Sunday February 13, 1:02 p.m.
Went to the salon for my cut and shampoo. Then, when I was paying my money to the manager and my usual cutter, she landed a little bombshell on me. She'll be leaving the store as of March 31st. She got married over the Holidays so she and her new hubby will be moving to the wilds of Gunma Prefecture. She's always been a sweet young lady with the happy talk and all, so it'll be a pity to see her go. True to her nature, she got a bit misty at the cash register but I did reassure her that I'll pop on by for one more cut with her in late March. She was kind enough to let her replacement know about me and my style. I'm now wondering if all those sniffles throughout the session were really because of a cold. I sent off a missive to my ex since she's the one who pulled me away from my old barber and introduced me to the stylist.
It certainly felt Canadian outside this morning. Pretty cold and the blah sky overhead didn't help warm things up.
Well, after lunch, I gotta get started on my taxes. Yeah, you heard me...I gotta fill out a return. After years of relying on my previous companies to do the dirty work, I have to pick up the pen and put down all of my income in Japanese. I'll go pretty slow since I have to translate the form first. This won't be fun but such is the costs of being a freelancer...a tax-paying one, that is.
Just a place to deposit my thoughts on life here in the Kanto and about anything else that sticks to my walls.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Saturday February 12, 11:20 p.m.
After that epic last entry on the wedding, I wanted to get back to the mundane of the day. Woke up this morning to a bloated stomach. Teaches me for overindulging at the buffet table last night.
The kids were fine and I even got a Valentine's Day present in the form of homemade chocolates from the elder sister..."giri-choco", of course. What say I? "Giri-choco" stands for "obligatory chocolate", the perfectly platonic exchange of confections just to commemorate the holiday.
After that, I just went to Kinokuniya the bookstore in Shinjuku to pick up yet another couple of texts before taking the train home. Nowadays. I seem to be doing much more sleeping on the subway than anything else. It's starting to get embarrassing how I doze off in mid-puzzle, although I do find it somewhat amazing how I can still grip my pen while I'm asleep.
Dinner was once again two slices of Aussie beef all fried up. The steaks sure come in handy when I have to come up with something for cooking. Speaking of beef, yesterday was not just Japan's b-day and the Quarterback's most important day but it was also the return of gyudon, that bowl of stewed flavoured beef slices on a bowl of rice. Not too long ago, stores like Yoshinoya were providing the salaryman's saviour dish in the millions. Then, BSE came along and now gyudon has become pretty much extinct like the Passenger Pigeon and the Dodo. However for one day yesterday, there was enough of a shipment of untainted beef that gyudon outlets like Yoshinoya could provide the public with their raison d'etre much to the tearful delight of millions of people who lined up for hours to taste that delicacy which is now also a rarity. As for me, I never developed a particular like for the stuff since the topping always struck me as being mere scraps of beef and stringy fat. I can live without that.
Well, tomorrow I head out for my bimonthly haircut at the usual place.
After that epic last entry on the wedding, I wanted to get back to the mundane of the day. Woke up this morning to a bloated stomach. Teaches me for overindulging at the buffet table last night.
The kids were fine and I even got a Valentine's Day present in the form of homemade chocolates from the elder sister..."giri-choco", of course. What say I? "Giri-choco" stands for "obligatory chocolate", the perfectly platonic exchange of confections just to commemorate the holiday.
After that, I just went to Kinokuniya the bookstore in Shinjuku to pick up yet another couple of texts before taking the train home. Nowadays. I seem to be doing much more sleeping on the subway than anything else. It's starting to get embarrassing how I doze off in mid-puzzle, although I do find it somewhat amazing how I can still grip my pen while I'm asleep.
Dinner was once again two slices of Aussie beef all fried up. The steaks sure come in handy when I have to come up with something for cooking. Speaking of beef, yesterday was not just Japan's b-day and the Quarterback's most important day but it was also the return of gyudon, that bowl of stewed flavoured beef slices on a bowl of rice. Not too long ago, stores like Yoshinoya were providing the salaryman's saviour dish in the millions. Then, BSE came along and now gyudon has become pretty much extinct like the Passenger Pigeon and the Dodo. However for one day yesterday, there was enough of a shipment of untainted beef that gyudon outlets like Yoshinoya could provide the public with their raison d'etre much to the tearful delight of millions of people who lined up for hours to taste that delicacy which is now also a rarity. As for me, I never developed a particular like for the stuff since the topping always struck me as being mere scraps of beef and stringy fat. I can live without that.
Well, tomorrow I head out for my bimonthly haircut at the usual place.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Saturday February 12, 2:34 p.m.
Happy B-day, Dad!
Yesterday was the big wedding bash for The Quarterback and his homecoming queen. I put on my monkey suit and took my present and headed out to tony Azabu-Juban. For all those Sailor Moon fans out there (and you know who you are...stop hiding!), A-J is the neighbourhood of the eponymous character since the TV station which originally aired the cartoon, TV-Asahi, isn't too far away.
It was actually my first time to walk through the area, and my ignorance showed when I went out in a completely wrong direction for 10 minutes before getting my bearings straight and returning to the subway station. Once I got back on track, I discovered Azabu-Juban is quite the handsome neighbourhood. The slope I was walking up on seemed to have a very Italian flavour to it. There was a rather tight traffic circle on the way up being traveled by some not-inexpensive looking cars. As I went further into the interior, I found some not-inexpensive houses as well. I could imagine the Class Act setting up residence here.
After turning right into a smaller street with the unlikely name of "Racoon Slope", I came across St. Mary's Church. Despite the earlier misdirection, I got there in plenty of time.
Gotta hand it to the Tokyoites. These guys dress up even on a daily basis so when a wedding pops up, everyone takes it to 11. A lot of very sleek suits and slinky dresses were on display as I went into the basement locker room to put away my bag and present. As I came out, I encountered one of the socializing problems I dread the most. Some old Japanese acquaintances that I hadn't seen in 10 years who used to be in my old club at the U of T knew me by name. However, the ability wasn't reciprocated regrettably so I had to fall back on my powers of acting and evasion. The faces were vaguely recognizable but names are just deleted after a certain time limit. I did quite a bit of bowing to some of these faces without saying much until the first person whose name AND face I did recognize popped in. It was Shrek and Fiona. Then, Speedy and his wife entered. And finally, PH made her grand appearance. With all of these faces remembered and unremembered, I came to the conclusion that this was actually a club reunion disguised as a wedding. Mind you, there were other factions representing the bride and groom's past.
The wedding was Western-style as you might guess from the venue of a church. Shrek, Fiona and I were seated on the very last pew in the back. Shrek wondered what kind of service this was gonna be. I had no idea...things looked Christian with the stained-glass, the organ and the enrobed staff. Things got underway when one of the female staff came in from the back and almost punctured my eardrum with a very soprano hymn. Then, the Quarterback solemnly and slowly schlepped up the aisle in a morning coat. When he took his position at the altar, his diminutive bride was next to enter on the arm of her father. Even though she was wearing heels that would've made Elton John swoon, she was still very petite.
The ceremony, which lasted for a thankfully brief 30 minutes, was presided over by an Italian priest speaking in mostly choppy Japanese although he did say some snippets of English. Automatically, I thought about the fact that there were a lot of these foreigners who masqueraded as marrying priests when they weren't teaching English so I hope The Q checked this guy's credentials. Mind you, this was a church so I think it was pretty secure. It's the professional wedding halls that might be a bit suspect. The big highlight came when The Q and his Queen walked down the aisle, and he bellowed a joyous yell of accomplishment.
There was the usual rash of picture-taking and petal-pelting and some quick conversations of reunion before we all broke up temporarily for a few hours. I quickly left the area and had some lunch before taking the subway over to Omotesando. There was still an hour before the reception took place so I had a coffee for an hour at the Canadian version of Starbucks, BLENZ. Being a holiday Friday, the cafe was packed so I had to settle for an hour on the outside ledge...in the smoking section. Now I knew how the smokers felt in exile as I shivered by my table. Still, I don't regret the ruling and I give full accolades to North America for further defeating the cancer stick.
I walked over on the main street for about 10 minutes passing some very boutiques and cute restaurants. I even found The Blue Note before finally reaching the party venue, MODA POLITICA. Now, for those who want a bit of 21st-century style in their wedding receptions, this is the place. The exterior had a bit of the stony style made famous by architect Ando as I traipsed up the steps. When I entered the door, there was a huge event space. The Homecoming Queen was already there coordinating things. Two large islands of tables floated on top of the sea of smoothed wood (sorry, when I write this long, I have to wax a bit poetic or I nod off). The tables had all the food we would ever need for the evening. On the huge white wall, three images of MacIntosh computer screens loomed overhead. In an alcove, a few of the Q's buddies had the Macs on the tables. It was gonna be a high-tech reception.
Everyone showed up at the appointed time of 6. The party started off with the Q's little movie studio gang showing an MTV-style opening introducing the two hosts of the evening. Not surprisingly, the two came out in flashy tuxes with overly large bowties. Then, there was another video done to a grungy ballad as black & white images of the bride traipsing through a winter forest went across the screens.
Finally, the Q and his bride entered to lights, dry ice and music. True to their nicknames, the Quarterback carried his Queen on top of his shoulder as if he'd won a college bowl game. I'd say he did. There was even a nice touch thanking all the guests by having a montage video showing all the friends via footage taken over the years.
The food was truly volumnious. A lot of places would have enough food to feed everyone for barely a couple of helpings. This place kept a bottomless-is-best policy. It kinda made a guy like me who has a weakness for buffets just give up on all pretensions of a diet. And of course, there was wedding cake.
By around 8 o'clock, the party was still going on...highly unusual in time-conscious Japan where parties are usually 2 hours on the dot. In fact, the Quarterback had just started the disco segment and getting people to dance to the sounds of techno. Well, that was my cue to leave since I hung up my dancing shoes back in the late 80s. Besides I also had my kids early this morning. So I quickly said my goodbyes and slipped into the night. The pictures should be quite good.
Happy B-day, Dad!
Yesterday was the big wedding bash for The Quarterback and his homecoming queen. I put on my monkey suit and took my present and headed out to tony Azabu-Juban. For all those Sailor Moon fans out there (and you know who you are...stop hiding!), A-J is the neighbourhood of the eponymous character since the TV station which originally aired the cartoon, TV-Asahi, isn't too far away.
It was actually my first time to walk through the area, and my ignorance showed when I went out in a completely wrong direction for 10 minutes before getting my bearings straight and returning to the subway station. Once I got back on track, I discovered Azabu-Juban is quite the handsome neighbourhood. The slope I was walking up on seemed to have a very Italian flavour to it. There was a rather tight traffic circle on the way up being traveled by some not-inexpensive looking cars. As I went further into the interior, I found some not-inexpensive houses as well. I could imagine the Class Act setting up residence here.
After turning right into a smaller street with the unlikely name of "Racoon Slope", I came across St. Mary's Church. Despite the earlier misdirection, I got there in plenty of time.
Gotta hand it to the Tokyoites. These guys dress up even on a daily basis so when a wedding pops up, everyone takes it to 11. A lot of very sleek suits and slinky dresses were on display as I went into the basement locker room to put away my bag and present. As I came out, I encountered one of the socializing problems I dread the most. Some old Japanese acquaintances that I hadn't seen in 10 years who used to be in my old club at the U of T knew me by name. However, the ability wasn't reciprocated regrettably so I had to fall back on my powers of acting and evasion. The faces were vaguely recognizable but names are just deleted after a certain time limit. I did quite a bit of bowing to some of these faces without saying much until the first person whose name AND face I did recognize popped in. It was Shrek and Fiona. Then, Speedy and his wife entered. And finally, PH made her grand appearance. With all of these faces remembered and unremembered, I came to the conclusion that this was actually a club reunion disguised as a wedding. Mind you, there were other factions representing the bride and groom's past.
The wedding was Western-style as you might guess from the venue of a church. Shrek, Fiona and I were seated on the very last pew in the back. Shrek wondered what kind of service this was gonna be. I had no idea...things looked Christian with the stained-glass, the organ and the enrobed staff. Things got underway when one of the female staff came in from the back and almost punctured my eardrum with a very soprano hymn. Then, the Quarterback solemnly and slowly schlepped up the aisle in a morning coat. When he took his position at the altar, his diminutive bride was next to enter on the arm of her father. Even though she was wearing heels that would've made Elton John swoon, she was still very petite.
The ceremony, which lasted for a thankfully brief 30 minutes, was presided over by an Italian priest speaking in mostly choppy Japanese although he did say some snippets of English. Automatically, I thought about the fact that there were a lot of these foreigners who masqueraded as marrying priests when they weren't teaching English so I hope The Q checked this guy's credentials. Mind you, this was a church so I think it was pretty secure. It's the professional wedding halls that might be a bit suspect. The big highlight came when The Q and his Queen walked down the aisle, and he bellowed a joyous yell of accomplishment.
There was the usual rash of picture-taking and petal-pelting and some quick conversations of reunion before we all broke up temporarily for a few hours. I quickly left the area and had some lunch before taking the subway over to Omotesando. There was still an hour before the reception took place so I had a coffee for an hour at the Canadian version of Starbucks, BLENZ. Being a holiday Friday, the cafe was packed so I had to settle for an hour on the outside ledge...in the smoking section. Now I knew how the smokers felt in exile as I shivered by my table. Still, I don't regret the ruling and I give full accolades to North America for further defeating the cancer stick.
I walked over on the main street for about 10 minutes passing some very boutiques and cute restaurants. I even found The Blue Note before finally reaching the party venue, MODA POLITICA. Now, for those who want a bit of 21st-century style in their wedding receptions, this is the place. The exterior had a bit of the stony style made famous by architect Ando as I traipsed up the steps. When I entered the door, there was a huge event space. The Homecoming Queen was already there coordinating things. Two large islands of tables floated on top of the sea of smoothed wood (sorry, when I write this long, I have to wax a bit poetic or I nod off). The tables had all the food we would ever need for the evening. On the huge white wall, three images of MacIntosh computer screens loomed overhead. In an alcove, a few of the Q's buddies had the Macs on the tables. It was gonna be a high-tech reception.
Everyone showed up at the appointed time of 6. The party started off with the Q's little movie studio gang showing an MTV-style opening introducing the two hosts of the evening. Not surprisingly, the two came out in flashy tuxes with overly large bowties. Then, there was another video done to a grungy ballad as black & white images of the bride traipsing through a winter forest went across the screens.
Finally, the Q and his bride entered to lights, dry ice and music. True to their nicknames, the Quarterback carried his Queen on top of his shoulder as if he'd won a college bowl game. I'd say he did. There was even a nice touch thanking all the guests by having a montage video showing all the friends via footage taken over the years.
The food was truly volumnious. A lot of places would have enough food to feed everyone for barely a couple of helpings. This place kept a bottomless-is-best policy. It kinda made a guy like me who has a weakness for buffets just give up on all pretensions of a diet. And of course, there was wedding cake.
By around 8 o'clock, the party was still going on...highly unusual in time-conscious Japan where parties are usually 2 hours on the dot. In fact, the Quarterback had just started the disco segment and getting people to dance to the sounds of techno. Well, that was my cue to leave since I hung up my dancing shoes back in the late 80s. Besides I also had my kids early this morning. So I quickly said my goodbyes and slipped into the night. The pictures should be quite good.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Friday February 11, 9:21 a.m.
Happy two-thousand-and-somethingth birthday, Japan! Makes me wonder if the Quarterback will still remember his anniversary when most Japanese don't know the significance of this day.
Well, speaking of weddings, some 24 years after he first walked down the aisle, Prince Charles is gonna do it again with Camilla "Rottweiler" Parker-Bowles. I remember catching the first wedding here in Japan while I was staying with the relations in Osaka. The whole family got together in the late evening. The only comment I could come up with is that the laundry bill for Diana's train must have been enormous. Such was the depth of my wisdom in my teenage years.
Happy two-thousand-and-somethingth birthday, Japan! Makes me wonder if the Quarterback will still remember his anniversary when most Japanese don't know the significance of this day.
Well, speaking of weddings, some 24 years after he first walked down the aisle, Prince Charles is gonna do it again with Camilla "Rottweiler" Parker-Bowles. I remember catching the first wedding here in Japan while I was staying with the relations in Osaka. The whole family got together in the late evening. The only comment I could come up with is that the laundry bill for Diana's train must have been enormous. Such was the depth of my wisdom in my teenage years.
Thursday February 10, 10:59 p.m.
Another long Thursday comes to an end. Jazz Buddy's session was all counseling and no teaching; JB's been having problems with her future and her sister again so she was bending my ear. Out of some ethical, if not financial, sense, I waived any payment from her much to her surprise. Hopefully, that'll instill some sort of line when it comes to future lessons.
Then, it was back to the school to set up for the annual Pancake Day. The coordinator had to pull out early due to the need to visit a hospital for the finger that she nearly severed the night before. She said that she mistook her digit for a potato. Methinks she needs to change the prescription for her glasses.
Pancake Day itself started off with me making the dash to the nearest supermarket 10 minutes' walk away to pick up a whole bunch of supplies. As it turned out, a lot of them weren't left in their packages which rather dismayed me; I ended up giving them away in a paper-scissors-stone tournament. Also, half the maple syrup went the same way as well. Mind you, the students who had showed up enjoyed making the fondue and the pancakes, and some of them were rather surprised that maple syrup has 5 different grades like olive oil. I did rush through a quick explanation of how we get maple syrup from the trees but I still have to smooth that out. But I'm not sure if I'm gonna get another chance this time next year.
The Jester and The Satyr were the other teachers who did show up for their share of flapjacks. Speedy did make it to the school alright. He managed to get quite cozy with the kids.
Earlier in the afternoon, I stopped off at the Tea Room to ask about a wedding present. It would be much better (and cheaper) than handing in the usual envelope of 30,000 yen, and it would have the advantage of being rather unique. The manager kindly showed me some ideas. We ended up deciding on a package of a pot, a tea cozy, two cups and three bags of special blends of tea. The price indeed came out to just a third of what I would've had to hand in the envelope.
Later that night, I met the Carolinan and her sister, the New Yorker. The New Yorker is quite different from her more linguistically adept sister. Not only is she a beginner in the second language but she's also quite shy as well. A lump of clay to be molded...love a challenge. As for the Carolinan herself, no problems. When we finally left the Tea Room, the manager had the wedding package ready to go.
Back home and hopefully, I'll be in bed within an hour. I wanna get some cleaning up done here before I head off for The Quarterback's wedding in oh-so-cool Azabu-Juban. It'll be much colder than today so I may have to wear the winter coat over the suit...not exactly the most appealing look but heck, I'll be 40 this year. I'm beyond impressing anyone anymore.
Man, another psycho is attacking kids again...or at least their knapsacks. Some nutcase in his 40s stabbed a boy's backpack while the kid was holding it. I kinda wonder if the cops oughta just shoot the bastard on sight.
I see those SAVE ENTERPRISE folks haven't given up the goat quite yet for their beloved soon-to-be cancelled show, although the producer has certainly accepted their fate. Now, the mass media campaign is trying to get the Sci-Fi Network to pick up the show. It's not without precedent. Buffy got switched that way for at least another year of life. The thing is, though, whether the cast has started to look at other projects.
Another long Thursday comes to an end. Jazz Buddy's session was all counseling and no teaching; JB's been having problems with her future and her sister again so she was bending my ear. Out of some ethical, if not financial, sense, I waived any payment from her much to her surprise. Hopefully, that'll instill some sort of line when it comes to future lessons.
Then, it was back to the school to set up for the annual Pancake Day. The coordinator had to pull out early due to the need to visit a hospital for the finger that she nearly severed the night before. She said that she mistook her digit for a potato. Methinks she needs to change the prescription for her glasses.
Pancake Day itself started off with me making the dash to the nearest supermarket 10 minutes' walk away to pick up a whole bunch of supplies. As it turned out, a lot of them weren't left in their packages which rather dismayed me; I ended up giving them away in a paper-scissors-stone tournament. Also, half the maple syrup went the same way as well. Mind you, the students who had showed up enjoyed making the fondue and the pancakes, and some of them were rather surprised that maple syrup has 5 different grades like olive oil. I did rush through a quick explanation of how we get maple syrup from the trees but I still have to smooth that out. But I'm not sure if I'm gonna get another chance this time next year.
The Jester and The Satyr were the other teachers who did show up for their share of flapjacks. Speedy did make it to the school alright. He managed to get quite cozy with the kids.
Earlier in the afternoon, I stopped off at the Tea Room to ask about a wedding present. It would be much better (and cheaper) than handing in the usual envelope of 30,000 yen, and it would have the advantage of being rather unique. The manager kindly showed me some ideas. We ended up deciding on a package of a pot, a tea cozy, two cups and three bags of special blends of tea. The price indeed came out to just a third of what I would've had to hand in the envelope.
Later that night, I met the Carolinan and her sister, the New Yorker. The New Yorker is quite different from her more linguistically adept sister. Not only is she a beginner in the second language but she's also quite shy as well. A lump of clay to be molded...love a challenge. As for the Carolinan herself, no problems. When we finally left the Tea Room, the manager had the wedding package ready to go.
Back home and hopefully, I'll be in bed within an hour. I wanna get some cleaning up done here before I head off for The Quarterback's wedding in oh-so-cool Azabu-Juban. It'll be much colder than today so I may have to wear the winter coat over the suit...not exactly the most appealing look but heck, I'll be 40 this year. I'm beyond impressing anyone anymore.
Man, another psycho is attacking kids again...or at least their knapsacks. Some nutcase in his 40s stabbed a boy's backpack while the kid was holding it. I kinda wonder if the cops oughta just shoot the bastard on sight.
I see those SAVE ENTERPRISE folks haven't given up the goat quite yet for their beloved soon-to-be cancelled show, although the producer has certainly accepted their fate. Now, the mass media campaign is trying to get the Sci-Fi Network to pick up the show. It's not without precedent. Buffy got switched that way for at least another year of life. The thing is, though, whether the cast has started to look at other projects.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Wednesday January 9, 10:26 p.m.
Japan is a happy country right now after their soccer team's win over the North Koreans. It was a pretty nailbiting game at 2-1. Good performances by both.
My day started out lugging a suitcase carrying my hotplate and my regular bag with some other stuff over to the school. Actually, they weren't all that heavy but I did have to contend with the usual throng of commuters...kinda like swimming against the spawning salmon.
After I dumped the stuff at the school, I rushed down to meet my ex at her workplace. She took me to a yakiniku restaurant since our old haunt, the hole-in-the-wall tonkatsu joint, went belly-up. She was certainly back to her ol' happy-go-lucky self before we started our relationship 3 years ago, and she pretty much dropped some big hints that the romantic phase is definitely over. She was rather evasive though about her own love life when I asked after she had grilled me on mine. She didn't get anything from me since I had nothing to give. The lunch special was quite tasty...a small plate of kalbi, kimchi, soup and salad plus bottomless rice for the grand total of 990 yen. And there's also complementary coffee although I'm not sure if coffee best complements a Koream BBQ. The ex also gave some rather interesting trivia about the restaurant's upstairs neighbour which happens to be a pervert bar. If I'm not mistaken, the bar consists of a mockup of a train in which customers can "board" and grope the female passengers at will. BTW, Tokyo hit a record last year with 2,101 gropings on the real trains.
The Hawaiian was still sounding rather hoarse after her bout with the flu but the OL was in fine fettle as usual.
Movie Buddy contacted me and set up a next outing to catch "Alexander". Ah, well...I've seen bad movies before. Looks like it'll be the 20th and then a visit to Foo Foo for some spicy ramen. Speedy also contacted me about helping him with some of his model lessons on the 26th. Looks like his phone has been ringing off the hook since he got some advertising. He should be coming over to the school tomorrow. Speedy also informed that I needn't have to pay the customary weddng envelope money since The Quarterback's wedding isn't one of those traditional overglorified affairs. However, since I don't have any time to get anything else for them, I'm pretty much locked in to paying something. Gah!
Japan is a happy country right now after their soccer team's win over the North Koreans. It was a pretty nailbiting game at 2-1. Good performances by both.
My day started out lugging a suitcase carrying my hotplate and my regular bag with some other stuff over to the school. Actually, they weren't all that heavy but I did have to contend with the usual throng of commuters...kinda like swimming against the spawning salmon.
After I dumped the stuff at the school, I rushed down to meet my ex at her workplace. She took me to a yakiniku restaurant since our old haunt, the hole-in-the-wall tonkatsu joint, went belly-up. She was certainly back to her ol' happy-go-lucky self before we started our relationship 3 years ago, and she pretty much dropped some big hints that the romantic phase is definitely over. She was rather evasive though about her own love life when I asked after she had grilled me on mine. She didn't get anything from me since I had nothing to give. The lunch special was quite tasty...a small plate of kalbi, kimchi, soup and salad plus bottomless rice for the grand total of 990 yen. And there's also complementary coffee although I'm not sure if coffee best complements a Koream BBQ. The ex also gave some rather interesting trivia about the restaurant's upstairs neighbour which happens to be a pervert bar. If I'm not mistaken, the bar consists of a mockup of a train in which customers can "board" and grope the female passengers at will. BTW, Tokyo hit a record last year with 2,101 gropings on the real trains.
The Hawaiian was still sounding rather hoarse after her bout with the flu but the OL was in fine fettle as usual.
Movie Buddy contacted me and set up a next outing to catch "Alexander". Ah, well...I've seen bad movies before. Looks like it'll be the 20th and then a visit to Foo Foo for some spicy ramen. Speedy also contacted me about helping him with some of his model lessons on the 26th. Looks like his phone has been ringing off the hook since he got some advertising. He should be coming over to the school tomorrow. Speedy also informed that I needn't have to pay the customary weddng envelope money since The Quarterback's wedding isn't one of those traditional overglorified affairs. However, since I don't have any time to get anything else for them, I'm pretty much locked in to paying something. Gah!
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Wednesday February 9, 8:48 p.m.
Everywhere else, the news is about Iraq or Condi Rice. In our little corner of Asia, the big thing is tonight's soccer match up in Saitama between Japan and North Korea. I am glad that it's being held out there in the boonies and not in the city. The traffic would have been hellish, to say the least.
Gotta drop off the equipment including the hotplate at the school today, and then rush off to see my ex for lunch, get another text for my juku boss (she was wailing that I won't be able to teach her for the next few weeks because of the inclusion of the new student), teach The Hawaiian and then the OL.
The good thing is that it's gonna be balmy. Going all the way up to 13 degrees. Not too bad at all.
Everywhere else, the news is about Iraq or Condi Rice. In our little corner of Asia, the big thing is tonight's soccer match up in Saitama between Japan and North Korea. I am glad that it's being held out there in the boonies and not in the city. The traffic would have been hellish, to say the least.
Gotta drop off the equipment including the hotplate at the school today, and then rush off to see my ex for lunch, get another text for my juku boss (she was wailing that I won't be able to teach her for the next few weeks because of the inclusion of the new student), teach The Hawaiian and then the OL.
The good thing is that it's gonna be balmy. Going all the way up to 13 degrees. Not too bad at all.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Tuesday February 8, 2:00 p.m.
Add rain to today's weather. Pretty cold outside. Even had a bit of a shake during the Beehive's class but it was just a momentary thing. Afterwards, I had lunch at the kaiten sushi place. Things seemed to have slowed down a lot there. The conveyor's moving but nothing's on it aside from the container of wasabi packets. I ordered the set lunch of sushi. Pretty good.
Tomorrow's supposed to be the big soccer match between Japan and North Korea. The North Korean team arrived on Sunday at Narita. Quite a few of the pro-Pyongyang association showed up to greet them. Considering what I've heard of the harassment that the resident North Koreans have been getting in Tokyo recently, I kinda wonder how frosty the air was at the airport. Security has been pretty tight around the arena.
Looks like the Daiei (the Japanese Walmart) by Tsudanuma Station is closing down after several years of service. I was watching NHK News when it announced that the store was closing a few hundred of its branches. I had a bit of a personal stake in it since the only department store in my neighbourhood is a Daiei. I thought it would be on the chopping block since I never thought it was all that busy outside of the weekends but it was saved...probably because of its loner status in my area. On the other hand, the Tsudanuma branch had to face off against several other stores on the other side of the station.
Well, I'll be hitting the gym in about 90 minutes after a week of teetotaling due to my cold. Hopefully, I'll get one more chapter done for Speedy before I go.
Add rain to today's weather. Pretty cold outside. Even had a bit of a shake during the Beehive's class but it was just a momentary thing. Afterwards, I had lunch at the kaiten sushi place. Things seemed to have slowed down a lot there. The conveyor's moving but nothing's on it aside from the container of wasabi packets. I ordered the set lunch of sushi. Pretty good.
Tomorrow's supposed to be the big soccer match between Japan and North Korea. The North Korean team arrived on Sunday at Narita. Quite a few of the pro-Pyongyang association showed up to greet them. Considering what I've heard of the harassment that the resident North Koreans have been getting in Tokyo recently, I kinda wonder how frosty the air was at the airport. Security has been pretty tight around the arena.
Looks like the Daiei (the Japanese Walmart) by Tsudanuma Station is closing down after several years of service. I was watching NHK News when it announced that the store was closing a few hundred of its branches. I had a bit of a personal stake in it since the only department store in my neighbourhood is a Daiei. I thought it would be on the chopping block since I never thought it was all that busy outside of the weekends but it was saved...probably because of its loner status in my area. On the other hand, the Tsudanuma branch had to face off against several other stores on the other side of the station.
Well, I'll be hitting the gym in about 90 minutes after a week of teetotaling due to my cold. Hopefully, I'll get one more chapter done for Speedy before I go.
Monday February 7, 9:52 p.m.
It was a very February day. Overcast, bare trees and Tokyo cold (which is equal to Toronto balmy). In other words, it was very blah. The local suicide hotline could be quite busy this week. It'll be a pretty cold one tomorrow...only going up to 5 degrees. My hometown and my adopted one will reach parity. May even get some rain or snow.
SIL cancelled again today but the Company was back...which was too bad for Movie Buddy. He had contacted me earlier in the morning to see if I were up to catch ALEXANDER. Actually, from what I've heard of the flop, I wasn't but it'd been a while since I've seen MB so it would have been nice to catch him again.
Since I had that large gap between classes, I went off to Tower again and picked up a magazine. There was an encyclopedia on the DC superheroes and supervillains that I would have loved to get but since I've gone into austerity. I can't afford that luxury anymore.
I walked up to Omotesando to try out Nathan's again. This time, I did go whole hog, so to speak, and got the Double Dog set. The hot dogs didn't disappoint and the fries were nice n' hot. Interesting texture to them as well; they were of the crinkly-cut home variety of fry.
Decided to walk up all the way to Shinjuku again. Always rather interesting to walk up Meiji Dori and see some of the various boutiques and little restaurants that pop up along the way. Meiji between Omotesando and Shinjuku isn't stuffed with stores like a huge mall; there were some long gaps of just nothing but commercial offices and apartment buildings and small ramen shops. That fact, plus the fact that there was the mid-afternoon lack of people contributed to a bit of melancholy during the walk up in the drab weather. I did pass by some sort of fashion school whose students seems to consist of foreign students. Pretty comely students, too. Also, I passed by the Communist Party HQ, a pretty monolithic building. I can't imagine anything like that being built in Manhattan.
I made it all the way to the Starbucks near The Company, and just sipped a Marshmallow Mocha for about an hour before heading to the class. Since the year began, I've only had the one student for that lesson. The best student has gotten very busy recently while the weakest student has not only disappeared from class but has also disappeared from the company. The Prez told me a couple of weeks back that he's been suffering from some "mental" problems although I'm not sure if he'd been putting me on. I know that the weakest student's wife has been hospitalized, though.
Had some time to wolf down some dinner. I find myself with a bunch of stuff including wrapping up the next package heading out to the Anime King which I've done, prepping for tomorrow's lessons and then writing up another lesson plan for Speedy. My week will be fairly busy. I've got to get stuff ready for Pancake Day and get some crisp new 10,000-yen bills for The Quarterback's wedding on Friday. Over here, when you go to a wedding, it's customary to donate some money in a special envelope. The bills have to be odd in number so that they can't be separated equally and therefore hint at any potential discord in the marriage. 30,000 yen is the least one has to contribute without any perceived guilt; the closer the relationship to either the groom or bride, the higher the contribution. I'm keeping it to the minimum...sorry, I gotta live.
I also have to lug the hotplate and some of the other utensils over to the school on Wednesday and then quickly scoot over to meet my ex for lunch and then perhaps head over to teach the Hawaiian although I've yet to find out what her condition is.
Ahhh...Superchannel isn't just the Japanese home for Star Trek and Columbo, but it also takes in a lot of short-lived orphans. Caught one of them this morning. It just happened to be MANCUSO, FBI. Now that was an interesting show. It had the Klugmanesque Robert Loggia as the crusty agent. The show had a rather odd mix of over-the-top hardboiled dialogue, somewhat Canadian TV production values and late 80s fashion. I checked out some information on the show on the Net. None of them mentioned the trivial info that at the time the show had aired, there was an actual actor, Nick Mancuso (same name as the character) who had his own NBC (same network as the show) program called STINGRAY. The actor looked considerably more handsome. In any case, it's kinda hard to believe that this rough n' tough character actor who's been in everything from INDEPENDENCE DAY to the SOPRANOS was once T.H.E. CAT, another starring character from a short-lived show. I vaguely remember one episode in which this rather effeminate sounding guy identified himself as this former master thief-turned-bodyguard.
It was a very February day. Overcast, bare trees and Tokyo cold (which is equal to Toronto balmy). In other words, it was very blah. The local suicide hotline could be quite busy this week. It'll be a pretty cold one tomorrow...only going up to 5 degrees. My hometown and my adopted one will reach parity. May even get some rain or snow.
SIL cancelled again today but the Company was back...which was too bad for Movie Buddy. He had contacted me earlier in the morning to see if I were up to catch ALEXANDER. Actually, from what I've heard of the flop, I wasn't but it'd been a while since I've seen MB so it would have been nice to catch him again.
Since I had that large gap between classes, I went off to Tower again and picked up a magazine. There was an encyclopedia on the DC superheroes and supervillains that I would have loved to get but since I've gone into austerity. I can't afford that luxury anymore.
I walked up to Omotesando to try out Nathan's again. This time, I did go whole hog, so to speak, and got the Double Dog set. The hot dogs didn't disappoint and the fries were nice n' hot. Interesting texture to them as well; they were of the crinkly-cut home variety of fry.
Decided to walk up all the way to Shinjuku again. Always rather interesting to walk up Meiji Dori and see some of the various boutiques and little restaurants that pop up along the way. Meiji between Omotesando and Shinjuku isn't stuffed with stores like a huge mall; there were some long gaps of just nothing but commercial offices and apartment buildings and small ramen shops. That fact, plus the fact that there was the mid-afternoon lack of people contributed to a bit of melancholy during the walk up in the drab weather. I did pass by some sort of fashion school whose students seems to consist of foreign students. Pretty comely students, too. Also, I passed by the Communist Party HQ, a pretty monolithic building. I can't imagine anything like that being built in Manhattan.
I made it all the way to the Starbucks near The Company, and just sipped a Marshmallow Mocha for about an hour before heading to the class. Since the year began, I've only had the one student for that lesson. The best student has gotten very busy recently while the weakest student has not only disappeared from class but has also disappeared from the company. The Prez told me a couple of weeks back that he's been suffering from some "mental" problems although I'm not sure if he'd been putting me on. I know that the weakest student's wife has been hospitalized, though.
Had some time to wolf down some dinner. I find myself with a bunch of stuff including wrapping up the next package heading out to the Anime King which I've done, prepping for tomorrow's lessons and then writing up another lesson plan for Speedy. My week will be fairly busy. I've got to get stuff ready for Pancake Day and get some crisp new 10,000-yen bills for The Quarterback's wedding on Friday. Over here, when you go to a wedding, it's customary to donate some money in a special envelope. The bills have to be odd in number so that they can't be separated equally and therefore hint at any potential discord in the marriage. 30,000 yen is the least one has to contribute without any perceived guilt; the closer the relationship to either the groom or bride, the higher the contribution. I'm keeping it to the minimum...sorry, I gotta live.
I also have to lug the hotplate and some of the other utensils over to the school on Wednesday and then quickly scoot over to meet my ex for lunch and then perhaps head over to teach the Hawaiian although I've yet to find out what her condition is.
Ahhh...Superchannel isn't just the Japanese home for Star Trek and Columbo, but it also takes in a lot of short-lived orphans. Caught one of them this morning. It just happened to be MANCUSO, FBI. Now that was an interesting show. It had the Klugmanesque Robert Loggia as the crusty agent. The show had a rather odd mix of over-the-top hardboiled dialogue, somewhat Canadian TV production values and late 80s fashion. I checked out some information on the show on the Net. None of them mentioned the trivial info that at the time the show had aired, there was an actual actor, Nick Mancuso (same name as the character) who had his own NBC (same network as the show) program called STINGRAY. The actor looked considerably more handsome. In any case, it's kinda hard to believe that this rough n' tough character actor who's been in everything from INDEPENDENCE DAY to the SOPRANOS was once T.H.E. CAT, another starring character from a short-lived show. I vaguely remember one episode in which this rather effeminate sounding guy identified himself as this former master thief-turned-bodyguard.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Sunday February 6, 8:38 p.m.
Met PN at Shinagawa Station. We spent about half an hour looking for a relatively cheap place for lunch. We settled on one of the restaurants in the Pacific Meridien; in fact, it was the same one that my brother and I had breakfast when he came here on business over a year ago. FYI, all the buffets in the Shinagawa area start at 2000 yen and at 11:30 a.m. The restaurant we went to wasn't all that special as buffets go but the smoked salmon was quite delicious. In any case, we weren't really there for the food.
As I had expected, PN vented about Japanese society and business. She said she was almost ashamed of her own country for its narrowmindedness and racist policies. I couldn't really defend anything from my end since I also believe those bad parts of my adopted country. But I did counter that with the bad comes the good. Japan is still a very safe country with a record of politeness in its service. And I think the government policies and the attitudes towards foreigners will eventually change within the next number of decades. I suggested to her that she she should consider taking a service job in the hotel industry. Recently, a lot of hotels have been going up at a near-unprecedented pace and they will need staff. I think her experience at home and overseas will serve her and any hotel well. However, she said that she really didn't like Tokyo life for which I replied that she can't have everything. She also said that she'd like to return to Canada but as I recall she was also doing her fair share of griping about that country during her stay there.
Having said that the country is very safe, I'm afraid to say that's increasingly more from a relative than an absolute point of view. There certainly seems to be a flouting of law. There was that psycho who had stabbed a baby to death and injured a few others at an indoor playground at a department store; he had actually been released on parole for a previous offense. Then just last night, a drunk moron plowed through 8 senior citizens on a road in my prefecture killing half of them. That driver had had his license revoked for speeding. Open the gates of Hell for these two.
Then there's the mystery of all that money which was found floating in the water in Saitama all last week. Well, the culprit was found. Some woman had robbed an acquaintance, and then got panicky during the getaway and threw a ton of the money out of the car. No idea why anyone in this day and age still carries $300,000 in cash in the house.
Started prepping for The Quarterback's wedding this coming Friday. Bought a new dress shirt, socks and some cologne OK'ed by French actor Alain Delon called Le Samourai. The cologne cost more than the clothes, and the cologne wasn't all that pricey. Just 2100 yen compared to the rarefied costs of Chanel colognes.
Gotta continue working on those lesson plans for Speedy. I figure I'll try and get one done a night. Even that might be optimistic.
Met PN at Shinagawa Station. We spent about half an hour looking for a relatively cheap place for lunch. We settled on one of the restaurants in the Pacific Meridien; in fact, it was the same one that my brother and I had breakfast when he came here on business over a year ago. FYI, all the buffets in the Shinagawa area start at 2000 yen and at 11:30 a.m. The restaurant we went to wasn't all that special as buffets go but the smoked salmon was quite delicious. In any case, we weren't really there for the food.
As I had expected, PN vented about Japanese society and business. She said she was almost ashamed of her own country for its narrowmindedness and racist policies. I couldn't really defend anything from my end since I also believe those bad parts of my adopted country. But I did counter that with the bad comes the good. Japan is still a very safe country with a record of politeness in its service. And I think the government policies and the attitudes towards foreigners will eventually change within the next number of decades. I suggested to her that she she should consider taking a service job in the hotel industry. Recently, a lot of hotels have been going up at a near-unprecedented pace and they will need staff. I think her experience at home and overseas will serve her and any hotel well. However, she said that she really didn't like Tokyo life for which I replied that she can't have everything. She also said that she'd like to return to Canada but as I recall she was also doing her fair share of griping about that country during her stay there.
Having said that the country is very safe, I'm afraid to say that's increasingly more from a relative than an absolute point of view. There certainly seems to be a flouting of law. There was that psycho who had stabbed a baby to death and injured a few others at an indoor playground at a department store; he had actually been released on parole for a previous offense. Then just last night, a drunk moron plowed through 8 senior citizens on a road in my prefecture killing half of them. That driver had had his license revoked for speeding. Open the gates of Hell for these two.
Then there's the mystery of all that money which was found floating in the water in Saitama all last week. Well, the culprit was found. Some woman had robbed an acquaintance, and then got panicky during the getaway and threw a ton of the money out of the car. No idea why anyone in this day and age still carries $300,000 in cash in the house.
Started prepping for The Quarterback's wedding this coming Friday. Bought a new dress shirt, socks and some cologne OK'ed by French actor Alain Delon called Le Samourai. The cologne cost more than the clothes, and the cologne wasn't all that pricey. Just 2100 yen compared to the rarefied costs of Chanel colognes.
Gotta continue working on those lesson plans for Speedy. I figure I'll try and get one done a night. Even that might be optimistic.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Saturday February 5, 8:31 p.m.
Another one of those long days. After my kids'classes, I just headed straight for the Tea Room to meet the one M. Again, I got there rather early so I enjoyed a leisurely lunch before she arrived. Since it'd been more than a couple of months since our last meeting, we had quite a lot to chat about.
Then it was off to Omotesando to pick up the maple syrup and the other goods for next week's Pancake Day. Fortunately I had the help of one of the school students. We finally made it back to the school by 6; it was my first time back at the old place since early December. Looks like the school has finally gone full bore into glossy advertising. First, their website with a couple of students and teachers looking off in the distance like a scene out of "Lamp Unto My Feet". And then there's a new large pamphlet with a bunch of happy pictures. As is true with all advertising, there's a lot more than meets the eye.
Got back home. Since I've gone through the supermarket food, the sushi and the SUBWAY, I decided to go for the ramen. So I had a nice bowlful of the noodles, some gyoza and a bowl of really garlicky rice. Nice going down on a chilly day. Even picked up a cup of Haagen-Daas Apple Pie Ice Cream to cool me down. Still gotta help out with those lesson plans.
Got the confirmation from PN. She'll be heading in at 11 tomorrow so I'll be waiting at Shinagawa for perhaps a bit of brunch.
Another one of those long days. After my kids'classes, I just headed straight for the Tea Room to meet the one M. Again, I got there rather early so I enjoyed a leisurely lunch before she arrived. Since it'd been more than a couple of months since our last meeting, we had quite a lot to chat about.
Then it was off to Omotesando to pick up the maple syrup and the other goods for next week's Pancake Day. Fortunately I had the help of one of the school students. We finally made it back to the school by 6; it was my first time back at the old place since early December. Looks like the school has finally gone full bore into glossy advertising. First, their website with a couple of students and teachers looking off in the distance like a scene out of "Lamp Unto My Feet". And then there's a new large pamphlet with a bunch of happy pictures. As is true with all advertising, there's a lot more than meets the eye.
Got back home. Since I've gone through the supermarket food, the sushi and the SUBWAY, I decided to go for the ramen. So I had a nice bowlful of the noodles, some gyoza and a bowl of really garlicky rice. Nice going down on a chilly day. Even picked up a cup of Haagen-Daas Apple Pie Ice Cream to cool me down. Still gotta help out with those lesson plans.
Got the confirmation from PN. She'll be heading in at 11 tomorrow so I'll be waiting at Shinagawa for perhaps a bit of brunch.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Friday February 4, 8:52 p.m.
The Teacher wasn't exactly too hot today. She had some stomach problems which necessitated a quick trip to the washroom. Her reading was pretty off-balance. Went straight to the Tea Room to have their really nice salad; I got there more than 2 hours before SR's arrival so that I could eat lunch and then pore over the TOEIC material. When she did come in, we both ended up getting pretty exhausted trying the exercises.
I mentioned about that sighting of that comedian at the subway station yesterday. Well, over the past decade, I've managed to have a few other sightings. There were those two times at the Tea Room for a couple of second-stringers. One actually has the name of B-Saku Sato who, with his entourage, took over the back of the Tea Room for a rather loud chat, whilst the other time, a TV personality dressed up as a maid for some sort of variety program. Then, another time I caught one of the London Boots comedy duo in a telephone booth in Ginza for some sort of gag skit. Several years ago, I even caught the leader of the pop band, TOKIO, just sitting on a ledge of a display window of a department store in Shibuya.
On a very serious note, I turned on NHK News to find out that its first story was on some psycho who stabbed a baby to death in a department store playground. The man readily confessed but refused to give a motive. It's getting so that parents everywhere are wondering where they can actually have their kids play safely anymore. But just when I thought that this was a Japanese epidemic, CNN has just reported about some psycho Florida couple who tortured 5 kids in their house.
The Teacher wasn't exactly too hot today. She had some stomach problems which necessitated a quick trip to the washroom. Her reading was pretty off-balance. Went straight to the Tea Room to have their really nice salad; I got there more than 2 hours before SR's arrival so that I could eat lunch and then pore over the TOEIC material. When she did come in, we both ended up getting pretty exhausted trying the exercises.
I mentioned about that sighting of that comedian at the subway station yesterday. Well, over the past decade, I've managed to have a few other sightings. There were those two times at the Tea Room for a couple of second-stringers. One actually has the name of B-Saku Sato who, with his entourage, took over the back of the Tea Room for a rather loud chat, whilst the other time, a TV personality dressed up as a maid for some sort of variety program. Then, another time I caught one of the London Boots comedy duo in a telephone booth in Ginza for some sort of gag skit. Several years ago, I even caught the leader of the pop band, TOKIO, just sitting on a ledge of a display window of a department store in Shibuya.
On a very serious note, I turned on NHK News to find out that its first story was on some psycho who stabbed a baby to death in a department store playground. The man readily confessed but refused to give a motive. It's getting so that parents everywhere are wondering where they can actually have their kids play safely anymore. But just when I thought that this was a Japanese epidemic, CNN has just reported about some psycho Florida couple who tortured 5 kids in their house.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Friday February 4, 8:57 a.m.
Well, I guess it had to be done. Got the first word from The Entrepreneur, a fellow Trekkie from the old days, that "Star Trek: Enterprise" has officially gotten the axe. Certainly I'm a bit disappointed but frankly, the axe had been swinging over this show for well over a year. And as Jonathan Frakes once said about "Star Trek: Voyager", "I think they dipped one too many times into the well." I think that fact along with the typical-for-a-Trek-franchise first 2 so-so seasons pretty much did it in. Kinda too bad since the episodes were starting to get interesting. However, I'm sure that Paramount won't give up the ghost; probably there will be a few made-for-TV movies in the future. Just too many loose ends out there between Archer and Kirk.
There's at least one website which has been on the case to save "Enterprise". Well, they obviously weren't successful but now they're going to try to resurrect the franchise. It kinda reminds me when there was that very first fan attempt to bring back the original series. That wasn't initially successful either but a decade after the final episode of Kirk, McCoy and Spock, the first movie came out (not a great movie by any means, mind you) and there had even an animated series some years earlier. So as Spock once said, "There are always possibilities."
Well, I guess it had to be done. Got the first word from The Entrepreneur, a fellow Trekkie from the old days, that "Star Trek: Enterprise" has officially gotten the axe. Certainly I'm a bit disappointed but frankly, the axe had been swinging over this show for well over a year. And as Jonathan Frakes once said about "Star Trek: Voyager", "I think they dipped one too many times into the well." I think that fact along with the typical-for-a-Trek-franchise first 2 so-so seasons pretty much did it in. Kinda too bad since the episodes were starting to get interesting. However, I'm sure that Paramount won't give up the ghost; probably there will be a few made-for-TV movies in the future. Just too many loose ends out there between Archer and Kirk.
There's at least one website which has been on the case to save "Enterprise". Well, they obviously weren't successful but now they're going to try to resurrect the franchise. It kinda reminds me when there was that very first fan attempt to bring back the original series. That wasn't initially successful either but a decade after the final episode of Kirk, McCoy and Spock, the first movie came out (not a great movie by any means, mind you) and there had even an animated series some years earlier. So as Spock once said, "There are always possibilities."
Thursday February 3, 10:33 p.m.
Yeah, it was pretty chilly today. Even I, a Canadian who once jogged in a snowstorm and waited for 40 minutes at a bus stop in -20-degree weather, actually felt cold. Man, I'm getting old.
I think that 12 o'clock wasn't the best move for Jazz Buddy and myself since all the eateries get filled up for lunch. Besides, she was 10 minutes late again. And those bags under her eyes are just getting deeper. Good grief. We ended up going to a small cafe in the Century Hyatt called "It's On Me". They had a lunch set for 700 yen which was OK, not great. In any case, we spent most of the time just gabbing but I did squeeze in some TOEIC practice using some ads. We'll meet at our old time of 11 again.
Did actually spend a whole 4 hours at Speedy's school doing those lesson plans. Speedy didn't sound all that impressed with my progress when I told him that I managed to finish halfway through Chapter 3. I think he wanted me to get to Chapter 4 by now, but hey, I had to re-align the format to match the other teacher's plans so it meant another look at Chapters 1 and 2.
Met the new student, Betty's friend, MK, in Kiba tonight. The only other time I've been in Kiba was last year to meet a couple of friends who'd stayed at a nearby hotel. MK took me to the venue, another Starbucks in a new mall just around the corner. She's pretty low but willing to work. Had a good inaugural lesson. Almost a pity that I can't see her every week but I've got the Carolinan and her sister from next week. I'm sure not gonna enjoy the commute home from Kiba. By that station, the Tozai is packed to the gills. I almost felt like taking the train westbound back to Iidabashi and then get back onto the eastbound so that I could get a seat.
Speaking about trains, over the past few days, I've been seeing signs at a lot of the subway stations hawking about this veteran comedy duo, Utchan-Nanchan (Uchimura and Nanbara), who would ride the subway somewhere on Feb. 18th. Well, it looks like one of them decided to start a bit early. At Iidabashi Station, I was going up the stairs to transfer to the Oedo Line when I saw Mr. Nanbara come on down with a full entourage of TV techs and one young lady with a lot of makeup and a plastic smile. I could only conclude that she must me one of those model-TV personalities. In any case, Nanbara didn't look particularly cheerful; in fact, he looked somewhat grumpy. But then again, I think a lot of TV personalities in this country aren't exactly particularly welcoming off-camera. Considering that the demands put on them by their public are even harder than those put on Hollywood A-list celebs, I'm not that surprised and I can't really even blame them. In any case, the other big surprise is that none of us mortals made so much as a peep of recognition, and Nanbara is a longtime veteran on TV. Mind you, there didn't seem to be any kids to scream shrilly but back home, there would have been at least a few yahoos who would've said something at him.
Looks like there's been another casualty amongst my students due to the cold. My ex sent me the message that she'd like to hold off on her inaugural because of a fever. No complaints on my part. I'd actually appreciate an early trip home tomorrow.
Now that I'm home, I still have to write up the lesson reports and then do a quick little lesson plan for SR's first TOEIC lesson.
Yeah, it was pretty chilly today. Even I, a Canadian who once jogged in a snowstorm and waited for 40 minutes at a bus stop in -20-degree weather, actually felt cold. Man, I'm getting old.
I think that 12 o'clock wasn't the best move for Jazz Buddy and myself since all the eateries get filled up for lunch. Besides, she was 10 minutes late again. And those bags under her eyes are just getting deeper. Good grief. We ended up going to a small cafe in the Century Hyatt called "It's On Me". They had a lunch set for 700 yen which was OK, not great. In any case, we spent most of the time just gabbing but I did squeeze in some TOEIC practice using some ads. We'll meet at our old time of 11 again.
Did actually spend a whole 4 hours at Speedy's school doing those lesson plans. Speedy didn't sound all that impressed with my progress when I told him that I managed to finish halfway through Chapter 3. I think he wanted me to get to Chapter 4 by now, but hey, I had to re-align the format to match the other teacher's plans so it meant another look at Chapters 1 and 2.
Met the new student, Betty's friend, MK, in Kiba tonight. The only other time I've been in Kiba was last year to meet a couple of friends who'd stayed at a nearby hotel. MK took me to the venue, another Starbucks in a new mall just around the corner. She's pretty low but willing to work. Had a good inaugural lesson. Almost a pity that I can't see her every week but I've got the Carolinan and her sister from next week. I'm sure not gonna enjoy the commute home from Kiba. By that station, the Tozai is packed to the gills. I almost felt like taking the train westbound back to Iidabashi and then get back onto the eastbound so that I could get a seat.
Speaking about trains, over the past few days, I've been seeing signs at a lot of the subway stations hawking about this veteran comedy duo, Utchan-Nanchan (Uchimura and Nanbara), who would ride the subway somewhere on Feb. 18th. Well, it looks like one of them decided to start a bit early. At Iidabashi Station, I was going up the stairs to transfer to the Oedo Line when I saw Mr. Nanbara come on down with a full entourage of TV techs and one young lady with a lot of makeup and a plastic smile. I could only conclude that she must me one of those model-TV personalities. In any case, Nanbara didn't look particularly cheerful; in fact, he looked somewhat grumpy. But then again, I think a lot of TV personalities in this country aren't exactly particularly welcoming off-camera. Considering that the demands put on them by their public are even harder than those put on Hollywood A-list celebs, I'm not that surprised and I can't really even blame them. In any case, the other big surprise is that none of us mortals made so much as a peep of recognition, and Nanbara is a longtime veteran on TV. Mind you, there didn't seem to be any kids to scream shrilly but back home, there would have been at least a few yahoos who would've said something at him.
Looks like there's been another casualty amongst my students due to the cold. My ex sent me the message that she'd like to hold off on her inaugural because of a fever. No complaints on my part. I'd actually appreciate an early trip home tomorrow.
Now that I'm home, I still have to write up the lesson reports and then do a quick little lesson plan for SR's first TOEIC lesson.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Wednesday February 2, 9:11 p.m.
Did my errand trek around Tokyo. The trip to Ikebukuro was a waste of time since the Canada store has shrunk even more to just being a corner in the larger store. There was nothing of value to get that I couldn't get at the Kinokuniya. However, I did learn that the next big culinary exhibition in Namjatown is for chocolate cake.
Then I headed out to Maruzen once more to see if they had the CDs for the TOEIC text I'm giving to SR. Found 'em and bought 'em for a pretty steep price. Ugh...I hope SR doesn't balk. It was another hop over to Ginza and I got Dad's B-day present in the form of an enka tape at Yamano Music and even went over to the Ito-Ya stationery shop for a card. The walk through Yamano was interesting since there was an old geezer, obviously a few peas short of a pod disco dancing at a listening post. Ahhhh...countdown to senility, T minus 2 and counting.
I got to the Starbucks a couple of hours before OL's lesson. The manageress was there so she gave me a friendly greeting. Nice to be known. True to my age, I mixed in some drowsing with my crosswords before the OL showed up. She started off well with the new book.
Gotta get started on lesson plans for tomorrow including that new student.
Looks like the Pope is gonna come out alright after all. He had that crisis earlier today with his breathing but it looks like he's back up and running. The man may look frail but he's got the constitution of a Viagra-pumped ox.
Did my errand trek around Tokyo. The trip to Ikebukuro was a waste of time since the Canada store has shrunk even more to just being a corner in the larger store. There was nothing of value to get that I couldn't get at the Kinokuniya. However, I did learn that the next big culinary exhibition in Namjatown is for chocolate cake.
Then I headed out to Maruzen once more to see if they had the CDs for the TOEIC text I'm giving to SR. Found 'em and bought 'em for a pretty steep price. Ugh...I hope SR doesn't balk. It was another hop over to Ginza and I got Dad's B-day present in the form of an enka tape at Yamano Music and even went over to the Ito-Ya stationery shop for a card. The walk through Yamano was interesting since there was an old geezer, obviously a few peas short of a pod disco dancing at a listening post. Ahhhh...countdown to senility, T minus 2 and counting.
I got to the Starbucks a couple of hours before OL's lesson. The manageress was there so she gave me a friendly greeting. Nice to be known. True to my age, I mixed in some drowsing with my crosswords before the OL showed up. She started off well with the new book.
Gotta get started on lesson plans for tomorrow including that new student.
Looks like the Pope is gonna come out alright after all. He had that crisis earlier today with his breathing but it looks like he's back up and running. The man may look frail but he's got the constitution of a Viagra-pumped ox.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Wednesday February 2, 11:00 a.m.
As you may have guessed, I'm not at the gym. I guess my rule is take a week off during a cold. I thought with the Hawaiian's cancellation. I could pull off a visit but my condition plus the fact that I realized that I still have a lot of other errands to pull off means that the gym is back on the back burner. Not only will I be heading out to the Canada store in Ikebukuro to buy some of that Dark maple syrup and any other doodads, but I've gotta buy a card and present for Dad and see if I can finally score those TOEIC CDs for SR before her class on Friday.
So instead, I'm just doing a bit of writing and listening to a relaxing CD that Kei loaned me last night. It's one of those Bossa Nova-tinged compilations with plenty of Astrud Gilberto and Sergio Mendes to chase away the February blahs. I actually got a call from PN just now stating that she'll probably be coming in on Sunday morning so I'll have to hit the road pretty early to meet up with her at Shinagawa Station. Maybe we'll try for one of those breakfast buffets at one of the hotels...if it's still on by the time we meet.
As you may have guessed, I'm not at the gym. I guess my rule is take a week off during a cold. I thought with the Hawaiian's cancellation. I could pull off a visit but my condition plus the fact that I realized that I still have a lot of other errands to pull off means that the gym is back on the back burner. Not only will I be heading out to the Canada store in Ikebukuro to buy some of that Dark maple syrup and any other doodads, but I've gotta buy a card and present for Dad and see if I can finally score those TOEIC CDs for SR before her class on Friday.
So instead, I'm just doing a bit of writing and listening to a relaxing CD that Kei loaned me last night. It's one of those Bossa Nova-tinged compilations with plenty of Astrud Gilberto and Sergio Mendes to chase away the February blahs. I actually got a call from PN just now stating that she'll probably be coming in on Sunday morning so I'll have to hit the road pretty early to meet up with her at Shinagawa Station. Maybe we'll try for one of those breakfast buffets at one of the hotels...if it's still on by the time we meet.
Tuesday February 1, 11:28 p.m.
My class with the Beehive was a bit more crowded than usual when the very first person to greet me as their teacher returned with a friend of hers who had spent 8 years in Australia. Apparently, the lady lives just across the street from the bowling alley where I teach, so she was wondering about how we operate. Well, I kinda formalized things a bit more for her benefit which may or may not have discomfited the others. But the rest of the group was very welcoming. Not sure, though, if our setup is up the lady's alley. I got the impression she would have liked a bit more structure. Ironically, the woman who's always here first didn't show, but I'd been told in advance that she was probably going to be away for a month on different trips. For some strange reason, the others thought she was gonna show up.
Got home today and decided to eschew the gym since I wasn't feeling 100%. I wasn't feeling lousy but I just didn't want to take the chance of aggravating my cold. So instead after lunch, I took a 2-hour nap before taking off for the juku.
Bought a Kit Kat since I had this sudden craving for a bit of choco and plus, it is the exam season. Examinees everywhere in Japan buy a Kit Kat for luck since the name resembles the Japanese expression for "You will succeed".
The juku classes were the usual. The Beauty Pair went off on another tangent centered around food and sickness. Yuri told me that she had a bit of a cold. And then the Mild Ones came; Mrs. Mild was still recovering from her long bout with the bug. Then I got my newest student, a strapping young lad who's a juku teacher himself. His knowledge of grammar was quite solid but he definitely needs more practice in using it. I thought he wasn't gonna bite the bait since I didn't think I did a realy good job with the model lesson. However, he decided to take a chance on me. Afterwards, the boss and I spoke at some length about our respective career options. The boss had long been thinking about expanding her operations and how difficult it was to see these other schools seemingly rake the money in as they grew all over the place. I allayed her doubts by saying that her school is in a perfect niche. The atmosphere has always been very homey, not surprising considering that the juku is on the 2nd floor of her house. When I think about the huge chains like NOVA or AEON and even my old school, there's a certain warm-hearted quality that the juku has that the others lack. So I told her that she needn't expand. The Beauty Pair and the Mild Ones like the juku because of this warmheartedness. Besides, she really doesn't deserve the extra stress. And running any sort of large business would entail a certain cold-hearted ruthlessness that she simply doesn't have. It's the reason that I'll never start up a school. I'm not saying that Speedy is an ogre-in-waiting but he'll have to make some cold hard decisions in the future when it comes to his own school.
Sure enough, the cold is affecting other students as well. The Hawaiian just told me that she'd like to cancel her lesson tomorrow since she's been knocked out by the virus as well. So I may be able to hit the gym AND get started on the annual Pancake Day project since I won't be seeing the OL until later in the evening. Stiil, I'll be playing the gym by ear depending on my condition when I wake up. Speaking about the Pancake project, the Tomboy can't make it this time around but I may have the Doll's cooperation.
Not sure what Punxatawney Phil will say about Groundhog Day on the 2nd but I think winter will still be hanging around here for another 6 weeks.
My class with the Beehive was a bit more crowded than usual when the very first person to greet me as their teacher returned with a friend of hers who had spent 8 years in Australia. Apparently, the lady lives just across the street from the bowling alley where I teach, so she was wondering about how we operate. Well, I kinda formalized things a bit more for her benefit which may or may not have discomfited the others. But the rest of the group was very welcoming. Not sure, though, if our setup is up the lady's alley. I got the impression she would have liked a bit more structure. Ironically, the woman who's always here first didn't show, but I'd been told in advance that she was probably going to be away for a month on different trips. For some strange reason, the others thought she was gonna show up.
Got home today and decided to eschew the gym since I wasn't feeling 100%. I wasn't feeling lousy but I just didn't want to take the chance of aggravating my cold. So instead after lunch, I took a 2-hour nap before taking off for the juku.
Bought a Kit Kat since I had this sudden craving for a bit of choco and plus, it is the exam season. Examinees everywhere in Japan buy a Kit Kat for luck since the name resembles the Japanese expression for "You will succeed".
The juku classes were the usual. The Beauty Pair went off on another tangent centered around food and sickness. Yuri told me that she had a bit of a cold. And then the Mild Ones came; Mrs. Mild was still recovering from her long bout with the bug. Then I got my newest student, a strapping young lad who's a juku teacher himself. His knowledge of grammar was quite solid but he definitely needs more practice in using it. I thought he wasn't gonna bite the bait since I didn't think I did a realy good job with the model lesson. However, he decided to take a chance on me. Afterwards, the boss and I spoke at some length about our respective career options. The boss had long been thinking about expanding her operations and how difficult it was to see these other schools seemingly rake the money in as they grew all over the place. I allayed her doubts by saying that her school is in a perfect niche. The atmosphere has always been very homey, not surprising considering that the juku is on the 2nd floor of her house. When I think about the huge chains like NOVA or AEON and even my old school, there's a certain warm-hearted quality that the juku has that the others lack. So I told her that she needn't expand. The Beauty Pair and the Mild Ones like the juku because of this warmheartedness. Besides, she really doesn't deserve the extra stress. And running any sort of large business would entail a certain cold-hearted ruthlessness that she simply doesn't have. It's the reason that I'll never start up a school. I'm not saying that Speedy is an ogre-in-waiting but he'll have to make some cold hard decisions in the future when it comes to his own school.
Sure enough, the cold is affecting other students as well. The Hawaiian just told me that she'd like to cancel her lesson tomorrow since she's been knocked out by the virus as well. So I may be able to hit the gym AND get started on the annual Pancake Day project since I won't be seeing the OL until later in the evening. Stiil, I'll be playing the gym by ear depending on my condition when I wake up. Speaking about the Pancake project, the Tomboy can't make it this time around but I may have the Doll's cooperation.
Not sure what Punxatawney Phil will say about Groundhog Day on the 2nd but I think winter will still be hanging around here for another 6 weeks.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Monday January 31, 5:45 p.m.
Yes, I'm back early...I scored a double cancellation today. Not only did SIL can out but I received a message from The Company that no one is available for their lesson tonight. If my writing sounds somewhat jubilant, it's because I'm relieved. I'm not at 100% right now with this official cold in me. Slightly achy, alternately runny and stuffy nose, scratchy throat...I'm a walking Dristan commercial. Loss of income but glad to be home.
Mind you, I wouldn't be nearly this rundown if I hadn't decided to get a whole bunch of errands done which entailed a good bit of walking. Got that insurance bill paid off, bought the texts for OL and SR, and walked all the way up to Omotesando to do some recon for the Saturday trip there to buy the maple syrup. No problems...all the necessary stuff was there.
However, my stomach was getting quite growly and I was determined NOT to enter McD's after my month's ration of a Big Mac last week. So I just walked down the big avenue in Omotesando. I passed by SUBWAY (looked too small so too crowded) and foreigner fave FUJIMAMAS (too pricey for lunch). I was about to cross the main intersection dividing the classy Omotesando and the trendy Harajuku when mine eyes came across a sign hanging out just beyond the GAP. It had a picture of a hot dog (!) with the name of NATHAN'S printed on it. Well, considering that I'd given up on any good hot dogs in this country, I decided to track this tip down. At first, I saw a hot dog stand with a guy inside hawking the franks, but then I also saw a sign pointing to the basement which had the main store with seats and tables. Well, I saw the menu and definitely decided that I couldn't pass this opportunity up. There were chili dogs, cheese dogs and double dogs. However, I miraculously held my discipline and opted for a single 100% beef dog and a regular Coke (well, so I wasn't totally successful). All I can say is that I was a very satisfied customer. It tasted like the ol' Maple Leaf wieners that I can now only eat once a year. Next time I'm in the neighbourhood, I'm going for the whole shebang.
On that note, I heard from Betty Boop yesterday that her colleagues had been talking about these deliciously big donuts with slurpworthy icing that they had in the swanky Shirogane neighbourhood. Two K's zipped through my mind at that moment. It just couldn't be...so I checked out the Krispy Kreme website at length. It did mention new openings globally up to December but nothing about a new store in Tokyo. Also, considering that KK's stock has finally started dropping in the past year I didn't think the company would be opening anything in Asia. However, that description by BB was just too close to the real thing to let go.
After my text shopping at Kinokuniya, I traipsed across the bridge to Takashimaya to use the tastefully designed washrooms. The previous occupant was kind enough to leave some reading material. It was one of the loud and colourful broadsheets, probably Tokyo Sports, and on the front cover was a picture of a tall skinny girl just about to burst into tears. Well, it was none other than the last of the original Morning Musume, Kaori Iida, taking a final bow before "graduating" onto bigger and better things such as permanent exile in tarento land or somewhere in the ever chaotic food industry. Now that the original five are technically free (although the original leader is still hanging out on MM's weekly show), they could actually get back together under a new name just like the original X-Men became X-Factor whilst the new generation was busy fighting villains.
In other "only in Japan" news, there's been a bit of a feather-ruffling in the Kabuki world. One of the young turks, Shichinosuke Nakamura, all of 21 years got arrested for punching out a cop in the Otsuka neighbourhood after getting roaring drunk. Apparently, he tried to skip out on paying the taxi driver. He's out now but his father, a newly anointed master, was justifiably mortified and furious at a press conference. After apologizing profusely to all of Japan, he quietly called his son every name in the bad book before stating that he has no desire to face his son right now. Considering that the art of Kabuki seems to demand as much discipline as a Special Forces regiment does, I think Shichinosuke is gonna be eating Alpo for the forseeable future.
Ahhh...another "only in Japan" item. Up in Saitama, citizens of a certain town have been rather dumbfounded to see 20 million yen worth of 10000-yen bills floating in the river and in a drainage ditch over the past couple of days. I think that would come about to $300,000 US. If this had happened in the US, I'm sure the townspeople would have had a feeding frenzy to put most sharks to shame trying to grab the money. Over here, the reaction has been surprise and call up the cops. Every bill that was found floating is safely drying out on a floor somewhere. Makes one think of the cultural differences.
Well, what to do? I bought another Aussie steak for the ridiculously low price of 250 yen...so ridiculously low that I'm getting suspicious if it's really from Oz. A couple of years back, a meatpacking company got nailed for disguising domestic beef as Aussie beef during the BSE crisis in Japan.
Gotta get the ironing done and prep for tomorrow's lessons, provided they don't get cancelled on me either.
Yes, I'm back early...I scored a double cancellation today. Not only did SIL can out but I received a message from The Company that no one is available for their lesson tonight. If my writing sounds somewhat jubilant, it's because I'm relieved. I'm not at 100% right now with this official cold in me. Slightly achy, alternately runny and stuffy nose, scratchy throat...I'm a walking Dristan commercial. Loss of income but glad to be home.
Mind you, I wouldn't be nearly this rundown if I hadn't decided to get a whole bunch of errands done which entailed a good bit of walking. Got that insurance bill paid off, bought the texts for OL and SR, and walked all the way up to Omotesando to do some recon for the Saturday trip there to buy the maple syrup. No problems...all the necessary stuff was there.
However, my stomach was getting quite growly and I was determined NOT to enter McD's after my month's ration of a Big Mac last week. So I just walked down the big avenue in Omotesando. I passed by SUBWAY (looked too small so too crowded) and foreigner fave FUJIMAMAS (too pricey for lunch). I was about to cross the main intersection dividing the classy Omotesando and the trendy Harajuku when mine eyes came across a sign hanging out just beyond the GAP. It had a picture of a hot dog (!) with the name of NATHAN'S printed on it. Well, considering that I'd given up on any good hot dogs in this country, I decided to track this tip down. At first, I saw a hot dog stand with a guy inside hawking the franks, but then I also saw a sign pointing to the basement which had the main store with seats and tables. Well, I saw the menu and definitely decided that I couldn't pass this opportunity up. There were chili dogs, cheese dogs and double dogs. However, I miraculously held my discipline and opted for a single 100% beef dog and a regular Coke (well, so I wasn't totally successful). All I can say is that I was a very satisfied customer. It tasted like the ol' Maple Leaf wieners that I can now only eat once a year. Next time I'm in the neighbourhood, I'm going for the whole shebang.
On that note, I heard from Betty Boop yesterday that her colleagues had been talking about these deliciously big donuts with slurpworthy icing that they had in the swanky Shirogane neighbourhood. Two K's zipped through my mind at that moment. It just couldn't be...so I checked out the Krispy Kreme website at length. It did mention new openings globally up to December but nothing about a new store in Tokyo. Also, considering that KK's stock has finally started dropping in the past year I didn't think the company would be opening anything in Asia. However, that description by BB was just too close to the real thing to let go.
After my text shopping at Kinokuniya, I traipsed across the bridge to Takashimaya to use the tastefully designed washrooms. The previous occupant was kind enough to leave some reading material. It was one of the loud and colourful broadsheets, probably Tokyo Sports, and on the front cover was a picture of a tall skinny girl just about to burst into tears. Well, it was none other than the last of the original Morning Musume, Kaori Iida, taking a final bow before "graduating" onto bigger and better things such as permanent exile in tarento land or somewhere in the ever chaotic food industry. Now that the original five are technically free (although the original leader is still hanging out on MM's weekly show), they could actually get back together under a new name just like the original X-Men became X-Factor whilst the new generation was busy fighting villains.
In other "only in Japan" news, there's been a bit of a feather-ruffling in the Kabuki world. One of the young turks, Shichinosuke Nakamura, all of 21 years got arrested for punching out a cop in the Otsuka neighbourhood after getting roaring drunk. Apparently, he tried to skip out on paying the taxi driver. He's out now but his father, a newly anointed master, was justifiably mortified and furious at a press conference. After apologizing profusely to all of Japan, he quietly called his son every name in the bad book before stating that he has no desire to face his son right now. Considering that the art of Kabuki seems to demand as much discipline as a Special Forces regiment does, I think Shichinosuke is gonna be eating Alpo for the forseeable future.
Ahhh...another "only in Japan" item. Up in Saitama, citizens of a certain town have been rather dumbfounded to see 20 million yen worth of 10000-yen bills floating in the river and in a drainage ditch over the past couple of days. I think that would come about to $300,000 US. If this had happened in the US, I'm sure the townspeople would have had a feeding frenzy to put most sharks to shame trying to grab the money. Over here, the reaction has been surprise and call up the cops. Every bill that was found floating is safely drying out on a floor somewhere. Makes one think of the cultural differences.
Well, what to do? I bought another Aussie steak for the ridiculously low price of 250 yen...so ridiculously low that I'm getting suspicious if it's really from Oz. A couple of years back, a meatpacking company got nailed for disguising domestic beef as Aussie beef during the BSE crisis in Japan.
Gotta get the ironing done and prep for tomorrow's lessons, provided they don't get cancelled on me either.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Monday January 31, 7:44 a.m.
Well, the Iraqi elections have ended and it seems like the forces of democracy have won. Thousands of surprised and delighted Iraqis lined up for hours to put in the most important slip of paper of their lives. The scenes of jubilant people in places like Baghdad over something like voting could give us, in the well-established democracies, pause to reflect about how much we should be thankful. Of course, I won't leave this line of thought without putting a bit of bitters into the sweets. The very cynical of us would posit that Iraqi democracy is less than a year old and would yell at those celebrants that they haven't yet encountered the phenomenon of special interest groups and spin doctoring and mealy-mouthed pols. And yet, Iraq's entry into democracy (admittedly, still early to tell if it'll hold or breakdown into civil war...but then the States went through the same process) happened in a 21st-century world of global communications, business and culture compared to the birth of the US over 2 centuries ago. It will be a different democracy if it succeeds.
Anyways, enough with the journo monologuing. My nose is feeling distinctly stuffy and my throat has a bit of a rough patch. I guess cold season has arrived. The Hawaiian was her usual sweet self and sent me some advice on how to combat hay fever by buying some sort of special tea from the drugstore. I may have to buy 6 months' worth.
Well, the Iraqi elections have ended and it seems like the forces of democracy have won. Thousands of surprised and delighted Iraqis lined up for hours to put in the most important slip of paper of their lives. The scenes of jubilant people in places like Baghdad over something like voting could give us, in the well-established democracies, pause to reflect about how much we should be thankful. Of course, I won't leave this line of thought without putting a bit of bitters into the sweets. The very cynical of us would posit that Iraqi democracy is less than a year old and would yell at those celebrants that they haven't yet encountered the phenomenon of special interest groups and spin doctoring and mealy-mouthed pols. And yet, Iraq's entry into democracy (admittedly, still early to tell if it'll hold or breakdown into civil war...but then the States went through the same process) happened in a 21st-century world of global communications, business and culture compared to the birth of the US over 2 centuries ago. It will be a different democracy if it succeeds.
Anyways, enough with the journo monologuing. My nose is feeling distinctly stuffy and my throat has a bit of a rough patch. I guess cold season has arrived. The Hawaiian was her usual sweet self and sent me some advice on how to combat hay fever by buying some sort of special tea from the drugstore. I may have to buy 6 months' worth.
Sunday January 30, 10:58 p.m.
Our trip to the dumpling place in Daimon was a mixed blessing...at least when it came to the women. The food was indeed quite good; as the matron of the Class Act had promised, the sho ron po was juicy, meaty, tasty and good n' hot. However, the OL and BB weren't nearly as impressed with the in-your-face service by the non-Japanese staff and the decor. Me, that's how I grew up with my Chinese restaurants back in Toronto. And frankly, I don't think the staff there would take too kindly to the "Do as the Romans do.." approach in Tokyo. Pricewise, it wasn't too cheap although the quality of the food was well worth it. The Class Act had said it was reasonable but I realized who I was getting this from...from a lady who could buy houses on just one credit card. Still, I'm glad I finally got to go there. I can give a good report to the ladies tomorrow.
Speaking of which, I've got them and the Company but SIL has canned her lesson. So I guess I can get some errands done such as pay my National Health Insurance premium and actually get some books for SR and OL. And I can even squeeze that little recon to Kinokuniya to see if they still have the varieties of maple syrup before Saturday's raid.
After our pricey lunch, OL, BB and I walked down a kilometre or so to the Hotel Intercontinental in Takeshiba to see if there were a dessert buffet according to what BB had said. That walk was pretty chilly since the winds were still acting up mighty fierce. We got inside and the hotel indeed looked very 5-star. We ended up going to The Blue Veranda. It didn't have a dessert buffet...just a regular one which under the circumstances we had absolutely no appetite for. However, we did pick some desserts from the tray. With that and the lunch, I did quite a blowout with the food budget; luckily, I've been quite frugal this month.
We ended staying at the place for quite a few hours chatting. One of the topics that came to mind was the girls' gripes about having to work overtime every day. It's interesting to note how things have really changed even in the last 40 years. Back in the early postwar period, everyone was working their tails off for more than half a day without any particular bonuses until Japan was on its feet again. Today, my ladies at least are complaining about overtime even though it's paid. I'm not trying to trash them (and I didn't either during our conversation) but I'm just noting it. It's also the first time in the several years I've known Betty that she actually got a bit steamed at the situation. Well, in the end, it looks like our little triangle is becoming quite the foodie group. Maybe next month, we'll try our luck again with another restaurant. Hopefully, we won't have to shuck out all that much.
Actually got some chat in with The Engineer whilst I was writing the above. Looks like he's been quite busy with his domestic travels. He mentioned that he's wondering about getting back here to help his current girlfriend move over to Canada. I wonder if this means he's finally settling down.
Looks like the second-biggest news story of the day next to the Iraq elections has been the weather. Once again, all the areas surrounding Tokyo are gonna get hit with the white stuff over the next 24 hours but Tokyo will be nice and dry...kinda like an armpit after a roll-on.
Also, my histamines are starting to dance around in my nose...which means that hay fever is just around the corner. Ugh! Well, I've armed myself with the tissue, medicine and even a special type of Febreeze which stops pollen in its tracks. I'm gonna have to spray the stuff every time I come home.
Well, looks like the ironing will have to wait til tomorrow. I just wanna take a shower now.
Our trip to the dumpling place in Daimon was a mixed blessing...at least when it came to the women. The food was indeed quite good; as the matron of the Class Act had promised, the sho ron po was juicy, meaty, tasty and good n' hot. However, the OL and BB weren't nearly as impressed with the in-your-face service by the non-Japanese staff and the decor. Me, that's how I grew up with my Chinese restaurants back in Toronto. And frankly, I don't think the staff there would take too kindly to the "Do as the Romans do.." approach in Tokyo. Pricewise, it wasn't too cheap although the quality of the food was well worth it. The Class Act had said it was reasonable but I realized who I was getting this from...from a lady who could buy houses on just one credit card. Still, I'm glad I finally got to go there. I can give a good report to the ladies tomorrow.
Speaking of which, I've got them and the Company but SIL has canned her lesson. So I guess I can get some errands done such as pay my National Health Insurance premium and actually get some books for SR and OL. And I can even squeeze that little recon to Kinokuniya to see if they still have the varieties of maple syrup before Saturday's raid.
After our pricey lunch, OL, BB and I walked down a kilometre or so to the Hotel Intercontinental in Takeshiba to see if there were a dessert buffet according to what BB had said. That walk was pretty chilly since the winds were still acting up mighty fierce. We got inside and the hotel indeed looked very 5-star. We ended up going to The Blue Veranda. It didn't have a dessert buffet...just a regular one which under the circumstances we had absolutely no appetite for. However, we did pick some desserts from the tray. With that and the lunch, I did quite a blowout with the food budget; luckily, I've been quite frugal this month.
We ended staying at the place for quite a few hours chatting. One of the topics that came to mind was the girls' gripes about having to work overtime every day. It's interesting to note how things have really changed even in the last 40 years. Back in the early postwar period, everyone was working their tails off for more than half a day without any particular bonuses until Japan was on its feet again. Today, my ladies at least are complaining about overtime even though it's paid. I'm not trying to trash them (and I didn't either during our conversation) but I'm just noting it. It's also the first time in the several years I've known Betty that she actually got a bit steamed at the situation. Well, in the end, it looks like our little triangle is becoming quite the foodie group. Maybe next month, we'll try our luck again with another restaurant. Hopefully, we won't have to shuck out all that much.
Actually got some chat in with The Engineer whilst I was writing the above. Looks like he's been quite busy with his domestic travels. He mentioned that he's wondering about getting back here to help his current girlfriend move over to Canada. I wonder if this means he's finally settling down.
Looks like the second-biggest news story of the day next to the Iraq elections has been the weather. Once again, all the areas surrounding Tokyo are gonna get hit with the white stuff over the next 24 hours but Tokyo will be nice and dry...kinda like an armpit after a roll-on.
Also, my histamines are starting to dance around in my nose...which means that hay fever is just around the corner. Ugh! Well, I've armed myself with the tissue, medicine and even a special type of Febreeze which stops pollen in its tracks. I'm gonna have to spray the stuff every time I come home.
Well, looks like the ironing will have to wait til tomorrow. I just wanna take a shower now.