July 8th, 2003
Not quite the beginning
“…feels like it’s just begun.” So, here I am. Not quite at the beginning but a good long ways from the end. Will this young creative sapling live to a ripe, old age as an honest oak? Or will the drought of apathy and neglect choke off the budding potential of sweet fruit? Who knows, who cares? No one at this point. I’m 23 years old, incredibly switched on by all the crazy little pleasures of life, and at the same time feeling more than a little alone, almost half a world away from county fairs, tractor crossings and okra.
I’ve been in Japan for 39 days now, though it’s not the first time. It is, however, the first time I’ve ever gone someplace without a return ticket. I live in Tokyo, one of the most populous cities in the world (over 12 million). I’m kinda right in the center. If you know anything about Tokyo, I live in Yoyogi, walking 15 minutes to Shinjuku and about 20 to Shibuya. I was a small town guy, but now I’m a big city guy. I like it because there is virtually everything you could conceivably want here (aside from the grazing animals I left behind in America).
When I was about 18, my best friend Brandon and I got our hands on a copy of Moby’s Everything is Wrong. We gave it our first serious listen on our way down to well-to-do Virginia girls’ college Sweetbriar; we were going to see his friend play in a field hockey match. The goalie of the opposing team had on so many thick pads she reminded me of Megaman. But the point is that album was the pivotal first pop rocks and jolt cola that started us on a journey to insane digital music mania. Since then, I can’t begin to describe how much the evolution of my appreciation for electronica (and subsequently idyllic rave culture) has profoundly impacted my life. One may argue I am where I am today because the beats never stopped, so neither have I. Much more on that later.
Anyway, this, my first blog is called Autumn Tactics because a) it’s one of the top 10 pivotal pieces of music that are interwoven with my inescapable past (particularly being in Japan), and b) because some rat took my current Blogger username (LoveParade) and made a blog named after it. Just kidding, you’re not a rat. If you embrace the same sort of acoustic religion I do, it’s all good.
PS – I’m Shift-JIS enabled, and such will some of my links be. So I recommend installing Japanese font support for your terminal if you want to check out any of the cool eastern stuff I’ll mention (it’s not hard).
Peace, Love, Unity and Respect
