Today, I got to walk to class with someone, for the the first time (not including that one time at Yoyogi where I ran into Tomoko-san). As I was waiting for the subway, who should come up to me but Nori-chan. So we rode to Shin-Yokohama together and walked to the Rapport. We chatted about the upcoming Live, and she thanked me for lending her the tape of Anna-san's old songs. She said that Anna-san sounded so young she had trouble recognizing her for the most part, except for some of the high notes, but that she sung very well. Nori-chan said, I want to hear her sing [the songs] in her adult voice! I agreed enthusiastically. I asked Nori-chan what we'd do after the Live was over, and she said that we'd probably go back to having Battles and Beats be the focus of the lessons, like before we started working on the stuff for the Live (which we were already working on when I joined)
When we got to class (5 minutes early for some reason, I guess I walk faster when i'm talking), I found out that both people who were supposed to bring me BB videos, Hana-chan and the OL with the permed hair, hadn't. the OL said she's forgotten and would bring it tomorrow (hope she remembers) and Hana-chan said that she would bring it after the live was over, when she didnt have so much to carry. Everyone was excited because (as like 5 people told me) 'Keito' was there. I asked who Keito was and they said she used to be a top member of BB's dance team, and had performed with Maiko-san etc. Everyone was suprised when I didn't know who she was. As you may be able to tell from her name (Keito = Kate) she turned out to be a ha-fu, otherwise known as bi-racial. She is half American, half Japanese. She has a very British looking face though. She was wearing all red, and looked rather formidable. Before we did exercises, Anna-san introduced her, and said that she was here to help us with the Live. I took an immediate dislike to her. I couldn't help it. Number one, as shameful as it is (I'm really trying to work on this) this is my usual reaction to ha-fu's, because I'm jealous, and they take away from my specialness of being an American/ an gaijin who knows Japanese/ which is sometimes all I feel like I have here. Second, she is a ex-BB ha-fu, who is friends with Maiko-san, well liked by Anna-san, an amazing dancer....everything I wish I could be. So of course I had to hate her. So I spent a lot of the rehearsal being jealous of Keito, and feeling rather alone and unloved, in an 'everyone else is in a group but I'm all alone Namie at music shows' kind of way. Speaking of Maiko-san, she was there today for the first time in so long! (Namio, Atsushi and Yuuta were all there too). She didn't perform though, she just sat and watched. I wonder why. I hope she's feeling alright. She and Keito chatted a lot. We first figured out positions, because Anna-san asked one of the chuugakusei if she knew where her place was (I guess she'd been absent), who answered 'I asked someone, so...probably.' Anna-san gave her a Look at the probably and said with a smile, 'Maybe we should go through them all just in case'. So we did, after exercises. Then went through the entire Live, from Opening to Ending. I messed up a bit on the group 2 part of House of Love, again. I just hope I can get it right at the actual Live! During the group dances, we all (including Anna-san) cracke dup at the OL's Fujiya commerical dance, like always. Anna-san finally introduced 'Feel so Right' in her Native!American accent, and even introduced it as 'By MAX' (yay! I looked at Anna-san at the part when Minako sings 'Mou anata dake....' ) None of the other Pichi Morning girls were there today, so Ai-chan had to do their dance alone. This was another moment where I realized the depth of Anna-san niceness and her skill as an instructor. As the song started she yelled 'Ai-chan, ganbare!!' and during the dance, she kept eye contact with Ai-chan, and supported her by bobbing around (from her kneeling position) and gradually became more and more hip-hop like (expression and everything).
For Seigi no Mikata, Namio had on his costume, which consisted of glasses, a suit, and his tie tied around his head. It was hysterical. Everyone cracked up, including Anna-san, who came across the room to look at him. Anna-san also helped (?) Maiko-san chose her costume (maybe she was just looking at them), which turned out to be a leopard print apron. LOL After we finished singing United, Anna-san gather us together. She said, 'Ashita konai hito ha....' Some people raised their hands. '....iru to omou no de....' She continued. Everyone laughed. (Basically people thought she was asking who wasn't going to be at rehearsal tomorrow, but she had really not finished her sentence, which was 'As I think there are some people who won't be there tomorrow, there are a few things I want to say.' We all nodded. 'This will be the first Love Junx concert.' (I wonder if it was because her pride in all of us was catching that I felt so proud of her right then) ' Since you're all going to stand on the stage, I want you all to give it everything you've got. It's no fun if you do a half assed job of it, also, if you do that, or freeze up or laugh when you make a mistake, it's uncomfortable for the audiance. But if you just give it everything you've got, and put all your heart into it, then not only is it more fun, but it makes the audiance well good as well. So just give it all you've got and have fun, even if you make mistakes!' Then she bowed and said 'Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!' We all bowed and did the same. then we made a little rally circle and put our hands in the middle. Anna-san's hand was on top of mine. And then everyone else's hand was on top of Anna-san's because she laughed and said 'Um, I don't know if you guys notice, but you're all pushing down on my hand, and it's really heavy.' Then she yelled 'Hyper!!' And together will all yelled 'OOOOOHHH!!!' As we were all very well, hyper, no pun intended, Namio yelled 'Hayaku Kaere!' (All of you go home now!) and everyone cracked up.
Then I was looking for the sheet of paper with the break down of what's happened on Sunday, so I asked Anna-san if there were any left, because she happened to be the only person behind the counter. She told me to hold on a sec, and went out into the hallway calling(here it is, the legendary....) 'Mama!' Her mother came in and found a sheet for me.
(small note, today Anna-san had lavender flowered undies. I must be in love with her to think that that could be sexy... ^^;)
When we were all waiting in the lobby for the bus, Maiko-san happened to be standing near me (along with Keito), so she said 'Hisashiburi!! Genki??' and we clasped hands. then she introduced me (A-chan) and tomoko-san (Sensei) to Keito. then Keito and I talked. She asked me when I had gotten to Okin....Japan? (Can we tell where she's from? LOL) and about my leaning Japanese, etc. She told me that her mother lives in Chicago. She also asked about colleges in Boston and if they were expensive. I said not all of them, and she said that if she was going to go, she wanted to go to a good one. She said that her English is ok, but she forgets a lot of it, because they speak Japanese at her home, and all her friends speak Japanese. I asked her what her first language was, and she said ' Japanese'. I was kind of suprised. Then she asked if I had a keita and said we should exchange e-mail addresses, so we did. She is very nice. I am really glad she talked to me and I don't hate her anymore.
BTW, I found out afterwards, when i got her e-mail that I do know of her! She turns out to be the member who's kanji name I couldn't read, and I think I thought was a boy. LOL Her name is actually Keito, in Kanji. She had been at Actor's for a long time then.
I ended up walking to the station with the OLs, and talking about karaoke. They said everyone likes it and will go all the time. I asked if Maiko and Anna-san etc would go, and they said that Ai-chan's theory is they would if we asked. Yet another dream that may come true.... If only...

 
We interupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this special announcement:
LESTAT!!!!! Ah, my Lestat!!! You f--king kick ass!!!! And Anne! And Elton John, I love you now!!
There is going to be a Musical of The Vampire Lestat!! Anne had listen to the first four songs, and says it is all very true to the books and the characters, and it captures the heart of Lestat! The musicals should be out on Broadway in 2005. I can't wait!
And that's not all! The scripts for the mini-series of The Witching Hour went to the people at NBC, and...
Anne's in the midst of her latest book. She says it will be the last about the Vampire and Witches, but....Lestat's the narrator! According Anne, he's with her again, in the driver's seat! Ah, Lestat!!! To hear it all directly from you again, from your voice! After all these years!!!

 
According to San, people were unable to access my blog for a bit. Don't know what was up with that. Anyway, you can check it now, it seems, so everyone read the older posts, and comment!! (Mew! back to M, btw!)
And now! Fear all my friends, for I have become a Real People!Shipper.I am now a complete, relentless and unrepentant Atsushi/Yuuta shipper. Yesterday we had a special practice, were Kurata-san had rented one of the practice rooms, and told whoever could come to come. Very suprisingly, this included Atsushi and Yuuta. (It was pretty amusing. we heard a guy say Ohayou gozaimasu! and looked over to see it was Yuuta. Everyone was kinda like 'Yuuta-kun!?' and then especially when he asked casually 'Atsushi ha?' (Where's Atsushi?) LOL) Anyway, they came to practice yesterday, and...they are just too f--king cool for words! They spent a lot of time on their Zin-Rye dance, which is sooo cool! There's this one part where they grasp eachother's hand and face eachother, and it was so cool (and cute) cuz the always Cool!Atushi had a big smile on his face and you could see that they were looking eachother in the eyes and really communicating. Atsushi also flips Yuuta up off his knee, and flips over Yuuta in the beginning. At one part in the practice, Atsushi was practicing back flips and whatnot and Yuuta, who was watching him from the sidelines said, :Motto! Motto dekiru! Zettai motto dekiru!' (more! You can do more. I know you can.') He then told Atsushi to 'girigiri made!' do it as much as he could, and set out his white head towel on the other side of the floor, and told Atushi to go until it. Atsushi did, in fact going (just barely) over the towel. (which meant he always landed on it, causing Yuuta to look alarmed and say Abuna! (Yikes!). It was all so cute, because they really look out for each other and push each other and believe in each other. then, there was one part where Atsushi and Yuuta were talking on the side, and Yuuta leaned over to Atsushi in a way that looked so sexy! I really wanted them to kiss! I really want them to be together! They are just so hot and so cool and they make the best couple! Plus they could use it as their characters in Jin-Rye. They could be the hot lovers (and of course we know that would go off great in Japan!!), Maiko-san could be the hot, sweet and gentle girl with the amazing voice, and Namio could be the asexual comedian. LOL

 
(Sunday's Lesson)
Today we didn't even do exercises, we went right into rehersal. First we figured out the positions for all of the songs, and then we started rehearsal, from the opening, down to the ending. It was basically a dress rehearsal, with people who had brought their costumes changing into them. As expected, the littlest kids took a long time changing, and Anna-san, who was doing the the MC, kept looking at them, and then adding more to the introduction. most of the groups members had their costumes, so I got to see what each group's costumes are like, which was fun. Also, most everyone had their school uniforms (including me, and Anna-san, who we all made put on hers), so before we did the dance, we took a group picture. Everyone had a lot of fun seeing everyone in school uniforms, and Anna-san made comments about people. When I had changed into mine, I saw her and Namio looking at me so I gave them the V sign, and she smiled. Even Yuuta and Namio (the only members of Zin Rye that happened to be their today) put on the boy"s uniform jacket. Namio sat in the middle, and everyone said he was the principal. It was kind of like a really on crack school class photo. LOL
Then we did the Seigi no Mikata dance, and then went right into this other song, where we all just dance free style, which the Pop kids will be in too. After that was over, we changed out of our uniforms, and took another picture, with this huge teddy bear, which Kurata-san had brought, which we put a Love Junx t-shirt on. (Namio pointed to the bear and yelled 'Maiko!' Everyone cracked up.) During the picture, Yuuta sat on Namio's shoulders, giving birth to a new (and rather disturbing) Yuuta/Namio pairing (in my mind at least). Yuuta and Namio were amusing during the class, because I'd look over, and they would be in corner, randomly doing all these really difficult flips/dance moves. At one point, they were chatting, and Yuuta, who had been sitting, randomly pushed himself up so he was on just his hands, and swung his body around a bit. It was quite amazing, because he did it so casually, in the middle of listening to whatever Namio was saying.
They got a big kick out of the O.L teams 'Fujiya' commercial dance, esp. Yuuta, who clapped loudly, and yelled 'Sugoi!!!'
Then we sang United. Once again, I forgot to look at Anna-san. But it was very cool, to be singing a B.B song, with Anna-san and everyone. We all jumped, and yelled and did the 1,2,3 Go!!! part and everything, and it was so neat, so energetic and connected....
Afterwards, Anna-san gave us some intstructions about the day of the Live, and our dressing room, etc. It made me realize once again, with all her talk about exiting and entering stage right, left, etc, and the list of songs which would begin with the lights dimmed, etc that she really is a pro at organizing all of this, since she's been doing it for so many years. Then she bowed and said 'Toujitsu, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!' We all bowed and repeated it. The instructions made me kind of nervous, because I realized with all the entering and exiting, and changing, and all the Pop kids and us Hyper, just how much scope for mistakes there is.... I hope everything goes alright.
Then we went to the dressing room and changed. I got to see Anna-san changed again, and this time I was very careful to look at HER and not her underwear. My conclusion: Anna-san has just as nice a body without clothes as she does with. And her figure is so hourglass shaped from the back.
At class today there was a mysterious and very pretty girl, who spent most of the class stretching. Apparently she is some girl from Actor's who is going to Debut soon. I'm not really sure why she was at class.
After class today I went and had tea with the OL team, on a spur of the moment thing. We talked about a lot of different stuff, mostly stuff about BB and Actor's and Love Junx and Zin Rye, etc. They told me that the woman really is Anna-san's okaasan, and that sometimes, when Anna-san is talking to her, she calls her 'Mama'. This made everyone wonder if she called Makino 'Papa'. No one could really picture it. ^^;
They said that one day at Yoyogi, Anna-san's mother had stretched with them. Anna-san had been cracking up over something, and they had looked to see her mother stretching. Apparently her mother is really stiff and unflexible. Someone had said 'Anna-san, you should teach her [how to stretch] at home!' (Uchi de oshietara?), to which Anna-san replied 'Well, I do, but....' (Uchi de oshieterun dakedo....)
Hana-chan (one of the OLs) said that Maiko-san and I were close (naka ga ii), which made me happy. Apparently Marilyn is a huge Actor's fan, and a huge Maiko-san fan.
Also,they told me the meaning of Love Junx.
According to Anna-san, 'Junx' is a word coined by her, which is taken from the word 'Junction', and the name 'Love Junx' was given with the idea of a place where love, and all different kinds of people meet and mix together.

Anyway, here is a translation of UNITED, the song we sing for the Ending, which is a BB WAVES original song. (I'm pretty sure the lyrics are by Anna-san, since she wrote the words to most of B.B's songs, and I think I remember reading somewhere that she wrote the words to United. Not to mention that the lyrics are very Anna-san/Actor's like)

United

Let's get together the noise of our companions in a Bad jam! We feel the moment in the asphalt as it heats up.
Some people point their fingers at us but, Turn in over to you. Shouldn't they be pointing it at their own hearts? Get easy!

* Everybody's gonna fight energy. In this conceited era
it's a generation where lies and excuses run wild
The answer is in the street grafitti, tough talk is just a sign of weakness. sigh of the truth

They say if you take one step outside it's a battlefield, but in reality, your enemies and your allies are inside yourself.
There are times when worries you can't explain and tough pressure threaten to crush you, but it's up to you!
Everybody's gonna get energy You ever know about people.
It's in times of crisis when your chance will come. Say I want!
Once you think everything's lost, it really is, so in a tight spot, just take it easy!

1,2,3, Go! Hey!

Don't worry. Just your smile makes me feel so alright.
Motives are cheap, but my heart is always in sensation!
Everybody break out energy The beat inside my chest. I want to keep chasing after my desires.
The rhythm of my heart's gotten hold of a yell that will never disapear, which I will always have pride in. Just cool junk!
The answer is in the street grafitti, tough talk is just a sign of weakness. sigh of the truth
United Soul and Beat!