Bringing the house down

[spacealien_vamp]

I did as much cleaning as I could in the morning--I got the bath scoured and kitchen mopped--and left for the event site just before 9am. I had practiced the song at my desk with headphones on Friday for about an hour, and I also put it on repeat while I was cleaning, but I was still shaky on parts. When I arrived, however, I found that we were all going to be holding matching lyric books. If I had known that, I probably wouldn't have worked so hard on trying to memorize the song...but it was just as well, because this way I could look up while singing.

The student performances were great. In particular, the baton twirling club did an homage to Miyazaki films in a kind of ballet-like act. Also, one of the singing groups did "Hail Holy Queen" from Sister Act (or Love Song for an Angel, as it's called in Japanese).

The teacher performance was very well received. It's a pity that I wasn't able to zoom my camera to get closeup shots of individual teachers, but at least the sound recorded okay. I added an arrow to the screen capture to show which person is me.

I was really glad that I had the tripod, though it did make the camera movement jerky in spots. When I bought it, they rang up the price as 980 yen (under $10). I recall thinking at the time that it was rather cheap--the one I had bought in Michigan cost more than three times as much--but I figured it was probably on the flimsy side. When I opened it to set it up for the show, however, the price tag attached to it inside the box had it marked at over 8000 yen. Either they were having a major clearance sale on tripods, or the computer read its price wrong. I figure they must know what they're doing...a minor glitch might go unnoticed, but a difference of $70 on a piece of merchandise would no doubt catch the sales clerk's attention, particularly since the tripods were stacked right next to the register counter.

I was so busy with cleaning in the morning that I didn't have time to make lunch. Thus, I had to run to the convenience store across the street to buy something to eat. There I found this lovely item, shown in the picture. It's a ham and cheese "Italian burrito."

Ah, Japan. What do you have against Mexican food?

(There were also two other varieties: Italian sausage and "margarita," meaning cheese, tomato, and basil.)

After the event, I came home and did a bunch more cleaning. wednesday_10_00 was delayed by work, so she didn't arrive until nearly a quarter past ten. We stayed up talking until about midnight. Today we'll be taking a trip to Osaka.

Comments

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

I read this on my Friends page instead of on your LJ, so I missed the cut-tag. So, when I read that the picture (the only picture visible) is of a ham and cheese burrito, I kinda wondered why they were calling that woman on stage an "Italian burrito." Those wacky Japanese.

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

Sorry...you must have caught it before I could correct my image tag typo. ^_^; I need to be more careful when I cut-and-paste addresses rather than typing them out...

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

So... I can't call you an Italian burrito, then?

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

Now THAT would be an interesting nickname...

<tries it out> 'Parito, "Burrito"...not too different...

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

Good job on the singing! *applauds*

Looking forward to hearing your adventures with the esteemed wdnesday_10_00!

.........still trying to figure out how you get "margarita" from cheese, tomato & basil.....*headdesk*

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

...still trying to figure out how you get "margarita" from cheese, tomato & basil.....*headdesk*

That's just what they call it here in Japan. It's actually applied to pizza..."margarita" pizza is plain cheese pizza with basil on top. In fact, it's one of the two types of pizza (the other being potato/mayonnaise) that a vegetarian can eat here.

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

Pizza Margherita has tomatoes, mozarella, and basil, the colors of the Italian flag. Named after Queen Margherita, for whom it was invented.

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info! I only see it written in katakana, so I have to guess what spelling they intend. I never saw that type of pizza before coming to Japan.

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

Ah, now that makes sense, and Margherita I have heard of before. I just went to the Mexican margarita and I couldn't reconcile it with basil *ack* (hey, after the Italian burrito there, anything was possible!)

My child, the star!

[megory.livejournal.com]

I LOVEthe productions your schools have done for any event. It's really wonderful to see such class spirit. We have some school-wide events here that are nice like winter festival and homecoming, but we don't get 100% participation--far from it. It's just terrific seeing the faculty and the students give it all they have. I can hardly wait to see the video.

Re: My child, the star!

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

I can hardly wait to see the video.

I went out and bought a cord for dubbing and some blank videotapes, so hopefully I'll get that taken care of reasonably soon.

[devimustang0929.livejournal.com]

What Miyazaki films were included? Ah...to have seen this performance. Music is one of my great loves, and to couple it with my desire to experience different cultures; an entirely new world out there waiting for me to explore. Well, hopefully I'll be able to start seeing some of it relatively soon.

Which, of course, will *not* be including my stay in Guantanamo Bay.

I really do enjoy reading your entries. Some little details to appeal to my own geeky nature, sometimes stories that make me giggle or even downright laugh out loud - I love it!

Keep writing - I'll keep reading!

[spacealien-vamp.livejournal.com]

What Miyazaki films were included?

They did Mononoke-hime and Howl's Moving Castle...and something with what appeared to be a lot of cats, though I didn't recognize it. They played music from Totoro, though they used that for scene changes rather than dancing to it.

Some little details to appeal to my own geeky nature, sometimes stories that make me giggle or even downright laugh out loud - I love it!

Thanks! I'm glad to hear that.