Wed. Nov. 26, 11:48 p.m.

Well, my work week was very short. I've got nothing for the next 2 days and then we're back into the weekend again. And my work week wasn't all that demanding in the first place. Three classes yesterday and just two today.

It's hard to believe but we're now less than a month away from Xmas. And yet another sign that this is indeed the case is that NHK just announced the lineup for the annual Red and White Song Festival. Twenty years ago, my family and a lot of the other Japanese-Canadian families got really excited about getting one of the network's crown jewels to broadcast in Toronto. Nowadays, it's just kinda considered to be that distant sorta square uncle who pops in for a visit annually. Pretty much everyone either heads out for more appealing events on New Year's Eve or they get the New Year's food all ready while the Festival acts as sonic wallpaper. Seeing that I'll probably be having nothing to do on the 31st, I will probably be cozying up to it myself.

Saturday Nov. 22, 10:59 p.m.

It was one of those classes with my kids. The older kid was pretty much useless. But I did manage to get some apples from the mother.

I felt really tired after the class. I ended up sleeping on the subway once again and I just slept for the two hours I was home before moving onto my friends' place for dinner. Once again, the five of us were treated to a gorgeous feast of seafood and wine. Unfortunately, it looks like the house cats also brought out a case of allergy attacks amongst most of us. Luckily, I had the luxury of having some medicine.

Fri. Nov. 21, 11:26 p.m.

Well, speak of the devil. After mentioning my ex in my last entry, she gave me a call after 3 months of no contact. It was a typically emotional call, all of it on her side. I'm not sure if she had been drunk or not, but she was gushing forth the waterworks initially asking whether I was doing OK. When I assured her I was, she settled down. With the balm of time, I can now wonder how I was able to hold a relationship for as long as I did with her. After communicating with her for several minutes, I do realize that ultimately she wasn't the one for me. She has a new man in her life; I am very happy for her since it is someone who's in her company and shares the same age. Perhaps now we can finally get on with our lives.

Friday Nov. 21, 10:09 p.m.

My day was spent, as predicted, just lazing around watching CNN. It was nice but I also had a hazy flashback of my lengthy period of unemployment back in 1997. It wasn't all that bad but still I watched my income peter out. Sure enough, the scheduler called to inform me that I will not have any classes at the main school next week because there are no day classes due to the tests. Well, I figure that we're slowly entering the dry period with Xmas and New Year's coming up.

At least tomorrow, I will be meeting up with friends nearby for dinner. I actually haven't visited their place in several months. My ex and I were still going out at that point although things had pretty much cooled off between us by then. The hubby will be off fishing for our dinner; since he's an expert, I'm pretty confident that we'll have a bountiful seafood feast by this time tomorrow night.

Friday Nov. 21, 11:09 a.m.

Nice end to a steady work week and nice beginning of a long weekend. In this country, getting a full 3-day long weekend is still a relative rarity since a lot of the employed have to devote at least one weekend day to work, so you imagine my glee at getting the full four days off. Since my oil class is off at their last intensive, and myregular Friday afternoon student is off on vacation, I've got this nice sunny Friday off to veg out. Still, I have my kids on Saturday but that's just for 2 hours.

I was actually able to get a bit of cooking done last night. Tried my hand at gratin for the first time. This country seems to have a love affair with the cheese and white sauce dish. They've got recipes for just about every type of gratin imaginable: potatoes, macaroni, and even tofu which is the one I tried out. Worked out pretty well.

Being the big (breaking) news junkie, last night was a pretty banner one with the bombings in Istanbul and then the Michael Jackson arrest. Even the local stations here made it one of their top stories, though I think most people know the man more as the eccentric freak than as the King of Pop nowadays. My 2 cents? Jacko is a peculiar man, no doubts on that score. In fact, I would peg him as the extreme form of celeb excess; however, one isn't arrested for being an eccentric. Let's see if the man is indeed guilty of molestation, then I'll know.

Kinda interesting at my school today. Fridays are always speech days with our regular students, and today's topic is on capital punishment. And sure enough, right now in the States, a jury will be deciding on that very point for sniper John Muhammad.

Wed. Nov. 19, 9:55 a.m.

It is getting quite cold in Tokyo. I had to bring out the electric blanket for the first time this season. Just waiting for those first few snowflakes to come on down. Unsurprisingly, I've gotten a few sniffles, so I've taken the old medicine. Thankfully, the stuff works quickly; not so good is that prolonged use can damage one's liver.

It'll be pretty quiet today. Just my two afternoon and evening classes. The rest of the week should be similarly slow. Just have one class on Thursday and then Friday will be free and easy.

Monday Nov. 17, 11:26 p.m.

I was feeling rather tense with this first corporate class today and then that rather bittersweet trip to Hakone yesterday, so I went in for that massage nearby. Boy, did I need that rubdown. Like any good service, the staff there recognized who I was and what I usually wanted.

As for the corporate class, my tension quickly dissipated as the students, which included the president, were all pretty low and eager to learn....a very good combination. It was the first time that I've been to the company without having to get involved in another firefight between my friend and the president which was a nice change. And as a nice bonus, he took us out again, this time to a swanky sushi bar in East Shinjuku. I really felt like I was in a truly down-home Japanese setting. There were just six of us at the counter with our group making up 50% of the customers. The staff was very chatty and accomodating, even to my friend's insistence at using dilapidated Osaka dialect, much to his boss' bemusement. At one point, everyone in the bar got into a nice little conversation. It almost felt like being in a Japanese equivalent of CHEERS. I was almost thinking about coming here with a few of the students, when my friend took a peek at the check, which again the president paid for, and told me afterwards that it came to a grand total of 35000 yen. I realized that sushi was just too good to be true.

Happily, tomorrow I'll be able to start later than usual since my regular Tuesday morning folks canceled the class. Not that I'm tired of seeing them, but it is nice to get that extra time to sleep in once in a while.

I bought the DVD of CHICAGO. It and X-MEN 2 are the only movies that I've enjoyed this year, which just emphasizes what a disappointment the blockbusters have been in 2003. Yet, even with the DVD, I was somewhat disappointed at its sneaky technique of "padding". They put in too many trailers which resembled each other and a lot of the cast interviews pop up in bits and pieces in all of the other extras. There's the usual backpatting and gladhanding which I can only take in small amounts, even for a worthy vehicle like this one.

Sun. Nov. 16, 9:38 p.m.

We had our trip to Hakone today with me and 4 other students and a teacher. It included lunch and dinner at the local spots, a trip on elevated railways, an atmospheric experience in a tea house, a walk through a lovely garden of fall colours and a tour through a museum. The chat was lively and engaging, and everybody got along well. And yet, I feel somewhat guilty about the day. I was the one who set up the plan and organized the meeting spot, but then after that, it was all the students' efforts to get the train tickets, notably one student in particular, and to keep all of us together. I realize that they handled the ticket purchases much better than I would have, but still I had the responsibility to do it, and I just ended up standing around like a lord over his vasssals. I did thank them profusely for their help, but I just don't think it's enough.

Tomorrow, I start that first corporate class in my new bohemian career. I really have no idea how things are going to go and what their expectations of me are going to be, but I'll be working on the plan for most of the day before I head on out.

Friday Nov. 14, 8:36 p.m.

Another week over without much incident. With another payday and therefore budget sorting, I just managed to save a miniscule amount. I'm not complaining too much, though; as long as I'm saving something, I'm satisfied. Heck, even before I started budgeting on my Excel, I think I probably went minus a few times.

I officially announced that I would be spending my Holidays here in Japan due to my passport situation. Well, I figure that alternating between cities year by year isn't a bad thing. I may be able to save a bit more money when I do go back home. Plus, I've got people visiting in December anyways so it won't be too lonely.

The usual bureaucratic annoyance has come to my door. My rental company sent me an official letter stating tha t my due date for this month's rent is the 25th. It came in a soberly gray envelope with terseness. I've been faithfully sending in my rent every month for nearly 10 years and I get treated like a blip.

Monday Nov. 10, 9:59 p.m.

Nice quiet day today as I just had only one lesson. Afterwards, I came home and tried out the new kaiten sushi place at last. There was less variety in terms of the price levels of plates, but at least a lot of my favorites were scaled at one of the lower prices. So I just paid over 500 yen less than what I would have paid at its predecessor. Mind you, I did have to sit next to a boorish middle-aged Japanese guy.

Speaking of geriatrics, it looks like I've finally found out what that newly remodeled dormitory is going to end up as. It will become an old folks' home. Well, in my neighbourhood of international families and younger folks, this ought to shake up the demographics somewhat.

Tomorrow should be another busy day: 9 hours of classes!

Monday Nov. 10, 9:45 p.m.

Nice quiet Monday for a change. I just had my Monday morning students and that's all she wrote. Just came home and tried out the new kaiten sushi place for the first time. The price gradations are fewer but almost all of the sushi that I enjoy are grouped in one of the cheaper plates, so I actually paid over 500 yen less than I did with its predecessor. I had to sit next to one of those typically boorish middle aged piece of crust, though.

Basically, the rest of the day was just finishing off the last of the B5 DVDs that I had borrowed from Chip Guy. A good way to spend a chilly and rainy day.

Apparently, the British Royal Family has been trying to stave off another scandal which has all the signs of being on the level of Diana's death. The coverage has been intriguing. All this media scrum about something that will not be revealed. Well, according to my students today, the big scandal is that Prince Charles may be playing for the other team, if you know what I mean, which would of course cause a rather embarrassing problem when it came to succession.

One of the staff left a message on the machine asking me for a possible teaching gig at an Intensive for METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). Well, I don't do useless Intensives anymore, and if the fisrt METI earlier this year was any indication, then I won't do it. Besides, I've got my private classes now, so I couldn't do it even if I wanted to.

Well, the election results for Koizumi weren't nearly as bad for him. Still, he lost some power so now probably, there will be even more consternation in the Diet. Not great for us.

Sunday Nov. 9, 11:48 p.m.

Just came home to find out that Koizumi's showing wasn't all that good in the Lower House elections. It looks like that the elections have elicited enough attention to merit an English track coverage on NHK.

I spent about 7 hours with The Madame today. I met her outside of Yurakucho Mullion, and then we went out to an Italian cafe, La Vita Belle Pace, for an hour. The whole purpose of the meet was to discuss about teaching methodology since she's been training to become a teacher of Japanese, and then it would be off to listen to some jazz. Well, true to my form, things ended up rather the opposite. We spent a mere fraction of the time on academic talk and the jazz place that she was talking about was closed since it was located in City Hall. In fact, the entire hotel district was dead. So we ended up going to the Century Hyatt for dinner.
Most of our conversation, in fact, just dealt with the usual gossip surrounding our group of friends. It was interesting that we could just gab on this for almost a third of a day, but it may signify how close we've become in our friendship. I'm still not quite sure what our future is together...will we stay good friends or will we jump into something closer? We did a bit of skirting around the issue by issuing a joint statement that neither of us are particularly all that eager to get married at all. And in all honesty, I rather enjoy our relationship as it is right now. We're in no hurry. In any case, the next Sunday will be one of a more rural nature as we head out to Hakone for a little walkabout.

It looks increasingly more likely that I'll probably be sticking around here for the Holidays. I'm appraoching mid-November and there hasn't been any progress on my passport thing, and I would think that air tickets home for the Holidays are now pretty scarce. I've warned my family about this, and they seem to be taking it in stride. I'll probably head home in the Spring. In any case, it looks like I'll be busy with visitations from friends and even perhaps my brother in December. I've even asked The Madame if she would accompany me to the annual Xmas party at my rich student's house.

Saturday Nov. 8, 10:46 p.m.

Well, I caught the third, and perhaps final, chapter in the MATRIX saga tonight at Roppongi Hills. There won't be any major harangue here as in my entry for MATRIX RELOADED; there's no need. Suffice it to say, the effects were mind-blowing but the story far less so. And one could say that the story decided to unravel a bit at the very end. I think that the MATRIX should be best remembered by its first and best entry.

Thurs. Nov. 6, 11:10 p.m.

Wining and dining....for years, I've been hearing this very literal idiom from the business world. It certainly was its own industry during the Bubble Years in Japan over a decade ago, but has since diminished due to the bubble bursting. Well, I finally became the object of that Japanese tradition.
It all started when I went for my second mediation between my friend and his boss. The session was officially to iron out some further details for upcoming English lessons with their company. However, once again, it became another 2-hour marriage counseling session. It was a bit easier to take since I now had the experience from earlier.
Anyways, when all was over, the three of us went out for dinner. I had no idea where we were heading until we went up to the 26th floor of one of the Shinjuku skyscrapers and saw us approaching a pair of large wooden doors emblazoned with the sign, "The Esquire Club". I've heard of the place before as a high-class executive lounge in the Ginza, and now I saw myself going into one of the branches.
I realized how swanky it was when the president had to take out a key card and slip it into an electronic slot to gain entry. Immediately, we were greeted by a bunny girl. The Esquire Club was the Japanese equivalent of Hef's organization. My heart certainly skipped a beat, always a risky thing considering my probable cholesterol levels.
We had a very nice dinner which included cubes of marinated Yonezawa beef and very tender pork cutlet sandwiches. The interior was what one would ezpect of a tony exec louoge...all brown leather and mahogany wood decor suffused in incandescent light. Of course, there was a pianist singing jazz standards. However, I remarked that the place was three-quarters empty and asked the president whether this was the case for a Thursday night. The president sadly shook his head and answered that it was the sign of the times for the past several years. Goodbye bubble, goodbye expense account customers. And I also did notice that there were a lot of more informally dressed customers and foreigners to boot, entities that I couldn't envision in someplace as exclusive as this place.
The service was provided by aforementioned bunny girls. They were very polite, very polished and served us individual plates as well as light the president's cigarette. Good golly. I thought I'd never set foot in such a place.


The surprising night out compensated for that marriage counseling session earlier and also another so-so class (at least to me) with the top class in my school. That was my third time with them recently, and it just seemed so flat. Basically, my philosophy after 3 flat classes is that I'm just not going to mesh with those folks. I'm certainly not going to do what I used to do in these situations and ask to be not put with the class anymore. I think that would put the coordinator in a bit of a snag, and also if the students found out, they would probably feel alternately insulted and just plain bad. Really, it's their call....if they really don't like my lessons, they have the right and responsibility to ask the coordinator to ensure my omission. Until then, I'll just have to slog away and do my best.

Wed. Nov. 5, 8:55 a.m.

For the past few weeks, I've been doing my Pilates. Yes, that Pilates, that exercise regimen that all of the beautiful people (I use the adjective facetiously, of course) in Hollywood use to carve out their abs. Of course for me I'm using the "Dummy's Guide". I'm just in the middle of the first level of exercises after a week of Pre-Pilates prep. So far, so good. Everything seems to be centered on the Core, and involves a lot of stretching. Terms like Abdominal Scoop and Coccyx Curls have become part of my bedtime vocab. I haven't really seen any six-pack yet (I confess to having more of a beer cask, actually) and I don't ever expect to, but I have felt the burn, so there is hope.

Tues. Nov. 4, 11:17 p.m.

My teaching route today was one of those pendulums. I taught at one end of the metropolis, go to the other side for the second class, and then come back to my neighbourhood for another series of classes. Not that I'm complaining too much; all of them are good. My second one was especially revealing since it was the one with my fairly wealthy students. Apparently, the new skipper of the Chiba Lotte Marines, Bobby Valentine, ex of the New York Mets came by the house a few days ago to give his respects to my student's son-in-law since his dad is the team's president. The one humourous anecdote is that the family dog decided to straddle his leg in greeting. Not to worry, though, the Valentines have 6 huge dogs of their own.

The one thing I've never really worried about over the past 6 months of my bohemian teaching lifestyle is food. I've noticed that I seem to get freebies from my students. This morning, my class with the middle-aged ladies gave me a bunch of apples and sweet potatoes to munch on. The roughage was much appreciated. They usually get some sort of traditional goodies for me, whereas at my second class, I usually get something in the form of a fancy cake, and then at the juku tonight, I received some Hawaiian beef jerky from my first class after their trip to the islands last week, and some stew from the juku president. Plus, coffee is always complementary there.

After 9 years in this country, I thought I would have heard everything. Well, I am wrong. At my second class, the ladies told me that even at memorial ceremonies celebrating the anniversary of a departed loved one, it is customary to give alms AND then receive a present which is usually half the value of the alms. One of the students got a yogurt maker out of the deal. Can you imagine this quote: "I come for the tribute for the dearly departed, but I stay for the yogurt maker."

Mr. Matrix, Keanu Reeves is back in town to open Matrix Revolutions in Shinjuku at 2300 hours on Wednesday night. Considering how often he pops by Tokyo in his capacity as movie star and also as the bassist for Dogstar, he ought to think about getting landed immigrant status here.

Well, the shoe finally dropped in the terrorism front. According to TIME, Bin Laden finally made his threat against Japan for supporting the US in its war against terrorism. I'm just surprised that he hadn't done it earlier when Koizumi loudly proclaimed his support behind Bush. TIME reassured that with the tight immigration policies at the airports and the stress on anti-terrorist training of its security forces, it's pretty unlikely that Tokyo will see a 9/11. Hmm...being the fatalist, I will believe it when I don't see it.

Tues. Nov. 4, 7:27 a.m.

Well, I celebrate my 9th anniversary since my arrival in Japan. Hm...perhaps not "celebrate"; the word implies achieving a great goal or commemorating a great event, and my time in this country doesn't really signify either. My near-decade has had plenty of ups and downs, thankfully leading in the ups category, but I can't really say that there is anything particular celebrate about. In fact, I probably won't even say anything to my students or fellow teachers unless they broach the subject. However, perhaps to a lot of English teachers, my long stint could be a source of impressiveness or aghast

Culture Day turned out to be a quieter day than I had expected. I had been expecting to meet up with Chip Guy and the family for a small dinner, but the phone call never came. I later learned that he went through the long weekend incommunicado with a cold. Luckily, he's on the mend now just in time for a shortened work week. Instead, I just took care of some household chores, and then true to the meaning of the day, Super Channel in its wisdom presented the American contribution to culture. And I'm not being facetious here...the station presented several hours of the American Film Institute's Top 100 Movie Stars. As Hollywood embraces CG and pretty boy/girl looks, it's nice to remember the Golden Age.

Today ought to be another fairly busy one as I've got 5 classes. It would seem that Tuesday will be considered my Day of Hell. Well, that's not fair to the students. All of the classes are very good...knock on wood.

Sunday Nov. 2, 1:24 p.m.

Well, I got further vindication at my students' house yesterday why I'm grateful for my single status. This was my kids' class. Just before the older sister came into the dining room where we usually have the lesson, she and Mom got into a brief but lively row about something. The fact that the daughter is just 12 means that the two of them will probably be facing a lot of those spats over the next decade. Can you imagine the father having to deal with that?

Otherwise, it's been a pretty calm weekend. The weather has been cooperating for the most part. I'll probably just head out and do a bit of grocery shopping. Chip Guy sent over an e-mail to see if I were up for dinner tomorrow night. He also threw in the fact that he'd like to treat me for my 38th B-day. I don't think in our over-decade long friendship, he's ever offered that; I'm wondering if this is some sort of peace offering after our own little argument on the Web concerning "Kill Bill".

It seems as if the two main types of crimes getting attention on the news here have been the frequent pedal-by slashings of female students by psychotic men, and the rice rustlings in the rural areas. Only in Japan.

Fri. Oct. 31, 9:04 p.m.

It's been a long day thi s Halloween but it all went well. Got into my "costume" of sorts: filled in a dark suit and an eye mask to complete my disguise as one of the Crazy 88 of "Kill Bill". Not particularly elaborate but it was cheap and still made anough of an impression. I just had the morning oil class and then it was all gravy after that.

The annual Halloween party at my school was probably the most successful yet. Not everyone brought a costume; it was pretty easy to know who would and who wouldn't according to temperament. For the ones who came, their costumes were imaginative enough to fulfill the entire quota. The Rapper went against type and dressed up like a high school girl with makeup no less. Another of the male students went the transvestite route as well. We had two nurses, a devil, a bunny and even the course coordinator dressed up like a sumo wrestler. I helped her out do the "Trick Or Treat" round of the classes before settling for a couple of hours of downtime.

Then some of us who had some time before the official party went downstairs to the karaoke box for a couple of hours. Then the festivities began in earnest as the whole bunch of us tackled the various pumpkins fairly chaotically before things settled down into a more coordinated rhythm. Then came the pizza and then the apple bobbing. Of course, we had the official Trick or Treat bags of candy ready as well. It just took 2.5 hours. Afterwards, some of the folks were to meet up with a former teacher down in Shibuya for some further partying. I would've liked to have gone but with my kids' classes tomorrow, I don't think there would've been any way that I could've pulled it off.

I'm tired after all of the events and hijinks but it's a "good" tired, the one that I don't nearly get enough of anymore. I just hope that the Xmas party is just as happy. It was nice to see students getting interested in something that they hadn't experienced before. It made for a good change of pace from the usual classes.

Last night, I met up with the boys from last year's old oil class for dinner. We went over to ta another restaurant in the Shiodome City Center, a place which bases itself on chicken. I listened to a lot of confidential information about the company...none of which would really concern me anyways. For once, one of them became almost wistful about fate when he described his trips to an expensive hostess club to discover that some of these women who talk to people for a living are often university grads from home who couldn't find a more appropriate job.

It looks like that volatile interpreting session last week was merely a bandage, but a bandage that is holding for now. According to my friend, both sides are pretty much entrenched. However, it looks like I'll be getting my first corporate job as a private teacher from the middle of November.

The weekend will be fairly quiet. I don't have anything after my kids so I'll be able to relax a bit. I might meet up with a couple of old friends on Sunday, and then I have nothing on the holiday Monday.

I would prepare for my kids' classes but I'm tired. It can wait.

Tues. Oct. 28, 11:29 p.m.

Finished another long day. I was just starting to putter out on my last class. Luckily, the guy is pretty laid back.

Hmm...I may have set off some sparks when I sent out my reasons for not enjoying Kill Bill so much. Both Chip Guy and another friend pointed out that Americans and other Westerners get just as singled out for ridicule by the Japanese, so why should the Japanese get their shorts in a knot? Simple...for the same reason that the Westerners get their shorts in a knot. Two wrongs don't make a right. Well, if any more flames come my way, I'll just do my best to extinguish them.

Sun. Oct 26, 10:58 p.m.

Well, I saw "Kill Bill" today, and all I can say is this: it won't be getting the praise here that it's getting anywhere else. It was an interesting dichotomy: the Westerners who saw it with me gave it thumbs up while my Japanese friends gave it a thumbs down, and judging from the audience reaction, not too many of them would have disagreed with the Japanese friends.

In a society that's: 1) not known for ironic humour and 2)always looking for what the outside world thinks of Japan, "Kill Bill" is probably not going to win many fans. Being a person who straddles both the Japanese and Western worlds, I could see that I would've appreciated the flick far more back in Canada, but I still would have cringed at some of the dialogue and the scenes, especially in the Battle of the Tea Room which I did today. For the final battle between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii, it was almost jaw-dropping how these so-called warriors bantered about the Japanese language as if they were just two high school kids showing each other the latest Game Boy software. There was a lot of unintentional laughter there. And then, the battle ends with an enka song that could have just been at home for a sake commercial.

Now before you folks quote me the fact that QT had intended the movie to reflect every bit of non-reality in hi s homage to grindhouse cinema, the sad fact of the matter is that the Japanese like their stories straight up: no lavish spackling of irony and accurate depictions of what Japanese life is like. The very sharp differences in reaction left a slightly awkward feeling among us afterwards which forced all of us to temper our reactions.

As it were, some of us headed out for a Russian place for dinner. I had never had Russian food before, but for a place that was buried in a sub-basement, it had a lot of good food and it was filled to capacity. However, I think the food was more reflective of Eastern European cooking overall than of Russia proper, although the usual borscht and peroshiki were available.

Then, the remaining three of us went off to the Living Bar, a reasonable but trendy looking establishment, just around the corner for 3 hours of lively banter.

Sat. Oct. 25, 9:30 p.m.

Another bizarrely fun outing with the students today. This time, the mission was to get the Halloween shopping done for the upcoming Friday's festivities. But before that, we all had some lunch at this Hawaiian burger joint just across the street. It was the first time there for me. One of the students who came along swore by it, and we weren't disappointed. The burgers were quite juicy, but the fries could've been more plentiful and meatier.

Then, our squad went into Kinokuniya International Supermarket and picked up three pumpkins along with some goodies for Trick Or Treat before heading down the main Omotesando Avenue to Kiddyland for some decorations for the lounge. And finally, we all went up to this dessert place called Cafe Comme Ca. It really ought to have been called Cafe Decadence. There was a huge showcase displaying all of these unbelievably loaded pies and cakes. For one peach concoction, I wondered how many trees were sacrificed to provide the fruit for this pie. It was all so trendy. And certainly the kept company kept entertaining us with a lot of their non sequiturish English. Some great unintentional double entendres which would've made the producers of Three's Company salivate.

Finally, we took all of our purchases back to the school and took a small break before heading home.

Tomorrow, we may have another large group to catch Kill Bill. Should break my futility record for mediocre flicks.

Thurs. Oct. 23, 8:02 p.m.

A bit tired today after an interpreting session between my friend and his boss turned into a marriage counseling session. The first few minutes were especially tough as I got into some rather technical vocab which boiled over into some frustration from the boss about my friend's poor attitude toward work and his benefactors. It got better toward the end although there were some sparks here and there, once again from the boss who hails from Osaka (an important point when it comes to temperament). But the way it went, it certainly looks like the boss won this round. And I may have gotten a contract to teach some of his guys there although I'm not sure about the motivation factor among some of the employees. I certainly hope that my friend doesn't think I left him out to dry, but often the boss shot my interpretations down as soon as I relayed them. And to be honest, as I had mentioned once before, my friend can be rather iconoclastic.

Looks like there was some activity in front of my school today of a criminal nature. Apparently, as I was having lunch upstairs, my fellow teacher informed me that there was some sort of shakedown involving several police officers and three older men in suits. Probably another company scandal

The Japanese are getting the best of both worlds especially if they are baseball fans. Not only are they glued to the tube to see Matsui bat for the Yankees in the World Series but also they're looking to see if perennial underdogs, the Hanshin Tigers, can take it all in the Japan Series.

Thurs. Oct. 23, 5:33 a.m.

Yesterday was a fairly relaxing empty day for me. It's nice once in a while to be able to spend the middle of the week with nothing to do, although the loss of income is something that I'm always aware of. I was able to catch up on a lot of B5 episodes. When the series came out a decade ago, I, being a Trekkie snob at the time, couldn't believe these upstarts would ever have a chance of succeeding. And certainly, the pilot episode was no masterpiece of acting, especially on the parts of the top two officers. However, I've come to the realization that B5 has gone to places where none have gone before with its 5-year story arc and often very gritty storylines. Plus, the space battles are a lot better accomplished than on Trek.

Today, I have my regular oil class but then I have to step into a negotiation of sorts between my friend and his boss at their company. I really have no idea why he wants me there...well, I should say that I do know. His Japanese ability is pretty minimal...just some badly pronounced Osakan dialectic bits, and he needs to get across his ideas to the boss. His boss (and quietly, me) has wondered why he won't go for Japanese lessons despite the need for it in his job. I chalk it up to stubbornness on my friend's part and that he simply doesn't do well as a student. I can imagine him contesting any teacher on any point of grammar and vocabulary. In any case, I will endeavor to do my best.

Tues. Oct. 21, 4:24 p.m.

Just ina small lull between outings. I'll be heading out for my regular classes in an hour but I had a nice special lunch with my Tuesday morning crowd at one of the student's houses. My fellow teaching partner whom I've only spoken with on the phone twice and had never met in over 3 years of teaching was teaching the students today, and I was invited to finally meet him face to face.

There was a bit of pomp and circumstance when I came in. To the students, this was kinda like the meeting between Picard and Spock on that old TNG episode. So, of course, they let the two of us banter for a few minutes just to witness this piece of history. AFterwards, the whole group of us went over to the student's house where we engorged on a lot of savory homemade fare and a couple of sumptious desserts. There will be no need for any sustenance for the rest of the night. Plus, our hostess introduced us to a lovely green liquor made from bananas and other herbs which goes great with orange juice. Will have to pick one up on Saturday.

My first meeting with my partner was very cordial. He's almost a decade older than me and lives all the way out in Kanagawa Prefecture which explains why we have never met until now. He's a laid back fellow from Minnesota and we seem to share a mutual personality and appreciation of climate.

Looks like this will really be a slow and financiall poorer week for me. Not only did I have nothing for Monday, but it looks like my Wednesday nighter won't be able to make it out due to overtime. Basically, I'll have tomorrow off as well.

Mon. Oct 20, 6:39 p.m.

I see that senility can come quickly with the onset of age. Case in point: I went to my Monday student's mansion to find out that she is on a 3-day trip. Apparently, I had been mistaken in my scheduling which means that I'll have to reconfirm with her. That, and the fact that my airline student didn't make a request for a lesson meant that I had a free day. It wasn't wasted, though. Since I was in the area, I cased out Kinokuniya and Kiddyland to check out their wares before the big Halloween shopping blitz this Saturday.

After that, I just came back home for a rare Monday night. Just did some well-needed cleaning, including a set of curtains that hadn't been washed in nearly 2 years. The dust was probably the only thing holding them together. And got some cooking as well. Made a greasy and delicious fried pork sandwich. Can't be beat!

Sun. Oct 19, 8:15 p.m.

Pretty tired after a long day in Okutama. It was a good 2-hour trek by train over to Tokyo's last batch of wilderness. One of the teachers remarked that when she looked out from the 42nd-floor observation deck of Tokyo's City Hall, she was flabbergasted at how far the concrete jungle extended.

Well, she needn't have worried. Although it is officially a part of Tokyo, Okutama is just about a rural place of rivers and forests and hills as it can get anywhere in Japan. That teacher who made the remark from the 42nd-floor came with us along with six students. It was a typical Japanese BBQ with Korean BBQ beef and yakisoba being the main menu. The weather was perfect: sunny and that nice little level between cool and warm. It certainly was refreshing to breathe unpolluted air and see a babbling river beside our fire. And the convenience of Tokyo was still there. A lodge by the park supplied us with the knives, colanders, cutting boards and the grills.

Although I had a good time, one of the organizing students had also invited some of her friends from university. Now of course, it is within her right to invite anyone she wants. But I've never been great at socializing with a whole bunch of outsiders at once, so once again, I had to settle for keeping my distance from them. Luckily, the other organizer, Ms. N, is a natural "up-with-people" type, so she had a great time bantering. Me? I just enjoyed my lunch. The only thing was whether if I had offended the inviter by "snubbing" them.

Sat. Oct. 18, 11:03 p.m.

Had the morning class with the kids today; this time, it was the younger child who seemed listless although we did have a few lighthearted moments. Time to get a bit more creative. Luckily, the mother cancelled the class for next week.

Then, I met up with Movie Buddy in Shinjuku this afternoon, and met his ex. They are still good friends (unlike my situation in which my ex has seemingly decided to wash her hands of me), and the banter is still there. When she left, the two of us just had a browse through Kinokuniya before catching LXG.

LXG will probably be known as a small curiosity starring Sean Connery instead of the big classic it had hoped to be. It can be likened to Dick Tracy and Warren Beatty and their reaction . The atmosphere and the characters were there in good gusto but the writing and the pacing were sadly not up to par. However, I did like it a bit better than the critics who basically lambasted it.

Afterwards, MB and I had a quick burger and fries before heading down to Ginza and meeting up with the Actor and some other students at the 300 Yen Bar. All very nice but I do have to hit bed for that early morning wake up for the BBQ in Okutama.

Got started on a couple of interesting projects from yesterday. One is my venture into the world of Pilates, that exercise regimen that a lot of the stars have been into. It involves a lot of stretching and yoga-like maneuvers. Tried a few moves last night before bedtime. Not too bad. The other project was a culinary one. My Monday morning student gave me some yogurt starter to make my own creamy version. I mixed the stuff with a liter of milk on Thursday and tried to leave it a warm spot (of which I have few right now) overnight. Well, it was still pretty watery when I woke up in the morning, so half-thinking that my foray into yogurt production would be a brief one, I just left it out all day to see what I would come up with. Well, luckily enough, by the time I got home, I was the proud father of a coffeepot of yogurt; the stuff just needed more time to gel since it wasn't too warm in my apartment.

I've noticed that I've been getting more spam now to the extent that I will probably have to check my e-mail twice a day just to prevent my in-box from getting swamped by the cockroaches of the Internet.

Fri Oct 17, 7:37 p.m.

For the first time in several months, I actually have a Friday night at home. Now that my Friday night circle is a fond memory, I can actually come home and perhaps even have a homecooked meal. And when there is an extracurricular event, I won't feel any guilt about cancelling anything. Basically, my Fridays will now end with my newest student at the tea room in the late afternoon. She's another former student of mine from the school, and since it IS a real lesson, I'm getting a lot more money from her than I did from the circle.

Looks like with the regular students on test week next week, I'll just be restricted to a lousy 6 hours at my school. Hmmm...I have to wonder about getting more new students if this keeps up. Well, at least I've got more hours at my Tuesday night juku and the two new students for now. Those referrals really do help.

My birthday has come and gone. I'm now a sprightly 38 years old. No major fanfare except for the usual gifts of clothing from the parentals, and a surprise gift of baked goods from my Wednesday nighter along with good wishes from my closest friends back home.

There's joy of sorts here in the baseball world as the Yankees made it to the World Series today. Everybody was rooting for Matsui. That's a nice bit of news to compensate for the bombshell announcement yesterday that the skipper of the Hanshin Tigers, the man who yanked the team from zeroes to heroes in one season, announced his retirement for health reasons. There is no joy in Osaka tonight, though the Japan Series is ready to go tomorrow.

There was another tremor, and this time it hit dead center in Tokyo but I didn't feel a thing. I was in Akihabara at the time which shouldn't have made any difference considering that it was a Shindo 4. However, my apartment quickly let me know via some fallen CDs and an entire shelf of books.

Well, I've got my kids for teaching tomorrow, and then I catch The Legend of Extraordinary Gentlemen with the Movie Buddy. I go there with some trepidation because of the ghastly reviews. However, MB is probably one of the most optimistic people there is. But afterwards, we head on down to the Ginza to the 300 Yen Bar (finally, a place that's even cheaper than the Farm Grill) to meet up with some of the other teachers and perhaps even some students.

It will have to be an early night since the next day will be the BBQ in Okutama with some more students and teachers, including those who will be imbibing at the bar.

Wed. Oct. 15, 8:03 a.m.

Well, strangely enough, I actually managed to save a little something according to my monthly budget. Perhaps onl y a third of what I saved last month, but considering that I had expected to be in the red, it's still a monumental achievement and I'll consider it another birthday present. Today is payday, so I wonder how much my old school will let me have this month.

After Monday's deluge, it's still cold and wet out there but without the histrionics. Got a morning class and an evening shot and a lot of nothing in between.

Monday Oct. 13, 10:11 p.m.

Looks like God decided to recreate Noah's journey to Mount Ararat today. The whole Kanto plain got deluged by a sudden supersquall...and true to my luck recently, it managed to hit while I was en route from my 1-hour lesson in Yokohama. I had quite the spray come into my face on the platform. And of course, the main victims in this storm were the commuters coming back home from their trips over this long weekend. My line was shut down in the afternoon. Instead of waiting and brooding at Otemachi Station, I just decided to do a bit of window shopping in the Ginza area for a few hours. I figured that even if the station resumed business, there would have been some major crowding on the subways for a few hours until things settled down.

So I decided to indulge myself at the Farm Grill once more. Sure enough, I had to pay the dinner price, and I did purchase a magazine and a Sinatra CD at HMV, but I figured that since my birthday is a couple of days away, I might as well enjoy my 38th a bit early. Sure enough, the trip home was much smoother and less crowded.

Still, I'm dreading the fact that when I do my monthly budgeting tomorrow, I will be seeing my first dip into the red since I went freelance. But I figured early on that that would be a probability.

Sun. Oct 12, 9:23 p.m.

A bit of summer crept in, if only in the form of humidity. Met up with Ms. N. today in Ikebukuro to do a bit of looking around at the Tokyo English Book Fair. First, though, we went to a spicy ramen place near the station. Really good stuff. Another notch on my restaurant stick.

Looks like Ms. N's invitation was well worth it. I was able to pick up a free inspection copy of a travel-based text to use with my very low students on Tuesday. My partner in crime just ended up browsing, and then afterwards, we just chatted at a Cinnabons for an hour. Looks like the craze for cinnamon rolls has definitely died down since their boom a few years ago. Plenty of seating.

Well, it looks like the other shoe has fallen where my Jiyugaoka class is concerned. Before I took off for Ikebukuro today, I had received a call from the one fellow stating that because of his team's failure to meet quota for the past couple of months, it looks like he and his mate won't have time to have classes until the problem is resolved. Hmmm....I wonder if this is a curse (I was getting quite a bit of money from them) or a blessing in disguise (the cost/performance ratio had never been that great). In any case, considering the culture here, I also just wonder if they're just letting me down easy and cutting me out, although I have to admit that I have some faith that they wouldn't do that. In any case, I'm going to assume worst-case scenario and keep taking offers for teaching.

Fri. Oct. 10, 10:28 p.m.

Another week has gone by. Started my long weekend early as my regular oil class had that training session out in Yokohama this week. So, I got my leisurely haircut (always enjoy that) in the morning. I finally informed my hairdresser that my ex and I had indeed gone splitsville since my former girlfriend was the one who had introduced me to her friend's hair salon. She gave her sympathies but she wasn't horribly shocked by it since she confided that she really didn't know my ex all that well, except through their mutual buddy. I received a particularly good shampoo and scalp massage this time out.

Then, it was just some lunch at the neighbourhood Subway (can't live on Big Macs alone, y'know) and then I headed on out to Shinjuku to see if I could pick up a crossword puzzle book at one of the biggest bookstores in Tokyo. Gosh darn it....no t only did they NOT have any puzzle books but they didn't have any interesting magazines. Well, luckily I've still got some mileage on my latest EMPIRE mag and the remaining puzzles. Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow at another bookstore.

After that aborted attempt, I returned to my school briefly until a couple of my students invited me for some coffee at the local Tully's. Then, it was back to the school to pick up one more student and a newly-escaped teacher before we headed off for a Chinese restaurant back in Shinjuku. My student, Mrs. O, chose the place, and it was a good choice. The decor, the staff and the food reminded me of the formica-and-lazy susan non-descript eateries from my Toronto Chinatown days.

One thing I found out about the divine Ms. O. She's always been a very up-to-bat student, always willing to speak in English, even outside of class, to her fellow students. However, she seems to have a bit of a forlorn side to her which came to the fore with the imbibing of alcohol. Odd, considering that the others had said that Ms. O became more of a spritely sort when drunk.

After dinner, we headed out to that dessert place that I've come to know and love in East Shinjuku. There, as was inevitable, the talk on what was wrong with our school with its dysfunctional staff bubbled out, especially when my former fellow teacher, a very good sort, announced that today had been his last day. He's going out of the "biz", so to speak, and entering a website planning company in Mita. The students once again lamented the departure of yet another good teacher. I, for one, have become rather inured by it all.

The long weekend (which doesn't mean all that much to me anymore now that my patchy schedule has become a regular thing) will be a fairly busy one. I don't have my kids tomorrow but I have my monthly circle with those two former students at the Tea Room. I kinda wonder what the reaction will be from the staff now that my regular Friday nighters are now a thing of the past. Perhaps I may catch Chip Guy sometime on Sunday or Saturday. The Sunday will be busy meeting Ms. N, another current student, in Ikebukuro for an English textbook fair at the World Import Mart. The holiday Monday (Sports Day) may actually be a work day if my newest student decides to call me up for a session. And in better news, I've got another former student becoming a new private student starting from next Friday.

Hmmm....I see a golden opportunity opening up for tourism in Japan, which has been in the doldrums for the past few years. Let's see....you've got three high-powered movies coming out: the star-powered Last Samurai with Tom Cruise, the Quentin-powered Kill Bill, and the Tokyo-backdropped festival darling Lost in Translation, all of which have something to do with various aspects of Japan. Perhaps with all of these references suddenly popping out into the world cultural ethos, there may be some interest brewing in visiting the Land of the Rising Sun. Ah....there is also the other festival darling Zatoichi.

Thurs. Oct. 9, 9:19 a.m.

Now that Arnie is the Governator, it's interesting to reminisce about his commercials for Japanese TV. He's lifted heavy kettles for no other reason than to hawk Cup O' Noodles. But I think what the US media would love to slaver over is the ad where he was dressed up as a bottle of vitamin drink (the stuff that keeps salarymen going after 13 hours at the company) while starring with then-It girl, Rie Miyazawa.

Tokyo has not been immune to the Schwarzenegger campaign for Sacramento. The media has also devoted time and space to the Terminator, giving full explanations about what a recall is. However, we're not new to celebs-turned-politicos. You might say that we're kinda jaded. Celebrities deciding to become part of government have been around for a long time. The Japanese Senate is chock full of former wrestlers, baseball players and actors. One ex-wrestler who is now part of his local congress refuses to take off his mask in session. And of course, both Tokyo and Osaka had comedians as simultaneous governors; one was pretty much ineffectual, the other was brought down by charges of sexual assault. Hmm...sounds familiar.

But, all in all, we currently have a leader who, for a brief time, went the other way. Junichiro Koizumi became a prime minister-turned-celebrity because of his eclectic personality and wayward hair. But I did say briefly. Now, one half of us believes that the former flavor of the month is now doing "politics as usual".

Wed. Oct. 8, 10:11 p.m.

Well, the Terminator is now in charge of the 5th-largest economy on the planet. Only in California. Susan Sarandon must be having a major migraine. I'll hold my judgement for next year. But the CNN coverage this afternoon made for a nice diversion on this cloudy and cool day.

It looks like the boom in new restaurants is in full swing under my subway station. The new grill chain, Pepper Lunch, was the first to open last week. I actually did try it on its second day. Yep, the decor certainly looks a lot brighter than the one presented by the old Dosanko Ramen greasy spoon that had been there for years. Food was decent enough as well. I had the combo steak and hamburger with bean sprouts and carrot slices. The gimmick is that the steak cubes are brought on a sizzling hot plate while still raw; the customer has to mix it around on the plate to cook them.

I'm not sure but it looks like the new conveyor belt sushi place may also be in operation a few days ahead of schedule. The decor looks slightly different but it seems essentially the same ol' place. Then, there is the upcoming new ramen joint across from it. The only thing I see identifying it as such is the big sign with the huge kanji for noodles.

Speaking of new developments, the relatively seedy street heading straight from the station entrance (a number of izakaya and little hostess pubs) has gotten a bit of class recently. One place that has been built up seems to be some sort of wedding planning office. The outside walls certainly have that appropriately pearly white sheen and there are some rather large picture windows showing what's going on inside. I wonder if they're following all of those TV stations in Manhattan. And a new apartment building has popped up down on the corner with some sort of large office space comprising the first floor.

Then there is the former company dorm just a few meters down from my place which got gutted earlier in the summer. Now, the inside has been altered to show more space and certainly more lighting. In fact, all of the lights in the entire complex have been turned on every night in apparent defiance of TEPCO policy. There is now some sort of French name over the entrance and new plants ringing the front of the building. Got no idea what it is now but I'm waiting to see who the new owners are.

Wednesday Oct. 8, 12:19 a.m.

Well, I got through my 9.5 hours of classes undamaged. I don't feel particularly all that tired, or at least as tired I thought I would be. But then again, I did ingest some chocolates and a vitamin drink just before my last round of classes in Urayasu tonight. Fantastically enough, all of the classes went pretty well.

True to the nature of my biz, I've gotten my share of cancellations. My Thursday night cancelled due to cold, and just now my Wednesday afternoon cancelled due to extra work. To be honest, I'm not all that disappointed. I can do without the long commute to either Jiyugaoka or Yokohama once in a while, and frankly, I've been getting the slightest sensation that things aren't going all that well with the pair.

I'm catching that Larry King "special" on the potentially untimely death of Roy of Siegfriend and Roy because of that tiger mauling. I'm gonna sound like a real heel here but frankly, I'm a bit surprised that Larry has devoted a whole hour to Roy...who is still alive, albeit in critical situation. They seem to already be treating him in the past tense. However, as famous as he is in Las Vegas, I just don't see him earning that much of a full court press.

Now that I have a much more emptier day coming up, I can just try and get some other stuff done. I still have yet to complete a translation request by my computer friend although he labeled it a quick request. I'm not too worried, though; if he had really wanted it quick, he would've been pestering me up the wazoo. I'm just worried about what he expects me of me on the 24th with this so-called interpreting gig between his boss and him. All I say is that he should've just taken Japanese lessons, but he must have sort of hangup about doing that.

Well, on Friday, I've got another dinner date with a group of students at a Chinese restaurant. Nice to be popular.

To my surprise, I caught both the guest of honour from last Friday's party and the expectant barely adult mother at school today. The girl wasn't showing at all but she i s only 4 months into the odyssey. But she does look a little different, now; maybe a bit more grownup. I would've liked to have spoken longer with them (just 2 minutes by the elevator), but with my schedule, it was pretty much futile.

Monday Oct. 6, 9:06 p.m.

I had completely forgotten that tomorrow will be the big showdown between Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis in the California recall. I'd shut off my satellite system for about a week to catch up on some B5 on my DVD that I haven't been watching CNN. Ought to be interesting and quite close, too. The Terminator got a last-minute wrench in the works with the allegations of him groping women over the years. Rather old news since everyone's been reporting on that for years.

Over here, the big news is that the police caught the scumbag and four of his compatriots who killed a 16-year-old and burned her body to a crisp in Chiba last week. The guy looks like a motorcycle gang punk but acts like a true sociopath. He apparently registered his marriage with the victim so that registering for personal loans would be much easier. Hope the guy gets the gallows.

I'm sure that a lot of commuters are hoping that the JR East folks get the gallows, too. Yet another snag on the line this morning caused a 4-hour hangup on one of the major lines crossing through Tokyo. This time, it was a 180-kg shovel which just ended up on the tracks, blocking the train. This makes it the fourth blunder in about 3 weeks for the station. JR has never been known for great service, but it's been an especially terrible month for the railway company. Ironically enough, the JR folks had just opened its newest jewel in the crown last Friday, the new and improved Shinagawa Station now open for Bullet Trains. I'm sure though that the majority of the commuters are hoping more for better service rather than more convenient connections.

Sun. Oct. 6, 8:47 a.m.

After all of the mania with the classes and the party, this past weekend has been marvelously calm and cool. A couple of the partygoers gave me thanks which was nice. Just made a jazz compilation tape and watched some B5.

Heard from my newest student that she probably won't be available tomorrow which suits me fine. I'll just have my regular Monday morning class and then I'll be free. It'll be a nice little segue into the 9.5 hours of teaching time that I face on Tuesday. I'm still wondering if it is the wisest thing to do, but I haven't done one of those in a while and the money will be good.

Just scoured through a new website about Tokyo events. I found some jazz clubs that the Madam and my Monday morning class may be interested in.

Sat. Oct. 4, 6:57 a.m.

Oh, the O. Henryesque ending crossed with a bit of Hitchcockian malice. Here I was yesterday ranting about my friend who wouldn't put out the money to pay tribute to our former student and friend and the fact that I would, and now today, I'm 15,000 yen poorer.

Two of our supposed confirmed guests didn't show up, so I had to pay their share of the tab as per the regulations of the course. Of course, I didn't mention anything to the others. Somehow, the Force was able to blur everyone's vision as I put down the money during cheque time. Our waiter who had been pretty dour because everyone trickled in instead of showing up at theappointed time was one happy SOB after I gave him the ton of money. Perhaps he had been expecting some sort of resistance since heand I knew about what was up. Well, at least everyone enjoyed themselves. And I'm still an appreciated guest there.
The secret will always stay with me.

One other secret that will remain that way for a little while longer is our knocked-up student. She couldn't make it to the party after all due to morning sickness. Ironically, she called up the Madam (one who loves to gossip) to send her regrets. She never realized since the kid just told her that she was just sick.

Afterwards, most of our number faded to the four winds while four of us decided to put in some karaoke nearby. Movie Buddy joined us after his class. It was your conventional 2-hour songfest but it looks like our guest of honour showed how little tolerance she has for alcohol once again. The first sign was when she kept slamming her glass on the table like an irate sailor. Then, the Jerry Lewis pratfalls began once we started to head for the station. Glad I wasn't part of the detail to get her home. I already gave at the Y .

I've got my kids today. Man, I hope I can get through the 2 hours without going nuts. I feel so tired...and poor.

Thurs. Oct 2, 6:56 p.m.

Well, in the last 24 hours, I've had to put out a fire. Looks like that former teacher who had complained about the expense of tomorrow's party venue decided to give me a comprehensive, bulleted explanation why he has pulled out. I told him straight out that I didn't like his decision; his reasons were all negative: he hates 1) Shibuya, 2) crowded trains 3) getting ripped off financially 4) smoke-filled bars and 5) the comments that our dippy teacher makes. In other words, he basically hates going out. The man had stated in the past that he really disliked Tokyo life and that he shouldn't have to endure such horrors.

Now for the democratic rebuttal. Though I do understand his reasons (certainly, I'm no fan of getting ripped off or riding on crowded trains), this party is for a former student and friend who will be leaving for several months, and I think the slight expense of the party is immaterial to the sentiment of celebrating a good friend among good friends. Also, i f he doesn't want to come out because all of the social inconvenience, that is his right; however, he would have a bit of heart and perseverance to say goodbye to a friend. I think what really got me steamed was just the coldness of his response.

However, he did send a short letter later this morning apologizing again. I then told him that I appreciated the fact that he pulled out instead of inflicting us with his misery at the party. There's nothing worse than a determined party pooper. I kinda vented myself through an e-mail to the Madame. I feel rather bad about that but she understood how angry I got.

Well, in any case, I made the final confirmations to the restaurant, and now all that's left is just to show up. There could be a bombshell announcement by one of our former students tomorrow, though. In fact, it may be quite obvious even before she says a word. She has apparently gotten pregnant outside of wedlock in the past few months. A few of the guests for tomorrow know about it, including the guest of honor. The real shocker is that she is all of 20 years of age. There could be some awkward moments.

Wednesday Oct. 1, 8:40 p.m.

Midweek. I had my two classes today and found out that one of my students' ex-hubby got arrested for DWI and driving without a license after he had "borrowed" her Jaguar. And I thought such incidents of delinquent husbands were exclusively an American thing.

Speaking of the US, is it me or did the President's picture on the CNN website look noticeably more haggard? Let's see...Iraq is not going well, his popularity is sliding and now this thing about a leak. Hmmm...I'd probably have the Presidential Surgeon on speed dial if I were the Chief of Staff.

Since I had the morning off today, I took a look at the X2 DVD while I was ironing. Strangely enough, it's been already released although it has yet to make it out in the US. Not a whole lot of extras, but still after giving this movie a second look has strengthened my opinion that it is still the only movie this year that I've given a full nod to.

Well, two more days before the farewell party for one of my students. I have to ensure the final numbers tomorrow to the restaurant. In the you-can't-satisfy-everyone department, one of those invited got on my case for making the reservations at an izakaya that didn't give a great deal for a large group. Well, it IS expensive but I am considering it a special event, and over here special events and expense go hand in hand.

And speaking of restaurants, looks like we've got a couple of new eateries at the mall underneath the subway station. One replaced the greasy ramen place that had been there for years; it opened today as a small grill for hamburger steaks and regular steaks. It certainly looks a lot cleaner in there, and I'm wondering if I should give it a shot tomorrow since I'm coming home early. Then again, I think I ought to give it a couple of weeks of seasoning so the staff can work out any growing pains. The other place will be opening up on the 10th as a new conveyor belt sushi restaurant to replace the one that had been there for 3 years. In a way, it was a pity about the other one since in recent months, it had tried its best to get the customers back in through lunch specials but such was not to be, and such is the ruthlessness of running a restaurant.

Well, it's been 5 days since that quake. So far, so good....no major tremors.

Sun. Sept 28, 11:33 p.m.

SWAT? It was more of a bloop single. The Movie Buddies caught their latest flick today in Shinjuku. It was a smaller group this time out: just me, the Madame, a former fellow teacher and another grad.

I remember the TV show just as a few scenes and the catchy theme song. In fact, rumour has it that SWAT was the only TV show created around a hit song. And the only reason I remember it so well is not because of the series itself which only lasted one season, but because of the theme song that was used as the background music from my elementary school French teacher's grand contribution to our school's gymnastics team. The song was just played ad nauseum day after day.

Well, in 2003, the song has pretty much been sublimated to just a few bars within a rap song. So where did the story go? For an action thriller, it just seemed rather conventional and by-the-numbers. Those adjectives are great for a real SWAT takedown but not too good for a movie. The characters and the story were born out of a dozen other police flicks so there was really no investment of our attention needed. Just sit back and relax....no real need to hold onto the armrests. And it's the first time that I've seen two good actors, Sam Jackson and Colin Farrell, end up in their umpteenth lame movie (well, Colin did have Minority Report).

But the real reason behind SWAT's limp performance is the same reason that brough the original TV series down. The Special Weapons and Tactics team is employed for just one thing: to get rid of an unusually intractable opposition in a building. Now, how many episodes can you do of that premise before things get boring? Even if you pack some juicy backstories and plots for the characters, they would still be hanging on a very limited string. The same goes for the movie.

After the movie, the four of us just went for a bit of dessert and then we tried out a Turkish restaurant on one of the side streets on the teacher's recommendation. Everything worked out well except for the yogurt drink, which was an acquired taste.

Sat. Sept. 27, 11:16 p.m.

I came home smelling of sweat, tobacco and booze. Namely, it was another long party day with the students and teachers of my school. Had a larger than usual turnout for the September students' welcome party at the Grill, which rather reflects a more outgoing April bunch. It was interesting that throughout the day, I never really got to know the new students except, ironically enough, a fellow who's quickly gained a reputation of being alternately shy and sullen. More on him later.

Also throughout the day, I gleaned more insight into the various teachers and students. One of our new teachers is a young lady who's a very seasoned traveler. She's been going throughout various countries and teaching English there, and now Japan has become her newest port of call; she's very down-to-earth. However, we also have our long time Japanese teacher of English grammar who's at the other end of the spectrum. She's always been a bit in left field, and the people around her have always wondered if she is Japanese or American in her ways. She was especially out there today, with Movie Buddy commenting that she seemed to be using more non sequiturs than usual.

Afterwards, fifteen of us did the usual second party custom of going to karaoke around the corner for a few hours. One teacher, who will now be known as the Rapper, brought us more into the urban side of life with his choices of Eminem for singing. Quite a few of the younger students appreciated that and fully participated. He and I are cordial enough but I don't think we'll ever become friends; we just have too much of a cultural bridge between us.

Then, it was time for the third party which took place at the 300-Yen Bar. Only Movie Buddy knew of its location; two girls who thought they knew ended up taking us way out of range, so we had additional walking to do before an emergency call to Movie Buddy, who had to race back to the karaoke bar to help a mutual friend find her stole and therefore had left the two girls to lead us into oblivion. 15 unnecessary minutes later, Movie Buddy guided us to South Ginza into a dark side street and down the stairs into a basement standing-only bar where everything, and I mean everything, was only worth 300 yen. I initially thought that having to stand for a few hours after the odyssey through Ginza was going to kill me, but I lasted 4 hours standing, drinking, chatting and becoming a pop psychologist.

My role of a 21st-century Fake Freud came into gear when I started gleaning further insight into various members of the group after the influence of alcohol came over them. Ms. Left Field had other things to do so at least I could avoid psychoanalyzing her. The Canuck, a relatively recent addition to the crew, came by with his lovely girlfriend. He's developed a reputation of being an OK if not great teacher and a good guy, to boot. For the next four hours, we all centered around one table in one room of the cavern.

My first "patient" was sweet Ms. M, who has recently shown a very soft emotional side when her favourite teacher, the Yankee, finished his tenure at the school last week, who confided that she was still undergoing some pangs of depression over his departure. I think she just needs a bit of time to recover herself, and after all, she can just send e-mail to him. Then there was the sullen student who actually introduced himself to me. Over the course of the evening, I tried to engage him in conversation but his quiet voice and my push into somewhat more difficult vocabulary put an abrupt end to our talk.

Then, there is the Doll. She actually graduated way back in April, but she decided to take some remedial classes with the top students to prep for her 8-month stay in Seattle in a couple of weeks. She'd always exhibited a certain brittleness and uncertainty, but today it got more pronounced as she became the victim of a round of mild trash talk from the soused duo of Movie Buddy and The Rapper. The forum was a variation of a Truth or Dare game, and she got a bit steamed at some of the explicitness of the statements. I later told her that in America, trash talk was just the usual mediium of chat within a small group of buddies and that she shouldn't get too worked up about it. After all, she will probably have to face some form of it in the States.

And throughout all the therapy, there was another young lady, the Iron Liver, who kinda came in as a bit of a sidekick. She is Ms. M's good friend and she was helping out especially in her "treatment". The Iron Liver moniker came about from her reputation as a fearless drinker, as was evident when she and the Canuck were responsible for a mini-event in which they downed tequila shots with lime and salt. By the end of the night, the Liver and I had swapped e-mail addresses and numbers. I'll probably include her in any Movie Buddy outings. Speaking of which, I do have one of those tomorrow. And I also have to do some planning with the Madame about the Doll's farewell party.

Friday Sept 26, 10:34 p.m.

Pleasant day today. After class, I went over to Shinjuku and met up with Movie Buddy to have some spicy ramen before catching Lara Croft 2. It was one of the few times that Movie Buddy sounded even more pessimistic than I was about the flick. To me, it was actually better than the first one, if only for the lame reason that I was able to stay awake for the sequel. The FX and stunts were good but the story and use of characters were weak points.

Afterwards, we returned back to the area of my school and caught up with a student at a nearby cafe for an hour. I'm in the midst of planning her farewell party before she takes off for Seattle in 2 weeks for the next several months. While she went off to the washroom, we noted that she was usually quite tough on herself, and she needed a better sense of humour. Hopefully, she'll find it in the States.

Then, I had my final Friday night circle at the Tea Room. Nothing too fancy or emotional; just naturally, we rather went over old times before breaking up.

Looks like that morning quake has been upgraded to a Magnitude 8.0, even more powerful than the Kobe Quake and just a few points weaker than the legendary 1923 Kanto Quake which wiped out hundreds of thousands of people in Tokyo and Yokohama. Only the fact that the epicenter was far out to sea saved Hokkaido from becoming a true disaster area. However, the quake became the center of discussion amongst all of the people that I spoke with, especially with the oil class. I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for any more possible temblors.

Fri. Sept. 26, 5:38 a.m.

Looks like we've had an exciting start to our morning. About 50 minutes aga, there was a strong quake in the Hokkaido area with a magnitude of 7.8 or Shindo 6 Minus. I did what everyone does and turned on NHK, and saw a whole bunch of NHK offices in the north get majorly rocked. All TV stations are now focused on the quake with a superimposed map of northern Japan showing tsunami warnings. There are even reports of a burning oil refinery, train derailings and power outages. One amusing thing, though, is seeing a Fuji-TV announcer who often comes across as a Jim Carrey-esque clown giving a no-nonsense commentary on the quake

The tremors were felt in my area as slight but unusually long vibrations. So I figured that there was something up with this one. Perhaps those rumours I mentioned in my last entry may have some kernel of truth after all.

Thurs. Sept. 25, 7:54 p.m.

I received an interesting rumour from one of my students yesterday. She had heard that with the recent tremors rocking Tokyo, seismologists are "predicting" that there will be a major quake in the Tokai region (for those not in the know when it comes to Japanese geography, it's the band of land just west of Tokyo including the tea region of Shizuoka) sparked by the explosion of Mt. Fuji on Halloween Day of all days. That ought to bring some excitment to the annual pumpkin carving at my school.

Looks like I may be picking up a couple of more students in the next few weeks. One is a recommendation from my Tuesday night juku owner; she needs help to pass an exam for JAL. And the other is another former student.

The next few days should be quite filled with activity. I've got an early end to my Friday so I'll be meeting Movie Buddy and catching Lara Croft. Then, on Saturday, I have the welcome party for the September students at the Farm Grill. We may have to be fighting the Chinese tourists over the waffles, though. But it looks like there will be a bigger attendance than usual for the September welcome. And finally, I've got another movie outing for SWAT.

I received an e-mail from a friend of mine who's living in Shizuoka after several years of landed immigrantship in Canada. She got cut from a company after having a rather lively exchange with the big boss on the telephone. Her direct superior relayed to her that the big guy would only respond favorably to certain expressions, which of course, reflects him as the tyrant he is. I gather from the length of the letter, she was pretty upset, so I relayed some of the problems with my management over the years. Hopefully, she'll be OK.

Wed Sept 24, 10:50 a.m.

Since I've got some time before I head on out, I have finally gone onto a "quick" translation request by that friend I had met on Friday. He works for a tech company out in Shinjuku. All I can say is that those pro translators definitely make and deserve the good money. I did try one of those online translation programs; pretty hit and miss. There were some glaring errors in the translation; but then again, computer technology hasn't quite reached the subtlety to recognize nuances and probably won't for at least another decade or so.

From Chip Guy, I am borrowing a whole ton of B5 and DS9 DVDs. They should keep my machine busy for the next several weeks. Among the DVDs, there is the Babylon 5 pilot. From what little I remember of it is that it was probably one of the worst cases of an acting troupe against the backdrop of Toaster special effects tha t I ever will see. Tamylin Tomita, who is quite a tall drink of water to gaze at, couldn't act herself out of a WET paper bag in that one. It's not a real surprise that she wasn't picked up for the series and had to be replaced by the character of the new Russian second-in-command.

Wed. Sept 24, 12 midnight

Currently watching George Bush just as he's being announced to address the UN Assembly. He's going have to bat this one out of the park and into the parking lot if he's gonna get any sympathy. UN Secretary-General gave a pretty eloquent speech...he'll be a tough guy to beat.

On this official first day of Autumn, the weather has cooperated with us, and it has been appropriately sunny and cool. I went over to Movie Buddy's apartment across town for his BBQ party. His apartment is smaller and more expensive than mine, but he has a large balcony which puts my gutter of a veranda to shame. Once again, my clothes are stinking of garlic and sauce as we dined on beef and sausages on his tiny grill. However, the amounts were easier to handle.

The party was a nice group of three teachers and three other friends. Movie Buddy's girl became more of a whirling dervish as the day progressed into night and as the alcohol progressed to nothing. Mind you, she was getting on my back about how I should be lighting a BBQ which reminded me about how my ex could annoy me at times. At the same time, though, the later cuddling between her and him also reminded me of us in earlier and happier days.

One of the group was a teacher who had just left the school and has become, like me, a freelancer. Also like me, he's enjoying his newfound freedom since he's had little love for the staff. When the non-school folks went home, the remaining members who have been with the school starting talking about past teachers and students, including some of the scuzzier folks. It was then, with some sense of irony, that he told me on our way back to the station that he had tried to make "first contact" with one of the women there. He pointed out that he really wasn't interested in her; he just wanted to see if he got a positive or negative reaction. The response was indeed in the slightly negative range, according to him. My feeling about that confession was also rather negative. No, he wasn't nearly as bad as some of the past teachers on the make, but I don't think him going on a fishing mission like that was particularly the smoothest thing to do. Why, for example, if he really weren't all that interested in her, would he still attempt a touch?

In any case, I've washed my hands at the whole romance thing. It looks like any spark between me and the Madame has fizzled to nothingness although we will still get together for movie and dinner. However, my social calendar is getting quite busy. I'm catching a couple of movies in the next week, and I've been asked by another student if I would be interested in joining her class for a BBQ in late October.

Well, back to work.

Tues Sept 23, 12:44 a.m.

If there are any mental health specialists out there in the world, you might consider this an SOS for Japan. Today in my lone class, I heard one of my students relate an incident involving her teenage daughter last week in which a nutbar tried to maul her on her way home from school. She screamed which resulted in her attacker to try and muzzle her with his hand leaving some scars on her face. Somehow, she was able to break free and then went after her assailant which surprised him. He ended up running away. Traumatized and angry, she raced back to the school gate to tell the security guard on duty; he just merely told her to be careful and that there was little he could do since he had to take care of things at the gate. Even I was left fuming inside when I heard that.

Recently, there have been incidents of attempted and successful kidnappings of students, pedal-by stabbings by mentally unhinged people including one 25-year-old fashion hound who was stabbing kids for their Hermes or Louis Vuitton bags. Luckily, she was apprehended, but many others aren't. Plus, there was that incident of that guy going postal in Nagoya last week, and the spree killing in Osaka 2 years ago by a psycho in an elementary school which left several children dead.

Crime in Japan is low in quantity but what it lacks there, it more than makes up in its heinousness. Adults and teenagers are snapping for various reasons bu t there aren't nearly enough mental health specialists such as psychologists in this country because there isn't a demand for them because there is the stigma of being identified as a mental patient. The problem is that the special stresses that occur in Japan will only mean more of these psychotic attacks on kids. The government just has to do something about this, but I'm cynical enough to know that it won't happen unless something really tragic happens.

After that harrowing report, I met up with Chip Guy and his family again less than 24 hours after I had left them for lunch. We went to the neighbourhood Outback Steakhouse where I had the Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich, and also made the mistake of ordering a cheesecake. I know that the Outback desserts are phenomenally big but I just can't seem to shake the habit of perpetually ordering the sweet course.

Afterwards, we went back to Chip's house for a few hours. The weather was much cooler and sunnier after the typhoon had luckily merely just kissed the Pacific coast before heading out to sea. This felt like a Toronto autumn, and I hope that this trend will continue. I managed to catch half of CONAN THE BARBARIAN for the first time (which surprised Chip no end) before heading out to meet up with my oil class at Tokyo Station fo r dinner.

Once again, as often happens at the big stations, we mixed up our meeting points which delayed our meeting about 10 minutes. But we did get together and we headed for a nearby Korean BBQ restaurant where we infused our clothes and ourselves with lots of alcohol, beef and garlic for 2 hours. We all got a bit tipsy on drink but since Tuesday is a national holiday, it felt more like a Friday. We certainly relaxed a lot more than we usually do in class.

Then, it was a short and necessary walk over to the Yurakucho area to a small bar where we sipped on drinks for another couple of hours. I actually enticed a couple of students to try the notorious B-52 and the Kamikaze cocktails. One guy got a bit quiet for a while as he tried to stop the room from spinning while the other got a bit more lively in his talk. Unfortunately, my sinuses were starting to drain again. Smoke-filled bars may be quite alluring in the nightlife of Tokyo, but my nose certainly begs to differ. A bit risky but I swallowed down three cold tablets after swigging a Brown Cow. Felt a bit woozy but by the ride home, I was feeling much better. The subways were certainly on a Friday night schedule. They were packed to the gills. I'm sure that everyone knew where I had been for dinner tonight.

Now back home after midnight, I've taken a well-needed hot shower to sweat out some of the garlic oil, and then gave my mouth a good scrubbing (although I will still have morning breath with the potency of a WMD when I wake up). It was a good night, and I think I really made some good friends with the oil class. In fact, we insisted that one of the guys ought to bring his new fiancee to the next event.

Tomorrow is Movie Buddy's BBQ across town. More eating...sigh.

Monday Sept. 22, 8:54 a.m.

The rains fell down yesterday and the winds were a bit gusty this morning but this so-called typhoon didn't bother us too badly. Thank heavens for that although my friend's BBQ had to be postponed from yesterday to tomorrow. Instead, I met up with Chip Guy and the family for a nice dinner and dessert. This week should be pretty free and easy. I've got my Monday morning regulars and then a yakiniku dinner with my oil class in the evening. In between, I'll probably drop by Chip Guy's house again since he'll be alone taking care of the baby.

Koizumi handily won the LDP presidential race on Saturday but that didn't seem as important as the fact that he selected a new Secretary-General of the party who looks (relatively) younger. There was a full court press on the selection of Mr. Abe, who may be the youngest politician to be chosen for the position at the age of 49.

As I said, this week shouldn't be too difficult. Tuesday is a national holiday so I head over to Movie Buddy's BBQ. Wednesday and Thursday will be my regular days of private lessons and good classes at my former full-time school, and Friday will just see one class in the morning before I meet up with Movie Buddy to catch Lara Croft. Not a great choice considering what I've heard about it but he's pretty eager.

Sat. Sept 20, 9:30 p.m.

That translation thing with my friends on Thursday turned out to be a near-marathon session after a leisurely dinner. The Beatles articles were interesting, though. By the time we got through the 6 pages, it was about 1:30 in the morning, which meant that I only got 3 hours of sleep that night.

Which meant that I was feeling pretty groggy all day on Friday. Luckily, I only had one class in the morning. What was difficult was that I met my friend in Shinjuku to talk about a possible interpreting session late next month. The ramen was good, but at points, I was barely hanging onto consciousness. However, I was able to get through my second last Friday night session very well, thanks to a spate of good conversation.

I got a bit more sleep today though I did feel a bit out of it at times today. My kids were OK, but near the end while I was talking with their parents, Tokyo got a pretty good jolt. And apparently, it was strong enough to merit a headline on CNN.com.

After a long walk around the City Hall area and a bit of coffee, I headed over to Asakusa to meet some old friends from my NOVA days. I used to teach two of them when they were teenagers, and now they are much more mature adults. Ironically, both of them did their post-secondary education in England. Just as ironically, our entire conversation was in Japanese. It's interesting how the two teens turned out. One of them was a bespectacled, older-than-her-years, downright serious student, but now she's got a somewhat more girlish and giggly side to her. The other had a more perky side to her but it's become less spikier with the years. It was a pleasant time in Starbucks and then in a ramen shop with my favorite type of soup, TONKOTSU.

The rains were coming down pretty heavy today, and they should be getting worse as we get into Monday since we've got a major typhoon hitting Tokyo then. I have my regular Monday morning class and then a dinner with my oil class, so I wonder how they will turn out.

Wednesday Sept. 17, 8:01 p.m.

I just read in the paper today that Mrs John Lennon still had a bit of the performance artist in her despite her age of 70. She basically had the audience snip pieces of her clothes until she was absolutely naked on the stage. Now if it had been Cameron Diaz, I would've been rather excited, but as it was, I can only say "Yoko, oh no!"

A long commute out to Yokohama again as my former Monday nighters started their new Wednesday afternoon slot. They decided to have their first class at the woman's apartment there. And I think there was a bit of a resurgence in energy so the class went well. Still, I was snoozing my way back home.

Seeing that my income will be pretty chintzy this month, I've started my diet of austerity. I managed to keep my food intake down to less than 1000 yen. For dinner, I'm having a 100 yen bag of rice crackers and peanuts. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I won't go too mad.

Tues Sept. 16, 10:15 p.m.

In the afterglow of the Hanshin Tigers' victory, there was a very sad sign of the times in Nagoya when a courier company driver went POSTAL this morning. He took several male staff members hostage for a couple of hours in the company HQ and calmly demanded that he get three months' back wages transferred to his account. Apparently, that was done and everyone except for the branch manager was let go. However, seven minutes later, the entire office exploded killing the hostage-taker, the manager and a police officer, along with injuring 41 people. Apparently, the disgruntled driver had poured gasoline all over the floor in the barricaded meeting room.

I checked my pay today which finally showed up in my bankbook. Apparently, I'll be on daily rations of bean sprouts and tofu for the next month.

I've got a couple of friends coming over on Thursday. It'll be nice to see them but I'll have to do some major cleaning before I take off for my Jiyugaoka class tomorrow.

Monday Sept. 15, 9:33 p.m.

I often like to think of my little blog as the written ID to my EGO, so I would like to say that I was somewhat pissed off when I found out that the Starbucks that I use as my classroom for my Wednesday nighter was closed due to the holiday. But I wasn't as miffed at The Coffeehouse That Seattle Built as I was at my student who, for some unfathomable reason, didn't answer her cellphone despite multiple attempts. This meant that I had to end up sitting on a ledge in front of a bush for an hour instead of either canceling the class or making better arrangements. When she did come, she gave profuse apologies that she hadn't noticed her phone. Maybe she was busy at work, but I thought those bloody things rang at a loud enough volume and vibrated hard enough to qualify as a sexual aid. She was lucky that I was able to hold it in and cool off by the time she came by.

Well, at least we could actually take a look at the Hotel Okura, one of Tokyo's premier hotels which just happened to be close by, right beside the US Embassy. I must admit that the decor had the ambience of modern Japan....circa 1960, but the staff is super polite and friendly. I can't damn them for that. After a mini-odyssey trying to get to the South Wing, we made it to a cafeteria inside the hotel which also had that 60s feel. Again, super polite service with a bunch of well-heeled old folks as customers. There was one old guy by our table who evidently thought that 200 decibels was the customary volume to speak, but since my student and I had become accustomed to working during the operation of the Starbucks coffee grinder, it was OK.

Practically speaking, we could really only comfortably afford the desserts, and I must admit that it was the first time that I had a dessert that looked like something that often pops up on TV on a gourmet show. My dish was some sort of American Pear soaked in red wine on top of a slab of vanilla mousse with an almond-shaped scoop of sorbet ("sherbet" sounds too mundane for this place) on the side and the whole thing was ringed by raspberry sauce. Not cheap by a long shot but delicious enough.

The two of us managed to chat on a number of things, including one on ugly Japanese in hotel restaurants. For some reason, she's had recent experiences in these establishments in which the person sitting at the next table always seemed to harangue the staff for some sort of faux pas. Of course, such a scene makes the dining experience a very poor one for the surrounding guests, but naturally the complainant doesn't really care at that point. I surmised that exemplary service is such a thing to be taken for granted that when there is a mistake made by a waiter or waitress, the offended customer takes it that much more personally in a "Why me?" way that he basically loses it. Also those restaurants attract a client of a certain tax bracket which means more demanding folks which can include snooty celebs or even worse, members of the yakuza. My student remarked that the people who had sat next to their table had that somewhat organized crime feel to them, so she was relieved that her superior, despite her anger at them, held her tongue. The talk certainly made me reconsider whether I should dine in these fine restaurants or have a more peaceful time with room service.

After 18 years, the Hanshin Tigers of Osaka won the Central League championships. The Tigers are kinda like the perennial sad sacks of baseball with the loyal loving fan base. The Toronto Blue Jays certainly could sympathize during their first decade in the majors. However, the Tigers fans are a die hard, almost rabid, lot. Being Osakan, the fans are a lot more looser with their emotions and more loyal to their baseball team than, say, the more straitlaced Tokyo Giants fans. They drink hard, they cheer hard, and they sing their fight song, "Rokko no Oroshi" just as hard.

As I said, the Tigers have been the perennial doormats of the Central League so when they do win big such as they did tonight, Osaka and the Kansai area declare a mini-holiday. The manager of the team, Hoshino (a man who's often been called a thug for his very spartan tactics), go t the customary DO-AGE, or fling up into the air by the players on the pitcher's mound. No matter how he's seen, right now, he's the man of the hour.

Monday Sept. 15, 11:25 a.m.

BREAKING NEWS! Ben and Jen break up! Film at 11! Oh, the infamy, the tragedy....the stupidity! Well, I caught this one on CNN just now, and the talking heads were just barely rubbing their hands with glee. Apparently, there's no real love lost with Jennifer Lopez since she has exercised such diva-like behaviour. I don't what it is about these female celebs which makes them act so bratty. Lady Jen wants her tea stirred counter-clockwise every time?! Boot to the head!

Aside from that rant, I've had a pretty quiet weekend. Today is Respect-for-the-Aged Day in Japan, so it's a national holiday here. However, I still have one class to teach tonight, my regular Wednesday nighter who is actually one of the relatively few people who does have to work.

I took a call from...well, I can't really say friend, to be perfectly honest. He is a former student from a few years back, and although he doesn't intend to do it, he has managed to annoy a number of people. It can't be helped...he's a bit slow if earnest but he just doesn't know how and when to interact properly. Since his graduation, he's managed to keep in contact with me for the past few years. He had kept in contact with a couple of other teachers but those folks finally couldn't take him calling anymore so one changed her number, and the other escaped when he returned home.

He has a penchant for calling once in a while. I usually screen my calls so I know when he calls up since he never leaves a message. All I get is the three rings and then the busy tone on the machine when he hangs up. What is so bad about this guy? Well, he's not that bad but he just talks on some of the most insignificant stuff. Y'know, from his talks, I've realized that most callers have a reason to call or they want to know how I'm doing. I think part of it is because he wants to practice his English, and I can't damn him for that, but when he just prates on and on about stuff that really has no connection with anything. A couple of years ago, I had to read the riot act to him when he called me up close to midnight after I had gone to sleep; so he's better on timing now. Still, if I don't feel like picking up the phone, I just let him give his three-ring-and-a-busy-tone message. The problem is that he does this three times on that night.

Madonna? Author of children's books? French-kissing Britney Spears? Uh-uh...not near my non-existent kids.