Ep 27. The Dreaded Money Drainers

They came in the night: like creepy, crawling critters they carefully and cleverly entered the country. Their mission: destroy all unnecessary funds. Through the windows, they came, under doors and through the ceiling, dragging the earnest and ear-marked earnings of simple citizens into their dreaded, downy, dark abyss of sensual stimulation. How could they ever be stopped when armed with their most lethal and glamorous weapon: the hallowed, holy, Hollywood?

A pretty picture from the train.

February is my sixth month in Japan, and so far it has been filled with many firsts. I had my first lunch with a Japanese person who I did not work with--it went awesomely. I had a slightly exciting--and somewhat terrifying--conversation of two sentences of someone who saw my profile on a get-to-know-you website and wanted to know more. I saw my first drag queen of Japan (he [she? ze? I don't actually know...] was a black man in a bright pink Lolita outfit. I thought he was rocking the dress--definitely not my type, btw--but I have learned that giving strangers compliments on the train is a one-way ticket to weird looks from everyone. And today I had the pleasure of going to a Japanese movie theater for the first time. Great. Flipping. Farvick-newtweights, it has been too long. I know that a lot of people don't like going to the movie theater. It's somewhat expensive, very loud, and you have to share the experience with a gajillion other people who you will probably never see again. Personally, I love laughing with strangers (it's almost as much fun as diabolical laughter) and I love the theater atmosphere.

My friend and I at the theater.

Having said that, theaters are different over here. A creepy observation is that the male restroom signs are just the usual symbol, while the woman's restroom signs not only have the symbol, but also say, "woman only, no men" in at least two languages. There are definitely some ways in which this country has issues. However, onto differences that only really apply to theaters. For one, the food and drink do not cost an arm and a leg. I'm not saying that they are in any way cheap, but to call them more reasonable than in the states would not be a falsehood. The biggest difference, though--aside from the general cleanliness of the entire place--was that theaters here have assigned seats. I don't know why they have assigned seats, but they do. At the same time, I have often wondered why stage theaters have assigned seats but movie theaters don't. I would assume that it has something to do with how casual movie theaters generally are, but since that casual line is kind of blurred-to-nonexistent in Portland, I'm still a mite confused. Regardless, we were at least allowed to choose our seats, and so got a fantabulous view with all of the luxuries of being on the end. Not only that, but the rake was large enough that even if someone had been in front of us, we could have seen over them just fine.
The movie started with the usual, "no piracy" warning...brought to us as only the Japanese would. It was basically a dance video of people who had cameras for heads, who were then caught by people with siren-lights for heads, who then all danced together...I got the message, but man was it bizarre. The previews were rather nice, as they were mostly about Hollywood movies--on second thought, they were all about Hollywood movies. The first--which gave me so many feels--was the entirety of the song, "Let it Go" from Frozen--and yes, improv people, I did note the illegal mention and use of fractals. I am all kinds of excited about this movie, which comes out on March 13th over here, and which I have heard such amazingly good things about. We were then treated to a preview of the new Riddick movie--happy family movie followed by blood bath. Yay. Eventually, finally, after four months of waiting, Thor: The Dark World started. Oh man, all of the feels. So many different emotions competing, that I am still processing. It was not a movie that had no flaws, nor was it an Oscar-contender by any means. But it was just such a nice break from Japan, something so familiar to me that touched all of the deep levels, from the fact that the 9th Doctor was the villain to all of the small, subtle jokes and word plays that make the Marvel movies resonate with me.
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Small note: I really enjoy the Batman movies that we have gotten recently. I think that they are great. I also enjoyed Superman, but I had several problems with it. However, I tend to like the Marvel movies better. Why? Because they can be dark--by the rotting toe nails of long dead King Tut can they be dark--but they still retain the ability to be light and fluffy at the same time.
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But now, I am back to reality...as much as I am ever in reality. Prior to coming to Japan, my rough estimate for the amount of time in my life that I had spent out of Oregon is somewhere between 4-6 months. Now, that number has effectively doubled, and looks to keep growing. In my heart of hearts, I am an Oregonian and always will be. But if I am going to become all that I want to be, I have to become more than that. I have to grow, and I have to burst out of my cocoon. And most of all, I cannot be afraid of losing myself. I am who I am, no matter where I am or what I am doing. It will always be there, like a beacon guiding me. All I have to do is be willing to cut the anchor holding me safely in harbor, and I can explore the world and find the truth to that beacon and all that is around it and all that it can be. But I cannot be afraid to fail; for had Odysseus not failed, we would not have his amazing adventure of a decade (and no, I don't know why I'm using a sea metaphor). Nor can I be afraid of the dark and story times, for hiding within any storm is the calm of the eye. I might say that I am ready to bloom, but first I have to be brave enough to do so.

This has been another adventure in the austentacious. If you liked it, tell your friends; if you hated it, tell your enemies; and if you didn't care either way, then tell everybody. Good night.