NOVEMBER

11/01 (Saturday)
Went DVD shopping for the first time in a long time. Not that I have any time to sit back and watch anything, but just buying something is good stress relief. I bought DVDs, some books, a toy instrument set, a Pinocchio doll, some sake... I was on the verge of buying new car speakers and a navigation system but I came to my senses in time to stop myself. Kids, don't grow up to be like me.

11/02 (Sunday)
Another rehearsal for The Black Mages. I think we've got this set down pretty well. Now, we just have to wait for the real thing--tomorrow!

11/03 (Monday)
The Black Mages play the Jindai Festival. Almost 600 people came to see us in the rain. The applause and cheering as soon as we stepped on stage got us in the groove, and I think we put on a good show. Thanks, everybody! And to the cute assistants in the Jindai Festival Planning Committee: Good work, guys!

11/06 (Thursday)
Went drinking with Sakai-san, a violinist from Hal Laboratory. Drank in Akasaka, drank in Omotesando; by the time I was plastered, it was already 4:30 in the morning. Ugh... I can't hold my liquor these days.

11/07 (Friday)
I'm taking everything urgent, and my overdue composing work, and holing up at Yamanaka Lake.

11/08 (Saturday)
Second day at Yamanaka Lake. Ahh, it's nice to be surrounded by nature! I can focus much better without all the city noise. A problem came up back in Tokyo, but it wasn't anything too big, so I'm not worrying about it. It's amazing the effect the land has on a person's thoughts and emotions. Nice weather this afternoon, too.

11/09 (Sunday)
Third day at Yamanaka Lake. Working out here I sure get a lot done, but I relax to the point where I forget I should be taking Saturday and Sunday off, and I end up working straight through the weekend. Rain today. Blech.

11/10 (Monday)
Fourth day at Yamanaka Lake. I'm getting work done, but there's too much and I'm behind schedule. I'll stay here one more day. Rain again today. *sniff*

11/11 (Tuesday)
Fifth day at Yamanaka Lake. Finished my work somehow. Since I did tell the company I'd be "going to hole up at Yamanaka Lake and get work done," I figured I'd best bring back results to avoid various, er, problems later. It's raining again, so hard they lowered the speed limit on the expressway to 30 mph. It really is raining a lot this year.

11/12 (Wednesday)
A lot of stuff can pile up when you spend five days outside Tokyo. I'm booked solid from morning to night. In the middle of it all, ex-Konami guy Furukawa-san paid me a visit. The last time I met him was ten years ago--it was gratifying that he still remembered me. Furukawa-san! Let's do something together soon!

11/13 (Thursday)
Went to Osaka a day early to prepare for a special class at the HAL Computer School on the 14th. I had some work to do before I left Tokyo at 1:00, so I got up at 5:30 and had a very productive morning. Sleep deprivation? Not me! I topped off my day by going out drinking until 2:30 am. Okay, I'm tired.

11/14 (Friday)
At HAL's Osaka campus in the morning, and the Nagoya campus in the afternoon. My impression? The students at both campuses were polite and bright and generally fun to be around. Do they teach that here, I wonder? It's true that companies need people that are not only talented and able, but also fun to be around. Well, these students all qualify on that count. I got home at 11:30 at night. Back to work tomorrow.

11/15 (Saturday)
I'm giving up weekends to get my work back on schedule. As I feared, I was all tired out from a busy week and moving slow, but wasted as I am, if I can just muster the get-up-and-go to get into the office, think of what I can accomplish!

11/16 (Sunday)
Needless to say, I had planned a day of rest today. But, it's rare that I get a day without any plans, so I made my way to Autobachs and put my long-laid plans to renovate my car stereo and navigation system into action! I started at 1:00 and wasn't finished until the clock struck 9:00! Seems there was a problem with my jeep's layout, and they made a mistake somewhere along the way and had to redo a bit. No rest for the wicked today, either...

11/17 (Monday)
Nice weather today! Perfect day for a drive. Got a fan letter today from a certain "Otani"-san in Gunma Prefecture. It reminded me of an old friend of mine from school living in Gunma who married a woman named "Otani" (also from Gunma). For years we were calling her "Otani-san," and it was only after graduation that we found out the characters for her name were read "Oya," not "Otani" at all! You can't tell just by looking at the characters, and we had assumed the more common reading the whole time. So I wonder how this fan's name is supposed to be read? "Oya"? "Otani"? "Daiya"!? ....Nah, it couldn't be "Daiya"...could it?

11/18 (Tuesday)
Awh, too bad. The judge made a call against Murahama and he lost! For those of you who don't know, I'm talking about K-1 fighting. Still, he did great, given his small size. It gives me great courage in tiring times like these to see him out there fighting the good fight. Yeah, that's right! I'm not KO'd yet!

11/19 (Wednesday)
The temperature dropped all of a sudden, and everyone's catching cold. I generally don't catch colds. Probably, it's because I avoid crowds. I tend to live in my house, my car, and my office at work. That's how I avoid run-ins with all those disease-causing germs!

11/22 (Saturday)
I walked the streets of Shibuya alone for three hours today. Spent some time in the music stores. It was fun. I had a lot of free time when I was a student, so I used to hang out a lot at the music stores and record shops (no CDs back then). Seriously, there's just no limit to the amount of time I can spend in a music store. Its fun just walking the aisles, looking at each guitar displayed. But then I want them. Here's where it gets dangerous, now I can afford these! This is why at my age I can no longer spend much time in music shops.

11/23 (Sunday)
Gathering of the Uematsu family in Atami. Nearly forty of us came to join Granny, she's 97 years old now. What's more impressive is that even with forty people there, it still wasn't the entire family. We’re a family that would make dog breeders proud.

11/24 (Monday)
The roads are jammed due to the three-day holiday. It takes five hours to drive from Atami to Tokyo. Geez...is everyone going to the hot springs just to get tired?

*Atami is famous for its hot springs.

11/27 (Thursday)
Planning a meeting for "Nobiyo's Tail." The fanclub is on its second year now. Hope we can pull off something that will meet everybody's expectations!

11/28 (Friday)
Went to Hiyoshi in the evening to see a solo performance by my friend of twenty years, Yuji Hasegawa. He said it was going to be just him singing and playing the guitar so I was expecting something laid back. I was wrong. His guitar playing is amazing. Really compelling. It gave me the shivers. Everyone should hear him play.

11/29 (Saturday)
Three Square Enix employees came out to Yamanaka Lake to play...in the rain, unfortunately. Left with no other option (well, not really), we drank. It was 3:30 in the morning before anyone looked at the clock. Then we slept.

11/30 (Sunday)
It was 12 when I woke up. I don't have a hangover, but my body feels strangely heavy. We went to the Santa Claus Museum, the Igarashi Yumiko Art Museum, and the Angel Museum. I never go to those places unless I have guests, so it's a good opportunity for me.