free web tracker soliloquies: 05/09/2004 - 05/16/2004

soliloquies

so・lil・o・quy/- n. [C,U] a speech in a play in which a character talks to himself or herself, so that the audience know the character's thoughts.

Friday, May 14, 2004

out of nowhere


I had a haircut today. I thought it was a bit early to have one, but my schedule up until the Hokkaido trip seemed a little tight, so my will of having the best possible pics taken on the trip brought me to the beauty salon. I wonder if anyone will notice...lol.

Anyway, I cleaned up my receipts yesterday night; something which I haven't done for a while and I happened to notice something which really surprised me. I have this custom of keeping the receipts of pricey purchases(1000 yen~) in the top drawer of my desk. Whenever my wallet is stuffed with receipts, I classify the receipts by the amount of purchase. After that, I keep the ones with a comparatively larger sum.

Well, for some reason while I was doing this routine, I started thinking back of what I have purchased in the past 6 months. Clothings, shoes, tote bag, movie tickets, museum/observatory ticket, confectionery, restaurants, A LOT of Starbucks, DVDs from amazon.com, live, flowers, JR's Suica charges and stationaries. At this point, I was already like..."Woah!". Now with all the receipts laid out on my bed, I started calculating the approximate amount of the spending I have done. The result was totally screwed!
First, I started adding the receipts related to fashion.

xxxx + xxxxx + xxxxx + .... = ....!!!!!?

My first comment was something like "Huh!?" The sum was way over my highest possible income of the past 6 months.

Monthly allowance x 6 + the earnings from work + "otoshidama" - the added sum of clothings = below zero.

Where the heck did this balance come from? What surprised me even more was that this was still the sum of fashion related goods. I kept on adding the amount written on all of the goods I listed above and the "actual" sum was like WAAAAA--------------------Y surpassing the income.

Things may appear out of thin air on some occasions, but I believe that no matter how weird things can get, money would be like the last thing appearing. How was it possible for me to afford these? Maybe I should contribute this case to some institution for further study...jk

Sunday, May 09, 2004

visited tokyo...again!


I just love the urban air. I like living in a suburb which I currently do in Zushi, but I am always eager to feel the slickness and the stimulation of the urban environment. Because of this, I am always looking for chances which will give me the oppurtinity to "go up" to Tokyo. Another chance came to me with an interval of 6 days since my last visit to Roppongi Hills. (please refer to my archive)

Two weeks ago, a flier came from my piano teacher telling us about her upcoming recital. The recital interested my mom, so my mom decided to go to my teacher's recital as a "retreat" from housework for the Mother's Day. I was also bound for the concert, since I was... obviously her student. So off we went to Tokyo.

The amount of people, the walking smokers, mannerless youngsters...I personally dislike Shibuya. But today, I was able to see a different side of Shibuya. The hall was located near the Yoyogi Park near the Yoyogi-Hachiman station, but the fact that my mom had to shop and that it was more convinient for us getting out to Shibuya compared to Yoyogi-Hachiman, we got off at Shibuya station and walked. On our way, my mom did her shopping at the Tokyu Department Store and went into this French cafe shown on the photo above for lunch. The food there was delicious! After having lunch, we walked through an unbelievably quiet neighborhood. I couldn't believe the silence, since it was only about a 10 min. walk from "the scrambled crossing". I never really knew there actually were people living in HOUSES in a place this urban. A fresh new image of Shibuya was inputted into my head from this walk.

We arrived at the hall just in time for the opening and the concert began at 2 pm. The program was composed of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin. Bach was really light and airy. The songs played were supposedly, made for balls and were danced by Louis XIV. They were not religious and were quite different compared to most of Bach's works I've heard in the past. Beethoven on the other hand, was a widely known song. She played all three movements of "The Moonlight Sonata". I was thrilled by the third movement. It's not like I've never heard it before, but it was fabulous. Chopin's sonata was really...peculiar. I believe no one knows the intentions Chopin deployed into his works, but my interpretation of this sonata was that it was like a mirror of his mind, with all the distress and troubles he had reside him being expressed with sound. Especially the fourth movement, FINALE, was really like indicating his finale or his...death. This work, like Bach was different from genuine Chopin and was really fresh for me to hear. The recital was fatastic!

After the recital was over, we walked back to the Shibuya station. There, my mom made an appointment with my friend's mom, who is also my mom's friend at a cafe inside the Tokyu Department Store. My friend was also supposed to be there with his mom, but his mom told us that he is going to have an important test tomorrow and was studying at home. This really surprised me, because he NEVER, EVER studied when we used to live in the States. My mom had a nice chat with her, while I slurped my iced coffee. The chat continued on for about an hour, while I endured for about an hour. Finally, the primary objective between them was accomplished. Now here comes the next great part. On our way to the Shibuya station, I begged my mom to by me new shoes, supposedly entitled "for the Hokkaido trip". This worked out really well for some reason and I was able to get myself new shoes. Yippee!

Today was a wonderful day. I was able have great lunch, listen to great music, hear about my friend and get myself a "gift" from Tokyo. I wonder when I'll be able to visit Tokyo again...perhaps the 19th...


P.S. Remember the irony entry I made a few days ago? Well another case broke out today in Shibuya...the name was written on a sign hanging from the side of this building standing by the street my mom and I were walking. I wonder how many more of these cases are going to arise...curious.