Saturday June 10, 4:22 p.m.

Doing a rare entry at Speedy's. Just as well since I probably won't be coming here on Monday. The Part-Timer has cancelled her regular lesson and I just got word from SIL that she'll have to take care of her ailing mother. The lack of lessons is never all that great but to be honest, I wouldn't mind the occasional Monday afternoon off. And I can catch "The Da Vinci Code" finally. But I'm also catching "Poseidon" tomorrow as well. Hmm...two movies in as many days. 3,000 yen down the drain...well, it's life.

I got word from the juku boss that The Fortune Teller will only be coming for another couple of sessions before finishing his time. She reassured me that he didn't have any problems with the lessons but then again I said the same thing about the gym when I quit that a few weeks ago. There was a problem with the gym...I wasn't enjoying it. And since I never got the word that The FT's lessons were temporary, I can only assume that he wasn't all that thrilled with them. To be honest, I wasn't all that thrilled with his lessons although he himself is a nice enough guy. It's just that there's only so much that could be gained with him just explaining his fortune telling each week. The boss also told me that I'm gonna be having another model lesson from 9 to 9:30 next Tuesday which is usually The Siberian's time slot. He's also another guy who could be jettisoned. Now, if I can only get rid of B2 the same way...mind you, I'll see what the next week brings. If it's more of the same way, I'll probably send my own "Dear John" letter over to her.

To add insult to injury, the kids this morning were about as animated as granite. I came rather close to strangling one of them. However, I swallowed my pride and just chalked it up to another round of puberty. Luckily, I had JJ who's always been gung-ho about her English, if not all that confident. And it looks pretty good that I'm gonna have 002 again after several months' absence. The lady came in to have a consultation with Speedy about me coming over to her neck of the woods from July. She said that her hubby may be a little antsy about me coming over to her house each week while he's off at work. I told her that she can just show one of my bloated pics to him and he can rest easy.

To show how gung-ho Japan has become about The World Cup, which started today, one just has to compare television priorities over the last few days. Over in the States and on CNN, the big news has been the assassination of Iraqi Public Enemy No. 1, al-Zarqawi. Meanwhile, over here, it's just been about Japan's chances in the soccer tourney in Germany. However, there has been the other big coverage on that tragic figure of a woman, Suzuka Hatakeyama, who killed young Goken Yoneyama in Akita Prefecture because she snapped over the death of her own daughter some weeks earlier.

Well, gotta head on off to Mr. Influence's big party.

Wednesday June 7, 5:42 p.m.

Quite a hodgepodge of weather so far today. We had squall activity earlier this morning and then it's back to early summer right now. I was considering whether to catch "The Da Vinci Code" since I had no classes in the morning but that was rendered moot since I had to wait for another package going to The Anime King. It did arrive.

Looks like Speedy is finally getting back on track in getting his students. It looks like I'm gonna have another two new ones...or to be exact, one new one on Wednesday afternoons and an old one returning to the fold: 002. After some soft but persistent chipping away for the past several months, she's finally agreed to have me come over to her neck of the woods to teach her.

Mr. Influence is having a home party on Saturday so it looks like I'm gonna be in for some really good cooking. It's gonna be a long day, though. I've got the kids early on Saturday, followed by JJ and then heading over to the school to see Speedy and 002 for some prelim talk on her future lessons. Mrs. Perth of The Beehive had asked me whether I would be available on the same day for a thank-you dinner since I had lent her husband my old crutches to aid him during his convalescence from a torn Achilles' Tendon but that's not gonna happen. In fact, I don't think any of the June Saturdays will be open but I let her know that I'm still flexible on Sunday.

Speaking of The Beehive, the bunch of us and I had our occasional lunch at that hidden restaurant in Tsudanuma, Takimoto. Some really good food there. I'll be getting a rare Tuesday morning off from them next week since my increasingly rare teaching partner will be showing up for them. Perhaps I can see "The Da Vinci Code" then.

I caught the first of two appearances of Larry King in the grounds of San Quentin Prison this morning. It was rather ironic seeing this since I'd caught "The Shawshank Redemption" the other night. There were the 5 inmates sitting across from Larry. It was obvious that Larry was interested in getting the tabloid fodder: y'know...bull queens, shank fights, sordid pasts...but there was especially one lifer, a guy who resembled a middle-aged Chris Rock, who was openly disagreeing (civilly, though) with King's approach and who wanted to emphasize all the good things about life behind bars via various reform programmes. I could certainly understand his need to show a more civil side (if one can be found) to life behind bars, especially in a maximum-security installation, but I couldn't also help feeling that there was a bit of spin and advance coaching for the five. But the representative for the staff himself just reduced the hard life by describing about "a few knuckleheads"...as if the only scary inmate was Curly Howard of The Three Stooges. Part 2 is tomorrow so I'm gonna see who else is coming on.

Anyways, gotta get ready for 001...

Monday June 5, 10:15 p.m.

Yup, still here but since Speedy's is the only place I have free Internet access. I will be headed home in the next 15 minutes. I do have The Beehive tomorrow. I certainly hope that I won't be getting more of that whiny pouting from Mrs. Tee...if there's anything that gets me on edge..

My model lesson with that writing student seems to have gone OK. Her alleged first class will be on the 26th but I'll believe her when I see her. Her writing sample shows some good usage of vocabulary though she said demurely that her dictionary was her ghostwriter and paragraph structure is in order but she's gonna need a lot of work on structure and punctuation.

It looks like Skippy will be joining The Madame and I for dinner if not for "Poseidon". Movie Buddy and The Sylph have bailed out since they had caught it today. MB reassured me that it's a harmless roller coaster of a thriller. Problem is, I throw up on roller coasters. Skippy, being the ever happy social butterfly, has already thrown out the possibility for the weekend of the 17th as the chance to head out to hip Shimokitazawa, west of Shibuya. She knows a place with really good okonomiyaki and curry buns. Always thinking with her stomach....I like that.

In the big news, police may have caught the killer of that little boy who had been murdered almost 3 weeks ago in Akita Prefecture. The sad strange twist is that the killer may be the mother of a girl who had been murdered fairly recently in the same area. Apparently, the police have found some CSI-level evidence in her car and around her home. The theory is that the mother got so frustrated with the police being supposedly so slow in finding the perpetrator that she finally snapped. There was even filmed footage of her talking with the media about the boy's case; she looked very worn physically and mentally. So the sad thing is that instead of finding a serial killer, the cops may have come across a person who's both victim and killer.

And then there was that earlier case of that 51-year-old woman who strangled her 19-year-old daughter to death in the daughter's apartment where three fossilized children were found. Well, according to SIL, that mother was responsible for birthing all three kids decades ago and killed her adult daughter because the two of them were caught up in a love triangle with the same man. You couldn't get more film noir than this.

I heard about that thwarted terrorist attack in Toronto. I'm sighing in relief. Apparently, those 17 folks were targeting The CN Tower or CSIS HQ. Frankly, the world is getting just a tad too exciting for my comfort.

Monday June 5, 7:45 p.m.

Still going through the backlog that was my life last week since my access to the Internet is now severely curtailed. I just finished up with The Part-Timer. Good student to have...a tonic after especially having a deadweight student. Too bad that she'll be away next week. Kinda biding my time before the model lesson student comes in about half an hour.

Well, continuing on the movie beat...along with "The Shawshank Redemption", I have been enjoying the Star Trek DVDs. I even splurged and got myself The Director's Cut of "Star Trek - The Motion Picture". When I caught this flick as a painfully Trekkie-ridden and shy boy on a drizzly Saturday in November 1979 with my brother, I came out wondering if I'd seen the new Star Trek as filtered through "2001: A Space Odyssey". It just didn't seem like the ol' Star Trek, despite seeing Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Everything and everyone seemed as washed out as the new uniforms. And gad...that excruciatingly long voyage through V'Ger...20 minutes (or so I thought) of having to see reaction shots through an unfathomably convoluted and dark spaceship. My brother basically treated the human adventure as a chance to catch up on some sleep. The faint applause when the Enterprise escaped the huge special effect at the end of the movie was probably more for relief that the movie was just about over.

This Director's Edition was done back in 2000 with some new effects and obviously before the passing of director Robert Wise, composer Jerry Goldsmith and James "Scotty" Doohan. With the passage of time, I've become more accepting of it. I don't openly yawn at the long ponderous voyage through V'Ger and I've gotten a bit more used to some of the bizarre (even for Shatner) hammy moments. Still, this first movie will still be the prototype for the pattern of bad odd Trek pics and good even pics. Well, it's not quite that bad but it still doesn't really match ol' Trek. The best thing about The Original Series was the relationships amongst the big three. It certainly wouldn't be the special effects although to be fair it was the 60s. The Director's Edition may have completed some patchwork on the effects but it was really the writing and the pacing that needed the most work and those are the things that couldn't be altered. I only got hints of the old banter and sparkle amongst Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley. I heard that the actors had given the writing staff and Wise some hell about what the characters should have said. Well, apparently even the actors didn't know all that much either. Still, I enjoyed the scenes of the re-launch of the NCC-1701 along with the legendary Goldsmith score (I think there must have been a button on Sulu's panel called "Soundtrack"). I'll be looking forward to seeing the picture again just to hear the commentary track with Wise and some of the others. Of course, neither Shatner nor Nimoy could be bothered to provide their insights since apparently providing DVD commentary is about as distinguished as cleaning out the toilets at Taco Bell after 3-Bean Salad Night to a number of actors. However, Shatner did give some comments through that really puffy face of his.

Monday June 5, 5:44 p.m.

Well, well, well....it's been quite a while since the last entry. I would've loved to have put down a few lines last Wednesday but Blogger was out of commission.

Well, where do I begin? First, I guess, is that Michael Jackson's fairly long trip in The Big Sushi finally ended on June 2 after 5 days of pinpoint shopping and looking around...of course with his usual entourage and the frenzied media & fans. I think for a world-famous celeb who wasn't here for a concert, 5 days is one long vacation. He was sighted at the MTV Japan Awards but then he popped up in a Chiba pachinko parlour, bought something in a Yurakucho department store (it wasn't a cellphone...he could've borrowed one out of hundreds thanks to the amassed fans by the entrance) and then bought 3 boxes of books at a bookstore in Omotesando across from Aoyama Gakuin University (apparently, the receipt was on the order of 5 metres long). A friend of mine also noted that he did visit a few orphanages along the way (kinda like asking the fox to guard the henhouse, if you ask me). And as we are all to find out at 10 p.m. tonight, he made a surprise visit to the SMAP boys during filming of tonight's show (somehow, I don't think I'm gonna be able to see that but it would be a pleasure to see that look of shock on KimuTaku's face after years of sullen surliness on that mug of his). After the better part of a week, even the usually frenzied entertainment media folks were wondering aloud when The Gloved One would finally be heading home. Well, he's gone now but we were all left thinking whether Jackson was actually thinking of setting up stakes here. And I do have an empty apartment beside me and a house across from me that's just been emptied. Hmmm.....

Connected with the above story, I picked up a new word from the manager of The Tea Room. It's kashikiri. When I taught The New Yorker there last Monday, the manager was grateful that I did come in when I did since she couldn't otherwise reach me. Apparently, The Tea Room was off limits last Thursday and Friday until 5 p.m. both days due to this kashikiri. Kashikiri means "closed off for special purposes". Well, as it turns out, I wasn't planning on coming on Thursday since I had B2 elsewhere and I ended up not turning up on Friday either. I got there at 4:45 on Friday. The place had pictures of various Disney characters splayed all over the front. I got into the place where the manager gave me her usual enigmatic smile and told me in no uncertain terms that the place wouldn't be open for public use until 5 sharp! I kinda wondered if MJ had decided to use the place for his own thing. In any case, The UL showed up just a few minutes after I did and decided to take me over to the station Starbucks, and since The UL was the customer, not the manager, we made our way back down the street. Hopefully, the manager isn't one to hold a grudge.

The weekend was fairly uneventful. I spent most of it watching DVDs. I finally caught "The Shawshank Redemption" for the first time, some 12 years after its initial release in theatres. That's quite a lot of time for great reviews and hype to build up. So one of my students had lent it to me. And y'know, it was indeed a fine flick but I was surprised since one of my assumptions has been broken. I thought Shawshank was about the prisoner, Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins and his slow crawl back up from the dregs of prison life to some form of strength and eventual escape, with the help of his buddy, Red....after all, the latter half of the title is Redemption. However, aside from his battles with the brutal bull queens and the tyrannical warden, Dufresne just seemed to have this grand plan all along. He and the plan just resembled Verbal Kint and his grand act in "The Usual Suspects". And Red was just the buddy and not really a co-conspirator. The great friendship between the two was there, though. The other surprise was in the casting. I was amused by seeing William Sadler, who usually plays very deadly bad guys in stuff like "Die Hard 2" and "Star Trek: DS9", play a none-too-bright but essentially nice (well, as nice guys go in a maximum-security prison) guy. And then there was the veteran actor James Whitmore playing the sadly doomed Brooks; it was also interesting to see this actor whom I've seen play it crusty or kindly from everything from an old ep of "The Twilight Zone" to cereal commercials actually swear like a sailor in one scene.

Anyways gotta get ready for that next class...

Monday May 29, 4:55 p.m.

The summer is here...especially inside Speedy's lounge. Gad it feels like Venus on an "Ode to Humidity" day. And the bossman is back...having a meeting with SB, presumably on what he's missed in the past 2 weeks.

My weekend went halfway as expected. Saturday was supposed to have been the latest night for DVDs with Movie Buddy but just as I was about to head out to see JJ for her usual lesson, I got a call from the man himself stating that he had to dotakyan (Japanese slang for "suddenly cancel") because his live-in had one of those 24-hour bugs. So things were rather quiet on the 27th but I still decided to clean up the apartment for the heck of it. As for JJ, it wasn't one of her days since her fluency was stumbling all over during our wonderful trek through the world of Relative Clauses...a tough slog for any intermediate English student. Still, she got down in the dumps as she usually does when she's had a tough class. I'm used to it but it still gets kinda annoying. Y'know...she only sees me once a week for an hour and she's surrounded for the rest of the time by her fellow native Japanese speakers. Fluency can only go so far in that environment.

Since my Saturday night opened up dramatically, I ended up watching some Japanese TV for the first time in a long while. I saw the usual silly hijinks on Fuji-TV for 2 hours with a game show and the long-running variety program starring the comedy duo of 99. But then I came across the second part of this 2-part special called "The Hit Parade". This program was the equivalent of a combination of "Your Show of Shows" and "American Bandstand" with the hokey schmaltz of "The Lawrence Welk Show" (remember Bobby & Cissy?...I didn't think so). The show also had run back in the pioneer days of Japanese TV, the 50s and 60s, and was a huge hit for the national audience in the still-hardscrabble life of those postwar days.

Anyways, I hadn't been able to catch Part 1 of the program due to my classes on Friday but I did remember seeing the posters in the subway station. Part 2, like the poster, was chock-filled with all sorts of A-level actors and very familiar TV faces playing real-life stars from those free-wheeling days. Basically, the 2-part epic focused on the life and career of Shin Watanabe, the creator of the show who was also the president of an entertainment production company; he was dedicated to bringing the masses some cheer in their hard lives. He had started as the bassist of a jazz band called "The 4 Joes" but soon entered into the backroom world of management. Strangely enough, the smiley ever-optimistic Shin-chan was played by Toshiro Yanagiba who's famous for his iconic role as the taciturn Spock-like Chief Inspector Shinji Muroi in the acclaimed "Odoru Dai Sosasen" (Bayside Shakedown) series. Perenially popular (and pleasing to the eye) TV drama actress Takako Tokiwa played his wife, Misa. And one other actor played the future former unpopular governor of Tokyo, Yukio Aoshima, when he was still a comedian. And the Abe sisters (one a former Morning Musume member, the other a probably washed-up singer) played The Peanuts, a twin sister singing act, notable in the West as those two tiny sirens who called for Mothra in those Godzilla movies.

The special interwove the re-enactment of Watanabe's career with narrated bits about the various acts who came and went during the 30 years between the 50s and 80s. The drama itself was the usual sepia-toned affair with the near-treacly approach of its protagonist being the do-no-wrong virtuous boss that is common to similar productions in this country. That usually brings up a red alert in my head; I cannot believe anyone is that good. I'm sure the real Watanabe, who died of cancer in the early 80s, had had his share of skeletons in the closet. Still, the docu-drama was pleasant to watch since I've gotten into my nostalgic phase and the drama did go by at a fairly fast clip. Plus, the jazz background music helped in that respect as well. I never saw "The Hit Parade" because of course I was raised in Canada but seeing some of the clips made me realize how much more of a comfort it was for people in that day and age than even Arthur Godfrey, Sid Caesar or even Ed Sullivan were for Americans back home. After all, the Japanese lost the war and paid dearly for it.

Coming back to local entertainment in this century, Michael Jackson (yep, that one) dropped by Tokyo during the weekend to get a special achievement prize from MTV Japan. He even showed up for the channel's awards ceremonies yesterday. Still, the Gloved One after all these years. It would seem that the Japanese still love him, but then again...fondling minors in this country doesn't seem to have the stigma that it has in the States.

I've started looking at some of those Trek DVDs that my brother had sent me via the mules of our mutual friends on Friday. I caught the Trek Classic episode of "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and DS9's 30th anniversary tribute via "More Trials and Tribble-ations". It was good to watch the eps but I was disappointed that there weren't more in the extras. Just a text commentary by the Okudas which pop up like those things for "Pop-Up Video".

My day in The Big Sushi was pretty routine today. I had The Class Act for their regular followed by The New Yorker at The Tea Room. I was quite impressed by The New Yorker. She really did try quite hard and was fairly successful with her Past Tense. The manager sighed some relief that I did come in today since she otherwise wouldn't have been able to contact me. Apparently, there is gonna be some sort of construction work on Thursday and Friday. I've got no problem with Thursday since it's B2's night and that's out in Mitsukoshimae but I do have The UL on Friday. However, the manager told me that the work should be done by 5 and that's when I have my student so everything will probably be fine. I did my own reassuring by giving her my name card.

I did forget to mention that we had another burger stop, our second one, yesterday. Despite MB having to cancel DVD night on Saturday, The Sylph recovered well enough so that the second in our series of burger tours could go on. This time, it was The Roti Grill, the smaller cousin to the main ROTI in Roppongi. Instead of that tony neighbourhood, The Roti Grill was located in the more residential area of Kachidoki, near the fish market of Tsukiji. Actually, there's a small shopping mall called Harumi Triton Mall where the burger eatery was located but I think that's more for the locals instead of people from all over Tokyo. As a result, the Grill wasn't all that crowded. The group for the outing was MB and his girl along with The Satyr and his new girl. Of course, I was the designated stag for the afternoon. The Satyr, in his correspondence, remarked that he would be bringing his "friend". It was rather obvious that she was more than that. She was stroking his arm so much that I was afraid that she would completely depillate the poor guy. It was also evident it was early on in their relationship. It's been a while since I've seen such a lovey-dovey couple.

Anyways, the burgers at Roti Grill were fine. In fact, I would peg my burger as being better than that behemoth Double Burger I had at Baker Bounce last month if only it was easier to handle and to chew. Still, there was plenty of mess oozing out of the crevices. Pricewise, my Steak Burger was a few hundred yen cheaper and I got more value out of the set. Also, the atmosphere was nicer there since we weren't cramped like we were at the aforementioned Bounce. Roti Grill is a good size smaller than its big cousin but it was still plenty spacious. And there wasn't this huge crowd of people lining up so we could actually stay there for 4 hours. More than enough time to have a leisurely dessert and even test run a card game that MB was thinking of unleashing on his kids. Ironically, this gourmet burger emporium was just across the hall from a branch of The Golden Arches. I guess it was only right to provide the population with options.

I guess we can call today 2 A.S.N. (after Shiloh Nouvel). CNN broke the news of the birth of Brangelina's love child. And once again, the celebs kept up the tradition of inflicting weirdo first names on the second generation. I think the couple should seriously consider emigrating to Namibia where their kid was born (or is that "entered the spotlight" in Hollywood-ese?). The authorities have provided the couple with near-perfect protection from the parasitic paparazzi via strict Immigration checks. I certainly wouldn't mind...as long as "Mr. and Mrs. Smith 2" stay as far away from me as possible.

Friday May 26, 9:46 p.m.

Well, it's been a while since I've put up a second entry in the same day. It'll probably be my last one, too, since I've finally finished my 2 weeks of sitting in for Speedy's students. I had SB's brother; it was another good session. In fact, it looks like I've been chosen by him for a class on the 9th. Nice to be needed.

And something else that has gotten me a bit more buoyant is that my little conflict with The Madame has come to an end. I've sent my apologies to her and she has done the same. I sent her a fairly voluminous amount of writing but we'll be meeting next Friday for coffee so I'm hoping that we'll back to our usual jovial selves. For some reason, our few conflicts have been waged on the Net. I wonder if we ever got married, would all our fights will be cyberspace-based? It would certainly save us on our vocal cords.

It'll be kinda nice to get back to a somewhat easier schedule although the money rush was rather nice. However, there is a good chance that at least a couple of Speedy's students including SB's brother may become semi-permanent on my schedule.

Well, I gotta get home and prep for JJ. She'll be the only one on the slate tomorrow. Then, I gotta clean the place up for Movie Buddy's DVD pilgrimage. It'll be pizza again.

Friday May 26, 6:30 p.m.

It was rather oxymoronic (I'm sure some of you folks would probably just use "moronic") watching Lou Dobbs on his show. For the first time in history, I could actually use the expression "gleefully furious" to describe the man. He almost seemed to enjoy getting his Irish up about the Immigration Amnesty Bill getting passed in the U.S. Senate yesterday. Man, he was in feisty spirits! But he actually did celebrate something: seeing Kenneth Lay and Andrew Skilling of the Enron debacle finally getting their comeuppance in the form of guilty verdicts. Of course, they will probably appeal. Spending the rest of their lives in tiny cells will not sit with them lightly. If I were Takafumi Horie, I would be worrying a bit.

My hour with the juku boss ended up being a sales session on anti-spam software since the poor lady was getting pelted with all sorts of annoying ads from the Net and she has even poorer knowledge about computers than I do. I helped her download some free spam-fighting stuff and that got my 3,000 yen. As for The Fortune Teller, we were slogging away at his descriptions. I was feeling pretty tired by the end. The boss told me that I may have a new student or two in the tony neighbourhood of Yoyogi-Uehara in the near future thanks to her friend. We'll see.

I met up with my old friends at JR Akihabara afterwards. The area wasn't as boisterous as it usually is on a Sunday. There was through traffic and the maids were very few and far between. I got my Trek DVDs from my brother via the guys. We had lunch on the restaurant floor of the humongous Yodobashi flagship store across from the station. The crowds have finally dispersed after its huge opening a few months ago. We had lunch at this restaurant specializing in Japanese (Wa-fu) pastas. So, my one friend had mentaiko (cod roe) spaghetti while I had this somewhat Szechuan-style stuff with a ground meat-and-spice topping. Of course, most of the conversation was on old times and who was still around. I treated, of course.

After that, we took a look down on the lower floors of merchandise. We found some rather humourous stuff such as a plastic mold to help shape your eyebrows. There were different versions. I was kinda wondering if there a Mr. Spock or Divine version amongst the brands. And then there was the battery-operated nose hair remover. Ouch! Just looking at that made me quote those UN regulations on torture. My friend bought a couple of those eyebrow molds for laughs. We also looked at some cellphone shields to prevent prying eyes from making their marks. My other friend remarked with some surprise at how these Leicas and Hasserblads could just lay about in the camera section. Yep, I can imagine that they'd be swiped within a New York minute back home. Strangely enough, even in this day and age, electronic appliances can still rest easy and not fear being stolen.

It was another walk into the discount CD shop and then a dessert of crepes on the main drag before we decided to part. It looks like my three hours of them will be the only ones for this year to see them since they'll probably hit Singapore and Thailand during The Holidays. Ah, well.

I've made it up to Speedys for the last of the students that I'm teaching in Speedy's place. It'll be SB's brother for one more try. I've checked my e-mail. I saw The Madame has left another contribution to our private little skirmish. The title looks harmless enough but I've decided to let it go. I don't particularly want to have to respond to another one of those this week. Hopefully, I'll be in a better mood by Monday.

Looks like the Mission: Impossible and X-Men franchises have traded places, review-wise at least, according to CNN. Tom Cruise's latest got a reluctant thumbs-up while I just saw that the newest mutant movie isn't exactly the great finale that everyone has been hoping for.

Thursday May 25, 2:40 p.m.

There was a Daffy Duck cartoon in which Daffy played this overenthused salesman trying to sell an ultramodern home filled with gadgets to hapless Porky Pig. One of the devices eliminated the need for stairs by a button which brought down the 2nd floor to the 1st floor. The catch was that when Porky requested to return to ground level, Daffy raised the 2nd floor to reveal a crushed first floor. That was exactly how the weather played out with Tokyo yesterday. In the morning and early afternoon, as I'd mentioned in my last entry, Winter decided to directly cede to Summer. It was hot and humid and I was mopping my brow with my handkerchief (yup, I have become the prototypical salaryman). But then during my lesson with my first student, the clouds just billowed over and then the skies opened up mightily and the temps just plummeted. Then, there was a brief respite when the sun came out and all of us were privy to the rare event of seeing that double rainbow over Shinjuku. But the damage was done....the streets were flooded and the air was chill. Fortunately, today is sunny and the temp is just right.

During 001's lesson, the girl just kept twitching whenever the thunder and lightning struck (yep, the stormy conditions returned). I guess it isn't just cockroaches that the Japanese are terrified of. It was quite the light show. As it turned out, that threatened return of 006 turned out to be as much of a false alarm as the weather report's prediction of hail. I guess that Speedy had forgotten to mention to SB that 006 wouldn't be available for the entirety of May.

My little argument/misunderstanding/debate/discussion with The Madame over e-mail continues. She sent back another response with the title "Misunderstanding" trying to explain herself and the reason she used that epithet. This was one of the times that I wonder if she's gotten in over her head with this spiritualism thing. She stated that her parents' racist tendencies were a result of divine intervention so that she could be tested to learn and overcome bigotry in her current life. Well, I'm not sure if her parents, as wrong as they may be in their views, would appreciate knowing that they were brought onto this Earth as spiritual examples of what not to be. And I think in a way, she's trying to rationalize their behaviour through this mumbo-jumbo. I haven't sent an immediate reply to her since I would like to think about what she's written down.

Well, I've got my three consecutive lessons today starting in about an hour. I'll be finishing off with that fellow whose answers come out as slowly as molasses. I'm not sure if I'll be able to accompany him home tonight since I don't relish the thought of continuing a free lesson on the subway while my brain is fried. I mean, he's a nice guy and all that but I don't think I would be good company.

Skippy has officially dropped out of the second of the burger tours due to a wedding party she has to attend. So it may just be the gaijin contingent heading to Roti Grill on Sunday. I still haven't heard anything from The Satyr so it may just as easily be MB, Samwise and myself for the burgers. Of course, The Madame, with all the appetite of a hummingbird, wouldn't come anyways.

Wednesday May 24, 5:23 p.m.

I've been having a series of e-mail exchanges with The Madame which has turned into a somewhat personal discussion on racism. It all started a few days ago when The Madame set up our next kaffeeklatsch and somehow mentioned the word "Chinaman" (sorry, can't remember what the context was). Now, perhaps I was overreacting a bit when I saw that word in the message but considering the times that I'd seen that word being used on various TV shows back home, my hackles couldn't help but be raised. I responded that although I knew she hadn't intended it as such, the word could be construed as a racist slur (and I do construe it as such) where I come from. She then counterresponded by admitting that her parents are somewhat racist but that she wasn't (for a young lady whose past beaus included non-Japanese, I had no doubts that she wasn't). Well, there was one more exchange and I finally decided to send out a "clear-the-air" message just to say that we were both on the up-and-up. As a victim of racism back in Canada during my childhood, I just get a bit antsy when I see anything that seems even a bit demeaning to other people.

Well, my friends from The Great White North called up and we've set a time and day to meet. Of course, it would have to be Akihabara this Friday between the juku classes and that class with SB's brother. They are staying at the Yokohama Pan Pacific, the same hotel that I stayed at almost a couple of years ago. Good place. I'm not sure if my friend, the lawyer, would be as enthused about visiting a Maid Cafe like Skippy.

It's possible that I may be here at Speedy's a bit later than expected. I was supposed to teach one of Speedy's students and then 001. Luckily, I checked with SB about the schedule tonight. I got a surprise in the form of a reply from SB that 006 is supposed to be coming for her lesson. I distinctly had heard from the bossman himself before his trip that 006 was incommunicado until June at the very least. Well, I've learned to keep from exploding at unpleasant surprises. In any case, there's really nothing I can do since I don't have any of her materials with me so I'm just gonna have to wing it.

I listened to "Fundamental", the new Pet Shop Boys disc. Actually, I got a double disc. One is the album itself and the other, "Fundamentalism", is a set of remixes. "Fundamental" has the usual combo of uptempo dance songs and ballads but the Boys sound like they've returned to their musical roots (hence the title?). They've brought back some of the thumping analog synths from their 80s stuff. For me, the song to beat is "I'm With Stupid" (maybe it can become the next RNC theme song?).

It looks like the weather has had to catch up with the rest of the year so abruptly that it decided to go straight from Winter to Summer. It felt muy hot and humid in the morning and early afternoon although the weather guys forecast rain for later in the day with even some hail. Well, the hail hasn't come yet but the skies opened up with a cacophony of rain, thunder and lightning. And then the sun peeked out a bit, giving me and Speedy's sweet old little lady student a show in the form of a double rainbow over Shinjuku. It's gotten overcast again so we're not out of the woods quite yet.

Well, I'm still waiting for that confirmation call from 006. Is she coming or not?

Monday May 22, 5:43 p.m.

My Sunday was a lot less turbulent than the Saturday in both social life and weather. The sun actually beamed on us for most of the day...not so much as a drop of precip. I finally got my first 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep in 2 weeks. Got the usual chores done in the house and even watched "Batman Begins" on DVD, thanks to The Teacher's generosity. I appreciated it more on the second viewing but the movie still falters a bit in the second half when it gets out of the origin of the superhero, much like "Superman" and "Spiderman". Still, Christian Bale makes a good Dark Knight, and I'm sure the comparisons between his Batman and Michael Keaton's Batman continue, along with the comparison between "Batman Begins" and the original "Superman".

Speaking of potential psychos out there, Japan may have a serial killer of the worst kind...the kind that preys on kids. Last week, two children were murdered within a few days of each other. I'm not quite sure if both cases have the exact M.O. but the 2nd kid was strangled and both victims were taken and dumped on a lonely stretch of road in the rural areas.

Well, I'll be having The Part-Timer in about 20 minutes followed by those two sisters in their final EIC class. Should be a bit of an exciting finish. They'll be concocting my Sweet N' Sour Sauce as their final exam. It could be another long busy week although not quite as bad as last week since McGirl and The Milds will be away tomorrow.

I pulled the trigger and got that new Pet Shop Boys CD today. I took a listen to it at Tower Records this afternoon. It's got quite a few uptempo techno dance tunes which ought to be worth the 3200 yen.

Monday May 22, 4:43 p.m.

The weekend was a bit of a Jekyll-and-Hyde weatherwise. Saturday was just lousy with that rain and gloom from the rest of last week. Luckily, the kids were more cooperative in the morning, and of course, JJ was her usual diligent self. I had another one of occasional reminders why I stay single when I saw a young and harried mother (kids tend to age women faster than any other stress-related factor) berating her brat for some infraction while I was buying some cold medicine in the department store next to the Starbucks for JJ. Strangely enough, I had received e-mail from The Madame who was bemoaning the fact that yet another one of her friends finally tied the knot. I should just tape the next chewout by a devil mother and send the recording to her. That ought to cure her of the bachelorette blues. Chip Guy has often gone on about the joys of fatherhood; I wonder if his wife could share the same feelings.

The rest of Saturday night was a bit of a downer. I decided to head on out to Movie Buddy's little lunch in Ebisu. I was pondering whether to go or not since I was in Kiba...closer to my home than it to Ebisu but I flipped the coin and decided that a night out wouldn't be bad. My bad. Although it was sunny and clear during JJ's session, there were some ominous dark gray clouds as I made my way to the station.

And sure enough, it was squalling big time by the time I got to Ebisu. I phoned up MB to get the directions to this place, Zest, which is this restaurant with a vaguely Western theme, complete with a mechanical bronco in the middle of the room for those who had the inclination and the insanity to try it out. I had been there some years ago with Chip Guy but couldn't quite remember how to get there. So I asked MB on the cell who then put me through to Samwise's wife who gave me these rather voluminous instructions with a lot of "turn here". All I got was "West Exit of JR Ebisu", "Mont Bell" and "Meiji-Dori". Well, my phone card was nearly dead and I didn't have a whole lot of coinage on me so I couldn't afford to ask for a repeat from the missus so I decided to just do the best with what I got, based on the faith that my usual good sense of direction would bail me out.

Well, I could find Meiji-Dori and there was a Mont-Bell sporting goods store but that was all that was right about the next 20 minutes of walking through the rain under an undersized umbrella that left me half-drenched on the right side and my feet wholly drenched. I had to make a dejected turn back to the station only to see that there were two "West Exits". I went out the wrong one. Sure enough, the right one was across from a Mont-Bell and within 5 minutes, I found Zest (the restaurant, not my energy levels). I got there to see MB coming back up with a whole load of brolleys. He had been searching for me since I didn't show up...now I had guilt to join my ill humour. There would be some more negative emotions piling on as the night wore on.

MB didn't seem to be too ticked off as he escorted me up to the third floor of the restaurant. Well, there were about several folks paired off into romantic couples including The Sylph, and Mr. & Mrs Samwise. The latter even had their kid with them. Of course, everyone was doting on her; I was more interested in getting my food. I felt distinctly guilty about keeping the folks there waiting so I hastily searched for something. I got a BLT with a cola. I didn't feel much like talking with anyone, especially in my alternately sheepish yet snarly mood but fortunately, I was surrounded by a lot of forgiving folk who engaged me in conversation. I ended up even not having to pay for my meal since the waiters didn't separate me from the rest of the group as had been requested. Samwise and I were pleasant with each other but didn't really talk. For some reason, he and I have never been able to gel well. My theory is that he was just one of those laddie lads in school who used to disdain or terrorize bookworms like me. Mrs. Samwise asked me about the directions to the place. When I mentioned Meiji-Dori, one of the others quickly cut in that Zest was nowhere near the avenue. The missus turned red in embarrassment and apologized profusely for leading me astray. I was too busy eating my BLT to mind or care. There was a wedding party going on while we were there. Some guy in a Commander Data uniform was regaling everyone with a Japanese rock song. I'm sure Brent Spiner would've looked on in some bemusement.

My second mistake of the night was agreeing to go to the second party, or nijikai, which was in the form of karaoke. I think I've finally exorcised myself of my former dalliance of singing in front of folks once and for all. As the years have gone by, I've been realizing that the type of stuff I sing...AOR, Billy Joel, etc., the musical equivalent of a "Kick Me" sign nowadays....just doesn't grab people anymore. Certainly, my voice hasn't aged too well either. I tried out Stevie's "You're The Sunshine of My Life" to some snickers from MB and Samwise. They and the rest were more into stuff like Red Hot Chili Peppers. I like eating them, not listening to them. I just listened politely from that point onwards.

Strangely enough, I even went to a wrap-up sanjikai with my two "tormentors" and The Sylph for some coffee at a Doutors. It was there that Samwise and I could actually do a bit of civilized conversation but I think the damage has been done. In any case, MB proposed another one of those DVD nights this upcoming weekend. He also wants to match that with a Sunday afternoon burger hunt, our second after Baker Bounce a few weeks ago. This time, the target for our stomachs would be The Roti Grill in Roppongi. That was the place that I had my rather lonely and pricey Christmas dinner a couple of years ago. I wouldn't assume that the burgers there would be any less expensive. Anyways, I've sent word out to Skippy and The Madame. I think the former would jump at the chance.

Friday May 19, 9:25 p.m.

It's been another wet one out there. Any more like today and I can be reassured that Noah will pop outside. I had to hang up the laundry inside which will probably increase the humidity quotient in the apartment. No relief tomorrow either.

The reviews for "The DaVinci Code" have come in, and they're decidedly mixed. Some like it, some don't. But the fact that it's gotten so much hype and controversy for so many months with a huge star-studded cast has meant that even so-so comments will probably label it not only as the first blockbuster of the year but also as the first big flop of the year. Not too hot for Tom, Ian and Jean. But I feel sorry for Ms. Tautou....she's apparently said that she had been thinking about hanging up her acting chops.

The juku boss called me this morning just as I was about to leave for her place. She told me that she had to cancel her lesson due to fatigue. Hmph....less than an hour before showtime and she runs out on me. I can only hope that she'll reimburse me half the fee as per her policy for the other students. The Fortune Teller, on the other hand, was quite good. I thought it would be a half-hour of grammar followed by his analysis of my name. However, it turned out that the entire session was devoted to a fortune-telling session. I taught him the tricks of how to handle clients generally since he was sorely lacking in the language. And he can also do with some work on his structure. Work in progress, he is. But he has picked up the business, thanks to the juku boss. She spread around the fact that we've got a fortune teller as a student and it looks like he's gonna be raking in some of the yen.

Afterwards, I headed on out to Otemachi and the bookstore Maruzen to pick up another "I, Spy" book for the Junior sister tomorrow. And I had my occasional Vietnamese Bun-Bi at Com Pho. I spent an hour or two just walking around the Yurakucho-Ginza area. I saw that The Pet Shop Boys have released their first new album in about 4 years. Ahhh....wish I had the money to revive my CD-collecting hobby.

I got back up to The Tea Room to see The UL. She's doing fine with me. I'm not sure if I'll be able to see her next week since I may have to continue spelling for Speedy. Not too crazy doing the commute from there over to Speedy's at 6 since the worst of the rush hour is apparently on. I taught SB's brother for the first time tonight. It was Role-Playing Night since that was what Speedy suggested I do with the guy. He's fairly button-down like his sister but he did a pretty good job in the 90 minutes. He's ostensibly signed up with me again next Friday which neither Speedy nor I had expected. He'll let me know any requests.

I still have to get ready for tomorrow's lessons with the kids and then JJ. Plus, there is the possibility that I will be meeting up with Movie Buddy for something later on. His request to me a few weeks ago to keep the night of the 20th open was a false alarm according to his call last night. His friend's event will be happening 15 minutes before I'm set to teach JJ. But MB said that we could still do something later that night.

Skippy sent her first e-mail to me in about a few days talking of the drab reviews for "The Da Vinci Code" and inviting The Satyr and me to see her acquaintance during Open Mike Night in Harajuku next Friday night. I sent in my regrets due to the Speedy classes but I'm not all that sorry not to go since my last experience as an audience at a Yuk Yuk's in Toronto years ago was not all that great.

And then The Madame got back to me about catching "Poseidon" on the 11th and then dinner. I'm not all that eager to see the remake of "The Poseidon Adventure", perhaps of my irrational comparison to "Titanic", but I gave her my OK. I should show her The Fortune Teller's written report of my session today.

I've yet to hear anything from my friends who were supposed to arrive in Tokyo tonight for a 2-week stay in Japan.

And to finish off, I had my class with B2...and only B2. Apparently, she and B2B had a row over something so he was summarily banned from last night's proceedings. I had to pull out my Dancing Bear routine to get her spirits lifted. Again, if there is anything that will keep me perpetually single, it is the griping of a scorned woman.

Thursday May 18, 3:40 p.m.

Another 20 minutes before I get another crack at one of Speedy's students whilst he's away on business. I taught the first two last night...sandwiching 001. The first one was this sweet old lady with whom I talked cuisine with. I got some good notices from her. And then the other one was this young bookish salaryman whose statements came out at the speed of molasses. Nice fellow, and I was warned well in advance about his slow delivery by the boss. So I wasn't too phased when I finally taught him. However, I was very exhausted. The salaryman, in the course of our lesson, told me that he doesn't live too far away from me so he recommended that it would be faster if I went with him by transferring at Monzen-Nakacho from the Oedo to the Tozai Lines. Yup, perhaps it was faster but it was also much more crowded and I would've liked to have had a seat...something that would have been possible with my old way of transferring at Iidabashi Station. Well, live and learn.

I was able to get up somewhat groggily this morning. The rains are still hitting us off-and-on. I wonder if the rainy season has already started unofficially. There won't be too much of a change tomorrow either.

It looks like "The Da Vinci Code" has already been getting its pans from the critics a few days before its premiere. I just wonder if those critics are devout Catholics.

After my lesson with Speedy's student, I have to rush out to Mitsukoshimae Station to see B2 and B2B after about a month's hiatus due to Golden Week. Although the last lesson was our best one yet, I'm still holding my breath about how things are going with those two. And then tomorrow, I've got another busy day with the juku boss, the Fortune Teller, the UL and finally SB's brother at Speedy's. I'm certainly making my yen this week.

Wednesday May 17, 2:33 p.m.

"The Force is especially influential on the weak-minded."

Well, Obi-Wan....it's not just the Force. Try buffets. I fell into the Dark Side around noon today when I decided to have that 1,000-yen all-you-can-eat viking (that's what they call buffets here in another hilarious example of that linguistic phenomenon called Japlish...I guess somehow "viking " was easier to say than "smorgasbord"). at the restaurant LAST in Shiodome City Centre. I'd been going there infrequently over the past couple of years. I think today was the first time that I could actually give the fare a pretty decent grade although the chefs really do believe that chicken is the only meat in existence (well, to be fair, there was a plate of heavily seasoned salmon steaks). I also realized that my aging process is continuing apace. After my second round at the trays, I was feeling mightily bloated. Even during my worst excesses at legendary Farm Grill, I didn't feel like the planet Jupiter after just a second round. Still, I had that little bit of extra room left for a couple of small (and I mean tiny) cakes with coffee.

I'm getting ready for the first two of my temporary stint of taking care of Speedy's own students here at the school. Should be OK. The first one is an older lady whose behaviour in class, according to Speedy, is rather akin to that of The Lady. A lot of nattering in Japanese with bits of English breaking through. And then after 001, I have this fellow whom I've met in a couple of social events. He's apparently rather slow on the uptake so I'm to teach accordingly. I'm thinking of trying to teach him "Let's see..." or "Ummmh..." so at least there won't be those awkward silences.

I see that "The West Wing" has finally gone to that rerun bin in the sky. Over here, we're still getting through the earlier half of the 2nd season. President Bartlet is having marriage problems with Abby, Sam is trying to handle that little sparkplug Ainsely, and that snarky personal secretary is still alive.

There was a slight misunderstanding in semantics on Monday night after I'd taught those sisters in the EIC class. The two of them are rather like chalk and cheese. One is fairly shy and not too confident in speaking in English while her sib is quite outgoing and talkative in fractured English. Anyways, after the class, I asked Cheese (the quiet one) what she would be having for dinner in the purest sense of the word; I only wanted to know since it was connected with food, which was, after all, what I was teaching in that class. Somehow, Cheese got it into her head that I was inviting her and Chalk to dinner out. Before I could re-phrase, it was a done deal. By that point, I couldn't get out of it. We were all going out to dinner. So, 4,300 yen and 90 minutes later, I was heavier in my stomach and lighter in my wallet (I couldn't go Dutch with them...my remaining bit of chivalry demanded that I treat the ladies since I "invited" them). I'm gonna have to be careful with my words next time. We ended up going to a Chinese izakaya so at least the food and drink were fine.

Monday May 15, 4:56 p.m.

Quiet at Speedy's since the boss man himself is off on a 2-week business trip. However, I'm gonna have the lion's share of classes since he's assigned me his students. I'm grateful for the income. It's the first proper Spring day in Tokyo so far...not too hot and not too cold. There's a nice bit of wind coming in through the window of my classroom, thereby I don't need the fan. Perfect weather, especially after a dreary weekend.

My Hirohito's Revenge sorted itself out by the end of Saturday, thanks to the kids' mother's medicine. I'm not hitting the heavy artillery, foodwise, until I know I'm 100% though.

JJ was her usual giddy self yesterday. Not surprisingly, Mrs. Alp's BBQ party was given the can due to the rain so it was just a quiet day at home just prepping away for the week's classes. The Class Act was another gabfest. I found out that SIL will be back as of next week. The manager at The Tea Room was a bit surprised to see me there on a Monday but I did have The New Yorker. I finally got her started on Simple Past which was far from it for her but she tried hard. Slow and steady, I say. I'll be having The Part-Timer tonight and then it'll be the second of three for those sisters in the EIC Programme. I'm praying that things will go much more smoothly than they did when I had that other student in there with them.

Aside from the big news about the Team Japan player announcements for the World Cup this afternoon, the only other sports news of note has been Hideki Matsui's wrist injury. Got the full court press here. It almost sounded as if the big guy was the only Japanese Major Leaguer.

We had another one of those bizarro murders. Some woman killed and dismembered her boyfriend after having had to suffer a lot of abuse from the thug. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when I have to admit that this case comes off as a lot more "normal" than some of the other horrible cases I've been hearing about for the last few months.

It looks like The Madame will have to go off on her lonesome to Odawara to pick up that medicine. Our schedules couldn't mesh this time around. A pity but not much I could've done about it with my heavier workload for the next 2 weeks and the fact that I've got a couple of friends coming in from Canada.

Saturday May 13, 4:02 p.m.

Well, it's been an eventful past few days in my own little so-called wonderful world. I finally pulled the trigger and cancelled my membership at the gym...ironically for my financial health, if not for my physical one. It was either keep going into the red or continue to just turning red on the treadmill. I chose the former option. Happily, I didn't get any of that hangdog expression from the cheerfully fit young lady at the desk. When I had cancelled my newspaper subscription years ago, the delivery guy then the regional distributor came to my door and begged me to reconsider. Obviously, the gym is doing well enough so that the cancellation of one butterball will not launch a major crying jag.

However, on Wednesday, Speedy used me as the proverbial sounding board after everyone had left to lament about the financial situation of his school. It hasn't been a good 2 months and his investor is not very happy. He vented about what could be done to get the students into the place but I really couldn't help him much. I gave him some potential suggestions which he quickly shot down like Kong and biplanes. The stress is getting to him so it's perhaps a bit of a good thing that he'll be headed out on a 2-week business trip. I'll be taking care of some of his other classes in the interim.

On Friday, I got my newest student at the juku. While the boss will do one hour of TOEIC with me, I'll be spending the second hour with The Numeral. He's this young fellow who's aiming to become a fortune teller with his system of numbers and symbols. Interesting....maybe I ought to introduce him to The Madame. Ironically, I met her for lunch at our regular tea place in Shinjuku right after The Numeral's lesson. She was having her major bout with stomachaches all throughout Golden Week which necessitated one trip to the emergency ward overnight. Hm.. that's one mighty delicate constitution. Plus, she's shucking out some major amounts of money to a mentor she's found for her education in spiritualism...problem is, she has to do it under the noses of her disapproving family. The stress can't be helping her.

I had the UL for her first lesson after tea with The Madame. Yep, she talks just like her sister, The OL. She had a good start and works just as hard as her predecessor.

I capped off my busy Friday with dinner in the usually congested Shibuya with Chip Guy who was in town with his colleague for a bit of business. We went to Toriyoshi, this izakaya that specializes in chicken dishes. Some very good stuff there. There were about 8 of us...me, CG and his mate, PH, The Quarterback and his wife, plus one more hanger-on from the PH posse. I was a bit more comfortable in that situation since I could talk a lot more easily with these folks than I could in one of those huge parties that PH semi-annually throws. Still, I found myself getting tongue-tied at times. I became a sounding board for the second time this week when PH, who was sitting across from me, did her own venting about the backstabbing politics which often happen in her company. I had to take off after dinner since I did have the kids even earlier this morning but PH, CG and his buddy decided to go for another round at The Hub.

Had a bit of an embarrassing situation over at the kids' house this morning. I'm not sure what it was: the food last night, the cold weather this morning or what, but I had a rather nasty sudden case of Montezuma's (perhaps I should say Hirohito's, considering where I'm typing this) Revenge, smack dab at the beginning of the Junior's lesson. I tried to use Vulcan-like control for the pain but when I found myself starting to falter, I asked the girl to go ahead with her exercise in the text and sped to the bathroom to silently explode. The mother took pity on me and got me some medicine. I'm feeling much better and emptier now.

After spending a couple of hours at a Doutor's, a domestic cafe chain, near Speedy's school, I went up to the school itself to have a powwow with the boss himself. I had to negotiate myself around a lot of construction since the street in front of the building where the school is located is being torn up for a subway extension. I got the rundown on the students that I'll be teaching in his stead for the next couple of weeks. The money will come in handy, that's for sure. On the other hand, it looks like yet another student has decided to fly the coop. 006 sent a very sheepish message admitting that her work schedule is such that she can't guarantee when she'll be able to come for her next round of lessons. I've become rather inured to this perennially emptying process of the time slot right after 001's lesson. In a way, it's kinda like watching "The Prisoner" when Number 6 is introduced to a new Number 2. Probably most of you don't know what I'm talking about, do you?

Well, I'll probably be heading out in the next 30 minutes for home. Considering the delicate nature of my stomach right now, I'm not sure what I'm gonna have for dinner but I'll think up of something. I still have one lesson tomorrow with JJ. The Beehive, or Mrs. Alp specifically, was planning to hold a BBQ party at her place for us in the afternoon tomorrow but there's a good chance that it'll literally be a washout due to the ever-present rain.

Finally, I listened to that self-titled Chaz Jankel album from 1980. Half of the 45-minute disc is made up of 2 songs: the original version of "Ai no Corrida" which finishes at the 9-minute mark, and a 15-minute epic called "Am I Honest with Myself, Really?" I wasn't disappointed with the album despite my general suspicion of songs that take up the length of one-half of a sitcom. I read one Net review of the album in which the critic compared it to a typical Pet Shop Boys disc. This had been before I got it so I was scratching my head at the comparison but after giving it one full listen, I can agree with the assessment. In fact, if Jankel had released this first album much later in the 80s, I would've said it was riffing off of PSB, Level 42, perhaps a couple of other techno bands, some AOR tunesmiths and disco. But in fact, Jankel made this formerly lost album before any of these guys made their debut so he's looking and sounding a lot more prescient about the sounds of the 80s.

As it is, I still prefer the Quincy Jones version of "Ai No Corrida" although the reviewer reported that a lot of his friends enjoyed Jankel's original for sounding funkier. Well, both versions have their catchy riffs but I feel that the Jankel version has a lot more of that wayward live concert jammin' feel to it. It is obviously not as tightly edited as Jones' version and it lacks that great horn section which propels that version. And yet, it is one of the few long format songs which I can listen to and not get overly tired. Strangely enough, that could be the same for the even longer "Am I Honest Myself, Really?", although I have to give it another listen to be sure. But the title, the delivery by Jankel and the bursts of techno scream a demand for a Pet Shop Boys cover version. All in all, I think I've discovered a precious gem and will now be looking forward to "Questionnaire".

Well, gonna be heading home soon and having some grub...if my tummy will let me.

Wednesday May 10, 4:47 p.m.

The weather has been getting warmer in the last two days. The thoughts of putting on the heater at night are starting to disappear slowly but we're still not quite at air conditioner levels yet.

Well, I've come to a financial decision. I'll be withdrawing my membership from the gym tomorrow, if possible. After doing the books for the past month, I was depressed to see that with all of my attempts to keep my expenditures down, I still managed to end up 7,000 yen in the red. All you ex-pats in Japan will probably be chuckling at me as if I were Chicken Little with his sky theory but though 7,000 yen doesn't even come to a bill for a regular Friday night dinner in downtown Tokyo, going negative is going negative...especially when I've yet to record any sort of plus month this year. And besides, after over 18 months of going to the gym, I don't have anything to show for it. I'm nowhere near sleek and my motivation to hit the treadmill or stationary bike is close to zero. I'll save about an extra 10,000 a month that way. But I'll also have to bring down my food budget even lower.

And all this is coming when Chip Guy is headed for town this weekend. He's asked if I were available this Friday night for dinner. PH may also be coming out as well. Could be a bit awkward.

However, there is some hope in that I'll be spelling Speedy for a couple of weeks since he has to go on some business trip. I'll be taking care of some of his classes while he's away. The extra income will be greatly appreciated.

I took a look at my DVD purchases (probably the last ones I'll be making for a long while, but then again I did say that several months ago as well). I started with Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie". It's kinda quaint to see ol' Mel, the now barely-seen wunderkind behind "The Producers", when he was hamming it in front of the cameras as well as behind them. It was also just as quaint to see these "Where are they now?" types like Sid Caesar and Bernadette Peters along with those mid-70s fashions. The sight gags have generally not aged all that well but there were a few laughs here and there still to be had.

Then there was the Director's Cut of "Superman". I was a bit disappointed at the dearth of extras in that one but I did buy just the lone DVD. I guess to get all of the trailers, the documentaries and the screen tests, I had to shuck out the yen for the 4-pack. But why should I pay out extra to get saddled with the horrible Superman 3 and 4? Still, there was that one deleted scene of Marlon Brando's Jor-El talking with Supes which was interesting to watch. I kinda wonder if that will be the Brando footage inserted into "Superman Returns". In any case, like "Silent Movie", "Superman" has also not come into the 21st-century without some mold (the soul-wincing "Can You Read My Mind?" scene comes to...mind). Still, the opening credits with that John Williams' score continues to be awesome and there are even a couple of scenes which still bring a lump to my throat. I can only hope that the update will bring back some of that shine back into the franchise.

Monday May 8, 8:48 p.m.

I was skimming through my past entries when I found out that with all the reference to my minor fiasco last week in class, I hadn't even mentioned it. Well, time to rectify that oversight. Basically, all that work and prep for this English lesson to prep three students for speaking out during the Sunday cooking classes were all for naught. The big problem was the overlapping of one student who was at the tail end of her course and two new low students who were coming for their first session. It wasn't so much the level but the fact that they were at different stages that did them...and me...in. One of the two newbies was just so low and underconfident that I needed to work with her on some of the basics at the expense of the other student who was looking visibly bored about going through the same rigamarole. At the end, noone was served well, and I had to sheepishly see everyone out. Not one of my happier ends of my day. I felt very badly for that "veteran" student and I did a bit of cyberventing to Speedy.

Looks like my time away from the Internet has resulted in a certain amount of entertainment lag. For one thing, I only found out yesterday that two of the Morning Musume, Asami Konno and Makoto Ogawa, had made that fateful decision to graduate from the group 10 days ago. Yikes...I'm usually more up on my pop cultural news than that. To be honest, I was surprised that it wasn't the current leader, Hitomi Yoshizawa. But then again, the group's musical career hasn't exactly been inspiring for the past few years except for the diehard MM otaku, and when at least one of the two retirees hasn't exactly been too prominent even for the group's sole Sunday show, I think the writing was on the wall. One can only go so far in dancing and singing mechanically in front of a ravenous group of boys. Luckily, Ms. Konno will be pursuing life in the setting of academia here while Ms. Ogawa will be going overseas to study. Neither has concretely said whether they would return in some capacity to the bright lights of TV like virtually all of the other alumna-turned-solo artists/tarento, but the two of them are planning to do something distinctly non-entertainment related so perhaps this may be the last time they'll be seen publicly for a long time...at least until the next big reunion. I don't think something like this has happened since the very first retiree who I hear is now just mixing the drinks at her father's bar. From some of the comments on the forums since the news broke, I think some of Asami's and Makoto's fans will probably head over there to drown their sorrows.

Monday May 8, 8:01 p.m.

Well, it's been a week of non-blogging...and I still seem relatively sane, unlike some other wackos in this country, but more on that later.

After last Monday's minor fiasco with that EIC class, I was very ready for that 3-day holiday during Golden Week. And it was very refreshing to not have to worry about students and teaching for the latter half of the week. Just vegged out and did some cooking. I think it was the first time ever that I'd cooked for four of the last five days. My dishes would've been downright healthy if it hadn't been for the portions.

My first day back at work. I had The Class Act as usual. It was just the gab about the semi-annual trip to Hawaii. It looks like The Lady and The Matron may have a bit of an underground (literally) scoop on some very bad dirt. Apparently, there has been a report that due to the inordinate amount of rain falling on the islands for the past several weeks, the sewage overflowed and went straight into the ocean off of Honolulu. Well, some Japanese tourist managed to unknowingly go swimming in the bacteria-infested waters with a cut on his leg. It got infected and he has apparently died. I remarked that I'd been watching the news for the past few days and I haven't heard word one about this potential outbreak. Of course, they said. If this fact got out into the media, it would be goodbye tourism. If this is indeed true, I don't know how long this is gonna stay secret considering that someone has died...unless there was a good deal of hush money involved.

As for the news, well, this is where I talk about the psychos. Some middle-aged woman has apparently admitted to killing her beautiful daughter and perhaps her son, who had disappeared 22 years ago, when a discovery of 5 bodies was made in an apartment last week. We still don't know the motive but a DNA scan of one of the bodies may finally resolve what had happened to that boy. And then there was an incident yesterday involving a young man stabbing and bludgeoning an entire family of distant relatives. The interviews about the young man was the same: "He was quiet, y'know...a bit of a loner." That just screams "PSYCHO!"

SIL is still a no-show so it was a matter of heading out to HMV to get that discount on my card. Looks like I got "punished" for not being able to get the full 100 points. I was "demoted" back to a pink Level 1 from my silver Level 2. However, I decided to swallow my pride and get myself a couple of DVDs for the first time in a long while. I got the original "Superman" movie with Chris Reeve and then Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie". They should make for some good viewing...provided that I can find the time to do so this week. I even stopped off at the discount CD shop, Recofan, and finally bought that Chaz Jankel disc. I can finally listen to the original version of "Ai no Corrida"...all 9 minutes of it, apparently.

Well, when I got to Speedy's today, I spent a rather long time going through the e-mail. I found out that there will be quite a few old faces coming over here in the next few months. There's The Engineer in late July but just this month I've got Chip Guy coming over for a bit of business followed by an old clubmate of mine with her hubby. I gather that I'm gonna have to include that into the budget.

Speedy talked to me about the ugliness that was the class last week with those ladies. He sympathized with my plight about me having to deal with this overlapping procedure with students but told me that I'm gonna have to grit my teeth for at least another couple of classes since one student has already signed up who will probably be coming in next week with those sisters.

Hmm...it looks like "Mission: Impossible III" has gotten some fairly decent reviews although there's a CNN article saying that it hasn't done as well as expected financially...possibly due to Cruise gallivanting on Oprah's sofa and all that Scientology nonsense. Well, I think CNN is just having a slow news day. It's still a few weeks early before the Memorial Day weekend, the traditional first weekend for the blockbuster season. We here in Japan have to wait until early July to see Ethan Hunt in action again. But once again in homage, SuperChannel is showing reruns of the 1980s version of "Mission: Impossible".

The Madame has contacted me for another kaffeeklatsch on Friday, sandwiched between my session with the juku boss and my first lesson with The UL at The Tea Room. In her initial message, she said that she had to take some sort of blood test. I cheekily wondered aloud if it was a prelude to marriage but she soberly replied that she'd been feeling unwell last week. After giving some sheepish apology, I wondered (internally this time) if The Madame is just slightly hypochondriacal.

Movie Buddy has given me the heads-up for some sort of party involving Samwise and his family for the 20th. Hopefully, this won't coincide with either Chip Guy or my other old friend from Canada.

Well, it's been nice to update myself once again but, hope beyond hope, I'll get home access again someday.