Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Thursday December 8, 2:27 p.m.

One more week to go. Just been packing, packing, packing. Luckily, Ms. Watanabe at Nippon Express has been very patient with me and allowed me to get that paperwork into her by tomorrow. I'm sure she has dealt with stressed-out execs on the move before.

Had my final lessons with 001 and Kirk last night. I think both folks looked quite sorry to see me go, especially 001 who was my student for at almost 6 years. But that's the way it goes. Neither she nor Kirk can make it out to the farewell party this Saturday: Kirk has got family obligations and 001 is headed out for Hawaii to participate in the Honolulu Marathon, so last night was truly our last night.

I have a couple of more final lessons today. There is The Kimono Nurse in about 30, and then The Magician. Not sure if either of them will be showing up on Saturday either. Another one who won't be showing up is The Intellectual but I'll actually see him some hours beforehand in Nihombashi for lunch.
Wednesday December 7, 5:54 p.m.

I'm starting to get a bit run down after all these goodbye parties and packing and whatnot. I'm almost finished the packing, though. Strangely enough, I may be able to get away with having one extra box left over. Still, I sent an apology letter to my sales agent at Nippon Express for the holdup in the paperwork.

More final lessons. I said goodbye to The Beehive, The Godfather and Mr. Swank over the past couple of days. And tonight it'll be the same with 001 and Kirk. I actually had lunch with Shrek in Ningyocho. Had a good time reminiscing about our days at U of T.

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Monday December 5, 4:39 p.m.

Coming down to the last 10 days before the exodus is finalized. I'm still packing my stuff...I'm hoping that my Nippon Express sales representative is an understanding lady. The last few days have been seeing my final classes with students. And the parties still continue.

In fact, I paid a bit dearly for my debauchery. After going through the annual Speedy Xmas party/year-end party, I think the lack of vegetables in my diet came back to haunt me early Sunday morning. I won't get into the gory details but let us say that I'm definitely respecting the fiber once again. Had a couple of parties yesterday. Met up with some of the former Speedy staffers: Ray, AK and Miss London for lunch at The Brooklyn Parlor in East Shinjuku. Nice food and atmosphere but still rather pricey. Then, it was down to Hobgoblins in Shibuya for the U of T Happy Hour. It really did get into the spirit of Happy Hour...a lot of griping about stuff. But I did meet one nice Japanese woman who had lived in Toronto for a few years and is a landscape architect. She even dissed Mayor Ford heavily....which means she's one of the good guys.

As for the rest of the week, I'm having nothing but final lessons and farewell parties. I'm meeting up with The Godfather tomorrow night for dinner. And Shrek and The Intellectual have asked me to have final lunches with them. Racking and stacking 'em as I see 'em. In fact, I've gotta go since I gotta pack.