Japan: A Beginning (Part 2)

[I didn't explain this in the previous post but this and the previous one are ones I wrote last month while I was still disconnected :P]

August 18th.

Not sure what I’m going to write but I feel like writing anyway. I’ve officially been in Japan for about 18 days. It’s interesting though. My life is so different from what it was in July; from what it was two years ago or ever. There’s something about being in a foreign country that makes you think a lot. Introspection has always been one of my fortes, if you can call it that. But here, as much as my current situation affords an overflow of free time, which consequently leaves my mind free to deeply consider myself, I’ve found sometimes I just look out the window and stop thinking. There’s a big green hill right beyond the road behind my apartment, which my windows face. I guess technically they’re not as much windows as they are glass doors. In any case, maybe it’s the small-town…ness of it all that’s slowed me down. It’s likely partially the fact that “my life in Japan hasn’t really started yet.” That idea’s been my explanation for a lot of my feelings so far. Course, that’s not precise. I’ve been living here now for almost 3 weeks! But as it is, I have very little human contact, no “friends” and my job hasn’t really begun at speed. Students are still on vacation so there’s really very little for me to do. I do keep busy though. I’ve been able to catch up on a lot of the reading, gaming and even studying of Japanese that I’d put on the back-burner (and, to be honest, probably will once my life here “starts”). I’ve also been unable to communicate with any of my old friends because I haven’t had internet so that’s also given me even more time to myself. I’m hoping at least that bit will change tomorrow when I get my cell phone. Planning on getting as unlimited a data plan as I can get my grubby paws on *evil glimmer in his eyes*. As a side note, Japanese television is hilarious. I have access to 5 channels and from what I gather, 80% of Japanese shows are some form of variety show. I’d like to think this is not an exaggeration.

Actually, I’m gonna make a digression out of that side note. Japanese TV has occupied a surprising amount of my time. I honestly didn’t think I was going to end up watching much TV while I was here but lo and behold I’m actually starting to keep tabs on some shows. Namely, and to my personal shame, I’ve somehow gotten hooked on a show called 花ざかりの君たちへ　いけめん　パラダイス (hana zakari no kimitachi he ikemen paradise) and I wish I could translate that mouthful for ya. I was going to attempt a translation but I almost went all orz on the floor just now upon realizing what the title might be in English. (orz is an emoticon, imagine a person bowing down on the floor where the o is the head, r is the arms and torso and z is the legs, bent) Anyway, you’ll have a good enough idea when I tell you that the show’s about a girl that pretends to be a boy in an all-boys school. I first saw it because it’s the show right before the anime I like to see (which, incidentally is always at the same block of time in the same channel… and hanazakari plays every day). And now, for better or worse (read: worse. Definitely worse) I’m hooked. The show is so ridiculous in so many ways that I realize about 14 times per episode how much of a guilty pleasure it is and how cautious I’m going to have to be about whom I share my interest in the show with. Knowing me, I’ll tell everybody I talk to. I’ll run it through the English teachers before I talk to the kids about it though *cough*. Besides hanazakari, I’ve found Japanese television to be pretty darn educational! Did you know there’s a giant golden beetle in Indonesia? That electric poles here are numbered? That a giant bear about 3.5 meters attacked a number of villages in Hokkaido at some point in the past? That Japanese people are apparently ALL foodies? That I’ve seen the same ponzu commercial exactly nine thousand eight hundred and fifty two times (and counting)?! *phew*

I haven’t been too adventurous yet. I keep wanting to go try out a gyoza restaurant nearby but it’s just so against me to go to restaurants on my own. I suppose it can’t hurt, right? And the food may end up being extraordinarily delicious and make me become a usual and be friends with the owner and and… well, we’ll see about that . However, in the meantime I generally just go to the local combini (convenience store) or Pal (closest supermarket) when I’m scavenging for food. One of these days I’ll go to that gyoza restaurant, alone or otherwise! Time’s a-counting down though. Finally (hopefully) getting my phone tomorrow and then this Sunday I’m going to Matsue (Shimane’s capital) for the Shimane orientation with the rest of the new Shimane JETs! Should be fun even though I’ll have to wear a suit in good ol’ tropical summer weather again, hooray! And school starts the week after that! Can’t wait to give a speech at the school! Ok, I can wait. Forever, in fact. No, just kidding. Public speaking may not be one of my strong points but I’m really excited to start teaching and hanging out with the teachers and kids at school. I’ve been thinking about this going back to school thing a lot too. I think it won’t have fully sunk in until I have to get ready in the morning for that first day, butterflies in my stomach and all. I’ll be able to have lunch with the kids too, which is gonna be neat… until they make me try natto (fermented soy beans) D: It looks gross, smells gross and probably doesn’t taste great either but they gotta eat it for some reason, right? I’ll give it a try, I suppose…

Ew, I just remembered the mountain of e-mails and flood of tweets I haven’t read. Ok tweeps, please forgive me but I’m going to start at 0 on my tweets. To be fair, I may actually have the time to go back and read what you’ve been saying for the past few days but I think it’d be bad to try and go back to July 31st tweets and start from there. Not sure my body could take it. My emails though I will read in their entirety and answer any that need answering. Hopefully that won’t take a month to do as I’m sure I have at the very least over 100 emails and that’s probably a gross underestimation. I also won’t really have internet per se for another two or so weeks but at least I’ll be able to check my mail and twitter on the phone *crosses fingers*. I think I’ll leave it at that, friends. It’s already tomorrow (the 19th now) and even though I’m sad because I’ll probably have to miss hanazakari while I’m out getting a phone but it’s ok because I’m bound to have to miss it while at school anyway! Plus, whenever I get innerwebz I’ll probably be able to stream the episodes >:3 GUUUDO NAITOOOOO~~~~

Japan: A Beginning (Part 1)

Today is August 9th, 2011. I’m in Japan. At the time of writing this, I don’t have internet. I don’t have a cell phone. I’m technically not yet working either. I’m channeling Emily Dickinson, instead: reading and reading and playing video games. Ok, so she probably didn’t do much of that last one but that’s because she was born when she did. Being a good hikikomori (look it up), she would’ve totally been all about the harvest moons and the WoW and what not. *ahem* Despite the tone the first few sentences of this passage may seem to carry, I’m not begrudging, in any way, my decision to come be a teaching assistant in Japan. Even my current situation I am trying to make the most of. I have already finished Half-Life 2 Episode 1 and am about halfway (or more) through inFamous, put several hours into Mass Effect and restarted Magicka. And that’s only on the gaming front. Though, to be honest, I’m only halfway through Lewis’ Mere Christianity. (I do so enjoy his writing)

I’ll backtrack a little bit and then meet again at the present, so as to update you, my friends, a bit more; give you a better picture of how and why we got here. Actually, the ‘why’ should be clear at this point so I’ll mostly skip it. So then, let’s go back to the beginning of the month. On july 30st, after a sleepless night of busy packing – of course, I had done oh so little packing up until the day I was flying – my dear (now ex-) roommate Mike and his lovely girlfriend Jing drove me to the airport for our goodbyes and my departure. As a note, I’d like to defend myself of the judgments I’m going to be rude enough to presume you had by saying I didn’t just leave packing to the last day out of laziness and procrastination. To be sure, there’s probably a time in which I could’ve done more towards it than the last day, but I would be lying if I said I had that many free moments in the 2 weeks prior to my leaving the US. Those last two weeks, I’ve been saying for a while, were the busiest I remember having. Ever. Well, at least so far. Even holidays at TP don’t quite compare, and that’s saying a lot! Of course, it wasn’t all work. I was busy meeting with people over meals and preparing all sorts of things for my leaving, not the least of which was doing things like selling my desktop computer, laptop and car – only the first of which was, thankfully, a painless and quick process. I must also say, I don’t regret all that in the least. I don’t really know how I could’ve done it any differently.

Continuing, my sleep deprivation ended up being quite the blessing. Sleep does not come easily to me when riding a plane but that 10 hour flight was made much shorter thanks to how horrendously tired I was after settling in with a nice pillow and a reclined seat. While we didn’t have the kind of seats that recline into a full bed, they did recline more than your average plane seats and made for just enough comfort for me to sleep several hours, if my memory serves me. The flight was largely uneventful and the food wasn’t stellar but it was well enough to suffice. We did eventually land in Japan and so began my feeling of bewilderment… and jetlag. At this point another feeling began to grow in me. It only got worse during Tokyo Orientation too. Snapping back, we get off the plane, go through customs, get our suitcases, cart them over to the busses (at this point I’m skipping a particular little hiccup which eventually came to nothing so I’m deeming it a moot point ;), gave them to the nice people that would ship them over to our future place of residence, got on the busses, got to Tokyo from the airport, checked in and finally got to rest up for a few minutes at the hotel room.

On the way to the hotel I noticed two things worth mentioning. One is that the climate was uncharacteristically cool for the area, something we can all be grateful for, especially the fellow JETs that were helping lead us where we had to go who had to stand outside all day. The other is that it was during this trip to Tokyo that I first began to have flashbacks of home when I looked out the window. Despite driving on the left side of the road, most of the greenery, and even some of the architecture, was strangely reminiscent of Puerto Rico. This is a perception that has since not died down but been reinforced the more of rural Japan that I see. Certainly, this is probably part of the culture shock phase they told us about during orientation where you’re still wearing your rose colored glasses and while everything is new, everything is somehow also wonderful, great, and very familiar to wherever you’re from. That said, the feeling I mentioned earlier that began once we landed in Japan and went on to be amplified and accentuated by the orientation is this: what have I gotten myself into?! ***Spoiler alert*** This feeling has, in fact, died down quite a bit so there is no need for alarm. Also, the only times I’ve so far felt homesick at all have come as a result of my having difficulty communicating and so are only reflections of my not wanting to work hard to do something that was quite natural and simple previously but I should’ve seen it coming and it’s really not that bad, when all is said and done. After all, this IS an adventure, and what good is adventure without a little danger and adversity?

Onward we go into orientation! At this point in our story it is July 31st and it’s actually not even the first day of orientation. However, since it is the first of only 4 days in Tokyo I’m just calling that whole ordeal/ride/madness orientation. Sunday night, my roommates (one of them the guy I sat next to on the plane) and I went out to get something to eat. We didn’t stray too far from the hotel since we didn’t want to get lost and were truly famished. After walking around the blocks nearby and eyeing the options we settled on a little ramen shop. It was quite delicious, or so our empty stomachs lead us to believe, and then I had Starbucks in Tokyo. Hell yes! That was one of my first starry-eyed moments in Japan so far. You can imagine why. Second day! Orientation went from 8:30 in the morning till about 8 o’clock at night. Maybe 6? In any case, I won’t bore you with the details. The long and short of it was it was serious information overload. Also, they gave us French fries during breakfast. Obviously, that night we went karaoke-ing! It was great fun. Actually, it was a freaking blast, hahaha! Could you really expect any less from me? Third day! Pretty much the same as the day before except this time a bunch of us from the 島根県(Shimane)* troupe went to have dinner together… and then we went karaoke-ing! During dinner was the first time I was part of a nomi-houdai. To those unfamiliar with the term, think buffet but of drinks instead of food. Yeah, there were people who were drunk before karaoke, where they had more drinks. And after karaoke, where they had more drinks. I’ll withhold their names but let’s just say, they weren’t the happiest campers Wednesday morning when we’re all flying out to Shimane to meet our new superiors. And with that, “adieu Tokyo” I thought as we flew away from the pretty lights and the bustling streets of the chilliest big city I’ve yet been to.

August 3rd we left Tokyo and the 8 of us new Shimane JETs flew to our new homes. That day, unlike the ever-so-kind, cool-ish weather of the day we arrived in Tokyo it was awfully humid and quite hot. At the airport all of our respective supervisors, most with sempai (senior) JETs came to greet us. They were all very nice and from the airport my we went to a ridiculously good Italian place in 出雲(Izumo, the city we flew into). Yes, yes, I know, why eat Italian when you’re in Japan? Why not, I say! And it really was quite good. The portions were actually not get-fat-and-feel-squeamish-when-you’re-done sized, believe it or not. From there we went to 大田(Ohda), my new home away from home… and directly to city hall where I met some of the bosses of the Board of Education! Thankfully, I wasn’t taken to meet the Mayor, as I heard some other JETs had been. After doing some paperwork, my supervisor stayed behind and I went with the two other JETs to get me some groceries at a supermarket. Don’t be fooled, friends. Ohda is a small town but it is not without its luxuries. Namely that supermarket that’s really more like a Target/Wal-mart than anything. And then they dropped me off at my new apartment! A little about the new place: it’s bigger than I thought it would be, fully furnished and I even have a great TV, YAY! The following day we did some more errands like opening a bank account but that night (it was either Thursday night or Friday night) the two JETs from before plus a third and a friend of theirs took me to a fireworks festival on the bay. Let me just say, Disney’s friggin imagineers have to come see this show. Not only did it last about a half hour, they had fireworks I’d never seen before. Cat fireworks, mushroom fireworks, 5-phase fireworks, by Jove it was stunning. Also, the food was ummmmmehhhhhhhh! (that’s Japanese for my-taste-buds-are-exploding-in-ecstasy, btw) One of the culinary fixin’s was a “French dog”, I kid you not. Dunno why they called corn dogs French dogs but hey, we call fried potato sticks French fries so there you have it. Incidentally, they did have French fries but they called it furaido poteto (fried potato, yup).

And since that day there’s been the odd human contact but for the most part I’ve hung out at home playing video games, reading, showering. Even exploring the town a little bit, by which I mean I walked around the block and then came home coz I was sweating too damn much. But hey, at least I scored a killer chocolate croissant and an awesome lemon soda on the way! HEALTH! And today, I even went to my base school and met the principal and the English teachers I’ll be working with. They were all rather nice, of course. So here we are, back at August 9th. However it will likely be a few days, maybe even weeks, before I am able to post this up on my blog since I won’t have internet for a while. Also, believe it or not, but I did leave a lot out of this retelling of the last few weeks but I’m sure you’ll agree this post is already quite long. In our next installment, I’ll probably talk about such titillating topics as: driving in Japan! Taking a train! Shimane orientation! More Karaoke! That speech I have to write and do for my welcoming ceremony at school! Food, food, and more food! Until the next one …which may or may not happen again before I have internet! XD

*Shimane is the prefecture I’m in, think a “state” within Japan… or just wiki it jeez! ;P

What Might Be Me

The Longest Mile by Circa Survive

When I listen to that song—and it may happen with other songs but I was just listening to it and felt compelled to share this—it makes me feel as though I am somebody else. Or a sensation as though I remember somebody else's present, yet that person is me, somewhere else, somewhen else. It's a silly thing, but a curious feeling.

Catchin' Up

Saturday morning while doing laundry and sipping "leche con Quik" (my signature chocolate milk—yes, I know it's Nesquik now but I'll never acknowledge it!) is apparentely the perfect time to write a blog post. I've got some hilariously bubbly j-electronica pumpin' in my headphones (band's Perfume, if you're curious). Now while it's pretty uncharacteristic for me, I'm gonna cut to the chase. In less than 3 months I'm going to be in Japan. I'll be starting a new arc in my life story (to those familiar with anime/manga jargon, you'll know what I mean by arc) as an English teacher in Japan. To be sure, I'm still here and it's 77 days away (but who's counting down the days, right) and there's still a chance something could happen to prevent me from going, but barring any unforeseen occurrences July 30th I'll board a plane taking me to an archipelago on the other side of the world. This is still sinking in but every so often it reaches a new depth of understanding within me and I realize how insane it is. In good and bad ways, it changes my life pretty much entirely. I'll be in a country I've only ever heard of and learned about, one that is thousands of miles from "home" with a language I only really started to learn at the age of 19 or 20, where the only people I'll know are the handful of new friends I'll have just really started to meet the day before departure. I'll have left just about everything behind: Puerto Rico, Rochester, Cleveland, Rocklin and Sunnyvale. Those are all distinct chapters of my life.

Going back to the arc analogy, I would say my childhood up to high school is 1 arc, one that lasted 18 years. The second arc would be my college years, including the year I spent in Cleveland and the time afterwards moving here to California and working at Tiny Prints, where if I wasn't leaving for JET, I would have been for 2 years this September. Yet this august starts a new arc. One that takes me farther than I've ever been from the place I was born. And who knows, maybe this chapter in Japan will be an omake and I'll just come back to California after one year and get on with my life as a web developer. I'll simply have a treasure trove of experiences of a year-long dream, a life lived in a land distant and separate. Or maybe I'll be compelled to stay, to make Japan my new home. It's no secret Japan has stolen some of my heart for quite some time. And I've talked about this before in my Divided Heart post last year (seriously can't believe it was that long ago by the way) but it seems as though I just can't settle. For better or worse, I've been relatively nomadic for the last 10 years of my life. It might be the stage of life or perhaps it's the budding of the wandering flower that is to be my life.

Needless to say, I am excited about going to Japan; to an extent qualifiers such as super, really, very, extremely or even ridiculously can't quite encompass the feeling. I've been dying to go to Japan ever since I started to get really into the language when I was learning it in college and for one reason or another I simply haven't been able to go. Yet in the last few years I realized I didn't want to just visit. I wanted to go and be part of the culture, inasmuch as a gaijin (foreigner) can do so. Of course, I realize it's not all puppies and rainbows. The economy all over the world is really suffering and there has been talk of cutting funding to the JET program so it may not even repeat next year regardless of whether or not I want to do it again. Not to mention the geological phenomena that has been plaguing the entire world as of late. Ever since January 2010 it seems you can't go a month without hearing about some place in the world having a strong earthquake and it was only 2 months ago that Japan went through one of the biggest if not the biggest earthquake in recorded history (or something like that). As for the radiation concerns everybody keeps talking to me about, all I've read from very trustworthy sources (you know, like the news, government officials, experts on the subject) is that some of what people hear is greatly blown out of proportion. Plus, I really don't think JET is sending anybody to areas where they would be greatly inconvenienced or where their life is in any way threatened. Speaking of which, I still don't know where I'll be teaching and won't find out until the end of the month, at the earliest.

I suppose this wasn't as much a catchin' up post as it was a me rambling about going to Japan post, hehe. Well enough, I say. For the record, I do plan on continuing to use this blog for my posts from Japan if and when I get over there so be watching out for these. I'll see if they happen at all though, considering "leche con quik" is probably gonna be hard to come by over there :)

TheME

I think there's 2 major reasons this blog doesn't get updated pretty much at all. One is that I only have a handful of readers and that, despite my love for them, I don't feel like what I put here is worth either my or their time. The second, and probably more important one is that I just haven't the slightest what to put here. It was a good outlet for poetry but since I'm not really writing much lately (and again because of the audience) I feel like I need to either kill this blog or theme it. It's really not worth it being something where I post anything because, frankly, I end up posting nothing.

So here's my plight: tell me what you want to read from me.

And here's an awesome youtube video out of my favorites because those are always fun :D

eyes shut

a stillness, shifting on the surface of the tense dead of night
rhythmic drumming passes by and through, eyes open and shut
there is more in this moment, a gravity stretching my shadows
the rushing stream, a running stream of red breathing
looking into the void behind my eyelids, a thought, sought, caught
weak light, pulsing in the black depths of my mind's eyes
open and shut, valves in my bloody core, chamber to chamber
desperate to empty, pushing out only to fill endlessly
coolly drawing in a quiet sigh in a late preamble
seeking inside, eyes shut, a darkening blank
falling, a cruel illusion secretly whispering the deep truths
atop this spinning, floating sphere, eyes open, still falling
eyes shut

Religion

"But when sin entered the human race, it rendered everyone spiritually dead and thereby alienated from God. Our spirits were no longer able to unite with the Lord in close communion. However, Jesus came to pay the penalty for sin with His death, and now all who trust Him as their Savior are spiritually reborn. Their connection with God has been reopened through Christ (Eph. 2:1-5)."*

THAT's religion. When I was in twelfth grade I took a Christian education class (had to take one every year, I was in a Christian school) but that last year the material and content felt especially relevant. It's always bothered me that the word religion has been taken to mean our ritualistic devotion to God. Our teacher Mrs. Santos taught us that the meaning of the word comes from the latin:

re + ligare

re, meaning again and ligare meaning to link. Religion is, therefore, how the link between God and man is made. Going by Christian doctrine, the fall in the beginning caused the link to rupture and Jesus re-linked us to God. The point: Jesus is my religion.

* from Our Greatest and Most Rewarding Pursuit

Divided Heart

I was about to practice some Japanese by reading (and translating) articles on news manga but had a sudden change of mind to keep trying to clear my mail inbox. Currently it's at 65 messages. I deleted a few off the top before I figured I should probably start at the bottom to make the process quicker and to check on things I had ignored for far too long. One such thing was an e-mail I had sent myself. A reminder that read:

"why not write a blog about traveling, friends in different places, going to Japan...?"

There went my plans to practice Japanese. I'd seen this reminder countless times but perhaps the timing, the fact that I saw it while about to practice made me think a little more and just go for it, write.

I just got back from a fun little vacation in Rochester, NY, visiting a bunch of friends from college. I hadn't been there since last May and it was really great. I honestly thought last May was the last time I would see a lot of those people. Ryan, Amanda, Bucky, Julie, Summer and others greeted me happily and I got a chance to relive the old days a bit. Of course, I also got to relive the awful goodbye and the thought that I may never see any of those people again. That said, because the vacation happened at all it gives me a little bit of hope that maybe I will in fact see some of them again in the future :)

However, Bucky, Ryan, Amanda and the others are only one group of friends among many that I love to hang out with and visit. Apart from my college friends in Rochester, I have my friends from (and not to mention my parents in) Puerto Rico, friends in Cleveland (and now Cincinnati, I'm looking at you Dillon and Kathy), friends in Virginia, friends in upstate California and then my peeps out here in the Bay area, to name a few. They say home is where the heart is. If that's the case, I have a home in all of these places and my heart is divided (therein the blog's title). My goal is to slowly but surely cycle through all of these places, seeing all the faces I've laughed with and doing fun stuff with old friends.

I can add to these places one particular location I don't have friends in... yet: Japan. Why bother with that one at all? Well if you know me at all you probably have some clue as to the attraction to Japan; attraction being a very loose term. One of my long term goals is to go to Japan. That is, not just go visit for a week or two (or three please, thanks) but to be there for 6 months to a year or maybe even more. I previously applied to the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) programme (<- yes they use this spelling) but didn't get in, much to my - and my Japanese sensei's - dismay. She thought I was a shoe-in and she would know as she's one of the official interviewers for the program. Alas, it was not meant to be, at least at that time. That said, that's not the only means of going to Japan, perhaps the easiest, but not the only way. I'm certain God's placed a calling in me for Japan so the path of my life will undoubtedly cross that land at some point. If He opens that door nobody will close it. I just hope I have enough sense to walk through it instead of by it!

In the meantime, I hope my friends wherever they are hold onto the little bit of heart they wrenched from me when we parted ways. I'll make sure to take care of the bit of theirs that stowed away in my suitcase when I left.

#ihsaratoga

For those not in the know, the title of this blog is the hash-tag for the Imogen Heap concert I went to last night. As a quick aside, hash-tags are a phrase or word you put in a tweet so that when you search for it, you can find all the tweets that contain it. Anyway, hope you're comfortable coz this post's gonna be a biggie so grab a cup of iced coffee or pearl milk tea (jeez am I my audience? haha), put on some Imogen, sit back wrapped up in your snuggie and enjoy the show, vicariously.

I'm not one to start at the beginning, oh no. I start at the very beginning. That said, a brief history of my Imogen Heap fandom would probably be a good start. I will, however, try to keep it short as this post is about the concert. So yes, I first heard Imogen Heap, like many others, as part of the band Frou Frou; specifically, the song Let Go from the Garden State soundtrack. I owe this to my sister Emille and I am forever grateful. I probably don't need to tell you that it was love at first listen. The journey from that point to finding out about her album Speak for Yourself is a blurry one but I will say I anticipated that album like few others in my life. Some time later Ellipse comes out and some time after that Imogen's first tour for it. Here's a sad part: I missed her concert in the Fillmore last year. I was crushed but hopeful for the official US tour after she came back from Europe. All culminated in last night's show.

The drive up to the Mountain Winery is winding but beautiful. I only wish I hadn't been the driver so I could have just stared out the window to take in the sights from the side of mountain. The venue itself is a fantastic little place and it was the first outdoors concert I'd ever been to. At once refreshing and also the one minor drawback to the show, obviously at no fault of anyone, it was freezing. Not so much at first but after 2-3 hours in 48ºF, the occasional chilly gust made me quite shivery.

After getting to the Winery and paying $20 for parking (ouch), I made my way down to the theatre area and sat expectantly. Eventually Imogen made her way out and presented the first act: a fellow by the name Ben Christophers. He was a good start to the show with some smooth vocals and curious lyrics, backed by his excellent guitar playing. His voice at times reminded me of IAMX's Chris Corner, which is by no means a bad thing, and the songs he played were all pretty enjoyable. Before finishing he plugged his album up at the merch table but in a somewhat comical manner, barely saying it was over there and to buy it. He said he was terrible at selling things but he may've sold me on it just on that pitch. I do love my oxymorons. He then exit the stage, hugging Imogen on the way out and then Imogen presented what I was least ready for in the whole show.

Geese. All I have to say is that when Imogen "warned" that magic came out of their violins, I thought it was an exaggeration. Well, that's definitely not all I have to say. A young man and woman carrying violins stepped unassumingly unto the stage. They started gliding their bows on their violins, I thought tuning them but they kept going, eventually beginning to add effects to them. At a certain point they started to sound like wolf howls and then that mixed with a siren song, and this was just the beginning. Geese made violins sound like, not only how I've never heard violins sound but like things I've never heard in my life. At times they even sang (or blew) into the microphones in their violins to create even more impossible sounds. For a few songs they brought out Imogen's band's drummer and together made such a crazy amalgamation of noises and sounds that I wasn't sure I'd make it to see Imogen. The young girl in the band was adorable, ending her little spiel with a quaint "good-bye" and then they played one more song to round out their savage set.

After the violin storm, they walked out greeting Imogen and she then came out, silent but with a plastic tube in her hands. An avid follower of her vBlogs on youtube, I instantly recognized it. It's a sort of toy you spin in the air to make a sort of howling sound and in fact you can actually tune it! In classic Imogen manner she began looping various sounds. The howling tube, some oohs and aahs, the perennial mbira and so began taking shape the first song. As she continued to layer the various bits and pieces of the backing melody, in came trickling the various band members each one adding one more bit to the song until finally it hit me and I recognized it. The Walk! One of my favorite songs from Speak For Yourself and a most excellent start to the show. Once she started singing the first few words, "Inside out, upside down twisting beside myself", I was practically giggling in my giddiness.

From this point on, as much as I'd like to retell the entire show song by song, I simply cannot trust myself to remember neither the order nor the finest details of each performance so I'll do what is hopefully second best and recount some key moments or interpretations that still jump freshly in my mind two days after the show. Also, now's a good time to make yourself a sandwich because we're only about halfway done. :P Spoiler: the moral of this story will be that if you have not seen Imogen Heap in concert and get the opportunity to do so, you owe it to yourself to experience it. Yes, it's an experience!

After The Walk, the show continued to go from amazing, wonderful, beloved song to the next. Imogen Heap has discovered, and seemingly loves crowd-sourcing. Basically, it's using an audience to find answers, make decisions, you name it. She's done this through youtube and Twitter quite expertly. For this tour, she's been encouraging audience participation from before the show even happens. (We'll get to the in-show audience participation soon.) One of the finer points, I thought, was having a sort of poll for each show where you could vote on your favorite Imogen songs and basically help construct her set list. Here clearly hoping most people would gravitate towards the more popular songs, and that invariably happening. Despite not playing what may be my favorite of hers, Closing In, the set was absolutely fantastic and I could not have asked for more.

Earth was one such crowd-sourced song. For this one Imogen has had a youtube group where talented fans can upload a rendition of the backing vocals for the song Earth. if you've yet to hear it, Earth is an impressive feat: an a cappella song composed of at least 30 vocal tracks all done by Imogen. Because it would be, I imagine, too time consuming or strenuous to do this song on her own, Imogen decided to have her fans help her out and that they have. She mentioned this show's may yet be her favorite Earth performance so far. In walked two women. They were so very different but it was evident that it was that very difference that gave them the chemistry vital to being able to pull this off. With Imogen standing between them they began their bit and the crowd went crazy. They were utterly nailing it. Good show you two.

One of the more interesting surprises of the show was when Imogen mentioned something about the cold (this happened a lot, we were all freezing) and then said to bring in a fire, at which point the stage burst in flames(!), so to speak. That is, a projector sent forth the image of a fire upon the stage and most of the lights went dark as the song began to the sound of a particular piece of wood burning, its story having been told by Imogen moments before. At all this, of course, I thought she was going to play The Fire but as the song grew I knew it couldn't be. The Fire is simply a piano piece played to the sounds of that very flame (and hooting owl). But the song grew and the projected fire was joined by a multitude of red lights effectively dying the stage and stone wall a bright scarlet and I soon recognized the whispers of the beginning of Canvas. Arguably my favorite song in Ellipse, Canvas is a breathtaking piece with cryptic lyrics, syncopated guitar, modulating bass and beautiful harmonies. It was as much peaceful as it was overwhelming in the grandest sense of the word. I cannot begin to portray all this performance was but imagine seeing the stage lit up in red at night on a chilly eve.

Towards the end of the show Imogen once again pulls the audience in to participate as catalysts to her endless creativity. Throughout this tour she has been doing a unique improvisation act at each venue. She asks the audience for a key, be it A#m or E flat or what have you, a time signature like 3/4 or 6/8 and a tempo and comes up, on the spot, with a brand new song. This song is recorded right there and they do their mixing magic on it after the show and sell it to benefit a particular local charity. She said, however, that lately she's been asking an audience member for a melody instead of her coming up with it. Well I confess now that I was the idiot jumping up and down next to his seat at the chance to be called upon to have a melody of my choosing be immortalized by Imogen for a good cause. However, my greatest efforts were not enough to get her attention halfway across the theatre and my phone almost broke when it flew out of my pocket. I have no regrets!!! That said, she did a neat, upbeat song kicked off by some drums, which she claims she can't play but we all know better. The one she did for us isn't up yet but it will be in http://www.imogenheap.com/charity/ soon. In the mean time, do check out some of the others and definitely grab a couple to support the causes!

After this we were asked to stand up and sing, literally. Before the song, Imogen divided the audience in three parts and taught each a part of Just For Now. The three parts overlay into a wonderful harmony that backs the main vocal, which Imogen proceeded to sing over us. We were Imogen's track! She even taught us the rhythm part that goes on during the verse of the song. As the song winds down your hear the whole audience softly singing alone with Imogen in a diminuendo that gives any choir a run for its money. It's an exquisite experience being part of the creative effort behind a song, even if many have done it before you. Furthermore, because I love to sing, these little bits were like some sort of dream come true.

Tidal was yet another face melting number. According to the vBlogs, it was the hardest song for Imogen to get through in the writing process for Ellipse but it came out splendidly. It's an energetic, bouncy and fun song that the whole band seemed to be super into throughout. And then... at the end of the song for the rock solo of the night, Imogen steps off a little bit to get back her keytar and a pair of 80's sunglasses and vehemently ROCKS OUT while the lights go crazy effectively triggering the electric bursts in every synapse in my brain simultaneously causing me to explode, squee and smile so wide I'd put the cheshire cat to shame. Point in case, it was the show's highlight for me.

Immi ended the show on her now classic Hide and Seek. Unfortunately at this point in the night the wind was beginning to pick up and was messing with her harmonizer's microphone and causing the wind itself to get harmonized. For the record, Pocahontas, Imogen can sing with all the voices of the mountain. So even at great pains and excuses, everybody loved Hide and Seek and even here yet again we all sang with her the "ransom notes keep falling out your mouth" part at the end. A tender and vulnerable moment as we all froze on the side of a mountain singing together in the shivering seat and distorted, harmonized wind. A fitting end.

It was an amazing show, whose surface I've barely begun to scratch in this retelling. I didn't mention the glass harmonica she played or the ambiance during Little Bird but perhaps you should just try to catch a show ;) Imogen Heap, I'm proud to be a fan. Excellent show. Hope to see and sing with you again soon.

-Emilio

Twitterer's Block

So, at the behest of my desire keep up with this darn blog, here's a brand new post! For whatever reason, I seem to have with my blog the same dilemma people often have with Twitter. "I don't know what to say" or "I have nothing to write about" seems to be a common deterrent for those trying to evangelize their friends into Twitter. It gives me the notion of being part of the audience listening to a lecture or some famous person and out of the blue you're given the microphone and asked to speak. Most are nothing less than nonplussed at this turn of events. Twitter would only be like that in the sense that your voice has the potential to reach millions.

Of course, the internet has that lovely veil of anonymity, which gives most the peace of mind to say some preposterous things with little to no repercussions. On the other hand, it also allows millions to experience the thoughts, trivial as they may be, of millions eager, or at least willing enough to share.

I have to say, though, one of the things that attracted me to twitter originally was the fact that the relationship in twitter need not be mutual. That is, as you may well know, you don't need to be followed by those you follow. And, of course, those you follow are under no obligation to follow you as well. That is why most tweeting celebrities follow a handful of people but have thousands, if not millions, of followers. I suppose the reason I was fond of this is because I, like presumably everybody else, want to be heard. And not just by my peers but by anybody willing to listen. I love sharing my knowledge and opinions and, given the opportunity, will gladly do so. In practice, however, this doesn't really turn out. My followers are probably 75%~ peers and 25% companies or groups interested in nothing more than gaining followers as a means to increases their follower count and push whatever it is they're promoting.

And just like that I guess I can't really say I have nothing to write about. It would seem in my case the process of writing is more about effecting the initial spark that births the fire in my brain than it is "having", so to speak, something to say.

[[Got opinions? Do you vehemently disagree with me or want to frame every word I said and hang it on the wall of your firstborn's room? Somewhere in the middle? I'd love to hear it! I <3 comments. Look I'm fishing for them right now! Look how many sentences with exclamation points I just used!!!]]