Thursday May 1, 11:48 a.m.
I see that May Day has arrived. Still very pleasant out there. Apparently, back in the Big Smoke, The Anime King reports that the temps there dropped below zero. In a city where I've seen it snow in May, nothing surprises me there meterologically.
Apparently, those supposedly hard-to-unload Mogu dolls have gone like hotcakes. Speedy was somewhat surprised to say that the whole litter of them may be given away by nightfall. I'll probably give California Girl my doll if she really wants one. She's been busy over there on the West Coast whipping a soundtrack for some indie movie. Amazing where some folks' careers go.
Did the books last night just before bedtime. Was a bit disappointed that I didn't save nearly as much as I did last month, but last month was a bit of a fluke in any case. However, message received...will have to be more austere this time. As I usually do, I am dreading the arrival of the premium schedules for NHI and City Tax.
The blockbuster season starts up in America today. "Iron Man" gets its launch; I've been hearing that it's a good, not great, superhero flick. What makes it good is Robert Downey Jr. The Little Tramp becomes Shellhead. I've been reading my issue of "Total Film" with the cover story of the return of Indiana Jones. Should be a great summer...Indy's coming over here on June 21st.
And Ja-a-a-a-a-ck Nicholson made his presence known yesterday here to campaign for his movie with Morgan Freeman. He was his usual smirking self.
Well, I'll be heading home in a few minutes to get some household stuff such as buying a microwave and picking up the cleaning. It'll be a nice switch from teaching.
Just a place to deposit my thoughts on life here in the Kanto and about anything else that sticks to my walls.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday April 30, 9:43 p.m.
Finished up with The Diver about half an hour ago. She was her slightly timid self but did pretty well with the Simple Present. She's off for a bit of diving off of Izu-Oshima during the Golden Week weekend. That's what she lives for. I wasn't quite able to foist one of our dolls on her but Speedy was able to get two onto his student, and Skippy has shown interest. I've sent over pics as a courtesy.
I have gotten yet another Facebook friend in the form of California Girl from the ol' school. I've only seen her sporadically in the past number of years since obviously she's put up stakes in The Golden State. She's an old compadre of SR who introduced me to The Carolinan who introduced me to The New Yorker and BC. And SR also introduced The Full-Timer as well, so I'm quite indebted to her. In any case, California Girl has become the 2nd one from the old school to join the harem of Facebook friends. I've even asked her if she would like a doll from Polygons.
Well, I'll be heading home in about 10 minutes since I'll be back here in less than 12 hours to teach The Nurse. Looks like my May will be even busier since I'll be taking over some of Speedy's students during his long business trip. The money will be nice to have although Mom might be wondering what my students are putting me through.
Finished up with The Diver about half an hour ago. She was her slightly timid self but did pretty well with the Simple Present. She's off for a bit of diving off of Izu-Oshima during the Golden Week weekend. That's what she lives for. I wasn't quite able to foist one of our dolls on her but Speedy was able to get two onto his student, and Skippy has shown interest. I've sent over pics as a courtesy.
I have gotten yet another Facebook friend in the form of California Girl from the ol' school. I've only seen her sporadically in the past number of years since obviously she's put up stakes in The Golden State. She's an old compadre of SR who introduced me to The Carolinan who introduced me to The New Yorker and BC. And SR also introduced The Full-Timer as well, so I'm quite indebted to her. In any case, California Girl has become the 2nd one from the old school to join the harem of Facebook friends. I've even asked her if she would like a doll from Polygons.
Well, I'll be heading home in about 10 minutes since I'll be back here in less than 12 hours to teach The Nurse. Looks like my May will be even busier since I'll be taking over some of Speedy's students during his long business trip. The money will be nice to have although Mom might be wondering what my students are putting me through.
Wednesday April 30, 7:27 p.m.
Well, I just read off the CNN homepage that the entire family that had been under the domination by that psychopath in Austria finally met all together. Man, that must've been one awkward Brady Bunch moment.
Just finished my dinner of salad, apple/mango juice and fruit-n'-whipped cream filled cake. Not all that nutritious but I'm sure I'll be paying for my culinary sins shortly. A combination isn't ingested without consequences but they should be happening before The Diver comes in about an hour. Speaking of students, Slim has just come in to sign his contract with us here at the school. Very well turned out and polite. I don't see too many like him nowadays but I'm starting to talk like an old man.
During my dinner, Speedy, BC and I were just gabbing about where all the Canadian-themed restaurants in Tokyo have gone. Not that they were like McDonalds in terms of omnipresence but I do remember The Maple Leaf (finally found out from sources that it was the classic case of a rogue partner taking off with the funds) which met its demise a year ago. There is Homeworks which is a place owned/founded by a Canuck which is located somewhere in the Ebisu/Hiroo area. And Fujimamas, the joint in the midst of Omotesando, is run by a Canadian but the fare there is about as Canadian as a pinata. Mind you, Homeworks does have the Canadian Thanksgiving stuff. Still, it would be nice to have a bit of the Yukon in Tokyo again along with NHL games and poutine. But if possible, I would prefer not to have Labatts at 1,000 yen a head.
We were also comparing McDonalds and Burger King. I found out that the bossman is a regular at BK while I seem to be the resident champion for The Golden Arches....although I will be happy to get my share of Whoppers. The two of us educated young BC on the differences between plain frying and flame-broiling. And BC got her acceptance at that Vancouver college starting in September. Most likely, then, the lass will head off to The Great White North in early July. So, in 2 months, we'll have to be searching for yet another new assistant. This is starting to look like the running gag from "Murphy Brown"....or perhaps, "The Prisoner" ("Who are you?....I'm the new Number 2.").
Looks like another one-gag tarento has been hitting the airwaves pretty hard. And this one is a complete fruit loops. Her name is Miyuki Torii and her schtick is to come out in her pyjamas and start flailing away like a maniac scarecrow while screaming some sort of nonsense. I did see her once over the Holidays on one of the comedy specials; luckily, I haven't been exposed to her since then...until this morning on a TV wide show. Apparently, the woman is married...can't really qualify it more than that.
Well, I just read off the CNN homepage that the entire family that had been under the domination by that psychopath in Austria finally met all together. Man, that must've been one awkward Brady Bunch moment.
Just finished my dinner of salad, apple/mango juice and fruit-n'-whipped cream filled cake. Not all that nutritious but I'm sure I'll be paying for my culinary sins shortly. A combination isn't ingested without consequences but they should be happening before The Diver comes in about an hour. Speaking of students, Slim has just come in to sign his contract with us here at the school. Very well turned out and polite. I don't see too many like him nowadays but I'm starting to talk like an old man.
During my dinner, Speedy, BC and I were just gabbing about where all the Canadian-themed restaurants in Tokyo have gone. Not that they were like McDonalds in terms of omnipresence but I do remember The Maple Leaf (finally found out from sources that it was the classic case of a rogue partner taking off with the funds) which met its demise a year ago. There is Homeworks which is a place owned/founded by a Canuck which is located somewhere in the Ebisu/Hiroo area. And Fujimamas, the joint in the midst of Omotesando, is run by a Canadian but the fare there is about as Canadian as a pinata. Mind you, Homeworks does have the Canadian Thanksgiving stuff. Still, it would be nice to have a bit of the Yukon in Tokyo again along with NHL games and poutine. But if possible, I would prefer not to have Labatts at 1,000 yen a head.
We were also comparing McDonalds and Burger King. I found out that the bossman is a regular at BK while I seem to be the resident champion for The Golden Arches....although I will be happy to get my share of Whoppers. The two of us educated young BC on the differences between plain frying and flame-broiling. And BC got her acceptance at that Vancouver college starting in September. Most likely, then, the lass will head off to The Great White North in early July. So, in 2 months, we'll have to be searching for yet another new assistant. This is starting to look like the running gag from "Murphy Brown"....or perhaps, "The Prisoner" ("Who are you?....I'm the new Number 2.").
Looks like another one-gag tarento has been hitting the airwaves pretty hard. And this one is a complete fruit loops. Her name is Miyuki Torii and her schtick is to come out in her pyjamas and start flailing away like a maniac scarecrow while screaming some sort of nonsense. I did see her once over the Holidays on one of the comedy specials; luckily, I haven't been exposed to her since then...until this morning on a TV wide show. Apparently, the woman is married...can't really qualify it more than that.
Wednesday April 30, 4:51 p.m.
The last day of the month has taken on very summery tendencies. It's the first day for me to go out without a jacket, the first day that the subways have turned on the fans, and the first day that I've actually built up a sweat walking in the city. It should stay that way for the rest of Golden Week.
Yesterday, I actually didn't purchase the microwave. I did a bit of comparison shopping so I'll do the nasty tomorrow instead. I also have to get a vacuum cleaner as well. However, Yamada Denki does sell a stand-up one for a mere 3,000 yen. Actually, some pretty decent deals can be had if you're not looking for appliances that could do everything but mate with you.
Basically, took it easy yesterday on Showa Day which was the birthday of the previous venerable Japanese Emperor, Hirohito. It should've been renamed Gas Day since that seemed to have been the most popular commodity since the taxes will be going up as of tomorrow. I just watched "Goldmember" on DVD, the last of the three Austin Powers movies. Pretty good although the end kinda sagged a bit. And it is notable for showing a couple of future "Heroes" actors...Masi Oka and Greg Grunberg. I regret not having seen the opening credits with a movie audience. I also caught the 2nd-last episode of Season 4 of "The West Wing" where the last few seconds showed Leo McGarry atypically running to breathlessly tell President Bartlett that Zoe has been kidnapped. Somewhere up there, Mrs. Landingham must've been pouting, "He never ran to the President when I died two seasons ago." Next week, we get to see Jed activate the 25th Amendment and hand the keys to Roseanne's hubby.
Today being the last day of the month, I went for broke and paid off all the bills. And I decided to give myself a little treat by activating the HMV Gold Card and making quite a few purchases such as the latest issue of "Total Film", "The Bourne Ultimatum" and a couple of CDs from different genres...one is of the dance music consortium, M-Flo, and their best-of disc, and the other is of jazz chanteuse, Jane Monheit.
I bought the HMV stuff at the Sukibayashi branch just across from Yurakucho Mullion so I had lunch in the neighbourhood. I tried out "The Siam" on the 2nd floor of Ginza Inz 1, not to be mistaken for Bali Hai, the place that I had lunch with the Teahouse Ladies a couple of weeks back. I'm not sure if this "Siam" was the same, recently closed "Siam" formerly on the southwest corner of Ginza 4-chome. It probably wasn't since I wasn't too thrilled with the setup inside. The food was OK but I had to slip off my shoes and share my place with others. For a guy my size, trying to sit down in a pit between other customers is kinda like parallel parking a semi between a Lincoln Continental and a Ferrari....it has to be done carefully. And then since I'm not a real meet-n'-greet guy, I had to keep my eyes down since just within breathing distance across from me, there was a woman munching away. I just knew she was a woman; didn't know if she were old, young, middle-aged, pretty, pretty homely...nothing. Just did my three rounds at the buffet table and then got out of there...not exactly conducive to solo eating. Couples or trios would enjoy it better.
I tried to walk off some of the calories by walking around the Itocia complex in Yurakucho. Krispy Kreme No. 2 in the basement still had a lengthy lineup but not nearly as ridiculous as when it opened up about a year ago. Then I saw one of those campaign vans in front of the Mullion Clock, one of Tokyo's famous landmarks. There was a familiar face in the form of a female pol exhorting the audience about the soundness of the Japan Socialist Party's platform. I could recognize her but couldn't come up with the name. Just walked over to the other major CD outlet, Yamano Music. The store had one of its frequent jazz disc sales out in front and I took a listen to some of the old PSY-S discs from 20 years ago at the listening post before listening to Mami "Chaka" Yasunori (the lead singer of the band) in her current job as jazz singer. There is a definite change in her voice to go with the obvious change in genre. Chaka used to have this powerful chipmunk sound to go with her partner's techno music. Now, she's taken on the usual huskiness of a chanteuse.
Made it back here to Speedy's. I just have The Diver tonight and then I gotta rush back here for the lone class in the morning with The Nurse. Then, it's to give away my hard-earned yen for the microwave and vacuum. 002 finally sent a message over...looks like I'll be able to see her at the regular time on Tuesdays after all...for May at least.
The last day of the month has taken on very summery tendencies. It's the first day for me to go out without a jacket, the first day that the subways have turned on the fans, and the first day that I've actually built up a sweat walking in the city. It should stay that way for the rest of Golden Week.
Yesterday, I actually didn't purchase the microwave. I did a bit of comparison shopping so I'll do the nasty tomorrow instead. I also have to get a vacuum cleaner as well. However, Yamada Denki does sell a stand-up one for a mere 3,000 yen. Actually, some pretty decent deals can be had if you're not looking for appliances that could do everything but mate with you.
Basically, took it easy yesterday on Showa Day which was the birthday of the previous venerable Japanese Emperor, Hirohito. It should've been renamed Gas Day since that seemed to have been the most popular commodity since the taxes will be going up as of tomorrow. I just watched "Goldmember" on DVD, the last of the three Austin Powers movies. Pretty good although the end kinda sagged a bit. And it is notable for showing a couple of future "Heroes" actors...Masi Oka and Greg Grunberg. I regret not having seen the opening credits with a movie audience. I also caught the 2nd-last episode of Season 4 of "The West Wing" where the last few seconds showed Leo McGarry atypically running to breathlessly tell President Bartlett that Zoe has been kidnapped. Somewhere up there, Mrs. Landingham must've been pouting, "He never ran to the President when I died two seasons ago." Next week, we get to see Jed activate the 25th Amendment and hand the keys to Roseanne's hubby.
Today being the last day of the month, I went for broke and paid off all the bills. And I decided to give myself a little treat by activating the HMV Gold Card and making quite a few purchases such as the latest issue of "Total Film", "The Bourne Ultimatum" and a couple of CDs from different genres...one is of the dance music consortium, M-Flo, and their best-of disc, and the other is of jazz chanteuse, Jane Monheit.
I bought the HMV stuff at the Sukibayashi branch just across from Yurakucho Mullion so I had lunch in the neighbourhood. I tried out "The Siam" on the 2nd floor of Ginza Inz 1, not to be mistaken for Bali Hai, the place that I had lunch with the Teahouse Ladies a couple of weeks back. I'm not sure if this "Siam" was the same, recently closed "Siam" formerly on the southwest corner of Ginza 4-chome. It probably wasn't since I wasn't too thrilled with the setup inside. The food was OK but I had to slip off my shoes and share my place with others. For a guy my size, trying to sit down in a pit between other customers is kinda like parallel parking a semi between a Lincoln Continental and a Ferrari....it has to be done carefully. And then since I'm not a real meet-n'-greet guy, I had to keep my eyes down since just within breathing distance across from me, there was a woman munching away. I just knew she was a woman; didn't know if she were old, young, middle-aged, pretty, pretty homely...nothing. Just did my three rounds at the buffet table and then got out of there...not exactly conducive to solo eating. Couples or trios would enjoy it better.
I tried to walk off some of the calories by walking around the Itocia complex in Yurakucho. Krispy Kreme No. 2 in the basement still had a lengthy lineup but not nearly as ridiculous as when it opened up about a year ago. Then I saw one of those campaign vans in front of the Mullion Clock, one of Tokyo's famous landmarks. There was a familiar face in the form of a female pol exhorting the audience about the soundness of the Japan Socialist Party's platform. I could recognize her but couldn't come up with the name. Just walked over to the other major CD outlet, Yamano Music. The store had one of its frequent jazz disc sales out in front and I took a listen to some of the old PSY-S discs from 20 years ago at the listening post before listening to Mami "Chaka" Yasunori (the lead singer of the band) in her current job as jazz singer. There is a definite change in her voice to go with the obvious change in genre. Chaka used to have this powerful chipmunk sound to go with her partner's techno music. Now, she's taken on the usual huskiness of a chanteuse.
Made it back here to Speedy's. I just have The Diver tonight and then I gotta rush back here for the lone class in the morning with The Nurse. Then, it's to give away my hard-earned yen for the microwave and vacuum. 002 finally sent a message over...looks like I'll be able to see her at the regular time on Tuesdays after all...for May at least.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday April 28, 10:37 p.m.
Finished up with Medicine Man just now. Surprisingly, he did accept one of the many dolls we have in that huge cardboard box. I think this is the first time I've ever made a referral on this blog, but if you wanna look at the samples of what Speedy and I are in possession of, you can check out www.polygons.tv . You'll see the cuter dolls there, not the ones that we got saddled with. But the dolls we have...known as MegaMi...aren't that bad-looking. And they have that sand in them which makes them eminently huggable....even though they've been compared to Japanese comedic duo, OgiYahagi, known for their wearing of horn-rimmed glasses; perhaps the two could be a fusion of Hiro Nakamura and Noah Bennett on "Heroes". Well, I'll be taking my MegaMi home tonight where he'll become my bedmate in lieu of anyone cuddlier and more female.
Nighty-night....
Finished up with Medicine Man just now. Surprisingly, he did accept one of the many dolls we have in that huge cardboard box. I think this is the first time I've ever made a referral on this blog, but if you wanna look at the samples of what Speedy and I are in possession of, you can check out www.polygons.tv . You'll see the cuter dolls there, not the ones that we got saddled with. But the dolls we have...known as MegaMi...aren't that bad-looking. And they have that sand in them which makes them eminently huggable....even though they've been compared to Japanese comedic duo, OgiYahagi, known for their wearing of horn-rimmed glasses; perhaps the two could be a fusion of Hiro Nakamura and Noah Bennett on "Heroes". Well, I'll be taking my MegaMi home tonight where he'll become my bedmate in lieu of anyone cuddlier and more female.
Nighty-night....
Monday April 28, 7:53 p.m.
My 2,222th entry. I wonder if I should become one of The Knights of Ni (that's a Monty Python joke and a pun on the Japanese word for "2" at the same time...anything for good Anglo-Japanese relations).
Despite dousing my person with the bottle of Febreeze in the school lobby, I still smell of smoke from Doutors after teaching The Full-Timer. Looks like she's been through the wringer yet again due to the strangeness of her section's manager. She's been checking out the want ads for a future position. I did mention to her about our need here at Speedy's for some night staff but she politely didn't address the issue and just said that she'll try and pass the request along. Skippy did the same thing yesterday. The Full-Timer told me that she and her mother would try for a small trip to Korea sometime this week for a bit of the fine cuisine there as well as bringing back a bit of sanity into her life.
Speedy apparently got a huge box of these free MOGU dolls, courtesy of Polygons Inc. These dolls are filled with some sort of artificial sand which convey a certain pleasant feeling while holding them...hopefully in a platonic sense. I've already sent word to Skippy who seems to be one of those cheerfully in thrall to her pop culture. I'll be taking one home and I'll probably send one over to my niece.
I've only got Medicine Man before I finish the day, and he's 90 minutes away. I'll have plenty of time to munch down on my dinner and do a bit more surfing on the Net. I've been reading about that real-life horror tale in Austria concerning that psychopath who managed to keep his daughter penned up in his basement for nearly a quarter-century. He has confessed to this most horrible of sins. The one child who did die from his grotesque mating between him and his girl was burned in an oven. I would say that after his trial, he ought to be thrown into a giant microwave.
Over here, it's...luckily, I guess...the more mundane matter of realizing that gas prices will finally be going up on May 1st. So, the pundits say that tomorrow, April 30th, will see the mothers of all lineups at the gas stations nationwide since it is the last national holiday before the turn of the month. I wonder if the gas station beside my Daiei will have a queue longer than the one at Krispy Kreme. I am so happy that I don't own a car in this country.
My 2,222th entry. I wonder if I should become one of The Knights of Ni (that's a Monty Python joke and a pun on the Japanese word for "2" at the same time...anything for good Anglo-Japanese relations).
Despite dousing my person with the bottle of Febreeze in the school lobby, I still smell of smoke from Doutors after teaching The Full-Timer. Looks like she's been through the wringer yet again due to the strangeness of her section's manager. She's been checking out the want ads for a future position. I did mention to her about our need here at Speedy's for some night staff but she politely didn't address the issue and just said that she'll try and pass the request along. Skippy did the same thing yesterday. The Full-Timer told me that she and her mother would try for a small trip to Korea sometime this week for a bit of the fine cuisine there as well as bringing back a bit of sanity into her life.
Speedy apparently got a huge box of these free MOGU dolls, courtesy of Polygons Inc. These dolls are filled with some sort of artificial sand which convey a certain pleasant feeling while holding them...hopefully in a platonic sense. I've already sent word to Skippy who seems to be one of those cheerfully in thrall to her pop culture. I'll be taking one home and I'll probably send one over to my niece.
I've only got Medicine Man before I finish the day, and he's 90 minutes away. I'll have plenty of time to munch down on my dinner and do a bit more surfing on the Net. I've been reading about that real-life horror tale in Austria concerning that psychopath who managed to keep his daughter penned up in his basement for nearly a quarter-century. He has confessed to this most horrible of sins. The one child who did die from his grotesque mating between him and his girl was burned in an oven. I would say that after his trial, he ought to be thrown into a giant microwave.
Over here, it's...luckily, I guess...the more mundane matter of realizing that gas prices will finally be going up on May 1st. So, the pundits say that tomorrow, April 30th, will see the mothers of all lineups at the gas stations nationwide since it is the last national holiday before the turn of the month. I wonder if the gas station beside my Daiei will have a queue longer than the one at Krispy Kreme. I am so happy that I don't own a car in this country.
Monday April 28, 5:27 p.m.
During the commutes to and from work, my current book has been Joseph Heller's "Closing Time". It's basically the sequel to "Catch-22" and has a few of the characters from the original such as Yossarian and Minderbender. I do remember seeing a bit of the movie version of "Catch-22" on TV once with Alan Arkin and Tony Perkins. The guy who gave me the book, a former teacher at the ol' school, told me that it wasn't easy to get into but that it should get pretty satisfying as I go through the pages. Well, so far so not. It just seems to echo Eugene Ionesco's "Rhinoceros" in zaniness and at one point it not only reminded me of "Dr. Strangelove" but it actually used the man's name. Not exactly light reading.
Over the weekend, I did listen to a couple of discs that I hadn't listened to in some time. One was Swingout Sister's "It's Better to Travel", the trio's inaugural album. A few of the tunes have that dated 80s synth sound but the disc still does have that classic "Breakout" which was used in one of the Softbank phone commercials with Cameron Diaz. Then it was Billy Joel's "The Nylon Curtain", also from the 80s. Kinda reminded me of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" in setup; all of the album's big hits are in the first half. "Pressure" and "Allentown" are classics with the latter being a particular karaoke favourite...well, to me anyways. And it seems that Billy was doing his monomane bit again...this time with The Beatles being their target in "Laura" and "Where's the Orchestra?", compared when he was mimicking The Rolling Stones in "It's All Rock N' Roll To Me" in "Glass Houses" a couple of years back. "The Nylon Curtain" is also notable in that Joel talks about some of the handwringing issues of those days such as Vietnam; in the same year, Donald Fagin released another timeless classic, "The Nightfly", a slightly ironic but hopeful theme album about a utopian America in the late 50s.
During the commutes to and from work, my current book has been Joseph Heller's "Closing Time". It's basically the sequel to "Catch-22" and has a few of the characters from the original such as Yossarian and Minderbender. I do remember seeing a bit of the movie version of "Catch-22" on TV once with Alan Arkin and Tony Perkins. The guy who gave me the book, a former teacher at the ol' school, told me that it wasn't easy to get into but that it should get pretty satisfying as I go through the pages. Well, so far so not. It just seems to echo Eugene Ionesco's "Rhinoceros" in zaniness and at one point it not only reminded me of "Dr. Strangelove" but it actually used the man's name. Not exactly light reading.
Over the weekend, I did listen to a couple of discs that I hadn't listened to in some time. One was Swingout Sister's "It's Better to Travel", the trio's inaugural album. A few of the tunes have that dated 80s synth sound but the disc still does have that classic "Breakout" which was used in one of the Softbank phone commercials with Cameron Diaz. Then it was Billy Joel's "The Nylon Curtain", also from the 80s. Kinda reminded me of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" in setup; all of the album's big hits are in the first half. "Pressure" and "Allentown" are classics with the latter being a particular karaoke favourite...well, to me anyways. And it seems that Billy was doing his monomane bit again...this time with The Beatles being their target in "Laura" and "Where's the Orchestra?", compared when he was mimicking The Rolling Stones in "It's All Rock N' Roll To Me" in "Glass Houses" a couple of years back. "The Nylon Curtain" is also notable in that Joel talks about some of the handwringing issues of those days such as Vietnam; in the same year, Donald Fagin released another timeless classic, "The Nightfly", a slightly ironic but hopeful theme album about a utopian America in the late 50s.
Monday April 26, 4:45 p.m.
Well, into the holiday week. Today will probably be the busiest day this GW...known as the O-type Golden Week since Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are considered regular days between the holiday Tuesday of Showa Day (after Emperor Hirohito's B-day) and then all those other holidays starting from Saturday. The rest of the week will just see either singles and one double lesson day on Friday at the juku.
Yesterday I met up with Shrek and his family along with Skippy for that lunch at Brozer's, one of Tokyo's famed burger joints. Not surprisingly, there was a 20-minute wait until we could get in. But that was no problem with us. Skippy, with her effervescence, was able to chat up everybody. I remarked first off to Shrek that Skippy had a natural knack for connecting with kids, and Shrek's son was no exception. She had him eating out of her hand in no time. We were also doing the same since she kindly gave us some confections that she'd bought in Ginza before coming here. She was dressed curiously in a pretty fancy way, though. I asked her what the big deal was and she answered that it was for the shopping in Ginza, but I'm kinda wondering if there had been something else involved. Meanwhile, the rest of us were mulling over the menu about which burger to order since the variety at Brozer's is rather generous, to say the least.
I ended up having the Double Cheeseburger. Skippy remarked that I changed my order from the Bacon Cheeseburger. She's got a better tag on my eating record than I do since I had no memory about what kind of burger I'd eaten last time several months ago. Skippy herself went for the Chili Dog as a change of pace. When the waiter brought it, it looked like those chili dogs I'd eaten back in university. The dog wasn't totally smothered in chili beans and sauce, but there was a pretty sizable mound on top. The Shrek clan was quite satisfied with the results although the son was more into the fries than the burger itself. Afterwards, we went over to the nearby Excelsior Coffee for a bit of java and to talk about the old times back in Toronto. Skippy announced that she would be heading for San Francisco and Seattle to see friends there in early July.
Well, the early morning news shows on Sunday were abuzz with analysts about the now-infamous Olympic torch relay through Nagano City. Yep, there was some pushing and shoving along with some words thrown about in anger, and even a few folks who just needed to grab the flame. But then again, the usual Hockey Night in Canada telecast has that in spades. And we were quite lucky here when compared to Seoul. There was quite a bit more of the disruption there.
The more disturbing news is about the fact that there have been around 50 suicides nationwide in the last four months thanks to cyanide poisoning. The shocker is that the victims could get it easily over the counter at the local drug store. And to add further insult to injury, the successful suicide attempts managed to pull in peripheral victims in the form of apartment neighbours who unfortunately got the whiff of the vapours.
But nothing has topped the news so far this week than that horrifying case of the father/grandfather in Austria who had kept his daughter chained up in his basement for 24 years and bore 7 children by her. This would have been treated like another one of those National Enquirer articles...unfortunately, it's all true.
I've only got three lessons today. I finished up with SIL this afternoon. We spoke on the above news reports and worked on the article concerning the court case involving J.K. Rowling and that guy who just wanted to produce that Harry Potter Encyclopedia. Earlier, I got a chance to walk around Ameyoko, the marketplace in Ueno. Pretty fascinating place to peruse at length. Lots of stalls with gravelly-voiced hawkers selling their wares of fresh fish and vegetables. And then there are the small shops with perfumes and fake jewelry. I also caught a sign for an Indian restaurant called Mantra with a lunch buffet. It used to be the Maharajah. In any case, I'll have to check it out for good curry.
I found out that it might be just Speedy and me tonight. BC has called in sick. I've only got The Full-Timer and then Medicine Man. It is payday today; I was able to make a goodly sum this month so it'll be time to grab that new microwave tomorrow...if Yamada Denki is open tomorrow.
Well, into the holiday week. Today will probably be the busiest day this GW...known as the O-type Golden Week since Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are considered regular days between the holiday Tuesday of Showa Day (after Emperor Hirohito's B-day) and then all those other holidays starting from Saturday. The rest of the week will just see either singles and one double lesson day on Friday at the juku.
Yesterday I met up with Shrek and his family along with Skippy for that lunch at Brozer's, one of Tokyo's famed burger joints. Not surprisingly, there was a 20-minute wait until we could get in. But that was no problem with us. Skippy, with her effervescence, was able to chat up everybody. I remarked first off to Shrek that Skippy had a natural knack for connecting with kids, and Shrek's son was no exception. She had him eating out of her hand in no time. We were also doing the same since she kindly gave us some confections that she'd bought in Ginza before coming here. She was dressed curiously in a pretty fancy way, though. I asked her what the big deal was and she answered that it was for the shopping in Ginza, but I'm kinda wondering if there had been something else involved. Meanwhile, the rest of us were mulling over the menu about which burger to order since the variety at Brozer's is rather generous, to say the least.
I ended up having the Double Cheeseburger. Skippy remarked that I changed my order from the Bacon Cheeseburger. She's got a better tag on my eating record than I do since I had no memory about what kind of burger I'd eaten last time several months ago. Skippy herself went for the Chili Dog as a change of pace. When the waiter brought it, it looked like those chili dogs I'd eaten back in university. The dog wasn't totally smothered in chili beans and sauce, but there was a pretty sizable mound on top. The Shrek clan was quite satisfied with the results although the son was more into the fries than the burger itself. Afterwards, we went over to the nearby Excelsior Coffee for a bit of java and to talk about the old times back in Toronto. Skippy announced that she would be heading for San Francisco and Seattle to see friends there in early July.
Well, the early morning news shows on Sunday were abuzz with analysts about the now-infamous Olympic torch relay through Nagano City. Yep, there was some pushing and shoving along with some words thrown about in anger, and even a few folks who just needed to grab the flame. But then again, the usual Hockey Night in Canada telecast has that in spades. And we were quite lucky here when compared to Seoul. There was quite a bit more of the disruption there.
The more disturbing news is about the fact that there have been around 50 suicides nationwide in the last four months thanks to cyanide poisoning. The shocker is that the victims could get it easily over the counter at the local drug store. And to add further insult to injury, the successful suicide attempts managed to pull in peripheral victims in the form of apartment neighbours who unfortunately got the whiff of the vapours.
But nothing has topped the news so far this week than that horrifying case of the father/grandfather in Austria who had kept his daughter chained up in his basement for 24 years and bore 7 children by her. This would have been treated like another one of those National Enquirer articles...unfortunately, it's all true.
I've only got three lessons today. I finished up with SIL this afternoon. We spoke on the above news reports and worked on the article concerning the court case involving J.K. Rowling and that guy who just wanted to produce that Harry Potter Encyclopedia. Earlier, I got a chance to walk around Ameyoko, the marketplace in Ueno. Pretty fascinating place to peruse at length. Lots of stalls with gravelly-voiced hawkers selling their wares of fresh fish and vegetables. And then there are the small shops with perfumes and fake jewelry. I also caught a sign for an Indian restaurant called Mantra with a lunch buffet. It used to be the Maharajah. In any case, I'll have to check it out for good curry.
I found out that it might be just Speedy and me tonight. BC has called in sick. I've only got The Full-Timer and then Medicine Man. It is payday today; I was able to make a goodly sum this month so it'll be time to grab that new microwave tomorrow...if Yamada Denki is open tomorrow.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Saturday April 26, 2:08 p.m.
Just finished with the model lesson student...looks like I've got a lock on him. He's a good student. He's motivated since he's gotta go to Germany in a few months on business and he definitely needs the practice. In a way, Slim...yep, I've got him named...reminds me a bit of Medicine Man; polite and willing to work hard but kinda quiet. Speedy is already negotiating the right time and night for him. It could be tough, though, since my schedule at the school is already quite full.
It's getting rather dark out there. They were only forecasting clouds today but weather forecasters are only accurate 80% of the time at best so my laundry could end up getting a third rinse on the line. Ach...at least, they're just the clothes. Still, my day is done and I can now go home for a bit of R&R. And the next day is Brozer's with Skippy and Shrek's clan.
Just finished with the model lesson student...looks like I've got a lock on him. He's a good student. He's motivated since he's gotta go to Germany in a few months on business and he definitely needs the practice. In a way, Slim...yep, I've got him named...reminds me a bit of Medicine Man; polite and willing to work hard but kinda quiet. Speedy is already negotiating the right time and night for him. It could be tough, though, since my schedule at the school is already quite full.
It's getting rather dark out there. They were only forecasting clouds today but weather forecasters are only accurate 80% of the time at best so my laundry could end up getting a third rinse on the line. Ach...at least, they're just the clothes. Still, my day is done and I can now go home for a bit of R&R. And the next day is Brozer's with Skippy and Shrek's clan.
Saturday April 26, 12:22 p.m.
Looks like the Olympic torch relay through Nagano City went through without any major hitches. Just some scuffles between the pro- and anti-China supporters and the odd brave/foolish protestor who decided to make a grab for the flame. So, business in the former Olympic city can re-open and citizens can breathe a sigh of relief. Seoul can now take on the stress.
My model lesson student is currently taking the battery of tests that is de rigueur before the model lesson can begin. So far, he's made it past the first checkpoint. He's a tall, slim and not unhandsome fellow. Speedy has assured me that his personality is quite good.
Over lunch, Speedy and I had a talk about the trials and tribulations concerning BC. She's always been a Nervous Nellie....and I know she has a slight phobia about being by herself along with her chronic underconfidence. The bossman has expressed concern about how she's gonna handle herself during his annual business trip overseas in some weeks' time. Plus, there's the fact that we, once again, are out of night staff since the ladies like The Amazon are too swamped with their day jobs to come over. So I've had to send word out to Skippy to see if she has a bit of that seemingly boundless fountain of energy left over to help us out here.
I've been catching up on "The West Wing". SkyPerfect is up to the episodes where Zoey Bartlett is about to be kidnapped. Yup, we're that far behind.
Looks like the bell is ringing for the end of the 2nd test...
Looks like the Olympic torch relay through Nagano City went through without any major hitches. Just some scuffles between the pro- and anti-China supporters and the odd brave/foolish protestor who decided to make a grab for the flame. So, business in the former Olympic city can re-open and citizens can breathe a sigh of relief. Seoul can now take on the stress.
My model lesson student is currently taking the battery of tests that is de rigueur before the model lesson can begin. So far, he's made it past the first checkpoint. He's a tall, slim and not unhandsome fellow. Speedy has assured me that his personality is quite good.
Over lunch, Speedy and I had a talk about the trials and tribulations concerning BC. She's always been a Nervous Nellie....and I know she has a slight phobia about being by herself along with her chronic underconfidence. The bossman has expressed concern about how she's gonna handle herself during his annual business trip overseas in some weeks' time. Plus, there's the fact that we, once again, are out of night staff since the ladies like The Amazon are too swamped with their day jobs to come over. So I've had to send word out to Skippy to see if she has a bit of that seemingly boundless fountain of energy left over to help us out here.
I've been catching up on "The West Wing". SkyPerfect is up to the episodes where Zoey Bartlett is about to be kidnapped. Yup, we're that far behind.
Looks like the bell is ringing for the end of the 2nd test...
Saturday April 26, 10:47 a.m.
Here to teach two...The Manhattanite and a model lesson student. My cough has still not left me, and I still sound like Brenda Vaccaro (maybe you guys over 30 might remember her).
I'm gonna have to realize that whenever Speedy states a time that he is sure to arrive at the school by, I should add 5 minutes more to get his actual arrival time.
The torch relay started in Nagano City at 8:30 this morning. Tons of security of course. Sen'ichi Hoshino, the blood n' guts manager of Japan's Olympic baseball team started things off. No problems there but when the relay hit the downtown area, some guy threw empty PET bottles at comedian Kin'ichi Hagimoto and then a few more kilometres down the line, some pro-Tibetan fellow tried to rush cute little Ai Fukuhara from the world of table tennis. Of course, before you could say "dogpile", there were more cops on that guy than Rodney King. Not sure if there have been any other attempts to disrupt the relay but I was kinda hoping that someone could've dinged something off of loudmouth ex-pro tennis player Shuzo Matsuoka...man, that guy annoys the hell out of me.
Well, as it turns out, as I was typing the above, a call came into the office and I just knew that it was a cancellation by one of the folks I was supposed to have today. The Manhattanite called in to say that she'd totally forgotten about today's lesson; apparently, she's out in the boonies somewhere. At least I still get paid and I can plan some more for this model lesson student.
Here to teach two...The Manhattanite and a model lesson student. My cough has still not left me, and I still sound like Brenda Vaccaro (maybe you guys over 30 might remember her).
I'm gonna have to realize that whenever Speedy states a time that he is sure to arrive at the school by, I should add 5 minutes more to get his actual arrival time.
The torch relay started in Nagano City at 8:30 this morning. Tons of security of course. Sen'ichi Hoshino, the blood n' guts manager of Japan's Olympic baseball team started things off. No problems there but when the relay hit the downtown area, some guy threw empty PET bottles at comedian Kin'ichi Hagimoto and then a few more kilometres down the line, some pro-Tibetan fellow tried to rush cute little Ai Fukuhara from the world of table tennis. Of course, before you could say "dogpile", there were more cops on that guy than Rodney King. Not sure if there have been any other attempts to disrupt the relay but I was kinda hoping that someone could've dinged something off of loudmouth ex-pro tennis player Shuzo Matsuoka...man, that guy annoys the hell out of me.
Well, as it turns out, as I was typing the above, a call came into the office and I just knew that it was a cancellation by one of the folks I was supposed to have today. The Manhattanite called in to say that she'd totally forgotten about today's lesson; apparently, she's out in the boonies somewhere. At least I still get paid and I can plan some more for this model lesson student.
Friday April 25, 6:56 p.m.
Well, a lot of my road trip turned out to be for naught. Went up to Akihabara to check out this new mall only to find out that it's really just a big building for lots of trendy restaurants. Appropriately, it's named "Chomp, Chomp!" I kinda wonder if "Cloverfield" had some influence on that choice. The other complex across the street just above the Tsukuba Express entrance also consisted of a lot of yuppie (J-yuppie? Juppie?)-friendly stores such as Book 1st and Mujirushi, and some more restaurants that I really couldn't enter in my fashion. I ended up going to Burger King again. This time it was the BK Double Bacon. Pretty hefty since I'm still really not all that hungry even now....although I did down a couple of rice balls and some peach jelly for dinner's sake.
The naught part of my road trip was that long ride on The Sobu to Musashi-Sakai, one station west of Mitaka. I looked for that miracle discount shop that The Matron had been talking about. Nice neighbourhood but couldn't find any Joshin in the immediate vicinity and since I wasn't interested in taking the bus on a wild goose chase, I just headed back to Nakano and took another walk into yesterday via the Broadway Mall. Also poked my head into Otokichi CDs which specialize in discs from the 80s and 90s. Saw some albums by Eriko Tamura, now famous in America for her portrayal of Yaeko, Hiro Nakamura's love interest in "Heroes". Masi Oka was pretty spot-on when he corrected some reports comparing Tamura to Britney Spears; instead, comparisons to Kelly Clarkson would be more accurate although I think Clarkson would still be considered pretty extreme since Tamura was very much a singer of the synth-friendly J-tunes of the late 80s. Mind you, Tamura did cause quite a ripple in a number of young boys' pants when a poster of her was released wearing just a simple white smock with a definite butt crack showing from the very low-cut back.
Well, a lot of my road trip turned out to be for naught. Went up to Akihabara to check out this new mall only to find out that it's really just a big building for lots of trendy restaurants. Appropriately, it's named "Chomp, Chomp!" I kinda wonder if "Cloverfield" had some influence on that choice. The other complex across the street just above the Tsukuba Express entrance also consisted of a lot of yuppie (J-yuppie? Juppie?)-friendly stores such as Book 1st and Mujirushi, and some more restaurants that I really couldn't enter in my fashion. I ended up going to Burger King again. This time it was the BK Double Bacon. Pretty hefty since I'm still really not all that hungry even now....although I did down a couple of rice balls and some peach jelly for dinner's sake.
The naught part of my road trip was that long ride on The Sobu to Musashi-Sakai, one station west of Mitaka. I looked for that miracle discount shop that The Matron had been talking about. Nice neighbourhood but couldn't find any Joshin in the immediate vicinity and since I wasn't interested in taking the bus on a wild goose chase, I just headed back to Nakano and took another walk into yesterday via the Broadway Mall. Also poked my head into Otokichi CDs which specialize in discs from the 80s and 90s. Saw some albums by Eriko Tamura, now famous in America for her portrayal of Yaeko, Hiro Nakamura's love interest in "Heroes". Masi Oka was pretty spot-on when he corrected some reports comparing Tamura to Britney Spears; instead, comparisons to Kelly Clarkson would be more accurate although I think Clarkson would still be considered pretty extreme since Tamura was very much a singer of the synth-friendly J-tunes of the late 80s. Mind you, Tamura did cause quite a ripple in a number of young boys' pants when a poster of her was released wearing just a simple white smock with a definite butt crack showing from the very low-cut back.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Friday April 25, 11:02 a.m.
Back at the I-cafe that I'd used to go to...the one with the surlier staff. Unfortunately, the one that I go to now is undergoing some technical problems. Well, at least the surly lady isn't that surly today, although I'm sure she must be wondering where I've been for the past year.
Had my lessons with The Sisters of State in the Ichigaya Starbucks last night. It was packed as usual, but I did get a table within 10 minutes. For a cafe teacher, it's always good to keep one's eyes razor sharp for better seating opportunities. I was placed in between two chatty pairs and considering that The New Yorker is often mouse-quiet and still rather low in fluency, I'd thought that it was gonna be one of those struggles just to hear her out. Then, the table at the very end of the cafe opened up. It was squeezed right by the wall window overlooking the station so as soon as that was vacated, I just grabbed everything and sped over there....nonchalantly, of course, so I didn't look desperate. There is good and bad with everything...I did secure a relatively better table but I was certainly within kissing distance of the next table's occupants. Luckily, the young'uns there weren't too rowdy. And over the years, I've been able to develop a way to project my baritone softly but forcefully enough to The New Yorker. Maybe my clone, Hiro Nakamura, isn't the only J-dweeb with a power.
With both sisters, we got to talking about the newest geinojin to get their 15 minutes in the limelight. Bikini-panted Yoshio Kojima, he of the oft-used catchphrase last year of "Sonnanokankeine!" seems to be sliding off his podium and into "Where-are-they-now?" oblivion; he's not nearly so funny with proper clothes. And the S&M comedienne, Sumiko Nishioka, has started to make the transition from pin geinin to full-fledged variety-show-friendly tarento by getting out of that leather getup.
Now, the new ones to look out for is Edd Harumi, the 42-year-old woman who has gotten her gram of fame by giving Fonzie thumbs and her catchphrase "Gooooooooooooood!" She's now everywhere on the tube. Her talent agency's legal team may be hearing from The Knack soon, though, for pilfering "My Sharona" as her theme song.
Then, there's this completely retarded fellow by the name of Nabe Atsu whose whole shtick is to count from 1 to 40. But the catch is that whenever he comes to 3 and its multiples or any number that contains 3, he says them with a mix of psycho-Jerry Lewis and a sanitarium resident. I can guarantee if he lasts the year, his gag will become the party game at the year-end parties.
Today will be a road trip. After my session here, I'll be hopping the subway for Ningyocho to check out Brozer's...possibly for lunch. Skippy is good for Sunday's meet-and-greet with Shrek and his clan. I'm just going so that I'm sure I know a good meeting place for everyone. Then, it's up to Akihabara a couple of stations away to check out the newest mall opening there. The political ward boss has not so subtly been trying to rinse off Akiba's image as Geek Central (cluelessly not realizing that is the very reason for the area's upsurge in popularity) by trying to drive the otakus off the property and putting up trendoid hangouts....places that could be found anywhere else.
Then I'll be heading all the way out to Mitaka at the far end of the JR Sobu Line to check out that discount shop Joshin that The Matron had told me about. I was intrigued when she mentioned that she saw a CD player selling for just 5,000 yen. Sounds too good to be true, and probably is, but it's worth a look-see. I'll be slowly making my way back east, stopping off at Nakano...one of the refuges that some of the otakus are hitting after the exodus from Akiba, and taking a look at some of the old discount CD shops there before finally making my way over to Urayasu to teach Miss Disney. She'll be the only student today. As it is, it looks like Golden Week will really be quiet...the busiest day will be Monday and that's just with 3 classes. Every other day next week looks like just one lesson per.
They had live coverage of the arrival of the Olympic flame at Narita at about 6 a.m. this morning. Not sure if that is cause for celebration or fear. Nagano City is basically in lockdown. I don't think the organizers of the 1998 Winter Games had any clue that this would be happening a decade later.
Back at the I-cafe that I'd used to go to...the one with the surlier staff. Unfortunately, the one that I go to now is undergoing some technical problems. Well, at least the surly lady isn't that surly today, although I'm sure she must be wondering where I've been for the past year.
Had my lessons with The Sisters of State in the Ichigaya Starbucks last night. It was packed as usual, but I did get a table within 10 minutes. For a cafe teacher, it's always good to keep one's eyes razor sharp for better seating opportunities. I was placed in between two chatty pairs and considering that The New Yorker is often mouse-quiet and still rather low in fluency, I'd thought that it was gonna be one of those struggles just to hear her out. Then, the table at the very end of the cafe opened up. It was squeezed right by the wall window overlooking the station so as soon as that was vacated, I just grabbed everything and sped over there....nonchalantly, of course, so I didn't look desperate. There is good and bad with everything...I did secure a relatively better table but I was certainly within kissing distance of the next table's occupants. Luckily, the young'uns there weren't too rowdy. And over the years, I've been able to develop a way to project my baritone softly but forcefully enough to The New Yorker. Maybe my clone, Hiro Nakamura, isn't the only J-dweeb with a power.
With both sisters, we got to talking about the newest geinojin to get their 15 minutes in the limelight. Bikini-panted Yoshio Kojima, he of the oft-used catchphrase last year of "Sonnanokankeine!" seems to be sliding off his podium and into "Where-are-they-now?" oblivion; he's not nearly so funny with proper clothes. And the S&M comedienne, Sumiko Nishioka, has started to make the transition from pin geinin to full-fledged variety-show-friendly tarento by getting out of that leather getup.
Now, the new ones to look out for is Edd Harumi, the 42-year-old woman who has gotten her gram of fame by giving Fonzie thumbs and her catchphrase "Gooooooooooooood!" She's now everywhere on the tube. Her talent agency's legal team may be hearing from The Knack soon, though, for pilfering "My Sharona" as her theme song.
Then, there's this completely retarded fellow by the name of Nabe Atsu whose whole shtick is to count from 1 to 40. But the catch is that whenever he comes to 3 and its multiples or any number that contains 3, he says them with a mix of psycho-Jerry Lewis and a sanitarium resident. I can guarantee if he lasts the year, his gag will become the party game at the year-end parties.
Today will be a road trip. After my session here, I'll be hopping the subway for Ningyocho to check out Brozer's...possibly for lunch. Skippy is good for Sunday's meet-and-greet with Shrek and his clan. I'm just going so that I'm sure I know a good meeting place for everyone. Then, it's up to Akihabara a couple of stations away to check out the newest mall opening there. The political ward boss has not so subtly been trying to rinse off Akiba's image as Geek Central (cluelessly not realizing that is the very reason for the area's upsurge in popularity) by trying to drive the otakus off the property and putting up trendoid hangouts....places that could be found anywhere else.
Then I'll be heading all the way out to Mitaka at the far end of the JR Sobu Line to check out that discount shop Joshin that The Matron had told me about. I was intrigued when she mentioned that she saw a CD player selling for just 5,000 yen. Sounds too good to be true, and probably is, but it's worth a look-see. I'll be slowly making my way back east, stopping off at Nakano...one of the refuges that some of the otakus are hitting after the exodus from Akiba, and taking a look at some of the old discount CD shops there before finally making my way over to Urayasu to teach Miss Disney. She'll be the only student today. As it is, it looks like Golden Week will really be quiet...the busiest day will be Monday and that's just with 3 classes. Every other day next week looks like just one lesson per.
They had live coverage of the arrival of the Olympic flame at Narita at about 6 a.m. this morning. Not sure if that is cause for celebration or fear. Nagano City is basically in lockdown. I don't think the organizers of the 1998 Winter Games had any clue that this would be happening a decade later.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Thursday April 24, 2:16 p.m.
Now at the halfway point of my day. I just finished with the Speedy classes of The Nurse and The Yogist. For the latter, the chapter of discussion was on postsecondary education. I learned that the Yogist had attended the Japan Athletic University where she'd had to learn just about every sport imaginable...including sumo and rugby. Now, The Yogist is a pretty slim lass so it was awfully hard for me to imagine her in the middle of a scrum...or wearing a loincloth (gulp!) Apparently, one of her instructors in judo was a gold medalist either in Atlanta or Sydney.
I've been getting myself caught up in the world of "Heroes" so I'm now basically up to speed on all of the characters including Noah Bennett, the Horn-Rimmed-Glasses Man. And I've been finding about how the 2nd season has been a bit of a dud...but a lot of that can be blamed on the recent writers' strike. Basically, it's just the usual sophomore jinx that affects everything and everyone from baseball players to hit TV shows. Besides, "24" and "Lost" are still going strong, despite that they may have gone on a bit too long.
My cough is still residing in my throat, although it's not nearly as bad as it was last night during The Diver's lesson. I basically gave myself neckstrain from the hacking expectoration.
Now at the halfway point of my day. I just finished with the Speedy classes of The Nurse and The Yogist. For the latter, the chapter of discussion was on postsecondary education. I learned that the Yogist had attended the Japan Athletic University where she'd had to learn just about every sport imaginable...including sumo and rugby. Now, The Yogist is a pretty slim lass so it was awfully hard for me to imagine her in the middle of a scrum...or wearing a loincloth (gulp!) Apparently, one of her instructors in judo was a gold medalist either in Atlanta or Sydney.
I've been getting myself caught up in the world of "Heroes" so I'm now basically up to speed on all of the characters including Noah Bennett, the Horn-Rimmed-Glasses Man. And I've been finding about how the 2nd season has been a bit of a dud...but a lot of that can be blamed on the recent writers' strike. Basically, it's just the usual sophomore jinx that affects everything and everyone from baseball players to hit TV shows. Besides, "24" and "Lost" are still going strong, despite that they may have gone on a bit too long.
My cough is still residing in my throat, although it's not nearly as bad as it was last night during The Diver's lesson. I basically gave myself neckstrain from the hacking expectoration.
Thursday April 24, 9:48 a.m.
A misty day to start off on. Another early one due to The Nurse, so it was another McMuffin morning. Not too many people at The Golden Arches, though. A fairly normal day...have The Nurse and The Yogist at the school and then The Sisters of State for the evening.
Nagano City is bracing for the arrival of the Olympic Torch on Saturday morning. Usually such an event would be heralded with an air of excitement but due to recent geopolitical controversies, the authorities are treating it with a sense of trepidation and high security. The government has even gotten the local hoteliers to keep on the lookout for suspicious types. The main temple, whose monks had decided to rescind their invitation to have the torch start the relay there, got the graffit treatment from either an opportunistic punk or an ultra rightwinger or perhaps even a disgruntled Chinese student.
A misty day to start off on. Another early one due to The Nurse, so it was another McMuffin morning. Not too many people at The Golden Arches, though. A fairly normal day...have The Nurse and The Yogist at the school and then The Sisters of State for the evening.
Nagano City is bracing for the arrival of the Olympic Torch on Saturday morning. Usually such an event would be heralded with an air of excitement but due to recent geopolitical controversies, the authorities are treating it with a sense of trepidation and high security. The government has even gotten the local hoteliers to keep on the lookout for suspicious types. The main temple, whose monks had decided to rescind their invitation to have the torch start the relay there, got the graffit treatment from either an opportunistic punk or an ultra rightwinger or perhaps even a disgruntled Chinese student.
Wednesday April 23, 10:09 p.m.
Still decompressing after the two classes. Not that they were bad or anything...001 was her usual delightful self and The Diver was doing quite well. But it's kinda like getting home after midnight...it may be late but I still don't really want to hit the hay just quite yet. After the 2 classes and still fighting a cough, I have no immediate desire to hit the road for home quite yet as well.
Just picked up another model lesson for Saturday after The Manhattanite. Apparently, the fellow is a lowbie who has to get his fluency in high gear for a mid-July trip to Germany on business. Rather intense, if he does indeed to choose us for his school. As for next Wednesday, it looks like it'll be another slow night. I've only got The Diver on the schedule thus far; 001 will be having a day off.
Still decompressing after the two classes. Not that they were bad or anything...001 was her usual delightful self and The Diver was doing quite well. But it's kinda like getting home after midnight...it may be late but I still don't really want to hit the hay just quite yet. After the 2 classes and still fighting a cough, I have no immediate desire to hit the road for home quite yet as well.
Just picked up another model lesson for Saturday after The Manhattanite. Apparently, the fellow is a lowbie who has to get his fluency in high gear for a mid-July trip to Germany on business. Rather intense, if he does indeed to choose us for his school. As for next Wednesday, it looks like it'll be another slow night. I've only got The Diver on the schedule thus far; 001 will be having a day off.
Wednesday April 23, 4:33 p.m.
A good ol' Spring day today. Up to 21 C, at the very least. Hump Day is back to a Pimple Day since I've only got 001 and The Diver tonight. Just watched The Pennsylvania Primary on CNN; as expected, Hillary won over Barack so it looks even more likely that it may take the Democratic Convention in August to finally decide things. One of the pundits came up with an interesting thought: the longer the decision takes to be made, the more likely that it'll have to be a Clinton-Obama ticket.
I guess it must not be a good time to be a CNN staffer. Jack Cafferty is Public Enemy No. 1 in China, Richard Quest gets caught with crystal meth and some sort of sex aid on his person in Central Park, and now I hear that newly-acquired Tony Snow...formerly of Fox News, formerly Bush's Press Secretary...had to be rushed off to hospital. Hmm...has Larry King been checked recently?
Last night at the juku, Jolly finally did show up after 5 weeks away. By the end of the session, I was kinda wondering if he should've even bothered coming at all. He was pretty listless at the end of the class. But he and his girl will be heading off to Kyushu for a bit of pre-GW vacation. At the same time, The Ace and his significant other will be going to Australia. As for me, it'll be the usual stay-at-home avoiding the crowds at Narita and saving money. The boss got back from seeing "Man of La Mancha" feeling pretty satisfied; Koshiro Matsumoto as Don Quixote was excellent (as he would be after thousands of performances of the same character), but the revelation to the boss was his daughter, pop singer/actress Takako Matsu, as one of the other characters. My impression was that the boss hadn't been too impressed with Takako's singing career thus far but apparently her performance last night showed that she'd been hitting the voice lessons really hard.
Yup, it looks like it'll be Shrek and his family for Sunday's visit to Brozers, but Skippy will also be joining us. She's the one who got me going to this burger place in the first place. Glad that she's coming not least for the fact that she's the only one who remembers where to meet in Ningyocho. I asked MB and The Satyr but MB has already got plans and I have yet to hear from The Satyr.
A good ol' Spring day today. Up to 21 C, at the very least. Hump Day is back to a Pimple Day since I've only got 001 and The Diver tonight. Just watched The Pennsylvania Primary on CNN; as expected, Hillary won over Barack so it looks even more likely that it may take the Democratic Convention in August to finally decide things. One of the pundits came up with an interesting thought: the longer the decision takes to be made, the more likely that it'll have to be a Clinton-Obama ticket.
I guess it must not be a good time to be a CNN staffer. Jack Cafferty is Public Enemy No. 1 in China, Richard Quest gets caught with crystal meth and some sort of sex aid on his person in Central Park, and now I hear that newly-acquired Tony Snow...formerly of Fox News, formerly Bush's Press Secretary...had to be rushed off to hospital. Hmm...has Larry King been checked recently?
Last night at the juku, Jolly finally did show up after 5 weeks away. By the end of the session, I was kinda wondering if he should've even bothered coming at all. He was pretty listless at the end of the class. But he and his girl will be heading off to Kyushu for a bit of pre-GW vacation. At the same time, The Ace and his significant other will be going to Australia. As for me, it'll be the usual stay-at-home avoiding the crowds at Narita and saving money. The boss got back from seeing "Man of La Mancha" feeling pretty satisfied; Koshiro Matsumoto as Don Quixote was excellent (as he would be after thousands of performances of the same character), but the revelation to the boss was his daughter, pop singer/actress Takako Matsu, as one of the other characters. My impression was that the boss hadn't been too impressed with Takako's singing career thus far but apparently her performance last night showed that she'd been hitting the voice lessons really hard.
Yup, it looks like it'll be Shrek and his family for Sunday's visit to Brozers, but Skippy will also be joining us. She's the one who got me going to this burger place in the first place. Glad that she's coming not least for the fact that she's the only one who remembers where to meet in Ningyocho. I asked MB and The Satyr but MB has already got plans and I have yet to hear from The Satyr.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Tuesday April 22, 9:10 p.m.
Well, so far, I haven't heard any breathless phone calls from Jolly saying that he'll have to cancel, so I guess I'll be expecting the big guy shortly. The Milds made it here as usual. Mr. Mild will be having his debut as a yoga guy next Tuesday. I wished him luck...he gave me a rather rueful smile.
And here I thought Jack Cafferty was having his problems. A fiction writer with a mean streak couldn't have made this one up. Richard Quest, the uber-Brit CNN commentator, has gotten himself in a moral morass when he got picked up in New York City with some drugs, a noose around his neck and his privates, and a sex toy in his car. Oooooooookay....I can assume that this won't make it onto the next episode of "Quest". Well, I hope wherever he ends up, I hope it's profitable in a spiritual way. It's a foregone conclusion that we won't be seeing him anytime soon on the screen. Kinda too bad...his near-Pythonesque delivery will be missed.
Well, so far, I haven't heard any breathless phone calls from Jolly saying that he'll have to cancel, so I guess I'll be expecting the big guy shortly. The Milds made it here as usual. Mr. Mild will be having his debut as a yoga guy next Tuesday. I wished him luck...he gave me a rather rueful smile.
And here I thought Jack Cafferty was having his problems. A fiction writer with a mean streak couldn't have made this one up. Richard Quest, the uber-Brit CNN commentator, has gotten himself in a moral morass when he got picked up in New York City with some drugs, a noose around his neck and his privates, and a sex toy in his car. Oooooooookay....I can assume that this won't make it onto the next episode of "Quest". Well, I hope wherever he ends up, I hope it's profitable in a spiritual way. It's a foregone conclusion that we won't be seeing him anytime soon on the screen. Kinda too bad...his near-Pythonesque delivery will be missed.
Tuesday April 22, 7:31 p.m.
Jack Cafferty! You just managed to piss off 25% of humanity. What are you gonna do next? You ain't going to Hong Kong Disneyland, that's for sure.
Sorry...couldn't resist that one.
Finished off with Suzanne just now. She's a good student...we tackled some TOEIC Reading. There is stuff in there that we can help her with. The only thing is that the juku will be off on GW holidays for the next 2 Tuesdays. Rather unprecedented since Tuesdays have never been off nights for me. Only have The Milds and Jolly tonight.
Then, tomorrow could be the death knell for the one known as Hillary. But again I may be jumping the gun considerably since Pennsylvania should be her territory. However, as this battle for the Democratic nominee keeps slogging farther and farther ahead, I keep thinking that the likelihood of John McCain becoming the next President gets higher and higher.
Jack Cafferty! You just managed to piss off 25% of humanity. What are you gonna do next? You ain't going to Hong Kong Disneyland, that's for sure.
Sorry...couldn't resist that one.
Finished off with Suzanne just now. She's a good student...we tackled some TOEIC Reading. There is stuff in there that we can help her with. The only thing is that the juku will be off on GW holidays for the next 2 Tuesdays. Rather unprecedented since Tuesdays have never been off nights for me. Only have The Milds and Jolly tonight.
Then, tomorrow could be the death knell for the one known as Hillary. But again I may be jumping the gun considerably since Pennsylvania should be her territory. However, as this battle for the Democratic nominee keeps slogging farther and farther ahead, I keep thinking that the likelihood of John McCain becoming the next President gets higher and higher.
Tuesday April 22, 4:12 p.m.
Managed to survive the busiest Monday of the year last night, although there was a bit of an overlap between The Bostonian and Medicine Man. My voice got a bit ragged but not nearly as bad as losing it completely last week.
I only had Mrs. Alp and Mrs Travel for The Beehive this morning. Looks like Kyoto was once again the topic of discussion. Nice enough place to visit in the Spring and Autumn but a place to avoid in the Summer due to the searing temperatures. I had lunch at a family restaurant at the top of a department store in Funabashi. I hadn't had a hambaagu teishoku in some time so I decided to go for that. A bit chintzy but it fit the bill OK.
I saw 002 for the first time in 3 weeks. It looks like she was going through the same Hell that I was last week with a lousy cold. Also, she had to tackle the events surrounding her grandmother's death earlier this year which didn't help her condition any. As it turns out, the next two Tuesdays will be national holidays bookending Golden Week so again there will be another 3-week absence although 002 was hinting that it may be even longer since her schedule has changed once more. As for The Beehive, the ladies there may ask for one of the two holidays as a special class. As of today, I came off the debtors' prison since I paid off the entire advance from their contribution to my rent situation back in February. I'll be most grateful in getting paid again.
It's just me at the juku right now. It must truly be Spring...the upstairs is feeling mighty warm. The boss is off with her cronies watching "Man of La Mancha" starring Koshiro Matsumoto, one of Japan's finest stage actors. One of her young charges accidentally came by, forgetting about the schedule change today. I, though, will have a typical slate of Suzanne, The Milds and Jolly. The boss left a note saying that he would actually show up but I'll believe it when he actually does so. Mild Jr. is off today due to more training in his new job.
It looks like it'll just be me and Shrek for that jaunt to Brozers on Sunday. I may ask Skippy to liven things up a bit but we are entering Golden Week so I'm not sure if she and some of the others will already be heading out to parts unknown for vacation.
I asked The Full-Timer about how things are at her new company of Delta Airlines after the big merger announcement last week. She said that there was some tension but nothing too worrying.
Managed to survive the busiest Monday of the year last night, although there was a bit of an overlap between The Bostonian and Medicine Man. My voice got a bit ragged but not nearly as bad as losing it completely last week.
I only had Mrs. Alp and Mrs Travel for The Beehive this morning. Looks like Kyoto was once again the topic of discussion. Nice enough place to visit in the Spring and Autumn but a place to avoid in the Summer due to the searing temperatures. I had lunch at a family restaurant at the top of a department store in Funabashi. I hadn't had a hambaagu teishoku in some time so I decided to go for that. A bit chintzy but it fit the bill OK.
I saw 002 for the first time in 3 weeks. It looks like she was going through the same Hell that I was last week with a lousy cold. Also, she had to tackle the events surrounding her grandmother's death earlier this year which didn't help her condition any. As it turns out, the next two Tuesdays will be national holidays bookending Golden Week so again there will be another 3-week absence although 002 was hinting that it may be even longer since her schedule has changed once more. As for The Beehive, the ladies there may ask for one of the two holidays as a special class. As of today, I came off the debtors' prison since I paid off the entire advance from their contribution to my rent situation back in February. I'll be most grateful in getting paid again.
It's just me at the juku right now. It must truly be Spring...the upstairs is feeling mighty warm. The boss is off with her cronies watching "Man of La Mancha" starring Koshiro Matsumoto, one of Japan's finest stage actors. One of her young charges accidentally came by, forgetting about the schedule change today. I, though, will have a typical slate of Suzanne, The Milds and Jolly. The boss left a note saying that he would actually show up but I'll believe it when he actually does so. Mild Jr. is off today due to more training in his new job.
It looks like it'll just be me and Shrek for that jaunt to Brozers on Sunday. I may ask Skippy to liven things up a bit but we are entering Golden Week so I'm not sure if she and some of the others will already be heading out to parts unknown for vacation.
I asked The Full-Timer about how things are at her new company of Delta Airlines after the big merger announcement last week. She said that there was some tension but nothing too worrying.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Monday April 21, 4:36 p.m.
In the middle of one hell of a Monday schedule. I've finished with The Class Act and SIL and now I face The Full-Timer back at smoke-ridden Doutors (too bad that new cafe won't pan out as an option) before racing back for a threesome in the form of The Tippler, The Bostonian and Medicine Man. My voice is still not in the best of shape; I can only hope that it'll do better than it did last Monday.
On Saturday, I was somewhat disappointed with Tully & The Coffeemaker. Neither of them did any prep work so basically the lesson was just doiong the homework in class. Not the most exciting of classes but hey they need to know that they have to put in their effort as well.
Then it was down to Yurakucho for that class reunion of sorts with The Teahouse Ladies. It was at a Southeast Asian buffet restaurant called Bali Hai in the Ginza Inz complex. It'd been 5 years since I met all of them together, although The Operator and The Flautist hung in with me for an extra year after The Argentinian had left with her husband to Evita's homeland. It was kinda like old times with us gabbing like we did in the erstwhile Tea Room up in Ichigaya. But The Flautist is now a married woman though she still has that slight sassiness to her. The Operator was still giggly as ever. Of course, we all talked about the old days back at the ol' school and how everyone there was doing.
The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. I saw the last quarter of episodes from Season 1 of "Heroes" on Super Drama TV. Yep, it was good but I don't think it has quite made the splash that folks over here had been hoping for. Maybe one thing is that Masi Oka, James Kyson Lee and George Takei just mangle the Japanese language, but then again that's why they can just switch to the Japanese dubbing.
In the middle of one hell of a Monday schedule. I've finished with The Class Act and SIL and now I face The Full-Timer back at smoke-ridden Doutors (too bad that new cafe won't pan out as an option) before racing back for a threesome in the form of The Tippler, The Bostonian and Medicine Man. My voice is still not in the best of shape; I can only hope that it'll do better than it did last Monday.
On Saturday, I was somewhat disappointed with Tully & The Coffeemaker. Neither of them did any prep work so basically the lesson was just doiong the homework in class. Not the most exciting of classes but hey they need to know that they have to put in their effort as well.
Then it was down to Yurakucho for that class reunion of sorts with The Teahouse Ladies. It was at a Southeast Asian buffet restaurant called Bali Hai in the Ginza Inz complex. It'd been 5 years since I met all of them together, although The Operator and The Flautist hung in with me for an extra year after The Argentinian had left with her husband to Evita's homeland. It was kinda like old times with us gabbing like we did in the erstwhile Tea Room up in Ichigaya. But The Flautist is now a married woman though she still has that slight sassiness to her. The Operator was still giggly as ever. Of course, we all talked about the old days back at the ol' school and how everyone there was doing.
The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. I saw the last quarter of episodes from Season 1 of "Heroes" on Super Drama TV. Yep, it was good but I don't think it has quite made the splash that folks over here had been hoping for. Maybe one thing is that Masi Oka, James Kyson Lee and George Takei just mangle the Japanese language, but then again that's why they can just switch to the Japanese dubbing.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Friday April 18, 10:09 p.m.
As expected, Jolly called in to dotakyan. The fact that I didn't hear a major rumble of steps rushing up the stairs at 10 p.m. spoke volumes. However, Miss Disney and The Ace came by. Disney is doing pretty well...coming along smoothly. The Ace told me that his pet dog of 15 years passed on last Sunday; he took the news pretty well. We also got into the topic of whether plants had feelings or not (this wasn't off the top of my head but from one of the questions in the text). I reminisced about my 6th-grade teacher back in the 70s when he had all of us impressionable kids commune with our philodendrons for 20 minutes every Friday afternoon. Yeah, good timing, guy....have us try out telepathy on plants right after lunch. A lot of us ended up taking naps. The 70s were a pretty freaky time. But back to The Ace...he won't be here next Friday since he and his girlfriend will be off traveling in Australia next week. Lucky ol' man....the boss "warned" him not to return with an accent.
I finally got word from The Operator. As hoped for, she was able to buy some silverware for The Flautist for all of us, so all we have to do is to contribute to the price. Saves me a headache although my wallet will be lighter than usual this weekend.
Anyways, I've burned out my voice once more. I think this cough is gonna be with me for a while longer.
As expected, Jolly called in to dotakyan. The fact that I didn't hear a major rumble of steps rushing up the stairs at 10 p.m. spoke volumes. However, Miss Disney and The Ace came by. Disney is doing pretty well...coming along smoothly. The Ace told me that his pet dog of 15 years passed on last Sunday; he took the news pretty well. We also got into the topic of whether plants had feelings or not (this wasn't off the top of my head but from one of the questions in the text). I reminisced about my 6th-grade teacher back in the 70s when he had all of us impressionable kids commune with our philodendrons for 20 minutes every Friday afternoon. Yeah, good timing, guy....have us try out telepathy on plants right after lunch. A lot of us ended up taking naps. The 70s were a pretty freaky time. But back to The Ace...he won't be here next Friday since he and his girlfriend will be off traveling in Australia next week. Lucky ol' man....the boss "warned" him not to return with an accent.
I finally got word from The Operator. As hoped for, she was able to buy some silverware for The Flautist for all of us, so all we have to do is to contribute to the price. Saves me a headache although my wallet will be lighter than usual this weekend.
Anyways, I've burned out my voice once more. I think this cough is gonna be with me for a while longer.
Friday April 18, 6:08 p.m.
Rather typhoon-like this morning although the nearest typhoon is all the way down past Hong Kong at the moment. Things were blowing so hard that I was afraid my laundry poles, including the heavy stainless steel one, would lift off. Well, 12 hours later, it's calmer although it's still spitting out there.
Last night, BC and I tried out that new cafe just across from the station. It's a moody one, as they would say in Japlish; back home, it would be called a place with atmosphere. Dim lighting, subdued colour scheme and soft music. Not exactly conducive to having a proper English lesson but we did have a good dinner there. The menu was an Indian fusion of sorts. Curry was the headliner but BC ordered the pasta in kima curry sauce...kinda like the usual meat sauce but creamier. I had the saag chicken which was mild and creamy spinach curry with bits of chicken.
Despite the atmosphere, BC and I managed to pull off a lesson but it's not a place that we can go to every time since BC usually follows The Carolinan, and she's definitely planted at the Ichigaya Starbucks. Plus, since it is more of a sit-down restaurant than it is a cafe, I don't think I could really bring anyone like The Full-Timer there. I certainly don't wanna be asking her to pay 1,200 yen for dinner and my salary. However, I think if BC is the only one on the schedule, then it's viable.
Then, her friend and my new student, The Temp, showed up. I dutifully chatted her up while I checked her strengths and weaknesses. For a woman who's only traveled abroad for vacation and gone only to the other English schools for her language skills, she was quite smooth in her delivery. But she was also stuttery and uncertain at points; so basically, she just needs plenty of opportunity to speak out. Luckily, she'll also be a floater since my nights are pretty much filled to the brim.
It's only the juku students tonight. And I've got a fairly full slate...Miss Disney, The Ace and then Jolly...maybe. So, most of the day I was at home commiserating with the cough that just won't leave. I did get a break, though, at the nearest drug store. They were selling off some of their surplus medicine, including cough medicine. The sign said that they were coming close to the end of their "best-by" date so that's why they were selling them at 50% off. Well, my box said it was good til October. The way my coughs like to hang around, I'm fairly confident that I will get rid of my pills long before the Fall.
I had dinner at the Pepper Lunch near my station. Pepper Lunch is a chain that specializes in hotplate-grilled steaks and hamburgers. I hadn't been there in a long time, so I decided to give that a go. There were two other folks in there. One of them was a ruddy-faced, rough-hewn type who bellowed at the lone greenhorn staffer that the miso soup hadn't come. I had their most famous plate of beef shavings mixed in with rice, garlic, corn and green onions. Fit the bill pretty nicely, although the students may be wondering where that fried smell is coming from.
Tomorrow will be my first lesson with Tully and The Coffeemaker in about a month. Hopefully, The Coffeemaker will show up since she couldn't make it last month due to a cold which I'm now suffering from. Then, it'll be down to Yurakucho for lunch with The Teahouse Ladies whom I haven't seen in a few years. The Flautist is now a newly-married woman, The Argentinian is well-experienced as a wife and mother, while The Operator is still single. But then again, The Operator kinda struck me as being a bit of the spinster type anyways. I'm also hoping that my cough will be suppressed enough by then.
I got word from Chip Guy after several months. The Entrepreneur had told me that he and his new wife had met CG and his family for dinner the other day. So I decided to drop the wunderkind a line. Looks like his two kids have been growing up rather quickly.
The juku boss just informed me that she wouldn't be around next Tuesday since she and her buddies will be catching the local performance of "Man of La Mancha". Considering how cooped up she is over here to her house, getting out for fun on a weeknight must truly be an impossible dream.
Rather typhoon-like this morning although the nearest typhoon is all the way down past Hong Kong at the moment. Things were blowing so hard that I was afraid my laundry poles, including the heavy stainless steel one, would lift off. Well, 12 hours later, it's calmer although it's still spitting out there.
Last night, BC and I tried out that new cafe just across from the station. It's a moody one, as they would say in Japlish; back home, it would be called a place with atmosphere. Dim lighting, subdued colour scheme and soft music. Not exactly conducive to having a proper English lesson but we did have a good dinner there. The menu was an Indian fusion of sorts. Curry was the headliner but BC ordered the pasta in kima curry sauce...kinda like the usual meat sauce but creamier. I had the saag chicken which was mild and creamy spinach curry with bits of chicken.
Despite the atmosphere, BC and I managed to pull off a lesson but it's not a place that we can go to every time since BC usually follows The Carolinan, and she's definitely planted at the Ichigaya Starbucks. Plus, since it is more of a sit-down restaurant than it is a cafe, I don't think I could really bring anyone like The Full-Timer there. I certainly don't wanna be asking her to pay 1,200 yen for dinner and my salary. However, I think if BC is the only one on the schedule, then it's viable.
Then, her friend and my new student, The Temp, showed up. I dutifully chatted her up while I checked her strengths and weaknesses. For a woman who's only traveled abroad for vacation and gone only to the other English schools for her language skills, she was quite smooth in her delivery. But she was also stuttery and uncertain at points; so basically, she just needs plenty of opportunity to speak out. Luckily, she'll also be a floater since my nights are pretty much filled to the brim.
It's only the juku students tonight. And I've got a fairly full slate...Miss Disney, The Ace and then Jolly...maybe. So, most of the day I was at home commiserating with the cough that just won't leave. I did get a break, though, at the nearest drug store. They were selling off some of their surplus medicine, including cough medicine. The sign said that they were coming close to the end of their "best-by" date so that's why they were selling them at 50% off. Well, my box said it was good til October. The way my coughs like to hang around, I'm fairly confident that I will get rid of my pills long before the Fall.
I had dinner at the Pepper Lunch near my station. Pepper Lunch is a chain that specializes in hotplate-grilled steaks and hamburgers. I hadn't been there in a long time, so I decided to give that a go. There were two other folks in there. One of them was a ruddy-faced, rough-hewn type who bellowed at the lone greenhorn staffer that the miso soup hadn't come. I had their most famous plate of beef shavings mixed in with rice, garlic, corn and green onions. Fit the bill pretty nicely, although the students may be wondering where that fried smell is coming from.
Tomorrow will be my first lesson with Tully and The Coffeemaker in about a month. Hopefully, The Coffeemaker will show up since she couldn't make it last month due to a cold which I'm now suffering from. Then, it'll be down to Yurakucho for lunch with The Teahouse Ladies whom I haven't seen in a few years. The Flautist is now a newly-married woman, The Argentinian is well-experienced as a wife and mother, while The Operator is still single. But then again, The Operator kinda struck me as being a bit of the spinster type anyways. I'm also hoping that my cough will be suppressed enough by then.
I got word from Chip Guy after several months. The Entrepreneur had told me that he and his new wife had met CG and his family for dinner the other day. So I decided to drop the wunderkind a line. Looks like his two kids have been growing up rather quickly.
The juku boss just informed me that she wouldn't be around next Tuesday since she and her buddies will be catching the local performance of "Man of La Mancha". Considering how cooped up she is over here to her house, getting out for fun on a weeknight must truly be an impossible dream.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Thursday April 17, 2:48 p.m.
Spinning my wheels here before BC's lesson in about 4 hours. I finished up with The Yogist almost an hour ago. She was her usual spritely self...I complimented her on her salesmanship with Mr. Mild the other day.
Just going through Wiki...found out that Barbara Feldon of "Get Smart" fame is 76 (!) years old. She's just a couple of years younger than Grandma 3?! Man, I'll always remember her as the doe-eyed and slinky 99.
The rains have started to come on down as the weather reports had threatened. Could possibly enter the cats n' dogs phase later tonight.
Spinning my wheels here before BC's lesson in about 4 hours. I finished up with The Yogist almost an hour ago. She was her usual spritely self...I complimented her on her salesmanship with Mr. Mild the other day.
Just going through Wiki...found out that Barbara Feldon of "Get Smart" fame is 76 (!) years old. She's just a couple of years younger than Grandma 3?! Man, I'll always remember her as the doe-eyed and slinky 99.
The rains have started to come on down as the weather reports had threatened. Could possibly enter the cats n' dogs phase later tonight.
Thursday April 17, 11:41 a.m.
Just had Grandma 3...by far, the most proficient of the three ladies of similar age I've had in the past couple of days. She's a bit of a Renaissance lady, that one...studies English for her mind, goes to ballroom dancing for her body, and has her family for her spirit. And she even attended a few of the sessions at the Tokyo War Crimes Trials in her youth. Not surprisingly, we didn't delve too much into the text...she kinda muttered that she wasn't too interested in the nitty-gritty, so we allowed her to go into some of her regaling.
Had to pull another early wake-up to get over here. Since I wasn't going to risk a second McBreakfast in as many days, I ended up going down the street to local family restaurant Jonathans. Fewer people, more space and plenty of Muzak. Had the Scrambled Egg Brekkie with the usual runny eggs, one wiener, one strip of bacon, a side salad, a couple of hash browns and a thick slab of toast (the Japanese do toast right) with whipped butter and jam. I spent about 2 hours there, but there was no urging by the staff for me to vacate since the place was sparsely populated. And like me, there were a few business types conducting their trade at their tables.
The cold medicine has taken effect although the cough remains. I had to buy another roll of nodo-ame to take care of that problem. The Yogist should be coming by in about an hour; I'm sure she'll have lots to say about Mr. Mild. And then there will be several hours of downtime before I teach BC and her buddy.
Just had Grandma 3...by far, the most proficient of the three ladies of similar age I've had in the past couple of days. She's a bit of a Renaissance lady, that one...studies English for her mind, goes to ballroom dancing for her body, and has her family for her spirit. And she even attended a few of the sessions at the Tokyo War Crimes Trials in her youth. Not surprisingly, we didn't delve too much into the text...she kinda muttered that she wasn't too interested in the nitty-gritty, so we allowed her to go into some of her regaling.
Had to pull another early wake-up to get over here. Since I wasn't going to risk a second McBreakfast in as many days, I ended up going down the street to local family restaurant Jonathans. Fewer people, more space and plenty of Muzak. Had the Scrambled Egg Brekkie with the usual runny eggs, one wiener, one strip of bacon, a side salad, a couple of hash browns and a thick slab of toast (the Japanese do toast right) with whipped butter and jam. I spent about 2 hours there, but there was no urging by the staff for me to vacate since the place was sparsely populated. And like me, there were a few business types conducting their trade at their tables.
The cold medicine has taken effect although the cough remains. I had to buy another roll of nodo-ame to take care of that problem. The Yogist should be coming by in about an hour; I'm sure she'll have lots to say about Mr. Mild. And then there will be several hours of downtime before I teach BC and her buddy.
Wednesday April 16, 9:37 p.m.
Well, despite the nagging phlegmy cough (I apologize for the description), I still managed to get through the night lessons in one piece, more or less. 001 was her usual bar buddy self...and she'll actually come here next week as well. The Diver kinda had me drawing on my extra reserves; she's an intrepid one but she gets so easily flustered. However, I'm done for the day...only to come back to teach Grandma 3 tomorrow morning before The Yogist's regular lesson. And then I have BC and then a possible new student in the form of BC's buddy. We'll be giving a new cafe a try. It's across the street from the smoke-ridden Doutor's. If it passes muster, I might even place The Full-Timer there.
Speaking of whom...I think I'll be outing her in a sense. As of yesterday, the Full-Timer has been working for the largest airline company in the world...that merger between Delta and Northwest finally came off. I'd been asking her about that. She always looked rather discomfited and stayed silent, so I gather that she was under house rules to stay mum.
Well, it'll be another breakfast outside. However, I think even for me, having two breakfasts in a row at The Golden Arches is asking for trouble, so I will probably hit the nearby Jonathan's instead. Little smoke and far larger table room.
I hear that Pope Benedict XVI will be heading to the White House today. Well, he's gotten the colour scheme perfect anyways.
Well, despite the nagging phlegmy cough (I apologize for the description), I still managed to get through the night lessons in one piece, more or less. 001 was her usual bar buddy self...and she'll actually come here next week as well. The Diver kinda had me drawing on my extra reserves; she's an intrepid one but she gets so easily flustered. However, I'm done for the day...only to come back to teach Grandma 3 tomorrow morning before The Yogist's regular lesson. And then I have BC and then a possible new student in the form of BC's buddy. We'll be giving a new cafe a try. It's across the street from the smoke-ridden Doutor's. If it passes muster, I might even place The Full-Timer there.
Speaking of whom...I think I'll be outing her in a sense. As of yesterday, the Full-Timer has been working for the largest airline company in the world...that merger between Delta and Northwest finally came off. I'd been asking her about that. She always looked rather discomfited and stayed silent, so I gather that she was under house rules to stay mum.
Well, it'll be another breakfast outside. However, I think even for me, having two breakfasts in a row at The Golden Arches is asking for trouble, so I will probably hit the nearby Jonathan's instead. Little smoke and far larger table room.
I hear that Pope Benedict XVI will be heading to the White House today. Well, he's gotten the colour scheme perfect anyways.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Wednesday April 16, 3:56 p.m.
As it turned out, Grandma 2 didn't wake up until after her originally scheduled lesson had gone by. Looks like the ol' girl was under the weather. I'm not exactly at 100% with my nagging cough. One of my friends assured me that the oft-searing pain in my throat is just the message that there is a battle going on between the virus and the body's defense system. As if I didn't know my biology...
The Nurse was pleasant as usual. Ended up going 20 minutes overtime and then BC started engaging her in gab as well. Right now, I've got these next couple of hours of down time whilst the bossman is out there shaking the trees for new clients. As far as I know, 001 is still scheduled to come in, and then The Diver.
As it turned out, Grandma 2 didn't wake up until after her originally scheduled lesson had gone by. Looks like the ol' girl was under the weather. I'm not exactly at 100% with my nagging cough. One of my friends assured me that the oft-searing pain in my throat is just the message that there is a battle going on between the virus and the body's defense system. As if I didn't know my biology...
The Nurse was pleasant as usual. Ended up going 20 minutes overtime and then BC started engaging her in gab as well. Right now, I've got these next couple of hours of down time whilst the bossman is out there shaking the trees for new clients. As far as I know, 001 is still scheduled to come in, and then The Diver.
Wednesday April 16, 11:41 a.m.
Already hitting the big 2,200th entry. Bring out the Veuve Cliquot!
And I'm still waiting for Grandma Two...who Speedy says is never late. Well, she's over 10 minutes late now. I hope there haven't been any major problems. As for Grandma One, well, we've managed to stumble our ways over to the end of the text. But it does prove one thing to me: always accept temporary assignments from other teachers warily.
I got replies from Shrek, TC and Smiley concerning a trip to Brozer's for those hamburgers on the 27th. Hmmm...so far, only Shrek has replied positively. Smiley has got a rugby tournament on that Sunday, and TC isn't too positive about the timing. So, I'll be playing it by ear on that one. Maybe I'll bring out Skippy and even MB.
Now, still waiting for Grandma Two.
Already hitting the big 2,200th entry. Bring out the Veuve Cliquot!
And I'm still waiting for Grandma Two...who Speedy says is never late. Well, she's over 10 minutes late now. I hope there haven't been any major problems. As for Grandma One, well, we've managed to stumble our ways over to the end of the text. But it does prove one thing to me: always accept temporary assignments from other teachers warily.
I got replies from Shrek, TC and Smiley concerning a trip to Brozer's for those hamburgers on the 27th. Hmmm...so far, only Shrek has replied positively. Smiley has got a rugby tournament on that Sunday, and TC isn't too positive about the timing. So, I'll be playing it by ear on that one. Maybe I'll bring out Skippy and even MB.
Now, still waiting for Grandma Two.
Wednesday April 16, 9:56 a.m.
Just about 15 minutes away from the beginning of a large Hump Day. I've got two grandmas to start off before The Nurse, 001 and The Diver. My voice still sounds somewhat scratchy, and I've been downing the Halls en masse.
Did forget to mention that Mr. Mild had finally taken the bait and decided to attend a yoga class on the 29th, thanks to The Yogist's gentle prodding. However, it won't be The Yogist herself who'll be handling Mr. Mild's inaugural trial lesson but an associate of hers. She did say that her friend was pretty...which is a pretty dangerous thing to say to a 60-year-old man.
I see that Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in the most religious country on the planet...i.e. the US of A. President Bush has even thrown convention to the wind and actually greeted the Pontiff at the airport. His Holiness also demonstrated his fluency in English during a small interview session on Shepherd-1.
Well, there was some trepidation in Fukuoka over the last several days about a possible serial killer preying on old women. One elderly woman was stabbed to death multiple times by the psycho. Luckily, he's been caught. Money was the reason for his spree, according to him. And like any other monster, he didn't have the coat covering his head in shame...just stared glass-eyed at the cameras.
Just about 15 minutes away from the beginning of a large Hump Day. I've got two grandmas to start off before The Nurse, 001 and The Diver. My voice still sounds somewhat scratchy, and I've been downing the Halls en masse.
Did forget to mention that Mr. Mild had finally taken the bait and decided to attend a yoga class on the 29th, thanks to The Yogist's gentle prodding. However, it won't be The Yogist herself who'll be handling Mr. Mild's inaugural trial lesson but an associate of hers. She did say that her friend was pretty...which is a pretty dangerous thing to say to a 60-year-old man.
I see that Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in the most religious country on the planet...i.e. the US of A. President Bush has even thrown convention to the wind and actually greeted the Pontiff at the airport. His Holiness also demonstrated his fluency in English during a small interview session on Shepherd-1.
Well, there was some trepidation in Fukuoka over the last several days about a possible serial killer preying on old women. One elderly woman was stabbed to death multiple times by the psycho. Luckily, he's been caught. Money was the reason for his spree, according to him. And like any other monster, he didn't have the coat covering his head in shame...just stared glass-eyed at the cameras.
Tuesday April 15, 9:14 p.m.
My voice is feeling somewhat like how millions of Americans and Canadians are also feeling right now...crappy. It is of course tax day over in North America. After shredding it last night during my last 3 lessons due to this cold, it's actually better tonight although I still sound like that tough-talking gyaru tarento, Yukina Kinoshita.
Tried the Salaryman's Cure for the cold last night by downing a couple of vitamin drinks after a particularly hot shower, and then hitting the futon wrapped in blankets. Didn't really do much for me this round, though.
My voice was the unfortunate conversation piece for all of my lessons today (as will probably be the case for the next few days). Considering that Mrs. Travel of The Beehive had gone to the trouble of making colour copies of Cuisine in Croatia, most of the talk was on the wonders of Kyoto.
Since 002 cancelled her class again, I had that hole in my schedule. But instead of spending it at the I-Cafe, I went home and cooked myself some stir-fry with the remaining rice from Sunday. Since I no longer have a working microwave, I tried to improvise by putting the rice cooker container full of rice in a hot water bath. All it did was overflow on the range and the rice ended up alternately mushy on the inside and crusty on the outside. Might work if it were a giant gyoza, but I now realize that the microwave oven is the preferred appliance rather than the convection oven.
As for the juku lessons, the boss was alarmed about the state of my voice to the extent that she actually checked me for a fever and then had me put in a thermometer under my armpit. I realize that we've known each other for nearly 4 years, but really.... Anyways, when the thermometer registered 35 degrees C, I kinda knew I was already a bit of a freak.
Mild Jr. returned today and it looks like he's settling into his new position quite well. But Jolly once again dotakyaned due to some wining n' dining he had to do with a client. The Milds were the latest recipients of my regaling about my success with homemade butter. Ironically, when I was at the supermarket, there was a new supply of butter on the shelves but how long that will last nobody really knows.
Well, the next two days will have me teaching the grandmothers early in the morning...not great for a fragile voice like mine. It'll be a long day.
The Teahouse Ladies contacted me about this Saturday. The Operator suggested a belated wedding present for The Flautist. Hmm....I'll have to check the size of my wallet. Anyways, it's set for someplace in Ginza. The Argentinian will also be there. I'm sure she'll have lots to talk about her 5 years in the homeland of Evita.
My voice is feeling somewhat like how millions of Americans and Canadians are also feeling right now...crappy. It is of course tax day over in North America. After shredding it last night during my last 3 lessons due to this cold, it's actually better tonight although I still sound like that tough-talking gyaru tarento, Yukina Kinoshita.
Tried the Salaryman's Cure for the cold last night by downing a couple of vitamin drinks after a particularly hot shower, and then hitting the futon wrapped in blankets. Didn't really do much for me this round, though.
My voice was the unfortunate conversation piece for all of my lessons today (as will probably be the case for the next few days). Considering that Mrs. Travel of The Beehive had gone to the trouble of making colour copies of Cuisine in Croatia, most of the talk was on the wonders of Kyoto.
Since 002 cancelled her class again, I had that hole in my schedule. But instead of spending it at the I-Cafe, I went home and cooked myself some stir-fry with the remaining rice from Sunday. Since I no longer have a working microwave, I tried to improvise by putting the rice cooker container full of rice in a hot water bath. All it did was overflow on the range and the rice ended up alternately mushy on the inside and crusty on the outside. Might work if it were a giant gyoza, but I now realize that the microwave oven is the preferred appliance rather than the convection oven.
As for the juku lessons, the boss was alarmed about the state of my voice to the extent that she actually checked me for a fever and then had me put in a thermometer under my armpit. I realize that we've known each other for nearly 4 years, but really.... Anyways, when the thermometer registered 35 degrees C, I kinda knew I was already a bit of a freak.
Mild Jr. returned today and it looks like he's settling into his new position quite well. But Jolly once again dotakyaned due to some wining n' dining he had to do with a client. The Milds were the latest recipients of my regaling about my success with homemade butter. Ironically, when I was at the supermarket, there was a new supply of butter on the shelves but how long that will last nobody really knows.
Well, the next two days will have me teaching the grandmothers early in the morning...not great for a fragile voice like mine. It'll be a long day.
The Teahouse Ladies contacted me about this Saturday. The Operator suggested a belated wedding present for The Flautist. Hmm....I'll have to check the size of my wallet. Anyways, it's set for someplace in Ginza. The Argentinian will also be there. I'm sure she'll have lots to talk about her 5 years in the homeland of Evita.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Monday April 14, 10:37 p.m.
Managed to get through the Monday gauntlet at the expense of nearly shredding my voice completely. By the time I finished up with Medicine Man, my larynx was barely emitting wheezes and whistles, let alone anything coherent. Luckily, my student is a fairly understanding sort, since he is a doctor and all.
Yup, I'll be getting a couple of bottles of Tough Man or Ripobitan D. The stuff tastes like Jack N' Jill Cough Syrup, so I'm not sure how really effective the vitamin drinks are, but if I'm gonna survive this week, I'll try anything.
Everyone from today is coming back for next week. And on top of that, The Tippler will be back. So that'll be a six-pack Monday.
Managed to get through the Monday gauntlet at the expense of nearly shredding my voice completely. By the time I finished up with Medicine Man, my larynx was barely emitting wheezes and whistles, let alone anything coherent. Luckily, my student is a fairly understanding sort, since he is a doctor and all.
Yup, I'll be getting a couple of bottles of Tough Man or Ripobitan D. The stuff tastes like Jack N' Jill Cough Syrup, so I'm not sure how really effective the vitamin drinks are, but if I'm gonna survive this week, I'll try anything.
Everyone from today is coming back for next week. And on top of that, The Tippler will be back. So that'll be a six-pack Monday.
Monday April 14, 7:15 p.m.
Well, ended up with a cold since yesterday. I've got that phlegmy, metallic feel in my throat which demands a heavy dose of Hall's. And of course, there is the alternately runny and stuffy nose. I've used up my Benza Block so I'll need to get another batch of meds tomorrow morning on the way to The Beehive. However, I may try The Salaryman's Cure of taking a shower, taking two hyper-powered vitamin drinks and then wrapping myself tightly in blankets to try to sweat the cold out. It worked once before.
On the healthier Saturday, I did have a chance to go to Akihabara once more a few hours before meeting up with Automan and Shrek there. I can understand The Anime King when he says that he can easily spend an entire day in Otakuville. I was just browsing around and I could easily wile away two hours. I did take a look inside Yodobashi Camera Akiba in some light research concerning my future microwave oven. I did find some intriguing models, including a convection oven. While it would be great to actually roast or bake something, I think ultimately it comes down to the need to warm up things such as bento, so I'm afraid I'll probably have to stick with the nuke unit.
The Maids were out there in force although there were no signs of the Caucasian variety that I'd seen a couple of weeks previously. Plenty of otaku there as well. The little walk around served me well...I actually found yet another Burger King branch. I hadn't been able to patronize one since the franchise came to these shores a year ago. I ended up having a Whopper Jr. set; there is something to be said about flame-broiled burgers. That huge new mall was still not open. I'd thought that it would be but actually it's supposed to be opening up this Wednesday. I should be expecting huge lineups. No Krispy Kreme there but there will be a Baskin-Robbins.
But finally I met up with my old friends from the old country at JR Akihabara. Automan brought his new girlfriend and Shrek brought his family. Plus, there was a new friend from the University of Toronto...really smiley fellow. He'd actually gone to that shindig at the Canadian Embassy last Wednesday with the former Premier of Ontario, David Peterson. All of us ended up going to the Mansei Building, one of the few venerable buildings that actually served food (at least, until the current evolution of Akihabara) in the area. Mansei is the chain that specializes in all things beef, whether it be as Korean as yakiniku or the Japan-Western fusion of hambaagu. We went up to the 4th non-smoking floor (we did have kid with us) which has the iron plate specials. It'd been a good long while since I had anything purely beef, so I was quite happy to have a mess of fried beef and rice. Dem's good eatin'.
Shrek reminded me about our talk during the Holidays about Brozer's, the hamburger joint in Ningyocho...just where he works. So I said I would try to set something up with him, TC (who couldn't make it out that night) and Smiley. As it turned out, the latest issue of TOKYO METROPOLIS had the annual pullout section on the best burger joints in the Big Sushi. Apparently, there's a guy who has his own blog about all of the burger places he's visited. I've dutifully informed the guys about it, and even MB and Skippy for future reference. From looking at the various hamburger shops out there, it looks like they are here to stay and in very big forms.
Yesterday was a quiet day, the first full day without any classes in a couple of weeks. To address The Great Butter Shock of '08, I decided to produce my own butter. Picked up the tiny carton of 200 mL heavy cream and used the remaining 3.6% milk and just threw them into the blender and just whacked away. Within 5 minutes, as the recipe had predicted, the mixture just globbed down to this proto-butter. Then, I drained the buttermilk out of it and continued to further mash it up with a potato masher until it was pretty solid. I added a bit of salt to it; it still tasted pretty light compared to the regular stuff, but I can say that I now have a supply of butter.
Today was back to a full day Monday. I actually ended up waking up at the early hour of 3 a.m. much to my surprise. A head cold can do that to me. I had my breakfast pretty darn early and just watched through all those Pet Shop Boys videos on the DVD. I caught up on some sleep on the subway. I had The Class Act for the first time in a couple of weeks. They were rather surprised on hearing about The Great Butter Shock; I guess they don't do all that much with the stuff. As for SIL, we talked about the death penalty before going into an article on the Samurai Detective from LA, Jimmy Sakoda, the fellow who's been doggedly going after Kazuyoshi Miura, the eccentric who was accused of murdering his wife for the insurance money all the way back in 1981. SIL and I thought that Sakoda had that look of Lt. Gerard, the intrepid cop after Richard Kimble in "The Fugitive".
Ended up cooling my heels at China Quick for half an hour over a hoi koro don and half a ramen bowl since there was no one at Speedy's. Apparently, the daytime person couldn't make it in and Speedy had an outside appointment. No problems, though. I could see The Full-Timer for the first time in 3 weeks. And in about 45 minutes, I'll have The Manhattanite and then Medicine Man to wrap up. Hopefully, my voice won't give out. 002 has had to cancel her class for tomorrow due to her continuing ravages with her own little cold. So once again, it's another Lopsided Donut Day.
From last Wednesday's Pimple Day since I only taught The Diver then, I've got a Mega-Hump Day this Wednesday. I have to sub for the bossman here at Speedy's and teach the grandmothers, The Nurse, 001 and The Diver. It's quite a switch from the relative quiet of last week. Just hope that I survive it.
Well, ended up with a cold since yesterday. I've got that phlegmy, metallic feel in my throat which demands a heavy dose of Hall's. And of course, there is the alternately runny and stuffy nose. I've used up my Benza Block so I'll need to get another batch of meds tomorrow morning on the way to The Beehive. However, I may try The Salaryman's Cure of taking a shower, taking two hyper-powered vitamin drinks and then wrapping myself tightly in blankets to try to sweat the cold out. It worked once before.
On the healthier Saturday, I did have a chance to go to Akihabara once more a few hours before meeting up with Automan and Shrek there. I can understand The Anime King when he says that he can easily spend an entire day in Otakuville. I was just browsing around and I could easily wile away two hours. I did take a look inside Yodobashi Camera Akiba in some light research concerning my future microwave oven. I did find some intriguing models, including a convection oven. While it would be great to actually roast or bake something, I think ultimately it comes down to the need to warm up things such as bento, so I'm afraid I'll probably have to stick with the nuke unit.
The Maids were out there in force although there were no signs of the Caucasian variety that I'd seen a couple of weeks previously. Plenty of otaku there as well. The little walk around served me well...I actually found yet another Burger King branch. I hadn't been able to patronize one since the franchise came to these shores a year ago. I ended up having a Whopper Jr. set; there is something to be said about flame-broiled burgers. That huge new mall was still not open. I'd thought that it would be but actually it's supposed to be opening up this Wednesday. I should be expecting huge lineups. No Krispy Kreme there but there will be a Baskin-Robbins.
But finally I met up with my old friends from the old country at JR Akihabara. Automan brought his new girlfriend and Shrek brought his family. Plus, there was a new friend from the University of Toronto...really smiley fellow. He'd actually gone to that shindig at the Canadian Embassy last Wednesday with the former Premier of Ontario, David Peterson. All of us ended up going to the Mansei Building, one of the few venerable buildings that actually served food (at least, until the current evolution of Akihabara) in the area. Mansei is the chain that specializes in all things beef, whether it be as Korean as yakiniku or the Japan-Western fusion of hambaagu. We went up to the 4th non-smoking floor (we did have kid with us) which has the iron plate specials. It'd been a good long while since I had anything purely beef, so I was quite happy to have a mess of fried beef and rice. Dem's good eatin'.
Shrek reminded me about our talk during the Holidays about Brozer's, the hamburger joint in Ningyocho...just where he works. So I said I would try to set something up with him, TC (who couldn't make it out that night) and Smiley. As it turned out, the latest issue of TOKYO METROPOLIS had the annual pullout section on the best burger joints in the Big Sushi. Apparently, there's a guy who has his own blog about all of the burger places he's visited. I've dutifully informed the guys about it, and even MB and Skippy for future reference. From looking at the various hamburger shops out there, it looks like they are here to stay and in very big forms.
Yesterday was a quiet day, the first full day without any classes in a couple of weeks. To address The Great Butter Shock of '08, I decided to produce my own butter. Picked up the tiny carton of 200 mL heavy cream and used the remaining 3.6% milk and just threw them into the blender and just whacked away. Within 5 minutes, as the recipe had predicted, the mixture just globbed down to this proto-butter. Then, I drained the buttermilk out of it and continued to further mash it up with a potato masher until it was pretty solid. I added a bit of salt to it; it still tasted pretty light compared to the regular stuff, but I can say that I now have a supply of butter.
Today was back to a full day Monday. I actually ended up waking up at the early hour of 3 a.m. much to my surprise. A head cold can do that to me. I had my breakfast pretty darn early and just watched through all those Pet Shop Boys videos on the DVD. I caught up on some sleep on the subway. I had The Class Act for the first time in a couple of weeks. They were rather surprised on hearing about The Great Butter Shock; I guess they don't do all that much with the stuff. As for SIL, we talked about the death penalty before going into an article on the Samurai Detective from LA, Jimmy Sakoda, the fellow who's been doggedly going after Kazuyoshi Miura, the eccentric who was accused of murdering his wife for the insurance money all the way back in 1981. SIL and I thought that Sakoda had that look of Lt. Gerard, the intrepid cop after Richard Kimble in "The Fugitive".
Ended up cooling my heels at China Quick for half an hour over a hoi koro don and half a ramen bowl since there was no one at Speedy's. Apparently, the daytime person couldn't make it in and Speedy had an outside appointment. No problems, though. I could see The Full-Timer for the first time in 3 weeks. And in about 45 minutes, I'll have The Manhattanite and then Medicine Man to wrap up. Hopefully, my voice won't give out. 002 has had to cancel her class for tomorrow due to her continuing ravages with her own little cold. So once again, it's another Lopsided Donut Day.
From last Wednesday's Pimple Day since I only taught The Diver then, I've got a Mega-Hump Day this Wednesday. I have to sub for the bossman here at Speedy's and teach the grandmothers, The Nurse, 001 and The Diver. It's quite a switch from the relative quiet of last week. Just hope that I survive it.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Saturday April 12, 10:27 a.m.
Here to teach just The Bostonian, and it looks like it'll be the only class of the day. Although the lass is a nice lass, it's a bit of a pity to spend the electricity on just one student.
I met the Ace for the first time in a few weeks last night. He's doing as well as usual. He had his O-hanami in Sumida Park right by the river of the same name in Asakusa. He and his buddies had to suffer as would be the case for a cherry blossom viewing on the weekend. That is, to say, the organizer had to grab a spot along the river in the wee hours of the morning. As it turned out, the park didn't really get crowded until the afternoon, but that is more an aberration than usual reality. Afterwards, they went to a famed ramen restaurant called Jiro which a 30-minute wait in line. The Japanese are very patient people when it comes to good food...or at least famous food.
We also talked about his trip over to the local branch of Kua'Aina, the Hawaiian hamburger chain that pretty much launched the era of big hamburger shops in Tokyo. This branch was in Expery, the mall right across from Tokyo Disneyland. He said his girlfriend could only finish 2/3 of her burger, which means that she wouldn't pass muster (or mustard) with us in our 2-year-old Burger Tour. She would probably have a heart attack on seeing the Chianti Burger next door to us. If I ate many more of those, I would have a heart attack regardless.
Speaking of that place, it's been closed for well over a month despite a sign saying that the staff is taking a hiatus until April to re-jigger the menu. Speedy and I think that the Chianti Burger will probably be taken off. No mere mortal can handle that much beer in this country...with the exception of me and Gyaru Sone.
Here to teach just The Bostonian, and it looks like it'll be the only class of the day. Although the lass is a nice lass, it's a bit of a pity to spend the electricity on just one student.
I met the Ace for the first time in a few weeks last night. He's doing as well as usual. He had his O-hanami in Sumida Park right by the river of the same name in Asakusa. He and his buddies had to suffer as would be the case for a cherry blossom viewing on the weekend. That is, to say, the organizer had to grab a spot along the river in the wee hours of the morning. As it turned out, the park didn't really get crowded until the afternoon, but that is more an aberration than usual reality. Afterwards, they went to a famed ramen restaurant called Jiro which a 30-minute wait in line. The Japanese are very patient people when it comes to good food...or at least famous food.
We also talked about his trip over to the local branch of Kua'Aina, the Hawaiian hamburger chain that pretty much launched the era of big hamburger shops in Tokyo. This branch was in Expery, the mall right across from Tokyo Disneyland. He said his girlfriend could only finish 2/3 of her burger, which means that she wouldn't pass muster (or mustard) with us in our 2-year-old Burger Tour. She would probably have a heart attack on seeing the Chianti Burger next door to us. If I ate many more of those, I would have a heart attack regardless.
Speaking of that place, it's been closed for well over a month despite a sign saying that the staff is taking a hiatus until April to re-jigger the menu. Speedy and I think that the Chianti Burger will probably be taken off. No mere mortal can handle that much beer in this country...with the exception of me and Gyaru Sone.
Friday April 11, 7:26 p.m.
Back from one school over to another one. I'm at the juku now. The Nurse was fine. I told her about my somewhat disappointing trip for The Mega McMuffin. She was rather surprised that I would be so. However, afterwards, the appetite suppressing ability of my breakfast wore off with some grumblies from my stomach so I had a small dinner at the nearby China Quick. 500 yen got me a bowl of ma bo do fu...more satisfying. But I haven't been getting my veggies over the last couple of days, so I just downed a salad from the conbini. It was the juku boss' turn to be surprised at that sight. She said that I would probably be begging for something by midnight. I'm afraid that she might be right. Still finances and a nagging sense of guilt may help prop up my sagging willpower.
Back from one school over to another one. I'm at the juku now. The Nurse was fine. I told her about my somewhat disappointing trip for The Mega McMuffin. She was rather surprised that I would be so. However, afterwards, the appetite suppressing ability of my breakfast wore off with some grumblies from my stomach so I had a small dinner at the nearby China Quick. 500 yen got me a bowl of ma bo do fu...more satisfying. But I haven't been getting my veggies over the last couple of days, so I just downed a salad from the conbini. It was the juku boss' turn to be surprised at that sight. She said that I would probably be begging for something by midnight. I'm afraid that she might be right. Still finances and a nagging sense of guilt may help prop up my sagging willpower.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Friday April 11, 2:06 p.m.
Back to Spring-like weather after the storminess of midweek....which means I'm back on the hay fever meds and mask-wearing.
Man, I guess I really missed out on a commuter's worst nightmare yesterday. That little problem at Kokubunji Station screwed over half a million riders on the JR, or about 5% of daytime population of Tokyo. And I found out that this was the third time this year that such a thing has happened. So, once again, one of the higher-ups at JR East had to go to the Ministry of Transportation to bow his head...televised, of course. The Chuo Line, one of the major crosstown trunks for the Big Sushi, was shut down for 7 hours. Folks were trapped in rush hour conditions for some of that, and one trainload had to get off between stations and walk back to the station. I think Tokyo is getting that dress rehearsal for the big quake now. These things seem to be happening on the west side so I've been grateful that I live in relatively uneventful Chiba.
Unlike the last time, The Carolinan and I weren't seated next to a potential spree killer. In fact, the table next to us had another foreigner-Japanese pairing. She and her sister, The New Yorker, did do that O-hanami in Yasukuni Shrine last week after The New Yorker's lesson with me. It went well with them...no idea if they had a running conversation with any ultra-right wingers...but The Yogist and a friend had a similar event at Ueno Park last week. She wasn't too thrilled with that walk since the park smelled of beer and things.
I'd almost gotten my schedule wrong this morning. I'd thought that I would have The Nurse's lesson at the usual time of 10. Luckily, both BC and Speedy corrected me to say that I would have her in about 45 minutes instead. I had been looking forward to trying out that Mega McMuffin at the Golden Arches since the coupon season is in full swing. So, even with the late start, I decided to make my way out over to my neighbourhood McDonalds at the hour of 8 this morning to try out the third member of the Mega Triumvirate which consists of the Mega Mac, the Mega Teriyaki Mac and now the Mega McMuffin.
All I can say is that 8 is the perfect time to hit my neighbourhood McDonalds. Since it's located in the residential area, the place is deserted. As I was walking up there, I witnessed the biggest daily mass movement of humanity. The working masses walked and ran toward the station like water toward a drain. At the same time, fleets of yellow-capped elementary school students and pristinely-uniformed junior high school kids were migrating toward their respective schools. The latter group is looking slick now since this is the first week of classes. Give them a few months; they'll be looking pretty shabby with undone ties and shirt flaps out.
As for the Mega McMuffin...I guess there is really a concept of having too much of a good thing. It was kinda like when I had that Mega Mac all the way back in February of 2007; I was able to somehow devour but it wasn't too satisfying. And in fact, I paid for it some more with a longer trip than usual to the can. The Mega McMuffin consists of two sausages bracketing a slice of cheddar and that egg on top. Then there is even a slice of floppy bacon on top of that with ketchup. The muffins were added as an afterthought. It was OK but just a bit on the overwhelming side....like listening to a favourite song at way too high a volume. I'll stick with the unmutated version from now on.
Well, as I said, I've got The Nurse in about 30 minutes. And then, I have The Ace for the first time in 3 weeks later tonight. One thing about the McMuffin...it makes for an excellent appetite suppressant. Not hungry at all and it's been 6 hours since the devouring.
Back to Spring-like weather after the storminess of midweek....which means I'm back on the hay fever meds and mask-wearing.
Man, I guess I really missed out on a commuter's worst nightmare yesterday. That little problem at Kokubunji Station screwed over half a million riders on the JR, or about 5% of daytime population of Tokyo. And I found out that this was the third time this year that such a thing has happened. So, once again, one of the higher-ups at JR East had to go to the Ministry of Transportation to bow his head...televised, of course. The Chuo Line, one of the major crosstown trunks for the Big Sushi, was shut down for 7 hours. Folks were trapped in rush hour conditions for some of that, and one trainload had to get off between stations and walk back to the station. I think Tokyo is getting that dress rehearsal for the big quake now. These things seem to be happening on the west side so I've been grateful that I live in relatively uneventful Chiba.
Unlike the last time, The Carolinan and I weren't seated next to a potential spree killer. In fact, the table next to us had another foreigner-Japanese pairing. She and her sister, The New Yorker, did do that O-hanami in Yasukuni Shrine last week after The New Yorker's lesson with me. It went well with them...no idea if they had a running conversation with any ultra-right wingers...but The Yogist and a friend had a similar event at Ueno Park last week. She wasn't too thrilled with that walk since the park smelled of beer and things.
I'd almost gotten my schedule wrong this morning. I'd thought that I would have The Nurse's lesson at the usual time of 10. Luckily, both BC and Speedy corrected me to say that I would have her in about 45 minutes instead. I had been looking forward to trying out that Mega McMuffin at the Golden Arches since the coupon season is in full swing. So, even with the late start, I decided to make my way out over to my neighbourhood McDonalds at the hour of 8 this morning to try out the third member of the Mega Triumvirate which consists of the Mega Mac, the Mega Teriyaki Mac and now the Mega McMuffin.
All I can say is that 8 is the perfect time to hit my neighbourhood McDonalds. Since it's located in the residential area, the place is deserted. As I was walking up there, I witnessed the biggest daily mass movement of humanity. The working masses walked and ran toward the station like water toward a drain. At the same time, fleets of yellow-capped elementary school students and pristinely-uniformed junior high school kids were migrating toward their respective schools. The latter group is looking slick now since this is the first week of classes. Give them a few months; they'll be looking pretty shabby with undone ties and shirt flaps out.
As for the Mega McMuffin...I guess there is really a concept of having too much of a good thing. It was kinda like when I had that Mega Mac all the way back in February of 2007; I was able to somehow devour but it wasn't too satisfying. And in fact, I paid for it some more with a longer trip than usual to the can. The Mega McMuffin consists of two sausages bracketing a slice of cheddar and that egg on top. Then there is even a slice of floppy bacon on top of that with ketchup. The muffins were added as an afterthought. It was OK but just a bit on the overwhelming side....like listening to a favourite song at way too high a volume. I'll stick with the unmutated version from now on.
Well, as I said, I've got The Nurse in about 30 minutes. And then, I have The Ace for the first time in 3 weeks later tonight. One thing about the McMuffin...it makes for an excellent appetite suppressant. Not hungry at all and it's been 6 hours since the devouring.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Thursday April 10, 11:43 a.m.
I seem to have the envy of Speedy since I now have the sleekest computer in the school...as compared when I had the pokiest one which crashed at the most inopportune times.
The Diver last night seemed to be feeling a little more buoyant in her post-test phase. I'm not exactly comparing her to the rarefied heights of The Beehive, but she's come a good way since her first class.
The rains have come back and apparently the Tokyo rail transport system has shown its fragility once again. One little flaming cable near Kokubunji Station has wrecked up the schedules for just about all of the major lines. I seemed to have avoided the worst of the problems since I got in mid-morning.
I got a reply to my message to the old gang back home about the Great Butter Shock of 08. The Doctor got somewhat preachy about the state of a post-capitalist nation that cannot supply its people with the necessities of good hotcakes. Again, I may not have the churn but I have a blender and the ingredients to go for some homemade butter. The elimination of butter may have some interesting effects, though. Tomorrow, I go for the Mega McMuffin at McDonalds; the normal Sausage McMuffin has the distinctive taste of butter on the bread. Will that taste be gone forever? Inquiring minds wanna know.
Just got the Yogist and the Carolinan tonight. Hopefully, there won't be any Bickersons or psycho sales agents sitting beside us.
I seem to have the envy of Speedy since I now have the sleekest computer in the school...as compared when I had the pokiest one which crashed at the most inopportune times.
The Diver last night seemed to be feeling a little more buoyant in her post-test phase. I'm not exactly comparing her to the rarefied heights of The Beehive, but she's come a good way since her first class.
The rains have come back and apparently the Tokyo rail transport system has shown its fragility once again. One little flaming cable near Kokubunji Station has wrecked up the schedules for just about all of the major lines. I seemed to have avoided the worst of the problems since I got in mid-morning.
I got a reply to my message to the old gang back home about the Great Butter Shock of 08. The Doctor got somewhat preachy about the state of a post-capitalist nation that cannot supply its people with the necessities of good hotcakes. Again, I may not have the churn but I have a blender and the ingredients to go for some homemade butter. The elimination of butter may have some interesting effects, though. Tomorrow, I go for the Mega McMuffin at McDonalds; the normal Sausage McMuffin has the distinctive taste of butter on the bread. Will that taste be gone forever? Inquiring minds wanna know.
Just got the Yogist and the Carolinan tonight. Hopefully, there won't be any Bickersons or psycho sales agents sitting beside us.
Wednesday April 9, 5:16 p.m.
Ah, yes....did forget to mention one thing. Japan has no butter. Not anymore. Due to the prevailing economic conditions, all the milk produced in this country has now gone into making yogurt instead. All we have is edible plastic...i.e. margarine. I can just see those talking Parkay containers giggling in glee now. I kinda wonder how the bakeries are gonna cope. As for the individual consumer, there is hope. A number of shows have been giving out recipes on how to produce your own butter through a mix of cream, milk and a good food processor. The juku boss told me about a recipe that she got last night, and so with my usual scientific curiosity, I just downloaded a couple of recipes.
I told Speedy and BC, and the latter showed genuine shock....almost as if Xmas were cancelled.
Ah, yes....did forget to mention one thing. Japan has no butter. Not anymore. Due to the prevailing economic conditions, all the milk produced in this country has now gone into making yogurt instead. All we have is edible plastic...i.e. margarine. I can just see those talking Parkay containers giggling in glee now. I kinda wonder how the bakeries are gonna cope. As for the individual consumer, there is hope. A number of shows have been giving out recipes on how to produce your own butter through a mix of cream, milk and a good food processor. The juku boss told me about a recipe that she got last night, and so with my usual scientific curiosity, I just downloaded a couple of recipes.
I told Speedy and BC, and the latter showed genuine shock....almost as if Xmas were cancelled.
Wednesday April 9, 4:40 p.m.
The cancellation parade continues. I just got word that The Dentist has cancelled her lesson (I don't think I've seen her since this year started) for Saturday. So it's just the solo with The Bostonian in the morning. Then, later in the evening, I've got Automan's gig. He sent me word that he would like to have the venue in Akiba for some reason. Even with the trendiness pervading Otakuville for the past couple of years, Akihabara has still not struck me as being an area for wining and dining. He has gotten me the usual tribute of Reese's Pieces, though.
I've been reading the 2003 edition of "The Best American Travel Writing" by Ian Frazier for the past several days on the commutes to and from work. In the foreword, Frazier says that despite some of the stories' bleakness (bits of bodies in Afghanistan, hostility against a female canoeist in Africa trying to free two slaves), there is hope to be found. I guess I need stronger existential lenses...didn't see anything remotely looking like hope in those stories. Some interesting stuff on Ambrose Bierce and squid-rigging in Seattle, however. Then, there is the latest story about a day in the life of Puff Daddy...which kinda shows a different type of hopelessness from the other end. Mrs. Travel on Tuesday saw the book and asked if there were anything on Croatia. There was nothing on the country but probably something in one of the other editions.
I guess that storm yesterday really did a number on us in the Kanto. It was an experience for commuters in Chiba, but I saw a CNN report which showed that it was really one for the record books in Tokyo.
The cancellation parade continues. I just got word that The Dentist has cancelled her lesson (I don't think I've seen her since this year started) for Saturday. So it's just the solo with The Bostonian in the morning. Then, later in the evening, I've got Automan's gig. He sent me word that he would like to have the venue in Akiba for some reason. Even with the trendiness pervading Otakuville for the past couple of years, Akihabara has still not struck me as being an area for wining and dining. He has gotten me the usual tribute of Reese's Pieces, though.
I've been reading the 2003 edition of "The Best American Travel Writing" by Ian Frazier for the past several days on the commutes to and from work. In the foreword, Frazier says that despite some of the stories' bleakness (bits of bodies in Afghanistan, hostility against a female canoeist in Africa trying to free two slaves), there is hope to be found. I guess I need stronger existential lenses...didn't see anything remotely looking like hope in those stories. Some interesting stuff on Ambrose Bierce and squid-rigging in Seattle, however. Then, there is the latest story about a day in the life of Puff Daddy...which kinda shows a different type of hopelessness from the other end. Mrs. Travel on Tuesday saw the book and asked if there were anything on Croatia. There was nothing on the country but probably something in one of the other editions.
I guess that storm yesterday really did a number on us in the Kanto. It was an experience for commuters in Chiba, but I saw a CNN report which showed that it was really one for the record books in Tokyo.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Tuesday April 8, 5:21 p.m.
Well, my umbrella became the latest casualty of the storm...and to add insult to injury, the storm was pretty much over when the fall came. I was walking over to the juku and the rain was pretty much gone. Just as I was about to close it, a sneak attack by a gust of wind assassinated my cheap brolley....broke a few ribs...not mine, its. This sort of thing would've called for a teary farewell speech but instead I've just dumped it by the front door.
Came in to see the newest student of the juku boss...a tow-headed little urchin with the largest eyes this side of anime. I could just imagine some of the women I know seeing her and getting this extreme urge to pinch her cheeks and squeal "Kawaii!" I didn't debase myself like that but I did offer the kid some chocolate that Mrs. Perth had given me from Hokkaido.
No surprise here....the boss told me that Jolly had sent her an e-mail yesterday to say that he wouldn't be coming in tonight nor next Tuesday as well due to the stresses of work. And apparently, he is stressing out. Well, lose 3,200 yen but at least I don't need to put on my psychologist's cap. So, it'll just be Suzanne and The Milds tonight (almost sounds like a 60s band).
Speaking of 60s bands...I've got yet another soundtrack song pounding away at my brain. I went over to YouTube and listened meself to that catchy tune by April March called "Chick Habit" which ran over the credits of "Death Proof". A lot of the comments on the site were saying that it was just the weirdest and the wackiest. I guess they were too young to hear typical French pop of that era. And I also listened to the whole 9 minutes of the "Cloverfield" opus.
Before the I-cafe, I did have a tonkatsu lunch at my local Tonki. Yes, I realize that I did have the same dish at Hirata Bokujo...that's the name of the tonkatsu restaurant that Skippy had taken us to on Sunday after "Cloverfield". However, I thought it was the cheapest way to get more protein, carbs and veggies at the same time. For dinner, it was just a half-can of Pringles. Remember, it's a pretty quiet week this week...so not a whole lot of income.
Well, gotta contact Automan. He's got that party on Saturday which I have to find out about.
Well, my umbrella became the latest casualty of the storm...and to add insult to injury, the storm was pretty much over when the fall came. I was walking over to the juku and the rain was pretty much gone. Just as I was about to close it, a sneak attack by a gust of wind assassinated my cheap brolley....broke a few ribs...not mine, its. This sort of thing would've called for a teary farewell speech but instead I've just dumped it by the front door.
Came in to see the newest student of the juku boss...a tow-headed little urchin with the largest eyes this side of anime. I could just imagine some of the women I know seeing her and getting this extreme urge to pinch her cheeks and squeal "Kawaii!" I didn't debase myself like that but I did offer the kid some chocolate that Mrs. Perth had given me from Hokkaido.
No surprise here....the boss told me that Jolly had sent her an e-mail yesterday to say that he wouldn't be coming in tonight nor next Tuesday as well due to the stresses of work. And apparently, he is stressing out. Well, lose 3,200 yen but at least I don't need to put on my psychologist's cap. So, it'll just be Suzanne and The Milds tonight (almost sounds like a 60s band).
Speaking of 60s bands...I've got yet another soundtrack song pounding away at my brain. I went over to YouTube and listened meself to that catchy tune by April March called "Chick Habit" which ran over the credits of "Death Proof". A lot of the comments on the site were saying that it was just the weirdest and the wackiest. I guess they were too young to hear typical French pop of that era. And I also listened to the whole 9 minutes of the "Cloverfield" opus.
Before the I-cafe, I did have a tonkatsu lunch at my local Tonki. Yes, I realize that I did have the same dish at Hirata Bokujo...that's the name of the tonkatsu restaurant that Skippy had taken us to on Sunday after "Cloverfield". However, I thought it was the cheapest way to get more protein, carbs and veggies at the same time. For dinner, it was just a half-can of Pringles. Remember, it's a pretty quiet week this week...so not a whole lot of income.
Well, gotta contact Automan. He's got that party on Saturday which I have to find out about.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Tuesday April 8, 1:00 p.m.
The rains continue unabated. In fact, the winds were just blowing everyone around this morning, although things are much steadier now. However, I'm seeing a lot of umbrella graveyards on the JR platforms. The bad weather should continue on for the rest of the day...better luck tomorrow. Over here, umbrellas are just like tissue...most people either have the cheap foldables or the cheap full-size ones made of transparent plastic. I couldn't see anyone in their right mind having, much less owning, one of those luxury brands here.
Mrs. Perth, ex of the Beehive, came down from her perch in Hokkaido to visit us at The Beehive this morning in Tsudanuma. Still smiling and inquisitive as always. She even made up an organized itinerary of the upcoming Croatia trip. She didn't bat an eyelash at the fact that none of the ladies gave me my usual envelope of payment; either she hasn't been told or, the more likely situation, she has been told and has kindly stayed quiet about it. In any case, my Debtor's Prison sentence will last two more weeks. Basically, we all talked about the English names for fish...not surprisingly, Mrs. Tee was more excited about this topic (although I recall that we'd gone over this topic months or even years ago) since this is her area of expertise. They were impressed about the different types of salmon and trout I introduced to them. As a person who was weaned on Clover Leaf Sockeye Salmon Sandwiches, I would consider myself an expert.
The surprise with the ladies today was seeing Mrs. Travel with a hugely bandaged middle finger. I had initially assumed that her grandson decided to test his chompers, but it turned out that Mrs. Travel had gotten herself accidentally impaled on a spiny fin of a fish that she had been eviscerating for dinner last night. Only in Japan.
Since 002 cancelled her lesson for today, I've got another lopsided Donut Day....a big hole between The Beehive and the juku classes. And even tonight has got its own hole...Mild Jr. won't be making it because of his new posting at Tokyo Disneyland. Not sure if Jolly is gonna make it either. He's been AWOL for the past week. Usually I would be commiserating over the fact that I have to work until late tonight and then wake up pretty darn early on Wednesday morning due to The Nurse's class, but tomorrow is looking like one very empty day for me. The Nurse switched her class over to Friday morning this week, and 001 has to pull the night shift at her lab tomorrow night. So it's just The Diver. Hopefully with her good score on the test last week, she'll be coming brimming with confidence from now on.
Speaking of "Death Proof" yesterday, I gotta admit that Kurt Russell has come a long way. From his debut on "Gilligan's Island" back in 1964 as a marooned jungle boy, through all of the 70s Disney movies, and Snake Plissken and his harder-edged roles, all the way to his role as a hit-and-run psycho in the Tarentino flick, this guy has done just about everything.
I got my latest translation pay in the account this morning. That will go a little way in balancing things after last week's culinary debauchery. Paddy's friend sent word about it.
Looks like I'm not the only one who was impressed with the closing credits of "Cloverfield". I found out from the Net that quite a few people enjoyed listening to the bombast of Michael Giacchino's "ROAR!" Doesn't look like it'll be coming out anytime soon, though.
I was surprised to see as the top story on the CNN webpage about those male Japanese hosts. I guess it must've been a very slow news day...at least to CNN. I would've thought that attacking the Olympic flame instead of cheering it would've superseded that puff piece. My two yen? Power to the protestors. I was watching "The Situation Room" and Jeff Toobin hit it on the head...the Olympics should've never been given to China. But then again, 8 years ago, who knew that this would happen? Still, it is disgraceful.
The rains continue unabated. In fact, the winds were just blowing everyone around this morning, although things are much steadier now. However, I'm seeing a lot of umbrella graveyards on the JR platforms. The bad weather should continue on for the rest of the day...better luck tomorrow. Over here, umbrellas are just like tissue...most people either have the cheap foldables or the cheap full-size ones made of transparent plastic. I couldn't see anyone in their right mind having, much less owning, one of those luxury brands here.
Mrs. Perth, ex of the Beehive, came down from her perch in Hokkaido to visit us at The Beehive this morning in Tsudanuma. Still smiling and inquisitive as always. She even made up an organized itinerary of the upcoming Croatia trip. She didn't bat an eyelash at the fact that none of the ladies gave me my usual envelope of payment; either she hasn't been told or, the more likely situation, she has been told and has kindly stayed quiet about it. In any case, my Debtor's Prison sentence will last two more weeks. Basically, we all talked about the English names for fish...not surprisingly, Mrs. Tee was more excited about this topic (although I recall that we'd gone over this topic months or even years ago) since this is her area of expertise. They were impressed about the different types of salmon and trout I introduced to them. As a person who was weaned on Clover Leaf Sockeye Salmon Sandwiches, I would consider myself an expert.
The surprise with the ladies today was seeing Mrs. Travel with a hugely bandaged middle finger. I had initially assumed that her grandson decided to test his chompers, but it turned out that Mrs. Travel had gotten herself accidentally impaled on a spiny fin of a fish that she had been eviscerating for dinner last night. Only in Japan.
Since 002 cancelled her lesson for today, I've got another lopsided Donut Day....a big hole between The Beehive and the juku classes. And even tonight has got its own hole...Mild Jr. won't be making it because of his new posting at Tokyo Disneyland. Not sure if Jolly is gonna make it either. He's been AWOL for the past week. Usually I would be commiserating over the fact that I have to work until late tonight and then wake up pretty darn early on Wednesday morning due to The Nurse's class, but tomorrow is looking like one very empty day for me. The Nurse switched her class over to Friday morning this week, and 001 has to pull the night shift at her lab tomorrow night. So it's just The Diver. Hopefully with her good score on the test last week, she'll be coming brimming with confidence from now on.
Speaking of "Death Proof" yesterday, I gotta admit that Kurt Russell has come a long way. From his debut on "Gilligan's Island" back in 1964 as a marooned jungle boy, through all of the 70s Disney movies, and Snake Plissken and his harder-edged roles, all the way to his role as a hit-and-run psycho in the Tarentino flick, this guy has done just about everything.
I got my latest translation pay in the account this morning. That will go a little way in balancing things after last week's culinary debauchery. Paddy's friend sent word about it.
Looks like I'm not the only one who was impressed with the closing credits of "Cloverfield". I found out from the Net that quite a few people enjoyed listening to the bombast of Michael Giacchino's "ROAR!" Doesn't look like it'll be coming out anytime soon, though.
I was surprised to see as the top story on the CNN webpage about those male Japanese hosts. I guess it must've been a very slow news day...at least to CNN. I would've thought that attacking the Olympic flame instead of cheering it would've superseded that puff piece. My two yen? Power to the protestors. I was watching "The Situation Room" and Jeff Toobin hit it on the head...the Olympics should've never been given to China. But then again, 8 years ago, who knew that this would happen? Still, it is disgraceful.
Monday April 7, 8:48 p.m.
Well, the Tippler came in and gave another lively performance. Her listening comprehension isn't as top-notch as I thought it would be, though. But she's definitely a keeper. Too bad she won't be coming in next week.
Looks like my schedule continues to evolve. BC just contacted me to say that she wanted to re-schedule her lesson for the next Thursday.
It's raining pets out there. The Amazon told me that she and her umbrella were fighting a losing battle with the winds. Lucky I hung up my laundry inside.
Well, the Tippler came in and gave another lively performance. Her listening comprehension isn't as top-notch as I thought it would be, though. But she's definitely a keeper. Too bad she won't be coming in next week.
Looks like my schedule continues to evolve. BC just contacted me to say that she wanted to re-schedule her lesson for the next Thursday.
It's raining pets out there. The Amazon told me that she and her umbrella were fighting a losing battle with the winds. Lucky I hung up my laundry inside.
Monday April 7, 6:27 p.m.
Well, Charlton Heston died yesterday. I guess you can take his gun now. I've never seen "Ben Hur", so my image of him will always be of him as Moses parting The Red Sea. Now, that is using The Force.
On Sunday morning, MB and I had a late breakfast at the neighbourhood Skylark family restaurant...as we usually do on the morning after DVD Night. I have to admit that I was doing some quadruple takes on the latest menu item. It's a large hamburger steak (hambaagu, instead of hambaaga, which is the American classic) which contains a cheese and raisin sauce. Raisins?! Ugh! No...I love raisins...in cakes and other pastries, but in meat?! Then I noticed that the menu was also flaunting its raisin parfait. Although that is much more palatable, I can say that I had never heard of a raisin parfait before. Only in Japan, the place that has introduced the potato-and-mayo pizza.
As I was talking with SIL today, she remarked that there have been some pretty strong jolts in the Tokyo area over the past few days. I felt one as I was up in my room at the juku on Friday night; it was strong enough so that the boss asked me if I were OK from downstairs. And then when I got home last night, I noticed that a number of my CDs and an alarm clock had fallen off the shelves. May need to look out for jishin gumo (earthquake clouds). SIL asked me cheekily if a thief invaded instead. Well, unless the thief had a thing for Hiromi Iwasaki, I'd say that it was a temblor.
Well, Charlton Heston died yesterday. I guess you can take his gun now. I've never seen "Ben Hur", so my image of him will always be of him as Moses parting The Red Sea. Now, that is using The Force.
On Sunday morning, MB and I had a late breakfast at the neighbourhood Skylark family restaurant...as we usually do on the morning after DVD Night. I have to admit that I was doing some quadruple takes on the latest menu item. It's a large hamburger steak (hambaagu, instead of hambaaga, which is the American classic) which contains a cheese and raisin sauce. Raisins?! Ugh! No...I love raisins...in cakes and other pastries, but in meat?! Then I noticed that the menu was also flaunting its raisin parfait. Although that is much more palatable, I can say that I had never heard of a raisin parfait before. Only in Japan, the place that has introduced the potato-and-mayo pizza.
As I was talking with SIL today, she remarked that there have been some pretty strong jolts in the Tokyo area over the past few days. I felt one as I was up in my room at the juku on Friday night; it was strong enough so that the boss asked me if I were OK from downstairs. And then when I got home last night, I noticed that a number of my CDs and an alarm clock had fallen off the shelves. May need to look out for jishin gumo (earthquake clouds). SIL asked me cheekily if a thief invaded instead. Well, unless the thief had a thing for Hiromi Iwasaki, I'd say that it was a temblor.
Monday April 7, 4:28 p.m.
Ahhh....the almost ethereal feeling of getting a freshly working computer and typing on a new keyboard...the keystrokes are fast and crisp. There's a certain giddiness about using a minted computer since I don't have to worry about sudden crashes and slow-as-molasses operating speed like I did on the old one.
Now, before I sound too otaku-ish...back to more mundane affairs.
I saw The Manhattanite for the first time in well over a month. She couldn't believe it had been that long but I've got the records to show for it. And being a beginning-level student, the month off hasn't been kind to her fluency. She was flaking rust all over. While she was peeking through her fingers at the verbal carnage, she did say that she would try to be come more often. But that all depends on her work schedule.
Afterwards, it was off back home to see MB and have our DVD Night. It was just Movie Buddy. The Satyr was occupied with other things...such as a reunion with sleep. The weekend turned out to be mini-film festival of watching the bolder Hollywood directors putting a fresh spin on old genres. So, with Domino's Pizza and Canada Dry on hand, we were off.
The DVD Night was "Grindhouse"...that failed, at least financially, lovechild of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarentino. We saw the double bill of "Planet Terror" and "Death Proof" with the trailer of "Machete". The two definitely were definitely a labour of love for the two directors. But both MB and I agreed that "Planet Terror" was the better of the two...which apparently is opposite to what the critics said about it. It's been a year of contrarian reviews from us...see "Sweeney Todd". Still, we had to laud both efforts for trying to recapture that griminess of Grindhouse movies, right down to the missing reel and bad conditions.
"Planet Terror" was just over-the-top zombie hilarity starring a number of genre stars such as Michael (Martyr) Biehn and Jeff Fahey. I can finally say that I actually caught a Rose McGowan movie. All of the stereotypes were there...the town in the middle of nowhere (which seems to be always Texas), the rednecks, the tough no-nonsense sheriff with hapless deputies, the tough women and that doomed military unit led by Bruce Willis. And of course, zombies...lots of them. The usual plot structure was there as well...the relatively quiet start of characters being introduced with their problems before the zombies start attacking, lovebirds separated and coming back for a sax-induced sex session and finally the regrouping and last stand...at an army base, of course.
"Death Proof", by QT, was apparently the more critically lauded of the two. And I could see why. Critics love to have lots of witty dialogue...which is what this movie had...in overabundance. So in a way it was an extremist version of a Tarentino movie. Basically, I could analogize Tarentino's and Rodriguez's structures in this way:
Rodriguez: Shoot, talk, talk, shoot, maim, slash, talk, shoot, slash, burn, shoot, shoot
Tarentino: Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, sudden violence, talk, talk, talk, talk, sudden violence
And so it was with "Death Proof". Really, it was a talky movie about girlie relationships punctuated by a couple of instances of wacko Stuntman Mike steamrollering one car of women and getting steamrollered by a second car of women. Mind you, the first example of carnage was magnificently done...I don't think I'd ever seen destruction like that done in "Rashomon" style. But when it came to pure entertainment, "Planet Terror" won the battle.
Then, the third movie was the much-talked about "Cloverfield" with the added subtitle here in Japan of "Hakkaisha" (destroyer). We caught it at Roppongi Hills...just the type of place to catch a monster movie of epic proportions. It was basically a 90-minute roller-coaster ride which didn't overstay its welcome. It brought together "Godzilla", "The Blair Witch Project" and CNN's i-Reports all together as a really nifty approach to the monster flick.
What I liked about it was that it was done straight as cinema verite and that there was none of that tortured misunderstood monster subplot with one of the female characters suddenly developing a psychic rapport with it. In fact, the monster itself (the weakest point of the movie...it really didn't look all that amazing...but that wasn't the point) was basically the 5-ton MacGuffin. It was a tragedy, pure and simple. And the doomed lovebirds...along with most of the other characters...don't die nobly...they die in agony and terror. Of course, since J.J. Abrams made it as an i-Report, there was no music but his go-to guy for such things, Michael Giacchino, came up with a brilliant overture paying homage to monster movie soundtracks, "ROAR!" That song can beat any of "Sweeney Todd"'s crud anyday in my estimation. There was even a wailing voice reminiscent of the old "Star Trek" theme...maybe she's practicing for the next movie?
For "Cloverfield", it was Skippy handling all of the logistics...as she usually does. But a couple of ol' school students joined us: The Kid and The Wedding Planner. I hadn't seen either of them in some time...for the latter, it must've been 3 or 4 years. The Kid was now made over into a typical salaryman of just one week, and The Wedding Planner was working as a sales agent for a small advertising agency. Quite some changes...The Wedding Planner, who was a bit of a shy type back at the school, was a lot more mature now.
After the flick, Skippy took care of the dinner as well. She hadn't made reservations but she took us to a tonkatsu restaurant in Tokyo Midtown which had caught her eye on the telly. It definitely attracted a lineup but it was only about 15 minutes' wait. Skippy certainly has the talent for picking them well. The cutlets were naturally more expensive than usual but they were delish. Then, the five of us went around the corner into a gourmet food corner which looked a lot like the Movenpick's Marche complex in Toronto in atmosphere. Not cheap there, either, but definitely worth a second visit. Ended up having a Soy Milk Smoothie with a slice of strawberry cake for almost 1,000 yen.
The last week has seen me blow a good amount of yen on food. Spyros last Thursday, the usual DVD night pizza and then Tokyo Midtown over the weekend. Well, in penance, I just spent only 350 yen on a cold hash brown, a croquette sandwich (forgetting the two are kissing cousins in terms of ingredients) and an oolong tea. And I've got a karaage bento in the fridge. So, a little under 1,000 yen today.
I just had SIL so far. The Class Act is off today and The Full-Timer cancelled again today since she had to be shipped to Narita for training. So, I've got just The Tippler and Medicine Man to clean up. This week may end up being a bit quiet. I just found out that 002 has to cancel her lesson tomorrow due to a cold. Hump Day may end up being Pimple Day since I've only got The Diver that night.
Ahhh....the almost ethereal feeling of getting a freshly working computer and typing on a new keyboard...the keystrokes are fast and crisp. There's a certain giddiness about using a minted computer since I don't have to worry about sudden crashes and slow-as-molasses operating speed like I did on the old one.
Now, before I sound too otaku-ish...back to more mundane affairs.
I saw The Manhattanite for the first time in well over a month. She couldn't believe it had been that long but I've got the records to show for it. And being a beginning-level student, the month off hasn't been kind to her fluency. She was flaking rust all over. While she was peeking through her fingers at the verbal carnage, she did say that she would try to be come more often. But that all depends on her work schedule.
Afterwards, it was off back home to see MB and have our DVD Night. It was just Movie Buddy. The Satyr was occupied with other things...such as a reunion with sleep. The weekend turned out to be mini-film festival of watching the bolder Hollywood directors putting a fresh spin on old genres. So, with Domino's Pizza and Canada Dry on hand, we were off.
The DVD Night was "Grindhouse"...that failed, at least financially, lovechild of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarentino. We saw the double bill of "Planet Terror" and "Death Proof" with the trailer of "Machete". The two definitely were definitely a labour of love for the two directors. But both MB and I agreed that "Planet Terror" was the better of the two...which apparently is opposite to what the critics said about it. It's been a year of contrarian reviews from us...see "Sweeney Todd". Still, we had to laud both efforts for trying to recapture that griminess of Grindhouse movies, right down to the missing reel and bad conditions.
"Planet Terror" was just over-the-top zombie hilarity starring a number of genre stars such as Michael (Martyr) Biehn and Jeff Fahey. I can finally say that I actually caught a Rose McGowan movie. All of the stereotypes were there...the town in the middle of nowhere (which seems to be always Texas), the rednecks, the tough no-nonsense sheriff with hapless deputies, the tough women and that doomed military unit led by Bruce Willis. And of course, zombies...lots of them. The usual plot structure was there as well...the relatively quiet start of characters being introduced with their problems before the zombies start attacking, lovebirds separated and coming back for a sax-induced sex session and finally the regrouping and last stand...at an army base, of course.
"Death Proof", by QT, was apparently the more critically lauded of the two. And I could see why. Critics love to have lots of witty dialogue...which is what this movie had...in overabundance. So in a way it was an extremist version of a Tarentino movie. Basically, I could analogize Tarentino's and Rodriguez's structures in this way:
Rodriguez: Shoot, talk, talk, shoot, maim, slash, talk, shoot, slash, burn, shoot, shoot
Tarentino: Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, sudden violence, talk, talk, talk, talk, sudden violence
And so it was with "Death Proof". Really, it was a talky movie about girlie relationships punctuated by a couple of instances of wacko Stuntman Mike steamrollering one car of women and getting steamrollered by a second car of women. Mind you, the first example of carnage was magnificently done...I don't think I'd ever seen destruction like that done in "Rashomon" style. But when it came to pure entertainment, "Planet Terror" won the battle.
Then, the third movie was the much-talked about "Cloverfield" with the added subtitle here in Japan of "Hakkaisha" (destroyer). We caught it at Roppongi Hills...just the type of place to catch a monster movie of epic proportions. It was basically a 90-minute roller-coaster ride which didn't overstay its welcome. It brought together "Godzilla", "The Blair Witch Project" and CNN's i-Reports all together as a really nifty approach to the monster flick.
What I liked about it was that it was done straight as cinema verite and that there was none of that tortured misunderstood monster subplot with one of the female characters suddenly developing a psychic rapport with it. In fact, the monster itself (the weakest point of the movie...it really didn't look all that amazing...but that wasn't the point) was basically the 5-ton MacGuffin. It was a tragedy, pure and simple. And the doomed lovebirds...along with most of the other characters...don't die nobly...they die in agony and terror. Of course, since J.J. Abrams made it as an i-Report, there was no music but his go-to guy for such things, Michael Giacchino, came up with a brilliant overture paying homage to monster movie soundtracks, "ROAR!" That song can beat any of "Sweeney Todd"'s crud anyday in my estimation. There was even a wailing voice reminiscent of the old "Star Trek" theme...maybe she's practicing for the next movie?
For "Cloverfield", it was Skippy handling all of the logistics...as she usually does. But a couple of ol' school students joined us: The Kid and The Wedding Planner. I hadn't seen either of them in some time...for the latter, it must've been 3 or 4 years. The Kid was now made over into a typical salaryman of just one week, and The Wedding Planner was working as a sales agent for a small advertising agency. Quite some changes...The Wedding Planner, who was a bit of a shy type back at the school, was a lot more mature now.
After the flick, Skippy took care of the dinner as well. She hadn't made reservations but she took us to a tonkatsu restaurant in Tokyo Midtown which had caught her eye on the telly. It definitely attracted a lineup but it was only about 15 minutes' wait. Skippy certainly has the talent for picking them well. The cutlets were naturally more expensive than usual but they were delish. Then, the five of us went around the corner into a gourmet food corner which looked a lot like the Movenpick's Marche complex in Toronto in atmosphere. Not cheap there, either, but definitely worth a second visit. Ended up having a Soy Milk Smoothie with a slice of strawberry cake for almost 1,000 yen.
The last week has seen me blow a good amount of yen on food. Spyros last Thursday, the usual DVD night pizza and then Tokyo Midtown over the weekend. Well, in penance, I just spent only 350 yen on a cold hash brown, a croquette sandwich (forgetting the two are kissing cousins in terms of ingredients) and an oolong tea. And I've got a karaage bento in the fridge. So, a little under 1,000 yen today.
I just had SIL so far. The Class Act is off today and The Full-Timer cancelled again today since she had to be shipped to Narita for training. So, I've got just The Tippler and Medicine Man to clean up. This week may end up being a bit quiet. I just found out that 002 has to cancel her lesson tomorrow due to a cold. Hump Day may end up being Pimple Day since I've only got The Diver that night.