Wednesday December 19, 8:51 p.m.

Things are slowing to a crawl now here at Speedy's. 001 left here a little over half an hour ago. Our lesson was akin to a couple of punch-drunk boxers in the 12th round. The two of us were pretty exhausted; she because of work, me because of the year. So it was pretty much down to our default position of humourous banter and walking down Memory Lane...for her, that would be the late 80s and early 90s.

Since Mr. TOEIC isn't here tonight, it's just the bossman and myself in the office now. He's basically just waiting for his wife to show up, and then it'll be my cue to get going home. I'll probably have to be departing home the same time I did this morning...6:40. Although my class with The Yogist isn't til 11, the scrum on the Tozai Line will probably not cool down at the desired time of 9, and even after almost a decade and a half here, I'm still not willing to battle the crush that is morning rush hour.

At 002's yesterday, the lass showed me photos of her Honolulu Marathon trip; some of them actually had come from her friend's Mixi homepage. For those outside of Japan, Mixi is the Japanese equivalent of Facebook. Then, I showed her my own little page on the same Facebook. She was amazed at the content...although I have to admit that I've been a bit more...shall we say, otaku-ish about my contribution. I made a quick comparison myself, since I also have a languishing Mixi page that I haven't done anything with in the last several months. I think it's a cultural thing...it would seem rather Western that Facebook folks would be more than happy to supply just about all the information outside of favored sexual position whilst the Japanese are relatively more conservative and therefore applications are few and far between on Mixi. As far as I know, I haven't seen anything like an "X Me" app or an "Audiovisual Rack" on the Japanese version. I don't think people here would really want to take the chance of having everyone on the planet knowing that they actually still listen to Morning Musume. And that's fine.

Wednesday December 19, 5:48 p.m.

Gained a few things and lost one in the past few hours. Weight is probably the first of the former. Had lunch at Foo Foo, that ramen place in the Odakyu Shopping Mall right by Shinjuku Station...I needed to get just one more raffle ticket to get 2 turns on the wheel. For collecting 20 tickets, I earned myself two tiny packages of sour candy. Also managed to get myself a new HMV card...a gold card. I've finally reached elite status in something. My purchase of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" album was what did it. After hearing David Craig 's(or is it Craig David?) sampling of the title track, Memory Lane did the rest...some 25 years after it had first been released.
Mind you, I lost my pair of gloves. Basically, it would be useless of me to ever buy expensive gloves or umbrellas since the number of gloves and brolleys I've lost in the past decade would amount to the cost of their premium cousins. All I can say is that the Tokyo Metro can go into a lucrative side business selling all of their items from Lost & Found.

I made those reservations at the Shidax karaoke box nearest the juku for the 27th. It was all done on the Net but I still have to await confirmation by phone. It looks like we may have an octet.

Just waiting for 001 to show up for her final class of the year, then I'm done for the day. But I'll be back again here tomorrow for The Yogist. I really need to loosen those shoulder muscles.

Wednesday December 19, 9:47 a.m.

Another early Wednesday to teach The Nurse, but at least it'll be the last one for this year. Not that I don't like her...she's a fine chatty student, but I could do with some more sleep.

Last night at the juku, I started off with that sort-of party with Chip N' Dale. As expected, the fondue segment did take about 30 minutes from melting the chocolate to finishing the last of the banana slices. And then it was Scrabble for the rest of the hour. Obviously with melted chocolate, there was some mess involved but everything was squared away by the time Mild Jr. showed up. The rest of the evening was pretty smooth-going.

After almost 3 weeks, I've finally finished sci-fi writer Dan Simmons' recent mega-opus, "Ilium" and "Olympos". Man, after reading through his books which often touch upon classic literature such as "Canterbury Tales"and "The Tempest" as much as sci-fi concepts as artificial intelligence and black hole manipulation, a budding writer will either be inspired or absolutely discouraged. But to be honest, I don't think Simmons would appeal to every potential reader, either. His stuff can force people to re-read certain segments again.
And Simmons doesn't exactly skimp on the sex and violence. There was one chapter in "Olympos" which made me wonder if I hadn't come (no pun intended) upon an X-rated porn film. I'd read on Wiki that there had been some attempt made to make this latest Simmons epic into a movie or miniseries, but I just don't know how that could be done without withering or whittling away a lot of the meat. However, in answer to my unspoken question, the attempt had been made quite a few years ago but nothing has been heard since. It is truly an epic piece; when I recollect the characters at the beginning and the end of the tale...and then the journey in between, I just had to go "Wow!" Count me a fan.

Well, the Nurse should be here any second...

Tuesday December 18, 4:46 p.m.

Well, the march of the final classes of the year continues. Said goodbye last night to Mr. TOEIC and The Full-Timer, and today was The Beehive and 002. Mrs. Alp of the Beehive couldn't make it out for the final since her back gave out, but supposedly the rest of them (including Mrs. Perth and Mrs. Potter) are heading for a French dinner in Tokyo tonight. They were lapping up my report on the party at The Lady's last Friday.

As for 002, it had been about 3 weeks since my last lesson since she had annual trip to Honolulu for the marathon there. She did pretty well...made it to the finish line in 4:41. Beforehand, she had her medical checkup; over here, a checkup is pretty comprehensive. It includes not only an MRI scan but also getting that endoscope. She said that the latter was actually less worse than the former. For one thing, the doctor gave her some local anaesthesia so she only noticed her mouth open but not the artificial snake going down her gullet. In any case, she only registered a bit of an inflamed stomach...nothing major.

Now, I just have to prepare for the little party with Chip N' Dale in about an hour and then the rest of the juku students.

Monday December 17, 5:42 p.m.

Just finished a double with Mr. TOEIC...unusual for him since he is a regular salaryman, so a daytime lesson is pretty rare. Apparently, he will be cooking teriyaki chicken for his girlfriend on Xmas Eve...and Hell won't freeze over, either. He wasn't too bad in the lesson...it certainly helps not to be exhausted from work.
Also rather rare Monday for me in that I'll be seeing The Full-Timer and then heading straight home from Doutors...maybe if the traffic isn't too crazy. I couldn't get any photos from the party last Friday for her (I just thought it was a bit tacky to take them for the purposes of showing off The Lady's mansion....although we did invade her buffet table like D-Day at Normandy), but I will be giving some of that leftover cake as a memento.

I guess aside from Britain officially ceding Basra Province back to the Iraqis, it must be a slow news day for BBC so they put up the news about David Tennant possibly leaving "Doctor Who" after this season. Well, I mean he put in his three seasons so why not leave while the iron is still hot? Besides, it wasn't even him making the announcement but that comedienne Catherine Tate. And nothing shakes up the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth more than anticipating the new actor to enter the role of Everyone's Favourite Time Lord.

Monday December 17, 2:45 p.m.

I guess this would be the week before Xmas. The media onslaught should be beginning in earnest just about now. I can hardly wait for all those KFC commercials now.

Well, The Bohemian left yet another message on the machine yesterday asking me to call him. I had given him a suggestion about meeting him for dinner yesterday...2 weeks ago. However, he called me yesterday...a bit too short notice. So I sent him back a reply with some advice of my own.

Only had The Matron today at the mansion. The Lady was suddenly occupied with something concerning her daughter. However, I did receive some nice slabs of leftover cake from the party on Friday. As for the Matron, we basically discussed her daughter's snagging of her first real boyfriend. Of course, Daddy doesn't know anything.

I was able to grab some goodies for the little party with Chip N' Dale tomorrow. The usual Santa hats and goodies from Tokyu Hands. It'll probably be chocolate fondue with some other snacks; nothing like the Yuletide to bring us all closer together...to diabetes. The planning shouldn't be difficult since the kids had requested another round of Scrabble...that should take 20 minutes at least. Just really Jolly's class to worry about..

Sunday December 16, 1:50 p.m.

Well, we managed to get through another one of The Lady's annual Xmas parties on Friday night. It was more than the usual Friday night scrum in front of the Hachiko statue in Shibuya. Because of all those year-end parties, the place was even more densely packed. A couple of yahoos were even riding the poor dog like a steed.
Skippy, OA and Speedy showed up. Mrs. Speedy was the neophyte this time around since the other three had shown up some 2 years previously. Not surprisingly, the wife of the boss was feeling pretty doki doki about attending a swanky fete. When we did get inside the gates and the front doors, the house was already getting rather packed with the high n' mighty. The Lady herself was being her usual hostess self by just flying about from guest to guest.
If the experience could be compared to the BBC show "Upstairs, Downstairs", we were definitely the Downstairs cadre of servants infiltrating the organized zoo that was the Upstairs crowd. Of course, we made a beeline straight for the buffet table. It was the always-sumptious spread of Italian fare on the one table while the other had sushi catering highlighted by a huge block of thawed tuna. I gotta admit that the highlight there were the huge tender fillets of steak hiding under mounds of sauteed veggies. The ladies outate Speedy and myself in that department....a fact that didn't seem to pass The Lady's attention unnoticed since she kept passing by with that enigmatic smile and asking, "Full yet?" I almost felt a bit embarrassed since Skippy and OA hung about that table all night like vultures hovering over the dying carcass of an antelope.
As I observed, though, I saw a lot of the same faces at the party. Of course, none of them approached us since they were the high n' mighty and the opposite was true as well. However, I did also notice that the Upstairs crowd also consisted of little cliques that kept to themselves. So, I didn't feel as self-conscious as I had in the past. The Lady's children were there talking it up with their buddies...they'd met me a few times in the past but didn't deign to talk with the hired help. As for celeb sightings, I did catch a Fuji-TV announcer and a retired tennis player.
After about 3.5 hours, we made our way down the slope from the mansion and back into the real-life situation of Shibuya. We saw quite a few raucous types wrestling about in the side streets. Meanwhile, Mrs. Speedy was swooning over her cocktails of fresh strawberries and Dom Perignon. I did have one...it was quite tasty. Everyone gave me their thanks for a glimpse into the well-to-do side of things and half-jokingly said that they were waiting for their invitations for next year. Hmmm...we'll see.

Life did indeed strike me as being very unfair that night. While the five of us Downstairs folk and close to a hundred of the Upstairs swells were noshing on gourmet fare, at about 7:13 that night, there were two relatively young people being shot dead, hundreds of kilometres away in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. In a crime that eerily resembled the regrettably common mall shooting sprees of the States, some psycho set up an ambush on one of his old junior high school classmates at a Renaissance Gym using a shotgun. He also managed to injure several children in a swimming class as well as kill their instructor.
And just like the massacres at Virginia Tech, Columbine and most recently, that attack in a Nebraska shopping centre, the shooter ended up killing himself several hours later, ironically near a Catholic church. Police have yet to find the true motive behind the shootings. But if this is the last major gun-related incident this year in Japan (hard to believe that guns, crimes and Japan can now be put in the same sentence), it would cap what has become a year of a large increase in such crimes...something for all of us to mull over as we get ready for the New Year.

Well, yesterday was strictly a stay-at-home day in my little rabbit hutch of an apartment (spending a night at the Lady's place can leave that impression on me). Still, I managed to get out to the station mall where I handed in my raffle tickets for a few rolls of the wheel. Earned myself 2 Mandarin Oranges and a bottle of green tea. Ahh...life is complete.

Had what I thought would be my final lesson with Tully and The Coffeemaker today. However, they were gluttons of punishment since The Coffeemaker suggested the 29th for one more session. Today's session wasn't any great shakes...Tully was fine but The Coffeemaker seemed exhausted which exhausted me. So I just said that the 29th will be a thank-you lunch for them at Din Dai Fon, the Chinese soup dumpling place in Takashimaya Times Square. And speaking of other social engagements of the season, I have to go across the bridge to Times Square itself to check out some stuff for the little party I'll be holding for the juku kids, Chip N' Dale, on Tuesday. It's probably gonna be Scrabble, maybe another game and then chocolate fondue.

Friday December 14, 9:44 a.m.

A day off today. Again, a typical December day in the Big Sushi...cold (cool for Canucks) and sunny. Just have that swanky party at The Lady's house tonight, so I've got my dress blues ready to go. I sent off a missive to Skippy yesterday asking if she would rather meet in Bunkamura, closer to the house, rather than in humongously crowded Hachiko-mae. However, never got a reply though I sent it to her cellphone, so I'm assuming that she thinks I doth protest too much since I got her to rush up the meeting time to 6:30.

Along with the usual things surrounding Xmas, it's also raffle and lottery season in Japan. Lines almost as long as those for Krispy Kreme (celebrating its 1st year in operation tomorrow) are snaking everywhere in front of the ticket booths for the huge $3 million prize in the New Year's Jumbo Lottery...teensy winnings compared to the near-ionospheric loads that retirees seem to win Stateside. And a lot of the older malls such as the one under my subway station are holding year-end raffles. Basically, for every 500-yen worth of stuff I buy at any of the stores, I get a raffle ticket. If I get 4 of the tickets, I get one turn on the raffle wheel which is situated somewhere in the middle of the mall. A little ball of some colour comes out; depending on the colour, I could win stuff like a 5-kg. bag of rice (in Japan, this is valuable) or gift certificates. So far I've got enough tickets for 3 turns on the wheel. I've also got enough tickets for a roll on the wheel in the Odakyu Shopping Mall where Foo Foo is located...thanks to the entire gang eating there last Saturday.

Last night after my lesson with The Yogist at Speedy's, I rushed over to Ichigaya to have my biweekly with The Carolinan and BC. The two friends make for an interesting comparison. The Carolinan's ability may not be as proficient or fluent as BC, but BC is more of a worrier than The Carolinan; the Carolinan is quite a bit more self-confident and secure about herself. She's even boasted that she always handles all the reservation arrangements for her overseas travel by herself for her and her sister, The New Yorker. Indeed, quite good for an intermediate student although the only reward I would consider giving her is a lolly and a pat on the head. For BC, it was her last lesson of this year since she's heading off to Vancouver next week for the Holidays.

Finally, took a look on YouTube at that "1,2,3,4" video by Feist. I hadn't realized that she was one of ours. That was certainly a breakout hit for her just because of that iPod Nano commercial that's also reached our shores. She got a lot of catty remarks in the comments section (maybe the folks are veteran "2 Channel" flamers) for her dancing, but I thought it was just a sweet little video. I also took a look at one of her earlier videos "One Evening", an interesting 70s-ish R&B ballad. Again, it was obvious that she likes strutting her heels...in a post-modernesque way.

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Thursday December 13, 12:30 p.m.

Back at Speedy's for the fourth day in a row. I've got The Yogist in half an hour. And then I've got The Carolinan and BC. It'll be the last one for BC for this year since by this time next week, she'll be in rainy Vancouver. Speaking of which, I think we got a simulation of their weather today. Pretty cold and wet out there. Actually, last night we got out of here at about 10:30 p.m. For the bossman, it was the equivalent of getting out in the early afternoon since he almost never gets out before midnight most nights.

I've finally sent the last of the Xmas presents out. So, hopefully, I won't be darkening the post office for at least a month.

The bakery/cafe near Speedy's, La Vie De France, got a facelift of sorts. The interior has gone from a wooden hominess to a slightly more whiter, hi-tech look. Same good if pricey fare.

Just heard that Jessica Alba is pregnant thanks to her boyfriend (doesn't anyone get married first anymore?). I'm sure there are a lot of worldwide boys crying in their pillows right now.

Man, are my shoulders stiffer than a guy on Viagra right now. Maybe it's the cold (both disease and temperature). Could use with a rubdown but I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon. The flu is apparently flying around Tokyo as I type, but so far, I've been lucky...just been popping some of the medicine so my nose is currently nice and dry.

Wednesday December 12, 10:08 p.m.

Pretty painless day. 001 was fun as usual (found out that both our mothers have the same birthda). In fact, Speedy found out that it was The Admin's b-day today. The Admin was profusely begging us not to make a huge fuss...so of course, we did. As for The Manhattanite, well, she actually got perfect on the first three of her four pages of the test. Then, there was a bit of a crash n' burn due to a misread question. However, she managed to get 78% so nothing to worry about now.

Found out from 001 that she has to go through a major health exam on Xmas Day of all things. Over here, a major health exam means a bout with the dreaded endoscope...the endoscope being that huge snake-like camera which winds about in your gastrointestinal tract. And the Americans are debating waterboarding as a form of torture. The endoscope can go from either end, although I would've thought with the name of endoscope, it would've been obvious which end was up. Well, I know that I'll never submit to one of those probes, especially since it would entail having to fast for 12 hours before the thing goes up or down. And I certainly wouldn't do it on Xmas Day.

Wednesday December 12, 4:13 p.m.

Wasn't quite sure whether to strangle or hug Chip N' Dale last night at the juku. Dale had said last week that two of her buddies would be interested in joining the class from yesterday. So I had to prepare for a model lesson involving two more boys along with my two current kids. I basically went down to town, preparing all sorts of games and realia such as buying prop food from Tokyu Hands and expanding the lesson to an hour. I was taking deep breaths when Chip N' Dale came in, only to say that the parents' of the boys had decided to hold things off til the New Year. Well, at least Chip N' Dale got quite a realia-laden lesson and they enjoyed seeing the model donuts and other food.

This aborted model lesson had been the one major stress point yesterday. When that turned out to be a false alarm, I could sigh some relief although I had a few more hours to go last night. I was worried about Mr. Mild's health though. He'd been suffering from a heavy cold for the past month, and remembering the fact that older people tend to bounce back from illness a lot slower, he still looked pretty haggard. In fact, he admitted that he'd lost 3 kg. Plus, he also stated that because some of the strong medicine, he had some issues with his liver. I'm hoping that he'll pull through OK. Jolly was about a half-hour late but I kept him for another 90 minutes only to be told that my student didn't need to make up the lesson so I could've just let him go at 10 p.m. Well, at least I survived the night. It was a pretty hectic day with having to do the crosstown commute between The Beehive in Tsudanuma and The Nurse's atypical Tuesday afternoon class before coming back for the juku.

In comparison, tonight will be pretty quiet. I've only got 001 and The Manhattanite. 001 had taken a powder last Wednesday since she had the day off, and I've gotta take a look at The Manhattanite's take-home test tonight. Me and Speedy aren't quite sure how she did.

Looks like everything is all set for the Friday night party at The Lady's. Got final confirmation that Skippy and OA are ready to meet Speedy & his wife and myself at Hachiko before trudging off to the mansion. I kinda wish that they had chosen a less crowded place like Bunkamura for the meeting place. The Hachiko Plaza on a Friday night is a pure maelstrom...especially during bonenkai season.

The latest change to the station mall has opened up. At this time last year, one section of it under the tracks consisted of a longtime bookstore and the shuttered former site of the failed kaiten sushi restaurant. Well, several months ago, the branch of the hairstyling chain, Orange Pop, opened up where the bookstore had been. And today, the old sushi place is now some wafu eatery called Yayoiken. It specializes in what would probably be bento fare if it hadn't been served right at your table. I went into the place in the afternoon and got greeted by some fresh-faced waitresses with the new training and plastic smiles. Yayoiken is one of those places where one has to plug his/her yen into a machine which spits out tickets for the waitresses to process in the kitchen...just like a lot of ramen places.
The interior had that current trendy look of smooth wood and soft lighting with jazz playing on the yusen. I ended up ordering an assorted set of two wafu-style hamburg steaks, two sausages, two fried potato chunks and one karaage (fried chicken) with a bowl of rice, salad and miso soup. For 880 yen, not a bad deal at all...and something to add onto the go-to list after the usual DVD nights with MB and The Satyr.

Well, kinda fighting a slight cold right now. May have to go to the salarymen's remedy of swigging down two Yunker Vitamin drinks and wrapping up in multiple blankets to sweat it out.

Monday December 10, 8:56 p.m.

It was a pretty good weekend, all told. Met up with Movie Buddy, The Satyr and their respective significant others. Also, The Sylph's former co-worker tagged along with her German boyfriend who looked quite a lot like actor Adrian Brody. Fairly quiet lad, though. We all went to Foo Foo for the first pai ko tan tan men of the season. MB was quite happy to be devouring it down.

Afterwards, it was off to see Matt Damon in the supposedly final part of the trilogy for which he'll always be remembered for....nope, it ain't the Ocean's series either. "The Bourne Ultimatum" did come off as being a most entertaining movie, and certainly the best of the threepeats that seemed to have littered the cinematic landscape this year. After the depressing "Spiderman 3" and the blah "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" (never even bothered with "Ocean's 13" or even "Shrek 3" after their bad reviews...even on DVD), it was good to have seen a 3rd part which was indeed good. However, I don't think I would go far as that reviewer for Tokyo Metropolis and say that "The Bourne Ultimatum" was the best action movie ever. There was a tad too much repetition in the stunts for it to top the original "Die Hard". However, I could see that the director was using the old technique of copying certain scenes from the "The Bourne Identity" for comparative effect...in this case, between Franke Potente's "Marie" and Julia Stiles' "Nicky". There was actually some good suspense and an especially delicious "Gotcha" moment when Jason managed to infiltrate CIA HQ. Definitely a must-buy DVD.

Sunday was a quiet day at home. Just did the "I-Go Day in Japan" via NHK-3, and that was all she wrote. Today ended up to be rather painless as well. I head over to The Lady's mansion and find out that not only did The Matron cancel out but The Lady had to do some emergency shopping. Missed out on the usual handsome pay but still made half for doing absolutely nothing but sip coffee by the living room bar. Her big annual ball is this Friday so I finally made the arrangements amongst Skippy, Speedy, Mrs. Speedy and OA to meet.
So I ended up having quite a few hours before meeting SIL. Continued to do some Xmas shopping before heading up to Ueno. Instead of the usual Wendy's or KFC, I actually went into an eatery in the middle of Ameyoko that specialized in don...various kinds of meat on hot rice. I had the minced negi toro and slabs of maguro on my rice...a little more expensive than the usual hamburger set but it made for a nice culinary diversion at 780 yen. Will definitely have to take guests like The Lens there next time they're in town.

As for SIL, it was my last time with her for this year. She won't be coming to The Lady's party this Friday on account that she has always found it very boring. To be honest, I kinda think the same way but I'm sure the people that I'm bringing along will find it thrilling. And The Full-Timer showed up tonight....aside from a nagging cough, she has recovered from her cold although I can't say that being in smoky Doutor's helped her throat any. And then, I come back here to find out that Mr. TOEIC had to dotakyan because of work. In fact, my schedule has changed quite a bit. The Nurse will be coming in tomorrow afternoon which means that I'll have to eschew my usual lunch with The Beehive to rush back from Tsudanuma. The Manhattanite will be coming into Mr. TOEIC's Wednesday night slot after 001. Plus, this Saturday will be a total scratch since The Dentist had to cancel so I'll be seeing her on the 22nd instead. And then Mr. TOEIC will come in for a double next Monday afternoon which works out since SIL is out for the remainder of December.

However, the big lesson for me will be tomorrow at the juku. I may be having a couple of extra waifs to add onto Chip N' Dale from now on. Just what I need...more pre-teens...and they're both boys. Well, at least, it's just the model lesson tomorrow and then the special Xmas lesson next Tuesday and I won't have to worry about them for about a couple of weeks.

Friday December 7, 11:18 a.m.

I say this in the snarkiest of voices here: How do you make 10,000 yen (about $100 US) disappear in 2 hours? Simple...just pay postage for sending Xmas presents via Air Mail and then get your hair cut. Gahhh....at least, I was able to bleed off some of the tension via the scalp massage.

Yep, I was able to get most of the Xmas shopping done. The family is all taken care of. I got a couple of 007 DVDs for my brother (I guess MB and I aren't the only Bond fanatics), an uplifting book for my sister-in-law and an enka DVD for the parentals. Considering how many times I've been to the neighbourhood post office this week, the staff and I should be on a first-name basis by now. And I still have got to send off the rest of the calendars to The Dancer, Shard and The Entrepreneur on Monday.

MB had left a message for me inviting me to some sushi thing on Sunday but I politely declined since my wallet is now a whole lot lighter. Besides I'm seeing him and The Satyr tomorrow for Foo Foo and Jason Bourne. Basically starting from today, I've got a 3-day weekend. Boy, could I use it.

I just heard that Kiefer Sutherland has gotten himself into a situation that even Jack Bauer wouldn't be able to escape. Got caught for DUI for a second time...so he's going into the hoosegow for 48 days. I wonder if the judge was being a bit hilarious by sentencing him to a multiple of 24.

Nicholas Cage and his "National Treasure" crew were here to launch the Japan premiere of the sequel in Roppongi Hills last night. Looks like Helen "The Queen" Mirren is joining Jon "President Roosevelt (via "Pearl Harbour")" Voigt for this voyage. I can only hope that the sequel is a bit bouncier than that flatter-than-urine-in-a-petri-dish first movie.

Thursday December 6, 2:19 p.m.

The Yogist's very first lesson went off without a hitch. She seems somewhat similar with The Chipmunk in demeanor and delivery. Could almost be seen as a younger and taller sister. She's quite willing to speak and has a good working knowledge of English but I was surprised to find out that she didn't know the words "above" and "below". Well, I fixed that in a jiffy. Anyways, she's already reserved for the next two lessons so I guess that's a good sign.

I forgot to mention that I finished Dan Simmons' "Ilium" last night and just started the sequel, "Olympios". I had borrowed them from MB during that trip to Goro's Burger a week ago last Sunday. So, it took me about 10 days to finish off the rather thick novel over subway commutes. Gotta admit that he's quite the genius when it comes to writing sci-fi epics, especially when he juggles such disparate plot points such as The Trojan War, quantum physics and "The Tempest". In any case, he's got my respect.

The Bohemian sent me an e-mail asking me if I'd like to join him in a Xmas party somewhere in Roppongi Hills. He forwarded the invitation from his friend, but as soon as I saw the 10,000-yen cost, I balked. Besides, the party is in the middle of the week of the 16th. I've got lessons to teach and money to make.

Well, gotta go shopping again.

Thursday December 6th, 11:52 a.m.

The Xmas shopping yesterday wasn't all that successful...was only able to get the latest tome of "The Complete Peanuts" for myself...1965-1966, the one where Snoopy as The Red Baron finally appears. Not all that easy to find something on spirituality for my sister-in-law or an anime DVD with English subtitles for my brother. However, I was able to use most of those gift certificates that I'd received as a parting gift from the mother of The Elder and The Younger to get a Doraemon for my niece. I got it at Odakyu Department Store over Shinjuku Station.
MB, The Satyr and I will be meeting for dinner and a movie on Saturday. It'll be the first Foo Foo trip for the winter season...at least when it comes to us as a group. I actually went there yesterday for lunch and had the usual pai ko tan tan men. It may have heaps of salt and cholesterol but the ramen certainly comes in handy during those cooler months. Speaking of which, I must be getting older when I consider the temperature of 11 C as being a bit chilly.

Once again, I went through the Takashimaya Times Square complex, obviously passing by the now-inevitable hour-long lineup for Krispy Kreme 1. Next week should be an auspicious one for KK since it'll be celebrating one year in business in Japan. I'm betting that there will be an anniversary donut of sorts. Went through Kinokuniya, HMV and Tower Records but nothing that I could really find. So, after my first lesson with The Yogist today, I'll be heading over to Ginza to try my luck there. May even have to consider Akiba.

Last night, during my rare Wednesday night at home, I happened to come along the "FNS Ongaku-sai" (Fuji-TV's Annual Music Festival). Y'know that the end of the year is nigh when this huge year-end party for the big musical acts comes on TV. So, there was the usual SMAP appearance along with Ayumi Hamasaki, Kumi Koda and Morning Musume. But the interesting thing was that there wasn't this huge dominant star on the stage this year. Hamasaki and Koda were the obvious main events in previous years but they didn't really take over, and certainly in the former's case, there was a feeling of passe. And Morning Musume, into their 10th year and despite their youth, just seemed irrelevant. For a group that still pops up with songs, MM had that "Whatever happened to...?" vibe. Dinner theatre, next.
Basically, the only guys who got my attention were Keisuke Kuwata of Southern All Stars (who's pretty much critic-proof these days) and that tenor named Akigawa who wowed everyone at last year's Kohaku Utagassen with his rendition of "Sen no kaze". He has been able to extend his 15 minutes in the spotlight for almost a year just on that song.
Well, I'm sure that the J-Pop forums will be analyzing this in great detail.

Ah, I was speaking about the various J-Pop Xmas songs yesterday. I forgot to mention that I did buy Tony Bennett's Xmas album. It's a remaster from his 1968 LP. He still sings the definitive jazz take on "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" but I kinda found some of the other entries kinda treacly...as if Mitch Miller or Norman Luboff got their hands on the score.

In any case...back to work.

Wednesday December 5, 11:24 a.m.

The Nurse was fine. But the Manhattanite's cancelled her lesson for tomorrow night..which saves me from having to hang around the office for 7.5 hours after the Yogist's first lesson. I kinda wonder if she's trying to duck out from having me check her test. Ach...in any case, I can go home early tomorrow. Let's see...the rest of today's off, tomorrow night's off and then the whole of Friday is off as well. I guess it really is feeling a lot more like Xmas.

And speaking of that, let us return back to my list of J-Pop Xmas ditties. I believe I only got to "Christmas Eve" last entry.

2) "Kimi ni Merry Xmas" (A Merry Xmas to You) Kazumasa Oda (1989) This can be considered to be the anti-"Christmas Eve" in theme. It, too, is a ballad delivered by a crooner. However, where Tatsuro Yamashita's classic has this very wistfully hopeful feel to it, Oda's bluesy song talks of some poor schlep after having a major row with the girlfriend over the Holidays and feeling totally alone. It comes complete with a bittersweet sax solo in the middle. A few years ago, AOR king Bobby Caldwell did an English cover of it.

3) "Christmas Carol no koro ni wa" (Around the Time of the Christmas Carols) Jun'ichi Inagaki (1992) Speaking of Adult Oriented Radio, Inagaki is the regional king of the genre here. Since his debut in 1982, he has been nasally delivering radio-friendly tunes so middle-of-the-road that you can just hear the Evian bubbling away in the background. However, it seems that this Xmas song is the one that will mark his 15 minutes. This song was the theme for a Japanese TV drama "Homework" (I assume it was one of those high school-based shows), but its urgent tempo kinda makes me think it should've been matched with a suspense movie set around the Yuletide. In any case, it's one of the few songs that has gone beyond its TV trappings.

4) "Lodge de matsu Christmas" (Christmas Waiting at the Lodge) Yumi Matsutoya (1978) Back on Sunday, I was watching Channel 795, Music Graffiti, a channel which often devotes air time to the golden oldies of J-Pop. One of the shows showcased J-Pop Xmas songs and as some trivia scrolled out on the screen, I found out that this song was perhaps the first bona fide Japanese Xmas song ever written. Before that, all tunes Christmas-y were all the imports from America translated into Japanese.
And who better to have this honour than the Queen of J-Pop herself, Yuming? The song comes from the album, "Ryusenkei '80" and sounds like something The Carpenters would write (ballad with flute and harpsichord accompaniment). The title just screams "Carpenters".

5) "Koibito ga Santa Claus" (My Lover is Santa Claus) Yumi Matsutoya (1980) And then Yuming does it again a couple of years later with this one off her "Surf and Snow" LP. But this time, it has this "Rockin' Around the Xmas Tree" vibe as an electric guitar wails away. You could just imagine Kris heading to Hokkaido in leather jacket and Ray-Bans.

6) "Winter Song" Dreams Come True (early 90s) I was never a huge DCT fan although I carry their compilation of hits over the nearly 20 years they've been playing as a band. However, if there were ever an ultimate makeout J-Pop Xmas song, this would be it. The million-watt voice of Miwa Yoshida is at her best as she pines away for her beau.

7) "All I Want for Christmas is You" Mariah Carey (1994) Yeah, yeah, I know...this ain't J-Pop, but considering how beloved this song has become in the Japanese pantheon of commercialized Christmas traditions, I think there might be a case for adoption here. It may just be a minor Spectorized pleasant tune in Carey's discography back Stateside, but over here it debuted as the theme song for one of the more popular TV dramas here in the early 90s, and the rest is history.

8) "Last Christmas" WHAM! (1986) Another adoptee. George Michael may now be better known as a lurker in public washrooms but back in the 80s, he and Andrew Ridgely were at the top of their game. And this song is probably their most famous hit here.

And thus, for any neophyte who has come here during this season, just keep your ears tuned. You'll inevitably hear at least some of these tunes anywhere out on the streets of Tokyo or in Japan countrywide.

Wednesday December 5, 9:38 a.m.

I was carousing through the little CD nook in that bookstore near Ichigaya Station before The New Yorker showed up for her lesson last week. I took a listen to yet another Xmas song by one of the current J-R&B crop, Crystal Kay. It's called "Shining", and although the melody sounded rather derivative, it was still catchy...not catchy enough for me to buy it right then and there, though.

Yup, it's that time of year when J-Pop and Xmas music collide...I can imagine all of the music aesthetes running away screaming while holding their ears in an emulation of Munch's masterpiece at the thought of these two genres together. Yes, Virginia, there is indeed J-Pop Xmas music...despite the fact that the holiday really has no relevance here except for Santa Claus and the excuse to enjoy mediocre Beaujolais Nouveau.

I have here some of the many examples of Japanese Yuletide jingles that actually do sound decent and not in any specific order:

1) "Christmas Eve" - Tatsuro Yamashita (1982) The "White Christmas" of J-Pop. Kinda eerie in that while the song celebrates its 25th anniversary of existence, Der Bingle's classic is celebrating its 65th anniversary since its premiere in "Holiday Inn". Anyways, it's ironic that Yamashita, known for his summery West Coast sounds, will probably be pegged for this Xmas tune. It starts with a slow guitar before it gives way to the familiar jingling bells and chimes. It even has a tribute to Pachelbel's "Canon" in the middle. It's basically a romantic ballad which fits the theme of Xmas here in Japan as a couples' celebration.
Strangely enough, "Christmas Eve" didn't really catch fire for about 5 years. Then, its usage in a series of JR commercials in the late 80s featuring a starlet waiting for her boyfriend on the snowy train platform or in the station sealed its immortality as a Holiday favourite. And it now gets used in a myriad of different commercials annually. A couple of years ago, it was even sampled by a rap group. Basically, everyone knows the opening bars and on hearing them in this country, everyone knows that Xmas is a-coming.

More later....but The Nurse should be here any minute.

Wednesday December 5, 9:28 a.m.

Managed to survive the juku night last night. Jolly actually did show up; in fact, he showed up for 2 hours since he had to make up a lesson. But compared to last week's slogfest, I managed to invest a lot of my stand-up routine into a simpler homemade text on Persuasive Presentations, and like the perennial spoonful of sugar, that helped the medicine go down nicely. My anecdote on that Maid Cafe trip with Automan helped a lot (actually, Jolly had been to the Cafes three times previously).
Mild Jr. was as intensely focused as last week on his conversations. I was surprised to see Mr. Mild show up with his wife...as was his son. He looked somewhat like Death warmed over since he was still battling the rages of a cold, and it wasn't exactly warm outside last night. Still, he gave it the ol' college try. As for the kids, although they weren't aiming any of it at me, I could tell from their banter with each other that they're approaching that cruel mouthy stage of teenage. Plus, I got the news that they'll be bringing a couple of friends next week, so my kiddie class could become a quartet.

Today, I've just got The Nurse..and that'll be all she wrote. 001 won't be showing up since she has a day off work today...and by her own admission that she's just too plain lazy to make the effort to come to class. And Mr. TOEIC is too busy at work this week. So, I'll just be doing some Xmas shopping in Shinjuku before heading back for a rare Hump Night off.

Tuesday December 4, 2:14 p.m.

Since I don't have 002 today, I have a rather large hole in my schedule, so I'm doing this. I did have The Beehive this morning at Beckers. It was the usual kaffeeklatsch of Mrs. Travel, Mrs. Alp and Mrs Tee. Considering the age of the students involved, talk revolved around their aging parents and the inevitable departure from the mortal coil. Mrs. Tee had another slight crying jag.

Just have the juku ahead of me. I've got my gauntlet of Chip N' Dale, Mild Jr. and Jolly. Since Jolly (and I, by association) was felled by the rather difficult handouts on Persuasive Presentations, I made up something a bit more digestible for him. But I've got a feeling that he'll dotakyan tonight. The Milds are always easy to teach and The Siberian is always the chat.

Well, they officially released the ryukougo~sho (Buzzwords of the Year Awards) for 2007, and no surprise...sonanno kankei ne (What does that have to do with anything?) was up there. For those who view YouTube religiously, it was uttered by Yoshio Kojima, the somewhat unhinged Okinawan tarento in the tiny bikini pants, who managed to become the No. 5 most watched video worldwide. Also up there was Dondake? (How much?) by 45-year-old mincing transvestite, Ikko. And even the food fighter, Gyaru Sone, was up on the stage for O-Gui (Big Eater). Just wonder if any of them will still be on TV this time next year.

Monday December 3, 5:27 p.m.

Well, the annual Xmas party for the school is now history. Went to Fungo's...that Italian restaurant across from Shinjuku Park. We had about 30 people in all. As I had expected, I sat myself at the table with all of the grandmas...although The Dentist and a few more younger folks were there. To be honest, it kinda felt like working at a retirement home. I enjoyed the dishes but one or two of them felt that their constitutions couldn't really take the spice so I got the benefit of proximity and polished off their portions.
Overall, the party had the feel of the typical office Xmas party...initial chaos at the beginning, party games that were off and on, and the one bad drunk...which happened to be Speedy himself. He was looking pretty tipsy at the end...I come in today, and I found out from both The Admin and the bossman himself that he became the human Technicolour fountain...on tour throughout the Shinjuku area. In fact, he's still plenty hungover now and his wife isn't too happy with him since he managed to "paint" the futon...time to hit Ikea again. I gave him a couple of Bufferin in sympathy.

In any case, we'll be closing up shop a little early tonight since the boss wants to get home to recover. Apparently, his class cancelled, and Mr. TOEIC isn't showing up tonight. And The Full-Timer begged off again with a fever. Still, it's not a wasted trip since I have to prep for tomorrow's clases here.

However, it was a wasted trip yesterday. I was supposed to have had dinner with The Bohemian in Shibuya...unfortunately, The Bohemian didn't realize that. I was in front of Hachiko at 4 in the usual scrum of teens and other scuzz...I waited 20 minutes. To be honest, I had a feeling that he wouldn't show so when I called his home and his mother called for him...I wasn't too put out by the stand-up. He asked what my schedule was like next Sunday....I said I'd call him...but I probably won't. After all, I'm a snake person...I'm pretty vindictive when I want to be.

Saturday December 1, 3:20 p.m.

Currently in a holding pattern at Speedy's. Finished up with The Manhattanite an hour ago, and had lunch consisting of two rice balls and a cake donut via Speedy's wife; looks like Tokyo has gotten itself another donut shop. Plus, the bossman told me that Krispy Kreme #3 is ready to go in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture...basically out in the boonies. Well, once KK3 opens up, it'll be one of the busiest little villages in the country. At least, KK has finally opened up outside of Tokyo. Just fiddling time on the Net before it's time to head out to the annual Xmas party, the first of three that I'll be having for the Yuletide. So, I'm in my dress blues...which usually just means wearing a jacket with my tie and shirt. Not sweating, though, despite the fact that it's actually quite Spring-like outside at 16 C.

I had Tully & The Coffeemaker this morning at the usual location. The Coffeemaker looked quite exhausted but she's been putting in several hours a day, 6 days a week for the last little while. As for The Manhattanite, I can only hope that she does well on the take-home test. Man, she was stumbling during the review. Well, I'll find out on Thursday night when she has her next lesson. I'll be having The Yoga Instructor for her first lesson that afternoon, and then I'll have to wait several hours before The Manhattanite shows up. I'm not complaining too much since it looks like I may have my first Wednesday and Friday nights off in a little while

Last night seemed to be the night of apologetic press conferences. First, disgraced sumo yokozuna Asashoryu came back into Japan yesterday after a few months in his native Mongolia. Just about every station, including NHK, covered the supposed homecoming of the guy who had openly and stupidly kicked around a soccer ball in his home country with Japanese soccer hero, Hidetoshi Nakata...despite having begged off a domestic goodwill tour due to a back problem. After that, came a period of dealing with depression over being suspended by the Japan Sumo Federation for the malfeasance. Well, he came back to a full court press where he duly apologized. The reviews were mixed...some welcomed and encouraged him, while others felt that he didn't seem humble enough. We'll have to see what the next several weeks will bring, especially when the first tournament of the year starts in January.
Then there was Daiki Kameda, the cocky boxer involved in that mauling of his opponent back in October. He did his own press conference to apologize for his bizarre behaviour. He seemed somewhat more sincere although the typical Kameda cockiness was still on full display. Again, wait and see.

Friday November 30, 9:26 a.m.

We're definitely going into the winter months. I actually put on the gloves for the first time. Just rain but the sky has that look of Toronto snow.

Yesterday had that "road trip" type of feel to it. I had the entire day off from classes but I still had a full slate. First off, I headed off to Tsudanuma JUSCO...JUSCO being that huge supermarket chain. That was the closest place to my apartment where I could get some of those special DIY candies that my sister-in-law had requested. No problems in tracking them down.

Then I hopped on the Sobu Line from Tsudanuma and headed over to the traditional Asakusa area. A half-hour later, I got off at Asakusabashi....thinking that Asakusabashi and Asakusa were hand-in-glove in terms of location. Apparently, a lot of commuters have thought that, too, since the station staff put up a sign saying that, in fact, the two places were separated by half an hour's worth of walking and that commuters heading over to Asakusa should hop on the subway 200 m away.
Well, I was in a walking mood so I decided to beat feet on the street and made my way through Asakusabashi and Kuramae to get to Asakusa. It was the first time that I'd actually gotten off in Asakusabashi. The neighbourhood had that typical inner-city, shitamachi feel to it. Along the crowded sidewalks were various small mom & pop shops and chic cafes and old-style restaurants.
The hike did take 30 minutes but I managed to get to the landmark of Kaminarimon intact. For a Thursday afternoon, the place was bustling with tourist groups, domestic and otherwise, as rickshaw drivers were shilling for willing customers. I also got there some 45 minutes before I was to meet The Lens, so I walked through Shin-Nakamise Dori, one of the famous old-fashioned covered shopping streets of Tokyo. Having worked in Asakusa a decade ago, there was that feel of nostalgia...especially with the cloud and chill in the air. Like the open-air Asakusabashi, Shin-Nakamise was lined with old-style shops with faded awnings. There were a lot of yukata and kimono stores nestled next to toy stores and wafu restaurants. I trekked down the street all the way to Asakusa ROX, one of the original shopping complexes before this current boom of megamalls that has taken Tokyo by storm in the last few years. It was nice to see that the same ol' bookstore and CD shop were still there, and there was still that top-floor eatery which had that corporate cafeteria interior design.

I got back to Kaminarimon and The Lens did show up on time. We ended up having lunch in one of the local ramen restaurants. It was definitely a family-run operation. The father/owner/cook was busy admonishing his little daughter for bothering him while he was cooking up the noodles. The Lens remarked at how unlike the interior was for a ramen restaurant...he was still used to the grungy shops. This place was kinda like what some of the 21st-century versions were....smooth wood paneling with other earth tones while Western ballads were playing over the speakers. Would love to take him to Foo Foo in Shinjuku someday. I guess the place was really new...when I paid for the both of us, I noticed that there was no cash register but just a tupperware container for the yen.

For the next hour, The Lens and I walked through the original Nakamise Dori which is perpendicular to Shin-Nakamise and spans from Kaminarimon Gate to Sensoji, the huge local temple. We basically emulated Brad Pitt's character from "Ocean's 11" and just kept buying manju from the vendors to nosh on. One vendor used that tried n' true marketing technique of showing how manju is made to get his customers to buy. It certainly worked on The Lens. One of the bean-filled pastries was age manju (deep-fried manju)...something that would seemingly appeal to Homer Simpson but the batter was pretty crisp and not heavy. We made it to Sensoji where the temple was doing volume business according to the folks coming up to it taking pictures and flipping coins into the wooden collection stations.
The Lens' mission in Asakusa was to get a yukata for a friend of his, so we found quite a few stalls to peruse. Now, this was the purely touristy yukata...not the ones with ridiculous kanji printed on it, mind you...the ones that didn't cost an arm, a leg and several internal organs. The Lens decided on one place. It was obvious that the vendors were accustomed to the foreign crowd...the two young ladies selling the wares under the eyes of their boss were very fluent in English. My old friend ended up getting a blue-and-white yukata with a bamboo pattern.
The noshing continued but in a more liquid sense. I picked up a couple of cups of amazake (sweet sake) for 100 yen each. Amazake isn't anything like the stuff that could knock you over. As the translation says, it's a very sweet drink created as a by-product from the brewing process. It is cloudy with remnants of rice and is served hot. I always had the impression that amazake was a love-hate affair with people. Some people adore it, some people despise it. However, The Lens was fortunately in the former category. And on a cold November day, amazake does hit the spot.

After walking through the old quarter for an hour or so, we hopped on the Ginza Line and went down to the fancier area of Ginza itself. I nodded off....something that I do with alarming regularity now. Apparently, The Lens had to pick up a new suitcase at Ginza Matsuya. One of the higher-ups there is a kendo acquaintance. The man had that air of sophistication which is natural in a Ginza department store but he is also a veteran kendo-ka who just barely missed getting promoted to 7-dan.

Then, it was a quick walk over to Printemps, another department store closer to Yurakucho, where The Lens bought a small necklace as a surprise Xmas gift for his wife. The lady there could also speak in English, although not as well as the Asakusa yukata vendors. She was a nice young woman although her makeup bespoke a bit of Shibuya gyaru influences.

Finally, it was another hop on the subway...this time on the Marunouchi Line...to get over to The Lens' hotel, the Tokyo Dome Hotel. We got off at Korakuen. It was obvious that the entire amusement area, which includes Tokyo Dome and the L'Aqua spa complex, was all geared up for Xmas...a lot of Yuletide illumination and music was filling up the area.
We went straight for The Coffee Machine, a Starbucks-like cafe and cooled our heels for about 90 minutes while we gabbed about old times. The Attorney finally did get back to the suite so we made our way there as well. Looks like she's been enjoying her relatively new position as a chief legal representative for her company, although she wonders how her minders have been reacting to her status as the first non-Japanese person in her position.
As usual, I got my Reese's products (peanut butter cups, pieces) which seem to be the default tribute omiyage whenever my friends come to town. Then, the three of us went down to the lobby to meet Automan's sister, Autolady, a good friend of theirs. I actually had first met Autolady in university some years before meeting her brother for the first time, but hadn't seen her in many years since she's now one of those jetsetting hard-working execs.

After several minutes of discussion about where to eat...and that included some talk with the concierge (man, it did feel like old times), we just ended up hitting the streets again. We thought we would have to brave the cold and walk all the way to Iidabashi, but as soon as we crossed the street, we came across this Korean BBQ place. Well, the cold outside and the welcoming warmth inside helped make up our minds pretty quickly.
It was initially a tight fit but we did OK at our table. As usual for such an eatery, we had our fill of garlicky yakiniku and chijimi. Autolady's husband, The Romantic (another friend from the old days), was also on his way. It was interesting...last week, I met up with folks like Automan and Shrek, people whom I associated with in the early 90s; yesterday it was with folks from even earlier in my U of T days...and in The Lens' case, back to Japanese Language School and childhood. When The Romantic finally arrived, he remarked it was the first time that he, The Attorney and I had been together in the same place in 20 years. The hair on the back of my neck stood up...and probably grayed.

Later into dinner...Autolady, who is a good deal verbally sharper than her little brother, started grilling me a bit about why I never carried such things like a cellphone, a SUICA commuting card or even bothered looking into investing in an apartment. I've been getting hammered with this question for years, so I rolled my eyes in spirit and gave the usual token jesting response that I was a Luddite. The fact is that though I don't consider myself an extremist technophobe like the Unabomber, I just don't consider buying a cellphone worthy of my money and effort. As for actually buying an apartment...well, I am an English teacher...no high salary, no bonuses, no help financially...I almost laughed when I heard that question. Basically, one would have to be part of Japan Inc or married to someone who is to have a chance of buying real estate in this country. Basically, my answers to her were in a joking way since the truth would've cooled the temperature in the room considerably. The Autolady and I live in different worlds.

My long day finally came to an end when we saw off The Lens and his wife, and Autolady & her hubby drove me to Iidabashi Station. The two couples will be off to Thailand for their Xmas vacation. As I said, we live in different worlds now.

My day ended up not being totally work-free. When I hit home past eleven, I found a thick envelope in my mailbox. It turned out to be another shipment from The Chef to have me proofread her newest menus. So, I took an hour to red-ink any grammatical errors before bedtime since she needed them back by December 3rd. She actually sent e-mail to me about seeing me for a real lesson sometime next month.

To further emphasize the fact that I run in far different circles than folks like Autolady, The Lens and even Automan himself, I recently watched that special scene of the new "Doctor Who" on YouTube where David Tennant's Doctor meets Peter Davison's Doctor in the TARDIS. When I'd first heard that the meeting of Time Lords would be restricted to just a one-scene, 7-minute ep called "Time Crash", I kinda groaned at the lost opportunity. But after seeing it, I've come to the conclusion that it was probably the best example out of all of the special Doctor-meeting-Doctor eps. For one thing, it was short and sweet. My remembrances of eps like "The Three Doctors" were that the shows had pretty flimsy stories complicated and overwhelmed by all these different ego-aspects of The Doctor bickering with each other/himself. The 7 minutes of Davison and Tennant kept things quick and pretty happy by the end.

Well, I just have The Ace tonight for a lesson. But tomorrow will be another one of those "road trips", albeit a more familiar one. I've got Tully & The Coffeemaker, then The Manhattanite before Speedy's party at the end. Ah, BTW, Skippy informed me that she got the job at Phillip Morris without making any reference to the possible position at Speedy's. Now, there's one cat who has always landed on her feet.

Wednesday November 28, 5:21 p.m.

Back at the office after heading out to teach The New Yorker in Ichigaya. Had lunch at Sozaiya, the healthy bento place near the station. It is tasty fare...I'll need convincing, though, that the fried chicken I had was actually healthy. I also had the bowl of spicy tan tan noodles and one rice ball with salmon flakes.

The New Yorker still remains as one of my lower students but at least I can take off the adverb "hopelessly". I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. She's conversing a bit more confidently now although the pauses are still there. She had a good time in Okinawa a couple of weeks ago and I got a box of chinsuko biscuits as a souvenir.

Stopped off in Shinjuku to head over to Tokyu Hands. I was able to pick up a box of Arm & Hammer rug deodorizer although it is the tatami that I plan to use it on. Ever since I washed out the filter in my vacuum, it's been giving off a horrible moldy smell. I'm hoping the miraculous powers of baking soda does wonders to the inside of my ancient machine.
I passed by Krispy Kreme #1 on the way to the station. I was almost gobsmacked when I saw that there was no line coming down the bridge overpass between Takashimaya Times Square and the Southern Tower. However, there was still a snake curling in front of the store itself. The sign said just an hour's wait...which is saying something.

Back on Sunday, during the burger stop in Gaienmae, MB lent me another Dan Simmons opus. Simmons is that sci-fi author responsible for the Hyperion-Endymion series that I'd read a couple of years ago. This time, the two tomes (they're way too thick to be called merely novels) are "Ilium" and "Olympios". As with the previous series, these two books also pay tribute to a literary classic, Homer's "Iliad". And like the other books, Simmons also plays around with the concepts of reincarnation, religion, horny humans and profane artificial intelligences. At first, I wasn't too impressed with "Ilium" but it's starting to grow on me now. I figure that I should be finished with the two books perhaps by the end of the year.

I haven't heard anything from Skippy about my suggestion to her to try out for the soon-to-be-vacated day manager's job at Speedy's. And at this point, I don't think she'll respond; it's her usual way...if she doesn't seem interested in something that is not related to any event, she'll just skirt around the issue. Silence speaks volumes. Speedy didn't really have much hope anyways, especially since he can't pay anything near what she was getting at IBM.

Wednesday November 28, 11:55 a.m.

Managed to get through the juku gauntlet none too worse for wear although I did get pinged from a source that I hadn't expected. I had Mild Jr. for this very first lesson with me. He'd been the one I was worried about since he seemed rather noncommital during his model lesson with me last month. But he was pretty intense and willling to work hard on his hotel conversations so the hour managed to fly by pretty quickly for him.
Nope, actually the problem came with Jolly. It'd been a couple of weeks since he came. But it wasn't the rust that stopped him. Unfortunately I used a copy of a text which was obviously too high for him so he was looking rather shellshocked by the end. So, I've gotta improvise for his next class. Didn't feel too good about that but as the saying goes, "No pain, no gain".
Looks like the venue for the juku year-end party has been nailed down. I'm looking at the Urayasu SHIDAX, that monumental karaoke complex near Tokyo Disneyland. And I've been telling the folks that the rule is for the first hour to be completely devoted to English-language songs.

Just had The Nurse for her Wednesday morning regular. We were both in gabby mode which helped make this hour fly as well. Fairly busy slate today with The New Yorker coming up and then 001 and Mr. TOEIC later on tonight. It'll be the first time seeing 001 in a few weeks. It'll be interesting to see how she's been doing. As expected, neither she nor 002 will be coming to the Xmas party on the 1st. They're not really into the large parties.

I've been making plans with the old friend of the family, The Lens, for tomorrow. Will probably be seeing him and The Attorney, his wife, in Asakusa before we head back to the Tokyo Dome Hotel where they're staying for dinner. Automan's sister and brother-in-law, also old friends, will be joining us. Looks like L'Aqua by the Dome will be the dinner spot.

Well, that mystery disappearance of that woman and her two granddaughters has sadly been solved. Last night, the woman's brother-in-law was arrested on suspicion of stabbing his relatives to death. Apparently, the man deeply resented the grandmother for continually borrowing money from his wife, her sister. The two girls just saw too much and so they had to go, too. Money is indeed the root of all evil.

Tuesday November 27, 5:24 p.m.

Just about to go into the meat n' potatoes of my schedule tonight. It'll probably be the hardest chunk of work for this week since I've got the juku slate of Chip N' Dale, the new kid on the block Mild Jr. for his first and only lesson this year, The Milds themselves and I'm assuming The Siberian and Jolly.

Mind you, this morning was pretty good. We had that reunion of the Beehive at Mrs. Travel's house. So, Mrs. Perth came in from Sapporo and Mrs. Potter arrived from Okayama (although in her case, she had a better priority in that her son got married a couple of days ago). It was the usual wonderful spread of potluck dishes which included Mrs. Tee's great sandwiches, Mrs. Jade's intriguing but delish salad of kiwi, persimmon, apple and yurine (a native tiny potato) all covered in a mixture of Philadelphia cream cheese and mango puree, and some other stuff along with Canadian icewine and tomato-infused sake. Always love the reunions...maybe the only ones I've ever liked.
Mrs. Travel's grandson, a little tyke who has stayed rather mum in front of strangers, finally babbled something to me while I was playing with him. That was a feat since his grandmother told me that he usually doesn't like men.
The reason for the reunion though was to go through the huge numbers of photos from their Canada trip. Mrs. Perth alone took 1,000 pics! We managed to get through the first CD of photos before I had to make my way out to 002's place.

As for 002, it was the usual laugh-filled lesson. However, she'll be away for the next 3 weeks since she's heading back to Hawaii to run in the annual Honolulu Marathon. I gave her a piece of homework which will entail her writing up a report on her experiences there.

Weatherwise, it hasn't been too bad over the last couple of days. Pretty cool and comfortable but we've got some rainy weather coming in the next couple of days.

I've finally gotten onto the path of getting those Meiji candies for my sister-in-law. Half of the load could be found in the Seiyu Department Store near Urayasu Station. I figure I'm gonna have to head over to the Tsudanuma JUSCO for the rest. But things seem to be working out for me in terms of getting presents out this week. I hope I can get the greeting cards out before the major Xmas mail jam.

Monday November 26, 8:53 p.m.

Got through the model lesson with that crackerjack of a student. She's already studying with another teacher here on Tuesdays but wanted to play the field, so to speak. Yep, she's not only very avid about speaking English, but she's even got her own TESOL certificate for kids. She's one of us. Well, I pulled out my miracle lesson on Presentations which was another hit. Not sure what will happen, though.

Mr. TOEIC is again gonna be late but he has magnanimously offered to make sure that we end the lesson at 9:30 although the bossman hinted for the purposes of good business to extend it an extra 10 minutes. I've got no problems with that.

It'll be another latecoming tonight but luckily I've got that party with The Beehive tomorrow morning. They said that I didn't have to bring anything to the party since I'm already teaching them but I hate to go to anything emptyhanded. So, I've decided to bring a bit of a novelty item in the form of turtle jelly. Yep, The Lady and her hubby went to Hong Kong again over the weekend and met up with their faithful butler there. They managed to get me some pretty premium XO Sauce and a jar of turtle jelly. Should make for quite the conversation piece at the party tomorrow.

Since SIL was off today, I decided to take the bus going from Shibuya Station to Nakano to get up to Speedy's. Unfortunately, I almost ended up on the wrong bus; there are two buses headed for Nakano but only one goes by the school. So I ended up giving a 200-yen donation to the wronged bus. I would've asked for a refund but the driver didn't look too kindly. It was a nice ride up through Shibuya past NHK HQ and Opera City before I finally reached the school.

Actually before hitting the bus, I did some quick shopping at Tokyu Hands, the hardware store. I got myself an I-go board for something less than 2,000 yen. Not a true board but it's better than the cardboard thing I got from that guide book on how to play I-go. So I hope I can indulge myself over the Holidays.

MOnday November 26, 5:32 p.m.

In a month from now, I'll be eating my KFC leftovers...

Yesterday after my lesson with Tully & The Coffeemaker, I met up with Skippy since it was the annual appearance of me at her student's house. The kid proudly showed his Junior Eiken Bronze Award. Looks like Skippy's been earning her keep....unlike me with The Younger. Skippy just has the knack with kids. Her secret...just ensuring that he wins the games. Like all men, he's a sore loser.

Afterward, we met up with MB whom I hadn't seen in nearly a month in Gaienmae for yet another round of burgers. The target this time was Goro's Burger which is down the street from the Belle Commons fashion building. The place was pretty cramped but the burgers were good although my trousers paid a price in oil stains (unfortunately, the burger bag didn't do a good job at holding the grease in). And we had some floor entertainment in the form of the two kids of Goro and his wife....the 2-year-old boy was just yelling and prancing up and down; either he's gonna be a Johnny's Jimusho recruit in about 8 years or he'll be one of the most obnoxious drunken barfly salarymen in about 20. The burgers were good but the place needs to work a bit more on the fish n' chips. Still looking for some good versions of those in Tokyo.
We took one more stop at the local Starbucks. Interesting configuration. The counter was on the 2nd floor while a lot of the tables were on the 1st. Xmas has descended upon this franchise. The Yuletide music and the supersweet Xmas coffees were on the menu. We gabbed for a little while until Skippy was starting to clue out underneath the weight of all the movie talk that MB and I were generating.

Speaking of Skippy, she's hitting the bricks looking for a new job since her IBM office is moving over to Shanghai. And just found out that The Admin will probably be leaving by the end of the year, so I put 2 and 2 together. Not sure if Skippy will appreciate the decrease in salary but I sent her a heads-up e-mail in any case.

In any case, time to teach The Full-Timer.

Saturday November 24, 4:40 p.m.

Just finished off both The Manhattanite and The Dentist. The former was very grateful for my photo collage of Hong Kong and the various name cards since she and her friend will be heading there in January. Not sure if they'll be able to afford something like Wu Kong but they can try out that reflexology clinic, Happy Foot. The Dentist was her usual happy self. She wanted to prep herself for her first solo trip to Boston to see her daughter there.

I witnessed a virtuoso performance by the staff at my local Subways sandwich shop. I got there around noon and was part of a rather long lineup, but the two staffers there were just flying behind the counter as they whipped together the various sandwiches. They had to juggle around the different breads, vegetable stuffings and other additions but they surprised and impressed their customers with their adept memories. Almost felt like applauding.

Yesterday was that reunion in Kinshicho. Kinshicho is a smaller city hub just a few stations east from Akihabara on the Sobu Line. The station was a classic example of Urban Geography 101; the station was the core of commercial activity. There I met up with Automan, Shrek and his family, another young lady and another of the old group...a man that I hadn't seen in over 15 years, TC, and his own young brood. It was definitely holiday mode yesterday since there tons of families. The local branch of Baqet, that bakery/restaurant, had an impromptu parking lot for baby carriages. We ended up having lunch at a tonkatsu restaurant where I enjoyed wrapping my chops around a thick slab of hire tonkatsu. It was very much talking about old days.
Now that some of the alumni were family men, we spent some time on the kiddy goods' floor. It was there that I reaffirmed my luck at staying childless thus far. There were just so many laughing/running/bawling children. I managed to keep my sanity intact. Then we made our way downstairs for some coffee.
The families took off for home...having families usually means early to home. However, Automan and I returned to Akihabara in the early evening since he still had some more to check out in Yodobashi Camera. He also had some urge to visit a lot of the 100-Yen shops between Akiba and Ueno. We managed to find a kaiten sushi place across from Ueno Station. It'd been nearly a year since my last visit to the conveyor belt restaurant. It was great to sink one's teeth into negi toro and shime saba once more. The final stop was at a coffee shop nearby called Rim. Rim had been around since before the first of the Starbucks invaded Tokyo. The prices were still pretty stiff for a cuppa...500 yen for a Royal Milk Tea which probably explained the relataive sparseness while the Starbucks across the street was packed to the gills. Made my goodbyes to Automan after that.

Will probably be heading home shortly...

Friday November 23, 8:57 a.m.

Windy and cold but sunny....more like January than late November. Still refreshingly bracing out there. Back in the States, people are probably just tucking into their turkeys and stuffing. Over here, it is also Labour Thanksgiving but the only birds being eaten are probably the ones from the Colonel.

Automan and I got together finally yesterday afternoon. I asked him where he wanted to go: Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza, perhaps? He said Akihabara. OK, I replied. Then I asked where he wanted to go there: Yodobashi Camera, a cafe, a DVD store? He wanted to go for coffee. I then suggested Excelsior, Starbucks, Caffe Veloce. He hesitated a bit...ahhhh. I just went Ah! Maid Cafe! He could've just told me straight.
I met him at the Electric Town gates for JR Akihabara. He showed his Canadian-ness by showing up in his T-shirt, despite the very cold winds coming in. I was probably showing how acclimated I've become to this country by wearing a heavy coat and sweater. But he quickly donned the jacket and we were off. Actually, we first tried out the beginners-level Maid Cafe that Skippy had taken me to almost 2 years ago. When we got there, though, there was a foreign film crew inside doing its job. Hmmm...new movie? Well, I decided that it was time to go for the gusto. It was finally time to go to the place that started it all....the At Home Cafe on the 5th floor of the Don Quixote store.
In previous entries, I'd mentioned that various folks and I went up to the fateful 5th floor but since those were Sundays, there was no way to get into At Home due to the huge lineups and the mass of otaku dancing and singing...no, wailing...while all these pretty maids in a row were prancing about on the stage.
But it was a Thursday mid-afternoon so there was none of that hilarity. Still, there were a couple of folks sitting and waiting patiently before us. Automan and I, both of us careening into middle age, were greeted nonchalantly by one of these Maids with high-pitched voices. After finding out it was our first time, she then politely explained the procedure. We could choose from a counter seat to a table in the "living room". I asked for the counter seats. We were then escorted in to a chorus of "Okaerinasai, Goshujin-sama!"
The counter area was a narrow sliver of real estate. Basically it was two rows of smooth white tables. Our Maid gave us a menu from the other side of the counter which consisted of cakes, hot & cold drinks, and some hot dishes. We went for just some hot drinks...a cafe au lait and cocoa. In front of us on the wall was the list of rules to follow...stuff like no asking the Maids for e-mail addresses or phone numbers, no touching them, and no stalker-like behaviour. I thought we could follow those rules pretty easily.
So far, just a regular cafe, eh? Well, the Maid part came when our Maid came with our drinks. In her Minnie Mouse voice, she asked the two of us...and remember, we are two grown men...to make a valentine with our hands. So, we cooperated. Then she did the At Home prayer of sorts to bless our drinks which involved her chanting some sort of nonsensical rhyme while moving her hands from side to side. We obliged and we moved our heartmarks from side to side while both of our tongues from side to side between our cheeks. She thanked us and asked us to enjoy our time there.
We weren't bothered again by them but there were notices on the table in which we could request to play games with them...one of which was "Paper, Scissors and Rock". However, over the next hour that we stayed there, we did notice a few local otaku coming in...and boy, did they ever look otaku....somewhat disheveled types with goofy grins and horn-rimmed glasses. One fellow went for the whole course and ordered a lusty plate of some pasta Carbonara-style and a huge parfait. The other guy on the other side had a goofy conversation with his Maid and did the game. It was the usual bartender-barfly conversation filtered through The Smurfs.
However, we realized that the At Home cafe had gone legit when we saw two women come in...by themselves. And these weren't teens with manga dreams...these looked like typical careerists. Then, we saw a group of salarymen pour into the living room where they were serenaded by a gaggle of Maids for which the guys lustily cheered. Man, I guess the wives and girlfriends were out of town yesterday. The clincher was when an entire family showed up including a middle-aged mommy. I can imagine the hardcore geeks are now crying in their Sailor Moon mugs.
I was kinda crying in my wallet. The drinks cost 500 yen each but there was a service charge of 500 yen per person. Plus, Automan wanted to try the purikura machine with one of the Maids to get a memento of the occasion. That little investment set me back 1,000 yen. 3,000 yen for the privilege of indulging in one of the decade's biggest pop culture trends. Still, I'm sure Skippy and The Anime Court may be looking at me with some more respect. As we left, we were sent off with the girls yelling "Itterasshai, Goshujin-sama!"

Wednesday November 21, 5:30 p.m.

Forgot to mention that those guys from Michelin...not the tire guys with Bib...but the folks who put the stars on various gourmet restaurants finally put out their 3-star places in Japan for the first time. In a foodie-and-gourmet crazy country like this one, the much-awaited announcement was suitably breathless. The critics had been here since around the summer sampling various places in Tokyo.
I haven't read the whole list as of yet but apparently the first restaurant with those coveted 3 stars is a place called Kanda, a wa-fu joint...I guess maybe it's located in the Kanda district of Tokyo. You can bet your bottom yen that that place is now having its phone being run off the hook for reservations. Another one is a ritzy sushi bar.
The Beehive ladies and I were discussing the Michelin ratings over lunch yesterday in a cheap pasta restaurant (pretty much no chance that a Michelin critic would ever be in Tsudanuma). None of us were all that impressed. I just feel that having some food critic ubergod bequeath the full mitsu-boshi on a restaurant could be the kiss of death. Imagine having to live up to the pressure of being a 3-star restaurant...the first thing to suffer will be the quality. Also, there is simply the fact that everyone's tastes are different. The ladies sniffed with disdain over the fact that Joel Robuchon's Taillevent also got the three-star treatment. They had gone there before for lunch and were far from impressed with the fare there. The drubbing almost sounded like something The Lady of The Class Act would say.
I can just see it now. There will be a new food variety show in which the tarento will only go to 3-star restaurants. They're gonna have to come up with some new adjectives to match the fare.

Wednesday November 21, 4:12 p.m.

Just had to help Speedy bring in the air conditioner from the ledge and back into the closet. Getting ready for winter, I suppose.

Anyways, getting back to the first of the Xmas shopping. I picked up 5 calendars for my family, The Dancer's family and The Entrepreneur. The rest I'm just getting cards for. Still have a few gift certificates left so I'll see if I can get some greeting cards. Considering the mess that Canada Post is in, I may need to get things out by next week if the cards and calendars are to get back home by Xmas.

Yesterday, I had my lesson with The Beehive. The ladies are still swooning over their Canada trip although that ended nearly a month ago for them. Next week, there will be a full-blown reunion with the gang with Mrs Perth coming in from Sapporo and Mrs Potter coming in from Okayama, both places being hit with heavy snow this past weekend. There will be a lot of photos exchanging hands at Mrs. Travel's house on the 27th.

Looks like I may have the entirety of Christmas Day off this year. As you may know, Xmas is just like Halloween in that it's not a statutory holiday in Japan (some nonsense about less than 1% of the population being Christian and all that). 002 stated that she would probably need to work at her company that day. With the Beehive off for the Holidays and getting that night off from the juku boss, I've got the 25th for myself. Now, what do I do?

As for the juku, I only had the kids and one Mild last night. Mr. Mild is recovering from the cold, and both Jolly and The Siberian didn't bother coming in. Jolly did ask about this Friday but it's a national holiday and I didn't want to set any precedents for working on holidays.

Yesterday, Narita Airport started its own program of screening newcomers via fingerprinting and retina scans. The policy had been widely advertised for several weeks and there were a couple of articles in the papers last night. Of course, a lot of foreign residents here are howling about it. Yep, the lineups may be hellish but again it's all much ado about nothing...much. I'd always thought that Narita at least seemed to be a bit lax about Immigration. Usually when I get home from Canada or elsewhere, I get swept through the gate in almost nothing flat. Unless there's a hidden camera looking at me on the inspector's desk, I swear that the officer never looks at me. I realize that the chances of an Al Qaeda operative sneaking into this country are fairly remote...not that I think the security is that excellent here...but to be frankly honest, people from the Middle East do stick out more here; plus, I just don't think Bin Laden is all that interested in us from a strategic angle (knock on wood).
Also, I don't think Japan has been selected solely for this heavier-handed treatment. Just look at our neighbours across the Pacific, then do a leapfrog across the Atlantic in England. Not exactly free sailing through the Immigration gates there, eh? I'm just surprised that it took more than 6 years to get this program started. After all, Japan is still very much the "How high?" lapdog to America's "Jump" master. And Yasuo Fukuda is not Junichiro Koizumi. Even Koizumi lost it whenever he went to America...i.e. his air guitar performance at Graceland. So folks, we're (and I also refer to the Immigration officers as well as the tourists) just gonna have to get used to seeing security gates and clean digital ink pads for the foreseeable future. Don't blame (for once) the Japanese government. Blame the lunatics of 9-11.

However, there may be a lunatic out there somewhere. The big news in crime this week is about the mysterious disappearance of two little sisters and their grandmother from their home. The only clues are a rather ominous blood stain in the house and a dead cellphone. Not a good omen.

Got a message from Paddy. He and his missus will be headed back here in about a month. My old friend was actually here last month since his father finally succumbed to his illness. Of course, he was too busy to see anybody else aside from family. Meanwhile, Automan is seeing if the two of us can get together tomorrow afternoon for lunch. The Wild Guy is still off in Hong Kong for the next couple of weeks.

Wednesday November 21, 3:59 p.m.

It's starting to feel a little more like Christmas. The winds are getting colder, the lights are up in Ginza and I've started my shopping for the folks at home. After my lesson with The Nurse this morning, I had my lunch at China Quick before heading out to Nihombashi with my final wad of gift certificates from the family of the Younger. Went to Takashimaya there and bought various calendars for family and friends. Ahhh..Speedy is summoning me...later

Monday November 19, 9:23 p.m.

Automan is back in town.

It's been a while since I've seen the man. I didn't get to see him last Xmas and it has been a while since he made his way back to these parts. The Wild One gave me the heads-up on his return here a while back so it wasn't with any surprise that I got a phone call this morning from Automan. He'll be here for just a week so I will be able to see him just once or twice. He's already got something lined up for the holiday Friday...Labour Thanksgiving. Shrek and his family will be joining us.

The last couple of days have been pretty cold for Tokyo. Just hovering around 12 C. Pretty balmy for Toronto but over here, that's the signal to bring out the heavy coats and mufflers. Some of the outlying areas in Tohoku and the Japan Sea side have already gotten dumped on with the white stuff...a bit ahead of schedule. At today's session with The Class Act, The Lady told me that she'd heard there is a possibility that this could actually be a snow year for the Kanto. I'll believe it when I see it.

Yesterday, I had my final class with The Junior. It was all very civil and pleasant. No major crying jags but I did manage to shake hands with everyone. The mother generously gave me my o-seibo gift in the form of the usual gift certificates (will definitely help in getting gifts for the family). She also said that perhaps in a few years, she may ask for my help in prepping her daughters for studying overseas. Well, we'll see but I'm not holding out much hope there. In any case, it was the last time for me to set foot in that neighbourhood for the foreseeable future after 3 years of their family, plus The Hawaiian and The Polynesian who live nearby. So I'm happy that I got that out of the way.

Today was just about a normal day except that Mr. TOEIC cancelled his lesson. But I had The Class Act, SIL and even The Full-Timer for the first time in a couple of weeks. Her grandmother had passed away several days ago from breast cancer. Looks like she was doing pretty well considering.
I may actually be gaining yet another student albeit on just a monthly basis. One of the Tuesday night students wanted to get some more talking time so she upped for a Monday class. I met her briefly one day...quite a cracker in personality so getting her to speak up won't be the problem...getting her to shut up will, though.

Smurfette and I have started a running conversation over our new medium of Facebook. Apparently, she had been a NOVA receptionist for a little over a year until near the end of that erstwhile school. Unsurprisingly, she didn't like the working conditions but she said that she appreciated the chance to use English regularly.

The Lady set an invitation cap for the annual Xmas party on the 14th. I could bring two people. Well, unfortunately, she'll see twice that since Speedy will be bringing his missus and Skippy will be bringing OA. I had been thinking of even inviting The Sisters of State and BC but that's out the window. Apparently, The Lady is expecting about 200 for her shindig.

Now, CD-wise. Yep, it looks like I may be picking up at least two discs before the end is out. One is the Tony Bennett Xmas disc...it has the definitive big band version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". Diana Krall comes close, though. The other is by that former vocalist for 80s proto-Shibuya-kei band, PSY-S, Mami "Chaka" Yasunori. She's been back to her jazz roots for the past decade and I checked out her homepage on MYSPACE. She had a copy of one of her tunes, "I'll Be Walking Alone" and it was quite a revelation. There was just an echo of her old high-pitched but powerhouse voice but it has been overlaid with that whiskey-&-cigarettes mellowness that a lot of torch singers possess in their larynxes. I was quite impressed so I'm now on the search.

Anyways, almost time to take it home.