Wednesday November 24, 7:57 p.m.

Yup, Fall is definitely here in terms of the foliage. The above left picture is from outside of Den'en-Chofu Station where Yajima always picks me up for his lessons. However, Xmas is just around the corner as well as this Shinjuku shop display illustrates. the Yuletide lights have started to make themselves known throughout the metropolis in the usual corners of Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ginza. Once December hits next week, then that electric bill for Tokyo is gonna shoot straight up.

Back on Sunday, I met up with The Bohemian for the first time in about 4 or 5 months. We met at our usual place just in front of the Inokashira Line ticket gates in Shibuya. However, this time, he wasn't alone. He had asked an acquaintance whom he'd known at his gym for some months (kinda surprised that he finally found some success there....he usually got asked to leave whenever he tried to make a play for someone). This young lady actually hails from Michigan, The Bohemian's old area from high school days, and looks remarkably like Brent Spiner aka Data from "Star Trek: The Next Generation". We ended up going to Toriyoshi, the all-chicken izakaya. She was very nice and actually could endure being with us, despite the fact that I was sniffling all night and The Bohemian got into his drunken, slightly racist mode. Whether she will ever deign to meet us again is another question altogether. Still, it was nice to have a third member.

I did glean some insight about The Bohemian and why he acts like he does. Over the years, he's annoyed the heck out of me with some of his risque and racist and repetitive comments. I've just come to the realization that he must have some sort of Peter Pan Syndrome in that he really hasn't grown up. Just like a little kid who doesn't really realize what he's saying, he just blurts out stuff that other people usually wouldn't in polite company. I'm not sure if this is really some sort of handicap he suffered as a child.

And speaking of children, North Korea decided to throw another temper tantrum yesterday by lobbing some artillery over at an inhabited South Korean island, just because it wants attention from the West. Problem is...it killed two soldiers and injured several civilians. Maybe it's time for the free countries of the world to give it the spanking it so richly deserves.

Wednesday November 24, 3:59 p.m.

Yep, it's indeed American Thanksgiving Week, and since yesterday was also Labor Thanksgiving Day in Japan, I decided to have my 2nd annual outing to Hard Rock Cafe in Roppongi for its Turkey Special. Not too many people in the HRC which was a bit surprising for noon considering it was indeed a national holiday but I wasn't complaining. Just meant that I got my meal that much faster and hotter. But not exactly cheaper...the meal came to about 2600 yen but I also splurged for a soft drink and then coffee and dessert, so the grand total came to about 4200 yen. Definitely not on the cheap side but still a lot of yen cheaper than at some of the other places that offer Thanksgiving meals.

The turkey, the mashed potatoes and the gravy were the highlights...I've always enjoyed the mash as a pseudo gravy boat. The gravy was quite salty but it worked well with the otherwise bland meat. There was also a small cup of cranberry sauce but since the gravy coated the turkey, the sauce was rendered rather superfluous. And the stuffing was the type of stuffing that must've been made after the chefs got the news that making stuffing the old-fashioned way could lead to food poisoning. It just seemed that it was parts of bread doused in the turkey juice. For me, I'm very much for stuffing bread, ground meat and potatoes into the bird and having physics take its course. As for the risk of drying out the meat, well, that's why we have gravy, eh?

True to my legend, I also went for the dessert which was Apple Cobbler. I could've done without the ice cream...for some reason, I was never a fan of a la mode but still I gobbled the cobbler with a cup of coffee. And strangely enough, even with the added dish, I wasn't too filled up.

I'm happy to say that I can give this meal a solid 8 out of 10. I guess the Hard Rock Cafe Turkey Special will become one of my annual habits.

Monday November 22, 5:15 p.m.

Yup, that's me getting a bit artsy. I used the Sunset filter to get this shot of an Autumn tree in Shibuya.

I won't be writing too much now since I do really want to get home and enjoy a very rare Monday night off...especially since tomorrow is a national holiday...Labor Thanksgiving, although there is no turkey involved. However, I'll be remedying that by heading over to the Roppongi Hard Rock Cafe tomorrow and tucking myself into the Turkey Special that they have annually there.

Saturday November 20, 12:50 p.m.

Not a lot of time before my 4 hours at the I-Cafe are up, so I'll type fast. Got that checking of AK's translations done. Not difficult at all...just a bit time-consuming.

And I heard that one of the best coaches to take care of The Toronto Maple Leafs in recent memory has died. Good ol' Pat Burns succumbed to cancer. He was supposedly one of the scariest men to cross in sports history but he really did a fine job with our usually losing team and almost got them to The Stanley Cup in the early 90s. I'm sure the Air Canada Centre will be announcing that fact at the next home game.

Good on ya', Pat.

Saturday November 20, 9:13 a.m.

It was a fairly hectic Friday. I had The Bass for the first time in almost a month. He'd been pretty busy with his own business. His injuries seem to be healing steadily since that motorcycle accident a few months ago; still think his doctor was pretty la-di-da with his diagnosis. I suggested a second opinion but he said that it would be way too troublesome. In this country, I wouldn't be surprised.

Then it was off to Shinjuku. I had lunch at Foo Foo. It was the first time that I'd seen my favorite ramen place packed to the gills but then again, it was about 12:30. The operation was very smooth...the head guy was cheerfully exhorting customers to come in and try the noodles while the kitchen and wait staff did their things quietly and efficiently.

Next, I met up with my old colleague from Speedy's, AK. She's now fully self-employed as a professional translator of movie and TV shows. We met over at The Blue Square Cafe in the Cocoon Building...a cousin to the Gherkin in London in shape. She needed some fresh eyes on her latest translation for the American series, "White Collar". So, after this, I'll be spending the next hour or so looking and checking via the USB she gave me. I updated her on the latest machinations of Speedy so the new kids' school took up a lot of the conversation. I also invited her to that nascent plan to head to Tony Roma's next Saturday but she looked rather doubtful.

Of course, I had Mr. Swank later on. He was still pretty jolly but sent a friendly shot across my bow concerning his wife. She seems to be at a loss about what to do for future lessons with me on Mondays. So I took it as I should pull the reins a bit tighter and not engage in so much light banter with her.

Then, it was off to Urayasu and the juku since I had my double with The Journo. Looks like things are going pretty well. He showed his fairly tenacious approach in the art of interviewing during an exercise I concocted. He actually interviewed Kiefer Sutherland some days ago and today, he's got a few minutes with country star, Taylor Swift. I rather begged him NOT to ask her whether she likes Japanese men. I think my mission in life should be to teach local journalists not to ask Hollywood celebs what has got to be the stupidest question in this nation.

Strangely enough, I have no lessons today at Speedy and this wasn't at my request. It just so happens that none of the regulars filled up the space today. I plan on heading over to Shibuya since it is one of those special point days at Tower Records.

Thursday November 18, 5:54 p.m.

Deep in the middle of this donut hole. My last lesson ended at 3:30 p.m. Don't have anything until Mrs. Thursday at 8 p.m. Would've liked to have just gone home but with the round-trip commuting time, it wouldn't have made too much sense to do so. I'll probably just go on and buy something from the conbini.

Found out from Mr. TOEFL, who's now residing in Toronto, that he's going regularly to one of my favorite eateries in Spadina Chinatown, Kom Jug Yuen. Kom Jug Yuen is just located on Spadina south of College St., so not far away at all from The University of Toronto. It's got great BBQ pork and duck on rice for a very pleasant price, and it has some of the greatest chicken soup this side of Canada. The interior and service would take a pampered Japanese customer by surprise but, heck, all I care about is the food.

Kinda hard to believe that in less than a month, I'll be back in The Great White North. Gonna have to start getting ready for the big trip.

Found out that my old friend, The Wild Guy, is now a father to a son. I'm very happy for him and his wife since they'd been trying for years to have a kid. And true to The Wild Guy's nature, his baby is wailing up a storm.

I've asked Shard about his friend's massage service. Found out the prices aren't too bad, especially since I've become well inured to the costs over here in Tokyo. I may take up the offer to get that full-body rubdown.

Thursday November 18, 4:13 p.m.

Yep, I think I have fallen in love with this bento right here. Keema Curry is something that I hadn't known existed until I came to this country. I had been so accustomed to just seeing chunks of beef or chicken...and then came this wonderful minced meat sauce on top of rice. And even better, this whole bento comes for the grand price of 500 yen. Truly a one-coin miracle!

Had The Shareholder and The Artist in quick succession. No big problems. So I just have to wait until 8 p.m. for my next pair to come in. In the meantime, La Fille has come back from her research trip in Taiwan. Looks like she had the motherlode of food there according to her Facebook pictures. And strangely enough, Speedy was kind enough to present outgoing Miss London with some cakes from a Setagaya bakery as a goodbye gift. It is her last day today.

Looks like the trip to Tony Roma's is starting to gel a bit more. So far, La Fille, Miss London and Ray may be good to go for the 27th. And crazily enough, it seems as if I've got a completely unsolicited day off on Saturday since no students have reserved classes then.

Thursday November 18, 10:35 a.m.



Well, the past couple of days have been rather focused on this pairing. Yup, Prince William finally popped the question to longtime girlfriend, Kate Middleton. Of course, BBC virtually declared a National Holiday when the news came in. Considering all of the dreary news that's been infecting The British Isles recently, something like a Royal Wedding was worth its weight in gold. But then again, data doesn't weigh anything so my metaphor is pretty much meaningless, isn't it? In any case, the Japanese here are also probably quite keen on this news since the Imperial Family over here also has some cultural cachet but not nearly the glamor that the British Royal Family has. I remember watching the wedding of Charles and Diana almost 30 years ago...ironically over in Osaka with the relatives. My memorable crack was about the laundry bill for Diana's wedding dress train.

Also, on this end, I guess all of us folks here must have caused a huge jinx on yokozuna Hakuho a couple of days ago. All of us were guessing that he would get the all-time winning streak in sumo. And then, guess what? He gets toppled on the 2nd day of the Kyushu Tournament. Still, there is nothing wrong with having the 2nd-longest winning streak either.

I took the day off yesterday since I had to pick up the parentals at Tokyo Station. Any thoughts of heading out for kaiten sushi went out the window as soon as Mom suggested that we get home. Plus, Dad preferred to stay home and watch sumo. Mom and I headed out to the local supermarket for about half an hour to pick up an eclectic mix of fried chicken, sashimi and salad for dinner. Still, it was nice having a family dinner.

Today looks like it's gonna be a sunny day...good for the laundry. My parents are at home today. I kinda feel bad about leaving them there but I gotta make my money for the trip home next month.

I had The Patent Attorney this morning....talk started with the upcoming nuptials of William and Kate and then went into the nuts and bolts of The Royal Family. Grandma Dynamite cancelled her class, so I've got nothing until The Shareholder and The Artist come in back-to-back. Then, it'll be the regular lineup of Mrs. Thursday and The Music Man tonight. Would like to ask Mrs. Thursday about that episode of "NCIS" which debuted last week about the backdoor pilot of "NCIS: Los Angeles".

Tuesday November 16, 6:45 p.m.

Yep, last night was cold. Not cool as in "Ha! I laugh at the Tokyo version of cold" cool, but actually cold. It went down to 4 degrees C which is pretty much the Tokyo equivalent of a deep freeze. I had the blankets on full standby and I even actually turned on the heater for the first time this season.

It wasn't quite a bombshell since I had been hearing the possibility of it from Speedy for some time now. Last night, just before I went out into the deep freeze, the bossman confided to me (he hasn't told anyone else) that it is very possible that by the time I get back from The Great White North in January, the school will be inhabiting new digs...about some 10 minutes walk away from our current location. Basically, it's come to the point that Speedy can no longer keep our current abode and his own apartment without causing some sort of financial meltdown. So, if everything works out in terms of guarantorship and financing, we'll be moving to a first-floor condo that's actually a bit bigger. And the kicker is that the bossman and his wife will be living in the part of it while the school occupies the rest of it. It'll definitely save on his financial wear and tear but those posters of our school showing the skyline of Shinjuku will be going the way of the dodo.

There was no Beehive session today. Instead, I had The New Yorker at our regular Shinjuku Starbucks meeting place this afternoon. She had just come back from Hokkaido to see her friend. Despite the frigid conditions up there, she said that she'd had a good time. I also got my omiyage in the form of scallop crackers...don't knock it. They are pretty good.

I also had Mr. White today. He was in fine form. No sign of any depression. But he was also feeling the chill outside. I've only got Mr. Mild before my day is done. Mrs. Mild is off on some sort of Italian trip again.

I finally caught the pilot episode for "Torchwood", the profane and grittier spinoff of "Doctor Who". It actually did work out pretty well, although seeing the "upcoming episodes" bit at the end of the show, I'm kinda wondering if Russell T. Davies did have sort of agenda by seemingly having every major character in the show shagging a same-sex guest character. I kinda wonder if Messrs. Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee are rolling in their graves.

Anyways, I just downed some MOW ice cream and hot coffee...not my choice but the juku boss gave them to me. Now I have a sudden urge to hit the can.

Monday November 15, 9:14 p.m.

It looks like the rain has let up for now. I've only just realized that I had left the bathroom mats out on the balcony this morning. So I'm gonna be coming home to a pair of soggy fabrics that I'm gonna have to dry out by the day after tomorrow when the parentals come back (not an easy thing). Luckily, it looks like tomorrow will be a nice day.

Miss Genki was certainly her usual genki self, although she had a rather lousy bout with food poisoning over the weekend. Looks like that soft-boiled egg did some rather hard things to her stomach. Generally speaking, though, eggs here...even the raw variety...have a trustworthy reputation, which would explain why the Japanese love to use raw eggs for sukiyaki. Believe me, I'm not one of those folks who particularly likes using them, but I can tolerate the stuff if I have to. I don't think I would have that bravery back in Canada.

Looks like The Intellectual has joined my flock on Mixi. And he even joined my foodie community. Not sure if he's gonna give any feedback to any of my comments, though. Still, I am appreciative of his membership. Speaking of the foodie community, I would still love to have an event involving the members but the one person I would like to invite isn't available on the days I would like. Basically, Viva is looking at either the 21st or the 26th. However, I've already got plans with The Bohemian on the 21st (and I'm not quite ready to introduce Viva to someone as Bohemian as The Bohemian) and the 26th is a regular work day...if I'm lucky, I may have some time in the afternoon. I had been looking at American Thanksgiving as a possible incentive to have the first event but it doesn't look really possible.

Anyways, it looks like the bossman is about ready to give up the ghost in terms of his energy levels, so I'll be shutting off myself.

Monday November 15, 7:22 p.m.

Miss Genki should be here in the next few minutes so I'll keep this short. Just an observation. Tonight, Miss Efficiency is away for the next week on her trip to Las Vegas, so it'll be in the capable hands of Ray, who's officially an ex-employee of Speedy's, and even Miss London who will be officially an ex-employee as of tonight, but will still come in on Thursday to fill in. And La Fille is still out there somewhere on vacation. Is there anyone here who is so on a permanent basis?

And speaking of ex-employees, AK contacted me about some possible translation checking this weekend. One's work is never done.

Monday November 15, 6:26 p.m.

I was watching the latest in Season 6 of "NCIS" last night, and it turned out to be the episode "Legend" which was the backdoor pilot for "NCIS: Los Angeles". So, I got to see G. Callen and Sam Hanna with Gibbs and McGee helping to launch things off. I could also say that I got to see a former Robin and a former rapper.

Heard some rather tragic news involving a popular actor. Ken Matsudaira has been around for years and years but he had a bit of a boom a few years ago when a showstopping song called "The MatsuKen Samba" zoomed up the charts. And this year, he's been getting the attention again as a live action version of a beloved anime character. Well, any happiness he may have been gathering over the months just got blown away. His latest wife of a few years committed suicide by hanging in their own home this morning. Sometimes, you just don't know even the closest of loved ones.

In somewhat happier news, the sumo world is abuzz once more since The Kyushu Tournament started yesterday. Hakuho is still on the hunt to get the longest winning streak in sumo history. He got off to a good start by defeating his opponent. So he just has to win 6 more times. This will be done on Saturday. I would be very surprised if the sumo arena doesn't have a full house this weekend.

Monday November 15, 5:08 p.m.

Had another round of hilarious banter with The German instead of the text. She always ends up looking in shock when she sees the clock and the hour has already dried up. The first part of the hour was spent on her griping about her second trip to see the Japanese production of "The Phantom of the Opera". The big problem there was seeing Ken Watanabe's daughter, Anne, in the pivotal role of Christine. When I heard about the casting, I was rather surprised to see that a model was cast in a rather demanding role. Apparently, the encores were very few.

The rains have started falling, and Miss London is shivering from her brief trip to the conbini.

Did forget to mention that President Obama made his little excursion to Kamakura yesterday after all that was APEC had been completed. The lucky tourists who were visiting the venerable town...just several kilometres away from Yokohama...got the thrill of their lives when they were able to shake hands and take pics of the Prez. And I'm sure that sales of matcha ice cream are going to go through the roof for the next few months since the media were taking tons of pics of him sucking on a matcha popsicle.

Monday November 15, 1:46 p.m.

Gonna be a rainy one later tonight...and the temps are gonna be plummeting down to about 9 C. That's not too bad for Toronto weather, but for Tokyo, that's considered late December, so the coats and scarves will be coming out.

Had a good session with Cozy this morning before heading over to the Yaesu Underground Mall underneath Tokyo Station and checking out this Genki Sushi place. I was doing the recon for my parents who are coming back on Wednesday afternoon. I could find the place easy enough but it's a fair walk from the station and even worse, it'll be an even further walk from the kaiten to the Tozai Line. I'm not sure if Mom and Dad will be that willing.

Then, I hopped on the Tozai all the way to the end at Nakano. Of course, I just had to drop in at Broadway and the Recomints discount CD shop on the 3rd floor. It was the first time for me to go there in the morning. Most of the places had yet to open since things really don't get going until noon. However, I was lucky with Recomints. Ended up getting yet another Yumi Arai CD, "Misslim", and a Ruiko Kurahashi album. Supposedly, Misslim is the best album that Yuming, whether Arai or Matsutoya, has ever made. Considering that this was 1976, that's not exactly a great sign, but I still think the Queen of J-Pop came out with some good stuff in the 80s such as "No Side" and "Love Wars". And "The 14th Moon" is still aces with me.

Looks like I've got an early night. I've got The Artist in a few minutes followed by The German in a couple of hours. Miss Genki gets in half an hour later than usual, but The Medicine Man won't be having any more lessons until the end of this month, so when Miss Genki is done at 8:30, so will I.

Although Miss London doesn't officially finish her time with us until tomorrow, it'll be my last time to see her today since I don't have classes at Speedy's on Tuesdays. It'll be sad to see her go since she's probably the closest in terms of our mutual like for popular culture.

Saturday November 13, 2:33 p.m.

Well, I'm officially done for today. The Publicity Assistant came back into the fold as it were for the first time in 2 months. She was 15 minutes late since she had made a wrong assumption about the class time and she looked exhausted. Looks like she's been burning the midnight oil getting ready for Russell Crowe's arrival on these shores to promote "Robin Hood". Yep, I realize that the DVD of the middling movie has already come out in the Americas, but this is Japan...a place where movies can occasionally take as much as a year to get over.

At the same time, she gave me some dirt on the upcoming live action version of "Star Blazers", aka "Space Cruiser Yamato". It was hardly a ringing endorsement but she related to me that the movie, due out here from December 1, doesn't stink. That's actually a grade up from what I'd been fearing...that the movie would be the sci-fi-anime equivalent of "Heaven's Gate". She told me that there is some resemblance to the new "Battlestar Galactica"...seeing the trailer, the battle scenes are very reminiscent of Cylons vs. Colonial Vipers. Basically, the star of the movie, Takuya Kimura is pretty much acting like Takuya Kimura (kinda like Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise in every movie)...i.e. angry, snarly, semi-young man. But that could actually work for him, since the character of Kodai-kun is pretty much that. The Publicity Assistant also related that the romance between him and Yuki Mori, played by actress Meisa Kuroki doesn't exactly inspire. The two of us also shrugged our shoulders about the news that Steven Tyler of Aerosmith will be singing the image song for the movie. Perhaps the suddenly late creator of the series, Yoshinobu Nishizaki, will be rolling in his urn a lot sooner than expected.

Doesn't stink, eh? Well, maybe I will give it a try.

The Intellectual came in and we had a good talk on the current status of social networking sites. He's become a tweeter but also has an account with Mixi, so I've contacted his homepage in the hopes that he'll become a "friend".

Mom contacted me last night to give the particulars on when and what Bullet Train they'll be coming back to Tokyo on. Dad had stated some interest in trying out a kaiten sushi place. I'd thought about taking them to Sushi Zanmai on top of the Akiba Yodobashi Camera building in Akihabara, but they'll probably be lugging some heavy luggage with them, so I was looking whether a kaiten existed somewhere around Tokyo Station. I may have found one via Internet; it's one of the Genki Sushi chain and it's somewhere in the Yaesu underground mall. I was thinking about checking it out after I get out of here, but I think I'll probably head there tomorrow on the way to teach The Jyuppies since Otemachi Station is not only where I transfer for the train toward Futako-Tamagawa but also smack-dab beside Tokyo Station. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

In any case, I'm heading home very shortly to enjoy a valued night at home and to listen to some Seiko.

Saturday November 13, 11:21 a.m.

We've got a crew of 4 today at Speedy's: myself, Ray, Babydoll and one of the new teachers from the kids' school. But all of us are of the quiet persuasion so the school feels like a library right now. The bossman had come in before Ray arrived but he's out on some sort of errand.

Miss Prissy came in for what was one of her final times with me since I'll be taken off Saturdays in the New Year. I'm gonna have to tell her the bad news at her next class.

The Publicity Agent will be coming in for the first time in a couple of months. I'm sure she'll have lots to say about her job. Maybe she has something for me concerning the upcoming "Yamato" movie.

Friday November 12, 8:25 p.m.

It was sure nice to be back at home...even if it was for just an hour...while the sun was still out. I got back to my apartment at about 4 p.m. and was able to do some laundry which had been piling up in the machine.

Then, I got over to The Restauranteur's place for a nice meal of Beef Stroganoff. It ain't cheap but it is good. The restaurant was fairly busy tonight; I was rather accustomed to eating all by myself in the place but just about all the tables were filled.

Looks like I got my first diss on Mixi...and it was from my former student, Spice, of Sugar N' Spice. Apparently, she actually did enjoy The German Sausage Burger, the second entry in the iCon Chicken campaign at McDonalds. No accounting for taste, evidently. But the diss was half in jest, but my opinion still holds. I kinda half-jokingly challenged her to try the final Carbonara Chicken Burger and if she likes it, I'll give it a whirl.

The juku boss gave me a bit of a shock...as she tends to do periodically...by suggesting that a 19-year-old acquaintance of hers could sub for me and The Iranian while we are away over the Holidays. I kinda laughed it off and explained to the boss how unlikely that would be. Apparently, The Iranian didn't take it as well and kinda gave the boss an earful. I'm not trying to be ageist here but it's awfully hard for me to believe that a kid who hasn't even gone to her Adulthood Day ceremonies can be taken seriously as a sub teacher for folks like Mr. White and The Milds. I mildly suggested to the boss that I should at least have some sort of e-mail communication with her to find out what she's like (who knows? she may be a genius). But I've got a feeling that it'll just be an opportunity for my students to have some free talk with a non-teaching native.

Friday November 12, 12:11 p.m.

Yup, I took a bite out of the third entry in the mysteriously-named iCon Chicken Burger campaign at The Golden Arches this Fall. This was the Diavolo, which sounds as if it should be describing a prototype Toyota instead of something edible. I have a feeling that McDonalds Marketing in Japan must've phonetically transferred from the Spanish word for "devil", due to the supposedly spicy BBQ sauce. I wasn't particularly impressed by the second entry, the German Sausage Burger since it seemed to have been so named merely for the thin layer of mustard on the bottom bun. And I wasn't going anywhere near the first Cheese Fondue. Well, my impression of the Diavolo is that the sauce coating the chicken did indeed have heat but had very little taste. It was like watching "Star Wars" with the sound off. So I couldn't really give this burger the thumbs up. The fourth and last entry is the Carbonara...yep, named after the artery-busting pasta dish, and once again, it looks like I'll give that one a pass.

I had The Photog, and true to form, he had to beg off the regular lesson since he hadn't reviewed nor done his homework due to the rigors of his job. So, it was very much a stream-of-consciousness Dadaist flow of words from him. At one point, he spurted (and I apologize for the choice of verb, as you will soon know why) the word "masturbation" a few times. He was just referring to the fact that simply setting up a photographic scene for shooting satisfaction (oops, sorry there too) was frankly self-serving. Still, I could feel my ears glowing red and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. Luckily, the staff outside either didn't hear or gracefully have deigned not to sass me about it. In any case, he'll be out of the way for the next several days since he will have quite a few places to visit domestically.

We've got a full house today, since Miss Sussex, Miss Revlon, Miss Schmooze and one of the new kids' teachers are all in the office today. There was another flash of anger/frustration from Miss Efficiency at the bossman at how prospective clients can't seem to find the new school. I'm sure there will be a lot of that sort of tone in the sales meeting today but right after I'm done with The Shareholder at 2:30, I'm heading home.

Tomorrow's classes have been shaved by one. The Businesswoman had to cancel and she was supposed to have been the final lesson. So, I'll be done by around 2.

Friday November 12, 9:52 a.m.

The main guys are here. Speedy came in with The Patent Attorney about 90 minutes ago while Miss Efficiency just arrived. Looks like they along with Miss London and Miss Schmooze will be having a sales meeting of sorts later this afternoon. Luckily, I'll be long gone from this area. The four have seen their share of interpersonal conflicts over the weeks.

Friday November 12, 8:07 a.m.

3rd day in a row that I've been getting up earlier than the sun itself. Ugh! Today, it's for the Photog. I checked with the bossman about his progress...there isn't much but he's a happy guy.

Yesterday was a long one for me since that assignment from The Croatian filled up that huge schedule hole quite nicely. I was pretty much on fumes with The Music Man but still kept it entertaining for him. Also, there was the weekly gripe session by Miss Efficiency concerning the bossman. This time, her audience was her predecessor, Ray, who's been in as support staff. It's almost as if she's never left. Ironically, Speedy may need her more than ever from next week since Miss London will be leaving the roost for good after next Monday, and Miss Efficiency herself will be off on a week's vacation in Las Vegas. Strangely enough, Ray touched back on that proposal I'd made months ago concerning having a staff dinner at Tony Roma's. I gather, though, that the bossman will not be kept in the loop about this. I've sent word to La Fille who's currently on some sort of assignment in China. They're gonna have to hurry since my social calendar inside and outside of Japan is filling up.

And Speedy reminded me about the annual Xmas party...ugh! I've never been a fan of the Speedy Xmas party. It's always struck me as being one big class...in other words, overtime work. I like the students fine but since all of our students are man-to-man, whenever there is a big meeting of them, there's always an air of tension (at least to me) since I'm sure a lot of them are reluctant to reveal their speaking abilities to everyone else. Frankly, I think I'm just gonna say to the bossman that I'll be opting out. I don't have to be at any Xmas party if I don't want to. The bossman will probably start sulking as he usually does when he gets bad news from me.

Thursday November 11, 12:18 p.m.

Looks like I've found a new favorite bento from that really cheap bento-ya underneath Harmony Tower. I've had the Keema Curry box lunch set for the secone time in a row. In all my years of Indian cuisine and Mom's homemade curry, I'd never had Keema Curry until I came to this country, ironically enough. But that ground meat instead of beef chunks mixed in with the sauce really does the trick. Plus, it doesn't hurt that chicken fritters are thrown in.

I've been fighting a rather nasty post-nasal drip this morning, although the medicine finally decided to kick in. Unfortunately, The Patent Attorney and Grandma Dynamite had to face me grabbing tissue every few minutes.

Not unexpectedly, I got a call from the juku boss that The Journo has once again cancelled his lesson for tomorrow. However, that will mean that I can get home a bit early and get some much needed laundry done before I have dinner over at The Restauranteur's.

Even Ol' Sam called me and left a message asking about my availability for the Holidays. Looks like my December social calendar will be filling up pretty soon. The Anime King and The Dancer have already put in bids for my presence.

Thursday November 11, 7:58 a.m.

Tis Remembrance Day in many countries of the old Commonwealth. It's time to give tribute to all those warriors who had fought and/or gave the ultimate sacrifice for their countries.

Of course, over here it's just a regular day. And another early one...I was once again up at the crack of dawn to start another long Thursday here at Speedy's. Mind you, it is a Donut Day. I've got a huge hole in the schedule between Grandma Dynamite and The Carolinan. Regular readers can probably figure out how many hours I'll have in the holding pattern. Still, a lot of that will be filled with proofreading of The Croatian's latest essay and prepping for The Journo's next 2-hour lesson tomorrow.

Saw Tim Burton's "Batman" last weekend. Comparisons are inevitable between the 1989 Burtonized vision of The Dark Knight and this century's more down-to-earth take by Chris Nolan. A lot of folks pooh-poohed the former version once "The Dark Knight" came out, even criticizing Jack Nicholson's Joker as being a bit too slapstick, although one reviewer of a notable film magazine recently came in defense of him and Burton. Although I think there were problems with "Batman", it still holds up fairly well.

Wednesday November 10, 3:22 p.m.

This is the first in four early wake-up call days in a row so I'm probably gonna end up in a fairly feisty mood by the weekend.

Today started with Cozy. Since my parents were at my place on Monday, I shunted his lesson to early today. He was a bit more subdued than usual but he still got the job done. Then I went off to Shinjuku to waste some time before Mr. Swank's lesson earlier this afternoon. I ended up browsing over at Kinokuniya before splurging at Tower Records for a couple of old kayo kyoku CDs by Seiko Matsuda and Yumi Matsutoya. I haven't heard much from either of them recently but at their age, I think they have earned the right to make themselves a bit scarce. The one I got for Seiko is her 1981 release of "Kaze Tachinu", one of her classic discs. Yuming's disc is an even earlier release called "The 14th Moon" (may have been looking at the planet Jupiter at the time of titling), when she was still known by her maiden name of Yumi Arai. The reason I got that particular one was for one track "Sazanami", one of her great Autumn songs.

I had lunch at a place called Rie Cafe in what can be called a no-man's land between the basement of the Tokyo Hilton in Tokyo and the entrance to the Toei Oedo Line's Tochomae Station. So basically the main customers are the salaried types working in the immediate vicinity. I'd passed by the place many times before after I had finished teaching Mr. Swank so finally I bit the bait and decided to have something there. Not exactly the most charismatic of places in terms of ambience but they had a pretty good Hayashi Rice set. Pretty much the lunch hour seems to be the only busy time for Rie Cafe, and even then, that one lineup dissipated quickly since most of the customers were taking out.

Mr. Swank was chatty as usual. And I got quite the loaner from him via several DVD sets of "CSI: Miami" since I'd lent him Season One of "Get Smart". I'll have to get some measure of "revenge" on him by lending him the next two seasons of Don Adams' magnum opus and my Time Travel set of "Star Trek" episodes.

The Overachiever, as I mentioned, cancelled his lesson today. So I have 001 (for her penultimate lesson...Ms. Efficiency will be checking whether or not 001 will be renewing...I'm still doubtful) and then Miss Sony.

Tuesday November 9, 6:47 p.m.

Some normalcy has returned to my life. Not that I regretted having my parents over for about 2 days here. It was nice having people to welcome me home. I very rarely have that opportunity anymore since I'm a confirmed bachelor. However, my folks have gone off to Osaka for the next week to see the relations out there.

It was a smaller lineup for The Beehive today. It was just Mrs. Alp and Mrs. Jade...luckily, Mrs. Alp called up Mrs. Travel to remind her that it was a class day today. Rather atypically, Travel had forgotten about our class.

The next item has to go down as this year's case of tragic irony. The creator of Space Cruiser Yamato, Yoshinobu Nishizaki, was killed when he fell off a ship on Sunday. For anyone, falling off a ship isn't exactly a light injury, but Nishizaki was 75 years old. The ironic part is that his magnum opus (and let's be clear....this series is one of the most beloved sagas in all of anime) will be seeing live action release for the very first time in less than a month. A lot of people think that Reiji Matsumoto was the force behind Yamato but he was actually the lead animator for the various TV series and movies; Nishizaki was the original manga artist.

I had Mr. White today. He was definitely in his shaky mode today. I had to get him a glass of water to soothe his nerves but luckily he was pretty much OK by the time his lesson ended 45 minutes later. I've got The Milds in about another hour; I'm planning to talk with them about the concert on Saturday.

Miss Efficiency called me up today to say that The Overachiever has cancelled his lesson for tomorrow afternoon. She also told me that she hadn't been informed of the fact that I would be absent next Wednesday since I'll be picking up Mom and Dad at Tokyo Station since that was the day she was assuming that I would be teaching him next. So I'm assuming that she'll be having words with the bossman.

Monday November 8, 9:22 p.m.

Well, the parents are in town. I picked them up at Narita yesterday afternoon. According to them, the lineups at Customs were unbelievable...I guess due to it being a Sunday and perhaps even because of the APEC Summit in Yokohama. In any guess, we decided to take a taxi back home. It wasn't exactly a cheap ride but all three of us were grateful for a comfy 40-minute trip that would've taken over an hour by train and involved some walking up and down stairs.

Their arrival was pretty timely since all three of us could watch the final game of the 2010 Japan Baseball season....and it turned out that my local team, The Chiba Lotte Marines got their 2nd title in 5 years after two nailbiting games of ties. The incredible thing was that the second-last game was just left as a tie...there would've been major riots if this had been the case in The World Series...noone likes a tie over there. And last night's game looked to be heading in that direction, but finally The Marines got a run in to finish things up.

It was a regular work day. I was able to shift Cozy's lesson to early Wednesday but I still met Swank in Roppongi. It had been a month since her last lesson...she's been busy with her own work as an interpreter in the Tokyo justice system. Still, after the lesson, I was able to rush home to have a few hours with the parentals over lunch before coming over here to Speedy's to have Miss Genki. Not surprisingly, The Medicine Man pulled another dotakyan with just minutes before his lesson, so I'm planning to head home early.

My folks will be heading off to Osaka from tomorrow for the next week to see the relatives over there. I was busy re-scheduling their hotel reservations; luckily, there wasn't a problem with that.

Thursday November 4, 10:40 p.m.

We've come to the end of another broadcasting day. A long one, as usual, too. Finished up with Mrs. Thursday and The Music Man. Both have their bugbears involving fluency but they always give a good effort. It's just La Fille furiously tapping away at the keyboard since she knows that I can't leave until she's finished her work...I've got the only key and Speedy is not coming back tonight.

As I said, The Bass has dotakyan'ed his lesson tomorrow so I've got some time to get a big mat at Daiei to line some of the ruined tatami in my living room. Then, I'm off over to Uniqlo to get a couple of pairs of pants to replace some of my worn out ones. And from there, I've got my classes with Mr. Swank and the Friday night juku crowd. There is no exasperated call from the boss stating that The Journo has cancelled yet again so he may indeed show up for tomorrow.

Thursday November 4, 5:04 p.m.

That building is Harmony Tower, one of the many monoliths that reside in West Shinjuku/Nakano-Sakaue. However, for all of the hundreds of people and dozens of offices that must inhabit the place, I'm only interested in one store in the basement...the 500-yen bento shop. I got myself an interesting lunch today....keema curry (ground meat in a curry sauce) with some chicken fritters. Definitely kept me nice and satisfied.

Got word from The Bass. Looks like he won't be able to make it tomorrow, which means I'll be out 3500 yen but at least I'll have time to get a large mat for my living room in preparation for the parentals' arrival on Sunday. The mat will cover up a hole in my tatami.

Miss Efficiency was being hypothetical with me by asking what the possibilities were of me teaching a 6-hour (!) seminar on all of the facets of e-mail. In response, I was quite certain that I wouldn't be able to handle something like that at my age and level of incentive. Besides, I don't think a teacher should use 6 hours to teach an e-mail seminar. It'd be the short cut to a burnout. Plus, if one is gonna give as much practice as possible, then just make up a weekly short class.

Thursday November 4, 12:58 p.m.

I was somewhat dismayed to hear from Mr. TOEFL, who's now living in Toronto, that he had his bicycle stolen just a week after he'd bought it. As a Torontonian, I always feel bad when a guest has had some wrong done to him or her in my hometown. I can only hope that he's become tougher and wiser for the experience.

Well, I got my stuff done for Mr. Swank's lesson tomorrow. I'll probably check over the stuff for The Journo in a few hours. I did get my weekly 500-yen bento from that place under Harmony Tower but I won't have at it until I finish my lesson with The Shareholder. I tend to get quite groggy after lunch and having someone as taciturn as The Shareholder would possibly lead to some embarrassing situations.

Miss Revlon came back from her own lunch run to get some oden. I've never been a huge fan of the famed stew of fish cakes, tofu, and boiled eggs that are de rigeur at every convenience store during the Winter months but if invited by a friend, I'm always open for it.

Thursday November 4, 11:06 a.m.

Looks like we've got nearly a full crew right. It was just Ms. Revlon and myself when Grandma Dynamite came in, but coming out, we've been joined by the bossman, Miss Efficiency and Babydoll. And Speedy is quietly but frantically getting his model lesson stuff together since his model lesson student ended up coming a full hour ahead of schedule.

As for Grandma Dynamite, she was having some problems with retention and didn't seem as genki as she usually is. I gather today's cooler weather may be a factor.

Speaking of not feeling well, I'm sure President Obama and the Democratic Party are feeling the pain of getting politically slapped in the face yesterday after losing big in the Midterms. It wasn't totally unexpected...the media had been reporting that The Democrats would be losing The House of Representatives for some time, but I'm sure they were also stunned by the extent of the loss of the seats. That famous moment of 2 years ago when Barack Obama had become the first semi-African-American to become The Most Powerful Man on Earth has become even more wistful. I can just imagine when he comes to Yokohama this weekend; the other Heads of State will be greeting him a bit embarrassingly: "Ah, hi, Barack...ah, um, I'm sorry for your loss..."

Well, I've got The Shareholder in about 2 hours.

Thursday November 4, 8:12 a.m.

One of those days has just begun....woke up a half-hour late so I reached a personal best by getting dressed and out of there in 10 minutes. As it turned out, I got to the school only 20 minutes later. My professional start doesn't begin until 9:45 but Ms. Revlon is supposed to come and pick up some stuff here for the kids' school at about 9. The Patent Attorney had to cancel his lesson today because of his annual checkup.

Yesterday was Culture Day, and I actually partook of some of it, albeit it was British in origin. I watched the first 2 episodes of BBC's great miniseries "Jekyll" and the last 20 minutes of the finale. Unfortunately, I did have plans in Jimbocho which I wouldn't change so it'll be up to searching for the DVD series, perhaps back in Toronto. It's quite the treasure trove for "Doctor Who" fans since it was written by Steven Moffat, the best writer and now-showrunner for everyone's favorite Time Lord. Not only that, but it has James Nesbitt and Paterson Joseph, two actors who had been at least rumored to become the 11th Doctor, Gina Bellman from "Leverage", and even Denis Lawson, Ewan McGregor's uncle and much more famously, Wedge Antilles from "Star Wars" (couldn't recognize him until I saw the end credits). I could see why Nesbitt was considered to become the good Doctor...as the modern-day Jekyll and Hyde, he was able to show his two sides magnificently and with typical snarky British wit. The episodes that I did catch definitely had me glued to the TV (although it wasn't enough to keep me from heading over to Jimbocho) and had me wishing that it hadn't been such a short series...but isn't that a hallmark of a fine show? Although it was pegged as a horror-suspense, it came across to me more as a science fiction-mystery with some dollops of humor. All I can say is that when Matt Smith decides to hang up his TARDIS, Moffat should really consider getting Nesbitt as Doctor No. 12.

As I said, I skitted over to Jimbocho for the afternoon to head over to Tacto, that shop specializing in old 70s and 80s CDs. I did pick up a couple of them. One is by legendary chanteuse Hiromi Iwasaki; I've been collecting some re-masters of her stuff over the past couple of years. I picked up "Disney Girl" which is her tribute to some American and European standards such as "Niagara" by Marvin Hamlisch and "Umbrellas of Cherbourg". I think the album was released back in 1984...it kinda presaged her career on the stage, singing in productions like the Japanese version of "Les Miserables".

The other disc is from Junko Ohashi, a pop singer who had a couple of huge hits back in the early 80s, and has been kinda just there over the past 35 years....never became a superstar but has released many albums and has her own loyal following. I picked up her 1980 release of "Hot Life" and listened to it last night....sounds like a typical New Music record of that time period...a lot of jangly guitar and some analog synths. I bought it solely on the appearance of one song, "Canadian Lullaby" which I'd first heard almost 30 years ago...read through the lyrics as I was listening to it. Didn't have a single mention of anything remotely Canadian or sleepiness...no Maple Leaf, no beavers, no Banff, and the synthesized fanfare that I figured was to evoke a foreign Canadian-ness actually sounded as if it should be from Great Britain.

Today isn't too bad schedule-wise. I've got Grandma Dynamite, The Shareholder and then it'll be a donut before Mrs. Thursday and The Music Man show up. Still, I think I'll be able to fill up some of that donut with preps for tomorrow's lessons with Mr. Swank and....maybe, just maybe..The Journo, if he doesn't cancel yet again.

Tuesday November 2, 6:25 p.m.

Looks like after observing several students suffering from the cold over the past few weeks, it is my turn to get the germ. In a bit of role reversal, Mr White (who did come back today for his juku lesson after skipping last week) was in fine spirits while I was sneezing and sniffling through the lesson. Luckily, the meds have finally kicked in.

And it looks like I have a bit of egg on my face. Last night, Miss London had given me a plastic bag of Trick Or Treat chocolates to munch on, but she neglected to tell me that the bag was for everyone, not just for big ol' me. I did take them home and they're now residing in my fridge. Speedy asked me innocently about them via e-mail and I fessed up. Luckily for everyone at Speedy's, I hadn't gone to town on them so I will be able to bring back enough for all; but just in case, I'll probably buy some an extra bag of chocolates in Tokyo tomorrow.

Speaking of which, I'm wondering about heading over to either Nakano or Jimbocho to take a look at some vintage old CD shops. If I am to buy that extra bag, I'll have to take a look at a Sony Plaza shop or head over to Kiddyland in Omotesando.

Strangely enough, The Bohemian has contacted me after several weeks' absence. As usual, he would like us to hook up for some dinner, so I suggested the last couple of Sundays. Apparently, he has made friends with an English teacher who also comes from the place where he had gone to high school, Grand Rapids in Michigan.

In any case, I have dinner to get from the conbini.

Monday November 1, 4:44 p.m.

Well, it started out as a prototypical Tokyo November day...overcast, not too cold, not too hot and slighty misty out there. Then, the weather had to ruin it by bringing out the sun. Mind you, it was the first time in several days that we've actually sunny weather. I was starting to getting used to the idea of drying my clothes inside the apartment.

Yep, that is indeed Maxwell Smart Agent 86 up there on the left. I'm in the middle of watching Season 3 in the DVD series. Definitely some changes noted when compared to the first two seasons. Agent 99 gets a bit more openly exasperated at Max's idiocies as compared to her mere eye-rolling previously, there are more examples of stunt casting: Johnny Carson, Buddy Hackett, Joey Bishop, Don Rickles and even Bob Hope, and there's even some threat of real drama getting into the proceedings...namely when 99 announces that she's leaving CONTROL thereby breaking Max's heart in "99 Loses Control". There is also the episode "The Groovy Guru" which was picked as one of the Top 100 Comedy Episodes in history....sorry, but I've gotta agree with the guy behind the fansite WouldYouBelieve.com when I say that I didn't find anything there that would put it in that august group alongside Mary Tyler Moore's "Chuckles Bites the Dust" or the pilot episode of "Mork and Mindy". It was only notable for three things: 1) it was Max versus the hippies, thereby giving future generations a glimpse at late 60's pop culture, 2) 99 actually gave Max a cute kiss on the lips...almost a half-season before the two finally confessed their love for each other, and 3) 99 dancing...I will never tire of Barbara Feldon shimmying.

So far, I've only had Cozy this morning since Swank is off again today. I actually got to meet the missus as I was making my way out of Cozy's office since she apparently also helps out. I've been hearing about her for over a year from the juku boss, and had the impression that she was this former beauty queen....hmmm, not really, just seemed like a normal middle-aged office lady.

Since the parents will be arriving here in less than a week, I've gotten started on the attempted beautification of my apartment (kinda like trying to make Woody Allen into James Bond...yep, I am indeed referring to his role in the first nutty "Casino Royale"). I bought some new pillows to replace the ones I've had for about a couple of years, and I've thrown out a lot of well-past-their-date seasonings that The Iconoclast had dumped on me back when George W. Bush was in his first term. I've been able to stuff a lot of junk in the small cupboard that had been lounging on the upper shelf like a bunch of squatters so the kitchen is looking a bit cleaner.

This week will be split into 2 mini-weeks since Culture Day will be on Wednesday. I kinda wondered why Culture Day wasn't made into part of a long weekend like some of the other holidays on the calendar, but then again if it had been done so, then probably everyone would treat it as an opportunity to hit the road for a domestic vacation. With it on a weekday, most likely everyone will stay put and therefore perhaps pay more attention to its significance....not that I particularly care myself. However, I am grateful that there are 2 mini-weeks.

Saturday October 30, 2:32 p.m.

Although it is a rather fitting weather pattern out there considering we're on the cusp of Halloween, Typhoon 14 hasn't exactly laid on the winds...just a steady rain. I gather that may mean good news for commuting home.

I'm in the middle of a 4.5-hour holding pattern until The Businesswoman comes in. Miss Prissy was here earlier, having started the new text. Still plenty slow in delivery since she tries hard to be as accurate as possible. It's just been Ray and myself since La Fille, who's the usual Saturday person has to be away. I've been made aware at how peaceful it once was in our office with Ray back in the saddle, if temporarily. Miss Efficiency has made her complaints about the bossman quite loud and clear. I had forgotten at how quiet Ray was at handling situations.

In any case, my Donut Day continues.

Saturday October 30, 11:22 a.m.

One of those days that makes you want to stay in bed all day. Unfortunately, I'm here at Speedy's. Yup, Typhoon No. 14 is making its presence known in the Kanto. It's been raining up a storm (no pun intended) over the past several hours but it's yet to make landfall here...probably be another 5 hours before the winds start picking up. At about the same time, The Businesswoman will be having her lesson. Makes me wonder if she will indeed show up or perhaps cancel the lesson under the circumstances.

I made maximum use of my rare Friday night off by making dinner. I got those Hokkaido potatoes from Mrs. Tee last week. There was that attempt at making gratin several days ago; last night was mashed potatoes. Everything worked out for the most part but I didn't nuke the taters quite long enough, so there were some rather large not-so-mushy chunks despite all the mashing and the whipping that I'd inflicted via generous helpings of butter, milk and eggs. Still, I was happy to dive into the stuff along with some fried chicken for dinner. I still have half of the mashed potatoes remaining so I've decided to get some corned beef on the way home from work and perhaps I can create some hash.

Apparently, there has been some unwanted excitement on the War on Terrorism. I woke up this morning to turn on CNN, and I saw Wolf Blitzer and "The Situation Room" with the now-familiar black-and-yellow banner denoting "Breaking News" announcing about the discovery of some bomb packages from Yemen headed for a couple of Chicago synagogues. Strangely enough, President Obama was planning on going to his old stomping grounds at around the same time, although the authorities made it clear that Al Qaeda couldn't have known about his arrival.

As for Barack, he's got those midterm elections next Tuesday night. Most likely, he's gonna lose seats (the only variable is by how much). It just seems like far longer than 2 years ago when he was first elected to the Oval Office. By even the most optimistic of accounts, he hasn't come across as an amazing President, but then again the expectations on him were way overblown anyways. My main worry is that he ends up being an ineffectual Chief Executive and perhaps a better ex-President, like Jimmy Carter. Luckily, Wednesday will be a national holiday, Culture Day, so I will be seeing the results live on CNN.

As for right now, I've got a little over 4 hours to kill before The Businesswoman comes in.

Friday October 29, 3:03 p.m.

I've done my lessons for the day so I'm just basically decompressing until I go home in about half an hour. Miss London is currently manning the main desk while Miss Efficiency is off on an appointment. Miss Efficiency was aiming guns at the bossman once again for his various faults, at one point basically calling him as someone who may not be Presidential material. Not sure how this is gonna end.

I finally got my first sample of the iCon campaign at McDonalds by buying their German Sausage Chicken Burger. Well, kinda reminded me of that German Burger I got over at The Restauranteur's a few weeks ago; the only thing that was German was the layer of mustard lining the bottom bun. Otherwise, it was a slice of chicken on top of a Spam-like slice of meat. Hmm...not all that impressive.

Friday October 29, 9:42 a.m.

Fate indeed moves in strange ways. I came into Speedy's early this morning since I have The Photog at 10 a.m. The nearby vending machine ended up eating my coins since it wouldn't send down my drink so I entered the school in a fairly annoyed mood having to drink hot green tea with my bento breakfast. Then several minutes later, there was a chime at the security gate, and it turned out to be The Patent Attorney. I only see him on Thursdays but for some reason, he showed up despite that on the schedule, it lists him as cancelled since Speedy, who is the usual teacher for him on Fridays, has to take care of the new school which starts today.

Apparently, within a few minutes of entering, The Patent Attorney realized that he had forgotten that he had indeed cancelled his lesson, but since he came all this way, I just told him that if he'd like he could have a chat session with me for the hour. He, in turn, graciously told me that he would consider this to be a bona fide lesson and asked me to tell Speedy and Miss Efficiency to count it when payroll comes through again.

So, I lost 100 yen but I made another 3,500 yen.

Thursday October 28, 10:38 p.m.

Well, finished up with The Music Man. It's always good when I have a hook with a student. For The Music Man, it's naturally music...spoke somewhat on Chopin. And the same goes with Mrs. Thursday; in her case it's "NCIS".

I'm going home but I'm coming straight back tomorrow morning since I have The Photog for the first time in about a month. However, it'll just be him and The Shareholder before I go home for a rare Friday night off. Hopefully, things will be more peaceful after the catfight I witnessed today. Apparently, one of the combatants informed La Fille.

Thursday October 28, 7:44 p.m.

The Carolinan has just left. Currently, we have La Fille and Miss Schmooze left here while the bossman and the kids' school staffers are getting things underway for the official launch tomorrow. Apparently, Speedy won't be here for the next two days.

I've only got Mrs. Thursday and The Music Man left before I finish things off tonight. It's been a freezer of a day. I wouldn't even be surprised if I saw a few flakes before I reach home.

Thursday October 28, 4:45 p.m.

Looks like the Cold War has been resolved between Miss Efficiency and Miss Schmooze. Basically, it was indeed a clash of personalities and culture between the more Americanized, shoot-from-the-hip former and the more traditional more roundabout latter. I rather pointedly asked them if the fight has been concluded and they laughed it off as just something that needed to be vented. And to both ladies' credit, they got back to working together as easily as if the fight had never even existed. Hey, as long as they got it resolved without needing to get the bossman involved.

Thursday October 28, 2:59 p.m.

I'm not sure if I'm listening in on a philosophical debate or just a very calm fight, but Ms. Schmooze and Ms. Efficiency seem to be having an intense discussion while I'm typing this. Though I'm glad that they haven't started throwing stuff at each other, it is obvious that there has been a major miscommunication or misunderstanding between the two. I'd gotten some faint signs of discord between the two some weeks ago but I hadn't been sure if it were merely a figment of my imagination. In any case, it's painfully obvious despite yakking at each other for the past half hour, they just don't seem to be making any progress of hitting middle ground...and at this moment, it seems like their argument is starting to intensify. I can't really understand completely about what they're fighting about, but it seems to be based on the ladies' areas of responsibility.

I'm kinda wondering if I should talk to the bossman about this later tonight...it depends; if Efficiency and Schmooze can reach some understanding over the next several minutes, then I'll keep my mouth shut and just chalk it up to the inevitable clash of strong personalities. The problem is that I'm not particularly confident about the bossman's abilities to moderate any sort of conflict between staffers since he has that tendency to run off at the mouth far longer than he should.

In other news....

it has really started to cool down out there. Nakano-Sakaue has always been notorious for its wind tunnel effect but with the lower-than-average temps currently, the wind chill factor has made things pretty darn wintry. I met The New Yorker over in Shinjuku Starbucks. It looks like the lass will be heading over to Asahikawa, Hokkaido in a couple of weeks at the invitation of her new friend to observe the farm that she's working on. It'll be the New Yorker's first trip up to the northern prefecture so she's not looking forward to the cold temperatures. She's not too thrilled about how cold it's gotten here down in Tokyo so I hope she'll be OK.

Thursday October 28, 11:54 p.m.

I've gone through just three lessons, and already I'm feeling dead. Mind you, when you have Grandma Dynamite for 2 hours, the "Batteries Depleted" warning light does tend to click on. I'll really need that vitamin drink now. And I now have to head on out into the cold rainy weather to teach The New Yorker off in Shinjuku. And I'm not sure if I can secure a table, especially during lunch hour.

Thursday October 28, 8:22 a.m.

Yup, it's Halloween which means my annual viewing of the DVD on the left. I'm such a sucker for "Peanuts". The humor and pacing may be rather slow for the current generation of ADD-ridden kids but I still appreciate the work of Charles Schulz. And Vince Guaraldi is pretty much the 10th player on this baseball team...his music really sets the tone for the proceedings, which is why I tend to focus on the Big 3 of the "Peanuts" TV specials. I never could really get into the later specials, and I definitely will never see "Flashbeagle" ever again.

I've got a rash of early morning calls onto Tuesday. I like my work and my students, and believe me, you couldn't ask for a nicer bunch than The Patent Attorney, The Photog, Miss Prissy, Yajima and Cozy. But I would also appreciate a good long night's sleep. Mind you, my Friday work schedule ends at 2:30 p.m. so I can slip into bed early tomorrow night.

However, I have to focus on today since I've got another 7 hours' worth of lessons. The Patent Attorney is first up, followed by a double with Grandma Dynamite since she couldn't make it last Thursday, then it's out to Shinjuku to teach The New Yorker. Then, a few hours later, I've got her sister, The Carolinan, followed by Mrs. Thursday and The Music Man to wrap up. I never got the usual acknowledgements from The Sisters of State to my confirmation e-mail about their lessons...I wonder.

Wednesday October 27, 10:36 p.m.

It's getting late but La Fille and Miss Sussex are still burning the midnight oil here along with me and the bossman. They're going down to the wire in launching the kids' school on Friday. Earlier in the evening, La Fille consulted with me about creating tests for Japanese-language students. Apparently, she is majoring in education and will be joining the ranks of teachers. I gave her the best I got from 23 years of experience, but I still hope that she will become a good teacher anyways.

My lesson with Miss Sony went very well. It looks like when 001 does decide to leave the nest permanently, Sony will be the new Wednesday regular.

Anyways, time to go home.

Wednesday October 27, 6:53 p.m.

It is definitely feeling not just cooler out there, but actually colder. For the first time since the hell that was Summer 2010 ended, it felt chilly last night going home from the juku last night. I may have to consider bringing out the heater in the next few days if these temps keep up (or down). I'll definitely be swapping in the Winter clothes from the plastic hamper for the Summer stuff this weekend.

Up until 10 minutes ago, the outer office at Speedy's was abuzz with the 5 women staffers convening in pairs and other groupings on business...most likely on the new kids' school which should be launching tomorrow or Friday...provided the bossman has found a teacher. Being the lone wolf, I quietly had my dinner in the kitchen and then started up on the computer in the main lounge. I just have Miss Sony for my lone student today. Basically, I had the day off today so mid-morning, I went over to Akihabara and picked up Season 3 of "Get Smart" at Sale. Not cheap at 4,700 yen but it looks like I'll be collecting the entire set. Being able to see the first 3 seasons at a quick pace has enabled me to see how the series had evolved. The first 2 seasons showed Max and 99 as I had known them for decades but from Season 3, it looks like the producers and Don Adams were actually inserting some measure of drama, including Max's slow reciprocation of 99's feelings for him.

I've also been continuing with "The Accidental Billionaires"; yep, it's indeed a pageturner although I'm a bit uncomfortable with Mezrich's pseudo-documentary approach. Mark Zuckerberg may be slightly sociopathic but to have him arbitrarily fictionized in this manner makes me wonder if the author himself has also gone down to Zuckerberg's level in his ambition to get another bestseller on the market. It's all about the Benjamins, I guess.

I saw the last third of "The Score", the heist movie from about a decade ago starring three generations of Method thespians: Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro and Ed Norton. I always seem to just catch fragments of interesting movies. In any case, from what I did catch, I felt that the buildup seemed better than the final execution. DeNiro was DeNiro in Lone Wolf mode, Brando actually looked borderline sympathetic and pathetic, and Norton was the most Method-y with his bizarre Rain Man rendition. Frank Oz directed this noble failure, and it was notable for Brando's active disdain for the director referring to him as "Miss Piggy". Oz actually did play the famed Muppet, but it was obvious that Brando was not being affectionate.

Tuesday October 26, 7:10 p.m.

Last night, Speedy asked me about whether I still had any time during the day to spare for possibly a couple of more students, although I explained to him a few weeks ago that I wouldn't be able to give any more time during those daylight hours. I don't scorn him for asking...he has to follow up any lead. But I still had to turn him down...to be honest, I kinda considered what he was asking but in the end I had to say no since I was still pretty adamant that I had to keep my space and time for my own business.

Speedy and I also talked on the fate of 001 whose contract will be finishing in two classes. He asked me what I thought about her chances of renewing yet again. I told him straight that I wasn't too optimistic even though the lass had mumbled "I'll renew" when I asked her in the last class earlier this month. She frankly didn't look too sincere or firm in her answer, and she has been stringing out her remaining lessons over months....something that she never did in her heyday. Frankly, she was never all that enthused with her current text and I don't think anyone should have to pay tons of cash for having chats about Arashi. Speedy seemed rather resigned to the fact that it may be time to say bye-bye to my very first student at the school.

Tuesday October 26, 6:48 p.m.

In the middle of the lull before The Milds come in for their lesson at 8. Just went over to the conbini to get the roast chicken pepperoncino spaghetti. Yup, with the Japanese love of pasta, convenience stores here have come up with so many different kinds of pasta that one can nuke, they really should have their own section. I went for the garlicky stuff today, so I'm hoping that the boss' coffee will nullify most of the smell and aftertaste...for The Milds' sake.

In the last few weeks, I've read a few books which all have a connection with one another in terms of theme. They all deal with success and the fascinating thing is that each book has its own different angle on the concept. The first book I read was "Making the Impossible Possible" by Bill Strickland which has this positive spin on achieving success...almost on a fantastical level. As I was reading about this man who came up from a poor neighbourhood in Pittsburgh to become a pottery master and then a miracle social activist with no business background to speak of, I just suddenly thought of Forrest Gump. Being a cynic, some of his advice just struck me as something that would only be applicable to himself and perhaps a few others like him. The majority of readers simply do not have the titanic reserves of gumption that he has. But power to him...at the very least, readers may be inspired to improve themselves on some level.

"Making the Impossible Possible" came from the shelves of Speedy's classroom. The next book was borrowed from MB over at The Satyr's BBQ a week ago last Sunday. It was "Outliers", the latest pageturner by Malcolm Gladwell. I have read his other books such as "Blink", and I've always enjoyed how he has been able to turn concepts like advertising in such a way that we not only get new insight in how his target topic really works, but we also feel like geniuses for doing so. Gladwell's spin on success is analytical...a neutral charge when compared to the positive spin of Bill Strickland's magnum opus. Gladwell posits that timing and taking advantage of opportunities are the real arbiters of success behind folks like Bill Gates more than good ol' fashioned guts and luck. His theory rather depressed and educated me at the same time.

Then, comes the dark negative spin of Ben Mezrich's "The Accidental Billionaires -- The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal." I'm only halfway through the book, but I quickly found out why Mark Zuckerberg has refused to talk with Mezrich as well as shun the movie adaptation despite the good reviews. Frankly, the geek-turned-moneybags is, intentionally or not, as either a scheming social misfit or a sociopath. It didn't take long for Mezrich to start showing Zuckerberg in any but a positive light. Very interesting, as are the other two books.

Tuesday October 26, 5:32 p.m.

Well, I kinda figured...it was more of a Force-induced thing or a Terran hunch. Mr. White has dotakyan'ed for the 2nd week in a row. He called the juku boss just 20 minutes before his appearance was due here. Considering the gloomy weather out there, I couldn't be all that surprised by his absence. But the boss was quite contrite about the situation since I have basically arrived 4 hours before the remaining class with The Milds. I reassured her it's a sho ga nai sort of thing but suggested that she call him up next time to see if he can give a bit more notice.

However, I did use the time to get caught up on Mixi. Viva sent over another message...this time, on the open diary to see if some more potential foodies may be interested in a get-together next month. The two of us were thinking about Bubba Gump in the Tokyo Dome area. And I've also started a conversation with a fellow via the Christmas Songs community (yup, it exists and I'm on it....just so sentimental about the Holidays); apparently, according to his homepage, he's currently residing over Stateside. I wonder if he's out in Colorado or upstate New York.

Tuesday October 26, 4:18 p.m.

It's another gloomy day out there. With the cold and the rain, it almost makes me forget that a few short months ago, all of us were virtually begging for today's weather.

The Beehive took on a more serious tone as we came across the topic of capital punishment. The catalyst was when Mrs. Travel spoke on the lay judge system getting its first case in which the death penalty is on the table for a murderer who had gone berserk and killed a daughter and mother several months ago. The Hive was all for the ultimate penalty, citing that current justice seems to favor the defendant's rights over those of the victim's family. There was no real resolution but I did glean some interesting insight. The ladies mentioned about that fat toad, Shoko Asahara, the former guru of apocalyptic cult Aum Shinrikyo, who has been sentenced to death but has yet to be executed. There have been rumors that Asahara is being kept alive since the authorities are worried that his death could spark revenge attacks by what remains of the cult. I'm not so sure about that, but it is interesting to note that three of the instigators of the sarin gas attacks have been at large for 15 years. Perhaps the government is worried that they're in hiding and plotting.

Anyways, it's another Tuesday night at the juku. The boss' friend has done up the classroom into Halloween mode for the kids as usual. There won't be any pumpkin carving this year by me since I have noone to do it for. Sugar N' Spice were the only potential students but they cleared out of my realm long ago.

Monday October 25, 9:10 p.m.

Well, it looks like The Medicine Man did me yet another one of his favors and dotakyan'ed with 90 minutes to spare. So, I'm the only one in the school right now although there's a chance that the bossman may return. Miss Genki was her usual chatty self. There was quite a buzz of activity in the school up to a few hours ago since we had Miss London, Miss Efficiency, Miss Schmooze, The Babydoll and the bossman talking and typing away at stuff. But now it's quiet as the proverbial church mouse.

For some reason, I got two requests for friendship, some two days after meeting Viva for the first time in person. One is a Korean-Japanese who wanted to make friends since I'm from Toronto and yet another simply interested in talking about film. Not sure how she found out about that interest, although she may have seen me in that defunct Old Films category in Mixi.

I've been enjoying "Collected", one of the best compilations for Steely Dan. I've been slowly going through the various tunes from the 70s. I especially like the stuff from "Aja" such as "Peg".

Since I had quite the donut hole in my schedule between Cozy and Miss Genki, I ended up going home and by chance, I was able to catch the Sunday night NFL game between The Packers and The Vikings. For some reason, I seem to have the ability to catch exciting football games even though I'm not really a fan of the sport. Today's game was indeed one of those.

Anyways, I'll be heading home almost 90 minutes ahead of schedule. This week will actually be not too heavy...my usual Tuesday followed by a Wednesday that only has me teaching Miss Sony at 8:3o in the evening. Thursday will be fairly hellish, though. But Friday only has me teaching just a couple of Speedy lessons earlier in the day and no juku classes.

Monday October 25, 5:05 p.m.

On Saturday, after finishing up my two lessons with Miss Prissy and The Intellectual over at Speedy's, I finally got to meet Ms. Vivacious at JR Shinjuku for dinner. It was kinda odd meeting someone in the flesh that one has been friends with via the Internet for several months, but there we were...me in green (jacket) and she in pink (raincoat).

We had dinner at Foo Foo as promised. I'm very happy to say that she did enjoy the pai ko tan tan men with beer. Our live conversation went surprisingly well...almost as if had been meeting face-to-face during those months. The two of us spent a couple of hours over at my favorite ramen restaurant, a first for me since even with group outings with MB, The Satyr and Skippy, 90 minutes was pretty much the max. I was a gentleman...paid for dinner.

Then, after a bit of walk around hotel-laden West Shinjuku, we settled for dessert at the ground floor restaurant in the Hyatt Regency called Caffe. It wasn't exactly cheap...my pear compote cost 1200 yen but Viva covered that cost. It was over there that there was a bit of dark talk about her. She's been divorced about 5 years from someone who kinda fills my definition of a monster but somehow her two adult daughters seemed to have survived to become well-adjusted members of society.

Still, it was a good first meeting between us. And I told her that it would be good if we could conduct further dinner outings in the future...perhaps with a few more Mixi buddies. I just gained one friend recently who found me via the 80s Canadian Pop community (yes, such a community does indeed exist...anyone who loves The Parachute Club, Luba and Rough Trade are more than welcome to join us...provided they type fluent Japanese) and lives in my Ichikawa....he can be one candidate to join our nascent Mixi foodie club.

Ms. Vivacious has come across as a good buddy...I don't think she would fit in as a romantic partner since I've pretty much decided on living a solitary life but I think her somewhat atypical personality (reminds me a bit of a mix between Skippy and the juku boss) would fit in as a good drinking (and eating) friend.

Monday October 25, 4:56 p.m.

Yep, saw this testerone-filled version of "Ocean's 11" yesterday with Movie Buddy over at Shinjuku Picadilly. It had gotten middling to downright terrible reviews (Don Morton of METROPOLIS even said without the A-list cast, it wouldn't even have rated "straight-to-DVD").

Yup, I gotta say that neither of us went in with particularly high expectations for this Sly Stallone flick. And sure enough, it didn't really deliver an overall great impression but there was plenty of action. Some 80s stars, some extreme sports stars, a lot of CG gore, a lot of terse cardboard acting and plot holes that one can drive The A-Team van through. Still, considering that both of us managed to survive "Sweeney Todd" and "Clash of the Titans", it wasn't too, too bad. And at least, we did get to see Stallone, Willis and Schwarzenegger chewing scenery together.