Sunday February 18, 4:10 p.m.

Well, kung hei fat choi...a Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Pig, eh? Fits me to a T.

Meanwhile, in the Big Sushi, Governor Ishihara's pet project, The Tokyo Marathon, went off without a hitch...aside from the weather, that is. It was a dreary inaugural...lots of rain and cold temps. I can only imagine what 002 and her hubby went through while it took 20 minutes for all 30,000 runners to get started at Tokyo City Hall. As marathons go, it was the usual bunch of lean and lanky folk sprinting or trotting through city streets, but it was nice to see that I could recognize the various locations as neighbourhoods that I regularly pass through. In fact, between lessons for The New Yorker and B2 on Thursday, I even walked a segment of the route from Ichigaya (the location of the controversial Yasukuni Shrine) through the famous Chidorigafuchi (a popular cherry tree-lined path...although right now, it's pretty barren of blossoms) to the Imperial Palace (a lot of joggers running around The Emperor's home...I wonder if Lucas used that as inspiration for all those TIE fighters orbiting The Death Star in "Return of the Jedi") and then after a pit stop at my favourite Vietnamese eatery, Com Pho, in Otemachi, I made it all the way to Mitsukoshimae after about 3 hours of walking. Glad that I did all the walking...I was able to get a little time capsule of the metropolis' architectural history from the Tokugawa Era through to the early postwar period and to the 21st-century samples of steel and glass.

Getting back to the Marathon, the winner was a Kenyan in his mid-30s who has been living in Japan for 15 years...man, he could speak Nihongo well enough to put me to shame. I'm sure Governor Ishihara, despite his perceived xenophobia, would probably consider him an honourary native son since the next four runners to place were Japanese. Actually, the 6th-place guy was that Brazilian fellow who had been sadly assaulted by that mad monk back in the Athens Games in 2004. No matter what ruthlessness Ishihara displayed to get his marathon on the world stage, you still gotta hand it to him that he not only made sure to see all 30,000 runners off in the miserable weather, but he was there at Tokyo Big Sight to welcome the champion 2 hours later. Now, I don't think the marathon did anything for tourism but the governor's got something to show the IOC.

Still, sticking with the feisty daimyo of the world's largest city, apparently there's supposedly a gubernatorial election this week...ahhh...now I know why Ishihara was so insistent on getting his marathon on this day. Nothing like a successful inaugural event on the world level to ensure re-election. Strange thing, though...I even heard that a former governor of Miyagi Prefecture who's now a professor here may be running for the post. I didn't know politicians could do that here...although there could be parallels made with the fact that Hillary Clinton could be a junior senator for New York despite the fact that she was neither born nor raised in The Empire State.

So, we have Chinese New Year and The Tokyo Marathon...ahhh...there was yet another big event yesterday. Model/actress Norika Fujiwara and comedian Tomo-something Jinnai tied the knot in Kyoto. Of course, there was the usual media scrum and wedding news conference for the happy couple...both groom and bride decked out in traditional Japanese regalia. However, I'd sworn the wedding was scheduled for today instead of on Saturday. Man, that Ishihara has a lot of pull.

Back into my own little world...B2 finally 'fessed up that she and B2B have gone splitsville. She's moved into her own digs not too far from her old boyfriend's place. I guess she must be going through Post-Breakup Depression...she was rather out of it during the lesson. But then again, when one realizes that rent and utilities now become part of mandatory expenses, one will need adjustment time. So I put out my counselor's shingle again and gave her a little pep talk on life as a completely unattached person in the big city. Not surprisingly, because of her newly restricted budget, she can only see me once a month.

To add insult to injury, The UL once again cancelled her class...her excuse this time was a cold. But her younger sister, The OL, came to the rescue and it looks like she may be filling in for her for at least a couple of times before The UL is back on her feet.

Saturday was fairly busy, though. I was doing a bit of back-&-forth shuttling between Ichigaya and Ochiai Minami-Nagasaki teaching the kids, Tully and the Coffeemaker, and finally The Polynesian. The Coffeemaker got me some belated Valentine's Day chocolates so gotta chalk up another customer for White Day. The Polynesian kinda screwed up the schedule again. Luckily, I reminded her about the lesson by phone so she did show up an hour later than expected.

Monday will see some poorer returns financially. I got the call from The Matron this morning that the lesson for her and The Lady will have to be cancelled since The Lady is still in London, presumably seeing her daughter and son-in-law. So, it'll just be SIL and The Part-Timer tomorrow. Plus, I got an out with that offer from Speedy to write up some curriculum for the school texts so I plan to get some cash tomorrow from that. Happy to finally get that e-mail from The Carolinan's friend...she may become my next new student. Sounds pretty genki...she even PS'ed me with her revelation that she missed Tim Horton doughnuts since she came back from her Canadian trip. Me? I'm still waiting to get into Krispy Kreme. I figure that the lineups there are still ridiculously long even with the lousy weather.

Got some news from old friend, DTE. Looks like she'll be making a visit to her old stomping grounds here in Tokyo in April.

Finally, I gotta say that the Boston Red Sox are feeling the treatment that a Major League team gets whenever a much-lauded Japanese player arrives on its doorstep. Tons of Japanese media are covering Daisuke Matsuzaka and his supposedly legendary gyroball...but the 26-year-old millionaire hasn't shown this Loch Ness Monster of pitches so the J-media is settling for covering the lad doing everything, including him picking his nose. Matsuzaka has said that he would sincerely apologize to any of his irked teammates. I'm sure if he wins some games, the Bosox would be more than happy to take the increased crowds in the locker room.

Anyways, I'm done here...time to cook up some grub.

Wednesday February 14, 3:16 p.m.

Well, Valentine's Day is here...one of the myriad Western holidays that has taken hold of Japan like a bear to honey. Despite the sudden exit of one of the major players, Fujiya, all of the other outlets..from the tiniest confectionary store to the huge chains like Godiva...have ensured that there have been female scrums in their branches. I was in Takashimaya Times Square on Sunday, and as I was coming down the elevator there, it stopped on the 10th floor to reveal a ton of women just piling on top of each other in the Valentine's Day special section selling its tons of chocolates.

Over here, the romantic season is split into two. Valentine's Day is for the women to get their gifts to the guys while March 14th is saved for the reciprocation by the guys...a holiday known as White Day (although considering what some of those guys hope to score by giving some chocolate, it's a rather ironic colour to choose).

I've also not been immune to the culinary charms. Last Thursday, I got some macaroons from The Sisters of State, and yesterday, I got some chocolates from the Beehive ladies (although Mrs. Tee gave me some rather spicy rice crackers...she said that they would burn up the calories...uh-huh...) and then at the juku last night, Seven gave me some fairly expensive chocolate truffles. I unfortunately found out though with The Bohemian that fairly expensive chocolate truffles have a lower melting point than the usual stuff bought at the convenience stores. Within a few hours in my toasty room, the cocoa-powdered little lumps were reduced to sludge...albeit silkily delicious piles of sludge.

Earlier during the Beehive session, the ladies found out about my recent pricey visit to Casa Dos Fado in Yotsuya with Speedy's gang and decided that it was worth a visit. Not that I'm particularly worried since the ladies always pay my way during our lunches out but I was relieved to see that the lunch menu is considerably cheaper at just 1,200 yen a person.

Well, I'm doing a 3-hour session here at the neighbourhood Internet cafe since I got word last night from Speedy's assistant that 001 cancelled today's and next week's classes. Ouch! That'll hurt. Ack...at least I stay in my neck of the woods. I'll be doing much of the same on Sunday since that Tokyo Marathon will be tying up traffic systems all across the big city. Being the first of its kind, I'm sure that despite all of the safeguards, there will be some sort of screwup somewhere. I got quite an earful from the Beehive yesterday about some of the sordid side leading up to this huge race. Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara has continued keeping his reign as controversial as ever. In his push for this marathon to take place, he basically steamrollered over the schedule of a much more established marathon in Ome...a smaller, more rural area of Tokyo without any due process which could basically mean that the Ome Marathon will have to find a new date to squeeze itself into amongst all of the other marathons that take place throughout the nation. Marathons aren't events that easily share...why would an athlete risk killing himself/herself with back-to-back runs a week or so apart? Also, due to the race on Sunday, streets will be closed off all over the metropolis for as much as 7 hours, so a lot of the commercial concerns on those streets are lamenting that they'll make bupkiss. So, why has Grand Shogun Ishihara risked inciting such wrath from his own vassals? Simple...one of his very vocal wishes since he became Governor has been to bring the Summer Olympics here in 2016. What better way than to show off an inaugural marathon open to the media of the world? I just hope that he's treating this show as a National Security Event like the States do with The Super Bowl nowadays in this post-9/11 era. It wouldn't do for thousands of runners and spectators to get blown up or fall ill due to an Aum Shinrikyo sarin bomb or an Al Qaeda attack (although the latter crime is far less likely than the former).

The big non-news over the past few days has been the dogged tracking down by the Japanese media of Kim Jong Nam, the rather bloated son of Kim Jong Il, Grand Dictator of North Korea in Beijing and Macao. The media has been careful to say "a person who may be" Kim Jong Nam; I gather that the journalists figure that North Korea would be more than happy to send out a lot of decoys to get some laughs. Plus, the guy looks like me after a few too many pizzas and a bad visit to the barber. In fact, reporters can get alleged Nam sightings by just hanging around Akihabara for a few minutes...he looks like your garden variety otaku. It's ironic that Kim Jong Il, supposedly a big Elvis fan, now has a son who's gotten the sighting treatment. On related news, those 6-nation talks to beg North Korea to give up nukes have apparently borne some "fruit". Kim will give them up in return for food, supplies and delisting from the Axis of Evil (I'm saying this in a sing-song voice, by the way). Wait a minute...didn't this exact thing happen years ago? And guess what? North Korea stabbed everyone in the back.

But that hasn't been the only news...evidently, the Anna Nicole Smith sordidness has made its way over here onto the morning wide shows. And one of the hosts even spoke at some length about The Dixie Chicks sweeping some major Grammys. Although I think the Chicks got some revenge, I think the folks who burned the CDs and the DJs who refused to play them will probably be buying some of their discs...just to burn them again. Not sure if Michael Buble was still pouting away outside. I read that "American Idol" champ Carrie Underwood got "Best New Artist of the Year" honours...the only award for a once-unknown singer and a future-unknown singer at the same time.

Sunday February 11, 3:24 p.m.

Well, Happy Birthday Japan! You don't look a year older than 2,355 (guessing that number, of course). Probably all of the folks under 40 don't even realize what the significance of the holiday is, either.

I met up with everyone at Nishiguchi of JR Shinjuku at about 5:00 for our foray into Foo Foo. Along with the usual eating members of myself, MB, The Satyr and Skippy, The Sylph and our companion from our foray to JAMS, The Alabaster, even decided to join us (never thought of those two as being the ramen-gulping types...although they don't really fit the hambaagu niche either and yet they were there at JAMS). The six of got the back table to seat 6. Because of the numbers and the co-ed mix, we were at our favourite ramen haunt much longer than the usual half-hour max stay there. The pai ko tan tan men has changed a bit...the soup was a bit less creamier but still it was its usual satisfying stew.

After our dinner, The Sylph and The Alabaster went off for their little girls' night out while Skippy went off for home which left us guys to head back to my place for the ritual DVD night. Buying enough chocolates to kill a moose (or mousse), we settled back into the sofas and caught our double feature, "Inside Man" and "Team America: World Police".

"Inside Man" wasn't a bad piece by Spike Lee. It was his most mainstream movie but it still had the Lee touches: not just one but two African-American protagonists, fast-talking Noo Yawk profanity-laced banter and jazz. Still, I thought Lee kinda fell into the trap that a lot of directors fall into when they try to do a film noir piece...throw in one too many red herrings and too many characters. MB thought that the characters portrayed by Jodie Foster and Christopher Plummer could've been made into a stronger supporting character instead of the two cameos. I thought that Lee was kinda following what a number of folks have been doing for the last few years: make that big movie which is stuffed with A-listers doing supporting turns. I don't think I'd ever seen Willem DaFoe do a straight supporting turn before.

As for "Team America", it was a howler of a piece. I don't mean that in a bad way...just that, MB was just howling in laughter for most of it. If there were a university-level course on satire, this and "South Park: The Movie" should be required viewing. I could understand why Sean Penn sent that nasty letter to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, but frankly, Penn didn't do himself any favours by doing so. For me, the big highlight was finally getting to see what puppet sex was like.

It was another late wake-up call but MB and I did our usual pilgrimage to the neighbourhood Skylark for lunch. We managed to cover a wide range of topics during our two hours there while we noshed on Mixed Grill, Tatsuta Chicken and Saikyo-style Salmon. One was quite an interesting talk on the need for Tokyoites to own cars.

Here we are...living in not only the world's largest city but also the world's most convenient one with kilos and kilos of public transportation lines criss-crossing the megalopolis like a Cat's Cradle gone crazy and yet the folks here crave cars. And not just your de rigueur Toyotas and Nissans, either. People here will give their firstborns for Aston-Martins, Bentleys and SUV's. These are big-ass cars for Tokyo. And MB and I were just wondering aloud about why anyone would ever want to own them. For one thing, I can't even imagine the horrors of trying to negotiate an SUV in one of those residential side streets in the Big Sushi. Having even one car and one pedestrian in the same area almost violates a certain law of physics...then imagine having an SUV or Caddy try to turn a corner in one of those mazes, let alone it trying to parallel park. It's a wonder that Japanese manage to live so long...I can only guess that Tokyoites actually can live to 140 with ease...it's just that driving there just chops the decades off. The world's-oldest living people (often from this country) must never have been behind the wheel. Then, there are folks who bizarrely need to own a sports car in Tokyo. Where could one even cut loose with a Ferrari in a city where expressways sport 20-km traffic jams almost daily? It's kinda like keeping a tiger in a 2K apartment...it may be possible but at what cost to the tiger?

This and the continuing queues at Krispy Kreme are things that make me go hmmm...

Saturday February 10, 3:26 p.m.

I was looking through HMV on the 12th floor of Takashimaya Times Square (it seems like the top few floors of the place are going through some major renovations....after 10 years, I think it's a good time). A new MISIA CD has been released along with Michael Buble's latest...sigh...I hope I do get a rebate from the tax office. As for the J-songstress, I did listen to some of the tracks on one of the store's listening posts and it sound like MISIA has started to bring back some more uptempo stuff to her repertoire..about time....I thought she was permanently stuck in ballad mode.

Saturday February 10, 3:04 p.m.

Back at the Shinjuku Kinko's...across the street, there is the usual 2-hour wait for donuts. I kinda wish that one of the guys from "Jackass" or even David Letterman himself would just pass by the trend-smitten crowd and yell from a megaphone: "YOU F#$&'N MORONS!! IT'S JUST A M#$%#%' F#$&'"# DOUGHNUT! NOTHING TASTES THAT GOOD!" But I digress...

I would have been talking with the one M at this time but I received a cancellation call last night from her citing a cold, so after dealing with the kids, I went straight to Shinjuku and had my Hansen's hot dog with fries...at least, I didn't have to wait eons for that. I spoke with the mother of the two sisters this morning; apparently, she was rather smitten with Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" and was wondering about one word that she'd heard repeatedly during the flick. The Japanese word was subtitled as o-taishi; there is the word ko-taishi which is Crown Prince. Since the movie dealt with Marie and the French court, I rather assumed that the word she was looking for was "dauphin". She was surprised and grateful at my discovery. I knew all those years of watching the second year of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" would finally reap benefits. "Marie Antoinette", by the way, is doing quite well here; when the movie seems to revolve around cakes and shoes in this country, it ought to be the highest-earning movie this year.

Basically the only reason I'm puttering away at this machine and spending almost 1,000 yen is that I had to print out a worksheet for those new kids, Chip n' Dale. Otherwise, I would just be walking around Shinjuku until 4:30 when I'm to meet MB and the gang for some Foo Foo ramen. Again, I don't think we need to wait...

Yesterday, I had my date of sorts with The Madame. We first went to this little soup kitchen down in the basement of Yurakucho's Printemps department store; it was called in the usual bizarre Japlish way, "Dear Soup". Actually, the meal was quite good. I had this spicy kimchi soup sharing space with rice...made for a great stew. As the two of us have been able to do for the past several months, we did our share of venting. I asked her opinion about The Bohemian's behaviour back on Sunday; she was, of course, not there but she did side with me that The Bohemian was being rather inconsiderate. Our second stop was another strangely named cafe in the Kotsu Kaikan building across from JR Yurakucho Station. For some reason, the cafe was named Arnie Palmer, after the legendary American golf player. Aside from that, there was no other hint of a golf theme inside the hoary old place. It was run by a trio of oldtimers with the square booths, pink platform phone and simple dishes that are reminiscent of 60s and 70s kissaten. There, we had a discussion on religion. Being a delver in all things spiritual, she was somewhat disappointed to hear that I was not just an atheist but an evolutionist. However, I did make my point clear that if there were indeed a god up there, he/she was not a noble one considering some of the atrocities that have been committed in the last century.

Friday February 9, 9:41 p.m.

Well, got a bit of a surprise to hear that Anna Nicole Smith died this morning. The Carolinan and I were just talking about her but couldn't recall her name last night while we were also talking about that Chilean golddigger, Anita, and her Japanese sugar daddy. I guess with Smith out of the way, that long-lasting lawsuit is now dead and buried...or is it? There's the case of Smith's newborn daughter...was she written into the will? Did Smith even write a will? Still, although there were some rather Monroe-esque circumstances in her death, I don't think Smith still holds a candle to the original. I got the impression that her TV show was just daring folks to label her insane.

Anyways, one of the fringe benefits of being a freelancer started its season. The Carolinan (and her sister, the New Yorker) gave me some macaroons as an early Valentine's Day gift. So, I've got two gifts to give back on White Day in little more than a month. Let's see how many more boxes I can get for breakfast. Man, how Fujiya must be hurting...now that one of their most important selling seasons is in full swing.

As for The Carolinan herself, it looks like I won't be seeing her for about a month since she's got that accounting exam to study for. She's been getting fairly stressed out about that...and she's also been hitting the drinking parties as well...not a good combo.

Today, I'm meeting up with The Madame for one of those frequent lunches and coffee things in Yurakucho instead of the usual Ikebukuro. I would've thought that those gang wars in her neck of the woods was the reason for the site change, but she made the request before the first bullets were fired. On that sordid episode, apparently, the Yamaguchi-gumi and its rival, the Sumiyoshi-kai are brokering a peace deal. The police won't believe it til things stay quiet for a long time.

Afterwards, I've got The Ace for his Friday regular but Jolly got in a lesson just before The Ace's since he AWOL'ed again on Tuesday....which means I have to lug the TOEIC stuff for most of the day...ugh.

We've got a long weekend coming up since Japan's birthday is up on Sunday so we gotta have a compensatory Monday off. Skippy has signed off on the ramen deal on Saturday night but eschewed DVD night...not surprised there.

Wednesday February 7, 4:30 p.m.

Well, it turned out to be an abortive attempt to get the donuts at Krispy Kreme on Monday night. That 10-minute wait that The New Yorker had experienced looked more like a 1-hour marathon standing session. Looks like I'm gonna have to come back in, say, 6 months. It's just amazing how the Japanese just jump on the trendy bandwagon like a hungry cat in a mousecage. I don't think The Doughnut Plant ever got this crazy when it debuted a couple of years ago. Mind you, it has a number of branches around Tokyo whilst KK only has the one in all of Japan. Plus, The Doughnut Plant didn't have the ready-made marketing campaign of lots of Japanese tourists coming back from Hawaii toting their Krispy Kreme donut boxes along with their Macadamia Chocolates and Godiva Cocoa. This feeding frenzy must be quite amusing to folks back in North America where KK has become somewhat forlorn thanks to overexpansion and shoddy accounting practices. Shoddy accounting practices do seem to be rather common over here so I guess KK may have a home in Japan after all.

Looks like the yakuza have come back into the news after several months of nothing. Over the past few days, there have been some reprisal shootings...or shots across the bow, to be more accurate in the safest city in the world. Apparently, some capo got assassinated so various gangsters have decided to shoot out some windows of local chapters in the usual entertainment districts of Shibuya, Ikebukuro and Azabu-Juban (for you Sailor Moon fans, a lot of Usagi-chan's haunts are based in that last tony neighbourhood). I'm not sure if it was a matter of honour among thieves or if the thugs just wanted to avoid being clamped down by the cops, but all of the shootings took place in the wee hours. So, here's a safety tip for you tourists...don't do any early morning jogging around those areas for the next little while unless you wanna risk a bit of extra lead.

On the happier end of things, everyone is getting excited about Tokyo finally entering the marathon cities. On February 18th, The Big Sushi joins Boston, NYC and London with its own 42-km run of endurance. It starts from City Hall in West Shinjuku down to the hotel district of Shinagawa up to the trad quarter of Asakusa before finally winding its way down to Odaiba, in front of the Tokyo Big Sight convention centre. I just hope that there isn't a major earthquake since Odaiba will basically liquefy....could be somewhat embarrassing. 002 and her hubby, being the marathon enthusiasts will be in the thick of things.

Yesterday, I had my newest students, Chip n' Dale, the 10-year-old guy/gal buddies. The boy, Chip, looks to be 5 years younger while Dale could probably flip him across the room with one arm. The inaugural class went well. Actually, along with 002's lesson earlier in the afternoon (her last one before the Tokyo Marathon...she should have lots of stories to tell me in 2 weeks), I had four classes at the juku last night. Man, that was a long day....the first time I went through one of those in a long time. By the time, I finished up with The Siberian with our talk on the etymology of names, I was pretty much ready to be buttered and eaten with a cup of coffee.

Looks like Saturday will be a good one...at least from the afternoon. I've got the Elder and the Younger earlier in the morning. Even though we're in February, I've yet to see the Elder for the first time this year and I kinda sent a shot across the mother's bow by suggesting that maybe the Elder can just focus more on her volleyball and other stuff. Her reply was not all that noncommittal. However, I do have the one M for our first chitchat session of the year at our new haunt since our old Tea Room closed down. Then, I'm meeting with MB, The Satyr and Skippy for some of that hearty pai ko tan tan men at Foo Foo in Shinjuku Station. After that, it'll probably be a guys' night at my place for DVDs. I don't think Skippy would join us since she's got her kid to teach the next day...and besides, three guys with a girl? Not even someone as up-with-people as Skippy would feel too comfy.

That astronaut love triangle thing in the States is the stuff that a scriptwriter's dreams are made of. Noone could have ever seen that one coming. I kinda wonder if those former producers of "JAG" are just slapping upside their heads.

Monday February 5, 6:01 p.m.

Sunday was a rather awkward day...at least to me. I was to meet MB, The Satyr and his Aussie buddy for a round of burgers at The Maple Leaf, the Canadian pub in Shibuya. I had also posted an invitation to The Bohemian since I hadn't seen him in months and since he also had an abortive attempt to invite me to dinner back in early January when I was still back in Canada. Well, MB was going to be late but the other four of us met up in front of the Shibuya police box at about 4 yesterday.

Things started getting awkward with the pub itself. The fact that on a Sunday afternoon that a pub that supposedly opens up at 11:30 was absolutely devoid of customers at 4:10 wasn't a good sign but The Maple Leaf has always seemed pretty schizoid in that sense. Sometimes, you needed a crowbar to get in and then there was yesterday. Perhaps the price of the beers could be part of the problem. Selling beers for 1,000 yen a pop doesn't exactly bring in the izakaya crowd....especially if one of those beers is a Molsons...it's kinda like selling Bud Light for 1,000. Plus, any ambience for a nice casual drink was ruined by the bigscreen blaring out some unknown movie called "The Musketeer". After the first round, The Satyr and his houseguest decided to go manga-shopping before MB arrived (I also didn't take that as a good sign). So, it was just The Bohemian and me for the better part of an hour...and then two ladies came in.

The Bohemian, as his call name would indicate, has always been a mypace type of guy (in natural English, that would mean he goes by the beat of his own drum...in his case, that would be a bongo played by Tito Puente). Sometimes that mypace-ness would lead to some rather off-colour remarks and actions. Well, during that hour, Bo told me about his latest job failure; for a couple of months, he'd been working at some securities company for a couple of months but found his professional relationship with his boss to be anything but happy, so he pulled out. He was somewhat depressed. I told him about my latest tension with my parents..."Why don't you come home and get a real job?" Well, actually I vented....fueled by my bitter Guinness and my even more bitter resentment.

Then, the Bohemian did the one thing that I get peeved about...he always has this annoying penchant of trying to pick up the ladies...badly. His latest victims were in the next booth. Previous victims included waitresses at our usual izakaya, En. Usually, I would have just grated my teeth and borne it (sorry I'm such a prude but I think there's a time and place for this sort of nampa...Sunday afternoon at The Maple Leaf ain't it...I think the girls would probably have agreed). Unfortunately, with the dark stuff inside me (literally and figuratively), I ended up telling him straight that I would appreciate him cooling off that sort of thing in front of me. I don't think it's so much that he does what a lot of younger folk do in front of Shibuya on a Friday night but that he performs like such an Earl Camembert. I mean, this is a guy who had just confessed a few minutes earlier to being warned by the staff at his local gym about not approaching any more women...I guess the words "stalker" and "sexual harrassment" haven't embedded themselves too well into his psyche. Again, it's just me but I frankly think that his sort of flirting is just embarrassing for everyone. After my little snap, he quietened down a bit.

Of course, all this happened without the knowledge of MB, The Satyr or his friend. When they all showed up some minutes later, The Bohemian started making motions about moving over to a cheaper izakaya...after having glugged down some beers already. MB very amiably asked if he could just have the burger first before moving on. From then on, I kinda realized that perhaps the addition of The Bohemian wasn't exactly the best thing. His world and the world of The Satyr and MB were two different animals. So what did Bo do? Just continued to glug down more brewskis. As for MB's burger, he said it was good..could beat a Big Mac anyday but he still preferred the burgers at Village Vanguard (I really gotta take him to Brozzers in Ningyocho).

We finally did make our move closer to the station to a bar that served 157-yen beers...more to Bo's tastes. I think I know the reason for the low cost...the labour cost is probably close to rock bottom...the waitresses were all non-Japanese Asians. Still, the beer was good and the food was fine. However, it was quickly evident that Bo was winding down fast. All that beer shut his systems down so I was wondering if he were going to be OK. I did mention that he could sleep it off at the sauna hotels that he often uses. Somehow, he heard my suggestion but said that he would be OK. At least he wasn't like The Ballerina in her worst binges...now she's a bad drunk.

So, after we said our goodbyes, I'm left wondering how The Bohemian is doing. I'm not sure if there has been any lasting strain on our friendship but he knows now without a doubt about his attempts at flirting. Still, it looks like our first DVD night of the year is gonna happen again amongst The Satyr, MB and myself this coming Saturday....all this after a round of ramen at Foo Foo. I've asked Skippy to see if she would be game...I kinda doubt it though. Strangely enough, even though Skip wasn't around yesterday, she was very much with us in spirit...mostly when it came to talk about her pendulous breasts! Apparently, women over here don't hesitate to openly talk about each other's sizes or even to cop a feel. MB told me that at that somewhat disastrous reunion party with the alumni the other Friday, The Coffeemaker was trying to squeeze the Charmins of her good buddy.

Well, looks like this week is gonna be another one of those cancellation-prone ones. The Part-Timer just canned hers due to a cold and then I got a message from The UL that she would have to bow out of her Friday due to a funeral. I actually got a contrite fax from The Polynesian about her standing me up on Saturday. As I thought, she overslept after her latest 18-hour day at work.

And I'm actually gonna try to see if I can actually buy a box of Krispy Kreme donuts in under 10 minutes in Shinjuku. But it looks like despite The Part-Timer's cancellation, I'll be hanging about here for another couple of hours to do so since The New Yorker's successful attempt came about at 9 p.m. Not promising anything but since I don't start teaching 'til 3:30 tomorrow, I think I can afford the risk.

Saturday February 3, 4:16 p.m.

Came across a rather funny editing piece via YouTube. For all you Trekkies, check out "Captain Janeway's Mission: Impossible". All I'll say is that all that stylized acting and expression on the various Treks have finally found an even better use. Also, YouTube has come out as a great treasure vault for old and musty 80s music videos. Go West (the band, not the Pet Shop Boys song)? Wang Chung? I found them.

I'm typing this as Speedy is interviewing a potential new teacher. So far, he's been having problems trying to get any good ones for the interview stage. We've got a number of bittersweet running gags at this school. One is the fact that we have a revolving door when it comes to admin staff...as soon as one comes in, the other goes out the door. By the time April rolls around, we'll be losing all three of our assistants to full-time jobs. The other is the seeming impossibility for interviewees to show up on time or even show up at all. Kinda reminds me of what someone at university once told me; at the time, I thought it was prototypically arrogant of him. He said that he, more often than not, had to come down to the level of standards of his peers instead of the other way around. Considering some of the folks we've had come through the door over the months, I'm now wondering if that guy were somewhat prescient.

Looks like another one of our stores underneath my subway station has gone the way of the dodo. Our revolving sushi store died a couple of years back with no replacement even now, the Fujiya branch is undergoing self-reflective closure due to its scandal, and now a longtime book store has closed its doors for good. I could make out from the sign that it was a rather hasty exit. Not sure if there were problems with the rent.

Saturday February 3, 3:40 p.m.

Got through my EIC class again in good fashion. Yup, she's a keeper, so it was with some surprise to hear from Speedy that the bonny lass has a bit of Englishphobia...or at least, she had it...doesn't like learning the language but according to her, it is this year's mission to start liking English. Well, I can say that she's started off on the right foot.

Unfortunately, I didn't have as much success with The Polynesian this morning. She basically stood me up at the family restaurant. It's unusual for her since she's been very steady and reliable since we started lessons last year. I'm not sure if her new job has finally gotten the best of her and she subsequently needed sleep badly. I've sent a message to her cellphone but have yet to get a response. I was somewhat put out at the time but the damage wasn't too bad. In fact, I'd say this no-show was in the best of circumstances since I was supposed to be at Speedy's just a few blocks away anyways for the EIC.

Looks like we are on for Wings N' Burgers at The Maple Leaf tomorrow with The Satyr, Movie Buddy and The Sylph along with at least one more Aussie. Unfortunately, Skippy had to bail. Maybe I'll ask The Bohemian and see if he's game since I haven't seen him in a number of months.

Well, I'll be getting some stuff done for my new kids at the juku on Tuesday before heading home for dinner...

Saturday February 3, 1:37 p.m.

"Global warming caused by humans."

And now, a commentary by this blogger...

Well....DUH!

And in other news, today happens to include those hours in which America's Groundhog Day and Japan's Setsubun coincide. I think most of you know about the former (big rodent comes out of his hole...sees shadow...6 more weeks of winter...goes back to bed...just like any Sunday bachelor); as for the latter, February 3 is known here as the day of throwing hard dry beans at the devil. Everybody from mothers to sumo wrestlers throw the stuff at the folks who've pulled the short straw and ended up as the devils (ever get hit with those beans?...not exactly the greatest feeling).

I say that like those teens on "The O.C." did with Chrismakkuh, we ought to blend our two holidays to make "Setsuhog Day". That way, instead of pelting beans at people in devil masks, we can actually start chasing rats on the Tozai Line. I think that with that comment, I should be getting hate mail from PETA shortly.

Friday February 2, 6:02 p.m.

Just getting some blogging done before my lone couple of classes at the juku tonight. I've got Seven and The Ace (sounds like a new US cartoon).

Yesterday, I only had The New Yorker in Ichigaya. Just figures that with all the work I put in to make a topic like relative clauses starting with gerunds and preps more palatable for her, she had all the enthusiasm of a kid going to her first innoculation. However, she did give me a flyer from the Krispy Kreme. Amazingly, she was able to wait for the ridiculously small amount of time of 10 minutes to get her box of donuts...mind you, it was at 9 p.m....an hour before closing. However, it does give me perchance to dream.

Today, it was just a trip to the local department store. I kinda looked around in the electronics area. Sure enough, I did see a CD/tape system selling for the price of just 4,100 yen. Since my old ONKYO is now dying, I'm kinda wondering if I should splurge a bit but I have yet to pay my final premiums for Citizen's Tax and Health Insurance. I also saw some bins selling for 980 yen to make things a little tidier within my burgeoning closet. However, I got some late e-mail from MB and The Satyr saying that they're actually good to go on Sunday for The Maple Leaf in Shibuya so maybe I'll have to save up some cash for that.

Saw the last hour of "Gosford Park", that 2001 Oscar winner on Super Drama TV. Chock full of celebs in what was really more "Upstairs, Downstairs" drama than a Clue-like whodunit. At least, Robert Altman was even-handed in his characters...the castes didn't matter, there were plenty of flawed people everywhere.

Stayed up late last night to see the anime version of "Nodame Cantabile" on Fuji-TV. It was pretty much a straight transition of the original manga to the screen. It was notable how blase it was toward the idea of pre-marital or even extramarital sex. The main protagonist of Chiaki used the lure of it to get back a willing Nodame from the clutches of randy virtuoso conductor Streizmann. I guess maybe that's why Fuji put it up at 12:50 in the morning.

With all of the scandals and murders so far this year, I guess 2007 still has enough room to accomodate a foot-ingesting Health Minister for stating that women are merely "baby-making machines" and to even welcome into the country a Chilean "the other woman" type who has arrived in Japan mysteriously. A few years ago, her paramour....a philandering civil servant from the north of Japan...was apparently caught red-handed for showering her with all sorts of gifts and money via the government coffers (I may be wrong...this is all coming back from memory). There was a full court press and swarm covering her like honey all yesterday. Not sure what she's up to...I assume that the skunk is still in jail.

Wednesday January 31, 9:34 p.m.

Well, it looks like that plea of misquoting did get out. I just checked Michael Buble's website and he came out with a clarification about his tirade against the Grammys and Tony Bennett. As expected, he did clear the air about Bennett stating that it wasn't his intention to slag the man and that it came out all wrong. However, he stuck to his guns about the Grammys since the Traditional Jazz Award was only given out during the dinner session instead of the live and televised portion. Kudos to him for coming out whip-fast on that and though I do agree with him that it would be nice to have jazz recognized on the tube, I don't think it needs to be done; and I say this as a jazz fan. Awards shows are bloated enough as they are on TV, and admittedly, jazz frankly still remains a niche genre. Besides, I think it's a bit dodgy of him to complain about not having the category covered on the telly especially when he's nominated in it.

Anyways, I'm out of here...it's time.

Wednesday January 31, 9:08 p.m.

Saw something mildly intriguing on the Sympatico site. There was an article in which Canadian crooner Michael Buble basically sets a torch to a lot of bridges. He lashed out at the American Grammys and the fact that there is no use going to the ceremonies since he won't win against Tony Bennett and that none of the American journalists would recognize him, and then he boasts about the fact that while some other ceremonies, the Golden Globes I believe, were going on, he was having smokes outside with some of his Canucklehead buddies while his girlfriend, actress Emily Blunt, was getting ready for her 15 minutes of fame.

Now I'm not sure if the media had been warping things out of proportion or if Buble's agent had encouraged a more controversial image for the singer. In a way, I wish that were the case. I've been a fan of Buble's for a few years now and was happy that he scored Album of the Year at the Canadian version of the Grammys last year. So it was with some dismay that I read this item, because it showed Buble as a complete whiny spoiled brat. I mean, has the guy forgotten about his awards up in The Great White North, the fact that Tony Bennett is a legend and that he should thank his lucky stars that he would even be nominated beside him? And so what about the American journalists not recognizing him? Does the guy crave fame all that much? Buble is a good singer with an obvious love for the jazz but I think Frank Sinatra's ghost oughta come on down and badda-boom-badda-bing him upside the head for that sort of commentary. I don't think much of the various awards and how they're judged upon, but Buble's tirade doesn't exactly honour himself. But then again, maybe that's how crooners act offstage. I remember that Sinatra's prince regent, Harry Connick Jr., once had a hissy fit one time at a party when he perceived some disrespect from the audience and just stormed off. Not sure if he learned anything from that experience but he seems to have a more humbler presence now.

Maybe Buble could take a lesson from actor Ricky Schroeder. On a recent interview for Season Six of "24" on Larry King Live, he mentioned that he'd gone back to Ricky from Rick, stating that he thought that whole name hoopla was just a stupid ego trip and illustration of insecurity. Again, I hope that Buble article was just a huge misquote.

Wednesday January 31, 8:05 p.m.

Just finished with 001 right now, after a 2-week hiatus. It was another good session; of course, there was the usual sidetracking. Earlier in the day, I saw her good buddy, 002. It looks like there may be another party at her place in the offing...she promised that it would be an omnivorous session this time around.

For the past few days, I've been reading a manga...that's right, a manga...thanks to the kindness of Skippy. On Sunday, she brought over the first five volumes of this Japanese comic book which had become a minor pop phenomenon last year. Called "Nodame Cantabile", the manga was written by one Tomoko Ninomiya a few years back but gained enough of a following that it was adapted into a Fuji-TV series and now, an anime series started up a couple of weeks ago. It's about all of the hijinks at this fictional music conservatory in Tokyo involving a young female pianist named Megumi Noda (hence the nickname Nodame) who tiptoes on the line between genius and madness, and her love in the form of a starchy young man named Shinichi Chiaki, another piano prodigy who really wants to become a world-class conductor. I've found the manga to be rather charming in its Japanese way...ah, by the way, Skippy lent me the English-translated versions so it's been pretty easy to skim through. I could see why the manga became this 12-ep drama serial in the coveted Monday-at-9 slot at Fuji...the manga has the usual elements of broad slapstick, characters and situations that make for a typical Japanese TV romantic comedy. I never caught the TV series since I had never read the comic but the commercials showed that the series even incorporated the silly reactions of Shinichi batting Nodame from the manga via "The Matrix" special effects; yes, I did say batting...over here, the 3 Stooges-like smacking and pounding are accepted as part of the fun. If this were ever to happen on an episode of "Grey's Anatomy", there'd be a Congressional investigation into violence on TV. I think the only thing the English version got lost in translation is how the original kanji often gets twisted or overemphasized to show the characters' emotions. In the translated versions, no matter how hot and bothered Shinichi gets, the font remains stubbornly flat and uniform. Still, the manga is a good thing to go through on the subway rides.

I've only got The New Yorker tomorrow since I don't think B2 will be taking anything with me in the evening. Sigh...another low-income start to a month. Well, at least I'll get a night off...

Wednesday January 31, 5:29 p.m.

Amazing how this month went by. On the first day, I was having New Year's dinner with my family back in T.O., and now on this final day, I've just had my dinner of two rice balls and gobo salad in Tokyo.

My 3-night binge of food and drink went fairly well although I paid dearly for it. I think the bill came out to about 11,000 yen. Now, that might not sound too bad, especially in the world's most expensive city but when my usual budget per day is a tenth of that...

Just to recap, I had that reunion party of sorts with the alumni from the ol' school on Friday night at Tsuki no Yume, another hopped-up Shibuya izakaya. That was a bit of a bust since the organizer, The Barmaiden, didn't exactly coordinate things too well there. She set everything up for 7 p.m. but as of 7:30, I was the only one there sitting in the corner just writing up the lesson reports. The manager was fairly tense as he approached me. But luckily after the second time, MB and some of the alumni showed up finally. The Barmaiden herself came through about an hour into things. It's usually hard to tell with The Barmaiden but apparently she was rather upset with management for the hassle she got; however, I think she should look into the mirror for blame.

Saturday was the shinnenkai (New Year's party) via Speedy's school. We definitely went upscale (and the bulk of my loss of money was because of this event) at Casa De Fado, a Portuguese restaurant in a side stree of Yotsuya, home of The Hotel New Otani and Sophia University. Paid 5,500 yen for a course meal which was quite tasty. I think the dish of the night was this steamed clam dish with a delectable garlic butter sauce. I was using the bulk of the complementary bread sopping up that stuff from the dish. I was seated across from PH, the first time I've seen her in half a year. I tell ya...I should've gone into the psychiatric profession. Along with The UL and The Polynesian, I had another session of listening while PH vented on the frustrations of work. At least, if I had become a counselor I could've had billable hours. Good dining experience, all in all, but I don't think I'll be going there anytime soon...that is, until I get myself into a higher income tax bracket.

Finally, on Sunday night, the movie crowd of MB, The Sylph, The Satyr, Skippy and an old friend of The Sylph's, The Designer, went to JAM'S, the latest in our burger odyssey. Located in Ebisu, JAM'S is another one of those tiny eateries which has gotten onto the media map with its unique-looking burgers. But it's not the bunned burgers...actually, this is the Japanese version with demiglasse sauce and a hot plate. Namely, we're talking Salisbury Steak here. Instead of the flat ovals, the JAM'S burgers come out looking like sausages for some reason. In fact, they're called Boston Burgers...whether or not they actually have anything to do with Beantown remains to be explained. The dishes came out in small, medium and double sizes. Of course, I decided to go whole hog and went for double. As with the others, a waitress brought out my sizzling plate of burgers, a jacket potato with butter and some other veggies, along with cooked rice. She asked me to bring up my napkin so that I wouldn't get splattered with any excess grease (not that it mattered anyways...I was practically infused with burger odor for the rest of the night)...to be frank, I felt kinda gay bringing up my napkin up to my nose like some sort of bouffanted woman of breeding. In any case, she split the burgers into two and then proceeded to have the rest of the cooking process done at the table to my desired doneness (medium). The burgers were actually quite raw when they arrived...only the outside was seared back in the kitchen. During the ordering, we were also to pick from several sauces. I went for ponzu, a stylized version of soy sauce. I couldn't believe it but I actually finished all 360 g worth of burger. I still had it. And the good times kept on rolling...the bunch of us walked over to Ebisu Garden Place and found a dessert eatery. Unlike the first two nights, I'm definitely looking forward to another go at JAM'S.

Earlier that Sunday, the movie group went to see "The Departed" with Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. We did get our money's worth on that one (getting nominated for Best Picture certainly increased its cachet). Adapted from the Hong Kong crime flick "Internal Affairs", it was pretty evident where the Asian influence came into the Hollywood version (the last few minutes of guns ablazing). I was wondering where the title of this version came from but after catching it, I went "Ah..." Everyone was acting in good order; it was kind of jarring to see Martin Sheen not portraying the President of the US (just goes to show how much of a stamp he left on "The West Wing"), and of course, Jack Nicholson was Jack Nicholson. I think there was also a bit of Mamet in the dialogue, especially when Alec Baldwin's Captain Ellerby and Mark Wahlberg's incredibly hostile Sgt. Dingham got into a short intense spat. It was a fine if depressing movie to watch although I would've liked to have seen more of the happy times with Damon's character to coincide with the mental deterioration of DiCaprio's. However one of the things I did appreciate was a good "Whoa!" moment. As one gets older at the movie theatre, one gets rather jaded at the same old stuff...very few surprises for the viewer. But we did get one gasp from the audience when DiCaprio gets his six at the end.

Saturday January 27, 5:11 p.m.

J-Pop may have found its newest heroine to join the ranks of pop tart/jailbait X-Tina clone Kumi Koda and more indie-ish Kaela Kimura. To break up all those K's, we have one Anna Tsuchiya. Half-Japanese, half-some nationality in looks, she's also a mix in terms of occupation: she's a model, actress and now riot grrrl. She's got the face of a slightly more devilish Drew Barrymore but the song stylings of Joan Jett. She could probably eat the entire Morning Musume for breakfast and pick her teeth with the members of AKB 48.

I think that YouTube has been a godsend in terms of catching some obscure gems in pop music and Star Trek bloopers. Speaking of which...I saw a fanboy's labour of love in the form of a What If? concoction of showing what would happen if TNG's Enterprise-D met up with the Death Star. Simply named "Star Trek vs. Star Wars", the 7-minute video is a choppily-edited affair (it wasn't difficult to see where the seams were with all those bridge officers changing hairstyles and uniforms) but a rather interesting end result to see how Picard handled The Emperor himself. Personally, I would love to see James Bond vs. Doctor Who.

At the same time, YouTube has also been allowing excerpts called "Soramimi" from the late-night Japanese variety show, "Tamori Club". Translated directly as "sky ear", the "Soramimi" segment in the middle of Tamori's more eclectic TV-Asahi program is really the only thing I want to see (the main segment which brackets the segment has often dealt with topics like train otaku and new buildings). For years, people have been sending in sound clips of famous non-Japanese songs (anything from The Beatles to German death metal bands) in which the lyrics could sound like Japanese expressions. Sometimes, the similarity is a bit reaching but at other times, it's hilariously spot-on. And the videos concocted for the clips could just about elicit laughter from a rock. Not quite sure how non-Japanese speakers could really get the humour but there are several clips posted.

Also, I've been hearing that a lot of those Japanese commercials featuring Hollywood celebs have also been popping up on guess where...YouTube. Boy, I bet folks like Scarlett Johannsen, Leo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt must be cracking their heads against the wall (and their agents' heads) in actorly angst at seeing the relevance of those international non-disclosure clauses rendered useless. There's that current ad for Seattle's Mt. Rainier Iced Coffee in which new spokeswoman Johannsen (who follows Winona Ryder and Queen Amidala) is walking through the London Tube while sipping said product and intoning some catchphrase like a dying robot.

Saturday January 27, 4:55 p.m.

The UL and The Polynesian, though they've never met, shared one thing in common in the last couple of days that I met them. They were both rather exhausted from work (long hours, stress, etc). For the UL, since her base of operations is a university, she was getting konked out from the transition period of prepping for graduation and then getting ready for the new kids. As for the Polynesian, she's been having problems with her micro-managing supervisor.

Last night's party with the alumni started off very slowly. I got to the restaurant at about 7, thinking that everybody would already be there drinking it up. Instead, there was a very empty table. The main waiter was rather tense when he came up to say that he was a bit concerned that despite that our official sitdown time had started, noone showed up. Well, I apologized and just shrugged that I didn't know what had happened to everyone. And in actual fact, MB, Scully and one other fellow straggled in at 7:30 before most of the others came in between 7:30 and 8: not exactly something that impressed me. It was The Barmaiden's call on the party. Why didn't she schedule it for a later time if people were just gonna come in like a bunch of Brazilians? It was the first time to see MB in 6 weeks. Looks like he and The Sylph have been enjoying their love affair with skiing.

For the second party, most of the group stayed intact. In fact, only MB had to shuffle out early since he was going skiing today to Gala Yuzawa as well. The rest of us just went up Dogenzaka to the Maruhan entertainment complex and went up to the 8th floor where another izakaya was. This place was rather nifty since instead of calling out to waiters or waitresses to give our orders, all we did was just make our requests through GUI monitors on our tables. Matching restaurants with Blackberries? Ingenious.

Just finished off the first EIC lesson with a very comely young lady. I'm glad it worked out well with this one. Hope this may translate into a more permanent student. In another hour, Speedy will be heading out for my second party in an as many nights, that Portuguese place in Yotsuya called Palace de Fado.

Friday January 26, 3:46 p.m.

Once again I'm typing in an alien location...back at the Otemachi Kinko's. They have the most expensive rates so I'm rushing through this entry.

After my stint at the Ai Cafe last night, I walked all the way from Akiba to Ichigaya...took me about 40 minutes. It was a good workout. I took up base at the Tully's Cafe where I meet Tully and the Coffeemaker, and an hour later, The Carolinan showed up. We did another trade of souvenirs: the Canadian calendar to her while I got a package of mentaiko (cod roe)-flavoured crackers, only available in Nagasaki, where she had just come from a company trip. Not too bad although they're a bit greasy.

Today, I met up with The Madame for a bit of lunch in the Tobu again before heading out to that cafe that she had been talking about the other day. It was her type of place....old-fashioned wood decor with dim lighting. Tried out the cheesecake...it's supposed to be the most popular item in the place but I didn't particularly find it all that memorable although it did taste like cheesecake should.

I've got The UL in about 90 minutes and then I head on out to Shibuya to meet up with the alumni for that dinner.

Thursday January 25, 2:07 p.m.

Another week, another dismemberment story. Looks like not a day has gone by this year without some crime in which the body was chopped up like lumber. This time, some guy by the name of Matsumura has been arrested with the alleged murders of two distant relatives. The latter of the two had the guy's body chopped into two with the lower half buried in Ibaraki Prefecture while the other was wholly somewhere else. Of course, the morning talk shows have covered this story like a blanket. And so far, every picture of the suspect has been very creepy. His eyes had that unfocused stare of a psychotic. Apparently, he also had a bit of a double life. There are pics of him in typically sober salaryman garb while one pic had him dressed like a biker punk. More (bodies?) to follow, I'm sure...

The latest celeb-turned-governor, Higashi Sonomanma (actually NHK did identify him by his real name of Hideo Higashikokubara), jumped right into his new job with all the gravitas needed. And he needed every bit of it...since Miyazaki Prefecture is in the throes of a bird flu problem. There he was in the seemingly regulation jumper outfit that governors tend to wear out in the field assessing the situation at a chicken farm with a full court press. Strangely enough, on Fuji-TV that same time, there was a quiz show with a whole bunch of tarento including Sonomanma as his goofy persona. The show was careful to tell everyone that it had been filmed back in November.

It really looks like that Fujiya has been taking its contrite rehabilitation very seriously. On the way back home from Speedy's, I noticed that every branch of the confectionary store I'd passed on the bus was shut up tight. But the biggest sign was at my own station. In the mall underneath the tracks, the neighbourhood Fujiya shared its space with a liquor shop. Well, the liquor side of the store was in full operation but the Fujiya side looked forlornly abandoned: the display case that had once proudly shown its wares of strawberry shortcakes and chocolate confections was completely empty, and Peko-chan was nowhere to be found.

Since 001 had cancelled her lesson last night, the only reason to go to the school was just do some prep work for EIC. Because of the computer problems Speedy had been suffering, my old computer has been taken out from the classroom and into the outer office. which means that my boss is now the third person to know about this blog. Luckily, he didn't see anything about the personal stuff involving the code names, but frankly I would have preferred that he hadn't found out. Speedy has been in close touch with the school's benefactor who's been waiting for the past few years for the school to get some sort of healthy sign. Well, he and we are still waiting. Yesterday's call from the benefactor had him finishing with a very loud click that I could hear metres away from the receiver. Yikes! Not a good start to the year for Speedy. A couple of nights before, Speedy once again talked my ear off in that half-giggly, half-frenetic tone he gets whenever he's stressed out. I feel really sorry for him but I'm starting to wonder if he really thought things through when he made his plans for the school. Ach...but I digress...I've always been the glass-is-half-empty type.

The next few days will be hard ones on my wallet. I've got that party with some of the ol' school alumni tomorrow after my lesson with The UL. Then, Saturday will have the Speedy dinner at a Portuguese restaurant, and finally I'm meeting up with Skippy and the bunch for "The Departed" on Sunday.

Wednesday January 24, 2:45 p.m.

An unusual day off although I am at Speedy's right now. Last night, I got the call that 001 had to cancel tonight's lesson. Still, I had to get some prep work done for 002's class tomorrow and that new EIC lesson on Saturday. Plus, it got me out of the house. I actually went to LAST, the buffet restaurant at Shiodome City Centre for lunch today. I really am slowing down. I couldn't really even considered myself engorged...just full. That had never stopped me before.

Yesterday, we had that New Year's party at Mrs. Travel's house in Makuhari Hongo in Chiba Prefecture. Her place has that feel of a Japanese version of a Norman Rockwell house. I also got filled there with qualitatively superior food made by the Beehive ladies...all great Japanese dishes like koyadofu (tofu that has been freeze-dried and cooked...interesting texture), shredded crab salad and some of the juiciest & most succulent yellowtail sashimi I've ever feasted my stomach on. And of course, the alcohol was liberally flowing which may explain why I quickly slowed down my ingestion. Mrs. Alp's hubby even showed up, normally an unusual thing for a Japanese man at that time of the day except that he had recently retired so he's got a lot of time on his hands. For years, Alp had always told me that her hubby has had a special affection for the portly Mrs. Tee and yesterday, we got to see that in action. Mr. Alp and Mrs. Tee were just giggling while the former was being obnoxiously flirtatious with her. Mrs. Alp bemusedly sat nearby; not sure if she had the rolling pin in her bag just in case. The party was also a farewell for Mrs. Plate since she'll be heading with her family to the wilds of Okayama Prefecture from next week for a long while.

Yesterday was quite good in that my usually slower students were unusually on the ball. The New Yorker was gabbing with me in halting English for the first few minutes of our lesson; not exactly purring along like an Oxford professor but I'll take it. Actually, I was about 5 minutes late for her since I missed the Sobu Line but I think the wait must've done good by her. And then the Milds later that night were also running on high octane. Even the hubby had done some unassigned homework on his own which surprised his wife and me. Mr. Mild also showed me his skill with his Cat's Cradle, that old hobby in which one can make various patterns and objects out of string and two hands. On the good news at the juku was that the two kids who were there for the model lesson took the bait. I'll be seeing them from November, and I may even be getting another adult student. Jolly went AWOL again which pissed me off since I had gone to the trouble of prepping some TOEIC stuff for him, not exactly the lightest stuff to tote to a class. Seven was back for another round of hilarity. She told me that her idol, Will Smith, was to show up on a program starring a rather acerbic fortune teller, the Japanese Simon Cowell if you will, who used to be a grande dame hostess with a yakuza ex-hubby. Gotta wonder how that went.

I caught the Oscar nominations last night on CNN live. Nice to see that "Little Miss Sunshine" got nominated for Best Movie although I don't think it has a snowflake's chance in Hell of winning. I can actually say that I will have seen two Best Movie noms by the time the Academy Awards roll around on February 25th since this Sunday, I'll be catching "The Departed" with Skippy and the rest of the gang. It was notable that "Letters from Iwo Jima" got the nod (won't get it...Clint Eastwood has won too much) and a Japanese actress by the name of Rinko Kikuchi got nommed for "Best Supporting Actress" for her deaf-mute performance in "Babel". I would normally say that she also has a snowball's chance but since that child actress from New Zealand, Keisha something-or-other, grabbed it from nowhere a few years ago, I can't slag her chances quite yet. Of course, within a half-hour of the live announcements, NHK and the other commercial stations trumpeted the Japanese noms. Rinko Kikuchi is not a household name here although I'm not sure what the nomination will mean now for her career. Her father in the movie is none other than Mr. "Shall We Dance-The Original", Koji Yakusho. Y'know...I would like to see "The Queen" with Helen Mirren. Of course, Mirren is the one to beat for "Best Actress" but I would just like to see it for that scarifyingly good performance by Michael Sheen as PM Blair.

Well, let's see....there was that stupid natto kerfuffle on Fuji-TV. Now, it's legendary confectionary conglomerate, Fujiya. The mascot for the company is Peko-chan, that cute little fat girl with the tongue sticking out of her mouth in anticipation for the candies to get shoveled into her maw. Well, it looks like the company got its wrists majorly slapped by the government when it was learned that it had been using ingredients well past its expiry dates and then selling the finished goods also past its expiry dates. There was an editorial cartoon in today's "Japan Times" which summed it quite nicely: the picture shows Peko-chan in a hospital bed with her tongue hanging out once again, but this time not so happily. There is a Fujiya store in my station mall. It's probably closed in contrition. Corporate Japan working for the people, folks.

Now, I know why the former entertainer-turned-Miyazaki governor-elect, Higashi Sononmanma, has held onto his stage name. The guy's really called Hideo Higashikokubaru (geseundheit)...doesn't exactly run off the tongue like a river. Well, he's started off his new career as soberly as possible. He has to...his successor had to resign in disgrace due to a bid-rigging scandal.

And I just found out that the Toronto Blue Jays got its own Japanese player...some journeyman pitcher by the name of Oka. Not sure if they were trying to get onto the "Heroes" bandwagon.

Monday January 22, 9:38 p.m.

Well, another night of heartbreak. 009 decided to call it quits after 12 lessons...says she's enjoyed the lessons and would be willing to come back in a few months after she passes the TOEIC hurdle. Yeah, well...I'll believe she'll be back when she is back. Methinks she's long gone. Just goes to show that I'll never be able to accurately predict who'll stay and go. I've had The New Yorker for close to 2 years...has made a snail's progress in all that time and yet she's stuck with me. Not to say that 009 was the most grammatically accurate lady in the world but she was certainly much more fluent. Still, I'm grateful that The Part-Timer is hanging in...for now; she's just about at her 1-year mark with me.

Yesterday, I met The Madame for the first time in several weeks. Strangely enough, unlike my prediction that she would spout off on her spiritualist beliefs like the usual Wiccan, she was pretty much off that topic for most of our 4 hours together. The reason she gave was that she was in the doghouse with her spirit guide. Hopefully, that falling out will be permanent. In any case, we went for lunch at a Vietnamese place in the TOBU Department Store in Ikebukuro before finding a hole-in-the-wall place in south Ikebukuro which specializes in Taiwanese tea. Very peaceful in a redecorated apartment but it cost me 1,500 yen; doesn't exactly merit weekly trips. We've got another meeting of sorts on Friday.

Tomorrow, I've got that party at Mrs. Travel's place for the entire Beehive before I have to rush off to see the aforementioned New Yorker for her first of the year. Then, it's back to the juku for Seven, Jolly and The Milds. The Siberian is off drinking.

Monday January 22, 5:28 p.m.

Well, quite a few things on the news front over the weekend. We've got another celeb-turned-governor in this country. A former tarento by the name of Sonomanma Higashi (a stage name since the first word means "just like it is") pulled off a surprise by winning the gubernatorial election in his native Miyazaki Prefecture. To be honest, celeb governors haven't exactly had the most sterling reputations here compared to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (although he and Bill you-know-who have had their names dragged in the mud as well). Previous Tokyo Governor Yukio Aoshima who used to be and is now back as a comedian was pretty much an ineffectual leader and former comedian-turned-Osaka Governor Knock Yokoyama resigned in Clintonian disgrace when he tried a little slap-and-tickle on a female assistant in his limo years ago. Sononmanma isn't exactly lily-white either; he'd had a reputation playing around in the lower depths of Kabukicho during his entertainment days. Mind you, in today's session with The Class Act, the ladies mentioned that despite his dalliances, the governor-elect had taken the past year off to clean up his act and earn his fellow Miyazakans' good graces. So we shall see if the guy will actually be a good ruler.

Speaking about embarrassments, I was planning to watch Aru Aru Daijiten ("There! There! The Big Dictionary") last night, a program from the latest genre of information-gathering and disseminating for the masses. The program is hosted by comedian Ken Shimura and tarento Masaaki Sakai and focuses on health matters; specifically, the show finds certain foods and illustrates how wonderful and magical they are for our bodies. Well, back on the 7th, the show was focusing on the benefits of natto, that fermented bean stuff which has a love/hate reaction amongst the population (I'm definitely the latter). I would've thought that it would have been a slam dunk topic...even the detractors state that it is a healthy foodstuff (with the emphasis on stuff). They had data on all sorts of experiments and interviewees with the final say that if one ate natto twice a day for two weeks, there would be a noticeable weight loss. Well, if Aru Aru Daijiten said so, then it must be true, the viewers thought. And so, after the program aired, natto just flew off the shelf....

...and the bottom fell out. Instead of getting the usual episode of day-glo graphics and happy panel led by Shimura and Sakai, I got a rather sober announcer bowing deeply in front of the camera and explaining that all that data had been made up, before/after pics falsified and even the dubbed interpreting of American doctors misinterpreted. One thing about Japanese TV, when someone screws up noticeably enough so that it can't be covered up, the so-called deep apologies just pour on out. The top guys at Fuji-TV had done a press conference a few days earlier and did the prerequisite bowing but I think the president should've also done the apology last night instead of having the announcer lackey do it. Of course, the other commerical stations were having a field day crowing about their rival's goof on the morning wide shows today.

Saturday January 20, 1:52 p.m.

Had one of those almost-out-of-the-door cancellations. Just as I was about to take off for the kids, I got a call from The Polynesian stating that she had come down with a cold. So it was just the Younger and the father. I'm starting to get the impression that the Elder has finally had enough of me.

Pretty overcast and there may be a small chance of getting some snow here in the Kanto...just a slight sprinkling, mind you.

There may be some hope on the horizon in terms of job opportunities. The juku boss informed me that I could be seeing 1 or 2 new adult students and those two kids I did a demo lesson with on Tuesday may sign up....or at least, their mothers would. According to the boss, the mothers were impressed that I actually assigned homework.

Tomorrow, I meet The Madame for the first time in 2007. Probably more of her New Age talk.

Friday January 19, 1:40 p.m.

Saw B2 and B2B. Looks like the couple will be undergoing some changes in the next few months. Not only will B2B be dropping out (a pity in a way but makes my life easier in terms of teaching) but it looks like B2 will be moving out of B2B's place and making a place of her own not too far away from him. But the point is that B2 is still my student and I'll have to see how The Baker is gonna be able to have my lessons, if she can at all.

The UL cancelled her lesson today so I've only got Jolly and The Ace for their lessons at the juku tonight. Saves on commuting fare.

I seem to be in an industrious mood today. I aired out the futon, vacuumed the apartment and even decided to de-grout the kitchen fan filters. Guaranteed that mood won't last.

I used the last couple of gift certificates at Takashimaya to buy Jamirioquai's Best of CD. Here's an artist whom I've known about for more than a decade and yet never got around to buying. His stuff's got the type of groove I always liked...disco/R&B but it just slipped beneath my radar. Well, I finally got it and I think I made a good purchase. I was a bit surprised that "Virtual Insanity" was actually a condemnation of the circumstances bringing about Dolly The Sheep. Tells you how much I'm into lyrics.

Just some stuff from here: convenience stores finally got into the habit of selling raw fish. You would think that sashimi would've been de rigueur in places like Lawsons or 7-11 but nope; yesterday was the first day. Considering the taste of konbini sushi, though, I'm not holding much hope for sales.

Also, the Japanese Olympic Committee got Sen'ichi Hoshino to manage the Olympic baseball team going to the Beijing Games in 2008. Who he? Well, he's the archetype of the old-school coach from the Japanese leagues: a tough-as-nails guy who's been awarded one of those "Best Father in Japan" accolades by the folks who seem to love awarding celebs for anything like jeans or jewelry. He's appeared on TV commercials as his gruff self exhorting the meek to show some guts and buy insurance. As the award indicates, his style has got him respect from the locals but in the West, his draconian methods would probably get nearly jailed. I know that one sports columnist for The Japan Times, Marty Kuehnert, has labelled him a thug in a uniform. As for me, though I'm glad he's not directing me in anything, I think he would be the guy to lead a team who will be heading into the lion's den...filled with rabid lions. Considering how much the Japanese soccer team was hassled in a game over in China a couple of years back, the baseball team will need a fearless fellow like Hoshino at the front.

Wednesday January 17, 5:33 p.m.

Well, another one of my quests has come to an end. A few months after finding and listening to Chaz Jankel's "Questionnaire" on the Net, I finally found the video for the legendary song on... YouTube, of course. Just finding lots of gems there recently. I think "Questionnaire" is one of those songs that just merits having a video paired with it. The video itself was made just on the very beginnings of the MTV era so there was definitely an "anything goes" feel to it: oddly quaint computer graphics, strobe light mouth organ and glow-in-the-dark Latin dancing. Match that up with a bouncy Cuban-type song about asking poll questions, and you've got a video classic. Certainly the responses to it on YouTube are agreeable. Now, I just gotta wait for the album itself to be re-released.

Also, I came across the Pet Shop Boys' "Flamboyant", another brilliant synth-pop piece by the fey lads, on YouTube. I would've thought that the accompanying video would've shown gorgeous supermodels traipsing down the catwalk but instead there is an inspired story of a Japanese salaryman dweeb finding his muse to get his colleagues to join him in a bizarro talent competition which really does exist on the wonderful world of Japanese TV. Pair that with intercut scenes of the Boys starring in great parodies of Japanese commercials and, voila, another classic of J-Pop culture.

Wednesday January 17, 4:23 p.m.

First not-so-decent day since I got back but it hasn't been raining during my time outside. Just overcast and the ground is still damp.

Looks like my wayward students have finally come out of the woodwork. Jolly did a sudden show-up last night despite even the juku boss, an up-with-people type, writing him off as an escapee. A combination of having left his cellphone back in his hometown and some e-mail problems was apparently the culprit but that didn't get him off the hook where the boss was concerned. She gave him a mild chewing-out for his absence. I played good cop and just let it slide. As for The Siberian, he did show up for his regular. I think it was the first time that I ever did a rerun...the two of us actually rehashed an older topic of discussion since the expressions "Oh, yes, you did talk about this before.." popped up more than once. In any case, he'll be absent next week.

And then B2 finally decided to respond to my hails. Well, I'll be seeing her and B2B tomorrow night as originally scheduled but in her message she said that B2B will be history. Again not a bad thing since he and she are so disparate in terms of speaking ability. I also hinted at her that it might be time to talk about what else she would like to do in future lessons. I'm glad that I held off and gave her a chance to get back to me since I was just about to send e-mail over to The Baker to offer biweekly Thursday nights.

I've only got 001 for her regular tonight. Planning to get back home as soon as I'm done with her. There's a recipe that I wanted to try with some Chinese BBQ sauce that has actually gone past its due date by 18 months. Always like a challenge...

Monday January 15, 5:10 p.m.

Halfway through the month already and into my first full week back. I had The Class Act for their first lesson of the year. The Lady enjoyed my souvenir in the form of a Lauren Harris calendar. For those not into art history, Lauren Harris was one of the legendary Group of Seven, that collective of Canadian artists from the 20s and 30s which included Tommy Thompson and Emily Carr. She did a bit of an analysis of the paintings in front of The Matron and myself...a bit art deco here, a bit French Impressionism there...I was just happy that she liked it. As for The Matron, I got her a calendar of cats since she's quite the purveyor of the felines. Not surprisingly, much of our 90 minutes consisted of talk on their holidays in Hawaii. I swear that I will never need to spend my cash on going there since I can live vicariously through them. The Matron's daughter seems to have found a new crush...David Bowie of all people. It would seem that the little one has a thing for tall, thin and pasty. I did my part by rattling off the movies that The Thin White Duke has appeared in.

SIL cancelled out of her lesson today so I had some time in Shibuya. I'd thought I would be able to merge my HMV point card with the one that The Egg had so kindly given me to get that 2,500 yen discount. Nope...verboten there. But the cashier took some pity on me and shaved a 1,000 off on my 2 CDs, both of them female, Canadian and jazz. I got Diana Krall's latest with her big band, and a disc of the best of Holly Cole. They'll probably be the last discs I get until my financial picture improves.

I'll be having my first with The Part-Timer within the hour. I may be able to bring her back here to Speedy's since it's gonna be a tad sparse tonight. And then, I get 008 back after almost 2 months away. Her structure wasn't all that stable before the long layoff...not quite sure what I'm gonna get tonight.

Yesterday, I had Tully and The Coffeemaker for their first. Worked out pretty well...had the entire basement of the cafe all to ourselves; nothing like a freelance English class to clear out the patrons. And then I rushed over to teach The Polynesian. Good there as well. And then I went out to Akiba where The Satyr met me. We did a bit of walking around on the main strip which was closed off so that all of the dancing and singing maids could congregate with their adoring geek fans. I actually took the lad up to the 5th floor of the Don Quixote Bldg where the very first Maid Cafe to be established was located. Just when I thought that the Maid Cafe boom was seeing its last lacy days, the floor was packed with yelling and stomping boys-with-no-life in front of a quintet of barely tuneful Maids. As we made our way through the sweaty crowd, The Satyr and I were exchanging some rather bemused looks. I think I saw a tongue poke through his cheek. After another several minutes of walking through the area, we ended up having dinner at a tonkatsu place (after the events of 002's party, I really needed my meat fix) up at the top of the Yodobashi Camera building. Of course, we gabbed on the latest movies and he gave me some advice on digital cameras.

Sunday January 14, 9:24 a.m.

I'm back at the neighbourhood Internet cafe trying to get some quick dispatches to people. I had the sullen woman again as my cashier.

I had the Younger and her mother as my students yesterday...which made my morning go a whole lot quicker. The Elder is off at volleyball...kinda wondering again if I should officially let her go but I really need to hold on to my students.

Then it was off to 002's place for that New Year's party. It was an all-vegetarian affair since the guest of honour was The Baker's former teacher, a fellow Canuck. He was a quiet but amiable sort...quite the counterpoint to all the giggling from her former charge, 001 and 002 in the kitchen. The food was very good...a lot of vegetable tempura, veggie pizza (although 002 was very maganimous in making some of the pizza with salami and ham for me....I didn't tell her that I had actually snuck in a Filet O'Chicken meal at McD before I went over; just didn't want to go into meat withdrawal). As it turned out, we all did get rather filled up before the night was over.

Speaking about McDonalds, it looks like the Japanese branches have started a bit of a SuperSize Me pattern from Friday with their MegaMac campaign. 002 first cottoned me onto the news in her lesson on Friday. And since I would pass by one branch on the way to teach The UL. I had been expecting something more than the usual 2 tasteless patties but actually the MegaMac turned out to be just 4 patties squeezed into the usual mess of sesame seed buns and lettuce and secret sauce. It looks like Purchasing ordered a few too many patties that needed to be rushed through before expiry date (do McD patties really need expiry dates?).

And yet still on food, it would seem that I've been getting the lion's share of free food for the past few days from students. The UL gave me some chinsukou (Okinawan sugar cookies) after her trip there and 002 gave me a whole bunch of leftovers from last night's party. I've been praying for more income but this is just as good. This custom of getting souvenirs from a trip does pay dividends.

Well, on the Krispy Kreme front, one of the guests at the party last night told us that on opening day last month, there was a 3-hour wait for the cholesterol bombs. So ironic considering that KK as a business entity is pretty much gone from The Great White North.

Thursday January 11, 1:49 p.m.

Back at the grungy neighbourhood Internet cafe for a 3-hour pack. Gotta admit though that the music has improved. I actually got AOR filtering the other day (Manhattan Transfer?!) and today is a little more on the current Top 10 in the US (Fergilicious...yum).

Speedy told me last night that due to the lack of classes in December before my trip and because of the trip itself my income there would probably be jingling (somewhat exaggerating although not by much); I really didn't need to be reminded of that. Mind you, he didn't have such a great Holiday. Apparently, he and his wife were supposed to have gone off to Korea for some well needed R&R but he overlooked the fact that his visa had expired. Well, that triggered some major paperwork and apologizing to both the government and his wife. He was in the doghouse for most of that week. It was a pretty dumbass rookie mistake but the man has been busy just trying to keep his company afloat so I think I can understand.

Just as Toronto got its 1st murder by gun lickety-split, Tokyo quickly got on the board with its first dismemberment case of 2007. Some woman decided enough was enough with her abusive husband and konked him dead with a beer bottle (there usually is a beer bottle involved in these cases) before sawing him down into more discrete and more easily disposable pieces.

Got no classes today so I'm just whiling away the time here before getting some grub on coins and then getting some housework done. I've yet to hear anything from B2 so I'm starting to think that her time with me is done...to be honest, I'm not that sad about the situation, and perhaps that might open up things for The Baker who has been trying to get me to teach her. There is that party at 002's place on Saturday so I should know more when I see her then.

Wednesday January 10, 5:36 p.m.

Back in the saddle at Speedy's. I'm just half an hour away from having 001's first lesson of the year. Speedy is back to his usual idea churning. Now, he wants to try some restaurant hopping kinda like on the lines of MB's yearlong Burger Tour. Speedy's first guinea pig could be a Greek restaurant in Roppongi. Unlike in Toronto, a Greek restaurant is about as rare a gem as one can get. I've heard of this place, though...it's got a gimmick in which customers can let out their stress by writing the name of their hated people on some cheap plate and then smash it into some brick well with a whooping "Whoopa!".

Speaking of the Burger Tour, MB did indeed contact me last night to say that he and The Sylph were good to go for the 28th when Skippy wants to catch "The Departed" with DiCaprio and J-a-a-a-ck. Plus, MB wants to slip in another example of the big tour. Not sure if it's doable since the place he was looking at is in Ebisu...rather far from our usual movie haunt of Shinjuku.

Got my hair cut for the first time in 3 months. Man, it was good to get rid of that cowlick which bothered the hell out of my eyes. Still, it cost me 5,000 yen...not a good thing considering my poverty.

Had the juku gang although Jolly and The Siberian were AWOL. The Siberian called in at the last minute to cancel due to the dreaded norovirus...his second attack. Hmm...methinks that the kid may have just ducked out for a drinking party. At least, Seven told me that honestly to explain her absence next week. As for Jolly, not even a call to say that he would cancel. The juku boss was kind enough to take care of my bills and nengajo during my absence. She was her usual giddy self, but for some reason, I was feeling pretty beat...and therefore, not in any mood to be entertained by her literal skips across the room. I did get some remaining New Year's cards from people that I hadn't sent to. I actually wrote them up but decided to ask a local here whether I should actually send them some 10 days after the fact. She told me that it would be a bit odd to do so at such a late date. Well, at least I saved myself the postage. I'll probably send some sort of reply to their e-mail addresses.

As soon as I finish with 001, I'll head on out home. Still not totally decompressed from Canada.

Tuesday January 9, 5:01 p.m.

The past few days have provided me with a bit of decompression after my 3 weeks back in Canada. It has helped that I've been laden with a lot of DVDs and video tapes to gently guide me back into Japanese society. I have been enjoying the 2nd season of "Doctor Who" with David Tennant, for instance. The new series could just about blow away anything that was done in original first 25 years of the programme. I'm sure the actress playing ol' Sarah Jane Smith, Elizabeth Sladen, would rightly agree. And then there are the discs of more SCTV. These ones seem to be the intermediate eps between the originals back at Global Television in Toronto in the mid-70s and the heyday ones in Edmonton. The presence of Tony Rosato and Robin Duke prove that point.

I had my first class of the year with The Beehive, a good choice since the ladies are my longest-serving students. As expected, most of the lesson was devoted on touching base about what we all had done over the Holidays. Looks like we're gonna have a good ol' fashioned nabe party next Tuesday at Mrs Travel's home. Plus, I even got a salary increase of 14% after 7 years of work for them. Not a bad start in a year in which I have been thinking heavily of increasing my money.

And now I've got my guys at the juku. Got a load of the souvenirs to drop off on them. It'll probably be more of the same of talking about the Holidays.