Saturday December 11, 9:06 p.m.

Well, I got my pizza delivered by a guy in a Santa suit. He looked rather nonplussed when I reacted to it by asking about it. The kid was pretty lanky so the suit just hung off of him. Talk about paying one's dues.

I got my Giga Meat pizza, a basket of Tater-Tots and a Caesar salad. Since I didn't really have any lunch, I was able to gobble the whole thing down without too much problem. Glad I don't have a bathroom scale, though.

Quite a bit of e-mail traffic including a letter from Egg. I hadn't heard from him for months. He's made a request for a couple of CDs. I'll try and help him out if I can although I don't think I'll have any time to check out the major CD shops in Tokyo before I take off. Then, GC had the strange request for Krispy Kreme donuts. I think that will be in the "Improbable" department.

Will probably hit the hay a bit earlier than usual for a Saturday night considering that I will have to start cleaning stuff early on Sunday. Not that I have all that much to do since I already got the bathroom cleaned up and that tatami vacuumed. Then, I have to pick up The Stick at the station later on in the afternoon. I may ask her about the tax package I got last week. I'm gonna have to pay the bills as well and pick up my contribution for the potluck Xmas party with the Beehive on Tuesday.

Saturday December 11, 1:49 p.m.

Had my final haircut of the year at the usual place. I now look properly presentable for home...aside from the spare tire. And the Chipmunk dropped by for a few minutes to give me the bankbook. I was also able to unload some stuff that I didn't need on her such as the yuzu, the spray-on cheese and one bottle of BBQ sauce. Now, the next delivery should be the air tickets within the next couple of hours.

Got a message from The Salesman just now. He's wondering when we can get together once I get back home. Looks like the social calendar is filling up nicely.

I wonder if I'll have pizza tonight...just one more pie from Dominos before I hit home.

Friday December 10, 9:12 p.m.

Still slightly stuffy but I am getting better. However,the trip for those final presents still took a lot out of me. Sure enough, the delivery guy brought the ticket over just when I was starting to teach The Teacher. However, I'm having the guy bring it over tomorrow when I'm actually home. I may have guests in the form of The Chipmunk and her hubby at the time.

Also, I finally got a response from The Stick whom I had initially contacted as a possible alternate when the juku boss turned me down. She's asked if I could help her out with her upcoming interview at the Tokyo American Club. She asked for help on Sunday, my day to do the big cleanup. Well, I'm certainly not going to cancel that for someone I haven't seen in well over a year as cold as that may sound. I don't have any other day to do it. But I did offer for her to come over my way so that I can help her out here at home. At least, she'll hopefully learn in a much cleaner environment.

"Spirited Away" is showing for the second time within a year on NTV. NTV has always been the go-to station when it comes to showing Hayao Miyazaki films, and always on Friday nights. I'm still not sure, seeing it for the first time in its entirety, that I would have been able to last through the entire thing in a theatre, but in the comfort of home, it's a lot easier to take. It does bear some similarities to "The Wizard of Oz" in terms of the fantastical nature. Hard for anyone to imagine some of the weirdest imagery to ever show in an animated feature.

Well, still gotta clean the dishes and the bathroom before I hit bed. I'm gonna try the vitamin drink treatment again and see if the cold can be totally knocked out before I head out for my haircut.

Friday December 10, 8:26 a.m.

Still feeling a bit of that cold but I'm much better than I was yesterday. Took all 3 sips of that enhanced vitamin drink (that's 136 yen a sip), medicine and then wrapped myself in a couple of layers of blankets with the electric blanket turned on. Sure enough, I started to come out of REM sleep feeling pretty sweaty and my nose was still a bit stuffy. However, the runny nose was almost gone and the stuffiness has subsided a bit. Have the heater on as well and drank down some OJ so I'm starting to come out of it. Hopefully, by midday, I should be almost back to normal. I sure hope so since I'm gonna have to head out for shopping today after my lone lesson with The Teacher.

Happily, the Chipmunk has agreed to keep an eye on the apartment while I'm gone and I will update her bankbook back in Toronto. She'll be popping by tomorrow after my visit for a haircut....which means that I'll be starting that big cleanup when I get back home today. Nothing like a visit to finally kick me into some domestic engineering. Mind you, nothing will get started until that plane ticket gets delivered. The agent told me that it will be arriving sometime this morning. I really hope he means before 10, but with my luck, I doubt it.

Some good news from Canada. It sounds like the NHL may actually reach some sort of deal with the Players Association to end the hockey strike. It'll be great timing if I can get home and watch some good ol' Maple Leaf action.

Thursday December 9, 3:05 p.m.

Well, back here a lot earlier and more empty-handed than I expected. I ended up just chatting with Jazz Buddy which was just as well, since I now have a full-fledged cold. A dose of medicine, a bottle of vitamin drink and tons of tissue couldn't fight this bug so I've had to cancel my lesson with The Carolinan and cancel the latter half of my Xmas shopping. In fact, just got a call from her right now. She sounded somewhat disappointed which doesn't improve my feelings but from previous experience, I would've been even more miserable if I'd gone ahead and tried to teach the lesson tonight. My nose is still dripping like a leaky faucet. I guess the shopping will have to wait til tomorrow at least.

The Chipmunk contacted me to see if I could update her bankbook in Canada. Then, it dawned on me that she lives even closer than my juku boss. The boss had to reject my request of checking on the apartment since she has to take care of her ailing father. If she can do it, I'd be very grateful.

Well, since I'm homebound for the rest of the day, I'll probably hop into the futon and rest up some before dinner. Just hope that I don't have to cancel on The Teacher either.

Wednesday December 8, 10:25 p.m.

I finally got my gym workout in. I was rather relieved that I actually registered the same weight that I did last time...even with that huge ingestion of the ribs at Tony Romas on Sunday. However, after all the stuff I did today, I didn't even lose half a kilo.

After the gym, I went out to KFC for the first time in a while. And I realized why I don't go there much. I paid quite a bit more for their set than I do at McDs or Wendys. Plus, the lunch there probably didn't help the results of my workout since the chicken had enough oil to make OPEC swoon.

Had my final lessons of the year with The Hawaiian and The OL. The former will send me a letter to check over. It's supposed to head for a prospective homestay organization. I kinda told her about the instability in quality control when it came to homestay families since I don't think a lot of governments regulate them. She knew quite well the trials and tribulations of potluck homestay. One family she stayed several years ago gave her just a piece of toast for dinner. Bloody scumbags. Over the years, I've heard my share of wonderful host families and just the opposite via various students and friends.

The OL was almost a half-hour late but I wasn't too miffed since she has earned my trust. And besides, the lesson was quite fun. Looks like her company will be having its 2nd annual etiquette training thanks to the JAL Training Academy.

I had to send my regrets to one of PH's gang who is planning a year-end party. When I saw the cost of going there and thought about the fact that it was going to be one of those huge affairs, I decided to pull out. However, I did get the official invitation from The Quarterback for his wedding in February and I'll be giving him my confirmation. Also, although I did tell PH that I really couldn't help out with her request to transport some stuff for her back to Canada, she was still kinda trying to subtly push the issue with some more goods of her own. Well, I won't be at the party so she'll have to deal with it somehow. I'm gonna be grumbly enough just lugging my own stuff to the airport.

PH did tell me that CNN's Bill Hemmer won't be doing any remote broadcasting from Roppongi Hills from Monday. He'll just be reporting from within the TV-Asahi HQ, so I just relayed the abort order to Arwen. At least, I can save myself the extra time and head home straight after the final class with The Company. That is, if the Prez doesn't decide to invite me out for another dinner. I do hope I can get paid.

The big news tonight is that those ashes of the supposedly late Megumi Yokota, the largest-profile abductee to North Korea 30 almost 30 years ago, turned out to be bogus. You can imagine the rage that seethed out of her parents who have spearheading the effort to get the abductees out of Kimland. The government is now considering economic sanctions although when it comes to North Korea, any sort of belligerent action has to be applied very, very carefully. In related news, Charles Jenkins and the family are now starting their long-awaited life of relative normalcy on Sado Island. All of the members gave some words and I even heard the two daughters speak for the first time in Japanese. To a lot of the people here, this family could be considered to be this country's version of The Incredibles.

Looks like I'm coming down with a cold according to my stuffy nose and slightly phlegmy throat. I was thinking of buying one of those ubiquitious vitamin drinks and imbibing it before bedtime and see if those rumours pan out but couldn't find one so I'll just use the regular medicine and hope for the best. I've got Jazz Buddy and The Carolinan tomorrow. Not sure if the session with JB will be another chatfest but I'll have something ready.

Tuesday December 7, 10:42 p.m.

Visited the neighbourhood massage clinic for the first time in 3 weeks. As usual, the tech mentioned how petrified my shoulders felt although I'm not sure if that's what the staff is supposed to say to a customer. Still, I enjoyed the rubdown although those who are more accustomed to the Swedish style may find the Japanese version akin to torture.

Ended up rearranging my CDs instead of heading out to the gym so I will definitely have to head out tomorrow morning before I have The Hawaiian and the OL for their final classes of the year. The juku classes were OK although I wonder if I committed a social faux pas in front of the Beauty Pair. They had come back from their trek to Cancun and Vegas with a souvenir in the form of a box of Kahlua chocolates. I actually offered to share the box with the ladies since I'd thought that they would enjoy trying them out. I'm not sure but I may have at least surprised them by my "offer"; I remembered too late that souvenirs here are usually meant for the recipient and the recipient only since it is a gift. Their initial reaction was a bit of hesitance but they accepted the offer. On the other hand, Japanese etiquette has been loosening up over the past few years and gift-giving hasn't had quite the gravitas that it had, so it could be another case of paranoia.

I got the fax from my ticket agent so I quickly sent the money over. So hopefully that ticket will be here within the next few days.

Tuesday December 7, 9:11 a.m.

Well, it's 63 years since Pearl Harbour. Not that the anniversary will get much press here. Maybe the right-wing fanatics will celebrate, though. Speaking of those nuts, I wonder how they're feeling about this current love affair with all things Korean. Some of them have got to be steaming.

My day got off to an annoying start. Was doing my laundry when the entire box of detergent fell over. However, I didn't pull a tantrum; I just pulled out the ol' vacuum and sucked the fine powder up and back into the box. However, let's say that there are a few extra strands of hair. Perhaps, it wouldn't pass muster if it were food but since detergent is clean anyways...

PH contacted me to see if I'd be willing to serve as courier for some toys. I first thought NO WAY, but the pesky spirit of Xmas infected me so I told her that I would with a caveat...if the toys are just a couple of figures.

Monday December 6, 8:49 p.m.

My day turned out to be shorter than expected when one of the students at the Company called up this morning to inform me that class had to be cancelled. Apparently, both guys were out on assignments.

And even The Class Act was halved. The woman of the house was out on some sort of errand so I just taught...or chatted, to be more accurate...her partner. Gabbed a lot on the ups and downs of her family. SIL did show up, though.

I was able to develop those photos from the Xmas party and the outing to Namjatown. Some winners in there. I was tempted to get the Shrek 2 and Spidey 2 DVDs but I figured there was a small chance that I might get either or both of them as Xmas presents so I held off. Besides why increase my expenditures unnecessarily? Even if I don't get them for Xmas, I'll grab them once I get back from Canada.

Speaking of...I got the call from the travel agent and everything is pretty much confirmed. I just have to wire the money this week and then the ticket will be in my hands soon after. Also, I made my bimonthly appointment at the hair salon for Saturday. Want to get that out of the way.

Tomorrow will be only the juku classes so I've basically got the whole day free. I had been thinking about finally catching Sky Captain but the movie won't be playing at the neighbourhood theatre until late Tuesday. Plus, when I checked exit polls for the movie at the TokyoWalker site, it didn't look too good. So I think I'll probably wait for the flick to come out on DVD. Well, in any case, I've gotta send out The Iconoclast's package, then get a long-awaited rubdown and perhaps even get some shopping done before one of my last workouts before I take off.

Sunday December 5, 10:21 p.m.

A little more than 12 hours after the last party fest, I was out to meet another bunch. The morning, though, had quite a bit of Sturm und Drang in the weather department. A lot of wind and rain were blowing through my area...I wondered if my laundry pole was gong to fly off at one point. And the early morning subways were canned for a while. However, by the time I left the apartment, it was downright warm at 24 C...kinda Indian summer for a day.

Met up with Skippy, Movie Buddy, The Hawaiian and Frodo at the east gate of JR Shinjuku and bought our tickets at the discount shop before having a bit of lunch at an Italian place just a few dozen metres away from the theatre. Actually, we needn't have worried about any lineups for The Incredibles. Looks like everyone else and his brother were lining up for Howl's Moving Castle, the latest Miyazaki opus. Good for us...I never really could get myself to actually pay up the money for one of his movies; just a bit too esoteric for me.

The Incredibles was simply incredible. It was an amazing marriage of CG and superhero action, and somehow they were able to incorporate likeable characters and humour. Critics on the other side of the Pacific noted that the first hour was the slightly laggy one, while one wag over here thought that the second hour was the one to let down the side with the so-called mindless action (the guy probably just LOVES Ingmar Bergman). For me, it was all good. I never thought I'd start a sentence with "Craig T. Nelson IS..." but he is indeed Bob Parr. I think it will be inevitable that a sequel will be coming around.

I underestimated the length of the movie by about half an hour which actually turned out to be fortunate since I'd been a bit concerned that I made the reservations for Tony Romas a bit too late after the movie. The subway and the walk to the restaurant got us in there right on time. DTE was already there waiting for us. And Arwen, and later Miss 88 with her new beau, and even another old alumnus joined us. I once again showed off my new nickname of Mr. Incredible by devouring the LARGE rack of baby backs along with a salad, Irish Coffee and some good spoonfuls of the brownie. I should be gaining weight even before heading home. Found out that Skippy is the second alumnus to make into the media although unlike our French nudie model, she kept her clothes on. Apparently, she was able to get her pic into an advert for our school. Also, Arwen has got herself a couple of part-time jobs. I told her about that Bill Hemmer, that CNN guy, is coming here next week for that weeklong stint at Roppongi Hills. I've decided to ask PH to see if she could find out from her TV Asahi friend, whose company is a CNN affiliate, if Bill would be broadcasting outside. Apparently, Arwen has a certain amount of like for the man and I'm just interested in the celeb factor of catching him at work, so perhaps the two of us may traipse down to the Hills after work on the 13th.

Still gotta prep for tomorrow's lessons. Would rather hit the sack right now but considering how much I've eaten, I probably shouldn't do so for a couple of hours.

Saturday December 4, 11:42 p.m.

Well, as expected, it was a long day with the kids at school. I was in full Santa gear and my co-hosts were in their reindeer hats as the annual Xmas party got into full gear. There was a smaller turnout this year than in previous parties since this year's crop is smaller to begin with and also since a number of the students just couldn't make it. However, what was lacking in the turnout department was compensated by the enthusiasm from the kids in terms of the games which were wild and woolly. The reindeer thought up of a game of stacking cans within 45 seconds which brought the animal from everyone especially from the Dollface.

Afterwards, it was about an hour just hanging in the school lounge before we headed out for our second party at the nearby izakaya for a few hours. All went pretty well except for a few minutes at the end when Bruno, one of our teachers, got a bit too antsy from too much drink and scared a few of our students. Luckily, somehow, the kids managed to ditch him and we ended up going to another drinking joing just down the street for another couple of hours. By that time, I was pretty exhausted but I still managed to keep a good face on things. The talk was initially on how surprisingly boorish Bruno acted near the end but things calmed down. In the States, his behaviour probably wouldn't have gotten a second glance and if he were Japanese, the same would have been true here but unfortunately since he is not Japanese and he usually doesn't act that way in class, he stood out like a sore thumb. He's a pretty nice guy so I'm hoping that all will be forgotten by the New Year.

Things finally broke up around 10:30, some 10.5 hours after things got started so I'm rather glad to get home. I just cannot do those long nights out that I used to do back home a decade or so ago anymore. Mind you, I have another long day tomorrow with the previous year's group to catch The Incredibles and then Tony Romas. I hope the weather clears up by the time I get to Shinjuku since it's raining steadily now.

There was talk about having a drinking party at one of the teacher's houses, and my place was brought up. I warned that my little hut was pretty cramped and messy, but in truth, I wouldn't mind having some visitors over again. But it'll probably have to wait until the kids graduate since I really can't invite the whole kit and kaboodle; just the ones who remain in contact.

Friday December 3, 8:54 p.m.

Another exhausting day today. I figure that I'm unconsciously so diligent about keeping a good rapport with the customers that I just expend a ton of energy. Well, at least it's nice to know that I'm losing calories even without going to the gym.

My lesson with The Teacher was another laugh-filled one. I got a bit of a surprise when one of the people at the adjoining table called my name. It just happened to be another one of the former students from the school. She dropped out halfway through. However, she's kept in good contact with The Songbird and even asked for my particulars.

Tried to look for some more Xmas presents but nada. So I ended up dropping in at the school where the kids were having their last official day before breaking up for the Holidays. Actually, several of them will be having semi-private lessons over the next couple of weeks. I sent off a message over to the Scheduler to see if I could get in on some of the action, but sure enough, I haven't heard a thing.

SR and I had another long chat at the Tea Room. Looks like she's having the usual gripes at work about her neer-do-well supervisor. It'll be the last time I see her this year since she'll be too busy with the accounts next week.

Got back home and had my dinner. Checked out the current crisis about that Morning Musume who strayed from the straight and narrow. Seems like things are starting to subside as the reality of her new persona non grata status is developing. On the main music show tonight, the group appeared, happy as usual, without the young lady in question. Nobody batted an eye, nobody whispered a word...WA was maintained and so shall it be.

SPIDERMAN is making its TV premiere right now on NTV, ostensibly to commemorate the release of its sequel on DVD today. I may be picking up the 2-pack back home.

Well, tomorrow will be the big Xmas party. My Santa suit is ready to go, but I do have to wash the beard tonight. Could be another long day.

Thursday December 2, 10:06 p.m.

Had that lesson with Jazz Buddy this morning. Instead of our usual Starbucks, she took me to Haiti, a cafe a few hundred metres down the road which also boasts some spicy curry fare. She was yawning a lot thanks to her typical lack of sleep but she did get rather animated again when talking about her sister from Hell. Looks like next week's chatfest will also be "on the road" as well. A bit more quieter, though. We'll just be moving over to the local Tullys for cocoa.

Then I headed back to the school and waited an hour before we launched the 2nd annual trip to Namjatown for the food tour. There were about 7 of us and we first hit the Gyoza Stadium where we picked different restaurants to amass a bunch of gyoza to compare and eat. Once that was done, we went upstairs to the Roll Cake Exhibition. We found some interesting stands over there including one that was hawking a new confection "invented" by current flavour-of-the-year celeb Aya Ueto, a standing roll cake surrounded by sliced strawberries and topped off by a cream-filled shell. Not bad, if I may say so myself. I also decided to get another piece of roll cake in the form of a fruity one. While we were all noshing away, one of our number, The Dollface, started gabbing about one of her classmates who wasn't with us. Our absent member usually comes off as a rather quiet sort but in reality she seems to have quite an active sex life according to what she's blurted out in class. The Dollface was more than happy to relay some of that news to me.

Finally, our last stop was Ice Cream City. The Blue Seal stand was no longer there so we couldn't try the bucket, but we all sampled a lot of other stands. So after 4 hours, we were pretty much done. Now, it's just the big Xmas party that's next up. It'll be nice to have a day to recuperate.

Got home and made the reservations at Tony Romas. Then I did my usual lurking at the J-Pop forum. One facet certainly exploded into a ton of chatter over the past 24 hours. Apparently, one of the founding members of the girl group, Morning Musume, was discovered to have plagiarized some material for her book of poetry. And as a result, she's been officially suspended and ostracized from all activity for at least the next couple of months. It certainly didn't help that she was one of the most popular of the girls. The folks from all over the planet were just nattering away at this major crisis. My take on it is that, yep, the girl screwed up..but she's only in her early twenties and she'll recover easily enough. She's apologized and now she's taking the rap.

Well, it's been a long day and I've got two lessons tomorrow so it's time to pack it in.

Wednesday December 1, 10:04 p.m.

Started the day off with that long trip to the tax office. Gave my new roachkillers a test run. Sure enough, they initially fit quite well but then the blister spots started happening. I think I should have them broken in by the weekend.

Well, what can I say about the visit to the tax office? I'm glad that I got it out of the way. The Ichikawa City Tax Office is located in a non-descript neighbourhood. The square building kinda sticks out like a shiny block in an area of old stores and bars. As I said, I'm glad I got the visit out of the way; that's really all I could say. I got this half-hour spiel by an obviously dedicated officer of the government who plied me with a lot of paperwork. I could only understand 20% of what he said but that was enough for me to get the gist of it. I will try and get further clarification from my students or friends. The overall message is that I probably will have a lot of paperwork to do that will make the usual tax filings in Canada look like a cakewalk. No wonder entrepreneurship is so low in this country. A person would rather stay a cog in a huge company and have its accounting division take care of the gory details than take care of it himself.

I didn't have a whole heck of a lot of time before my lesson with The Aunt so I just went over to the station closest to the teaching site and ended up having another Mac lunch. One thing about eating at McDs. I can have the Big Mac set and within a few seconds of wolfing it down, I can still walk away and go off without getting any sort of tummyache. Not sure if that's necessarily a good thing but when one's in a hurry...

Not sure either if the lesson with the Aunt will continue on after today. Oh, it went better with the structure but she's off on her New Zealand trip next week and so I won't see her again for the remainder of the year. Basically, she was just looking for travel English. However, I still appreciate the referral by The Hawaiian. She was her usual reliable self.

I headed back down to Toranomon for The OL's regular lesson. I was a bit surprised when she gave me a block of kamaboko, or fish cake. She'd gone to a nice hot spring trip over the weekend with 8 of her buddies and it was a souvenir. Looks like that outing to the Chinese place will be postponed til the New Year since Betty Boop won't be available this month.

Got home and I shouldn't have done it but I still got a bit of dinner despite the fact I'd had a sandwich at Starbucks. Some cravings you just can't escape. When I turned on the telly, I found the first of the video signs that the year is nigh. The annual Fuji TV song festival celebrating this year's hits was on live from the Takanawa Prince Hotel. One surprise was seeing Beyonce of Destiny's Child in the dining hall. I can only wonder what she must think of some of the acts. Activate plastic smile. Also, there was quite the heavy Korean influence reflecting how big the Korean boom has been here over the past several months. It's almost as if the Korean singers are part of the regular Japanese talent crop. And the annual Red N' White show will have a few Korean singers on as well. This couldn't have been imagined a few years ago.

I also got a surprise call from Skippy since it was her first one. She was her usual dandy self. Her trip to Paris was very Amelie-like; she even visited Montmartre where the movie had been filmed. She also experience that bugbear of travel...she got pickpocketed on the subway. She put on her sad voice then but quickly rebounded back to happy-go-lucky once more. You could probably run her down with a car, she'll still have the smile on her face. Well, I still like her regardless.

Only have the Jazz Buddy tomorrow morning. We're supposed to head over to a different venue for a change of pace although I'm not sure if that will improve her English any. Then, I start that field trip with the schoolkids to Namjatown. Should make for an interesting report tomorrow night.

That last mass mailing to the gang finally brought out Chip Guy after several months of non-communication. And then the plans for us to head out to my favourite Tex-Mex place back home got him hooked.

Wednesday December 1, 8:48 a.m.

Looks like my occasional missive to the folks here and abroad. Got a few more replies to it than usual when I told everyone about the fact that one of my old students became a centrefold, so to speak. I rather noticed that the women didn't respond, though, heheheheh.

Had my first workout at the gym in well over a week. Not too bad but I did gain a kilo initially. I'm just wondering what the Holidays will mean for me in terms of dieting. What am I saying? Dieting is a four-letter word during Xmas.

And it seems that I've finally things locked down for the group gathering on the 5th for The Incredibles. Now, it's just waiting for everyone to confirm.

Well, I gotta start my day by heading out to the tax office out in the mos inconvenient of places (have to travel to Moto-Yawata Station and then walk 15 minutes to the office) to pick up my personal income tax form. I had put it off twice but I cannot really do it anymore. Then I've got The Aunt and The Hawaiian and the OL.

I see that George Bush is getting a very frosty welcome in The Great White North. Nice to see and hear.

Monday November 29, 10:27 p.m.

Quite a butt-kicking start to my day this morning. I went to the convenience store near my place to do some copying for my lesson when I picked up one of the usual tabloids to wile away the time as the copier was doing its thing. I came across the usual nudies pages when I saw one young lady who seemed rather familiar as she was posing in various pretzel-like posees with very little or no clothing on. Then I came across the name,and my eyes almost fell out! The very bare lass happened to be one of our old students from the school from a number of years ago.

I always had a feeling that something like this would happen but it was more in the way of some student hitting the big time on stage or on TV or on the CD shelves. And actually, one of our former staff members actually did release an album not too long ago, but I digress. Our former student was one of our more vivacious types during her year with us. Half-French, half-Japanese...she was turned out like an Asian Brigitte Bardot. She certainly had a very strong side to her but she was a good student even though her rather raunchy taste in clothing made her look like a BAD student, if you know what I mean. Well, since her days with us, she's managed to pop on the TV a number of times as a model and even had a stint on an NHK program for a while. Well, from that program to this centerfold stint was a pretty drastic change in direction. This is news that I should let the DJ know since he's the only other teacher left who may have known her.

The rest of my day was rather mundane in comparison. I had my lessons and I continued my Xmas shopping between classes. Even my Company class went pretty well today. I did have that dinner at the sushi place tonight but found out that my coupon was only for a couple and I had to spend at least 3000 yen. Well, at least I didn't have to pay too much.

Got my second bereavement notice in as many weeks. The first one came from my uncle who informed me that his mother-in-law had passed away this year. So according to Japanese tradition, I am not to send any New Year's card to his family. And then, the second one was from the husband of that former student of mine who so suddenly passed on recently. I'm starting to feel that I should send some sort of letter to him to let him know how wonderful his wife was.

In any case, I still have a number of things to do before I hit the hay.

Monday November 29, 8:07 a.m.

Well, my night last night was spent making my 7th Xmas compilation tape in the last 14 years. At least you can't say it's a run-of-the-mill hobby. I always combine some of the usual regulars like Bing, Tony and Frank with a lot of the J-Pop singers. Yes, believe it or not, I think every J-Pop singer no matter their length of time in the limelight has put out at least one Xmas song. They can be covers of the traditionals such as "Chestnuts Roasting Over An Open Fire" or "White Christmas"; but a lot of the stuff are original compositions with that heavy hint of Kringle. Of course, being heavily non-Christian over here, the originals are more on the Santa side of things than on the Jesus side.

It's kinds weird how the J-Pop industry has been embracing Xmas all these years. As I said, it takes on the Santa and fun aspect of things since the Yuletide is taken on more like New Years in America, namely it's one of the biggest party nights of the year. The basic themes of the Xmas songs are almost enka-like. They usually deal with having tons of fun or about a couple which has either gotten together or broken up on the 24th. The most famous J-Pop Xmas song, or the equivalent of "White Christmas", is Tatsuro Yamashita's "Christmas Eve". It was made all the way back in 1982 but it would be another several years before it became a huge hit when the song was used as the jingle (no pun intended) for Japan Railways. And then for another several years, it would be the de rigeur song every December. I think the song has kinda faded somewhat since the newer generation is embracing more recent Xmas pop fare from the latest musicians. I took a look through a thread on the JPop forum...the one dealing with winter songs...virtually all of the songs the kids mentioned are within the last few years. No mention at all of ol' Tatsuro.

Well, I got word from GC that he got back from his vacation. Looks like he took Northwest according to his connecting hub and the fact that his plane was grounded for repairs. He's ready to housesit for me. And the juku boss was kind enough to volunteer to look in on the place periodically.

Off to work I go in another hour or so. It'll be a slog for the first half of the week but the latter half should be fun with a couple of those get-togethers.

Sunday November 28, 7:27 p.m.

My Xmas shopping officially began today. I was armed with my gift certificates and headed down to the Ginza. After searching around the various department stores, I could find the calendars down in the B2 of Matsuzakaya. Still, I blew some more money on CDs today at the nearby Yamano Music. Ginza certainly looked to be in the Xmas spirit. A lot of decorations have been put up and the stores were doing volume business.

After my brief but intense outing, I came back home and ended up eating at the Chinese family restaurant, Bamiyan. I was going to go to the kaiten armed with my 10% off coupon but seeing that there was absolutely no one inside, I decided to hold off and went across the street instead. I hadn't been to Bamiyan in a very long time although the place has been up for several years. The big reason was that my ex, being a nutritionist, had a major disdain for anything that smelled of family restaurant. Not having had any lunch, I managed to engorge myself on their fare and even top it all off with a Haagen-Daas Apple Pie Ice Cream. I did forget to buy a new pair of shoes, though. My only other window of opportunity will be on Tuesday between my lesson in Tsudanuma and the gym.

Saturday November 27, 9:00 p.m.

Ended up having my final class with the sisters this morning. Next week, I've got the school Xmas party and the mother had to can the 11th as the final day due to the end-of-year PTA meeting. I was lucky to get a goodly number of gift certificates at any of the old department stores so that could bring down my Xmas shopping expenses by quite a bit...as long as calendars are sold there.

Since I had to hang around in the area before my second lesson with the Aunt, I just did lunch at McDonalds. I could've done it at the family restaurant where I would teach her but I think that would've been a bit too much in the guilt category for me. 90 minutes later, she showed up at the cafe. The lesson was OK but seemed a bit haphazard due to her relentless questions and the fact that I didn't really have anything in terms of structured materials aside from a couple of photocopies of menus. We were focusing on ordering in English.

Was feeling understandably tired so I was sleeping a bit on the subway. And by the time I picked up the groceries for dinner, the last of the sun slipped behind the horizon. One thing about this country; we don't need to slip back an hour to lose sunlight early.

Actually was able to clean up the living room lickety-split so it looks almost passable. Should be pretty messy by Monday, though. I saw on the news that Charles Jenkins got out of his little vacation in the stockade. Now, 40 years of desertion have been swept aside so that he can live the rest of his life with his family on Sado Island.He said that he would like to visit America just one more time, but I kinda wonder what his reception would be like over there knowing how much the military is woven into life in the States. I'd think he would be lustily booed at the very least...and I'm sure a lot of the veterans are slapping themselves upside the head at the very light slap on the wrist Jenkins got. However, on this side of the Pacific, he is being welcomed with open arms. A lot of it is due to his wife, Hitomi Soga, one of the former North Korean abductees; another part is the unpopularity of the US military in places like Okinawa.

Well, "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" slipped in here under the radar behind the more heavily hyped "The Polar Express". Gwyneth and Jude did come over this past week to do their duty and promote the flick but I'm not quite sure how their latest movie together will play here. I may have to catch it soon if I don't want to miss it. Tomorrow will be my only opportunity to catch it for the next several days. However, I also have my Xmas shopping to launch. I was thinking of just keeping it close to home but I think I'll probably head out to Ginza and see what I can come up with with those gift certificates. I will definitely take my time getting up tomorrow.

Friday November 26, 10:00 p.m.

Aghhh...after the help that Paddy had given me, my computer has gone on the fritz again. I feel like I'm back to my ol' dial-up days.

It was nice getting back to teaching the kids again. Good to get into the banter. Looks like there will be a good number for both the field trip next Thursday and the Xmas party next Saturday.

I met The Bohemian in Suidobashi today. We ended up going to EN in Shibuya since we couldn't really find a decent place in the neighbourhood. We got there early enough so we could get a couple of hours drinking and eating, but by the end, the waiter was getting a bit antsy for us to go. I was happy to hear that The B may finally be getting a romantic interest.

Well, back to prepping for tomorrow's lessons.