Friday, March 07, 2008

Friday March 7, 6:29 p.m.

No mask necessary today, thankfully. Some cold rain and perhaps some ionization from a few bolts of lightning have probably zapped those nasty pollen grains back to earth and down a sewer somewhere.

Just enjoyed a pretty calm day today at home. Did some laundry which I was able to dry for some hours before taking them in as the clouds came overhead. I even did another dry run with my tax return. Looks like the bill is pretty much set at 30,000 yen which I'll be paying Uncle Osamu next week. Glad that I got some decent shuteye.

I also took care of another one of Cozy's rush translations. He didn't even attach anything...just wrote the text straight into my e-mail. It wasn't too difficult. In about 90 minutes, I've got Miss Disney for her second lesson, followed by The Ace. Then, it's back home.

I'm meeting M+M for the first time in several months tomorrow...certainly, it'll be the first time this year for one of our kaffeeklatschs. I'm gonna see if the three of us can have it in that traditional coffeehouse near Shinjuku Station...the one which The Madame and I had used to go to before we went our separate ways. It's a Saturday, so I'm a little unsure whether we'll be able to make it in with the usual crowds there.

Anyways, it's time to go over Miss Disney's lesson plan.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Thursday March 6, 3:56 p.m.

Well, digesting that massive McDonalds indoor picnic that Speedy had instigated. It was the bossman, me, BC and Pooh taking care of a lot of french fries, burgers and Mcnuggets. It would've made for a new scene in "Supersize Me". So, I think dinner will not be really be an option for me...unless it consists of salad.

The Admin has quietly left the coop so that she can focus more time on helping out her husband's work. So, it's basically BC and Pooh putting in some extra time. The Nurse yesterday expressed some regret about The Admin's departure since she was a very calming influence on the office. I would have to agree.

Today's lesson I learned from Wikipedia: old 80's band Level 42 (actually, I shouldn't say "old" since they have regrouped recently) used to be part of M, that one-hit wonder behind "Pop Muzik" back in 1979. Always loved that first big international hit of theirs, "Something About You".
Thursday March 6, 11:47 a.m.

So far, so good on the start of hay fever season. The masks are out there but I haven't become a fluid-spouting mess quite yet although the season unofficially started last weekend. I haven't even had to run out to get the medicine although I'm sure that'll change over the coming weeks. One factor is that the weather has gotten cold again, so those pollen grains have been staying in their buds for the most part.

Just have The Yogist for one today after three straight days of nearly wall-to-wall classes. I've had to catch up on my sleep on the subways. Rather relaxing, though. Speedy's decided to go for the Golden Arches' blitz after my lesson; good thing, too, since not only will be hungrier but the lunch chaos should be gone by then.

I got word from The Entrepreneur that his "Doctor Who" tape for me got caught in the postal red tape and has been returned to him. I was wondering what had happened to it, but the same thing happened to me some months ago when I sent my niece a doll for her birthday. Should be OK now.
Wednesday March 5, 10:19 p.m.

Got the last two lessons out of the way. The Diver was a bit more unsure of herself this time around but was still much better than her very first Nervous Nellie class. And then The Bostonian had a good inaugural class. However, but we now have two ladies vying for the same time slot on the same night since 001 will be coming back next week to claim her slot in the early evening. The bossman and I were commiserating about that one for a few minutes. I'm hoping that The Bostonian is truly the kind-hearted young lady that she's coming across as, and will not mind the next Saturday afternoon slot.

Feeling somewhat tired and hungry now but not exactly filled with options at the moment. And besides, I do have to head back here for The Yogist's lesson at 1 tomorrow. But since those McD's coupons will be expiring on the 6th, the bossman has resolved to use them up in one big gulp. So, no lunch will be needed.

Speaking of 001, I wonder how she's handling the subarctic climate of Alaska right now. She'll probably have quite the stories to tell next week.
Wednesday March 5, 5:17 p.m.

Looks like pantsuits are still in. Apparently, Hillary has won both Texas and Ohio in what's turning out to be the most epic battle in US Primary history. Not sure if it was the SNL appearance that put her ahead this time around. Meanwhile, John McCain can finally relax a bit and see his enemies duke it out from the comfort of his own den for the next few months.

Just came back from teaching The New Yorker. It'll be the last one before she takes off with her sister next week to Bali. So I'll have to get those White Day chocolates over to the Sisters of State by next Thursday when I teach The Carolinan.

Speaking of chocolates, we here at Speedy's have got quite the mission trying to devour all of the chocolates that the older students keep plying us with. There's a tradition of paying tribute to teachers amongst the senior generation. I would have ended the last sentence with "...that's sadly lacking with the young'uns..." but the tradition is working just a bit too well, if you know what I mean. We even got chocolate marshmallow pies from Korea for some reason. Yup, that's right...when I think Korea, I think chocolate marshmallow pies.

Well, it's just The Diver and then The Bostonian. Maybe I will get some sleep tonight.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Wednesday March 5, 12:36 p.m.

One of those long patches of nothing to do between lessons. I've got The New Yorker at 3...maybe...probably....I've got her down at 3, and I usually put down her time right at the end of the lesson since she pulls out her schedule immediately after she's paid me. Being a bit paranoid, I tried sending word to her cellphone but for some reason, I can't get through. I've now sent word to her sister, The Carolinan, to find out if The New Yorker has changed it.

The Nurse was her usual self...although at one point, she started sniffling. Not sure if it was hay fever...or something else. I don't believe I've offended her. I've had to bump The Class Act off the 17th for her since her schedule has been royally tight. So, that'll be a big drop in income for that day, but The Nurse has been a very loyal student for the past year.

John McCain can now drop that "presumptive" label from his title of Republican Presidential Candidate. He's just reached the magic number and Mike Huckabee has dropped out. Now, he can rub his hands in glee as the Democratic rivals still continue to slug it out. The folks at CNN must be either skipping in ecstacy over that race....or reaching for their TUMS.
Wednesday March 5, 9:45 a.m.

After a warm spell, it's back to (relative) cold again. Another Hump Day...although it won't be the top-heavy schedule of Monday and Tuesday. Had a lot of commuters sniffling away on the subway coming to work this morning. A lot of corresponding masks as well, including on my fat mug.

The Milds regaled me with their "interesting" adventure through India. They said they went through a bit of culture shock traveling last week in terms of a number of things such as clean towels and washrooms. I don't mean to offend anyone living in the country, but my two retired students said that they were quite happy to be back home here, although it was truly an eye-opening experience for them. Got the tons of photos and a souvenir of a package of darjeeling tea.

Both Mild Jr and Jolly were undergoing some rather lousy bouts of hay fever themselves during the lesson. However, Jolly did enjoy his trip to Hokkaido last weekend after his Client From Hell had raked him over the coals.

I see that the Canadians have gotten their little taste of the nastiness of US Presidential Politics after that leaked memo concerning one of Obama's assistants supposedly reassuring the Canadian Consul-General in Chicago that his anti-NAFTA brimstone was really just smoke and mirrors. Hmmm....hasn't seemed to hurt Obama any...he just won Vermont. Still, I'm sure the Canadian government will be announcing "Act Nonchalantly" Day shortly.

The Nurse should be coming in any moment...
Tuesday March 4, 6:33 p.m.

Ah, such an O. Henryesque ending. I finally had the one big hit class with Chip N' Dale...and then the boss tells me that they'll finishing up later this month. But I kinda figured that they wouldn't be staying too much longer. However, the boss told me that she'll try and fill up the 6-7 time slot.

The Carolinan sent me word to get that new venue opened up at the Ichigaya Starbucks for her next lesson. BC's good to go with it as well. And we'll see about finally getting that reservation done for the Greek restaurant in Roppongi at the end of the month. Spyro's, I believe it's called.

It'll be another early start for tomorrow. I've got The Nurse for the first time in about 2 weeks. And then it'll be The New Yorker in Ichigaya (I'll still keep her at Tully's since there's almost no way that I can get a table during the day at the Starbucks...plus, she is a smoker) before The Diver and perhaps The Bostonian.

Hay fever has started in earnest. All that pollen from all those cedar trees has started clogging up my nasal passages. However, it hasn't been too bad so far...my nose has been running a bit but no major sneezing fits. But I've got the mask on now....as have so many other commuters.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Tuesday March 4, 4:52 p.m.

It's been a conventional start to the week. The usual busy Monday with The Class Act, SIL, The Full-Timer and then Medicine Man. However, I did have a model lesson student in between the last two folks. Pretty fluent young lady but can still use our help. Keeping our fingers crossed on that one.

Also tried to do some more tweaking with Cozy's translations. Luckily, I haven't heard anything from him in the last 24 hours so maybe that's a good sign.

Tuesday has also been rather usual as well. Despite the somewhat awkward situation last week with The Beehive over my financial situation, the ladies were in back into their old mode. They were happily discussing about their upcoming trip to Croatia in May. They also seemed to like that one page from my new Business Vocab book that I've been using with students like The Coffeemaker, Jolly and The Carolinan. 002 was her usual happy self. And I've got the juku crowd in about an hour. The Milds should be back from their India trip today; it ought to be interesting how they fared. Hopefully, neither of them ended up with Delhi Belly.