So, the first few days of my new life have been rather interesting...It felt great to soar to the quasi-Empyrean heights for the first time in approximately 14 years...albeit there were multiple delays. Also, as I am certainly a fan of long rides (when I'm not the driver), I enjoyed my 13-hour flight to Tokyo, and was devoid of any jetlag effects. I was fed "dinner", a "mid-night" snack, and "breakfast"--all of which were electrifyingly delectable! :D I suppose that these were their preventative measures for jetlag, because the sun was out and as effulgent as ever...for the entirety of the flight (the window shades were pulled down in each aisle to "compensate" for the lack of darkness.

Aside: I was planning on taking pictures of the Pacific Ocean. My camera's battery shut down on me right after Picture #1 of the Pacific Ocean. In addition, I had started packing about an hour-and-a-half before I was supposed to leave for the airport. Twenty minutes after having started to pack up a portion of my life to be trans-Pacifically transported, the power goes out. >:( Apparently, everything went as planned, and I have been successfully transported to Tokyo...whew, no landing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, as I had subconsciously feared.

As I had realized that it would take a day for my luggage to be delivered to my apartment, I also realized that I am disillusioningly remote from Shinjuku, a fact that has gravitated my facial expression from a smile to a rather painful sad face, much like this: :<. Albeit I do enjoy my British and Australian flatmates, I must say that I do indeed need to migrate and set my dwellings in Shinjuku, in order to hedge any costs that accrue to my budget through the commuting process.


On Friday (part of Thursday in America), it had taken me over two hours to find the city office that is all but a ten-minute walk from my apartment. However, I am thankful that I have been able to salvage the relatively iotic Japanese that I had taught myself about six months ago (and in which I had thoroughly slacked off)...even if many different employees in convenience stores drew maps for me, which ended up flabbergasting me even further. Anyhow, yay, I had eventually found it, and the fact that I am a 外人 (foreigner) was thrown back at me, more and more. Oh well.

Note to all: Japanese children are not born disciplined. That is all I have to say about my McDonald's (マクドナルド) experience. (P.S. The sporadic katakana that you see splicing the English text, is me acclimating myself to also typing in Japanese.

Yesterday (Saturday) was quite marvelous. I was in Shinjuku all day. One of the first stores upon arriving in Shinjuku was a department store, to which I headed...knowing that I was not going to be making a purchase. I paid visits to the Estée Lauder counter...and the Chanel counter. Then I grew weary of the department store, and proceeded to the streets, where there was nothing but ubiquitous vivacity...and pressing humidity. Many pictures were taken all around the seemingly labyrinthine ward...many brochures were distributed and collected (and fans, too!)...just a couple of water bottles were bought (you know, only a couple, since dehydrating myself is so fun...), and having looked back on the pictures, I have not one clue where most of them were taken...I only remember the boy's town alleyway. Go figure.

OH. Stalker-lurker guy. Of course. So, as I'm semi-sprightfully pacing around gay Shinjuku 2, there is this guy who fixates his eyes upon me from across the street. I enter a store...a blatantly gay store, with hot erotica and what-not. What do I buy in there? ...a cute orange umbrella (note to all: umbrellas are quite cheap in Tokyo...I might even start an umbrella collection to match my wardrobe...maybe.) However, while I was in the store, this guy goes back and forth outside, each time fixated upon me as he walks past the other way. I exit the store, and then he starts lurking behind me...even catching up to me, somewhat. Thank God there was another store in which I had entered. I thought that he had gone away, but I saw that he had not gone away. Propitiously, there are a few people in the area, so I walk around and in front of them, leaving the guy behind...or so I thought. He goes out of his way to cut in front of the people, and to continue pacing after me. I stop, and he stops, turning around to look at me...tracking my path! >:( I turn down another street, pace up to a couple of people, and he paces after me! Thank God that I arrived to a main street, which is where he stopped me, inquired about my sexuality...and whether I would take a walk with him for a few minutes down the "alley"! (Mind you, these "alleys" have stores in them, so I wasn't being stupid walking down them.) I rejected his offer and went the other way. Fucking creeptards! ...though he did seem to know English quite well.

Once I even lost myself while, and I wasn't even in Shinjuku anymore. Oops. Serendipitously, I had found my way back, though. After giving up on finding an insurmountably tempting Japanese place to eat, I settled for...Subway, where I was given accolades for my Japanese (?). :S Subsequent to all of that, I meandered some more, collected more free things, finally found and bought what I had actually gone to Shinjuku to buy...and went to boy's town. I went to Advocates, a bar in said area of Shinjuku. I was overjoyed to see that Smirnoff Ice was offered there, so of course I bought it, and economized in terms of imbibing it. Albeit "spacious" is one word that would not describe it, it was a cute little bar...and the guys were pretty cute...though there seemed to be a 1:1 ratio of American men: Asian (specifically Japanese) men...which was rather disheartening. I met quite a few guys there...relatively speaking, since there weren't too many gay boys who frolicked and/or loitered about the area, anyway. One guy and I scoped out guys--and I tried (and twice succeeded) to encourage him to approach the guys who were his type...of which there were quite a few. We plan on seeing each other next weekend...not in terms of dating, of course...but in terms of partaking in maybe even more fabulous times, since I'm determined not to let my to-be schedule (and the commuting hindrance) interfere. Ok, perhaps I won't drink so much...though the Ice and the SKYY did nothing to me. :
OH! By the way, I also tried SKYY. Good...though that visit to the bar cost me ￥1200, and some sort of keloidal-looking creature on my foot. Flip-flops...are NOT your best friends!!!! >:( I almost died walking back to the apartment earlier today. I walked on my bare feet for part of the way back...thank goodness Japan is known for its cleanliness.