Fuji Rocked and got real muddy

Fuji Rock was really fun but muddy this past weekend. I went for 2 nights of camping and 3 days of rockin. It rained right after we arrived and set up camp...right through the CAKE concert. It was fun to see so many young Japanese folks and foreigners. It seems that all people in their 20s live in Tokyo or somewhere else big and happening so we don`t see too many up here in Joetsu. Other great bands I saw were Foo Fighters (lazer light show, jumping up and down, moshing, and a screen close up of gum falling out of David Grohl`s mouth on big screens), there was also Beck which was cool cause they sat down at a dinner table on stage while Beck played a song on an Indian piano, then they broke into rythm with forks, plates, glasses of water, etc; then there was FatBoy Slim which was strange cause it was just him with some turntables, but some really big fun and sometimes freaky images on the screens with flashing lights for a big club atmosphere (anything from big video speakers, smiley faces, to naked women illustrations, to big scary eyeballs on all the screens) and alot of people got 3D glasses to view it, but there weren`t enough to go around by any means. I saw some smaller or lesser known bands to me such as the Bravery, and Maximo Park, and the Black Velvets, and Lisa Loeb, and best of all the John Butler Trio. Now I just bought the cd (there:s only 1 so far) in May on a whim at Barnes and Nobles back home in Greenville, but I:ve played a hole in it if one can do such a thing to a cd. So when I saw they were coming to Fuji I was on cloud 11. I came home limping with blisters and mud and bandaids in my flipflops . It was made much better by an onsen bath by Jusco and a steaming bowl of ramen.

Now I:m working at Kubiki JHS and I rode my bike here today cause I don:t have my license renewed yet (hopefully on Monday!) Other counties can just change over their licenses but America is special....yes we have to take the difficult driver`s test after 1 year. I:m moved into my apartment, but I:m still scrubbing it down. It has a Japanese style floor toilet so that will be a little wierd. I figure this place can be transformed with a few buckets of paint and some indian hanging cloths. I:m planning on some mural work for some room areas. A nice white leather couch a kotatsu and a sturdy nice little kitchen table were delivered this morning from another ALT`s apartment...there are benefits to moving into a larger place! I still don:t have a microwave though, and my gas range won:t start without a lighter! Sigh..

I saw the movie The Island last night at J-Max. It was really rather silly and a bit strange but it was kinda interesting. Still if we:re going for silly Sci-Fi I prefer Hitchhiker`s Guide. Two of the new Jet ALTs came along who live in Sanko apartments too, Megan from Wisconsin, and Amy who`s from England? They are both very interesting people....Megan likes alot of the same animes as me and she knows my buttons already! ( She got me in the car when she said "Imagine a very small elephant, now imagine that elephant standing on a cracker, now imagine that elephant eating a marshmallow"....eeeeeeeeEE unbearable cuteness!) . Then Amy is quite unexpected as well. She was in a trampoline club and she went to well, I guess it wasn:t clown school but something for performing things like juggling and unicycling. Can`t wait to meet the last aparment member tomorow...Then it:s time for a Sanko summer barbeque party on the roof. Maybe I can fix up my room enough that people will want to come visit me!