Subway Shoes

I love random subway encounters that surprise you in the most delightful of ways.

Tonight, after returning from the "romantic Tokyo bistro" izakaya Zenkichi in Williamsburg (which was delicious, by the way), I had to transfer trains at Union Square.  So I plopped my rear down in one of the wooden benches and began reading...

Next thing I realize is that three pairs of skateboarder-ish shoes and legs have stopped around me.  I'm not quite sure if these hoodlums are about to ask me for money or attack me, but I'm pretty sure this encounter will at least be uncomfortable.

Next thing I know, hoodlum one asks me, "Where'd you get those shoes?"

I pull up the tag and tell him they're Pumas.  He says, "I see, but where'd you get them?"

And I tell him in Japan, and his look bums over as he walks away.

And as he progresses down the platform, I hear him call back, "Those shoes are (some 2010 word that means the same thing as fly, sweet, awesome, or radical)!!"

And I smiled.

For all the looks I get for my fashion choices, the best are the myriad of reactions to anything from overseas, from love to hate.  And that one just made me smile.

You never know when stereotypes will come crashing down and surprise you.

Rubber Ducky, you're the one!

Late night rehearsal is just exhausting.

To be honest, the overtime is great, but I'm a little thankful we're nearing the end of the endless rehearsals.

I just can't seem to catch up on anything... blogging, sleeping, shopping, socializing, or eating.

Heck, I can't even manage my farm daily anymore, and I'm the king of procrastinating via Farmville. Which is sad, since I should really spend less time on facebook and more time face-to-face on Skype. C'est la vie.

But the good news is, Christmas is nearly here, and I bought some awesome new winter-ish snow-type boots today on mega sale! I've been ogling them for weeks, and apparently held out long enough to get them half off. YEAH! And I got a rubber ducky to go with them since they are Rubber Ducks.

And yes, this is another post about shoes. Though I'm too tired to get out of bed and take a picture.

Never fear, though, the power of google and the internet!

But honestly, not much else has been going on, just rehearsal, Christmas shopping, long days of work, and the days nearing their shortest.

And in the meantime, I have new boots for the cold weather! Woo hoo!

Bravery

The last few days have been a bit interesting...

I think I've mentioned here before that I seem to be braver here in Japan than I ever would be in the States. Especially when it comes to trying new things...

I've tried octopus. And I liked it.

I've tried bathing in public naked. And I liked it.

I've tried nato (fermented soybeans). And I hated it.

But I've surprisingly embraced and jumped right into each experience.

And this week I tried something else new... Doctor Fish.

Although my face clearly shows the fear and disbelief that overshadow the bravery.

I think the dichotomy of Patrick's face and Tom's shaking hands perfectly capture the essence of the human reaction to this experience.

Now, according to our attendant at the onsen, these fish are completely harmless to humans. In fact, to reference high school life sciences (since I'm probably the only kid in the States to have graduated high school and not taken Biology), they exist in a completely symbiotic relationship with us. (Yes, I like my SAT words). Apparently there are places in Turkey where you can let them help you not just by dipping your feet in the pool, but by fully immersing yourself! You can even let them inside your mouth!

Which, by the way, I won't be doing.

But basically, they get REALLY excited when you enter their pool of water because their dinner is your dead skin.

That's right, they don't bite you, but they help you out by polishing your skin so they can eat it!

Now, if that isn't gross enough, imagine a whole swarm of 500 of them going crazy because you just put a huge feast in their tank. Aka, your feet.

Well, I don't have to imagine it, because I did it.

Though that one is actually Evan's foot.

Oh, and by the way... it TICKLES.

I mean like my-brother-giving-me-a-tickle-tantrum-and-I-have-to-scream-"uncle"-to-make-it-stop tickles. I'm talking about 4 grown men in the quiet, peaceful onsen shreiking and giggling at the top of their lungs so much so that the Japanese keep peeking over the railing at us because it tickles so much. Mostly because it feels like 85 little rods are sucking at your feet and making crazy vibrations like an automatic massager! Especially if you close your eyes to try and forget that they are hungry fish, which, of course, you can't, because they actually are hungry fish.

Especially when they go in between your toes to get the extra juicy stuff.

And I'm pretty sure they don't get full because we had 4 pairs of feet in that tank for 15 minutes and they were buffing our feet till the last second!

But despite our fears, we tried something new for Patrick's birthday, and you know what? I started to get used to it after about 5 minutes and I started to relax. I might have even enjoyed it!

And my feet were pretty smooth after the fact.

Though those fish definitely can't eat through a dancer's hard-earned callouses in 15 minutes. Thank goodness! I need those things!

So yes, I've been brave and had a new adventure. An adventure that the kid who used to get scared when he jumped in the lake to go waterskiing because he thought the fishies would bite his feet probably never thought would actually happen in his wildest nightmares.

But that grown-up kid actually let fish bite his feet. Well, all right, not bite. More like buff and polish and suck.

But I think the sensation and fear was the same.

Especially because this time I could see the swarm of them just waiting to go to town on my feet. Which is pretty darn scary.

And speaking of fears, we watched "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" the other day in the dressing room, which is remarkable because that movie scared the CRAP out of me when I was a kid.

And now, of course, I realize what a brilliant, and slightly scary for children movie that is.

Because I'm starting to see why I was so scared of that as well as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", the Wicked Witch of the West, and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom".

I'm pretty sure I didn't do well with unconventional deaths to children and cartoons, and I definitely didn't differentiate imagination and make-believe from reality. Because, you know, actually, watching a cartoon get "dipped" to death is kinda creepy.

Maybe I just had problems with people melting and/or getting sucked into tubes.... hmmm.

We also had a karaoke party for Joseph's bday last night which was SO MUCH fun, especially now that I'm not nervous about karaoke anymore. Thanks definitely to those private karaoke rooms on the cruise ship and all the wonderful parties we had there. It was sublimely fun to amaze a new crowd of performers with my drunken rendition of "The Sound of Music". In the original key.

And after all was said and done in my last blog, I opted out of the club night Sunday night in an effort to stay healthy. And it worked out well because my 5 show day was actually fantastic yesterday and a great way to go into my weekend.

And finally, Evan and I headed into Harajuku today (which was INSANELY busy because of the National Holidays that comprise "Silver Week") such that I finally got my amazing high tops. And it was well worth the wait.

Tomorrow, I finally get to explore Tokyo Disneyland, though I'm sure it will still be super crowded from the holiday, but maybe I'll get to see my favorite, Pluto!

Time to get some more sleep for more adventures! WOO HOO!

Pure Imagination

I'm a little confused by something here in Tokyo. See, I thought I was coming to work in a show with professional grown-ups.

Instead, I often have this eerie feeling (accompanied by requisite "wooooo woooo" sounds) that time has somehow reversed itself and I'm back in high school. In the locker room. Where boys are awkward and immature and rude and the girls are catty and insecure. And I for one, have never wanted to go back to that place.

Now I'm all for having a good time at work, especially when we're going to be there 9 hours a day, but I do have to say that I'm not comfortable with mean, degrading humor that puts other people down. The kind that takes their dignity and steps on it over and over with a spiky track shoe. I just really don't see the need to be impolite and insulting. There are plenty of ways to make people laugh without hurting someone's feelings. A lesson I learned well from my wonderful dad and the immeasurably wise Reenie.

So. Instead of stooping to a low, nasty, teenage level, I have decided to remove myself from negative, insulting, and occasionally discriminatory humor and bigotry, and in turn, I reminded myself of something I LOVE!

Reading a good book.

I think sometimes, when I don't have a good book and sometimes am not quite sure what to read next, my soul gets a little lost. Cuz my brain loses a healthy outlet of imagination and instead I constantly create strange conversations in my head. Especially in the land of Nippon where 90% of the day I can't communicate with people.

So I picked up a delightfully free copy of "Flesh and Blood" by Michael Cunningham (the guy who wrote "The Hours") from the dozo bookshelf downstairs. I've read quite a bit of his work and enjoy it, and this book is turning out to be one of my favorites so far. He has a phenomenal understanding of the human psyche and writes inner emotional monologue so well. And so now, I have this lovely escape from high school into a fantastic journey of fiction. And I'm thrilled.

Especially because my crazy imagination and willingness to suspend disbelief usually mean that when I read, I immerse myself in a story. I remember sophomore year of college when I was reading the incredible "A Density of Souls" by Christopher Rice, that I had been reading in my top bunk at Flather for about 2 hours one afternoon. And when I got up to go eat dinner, it was sunset, and I remember being cold and shivering and unsettled at the table. It was a good ten minutes later that I realized I had become so involved in the novel, that I personally was behaving as if the same Category 4 hurricane in the novel was right howling outside the old North windows, when in reality it was a beautiful fall evening outside. Not to say that we didn't eventually have Isabella hit DC junior year providing a four-day weekend, but basically it just was windy outside and the rest of our neighborhood lost power.

I don't think anything trumps my utter fear of and complete belief in the Wicked Witch of the West when I was 3 or 4 and Mom took me to see The Wizard of Oz at YGP. (This was obviously before I began my formative years there). I was so frightened by her and believed her to be so real and evil that I wouldn't go within 20 feet of her during the Meet and Greet after the show.

Once, too, when I watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at 10 years old, I didn't even make it 20 minutes into the movie, yet that night I had to sleep with the light on because I thought the teddy bears in the walls were going to jump out of the wallpaper and attack me like the ninjas in the movie.

And I had nightmares for a month in second grade after seeing the original Willy Wonka (because that image section before the boat trip is so creepy and bizarre) that I was gonna blow up into a blueberry. So yeah. There's that utter suspension of disbelief at work.

So I'm reading something other than guidebooks in Japan and it's making me a much smarter, more relaxed, and much happier Tophs.

Oh. And I went to Shibuya today again and basically let some Japanese salesman play dress up with me as the doll. It was crazy the things he was trying to get me to buy, but then I had to use the awful "maybe" tactic so I could get out of there without spending any money. I also went back to Harajuku and salivated over those Puma high-tops I want so badly. I'm thinking they might be my opening night gift to myself. I finally found a pic of them online too. And yes mom, I know you hate them already.

Dress rehearsals for me start tomorrow! Woo hoo!