5771

I'm not Jewish, but if I was, this new year would not be off to a very good start...

Remember when I failed at Japan (the first time, anyway)?

Yup.  Failed at New York today.  Got on the train, and when I got off, my wallet was no longer on my person.

So instead of dancing with my roomie and friends in a great dance class, I spent the afternoon canceling cards and visiting the police station.  Hopefully Saint Anthony will pull through for me by having a nice Japanese person find and return my wallet...  but then again, it's a Jewish holiday today.  Hmmmm.

It just was one of those cruddy days that keeps getting crappier.  But I guess when hugs are around, it all gets better.  And, I'm not sure if this is possible, but is it almost worse to have to comfort someone and watch them grieve than to be the one grieving?  Because you know the kind of devasting pain she's in, and you just wish you could do something to help it go away?

I don't know, but if I could, I'd hug away the pain of a friend right now.  As hard as I possibly could.

Leave it to Blair, her amazing pumpkin cookies, and a Rosh Hashanah party to add a bright spot to my day.

I know I've been MIA for a while, and there's really no good reason for that.  Oh, there was a wedding in Colorado that was stunningly beautiful, and oh, there were some interesting auditions, and oh, I spent Labor Day in a hidden corner of Central Park, and oh, I'm basically just procrastinating big things like doing my taxes these days, but honestly, I'm just glad fall is around the corner.  It's like I've found me again.

The pumpkin spice latte is back (how long these two years have been since I've tasted you!), the air is finally cooling off every once in a while, and people are returning from summer stock gigs.  The freshmen from the Midwest have arrived at NYU looking green and young and fresh-faced and I don't wanna be the one to tell them all the journeys they'll soon be facing.  I'm so glad I'm not that age anymore.

I guess that's it, isn't it?  Fall is here, the season of change, the reminder that everything has its season, will wither and return like the green of the trees.  With each year we grow wiser and face new challenges and the old ones don't seem so bad in retrospect.  So when a day doesn't go your way, there's always the hope that tomorrow may dawn a little brighter.

A little more yellow.

Happy New Year, everyone.  Let's hope 5771 is a good one.  It can pretty much only go uphill from here, right?

WTF, RTD?

WTF, Denver?

Okay, Denver. What happened? I thought people out West were supposed to be friendly. And helpful.

And in the end, thank goodness my super shuttle driver Jerry is...

But, seriously, WTF, DIA and RTD?

I've honestly never been treated like such an imbecile in my life.

This is public transportation we're talking about here. THAILAND does it better than you. A third-world country currently killing each other over who's in charge. Seriously.

Whatever happened to customer service? WTF? Just because I'm from New York you think you have the right to be an a**hole to me? WTF? Guess what. The fact that you cut through my thick skin with rudeness only verifies what disrespectful nincompoops you are.

How is it, that when I walk up to an information/ticket counter for $12 public buses, does the man behind the counter feel it unnecessary not only not to bother to greet me, smile, or provide useful or correct information, but he also can't be bothered to come out of the backroom and get off his frickin' smartphone?!?!

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?

And how DARE you, Mr. Juan Hernandez (yes, I will call you out on the internet in public), when I have visited the counter 3 times only to receive completely incorrect information, do you allow your employee to run in the back and hide, and then completely dismiss my claims without actually listening, and call security on me to escort me out of the airport? How incapable are you of doing your management JOB?!

WTF?

I honestly don't feel like I'm asking a lot here. When I ask you if it's possible to get to Loveland, you were nice enough to inform me there was no service there, even if I had to call the 1-800 number to verify that information. However when both the lady on the phone and a previous customer tell me it IS possible to get to Longmont , how on earth do you not only disagree with the options I suggest, but also then choose not to simply stop helping me?

You cost me 15 bucks and a complete loss of composure. And for an unemployed New Yorker, that's a whole frakkin' lot.

Thank you, Mr. Mario Gutierrez for ruining my day.

If only you would have been polite. Or smiled. Or greeted me. Or shown me a modicum of respect. Or said "I DON'T KNOW" and offered to help as best you could, or to maybe, hmm, i don't know, call and find out from someone who DOES know!?!?!

I've worked in the service industry. And I know that customers are willing to forgive ineptitude and a lack of knowledge, if the employee is kind enough to just say he was wrong, he isn't sure, and he was sorry. Even just one of the above would have gone a long way.

Simple sincerity goes a long way.

I do hope you are severely reprimanded and/or lose your jobs. You should not be helping travelers when you can't handle simple questions on a slow Wednesday afternoon. While I realize that my complaints will most likely meet dead ends through RTD(as they did today), I will also be reporting you to the management of DIA, in the hopes that maybe they can cultivate a more beneficial partnership for their customers.

It's no wonder there's a lack of public transportation when it's operated like this.

Shame on you, RTD. Make sure you call up Delta to compare notes.

Last Day of Firsts

For my final day in Japan (for now, I hope), I decided to a do a lot of things for the first time, both intentionally and subconsciously.

I fell asleep on the trains and in my delirium half-heard my stop and realized I missed a second too late... TWICE. Seriously, I haven't missed a stop or gone the wrong way on a train in 9 months, and I do it on my last day in Japan.

I blame it on the 5-hour red-eye.

On the way back from the airport I completely missed Funabashi, realized it, and was gathering the last of my bags as the door closed in my face. Which wouldn't have been that bad, if the "Commuter Express" train I'd been on for the previous 50 minutes hadn't basically been a local and then finally decided to pick up the pace and skip 6 stops until I missed mine. Boo. Luckily, I only had to walk across the platform and a return "Limited Express" train came within about 2 minutes. So my fears of a 30-minute detour turned out to be only 15. And because I rushed once I did reach Funabashi, I was able to make the Musashino train at 9:48 that, as it turns out, is the same one I would have caught had I not made the error.

Now it's REALLY embarassing that I did this again this afternoon, and that's not even including the fact that my memory failed me and I got off a stop too early and had to walk a few extra blocks when going to my haircut. On the way back, I once again dazed off and went a stop too far. But at least on the subway it's super easy to turn around and go a stop back.

I also bravely ventured into the world of highlighting my hair. While it didn't turn out as drastic as I'd thought it might and kind of hoped, I do suddenly look delightfully sun-kissed, like it's August instead of April. Thanks Thailand tan and Toni & Guy hair color.

I was very nervous, and almost chickened out, but I'm so glad I did. I ran into Mitchell from the new cast also getting his hair cut and we had our own customer version of Steel Magnolias in the salon. I especially liked the part where I had a Stewie head of tin foil... too bad my camera wasn't nearby.

Pictures to come of it, though truthfully I'm waiting to surprise my friends at home. It's not super drastic, but when the sun hits it, I look very nice. I think it'll be perfect for my transition back to New York.

I also decided to go back to Coco Ichibanya for the first time since I went with Kathryn and have my final tonkatsu curry in Japan. It was AMAZING! I kept planning to go there, and something else always came up, but yesterday, it was perfect.

Finally, I went to the Hub like I did my first time and had food and some Jack and Cokes and a J-size tarantula. Gotta go for the nostalgia, right? It was bizarre to be there with so many young, new faces, especially when it turned into a gay dance club at the end of the night. So not the beer and darts-throwing Hub from winter contract. But still a lot of fun.

And that my friends, was my last full day in Japan. Wow.

Travel Day

Today's travel was a lot like my work commute in Japan... I had to go the long way around.

Basically I wanted to cut from the middle of the island to the east coast, but there's a big mountain range in the way with no public transportation option, so I had to return up the west coast to Taipei at the northern tip and come back down the east coast to Hualien.

But the travel was actually quite pleasant, and the views on the train journey down the east coast were completely worth the extra travel time. Besides, it only took 6 hours, and it worked out that I was able to jump on an earlier train and still have a seaside window seat!

The sun shone beautifully on the lake this morning, which nearly perturbed me after yesterday's fog, but as I was leaving the clouds started to roll in. And anyway, the lake really actually was more mythical and serene with all the cloud cover. I had to take a taxi from the hotel since the buses weren't running yet, but I'm guessing that in reality the front desk girl called her boyfriend and charged me 400 NT for their gain. I can't tell, of course, but I rode in an unmarked blue van...

Whatever the case, he was a safe driver, I got to my destination on time, and I didn't get ripped off. It just seemed suspect.

I can't quite say the same for my bus driver on the way home. He was bit less pleasant and had a couple close calls. Good thing I slept through most of it!

It was a really beautiful, relaxing travel day that I feel I sorely needed. There was no rushing, no urgency to fill time or tick off sights to see. I had a 4 hour window in Taipei, and was able to close it to 1 and half with no problem. I had a delicious lunch and ice cream as a treat. I got here to Hualien with plenty of time to change my hotel reservation, find some dinner, go for a walk, and still come home and hit the hay early.

This town seemed a little suspect, though the people at the information booth were EXTREMELY helpful and friendly. They accomplished so much in such a short amount of time for me, though I'm sure it helped that I knew what questions I needed answered. I might even be able to rent a car tomorrow to head into the gorge and take it at my own pace! Fantasmic!

Even though Hualien isn't my favorite spot on the map, I stumbled down a side street today and happened to walk by a dance studio where two college-age guys were just grooving to some music. I watched them work on some hip-hop stuff for about 5 minutes, and it was one of those moments where I fall in love with art all over again. The fact that these guys are working at a craft in this little east coast town where ruins and stray dogs sit next to gorgeous marble boutique hotels, it re-inspired me. I love what I do, and I love even more that it has enabled me to be experiencing this. Whatever this trip started out as, it has morphed into an adventure of a lifetime for me.

There're so many memories here that will stick with me. Just teeny little moments, some of which I don't understand, moments that have touched my soul and reminded me how blessed and fortunate I am. The stray dog that almost followed me home from the pier last night. The guys working on their waves in the dance studio. The rice paddies next to the high-speed train. The coastline of the Pacific and the clouds descending on Sun Moon Lake. The worshippers at Longshan Temple. The breathtakingly different view of a Taiwanese graveyard (I couldn't get a picture from our reckless bus). Taipei asleep at 11 AM on Sunday morning and the vibrant night markets reaching into the deep hours of the night. The smell of stinky tofu and Chinese 5 spice.

The trip isn't over, far from it, but I've had so many "wow" moments in my head that I hope I remember. Today was a chance to reflect and journey forward, to realize how far I've traveled in a completely alien place, and finally recognize the confused and exacerbated looks people give me when I walk down the street.

I'm blessed. And tomorrow I'm heading into Taroko Gorge, the place that sold me on visiting here in the first place. I can't wait!

New Year's Aches and Pains

I'm not as young as I used to be.

But let's face it, unless someone figures out time travel or time reversal, that fact will continually refresh itself and we will continue to grow older.

But, in this case, I'm referencing the LONG week I've already had, and it's only Wednesday of my work week. And I'm tired, because this schedule would've been a whole lot easier 6 years ago...

Basically, it went down like this.

For those who don't know, my feelings on New Year's Eve are very similar to Halloween. Too much hype. Not enough planning. In the end, not a whole lot of fun.

Which is why the best times I've had on NYE have been playing cards with grandparents or the one when I was a kid and we all watched The Breakfast Club and ran up and down Everett Street banging pots and pans.

But this year was surprisingly different. Especially when you consider the 14 hour day I worked. I mean, my schedule was sucky(I had to do the first and third shows, then rehearse the "Auld Lang Syne" tag, have a dinner break, do a full run of the countdown show, then do the countdown show, do the finale of the 11:30 PM BBB show, and finally perform the tag countdown to midnight!), it was my Monday, and I knew I had to work all day January 1st.

However, there was something magical about singing "Auld Lang Syne" in Japanese (yes, I actually memorized it!) with 67 people onstage and 1500 people in the audience waving giant glowsticks. (One cast member said, "It's like AVATAR!") And it was awesome to walk out for the jazz showcase to screams and shouts and feel like a rockstar.

And counting down from 20 to the New Year (it was surprisingly easy to count down backwards in Japanese), I completely forgot there'd be cannons and confetti as 33 people (and Mickey) danced the finale one more time! I mean, I was just GENKI! Without a glass of champagne in hand, anyone to kiss, or any of the other standard midnight-tolling necessities. It was truly special and a great night.

And, well, despite the old-man-who-lives-inside-me's objections, I decided to join most of the cast in going out to Shinjuku, since I'll probably only spend one New Year's Eve in Tokyo in my lifetime. And so, while the States were still stuck in the last decade (evidence: my facebook status read "Happy New Year... FROM. THE. FUTURE"), I proceeded to drink a bottle of champagne on the subway (classy, I know, but definitely legal) and roll up to a bar at 2 AM. Yes, when most people were crazy drunk and leaving for the night, we were showing up.

But I was still quite responsible and only stayed for an hour, even if that hardly justifies the hour commute each way on the subway. For one night only, it was as if I was back in New York and the trains ran all night! (if only every half hour at that.)

Luckily, I pulled a New York and sprinted down the stairs and jammed my foot into the doors so the first (of 3) trains at 2:45 in the morning wouldn't leave me. And with a bruised knee as a souvenir, I was turning out the bedroom lights at 3:52 AM.

January 1st was weird and creepy (everything is closed and empty here) and working 5 shows was brutal, but I'm a rockstar and sailed through with flying colors. But the exhaustion kicked in and I was out about 11 last night.

And today was a little easier, even if I wished I could have slept during A-shift like everyone else had the luxury of doing the last two days. And an evening of homemade cranberry cosmos and Sex and the City on the movie channel lended itself to feeling much better. Albeit emotional and crying like a chick.

Especially since I have another 5 more shows on Monday. Seriously, who decided it was tire out Topher week?

Fatigue (especially mental) was evident today when I completely forgot the words in the opening and had to cut off singing 8 counts early, and when I forgot my hat for the train scene in the 4th show.

Now, that wouldn't seem monumental anywhere else, but in Japan, seriously, people will stop me in the hallway if my bowtie is slightly crooked or the shirt flaps are under/over the bowtieor if my shoe is untied (as someone did the 5th show). Yet, somehow, no one, not even the woman dressing me or our super anal Stage Managers or the 15 other people I walk by for my entrance noticed I was hatless today. Nor did I.

Yet everyone onstage did within about 3 seconds.

Luckily, it was our nice, chill SM's today (which is probably why no one noticed) and I did not get in trouble (like I did for saying "Merry Christmas"). So I'm quite thrilled.

Nonetheless, this long week ain't over yet. So time to sleep. Happy New Year!

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.

Toph Fails at Japan, Part 4

So I failed again.

But this time I succeeded at resolving my failure nearly instantaneously!

Basically, today when I was getting off the train at Shin-Urayasu station on the way home, I hit my head on the doors on the way out, as I am apt to do since the doors are not exactly tall enough for a 6' 3'' gai-jin. In fact, though I make mental notes not to do so, I hit the doors or the grab bars or the handles pretty much about once a week.

And I ALWAYS hit my knees on their darn tables. That's really getting old.

But the unfortunate thing about hitting my head today was the fact that my sunglasses were on top of my head.

And in one of those slow-motion, I'm-watching-myself-in-a-movie moments, I nearly caught the glasses as they fell... right in between the train and the station platform.

I failed.

And so, I cursed Japan (since I already had a headache and was grumpy), and then reminded myself that, in fact, I was the stupid one for wearing sunglasses on top of my head when the sun had already set. And I chalked up the fact that my sunglasses were about to be crushed and gone forever as the train pulled away and I stood there in shock.

Which was exceptionally disappointing since these are my amazing "Nerds: The Musical" sunglasses from when I worked at HersheyPark that I've somehow managed to hold onto for 4 years until they were back in style like Ray Bans. And they were a costume piece I got for free and they have loads of memories.

Yet, when the train pulled away, there were my glasses, in one piece, laying between the rails and the platform on the rocks of the train bed. Only they were 4 feet below my feet.

Now I contemplated jumping down to retrieve them, or laying down on the platform and trying to grasp them with my long arms, which, if I was in New York, is exactly what I would have done. However, this being Japan, it felt like a rude and bad idea with so many people watching (not to mention unsafe) even though I knew, courtesy of the electronic display and timetables, that the next train wasn't scheduled to arrive for 7 minutes (which is definitely unlike New York).

So I went downstairs, and somehow described my situation to one of the station attendants with gestures and broken English, and lo and behold, he understood!

Then proceeded one of my favorite moments in Japan ever. Two station attendants came out of the office armed with a cell phone and a long grabber pole thingy. I'm guessing you know what I mean... one of those poles with a claw at the end that you squeeze a lever to operate and grab stuff with? Like trash pickerupper things?

Anyway, we geo back up to the platform and I went to show them where my glasses are, but they gently steered me aside because said 7-minute-later train was arriving. Once the train left, we found my glasses, and then one of the men starts talking on his phone while the guy with the pickerupper thingy just stands there.

At which, I must say, I was rather confused. I mean, my glasses were right there and he had the magic stick. So why wouldn't he grab them?

That was, until I figured out that he was calling his supervisor (or somebody) to tell them we were retrieving my sunglasses from Track 2 and to get proper clearance.

Seriously.

It took 2 men and a phone call to be allowed to grab my sunglasses with a claw on the end of a stick.

But we got said permission, the other man used his magic stick, and my sunglasses were solidly back in my possession, only 8 minutes after I had dropped them!

Which, considering my first attempt at retrieving a lost item at the station, seems pretty amazing by comparison with how smoothly and quickly it happened.

So there you have it. I failed at Japan and yet was able to solve the problem safely, without using my BGP whilst overcoming the language barrier quickly and efficiently.

I say that sounds like success!

Which, PS, could NEVER have happened in New York because we all know you'd go to the booth to tell them you dropped something and the person would say, "So? Sorry. Guess that sucks." You'd clearly have to jump down on the tracks risking your own life with no regard to rules just to see your stuff again.

So thank you, Japan. I don't mind that it took 2 men and a phone call 'cause I got my glasses.

And my new high tops too!!!!

Toph Fails at Japan, Part 2

So first off, some good news on the lost cards front... 2 cards (I don't know which ones) have supposedly been turned into the police station near Shin-Urayasu station, and I will be appearing there tomorrow morning around 9 AM to find out which ones they happen to be. If my Suica is there, I get 500 yen back (yay!), secretly I'm hoping all 3 are magically there. We'll see which ones... Knowing me, I will find some way to be disappointed about whatever card happens not to be there.

Also, it was no problem to finish the process of getting my new Suica, which I succeeded at today!

Now even though I have updated about my first failure at Japan, the real reason for the title of tonight's entry is what has happened in the past hour or so. Campbell, my only real friend (who's probably sick of me to death.... wait. Can we just discuss that phrase for a second? Sick to death. Sicken to death? I get it, but in the context I just used it makes no sense. Or my English is regressing here in Japan (that is more likely the truth)... whatever, comment if you wish) called me an "E-Village Bum". I don't lie. He literally called me out in front of the brand new dancer who arrived this afternoon for not leaving Urayasu in the past 7 days. Which instantly planted that nasty little itch under my skin. I'm not mad at him, because to a certain extent he's right, and I know he didn't mean it as an insult, but it's still there...

Am I really that big of a bum? Am I that messed up for not heading in Tokyo proper yet?

In my defense, I would say that first... I've been here 7 days. Unlike Tony, who we went out of our way to welcome and visit his room and offer advice and help in his first HOUR here, besides Campbell, the nicest thing anyone has done for me is carry my bags. I'm not saying I'm expecting anything more, but I've hardly met anyone yet, and the only other person in my show is Campbell, who has a life here already blah blah blah. We've had a pretty busy schedule that required me to be fully off book on day 2 and we have fully staged the show, ran it for the big wigs, recorded emergency tracks, and will do dress rehearsal tomorrow. No small task in my mind. And on my one day off, it was the first time I had really talked to my mother or friends, I hadn't hardly even found anything beyond the grocery yet so I needed to feel more at home here in Urayasu. Meanwhile, I have been exhausted and on an early schedule that I'm really attempting to keep up. I've also attended the fireworks, asked and tried to go to the Hub on Sunday to no avail, fought with NWA till my eyes are gouged out, had to run back and forth to the station 85 times now with regards to my lost IDs, and find time to unpack and settle in. So, no, while I have not ventured far yet, or even after rehearsal (when I'm tired and the train closes at midnight AND we have early calls), I had originally hoped to climb Fuji this weekend (and so was saving up energy) and now that that is postponed, I intend to go out and explore and find plenty of new Japan in the next 4 days. It just took my first day off to prepare.

In other news... I visited the theatre yesterday and met a bunch of the people I'll be working with and got a feel for my surroundings. I think it's hysterical how far out we have to ride the bus (we basically loop the entire park) to get to work, but it just comes with the territory, I guess. I tried to get a couch or bike hookup, but again, no luck. Some day soon things'll work out...

Today we spent the day in the recording studio recording our emergency tracks, and also taking the time to get some vocal notes. It's been a long process of trying to understand and give our director the sound and confidence she wants. I mentioned previously that it's hard to own this stage and environment, but I'm also starting to understand that they don't like the light tenor sound I was mastering over at HSM and 42nd of late. They want a more full vibrato and bright, energetic Disney sound, so I finally found it a bit better (I hope) today. We had a Spanish interpreter to help us with our pronunciation, and once I FINALLY got through recording that monster I finally started to have some fun. The Cowboy number is so easy and natural and I hope I am pleasing Ai-san with my work. I know I felt too much pressure and nerves about being right for her early on, such that once I settled in and had more fun the results improved! Needless to say, I loved working in the studio and wish I could do it more often!

The strangest part of the day was the blackout that caused our train to stop working entirely! It was supposed to be up and running again at 5, but we decided we would stop at Monsoon for dinner (SO DELICIOUS) just to be safe. Turns out, the trains were still not working at 6:15 and Maihama was INSANE. Lines weaving around the block for buses and/or taxis, television crews everywhere getting footage of the madness, and Disney operating like nothing was up. We decided to either try a cab or the bus to get home, and beat the system by walking away from the station to the next stop for the bus (which is down by the cast entrance) and squeezed onto the bus. Now here is where you really can understand the difference in Tokyo culture. The train is COMPLETELY out of service for hours, and people are either patiently waiting at the steps, patiently waiting in line, or patiently CRAMMED on buses. The bus driver filled the bus to capacity when we got on, not fussing or making a scene about people in the very front. Everyone politely shuffled back to make as much room as possible, and when it came time to debark, even though we were in the middle of the bus, people moved out of the way to let us off. I just can't even describe how polite and calm and patient and orderly the Japanese were. UNREAL.

Now think about NY on a day like this. People b*tching everywhere, yelling, rude, no idea what the crud is happening, and making a huge fuss in general. In fact, I remember a day when the N wasn't running to Qboro plaza and I didn't know the bus to get home. I've been here a WEEK and know how to get home if the train isn't running. Weird. I fell in love with Japan a little bit more because of that.

So now I'm off to bed to catch up on SYTYCD and make some weekend plans before police station, dress rehearsal tomorrow and hopefully Tokyo tomorrow night!