Miki's Fat City

I finally bought a new digital voice recorder. I used a tiny mic for iPod for a few times and it didn't work as good as I thought when it comes to recording a phoner. The mic for iPod costs like ¥8,500 and the DV recorder ¥10,000... shoooot, I should have gotten the recorder from the beginning. But a young editorial staffer in my office is happy to use it now so it wasn't a waste after all. I also bought an earphone mic at the same time. I've used it once years ago and didn't like it very much at the time. I felt something stuck between my ear and the receiver and it felt uncomfortable. So I ended up using a telephone recording adapter for years but the thing is it limits the type of telephone you can use it with. I find this earphone mic is pretty handy although it takes me a little while to get used to it. The Jacob Jensen phone on the right is... I mean, was almost a garnish sitting next to my main telephone/fax machine. It was connected but not used at all ...

The half of what we did when Larry Graham was in Tokyo is featured in the latest issue of monthly Bass Magazine, folks! Of course, it's the cover story. You will definitely looooove his most recent exclusive interview and the photos! The photographer Yoko is a friend of mine and is always great. My fellow colleague Daisuke did a great job, too. Hey Daisuke, I'm really proud of you! :) It's always nice and comfortable to work with my favorite people and the result is always super!!

my face is round like full moon... ugly :-( I found an interview video of the Bombastic Meatbats on a Japanese website and was watching it tonight. When I was grinning at what Chad Smith says (it's pretty funny, you'd better see it), I heard my friend's name come out suddenly. The bassist they originally booked was Phil Chen but he didn't show up. What? Phil was supposed to play with the Meatbats? No kidding! I must say it's fortunate for all the Meatbats music lovers that he didn't show up that day. Because there wouldn't have been Kevin Chown on Bass. Furthermore, their music wouldn't have been the same as what we now love. I mean, Phil Chen is a great bass player. He is actually one of the first bass players that made me realize I love the sound of the bass so much. The very first album I got was Rod Stewart's "Foot Loose & Fancy Free" on which Phil plays the bass. I was 13 or 14. It's a great album and I still liste...

しばらく英語が続いたので今回は日本語。 一昨日の夜から昨日の夜まで仲良しさんとたくさんお喋りして、楽しい時間を過ごしました。 気が付けば知り合ってからもう18年！ いやー、知り合った当初はそんなに長続きするとは全く思っていなかった（苦笑）。 20代後半と30代初めだった私と彼女も既に40代後半の見事なおばちゃん達。 久し振りにしみじみ思い出話をしちゃいましたわ。 若かりし頃の私たちは遊び仲間で、パーティ行ったり、クラブ活動したりと、とにかくかなりの頻度で夜遊びしてました。 どこへ行ってもナンパされないことがなかったため、暗黙のルールが「男と消える時はお互いに教える」。 面白い事に二人同時に消えることはあっても、片方がその場に取り残されることは一度もなかったんです。 とは言っても、朝まで二人で遊んで始発で帰宅ってのが圧倒的に多かったけど。 20代後半以降の私の恋愛遍歴を直に見ている彼女はいつも「あなたはタダの面食いじゃなくてチョー面食いなの」と言います（爆笑）。 彼女はべっぴんさんなのに殿方の内側を重視するタイプで、私は不細工なのに（不細工だからこそ？）外見でコロッといっちゃうタイプ。 きっと真逆な恋愛嗜好だからこそ、友情が長続きしているんでしょう。 そんな私たち、10年ほど前に何故か同時期に遠距離恋愛がスタートし、彼女は婚約者として渡英し、私はアメリカから夫を輸入する事になったんです。 ところが二人とも同時期にパートナーとのシリアスなトラブル勃発。 気違い3秒前の日々をメールと電話で励まし合い、一番大変な時期を乗り切ったのです。 おかげで今では互いに最高の恋愛相談相手であり、生涯の親友と思っているわけです。 互いの人生がガッツリとシンクロした濃厚な6年間に壊れる直前で互いのストッパー的役割を果たした経験があるおかげで、今ではどんなおバカな事を言おうが、やろうが、笑って受け入れられます。 ホント、前世でラブラブ夫婦だったんじゃなかろうか？と思っちゃうくらい（笑）。 人との出会いというのは本当に面白いものです。 どんなに仲良しでも時間の経過と共に互いの考え方が違ってきて疎遠になる人もいれば、一時期音信不通になっても連絡が取れたら昔と変わらない状態にアッという間に戻る人もいれば、彼女のように人生がシンクロするなんて奇妙な経験を共有する人もいます。 でも、これも全て「時間」...

Mick's bass and David's voice are a match made in heaven, I guess... When will love walk in my life again???

Oh, it's not the bear. It's... you know what it is otherwise. Well, my close friends affectionately call my house "Pooh House." Simply because they want to go to the loo in the morning when they enjoy my dish full of veggies the evening before. Yes, what I cook seems to detox them for some reason. The main dish yesterday evening was Salmon & Radish. Usually they cook with yellowtail but I did it with salmon because it's easier and healthier. Japanese style cucumber pickles, potato salad with Best Mayonnaise and sour cream dressing, and edamame (green soybeans) are on the side. I didn't cook much because my friend came over around 10pm after work and it turned a late night dinner. After we finish eating them, here comes the time for girls talk :) She had beer and I white wine. We went to bed around 3am! Girls never stop chatting once it starts, right? She checks in my Pooh House once or twice a month to detox her spiritual side as well as her body....

Rain sometimes hits my soft spot. But it was kinda nice to find Nuno's CRAVE video on YouTube because it reminds me of how he looked when I first met him at work 10-12 years ago. I still remember him entering the room with a shy smile, greeting me with sudden kisses on my cheeks on the first day while I was sitting on the corner cabinet just like a little kid sitting on the sink cabinet. A bit of a surprise for me but I tentatively understood it when he told me he was born in Portugal. I sometimes hug people I work with on the first day but kissing on cheeks at the first meeting is rare. Well, a good memory though. It's interesting how a little thing can make you feel better when you are feeling down. A nice email from one of my best friends last night cleared the cloud in my head and it coincided with the time the rain stopped. Isn't it strange? I don't know if it was because of the gloomy mood I was in but I finally tried to find my friends on Facebook yesterd...