Scotland London Dolphins and Barbers not to mention Rehearsal Rehearsal Rehearsal

Two weeks of things, long overdue (I'm sorry) condensed into one...

Friday January 25th.
My friend Take from Wakayama was coming to visit me so I head over to the ferry. On the way I meet James and we get haircuts and get something to eat. I pick Take up at 9:30 at the ferry port and start the drive out west to Louise. She has made a version of the board game "Clue" titled "Barry White's Mansion of Love." Staring folks like Dolly Parton, Ghandi, and Snowflake the Albino Gorilla. I feel bad for getting there so late.

In the car, talking to Take at a red light, I accidentally let my foot off the brake and slowly crash into the car in front of me. My car got a slight dent and nothing happened to the other guy's car except a bit of a rip on the cloth spare tire cover (he had like a Jeep type thing). We offered to pay for the tire cover, but he insists we go to the police. Late arrival to Louise's becomes even later as we have to deal with police, and calling my vice principal at 11pm. Ugh what a mess. The good news is in hindsight that insurance covers it all, and the mechanic is even going to change my tires and oil for free while its in for repairs... :)

We get to Louise's a bit after 12, and no one else is there. So much for the Clue party. :( But I guess its only fair since I got there so late. We watch some videos for a little bit, have some wine, then go to bed. Rehearsal is out near her house the following morning, so we wake up, grab a Lawson's breakfast, and head over. Of course, we're the first ones there, as usual.

Rehearsal starts at 9:00. And we made a rule whoever came past 9:30 couldn't come to the party later that night. Well almost everyone came after 9:30... tisk tisk tisk. And rehearsal was freezing. FREEZING. We took a drive to a highway stop for lunch and then back to rehearsal. After a long rehearsal I was beat. We go shopping for some food to bring to the potluck that night.

Saturday night was Burns Supper. A night en homage to the Scottish poet, Robert Burns (think Auld Lang Syne). It was at the Highway Oasis, a highway stop containing cabins and an onsen (hot bath) near Louise's house. Louise and a bunch of ladies stayed to take a hot bath, but Take and I were tired so we went to Louise's house to take a nap before the party.

At 6:30 we make it to the party. A food extravaganza. Everything from fried croquets to gyoza to pasta salad to mulled wine, and even haggis. Yes thats right, nasty lumpy intestine-y haggis. Chris Pickles had smuggled some into the country when he visited home (England) over break. Many people read poems, sang songs, ate food, and drank. The night was a joyous occasion for all complete with a group singing of Auld Lang Syne. People retired to various cabins at various hours of the night. In the morning I went to get some breakfast, took a shower, and it was time to leave the cabins. Rehearsal was in Naruto on Sunday (3 hours away) and had started at 9. Unfortunately We woke up at 10, and had left by 11. Andrew was the only one at the rehearsal at 9, and we all felt so bad getting there around 1pm... I dropped Take off at the ferry port on my way to Sunday's rehearsal, and made it there about 1:30.

All during rehearsal I sewed costumes while others built props. We didn't rehearse anything that day because a large part of the group was horribly hungover. I had stopped drinking at 10pm and went to bed early, so I was fine. :-D

After a long long rehearsal, (or really prop making session) it was time to take the 2.5 hour drive home. I packed up my car and headed home. What a long weekend, and what an empty tank of gas. 3 hours west, 3 hours north, and 3 hours south to home. 9 hours driving in 3 days. Lovely.

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February First. A new month, and a new weekend!

Sweeny Todd is playing at the only theater in Tokushima. And it's the first of the month. And its a Friday! Off we go to the movies! I fetch Louise and James and drive up to the theater. Our film is at 8:40 and buses stop at 9, so I need to drive there to avoid getting an expensive taxi home. We get there early and decide to hit a Chinese food chain restaurant. So begins the photo journey. Louise snaps into silly picture mode which lasts until we get Purikura taken at the arcade nearby. When we get to the movies we are surprised (and James and Louise delighted) to find that at theaters in Japan, they offer popcorn and beer sets. Drinking in the movies... hmm. I'm driving so I cannot enjoy, but first of the month means half-priced tickets, so I enjoy some ice cream instead.

The first half of Sweeny Todd is great. The musical numbers are addicting and the cast makes us happy (Johnny Depp and Alan Rickman). But once the blood comes, I get sick. The premise is that Johhnny Depp is a barber that comes back from prison and asserts his revenge on anyone in his way, killing them. Halfway through the film, I have to leave. Mostly because I am a wuss, and I couldn't take the sight of all the fake blood. I wait outside for James and Louise, poking my head in every so often, seeing blood, and running out again. When the movie is finally over, they come get me, and properly make fun of me for being such a wimp. We leave the theater and go to the arcade for some photos. To our delight the photo booth is playing E-Rotic "Willy use a Billy." How odd.

On the way back from the theater, Louise pulls out a hand-puppet dolphin. This is the relationship guidance dolphin. Back when we went to Tokyo, if you'll remember, we had an impromptu relationship guidance session, using our hands as puppets. You can view the story in my previous Tokyo post. Well over the months, somehow this entity turned into a dolphin, and when Louise saw a hand puppet dolphin in the 100 yen store, she snatched it up immediately! The dolphin proceeded to give us advice about our lives and relationships as we drove home. We then went out to Cassanovas for some drinks (since I couldn't drink at the theater) and enjoyed some Karaoke. When we returned back to James' house, the dolphin came out again.

During the movie, Sweeny Todd, Alan Rickman (Severus Snape for those who would recognize him from Harry Potter Movies) says these lines which resulted in HILARIOUS laughter from the three of us, much to the confusion of the Japanese patrons...
"You gandered at my ward, Johanna. You, GANDERED, at her.... YES. Sir! You GANDERED!"
Laughter obviously came from the word "gander." We stumble upon a YouTube clip of Alan Rickman saying those lines. We then use our phone (sorry for the blurryness) to record this clip of the Relationship Guidance Dolphin "mouthing" the words of Alan.
Yes. Only moments before YouTube stardom finds its way to us! :P

The next morning we head to rehearsal in the city. We hop a bus, grab some Mister Donuts, and get to rehearsal... earlier than anyone else. How typical. This time however everyone was exceptionally late. So much so that we had to write "late late late" a hundred times on the chalkboard and stand it by the door to instill shame in those coming in late. Well, we didn't HAVE to, but we wanted to. I sewed more. The did some scenes. We went on a fabric adventure. All that great stuff. Lunch at Indian Curry.

Afterward, Louise had to run to Takamatsu to see some friends, and James and I went to Bar Aqua. Unfortunately we were early and it hadn't opened yet, so we went instead to Bell's Bar. I had only been to Bells once before and it seemed huge and spacious. But its even more cavernous when no one is in there. We chatted quietly with the bartenders, and then the woman who owned the bar invited us to play Wii Fit. (Wii is a nintendo game where theres wireless controls, and Wii Fit, you stand on a weight detecting device and play using your whole body.) I was incredible at hula hooping. I'm shocked the video game was able to realize where I was spinning my hips. It reads the weight distribution and as you swivel your hips, the hula hoop on the screen spins around you. I was lousy at soccer and skiing tho. After that we had a round of Wii Bowling. James and I and the bar owner. She kicked our asses, but I came in second place! Not too bad.

We left and went back to Bar Aqua and enjoyed some karaoke and drinking until wee hours of the morning. I was trying to help James get a date, and he had great success. Hooray. We woke up a bit late for rehearsal the next day, but to be honest, with all the times we were early, we deserve to be late once. I drive down to Anan, getting some drive thru Mos burger on the way. (This was my first Japanese Drive Thru... how exciting!) And at rehearsal, guess what I did? I sewed. Sewed and danced. We had lunch at a fast food beef and rice bowl place and then went back and worked on the show some more. The lucky bit about this week was that Anan is only 40 minutes away from my town. So after rehearsal I didn't have to drive 2-3 hours to go home, and I made it in reasonable time.

These musical weekends are killing me...



PICTURES!!!!!
Musical Mischief and Burns Supper
Sweeny Todd and the Relationship Guidance Dolphin

posted by Living and Teaching in Tokushima @ 9:57 AM Comments: 0