New Years Early Morning
Following the Tokyo Tower debacle, we followed the big blob of a crowd back to Roppongi for some serious clubbing. Since the last train to Tsukuba left at 11:30pm, we were dedicated to playing in Tokyo at least until the first morning train at 5:30am. It was going to be a long night.
The club: Feria. The rub: 4 stories of dancing mayhem. Upon our arrival Katie and I strolled down to the basement floor. From the stairs we tried to scope out a spot for dancing, but couldn't locate a single square inch of vacant dance floor real estate. If there is one thing I've learned from riding the overly packed Tokyo train system, it's that there is always room for just a few more. So, we promptly squeezed our way to a little dance nook by a small stairway. We danced for a little while before getting fed up with the overcrowded room. From there we elevator-ed up a couple levels to check out the other floors.
The 4th floor was less crowded so we spent the majority of the night up there. The music was awesome (American pop music, in case you were wondering) and we were having a blast. However, being that Katie and I aren't actually party animals ( I may have exaggerated a little bit in the last post), we started checking our watches fairly frequently around 3:00am. We visited the 3rd floor bar and outdoor lounge until about 4:00am. One this particular night, the guy-to-girl ratio at Feria was about 4 to 1. This meant that EVERY time I turned my back for a second a guy was trying to swoop in on Katie. Truth be told, it was kinda funny to me. Poor guys...it's good to be a married man.
Katie by some of the 3rd floor statues on one of the outside balconies.
I think it was about 4:15am when we decided we couldn't shake-shake-shake it anymore. We left the club and made our way to a McDonalds at the station that would take us home, Akihabara.
5 am Mcdonalds before we catch the train back. We scarfed down our meals and walked down to the train.
Luckily, there was plenty of room to find a nice sleeping spot for the hour long ride back to Tsukuba.
The small rest we had on the train supplied us with just enough energy for the bike ride home. We got back to the Ninomiya House just before 7:00am. Katie and I walked in our apartment like the living dead. I had enough blogger foresight to take this photo before my head hit the pillow and I went into a deep slumber.
New Years Day (a.k.a. "Shave off beard Day")
I was still suffering from beard envy after witnessing Jonce's exquisite face mane in November. Also, quite frankly, I desired change. So I vowed to Katie that once 2011 came, I would shave off my 4 year-old beard (save for a couple brief shavings). She tried with all of her persuasive might to change my mind concerning this matter. She proceeded to point out that "You have a turtle chin without a beard! Don't shave it off, ever!" Turtle chin or not, my mind was made up.
However, it wasn't until I fully recovered from my sleep deprived stupor that I remembered this fact. I was lying down on the couch when it struck me "Holy crap! I gotta shave off my beard!" I sprang into action and quickly began instructing Katie on taking before, during, and after photos of the process.
Before. Not the most flattering picture, I know.
I imagined being an abstract artist as I whacked away at my beard using completely random razor strokes. Katie thought it would look nice if I shaved a little design in (see right cheek).
The process.
The result.
Truth be told, there is some credibility behind the 'turtle chin' claim, but I can accept that. When I looked in the mirror I kept thinking 'Who is this little boy staring back at me?' Katie was equally weirded out, but encouraged me by saying "This is the face I fell in love with." As I type these words, I've been beard-free for almost a month and I'm finally starting to get used to it. Although other people, such as Akira and Junichi, still don't recognize me when I first walk in the room.
Well...once again I went against my rule about posting in chronological order, but I wanted to mix it up a little bit before starting the series on my dad visiting. Stay tuned for that, coming soon!
-Seth
P.S. Now I remember the real reason why I grew a beard in the first place: I hate shaving!
January 25, 2011 at 8:13 PM
It looks as though my older brother supremity translates to all things including facial growth. Kidding...you have enough confidence and strategery to succeed no matter what your folical features are.
January 26, 2011 at 12:42 AM
Haha, thanks brother. You walk a fine line of crushing my ego while simultaneously building it up. Good work.
Sometimes I feel like a recovering beard-oholic. "Hello, my name is Seth and I've been shaving my face for 26 days now."
-Seth