Saturday October 2, 3:01 p.m.
Well, it's official. Ichiro pulled it off. He not only tied the record..he broke it with two hits. Good place to do it as well...back at Safeco Arena. So I guess Mt. St. Helens wasn't the only place to go nuts in Washington State today. It feels a bit weird to find out from the sterile environment of the Internet. I haven't heard any major cheering or seen any newspaper banners screaming the headline. However, I'm pretty sure that I'll get plenty of both tonight when I get home. Now, all of us here can sigh relief.
Just a place to deposit my thoughts on life here in the Kanto and about anything else that sticks to my walls.
Friday, October 01, 2004
Saturday October 2, 2:49 p.m.
I'm back on the road again as I'm typing this from the local Kinkos. So far, I haven't heard the results from the baseball game concerning Ichiro's odyssey but I am hopeful.
Had The Teacher yesterday for her lesson where she gleefully told me that she got me that Speedo trunks for my birthday. I was grateful for them but I also related that one important rule to her: Fat people shouldn't wear Speedos in public. Did make my unprecedented third trip over to the gym last night. It didn't seem too different from my morning bouts there but I guess the evenings must be really crowded. Right now, my upper body is aching somewhat so I'll take that as a good sign. However, the mother of those kids I teach on Saturdays gave me a box of chocolates from her trip to the sumo tournament (who'da thunk that sumo players give out chocolate?) so I now have four packages of the sweet stuff. Good golly, of all the O'Henryesque endings.
Those guys are still working off my balcony. Nice salt of the earth types but I hope that they're finished by today. There's nothing more unsettling than folks chatting up a storm just arm's-distance away from your window.
I'll probably just veg out tonight and just have a salad and chicken for dinner tonight while I attempt to lose some more weight. With my luck, I'll probably just balloon this weekend.
I'm back on the road again as I'm typing this from the local Kinkos. So far, I haven't heard the results from the baseball game concerning Ichiro's odyssey but I am hopeful.
Had The Teacher yesterday for her lesson where she gleefully told me that she got me that Speedo trunks for my birthday. I was grateful for them but I also related that one important rule to her: Fat people shouldn't wear Speedos in public. Did make my unprecedented third trip over to the gym last night. It didn't seem too different from my morning bouts there but I guess the evenings must be really crowded. Right now, my upper body is aching somewhat so I'll take that as a good sign. However, the mother of those kids I teach on Saturdays gave me a box of chocolates from her trip to the sumo tournament (who'da thunk that sumo players give out chocolate?) so I now have four packages of the sweet stuff. Good golly, of all the O'Henryesque endings.
Those guys are still working off my balcony. Nice salt of the earth types but I hope that they're finished by today. There's nothing more unsettling than folks chatting up a storm just arm's-distance away from your window.
I'll probably just veg out tonight and just have a salad and chicken for dinner tonight while I attempt to lose some more weight. With my luck, I'll probably just balloon this weekend.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Thursday September 30, 9:41 p.m.
Well, my last entry here from home for the next little while. I'll be a bit more sporadic over the next couple of weeks as I write from Kinkos before my new provider gets me hooked up. I've sent out the word to everyone about my status so hopefully everything is OK on that front.
The only aftereffects of that typhoon were just some gustiness. Otherwise, it was pretty sunny. And though, it was 31 degrees, we didn't suffer any major humidity. It was nice and dry and the winds certainly helped things stay that way. I had another workout at the gym today. I even added to my program by lifting a couple of barbells. My arms and shoulders are feeling the burn right now.
Then, it was off to see I, ROBOT at the nearby theatre. The movie's gotten somewhat mixed reviews. But I'm one who enjoyed it. Sure, the movie only takes a cell's-depth of the original Asimov story, namely the The Three Laws of Robotics but what's on the screen works out pretty well as a medium-sized blockbuster It certainly comes off better than its stylistic clone, A.I. Will Smith plays a more dour version of his Agent Jay character but can't resist one little scene of full comedy. Also, the movie plays a bit as a film noir and certainly, I couldn't complain about the effects and some of those crazy camera tricks at the end. All in all, I'd give it a 8. Glad to hear that COLLATERAL will be headed our way by this time next month.
I hear that the government types in Ontario have slapped on a requirement to freeze all fish for a minimum 7 days before the sushi chefs can get their hands on them. The Entrepreneur and The Engineer sent me some news on it. The sushi chefs over in Toronto are up in arms over this law. Freezing certainly doesn't help the quality of the fish...especially not over a week. Over here, I don't think many fish get frozen and those that do, don't stay that way for long. One reason for it has already been cited, the other is proximity. The fish only needs refrigeration for the most part before it hits the boards for slicing and serving since Japan is such a small country.
However, in defense of the government, something that I rarely do, shipping fish from the ocean to a Tokyo sushi shop is rather different from shipping fish from the same ocean to a Toronto sushi shop. A lot more territory to traverse, and since there has been so much pestilence hitting my hometown in recent years, I guess the government had to come up with this hamfisted counterattack. But in a decade in this country, I've yet to hear of a single incident of food poisoning from a sushi bar anywhere in Japan. Before any of you state that there is a coverup, I'll say that if an incident of food poisoning ever occurred in a sushi shop, the media would probably pre-empt even Ichiro to find out where the offending restaurant is. The Japanese take their art of sushi THAT seriously.
Speaking of No. 51, Ichiro is truly a showman as well as a sportsman of the highest calibre. He got another hit today off the Oakland A's. He could've gotten all three to tie the mark but he's gonna keep us all in suspense, maybe even down to the final game against the Texas Rangers to get it.
Well, my usual classes with The Teacher and SR before I make my third consecutive trip to the gym. I heard that the place is pretty empty on Friday nights since most of the crowd usually does stuff of a most unhealthy nature on that night. More's the power to me.
Well, my last entry here from home for the next little while. I'll be a bit more sporadic over the next couple of weeks as I write from Kinkos before my new provider gets me hooked up. I've sent out the word to everyone about my status so hopefully everything is OK on that front.
The only aftereffects of that typhoon were just some gustiness. Otherwise, it was pretty sunny. And though, it was 31 degrees, we didn't suffer any major humidity. It was nice and dry and the winds certainly helped things stay that way. I had another workout at the gym today. I even added to my program by lifting a couple of barbells. My arms and shoulders are feeling the burn right now.
Then, it was off to see I, ROBOT at the nearby theatre. The movie's gotten somewhat mixed reviews. But I'm one who enjoyed it. Sure, the movie only takes a cell's-depth of the original Asimov story, namely the The Three Laws of Robotics but what's on the screen works out pretty well as a medium-sized blockbuster It certainly comes off better than its stylistic clone, A.I. Will Smith plays a more dour version of his Agent Jay character but can't resist one little scene of full comedy. Also, the movie plays a bit as a film noir and certainly, I couldn't complain about the effects and some of those crazy camera tricks at the end. All in all, I'd give it a 8. Glad to hear that COLLATERAL will be headed our way by this time next month.
I hear that the government types in Ontario have slapped on a requirement to freeze all fish for a minimum 7 days before the sushi chefs can get their hands on them. The Entrepreneur and The Engineer sent me some news on it. The sushi chefs over in Toronto are up in arms over this law. Freezing certainly doesn't help the quality of the fish...especially not over a week. Over here, I don't think many fish get frozen and those that do, don't stay that way for long. One reason for it has already been cited, the other is proximity. The fish only needs refrigeration for the most part before it hits the boards for slicing and serving since Japan is such a small country.
However, in defense of the government, something that I rarely do, shipping fish from the ocean to a Tokyo sushi shop is rather different from shipping fish from the same ocean to a Toronto sushi shop. A lot more territory to traverse, and since there has been so much pestilence hitting my hometown in recent years, I guess the government had to come up with this hamfisted counterattack. But in a decade in this country, I've yet to hear of a single incident of food poisoning from a sushi bar anywhere in Japan. Before any of you state that there is a coverup, I'll say that if an incident of food poisoning ever occurred in a sushi shop, the media would probably pre-empt even Ichiro to find out where the offending restaurant is. The Japanese take their art of sushi THAT seriously.
Speaking of No. 51, Ichiro is truly a showman as well as a sportsman of the highest calibre. He got another hit today off the Oakland A's. He could've gotten all three to tie the mark but he's gonna keep us all in suspense, maybe even down to the final game against the Texas Rangers to get it.
Well, my usual classes with The Teacher and SR before I make my third consecutive trip to the gym. I heard that the place is pretty empty on Friday nights since most of the crowd usually does stuff of a most unhealthy nature on that night. More's the power to me.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Thursday September 30, 10:14 a.m.
Well, this is the last day with my old provider. It certainly feels like things are coming to an end with it. The connection seems to be taking a bit longer...just like in old age. I called up my new provider and found out that it'll take 1 to 2 weeks for things to clear so I'll be without home access for the first half of October. I hope I don't go through withdrawal during that time but maybe just like my new regimen of exercise, the separation of man and Internet may actually do me some good. However, there is always the friendly neighbourhood Kinkos to check for Internet.
Paddy, in a very timely move, sent me some e-mail asking how the new provider and my new regimen were doing. To answer both questions, I just replied "work in progress".
Typhoon 21 (or Meari, as it's called in the West), was pretty skittish here. Aside from a burst of squall overnight that I detected for just a few seconds before slipping off into Dreamland again, it didn't do all that much for us here in Chiba. However, there were sudden bursts of rainfall in the evening last night. But today, the clouds are starting to break apart and the sun is peeking out. Of course, on the flip side, the typhoon is dragging in some hot air so the temps will be taking us back to midsummer, if only for a couple of days.
I'm running a bit late so I'll head to the gym in the early afternoon instead of the morning and I'll probably catch I, ROBOT in the late afternoon.
Party Hearty's contacted us about the big Thanksgiving party at her place in the next couple of weeks. I may actually ask a couple of students to see if they would like to partake in the annual feast.
Well, this is the last day with my old provider. It certainly feels like things are coming to an end with it. The connection seems to be taking a bit longer...just like in old age. I called up my new provider and found out that it'll take 1 to 2 weeks for things to clear so I'll be without home access for the first half of October. I hope I don't go through withdrawal during that time but maybe just like my new regimen of exercise, the separation of man and Internet may actually do me some good. However, there is always the friendly neighbourhood Kinkos to check for Internet.
Paddy, in a very timely move, sent me some e-mail asking how the new provider and my new regimen were doing. To answer both questions, I just replied "work in progress".
Typhoon 21 (or Meari, as it's called in the West), was pretty skittish here. Aside from a burst of squall overnight that I detected for just a few seconds before slipping off into Dreamland again, it didn't do all that much for us here in Chiba. However, there were sudden bursts of rainfall in the evening last night. But today, the clouds are starting to break apart and the sun is peeking out. Of course, on the flip side, the typhoon is dragging in some hot air so the temps will be taking us back to midsummer, if only for a couple of days.
I'm running a bit late so I'll head to the gym in the early afternoon instead of the morning and I'll probably catch I, ROBOT in the late afternoon.
Party Hearty's contacted us about the big Thanksgiving party at her place in the next couple of weeks. I may actually ask a couple of students to see if they would like to partake in the annual feast.
Wednesday September 29, 6:00 p.m.
Typhoon No. 21 will probably be the last one to scour through Japan this year but it's certainly making sure we won't forget it. It's going to ram right through the mainland. We've already had a slight taste here in Tokyo from one of the squall clouds ringing it. As usual, the southern parts are getting trashed right now.
I also had my third trip to the gym this morning. Worked out a bit longer than before thanks to an extended walk on the treadmill. And I was a bit heartened when I looked at the scale before working out. Since I had that pigout last weekend with ribs, karaoke food and all that meat at MB's, I thought I was back to square one again. However, I was actually weighing less than when I checked myself out on the first day.
Had my weekly class with The Hawaiian all the way west of Shinjuku today. She was my only customer since The Office Lady is too busy tonight. A bit of a pain having to go out all that way for just one hour of English teaching but The Hawaiian is an enthusiastic learner so I didn't mind at all.
Back home to see that NTT has left a message on my machine concerning my ADSL. Uck! I'm never all that thrilled about talking with authority in Japanese..probably, worst-case scenario, I have to pay the 72000 yen to officially get ownership of my phone line since I found out that it had been under the previous resident's name all these years. In which case I will be quite happy to relinquish my so-called dream of ADSL and go hat in hand back to my old provider and have my snail's-pace dial-up connection.
Well, the countdown for Ichiro's place in baseball history continues unabated. This morning, I heard that he only had 5 hits to go to reach Sisler's record of 257 hits. Then, on the way to work, I saw a sign on a newspaper kiosk trumpeting in bold yellow and black that the magic number was 4. Now, on the news, he only has 3 more to hit with 5 games left. It could be an interesting day tomorrow.
Aside from the call to the phone company, I hope to have a rather peaceful evening. I picked up something rather fascinating from the supermarket tonight...something that Homer Simpson (and I) would love. How about deep-fried potato and chicken skin on a skewer. I realize that I'm on a regimen but I just couldn't resist trying that out.
Typhoon No. 21 will probably be the last one to scour through Japan this year but it's certainly making sure we won't forget it. It's going to ram right through the mainland. We've already had a slight taste here in Tokyo from one of the squall clouds ringing it. As usual, the southern parts are getting trashed right now.
I also had my third trip to the gym this morning. Worked out a bit longer than before thanks to an extended walk on the treadmill. And I was a bit heartened when I looked at the scale before working out. Since I had that pigout last weekend with ribs, karaoke food and all that meat at MB's, I thought I was back to square one again. However, I was actually weighing less than when I checked myself out on the first day.
Had my weekly class with The Hawaiian all the way west of Shinjuku today. She was my only customer since The Office Lady is too busy tonight. A bit of a pain having to go out all that way for just one hour of English teaching but The Hawaiian is an enthusiastic learner so I didn't mind at all.
Back home to see that NTT has left a message on my machine concerning my ADSL. Uck! I'm never all that thrilled about talking with authority in Japanese..probably, worst-case scenario, I have to pay the 72000 yen to officially get ownership of my phone line since I found out that it had been under the previous resident's name all these years. In which case I will be quite happy to relinquish my so-called dream of ADSL and go hat in hand back to my old provider and have my snail's-pace dial-up connection.
Well, the countdown for Ichiro's place in baseball history continues unabated. This morning, I heard that he only had 5 hits to go to reach Sisler's record of 257 hits. Then, on the way to work, I saw a sign on a newspaper kiosk trumpeting in bold yellow and black that the magic number was 4. Now, on the news, he only has 3 more to hit with 5 games left. It could be an interesting day tomorrow.
Aside from the call to the phone company, I hope to have a rather peaceful evening. I picked up something rather fascinating from the supermarket tonight...something that Homer Simpson (and I) would love. How about deep-fried potato and chicken skin on a skewer. I realize that I'm on a regimen but I just couldn't resist trying that out.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Tuesday September 28, 11:07 p.m.
Finished my juku classes tonight. Had the boss for the last lesson. We managed to keep it to the target structure for most of the class unlike in previous lessons. But she then got off track again to talk about the possibility of moving shop to a house next year. It would be a big step for her and a good one, in fact. We then got into the subject about my situation past the end of next year since my visa cuts off then. At this point, I cannot say that I will be able to remain here without some company sponsoring me. She would like me to stay me on indefinitely. So I then suggested that if she could incorporate her new company and hire me on as a full-timer, perhaps I may be able to get that new visa. However, she got somewhat noncommittal about that. So, I still face that uncertain future.
Finished my juku classes tonight. Had the boss for the last lesson. We managed to keep it to the target structure for most of the class unlike in previous lessons. But she then got off track again to talk about the possibility of moving shop to a house next year. It would be a big step for her and a good one, in fact. We then got into the subject about my situation past the end of next year since my visa cuts off then. At this point, I cannot say that I will be able to remain here without some company sponsoring me. She would like me to stay me on indefinitely. So I then suggested that if she could incorporate her new company and hire me on as a full-timer, perhaps I may be able to get that new visa. However, she got somewhat noncommittal about that. So, I still face that uncertain future.
Monday, September 27, 2004
Tuesday September 28, 2:51 p.m.
Thought I was going to the gym in a few minutes but I've decided to hold my regimen one day. I had my class with the Tsudanuma gang and then one of the students invited me for lunch. I declined their kind invitation last week so I felt that I shouldn't do so this time.
I don't regret my decision. This time, the restaurant was just down the main street from the bowling alley. It was a small French place and done up like a farmhouse from the Gallic countryside itself. It's actually the first time that I've been to a French restaurant, and this place certainly left me a good first impression in terms of both taste and price (well, that is, if I had to pay...once again, the students picked up the tab). The appetizer was a potato salad with chicken and bacon shaped into a nice disc with carrot shavings on top and drops of lemon sauce sprinkled around it. Very artsy...this is French. Of course, there was the basket of crusty bread.
Then, came the main course which, for me, was slices of tender rump roast in a garlic sauce and coated in ground pepper. There was also the distinct taste of butter. I was sopping up the sauce with the crusty bread. Marvelous stuff. And then dessert was a plate of assorteds including a pretty tart passion fruit mousse cake. The only down side to all this culinary heaven was that I'd just come down with a case of hay fever. So I was sniffling into my well-used Kleenex all throughout the meal.
So I'm back now. The reason I'm staying put for the next few hours instead of working out is that I still have to plan for tonight's classes at the juku. I'm sure Paddy wouldn't be too pleased to hear that but I gotta get ready. Besides, I'll be heading out to the gym for the next three days anyways.
After I got back home last night, I watched Star Wars: A New Hope on DVD while scoffing down a mess of Spam and rice (don't knock it til you try it). I had the commentary track activated so I got to hear George Lucas, a couple of his assistants and Carrie Fisher gab on their opus. I was a tad disappointed by the fact that they were all separately taped instead of having the whole crew together but then again, the separation meant that everyone could focus on the task at hand instead of just doing the happy talk together. It's also too bad that the other actors, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, couldn't come on board. Harrison, I'm not too surprised about since he's always been pretty reticent with the media but it would've been interesting to see how he and Carrie would've done the commentary together. As for Carrie, she was just about a cameo performer in the commentary; most of the talking came via Lucas and the effects guys. And boy, does 26 years after the fact make a difference...Carrie definitely developed a whisky-and-cigarette voice since 1977.
On the CD front, one of the discs that I bought during that binge last week was by a group called EGO-WRAPPIN'. They're an Osaka band which started out on the indie circuit before striking it rich with their jazz/rockabilly sound. Their latest release, MERRY MERRY, seems to be a departure from their usual stuff. It looks like the lead singer has decided to go off on a Bjork-influenced vocal trip with some definitely non-jazz melodies. I'm not sure if this will be their new incarnation, but I kinda hope that they return to their jazz roots next album.
Thought I was going to the gym in a few minutes but I've decided to hold my regimen one day. I had my class with the Tsudanuma gang and then one of the students invited me for lunch. I declined their kind invitation last week so I felt that I shouldn't do so this time.
I don't regret my decision. This time, the restaurant was just down the main street from the bowling alley. It was a small French place and done up like a farmhouse from the Gallic countryside itself. It's actually the first time that I've been to a French restaurant, and this place certainly left me a good first impression in terms of both taste and price (well, that is, if I had to pay...once again, the students picked up the tab). The appetizer was a potato salad with chicken and bacon shaped into a nice disc with carrot shavings on top and drops of lemon sauce sprinkled around it. Very artsy...this is French. Of course, there was the basket of crusty bread.
Then, came the main course which, for me, was slices of tender rump roast in a garlic sauce and coated in ground pepper. There was also the distinct taste of butter. I was sopping up the sauce with the crusty bread. Marvelous stuff. And then dessert was a plate of assorteds including a pretty tart passion fruit mousse cake. The only down side to all this culinary heaven was that I'd just come down with a case of hay fever. So I was sniffling into my well-used Kleenex all throughout the meal.
So I'm back now. The reason I'm staying put for the next few hours instead of working out is that I still have to plan for tonight's classes at the juku. I'm sure Paddy wouldn't be too pleased to hear that but I gotta get ready. Besides, I'll be heading out to the gym for the next three days anyways.
After I got back home last night, I watched Star Wars: A New Hope on DVD while scoffing down a mess of Spam and rice (don't knock it til you try it). I had the commentary track activated so I got to hear George Lucas, a couple of his assistants and Carrie Fisher gab on their opus. I was a tad disappointed by the fact that they were all separately taped instead of having the whole crew together but then again, the separation meant that everyone could focus on the task at hand instead of just doing the happy talk together. It's also too bad that the other actors, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, couldn't come on board. Harrison, I'm not too surprised about since he's always been pretty reticent with the media but it would've been interesting to see how he and Carrie would've done the commentary together. As for Carrie, she was just about a cameo performer in the commentary; most of the talking came via Lucas and the effects guys. And boy, does 26 years after the fact make a difference...Carrie definitely developed a whisky-and-cigarette voice since 1977.
On the CD front, one of the discs that I bought during that binge last week was by a group called EGO-WRAPPIN'. They're an Osaka band which started out on the indie circuit before striking it rich with their jazz/rockabilly sound. Their latest release, MERRY MERRY, seems to be a departure from their usual stuff. It looks like the lead singer has decided to go off on a Bjork-influenced vocal trip with some definitely non-jazz melodies. I'm not sure if this will be their new incarnation, but I kinda hope that they return to their jazz roots next album.
Monday September 27, 8:51 p.m.
Feeling pretty beat right now. The rains came down on Tokyo today. However, much to my chagrin, the temps outside were cool enough that I needed the jacket but the subways were warm enough to make it feel like the summer we had just gotten rid of.
The Class Act was mostly a solo since the host lady had to take off for parts unknown. However, before she did, she related us that she almost became the victim of telephone fraud or as they say over here, "Ore ore sagi" ("It's me, it's me" scam). What happens is that a con artist phones up an unsuspecting person, usually a middle-aged person with maturing kids, after doing some research on the patsy. The artist then either takes on either one of two personae: 1) a police officer, insurance agent or some other authority figure who reports to the parent that his son/daughter has gotten into some trouble and that a fine or fee has to be paid into the so-called figure's bank account to help expedite matters, or 2) the child himself/herself who tries to convince the parent in a small or whispery voice that he/she is in a pot load of trouble and needs money right away. Of course, the parent gets hooked because of the immediate panic involved so that even if the voice and the circumstances sound a bit strange, the parent is too rattled to notice.
My student almost fell victim to it. I thought she was a pretty sharp lady but even she blanked out during the hour of conversation with the con artist since she was so panicky. However, she did have the final presence of mind to say that she would call him back as a precaution. Of course, that ended the scam when she had her real son call the number given by the scammer to find out that it didn't pick up (because it was probably a public phone). There was actually a "school" run by the Yakuza for teens who wanted to hone their craft in the lucrative business of fraud until the police finally caught wind of it and busted the place.
Came home to see that the travel agency sent the fax confirming that I've got a lock on the flight home so I gave word to my brother.
Feeling pretty beat right now. The rains came down on Tokyo today. However, much to my chagrin, the temps outside were cool enough that I needed the jacket but the subways were warm enough to make it feel like the summer we had just gotten rid of.
The Class Act was mostly a solo since the host lady had to take off for parts unknown. However, before she did, she related us that she almost became the victim of telephone fraud or as they say over here, "Ore ore sagi" ("It's me, it's me" scam). What happens is that a con artist phones up an unsuspecting person, usually a middle-aged person with maturing kids, after doing some research on the patsy. The artist then either takes on either one of two personae: 1) a police officer, insurance agent or some other authority figure who reports to the parent that his son/daughter has gotten into some trouble and that a fine or fee has to be paid into the so-called figure's bank account to help expedite matters, or 2) the child himself/herself who tries to convince the parent in a small or whispery voice that he/she is in a pot load of trouble and needs money right away. Of course, the parent gets hooked because of the immediate panic involved so that even if the voice and the circumstances sound a bit strange, the parent is too rattled to notice.
My student almost fell victim to it. I thought she was a pretty sharp lady but even she blanked out during the hour of conversation with the con artist since she was so panicky. However, she did have the final presence of mind to say that she would call him back as a precaution. Of course, that ended the scam when she had her real son call the number given by the scammer to find out that it didn't pick up (because it was probably a public phone). There was actually a "school" run by the Yakuza for teens who wanted to hone their craft in the lucrative business of fraud until the police finally caught wind of it and busted the place.
Came home to see that the travel agency sent the fax confirming that I've got a lock on the flight home so I gave word to my brother.
Sunday, September 26, 2004
Sunday September 26, 11:28 p.m.
Kinda of a gray and intermittently drippy day. Despite my balcony being trussed up with scaffolding for those painters, I was able to get my laundry done. Just brought it most of it to dry inside the living room. Luckily, my decade-old washer can still wring most of the moisture out of the wash so the clothes don't end up overhumidifying the room. However, I've seen the insect population start to increase so I'm gonna have to defumigate the place before bedtime.
Instead of catching I, ROBOT today, I just headed over for a rubdown at the massage clinic. It was absolutely empty when I got there. When I asked the clinic director what was up, he answered the weather and perhaps some school sports days were keeping the customers away although I couldn't really see much going on during this weather. However, I'm not one to complain when I could get serviced immediately.
I came home and then caught the rest of the specials on the Star Wars DVD. Lucas mentioned that it was rather bittersweet when he finally wrapped that first trilogy since all his labours to create Star Wars also finally cost him his marriage. I also think watching the documentary was rather bittersweet since all the love and respect which has gone to this first trilogy really hasn't translated over to the current trilogy. Now when people talk of the next Star Wars movie, it's with a small sense of resignation to follow through as loyal but disappointed fans to catch the final Star Wars movie...for this trilogy anyways. I'm still fairly confident that either Lucas or his own Padawan Learner will make a try for the sequel trilogy.
Then, it was time to head over to downtown to meet up with Skippy and the others for those ribs at Tony Romas. The roll call had her, me, DTE, Arwen, Movie Buddy and her girlfriend, The Kid and The Golfer. The Ballerina sent her regrets but we did get a cameo in the form of Gabby via cellphone from San Francisco. I went literally whole hog and went for the large rack of ribs. I must admit that they were very tasty and meaty. Apparently since the restaurant is celebrating its 25th year in Japan this year, we all got a special ticket promising a free dish for our next visits, valid until next May. DTE was quite high on that thought to the point that she suggested going sometime in the very near future.
After dinner, we lost The Kid and Movie Buddy. But the rest of us traipsed along the main street over to Anna Millers. The waitresses were wearing their usual short skirts and loose socks but they didn't get any sort of reaction from me. I had my usual Dutch Apple Pie and bottomless coffee. Within half an hour, Arwen decided it was time to go. So I thought it was everyone's cue to call it a night. However, Skippy asked if everyone had to go. I decided that I could stay, but DTE and The Golfer went with Arwen. So it was just Skippy and myself for the next hour. It seems her career and family life are paralleling mine. She's currently encountering the same pains that I did several years ago when I accepted promotion at my then-school and found myself being dragged away from teaching and into the mundane and political life of being an administrator. So she's considering options.
Well in any case, we're thinking about the next outing. Perhaps it'll be when COLLATERAL comes out here or when DTE gets that craving for ribs again.
Kinda of a gray and intermittently drippy day. Despite my balcony being trussed up with scaffolding for those painters, I was able to get my laundry done. Just brought it most of it to dry inside the living room. Luckily, my decade-old washer can still wring most of the moisture out of the wash so the clothes don't end up overhumidifying the room. However, I've seen the insect population start to increase so I'm gonna have to defumigate the place before bedtime.
Instead of catching I, ROBOT today, I just headed over for a rubdown at the massage clinic. It was absolutely empty when I got there. When I asked the clinic director what was up, he answered the weather and perhaps some school sports days were keeping the customers away although I couldn't really see much going on during this weather. However, I'm not one to complain when I could get serviced immediately.
I came home and then caught the rest of the specials on the Star Wars DVD. Lucas mentioned that it was rather bittersweet when he finally wrapped that first trilogy since all his labours to create Star Wars also finally cost him his marriage. I also think watching the documentary was rather bittersweet since all the love and respect which has gone to this first trilogy really hasn't translated over to the current trilogy. Now when people talk of the next Star Wars movie, it's with a small sense of resignation to follow through as loyal but disappointed fans to catch the final Star Wars movie...for this trilogy anyways. I'm still fairly confident that either Lucas or his own Padawan Learner will make a try for the sequel trilogy.
Then, it was time to head over to downtown to meet up with Skippy and the others for those ribs at Tony Romas. The roll call had her, me, DTE, Arwen, Movie Buddy and her girlfriend, The Kid and The Golfer. The Ballerina sent her regrets but we did get a cameo in the form of Gabby via cellphone from San Francisco. I went literally whole hog and went for the large rack of ribs. I must admit that they were very tasty and meaty. Apparently since the restaurant is celebrating its 25th year in Japan this year, we all got a special ticket promising a free dish for our next visits, valid until next May. DTE was quite high on that thought to the point that she suggested going sometime in the very near future.
After dinner, we lost The Kid and Movie Buddy. But the rest of us traipsed along the main street over to Anna Millers. The waitresses were wearing their usual short skirts and loose socks but they didn't get any sort of reaction from me. I had my usual Dutch Apple Pie and bottomless coffee. Within half an hour, Arwen decided it was time to go. So I thought it was everyone's cue to call it a night. However, Skippy asked if everyone had to go. I decided that I could stay, but DTE and The Golfer went with Arwen. So it was just Skippy and myself for the next hour. It seems her career and family life are paralleling mine. She's currently encountering the same pains that I did several years ago when I accepted promotion at my then-school and found myself being dragged away from teaching and into the mundane and political life of being an administrator. So she's considering options.
Well in any case, we're thinking about the next outing. Perhaps it'll be when COLLATERAL comes out here or when DTE gets that craving for ribs again.
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Sunday September 26, 12:00 a.m.
Right on the stroke of midnight...
Another day to make me forget any good I did to my body at the gym this week. I went over to the welcome party where a couple of the higher students took over the hosting duties. Very good. I had a pretty fine time with the food and I met a new teacher who comes from the ol' hometown. The new kids seem fine and as is usually the case with the newbies, they were fairly subdued. However, everyone enjoyed themselves during the party games and the singalong. The coordinator seems to feel that renditions of "Do, Re, Mi" and "Edelweiss" are mandatory customs at the school parties. However, I was able to grit my way through it.
Everyone pretty much broke up afterwards which was a bit atypical when compared to welcome parties of the past. However, I just went up to the Tea Room and enjoyed what had to have been the very first time to just have tea there and not hold a lesson. Not that the staff particularly paid too much mind about that.
About an hour later, I headed out to Nakano where I was met by Movie Buddy's girl. We went shopping for the food for the grill. As usual, I ended up buying too much meat. However, MB and I were dutiful enough to devour everything though it took about 3 hours. During that time, we had a very pleasant evening chatting and eating while MB's brazier burned away. Curry Master did another quick cancellation...she really has a problem with going out; a bit of an extreme homebody, she is.
Earlier this morning, I watched the first bit of the Star Wars documentary, "EMPIRE OF DREAMS" on the DVD. It was quite enlightening despite the fact that I'd had read most of the stuff that came on screen on the unauthorized biography of George Lucas called SKYWALKING. Got to see some of the alternate choices for the characters trying out for Han Solo and Luke Skywalker such as a post-Disney Kurt Russell and William Katt. I'll probably slog through some more of it tomorrow before I head out to the third and final chapter in the saga of my weekend culinary binge.
Right on the stroke of midnight...
Another day to make me forget any good I did to my body at the gym this week. I went over to the welcome party where a couple of the higher students took over the hosting duties. Very good. I had a pretty fine time with the food and I met a new teacher who comes from the ol' hometown. The new kids seem fine and as is usually the case with the newbies, they were fairly subdued. However, everyone enjoyed themselves during the party games and the singalong. The coordinator seems to feel that renditions of "Do, Re, Mi" and "Edelweiss" are mandatory customs at the school parties. However, I was able to grit my way through it.
Everyone pretty much broke up afterwards which was a bit atypical when compared to welcome parties of the past. However, I just went up to the Tea Room and enjoyed what had to have been the very first time to just have tea there and not hold a lesson. Not that the staff particularly paid too much mind about that.
About an hour later, I headed out to Nakano where I was met by Movie Buddy's girl. We went shopping for the food for the grill. As usual, I ended up buying too much meat. However, MB and I were dutiful enough to devour everything though it took about 3 hours. During that time, we had a very pleasant evening chatting and eating while MB's brazier burned away. Curry Master did another quick cancellation...she really has a problem with going out; a bit of an extreme homebody, she is.
Earlier this morning, I watched the first bit of the Star Wars documentary, "EMPIRE OF DREAMS" on the DVD. It was quite enlightening despite the fact that I'd had read most of the stuff that came on screen on the unauthorized biography of George Lucas called SKYWALKING. Got to see some of the alternate choices for the characters trying out for Han Solo and Luke Skywalker such as a post-Disney Kurt Russell and William Katt. I'll probably slog through some more of it tomorrow before I head out to the third and final chapter in the saga of my weekend culinary binge.
Friday, September 24, 2004
Friday September 24, 11:22 p.m.
Smellin' of smoke and sweat once more after what seems to be becoming a monthly ritual with the Beauty Pair and Mr. Eccentric at the local SHIDAX karaoke box. It was fun again but I tried to make sure that everyone got their equal share in the spotlight. However, I kinda worried that Mr. Eccentric was getting a little downbeat over my facility with both English and Japanese songs. However, one of the BP assured me that everything was OK. I did my tribute to 80s singles by singing 66% of the hits of STARSHIP. To be honest, I was rather shocked by one of the music mags which labeled "We Built This City" as the 20th-century's shlockiest song but then again reporters of music magazines have become so jaded and snobbish.
Earlier in the day, I had The Teacher for her first lesson in 2 weeks. She was much better after her bout with asthma last Friday. And I got a surprise in the form of her lending me the Classic Star Wars trilogy DVDs. So I get a sneak peek at them after all before I get my own copy from my brother this Xmas. Then, I saw SR at the Tea Room. Apparently, she got a bit of a shock herself when there was a message from the Coordinator for some reason. There has been no contact between SR and her old school since she graduated over 18 months ago and suddenly she gets a message out of the blue. We gradually theorized that the Coordinator wanted her to come into the school on Saturdays to be the prodigal mouthpiece for potential students. SR was also somewhat put off that the Coordinator left another message inviting her to come to her chorus group's recital since the Coordinator shouldn't really be using alumni phone numbers on non-professional business.
Well, I contacted a travel agent acquaintance of Party Hearty's in Osaka to see if I can get that air ticket for home. When I got back from karaoke, there was a fax with all of the details. Air Canada is traditionally not one of those airline companies which gets on the discount ticket lists but for a direct flight from Narita back home, I guess the extra money is worth it. Anyways, I gotta get the info faxed back to him.
Also, Paddy's been taking some of his precious time to help me out of that snag with NTT concerning my attempts to get ADSL. Hopefully, he'll be able to do since I've got less than a week before my contract with my current provider runs out.
I've got a welcome party at the school tomorrow despite the fact that I'm no longer teaching the kids there. I'm gonna come in late so the Coordinator no longer takes it for granted that I will be always be the host for these parties especially when I'm no longer a presence in the regular classes. Stiil, it'll be nice to see the kids again.
Then, I'm headed over to see Movie Buddy, his girlfriend and Curry Master for dinner at his place. The wedding party for his buddy may be off but MB still wants to have a bit of dinner together.
Smellin' of smoke and sweat once more after what seems to be becoming a monthly ritual with the Beauty Pair and Mr. Eccentric at the local SHIDAX karaoke box. It was fun again but I tried to make sure that everyone got their equal share in the spotlight. However, I kinda worried that Mr. Eccentric was getting a little downbeat over my facility with both English and Japanese songs. However, one of the BP assured me that everything was OK. I did my tribute to 80s singles by singing 66% of the hits of STARSHIP. To be honest, I was rather shocked by one of the music mags which labeled "We Built This City" as the 20th-century's shlockiest song but then again reporters of music magazines have become so jaded and snobbish.
Earlier in the day, I had The Teacher for her first lesson in 2 weeks. She was much better after her bout with asthma last Friday. And I got a surprise in the form of her lending me the Classic Star Wars trilogy DVDs. So I get a sneak peek at them after all before I get my own copy from my brother this Xmas. Then, I saw SR at the Tea Room. Apparently, she got a bit of a shock herself when there was a message from the Coordinator for some reason. There has been no contact between SR and her old school since she graduated over 18 months ago and suddenly she gets a message out of the blue. We gradually theorized that the Coordinator wanted her to come into the school on Saturdays to be the prodigal mouthpiece for potential students. SR was also somewhat put off that the Coordinator left another message inviting her to come to her chorus group's recital since the Coordinator shouldn't really be using alumni phone numbers on non-professional business.
Well, I contacted a travel agent acquaintance of Party Hearty's in Osaka to see if I can get that air ticket for home. When I got back from karaoke, there was a fax with all of the details. Air Canada is traditionally not one of those airline companies which gets on the discount ticket lists but for a direct flight from Narita back home, I guess the extra money is worth it. Anyways, I gotta get the info faxed back to him.
Also, Paddy's been taking some of his precious time to help me out of that snag with NTT concerning my attempts to get ADSL. Hopefully, he'll be able to do since I've got less than a week before my contract with my current provider runs out.
I've got a welcome party at the school tomorrow despite the fact that I'm no longer teaching the kids there. I'm gonna come in late so the Coordinator no longer takes it for granted that I will be always be the host for these parties especially when I'm no longer a presence in the regular classes. Stiil, it'll be nice to see the kids again.
Then, I'm headed over to see Movie Buddy, his girlfriend and Curry Master for dinner at his place. The wedding party for his buddy may be off but MB still wants to have a bit of dinner together.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Thursday September 23, 8:16 p.m.
Well, I guess the weather gods have cooperated with the official coming of Fall. The temps were actually decent today with the high being a warm but not stifling 27 degrees. The good news is that the weathermen are saying that this is indeed the beginning of the end of the Hell that was Summer '04.
More good news in Japanese baseball. Looks like the strike for this weekend has been averted. The chairman of the Japanese Baseball Players' Association, Atsuya Furuta, has definitely been coming out as the hero in this struggle against the so-called greedy owners. It helps that he had always been pretty popular as the catcher of the Yakult Swallows since he comes across as the regular guy. It also helps that his wife is a popular freelance announcer on TV. His regular guy status was further enhanced by his wearing a suit during the negotiations. Some good touches included his most public refusal to shake hands with the other side since he felt that there was nothing to shake hands about, and the fact that he got rather teary-eyed when the first weekend strike had been announced. Over here, a manly man crying just adds to his appeal....something that I've never really cottoned to.
The other good news here in baseball is Ichiro's rampaging run to become the highest-scoring hitter in a season. If he's getting a lot of press over Stateside, you can only imagine the ink and bytes of data that are being spewed out in his honour over here. A week back, I didn't think even he could make it but after hearing that he got 9 hits in 2 games, maybe it's time to change that opinion.
Had my class with Jazz Buddy. She was pretty good today. I won't be seeing her for the next couple of weeks since she's off with a friend to Taiwan for a vacation. I met The Carolinan later on in the day for her second lesson. She's a definite straight-shooter alright...it was only her second time in the Tea Room and she made her order to the waitress without opening the menu. She's not like the OL in that she's absolutely ravenous about using and learning English. She's somewhat more subdued so it ended up that I did more of the talking. Her basics in grammar seem to be OK but she had some rather surprising difficulties with preps so it's still going to be a bit before I finally nail her down on a teaching rhythm.
Movie Buddy left a message on the ol' machine. Looks like he'll come out to the welcome party now that the other party has been cancelled but he asked me if I'm still game for a BBQ at his place anyways.
It'll be another 2-lesson day tomorrow with The Teacher and SR. Then I've got my second round of karaoke with the Beauty Pair and Mr. Eccentric.
Well, I guess the weather gods have cooperated with the official coming of Fall. The temps were actually decent today with the high being a warm but not stifling 27 degrees. The good news is that the weathermen are saying that this is indeed the beginning of the end of the Hell that was Summer '04.
More good news in Japanese baseball. Looks like the strike for this weekend has been averted. The chairman of the Japanese Baseball Players' Association, Atsuya Furuta, has definitely been coming out as the hero in this struggle against the so-called greedy owners. It helps that he had always been pretty popular as the catcher of the Yakult Swallows since he comes across as the regular guy. It also helps that his wife is a popular freelance announcer on TV. His regular guy status was further enhanced by his wearing a suit during the negotiations. Some good touches included his most public refusal to shake hands with the other side since he felt that there was nothing to shake hands about, and the fact that he got rather teary-eyed when the first weekend strike had been announced. Over here, a manly man crying just adds to his appeal....something that I've never really cottoned to.
The other good news here in baseball is Ichiro's rampaging run to become the highest-scoring hitter in a season. If he's getting a lot of press over Stateside, you can only imagine the ink and bytes of data that are being spewed out in his honour over here. A week back, I didn't think even he could make it but after hearing that he got 9 hits in 2 games, maybe it's time to change that opinion.
Had my class with Jazz Buddy. She was pretty good today. I won't be seeing her for the next couple of weeks since she's off with a friend to Taiwan for a vacation. I met The Carolinan later on in the day for her second lesson. She's a definite straight-shooter alright...it was only her second time in the Tea Room and she made her order to the waitress without opening the menu. She's not like the OL in that she's absolutely ravenous about using and learning English. She's somewhat more subdued so it ended up that I did more of the talking. Her basics in grammar seem to be OK but she had some rather surprising difficulties with preps so it's still going to be a bit before I finally nail her down on a teaching rhythm.
Movie Buddy left a message on the ol' machine. Looks like he'll come out to the welcome party now that the other party has been cancelled but he asked me if I'm still game for a BBQ at his place anyways.
It'll be another 2-lesson day tomorrow with The Teacher and SR. Then I've got my second round of karaoke with the Beauty Pair and Mr. Eccentric.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Wednesday September 22, 11:15 p.m.
Summer is determined to be dragged away kicking and screaming before Fall gets here tomorrow. It was another hot one in the Big Sushi. I had another go at the gym this morning. Just went through the routine as shown by my trainer the day before. Did two rounds of each exercise which were bracketed by 10 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes on the treadmill. I got everything done within an hour which kinda felt a bit hollow, a bit too fast. So, the next time I go there I'll go farther and faster on the treadmill and maybe I'll even sneak in one of Paddy's more advanced exercises to bulk things up a bit. I did lose another several grams, though.
However, all that effort probably went down the drain since I met the oil company guys tonight at Shimbashi. They took me to a new Italian buffet place which reminded me, if not fully equaled, the late lamented Farm Grill. Filled myself up with pasta and other goodies from the shelves. It's been six months since our last encounter so there was a bit to catch up on as well as the usual juicy gossip of who wined and dined who.
In between that get-together and the earlier workout, it seems that my life is now solidly spent in cafes. Except for another trip to the new Maruzen to pick up a couple of texts, I went to see The Hawaiian at our usual cafe in her neighbourhood and then I spent over an hour in another cafe in Shiodome before meeting up with the oil guys and after the dinner, we stopped at yet one more cafe before calling it a night.
I told The Hawaiian about the cancellation of the party on Saturday. She kinda went into shock for a couple of minutes because I also told her the reason behind it...the bride's mother passed away suddenly. I gather that I should have been a bit more gentle about it since The Hawaiian's father had also passed away not too long ago but I found out that her family and the bride's family were fairly close. I'm just surprised that Movie Buddy didn't bother calling her about the news. I sent him an e-mail telling him what happened today so that perhaps I could get some sort of response from him.
On the way home tonight on the subway, I was standing over one rather smelly guy who obviously was trying to raise his own dandruff farm. He ambled off the train looking like a slovenly version of Charles Bronson.
Well, I gotta get ready for the lessons for Jazz Buddy and then the Carolinan tomorrow despite the fact that it's a national holiday. But I'll be glad for the income since I've managed to fritter away a good bit of money since last week.
Summer is determined to be dragged away kicking and screaming before Fall gets here tomorrow. It was another hot one in the Big Sushi. I had another go at the gym this morning. Just went through the routine as shown by my trainer the day before. Did two rounds of each exercise which were bracketed by 10 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes on the treadmill. I got everything done within an hour which kinda felt a bit hollow, a bit too fast. So, the next time I go there I'll go farther and faster on the treadmill and maybe I'll even sneak in one of Paddy's more advanced exercises to bulk things up a bit. I did lose another several grams, though.
However, all that effort probably went down the drain since I met the oil company guys tonight at Shimbashi. They took me to a new Italian buffet place which reminded me, if not fully equaled, the late lamented Farm Grill. Filled myself up with pasta and other goodies from the shelves. It's been six months since our last encounter so there was a bit to catch up on as well as the usual juicy gossip of who wined and dined who.
In between that get-together and the earlier workout, it seems that my life is now solidly spent in cafes. Except for another trip to the new Maruzen to pick up a couple of texts, I went to see The Hawaiian at our usual cafe in her neighbourhood and then I spent over an hour in another cafe in Shiodome before meeting up with the oil guys and after the dinner, we stopped at yet one more cafe before calling it a night.
I told The Hawaiian about the cancellation of the party on Saturday. She kinda went into shock for a couple of minutes because I also told her the reason behind it...the bride's mother passed away suddenly. I gather that I should have been a bit more gentle about it since The Hawaiian's father had also passed away not too long ago but I found out that her family and the bride's family were fairly close. I'm just surprised that Movie Buddy didn't bother calling her about the news. I sent him an e-mail telling him what happened today so that perhaps I could get some sort of response from him.
On the way home tonight on the subway, I was standing over one rather smelly guy who obviously was trying to raise his own dandruff farm. He ambled off the train looking like a slovenly version of Charles Bronson.
Well, I gotta get ready for the lessons for Jazz Buddy and then the Carolinan tomorrow despite the fact that it's a national holiday. But I'll be glad for the income since I've managed to fritter away a good bit of money since last week.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Tuesday September 21, 11:28 p.m.
It was another hot one today so we did break that record. The Weather Office says that by the end of the 21st-century, Japan should easily have double the plus 30-degree days that we have now. Oh, joy! Mind you, I don't think I'll be around quite that long unless there are some truly mindblowing advances in medicine and cybernetics.
My first session with the Tsudanuma gang in 2 months was unsurprisingly a big long chat about everyone's summer events. However, we did get into politics which kinda tuned out a couple of the ladies. Well, live and learn. They got quite a kick when I told them about my new life as a fitness nut.
And so later on in the afternoon, I made my way to the sports club to begin my long odyssey to a better me. Well, I quickly found out that I have to use a lot of lockers: the first one to store my valuables, another to store my sneakers which I can't use on the gym floor and yet one more in the men's changeroom to store the rest of my stuff and the keys for the first two lockers. I then rented a couple of shoes as if I were at a bowling alley and then my first steps onto the gym floor.
The staff there are very happy happy, joy joy. My trainer showed me the ropes by first having me checked out for blood pressure and weight. My weight was a bit of a shocker...I underestimated it by a good 10 kg or 20 lb. Yikes! Well, there's nowhere to go but down.
Then, my guy got me started on the process. First he had me do 10 minutes on the bike to check my heart rate. I skewed right in the middle; I wasn't breathing too hard but I did work up a good sweat which is a good start. Next, he had me do stretches to a video with a very well endowed young lady. And then he gave me the tour and test run of some of the machines. As a teacher, I'd give him full marks on his presentation: he was very patient and explained things very clearly in Japanese in a way that I could understand without having to guess too much at the details. Finally, we gave the treadmill a test run.
Finally, he wrote me up the programme which is a whole lot lighter than the one Paddy wrote up for me on Saturday. But then again, seeing that I am a beginner it's probably better for me to start out slowly. I did one more round by myself before calling it a day. The entire process took about an hour and 15 minutes. Not too bad and I even lost a good portion of a kilogram. I'll be giving things another go tomorrow morning before I see The Hawaiian. I'll probably hit the treadmill for a longer session. Kinda too bad that I faltered and did hit the burger shop after the first session though.
I got to the juku a full 90 minutes earlier than usual which surprised the boss. She also kinda gave me a surprise when she requested me to call up a cancer institute in Boston for her hubby's friend. I said that I would try my best although I wasn't too confident since all of the information about the friend was pretty much third-hand. However, I missed a bullet when the boss agreed that it would be a bit of a challenge so she had the friend call overseas instead.
They said that one has a lot more energy after a good workout. All I felt was some dull aches and pains. However, I did have a good couple of classes. The Beauty Pair just confirmed our second karaoke night for Friday. My juku boss once again took things way off the tangent once she heard my time at the gym. And in fact, the last 5 minutes had her jabbering in Japanese about advice concerning my dietary needs. I've been getting all sorts of diverging info on that topic that I just wonder if any of it really means anything.
Meanwhile at home, I'm facing perhaps a couple of weeks of scaffolding all around my balcony due to some work that's needed on the veranda side wall. I'm not too put out since the last time any outfit was doing that, Clinton had barely started his second term as President.
I got word from Movie Buddy that the big party this Saturday has been called off due to a tragedy in the family of one of the happy pair. Really too bad about that. Also, I got a message from the folks at my potentially new Internet provider...in pretty voluminous Japanese. I could glean barely that there will be a snag due to something concerning my NTT line. I forwarded the calligraphy over to Paddy who should get back within the next couple of days. I hope he can work things out. Otherwise, I may have to have hat in hand for my old provider.
According to the local news last night, there was an incident at a junior high school which ought to belong to one of those newspaper columns devoted to the bizarre and truly boneheaded. Apparently, a principal who just wanted to improve relationships between him and his students went up to a girl and felt that she looked better with shorter hair. Therefore as a "favour" to the young lass, he promptly produced a pair of scissors and snipped some locks off much to the shock of the girl. The girl immediately ran to her homeroom teacher who promptly went over his boss' head (which was pretty amazing in itself) and reported him to the Board of Education. I wonder if the principal (if he still has the title) had snipped a couple of nerves before he went on his tonsorial rampage.
Well, just gotta make the student reports and then head off to bed.
It was another hot one today so we did break that record. The Weather Office says that by the end of the 21st-century, Japan should easily have double the plus 30-degree days that we have now. Oh, joy! Mind you, I don't think I'll be around quite that long unless there are some truly mindblowing advances in medicine and cybernetics.
My first session with the Tsudanuma gang in 2 months was unsurprisingly a big long chat about everyone's summer events. However, we did get into politics which kinda tuned out a couple of the ladies. Well, live and learn. They got quite a kick when I told them about my new life as a fitness nut.
And so later on in the afternoon, I made my way to the sports club to begin my long odyssey to a better me. Well, I quickly found out that I have to use a lot of lockers: the first one to store my valuables, another to store my sneakers which I can't use on the gym floor and yet one more in the men's changeroom to store the rest of my stuff and the keys for the first two lockers. I then rented a couple of shoes as if I were at a bowling alley and then my first steps onto the gym floor.
The staff there are very happy happy, joy joy. My trainer showed me the ropes by first having me checked out for blood pressure and weight. My weight was a bit of a shocker...I underestimated it by a good 10 kg or 20 lb. Yikes! Well, there's nowhere to go but down.
Then, my guy got me started on the process. First he had me do 10 minutes on the bike to check my heart rate. I skewed right in the middle; I wasn't breathing too hard but I did work up a good sweat which is a good start. Next, he had me do stretches to a video with a very well endowed young lady. And then he gave me the tour and test run of some of the machines. As a teacher, I'd give him full marks on his presentation: he was very patient and explained things very clearly in Japanese in a way that I could understand without having to guess too much at the details. Finally, we gave the treadmill a test run.
Finally, he wrote me up the programme which is a whole lot lighter than the one Paddy wrote up for me on Saturday. But then again, seeing that I am a beginner it's probably better for me to start out slowly. I did one more round by myself before calling it a day. The entire process took about an hour and 15 minutes. Not too bad and I even lost a good portion of a kilogram. I'll be giving things another go tomorrow morning before I see The Hawaiian. I'll probably hit the treadmill for a longer session. Kinda too bad that I faltered and did hit the burger shop after the first session though.
I got to the juku a full 90 minutes earlier than usual which surprised the boss. She also kinda gave me a surprise when she requested me to call up a cancer institute in Boston for her hubby's friend. I said that I would try my best although I wasn't too confident since all of the information about the friend was pretty much third-hand. However, I missed a bullet when the boss agreed that it would be a bit of a challenge so she had the friend call overseas instead.
They said that one has a lot more energy after a good workout. All I felt was some dull aches and pains. However, I did have a good couple of classes. The Beauty Pair just confirmed our second karaoke night for Friday. My juku boss once again took things way off the tangent once she heard my time at the gym. And in fact, the last 5 minutes had her jabbering in Japanese about advice concerning my dietary needs. I've been getting all sorts of diverging info on that topic that I just wonder if any of it really means anything.
Meanwhile at home, I'm facing perhaps a couple of weeks of scaffolding all around my balcony due to some work that's needed on the veranda side wall. I'm not too put out since the last time any outfit was doing that, Clinton had barely started his second term as President.
I got word from Movie Buddy that the big party this Saturday has been called off due to a tragedy in the family of one of the happy pair. Really too bad about that. Also, I got a message from the folks at my potentially new Internet provider...in pretty voluminous Japanese. I could glean barely that there will be a snag due to something concerning my NTT line. I forwarded the calligraphy over to Paddy who should get back within the next couple of days. I hope he can work things out. Otherwise, I may have to have hat in hand for my old provider.
According to the local news last night, there was an incident at a junior high school which ought to belong to one of those newspaper columns devoted to the bizarre and truly boneheaded. Apparently, a principal who just wanted to improve relationships between him and his students went up to a girl and felt that she looked better with shorter hair. Therefore as a "favour" to the young lass, he promptly produced a pair of scissors and snipped some locks off much to the shock of the girl. The girl immediately ran to her homeroom teacher who promptly went over his boss' head (which was pretty amazing in itself) and reported him to the Board of Education. I wonder if the principal (if he still has the title) had snipped a couple of nerves before he went on his tonsorial rampage.
Well, just gotta make the student reports and then head off to bed.
Monday, September 20, 2004
Monday September 20, 9:27 p.m.
Another hot day today. We'll be breaking the record for most number of days over 30 C in a single summer tomorrow. Not a record that I'd like to see broken next year.
Took advantage of a deal at the neighbourhood kaiten sushi place and had my usual plates of sushi with 20% off and a free drink. As expected, the place was hopping.
Then I went down to Daiei and picked up a really cheap pair of gym shorts for the ridiculous price of 695 yen. After paying all that money for joining the club, it's about time that I got a deal there as well.
I ended up planning most of this week's lessons. I'm all set for the juku, the Tsudanuma group for their first session in 2 months, and even for the Carolinan. I also got that pronunciation tape done for the Hawaiian. As I was doing this planning, I listened to one of my CDs during that spending binge last week. It was Jane Monheit's latest. She's appparently tied with Diana Krall as jazz chanteuse of the moment, and it shows. Very nice set of pipes and a heartwarming cover of "Over The Rainbow". Then I listened to the big band swing of Count Basie.
I was wondering whether to make Spaghetti Bolognese or Pork Kimchi for dinner tonight. I ended doing neither. I just bought some cuts of roast chicken with some supermarket spaghetti.
E-mail and phone were keeping me busy tonight. I got a call from Movie Buddy. It'd been about 2 weeks since I last spoke with him. Looks like he has to make his own pilgrimage down to Immigration tomorrow so I told him the ropes. Hopefully, he'll get through with his bureaucracy like I did. He also told me about the machinations at the ol' school. Apparently, there was something close to revolt last week when the new 3-class system started. The top class evidently had 11 students crammed into the room. Several angry complaints later, the coordinator will be going back to a 4-class system. Smart belated move, sister.
And then a couple of hours later, Arwen called me up. She sounded like she never left. However, she is still wondering about whether to accept that offer from my chiseling manager and take a job at the school. I told her what I thought of that in no uncertain terms. Anyways, she'll be joining us for that rib outing next Sunday.
On the e-mail front, my brother told me that as a birthday/Xmas present, he's gotten me the DVD set of the Classic Star Wars trilogy. Good on him. I'll be looking forward to seeing that...in January 2005 since my parents don't have a DVD player. Also, one of the oil boys contacted me to confirm the Wednesday night dinner. The Wild Thing has followed my lead to give weekly reports of his time in his new land. The MBA programme there is already grinding sweat and blood from him.
Well, I figure it's time to clean up a bit, have a cup of coffee and then start the ironing before I retire. Big long day coming up.
Another hot day today. We'll be breaking the record for most number of days over 30 C in a single summer tomorrow. Not a record that I'd like to see broken next year.
Took advantage of a deal at the neighbourhood kaiten sushi place and had my usual plates of sushi with 20% off and a free drink. As expected, the place was hopping.
Then I went down to Daiei and picked up a really cheap pair of gym shorts for the ridiculous price of 695 yen. After paying all that money for joining the club, it's about time that I got a deal there as well.
I ended up planning most of this week's lessons. I'm all set for the juku, the Tsudanuma group for their first session in 2 months, and even for the Carolinan. I also got that pronunciation tape done for the Hawaiian. As I was doing this planning, I listened to one of my CDs during that spending binge last week. It was Jane Monheit's latest. She's appparently tied with Diana Krall as jazz chanteuse of the moment, and it shows. Very nice set of pipes and a heartwarming cover of "Over The Rainbow". Then I listened to the big band swing of Count Basie.
I was wondering whether to make Spaghetti Bolognese or Pork Kimchi for dinner tonight. I ended doing neither. I just bought some cuts of roast chicken with some supermarket spaghetti.
E-mail and phone were keeping me busy tonight. I got a call from Movie Buddy. It'd been about 2 weeks since I last spoke with him. Looks like he has to make his own pilgrimage down to Immigration tomorrow so I told him the ropes. Hopefully, he'll get through with his bureaucracy like I did. He also told me about the machinations at the ol' school. Apparently, there was something close to revolt last week when the new 3-class system started. The top class evidently had 11 students crammed into the room. Several angry complaints later, the coordinator will be going back to a 4-class system. Smart belated move, sister.
And then a couple of hours later, Arwen called me up. She sounded like she never left. However, she is still wondering about whether to accept that offer from my chiseling manager and take a job at the school. I told her what I thought of that in no uncertain terms. Anyways, she'll be joining us for that rib outing next Sunday.
On the e-mail front, my brother told me that as a birthday/Xmas present, he's gotten me the DVD set of the Classic Star Wars trilogy. Good on him. I'll be looking forward to seeing that...in January 2005 since my parents don't have a DVD player. Also, one of the oil boys contacted me to confirm the Wednesday night dinner. The Wild Thing has followed my lead to give weekly reports of his time in his new land. The MBA programme there is already grinding sweat and blood from him.
Well, I figure it's time to clean up a bit, have a cup of coffee and then start the ironing before I retire. Big long day coming up.
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Sunday September 19, 6:08 p.m.
Just came back after my trip out to the great backwoods of Nagano Prefecture with a bried detour through Tokyo Dome.
After my morning lesson, I headed out down to Tokyo Station and got my tickets for Karuizawa. There were some sizable lineups for each of the doors of the cars but I managed to get a seat with no problem in the non-reserveds. However, I made a slight mistake by going into the smoking car. My nose behaved itself but my clothes picked up the distinct smell of tobacco.
The trip up to Sakudaira Station took about an hour and 15 minutes. As we gradually left the Kanto, things started to cloud up so by the time we reached Karuizawa it was overcast. Mt. Asama loomed in the background but it didn't do too much during the weekend. However, what it did do was basically obscure the sky at night with the tons of ash in the atmosphere. We couldn't see any stars, and since my friends' area was pretty devoid of nightlamps and noise, it made for an eerie effect.
Paddy and his buddy picked me up from the station and we made a pit stop at the baby goods' store since they're still in the phase of acquiring stuff for their new arrival. This time, it was a baby buggy. If there were anything in this country that proves how pricey it is to live here, the baby buggy was it. There were the really cheapo ones for 3000 yen. However, most of them were going for between 20000 and 50000 yen. Ugh!
We made it over to the apartment. My good friend was cooking up some really delectable BBQ chicken while the newest addition to the family was quietly laying on a cushion just gurgling away. For the next several hours, we just gabbed, Paddy advised me on his sports program for my visit to the sports club, and we tried to get through the DVD of the pilot episode of FRIENDS (we failed)...all while we just continued to munch down the chicken wings and some other wonderful sushi rice with toppings wrapped in a leaf. It turned out to be a several-hour wait since we were waiting for another ol' buddy of Paddy's who was supposed to head out here with his new family the night before. Apparently, he's had the reputation as a procrastinator according to the talk bandied about. In the interim, we also decided to go the nearest supermarket to pick up some ice cream. During the ride there, we noticed a shopping street all boarded up like a ghost town. The recent appearances of megamalls and outlets have dried up customers for the old little retail places. It's a pity.
Finally at around 9:30, earlier than anticipated, the other family came with their little kid in tow. She was about a year older than my friends' daughter but she was a bundle of energy. She was in that new phase of touchy-feely-walky. She just couldn't stay still for a single minute. However, it was nice to be the uncle of the family and play around with the kids.
A couple of hours later, we said our goodbyes to our hosts and then headed out to the cottage where we would be staying for the night. It was Paddy, me and the procrastinator's family (don't get me wrong, he is a nice guy...the name is just a handle). A half-hour later, the car rambled through some thoroughly darkened woods (I was reminded of Blair Witch) before coming to a stop in front of a pretty large wooden cottage. Entering the rustic lodgings, I realized through the musty air that this was the first time I'd ever stayed in a cottage. The closest I ever got to that was perhaps during my childhood days at camp.
The cottage was a mix of old and new. The structure itself was over 40 years old with that mustiness but it also had a modern flush toilet with the heated seat and bidet functions plus a TV with surprisingly good reception. We hit the hay within the next couple of hours. On the TV, we found out that there was a hostage-taking in progress in Ichihara City, not too far from where I live. Another wonderful crime for the talking heads to gab about on Monday morning.
I woke up around 8 this morning and had instant ramen and coffee for breakfast; I think that would be my version of roughing it in the woods. The air was comfortably cool but the mosquitoes were out in force. I managed to swat most of them away but a few still got through the defences. A couple of hours later, the Procrastinator drove all of us to the station. I was the only one to drop out though. The others decided to stay another day to partake in the hot springs.
It was already getting quite warm even in Karuizawa before the duck-billed Nagano Shinkansen arrived to pick up the passengers for the trip back to Tokyo. During the ride down, I continued to dig through the 9/11 Commission's Report. Parts of it just read like a Tom Clancy novel and therefore it was very difficult to put down.
I hit Tokyo a little after noon and quickly made my way up to Tokyo Dome. Considering that baseball is on strike, the surrounding area was still remarkably crowded. But now that there is a huge mall and amusement park, the area doesn't really need baseball to perk up its population. There I met my old Tea Room Ladies for what I realize has been the first time in over a year.
We found the News Deli as our place to eat. It was once again another baby session as the most talkative of the group brought her 7-month-old daughter along. The most talkative one has been living in Buenos Aires with her hubby for the past year and a half due to work, and although she wouldn't admit it, I think she's settled down there pretty well. Her English was getting mixed up with her Spanish at times and her delivery did have a tinge of Spanish. We gabbed about the usual things: certain students, teachers and the old days.
After about 2 hours, we split up. I don't think I'll see them again for a while.
Back home, I received some further surprises. On my message machine, I received no less than 3 calls from The Bohemian. He's back in town and probably wanted to see if I were available for dinner tonight but frankly I just wanted to get home. However, I'll call him and see if he's up for something tomorrow afternoon. DTE contacted me telling me that she ran into a current student in Tokyo. Apparently, the school now only has 3 classes under the coordinator. No wonder I won't get any classes. Geez, how bad is it gonna get?
But the biggest bombshell of the day was a message from, lo and behold, Arwen. Apparently, that new job was indeed the job from Hell. She almost became a victim of "death by overwork" and had to quit prematurely. She basically spent most of August and September trying to recuperate. And now that she has, she took a small trip to London and saw the Ballerina by coincidence.
My response to her was frankly quite muted. Despite her ordeal at the company, I'm still not particularly all that thrilled that she disappeared on me like that without so much as a word. And I still have no idea about what has happened to 77. But I invited her to the rib pigout next Sunday being planned by Skippy.
Well, time for me to pick some supplies for the fridge and then I'll have a bit of leftovers for dinner.
Just came back after my trip out to the great backwoods of Nagano Prefecture with a bried detour through Tokyo Dome.
After my morning lesson, I headed out down to Tokyo Station and got my tickets for Karuizawa. There were some sizable lineups for each of the doors of the cars but I managed to get a seat with no problem in the non-reserveds. However, I made a slight mistake by going into the smoking car. My nose behaved itself but my clothes picked up the distinct smell of tobacco.
The trip up to Sakudaira Station took about an hour and 15 minutes. As we gradually left the Kanto, things started to cloud up so by the time we reached Karuizawa it was overcast. Mt. Asama loomed in the background but it didn't do too much during the weekend. However, what it did do was basically obscure the sky at night with the tons of ash in the atmosphere. We couldn't see any stars, and since my friends' area was pretty devoid of nightlamps and noise, it made for an eerie effect.
Paddy and his buddy picked me up from the station and we made a pit stop at the baby goods' store since they're still in the phase of acquiring stuff for their new arrival. This time, it was a baby buggy. If there were anything in this country that proves how pricey it is to live here, the baby buggy was it. There were the really cheapo ones for 3000 yen. However, most of them were going for between 20000 and 50000 yen. Ugh!
We made it over to the apartment. My good friend was cooking up some really delectable BBQ chicken while the newest addition to the family was quietly laying on a cushion just gurgling away. For the next several hours, we just gabbed, Paddy advised me on his sports program for my visit to the sports club, and we tried to get through the DVD of the pilot episode of FRIENDS (we failed)...all while we just continued to munch down the chicken wings and some other wonderful sushi rice with toppings wrapped in a leaf. It turned out to be a several-hour wait since we were waiting for another ol' buddy of Paddy's who was supposed to head out here with his new family the night before. Apparently, he's had the reputation as a procrastinator according to the talk bandied about. In the interim, we also decided to go the nearest supermarket to pick up some ice cream. During the ride there, we noticed a shopping street all boarded up like a ghost town. The recent appearances of megamalls and outlets have dried up customers for the old little retail places. It's a pity.
Finally at around 9:30, earlier than anticipated, the other family came with their little kid in tow. She was about a year older than my friends' daughter but she was a bundle of energy. She was in that new phase of touchy-feely-walky. She just couldn't stay still for a single minute. However, it was nice to be the uncle of the family and play around with the kids.
A couple of hours later, we said our goodbyes to our hosts and then headed out to the cottage where we would be staying for the night. It was Paddy, me and the procrastinator's family (don't get me wrong, he is a nice guy...the name is just a handle). A half-hour later, the car rambled through some thoroughly darkened woods (I was reminded of Blair Witch) before coming to a stop in front of a pretty large wooden cottage. Entering the rustic lodgings, I realized through the musty air that this was the first time I'd ever stayed in a cottage. The closest I ever got to that was perhaps during my childhood days at camp.
The cottage was a mix of old and new. The structure itself was over 40 years old with that mustiness but it also had a modern flush toilet with the heated seat and bidet functions plus a TV with surprisingly good reception. We hit the hay within the next couple of hours. On the TV, we found out that there was a hostage-taking in progress in Ichihara City, not too far from where I live. Another wonderful crime for the talking heads to gab about on Monday morning.
I woke up around 8 this morning and had instant ramen and coffee for breakfast; I think that would be my version of roughing it in the woods. The air was comfortably cool but the mosquitoes were out in force. I managed to swat most of them away but a few still got through the defences. A couple of hours later, the Procrastinator drove all of us to the station. I was the only one to drop out though. The others decided to stay another day to partake in the hot springs.
It was already getting quite warm even in Karuizawa before the duck-billed Nagano Shinkansen arrived to pick up the passengers for the trip back to Tokyo. During the ride down, I continued to dig through the 9/11 Commission's Report. Parts of it just read like a Tom Clancy novel and therefore it was very difficult to put down.
I hit Tokyo a little after noon and quickly made my way up to Tokyo Dome. Considering that baseball is on strike, the surrounding area was still remarkably crowded. But now that there is a huge mall and amusement park, the area doesn't really need baseball to perk up its population. There I met my old Tea Room Ladies for what I realize has been the first time in over a year.
We found the News Deli as our place to eat. It was once again another baby session as the most talkative of the group brought her 7-month-old daughter along. The most talkative one has been living in Buenos Aires with her hubby for the past year and a half due to work, and although she wouldn't admit it, I think she's settled down there pretty well. Her English was getting mixed up with her Spanish at times and her delivery did have a tinge of Spanish. We gabbed about the usual things: certain students, teachers and the old days.
After about 2 hours, we split up. I don't think I'll see them again for a while.
Back home, I received some further surprises. On my message machine, I received no less than 3 calls from The Bohemian. He's back in town and probably wanted to see if I were available for dinner tonight but frankly I just wanted to get home. However, I'll call him and see if he's up for something tomorrow afternoon. DTE contacted me telling me that she ran into a current student in Tokyo. Apparently, the school now only has 3 classes under the coordinator. No wonder I won't get any classes. Geez, how bad is it gonna get?
But the biggest bombshell of the day was a message from, lo and behold, Arwen. Apparently, that new job was indeed the job from Hell. She almost became a victim of "death by overwork" and had to quit prematurely. She basically spent most of August and September trying to recuperate. And now that she has, she took a small trip to London and saw the Ballerina by coincidence.
My response to her was frankly quite muted. Despite her ordeal at the company, I'm still not particularly all that thrilled that she disappeared on me like that without so much as a word. And I still have no idea about what has happened to 77. But I invited her to the rib pigout next Sunday being planned by Skippy.
Well, time for me to pick some supplies for the fridge and then I'll have a bit of leftovers for dinner.
Friday, September 17, 2004
Friday September 17, 8:42 p.m.
Well, finally paid the hunk of money and I'm now a member of NAS Sports Club. Seeing that I haven't received any schedule from the school for any classes, it looks like my first outing to the club will be on Tuesday afternoon. The coordinator told me the details about the welcome party for the 25th so I responded with a shot across the bow about what my status at the school will be. But back to NAS, my nervousness was showing when I signed up, I forgot to take my change and forgot to take my package of materials with me. I'm sure the staff must think me a bit of an idiot.
With The Teacher off with her cold and SR too busy today, I had a totally free day so just did some shopping and cleaning up. Cooked up that curry udon that the juku boss had given me back on Tuesday. She said that she didn't put any meat into the curry since she's not a big fan of the stuff. Well I am an unrepentant omnivore so I added some chicken and some remaining veggies to give it a bit of a lift. Worked out well.
We're still waiting here for the final word from the Japanese baseball negotiations whether there will be indeed be a weekend strike. The guys have delayed their decision twice already.
Actually, I received e-mail from DTE for the first time in a while. Apparently, she'll also be joining Movie Buddy's party next week. I also asked her about the fate of Arwen and 99 since she was also close to them. Carolina also contacted me to see if she could move up her next class to the holiday Thursday next week. Since I'm teaching Jazz Buddy on that day, I said that I could do that. Only problem is that the Tea Room closes early on national holidays so we'll need an alternate venue. I'm waiting myself for what the kids' mother wants me to do tomorrow. I still don't know whether I'll be teaching the older daughter or "teaching" the parents.
Well, gotta pack for my trip to Karuizawa tomorrow afternoon. I assume that Paddy is already up there. I'll give the bath another try to see if I can endure my stay there better with my bath radio.
Oh, news flash...the strike is on. Baseball is taking an unscheduled holiday for the first time in history in Japan.
Well, finally paid the hunk of money and I'm now a member of NAS Sports Club. Seeing that I haven't received any schedule from the school for any classes, it looks like my first outing to the club will be on Tuesday afternoon. The coordinator told me the details about the welcome party for the 25th so I responded with a shot across the bow about what my status at the school will be. But back to NAS, my nervousness was showing when I signed up, I forgot to take my change and forgot to take my package of materials with me. I'm sure the staff must think me a bit of an idiot.
With The Teacher off with her cold and SR too busy today, I had a totally free day so just did some shopping and cleaning up. Cooked up that curry udon that the juku boss had given me back on Tuesday. She said that she didn't put any meat into the curry since she's not a big fan of the stuff. Well I am an unrepentant omnivore so I added some chicken and some remaining veggies to give it a bit of a lift. Worked out well.
We're still waiting here for the final word from the Japanese baseball negotiations whether there will be indeed be a weekend strike. The guys have delayed their decision twice already.
Actually, I received e-mail from DTE for the first time in a while. Apparently, she'll also be joining Movie Buddy's party next week. I also asked her about the fate of Arwen and 99 since she was also close to them. Carolina also contacted me to see if she could move up her next class to the holiday Thursday next week. Since I'm teaching Jazz Buddy on that day, I said that I could do that. Only problem is that the Tea Room closes early on national holidays so we'll need an alternate venue. I'm waiting myself for what the kids' mother wants me to do tomorrow. I still don't know whether I'll be teaching the older daughter or "teaching" the parents.
Well, gotta pack for my trip to Karuizawa tomorrow afternoon. I assume that Paddy is already up there. I'll give the bath another try to see if I can endure my stay there better with my bath radio.
Oh, news flash...the strike is on. Baseball is taking an unscheduled holiday for the first time in history in Japan.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Thursday September 16, 11:02 p.m.
I guess the theme of this entry can be considered to be of the explosive kind, both figuratively and physically. Let's get the latter kind out of the way first since it is, fortunately, the shortest. It looks like my destination for Saturday, Karuizawa, had its first ashfall of the season thanks to some grumblings from nearby Mt. Asama, that formerly vacant volcano along the Nagano/Gunma border tonight. Apparently, some towns as far south as Saitama Prefecture which borders the northern edge of Tokyo got a bit of the white stuff. My friend up in Karuizawa did tell me to bring a jacket for the trip since it drops to about 4 C at night. Now, I wonder if I should make sure that it has an asbestos lining. Well, it should make for interesting traveling.
The second bombshell could be rather beneficial for Japanese baseball, especially with the grave news of the Sword of Damocles threatening to fall upon the weekend games again. Two corporations, Livedoor and Rakuten, will be applying to set up new baseball teams. This is very welcome news and probably the only thing that management and the players' union have agreed upon. Apparently, Livedoor is interested in setting up shop in Miyagi Prefecture, which is located between Hokkaido and Tokyo. Good move considering that the closest team to the Hokkaido franchise is in my neck of the woods....the Chiba Lotte Marines. However, Rakuten may face a bit of a battle since the president wants to establish the team in his hometown of Kobe. The snag involves the president of the to-be-merged Orix Blue Wave, also based in Kobe, who believes that two is a crowd.
Explosion No. 3 is of the criminal variety although it has been foreordained. The second body of those two kids who were killed by their father's brutal roomie was found today in a river. The heinousnous of the crime was further amplified when the suspect admitted that he had thrown the kids into the river alive. And then there is the case of that woman and her three kids who had been stabbed and bludgeoned several times in their sleep before being torched to death. Since no valuables were taken, the police are now looking at a revenge motive. I truly, truly hope that the psycho who perpetrated this abomination is found soon.
The last bombshell came in the form of an article forwarded to me by the Doctor. The article talks about some lady Stateside by the name of Malkin who is loudly proclaiming that the internment of Japanese-Americans was fully justified and feels that the ethnic group is a bunch of whiners who secretly abetted spies against the US government during WWII. I rarely give long oratory responses to anyone over e-mail but I did for this one. However, it wasn't of the fire and brimstone variety since I believe that people like her and Pauline Hansen of Australia may make a big splash initially but relatively quickly fade away into bitter obscurity against time, facts and vigilance.
Now that I got the theme for this entry out of the way, I can talk about my day. My lesson with the Jazz Buddy turned out to be mostly a chat session. I don't think the girl minded too much, though. She certainly didn't seem to retain much information on the Conditionals that we had worked on a couple of weeks back...which makes me wonder if I should even emphasize the grammar component all that much anymore. At one point in our dialogue, she said that she wanted to talk about stuff that would be relevant to her. Perhaps, grammar (although I think she still needs work there) doesn't qualify. Well, I've known that she's cheerfully mercurial so I wasn't too put out.
I made my way down to that new mall I talked about in my last entry. Oazo. It just skirts the northern edge of Tokyo Station and is basically a number of cute trendy shops and eateries surrounding the new and improved flagship branch of the Maruzen Bookstore. And as with all new openings in their first week, there was a ton of people walking through...mostly of the older variety. Man, that new Maruzen sure puts the dying Nihonbashi branch out of its misery and that's considering the makeover that it went through a few years ago. Basically the new store got the Barnes and Nobles treatment. Ivy League College decor, silver signs done up in large New York Times font and glass walls overlooking the station characterize this baby. It rather reminds me of the Chapters bookstores back in ol' Toronto. When I bought my usual book of crosswords, I noticed that each cashier now had a flatscreen display on the customer side of the counter to show every little detail that the cashier punches up.
Basically, the Oazo resembles the other megacomplexes of Roppongi Hills, Shiodome and that new one in Nihombashi in that there are restaurants sandwiching the rest of the mall on top and bottom. I was starting to get a bit famished (certainly my stomach has been growling a lot more since I made my latest start to a diet) but didn't really find anything there which appealed to me so I traipsed through the underground of JR Tokyo and went to that possibly-soon-to-be forgotten faded glory known as the Maru Biru just a quarter of a kilometre away. Not to be outdone by the grand opening of a potential rival, the Maru Biru folks had signs proclaiming its 2nd anniversary. Or should they be best seen as signs of desperation? It's a bit odd that the Maruzen flagship has been set up where it is since Maru Biru also has a Maruzen branch which is far smaller and less grand. I wonder if it will close up shop in the near future. I went up to the 6th floor where one of my fave eateries, Akai no Noren, is located. I noticed that there was hardly anyone there on the restaurant floor but then again, not to alarm anyone in Maru Biru management, most of the eateries there go on afternoon hiatus. Not Akai no Noren...I still got my Hakata style ramen course with kimchi rice, gyoza and an amaretto creme dessert (yup, you read that dessert right...what a contrast).
After my little exploration of the new Tokyo Station area, I went crazy. Crazy for CD and book shopping, that is. Then again when I have point cards screaming to be redeemed and special coupons demanding to be used, I am no match. Tower Records and HMV should be kowtowing to me for a week after my purchases. It was quite an eclectic set of purchases as well. I got a couple of jazz discs in the form of Basie and Darin, a YMO techno tribute, two albums by rockabilly/jazz unit Ego-Wrappin and even a compilation of ol' 80s ballads. Look out, Foreigner, Chaka Khan and The Jets. I even picked up that report from the 9/11 Commission. Just from browsing through a few pages of it, it just reads like a Tom Clancy novel. All too true, though.
Finally, my long shopping spree came to an end and I went up to the Tea Room and had that preliminary with my newest student, Carolina. She's a friend of SR's and another old student who's now living in LA. Her English ability is pretty good but has patches and rust which I'll need to work on. I heard from SR that she was pretty disappointed with the inconsistency of the teachers at her last school so I hope I can come through with the goods.
The e-mail has been interesting. Not only did I get that article from The Doctor, but I also heard from The SE and the coordinator from the school, two people that have largely been missing in my life for a little while. I'm not sure if it had been the somewhat dismissive response I sent to the Curry Master concerning my erstwhile lessons with her and the SE, but I actually got my first e-mail from the SE himself asking if I were available in November. I replied politely that I could be available for him. As for the coordinator, she just sent me the invitation for the welcome party for the new folks on the 25th. Does this mean I'm still wanted to teach classes? I didn't whine to her on that matter and just said that I could make it. The 25th is also the day for Movie Buddy's party to herald his good friend's wedding, but that should be taking place in the evening. I even got word from Skippy about the latest outing on the 26th for ribs at Tony Romas. Looks like it'll be a joint project...no indirect pun intended. My life will be complete if Arwen ever decides to contact me again.
Ah, The Teacher also informed me that she has to cancel her class tomorrow due to sickness. This means that I'm free and clear all day. I'll probably head up to that sports club again and see if I can join up now that the bank situation is resolved. And I have to think about securing that ticket for the trip home during Xmas.
Man, that was the longest entry I've ever made in my short life as a blogger. I hope the publishing doesn't get too overwhelmed.
I guess the theme of this entry can be considered to be of the explosive kind, both figuratively and physically. Let's get the latter kind out of the way first since it is, fortunately, the shortest. It looks like my destination for Saturday, Karuizawa, had its first ashfall of the season thanks to some grumblings from nearby Mt. Asama, that formerly vacant volcano along the Nagano/Gunma border tonight. Apparently, some towns as far south as Saitama Prefecture which borders the northern edge of Tokyo got a bit of the white stuff. My friend up in Karuizawa did tell me to bring a jacket for the trip since it drops to about 4 C at night. Now, I wonder if I should make sure that it has an asbestos lining. Well, it should make for interesting traveling.
The second bombshell could be rather beneficial for Japanese baseball, especially with the grave news of the Sword of Damocles threatening to fall upon the weekend games again. Two corporations, Livedoor and Rakuten, will be applying to set up new baseball teams. This is very welcome news and probably the only thing that management and the players' union have agreed upon. Apparently, Livedoor is interested in setting up shop in Miyagi Prefecture, which is located between Hokkaido and Tokyo. Good move considering that the closest team to the Hokkaido franchise is in my neck of the woods....the Chiba Lotte Marines. However, Rakuten may face a bit of a battle since the president wants to establish the team in his hometown of Kobe. The snag involves the president of the to-be-merged Orix Blue Wave, also based in Kobe, who believes that two is a crowd.
Explosion No. 3 is of the criminal variety although it has been foreordained. The second body of those two kids who were killed by their father's brutal roomie was found today in a river. The heinousnous of the crime was further amplified when the suspect admitted that he had thrown the kids into the river alive. And then there is the case of that woman and her three kids who had been stabbed and bludgeoned several times in their sleep before being torched to death. Since no valuables were taken, the police are now looking at a revenge motive. I truly, truly hope that the psycho who perpetrated this abomination is found soon.
The last bombshell came in the form of an article forwarded to me by the Doctor. The article talks about some lady Stateside by the name of Malkin who is loudly proclaiming that the internment of Japanese-Americans was fully justified and feels that the ethnic group is a bunch of whiners who secretly abetted spies against the US government during WWII. I rarely give long oratory responses to anyone over e-mail but I did for this one. However, it wasn't of the fire and brimstone variety since I believe that people like her and Pauline Hansen of Australia may make a big splash initially but relatively quickly fade away into bitter obscurity against time, facts and vigilance.
Now that I got the theme for this entry out of the way, I can talk about my day. My lesson with the Jazz Buddy turned out to be mostly a chat session. I don't think the girl minded too much, though. She certainly didn't seem to retain much information on the Conditionals that we had worked on a couple of weeks back...which makes me wonder if I should even emphasize the grammar component all that much anymore. At one point in our dialogue, she said that she wanted to talk about stuff that would be relevant to her. Perhaps, grammar (although I think she still needs work there) doesn't qualify. Well, I've known that she's cheerfully mercurial so I wasn't too put out.
I made my way down to that new mall I talked about in my last entry. Oazo. It just skirts the northern edge of Tokyo Station and is basically a number of cute trendy shops and eateries surrounding the new and improved flagship branch of the Maruzen Bookstore. And as with all new openings in their first week, there was a ton of people walking through...mostly of the older variety. Man, that new Maruzen sure puts the dying Nihonbashi branch out of its misery and that's considering the makeover that it went through a few years ago. Basically the new store got the Barnes and Nobles treatment. Ivy League College decor, silver signs done up in large New York Times font and glass walls overlooking the station characterize this baby. It rather reminds me of the Chapters bookstores back in ol' Toronto. When I bought my usual book of crosswords, I noticed that each cashier now had a flatscreen display on the customer side of the counter to show every little detail that the cashier punches up.
Basically, the Oazo resembles the other megacomplexes of Roppongi Hills, Shiodome and that new one in Nihombashi in that there are restaurants sandwiching the rest of the mall on top and bottom. I was starting to get a bit famished (certainly my stomach has been growling a lot more since I made my latest start to a diet) but didn't really find anything there which appealed to me so I traipsed through the underground of JR Tokyo and went to that possibly-soon-to-be forgotten faded glory known as the Maru Biru just a quarter of a kilometre away. Not to be outdone by the grand opening of a potential rival, the Maru Biru folks had signs proclaiming its 2nd anniversary. Or should they be best seen as signs of desperation? It's a bit odd that the Maruzen flagship has been set up where it is since Maru Biru also has a Maruzen branch which is far smaller and less grand. I wonder if it will close up shop in the near future. I went up to the 6th floor where one of my fave eateries, Akai no Noren, is located. I noticed that there was hardly anyone there on the restaurant floor but then again, not to alarm anyone in Maru Biru management, most of the eateries there go on afternoon hiatus. Not Akai no Noren...I still got my Hakata style ramen course with kimchi rice, gyoza and an amaretto creme dessert (yup, you read that dessert right...what a contrast).
After my little exploration of the new Tokyo Station area, I went crazy. Crazy for CD and book shopping, that is. Then again when I have point cards screaming to be redeemed and special coupons demanding to be used, I am no match. Tower Records and HMV should be kowtowing to me for a week after my purchases. It was quite an eclectic set of purchases as well. I got a couple of jazz discs in the form of Basie and Darin, a YMO techno tribute, two albums by rockabilly/jazz unit Ego-Wrappin and even a compilation of ol' 80s ballads. Look out, Foreigner, Chaka Khan and The Jets. I even picked up that report from the 9/11 Commission. Just from browsing through a few pages of it, it just reads like a Tom Clancy novel. All too true, though.
Finally, my long shopping spree came to an end and I went up to the Tea Room and had that preliminary with my newest student, Carolina. She's a friend of SR's and another old student who's now living in LA. Her English ability is pretty good but has patches and rust which I'll need to work on. I heard from SR that she was pretty disappointed with the inconsistency of the teachers at her last school so I hope I can come through with the goods.
The e-mail has been interesting. Not only did I get that article from The Doctor, but I also heard from The SE and the coordinator from the school, two people that have largely been missing in my life for a little while. I'm not sure if it had been the somewhat dismissive response I sent to the Curry Master concerning my erstwhile lessons with her and the SE, but I actually got my first e-mail from the SE himself asking if I were available in November. I replied politely that I could be available for him. As for the coordinator, she just sent me the invitation for the welcome party for the new folks on the 25th. Does this mean I'm still wanted to teach classes? I didn't whine to her on that matter and just said that I could make it. The 25th is also the day for Movie Buddy's party to herald his good friend's wedding, but that should be taking place in the evening. I even got word from Skippy about the latest outing on the 26th for ribs at Tony Romas. Looks like it'll be a joint project...no indirect pun intended. My life will be complete if Arwen ever decides to contact me again.
Ah, The Teacher also informed me that she has to cancel her class tomorrow due to sickness. This means that I'm free and clear all day. I'll probably head up to that sports club again and see if I can join up now that the bank situation is resolved. And I have to think about securing that ticket for the trip home during Xmas.
Man, that was the longest entry I've ever made in my short life as a blogger. I hope the publishing doesn't get too overwhelmed.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Thursday September 16, 8:19 a.m.
Well, we're still wondering if there will be baseball here this weekend. However, back in ol' Canada, the NHL decided to lock out its players. I'm sure there will be a lot of fans crying in their Molsons this week.
Nice to wake up in cool surroundings once again after the hellish summer. In fact, I even had to wrap a blanket around me. I got word from my friend in Karuizawa...it gets down to 4 degrees C at night there. Definitely jacket weather.
I've got the Jazz Buddy for her usual lesson then I have my newest student for her inaugural. In between, I'll be checking out Tokyo's newest mall. Called Oaso, it's named after the Esperanto word for "oasis". Well, this must be the linguistic equivalent of winning the lottery. One Esperanto word will now become a household one. In any case, I now know where the ol' Maruzen Bookstore has headed. It will be closing in Nihombashi but it's new HQ will be in that mall where it's said that it will be one of the largest bookstores in Japan. Gotta check that out. I'm quite relieved, actually. It's one of the few bookstores here that sells my favourite brand of crossword puzzles.
Well, we're still wondering if there will be baseball here this weekend. However, back in ol' Canada, the NHL decided to lock out its players. I'm sure there will be a lot of fans crying in their Molsons this week.
Nice to wake up in cool surroundings once again after the hellish summer. In fact, I even had to wrap a blanket around me. I got word from my friend in Karuizawa...it gets down to 4 degrees C at night there. Definitely jacket weather.
I've got the Jazz Buddy for her usual lesson then I have my newest student for her inaugural. In between, I'll be checking out Tokyo's newest mall. Called Oaso, it's named after the Esperanto word for "oasis". Well, this must be the linguistic equivalent of winning the lottery. One Esperanto word will now become a household one. In any case, I now know where the ol' Maruzen Bookstore has headed. It will be closing in Nihombashi but it's new HQ will be in that mall where it's said that it will be one of the largest bookstores in Japan. Gotta check that out. I'm quite relieved, actually. It's one of the few bookstores here that sells my favourite brand of crossword puzzles.
Wednesday September 15, 10:03 p.m.
Well, I went to my UFJ branch and found out that I actually did open my account by signing it and not by using the stamp. So I'm free and clear to sign up for the sports club. Mind you, I missed out on the deal. Not quite sure when I'll sign up. Perhaps I'll do so after my lesson with The Teacher on Friday.
My lessons with The Hawaiian and the OL went OK. The OL seemed somewhat distracted though since she was rather off tonight. She's entering a rather busy time at work so I won't see her for the next few weeks. At least for next week, I can't see her in any event since I'm seeing the old oil company students.
I lucked out on the budget for the past month. Surprisingly, I actually made a very small profit. However, I'm not sure what this coming month will hold since I didn't get any classes at the school.
The news has focused once again on the psychos who kill. A few days ago, a middle-aged man murdered the two toddler sons of his roomie after abusing them. The shocker was that the father of the dead boys had left the murderer's home once previously because he had been thought a danger to the kids only to return to the fold. What could the fool have been thinking?!
This story perked up the ears of the media to go digging back into some of the other sociopaths of the recent past. A nutcase who went on a killing spree a few years ago in an elementary school in Osaka finally got his richly deserved fate via the gallows a few days ago. He didn't show any remorse...he just asked to be killed ASAP since he felt that he was just gonna spin his wheels anyways in jail. It's interesting to note that he was executed within a year of his sentencing. Over here, that's a major miracle. Usually years pass after the final verdict and before that final march to the noose.
Then there was that girl who slashed her classmate to death back in June. The murder made the papers while I was up in Hokkaido. It was decided that she would be put into solitary for the next couple of years since she couldn't function safely in society.
Well, on the way back home, I noticed how cool it felt tonight. It felt like mid-October. Man, I hope that this is now the trend for the rest of the Fall.
Well, I went to my UFJ branch and found out that I actually did open my account by signing it and not by using the stamp. So I'm free and clear to sign up for the sports club. Mind you, I missed out on the deal. Not quite sure when I'll sign up. Perhaps I'll do so after my lesson with The Teacher on Friday.
My lessons with The Hawaiian and the OL went OK. The OL seemed somewhat distracted though since she was rather off tonight. She's entering a rather busy time at work so I won't see her for the next few weeks. At least for next week, I can't see her in any event since I'm seeing the old oil company students.
I lucked out on the budget for the past month. Surprisingly, I actually made a very small profit. However, I'm not sure what this coming month will hold since I didn't get any classes at the school.
The news has focused once again on the psychos who kill. A few days ago, a middle-aged man murdered the two toddler sons of his roomie after abusing them. The shocker was that the father of the dead boys had left the murderer's home once previously because he had been thought a danger to the kids only to return to the fold. What could the fool have been thinking?!
This story perked up the ears of the media to go digging back into some of the other sociopaths of the recent past. A nutcase who went on a killing spree a few years ago in an elementary school in Osaka finally got his richly deserved fate via the gallows a few days ago. He didn't show any remorse...he just asked to be killed ASAP since he felt that he was just gonna spin his wheels anyways in jail. It's interesting to note that he was executed within a year of his sentencing. Over here, that's a major miracle. Usually years pass after the final verdict and before that final march to the noose.
Then there was that girl who slashed her classmate to death back in June. The murder made the papers while I was up in Hokkaido. It was decided that she would be put into solitary for the next couple of years since she couldn't function safely in society.
Well, on the way back home, I noticed how cool it felt tonight. It felt like mid-October. Man, I hope that this is now the trend for the rest of the Fall.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Wednesday September 15, 8:17 a.m.
It's of course the middle of the month. I'm happy to say that while the days are still fairly steamy, the nights are much more pleasant. Hopefully by the end of September, the other half of the equation will catch up.
My rubdown yesterday garnered the usual comment from the masseuse of likening my shoulders to geological formations. Well, that's why I do my biweekly sessions.
On the way to work, I dropped by that gym near the station. True to my luck, looks like I'm not gonna get in on the first try. The lady there needed a "hanko" along with my bankbook to start the automatic withdrawals of payment from my account. However, I lost that little stamp years ago and have managed to do well without it. Since I think I started my account by using that hanko, I'll need it again. Well, I'll be heading down to my branch to see if that is indeed the case. Plus, I won't be able to take advantage of that 75% offer since I had to start working out there by today to get the deal. I think the way the conversation with the lady went, she must have assumed that I was trying to pull a fishing expedition with her. However, she was cordial enough and gave me some information. Hmmm...well, if do need that hanko, I can get one made but if it costs a ton of money (as the official ones do), I just have to wonder if it's worth it to pay that to get a piece of wood so that I can enter a place that I have to pay even more money.
But I am fully aware that I've gained a good bit of weight even with the increased amount of salad. At the juku last night, when I was leaning over the table, I just felt that spare tire as if there really were a spare tire around my girth. I'm just wondering if I should just skip food altogether....especially after seeing Phil Mahre's rant about the slow poisoning of the American public on Larry King yesterday.
Speaking of the juku, I had my first official class with the boss. As I figured, she talked a mile a minute. She didn't sidetrack too badly though but the non-stop stream managed to take us several minutes past the end time of 10 p.m. much to her surprise. She was so shocked that she decided to pay me for the extra 30 minutes...heck, if she's gonna do that, I'll be very willing to listen to her.
I listened to my latest two purchases yesterday. Yup, the reviewer was right about that Anita Baker CD. No real blockbusters there but I don't think she's really come up with any super hits since her second album, and yet I've remained a loyal fan. Despite the decade's absence, she sounds as if she never left.
Skippy contacted me. Looks like I, ROBOT is out...at least with her, but she did mention that there was going to be a special anniversary at Tony Roma's that day with the according discounts. Looks like I've become her herald since I sent out the messages to everyone at her request (or behest).
I even got a message from my ex concerning the impending change in my e-mail address. She gave me a polite standing invitation for our occasional tonkatsu lunch near her company. It's interesting how announcing one's change in Internet protocols brings out people from the woodwork. I even got e-mail from the Curry Master. As was assumed, she told me that she couldn't really say when she and the SE would be available for future lessons so I just let her off the hook by telling her that the two of them really don't need my help.
It's of course the middle of the month. I'm happy to say that while the days are still fairly steamy, the nights are much more pleasant. Hopefully by the end of September, the other half of the equation will catch up.
My rubdown yesterday garnered the usual comment from the masseuse of likening my shoulders to geological formations. Well, that's why I do my biweekly sessions.
On the way to work, I dropped by that gym near the station. True to my luck, looks like I'm not gonna get in on the first try. The lady there needed a "hanko" along with my bankbook to start the automatic withdrawals of payment from my account. However, I lost that little stamp years ago and have managed to do well without it. Since I think I started my account by using that hanko, I'll need it again. Well, I'll be heading down to my branch to see if that is indeed the case. Plus, I won't be able to take advantage of that 75% offer since I had to start working out there by today to get the deal. I think the way the conversation with the lady went, she must have assumed that I was trying to pull a fishing expedition with her. However, she was cordial enough and gave me some information. Hmmm...well, if do need that hanko, I can get one made but if it costs a ton of money (as the official ones do), I just have to wonder if it's worth it to pay that to get a piece of wood so that I can enter a place that I have to pay even more money.
But I am fully aware that I've gained a good bit of weight even with the increased amount of salad. At the juku last night, when I was leaning over the table, I just felt that spare tire as if there really were a spare tire around my girth. I'm just wondering if I should just skip food altogether....especially after seeing Phil Mahre's rant about the slow poisoning of the American public on Larry King yesterday.
Speaking of the juku, I had my first official class with the boss. As I figured, she talked a mile a minute. She didn't sidetrack too badly though but the non-stop stream managed to take us several minutes past the end time of 10 p.m. much to her surprise. She was so shocked that she decided to pay me for the extra 30 minutes...heck, if she's gonna do that, I'll be very willing to listen to her.
I listened to my latest two purchases yesterday. Yup, the reviewer was right about that Anita Baker CD. No real blockbusters there but I don't think she's really come up with any super hits since her second album, and yet I've remained a loyal fan. Despite the decade's absence, she sounds as if she never left.
Skippy contacted me. Looks like I, ROBOT is out...at least with her, but she did mention that there was going to be a special anniversary at Tony Roma's that day with the according discounts. Looks like I've become her herald since I sent out the messages to everyone at her request (or behest).
I even got a message from my ex concerning the impending change in my e-mail address. She gave me a polite standing invitation for our occasional tonkatsu lunch near her company. It's interesting how announcing one's change in Internet protocols brings out people from the woodwork. I even got e-mail from the Curry Master. As was assumed, she told me that she couldn't really say when she and the SE would be available for future lessons so I just let her off the hook by telling her that the two of them really don't need my help.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Monday September 13, 9:46 p.m.
Classes went amiably enough today. My morning class was another chat fest and my class at the Company actually showed some good diligence from the two students. Felt quite energized, actually. Enough to whip up some rare Monday night cooking in the form of pork kimchi.
In between classes, I bought that bath radio at the Shibuya Tokyu Hands. Actually I was fortunate enough to get a radio which was only half as much as the one I'd seen at the Shinjuku branch. Then, I had lunch at TGIFridays since I had a 500 yen coupon. Last year, I vowed that I wouldn't go there for lunch since I had a rather bad experience with their chicken dish. However, a coupon is a coupon so I decided to take the risk. Luckily, I had a much better dish. It was chicken again but only a few cooked sticks in a large salad. It was the first time that I'd ever had veggies as a main dish. However, to ensure that I wasn't going entirely healthy, I had French Fries on the side.
I also hit pay dirt at Towers as well. A couple of beloved singers who had largely disappeared from the public scene have come back with new releases. One is Anita Baker who hasn't put out an album in 10 years. I took a listen to it there and found it worthy. The reviewer in Entertainment Weekly said that the new release doesn't have a bombshell hit like "Sweet Love" but hey, even a merely good Baker album is well worth the yen. The other is by Ruiko Kurahashi, a local singer here whom most Japanese wouldn't remember or recognize aside from those who were REALLY into the 80s pop scene.
Well, I did my usual stop off at the Andersens cafe in that Shinjuku Plaza for an hour of tea, crosswords and nodding off. Geez, that really starts to age me. Maybe my new impending lifestyle as a fitness nut will relieve my narcolepsy.
In other news, after all the Olympics and Iraq and the US election, we've come back to the plight of Sgt. Jenkins after his 40-year defection to North Korea. He has apparently reported for duty for the first time since the 60s at Camp Zama...perhaps for his court martial. Also, speaking of North Korea, Japan has been rather worried about that big explosion near the N. Korean-Chinese border last night. Anything that involves Kimland and explosions tend to bring that feeling of dread. What's distressing everyone is that the explosion came about in the form of a mushroom cloud. Uh-oh.
Well, I'm waiting for a call from Paddy concerning part of that personal improvement project. I did send him an e-mail giving him a report on my progress. If he calls soon enough, I can actually take a bath and test out that radio.
As expected, the summer heat wave refuses to go quietly. We've got another 32-degree day tomorrow. I thought I would have to use the yogurt machine this time, but I guess just leaving the milk and starter outside in the usual bucket will suffice just nicely.
Classes went amiably enough today. My morning class was another chat fest and my class at the Company actually showed some good diligence from the two students. Felt quite energized, actually. Enough to whip up some rare Monday night cooking in the form of pork kimchi.
In between classes, I bought that bath radio at the Shibuya Tokyu Hands. Actually I was fortunate enough to get a radio which was only half as much as the one I'd seen at the Shinjuku branch. Then, I had lunch at TGIFridays since I had a 500 yen coupon. Last year, I vowed that I wouldn't go there for lunch since I had a rather bad experience with their chicken dish. However, a coupon is a coupon so I decided to take the risk. Luckily, I had a much better dish. It was chicken again but only a few cooked sticks in a large salad. It was the first time that I'd ever had veggies as a main dish. However, to ensure that I wasn't going entirely healthy, I had French Fries on the side.
I also hit pay dirt at Towers as well. A couple of beloved singers who had largely disappeared from the public scene have come back with new releases. One is Anita Baker who hasn't put out an album in 10 years. I took a listen to it there and found it worthy. The reviewer in Entertainment Weekly said that the new release doesn't have a bombshell hit like "Sweet Love" but hey, even a merely good Baker album is well worth the yen. The other is by Ruiko Kurahashi, a local singer here whom most Japanese wouldn't remember or recognize aside from those who were REALLY into the 80s pop scene.
Well, I did my usual stop off at the Andersens cafe in that Shinjuku Plaza for an hour of tea, crosswords and nodding off. Geez, that really starts to age me. Maybe my new impending lifestyle as a fitness nut will relieve my narcolepsy.
In other news, after all the Olympics and Iraq and the US election, we've come back to the plight of Sgt. Jenkins after his 40-year defection to North Korea. He has apparently reported for duty for the first time since the 60s at Camp Zama...perhaps for his court martial. Also, speaking of North Korea, Japan has been rather worried about that big explosion near the N. Korean-Chinese border last night. Anything that involves Kimland and explosions tend to bring that feeling of dread. What's distressing everyone is that the explosion came about in the form of a mushroom cloud. Uh-oh.
Well, I'm waiting for a call from Paddy concerning part of that personal improvement project. I did send him an e-mail giving him a report on my progress. If he calls soon enough, I can actually take a bath and test out that radio.
As expected, the summer heat wave refuses to go quietly. We've got another 32-degree day tomorrow. I thought I would have to use the yogurt machine this time, but I guess just leaving the milk and starter outside in the usual bucket will suffice just nicely.
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Sunday September 12, 1:29 p.m.
My lesson with the kids yesterday was the usual. The younger sister was playful if not all that interested in picking up English. The older sister was another exercise in slackerdom. Mind you, she did have a good excuse this time in that she'd just come back from a volleyball practice and then had to take off for her juku. I was merely a 30-minute filler.
The strange thing was that just a few minutes before I was to leave for the kids' place, the mother of The Little Owl called me up out of the blue. She was asking me if I could teach her daughter that afternoon. Hell of a time to call just a few hours beforehand. However, at least I have some inkling that I'm still wanted. As for the kids' family, it's possible that I may end up "teaching" the two parents instead since the younger one is off to camp next week and the other one...has stuff to do. I'd frankly would prefer just to have the class canceled since I could then head up to Karuizawa with Paddy much earlier than expected but professionalism has to rear its ugly head.
Took off for Ryogoku after the class. It was just a straight line on the Oedo Line there where I met Paddy and we headed off to Shrek's apartment just 5 minutes away. Shrek and his wife are pretty lucky in that they live on the 8th floor of a building which only has one other residential occupant and a couple of offices. The party was a reunion of sorts for the old university club. From my era, it was Shrek, Paddy and the Chipmunk with a whole bunch of others from later years. Paddy fit into the party mode quite well with his talent as a raconteur. A couple of the ladies there were just as talkative while we engorged ourselves on BBQ chicken and other fixins.
It would 8 hours before we finally left the place. Paddy crashed at my place again. Here, he got started on another personal improvement project, namely me. Before we hit bed, we got started on making the gradual transition of changing Internet providers since one can ADSL here for as low as 700 yen a month. So I sent in the cancellation notice to my provider for the past few years and then contacted everyone else about the impending changes.
Once we awoke this morning, Paddy then got started on checking out what happened with my dead Fuji-Xerox printer. I guess he had an investment into it since it was his fiancee's mother who got it for me. Basically once we re-activated the driver, we found out that the feeder was broken. Well, am I gonna blow away 5000 yen on something that I've gotten used to not using anymore? Probably not. During the printer mini-project, Paddy found a way to get back all of my fonts. He just took the computer into Safe Mode, threw away the default cache of fonts and then rebooted. Now I am getting overwhelmed with the wonders of COPPERPLATE and GOTHIC once more.
We went off to the Japanese-style family restaurant, Yume-An, for an early lunch. There, the personal improvement project took on a more esoteric nature. It was threefold: 1) to check on my visa situation since I basically have little more than a year left on my current visa, 2) to see about getting me back on the dating circuit and 3) to get me back into shape since I've been out of it for years.
As for 1), it's pretty much a longshot. Mom contacted me this morning to inform me that my name is indeed not listed on the ancestral family register. I kinda figured that would've been the case. However, Paddy is still encouraging me to getting that form to change my citizenship. I'm pretty loath to change it since I feel that I'm here because I'm NOT Japanese. But practically speaking, I have been here for a decade.
As for 2), this is also a bit of a longshot. Paddy is trying to get me to contact one of the women at the party last night. To be honest, the young lady was pretty nice and she has had a similar career past. However, after she downed virtually all of the expensive wine I'd brought to Shrek's last night and started getting a bit overexcited, I kinda wonder if she'd be my type in any case. That didn't deter Paddy. He just then told me to see if any of my former students would be interested.
The last thing seems to be the most promising. Paddy said he was worried about my health and suggested I go to a gym. I countered by saying that if he could find one near my place, then I would join up. Sure enough, after I'd gotten back from my shopping he left a message saying that he found one on the top of the Seiyu Department Store next to Urayasu Station. Well, I guess I'm committed then (or at least I should be committed). Not too bad pricewise, either. If I join up in the next couple of days, my first month will be 75% off and the weekdays are more inexpensive than the weekends. Paddy will even throw in a training program.
As I mentioned, after I saw Paddy off at the station, I went over to Daiei and pick up a couple of presents for those mutual friends that we're gonna see next Saturday up in Karuizawa. Then, I bought a small tape recorder for taping some assignments for the Hawaiian.
It's been a hot but manageable day. The fan has sufficed for now, but I may be tempted to try out the AC again.
My lesson with the kids yesterday was the usual. The younger sister was playful if not all that interested in picking up English. The older sister was another exercise in slackerdom. Mind you, she did have a good excuse this time in that she'd just come back from a volleyball practice and then had to take off for her juku. I was merely a 30-minute filler.
The strange thing was that just a few minutes before I was to leave for the kids' place, the mother of The Little Owl called me up out of the blue. She was asking me if I could teach her daughter that afternoon. Hell of a time to call just a few hours beforehand. However, at least I have some inkling that I'm still wanted. As for the kids' family, it's possible that I may end up "teaching" the two parents instead since the younger one is off to camp next week and the other one...has stuff to do. I'd frankly would prefer just to have the class canceled since I could then head up to Karuizawa with Paddy much earlier than expected but professionalism has to rear its ugly head.
Took off for Ryogoku after the class. It was just a straight line on the Oedo Line there where I met Paddy and we headed off to Shrek's apartment just 5 minutes away. Shrek and his wife are pretty lucky in that they live on the 8th floor of a building which only has one other residential occupant and a couple of offices. The party was a reunion of sorts for the old university club. From my era, it was Shrek, Paddy and the Chipmunk with a whole bunch of others from later years. Paddy fit into the party mode quite well with his talent as a raconteur. A couple of the ladies there were just as talkative while we engorged ourselves on BBQ chicken and other fixins.
It would 8 hours before we finally left the place. Paddy crashed at my place again. Here, he got started on another personal improvement project, namely me. Before we hit bed, we got started on making the gradual transition of changing Internet providers since one can ADSL here for as low as 700 yen a month. So I sent in the cancellation notice to my provider for the past few years and then contacted everyone else about the impending changes.
Once we awoke this morning, Paddy then got started on checking out what happened with my dead Fuji-Xerox printer. I guess he had an investment into it since it was his fiancee's mother who got it for me. Basically once we re-activated the driver, we found out that the feeder was broken. Well, am I gonna blow away 5000 yen on something that I've gotten used to not using anymore? Probably not. During the printer mini-project, Paddy found a way to get back all of my fonts. He just took the computer into Safe Mode, threw away the default cache of fonts and then rebooted. Now I am getting overwhelmed with the wonders of COPPERPLATE and GOTHIC once more.
We went off to the Japanese-style family restaurant, Yume-An, for an early lunch. There, the personal improvement project took on a more esoteric nature. It was threefold: 1) to check on my visa situation since I basically have little more than a year left on my current visa, 2) to see about getting me back on the dating circuit and 3) to get me back into shape since I've been out of it for years.
As for 1), it's pretty much a longshot. Mom contacted me this morning to inform me that my name is indeed not listed on the ancestral family register. I kinda figured that would've been the case. However, Paddy is still encouraging me to getting that form to change my citizenship. I'm pretty loath to change it since I feel that I'm here because I'm NOT Japanese. But practically speaking, I have been here for a decade.
As for 2), this is also a bit of a longshot. Paddy is trying to get me to contact one of the women at the party last night. To be honest, the young lady was pretty nice and she has had a similar career past. However, after she downed virtually all of the expensive wine I'd brought to Shrek's last night and started getting a bit overexcited, I kinda wonder if she'd be my type in any case. That didn't deter Paddy. He just then told me to see if any of my former students would be interested.
The last thing seems to be the most promising. Paddy said he was worried about my health and suggested I go to a gym. I countered by saying that if he could find one near my place, then I would join up. Sure enough, after I'd gotten back from my shopping he left a message saying that he found one on the top of the Seiyu Department Store next to Urayasu Station. Well, I guess I'm committed then (or at least I should be committed). Not too bad pricewise, either. If I join up in the next couple of days, my first month will be 75% off and the weekdays are more inexpensive than the weekends. Paddy will even throw in a training program.
As I mentioned, after I saw Paddy off at the station, I went over to Daiei and pick up a couple of presents for those mutual friends that we're gonna see next Saturday up in Karuizawa. Then, I bought a small tape recorder for taping some assignments for the Hawaiian.
It's been a hot but manageable day. The fan has sufficed for now, but I may be tempted to try out the AC again.
Friday, September 10, 2004
Saturday September 11, 7:25 a.m.
Cloudy and cool...just the way I like it, especially after this summer. And no threat of typhoons anywhere. Quite a shift for a weekend.
Paddy contacted me. Looks like he will be joining me for the party. He's also asked for another stay at Hotel H. I've never been great at taking these sudden reservations.
Cloudy and cool...just the way I like it, especially after this summer. And no threat of typhoons anywhere. Quite a shift for a weekend.
Paddy contacted me. Looks like he will be joining me for the party. He's also asked for another stay at Hotel H. I've never been great at taking these sudden reservations.
Friday September 10, 8:15 p.m.
My lesson with The Teacher this morning initially was a bit of a heart-pouring exercise. It looks like the family underwent one of those parent-teenager blowups last night...hey, happens to everybody. Noone has ever said that teens were the most secure of people. I think she even teared up a bit.
Went out to Maruzen to see if I could pick up a new text for the older sister. I was rather surprised to see that the 4th floor which has all the English-language books was missing half of itself. One half of it has been replaced by an art exhibition. I found out that the closing of the store has been slated for Sept. 25th so they're pushing out their merchandise. Too bad they threw out the stuff I wanted.
So, grumblingly, I headed out to Tokyo Station to check out the schedule for the Nagano Shinkansen when I head out to Karuizawa next weekend...that is, as long as Mt. Asama doesn't blow its top again. Then, I went up to street level and went to the Yaesu Book Centre. Really strange setup there. Escalators take care of the bottom four floors then I have to hoof it up by staircase to reach the 7th floor with its English-language book selection. The elevator, which also starts from 4, decided to take a day off.
I got a quick bite at Wendys,noticing that the skies looked very gray. However, nothing really came of it except for a bit of a spritzer. That's much better than the Typhoon 19 that the weather folks had been threatening us with last week before T19 shrank into a lowly depression.
I made it up to the Tea Room for the first time in 2 weeks where I saw SR for the first time in a few weeks. She had a good time in Korea and even got me a bottle of Korean sesame oil which packs quite a punch compared to its Japanese equivalent. I'll be looking forward to using it on Sunday night.
Well, I gotta load of ironing to do before making some final touches on the kids' lessons tomorrow. Tomorrow's the party at Shrek's new digs. I'll probably bring that wine that one of the Class Act gave me.
Looks like that feared baseball strike here has been averted for at least a week. However,the sword is still hanging over the Japanese majors, getting ready to drop if things don't get resolved by next Friday at 5 p.m.
I see that the much talked about sequel to FRIENDS got off the ground last night. I never got into the show although I have used a few of the episodes in my lessons back at the school for the basic reason that I've spent most of their heyday here in Japan. FRIENDS has been showing here through video and TV but the TV telecast is on late at night and I'm not a video renter.
And tomorrow is the anniversary for 9/11. There will be the special ceremonies but it seems as if the big events at Ground Zero have become a thing of the past.
My lesson with The Teacher this morning initially was a bit of a heart-pouring exercise. It looks like the family underwent one of those parent-teenager blowups last night...hey, happens to everybody. Noone has ever said that teens were the most secure of people. I think she even teared up a bit.
Went out to Maruzen to see if I could pick up a new text for the older sister. I was rather surprised to see that the 4th floor which has all the English-language books was missing half of itself. One half of it has been replaced by an art exhibition. I found out that the closing of the store has been slated for Sept. 25th so they're pushing out their merchandise. Too bad they threw out the stuff I wanted.
So, grumblingly, I headed out to Tokyo Station to check out the schedule for the Nagano Shinkansen when I head out to Karuizawa next weekend...that is, as long as Mt. Asama doesn't blow its top again. Then, I went up to street level and went to the Yaesu Book Centre. Really strange setup there. Escalators take care of the bottom four floors then I have to hoof it up by staircase to reach the 7th floor with its English-language book selection. The elevator, which also starts from 4, decided to take a day off.
I got a quick bite at Wendys,noticing that the skies looked very gray. However, nothing really came of it except for a bit of a spritzer. That's much better than the Typhoon 19 that the weather folks had been threatening us with last week before T19 shrank into a lowly depression.
I made it up to the Tea Room for the first time in 2 weeks where I saw SR for the first time in a few weeks. She had a good time in Korea and even got me a bottle of Korean sesame oil which packs quite a punch compared to its Japanese equivalent. I'll be looking forward to using it on Sunday night.
Well, I gotta load of ironing to do before making some final touches on the kids' lessons tomorrow. Tomorrow's the party at Shrek's new digs. I'll probably bring that wine that one of the Class Act gave me.
Looks like that feared baseball strike here has been averted for at least a week. However,the sword is still hanging over the Japanese majors, getting ready to drop if things don't get resolved by next Friday at 5 p.m.
I see that the much talked about sequel to FRIENDS got off the ground last night. I never got into the show although I have used a few of the episodes in my lessons back at the school for the basic reason that I've spent most of their heyday here in Japan. FRIENDS has been showing here through video and TV but the TV telecast is on late at night and I'm not a video renter.
And tomorrow is the anniversary for 9/11. There will be the special ceremonies but it seems as if the big events at Ground Zero have become a thing of the past.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Thursday September 9, 8:53 p.m.
Just met Jazz Buddy for her usual lesson up in Shinjuku. Then I had my occasional lunch at Foo Foo. It was the second time in as many visits that the young staff screwed up my order. And it was for the same lunch set...this time, I did remind the waitress through my preprinted receipt what I had ordered and they set it right.
Afterwards, I did my usual rounds of the CD stores and took a look into Tokyu Hands for a bath radio after one of my students suggested I get one so that I can endure the bath a lot longer. I did find one for the reasonable price of 3100 yen. But I held off to give it some more thought. I think I'll get it next week, though. I could use the radio just in case The Big One does hit the Kanto and the power goes out.
Just came straight home after that. I only had a measly salad and peach for dinner since the Foo Foo lunch filled up all my culinary needs. Goes to show how much I've mellowed over the years.
Just met Jazz Buddy for her usual lesson up in Shinjuku. Then I had my occasional lunch at Foo Foo. It was the second time in as many visits that the young staff screwed up my order. And it was for the same lunch set...this time, I did remind the waitress through my preprinted receipt what I had ordered and they set it right.
Afterwards, I did my usual rounds of the CD stores and took a look into Tokyu Hands for a bath radio after one of my students suggested I get one so that I can endure the bath a lot longer. I did find one for the reasonable price of 3100 yen. But I held off to give it some more thought. I think I'll get it next week, though. I could use the radio just in case The Big One does hit the Kanto and the power goes out.
Just came straight home after that. I only had a measly salad and peach for dinner since the Foo Foo lunch filled up all my culinary needs. Goes to show how much I've mellowed over the years.
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Wednesday September 8, 10:13 p.m.
Sent another package off to the Anime King. It's good that I have an acquaintance working at the post office since she was able to save me a good bit of money by letting me know that I could sent the rather light box through the much more inexpensive "small packet" than the usual Surface Air Lift.
The weather today was hot but not too humid...at least not initially. Still, we are counting our lucky stars here in Tokyo especially after how Typhoon 18 skipped us and struck Hokkaido with record-making force. The same serene Sapporo that I had visited 3 months ago was a wind tunnel. Panels were blown off the TV Tower and a number of those poplar trees that I had passed during my visit to Hokkaido University were blown down. But the really sad thing is that a lot of the apple and pear crops are now kaput due to the storm. Ironic, really, since the rice harvest will probably be one of the best in history.
I met The Hawaiian for the first time in several months at our old meeting place. She didn't look too worse for wear...in fact, I think she was wearing a bit more makeup than usual. Looks like she just wants to keep her English ability up in various ways so I'll be happy to oblige her.
Then it was off to Toranomon for The Office Lady. On the way down there, I took a pit stop at the WAVE CD shop in Shiodome. Some more CDs on my wish list now. I also noticed that American debut CD of Hikaru Utada which has been released a few weeks earlier here. I really don't know how she'll do in her native States. A number of Japanese artists have tried to break into the American market via genres like R&B and heavy metal with little success. Puffy Amiyumi and Shonen Knife could be said to be two of the luckier acts but I can't really say that they have reached mainstream success. Basically, Utada would have to hit the equivalent of a grand slam to pick up any notice. She may be really big in Japan but in the States she'd probably be seen more as a gimmick.
Got back home tonight and just had a dinner of Spam, rice and salad. I'll probably have to stay up until 1 at least just so that I can digest my meal properly.
Looks like that baseball strike may be headed our way as of Friday night. The owners gave the go-ahead to the merger between the Orix and the Buffaloes. Now the owners are striking back by saying that if the players go on the picket lines, they'll sue their employess for breach of contract. So far, the voices have been quite tempered but the results may be ugly. It'll be the very first time that Japanese baseball has ever gone on strike.
Sent another package off to the Anime King. It's good that I have an acquaintance working at the post office since she was able to save me a good bit of money by letting me know that I could sent the rather light box through the much more inexpensive "small packet" than the usual Surface Air Lift.
The weather today was hot but not too humid...at least not initially. Still, we are counting our lucky stars here in Tokyo especially after how Typhoon 18 skipped us and struck Hokkaido with record-making force. The same serene Sapporo that I had visited 3 months ago was a wind tunnel. Panels were blown off the TV Tower and a number of those poplar trees that I had passed during my visit to Hokkaido University were blown down. But the really sad thing is that a lot of the apple and pear crops are now kaput due to the storm. Ironic, really, since the rice harvest will probably be one of the best in history.
I met The Hawaiian for the first time in several months at our old meeting place. She didn't look too worse for wear...in fact, I think she was wearing a bit more makeup than usual. Looks like she just wants to keep her English ability up in various ways so I'll be happy to oblige her.
Then it was off to Toranomon for The Office Lady. On the way down there, I took a pit stop at the WAVE CD shop in Shiodome. Some more CDs on my wish list now. I also noticed that American debut CD of Hikaru Utada which has been released a few weeks earlier here. I really don't know how she'll do in her native States. A number of Japanese artists have tried to break into the American market via genres like R&B and heavy metal with little success. Puffy Amiyumi and Shonen Knife could be said to be two of the luckier acts but I can't really say that they have reached mainstream success. Basically, Utada would have to hit the equivalent of a grand slam to pick up any notice. She may be really big in Japan but in the States she'd probably be seen more as a gimmick.
Got back home tonight and just had a dinner of Spam, rice and salad. I'll probably have to stay up until 1 at least just so that I can digest my meal properly.
Looks like that baseball strike may be headed our way as of Friday night. The owners gave the go-ahead to the merger between the Orix and the Buffaloes. Now the owners are striking back by saying that if the players go on the picket lines, they'll sue their employess for breach of contract. So far, the voices have been quite tempered but the results may be ugly. It'll be the very first time that Japanese baseball has ever gone on strike.
Wednesday September 8, 10:13 p.m.
Sent another package off to the Anime King. It's good that I have an acquaintance working at the post office since she was able to save me a good bit of money by letting me know that I could sent the rather light box through the much more inexpensive "small packet" than the usual Surface Air Lift.
The weather today was hot but not too humid...at least not initially. Still, we are counting our lucky stars here in Tokyo especially after how Typhoon 18 skipped us and struck Hokkaido with record-making force. The same serene Sapporo that I had visited 3 months ago was a wind tunnel. Panels were blown off the TV Tower and a number of those poplar trees that I had passed during my visit to Hokkaido University were blown down. But the really sad thing is that a lot of the apple and pear crops are now kaput due to the storm. Ironic, really, since the rice harvest will probably be one of the best in history.
I met The Hawaiian for the first time in several months at our old meeting place. She didn't look too worse for wear...in fact, I think she was wearing a bit more makeup than usual. Looks like she just wants to keep her English ability up in various ways so I'll be happy to oblige her.
Then it was off to Toranomon for The Office Lady. On the way down there, I took a pit stop at the WAVE CD shop in Shiodome. Some more CDs on my wish list now. I also noticed that American debut CD of Hikaru Utada which has been released a few weeks earlier here. I really don't know how she'll do in her native States. A number of Japanese artists have tried to break into the American market via genres like R&B and heavy metal with little success. Puffy Amiyumi and Shonen Knife could be said to be two of the luckier acts but I can't really say that they have reached mainstream success. Basically, Utada would have to hit the equivalent of a grand slam to pick up any notice. She may be really big in Japan but in the States she'd probably be seen more as a gimmick.
Got back home tonight and just had a dinner of Spam, rice and salad. I'll probably have to stay up until 1 at least just so that I can digest my meal properly.
Looks like that baseball strike may be headed our way as of Friday night. The owners gave the go-ahead to the merger between the Orix and the Buffaloes. Now the owners are striking back by saying that if the players go on the picket lines, they'll sue their employess for breach of contract. So far, the voices have been quite tempered but the results may be ugly. It'll be the very first time that Japanese baseball has ever gone on strike.
Sent another package off to the Anime King. It's good that I have an acquaintance working at the post office since she was able to save me a good bit of money by letting me know that I could sent the rather light box through the much more inexpensive "small packet" than the usual Surface Air Lift.
The weather today was hot but not too humid...at least not initially. Still, we are counting our lucky stars here in Tokyo especially after how Typhoon 18 skipped us and struck Hokkaido with record-making force. The same serene Sapporo that I had visited 3 months ago was a wind tunnel. Panels were blown off the TV Tower and a number of those poplar trees that I had passed during my visit to Hokkaido University were blown down. But the really sad thing is that a lot of the apple and pear crops are now kaput due to the storm. Ironic, really, since the rice harvest will probably be one of the best in history.
I met The Hawaiian for the first time in several months at our old meeting place. She didn't look too worse for wear...in fact, I think she was wearing a bit more makeup than usual. Looks like she just wants to keep her English ability up in various ways so I'll be happy to oblige her.
Then it was off to Toranomon for The Office Lady. On the way down there, I took a pit stop at the WAVE CD shop in Shiodome. Some more CDs on my wish list now. I also noticed that American debut CD of Hikaru Utada which has been released a few weeks earlier here. I really don't know how she'll do in her native States. A number of Japanese artists have tried to break into the American market via genres like R&B and heavy metal with little success. Puffy Amiyumi and Shonen Knife could be said to be two of the luckier acts but I can't really say that they have reached mainstream success. Basically, Utada would have to hit the equivalent of a grand slam to pick up any notice. She may be really big in Japan but in the States she'd probably be seen more as a gimmick.
Got back home tonight and just had a dinner of Spam, rice and salad. I'll probably have to stay up until 1 at least just so that I can digest my meal properly.
Looks like that baseball strike may be headed our way as of Friday night. The owners gave the go-ahead to the merger between the Orix and the Buffaloes. Now the owners are striking back by saying that if the players go on the picket lines, they'll sue their employess for breach of contract. So far, the voices have been quite tempered but the results may be ugly. It'll be the very first time that Japanese baseball has ever gone on strike.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Wednesday September 8, 10:08 a.m.
Another good spate of useful e-mail from the buddies. From The Doctor, I found out that Paramount is ready to unleash a massive online Trek game. The way it sounds, it's gonna be a Trekkie's wet dream. For me, I don't really get into games so even a Trek online enterprise wouldn't attract me. Plus with my dialup connection, I'd probably end up just being able to roll the dice within the hour. In addition, I heard that the players cannot take on any of the major characters from at least the Classic series. I'm sure that Shatner and Nimoy wouldn't deign to have their egos violated.
Paddy sent me and one other old fellow from the club our instructions for Karuizawa next week. We'll be staying in a cottage which suits my image of the place. I'm still wondering about whether I should get a reserved ticket on the Bullet. Paddy says that getting a non-reserved ticket should suffice but the next weekend is a long one and I could see most of Tokyo heading out to the hills then. And standing in the Bullet Train is a whole lot less comfy than even standing in the subway. I'll see if I can get a reserved ticket in between lessons on Friday.
Caught Andersen Cooper this morning. Apparently for his Nth Degree segment, he reported on a letter that he'd received from some girl in the "Kochi University Association" in which she and her classmates are willing to be spanked for charity. He snarkingly wondered if this were a hoax. Knowing some of the underbelly of Japanese pop culture, I'd say it was true. However, I'll scour around the Net for proof. Speaking of Andersen and Japan, I wonder what happened with his weekly obsession with the "SEAMANSHIP" SDF commercial.
Riffing a bit on my life here...I've been living in my little apartment for nearly a decade. For the gaijin, that's a bit of a record-setter. A lot of my fellow ex-pats do their share of moving over the years but I've just stayed here. For one thing, my neighbourhood is a good one: a nice mix of young/more established families, single folks and senior citizens plus foreigners within a very residentially-minded area with its schools and restaurants and convenience stores. The other thing is that I see moving in this country as an even more onerous chore than in North America...mostly in procuring that new place. What with all of the bias against foreigners at the real estate agencies, the guarantor hassles and finally the hefty payments of key money, I am far more motivated in keeping this little place.
I live in a 2K which stands for 2 rooms plus kitchen. And I've got a unit bath which is just a plastic modular bathroom with the usual toilet, sink and deep bathtub just like in the West. However, a lot of the locals here rather balk at the thought of having a toilet share space with a bathtub...kinda like a conservative's view on mixed marriages. Toilets should have their own space and the rest of the bathroom is elsewhere.
I'm sure that there are people who wonder how I could spend most of my time in a 6 square metre living room. Those Tom Cruise types could step into my place and smarmingly remark how quaint it was that there could be a building devoted to walk-in closets. Well, my answer is that it's not that bad. I actually have two sofas, a coffee table, a large bookshelf, a stereo and TV, this computer and all sorts of other paraphernalia stuffed into here. And certainly, I've collected my share of stuff over the past 10 years. However, I can survive quite well and believe it or not, there are several things that I actually have to stand up and walk a few steps to get. One educational thing is that thanks to Paddy, I've learned how to rearrange things in a confined space. Having said that, it is a revelation whenever I get back home and realize how spacious my family's home is.
Another good spate of useful e-mail from the buddies. From The Doctor, I found out that Paramount is ready to unleash a massive online Trek game. The way it sounds, it's gonna be a Trekkie's wet dream. For me, I don't really get into games so even a Trek online enterprise wouldn't attract me. Plus with my dialup connection, I'd probably end up just being able to roll the dice within the hour. In addition, I heard that the players cannot take on any of the major characters from at least the Classic series. I'm sure that Shatner and Nimoy wouldn't deign to have their egos violated.
Paddy sent me and one other old fellow from the club our instructions for Karuizawa next week. We'll be staying in a cottage which suits my image of the place. I'm still wondering about whether I should get a reserved ticket on the Bullet. Paddy says that getting a non-reserved ticket should suffice but the next weekend is a long one and I could see most of Tokyo heading out to the hills then. And standing in the Bullet Train is a whole lot less comfy than even standing in the subway. I'll see if I can get a reserved ticket in between lessons on Friday.
Caught Andersen Cooper this morning. Apparently for his Nth Degree segment, he reported on a letter that he'd received from some girl in the "Kochi University Association" in which she and her classmates are willing to be spanked for charity. He snarkingly wondered if this were a hoax. Knowing some of the underbelly of Japanese pop culture, I'd say it was true. However, I'll scour around the Net for proof. Speaking of Andersen and Japan, I wonder what happened with his weekly obsession with the "SEAMANSHIP" SDF commercial.
Riffing a bit on my life here...I've been living in my little apartment for nearly a decade. For the gaijin, that's a bit of a record-setter. A lot of my fellow ex-pats do their share of moving over the years but I've just stayed here. For one thing, my neighbourhood is a good one: a nice mix of young/more established families, single folks and senior citizens plus foreigners within a very residentially-minded area with its schools and restaurants and convenience stores. The other thing is that I see moving in this country as an even more onerous chore than in North America...mostly in procuring that new place. What with all of the bias against foreigners at the real estate agencies, the guarantor hassles and finally the hefty payments of key money, I am far more motivated in keeping this little place.
I live in a 2K which stands for 2 rooms plus kitchen. And I've got a unit bath which is just a plastic modular bathroom with the usual toilet, sink and deep bathtub just like in the West. However, a lot of the locals here rather balk at the thought of having a toilet share space with a bathtub...kinda like a conservative's view on mixed marriages. Toilets should have their own space and the rest of the bathroom is elsewhere.
I'm sure that there are people who wonder how I could spend most of my time in a 6 square metre living room. Those Tom Cruise types could step into my place and smarmingly remark how quaint it was that there could be a building devoted to walk-in closets. Well, my answer is that it's not that bad. I actually have two sofas, a coffee table, a large bookshelf, a stereo and TV, this computer and all sorts of other paraphernalia stuffed into here. And certainly, I've collected my share of stuff over the past 10 years. However, I can survive quite well and believe it or not, there are several things that I actually have to stand up and walk a few steps to get. One educational thing is that thanks to Paddy, I've learned how to rearrange things in a confined space. Having said that, it is a revelation whenever I get back home and realize how spacious my family's home is.
Tuesday September 7, 11:14 p.m.
For a typhoon that's supposed to be bypassing the Kanto, we're getting some pretty noisy winds here. No rain, though. I've taken in the laundry poles just in case. My major meterological gripe for tonight is that despite the cool winds blowing out there, it's still annoyingly humid. I felt like I was wearing moist tissues on the way home.
I had the juku boss for her prelim lesson. Well, it was really a level check. She's one of those special cases in that she certainly has a lot of the basics under her hat but her structure is pretty hole-y. Well, I was able to pinpoint them down so it'll be a matter of troubleshooting each weak point.
Also I realized how tight my schedule is in terms of accomodating students. I thought I could fit in a new junior high school student at the juku only to find out that I only have Wednesday mornings and alternating Thursday evenings free. The juku boss was pretty disappointed. Ah well.
It also seems that the Beauty Pair and I are gonna have another one of those karaoke nights later this month since Mr. Eccentric is pretty gung-ho on the idea. In fact, he's been escalating things a bit by suggesting a trip to an onsen. The Pair seem to be balking at that idea as do I.
For a typhoon that's supposed to be bypassing the Kanto, we're getting some pretty noisy winds here. No rain, though. I've taken in the laundry poles just in case. My major meterological gripe for tonight is that despite the cool winds blowing out there, it's still annoyingly humid. I felt like I was wearing moist tissues on the way home.
I had the juku boss for her prelim lesson. Well, it was really a level check. She's one of those special cases in that she certainly has a lot of the basics under her hat but her structure is pretty hole-y. Well, I was able to pinpoint them down so it'll be a matter of troubleshooting each weak point.
Also I realized how tight my schedule is in terms of accomodating students. I thought I could fit in a new junior high school student at the juku only to find out that I only have Wednesday mornings and alternating Thursday evenings free. The juku boss was pretty disappointed. Ah well.
It also seems that the Beauty Pair and I are gonna have another one of those karaoke nights later this month since Mr. Eccentric is pretty gung-ho on the idea. In fact, he's been escalating things a bit by suggesting a trip to an onsen. The Pair seem to be balking at that idea as do I.
Monday, September 06, 2004
Tuesday September 7, 12:20 p.m.
Well, NHK has devoted the morning to Typhoon 18. It just hit Kyushu and dumping a whole world of hurt on the area. However, it looks like it'll skip the Kanto entirely. In fact, we're currently sunny and hot here. The bad news is that Typhoon 19 will not be as forgiving. Its trajectory will bring it straight on us by the end of the week. Kinda wonder how the lessons will go on Friday.
Taking it easy on the food intake after last night's binge. Just had breakfast right now so I'm not in any need for food for a few hours at least although I'll have something before my classes tonight. I'll just get ready for my lessons over the next couple of days.
Looks like the Japanese baseball players are getting closer to a strike after getting rather miffed over the impending merger between the Orix Blue Wave and the Kintetsu Buffaloes. Not that I'm a baseball fan, but it couldn't happen at a worst time considering the windup to the playoffs. But in better news, Ichiro just continues to approach legendary status with his hitting record.
Well, NHK has devoted the morning to Typhoon 18. It just hit Kyushu and dumping a whole world of hurt on the area. However, it looks like it'll skip the Kanto entirely. In fact, we're currently sunny and hot here. The bad news is that Typhoon 19 will not be as forgiving. Its trajectory will bring it straight on us by the end of the week. Kinda wonder how the lessons will go on Friday.
Taking it easy on the food intake after last night's binge. Just had breakfast right now so I'm not in any need for food for a few hours at least although I'll have something before my classes tonight. I'll just get ready for my lessons over the next couple of days.
Looks like the Japanese baseball players are getting closer to a strike after getting rather miffed over the impending merger between the Orix Blue Wave and the Kintetsu Buffaloes. Not that I'm a baseball fan, but it couldn't happen at a worst time considering the windup to the playoffs. But in better news, Ichiro just continues to approach legendary status with his hitting record.
Tuesday September 7, 12:25 a.m.
Came home with a layer of grunge. It was a meterologically frustrating day today as the temps were reasonable but the humidity was still oppressive so the air acted like a pressure seal on any attempts for my sweat to evaporate to cool me down. I'm not sure what the next few days will be like considering that the typhoon is also upon us.
My first lesson went pretty well. We just did some major gabbing since they seem to have lost interest in the materials...uh-oh. But on the good side, we may be concocting a plan to try another steakhouse, the New York Grill, at the top of the Park Hyatt hotel in Shinjuku. It's the same hotel where "Lost In Translation" was filmed. It'll be another lunch thing again since one has to make dinner reservations there months in advance.
Afterwards, I walked through Shibuya when one of the roving McDonalds employees gave me a one-day-only coupon. I had to laugh when I looked at it; after all I had heard and discussed about "Super Size Me", the coupon was for supersizing my fries and Coke if I visited the Big M on that day. Well, resistance was futile so my lunch plan was set. But I did make a pit stop at Tower Records. Oh boy...it looks like I may be targeting a number of CDs for purchase. Plus my point card is starting to fill up. It'll be very tempting to get it completely filled to get that 3000 yen discount. I helped out in that endeavour a bit by purchasing the latest TIME issue. It's the one on Bush and the Republicans. Should make interesting reading.
I also stopped off at UNIQLO...a great place for cheap but sturdy clothes. I bought a couple of trousers...my size...for just 5000 yen. That is a bargain. A similar single pair at Eddie Bauer sets me back over 7000 yen. You do the math.
Finally, I stopped off at the McDs to get that supersize meal. Not too bad. I was eating the fries long after I had polished off the Mac.
Then it was off to Shinjuku again. Looks like someone had a bit of a medical problem at the station as he was being transported off in a stretcher. I went to Andersens again for the next couple of hours. Then, I had my company class. Once again it was that lone student but he did get a lot of practice today and I gave out the new texts. I just hope that the other two (or at least one...since the other is virtually hopeless) do return. One other bonus is that the Prez was in the office so that he actually paid me for 4 weeks' work and he reimbursed me for the texts.
Not only that but he once again took me out to dinner at that same izakaya in Yoyogi where we'd had dinner several months before. Boy, do I regret having eaten that Supersize meal. The Prez just ordered so many dishes starting with S: sashimi, salmon, soup, etc. By the time we finished 90 minutes later, I was feeling distinctly 9 months pregnant. I was so bloated that I decided to take the long route on the Oedo Line since it was basically a loop. I needed the extra sitting time to digest the stuff. So the train ride took an illogical 42 minutes instead of the logical 12 and then I had to transfer to my regular line just to get home. However it was worth it. I felt considerably less bloated by the time I reached home.
I sure got the lion's share of mail tonight. Instead of the usual 1% in my real/spam mail ratio that I'd been getting recently, I got a whopping 15%. The Wild Thing is starting to settle into his new life in Vancouver, my old Tea Room ladies are trying to get another reunion together, I'll be seeing the Hawaiian again for the first time in several months, Paddy's gotten back to me about the broadband thing and the Entrepreneur and I are having a good dialogue about life back in T.O. He's told me that Chip Guy actually got that widescreen TV. And finally, I've gotten the assignments off to SR for completion this Friday. Looks like my work week is slowly coming back.
Came home with a layer of grunge. It was a meterologically frustrating day today as the temps were reasonable but the humidity was still oppressive so the air acted like a pressure seal on any attempts for my sweat to evaporate to cool me down. I'm not sure what the next few days will be like considering that the typhoon is also upon us.
My first lesson went pretty well. We just did some major gabbing since they seem to have lost interest in the materials...uh-oh. But on the good side, we may be concocting a plan to try another steakhouse, the New York Grill, at the top of the Park Hyatt hotel in Shinjuku. It's the same hotel where "Lost In Translation" was filmed. It'll be another lunch thing again since one has to make dinner reservations there months in advance.
Afterwards, I walked through Shibuya when one of the roving McDonalds employees gave me a one-day-only coupon. I had to laugh when I looked at it; after all I had heard and discussed about "Super Size Me", the coupon was for supersizing my fries and Coke if I visited the Big M on that day. Well, resistance was futile so my lunch plan was set. But I did make a pit stop at Tower Records. Oh boy...it looks like I may be targeting a number of CDs for purchase. Plus my point card is starting to fill up. It'll be very tempting to get it completely filled to get that 3000 yen discount. I helped out in that endeavour a bit by purchasing the latest TIME issue. It's the one on Bush and the Republicans. Should make interesting reading.
I also stopped off at UNIQLO...a great place for cheap but sturdy clothes. I bought a couple of trousers...my size...for just 5000 yen. That is a bargain. A similar single pair at Eddie Bauer sets me back over 7000 yen. You do the math.
Finally, I stopped off at the McDs to get that supersize meal. Not too bad. I was eating the fries long after I had polished off the Mac.
Then it was off to Shinjuku again. Looks like someone had a bit of a medical problem at the station as he was being transported off in a stretcher. I went to Andersens again for the next couple of hours. Then, I had my company class. Once again it was that lone student but he did get a lot of practice today and I gave out the new texts. I just hope that the other two (or at least one...since the other is virtually hopeless) do return. One other bonus is that the Prez was in the office so that he actually paid me for 4 weeks' work and he reimbursed me for the texts.
Not only that but he once again took me out to dinner at that same izakaya in Yoyogi where we'd had dinner several months before. Boy, do I regret having eaten that Supersize meal. The Prez just ordered so many dishes starting with S: sashimi, salmon, soup, etc. By the time we finished 90 minutes later, I was feeling distinctly 9 months pregnant. I was so bloated that I decided to take the long route on the Oedo Line since it was basically a loop. I needed the extra sitting time to digest the stuff. So the train ride took an illogical 42 minutes instead of the logical 12 and then I had to transfer to my regular line just to get home. However it was worth it. I felt considerably less bloated by the time I reached home.
I sure got the lion's share of mail tonight. Instead of the usual 1% in my real/spam mail ratio that I'd been getting recently, I got a whopping 15%. The Wild Thing is starting to settle into his new life in Vancouver, my old Tea Room ladies are trying to get another reunion together, I'll be seeing the Hawaiian again for the first time in several months, Paddy's gotten back to me about the broadband thing and the Entrepreneur and I are having a good dialogue about life back in T.O. He's told me that Chip Guy actually got that widescreen TV. And finally, I've gotten the assignments off to SR for completion this Friday. Looks like my work week is slowly coming back.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Monday September 6, 8:06 a.m.
Looks like that quake had a stronger bigger brother. At around midnight, a M7.3 struck the same area giving some of those NHK cameras a very good shake. Even Tokyo got some echoes of that one. Then the tsunami warnings came in repeatedly for a majority of the Pacific coast. I'm not too cognizant on the physics of tsunamis but it was rather difficult for me to take the warnings that seriously when I hear of tsunami heights of just 66 cm and see cute little waves rolling in. However, everyone was warned to head immediately for higher ground.
GC sent in a reply from his area of Owase which was heavily featured on the news since it seems to be the focus for a lot of bad weather. He was in an electronics shop at the time of the first quake. At first, he thought it was the usual terrestrial hiccup except that it started getting longer and longer. I'm looking forward to his report on the second one. A university professor stated that Japan will probably have to look forward to similar aftershocks or tremors for the next week to 10 days.
Still feeling pretty drowsy but I've got my two classes to head out to. The weather is looking pretty cloudy out there but there's no rain forecast for today. However, I'm still wondering about the next couple of days with that typhoon.
CNN's just reported the 2 earthquakes. But the only accurate footage they had was the NHK camera just above Wakayama. The rest of it was actually on the typhoon so now probably a lot of people think all those horrible floods are due to the tsunami. Two completely different animals, CNN.
Looks like that quake had a stronger bigger brother. At around midnight, a M7.3 struck the same area giving some of those NHK cameras a very good shake. Even Tokyo got some echoes of that one. Then the tsunami warnings came in repeatedly for a majority of the Pacific coast. I'm not too cognizant on the physics of tsunamis but it was rather difficult for me to take the warnings that seriously when I hear of tsunami heights of just 66 cm and see cute little waves rolling in. However, everyone was warned to head immediately for higher ground.
GC sent in a reply from his area of Owase which was heavily featured on the news since it seems to be the focus for a lot of bad weather. He was in an electronics shop at the time of the first quake. At first, he thought it was the usual terrestrial hiccup except that it started getting longer and longer. I'm looking forward to his report on the second one. A university professor stated that Japan will probably have to look forward to similar aftershocks or tremors for the next week to 10 days.
Still feeling pretty drowsy but I've got my two classes to head out to. The weather is looking pretty cloudy out there but there's no rain forecast for today. However, I'm still wondering about the next couple of days with that typhoon.
CNN's just reported the 2 earthquakes. But the only accurate footage they had was the NHK camera just above Wakayama. The rest of it was actually on the typhoon so now probably a lot of people think all those horrible floods are due to the tsunami. Two completely different animals, CNN.
Sunday September 5, 9:12 p.m.
Japan's going through a triple threat of natural disaster. Typhoon 18 is following the same path as its predecessor. It'll probably skirt my area Wednesday morning. Then around 7 tonight, my apartment got slightly rocked by a tremor. The NHK report then went into an extended bulletin about a quake that's rocked the Kinki region around Osaka, Nara and Wakayama...pretty big tremor, about M6.8. Now, the last of the three is a tsunami generated by the quake which threatens a good chunk of the Pacific coastline. I may give CG a line asking if he's doing OK since his town was featured on the news as one of the danger spots.
Japan's going through a triple threat of natural disaster. Typhoon 18 is following the same path as its predecessor. It'll probably skirt my area Wednesday morning. Then around 7 tonight, my apartment got slightly rocked by a tremor. The NHK report then went into an extended bulletin about a quake that's rocked the Kinki region around Osaka, Nara and Wakayama...pretty big tremor, about M6.8. Now, the last of the three is a tsunami generated by the quake which threatens a good chunk of the Pacific coastline. I may give CG a line asking if he's doing OK since his town was featured on the news as one of the danger spots.
Sunday September 5, 4:03 p.m.
Yesterday's lesson with the lone sister was another one of those teeth-pulling sessions. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that the little sister is starting to take on some of her sibling's attributes. However, her mother was vivacious as always.
I made the trip down to Hachiko where I met Paddy for the first time in a couple of years. And then PH came riding up. We all went to the Maple Leaf where Paddy tucked into a plate of poutine while I indulged in my usual burger plate. The place was once again pretty empty since it was early in the afternoon. The ML doesn't get packed until the evening when the sports telecasts start up.
We then went to the wholesaler market across from Shibuya Station where we picked up some of the fixins for another PH feast at her apartment. It was a pretty heavy load of veggies that I had to help drag over to her place. The temps weren't too high yesterday but the humidity was still oppressive.
Since PH had the bike, she rode it back to her place while Paddy and I went by Yamanote Line and walked it up the 10 minutes. We beat her by about 5 minutes. While PH got busy in the kitchen, Paddy and I went into her large balcony and jabbered on movies and stuff for the next hour to hour and a half. One of the movie topics was on the Spielberg oeuvre. Paddy feels that the director is far overrated. I said that Spielberg has made some stinkers over his career (e.g. 1941, A.I., etc) but he's still a very accomplished director.
A couple of hours after our arrival, the rains came pouring down with a lightning show. All 3 of us wondered how her colleagues would be able to make it in that weather. The four of them finally made it 45 minutes late and fairly drenched. In fact one of them managed to do a flip on the slippery floor outside.
It would be another hour before dinner was truly ready so the six of us non-cooking folk gabbed on legal affairs since everyone except me were either paralegals or full-fledged lawyers. But once PH gave the all-clear, we started tucking into lasagna, roast chicken with mashed potatoes & gravy, salad, steamed veggies and shrimp cocktail. It was another typical feast by our hostess. The guests were suitably impressed. The Quarterback and his fiancee's timing was just perfect since they arrived only 5 minutes after the dinner bell sounded. The rains kept pounding the pavement but the rest of us enjoyed a pleasant dinner. By the time we scoured through dessert, all of us were quite stuffed.
Paddy and I finally left for home at about 11 p.m.while the rest of PH's buddies stayed over. I was initially thinking about grabbing a tazi part way home since I knew that the Tozai Line had a tendency to get packed even on a Saturday night. But as it turned out, it wasn't too crowded after all although we had to stand.
It'd been a few years since his last visit to my neighbourhood so he was surprised by some of the technological improvements to the station such as escalators and elevators. We took a quick peek into the convenience store before deciding that we just too full to think about food. Once we got home, Paddy soon nodded off on the sofa while I was able to last one more hour to take a shower.
We crashed for about 8 hours. I still felt sloggy despite the long sleep but I woke up to see Paddy watching TV. As usual, he got into his interior decorating mode and proceeded to rearrange the wiring for my AV/stereo setup so that everything was now hooked through one amp which had been just sitting up against the wall for the past couple of years. I'm self-secure enough to say that I am no tech wizard so I never bothered to do anything about it. Luckily, Paddy is the expert in all things electronic so he knew how to cross and uncross the wires wisely. We were missing a couple of things though so it was a hop over to the nearby Yamada Denki electronics shop to pick another set of speaker cables and some batteries. Paddy is quite the lethal advisor, though, with his legal training and his work experience. He encouraged me to get Yahoo Broadband since I'm still on the primitive dial-up and he said he'd check my options concerning my visa once it expires next year.
We made it back to the station again to have a very late breakfast at the local tonkatsu shop. It was about as busy as I've ever seen the place and it's been around since I've been there. A couple of old ladies puttered about serving a full house. It was a wonder that neither of them didn't collapse from a heart attack. As we ate our lunch, the two of us talked about my status as a single guy and gave me some advice about women. He said it was time to go out on the hunt again. Well, I'm still rather gun-shy so it'll be a while yet.
He finally took off but he'd keep in contact over the next couple of weeks to get back to me on some of those issues. Plus, he may join me to head over to a housewarming next week.
As for me, I headed home and have given the new audo setup a workout. I'm feeling pretty drowsy right now. I may take a nap before getting my week's lessons ready.
Yesterday's lesson with the lone sister was another one of those teeth-pulling sessions. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that the little sister is starting to take on some of her sibling's attributes. However, her mother was vivacious as always.
I made the trip down to Hachiko where I met Paddy for the first time in a couple of years. And then PH came riding up. We all went to the Maple Leaf where Paddy tucked into a plate of poutine while I indulged in my usual burger plate. The place was once again pretty empty since it was early in the afternoon. The ML doesn't get packed until the evening when the sports telecasts start up.
We then went to the wholesaler market across from Shibuya Station where we picked up some of the fixins for another PH feast at her apartment. It was a pretty heavy load of veggies that I had to help drag over to her place. The temps weren't too high yesterday but the humidity was still oppressive.
Since PH had the bike, she rode it back to her place while Paddy and I went by Yamanote Line and walked it up the 10 minutes. We beat her by about 5 minutes. While PH got busy in the kitchen, Paddy and I went into her large balcony and jabbered on movies and stuff for the next hour to hour and a half. One of the movie topics was on the Spielberg oeuvre. Paddy feels that the director is far overrated. I said that Spielberg has made some stinkers over his career (e.g. 1941, A.I., etc) but he's still a very accomplished director.
A couple of hours after our arrival, the rains came pouring down with a lightning show. All 3 of us wondered how her colleagues would be able to make it in that weather. The four of them finally made it 45 minutes late and fairly drenched. In fact one of them managed to do a flip on the slippery floor outside.
It would be another hour before dinner was truly ready so the six of us non-cooking folk gabbed on legal affairs since everyone except me were either paralegals or full-fledged lawyers. But once PH gave the all-clear, we started tucking into lasagna, roast chicken with mashed potatoes & gravy, salad, steamed veggies and shrimp cocktail. It was another typical feast by our hostess. The guests were suitably impressed. The Quarterback and his fiancee's timing was just perfect since they arrived only 5 minutes after the dinner bell sounded. The rains kept pounding the pavement but the rest of us enjoyed a pleasant dinner. By the time we scoured through dessert, all of us were quite stuffed.
Paddy and I finally left for home at about 11 p.m.while the rest of PH's buddies stayed over. I was initially thinking about grabbing a tazi part way home since I knew that the Tozai Line had a tendency to get packed even on a Saturday night. But as it turned out, it wasn't too crowded after all although we had to stand.
It'd been a few years since his last visit to my neighbourhood so he was surprised by some of the technological improvements to the station such as escalators and elevators. We took a quick peek into the convenience store before deciding that we just too full to think about food. Once we got home, Paddy soon nodded off on the sofa while I was able to last one more hour to take a shower.
We crashed for about 8 hours. I still felt sloggy despite the long sleep but I woke up to see Paddy watching TV. As usual, he got into his interior decorating mode and proceeded to rearrange the wiring for my AV/stereo setup so that everything was now hooked through one amp which had been just sitting up against the wall for the past couple of years. I'm self-secure enough to say that I am no tech wizard so I never bothered to do anything about it. Luckily, Paddy is the expert in all things electronic so he knew how to cross and uncross the wires wisely. We were missing a couple of things though so it was a hop over to the nearby Yamada Denki electronics shop to pick another set of speaker cables and some batteries. Paddy is quite the lethal advisor, though, with his legal training and his work experience. He encouraged me to get Yahoo Broadband since I'm still on the primitive dial-up and he said he'd check my options concerning my visa once it expires next year.
We made it back to the station again to have a very late breakfast at the local tonkatsu shop. It was about as busy as I've ever seen the place and it's been around since I've been there. A couple of old ladies puttered about serving a full house. It was a wonder that neither of them didn't collapse from a heart attack. As we ate our lunch, the two of us talked about my status as a single guy and gave me some advice about women. He said it was time to go out on the hunt again. Well, I'm still rather gun-shy so it'll be a while yet.
He finally took off but he'd keep in contact over the next couple of weeks to get back to me on some of those issues. Plus, he may join me to head over to a housewarming next week.
As for me, I headed home and have given the new audo setup a workout. I'm feeling pretty drowsy right now. I may take a nap before getting my week's lessons ready.