I'm going to wallow now.

[maiaide.livejournal.com]

So, I just got back from trying to go see Freestyle.  Again.  And again, I could not.  I arrived in Omotesando at 7am and the line for tickets stretched two blocks up all the way to Harajuku station.  It took nearly an hour to get almost to the front of the line and then tickets were gone by 8.30.  (Meaning that they had already started giving them out... Not at 8 like that guy told me.)  So, if you are going to go tomorrow I suggest you get these stupidly early (take the very first train) and be prepared to be disappointed.  :(  I'm hoping that those of you who are planning on going Monday have better luck than I did.  And please let me know how you find it, if you do go.  I am thinking I might try again a third time on Thursday, calling in "sick", if it goes well for you but I don't know if I could stand to be disappointed and spend 1200yen in train money a third time. 

Now sleep to cure my wallows.

Comments

[mooglelicious.livejournal.com]

Big disappointment two days in a row D: That's not right ♥

[cjplbm.livejournal.com]

Awww...That sucks. I hope you get in next time! Good luck! :)

[itsumademo-news.livejournal.com]

aw wow that really sucks =/ hope you get your ticket! ^^

[zedstar.livejournal.com]

:( That is the UBER suck. Hopefully they'll note how popular it is and will extend the exhibition.

[midorihaven.livejournal.com]

oh, POOR BABY! I hope you make it honey. Third time is always a "charm"
Ganbare.

[ringononohara.livejournal.com]

Ouch. That totally sucks. @_@; They really should have a better system to distribute the tickets... @_@;; We ARE in such a technologically advanced era afterall (and especially in Japan...), since it's first come first served basis, they could've done it the same way and gotten ppl to order tickets online.. =_=xx Kind of ridiculous. >_>;; But great to hear that Ohno's exhibition is drawing a crowd. ^^ Best of luck to you if you go on Thursday!! =D

btw, just curious, what kinda job are you doing?

[eyeslikefirefly.livejournal.com]

I would just take the last train the night before (at what, midnight?) and wait from then. XD;
I mean, it is an extremely limited engagement and obviously a lot of people want to see it, so I think it would be worth it to wait for up to 8 or less hours to get a ticket. :O

Everything happens in threes... so maybe you'll get lucky if you try one more time.

[maiaide.livejournal.com]

Ugh... I know. It's the same with the Johnny's Shop. SO stupid. I really want to see it, but I can't handle more disappointment and another fruitless trip to Tokyo. It's too much!

I'm an assistant language teacher at a jr high here Kashiwa. I do stints at elementary sometimes teaching english to the kiddies, but mostly I play human tape recorder for chuugaku sei.

[ringononohara.livejournal.com]

oh! I checked out your LJ and you're on JET I suppose? =D Which is nice enough that you're placed in a location close enough to Tokyo!!! I just did my JET interview like last Wednesday.. @_@;; Dunno how it went.. and dunno what I'll do if they place me somewhere like Okinawa.. @_@;; I really want to be placed somewhere within 1hr of Tokyo so I can easily go to events like these. ;_;

Another tidbit: we went to the same university!! xD Dang, why didn't I have the chance to meet you so we could fangirl Arashi together. =_=xx

[maiaide.livejournal.com]

Small world! Holy. No, I'm not with JET. I did have an interview with them and ironically did get a job, 2 weeks after I got here. I came with Nova actually, but now work for a small ALT company here in Tokyo. Okinawa wouldn't be so bad~ I would visit. XD

UBC! Yea! What did you major in? I was English Lit and Asian Studies. If only right... Although I didn't get into Arashi until I saw Letters from Iwo Jima. :x

[masuda-takahits.livejournal.com]

Wao, I really feel sorry for you.
Since the exhibition about Kiiroi Namida in Tokyo Dome City was never crowded, I never thought there would be such line. D:
Since Johnny's shop is also currently extremely supercrowded, I am really curious what's happening with Johnny's. ):
As I have no time to go there early in the morning because of my job, I hope they will at least sell the goods via J-web.

[dreaming-nagi13.livejournal.com]

i live closer so i only have to spend 150 yen for the train... but if i really have to get there really early... (><) i don't think i can... aaackkkk... why do they have to limit it?!?!?!

*hugs*

[maiaide.livejournal.com]

I know.. I do realize there is fire safety rules and max capacity stuff.. but yes. It is so frustrating. I hope you can make it... it makes it worse for me because if I want to take the first train, I have to get up at 3am and I won't even get there until 5:30. I'm so depressed. >_

[dreaming-nagi13.livejournal.com]

yoshi, i'll try next week. am figuring there won't be as many people for the weekdays XD or that might just me being too hopeful XD cheer up XD your birthday's coming soon XD not the time to be depressed XD

[katherinekate.livejournal.com]

*hugs maiaide*
What a shame it is about missing out like that for tickets two days in a row.
I hope you do get in next time. Third time lucky and all that. Good Luck. Happy to hear that Freestyle is obviously a success though.

[queencoc.livejournal.com]

hey girl, go to johnnys web now. they changed the way of distributing the entry tickets.

[maiaide.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I just heard about it. :) I sent my thing off... and hopefully it comes back a success. Though I gave different katakana than on my gaijin card.. whatever. They won't be THAT big of an asshole. Though I have a feeling you have to go the day before to pick them up? I can't read the site well enough. And that could be problematic with work and all.

[queencoc.livejournal.com]

I applied too.. I entered my name in English though. But you know how inflexible Japs are when it comes to this kind of stuff... Anyways, like what you said, hopefully they wont be such an asshole. Good luck to the both of us!!! (But I just have this really baddd feeling I wouldnt be able to get it.. sigh)

[maiaide.livejournal.com]

I'll do that tomorrow. Maybe they'll take us BECAUSE we're foreigners. Internationalization and all that? I don't know. I have almost given up hope.. but I won't feel so bad if it's by lottery/online system. At least it'll save me train money.

[ringononohara.livejournal.com]

Oh! Which company are you with then? I've looked into others like Interac as well, because people say chances are higher with other smaller companies to be located closer to Tokyo...

Hahah, Okinawa would be bad if I wanted to go to Shibuya every weekend to see if I could bump into stars. xD!

Yeah, small world! Very small, since I'm also in English, but I'm not Lit, I'm Lang. xD Actually, I'm still at UBC in my 5th year to finish up my minor in French and do my requirements for Education Faculty... @_@; Cuz we're born in the same year so I entered in 2003 too! @_@;; So many smiliarities. xD!

Oh! I see... well, I was and on and off fan of Arashi (ultra long story) until I think Hana Yori Dango finally snagged me back to Arashi with Jun-bait. xD

Mind if I friend you?! ^^

[maiaide.livejournal.com]

I don't mind at all. :) I need more friends anyway.

I work for International Education Systems, this tiny little company in Tokyo. It's true that the smaller ones are closer to Tokyo/big cities because that's where the demand is, but it'll be easier to get a job at one of those places once you're in the country. I came over with Nova, but we know how that went...

Education eh? I'm going to apply again (they rejected me cuz I don't have teaching experience - which is why I came to Japan) when I get back to Canada... which is undecided as yet.

I had heard about Arashi from a friend in high school who was in love with them but didn't really check them out until I saw Nino in Iwo Jima. Then I searched them on YouTube, saw Kitto Daijoubu and the rest is history. That's my story.

[ringononohara.livejournal.com]

Yay! Your LJ is so interesting! I'll be keeping an eye on it =D

Oh, so this company you're with only hires people that are currently in Japan? I couldn't search up any information on it on the web. =/ Do they subsidize your rent? And how much do you get paid (if you don't mind me asking..)? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm just really interested in knowing what other nice options there are for me to make my way to Japan... xD (And nice to know that you got some money back for your work at Nova! I had a friend working in Nova last year and luckily he was back in Van before the problems arised.)

Oh wow, we're going through similar routes in life, huh? xD I've been volunteering so I've got some experience, so with any luck, I'll get in but that would mean there's no way I can make it to Arashi's 10th anniversary concerts in 09... ;_; I'm guessing if Japan works well with you, then you can easily spend a couple years there, huh? My Nova friend didn't want to come back, lol!

Oh nice, so it was Nino-bait. xD! Kitto Daijoubu PV is total love. xD

Be my guest!

[maiaide.livejournal.com]

I don't think IES hires from outside Japan because they don't have the human resources to send recruiters overseas and such, like Nova or JET can. (The website is http://www.ies-english.co.jp but it doesn't have an English site.) Most small companies are like that. But if you're looking for an ALT job, it's best to start looking this time of year because the school year starts in April so now's the time people are looking for new staff to replace those who are leaving. Did you apply to be an ALT with JET? My friend is a CIR (going on her 3rd year) and really hates her job. It's very hit and miss - your assigned workplace (as either CIR or ALT) could actually use you and your talents, or make you a human tape recorder. I'm a bit of a half-half, but I'm actually getting asked to do things more frequently now. I just hope I get to stay at this school for next year so that I can get right into things.

No, they don't subsidize my rent or anything. They did however act as my garuantor (hoshounin) so I could get my own apartment after I left Nova. My company really didn't set me up with anything (which is probably why they don't hire from outside) but if I needed help the ALT coordinator who I mostly deal with is really helpful. I like that about working at a small company - you actually know your bosses directly.

On a regular month, I get paid Y240,000. I lose maybe 20,000 in tax and stuff but it's not too bad, but I can claim back a bunch of it in taxes. They reduce the pay a little bit when you don't work as many days in certain months (December because of X'mas and March cuz of the end of term) which kind of sucks but the pay is really good so it's easy to save. It FEELS like I'm making more than I did with Nova, which probably isn't true. Nova skimmed everything off the top right away (rent, insurance, tax) where as now I have to pay it myself. I probably am taking home the same amount at the end though.

I'm coming up on my 7th month and I can hardly believe its gone by so fast. My plan is to be here til the end of 2009 (that's when my lease runs out) but I will see about staying until the end of the school year (March 2010) but that's too far in the future. I may very well want to stay longer than that.. .but I should get back to Canada and do my B.Ed so I can come back and be a REAL teacher with REAL power. ]:}