Happy New Year everybody (if anyone still reads this).

Here's the deal. As part of my transformation to NewAndImproved 2008 Christine, I'll probably be phasing out this blog. The fact is, I'm tired of it. The "foreigner in Japan observing crazy Japanese stuff" thing is way overdone, and I no longer have the Tourist Mindset that lends itself to that kind of writing.

I need to turn over a new leaf.

Sorry.

So how am I gonna become NewAndImproved? Well, my vacation back to my roots gave me a new perspective and served me up a heapin' spoonful of ambition. Here are my TEN New Year's Resolutions, in no particular order:

1. Give serious thought to my career goals, and be headed in a non-English-teacher direction before I turn 25.
2. Achieve and maintain target weight, without any of that exercising-for-the-sake-of-exercise nonsense.
3. Accordingly, start taking vitamins every day, before I turn into a malnourished empty shell of a human being.
4. Write regularly. Not out of obligation, but because I enjoy it. This blog, having at some point become a chore, has got to go.
5. Cut back on certain bad habits by about 50 percent.
6. Pass the level 2 Japanese test, or at least become able to speak Japanese comfortably without stammering like an idiot or making ridiculous mistakes (at convenience store: "I'd like a bath. I mean A BAG! FUCK!").
7. Experience more live music and art. Talk pretentiously about it.
8. No more pukey hangovers.
9. Stay grounded and don't let certain aspects of Japanese society get to my head (prejudice, rigidity, superficiality, etc).
10. Wash the damn dishes.

In closing this post, I'm gonna include something I wrote to someone on Facebook the other night:

"How is living in Japan different than living in the States?"

How is it different? Let's see... People tend to either treat me like a celebrity or a freak, and I'm constantly self-conscious about how different I look. I have to speak Japanese a lot which often makes simple everyday stuff into a struggle, and I often feel like I'm supposed to be representing my entire country when I talk to people. My apartment is tiny (complete with 5'9" doorways) and has no central heat, no clothes dryer, no dishwasher, and no oven. Television is awful, but cell-phone technology is amazing (well, maybe not so much now that the U.S. has the iPhone). Grocery stores have very little that I like, and people don't really eat on the go, so I find myself not eating much in general.
I've been on TV pretty regularly (a children's show), recorded my voice for books on CD, and I was a poster model for my company last year and saw my face inside trains.
So yeah, I'd say it's a lot different. In some good ways and some bad.
Happy to be back, though. I love my crazy life :)

Ever been lying on the couch watching TV and drooling on yourself, when suddenly YOUR OWN FACE appears on the screen, smiling and waving in extreme close-up?

...Yup.

Whoa. I am freaked out.


Oh, and the show finally updated its website. Check it out.

OCTOBERRRRRRRRRR
(Christine's New Life in Tokyo)

They wouldn't let me get a picture until his head was fully on. Shame, he's kinda a hottie under there.

There's some weird stuff inside Sunshine City in Ikebukuro.

An adorable handmade flyer for the local elementary school's Sports Day

Hanging out with some drag queens in Kabuki-cho. The larger queen was obviously the leader, smacking around the smaller one and calling her "stupid" until she scurried away and came back minutes later for more abuse.

rofl.

The name and address of the ramen shop, printed on the seaweed. Brilliant.

Another shot from outside my front door

Just call on Jaws of Life Hello Kitty to save you from the mangled wreckage of your car

I seriously cannot get enough of this game. And I will kick your ass.

Wholesome fun at the Yokota Air Force Base keg party.

At Los Cabos, a Mexican-themed bar in Ikebukuro. As we made such a shameful scene, trying to get our drinks served in coconut monkey cups, we can never go back there again.

Lovely Takinogawa

Itabashi Station

Out with our new Air Force friends in Shibuya

Derek, Lori, and Jill

I come down to ECC Headquarters in central Shinjuku whenever I want to waste my bosses' time with stupid questions (read: often).

Derek at karaoke, no doubt singing a song about freakin' some fly honeys

The Yamanote Line, with Ikebukuro in the background

Highly amused by a random statue of Godzilla in Ginza

...and the Halloween Party:

No one knows the guy in the orange jumpsuit.

Or this guy.

Or these guys. I vaguely remember the guy on the right being from some obscure Eastern European country.

What is going on in the left side of this picture?

Nice.

...what?

From our mailbox, instructions for how to conserve energy. Of course there are cute cartoon characters. Of course.

In Ikebukuro Station

Last night was a H.A.M. (Hot-Ass Mess), as Halloween parties so often are.
I'll post some pictures later.

Last night was a sweet dance party at a club and somehow 20 of my friends ended up being there.
Despite being hung over, I'm feeling good about my Sunday.
It's 3:00, I'm still in my pj's and my download of Friday Night Lights is at 77% (I love that show way too much).
I called up CoCo Ichiban Curry and twenty minutes later there was food at my door. And I'm about to wreck that shit. for realz.
That's pretty much all I need to be happy I guess.

Hatred quelled. Post finished. Entire box of cornflakes...eaten.

In honor of the coming of fall and the long-awaited end of Tokyo Sweatbath Summer Inferno 2007, I now present to you...

ChRiStInE's SePtEmBeR pHoTo BoNaNzA!

A warm-up (courtesy of icanhascheezburger.com)

Okay, here we go:

A room full of drunk Japanese businessmen dancing to Bon Jovi. Which layer of hell is that, again?

Redhead rage (at Dave's birthday party in Yoyogi Park)

The small Japanese man ducking out of the way of my boobs is just some stranger we met in the park. There is also a picture of him and his friend mooning the camera that I considered too obscene for this blog.
And as you can see, Dave decided to grow a mustache in honor of his birthday, which is fabulous in that ironic-detachment way.

Sexy and...something else.

"WHATS UP MARGUERITE I COULDN'T HELP BUT NOTICE YOU'RE ON THE PHONE LOOKATMELOOKATMELOOKATME"

My itty-bitty moving truck and lone itty-bitty old dude that came with it. Aren't moving guys supposed to be young, rugged and muscular? Answer: YES. Imagine my disappointment when I rushed to answer the doorbell (after applying makeup and checking myself from every angle) to find THIS.
So I ended up having to ride in the truck, knees and arms all awkwardly tucked up, for a damn HOUR while this crazy dude mumbled to himself and commented on how tall I am and how gigantic my feet are.

These are jars of giant killer bees mixed with cheap sake. Homemade. The bees were found a few train stops from my home in Omiya. Terrifying.
George claimed that it would give me the "power of the bee" on Pillow Fight Night, but I was not convinced.

In a ramen shop in Shibuya's club district.

We had to tell Dave that the mustache+MickeyMouse look was a bit too paedo.
One or the other, but not both.

Megan and John. I guess this was just a case of finger-over-the-flash, but it works.

I call this series "Enlightenment."
or maybe "Not Flattering."

A giant storefront in Ikebukuro designed to look like a hand holding a cell phone. I get to walk by this on my way home now.

My new hair, the night that I got it.

And a few random cell-phone pictures:

A portable air-guitar. It has sensors that play notes when you "strum" it. For a low, low price of 2500 yen.

Anyone wanna rent a dog?

A "gift melon" costing over 200 dollars. For that much money, this melon had better give you an HJ or something.

If I had a nickel for every Japanese salaryman passed out in an awkward position on public transportation, I'd have a shitload of nickels.
It happens to the point where people just step over something like this and pretend not to notice.

And an awesomely bad photobooth picture taken during our "girls night" last week. All the junk floating around is Liza's doing - I prefer a more subtle approach to the art of cutesy flying debris.

i'm awesome.