Saturday May 29, 11:40 a.m.
Yup, really glad to have the day off. I've hung out the mattresses out to air out in what is a glorious day. It looks like my kids' schools aren't the only ones to have their festivals. The two elementary schools in my neighbourhood are currently having their own little sports festivals out in the schoolyards. The glacee stands are out there and families are bringing their picnic baskets and blankets. The usual John Phillip Sousa marches are playing while the kids are racing around the track.
Of course, I see this as an outsider since I have no connection with family which suits me just fine. I took my now-rare opportunity of getting my rubdown. I've always respected my massage clinic. I don't think I go there all that often and with all of the other customers that come in, I'm impressed that the receptionist and the director of the clinic not only know my name but what I usually want: work on my shoulders, neck and scalp. The place has become the equivalent of the neighbourhood tavern or even the old Japanese sento. Lots of banter among the techs and customers.
Well, I got my shopping done and now after lunch, I'll be cleaning up the apartment before dinner. Nice to do something not related to teaching once in a while. SR sent me a note stating that she won't be able to make our Friday lesson. I let her know that that was alright since I probably would appreciate the extra time off after coming back from Sapporo Thursday night.
I heard that a couple of Japanese journalists got shot and killed in Iraq. But I haven't heard anything in the wide shows which is rather strange, although I did see some headlines of the fact last night.
In a way, I hope I can get that cleaning done fairly quickly. On a day like today, I could sure use a nap.
Just a place to deposit my thoughts on life here in the Kanto and about anything else that sticks to my walls.
Friday, May 28, 2004
Saturday May 29, 12:33 a.m.
Man, it was one of those boner days again yesterday with Arwen, 77 and Automan.The day before it was my fault for forgetting to call Automan, Today, however, was multi-pronged. First, 77 accidentally tipped over my teapot...well, that didn't really cramp my style since the owner of the tea room was more than happy to fill up the pot once again. But I found out that I hadn't given them some handouts which would've supplied some homework for them, so I looked pretty foolish there. And then Movie Buddy dropped in, so I wasn't sure if 77 were too happy about having another chatfest instead of some substantial work being done. MB is a great guy but sometimes he doesn't know when not to stay out of stuff.
Then, it was trying to contact Automan several times and just getting his message machine. I finally had to leave the Tea Room's number on it so that Automan could reach me. It turned out that his cellphone batteries had died. So the trio of us and MB ended up spending an extra 2 hours there before we could get some sort of idea of what was happening. I felt doubly bad since I had asked Arwen and 77 if they wanted to tag along. I wasn't sure if they were thinking of coming along initially since I hadn't heard any sort of response but obviously when they hung on for the extra 2 hours, I knew that something was up. Well, it wasn't over yet. Automan and I decided that we would meet him at Akihabara Station at 5:30. He didn't show up until 6:00 p.m. which didn't exactly please me but I didn't say anything since I had company. But the fact that the two women were left hanging (at one point, they even wrote placards with Automan's name on it to flag him down) left me feeling even more guilty.
As it turned out, we ended up going to a nearby Denny's where some of us just had some juice. During the usual interrogation by the ladies of our guest, Automan decided to correct the ladies on their grammar which embarrassed and irked me. There is a time to correct students and there is a time NOT to do so. Overall, I felt very uncomfortable; I realize that I had informed Arwen about the fact that we would meet him for some coffee and then dinner but with his tardiness and just the long lag time, I felt like I was responsible for wasting their time. He can be feckless.
Luckily, he left a bit early so that he could meet up with some more old friends in Ikebukuro. The three of us, alone again, could talk up a bit before I went to catch up with Automan at the restaurant in Ikebukuro. There, I met up with one old friend, The Veteran, whom I hadn't seen in years since our time in the old club together. He'd gotten married with a Japanese woman and was now living in Matsudo. There were quite a few people there, all who had lived in Toronto at some period in the last decade. One of them had a rather massive decolletage. However, most of the time was spent talking with The Veteran. He'd only been in the Big Sushi a few months but he's already grumbling about the chaos of life here, and he has yet to experience a Japanese summer. Some people get used to it; others beg to get on the first plane out of the country.
We were restricted to 2 hours at the place. It was another one of those classier izakaya with the burnt wood interiors, dim lighting and jazz music and somewhat imaginatively produced food. Afterwards, we had the prerequisite spate of reunion photos and surprisingly enough, I believe that most of us called it a night. I certainly wanted to; not that I didn't enjoy the company but it was a Friday night and that means a lot of drunken idiots on the train. Sure enough, my train back home had some besotted fool attempting to stay standing beside me while I had my seat. His bag kept hitting me on the knee; I coddled fanstasies of taking ripping into the leather until I remembered from the conversation with Arwen and 77. Arwen mentioned that a week previously, when she, the coordinator and a couple of other former students went off to a concert, the coordinator, rather drunk and smoking heavily, gleefully admitted to vandalizing a neighbour's dog which was barking too much. Knowing the coordinator was just one book short of a shelf, I rather held back on my foul thoughts. In any case, the drunk got off a couple of stations before I did.
I got home, took a shower and then sent off an e-mail apologizing to Arwen about the past day. I know that she'll probably fend off any apology for both her and 77 but I think things just didn't work out. I'll have to be pretty careful about inviting them next time.
I'm so happy that I don't have to teach the kids today. I'll be getting that long-needed rubdown at my massage clinic before I tackle cleaning the place up. And then I'm gonna try and see if I can pack just one bag for Hokkaido.
Saw Macauley Culkin on Larry King tonight. Man, he's annoyingly chirpy. I can't really say that he's turned out all that physically handsome either.
Man, it was one of those boner days again yesterday with Arwen, 77 and Automan.The day before it was my fault for forgetting to call Automan, Today, however, was multi-pronged. First, 77 accidentally tipped over my teapot...well, that didn't really cramp my style since the owner of the tea room was more than happy to fill up the pot once again. But I found out that I hadn't given them some handouts which would've supplied some homework for them, so I looked pretty foolish there. And then Movie Buddy dropped in, so I wasn't sure if 77 were too happy about having another chatfest instead of some substantial work being done. MB is a great guy but sometimes he doesn't know when not to stay out of stuff.
Then, it was trying to contact Automan several times and just getting his message machine. I finally had to leave the Tea Room's number on it so that Automan could reach me. It turned out that his cellphone batteries had died. So the trio of us and MB ended up spending an extra 2 hours there before we could get some sort of idea of what was happening. I felt doubly bad since I had asked Arwen and 77 if they wanted to tag along. I wasn't sure if they were thinking of coming along initially since I hadn't heard any sort of response but obviously when they hung on for the extra 2 hours, I knew that something was up. Well, it wasn't over yet. Automan and I decided that we would meet him at Akihabara Station at 5:30. He didn't show up until 6:00 p.m. which didn't exactly please me but I didn't say anything since I had company. But the fact that the two women were left hanging (at one point, they even wrote placards with Automan's name on it to flag him down) left me feeling even more guilty.
As it turned out, we ended up going to a nearby Denny's where some of us just had some juice. During the usual interrogation by the ladies of our guest, Automan decided to correct the ladies on their grammar which embarrassed and irked me. There is a time to correct students and there is a time NOT to do so. Overall, I felt very uncomfortable; I realize that I had informed Arwen about the fact that we would meet him for some coffee and then dinner but with his tardiness and just the long lag time, I felt like I was responsible for wasting their time. He can be feckless.
Luckily, he left a bit early so that he could meet up with some more old friends in Ikebukuro. The three of us, alone again, could talk up a bit before I went to catch up with Automan at the restaurant in Ikebukuro. There, I met up with one old friend, The Veteran, whom I hadn't seen in years since our time in the old club together. He'd gotten married with a Japanese woman and was now living in Matsudo. There were quite a few people there, all who had lived in Toronto at some period in the last decade. One of them had a rather massive decolletage. However, most of the time was spent talking with The Veteran. He'd only been in the Big Sushi a few months but he's already grumbling about the chaos of life here, and he has yet to experience a Japanese summer. Some people get used to it; others beg to get on the first plane out of the country.
We were restricted to 2 hours at the place. It was another one of those classier izakaya with the burnt wood interiors, dim lighting and jazz music and somewhat imaginatively produced food. Afterwards, we had the prerequisite spate of reunion photos and surprisingly enough, I believe that most of us called it a night. I certainly wanted to; not that I didn't enjoy the company but it was a Friday night and that means a lot of drunken idiots on the train. Sure enough, my train back home had some besotted fool attempting to stay standing beside me while I had my seat. His bag kept hitting me on the knee; I coddled fanstasies of taking ripping into the leather until I remembered from the conversation with Arwen and 77. Arwen mentioned that a week previously, when she, the coordinator and a couple of other former students went off to a concert, the coordinator, rather drunk and smoking heavily, gleefully admitted to vandalizing a neighbour's dog which was barking too much. Knowing the coordinator was just one book short of a shelf, I rather held back on my foul thoughts. In any case, the drunk got off a couple of stations before I did.
I got home, took a shower and then sent off an e-mail apologizing to Arwen about the past day. I know that she'll probably fend off any apology for both her and 77 but I think things just didn't work out. I'll have to be pretty careful about inviting them next time.
I'm so happy that I don't have to teach the kids today. I'll be getting that long-needed rubdown at my massage clinic before I tackle cleaning the place up. And then I'm gonna try and see if I can pack just one bag for Hokkaido.
Saw Macauley Culkin on Larry King tonight. Man, he's annoyingly chirpy. I can't really say that he's turned out all that physically handsome either.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Friday May 28, 8:47 a.m.
Pretty warm start to the day. I've got the fan on at full blast right now.
My juku boss let me know not to worry about next Tuesday classes. She'll probably just cancel them. I think it's much better that way and I'd feel more at ease.
Now, for one of my observations on the paradoxes of this society. For a country that has a pacifistic constitution (albeit one written by the United States), the Japanese seem to have a very high gore threshold. In the past few weeks, I've gone through some of their tabloids...glossier than their American or British equivalents but tabloids nonetheless. They have shown the pics of those American engineers who were shot and immolated by the Iraqis, and they actually showed the beheading of Nick Berg, including the picture of the terrorist holding Berg's head. Now, one can point out that the grisly video is on the Internet for anyone to access, but I think that people here have much easier access to a magazine at a kiosk than to a computer website. Also, in the video stores I've come across stuff like "Faces of Death". In another mini-paradox of the horror genre, the traditional Japanese horror has very little gore, relying on mood and centuries-old horror characters to scare the pants off of the audience. However, there are also the Japanese take on Western-style "splatter" horror movies which seem to outgore "Friday the 13th" or "Elm Street" by a good country mile. I'll save the...gory..details, but one traipse through a video store here will bear my observation out.
Pretty warm start to the day. I've got the fan on at full blast right now.
My juku boss let me know not to worry about next Tuesday classes. She'll probably just cancel them. I think it's much better that way and I'd feel more at ease.
Now, for one of my observations on the paradoxes of this society. For a country that has a pacifistic constitution (albeit one written by the United States), the Japanese seem to have a very high gore threshold. In the past few weeks, I've gone through some of their tabloids...glossier than their American or British equivalents but tabloids nonetheless. They have shown the pics of those American engineers who were shot and immolated by the Iraqis, and they actually showed the beheading of Nick Berg, including the picture of the terrorist holding Berg's head. Now, one can point out that the grisly video is on the Internet for anyone to access, but I think that people here have much easier access to a magazine at a kiosk than to a computer website. Also, in the video stores I've come across stuff like "Faces of Death". In another mini-paradox of the horror genre, the traditional Japanese horror has very little gore, relying on mood and centuries-old horror characters to scare the pants off of the audience. However, there are also the Japanese take on Western-style "splatter" horror movies which seem to outgore "Friday the 13th" or "Elm Street" by a good country mile. I'll save the...gory..details, but one traipse through a video store here will bear my observation out.
Thursday May 27, 9:19 p.m.
Today's class went well. Unfortunately, I pulled a bit of a boner by forgetting to call Automan after the class to let him know my availability. He contacted me so I'll definitely be meeting him tomorrow afternoon.
The Curry Master informed me that there is a possibility that it might be rather difficult from now on to have Thursday classes because of some job training. I'm not sure if she's telling the truth or if she's doing the usual Japanese white lie to save face, but I let her know that if she won't be available, perhaps I can teach that other woman she had mentioned weeks ago.
Well, I've got those reservations in for Sunday. Sure enough, the first e-mail I get is from OA asking if her buddy can join in the fun. I'll hold on and see if someone decides to cancel out before I make any changes.
Today's class went well. Unfortunately, I pulled a bit of a boner by forgetting to call Automan after the class to let him know my availability. He contacted me so I'll definitely be meeting him tomorrow afternoon.
The Curry Master informed me that there is a possibility that it might be rather difficult from now on to have Thursday classes because of some job training. I'm not sure if she's telling the truth or if she's doing the usual Japanese white lie to save face, but I let her know that if she won't be available, perhaps I can teach that other woman she had mentioned weeks ago.
Well, I've got those reservations in for Sunday. Sure enough, the first e-mail I get is from OA asking if her buddy can join in the fun. I'll hold on and see if someone decides to cancel out before I make any changes.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Wednesday May 26, 10:10 p.m.
Another appearance of the Dancing Bear for another class at the school. The kids had a great time as usual but I'm kinda wondering if I just acted a little too much like fellow Canadian Jim Carrey instead of the professional teacher. In retrospect, I think I should've pulled myself in a bit. However, tomorrow's lesson is with the lowest class which I didn't exactly set on fire the first time around, so I may have to pull out the stops for them.
Once I got home I had a few housekeeping things to set up. It looks like I got a party of 7 for the brunch so I'll have to get that reservation at Fujimamas tomorrow morning. But I figure even if I can't snag it, we'll just show up 30 minutes earlier and just grab some seats.
I actually got my coupons for Hokkaido tonight from a rather forlorn delivery man. Looks like everything is in order. And I don't have to show up hours earlier for my morning flight. 40 minutes will do just nicely.
I called up The Curry Master since I didn't get any response from her by e-mail. It looks like she's had a bout with tonsillitis. Over here, it's not the custom to have the tonsils out during childhood. In fact, the philsophy about the tissue is exactly opposite from that of North America. Over here, apparently, the tonsils are kept to protect oneself from bacteria. Well, CM managed to survive the past two days without having to rid herself of them. So, it looks like the lessons are on tomorrow. However, she has told me that most likely she won't be subbing for me on Tuesday since she's gonna be too busy and with her energy levels rather sapped from the tonsillitis, she won't be in too good of a condition for teaching. I'm not exactly disappointed with her decision. Call it a bit of Mother Hen Syndrome but after a year of teaching my Tuesday nighters, I feel a bit defensive of anyone taking over. Plus, the logistics involved would be a bit difficult to pull off since I'm gonna have to write reports and make a lot of copies. However, I'm not sure how the boss is gonna take it, though. There is one more veteran teacher that she could ask, but that teacher is a bit on the strict side.
It looks like the party for Automan last night went off well. It turned out to be a regular reunion for the U of T guys. I haven't heard anything from him yet about tomorrow afternoon, the only window of opportunity that we have to meet.
I called up the mother of my Saturday afternoon kid. Yup, the morning students' mother called it right. The afternoon kid will be out at that school festival. I've got the entire day off. I can do some prelim planning for the trip next week.
Another appearance of the Dancing Bear for another class at the school. The kids had a great time as usual but I'm kinda wondering if I just acted a little too much like fellow Canadian Jim Carrey instead of the professional teacher. In retrospect, I think I should've pulled myself in a bit. However, tomorrow's lesson is with the lowest class which I didn't exactly set on fire the first time around, so I may have to pull out the stops for them.
Once I got home I had a few housekeeping things to set up. It looks like I got a party of 7 for the brunch so I'll have to get that reservation at Fujimamas tomorrow morning. But I figure even if I can't snag it, we'll just show up 30 minutes earlier and just grab some seats.
I actually got my coupons for Hokkaido tonight from a rather forlorn delivery man. Looks like everything is in order. And I don't have to show up hours earlier for my morning flight. 40 minutes will do just nicely.
I called up The Curry Master since I didn't get any response from her by e-mail. It looks like she's had a bout with tonsillitis. Over here, it's not the custom to have the tonsils out during childhood. In fact, the philsophy about the tissue is exactly opposite from that of North America. Over here, apparently, the tonsils are kept to protect oneself from bacteria. Well, CM managed to survive the past two days without having to rid herself of them. So, it looks like the lessons are on tomorrow. However, she has told me that most likely she won't be subbing for me on Tuesday since she's gonna be too busy and with her energy levels rather sapped from the tonsillitis, she won't be in too good of a condition for teaching. I'm not exactly disappointed with her decision. Call it a bit of Mother Hen Syndrome but after a year of teaching my Tuesday nighters, I feel a bit defensive of anyone taking over. Plus, the logistics involved would be a bit difficult to pull off since I'm gonna have to write reports and make a lot of copies. However, I'm not sure how the boss is gonna take it, though. There is one more veteran teacher that she could ask, but that teacher is a bit on the strict side.
It looks like the party for Automan last night went off well. It turned out to be a regular reunion for the U of T guys. I haven't heard anything from him yet about tomorrow afternoon, the only window of opportunity that we have to meet.
I called up the mother of my Saturday afternoon kid. Yup, the morning students' mother called it right. The afternoon kid will be out at that school festival. I've got the entire day off. I can do some prelim planning for the trip next week.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Wednesday May 26, 8:39 a.m.
It hasn't gotten mentioned on CNN, so I'll do the honours. It looks like the Japanese authorities have started moving in on some places for the Al Qaeda connection. Apparently, there is one fellow that they really want to meet.
Looks like another potential blockbuster threat to the United States has surfaced again. Must be summer...
I checked the e-mail. I haven't received any acknowledgement from the Curry Master about the assignment that I'd sent earlier this morning. She usually checks her e-mail around midnight so I'm wondering if her mother is keeping her away from the computer.
Well, I'm facing far less work today. I'm only a third as busy as I was yesterday. Just three hours worth of classes.
That Japanese kid who won the Best Actor prize at Cannes hasn't made too much of a splash here in the media since grabbing it. It looks like the abductees are still taking the front page. In a way, I think it's quite right.
It hasn't gotten mentioned on CNN, so I'll do the honours. It looks like the Japanese authorities have started moving in on some places for the Al Qaeda connection. Apparently, there is one fellow that they really want to meet.
Looks like another potential blockbuster threat to the United States has surfaced again. Must be summer...
I checked the e-mail. I haven't received any acknowledgement from the Curry Master about the assignment that I'd sent earlier this morning. She usually checks her e-mail around midnight so I'm wondering if her mother is keeping her away from the computer.
Well, I'm facing far less work today. I'm only a third as busy as I was yesterday. Just three hours worth of classes.
That Japanese kid who won the Best Actor prize at Cannes hasn't made too much of a splash here in the media since grabbing it. It looks like the abductees are still taking the front page. In a way, I think it's quite right.
Wednesday May 26, 12:21 a.m.
I ran through the gauntlet of classes yesterday more or less intact. I didn't even have to rely on the vitamin drinks. My juku boss' 3 cups of coffee got me through the night. However, I was happy to get that shower when I got home. That spruced me up a bit to get through the e-mail and blogging business before I hit the hay.
The two classes at the school went well. I kept my streak of reducing students to giggling mounds of jelly alive with my Dancing Bear act. Basically, I was brought in to teach the top class yesterday since the coordinator got an earful from the kids the day before for some lousy teaching from the others. Basically put, I was the English teaching equivalent of the stopper. The students quickly picked up on that as soon as I came in, and sure enough, I got the job done. But boy, it's not a good situation if I have to be brought in for that sort of thing too often.
I raced to the juku after my classes with a quick stop at a convenience store for a very small dinner of two rice balls, a tangy salad and some strawberry chocolates. My first pair of students got pretty interested in my flyer of that Cheesecake Exhibition in Namjatown at the Sunshine 60 Building in Ikebukuro. The older sullen sister on Saturday gave it to me after her visit there. One of them suggested a potential visit there on the 30th since the exhibition will be wrapping up on June 6th. The 30th is also the day for that brunch with Arwen and 77. In a way, I'm kinda hoping that the plans for this visit to munch on cheesecake falls through since I'm not sure what my condition will be after another brunch at Fujimamas. Plus, the exhibition will probably be packed with people on Sunday anyways.
Speaking of Fujimamas, I so far have 5 people including myself ready to go for brunch. I need one more person to get those reservations in. However, if noone else shows up, I can save myself the phone call and just tell everyone to show up in Harajuku at 10:30 a.m.
By the end of my juku classes, I was fit to be tied. And yet, I still had to make some copies for the sub teacher for my Thursday night student and then talk with the boss about next Tuesday's classes. There's a possibility that the Curry Master will be taking over for me then so I've gotta get some info out to her. I still have to get an assignment made up for her lesson on Thursday night. But the boss told me last night that CM's mother is in town staying at her place so I'm not sure what her situation will be.
Another old friend of mine from years past, Seiko, sent me a message about an upcoming alumni reunion party in July. She quickly pointed out the fact that she's back to her maiden name. Uh-oh. I remember some years ago when she boasted that she and her hubby had never had a spat since tying the knot. I guess they both caught up on that part to their detriment.
The Persian's friend sent me a message stating that she won't be able to make it out for Saturday since she'll probably be packing for her trip back to Taiwan on Sunday. A pity but totally understandable. I also wonder how that party for Automan went last night. With the 9 hours of classes, I forgot about this wingding.
I wrapped up the Charlie Brown retrospective with that 1987 interview with Schulz. He may have been a somewhat neurotic fellow with chronic self-doubt but he certainly didn't hold back on his opinions about other artists. He sure had a chip on his shoulder about Garry Trudeau and Doonesbury. I certainly could relate with Schulz though with a number of his personal issues. A number of parallels can be drawn between the two of us. Either we could have been good friends or the worst of enemies.
Well, gotta get that assignment done and it's already almost 1.
I ran through the gauntlet of classes yesterday more or less intact. I didn't even have to rely on the vitamin drinks. My juku boss' 3 cups of coffee got me through the night. However, I was happy to get that shower when I got home. That spruced me up a bit to get through the e-mail and blogging business before I hit the hay.
The two classes at the school went well. I kept my streak of reducing students to giggling mounds of jelly alive with my Dancing Bear act. Basically, I was brought in to teach the top class yesterday since the coordinator got an earful from the kids the day before for some lousy teaching from the others. Basically put, I was the English teaching equivalent of the stopper. The students quickly picked up on that as soon as I came in, and sure enough, I got the job done. But boy, it's not a good situation if I have to be brought in for that sort of thing too often.
I raced to the juku after my classes with a quick stop at a convenience store for a very small dinner of two rice balls, a tangy salad and some strawberry chocolates. My first pair of students got pretty interested in my flyer of that Cheesecake Exhibition in Namjatown at the Sunshine 60 Building in Ikebukuro. The older sullen sister on Saturday gave it to me after her visit there. One of them suggested a potential visit there on the 30th since the exhibition will be wrapping up on June 6th. The 30th is also the day for that brunch with Arwen and 77. In a way, I'm kinda hoping that the plans for this visit to munch on cheesecake falls through since I'm not sure what my condition will be after another brunch at Fujimamas. Plus, the exhibition will probably be packed with people on Sunday anyways.
Speaking of Fujimamas, I so far have 5 people including myself ready to go for brunch. I need one more person to get those reservations in. However, if noone else shows up, I can save myself the phone call and just tell everyone to show up in Harajuku at 10:30 a.m.
By the end of my juku classes, I was fit to be tied. And yet, I still had to make some copies for the sub teacher for my Thursday night student and then talk with the boss about next Tuesday's classes. There's a possibility that the Curry Master will be taking over for me then so I've gotta get some info out to her. I still have to get an assignment made up for her lesson on Thursday night. But the boss told me last night that CM's mother is in town staying at her place so I'm not sure what her situation will be.
Another old friend of mine from years past, Seiko, sent me a message about an upcoming alumni reunion party in July. She quickly pointed out the fact that she's back to her maiden name. Uh-oh. I remember some years ago when she boasted that she and her hubby had never had a spat since tying the knot. I guess they both caught up on that part to their detriment.
The Persian's friend sent me a message stating that she won't be able to make it out for Saturday since she'll probably be packing for her trip back to Taiwan on Sunday. A pity but totally understandable. I also wonder how that party for Automan went last night. With the 9 hours of classes, I forgot about this wingding.
I wrapped up the Charlie Brown retrospective with that 1987 interview with Schulz. He may have been a somewhat neurotic fellow with chronic self-doubt but he certainly didn't hold back on his opinions about other artists. He sure had a chip on his shoulder about Garry Trudeau and Doonesbury. I certainly could relate with Schulz though with a number of his personal issues. A number of parallels can be drawn between the two of us. Either we could have been good friends or the worst of enemies.
Well, gotta get that assignment done and it's already almost 1.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Monday May 24, 9:48 p.m.
Feeling pretty tired right now after 5 hours of classes. Not a good omen for tomorrow's marathon of classes. Well, I guess I'll have to load up on the vitamin drinks and coffee.
My first class with the ladies ended up as another gabfest. One of them, the owner of the house that I teach at, asked if we could actually tackle some written material in the form of a short story or an article. Knowing them, I think an article would be better since they sidetrack so easily. It's almost like throwing a bowling ball down an alley which has been bent upwards in the middle.
My final class with the company folks wasn't as bad as last week's slogfest but it certainly wasn't any thriller. I was saved by the fact that the weakest link in the class was out on a business trip and the fact that for some reason, the guys got pretty obsessed with trying to distinguish [r] and [l] in pronunciation. Go fig!
It was another bipolar day meterologically. After the freeze and rain of yesterday, the morning and afternoon were pretty much in the slow broil zone. However, the rain has come back tonight. Apparently, this checkerboard approach to weather will continue tomorrow with another sunny day.
I'm rather lucky that I was able to start planning for tomorrow's classes during the brief break that I had before the company class. I'm not much up for doing anything academic right now. I'll probably just wash the dishes, throw out the garbage and take a shower. I would hit the hay right at 11 as well if it weren't for the fact that I ate dinner at 9. If I'm gonna save my stomach from morning turmoil, I don't dare go to bed until at least midnight.
I made it through the first volume of strips from THE COMPLETE PEANUTS and now I'm starting the rather deep analysis of Schulz's masterpiece by some sort of expert. Going through the first two years of PEANUTS (1950-1952) was a revelation for me. I was born some 15 years after its debut so the characters had already evolved into their "mature" state, so to speak, starting with my first exposure to the annual Xmas special. The less shaky, even more simplistic drawings aside, it was interesting to note that Charlie Brown had often been as vindictive as his friends in the early days...far from the lovable loser that we know today. Snoopy was much more conventional as a mostly mute beagle which walked on all four feet, Linus and Schroeder were barely toddlers, Patty, Violet and Shermy were Chuck's main buddies, and Lucy was not just a little companion who looked up to Charlie but she was actually sweet. It'll probably cost me a fair bit of coin but I'm definitely looking forward to Volume 2.
In more contemporary and localized pop culture, it looks like Morning Musume will be ousting another couple of members come January. One, the current leader, won't be any major loss since she seems to just exist as a living totem pole, but the other is a fairly popular figure. With the defections of three other popular members this year, some of the young'uns on the MM maillist have been crying out for the hide of Tsunku, the Svengali of the group. It's hard to say what the guy's motives are with this huge Spring Cleaning. Perhaps he's trying to induce a quick demise to a group that has peaked a few years ago or perhaps he's trying to pull off a rather drastic Hail Mary.
What else is new? Well, according to CNN, PM Koizumi's approval ratings have gone up a bit since the weekend's summit which got those kids out of North Korea. I'm pretty confident that those families whose missing members are still such weren't responsible for the rise in the polls.
I got word from my contact at Japan Tours about my travel coupons for Hokkaido next week. It'd been a week since I had heard anything from her so I was getting a bit antsy. I'm wondering if she's just a rookie, though, she seems to ask a lot of questions like a greenhorn. Well, I gotta get a bag to carry some of my clothes. I don't particularly want to carry a suitcase for a trip like this.
And that giggly friend of the Persian's contacted me again by e-mail. I suggested that we could meet up on Saturday night for dinner before she finally heads out back to the home country.
Feeling pretty tired right now after 5 hours of classes. Not a good omen for tomorrow's marathon of classes. Well, I guess I'll have to load up on the vitamin drinks and coffee.
My first class with the ladies ended up as another gabfest. One of them, the owner of the house that I teach at, asked if we could actually tackle some written material in the form of a short story or an article. Knowing them, I think an article would be better since they sidetrack so easily. It's almost like throwing a bowling ball down an alley which has been bent upwards in the middle.
My final class with the company folks wasn't as bad as last week's slogfest but it certainly wasn't any thriller. I was saved by the fact that the weakest link in the class was out on a business trip and the fact that for some reason, the guys got pretty obsessed with trying to distinguish [r] and [l] in pronunciation. Go fig!
It was another bipolar day meterologically. After the freeze and rain of yesterday, the morning and afternoon were pretty much in the slow broil zone. However, the rain has come back tonight. Apparently, this checkerboard approach to weather will continue tomorrow with another sunny day.
I'm rather lucky that I was able to start planning for tomorrow's classes during the brief break that I had before the company class. I'm not much up for doing anything academic right now. I'll probably just wash the dishes, throw out the garbage and take a shower. I would hit the hay right at 11 as well if it weren't for the fact that I ate dinner at 9. If I'm gonna save my stomach from morning turmoil, I don't dare go to bed until at least midnight.
I made it through the first volume of strips from THE COMPLETE PEANUTS and now I'm starting the rather deep analysis of Schulz's masterpiece by some sort of expert. Going through the first two years of PEANUTS (1950-1952) was a revelation for me. I was born some 15 years after its debut so the characters had already evolved into their "mature" state, so to speak, starting with my first exposure to the annual Xmas special. The less shaky, even more simplistic drawings aside, it was interesting to note that Charlie Brown had often been as vindictive as his friends in the early days...far from the lovable loser that we know today. Snoopy was much more conventional as a mostly mute beagle which walked on all four feet, Linus and Schroeder were barely toddlers, Patty, Violet and Shermy were Chuck's main buddies, and Lucy was not just a little companion who looked up to Charlie but she was actually sweet. It'll probably cost me a fair bit of coin but I'm definitely looking forward to Volume 2.
In more contemporary and localized pop culture, it looks like Morning Musume will be ousting another couple of members come January. One, the current leader, won't be any major loss since she seems to just exist as a living totem pole, but the other is a fairly popular figure. With the defections of three other popular members this year, some of the young'uns on the MM maillist have been crying out for the hide of Tsunku, the Svengali of the group. It's hard to say what the guy's motives are with this huge Spring Cleaning. Perhaps he's trying to induce a quick demise to a group that has peaked a few years ago or perhaps he's trying to pull off a rather drastic Hail Mary.
What else is new? Well, according to CNN, PM Koizumi's approval ratings have gone up a bit since the weekend's summit which got those kids out of North Korea. I'm pretty confident that those families whose missing members are still such weren't responsible for the rise in the polls.
I got word from my contact at Japan Tours about my travel coupons for Hokkaido next week. It'd been a week since I had heard anything from her so I was getting a bit antsy. I'm wondering if she's just a rookie, though, she seems to ask a lot of questions like a greenhorn. Well, I gotta get a bag to carry some of my clothes. I don't particularly want to carry a suitcase for a trip like this.
And that giggly friend of the Persian's contacted me again by e-mail. I suggested that we could meet up on Saturday night for dinner before she finally heads out back to the home country.
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Sunday May 23, 9:25 p.m.
Got together with some of the gang to catch TROY. But first I picked up that first volume of the Peanuts gang. I saved a good 1000 yen by picking it up at Towers instead of another bookstore. I guess I've got that case of Snoopy fever now.
I had a half-hour before the group met up at the Picadilly in Shinjuku so I took a walk down to check out the Virgin Megastore only to find that it has been replaced by a furniture shop. I guess unless it has moved its digs elsewhere, Richard Branson is making even less of a mark now than ever. His Virgin cola didn't last too long here and I guess the same is true about his CD store. It really couldn't compete with HMV and Towers.
Skippy and the Maid were the first to show up. They told me that three of the others including The Madame were going to be scratches. However, Movie Buddy saved the day by bringing Frodo and another friend of his. TROY was an OK movie as blockbusters go...plenty of action and the two stars comported themselves quite well. I think Eric Bana is starting to make inroads toward the A-list, for example. I can't even imagine him as a sketch comedian as he was back in Oz, but then again, who would have thought that Tom Hanks would become the Jimmy Stewart of the early 21st century back in his Bosom Buddies days?
Anyways, storywise, Homer would have been spinning in his grave somewhat. The movie itself probably gets a 6 or 7 in my estimation; it just didn't have all that epic a feel despite all that CG of marching armies and sailing ships. But I've got a feeling that Achilles' line of "Take it!...It's yours!" could become the catchphrase of the summer.
Afterwards, all of us went to this nearby cafe with very stylish sensibilities and jazz music. MB and Frodo picked up their better halves and one other lad to join our group. There was some transitional time necessary to get everyone comfy with each other but it did get accomplished. Mind you, it isn't everyday that the extraction of wisdom teeth becomes one of the main topics for discussion. OA called up on Skippy's phone. She couldn't make it because of her TOEIC test; it'd been a few weeks since I'd heard from her. I think the last time was during the Ballerina's dinner when she got obnoxiously drunk.
All of us split up but Skippy, The Maid and I decided to head to the wilds of Kabukicho into the Theatre Plaza facing the Koma Theater to see the actual Trojan Horse used in TROY. Somehow, the powers-that-be managed to deconstruct, ship and then reconstruct it in the plaza. The two ladies took some pics standing in front of it with their cellphone cameras.
More info got talked about concerning the brunch next Sunday and then even the next movie. Most likely, it'll be THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW.
In other news, those family members of the abductees finally got home from North Korea in what was another live event across all of the channels. Cameras were following every kilometre from Haneda Airport to the Akasaka Prince Hotel as the bus and police escort made its way across downtown Tokyo. Meanwhile, the guy who got them out of there, PM Koizumi, is in pretty hot water with the families of 10 still-missing abductees. They were uncharacteristically blunt and furious at the Prime Minister for not doing nearly enough to get info on what has happened to their long-lost loved ones. I can understand the families' frustrations but I also gotta feel for the PM as well. It was pretty much a no-win situation; there was no way that enough info would have satisfied the families and one has to be very careful negotiating with a self-made delusional god like Kim Jong Il.
I forgot to mention that Automan called me up this morning. Apparently, he was already on the tarmac running when he got in last night. He'd already gotten invited to some sort of do out in Yokohama which would be a good 2 hours from Narita on a good day. Surprisingly, he accepted and trudged all the way out there. He said he was still in pretty good condition. But I'm not sure if we will be able to get together considering the tightness of both our schedules this week.
Well, off to take a shower, get a cup of chai into me, and then read some more Peanuts to Vince Guaraldi before hitting the hay. The lesson planning can wait til the morning.
Got together with some of the gang to catch TROY. But first I picked up that first volume of the Peanuts gang. I saved a good 1000 yen by picking it up at Towers instead of another bookstore. I guess I've got that case of Snoopy fever now.
I had a half-hour before the group met up at the Picadilly in Shinjuku so I took a walk down to check out the Virgin Megastore only to find that it has been replaced by a furniture shop. I guess unless it has moved its digs elsewhere, Richard Branson is making even less of a mark now than ever. His Virgin cola didn't last too long here and I guess the same is true about his CD store. It really couldn't compete with HMV and Towers.
Skippy and the Maid were the first to show up. They told me that three of the others including The Madame were going to be scratches. However, Movie Buddy saved the day by bringing Frodo and another friend of his. TROY was an OK movie as blockbusters go...plenty of action and the two stars comported themselves quite well. I think Eric Bana is starting to make inroads toward the A-list, for example. I can't even imagine him as a sketch comedian as he was back in Oz, but then again, who would have thought that Tom Hanks would become the Jimmy Stewart of the early 21st century back in his Bosom Buddies days?
Anyways, storywise, Homer would have been spinning in his grave somewhat. The movie itself probably gets a 6 or 7 in my estimation; it just didn't have all that epic a feel despite all that CG of marching armies and sailing ships. But I've got a feeling that Achilles' line of "Take it!...It's yours!" could become the catchphrase of the summer.
Afterwards, all of us went to this nearby cafe with very stylish sensibilities and jazz music. MB and Frodo picked up their better halves and one other lad to join our group. There was some transitional time necessary to get everyone comfy with each other but it did get accomplished. Mind you, it isn't everyday that the extraction of wisdom teeth becomes one of the main topics for discussion. OA called up on Skippy's phone. She couldn't make it because of her TOEIC test; it'd been a few weeks since I'd heard from her. I think the last time was during the Ballerina's dinner when she got obnoxiously drunk.
All of us split up but Skippy, The Maid and I decided to head to the wilds of Kabukicho into the Theatre Plaza facing the Koma Theater to see the actual Trojan Horse used in TROY. Somehow, the powers-that-be managed to deconstruct, ship and then reconstruct it in the plaza. The two ladies took some pics standing in front of it with their cellphone cameras.
More info got talked about concerning the brunch next Sunday and then even the next movie. Most likely, it'll be THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW.
In other news, those family members of the abductees finally got home from North Korea in what was another live event across all of the channels. Cameras were following every kilometre from Haneda Airport to the Akasaka Prince Hotel as the bus and police escort made its way across downtown Tokyo. Meanwhile, the guy who got them out of there, PM Koizumi, is in pretty hot water with the families of 10 still-missing abductees. They were uncharacteristically blunt and furious at the Prime Minister for not doing nearly enough to get info on what has happened to their long-lost loved ones. I can understand the families' frustrations but I also gotta feel for the PM as well. It was pretty much a no-win situation; there was no way that enough info would have satisfied the families and one has to be very careful negotiating with a self-made delusional god like Kim Jong Il.
I forgot to mention that Automan called me up this morning. Apparently, he was already on the tarmac running when he got in last night. He'd already gotten invited to some sort of do out in Yokohama which would be a good 2 hours from Narita on a good day. Surprisingly, he accepted and trudged all the way out there. He said he was still in pretty good condition. But I'm not sure if we will be able to get together considering the tightness of both our schedules this week.
Well, off to take a shower, get a cup of chai into me, and then read some more Peanuts to Vince Guaraldi before hitting the hay. The lesson planning can wait til the morning.
Friday, May 21, 2004
Saturday May 22, 7:51 a.m.
Looks like my classes have been cut in half. The mother of my youngest called up last night to say that today's lesson is a scrub. So, I'm off at 1.
The Scarecrow also sent a message stating that he's also a scrub for Sunday's TROY outing. He'd thought that the outing was for today. Ach, but he is interested for the 30th for brunch. So, we're looking at 4 right now.
The Weather Office noted that yesterday was the first day in a week that the sun actually deigned to show itself. It's decided to go into hiding again for at least the weekend.
It also looks like I'm still negotiating between the Iconclast and the Prez. Now, it's just trying to arrange how the two are gonna meet in Hong Kong.
The big news here is that the PM has headed for North Korea for another rescue mission: this time to scoop up the remaining family members of those 5 former kidnapees from over 25 years ago. If he is successful, the weekend news should be focusing on that fact almost exclusively.
On a totally different note, I see that "Enterprise" has been saved from the axe and given a 1-year reprieve. It'll probably be the final year for the show, the shortest duration for any of the Treks. It's kinda too bad since I've liked Scott Bakula as good Captain Archer, but I think the show was just one show too many for the exhausted Trekkies.
And on a related note, it looks like the next and presumably final Star Wars movie is getting the first good title since "RETURN OF THE JEDI". It's apparently going to be called "BIRTH OF THE EMPIRE" although admittedly I don't think that will improve Hayden Christensen's acting any.
Looks like my classes have been cut in half. The mother of my youngest called up last night to say that today's lesson is a scrub. So, I'm off at 1.
The Scarecrow also sent a message stating that he's also a scrub for Sunday's TROY outing. He'd thought that the outing was for today. Ach, but he is interested for the 30th for brunch. So, we're looking at 4 right now.
The Weather Office noted that yesterday was the first day in a week that the sun actually deigned to show itself. It's decided to go into hiding again for at least the weekend.
It also looks like I'm still negotiating between the Iconclast and the Prez. Now, it's just trying to arrange how the two are gonna meet in Hong Kong.
The big news here is that the PM has headed for North Korea for another rescue mission: this time to scoop up the remaining family members of those 5 former kidnapees from over 25 years ago. If he is successful, the weekend news should be focusing on that fact almost exclusively.
On a totally different note, I see that "Enterprise" has been saved from the axe and given a 1-year reprieve. It'll probably be the final year for the show, the shortest duration for any of the Treks. It's kinda too bad since I've liked Scott Bakula as good Captain Archer, but I think the show was just one show too many for the exhausted Trekkies.
And on a related note, it looks like the next and presumably final Star Wars movie is getting the first good title since "RETURN OF THE JEDI". It's apparently going to be called "BIRTH OF THE EMPIRE" although admittedly I don't think that will improve Hayden Christensen's acting any.
Friday May 21, 8:19 p.m.
Well, barely half an hour after my last entry in which I described the Sturm und Drang of Typhoon 2, the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was almost like a Tex Avery version of a sunrise..that dramatic. So my lesson with the Teacher was on.
From our lesson today, I gained a bit more insight into her character. She's definitely got more high-falutin' tastes than me. She's into Italian antiques and somewhat more esoteric movies. She even mentioned M. Butterfly, a flick that had been filmed more than a decade ago at my workplace at the U of T. She was relatively flabbergasted at that admission, so I said I would bring over some photos from the location next week. On a totally different note, she has a way of speaking past me...not quite answering my comments accurately...it didn't quite annoy me like the Stylist did on Wednesday.
Then I sped off to the Tea Room to teach Arwen and 77. It was an earlier-than-usual slot for them since Arwen had an engagment to see jazz singer Chie Ayado with the school coordinator and Jazz Expert. At one point in our lesson, we were all rather surprised to see Jazz Buddy and the rest of her old classmates in the top class of the school come traipsing into the Tea Room. I'm not sure if this were going to become a regular thing with them. I also started the ball rolling on a potential brunch with them and some other former students for brunch at Fujimamas on the 30th.
SR then entered and we started talking on singledom vs. marriage thanks to some of the material I provided her. We also wondered how the rest of the alumni from her year were doing. It was quite the school reunion today at the Tea Room since lo and behold Movie Buddy dropped in for a few minutes. He also gave his promise to show up for TROY on Sunday.
I used that postcard I got from my kaiten sushi place the other day for dinner there tonight. Not too bad. I was able to get a free plate of BBQ eel sushi.
Gotta get started on my kids' lessons for tomorrow. Right now, the regular edition of MUSIC STATION is on TV Asahi. I hardly ever catch it since I'm out most Fridays with Arwen and occasionally 77 but since I've got an early night off, I have it on for old times' sake. The usual hitmakers like Glay and Morning Musume are on. I can't say that I give it the same devotion that I used to since my interest in J-Pop has waned over the years.
It looks like I got swamped with school classes next week. Tuesday should be especially exhausting since I'll be teaching 8.5 hours worth. Ack...at least I'll be getting money for my troubles and I've got that trip to Hokkaido the week after. Plus, I've pretty much equaled the average monthly expenditure for miscellaneous items thanks to the payment for the trip so the extra money will be welcome.
Well, barely half an hour after my last entry in which I described the Sturm und Drang of Typhoon 2, the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was almost like a Tex Avery version of a sunrise..that dramatic. So my lesson with the Teacher was on.
From our lesson today, I gained a bit more insight into her character. She's definitely got more high-falutin' tastes than me. She's into Italian antiques and somewhat more esoteric movies. She even mentioned M. Butterfly, a flick that had been filmed more than a decade ago at my workplace at the U of T. She was relatively flabbergasted at that admission, so I said I would bring over some photos from the location next week. On a totally different note, she has a way of speaking past me...not quite answering my comments accurately...it didn't quite annoy me like the Stylist did on Wednesday.
Then I sped off to the Tea Room to teach Arwen and 77. It was an earlier-than-usual slot for them since Arwen had an engagment to see jazz singer Chie Ayado with the school coordinator and Jazz Expert. At one point in our lesson, we were all rather surprised to see Jazz Buddy and the rest of her old classmates in the top class of the school come traipsing into the Tea Room. I'm not sure if this were going to become a regular thing with them. I also started the ball rolling on a potential brunch with them and some other former students for brunch at Fujimamas on the 30th.
SR then entered and we started talking on singledom vs. marriage thanks to some of the material I provided her. We also wondered how the rest of the alumni from her year were doing. It was quite the school reunion today at the Tea Room since lo and behold Movie Buddy dropped in for a few minutes. He also gave his promise to show up for TROY on Sunday.
I used that postcard I got from my kaiten sushi place the other day for dinner there tonight. Not too bad. I was able to get a free plate of BBQ eel sushi.
Gotta get started on my kids' lessons for tomorrow. Right now, the regular edition of MUSIC STATION is on TV Asahi. I hardly ever catch it since I'm out most Fridays with Arwen and occasionally 77 but since I've got an early night off, I have it on for old times' sake. The usual hitmakers like Glay and Morning Musume are on. I can't say that I give it the same devotion that I used to since my interest in J-Pop has waned over the years.
It looks like I got swamped with school classes next week. Tuesday should be especially exhausting since I'll be teaching 8.5 hours worth. Ack...at least I'll be getting money for my troubles and I've got that trip to Hokkaido the week after. Plus, I've pretty much equaled the average monthly expenditure for miscellaneous items thanks to the payment for the trip so the extra money will be welcome.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Friday May 21, 7:23 a.m.
T2 has arrived. I'm hearing spates of heavy rain and howling winds out there. I already received a midnight message from The Teacher after she got my e-mail; it looks like she'll be a scratch today. Can't say that I blame her. However, the other two students should be OK since the afternoon bodes well for the sun.
T2 has arrived. I'm hearing spates of heavy rain and howling winds out there. I already received a midnight message from The Teacher after she got my e-mail; it looks like she'll be a scratch today. Can't say that I blame her. However, the other two students should be OK since the afternoon bodes well for the sun.
Thursday May 20, 11:00 p.m.
Well, Typhoon No. 2 is coming on into the Kanto with the closest approach slated for 9 a.m. tomorrow. However, once it passes, the afternoon should be nice and sunny. My only concern is for the first lesson with the Teacher, so I sent off a message to her. I'll probably be taking down the clothes poles lest they get blown away overnight.
It looks like another storm of sorts has been slowly simmering over the months at my old school. I had a chat with the DJ this afternoon while I was just knocking back time in the lounge. With the decrease in classes and some danger of retaining some of the company clients, the DJ has told me that there has been some rumbling between the top two idiots. Neither of us are surprised at the current events; this has been coming for years now. The DJ is the longest-serving SANE teacher at the school. Our most veteran teacher seems to be slowly stretching apart at the seams. We both wonder why he continues to remain as the staff's whipping boy. I kinda liken it to a wife who continues to remain with an abusive husband.
My class with the oft-absent student tonight went pretty well. However, his next class will be with the other only foreign teacher in about 10 days since he has to make up a lot of missed classes and I'm not available on Saturdays. I hope everything is OK; I've only met her once and she's very nice but she's also very no-nonsense. My student comes off a bit Gomer Pyle-ish at times.
My juku boss also informed me that that rather argumentative student who's part of that trio I teach in my middle class on Tuesdays is coming back in June. She has apologized for missing out on the last few classes, but my juku boss, in one of her very few instances of frustration, could only shake her head. She told me that in the past three years that the student's been with the juku, none of the other teachers had really liked her because of her somewhat dour demeanor. She does have that side to her but she also has shown a lighter side as well. I can also understand some of her frustration at having to wait for her two lower classmates to catch up but she could use a bit more patience.
The Prez actually CC'ed a message to me which was targeted for the Anime Master. He wanted to find out how to get to the Iconoclast's wedding party on Monday. Hey, that was my assignment. I don't think the Prez would be that smarmy to actually give me a shot across the bow to get me to hurry up on that answer, so I'm assuming that he was just trying to milk all the udders, so to speak. In any case, the timing couldn't have been better since the Iconoclast did reply. He said he would pick the Prez up whenever and wherever he arrived in Hong Kong. I just hope my reply reaches the Prez in time.
In any case, I've got to fill out that report on my student. Then, I have to take a quick look at tomorrow's lessons before hopping into a shower and then bedtime.
Well, Typhoon No. 2 is coming on into the Kanto with the closest approach slated for 9 a.m. tomorrow. However, once it passes, the afternoon should be nice and sunny. My only concern is for the first lesson with the Teacher, so I sent off a message to her. I'll probably be taking down the clothes poles lest they get blown away overnight.
It looks like another storm of sorts has been slowly simmering over the months at my old school. I had a chat with the DJ this afternoon while I was just knocking back time in the lounge. With the decrease in classes and some danger of retaining some of the company clients, the DJ has told me that there has been some rumbling between the top two idiots. Neither of us are surprised at the current events; this has been coming for years now. The DJ is the longest-serving SANE teacher at the school. Our most veteran teacher seems to be slowly stretching apart at the seams. We both wonder why he continues to remain as the staff's whipping boy. I kinda liken it to a wife who continues to remain with an abusive husband.
My class with the oft-absent student tonight went pretty well. However, his next class will be with the other only foreign teacher in about 10 days since he has to make up a lot of missed classes and I'm not available on Saturdays. I hope everything is OK; I've only met her once and she's very nice but she's also very no-nonsense. My student comes off a bit Gomer Pyle-ish at times.
My juku boss also informed me that that rather argumentative student who's part of that trio I teach in my middle class on Tuesdays is coming back in June. She has apologized for missing out on the last few classes, but my juku boss, in one of her very few instances of frustration, could only shake her head. She told me that in the past three years that the student's been with the juku, none of the other teachers had really liked her because of her somewhat dour demeanor. She does have that side to her but she also has shown a lighter side as well. I can also understand some of her frustration at having to wait for her two lower classmates to catch up but she could use a bit more patience.
The Prez actually CC'ed a message to me which was targeted for the Anime Master. He wanted to find out how to get to the Iconoclast's wedding party on Monday. Hey, that was my assignment. I don't think the Prez would be that smarmy to actually give me a shot across the bow to get me to hurry up on that answer, so I'm assuming that he was just trying to milk all the udders, so to speak. In any case, the timing couldn't have been better since the Iconoclast did reply. He said he would pick the Prez up whenever and wherever he arrived in Hong Kong. I just hope my reply reaches the Prez in time.
In any case, I've got to fill out that report on my student. Then, I have to take a quick look at tomorrow's lessons before hopping into a shower and then bedtime.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Thursday May 20, 8:34 a.m.
Looks like that steady rain is a mere prelude to the second typhoon of the season which will sideswipe the islands in the next couple of days. The last couple of years, we've been getting our dose of heavy rain and winds a lot earlier, and Tokyo seems to have inherited Typhoon Alley from Okinawa. Well, Typhoon No. 2 (they number their storms here instead of giving names) is expected to hit us sometime tomorrow afternoon. I'm just kinda wondering how this will affect my classes for Friday since Fridays are usually among my busiest days. I'll be smack dab in the middle of work when this storm hits. I may face some cancellations.
Well, at this point, I've got The Madame, Skippy and her buddies, and the Scarecrow coming for TROY on Sunday. Strangely, I haven't heard anything from Movie Buddy for a couple of weeks. Not even one of his terse e-mail messages. Curry Master spoke of a possible falling-out between him and her last week, but I'm not sure how that would influence this situation.
I was going through my Japan travel book last night. It is pretty comprehensive. It even included who the hot singers and TV personalities are. Good heavens...even Morning Musume was mentioned, but admittedly, they've become a permanent fixture in local pop culture. Yet another spinoff group has been spawned from the main tribe of pre-pubescent and post-pubescent girls. Two of the most popular members, the twins-who-are-not-twins, Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji, have flown from the nest to become W. The entire MM phenomenon is the J-Pop equivalent of the X-Men comic book franchise, although I think W is most akin to the Wonder Twins.
The last couple of days, there had been a case of a Yakuza gangster holed up in an apartment with a hostage keeping police at bay. Apparently, the mobster had done the same sort of thing before several years ago. Well, this time was his swan song. The hostage apparently committed suicide and the Yakuza is dead after police finally stormed the apartment. Not a happy ending but at least a piece of scum is out of the way.
Looks like that steady rain is a mere prelude to the second typhoon of the season which will sideswipe the islands in the next couple of days. The last couple of years, we've been getting our dose of heavy rain and winds a lot earlier, and Tokyo seems to have inherited Typhoon Alley from Okinawa. Well, Typhoon No. 2 (they number their storms here instead of giving names) is expected to hit us sometime tomorrow afternoon. I'm just kinda wondering how this will affect my classes for Friday since Fridays are usually among my busiest days. I'll be smack dab in the middle of work when this storm hits. I may face some cancellations.
Well, at this point, I've got The Madame, Skippy and her buddies, and the Scarecrow coming for TROY on Sunday. Strangely, I haven't heard anything from Movie Buddy for a couple of weeks. Not even one of his terse e-mail messages. Curry Master spoke of a possible falling-out between him and her last week, but I'm not sure how that would influence this situation.
I was going through my Japan travel book last night. It is pretty comprehensive. It even included who the hot singers and TV personalities are. Good heavens...even Morning Musume was mentioned, but admittedly, they've become a permanent fixture in local pop culture. Yet another spinoff group has been spawned from the main tribe of pre-pubescent and post-pubescent girls. Two of the most popular members, the twins-who-are-not-twins, Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji, have flown from the nest to become W. The entire MM phenomenon is the J-Pop equivalent of the X-Men comic book franchise, although I think W is most akin to the Wonder Twins.
The last couple of days, there had been a case of a Yakuza gangster holed up in an apartment with a hostage keeping police at bay. Apparently, the mobster had done the same sort of thing before several years ago. Well, this time was his swan song. The hostage apparently committed suicide and the Yakuza is dead after police finally stormed the apartment. Not a happy ending but at least a piece of scum is out of the way.
Wednesday May 19, 9:22 p.m.
The Stylist was in a bit of a strange mood today. I'm not sure if she had been ticked off at me or not, but a couple of times during the lesson we were discussing about the fact that she didn't like me waiting for her at the salon. I said that I didn't mind doing so since I could always rely on my crosswords or magazines to keep me company. I also asked if I were cramping her style by having her clean up quickly while I waited inside. She stated that that wasn't the case; it's just that she felt a bit pressured as if I were one of HER customers waiting for her. Whatever...then she acted with some surprise and a bit of dismay when she found out that I would be paying 35800 yen for my trip to Hokkaido. On both topics, she seemed to dwell a lot. I'm not sure if she had been trying to get back at me with the second topic for the first topic. On top of that,I was playing a bit of Counselor Troi with her Spring Lethargy. Maybe menopause is coming a bit early for her. In any case, I got a bit stricter with her about her English which got her structure back up.
Rather happy to get out of the salon, I went off for lunch at the nearby Chinese place before getting over to Towers. I was able to get that new book on Japan for my Hokkaido trip. I did make a few more purchases which will probably mean that I'll be breaking the bank this week for miscellaneous stuff.
The rain is coming down pretty steadily tonight. A bit of a pain while carrying two bags plus a bag of groceries and an umbrella. However, I am reminded that there is a summer coming and we need to save up as much water for that.
I got a postcard from that kaiten sushi restaurant under my station. It looks like they're having some sort of "thank-you" campaign. When I show up with the postcard, I'll get a complementary plate of sushi. Time to get that eel!
I finally got those times for TROY by calling up the theater. I don't know why they were being so secretive about it. Anyways, I got the word out to the rest of the bunch. So far, it'll be a party of five.
The Stylist was in a bit of a strange mood today. I'm not sure if she had been ticked off at me or not, but a couple of times during the lesson we were discussing about the fact that she didn't like me waiting for her at the salon. I said that I didn't mind doing so since I could always rely on my crosswords or magazines to keep me company. I also asked if I were cramping her style by having her clean up quickly while I waited inside. She stated that that wasn't the case; it's just that she felt a bit pressured as if I were one of HER customers waiting for her. Whatever...then she acted with some surprise and a bit of dismay when she found out that I would be paying 35800 yen for my trip to Hokkaido. On both topics, she seemed to dwell a lot. I'm not sure if she had been trying to get back at me with the second topic for the first topic. On top of that,I was playing a bit of Counselor Troi with her Spring Lethargy. Maybe menopause is coming a bit early for her. In any case, I got a bit stricter with her about her English which got her structure back up.
Rather happy to get out of the salon, I went off for lunch at the nearby Chinese place before getting over to Towers. I was able to get that new book on Japan for my Hokkaido trip. I did make a few more purchases which will probably mean that I'll be breaking the bank this week for miscellaneous stuff.
The rain is coming down pretty steadily tonight. A bit of a pain while carrying two bags plus a bag of groceries and an umbrella. However, I am reminded that there is a summer coming and we need to save up as much water for that.
I got a postcard from that kaiten sushi restaurant under my station. It looks like they're having some sort of "thank-you" campaign. When I show up with the postcard, I'll get a complementary plate of sushi. Time to get that eel!
I finally got those times for TROY by calling up the theater. I don't know why they were being so secretive about it. Anyways, I got the word out to the rest of the bunch. So far, it'll be a party of five.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Tuesday May 18, 10:15 p.m.
Another long day comes to a close. I taught the fourth and final class of the school today; good crew..a mix of quiet and chatty students. Then I had my juku folks. The boss actually did remember the fact that I'm heading out to Hokkaido. The mock phone interview with the first student was OK; I could only ask general questions since I have no idea about auditing. It looks like that trio of students that I usually have in the middle is now permanently down to a duo. That one student who had always complained about when we would finally get to her level of text finally gave up the ghost apparently. The boss and I agreed that it was good that she had left since she could now go somewhere she would be properly taken care of and I wouldn't have to worry about trying to balance an unbalanced class.
I've just got my two students tomorrow, The Stylist and the Office Lady. It'll be kinda nice to have that type of Wednesday again before I got my posting back at the school. Not that the scheduler hasn't tried to get me back for more classes. Looks like they've been kinda tight on teachers recently.
Another long day comes to a close. I taught the fourth and final class of the school today; good crew..a mix of quiet and chatty students. Then I had my juku folks. The boss actually did remember the fact that I'm heading out to Hokkaido. The mock phone interview with the first student was OK; I could only ask general questions since I have no idea about auditing. It looks like that trio of students that I usually have in the middle is now permanently down to a duo. That one student who had always complained about when we would finally get to her level of text finally gave up the ghost apparently. The boss and I agreed that it was good that she had left since she could now go somewhere she would be properly taken care of and I wouldn't have to worry about trying to balance an unbalanced class.
I've just got my two students tomorrow, The Stylist and the Office Lady. It'll be kinda nice to have that type of Wednesday again before I got my posting back at the school. Not that the scheduler hasn't tried to get me back for more classes. Looks like they've been kinda tight on teachers recently.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Monday May 17, 10:08 p.m.
A pretty full day with three classes, two of which I haven't had in about a month. Unsurprisingly, my Monday morning ladies ended up just gabbing with me for the entire 90-minute session which is something that they tend to do after a long absence. One of the ladies kindly lent me a cookbook by that American fave Japanese chef and toast of New York, Nobu. Taking a quick look at it, I found that the recipes are quite easy to read and of course, the pictures look suitably appetizing, but I'm still not sure if I can get some of the more exotic ingredients.
During my break between classes, I went out to Towers only to find that it was taking a rare day off. I tried HMV to see if they had a book on Hokkaido but it's not nearly as comprehensive as Towers, so I just made a quick beeline back to the McDonalds closest to the lady's house for lunch.
My second class went pretty well. The student was still full of beans in spite of or because of the absence. I found out that I will indeed be having the ladies next week instead of having Monday morning off which means that my expected lunch with Automan next week is now off, so I've sent off a missive to him to see if we can reschedule. His time is rather limited so things are pretty iffy right now. It would be a pity if cannot meet him.
My final class today at the Iconoclast's company was back to slogsville in contrast to the pepped-up one last week. I'm not sure what they put into the water today. The Prez showed me an invitation to the Iconoclast's wedding reception in Hong Kong next Monday. He would like to go except that the Iconoclast failed to give directions. Also, the data that he gave me to give to the staff to access his old computer didn't work. If he's trying to drive his old mates up a wall, he's doing a pretty good job.
It was definitely an early summer day today. Pretty warm and muggy in my shirt. It didn't feel like an August day though thankfully since the night has cooled down. We don't even get that luxury in the dog days.
I got a couple of calls in terms of work. The juku boss called me up to see if I can start teaching my regular final student at 6 p.m instead of his usual 9 slot so that he can practice his telephone interview. Hey, anything to get home a bit earlier. Then, the scheduler at the school called me to see if I can teach on Wednesday. I gave her a straight NO via e-mail since I've got the Stylist on Wednesday morning. There's no way I would even want to attempt to get back there in time.
I got some more mail from The Persian. He wanted to know how his old flame was doing. She actually lives not too far from me but we've had a parting of the ways several years ago, partially due to temporal drift and partially (possibly) due to her husband who may not be too fond of me. I wasn't too impressed with him when I met him initially and somehow a message hinting at my feelings got over to the flame's mail server. It was supposed to have just gone to someone else completely but the CC must have been feeling pretty ornery that day. In any case, she responded back with a seemingly innocent response asking for clarification. I did some hemming and hawing but the damage was done. For some reason, until recently, she still kept inviting me to her annual glee club concert for a number of years but that was it. No other communication. Well, I'm not much for keeping that sort of relationship, so I just stopped replying. It's a pity...she was one of the core members of the gang back in the early 90s in Toronto.
I've been trying to find out what time our favorite theater will be playing TROY this Sunday but those guys refuse to put anything up on the screen. Speaking of the movie, Brad Pitt dropped by Tokyo this past weekend to a throng of 1000 squealing fans and clicking cellphone cameras.
This stupid pension scandal is claiming more politicians. Of course, it would be happening during the annual announcements of celeb taxpayers. In the singer category, one half of the rock duo, B'z, got the top spot while in the TV personality category, (annoying) announcer and host of the Japanese version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Mino Monta, was number one. He's even more annoying than Regis.
A pretty full day with three classes, two of which I haven't had in about a month. Unsurprisingly, my Monday morning ladies ended up just gabbing with me for the entire 90-minute session which is something that they tend to do after a long absence. One of the ladies kindly lent me a cookbook by that American fave Japanese chef and toast of New York, Nobu. Taking a quick look at it, I found that the recipes are quite easy to read and of course, the pictures look suitably appetizing, but I'm still not sure if I can get some of the more exotic ingredients.
During my break between classes, I went out to Towers only to find that it was taking a rare day off. I tried HMV to see if they had a book on Hokkaido but it's not nearly as comprehensive as Towers, so I just made a quick beeline back to the McDonalds closest to the lady's house for lunch.
My second class went pretty well. The student was still full of beans in spite of or because of the absence. I found out that I will indeed be having the ladies next week instead of having Monday morning off which means that my expected lunch with Automan next week is now off, so I've sent off a missive to him to see if we can reschedule. His time is rather limited so things are pretty iffy right now. It would be a pity if cannot meet him.
My final class today at the Iconoclast's company was back to slogsville in contrast to the pepped-up one last week. I'm not sure what they put into the water today. The Prez showed me an invitation to the Iconoclast's wedding reception in Hong Kong next Monday. He would like to go except that the Iconoclast failed to give directions. Also, the data that he gave me to give to the staff to access his old computer didn't work. If he's trying to drive his old mates up a wall, he's doing a pretty good job.
It was definitely an early summer day today. Pretty warm and muggy in my shirt. It didn't feel like an August day though thankfully since the night has cooled down. We don't even get that luxury in the dog days.
I got a couple of calls in terms of work. The juku boss called me up to see if I can start teaching my regular final student at 6 p.m instead of his usual 9 slot so that he can practice his telephone interview. Hey, anything to get home a bit earlier. Then, the scheduler at the school called me to see if I can teach on Wednesday. I gave her a straight NO via e-mail since I've got the Stylist on Wednesday morning. There's no way I would even want to attempt to get back there in time.
I got some more mail from The Persian. He wanted to know how his old flame was doing. She actually lives not too far from me but we've had a parting of the ways several years ago, partially due to temporal drift and partially (possibly) due to her husband who may not be too fond of me. I wasn't too impressed with him when I met him initially and somehow a message hinting at my feelings got over to the flame's mail server. It was supposed to have just gone to someone else completely but the CC must have been feeling pretty ornery that day. In any case, she responded back with a seemingly innocent response asking for clarification. I did some hemming and hawing but the damage was done. For some reason, until recently, she still kept inviting me to her annual glee club concert for a number of years but that was it. No other communication. Well, I'm not much for keeping that sort of relationship, so I just stopped replying. It's a pity...she was one of the core members of the gang back in the early 90s in Toronto.
I've been trying to find out what time our favorite theater will be playing TROY this Sunday but those guys refuse to put anything up on the screen. Speaking of the movie, Brad Pitt dropped by Tokyo this past weekend to a throng of 1000 squealing fans and clicking cellphone cameras.
This stupid pension scandal is claiming more politicians. Of course, it would be happening during the annual announcements of celeb taxpayers. In the singer category, one half of the rock duo, B'z, got the top spot while in the TV personality category, (annoying) announcer and host of the Japanese version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Mino Monta, was number one. He's even more annoying than Regis.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Sunday May 16, 10:43 p.m.
Well, I got the place all fixed up this morning for the arrival of the Persian's friend all the way out from Tokorozawa, Saitama. She even brought her sister with her. At first, I wasn't quite sure what to make of her on the phone since she seemed to always be giggling. However, after an afternoon with them at the apartment, the sisters turned out to be really nice folk. We looked over some old photos of the Persian when he used to be the master here. The friend remarked that the Persian has gotten somewhat bigger in the decade hence.
We stopped by at the neighbourhood ramen shop with the Mao pictures and the Anne Murray music for dinner before they had to take off for Tsudanuma for another bunch of friends. Hopefully, we can see each other one more time before she has to take off for Taiwan again. Her sister apparently will be staying in Japan for another several months, so perhaps we can keep in touch periodically. I'm considering whether to introduce her to Party Hearty's BBQ.
Well, back to work again as of tomorrow. I've gotta pick up a guide book for Hokkaido during my break between classes.
Well, I got the place all fixed up this morning for the arrival of the Persian's friend all the way out from Tokorozawa, Saitama. She even brought her sister with her. At first, I wasn't quite sure what to make of her on the phone since she seemed to always be giggling. However, after an afternoon with them at the apartment, the sisters turned out to be really nice folk. We looked over some old photos of the Persian when he used to be the master here. The friend remarked that the Persian has gotten somewhat bigger in the decade hence.
We stopped by at the neighbourhood ramen shop with the Mao pictures and the Anne Murray music for dinner before they had to take off for Tsudanuma for another bunch of friends. Hopefully, we can see each other one more time before she has to take off for Taiwan again. Her sister apparently will be staying in Japan for another several months, so perhaps we can keep in touch periodically. I'm considering whether to introduce her to Party Hearty's BBQ.
Well, back to work again as of tomorrow. I've gotta pick up a guide book for Hokkaido during my break between classes.
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Saturday May 15, 9:14 p.m.
Pretty much a run-of-the-mill day. My three kids were their normal selves although the mother of the first two was on a rampage today, but not with either kid but the family dog.
Quiet evening for me. No calls from anyone and since Chip Guy is no longer around and Movie Buddy seems to have made himself scarce, I don't think I'll be getting many social calls. However, I do have Automan's arrival next week and then the semi-regular movie outing for TROY on the 23rd.
Speaking of Automan, I'm pretty glad that I let Party Hearty in on the act. She's already gotten some sort of wingding for him on the 25th. However, I'll be at work that night.
I just gotta get some ironing done and then I have to get the place cleaned up for that visit tomorrow from the Persian's friend. I'm still wondering about her coming here.
Pretty much a run-of-the-mill day. My three kids were their normal selves although the mother of the first two was on a rampage today, but not with either kid but the family dog.
Quiet evening for me. No calls from anyone and since Chip Guy is no longer around and Movie Buddy seems to have made himself scarce, I don't think I'll be getting many social calls. However, I do have Automan's arrival next week and then the semi-regular movie outing for TROY on the 23rd.
Speaking of Automan, I'm pretty glad that I let Party Hearty in on the act. She's already gotten some sort of wingding for him on the 25th. However, I'll be at work that night.
I just gotta get some ironing done and then I have to get the place cleaned up for that visit tomorrow from the Persian's friend. I'm still wondering about her coming here.
Friday, May 14, 2004
Friday May 14, 11:41 p.m.
Back to my privates today. It was pretty much the same ol' same ol' which suited me just fine after the newness of the new classes at the school. On the way to the Tea Room, I stopped in at Towers and picked up a retrospective on PEANUTS, Charles "Sparky" Schulz's opus. I guess that trip down memory lane with Vince Guaraldi got me looking at some of my old strips with Charlie Brown and the gang.
After our lesson, Arwen, 77 and I headed just up the street instead of heading over to Shinjuku. We had dinner at an Indian place called Ajanta. For a Friday, it wasn't all that busy but then again the area isn't exactly an entertainment hub. Believe me, on a night when one would be lucky to even get a table within an hour, I wasn't complaining. I ended up getting a Thali Platter for a somewhat heftily priced 4200 yen. Once again, I ordered something that was too much for me...an extra piece of garlic naan that I ended up not finishing, even with two helpful ladies at my side.
It looks like the school still wants me to help out, so I've got another couple of classes next week. No problems there.
Well, I've got hit the hay pretty soon since I have to still plan for my kids tomorrow. I really don't have the gumption to do so right now. Plus, I need to take a shower to get that garlic out again.
Back to my privates today. It was pretty much the same ol' same ol' which suited me just fine after the newness of the new classes at the school. On the way to the Tea Room, I stopped in at Towers and picked up a retrospective on PEANUTS, Charles "Sparky" Schulz's opus. I guess that trip down memory lane with Vince Guaraldi got me looking at some of my old strips with Charlie Brown and the gang.
After our lesson, Arwen, 77 and I headed just up the street instead of heading over to Shinjuku. We had dinner at an Indian place called Ajanta. For a Friday, it wasn't all that busy but then again the area isn't exactly an entertainment hub. Believe me, on a night when one would be lucky to even get a table within an hour, I wasn't complaining. I ended up getting a Thali Platter for a somewhat heftily priced 4200 yen. Once again, I ordered something that was too much for me...an extra piece of garlic naan that I ended up not finishing, even with two helpful ladies at my side.
It looks like the school still wants me to help out, so I've got another couple of classes next week. No problems there.
Well, I've got hit the hay pretty soon since I have to still plan for my kids tomorrow. I really don't have the gumption to do so right now. Plus, I need to take a shower to get that garlic out again.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Thursday May 13, 10:08 p.m.
My class with the so-called lowest class at the school was pretty uneven. I had to dodge a bullet when my exercises were just a little too easy for the kids. However, I managed to bat .500 Of course, though, I was kicking myself all the way to the Curry Master's place.
Well, at least, I've got my regular Friday folks tomorrow. I believe that Arwen, 77 and I will be heading out for dinner after the lesson.
Since I'm a bit low on news today, I guess I'll take this time to talk more about my music. My interest in jazz is getting further cultivated. I've always centered my interest around the pianists. Bill Evans is still my favorite but I also have a soft spot for Vince Gurualdi. Who he, you ask? Well, he's probably most famous for his contributions to the early Charlie Brown specials, notably the classic Christmas special. In fact, I'd say that it wouldn't be a Charlie Brown special without his delicate touch.This probably explains why I've never really gotten into the later, more banal outings by the Peanuts gang. With all due respect to Charles Schulz, the televised history of Charlie Brown will probably be restricted to the ten years in the 60s and 70s for me. I can equate this with the Japanese tendency only to view Audrey Hepburn in her 50s period up to "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
My class with the so-called lowest class at the school was pretty uneven. I had to dodge a bullet when my exercises were just a little too easy for the kids. However, I managed to bat .500 Of course, though, I was kicking myself all the way to the Curry Master's place.
Well, at least, I've got my regular Friday folks tomorrow. I believe that Arwen, 77 and I will be heading out for dinner after the lesson.
Since I'm a bit low on news today, I guess I'll take this time to talk more about my music. My interest in jazz is getting further cultivated. I've always centered my interest around the pianists. Bill Evans is still my favorite but I also have a soft spot for Vince Gurualdi. Who he, you ask? Well, he's probably most famous for his contributions to the early Charlie Brown specials, notably the classic Christmas special. In fact, I'd say that it wouldn't be a Charlie Brown special without his delicate touch.This probably explains why I've never really gotten into the later, more banal outings by the Peanuts gang. With all due respect to Charles Schulz, the televised history of Charlie Brown will probably be restricted to the ten years in the 60s and 70s for me. I can equate this with the Japanese tendency only to view Audrey Hepburn in her 50s period up to "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Thursday May 13, 7:34 a.m.
My second class this week at the school was more of a triple than the homer of the first class. There was a hint of slog by the end of the class. I've got one more there today; it's the lowest level one so I'm gonna have to plan it in more detail. Some of my old compadres, such as DJ and DTE, were surprised to see me come in from the cold.
Afterwards, I went to my regular Wednesday night venue at the Starbucks to get a coffee and crossword before The Office Lady came in. I was just falling asleep despite the influx of caffeine. So I had to step out and guzzle down a Coke as an added boost. The lesson came off quite well, but I did hit the hay relatively early.
Automan has given me more detail on his upcoming itinerary and asked me to get in touch with some of the old gang here. I'm not sure if I can see him as much but perhaps some of the others can.
My contact at Japan Tours has gotten everything booked and confirmed for my trip to Hokkaido. Once the written info gets in, I'll let the necessary people know.
My second class this week at the school was more of a triple than the homer of the first class. There was a hint of slog by the end of the class. I've got one more there today; it's the lowest level one so I'm gonna have to plan it in more detail. Some of my old compadres, such as DJ and DTE, were surprised to see me come in from the cold.
Afterwards, I went to my regular Wednesday night venue at the Starbucks to get a coffee and crossword before The Office Lady came in. I was just falling asleep despite the influx of caffeine. So I had to step out and guzzle down a Coke as an added boost. The lesson came off quite well, but I did hit the hay relatively early.
Automan has given me more detail on his upcoming itinerary and asked me to get in touch with some of the old gang here. I'm not sure if I can see him as much but perhaps some of the others can.
My contact at Japan Tours has gotten everything booked and confirmed for my trip to Hokkaido. Once the written info gets in, I'll let the necessary people know.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Wednesday May 12, 12:29 a.m.
My first real busy day lived up to expectations. It tuckered me out by the end but I think I had a pretty good time with everyone. My first class with my school's in-house program for the first time in almost 3 months went quite well. The new students were spearheading the talking which was quite unusual. I was a bit surprised by the arrival of the Jazz Buddy since she was to have graduated back in February. But she had some makeup classes to finish. She was also quite surprised to see me there.
My night classes were OK although my first class was a bit of a slog. Also, my juku owner has a memory like a torn sieve. After I've told her more than twice that I could only teach the Thursday guy on the 20th, she was still asking what my schedule was like for him on the other days in May. But my annoyance is tempered by the fact that she has a very kind heart and she rescued me from catching pneumonia on that horrible day 2 weeks ago.
It's past midnight and I still have to write up the reports for the students and prep for the lesson with The Office Lady later tonight. Plus, I've got to take a shower. When I wake up, I have to dub a tape for The Systems Engineer in time for his lesson on Thursday. It doesn't rain but it pours...
It didn't help that my computer once again had trouble connecting me with my e-mail and the blog. I checked it for viruses to no avail. But then I tried out the Ad-Aware program and found that one of the cookies was responsible for screwing me over. Once I deleted that, I was back in business.
My first real busy day lived up to expectations. It tuckered me out by the end but I think I had a pretty good time with everyone. My first class with my school's in-house program for the first time in almost 3 months went quite well. The new students were spearheading the talking which was quite unusual. I was a bit surprised by the arrival of the Jazz Buddy since she was to have graduated back in February. But she had some makeup classes to finish. She was also quite surprised to see me there.
My night classes were OK although my first class was a bit of a slog. Also, my juku owner has a memory like a torn sieve. After I've told her more than twice that I could only teach the Thursday guy on the 20th, she was still asking what my schedule was like for him on the other days in May. But my annoyance is tempered by the fact that she has a very kind heart and she rescued me from catching pneumonia on that horrible day 2 weeks ago.
It's past midnight and I still have to write up the reports for the students and prep for the lesson with The Office Lady later tonight. Plus, I've got to take a shower. When I wake up, I have to dub a tape for The Systems Engineer in time for his lesson on Thursday. It doesn't rain but it pours...
It didn't help that my computer once again had trouble connecting me with my e-mail and the blog. I checked it for viruses to no avail. But then I tried out the Ad-Aware program and found that one of the cookies was responsible for screwing me over. Once I deleted that, I was back in business.
Monday, May 10, 2004
Monday May 10, 11:03 p.m.
Woof! New BLOGGER...nice place you got here.
I went off to see Old Sam and his wife at the Day Nice Hotel in Kiba (the hotel so nice they named it "Nice"?). For some reason, there was some sort of delay on the line so my train was packed to rush-hour capacity. And it was just my luck that I got off on the wrong end of the platform. By the time I reached the escalator, the other train came by and it was pretty empty. I was ready to kick the thing in its aluminum.
It was 250 m of walking in rainy, humid weather before I reached Day Nice. It was a small but quaint hotel. There was only one woman sitting in the lobby when I decided to call up Sam's cell phone to let him know that I had arrived. I got his wife, who told me that she was already in the lobby. It turned out to be that woman sitting on the couch. After making our introductions, we conducted a conversation totally in Japanese for about half an hour while we waited for Old Sam. Apparently, he got lost in the mess known as Shinjuku.
I've known Old Sam for years since we were kids in Japanese Language School. He was a bit of a rabblerouser in those days although he has since mellowed considerably, but I was rather interested in what his wife was like. She's very calm and patient...perfect for him. In a way, she reminded me of Chip Guy's wife.
Old Sam finally showed up. It was just as well that he got to the hotel at 1:30 since we were also to wait for one other fellow. Fuji's a bit of my antithesis in terms of geography. Whilst I've been here for a decade, he had been living in Montreal and Toronto for 10 years. Very outgoing sort. When he got there, we took a walk up to the neighbourhood family restaurant, Jonathans, for a bit of lunch. Old Sam updated us on what was what in Toronto. It looks like Motormouth Mel is finally out; T.O. has got some sort of beefcake as the new Mayor.
Fuji had to take off a half-hour before we did because of an impending job interview but we did the exchange of phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Then we headed back to the hotel so that Sam and the missus could pick up their voluminous luggage. It was a bit of a climb down to the Kiba platform. I was worried that we would have to face the idiocy of my trip to the hotel, but the train was somewhat more spacious. Old Sam marveled at how I could stand living here for so many years; I guess I should pat myself on the back for my stamina. Anyways, the pair got off the train at Otemachi to head for Tokyo Station and then I just went straight ahead to my job at the company.
The class tonight went quite well. Even my lowest student was on all thrusters today although his fluency is still not all that high. And we even got into some sidetracking in Japanese about the wonders of Kiefer's opus, 24. The Iconoclast left a big box of stuff for me to take home. I decided to go on the instalment plan and take things home piecemeal. Once again after class, the Prez invited me out for dinner. This time the theme was yakiniku, otherwise known as Korean BBQ.
We took another taxi up to the Shin-Okubo area. This is the second time this year that I've been up there...the second of only two times that I've been up there in my decade in Tokyo. I've come to the conclusion that I was a bit too harsh in my assessment of the area as a den of iniquity. The main street at least comes off more as Dundas St. in downtown Chinatown. The place that the Prez took me to was called KOSHUEN, a very pricy and good BBQ place run by Koreans. According to the menu, the place has had some good exposure through the media. I could understand why...the food and service were excellent. The waitress brought the beer lickety-split and she even helped out cut up and cook the kalbi ribs. The Prez ordered a plate full of different cuts of beef which we proceeded to cook up and then wrap in individual leaves of lettuce with Korean miso and marinated onions. It couldn't be beat. However, I may have overindulged a bit by having him order a bibimbap, that concoction of rice, raw egg and many other ingredients all mixed up. With everything else, I was close to bursting. And since I had a bit of a headache, I was worried that I was going to end up laying some street pizza outside so I quickly reached for the Tylenol. But there wasn't anything to worry about.
The end result of going to Korean BBQ is that everyone on the train knows where one has been. My entire body was permeated with the smell of garlic, sauce and cooking beef. But I didn't care and neither should they. I got on the train and ended up sleeping off my headache for the 35-minute trip home. When my internal alarm clock alerted me one station before mine, I was feeling pretty refreshed inside with no more headache although I still smelled like dinner. Today was a truly rare day in that I didn't have to put anything down on my Excel expenditures under the Food category. Old Sam treated me at Jonathans and the Prez, of course, paid for my dinner. I did my token attempt at resisting his treat just to be polite, but I knew what the result would be. The bill was fairly hefty, too. 12,000 yen for two. Koshuen was a great place for dinner but if I were to take any of the students there, I would need a fairly sizable group.
I got home and immediately took a hot shower to sweat out that garlic oil. While I was doing my e-mail, I received a call from the Persian's friend. I had thought that she lost interest in contacting me after a few weeks went by. But she called up so she'll be coming over to my neck of the woods to see where the Persian used to live. Another incentive for me to clean up.
Tomorrow will be a busy day, the first truly busy day in several weeks. I've got my regular Tueday morning class, then I've got my class back at the school. It's been 2 months since I've taught a class there. And finally, I've got my juku classes in the evening.
Woof! New BLOGGER...nice place you got here.
I went off to see Old Sam and his wife at the Day Nice Hotel in Kiba (the hotel so nice they named it "Nice"?). For some reason, there was some sort of delay on the line so my train was packed to rush-hour capacity. And it was just my luck that I got off on the wrong end of the platform. By the time I reached the escalator, the other train came by and it was pretty empty. I was ready to kick the thing in its aluminum.
It was 250 m of walking in rainy, humid weather before I reached Day Nice. It was a small but quaint hotel. There was only one woman sitting in the lobby when I decided to call up Sam's cell phone to let him know that I had arrived. I got his wife, who told me that she was already in the lobby. It turned out to be that woman sitting on the couch. After making our introductions, we conducted a conversation totally in Japanese for about half an hour while we waited for Old Sam. Apparently, he got lost in the mess known as Shinjuku.
I've known Old Sam for years since we were kids in Japanese Language School. He was a bit of a rabblerouser in those days although he has since mellowed considerably, but I was rather interested in what his wife was like. She's very calm and patient...perfect for him. In a way, she reminded me of Chip Guy's wife.
Old Sam finally showed up. It was just as well that he got to the hotel at 1:30 since we were also to wait for one other fellow. Fuji's a bit of my antithesis in terms of geography. Whilst I've been here for a decade, he had been living in Montreal and Toronto for 10 years. Very outgoing sort. When he got there, we took a walk up to the neighbourhood family restaurant, Jonathans, for a bit of lunch. Old Sam updated us on what was what in Toronto. It looks like Motormouth Mel is finally out; T.O. has got some sort of beefcake as the new Mayor.
Fuji had to take off a half-hour before we did because of an impending job interview but we did the exchange of phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Then we headed back to the hotel so that Sam and the missus could pick up their voluminous luggage. It was a bit of a climb down to the Kiba platform. I was worried that we would have to face the idiocy of my trip to the hotel, but the train was somewhat more spacious. Old Sam marveled at how I could stand living here for so many years; I guess I should pat myself on the back for my stamina. Anyways, the pair got off the train at Otemachi to head for Tokyo Station and then I just went straight ahead to my job at the company.
The class tonight went quite well. Even my lowest student was on all thrusters today although his fluency is still not all that high. And we even got into some sidetracking in Japanese about the wonders of Kiefer's opus, 24. The Iconoclast left a big box of stuff for me to take home. I decided to go on the instalment plan and take things home piecemeal. Once again after class, the Prez invited me out for dinner. This time the theme was yakiniku, otherwise known as Korean BBQ.
We took another taxi up to the Shin-Okubo area. This is the second time this year that I've been up there...the second of only two times that I've been up there in my decade in Tokyo. I've come to the conclusion that I was a bit too harsh in my assessment of the area as a den of iniquity. The main street at least comes off more as Dundas St. in downtown Chinatown. The place that the Prez took me to was called KOSHUEN, a very pricy and good BBQ place run by Koreans. According to the menu, the place has had some good exposure through the media. I could understand why...the food and service were excellent. The waitress brought the beer lickety-split and she even helped out cut up and cook the kalbi ribs. The Prez ordered a plate full of different cuts of beef which we proceeded to cook up and then wrap in individual leaves of lettuce with Korean miso and marinated onions. It couldn't be beat. However, I may have overindulged a bit by having him order a bibimbap, that concoction of rice, raw egg and many other ingredients all mixed up. With everything else, I was close to bursting. And since I had a bit of a headache, I was worried that I was going to end up laying some street pizza outside so I quickly reached for the Tylenol. But there wasn't anything to worry about.
The end result of going to Korean BBQ is that everyone on the train knows where one has been. My entire body was permeated with the smell of garlic, sauce and cooking beef. But I didn't care and neither should they. I got on the train and ended up sleeping off my headache for the 35-minute trip home. When my internal alarm clock alerted me one station before mine, I was feeling pretty refreshed inside with no more headache although I still smelled like dinner. Today was a truly rare day in that I didn't have to put anything down on my Excel expenditures under the Food category. Old Sam treated me at Jonathans and the Prez, of course, paid for my dinner. I did my token attempt at resisting his treat just to be polite, but I knew what the result would be. The bill was fairly hefty, too. 12,000 yen for two. Koshuen was a great place for dinner but if I were to take any of the students there, I would need a fairly sizable group.
I got home and immediately took a hot shower to sweat out that garlic oil. While I was doing my e-mail, I received a call from the Persian's friend. I had thought that she lost interest in contacting me after a few weeks went by. But she called up so she'll be coming over to my neck of the woods to see where the Persian used to live. Another incentive for me to clean up.
Tomorrow will be a busy day, the first truly busy day in several weeks. I've got my regular Tueday morning class, then I've got my class back at the school. It's been 2 months since I've taught a class there. And finally, I've got my juku classes in the evening.
Sunday, May 09, 2004
Sunday May 9, 8:49 p.m.
I was doing some of that prep work for the Curry Master. It involved me taking an article from The Daily Yomiuri and then clipping out key words for her as vocabulary to re-insert in the blank spots. The article I chose was on the gentrification of ramen, as it were, which reminded me of something that the Engineer and I saw at Shiodome last Monday.
There was a humoungus lineup at the NTV Plaza. That lineup led to a ramen store apparently manned by Japan's best ramen cook. I say apparently since when it comes to cuisine, I don't believe that the term "best" can be conceptualized in such a highly subjective field. One man's pate is another one's rotten liver. But I digress. Anyways, there was that huge lineup for this shop. Chip Guy once saw a similar situation at a very cheap kaiten sushi place in Shibuya. He just thought it and the people there ludicrous. He felt that noone should have to be that eager for food.
I would agree but the Japanese have that in-built sense of "gaman" or endurance. Also, the cooks of the various types of Japanese cuisine take their craft very seriously. For one thing, a lot of the restaurants serving Japanese cuisine only focus on one particular dish, whether it be tempura, sushi or sashimi. Why be a jack of all trades and a master of none when one could be a master of one? Perhaps back in the West, that joke of the fly in the soup is one of those recognizable foibles of restaurants but a restauranteur here would probably end up cutting his own belly at any hint of that in his place. So when a certain cook is given his due at being the best at something, that perks up a lot of ears and eyes which probably explains the lineups. However, since I don't have nearly that much patience just to wait for food and since I'm not a fussy eater, you'll never catch me doing that.
Now on a totally different topic, with all of my CDs stuffed into my shelving. it's pretty rare now for me to give a lot of repeat listenings to stuff. However, one of the few discs that I would be very willing to hear over and over again is THE NIGHTFLY by Donald Fagen. The DJ lent me his copy of it a few years back and I'd heard the first track, I.G.Y., often enough on radio in my youth. Not having heard it in several years, my ears were reminded of it when I.G.Y. was used as the commercial jingle for the Japanese ad for the IBM Thinkpad. Listening to the entire album was also quite a revelation. I realized that I'd always been more of a mellow sort when it came to music, so AOR was more my style. Well, The Nightfly is definitely an archetype of that genre. Not so gooey like some other AOR entries to make it unpalatable, the album still has that bit of variety swinging from the light reggae and optimism of that first track to jazz to latin to funk. And the album is not too long at 38 minutes, so I can listen to it in my futon before turning off the lights.
I was doing some of that prep work for the Curry Master. It involved me taking an article from The Daily Yomiuri and then clipping out key words for her as vocabulary to re-insert in the blank spots. The article I chose was on the gentrification of ramen, as it were, which reminded me of something that the Engineer and I saw at Shiodome last Monday.
There was a humoungus lineup at the NTV Plaza. That lineup led to a ramen store apparently manned by Japan's best ramen cook. I say apparently since when it comes to cuisine, I don't believe that the term "best" can be conceptualized in such a highly subjective field. One man's pate is another one's rotten liver. But I digress. Anyways, there was that huge lineup for this shop. Chip Guy once saw a similar situation at a very cheap kaiten sushi place in Shibuya. He just thought it and the people there ludicrous. He felt that noone should have to be that eager for food.
I would agree but the Japanese have that in-built sense of "gaman" or endurance. Also, the cooks of the various types of Japanese cuisine take their craft very seriously. For one thing, a lot of the restaurants serving Japanese cuisine only focus on one particular dish, whether it be tempura, sushi or sashimi. Why be a jack of all trades and a master of none when one could be a master of one? Perhaps back in the West, that joke of the fly in the soup is one of those recognizable foibles of restaurants but a restauranteur here would probably end up cutting his own belly at any hint of that in his place. So when a certain cook is given his due at being the best at something, that perks up a lot of ears and eyes which probably explains the lineups. However, since I don't have nearly that much patience just to wait for food and since I'm not a fussy eater, you'll never catch me doing that.
Now on a totally different topic, with all of my CDs stuffed into my shelving. it's pretty rare now for me to give a lot of repeat listenings to stuff. However, one of the few discs that I would be very willing to hear over and over again is THE NIGHTFLY by Donald Fagen. The DJ lent me his copy of it a few years back and I'd heard the first track, I.G.Y., often enough on radio in my youth. Not having heard it in several years, my ears were reminded of it when I.G.Y. was used as the commercial jingle for the Japanese ad for the IBM Thinkpad. Listening to the entire album was also quite a revelation. I realized that I'd always been more of a mellow sort when it came to music, so AOR was more my style. Well, The Nightfly is definitely an archetype of that genre. Not so gooey like some other AOR entries to make it unpalatable, the album still has that bit of variety swinging from the light reggae and optimism of that first track to jazz to latin to funk. And the album is not too long at 38 minutes, so I can listen to it in my futon before turning off the lights.
Sunday May 9, 5:03 p.m.
Came back after another huge brunch at Fujimamas with The Office Lady and Boop. As I suspected, the biscuits and gravy weren't the hit of the Plate. However, I think the ladies enjoyed the meal and the ambiance enough to warrant a future visit. All of us were pretty stuffed but we stopped by La Maison Du Chocolat on the main Omotesando strip. My Monday morning student introduced me to some delicious macaroons which came from there one lesson, so I decided to splurge the 2000 yen for 8 of them. The ladies liked them, but they only had room in their bellies for one each.
After a bit of walking around the Omotesando area for a few minutes and showing them some other potential future venues for food such as the Ku'Aina hamburger joint and the Comma Ca Cafe, we decided to take a respite at the Canadian version of Starbucks, BLENZ, just down from Kinokuniya Supermarket. Well, what was once the supermarket is now a huge hole in the ground since it's undergoing some major renovations. We gabbed there for well over 90 minutes about, among other things, the dishonesty of the school staff (what else is new?). Finally, we just walked down Omotesando again where we made our farewells at the crowded Harajuku Station. Sundays are usually packed there with all of the costumed teens milling about on Takeshita Avenue.
After getting back to my station, I decided I needed more walking to fully digest the meal so I went to the local Yamada electronics shop where I picked up a tape head cleaner. Yes, I gather that I'm probably the only one left in the country who would need such a thing in these days of DVDs, MDs and even the increasingly prehistoric CDs. But I'm still very much dealing with audio tapes. I was kinda thinking of investing in a cheap tape recorder but I figured that since I'll be heading for the school this week, I'll probably borrow one of the master tapes for the text over there and dub it onto another tape.
I got back home to find out that the Movie Buddy seems to have recovered fully from his cold to invite me out for something somewhere but since I am indeed home, I don't think I'll be taking him up on his offer. I've still not emptied out my stomach since the events of over 6 hours ago but I did buy a bit of dinner for later tonight. I'll probably be prepping for tomorrow's class and think about doing some work for the Curry Master's lesson on Thursday.
Came back after another huge brunch at Fujimamas with The Office Lady and Boop. As I suspected, the biscuits and gravy weren't the hit of the Plate. However, I think the ladies enjoyed the meal and the ambiance enough to warrant a future visit. All of us were pretty stuffed but we stopped by La Maison Du Chocolat on the main Omotesando strip. My Monday morning student introduced me to some delicious macaroons which came from there one lesson, so I decided to splurge the 2000 yen for 8 of them. The ladies liked them, but they only had room in their bellies for one each.
After a bit of walking around the Omotesando area for a few minutes and showing them some other potential future venues for food such as the Ku'Aina hamburger joint and the Comma Ca Cafe, we decided to take a respite at the Canadian version of Starbucks, BLENZ, just down from Kinokuniya Supermarket. Well, what was once the supermarket is now a huge hole in the ground since it's undergoing some major renovations. We gabbed there for well over 90 minutes about, among other things, the dishonesty of the school staff (what else is new?). Finally, we just walked down Omotesando again where we made our farewells at the crowded Harajuku Station. Sundays are usually packed there with all of the costumed teens milling about on Takeshita Avenue.
After getting back to my station, I decided I needed more walking to fully digest the meal so I went to the local Yamada electronics shop where I picked up a tape head cleaner. Yes, I gather that I'm probably the only one left in the country who would need such a thing in these days of DVDs, MDs and even the increasingly prehistoric CDs. But I'm still very much dealing with audio tapes. I was kinda thinking of investing in a cheap tape recorder but I figured that since I'll be heading for the school this week, I'll probably borrow one of the master tapes for the text over there and dub it onto another tape.
I got back home to find out that the Movie Buddy seems to have recovered fully from his cold to invite me out for something somewhere but since I am indeed home, I don't think I'll be taking him up on his offer. I've still not emptied out my stomach since the events of over 6 hours ago but I did buy a bit of dinner for later tonight. I'll probably be prepping for tomorrow's class and think about doing some work for the Curry Master's lesson on Thursday.
Saturday, May 08, 2004
Saturday May 8, 5:09 p.m.
Got back home about a half-hour ago. I had been expecting to head off to the Curry Master for that BBQ later tonight when I realized that there was a possibility that Movie Buddy would have suddenly asked me up for accomodations since I live so close to the Curry Master. And I'm not too crazy about taking last-minute reservations so I had been thinking about doing some quick cleanup at home before taking off at 6. I also thought that the odds of MB being so thoughtless as to do such a thing were pretty small but I couldn't take any chances.
However, I needn't have bothered. I had left a message with the Master asking if she needed anything from the convenience store. A few minutes later, she called me back saying that MB didn't make it due to a cold. And the BBQ was already well under way so I just begged off. If I'd really wanted to have gone, I would have been somewhat upset by the rather cavalier attitude, but as it were, I don't mind at all. I wasn't particularly up for it. So I just picked up some convenience food for tonight.
At the AM/PM, I heard the typically loud voices of two teenage girls just splatting down on the floor at the back just as if they were at home. I just ignored them and sadly wrote them off as the more extreme examples of emotionally unstable teens. I reminded myself that I have met my share of pretty well-behaved teens and even now, the delinquents aren't all that plentiful, knock on wood. Besides, delinquents have been around since time immemorial, and some of them actually end up becoming pretty decent if hard-bitten folks. Still, that middle-aged lady manning the register looked none too happy. I couldn't blame her.
I'm now reminding myself that I should get Arwen my US copy of SPIDERMAN since she wants to see the English subtitles that her version lacks. She called up late last night to profusely apologize about forgetting to pay me once again. I reassured her that I would be able to survive another week without her money and then I sugeested that she could give me the money when the lesson began like some other forgetful souls have done. I also should remind myself to get some Murphy books for SR.
Old Sam got in contact with me by e-mail this morning. He and his wife will be arriving in Tokyo Sunday night and wanted to ask me if I knew any cheap hotels in and around Tokyo Station. As it turned out, there was one but otherwise, it's a pretty tall order so far but I haven't quite given up yet. I'll give him a call tonight.
Also, Automan, another old friend, contacted me to say that he'll be making another pilgrimage to Tokyo later this month. Not sure if it'll be for R & R or for business. However, I'll try and see him.
I called up Mom. Looks like Dad hasn't been too hot of late. I'm a bit worried although I can't be that surprised since he's not exactly even middle-aged anymore. I really hope that passport gets done soon.
Got back home about a half-hour ago. I had been expecting to head off to the Curry Master for that BBQ later tonight when I realized that there was a possibility that Movie Buddy would have suddenly asked me up for accomodations since I live so close to the Curry Master. And I'm not too crazy about taking last-minute reservations so I had been thinking about doing some quick cleanup at home before taking off at 6. I also thought that the odds of MB being so thoughtless as to do such a thing were pretty small but I couldn't take any chances.
However, I needn't have bothered. I had left a message with the Master asking if she needed anything from the convenience store. A few minutes later, she called me back saying that MB didn't make it due to a cold. And the BBQ was already well under way so I just begged off. If I'd really wanted to have gone, I would have been somewhat upset by the rather cavalier attitude, but as it were, I don't mind at all. I wasn't particularly up for it. So I just picked up some convenience food for tonight.
At the AM/PM, I heard the typically loud voices of two teenage girls just splatting down on the floor at the back just as if they were at home. I just ignored them and sadly wrote them off as the more extreme examples of emotionally unstable teens. I reminded myself that I have met my share of pretty well-behaved teens and even now, the delinquents aren't all that plentiful, knock on wood. Besides, delinquents have been around since time immemorial, and some of them actually end up becoming pretty decent if hard-bitten folks. Still, that middle-aged lady manning the register looked none too happy. I couldn't blame her.
I'm now reminding myself that I should get Arwen my US copy of SPIDERMAN since she wants to see the English subtitles that her version lacks. She called up late last night to profusely apologize about forgetting to pay me once again. I reassured her that I would be able to survive another week without her money and then I sugeested that she could give me the money when the lesson began like some other forgetful souls have done. I also should remind myself to get some Murphy books for SR.
Old Sam got in contact with me by e-mail this morning. He and his wife will be arriving in Tokyo Sunday night and wanted to ask me if I knew any cheap hotels in and around Tokyo Station. As it turned out, there was one but otherwise, it's a pretty tall order so far but I haven't quite given up yet. I'll give him a call tonight.
Also, Automan, another old friend, contacted me to say that he'll be making another pilgrimage to Tokyo later this month. Not sure if it'll be for R & R or for business. However, I'll try and see him.
I called up Mom. Looks like Dad hasn't been too hot of late. I'm a bit worried although I can't be that surprised since he's not exactly even middle-aged anymore. I really hope that passport gets done soon.
Friday, May 07, 2004
Friday May 7, 10:53 p.m.
Well, I made it through my first day back at work in about a week OK. But there were some variations to the theme. I found out from The Teacher that the resentment and dislike she got from her classmates was very much mutual. She kinda went on her usual soft soapbox rant and stated that she couldn't stand the younger folks' immaturity and lack of core values. However, she did have a few allies in the group, one of whom was someone I remember as being a cultured sort...admittedly a rarity in today's young group.
After lunch at the Golden Arches, I went out to Nihombashi to Maruzen to see if there were any hope of finding a tape to go with that textbook I'm using with The SE. Once again, I was out of luck so frankly I'm not sure what to do now. Then, I went up to Asakusa to see if there were any hope of finding one of those carp kites for a good friend back in Canada. No luck there, either. But I did see some Japanese versions of The Rockettes traipsing through the main shopping avenue of the area for some reason. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of men taking pics of the ladies.
I got back to the Tea Room to see SR. No particular changes there although I will have to think about getting some new material for her somehow. At the end of the session I was surprised to get a phone from the Tea Room owner. On the other end was Arwen who told me that due to a jumper at Ichigaya Station, her main route to get to the Tea Room was blocked so we ended up meeting at the south gate of Shinjuku Station. It sure was a Friday back from the Golden Week; there was a literal flood of commuters ebbing and flowing around the ticket gates.
Arwen reached me and then we walked over to the Maynds Building's Starbucks. It was an intriguing lesson to say the least since at one point, she started wondering aloud about what the system behind a typical Japanese FUZOKU club was. I wasn't about to give her major details in a public place but I said that I would be willing to give her some info over e-mail according to reports from various salarymen I've spoken with over the years. She also asked about the reputation behind YOUNG ADAM, that rather risque Ewan McGregor movie. I kinda wonder about what Arwen thinks about at times. Plus, she forgot to pay me again.
As it happened, our streak of going out for dinner after the lesson ended tonight since we started a full hour late and she had things to do at home. Luckily, I did have a rather forlorn meat pie at Starbucks...not a regular item at the North American branches, I'm sure. Believe me, the English have nothing to worry about when it comes to meat pies from Japan.
I got home to find out from the school coordinator that I've actually been offered classes next week. In fact, I may have a bushel of them through the middle of the week. I guess some of the teachers may be on Intensives. Well, it'll be my first crack at this new crew since the year began for them. It has suddenly become quite busy. However, I may have sacrificed some time with another old friend of mine from Canada.
I still have to get some work done in terms of student reports and then get something planned for the little girl tomorrow afternoon. Plus, I do want to catch some of that grueling testimony that ol' Rummy will have to give to Congress in half an hour.
I found out that one of the most familiar faces on the local political scene has resigned because of that silly pension scandal. Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda was the No. 3 or No. 4 guy in the government (which would place him in the same ranking as the US Speaker of the House or the Senate President), but for most of us folks, he fulfilled the same role as the Press Secretary. He was a pretty avunculuar sort which made him the perfect sort to talk with the press but he is also the son of a former Prime Minister. I would have said that his father is probably turning in his grave but then again, most politicians in modern Japanese history have had their fingers in so many pies that PM Fukuda is sleeping soundly in his grave.
Shower time!
Well, I made it through my first day back at work in about a week OK. But there were some variations to the theme. I found out from The Teacher that the resentment and dislike she got from her classmates was very much mutual. She kinda went on her usual soft soapbox rant and stated that she couldn't stand the younger folks' immaturity and lack of core values. However, she did have a few allies in the group, one of whom was someone I remember as being a cultured sort...admittedly a rarity in today's young group.
After lunch at the Golden Arches, I went out to Nihombashi to Maruzen to see if there were any hope of finding a tape to go with that textbook I'm using with The SE. Once again, I was out of luck so frankly I'm not sure what to do now. Then, I went up to Asakusa to see if there were any hope of finding one of those carp kites for a good friend back in Canada. No luck there, either. But I did see some Japanese versions of The Rockettes traipsing through the main shopping avenue of the area for some reason. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of men taking pics of the ladies.
I got back to the Tea Room to see SR. No particular changes there although I will have to think about getting some new material for her somehow. At the end of the session I was surprised to get a phone from the Tea Room owner. On the other end was Arwen who told me that due to a jumper at Ichigaya Station, her main route to get to the Tea Room was blocked so we ended up meeting at the south gate of Shinjuku Station. It sure was a Friday back from the Golden Week; there was a literal flood of commuters ebbing and flowing around the ticket gates.
Arwen reached me and then we walked over to the Maynds Building's Starbucks. It was an intriguing lesson to say the least since at one point, she started wondering aloud about what the system behind a typical Japanese FUZOKU club was. I wasn't about to give her major details in a public place but I said that I would be willing to give her some info over e-mail according to reports from various salarymen I've spoken with over the years. She also asked about the reputation behind YOUNG ADAM, that rather risque Ewan McGregor movie. I kinda wonder about what Arwen thinks about at times. Plus, she forgot to pay me again.
As it happened, our streak of going out for dinner after the lesson ended tonight since we started a full hour late and she had things to do at home. Luckily, I did have a rather forlorn meat pie at Starbucks...not a regular item at the North American branches, I'm sure. Believe me, the English have nothing to worry about when it comes to meat pies from Japan.
I got home to find out from the school coordinator that I've actually been offered classes next week. In fact, I may have a bushel of them through the middle of the week. I guess some of the teachers may be on Intensives. Well, it'll be my first crack at this new crew since the year began for them. It has suddenly become quite busy. However, I may have sacrificed some time with another old friend of mine from Canada.
I still have to get some work done in terms of student reports and then get something planned for the little girl tomorrow afternoon. Plus, I do want to catch some of that grueling testimony that ol' Rummy will have to give to Congress in half an hour.
I found out that one of the most familiar faces on the local political scene has resigned because of that silly pension scandal. Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda was the No. 3 or No. 4 guy in the government (which would place him in the same ranking as the US Speaker of the House or the Senate President), but for most of us folks, he fulfilled the same role as the Press Secretary. He was a pretty avunculuar sort which made him the perfect sort to talk with the press but he is also the son of a former Prime Minister. I would have said that his father is probably turning in his grave but then again, most politicians in modern Japanese history have had their fingers in so many pies that PM Fukuda is sleeping soundly in his grave.
Shower time!
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Thursday May 6, 4:03 p.m.
Just came back from the National Science Museum in Ueno Park where that Star Wars exhibit was located. It's not exactly Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas but it was OK, especially if one appreciates the models that the movies used. After I paid my 1400 yen, I made a rather circuituous route through the original building to the new wing and managed to take one shot just before finding out that I couldn't take any pics inside the hall. Great...I just bought the disposable camera for that purpose.
Anyways, I was greeted by the John Williams fanfare and a 1.5-metre model of an Imperial Star Destroyer. The exhibit was arranged so that the tour goes through the cinematic history of the series from the original 1977 movie to Attack of the Clones. There were exhibits of the various costumes like Obi-Wan's Jedi robes and the different types of Imperial Stormtrooper uniforms. Different excerpts from all of the films played on small flatscreens throughout the exhibit and there were computer screens which allowed people to find out more about the science behind the fantasy of Star Wars. Unfortunately, since I don't read Japanese easily I let that part go. The tour was a pretty quick walkabout...I think I got through it within 15 minutes but I didn't expect all that much.
Back home again and have my first piece of mail in about a week. It's from The Anime King with his two DVDs of his homemade video of Galaxy Angel. It looks like the Cutsoms people were a bit more ham-fisted than usual. Part of the CD case was shattered so there was tape holding it together. I've got some empty cases so I can take care of that problem.
Still overcast. So much for that sunny forecast.
Just came back from the National Science Museum in Ueno Park where that Star Wars exhibit was located. It's not exactly Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas but it was OK, especially if one appreciates the models that the movies used. After I paid my 1400 yen, I made a rather circuituous route through the original building to the new wing and managed to take one shot just before finding out that I couldn't take any pics inside the hall. Great...I just bought the disposable camera for that purpose.
Anyways, I was greeted by the John Williams fanfare and a 1.5-metre model of an Imperial Star Destroyer. The exhibit was arranged so that the tour goes through the cinematic history of the series from the original 1977 movie to Attack of the Clones. There were exhibits of the various costumes like Obi-Wan's Jedi robes and the different types of Imperial Stormtrooper uniforms. Different excerpts from all of the films played on small flatscreens throughout the exhibit and there were computer screens which allowed people to find out more about the science behind the fantasy of Star Wars. Unfortunately, since I don't read Japanese easily I let that part go. The tour was a pretty quick walkabout...I think I got through it within 15 minutes but I didn't expect all that much.
Back home again and have my first piece of mail in about a week. It's from The Anime King with his two DVDs of his homemade video of Galaxy Angel. It looks like the Cutsoms people were a bit more ham-fisted than usual. Part of the CD case was shattered so there was tape holding it together. I've got some empty cases so I can take care of that problem.
Still overcast. So much for that sunny forecast.
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Thursday May 6, 10:39 a.m.
Well, the so-called sun is more of a gauzy brightness. I just hope that the rain hasn't decided to make another appearance. I did my wash; I was rather surprised and relieved that the washing machine didn't do what it somestimes does when it's fully packed. It sometimes conks out or keeps repeating the rinse cycle so taking out the clothes turns out to be a very wet affair.
I've got another free day since my Thursday night juku student has pulled another cancellation. But I won't stay at home; I'll be heading out to the National Science Museum to check out the Star Wars exhibition there. I figure I need to get a bit of exercise. Going to Ueno Park, where the museum is located, may provide a good enough venue for a walk although I'll probably have to skip over some of the homeless folks.
Looks like tomorrow will be back to a full day again. I've got my regular three classes. And then, I think I'll have the afternoon kids. The morning girls are out in at their cottage so I can get some more sleep in. Then, the Curry Master has her BBQ later that night.
Well, the so-called sun is more of a gauzy brightness. I just hope that the rain hasn't decided to make another appearance. I did my wash; I was rather surprised and relieved that the washing machine didn't do what it somestimes does when it's fully packed. It sometimes conks out or keeps repeating the rinse cycle so taking out the clothes turns out to be a very wet affair.
I've got another free day since my Thursday night juku student has pulled another cancellation. But I won't stay at home; I'll be heading out to the National Science Museum to check out the Star Wars exhibition there. I figure I need to get a bit of exercise. Going to Ueno Park, where the museum is located, may provide a good enough venue for a walk although I'll probably have to skip over some of the homeless folks.
Looks like tomorrow will be back to a full day again. I've got my regular three classes. And then, I think I'll have the afternoon kids. The morning girls are out in at their cottage so I can get some more sleep in. Then, the Curry Master has her BBQ later that night.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Wednesday May 5, 11:58 a.m.
Overcast day and we had some drizzly stuff this morning, although it hasn't come close to the forecast downpours quite yet. I managed to those several hours of sleep I wanted.
Well, it's the final day of Golden Week. I'm sure that the news will be filled with the U-Turn rush and its scenes of jammed highways all throughout Tokyo.
I gave a call to Fujimamas to see if I could make that reservation for Sunday brunch. Sure enough, the guy on the other end told me that they couldn't take any reservations for parties under 5 people, so it looks like the three of us will have to take our chances in the morning. Maybe if we get there by around 10:30, we should get a table. Next, I sent a response to one of my Tsudanuma students concerning her fax about idioms. The way it was structured, I thought she was trying to test MY knowledge about them.
Probably for the next couple of hours, I'll be trying to translate some of this stuff that the Iconoclast threw me for this long-delayed project. I did promise the Prez that I would do something about it as well, although he didn't seem too hopeful. Maybe doing this while listening to some jazz music will get me through it.
Looks like dinner tonight will be relatively inexpensive. All I need to make is some stir-fry; the Engineer was kind enough to give me a present of Nagoya Kishimen. Kishimen is flat noodles, similar to the Pho of Vietnam.
Overcast day and we had some drizzly stuff this morning, although it hasn't come close to the forecast downpours quite yet. I managed to those several hours of sleep I wanted.
Well, it's the final day of Golden Week. I'm sure that the news will be filled with the U-Turn rush and its scenes of jammed highways all throughout Tokyo.
I gave a call to Fujimamas to see if I could make that reservation for Sunday brunch. Sure enough, the guy on the other end told me that they couldn't take any reservations for parties under 5 people, so it looks like the three of us will have to take our chances in the morning. Maybe if we get there by around 10:30, we should get a table. Next, I sent a response to one of my Tsudanuma students concerning her fax about idioms. The way it was structured, I thought she was trying to test MY knowledge about them.
Probably for the next couple of hours, I'll be trying to translate some of this stuff that the Iconoclast threw me for this long-delayed project. I did promise the Prez that I would do something about it as well, although he didn't seem too hopeful. Maybe doing this while listening to some jazz music will get me through it.
Looks like dinner tonight will be relatively inexpensive. All I need to make is some stir-fry; the Engineer was kind enough to give me a present of Nagoya Kishimen. Kishimen is flat noodles, similar to the Pho of Vietnam.
Tuesday May 4, 9:07 p.m.
Well, my last session of "A Dinner with Haruhiko" took place today. I met up with my friend from Shizuoka at the Mullion. She wanted to thank me for helping her with a bit of translation I did for her several weeks ago so we went to COCA just behind the twin department towers at Mullion. Always a good meal. My friend was suitably impressed with the fare as well. Afterwards we walked through the same path that The Engineer and I had gone through yesterday in reverse over to the Tokyo Station underground mall.
The three dinners have been interesting in terms of what each of them and I talked about. The Bohemian went in depth about our uncertain futures, The Engineer and I gabbed about the present and then today, my other friend and I talked about our pasts. She had also been part of our little group back in university in the early 90s, so we spoke of our old friends and what they were up to. I'm sure a few of them were probably sneezing overseas at some of our talk.
Well, the official final day of Golden Week will be a largely empty one. It will be a rainy one, unfortunately. Otherwise, I would have done some laundry and aired out my mattresses. The blusteriness of the winds certainly don't bode well. But at least I'll get to wake up a bit later.
Super Channel has been on a major marathon kick. First, it was the 70 hours of Star Trek, then several hours of Columbo, a number of Frasier episodes, and now we've had 12 hours of the updated Perry Mason movies from the mid-80s. All of the trappings have been held over from the original 50s series: the plot structure of the innocent client framed by the real killer after the murder of a deserving jerk. It was pretty obvious that the new series was filmed in Toronto. I still prefer the original black-and-white show over these new ones but at least with the new ones, we don't get that final scream of admission by the guilty party on the witness stand.
Well, my last session of "A Dinner with Haruhiko" took place today. I met up with my friend from Shizuoka at the Mullion. She wanted to thank me for helping her with a bit of translation I did for her several weeks ago so we went to COCA just behind the twin department towers at Mullion. Always a good meal. My friend was suitably impressed with the fare as well. Afterwards we walked through the same path that The Engineer and I had gone through yesterday in reverse over to the Tokyo Station underground mall.
The three dinners have been interesting in terms of what each of them and I talked about. The Bohemian went in depth about our uncertain futures, The Engineer and I gabbed about the present and then today, my other friend and I talked about our pasts. She had also been part of our little group back in university in the early 90s, so we spoke of our old friends and what they were up to. I'm sure a few of them were probably sneezing overseas at some of our talk.
Well, the official final day of Golden Week will be a largely empty one. It will be a rainy one, unfortunately. Otherwise, I would have done some laundry and aired out my mattresses. The blusteriness of the winds certainly don't bode well. But at least I'll get to wake up a bit later.
Super Channel has been on a major marathon kick. First, it was the 70 hours of Star Trek, then several hours of Columbo, a number of Frasier episodes, and now we've had 12 hours of the updated Perry Mason movies from the mid-80s. All of the trappings have been held over from the original 50s series: the plot structure of the innocent client framed by the real killer after the murder of a deserving jerk. It was pretty obvious that the new series was filmed in Toronto. I still prefer the original black-and-white show over these new ones but at least with the new ones, we don't get that final scream of admission by the guilty party on the witness stand.
Monday, May 03, 2004
Tuesday May 4, 10:37 a.m.
I met up with The Engineer yesterday at Tokyo Station. I took him over to the trendy spot of the Marunouchi Building. He wanted to have ramen; however, the Tokyo Station area isn't exactly known as a ramen zone like Shinjuku or Ogikubo. So I decided to take a chance and checked to see if there were a chance of such a place in the Maru Biru. Sure enough, there was a place on the 6th floor called Akai Noren (The Red Awning) which served Hakata Ramen, my favourite style of ramen.
Hakata Ramen is notable for the broth which is made from pork bones. The broth is off-white and very rich (no snickering, please). However, both the Engineer, who has traveled through Fukuoka (the modern name for Hakata) and I thought the soup was a bit too watery. However, I couldn't complain about the taste. And the set was pretty generous for a thousand yen: the ramen, kimchi rice, four dumplings and a bit of dessert.
Afterwards, we walked over to another trendy area, Shiodome. Being in Golden Week, there were a lot of people at the NTV Plaza. However, we did manage to get a table at the local Tully's coffee shop for a while before heading over to Shimbashi Station so that E could get his ticket to Kyoto today. Then, we went off to Akihabara to look for some stuff. We did our usual double sessions with the massage chairs in the Yamagiwa store. The sun was starting to set when we walked up to Ueno to look for a place to have dinner. But again, because of the holiday, everything was packed so we just ended up heading home and eating at the neighbourhood kaiten. That sushi chef with the slightly bad ear was there again but this time he was on the ball taking orders.
Finally, we made it back home where we just caught some TV before we retired for the night. Then, earlier this morning, I took him to the station to see him off. My allergies are acting up again so I'm considering downing some medicine before heading out to meet another friend for dinner.
I met up with The Engineer yesterday at Tokyo Station. I took him over to the trendy spot of the Marunouchi Building. He wanted to have ramen; however, the Tokyo Station area isn't exactly known as a ramen zone like Shinjuku or Ogikubo. So I decided to take a chance and checked to see if there were a chance of such a place in the Maru Biru. Sure enough, there was a place on the 6th floor called Akai Noren (The Red Awning) which served Hakata Ramen, my favourite style of ramen.
Hakata Ramen is notable for the broth which is made from pork bones. The broth is off-white and very rich (no snickering, please). However, both the Engineer, who has traveled through Fukuoka (the modern name for Hakata) and I thought the soup was a bit too watery. However, I couldn't complain about the taste. And the set was pretty generous for a thousand yen: the ramen, kimchi rice, four dumplings and a bit of dessert.
Afterwards, we walked over to another trendy area, Shiodome. Being in Golden Week, there were a lot of people at the NTV Plaza. However, we did manage to get a table at the local Tully's coffee shop for a while before heading over to Shimbashi Station so that E could get his ticket to Kyoto today. Then, we went off to Akihabara to look for some stuff. We did our usual double sessions with the massage chairs in the Yamagiwa store. The sun was starting to set when we walked up to Ueno to look for a place to have dinner. But again, because of the holiday, everything was packed so we just ended up heading home and eating at the neighbourhood kaiten. That sushi chef with the slightly bad ear was there again but this time he was on the ball taking orders.
Finally, we made it back home where we just caught some TV before we retired for the night. Then, earlier this morning, I took him to the station to see him off. My allergies are acting up again so I'm considering downing some medicine before heading out to meet another friend for dinner.
Sunday, May 02, 2004
Sunday May 2, 10:50 p.m.
I met up with The Office Lady for her lesson today at Nihombashi Station. We went out of an exit that I usually didn't use from the station, and I was rather surpsised by the new Merrill-Lynch building that towered everything else in the area. We couldn't use the neighbourhood Starbucks since it was packed; however, we only had to walk down a few dozen metres to find a relatively empty Excelsiors.
Afterwards I met The Bohemian at Hachiko. We went up to one of our usual haunts, En, that upscale izakaya on the 11th floor of an electronics store building. It actually opened up at 4 p.m. now so we were happy to find out that we were the first customers in the place. In fact, we got a good window table. We spoke much about our own little foibles in our lives including our love lives. In fact, it kinda felt like my talks with Arwen alone. We managed to go at it for about 5 hours.
I got a call from The Engineer. He gave me the arrival time of his Bullet Train so I can go and pick him up at Tokyo Station tomorrow. But I'm gonna have to wake up a little earlier than I had hoped to get the place spic and span, just in case he decides to stay over. UGH!
I met up with The Office Lady for her lesson today at Nihombashi Station. We went out of an exit that I usually didn't use from the station, and I was rather surpsised by the new Merrill-Lynch building that towered everything else in the area. We couldn't use the neighbourhood Starbucks since it was packed; however, we only had to walk down a few dozen metres to find a relatively empty Excelsiors.
Afterwards I met The Bohemian at Hachiko. We went up to one of our usual haunts, En, that upscale izakaya on the 11th floor of an electronics store building. It actually opened up at 4 p.m. now so we were happy to find out that we were the first customers in the place. In fact, we got a good window table. We spoke much about our own little foibles in our lives including our love lives. In fact, it kinda felt like my talks with Arwen alone. We managed to go at it for about 5 hours.
I got a call from The Engineer. He gave me the arrival time of his Bullet Train so I can go and pick him up at Tokyo Station tomorrow. But I'm gonna have to wake up a little earlier than I had hoped to get the place spic and span, just in case he decides to stay over. UGH!
Saturday, May 01, 2004
Sunday May 2, 9:49 a.m.
Well, it was another bipolar day yesterday in terms of weather. Nice and warm up to mid-afternoon and then the temps fell out the bottom in the evening. If it hadn't been for my Canadian constitution, I would've frozen in my short sleeves. I'm sure that I got a lot of looks myway. Mind you, it also probably helped that I'm not exactly the thinnest guy around.
Caught KILL BILL Vol. 2 with Movie Buddy and his buddy, Sam, in Shinjuku last night after my classes. It's definitely quite different in tone from the first one, and I liked it better. In retrospect, Quentin was right to split his latest into two parts. It war more talky, had more of that famous QT dialogue and certainly demanded more of both Uma and her character. MB wonders if the Oscar guys will do the same thing with it that they did with The Lord of the Rings, just wait until all the parts are out to consider giving it the gold. I just wonder if the movie is just a bit too violent or iconoclastic to get anything.
Afterwards, we went out to SAMRAT, a local Indian restaurant. We were quite surprised and delighted to see that it was actually open until 5 in the morning. The food is great so I could imagine some of the late-nighters headed there. We spent a little over an hour there chatting over tandoori and naan before I had to take off to catch my last train. And I did do that...I was lucky to catch the last train for my area.
I received a couple of messages last night. One was from The Engineer, who had come over on a little vacation with the missus from Canada. He's currently in Nagoya but he'll be coming over to the Big Sushi tomorrow for a visit. He also asked whether it's possible for him to stay over a night at my place. Looks like I'm gonna have to do another whirlwind cleanup.
The other message was from The Bohemian. He's back from studying during Golden Week, so he was asking about getting together for dinner. I initially thought I could meet him tonight after my class with The Office Lady but now I'm gonna check to see if he'll be hanging around unti Wednesday. I would rather have some time to salvage my apartment.
Anyways, I gotta have some breakfast and then do some quick planning for my lesson.
Well, it was another bipolar day yesterday in terms of weather. Nice and warm up to mid-afternoon and then the temps fell out the bottom in the evening. If it hadn't been for my Canadian constitution, I would've frozen in my short sleeves. I'm sure that I got a lot of looks myway. Mind you, it also probably helped that I'm not exactly the thinnest guy around.
Caught KILL BILL Vol. 2 with Movie Buddy and his buddy, Sam, in Shinjuku last night after my classes. It's definitely quite different in tone from the first one, and I liked it better. In retrospect, Quentin was right to split his latest into two parts. It war more talky, had more of that famous QT dialogue and certainly demanded more of both Uma and her character. MB wonders if the Oscar guys will do the same thing with it that they did with The Lord of the Rings, just wait until all the parts are out to consider giving it the gold. I just wonder if the movie is just a bit too violent or iconoclastic to get anything.
Afterwards, we went out to SAMRAT, a local Indian restaurant. We were quite surprised and delighted to see that it was actually open until 5 in the morning. The food is great so I could imagine some of the late-nighters headed there. We spent a little over an hour there chatting over tandoori and naan before I had to take off to catch my last train. And I did do that...I was lucky to catch the last train for my area.
I received a couple of messages last night. One was from The Engineer, who had come over on a little vacation with the missus from Canada. He's currently in Nagoya but he'll be coming over to the Big Sushi tomorrow for a visit. He also asked whether it's possible for him to stay over a night at my place. Looks like I'm gonna have to do another whirlwind cleanup.
The other message was from The Bohemian. He's back from studying during Golden Week, so he was asking about getting together for dinner. I initially thought I could meet him tonight after my class with The Office Lady but now I'm gonna check to see if he'll be hanging around unti Wednesday. I would rather have some time to salvage my apartment.
Anyways, I gotta have some breakfast and then do some quick planning for my lesson.
Sunday May 2, 1:19 a.m.
Another long Saturday, another meterologically bipolar day. It was warm up to mid-afternoon and then the bottom fell out of the temps. It was just 11 C when I got home at midnight, and I was just in my short sleeves with a sleeveless undershirt. Thank heavens for my Canadian constitution of surviving winter. I didn't feel too badly considering the chill, but I'm sure I did get my fair share of looks from people.
My class and then my monthly chat fest at the Tea Room went well enough. And then I met up with Movie Buddy and his good friend, Frodo. Frodo had first come over on a visit during the New Years holidays. Apparently, he enjoyed his time here so much that he has returned for a much longer stay. But with his talents in the computer field, he would be way overqualified for a typical teaching position at some English language school.
Anyways, the three of us went to see KILL BILL VOL. 2. Much was made about the splitting of this movie into 2 parts, some saying that it was a moneygrubbing move on the part of Tarentino and the producers. After having seen it, though, I can now understand the move. The second movie has the same characters and story arc but the feel is quite different. There aren't the gobs of over-the-top violence or The Bride's nearly mute rampage of revenge. The second part has much more dialogue and more feeling coming from The Bride, now known as Beatrix, and even Bill. I noted when I reviewed the first part last year that I was quite uncomfortable about Vol. 1 because of the somewhat inaccurate portrayals of Japanese language and the audience's scornful reaction. I like the second part better and I think this audience was a bit more accepting. However, that enka song came back during the end credits, but at least it didn't come on during the film itself.
After the movie, the three of us went to SAMRAT, an Indian restaurant just across from Shinjuku Station. We were surprised that the place was open until 5 a.m. That's a godsend for those late-nighters who need some good hearty fare. I spent about an hour or so with them mostly listening to MB and Frodo talk about their mutual friends from years past over tandoori chicken, freshly-baked naan and curries.
I had to take off a bit early to catch the train for home. It was the usual scrum at Shinjuku Station for the trip home. I was lucky...I caught the last train passing through my station. When I got back home, I received two messages from a couple of old friends. The Engineer has come over from Toronto for a short stint. And The Bohemian called me up for dinner later on Sunday. He's back from studying up north. I may be able to kill two birds with one stone. But before that, I do have the OL's class in Nihombashi.
Time to sleep.
Another long Saturday, another meterologically bipolar day. It was warm up to mid-afternoon and then the bottom fell out of the temps. It was just 11 C when I got home at midnight, and I was just in my short sleeves with a sleeveless undershirt. Thank heavens for my Canadian constitution of surviving winter. I didn't feel too badly considering the chill, but I'm sure I did get my fair share of looks from people.
My class and then my monthly chat fest at the Tea Room went well enough. And then I met up with Movie Buddy and his good friend, Frodo. Frodo had first come over on a visit during the New Years holidays. Apparently, he enjoyed his time here so much that he has returned for a much longer stay. But with his talents in the computer field, he would be way overqualified for a typical teaching position at some English language school.
Anyways, the three of us went to see KILL BILL VOL. 2. Much was made about the splitting of this movie into 2 parts, some saying that it was a moneygrubbing move on the part of Tarentino and the producers. After having seen it, though, I can now understand the move. The second movie has the same characters and story arc but the feel is quite different. There aren't the gobs of over-the-top violence or The Bride's nearly mute rampage of revenge. The second part has much more dialogue and more feeling coming from The Bride, now known as Beatrix, and even Bill. I noted when I reviewed the first part last year that I was quite uncomfortable about Vol. 1 because of the somewhat inaccurate portrayals of Japanese language and the audience's scornful reaction. I like the second part better and I think this audience was a bit more accepting. However, that enka song came back during the end credits, but at least it didn't come on during the film itself.
After the movie, the three of us went to SAMRAT, an Indian restaurant just across from Shinjuku Station. We were surprised that the place was open until 5 a.m. That's a godsend for those late-nighters who need some good hearty fare. I spent about an hour or so with them mostly listening to MB and Frodo talk about their mutual friends from years past over tandoori chicken, freshly-baked naan and curries.
I had to take off a bit early to catch the train for home. It was the usual scrum at Shinjuku Station for the trip home. I was lucky...I caught the last train passing through my station. When I got back home, I received two messages from a couple of old friends. The Engineer has come over from Toronto for a short stint. And The Bohemian called me up for dinner later on Sunday. He's back from studying up north. I may be able to kill two birds with one stone. But before that, I do have the OL's class in Nihombashi.
Time to sleep.
Friday, April 30, 2004
Friday April 30, 7:03 p.m.
Well, looks like my detachment from my hobby was a temporary one. I got the correct user name from my provider. For some reason, they mentioned that the password was wrong but it still worked for me. In any case, I'm back online.
Some interesting news over the past couple of days that I've been offline. One was the fact that several ministers and other top politicians had not been making their regular pension payments. Some very red-faced mandarins considering that a lot of them were pooh-poohing an actress who had also been caught not paying her premiums despite her appearance in a commercial telling people to pay up.
Then, there was a bizarro incident involving some clearly deranged nut who crashed through a flimsy barrier at Haneda Airport with his car, commandeered a few more vehicles and drove around the runways for 40 minutes while the local police and airport security acted like Keystone Kops. As the coup de grace, he then crashed his final car and jumped off into the ocean before dying at hospital.
Two of the three former hostages in Iraq held their first news conference sincecoming back to a hostile reception last week. They looked rather relaxed although the tale that they had to tell was harrowing, to say the least. The one woman who had been part of the group decided to stay away since she's suffering from depression and nightmares. My feeling is that they've been made scapegoats of sensationalistic rags and right-wing cranks.
Japanese Trekkies with satellite TV are probably rejoicing in their armchairs. Super Channel is currently holding its 70-hour Star Trek marathon. I caught The Wrath of Khan this morning as the first entry, and First Contact is currently playing but since it was already more than halfway through, I've decided to skip it and wait for the episodes of Enterprise to come on. As far as I'm concerned, The Wrath of Khan is still the best of the entire movie series. Too bad that it's been 22 years since anything that good has come up in the Trek canon, although First Contact comes close.
The rush out of the city has begun with the onset of Golden Week. It's amazing how people will put up with crowded highways, airports and train stations just for a few days of rest and relaxation. As for me, I'm very happy to stay within the borders of the city.
Well, looks like my detachment from my hobby was a temporary one. I got the correct user name from my provider. For some reason, they mentioned that the password was wrong but it still worked for me. In any case, I'm back online.
Some interesting news over the past couple of days that I've been offline. One was the fact that several ministers and other top politicians had not been making their regular pension payments. Some very red-faced mandarins considering that a lot of them were pooh-poohing an actress who had also been caught not paying her premiums despite her appearance in a commercial telling people to pay up.
Then, there was a bizarro incident involving some clearly deranged nut who crashed through a flimsy barrier at Haneda Airport with his car, commandeered a few more vehicles and drove around the runways for 40 minutes while the local police and airport security acted like Keystone Kops. As the coup de grace, he then crashed his final car and jumped off into the ocean before dying at hospital.
Two of the three former hostages in Iraq held their first news conference sincecoming back to a hostile reception last week. They looked rather relaxed although the tale that they had to tell was harrowing, to say the least. The one woman who had been part of the group decided to stay away since she's suffering from depression and nightmares. My feeling is that they've been made scapegoats of sensationalistic rags and right-wing cranks.
Japanese Trekkies with satellite TV are probably rejoicing in their armchairs. Super Channel is currently holding its 70-hour Star Trek marathon. I caught The Wrath of Khan this morning as the first entry, and First Contact is currently playing but since it was already more than halfway through, I've decided to skip it and wait for the episodes of Enterprise to come on. As far as I'm concerned, The Wrath of Khan is still the best of the entire movie series. Too bad that it's been 22 years since anything that good has come up in the Trek canon, although First Contact comes close.
The rush out of the city has begun with the onset of Golden Week. It's amazing how people will put up with crowded highways, airports and train stations just for a few days of rest and relaxation. As for me, I'm very happy to stay within the borders of the city.
Friday April 30, 4:53 p.m.
Well, my e-mail system went out of whack a couple of days ago so I'm doing this from a KINKOS in the Microsoft Bldg across from Shinjuku Station. Losing my access at home is a drag but at least I can find out how it feels doing e-mail from an outside source.
Had 2 classes today. One was with The Teacher. No problems there. And the class with Arwen and 77 went swimmingly as usual. I was on a holding pattern concerning Movie Buddy to catch Kill Bill Vol. 2 but it looks like he has to teach tonight so we're holding off it until tomorrow at 6:30.
Just gotta do some prep work before meeting up with the kids on Saturday. Hopefully, my e-mail woes will be sorted out by then.
Well, my e-mail system went out of whack a couple of days ago so I'm doing this from a KINKOS in the Microsoft Bldg across from Shinjuku Station. Losing my access at home is a drag but at least I can find out how it feels doing e-mail from an outside source.
Had 2 classes today. One was with The Teacher. No problems there. And the class with Arwen and 77 went swimmingly as usual. I was on a holding pattern concerning Movie Buddy to catch Kill Bill Vol. 2 but it looks like he has to teach tonight so we're holding off it until tomorrow at 6:30.
Just gotta do some prep work before meeting up with the kids on Saturday. Hopefully, my e-mail woes will be sorted out by then.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Wednesday April 28, 11:53 a.m.
Went to sleep last night listening to my new Bill Evans CD. I ended up dozing off at about 2:30 a.m. in the soft glow of my lamp and while doing my crosswords. How's that for domesticated? It's always nice being able to do that knowing that you can wake up much later the next day. I got my first 8-hour hibernation for the first time in a number of days. I hope to do the same tomorrow as well. I may actually feel healthy by Friday.
The image would have been perfect if I'd had the opportunity to continue to do my crosswords while slowly sipping my coffee but unfortunately, myapartment looks as if last night's typhoon did a break and enter. So I'll have to get to work on cleaning the place up. It's one of the small graces that I have that my place is tiny enough so the chore won't take too long. Plus, I got the wash to do as well.
I got the final message from The Iconoclast this morning before his final departure from Japan. He's left another box of stuff for me to claim including yet another pan. He's given my regrets about declining the invitation for that uncomfortable matchmaking session.
I'm still not quite sure about what's gonna happen with Movie Buddy at the end of the week. It may just end up that the only excitement I'll have is just my one or two classes on Friday.
Went to sleep last night listening to my new Bill Evans CD. I ended up dozing off at about 2:30 a.m. in the soft glow of my lamp and while doing my crosswords. How's that for domesticated? It's always nice being able to do that knowing that you can wake up much later the next day. I got my first 8-hour hibernation for the first time in a number of days. I hope to do the same tomorrow as well. I may actually feel healthy by Friday.
The image would have been perfect if I'd had the opportunity to continue to do my crosswords while slowly sipping my coffee but unfortunately, myapartment looks as if last night's typhoon did a break and enter. So I'll have to get to work on cleaning the place up. It's one of the small graces that I have that my place is tiny enough so the chore won't take too long. Plus, I got the wash to do as well.
I got the final message from The Iconoclast this morning before his final departure from Japan. He's left another box of stuff for me to claim including yet another pan. He's given my regrets about declining the invitation for that uncomfortable matchmaking session.
I'm still not quite sure about what's gonna happen with Movie Buddy at the end of the week. It may just end up that the only excitement I'll have is just my one or two classes on Friday.
Tuesday April 27, 11:44 p.m.
Between the times of 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. today, there was a mini-typhoon of enormous strength through the Tokyo area. Guess where I was during that time? I was literally mugged by this force of nature on the way to my juku. My first casualty was my trusty umbrella which collapsed from the mighty gusts. I tried to revive it a couple of times before I considered it a write-off. Before the half-hour was up, there would be many more umbrellas on the scrap heap.
However, the main event took place on my 10-minute walk from Urayasu Station. The wind and the rain joined forces to create sheets of precipitation which thoroughly drenched my front side as well as my head. I was breathing through my mouth since it felt like I was swimming in the ocean. By the time I finally got to the juku, I was a gigantic used dishrag. The owner looked at me with some alarm; being the proverbial Japanese woman, she immediately told me to take off my clothes and she then grabbed a small shirt and gray trainer pants for me to wear. I must admit that I felt a bit self-conscious about wearing Sunday lounge wear in class but it was much better than risking pnewmonia. The lady is one class act, though. She hung out my clothes to dry and even ironed them during my final class. I had to leave my jacket at the juku though since it was going to need longer than 3 hours to dry out, so she gave me a loaner in the form of one of those translucent anoraks. As it happened, I didn't need it since the rain had disappeared long ago. However, the winds were still biting. But those I could handle.
I'm back home...still feeling a bit damp especially in the feet, but overall I'm feeling a whole lot better than I did 6 hours ago. Plus, I got paid. Tomorrow, we shouldn't be getting anymore Noah-level floods but the gusts are supposed to be continuing.
My contact at Japan Tour got back to me after an absence of a few days. It looks like the computers at the agency have been under siege by viruses, something that I know all too well since the bugs seem to be trying to invade my computer....luckily, I've got the filter taking them out. I had to resend the pertinent information but at least I know that she hasn't abandoned me.
Sure enough, one of the guys at the Iconoclast's company tried to contact me to confirm me for this little dinner party tomorrow night that the Prez's buddies were persuading me to attend. I sent the Iconoclast my regrets. Just not interested in this matchmaking stuff.
I finally read through the epic HYPERION series. Great sci-fi story although all that time-shifting revealed a very bittersweet ending for the protagonists. The story liberally adapted its structure from The Canterbury Tales, Huck Finn and finally the Passion of Christ apparently. It could be made into a movie someday although there is a subplot woven in there which resembles the plot from T3 a bit too much.
Twice in as many days, I've had students telling me how much I seem to be enjoying my life according to my adventures over the past weekend. To be honest, I think I have been quite lucky over the years with my social interaction. But I know that it can all go sour so I've tried to maintain contact as best as and as long as I can.
Between the times of 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. today, there was a mini-typhoon of enormous strength through the Tokyo area. Guess where I was during that time? I was literally mugged by this force of nature on the way to my juku. My first casualty was my trusty umbrella which collapsed from the mighty gusts. I tried to revive it a couple of times before I considered it a write-off. Before the half-hour was up, there would be many more umbrellas on the scrap heap.
However, the main event took place on my 10-minute walk from Urayasu Station. The wind and the rain joined forces to create sheets of precipitation which thoroughly drenched my front side as well as my head. I was breathing through my mouth since it felt like I was swimming in the ocean. By the time I finally got to the juku, I was a gigantic used dishrag. The owner looked at me with some alarm; being the proverbial Japanese woman, she immediately told me to take off my clothes and she then grabbed a small shirt and gray trainer pants for me to wear. I must admit that I felt a bit self-conscious about wearing Sunday lounge wear in class but it was much better than risking pnewmonia. The lady is one class act, though. She hung out my clothes to dry and even ironed them during my final class. I had to leave my jacket at the juku though since it was going to need longer than 3 hours to dry out, so she gave me a loaner in the form of one of those translucent anoraks. As it happened, I didn't need it since the rain had disappeared long ago. However, the winds were still biting. But those I could handle.
I'm back home...still feeling a bit damp especially in the feet, but overall I'm feeling a whole lot better than I did 6 hours ago. Plus, I got paid. Tomorrow, we shouldn't be getting anymore Noah-level floods but the gusts are supposed to be continuing.
My contact at Japan Tour got back to me after an absence of a few days. It looks like the computers at the agency have been under siege by viruses, something that I know all too well since the bugs seem to be trying to invade my computer....luckily, I've got the filter taking them out. I had to resend the pertinent information but at least I know that she hasn't abandoned me.
Sure enough, one of the guys at the Iconoclast's company tried to contact me to confirm me for this little dinner party tomorrow night that the Prez's buddies were persuading me to attend. I sent the Iconoclast my regrets. Just not interested in this matchmaking stuff.
I finally read through the epic HYPERION series. Great sci-fi story although all that time-shifting revealed a very bittersweet ending for the protagonists. The story liberally adapted its structure from The Canterbury Tales, Huck Finn and finally the Passion of Christ apparently. It could be made into a movie someday although there is a subplot woven in there which resembles the plot from T3 a bit too much.
Twice in as many days, I've had students telling me how much I seem to be enjoying my life according to my adventures over the past weekend. To be honest, I think I have been quite lucky over the years with my social interaction. But I know that it can all go sour so I've tried to maintain contact as best as and as long as I can.
Monday, April 26, 2004
Tuesday April 27, 12:07 a.m.
Went into my 80s mode again. I bought a couple of CDs at HMV today: Queen and Supertramp. Shades of AM radio again!
That dreaded mediation between the Prez and the Iconoclast turned out to be just an outing to their favorite yakitori restaurant with a couple of other colleagues in East Shinjuku. We all let our hair down pretty well thanks to the libations that came with the chicken sticks. The Prez's rantings this time were more jovial; he even had the Iconoclast in a full nelson at one point. One of the colleagues gave me a rather hazy invitiation for some sort of party where he was going to introduce me to a young lady. I was pretty noncommittal in my answer. Most likely, I'll just stay firmly at home or give some sort of excuse. I'm not in any particular mood to meet women that way for now.
Looks like the Stylist didn't take the bait for Tuesday afternoon, so I have my usual hole in the schedule. The way it's looking, I've got nothing on Wednesday. Movie Buddy suggested Friday for Kill Bill, but I'm not quite sure what my schedule will be like on that day. The Teacher is still slated for her 11 o'clock, and Arwen is considering a lesson. The Office Lady has asked for Sunday afternoon.
I got messages from a couple of ol' buddies back from Toronto. Looks like the two of them will be here next week on business but not at the same time. Ironic, since the two of them are bosom buddies.
Went into my 80s mode again. I bought a couple of CDs at HMV today: Queen and Supertramp. Shades of AM radio again!
That dreaded mediation between the Prez and the Iconoclast turned out to be just an outing to their favorite yakitori restaurant with a couple of other colleagues in East Shinjuku. We all let our hair down pretty well thanks to the libations that came with the chicken sticks. The Prez's rantings this time were more jovial; he even had the Iconoclast in a full nelson at one point. One of the colleagues gave me a rather hazy invitiation for some sort of party where he was going to introduce me to a young lady. I was pretty noncommittal in my answer. Most likely, I'll just stay firmly at home or give some sort of excuse. I'm not in any particular mood to meet women that way for now.
Looks like the Stylist didn't take the bait for Tuesday afternoon, so I have my usual hole in the schedule. The way it's looking, I've got nothing on Wednesday. Movie Buddy suggested Friday for Kill Bill, but I'm not quite sure what my schedule will be like on that day. The Teacher is still slated for her 11 o'clock, and Arwen is considering a lesson. The Office Lady has asked for Sunday afternoon.
I got messages from a couple of ol' buddies back from Toronto. Looks like the two of them will be here next week on business but not at the same time. Ironic, since the two of them are bosom buddies.
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Sunday April 25, 11:34 p.m.
I currently smell like an okonomiyaki house...for obvious reasons, since I did have dinner in one tonight. But I'm getting too far ahead of myself.
I stepped out of my place and had a quick MacBreakfast near my station before heading back to Shinjuku some 10 hours after I had left it to meet up with Arwen and DTE for a much more laid-back experience than the one I had on Saturday night.
The three of us headed out to Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture on a "Romance Car" which took about 45 minutes. I'm not quite sure where the romance was derived since the train itself is really just a level above an express train, plus the windows are larger and seat pairings can be swiveled around to face the one behind for those quartet trips. Since it was just the three of us, though, one woman came to fill up the final seat. She seemed rather discomfited at our group which kinda irked me. I thought she was one of those old-fashioned tupes who freaked out at seeing foreigners and hearing English spoken. And then, she asked Arwen and myself if we could swivel back our chairs so that she could have breakfast on the seating tray...in English. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that but we politely complied, especially since she just asked for only 5-10 minutes of eating time. To be honest, I thought this was just a ruse on her part to make sure we would never be able to swivel our seats back before we arrived at Hon-Atsugi.
Surprisingly enough, though, the lady did invite us to swing our seats back. Even more surprising was that she engaged us in English conversation for the rest of our time to our destination. She's an employee of a pharmaceuticals company who had spent 4 years in Denver studying behavioral psychology before returning to Japan. She was actually on her way to Fuji to have her hair done despite the fact that her home is in Tokyo. She explained that away by stating that she had used to live in the Fuji area and that she just couldn't part with her excellent hairdresser. Now that's loyalty!
At the station, we were picked up by Ms. 77 who then drove us over to the strawberry patch where I once again started to munch on strawberries for the second time in as many years. It was the same old deal as my time in Tateyama last year: pay 800 yen for 30 minutes of all-you-can-eat berries with a plastic dish of condensed milk and the bushes at chest level. All of us were pretty stuffed after just 10 minutes of noshing.
After that, we drove in the car for the better part of an hour heading for a highland to observe the area and the ocean from above. We made a quick pitstop at 77's pink apartment building where we made a drive-thru introduction to her mother on the second floor. Once we reached the highland, 77 took the car up the hillside and parked it. We then walked up a few flights of stairs to reach the top. We climbed a couple of towers. One looked like a miniature version of Tokyo Tower. I was impressed by its claim to fame. Couples often came up to the higher levels of the tower to snap on locks as an illustration of their love. Each lock had either the lovebirds' names or a brief message of their committment to each other. The other tower was a somewhat more eclectically shaped structure in stone. The view from the top was breathtaking: we could see Mt. Fuji off in the distance as well as the towns of Hiratsuka and Atsugi and then the Pacific to the south.
Another several minutes of driving brought us back to the station district of Atsugi where we would stay for the rest of our journey. We looked for a place to have lunch. We found it in a basement Chinese restaurant. We ended up being the final customers there before they shut down for a couple of hours before the dinner service, so we got our food in pretty short order.
DTE had to take off at around 4 so we saw her off at the station. We were musing about what to do before we decided to have coffee at the nearby Tully's. We ended up staying there for about 2.5 hours. In that time, we persuaded 77 to invite her new boyfriend to come over to the cafe so that Arwen and I could check him out as 77's surrogate parents. It took some cajoling but after half an hour, he dropped in on his way to an eye doctor appointment. He's a pretty button-down fellow, the type of person I can get along with very well. I'm always suspicious of those overly cheerful Romper Room types.
After he took off, we hung out there a bit longer before we had to think about dinner. 77 tried to reach him to invite him for dinner as well, but by the time that he finally picked up the phone, he had already arrived home so he was a scratch. So once again, it was the three of us who went down the street to an okonomiyaki house. It was constructed inside to resemble a mockup of old Tokyo circa 1950, just like the Ramen Museum in Yokohama. We were placed right inside the door, right in front of a fake old-fashioned house. Because of our position, there was a draft coming in every few minutes whenever customers arrived or left, but I didn't mind. It was feeling pretty stuffy inside and an okonomiyaki house always had that smell of cooking oil so the drafts helped to clear the air, if temporarily. We went through a number of oily dishes so we were grateful for the dessert of sesame seed ice cream to cleanse our palates if not our clothes.
Finally, 77 escorted us back with a couple of minutes to spare to catch our Romance Car back to Tokyo. Nice day in the great outdoors with some good friends. Hopefully, I can be ready to face the onslaught of the finality of the tragic business relationship between the Iconoclast and the Prez tomorrow night. Not something I'm looking forward to.
I currently smell like an okonomiyaki house...for obvious reasons, since I did have dinner in one tonight. But I'm getting too far ahead of myself.
I stepped out of my place and had a quick MacBreakfast near my station before heading back to Shinjuku some 10 hours after I had left it to meet up with Arwen and DTE for a much more laid-back experience than the one I had on Saturday night.
The three of us headed out to Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture on a "Romance Car" which took about 45 minutes. I'm not quite sure where the romance was derived since the train itself is really just a level above an express train, plus the windows are larger and seat pairings can be swiveled around to face the one behind for those quartet trips. Since it was just the three of us, though, one woman came to fill up the final seat. She seemed rather discomfited at our group which kinda irked me. I thought she was one of those old-fashioned tupes who freaked out at seeing foreigners and hearing English spoken. And then, she asked Arwen and myself if we could swivel back our chairs so that she could have breakfast on the seating tray...in English. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that but we politely complied, especially since she just asked for only 5-10 minutes of eating time. To be honest, I thought this was just a ruse on her part to make sure we would never be able to swivel our seats back before we arrived at Hon-Atsugi.
Surprisingly enough, though, the lady did invite us to swing our seats back. Even more surprising was that she engaged us in English conversation for the rest of our time to our destination. She's an employee of a pharmaceuticals company who had spent 4 years in Denver studying behavioral psychology before returning to Japan. She was actually on her way to Fuji to have her hair done despite the fact that her home is in Tokyo. She explained that away by stating that she had used to live in the Fuji area and that she just couldn't part with her excellent hairdresser. Now that's loyalty!
At the station, we were picked up by Ms. 77 who then drove us over to the strawberry patch where I once again started to munch on strawberries for the second time in as many years. It was the same old deal as my time in Tateyama last year: pay 800 yen for 30 minutes of all-you-can-eat berries with a plastic dish of condensed milk and the bushes at chest level. All of us were pretty stuffed after just 10 minutes of noshing.
After that, we drove in the car for the better part of an hour heading for a highland to observe the area and the ocean from above. We made a quick pitstop at 77's pink apartment building where we made a drive-thru introduction to her mother on the second floor. Once we reached the highland, 77 took the car up the hillside and parked it. We then walked up a few flights of stairs to reach the top. We climbed a couple of towers. One looked like a miniature version of Tokyo Tower. I was impressed by its claim to fame. Couples often came up to the higher levels of the tower to snap on locks as an illustration of their love. Each lock had either the lovebirds' names or a brief message of their committment to each other. The other tower was a somewhat more eclectically shaped structure in stone. The view from the top was breathtaking: we could see Mt. Fuji off in the distance as well as the towns of Hiratsuka and Atsugi and then the Pacific to the south.
Another several minutes of driving brought us back to the station district of Atsugi where we would stay for the rest of our journey. We looked for a place to have lunch. We found it in a basement Chinese restaurant. We ended up being the final customers there before they shut down for a couple of hours before the dinner service, so we got our food in pretty short order.
DTE had to take off at around 4 so we saw her off at the station. We were musing about what to do before we decided to have coffee at the nearby Tully's. We ended up staying there for about 2.5 hours. In that time, we persuaded 77 to invite her new boyfriend to come over to the cafe so that Arwen and I could check him out as 77's surrogate parents. It took some cajoling but after half an hour, he dropped in on his way to an eye doctor appointment. He's a pretty button-down fellow, the type of person I can get along with very well. I'm always suspicious of those overly cheerful Romper Room types.
After he took off, we hung out there a bit longer before we had to think about dinner. 77 tried to reach him to invite him for dinner as well, but by the time that he finally picked up the phone, he had already arrived home so he was a scratch. So once again, it was the three of us who went down the street to an okonomiyaki house. It was constructed inside to resemble a mockup of old Tokyo circa 1950, just like the Ramen Museum in Yokohama. We were placed right inside the door, right in front of a fake old-fashioned house. Because of our position, there was a draft coming in every few minutes whenever customers arrived or left, but I didn't mind. It was feeling pretty stuffy inside and an okonomiyaki house always had that smell of cooking oil so the drafts helped to clear the air, if temporarily. We went through a number of oily dishes so we were grateful for the dessert of sesame seed ice cream to cleanse our palates if not our clothes.
Finally, 77 escorted us back with a couple of minutes to spare to catch our Romance Car back to Tokyo. Nice day in the great outdoors with some good friends. Hopefully, I can be ready to face the onslaught of the finality of the tragic business relationship between the Iconoclast and the Prez tomorrow night. Not something I'm looking forward to.