One thing that I have really enjoyed about spring here is that it has lasted - you know, back home in Kentucky, the temperatures warm up a little and then there's usually a jump up and then the weather goes back and forth for a couple of weeks and then all of a sudden, by early to mid-May it is summer weather until September or early October. It has been a very gradual thing here. The only downer is that we have a rainy season - about a month of dreary days. It really is affecting a lot of people that I work with - myself included a bit. But, it also means that when the sun pops out for a day or two, it's all the more glorious and reason to revel in it!
As far as work is concerned, it's pretty much same ol' same ol'. The shows are fun because they are part of our bodies now, so we can play with them and have fun as opposed to when we just began and still had to concentrate hard on just making sure we got everything right. This month of June I only do the starlight parade twice...since it's the rainy season it only happens on the weekend and even though we have 6 guys who do my role in the parade, 4 of them are in the Group Special Event or "GSE," so they have shows that my counter part and I don't have. I think also, for doing 4 shows a day, our schedule this past month and coming month has been optimized as far as our work day goes and our breaks in between shows and when we have to be there and when we finish...I'm really happy with it!
As you know, it's been a while since I blogged. To be honest, although there are things I'd love to commentate on and fill you in on, I haven't had the focus and desire to sit down and do it. After Yoshino and up through mid May, I have just been keeping busy with friends, work, and other little things that have come up that are outside of work - for example, we had an "International Artist's Night" where we got to perform whatever we wanted if we desired. As I don't sing or dance much in my show (comparatively to what some others do/what I've done in the past), I have been keen on performing what I want to perform and thus I did the artist's night. As most of you know, I also enjoy eating...and what's more, I really enjoy sharing a meal with people, so several times a week whether it be cooking and sharing in someone's room or going to dinner somewhere with old friends or new, I usually spend my evenings eating and socializing with people (reminds me of my ship days... ;) ). Speaking of food, one of my nearly weekly rituals (usually on a day off) is going to Yogurtland to get some frozen yogurt.
YUM!! (and did you ever see blue gummy bears?!)
So with keeping busy doing this and that, when I have the time to sit down and blog, I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. I'd rather catch up on TV shows or play a game or do something that doesn't involve concentration :P
As far as the 2nd half of May until now, some of you - actually probably most of you who read this - know that my sister, Meredith came to visit me here in Japan!! We had a wonderful time. One of my rainy month of June projects is to take the pictures and video that I took from her visit and turn it into a video compilation of our time together and all that we did and saw! In brief, we went to Nara and saw Buddha and fed the deer, Meredith came to USJ twice, she ventured out on her own and saw Osaka Castle, she spent a day in her PJs skyping friends and doing work that she shouldn't have had to do on her vacation, we went to karaoke with some friends, we went to Kyoto for 2 days and stayed in a Ryokan (traditional Japanese lodging) and saw a bunch of temples and sites and took a really cool hike through hundreds of Torii gates, and we rode our first bullet train and went to Hiroshima and the beautiful island of Miyajima - a wonderful juxtaposition of old and new. There I was taught just how beautiful and old the history of Japan is and was also reminded of the devastation that war causes and yet how with time, life is renewed and restored. Although it rained those last two days, I really enjoyed exploring that part of Japan. To be honest, the weather rather suited our day in Hiroshima.
As I said, a video and pictures will be to come of that whole experience in the next short while, but as of now, I need to sort through and find the good ones (and there are over 400 that I took to choose from!) If you follow that link that I posted to her blog, I'm sure she'll have pictures and thoughts as well to share from her trip. As for the future, my summer's resolution is to focus my downtime more - I want to make little short films and compilations of my time here. I also want to make music...maybe not write songs, but singing some for sure. I do a vocal coaching with one of the Talent Resource guys here at USJ almost every week and we are working on stuff to sing and beef up my book with. I've also gone to karaoke several times in the past couple of weeks just to sing all sorts of stuff and see if I can't find other things that maybe I'd want to work on. Karaoke in Japan is fun because it's not at a bar with a bunch of strangers. You are in a room with all of your friends and there is a HUGE selection of songs to choose from. It's great fun - if you like singing, that is. :) Perhaps another thing that I'll do, is take a few dance classes here in Japan. There really would be no better place to start learning to Hip Hop - it's everywhere (at least in my world).
Well, that's my life, lately. I've taken this day to just relax and recoup a bit from being on the go so much. I think I'll be able to start off this work week refreshed and well focused! The only other thing I'll leave you with is this video...it was created and designed by two of my friends here. They're really creative and super funny and the product that they "advertise" is real! I'm glad I had the opportunity to take part in it! I hope you enjoy:
Pancake drink
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