Kiokonai no Otanjoubi Paati!

Kiokonai's bday party was last Saturday. I meant to write about it earlier, but I was busy with work, then I had the Sekishi crisis, so it's coming to you a bit late. ^^ Yes, I have officially eaten sushi. I only tried two, white salmon and regular salmon. The white salmon was very good! And yes, it was raw. The regular salmon was too fishy for me, so Kiokonai finished that bite. (Wasabi packs a good punch!! Me like!) If I had known the tuna was tuna, I would have eaten that one as well. But we didn't figure it out until Kiokonai was munching. (Kiokonai and I shared a sushi variety plate.) I passed on the shrimp since I've had shrimp before, and I can't eat octopus b/c I halfway suspect it might be my animal totem. X_x

But the white salmon was yummy. ^^V Rei-chan and Moriko-chan ordered plum wine, which I sampled. That stuff is goooooood. *drools* Next time--if I'm not driving--I'll order some for myself. *rubs hands together with much anticipation*

After dinner, we piled back into Kiokonai's little car (5 of us) and drove to a back neighborhood of Dallas for karaoke--Japanese style. You know, with your own private room instead of in the middle of a crowded bar. ^^ The place was actually a Korean joint, liberally decorated with posters of gorgeous Korean rockers. Yes, apparently they grow bishounen in Korea, too...*drools* We ended up in what I dubbed "The Rain Room", as all the posters inside were of one Korean rocker, named "Rain". I had actually read an interview and article about him several months ago in the NYTimes. What a babe. *eyes glaze from bishounen overload*

I had been worried that they wouldn't have many songs I know, but I found more than enough to sing in the Japanese song section alone. X_x We had the room from 8-10 (the times I said before were wrong), and we were having so much fun we asked for another hour. ^^ Three of Kiokonai's college friends met us there. One of them was an excellent singer, so I felt rather embarrassed and thus sang worse than usual. I'm actually not half-bad... when I'm not self-conscious. :P When we left, the lobby was filled with teenagers waiting for a room. Every single one of them was Asian! I wonder what they thought of the group of 8 white girls. *laughs*

I think the highlights of the night were ogling Rain *drool drool drool*, Kiokonai's pleasure at my bday gifts to her, and when she and I sang the Card Captor Sakura tv op1 together. "Catch You Catch Me." Of course, no one else in the room knew the song--and half the people there were not anime fans at all--but everyone was grooving along with CCS. No one can resist that song, it's so fun!!!

Kiokonai and I apparently shocked the anime civilians. They were amazed she and I were reading the lyrics on the screen--which were written in Japanese. Sometimes I forget that not everyone can read Japanese, and that not everyone knows I can. I'm so used to it myself that it seems perfectly normal. :P

Anyway, it was much much fun singing karaoke, and we all agreed to go back. ^^ I need to work on singing my favorites--I can't read all the kanji, and they didn't always have handy furigana onscreen for the kanji impaired. X_x Renshu renshu!!

Weeee! Another long post! At least it's all about one topic. ^^