August 23, 11:50 p.m.

The summer is definitely back....regrettably. It was over 30 by 9 a.m. this morning, and we hit a good 34.2 degrees by the afternoon. Those unbelievable days of coolness are just increasingly fading memories now. Maybe the only good thing was that I may have lost a kilogram or so through sweat.

After my kids today, I went over to Nakano to meet my newest student. But since I had a couple of hours before the meeting, I decided to take a look at the malls. One of the oldest ones in Tokyo also carries a great deal of anime stores run by the huge Mandarake group. However, I was a bit disappointed that there was only one staffperson in a costume. But the otakus were there in full force. I was surprised to see a number of Star Trek starship models on display.

At about 4, I met Movie Buddy's friend at the station. By that point, I was feeling pretty drenched. We went over to the shop where she worked, a dive shop with a cafe on the second floor. Looks like unlike the others, she has set a time limit on her time with me: about 3 to 6 months, which suits me fine. And also unlike the others, I will probably be doing a lot of picking and choosing from various texts to concoct my materials for her.

After about 90 minutes, I made it back to the station; the temps cooled down to a relatively chilly 30. Happily, the train went in a straight line back to my home, so I could actually get some shuteye on the way. If there is one thing I'll miss about this country if I do decide to leave it, it will be the ability to sleep on the subway. I find myself doing it without hesitation on the long hauls home. It might be age creeping up with me, but I don't really care. Considering I don't get that much sleep overnight anyways, I consider that time on the subway as quality.

Well, I've been able to relax for a number of hours now, but I will have to catch shuteye once more since I've got another Movie Buddy day tomorrow. This second outing will be a larger group with two more teachers and an extra person to add. I made reservations at a Polynesian restaurant in Shinjuku to ensure that we have a place that can hold all of us.

August 22

Today was one of those lazy days of summer. After a regular class with the oil company, I had 7 hours of nothing before my English circle with a lone person. So, after lunch, I caught up with that lady who had been in New York when the blackout hit. She took it in stride, staying at her friend's house in New Jersey at the time.

Then, it was just a number of hours with one of the ancient computers in the school playing Hearts and Solitaire, a most appropriate game. I even had time to give it a bit of a maintenance check. Afterwards, I decided to indulge at the nearby Chinese restaurant and had a champon, that Nagasaki noodle delicacy with pork bone stock. It was interesting being the lone eater in the restaurant with ol' 80s music playing in the background while I slurped down the soup.

Finally, I spent an hour at the cafe waiting for my student, doing my crosswords, before she came. Luckily, we were able to gab animatedly on musicals and movies before calling it a night. Tomorrow will be another round with the doctor's kids and then....hopefully....I will finally meet up with Movie Buddy's friend after a couple of aborted attempts.

August 21

Well, the summer is back. I had to put on the air con right now. By Saturday, I should be praying for cooler weather once more.

Feeling pretty tired after doing just one 3-hour class, a leisurely lunch, a shopping trip for textbooks, and then the class with my force-of-nature student. I think most of myfatigue came from dealing with her. I was able to get some shuteye on the subway home, though.

Looks like I'm appreciating my new work life more and more as I hear more of the gripes from the remaining full-timers. Two of the milder teachers were even getting riled up over the various scheduling errors. One of them was supposed to have had a powwow with the big boss this afternoon. I wonder if there could be repercussions. I remember my tete-a-tete with the big boss was fairly laughable.

August 19, 11:31 p.m.

I've just sent off an e-birthday card to my ex. She hasn't maintained any contact with me for a few weeks now, but I still just wanted to let her know I care. Also on the bittersweet side, that student whom I was having an almost nightly e-mail dialogue with, hasn't sent me any messages in the last couple of nights. I'm just kinda wondering if I scared her off. I mean, Idid give some examples of flirtations to her to see how much she was interested, but I guess I may have already gone overboard. SIGH! And just when I wanted to have a female friend, too....

My little plainitve wail doesn't compare to the current situation in Iraq. Now, the UN gets attacked. How far will this battle go?

August 19

The weather has started to resemble a bit more like August. Still not blazingly hot but warm enough to require my handkerchief for brow-wiping, and a mentholated handy-wipe to erase some of the sweat later in the evening.

It was one of those lazy Mondays. My rich clients aren't back online until next week, so I had nothing until 9 tonight. I just went over to the Grill for lunch...and might I say that it's starting to go into an increasingly downward spiral in terms of the lunch menu. The various meats were all either too greasy or bland, and the desserts were barely there. Looks like the owner is saving up the good stuff for the dinner crowd.

Then, after lunch, I spent the next hour or so looking through yet another monolithic commercial complex just a stone's throw away from the Grill, the Shiodome/NTV Center. This time, it isn't just one huge massive building like Roppongi Hills but three...count 'em three....behemoths of glass and steel: the Shiodome Centre, the new NTV complex and the HQ of the world's largest advertising firm, Dentsu. What used to be a decrepit bunch of buildings and empty lots has now become a very sleek and smooth futuristic nexus of activity. As it is, though, NTV looks to be a clone of Asahi-TV's HQ in Roppongi Hills. There's a lot of those stony winding corridors with lots of cul-de-sacs filled with trendy restaurants and cafes. As the new NTV has just opened, the station is celebrating a month-long opening festival, so there was a CHINDON band playing in the main plaza. A Chindon band consists of a saxophonist, a drummer, a trumpeter and a clarinetist and it originated several decades ago as an advertising medium for newly-opened stores in the Shitamachi area of Tokyo.

Afterwards, I slogged through a couple of CD stores before settling for a respite back on the roof of the Mitsukoshi department store while swilling a couple of cans of pop. That took up about 90 minutes but I still had several hours before my class, so I decided to go all the way down to Jiyugaoka. My Monday students often head out there since it is fairly close to their place of business. Well, when I arrived, I found it to be the usual hub around a small station: a couple of department stores nestled into a mass of small izakaya, restaurants, cafes and various shops. I ended up traipsing through it for almost two hours.

I did find some interesting places including a bookstore selling some pretty old books including songbooks from idol magazines dating back to the mid-70s. A lot of our middle-aged actors and actresses sure looked like Morning Musume back then. Also, there were a lot of interesting small bars and boutiques. Indeed, I think Jiyugaoka is a mix between your usual small Tokyo commercial district and Shimokitagawa, a trendy old neighbourhood for the young. There was even a side street called Hilo Street, named after the Hawaiian city. It even came complete with a speaker playing hula music. Only in Japan. And the neighbourhood also has a Dennys and an Anna Millers, which has a distinct reputation surrounding its short-skirted waitresses. But a Hooters, this ain't.

Well, I decided to go off down a couple of stations where my student lived, and went to the neighbourhood McDs for the next 70 minutes (yes, even after that marathon trek through Jiyugaoka, I still had plenty of time). When I finally came out to head over to the apartment, I came across one of the students just standing in front, apparently waiting for me to get out of the station. It just so happened that the other student's apartment was so messy that they decided to have the class out in Jiyugaoka of all things...the place that I had just spent exploring.

On the train heading for Jiyugaoka, the other student was coincidentally on as well, so it didn't take too long to find ourselves a temporary base of operations. He decided on Dennys, and was rather surprised that I knew how to get there. Good sense of direction, I told him.

The lesson was merely OK. One piece of advice when teaching students...well, actually two. The first one is don't bother trying to teach in a family restaurant....too loud. And don't order anything bigger than a cup of coffee when you're teaching. I ordered a peach sundae and it all turned to mush during my class. I would also suggest not teaching anyone past 9, but unfortunately, in my case, that can't be helped. My students only perked up when I could teach something they could use immediately.

Well, I'm home after my semi-odyssey. All I have to do is get some e-mail done and then get some sleep. Luckily, I'm just in the neighbourhood tomorrow with just a couple of classes in the evening.

August 17

Well, it was a fairly quiet weekend. August is still pretending to be April or November although I didn't really need the jacket. Saturday was a complete coccooning experience aside from a quick jaunt to the convenience store around the corner. Sunday was almost the same except for a call from Chip Guy who wanted to get a couple of the guys together for a bit of a drink out.

We (me, Chip Guy and CG's friend) ended up first going to a outdoor cafe in the trendy Daikanyama. Some very good BLTs to be had there; instead of the regular thin strips of bacon, I had a slab of what I think was Canadian back bacon with the usual tomato and lettuce between two English muffin halves. Very nice.

We also got some entertainment, albeit on the dark side. Just in front of us on the street, there was a comedy of errors going on with an inept driver and his car. For 5 minutes, we couldn't figure out whether he was trying to parallel park or drive out. Whatever he was doing, he was doing it badly, and he had enough space in front of the Benz parked behind him.

As it turned out, he was trying to get out, and at that moment, the driver of the Benz had the poor timing to come on out to drive away. We weren't sure whether it had been the frustration of the inept driver that fueled his next act, but he decided to reverse his car and bumped the Benz squarely on the fender. Then the fool decided to get into a one-sided screamfest with the hapless Benz driver who couldn't really hold his own against the guy. The yelling continued for a few more minutes while his pregnant wife stood mutely by with an umbrella, and the three of us were providing play-by-play commentary....mostly denigrating the fool. We almost hoped that Mr. Benz would punch his louder rival's lights out, but such was not to be. Finally, the fool stormed back to his car with his wife and drove off. Mr. Benz just muttered back to the cafe next to us and then he brought back out his family (!) and they drove off. As we saw the car go off, I imagined a tail tightly folded between the rear wheels.

We ended up talking about the incident for several minutes before we decided to go down the street to an Italian restaurant for the main event. The waiter had a bit of a laugh as we all ordered somewhat effeminate drinks in the form of two margaritas and a Bailey's Irish Cream, so not surprisingly, we all got into a round of gay jokes....followed by tech talk.

Tomorrow, back to another sparse week.

August 15, 10:30 p.m.

Well, shortly after my last entry, I find out that nearly a fifth of North America got blacked out. Toronto just can't buy itself a break. I'm hoping that I can get in contact with someone back home. I am happy though it wasn't a terrorist attack.

I can actually say this: I wore a black jacket...in August...in summer....in Tokyo. I am very confident that this is the first time and probably the last time that I will ever pull this off. It was just so cool today as well as rainy. Some deity is playing the shell game with our weather.

It was full-time with my part-time status as I taught the oil guys. Then I met up with a motley crew of a couple of teachers, and three current students for an impromptu lunch at the izakaya right beside the school. I never knew that I could get a pretty decent lunch there. We may have dodged a bullet (or not) during lunch though as we made mention of a recent grad who really didn't deserve her diploma; I think some of us forgot that she was a friend of some of the students there.

Afterward, we hit a cafe for some coffee. Ostensibly, one of the teachers was supposed to have come with me to meet up with a couple of recent grads (deserving ones), but she decided that she would stay with the lunch group. I didn't force the issue, but I thought it was pretty poor of her to make that quick switch like that.

Anyways, I met up with the two grads across the street at a Starbucks, and for th e next four hours we gabbed on just about anything and anyone in our sphere of influence. By around 5, I was getting mighty exhausted, so I was happy when we did break up, although I was happy to have seen them and to continue to see them.

Well, after that I went down to Yurakucho for a bit of CD shopping before meeting up with my Friday night circle for Chinese food, since our regular venue closed up early due to the O-Bon holiday. Very pleasant food and talk.

August 15

I wake up at 4 am to a very cool August morning. There is definitely some wackiness to this summer worldwide: people dying of heatstroke in Europe; we're shivering here in Japan. Toronto has our temps.

I checked over my finances last night before payday; surprisingly, even with this sparse working month, I was still able to save a bit of money. For me to actually stay above the red line is a miracle.

I've been kinda thinking about this possible thing between me and the former top student. I had asked her via e-mail subtly about going out for brunch on the coming Sunday. Unfortunately, she already has plans but I also noticed a certain brevity and coolness in her last dispatch. Perhaps she's giving me the signal, NO. I must admit that I'm starting to think that this was a flight of fantasy after all. We both may like jazz, speaking French and movies, but this is a woman who has professed her love for Ben Affleck and muscular fellows, and she has been going through the OMIAI route of matchmaking, so she's definitely interested in someone with a more lucrative career than an English teacher. Eck!

Well, after my lone class today with the oil guys, another teacher and I will be meeting up with two just-grads for coffee or lunch. Hmmm...if they decide to hang around long enough, I may just invite them to dinner with my Friday night circle. Our regular cafe is closing early tonight because of the current O-Bon holiday, so we've decided to head out for Chinese in Yurakucho. It could be a very nice meeting.

August 13

A relatively cool day today...man, this has been an unusual summer. It was a pretty normal day. Just had three hours worth of classes...all of which went fairly well

Looks like The Hulk got majorly pulped in the Japan Times today. The impression I got from the critic is that he must think comics are probably the lowest form of literature and that Stan Lee is the Antichrist. Well, Mr. Fazio, I respect your opinion about the movie...it was certainly no great shakes; on your other stuff, though, I heartily give you an extended finger in response.

August 12, 11:30 p.m.

I had a nice day today. It reminded me of the fact that I do have a very unusual, and perhaps even enviable, life now. I went back down to Roppongi to see Chip Guy for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, complete with very American sullen service. Then we caught The Hulk.

Once again this year, a superhero movie managed to do better than expected in my eyes, despite mixed reviews Stateside. Like its title character, The Hulk is well-meaning but flawed. On the up side, the story was fairly good, the CG was handled well, and the subtext between the two fathers of the piece was interesting. On the down side: a slow beginning, flat performances by Eric Bana (who must have assumed that repressed meant emotionless) and Jennifer Connelly (who needs to get advice from the Star Wars actors on how to react to CG), and a bit of a tacked-on battle sequence at the end which could've been much better developed in a sequel. I guess the producers wanted to take no chances. On the Marvel movie rankings, The Hulk rates somewhere between the inferior Daredevil and the far superior Spiderman.

Afterwards, I had my lone class at the Tuesday juku. My new boss is certainly a talkative one; I didn't have any time to prepare at the school itself, although I had things pretty much laid out this morning at home. She again brought up the issue of a new second base of operations with me as the new resident. I said that I would think about it, provided that certain conditions are met.

August 12

A very exhausting trip home from Yokohama, Tokyo's younger and hipper sister. I went over this afternoon to meet my usual Monday night students for a special afternoon "lesson" at the female student's swanky apartment overlooking the bay. They were quite up for this cocktail production; they bought up all the fixins for a B-52 and a martini...not too cheap. I offered to pay for some of the stuff but they refused.

Then it was off to the apartment where we spent several hours just mixing, eating and drinking. We ended up making that dry martini and the B-52 along with a few other drinks from my mixology guide. The B-52 was delicious but potent; instead of Kahlua, though, we used Godiva chocolate liqueur...very decadent.
Two more guests came by. Both were former co-workers of my female student. At one point, one of them went into a major harangue about her boyfriend; I just listened very patiently and answered where necessary.

What made this feel even more like a weekend was that we decided to do some karaoke in downtown Yokohama. The kicker for the entire night was that I was still paid my full fee despite the fact that I hadn't taught a thing and the fact that the two had also paid my way at the karaoke box. I don't feel particularly good about accepting the cash but since they insisted, there wasn't much I could do, and once again, I'm not going to look a gift uma in the mouth.

August 10, 11:03 p.m.

Ugh! It felt like the hottest day of the year so far this year. And yet, I decided to abandon the comfort (and high bill) of my air conditioner, and go down to Roppongi to try that breakfast at Roti's. According to the ad, it boasted the best breakfast in town.

I was surprised when I got there at about 11:30 a.m. that there weren't all that many people there, but the cashier told me that things usually got hairy past noon with the tourist crowd. The place had friendly service and I was surprised that I was spoken to in English right off the bat despite my stealth gaijin status. It took me a tenth of a second to hook up to native Canadian mode.

As for the food, it was good enough but I just didn't think it earned that best breakfast bit with me today. The pancakes were very good: two large and fluffy flapjacks with whipped butter on the side and real Canadian syrup. The side dish of hash browns was nice but the sausages came a bit mis-seasoned; not underseasoned nor overseasoned. They just tasted a bit off. The buffet table with fresh fruits, breads and cereal seemed a bit skimpy considering that the restaurant expected a lot of folks for an all-day breakfast. However, it was nice to get bottomless coffee.
I wasn't too happy with the surcharge they threw at me, though. Overall, it was good enough and I would bring someone there if they weren't too picky on the money per value aspect of it.

After breakie, I took a quick look through Roppongi Hills for no other reason except to just be part of the crowd. I did take another look at Wolfgang Puck's bistro. The menu did have a reasonably priced lunch at 3000 yen.

Then it was back up to Nihombashi to the Maruzen bookstore to do some prospective shopping for my newest student for a new TOEIC study manual. There was a pretty good practical one issued by Oxford Publishers at a reasonable price, but the CDs and tapes were another matter. I will have to check with her to get her OK.

Next, it was down to Shibuya to Tower Records. I found a good mixology book by Mr. Boston, the bastion of bartending. It ought to be quite good for tomorrow's "lesson" on martinis. I managed to get a juice break in the steam heat before making one last stop at Tokyu Hands to get a teddy bear for Chip Man's baby daughter.

Finally, I swam through the humidity to neighbouring Daikanyama where Chip Man lived. The heat just seemed to get worse, probably because of the reflective surfaces all over and the refractive nature of concrete. I just had enough energy to slog into the nearest convenience store to grab some snacks for Chip Man before making that last 7-minute trek to his house.

I got to meet the littlest member of my extended family. She was an adorable tyke with a good set of pipes as I was to hear sporadically through my visit. It had been several weeks since I'd seen them, so we caught up on a number of things while we watched a couple of episodes from his DS9 DVD collection. I greedily gulped down most of his cranberry juice; my colon should be squeaky clean by tomorrow.

Mommy came home so we ordered in a pizza and just relaxed in cool comfort before I headed out once more. Luckily, the temps had lowered quite a bit to make my trip home bearable.

Now, I just have to confirm that I'm still on for that trip to my student's apartment in Yokohama tomorrow for that class in English mixology. That guide I bought should be quite nice for some of that rum and cognac I have just lingering in my home.

August 9

The grad party went pretty much as expected despite some intense squalls from the typhoon. Lots of food and drink and talk, including some major griping from a few of the teachers about the schedule, which perhaps wasn't too appropriate in front of the grads.

Afterwards, there was a 90-minute waiting period back in the lounge before heading off to the izakaya downstairs for the next 4 hours. There was definitely a major rift between the louder junior grads and the quieter senior grads. However, I'd seen that in previous years so I wasn't too worried about it. However, a rather intriguing running gag started up as one of the students noticed that me and the top grad of the school looked like a married couple. Of course, that got everybody to razz on us big time. I must admit that I was pretty flattered, and the top grad played along very cheerfully with it, but I'm not sure how she truly feels. Plus, there is the fact that I had relatively recently ended my previous relationship. However, she not only likes movies but jazz as well....which perfectly chimes in with me. My ex never really got into the flicks and she had never really registered with any musical style. Overall, I'm just gonna have to take it nice and slowly. I think one reason that my last relationship broke up was that we just went too quickly.

After 8:30, we decided to go across the street and try that trendy bar that we have used for other grad parties and Xmas parties. There, we just continued our separate talks on relationships over ice cream (no other desserts) and tea. Finally, an hour later, all of us went home with the assurance that we will continue to get together once ina while for dinners and movies, and in my case, the possibility that I may get another better chance at happiness.

August 9

The pizza party went well. About 11 full pizzas were generously devoured by the student body. Beforehand, the senior class was feeling some post-grad blues or ennui, so I engaged them in the basics of poker and blackjack.

Today is the big grad party. No idea what's gonna happen this afternoon. It could just end up being a very quiet 2-party deal or it could end up becoming a fracas. In any case, aside from a bit of gale earlier this morning, it looks like the typhoon will just bypass us and leave just some steady rain in its path.

I've been watching the Mariners/Yankees games on one of the commercial channels. The rivalry between Ichiro and Matsui, mostly pumped up by the local media, has been a godsend for sports fans. Watching a game between them is like watching an old game between the Maple Leafs and Canadiens in hockey, when BOTH teams were worthy.

August 7, 8:30 p.m.

Today was an intriguing day as I spent my last class with the top classs at my school. As usual, the top student failed to disappoint us in leading the conversation to the down and dirty. We got into the topic of attending a men's strip show in Tokyo. I couldn't believe how enthusiastic she and one other girl was about going out to the Japanese equivalent of a Chippendales. At the same time, the coordinator of the year-course programme was showing a potential new student. I may have dodged a bullet; I just shifted to more ambiguous vocabulary, and luckily most of the students caught on. Boy, I am just gonna have to keep contact with this class.

Later that day, I had my first class with an alumnus at the Tea Room. She was also quite an interesting character in her day at our school. I hadn't seen her for a couple of years, and after meeting her for the first time tonight, I think she has developed a certain amount of gravitas although a certain Betty Boop still resides within her. It looks like it won't just be letter writing that I'll have to help her with but also her TOEIC score since she'll be taking the test at the end of September.

Well, tomorrow I may be catching The Hulk with new father Chip Guy if our schedules can be reconciled. Then, I head off to the celebratory Pizza Party back at school to herald the end of summer term. Finally, I do have my regular English circle. All that is tempered by the meterological possibility that a typhoon may plop onto our city on Friday. Mind you, I think it won't be too powerful since it will have gone over most of Honshu before reaching Tokyo.

August 7

Well, just heard from CNN's Breaking News that The Terminator will indeed try to become the Governator. Serenity NOW! At least, it was amusing to see the entire media caught flat-footed.

August 6

Fifty-eight years ago, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. As usual, NHK broadcast the annual comemmorative ceremony live this morning at Peace Park in downtown Hiroshima. However, for the other commercial stations, it was just business as usual which made me wonder if even most Japanese have started to forget about the importance of the day. Mind you, the mayor of Hiroshima shot one across President Bush's bow by accusing the US of helping to proliferate nuclear weapons.

However, apparently and perhaps all may not be lost. One old woman who had been there on August 6, 1945 as a young lady in her twenties has been visiting the graves of as many of the victims as she possibly could and offering water from a waterfall as a means of atonement. She admitted that back in 1945 she didn't help the seriously burned people around her because had been told not to. And since then, she has felt guilty enough to go on this annual mission to the tombs. But now that she is getting too old to keep on going, the task has now fallen to a 24-year-old man whose grandmother was an A-Bomb survivor. Perhaps the younger generation still has some gravitas about the first city to be attacked by a nuclear weapon.

But of course, we must return to hard gritty reality. Mind you, there is a sense of justice done. Recently, there had been a spate of serial stabbings by a nutball in Shibuya. Well, the police finally got their man, a disgruntled unemployed man in his thirties who wanted to REALLY let off steam. I say, a thousand paper cuts weekly.

Looks like I've got that temporary stint over in Nakano, thanks to Movie Buddy. My first meeting will be on Monday after my special "cocktail" English lesson with my real estate agent students earlier in the afternoon.

Tomorrow will be a 5-hour day with two classes at the school and my first lesson with an alumnus for letter writing.

August 5, 11:30 p.m.

Another scorcher to remind me how much I dislike summers in this country. I think I was downing a lot of canned drinks today just to replenish my sweat. Plus, I taught a good 7.5 hours which equally drained me. It also didn't help that there was an intense thunderstorm today which made walking home in the humidity an exquisitely unpleasant experience. I just had time to grab my books for the night classes before heading out again into the rain. At least, I was able to have some down time at the McDs and in my room at the juku before my first class.

Looks like I may have a short assignment coming up with one of my movie buddies' sister. I have to give her a call. Tomorrow should be a bit more pleasant at least in quantity. I teach my kids for 2 hours and then I've got my Toronomon student for 1 hour.

An update on that house that my juku owner was thinking of acquiring. It turned out to be too good to be true. It turned out that there were a lot of cracks and damage in the old hourse, including a toilet tank that was emulating a certain Italian landmark.

David Beckham was back in Japan this week for a demo game with his new team, Real Madrid. 1200 of his best friends roosted in Narita Airport to welcome him.

August 5

Well, that supposedly cancelled class today was put back on when the student called this morning to say that the overtime work itself was cancelled. It wasn't too bad and I did get paid, but I sometimes wonder about a class when the students get more excited about my talk on Ontario horseflies than anything on business.

Beforehand, I met up with those two students to head over to their classmate's restaurant for lunch. It was the same place that I had gone to a few weeks ago. We got there a bi t early so we ended up ordering from the lunch menu. However, it was all good; we were privy to a nice cheap meal of some dim sum, noodle and rice dishes and even some dessert thrown in. The three of us had a nice talk for a few hours and then another more at a coffee shop before I had to head out to that night class.

Tomorrow will be a grueling one. I've got 7.5 hours of teaching ahead of me. At least, I've managed to prep for them. It almost feels like my full-time days.

August 3, evening

Boy, showers feel so nice after getting in so gunky. Also, there was another dire reason for me to be so happy to be home but more on that later.

I started what turned out to be a long entertaining Sunday by heading out to Shinjuku and meet up with some students to catch Johnny Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean". When I got there at about 11 am, it was already 31 degrees C. You know when a country is truly heading into the subtropical range when you go into a shop and the air conditioning is set to blizzard. The temperature differential was so enormous between the inside and the outside, it was a wonder that the entire population didn't get pneumonia.

In any case, I met my 6 young charges, all of them from the higher classes, in front of the Mizuho Bank. Then, we set off a block down to the theater and got our tickets before stepping into the Wendys next door to have a quick bite to eat. In what would turn out to be a later gastronomic mistake, I ordered a Classic Triple Meal which included fries, coke and a triple-patty burger. Part of the incentive for my insane choice was out of curiosity, the other part was to provide a conversation piece for the students. I'll have to learn not to do that in the future.

One of the ladies pointed out jokingly that I was the teacher and the only man in the group. The irony didn't escape from my notice, and certainly I was glad for the company. In what would be a running gag throughout the day, the school gossip was bandied about like hot potatoes among kids' hands about which teacher was trying to charm his way into the students' hearts and vice versa. But that was a familiar theme with this group. I didn't feel particularly uncomfortable about the talk; I'd been through this all before. However, this group, and the de facto ring leader in particular, was quite intense about it.

The gossip got really hot when we were waiting in line to get in. Never had I been more entertained in a lineup than with this group. I hope all future outings with them are like this.

Pirates of the Caribbean was a 2 hour, 20 minute flick which had garnered some good reviews from the States. This summer, the so-called blockbusters had to start begging for any sort of approval from the critics, and it seems that Pirates was one of the luckier flicks. However, I think I would have to consider myself one of the naysayers. The movie was OK for the length but it just seemed so lacking in energy. And I'm not saying for certain scenes but for the entire movie. It just didn't reach for the highest highs, or for the lowest lows for that matter. It stuck to a pretty dull narrow range. Depp certainly put ina lot of chutzpah into his Captain Jack Sparrow but it was all in a cinematic vacuum. I just wonder what it would've been like if there had been a dynamic cast and story surrounding him. It will be a minor feather in his cap of sorts, but Pirates won't signify the return of the pirate movie as a viable source of income for the studios.
Mind you, the ladies seemed to have enjoyed it...because of dreamboats Depp and Orlando Bloom.

In any case, the first run of the Movie Buddy outings came off successfully. We, or at least a few of us, may go for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind when it comes out in a couple of weeks.

Our next stop after the movie was a cafe called Veloce. It's just another small chain mixed in with the others that have made Tokyo a coffee town. As we were sipping our iced lattes, our ring leader once again regaled us with some of her adventures in Europe. It will be a pity that she will be graduating in a week, although I think I'll actually be hearing or seeing her a bit more often than I have at the school the last couple of months since we've struck a good friendship.

Then, it was time for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant just around the corner from Veloce. It was tucked into a side street on the 2nd floor; very non-descript. It was notable for the fact that the staff were actually Vietnamese and that the chairs were very heavy. The food itself was OK but not overwhelmingly impressive. In a way, just like the movie, it lacked something. However, once again, the students enjoyed it more than I did, and that's good enough for me. Even after several hours of chat at that point, the gossip was still flying. I landed a minor bombshell on them which threw all of them for a loop.

Finally, our last stop was at a Starbucks...not out of choice but for the fact that it was available and there were really weren't any other interesting places out there for a drink which didn't require a lot of money. In another stupid gastronomic endeavor, I decided to get the Mocha Latte with a Sugar Doughnut. Meanwhile, the ring leader started talking about her former roomie in Paris, a wild child with a long history of substance abuse, and how she had to drag her to the bathroom to help her throw up and then, in another incident, pull her from out of the bathtub since she was drowning. The others suggested that she write a book.

So, 10 hours and over 6000 yen later, the first Movie Buddy outing came to a close. I can't speak for my companions but I was feeling majorly sweaty and smelly in the humid and hot air. Shinjuku is definitely not a place to be if you want to stay feeling fresh. And all of my gastronomic foibles of the day decided to come back at me with a vengeance when I started getting a stomachache on the subway home. Since I was traveling with two women back into Chiba, I couldn't really show my pain so I had to exert a Vulcan control over my body....to stem the flow, if you catch my drift. On second thought, don't bother. Thank god for meditation; I just focused on one word and repeated it over and over to keep things at bay. All this and at the same time keeping a conversation with the students.

When I got out of the subway at last, it was the longest 10-minute walk this year as I mightily trudged my way home while keeping control. But when I got there, a safe resolution was reached and I was proud and relieved...literally. The only bad news is that I have another dinner tomorrow with one of the ladies who had come out today and two other students. However, I'll exercise some more discipline.

All in all, it was a good day despite the hair-raising ending. I think if this continues, it will probably be a monthly thing. I certainly couldn't financially afford to shuck out the yen as I did today on a weekly basis.

In what comes a s a potentially bad news/good news thing, my Monday night student left a message stating that because of overtime work, she would have to cancel the lesson. This will mean that I won't have to trudge out to the west end of town and teach until 10:30 pm and I could potentially spend a more leisurely time with the students at dinner tomorrow. However, of course, another source of income will be lost for the week. Then again, I will have a 3-day weekend. Such is the life of a bohemian teacher.

I probably won't be heading for bed for a while yet. I still have a lot to digest and since I won't be seeing anyone until the mid-afternoon, I can afford a bit of a late night.