woot.. something else i can claim a first to, buying something on interest free credit speaker and mixer now ordered, coming in at a total of about £300 (so £30 a month, not the £20 i told you mum) - much easier to manage so now i’m dead excited and the thought has cheered me up no end
May I introduce to you the Alesis M1 Active, 100watt RMS of pure music playing ability
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And finally the new - just released - Vestax VMC-002XL in special edition white

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Hopefully arriving within 4 days or so, in time for next weekend
So last night, well, i’m quite starting to like saturdays now. Each week when Seiko returns she cooks something new (and delicious) so at least on Saturday nights I will always be sure to get a good meal
We then made the usual trip to our favourite place (lol) Roppongi and of course started off in Hub. They had some new christmas cocktails on offer (not sure what was in them, but they tasted very nice) so we ordered a few of these. Not sure how we discovered this (I reckon we must have just been button bashing) but the jukebox was on free play, which meant we were able to supply the other patrons of Hub with as much Bon Jovi music as the machine would put out
Now I know you guys look at this and just see every weekend we go the same place. Well, Seiko and I are painfully aware of this too, so decided this time to make an effort to go a new place ‘I-Lounge’ which opens at 3am. (hence the Hub to pass the time).

I must admit, i was actually quite excited as 1) it was new, and 2) it was supposed to be a trance bar - so we both had quite high hopes. First impressions were good, the place was very nice inside indeed - erm, except there was one problem - no one was there!?!?

Luckily the barman was very friendly and kept us entertained for the time we spent there - it would have just been nice if more people had turned up On the plus side, i now have another place i can go and dj at if i want to, so perhaps just us being there was a good thing. (as we wouldn’t have got to chat with the manager if it had been busy).

It had now got to about 4:20am or so, and knowing i would be hungry, it was time to go so we could get food and be in time to catch first train. Unfortunately, I think Seiko had now just passed her drinking boundary as she had fallen asleep on the bar…

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However, a bit of a proding later and she was able to stumble along with me to the kebab shop - where she then promptly fell back to sleep (though i didn’t mind so much as it meant she didn’t eat all my chips like she usually does… haha) - leaving to catch the train wasn’t so easy though as by this time she was properly sparko and it took a lot of persuassion to wake her back up
The actually train journey back was the usual amusing affair, with her collapsed in my arms (though this time with me monitoring carefully to make sure she didn’t throw up on my coat :D)

At Sangenjaya, i wanted to make a quite stop in McDonalds (gotta love the S+E muffins) - by which time Seiko had decided she didn’t want to walk back - but to get a taxi instead. I would usually tell her this is a waste of money, but then, it was very cold and she was offering to pay so it seemed like a good thing to do.

Now my favourite bit of the story:

So we’re in the taxi and off we go, except Seiko then falls back to sleep again. Well, due to my slightly intoxicated state and feeling quite confident, it seemed like a good chance to practise some Japanese (make those classes be worth something!) - so it began….

Ok, so it wasn’t the most advanced of Japanese (straight ahead please, at the next corner - turn right, stop in front of that building etc…) but using my new found knowledge i was able to direct the taxi all the way home and to stop it in front of our door (without using *any* hand guestures!!) - w000000t! go me!!!
It’s little things like this that make me happy i am studying and out here - i know it sounds stupid - but it feels like a great achievement to me, i haven’t learnt anything for years - so now, it’s like a lot more of a big deal
So let’s see, i can direct taxis, or stuff in a restaurant (properly up to 5 items… then my counters get a bit squiffy), ask for directions and tell people they are a “stupid f**king idiot” - progress!!!

Ah I should also point out, the photo shoot has me wearing glasses. Special “no lens” glasses to be exact, which apparently make me look smart (or something….)

I’d better get back to the books now, bed in 4 hours