Sunday February 27, 1:05 a.m.

Another long day has come to an end. Had my kids in the morning, albeit at a much more decent hour than of late. Then, I went over to Speedy's school to help him out in his campaign to bring in students. I had a definite advantage in that I knew two of the prospective students from a previous party and that the other two were pretty decent folk. Pulled out my best comedic routine and hit one over the park. They actually learned something, too. I was a bit surprised when Speedy asked me if I wanted to download something or use any of his newfangled software to help teach. I'm definitely old school. Just the whiteboard and a marker. I have a lot to learn about 21st-century language teaching.

I was the last one to teach during the campaign so I was the cleanup hitter. Afterwards, a bunch of us including my students, Speedy and his wife and one other teacher had dinner inside the school's luxurious lounge. The pizza Speedy ordered was pretty gourmet. It comes from some pizza chain called SALVATORES. An Italian name more than six letters long...yup, that pretty much says gourmet pizza to me. And the pies failed to disappoint. These weren't the usual deep-dish pizzas with tons of cheese and tomato sauce. These were the original Italian thin-crust pies with a bit more subtlety in their flavours. Kinda wish they had branches in my neck of the woods, but they're pretty scarce even in Tokyo. And the designers of the pizza just happen to be WORLD experts in their field. A couple of them have even won competitions in Italy itself. That's some pedigree!

But that wasn't all of the good culinary stuff at the school today. One student's mother, a professional baker, whipped some tasty little apple pies and chestnut pies as an appetizer of sorts. Very scrumptious, and I was lucky to take home the leftovers for breakfast today.

I've programmed 7 hours of sleep starting in less than 30 minutes. Then later today I meet up with Speedy once more. However, this time isn't for business but for clothes shopping. Apparently, there's gonna be a major sale of some pretty prime brand name clothing with discounts of up to 70% in Ikebukuro. Well, I've gotta see what I can pick up in terms of shirts and ties. Maybe if I can swing it, I can even get a suit.

One last comment on Speedy's school now that I actually got to teach there. The setup and current status reminded me of what I'd heard about my old school when it got its start 30 years ago. It also started in a small room on a floor with just a couple of teachers. I wonder how Speedy's school will develop over the years...will it also end up become a richer, prosperous school with well-meaning students and teachers hampered with substandard materials and soulless staff? I wonder if the stone-faced president of the old school was once a fresh-faced idealist like my friend. I very much doubt that I'll be around nearly that long to find out, though.

Friday February 25, 11:00 p.m.

Do you know where YOUR children are?

Considerably easier day today compared to the rushing around I did yesterday. That rather intense flurry of snow at midnight last night gave way to just some very gray and cold weather. On the way to see The Teacher, I went to pick up some medicine at the pharmacy just across from the station. I usually pick that place amongst the plethora of drug stores in my neighbourhood since at that place, I can just pick a box of pills straight from the shelf instead of having to ask for it at the counter. The less said, the better. However, the pharmacist noticed me struggling to pick a bottle so he decided to help me out. When I told him I was looking for something to combat my hay fever, he showed me some bags of herbal medicine with the store name on it. Automatically, my spidey senses went on alert. Was he trying to scam me to buy the in-house product? Still, it was just the same price as the usual stuff I buy which is just for colds anyways. I took a few of the pills at the cafe. I have to admit that I did feel better by the end of my session with The Teacher.

As for The Teacher, it was one of the more mirth-filled sessions since she talked about having to run over to her younger son's Kumon class earlier in the week. Apparently, the poor kid had a stomachache and promptly vomited all over the classroom, taking out an unsuspecting family of zabuton and two carpets plus the front of his shirt. The Teacher went into supermother mode and had the offending chyme-soaked furnishings washed...on her coin...and got them back to the school within the hour. Man, imagine any mother in Canada going to THAT much trouble?

Got home and promptly fell asleep on my couch for an hour. Then I tackled "April" and "May" for my bookkeeping since I couldn't do anything about it last night. Finally, I was able to get some long overdue cleaning done. Dinner consisted of a mess of wieners and cabbage with a side of daikon salad. Not fancy but costwise, it was a whole lot lower than the small fortune I shucked out for MB's birthday party last night. It was still good food, though.

KInda nice to have a quiet night at home just listening to my jazz. But tomorrow is another day. And I've got the kids back at the more civilized time of 11, and then I've got this model lesson to teach over at Speedy's in the evening.

Friday February 25, 1:22 a.m.

That little scratchy sound I hear on my windows is the arrival of millions of wet snowflakes. Yup, Winter is back after a short reprieve yesterday in which the temps hit 19 degrees!. When I put my street clothes into the washing machine out on the balcony, the snow was starting to accumulate. Uh-oh! Luckily, it'll get warm enough later today that all of the stuff will melt away by lunch time. I'll also only have The Teacher so I won't be doing any major traveling.

Unlike yesterday in which I met up with Jazz Buddy, went to Speedy's to work on lesson plans for a few hours, went to the Tea Room to teach the Carolinan and the New Yorker, then finally over to Ginza to celebrate Movie Buddy's birthday. I really made good use of the one-day pass.

Jazz Buddy and I had a bit of a breakthrough. We actually had a pretty meaningful lesson, and without any need for textbooks. We just gabbed and some new expressions were sifted through the verbal chaff. She applied them and she learned. Huzzah! Our latest new forum was The New York Muffin Factory in the basement of the Shinjuku I-Land restaurant complex near the Andersens where I usually meet her. It's certainly more cramped than the Andersens and the Starbucks where we used to hang out but the muffins can't be beat. I can only hope that future lessons will be as happy.

I did get that Foo Foo lunch that was sadly yanked from me and MB on Sunday. Great stuff that ramen on a cold day like today. Definitely one place I would regret seeing closed...knock on wood. I still have yet to totally recover from the loss of The Farm Grill.

Looks like my work so far on the lesson plans have bulked up my planning muscles. I was able to get quite a bit of work done which impressed the boss. He brought me up to speed on the upcoming model lesson on Saturday. The one faux pas was discovering that I managed to rip a couple of holes in those cheap socks I'd bought a couple of weeks back. I had to discreetly hide my big white toe during my time there. Showing one's piggies while at work is not exactly kosher in this nation although I'm sure Speedy would be cool with it. Still, it was enough for me to get my shoes on as soon as I finished my stint there and buy some equally cheap but sturdier white socks at the convenience store near the Tea Room. I did a quick change in the Room's bathroom.

My work with the sisters was OK. The New Yorker is pretty shy but she can catch on quickly. I'm sure with the right direction and speed, she'll be able to put together a rudimentary conversation in a few months' time if not sooner. I'm just a bit worried about her innate shyness though. As for her much more fluent sister, no problems whatsoever.

The rains started when I left with the Carolinan back to the subway station. At that point, the precip was still watery but it sure got cold. I took the line all the way down to Ginza and found the restaurant easily. It's a place called ISOLA. The only thing called ISOLA that I know was a J-Horror movie a few years back. Nothing horrifying about this place's cuisine, though. The Italian was just scrumptious...although the Bismarck pizza of prosciutto and raw egg is an acquired taste. Movie Buddy was wallowing in his b-day enjoyment. There were a few others there including The Sylph and one of my very first students at the school when I started teaching there over 7 years ago. She's the only one in my time there to have gone 2 years. The Sylph was also one of her classmates during that time and another one of my first victims at the school.

My knees and right leg were calling Uncle by the time I got home. My knees felt like Bobby Orr's before reconstructive surgery. It must be the cold weather...good heavens...all I need to hear is that I'm arthritic.

I got home to check my e-mail and find out that I got a couple of more letters from a new alumnus and my co-host from the grad party. Always nice to hear from the kids. Hopefully, we can arrange a bit of dinner one of these days.

Wednesday February 23, 9:34 p.m.

Well, I put on my mask and swallowed the remaining medicine. No problems with hay fever. There were quite a few people out with their masks on as well. It was pretty windy so the pollen could fly up people's noses unabated. However, it turned out OK for me anyways. When I got home, I shot all of my clothing with that pollen-catching Febreeze.

The classes went OK as usual. I was lucky enough to find the Doner Kebab truck in front of Towers open for business so I helped myself to a nice chili kebab. Very reasonably priced for what I get. I picked up my text for the New Yorker for her class tomorrow. Gotta plan for that one plus the others. I'm gonna be pretty busy, and I'm quite tired now as it is. And I have to tackle "March" in my race for my tax return.

Wednesday February 23, 7:18 a.m.

We're gonna get a taste of Spring today. It'll be hitting around 17 degrees in the Kanto but with the warmth comes the pollen count. I may have to swallow the pills and even put on the surgical mask. I'm definitely gonna have to spray me down with the anti-pollen Febreeze when I get home tonight.

In those New York sitcoms, the characters often complain that their water initially comes out brown. Strange thing about my Ichikawa water. I poured some into my mug to make coffee and I got a froth. Not a head on a good beer or latte level but it did look like somewhat spat out some soap bubbles.

I'm already starting to dread going through my fiscal past. It was rather depressing reading through those dark early days of 2004. However, the fact that I'm still here in a relatively warm apartment does give me hope.

I picked up my weekly METROPOLIS magazine at Maruzen. METROPOLIS is the free English-language magazine detailing events, want ads and articles on life in the Big Sushi. Well, this week's editorial was from someone who seems to be a cheerleader for NOVA, the oft-slagged English conversation school which happens to be the largest chain in Japan, and my former employer from many moons ago. He certainly made a very impassioned case for his company although he made sure in his writing that he was speaking for himself; there were a lot of "to me" and "it's not for everyone". However, I still couldn't shake the feeling that he came off sounding like one of the party hacks. He certainly isn't just one of the teaching drones; he mentioned late in his piece that he was on the management level. Obviously he is quite happy with his lot in life.

Allow me to provide my sort-of counterpoint to the writer's story. I come here not to praise Caesar but not to bury him, either. My first gig in my current life here was at the Golden Arches of English Teaching for a couple of years. I even had 18 months of being the top dog at my branch. It was educational in that I realized I had no real love for administration which gradually to my departure. To be honest, I didn't have a bad time at all at my former employer. A good part of that reason was that I'd been assigned to a newly-born branch in a traditional area of Tokyo. Over the past several months, our school was lucky enough to attract a mostly nice group of students and a mostly decent group of dedicated teachers. The atmosphere created was one of a friendly, family type....something that certainly wasn't true of some of the other branches I heard.

I certainly can agree with the writer about the salary and training aspect. I was somewhat gobsmacked when he wrote down that salaries START at the mid 280.000 level. I'm not sure if NOVA is trying to account for the rise in inflation; I certainly hadn't started at that level. But I digress. It is a good salary to have. And if one stays at the firm for a good long time and does a good job, that salary will eventually creep up to a goodly monthly salary. And training is comprehensive. You could be a total neophyte when you come into the company and within a few months, you would be an absolute veteran. Frankly speaking, you would have to be a total idiot to fail at NOVA. In addition, there are always periodic observations by the head teachers on the regular teachers with comments. I certainly didn't get that with my previous school. My snaky manager just laughed cynically when I asked about observations and feedback during my first contract review. It's all about the money with him and his staff. It is with NOVA as well, but at least the company tries to ensure product quality.

Having said that, NOVA won't ever shake off its McDonalds image ("Do you want your fries with your Present Continuous?"). All the branches basically have the same appearance: creamy decor, cubicles or free tables, and Voice Room. The lesson format is very strictly structured. The writer mentioned that the lessons are "plug and play". Well, my PlayStation has been gathering dust in my closet for a few years now. For a teacher who wants to push the envelope and bring in a lot of creativity to lessons, NOVA is just a bit too constricting...physically, as well as figuratively, if one is assigned to a "cubicle" school. NOVA is great for the teacher getting his/her feet wet in Japan and the person who is only here for a lark and wants some good quick cash. Certainly, the career opportunities are there but they are in administration, not teaching, and you already know my feelings about the former. Basically, for most teachers, NOVA is the revolving door while for the students, it's the fast food outlet. And for the Japanese sales staff, it's a quick road to ulcers and nervous breakdown. Their salaries, as far as I know, are pretty minimal, and their jobs are very stressful as they always try to reach an ever-increasing quota of new students to recruit.

Also, I have to wonder about another couple of points the writer mentions. He says that the infamous nickname of the company as "NO VAcation" is a myth and that he has been able to swap shifts so that he can enjoy good lengthy trips all over Asia and back home. He must have been a wizard in his teaching days, and one with a lot of stamina. When you swap shifts, you can actually get those Saturdays AND Sundays off (a very rare situation for teachers in NOVA) but you have to pay for that with extended workweeks; there are tradeoffs. Also, NOVA doesn't recognize national holidays which is a selling point. Great for students who'd be hard pressed to find time to come to a school; perhaps a bit depressing for teachers although if one, such as me, starts out at NOVA, one doesn't feel it as such. Having been at a school where those holidays are recognized, it would be awfully hard for me to return to NOVA. The second point is about the famous non-fraternization rule between students and teachers. He proudly boasted that he doesn't particularly need the company of students. He's got other Japanese to become friends with. Well, let me say that NOVA's Prime Directive is just legal underwear. NOVA teachers DO go out with students, platonically or otherwise. And rumour has it that even the higher echelons also do the same although I'm not sure if the Directive applies to them. For me, I would have liked to have gotten to known my students better during my time there, and I think I could handle myself with aplomb offschool as well as onschool. Apparently, the writer isn't THAT confident about his abilities. As it is, once I left NOVA, I did spend more recreational time with my old students.

To finish up, I can only say that I will be very interested in seeing what the rebuttals (and boy, will there be rebuttals) will be like in future issues of the magazine.

Tuesday February 22, 11:24 p.m.

Had that long wakeup call since the Beehive wasn't having me today. However, I still have yet to start on "February" of my bookkeeping. I'll have to get that done straightaway although I still want to get some sort of sleep in.

I got back to the gym. I tried out some more new machines such as the bench press and the pectoral press. In the meantime, there was the aerobics class going on the in the transparent room ahead of me. The teacher just sounded like a DJ at Velfarre and dragging a lot of rather rotund women into the woodwork. They managed to crawl out. Since I got back from Maruzen rather early in the afternoon, I was able to get through my workout a full 2 hours before my usual arrival at the juku. So I decided to have dinner at the downstairs family restaurant. I will have to be more conscientious about what I eat before lessons. I had the hamburg steak in demiglace sauce with some pretty raw onions. I was rather self-aware of my breath that night. The Siberian seems to enjoy the lessons but still not a bit blocky in his delivery.

Got word from the Sylph, MB's girl. Looks like she's planning another B-day party for him in Ginza on Thursday and I got the invite. I'm not sure if I can make it out since I've got the Carolinan and the New Yorker on that night but if it's still going on at 9, then it should be OK. I've only got The Teacher on Friday. My ex cancelled out on me for the night.

Monday February 21, 11:46 p.m.

I finally got the second guy for The Company for the first time this year. Boy, was he rusty. He was pretty much the lower of the two after having been the ace of a low group all last year. However, he soon got with the program. Hopefully, he won't be doing too much more of those long absences.

Afterwards, I met up with PN at the Hyatt. Maybe I should have thought of somewhere more cheaper. As soon as we sat down and got our menus at what I thought was one of the more reasonable restaurants there, she had a mild hissy fit about the prices and suggested fairly strongly about moving out to another place. Well, I answered very civilly that we were in the hotel area of Shinjuku so prices wouldn't be too much different withn a 1 km radius; she acquiesced to that and ordered an ice cream sundae. One thing I won't do is change restaurants after we've already committed ourselves by stepping inside. She saw the menu outside and she made the decision to go in. As far as I'm concerned that means we stay in.

All that was just part of her dislike for Tokyo, and Japan in general. We had a good chat on the good and bad of life in Japan; most of what she said was on the bad of Tokyo. She asked me why I liked living here since she's rather hellbent on getting out of Dodge. I simply replied that I've been very comfortable for the past decade; certainly, the largest megalopolis in the world has its obvious drawbacks but I've learned to avoid most of them or live comfortably enough with them. I think that is what PN found appealing about life in Toronto...she could handle life there. However, again, I know that she's also found a way to complain about every city she's been in, including her former home of T.O., so I'm still not sure if she'd be absolutely content about returning once she's there.

On the way home, I realized that I've yet to buy the texts for The Siberian for his lesson tomorrow, so now I have to rush out to Maruzen to buy that. Plus, there's the text for The New Yorker on Thursday night. I'm not too miffed although it will mean a trip out to Tokyo. I think I can still get that lesson plan out there to Speedy and even tackle "February" for my tax return...knock on wood.

Monday February 21, 2:24 p.m.

I actually got a decent 8 hours of sleep last night thanks to The Class Act shifting times this week over to Wednesday morning. So, I got my first massage in over a month; thank heavens that the director of the clinic was the one who kneaded my worries away and not the woman with the jackhammers-for-thumbs. Afterwards, I got my two free Subway sandwiches since I filled up my point card. But those days are now over since the franchise has gone to a new system of a much smaller point card with only a modest discount the reward. Drat!

Also picked up a new photo album to fill with the grad photos. Got a few good ones of the young filly with the gams. And I picked up a notebook to start the long arduous trek to prep for my tax return. It's not too difficult weeding out the expenses and categorizing them but, boy, is it time-consuming. I just completed January. My tax advisor told me to go at it one month a day. Good advice. I'd go mad tackling the entire year in a day.

I was also able to air out the mattresses for the first time in 2 weeks due to my schedule and some of the inclement weather that had been plaguing us for a while. Today is pretty sunny if chilly. I've got my lone class at The Company, and then I meet PN at the Hyatt afterwards. I'm not sure where we'll go for dinner...maybe we'll try Foo Foo since I was vastly disappointed yesterday.

Sunday February 20, 9:57 p.m.

Well, MB and I caught ALEXANDER at the Picadilly today. Before that, we had our first disappointment in that Foo Foo wasn't open. In fact, the entire underground mall was closed down due to electrical rewiring. Not too happy about that. However, we did have a good consolation lunch at Samrat, the Indian restaurant near the theater. It was a pleasant time to chat about movies and yesterday's grad party. MB is starting to get that itch that I did a couple of years ago when I decided to go freelance. He's also worried about the status of the school since it seems like the classes there just keep on getting smaller and smaller.

As for ALEXANDER, it wasn't the bomb that the critics back Stateside were crowing about. I think that the dogpile mentality is alive and well in the media. In fact, not being able to go to Foo Foo was the far bigger disappointment. As usual, MB enjoyed it more than I did. I didn't think the movie was all that much to call home about but it did make for a serviceable docudrama with some A-list talent. Colin Farrell did fine with the eponymous character as he rose into the world's leader and fell into madness and death. Angelina Jolie's lips blabbered their best emulation of Lady MacBeth. As for Rosario Dawson...holy cow. I think Morgana the Stripper should look out behind her back. She may have competition now.

Generally, I felt that this wasn't a TROY action piece, and I think that's partly why the movie got the drubbing it did. There were only two major battles while the rest of it centered on Alexander's rise and fall and all the melodrama it contained. Certainly, the beginning was rather slow but when Alex started his conquests, things did pick up some more. I knew right off the bat that it was Vangelis who was behind the score. I almost expected those CHARIOTS OF FIRE joggers to come running by. Still, it was an OK movie done in by bad marketing and some media who've had their knives out for Oliver Stone for years.

Sunday February 20, 1:06 a.m.

I've attended about 12-14 graduation parties at my old school since I started there in 1997 since we have two of them a year. I think the one I attended yesterday was by far the most emotional I'd ever been to. There had been warning signs from the students that the restaurant where we would have the party would be awash in lacrymal fluid by the end for some days. They weren't wrong.

I got there in my Sunday finest and started off the party with my co-host, one of the current students. The party went normally enough: the usual awardings of diplomas, the food and drink, and the various games and songs. Plus, it was good to see people like The DJ, Movie Buddy, The Jester and The Satryr among others.

However, the waterworks got started after The Doll gave the first goodbye speech to everyone. After that, the second student, normally one famous for her rather explicit descriptions of her love life, just let the floodgates open and barely tumbled through her speech. Of course, a chain reaction started, and a lot of the women just started weeping like Elvis fans on August 16 1977. There were rumours that even a couple of the teachers got a bit misty-eyed (no, not I..say I). It certainly says a lot about how close this year's gang was to have this sort of thing happen. It's probably one of the few times that I have actually regretted going to freelance status...not being able to see these guys on a more regular basis. But I figure that like in past years, the new alumni will reach out to get people together for a short while before fate, nations and time eventually promote the life drifts. I think it's pretty much happened with last year's group. However, with this group, perhaps this golden feeling may last just a bit longer. But I know a couple of the ringleaders will be heading offshore for the next few months, so it's pretty much wait-and-see.

Certainly, the weather contributed to the somewhat melancholy feeling. We even got a bit of snow in the morning as I headed to teach my kids. However, that all turned to rain by party time. And it never really stopped by the time I got home.

After the main party, there was the usual series of after-parties. Some of us did a bit of karaoke for an hour nearby (it was the first time in recent memory that there were actually more men than women in the karaoke room). and then we joined the main group at an izakaya. It's always amazing how alcohol can change people...as naive as that may sound. The Doll, for instance, had five large empty mugs where beer and other libations had once been located. She got into a running drunken act with the Jester for the duration of the party talking of her "relationship" with the Jester who lives close by. Then the Jester got into a rather intense conversation/argument with the offbeat Oddball which kinda worried the other students. I had a separate talk with both combatants and the conclusion was that it was all much to do about nothing.

Then, after that stage, there was even the final 2-hour stage at another izakaya that we often haunt. The group was far smaller and I was the only teacher left. However, the atmosphere was a lot less fraught with up-and-down emotionalism, and I could actually talk with the kids in both Japanese and English. Looks like if the alumni parties for this group get started, it'll be at Tony Romas. It seems like my engorging of the extra large rib plate there last year made news with the newly graduated.

Naturally, I feel tired after another long Grad Day. But I'm meeting up with Movie Buddy later today to have some Foo Foo ramen and then catch Alexander. MB couldn't make it out past the main party so I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about over lunch.

Saturday February 19, 6:04 a.m.

Yup, another early wake-up call for the kids. Yesterday was a pretty full one for me. Had the Teacher, SR and my ex. The Tea Room was pretty lively since there was another event apparently with a bunch of elementary school teachers. Between SR and the ex, since I had a little bit of time, I traveled up and down the Ginza Line just to see if there were any prep work in store for this so-called televised celeb battle on the subways that was due to have happened last night. Didn't see a blessed thing.

Met my ex in the lobby of her workplace and went to the nearest McDonalds. This branch of the Golden Arches has the distinction of having a drink bar and a special sitting area for people to plug in their mobile phones if they don't want to rely on battery power. Our so-called first lesson was more of a reminiscent talk of our old days as an item....and of her current days with her new beau. Apparently, this is her second boyfriend After Haruhiko, and he's 5 years her junior which makes him as young as my son (if I had an especially bad "accident" during junior high school). She was always a bit of a nurturing type so perhaps the match might work out but she seemed a bit apprehensive about it after 2 months of seeing this guy.

On my way home, I took a look out the window of the subway to see if there were anything going on at the stations. Nope, nothing. Just the usual look of tired commuters on their way home before the drunks take over. No sign that there was even any sort of amazing battle on the subways with Utchan-Nanchan. And by the time I got home, the program had just finished.

Well, today I got my kids and then I have to head out for the big grad party. Could be one laden with waterworks considering what the kids are saying. Awww...mush.

Thursday February 17, 8:15 p.m.

Pretty tired after another "counseling" session with Jazz Buddy, and that first session with my tax consultant. All that nervous energy can really dissipate quickly. However, talking tax with the guy turned out to be pretty educational and lifesaving. I was feeling very much like a student in his tutorial, and he got me on my homework for the next couple of weeks which is to sort out my expenses and revenue for the past year. I'll see how much I can pull off during the next Monday since I could have the entire day off.

The second session with MK turned out well. I even got a referral from her..quick work.

Wednesday February 16, 9:19 p.m.

Another cold and rainy day. At least I didn't need to leave home that early. There was another kick from Mother Earth at around 10:30 a.m. but nothing to write NHK about. I had lunch at the local Pepper Lunch. Always good for hot hamburger and rice.

Stopped off at Speedy's today to pick up some name cards and flyers. The winds were really flying by then. I thought that the rain would turn to sleet.

The Hawaiian made about as perfect an essay as she could outside of a few silly errors. I don't really think she needs much of an education in writing. She almost fell out of her seat in laughter when I told her about my brush with sterility thanks to the long ordeal on the bike the other day.

Now I know I'm on the slippery slope downhill to senility. Just went straight to sleep on the Oedo. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. Might as well forget about bringing the crosswords and magazines.

I got another present...this time from the OL. However, it wasn't a belated Valentine's Day one but a souvenir from her trip. It was a couple of packages of rather elaborately packaged udon with bonito flakes for the stock and some special miso. Well, my breakfast seems to be set.

The current trend of psycho attacks in schools continues unabated, I'm afraid. Well, at least today's attack was thwarted before anything serious happened. Some guy managed to breach the grounds of some elementary school when he was quickly spotted and nabbed by some teachers. The guy just said that he was looking for someone. Now, that wouldn't usually merit an emergency response, but when the rest of the guy's talk turned out to be understandable by Andorians...well, can't take the chance. As for that 17-year-old loner who murdered the teacher and seriously injured two other adults the other day, he confessed that he had a huge grudge against a teacher at the school for some sort of bullying years ago that went unnoticed. He said he would've settled to hurt any of the teachers.

Now, as a result of this and past attacks, a number of schools in Tokyo have hired security for their grounds. A sad sign of the times although it still doesn't approach the metal detectors of some of the schools in the States.

Wednesday February 16, 9:00 a.m.

Well, got rocked OUT of my sleep at 4:47 a.m. this morning when a M5.4 quake struck the Kanto. Of course, it was straight onto NHK. The announcer went on loop mode telling people to watch out for falling objects and to calm down. Not sure if one can do both, really. My living room is already a mess, so it took a few minutes to discover that a few of my CDs did fall off the shelf. Otherwise, no other damage...I think.

Getting back to REM sleep was pretty much out of the question. Still, further insult to injury occurred just after 7:30 when one of the Class Act gave me a surprise call to request a schedule shuffle. At least, I will be able to sleep in a lot longer on Monday. MK did a similar request by the more civilized e-mail for an earlier time.

I'll be hitting the lesson planning as of now and try to get a couple of chapters done before sending the package off to Speedy.

Tuesday February 15, 11:27 p.m.

Finally made it back to the gym after two weeks of eschewing it due to various reasons like disease and other events. Pushed myself a bit harder than usual...a bit of self-flagellation and penance as it were. I think I did pay for it; I feel rather achy all over right now. I did try a few new machines out and instead of the treadmill, I finished things off with a 25-minute stint on the stationery bike. I probably won't do that again anytime soon...let's say that I know why the possibility of sterility rises with longer exposure to a bike seat.

Thought I might continue the punishment by hitting the gym again tomorrow but it looks like that won't be happening since I really gotta get through those lesson plans. I may still just drop by Speedy's to touch base on my way to see the Hawaiian.

I added another chocolate box to the collection today at the juku. The Beauty Pair contributed theirs to my Valentine pot. However, it was a solo act by Yuri since apparently Kei was conked out on account of her visit to the dentist. The Milds also ended up just being Mrs Mild since the hubby was out at a wine-and-dine with some clients. And then I had the new guy, The Siberian, for his second lesson. Pretty good but still has some of those teenage elements in him.

I noticed that the posters are going up for that big subway variety show on Friday. The posters have Utchan and Nanchan punching each other out. I kinda wonder how this is gonna pan out. Friday nights are not usually known for the usual staid commuters on the other weekdays since the end of the week is known as the drinking night. Could be rather tumultuous having a bunch of celebs running into a bunch of garrulous drunks on the subway. However, the possible saving grace is that the show will probably end before the big exodus of sots for home.

Tuesday February 15, 6:47 a.m.

I've never been a huge fan of people suddenly disrupting my schedule, no matter how good the intent was. Of course, I can't really reveal that to those people. This happened to me twice by phone last night just when I was about to prep for today's lessons. And I actually had the naive thought that I would be able to tackle my ironing. Ah, well...I still have two days' worth of trousers.

The first call was from PN who wanted to have my ear again on her future. That lasted a good half-hour. Then, a few minutes after that, I got a call from my tax consultant who just happens to be the son of one of the Class Act. I was able to catch somewhat more of the jargon from him than I did from that motormouth at the local tax office. Still, after half an hour of that, I think both of us would have been better served by just arranging a face-to-face right off the bat. So we finally did for this Thursday.

As an aside from visiting that student at ChocoCro last night, she mentioned that she'd seen Movie Buddy and The Ballerina at the school yesterday. It was one of her "Hi-Bye" stops. Once again, she was in her full flight attendant regalia and makeup. LOTS of makeup, my student said which got an internal knowing giggle from me.

Monday February 14, 10:36 p.m.

Well, for a guy who wrote off Valentine's Day as a holiday for the young and hopeful, I managed to score a couple of extra boxes of chocolate from The Class Act. Unfortunately, there was a bit of bitter in the sweet when SIL announced that she wouldn't be able to see me anymore because her mother will need more assistance after she gets her eye surgery done next week. Ah, well...dem's the breaks. However, the time will be open for any other student.

During the break between The Class Act and SIL's final class, I went up to HMV nearby and found that Michael Buble's latest has reached these shores. I took a listen to it at the post. Not too bad but I'm gonna wait a bit before I finally bite.

I got my money from the Prez at The Company tonight which is great for paying my rent tomorrow. I frankly kinda wonder about my future there with the currently lone student as well. However, the student did quite well today. In fact, at the end we had a rather serious discussion about the possibility of North Korea bombing us. Nice little palate cleanser before dinner, eh?

I fulfilled my student's request and went down to Harajuku to her ChocoCro shop. She was behind the counter in her uniform of T-shirt and cap. And she rewarded me with a bag of chocolate-coated croissants which got me 3 for 3 in the Valentine Day's sweepstakes. For some stupid reason, I ordered a black coffee which I never drink; I think I simply fell for the cheap price. I rather sheepishly came back down for a cream; ; my student came up and gave me a good-natured recommendation to order the watery American next time.

I managed to take the JR back up to Takadanobaba Station. I initially had some good thoughts about the ride home since the Yamanote was uncharacteristically not so busy at 8 o'clock. However, that soon changed when I switched over to the Tozai. My first hint of trouble was seeing a larger-than-usual number of commuters on the subway. Mind you, at Takadanobaba, since it's usually the 3rd station from the starting point of the eastbound run, there are plenty of seats. However, what caught me was seeing that all of the end seats (the prime seats) were taken. Then, when I got on, I was seated next to some moron who had a mouthclicking problem, there were a couple of loudmouthed ko-gals (as redundant as that may sound) not too far away. And then I had one of those megadecibel snorers sitting across from me. Of course, from Otemachi Station onwards, the train got considerably crowded so at least I was grateful for the seat, if not the company I kept. By the time I got to my station, the guy who was standing over me either couldn't or wouldn't move so under my breath, I muttered a rather rude but inaudible "Doke" instead of the usual "Shitsureishimasu". "Doke" for you Japanese language learners means "Get your ass out of the way!" I was rather lucky that I wasn't caught in the grip of subway rage.

I got home to see that there was another attack at an elementary school. This time, it wasn't a kid who got hurt but a teacher who got stabbed to death by a 17-year-old loner who had skipped school for a number of years. Where were his parents?! Fortunately, no kids were injured but still they and the parents must be traumatized. I'm sure they must be wondering if there is still a safe place for kids anymore in Japan. Well, not too much consolation but Japan hasn't quite reached the stage of metal detectors yet.

Monday February 14, 7:04 a.m.

Well, it's Valentine's Day...not that it has much to do with me. Mind you, I did enjoy the kids' chocolates and said so in the letter to their Mother.

Once again, the Engineer had a chat with me online. He also once again chastised me for being such a Luddite and merely taking photos of the Quarterback's wedding with just plain film. I said I'll get a digital camera once I find out how much I'll have left after I file my taxes. Then again, I'm just providing an excuse since digital cameras have plummeted in price. I don't even know if my old SOTEC can facilitate a digital camera hookup. In any case, he did get me to sign on to Gmail, this new-fangled e-mail service. But to do so, I had to update my Internet Explorer. Not a bad thing...my screens certainly look nicer and even the posting screen for this blog looks better, too.

Speaking of taxes, I did a look-over of the form. It doesn't look all that difficult. I could understand the majority of what to write in which spaces but I'm gonna ask The Class Act today to translate a couple of words. The only thing is that there doesn't seem to be any spaces for deductions for my own little business. As it stands, I can only deduct from my National Health Insurance

Mom called me last night during my chat with the Engineer. She was the who had been ringing my phone without leaving any messages. I knew she did that since she didn't want to incur any costs from her end but I'd already called her last week so I had eliminated her as a possibility. I thought I had some sort of phone stalker on my case. Or it could have been Teddy Bear, my rather bipolar former student from long ago. He usually has the similar custom of hanging up just before he has to leave a message since he doesn't like leaving them.

I'd forgotten to mention during the hysteria of Pancake Day last Thursday that there was a surprise appearance by 77. She wanted to brush up on her TOEIC so she stopped by the school. She mentioned that she hasn't seen Arwen or the others since late last year so she was hoping that something can be arranged for next month. I sent something to Arwen and she said that it's very good. Looks like I'll be aiming for The Aviator.

Not sure what my schedule is gonna end up like today. I've got The Class Act a half hour earlier due to some plans that one of them has to attend. SIL might cancel again and I wasn't too sure about that Company's student evasiveness last Monday. I may just get that call once again for cancellation. Doesn't mean I'll be getting home all that early, though. I did promise one of my soon-to-graduate students at the school that I'd visit her workplace in Harajuku tonight.

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.

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.