March 10, 2008

• What Day?

  I’ll tell you what day! A (not so) long time ago in a galaxy land far, far away… It was a period of over-the-top fashion, big hair, the commercialization of music and film, and the birth of a child destined to bring balance to the scene. That child’s name was David Benjamin Moss. Today is the anniversary of his birth, a day to be celebrated and remembered.

  In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am not Dave. I know he can be a tad megalomaniacal at times, but other facets of my writing should have at least given away the fact that I’m an American by now. Last year, Balex had the honor of updating Dave’s Xanga. This year, the honor has been extended to me, the greatest pip. Though Dave could not be with us on his actual birthday, we did manage to spend a three day weekend together and celebrate early. I shall tell you of our adventures.

  Dave showed up at Toki station to pick up some power converters around 10:30pm on Thursday night. He found no power converters. What he did find was a goofy American who was very happy to see him. We performed our secret handshake, which is not very secret, nor a handshake (it’s a hug), and I presented him with a….present (see picture). It was already getting late, so we called it a night in preparation for Dave’s interview in the morning. (by the way, how cool is his jacket?? i’d kill him for it if i thought it would fit me)

  Friday. Action day. Dave in a suit with a partially pink tie day. Getting lost on the way to Dave’s interview and making it just in the knick of time day. We actually had a really nice, mellow time for the majority of the morning journey, but once we got into the city and started walking, we took one wrong turn and ended up way off target. There was much trotting, jogging, and full-on running. We asked conbini peoples for directions, checked maps, and would have ran right past our destination had Dave not spotted it. Dave hopped on his elevator and up to his three hour interview on the ninth floor. Yes, I repeat, his three hour interview. Going into this thing, we both figured the interview would last 45 minutes to an hour-ish. We had no idea it would be so epic. Dave finally returned from the mysterious ninth floor around 2pm, at which point I gave him the cold pizza I had purchased two hours prior. All the waiting and cold pizza was well worth hearing that he had pretty much secured a job in Ena, which is about a 30 minute train ride from here. The company he was interviewed by seems pretty dern awesome, and it looks like everything is going to work out quite nicely in April. Dave will most likely be living nearby and teaching primary and junior high school kids. Before setting off to the next interview, we sat in a park where Dave ate pizza in his suit and said hello to an army of primary school kids who wanted to practice their English as they marched through the park.

  After a much shorter, less productive interview with a company who doesn’t seem to like non-American voices, we trekked our way back to The Great Toki-shi. Dave liberated himself from his remarkably adult attire, Dani returned home from work, and we all hopped on a train to Tajimi for Jamaica Night (an event put on by the Jamaican couple at our church). Though Jamaica Night was a lot of fun (some Mormon friends came and turned out to be both brave and skilled at the art of dance), the 5 minute train ride there is more memorable right now. Reason being that an old drunk Japanese man on the train started yelling at us for being too loud. Dani was humming battle music from Final Fantasy, and we were chatting, but we weren’t actually being loud. The man was either racist or just really hateful. He was calling us stupid and annoying and commanding that we go sit in the open seats at the other end of the car (we were standing by the door, because our stop was coming up). I politely refused his demands, telling him that we were fine where we were and would be getting off soon. He continued yelling at us half-coherently for a little longer and then did something interesting. He pulled out his cell phone, called a friend, and started telling him about the ordeal in a very audible voice. (note: Speaking on cell phones on the train is rude, especially at high volume. note: He had yelled at us initially for being loud….) At this point, the three of us were just like, “what the poo, Jim?” So we started talking again (we had actually been quiet for a while to try to calm things down) and as we left the train I said bye to him and gave a light tap on his window. Dave followed up with a heavy thump. It was a really strange little fiasco that left all of us feeling ready to fight and pretty unwelcome in Japan. Fortunately, there is a way that things just balance out. We had very positive, encouraging interaction with the locals for the next couple days, and I think we’re all happy to be here again.

  Friday night rounded off with the three of us chatting around a table of McBurgers and chicken. I can’t recall the exact chronological details of the rest of the weekend, but it was really nice. There were warring stars, high caliber souls, royal Tenenbaums, guitar jam sandwiches, giant robots, and cheesy yumyums. My personal favorite of the weekend was when Dave and I got to practice guitar together. It’s something to look forward to doing more often when he moves down here in a few weeks. My second favorite was probably being at the park, watching Dave eat pizza in a suit and saying hello to all the younglings. His favorite part was probably when he made me say an emphatic “ow” at Gusto Burger by bending my thumb the wrong way (>_<;)

  It’s late now, and I’m afraid I’ve spent so much time writing this post that it will barely be up before his birthday has passed, so I’ll round this off now. It was a great weekend, Dave. I hope your actual birthday has been special, too. I can’t wait to have you in the neighborhood. Love ya, buddy!

  Love. Peace. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear sith loooooord! haaaaaappy birrrrrthday to yooooouuuuuuu!!!

  • 8:04 am
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