Thursday July 22, 7:32 p.m.

It was hot but bearable today. There wasn't that feeling of pain and suffering that I'd felt on Tuesday and Wednesday, and it certainly did help to have those stiff gusts from time to time. However, the pert NHK weatherwoman sweetly announced that we'll be stuck with the dog days well into September.

Started my daily foray into the big city by having lunch at Pepper Lunch at the station. I had the 800-yen hamburger and sauteed pork on the sizzling plate with bean sprouts, green beans and carrot slices. At first, I thought it was a bit risky to try and fry the raw pork within the limited time of sizzle, but it worked out OK. I certainly haven't had any problem with worms so far.

I went down to the nearest subway station to the Embassy to see if I could get those passport photos done. There doesn't seem to be one close to my place and I recalled the studio in the Twin Aoyama Mall was pretty hep to how the Embassy wanted them done. So I went down there and found out that the photographer couldn't take them since I wasn't wearing any jacket. You see, white shirt on white background tends to leave photos with floating heads. I could imagine my photos would have been ones of giant balloons. So I have to do the process again on Saturday between my kid lessons and dinner with The OL and BB, this time with my blue blazer in tow. Since THAT is one from Canada, there's no bloody way I'm going to wear it outside unless I'm aiming to create a portable sauna, so I'll have to stuff into my other bag.

I met up with The Engineer for a bit of coffee in Shinjuku. He kinda annoyed me with a couple of cracks (he doesn't have full control of his tact at times) but I just answered with distnterested shrugs. However, the coffee part was good enough. He spent the next several minutes talking about his latest technological purchase. To be honest, I'm not exactly particularly all that enthralled by Akihabara being the semi-Luddite that I am but I did engage him in some talk about it. 90 minutes later, I walked him back to the West Gate and we parted. I was still feeling a bit grumpy so it was good that I ended up sleeping a good part of my commute home.

Movie Buddy gave the OK to the next outing on Sunday. We'll be catching Harry Potter 3 at Shinjuku Picadilly. Looks like the movie is slowly ending its run at that theater since it'll only have two showings starting in the late afternoon. That's fine with me since I've gotta wait for that package from my student in the morning. I also sent invitations to Skippy and Arwen on the assumption I probably wouldn't get any bites due to the relative short notice. However, I was a bit surprised that Skippy actually did bite and enthusiastically gave her OK for Sunday. Arwen, not surprisingly, has yet to reply and I frankly doubt that she'll do so before it's too late.

For a day off without any classes, I feel pretty tired for some reason. Well, I still have to get ready for my two classes with The Teacher and SR tomorrow. The Teacher will be easy enough since she always provides the material. In fact, I have to lend her my DVD of "Ocean's Eleven" since she hasn't seen it yet and she's a big Brad Pitt fan. I just wonder how she'll take the oh-so-cool dialogue and story, though. As for SR, I sent her a fairly big fill-in-the-blanks assignment so she's probably groaning right now, but I was nice in that I didn't give her any further things to do before class. She'll have plenty of stuff on her plate tonight. Then, I meet up with my first pair of students on juku night...the Beauty Pair...at 6 close to home for dinner with one of their friends. Apparently, he's quite a cut-up; I hope I'm in the appropriate mood as well.

Speaking of BB, I just received mail from her stating that her cat has come back home. It's a bit of a miracle, really. However, it looks like the little one has a bit of an eye injury.

Well, after several day of nothing, that friend of the Quarterback actually got back to me about his lessons. It looks like he's too busy this week and next week, I have my usual class with the Curry Master and the SE so we're trying for the 5th as our inaugural class. With these postponements, I'm kinda wondering if I'm headed for another Salaryman-type situation. SIGH

Well, the airport security video of the 9/11 terrorists came out this morning to media adjectives of "fascinating" and "chilling" CNN's Anderson Cooper was in fact starting to reach my annoyance threshold with his repeated usage of the latter word. However, I thought the really chilling story was not the video but the interview he did with a passenger on a Northwest flight about alleged eyewitness reports of some suspicious activity involving 14 Middle Eastern men and some washrooms. Were they going through a dry run for future terrorist attacks or just testing the defenses or were they just really that weird band due to perform in Las Vegas on a gig? Apparently, the call to the venue that booked them corroborated the band's story but I'm still feeling rather suspicious despite the fact that the interviewee seemed a bit clueless at times. However, I also can't imagine that Al Qaeda would be so brazen to have over a dozen of its members purposely attract attention from just about everyone else on the plane unless their purpose was to, in fact, give everyone the willies. On that point, Bin Laden's organization hit a homer.

On a lighter note, I noticed on the red crawl at the bottom screen, some news about Krispy Kreme releasing a new drink with the glazed flavour of its donuts. Now, wouldn't this be somethng that Homer Simpson would just love? I love glazed donuts but a glaxed-flavoured drink? UGH!

Well, gonna make dinner now. Just so that I don't have to spend a lot of time in the hot kitchen, I'm keeping it to fried cabbage and franks with a salad. That ought to keep me regular.

Wednesday July 21, 9:56 p.m.

Almost forgot to mention that today is Eel Day in Japan. Yep, July 21st is designated as the day that we are encouraged to the long fish in any form to gain stamina. And boy, could we use some of that stamina right now in this heat wave. Actually, though it was still blisteringly hot, I was able to handle things better. I didn't bother eating eel today since I jumped the gun on Monday. Instead, I just downed a bowl of garlicky ramen and gyoza at the station.

I had a pretty good session with the Biologist today up at the Tea Room. I hope our remaining sessions (she takes off for France in about 5 weeks) are as good. The OL was also in good form. She even was kind enough to call up Toraji to make those reservations for us on Saturday.

Well, I've just got to get a bit of dishwashing done before I start on filling out that application form for the new passport. I'll be going out to the Embassy tomorrow to get that piece of bureaucracy done. I just hope I can find a photo studio nearby the place to get those passport photos. If not, well, I'll just put things off until next week. It looks like that prospective first lesson with the Quarterback's buddy will be falling through. I'll just check one more time tomorrow before declaring him MIA. If it's indeed the case, then I have a day off tomorrow. However, I've also yet to find out anything from Chip Guy for tomorrow night.

Back to the weather, we "only" reached 38 degrees today. Looks like the big winner in the heat sweepstakes is Kofu, Gifu Prefecture with the 2nd-highest record high temp with a grand total of 40.1 degrees, next to Ichihara's 40.2 from yesterday. Speaking with the kiosk lady at the station, I found out that there were quite a few folks dropping like flies due to the heat. I didn't get too much sleep last night but I hope with a higher fan setting, I can get some decent shuteye tonight.

Wednesday July 21, 10:33 a.m.

Y'know, in this country, they ought to think about installing a new season starting today. It should be called Hell. Even overnight, the temperature didn't fall below 30 C. Made for some pretty wet sleeping. I didn't get too much of it myself; I partially took my final student's advice and slept in the living room with the fan on. I still woke up 4 hours short of what I should be getting, so I'm feeling pretty punchy. I've had the air con on for almost 5 hours, and I'm just worried that it's gonna conk out or explode because of the heat which certainly lends credence to the theory that lack of sleep could lead to paranoia. However, I've been feeling pretty cool if somewhat groggy.

There's been slightly less sparse traffic than usual this morning because I've been CC'ed by people like Party Hearty and one other about the return of Chip Guy. I've yet to hear any sort of reply from him concerning Thursday. I'm now starting to think I may actually get a blank slate tomorrow since that friend of the Quarterback's has yet to respond back to me. But there's always the last-minute gasp.

I'll probably be taking off pretty soon (as in the next 30 minutes) despite the oppressive conditions out there just so that I can give my air con a rest. Plus, I've gotta do a bit more prep work for the Biologist.

Tuesday July 20, 11:06 p.m.

It's official...we're in a major heat wave. That oppressive feeling of a blow torch on my back was justified. It actually hit 40 sweaty degrees in the Big Sushi, but the hottest spot in the country was in my prefecture in the city of Ichihara: 40.2 big ones. Someone even pointed out that the concrete was registering 50 degrees. I bet some weathermen were probably frying eggs on car hoods tonight. I can't imagine how Chip Guy must be feeling since he always despised Tokyo summers. I guess I can now imagine what Saudi Arabia must be like.

I got a message from Movie Buddy asking me about catching Harry Potter sometime this week. Looks like Sunday afternoon is the only time available for me. I was thinking of getting the ball finally rolling on that passport business but I think I'll hold that off until Thursday. I still have some prep work to do for the Biologist tomorrow, that is, if she's up for it.

Tuesday July 20, 3:04 p.m.

If these are truly the dog days of summer, then today must be a rabid Rottweiler. The heat is just unbelievable. I'm just happy to escape back inside even if only for a few hours. I received e-mail from The Entrepreneur stating that he would gladly trade the current rain and cool in Toronto for some of our weather here. Hey, let's make a deal!

My morning class with the ladies was cut short since the old 50s-issue air conditioner in our room was sputtering, so we ended up having a pseudo-lesson at the Makuhari Springs Hotel in Chiba. I'd been there once before with the ladies for lunch. The lobby looks pretty glitzy almost on a Las Vegas scale...not surprising considering that the owner also has a chain of pachinko parlors. Next week will be the final class with them before we all go on summer break. If the air conditioner goes on the fritz again, we may end up at the Springs again. The hotel itself is located within the sprawling conference technocity of Makuhari Messe; it appears a bit of a pink elephant since I didn't see a whole lot of people walking about. However, with all that white concrete reflecting the blistering heat, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone decided to scurry into the nearest building with air-conditioning.

Looks like I got my summer present from the other Monday student. I got one of those Yamato delivery slips in my door. I kinda feel bad; she doesn't need to do it. I think it was just because she saw the Italian wine that her classmate had given me a week ago that she felt compelled to do it.

Chip Guy wants to get together for Thursday in Shinjuku. I'm not sure if I can make it since I may have that new student, the Quarterback's buddy. But since I haven't heard from him in about a week (I don't think the conditions are too good for us), it seems likely that I may have that day off. I sent off a dispatch to The Engineer to inform him of the change in plans.

Well, I gotta get ready for my night classes. Man, I wish I were not going out in this heat but duty calls. I may consider going out in something more casual, though.

Monday July 19, 7:04 p.m.

It's Marine Day today. It sure didn't feel like there was a lot of water in Tokyo, though. However, on the other side of the Alps, Fukui Prefecture is a disaster area with all of the floods it's been getting. NHK's been saying that it got a month's worth of rainfall in 12 hours today. I'm accustomed to seeing this sort of horror in places like Bangladesh and even rural America but not in this country. Koizumi's been getting a lot of hell from the locals when he visited the area today. Whether or not he deserves the abuse is academic; he's the PM...he's gotta take the flak. Plus, who could blame anyone who just had his house washed away?

Well, I met up with Jazz Buddy in Shinjuku for her lesson. The Andersens was closed due to the holiday so we ended up going to the nearby Starbucks. Fortunately, there were a few tables open. Ol' JB was pretty much like her nickname in performance: pretty to listen to and improvisational (i.e. all over the place).The reason was that she along with a few of the current school students had also gone to the Yokohama Fireworks Festival, albeit separate from the Arwen and DTE crew, after which she dropped by her workplace to chat with some of her buddies before finally munching down a midnight snack of a beef bun and catching TV until 3 a.m. this morning. That doesn't exactly amount to a fully alert student.

Afterwards, we spent 3 hours at the Tokyo Hilton just down the street for that cake buffet that I'd last gone down to with the Iconoclast. She enjoyed the spring rolls and the crab balls but she couldn't get through much of the actual desserts which she thought were somewhat subpar. So I gallantly paid for her share considering that I did suggest the Marble Lounge in the first place. However, she did mention that she and some of the others are looking for a good buffet. I reminded her of one thing concerning buffets: the cheap ones stress quantity over quality, the good ones will stress the almighty yen.

Poor JB had to head over to work tonight despite threatening to nod off near the end of our small feast. However, she was lucid enough to ask for the next lesson to be next Monday.

Getting back home tonight, I noticed that the fairly constricting boards were finally taken off the stairs accessing the station to reveal shiny marble stairs and an escalator getting the finishing touches before final activation.

I got word from Betty Boop for Saturday. I think the choice of restaurant should be OK. She also mentioned that one of her cats has apparently run away. Knowing how Dad is with the family cat, BB must be feeling pretty low right now.

NHK started showing its latest contribution to the anime canon last night by presenting Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. That's right. It would take the Japanese to render classic characters from Agatha Christie into cute 2-D cartoons. Not that I'm lambasting the effort; the anime does look a couple of levels above the usual Pokemon stuff, although, true to form, the producers did add a spunky teenage girl with huge eyes (what else is new?) and her cute duck, Oliver, as companion.

The school scheduler hasn't sent any requests for teaching so I have that sizable hole in my Tuesday schedule. So I'll just get ready for my Tsudanuma class and then the juku classes...after dinner, of course. I know that I shouldn't be indulging, especially after a buffet, but the sad fact of the matter is that I know that my stomach will be crying bloody murder without any influx of food tonight. Having said that, I know that I've gained some more stuff to my girth since it took me an extra minute to pull on the jeans.Ick!

Sunday July 18, 10:20 p.m.

Managed to clean off the bathroom and the kitchen along with some other household chores at the cost of a lot of sweat. After that, it was just off to get the shoes and the fixins for dinner. Got suddenly squalled on; I was barely able to get the clothes off the line in time; still a couple of shirts got slightly damp.

Well, the Sogas are back in Tokyo and not surprisingly a majority of the channels had their cameras on Haneda Airport. Sgt. Jenkins is now resting comfortably in a Tokyo hospital with the family. Hard to say what the future holds for them.

I saw "Ocean's Eleven" on DVD just to show myself that I'm relaxing and not teaching today. It's still a good smart film. I'm hoping that the sequel will follow the example of Spiderman and be even better. It could be hard to top, though.

Mom called up and she caught the good news about my birth certificate from my brother. I'm glad that I won't be getting the nagging about it anymore.

Still gotta check my notes for Jazz Buddy's lesson tomorrow. A bit of a pain considering that it is a national holiday. And I still don't know if we'll be trying out that buffet at the Keio Plaza. Hope to find out tomorrow morning, but since she's a late riser...I'm not holding out any particular hopes that I'll receive any messages from her before I see her at 11. I kinda wonder how DTE and Arwen are doing at the Yokohama Fireworks Festival although I'm sure it's been long over now. Hopefully, they managed to squeeze out from the crowd and get some cold drinks.

Sunday July 18, 10:17 a.m.

It was another scorcher yesterday. No hope of rain. After my morning lessons, I just headed out to Foo Foo again for another savory lunch set there and then I spent the next 6 hours just browsing the bookstores and CD shops. I did pick up a couple of old ones. Then I met The Engineer, Shrek, the Chipmunk and a few others for dinner at that same place we'd gone to last time The Engineer was in town. When we got there, we nervously asked if they had a table for 8 since it was a Saturday night and things looked fairly crowded. We were then pleasantly surprised when the waiter had no problem securing a table for us. The restaurant was a lot bigger than we'd initially thought.

The Engineer noted that it was basically a eating session more than a drinking one. I've got no complaints here...the food was good. I kept ordering this Mango Smoothie which was listed in the cocktail section of the menu. It kinda struck me as odd since I couldn't taste a single atom of alcohol in it. I downed three of the Smoothies and the fever was catching. A couple of others followed my lead and ordered the same cocktail. However, I guess there must've been something in it since I developed a bit of a throbbing headache by the time I got home.

Well, I've got Chip Guy coming back for a short business trip in the middle of this upcoming week so hopefully I'll be able to meet up with him. Then, next week will be that yakiniku fest with The OL and BB. I decided to make it Toraji in the big Parco Department Store in Shibuya. The place that the Prez took me to in Shin-Okubo was definitely more in the Korean vein, but I thought it was better to go with what I knew in terms of price.

It looks like Sgt. Jenkins will be arriving tonight from Jakarta. It should be another round of wall-to-wall live coverage by the local media. I'm wondering how the US is going to handle this situation.

Today, since I'll be at home all day. I'll spend a good part of it just cleaning up the place with notable emphasis on the bathroom and the kitchen. Then, if I still have the stamina, I may just head out and buy myself another pair of shoes. I've got three pairs (not exactly in Imelda's league) at home of which my sneakers are the only undamaged pair.

Friday July 16, 9:02 p.m.

9 months and 2 protest letters to Thunder Bay later, that little piece of stiff paper which has prevented me from traveling outside of Japan for almost 2 years finally arrived. My birth certificate, this thin 3x5 slip, came in this huge Purolator envelope literally stuffing my mailbox tonight.

Now that unnecessary odyssey is over, now I've got to start up the process for renewing my passport, so I have to look over my dusty pile of instructions from the Embassy and then try to find some time next week to head over there. I think most likely it'll be Wednesday or Thursday.

Also on the bureaucratic angle, this time from this country, I received my payment schedule for my National Health Insurance. The only thing is that I never got the card to go with it. It usually comes in at the end of March but when it never arrived, I just assumed that being just a part-timer meant that my coverage had been abruptly cut off. Well, obviously that's not true. My premiums are quite a lot smaller now since I'm no longer earning that much money. I'm not too worried if I don't get a card, though, since the last time I really needed the card was 5 years ago when I busted my ankle, and that had happened during work so my school actually paid the medical fees out of the company policy.

My lesson with The Teacher went quite well since we were on more friendly ground with a movie article...An Interview With A Vampire. And the lesson with SR was also quite smooth. This past week has been a good one compared to the somewhat off-kilter one last week. In between classes, I had a chance to have lunch at my neighbourhood kaiten sushi place. Not too good today. The fish seemed rather dry on the edges...not a good sign at all. Then I went downtown to the Ginza to check out the CDs and see if there were any Michael Buble CDs which contained the Spiderman theme. Apparently in Japan, Buble's discography only goes as far as late last year. His take on Spiderman came out all the way back in 2002.

We had a small squall when I came out of the station. but that quickly passed. It was still so hot that the rain and resulting humidity made the outside feel like a sauna.

During my lesson with SR, we touched upon the Jenkins story. It's starting to look more probable that the deserter will be taking up Koizumi's offer to come to Japan for that medical treatment. However, I'm still suspecting that there is a certain "spider-to-the-fly" ominousness to the invitation. Of course, the US has warned that it will ask for their old citizen back. To be honest, I'm happy that at least the State Department has been upfront about their request.SR and I thought that Jenkins would already be on his way up here but since I haven't seen any major bulletins on NHK, I gather that he is still thinking about it.

Well, I got a message from Arwen stating that she'll be taking up DTE's invitation to head out to Yokohama on Sunday to catch the fireworks. Power to her. But not surprisingly she won't be asking me to teach that lesson to her after all tomorrow. So I've got 6 hours to while away between my lesson with the kid and her father and the dinner with the Engineer. What to do? Well, I guess I can always head down to Shibuya and continue my search for the Buble CD. There are a few places there which may contain some imported discs. I also sent off a missive to Jazz Buddy to see if we're still up for Monday. JB isn't one of those people who answers on the first ring, so to speak.

Gotta get ready for the little one's lesson tomorrow.

Friday July 16, 9:00 a.m.

Well, that threatening thunderstorm never came to pass last night...thank heavens. However, the Curry Master wasn't exactly on full power due to her intense classes during the day. But we managed to get through the class. SE was his usual diligent self.

It'll be another hot one here. Nothing too different today. I've just got the Teacher and then SR later on today. The Engineer set up a time and place to meet for Saturday but I've sent in my regrets to DTE for the Yokohama Fireworks Festival. The meeting time has even been put one hour later to 7 p.m. Now, there's absolutely no way that I can do that and be lucid for Jazz Buddy's class on Monday.

I see that the Martha will be sentenced later today. Well, whichever prison she goes to, I'm sure that it'll be left looking far better and more tasteful.

Thursday July 15, 3:42 p.m.

Looks like we've got a major thunderstorm coming our way out there. It was a furnace outside; probably the hottest I've felt this year. Hopefully, the downpour cools things a bit. Strangely, while we've been baking here in the Big Sushi, it seems like everywhere else has been getting majorly flooded. The news has even managed to register a blip on CNN.

Well, on the good side, I managed to save quite a bit the past month but on the flip side, I only got a pittance from the school this month so things may be a bit lean going into August since several of the students will be going off on their usual travels next month.

The Biologist was quite good yesterday if a bit nervous. I have to remember that for all her maturity, she's still very young. She gave her brief presentations and I just advised her on delivery and structure.

DTE sent me a change in plans for the upcoming get-together on Sunday, much to my chagrin. They've decided to catch the annual Yokohama Fireworks Festival and then head out to drink. I almost forgot that it was once again the season to fire off those things. Well, I'll probably skip that; I'm not really into broiling outside with thousands of others while watching a mere hour of pyrotechnics only to spend the next two or three squishing myself in a train. I've gone through that Hell enough times. There have also been a fair share of crushing accidents in the past during the rush home. Wouldn't be surprised if there were instances of "road rage" as well.

I got the Curry Master in a few hours plus the SE. Hopefully, if there are any pyrotechnics of the natural kind, they'll sweep by in the next hour. I have no desire to get drenched on the way over to her place.

Wednesday July 14, 8:50 a.m.

It's amazing how temperatures can change within a few hours. On the way to the juku, I was sweating a fountain's worth of water. Four hours later, it felt like an early spring evening.

The Engineer has contacted a whole bunch of us for dinner on Saturday. It looks like it'll be in his usual haunt of Ikebukuro. I invited Arwen and indirectly 77, but I kinda doubt that they'll take the bait. After that slight fiasco the last time he met them and because there is that party for DTE the next day, I think they'll probably be just happy with the lesson. In fact, I'm not even sure if Arwen will even make it at all for anything this weekend considering her job from Hell.

As the baseball All-Star Games are getting underway on both sides of the Pacific, there may be a crisis brewing here. Last week, the group of baseball team owners got together and decided that there may be another merger between two teams to go with the probable one between the now-Ichiro-less Orix Blue Wave and another team. Well, the players and the public didn't take that too well and so the players' union have not only asked the owners to reconsider their decision but they even hinted at going on strike.

Tuesday July 13, 9:32 a.m.

It's gonna be another scorcher today. Back to 35 degrees! Ugh!

Well, I did actually get a reply from Arwen. It looks like that stupid rule of leaving only after the boss leaves is pretty much the rule there at her new company. As a result, she's not too sure about whether she can make it for DTE's party which is a shame. However, she and 77 have asked whether I'm available for a lesson on Saturday. It's possible, but I thought she said that she wouldn't be sure about her plans until the weekend. Hmmm...

Still haven't gotten any reply from the Scheduler about any classes this week, so I take it as a given that I'm gonna be free all day until juku time. One thing about the Scheduler...a lot of the teachers over the years have complained about her iciness which thaws only briefly when she needs something. However, at least her sociopathic tendencies are dependable.

Not too sure about what I'm gonna make for early dinner. I've got some odds and ends in the fridge that I need to take care of.

Monday July 12, 10:28 p.m.

Looks like the week has gotten off to a good start, knock on wood. I only had one of my Monday morning students (the other had to attend to some family business. But they both got me some summer presents (we do have that summer and winter gift giving season). The one who couldn't make it today gave me a bottle of Italian wine; knowing her, she probably got me something that I would have to pay on the installment plan. And then, my other student got me some jellies to go with my yogurt. She also tipped me about this old restaurant in Nishi-Ogikubo which has very cheap and very filling Western food. I doubt that I'll ever be in the area but I passed on the info to Skippy who so loved the Outback last night.

Then it was off to the Andersens in Shinjuku to meet up with Jazz Buddy. Happily, I think it was the first class with her that was actually quite successful. I managed to copy a whole bunch of telephone dialogues so we pretty much spent the two hours on that. We'll probably be making next week's class a bit of a special one in terms of venue since next Monday is Marine Day. Perhaps, it may be the Keio Plaza buffet.

The class with the company went well enough. It was the first time in a month that everyone was present. The performance wasn't too bad but it's still a low crowd

But boy, three classes and lugging around the wine and the jellies along with my usual bag of books in the hot summer took its toll on me. I'm pretty exhausted right now. I'm just glad that the coordinator didn't call me in for tomorrow so that I have absolutely nothing until the juku classes tomorrow night. The last e-mail call was her last chance to get me to come in. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm not called in at all this week since I heard from DTE that there is a new full-timer who just started which probably means that he'll be getting the year course students as part of his training.

Speaking of DTE, it looks like her party is being set up by two of the receptionists at the school. I've tried to relay the message to Arwen and 77 since DTE can't seem to get her messages to go across to their servers. Well, it looks like my attempts have failed, too. But the addresses I've got for them were their cellphone ones so I've sent another one to Arwen's home computer.

So what shall I do for most of tomorrow? Well, I wish I could just lay around the apartment but I do have to do a bit of prep work for my newest student, The Biologist, which means another trip to Maruzen. And I'm gonna that rubdown at the clinic. Lugging those two bags have pretty much ossified my shoulders.

I had a bit of a small debate with The Doctor over the e-mail today concerning Spidey 2 and the Sgt. Jenkins situation. Doc wasn't too impressed with the first Spidey but I held up my end. He also felt that Sgt. Jenkins should be keelhauled before a Military Court of Inquiry. I agreed with him that the 64-year-old deserter has to face up to his crime but before we drop the Sword of Damocles upon him, we should consider about his family. No, they weren't involved with him when he defected to North Korea, but they are part and parcel of his life and he is also of theirs. It will be a lot more complicated. One part of me wishes that the US will grant him amnesty or some other way for him to pay his penalty without forcing him to be separated from his family.

The Engineer called me 20 minutes after the deadline I had set for him. He got my message concerning my schedule so I'll leave it to him about his whereabouts on Saturday. Also, the Big Guy contacted me to see if I could make it out for his buddy's birthday party. Well, I've already got DTE's shindig to go to so I had to decline.

Sunday July 11, 11:30 p.m.

I recall over a year ago writing a diatribe against Matrix:Unloaded. Well, I'm happy to say that a year later, I'm once again writing about a much-anticipated sequel to a blockbuster movie and it's a good review this time.

Yup, caught Spiderman 2 today down in Odaiba with Movie Buddy. Pretty much since Chris Reeve's Superman back in 1978, we've been getting these big-budget, symphonically-scored superhero epics especially within the last decade. I can probably say that S2 is arguably the best one I've seen so far. For me, the acid test was being able to root for Peter Parker the regular nebbish and not just for his alter ego. As much as I enjoyed X2 and despite the fact that the X-Men was the Marvel Comic that I had collected the most, I couldn't really connect with the mutants as much as I could with the Webhead. I felt sorry for him in the first several minutes of the film when he got all sorts of abuse heaped upon him from all sides including Mary Jane. I felt happy for him when he had that brief giddy freedom from being Spiderman. And I felt for him..period...when he admitted to Aunt May the events that led to Uncle Ben's murder. I really wasn't sure how she was going to react.

But the big money shot for me wasn't the spectacular battle on the subway although that was great. It was seeing Mary Jane's face when she finally discovered what Peter Parker had been really doing for the past two years. She could've melted the heart of Mr. Spock with that look.

I thought Spiderman 2 was also superior to the first outing in that it just came out more evenly. The first half of the first movie which dealt with the origin was handled expertly but the second half didn't hold things as well since it was hard to take the Green Goblin's outfit too seriously as a US Army battle prototype although Willem DaFoe made a great villain. This time, all of the main characters came out on top. Doc Ock was a tragic villain born out of one simple moment of arrogance while the future villain, Harry Osborn, has gone down a more gradual path of self-destruction.

There was just that one moment of hokiness back on the subway where the passengers took care of their unmasked hero and promised not to tell anyone. Uh,yeah, right...I would've expected such promises from any midwestern village whose name ended in "-ville", not the Big Apple.

All in all, a great movie and it basically foreshadowed the entire premise for Spiderman 3. The ending also looked suitably enigmatic as would befit a middle movie.

Since I'm also somewhat interested in the soundtrack, I enjoyed the familiar Danny Elfman suite and even the strange insertion of B.J. Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head". And it was only just 30 seconds' worth at the tail end of the closing credits but Michael Buble put out a fun big band version of the Spiderman theme. I will definitely be on the lookout for that although it wasn't on the official soundtrack CD.

Well, after all that, Movie Buddy and I headed out to Shinagawa where we spent an hour at Anna Millers, that Mecca for the otaku who love their short-skirted uniforms. I told MB about it but he didn't seem too perked up by that. In fact, the two of us spend most of that hour just perusing reading material: I was looking through his edition of the Japan Times and he was reading through my EMPIRE magazine. It all seemed so domestic.

Then, we met up with Skippy, The Maid, DTE and The Kid just under Anna Millers to head up to the Outback. It's safe to say that everyone had a pretty good time there. Skippy was just going through a major orgasm delighting in the tastes of her steak and her dessert. Gabby joined us a bit later although she was suffering from a toothache. After dinner, The Kid had to take off but the rest of us went down to the front of the Wing Mall for a bit of coffee outside. It looks like Skippy is looking forward to the next outing. It looks possible that we may be trying out that Grand Central Station oyster bar in Shinagawa Station next month.

During the events of tonight, Movie Buddy informed me about the Hawaiian, my former private student of several months ago. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, her father did pass away. She and the rest of the family seem to be taking things pretty well considering, though.

When I got home, I got a message from The Engineer. He is indeed here so I did send him a message but I won't be able to see him for his two days here. He's headed out to the boonies on business for the rest of the week but I did tell him that I'd be able to catch him on Saturday.

Sunday July 11, 8:31 a.m.

It's the first time in a number of days that I didn't rush to put on the air conditioner in the morning. In fact, there was no need for me to put on the fan all night. It is a good sign. Tokyo was basically saved from yet another deluge which washed across a lot of the country yesterday. It was surreal to see massive rivers flushing through the streets of the countryside while Tokyo remained relatively dry.

Well, in about 90 minutes, I'll be out to Odaiba to catch Spiderman 2 with Movie Buddy. So far, I haven't received any messages of cancellations or requests for additions from the others for the Outback, something that's pretty rare.

The Engineer contacted me with his schedule about his next business trip. Apparently, he'll be here today but there's no way that I'll be able to catch him until the next weekend. Chip Guy is also coming here the week of the 19th; it'll also be a bit tight in terms of scheduling.

Saturday July 10, 7:09 p.m.

It's still warm but at least it's bearable today unlike the past week. Clouds have even made an appearance and a bit of rain started spitting from earlier this afternoon.

I just had that one class at my morning students' place. The older sister had a volleyball game to support so I really only needed to plan for the younger one. However, I did have to make a quick stop at Maruzen to get that I SPY book which was a big hit with the little sister's friend, The Little Owl. Luckily, the race against the clock was worth it. We managed to kill a good half-hour of her lesson going through the first four puzzles of this pictorial scavenger hunt.

Since the older sister was off, I had the mother instead as a proxy. It's always good with her since she's rather avid about speaking and picking up new vocabulary. We did a Japan Times article on the late great and majorly flawed Marlon Brando. She learned a lot of movie words as well as about the eccentricities of last century's arguably best actor.

I wasn't in any particular hurry to get home. I figure that all I was gonna do at home was just waste money and energy on the air conditioner so I spent a few hours looking through Tower Records. All I picked up was an EMPIRE movie mag. Then I was thinking about heading back but I ended up going to FOO FOO for the first time in a few months since I was starting to get hungry. To be honest, I didn't think I would be dropping by the ramen shop since it is the summer. However, I relented to my stomach's more strident needs and tucked myself into a set of a small bowl of ramen, a bowl of rice with seasoned ground beef and a dish of gyoza...all just for 980 yen, a good bargain. I think I not only saved myself some money but also some time and ingredients and sweat since otherwise I would've had to buy some fixins for dinner tonight. I did buy some supermarket spaghetti and salad but that's easy enough to prep without having to slave several minutes over the gas range.

Well, tomorrow while a bunch of us catch Spiderman 2 and dine on steak, the Upper House elections will be taking place. The pols did their best to blow some hot air into the atmosphere in a last-ditch effort to get their message across.

I haven't heard anything from the school scheduler about the next week's classes. They may not have anything for me but then again, the scheduler sometimes doesn't get back to me until Monday.

Friday July 9, 7:52 p.m.

Well, I missed it by 10 minutes but all of the local media got what they were waiting for weeks, and a former abductee got what she had been waiting for for almost 2 years. I got home about half an hour ago to find out that at 7:10, Hitomi Soga had that long-awaited reunion with her family. There was so much diplomatic square dancing to get this family back together due to the fact that her hubby is a former US soldier who defected to North Korea over 40 years ago. Colin Powell recently stressed that he's still wanted for desertion; a point that made Jenkins refuse to head to Japan for fear that he would be thrown to the US as soon as he lands here. So began a lot of multilateral diplomacy to find out where the family could have their reunion. China was bandied about and soon rejected because of its proximity to North Korea. Finally, Indonesia was chosen because of its "just right" distance and because it doesn't have an extradition treaty with the States.

Well, the family is back together again. Now, the big question is how long the reunion will be. Will the States relent and give Jenkins a pass? Doubt it...a deserter is pretty much on the level of Osama or Saddam as a hated person..at least to the US government. There's no way that Uncle Sam will swallow its pride on that point. Looks like the diplomats aren't finished yet.

Another long hot day. Luckily, things will be cooling down somewhat starting from tonight. That's not the only reason that I'm happy this week is over. With the exception of the school classes, most of my privates have been off for some reason. The Teacher's latest report on some historical fact just didn't grab me.

In between classes, I made a run to Odaiba to buy a couple of advance tickets for Spiderman 2 on Sunday. It proved to be no problem as I could pick the time and the seats. There's no way I'll head back to those ancient theatres in Yurakucho with the dreaded lineups. Luckily enough, Movie Buddy dropped by the Tea Room during my lesson with SR to pick up that ticket.

Well, I've just got that one class tomorrow with the little sister and then her Mom so the planning won't be too arduous. Mom is such an avid English student. All I gotta do is just make up some dinner. It'll be the cold noodles again which I don't mind, especially in this heat, and then some minced raw tuna on rice from the supermarket. My third batch of yogurt looked pretty darn solid today. I wouldn't be surprised if the thing gelled five minutes after I'd left this morning.

In any case, I gotta make that reservation for the Outback now.

Friday July 9, 8:40 a.m.

Another ridiculously torrid day coming up, but at least the forecasters say that this should be the last day of the really hot temps. From tomorrow, we should just merely be hot. A lot of the concrete in the Kanto was buckling because of the heat; considering that Tokyo is the largest concrete jungle in the world, that should raise some cause for concern.

My lesson with the Jazz Buddy wasn't too satisfying for me...and perhaps not for her although she did say that she enjoyed it. She's a bit of the more emotionally unreactive type so I couldn't be sure how she felt about the lesson. I tried going for the "simple is best" approach concerning her telephone practice but she wasn't biting. "Simple is best" is only best when the student is pretty avid; she doesn't fit that description. Well, I'll have to find some concrete material for next time.

At least, I've got my two solid students today. In between classes, I'll be checking out Odaiba Mediage to see if I can pick up a couple of tickets for Spidey 2 on Sunday. The Ballerina sent in her regrets about not coming out on Sunday; no surprise there. But Arwen has virtually disappeared from the ether. I guess her job is really getting her.

Sounds like there's some sort of Cameron Diaz S&M video out on the Net. Non-news to me...

Well, happily my Internet "diet" has reaped a small dividend. My phone bill was 1000 yen less than that of last month. However, I think my time in Hokkaido helped a bit there.

Thursday July 8, 7:38 a.m.

Well, I put on my electric fan all night in my bedroom. It made a world of difference for my sleeping comfort. Still, I've woken up to a 26-degree C morning. I sent off word to the Jazz Buddy that I'll meet her INSIDE the cafe. No use melting outside. In another development, I've shut all the energy to my audio-visual systems since my satellite tuner is acting like an oven. I'll have to be careful about how I use that if I don't want to have any unnecessary fireworks in my apartment.

I sent off a courtesy call to Chip Guy back in Toronto just to see how he's doing. I also got mail from The Entrepreneur; he gave a rave review to Spidey 2. Definitely looking forward to that...if I can score the tickets.

Wednesday July 7, 11:05 p.m.

35 stinkin' degrees today! And much the same for tomorrow. I'm gonna need the deodorant in mass quantities. NHK's telling people to get the hats and loose clothing on. I get to go casual. The latest issue of METROPOLIS also talked of the mechanics of sweating in a humid atmosphere. Now, at least I know how I'm dying.

Well, I got to meet the newest student, the Biologist. I took her to the Tea Room. She's pretty quiet and reserved but amiable enough. She told me right off the bat what she wanted to do which is to assess her weekly presentations in terms of grammar, vocabulary and overall structure. Can do. The rest of the time was just spent getting to know each other. Some awkwardness but her English is pretty good. She's definitely not one to pussyfoot around, though. I'm not quite sure how she felt about our meeting but the fact that she faxed a whole sheaf of pages over to me probably means that I've passed muster for now.

Afterwards, I checked the school. Sure enough, the kids put up their wishes for Tanabata as did I. I also checked with the coordinator about this thing concerning Halloween. She assured me that the rumours were just rumours and the show will go on come late October.

Then, I did a pit stop at Maruzen to check out for some possible material for the Jazz Buddy and SR. Nothing there but I picked up the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly. Next, I made it to Starbucks where I hauled my ragged carcass and imbibed two drinks and a cinnamon roll to recuperate from the heat. The Office Lady did her class and I was off for home.

Looks like things shaped up for Sunday. I finally got replies from Movie Buddy and Skippy. We may have about 7 people for steak, excluding Arwen and the Ballerina who are still straddling the fence. MB's also asking about Spidey 2. I suggested the Mediage Cineplex in Odaiba.

Well, blast from the past. The top news on NHK tonight was the arrest of three Aum Shinrikyo followers for the attempted murder of a Tokyo police commissioner nine years ago just a few days after the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subways. I remember that story very well. I'd just barely been in the country for 6 months.

I really am holding off heading for bed since I'm enjoying air-conditioned comfort only in my living room. I will most definitely be activating my electric fan for the bedroom. I'm not quite sure how the lesson for Jazz Buddy will turn out tomorrow. I won't be doing it outside, that's for sure.

Wednesday July 7, 8:52 a.m.

Barely 9 a.m., and it's already hot as all Hades. I think I lost a litre of sweat just putting up the laundry. The laundry should be dry as a bone within an hour.

The Wild Guy contacted me. Looks like he had one of those alcoholic binges this past weekend. Ended up channeling the climax from The Exorcist. Reminded me of some of my ill-advised benders. One was due to foolishly ingesting 4 Screwdrivers in 2 hours in four different bars one December night in the mid-80s. By our fifth stop, an all-night Chinese diner, I think I was seeing things in 13 different dimensions. By the time Automan was driving me home, I was feeling the Dimension of Pain. It was just by the skin of my teeth (which I probably did develop through the hangover) that I didn't manage to erupt my own version of lava all over the interior of his car. I staggered home and slithered into bed, and didn't bother to wake up until mid-afternoon. Mom wasn't too pleased.

Well, I've yet to hear anything from the folks about Sunday. If I don't hear anything by tonight, I'm gonna assume that it'll be basically a teachers' outing.

I see that John Kerry finally announced his running mate in what had to have been the most overrated secret this election year. One joke that will never see the light of day at the Democratic Convention: imagine if Kerry and Edwards get into the White House and imagine if a Clinton-like scandal erupts there. The intern/tart can just tell her buddies that she saw a couple of Johns. (rimshot!)

Tuesday July 6, 11:32 p.m.

Gahhh...I hate Tokyo summers. I feel like I've been dunked in a thin film of Vaseline...or at least I felt like it before my shower of desperation. That, and the fact that I've got my air conditioner on right now is making me feel much drier. It was another scorcher out there. Still, I've gotta face my bedroom which feels like a sauna and smells like a gym changeroom. I'm gonna have to replenish my stock of Lysol. Plus, I'm suffering from some prickly heat. I'm getting rashes on my lower legs where my socks would be. I don't recall griping so much about the heat this time last year. At least, I can be sure that the rice crop this year will be excellent.

My 8.5-hour day of teaching went off without a hitch. On the way from Tsudanuma to the school, though, there was a crazy old lady screaming epithets about how stupid Tokyo is. Hmmm...and I thought that sort was pretty much just a New York phenomenon. Anyways, she just lasted a few stations before she either got off or was dragged off by station personnel; I'm not sure which but I'm glad that she got off.

My four hours at the school went by smoothly thanks to the Dancing Bear act. Especially in my latter two hours with a reading class, there was one cute little student who was just collapsing into a pile of tears and giggles. Nice to be appreciated. However, I may have heard something disturbing about one of my prize events. I'd heard rumours that the annual Halloween party may be shelved. I have a feeling it may be because that there isn't enough of a budget available this year for it to be held. Well, that I can resolve...I'd be willing to foot the bill completely for that, but the show will go on. However, I'm first waiting for confirmation from the coordinator before I offer anything.

Between classes, the Ballerina made a surprise visit. Well, I shouldn't say surprise anymore since I think she'll be making a regular habit of dropping by the school during her brief furloughs in Tokyo. She was giving some advice to a current student about the wonderful world of stewardessing. When she does finish her term of duty in about 3 years, she'll probably make an excellent counselor for the in-house programme.

My juku classes had no problems per se. The air conditioner in my room, though, was working far more powerfully than the one in my apartment. All of my students initially welcomed the blast of the Arctic but by the end of their lessons, they were quite grateful for the heat wave that awaited them when they left the room. Being the Canadian, I was quite happy to stay in my little enclave of frigidity. But I did have to get home and here I am.

This week, there's been a dearth of useful e-mail for me that's frankly galling me. I haven't heard much about the upcoming Outback outing although I realize people like Arwen and Skippy have been busy of late. Well, in any case, I did get a confirmation from DTE at the school that she'll be coming out on Sunday. In any case, I took a more proactive role by sending out assignments to SR and then giving some info to that new student I'll be meeting tomorrow for her first lesson.

Speaking of tomorrow, it's supposed to be Tanabata Day or the Star Festival. Every July 7th, the festival of star-crossed lovers is celebrated. However, the only place that really takes it seriously is the northern city of Sendai. But over here in Tokyo, we recognize it by writing our wishes on pieces of paper and then tying them to the branches of a bamboo tree. The classes at the school will be doing that as well but I'll have to miss a good part of it because of that meeting with that new person. It may be a blessing in disguise, though, since I've heard that the coordinator may be forcing the kids to sing "When You Wish Upon A Star". I'll gladly avoid that. Besides, I need to make another stop at Maruzen to look for some possible materials to help SR with her Eiken Test.

I've yet to hear from either one of those prospective students concerning lessons. Perhaps my time limitations have scared them off. I'm not complaining too much here.

Tuesday July 6, 11:32 p.m.

Gahhh...I hate Tokyo summers. I feel like I've been dunked in a thin film of Vaseline...or at least I felt like it before my shower of desperation. That, and the fact that I've got my air conditioner on right now is making me feel much drier. It was another scorcher out there. Still, I've gotta face my bedroom which feels like a sauna and smells like a gym changeroom. I'm gonna have to replenish my stock of Lysol. Plus, I'm suffering from some prickly heat. I'm getting rashes on my lower legs where my socks would be. I don't recall griping so much about the heat this time last year. At least, I can be sure that the rice crop this year will be excellent.

My 8.5-hour day of teaching went off without a hitch. On the way from Tsudanuma to the school, though, there was a crazy old lady screaming epithets about how stupid Tokyo is. Hmmm...and I thought that sort was pretty much just a New York phenomenon. Anyways, she just lasted a few stations before she either got off or was dragged off by station personnel; I'm not sure which but I'm glad that she got off.

My four hours at the school went by smoothly thanks to the Dancing Bear act. Especially in my latter two hours with a reading class, there was one cute little student who was just collapsing into a pile of tears and giggles. Nice to be appreciated. However, I may have heard something disturbing about one of my prize events. I'd heard rumours that the annual Halloween party may be shelved. I have a feeling it may be because that there isn't enough of a budget available this year for it to be held. Well, that I can resolve...I'd be willing to foot the bill completely for that, but the show will go on. However, I'm first waiting for confirmation from the coordinator before I offer anything.

Between classes, the Ballerina made a surprise visit. Well, I shouldn't say surprise anymore since I think she'll be making a regular habit of dropping by the school during her brief furloughs in Tokyo. She was giving some advice to a current student about the wonderful world of stewardessing. When she does finish her term of duty in about 3 years, she'll probably make an excellent counselor for the in-house programme.

My juku classes had no problems per se. The air conditioner in my room, though, was working far more powerfully than the one in my apartment. All of my students initially welcomed the blast of the Arctic but by the end of their lessons, they were quite grateful for the heat wave that awaited them when they left the room. Being the Canadian, I was quite happy to stay in my little enclave of frigidity. But I did have to get home and here I am.

This week, there's been a dearth of useful e-mail for me that's frankly galling me. I haven't heard much about the upcoming Outback outing although I realize people like Arwen and Skippy have been busy of late. Well, in any case, I did get a confirmation from DTE at the school that she'll be coming out on Sunday. In any case, I took a more proactive role by sending out assignments to SR and then giving some info to that new student I'll be meeting tomorrow for her first lesson.

Speaking of tomorrow, it's supposed to be Tanabata Day or the Star Festival. Every July 7th, the festival of star-crossed lovers is celebrated. However, the only place that really takes it seriously is the northern city of Sendai. But over here in Tokyo, we recognize it by writing our wishes on pieces of paper and then tying them to the branches of a bamboo tree. The classes at the school will be doing that as well but I'll have to miss a good part of it because of that meeting with that new person. It may be a blessing in disguise, though, since I've heard that the coordinator may be forcing the kids to sing "When You Wish Upon A Star". I'll gladly avoid that. Besides, I need to make another stop at Maruzen to look for some possible materials to help SR with her Eiken Test.

I've yet to hear from either one of those prospective students concerning lessons. Perhaps my time limitations have scared them off. I'm not complaining too much here.

Tuesday July 6, 7:33 a.m.

Got squalled earlier this morning...as in 4:15 this morning. I had to do a quick but groggy pull-in of some of the clothing on the line. I managed to save most of them. I think I'll be doing a lot of sleeping on the Sobu Line today.

Over in the States, the presidential campaign has been front and centre in the media with production values approaching that of a pretty big movie. Over here, with the Upper House elections on the 11th, it's just been the usual suspects with their white gloves in their megaphone vans. That, and the daily NHK offerings of air time to candidates.

Monday July 5, 9:34 p.m.

Well, I hope that this entry gets through. It doesn't really matter that much anyways. I don't write this blog especially to have people read it; it's just something for me to exercise my writing muscles and get my ya-yas out.

Just when I thought I was facing another quiet summer, I've got people asking me about my availability. I've already had to turn someone who was recommended to me by the mother of those two Saturday kids because I'm simply not available on Wednesday nights. I gave one fellow whom I met briefly at the Maple Leaf a few weeks back a bit of hope with that lone space evacuated by The Salaryman. He does work out all the way in Ikebukuro; I don't want to have to end up doing that retrospectively ridiculous late-night gig again like I did last year so I put in the limitation that I work until 9 p.m.

This Wednesday afternoon, I meet up with Party Hearty's friend's daughter for her first meeting with me. I know that it'll be a temp gig since she'll be heading back to university outside the country.

Looks like the Ballerina is back in town. She left a message on the machine. She sounds a whole lot more mature. I guess that high-flying life has made an impact on her. Otherwise, the rest of my day was a lesson-less day...quite a rare phenomenon these days, although I know that the 11th will be class-free. I just used the time to make up another one of my compilation tapes. Yes, I know...I still use primitive audio tapes. And they are getting more difficult to find. I may be forced into CD burning by the end of the year.

It was a scorcher today. And tomorrow should be just as torrid. Some of the more inland areas will be heading into dangerous territory, into the very high 30s. Well, I figure that the rainy season will be ending officially this week. And I've got a lot of hours of teaching on Tuesday.

Monday July 5, 10:11 a.m.

Hey, Blog Lords! Some service please. What happened to my last two entries?

Monday July 5, 9:57 a.m.

Had some pretty decent sleep for the first time in a while although my eyes still have that annoying habit of opening up before 5 a.m. The rest of my body was able to beat them into submission, thankfully. I actually feel a bit hungry even after that Chinese/Mexican culinary KO yesterday.

It looks like I'll be having the company class after all since noone has called me to cancel. I did tell them to contact me by 9:30; I just hope that the remaining student just didn't forget. In any case, I had to send my regrets to Jazz Buddy and offered a slot on Thursday morning.

So, now with the morning students off the list for this week, I don't have to leave home until late in the afternoon so I can get a bit of housekeeping stuff done. I know that my matttresses would appreciate some airing out.

I checked out the TokyoWalker website for Spidey 2. The theatres seem to be a bit more forthcoming about their times and places than they were for TROY at about the same time. The advance ratings for the movie here look as wild as the ones back Stateside. About a good 97% from the advance screenings this past weekend place it at excellent or good. Since we're having that dinner at the Outback in Shinagawa on Sunday, I was looking to see if the Shinagawa Prince Hotel Cineplex would have any of the Spidey showings. Sure enough, there are. I'll have to see if Movie Buddy or some of the others would be interested in catching it before steak.

Well, off to brekkie. My stomach is actually growling now.

Sunday July 4, 11:35 p.m.

Well, it's the Fourth of July in the States, and knock on wood, the only promise of explosions is still from officially sanctioned fireworks.

I finished my gourmand weekend today. After having a relatively light breakfast after that huge dinner last night, I went all the way to Jiyugaoka to meet The OL and Betty Boop for a Chinese lunch. We decided to take a taxi over there since it would have been a 20-minute walk to the place and at near noon, I had no desire to drench myself in sweat before lunch. The taxi ride itself took about 10 minutes, enough to keep the cabbie in good humour. In fact, he and the ladies bantered pretty happily during the ride there.

The place we arrived at was located on the first floor of a building in a suburban neighbourhood, pretty non-descript for a high-class Chinese eatery. But when we entered, there was a well-suited maitre d' and several waitresses in China dresses. We went for the 3500-yen lunch which included such savory fare as leek dumplings (they taste far better than they sound in English), shark's-fin and pumpkin soup, juicy prawn in a light sweet-n'-sour sauce, tenderloin beef in black pepper sauce, cold noodles and a light mango pudding to finish it all off. Definitely worth another visit.

The OL and BB then walked me down the street for a couple of hundred metres to the college where they studied. We went downstairs to the cafeteria where we gabbed for about 90 minutes. They had a rather long gripe session about cigarettes and the salarymen who smoke them. I told them that they would love Canada.

We finally walked the kilometre through a pretty tony neighbourhood back to Jiyugaoka Station. BB could really talk up a storm which left me feeling rather limp. She even acted like my mother telling me about how to get up to Shinjuku. I left the ladies to their shopping. Most likely, we may have another outing in a few weeks..this time for yakiniku.

I made it up to Shinjuku within a half-hour. Not surprisingly, the trains were pretty crowded though not to the rush-hour extent. There I went over to the Microsoft Building where I ended up waiting for almost an hour wondering what happened to Arwen and 77. As I knew it, I was supposed to have met the two at 5. I checked my phone twice to see if any messages had been left on it, but nada. Finally at 5:45, I was just starting to wonder if I'd made a mistake with the day when I finally called up Arwen on her cell. The two were waiting at Shinjuku Station for a 5:30 meet. I told them where I was but not when I'd thought I would meet them despite my annoyance. No need to sour the atmosphere needlessly.

We had our lesson at a nearby cafe in the building before we went downstairs to line up for dinner at El Torito. 77 had never gone Mexican before which surprised me a bit, and Arwen had been to one just once. We waited for about half an hour during which 77 discussed her upcoming three-month homestay in Toronto. She actually did break up with her boyfriend. Seems like things never really got off the ground for them.

When we finally did get in, the two of them really got into the swing of things. I don't think I've ever seen past dinner companions at El Torito enjoy themselves and the food so thoroughly. We had the Fiesta Platter of quesadillas, chicken wings, nachos and Mexican spring rolls along with a huge chimichanga. Of course, we made full use of the free nacho chips and salsa. And then we finished things off with deep-fried ice cream and a banana chimichanga. I was quite reminded of ol' Chip Guy's love of saying that word "chimichanga" when he used to live here.

As I did with The OL and BB earlier in the day, I left Arwen and 77 to their own devices. Arwen said that she and 77 needed to discuss on something important. The paranoid side of me thinks that it's probably on the future of our classes. 77 has her soccer games, her upcoming trip and perhaps even enrolment in another English school; Arwen is currently heavily besieged by her new job. Looks like I may lose another couple of students. Speaking of 77 and her new job, it looks like 77 is making noises about quitting this gig as well. The one thing that the interviewers neglected to tell her was that noone leaves work before the boss does, a frankly outdated regulation for Japanese companies. As a result, in her first two days at work, Arwen just barely caught the last train home. She's planning to hold on for about a month before taking off. 77 and I encouraged her to give the place a fair shake for at least a week. I remember myself being pretty negative in my first week at each of my schools before things settled down. But my feeling is that Arwen will be a free woman again come August.

Well, I'm in a holding pattern for Monday. My morning students have cancelled their class and the company class may be getting canned, too. If so, I can teach Jazz Buddy later in the afternoon. But I'm just wondering if I should just cancel the gig with her even if the company class cans out. I'm just thinking about just chilling out after the weekend of food and female pairs. And besides, I really haven't gotten anything planned for her.

Saturday July 3, 10:09 p.m.

Ironically, my class with the kids had atypical results. My older kid actually was on the ball but the younger sister told me the lesson was a waste of time. I didn't take it too personally but it did give me a kick in the pants. Strangely enough, the mother asked me if I would be interested in picking up a few more kids (not really). In any case, I'm pretty tight schedule-wise, so the answer will be no but I will wait a few days before I send over the answer.

I got back home for just a little over an hour to have lunch and then I headed back and took the bus down to the Shin-Urayasu station area. For about a couple of hours, I noticed that the area is a lot more modern looking than plain ol' Urayasu station. There are a couple of new hotels, modern condos and two shopping malls surrounding the station. I managed to while away some of that time by trying out one of those massager chairs in the department stores. Those things are getting more and more sophisticated all the time. My demo model had a touch panel which could determine massage course based on what part of your body you want it to work on. You could also decide how hard the kneading can get and there was even a recliner option. It would be a nice thing to get for Dad but at 228,000 yen not including the freight costs, I don't think it'll ever happen.

I met up with my students at about 6:30 in front of the police box and we walked down a few hundred metres to a restaurant called Yume (Dream). It stood out with its dark exterior. It was one of those trendy bar/restaurants run by a friend of one of the students. The culinary theme was chicken, and there were quite a few sumptious chicken dishes. In fact, I think we overindulged with our choices, and I certainly overdid it a bit with the alcohol. I've got a bit of a hangover right now but I'm handling it OK.

We had been thinking of heading out for karaoke afterwards but since we got out of the place a bit late and with my dim sum outing tomorrow, we decided to call it a day instead. We spent a few minutes figuring out which bus I would take to get back to my neighbourhood when the one who had recommended the restaurant in the first place shucked out some money to my surprise and got a taxi for me. I really tried to refuse her very maganimous offer but it was a done deal. I took a taxi home as her treat. I'll have to get my "revenge" on her somehow by next lesson.

As I said, I've got dim sum tomorrow with The Office Lady and Betty Boop in the morning and then I may have Mexican with Arwen and 77 later in the evening. I think this will be one of those gourmand weekends. I'll try and avoid the booze.

Saturday July 3, 7:36 a.m.

I see that another actor...this time, a great one...has passed away. Marlon Brando at 80. Not a great thing to admit but the first ever Brando sighting I ever caught was his 10-minute cameo as Jor-El in Superman. My record hasn't gotten much better since then; I've only caught the Godfather after that. Kinda too bad to see this acting genius go from great to just gross, though.

Nothing much to say about yesterday. The Teacher and I went over a review of Troy and I had my regular session with SR. Strangely enough, I think this is the longest stretch I've had with her without a cancellation.

It's been pretty cool at night over the past couple of evenings. I can save a bit on the air conditioning, although I'm sure that that will change.

Well, after getting Party Hearty's request to take on another student, I got a message out of the blue from one of the guys from the Maple Leaf outing a few weeks ago to see if I could teach him. My answer is still the same...alternate Thursday nights. Speaking of which, it looks like I may have a free one of those this week.

Thursday July 1, 11:00 p.m.

Well, I see Saddam Hussein is playing his role as a sociopathic dictator right to the last drop. He's already started to stonewall and deny in a way that would make Milosevic proud. It ought to make for some riveting viewing although "Trial of the Century" is a bit much. No matter what happens, though, the record for former brutal dictators isn't too good. Let's see...Hitler killed himself in the bunker, Stalin may have been poisoned, the Ceaucescus were shot to death, Il Duce was strung up.

Had a bit of a surprise at the school on seeing a former staffer come back to the fold, as it were. DILBERT returned to the place that he was basically ousted from a few years back. There are only a few of us left who remember him. There's me, the DJ and the Head. Dilbert actually even sat in on my class for the entire two hours in what raised alarms with the Head. The Head is worried that Dilbert, who was pretty incompetent during his first time there, may be pushing the coordinator out of her position as the head of the all-year program. It certainly looks that way. The Head then started talking petitions about making sure that doesn't happen. To be honest, though I can share my colleague's concerns about having the little eraserhead back in charge of the program, I can't say that I would be all that dismayed or surprised with the coordinator's ouster. She has tried to maintain some sort of stability but that's really all she has accomplished. We haven't gotten any new materials in the past several years and some of the materials we do have are embarrasingly dated. Plus, she has had a reputation among some of the old students as being quite mercurial. But then again, we are faced with Dilbert.

The Head even asked me to subtly inquire our manager about what is to happen. Frankly speaking, I'm not quite sure what a guy like me, who has never had very warm relations with the staff,can do to change this situation if it is indeed THAT situation. I think the manager has his mind made up. There hasn't been any love lost between him and the coordinator, and the fact that we're significantly lower in numbers this year has given him just the ammo he needed to start the pustch. And from what I've heard from the Head, it doesn't seem that the coordinator is all that worried. She probably wouldn't mind getting out of it.

Anyways, enough politics. I was able to pull off my annual Canada Day quiz with the class quite successfully. Then I headed out to see the Curry Master for her regular session. Instead of doing the usual fill-out-the-blanks exercise, she had me proofread a lot of her correspondence exercises from her classes. It seems that her teacher isn't exactly earning his keep, so to speak. Well, at least, I found some weak points that I could help her on. Then, the SE came in. It was the first time to see him in over a month. He wasn't too bad and he told me that the next few months would provide him with lots of English training in the form of special seminars. Great for him. I didn't mention to either of them that my alternate Thursdays are free due to the fact that The Salaryman is no longer my student just in case something came up.

Well, perhaps something has. Party Hearty sent in a message asking if I could squeeze in one more student or ever more. Squeeze is right...I only have that Thursday night open. I sent back the usual dog-and-pony show about what I do.

There's also a possibility that I may have a very rare Monday off. Not only has my company voiced a potential cancellation, but my morning students called up to say that they had to cancel their next session. Mind you, I've sent off a missive to Jazz Buddy offering her the empty morning slot. I hope she takes it since that would mean I have my two classes at the school on Tuesday and Thursday. Now, I know what an exec and his rolodex must go through.

Wednesday June 30, 10:35 p.m.

That overcast morning produced some rather intense rainfall, especially in Shizuoka where a record-setting 81 mm poured down. Over here we got a squall and some thunder, but that was about it.

I got to see The DJ for the first time in a while. But any talk with him was pretty much pre-empted by one of our "up-with-people" teachers who just engaged the DJ in tech talk for pretty much most of the lunch hour. Since I'm not too much into that, I found myself gradually getting moved away and into lesson planning. I had the top class for the first time in a long while. They're a good group of ladies but they don't seem to be nearly as effusive as one big class as they are in pairs.

Speaking of the school, it looks like the Spring Term will be extended well into August. Rather unprecedented since it was a custom for the students to get quite a long summer vacation. However, the coordinator mentioned that a lot of students tend to drop out after the first term so she wanted to nip that bud quickly, especially since we have a smaller crew this year. I don't particularly mind since that will mean more opportunity to pick up some dough.

Shortly after, I headed off to the Starbucks in Toranomon where I would meet The OL. I struggled to keep awake in the 2 hours before the OL came...digestion and age helped out with that. The OL herself was a good half-hour late due to work, but I didn't mind too much. She's earned my respect. She also updated me on our dim sum meet with Boop on Sunday. Instead of the Hong Kong Garden, we'll be meeting out in Jiyugaoka way out west to a Chinese place that the OL knows well. I haven't been out that way since I had those two real estate agents in that late-night Monday class. Gad, I'm happy that I don't have to do that anymore. I'll be reliving the commute although it is a Sunday. The reason for the last-minute change is that the OL had heard that the dim sum over at the HK Garden wasn't too good. To be honest, I heard the same a few years ago but I didn't really think it serious enough to merit telling her about it.

I also made a confirmation with that other student about meeting up on Saturday night. It is indeed the police box at Shin-Urayasu Station. I'll probably head out there a bit earlier since it's been a while since I was last there. I think Clinton was still President then. I can just browse through the MONA shopping mall.

Well, tomorrow is Canada Day. Happy 137th!

Wednesday June 30, 8:52 a.m.

Looks like my juku boss had been going through some personal hell since her husband's return from the hospital due to a minor stroke. Apparently, he's been pretty erratic but it looks like things have calmed down, and she's back to her happy self.

I've got another outing planned with those first two students this weekend for dinner. The stingy student in the second class did the smart thing and eschewed coming to what would have been her final class last night. Made things a lot easier for all of us. My final student has started going through the red tape for that US visa once he finally starts his new stint Stateside. I told him about my ridiculous woes with my birth certificate.

Pretty overcast right now but it's still gonna be hot. I've got my first class at the school in a couple of weeks. I've also got another one tomorrow there. Seeing that it'll be Canada Day, I'm planning to do a bit of a pop quiz on The Great White North with the students there. And of course, I've got the Office Lady tonight.

It's amazing how Michael Moore's latest movie is just burning up the theaters back home. I'm wondering when it'll get here.

Tuesday June 29, 3:29 p.m.

It's another scorcher out there. I had that morning class followed by the lunch at Takimoto. One of the ladies, a tea ceremony teacher who's always been a bit tentative, tentatively asked me to hold my rice bowl in the correct way. That teaches me how to handle myself in front of the ladies. I've noticed that the ladies make it a habit to harp on their worse halves. When they asked me if they were the only class that did it, I answered quickly in the affirmative. I guess it's a generational thing. Arwen hasn't really griped about Aragorn, but it's interesting to note that my Monday morning folks have never complained about their husbands. It could also be a class thing.

On the telly, I noticed current hot gaijin tarento, Thane Camus (no, it's not a Star Wars name) actually getting into the singing business. It's a gimmick song, mind you, but he is singing. Thane is one of those non-Japanese TV personalities who can speak native Japanese and feel more at home in Japan. The first one of these gaijin tarento was one of the two Kents: Kent Gilbert, a transplanted lawyer whose claim to fame was that he could speak perfectly fluent Kansai-accented Japanese in a squeaky voice. The natives here found him so amazing that he was getting regular requests to come onto the talk shows and chat.

Since then, we've had the other Kent, Kent Delacarte, a Mormon with coke-bottle glasses coming in. In the past decade, we've also had Kaya, an obnoxious woman from Chicago who may or may not be divorced from her former pop idol hubby; another fellow who's even become part of the first bicultural manzai comedy team, and then there's Thane.

I think one of these folks put it best when he said that if a foreigner wanted to strike it big on TV here, he would have to be willing to act like an idiot or an "idealized" version of a foreigner. The worst case of this consists of three black guys who often star with Thane on a Sunday evening variety show. If their act ever got shown in the States, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would have a coronary.

Monday June 28, 9:30 p.m.

Well, we just had our "What the hell?" moment of the week. It looks like the U.S. handed Iraq back a couple of days ahead of schedule. I don't think it'll mean all that much for the volatile situation but it was a pretty shrewd security move.

Over here, the cops caught the bastard who pulled off that armed robbery in Shibuya Station last week. He's a 64-year-old chrome dome with dark glasses and a feisty attitude. In fact, he's playing his new celeb status up so much that the cops are now wondering if he's just a cover guy for the real culprit. The artist sketch had quite a different drawing for the suspect as well.

It was another hot and sultry one today. My collar was already stained with sweat by my first class. My last class actually went pretty well since I had just the low guy for the first hour so I didn't have to do any major juggling of levels. There's a possibility that the company class may be put off next Monday because two-thirds of the class will be off in S. Korea on business. It would be the first time since I started this class last October, outside of national holidays, that this class would be canned. However, it's still tentative.

Tomorrow should be even hotter. I've got my regular Tsudanuma folks and then we're heading for another scrumptious yet classy lunch at Takimoto. Then I've got my juku folks later that night.

Sunday June 27, 8:11 p.m.

Not too hot today. The temps were actually quite bearable. It was downright autumnlike last night on the way back from the Curry Master's.

Four straight hours of talking with students today have left me exhausted. I'm gonna need more stamina food; I may actually get back on the vitamin drink kick again. It will be a pretty busy one this week. I'll have at least two classes everyday until Saturday.

I'll just get some reports written up and lessons made for tomorrow.

Saturday June 26, 11:27 p.m.

Got The Little Owl an ideal text for her. It was one of those I SPY puzzle books which has a bit of reading practice for her and those find-it games that she loves so much. Too bad I won't be seeing her for at least a month since the family will be rather busy with other pursuits. Well, it wouldn't be too bad having some free Saturday afternoons.

After her class, I went off to Shinjuku to catch Movie Buddy. We went off to Dubliners as scheduled. I tucked myself into a fish n' chips while MB had a sandwich. Strangely enough, neither of us bothered to have anything alcoholic since MB was nursing a cold and I really wasn't all that much into the stuff in any event. We had a loudmouth equivalent of Japanese white trash sitting beside us just cursing all over the place and arguing as much as they were chatting.

After about an hour there, the two of us headed off to the Curry Master's for her B-day party. True to my age, I nodded off on the 45-minute trip there. We still arrived at the station with plenty of time to spare so we just crashed at a cafe to get some coffee to wake up on. Of course, we talked on our current situations, agreed that we were in a good enough place for now and then we touched a bit on perhaps catching Harry Potter 3 because of the good reviews and perhaps mixing Spidey 2 with the Outback thing on the 11th.

While we were picking up supplies at the supermarket including the birthday cake, the rest of the partygoers showed up including CM herself. MB's girl came by and then another friend popped by. When we all got to CM's pad, the three ladies started cooking up the night's supper which included some avocado salad, wrap sandwiches and Shepherd's Pie. All delicious and surprisingly filling. Then for some reason, the ladies started talking about the latest commercial for the Yuri Takano esthetic salon chain in which a model/actress is swimming au naturel with Gackt, that androgynous rock singer, looking on in approval. I even went on the Net and Yahoo'ed her name. She also happened to be that innocent young girl several years ago hawking plum wine. Woof! What success can do to some people.

While we were tucking ourselves into some cake, CM threw in the DVD of the movie GATTACA with Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. I'd heard all of the arguments for and against this flick. The first hour was interesting enough with all of the sci-fi and stuff, and the film noir elements were appealing but the film slowly lost its ability to compel. And Ethan Hawke is not one of those actors with charisma to spare. So it wasn't too difficult for me when I had to leave for home without catching the conclusion.

Well, I gotta catch some sleep and then get ready for Jazz Buddy and possibly Arwen. She still hasn't responded to my query whether she will really be coming tomorrow afternoon.

Saturday June 26, 12:05 a.m.

Well, 6 more months before Boxing Day. Can hardly wait.

The latest Harry Potter movie hits these shores today, a full three weeks after its premiere Stateside. One of the Japanese TV stations celebrated this fact by showing the very first Harry Potter movie on the tube tonight. It was the first time that I got to watch HP. I never got into the books and when I'd heard of the lacklustre reviews for the first film, I decided to wait for a night like tonight to finally catch it.

Now that I have, I can say that I'm happy I saved my money. Not that it was as bad as I had feared, but then again my expectations were quite low. The characters and the sets were great. My problem was with the director, Chris Columbus. Unlike his more celebrated namesake, he didn't really explore. I'd heard that Columbus was just a very mediocre director; now I had the proof. As I mentioned, I had never read the books but after watching the movie, I can believe that Columbus just followed the written tale verbatim. No interesting twists or marks of distinctiveness. It just seemed rather flat. So I guess it will be a breath of fresh air to see another guy at the helm. I'm undecided whether I'll still catch the third entry.

My lesson with The Teacher was quite good today although she seemed to have more memory lapses than usual. Also there was a lot more reading aloud today on her part. The topic was celebrated Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. Actually, her biography was quite interesting to read and we had a good discussion about her. The Teacher also threw in a few of her anecdotes so the result was a nice combination of strict reading and guided conversation.

Then, I had my lessons with Arwen/77 and SR. Both were also pretty cut-and-dry. No real problems. Arwen has requested seeing me on Sunday as well so I've slotted her in after Jazz Buddy.

Got home and ended up making another one of those gooey and greasy fried pork sandwiches for dinner tonight. Another excuse to use up some more of that shredded cheese.

The weather was uniformly wet throughout the day unlike what the forecasters had predicted. I shouldn't be too tough on them, though. Meterologists are only correct 70% of the time and we are in a rather volatile period right now.

Luckily I don't have the morning kids today so I can sleep in a bit. I just The Little Owl and then I meet up with Movie Buddy in Shinjuku for a bit of a pint at Dubliners before heading over to the Curry Master's for her b-day party.

Friday June 25, 7:53 a.m.

As expected, yesterday was a nice slow one. No classes to teach, no lessons to plan. I just got some reprints done up, got a rubdown and made another Taco Rice for dinner. Well, things are back to normal today. I have my regular three classes, but I do finish at a decent hour.

The reputation of the foreign population possibly got another black eye. After that robbery in Shibuya Station on Wednesday, apparently there was another attack by a Korean pickpocketing ring on the Toyoko Line. Thanks to a knife and mace, they made their getaway through the tony neighbourhood of Den'en-Chofu. Well, everyone except one fellow. He got spotted and shot by the cops. In a country where guns are extremely rare, the media will put the number of shots fired front and centre. Also, a 16-year-old girl was strangled to death by her former Sri Lankan boyfriend of 36. Gahhh..

The election campaign for the Upper House is in full swing. The usual pols wearing their ironic white gloves spouting their usual rhetoric and lies.

Currently watching a Michael Buble DVD. He's the next coming of Sinatra and Darin...and he's Canadian! One more proud thing for the Maple Leaf.

Thursday June 24, 8:01 a.m.

Last year, it was the random stabbings there. Now, it's armed robbery. Shibuya once again showed why it's scaring a lot of people when a middle-aged man shot a subway station employee carrying the revenue from commuter pass purchases yesterday. The robber then took the bag and ran causing a bit of a panic. The man is still at large. Hopefully, the cops will get their man. The employee is alive but seriously hurt.

I met Jazz Buddy again for her first official lesson, but once again, it didn't exactly turn out as expected. For one thing, she had forgotten that we were to meet at 11 instead of the 11:30 that she turned up at. Also, she walked me for about 10 minutes to one of the tall Shinjuku skyscrapers...all the way up to the 50th floor where we entered this rather elegant restaurant serving elegant bentos. This place, Uonoya, is following the example of a lot of usually expensive dinner venues and serving reasonably-priced lunches. JB may be soft-spoken but she can wrest what she wants; when the waitress offered to seat us at the counter, JB quietly but firmly asked for the alcove by the window. It didn't really matter, though, where we were seated. There was no way we could do a lesson there with the hustle and bustle of the lunch time office folks.

Then, when we got out of the place, we tried to find some spot to park ourselves for the lesson only to find that all the seats and tables were occupied, so we ended up just sitting on a stone ledge in front of a hedge in the hot sun. Not exactly a conducive environment for learning. Well, I wasn't about to charge her for 2 hours when the first hour was spent walking and eating.

I may have been guilty of misdirection myself, though. After JB's lesson, I was to meet Arwen at the south gate of Shinjuku Station. However, I was left waiting at the station for an extra 10 minutes before she came. Not that I was steaming...at least, not emotionally. She apologized for being late. However, when I checked my messages last night, I received an e-mail from her which came in too late for me to read before taking off stating that according to my reply to her she wasn't too sure about where to meet. I realized that she may have gone to the other venue before rushing to return to the station. And when I checked my reply, I also realized that it was rather ambigious. Well, not that it would really much at this point, I sent a letter of apology. Considering my little run-in with the Scheduler earlier this week, I think I was hoist on my own petard.

I tried making that Taco Rice that Curry Master had served me last night. I wouldn't say that it was incredibly cheap to get the ingredients but I do have leftover stuff to make another batch tonight. It's another notch on my repertoire. Speaking of CM, it looks like her party will be at 7 on Saturday in her neck of the woods.

Well, because I was finally to drop the deadweight student from my Thursday schedule and the school hasn't scheduled me in for any classes today, I find myself with a rare day off. It's another hot one out there. I've gotten the mattresses out on the balcony railing to air out and hopefully, I'll be able to do a bit of light cleaning. Meanwhile, I'll get some reprints and then get that rubdown.

Wednesday June 23, 7:01 a.m.

Although I couldn't tell from the sky last night, it was just one of those full moon type of days. My Tuesday started well enough with my first class. However, things started when I checked my messages and the only one that I had was the one from the Scheduler telling me that I had a class from 1. Well she was definitely wrong there so when I called her up in some dismay, we had a short tense round. She'd only sent me an e-mail on Saturday asking when I would be available to teach this week. I gave her an answer that I'd be able to teach on such-and-such a day, and that was it. She took it as gospel apparently but never got back to me so I thought that those days weren't available. In all fairness, I have to share a bit of the blame since I didn't check with her on Monday to make sure whether I did have a class or not. However, I'm glad that I called in an hour before class began so that the Scheduler at least had a chance to find someone else. I'd already had plans made and plus, I was not in regulation dress. Fortunately, last night, I got a somewhat surprising e-mail of reconciliation from her since she had a bitter reputation in her first tour of duty with the school. In fact, one of the first things that the head teacher told me when I started there was not to cross the Scheduler. Perhaps, she's finally mellowing out.

Unfortunately, when any of these types of situations happen, my mind goes into automatic "dwell" mode and starts to analyze everything in detail. Where did I go wrong? Did I screw up somewhere? I don't let it distract me from my work and by the next day, the self-flagellation largely disappears but, boy, for much of yesterday, I had to contend with that. So I was especially relieved that the Scheduler had sent that letter of apology. I responded with equal grace and then advised her about when to confirm with me.

That was just the beginning of the full-moon events. The other didn't affect me directly but it did affect several thousand commuters. It looks like my line was the victim of a couple of errant flying tarps which conveniently landed across the tracks, thereby stopping traffic for a few hours. The students at the juku all called in to say that they would be coming in late. And sure enough, each class came in 20 minutes late.

I actually had the fort all to myself for most of my time at the juku last night. The boss had to head to a funeral so I could actually enjoy a solitary existence for a couple of hours before my first class. The boss also had to make a couple of calls and find out what the subway situation was like as well. The other main route was also clogged because of some sort of accident.

Well, this morning, I got started on that latest attempt at homemade yogurt. I sterilized that setup that one of my Monday students had given me and the I scooped in four spoonfuls of that Caspian Sea yogurt starter along with 1 L of milk. The whole thing is now sitting in my bedroom in the hopes that it'll evolve into a solid batch of yogurt by tonight. This has got to be a hobby...it's far easier just to buy the thing from the supermarket.

Not only do I have Jazz Buddy for her first official class in Shinjuku today but I've got Arwen as well. She quit her job after a brief and somewhat contentious time there. I'd forgotten that she said that she'd like to have my lessons as much as possible. As it is, I find myself with a rare Thursday off; however, I'll probably keep that as such and see if I can schedule her in for Sunday afternoon or Saturday morning.

Monday June 21, 9:45 p.m.

Let's see...when I got home tonight, my room smelled and felt like a sauna, I smelled and I felt like a sauna. I guess it's officially summer.

Well, Typhoon No. 6 made all the news this morning. NHK set aside a half-hour on the hour for the latest superstorm. GD's town, arguably the rainiest zone in all of Japan, certainly looked the part when it showed up on TV getting waterblasted. As for here, we got hipchecked this afternoon by No. 6. A lot of Sturm und Drang in the form of high winds and downpours. No real damage to anyone here although my umbrella suffered a dislocated rib. Even now the winds are blowing all over. However, the summer heat will be hitting us just as bad tomorrow. It's gonna hit 32 big degrees in the Big Sushi. It's gonna be hell.

I kinda figured that the loss of that stingy student last week would spark something. Well, not only did I lose her and the angst-ridden Stylist, but I also got rid of two students. My Monday student told me that her sister-in-law would be away for a while since her father hasn't been doing too well and the sister-in-law is his primary caregiver. And now, my juku boss told me that the oft-absent Salaryman would be giving up his lessons due to his work. To be honest, with the exception of the Sister-in-Law, I think they are all deadweight and as such, deserve to be jettisoned. Plus, I won't take too much of a hit in terms of salary. I am starting to think, though, about being a bit more aware of who I take on as students.

Speaking of my Monday morning students, one of them, someone who's really into yogurt making, got the other student and I some 100-yen plastic yogurt jars with markings showing how much yogurt starter and milk to put. All I have to do is just stir and leave outside in a warm place. My place should make a lot of amazing yogurt this summer.

I went a bit nuts on the money again. I picked up a DVD of Bjork videos. I'm not a huge fan of her music but her videos have always been intriguing. The final straw was seeing her Austin Powers-like show tune number last night at Arwen's.

I never got any word from the school about any classes this week. So it's entirely possible that I may have a completely free Thursday. Not too, too bad.

The NHK news is on right now. Looks like JR has been tied up in knots as usual which means the subways are as well. My line was getting bunched up so when I just missed the first one, the second one came in within 2 minutes. It almost looked empty since everyone frontloaded onto the first one.

I was definitely not in any mood to cook tonight. So I tried out the new ramen place below my station. They specialize in a very garlicky soup. I had the one with the roasted pork. Pretty good. It's already gotten the salarymen coming in.

Well, let's see Bjork!

Sunday June 20, 9:47 p.m.

Took off early this morning to Arwen's place in Asagaya for DTE's farewell. It was a crosstown ride in every sense of the word; it took me one-and-a-third hours to arrive at the station. When I did, I waited about 20 minutes since I got there well ahead of the scheduled meeting time. Arwen biked up and then we went off to have some lunch at the Village Vanguard. Not quite the true namesake of the legendary jazz joint in NYC, it still had that 1950s sensibility though the music was reggae-tinged. Arwen and I shared an interesting twist on a Caesar Salad: same sauce, same bacon but there were chunks of toast and boiled Japanese pumpkin. I also indulged in a rather large hamburger and fries.

77 arrived an hour later. We went to the arcade mall to get our shopping done since we all planned to cook up something for the potluck. I was going to contribute my Sweet N' Sour Chicken, while 77 cooked mabo dofu and Arwen created her tuna gazpacho.

Arwen and her hubby live in a nice apartment next to a sumo stable. There was a rather rotund trainee sweeping outside the stable when we passed by. Arwen's apartment is a 1LDK; certainly her kitchen space dwarfed mine by a factor of 3:1. All of us got started on our respective projects before the ladies took off to pick up DTE from the station. When they got back, it wasn't too long before everything was completed and we all dug in for a feast. By the time we were finished, we felt a lot like our neighbours. Plus, when we entered the un-air-conditioned tatami room, we all felt like hibernating. 77 actually did so for several minutes. All this time, Arwen's husband, Aragorn, was busy working at his project so he could only tackle the leftovers.

After a while, Aragorn and I thankfully returned to the cool comfort of the kitchen area and spoke on movies and DVD players before we took a look at his disc of Spike Jonze videos. Some very interesting ones including the much-heralded ode to middle age hoofin' by Chris Walken in Weapon of Choice. However, I also did see a pre-director Sofia Coppola in her turn as a rhythmic gymnast and Weezer's hilarious Zelig appearance on Happy Days. But the "What the--?" monent had to be the final video with Bjork doing her own kicksteps and showtune. Still, it didn't quite match her au naturel appearance in a later video.

The sun was heading south so DTE and I decided to make our way home. The others accompanied us to the station to meet up with a latecomer to head over for some drinking. Arwen asked if I would be available for something on Wednesday afternoon. Her timing is pretty good since The Office Lady has cancelled her regular lesson for this week and I'll just be finishing off with Jazz Buddy in Shinjuku on that day.

The winds have started to pick up and the clouds are flying by at mach speed as that typhoon is approaching.