Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Ehhh.

Okie dokie.

So the days are flying by a little too quickly. Its hard to pick one day apart from the others because I do the same thing everyday. My body is on quite a schedule making sure I get up at like 8am. Castings all day in that damn van. If I dont start working soon Im going to;
a. have a hissy fit.
b. go home.

because, Im here to make money. And If I dont book a certain amount of jobs in the first month, then my contract pretty much dissolves. I'm already almost to my 2nd week, halfway into the first month and no jobs. Everyone is all like, calm the fuck down taylor you will work. But its not just about working, its about booking those jobs in the first month so my $$contract$$ doesn't become void.

I spent a week looking for a camera. Everything was a little more expensive than I thought it would be. Everything is more expensive because apparently its more advanced. Long story short, I got a camera.

Long story short, now I dont know what the fuck to take pictures of...?! ?!?!?!?!?! HELP. I haven't had a digital camera in years. I feel really out of my element as stupid as that sounds.


So I guess I'll just start with pictures of shit, because reading is boring.

Starting in the present tense. Drinking age in tokyo is 20. I think. Well. There's all sorts of fun drinks in the 7-11s. So I bought one to unwind. Fuzzy navel. Its too sweet but it burns a little, and might get me tipsy. So Im updating before Im rolling around my apartment alone. haha. Hi mom. Hi Michael and marcy. If its legal I can't apologize. Im enjoying tokyo, ne?


Where to start, where to start?

Women only sign for women only car on subways. Women only for two hours in the morning on weekdays. I can only assume this is because of the men that fondle school girls on their way to class in the am. Thoughts?



But tonight it was full of dudes. I love how in Tokyo people fall asleep just about anywhere, especially on the train. I saw two girls sleeping at mcdonalds... but i didnt have a camera at the time.


The subway cars are pristine! Tokyo-ites have such a great sense of pride and respect, they dont leave garbage anywhere. Not even cigarette butts, most people have personal ashtrays to put the butts in. Its great.


Subway entrance, a lot less confusing than it looks.


my pathetic map. almost a lot less confusing than it looks.


Cigarette machines!!!! YAY!


Tokyo also really loves illustrations of fake foliage or flowers or landscapes on construction sights. *giggle.



This is the van. This is Aki. Aki takes us on all of our castings and puts up with our bullshit. Have to love her. Look at that face.


Watari, I have no idea if that is spelled correctly, playing Aki at one of our castings. At this particular casting they gave us coffee. I was kind of psyched at already over coffeed by that point in the day. Totally wired by the time we left.


I think this is in Shinjuku where I bought my camera. This popped my camera cherry. How tourist-y of me.


Bar ber. Barber. Get it? Something that would appear on a g rated engrish.com or whatever that amazing website is.


This... thing is a across the street from the agency. It took me forever to figure out what it was... I now know. Do you see it?


Claw machine thing. With really weird stuffed bananas;


Seriously though, does this make sense to anyone? This was on the outside of the claw game.


After the claw game I passed a sex shop! YEAAAH! I've been waiting for this since I got here. I mean, I didn't have the camera when I went into the sex shop for the first time. I wish I did. I bought some amazing presents. But there was no way I was going back in there. They already thought I was crazy because of what I asked for....hehe Never tell.


I was trying to talk with one of the models about this, but she just thought I was nuts. I really love the sex oriented stuff here. Everything is very girlie. All animated and pretty and pastel. TOTALLY unlike the states where the girls are hardbodied and shiny. But what I dont understand is how this appeals to men? I mean, its totally screaming FEMALE to me. Whatever.


Most sex shops carry latex suits or french maid or whatever. But in tokyo we get marlboro menthol outfits. If I had friends and were going to a halloween party, I totally would've wore this. Japansters LOVE their menthols! WOO!


Weird food requests.


Anything bicycle related reminds me of my manager michael. Anything schwin related reminds me of my boyfriend.


Boring view from my apartment. Not to mention I'm pretty sure everyone can see into my window. So. Shitty view and pervs are why I keep my shades closed.


Everything I've bought for my apartment has been pink. Its really odd.


Oh hey nylon tshirt. I sure do wear a shirt with my face on it to bed.


Pink outfit. This is how I feel I look at castings. Petrified. Confused. BORED.


Totally fucking obsessed with these moisturizing face mask things. Only supposed to use them twice a week. I look forward to those days.


Found out today that I live on top of a graveyard. I wish it was a better photo. It gave me the super creeps when I saw it. This girl told me to take the stairs if I didn't believe here. AHH! SO CREEPY.


Yesterday I spent a lot of money on groceries and made myself alfredo. Holy moly it was good.


And what the hell is the point of a camera if im not going to have photoshootings with myself.

That took forever. And choto random. Sorry. Better pictures soon when Im in a better mood. Im so over this casting crap. Back to my fuzzy navel.

xxtay

Friday, October 26, 2007

Choto boring!

This blog seemed like such a bad ass idea because I'm in tokyo and its so f'ing interesting here, but let me tell you something;

I spend all day in a navy blue van. With up to 6 other models. Just driving around going to castings, whizzing by cool stuff like the tokyo tower, the imperial palace, harajuku, whatever. But its not like I'm even really here. I could be in tel aviv for all I know because its just

van- castings -van - castings - mcdonalds - tully's - starbucks - van - castings - home - sleep - bagel and bagel - van - ... and getting home maybe by 7 or 8 pm if ya lucky.

(o_0)

I went into a convenience store to buy some hair bands. Simple enough, right?


On the package it says 'hair gum'. Dear gosh I love this place.


I open it up, and I end up with a string of elastic about 4 feet long? maybe Im exaggerating, but this was not a hair tie, hair band, hair whatever...


whoa no make up!

So I take a butter knife and gnaw the shit out of it until it becomes a useable length, knot it up, and pull back my hair. Way annoying.

And what the crap part of it all is that I could be documenting all of this lovelyness, but I cannot do that until I have a digital camera. And that's where the weekend comes in!! Because today is FRIDAY! I have nada to do. I did go into harajuku today after my castings. It was fab and raining. And someone stole my umbrella....

I bought myself a $30 beret. I can admit that it was a tad bit unnecessary. But whatever. Oh and some glittery heart sunglasses because I'm a dork. I went into what was technically a 'vintage' store. But most of their stock wasn't.


Kawaii, ne?

I also got a little something that might end up being a present for the boytoy or a present for myself. So I wont post it.

I also bough sara a pretty perverted gift. I love Tokyo if only for one thing, its the repressed but pretty obvious sexual thing they have going on. And being that I'm kind of a closet pervert, its really giving me the giggles.

There's a store called condomania right by the harajuku station. Where I also bought a present. haha. ITS AMAZING! I can't post that either because its a f'ing gift too.

Oh yeah alex, that one is for you!

=( As soon as I have a digital camera I will take you all around town with me. Ohhh yeah.

I'll leave you with a little something that I do everyday that brings me that much more closer to ny;


Im too skinny for tokyo catalogues. Im beginning to get kind of pissed. So today I wore an underwire bra.

So really I guess Im leaving you with the fact that I wore agent provocateur today, not my big mac. Take your pick.

hugs kisses and apologies because I'm pretty sure we're all sick of the iphotobooth photos.
tay

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Day 1. Done.

Okay now. As soon as I got off the plane, I had a cigarette. Long story short, I met my agency in Tokyo where as soon as we exchanged greetings they threw me in a van with 3 other girls and I was off to my first two castings...after a 14 hour flight, no shower, no hair brushing, no nothing.

Castings here consist of getting out of the van.
Going into the casting where
youre 'manager' apparenty hypes the shit out of you
while the client looks at your book
and you stand there smiling, or fidgeting, or whatever.
hi thank you try some stuff on or bye.

Im then brought to my temporary apartment that looks questionable and smells really weird. I cannot get internet, I dont have a phone, but I do have an ashtray.


I wander around Ropongi looking for an internet cafe. I got starbucks. Coffee is REALLY overpriced here, but cigarettes are only 300yen appx $5!

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!

I ask if I can get internet at starbucks. NO!
Go into mcdonalds, go upstairs....there are ashtrays. There. are. people. smoking. inside. macky d's. Im pretty much in heaven. I not so much sit down and open my computer when some mcd employee runs over to me jabbering about how I can't be in there with a starbucks cup. Im all like "okay, I'll throw it out, no big fucking deal." And he picks up the cup and in half japanese half whatever tells me its still full. Ookaaay. So I leave feeling really emabarassed.

I just got kicked out of a mcdonalds.

I find an internet cafe after about an hour. I cant use my own computer. Each person gets a cubby. A cubby and an ashtray. Horrah horrah, one more place I can smoke inside. While at my computer with half the letters rubbed off the keys, all I can think of is how at 11 pm and all these dudes in their cubbies and how they're probably looking at porn and you-know-whating. (o_0)

I go home. Take a sleepy pill and try to sleep against the smell. Fine.

Wake up, go to bagel and bagel about 4 minutes from my apartment. Get a pretty decent bagel and amazing cup of coffee and sit there for and hour and a half. I felt great. My 'manager' picks me up and takes 5 of us to appx 10 f'ing castings. Only one of these girls has worked in new york besides myself, and the rest of them really dont realize how easy they've got it. We are driven everywhere. And they bitch about the amount of castings they have, they bitch about having to take their book home, they bitch about everything. Uh. Lets try 10 castings in NYC why dont we? Where you will pay to be driven around by a cab that doesn't give a shit if you have 1 or 12498235 castings. Or lug your book *gasp* and heels *gasp gasp* and 2 liters of water *dies* all around manhattan and possibly a trip or two to williamsburg if your lucky, and then get in that amazing van and vegetate all day.


Yeah. They're flapping gums got old very quickly. =)

I finshed my day at 9pm. Im moving out of this craphole on monday into an apartment with two girls. Im by myself right now, but that is severely overrated when the place stinks and you dont know where anything is.

I did see a dude pissing on the side of the street. Im still waiting to find undies in vending machines. I have been invited into a strip club, had I not been by myself I would've gone.

Tomorrow starts at the agency where my measurements will be taken. But I'm not sweating it. Measurements never scare me. har har har


xx
tay
new york city iphotoshoot.

digi cam soon. like this weekend. promise.

Lets go Idaho! Lets go Cheerio! Lets go Tokyo!

So I left the model apartment this morning at 8:30. My 'boyfriend' didn't bother to wake up to come with me to the airport, so we can say that I am a tad bit FURIOUS. I called him a trillion times without any answer. On the verge of tears, but I was much more mad than I was upset, so couldn't cry. I discussed it with my manager who drove me, and on a scale of 1 to 10, this is about a 7 or 8. And really the only way to to make up for this is to show up here. In tokyo.

I must've listened to LCD Soundsystems "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" about a trillion times this week. It was an odd way of getting myself somewhat excited about leaving.

The week before my departure was kind of insane. All of my big options for money jobs came off, so I was BEYOND bummed out. I pushed back my trip by a week and a half just in case I booked them. But I didn't.

I did end up shooting a new aussie magazine called No., a little interview that has yet to happen and 8-10 amazingly cute photos with bunny ears, cat masks, and body stockings. Should be outs in a Jan.

Friday I had to get all of my ducks in a row. I did an interview for Atoosa Rubenstien's new website Alpha Kitty. I got to talk about myself for an hour and a half. Good times. I got my Japanese working visa. Yay! I love going to the counsalate, lots of a little asian babies to gawk at. I had to arrange bank nonsense. Say buh bye to the agency. Buy a new computer because while at the model apartment someone stepped on mine and broke the charger adapter off in my computer. Its really alright though, it was on its way to expiration anyway.

Saturday I was double booked. Which ended up being super stressful and obnoxious because did you know you can't be two places at the same time? I shot a 'feature' for Elle (U.S) about cool girls in ny with bad ass fashion sense or whatever. haha It was funnnn. I was grateful that I got to see at least a few people I love before I left. =/

Then I shot 8-10 pages for oyster that same day. I was kind of really grumpy by the time it was all said and done. But the shoot was fab and the crew was rather cooperative about the fact that I was technically 4.5 hours late because of the other job. :-D I felt really important having to be all of those places at the same time. haha But instead of being whisked away by a town car, I was driving around with smelly odd cab drivers that didn't really care I was late and took their sweet ass time.

I'm writing this on the plane. My sleepy pill has worn off. I'd take the other one but I dont think I'd be able to wake up once I got into Japan. It really is the WORST thing when you are walking around and airport literally half asleep because your tylenol pm still has 3 more hours of effectiveness left. I guess its not so bad when that airport is domestic, but I'm going to be in asia. And I cant really say it would be a good to be sleepwalking.

Im really curious as to what the hell is going to happen these next two months. I left new york feeling severely incomplete. I didn't see anyone outside of my roommates, 'boyfriend', and a few fine people at Beatrice on Friday night. I didn't even get to say good bye to spencer and izabelle at the apartment because they were asleep when I left. If I wasn't working it would've been different.

Moral of the story, be careful what you wish for. haha. I've wanted to travel and go to tokyo since I was like 14. Now its happening and all I can do is bitch.



(sorry alex for not seeing you before I departed, I miss you so much already. you and sarah, my #1s.)