Wednesday May 26, 12:21 a.m.
I ran through the gauntlet of classes yesterday more or less intact. I didn't even have to rely on the vitamin drinks. My juku boss' 3 cups of coffee got me through the night. However, I was happy to get that shower when I got home. That spruced me up a bit to get through the e-mail and blogging business before I hit the hay.
The two classes at the school went well. I kept my streak of reducing students to giggling mounds of jelly alive with my Dancing Bear act. Basically, I was brought in to teach the top class yesterday since the coordinator got an earful from the kids the day before for some lousy teaching from the others. Basically put, I was the English teaching equivalent of the stopper. The students quickly picked up on that as soon as I came in, and sure enough, I got the job done. But boy, it's not a good situation if I have to be brought in for that sort of thing too often.
I raced to the juku after my classes with a quick stop at a convenience store for a very small dinner of two rice balls, a tangy salad and some strawberry chocolates. My first pair of students got pretty interested in my flyer of that Cheesecake Exhibition in Namjatown at the Sunshine 60 Building in Ikebukuro. The older sullen sister on Saturday gave it to me after her visit there. One of them suggested a potential visit there on the 30th since the exhibition will be wrapping up on June 6th. The 30th is also the day for that brunch with Arwen and 77. In a way, I'm kinda hoping that the plans for this visit to munch on cheesecake falls through since I'm not sure what my condition will be after another brunch at Fujimamas. Plus, the exhibition will probably be packed with people on Sunday anyways.
Speaking of Fujimamas, I so far have 5 people including myself ready to go for brunch. I need one more person to get those reservations in. However, if noone else shows up, I can save myself the phone call and just tell everyone to show up in Harajuku at 10:30 a.m.
By the end of my juku classes, I was fit to be tied. And yet, I still had to make some copies for the sub teacher for my Thursday night student and then talk with the boss about next Tuesday's classes. There's a possibility that the Curry Master will be taking over for me then so I've gotta get some info out to her. I still have to get an assignment made up for her lesson on Thursday night. But the boss told me last night that CM's mother is in town staying at her place so I'm not sure what her situation will be.
Another old friend of mine from years past, Seiko, sent me a message about an upcoming alumni reunion party in July. She quickly pointed out the fact that she's back to her maiden name. Uh-oh. I remember some years ago when she boasted that she and her hubby had never had a spat since tying the knot. I guess they both caught up on that part to their detriment.
The Persian's friend sent me a message stating that she won't be able to make it out for Saturday since she'll probably be packing for her trip back to Taiwan on Sunday. A pity but totally understandable. I also wonder how that party for Automan went last night. With the 9 hours of classes, I forgot about this wingding.
I wrapped up the Charlie Brown retrospective with that 1987 interview with Schulz. He may have been a somewhat neurotic fellow with chronic self-doubt but he certainly didn't hold back on his opinions about other artists. He sure had a chip on his shoulder about Garry Trudeau and Doonesbury. I certainly could relate with Schulz though with a number of his personal issues. A number of parallels can be drawn between the two of us. Either we could have been good friends or the worst of enemies.
Well, gotta get that assignment done and it's already almost 1.
Just a place to deposit my thoughts on life here in the Kanto and about anything else that sticks to my walls.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Monday, May 24, 2004
Monday May 24, 9:48 p.m.
Feeling pretty tired right now after 5 hours of classes. Not a good omen for tomorrow's marathon of classes. Well, I guess I'll have to load up on the vitamin drinks and coffee.
My first class with the ladies ended up as another gabfest. One of them, the owner of the house that I teach at, asked if we could actually tackle some written material in the form of a short story or an article. Knowing them, I think an article would be better since they sidetrack so easily. It's almost like throwing a bowling ball down an alley which has been bent upwards in the middle.
My final class with the company folks wasn't as bad as last week's slogfest but it certainly wasn't any thriller. I was saved by the fact that the weakest link in the class was out on a business trip and the fact that for some reason, the guys got pretty obsessed with trying to distinguish [r] and [l] in pronunciation. Go fig!
It was another bipolar day meterologically. After the freeze and rain of yesterday, the morning and afternoon were pretty much in the slow broil zone. However, the rain has come back tonight. Apparently, this checkerboard approach to weather will continue tomorrow with another sunny day.
I'm rather lucky that I was able to start planning for tomorrow's classes during the brief break that I had before the company class. I'm not much up for doing anything academic right now. I'll probably just wash the dishes, throw out the garbage and take a shower. I would hit the hay right at 11 as well if it weren't for the fact that I ate dinner at 9. If I'm gonna save my stomach from morning turmoil, I don't dare go to bed until at least midnight.
I made it through the first volume of strips from THE COMPLETE PEANUTS and now I'm starting the rather deep analysis of Schulz's masterpiece by some sort of expert. Going through the first two years of PEANUTS (1950-1952) was a revelation for me. I was born some 15 years after its debut so the characters had already evolved into their "mature" state, so to speak, starting with my first exposure to the annual Xmas special. The less shaky, even more simplistic drawings aside, it was interesting to note that Charlie Brown had often been as vindictive as his friends in the early days...far from the lovable loser that we know today. Snoopy was much more conventional as a mostly mute beagle which walked on all four feet, Linus and Schroeder were barely toddlers, Patty, Violet and Shermy were Chuck's main buddies, and Lucy was not just a little companion who looked up to Charlie but she was actually sweet. It'll probably cost me a fair bit of coin but I'm definitely looking forward to Volume 2.
In more contemporary and localized pop culture, it looks like Morning Musume will be ousting another couple of members come January. One, the current leader, won't be any major loss since she seems to just exist as a living totem pole, but the other is a fairly popular figure. With the defections of three other popular members this year, some of the young'uns on the MM maillist have been crying out for the hide of Tsunku, the Svengali of the group. It's hard to say what the guy's motives are with this huge Spring Cleaning. Perhaps he's trying to induce a quick demise to a group that has peaked a few years ago or perhaps he's trying to pull off a rather drastic Hail Mary.
What else is new? Well, according to CNN, PM Koizumi's approval ratings have gone up a bit since the weekend's summit which got those kids out of North Korea. I'm pretty confident that those families whose missing members are still such weren't responsible for the rise in the polls.
I got word from my contact at Japan Tours about my travel coupons for Hokkaido next week. It'd been a week since I had heard anything from her so I was getting a bit antsy. I'm wondering if she's just a rookie, though, she seems to ask a lot of questions like a greenhorn. Well, I gotta get a bag to carry some of my clothes. I don't particularly want to carry a suitcase for a trip like this.
And that giggly friend of the Persian's contacted me again by e-mail. I suggested that we could meet up on Saturday night for dinner before she finally heads out back to the home country.
Feeling pretty tired right now after 5 hours of classes. Not a good omen for tomorrow's marathon of classes. Well, I guess I'll have to load up on the vitamin drinks and coffee.
My first class with the ladies ended up as another gabfest. One of them, the owner of the house that I teach at, asked if we could actually tackle some written material in the form of a short story or an article. Knowing them, I think an article would be better since they sidetrack so easily. It's almost like throwing a bowling ball down an alley which has been bent upwards in the middle.
My final class with the company folks wasn't as bad as last week's slogfest but it certainly wasn't any thriller. I was saved by the fact that the weakest link in the class was out on a business trip and the fact that for some reason, the guys got pretty obsessed with trying to distinguish [r] and [l] in pronunciation. Go fig!
It was another bipolar day meterologically. After the freeze and rain of yesterday, the morning and afternoon were pretty much in the slow broil zone. However, the rain has come back tonight. Apparently, this checkerboard approach to weather will continue tomorrow with another sunny day.
I'm rather lucky that I was able to start planning for tomorrow's classes during the brief break that I had before the company class. I'm not much up for doing anything academic right now. I'll probably just wash the dishes, throw out the garbage and take a shower. I would hit the hay right at 11 as well if it weren't for the fact that I ate dinner at 9. If I'm gonna save my stomach from morning turmoil, I don't dare go to bed until at least midnight.
I made it through the first volume of strips from THE COMPLETE PEANUTS and now I'm starting the rather deep analysis of Schulz's masterpiece by some sort of expert. Going through the first two years of PEANUTS (1950-1952) was a revelation for me. I was born some 15 years after its debut so the characters had already evolved into their "mature" state, so to speak, starting with my first exposure to the annual Xmas special. The less shaky, even more simplistic drawings aside, it was interesting to note that Charlie Brown had often been as vindictive as his friends in the early days...far from the lovable loser that we know today. Snoopy was much more conventional as a mostly mute beagle which walked on all four feet, Linus and Schroeder were barely toddlers, Patty, Violet and Shermy were Chuck's main buddies, and Lucy was not just a little companion who looked up to Charlie but she was actually sweet. It'll probably cost me a fair bit of coin but I'm definitely looking forward to Volume 2.
In more contemporary and localized pop culture, it looks like Morning Musume will be ousting another couple of members come January. One, the current leader, won't be any major loss since she seems to just exist as a living totem pole, but the other is a fairly popular figure. With the defections of three other popular members this year, some of the young'uns on the MM maillist have been crying out for the hide of Tsunku, the Svengali of the group. It's hard to say what the guy's motives are with this huge Spring Cleaning. Perhaps he's trying to induce a quick demise to a group that has peaked a few years ago or perhaps he's trying to pull off a rather drastic Hail Mary.
What else is new? Well, according to CNN, PM Koizumi's approval ratings have gone up a bit since the weekend's summit which got those kids out of North Korea. I'm pretty confident that those families whose missing members are still such weren't responsible for the rise in the polls.
I got word from my contact at Japan Tours about my travel coupons for Hokkaido next week. It'd been a week since I had heard anything from her so I was getting a bit antsy. I'm wondering if she's just a rookie, though, she seems to ask a lot of questions like a greenhorn. Well, I gotta get a bag to carry some of my clothes. I don't particularly want to carry a suitcase for a trip like this.
And that giggly friend of the Persian's contacted me again by e-mail. I suggested that we could meet up on Saturday night for dinner before she finally heads out back to the home country.
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Sunday May 23, 9:25 p.m.
Got together with some of the gang to catch TROY. But first I picked up that first volume of the Peanuts gang. I saved a good 1000 yen by picking it up at Towers instead of another bookstore. I guess I've got that case of Snoopy fever now.
I had a half-hour before the group met up at the Picadilly in Shinjuku so I took a walk down to check out the Virgin Megastore only to find that it has been replaced by a furniture shop. I guess unless it has moved its digs elsewhere, Richard Branson is making even less of a mark now than ever. His Virgin cola didn't last too long here and I guess the same is true about his CD store. It really couldn't compete with HMV and Towers.
Skippy and the Maid were the first to show up. They told me that three of the others including The Madame were going to be scratches. However, Movie Buddy saved the day by bringing Frodo and another friend of his. TROY was an OK movie as blockbusters go...plenty of action and the two stars comported themselves quite well. I think Eric Bana is starting to make inroads toward the A-list, for example. I can't even imagine him as a sketch comedian as he was back in Oz, but then again, who would have thought that Tom Hanks would become the Jimmy Stewart of the early 21st century back in his Bosom Buddies days?
Anyways, storywise, Homer would have been spinning in his grave somewhat. The movie itself probably gets a 6 or 7 in my estimation; it just didn't have all that epic a feel despite all that CG of marching armies and sailing ships. But I've got a feeling that Achilles' line of "Take it!...It's yours!" could become the catchphrase of the summer.
Afterwards, all of us went to this nearby cafe with very stylish sensibilities and jazz music. MB and Frodo picked up their better halves and one other lad to join our group. There was some transitional time necessary to get everyone comfy with each other but it did get accomplished. Mind you, it isn't everyday that the extraction of wisdom teeth becomes one of the main topics for discussion. OA called up on Skippy's phone. She couldn't make it because of her TOEIC test; it'd been a few weeks since I'd heard from her. I think the last time was during the Ballerina's dinner when she got obnoxiously drunk.
All of us split up but Skippy, The Maid and I decided to head to the wilds of Kabukicho into the Theatre Plaza facing the Koma Theater to see the actual Trojan Horse used in TROY. Somehow, the powers-that-be managed to deconstruct, ship and then reconstruct it in the plaza. The two ladies took some pics standing in front of it with their cellphone cameras.
More info got talked about concerning the brunch next Sunday and then even the next movie. Most likely, it'll be THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW.
In other news, those family members of the abductees finally got home from North Korea in what was another live event across all of the channels. Cameras were following every kilometre from Haneda Airport to the Akasaka Prince Hotel as the bus and police escort made its way across downtown Tokyo. Meanwhile, the guy who got them out of there, PM Koizumi, is in pretty hot water with the families of 10 still-missing abductees. They were uncharacteristically blunt and furious at the Prime Minister for not doing nearly enough to get info on what has happened to their long-lost loved ones. I can understand the families' frustrations but I also gotta feel for the PM as well. It was pretty much a no-win situation; there was no way that enough info would have satisfied the families and one has to be very careful negotiating with a self-made delusional god like Kim Jong Il.
I forgot to mention that Automan called me up this morning. Apparently, he was already on the tarmac running when he got in last night. He'd already gotten invited to some sort of do out in Yokohama which would be a good 2 hours from Narita on a good day. Surprisingly, he accepted and trudged all the way out there. He said he was still in pretty good condition. But I'm not sure if we will be able to get together considering the tightness of both our schedules this week.
Well, off to take a shower, get a cup of chai into me, and then read some more Peanuts to Vince Guaraldi before hitting the hay. The lesson planning can wait til the morning.
Got together with some of the gang to catch TROY. But first I picked up that first volume of the Peanuts gang. I saved a good 1000 yen by picking it up at Towers instead of another bookstore. I guess I've got that case of Snoopy fever now.
I had a half-hour before the group met up at the Picadilly in Shinjuku so I took a walk down to check out the Virgin Megastore only to find that it has been replaced by a furniture shop. I guess unless it has moved its digs elsewhere, Richard Branson is making even less of a mark now than ever. His Virgin cola didn't last too long here and I guess the same is true about his CD store. It really couldn't compete with HMV and Towers.
Skippy and the Maid were the first to show up. They told me that three of the others including The Madame were going to be scratches. However, Movie Buddy saved the day by bringing Frodo and another friend of his. TROY was an OK movie as blockbusters go...plenty of action and the two stars comported themselves quite well. I think Eric Bana is starting to make inroads toward the A-list, for example. I can't even imagine him as a sketch comedian as he was back in Oz, but then again, who would have thought that Tom Hanks would become the Jimmy Stewart of the early 21st century back in his Bosom Buddies days?
Anyways, storywise, Homer would have been spinning in his grave somewhat. The movie itself probably gets a 6 or 7 in my estimation; it just didn't have all that epic a feel despite all that CG of marching armies and sailing ships. But I've got a feeling that Achilles' line of "Take it!...It's yours!" could become the catchphrase of the summer.
Afterwards, all of us went to this nearby cafe with very stylish sensibilities and jazz music. MB and Frodo picked up their better halves and one other lad to join our group. There was some transitional time necessary to get everyone comfy with each other but it did get accomplished. Mind you, it isn't everyday that the extraction of wisdom teeth becomes one of the main topics for discussion. OA called up on Skippy's phone. She couldn't make it because of her TOEIC test; it'd been a few weeks since I'd heard from her. I think the last time was during the Ballerina's dinner when she got obnoxiously drunk.
All of us split up but Skippy, The Maid and I decided to head to the wilds of Kabukicho into the Theatre Plaza facing the Koma Theater to see the actual Trojan Horse used in TROY. Somehow, the powers-that-be managed to deconstruct, ship and then reconstruct it in the plaza. The two ladies took some pics standing in front of it with their cellphone cameras.
More info got talked about concerning the brunch next Sunday and then even the next movie. Most likely, it'll be THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW.
In other news, those family members of the abductees finally got home from North Korea in what was another live event across all of the channels. Cameras were following every kilometre from Haneda Airport to the Akasaka Prince Hotel as the bus and police escort made its way across downtown Tokyo. Meanwhile, the guy who got them out of there, PM Koizumi, is in pretty hot water with the families of 10 still-missing abductees. They were uncharacteristically blunt and furious at the Prime Minister for not doing nearly enough to get info on what has happened to their long-lost loved ones. I can understand the families' frustrations but I also gotta feel for the PM as well. It was pretty much a no-win situation; there was no way that enough info would have satisfied the families and one has to be very careful negotiating with a self-made delusional god like Kim Jong Il.
I forgot to mention that Automan called me up this morning. Apparently, he was already on the tarmac running when he got in last night. He'd already gotten invited to some sort of do out in Yokohama which would be a good 2 hours from Narita on a good day. Surprisingly, he accepted and trudged all the way out there. He said he was still in pretty good condition. But I'm not sure if we will be able to get together considering the tightness of both our schedules this week.
Well, off to take a shower, get a cup of chai into me, and then read some more Peanuts to Vince Guaraldi before hitting the hay. The lesson planning can wait til the morning.
Friday, May 21, 2004
Saturday May 22, 7:51 a.m.
Looks like my classes have been cut in half. The mother of my youngest called up last night to say that today's lesson is a scrub. So, I'm off at 1.
The Scarecrow also sent a message stating that he's also a scrub for Sunday's TROY outing. He'd thought that the outing was for today. Ach, but he is interested for the 30th for brunch. So, we're looking at 4 right now.
The Weather Office noted that yesterday was the first day in a week that the sun actually deigned to show itself. It's decided to go into hiding again for at least the weekend.
It also looks like I'm still negotiating between the Iconclast and the Prez. Now, it's just trying to arrange how the two are gonna meet in Hong Kong.
The big news here is that the PM has headed for North Korea for another rescue mission: this time to scoop up the remaining family members of those 5 former kidnapees from over 25 years ago. If he is successful, the weekend news should be focusing on that fact almost exclusively.
On a totally different note, I see that "Enterprise" has been saved from the axe and given a 1-year reprieve. It'll probably be the final year for the show, the shortest duration for any of the Treks. It's kinda too bad since I've liked Scott Bakula as good Captain Archer, but I think the show was just one show too many for the exhausted Trekkies.
And on a related note, it looks like the next and presumably final Star Wars movie is getting the first good title since "RETURN OF THE JEDI". It's apparently going to be called "BIRTH OF THE EMPIRE" although admittedly I don't think that will improve Hayden Christensen's acting any.
Looks like my classes have been cut in half. The mother of my youngest called up last night to say that today's lesson is a scrub. So, I'm off at 1.
The Scarecrow also sent a message stating that he's also a scrub for Sunday's TROY outing. He'd thought that the outing was for today. Ach, but he is interested for the 30th for brunch. So, we're looking at 4 right now.
The Weather Office noted that yesterday was the first day in a week that the sun actually deigned to show itself. It's decided to go into hiding again for at least the weekend.
It also looks like I'm still negotiating between the Iconclast and the Prez. Now, it's just trying to arrange how the two are gonna meet in Hong Kong.
The big news here is that the PM has headed for North Korea for another rescue mission: this time to scoop up the remaining family members of those 5 former kidnapees from over 25 years ago. If he is successful, the weekend news should be focusing on that fact almost exclusively.
On a totally different note, I see that "Enterprise" has been saved from the axe and given a 1-year reprieve. It'll probably be the final year for the show, the shortest duration for any of the Treks. It's kinda too bad since I've liked Scott Bakula as good Captain Archer, but I think the show was just one show too many for the exhausted Trekkies.
And on a related note, it looks like the next and presumably final Star Wars movie is getting the first good title since "RETURN OF THE JEDI". It's apparently going to be called "BIRTH OF THE EMPIRE" although admittedly I don't think that will improve Hayden Christensen's acting any.
Friday May 21, 8:19 p.m.
Well, barely half an hour after my last entry in which I described the Sturm und Drang of Typhoon 2, the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was almost like a Tex Avery version of a sunrise..that dramatic. So my lesson with the Teacher was on.
From our lesson today, I gained a bit more insight into her character. She's definitely got more high-falutin' tastes than me. She's into Italian antiques and somewhat more esoteric movies. She even mentioned M. Butterfly, a flick that had been filmed more than a decade ago at my workplace at the U of T. She was relatively flabbergasted at that admission, so I said I would bring over some photos from the location next week. On a totally different note, she has a way of speaking past me...not quite answering my comments accurately...it didn't quite annoy me like the Stylist did on Wednesday.
Then I sped off to the Tea Room to teach Arwen and 77. It was an earlier-than-usual slot for them since Arwen had an engagment to see jazz singer Chie Ayado with the school coordinator and Jazz Expert. At one point in our lesson, we were all rather surprised to see Jazz Buddy and the rest of her old classmates in the top class of the school come traipsing into the Tea Room. I'm not sure if this were going to become a regular thing with them. I also started the ball rolling on a potential brunch with them and some other former students for brunch at Fujimamas on the 30th.
SR then entered and we started talking on singledom vs. marriage thanks to some of the material I provided her. We also wondered how the rest of the alumni from her year were doing. It was quite the school reunion today at the Tea Room since lo and behold Movie Buddy dropped in for a few minutes. He also gave his promise to show up for TROY on Sunday.
I used that postcard I got from my kaiten sushi place the other day for dinner there tonight. Not too bad. I was able to get a free plate of BBQ eel sushi.
Gotta get started on my kids' lessons for tomorrow. Right now, the regular edition of MUSIC STATION is on TV Asahi. I hardly ever catch it since I'm out most Fridays with Arwen and occasionally 77 but since I've got an early night off, I have it on for old times' sake. The usual hitmakers like Glay and Morning Musume are on. I can't say that I give it the same devotion that I used to since my interest in J-Pop has waned over the years.
It looks like I got swamped with school classes next week. Tuesday should be especially exhausting since I'll be teaching 8.5 hours worth. Ack...at least I'll be getting money for my troubles and I've got that trip to Hokkaido the week after. Plus, I've pretty much equaled the average monthly expenditure for miscellaneous items thanks to the payment for the trip so the extra money will be welcome.
Well, barely half an hour after my last entry in which I described the Sturm und Drang of Typhoon 2, the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was almost like a Tex Avery version of a sunrise..that dramatic. So my lesson with the Teacher was on.
From our lesson today, I gained a bit more insight into her character. She's definitely got more high-falutin' tastes than me. She's into Italian antiques and somewhat more esoteric movies. She even mentioned M. Butterfly, a flick that had been filmed more than a decade ago at my workplace at the U of T. She was relatively flabbergasted at that admission, so I said I would bring over some photos from the location next week. On a totally different note, she has a way of speaking past me...not quite answering my comments accurately...it didn't quite annoy me like the Stylist did on Wednesday.
Then I sped off to the Tea Room to teach Arwen and 77. It was an earlier-than-usual slot for them since Arwen had an engagment to see jazz singer Chie Ayado with the school coordinator and Jazz Expert. At one point in our lesson, we were all rather surprised to see Jazz Buddy and the rest of her old classmates in the top class of the school come traipsing into the Tea Room. I'm not sure if this were going to become a regular thing with them. I also started the ball rolling on a potential brunch with them and some other former students for brunch at Fujimamas on the 30th.
SR then entered and we started talking on singledom vs. marriage thanks to some of the material I provided her. We also wondered how the rest of the alumni from her year were doing. It was quite the school reunion today at the Tea Room since lo and behold Movie Buddy dropped in for a few minutes. He also gave his promise to show up for TROY on Sunday.
I used that postcard I got from my kaiten sushi place the other day for dinner there tonight. Not too bad. I was able to get a free plate of BBQ eel sushi.
Gotta get started on my kids' lessons for tomorrow. Right now, the regular edition of MUSIC STATION is on TV Asahi. I hardly ever catch it since I'm out most Fridays with Arwen and occasionally 77 but since I've got an early night off, I have it on for old times' sake. The usual hitmakers like Glay and Morning Musume are on. I can't say that I give it the same devotion that I used to since my interest in J-Pop has waned over the years.
It looks like I got swamped with school classes next week. Tuesday should be especially exhausting since I'll be teaching 8.5 hours worth. Ack...at least I'll be getting money for my troubles and I've got that trip to Hokkaido the week after. Plus, I've pretty much equaled the average monthly expenditure for miscellaneous items thanks to the payment for the trip so the extra money will be welcome.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Friday May 21, 7:23 a.m.
T2 has arrived. I'm hearing spates of heavy rain and howling winds out there. I already received a midnight message from The Teacher after she got my e-mail; it looks like she'll be a scratch today. Can't say that I blame her. However, the other two students should be OK since the afternoon bodes well for the sun.
T2 has arrived. I'm hearing spates of heavy rain and howling winds out there. I already received a midnight message from The Teacher after she got my e-mail; it looks like she'll be a scratch today. Can't say that I blame her. However, the other two students should be OK since the afternoon bodes well for the sun.
Thursday May 20, 11:00 p.m.
Well, Typhoon No. 2 is coming on into the Kanto with the closest approach slated for 9 a.m. tomorrow. However, once it passes, the afternoon should be nice and sunny. My only concern is for the first lesson with the Teacher, so I sent off a message to her. I'll probably be taking down the clothes poles lest they get blown away overnight.
It looks like another storm of sorts has been slowly simmering over the months at my old school. I had a chat with the DJ this afternoon while I was just knocking back time in the lounge. With the decrease in classes and some danger of retaining some of the company clients, the DJ has told me that there has been some rumbling between the top two idiots. Neither of us are surprised at the current events; this has been coming for years now. The DJ is the longest-serving SANE teacher at the school. Our most veteran teacher seems to be slowly stretching apart at the seams. We both wonder why he continues to remain as the staff's whipping boy. I kinda liken it to a wife who continues to remain with an abusive husband.
My class with the oft-absent student tonight went pretty well. However, his next class will be with the other only foreign teacher in about 10 days since he has to make up a lot of missed classes and I'm not available on Saturdays. I hope everything is OK; I've only met her once and she's very nice but she's also very no-nonsense. My student comes off a bit Gomer Pyle-ish at times.
My juku boss also informed me that that rather argumentative student who's part of that trio I teach in my middle class on Tuesdays is coming back in June. She has apologized for missing out on the last few classes, but my juku boss, in one of her very few instances of frustration, could only shake her head. She told me that in the past three years that the student's been with the juku, none of the other teachers had really liked her because of her somewhat dour demeanor. She does have that side to her but she also has shown a lighter side as well. I can also understand some of her frustration at having to wait for her two lower classmates to catch up but she could use a bit more patience.
The Prez actually CC'ed a message to me which was targeted for the Anime Master. He wanted to find out how to get to the Iconoclast's wedding party on Monday. Hey, that was my assignment. I don't think the Prez would be that smarmy to actually give me a shot across the bow to get me to hurry up on that answer, so I'm assuming that he was just trying to milk all the udders, so to speak. In any case, the timing couldn't have been better since the Iconoclast did reply. He said he would pick the Prez up whenever and wherever he arrived in Hong Kong. I just hope my reply reaches the Prez in time.
In any case, I've got to fill out that report on my student. Then, I have to take a quick look at tomorrow's lessons before hopping into a shower and then bedtime.
Well, Typhoon No. 2 is coming on into the Kanto with the closest approach slated for 9 a.m. tomorrow. However, once it passes, the afternoon should be nice and sunny. My only concern is for the first lesson with the Teacher, so I sent off a message to her. I'll probably be taking down the clothes poles lest they get blown away overnight.
It looks like another storm of sorts has been slowly simmering over the months at my old school. I had a chat with the DJ this afternoon while I was just knocking back time in the lounge. With the decrease in classes and some danger of retaining some of the company clients, the DJ has told me that there has been some rumbling between the top two idiots. Neither of us are surprised at the current events; this has been coming for years now. The DJ is the longest-serving SANE teacher at the school. Our most veteran teacher seems to be slowly stretching apart at the seams. We both wonder why he continues to remain as the staff's whipping boy. I kinda liken it to a wife who continues to remain with an abusive husband.
My class with the oft-absent student tonight went pretty well. However, his next class will be with the other only foreign teacher in about 10 days since he has to make up a lot of missed classes and I'm not available on Saturdays. I hope everything is OK; I've only met her once and she's very nice but she's also very no-nonsense. My student comes off a bit Gomer Pyle-ish at times.
My juku boss also informed me that that rather argumentative student who's part of that trio I teach in my middle class on Tuesdays is coming back in June. She has apologized for missing out on the last few classes, but my juku boss, in one of her very few instances of frustration, could only shake her head. She told me that in the past three years that the student's been with the juku, none of the other teachers had really liked her because of her somewhat dour demeanor. She does have that side to her but she also has shown a lighter side as well. I can also understand some of her frustration at having to wait for her two lower classmates to catch up but she could use a bit more patience.
The Prez actually CC'ed a message to me which was targeted for the Anime Master. He wanted to find out how to get to the Iconoclast's wedding party on Monday. Hey, that was my assignment. I don't think the Prez would be that smarmy to actually give me a shot across the bow to get me to hurry up on that answer, so I'm assuming that he was just trying to milk all the udders, so to speak. In any case, the timing couldn't have been better since the Iconoclast did reply. He said he would pick the Prez up whenever and wherever he arrived in Hong Kong. I just hope my reply reaches the Prez in time.
In any case, I've got to fill out that report on my student. Then, I have to take a quick look at tomorrow's lessons before hopping into a shower and then bedtime.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Thursday May 20, 8:34 a.m.
Looks like that steady rain is a mere prelude to the second typhoon of the season which will sideswipe the islands in the next couple of days. The last couple of years, we've been getting our dose of heavy rain and winds a lot earlier, and Tokyo seems to have inherited Typhoon Alley from Okinawa. Well, Typhoon No. 2 (they number their storms here instead of giving names) is expected to hit us sometime tomorrow afternoon. I'm just kinda wondering how this will affect my classes for Friday since Fridays are usually among my busiest days. I'll be smack dab in the middle of work when this storm hits. I may face some cancellations.
Well, at this point, I've got The Madame, Skippy and her buddies, and the Scarecrow coming for TROY on Sunday. Strangely, I haven't heard anything from Movie Buddy for a couple of weeks. Not even one of his terse e-mail messages. Curry Master spoke of a possible falling-out between him and her last week, but I'm not sure how that would influence this situation.
I was going through my Japan travel book last night. It is pretty comprehensive. It even included who the hot singers and TV personalities are. Good heavens...even Morning Musume was mentioned, but admittedly, they've become a permanent fixture in local pop culture. Yet another spinoff group has been spawned from the main tribe of pre-pubescent and post-pubescent girls. Two of the most popular members, the twins-who-are-not-twins, Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji, have flown from the nest to become W. The entire MM phenomenon is the J-Pop equivalent of the X-Men comic book franchise, although I think W is most akin to the Wonder Twins.
The last couple of days, there had been a case of a Yakuza gangster holed up in an apartment with a hostage keeping police at bay. Apparently, the mobster had done the same sort of thing before several years ago. Well, this time was his swan song. The hostage apparently committed suicide and the Yakuza is dead after police finally stormed the apartment. Not a happy ending but at least a piece of scum is out of the way.
Looks like that steady rain is a mere prelude to the second typhoon of the season which will sideswipe the islands in the next couple of days. The last couple of years, we've been getting our dose of heavy rain and winds a lot earlier, and Tokyo seems to have inherited Typhoon Alley from Okinawa. Well, Typhoon No. 2 (they number their storms here instead of giving names) is expected to hit us sometime tomorrow afternoon. I'm just kinda wondering how this will affect my classes for Friday since Fridays are usually among my busiest days. I'll be smack dab in the middle of work when this storm hits. I may face some cancellations.
Well, at this point, I've got The Madame, Skippy and her buddies, and the Scarecrow coming for TROY on Sunday. Strangely, I haven't heard anything from Movie Buddy for a couple of weeks. Not even one of his terse e-mail messages. Curry Master spoke of a possible falling-out between him and her last week, but I'm not sure how that would influence this situation.
I was going through my Japan travel book last night. It is pretty comprehensive. It even included who the hot singers and TV personalities are. Good heavens...even Morning Musume was mentioned, but admittedly, they've become a permanent fixture in local pop culture. Yet another spinoff group has been spawned from the main tribe of pre-pubescent and post-pubescent girls. Two of the most popular members, the twins-who-are-not-twins, Ai Kago and Nozomi Tsuji, have flown from the nest to become W. The entire MM phenomenon is the J-Pop equivalent of the X-Men comic book franchise, although I think W is most akin to the Wonder Twins.
The last couple of days, there had been a case of a Yakuza gangster holed up in an apartment with a hostage keeping police at bay. Apparently, the mobster had done the same sort of thing before several years ago. Well, this time was his swan song. The hostage apparently committed suicide and the Yakuza is dead after police finally stormed the apartment. Not a happy ending but at least a piece of scum is out of the way.
Wednesday May 19, 9:22 p.m.
The Stylist was in a bit of a strange mood today. I'm not sure if she had been ticked off at me or not, but a couple of times during the lesson we were discussing about the fact that she didn't like me waiting for her at the salon. I said that I didn't mind doing so since I could always rely on my crosswords or magazines to keep me company. I also asked if I were cramping her style by having her clean up quickly while I waited inside. She stated that that wasn't the case; it's just that she felt a bit pressured as if I were one of HER customers waiting for her. Whatever...then she acted with some surprise and a bit of dismay when she found out that I would be paying 35800 yen for my trip to Hokkaido. On both topics, she seemed to dwell a lot. I'm not sure if she had been trying to get back at me with the second topic for the first topic. On top of that,I was playing a bit of Counselor Troi with her Spring Lethargy. Maybe menopause is coming a bit early for her. In any case, I got a bit stricter with her about her English which got her structure back up.
Rather happy to get out of the salon, I went off for lunch at the nearby Chinese place before getting over to Towers. I was able to get that new book on Japan for my Hokkaido trip. I did make a few more purchases which will probably mean that I'll be breaking the bank this week for miscellaneous stuff.
The rain is coming down pretty steadily tonight. A bit of a pain while carrying two bags plus a bag of groceries and an umbrella. However, I am reminded that there is a summer coming and we need to save up as much water for that.
I got a postcard from that kaiten sushi restaurant under my station. It looks like they're having some sort of "thank-you" campaign. When I show up with the postcard, I'll get a complementary plate of sushi. Time to get that eel!
I finally got those times for TROY by calling up the theater. I don't know why they were being so secretive about it. Anyways, I got the word out to the rest of the bunch. So far, it'll be a party of five.
The Stylist was in a bit of a strange mood today. I'm not sure if she had been ticked off at me or not, but a couple of times during the lesson we were discussing about the fact that she didn't like me waiting for her at the salon. I said that I didn't mind doing so since I could always rely on my crosswords or magazines to keep me company. I also asked if I were cramping her style by having her clean up quickly while I waited inside. She stated that that wasn't the case; it's just that she felt a bit pressured as if I were one of HER customers waiting for her. Whatever...then she acted with some surprise and a bit of dismay when she found out that I would be paying 35800 yen for my trip to Hokkaido. On both topics, she seemed to dwell a lot. I'm not sure if she had been trying to get back at me with the second topic for the first topic. On top of that,I was playing a bit of Counselor Troi with her Spring Lethargy. Maybe menopause is coming a bit early for her. In any case, I got a bit stricter with her about her English which got her structure back up.
Rather happy to get out of the salon, I went off for lunch at the nearby Chinese place before getting over to Towers. I was able to get that new book on Japan for my Hokkaido trip. I did make a few more purchases which will probably mean that I'll be breaking the bank this week for miscellaneous stuff.
The rain is coming down pretty steadily tonight. A bit of a pain while carrying two bags plus a bag of groceries and an umbrella. However, I am reminded that there is a summer coming and we need to save up as much water for that.
I got a postcard from that kaiten sushi restaurant under my station. It looks like they're having some sort of "thank-you" campaign. When I show up with the postcard, I'll get a complementary plate of sushi. Time to get that eel!
I finally got those times for TROY by calling up the theater. I don't know why they were being so secretive about it. Anyways, I got the word out to the rest of the bunch. So far, it'll be a party of five.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Tuesday May 18, 10:15 p.m.
Another long day comes to a close. I taught the fourth and final class of the school today; good crew..a mix of quiet and chatty students. Then I had my juku folks. The boss actually did remember the fact that I'm heading out to Hokkaido. The mock phone interview with the first student was OK; I could only ask general questions since I have no idea about auditing. It looks like that trio of students that I usually have in the middle is now permanently down to a duo. That one student who had always complained about when we would finally get to her level of text finally gave up the ghost apparently. The boss and I agreed that it was good that she had left since she could now go somewhere she would be properly taken care of and I wouldn't have to worry about trying to balance an unbalanced class.
I've just got my two students tomorrow, The Stylist and the Office Lady. It'll be kinda nice to have that type of Wednesday again before I got my posting back at the school. Not that the scheduler hasn't tried to get me back for more classes. Looks like they've been kinda tight on teachers recently.
Another long day comes to a close. I taught the fourth and final class of the school today; good crew..a mix of quiet and chatty students. Then I had my juku folks. The boss actually did remember the fact that I'm heading out to Hokkaido. The mock phone interview with the first student was OK; I could only ask general questions since I have no idea about auditing. It looks like that trio of students that I usually have in the middle is now permanently down to a duo. That one student who had always complained about when we would finally get to her level of text finally gave up the ghost apparently. The boss and I agreed that it was good that she had left since she could now go somewhere she would be properly taken care of and I wouldn't have to worry about trying to balance an unbalanced class.
I've just got my two students tomorrow, The Stylist and the Office Lady. It'll be kinda nice to have that type of Wednesday again before I got my posting back at the school. Not that the scheduler hasn't tried to get me back for more classes. Looks like they've been kinda tight on teachers recently.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Monday May 17, 10:08 p.m.
A pretty full day with three classes, two of which I haven't had in about a month. Unsurprisingly, my Monday morning ladies ended up just gabbing with me for the entire 90-minute session which is something that they tend to do after a long absence. One of the ladies kindly lent me a cookbook by that American fave Japanese chef and toast of New York, Nobu. Taking a quick look at it, I found that the recipes are quite easy to read and of course, the pictures look suitably appetizing, but I'm still not sure if I can get some of the more exotic ingredients.
During my break between classes, I went out to Towers only to find that it was taking a rare day off. I tried HMV to see if they had a book on Hokkaido but it's not nearly as comprehensive as Towers, so I just made a quick beeline back to the McDonalds closest to the lady's house for lunch.
My second class went pretty well. The student was still full of beans in spite of or because of the absence. I found out that I will indeed be having the ladies next week instead of having Monday morning off which means that my expected lunch with Automan next week is now off, so I've sent off a missive to him to see if we can reschedule. His time is rather limited so things are pretty iffy right now. It would be a pity if cannot meet him.
My final class today at the Iconoclast's company was back to slogsville in contrast to the pepped-up one last week. I'm not sure what they put into the water today. The Prez showed me an invitation to the Iconoclast's wedding reception in Hong Kong next Monday. He would like to go except that the Iconoclast failed to give directions. Also, the data that he gave me to give to the staff to access his old computer didn't work. If he's trying to drive his old mates up a wall, he's doing a pretty good job.
It was definitely an early summer day today. Pretty warm and muggy in my shirt. It didn't feel like an August day though thankfully since the night has cooled down. We don't even get that luxury in the dog days.
I got a couple of calls in terms of work. The juku boss called me up to see if I can start teaching my regular final student at 6 p.m instead of his usual 9 slot so that he can practice his telephone interview. Hey, anything to get home a bit earlier. Then, the scheduler at the school called me to see if I can teach on Wednesday. I gave her a straight NO via e-mail since I've got the Stylist on Wednesday morning. There's no way I would even want to attempt to get back there in time.
I got some more mail from The Persian. He wanted to know how his old flame was doing. She actually lives not too far from me but we've had a parting of the ways several years ago, partially due to temporal drift and partially (possibly) due to her husband who may not be too fond of me. I wasn't too impressed with him when I met him initially and somehow a message hinting at my feelings got over to the flame's mail server. It was supposed to have just gone to someone else completely but the CC must have been feeling pretty ornery that day. In any case, she responded back with a seemingly innocent response asking for clarification. I did some hemming and hawing but the damage was done. For some reason, until recently, she still kept inviting me to her annual glee club concert for a number of years but that was it. No other communication. Well, I'm not much for keeping that sort of relationship, so I just stopped replying. It's a pity...she was one of the core members of the gang back in the early 90s in Toronto.
I've been trying to find out what time our favorite theater will be playing TROY this Sunday but those guys refuse to put anything up on the screen. Speaking of the movie, Brad Pitt dropped by Tokyo this past weekend to a throng of 1000 squealing fans and clicking cellphone cameras.
This stupid pension scandal is claiming more politicians. Of course, it would be happening during the annual announcements of celeb taxpayers. In the singer category, one half of the rock duo, B'z, got the top spot while in the TV personality category, (annoying) announcer and host of the Japanese version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Mino Monta, was number one. He's even more annoying than Regis.
A pretty full day with three classes, two of which I haven't had in about a month. Unsurprisingly, my Monday morning ladies ended up just gabbing with me for the entire 90-minute session which is something that they tend to do after a long absence. One of the ladies kindly lent me a cookbook by that American fave Japanese chef and toast of New York, Nobu. Taking a quick look at it, I found that the recipes are quite easy to read and of course, the pictures look suitably appetizing, but I'm still not sure if I can get some of the more exotic ingredients.
During my break between classes, I went out to Towers only to find that it was taking a rare day off. I tried HMV to see if they had a book on Hokkaido but it's not nearly as comprehensive as Towers, so I just made a quick beeline back to the McDonalds closest to the lady's house for lunch.
My second class went pretty well. The student was still full of beans in spite of or because of the absence. I found out that I will indeed be having the ladies next week instead of having Monday morning off which means that my expected lunch with Automan next week is now off, so I've sent off a missive to him to see if we can reschedule. His time is rather limited so things are pretty iffy right now. It would be a pity if cannot meet him.
My final class today at the Iconoclast's company was back to slogsville in contrast to the pepped-up one last week. I'm not sure what they put into the water today. The Prez showed me an invitation to the Iconoclast's wedding reception in Hong Kong next Monday. He would like to go except that the Iconoclast failed to give directions. Also, the data that he gave me to give to the staff to access his old computer didn't work. If he's trying to drive his old mates up a wall, he's doing a pretty good job.
It was definitely an early summer day today. Pretty warm and muggy in my shirt. It didn't feel like an August day though thankfully since the night has cooled down. We don't even get that luxury in the dog days.
I got a couple of calls in terms of work. The juku boss called me up to see if I can start teaching my regular final student at 6 p.m instead of his usual 9 slot so that he can practice his telephone interview. Hey, anything to get home a bit earlier. Then, the scheduler at the school called me to see if I can teach on Wednesday. I gave her a straight NO via e-mail since I've got the Stylist on Wednesday morning. There's no way I would even want to attempt to get back there in time.
I got some more mail from The Persian. He wanted to know how his old flame was doing. She actually lives not too far from me but we've had a parting of the ways several years ago, partially due to temporal drift and partially (possibly) due to her husband who may not be too fond of me. I wasn't too impressed with him when I met him initially and somehow a message hinting at my feelings got over to the flame's mail server. It was supposed to have just gone to someone else completely but the CC must have been feeling pretty ornery that day. In any case, she responded back with a seemingly innocent response asking for clarification. I did some hemming and hawing but the damage was done. For some reason, until recently, she still kept inviting me to her annual glee club concert for a number of years but that was it. No other communication. Well, I'm not much for keeping that sort of relationship, so I just stopped replying. It's a pity...she was one of the core members of the gang back in the early 90s in Toronto.
I've been trying to find out what time our favorite theater will be playing TROY this Sunday but those guys refuse to put anything up on the screen. Speaking of the movie, Brad Pitt dropped by Tokyo this past weekend to a throng of 1000 squealing fans and clicking cellphone cameras.
This stupid pension scandal is claiming more politicians. Of course, it would be happening during the annual announcements of celeb taxpayers. In the singer category, one half of the rock duo, B'z, got the top spot while in the TV personality category, (annoying) announcer and host of the Japanese version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Mino Monta, was number one. He's even more annoying than Regis.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Sunday May 16, 10:43 p.m.
Well, I got the place all fixed up this morning for the arrival of the Persian's friend all the way out from Tokorozawa, Saitama. She even brought her sister with her. At first, I wasn't quite sure what to make of her on the phone since she seemed to always be giggling. However, after an afternoon with them at the apartment, the sisters turned out to be really nice folk. We looked over some old photos of the Persian when he used to be the master here. The friend remarked that the Persian has gotten somewhat bigger in the decade hence.
We stopped by at the neighbourhood ramen shop with the Mao pictures and the Anne Murray music for dinner before they had to take off for Tsudanuma for another bunch of friends. Hopefully, we can see each other one more time before she has to take off for Taiwan again. Her sister apparently will be staying in Japan for another several months, so perhaps we can keep in touch periodically. I'm considering whether to introduce her to Party Hearty's BBQ.
Well, back to work again as of tomorrow. I've gotta pick up a guide book for Hokkaido during my break between classes.
Well, I got the place all fixed up this morning for the arrival of the Persian's friend all the way out from Tokorozawa, Saitama. She even brought her sister with her. At first, I wasn't quite sure what to make of her on the phone since she seemed to always be giggling. However, after an afternoon with them at the apartment, the sisters turned out to be really nice folk. We looked over some old photos of the Persian when he used to be the master here. The friend remarked that the Persian has gotten somewhat bigger in the decade hence.
We stopped by at the neighbourhood ramen shop with the Mao pictures and the Anne Murray music for dinner before they had to take off for Tsudanuma for another bunch of friends. Hopefully, we can see each other one more time before she has to take off for Taiwan again. Her sister apparently will be staying in Japan for another several months, so perhaps we can keep in touch periodically. I'm considering whether to introduce her to Party Hearty's BBQ.
Well, back to work again as of tomorrow. I've gotta pick up a guide book for Hokkaido during my break between classes.
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Saturday May 15, 9:14 p.m.
Pretty much a run-of-the-mill day. My three kids were their normal selves although the mother of the first two was on a rampage today, but not with either kid but the family dog.
Quiet evening for me. No calls from anyone and since Chip Guy is no longer around and Movie Buddy seems to have made himself scarce, I don't think I'll be getting many social calls. However, I do have Automan's arrival next week and then the semi-regular movie outing for TROY on the 23rd.
Speaking of Automan, I'm pretty glad that I let Party Hearty in on the act. She's already gotten some sort of wingding for him on the 25th. However, I'll be at work that night.
I just gotta get some ironing done and then I have to get the place cleaned up for that visit tomorrow from the Persian's friend. I'm still wondering about her coming here.
Pretty much a run-of-the-mill day. My three kids were their normal selves although the mother of the first two was on a rampage today, but not with either kid but the family dog.
Quiet evening for me. No calls from anyone and since Chip Guy is no longer around and Movie Buddy seems to have made himself scarce, I don't think I'll be getting many social calls. However, I do have Automan's arrival next week and then the semi-regular movie outing for TROY on the 23rd.
Speaking of Automan, I'm pretty glad that I let Party Hearty in on the act. She's already gotten some sort of wingding for him on the 25th. However, I'll be at work that night.
I just gotta get some ironing done and then I have to get the place cleaned up for that visit tomorrow from the Persian's friend. I'm still wondering about her coming here.
Friday, May 14, 2004
Friday May 14, 11:41 p.m.
Back to my privates today. It was pretty much the same ol' same ol' which suited me just fine after the newness of the new classes at the school. On the way to the Tea Room, I stopped in at Towers and picked up a retrospective on PEANUTS, Charles "Sparky" Schulz's opus. I guess that trip down memory lane with Vince Guaraldi got me looking at some of my old strips with Charlie Brown and the gang.
After our lesson, Arwen, 77 and I headed just up the street instead of heading over to Shinjuku. We had dinner at an Indian place called Ajanta. For a Friday, it wasn't all that busy but then again the area isn't exactly an entertainment hub. Believe me, on a night when one would be lucky to even get a table within an hour, I wasn't complaining. I ended up getting a Thali Platter for a somewhat heftily priced 4200 yen. Once again, I ordered something that was too much for me...an extra piece of garlic naan that I ended up not finishing, even with two helpful ladies at my side.
It looks like the school still wants me to help out, so I've got another couple of classes next week. No problems there.
Well, I've got hit the hay pretty soon since I have to still plan for my kids tomorrow. I really don't have the gumption to do so right now. Plus, I need to take a shower to get that garlic out again.
Back to my privates today. It was pretty much the same ol' same ol' which suited me just fine after the newness of the new classes at the school. On the way to the Tea Room, I stopped in at Towers and picked up a retrospective on PEANUTS, Charles "Sparky" Schulz's opus. I guess that trip down memory lane with Vince Guaraldi got me looking at some of my old strips with Charlie Brown and the gang.
After our lesson, Arwen, 77 and I headed just up the street instead of heading over to Shinjuku. We had dinner at an Indian place called Ajanta. For a Friday, it wasn't all that busy but then again the area isn't exactly an entertainment hub. Believe me, on a night when one would be lucky to even get a table within an hour, I wasn't complaining. I ended up getting a Thali Platter for a somewhat heftily priced 4200 yen. Once again, I ordered something that was too much for me...an extra piece of garlic naan that I ended up not finishing, even with two helpful ladies at my side.
It looks like the school still wants me to help out, so I've got another couple of classes next week. No problems there.
Well, I've got hit the hay pretty soon since I have to still plan for my kids tomorrow. I really don't have the gumption to do so right now. Plus, I need to take a shower to get that garlic out again.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Thursday May 13, 10:08 p.m.
My class with the so-called lowest class at the school was pretty uneven. I had to dodge a bullet when my exercises were just a little too easy for the kids. However, I managed to bat .500 Of course, though, I was kicking myself all the way to the Curry Master's place.
Well, at least, I've got my regular Friday folks tomorrow. I believe that Arwen, 77 and I will be heading out for dinner after the lesson.
Since I'm a bit low on news today, I guess I'll take this time to talk more about my music. My interest in jazz is getting further cultivated. I've always centered my interest around the pianists. Bill Evans is still my favorite but I also have a soft spot for Vince Gurualdi. Who he, you ask? Well, he's probably most famous for his contributions to the early Charlie Brown specials, notably the classic Christmas special. In fact, I'd say that it wouldn't be a Charlie Brown special without his delicate touch.This probably explains why I've never really gotten into the later, more banal outings by the Peanuts gang. With all due respect to Charles Schulz, the televised history of Charlie Brown will probably be restricted to the ten years in the 60s and 70s for me. I can equate this with the Japanese tendency only to view Audrey Hepburn in her 50s period up to "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
My class with the so-called lowest class at the school was pretty uneven. I had to dodge a bullet when my exercises were just a little too easy for the kids. However, I managed to bat .500 Of course, though, I was kicking myself all the way to the Curry Master's place.
Well, at least, I've got my regular Friday folks tomorrow. I believe that Arwen, 77 and I will be heading out for dinner after the lesson.
Since I'm a bit low on news today, I guess I'll take this time to talk more about my music. My interest in jazz is getting further cultivated. I've always centered my interest around the pianists. Bill Evans is still my favorite but I also have a soft spot for Vince Gurualdi. Who he, you ask? Well, he's probably most famous for his contributions to the early Charlie Brown specials, notably the classic Christmas special. In fact, I'd say that it wouldn't be a Charlie Brown special without his delicate touch.This probably explains why I've never really gotten into the later, more banal outings by the Peanuts gang. With all due respect to Charles Schulz, the televised history of Charlie Brown will probably be restricted to the ten years in the 60s and 70s for me. I can equate this with the Japanese tendency only to view Audrey Hepburn in her 50s period up to "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Thursday May 13, 7:34 a.m.
My second class this week at the school was more of a triple than the homer of the first class. There was a hint of slog by the end of the class. I've got one more there today; it's the lowest level one so I'm gonna have to plan it in more detail. Some of my old compadres, such as DJ and DTE, were surprised to see me come in from the cold.
Afterwards, I went to my regular Wednesday night venue at the Starbucks to get a coffee and crossword before The Office Lady came in. I was just falling asleep despite the influx of caffeine. So I had to step out and guzzle down a Coke as an added boost. The lesson came off quite well, but I did hit the hay relatively early.
Automan has given me more detail on his upcoming itinerary and asked me to get in touch with some of the old gang here. I'm not sure if I can see him as much but perhaps some of the others can.
My contact at Japan Tours has gotten everything booked and confirmed for my trip to Hokkaido. Once the written info gets in, I'll let the necessary people know.
My second class this week at the school was more of a triple than the homer of the first class. There was a hint of slog by the end of the class. I've got one more there today; it's the lowest level one so I'm gonna have to plan it in more detail. Some of my old compadres, such as DJ and DTE, were surprised to see me come in from the cold.
Afterwards, I went to my regular Wednesday night venue at the Starbucks to get a coffee and crossword before The Office Lady came in. I was just falling asleep despite the influx of caffeine. So I had to step out and guzzle down a Coke as an added boost. The lesson came off quite well, but I did hit the hay relatively early.
Automan has given me more detail on his upcoming itinerary and asked me to get in touch with some of the old gang here. I'm not sure if I can see him as much but perhaps some of the others can.
My contact at Japan Tours has gotten everything booked and confirmed for my trip to Hokkaido. Once the written info gets in, I'll let the necessary people know.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Wednesday May 12, 12:29 a.m.
My first real busy day lived up to expectations. It tuckered me out by the end but I think I had a pretty good time with everyone. My first class with my school's in-house program for the first time in almost 3 months went quite well. The new students were spearheading the talking which was quite unusual. I was a bit surprised by the arrival of the Jazz Buddy since she was to have graduated back in February. But she had some makeup classes to finish. She was also quite surprised to see me there.
My night classes were OK although my first class was a bit of a slog. Also, my juku owner has a memory like a torn sieve. After I've told her more than twice that I could only teach the Thursday guy on the 20th, she was still asking what my schedule was like for him on the other days in May. But my annoyance is tempered by the fact that she has a very kind heart and she rescued me from catching pneumonia on that horrible day 2 weeks ago.
It's past midnight and I still have to write up the reports for the students and prep for the lesson with The Office Lady later tonight. Plus, I've got to take a shower. When I wake up, I have to dub a tape for The Systems Engineer in time for his lesson on Thursday. It doesn't rain but it pours...
It didn't help that my computer once again had trouble connecting me with my e-mail and the blog. I checked it for viruses to no avail. But then I tried out the Ad-Aware program and found that one of the cookies was responsible for screwing me over. Once I deleted that, I was back in business.
My first real busy day lived up to expectations. It tuckered me out by the end but I think I had a pretty good time with everyone. My first class with my school's in-house program for the first time in almost 3 months went quite well. The new students were spearheading the talking which was quite unusual. I was a bit surprised by the arrival of the Jazz Buddy since she was to have graduated back in February. But she had some makeup classes to finish. She was also quite surprised to see me there.
My night classes were OK although my first class was a bit of a slog. Also, my juku owner has a memory like a torn sieve. After I've told her more than twice that I could only teach the Thursday guy on the 20th, she was still asking what my schedule was like for him on the other days in May. But my annoyance is tempered by the fact that she has a very kind heart and she rescued me from catching pneumonia on that horrible day 2 weeks ago.
It's past midnight and I still have to write up the reports for the students and prep for the lesson with The Office Lady later tonight. Plus, I've got to take a shower. When I wake up, I have to dub a tape for The Systems Engineer in time for his lesson on Thursday. It doesn't rain but it pours...
It didn't help that my computer once again had trouble connecting me with my e-mail and the blog. I checked it for viruses to no avail. But then I tried out the Ad-Aware program and found that one of the cookies was responsible for screwing me over. Once I deleted that, I was back in business.
Monday, May 10, 2004
Monday May 10, 11:03 p.m.
Woof! New BLOGGER...nice place you got here.
I went off to see Old Sam and his wife at the Day Nice Hotel in Kiba (the hotel so nice they named it "Nice"?). For some reason, there was some sort of delay on the line so my train was packed to rush-hour capacity. And it was just my luck that I got off on the wrong end of the platform. By the time I reached the escalator, the other train came by and it was pretty empty. I was ready to kick the thing in its aluminum.
It was 250 m of walking in rainy, humid weather before I reached Day Nice. It was a small but quaint hotel. There was only one woman sitting in the lobby when I decided to call up Sam's cell phone to let him know that I had arrived. I got his wife, who told me that she was already in the lobby. It turned out to be that woman sitting on the couch. After making our introductions, we conducted a conversation totally in Japanese for about half an hour while we waited for Old Sam. Apparently, he got lost in the mess known as Shinjuku.
I've known Old Sam for years since we were kids in Japanese Language School. He was a bit of a rabblerouser in those days although he has since mellowed considerably, but I was rather interested in what his wife was like. She's very calm and patient...perfect for him. In a way, she reminded me of Chip Guy's wife.
Old Sam finally showed up. It was just as well that he got to the hotel at 1:30 since we were also to wait for one other fellow. Fuji's a bit of my antithesis in terms of geography. Whilst I've been here for a decade, he had been living in Montreal and Toronto for 10 years. Very outgoing sort. When he got there, we took a walk up to the neighbourhood family restaurant, Jonathans, for a bit of lunch. Old Sam updated us on what was what in Toronto. It looks like Motormouth Mel is finally out; T.O. has got some sort of beefcake as the new Mayor.
Fuji had to take off a half-hour before we did because of an impending job interview but we did the exchange of phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Then we headed back to the hotel so that Sam and the missus could pick up their voluminous luggage. It was a bit of a climb down to the Kiba platform. I was worried that we would have to face the idiocy of my trip to the hotel, but the train was somewhat more spacious. Old Sam marveled at how I could stand living here for so many years; I guess I should pat myself on the back for my stamina. Anyways, the pair got off the train at Otemachi to head for Tokyo Station and then I just went straight ahead to my job at the company.
The class tonight went quite well. Even my lowest student was on all thrusters today although his fluency is still not all that high. And we even got into some sidetracking in Japanese about the wonders of Kiefer's opus, 24. The Iconoclast left a big box of stuff for me to take home. I decided to go on the instalment plan and take things home piecemeal. Once again after class, the Prez invited me out for dinner. This time the theme was yakiniku, otherwise known as Korean BBQ.
We took another taxi up to the Shin-Okubo area. This is the second time this year that I've been up there...the second of only two times that I've been up there in my decade in Tokyo. I've come to the conclusion that I was a bit too harsh in my assessment of the area as a den of iniquity. The main street at least comes off more as Dundas St. in downtown Chinatown. The place that the Prez took me to was called KOSHUEN, a very pricy and good BBQ place run by Koreans. According to the menu, the place has had some good exposure through the media. I could understand why...the food and service were excellent. The waitress brought the beer lickety-split and she even helped out cut up and cook the kalbi ribs. The Prez ordered a plate full of different cuts of beef which we proceeded to cook up and then wrap in individual leaves of lettuce with Korean miso and marinated onions. It couldn't be beat. However, I may have overindulged a bit by having him order a bibimbap, that concoction of rice, raw egg and many other ingredients all mixed up. With everything else, I was close to bursting. And since I had a bit of a headache, I was worried that I was going to end up laying some street pizza outside so I quickly reached for the Tylenol. But there wasn't anything to worry about.
The end result of going to Korean BBQ is that everyone on the train knows where one has been. My entire body was permeated with the smell of garlic, sauce and cooking beef. But I didn't care and neither should they. I got on the train and ended up sleeping off my headache for the 35-minute trip home. When my internal alarm clock alerted me one station before mine, I was feeling pretty refreshed inside with no more headache although I still smelled like dinner. Today was a truly rare day in that I didn't have to put anything down on my Excel expenditures under the Food category. Old Sam treated me at Jonathans and the Prez, of course, paid for my dinner. I did my token attempt at resisting his treat just to be polite, but I knew what the result would be. The bill was fairly hefty, too. 12,000 yen for two. Koshuen was a great place for dinner but if I were to take any of the students there, I would need a fairly sizable group.
I got home and immediately took a hot shower to sweat out that garlic oil. While I was doing my e-mail, I received a call from the Persian's friend. I had thought that she lost interest in contacting me after a few weeks went by. But she called up so she'll be coming over to my neck of the woods to see where the Persian used to live. Another incentive for me to clean up.
Tomorrow will be a busy day, the first truly busy day in several weeks. I've got my regular Tueday morning class, then I've got my class back at the school. It's been 2 months since I've taught a class there. And finally, I've got my juku classes in the evening.
Woof! New BLOGGER...nice place you got here.
I went off to see Old Sam and his wife at the Day Nice Hotel in Kiba (the hotel so nice they named it "Nice"?). For some reason, there was some sort of delay on the line so my train was packed to rush-hour capacity. And it was just my luck that I got off on the wrong end of the platform. By the time I reached the escalator, the other train came by and it was pretty empty. I was ready to kick the thing in its aluminum.
It was 250 m of walking in rainy, humid weather before I reached Day Nice. It was a small but quaint hotel. There was only one woman sitting in the lobby when I decided to call up Sam's cell phone to let him know that I had arrived. I got his wife, who told me that she was already in the lobby. It turned out to be that woman sitting on the couch. After making our introductions, we conducted a conversation totally in Japanese for about half an hour while we waited for Old Sam. Apparently, he got lost in the mess known as Shinjuku.
I've known Old Sam for years since we were kids in Japanese Language School. He was a bit of a rabblerouser in those days although he has since mellowed considerably, but I was rather interested in what his wife was like. She's very calm and patient...perfect for him. In a way, she reminded me of Chip Guy's wife.
Old Sam finally showed up. It was just as well that he got to the hotel at 1:30 since we were also to wait for one other fellow. Fuji's a bit of my antithesis in terms of geography. Whilst I've been here for a decade, he had been living in Montreal and Toronto for 10 years. Very outgoing sort. When he got there, we took a walk up to the neighbourhood family restaurant, Jonathans, for a bit of lunch. Old Sam updated us on what was what in Toronto. It looks like Motormouth Mel is finally out; T.O. has got some sort of beefcake as the new Mayor.
Fuji had to take off a half-hour before we did because of an impending job interview but we did the exchange of phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Then we headed back to the hotel so that Sam and the missus could pick up their voluminous luggage. It was a bit of a climb down to the Kiba platform. I was worried that we would have to face the idiocy of my trip to the hotel, but the train was somewhat more spacious. Old Sam marveled at how I could stand living here for so many years; I guess I should pat myself on the back for my stamina. Anyways, the pair got off the train at Otemachi to head for Tokyo Station and then I just went straight ahead to my job at the company.
The class tonight went quite well. Even my lowest student was on all thrusters today although his fluency is still not all that high. And we even got into some sidetracking in Japanese about the wonders of Kiefer's opus, 24. The Iconoclast left a big box of stuff for me to take home. I decided to go on the instalment plan and take things home piecemeal. Once again after class, the Prez invited me out for dinner. This time the theme was yakiniku, otherwise known as Korean BBQ.
We took another taxi up to the Shin-Okubo area. This is the second time this year that I've been up there...the second of only two times that I've been up there in my decade in Tokyo. I've come to the conclusion that I was a bit too harsh in my assessment of the area as a den of iniquity. The main street at least comes off more as Dundas St. in downtown Chinatown. The place that the Prez took me to was called KOSHUEN, a very pricy and good BBQ place run by Koreans. According to the menu, the place has had some good exposure through the media. I could understand why...the food and service were excellent. The waitress brought the beer lickety-split and she even helped out cut up and cook the kalbi ribs. The Prez ordered a plate full of different cuts of beef which we proceeded to cook up and then wrap in individual leaves of lettuce with Korean miso and marinated onions. It couldn't be beat. However, I may have overindulged a bit by having him order a bibimbap, that concoction of rice, raw egg and many other ingredients all mixed up. With everything else, I was close to bursting. And since I had a bit of a headache, I was worried that I was going to end up laying some street pizza outside so I quickly reached for the Tylenol. But there wasn't anything to worry about.
The end result of going to Korean BBQ is that everyone on the train knows where one has been. My entire body was permeated with the smell of garlic, sauce and cooking beef. But I didn't care and neither should they. I got on the train and ended up sleeping off my headache for the 35-minute trip home. When my internal alarm clock alerted me one station before mine, I was feeling pretty refreshed inside with no more headache although I still smelled like dinner. Today was a truly rare day in that I didn't have to put anything down on my Excel expenditures under the Food category. Old Sam treated me at Jonathans and the Prez, of course, paid for my dinner. I did my token attempt at resisting his treat just to be polite, but I knew what the result would be. The bill was fairly hefty, too. 12,000 yen for two. Koshuen was a great place for dinner but if I were to take any of the students there, I would need a fairly sizable group.
I got home and immediately took a hot shower to sweat out that garlic oil. While I was doing my e-mail, I received a call from the Persian's friend. I had thought that she lost interest in contacting me after a few weeks went by. But she called up so she'll be coming over to my neck of the woods to see where the Persian used to live. Another incentive for me to clean up.
Tomorrow will be a busy day, the first truly busy day in several weeks. I've got my regular Tueday morning class, then I've got my class back at the school. It's been 2 months since I've taught a class there. And finally, I've got my juku classes in the evening.
Sunday, May 09, 2004
Sunday May 9, 8:49 p.m.
I was doing some of that prep work for the Curry Master. It involved me taking an article from The Daily Yomiuri and then clipping out key words for her as vocabulary to re-insert in the blank spots. The article I chose was on the gentrification of ramen, as it were, which reminded me of something that the Engineer and I saw at Shiodome last Monday.
There was a humoungus lineup at the NTV Plaza. That lineup led to a ramen store apparently manned by Japan's best ramen cook. I say apparently since when it comes to cuisine, I don't believe that the term "best" can be conceptualized in such a highly subjective field. One man's pate is another one's rotten liver. But I digress. Anyways, there was that huge lineup for this shop. Chip Guy once saw a similar situation at a very cheap kaiten sushi place in Shibuya. He just thought it and the people there ludicrous. He felt that noone should have to be that eager for food.
I would agree but the Japanese have that in-built sense of "gaman" or endurance. Also, the cooks of the various types of Japanese cuisine take their craft very seriously. For one thing, a lot of the restaurants serving Japanese cuisine only focus on one particular dish, whether it be tempura, sushi or sashimi. Why be a jack of all trades and a master of none when one could be a master of one? Perhaps back in the West, that joke of the fly in the soup is one of those recognizable foibles of restaurants but a restauranteur here would probably end up cutting his own belly at any hint of that in his place. So when a certain cook is given his due at being the best at something, that perks up a lot of ears and eyes which probably explains the lineups. However, since I don't have nearly that much patience just to wait for food and since I'm not a fussy eater, you'll never catch me doing that.
Now on a totally different topic, with all of my CDs stuffed into my shelving. it's pretty rare now for me to give a lot of repeat listenings to stuff. However, one of the few discs that I would be very willing to hear over and over again is THE NIGHTFLY by Donald Fagen. The DJ lent me his copy of it a few years back and I'd heard the first track, I.G.Y., often enough on radio in my youth. Not having heard it in several years, my ears were reminded of it when I.G.Y. was used as the commercial jingle for the Japanese ad for the IBM Thinkpad. Listening to the entire album was also quite a revelation. I realized that I'd always been more of a mellow sort when it came to music, so AOR was more my style. Well, The Nightfly is definitely an archetype of that genre. Not so gooey like some other AOR entries to make it unpalatable, the album still has that bit of variety swinging from the light reggae and optimism of that first track to jazz to latin to funk. And the album is not too long at 38 minutes, so I can listen to it in my futon before turning off the lights.
I was doing some of that prep work for the Curry Master. It involved me taking an article from The Daily Yomiuri and then clipping out key words for her as vocabulary to re-insert in the blank spots. The article I chose was on the gentrification of ramen, as it were, which reminded me of something that the Engineer and I saw at Shiodome last Monday.
There was a humoungus lineup at the NTV Plaza. That lineup led to a ramen store apparently manned by Japan's best ramen cook. I say apparently since when it comes to cuisine, I don't believe that the term "best" can be conceptualized in such a highly subjective field. One man's pate is another one's rotten liver. But I digress. Anyways, there was that huge lineup for this shop. Chip Guy once saw a similar situation at a very cheap kaiten sushi place in Shibuya. He just thought it and the people there ludicrous. He felt that noone should have to be that eager for food.
I would agree but the Japanese have that in-built sense of "gaman" or endurance. Also, the cooks of the various types of Japanese cuisine take their craft very seriously. For one thing, a lot of the restaurants serving Japanese cuisine only focus on one particular dish, whether it be tempura, sushi or sashimi. Why be a jack of all trades and a master of none when one could be a master of one? Perhaps back in the West, that joke of the fly in the soup is one of those recognizable foibles of restaurants but a restauranteur here would probably end up cutting his own belly at any hint of that in his place. So when a certain cook is given his due at being the best at something, that perks up a lot of ears and eyes which probably explains the lineups. However, since I don't have nearly that much patience just to wait for food and since I'm not a fussy eater, you'll never catch me doing that.
Now on a totally different topic, with all of my CDs stuffed into my shelving. it's pretty rare now for me to give a lot of repeat listenings to stuff. However, one of the few discs that I would be very willing to hear over and over again is THE NIGHTFLY by Donald Fagen. The DJ lent me his copy of it a few years back and I'd heard the first track, I.G.Y., often enough on radio in my youth. Not having heard it in several years, my ears were reminded of it when I.G.Y. was used as the commercial jingle for the Japanese ad for the IBM Thinkpad. Listening to the entire album was also quite a revelation. I realized that I'd always been more of a mellow sort when it came to music, so AOR was more my style. Well, The Nightfly is definitely an archetype of that genre. Not so gooey like some other AOR entries to make it unpalatable, the album still has that bit of variety swinging from the light reggae and optimism of that first track to jazz to latin to funk. And the album is not too long at 38 minutes, so I can listen to it in my futon before turning off the lights.
Sunday May 9, 5:03 p.m.
Came back after another huge brunch at Fujimamas with The Office Lady and Boop. As I suspected, the biscuits and gravy weren't the hit of the Plate. However, I think the ladies enjoyed the meal and the ambiance enough to warrant a future visit. All of us were pretty stuffed but we stopped by La Maison Du Chocolat on the main Omotesando strip. My Monday morning student introduced me to some delicious macaroons which came from there one lesson, so I decided to splurge the 2000 yen for 8 of them. The ladies liked them, but they only had room in their bellies for one each.
After a bit of walking around the Omotesando area for a few minutes and showing them some other potential future venues for food such as the Ku'Aina hamburger joint and the Comma Ca Cafe, we decided to take a respite at the Canadian version of Starbucks, BLENZ, just down from Kinokuniya Supermarket. Well, what was once the supermarket is now a huge hole in the ground since it's undergoing some major renovations. We gabbed there for well over 90 minutes about, among other things, the dishonesty of the school staff (what else is new?). Finally, we just walked down Omotesando again where we made our farewells at the crowded Harajuku Station. Sundays are usually packed there with all of the costumed teens milling about on Takeshita Avenue.
After getting back to my station, I decided I needed more walking to fully digest the meal so I went to the local Yamada electronics shop where I picked up a tape head cleaner. Yes, I gather that I'm probably the only one left in the country who would need such a thing in these days of DVDs, MDs and even the increasingly prehistoric CDs. But I'm still very much dealing with audio tapes. I was kinda thinking of investing in a cheap tape recorder but I figured that since I'll be heading for the school this week, I'll probably borrow one of the master tapes for the text over there and dub it onto another tape.
I got back home to find out that the Movie Buddy seems to have recovered fully from his cold to invite me out for something somewhere but since I am indeed home, I don't think I'll be taking him up on his offer. I've still not emptied out my stomach since the events of over 6 hours ago but I did buy a bit of dinner for later tonight. I'll probably be prepping for tomorrow's class and think about doing some work for the Curry Master's lesson on Thursday.
Came back after another huge brunch at Fujimamas with The Office Lady and Boop. As I suspected, the biscuits and gravy weren't the hit of the Plate. However, I think the ladies enjoyed the meal and the ambiance enough to warrant a future visit. All of us were pretty stuffed but we stopped by La Maison Du Chocolat on the main Omotesando strip. My Monday morning student introduced me to some delicious macaroons which came from there one lesson, so I decided to splurge the 2000 yen for 8 of them. The ladies liked them, but they only had room in their bellies for one each.
After a bit of walking around the Omotesando area for a few minutes and showing them some other potential future venues for food such as the Ku'Aina hamburger joint and the Comma Ca Cafe, we decided to take a respite at the Canadian version of Starbucks, BLENZ, just down from Kinokuniya Supermarket. Well, what was once the supermarket is now a huge hole in the ground since it's undergoing some major renovations. We gabbed there for well over 90 minutes about, among other things, the dishonesty of the school staff (what else is new?). Finally, we just walked down Omotesando again where we made our farewells at the crowded Harajuku Station. Sundays are usually packed there with all of the costumed teens milling about on Takeshita Avenue.
After getting back to my station, I decided I needed more walking to fully digest the meal so I went to the local Yamada electronics shop where I picked up a tape head cleaner. Yes, I gather that I'm probably the only one left in the country who would need such a thing in these days of DVDs, MDs and even the increasingly prehistoric CDs. But I'm still very much dealing with audio tapes. I was kinda thinking of investing in a cheap tape recorder but I figured that since I'll be heading for the school this week, I'll probably borrow one of the master tapes for the text over there and dub it onto another tape.
I got back home to find out that the Movie Buddy seems to have recovered fully from his cold to invite me out for something somewhere but since I am indeed home, I don't think I'll be taking him up on his offer. I've still not emptied out my stomach since the events of over 6 hours ago but I did buy a bit of dinner for later tonight. I'll probably be prepping for tomorrow's class and think about doing some work for the Curry Master's lesson on Thursday.