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Japan Life

It began at the start of December 2018, but with me getting a job here and just the general sense of feeling more and more comfortable here, I thought it would be good again to have a space to write my thoughts about living and working and creating in Japan. The adventures of “H” (my partner) and I, as well as our two cats, Tillamook and Nara. It was my intention to write one entry today, regardless of how short or non-detailed it is. So here it goes. New adventure. Adult Life 5.0

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Ode to Los Angeles

Been on hiatus here, but felt the sudden need to start writing again. In the time I was gone, I broke up with a boyfriend, got together with a new boyfriend, got engaged, got married, and have decided to move to Japan in the summer of next year. I think perhaps that’s why I decided to start writing about my version of Los Angeles. I’ve lived here for about a decade since I graduated from UC Berkeley and it formed the basis of my adult life and I’m preparing for the next journey of adulthood now. So, before I leave, I just want to reminisce and ask myself why I stayed in Los Angeles, this maddening yet magnificent city, for so long, and why I want to leave. Hopefully this helps those currently living here, those who want to move here, and those that want to visit.

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Don't have my journal today so I'm gonna write here.

This is my morning routine. This, coffee, and a Sudoku. Some good things in my life: 1) planning another trip to Japan in November and bringing some friends with me and Hayato, 2) rehearsals for the show I'm in on July 30 are coming along, 3) going to the gym more again and I can feel the differences definitely. Today, I just need to survive work until noon, then I have to prep costumes and makeup for dancing in a Binibining Pilipinas event. I have to go back to this which is in Redondo Beach tomorrow as well. Add the long rehearsal on Sunday and I practically don't have a weekend. Can't wait until August where I can start creating again. OK, Sudoku time now. Laterz.

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Horton Dance Class - Pre

A writing exercise I was the first one up the stairs. It was still dark, so I turned on the lights. I went back outside and checked my friend's Facebook page to make sure the location had not changed. Second person who arrived was another gay guy. Then the annoying girl with the injured black guy. I've been introduced to some of them, but I'm really bad with names. Then a new guy, a Japanese guy whose name I overheard was Taka and who has short limbs. The instructor, my friend, finally arrived. I took off my windbreaker and my black Nikes and adjusted my bare feet on the old, cracking wooden floor. I saw myself in the mirror wearing my no-sleeve the Xx tee. I am for the most part content with how I look but insecure about my abdominal area and the fact that one of my shoulders is higher than the other.

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10 facts about me that may explain my present state of mind

1. I am in love with my Zojirushi rice cooker. It cooks the best rice I've ever tasted. 2. French pronunciation is hard. Ever try to say four (quatre) in French? 3. Also obsessed with the Final Fantasy series. Currently simultaneously playing 12 and 14 right now. 4. Me and my boyfriend were both born on Sundays. Sundays have always held a very special place in my hard. 5. Actively working on my splits and abs again. 6. I'm becoming a cat lady. Seriously thinking of adopting another cat to keep my other cat, the amazing Tillamook, company. 7. I think I'm a superstar at work. 8. I want to volunteer and start working on social issues I'm passionate about again. 9. Trying to figure out the next series to read on my Marvel Unlimited subscription. 10. I wanna make more friends in Downtown LA.

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History repeats itself. History twists itself.

White Supremacy is American as apple pie.

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Angelenos. We've forgotten how fierce rain can be. When I can't see lane dividers anymore, it's scary. I end up wearing waterproof neon gear at work to stay dry, but my feet always end up wet, despite bringing two pairs of socks. I long for a respite from the storm, to sip my dark roast coffee mixed with condensed milk. Can't wait to drive home to listen to an audio book of "A Little Life" and then come home to my nice loft and get a kiss on the lips from my man and find my cat comfortable on my favorite chair.

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What I’m gonna be listening to...

First Listen: Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, It’s A Holiday Soul Party

The soul singer’s new collection of holiday songs may be destined to become a revisited classic.

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Tillamook the cat. Dinner table needs new underframe. Apartment still a work in progress.

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The new place so far, a bird's eye view.

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The Move

In an unexpected turn of events, I met someone in New York City that I fell for. He has dreams of becoming a furniture designer. He was already thinking about moving to Los Angeles because he saw more opportunities here for him. We moved lesbian couple pace. After months of going back and forth between New York City and Los Angeles, we decided that September 2015 would be the month that he moved to Los Angeles with me.

We found a place in the Old Bank District of downtown. First place we seriously thought about was a new apartment in Little Tokyo/Arts District. But, we said no mainly because it was carpeted (I’m a dancer and he’s a carpenter and carpet mainly goes against our respective disciplines) and it was too conventional for us (impedes our creativity). Second place was perfect number-wise (1106 adds up to 8, which is a money number), but looking at pictures, we realized exposed sewage piping who be atop where our heads would be while sleeping, and H (bf’s first initial) said that’s ultimate feng shui faux pas. Ultimately, it was just gross. Third time is a charm. The apartment we picked is a big 750-square foot studio space with a loft area atop the bathroom, concrete floors, partially brick walls, big windows facing three directions, lots of room for ingenuity.

Pictures to come soon.

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the return

been through a lot of life changes. new bf. living in downtown. will write in more detail later. but, turning this blog into a blog of me and my bf’s home-building. transforming our loft into a cool living space. stay tuned.

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Coffee Table Books That Didn’t Sell 09/16/14

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Columbia student will carry her mattress until her rapist exits school September 2, 2014

While most students at Columbia University will spend the first day of classes carrying backpacks and books, Emma Sulkowicz will start her semester on Tuesday with a far heavier burden. The senior plans on carrying an extra-long, twin-size mattress across the quad and through each New York City building – to every class, every day – until the man she says raped her moves off campus.

“I was raped in my own bed,” Sulkowicz told me the other day, as she was gearing up to head back to school in this, the year American colleges are finally, supposedly, ready to do something about sexual assault. “I could have taken my pillow, but I want people to see how it weighs down a person to be ignored by the school administration and harassed by police.”

Sulkowicz is one of three women who made complaints to Columbia against the same fellow senior, who was found “not responsible” in all three cases. She also filed a police report, but Sulkowicz was treated abysmally – by the cops, and by a Columbia disciplinary panel so uneducated about the scourge of campus violence that one panelist asked how it was possible to be anally raped without lubrication.

So Sulkowicz joined a federal complaint in April over Columbia’s mishandling of sexual misconduct cases, and she will will hoist that mattress on her shoulders as part savvy activism, part performance art. “The administration can end the piece, by expelling him,” she says, “or he can, by leaving campus.”

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As painful as I know the constant reminder of attending school with her rapist must be, I’m glad she won’t be the only one forced to remember. I hope the rapist drops out immediately…or better yet, I hope he faces the justice he deserves. 

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Snippet

I spent all day taking care of my cat Tillamook. Last night, he was spot pissing everywhere. On my bed. On one of the high bar chairs. On the living room tray table. When I touched his belly, he was meowing in pain. I slept on the couch. In the middle of the night, he went on top of me and I think spot pissed on the blanket too. Have you smelled cat piss before? It has a very sharp taste. It was a clear/yellowish, not red, so at least he wasn't bleeding.

I was really upset and concerned about him. Is this a glimpse of what it feels like to have a child? I think I decided last night I don't ever want to have children.

This morning, we drove to a West Hollywood pet clinic. I was surrounded by white people who'll probably care more about their pets than all homeless people in Los Angeles combined. But am I becoming one of these annoying pet people. I post too many Tillamook pictures on Instagram already.

Tillamook was friendly to the female vet. He opened one of the drawers himself. The vet said that was the first time she's seen that. Yeah, Tillamook is a fuckin' smart cat. Like pet, like owner. She got a urine sample and I'm gonna call tomorrow if she found anything serious. For now, it's pain meds that I have to somehow get inside Tillamook's mouth and an introduction to wet foods. He seems to have gotten a taste for fish.