Birthday things

I got some pictures from Kentaro. These were taken in Kichijoji on August 17. We were at a bar called Koki's--it's a restaurant, actually, but we weren't there for the food. We were full of som tam and other Thai delicacies already.

Anyway, Koki's has this deal where your table gets a bingo card and the coasters that come with your drinks (380 yen a pop! not bad) have numbers written on them. If you line up a bingo you walk out with 10,000 yen in cash. We got three in a row in a number of spots, but it looked pretty hopeless . . . we weren't in a hard-drinking mood, I guess. Not that this kept us from going to that other bar afterward, but . . .

The other deal at Koki's is the birthday special. We told the staff I was 33 and they asked to see some proof; I flashed my alien registration and toward the end of our stay there they fired up a birthday-oriented rock song on the jukebox (all the regulars in the place started clapping and cheering) and brought this monstrous dessert over to the table. It had ice cream and chocolate syrup and a chou crême and sparklers and god knows what else in the margarita glass. We ate the whole thing. I'm not young any more so it no doubt made me fat instead of energetic. Oh well.

The pix: Me in a sombrero (traditional Japanese party wear), the dessert, Megumi, Kentaro. Michael was also there but stayed out of frame for some reason. That secretive guy. And last but not least, we have a shot of the band that was playing in front of the station. Very solid performers, and it's not every day you get to listen to guys playing a washboard and a washtub with a string in it, especially in west Tokyo. Happy birthday to me!

(2003.8.21)