The Ace of Spades

Well, this past weekend was Loud Park weekend. Originally I was planning on going because there were some bands I would have liked to see. The bands I mostly wanted to see were Edguy, Motorhead, Chthonic, Accept, and Ozzy. I also wouldnt mind seeing Ratt, Halford, and Angra as a bonus. However, after giving it much thought, I decided not to go this year. Its 25,000 yen for the 2 days and I honestly am kinda broke right now. I have enough to get by and stuff but I couldnt really afford to drop that much money on Loud Park this year, and basically out of the bands I really wanted to see, Edguy, Chthonic, and Accept would be playing sorta small sets. Also, I would totally miss Ozzy cuz hes last on Sunday and I would need before then to get home. The other major headliner for Saturday is Korn and I dont really like them so it didnt seem worth the price IMO. Ill just wait for another good band I really like to play their own headlining show and drop the 7000 yen or whatever and it will be better worth my money. I still had plans to go to the Loud Park after party at Current though.

So Friday night, since I was trying to save money and there wasnt anything in particular going on, I just stayed home and drank cheap beer.

On Saturday I headed to Tokyo and got out there at around 5 pm. Emmet was already out there and wanted to go to an international party. I had nothing else to do in particular and if I drank enough (since its all you can drink... and eat) it would justify the cost. I told him I would meet him at Mikado and then we would head out to the party at around 6. He called me up later saying he was with that crazy Roppongi girl from before now and that he changed plans and suggested we just go to the Mexican place, Sol Amingo, that has the 1575 yen nomihodai for 2 hours. I was down for this.

So I stayed at Mikado and played for about an hour or so. It wasnt really packed but there were enough people there to get games in and it was also still sorta early. I started off fighting some pretty good Eddie. Inoue, Ain, and Nage were there watching me play. I lost to the Eddie. Then I rematched him and beat him twice. Then I lost again. Then Ain got on to fight him so I went to another cab. From here, I ended up getting a 17 win streak and then just left at around 6-ish cuz thats around when I told Emmet I would meet up with him by Shinjuku station. I actually really enjoyed just that little hour or so session of GG and wish there were more tournaments going on right now.

So I found him and Roppongi girl at the station and we went to Sol Amingo. We totally got our money's worth and kept them busy getting us drinks. I think I had a little more than everyone else cuz I was drinking my regular drinks a bit faster. So we all did like 5 double shots of good tequila and then on top of that I think I had like 2 tequila cokes and 2 beers and this was within 2 hours. Emmet and the girl had the same but maybe 2 less drinks than me. I also ordered a burrito and when I got it, I looked inside and aside from like a small chunk of meat it was literally a fucking empty tortilla! WTF?! I wasnt sure if they made a mistake so I called the waitress over and asked what was up. Then some guy came who I think was the manager and told me thats how they make it here. I dunno about you... but where I come from, a good burrito AT LEAST has lettuce, tomato, onion, beans, and meat... and it SHOULD have cheese and sour cream and some salsa or cilantro. It was probably the shittiest looking burrito I ever ordered at a restaurant anywhere in my life. period. I didnt even taste it but luckily the guy was nice and said I could just order something else and he wouldnt charge me extra, so I just got 2 soft tacos like last time I went which were fine.

Anyway, otherwise it was pretty good there, but Roppingi girl was getting too drunk and emotional about stuff and it was kinda a hassle but whatever.

After we left there, we walked near a combini and sat down to have a few more pre game beers before going in to Current since it was still early. Around this time, Andy met up with us cuz he had just came from a nearby festival anyway. He hung out a bit but decided to go back home. At some point, I guess drinking all that stuff in such a short time got to me and I fell asleep sitting down when we were drinking. I dont think I was out for that long, maybe 15 minutes. Eventually Emmet woke me. There was now some other random dude with us. Appearently he was just some guy walking down the street and wanted to drink with us so Emmet invited him along lol. We then headed to Current.

When we got inside it was already fairly packed for being early. I said hi to Michi and Nozomi and they asked wtf was all over my arms and shit. I looked down and didnt even notice that Emmet and Roppongi girl drew a bunch of crap all over my arms with her black eye liner. They also taped a piece of paper to my hat and wrote some crap on it. I quickly went to the bathroom and washed it off real fast and came back acting like nothing ever happened lol. From then on I was fine for the rest of the night and didnt feel sleepy at all either while at Current. As the night went on, it got super packed but as far as I know or remember, unlike other years, no famous musicians showed up this time which was kind of a bummer. There could have been some but none I recognized. I was pretty drunk anyway so maybe I dont remember.

After Current closed, I went to PSY and that random dude from earlier went with me. Emmet and Roppongi girl were already gone by now. I dont remember anything at PSY, but Im pretty sure I fell asleep for a bit. After they closed, I left, grabbed some McDonalds real fast and went to sleep at the manga kissa.

I woke up on Sunday afternoon and esophagus hurt pretty bad. I could tell it was from the McDonalds cuz I was fun until then. I gotta resist those early morning munchies.

Today, the plan was to play poker! Emmet knows this guy named Grant from back in New Zealand who has been living in Japan for 16 years. He lives in Maebashi (the capital of Gunma), Last month they organized a poker game but I was too hungover and didnt go. This time I was only slightly hungover so I was all for it!

I met up with Emmet and we headed back to Maebashi on the train. When we got to the station, Grant met us there and we took a cab to the bar. It was a small old-school style bar called Propeller. It was pretty cool and had really nice lighting and stuff. Very yellow tinted to make it look more old-school.

The owner of the bar is also a player in the poker games so it was totally cool that we played there. No one knows his name so they all just call him "masta" since hes the master of the establishment. Hes like an older guy in his 50s. Andy also came to play poker. We used to play poker together back home in Chicago with lots of our other friends (many of whom were fellow fighting game players). In addition to Andy, there were these 2 Italian guys and their Japanese girlfriends but only the 2 Italian guys played. So with that we had a 7 man table which is pretty good.

We played a cash game with chips which worked out well since not everyone showed up at the same time. Im used to playing tournament style but this worked out fine. We started at about 5 and played till about 10:30. For almost the ENTIRE game I was straight up dominating. Im far from a pro hold'em player. I know what I am doing and consider myself decent at best but aside from Grant, Emmet, and Andy, everyone else at the table were pretty much beginners. I was also getting ALOT of good hands. I cashed in with 3,000 yen and at one point I probably had around 14,000 yen or something in my chip stack.

That was... until one hand...

So basically I get dealt Q spades and 9 of spades. Emmet has position to act before me so Emmet bets pre flop about triple the big blind (blinds were 25, 50... so 150 yen). Having a decent hand and being big stack I figured why not. A few other people were in as well. I forgot exactly what the flop was but basically I think there were 2 spades and something else. I was a card away from a flush. Emmet bets a sorta high amount but it was nothing too crazy. Something like 300 yen. I matched it. Then the turn comes up and its another spade. I now had a flash. This time Emmet bets like 500 or something. I raised him to 1000 and he re raised me to like 1500 and I accpet. Emmet had been bluffing his ass off for like the last couple hands so I figured he was doing it again. I had the 3rd best flush in the game so I was fairly confident. Last card comes up, I forgot what it was but it didnt matter. Emmet bets again like some sorta high amount, then I raised him again for like 4000. He accepts and wants to go all in. I instantly accepted. I flip my cards to show my Queen high flush. Then... Emmet flips his to reveal his King AND Ace of spades! WTF!!?! Oh... man... I was so upset with that outcome. I know I didnt have the nuts and I probably shouldnt have gone all in. I just cant believe he had BOTH the Ace and King. Not that it matters but it just adds insult to injury.

In any case, after that hand, I was still up 800 yen. We finished up soon after that and I still came out with more than I started with but I could have had WAY more if it wasnt for one bad mistake.

We will play again on Sunday, November 7th. Either way, it was fun. All the people there were cool, Masta gave us some free whiskey and it was overall a good time. This was the first time I played poker in like a year or something so if felt good. (Since moving to Japan the only time I ever play is maybe one game while I am visiting Chicago for holidays and stuff).

After it was over, I headed home and thats about it.

Next weekend there is PSY/GODZ escape from the bar on the same day as the next Final Roundbat. I am thinking I will probably go to Final Roundbat cuz I havnt played in any tournaments in a while and I had a lot of fun last time. It will also end up being the cheaper option.

Anyway... fun weekend, despite my bad poker decision. What would you have done?

"Sober"? WTF does that mean...?

I didnt bother writing anything for my blog about 2 weeks ago. Basically to sum it up quickly, the information that I leaked shouldnt have been posted online. The person who gave me that information said he could get in deep shit for it, so I took it down out of respect for him. Im sure you all know what that is by now so I wont get into detail about it, and if you dont know what I am talking about, dont worry about it. Its not important. In any case, 2 weeks ago pretty much just involved a ton of drinking and a Metal Event so I didnt really feel it was worth doing a whole update for.

And now moving on to this past weekend. It was a 3 day weekend. On Friday, I drank in Numata (the town next to where I live, where Emmet lives). I started off drinking with Emmet at his place to pregame. Then, we went to an Izakaya where we met up with Ryoko and 2 of her friends joined us as well. It was fun times. We drank there till about midnight and then Ryoko had to go home cuz she had work tomorrow. Her friends went home too. Emmet and I stayed out all night and went to a bar called Haveryon.

There was only 1 customer plus the bartender when we got there but theres not much else open aside from snack bars at that hour so we made the most of it. Shortly after we got there, another ALT who we know who lives in the area showed up. Let's just call him Mr. L. This guy is just a casual acquaintance and I dont really ever hang out with him. He seemed pretty drunk already and even fell off his bar stool by himself shortly after arriving. He sat with us at the bar and asked me what the last CD I bought was and wanted me to put a song on to show him for whatever reason. This bar has a computer out that the customers can use freely to put on whatever music they want with youtube or whatever. So I put on a song, and like 2 minutes in, he turns it off saying he doesnt like it. It was kind of a dick move and he could have waited another like 4 minutes for the song to end but whatever. I let it go. Mr. L also made some smart ass condescending comment applying I have no game because I have been with the same girl since I came to Japan. Considering im engaged to her it would make sense. Emmet was even defending me on this one and hes one of the biggest players I know lol.

Then, he like wants to play some stupid telling jokes game. He said how he had this awsome funny joke and he will tell us but we all have to tell a joke first. I had no good jokes off the top of my head and I think its kinda lame to like try to force someone to tell a joke like that but anyway, I told a joke, it was pretty lame but whatever. Then Emmet tells one, it was also kinda lame but who cares. Then the guy tells his joke and it sucked too. Then he tells us to go another round, so I tell another lame one. Then Emmet says "What's black and white and tells really bad jokes? .... Mr. L with a newspaper!" This joke in itself isnt even that funny but just given the fact that Mr. L was so serious about his jokes and we didnt give a fuck at all and we were wasted, both of us just busted out laughing really hard for like a good 2 minutes. I couldnt breath I was laughing so hard cuz it took me off guard. Mr. L didnt seem amused but we were just messing around and it was all in good fun. So eventually I dont remember how it progressed this way but Mr. L says "Watch your fucking mouth" to Emmet. First Emmet was just like alright man... lets just drink, cuz he didnt wanna start anything and was just fucking around. Then Mr. L said it like 4 more times and Emmet was just like... "Yo dude, seriously if you say that to me again I will fucking roll you. Lets just chill and drink" So, Mr. L says it again and Emmet gives him a little shove and Mr. L falls off his barstool again. Then he gets up, talks to the bartender for like a minute, and leaves.

Honestly the dude was being a dick, and the bartender after that told us that Mr. L is a pretty thick headed guy and to just forget about it. The bartender also said he was probably jealous of my Japanese cuz the guy lived here for 7 years or something and has worse Japanese than I do or something. Then the bartender just drank with us for a few more hours and gave us like 4 free shots each and only charged us 1500 yen each for a whole night of drinking which is insanely cheap!

After that, we went back to Emmets and slept.

On Saturday, I woke up at around 1 pm. Emmet was already awake drinking. I took a shower, got some food at the market across the street, and came back. Today our plan was to go to Maebashi Matsuri (a festival). Andy was going to join us. We realized that the weather was pretty shitty and it seemed as it if it would rain all day. We decided to change our plans and just go right to Tokyo because there was going to be an Oktoberfest international party with German food and German beer, so we figured we might as well just do that. We realized if we were gonna make it we had to run to get the next train which left in 10 minutes, so we ran to the station quickly and got on the train just in time.

We met up with Andy at Takasaki station and he rode the rest of the way with us. We were drinkin beers the whole way down there. The party was in Harajuku. We got there just when it started. The food was good and they had high quaility German sausages with 4 kinds of gourmet mustard, sour kroute, and other good stuff. They also had 2 kinds of German beer, a weizen and a lager. Both ive never had before but they were pretty good. We talked with a few various people and got our money's worth on drinks. This is the same international party with the black dude with the curly mustache for a chef and he always makes good food. I havnt been to one of those in a long ass time but they dude remembered me.

After the party ended at around 9, we left and some girls came with us. We all went to Current for Masami and Mame's birthday party. It wasnt as packed a some parties have been in the past, but it was still fun and lots of regulars showed up. Pachi came too. I dont remember much noteworthy stuff to say about it but we drank a lot.

After that, we went to PSY and I dont remember much from there except I passed out for a bit. Thats what I get for drinking heavily since 2 pm. I eventually woke up though and after PSY closed I headed with a few people to Tokyo Loose. I dont know what time I stayed there till but I left there with Pachi. He told me I could crash at his place tonight to save money. We got some yakisoba and then I dont remember what happened. But.... the next thing I knew, I woke up on the Tozai subway line and it was like 12:30 pm... lol! I guess somewhere along the way I lost Pachi and I honestly have no idea why I was even on the Tozai line since its not even the line I would take to get to where he lives. In any case, I could tell I had already been sleeping for a few hours. I headed back to Shinjuku and stayed at the manga kissa for another few hours and then when I felt refreshed enough I left at around 4:30 pm.

Emmet mailed me and wanted to meet up but I guess I took too long to check out of there so he went to go eat/drink with one of the girls from last night. I decided it was about time I at least play a little GG for the weekend so I got some quick BK and then I headed to Mikado.

At Mikado, I was surprised that today they only had 5 GG cabs set up. They were running a huge Vampire Savior tournament so I guess they needed the extra cabs for VS setups. There were still people there playing GG though. I got a small win streak of like 10 wins or something and most of the people I was fighting werent so good but then eventually Kunihiro showed up. I beat his Sol twice, beat his Ky once, lost to his Anji twice, beat his Anji once, and then lost to his Robo-Ky 3 times. I dont know why but I was just having trouble with Robo-ky today. Then, Ryan (Letbloodrun) showed up. He said he just swung by to see if I was here cuz he wanted to chill. There was only 1 3S setup going today because of the VS tournament so we figured lets just go drink now. I said bye to Kunihiro and we left.

So by now, Emmet was at Current with the girl. We got there pretty early, it was only like 8 pm or something. We sat at a table with Emmet and the girl and drank for a while. It wasnt too packed but there were some other people in the bar.

Ryan wanted to go to GODZ so I went there with him for a beer. It was kinda dead but we had fun listening to metal.

We then went back to Current but instead of going inside, we sat outside 7-11 and knocked back some whiskey and beers for cheap. Both of us were kinda trying to save money. Emmet and the girl joined us for a bit and we were probably out there drinking for like almost 2 hours. At some delicious Indian curry nikuman too.

After that, we went back to Current and drank more till closing and eventually we went to PSY. It was pretty packed and we had fun. Emmet and the girl didnt go with us though but PSY was full of cool people. I didnt pass out at all this time thankefully.

After PSY closed, we got went to Tokyo Loose with like 4 other people. We drank there till at least passed 8 or 9. Originally, Ryan wasnt gonna stay out all night cuz his girl was getting upset but he decided to test the waters and see what would happen if he stayed out all night. Hopefully it works out for him.

I slept at the manga kissa and woke up around 3. I still felt drunk. I didnt have to drive today cuz Ryoko was gonna pick me up from the station when I arrived so I figured I might as well drink more. I got a few beers for the road and a Bacon Cheese Whopper and headed back. I spent the rest of the evening with Ryoko and she made me Okonmiyaki and awsome potato salad. It was good times.

I think I drank WAY too much this weekend. Surprisingly my esophagus didnt really end up hurting at all, so I think I am actually for the most part cured, but I pretty much wasnt sober at all for the past 3 days aside from the small window in which I played GG and the very end of Monday night after sobering up from the train ride back. With GG tournament season being pretty dead right now after Tougeki just ended, I just dont have much motivation to play and just wanna get fucked up. Sometimes a little break can be ok though.

Next weekend is Loud Park. I wont be going to the concert cuz its too expensive and not enough bands I wanna see will be there (or at least the ones I wanna see arnt going to play long sets), but I will go to Current for the after party. It will be interesting to see what famous musicians show up this time.

Fuck... I sure am an alcoholic.