I get to witness

My proclivities ( I so love that word), 'I like to sit here, go there, do this, eat there, have a drink here' etc. when I am on my own. I also register my weaknesses more, maybe as they are not being absorbed by familiar other people, so I am left to dwell on things. I really notice that if I don't listen to music on my headphones I get depressed. Music is the one thing that can bring me to ecstastic feelings of joy consistently.
I am really registering the difference between my last stay n Takadanobaba and here in Aoyama. The lack of contact with people and the entire novelty of my first month 2 years ago was detailed in this blog, almost on a daily basis. I needed to express myself and through the internet found that mode. Whereas here I am, with a number of people to talk to, and an abundance of projects to keep me busy, there is hardly any time for using this resource. I guess I am expressing myself outwardly and that is fulfilling enough, or exhausting.
I think some of the great things about residencies is coming into contact with people you wouldn't usually meet, and getting to observe yourself in a new way.
I've certainly experienced many excruciating times. I wanted to say moments, but moment is too short. There have been extensive periods of dismay, and full-fledged enduring to be lived through. I have had to dig really deep just to get myself up in the morning and face the day. Maybe it has been the heat and humidity, whose combination since I was a child have made me grumpy and discomforted. I have never sweated so much in my life as in the last 3 months. The salt stains on my clothing will attest to that. In a perverse way, I love to see these sweat marks, wearing a lot of black ensures their visibility and I'm astounded at the degree to which it reaches. Do I really hold that much salt in my body? I am shocked!
Quite honestly the highlights have been seeing performances. It has made me value culture even more, as art brings us together and provides us with not just entertainment, but a shared wonder and sensation. It may not be the same thing we are experiencing but it transcends common life and also provides an escape from the ordinary. I've seen some butoh and Noh theatre work and an enamoured with these art forms...having only experienced them second hand, so to say.
Currently I am working with one of the residents at Tokyo Wonder Site, after a dinner conversation where I explained my position on whaling he asked me to assist with a 10 minute piece he was directing.
I get to talk and get captured and swallowed by a giant bag of chips. It is pretty weird.
This is a work he did earlier, which I love; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPfQELZ9VlY
And this is the monster that swallows me up; http://www.youtube.com/user/kingdomchi?blend=23&ob=5