got a call from my father at 11am today, asking if he could borrow my flash light (he was helping a friend deliver chinese food for his restaurant on new year's eve). when he came, i asked if he could take me to the strawberry's down on memorial drive, so i could buy the tickets for tonight's new year's eve first kaiju fight out. here's something they don't tell you: ticket purchases are always cash only, no credit card. another employee heard about my purchase and said that they were selling pretty well and they'd soon run out. instead of taking me back home, i went with my father to do some supply shopping at bj's wholesales. the only thing i got for myself was a large drum of pretzels. they was more boxes of electronic devices than usual, probably overstocked from the christmas season, maybe much of it will go on sale soon.
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this is what i realized today about my schedule: anything before noon is early, anything after 2am is late. the fact that i was up and about before noon today seemed like bonus hours to me, times where i'm usually sleeping. i think i can be a morning person if i wanted to, but i just stay up too late, and sleep is almost like a constant, you have to have a certain fixed amount otherwise you can't function correctly (for me that magic number is 10 hours, but i'm happy if i can get 8 hours).
i had hot dogs again for lunch, this time adding some freshly chopped onions into the mix for a most delicious meal. if i can get my hands on some sauerkraut, i will truly have made hot dogs with all the works. after lunch i fritzed about with some of my freelance work, thought i'd log some hours since i wouldn't be doing any work tonight. i also wrote out a few checks, decided to finally pay the bills (mortgage, gas, electric, cable, internet, telephone) before the year was through, and i briefly went to the porter exchange to cash in my most recent unemployment check.
alex came by at 5pm with his printer which he was letting me borrow so i could test print from my pc, and a copy of face forward by kevyn aucoin, famous makeup artist of the stars. i was surprised by the gift, and he never made it clear whether it was christmas related or not, but now i feel guilty that i didn't get him anything. the book is interesting, filled with interesting makeup tips (besides the many portraits of celebrities), if i ever go drag, i can put all this knowledge to good use.
we hung out at my place until 7pm, alex falling asleep on the living room armchair. we walked to the porter exchange to grab some food, but unfortunately they were closing early so the employees could go home and celebrate new year's eve (what about me? what about my needs?). instead, we went to anna's taqueria, mexicans, unlike japanese, are much harder workers and stay open normal business hours on the 31st so people can feed.
with the mbta running free after 8pm, we were ready to head out into boston after killing some time at blockbuster videos (i was surprised to see how the dvd market has basically swallowed up the video market, they should rename the place blockbuster dvd's). but first i had to use the bathroom. went to the basement of the porter square mall, the bathroom was locked. we back to the porter exchange, there was a cleaning woman in there, and she was surprised to see that i came in despite the fact that she blocked the men's room door with her cleaning cart. at first i didn't understand her, i figured i could use the bathroom, and then i thought maybe i can just use one of the stalls while she cleans the rest of the place, so while i was making my way deeper in the bathroom, she blurted out, "excuse me! the bathroom is closed!" "oh, i'm sorry," i replied, slithering back out the door. so back into porter square, to the macdonald's, which had a bathroom, but was locked as well, patrons only. to star market was our next stop, and after walking around the whole store (by the way, i haven't been to the porter square star market in many years), we finally found the bathroom (located near the meat aisle). it too was locked, but for some reason (a miracle), the key was still in the door of the men's bathroom. i tried it and it wouldn't turn, figuring we'd have to trek all the way back to my house just to use the bathroom, but then i tried it again and the door opened, and finally i was able to find some relief. all this just to find a bathroom!
we finally headed into boston, got off at park street to walk around the common a little bit, take in some of the free first night sights, like the ice sculptures. there was a thick fog covering much of the landscape, which made for very dramatic photos. unlike in previous years, this new year's eve wasn't bone chillingly freezing, although the cold moisture in the air wasn't anything to celebrate either. there were a lot of people in the common, but nowhere near the magnitude of people i saw when i came to park street to watch the patriots' parade when they won the superbowl last year (that was shoulder to shoulder wall of humanity). i ended up buying one of these flashing led pins ($5) i saw people walking around wearing.
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we left around 9:30pm, catching the orange line to back bay station. on the orange line, as well as any other times we took the trains, we'd always see groups of well dressed young people,
obviously going to a more glamorous and high class new year's eve celebration. oh how i hate the elite! high society in training. we walked to the boston center for the arts/cyclorama. still early, we went next door to an art gallery featuring works of art depicting the bathroom. in tonight's second bathroom miracle, the gallery had a working bathroom in the back, and i was able to relief myself once more before the kaiju battle.
inside the cyclorama was a scene straight out of some mad max movie. fighting music would be blaring from speakers, spotlights shining down from above, a steel cage was set up in the middle of the large room, everywhere were groups of very interesting looking alt folks, the punkers, the goths, the otakus, the skate boys, all underneath a huge dome worthy of awe. there was a bar, but it was very crowded. there was also a merchandise table, and i bought an orange t-shirt ($15) with the kanji for "kaiju" written in green. about an hour before midnight, the preshow warmup began with two rappers singing in the cage. as midnight approached, the announcer came out and counted off the seconds to the new year. as soon as 2003 rolled in, the first of five fights began.
what is kaiju battel (sic)? in a nutshell, people dress up as japanese inspired movie monsters and they wrestle. i am not a fan of wrestling, and to be honest, after tonight, i know i probably hate it. i enjoyed the show from all aspects except the wrestling. i don't understand it, i don't think it's entertaining, and the people i saw who were really getting into it, i kept on thinking maybe they weren't too bright or perhaps just drunk. the costumes they created for themselves, the characters they portrayed, were all imaginative and cool. there's complex background story behind the characters, between the villians and the good guys. doctor cube is the evil mastermind who creates diabolical monsters to fight with our heroes. a big suspended screen projection broadcasted a live feed of the events in the cage from several video cameras. between fights, the poor man's jumbotron would also deliver special messages, maybe a newsreport about monsters on the loose, maybe some monster themed commercials. when i wasn't paying attention to the wrestling, i was doing mad people watching. the kind of folks who showed up, it's definitely an alt fest, several photo books could be devoted to their ilk. it wasn't all guys either (which was what i was expecting), half of the people there were girls. at one point alex nudged me and i saw two very hot brunettes (was one in them in a catholic school girl uniform) deep kissing (were they bored by the show as much as we were?).
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the show came to a close at 1:30am, ending with a battle royale between our hero the silver potato and doctor cube's posse of evil, with all the combatants gathering in the cage and squirting the audience with champagne. i had fortunately stepped far enough back as to not get drenched. alex and i quickly left, with me suffering some temporary hearing loss. back to back bay station we went (special new year's eve mbta service shuts down at 2:30am).
on the orange line back to downtown crossing, alex struck up a conversation with this japanese-belgian girl who also went to the kaiju battel. we went as far as porter square, where they exchanged e-mails (how modern). outside, i watched people hailing taxis, happy to know that my house was within walking distance from the t stop. alex and i came back to my place, where we reviewed the photos we had taken tonight on my television. after some lazy television watching, he left after 4am.
so this was my last day of 2002. sorry i don't have time to reflect on what kind of year i had, since before i knew it, i was already in 2003. do you know that i still occasionally write 2001 on my checks? in my mind, i'm still stuck in 2001. now that 2003 is here, i'm going to be even more confused. 2002 was a weird year for me. i finally grew up and moved out, buying my own place (a giant step into the fabled land of adulthood), but finding myself unemployed - again. "two steps forward, one step back," is how i like to think of it. i see 2003 as the year where i get a job - i don't expect to be unemployed for another year! (besides, all my benefits will run out by the end of january, unless george bush passes some fancy federal unemployment extension bill, but i still won't vote for him come election day). 2002 was also the year where i have a complete weblog transcript of every detail of my life. how many people can say that? (how many people would want to though?) despite some setbacks, 2002 wasn't such a bad year. 2003 can only be better though, i can't wait.