Things to do today:

1. do laundry
2. pack

Alternative things to do today:

1. meet Ben after work for lunch
2. ride bike in search of free shows
3. do laundry
4. pack

Things done today:

1. met Ben after work
2. Got call to hang out
3. saw bands (including old friend Tiffany Shea)
4. got dinner
5. got ready for bed
6. wrote blog entry

i’ve actually been enjoying SXSW this year. Sure i hit a drunk guy on my bike who then hit on me (“Hey, baby, i’m a little drunk”), yelled at other people who didn’t seem to realize that i was screaming at them when i said “to your left” “excuse me” and “can you move” while trailing behind them at 2 mph, and almost rammed a girl getting out of the passenger side of a car that was stopped at a red light, but i’ve been having a good time trying to see a couple free shows, “people watching”, and riding my bike through austin in such pretty weather.

i saw a fort worth band called the flaming hotels play at doc’s yesterday on South Congress and was very impressed, although i was disappointed that the fort worth band i came to see, Black Tie Dynasty, had played two hours earlier.  Tiffany Shea’s music is as good as always.  I am really impressed with her new music and look forward to hearing what else is to come.  Susanna Choffel’s voice drove me and my friends crazy and is tempting me into purchasing a CD.

The other day, at the beginning of SXSW, some foreign tourists asked me to take a picture with them because i am “so stylish”. I was in my uniform for work. Overall, the SXSW-ers have been super nice compared to last year’s crowd.

Overall, what i need to do is:

1. do laundry
2. pack
3. work
4. drive to fort worth
5. go to japan

but i keep thinking i’m missing something. why haven’t i been keeping track of all the little things i think of bringing throughout the day? am i really remembering everything? will something prevent me from leaving the country of which i am currently unaware? am i under-packing? am i over-packing?

will i ever remember when to capitalize my words without the help of MS Word or some other word processor?

tomorrow is my last day off before leaving for japan… and i hope i get to everything that i have been putting off to watch live music.

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The above photo was taken with my cellphone while driving from Austin to Fort Worth on US 281.

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(the above was written by my dog, London, as i ran to my room to get my notebook to type this entry. i wonder if he drank my coffee.)

I will be leaving for Japan in one week and six days and we be there for two weeks and three days. I booked my flight on February 19th, almost exactly a month before my departure and have since been wondering “what do i need to do now?”

I’ve only traveled out of the US twice: once to Mexico for a few hours looking for a restaurant and the other time to England with my dad on a business trip. I didn’t need a passport for my first steps out of my country and didn’t do any amount of research into the venture (which i had plenty of time to contemplate as the border patrol thoroughly searched my vehicle for drugs) we just drove over the Rio Grande and, since my Spanish was only asi asi, turned the wrong way down a one way street. England, though, was a different experience. I had two months to learn about the Underground railway system (Tube) and found that if i call my bank before i leave they wouldn’t cut off my debit card when found spending on the other side of the Atlantic.

I began to seriously consider a trip to Japan when my friend Bryan suggested that i visit him during his school break. He has been teaching English in Japan for the past two years, and it seemed about time i took another trip out of the country. I casually searched for cheap flights in the next couple of months, feeling the door close on my Japanese vacation due to high prices, when, out of the blue, as i thought i was running out of time, the fares started to drop.

Now that i had my ticket, it was suggested that i get a Japan Rail Pass, which would allow me to travel across Japan for for two weeks at one set rate. Then, my girlfriend asked me if i was going to learn a little bit of Japanese, which, embarrassingly, had never occurred to me.

what would be the most useful words and phrases to know? what do i say to people now? what could i be saying to people in Japan? the lonelyplanet phrasebook i picked up has 2000 words; how many of these words could i possibly need to know?

given, i have a personal tour guide who already speaks Japanese, i will obviously be fine not knowing much japanese at all, but i’m always so impressed with all of the foreign tourists that come into the coffee shop that know just enough English to understand what i am saying to them during our transaction.  I want to be that impressive person, but, i realistically don’t have the time… but, i’m going to try to learn a bit anyway.

I was going to go to Emo’s tonight and watch What Made Milwaukee Famous, but i got too tired and decided to write the rest of this entry instead.

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