the time, she goes quickly.

i was early for the early train, but just before it pulled up an announcement came through overhead that the next train to arrive would be held at the platform indefinitely because someone had been injured on its platform at the next station. rush hour, everyone got on anyway.

onboard, the driver’s announcement was more informative: we would not be moving because a person had been hit by a train, and we had to wait until the person had been removed. how long does it take to move a person who’s been hit by a train? a bruised person? a person with limbs torn off? (you would have to find and remove the limbs too.) a person puree? i figured i had up to an hour. and i was armed with a book, two nori rolls and a tube of fruit fizzers. but not ten minutes later, we were on our way.

so a bus and two trains later, i had a twilight picnic on a stone bench outside the olympic stadium. murakami open in my lap, beef yakiniku maki followed by one filled with a bright yellow pickle. i still don’t know quite how i feel about murakami. “norwegian wood” reads better than “the wind-up bird chronicles”, but sometimes i think i’m losing something in the translation.

and then it was time. well, almost time. a walk up to the acer arena in the drizzle, to queues and bag searches (unexpectedly, the one thing they ask about is chewing gum), through the turnstyles, into the dark belly where kings of leon is rocking like the seventies.

i started this blog in 2003, after a pearl jam show. given the recent inactivity on this page, it crossed my mind that maybe i’d be ending it after a pearl jam show too. i don’t know. perhaps i’ll feel differently after i get my computer fixed, or maybe a whole new machine — macbook vs mac mini: discuss.

last night. pearl jam. eddie. so good.

tonight, another go.