02 April 2004

Countdown until scooter

Countdown until scooter: Who knows. I own a scooter. I have the papers. Why am I not riding it right now? You know, many people would expect a simple, linear answer to this question. There is no answer.

I've been reading about the lives of folks on the JET programme who seem to be doing any number of interesting things with beautiful people in Japan. Me? Last night, me and DK and a couple from England went to a bar to listen to a band called "Buck Natural" which was really just two guys playing guitars. They came and sat at our table for a while and the lead singer, a Black guy from North Carolina, told the thrilling story of how he learned to finger-pick. Brilliant. The bar was themed like Texas, but, in fact, the waitress, despite wearing a shirt that looked like the Texas state flag, couldn't speak English. I had a short conversation with the sound guy/ bouncer/ owner of the bar who could speak pretty good English about whether or not they could make me a White Russian. Long story short: No White Russian for Steve-o, but a darn good Moscow Mule and some chips and cheese dip that were okay.

Anyway, the British people were cool. I'm hanging out with British Dan tomorrow. I can't understand a word he says. You know, I've always assumed two things about British people: They have crappy teeth (British Dan and his girlfriend Suewan seem to be doing okay) and they have nice shoes. British Dan's shoes are pretty nice. One for two ain't bad.

Okay, I'm taking a little bit of what I said about Jurado back. There are a couple of good tracks on that record including one that Rosie Thomas sings on. But still, I hold out my complaints against any record with a song called "Intoxicated Hands" that includes a line about "intoxicated hands."