I may’ve blogged about this somewhere before, but there is merit in each retelling.
When I was 21 before heading to Japan, I was at a pool party. Not really a party, maybe 7 or 8 friends. I think we were all drunk and stoned and near the end of the night someone put on the Bouncing Soul’s album Hopeless Romantic. Me and two of my friends in our trunks by the pool start dancing in a drunken way feeling like we were the coolest people in the world. I felt like I had amazing friends and life was amazing,
When I moved to Japan, and was stationed in the countryside, loneliness hit. It used to hit most people. In a pre-social media/smart phone world you felt truly alone, and those weekly visits to the Internet cafe to use MSN Messenger didn’t really make you feel like you were back home. Furthermore, the friends you do initially make you have only one thing in common with: drinking. It doesn’t exactly feel deep.
One lonely night I was thinking if I could just buy that Bouncing Souls CD and put it in my DiscMan then I could remember those good times.
I sent a Skymail (it was a thing) to my foreigner boss, who was getting shitfaced in Tokyo with her boyfriend and his friends, or I may have even called her on the phone to her complete bewilderment. I told her I wanted to buy a Bouncing Souls CD and if she could recommend somewhere. She acted like it was the stupidest thing to ask in the world and told me about the closest Tower Records.
I forget if I was there, or if I needed to go to the Shibuya Tower Records, but I got the album. I put it in my DiscMan, and I danced in my apartment.
I didn’t feel lonely anymore. I didn’t think that I would be friends forever with people I drunkenly danced with (well, maybe I did but it is not the point), I just remembered a moment in time where I experienced it all. Listening to that CD made all the difference.
Then came the laptop I bought, ripping CDs, eventually iPods, iMacs and years later Apple Music. The CD is now on my CD shelf, which is filled with CDs I brought from Canada in 2022 or so.
Please see below for photographic evidence.
I was having a rough day at work today. I just don’t relate to these people, and as HR I’m tired of feeling like I need to be the adult. I can’t just make fart noises and give people a middle finger.
With my kid at home and my wife’s stress, I don’t have many chances to get shitfaced and sing the shit without giving a shit.
However, I went for a walk around lunchtime and selected Hopeless Romantic in Apple Music. I listened to Fight to Live and half of Bullying the Jukebox, and I remembered dancing drunk and stoned by that pool 21 or 22 years ago, and then I had all the strength I needed again.
Me and those guys aren’t really friends anymore. One owns a restaurant and is successful, and has two little boys I think. The other may own a franchise restaurant and has two big boys. Being in Japan made us grow apart and life and all that. They most likely do not remember this one night and do not listen to Bouncing Souls anymore.
But anyways, it’s neat the power than can come from a memory.
Man I hope my wife’s stress gets better and that some people at work grow up.
