Friday November 27, 1:14 p.m.

Well, I'm 2 for 2 in the model lessons. Scored my newest student earlier this morning. The Do-Gooder is a middle-aged lady who would be just at home with The Beehive. She's fluent although not perfect and likes to absorb vocabulary. Went through the whole gamut with her and got the good word from Ray who was handling the deal.

So I treated myself to one of those calorie-laden bento for the almost obscene price of 400 yen and am enjoying a bit of Internet before I head on out to Nakano Broadway.

Looks like that Speedy bonenkai is a bit low on attendance so far. So far, we've got just some of the Grandmas and a handful; at this point, the staff outnumber the students.

Friday November 27, 9:19 a.m.

Back at the office to take care of a lone model lesson in about an hour. The bossman reminded me that I needn't have to go to the regular text for the model, so I've set food as my theme and will have the student go through the hoops with count/non-count, imperatives and tastes & textures as the tools.

Looks like my weekend will be entering Holiday mode even before December arrives. On Saturday, I'm going to the house of my old university friend, Seiko-chan, for a nabe party. I had gone there much earlier in the year in a driving rain so I'm hoping that the weather will be a whole lot more cooperative.

Then, I'm supposed to be going to the apartment of my former student, Miss Honolulu, on Sunday in Shinagawa for some sort of party. Not sure if she had invited any other former student from Speedy's, but at this point, I'm assuming that I'll be going in without knowing anyone there...never a favorite time for me. Speedy and his missus will be coming but some hours later. I kinda feel like I'm going in as the entertainment.

I've got double lessons with the juku students, The Ace & The Restauranteur, tonight since I have to make up lessons in December due to my vacation back home. Still, I'll have a lot of free time between the end of the model lesson and their lessons, so I may just drop into Nakano Broadway one last time for the year and see if there are any bargain-basement CDs to be had.

Thursday November 26, 8:25 p.m.

End to a rather steady day. Finished up with the Sisters of State. Neither met the other in passing...since there were 20 minutes between the departure of the New Yorker and the arrival of the Carolinan. The bossman remarked that my scribblings on the whiteboards for both sisters were markedly different in terms of vocabulary level. That's a bit of an understatement.

Just about ready to head on home but I don't particularly want to hit smack dab into the second major rush hour so I may decide to stay another hour or so as nuts as that may sound. Even more nuts is that I may have to have another dinner at the Golden Arches since I'm not that all that enthused about the other choices out there.

I've got that model lesson student tomorrow morning. She's an older woman and perhaps somewhat less challenging than The Toughie yesterday afternoon. Still, such thinking can lull me into a false sense of security. I'll have to brush up on that.

Thursday November 26, 3:26 p.m.

I've still got The Sisters of State to teach in about 90 minutes but I'm already feeling rather knackered after having both Grandma FON and then Grandma Dynamite. Both of them are back in form...just prattling away at warp speed. Even Ray and La Fille have also tasted the mighty speed of their tongues on the phone when the grannies have made their appointments. Most of the Grandmas are coming to the party on the 6th...FON is still an uncertain, but Grandma Enka is a definite out since her husband is of the old school which means that she must accompany him to his own bonenkai.

Yup, that is indeed the display case at a Krispy Kreme branch...the one in Shibuya right inside the theater complex...a stroke of genius. MB, Skippy, The Bride and I went there after "Inglorious Basterds" to grab some donuts, especially since MB had never had one of those cholesterol bombs before. The place was crowded but only because it had collected the group coming from the movie. Actually, those days of 2-hour-long lineups are now largely gone, even at the No. 1 branch in Shinjuku. People still have to line up but these are much more reasonable now. It's hard to believe that we're approaching the 3rd anniversary since this dying franchise limped into Japan and basically regenerated like Doctor Who to become this wildly successful behemoth.

I've been faithfully listening to Xmas music, both Western and Japanese. The one that I've been putting on heavy rotation is "Christmas Carol no koro ni wa" (Around The Time of the Christmas Carols) by AOR crooner Jun'ichi Inagaki. He shares a point with another J-Pop legend, Tatsuro Yamashita, in that both singers are probably more on the summery side of AOR and yet their most famous tunes are Xmas-y in nature. Unlike a lot of the J-Pop Xmas tunes, it isn't a ballad at all; instead it is this rather driving tune which seems incongruous with its original purpose of being the main theme for a trendy drama of nearly 2 decades back called "Homework" which has been shown on reruns recently on the cable version of TBS. I saw the opening credits of the drama and it has the tune playing while the main characters are cavorting as either university students or shinjinrui in distinctly non-Xmas weather. I think the tune is far more suited for some sort of action series taking place during the Yuletide....a Japanese "Die Hard" perhaps.

Wednesday November 25, 9:14 p.m.

Yeah, might seem a month early for Xmas for this sort of menu, but this was actually for Thanksgiving. Yep, this is the high cholesterol dinner I had back on Sunday at the Roppongi Hard Rock Cafe. It was a bit of a contest to get all this down with coffee and cola but I succeeded if barely.

Well, that model lesson with Toughie was a success since I am using her code name here. And yep, as a president of her own consulting company, she had the demeanor of a friendly but pretty fierce lady. I told her so which surprised (and I suspect, delighted) the lass. In any case, she's on board but I won't have her first lesson until the New Year, which suits me fine.

001 was quite a nice person to come home to (slangily speaking of course) after getting through that model lesson. Lots of fun as usual.

I'm just about ready to call it quits for the day. Tomorrow, Grandma Dynamite has shifted her lesson over to the afternoon which means I can still get up at a rather decent time. I've also Grandma FON and then The Sisters of State. I asked the elder sister, The Carolinan, whether she and her sibling would like to go to Hard Rock Cafe in Roppongi for that Thanksgiving dinner since they're both birthday purveyors of the place but she politely declined. I already had my fill of the stuff so I'm OK.

Wednesday November 25, 3:34 p.m.

The bad karma continues to hang over us like a low cloud. We still haven't found that rogue text. I even made a flash visit to Kinokuniya over in Shinjuku to see if I could just buy it there, but true to today's luck, of all of the various books in the series, that text was the only one sold out. So, basically, all I got out of it was just a good 40-minute workout.

Wednesday November 25, 1:30 p.m.

Could be that some bad karma has landed on my circumstances. I'd suspected something was up existentially when I found out that I'd forgotten to pay my gas bill (2 weeks overdue); there was one other thing but can't quite remember. Now I find out from the bossman that one of the texts for that big model lesson later today is missing. Not that it is a huge disaster, but it would've been nice to consult before the prospective student comes in.

Then I found out over lunch from the bossman that that needed extra funding from The Patent Attorney has fallen through since it looks like his company has also been in the doldrums. So, it may be possible that I might be coming back from Canada to an empty school. Such is life.

Wednesday November 25, 11:14 a.m.

A month before Xmas...and there is a Hump Day here at Speedy's, although it's not necessarily mine. True, I have a rather important model lesson with a president of some sort of media company later this afternoon but it's just her and then 001. The Hump Day really lies with everyone else here since the bossman is swamped with counseling sessions. He even asked me to take Grandma Enka's lesson in 15 minutes since he needs the extra time to head to the bank. I think all of us will have to be a little extra nice to him, lest he implodes by the end of the day.

Usually when I head over to the station from home, I walk along the street that's filled with the bars. In recent years, there was some sort of attempt to make it a little more family-oriented, via the appearance of a cafe/playroom for the toddler set. It was ironically built just across from a hostess bar (Dad goes this way, the wife and kids go the other), and I would often see the kids just playing around in the indoor jungle gym while the mothers would have a respite at the cafeteria tables chatting away. I thought it was a good idea, especially in these uncertain times when the outdoor playgrounds have attracted their fair share of paedophiles and psychos. Unfortunately, in the past month, it has become apparent that the project has come to an abrupt end. Some weeks ago, the place was empty again with a telephone number asking for any potential tenants. However, the boxing gym next to it still seems to be doing quite well.

Tuesday November 24, 1:07 p.m.

Been a while.

On Saturday, I met up with Skippy, and another former student, The Bridesmaid in Shibuya. We had dinner at a small burger joint called Pakutsch...sounds Russian, but I think it's a riff on the Japanese sound of popping in a burger in one's mouth. Their Pakutsch burger wasn't too bad on either the palate or the wallet. Skippy is apparently finishing up her time at her latest company after 18 months; she's given up on dealing with her boss. I can understand her feelings completely after my 7 years at the ol' school. Skippy should be fine, though; she always seems to land on her feet even in these financially troubled times.

MB, our fourth, was late in coming from that speech contest of his so he missed out on the burgers but made it for our viewing of "Inglorioius Basterds" (gee, did I misspell it correctly?) at the nearby theatre. As I recall, "Kill Bill" didn't exactly get the greatest reaction from the locals here since parody/satire don't travel particularly well overseas to Japan, so I wasn't sure what this film was gonna be like. As far I was concerned, all the hype surrounding Quentin's latest was surrounding the fact that Brad Pitt was in it.

As it was, "Inglorious Basterds" was pure Tarentino....a lot of chatter conservatively interspersed with brief moments of ultraviolence and, of course, a scene involving a woman's foot....this time, the IT girl was Diane Kruger. That one scene in the basement bar almost got me to the breaking point of boredom before the shootout finally got under way. I was virtually begging for another scalping scene. Brad Pitt was fun to watch and listen to as Lt. Aldo Ray, and Eli Roth just looked like Zachary Quinto's younger and more evil brother. However, it was the fellow who played Colonel Landa who got my attention. It says something when the villain is the most charming character in the movie. All in all, not a bad movie, and MB could finally say that he was actually could like this film...one of only two or three he liked all year.

Back in my days in Canada, I could always look forward to turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not anymore. Even my forays back home over The Holidays are now pretty much turkey-less. For one thing, my mother isn't exactly in the mood to cook up a roast due to age, and my sister-in-law is simply not a turkey fan. So I'm out of luck....at least in The Great White North. However, I have options in Roppongi...namely the Hard Rock Cafe. I went there on Sunday since they have an American Thanksgiving dinner deal during this week. So a typically gray gloomy afternoon, I went over to HRC and got my annual shichimencho fix. The waitress told me that I would have to wait 20 minutes. Heck, no problem....I've been waiting nearly 2 years.

So what did I get for my 1800 yen? I got three huge slices of seasoned roast turkey with veggies, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. The piece de resistance was plentiful gravy poured into the "cup" of mashed potatoes and all over the slices. In other words, I was quite satisfied. In fact, in the three forays I've made for restaurant-based turkey dinners in The Big Sushi, Hard Rock Cafe was the most inexpensive and the best. ROTI was just too expensive to enjoy (I think the chefs must've enjoyed what I paid on their own turkey dinners), and I still sting from that lousy greeting that I got from the hostess at the erstwhile Fujimamas a few years ago. I was fairly full from the meal...and this was without any rolls...but I took a chance on having dessert. And it was a big-ass apple cobbler. I almost felt like Mr. Creosote from that Monty Python movie by the end of my epic meal...should've held off. I certainly didn't need to eat anything more for the rest of that Sunday.

While I lay on my sofa like a roast turkey on that Sunday, I ended up watching my DVD of "Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels", one of the best comedies I've seen in the last half-century. Not easy to imagine Sir Michael Caine being totally comedic these days, especially his latest role as a geriatric Charles Bronson in "Harry Brown", but he did great funny with Steve Martin 2 decades ago.

Yesterday, I had my lessons at The Jyuppies...the last ones for the year and the last ones with them in soon-to-be former home. They'll be moving in December to Futako-Tamagawa. Some regret from them since they were so close to one of the best parks in the Kanto...Komazawa Park, but at least in their new residence, they'll be right next to the station so that Mr. Jyuppie can reduce his commute considerably.

Started my day early with Cozy. He'll be getting ready for his mini-marathon on Sunday. He seems pretty confident since he eats 10 km for breakfast. Then, I was off to see The Beehive. The ladies will be heading on a short jaunt through Hokkaido from tomorrow, which will mean meeting Mrs. Perth in Sapporo halfway through the tour. I've got The Milds later tonight.

Friday November 20, 2:11 p.m.

Well, had a good session with The Bass in terms of the new text. We're going rather analog with some old News Tapes stuff...so the next 6 months should be in check. The Bass is good that way; he's straight with what he wants but he's nice about it.

Had lunch at the Burger King across from JR Funabashi. I saw yet another foreigner behind the counter speaking very fluent Japanese while taking my order. Not that I mind it at all, but I also saw a Eastern European woman and a South Asian man doing the same thing back on Monday morning at McDonalds. It's amazing how things have changed in 15 years.

The Doctor Who community on Mixi has seen a considerable uptick in activity since David Tennant's 3rd-last episode in his tenure as The Tenth Doctor was shown a couple of days ago. Apparently, it's a pretty significant ep since it basically shows the good Doctor having a nervous breakdown, or the Time Lord equivalent of it. My DW friend and I had a good talk about what's to happen in the next few months for this programme.

Seems like the Japanese Miss Universe contestant has entered the world of Paris Hilton and Rob Lowe with her own sex tape with one other contestant and her boyfriend. Well, that is so 1990s. That woman from "Ugly Betty" beat her to the punch years ago when she was in the Miss America pageant.

Thursday November 19, 8:57 p.m.

An off-kilter day, all in all. The Nurse was fine...told me about all that all-you-can-eat tempura restaurant that she and her hubby had gone to a few weeks ago. I'll have to remember Tenta for future reference. However, things started going a bit pear-shaped when Grandma FON missed half the lesson since she had some sudden errands that needed to get done.

Had lunch at that Chinese eatery in the basement of the Maynds Tower for the first time in a while. Glad to see that the 950 yen for their lunch specials is still holding. Went upstairs to the Starbucks where I taught The Bow. Looks like she'll be staying with Dyson a little while longer than expected since her supervisor continues to need a stable hand while the company goes through a bit of turmoil with the delayed launch of their bladeless fan.

There was some further offing to my kilter in Ichigaya when I taught The New Yorker. She was rather out to lunch on the homework, and it didn't help that even the 5 o'clock slot had the Tully's crowded to the gills with folks. I was feeling a bit down at the fact that I've been teaching this one for close to 5 years and yet she can't pull together decent questions and answers. But the real disappointment came with Mr. TOEIC tonight. There's nothing more depressing when a student comes raring to go and then finds out that he flunked his test. That smile disappeared in a hurry, so I had to ease him down gently although I could still feel some tension from him at the end. Ironic since 24 hours earlier, The Music Man had just scored a perfect mark on his test.

Well, I'm done for the day but La Fille has some work that she has to get done, and since I'm the only one with the keys. I wasn't planning to head out immediately anyways since the evening rush hour is still going on.

The tough part will continue tomorrow with The Bass since we've completed the last text and we have to come up with a new curriculum. He still wants to work on Listening although since his lessons are cafe-based, it's not easy.

Thursday November 19, 9:11 a.m.

It's definitely looking like November out there today. Overcast, cold and gloomy...reminds me of a Toronto November day. But at least, they can get The Santa Claus Parade over there.

Fairly heavy lineup today. I've got The Nurse, Grandma FON and Mr. TOEIC here at Speedy's while I have to go outbound for The Bow and The New Yorker at two different cafes. I will definitely need my sleep tonight. However, there's always a chance that Mr. TOEIC could cancel out at the last minute, but even if he doesn't, I get to finish at 8:30 instead of last night's 11 p.m.

My entry on Xmas in Mixi certainly got a lot of happy responses from folks. I guess the Japanese are very sentimental about their adopted holiday. I always aims to please. Speaking of the Yuletide in Tokyo, I just read that after an absence of 11 years, Xmas illumination will be returning to Omotesando, which would be a real surprise since the reason that it had been taken down was that the humongous crowds just made it unbearable for the residents who actually lived there. I could understand their feeling. In my first Xmas in Tokyo in 1994, I went down with Chip Guy on Xmas Eve to see what all the fuss was about on Tokyo's widest promenade. Well, the fuss included thousands of young couples being herded down Omotesando like cattle to a slaughterhouse. And it was just as romantic. The cops were yelling at everyone to move along while Chip Guy and I were trapped in a sea of youth. Oh, so this is Christmas in the world's largest city. And of course, being December 24th, finding a restaurant to have dinner was kinda like finding a snowflake in a desert...pretty next to impossible. After creeping down the avenue for 45 minutes (the usual walk would have taken 10), we had to settle for hamburgers at the local Lotteria. Not quite sure what the return of Xmas lights to Omotesando will signify.

Wednesday November 18, 2:11 p.m.

It's been a relatively peaceful couple of days so far. My session with The Beehive yesterday was enhanced by Cozy's food analyst magazines. One of the features was on how to talk about sushi in English. The ladies mopped up on that vocabulary.

The rather fuzzy shot on the left is that of the LED-led Xmas illumination infiltrating Shinjuku. These rather electric blue trees can be found just across from Krispy Kreme #1. There was a 10-minute waiting line outside of the donut shop. Nothing says "Merry Xmas" more than loading up on empty calories.

As has been the case for the past few weeks, it was just The Milds at the juku last night. The boss told me that she had spoken to Mr. White's wife and that it was agreed that Mr. White will just take the rest of the year off to recuperate as best he can before he gives me another go. I can agree with that. As for The Milds, it was definitely Mr. Mild's show last night since he was rattling some of his diary at me followed by my giving him a copy of the Eiken 3 test and then lending him my book of idioms. He was looking at the book with an equal sense of wonder and dread...I guess awe would be the best word here.

The weather has finally gotten sunny after a few days of cold rain. I think the temperature only needed to go down a few more degrees before the whole thing would transform into a blizzard. And despite the fine day, the high is only gonna be around 14 today. That's pretty chilly for Tokyo.

I just have 001 and The Music Man, but I've been pretty busy with a bunch of errands. First off, I sent out some letters to some of my nengajo tomodachi....those "friends" who only make contact through the annual New Year's cards. As per custom whenever a relative passes on, I have to alert everyone that I won't be sending any cards and that the tomodachi should also refrain from sending any to me, lest bad karma hits all concerned. At the same time, I also finally got down to town on what to do about my mail during my absence. Since I no longer wanted to impose on folks like The Milds and the juku boss to pick up my mail over the Holidays, I checked with the neighbourhood post office. Fortunately, the night before, the boss was kind enough to write down what I should request for. And sure enough, I found out that Japan Post can actually hold mail for up to a month. All I had to do was fill out a form with just my name, address and the duration of my absence and that was all she wrote. Too easy! The postmaster there also asked me for some ID...he seemed a bit stern but that was understandable; it would be his head if there were any illegalities committed.

I headed over to Oazo in Otemachi once more. I had my pho at Com Pho. Found out that the place opened right from 9 a.m. Apparently, the salaried class around Tokyo Station don't mind searing their insides in the morning. I had the Spicy Pho with some added hot sauce. It didn't kill me but my mouth was rather numb for an hour or so. I got an early start to lunch at about 11, which was good since by noon, there was a sizable lineup outside the place.

I also went back into Maruzen to see if I could find a Listening-based book for The Bass. Found plenty of texts but nothing that would really challenge him. He was able to handle the intermediate stuff in his last text fairly well although he needed a few passes on the CD, but the material I found would just be insulting to him.

Then, it was one station over to Nihombashi to get a food gift for my newest Mixi friend. He had been kind enough to send over a burned CD of some Xmas music by Ruiko Kurahashi all the way back from 1991. Well, I couldn't just let that go unrewarded so I went into the depachika of Takashimaya and searched for something appropriate. I didn't want to overwhelm him by getting a 4,000-yen box of chocolates or a bottle of wine...when exchanging gifts in this country, parity is very important. So I got him a 1,000-yen bag of Shiseido Xmas chocolates and had it sent out by Yamato Express right from the booth. The Mixi friend left his return address on the envelope that the CD had come in, but I had to look up the postal number. Otherwise, it was clear sailing.

And looks like the Xmas party is a go with the Speedy bunch. It's gonna be held at a restaurant called Ken's Cafe in Shinjuku. According to the website, it looks pretty trendy and there is a not-unreasonable set.

Monday November 16, 7:01 p.m.

Yes, Xmas is in the air...or in the retail areas of Tokyo, at least. This tree is in the Oazo Mall just across from Tokyo Station. Japan is very much into the Xmas spirit. The nighttime illumination is also out in force in Shinjuku.

Yesterday, I had the second half of one of my MB weekends in Jiyugaoka. MB, me and The Sylph had breakfast in a new place called Cafe Copenhagen. Nice breakfast set: coffee, bagel with butter, and homemade yogurt with honey and nuts. I also had one of their slices of apple pie to seal the deal. It would've been perfect if only The Sylph and MB didn't get into an argument in front of me (to be accurate, The Sylph sniffily chewed MB out about something stupidly silly...the usual couple idiocies...you can see my views on marriage have remained unchanged). But the storm quickly dissipated as soon as it had appeared.

While The Sylph went out to meet her friends for lunch, MB and I just doodled around on his latest game purchase, Marvel Alliance II. I don't get to play games much so it was nice getting out some stress by doing some whup-ass as Ironman and Daredevil. Then, the two of us went over one station to Den'en-Chofu to try out a new culinary discovery called Katsukyu, a tonkatsu restaurant. Not exactly cheap at 2,400 yen but the hirekatsu set was very tasty and plentiful. Usually hire katsu is pretty lean and therefore there is a possibility of getting something a little too dry, but this one came out pretty juicy for a hire...almost ranked in as a rosu. And the de rigueur miso soup was made with aka (red) miso, always a sign of class in such an establishment. The two of us basically waddled our way back to the apartment. It was then another round of Marvel Alliance before I headed back home.

It was another early wake-up call this morning since I had Cozy in Toyocho. At the end of the lesson, he was kind enough to give me some of his food analyst magazines. Yep, you heard me. There are such people around...people who undergo through seminar-based training and restaurant-based experience to get qualification as food analysts. According to one of the magazines, these folks can help out in anything from food design to cuisine blogs and secret supermarket inspections. TV personality tarento Kaoru Manabe is the celeb representative; I usually see her hawking zit cream on TV. If her food credentials include chocolate ingesting, then she truly is a shrewd operator. In any case, Cozy's contribution goes back to our dinner with the juku boss a couple of months ago when he noticed me taking pictures of the dishes. Frankly, though I do like cuisine, I'm not sure if I would go the lengths to become a food analyst to know that I like the stuff.

Now, on another topic, I went down to that huge post office across from Tokyo Station to see if I could get some questions answered about Japan Post being able to hold onto my mail during my absence over the Holidays...only to find out that the big building is under demolition. Well, I guess I'll have to do more investigating via Internet then. I did some further walking around Ginza and then lunch before I headed to see SIL. SIL and I had a bonanza of stuff to talk about since last week was chock-full of news: Obama, Ichihashi, Akihito, etc. I think amongst all of my students, SIL is probably the most in-tune when it comes to Japanese pop culture, quite something considering that she's in her mid-50s, but then again a lot of her knowledge is based in the 60s/70s/80s, also my era.

...which reminds me when I was browsing around in the DVD area of Yamano Music. Recently, the various TV stations have been releasing box sets of some of the old shows. I came across a new set of a variety show that I'd watched pretty religiously 20 years back. The program, "Yamada Katsutenai Terebi", featured Kuniko Yamada, back then the Queen of Variety. The lantern-jawed comedienne was basically the Carol Burnett of Japan, and every Wednesday night on Fuji-TV back during my Gunma days, I turned on the telly at 9 p.m. to watch her and her Vicki, Lyle, Tim and Harvey....otherwise known as tarento Toru Watanabe, Hiroko Moriguchi, Hikaru Nishida and Tsutomu Sekine (the last one still quite active and now with a daughter, Mari, becoming a familiar face on contemporary primetime), horse about and showcasing some of the now-natsukashii singers who were hitting the top of the pops: Kan and Mariko Nagai. I feel rather tempted in getting the box set but, of course, 10,000 yen has to give me pause.

After SIL, I went over to Shinjuku to pick up the latest issue of "Hikaru no Go" at Kinokuniya and then browse around for a potential replacement text for The Bass. When I made my purchase, I found out that the bookstore has finally gotten onto the point card bandwagon. Sure enough, outside, there was plenty of LED Xmas illumination all over South Shinjuku.

Got over to Speedy's. The bossman finally got the Xmas party set for December 6th, a rare Sunday at a place called Ken's Cafe in Shinjuku. He and the missus tried to get in to check the place out but it had already been rented out for a wedding party. Perhaps a good sign.

Also found out that the last weekend of the month will be a very social one. On the 28th, I'm heading to a nabe party at the house of my old university friend, The Socialite, and then the next day, I've been invited indirectly by a probably-former student, Ms. Honolulu, to her apartment in Shinagawa. Apparently, my reputation has preceded me...Mrs. Speedy told me that Ms. Honolulu wants me to come over as early as possible to entertain her friends with my comedic regaling. Ay, ya!

I've got Medicine Man in a couple of hours. I just don't know what to do with that guy. Told me last class, he really doesn't want to talk about himself in class. Sheesh...why bother learning English then?

Sunday November 15, 1:23 a.m.

Went down to Shinjuku to meet up with MB, The Sylph and Frodo at the Picadilly. It'd been a while since we all met for a movie. And the movie was "Push", an emo-"X-Men" with Chris Evans (formerly the Human Torch from "The Fantastic Four") and a snarly, sweary Dakota Fanning (I guess this is her debut into more mature roles...just wish it had been in a better movie). Afterwards, the four of us agreed that it was a nice try with an interesting idea, but the execution didn't quite take. Although I liked the fact that it was entirely filmed on location in Hong Kong, the movie didn't move so much as it shuffled along like a sullen teenage slacker going to detention. The end was just telegraphing sequel but most likely if there is one, it'll be straight to DVD and most likely without any of the major lead actors.

We ended up having dinner at Erewan, a Thai restaurant chain in Shinjuku. The food was great, including one searingly hot plate of ground chicken and spices. The service was a bit inept but I gather that the waitresses were new, and they looked like they were trying hard.

The commute over to MB's place was typically packed on both the Yamanote and Toyoko Lines, but it is a tribute to Japanese society that despite the sardine-like nature of the subways, getting on and off was very smooth.

Everyone seemed pretty beat tonight....I guess dealing with a mediocre movie and very spicy & filling food conked just about everyone out. I'm the only guy still up but I'll be getting my shower and hitting the hay within the hour.

Saturday November 14, 2:09 p.m.

Hard to believe that we've already reached the middle of the penultimate month of the year. It's starting to feel quite wintry with the drop in temperatures.

Just had The Publicity Assistant right now. She hasn't been too busy as of late. She's always quite a good conversationalist. Found out that she was once in the top 10 one year amongst all elementary school students in Japan for her calligraphy.

Well, the most famous African-American in the world arrived in Tokyo without a whole lot of fanfare, but then the weather last night just didn't make it too hospitable for the folks to come out and greet him. Then again, it was all business with Barack Obama...no handshaking lines, no dinner outings to Ten-Ichi. He is here for another 24 hours before he takes off for Singapore tomorrow. It's a bit weird since PM Hatoyama has already left for the APEC meetings there. But on the off chance that he may drop into Shinjuku tonight, I have my digital camera ready to go.

Yup, after my lesson with The Businesswoman in 45 minutes, I'll be meeting with MB later tonight to catch "Push", which would be the poor-man's "X-Men". The rather harsh reviewer for METROPOLIS actually gave the flick a guarded thumbs-up, so as long as I don't have any high expectations, I shouldn't be too disappointed. And it'll be another MB weekend at his place; it's been a while.

I listened to that "Christmas Portrait" with The Carpenters. I bought it since I'd heard one track of it, "Merry Christmas, Darling" on one of their best compilations. The album itself wasn't too bad, but I think I have to be even more into the Xmas spirit to really appreciate it. The arrangement just seemed a bit too treacly for me....a bit on the DeVol side of things.

Friday November 13, 1:24 p.m.

Well, the witching day is here. A ferry turns 45 degrees the wrong way off the Pacific coast, and I go nuts on the purchases. Hopefully, the President has no problems on Air Force One. He should be arriving within the next few hours.

I picked up my new gaijin card...or should I be more politically correct and say Alien Registration Card? I feel like an immigrant from off-planet at MIB HQ whenever I say that. I went over to the branch office and sure enough, the reject from GLAY was there to take care of me. My card is now off-white with a few holo-stamps on it; my photo still screams "Do not approach...extremely dangerous!"

As I headed down to Shibuya, I did notice the increased presence of cops there. There were two officers on the platform at Shibuya Station, one on that yellow block as is often the case, as if he were saying loudly "I'M ON DUTY NOW!" And as I was heading up to Tower Records, three cops were encircling an ordinary woman; looks like she was getting the 3rd degree since she was hurriedly unloading an orange duffel bag in front of them. I couldn't imagine what kind of offensive weapons she could've been carrying....used tampons?

At Tower Records, I'm sure the staff was quite happy with me. I bought a couple of discs there, which positively screamed "ARAFO!" which is the Japlish transcription of "Around 40". One was an old Mariya Takeuchi album "Variety" from 1984 which has one of my favourite J-AOR songs, "Plastic Love" (yeah, no snickering). The other one is The Carpenters' Xmas album since that mood is starting to drop in on me like Pon Farr onto a Vulcan. But what increased my bill was finding the latest in the "The Original Peanuts" series on the shelf on the 7th floor.

After grabbing lunch at The Golden Arches, I just got onto the bus from Shibuya Station and headed back up to here at Speedy's. I've only got Miss Prissy here today and then I'll be heading on home before the juku classes.

It's definitely feeling a whole lot more like Winter now. There is that overcast gloominess to the sky while everyone is putting on the coats and scarves. It looks like the clouds may just unload some of the dry, fluffy stuff right on us.

Thursday November 12, 10:47 p.m.

Opened the place up this morning and now I'll be closing everything up tonight. Long day. But I got The Music Man through his review more or less intact and I'll be out the door in about 5 minutes.

Gotta head to the City Hall branch office in Gyotoku tomorrow morning to pick up my new gaijin card. I kinda wonder if that GLAY band member will be handling me as well. I'll have to say hello to Mr. Ichihashi.

I don't know how the traffic will be like tomorrow with all that security roaming the city in preparation for Barack Obama's arrival into town. I'm sure the morning wide shows will be having their full court press on the visit.

Thursday November 12, 8:29 p.m.

Just digesting my dinner (which included a wedge of Camembert on a Cracotte...thank heavens for the generosity of our senior students) before The Music Man comes in about 45 minutes. I guess it's been another long whole day here at Speedy's. Won't be nearly as present here tomorrow since I only have Miss Prissy in the afternoon, but I do have the juku folks since it will be Friday.

I had The Carolinan a couple of hours earlier. She told me that there was a definite heightened presence of the police everywhere in Tokyo, so I guess things are now in preparation for President Obama's visit tomorrow. The official celebration for The Emperor's and Empress' anniversary was held earlier in the afternoon. As for Obama, The Carolinan and I were speculating on where he and Michelle would be staying. The venerable Hotel Okura is one option since it is literally next door to the fortress known as the U.S. Embassy; the other place is the Akasaka Palace which was designed after one of the palaces in France. Wherever they stay, there'll be another media scrum although nothing compared to the bedlam that surrounded the arrest of Tatsuya Ichihashi a couple of nights ago. It may be the only time in Obama's presidency that Barack would be upstaged by a 30-year-old sociopath.

Thursday November 12, 5:20 p.m.

May have encountered some controversy on the "Star Trek" Mixi community via a question I posted. I realize that it was a bit of a fantastical question and the answer that I got was skeptical but polite so I'm not too worried yet. Ironically, I thought that that community would be the most welcoming but it seems that I've been getting the cold shoulder there for some reason. Some of the other communities have been quite good to me. However, after over 6 months being active on Mixi, I have to realize that when on a social networking site, it won't always be goodness and light all the time. Hopefully, I won't be getting any Channel 2 flame wars.