Another day, another adventure

Man, what an eventful month it's been... and yet the good times keep rolling! This week's tale promises not to disappoint as well.

So our story starts on a nice and sunny Saturday morning - unseasonably warm, which was fortunate for me for reasons you will soon understand. I asked Matt to borrow the Trailblazer from work for the weekend so I could take my bike into the shop. On this particular occasion we all had stuff to take care of, so all 3 of us were up and about at 11am, which for a Saturday is rather remarkable in our world. My plans had me in Shibuya at 2 to meet up with the roomies and 2 others to mess around, then later we were going to go out to a club close to Ebisu for some good ole drum n bass. Matt was in a rush, so he asks me to drive him to the station, like now. I had no problem with that, and figured since I was going to be right back there was no need to change out of my current garb of pajamas and t-shirt, but decided to grab my wallet since it's illegal to walk around here without a gaijin card.

We get out and talk about how nice the weather is for a drive and how funny it is that I'm about to go return some videos to Tsutaya (Japanese version of Blockbuster) in my pj's and sandles... hahaha, falala-lala. "Man, I have absolutely no sense of shame", I comment, and Matt thoroughly agrees with approval at my wanton disregard for the rules of fashion and society. I drop him off and come back with no hitches, except for a little traffic, all set to shower up and set out for the day. There's only one problem.

I come back and try the door - it's locked. Where are my keys? Inside. What about my phone? On the table, next to the keys. I am locked out since our other roomie had already set out for the day to run some local errands while I was gone, leaving me with a wallet, car keys, pj's, a t-shirt and some sandals - I hadn't even taken a shower yet, so I stunk a little with Einstein hair and a slight case of the morning breath. Of course, given our modern day dependence on technology to supplant our memory for such things, I can't recall the numbers or phone mail addys of any of my friends in order to ask someone for help (I later found that I was only one character off from remembering one friend's though). After trying the door I try all the windows - nothing. I even went in the back and climbed up to our 2nd-story balcony (in sandals!!), but all the windows and doors were locked!

Great - here it is 11:30, and I have to meet people at 2. I figured that if I was going to make it in time I would have to set out about 1 or so, and sit in the car til 12:45 in the hope that my roomie would stop back by the apartment before heading into town. No dice. The time in the car allowed me to think long and hard about my options... should I go to the super and see if there's a spare key? Well, the apartment isn't in my name and they don't technically know I live there, so I decided against that. Should I sit in the car all day and wait for someone to come back? Well who knows how long that would take, I could be there all night - besides, that's boring. So I go with the option that in my mind makes the most sense - I go to Shibuya, in my pajamas and with a couple small cuts from the balcony stunt (kids, do not try this at home). I have no key or phone and no sense of shame, but I do have a wallet, meaning I have money and a train pass. It's a good thing I have no shame, right? At least the weather's nice!

So first stop is the corner store, where I buy some gum to take the place of toothpaste. Next, I get on the bus... some staring, but that's to be expected. I shrug it off. Now at the station, I make a stop in the bathroom to take a makeshift traveler's shower with ice-cold water and hand soap. Mmm, refreshing! I get on the train and ride into town - there's some HS girls in their uniforms staring and laughing, but no biggie for me... I'm more concerned about who if anyone will show of the 4 people I was supposed to meet with since they all (supposedly) knew Shibuya station at 2, but no one but Kei knows exactly which exit since they were all supposed to call/text for more details upon arrival. I'm figuring if one person shows up then they'll have numbers of other people and everything'll work out.

I get to the station - 1:45. I head for the most common exit, Hachiko, and cross my fingers. After about 30mins. of walking around and staring at the gates as hundreds of people pass by in one of the busiest stations in the world much less the country, I rest on a wall right by the exit. Then, Kei shows up! What a relief. So after explaining the situation and sharing a laugh at my miserable state, we go to grab a bite - no one else showed and Kei doesn't have my roommates' or any of my other friends' numbers, but I'm not alone now and that's all that matters. Kei is so awesome. ;P

So she sticks around, as we figure that our next opportunity to meet up with others will be at the club at 11ish- Kei wasn't coming for DnB night since she had already bought tickets for another event, but she didn't want to leave me alone and said she'd stay til the last possible moment. We get to Ebisu close to the club, and wanting to grab a bite we go off to an English-style pub I discovered the other day for a Guinness and some fish & chips. After finding a seat I go to order. I go to the counter to pass the guy my ticket for the food, then turn around and there's Matt!! Totally out of the blue, we both decided to stop by the same place to waste some time til the club started up. After a few excited screams, I relay to him the day's escapades as we have a good laugh and resolve to have a beer. Where was he at 2? Well, over in Harajuku looking for me since I mentioned something about a possible picnic in Yoyogi earlier due to the weather. I grab Kei and drag her over to Matt's table, and after a few more excited screams we both melt in a mutual sigh of relief together in the corner. Matt pulled out his handy dandy cell as we agreed that this event must be properly documented with visual evidence of just what a pitiful mess I was at this point - again remember that this is me at about 10pm in front of a bar, looking exactly as I did at 10am. If you'll look closely, you may notice that I'm also still wearing the same dress socks I had on for work on Friday... a more total bum I could not be.

Matt offers me his key and says I could probably still just make it if I wanted to go home and change before the club, but screw that. Hell naw, with all kinds of Durgitude blaring and pj's blowing in the wind, I blaze my way to the club for a night of livelihood and general ruckus. Good times. I finally wound up ditching DnB and sticking with Kei after making sure everyone had each other's numbers... leading to another less random meetup with Matt at our station at about 6am on the way home. Again, documentation was necessary - sweater by Gap, bought in Shibuya earlier because of all the chilly wind; shoes by Don Quixote, bought since I can't dance in sandals. When I got home I checked my phone: 14 missed calls, 8 emails and 2 texts. A personal record for missed calls!

Now at least one or two of you may actually recall that this is not the first time that I have shown up to a club in sleep wear - even discounting last year's Halloween festivities, there was a certain foam party I remember at the old Buzz in DC in which I did not want to get my clothes wet and thus decided to go without... it's slightly problematic getting into a club in just boxers though as they don't have pockets to hold stuff like wallets and id, but I made due and didn't get any clothes wet! Anyone want to bet whether that will be the last time?

So let this be a lesson to us all - make sure that precautionary measures are taken in case of such emergency incidents as getting locked out, or you too may find yourself in downtown Tokyo wandering around in pajamas for hours and have loads of fun. Even my tragic disasters are fun lately - life is good!

Oh, and I rounded off the weekend by taking my bike in to the shop, making about $100 on 2 hours work translating, and grabbing some tasty pizza at California Pizza Kitchen since Yokohama has like everything. Mmm, mmm, bitch!