first, it didn't seem like it would be, since we started at Palette Town and were unimpressed by the crowded Japanese mall, but that all changed when we wandered into a Japanese arcade.

We both just got mesmerized by the crazy complex machines that clutter every corner of Odaiba. From classic crane games to the modified net version to the pachinko balls, the Japanese LOVE their arcades. And well, you don't even have to play. Just watching all the bells and whistles on those machines will suck you right in.

It got better as we toured the Toyota showroom and drove in the free racing simulator and popped ourselves in the teeny tiny cars they have on display.

And once we found the car museum filled with old standards, every model car imaginable, and vintage automobile memorabilia, Evan was in heaven.

Which I just realized is a catchy rhyme.

We killed an easy hour looking at a bunch of cars I'd never heard of, and a few I had, most of which I couldn't fit in, as evidenced above. I really hit the jackpot when I stumbled upon a metal Lotus sign that Evan nearly missed. It definitely made his day and mine. Just to see his face light up like Christmas!

All through the day we tried to find the place rumored to rent dogs. Yup. We'd heard that you could rent a puppy and walk it and play with it for an hour, but the problem in a huge place like Odaiba is... if you don't know where, you probably won't find it. Instead we stumbled upon this...

Yup. A trickster ape on stilts. I even caught footage of his free show, that you can see at the end of the post!

We finally decided to narf down some food and MonsterBurger was the place.

After killing it American-style, we took the opportunity to enjoy some physical arcade games that Decks had to offer. I threw some frisbees at targets, though I only got 2 hits of the 12 I threw...

Evan competed in an American Gladiator-style obstacle course that apparently is copied from some Japanese game show "Sasuke". He was killing it and probably could have beaten it, but we'll have to give him another shot another day... You can watch his attempt at the end of the post.

Finally, we visited our old miniature Lady Liberty friend, and the clear night gave us some spectacular views of Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower as we walked on the beach.

We would've gone to ride the Ferris Wheel next, but I had to get back to the station to meet Hiro for dinner at the Garlic Restaurant. Dinner was delicious, and the surprise of the day was that 10 minutes in, Blair, her parents, and the rest of the BBB girls sat down right next to us! And then Adam and his boyfriend showed up as well! Apparently everyone decided to eat there the same night, which is odd since none of us have been there except for the sayonara party! What a coincidence!

And now, my friends, I am off to bed before 2 long 5 show days. Hope you enjoyed the craziness of Odaiba as much as we did! Here's Evan followed by the ape!

Christmas Came Early to Tokyo

Well, not really.

Christmas only came early to Toph. Via Mastercard. And by his own purchasing power. So I guess that isn't really Christmas...

But still, this kid got his Christmas wish. I got a bike yesterday!

And yes, it's a bottom-of-the-line one-speed, with a frame built only for Japanese-sized people and it doesn't really have shocks when you go over bumps, but it's MINE all MINE. With a basket for my backpack, a bell, and a headlight that lights up when you pedal!

And I think I've decided to call him Rupert. Or Pete. As in Coors. Cuz he's a silver bullet. Of course that wouldn't really work if I spray paint him green with the can I bought, and Cathy already tried to veto that idea... Thoughts? Suggestions? I open the comment board to you!

Rupert/Pete has already taken me on a new adventure to the lazy river at Higashino Pool where, for 150 Yen I got to lay out in the sun and float around in a circle with a bunch of Japanese people. It was awesome. And even though, for some strange reason, Coke is delicious here and Pepsi (especially from Wendy's) is different and NASTY, they had a vending machine with cool Pepsi cans at the pool, I had one, and it was so TASTY. Interesting that nasty and tasty are only different by one letter.

He also took me to work SOOOOOO quickly and I safely parked him in the 24 hour lot for 50 yen since I clearly did not want him to have to visit bike jail his first day with me. Yesterday actually made me wonder why I waited so long to treat myself to this amazing 9800 Yen masterpiece when he is so incredibly useful! And don't worry, all you worry-warts, he has a bike lock installed on his backside and I'm sure to always use it! With my HSM keychain too!

This was followed by one of the most DELICIOUS meals I've ever had in my life. We had a Sayonara Summer Party Party in the same ballroom we had our show in, and the food was incredible!

I tried Octopus for the first time in my life...

...and I really liked it! It's really chewy and kinda tastes like ham. We had truffle carbonara pasta, coconut curry, sushi, meatloaf, and at least 47 other dishes I can't think of right now. I had so much food I thought I was going to explode.

And beer too. Yum.

There were crazy performances on the ukelele -- basically a recital of all that they had been practicing for the 2 weeks. We did a crazy Nauko-san version of Hawaiian/Saints/Dr. Jazz that involved crazy costumes, Campbell and I as Mickey and Minnie, and audience participation choreography that included playing the DS, napping, and our 300 yen combo meals at the cafeteria. Priceless.

.

There was a video message from Ai-san and a bunch of speeches I didn't understand, but I loved them nonetheless.

Then a big group of us went to Roti's House (a restaurant) in Ikspiari for MORE food and beer and conversation, and then I stopped by the Hub briefly on the way home to see all the gai-jin. I just couldn't stomach any more smoke or alcohol at karaoke, so Rupete brought me home and off to bed I went.

But the truth is, I'm glad we had our final party, but I'm also glad it's really over. It's been so hard repeatedly saying goodbye to different sets of the Summer Party cast to the point that I'm much happier not having to send anyone off anymore. It's hard when you realize you might truly never see some of them ever again. At least in New York, you know you'll always run into familiar faces, and I'm sure I will here in Tokyo, but once I'm gone... Yeah. I think ready to start this tech week of BBB and get the show open so I can really start having some fun!