the photo above is for the shoemakers...
it's -7 degrees tonight. and so, of course, on what just had to be one of the coldest nights of the winter so far, we held our semi-regular adult students party. tonights party was at a groovy little izakaya (japanese style pub + restaurant) called mootah, on the road from fujiyoshida to tsuru. the staff are gorgeous, friendly hip young things with very cool lo-fi rock hairstyles and studded belts and plastered all over the walls are old rock posters and rockstar photos. the really cool stuff - classic bowie, classix marc bolan, t-rex, queen, lou reed, nico, old blondie, polly-jean harvey, bjork, the strokes, etc etc etc. 'twas a great night indeed.
i'm looking forward to a day of skiing in nagano tomorrow. we're heading up to shirakaba-ko, where they had had 110 cm of snow by tuesday's snow report... i am guessing they've probably had more by now.
and then, on sunday, i am delighted to have been invited to an australia day home party in big bad tokyo with a few other bonzer aussie chicks & blokes i know, kim (aka dickey knee) , kat, matt and darin. well, actually darin is american and i have never physically met him or his partner kat, but via the lovely resources of the internet we have become friends. (isn't it weird that everyone has their own url... how very 21st century.)
kat was threatening to obtain both XXXX & VB stubbies (purchasable in kichijoji), tim-tams, fruit cream cheese and crackers and some good ol' aussie wine. funny how you have to get far, far away from the culture that you were brought up in, and slowly grew to despise, before you realise how fabulously unique and wonderful it is. every day away from australia makes me feel more and more proud of my country and nationality. don't tell anyone, but i was even chanting aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi in the car the other day. shit.
maybe it gets worse in increments - what if every year i'm away i become more and more of a beaut aussie sheila? strewth mate. now that's a scarey thought. stone the crows and starve the lizards, would ya kill me if i start breaking out in aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi chants every hour? actually, i am from country stock, y'know. cattle folk. the legendary & massive brunett downs on the NT/QLD border was my great grandfathers land. and it is said that i have an aboriginal uncle, when my grandfather made one the murri girls on the property pregnant. all very hush hush, of course, station folk being the racist folk that they are. can't talk about fraternizing with them darkies wot talk funny.
anyway, needless to say, i am really looking forward to hanging out with these lovely folk and singing bad bush ballads (and erm, don't worry, kim & kat, i'm not serious about the bush ballads! *cough... no, not at all)
frangipani wrote this on January 23, 2004 01:41 AM