Halloween at Hirome: The Sequel

So, this post is long overdue. On the Saturday before Halloween, there was a big costume party at Hirome Ichiba. Sasha, Julie and I had made an Alice in Wonderland group, and we'd been looking forward to it for quite a while. Sasha was the Queen of Hearts, Julie was Alice, and I was the Cheshire Cat. I'd invested a fair amount of time in knitting myself some ears and a tail, and Sasha and Julie paid a considerable sum for their costumes. It was all a pretty big deal.

On that Saturday, we hung out at my place for a few hours as we gradually got made up for the party. We did hair, nails and makeup, including false eyelashes. Later in the evening Chelsea joined us as well. She was dressed as the mascot for a train station on the Gomen-Nahari line. While getting ready, we had a not insignificant amount to drink.

Eventually we set out toward Hirome. The party didn't start until 11:00 pm, so we went downtown to do purikura, and then joined a large group of JETs at Josei Park for a pre-party gathering. We hung around there for a while before going to the actual venue. When we got to Hirome, it was fairly crowded. Half of Hirome looked like it always did, with tables and bars, and the other half had been cleared to make a dance floor. There was a band playing and lots of people dancing. At the party we saw a lot of other ALTs and some of our Japanese friends. Masa, the surfer I've been on a few dates with, was there with one of his friends. We didn't get to talk all that much, but it was nice to see him.

In the end, we didn't stay at the party all night because we'd had too much to drink and Chelsea and I weren't having such a great time. I must've forgotten that alcohol is a depressant... Though I didn't enjoy the evening all that much, at least we had a good time getting ready for the party. It was very disappointing after all the anticipation, but I guess you learn some things the hard way. Such as consuming alcohol in moderation. We were all a mess the following morning, and spent the whole day lying around in my apartment. Highlight of the day: Julie lying on the kitchen floor with her feet still in the bathroom, eating rice brought back from the convenience store. Sunday evening, everyone went home, and it was back to the work week.

In other news, last week I went on another date with Masa. Prior to the Halloween party, it had been a few months since I'd seen him. I wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to meet up again after all that time, but I was curious enough to go on a date. We had dinner at an izakaya and went up to Shorenji to look at the city lights. We also had a discussion; I asked him point blank what it is that he wants from me. For a while I haven't been able to figure out whether he's interested in me romantically or just wants to be friends. I think I'm more interested in being friends, but I get the feeling that he wants to date. I also told him rather bluntly that although I like him, I don't think I want to be his girlfriend. Masa didn't really have an answer to my question, and asked if he could tell me next time. I'm not in a hurry, so I said it was fine. We have another date scheduled for tomorrow; maybe I'll find out then. At this point I'm just enjoying the company, so these dates are fun and not particularly stressful for me. Mostly my concern is that Masa doesn't get the wrong idea about what to expect. I don't want him to get attached to me only to find that my heart's not in it.