see the constellation
I went again to Velfarre tonight, this time with a close friend. To ward off the creepy foriegn men, we pretended to be lovers, sometimes with amusing results. But like the second time I went to the club (and therefore unlike the first), I didn't feel the music. Whether the DJ was bad or my own level of "ki" wasn't high enough, I just didn't get into the groove. Erin did though and she danced beautifully and more fluidly than anyone else there. Japanese clubgoers, it seems, have a thing for stomping and jerking around but nothing I'd call dancing. Some come dressed absurdly simply to stand on the "Ladies' Only" platform and "dance" (read: rock back and forth on precarious heels) in front of everyone. Those that do are probably underage.

I've lost my taste for clubs entirely except as a chance to watch a rather amusing circus. I still want to go to Ageha, an "underground" and exclusive club on the oceanfront... but I'd consider that more of an experience than a "scene." Then I'm calling it quits from clubs until I actually feel the URGE to go... which will probably be never.

Last night at around 12PM, some guy I knew from a Spring term UO class last year (and a Tokyo native) called me and chastized me for staying in on a Friday night. Uh, excuse me? I'd just returned from the nabe party (fun but weird) and was about to call it a night. That party was the most social I'd been in ages... so don't tell me, Mister. I hate this thing people my age call "fun." I don't call it fun to drink and listen to NOISE for hours on end just to feel like you're adored by a bunch of other people acting like idiots. I have my own favored brand of idiocy, thank you, and it doesn't involve clubbing. I rather prefer sitting around, being crude, watching TV and playing video games. Maybe running around the town doing crazy things at all hours of the night... but not crazy things like picking up ho's and acting like asshats.

I hate Roppongi.

The cold coming back from the station tonight was really something amazing. We're in a "snap," I think, and it FINALLY feels like Winter. I mean Winter like I haven't felt since I last visited Montana in December... or Winter like we had when I was a child in Michigan. Last night as I slept, the rain turned to snow. Even though there wasn't any snow when I woke up, all day the wind blew strong and COLD and the day was a perfect winter clear. Again! I love this cold winter weather. I've been waiting for the real cold. I say BRING IT ON! Bring on all the bloody snow and blustery wind of the north country. Bring on Hokkaido. I've been waiting for the cold that wakes up the body and mind and splits the sky clean and clear. I've been waiting for the cold that slowly numbs and freezes until you can think of nothing else.

It's cold enough that even in Shinjuku the stars are bright and pure. I looked at Orion on the way home and thought again of the song I hear every time I see those stars.

Orion, Orion/ your stars are a shinin'/ through the winter night/ till sunrise takes me home