Let's go to the studio!

Recently I've been trying to devote myself more to music and to working on new songs. Now, you may think that it's something that would be really difficult to do living in a tiny Japanese apartment with paper-thin walls. Sure, I can get away with playing my acoustic at home, but anything louder than that and I'm going to start being "that guy" in my neighborhood. And not just "that guy", but actually I'd be "that foreigner," which is not really a reputation I want to have with my neighbors. Either way, I'm not the only one who wants to play my guitar as loud as possible in the crowded suburbs of Japan, and the Japanese have found a way to deal with this issue. Practice studios. Convenient, affordable, and totally awesome practice studios.

Found near most decently-sized stations, these awesome little shops have a floor full of sound-proofed, fully stocked studios waiting for you to come in and play as loud as your little heart desires. Seriously it's great. You walk in from the street with your guitar or drumsticks and into a studio fully rigged with a drum set, more amps than you could ever need, a PA, mics, stands, mood lighting, and sometimes even mirrors on the walls so you can watch yourself rocking out. I feel like a kid in a candy store every single time I walk in and see all of these instruments just waiting around, begging to be played as loud as possible. The shops even have chilling out areas and beer fridges. It's seriously a musician's dreamland. Japan is the only place I've seen these kinds of places, but I would love to see these in America. I wonder, though, if most Americans are capable of being well-behaved enough to have one of these places even last.

Anyways, after spending a lot of money and energy on my last trip, I've been laying low and spending a lot of time in these places. Last weekend, my buddy So came over and we just chilled at my apartment with our guitars. We worked out a few song ideas and tried to get a clearer picture of what kind of project we want to create. After that we hit up the local curry shop to get some grub and hit the studio with our friend Satoshi. It's a great experience to work in the practice studio with friends. Sure, it's fun because you get to screw around with instruments. But at the same time, you've got a time limit, so it kind of forces you to be productive and put out something worthwhile. After all, even though you're only paying about 20 bucks for two hours, it's enough motivation to not waste any time. It's a nice spark for the fuel of spontaneity.

So we did our thing, packed up, and called it a night. Maybe you'll be hearing some of that musical goodness soon.

On Crutches for a Month

As some of you may have heard, after sustaining some battle damage in Cambodia, I wound up with a broken foot and, as such, have been relegated to hobbling around on a pair of crutches for the past three weeks. I got the crutches in Japan, so all my hobbling has been done around town here. In fact, last weekend was the first time I even left my town in almost a month, so it was really exciting for me. Like, really. I was like a kid at the carnival. You'd have thought it must've been my first time ever on a train I was so excited. Anyways, although it's really not that bad, it's definitely been a huge pain. But, of course, the experience has taught me valuable life lessons...

First, using crutches is a MAJOR PAIN. Simple things that you do every day without ever noticing like walking, opening doors, using stairs and elevators, and carrying a bottle of coke to the counter of the convenience store become huge, involved tasks. Although crutching around has gotten much easier for me (actually I've gotten pretty good, doing things like crutch-sprinting, long crutch-jumps, the one-crutch 180, and other awesome tricks) the first couple of days were not fun. I could only go about a block before I needed to take a breather. Then, I'd hobble down another block before I needed to stop again. What used to be a 10 minute walk from my place to work turned into a 30 minute upper-body workout. I'd get home to burning shoulders and arms and aching hands. On the bright side, my hands are looking totally buff now.

As far as the life lesson... I've simply come to a deeper appreciation of what its like to be on crutches. It's not something I ever recall thinking about. I mean, I've seen people on crutches before. I was aware that it probably is not much fun. But it was never anything that I really thought that much into. Well now I know and will most likely be extremely aware of anyone who isn't walking around on two feet or can't use both arms and will definitely go out of my way to be more considerate to them.  I talked about it with a student of mine who had broken an arm and a leg (on two separate occasions) and we both had come to this same conclusion. It's like you've suddenly joined this secret club, and your eyes have been opened to this world you never knew existed before.  I feel like I've got to look out for my brothers and sisters in crutches from now on. I'm not talking about anything too serious here.  Just things like opening a door or moving out of the way. When every little thing has become a task, even those little things people do really make your life a lot easier.

Which brings me to my next life lesson, take care of your body. Eat enough, exercise, get sleep, don't jump off of things and break your foot. This is one of the fundamental rules of traveling that Navid and I came up with on our trip to Thailand, and it has only been further impressed upon me by this experience. When traveling, or really any time (but especially traveling), your body is your most important tool. You need it for everything you do, and if it's not functioning properly, you're going to have problems. Although the power of human will has proven to do amazing things, it is totally useless without the body's support.

Thailand Part 7 - Long Journey Home

Navid and I were so beat from the party we were praising God for the three hours of sleep we were able to get before we had to be on the move. And, we'd still have enough time to leisurely make our way to the boat. Our flights out of Bangkok were leaving the next afternoon, but we'd planned everything so we'd have plenty time. All we had to do was make sure we were on the night bus back to Bangkok that day. We got back to the room, I set 5 alarms on my cell phone, and face planted on the mattress, out before my head was down.

I awoke what seemed like seconds later, feeling surprisingly well rested for what was basically a long nap. And my alarm hadn't even gone off yet, so I could still get a little more sleep. I happily put my head back down and got comfy. But, something didn't feel right. I propped my head up, furrowed my brow thinking through the fog of sleep, and tried to put my finger on it. It came to me slowly. I was feeling really well rested. The angle of the sun seemed odd for this hour of the day. No. It couldn't be. I set five alarms. I reached for my phone and flipped open the screen. Ok. So its X:45 now... So that means our boat leaves in... 15 minutes.

15 minutes?

What?

No.

I check again.

Yup. 15 minutes.

The last boat we could catch that day...

Panic.

"Navid."

"Navid wake up."

He must have sensed the urgency in my voice, because Navid shot up, hands planted on the bed, eyes wide open (but not quite aware.)

"Dude it's X:45."

He blinked his eyes, trying to process the information through the grogginess.

"Out boat leaves in 15 minutes."

He thought for a moment. We looked at each other.

We shot off our beds like freaking rockets and started throwing crap into bags. No griping. No despairing. There wasn't enough time to waste. Immediately, we started talking, assembling our plan. We needed a taxi to the boat. We needed to check out. We needed our passports, money, and our return tickets (the holy trinity of traveling.) Ok. Call a taxi. I'll pack. Then I'll check out. Meet at the front desk in 5 minutes. Ok. Go. No discussion, no questions. Just go. Before we'd even agreed to meet at the front desk, Navid was out the door.

My mind is running a million miles an hour but my body is moving even faster. In the bathroom, grabbing soap and toothpaste and so on by the handful and shoving it in my bag. Back in the room. Clothes in the bag. Camera in the bag. Passport. Money. Ticket. Check. Check. Check.

Out the door and running to the front desk. The front desk clerk looks freaked out as I charge straight for her. I need to check out. Here's my card. We gotta go. Sign here ok let's go.

As I'm waiting for the charge to go through, tapping my foot and drumming my fingers. The taxi pulls up. Are we ready to go? Navid. Where's Navid?

I turn and see him running down the hall, clothes hanging out of his bag, with a bewildered yet determined look on his face.

Ok let's go! We hop in the cab. No need for bags in the trunk. We gotta go to the dock. We've got 4 minutes and it takes 5 minutes to get there. JUST GO!

We pull up onto the dock and go to pick up our tickets. As we come out of the car the woman at the ticket counter is yelling, "I thought you weren't coming! Hurry! Hurry!"

"Where's the boat?" we ask and she points. Over our heads. About a hundred yards down the beach on another pier we see a hunk-a-junk old boat still tied up.  Grab the tickets and back in the cab.

Someone gives the cabbie his cash as we're jumping out the door and land smack dab at the end of the line for the boat. That's right. We were the absolute last two souls to get on that full boat. Good God. Good God we had made it. We were dead last but dead last still gets on the boat.

I think everyone on this boat had also come from the Full Moon Party. The boat was covered with bodies strewn about like this.

It wasn't a classically "beautiful day", but something about the day was so peaceful and calm

Navid and all the other party people

 We flopped down on some seats on the boat and crashed from the adrenaline. We were too tired to even laugh much. I was so grateful to just sit there and not have to do anything. Now that that had been done, we had nothing to do for the rest of the day except sit back and take it easy. The boat ride was a piece of cake and after that we were just herded to busses and bussed around. Met some cool people and talked to pass the time.

The most colorful bus I've ever been on

I love this picture

The next day we woke up in Khao San Road and had the morning to see some temples. It was a much needed day of moving slow and spiritual cleansing. Saw what we wanted see, cabbed it to the airport, said our goodbyes, parted ways.

Khao San Road

Wish I could've taken pictures inside this temple. The interior was even more intricate and colorful. Truly amazing. But, then again, maybe it's best just as a memory...

Buddha knows what life's all about.

And that was the end of the (first) Thailand trip.

Beijing International Airport at 2 a.m.

Thailand Part 6 - The Party

OK, so from here on out I'm going to be trying a different format for the blog. It's going to be shorter, more frequent, and not necessarily in chronological order. Basically, it's going to suit my schedule and fluctuating motivation levels much, much better.

Before I dig into anything else, I need to finish up the Thailand story from last year (2010/2011), which has two stories worth being told.

Navid after being asked "Do you want to go to the Full Moon Party?"

The first was the Full Moon/New Year's Eve countdown party, which was, hands down, the best party I have ever been to in the entirety of my life. Some of you may know I've been to a party or two, and this one takes the trophy, for sure.

Takin' a stroll around town

Navid and I were staying on an island about an hour's boat ride from the party and, try as we might, couldn't book a hotel for the night. (It can be difficult to book a room on New Year's Eve the day of, apparently...) So from the start we knew it was going to be a long night, which was cool, because Navid and I have survived many a long night in the past. We met some cool English folks on the beach at our hotel and decided, "Hey, what the hell. We've got some new friends. Let's all go to the party."

Thai boats (not the ones we took)

We get to the island and hop on the first tuk-tuk we see, and, as it's pulling away, a very, very drunk man, running and waving his hands wildly in the air, chases us down and hops on the back of the tuk-tuk. I knew from the first glance that this guy was bad news. He spends the ride to the beach drifting in and out of consciousness in between crazy stories about being awake and partying for 3 days on end by means of various drugs, shouting unintelligible curses at noone-knew-what, and throwing bottles off of the back of the tuk-tuk. Good Lord, was this the level of partier that attended such events? Perhaps Navid and I were in over our heads...

A cool roadside restaurant that, I'm pretty sure, gave me some food poisoning. Eh, it was really good. Totally worth it

We arrive at the beach, get our bracelets and push our way into the already seething tumult of partying. The party covered the beach, extending about 200 meters down to a cliff with a huge bar perched on top. Along the beach were somewhere around 7-8 stages, each playing a variety of techno, hip hop, dub step, or anything else you could conceivably dance to. The beauty of having the party on the beach was that the DJs could blast their music as loud as possible without interfering with the music at a stage 10 meters to the left because it all blasted straight out into the emptiness of the night sea.

Geckos love Thailand!

In addition to the stages, food stalls, and party lights lining the beach were these nice little establishments which I'll call "Bucket Stands". For those of you not familiar, "the bucket" is a world renowned drink comprising of; A) A can of soda. B) A can of redbull. and C) A pint of the liquor of your choice, all over ice and drank through a straw from, you guessed it, a big ol' bucket. I opted for the cheap Thai rum. You know, to experience the local culture.

Some of you may think that the pint of liquor would be the most dangerous ingredient in the bucket. But, you would be wrong. It is definitely the red bull. Within 30 minutes I'm deep in the fray, heart pounding, bouncing up and down, screaming sweet jubilation, and dancing like I've never danced before to the strange and wonderful sounds of music I'd never even heard in dreams (I think it was dub step).

A giant fire heaving up and down catches my eye and I need to investigate. As I draw near, I can see that a couple of hippies standing on platforms are swinging a huge (8 meters?), flaming rope in a giant, burning game of double dutch. The light from the fire illuminates the ring of spectators, all of whom are either screaming, hooting, or staring wide eyed, itching to dive in but afraid to move. I find my way to the front, look up at the rope and think, "Holy crap. I HAVE to do this!"

After a couple rounds the ground clears and I dash in. WHOOSH. The rope swings down and glides under my feet. WHOOSH. The rope swings around again and I'm surprised how naturally this is coming to me. WHOOSH. I'm in the air and I see this guy run in to join me. WHOOSH. I'm in the air again and I watch the rope of fire slap the back of this klutz's legs. BAM. I fall on the rope and bounce back up, recoiling from the heat. I assess the damage. My right arm no longer has any hair, but that's it. Then they bring out the ring of fire.

Other than the amazing fiery jump rope of death, Navid and I are able to participate in the headlong dive through "the fiery ring of fire", and the death-defying slide down the "slide that goes pretty close to some fire". It was AWESOME.

The countdown itself was actually the most fun I've ever had at a countdown. At the stroke of midnight, the beach exploded with cheering and music, complemented perfectly by the fireworks exploding overhead, reflecting beautifully on the waves crashing to the shore.

The rest of the night involved singing all of the classics by Green Day and Oasis (horribly out of tune), and dancing, dancing, dancing until the sun came up and it was time to catch our boat back home. We made it back to our hotel in time for breakfast and had enough time to catch 3 hours of shut-eye before our boat left for the mainland.