Sunday, February 22, 2009
Night of 1,000 Songs
Well, last night was certainly an adventure. Probably the last such adventure...ever?
I went into Osaka last night to attend a birthday get-together for Alex. The plan was two-fold: we were going to meet in a bar in Shinsaibashi and then we were going back to his neighborhood karaoke joint where we would sing until morning. I went ahead and added a third-fold by coming in early and eating dinner. Rather than go for the usual bar food, I was hoping to track down a special van Mako and I saw on TV this week. Two college students take their mobile kitchen to different areas and serve "healthy burgers," in this case the main ingredient being not beef but fugu. Now that I've come to understand that fugu is delicious and it won't kill me, I'm now on board with eating it whenever possible. Unfortunately, since I was armed only with an address and not a map, finding the van proved impossible. I recovered and simply ate a surprisingly tasty calzone at the bar.
I hung out and waited for people to arrive, all the while slowly making my way through a series of cocktails. Eventually people turned up, but until Alex was there I had no idea who was there to meet up and who was just there for the hell of it. As it turns out, he knew nearly everyone in the place even though most of them weren't expecting him or anything. One guy in particular I recognized as a regular from my favorite spot, Captain Kangaroo in Umeda. It's funny, I knew his name from a conversation we had during my Kansai Gaidai days, but in all the times since then that I saw him in the bar, we never really spoke. Then last night we suddenly had occasion to sit there and talk about a dozen different things.
It was just past 10 o'clock that we left the bar and rode the subway to the karaoke place. Between waiting for more people and waiting for the discount night prices to begin, we didn't actually enter the karaoke room until 11. Once inside I was pretty impressed. Alex was expecting a fairly large group so we had a really spacious room, complete with a slot machine (not for profit, just for fun). We started singing with only three people but over time it swelled to about eleven, most of whom were Japanese and none of whom I had met before. I lost count but I don't think anyone sang more than me or Alex, at least not in the early hours.
As the night went on and I kept drinking, I gradually started to fade. It wasn't that I felt drunk, I simply felt tired. I rarely have cause to stay up past midnight these days, so being awake and trying to sing "Baby Got Back" at two-thirty in the morning proved to be nearly impossible. Fortunately, the room was so big I had enough room to stretch out and lay down across the seats. I don't when I went down for good, but I know we were in there until 5 AM.
Unfortunately, the long night of drink mixed with a smattering of snacks did not sit well in my stomach. For the first time in years I had to throw up. While that is never a good thing, I am happy that at this point in my life I can tell when it has to happen and just deal with it, which means it's over quickly and I feel better right away. It would have been nice if I had taken care of business before the karaoke counter turned off their drink machines, because when it was over I really, really wanted a glass of water.
Our group had shrunk to only five people at this point and we all wanted to sit down and get something in our stomachs. McDonald's proved to be the most popular choice, considering time and proximity to our location, so we went over there and ordered breakfast. I was still out of it, more or less, but being me I went ahead and ate a Mega Muffin. It didn't go down my throat easily but once it was in my gut I felt a lot better....rather, I felt as good as you can after eating McDonald's.
It was a pretty strange scene, honestly, reminding me of the old Larry Miller routine about the "five stages of drinking." Everyone seemed a bit tipsy and a couple of folks wanted things that weren't on the menu (such as gyoza) and they were reluctant to take "no" for an answer from the staff. Then one of these guys, a man about ten years older than me, said that holding the tray reminded him of the time he spent in prison as a child. I didn't ask why he went to prison, probably because he brought it up so casually I don't think it struck me as odd until after I left.
It was a fun night, and I'm glad I went, but throughout the ride home I thought about what I should have done differently. For starters, I should have stopped drinking booze before midnight, perhaps even earlier. I would have been just as eager to sing while drinking soda as I was drinking beer. Once you start second guessing yourself though, the big question comes up: should I have stayed up all night? Part of me says no, because the trade off is I spent a large portion of today making up for lost rest. But the part of me that enjoys, you know, fun things says yes because it's not like I would have gotten anything special done today anyway. I basically concentrated my weekend in a long Saturday night and had an abbreviated Sunday as a result. That's a fair trade in my book, especially when staying out means lots of singing while an ordinary Sunday does not.
However, I must be realistic. There was a time where staying up all night was basically normal, but at this point in my life I don't have the energy for it anymore. I was out all night but I wasn't up all night, yet I spent all of today feeling as if I had not slept. Add a forthcoming baby into the mix and that's a living, breathing, screaming reason for me to make sure and catch the last train.
But before the baby gets here...maybe I'm not done trying to push it to the limit.
I went into Osaka last night to attend a birthday get-together for Alex. The plan was two-fold: we were going to meet in a bar in Shinsaibashi and then we were going back to his neighborhood karaoke joint where we would sing until morning. I went ahead and added a third-fold by coming in early and eating dinner. Rather than go for the usual bar food, I was hoping to track down a special van Mako and I saw on TV this week. Two college students take their mobile kitchen to different areas and serve "healthy burgers," in this case the main ingredient being not beef but fugu. Now that I've come to understand that fugu is delicious and it won't kill me, I'm now on board with eating it whenever possible. Unfortunately, since I was armed only with an address and not a map, finding the van proved impossible. I recovered and simply ate a surprisingly tasty calzone at the bar.
I hung out and waited for people to arrive, all the while slowly making my way through a series of cocktails. Eventually people turned up, but until Alex was there I had no idea who was there to meet up and who was just there for the hell of it. As it turns out, he knew nearly everyone in the place even though most of them weren't expecting him or anything. One guy in particular I recognized as a regular from my favorite spot, Captain Kangaroo in Umeda. It's funny, I knew his name from a conversation we had during my Kansai Gaidai days, but in all the times since then that I saw him in the bar, we never really spoke. Then last night we suddenly had occasion to sit there and talk about a dozen different things.
It was just past 10 o'clock that we left the bar and rode the subway to the karaoke place. Between waiting for more people and waiting for the discount night prices to begin, we didn't actually enter the karaoke room until 11. Once inside I was pretty impressed. Alex was expecting a fairly large group so we had a really spacious room, complete with a slot machine (not for profit, just for fun). We started singing with only three people but over time it swelled to about eleven, most of whom were Japanese and none of whom I had met before. I lost count but I don't think anyone sang more than me or Alex, at least not in the early hours.
As the night went on and I kept drinking, I gradually started to fade. It wasn't that I felt drunk, I simply felt tired. I rarely have cause to stay up past midnight these days, so being awake and trying to sing "Baby Got Back" at two-thirty in the morning proved to be nearly impossible. Fortunately, the room was so big I had enough room to stretch out and lay down across the seats. I don't when I went down for good, but I know we were in there until 5 AM.
Unfortunately, the long night of drink mixed with a smattering of snacks did not sit well in my stomach. For the first time in years I had to throw up. While that is never a good thing, I am happy that at this point in my life I can tell when it has to happen and just deal with it, which means it's over quickly and I feel better right away. It would have been nice if I had taken care of business before the karaoke counter turned off their drink machines, because when it was over I really, really wanted a glass of water.
Our group had shrunk to only five people at this point and we all wanted to sit down and get something in our stomachs. McDonald's proved to be the most popular choice, considering time and proximity to our location, so we went over there and ordered breakfast. I was still out of it, more or less, but being me I went ahead and ate a Mega Muffin. It didn't go down my throat easily but once it was in my gut I felt a lot better....rather, I felt as good as you can after eating McDonald's.
It was a pretty strange scene, honestly, reminding me of the old Larry Miller routine about the "five stages of drinking." Everyone seemed a bit tipsy and a couple of folks wanted things that weren't on the menu (such as gyoza) and they were reluctant to take "no" for an answer from the staff. Then one of these guys, a man about ten years older than me, said that holding the tray reminded him of the time he spent in prison as a child. I didn't ask why he went to prison, probably because he brought it up so casually I don't think it struck me as odd until after I left.
It was a fun night, and I'm glad I went, but throughout the ride home I thought about what I should have done differently. For starters, I should have stopped drinking booze before midnight, perhaps even earlier. I would have been just as eager to sing while drinking soda as I was drinking beer. Once you start second guessing yourself though, the big question comes up: should I have stayed up all night? Part of me says no, because the trade off is I spent a large portion of today making up for lost rest. But the part of me that enjoys, you know, fun things says yes because it's not like I would have gotten anything special done today anyway. I basically concentrated my weekend in a long Saturday night and had an abbreviated Sunday as a result. That's a fair trade in my book, especially when staying out means lots of singing while an ordinary Sunday does not.
However, I must be realistic. There was a time where staying up all night was basically normal, but at this point in my life I don't have the energy for it anymore. I was out all night but I wasn't up all night, yet I spent all of today feeling as if I had not slept. Add a forthcoming baby into the mix and that's a living, breathing, screaming reason for me to make sure and catch the last train.
But before the baby gets here...maybe I'm not done trying to push it to the limit.
Labels: Alex, but I love gatherings, friends, karaoke, Osaka
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And next time I will come to you, thanks for coming and for the present (we can have that next time you're round)!
Amusing postscript: on Sunday afternoon Mako and I stopped at a McD's for a snack (her idea, I swear) and she had an Apple Pie. It maybe filled with apple instead of pork but THAT is a McGyoza if there ever was one. It's all in the outer crispy shell.
I look forward to our next meeting, yes. Thank you again for the invite.
I look forward to our next meeting, yes. Thank you again for the invite.
Oh, I hope your ready for a WEEK long bender. I was thinking we kick off Friday with a friendly game of "Edward 151 Hands" under a Shinto kami.
コメントがあるちゃう？ Type something, please. It's less work for me.# posted by 
: 25 February, 2009 15:03
: 25 February, 2009 15:03When leaving comments, please don't remain Anonymous. Click on "Other" and pick a name!
Be sociable! No sign-up is required!
