Monday March 24, 8:06 p.m.

I've been finished for about an hour now. The Full-Timer got to use the Speedy lounge tonight since the bossman's student cancelled. Looks like she'll be busy next week since it's not only the last day of the month, but it's also the last day of the fiscal year. Just as well, since it'll be a packed Monday on the 31st. Along with The Class Act and SIL, I've got The Bostonian (who cancelled her Saturday class...meaning I've only got The Businesswoman as a student), new student The Tippler...she was the one who had recommended her buddy The Yogist to us, and then Medicine Man. At least I won't have to run between Doutor and the school.

Speedy's asked me whether I'll be attend the next big party in the form of O-Hanami on the 5th. When I heard it was going to be 5,000 yen, my mind automatically balked although I just told Speedy that I'll think about it. There's no way in Hell that I'll pay that much for a meal anymore...or for the foreseeable future. Besides, the cherry blossoms will have probably already fallen off by that time anyways.

I've got a lopsided donut day tomorrow since 002 won't be having me over between The Beehive and the juku students. I'll probably have some long-awaited tonkatsu and then hit the I-cafe. It'll be Chip N' Dale's last bout with me tomorrow night before Suzanne starts taking over the slot. I'll keep it to schedule. I wonder if Mr. Mild has contacted The Yogist about lessons yet. Jolly won't be showing up to clean up, so I can get home by around 9:30 and get some more sleep before the huge Hump Day.

Speaking of Jolly, he taught me a way to prevent fogging up my glasses whenever I wear my hay fever mask. Last Tuesday, he just took my mask and then bent the stiff upper frame. He calls it the Jolly Airflow System. He should patent it.

May be heading out in the next 45 minutes..that is, if Speedy doesn't decide to close up shop even earlier. Could be quite a precedent for a Monday. All of my Monday night students at Speedy are gonna be AWOL tonight. Mr. TOEIC hasn't shown up in weeks, and The Diver plus Medicine Man will be switching to Wednesday night this week.

Monday March 24, 4:47 p.m.

Last week, I'd forgotten to mention about my way home last Wednesday...the last time I was at Speedy's. I was gonna take the Oedo Line but saw my way blocked by a mass of commuters and some harried station personnel. Then, I saw the paramedics and cops literally race in with all sirens a-blazin'. Oops, that couldn't be good, I thought. I'd already bought my ticket, too, so I ended up waiting for half an hour to find out what had been going on. Apparently, the entire line was shut down because of what happened down below...although I kinda knew already. And sure enough, by around 10:45 p.m., the blue-garbed, white-helmeted guys brought up a body; of course, they had him/her surrounded by a green tarp so that noone could see the grisly results. It was a jumper. Well, I'd always heard about these guys. I finally came across one..kinda.

The news about how Japanese society seems to be heading for Hell in a henbasket continues. Police in Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture (where The Sisters of State hail from and not too far from where Paddy hailed from) are looking pretty bad right now. In the US, they have shooting sprees...well, over here since gun control is very much a reality, it's stabbing sprees. Some psycho who had killed his relative last week ended up knifing 8 people near a station, killing one. The nutball even called up the cops from an empty police box to have himself arrested. It was the usual M.O....he just had that urge to kill.
And then there is the case involving a US military guy who allegedly sliced the throat of a taxi driver last week in Kanagawa Prefecture. And this morning in Nagoya, a guy on a bike just nonchalantly poked his knife into a woman before racing off. I can't really figure it out sometimes.

Well, the weekend was pretty quiet...luckily. The hay fever has been coming and going. It was just Tully on Saturday...The Coffeemaker was away sick. And then, it was The OL on Sunday morning. I finally met up with M+M at the Keio Plaza in the afternoon. We had a bit of Tea Time at the basement cafe, Jurin. M1 has been pretty busy...in fact, she's headed for Switzerland next week on business...economy class for more than 12 hours...not nice but no money in the budget for Business Class...sign of the times. M2 has been making do in her post in Yamato City as a medical therapist. Apparently, her care home has its share of nuts, including a bully who likes to put in tacks in her target's shoes. M2 has also been working out as well; she did look thinner and her shoulders looked a bit more broader. She's been tackling the freeclimbing course in nearby Fujisawa. The bottomless policy for coffee worked a bit too well for me. I ended up drinking five cups...and ended up shaking all the way home.
I also noticed that there were a lot of folks dressed up in dark suits and white ties...which means that the graduation parties were in full swing. A lot of women were in all gussied up in kimonos as well.

Fairly light day for me. I just had The Class Act for the first time in 2 weeks. We ended up just gabbing again...but it was pretty useful for us. The Lady has been wondering what to get a couple of her newlywed friends in Illinois. She was thinking about something hi-tech, so I suggested either the Wii Fit or one of those Star Trek-like massage chairs with the plasma-panel display. I also gave The Matron the business card for Speedy since her nephew is interested in taking some Parisian French before he heads for France to take the Cordon Bleu course. And then I got some news from The Matron concerning some really cheap electronics place in Mitaka, the really far end of the Tozai Line. Apparently, it sells toasters for just 500 yen. And she thought she saw some nice CD player for just 6,000. Gotta get there sometime.
The Lady herself has discovered the wonders of 100-yen shops. This is a woman who can buy an island with her credit card, and she stunned The Matron and me when she said that she had gone to some sort of cheapo store over the weekend and discovered some amazing things for low, low prices. And then she nonchalantly went over to one of her favourite boutiques in Omotesando...the ones with the security guards in suits to buy some clothing....while carrying the paper bag of Daiso goods. I could imagine the shop staff calling security on seeing that. Well, I always said that I had the most interesting of students.

Friday March 21, 6:20 p.m.

Ironic....we had days last week and early this week which were very Spring-like, and then when the big day came yesterday, it was back to feeling wintry and rainy. Still, it was a holiday so I enjoyed a good 8 hours' worth of sleep and nothing to do with teaching. Even re-watched Tom Cruise's "Minority Report" on DVD. As much of a tribute to Film Noir as it was (or should it be Film Bleu, considering the colour filters used), I kinda noticed all the little Indiana Jones-like touches of humour that Spielberg tried to tap in, such as the scene where John Anderton accidentally drops his eyes. Definitely had that Kubrickian feel to it and more successful than "A.I.", the actual Spielberg-Kubrick fusion.

Today has also been basically a day off. I just have Miss Disney for her 60 in about 90 minutes. Just gotta do some worksheet prep. Really, the next couple of days will be rather relaxing. I've only got Tully & The Coffeemaker tomorrow, and then it's The OL followed by M+M for our long-delayed meeting at The Keio Plaza. Hopefully, the winds will finally die down by tomorrow so that I can get some laundry done. It was a virtual typhoon in Chiba last night and this morning.

Next Wednesday will be a big Hump Day. I've got no less than 6 lessons. The latest addition came from BC's call today about a model lesson sandwiched between The Nurse and The New Yorker.

CNNj, the Japanese distributor of CNN, will be making a few changes to its lineup. For the past few years, we've been getting the lion's share of the US programming such as "The Situation Room" and "Larry King Live". Well, it looks like from April 1st, they may be dropping Lou Dobbs and throwing Larry King to the dinner hour. Maybe ol' Lou's shoutouts were starting to wear thin with the audience here, or the Japanese fans of Barack Obama decided to declare war on the independent populist.

Well, Matsuzaka and his Boston Red Sox did make it over here after all. There had been some concern that a boycott by the Bosox was looming since the management had basically welched on a deal to pay the coaching staff for the trip over to Japan for a few games. Crisis averted, apparently.

Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of The Iraq War. Well, yesterday was also the 13th anniversary of the sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo Metro. And there are still plenty of victims suffering from the gas.

Wednesday March 19, 9:00 p.m.

Well, I'm beyond the donut now, and I'm not alone. As for the first point, I finished up with The Diver about a half-hour ago. It was another one of those struggles with some basic grammar; she just tries so hard. I gave her some homework which she'll do after she gets back from her Okinawa vacation.

As for the "alone" part, there had been a possibility that I would have to hold down the fort all by my lonesome since The Amazon could've been bogged down at her day job, and Speedy wouldn't have returned for the rest of the evening due to some schmoozing around for business. After The Admin's departure, I was alone for about 30 minutes but then The Amazon did arrive...and in heavy rain. And then during my lesson with The Diver, I heard Speedy come back as well. So it's kinda back to normal now.

Got word from The Entrepreneur. He's made his first mass e-mail for me, The Doctor and The Dancer this year. It looks like he and his bride of 6 months are still very much in the honeymoon phase. They even dined on heart-shaped sushi. Awwww.... Can't even imagine what married life would be like now.

I'm not all that perked to head back home right now since it is raining steadily out there. I'll take a bit of a wait-and-see for the next hour or so. Plus, it's a holiday tomorrow.

Wednesday March 19, 5:41 p.m.

Nearing the end of the donut. The Diver should be arriving in less than 2 hours. It's been quiet as expected. A few hours earlier, The Admin and I shared some coffee and discussed a bit more about any potential lessons together. Looks like she'll be another floater like The New Yorker, and we may be heading for another family restaurant. It'll be a fair challenge to teach her since she's pretty high as an English student...some passive errors, though.

True to an imminent transition in the seasons, when I went out about 45 minutes ago, the day had gone from sunny to pretty cool and rainy out there. At least, my nose won't be bothering me today. Just bought a couple of rice balls and a small salad. Trying to keep my purchases down until I get my next cash payment from Tully & The Coffeemaker this Saturday. I know that it'll be corned beef and cabbage tomorrow. Speaking of which, it'll be a national holiday to celebrate the Vernal Equinox. I'll most definitely be sleeping in as late as possible to catch up on the sleep. It'll be good, too, since the weather will probably be dreary then as well.

I got word from The Carolinan. She and her sister, The New Yorker, got back from Bali last night. They had a good time. Unfortunately, that revised date of the 29th for Spyros in Roppongi won't take with the Sisters of State due to other plans. I've asked for other possible Saturdays and even proposed one of their Thursday nights, provided that The New Yorker has the night off then in April.

Basically, spent the time just looking through those Time Lord files, and then just Wiki'ed. Another new fact from the I-Encyclopedia: I learned that it was director Barry Levinson of "Rain Man" fame who had been that enraged busboy who attacked Mel Brooks' psychiatrist character, a la "Psycho"'s famous shower scene, in "High Anxiety". I also attempted to play I-go on the computer, via Facebook. Lost pretty badly...but no surprise there.

Wednesday March 19, 1:04 p.m.

Well, finished up wth those grandmothers that Speedy usually teaches. Man, nice ladies both but they really took the energy out of me. The first grandmother is the prototypical nice little ol' lady but being in her early 80s, the listening comprehension just isn't there anymore. As for the second grandmother, she has a tendency to digress from the text...kept me on my toes. So any effect from the coffee has now largely been nullified.

Now, I'm in the empty zone...the "hole" of Donut Day. It's just The Admin and me for the next several hours until The Diver shows up. By that point, I hope to be filled with some food to keep me going. Speaking of The Admin, it looks like she's still holding out hope for me to teach her privately. It's possible that late April could be the earliest available time for us to meet. Nice to have another customer....and she's very willing to pay transportation money.

Wednesday March 19, 9:33 a.m.

Hump Day once more. Feeling buoyed by the Mac coffee but that should pass by the afternoon. Yep, it was another late night with Jolly followed by 6 hours of sleep and then out the door once more. Jolly was feeling lighter in spirits after about 2 weeks of corporate horror. At one point, he'd been wondering if he would be on a flight to China to investigate some problems concerning his company's products but that crisis was averted.

Will be diverting from my usual lesson with The Nurse since she came on Monday morning, and will be having the grandmothers. It won't be quite the Donut Day that Monday was, but I'll still be having several hours before the last lesson of The Diver. I'll see if I glean some more info from the Time Lord database.

Speaking of epic sci-fi, I just heard that Arthur C. Clarke of "2001: A Space Odyssey" fame has passed on, at the ripe old age of 90. Perhaps instead of just going to Heaven, he's evolved into the Starchild and gone on to a far better place.

Tuesday March 18, 9:30 p.m.

Waiting for Jolly who'll be 15 minutes late. Great...and I've got an early start to Wednesday. However, anyone who's willing to learn from me at such a late hour deserves the best. I had The Milds...Mild Jr. from 7-8 and then the parents themselves afterwards. Mr. Mild has been wondering about how he'll occupy his time now that he's one of the millions of retirees in this country. I extended one potential option...I gave him The Yogist's business card, and he may just give her a contact for a lesson. He's a bit trepidatious but that's not too surprising. Hope the two connect into a new student-teacher pairing.

Tuesday March 18, 6:45 p.m.

Well, had the penultimate class for Chip N' Dale just now. Looks like they're leaving me at the right time. Dale just got her first cellphone...a shiny Softbank number with e-mail, Internet and digital camera. It's like giving a psychopath his own fully-loaded AK-47. She's already talking the girly talk with her buddies. Of course, neither of them bothered to do their homework, so which means I'll be quite happy to see them go next week.
The reason Dale got her first keitai is that she's not only having a birthday tomorrow, but she's heading for junior high school next month. She's taking that first step into adolescence; meaning that she'll be getting increasingly insufferable. Again, good to see her go. No, I mean she's an alright kid but when it comes to the student-teacher relationship, teens and I will never mix.

Didn't have to worry about dinner tonight, thanks to the juku boss. She was kind enough to make me some leftover curry. She was worried that it might be a bit too spicy, but heck, I can handle my chili. And this dish was no exception. Certainly saved on the money front as well.

Chip N' Dale were the big hurdle. Now it shouldn't be too bad...got the Mild family followed by Jolly...perhaps.

Tuesday March 18, 4:39 p.m.

Thought I would be going through another day of Hay Fever Hell, but the meds kicked in a little later than usual. So, the fellow coffeedrinkers at the Tsudanuma Becker's had to deal with my sniffling for a bit before Mrs. Travel showed up. But afterwards, my nose settled down nicely. Mrs. Travel was indeed the solo Bee to show up...not often that happens. But out of all of the Bees, she's the one I chime with the best. Looks like Croatia isn't the only big destination for her this year; just a few weeks after that big tour, she'll be headed for the ruggedness of Arizona...that's right, John McCain country for a few days. Man, she can give 001 a run for the money in terms of air miles.

But there's also another one. My old friend, DTE, who used to be one of our fellow teachers at the ol' school has been doing her tour of Asia. And guess where she ended up in a few days ago...embattled Tibet. Well, she couldn't stay all that long since the Chinese security forces made traveling a tad difficult. Still, I'm glad that she's safe...she even Superpoked me on Facebook.

002 was also suffering from hay fever when I did my weekly house call. Otherwise, she was her usual jovial self. I won't be seeing her til April Fool's Day for her next lesson, though. And in about 75 minutes, I've got the usual juku gang. So far, we haven't heard anything from Jolly about whether he's gonna make it or not.

I got a much-belated present of chocolates for The Admin tomorrow when she does one little favour for Speedy and help out at the school tomorrow. She's now officially unemployed from our school since she needs to help out her hubbie, but she was kind enough to pitch in for the 19th.

I heard that SMAP heartthrob, Takuya Kimura, will be playing the Japanese PM in the next round of Spring dramas that start next month. So, fans can look forward to another scintillating rendition of Angry Snarly Young Man. I shall pass and stick to CNN, thank you.

Monday March 17, 9:55 p.m.

Amazing how quickly I've reached the half-century point of the 2,100s. Just burning those entries.

Well, I've finally reached the other side of the donut day. I just finished with Medicine Man and he's off to do his test of the first three chapters. It's been a day and night of just looking through various homepages...I think it used to be called "surfing" back in the day...most notably through the history of the Time Lords. Yep, extremely geeky of me, I know. But the guy who wrote up the stuff beats me several times over in his encyclopedic results. However, I actually did get some planning done for Tuesday's lessons. Not sure if Jolly will be showing up, though.

001 called in to say that she'll have to cancel this Wednesday's stint. It's gonna be a pretty light week overall. I'm just lucky that I'll be having Speedy's grandmothers to make up for the shortfall, although it'll be another repeat of Donut Day. Speedy says that it's gonna be light for the entire school schedule this week since this Thursday is also a national holiday.

M+M called up to ask about changing the venue for this Sunday. The Elder M suggested a cafe inside the Keio Plaza Hotel, my old stomping grounds in the JET days. It's possible that I've even frequented the place back then. I gave them my approval. I just hope that they remember that they usually pay for my coffee.

I bought some more Benza Block for my hay fever although I'm not having any major sneezing fits right now. However, the bossman noticed that my left eye is looking pretty livid. Just another sign that Spring is around the corner.

Monday March 17, 11:59 a.m.

Finished up with the lesson with The Nurse. As usual, we ended up going 20 minutes overtime. But that's a good thing...the last lesson seemed a bit tense; she struck me as being nonplussed about something. I gave her the White Day present for which she was duly appreciative. And now, I have about 8.5 hours of nothing but there will always be things go to.

Because of The Nurse's lesson, it was another early commute on the subway. It is always an interesting subway ride early in the morning...quite unlike the commutes home. At night, there are always gaggles of folks, fueled by alcohol, cigarettes and stress, gabbing away; especially on Friday nights, the subway could almost be mistaken for a moving party lounge.
Not in the mornings. The subway has a near-cathedral silence, a lot of it due to the fact that a lot of the commuters are in still in sleep mode. It's much easier to squeeze into the seats between folks; they just tend to conform to the shape of my butt entering their space instead of getting all huffy. Still, I'll be happy not to the morning commutes if possible...I would prefer to sleep in my comfy futon at home. However, although The Nurse came in for this morning, I'll still be required to come in on Wednesday morning, The Nurse's usual slot. Since the bossman will be off on one of his study-abroad conferences, I have to teach his pair of grandmothers.

Monday March 17, 9:34 a.m.

Ahh....yes, it is St. Patrick's Day, isn't it? Leprechauns, Pots O' Gold, and all that Irish. Well, it's a Monday so I don't expect any more major celebrations. All that was done over the weekend, but I'm sure some of the more enterprising establishments will still offer green beer on tap tonight, and there will be enough barflies to try them out, I'm sure.

Yesterday, it was just The OL for her 60 at the cafe in Nihombashi. She gave me a book report on "Jane Eyre". She didn't really like it since she thought noone in the book was all that sympathetic, although her sister (and my former student), The UL, had a very different take on it. My only exposure to the Bronte Sisters was the SCTV parody, "Jane Eyrehead".
We did have the same opinion on "Catcher in the Rye"...which was that it was more of a novel of its time than a timeless classic. Nowadays, we can see Holden Caulfields all over the world.

Took me a few minutes but managed to pick up something for White Day (although that was back on Friday) for The Nurse, since she got those bath salts for me on Valentine's Day. They were labeled "Long-Life"...not quite sure what she was getting at, although she knows about my habit of eating McBreakfasts whenever she's slated for the morning lessons. In any case, I mirrored her choice by not getting chocolates but a couple of scented candles at an oh-so-trendy store called Serendipity in the Coredo mall where The OL's cafe is located. Speaking of The Nurse, I've got her in a few minutes. In fact, I've got a bit of a donut day...not that I'll be heading for Krispy Kreme...the lineup there is probably still snaking its way around the corner. What I mean is that I have one of those days in which I've got several hours of nothing between classes. This is definitely one of the biggest scheduling donuts I've ever had: 8.5 hours between the end of The Nurse and the start of Medicine Man's class tonight.
Well, I will be keeping busy...or trying to, anyways. BC was kind enough to send me a couple of revisions to her stuff from last week, although I think since they are second drafts, there won't be as much to correct. I'll also be doing a bit of hard drive moving on the computer here, and of course, planning for Medicine Man and for the Tuesday lessons. I do have Chip and Dale for two more lessons.

Saturday March 15, 6:11 p.m.

Managed to get through the gauntlet of lessons with sanity intact. In fact, all three students were in fine fettle: The Bostonian practiced writing a request letter, the EIC student was a bit on the mousy side but she did fine in her last lesson before her debut tomorrow, and although The Businesswoman was half an hour late, she breezed through the last of the exercises.

Now, just gotta figure out what I'm gonna have for dinner with the bountiful cash I've gotten from Tully and The Coffeemaker this morning.

St. Patrick's Day has become the latest foreign holiday to infiltrate these shores. There was a spate of parades today, most notably one in Omotesando. And of course, all the bars are planning big parties involving lots and lots of Guinness. I think it is rather natural for the Irish holiday to make a big hit here

Saturday March 15, 2:29 p.m.

A beautiful day and the pollen is flying. But I've got the meds in me and the mask on me. Looks like a lot of my compadres are going through the same Hell: Speedy, Tully, The Bostonian and BC.

Tully did show up for today's lesson since he got that report done. He and his classmate, The Coffeemaker, had a pretty good time going through statistics in English...these are pretty committed students. Then I had The Bostonian for her 60; yep, she's a hard worker but still gets a tad skittish on herself. All that furor over who was gonna get that 8:30 Wednesday slot between her and The Diver was all for nought, though. It looks like that for the next month at least, The Bostonian can only come on Saturdays due to the rigours of her job. So, The Diver can now rest easy.

In about 10 minutes, I've got that EIC student for her last lesson before her debut tomorrow at cooking with Mr. Influence. And then to wrap up, it's the Businesswoman.

I found out that butter may actually become an endangered species here in The Land of the Rising Sun. Because of all of the problems with oil and milk supplies, the sticks may no longer be all that available. So, goodbye Western omelettes, hotcakes and steaks (yes, for some bizarre reason, the Japanese love their steaks served with a pat of butter on top). And of course, the lowly toast may also become a thing of the past...the Japanese may find themselves ingesting miso soup, fish and rice again for their breakfasts. However, they may find that artherosclerosis may also be an endangered species.

Friday March 14, 9:17 p.m.

A couple of hours ago during the model lesson, a lightning bolt struck down within a kilometre of us. Man, kinda shook up the neighbourhood...along with a few neighbours. However, it doesn't seem that there was any major fire because of it. Haven't heard any sirens so far.

Speaking of that model lesson, the young girl is pretty good in terms of fluency. She's gonna be doing a homestay in Oz in a few months so I'll probably give her a good does of PASSPORT and some higher grammar for starters. In terms of her makeup and temperament, she reminds me somewhat of a pint-sized version of that tarento Suzanne (who's really full Japanese although she looks like a halfie), so I guess that's what her name will be. Suzanne will be replacing Chip N' Dale from April.
Miss Disney was much more on the genki side tonight, though she got drenched from the downpours hitting Chiba right now. Let's hope that last Friday was merely a sophomore jinx. I'm just waiting for Jolly...hopefully, he does show up. He's had a small habit of doing a no-show without calling us.

Got word from BC that most likely The Manhattanite will not be coming in tomorrow. Will lose out on some income but gain some sanity from the loaded schedule.

Friday March 14, 6:27 p.m.

Yeah, yeah...still blogging. This time, though, I'm at the juku instead of the I-cafe. Had my dinner at Subway's for the second time this week. I do like the place but the other reason is that I was able to fill up my point card to get that medium sandwich and drink for just 200 yen. And I did use that lousy coupon for free cheese...cheese indeed.

The juku boss is downstairs with her good friend from Kyushu. Apparently, her friend is an accomplished pottery expert. We were briefly introduced before I went up to my post here. I've done some prep work for tonight's lessons. That model lesson student for tonight is an old student of the kids' teacher from way back. Could be like Miss Disney.

I hear the rains coming down. Not a good night for White Day enthusiasts. But I'm sure some of those young folks are enjoying themselves at some romantic candlelight dinner in Ginza or Omotesando. The barber this morning was bantering with me as usual, and the topic of March 14 came up. He opined that nowadays, women start kicking up a fuss if they don't get only the finest of chocolates. In other words, if their candies don't come with the Godiva or Maison Du Chocolat stamp, that candlelight will probably blow out quickly and coldly. Well, I hope that really isn't the case...it wouldn't impress me much about women here, and my opinion of the twentysomethings hasn't been too great of late.

Speaking of female twentysomethings, that woman who has now joined the ranks of Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinski has been outed. Alexandra Youmans, aka Dupree, is pleading with the world not to think of her as a monster. I don't think that will happen, although I'm kinda surprised that her family isn't kicking much of a fuss over the fact that their daughter is a high-priced call girl. No...I think Eliot Spitzer is the one who should be doing the duck n' cover.

Friday March 14, 4:40 p.m.

Was going through YouTube's round of scalp massage videos. Yup, I'll have to admit it...I've developed an addiction to those things...kinda like my addiction to Pringle's. But I'm pretty convinced that watching vids such as "Indian Style" comes a fairly close second to actually experiencing the thing. And for someone who has to commute through Tokyo traffic nearly every day and deals with a variety of students every day, it's no surprise that massage clinics rival McDonalds branches in number.
So, it was with great anticipation that I had my first haircut of the year today at the neighbourhood salon. I didn't bother with the New Year greetings...it would've just looked silly. However, the guys there were their usual fine selves. It isn't so much the haircut that's thrilling, but the extras such as the shampoo with the massage, and then the extra rubdown on the scalp with the menthol tonic along with some stuff done on the shoulders and the back that makes the 5,000 yen worthwhile. Yup...even in my financial dire straits, I would still pay that much for good service and banter...and that's considering there is a discount barber closer to my apartment for 990 yen. I don't go that often to the barber...at this rate, I figure that I'll just be going three more times this year, so I think I can handle that.
However, watching those Indian barber videos, it would seem that India may take the crown in terms of tonsorial services. I don't think I've ever seen barbers anywhere else that intensely occupied to ensure their customers leave smiling. Even my barber looks like he's slumming compared to these folks in Mumbai. Still, I'm happy to be getting the tonsorial that I get here since North Americans would never expect such things back home in their barber shops. And it's a pity, too, since it does make sort of sense....you wanna keep your follicles nice and happy and sprouting hairs?...make sure they get rubbed down once in a while. I've had past barbers tell me that massaging the various nerves leading via the neck into the scalp ensures that your hair stays longer on your head.

Friday March 14, 2:06 p.m.

Well, finally got the last of FY 2006 big bills paid off...my income tax one. Despite the two trains and 15-minute walk to the tax office, the whole thing took just 5 minutes to complete. When the government wants your money, you'd be amazed at how quickly service can be. Feeling considerably lighter in the wallet, but heavier in the soul, I decided to walk down to Colton Plaza, one of the very first megamalls in the Kanto. Maybe its only claim to fame is that back in 1999, during all the hoopla surrounding "The Phantom Menace", the guy who played Darth Maul made an appearance there to sign autographs...of course, he charged folks for the courtesy.
I found a cheap Chinese eatery which serve chuukadon for 750 yen. It's a bunch of veggies, shrimp and pork cooked up in the usual thick cornstarch sauce and thrown on top of a bowl of rice. That stuff could also be easily found in any of the greasy spoons of Chinatown but I'm sure it's still about half the price there that it is here.

I then ended up walking all over the place for an hour...naively thinking that I could actually walk all the way back to my neck of the woods. Forgetting that Ichikawa covers a massive amount of land with 2 rivers and a wide expressway cutting through it, I plodded through a lot of suburban wilderness. I saw a lot of my adopted city that I hadn't seen in my fourteen years here. Not that it was really worth seeing again, mind you. I realize now that Ichikawa is definitely one big plate of corporate subsidiaries, government buildings and auto dealerships with a liberal sprinkling of plops of residential neighbourhoods. I managed to come across a map in front of the Ichikawa Police Department HQ and saw how far I actually was from my neighbourhood, and then decided to make the beeline back to the nearest JR station. Ironic that I made the realization in front of the cops...they do say "Nothing to see here" quite a lot.

Last night, I made it over to Ichigaya Starbucks. Sure enough, I had to line up for a table for about 15 minutes. But the corporation knows how to provide good service; the barristas gave all of us squatters small free cups of black coffee...presumably so that we wouldn't collapse. I was phenomenally lucky, though. The same barrista who gave out the free java also got me a table for two right by the glass corner overlooking the main intersection. It was in the midst of the hustle and bustle inside but also isolated enough.
The Carolinan was grateful as well for not having to endure through the smoke of Tully's. She and her sister got their White Day gifts from me, and I think at this moment, they're probably boarding their plane for Bali where they'll enjoy their few days of sun and massages. Must be nice not being poor. Then, BC showed up and we discussed her resume and covering letter. No particular problems outside the fact that she needs to do a bit of cropping and editing...just a bit too much information.

Got home last night to watch that "Doctor Who" tape that The Entrepreneur had kindly sent me. Mind you, it took several tries and minutes to get the ol' VCR going. It's very much on its last legs. The Entrepreneur sent the last 3 eps of Season 3...the big epic involving The Master. Sir Derek Jacobi had just a few minutes of playing the villain before he regenerated into the next actor, but he sure did make the most of them, chewing up the scenery like he did. It was a good watch although the resolution in the final episode dangerously skirted "Kum-Bah-Yah" territory.

It'll be quite an atypically busy Friday night and Saturday. I've got a model lesson student at the juku to start before Miss Disney shows up. The Ace actually cancelled but his class is just half an hour; and then, Jolly shows up. When he cancelled his class on Tuesday, the boss told me that ol' J had told her that things may be even worse when he had to chew linoleum for a sales screwup a few weeks back....which may mean he might have a whole lot of time on his hands from now on. However, I'm sure he'll let me know. I may have to put on my psychiatrist's hat tonight...something that I do from time to time.
Then, Saturday will be chock-filled with classes. Tully (maybe) & The Coffeemaker, The Bostonian, an EIC student, The Businesswoman and maybe even The Manhattanite to finish things off.

Thursday March 13, 2:41 p.m.

Finished up with The Yogist. She cruised through her test at 92%. Also managed to get her name card from her so that I can give it to Mr. Mild, who has expressed an interest in learning yoga. Looks like that trip to India a couple of weeks left quite an impression on my newest retiree student. Not sure if I'll get a finder's fee if Mr. Mild decides to sign up with her, though.

I'll be taking off in about an hour and a half for Ichigaya to teach The Carolinan and BC. The venue will be shifted from Tully's to Starbucks since The Carolinan had expressed a desire to no longer have her clothes smell like coffee and cigarettes, and since all of Starbucks is non-smoking.... However, it is only half the size of Tully's which will make finding a table that much more difficult. I've got my White Day chocolates for The Sisters of State since they were kind enough to give their old teacher some giri choco last month. I can guarantee that my contribution will be far cheaper than the delicacies they jointly gave me.

I found out from CNN that Dawn Wells who had played the girl-next-door castaway, Mary Ann, from "Gilligan's Island" got busted for marijuana possession. Well, I guess that definitely refutes the theory that age and wisdom go hand in hand. Try to imagine....Mary Ann gets some Mary Jane. Hope that the ghosts of Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer aren't rolling too hard in their graves right now. I saw her mug shot; she certainly had that "Ooops...I kinda goofed" look on her face. Well, at least, she doesn't look as bad as Nick Nolte.

Thursday March 13, 12:05 p.m.

Started the morning watching the continuing fallout from the Eliot Spitzer debacle (that must be some dinner table scene in their household these days) while I was proofreading BC's resume and covering letter.

Of course, I'm now here at Speedy's awaiting The Yogist for her regular lesson. I might ask her about Mr. Mild's earlier interest in yoga. Not sure if she does house calls for lone customers, though. Plus, I'm not sure about how Mrs. Mild may feel about this.

Got a letter and photos from The Cat following my visit to her home last month. And I finally got that "Doctor Who" tape from The Entrepreneur after that first abortive attempt. Strangely enough, my two long-distance friends had met a few times years and years ago; The Entrepreneur's friend was an elementary school teacher in Toronto who was looking for someone to give a presentation on present-day Japan, and The Cat (during her freewheeling days as a working-holiday student) decided to assist me in the event.

I also received a "personal" invitation from former Ontario Premier David Petersen to some sort of light reception at the Canadian Embassy in Akasaka on the 9th. It's apparently involving the U of T Alumni Association. I actually had a second of his time....again, years and years ago...when, for reasons that I forget now, he was traipsing through the Koffler Student Centre in the main campus. I'd heard that he and his father had done dealings with various Japanese companies. There was no security cordon whatsoever around him, so one of my very first students and I just cordially went up to him and greeted him. He gave the usual vacuous smile and acknowledgement that all politicians learn to give the unwashed masses.
Unsurprisingly, I will not be attending the event, since: 1) I'm working, 2) I hate parties, 3) frankly, English teachers don't exactly occupy a high place on the totem pole here, and 4) I had a rather uninspiring time at the last Alumni reunion a decade ago.

Wednesday March 12, 8:18 p.m.

Just finished with 001. Her Alaskan adventure was quite successful. She showed me her photos straight from the digital camera. Couldn't quite get the actual aurorae (I think it would challenge even a professional) but could show me a lot of the wilderness there. Got some souvenirs in the form of chocolate and smoked salmon. Gonna have to get some bagels and cream cheese now.

Waiting for The Diver to show up...

Wednesday March 12, 5:44 p.m.

Before coming out all the way here, I stopped off at the local Subway's sandwich shop near my station for a small bite. I did...and got one back in return. It used to be the custom for me to use a lot of the coupons for slightly discounted sandwiches such as tuna or BLT or the club. Well, it looks like those familiar green sheets have now gone the way of the dinosaur. Now, the only coupons they have are those for free slices of cheese or bacon. The former used to be de rigueur for sandwiches. Man, this inflation does stink.

However, just down the hall in the station mall, the newest eatery opened up a couple of days ago. It looks like another one of those all-you-can-eat tonkatsu places. The picture of the pig in a chef's hat and apron gives it all away. It's usually my policy not to visit a restaurant in the first few months of its opening, since the service and the food are gonna go through some growing pains, but after the slight disappointment at Subway, I may be tempted. Certainly, after paying my income tax this Friday, I may be ready for some comfort food.

Looks like this Saturday may be chock-filled with classes. Not only do I have Tully & The Coffeemaker but I've got The Bostonian, an EIC student and The Businesswoman. Heck, I can't even teach The Dentist since the schedule will be so tight. And now, maybe The Manhattanite may be trying to inch herself in as well.

Wednesday March 12, 4:05 p.m.

Hump Day again....although not as big a hump this week. Jolly cancelled his lesson again last night, paired with the fact that The Siberian is away for this month (and maybe forever), meant that I could go home early. And The Nurse wasn't scheduled for her typical 10 a.m. lesson today. I could actually wake up a bit more leisurely without having to drag my sorry butt over to McDonalds for breakfast in the wee hours. And I could actually see a US Primary...mind you, it was far less than a Super Tuesday since it was just the one state of Mississippi up for grabs. Barack Obama got it handily.

This week is White Day Week. I've got my list of ladies who were kind enough to hand me chocolates last month on Valentine's Day, so I'm returning the favour. I already got 002 and Mrs. Mild their boxes, and 001 is on the list tonight. Then, there are the Sisters of State tomorrow night before they take off for Bali on Friday.

Speaking of the Milds, it was just Mr. Mild last night since his wife was stricken with a cold. Looks like he's been enjoying the retiree life quite nicely. He's been thinking of trying a new job to keep himself occupied. Must be nice.

Got word from Mrs. Tulip, ex of The Beehive, who's now living in T.O. Apparently, my parents visited her place to witness her Ohinasama ningyo display. Since the parentals were in the relatively same neighbourhood for their weekly tournament of bowling, they could come by. My brother and his family were also supposed to visit but the snowy weather kept them at bay. Not too sure if my brother would actually appreciate the annual Japanese ritual of displaying a three-tier showpiece of dolls, but my sister-in-law would be a bit more open.

After its explosive debut on Monday, my hay fever has been keeping a low profile since I've been taking the meds and wearing the masks. I've been very grateful.

Speaking of 001, she's back from her Alaskan adventure. Ostensibly, she and her friend were there to witness the Northern Lights...quite the travel magnet for Japanese folks nowadays, despite the sub-frigid temps up there (here in Tokyo, people bundle up like Eskimos at 10 C!). However, I'm sure The First Student found quite a few new ales to try out during her stay in The Klondike.

Got the first two packages of games over to The Anime King yesterday. In our latest correspondence, he let loose a bit of a diatribe on the evils of Facebook. Well, I had only asked him whether he did have an account since I came across his name there. Perhaps, he may be pulling off the same stunt that New York State's biggest loser, (soon-to-be-ex) Governor Eliot Spitzer tried. Man, and here I thought I was having a bad year. His story is reading off like a corporate Jekyll-and-Hyde book. I have come across his name in the past. He had a reputation of a namesake...that of Eliot Ness; and despite his family name of Spitzer, friends and foes alike probably likened him to a Rottweiler during his years as New York Attorney General. Not anymore...he probably has as much cachet now as an emaciated Chihuahua.

Came across some old TV chestnuts on Super Drama TV over the weekend. Saw the ancient cartoon of "The Jackson 5"...yep, that's right...Michael portrayed a cartoon character years before he actually became one. It was made back in the early, early 70s with all of the horribly clunky animation and groan-worthy one-liners that made up Saturday morning TV. However, it wasn't everyday that a cartoon had Stevie Wonder's "Ma Cherie Amour" as background music.

I also did catch the final episode of "Heroes" from Season 1 on the same satellite channel last night. So far, I've only seen the pilot...parts of it anyways...and then I came in about 20 minutes into this finale where the junior Petrelli did save the cheerleader and therefore the world. I would like to see what had happened in between but the nature of my job rather precludes that possibility and since I'm not into rentals and I'm definitely not gonna be buying the DVD set during my financial precariousness, I guess I'll just have to wait until Super Drama TV comes up with a "Heroes" marathon that I can be present for.
"Heroes" hasn't really caught on like wildfire here in Tokyo...despite the presence of Mr. "Yatta", Masi Oka. It's probably being absorbed by the niche folks...aka otaku. I guess one has to look like one of those Johnny's Entertainment mannikins to get noticed. Plus, Western superheroes don't really seem to be this population's cup of tea...on TV, anyways. "Smallville" never really made it big, and "Doctor Who" is just doing its rounds on NHK-3. But "Heroes" shouldn't feel too bad...no US show has really hit the Japanese zeitgeist since the days of "24" and "Sex And The City". "Lost","The O.C.", and the new "Battlestar Galactica" aren't exactly household words, either.

Monday March 10, 7:39 p.m.

As it turned out, the M+M meeting on Saturday was cancelled at the last minute since the senior M called me up to say that she'd caught one of her occasional migraines. So it was a full day at home. Sunday was just the little trip over to Nihombashi to teach The OL.

Today was the day that I finally got whacked by the scourge known as hay fever. It was a miserable morning to commute since it was cold and rainy, and I had to wear my mask as the nose drippings flowed down my filtrum. The sneezing started soon after. By the time I started with The Class Act, I was a mess. So The Lady was kind enough to give me a box of this medicine which one swabs inside one's nose; supposedly having a 1-cm thick coating of the stuff on the nasal passages should be enough to keep the pollen grains at bay....but only if one doesn't sneeze it out. Unfortunately, that is what happened. So it was time to buy the Benza Block pills which kicked in about a third of the way into SIL's lesson. Part of the talk was on enka, that Japanese version of Country & Western. Apparently, there is now an African-American guy who looks like a miniature of Will Smith (including hip-hop stylings) but croons those Japanese hurtin' songs like a middle-aged Japanese guy in a kimono. Celo is his name. I'll be keeping an eye and ear out for this lad.

I just taught one of Speedy's students while the bossman was absent on some business before meeting up with The Full-Timer. Now, it'll be about a couple of hours before my last student in the form of Medicine Man. Strangely enough, next Monday will be pretty sparse...atypical for the beginning of my week. I've had to cancel a Class Act session so that I can take care of The Nurse, but both SIL and The Full-Timer have asked to have their sessions cancelled as well. If Medicine Man decides to can (doubtful), I may actually be able to hit home very early. Otherwise, I'll probably end up playing I-go on the computer for several hours. I can only hope that Cozy sends me another one of his translation assignments.

Friday March 7, 6:29 p.m.

No mask necessary today, thankfully. Some cold rain and perhaps some ionization from a few bolts of lightning have probably zapped those nasty pollen grains back to earth and down a sewer somewhere.

Just enjoyed a pretty calm day today at home. Did some laundry which I was able to dry for some hours before taking them in as the clouds came overhead. I even did another dry run with my tax return. Looks like the bill is pretty much set at 30,000 yen which I'll be paying Uncle Osamu next week. Glad that I got some decent shuteye.

I also took care of another one of Cozy's rush translations. He didn't even attach anything...just wrote the text straight into my e-mail. It wasn't too difficult. In about 90 minutes, I've got Miss Disney for her second lesson, followed by The Ace. Then, it's back home.

I'm meeting M+M for the first time in several months tomorrow...certainly, it'll be the first time this year for one of our kaffeeklatschs. I'm gonna see if the three of us can have it in that traditional coffeehouse near Shinjuku Station...the one which The Madame and I had used to go to before we went our separate ways. It's a Saturday, so I'm a little unsure whether we'll be able to make it in with the usual crowds there.

Anyways, it's time to go over Miss Disney's lesson plan.

Thursday March 6, 3:56 p.m.

Well, digesting that massive McDonalds indoor picnic that Speedy had instigated. It was the bossman, me, BC and Pooh taking care of a lot of french fries, burgers and Mcnuggets. It would've made for a new scene in "Supersize Me". So, I think dinner will not be really be an option for me...unless it consists of salad.

The Admin has quietly left the coop so that she can focus more time on helping out her husband's work. So, it's basically BC and Pooh putting in some extra time. The Nurse yesterday expressed some regret about The Admin's departure since she was a very calming influence on the office. I would have to agree.

Today's lesson I learned from Wikipedia: old 80's band Level 42 (actually, I shouldn't say "old" since they have regrouped recently) used to be part of M, that one-hit wonder behind "Pop Muzik" back in 1979. Always loved that first big international hit of theirs, "Something About You".

Thursday March 6, 11:47 a.m.

So far, so good on the start of hay fever season. The masks are out there but I haven't become a fluid-spouting mess quite yet although the season unofficially started last weekend. I haven't even had to run out to get the medicine although I'm sure that'll change over the coming weeks. One factor is that the weather has gotten cold again, so those pollen grains have been staying in their buds for the most part.

Just have The Yogist for one today after three straight days of nearly wall-to-wall classes. I've had to catch up on my sleep on the subways. Rather relaxing, though. Speedy's decided to go for the Golden Arches' blitz after my lesson; good thing, too, since not only will be hungrier but the lunch chaos should be gone by then.

I got word from The Entrepreneur that his "Doctor Who" tape for me got caught in the postal red tape and has been returned to him. I was wondering what had happened to it, but the same thing happened to me some months ago when I sent my niece a doll for her birthday. Should be OK now.

Wednesday March 5, 10:19 p.m.

Got the last two lessons out of the way. The Diver was a bit more unsure of herself this time around but was still much better than her very first Nervous Nellie class. And then The Bostonian had a good inaugural class. However, but we now have two ladies vying for the same time slot on the same night since 001 will be coming back next week to claim her slot in the early evening. The bossman and I were commiserating about that one for a few minutes. I'm hoping that The Bostonian is truly the kind-hearted young lady that she's coming across as, and will not mind the next Saturday afternoon slot.

Feeling somewhat tired and hungry now but not exactly filled with options at the moment. And besides, I do have to head back here for The Yogist's lesson at 1 tomorrow. But since those McD's coupons will be expiring on the 6th, the bossman has resolved to use them up in one big gulp. So, no lunch will be needed.

Speaking of 001, I wonder how she's handling the subarctic climate of Alaska right now. She'll probably have quite the stories to tell next week.

Wednesday March 5, 5:17 p.m.

Looks like pantsuits are still in. Apparently, Hillary has won both Texas and Ohio in what's turning out to be the most epic battle in US Primary history. Not sure if it was the SNL appearance that put her ahead this time around. Meanwhile, John McCain can finally relax a bit and see his enemies duke it out from the comfort of his own den for the next few months.

Just came back from teaching The New Yorker. It'll be the last one before she takes off with her sister next week to Bali. So I'll have to get those White Day chocolates over to the Sisters of State by next Thursday when I teach The Carolinan.

Speaking of chocolates, we here at Speedy's have got quite the mission trying to devour all of the chocolates that the older students keep plying us with. There's a tradition of paying tribute to teachers amongst the senior generation. I would have ended the last sentence with "...that's sadly lacking with the young'uns..." but the tradition is working just a bit too well, if you know what I mean. We even got chocolate marshmallow pies from Korea for some reason. Yup, that's right...when I think Korea, I think chocolate marshmallow pies.

Well, it's just The Diver and then The Bostonian. Maybe I will get some sleep tonight.

Wednesday March 5, 12:36 p.m.

One of those long patches of nothing to do between lessons. I've got The New Yorker at 3...maybe...probably....I've got her down at 3, and I usually put down her time right at the end of the lesson since she pulls out her schedule immediately after she's paid me. Being a bit paranoid, I tried sending word to her cellphone but for some reason, I can't get through. I've now sent word to her sister, The Carolinan, to find out if The New Yorker has changed it.

The Nurse was her usual self...although at one point, she started sniffling. Not sure if it was hay fever...or something else. I don't believe I've offended her. I've had to bump The Class Act off the 17th for her since her schedule has been royally tight. So, that'll be a big drop in income for that day, but The Nurse has been a very loyal student for the past year.

John McCain can now drop that "presumptive" label from his title of Republican Presidential Candidate. He's just reached the magic number and Mike Huckabee has dropped out. Now, he can rub his hands in glee as the Democratic rivals still continue to slug it out. The folks at CNN must be either skipping in ecstacy over that race....or reaching for their TUMS.

Wednesday March 5, 9:45 a.m.

After a warm spell, it's back to (relative) cold again. Another Hump Day...although it won't be the top-heavy schedule of Monday and Tuesday. Had a lot of commuters sniffling away on the subway coming to work this morning. A lot of corresponding masks as well, including on my fat mug.

The Milds regaled me with their "interesting" adventure through India. They said they went through a bit of culture shock traveling last week in terms of a number of things such as clean towels and washrooms. I don't mean to offend anyone living in the country, but my two retired students said that they were quite happy to be back home here, although it was truly an eye-opening experience for them. Got the tons of photos and a souvenir of a package of darjeeling tea.

Both Mild Jr and Jolly were undergoing some rather lousy bouts of hay fever themselves during the lesson. However, Jolly did enjoy his trip to Hokkaido last weekend after his Client From Hell had raked him over the coals.

I see that the Canadians have gotten their little taste of the nastiness of US Presidential Politics after that leaked memo concerning one of Obama's assistants supposedly reassuring the Canadian Consul-General in Chicago that his anti-NAFTA brimstone was really just smoke and mirrors. Hmmm....hasn't seemed to hurt Obama any...he just won Vermont. Still, I'm sure the Canadian government will be announcing "Act Nonchalantly" Day shortly.

The Nurse should be coming in any moment...

Tuesday March 4, 6:33 p.m.

Ah, such an O. Henryesque ending. I finally had the one big hit class with Chip N' Dale...and then the boss tells me that they'll finishing up later this month. But I kinda figured that they wouldn't be staying too much longer. However, the boss told me that she'll try and fill up the 6-7 time slot.

The Carolinan sent me word to get that new venue opened up at the Ichigaya Starbucks for her next lesson. BC's good to go with it as well. And we'll see about finally getting that reservation done for the Greek restaurant in Roppongi at the end of the month. Spyro's, I believe it's called.

It'll be another early start for tomorrow. I've got The Nurse for the first time in about 2 weeks. And then it'll be The New Yorker in Ichigaya (I'll still keep her at Tully's since there's almost no way that I can get a table during the day at the Starbucks...plus, she is a smoker) before The Diver and perhaps The Bostonian.

Hay fever has started in earnest. All that pollen from all those cedar trees has started clogging up my nasal passages. However, it hasn't been too bad so far...my nose has been running a bit but no major sneezing fits. But I've got the mask on now....as have so many other commuters.

Tuesday March 4, 4:52 p.m.

It's been a conventional start to the week. The usual busy Monday with The Class Act, SIL, The Full-Timer and then Medicine Man. However, I did have a model lesson student in between the last two folks. Pretty fluent young lady but can still use our help. Keeping our fingers crossed on that one.

Also tried to do some more tweaking with Cozy's translations. Luckily, I haven't heard anything from him in the last 24 hours so maybe that's a good sign.

Tuesday has also been rather usual as well. Despite the somewhat awkward situation last week with The Beehive over my financial situation, the ladies were in back into their old mode. They were happily discussing about their upcoming trip to Croatia in May. They also seemed to like that one page from my new Business Vocab book that I've been using with students like The Coffeemaker, Jolly and The Carolinan. 002 was her usual happy self. And I've got the juku crowd in about an hour. The Milds should be back from their India trip today; it ought to be interesting how they fared. Hopefully, neither of them ended up with Delhi Belly.

Sunday March 2, 1:51 p.m.

I was pretty lucky to find an empty booth on a Sunday at the I-cafe today. I thought I would have to line up. As it is, though, I got one and have been working on corrections to some of Cozy's replies to my first translations. Not easy. In fact, I'm thinking of talking with SIL tomorrow during some of her lesson to get some insight. I wouldn't ask The Class Act since they don't have the ability to express their thoughts on that level.

Came home last night feeling all knotty. I actually did splurge some yen (although it isn't like the old days (my food bill came out to just 1,600 yen in total) on a bento consisting of rice and a piece of salmon. Mom called last night to confirm that my brother and his family will be moving a little further out into the boonies outside Toronto into a larger home. He even invited Mom and Dad to move with them, but Mom demurred since she is still working, and it would be a huge commuting headache to get into town. Apparently, some of the relations on Dad's side will be coming into town in a few months for a visit. Mom told me that the only cousin I really got to know and her hubby are now well-to-do retirees in their fifties traveling the world. Even if she doesn't mean to do it...she makes me feel very guilty. Well, there's always the lottery.

Just had The OL at the cafe in Nihombashi this morning. Did well.

Saturday March 1, 1:41 p.m.

March is here and the breathing is tough. Yup, hay fever season is in full swing again. All those TV reports on masks have starting popping up like fleas. I even got my own little pack of 105 yen masks from the dollar shop downstairs.

Well, paid more of my debts last night. A bit more off my back.

Saw The Coffeemaker this morning at the coffee shop. Tully himself was a no-show but we both figured that he was busy working on his paper for university.

I've got The Manhattanite in about half an hour and then another new student a couple of hours later. I had lunch at China Quick. I usually go for the large bento box special for 750 yen, but this time I went for the other option...which was this big bowl of ramen with a huge continent of BBQ pork or cha-shiu. It goes for 800...and I definitely got my yen's worth. That picture was misleading in the other way. My piece of meat looked like the answer to "What if Piglet starred in Ian Roth's 'Hostel'?" It was this huge hunk of tender pork with plenty of fat. I concluded that my protein and fat requirements were duly answered in this bowl. The soup itself was pretty ordinary but as the fat slowly melted, things did improve. However, I'll probably head back to my bento next time.

Tonight, I'll just have the salad, thank you very much.

Friday February 29, 6:01 p.m.

A quiet Friday. I did the dry run of my tax return today...not too bad, I only have to pay an extra 200 yen over last year. Still, my year is pretty much set financially in that I'm gonna have to be very careful over the next several months.

Looks like Prince Harry's cover has been blown. The Royal has (or had) been plying his military trade for the past 2 months in Afghanistan. I hope he has an exit strategy. Now, every Taliban soldier is out for blue blood.

Saw Janet Jackson on Larry King this morning. Still hot at 41...I can't even believe she's that age now. I will always see her as Willis' girlfriend on "Different Strokes". Pretty laid back today, compared to Valerie Bertinelli's somewhat caffeinated appearance the other day.

Anyways, I've got Miss Disney in a couple of hours and then The Ace. I've just been prepping for the weekend classes.

The Carolinan was hinting that she would probably like to move to another site for future lessons, preferably one that doesn't allow smoking. To be honest, my coat smelled pretty putrid from the coffee & smoke at Tully's. We will probably have to try the Starbucks by the station.

Thursday February 28, 12:34 p.m.

The usual orderly chaos in the office right now. The Admin will be making the slow fadeout from our school over the next few weeks...much like the others preceding her, since she does have to help out her husband's work. But she'll be generous enough to fill in on Wednesdays for the next little while until we find a new day-to-day person. BC has been good but both Speedy and I think that she's just not ready to take the top spot. It's too bad The Admin's leaving...she's been a very steadying influence, especially when compared to the occasionally manic bossman.

I've just gotten off the translation over to Cozy. Maybe I'll get another assignment hopefully.

Thursday February 28, 11:42 a.m.

The last day of the month....only it is Leap Year, isn't it? I believe the term is known as urudoshi in Japanese.

Back for The Yogist in about an hour or so. Cozy has finally gotten in the payment for my services, and I'm ready to hand in my latest work for him. Looks like he'll be like the juku boss and Speedy, and pay me at the end of the month. Good for me anyways, since I need to get the textbook for the juku's new student, Miss Disney. I'll be going with World Link Intro...it's been good for me and the low students...namely The Diver.

After that retrospective interview with Elton John on Larry King the other night, I've been listening to John on the old stereo. Tunes like "Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road" and "Your Song" have been quite soothing during these trying times.

Anyways, back to my scallop-flavoured crackers...

Wednesday February 27, 10:51 p.m.

The Diver is slowly gaining her sea legs as pertains to English...a good sign. And it looks like my model lesson student is another lock. 2 for 2! She's a charming one...don't worry, I'll keep it professional. Pretty good delivery and comprehension but somewhat underconfident and lacking in vocabulary. I dub her The Bostonian.

Anyways, I'm out of here. But I'll be back again in about 12 hours time for the weekly session with The Yogist and then The Carolinan.

Wednesday February 27, 4:17 p.m.

Well, it looks like I wasn't the only fellow going through a Black Friday last week. I got nearly wiped out by my real estate agency, but Jolly (who was not too jolly last night when he raced in) had to endure one of the trials by fire that an eigyoman (sales rep) goes through. Due to a slipup somewhere, he had to go over to a client's company and apologize by bowing really, really deeply while the client berated him. He wasn't a happy camper, let's say. However, he will be heading off to Hokkaido on Friday with a fellow snowboarding buddy to lick his wounds. He's actually heading over to the same resort that 001 had gone to a couple of weeks ago. I gave him a small taste, literally, by giving him some of those scallop-flavoured crackers.

The winds were still whipping up something fierce until about noon, so the laundry had to come in, lest they end up flying over The Pacific.

I've just a couple of students tonight: The Diver and then a model lesson student for Business English. Hope I'm 2 for 2 with the latter since I locked up Miss Disney last night at the juku. The Manhattanite called in for a lesson on Saturday afternoon after Tully & The Coffeemaker and before yet another new student. Surprisingly, Miss SDF, that former soldier-turned-homestay student in Toronto, dropped in to say hello and give us a souvenir of icewine chocolates. Looks like we have another convert to the Toronto life...she'll be returning after her first tour of duty there.

I've been watching Larry King the last couple of times. Looks like it's 70s week. Sir Elton John came in as a much more sober-sided Knight of the Realm, instead of the notorious hissyfit-throwing prince of flamboyance. And then, this morning, I saw Valerie Bertinelli from that old sitcom chestnut, "One Day At A Time". Man, she looks great at 47!

Tuesday February 26, 9:51 p.m.

It's raining nearly cats and dogs...ironic that the juku cat came in through my window all wet. Well, that model lesson student came in and she's now a lock for Friday nights before The Ace comes in. She reminds me a lot of Seven....she's a fairly low student but she's got potential. She hails from Aichi Prefecture, the home province of Nagoya City. I'll have to check out her regional accent someday. Like Seven, she also seems to have a great love for all things Disney. In fact, she went to Hong Kong last week...to see HK Disneyland. That's something, considering that there's a Disneyland just a stone's throw away from here. I guess until further notice, my new Seven will be tagged Miss Disney.

And along with that new hello may be a goodbye of sorts. The Siberian came in to state that he finally got that start to his career at a printing firm in downtown Tokyo. So, he'll probably be quite scarce, especially since he'll be assigned to eigyobu...Sales Department. As with the millions of other twentysomethings, he'll be starting the new phase of his life in April.

Ahhh...Jolly has actually shown up. Should be fun.

Tuesday February 26, 7:15 p.m.

The education of the folly of my ways is continuing. I met The Beehive at the usual place. And I was very contrite and grateful for the ladies' help. They were quite concerned for my well-being...as all of us have said time and again, they are like my surrogate mothers. And like a mother, Mrs. Alp became the designated admonisher. It wasn't a full bore chewout, and the fact that Mrs. Travel was kinda giggling at the same time made it known that it was not all that serious, but Mrs. Alp made it clear that I was gonna be given a bit of an asskicking...or a light spanking, in any event. Mrs. Alp was just as much worried as ticked off. Both her and Travel said that even their husbands were worried about me. Of course, I took the tongue lashing with the respect I had for them and just imagined that if it had been my real mother, I would have been figuratively thrown across the room. But the message was still clear from them....I have to get my affairs in order while I try to get over the guilt trip that I'm now wading through since I have kinda gotten the ladies in a bit of a tizzy. Later in the day, I did pay off some further debt with the money they gave me.
The gloomy atmosphere didn't last long since we were all back to our smiley selves (well, at least I tried to put on a brave face) and talking current events.

002 was fine as usual. I haven't told her anything about my situation and none of the Speedy group will be told. I got to the juku, and the boss has given me a document to hand into the real estate agency along with her consent of guarantorship. There will be another payment; this time, the renewal fee due next Monday.

Just had Chip N' Dale. Dale was back to her sleepy n' sniffly self. For some reason, she seems to get lackadaiscal whenever her buddy comes with her. However, I've been using their class along with the other lessons over the past few days as therapy, as a tonic of sorts. Work does make for a good diversion. Mild Jr. just dotakyan'ed, as I thought he would. Since his parents are currently doing the Indian tour, although he said that he got saddled with work, I kinda figured that he wouldn't be able to make it today. I do have a model lesson with a young lady in about half an hour in lieu of The Milds. And I've just gotta see about The Siberian and Jolly. I hope they do show up.

The winds were whipping up something awful around the time that the kids came in. But it sounds calm now. Looks like rain tonight. I'm happy that tomorrow classes won't be starting up til 7:30 with The Diver...I can get some sleep time in although I may be brooding again. 001 will be away for the next couple of weeks due to an unfortunate need to do the night shift Wednesday night, and then an Alaskan trip the week after. I've also got another model lesson right after as well.

Monday February 25, 9:09 p.m.

Well, tomorrow I'll be meeting The Beehive, ladies who are now gonna be investing me in a way that none of us had expected to do so. As I said, they'll kindly be advancing me some money to keep my head over water...and for that matter, away from the exhaust pipe. It may be a bit awkward, and I kinda wonder if I should be going to lunch with them as I usually have done. I do have that assigned lunch of scallop-flavoured crackers, y'know. At this point, I'm keeping my financial situation from being known from anyone else....just the juku boss and The Beehive. I'm not even telling my biggest patrons, The Class Act, since they've been very generous with me in the past.

It's good then to find out that my brother and his family have been able to find their own detached house even farther into the boonies. I only found out by accident by reading the status bar of my sister-in-law on her Facebook account. At first, I'd thought that there was some serious marital discord, but...whew...it was just a move. I can only imagine how much bigger this new place is gonna be like. I think their soon-to-be former place is a pretty spacious deal. Well, at least someone in the family has actually succeeded. And nope, I won't be telling them either. And neither will you, Shard!

Monday February 25, 8:39 p.m.

The Japan angle on the Academy Awards was one itty-bitty acute angle barely 10 degrees: there was a film up for Best Foreign Language Film called "Mongol" from Kazakhstan (no idea whether this was an official rebuttal to "Borat") which starred Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano, the same guy who was in the cult fave "Ichi the Killer". Nope, didn't win. Too bad since Fuji-TV's entertainment reporter, Mr. Karube (my clone, by the way) was posted outside his hotel waiting for the actor to come on out in his tux.

However, the really big news was about that odd fellow, Kazuyoshi Miura (nope, not the legendary soccer player), who had been charged and later acquitted of murdering his wife way back in 1981 in Los Angeles. Well, apparently the LA police aren't done with him quite yet since they had him arrested in Saipan...a US territory. Took all of the folks here by surprise.

Last night, while I was digesting my corned beef n' cabbage, I was watching a 2-hour special on The History Channel called "The Life and Times of Harvey Milk". I'd always heard about the famous openly gay city councillor in San Francisco and his subsequent assassination thirty years ago but never really knew what had happened until last night. It was interesting to find out about his dedication to public service and his inevitable rise to public office in the first hour and then his killing in the second. Now, I realize what The Twinkie Defense was all about. The special was dated...probably only a few years after the fact. I checked out Wikipedia about what had happened to the killer, Dan White. The special only mentioned that he had been released in 1984 without any sort of remedial therapy. Well, I guess the special must've been released just several months before White's suicide. It also asked about whether Harvey Milk brought about some change. He did but there's still much more to be done when it comes to the issue of gay marriage. And just this morning, I saw a CNN report on some openly gay teenager who was just shot to death by one of his classmates.

Somewhat less tragic but nearly as sordid was an incident that had happened during the New Year's holidays up in northern Japan. Up there, there is a custom in which young or middle-aged men dress up in demon costumes and dance into invited houses to rid them of evil spirits and take payment in form of the family's booze and food. Well, it looks like one of the young devils was indeed a devil...he merely decided to part from the main pack at a hot spring and invade the women-only part of the bath; and before you can say Ken Shimura, he ended up doing some major groping of the nude women.
The article may have ramped up the seriousness of the situation since it reported that none of the women there decided to charge the 20-year-old dolt (the only spirits invading his soul were of the liquid variety); probably everyone there just thought that "Boys will be boys".
However, the article...which I discussed with SIL today....did remind me of a place that my ex had pointed out to me. Some years ago, between our official breakup and the time that she'd completely disappeared from my life, we had lunch at one of her favourite tonkatsu restaurants. When we left the place, she nonchalantly told me that the place upstairs was known as a chikan (groper) bar. This is a place whose interior is designed as a subway car in which female staff just hang around as supposedly unsuspecting commuters while the male customers come in, order their drinks and then....well...squeeze the Charmin. Mr. Whipple would have a major coronary. Yep, it's just like my old friend once told me....Japanese men are perverts.

Monday February 25, 7:23 p.m.

Well, I'm poor...what do I do now? At this point, I'm just glad that I got paid by Speedy today and that The Beehive is giving me that advance. Of course, I also have whatever the juku boss is giving me this Friday.
As for expenditures, I can pretty much say goodbye to just about anything that isn't absolutely necessary for survival or the job. Which means sayonara to movie nights (I'm gonna miss MB, Skippy and the rest of the bunch), magazines and CDs. And even my culinary habits will have to change as well. On Mondays, for instance, Wendy's was the usual destination after my 90 with The Class Act. Today I didn't have them since The Lady was off to witness her first Paris Collection, but if I did have them, the famed burger emporium would no longer be on my list. In fact, today I had my first real taste of my new life...I just had a small handful of scallop-flavoured crackers with bits of real scallop for lunch up on the rooftop of the Matsuzakaya Department Store near where I teach SIL. Ironic, since I had passed through Maruzen in Otemachi to pick up the latest issue of METROPOLIS for SIL...I passed by Com Pho, my old Vietnamese lunch haunt. I don't think I'll be hitting that place anytime soon anymore. Yesterday, I just rustled up some corned beef and cabbage with my rice....always good cheap fare.

As I said before, it's a smaller lineup today...well, it's basically the same number of lessons as last week, although without that rash of cancellations. I had SIL and I just had The Full-Timer right now. We met in the usual smoky Doutors branch near the station. She had a short trip in Guam for which she brought back some small souvenirs for me....happily, they're food. Looks like she may be facing some big decisions of her own as well. It seems like she has a bit of a crackpot for a manager, so she's starting to think about moving onto better things. After that, I've only got Medicine Man. Fortunately, he has decided to continue on with his lessons; in fact, he's hooked up for the full package.

It was Oscar Night.....not that it really mattered to me. Most of the movies that were up for Best Picture haven't even arrived here yet. Of course, CNN had most of its smarmy best by the red carpet. It was just interesting for the fact that things were back to normal after that writers' strike. Kinda wonder how Jon Stewart did.

Monday February 25, 5:17 p.m.

After the nightmare financial crunch of Friday, I was able to get some good news via The Beehive. The juku boss had been rather hesitant about the extra month's rent I needed since I am already indebted to her husband for the guarantorship...that is, if the real estate agency does accept it. So I had to ask...beg...for The Hive's help. Luckily, on Sunday morning, just before I left to teach The OL, Mrs. Travel called up to say that she and the other ladies would advance me several weeks' worth of fee to cover the shortfall.

So it was with some relief on Saturday that I could take some time out to visit The Cat up in Nagano Prefecture. Sure, it cost me over 10,000 yen in Bullet Train round-trip fare to get up there and back, but it was certainly better than moping around the apartment.
Tokyo Station was bustling with folks heading to various places around the country, and it wasn't even a long weekend. It was the first time that I'd gone onto the Bullet since the last time I'd been up to see The Cat and her family, and that was at least a couple of years ago. I took a non-reserved seat in the last car; the train was about 8 minutes late getting out...something that turned out to be an inadvertent omen of sorts, but more on that later.
Tokyo was balmy at 15 C and sunny. Of course, I knew that the trip up to Nagano would show a differing climate as I approached it. And sure enough, once we got through the tunnel in the Japanese Alps, the weather changed dramatically from balmy and sunny to overcast and snowy. By the time I reached the resort town of Karuizawa, the Japanese version of Banff, Alberta, it was looking pretty much like Xmas again. That Bing Crosby tune from "White Christmas"..."Snow", was starting to ring in my noggin' once more. The next station over was my destination, Sakudaira. Actually, although the snow was on the ground, Saku City was a bit less snowier and more sleety.
The Cat was there with the car and her two little kittens to pick me up. And it was just a 10-minute drive back to her apartment. Her hubby was at work all day. It was a nice homey visit. I brought over a small package of strawberry cakes for the family (I may be destitute right now, but I still think going empty-handed to someone's house is a sin). The Cat's two daughters have gotten used to me and we actually engaged in an afternoon's worth of playtime. The elder sister seems to have a talent for building things with her blocks...I sense future urban planner. Kinda reminded me of Linus Van Pelt and some of his creations in the earlier Peanuts strips.
The Cat whipped up some rice curry for all of us and then after the few hours of playtime, we all took a drive around the area just to freshen ourselves up a bit. The Cat had wanted to show me Mt. Asama, but the clouds obliterated that view. We got back home and then she and her elder daughter got busy making dinner out of Nagoya-style chicken wings (you gotta try these ones), fried potatoes and a Quattro pizza that she'd ordered.
I actually stayed an hour later than scheduled since The Cat told me that her husband would be back around 8 p.m. It would've been a pity if I'd gone without at least giving him my respects in person. And sure enough, he did get back to have a 30-minute chitchat before driving me back to the station. By that time, Saku was pitch black (no chance of downtown lighting obscuring the night view), the temps had plummeted to -4 C, and there was a fair blizzard whipping up around us.
I said earlier on that there was an 8-minute delay with the train headed to Saku. Well, it looks like The Cat's request to stay around another hour was a good one. Apparently, there had been a major power outage on the Nagano Shinkansen Line which pretty much screwed the schedule for the entire day, including 2 hours of no service whatsoever. As it was, though, it took 20 minutes longer than expected for my return train to reach Ueno Station because of the log jam of Bullets trying to get in and out of Tokyo Station. So I decided not to take that chance and got off at Ueno. Luckily, the rest of the trip home was uneventful. Still, Tokyo had gotten a taste of a climactic barrage of a different sort...in the form of a sandstorm, thanks to the Japanese equivalent of the Chinook winds in Canada and perhaps the Santa Ana winds in the US.

But the main event was yesterday. The entire Kanto got majorly buffeted by some powerful gales. There was a whole lot of whistling going on around my apartment for virtually the entire day and night. I was thinking the Tozai Line would be cut off due to the high winds but surprisingly enough, it was still running. I was lucky that I didn't have to go outside at all to see The OL. All I had to do was just get off at Nihombashi Station and just go through the downtown entrance of the Coredo Mall to reach the Ueshima Cafe where I taught her.

More later....

Friday February 22, 2:07 p.m.

Well, the juku boss did say that this year, my 42nd year, would be one of the most trying ones. And it looks like the omen is coming true. It all started with that letter from my real estate agency stating that I was delinquent in my rent for February. I thought it was some stupid clerical error...I've been very good for the past 14 years when it came to paying my bills. I faxed them proof via copies of my passbook and then called the agency up when I didn't hear from them. Finally, I had to go over to the agency in person to find out what was going on. Let's say I wasn't too impressed with their service.
However, I think it was just as well that I did go in person. The clerk over there looked into my records and found out that there was indeed an error...somehow in the past, I ended up not paying for one month. And so, I've now got to pay that along with the March rent and the lease renewal fee which is 1.5 times the regular rent. Basically, I'm gonna go broke. I asked rather urgently whether there was a mistake in the computer. But the clerk patiently and with some sympathy showed me through the printout that none was to be found. You can imagine that I wasn't feeling too good. With a sense of shock and dismay, I rather moped out of there. I didn't make direct eye contact with her but I could sense that she was also feeling a bit tense; I could imagine that she's had some rather more tempestuous confrontations in the past over these sorts of deals.
I've just had to do something that I really hate to do...and that is go begging hat in hand. I've sent an SOS of sorts to the juku boss herself. She's already volunteered to be my guarantor for the apartment, so I was hesitant to ask her again...but she's also the one who did offer to help me out financially before. It's gonna be a bad year.

Ironically, I then had to go down to Akasaka to the HQ of the real estate agency to find out about the change in guarantor. As I was heading down on the subway, I was just in a bit of a daze; I didn't bother to find a seat...just stood by the door. True to my luck today, I got off at Akasaka since the address said Moto-Akasaka...only thing is that Moto-Akasaka was nearest the Ginza Line station, Akasaka-Mitsuke, rather than Akasaka Station on the Chiyoda Line. So I had to walk another 1o minutes through the ritzy neighbourhood. I got to the HQ. The lobby looked distinctly Kubrickian with noone there. It was one of those reception areas in which I had to go to a phone and dial an extension number to summon someone. So I did so and got someone from the relevant section to meet me.
A fellow who looked like the recently departed Barry Morse came out to meet me. He had that demeanor of a very efficient butler...and had the height to show for it as well. Rather towered over me although he wasn't intimidating. He gave me his card and I told him about my situation. He went back to his office and then returned to let me know that the juku boss needs to hand in a document along with my form for lease renewal. I wasn't in a good mood but I appreciated his level of service as he opened the door for me to exit.

So I'm back here at Speedy's after having had lunch at McDs (I wonder if that will be the fanciest meal I'll ever have for the rest of this year). I have to take over one lesson for the bossman who's had to go in for some emergency surgery concerning his colon. I hope it isn't too serious. He told BC, who's the only other person here, that she'll have to hold the fort for the day. Although he'll be back here tomorrow, he's de facto incommunicado until Monday.
But it looks like that little filming here yesterday has already paid off. The feature on our little school got televised at noon today on the TBS variety show. And people have already started to call in about us. Ironically, I was right in front of TBS when I got off at Akasaka.

Not sure what or how things are gonna shape up for the next several weeks into Spring.

Thursday February 21, 3:54 p.m.

The filming finished almost 30 minutes ago. Pretty painless, although BC just confided that she absolutely hates being put out in public. I just kept my mouth shut, eyes on the screen and fingers on the keyboard. The "student" in this case was one of those PYT (pretty young things..thought I would channel Michael Jackson here) and was pretty loud...I guess they gotta be when they're on TV.

Found out through Facebook that both The Entrepreneur and The Dancer have become members of this huge community. Sent them a little greeting.

Thursday February 21, 2:40 p.m.

We've got the TV guys in here and Speedy's giving them the dog n' pony show about the school. Just prelims right now...the filming should be getting under way in about 20 minutes. No celebs but that's no skin off my nose.

The Yogist didn't have any big effusive statements about her first ever marathon on Sunday, but she said that she'd enjoyed it much more than expected. Obviously since it was her first one, she has been suffering the usual muscle aches and pains brought on by pushing her body to the limit. She's not quite sure whether she'll re-enlist for next year.

I dropped a line onto The Entrepreneur since I hadn't heard from him in a number of weeks. He got back to me pretty quickly. Apparently, he had tried to send me a message last week but obviously he didn't make it through. Looks like he and his relatively new bride are still very much in the honeymoon phase...they'd gone to some little inn for Valentine's Day last week. Ahh...a different world.

Right now, the TV crew is starting its dry run for the filming. The rather genki director has recruited BC into the fun...although BC may be rather bemused by it all. I'll have to talk it over with her tonight. Speedy is trying to calm her down although I'm not sure what his state of mind is like, either. I'm just working here.

Rehearsal one has just launched. BC looks like she's holding things together. I think I did get into the shot....and we're about to do another take. I'm starting to understand how these things are being put together. And I wonder how actors and actresses can take this sort of thing for 18 hours.

Anyways, more on this later...

Thursday February 21, 12:40 p.m.

Looks like the flu/cold/hay fever bug has been taking its toll locally. A few of our students and even The Admin's son has taken ill today. So, Mrs Speedy is taking over at the desk today. The Yogist should be coming around here in about 20 minutes. After that, it'll be another five hours of nothing before I take care of BC and her essay. However, during that interval, one of the local variety shows will be appearing here for a bit of filming for one of their segments to be shown. It had been a while since the last shuzai...most of the filming centred around Mr. Influence's project of Cooking in English. So I'm gonna have to primp myself up a bit...or just hide in the closet for the next few hours or so.

BC's got a big English test coming up this Saturday so she's pretty nervous about her written segment, so recently our one-on-ones have been on her essay writing skills. She's not too bad..not too imaginative but she gets the job done. She has the usual structural issues such as omitted articles and prepositions as even a lot of the advanced students do. We'll be having a business dinner of sorts since we'll be going to the Chianti place next door...home of the Chianti Burger...that messy monstrosity that I'll definitely not be ordering tonight lest BC really wants me to leave some residue on her stuff.

Well, I sent my bill to Cozy regarding those first three translation projects I did for him. He had no problems with it and I'm looking forward to a little moola being transferred into my account soon. He's also sent over the next assignment. I've got about a week on that one.

I'm looking forward to the Yogist's tale of her run through downtown Tokyo on Sunday during the marathon.

Wednesday February 20, 8:06 p.m.

001 is quite the tonic....another one of those lessons whose contents could belong to any winning sitcom. She always marvels at how quickly the time flies...despite the fact that we go non-stop for 80 minutes. Her ski trip to Hokkaido was its usual glamourous thrill, except that the flight home turned out to be delay after delay due to various reasons. And yet she'll be gone for another 2 weeks...next week is just because she unfortunately pulled the night shift but the week after will be the big international trip to Alaska.

Well, now it's just The Diver. She's not nearly as gabby or as confident as 001 so there will be some more effort needed on my part. However, if she shows the promise that she did last week, then I think the next hour will be pretty painless.