Monday June 26, 5:21 p.m.

I just saw a headline on Yahoo stating that Japan will consider exporting "octopus dumplings". I gather that it's referring to takoyaki. Hmmm....I'm not sure if "octopus dumplings" will have quite that zingy attraction in the Americas. But then again, the name is better than "octopus balls" (I can just imagine Beavis & Butthead snickering at that). I'm also wondering if this export is a "let bygones be bygones" gesture for that US kerfuffle with its beef or a revenge.

My Sunday was one of huge caloric proportions. I had my usual lesson with JJ. And then I headed on out to Omotesando where I met up with MB and The Sylph, The Satyr and Samwise with his little clan on the main intersection...the one with the Condomania store on the southwest corner. Odd...I thought I noticed some distinctly underage folk entering the place. I guess they do start early nowadays.

Our first stop was at a new place on a side street called Zip Zap. It's in the mold of a Fujimamas or Roti (the former being just a block away). It was the 3rd in the Great Burger Tour created by Movie Buddy. The restaurant was one of those trendy little places which opened out in the front. MB was grumbling a bit about how the waitress wasn't too cooperative about seating the seven of us (or I should say 6.5, considering the baby). But I was a bit more understanding of her side of things since they were in the midst of closing up shop due to a party of sorts a couple of hours later. And since she was a waitress, she probably wouldn't have had much of a say in the matter. However, by some miracle, the bunch of us managed to get a couple of tables. Strangely, I didn't order the burger plate since it was rather hefty in both price and mass. 2100 yen for 225 grams. I got my 300 g at Baker Bounce for a lot smaller 1500 yen. However, I did go for the brunch plate of sausage, scrambled eggs, sliced turkey and mashed potatoes. I gotta say that I wasn't too impressed with the results. The eggs were basically lumpy soup, the sausage was something that I could have gotten at any supermarket, and the mashed potatoes were hidden under the two slices of turkey. However, there was a bit of compensation in that afterwards, the remaining five of us just turned the corner and went to Fujimamas for dessert. Much better there and the waitress was refreshingly American and saucy.

It was just as well that I didn't have the burger plate at Zip Zap since I rushed out to Tsudanuma to meet with Ms. Perth's family. I did get my nap on the various trains headed back to Chiba. I got there just a minute after 5 and the car was there to pick me up. In the car, I met Mr. Perth and their son. The son is a budding stage actor. He was suitably self-effacing as I think a lot of actors over here are. He's also at the starving actor stage. He just started working as an izakaya waiter until that big break comes.

The reason I mention that it was just as well that I didn't have the burger plate is that the Perth family and I ended up having shabu-shabu. Shabu-shabu for the uninitiated is thin slices of marbled beef seared in boiling water very quickly. Mrs. Perth mentioned that the restaurant had only been open for just a few months but was already gaining a good reputation. I could see why...for a suburban eatery, it had a touch of class with its waitresses all dolled up in kimono. Initially, we were seated at one of the regular tables but Mrs Perth did a bit of quick negotiating with the head waitress which got us transferred to a private room. Good on her! I don't have shabu-shabu all that often...I think Clinton was still in office the last time I had it (I'm not sure if it was before or after the cigar got stuck in...ahem). My experiences with the heavy meal though involved being with a lot of students and teachers gouging through literal mountains of semi-frozen beef in ever-greasifying water. This restaurant was a few levels above that. For one thing, we got a couple of courses before the plates of red meat arrived. One was chawanmushi, a personal favourite. The best I could describe it is savory egg custard. That came in a small cup but then came in this huge platter of sashimi for which I wondered if we had ordered the wrong course. With that Omotesando meal, I was already heading for gastric overload but for the sake of retaining good relationships with my benefactors, I kept silent and enjoyed it. And to add further to my cholesterol levels, there was even a small basket of tempura.

The one thing that vaulted this shabu-shabu restaurant way above all of the other similar places I'd visited in the past was that when the plates of red meat arrived, the polite and pretty waitress in the kimono proceeded to cook the first round. I did learn a bit of shabu-shabu etiquette. For one thing, the marbled beef didn't come in huge semi-frozen mountains; more like a flat pressed flower of beef with the fat quickly starting to melt. With shabu-shabu, one is given two bowls of dipping sauce: a thick sesame sauce and ponzu which is soy sauce flavoured with mirin (sweet rice wine) and yuzu (a citrus fruit native only to Japan). I'd been led to believe that I could dip the seared beef in both sauces. Uh-uh-uh. Nope, only the sesame gets that privilege. The ponzu gets the boiled vegetables that accompany the shimofuri (the name of the beef). In any case, I thought that the service here was attentive to the point of anal-retentiveness. But the food was good.

Conversation was also very cordial. Talk went to the very reason that I was there with them in the first place. I'd lent Mr. Perth my crutches when his Achilles' Tendon made a rather dramatic snap during a tennis game. Hmmm...lend crutches...get a free expensive tasty meal....I'm gonna have to save this into long-term memory. In a way, Mr. Perth reminded me of a more cordial version of my father. His son reminded me of a far more handsome, thinner and more talented version of myself. He was also more of a listener than a talker...which is actually what is needed in the Meissner technique....which is definitely more my way as well. In fact, I had to consciously draw him into the conversation myself unlike his more vocal parents. I almost felt like the male half of an omiai meeting. At least he was impressed that I knew quite a lot about the art of acting...well, from what little I could glean from all those Biography specials.

On my way to the ultra-modern washrooms, I saw one of the head waitresses admonishing her young charge on protocol. It wasn't the usual berating that happens between teacher and student or between a section chief and a hapless staffer. It was one of those tut-tut type of criticisms. Cute. After she got out of work, the younger of the two probably wanted to shiv her. A woman can probably hide quite a lot of small sharp objects in the folds of a kimono.

The dinner was fine and Mrs. Perth kindly drove me back to Tsudanuma Station. I did the usual thing of holding a 5,000 yen bill so that at least I could give the impression that I wanted to pitch in my share. But of course, the entire family insisted that it was their pleasure so I quickly stashed it back into the wallet. It is the usual custom to offer payment twice before finally "reluctantly" accepting their generosity. I think I fulfilled my part of the bargain. In any case, I went back home feeling much more enormous than I did 24 hours previously.

Saturday June 24, 3:55 p.m.

Just finished my model lesson with another potential 008. She's quite pretty with a somewhat anachronistic Farrah Fawcett mane a la her Charlie Angels' days. And she looks like she works out quite a bit; her arms look phenomenally chiseled....yep, I notice those things. In any case, I've got the impression that things look pretty good since Speedy has just come out to get some further propaganda for her. I am pooped. A model lesson coming after my two kids will never amount to a full tank by the end...or even a half-full tank. But I've just been told that I've got the contract so I'll be taking care of the new 008 as of the 8th.

Speaking of Speedy, he's had a fairly tough time of it trying to find a new teacher and a new staffer to replace SB. At least with the staffer, it's a matter of pick & choose but with the new teacher, he isn't even that lucky. Pickins' are pretty slim in that department. But that's been a no-brainer...when it comes to the English teaching industry in Japan, we're frankly a dime a dozen. There are just simply more fly-by-nighters than dedicated professionals.

My must-see TV show was on last night. Now I don't have a regular show that I'm passionate about....especially when one considers the pap that regularly infests Japanese television. And in fact, this was a one-off on SuperChannel. It was one of those E! documentaries on none other Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. After having heard about all the slings and arrows thrown at him by his former fellow castmates on "Star Trek", I thought it would be interesting to hear his take on the feud. Not surprisingly, the feature was pretty biased for the good Captain. None of the other folks such as Jimmy Doohan or George Takei (the unhappiest of the bunch, I hear) were interviewed. And certainly the man himself wasn't particularly apologetic about what he has been accused of on set. He just thought that all the bricbracs about him being a scene hog and an uncaring man to his fans were an "idiotic" way for the other cast members to sell their autobiographies. And I have to admit that part of the reason for me to catch the show was to hear about this very topic. It was sad to hear his 911 tape, though, when he had called up Emergency to report that his 3rd wife had been found at the bottom of the pool.

Speaking about sadness, that story about Ms. Hatakeyama, the woman who murdered a boy because she had lost her own daughter some weeks earlier, is attaining Greek proportions in terms of tragedy. One morning news report told about her old high school yearbook getting signatures from her classmates such as "I hope I never see you again" and "I'll kill you if I ever see you again". Yeowch! I was never all that popular at school but I never received psychotic stuff like that. I did notice that there were more friendlier comments on the signature page but I don't think I would ever see that type of stuff. As much as I dislike the intrusive nature of Japanese tabloid journalism, I wouldn't mind seeing the rottweilers track down some of those punks who had written those comments and see if they've regretted any of them.

Now that the Japanese soccer team is now dead and buried after their early ouster from The World Cup, I wonder what's going to happen next. The Blue Samurai should be returning to Narita sometime this afternoon if they haven't already done so. It's a foregone conclusion that Zico will be on his way out; the newspapers have already been publishing possible successors for coach, and with the only exception of Team Japan winning the whole ball of wax, Zico's departure was pretty much assured. The print media have been treating the entire debacle like a "Dick & Jane" story: the newspapers were printing headings such as "Nakata gets really pissed off", then "Nakata cries on the pitch". I'm now thinking that the newspapers will next write "Nakata heads back to making millions of dollars hawking digital cameras". Still, I'll be looking at the rest of the survivors until the final game on July 9th.

All I've got tomorrow is JJ. However, I've got a couple of outings afterwards. One is that little lunch in Omotesando with MB and then last night, I got this call from Ms. Perth of the Beehive. She and her hubby wanted to thank me for lending him my crutches during his convalescence from a broken Achilles' Tendon so they're taking me out for dinner. Nice to be wanted.

Plus, I've got the gasman coming over to the apartment for his triannual inspection of the gaslines. He'll probably be heading over on Wednesday when I don't have any classes at all, the first time I can say that in over 2 weeks.

And finally, it looks like the government really wants my money. Since I am a freelancer, the powers-that-be have decided that they would figure out my income tax burden for Fiscal Year Heisei 18 in advance, and I'll have to make two payments of over 50,000 yen each by the end of this year. I'm now seriously thinking about getting that cardboard box in Shinjuku Park as my new shelter. On the good side, Speedy informed me that I'll be getting my highest payment from his school since I started due to the fact that I spelled for him last month.

Wednesday June 21, 9:56 p.m.

Just finished my model lesson. Not sure if she took the bait, though. She was fairly button-down about the whole affair, and over here people will just give the generic "Yes, I enjoyed the lesson" without giving away their true feelings about it. I wager it's 50/50. So if she indeed decides not to become 008, I'm gonna have a day off next week since both 001 and 007 will be out of the country. Well, at least I can watch "The Fountain of Trivia" for the first time in several weeks.

There's just something about handling new students that saps me of a lot of energy. Luckily, I've only got The Carolinan tomorrow so I can sleep in. All these years of teaching and I still haven't figured out why some students stick with me for so long while others just give up the ghost after a few tries.

Well, my first attempts to succeed in my diet of no sugar and snacks have already crashed and burned. Speedy offered some luscious apple pie that his wife had gotten. Resistance was indeed futile.

Wednesday June 21, 4:14 p.m.

Well, the first day of Summer has arrived, and it certainly feels like the beginning of the hot season. Mind you, we're still in the Rainy Season as well so we've still got a lot of precipitation on the way.

Not just the seasons are changing for me, though. I've got personnel changes coming up. Ms. Tulip of The Beehive will be heading for her new home in Toronto in about a month. And at the juku, The Salaryman started his first lesson with The Milds and McGirl last night. Not really sure if he enjoyed it or not although he said that the class was "interesting" to the boss. His temperament quite matches the demeanor of the Milds, though. So, whether he'll stay or scoot is anyone's guess right now. But just as soon as he gets in, McGirl said that she would be pulling out of the class at the end of the month since she'll be heading for fashion school. It's just as well since she wasn't all that serious for the year that she was with us. It was lucky that she had two kindly folks in the form of the Milds. The Siberian was nearly dead with fatigue last night in the last slot. He was weaving in and out of slumber all throughout the "lesson"; I kinda understand how he felt, though. I also get that way during my time with The Teacher since I see her after lunch.

Much to my chagrin, Student 007 pulled off a dotakyan an hour ago so I've got no lesson with him, but I still get paid since he did it at such a late hour. I've got 001 for her usual, but it will be her last one before she heads on out for that South Africa trip next week. With the fact that 007 will also not be here next week due to work, I may be facing an empty Wednesday except that if my model lesson tonight works out, I may get my lone student 008 for 8:30 p.m. I've also got another model lesson this Saturday for a lady who'll be coming for biweekly sessions. Since SB is no longer with us, I may have to be pulling greeting duties since Speedy will still be talking with interviewees for SB's old position. So far, Speedy hasn't found the right person yet. A lot of these young'uns apparently have never used a computer before...other than for first-person shooter games.

Unlike the Americans, the Japanese are currently sighing a big burst of relief right now. The SDF personnel who have been deployed in Iraq for several months got their marching orders to come home as of today. Always good to hear.

Tom Cruise has once again popped onto our shores again...this time to promote M:I III. He came in his speedboat through Odaiba in front of an adoring crowd of 3,000 fans. Considering that Odaiba is built on garbage, I'm surprised that the ground under those fans didn't sink below the water table. Then he and they had that sneak premiere of his latest movie at the Mediage theatres in the area.

I've been enjoying the World Cup matches on the telly at night for the past couple of weeks now. I can imagine that all of us will be seeing Zico's boys coming home to Narita on the weekend, unless the most miraculous of miracles hapens. But at least the other games have been fun to watch. The Sword of Damocles will be over Team Japan early Friday morning. And the executioner? The Boys of Brazil. Japan basically has to trounce Brazil like a bunch of nerds playing the beautiful game for the first time for it to have any chance of going ahead...which is kinda like me becoming rich and handsome by the weekend. Ain't gonna happen.

Skippy has given her regrets about not coming to Mr. Influence's cooking fest on Sunday. She said something about having to see her grandmother...which I think is a bold-faced lie but over here, people do that to save face. One does have to pay a little bit extra for Mr. Influence's class, no matter how economical Speedy says it is. And I think Skippy wouldn't take the bait. So, since she ain't going, I ain't going....which means I will actually make some money teaching JJ and then I may meet up with Movie Buddy for yet another session of burgers.

I guess all that built-up stress from meeting new students and saying goodbye to old faces is getting to me. My back and shoulders feel no less different that a block of mahogany.

Monday June 19, 3:52 p.m.

Well, the Japanese soccer fans are not crying in their beer, but neither are they crying for joy. They're in limbo, so to speak. But it's the sort of limbo or lull that usually precedes an execution of sorts. After the total collapse of Zico Japan last Monday night to the Aussies, the team managed to pull off a scoreless tie with Croatia, another Group F team in dire straits, last night. A scoreless tie? That's like kissing one's sister...the one with the mass of cold sores all around her mouth. And guess who the next opponent is? Just Earth's greatest team...Brazil. For Japan to pull off a berth in the next round, the team would need George Lucas' hopeless optimism, a Steven Spielberg round of direction and a John Williams soundtrack. If Zico and the boys pulled this one off, there would be mayhem in the streets of Tokyo later this week.

Back in my own little world, my weekend was a foodie extravaganza with the prices to match. On Friday, shortly after my last entry, the bunch of us at Speedy's held an unofficial goodbye party for SB at a nearby Taiwanese restaurant. It's an unassuming eatery but it does have a great deal in the form of a 3500-yen, 2-hour all-you-can-drink thingie with an 8-course meal. Not bad at all. The minimum number of people to take part in this Asian smorgasbord is 3, but even with us 5, we barely made it to the finish line (mind you, Speedy and I were the only two guys there and the bossman himself had downed 2 or 3 croquettes earlier in the evening). Still, the four of us treated SB to the free dinner so our shares of the bill were duly inflated.

Then, on Saturday night, I met up with Skippy in the trendy neighbourhood of Shimokitazawa for dinner. It had been several years since I last stepped into this area, popular with the university crowd, southwest of the teen Mecca of Shibuya. I got there about 90 minutes ahead of the 5 o'clock meeting time so I did a bit of a recce around. It's a pretty compact neighbourhood but as is usually the case with special Tokyo neighbourhoods, Shimo is packed with a lot of small shops and eateries. Just for big laughs, I took a look at the front windows of some of the real estate agencies. Sure enough, apartments with my sort of rent only offer half the space that I have. I don't think I'll be moving anywhere near there for a long while, if ever.

When I did meet Skippy, the two of us first made a beeline into the other side of Shimo. By the way she was navigating through the crowds and narrow streets, she was a veteran. She told me that her father had once lived in the area for around 5 years before tying the knot. She took me to a bakery that had the usual pastries and breads but had become famous for its curry-filled buns in the various forms of media. Getting oneself immortalized in the variety shows and on the pages of TokyoWalker is as good as gold...for a while. The bakery staff made sure everyone knew about the buns' fame through little signs on the trays. I bought one of the buns while Skippy bought about 12 which brought a few stares (and some grumblings, I imagine, from other customers); her father has a special love for the stuff. Then, Skippy led me to our destination for dinner....an okonomiyaki restaurant called Otafuku. Otafuku usually means "mumps"....I'm not sure if the name refers to the condition of one's mouth after stuffing a whole bunch of savory Japanese pancakes. In any case, there is a sweet sauce which has the same name and which is poured onto them. The restaurant Otafuku was a small place, just several seats by the counter behind which the chefs do their cooking magic, and then one long wooden table just by the door. We got two by the counter so we ordered one order of Hiroshima okonomiyaki (more on that later) and a mess of tonpei. Of course, Skippy got her beer while I got my glass of Calpis. I'm sure the waitress assumed that I would be the alky with my gut.

Tonpei is kind of a mix between an okonomiyaki and an omelette. It's a disc of fried egg enveloping fried pieces of pork and slathered in stripes of mayo, ketchup and otafuku sauce. There's also a wide swath of Japanese mustard that adorns one side of the dish. It was the first time I'd ever tried it and I was a happy camper. Our Hiroshima okonomiyaki was frying up right in front of us. The Hiroshima variety consists of a thin disc of batter on which a ton of shredded cabbage and yakisoba noodles are placed with a mix of seafood and pork. Another thin disc is placed on top. At first, the entire pile looks rather unwieldy and threatens to fall over but then the chef takes two of his metal spatulas and proceeds to press the life out of the pile. All that water in the cabbage gets squeezed out and sizzles away. I'm glad that the sound is sizzling and not screaming since it probably would've broken several clauses of the Geneva Convention. After a few minutes and some slathering of otafuku sauce with ground nori, we were able to eat the concoction right from the grill. Skippy boasted that this style of okonomiyaki was very healthy due to the large amounts of cabbage although I wonder if the amount of oil, noodles and sauce largely offset the so-called health benefits. In any case, it was delicious.

The two of us were surprised when The Satyr suddenly rang up on Skippy's cell. He hadn't made any contact to the girl's original invitation but called up to see if it weren't too late to join the party. Skippy was more than happy to pick him up from the station. In the meantime, the older waitress had us moved over to the bench since there was a party of 4 waiting in the wings. The Satyr and Skippy returned where we ordered one more order of okonomiyaki since The Satyr had already eaten a little something with his girlfriend back in Shibuya. Otafuku was another restaurant which had found some fame in the mags and on telly. In fact, that's how Skippy, her ears and eyes forever open for the latest in culinary fame, found out about it. There were autographed cards on the walls by various tarento who had come knocking.

There would be a fourth person joining us but it would be for coffee and dessert. She was one of Skippy's classmates at the old school, Gabby. She was also friends with that disappearing act, Jazz Buddy. Gabby had had her own set of adventures over the past couple of years. She went to school for about a year in Santa Monica and roomed with a number of folk before returning to this side of the Pacific earlier this year and getting a job at some sort of architectural design firm here in Tokyo. Not surprisingly, her English gained a slight Valley Girl-like quality. The four of us then found a dessert place called Waffle something-or-other. We were seated next to a couple of Shibuya gals who either glared or sneered at us....ahh...why do I get the feeling that the renowned Japanese attention to good service and politeness will be extinct in another generation? The four of us shared a large waffle concoction covered in slabs of yogurt and berries. Gabby, during our wide-ranging talk, also spoke about Jazz Buddy. The last time she had heard from my former private student was back last Fall; apparently, she's still in depression mode. Still, it was good to have the chat although the entire night set me back about another 4000 yen.

Then there was last night. I met The Bohemian for the first time in a few months. We went to our default izakaya in Shibuya, En. Talking of depression, The Bohemian wasn't in too chipper a mood. He wasn't even attempting to flirt with the waitresses. His side business of daytrading hasn't been doing too well....although, I think that's usually the case with most folks who risk their savings on this Net venture despite what TIME and other journals might write about. And he's been busy going to school trying to get his certificate in teaching Japanese. He's been in limbo himself for several years: still living at home with his folks and not sure about his direction in life. He did mention something about getting an interest in opening up a club in the big city but that's even riskier than daytrading. We did our usual 3 hours at En. It was still just 7 p.m.; however, the two of us were just yawning by the end so we cut our night short. Not sure where the two of us will be the next time we meet. I know that my wallet was feeling even lighter. En cost me 6500 yen without breaking a sweat.

So that was my foodie weekend. Next weekend could also be a bit heavy in terms of calories and yen. Movie Buddy contacted me for a bout next Sunday. But Speedy asked if Skippy and I could occupy a couple of spaces in Mr. Influence's biweekly cooking sessions on the same day. It's pretty rare for one of his sessions to have empty spots but I'm not sure if Skippy is gonna jump at the chance. One spot costs 4900 yen. Mind you, that includes the instruction and the food. But 4900 yen is 4900 yen. So I've got some decisions to make by midweek about what I'm to do for the weekend. BTW, MB and his girl saw "The Da Vinci Code"; as expected, they were bored. So, probably I'll just wait til the DVD comes out.

I'm finishing this up just as Speedy is going through his list of interviewees for SB's old job. In fact, he's had so many of them that SB is still here doing extra duty manning the phones.

Friday June 16, 6:57 p.m.

Back at Speedy's again, this time in a purely off-duty capacity. SB is having her last day here before she goes onto bigger and better things next week. But a few of us are gonna share a drink with her. She and Speedy sent out the ad searching for her replacement and it looks like there have been a lot of nibbles out there. Speedy will be swamped with interviews next week.

It's been a slightly easier week for me. There have been some changes in the juku lineup. It seems as if The Fortune Teller will be wrapping up things with me this month. I asked the boss if it had anything to do with a bad lesson since I hadn't been made aware of any temporary status. She reassured me that he was fine with the lessons but that was about it. I think it's just that he came to the realization that all of his lessons would probably be the same ol' translated fortune telling sessions. However, The Milds and McGirl will be getting a new classmate as of next Tuesday. I did a model lesson with The Salaryman. He's a fairly fluent fellow which makes me a bit nervous about how he'll fit in with the other three since McGirl is still hopeless as a self-starter and Mrs. Mild easily succumbs to nervousness.

With Speedy, I actually did start with Student 007 this week, just before 001's regular lesson. He's a nice old guy...a chairman of his own company. I was a bit nervous since Speedy gave me his usual "pep talk" about him being the buddy of the school's financial benefactor. However, 007 seems to be a congenial hard worker...the best kind of student to have after a slogfest with the kids. In other good news at this venue, 002 officially gave her OK to start her home lessons from July.

Last night, I only had B2 and B2B. Actually, the lesson went well but I think it'll always be a a bit of a land mine with them.

The rainy season continued to make its presence known. This morning, we got walloped with a huge deluge which drenched my shoes, socks and feet thereby necessitating a quick change at home after my lesson with The Fortune Teller. Just lucky that things have dried up considerably since the afternoon. Not sure what tomorrow will be like but next week looks like more of the wet stuff. At least, Saturday will be fairly easy with the ever-dependable if at-times-fragile JJ, and then I meet up with Skippy in Shimokitazawa for that curry bun fest.

Wednesday June 14, 9:42 p.m.

Well, it's almost 48 hours after the fact but I've yet to put in my two yen in about that first game of Team (Zico) Japan against the Aussies. Man, what a turd of a match...for the Japanese, that is. The Aussies almost fully deserved their win against the Japanese Zeroes...the boys somehow forgot that soccer also includes an offensive component as well as a defensive one. I knew they were in trouble when I saw the rather lopsided shoot count. There was a brief glimmer of hope when the Japanese got the first goal of the match but the reality of an offenseless team caught up when Australia got their first goal which apparently was a signal for Japan to also let their defense go home for the day. It's not totally hopeless yet but a lot of that giddy excitement in the country has quickly dissipated like flat champagne after that loss. I figure that if Japan doesn't scrape a win this Sunday, we'll be looking back at sumo and baseball again.

Monday June 12, 2:57 p.m.

Instead of doing this entry free at Speedy's, I'm paying my 1300 yen for access at the Shinjuku Kinko's since I don't have any classes there today. Say what? I could just go there and still access the Net...? Well, let's say that I don't particularly want to take the services there for granted. If I don't teach there, I don't go there.

My weekend was a bit of a mild rollercoaster. On the work side of things, I could've been excused if I had harboured thoughts of pediacide after my kids on Saturday morning. Ugh...both sisters were dead to the world. Hey, I made my 7000 yen. But luckily, JJ shored up the side. She's always good for effort. Then I went out to Speedy's to head out with him to Mr. Influence's place a few stations away for his gourmet party. However beforehand, we met 002, my once and future student for the first time in several months. If all goes well and she doesn't chicken out, I'll be heading over to her place every week starting from July to teach her lessons. Y'see...she has a bit of a phobia about being taught at cafes.

Then, Speedy, SB and I made it over to Mr. I's place. He already had quite a few people there in his 2-floor apartment. And he basically stayed in his kitchen all night cooking up his trademark goodies. I would've felt badly for him (in between bites of his chicken wings, French fare, and other stuff) except that I know he really likes to stir and slice. Considering my growing dislike of parties, I actually did enjoy myself since the folks there were pretty open and friendly. In fact, I may have started yet another future excursion to that first stop on MB's epic burger tour: Baker's Bounce in Sangenjaya. I may be dragging three young ladies, and perhaps even Skippy there early next month. One of the new faces there is apparently a huge fan of US pop culture which includes the culinary fare. One of the other new ladies I met there was a rather unique young lady: petite, button-down and conservative in dress but I could sense there was something more lurking underneath her staid exterior. In any case, Speedy told me that she could rival even me for large amounts ingested. I could surmise that she has a black hole as a stomach. And so, I've recruited her for the second trip to Baker's Bounce. I stayed there until about 10:30 after the World Cup game between England and Paraguay had been under way for half an hour and then made my way back home.

Speaking of the World Cup, I have a feeling that there will be some bleary eyes and yawning faces at work tomorrow for the Tokyoites since Team Japan led by former WC champion himself, Zico, will be going up against the Aussies at 10 tonight local time. Well, at least, the game won't be starting at 1 or 2 a.m. I'm not sure how far Nakata and the rest of the team will fare this time around but I figure if they can make it into the top 16, it won't be a loss. Speaking of Nakata, apparently the supposedly coolest Japanese soccer player will be staying in a swanky suite room in a hotel instead of deigning to bunk with his teammates. I'm sure morale must be great.

Sunday was one of my rare days with no classes whatsoever. I met The Madame at JR Shinjuku and had some lunch before the movie. She's now showing a few cracks in her armour when it comes to her status as 21st-century out-of-body spiritualist; she said that she'd like to come back to Earth and just be a regular housewife someday. Will ones never cease?

"Poseidon" was just one of those harmless blockbusters masquerading as a Chinese dinner. After an hour, you won't need to remember it. It copied some aspects of the old version with Gene Hackman in terms of death scenes and characters, as well as movies like "Armageddon" and "Titanic". Kinda hard to believe that Kurt Russell is now playing fathers of adult women, since I used to remember him as the go-to teen in those throwaway Disney comedies or as Little Tarzan in an episode of "Gilligan's Island". Come to think of it, it's hard to believe Richard Dreyfuss as the old guy. Relentless pacing and mayhem must have been the two catchphrases during the direction of the movie. Things were going at pretty frenetic speed since a couple of potential sources for friction amongst the survivors were swept aside like the ship after the wave hit.

The trailers before "Poseidon" were interesting. The one for James Bond caught me off-guard. It started off rather quietly before the famous theme song came on. I'm still not quite sure what to make of the new guy. And then there was the new one for "Superman Returns". After that great fan-made one on the Net, the official one doesn't seem to do the movie justice.

Afterwards, Skippy met up with us and the three of us headed to a Vietnamese place for dinner. It was the usual fare of Fresh Spring Rolls and Pho. Since both ladies are into the spiritual cause, a lot of the conversation focused on that. And after Skippy had all of us do a special cellphone-based fortune telling, she discovered that all three of us shared a lot of things (no snickering, please). As usual, Skippy was always keeping her mind rolling for new things to do with us. It looks like this Saturday will be a go for this trip to Shimokitazawa, and then she wants to have her second otaku tour in Ikebukuro in early July.

After all the hijinks this weekend, I called up Mom. Apparently, Grandpa may be ailing a bit so if he sinks further, she may come here a bit earlier than scheduled. But I'm hoping that it'll be later in the year so that both she and Dad can come over.

Well, in any case, time is just about up for me here. So time to go home and have a very rare Monday night dinner in my apartment.

Saturday June 10, 4:22 p.m.

Doing a rare entry at Speedy's. Just as well since I probably won't be coming here on Monday. The Part-Timer has cancelled her regular lesson and I just got word from SIL that she'll have to take care of her ailing mother. The lack of lessons is never all that great but to be honest, I wouldn't mind the occasional Monday afternoon off. And I can catch "The Da Vinci Code" finally. But I'm also catching "Poseidon" tomorrow as well. Hmm...two movies in as many days. 3,000 yen down the drain...well, it's life.

I got word from the juku boss that The Fortune Teller will only be coming for another couple of sessions before finishing his time. She reassured me that he didn't have any problems with the lessons but then again I said the same thing about the gym when I quit that a few weeks ago. There was a problem with the gym...I wasn't enjoying it. And since I never got the word that The FT's lessons were temporary, I can only assume that he wasn't all that thrilled with them. To be honest, I wasn't all that thrilled with his lessons although he himself is a nice enough guy. It's just that there's only so much that could be gained with him just explaining his fortune telling each week. The boss also told me that I'm gonna be having another model lesson from 9 to 9:30 next Tuesday which is usually The Siberian's time slot. He's also another guy who could be jettisoned. Now, if I can only get rid of B2 the same way...mind you, I'll see what the next week brings. If it's more of the same way, I'll probably send my own "Dear John" letter over to her.

To add insult to injury, the kids this morning were about as animated as granite. I came rather close to strangling one of them. However, I swallowed my pride and just chalked it up to another round of puberty. Luckily, I had JJ who's always been gung-ho about her English, if not all that confident. And it looks pretty good that I'm gonna have 002 again after several months' absence. The lady came in to have a consultation with Speedy about me coming over to her neck of the woods from July. She said that her hubby may be a little antsy about me coming over to her house each week while he's off at work. I told her that she can just show one of my bloated pics to him and he can rest easy.

To show how gung-ho Japan has become about The World Cup, which started today, one just has to compare television priorities over the last few days. Over in the States and on CNN, the big news has been the assassination of Iraqi Public Enemy No. 1, al-Zarqawi. Meanwhile, over here, it's just been about Japan's chances in the soccer tourney in Germany. However, there has been the other big coverage on that tragic figure of a woman, Suzuka Hatakeyama, who killed young Goken Yoneyama in Akita Prefecture because she snapped over the death of her own daughter some weeks earlier.

Well, gotta head on off to Mr. Influence's big party.

Wednesday June 7, 5:42 p.m.

Quite a hodgepodge of weather so far today. We had squall activity earlier this morning and then it's back to early summer right now. I was considering whether to catch "The Da Vinci Code" since I had no classes in the morning but that was rendered moot since I had to wait for another package going to The Anime King. It did arrive.

Looks like Speedy is finally getting back on track in getting his students. It looks like I'm gonna have another two new ones...or to be exact, one new one on Wednesday afternoons and an old one returning to the fold: 002. After some soft but persistent chipping away for the past several months, she's finally agreed to have me come over to her neck of the woods to teach her.

Mr. Influence is having a home party on Saturday so it looks like I'm gonna be in for some really good cooking. It's gonna be a long day, though. I've got the kids early on Saturday, followed by JJ and then heading over to the school to see Speedy and 002 for some prelim talk on her future lessons. Mrs. Perth of The Beehive had asked me whether I would be available on the same day for a thank-you dinner since I had lent her husband my old crutches to aid him during his convalescence from a torn Achilles' Tendon but that's not gonna happen. In fact, I don't think any of the June Saturdays will be open but I let her know that I'm still flexible on Sunday.

Speaking of The Beehive, the bunch of us and I had our occasional lunch at that hidden restaurant in Tsudanuma, Takimoto. Some really good food there. I'll be getting a rare Tuesday morning off from them next week since my increasingly rare teaching partner will be showing up for them. Perhaps I can see "The Da Vinci Code" then.

I caught the first of two appearances of Larry King in the grounds of San Quentin Prison this morning. It was rather ironic seeing this since I'd caught "The Shawshank Redemption" the other night. There were the 5 inmates sitting across from Larry. It was obvious that Larry was interested in getting the tabloid fodder: y'know...bull queens, shank fights, sordid pasts...but there was especially one lifer, a guy who resembled a middle-aged Chris Rock, who was openly disagreeing (civilly, though) with King's approach and who wanted to emphasize all the good things about life behind bars via various reform programmes. I could certainly understand his need to show a more civil side (if one can be found) to life behind bars, especially in a maximum-security installation, but I couldn't also help feeling that there was a bit of spin and advance coaching for the five. But the representative for the staff himself just reduced the hard life by describing about "a few knuckleheads"...as if the only scary inmate was Curly Howard of The Three Stooges. Part 2 is tomorrow so I'm gonna see who else is coming on.

Anyways, gotta get ready for 001...

Monday June 5, 10:15 p.m.

Yup, still here but since Speedy's is the only place I have free Internet access. I will be headed home in the next 15 minutes. I do have The Beehive tomorrow. I certainly hope that I won't be getting more of that whiny pouting from Mrs. Tee...if there's anything that gets me on edge..

My model lesson with that writing student seems to have gone OK. Her alleged first class will be on the 26th but I'll believe her when I see her. Her writing sample shows some good usage of vocabulary though she said demurely that her dictionary was her ghostwriter and paragraph structure is in order but she's gonna need a lot of work on structure and punctuation.

It looks like Skippy will be joining The Madame and I for dinner if not for "Poseidon". Movie Buddy and The Sylph have bailed out since they had caught it today. MB reassured me that it's a harmless roller coaster of a thriller. Problem is, I throw up on roller coasters. Skippy, being the ever happy social butterfly, has already thrown out the possibility for the weekend of the 17th as the chance to head out to hip Shimokitazawa, west of Shibuya. She knows a place with really good okonomiyaki and curry buns. Always thinking with her stomach....I like that.

In the big news, police may have caught the killer of that little boy who had been murdered almost 3 weeks ago in Akita Prefecture. The sad strange twist is that the killer may be the mother of a girl who had been murdered fairly recently in the same area. Apparently, the police have found some CSI-level evidence in her car and around her home. The theory is that the mother got so frustrated with the police being supposedly so slow in finding the perpetrator that she finally snapped. There was even filmed footage of her talking with the media about the boy's case; she looked very worn physically and mentally. So the sad thing is that instead of finding a serial killer, the cops may have come across a person who's both victim and killer.

And then there was that earlier case of that 51-year-old woman who strangled her 19-year-old daughter to death in the daughter's apartment where three fossilized children were found. Well, according to SIL, that mother was responsible for birthing all three kids decades ago and killed her adult daughter because the two of them were caught up in a love triangle with the same man. You couldn't get more film noir than this.

I heard about that thwarted terrorist attack in Toronto. I'm sighing in relief. Apparently, those 17 folks were targeting The CN Tower or CSIS HQ. Frankly, the world is getting just a tad too exciting for my comfort.

Monday June 5, 7:45 p.m.

Still going through the backlog that was my life last week since my access to the Internet is now severely curtailed. I just finished up with The Part-Timer. Good student to have...a tonic after especially having a deadweight student. Too bad that she'll be away next week. Kinda biding my time before the model lesson student comes in about half an hour.

Well, continuing on the movie beat...along with "The Shawshank Redemption", I have been enjoying the Star Trek DVDs. I even splurged and got myself The Director's Cut of "Star Trek - The Motion Picture". When I caught this flick as a painfully Trekkie-ridden and shy boy on a drizzly Saturday in November 1979 with my brother, I came out wondering if I'd seen the new Star Trek as filtered through "2001: A Space Odyssey". It just didn't seem like the ol' Star Trek, despite seeing Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Everything and everyone seemed as washed out as the new uniforms. And gad...that excruciatingly long voyage through V'Ger...20 minutes (or so I thought) of having to see reaction shots through an unfathomably convoluted and dark spaceship. My brother basically treated the human adventure as a chance to catch up on some sleep. The faint applause when the Enterprise escaped the huge special effect at the end of the movie was probably more for relief that the movie was just about over.

This Director's Edition was done back in 2000 with some new effects and obviously before the passing of director Robert Wise, composer Jerry Goldsmith and James "Scotty" Doohan. With the passage of time, I've become more accepting of it. I don't openly yawn at the long ponderous voyage through V'Ger and I've gotten a bit more used to some of the bizarre (even for Shatner) hammy moments. Still, this first movie will still be the prototype for the pattern of bad odd Trek pics and good even pics. Well, it's not quite that bad but it still doesn't really match ol' Trek. The best thing about The Original Series was the relationships amongst the big three. It certainly wouldn't be the special effects although to be fair it was the 60s. The Director's Edition may have completed some patchwork on the effects but it was really the writing and the pacing that needed the most work and those are the things that couldn't be altered. I only got hints of the old banter and sparkle amongst Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley. I heard that the actors had given the writing staff and Wise some hell about what the characters should have said. Well, apparently even the actors didn't know all that much either. Still, I enjoyed the scenes of the re-launch of the NCC-1701 along with the legendary Goldsmith score (I think there must have been a button on Sulu's panel called "Soundtrack"). I'll be looking forward to seeing the picture again just to hear the commentary track with Wise and some of the others. Of course, neither Shatner nor Nimoy could be bothered to provide their insights since apparently providing DVD commentary is about as distinguished as cleaning out the toilets at Taco Bell after 3-Bean Salad Night to a number of actors. However, Shatner did give some comments through that really puffy face of his.

Monday June 5, 5:44 p.m.

Well, well, well....it's been quite a while since the last entry. I would've loved to have put down a few lines last Wednesday but Blogger was out of commission.

Well, where do I begin? First, I guess, is that Michael Jackson's fairly long trip in The Big Sushi finally ended on June 2 after 5 days of pinpoint shopping and looking around...of course with his usual entourage and the frenzied media & fans. I think for a world-famous celeb who wasn't here for a concert, 5 days is one long vacation. He was sighted at the MTV Japan Awards but then he popped up in a Chiba pachinko parlour, bought something in a Yurakucho department store (it wasn't a cellphone...he could've borrowed one out of hundreds thanks to the amassed fans by the entrance) and then bought 3 boxes of books at a bookstore in Omotesando across from Aoyama Gakuin University (apparently, the receipt was on the order of 5 metres long). A friend of mine also noted that he did visit a few orphanages along the way (kinda like asking the fox to guard the henhouse, if you ask me). And as we are all to find out at 10 p.m. tonight, he made a surprise visit to the SMAP boys during filming of tonight's show (somehow, I don't think I'm gonna be able to see that but it would be a pleasure to see that look of shock on KimuTaku's face after years of sullen surliness on that mug of his). After the better part of a week, even the usually frenzied entertainment media folks were wondering aloud when The Gloved One would finally be heading home. Well, he's gone now but we were all left thinking whether Jackson was actually thinking of setting up stakes here. And I do have an empty apartment beside me and a house across from me that's just been emptied. Hmmm.....

Connected with the above story, I picked up a new word from the manager of The Tea Room. It's kashikiri. When I taught The New Yorker there last Monday, the manager was grateful that I did come in when I did since she couldn't otherwise reach me. Apparently, The Tea Room was off limits last Thursday and Friday until 5 p.m. both days due to this kashikiri. Kashikiri means "closed off for special purposes". Well, as it turns out, I wasn't planning on coming on Thursday since I had B2 elsewhere and I ended up not turning up on Friday either. I got there at 4:45 on Friday. The place had pictures of various Disney characters splayed all over the front. I got into the place where the manager gave me her usual enigmatic smile and told me in no uncertain terms that the place wouldn't be open for public use until 5 sharp! I kinda wondered if MJ had decided to use the place for his own thing. In any case, The UL showed up just a few minutes after I did and decided to take me over to the station Starbucks, and since The UL was the customer, not the manager, we made our way back down the street. Hopefully, the manager isn't one to hold a grudge.

The weekend was fairly uneventful. I spent most of it watching DVDs. I finally caught "The Shawshank Redemption" for the first time, some 12 years after its initial release in theatres. That's quite a lot of time for great reviews and hype to build up. So one of my students had lent it to me. And y'know, it was indeed a fine flick but I was surprised since one of my assumptions has been broken. I thought Shawshank was about the prisoner, Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins and his slow crawl back up from the dregs of prison life to some form of strength and eventual escape, with the help of his buddy, Red....after all, the latter half of the title is Redemption. However, aside from his battles with the brutal bull queens and the tyrannical warden, Dufresne just seemed to have this grand plan all along. He and the plan just resembled Verbal Kint and his grand act in "The Usual Suspects". And Red was just the buddy and not really a co-conspirator. The great friendship between the two was there, though. The other surprise was in the casting. I was amused by seeing William Sadler, who usually plays very deadly bad guys in stuff like "Die Hard 2" and "Star Trek: DS9", play a none-too-bright but essentially nice (well, as nice guys go in a maximum-security prison) guy. And then there was the veteran actor James Whitmore playing the sadly doomed Brooks; it was also interesting to see this actor whom I've seen play it crusty or kindly from everything from an old ep of "The Twilight Zone" to cereal commercials actually swear like a sailor in one scene.

Anyways gotta get ready for that next class...

Monday May 29, 4:55 p.m.

The summer is here...especially inside Speedy's lounge. Gad it feels like Venus on an "Ode to Humidity" day. And the bossman is back...having a meeting with SB, presumably on what he's missed in the past 2 weeks.

My weekend went halfway as expected. Saturday was supposed to have been the latest night for DVDs with Movie Buddy but just as I was about to head out to see JJ for her usual lesson, I got a call from the man himself stating that he had to dotakyan (Japanese slang for "suddenly cancel") because his live-in had one of those 24-hour bugs. So things were rather quiet on the 27th but I still decided to clean up the apartment for the heck of it. As for JJ, it wasn't one of her days since her fluency was stumbling all over during our wonderful trek through the world of Relative Clauses...a tough slog for any intermediate English student. Still, she got down in the dumps as she usually does when she's had a tough class. I'm used to it but it still gets kinda annoying. Y'know...she only sees me once a week for an hour and she's surrounded for the rest of the time by her fellow native Japanese speakers. Fluency can only go so far in that environment.

Since my Saturday night opened up dramatically, I ended up watching some Japanese TV for the first time in a long while. I saw the usual silly hijinks on Fuji-TV for 2 hours with a game show and the long-running variety program starring the comedy duo of 99. But then I came across the second part of this 2-part special called "The Hit Parade". This program was the equivalent of a combination of "Your Show of Shows" and "American Bandstand" with the hokey schmaltz of "The Lawrence Welk Show" (remember Bobby & Cissy?...I didn't think so). The show also had run back in the pioneer days of Japanese TV, the 50s and 60s, and was a huge hit for the national audience in the still-hardscrabble life of those postwar days.

Anyways, I hadn't been able to catch Part 1 of the program due to my classes on Friday but I did remember seeing the posters in the subway station. Part 2, like the poster, was chock-filled with all sorts of A-level actors and very familiar TV faces playing real-life stars from those free-wheeling days. Basically, the 2-part epic focused on the life and career of Shin Watanabe, the creator of the show who was also the president of an entertainment production company; he was dedicated to bringing the masses some cheer in their hard lives. He had started as the bassist of a jazz band called "The 4 Joes" but soon entered into the backroom world of management. Strangely enough, the smiley ever-optimistic Shin-chan was played by Toshiro Yanagiba who's famous for his iconic role as the taciturn Spock-like Chief Inspector Shinji Muroi in the acclaimed "Odoru Dai Sosasen" (Bayside Shakedown) series. Perenially popular (and pleasing to the eye) TV drama actress Takako Tokiwa played his wife, Misa. And one other actor played the future former unpopular governor of Tokyo, Yukio Aoshima, when he was still a comedian. And the Abe sisters (one a former Morning Musume member, the other a probably washed-up singer) played The Peanuts, a twin sister singing act, notable in the West as those two tiny sirens who called for Mothra in those Godzilla movies.

The special interwove the re-enactment of Watanabe's career with narrated bits about the various acts who came and went during the 30 years between the 50s and 80s. The drama itself was the usual sepia-toned affair with the near-treacly approach of its protagonist being the do-no-wrong virtuous boss that is common to similar productions in this country. That usually brings up a red alert in my head; I cannot believe anyone is that good. I'm sure the real Watanabe, who died of cancer in the early 80s, had had his share of skeletons in the closet. Still, the docu-drama was pleasant to watch since I've gotten into my nostalgic phase and the drama did go by at a fairly fast clip. Plus, the jazz background music helped in that respect as well. I never saw "The Hit Parade" because of course I was raised in Canada but seeing some of the clips made me realize how much more of a comfort it was for people in that day and age than even Arthur Godfrey, Sid Caesar or even Ed Sullivan were for Americans back home. After all, the Japanese lost the war and paid dearly for it.

Coming back to local entertainment in this century, Michael Jackson (yep, that one) dropped by Tokyo during the weekend to get a special achievement prize from MTV Japan. He even showed up for the channel's awards ceremonies yesterday. Still, the Gloved One after all these years. It would seem that the Japanese still love him, but then again...fondling minors in this country doesn't seem to have the stigma that it has in the States.

I've started looking at some of those Trek DVDs that my brother had sent me via the mules of our mutual friends on Friday. I caught the Trek Classic episode of "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and DS9's 30th anniversary tribute via "More Trials and Tribble-ations". It was good to watch the eps but I was disappointed that there weren't more in the extras. Just a text commentary by the Okudas which pop up like those things for "Pop-Up Video".

My day in The Big Sushi was pretty routine today. I had The Class Act for their regular followed by The New Yorker at The Tea Room. I was quite impressed by The New Yorker. She really did try quite hard and was fairly successful with her Past Tense. The manager sighed some relief that I did come in today since she otherwise wouldn't have been able to contact me. Apparently, there is gonna be some sort of construction work on Thursday and Friday. I've got no problem with Thursday since it's B2's night and that's out in Mitsukoshimae but I do have The UL on Friday. However, the manager told me that the work should be done by 5 and that's when I have my student so everything will probably be fine. I did my own reassuring by giving her my name card.

I did forget to mention that we had another burger stop, our second one, yesterday. Despite MB having to cancel DVD night on Saturday, The Sylph recovered well enough so that the second in our series of burger tours could go on. This time, it was The Roti Grill, the smaller cousin to the main ROTI in Roppongi. Instead of that tony neighbourhood, The Roti Grill was located in the more residential area of Kachidoki, near the fish market of Tsukiji. Actually, there's a small shopping mall called Harumi Triton Mall where the burger eatery was located but I think that's more for the locals instead of people from all over Tokyo. As a result, the Grill wasn't all that crowded. The group for the outing was MB and his girl along with The Satyr and his new girl. Of course, I was the designated stag for the afternoon. The Satyr, in his correspondence, remarked that he would be bringing his "friend". It was rather obvious that she was more than that. She was stroking his arm so much that I was afraid that she would completely depillate the poor guy. It was also evident it was early on in their relationship. It's been a while since I've seen such a lovey-dovey couple.

Anyways, the burgers at Roti Grill were fine. In fact, I would peg my burger as being better than that behemoth Double Burger I had at Baker Bounce last month if only it was easier to handle and to chew. Still, there was plenty of mess oozing out of the crevices. Pricewise, my Steak Burger was a few hundred yen cheaper and I got more value out of the set. Also, the atmosphere was nicer there since we weren't cramped like we were at the aforementioned Bounce. Roti Grill is a good size smaller than its big cousin but it was still plenty spacious. And there wasn't this huge crowd of people lining up so we could actually stay there for 4 hours. More than enough time to have a leisurely dessert and even test run a card game that MB was thinking of unleashing on his kids. Ironically, this gourmet burger emporium was just across the hall from a branch of The Golden Arches. I guess it was only right to provide the population with options.

I guess we can call today 2 A.S.N. (after Shiloh Nouvel). CNN broke the news of the birth of Brangelina's love child. And once again, the celebs kept up the tradition of inflicting weirdo first names on the second generation. I think the couple should seriously consider emigrating to Namibia where their kid was born (or is that "entered the spotlight" in Hollywood-ese?). The authorities have provided the couple with near-perfect protection from the parasitic paparazzi via strict Immigration checks. I certainly wouldn't mind...as long as "Mr. and Mrs. Smith 2" stay as far away from me as possible.

Friday May 26, 9:46 p.m.

Well, it's been a while since I've put up a second entry in the same day. It'll probably be my last one, too, since I've finally finished my 2 weeks of sitting in for Speedy's students. I had SB's brother; it was another good session. In fact, it looks like I've been chosen by him for a class on the 9th. Nice to be needed.

And something else that has gotten me a bit more buoyant is that my little conflict with The Madame has come to an end. I've sent my apologies to her and she has done the same. I sent her a fairly voluminous amount of writing but we'll be meeting next Friday for coffee so I'm hoping that we'll back to our usual jovial selves. For some reason, our few conflicts have been waged on the Net. I wonder if we ever got married, would all our fights will be cyberspace-based? It would certainly save us on our vocal cords.

It'll be kinda nice to get back to a somewhat easier schedule although the money rush was rather nice. However, there is a good chance that at least a couple of Speedy's students including SB's brother may become semi-permanent on my schedule.

Well, I gotta get home and prep for JJ. She'll be the only one on the slate tomorrow. Then, I gotta clean the place up for Movie Buddy's DVD pilgrimage. It'll be pizza again.

Friday May 26, 6:30 p.m.

It was rather oxymoronic (I'm sure some of you folks would probably just use "moronic") watching Lou Dobbs on his show. For the first time in history, I could actually use the expression "gleefully furious" to describe the man. He almost seemed to enjoy getting his Irish up about the Immigration Amnesty Bill getting passed in the U.S. Senate yesterday. Man, he was in feisty spirits! But he actually did celebrate something: seeing Kenneth Lay and Andrew Skilling of the Enron debacle finally getting their comeuppance in the form of guilty verdicts. Of course, they will probably appeal. Spending the rest of their lives in tiny cells will not sit with them lightly. If I were Takafumi Horie, I would be worrying a bit.

My hour with the juku boss ended up being a sales session on anti-spam software since the poor lady was getting pelted with all sorts of annoying ads from the Net and she has even poorer knowledge about computers than I do. I helped her download some free spam-fighting stuff and that got my 3,000 yen. As for The Fortune Teller, we were slogging away at his descriptions. I was feeling pretty tired by the end. The boss told me that I may have a new student or two in the tony neighbourhood of Yoyogi-Uehara in the near future thanks to her friend. We'll see.

I met up with my old friends at JR Akihabara afterwards. The area wasn't as boisterous as it usually is on a Sunday. There was through traffic and the maids were very few and far between. I got my Trek DVDs from my brother via the guys. We had lunch on the restaurant floor of the humongous Yodobashi flagship store across from the station. The crowds have finally dispersed after its huge opening a few months ago. We had lunch at this restaurant specializing in Japanese (Wa-fu) pastas. So, my one friend had mentaiko (cod roe) spaghetti while I had this somewhat Szechuan-style stuff with a ground meat-and-spice topping. Of course, most of the conversation was on old times and who was still around. I treated, of course.

After that, we took a look down on the lower floors of merchandise. We found some rather humourous stuff such as a plastic mold to help shape your eyebrows. There were different versions. I was kinda wondering if there a Mr. Spock or Divine version amongst the brands. And then there was the battery-operated nose hair remover. Ouch! Just looking at that made me quote those UN regulations on torture. My friend bought a couple of those eyebrow molds for laughs. We also looked at some cellphone shields to prevent prying eyes from making their marks. My other friend remarked with some surprise at how these Leicas and Hasserblads could just lay about in the camera section. Yep, I can imagine that they'd be swiped within a New York minute back home. Strangely enough, even in this day and age, electronic appliances can still rest easy and not fear being stolen.

It was another walk into the discount CD shop and then a dessert of crepes on the main drag before we decided to part. It looks like my three hours of them will be the only ones for this year to see them since they'll probably hit Singapore and Thailand during The Holidays. Ah, well.

I've made it up to Speedys for the last of the students that I'm teaching in Speedy's place. It'll be SB's brother for one more try. I've checked my e-mail. I saw The Madame has left another contribution to our private little skirmish. The title looks harmless enough but I've decided to let it go. I don't particularly want to have to respond to another one of those this week. Hopefully, I'll be in a better mood by Monday.

Looks like the Mission: Impossible and X-Men franchises have traded places, review-wise at least, according to CNN. Tom Cruise's latest got a reluctant thumbs-up while I just saw that the newest mutant movie isn't exactly the great finale that everyone has been hoping for.

Thursday May 25, 2:40 p.m.

There was a Daffy Duck cartoon in which Daffy played this overenthused salesman trying to sell an ultramodern home filled with gadgets to hapless Porky Pig. One of the devices eliminated the need for stairs by a button which brought down the 2nd floor to the 1st floor. The catch was that when Porky requested to return to ground level, Daffy raised the 2nd floor to reveal a crushed first floor. That was exactly how the weather played out with Tokyo yesterday. In the morning and early afternoon, as I'd mentioned in my last entry, Winter decided to directly cede to Summer. It was hot and humid and I was mopping my brow with my handkerchief (yup, I have become the prototypical salaryman). But then during my lesson with my first student, the clouds just billowed over and then the skies opened up mightily and the temps just plummeted. Then, there was a brief respite when the sun came out and all of us were privy to the rare event of seeing that double rainbow over Shinjuku. But the damage was done....the streets were flooded and the air was chill. Fortunately, today is sunny and the temp is just right.

During 001's lesson, the girl just kept twitching whenever the thunder and lightning struck (yep, the stormy conditions returned). I guess it isn't just cockroaches that the Japanese are terrified of. It was quite the light show. As it turned out, that threatened return of 006 turned out to be as much of a false alarm as the weather report's prediction of hail. I guess that Speedy had forgotten to mention to SB that 006 wouldn't be available for the entirety of May.

My little argument/misunderstanding/debate/discussion with The Madame over e-mail continues. She sent back another response with the title "Misunderstanding" trying to explain herself and the reason she used that epithet. This was one of the times that I wonder if she's gotten in over her head with this spiritualism thing. She stated that her parents' racist tendencies were a result of divine intervention so that she could be tested to learn and overcome bigotry in her current life. Well, I'm not sure if her parents, as wrong as they may be in their views, would appreciate knowing that they were brought onto this Earth as spiritual examples of what not to be. And I think in a way, she's trying to rationalize their behaviour through this mumbo-jumbo. I haven't sent an immediate reply to her since I would like to think about what she's written down.

Well, I've got my three consecutive lessons today starting in about an hour. I'll be finishing off with that fellow whose answers come out as slowly as molasses. I'm not sure if I'll be able to accompany him home tonight since I don't relish the thought of continuing a free lesson on the subway while my brain is fried. I mean, he's a nice guy and all that but I don't think I would be good company.

Skippy has officially dropped out of the second of the burger tours due to a wedding party she has to attend. So it may just be the gaijin contingent heading to Roti Grill on Sunday. I still haven't heard anything from The Satyr so it may just as easily be MB, Samwise and myself for the burgers. Of course, The Madame, with all the appetite of a hummingbird, wouldn't come anyways.

Wednesday May 24, 5:23 p.m.

I've been having a series of e-mail exchanges with The Madame which has turned into a somewhat personal discussion on racism. It all started a few days ago when The Madame set up our next kaffeeklatsch and somehow mentioned the word "Chinaman" (sorry, can't remember what the context was). Now, perhaps I was overreacting a bit when I saw that word in the message but considering the times that I'd seen that word being used on various TV shows back home, my hackles couldn't help but be raised. I responded that although I knew she hadn't intended it as such, the word could be construed as a racist slur (and I do construe it as such) where I come from. She then counterresponded by admitting that her parents are somewhat racist but that she wasn't (for a young lady whose past beaus included non-Japanese, I had no doubts that she wasn't). Well, there was one more exchange and I finally decided to send out a "clear-the-air" message just to say that we were both on the up-and-up. As a victim of racism back in Canada during my childhood, I just get a bit antsy when I see anything that seems even a bit demeaning to other people.

Well, my friends from The Great White North called up and we've set a time and day to meet. Of course, it would have to be Akihabara this Friday between the juku classes and that class with SB's brother. They are staying at the Yokohama Pan Pacific, the same hotel that I stayed at almost a couple of years ago. Good place. I'm not sure if my friend, the lawyer, would be as enthused about visiting a Maid Cafe like Skippy.

It's possible that I may be here at Speedy's a bit later than expected. I was supposed to teach one of Speedy's students and then 001. Luckily, I checked with SB about the schedule tonight. I got a surprise in the form of a reply from SB that 006 is supposed to be coming for her lesson. I distinctly had heard from the bossman himself before his trip that 006 was incommunicado until June at the very least. Well, I've learned to keep from exploding at unpleasant surprises. In any case, there's really nothing I can do since I don't have any of her materials with me so I'm just gonna have to wing it.

I listened to "Fundamental", the new Pet Shop Boys disc. Actually, I got a double disc. One is the album itself and the other, "Fundamentalism", is a set of remixes. "Fundamental" has the usual combo of uptempo dance songs and ballads but the Boys sound like they've returned to their musical roots (hence the title?). They've brought back some of the thumping analog synths from their 80s stuff. For me, the song to beat is "I'm With Stupid" (maybe it can become the next RNC theme song?).

It looks like the weather has had to catch up with the rest of the year so abruptly that it decided to go straight from Winter to Summer. It felt muy hot and humid in the morning and early afternoon although the weather guys forecast rain for later in the day with even some hail. Well, the hail hasn't come yet but the skies opened up with a cacophony of rain, thunder and lightning. And then the sun peeked out a bit, giving me and Speedy's sweet old little lady student a show in the form of a double rainbow over Shinjuku. It's gotten overcast again so we're not out of the woods quite yet.

Well, I'm still waiting for that confirmation call from 006. Is she coming or not?

Monday May 22, 5:43 p.m.

My Sunday was a lot less turbulent than the Saturday in both social life and weather. The sun actually beamed on us for most of the day...not so much as a drop of precip. I finally got my first 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep in 2 weeks. Got the usual chores done in the house and even watched "Batman Begins" on DVD, thanks to The Teacher's generosity. I appreciated it more on the second viewing but the movie still falters a bit in the second half when it gets out of the origin of the superhero, much like "Superman" and "Spiderman". Still, Christian Bale makes a good Dark Knight, and I'm sure the comparisons between his Batman and Michael Keaton's Batman continue, along with the comparison between "Batman Begins" and the original "Superman".

Speaking of potential psychos out there, Japan may have a serial killer of the worst kind...the kind that preys on kids. Last week, two children were murdered within a few days of each other. I'm not quite sure if both cases have the exact M.O. but the 2nd kid was strangled and both victims were taken and dumped on a lonely stretch of road in the rural areas.

Well, I'll be having The Part-Timer in about 20 minutes followed by those two sisters in their final EIC class. Should be a bit of an exciting finish. They'll be concocting my Sweet N' Sour Sauce as their final exam. It could be another long busy week although not quite as bad as last week since McGirl and The Milds will be away tomorrow.

I pulled the trigger and got that new Pet Shop Boys CD today. I took a listen to it at Tower Records this afternoon. It's got quite a few uptempo techno dance tunes which ought to be worth the 3200 yen.

Monday May 22, 4:43 p.m.

The weekend was a bit of a Jekyll-and-Hyde weatherwise. Saturday was just lousy with that rain and gloom from the rest of last week. Luckily, the kids were more cooperative in the morning, and of course, JJ was her usual diligent self. I had another one of occasional reminders why I stay single when I saw a young and harried mother (kids tend to age women faster than any other stress-related factor) berating her brat for some infraction while I was buying some cold medicine in the department store next to the Starbucks for JJ. Strangely enough, I had received e-mail from The Madame who was bemoaning the fact that yet another one of her friends finally tied the knot. I should just tape the next chewout by a devil mother and send the recording to her. That ought to cure her of the bachelorette blues. Chip Guy has often gone on about the joys of fatherhood; I wonder if his wife could share the same feelings.

The rest of Saturday night was a bit of a downer. I decided to head on out to Movie Buddy's little lunch in Ebisu. I was pondering whether to go or not since I was in Kiba...closer to my home than it to Ebisu but I flipped the coin and decided that a night out wouldn't be bad. My bad. Although it was sunny and clear during JJ's session, there were some ominous dark gray clouds as I made my way to the station.

And sure enough, it was squalling big time by the time I got to Ebisu. I phoned up MB to get the directions to this place, Zest, which is this restaurant with a vaguely Western theme, complete with a mechanical bronco in the middle of the room for those who had the inclination and the insanity to try it out. I had been there some years ago with Chip Guy but couldn't quite remember how to get there. So I asked MB on the cell who then put me through to Samwise's wife who gave me these rather voluminous instructions with a lot of "turn here". All I got was "West Exit of JR Ebisu", "Mont Bell" and "Meiji-Dori". Well, my phone card was nearly dead and I didn't have a whole lot of coinage on me so I couldn't afford to ask for a repeat from the missus so I decided to just do the best with what I got, based on the faith that my usual good sense of direction would bail me out.

Well, I could find Meiji-Dori and there was a Mont-Bell sporting goods store but that was all that was right about the next 20 minutes of walking through the rain under an undersized umbrella that left me half-drenched on the right side and my feet wholly drenched. I had to make a dejected turn back to the station only to see that there were two "West Exits". I went out the wrong one. Sure enough, the right one was across from a Mont-Bell and within 5 minutes, I found Zest (the restaurant, not my energy levels). I got there to see MB coming back up with a whole load of brolleys. He had been searching for me since I didn't show up...now I had guilt to join my ill humour. There would be some more negative emotions piling on as the night wore on.

MB didn't seem to be too ticked off as he escorted me up to the third floor of the restaurant. Well, there were about several folks paired off into romantic couples including The Sylph, and Mr. & Mrs Samwise. The latter even had their kid with them. Of course, everyone was doting on her; I was more interested in getting my food. I felt distinctly guilty about keeping the folks there waiting so I hastily searched for something. I got a BLT with a cola. I didn't feel much like talking with anyone, especially in my alternately sheepish yet snarly mood but fortunately, I was surrounded by a lot of forgiving folk who engaged me in conversation. I ended up even not having to pay for my meal since the waiters didn't separate me from the rest of the group as had been requested. Samwise and I were pleasant with each other but didn't really talk. For some reason, he and I have never been able to gel well. My theory is that he was just one of those laddie lads in school who used to disdain or terrorize bookworms like me. Mrs. Samwise asked me about the directions to the place. When I mentioned Meiji-Dori, one of the others quickly cut in that Zest was nowhere near the avenue. The missus turned red in embarrassment and apologized profusely for leading me astray. I was too busy eating my BLT to mind or care. There was a wedding party going on while we were there. Some guy in a Commander Data uniform was regaling everyone with a Japanese rock song. I'm sure Brent Spiner would've looked on in some bemusement.

My second mistake of the night was agreeing to go to the second party, or nijikai, which was in the form of karaoke. I think I've finally exorcised myself of my former dalliance of singing in front of folks once and for all. As the years have gone by, I've been realizing that the type of stuff I sing...AOR, Billy Joel, etc., the musical equivalent of a "Kick Me" sign nowadays....just doesn't grab people anymore. Certainly, my voice hasn't aged too well either. I tried out Stevie's "You're The Sunshine of My Life" to some snickers from MB and Samwise. They and the rest were more into stuff like Red Hot Chili Peppers. I like eating them, not listening to them. I just listened politely from that point onwards.

Strangely enough, I even went to a wrap-up sanjikai with my two "tormentors" and The Sylph for some coffee at a Doutors. It was there that Samwise and I could actually do a bit of civilized conversation but I think the damage has been done. In any case, MB proposed another one of those DVD nights this upcoming weekend. He also wants to match that with a Sunday afternoon burger hunt, our second after Baker Bounce a few weeks ago. This time, the target for our stomachs would be The Roti Grill in Roppongi. That was the place that I had my rather lonely and pricey Christmas dinner a couple of years ago. I wouldn't assume that the burgers there would be any less expensive. Anyways, I've sent word out to Skippy and The Madame. I think the former would jump at the chance.

Friday May 19, 9:25 p.m.

It's been another wet one out there. Any more like today and I can be reassured that Noah will pop outside. I had to hang up the laundry inside which will probably increase the humidity quotient in the apartment. No relief tomorrow either.

The reviews for "The DaVinci Code" have come in, and they're decidedly mixed. Some like it, some don't. But the fact that it's gotten so much hype and controversy for so many months with a huge star-studded cast has meant that even so-so comments will probably label it not only as the first blockbuster of the year but also as the first big flop of the year. Not too hot for Tom, Ian and Jean. But I feel sorry for Ms. Tautou....she's apparently said that she had been thinking about hanging up her acting chops.

The juku boss called me this morning just as I was about to leave for her place. She told me that she had to cancel her lesson due to fatigue. Hmph....less than an hour before showtime and she runs out on me. I can only hope that she'll reimburse me half the fee as per her policy for the other students. The Fortune Teller, on the other hand, was quite good. I thought it would be a half-hour of grammar followed by his analysis of my name. However, it turned out that the entire session was devoted to a fortune-telling session. I taught him the tricks of how to handle clients generally since he was sorely lacking in the language. And he can also do with some work on his structure. Work in progress, he is. But he has picked up the business, thanks to the juku boss. She spread around the fact that we've got a fortune teller as a student and it looks like he's gonna be raking in some of the yen.

Afterwards, I headed on out to Otemachi and the bookstore Maruzen to pick up another "I, Spy" book for the Junior sister tomorrow. And I had my occasional Vietnamese Bun-Bi at Com Pho. I spent an hour or two just walking around the Yurakucho-Ginza area. I saw that The Pet Shop Boys have released their first new album in about 4 years. Ahhh....wish I had the money to revive my CD-collecting hobby.

I got back up to The Tea Room to see The UL. She's doing fine with me. I'm not sure if I'll be able to see her next week since I may have to continue spelling for Speedy. Not too crazy doing the commute from there over to Speedy's at 6 since the worst of the rush hour is apparently on. I taught SB's brother for the first time tonight. It was Role-Playing Night since that was what Speedy suggested I do with the guy. He's fairly button-down like his sister but he did a pretty good job in the 90 minutes. He's ostensibly signed up with me again next Friday which neither Speedy nor I had expected. He'll let me know any requests.

I still have to get ready for tomorrow's lessons with the kids and then JJ. Plus, there is the possibility that I will be meeting up with Movie Buddy for something later on. His request to me a few weeks ago to keep the night of the 20th open was a false alarm according to his call last night. His friend's event will be happening 15 minutes before I'm set to teach JJ. But MB said that we could still do something later that night.

Skippy sent her first e-mail to me in about a few days talking of the drab reviews for "The Da Vinci Code" and inviting The Satyr and me to see her acquaintance during Open Mike Night in Harajuku next Friday night. I sent in my regrets due to the Speedy classes but I'm not all that sorry not to go since my last experience as an audience at a Yuk Yuk's in Toronto years ago was not all that great.

And then The Madame got back to me about catching "Poseidon" on the 11th and then dinner. I'm not all that eager to see the remake of "The Poseidon Adventure", perhaps of my irrational comparison to "Titanic", but I gave her my OK. I should show her The Fortune Teller's written report of my session today.

I've yet to hear anything from my friends who were supposed to arrive in Tokyo tonight for a 2-week stay in Japan.

And to finish off, I had my class with B2...and only B2. Apparently, she and B2B had a row over something so he was summarily banned from last night's proceedings. I had to pull out my Dancing Bear routine to get her spirits lifted. Again, if there is anything that will keep me perpetually single, it is the griping of a scorned woman.

Thursday May 18, 3:40 p.m.

Another 20 minutes before I get another crack at one of Speedy's students whilst he's away on business. I taught the first two last night...sandwiching 001. The first one was this sweet old lady with whom I talked cuisine with. I got some good notices from her. And then the other one was this young bookish salaryman whose statements came out at the speed of molasses. Nice fellow, and I was warned well in advance about his slow delivery by the boss. So I wasn't too phased when I finally taught him. However, I was very exhausted. The salaryman, in the course of our lesson, told me that he doesn't live too far away from me so he recommended that it would be faster if I went with him by transferring at Monzen-Nakacho from the Oedo to the Tozai Lines. Yup, perhaps it was faster but it was also much more crowded and I would've liked to have had a seat...something that would have been possible with my old way of transferring at Iidabashi Station. Well, live and learn.

I was able to get up somewhat groggily this morning. The rains are still hitting us off-and-on. I wonder if the rainy season has already started unofficially. There won't be too much of a change tomorrow either.

It looks like "The Da Vinci Code" has already been getting its pans from the critics a few days before its premiere. I just wonder if those critics are devout Catholics.

After my lesson with Speedy's student, I have to rush out to Mitsukoshimae Station to see B2 and B2B after about a month's hiatus due to Golden Week. Although the last lesson was our best one yet, I'm still holding my breath about how things are going with those two. And then tomorrow, I've got another busy day with the juku boss, the Fortune Teller, the UL and finally SB's brother at Speedy's. I'm certainly making my yen this week.

Wednesday May 17, 2:33 p.m.

"The Force is especially influential on the weak-minded."

Well, Obi-Wan....it's not just the Force. Try buffets. I fell into the Dark Side around noon today when I decided to have that 1,000-yen all-you-can-eat viking (that's what they call buffets here in another hilarious example of that linguistic phenomenon called Japlish...I guess somehow "viking " was easier to say than "smorgasbord"). at the restaurant LAST in Shiodome City Centre. I'd been going there infrequently over the past couple of years. I think today was the first time that I could actually give the fare a pretty decent grade although the chefs really do believe that chicken is the only meat in existence (well, to be fair, there was a plate of heavily seasoned salmon steaks). I also realized that my aging process is continuing apace. After my second round at the trays, I was feeling mightily bloated. Even during my worst excesses at legendary Farm Grill, I didn't feel like the planet Jupiter after just a second round. Still, I had that little bit of extra room left for a couple of small (and I mean tiny) cakes with coffee.

I'm getting ready for the first two of my temporary stint of taking care of Speedy's own students here at the school. Should be OK. The first one is an older lady whose behaviour in class, according to Speedy, is rather akin to that of The Lady. A lot of nattering in Japanese with bits of English breaking through. And then after 001, I have this fellow whom I've met in a couple of social events. He's apparently rather slow on the uptake so I'm to teach accordingly. I'm thinking of trying to teach him "Let's see..." or "Ummmh..." so at least there won't be those awkward silences.

I see that "The West Wing" has finally gone to that rerun bin in the sky. Over here, we're still getting through the earlier half of the 2nd season. President Bartlet is having marriage problems with Abby, Sam is trying to handle that little sparkplug Ainsely, and that snarky personal secretary is still alive.

There was a slight misunderstanding in semantics on Monday night after I'd taught those sisters in the EIC class. The two of them are rather like chalk and cheese. One is fairly shy and not too confident in speaking in English while her sib is quite outgoing and talkative in fractured English. Anyways, after the class, I asked Cheese (the quiet one) what she would be having for dinner in the purest sense of the word; I only wanted to know since it was connected with food, which was, after all, what I was teaching in that class. Somehow, Cheese got it into her head that I was inviting her and Chalk to dinner out. Before I could re-phrase, it was a done deal. By that point, I couldn't get out of it. We were all going out to dinner. So, 4,300 yen and 90 minutes later, I was heavier in my stomach and lighter in my wallet (I couldn't go Dutch with them...my remaining bit of chivalry demanded that I treat the ladies since I "invited" them). I'm gonna have to be careful with my words next time. We ended up going to a Chinese izakaya so at least the food and drink were fine.

Monday May 15, 4:56 p.m.

Quiet at Speedy's since the boss man himself is off on a 2-week business trip. However, I'm gonna have the lion's share of classes since he's assigned me his students. I'm grateful for the income. It's the first proper Spring day in Tokyo so far...not too hot and not too cold. There's a nice bit of wind coming in through the window of my classroom, thereby I don't need the fan. Perfect weather, especially after a dreary weekend.

My Hirohito's Revenge sorted itself out by the end of Saturday, thanks to the kids' mother's medicine. I'm not hitting the heavy artillery, foodwise, until I know I'm 100% though.

JJ was her usual giddy self yesterday. Not surprisingly, Mrs. Alp's BBQ party was given the can due to the rain so it was just a quiet day at home just prepping away for the week's classes. The Class Act was another gabfest. I found out that SIL will be back as of next week. The manager at The Tea Room was a bit surprised to see me there on a Monday but I did have The New Yorker. I finally got her started on Simple Past which was far from it for her but she tried hard. Slow and steady, I say. I'll be having The Part-Timer tonight and then it'll be the second of three for those sisters in the EIC Programme. I'm praying that things will go much more smoothly than they did when I had that other student in there with them.

Aside from the big news about the Team Japan player announcements for the World Cup this afternoon, the only other sports news of note has been Hideki Matsui's wrist injury. Got the full court press here. It almost sounded as if the big guy was the only Japanese Major Leaguer.

We had another one of those bizarro murders. Some woman killed and dismembered her boyfriend after having had to suffer a lot of abuse from the thug. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when I have to admit that this case comes off as a lot more "normal" than some of the other horrible cases I've been hearing about for the last few months.

It looks like The Madame will have to go off on her lonesome to Odawara to pick up that medicine. Our schedules couldn't mesh this time around. A pity but not much I could've done about it with my heavier workload for the next 2 weeks and the fact that I've got a couple of friends coming in from Canada.