Saturday February 28, 1:08 p.m.

Well, well, well....look who comes back. I think it's a fuzzy, lighter patch in the clouds. And there was a strange orange ball icon on the weather map on TV this morning. Ahh...it's the sun. We're actually gonna be able to use the adjective "sunny" again before this month peters out in less than 12 hours.

I did get my wake-up call this morning from The Matron. She'd left a couple of messages for me on the phone over the last couple of days...most likely about the future of our lessons since the bombshell concerning The Lady's husband. Not surprisingly, The Matron said that there would be no lessons for March (at least) but she has made a reservation at that 3-Michelin star French restaurant in Shirogane called Quintessence. My student also mentioned that her classmate is doing fine under the circumstances; no word on her husband, though. Kinda amazing that she would even think of doing a swanky lunch in these times. I will lament the loss of income but at least I will get extra sleep on Mondays for the next few weeks.

Speaking of the economic horror that noone will stubbornly call The Great Depression of the 21st Century, I was watching a CNN feature on the trials and tribulations of Japan. It was sobering to see that, like Central Park during the first Great Depression exactly 80 years ago, Hibiya Park in Tokyo has now become home to bread lines and the homeless. There was one interviewee in the piece who used to be an art director with his own gallery and a cushy lifestyle. Now he has none of that, plus his family has left him. The way the reporter put it, it sounds as if his wife and kids cruelly deserted him, but I think it's also possible that the separation was on mutual consent and that his estranged family is living with the in-laws somewhere in the boonies. The man now scrubs rooms in modern flophouses for folks who may also be in his situation. Quite a fall from grace but he's not alone by any means. I can't even sure what my fate will be in 6 months.

It used to be the fact that even during recessions, I cheekily remarked "Recession, what recession?" whenever Tokyo entered the discussion. Even during low times, the nightlife here had been bustling in places like Shibuya and Roppongi. Now, although I haven't visited those places at night in some time, I kinda wonder if reality is finally going to step in. The news has been reporting that Japan is going through its worst economic times since World War II and it's getting even deeper. There will be changes here in the next several months...I know this. Suicides in this suicide-happy country will further soar, and I just can't see some of these pop cultural trends continuing for too much longer. Stuff like the agejo; these are the Shibuya punk gyaru who dress up in huge blonde wigs and wear more mascara than Gwen Stefani...can't see how much more makeup they can afford, let alone those fake designer bags. And I'm not even too sure if the Maid Cafes will survive...even the most diehard otaku won't be so desperate to part with 500-yen coffee and 500-yen table charges at the AtHome Cafe in Akiba.

It's ironic then that the various local TV stations such as Nippon Television and Fuji-TV are currently celebrating their 50th anniversary since they went on the air. Or is it? When TV stations came on during the postwar period, Japan was also the down-and-out country. TV was probably needed to give the masses some form of respite while they worked themselves out of misery. The two stations have been doing 3-hour retrospectives over the past few days and I think Fuji-TV will be pulling out all the stops on March 1 since that is its official birthday. And it must be a weird experience for some of the oldtimers watching the specials seeing these feelgood black & white variety and music shows all over again in an economic morass all over again. But the younger generations...if they're not working their second jobs or just working extremely hard at the office in their first one...will now also partake in this video morphine. Last night, Fuji based its latest special on music over the past 50 years...too bad I couldn't be home at that time...since I have an interest in the ol' Showa pop, but then again on the telly I was watching the segment where TV drama stars were plying their musical prowess...or lack thereof...I quickly went back to CNN. Tonight, Fuji is focusing on the variety TV programs...a genre that may have died out decades ago in the States but is still going on pretty strong. I think that variety shows may have to work extra hard to keep the masses happy, but then I came across another article last week which said that the powers-that-be at the stations are now thinking of cutting back on their services, putting more pressure on their relatively low-paid tarento celebs to do more live shoots and to be funnier. Strangely enough, just when TV may be needed the most to comfort the audience, TV may also be heading for the scrap heap.

Anyways, I got word from The Bohemian. Looks like we're on for another dinner tomorrow in Shinjuku. I'm trying to be careful with the funds but I was happy to get that payment from The Corner last night. Not sure when the next big assignment is coming in, though.

Friday February 27, 8:22 p.m.

Well, the earlier Toronto weather has given way to Vancouver weather...which means that the fluffy snowfall of this morning has turned to the usual cold rain. I left Speedy's mid-afternoon and headed for Shinjuku to see if I could find that "Art of Noise" album but I only came across the individual albums and not their best compilation.; ended up getting a couple of old DVDs at 30% off at HMV; a lot of sales going on with the economic downturn. Got "Ronin", the final movie by John Frankenheimer and a classic spy tale with one of the best team-ups in movie history to boot: Robert DeNiro and Jean Reno. The other disc was on the other end of the scale: "Young Frankenstein". Continued the search at the other HMV above JR Shinjuku but that branch was pretty small-scale. Made one more attempt at Tower Records but couldn't find Art of Noise so I ended up getting the latest Best Of disc of Earth, Wind & Fire. Did blow half of my tax rebate.

Had my dinner at the pasta place run by The Restauranteur. Man, this has been a heavy protein-and-carb day for me. Succumbed to hunger and ended up having a Big Mac set for lunch, and then it was Meat Sauce Spaghetti with Corn Soup at the pasta place. I'd forgotten that the portions of spaghetti over there were hefty...easily for two normal people. Luckily, I'm not exactly normal...I was able to down the whole bowl although I was wondering if I were going to end up like that first victim from "Seven". The Restauranteur pointed out that whenever Friday rolls around and she sees me, the weather is always bad. She's been calling me ameotoko, the Rain Man, but nothing to do with that Dustin Hoffman character. I don't think the moniker is particularly negative, and certainly my student didn't mean it that way...it's just an indicator of meterological tendencies.

Still, there's a good chance that we'll have a repeat of today tomorrow. More snow possibly. Luckily, I will be able to get a very sound round of sleep tonight unlike last night since I only have 2 classes at Speedy's on Saturday and they're solidly in the mid-afternoon.

It's been pretty quiet here at the juku. The boss initially cancelled all of her classes tonight since she'd thought that that she would be needed at a funeral tonight for a friend's mother. But that deal fell through and so the boss tried to call up at least one student to say that the juku's back on. However, the kid had yet to return from school and he still hasn't shown up, so I gather that I'm the only game in town tonight. Culinarily, when it rains it pours, too, apparently. After surviving my massive spaghetti dinner, the boss handed me a large ice cream cone from the conbini.

Friday February 27, 11:44 a.m.

Snow, snow. SNOW! Just like the song from "White Christmas". The wet fluffy stuff started coming down in droves just before Miss Prissy arrived and has yet to stop. Not sure if this is a local phenomenon or metro-wide, but it definitely got Ray's attention for several minutes. Nice to watch from inside a heated school, but I hope the temperatures don't start dropping so that accumulation might actually occur, thereby screwing up the entire public transportation network of Tokyo.

Basically, I'm done for the next several hours so I'll just get to work on Bay's favour and then I'll probably head on out to Shinjuku.

Friday February 27, 8:07 a.m.

The "Blade Runner/Black Rain" weather continues to plague the Kanto. In fact, the weather forecasters have even placed a snowman where Saitama is. The high is supposed to be just 5 C in Chiba, but I frankly think we surpassed that already...just doesn't feel that cold to me right now. But for the natives, they must be cursing "samu, samu" under their trenchcoats.

Well, the big night of the week has passed. That model lesson in the last slot was taken care of pretty workmanlike by me. The guy was pretty reticent about his job...probably a spy or something...and he does like his DeBussy; don't know yet if he's gonna take my bait and sign up. That plus the previous lesson with the Nervous Nellie Bostonian (due to her upcoming presentation in English) pretty much drained the calories away from me.

Since I had the late slot, I once again came home past midnight and had to come back here for the early slot to teach Miss Prissy this morning. Knowing that I would only have 5 hours of sleep, I decided to just take my shower and get dressed up in today's work clothes and just sleep sitting on the sofa, thinking that if I were not that comfortable I would be able to get up a lot quicker. Well, my plan...regrettably...worked brilliantly. Didn't get much shuteye at all. And even a seat on the subway didn't help me catch up on the sleep. My hunger from last night was sated by the MegaMuffin at McD's...my first time there in about 2 weeks (that is a record, by the way). But again, that McMuffin on steroids is just a huge grease bomb. I don't think I'll be tempted to have another one of those for at least 6 months.

Now that the big night is out of the way, I can relatively coast with just 2 hours' worth of classes today...Miss Prissy in about 2 hours and then the usual Ace/Restauranteur combo much later tonight. But Bay gave me some of her own translation request in the form of her koseki tohon, which translates as "family register info". Every citizen has one. She needs hers translated since she's apparently gonna tie the knot with her American boyfriend. Found that out from the congratulatory messages on her Facebook (I sometimes do some trolling through the Friends).

From my pay packet, Speedy informed me that 20,000 yen of that is pure rebate from the government so I'm sorely tempted to get me some CDs later on today. That "Best of Art of Noise" sounds like the beginning of an apt reward.

The Patent Attorney should be here any second...

Thursday February 26, 3:50 p.m.

Finished with The Big Lug nearly an hour ago. He said he's been busy with work...no mention about that death in the family, and I didn't pry. He's heading off to The Big Apple next week for about a week for the very first time, so we used some of the hour on the stuff that he will...and won't...look forward to. Speaking of which, 001 is probably already on the plane for Hokkaido for another round of 3-day skiing. She must not have any other hobbies except for saving up for big trips.

I finally got off that last of this month's Cozy translations...keeping my fingers crossed on that one. If it passes muster, I can get that invoice written up and sent away for money. I'm still waiting for the next big assignment from The Corner.

Thursday February 26, 1:14 p.m.

The gloom and rain will just not end here in The Big Sushi. In fact, it'll be March 1 before we see any glimmer of sunshine. Such is February.

Got the pay packet from Speedy last night just before going home. The timing was good. The 25th of each month is usually pay day for a majority of the companies here, and so the banks and the ATMs are packed tighter than a Barack Obama event. But on the 26th, it's the eye of the hurricane. And so depositing my hard-earned cash only took a minute.

Speaking of the US President, apparently he's gotten good marks from pundits, pols (even Republicans) and the public. And so I figure, the marketers and marketeers will be gurning their hands in Uriah Heep glory as they introduce the sequel to the bestselling Barack Obama's Inaugural Address DVD that's been playing ad nauseum in all of the bookstores in Tokyo. It doesn't matter that he'll be talking about what to do with Medicare, the economy and the War on Terrorism; as long as those dulcet tones waft down from the speakers and into your hungry ears, the Japanese yen will be satisfying the Japanese yen...to listen to their political Barry White.

Well, it won't be as busy as it was scheduled. Strangely enough, as Grandma Dynamite signaled her intention to return to the fold, Grandma FON called in sick last night. Her trip to hot, dry Morocco and her return to cold, wet Japan knocked her metabolism for a loop so she's recovering in bed today. Instead, I'll be starting with The Big Lug; haven't seen him in nearly 3 months. Then, The Carolinan will be making a return appearance here, followed by The Bostonian in her attempts to be presentation-ready in a couple of weeks. And I wrap up with a model lesson. Always nervous about those.

Wednesday February 25, 5:45 p.m.

Yup, it's been a quiet Wednesday, judging by the number of my entries.

Well, I've been reading "Eats, Shoots and Leaves", the bestseller by Lynne Truss. Not exactly the rip-roarin' gutbuster according to the tributes, but that's probably the handiwork of her agent and my comedian's vow to keep a straight face. Still, interesting timewaster on the trains to and from home.

Interesting observation of the cast of characters on the I-go and Shogi TV channel that I now have as part of my regular cable (yes, I am truly a deprived person socially). For some reason, it would seem that a lot of the women who play the two traditional Japanese games are just darn pretty. There are some women who...well...look like the ones I would expect to see play I-go or shogi, but there are some lookers, for the lack of a better word, in front of the brown gridboard and they have standing in the dan class. Kinda too bad for them, though, that their male counterparts look like the salarymen who would buy the girlie magazines.

Anyways, time to get ready for 001's arrival.

Wednesday February 25, 4:52 p.m.

Spent most of the afternoon working on the last of the latest translations from Cozy. Still gotta tweak it a bit tomorrow morning; I think I can still hand it in a bit late but I'll be waiting for Cozy's reply on that. Thought I would be rushing through prepping for the regular Wednesday night lineup but managed to get that done within 5 minutes. 001 is mostly gabbing...and since she'll be off to her second ski trip to Hokkaido from tomorrow, she'll probably be trying to get away from the text. The Diver will be straightforward text with lots and lots of practice and application, and the lesson with The Fashion Designer is just checking her latest test followed by the new chapter.

I remember the earlier lesson with The Admin. Next week, we don't have a lesson together since AK will be visiting The Admin's home around that time. Though The Admin didn't go into details (obviously not any of my business), AK is apparently harbouring some sort of problem. Not sure if it's romance-related or if it's anything to do with Speedy himself. He can be pretty demanding of his staff. Ray just had an intense talk with him not too long ago; and I know that Bay is probably the most vocal of the lot in terms of objections.

Also remember the fact that "The Revenge of the Sith" played for the first time on Japanese network TV on Saturday on Fuji-TV. It just seems that every time I watch it, it gets worse and worse...mostly because of the acting which is horrendous. Hayden Christensen didn't help his career get any further with that sort of performance, although Lucas' writing provided plenty of excuses.

Wednesday February 25, 2:48 p.m.

Turned in the 2nd draft of the latest Cozy translations over to the guy himself. That took about a couple of hours right there, and I still have the first draft of that other thing for Cozy to hand in. Luckily, I decided to come into Speedy's early today instead of just traipsing around Shinjuku to walk off that curry buffet lunch. Yup, I did it again. This time, my timing wasn't as good. I went in just smack dab in the middle of a major scrum of folks. I had to sit next to a burly guy who was grumbling at the waitress about still waiting for his naan; the guy looked like he already had too much naan in him. But within 10 minutes, most of the lunch crowd cleared out.

Well, President Obama gave his not-"State of the Nation" address earlier today. CNN and the government were adamant in saying that this was an address to Congress about his plans for the economy. Looks like the people are still happy with him; fully two-thirds of the audience gave him thumbs-up. Notably, the official Republican rebuttal was given by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, the first Indian-American governor and one of the youngest to boot. Not too many years ago, I couldn't have imagined that an Indian-American of political stature would be giving official rebuttals to African-American US Presidents. And ol' Bobby may be following in Obama's footsteps someday.

Looks like Grandma Dynamite will be returning from hibernation from March but at an earlier time. Ah, my early wake-up calls are coming back...sigh. However, in this current economic state, I cannot really gripe about the fact that I have lots of work.

Tuesday February 24, 4:20 p.m.

At the juku. On the way over, I think I saw Suzanne in the Starbucks across from Urayasu Station. Didn't bother going anywhere near her since she would probably want to enjoy her private time, but I'll check her on it in an hour or so. The boss finally got that Japanese-style peanut brittle she'd been raving about to me for the past couple of weeks...just when I got my bag of kaki-P (salty peanuts and rice crackers) for dinner. It's called Nankyo Tsukune and it's pretty darn good. Basically, it's like kaki-P except that it's been drowned in hardened syrup. I'll probably share it with Suzanne since she was kind enough to bring over those Black Forest Tim-Tams last week.

Was doing my share of YouTube surfing at the I-Cafe. I did find the coverage of Mokkun and the gang behind "Departures" getting their Oscar. I was interested in hearing how their English sounded. It was kinda like listening to those annual English recitation contests that I'd been forced to hear back on the JET Programme. Mokkun sounded like the most earnest Berlitz student ever groomed...kinda like Judy Garland. Meanwhile, the two female co-stars, Ryoko Hirosue and Kimiko Yo, sounded like a couple of high school girls suddenly being ambushed by by a gaijin tarento and forced to speak something in their second language. Speedy to the rescue.

Also came across some ol' Art of Noise remixes on YouTube, courtesy of Trevor Horn...specifically, "Dragnet" from their Best Of album. Argghhh....not another reason to part with my yen. Then, it was a hilarious George W. Bush "tribute" done a la the opening credits to "Space 1999".

Heard that while the Oscars were going on, the current President had the ultimate R&B kings, Earth Wind & Fire, up at the White House as the musical entertainment for the big powwow for the State Governors. I think even John McCain would've started doing a jig to these guys but it seemed a bit strange seeing EW&B boogying Wonderland in such an enclosed space. It was almost like watching a hired band at a bat mitzvah.

Unfortunately, PM Aso won't be in time for any remaining cake when he gets to Washington in the next several hours. He's probably been crowing that he's the first Head of State to meet Barack Obama since he took office. last month. However, the experts are saying that Aso won't leave too much of an impression with the far more charismatic Obama. I think even Junichiro Koizumi would prostrate himself in front of the President while crowing "I'm not worthy!" Basically, President Obama will have Taro scheduled between nap time and his colorectal examination.

However, I do wonder if this love affair between America and Obama is starting to reach saccharine levels. CNN has been practically working as his press agent, announcing the big State of the Union address for later today. I don't think Bush or any other US President ever got that much advertising for his big speech to Congress.

Anyways, I got the usual cast of characters tonight: Suzanne, The Traveler and The Milds. And the boss' student should be coming up any minute so I'll head back into my room.

Tuesday February 24, 1:25 p.m.

Back at the I-cafe again. I had vowed that I would only come here twice a month since I now have a slightly heavier payment for TV and phone now. But with my translation gig, I needed to get that second of three assignments in today before the last of the three gets out tomorrow. I like Cozy to know that I'm on the ball.

Had The Beehive: just Jade, Travel and Alp, but the talk was pretty lively on two main topics. First, of course, was about the collapse of the company that The Lady's husband used to own. I was kinda surprised that they hadn't sent me a message the day before. The second was about the Oscar win by "Okuribito" (known as "Departures" in English), the Best Foreign Film.

It was rather surreal to see Mokkun (the nickname of the star of the movie) and Qui-Gon Jinn on the stage together. Hell, it was just surreal to see that star, Masahiro Motoki...a former member of 80s Johnny's Jimusho boy band, Shibugakitai...along with pop aidoru/actress Ryoko Hirosue dressed to the nines on the Oscar stage. Both Mrs Travel and Mrs. Jade had seen the movie and gave it an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Both remarked on its whimsical and tragicomic tone (it's about a cello player who ends up becoming a talented mortician). Though I'm not one for dramas, especially J-dramas, I have to admit that seeing one scene of Mokkun's protagonist dress up a dearly departed person for the funeral has gotten me a bit interested. I don't think I'll shuck up the 1800 yen for it at the theatre, but perhaps I'll get the DVD for the parentals. According to Jade and Travel, the only cast member who let down the side is Hirosue who's apparently not the greatest of acting talent (not saying much, I suppose); but they think the world of Motoki's performance.

Masahiro Motoki certainly has come a long way since his days as a Johnny's aidoru. I remember him as the one truly good-looking kid in the triumvirate known as Shibugakitai; the other two were merely cute boys-next-door types...just like most of the other Johnny's guys. The group bleated out the usual overproduced pop ditties in their day-glo striped T-shirts and white pants like Menudo on acid. Then, Motoki had his wild solo days which not only featured him doing weirdo roles in movies and TV shows and commercials, but also a notorious performance on the annual Red&White Song Festival on NHK one year in which he jiggled around in pants that showed off his bare buns. The phones didn't stop ringing...although I think some of those folks were quite praiseworthy as well as condemning. But now, it seems like he has reached his post-"Forrest Gump" Tom Hanks phase. He certainly did look good in that photo on the Oscar stage last night....pretty classic looks in that tux. Maybe he might do a Ken Watanabe?

In any case, he and the director have been assaulted by the media pretty much nonstop for the past 24 hours. It seemed that every TV station drilled onto them in interviews whenever I clicked through the remote. They should sleep well tonight. And speaking of Oscars, apparently host Hugh Jackman will be coming over to Fuji-TV in the next couple of days...probably to promote "Australia". Yeowch!

Monday February 23, 9:15 p.m.

Have started the week off losing. Lost one of my gloves, maybe even lost a client. As for the glove, I lost it in the rush to get to the subway. I was grumbling about it on the train over to Otemachi...until I realized I was grumbling about a stinkin' glove that cost me 500 yen. It's not as if I were Michael Jackson pulling a hissy fit for accidentally flushing a jewel-encrusted glove down the toilet.

As for the client part, well, when I got off the subway at Otemachi Station, I saw one of the headline banners at the kiosk state that one of the big companies had gone down in what has become a disturbing sign of the times. And it turned out that the company belongs...or belonged...to the husband of The Lady. Eeowich! Well, maybe it was a good thing that I didn't have her class today; otherwise, I would've had to fight off the media hordes outside her house. However, I'm not too worried about losing her since compared to what she pays me for my services, I must represent a mere millionth of their total expenditures. We'll see...I sent a letter of condolences to her.

I had my first Com Pho bowl of pho noodles of the year. The economy may be tanking but I'm always ready for a good bowl of their stuff. I also went upstairs to Maruzen. Picked up the weekly METROPOLIS; there was a photo book of a lot of Japanese actresses playing dead all over Japan. I'm sure for a lot of J-drama fans, this must be Xmas...I'm sure for a lot of anti-J-drama fans....this must also be Xmas.

Taught SIL....she didn't mention anything about the collapse of her brother's company, so I didn't say anything either.

Saw The Full-Timer. Looks like she'll be taking another trip to Hawaii on her freebie ticket courtesy of her soon-to-be-ex-company next week. Gotta use your opportunities when you can.

And I've got Medicine Man any minute now.

Heard that the Oscars were another snorefest. Nothing new there...even with Hugh Jackman as the host. I was happy to hear that "Departures", the Japanese entry for Foreign Film got the big prize. And of course, Heath must be quite happy in Heaven right now. He pulled off the second posthumous Oscar after Peter Finch.

Friday February 20, 7:58 p.m.

Just finished some more stuff for The Restauranteur. I came across that article on that Doctor Who website about that new companion who'll be played by an actress named Lindsay Duncan. I saw her picture and had remarked that she was closer to Donna Noble than Rose Tyler in the age sweepstakes, thinking she must be in her 40s. Then I Wiki'ed her and was rather surprised to find out that she's 58! Pretty darn good for 58! Wasn't William Hartnell 56 when he became the first Doctor?! And considering that the new kid on the block after David Tennant will really be the new kid on the block...well, that oughta put the Doctor-Companion dynamic right on its pointy ear.

Friday February 20, 7:13 p.m.

Enjoyed a good long sleep...actually got out of bed at the downright decadent hour of 9:30 this morning. Good day to stay in, too. It had been raining steadily outside though it subsided several hours ago. Just picked up some extra hangers and envelopes for some photos to be sent back home. Listened to Chaz Jankel's Best Of...still think the Quincy Jones' take on his "Ai No Corrida" is the one to beat.

The juku boss had initially informed me about a possible translation gig through her friend who's a member of some volunteer group taking care of stray dogs who would otherwise be put down. Apparently, someone there wanted a 68-page book translated. But after talking about it with her friend on the phone just now, things still seem unsettled especially when it comes to remuneration...there may be none. Sorry, can't afford charity right now, especially where 68 pages are concerned.

There was some sort of kerfuffle over Narita Airport today when a Northwest plane from Manila to here had gotten caught in a bad patch of turbulence just over the Pacific Coast. There were several people injured, mostly because the idiots didn't bother to put their belts on even when the sign was on. Not a whole lot of sympathy from me.

The other patch of turbulence is in Nagatacho. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the last head of state here who actually gave the appearance of doing a decent job, stirred up a hornet's nest in Moscow earlier this week (I've got no idea why he was there) when he said that he would abstain from a vote on a bill allowing bailout money to be sent to all citizens (just 12,000 yen...a mere pittance). Well, the man's still an MP in the Diet so his remark caused a noisy rip within the LDP and more headaches for current PM Aso who really can't afford even a twinge of pain right now. Unfortunately, he'll need to get an extra bottle of Advil since it's been reported that recently-defrocked Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa had done a 2-hour tour of The Vatican in Italy right after he had given that Foster Brooks/Dudley Moore impersonation instead of a press conference in Rome. Even the Italians were saying "What was up with that?"

Thursday February 19, 1:55 p.m.

The lesson with Miss Sedona was fun and laugh-filled as always. She's now the 14th student on my White Day list after her belated gift of chocolates. She even got one for Speedy which got some quiet groans of "Not again" from him...of course, out of eyeshot of Miss Sedona. Well, I know the sources of chocolate; it's just a matter of how much money I have to get the stuff.

Ray and Bay (especially Bay) have been griping about some matter on the other side of the business...most likely about some unreasonable request from a client. Time for Speedy to work his diplomatic magic.

The emergency translations for Cozy have been proceeding slowly. I've even sent a small SOS on one word to Cozy himself. Hopefully, he'll have some time to respond before I head on out to meet The New Yorker in a couple of hours.

Looks like a few weeks after the new Doctor Who actor has been selected, some actress has won the Companion sweepstakes. Kinda closer to Donna Noble than Rose Tyler in the age category by the picture I saw.

Thursday February 19, 11:20 a.m.

Still back in the relative cold of the season. Gotten back into the routine of downing three pills and donning the surgery mask to keep hay fever at bay.

Pretty quiet Thursday...just have Miss Sedona and then The New Yorker later on.

Glad to say that The Diver passed her test on the level of an Obama over a McCain. Speedy had made a make-up test just in case, but it was pretty obvious as I was marking that she didn't need to do it. Of course, she was wincing each time I came across an error. So, now she's graduated to the next level. The Fashion Designer had to come in about 10 minutes late; ;no problem since I rarely leave the office on Wednesday before 11 p.m. (really gotta do something about that in the next year or so). Not surprisingly, having gone through another night of overtime, she was tired. Still, I gave the lady her own take-home test.

Speaking of the world's most popular Head of State (for now, that is), he's going over to the Great White North in several hours. I've been watching some of the coverage about his arrival in Ottawa. Man, I guess Canadians are gonna be Americans for one day, at least. And then I came across one of the most hilarious headlines on "The Onion" (and that is saying a lot) in which African-Americans are getting majorly creeped out by the tear-filled eyes and wide-as-the-Mississippi smiles they've been getting from white Americans since Obama's election. I can just imagine that from now on in any awkward multiracial conversation, Caucasians will no longer fall back on "I like hip-hop and Stevie"; instead, they'll just say things like "I voted for Obama" or "Yes, I can".

Wednesday February 18, 6:46 p.m.

Received some more Cozy translations, and this one is on Priority One...and much to my luck, it's got tons of arcane financial expressions. Well, at least I've got the one that Cozy had assigned me last week translated through its first pass. I'm all translated out right now, so just gonna enjoy some surfing before The Diver gets here in about 80 minutes. The Fashion Designer may or may not show up tonight depending on how much overtime she gets through. But Bay said that she'll be getting the call sometime during The Diver's lesson.

Looks like Facebook lost a bit of its first four letters in the past 24 hours when it came up with its rather unseemly and quiet changes to its Terms of Use. Well, people power was in session and Mr. Zuckerman has decided to revert back to the old ways...for now.

Wednesday February 18, 3:15 p.m.

Well, the big 2,800th entry. Am celebrating with an ice-cold peach nectar.

While I was making that earthquake analogy for the Nakagawa Incident, I did forget to mention that we did have a wake-up jolt of a Shindo 4 in Chiba yesterday morning. Tells you how jaded I've become when it comes to earthquakes. I wonder how Secretary Clinton reacted in her hotel room; she must've felt something in bed (insert your Bill Clinton joke here). There has been a rash of tremors recently, and I gather that if we do have a rash of them, it means that the earth has released enough energy so that there won't be a huge one in the Kanto for the next number of days, at least.

After The Admin's lesson, I decided to try out the curry buffet at the Indian place downstairs. Pretty good for 1,000 yen. I got my choice of three different curries (keema, vegetable and bean) along with saffron rice, salad, naan, and tandoori chicken. Got my money's worth of stuff and I'll probably not need any more food for the rest of the day.

I walked most of it off by walking through Shinjuku. Noticed that Takashimaya Times Square was all closed; still, took some pics of the area including the front of the very first Krispy Kreme branch in Japan. The lineup is now down to a miniscule 15-minute wait. Compare that with the near 2 hours of just a year ago. Ended up browsing through Tower Records across the street.

Tuesday February 17, 9:21 p.m.

Well, to noone's surprise, the Japanese Foster Brooks known as Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa decided to fall on his own sword and leave the Cabinet. I think when he got his 15 seconds of fame via CNN's "The Situation Room" this morning, that pretty much did it for him. That may have improved PM Aso's standing a bit but that's kinda like saying that Shindo 7 quake was really just a 6.9 after it had destroyed Kobe. Still, in the typically Japanese determination to make sure that still waters run deep, Nakagawa refused to acknowledge that alcohol was the culprit...instead blaming it on "...too much cold medicine...". Well, he can take all the Nyquil he wants now with that chaser of whiskey.

Of course, the Beehive ladies were grousing about him this morning and I made a little dig at him tonight in front of the Milds. Mrs. Mild was back after her spate of dizziness subsided. And Suzanne was back in the house after her 5 days of R&R in Australia. She was luckily nowhere close to those horrendous fires, and she had a very nice time just relaxing on the beach on The Gold Coast. She brought back a box of Black Forest Tim Tams which made for an especially decadent snack. She's really gotten the bug about possibly studying and working abroad sometime in the near future. I'm glad that she took my advice and got the Japanese version of "What Colour Is Your Parachute?" I'd like to think that my advice has some merit sometimes. The Traveler also came by...she's doing quite well wiht the numbers.

Finally got through all of the "Futurama" DVDs and commentaries. It kinda sounded like the guys on those discs had more fun than the "Family Guy" folks with their commentaries. It's hard to believe that over 5 years have passed since Billy West and Maurice LaMarche actually did them....tells you how much of a television Rip Van Winkle I've been. I definitely have a soft spot for HypnoToad. I did take a look at some of the surprising music clips the guys put in...such as the Pizzicato Five tune at the end of "Leela's Homeworld". Made sure I checked that out on YouTube. And then there was the theme tune itself done by The Beastie Boys.

Well, now it's Season One of the original "Mission: Impossible" and I almost forgot about all those Marvel movies that my brother had given me for Xmas. At this rate, I may not be finished til Golden Week.

It'll be another quiet Wednesday. I've got The Admin in the morning and then The Diver and The Fashion Designer tomorrow night. I just hope that The Diver was able to handle the test. It's been a quiet month which has gotten Speedy starting to chomp on his fingernails again. Well, I kinda figured that with this economic mess, things weren't going to get too crazy as time went by. However, I do have those Cozy translations to take care of.

And I picked up that expenditures sheet from the Tax Office today. Looks like I'm really into the season now...the tax season, that is. I've already started Hay Fever season. Had to ingest the pills and put on the mask this morning.

Monday February 16, 7:23 p.m.

More chocolate via The Full-Timer. Had to leave her Hershey's Kisses and SIL's Pierre Marcolini on the kitchen table, lest I really go into sugar shock. However, I am keeping The Matron's chocolate spoons for myself. Lots of choc to go around here, though.

The Full-Timer had a bit of gastrointestinal distress during yet another trip to Korea which would explain her absence last Monday. Had to cut short her travels. I also asked her about the trials and tribulations of Finance Minister Nakagawa, and she thought maybe he was having a stroke due to the slurring of his speech; in which case, I hope that he did just have a lapse in judgement and overdid it on the wine.

Feels like the bottom fell out on the temps. Feeling pretty cold out there.

Monday February 16, 5:27 p.m.

Continuing to get the chocolates after the fact. SIL gave me a small box via Pierre Marcolini, a chocolatier (now a word in the Japanese vocabulary) located in Ginza. I passed by the place once last year...tons of women were lined up for a taste of their wares which included ice cream cones. I think I'll be paying a lot come March 14. Actually, The Matron also gave me her contribution for Valentine's Day...in the form of pure chocolate spoons. That is to say, four spoons made of chocolate. They are designed to be stirred in coffee to impart a mocha flavour. Pretty nifty...surprisingly, they're not from Japan but from abroad.

Looks like hay fever season has started for me. I was sniffling a lot yesterday morning before I went to see The New Yorker but my wonder medicine kept me sane although I had a brief relapse for a few minutes at the beginning of the lesson. I took the trio of tablets just now since it looks like I'm coming down with it again, and the last thing I need is to be horking up snot in front of The Full-Timer in a place that's already unconducive to the nose.

Just wrote up a letter to my cable company. When I signed up with them last year, the bills were supposed to be deducted straight from my account, but for some reason, although the company has been sending me the account deduction notices, they haven't been deducting and my first bill has been in the form of one to be paid at a convenience store. Not a huge problem but I just want to make sure of the payment policy.

Monday February 16, 4:17 p.m.

I know one Japanese politician who is looking for a room at the Under-A-Rock Hilton. Apparently, the mass media here is abuzz about that bizarro press conference that Shoichi Nakagawa gave yesterday...or tried to give in Rome . The press wasn't sure whether he was drunk or high on something else but he certainly wasn't coherent. And photogs were also snapping shots of him sleeping at a meeting of the finance ministers. One thing for sure...the guy is gonna have one big hassle going through Narita when he gets back home, and it won't be the Customs and Immigration guys.

The Lady was the first to bring up the topic with me this morning. She said that she'd caught part of it on YouTube. I tried to look him up but couldn't really find it. I'm wondering if the authorities decided to do a sweep under the rug, so to speak. SIL also mentioned him as well. Nakagawa should count himself lucky, though. His antics could've had longer play if it weren't for the fact that Hillary Clinton wasn't coming into town. She should be coming in pretty soon tonight. SIL thinks she'll be staying at the Hotel Okura since it's one of Tokyo's most venerable hotels and it's just across from the US Embassy.

Nakagawa's cockup can't really help PM Aso's standing right now. According to one of the Canadian newspapers, his popularity rating is now in the single digits....just barely under 10%. I think PM Mori had a slightly higher rating and he got dethroned. Wouldn't be surprised if The Diet were dissolved in less than a month.

The Class Act has decided to have another day off next week...which makes me wonder if twice a month will become the new schedule for me when it comes to them. It's really just chatting in half-Japanese/half-English now so I can't be that surprised. SIL is still hanging in there. It'll be a regular day for me, though. I've got The Full-Timer today and then Medicine Man to wrap up tonight.

Yesterday was a disappointment, though. After The New Yorker, I headed out to Akihabara to see if the hokoten were running. It wasn't exactly beaming in sunshine but nowhere near gloomy; however, no whirling costumed women or grungy otaku with cellphone cameras to be found. Just a lot of cars zipping by on the main drag. Ah, well...will have to look elsewhere for scenery to be shot by my new camera. Speaking of the New Yorker, it looks like she may have an opportunity to gain in fluency. She told me that she may be heading to The Big Apple for a week or so to meet up with a nail artist there. If everything looks right, she might be looking forward to a 6-month stay there later this year. And speaking of students staying over in New York City, Speedy tells me that The Singer's fluency has shot up somewhat after her 2 months there; didn't say whether she sounds like Joan Rivers, though.

Ethereal actress Rie Miyazawa is apparently going to be tying the knot some 15 years after breaking off an engagement with yokozuna Takanohana. It's one of those shotgun weddings; she's 6 months into pregnancy. I'm not sure how her hubby feels about the fact that most every guy in Japan saw her naked (via her "Santa Fe" photobook) before he actually did.

Saturday February 14, 5:19 p.m.

Finished up with The Businesswoman about 20 minutes ago. Good student but I'm wondering now that she's almost finished with her current spate of lessons whether she'll re-sign. I don't think I'm exactly coasting with her but there seems to be a bit of a lull.

I finally read MB's response to my refusal of the position. Actually, he was short and gracious about it, but I still feel badly about turning down the offer although I made it clear that I wouldn't teach kids for a million bucks (just an exaggeration).

Just looking forward to going home now and getting some relaxation in. It'll be another busy Saturday next week and I've got The New Yorker tomorrow afternoon. The weather was actually fine today although I never got a chance to walk around in it. I didn't have to hang up the wash inside. I can only hope that it'll stay that way tomorrow since I do want to test out the camera on Akiba.

Saturday February 14, 3:37 p.m.

Well, I've been making a good killing today. The Bostonian and The PA got me some chocolates, the former getting me some cookies made up to resemble tiny hamburgers (she knows me all too well) and even Bay brought some dango for Speedy and myself, although the bossman has yet to show up which is atypical of him. Kinda wonder if The Businesswoman may continue the tradition.

Saturday February 14, 11:43 a.m.

I'm laying even odds that Mr. Pronounciation is gonna cancel today. I'm not wishing for it at all since I think he needs the practice but with his job as a CPA and being the tax season and all, I've got a strange feeling he's gonna call and make the dotakyan.

Well, finished off "The Starbucks Experience". And also some of the reviews of it on the Net; they and I kinda refer to the near-religious calling that the "partners" seem to be imbued with. Being as cynical as I am, I tried to find some anti-Starbucks sites to get a palate-cleanser, but strangely enough, my computer won't let me due to fear of virus attacks. Hmmm....conspiracy, I wonder.

Saturday February 14, 11:27 a.m.

One of those days that I would rather just stay under the covers. Nope, I'm not sick and the weather has improved markedly over the mini-typhoon of last night, but not feeling particularly loving or even amiable. I've got a pretty busy day considering the fairly easy week: The Bostonian is in the house, along with The PA, Mr. Pronounciation and The Businesswoman to wrap up. Not sure if I'm gonna have any time to continue with the latest Cozy translation since my first three classes are back-to-back-to-back and then I've got an hour for lunch before the final lesson. However, I'll see what I can do in the last half-hour.

Paddy's foray into Facebook has gotten him some old friends. He's even made contact with GC.

Friday February 13, 10:07 p.m.

It was just Mr. Mild doing his make-up class. Apparently, Mrs. Mild has caught a case of dizziness for some reason. Still, she wasn't dizzy enough to become the sixth woman to give me chocolates. She got me some Whiskey Bonbons...I bet Mr. Mild was pretty jealous. The Ace and The Restauranteur were fine, but the latter student has some sparks of orneriness in her...but it's the usual case of me just humouring her. Looks like I learned a bit from that "Starbucks Experience" book.

The winds are still blowing out there but the juku boss was kind enough to call up Urayasu Station to check up on the subway status. They're still working in fine order thankfully although it would've been interesting to walk the extra 20 minutes out in the gale.

In the shadow of that miracle plane landing by Sully in New York Harbour over the Holidays comes a very cold shot of reality in the same state. A small plane just crashed into a Buffalo neighbourhood killing all aboard and one person on the ground. Irony is looking pretty cruel.

Anyways, gonna make my way home now. Have a pretty full slate tomorrow at Speedy's.

Friday February 13, 6:20 p.m.

Well, it may not be too bad of a bad luck day....knock on wood...but it is windy. Apparently, the Haru Ichiban has made an early appearance. Translated as the "Spring's No. 1", it's similar to the Chinook Winds in Canada and perhaps the Scirocco. Waiting for the bus near Speedy's, the winds were gale-force since that area is often buffeted by high winds to begin with.

It also seems to be a day of chocolate-reaping. I got a couple of more boxes of the sweet stuff from Miss Prissy and the juku boss. Prissy and her hubby had just come back from a trip to Jeju Island near Korea, and she brought back some chocolate-covered nuts. I donated that box over to the rest of the Speedy gang since I'm gonna end up very diabetic. Then I got a small box from the boss just now. She'd just had another session at the hospital and was griping a bit about how long she had to hang around the place (6 hours)...welcome to the club. I don't think a tirp to the hospital really means a drop-in session anymore. Better bring that "War & Peace". She's also gotten pretty manic about visiting Niagara Falls in the near future. Apparently, she got turned onto some sights on the telly recently She especially wants to stay at the hotel overlooking the Falls; looked it up, it's the Marriott.

Ended up having dinner at the family restaurant by Urayasu Station. Looks like they included a new pasta and dessert buffet, but I decided to go for the burger & fried oyster set. Maybe next time. Also, the Pepper Lunch in my neighbourhood has gotten a face-lift of sorts. Pepper Lunch is a franchise of sizzling hamburg steaks on hotplates which leave you with the fresh smell of braziers when you leave. Before the renovation began, the place had a vending machine where customers bought their meal tickets and just handed them to the pimple-faced kitchen staff. The new version looks a bit spiffier with an additional picture window and it looks like the place is going for a more conventional fast food counter look.

Friday February 13, 9:43 a.m.

I just heard from Speedy that The Singer had come back from her homestay in the States. It sounds like she had a good time there. And perhaps there may be future lessons. I'm just worried that she picked up too much of either a Noo Yawk or Valley Girl accent.

And on a totally different topic, I heard that the Wachowski Brothers are considering doing a "Superman" reboot. Now, if they hadn't been the guys behind the last two "Matrix" movies and "Speed Racer", I would've been pretty giddy. But as it is...

Friday February 13, 8:35 a.m.

Was entertaining The Patent Attorney as I usually do whenever I come in early. Just spoke on Vancouver since the Olympics will be held there in exactly one year. He was also intrigued on the concept of Daylight Savings Time. I'm surprised that the Japanese government has never really thought about adopting that measure...it would mean more drinking time in the beer gardens. I also told him that any chance of getting accommodations in Vancouver during the Games was pretty close to zero at this point, unless he had some really generous friends or relatives in the city.

As I said, The Carolinan and I went to the new Excelsior's across the street from its erstwhile sister shop. It was pretty crowded even at 5 p.m. but then again, a lot of the working wretched often hit the cafes as one of their refuges. We had to go into the smoking section, but it seemed like that section was far better ventilated than the Tully's in Ichigaya or even the old Excelsior's. The Carolinan had seen "Mamma Mia" with Meryl Streep yesterday. She is an ABBA fan but didn't really like Meryl's take on her character. I wouldn't go anywhere near that movie. I like ABBA, just don't like bad ABBA karaoke in a movie that costs 1,800 yen.

Like the previous time with the Carolinan, I ended up having dinner by myself at Foo Foo nearby. It was kinda coincidental that while I'm reading "The Starbucks Experience", the guys at Foo Foo gave me a small survey about their new dinner set and gave me some free toppings (I chose spinach) for my tan tan men.

So here I am. Just have three lessons today. I've got Miss Prissy in less than 2 hours, and then it'll just be the regular juku crowd with The Ace and The Restauranteur later tonight. However, I've also got that make-up lesson with The Milds before those other two. Swank is off again today so I figure that I'll be busy starting on the latest translation from Cozy and then working on some further handouts for The Restauranteur. I did get a response from MB for that message I sent him yesterday; just not interested in reading it right now....got enough angst as it is.

Friday February 13, 8:06 a.m.

Ah, yes...the inevitable Friday the 13th. Wonder when that computer virus or terrorist attack will occur.

I took a look inside Shinjuku's new erection known as The Cocoon yesterday after taking a photo of it. Actually, it was just the two basements since they housed the newest branch of Book First. Not surprisingly for a structure that has an art school, the bookstore looked appropriately artsy. President Obama's voice was booming in one corner...it was his inaugural address, I believe. Certain English-language-learning journals have been touting his diction as the one to emulate. I could think of far worse candidates to copy.

However, I gather that for the young prez, Friday the 13th has come a few hours early. Just read that yet another Cabinet candidate has pulled out of the running, and it was his Republican choice for Commerce. As a bit of a twist, he didn't pull out because he cheated on his taxes but because he couldn't stand the stimulus bill. Well, I guess Press Secretary Gibbs will spin it by saying that at least his boss tried to extend his hand across the aisle.

Before I met The Carolinan, I crossed the street to the nearest electronics shop and checked out the washing machines up on the 6th floor. My 15-year-old washing machine on my balcony has been gushing out water from its bottom which rather indicates a change is in order. I was rather surprised to realize that the cheapest machine is only 5,000 yen more expensive than my digital camera. Well, let's see how much I make this month. I wouldn't be so eager to get a new washing machine if only that little leakage incident a few weeks ago hadn't occurred.

I met The Carolinan in front of the now-closed Excelsior Coffee branch. That old place was covered in white netting...kinda analogizes a chrysalis. She'd obviously been shopping for stuff with three large bags. One was actually for me...the Valentine's Day season has begun, although I think Grandma Enka's gift of Earl Grey Tea last week officially started things off. The Sisters of State gave me some nama choco (I really have to find out what the exact translation for that is) and some chocolate-covered Satsuma potatoes...yep, I also wonder how that one will taste. In front of the West Gate of JR Shinjuku, the Godiva kiosk was mobbed by women buying boxes of chocolate.

Thursday February 12, 2:46 p.m.

Had lunch...it was pretty pensive by myself in the kitchen. That was because I'd just sent off that letter of rejection of MB's offer for employment at his school. It basically took me the better part of an hour to concoct it since I pretty much bared my reasons for not being comfortable with kids. I didn't get too much into the psychological aspects of it but I did give him my history of teaching them and it's not a period of great success or happiness. In any case, I hope he gets my drift now; it could go either way, I suppose. He could take it gracefully or he could think I'm a self-absorbed sob story. But what I wrote was the truth, take it or leave it.

Speaking about the trials and tribulations of kids, on my half-kilometre walk from the Tozai Line to the Oedo Line, I came across a young mother putting her baby cart with kid on board on the down escalator. She was getting kinda cross with her child for getting a bit too rambunctious on the cart. I did a slow burn and came a bit close to giving her a piece of my mind about not being allowed to go on the escalator with a baby cart as per the sign, so who was she to chew out her kid. I held my tongue though and she went one way and I went the other. But in retrospect, I think I was glad I didn't say anything to her. I don't think any good would've come out of it aside from a screaming match between me and her with panicked subway officials to follow. And after giving some more thought to it, perhaps the mother really didn't have a choice since the staircase beside the escalators was in the midst of handling rush hour traffic. And in this burg, the slower amongst us aren't given too much of a break. I tried to imagine the harried lady taking down the cart with kid on board on a crowded staircase practically flowing with commuters, and then thought that she probably didn't need me scolding her.

I'll probably take off in the next half-hour and walk off lunch as I walk over to Shinjuku. I'll take a pic of The Cocoon, the newest building dotting the Shinjuku skyline. It's supposed to look like a cocoon (memories of Mothra come up), but with a couple of rather strange orb-like buildings or structures at the bottom, folks can be forgiven if they started giggling at a certain phallic resemblance.

Thursday February 12, 1:23 p.m.

Just had Miss Sedona, one of only two students I have today. I'm not sure if that cup of Tim Hortons I had for breakfast may have put my personality in overdrive, but I got the impression from her that I was going a little faster than usual. Ah, well.

Found out that Paddy is now a part of the Facebook family. I dutifully and happily invited him in. A bit surprised...never took him as particularly the social networking type.

Anyways, just gotta do some deskwork then I'm outta here to take some pics with the new camera before meeting up with The Carolinan.

Thursday February 12, 11:17 a.m.

It was a nice and rare Wednesday night off last night. Just spent it cooking up dinner and watching the last of the "Futurama" episodes. Groening and company really went out with a bang with some pretty fun shows...it's hard to believe that it's been basically 7 years since the series got canned (although I am aware that the specials have been popping up, including one just a couple of nights ago, I believe). Whereas "Family Guy" is raunchy and raucous fun set to a big band soundtrack, "Futurama" could almost qualify as a sweet dramedy.

Saw a slightly different version of the new "Star Trek" trailer on YouTube yesterday. It was almost identical but then I caught that scene of Nero the Romulan, which had been at the end of the original trailer, in the middle which got me wondering if there was something being cooked up at the end. And I was surprised to see old Leonard Nimoy giving the familiar split-fingered Vulcan salute and the old greetings of "Live long and prosper". Former Speedy assistant-current attorney-future judge The Trekkie would've teared awfully bad seeing that.

I got a quick reply back from The Satyr about what was basically a token courtesy inquiry about the position that MB has been bashing me over the head about. He said that he had a pretty good time at the school. I basically gave him the reply that I will give MB probably today or tomorrow that I won't be taking the position. MB will be sorely disappointed, I know, although he's been given ample signals from me. I hate disappointing friends...obvious thing to say, I know...but in this case, I know that it has to be the right thing to do.

Got word from The Carolinan that we can meet an hour earlier than usual for her lesson since she'll be having the afternoon off today. So, I can get that extra hour of rest before coming in tomorrow early.

I've been reading that book on the Starbucks Experience. Yep, I can see where they're getting at about customer satisfaction and all that, and I've been grateful whenever I've used the local branches as a teaching environment and simple coffee quaffing grounds. But sometimes I just can't help getting the feeling that there's something a bit creepily cultish about the literature. Ach, the cynic I am.

Wednesday February 11, 3:05 p.m.

Well, obviously, I never made it to Akihabara. It's been looking gloomy all day...kinda ironic considering that it's allegedly Japan's birthday today (being over 2,000...the collective memory just isn't what it used to be). And Akihabara gets skittish about cloudy weather so in all likelihood, hokoten isn't in session. So, I'm back at the I-cafe.

Nice and lazy today. Just woke up at a late hour, had my Canuck breakfast, and completed Phase 2 of going over the year's earnings and expenditures, along with a few more "Futurama" eps. "Futurama" actually includes a bit more drama and pathos than either "Family Guy" or "The Simpsons" in my estimation, pretty surprising for a show that includes a sociopathic robot and a Yiddish crustacean doctor.

MB doesn't give up, does he? I've pretty much shut the door on that so-called offer of employment at his school. But he's sent me an e-mail stating that I could get a reimbursed train pass from the school. I mean, the offer is actually quite good but just replace the kids with adults; then I would jump at it and say goodbye to Speedy.

Tuesday February 10, 9:35 p.m.

Well, the first mini-week is done. The Traveler came in; I wasn't too hard on her since she was coming back from an emergency hospital stay...wasn't going to inquire, so I just did Numbers with her to get some of that confidence back into her. Then, The Milds came in a half-hour later. Any lingering discomfort from last week was absolutely gone. Had a good time with the couple...even went 10 minutes past time for a chat. The nice, pleasant night her got me to thinking that even if I didn't have the problems toward children that I do now, it would be very difficult for me to leave this setup along with The Beehive and some of the privates. I feel badly for MB since it is obvious that he's rather desperate to find a good teacher with staying power. But frankly, unless the Mother of All Typhoons suddenly came along and destroyed everyone in Chiba Prefecture, there is pretty much no way I'll able to accommodate him.

Time to go home and decompress a bit. Gonna pick up some bacon, eggs and butter for a good ol' Sunday Canadian breakfast tomorrow on National Foundation Day. Then, I'll head on out to Akihabara with the new camera and see if I can take me some pics of potential hokoten hilarity.

Tuesday February 10, 4:38 p.m.

Well, made the trek all the way to the other end of the metropolis and did the visit to MB's school...his dog-and-pony show about the position that could await me there if I decided to take him up on his offer. But this isn'T really an offer since noone there has made it. It's a big private school with a lot of pluses to the position: guaranteed work and salary, days off that are paid, and very reasonable finish times. The only thing in the way....they're KIDS! I'm from the W.C Fields area....don't work with animals or kids. After the grand tour (sophisitcated computer setup...I was impressed with that), MB and I had another powwow and again I gave my reasons for probably not accepting the job. I could have the cushiest job in the world but if I'm not happy with the clientele...and I've gone through more than ample experience with kids to tell me that I'm just not gonna gel with them. I observed two of MB's junior high classes...I was given a brief intro and then he and his Japanese teacher of English got to work. All very efficient and amiable, but there was absolutely no spark which got me thinking "Hey, maybe I can do this!" It was just a plain observation. Still, I said that I would think about and even consult with The Satyr, the guy departing from this cushy position to an even better one before making the final decision, although in all honesty, I'm eady to say NO quite easily.

Made it back to the juku in plenty of time. The juku boss told me that The Traveler will be here for her lesson at 7. Should be interesting to hear what had happened to her but I'm not gonna probe. The interesting part will be with the Milds after that small exchange between the boss and Mr.Mild last week about the extra class.

Monday February 9, 9:47 p.m.

Well, my break is lasting longer than usual since Medicine Man is running late. At least, he was kind enough to keep the finish time to 10:30 p.m. Gotta rush on home to get some sleep to get back out again to MB's school. Just twiddling my thumbs, so to speak, via the Net and Wiki. Just read up on "Futurama".

Well, he's here now.

Monday February 9, 4:38 p.m.

The weekend was thankfully without incident. I had a good time with Tully & The Coffeemaker on Saturday...kinda too bad that I won't be seeing them again until the end of March since Tully will be off on his graduation holiday through Europe for the next month. However, The Coffeemaker said that she could be asking me to teach her solo but include some former schoolmates of hers from the ol' school who may want to get in on the action. I jokingly warned young Tully about perusing certain display windows in Amsterdam, but I don't think he got the joke. Ah, youth...

I did get that Exilim digital camera at Akiba Yodobashi after the lesson. It was the cheapest one there at 13,000 yen. I didn't even bother with the Japanese or the haggling. I just got the nearest staffer and rattled off my native language at him so that I could keep the advantage in any sort of communication. It certainly got his brain in overdrive to dig up that English vocabulary. I charged the lithium ion battery last night and put the thing on. I was going to give it a test run tomorrow at MB's school but MB warned me that that wouldn't be too kosher considering it's a girls' school and since this country is well-known for its plentiful population of hentai. So, I'll probably make the first clicks on the national holiday Wednesday...in Akiba itself. If I'm lucky, maybe the hokoten will be on.

Finally caught my first full program of Japanese TV in 2009 later that night. It was the "I.Q. Supplement" program on Fuji-TV. Only expended a couple of brain cells on that one. However, it did have a segment in which one of those B-class tarento tried to entertain visiting Hollywoodite Brad Pitt. Sure to be shown on a YouTube near you.

Also had my first haircut of the year on Sunday morning. They've got a new woman working there who gave me the shampoo and scalp massage. Yeah, she good...she pass. The manager cut my hair as usual. He spoke to me about the current figure skating competition in Vancouver. Looks like Mao Asada isn't doing too well. I'm sure the media has been wailing about what's wrong with her now.

I went further into that final season DVD of "Futurama". Caught the one where most of the Classic Trek crew guest-starred. It was one for the Trekkies, and Leonard Nimoy actually joked around (he was pretty stiff-lipped on his "Simpsons" appearance several years earlier). Did catch the jibe at James Doohan as well as the commentary's remarks when the show invited him to join the old crew. The "NO WAY!" answer was no surprise considering Doohan's prior complaints about Shatner, but I also thought Doohan was pretty much out of the picture anyways because of his battle with either Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.

Started the annual tax return by summarizing the past year's earnings and expenditures. I'll probably be finished the accounting by this weekend, and then I can start filling out the return itself next week.

As I said before, I spoke with MB last night about heading over to his school tomorrow morning. I had told him that there's a 95% probability that I won't take the officially unoffered job of teaching there in place of the departing Satyr, and frankly having to make the trek from Chiba to pretty much Kanagawa Prefecture is not my idea of fun. But he did pull out the "personal favour" clause on me so I'm honour-bound to go to a place that I'm resolved not to go to. Since I didn't want to languish too much on that topic, I quickly finished things off with some James Bond talk. He did catch "Quantum of Solace" a second time and may even go for a third time. So it is obvious that he hasn't given the naysayers too much attention.

Also spoke with Mom after MB. The entire clan was supposed to go over to Mrs. Tulip's swanky condo to pick up a hinasama doll since she offered to give it to my niece. It'll be my brother's family's first time to meet one of my students. Oh, and apparently, the family cat has been pooping in the corner of the bathroom. Maybe Alzheimer's is falling on him.

Since The Class Act was off today, I re-scheduled The Admin for their slot since Wednesday is National Foundation Day...the holiday that noone remembers or cares, except for the fact that it is a holiday. I took some time to do some location scouting in the Shinjuku area for a new cafe for The Carolinan and myself since the nearby Excelsior's closed up shop nearly 2 weeks ago. There are a couple of Starbucks nearby and even another Excelsior's just a few dozen metres where the old one was. I've sent the news over to my student.

Had a good time with SIL since we got onto one of our favourite topics...music. Floored her when I told her that AOR isn't really a genre in North America. Here in Japan, AOR isn't only just thriving here, but Gilbert O'Sullivan and Bobby Caldwell are gods.

Back at Speedy's. The Full-Timer has cancelled her lesson due to nausea...job-induced, no doubt. So, I've got several hours to kill before Medicine Man comes in for the final slot of the day. No problems here...I've got quite a few things to do.

The juku boss called me up early Saturday to say that The Traveler actually called her up! Apparently (or should I say allegedly?), the lass was in hospital for some ailment and had no ability to make contact with us. Anyways, she should be in tomorrow night where I'll get some sort of sob story. We'll see...

Friday February 6, 7:17 p.m.

Got home, ate some dinner, did a bit more rearranging in my apartment and even started on the "Futurama" DVDs since I've started my weaning from Japanese TV. I saw that the final season had that episode where most of the Classic Trek crew showed up. Quite a few episodes away from that one. Not quite as outrageous as "Family Guy" but it has its moments.

Looks like the juku boss is very slowly easing her way back into her old job. I was expecting her to be teaching or yelling at some kid but all was still quiet. She told me that she's cutting down on the numbers and ages of her young charges so that she doesn't burn up so much energy now that she can't take in nearly as much as she used to. She was also expressing some concern about my classes but not just because The Traveler has flown the coop and Suzanne is away for the next week; things are looking pretty sparse in my area in her estimation. She asked me about how the other schools are faring. I couldn't give her an honest answer since I don't have my ear to the ground about the competition...just Speedy's place, and so far, it hasn't been too bad for us although my February is looking a bit patchy right now. Frankly, I'm not sure about what the Milds will do in the next few months. We're almost finished the current text and I'm not quite sure if they are gonna risk another year and another textbook, but I haven't told the boss yet about that.

To be brutally honest, I frankly wouldn't mind if Tuesdays suddenly found themselves open in the evening. I wouldn't mind a weeknight off although that would be financially stupid to say. Still, my classes are half of her business so she's gonna try to beat the bushes for new customers.

Friday February 6, 11:16 a.m.

I guess this has been a week of some misunderstandings. First there was that small kerfuffle between the juku boss and Mr. Mild over a still-owing lesson (the boss had actually caught me as I was going home on Tuesday to ask if she'd been a bit too direct with him...I just said diplomatically that both parties were very honest with each other) and then there was yesterday's class with Speedy's usual group. Speedy and I had been trying to collaborate on how to teach it over the past few days since he'd asked me to try it out. The class was interested in having a few teachers come in for variety's sake.

Well, as they say about best-laid plans. First, the group couldn't get the CD player from their office for listening practice which meant that Speedy had to grab the crappy old laptop which always breaks down from the school. I'd been told by the bossman that the group was a bit quiet but amiable...still I'd been assuming the good ol' days with the oil company guys who were keen as all out while I'd been planning. These guys were frankly church mice...tough crowd for a song-and-dance man like me. And then, I find out afterwards from Speedy that I didn't need to do 80% of the text since they had already done it before....thanks, boss...you could've told me that information beforehand. And finally, I just had a memory blank which almost led to a breakdown during the second hour of review. All in front of the bossman...who was in the room the whole time. Not that I really felt that I had anything to prove to him but I was reminded that I never really liked having a peer in a classroom while I'm teaching. Basically, this was a crash-n'-burn class. And the horribly ironic thing was that one of the students at the beginning had asked me how long I'd been a teacher, and I gave my honest answer of almost 22 years. Last night's class felt like it'd been taught by someone of 2 days' experience.

As usual, Speedy was infuriatingly cheerful about it all but we've known each other a long time. I was pretty quiet going back to the school with him and he probably knew that I was far from happy. However, I should consider myself lucky. I could've had one of those screamer bosses, although I most likely deserved to get my butt kicked several ways from Sunday.

And then while I was commiserating, I came across the now-infamous Christian Bale rant story. Haven't seen the video but did hear a bit of the audio during Jeannie Moos' dependably unfunny segment on CNN's "The Situation Room". And I did come across a ton of comments from both sides of the argument. The ones that I did take with more than a grain of salt were the ones from the folks who have worked in the industry and know the pressure-cooker atmosphere of a movie set. Christian Bale may have anger management issues but, y'know, I've had my regrettable moments in my life and I'm just glad that they have never made it onto YouTube; and it rather irks me that people are just making these snap judgements about Bale based on that one moment...situations like those have a past and future. If a video were made of me during one of my major blowups (thankfully very rare), then these same people would assume that I was a jerk by nature. I may feel like a loser right now, but I'm definitely not a jerk. The other point is that one of my students at Speedy's, The Publicity Assistant, has met and taken care of Bale during his time in Japan and found him to be a class act who loves his family...unlike some other Hollywood stars she's met in the past.

And so, after watching all that stuff on the Net, I didn't feel particularly any better but I did come away knowing that I wasn't alone. Still, I was up for a long time last night. Ended up downing an entire can of Pringles in 10 minutes while watching that episode of "The West Wing" where Donna Moss nearly dies in a terrorist explosion, and President Bartlet and Leo McGarry finally have that huge fight in the Oval Office over military options. Again, that helped me put things in some perspective...as silly as it may sound.

Feeling a bit better. The fact that I'm typing away here at the I-Cafe means that Swank has canned her lesson for today and will be away for the rest of February. No surprise there...I'd figured that with the fact she has put off her Eiken 1 test for another few months and that she is being stretched in all directions (not rare for a working Mom), she would be taking some time off from studying. So I may have some pretty open spaces free on Fridays for the next few weeks.

Tried to get that cheap digital camera at Yamada Denki just before I got here only to find out that it's now out of stock. Been a week. At least, it won't be too crazy for the next few days. Just have Tully & The Coffeemaker tomorrow and the usual Ace and The Restauranteur tonight.

Thursday February 5, 4:54 p.m.

Managed to finish off the latest translation but I won't be sending it off to Cozy just yet since it isn't due until Monday. I don't need to make myself appear too fast. Also had time to construct a rough outline for tonight's group lesson across the street and even make one more exercise for Swank tomorrow....provided that she will come. But she's been pretty good...she's nowhere near a Jolly. If she were to cancel, she would call the day before.

I'll probably tally up the fee for The Corner's translation tonight after I get through the rest of the workday.

Thursday February 5, 11:19 a.m.

Was reading the latest U of T Alumni Magazine and came across yet another article on an old acquaintance, Mark Roswell, or Da Shan as he's known in China as a comedian and TV host. Kinda amazing how this guy turned out over the years. I remember just having a few talks with him in the East Asian Studies Student Union at Robarts.

Thursday February 5, 10:54 a.m.

Hmmm....I realize it's only 3 weeks into his presidency but that recent "MAD Magazine" cover of Barack Obama clutching his head in The Oval Office while surrounded by every medicine that Surgeon-General Sanjay Gupta could possibly prescribe is looking pretty prescient right now. If things keep going the way they are, I wonder if that famous catchphrase "Yes, we can" may be altered to "Well, I tried".

That latter, defeatist catchphrase could sum up my class with The Fashion Designer last night. She always has the last slot as she's always finishing up things at her studio pretty late. As a result, she always looks fatigued although she's always given the best effort. Well, she was kinda flubbing up a lot in her answers last night so out of good conscience I couldn't give her the take-home. Gave her another couple of weeks to review stuff since next Wednesday is a national holiday. However, she brightened up at the end when I introduced her to The 100% Chocolate Cafe, that Meiji-produced gimmicky cafe in Kyobashi. The website is really slick and certainly she enjoyed watching the various chocolates. It's Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory for the trendified.

On the other hand, The Diver put on the afterburners in her last lesson before she got the BIG test for the entire textbook and a year's worth of self-inflicted punishment getting through it. Lucky she's got the 2 weeks to prep for it before finally tackling the monster. Keeping my fingers crossed for her.

I've got the feeling that 001 is slowly drawing out the long goodbye to us. Her allotted number of lessons are starting to dwindle down to a precious few and she's been putting in a number of absences between classes. It wouldn't surprise me if she didn't renew again since she's been with us for a few years now and it might be time for the transition. She got her official transfer orders to go to another section in her hospital, although the physical shift is just a few metres across the hallway.

Finally got word from The Corner. He said that everything was OK with the translation and that I could now get him the invoice. In fact, he gave me the heads-up that he's got another web client with pages and pages for me to translate over the next month. Aye....it'll be good money. In a way, I hope that I don't have too many classes in March.

I've just got Grandma FON and then Miss Sedona for my regulars but some hours later I'll be heading over for a rare on-site at a company just a few minutes away. I haven't done one of those in several years, since my days at the ol' school, so I'm a bit nervous but I think it's good to get shaken up at times

Wednesday February 4, 5:30 p.m.

Speedy's busily selling a potential new student; we can always use new students in this economy. Speaking of whom, The Diver has apparently pulled out all the stops and managed to buy quite a few more lessons from us. So, she'll be hemming and hawing for at least another year. I gotta give her test tonight. I can only hope she's up to the challenge. We also got a call from The Nurse stating that she'll be away for the next little while...I believe the term was "shibaraku" which could mean anything from a few weeks to several months. I guess those Dare cookies I got her will now be donated to us.

The Admin was still as enthused as ever about learning English. Like Suzanne is, or was, she's a tonic. I can only hope that this will continue for the next little while.

Wednesday February 4, 1:04 p.m.

Barack Obama must be regretting having the "-elect" taken off President. I think he was having a much more successful time during the transition than actually having the power. Let's see, the Republicans have just whiffed him off over the stimulus plan and he's lost three of his Cabinet appointees over tax illegalities. And he thought he just had his hands full with Hillary.

Grandma Fado gave us some goodies, as she usually does, by saying "Well, these pies have passed the best-by date so you can have them". Ahhh, all heart she is. I had a good monthly chit-chat with Grandma Enka...mind you, she used 60% of the time to speak in Japanese. She gave me an early Valentine's Day present in the form of Dalloyau tea leaves...probably thinking of my health. She also gave us some beans from yesterday's Setsubun festivities. She had gone to her nearest temple where there were a ton of people squeezed in trying to grab the beans thrown from the temple. During Setsubun, not only are you supposed to throw them to drive the devil out but also you're supposed to eat the number of beans equal to your age. I think I've reached the age where I have to count one bean as one decade as compared with a single year. Kinda like making sure you don't set off the fire alarm when putting the candles on your cake.

Anyways, I gotta meet The Admin.

Tuesday February 3, 9:21 p.m.

Wasn't quite an argument, thankfully, but there was a small bone of contention between the juku boss, who ws back on active duty, and Mr.Mild over a make-up lesson due to my trip back home. Since they paid for four lessons a month, they were owed at least one more lesson. So I've got them slated in for Friday the 13th. I've got a feeling that Mr. Mild is far from mild where a financial discrepancy is seen. However, things worked out OK. Not sure about Mr. Mild tonight. He seemed a little bit ill at ease towards the end; we were doing a review of Present Perfect. Perhaps, he felt that it was too bad that he and his wife have to spend a lesson going over old ground. Well, not much I can do about that....except to get them back up to speed. I wonder if they'll still have the desire to go for one more year.

Yup, as it turned out, The Traveler has joined Jolly, Miss Disney and that woman who had been placed with The Milds earlier last year. Didn't show up and didn't reply to the boss' inquiries. So, basically with Suzanne out of the country, I just had The Milds and The Beehive bracketing an empty day, some of which mind you was spent tapping out the latest translation for Cozy at the I-cafe. Got that off to him. Still have yet to hear from The Corner about his translation assignment. I may send him a friendly letter of inquiry to him tomorrow.

The YouTube safari is always an interesting one. I started out by looking at that Advanced Thesis for Dance Class video from Beyonce for "Single Ladies"; some wag laughed at it by comparing it to a kindergarten presentation. I'm sure he got quite a few nasty replies wondering if he could actually pull it off. I know I certainly couldn't...not even do a wacky satire of it a la Justin Timberlake on SNL. Then, it was to go through a whole bunch of "Doctor Who" themes before watching an ol' Karen Carpenter video before seeing a J-Pop performance by Ruiko Kurahashi

Tomorrow should be back to normal. I've got the monthly with Grandmother Enka, followed by my second class with The Admin, and then I should have the regular Wednesday lineup with 001, The Diver and The Fashion Designer. I hope The Diver is ready to take her test finally. Just not sure whether she'll continue with us after getting that test.

Tuesday February 3, 2:53 p.m.

February 3...the day of Setsubun: throwing out the Devil with dried beans while bringing in good fortune. Kinda felt like throwing out MB this morning...well, not in too malicious a way. However, he somehow got my e-mail prepositions screwed up. I had told him last night to contact me before 8:45, not at 8:45...which he did. It was all about that school visit next Tuesday for which he was still trying to sell me on. Again, show me an apartment to be moved into and some really damn fine kids, then I'll conside it. Anyways, he just kept me on for a full 15 minutes before I had to cut in and politely cut out. As a result, I was rather harried in getting out, paying off those hefty City Tax and National Health Insurance premiums and mailing out Dad's birthday present before I could get over to Tsudanuma to see The Beehive. Luckily, most everyone there is pretty leisurely about getting to the cafe. It was still only Mrs. Travel there when I rushed in. The only other two to come in were Mrs. Alp and Mrs. Jade. Mrs. Tee was caught up in work. They related about Mrs. Perth's valiant project to create her very own snow sculpture of 15 m for the annual Snow Festival up in Hokkaido. Now that's one intrepid ex-student.

Like yesterday, I also got to tuck into another rather hi-calorie lunch. Yesterday it was The Class Act and me at that spicy nabe place in Shibuya. Today it was the Chinese restaurant chain Asta across from the station. Asta is one of those faux-high-class places that's actually pretty reasonable to most folks. And the food was pretty darn good on a higher level than the average Bamiyan. The three of my students were gabbing away about their latest travel plans. The one in the immediate future is a trip to Okinawa to see their old classmate, Mrs. Potter. But the big one seems to be a Meditteranean cruise. Mrs. Travel was the only one to have actually traveled on a ship so she was providing all of the advice.

I called up the juku boss to confirm that Suzanne would not be coming tonight. Yep, I had received a message from the boss last night that Suzanne would be taking the next couple of weeks off. I'd known about the 10th since she would be in Australia by that point...musing about her future. I also wondered aloud about The Traveler's lesson tonight since she completely AWOL'ed last Tuesday. We haven't heard a thing despite the boss trying to contact her last week. The boss gave her usual quizzical "Ah, so?" when I expressed my doubts about her future with us. Too much of an optimist, she is. In any case, she'll give her another try before I get there later.

Looks like my formerly free Thursday night has now been taken up by a business class that Speedy asked me to do. I agreed since it's turning out to be a relatively light week and I figure that I'll have to be meeting those guys from time to time. Plus, my Saturday is gonna be free aside from a session with Tully & The Coffeemaker.

Haven't heard so much as a peep from those two volcanoes which stirred up some alarm a couple of days ago. Hope it stays that way.

Monday February 2, 7:36 p.m.

Good m-o-o-o-r-ning, Mr. Phelps. Your mission, if you should choose to accept it, is to apologize to the world for your emission possible. Good luck, Mike. Yup, not a world-ending disaster for MP smoking MJ...just embarrassing. And he's not gonna lose any of his medals; if there had been any chance of that happening, the US media would've already launched one of the biggest spin doctoring blitzkriegs in history.

Over the last week, we've been getting some rumbles in the Kanto. Nothing too big...just Shindo 3 at most. But then over the past 48 hours, a couple of volcanoes up north started to make their cases known in the form of ash. Even certain wards here in The Big Sushi got dry snow. I'm wondering if something is in the offing. Back on Saturday morning, as I made the commute to Speedy's, I noticed outside that the clouds looked pretty ominous...I mean, these things looked like thunderheads, not formations I would see in the dead of winter. I wonder if these clouds are the granddaddys of jishin gumo (earthquake clouds). Apparently, there is a theory that jishin gumo form like jet vapor trails going straight up from the ground a few days before any fairly major seismic events. Checked out Fuji-TV news on the web...no breaking news items there.

Met up with The Full-Timer at Doutors...and yep, my sweater is fully funky. She has finally pulled the trigger and given in her 2 months' notice at the workplace that has steadily and inexorably turned into a small Hell on Earth. She was feeling like the proverbial suddenly umemployed Atlas...a great burden has been lifted off her shoulders. She could've given a month's notice but decided to cut things off neatly at the end of the fiscal year at the end of March. Good for her, I say. Mind you, she's quitting in the middle of a recession, so I'm not sure when she'll be able to secure a new position and whether she'll have to cut ties with me to save money.

Monday February 2, 4:39 p.m.

My gray sweater is gonna smell so funky by the time I get home that it'll gain sentience. Not only is it Groundhog Day back in Canada & the United States but it's also The Matron's birthday which meant The Lady took us to a spicy lamb hot pot place near her home in deepest Shibuya. Actually, I'd passed the restaurant several times over the months but never knew what it was all about except for a cute sheep's face logo. However, The Lady is sold on it and if she thinks it's good then that's more than good enough for me.

The hot pot was like a lot of the current craze of hot pots...a large pot with a steel divider separating chicken broth from a far more spicier soup. We were then given lots of veggies (lettuce, nappa, lotus root, etc) and a small pile of thinly sliced lamb and pork. Then we all went to work. The Class Act was definitely feeling the heat far more than me; they got full far earlier and were quite a bit more sweatier. I guess I've been weatherproofed from my years with folks such as The Anime King and his Court who used to take to similar places back in Toronto. Still, it was delish and the wrap-up, or shime, was putting two kinds of noodles into the thoroughly flavoured broths. The spicy broth did leave my palate needing some sort of asbestos lining but a bowl of tapioca cooled things off nicely. Of course, the experience did leave a certain aroma into the fibres of my sweater. Of course, I'll be seeing The Full-Timer later today which means a liberal infusion of cigarette smoke and coffee at Doutors, and with the usual perspiration that comes from a day's exertions, I'll probably be able to leave my sweater on the tatami tonight standing straight up. The place was good, though, so I'll probably bring MB and The Satyr if we're ever in the area, and perhaps even The Anime Court when they come over around Golden Week 1.

I gave my olfactory warnings to SIL when I came to see her afterwards but she was graceful enough to state that she could only sense a certain curry-like aroma.

Yesterday I met up with The Bohemian for the first time this year for dinner in Shibuya...yep, same neighbourhood as today. The one weird thing about standing in front of Hachiko this time around was that the area was far less than jam-packed on Sunday than a typical Friday or Saturday. I could actually see the other side of the plaza within my range of vision. Wasn't sure if the economic situation was a factor. The Bohemian took me to a small Chinese restaurant called Goku in that slightly sleazy alley with the S&M shop and the peeping parlour that tenuously links the two diverging streets away from JR Shibuya.

Like that nabe place today, The Bohemian's choice was also right on the money. I'm sure the 3,000-yen all-you-can-drink deal also influenced his decision. Like my old friend, The Iconoclast, The Bohemian tried to use his fractured Chinese to make contact with the Chinese waitress who was perfectly fluent in Japanese. Like The Iconoclast, the waitress couldn't make heads or tails of what he was talking about. Still, the man tried. Although I'm little more than a social drinker, I made sure I got my money's worth by alternating my booze (beer and plum wine on the rocks) with cola. The dishes themselves were great...gyoza and some stir-fry were there and there was a ma bo do fu dish which initially had me wondering....it was nearly black in colour and I had some rather painful times after a similarly coloured ma bo do fu years ago with Paddy in Akasaka...let's say the words bed, bowels, void would've been liberally used to describe that experience. However, to my relief, it was hot and tasty but without any of the Jackass-like results.

The Bohemian has been enjoying his social scene over the past several months. Considering that this is a guy who was one of the earliest folks in Tokyo to get laid off, he's pretty resilient. He's been using the Mixi communities to meet up with new friends. He's been having his greatest successes with the Chinese ones and he even invited me to some gig later this month. He invited me to something next weekend involving a young lady who may or may not become a girlfriend. She's from Manchuria and she's been waitressing at an izakaya while going through school. Not quite sure whether I'll go to either one since I've kinda soured on parties over the last little while. Not surprisingly, The Bohemian struck up the friendship with her while he was a customer at her restaurant. He's never been very shy to talk with the waitresses.

After the two of us split up, I just made a quick drop-in to Tower Records to see if I could pick up anything there. I just bought the latest issue of "Total Film". Did see some blasts from the past show some new releases. The store no longer stocks those 80s compilations since they were frankly languishing on the shelves for the last several months. Those old 80s bands, Go West and ABC, put out some new stuff which didn't sound too bad. I even saw a re-release of "P-Machinery" that that seemingly one-album wonder, Propaganda, from Germany had put out 20 years ago.

Should be a fairly quiet night since I've just got The Full-Timer and Medicine Man. I'll probably be apologizing again for my sweater, though.