Friday Nov. 14, 8:36 p.m.

Another week over without much incident. With another payday and therefore budget sorting, I just managed to save a miniscule amount. I'm not complaining too much, though; as long as I'm saving something, I'm satisfied. Heck, even before I started budgeting on my Excel, I think I probably went minus a few times.

I officially announced that I would be spending my Holidays here in Japan due to my passport situation. Well, I figure that alternating between cities year by year isn't a bad thing. I may be able to save a bit more money when I do go back home. Plus, I've got people visiting in December anyways so it won't be too lonely.

The usual bureaucratic annoyance has come to my door. My rental company sent me an official letter stating tha t my due date for this month's rent is the 25th. It came in a soberly gray envelope with terseness. I've been faithfully sending in my rent every month for nearly 10 years and I get treated like a blip.

Monday Nov. 10, 9:59 p.m.

Nice quiet day today as I just had only one lesson. Afterwards, I came home and tried out the new kaiten sushi place at last. There was less variety in terms of the price levels of plates, but at least a lot of my favorites were scaled at one of the lower prices. So I just paid over 500 yen less than what I would have paid at its predecessor. Mind you, I did have to sit next to a boorish middle-aged Japanese guy.

Speaking of geriatrics, it looks like I've finally found out what that newly remodeled dormitory is going to end up as. It will become an old folks' home. Well, in my neighbourhood of international families and younger folks, this ought to shake up the demographics somewhat.

Tomorrow should be another busy day: 9 hours of classes!

Monday Nov. 10, 9:45 p.m.

Nice quiet Monday for a change. I just had my Monday morning students and that's all she wrote. Just came home and tried out the new kaiten sushi place for the first time. The price gradations are fewer but almost all of the sushi that I enjoy are grouped in one of the cheaper plates, so I actually paid over 500 yen less than I did with its predecessor. I had to sit next to one of those typically boorish middle aged piece of crust, though.

Basically, the rest of the day was just finishing off the last of the B5 DVDs that I had borrowed from Chip Guy. A good way to spend a chilly and rainy day.

Apparently, the British Royal Family has been trying to stave off another scandal which has all the signs of being on the level of Diana's death. The coverage has been intriguing. All this media scrum about something that will not be revealed. Well, according to my students today, the big scandal is that Prince Charles may be playing for the other team, if you know what I mean, which would of course cause a rather embarrassing problem when it came to succession.

One of the staff left a message on the machine asking me for a possible teaching gig at an Intensive for METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). Well, I don't do useless Intensives anymore, and if the fisrt METI earlier this year was any indication, then I won't do it. Besides, I've got my private classes now, so I couldn't do it even if I wanted to.

Well, the election results for Koizumi weren't nearly as bad for him. Still, he lost some power so now probably, there will be even more consternation in the Diet. Not great for us.

Sunday Nov. 9, 11:48 p.m.

Just came home to find out that Koizumi's showing wasn't all that good in the Lower House elections. It looks like that the elections have elicited enough attention to merit an English track coverage on NHK.

I spent about 7 hours with The Madame today. I met her outside of Yurakucho Mullion, and then we went out to an Italian cafe, La Vita Belle Pace, for an hour. The whole purpose of the meet was to discuss about teaching methodology since she's been training to become a teacher of Japanese, and then it would be off to listen to some jazz. Well, true to my form, things ended up rather the opposite. We spent a mere fraction of the time on academic talk and the jazz place that she was talking about was closed since it was located in City Hall. In fact, the entire hotel district was dead. So we ended up going to the Century Hyatt for dinner.
Most of our conversation, in fact, just dealt with the usual gossip surrounding our group of friends. It was interesting that we could just gab on this for almost a third of a day, but it may signify how close we've become in our friendship. I'm still not quite sure what our future is together...will we stay good friends or will we jump into something closer? We did a bit of skirting around the issue by issuing a joint statement that neither of us are particularly all that eager to get married at all. And in all honesty, I rather enjoy our relationship as it is right now. We're in no hurry. In any case, the next Sunday will be one of a more rural nature as we head out to Hakone for a little walkabout.

It looks increasingly more likely that I'll probably be sticking around here for the Holidays. I'm appraoching mid-November and there hasn't been any progress on my passport thing, and I would think that air tickets home for the Holidays are now pretty scarce. I've warned my family about this, and they seem to be taking it in stride. I'll probably head home in the Spring. In any case, it looks like I'll be busy with visitations from friends and even perhaps my brother in December. I've even asked The Madame if she would accompany me to the annual Xmas party at my rich student's house.

Saturday Nov. 8, 10:46 p.m.

Well, I caught the third, and perhaps final, chapter in the MATRIX saga tonight at Roppongi Hills. There won't be any major harangue here as in my entry for MATRIX RELOADED; there's no need. Suffice it to say, the effects were mind-blowing but the story far less so. And one could say that the story decided to unravel a bit at the very end. I think that the MATRIX should be best remembered by its first and best entry.

Thurs. Nov. 6, 11:10 p.m.

Wining and dining....for years, I've been hearing this very literal idiom from the business world. It certainly was its own industry during the Bubble Years in Japan over a decade ago, but has since diminished due to the bubble bursting. Well, I finally became the object of that Japanese tradition.
It all started when I went for my second mediation between my friend and his boss. The session was officially to iron out some further details for upcoming English lessons with their company. However, once again, it became another 2-hour marriage counseling session. It was a bit easier to take since I now had the experience from earlier.
Anyways, when all was over, the three of us went out for dinner. I had no idea where we were heading until we went up to the 26th floor of one of the Shinjuku skyscrapers and saw us approaching a pair of large wooden doors emblazoned with the sign, "The Esquire Club". I've heard of the place before as a high-class executive lounge in the Ginza, and now I saw myself going into one of the branches.
I realized how swanky it was when the president had to take out a key card and slip it into an electronic slot to gain entry. Immediately, we were greeted by a bunny girl. The Esquire Club was the Japanese equivalent of Hef's organization. My heart certainly skipped a beat, always a risky thing considering my probable cholesterol levels.
We had a very nice dinner which included cubes of marinated Yonezawa beef and very tender pork cutlet sandwiches. The interior was what one would ezpect of a tony exec louoge...all brown leather and mahogany wood decor suffused in incandescent light. Of course, there was a pianist singing jazz standards. However, I remarked that the place was three-quarters empty and asked the president whether this was the case for a Thursday night. The president sadly shook his head and answered that it was the sign of the times for the past several years. Goodbye bubble, goodbye expense account customers. And I also did notice that there were a lot of more informally dressed customers and foreigners to boot, entities that I couldn't envision in someplace as exclusive as this place.
The service was provided by aforementioned bunny girls. They were very polite, very polished and served us individual plates as well as light the president's cigarette. Good golly. I thought I'd never set foot in such a place.


The surprising night out compensated for that marriage counseling session earlier and also another so-so class (at least to me) with the top class in my school. That was my third time with them recently, and it just seemed so flat. Basically, my philosophy after 3 flat classes is that I'm just not going to mesh with those folks. I'm certainly not going to do what I used to do in these situations and ask to be not put with the class anymore. I think that would put the coordinator in a bit of a snag, and also if the students found out, they would probably feel alternately insulted and just plain bad. Really, it's their call....if they really don't like my lessons, they have the right and responsibility to ask the coordinator to ensure my omission. Until then, I'll just have to slog away and do my best.

Wed. Nov. 5, 8:55 a.m.

For the past few weeks, I've been doing my Pilates. Yes, that Pilates, that exercise regimen that all of the beautiful people (I use the adjective facetiously, of course) in Hollywood use to carve out their abs. Of course for me I'm using the "Dummy's Guide". I'm just in the middle of the first level of exercises after a week of Pre-Pilates prep. So far, so good. Everything seems to be centered on the Core, and involves a lot of stretching. Terms like Abdominal Scoop and Coccyx Curls have become part of my bedtime vocab. I haven't really seen any six-pack yet (I confess to having more of a beer cask, actually) and I don't ever expect to, but I have felt the burn, so there is hope.

Tues. Nov. 4, 11:17 p.m.

My teaching route today was one of those pendulums. I taught at one end of the metropolis, go to the other side for the second class, and then come back to my neighbourhood for another series of classes. Not that I'm complaining too much; all of them are good. My second one was especially revealing since it was the one with my fairly wealthy students. Apparently, the new skipper of the Chiba Lotte Marines, Bobby Valentine, ex of the New York Mets came by the house a few days ago to give his respects to my student's son-in-law since his dad is the team's president. The one humourous anecdote is that the family dog decided to straddle his leg in greeting. Not to worry, though, the Valentines have 6 huge dogs of their own.

The one thing I've never really worried about over the past 6 months of my bohemian teaching lifestyle is food. I've noticed that I seem to get freebies from my students. This morning, my class with the middle-aged ladies gave me a bunch of apples and sweet potatoes to munch on. The roughage was much appreciated. They usually get some sort of traditional goodies for me, whereas at my second class, I usually get something in the form of a fancy cake, and then at the juku tonight, I received some Hawaiian beef jerky from my first class after their trip to the islands last week, and some stew from the juku president. Plus, coffee is always complementary there.

After 9 years in this country, I thought I would have heard everything. Well, I am wrong. At my second class, the ladies told me that even at memorial ceremonies celebrating the anniversary of a departed loved one, it is customary to give alms AND then receive a present which is usually half the value of the alms. One of the students got a yogurt maker out of the deal. Can you imagine this quote: "I come for the tribute for the dearly departed, but I stay for the yogurt maker."

Mr. Matrix, Keanu Reeves is back in town to open Matrix Revolutions in Shinjuku at 2300 hours on Wednesday night. Considering how often he pops by Tokyo in his capacity as movie star and also as the bassist for Dogstar, he ought to think about getting landed immigrant status here.

Well, the shoe finally dropped in the terrorism front. According to TIME, Bin Laden finally made his threat against Japan for supporting the US in its war against terrorism. I'm just surprised that he hadn't done it earlier when Koizumi loudly proclaimed his support behind Bush. TIME reassured that with the tight immigration policies at the airports and the stress on anti-terrorist training of its security forces, it's pretty unlikely that Tokyo will see a 9/11. Hmm...being the fatalist, I will believe it when I don't see it.

Tues. Nov. 4, 7:27 a.m.

Well, I celebrate my 9th anniversary since my arrival in Japan. Hm...perhaps not "celebrate"; the word implies achieving a great goal or commemorating a great event, and my time in this country doesn't really signify either. My near-decade has had plenty of ups and downs, thankfully leading in the ups category, but I can't really say that there is anything particular celebrate about. In fact, I probably won't even say anything to my students or fellow teachers unless they broach the subject. However, perhaps to a lot of English teachers, my long stint could be a source of impressiveness or aghast

Culture Day turned out to be a quieter day than I had expected. I had been expecting to meet up with Chip Guy and the family for a small dinner, but the phone call never came. I later learned that he went through the long weekend incommunicado with a cold. Luckily, he's on the mend now just in time for a shortened work week. Instead, I just took care of some household chores, and then true to the meaning of the day, Super Channel in its wisdom presented the American contribution to culture. And I'm not being facetious here...the station presented several hours of the American Film Institute's Top 100 Movie Stars. As Hollywood embraces CG and pretty boy/girl looks, it's nice to remember the Golden Age.

Today ought to be another fairly busy one as I've got 5 classes. It would seem that Tuesday will be considered my Day of Hell. Well, that's not fair to the students. All of the classes are very good...knock on wood.

Sunday Nov. 2, 1:24 p.m.

Well, I got further vindication at my students' house yesterday why I'm grateful for my single status. This was my kids' class. Just before the older sister came into the dining room where we usually have the lesson, she and Mom got into a brief but lively row about something. The fact that the daughter is just 12 means that the two of them will probably be facing a lot of those spats over the next decade. Can you imagine the father having to deal with that?

Otherwise, it's been a pretty calm weekend. The weather has been cooperating for the most part. I'll probably just head out and do a bit of grocery shopping. Chip Guy sent over an e-mail to see if I were up for dinner tomorrow night. He also threw in the fact that he'd like to treat me for my 38th B-day. I don't think in our over-decade long friendship, he's ever offered that; I'm wondering if this is some sort of peace offering after our own little argument on the Web concerning "Kill Bill".

It seems as if the two main types of crimes getting attention on the news here have been the frequent pedal-by slashings of female students by psychotic men, and the rice rustlings in the rural areas. Only in Japan.

Fri. Oct. 31, 9:04 p.m.

It's been a long day thi s Halloween but it all went well. Got into my "costume" of sorts: filled in a dark suit and an eye mask to complete my disguise as one of the Crazy 88 of "Kill Bill". Not particularly elaborate but it was cheap and still made anough of an impression. I just had the morning oil class and then it was all gravy after that.

The annual Halloween party at my school was probably the most successful yet. Not everyone brought a costume; it was pretty easy to know who would and who wouldn't according to temperament. For the ones who came, their costumes were imaginative enough to fulfill the entire quota. The Rapper went against type and dressed up like a high school girl with makeup no less. Another of the male students went the transvestite route as well. We had two nurses, a devil, a bunny and even the course coordinator dressed up like a sumo wrestler. I helped her out do the "Trick Or Treat" round of the classes before settling for a couple of hours of downtime.

Then some of us who had some time before the official party went downstairs to the karaoke box for a couple of hours. Then the festivities began in earnest as the whole bunch of us tackled the various pumpkins fairly chaotically before things settled down into a more coordinated rhythm. Then came the pizza and then the apple bobbing. Of course, we had the official Trick or Treat bags of candy ready as well. It just took 2.5 hours. Afterwards, some of the folks were to meet up with a former teacher down in Shibuya for some further partying. I would've liked to have gone but with my kids' classes tomorrow, I don't think there would've been any way that I could've pulled it off.

I'm tired after all of the events and hijinks but it's a "good" tired, the one that I don't nearly get enough of anymore. I just hope that the Xmas party is just as happy. It was nice to see students getting interested in something that they hadn't experienced before. It made for a good change of pace from the usual classes.

Last night, I met up with the boys from last year's old oil class for dinner. We went over to ta another restaurant in the Shiodome City Center, a place which bases itself on chicken. I listened to a lot of confidential information about the company...none of which would really concern me anyways. For once, one of them became almost wistful about fate when he described his trips to an expensive hostess club to discover that some of these women who talk to people for a living are often university grads from home who couldn't find a more appropriate job.

It looks like that volatile interpreting session last week was merely a bandage, but a bandage that is holding for now. According to my friend, both sides are pretty much entrenched. However, it looks like I'll be getting my first corporate job as a private teacher from the middle of November.

The weekend will be fairly quiet. I don't have anything after my kids so I'll be able to relax a bit. I might meet up with a couple of old friends on Sunday, and then I have nothing on the holiday Monday.

I would prepare for my kids' classes but I'm tired. It can wait.

Tues. Oct. 28, 11:29 p.m.

Finished another long day. I was just starting to putter out on my last class. Luckily, the guy is pretty laid back.

Hmm...I may have set off some sparks when I sent out my reasons for not enjoying Kill Bill so much. Both Chip Guy and another friend pointed out that Americans and other Westerners get just as singled out for ridicule by the Japanese, so why should the Japanese get their shorts in a knot? Simple...for the same reason that the Westerners get their shorts in a knot. Two wrongs don't make a right. Well, if any more flames come my way, I'll just do my best to extinguish them.

Sun. Oct 26, 10:58 p.m.

Well, I saw "Kill Bill" today, and all I can say is this: it won't be getting the praise here that it's getting anywhere else. It was an interesting dichotomy: the Westerners who saw it with me gave it thumbs up while my Japanese friends gave it a thumbs down, and judging from the audience reaction, not too many of them would have disagreed with the Japanese friends.

In a society that's: 1) not known for ironic humour and 2)always looking for what the outside world thinks of Japan, "Kill Bill" is probably not going to win many fans. Being a person who straddles both the Japanese and Western worlds, I could see that I would've appreciated the flick far more back in Canada, but I still would have cringed at some of the dialogue and the scenes, especially in the Battle of the Tea Room which I did today. For the final battle between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii, it was almost jaw-dropping how these so-called warriors bantered about the Japanese language as if they were just two high school kids showing each other the latest Game Boy software. There was a lot of unintentional laughter there. And then, the battle ends with an enka song that could have just been at home for a sake commercial.

Now before you folks quote me the fact that QT had intended the movie to reflect every bit of non-reality in hi s homage to grindhouse cinema, the sad fact of the matter is that the Japanese like their stories straight up: no lavish spackling of irony and accurate depictions of what Japanese life is like. The very sharp differences in reaction left a slightly awkward feeling among us afterwards which forced all of us to temper our reactions.

As it were, some of us headed out for a Russian place for dinner. I had never had Russian food before, but for a place that was buried in a sub-basement, it had a lot of good food and it was filled to capacity. However, I think the food was more reflective of Eastern European cooking overall than of Russia proper, although the usual borscht and peroshiki were available.

Then, the remaining three of us went off to the Living Bar, a reasonable but trendy looking establishment, just around the corner for 3 hours of lively banter.

Sat. Oct. 25, 9:30 p.m.

Another bizarrely fun outing with the students today. This time, the mission was to get the Halloween shopping done for the upcoming Friday's festivities. But before that, we all had some lunch at this Hawaiian burger joint just across the street. It was the first time there for me. One of the students who came along swore by it, and we weren't disappointed. The burgers were quite juicy, but the fries could've been more plentiful and meatier.

Then, our squad went into Kinokuniya International Supermarket and picked up three pumpkins along with some goodies for Trick Or Treat before heading down the main Omotesando Avenue to Kiddyland for some decorations for the lounge. And finally, we all went up to this dessert place called Cafe Comme Ca. It really ought to have been called Cafe Decadence. There was a huge showcase displaying all of these unbelievably loaded pies and cakes. For one peach concoction, I wondered how many trees were sacrificed to provide the fruit for this pie. It was all so trendy. And certainly the kept company kept entertaining us with a lot of their non sequiturish English. Some great unintentional double entendres which would've made the producers of Three's Company salivate.

Finally, we took all of our purchases back to the school and took a small break before heading home.

Tomorrow, we may have another large group to catch Kill Bill. Should break my futility record for mediocre flicks.

Thurs. Oct. 23, 8:02 p.m.

A bit tired today after an interpreting session between my friend and his boss turned into a marriage counseling session. The first few minutes were especially tough as I got into some rather technical vocab which boiled over into some frustration from the boss about my friend's poor attitude toward work and his benefactors. It got better toward the end although there were some sparks here and there, once again from the boss who hails from Osaka (an important point when it comes to temperament). But the way it went, it certainly looks like the boss won this round. And I may have gotten a contract to teach some of his guys there although I'm not sure about the motivation factor among some of the employees. I certainly hope that my friend doesn't think I left him out to dry, but often the boss shot my interpretations down as soon as I relayed them. And to be honest, as I had mentioned once before, my friend can be rather iconoclastic.

Looks like there was some activity in front of my school today of a criminal nature. Apparently, as I was having lunch upstairs, my fellow teacher informed me that there was some sort of shakedown involving several police officers and three older men in suits. Probably another company scandal

The Japanese are getting the best of both worlds especially if they are baseball fans. Not only are they glued to the tube to see Matsui bat for the Yankees in the World Series but also they're looking to see if perennial underdogs, the Hanshin Tigers, can take it all in the Japan Series.

Thurs. Oct. 23, 5:33 a.m.

Yesterday was a fairly relaxing empty day for me. It's nice once in a while to be able to spend the middle of the week with nothing to do, although the loss of income is something that I'm always aware of. I was able to catch up on a lot of B5 episodes. When the series came out a decade ago, I, being a Trekkie snob at the time, couldn't believe these upstarts would ever have a chance of succeeding. And certainly, the pilot episode was no masterpiece of acting, especially on the parts of the top two officers. However, I've come to the realization that B5 has gone to places where none have gone before with its 5-year story arc and often very gritty storylines. Plus, the space battles are a lot better accomplished than on Trek.

Today, I have my regular oil class but then I have to step into a negotiation of sorts between my friend and his boss at their company. I really have no idea why he wants me there...well, I should say that I do know. His Japanese ability is pretty minimal...just some badly pronounced Osakan dialectic bits, and he needs to get across his ideas to the boss. His boss (and quietly, me) has wondered why he won't go for Japanese lessons despite the need for it in his job. I chalk it up to stubbornness on my friend's part and that he simply doesn't do well as a student. I can imagine him contesting any teacher on any point of grammar and vocabulary. In any case, I will endeavor to do my best.

Tues. Oct. 21, 4:24 p.m.

Just ina small lull between outings. I'll be heading out for my regular classes in an hour but I had a nice special lunch with my Tuesday morning crowd at one of the student's houses. My fellow teaching partner whom I've only spoken with on the phone twice and had never met in over 3 years of teaching was teaching the students today, and I was invited to finally meet him face to face.

There was a bit of pomp and circumstance when I came in. To the students, this was kinda like the meeting between Picard and Spock on that old TNG episode. So, of course, they let the two of us banter for a few minutes just to witness this piece of history. AFterwards, the whole group of us went over to the student's house where we engorged on a lot of savory homemade fare and a couple of sumptious desserts. There will be no need for any sustenance for the rest of the night. Plus, our hostess introduced us to a lovely green liquor made from bananas and other herbs which goes great with orange juice. Will have to pick one up on Saturday.

My first meeting with my partner was very cordial. He's almost a decade older than me and lives all the way out in Kanagawa Prefecture which explains why we have never met until now. He's a laid back fellow from Minnesota and we seem to share a mutual personality and appreciation of climate.

Looks like this will really be a slow and financiall poorer week for me. Not only did I have nothing for Monday, but it looks like my Wednesday nighter won't be able to make it out due to overtime. Basically, I'll have tomorrow off as well.

Mon. Oct 20, 6:39 p.m.

I see that senility can come quickly with the onset of age. Case in point: I went to my Monday student's mansion to find out that she is on a 3-day trip. Apparently, I had been mistaken in my scheduling which means that I'll have to reconfirm with her. That, and the fact that my airline student didn't make a request for a lesson meant that I had a free day. It wasn't wasted, though. Since I was in the area, I cased out Kinokuniya and Kiddyland to check out their wares before the big Halloween shopping blitz this Saturday.

After that, I just came back home for a rare Monday night. Just did some well-needed cleaning, including a set of curtains that hadn't been washed in nearly 2 years. The dust was probably the only thing holding them together. And got some cooking as well. Made a greasy and delicious fried pork sandwich. Can't be beat!

Sun. Oct 19, 8:15 p.m.

Pretty tired after a long day in Okutama. It was a good 2-hour trek by train over to Tokyo's last batch of wilderness. One of the teachers remarked that when she looked out from the 42nd-floor observation deck of Tokyo's City Hall, she was flabbergasted at how far the concrete jungle extended.

Well, she needn't have worried. Although it is officially a part of Tokyo, Okutama is just about a rural place of rivers and forests and hills as it can get anywhere in Japan. That teacher who made the remark from the 42nd-floor came with us along with six students. It was a typical Japanese BBQ with Korean BBQ beef and yakisoba being the main menu. The weather was perfect: sunny and that nice little level between cool and warm. It certainly was refreshing to breathe unpolluted air and see a babbling river beside our fire. And the convenience of Tokyo was still there. A lodge by the park supplied us with the knives, colanders, cutting boards and the grills.

Although I had a good time, one of the organizing students had also invited some of her friends from university. Now of course, it is within her right to invite anyone she wants. But I've never been great at socializing with a whole bunch of outsiders at once, so once again, I had to settle for keeping my distance from them. Luckily, the other organizer, Ms. N, is a natural "up-with-people" type, so she had a great time bantering. Me? I just enjoyed my lunch. The only thing was whether if I had offended the inviter by "snubbing" them.

Sat. Oct. 18, 11:03 p.m.

Had the morning class with the kids today; this time, it was the younger child who seemed listless although we did have a few lighthearted moments. Time to get a bit more creative. Luckily, the mother cancelled the class for next week.

Then, I met up with Movie Buddy in Shinjuku this afternoon, and met his ex. They are still good friends (unlike my situation in which my ex has seemingly decided to wash her hands of me), and the banter is still there. When she left, the two of us just had a browse through Kinokuniya before catching LXG.

LXG will probably be known as a small curiosity starring Sean Connery instead of the big classic it had hoped to be. It can be likened to Dick Tracy and Warren Beatty and their reaction . The atmosphere and the characters were there in good gusto but the writing and the pacing were sadly not up to par. However, I did like it a bit better than the critics who basically lambasted it.

Afterwards, MB and I had a quick burger and fries before heading down to Ginza and meeting up with the Actor and some other students at the 300 Yen Bar. All very nice but I do have to hit bed for that early morning wake up for the BBQ in Okutama.

Got started on a couple of interesting projects from yesterday. One is my venture into the world of Pilates, that exercise regimen that a lot of the stars have been into. It involves a lot of stretching and yoga-like maneuvers. Tried a few moves last night before bedtime. Not too bad. The other project was a culinary one. My Monday morning student gave me some yogurt starter to make my own creamy version. I mixed the stuff with a liter of milk on Thursday and tried to leave it a warm spot (of which I have few right now) overnight. Well, it was still pretty watery when I woke up in the morning, so half-thinking that my foray into yogurt production would be a brief one, I just left it out all day to see what I would come up with. Well, luckily enough, by the time I got home, I was the proud father of a coffeepot of yogurt; the stuff just needed more time to gel since it wasn't too warm in my apartment.

I've noticed that I've been getting more spam now to the extent that I will probably have to check my e-mail twice a day just to prevent my in-box from getting swamped by the cockroaches of the Internet.