I goddamned love New Year’s. No other event comes close.
The energy of it! The raw emotion! The overwhelming release! Hundreds upon hundreds of people, even thousands if you go to the right places, letting everything fall to the wayside for this one, monumental climax.
A crowded street in Los Angeles was my location of choice, letting the bursts of fireworks high up in the night sky and the pulsing throng of humanity intoxicate my mind even more than the cheap shots I gulped back in the bar just a few minutes prior.
My girlfriends and I had filtered outside for the big moment, and it was huge. We swayed in rhythm of the sound of “Auld Lang Syne” as it droned out of the PA system, enjoying it ironically and laughing about how old-fashioned it was against this wave of freshness that washed over the ecstatic citizens.
I don’t even remember what street it was we were on or what kind of bar we occupied before and after the moment to grab enough multicoloured drinks to make the occasion all the more special, all that mattered was the moment. The explosion of joy, accentuated by the stream of lights of pops in the air!
So long, 2008, you tedious bastard. Get over here, 2009. We’re going to blow people’s minds.
Several days after the fact and I still feel the same way. I love this year already! It’s shaping up to be a great one.
I’m sat in a hairdresser’s on Melrose Avenue, milking every last drop out of LA before I move on. I was recommended this place by one of my well-to-do friends, who truth be told has the personality of a coffee table, but her style is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. She’s like a living, breathing reflection of what is current in the fashion world, and I’ve decided to pick her brain just for the sake of a few pointers.
Not that I’m one to leech from the style of another, as I am and forever will be my own person, but I do need a bit of a refresher. I took some notes, watched a little telly for further inspiration, and stopped off here without making a reservation. It helps to be a Kobayashi. The name carries a certain weight.
“Alright, Soudouki, darling,” lisps the effeminate middle-aged man who fulfils his hairdresser stereotype to an all-too-precise tee, aside from actually having the cultural knowledge to pronounce my name correctly, “You’ve got that lovely chestnut brown coming in from your roots, and I can see you’ve gone with a brilliant blue before that’s on its way out. How about we bring out that natural colour and try some feathering?”
He interrupted my cell-phone chat with Clara, the aforementioned style mirror, which garnered him one of my nasty looks. I call this one, “The Ball Shrinker”, and if he had any I’m sure he’d be feeling it in them now.
He doesn’t know how to respond to it, so I let out a world-weary sigh and inform Clara that I’ll call her back once I’ve set things straight with this mascara-wearing moron.
“I’m going blue again, Pedro,” I tell him, “I will accept no further suggestions.”
He winces at both my bluntness and the very idea of me going with that colour again, “Are you sure? Blue hair is like saying ‘I don’t like being gainfully employed’, darling.”
“It hasn’t stopped me before,” I respond with a stare, “We’re going down here,” I position my hands to the middle of my neck to indicate the length I want, “With a shade darker of my old blue and red highlights.”
Again he winces, “If that’s what you want, dear...”
“That is what I’m having, Pedro. Get the damn foils.”
He hops into action, now apparently willing to compromise. Maybe he was thinking about the money.
“Alright, wait right here. Do you want a drink? Tea? Coffee?”
“I’d prefer silence.”
He nods, and I can see him biting his lip through the mirror. He scoots away and I smile to myself. Overpaid poof deserves a good verbal smacking, especially if he thinks he can question my decision. This is a big deal, and I’m not going to let him or anybody try to discourage me.
Clara was right. It’s not about what’s “in” right now, it’s about predicting what will be popular next. Or at least, that’s just how some of the most successful fashionistas operate. For me, it’s what I will make popular.
Not that I really care about starting trends - I just want people to see me as an innovator and the nexus of contemporary style. Along with being one of the finest professional wrestlers in the world. There’s that too.
The subject of hair in particular is important to me, though. It’s the seed that will sprout a new me, that will usher in this year. 2009 will truly begin for me once I’ve made this change. I need a big shake-up, after all.
Earlier this year I was a part of an association I’d rather put behind me. I’d become comfortable and soft and it was pathetic. I let my true self fade into the background for the sake of maintaining something simple and boring. When it began, I suppose it felt right. Hell, I needed it after the last rollercoaster ride of a relationship.
But I can’t stay in one place forever! I’m Soudouki Kobayashi! You can’t clip my wings! You can’t expect me to stay on land! I’ve got to soar!
Underneath me the relentless pacing of my heart, my desire for excitement and new experiences, the true essence of what I am... it was desperate to break free! When I met up with Andy, an old flame who knew me during my wild days, that inner self was set alight and almost burned down the facade I was putting on. There was no keeping it in any longer.
The dull Soudouki, the crusty shell that had developed in all that time pretending to be a normal human, tried to keep the other reality alive for just a little bit longer, but it wasn’t to be. How can you deny who you really are? When your true persona has had a taste of the life it once knew to be right? It’s just not worth it.
I’m having the old, faded blue locks cut. The hair that may have pleased those who mattered to the former me is going. This year’s edition of Soudouki will be truly forged from the severed strands. The colours will be revised and made vivid to reflect the fresh, invigorating buzz I feel inside me. The last remnants are being swept away.
When it’s over, I’ll leave Los Angeles behind for the first show of this year. The next city ahead will see me like they’ve never seen me before.
2009 will be Soudouki’s year. Embrace me, world. There’s just no avoiding it.
Subject: Ushering in the new self 
Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:23 pm
