Shhhhhhh!

Late Sunday night, after a fun, somewhat exhausting weekend full of TV series-viewing, dancing, alcohol and banter, I felt the desperate need to be surrounded by utter silence--pure and undisturbed. Suddenly, the music being played at Marix became unbearably loud and obnoxious, the swirl of smoke from my cigarette became suffocating, and the half naked blonde shimming on the dance floor, flinging her  gold locks at all the drooling men seemed so pretentious and was making me sick! I could feel my eyes droop and the corners of my mouth felt heavy. When one of the bartenders asked me if I was alright for the third time, I knew it was time to go.  I managed a weak smile and shook my head. Nah, I wasn't alright. My favorite shot bar, my all-time-favorite-Marix was making my head spin! I crossed my fingers, indicating I wanted my check, and after putting down the money, a nod towards the other regulars, I stepped out into the night. I needed to find that quiet place.


 But NOT without a drink!


I dodge a few catchers that have been trying to get my attention since moving here with their 'Hellos' and 'How are yous' in broken English and bought a drink at a conbini. After popping it open I decided to just walk and figure out my destination along the way. I began swimming in my thoughts.


Every now and then, (like once every two or three months?) I go through the what's it all for?  stage. Questions like the above and other questions like,  'What's the point of making all this money? Why do I need to try so hard to make those fuckers happy when they  don't even care about me? Why do those girls look like they just stepped out of a magazine in this summer heat? Why doesn't the hair on that guy budge with all this strong wind?' bombard me and leave my mind with more questions instead of answers. As I walked on through the night life of Koiwa, past izakayas and bars and more izakayas, slowly sipping at my drink, I realize that I'm going through one of those 'stages' and this realization makes me cross. I hate unanswered questions revisiting me. Suddenly, the drink in my hand and its effects seem so shallow and far too temporary. I made a face at a random mosquito and marched on.


Losing track of time and my sense of direction too, I realize that I walked past my apartment and that I was nearing a park a block down. It's tiny with a strange slide like thingie in the middle, a set of swings and some benches on the side. There are few lights, and surprisingly, there was zero noise. I'd found my undisturbed silence.


 I settle on the swings, and I close my eyes, and I sip my drink. It really was silent, and the silence was beautiful. Even my racing thoughts shut up for a while, and I remember feeling the peace and stillness heal my troubled mind. I just needed to get away from it all, step back and be alone. I stay like this for countless minutes and I feel great! But at around 3:00AM, it was time to go back home.


I peek my left I open and my eye instantly catches a curled up business man on the bench right next to me! His shoes are neatly lined up next to the bench, along with his bag. His back is towards me, and it's obvious he's dead out! Subconsciously I make my 'ew' face! Somehow, I felt like the knowledge of this man's presence ruined my silent reverie, but I was thankful I found out about him after I got renewed. I tip-toed past him and went home.


My sister's air con is SO LOUD!

The remedy

I've been having some difficulty sleeping recently. Not like how it was before, where even 3 hours of sleep was a feat. It's just been terribly difficult to fall asleep in this FREAKIN' HEAT because I don't have a freakin' AIR CON!!! I toss and turn and try to get comfortable, but there's really nothing comfortable about sleeping in a sauna, and that's exactly how it feels like these days! I wake up drenched in sweat every hour or so, and falling back to sleep is just painful and takes so long! And worst part is that there's nothing that can be done about this.


 Or so I thought.


Every Wednesday night is what Boris and I call 'date night'. On date nights, we simply spend time together, sometimes over drinks at the HUB, dinner at a nice restaurant, a film at the cinnema, or even Disney Sea. It's a night reserved for just us, no matter what we end up doing, and last night was no exception.


We had made plans to go to Syzeria and indulge in their wine and shitty food, but those plans changed and we ended up enjoying a few drinks at home over an episode of Gossip Girl and some MSG laden junk food from our second favorite place in Koiwa--Ministop. Our #1 favorite place would be Marix, and that's exactly where we planned to go after our little at-home-hangout, to get a dance in and one more drink. (Or 5, depending on whether or not there will be any kind men who'd like to take our bill.) But plans changed yet again, and at around midnight I found myself walking to Marix alone. Boris wasn't feeling it.


Weeknights are definitely quieter at Marix, but past midnight, there are always a handful of Marix-addicts who just can't keep their Marix dose to just the weekends. Looks like I'm one of them too. I sat down and ordered. I really only wanted to stay there for an hour, one gin-tonic, and 5 ciggs, but you know, plans change. Especially if the guy sitting next to you offers to get you 3 more drinks, and isn't creepy about it, not to mention the fact that my new Crush ( the 35 year old married cutie) was there too! This all got me into a dancing mood, and I found myself dancing away with the other regulars there, and before I knew it, it was 2:30am, and I was exhausted! Time to go home. Crush walks me to the elevator and goes down with me. After a hug and a wink good bye, we go to our SEPARATE homes, and crash.


The next morning, I am VERY refreshed and feel energized! I realize that all the previous night's dancing around and laughing and drinking had exhausted me more than I expected it to, and that I slept 7 solid hours! I'm delighted! Guess I know what to do next time when I can't sleep! So here's a shout out to all those who don't have air cons who can't sleep because of it: Either get yourself an air con, or go to your nearest shot bar, get a drink (or five) and dance!

The weekend

It's a Monday, and I hate Mondays! There's nothing fun about the first day of work, and making the switch from fun and play to work doesn't seem to get any easier, despite the weekly practice.

The weekend I'm recovering from right now was particularly enjoyable! Friday night started off with a sweaty, heart-racing, 2 hour-long session at Tipness, pounding on the treadmill and doing countless crunches on the mats. A very good start, I must say! I then spent the rest of the night until 6am-ish the next day, drinking all my efforts at the gym away with two male divorcés, one just 29 and slightly crazy, and the other in his 60's, crass and 100% crazy. I met these two loons at my favorite standing bar in Koiwa, and we all instantly hit it off! Our times together are always full of laughter, and the crassest comments and jokes you'll every hear in your life! That old man ought to bleach his mind--thrice!

Saturday: Despite having been out drinking till 6:00 am, I am proud (and actually quite surprised) to say that I dragged myself to Tipness for a work out at around noon. Once again, a VERY good start to a Saturday. I then indulged in some 'Gossip Girl' and a huge leafy, very healthy lunch, and got ready for my evening lessons. 

Teaching on Saturdays is a complete drag! I'm often slightly hungover, and my mind is distracted with thoughts of booze and fun. Thankfully, my students behaved themselves, and gave me an easy time to teach them, and before I knew it, I was enjoying my Saturday night the way I like to best! Started drinking with my boss and the gf at around 9:30pm, with 3 other lovely people at a very busy, slightly confusing, open air, barbeque style-ish place. The food they served was amazing to say the least, and although I'm not such a fan of food while I'm drinking, I found myself chugging away at the delicious grilled-goodies. Great start! My next stop was  Afrobeat Shinkoiwa, where I spent the remaining hour till last train, gin-tonic in hand and cigg in the other, trying desperately to ignore the  man to my right who was trying to get me to give him my number. Thing was, he had bought my drinks for me, and I felt obliged to be nice! This is my #1 biggest problem with free drinks! I hate the pressure I feel to be friendly and talkative!  It sounds awful, I know, but I go to bars and such to wind back and be myself, and sometimes, I really don't feel like talking! But I musn't complain. Free drinks are great!

Made the last train and zipped straight to Marix, a typical shot bar/dance floor place, the only equivalent to a club in Koiwa. This is where all the action is, apparently and that night, Marix was booming! Every corner was packed with inebriated people of all ages! From the occasional infant in a punk-dad's arms, the prostitutes, the slutty girls showing far too much legs and then some, the punks with their hair-that-won't-move and glittering ear jewelery, the middle aged women in clothes they shouldn't be wearing at that age, businessmen still in their suits, the sexy break dancers, the loners and wallflowers, all the way to the grey and wrinkly old man at the bar, hoping in vain for some action. THIS is Marix. 

I order the 'usual', and am lead to a vacant spot on the counter by 'bar-daddy' as Boris likes to call the super tall, 35 year old bartender in-charge, who can't seem to shut about his love for me. I  don't mind, because he's never been creepy about it, and also he fends off perverts and creeps that really do bother me. "I feel like punching anyone who I catch even looking at you!", he had said once with his squinty look. All well and good, but not very appreciated when he doesn't keep his 'punches' to just the perverts and creeps. Once I was having a perfectly civil, even pleasant conversation with a guy at the bar when all of a sudden, I feel an arm reach around my waist from behind! Startled out of my mind, I yelp and turn around, only to find myself face-to-face with 'bar daddy'! "Isn't my woman beautiful?", he said with a smirk stretching across his face! Horrified, I wiggled my way from out of his arms, and give him my evil look, to which he just shrugged his shoulders to. The customer I was talking to gave Bar Daddy the finger, and told him that he over stepped his boundaries and to fuck-off. Bar Daddy laughed at this, and walked off with a wink in my direction. I roll my eyes. That was one of the milder incidents. 

Bar Daddy was very busy this night, and was rushing his huge frame around, getting drinks to the already drunk, with little time for his flirtatious games with me. Good. I had the night to myself! Or so I thought. Creep to my right is staaaaaaaring at me! I turn in the opposite direction, and ignore. Creep is STILL staaaaaaaring. Ugh!

"Excuse me,..." Oh, shit. Here goes. I didn't even have a full drink in me and some weirdo starts talking! Where's Bar Daddy when I need him? I.G.N.O.R.E.

"Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Exc..." He was gunna go on and on so I thought I'd get it over with. 

"What?" I say turning around and looking this guy straight into his creepy eyes. I wasn't going to lose the stare down. 

"I have a problem. A big problem. It's big. " he said, which was a little different from what I was expecting him to say. 

"Well, what's that?" I ask, actually quite interested in what his 'big problem' was. 

"Well," he started, "it's weird, I feel this great, great urge to fuck...and not just sometimes A.L.L the time!" and, at 'ALL', his eyes popped, trying to make a point! WTF?

"Uhhhhhm." was my answer. Was this guy serious?

"Is this weird? Really. I really need to have sex. ALL the time! Aaaaaall the time! Wow! It's not normal, is it?" he continued. GeezUs, this guy was the biggest weirdo ever! It made me laugh!

"Sir, are you male? Like, you're not a girl, are you?" I ask, to which he replied, "No way!"

"Then don't worry, this is very, VERY normal! Cheers!" And with that said, I grabbed my gin and tonic and pack of ciggs, and moved to the dance floor area. Our conversation: OVER! 

The rest of the evening was great fun, with lot's of dancing and drinking! I know most of the regulars there, and they have all collectively decided that they like me. This is good. One of the regulars, who happens to be a very cool, mid-thirties dude, who likes acting like the world's best player, but who actually is the sweetest thing EVER, has taken a special liking to me. No problem here, because I like him back! When I first met him, I was in one of those moods where I didn't want any company, and I basically gave him the cold shoulder despite his efforts at friendly chatter. When we had started getting closer later on, he told me he thought I was the coolest, most unapproachable woman he's ever met and that it took him a lot of courage to talk to me the next time around. Ha! Well, at least I know my 'cold-shoulder-tactic' works well enough! He got over himself, though, and now we're always together, dancing talking and having a blast. Ironically, he's married with two children. Arrrrrgh! I'm like this magnet for married, unavailable men! Just my luck! It sucks!

Spent the rest of the night and early morning talking with him, and dancing, and also kicking some unwanted company away. I mean, seriously, I'm not something you can randomly grab! If you wanna dance with me, then ASK! That way, I can actually use words instead of actions to say no! Puleez. 

I ended my time at Marix turning down an 'offer' by one of the bartenders. He's nice, and not annoying, which is very important, but I'm not really into him. I'm into the 35 year old dude that is married and has children!! 
I found myself being pulled onto the dance floor while engaged in conversation with my new crush, and before I knew it, I was dancing with the bartender I just mentioned to my favorite song. 
"You like this song, don't you?" Bartender whispered in my ear. Ew.
"Yeah, that's right. Good for you for remembering!" I say, trying to keep the mood casual.
"I really like you. You're hot, smart, and (blah blah blah blah), and I think you and I should try meeting up some time and see how things fly." he continued in hushed tones. Crap. Hate conversations like this SO much!
"How 'bout we don't,...and say we did?" I tried again to keep things casual. He's a nice guy, and I like keeping things good with the bartenders in general so I know they'll have my back when I need it. Why does he have to make that so difficult for me? Why? Why?
"Why?" he asks. It's a simple question, but difficult to answer. 
"I don't know. I'm too tired to have this conversation, that's why." I say, really too tired, and just wanting to go home. 
"I really think we should try. C'mon. Walk in the park, I'll take you out, and besides,...I really want to see (blah blah blah blah blah blah *******) and I want to do (blah blah blah blah blah)" he continued, and all I can think of is 'crap' and 'ew'.
"In another world!!" I say blatantly. No ways, dude. No ways!
"Why? Why in another world? What's wrong with this one?" He is damn pushy when he wants to be. 
"Weell, for starters, you're in it..." I instantly regretted what spilled out of my mouth, but luckily for me, he didn't catch on! Although...it wouldn't have been that bad if he did. 

As soon as the song finished, I stumbled my way to my Crush, and tell him I'm heading home. He helps me look for my bag and jacket, and walks me to the elevator but doesn't go down with me, indicating that he'll keep his junk in his pants (for tonight). He tells me to be careful on my way home, and quickly adds (jokingly) that he'll be looking for my apartment the next day. He winks at me and I smile as the doors shut, all the while hating the fact that he's married. I stumble home.

I got home at around 7:00am. Exhausted, I collapsed in bed, and switched on Gossip Girl and let it drone on as in the back ground as I drift to sleep. I woke up at 2:00pm.

Sunday: Sleep. Wake up. Sleep. Wake up. Drink. Sleep. Gossip Girl. Boris. Drinks with Boris. Sleep.

Monday: Groggy. Another week of work. It's hot. I want some lemonade with no sugar.

Can't wait for next Friday!

 

#1 summer beverage

 

When you feel like you're suffocating and being drained of energy by the heat, and when nothing seems to inspire a healthy appetite, do yourself a favor and grab a mojito! Nothing beats it when it comes to cold beverages in the summer!

It's as refreshing as it looks and is 100% satisfying.
 

sale

Summer is here and isn't being shy about it! Stepping outside is like stepping into an oven, and normal, everyday activity, just living in general is becoming harder. I don't know about you, but for me, this-the heat, the sweating, the humidity- gets to me, it's stressful, and as a result, I'm moodier (<-- oh no!)!

I've mentioned this before in a previous post sometime last year, but one of the ways I deal with stress is to shop! I don't just mean buying something I've had my eyes on for a long time because I'm stressed! I'm talking about walking into a store, throwing things in a shopping bag with hardly a glance at the tag, throwing things on in the dressing room, and buying 80% of all that. Not to mention that 90% of my clothes shopping is done at Zara! Yeah, I know. It's bad.

 Luckily for me, it's summer-sale time, and everything is finally affordable, and de-stress shopping sprees are actually possible without bankrupting oneself! I'm VERY happy!

AND! I've got a 4 day holiday coming up! What to do with so much time to play?

Can't wait!

in koiwa...

My neighborhood, Koiwa, is famous for its izakayas, bars and nightlife, and from the moment I got here 3 months and a bit ago, I just knew I'd be fitting right in! This was confirmed by one of the regulars at a random standing bar that I frequent only a few weeks after I've settled into my new habitat.

Regular:
"You know what, Eiko? It seems like you've been living in Koiwa all your life! A true Koiwanese, you are! You fit right in!"

 Me:
 "Thanks, I guess. Although I'm not sure if I'm suppose to take that as a compliment or not. What's the definition of a Koiwanese anyway?"

Regular:
"Well, ... that's a good question. Everybody you see here in this bar is a Koiwanese, I guess."

Me:
*looks around the happy customers trying to figure out 'Koiwanese', when all of a sudden, one of the customers rushes out of the bar, just barely in time to puke all over the sidewalk. To this, the customers mumble amongst themselves things like 'There he goes!', or 'He'll feel plenty better now that that's over with!' or 'That was me just yesterday!'
Both my eyebrows shoot up and after making my 'ew' face, I turn to the Regular and shake my head in a disapproving way.

Regular:
*nods in a knowing, 'yep, that's right' manner, added with a mutter, 'Koiwanese'.

 Although I haven't drunken to the state of puking since coming here yet, I have been drinking quite a bit more since the move. Also, since Boris and I are the new residents of Koiwa, and since she works at one of the popular izakayas here and I drink at every other place, our faces are well known, and our names are spoken of frequently. We are, in other words, famous, unfortunately.

One of the bar tenders at a place I like drinking at has taken an intense liking to me and has kept it no secret. He makes it a point to tell this to the regulars that come to his bar, and also has no shame in telling me so too. Usually I would be a little freaked out by this, but something about his almost childlike jealous fits that he silently throws when seeing me even just talk with random people is quite amusing, and I find it difficult to take him seriously. One night while Boris and I were having a drink at his place, he had asked out of the blue if I had found a BF yet. To this, I honestly replied that I was happily single.

Bar tender:
"Yeah right! You're just saying that to spare my feelings, aren't you?"

Me:
"Uh, no, not at all. I'm just not in the mood for a BF right now, and perfectly fine without. "

Bar tender:
"Good! Because if you ever get a BF and you bring him here, if I ever see him, I WILL punch him!! I really will! " (eyes almost bulging out of sockets, mouth all tight, hand in big fist)

 But after a disapproving look from me, he forced out a laugh, making a joke of it all. It was funny!

Me:
*giggles*
"You're funny!"

Bar tender:
"I'm serious." (in a serious tone)

Me:.
...
sips at drink