Friday Dec. 12, 11:28 p.m.

Well, I guess I'm supposed to deserve one annoyance a week. Last week, it was that drunken student. Now this week, it was a friend of mine who came over from Canada tonight. He basically stood me up at Shibuya Station for 2.5 hours thus ruining my evening which would have consisted of meeting Chip Guy for a nice steak dinner at the Outback. Instead, after my long wait at the ticket gates, I just stomped on home and had a half-can of Pringles Sour Cream & Onion...perfect for my mood. I realize that his plane was probably delayed or that he got stuck going through Immigration and Customs because of the heightened security at the airports this week, but checking my phone messages, he just asked me to stay there, and that he would get to the gates by 9 p.m. at the latest. Well, I ended up staying until 9:35...no sign of him. I got home and found out that there was an additional message from him stating that he felt that it was too late to come down and that I should call him for a re-meet. All I will do is let him sweat. I have his concert tickets for which he owes me 22,500 yen. If he really wants them, he'll have to be on his hands and knees.

Now that I've got that off my chest, I have to hit the hay within the next thirty minutes because I'll be heading out the door in 8 hours to meet my brother for breakfast in Shinagawa, and then I have to head over to a Xmas party in Urayasu which I really don't want to attend, and then I'm back with my brother fo r dinner. I'll get a chance to crash in his suite before I head on out on Sunday for another round of Movie Buddy-ism.

Thursday Dec. 11, 11:29 a.m.

I received a call from Movie Buddy. We haven't talked in a few weeks due to various things: he was off in Okinawa for a week, I've hardly been at the school, etc. So we had a good talk while I was lounging in my futon. Up until a few weeks ago, I had been out of the house at the crack of dawn to take care of the oil company class but since it's all over, I can actually sleep until whenever I want to get up. We just did the usual chat on movies and analyzed MATRIX REVOLUTIONS to death. We both agreed that there won't or shouldn't be a 4th one.

We also had a talk on the upcoming Xmas party he's holding on the 24th. It looks like things are further gelling on the social calendar. In that week, I've got three outings, the Xmas Eve do, the Xmas date with The Madam and then a farewell part y for the Ballerina planned by The Madam on the 27th. Considering that I've put myself on holidays for the last two weeks, it'll be a good drain on my account, but I figure if I'm going to spend my hard-easrned yen on something, it might as well be with good friends.

Not that week is going to be a social desert either. I'll be meeting with Chip Guy and another friend from Canada tomorrow night for dinner. In fact, Friday will be a very full day. I've got to get my hair cut in the morning, then meet Movie Buddy for lunch and have my regular Friday lesson before I head out for dinner. Then, the next day will be busy with my brother for breakfast and dinner. Plus, I've got a wedge of time in which I have to attend my juku's Xmas party with me as Kris Kringle once again. And then Sunday will be the final Movie Buddy outing of the year with me catching NEMO with The Madam and a few others.

However, one thing did get knocked off my schedule. I was supposed to have met The Iconoclast for a cake buffet today at the Hilton but it looks like there will be a party at the Marble Lounge, so we've agreed to put it off until the 18th. Which means that I'm here at the homestead today. Not a bad thing considering tomorrow's full schedule. However, there's a slight chance that my brother may call up with the opportunity for dinner. Most likely, his minders will be taking him out for dinner. Might as well just enjoy the day and catch up on some crosswords and DS9 DVDs.

Wed. Dec. 10, 12:06 a.m.

Sure feels like a Toronto winter night out there. Threw on the full scarf, sweater and jacket fos the walk to the juku.

Looks like my services for restaurants have come into play once more. The Madam is having some trouble looking for a venue for a farewell party for one of her old classmates. Could be a bit tough finding a place during peak party time on the 27th. We may have to use all of our resources: the Net, friends and magazines.

My brother called to say that he probably won't be available for the weeknights since some of the local brass here wants to take him out for dinner. Ah, well. It is a business trip after all. However, Saturday is still open. And in any case, I still plan to meet up with Chip Guy and one other on Friday.

Looks like Koizumi has pulled the trigger and decided to send the troops to Iraq. Although the mission is a humanitarian one, there are the twin points that Iraq is a maelstrom of violence and the Constitution's Article 7. There was a full court press with all of the major TV stations giving live coverage of the press conference. There will be a maelstrom of debate in the coming days. And that isn't all. As soon as the announcement was made, the government went on high terrorist alert by throwing a huge security blanket over Narita and Haneda airports. I can only hope that nothing comes out of this. Bin Laden has already pinpointed Japan as an enemy state.

Monday Dec. 8, 11:48 p.m.

Whew! Just got through an unusually high amount of useful mail. Instead of the usual paltry 10% of the good stuff, my ratio was up to 25% tonight.

Much of the mail dealt with filling up the month's social calendar. I have another dinner tacked on for the 27th, my Xmas dinner with the Madam has been confirmed, and it looks like I'll be meeting my brother at least once later this week. He arrived in Japan for the first time in 21 years on a business trip. So after work, I raced down to the rejuvenated hotel district of Shinagawa and picked him up from the Pacific Meridian and took him out for some tonkatsu. He looked appropriately bleary-eyed since like me, he can never sleep on planes. And he had a 13-hour flight. We did the usual talk about home, family and friends. It's ironic that he's staying in Shinagawa since on his last trip as a kid a couple of decades previously, he just stayed at the Takanawa Prince Hotel, just up the street. If everything goes well, I'll meet up with him again later in the week with Chip Guy for dinner and perhaps a little tour of the town. I've also got another friend coming in on Friday so we could all be linking up on the weekend.

The day consisted of two lessons. My rich students were fine as usual. I was even introduced to the newest member of the family for one of them...a large Golden Retriever puppy. In between lessons, I did some more shopping...calendars of course. Then, I went to my friend's company for their class. Unfortunately, I got snogged into another tense interpretation session between my friend and his president. This was absolutely not what I wanted before a class. Basically, my friend has decided to chuck his life and job in Japan since he's basically had enough of the system here. Hey, if one is miserable, why continue the misery? His boss was still trying to convince him otherwise til the bitter end, but it looks like it's a done deal.

Thankfully, tomorrow will be a virtually free day outside of the regular Tuesday night stint at the juku, so at least I can relax a bit after an all-day session today.

Saturday Dec. 6, 11:41 p.m.

The annual Xmas party was pretty much a carbon copy of last year's fest in terms of structure: we had the main party, karaoke, dinner (or some semblance of it) at an izakaya, followed by coffee. Also, as usual, the party venue was once again the atypically classy joint across from the school, and the party itself had the games, music and me in my Santa outfit. And to top it all off, once again, myclothes smell of a tobacco fire.

And also to repeat one other bit of unpleasantness that could have been avoided, one of our students, now graduated, imbibed a bit too much and ended up having a major hangover which resulted in three students having to come to her assistance. Once again, she started wailing away wondering how this could happen to her again. I dunno, I thought while she was splayed on the floor covered in coats to battle the decrease in temperature due to alcohol. I might be seen here as being very callous, but I'm reminded of the "Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you" proverb, and the ingrained cultural trait here of not being a burden on other people. This was the third time she's gone off the deep end, though. And I'm thinking why she can't control herself. She's an intelligent and ambitious lady with a bright future ahead of her, but she can't control her alcohol. While she wailing away like a banshee, I felt like chastising her for all the little good it would have done. However, her three classmates kept comforting her, so I really couldn't do anything. On the other hand, I didn't really pick up a finger to help her out...she made her bed, she should lie in it.

Friday Dec. 5, 10:54 p.m.

Well, I stupidly broke my own rule of ensuring that I'm in good shape to teach class today. I had a major case of the sniffles, but instead of picking up some medicine along the way to my lesson, I decided to skip it, thinking that I was running late. As it happened, I got there several minutes before my student showed up, and my nose was running like a faucet all class. I really have to smarten up one of these days.

My attack was bad enough that I decided to skip my little jaunt to the conveyor belt sushi place at my station. I thought it wouldn't be too good to be among people dripping nasal fluid all over the counter, so instead I picked up that cold medicine and just called in a pizza while catching up on 24.

Should be pleasant tomorrow with that first Xmas party. It'll be another long day of carousing. And it looks like I have a date with the Madam on Xmas Day for a turkey dinner somewhere in Tokyo. I just have to find the place. That should be the easy part; the difficult part will be ensuring a reservation. There'll probably be a ton of depressed North Americans looking for comfort food on the 25th.

Thursday Dec. 4, 11:24 a.m.

I've been doing a bit of savoring. Back in the summer at a wedding for one of our graduates, I came across a former colleague who along with one other veteran teacher had jumped ship a few months earlier to teach at a boys' high school. He spoke of how much better the money and the schedule were over there and encouraged me to do the same. Knowing my feelings for the upper echelons of my school's staff, I entertained the thought for just a few seconds; I don't particularly like kids, especially most teens but I did wonder about how one would be treated and the money that could be made.

Well, the other day I spoke with one of our current teachers who is also assigned to this school; apparently, the high school continues to maintain a contract with us despite two former teachers permanently assigned there. She informed me that she had to endure interview tests with verbally abusive boys. She also told me that that one other teacher who had jumped ship with the former colleague at the wedding was now considering his options about other work. And as for that colleague...well, apparently, he's just going through the motions at the school. He just lets the junior chinpira run amok in the blackboard jungle while he makes the money. After hearing this little account, I'm just thinking I'm glad that I stuck to my guns.

It's a good day today...bright if cool. I'll get some Xmas stuff out of the way. write up some cards and then get them out to Canada and Stateside by tomorrow. And see how many of those DVDs I can race through in a day.

Wed. Dec. 3, 9:17 p.m.

Just one class today but I was out for most of the day. The daylong sojourn was sparked by my need to pay off some bills at the UFJ at the next station. Then, I went over to the Farm Grill for my monthly lunch there. On the buffet table, there were the remains...and I do mean remains...of that inexcerable stuffing that's served on Thanksgiving and Xmas. Almost like a warning label, there was a sign in Japanese which read that the stuff was made from turkey livers and hearts. Geez, I wonder if it is a Scottish recipe...the only thing that platter was missing was the sheep's stomach to complete the haggis.

After my usual 90-minute lunch there, I went out to do a bit of window shopping at the nearest CD stores before trying to get some gift calendars at ITO-YA, the big stationery shop in the Ginza, notable for the big red paper clip which stands over the awning. When it comes to gifts for friends and family, I go practical and cheap...give the gift of calendars, the gift that keeps on giving for 12 months. Unfortunately, when I saw a lineup rivaling that for a blockbuster movie just to get into the elevator, I decided to put my Xmas shopping on hold.

I did my walk around the Hibiya area via the Imperial Hotel before hitting the Starbucks where I usually teach my student somewhat early. The seasonal songs were playing there; I must have heard three different versions of Chestnuts Roasting Over An Open Fire over the 3 hours I was there, and none of them were the Nat King Cole version which was somewhat surprising. I'm just glad that the place was willing to play Xmas jazz. At the CD shops, I listened briefly to techno versions of the Yuletide faves before my eyes rolled into the back of my head.

Getting home, I also got another sign that the end of the year is nigh. Fuji-TV was showing its annual FNS music festival...basically a lineup of all of the big singers over the past year. When I came in, the show was replaying the big singers of the 80s festivals. Watching these idol singers, I had to knock myself in the head and wonder what I was thinking when I first fell for J-Pop.

I also wonder if I'm beginning to show signs of becoming a bitter grump. I think I was a bit snippy to Chip Guy and Movie Buddy about a couple of questions, and frankly, I don't regret it. I'm afraid I might be ending up like one of our past teachers at the main school. He was this burnt out tall tale teller (otherwise known as a sociopathic liar) who had finally had enough of a decade of Japan and shambled home.

Well, anyways, tomorrow is an off day so I will try to catch up on those DVDs and tapes, and just try to keep my sanity until the annual Xmas party rolls around on Saturday.

Wednesday Dec. 3, 12:17 a.m.

A nice long day thanks to my Tsudanuma ladies in the morning, my lone class at the main school in the afternoon and then my series of classes at the juku this evening...all of them replete with their own characteristics and atmosphere.

Speaking of mynight classes, I have picked a new one up at the juku starting from January with a very low student. It took a bit of negotiation with the boss, but everything turned out OK.

Looks like my social calendar has been filling up nicely. I may have as many as 8 parties to go to before the year is up. So much for being lonely at Xmas time.

My recent musical acquisition is a CD by a domestic artist by the name of Sheena Ringo, a young lady who has in her brief time on the stage become well known as a very untypical singer in a world of prefab pretty boys, pretty girls and very little talent spread among them. Sheena is quite pretty but she has talent and range. One of the reasons that I like her stuff is that has dove into genres as far ranging as jazz, swing, rock and Latin. Also her voice is pretty distinctive, swooping from aerie-high nasal shrieks to more dulcet tones, and she has a tendency to trill her R's on a par with the most Scottish of Scotsmen. What I was surprised about is that it seems her fame has gone beyond the borders of Japan, and into countries such as Germany. Her videos are also quite catchy in that she takes on a different persona in each one...the most notorious being that of a lesbian nurse with slutty red lipstick. Her latest video features her in all of her past personae almost as if she's giving a retrospective of her career. Hopefully, that doesn't mean that she's hanging up her guitar although I do know that she now has a kid of her own.

Monday Dec. 1, 10:34 p.m.

It was a dreary beginning to the month. For the first time in recent memory, it just steadily rained all day and night. At least on some days, there was a bit of a respite but not this time. I had to put my umbrella every time I went outside. I rather wondered if Ridley Scott had jumped forward in time from the late 80s over to now to get his vision for Dark Rain. The work wasn't too rigorous today; just my regular Monday morning class with my Shoto students and then it was the company class later on.

In between , I started getting some of my Xmas shopping done, almost all o f which involved getting Xmas cards and New Year's cards. The Xmas cards I'll have to get out within a week if I'm to get them over to North America in time. The New Year's cards should be ready to get out by the 15th. I've had to write some pithy sentiments in past years for the New Year's cards but luckily I bought the ones that have been pre-written. Still, the kanji for those addresses will be challenging enough.

After my class with the company folks, I had dinner with the guy who had first introduced me to the president and got me the gig. It looks like, as I had thought, he's gonna pull the trigger on his departure although he hasn't told the president yet. I feel sorry for both of them, but I think my friend shouldn't have to remain in an untenable situation no matter who's in the wrong here. I just wonder what my status will be once he leaves. Luckily, I may have avoided another stint in the crossfire since I have to see my brother right after class next week, and there's no way I'm gonna mediate things before class.

Well, tomorrow should be a bit fuller with my Tuesday morning class in Tsudanuma and then one last stint with the main school kids for the year followed by my regular Tuesday night classes at the juku.

Looks like I've inherited a new house guest outside of the usual mosquitoes of summer and the odd cockroach. My new roommate is a daddy long legs spider which has set up residence in the ceiling corner above the bathtub. It's a bit disconcerting having it hang around while I take a shower even though I know that DLLs aren't poisonous. I guess fragments of my former arachnophobia as a kid still remain within me.

Monday Dec. 1, 7:27 a.m.

It's a very typically Vancouver-ish December morning. It's overcast and slightly wet outside. That typhoon is just brushing past outside. I don't think we'll be getting any direct effects from it but there should be some intense bursts of rain this morning.

Apparently, all of the main TV channels will be going onto terrestrial digital broadcasting as of 11 a.m. today to link up with its satellite broadcasting. It just adds one more step to media interactivity. It's supposed to be hitting just the three major cities of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya for now. The NHK website didn't mention if every TV set will be getting this new service but I don't really see how any of my remote controls will be able to access it at this point.

It should be another quiet week and probably quiet month. I'm relatively busy today and Tuesday but I've got only singles on Wednesday and Friday with an empty day on Thursday. However, I believe my social calendar is starting to fill up with all sorts of outings or parties. Just another December in the big city.

Sunday Nov. 30, 1:04 p.m.

It looks like the downpours have ceased for now, although during the early morning, I had half expected Noah to come rowing by for a pickup.

Well, the first shoe has dropped. Two Japanese diplomats were shot dead by Iraqis near Hussein's hometown. Full court press has been given to the story. The government was already very skittish about sending SDF troops; this incident may have finally put the last nail into the coffin of that idea. Koizumi has always wanted Japan to play a larger role on the world stage, and the deployment of the SDF was his big audition. However, the Japanese public have remained adamantly pacifistic and they have a pretty big shield in front of them: Article 9 of the postwar (American-made) Constitution which officially limits the soldiers from any sort of combat outside of immediate defense of the homeland.

I don't know what's gonna happen in the last month of 2003, but my cynical mind thinks that there will still be a few unpleasant memories in store.

Sunday Nov. 30, 12:26 a.m.

The end of the penultimate month of the year, and true to this wacky weather year, we're getting another typhoon coming our way a full month after the last one should've made its way through. This weekend has been pretty wet already.

The kids were a bit better although I'm happy that I don't have them next Saturday because of the Xmas party next week. Then it was off fo r my monthly chat session at the old tea room before meeting up with Chip Guy and the family for dinner. Through it all, I was feeling pretty tired. I figure that I'm just getting older; now I often just close my eyes on the subway. Resistance is futile.

Speaking of the subway, I was sitting next to an old fart who was lying all over 3 passengers' worth of seating clearly sleeping off a boozefest. It's an interesting thing in this country. Throughout the half hour commute home, noone bothered to shake him from his stupor, even though the train got pretty filled up. Back in T.O., a lush like that would've been either nudged or slapped awake. In NYC, he probably would've ended up the latest murder victim. Here in Tokyo, the only person who would dare wake him up would be one of the subway staff and only when the train reached the last stop. For me, a non-confrontational guy, if he isn't bothering me, I won't bother him.

Another thing about life in Japan. I'm currently watching a late-night variety show where the guest of honour is a flaming homosexual TV personality. Once again, another paradox rears its head in Japanese culture. Japan is probably one of the last countries which will grant any sort of rights to homosexuals, and yet on the TV, clearly gay "talents" or transvestites often reach the heights of stardom. Heck, even some straight comedians act gay as part of their schtick. However, I'm not sure if these folks are truly being celebrated or they're being treated like particularly talented monkeys in a petting zoo.

My time with Chip Guy made me realize that his time in Japan is indeed numbered. Within a few months, he and the family will be moving back to Canada. Now with my ex gone to greener pastures and then my best buddy heading back to the Great White North, I guess I will truly be alone from March.

Thurs. Nov. 27, 10:36 p.m.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those Stateside. Turkey will probably be infesting most of the households across the Pacific. I had a feast of my own tonight but it didn't involve the big fowl. Actually, the mundaneness of my long 4-day weekend was broken by a little outing with some of my students to the Ikebukuro area to the Sunshine 60 Building, one of the first skyscrapers to go up in Tokyo.

There, we went to an exhibit called Namjatown, which is a kiddy play zone, but in recent years, the powers-that-be have wisely decided to put in some interesting areas for the older ones. One is the Gyoza (dumpling) Museum. Patterned after the first of the culinary museums, the Ramen Museum in Yokohama, the Gyoza Museum consists of a mini-Tokyo circa 1950 with various outlets of different gyoza. The six of us dove into fried, boiled, spicy, flaky pie-type gyoza, etc. It was all very tasty.

But we didn't stop there. To add to our torture, there was also an Ice Cream City just down the hall. The different types there were highlighted by the Turkish ice cream, which is a lot more elastic than the usual stuff. Everyone of course chose their favorite scoops, but since I've always had the showman within me, I went to the Okinawan ice cream stand and ordered the Adventure which entailed a scoop of just about every type of ice cream in their inventory, topped with corn flakes (a staple in sundaes over here), banana wedges, butterfingers, whipped cream, peach slices, cherries and candy sprinkles. All for a relatively measly 1500 yen. It took us a little over 10 minutes for all of us to devour the stuff down, but we got the job done.

Even that wasn't enough. We had the temerity, if not the good sense, to go upstairs and take a look at the custard pudding exhibit. Yes, perhaps that doesn't have quite the delicious ring of ice cream or gyoza, but at least one of my students was still slavering away. However, the rest of us were too busy digesting to display any more excitement. Still, we managed to share one jar of the stuff.

With each of our purchases in the different food courts, we received raffle tickets which enabled us to engage in a raffle. Usually, the average customer gets one shot at it, but since we were a party of 8 hungry people. we got 10 cracks at the wheel, and ended up getting a number of small prizes which could be of good use as bingo prizes at the annual school Xmas party next Saturday.

I'm feeling pretty good right now but I'm glad that I have the day off tomorrow. I'll keep it close to home.

Wed. Nov. 26, 11:48 p.m.

Well, my work week was very short. I've got nothing for the next 2 days and then we're back into the weekend again. And my work week wasn't all that demanding in the first place. Three classes yesterday and just two today.

It's hard to believe but we're now less than a month away from Xmas. And yet another sign that this is indeed the case is that NHK just announced the lineup for the annual Red and White Song Festival. Twenty years ago, my family and a lot of the other Japanese-Canadian families got really excited about getting one of the network's crown jewels to broadcast in Toronto. Nowadays, it's just kinda considered to be that distant sorta square uncle who pops in for a visit annually. Pretty much everyone either heads out for more appealing events on New Year's Eve or they get the New Year's food all ready while the Festival acts as sonic wallpaper. Seeing that I'll probably be having nothing to do on the 31st, I will probably be cozying up to it myself.

Saturday Nov. 22, 10:59 p.m.

It was one of those classes with my kids. The older kid was pretty much useless. But I did manage to get some apples from the mother.

I felt really tired after the class. I ended up sleeping on the subway once again and I just slept for the two hours I was home before moving onto my friends' place for dinner. Once again, the five of us were treated to a gorgeous feast of seafood and wine. Unfortunately, it looks like the house cats also brought out a case of allergy attacks amongst most of us. Luckily, I had the luxury of having some medicine.

Fri. Nov. 21, 11:26 p.m.

Well, speak of the devil. After mentioning my ex in my last entry, she gave me a call after 3 months of no contact. It was a typically emotional call, all of it on her side. I'm not sure if she had been drunk or not, but she was gushing forth the waterworks initially asking whether I was doing OK. When I assured her I was, she settled down. With the balm of time, I can now wonder how I was able to hold a relationship for as long as I did with her. After communicating with her for several minutes, I do realize that ultimately she wasn't the one for me. She has a new man in her life; I am very happy for her since it is someone who's in her company and shares the same age. Perhaps now we can finally get on with our lives.

Friday Nov. 21, 10:09 p.m.

My day was spent, as predicted, just lazing around watching CNN. It was nice but I also had a hazy flashback of my lengthy period of unemployment back in 1997. It wasn't all that bad but still I watched my income peter out. Sure enough, the scheduler called to inform me that I will not have any classes at the main school next week because there are no day classes due to the tests. Well, I figure that we're slowly entering the dry period with Xmas and New Year's coming up.

At least tomorrow, I will be meeting up with friends nearby for dinner. I actually haven't visited their place in several months. My ex and I were still going out at that point although things had pretty much cooled off between us by then. The hubby will be off fishing for our dinner; since he's an expert, I'm pretty confident that we'll have a bountiful seafood feast by this time tomorrow night.

Friday Nov. 21, 11:09 a.m.

Nice end to a steady work week and nice beginning of a long weekend. In this country, getting a full 3-day long weekend is still a relative rarity since a lot of the employed have to devote at least one weekend day to work, so you imagine my glee at getting the full four days off. Since my oil class is off at their last intensive, and myregular Friday afternoon student is off on vacation, I've got this nice sunny Friday off to veg out. Still, I have my kids on Saturday but that's just for 2 hours.

I was actually able to get a bit of cooking done last night. Tried my hand at gratin for the first time. This country seems to have a love affair with the cheese and white sauce dish. They've got recipes for just about every type of gratin imaginable: potatoes, macaroni, and even tofu which is the one I tried out. Worked out pretty well.

Being the big (breaking) news junkie, last night was a pretty banner one with the bombings in Istanbul and then the Michael Jackson arrest. Even the local stations here made it one of their top stories, though I think most people know the man more as the eccentric freak than as the King of Pop nowadays. My 2 cents? Jacko is a peculiar man, no doubts on that score. In fact, I would peg him as the extreme form of celeb excess; however, one isn't arrested for being an eccentric. Let's see if the man is indeed guilty of molestation, then I'll know.

Kinda interesting at my school today. Fridays are always speech days with our regular students, and today's topic is on capital punishment. And sure enough, right now in the States, a jury will be deciding on that very point for sniper John Muhammad.

Wed. Nov. 19, 9:55 a.m.

It is getting quite cold in Tokyo. I had to bring out the electric blanket for the first time this season. Just waiting for those first few snowflakes to come on down. Unsurprisingly, I've gotten a few sniffles, so I've taken the old medicine. Thankfully, the stuff works quickly; not so good is that prolonged use can damage one's liver.

It'll be pretty quiet today. Just my two afternoon and evening classes. The rest of the week should be similarly slow. Just have one class on Thursday and then Friday will be free and easy.