Wednesday July 12, 4:41 p.m.
True to form, 007 pulled off another dotakyan (sudden cancellation, to you non-Japanese types) just 10 minutes before he was due to come. Ah, well....when one's president of a small company. So, it'll be just 001 and her trip to South Africa. At least, I still got my full pay for today since I also had that surprise class with that little ol' lady.
Just a place to deposit my thoughts on life here in the Kanto and about anything else that sticks to my walls.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Wednesday July 12, 2:22 p.m.
Feeling my age as I groggily start writing this entry almost a couple of hours after lunch near Speedy's. There's a branch of a restaurant called China Quick which has been making inroads into Tokyo for the past couple of years. I can't gripe about the price..880 yen for a lunch of stir-fry meats and veggies in a heavily-cornstarched sauce over rice plus a half-bowl of ramen.
Perhaps part of the reason for my sleepyheadedness is because I got up at 5 a.m. so that I could avoid the worst of the rush hour (the Tozai Line is probably the worst or second-worst subway line for that) and get to Speedy's without having to sacrifice my sanity. I had to teach an EIC to a student who had no need for the kid gloves approach. She was rarin' to go and just spewed forth a lot of questions and stuff on cooking. In fact, it took a good yank of the reins just to keep her penned in. I even got a free class with that sweet ol' lady that I'd taught about a couple of months ago during Speedy's business trip. Later on today, I've got 007 for only the 2nd time in his time with us since he's been pulling off dotakyan for the past month; can't blame him too much since he is the president of his own company. Then, I get to meet 001 since she got back from South Africa. She should have lots of stories to tell me.
Yesterday was quite a busy day or almost was. I had my usual stint with The Beehive and then I met The Teacher at Beckers. She was in full gripe mode about some of her fellow mothers in the local PTA. She seems to get loaded down with most of the work since she's the only one, according to her, that can jockey a computer and speak English. Mind you, I managed to keep my eyes open.
I had my first home lesson with 002. She and her hubby live in a surprisingly remote suburb near my neck of the woods. I say, surprisingly, since her station is only a couple of stations away in any direction from fairly large transportation hubs. And yet, the only thing I saw around the station that yelled of commercialism was the neighbourhood Lawson's convenience store. It was nothing but houses and apartments. 002 picked me up and led me to her apartment just a minute's walk away. The lesson went quite well since she and I were just picking up where we had last left off a better part of a year ago.
My stint at the juku was a lot shorter than I had first thought or dreaded. Seven and The Inspector did show up for their respective lessons but The Siberian once again canned, and even The Milds had to cancel. The Salaryman didn't even bother to show up; no telephone call or nothing...which kinda gives me the hint that he may be pulling out. I'm not that surprised since his 3 weeks with me probably didn't go too well with him. His ability was just a little too high for The Milds, and Mrs Mild was a bit intimidated by him. If he had come, he would have been alone and I would've addressed the mismatch issue and offered him a Friday night solo. But I gather that it's too late now.
Meanwhile, in Roppongi Hills, the equivalent of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood when it comes to movie world premieres, Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom held court in front of 5,500 rabid fans to commemorate the special showing of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2". Again, he may have outstripped even The Cruiser in terms of fan following. Speaking of whom, the Internet (or at least Yahoo and CNN) is running rampant with the rumours about where TomKat's baby Suri is. I would probably say to the media to mind their own business.
Still, the Japanese journalists are still scratching their heads about what could've possessed Zidane to headbutt the Italian player in the World Cup final. Well, it's starting to sound like a case of "He says, he says" between the Italians and the French. Even that sweet ol' lady in today's class mentioned the incident. She said that she could never imagine anyone on the Japanese team pulling off a stunt like that due to that streak of good sportsmanship that seems to be genetic within all Japanese athletes. However, she also admitted that same lack of vindictiveness could also explain Japan's lack of aggresiveness on the pitch. A bit of chippiness couldn't hurt once in a while. The occasional rush to the pitcher's mound by a wronged batter, an extra slap to the head of a sumotori or an overly strong spike aimed at an opposing player could bring a bit of well-needed oomph in Japanese sportsdom.
Feeling my age as I groggily start writing this entry almost a couple of hours after lunch near Speedy's. There's a branch of a restaurant called China Quick which has been making inroads into Tokyo for the past couple of years. I can't gripe about the price..880 yen for a lunch of stir-fry meats and veggies in a heavily-cornstarched sauce over rice plus a half-bowl of ramen.
Perhaps part of the reason for my sleepyheadedness is because I got up at 5 a.m. so that I could avoid the worst of the rush hour (the Tozai Line is probably the worst or second-worst subway line for that) and get to Speedy's without having to sacrifice my sanity. I had to teach an EIC to a student who had no need for the kid gloves approach. She was rarin' to go and just spewed forth a lot of questions and stuff on cooking. In fact, it took a good yank of the reins just to keep her penned in. I even got a free class with that sweet ol' lady that I'd taught about a couple of months ago during Speedy's business trip. Later on today, I've got 007 for only the 2nd time in his time with us since he's been pulling off dotakyan for the past month; can't blame him too much since he is the president of his own company. Then, I get to meet 001 since she got back from South Africa. She should have lots of stories to tell me.
Yesterday was quite a busy day or almost was. I had my usual stint with The Beehive and then I met The Teacher at Beckers. She was in full gripe mode about some of her fellow mothers in the local PTA. She seems to get loaded down with most of the work since she's the only one, according to her, that can jockey a computer and speak English. Mind you, I managed to keep my eyes open.
I had my first home lesson with 002. She and her hubby live in a surprisingly remote suburb near my neck of the woods. I say, surprisingly, since her station is only a couple of stations away in any direction from fairly large transportation hubs. And yet, the only thing I saw around the station that yelled of commercialism was the neighbourhood Lawson's convenience store. It was nothing but houses and apartments. 002 picked me up and led me to her apartment just a minute's walk away. The lesson went quite well since she and I were just picking up where we had last left off a better part of a year ago.
My stint at the juku was a lot shorter than I had first thought or dreaded. Seven and The Inspector did show up for their respective lessons but The Siberian once again canned, and even The Milds had to cancel. The Salaryman didn't even bother to show up; no telephone call or nothing...which kinda gives me the hint that he may be pulling out. I'm not that surprised since his 3 weeks with me probably didn't go too well with him. His ability was just a little too high for The Milds, and Mrs Mild was a bit intimidated by him. If he had come, he would have been alone and I would've addressed the mismatch issue and offered him a Friday night solo. But I gather that it's too late now.
Meanwhile, in Roppongi Hills, the equivalent of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood when it comes to movie world premieres, Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom held court in front of 5,500 rabid fans to commemorate the special showing of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2". Again, he may have outstripped even The Cruiser in terms of fan following. Speaking of whom, the Internet (or at least Yahoo and CNN) is running rampant with the rumours about where TomKat's baby Suri is. I would probably say to the media to mind their own business.
Still, the Japanese journalists are still scratching their heads about what could've possessed Zidane to headbutt the Italian player in the World Cup final. Well, it's starting to sound like a case of "He says, he says" between the Italians and the French. Even that sweet ol' lady in today's class mentioned the incident. She said that she could never imagine anyone on the Japanese team pulling off a stunt like that due to that streak of good sportsmanship that seems to be genetic within all Japanese athletes. However, she also admitted that same lack of vindictiveness could also explain Japan's lack of aggresiveness on the pitch. A bit of chippiness couldn't hurt once in a while. The occasional rush to the pitcher's mound by a wronged batter, an extra slap to the head of a sumotori or an overly strong spike aimed at an opposing player could bring a bit of well-needed oomph in Japanese sportsdom.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Monday July 10, 8:28 p.m.
I finished off The Part-Timer's lesson an hour ago but here I still am. I would've gone home lickety-split but then I got an e-mail from The Engineer who will be making his occasional trips to The Big Sushi and who also asked me if I knew a cheap hotel nearby. So I dutifully did a bit of research and found the hotel where Ol' Sam and his missus had stayed a few years ago. It's out in Kiba where I teach JJ, about 10 minutes' walk from the station. It has the "only-in-Japan" name of Day Nice Hotel (I'll have to strike them for word order infraction) but when I visited Ol' Sam there, the place was pretty nicely apportioned and reasonably priced. I'll probably be seeing The Engineer himself next weekend probably just for the Sunday since I'm gonna have a full slate of classes on the 22nd.
In any case, I'll probably be lingering around the office for about another 45 minutes since I want to avoid the worst of the nighttime rush on the Tozai.
Looks like we've recruited another Canadian for the cause at Speedy. He was even on the JET Programme during my tenure there. Seems like a good sort but I doubt I'll be seeing him all that much since he's just here on Thursdays.
I had my lesson with SIL. As usual, there was a lot of talk on days gone by. We got onto the topic of old favourite J-Pop acts such as Anzen Chitai. This was one of the big bands in the 80s in this part of the Pacific. I don't just mean Japan either....this Hokkaido-based group was not just big in Japan but also in Hong Kong. They used to be a back-up band for another Japanese pop legend named Yosui Inoue until they hit it big in 1983 with a moody little piece called "Wine Red no Kokoro" (Wine-Red Heart). For several years after that and until the turn of the decade, Anzen Chitai, led by the charismatic Koji Tamaki, dominated the charts along with other bands such as the poppier Checkers and C-C-B with a more urban contemporary sound. Nowadays, the band has long become a part of the cobwebs of J-Pop history although it still releases the occasional album; it's been buried under the heap of the current R&B-influenced stuff-and-fluff by Orange Range and Soul'd Out. It's a pity (and forgive me for sounding like a grouchy old man) since Koji Tamaki still has one of the best voices in the biz, but his music has gotten increasingly more elegiac and mournful. It's not that I've completely abandoned current J-Pop as a listening hobby; there have been acts in the 90s and 00s that I've cottoned onto but generally speaking, I'm just not all into this current trend to emulate the hottest US musicians.
I finished off The Part-Timer's lesson an hour ago but here I still am. I would've gone home lickety-split but then I got an e-mail from The Engineer who will be making his occasional trips to The Big Sushi and who also asked me if I knew a cheap hotel nearby. So I dutifully did a bit of research and found the hotel where Ol' Sam and his missus had stayed a few years ago. It's out in Kiba where I teach JJ, about 10 minutes' walk from the station. It has the "only-in-Japan" name of Day Nice Hotel (I'll have to strike them for word order infraction) but when I visited Ol' Sam there, the place was pretty nicely apportioned and reasonably priced. I'll probably be seeing The Engineer himself next weekend probably just for the Sunday since I'm gonna have a full slate of classes on the 22nd.
In any case, I'll probably be lingering around the office for about another 45 minutes since I want to avoid the worst of the nighttime rush on the Tozai.
Looks like we've recruited another Canadian for the cause at Speedy. He was even on the JET Programme during my tenure there. Seems like a good sort but I doubt I'll be seeing him all that much since he's just here on Thursdays.
I had my lesson with SIL. As usual, there was a lot of talk on days gone by. We got onto the topic of old favourite J-Pop acts such as Anzen Chitai. This was one of the big bands in the 80s in this part of the Pacific. I don't just mean Japan either....this Hokkaido-based group was not just big in Japan but also in Hong Kong. They used to be a back-up band for another Japanese pop legend named Yosui Inoue until they hit it big in 1983 with a moody little piece called "Wine Red no Kokoro" (Wine-Red Heart). For several years after that and until the turn of the decade, Anzen Chitai, led by the charismatic Koji Tamaki, dominated the charts along with other bands such as the poppier Checkers and C-C-B with a more urban contemporary sound. Nowadays, the band has long become a part of the cobwebs of J-Pop history although it still releases the occasional album; it's been buried under the heap of the current R&B-influenced stuff-and-fluff by Orange Range and Soul'd Out. It's a pity (and forgive me for sounding like a grouchy old man) since Koji Tamaki still has one of the best voices in the biz, but his music has gotten increasingly more elegiac and mournful. It's not that I've completely abandoned current J-Pop as a listening hobby; there have been acts in the 90s and 00s that I've cottoned onto but generally speaking, I'm just not all into this current trend to emulate the hottest US musicians.
Monday July 10, 5:41 p.m.
One of the big disadvantages of living in this part of the world if one is a sports fan is that most of the live coverage of big sports events takes place in the middle of the morning. And thus it was that the final game of The World Cup, supposedly seen by a billion people (the Japanese contingent being very bleary-eyed) worldwide, was broadcast at the ungodly 3 a.m. this morning, J.S.T. I was rather surprised to have even caught it but since it is summer now and since that means it's becoming stifling in my room, I couldn't help but turn on the telly at 4 a.m. and see that France and Italy were going at it in the second half. It was 1-1 and I then turned it off to catch some more shuteye...or try to anyways in spite of the heat. I woke up 90 minutes later and turned on the TV to see that, surprise surprise, the game was still going on at the very end of Extra Time and into the dreaded penalty shootouts, the soccer equivalent of baseball batting and pitching in the bottom of the 9th inning of the 7th game of the World Series with the count at 3 balls and 2 strikes with bases loaded. I gotta admit that even I, not a huge soccer fan, was somewhat more alert watching this final phase of the tourney. Of course, Italy won, Rome roared in celebration, and I assume Little Italy back in the ol' hometown was pumping out cars with fans waving the Italian flag.
I had missed the big highlight of the game, though, which was France's Captain Zidane doing a very boneheaded thing by using his bonehead to head butt one of the Italian players in frustration. This was a guy who was basically treated like the Second Coming of God in his country and he pulls this stunt. From God to goat in one second. And this was supposedly his very last game before retirement. As one analyst put it, this thing won't tarnish his legacy too badly but Zidane could've used a better way to exit the game.
Since Japan got cut out early in the World Cup, it's doubtful that many folks here got up that early to watch the game...aside from fans of either Italy or France or folks who are really into the beautiful game. HMV tried to rally the troops by stating that Japan rooted for both its team and England (thanks to Japan's adopted son, David Beckham) but then England got knocked out as well. And now with the soccer out of the way for the next 4 years, that is pretty much it for huge global sports spectacles for the rest of this year. The Winter Olympics, The World Baseball Classic, The World Cup...and even Wimbledon (the Japanese hold a very affectionate spot for that Russian beauty) are now gone so there's really nothing left except for the rest of the baseball season and sumo.
Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom arrived in Narita, and there were hundreds of ladies there to be the welcome wagon. I think they got a bigger reception than even Tom Cruise did a few weeks ago. Just a sea of cellphones in photographic salute mode as the two sheepishly passed by. As usual, the women were all hearts a-flutter. It was truly like watching that opening sequence in ABC's "Wide World of Sports": the thrill of victory (the girls got the shot), the agony of defeat (the girls didn't). In both cases, there were women just weeping like American bobbysoxers for Elvis. All this for "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" which comes out here on the 22nd. Strangely enough, the critics haven't been kind to the sequel with one guy saying that it was just as meaninglessly thrilling as a ride at Disney. Well....duh. Breaking the record for best weekend box office should salve any wounds that the pundits have thrown at it. I kinda wonder if Depp and Bloom will be hanging out here for a couple of days.
I just had The Lady this morning for her regular. The Matron and her family have gone off to Korea for a longer round of vacationing. The Lady talked about the hysteria at Narita concerning Johnny and Orly. The Lady could only marvel and sigh wistfully about experiencing that sugar rush of meeting one's idol. I have to admit that I haven't felt that much joy about anything in several years. I think the last time was when the Blue Jays had won their 2nd World Series in Toronto back in 1993.
Speaking of movies, it looks like we're a lock for Tom Cruise's (remember him, Japan?) latest flick for this Sunday in Shinjuku. I've got JJ first thing in the morning but then I can race over to the theatre with Movie Buddy and The Satyr. I'll have to talk with JJ as well about Depp since she's a huge fan of his.
It's gonna be a heck of a Tuesday. I've now got 002 for home teaching. She's being slotted between The Teacher and my juku classes. I'll be raking in a nice amount tomorrow but I'm also gonna be rather smoked by the end...and then I've gotta take off early Wednesday morning to teach an EIC at Speedy's.
One of the big disadvantages of living in this part of the world if one is a sports fan is that most of the live coverage of big sports events takes place in the middle of the morning. And thus it was that the final game of The World Cup, supposedly seen by a billion people (the Japanese contingent being very bleary-eyed) worldwide, was broadcast at the ungodly 3 a.m. this morning, J.S.T. I was rather surprised to have even caught it but since it is summer now and since that means it's becoming stifling in my room, I couldn't help but turn on the telly at 4 a.m. and see that France and Italy were going at it in the second half. It was 1-1 and I then turned it off to catch some more shuteye...or try to anyways in spite of the heat. I woke up 90 minutes later and turned on the TV to see that, surprise surprise, the game was still going on at the very end of Extra Time and into the dreaded penalty shootouts, the soccer equivalent of baseball batting and pitching in the bottom of the 9th inning of the 7th game of the World Series with the count at 3 balls and 2 strikes with bases loaded. I gotta admit that even I, not a huge soccer fan, was somewhat more alert watching this final phase of the tourney. Of course, Italy won, Rome roared in celebration, and I assume Little Italy back in the ol' hometown was pumping out cars with fans waving the Italian flag.
I had missed the big highlight of the game, though, which was France's Captain Zidane doing a very boneheaded thing by using his bonehead to head butt one of the Italian players in frustration. This was a guy who was basically treated like the Second Coming of God in his country and he pulls this stunt. From God to goat in one second. And this was supposedly his very last game before retirement. As one analyst put it, this thing won't tarnish his legacy too badly but Zidane could've used a better way to exit the game.
Since Japan got cut out early in the World Cup, it's doubtful that many folks here got up that early to watch the game...aside from fans of either Italy or France or folks who are really into the beautiful game. HMV tried to rally the troops by stating that Japan rooted for both its team and England (thanks to Japan's adopted son, David Beckham) but then England got knocked out as well. And now with the soccer out of the way for the next 4 years, that is pretty much it for huge global sports spectacles for the rest of this year. The Winter Olympics, The World Baseball Classic, The World Cup...and even Wimbledon (the Japanese hold a very affectionate spot for that Russian beauty) are now gone so there's really nothing left except for the rest of the baseball season and sumo.
Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom arrived in Narita, and there were hundreds of ladies there to be the welcome wagon. I think they got a bigger reception than even Tom Cruise did a few weeks ago. Just a sea of cellphones in photographic salute mode as the two sheepishly passed by. As usual, the women were all hearts a-flutter. It was truly like watching that opening sequence in ABC's "Wide World of Sports": the thrill of victory (the girls got the shot), the agony of defeat (the girls didn't). In both cases, there were women just weeping like American bobbysoxers for Elvis. All this for "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" which comes out here on the 22nd. Strangely enough, the critics haven't been kind to the sequel with one guy saying that it was just as meaninglessly thrilling as a ride at Disney. Well....duh. Breaking the record for best weekend box office should salve any wounds that the pundits have thrown at it. I kinda wonder if Depp and Bloom will be hanging out here for a couple of days.
I just had The Lady this morning for her regular. The Matron and her family have gone off to Korea for a longer round of vacationing. The Lady talked about the hysteria at Narita concerning Johnny and Orly. The Lady could only marvel and sigh wistfully about experiencing that sugar rush of meeting one's idol. I have to admit that I haven't felt that much joy about anything in several years. I think the last time was when the Blue Jays had won their 2nd World Series in Toronto back in 1993.
Speaking of movies, it looks like we're a lock for Tom Cruise's (remember him, Japan?) latest flick for this Sunday in Shinjuku. I've got JJ first thing in the morning but then I can race over to the theatre with Movie Buddy and The Satyr. I'll have to talk with JJ as well about Depp since she's a huge fan of his.
It's gonna be a heck of a Tuesday. I've now got 002 for home teaching. She's being slotted between The Teacher and my juku classes. I'll be raking in a nice amount tomorrow but I'm also gonna be rather smoked by the end...and then I've gotta take off early Wednesday morning to teach an EIC at Speedy's.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Saturday July 8, 7:02 p.m.
Just minding the store while Speedy gets his haircut...so I get a good hour of Internet time at least.
I gather that for Prime Minister Koizumi, this past week has been a microcosm of his roller-coaster 4 years in office. His dream of visiting Graceland came true a week ago. Then his old colleague of former PM Hashimoto passed away. And finally, the North Koreans decided to put their own homage in by flipping 6 or 7 missiles into the Sea of Japan. Ahhh....there's nothing like a salute from L'il Kim.
My past week has also resembled that of Koizumi's to a lesser degree. I did get another full Wednesday off, my class with B2 and B2B was actually quite pleasant, and I got an early Friday. But I just finished a threesome of classes today to varying degrees of success. My first class with Farrah was OK but I wouldn't say it was especially noteworthy. Then my second class in the form of an EIC with a new cooking student did work out pretty well. Finally, though, my longest class with this friendly ramen shop owner was a complete bust although I think the two of us did enjoy our conversation. It was a failure in that it was the video class with the pilot episode of "Friends", a show that neither of us were pretty keen on and when we did...briefly...devote some of our time to the actual DVD, the enjoyment factor was pretty much nil. However I did uncover that she would probably like to take some real classes. That, I can do very happily.
However, Speedy gave me the heads-up that The Part-Timer and I may have to vacate our happy classroom on Mondays since there is the possibility that the school may be getting a couple of new students. The Part-Timer is my private student and not a paying student of Speedy's and so I did give her the warning in our first class way back in January. Hm....I can only think of the Doutor Cafe near the station. However, any changes won't be happening for a couple of weeks at least.
I gave a listen to my new Yumi Matsutoya CD which I'd bought on Monday. It actually sounded pretty good which is a pleasant switch. I had once been collecting any CD by hers that came out since she had this way of crafting some good hooks into AOR tunes for years. However, in the 90s, the well seemingly went dry...at least for me. However, with this newest one, she seems to have gone back into the time machine and fished out some of those groovy hooks again.
I'm glad that JJ decided to see me earlier this morning. I've got the entire Sunday off tomorrow. Good enough to clean my apartment and just veg out.
Just minding the store while Speedy gets his haircut...so I get a good hour of Internet time at least.
I gather that for Prime Minister Koizumi, this past week has been a microcosm of his roller-coaster 4 years in office. His dream of visiting Graceland came true a week ago. Then his old colleague of former PM Hashimoto passed away. And finally, the North Koreans decided to put their own homage in by flipping 6 or 7 missiles into the Sea of Japan. Ahhh....there's nothing like a salute from L'il Kim.
My past week has also resembled that of Koizumi's to a lesser degree. I did get another full Wednesday off, my class with B2 and B2B was actually quite pleasant, and I got an early Friday. But I just finished a threesome of classes today to varying degrees of success. My first class with Farrah was OK but I wouldn't say it was especially noteworthy. Then my second class in the form of an EIC with a new cooking student did work out pretty well. Finally, though, my longest class with this friendly ramen shop owner was a complete bust although I think the two of us did enjoy our conversation. It was a failure in that it was the video class with the pilot episode of "Friends", a show that neither of us were pretty keen on and when we did...briefly...devote some of our time to the actual DVD, the enjoyment factor was pretty much nil. However I did uncover that she would probably like to take some real classes. That, I can do very happily.
However, Speedy gave me the heads-up that The Part-Timer and I may have to vacate our happy classroom on Mondays since there is the possibility that the school may be getting a couple of new students. The Part-Timer is my private student and not a paying student of Speedy's and so I did give her the warning in our first class way back in January. Hm....I can only think of the Doutor Cafe near the station. However, any changes won't be happening for a couple of weeks at least.
I gave a listen to my new Yumi Matsutoya CD which I'd bought on Monday. It actually sounded pretty good which is a pleasant switch. I had once been collecting any CD by hers that came out since she had this way of crafting some good hooks into AOR tunes for years. However, in the 90s, the well seemingly went dry...at least for me. However, with this newest one, she seems to have gone back into the time machine and fished out some of those groovy hooks again.
I'm glad that JJ decided to see me earlier this morning. I've got the entire Sunday off tomorrow. Good enough to clean my apartment and just veg out.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Tuesday July 4, 10:15 p.m.
Typing this from the juku thanks to the generosity of the boss. I don't have much time, though, so I should get started pretty quickly.
It's been one of those nights again at the juku. Seven and Dr. J (my newest acquistion) were fine but it's been another one of those wobbly juggling acts between The Salaryman and The Milds. In fact, The Milds informed the boss that they were getting a bit nervous about The Salaryman's somewhat higher ability. Well, they may not have too much longer to worry since at this rate, I'm not sure how long he will stay. The Siberian came by for his hour of chat...or at least, a semi-lucid version of one. Obviously, sleep has been a somewhat fleeting concept for him of late due to the demands of his studies. He was giving me a larger than average amount of blank stares when I tried to keep up my end of the conversation.
Well, I've got another free Wednesday tomorrow since my lone student at Speedy's, 007, has pulled another sudden cancellation. I'm not that suspicious of him since he is the president of his own company and therefore cancellations will be a frequent part of his pattern. At least, I can relax somewhat although Speedy hinted that he would like me to get started on another one of his projects. I'll let it go until tomorrow night.
The Satyr and MB got back to me about "Mission: Impossible 3". Looks like the 16th will be good for both of them. Skippy and The Madame have turned me down, the former due to the fact that a pal of hers managed to get some free tickets (lucky bastard....and I mean that in the most affectionate way).
Earlier in the day, I was able to meet up with The Beehive and my teaching partner for the official goodbye party for Mrs. Tulip. All of us piled into two cars and headed for the Makuhari Messe New Otani Hotel in the convention city complex just east of Funabashi City in Chiba. We had one of those nice little lunches in one of those nicely lit restaurants. That old fellow from the early days of the group whom I'd met at a previous party also showed up. My teaching partner let him know how good he looked but I had to internally disagree. He's looking pretty sallow. He told me point blank that his doctor had to fit him with a catheter to provide some assistance with his failing kidneys or that he would die. Kinda makes me think about what my old age may be like. I can't rely on the government to help me out when I'm his age.
Anyways, I'm reaching the half-hour mark and I'm sure the boss is wondering how much longer I have to handle my e-mail so I'll cut off here.
Typing this from the juku thanks to the generosity of the boss. I don't have much time, though, so I should get started pretty quickly.
It's been one of those nights again at the juku. Seven and Dr. J (my newest acquistion) were fine but it's been another one of those wobbly juggling acts between The Salaryman and The Milds. In fact, The Milds informed the boss that they were getting a bit nervous about The Salaryman's somewhat higher ability. Well, they may not have too much longer to worry since at this rate, I'm not sure how long he will stay. The Siberian came by for his hour of chat...or at least, a semi-lucid version of one. Obviously, sleep has been a somewhat fleeting concept for him of late due to the demands of his studies. He was giving me a larger than average amount of blank stares when I tried to keep up my end of the conversation.
Well, I've got another free Wednesday tomorrow since my lone student at Speedy's, 007, has pulled another sudden cancellation. I'm not that suspicious of him since he is the president of his own company and therefore cancellations will be a frequent part of his pattern. At least, I can relax somewhat although Speedy hinted that he would like me to get started on another one of his projects. I'll let it go until tomorrow night.
The Satyr and MB got back to me about "Mission: Impossible 3". Looks like the 16th will be good for both of them. Skippy and The Madame have turned me down, the former due to the fact that a pal of hers managed to get some free tickets (lucky bastard....and I mean that in the most affectionate way).
Earlier in the day, I was able to meet up with The Beehive and my teaching partner for the official goodbye party for Mrs. Tulip. All of us piled into two cars and headed for the Makuhari Messe New Otani Hotel in the convention city complex just east of Funabashi City in Chiba. We had one of those nice little lunches in one of those nicely lit restaurants. That old fellow from the early days of the group whom I'd met at a previous party also showed up. My teaching partner let him know how good he looked but I had to internally disagree. He's looking pretty sallow. He told me point blank that his doctor had to fit him with a catheter to provide some assistance with his failing kidneys or that he would die. Kinda makes me think about what my old age may be like. I can't rely on the government to help me out when I'm his age.
Anyways, I'm reaching the half-hour mark and I'm sure the boss is wondering how much longer I have to handle my e-mail so I'll cut off here.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Monday July 3, 8:36 p.m.
I'm in that lull between Canada Day and Independence Day. Not that it would mean too much here in Japan. However, there is...or was...an anniversary of sorts to be celebrated yesterday. 40 years ago on July 2nd, The Beatles arrived in Japan for their only concert here on these shores, and basically one of their last concerts, period. To commemorate the invasion of the British, there was a contest held amongst all of the Japanese Beatles tribute bands in the same room of the same Capitol Tokyu Hotel where The Fab Four had held their press conference (considering how glib Paul and the boys were during media scrums in the States, I can't even imagine how bemused the Japanese press were). NHK News even showed some of the musical (?) highlights. The winning band will now get to spend a night in the same suite that The Beatles had stayed in. The rep from that band said that they would breathe in the same air that their idols had taken in from 4 decades back. Considering that those same molecules are probably now scattered throughout the entire globe...I will snicker lightly.
It was good then that SIL made her comeback today. I got the call from The Lady that she would return to the fold after several weeks away to care for her ailing mother. SIL, being one of the big teenage fans here for both The Beatles and Elvis, had some good stories to regale me with about her near-miss with musical legendry at The Budokan. Apparently, she did have tickets to see Paul, John, George and Ringo at The Budokan but her school disallowed any opportunity on threat of expulsion for her or her classmates to step anywhere near hedonistic debauchery. So, the kids were forced to scream gleefully as the police armada escorting the boys passed by their school on their way to the arena. Their teacher wasn't amused....must've been a Pat Boone fan. As for her thoughts on PM Koizumi's brush with greatness at Graceland, she was half-envious and half-scornful about the antics of Japan's No. 1 Elvis fan. I did get some interesting trivia in that the Prime Minister's brother happens to be the President of Japan's leading Elvis fan club.
However, speaking of Japanese Prime Ministers, I was surprised to find out this morning that former PM Ryutaro Hashimoto had passed away a couple of days ago (shows you how much local TV I was watching over the weekend). He was well known as one of the ministers who had gone mano-a-mano with one of the States' toughest Cabinet secretaries over trade policy. Hashimoto left this mortal coil fairly young. He was only about 68 years old. So, unlike the joyful effervescence of last week, the current PM got back and got sober to prepare for the funeral of one of his predecessors. Most of the morning news shows were dedicating a good part of their time to the passing of one of the big lights for the LDP. As usual, sentimentalism came to the fore in the form of tinkly piano music while past footage of the man with the slicked-back hair was shown.
This past weekend was basically two days with SB, late of Speedy's. Saturday, after my class with JJ (an even noisier affair than usual thanks to the attendance of apparently most of the child population of eastern Tokyo), I headed out for the school and after a few hours, Speedy and I made our way to Shin-Okubo, and therefore Koreatown, where we met one other staffer and went to this restaurant called Matsuya. After 40 minutes of waiting in the sweltering heat, SB and Speedy's wife joined us and the five of us went to our table in a thankfully cooler part of the restaurant. Despite the name, Matsuya is solidly Korean in fare so we tucked ourselves into the old favourites such as kimchi, chijimi and namuuru. The main dish basically consisted of pork bones with some bits of meat and jellied collagen. We were gnawing at them like cavemen. As you might detect, I wasn't too impressed with that dish so luckily we finished it all off with some bibimbap.
Then the five of us walked down a block into the seedy neighbourhood of Kabukicho for some darts. Yep, even dart clubs have started up now in pop culture-happy Tokyo. The place we went to is part of a chain known for some pretty sophisticated decor. In fact, the establishment is half-darts bar and half-English pub. We had our drinks at the bar for about 20 minutes before we got our place in front of those computerized dart boards with an underlying sensor board to automatically score our hits. The darts were made from plastic as opposed to the classic metal points. To be honest, if it hadn't been for Speedy's wife's very beginner level at darts, I probably would've been a candidate for the booby prize.
Sunday was another morning with the kids before racing down to Sangenjaya Station, west of Shibuya, for my second trip to Baker Bounce, that burger place. The lineup was different and unexpectedly shorter. That petite lady who could outeat me and the entire New York Giants lineup (I guess I can call her Cygnus...after the galactic black hole) showed up of course, along with SB and Y, one of our students. Y's buddy showed up but decided to bug out due to a stomach problem. A pity since it was she who had started the ball rolling for this plan at Mr. Influence's party a few weeks ago. And Skippy never showed up which was very unusual for her; I later found out that she was also conked out of action with a cold. So it was just the four of us but that would make it easier for us to get a table at the small restaurant. We got squalled once during our 40-minute wait outside Baker Bounce but we were armed with our umbrellas so we were spared much misery. Once we got in, the same waiter seated at the same table just inside the front door. This time, instead of risking my health on The Double Burger, I went for the relatively smaller Bacon Cheeseburger. And my choice was a good one; I appreciated the flavour much more. And the others also enjoyed their selections. We stayed there for a few hours but luckily the hordes didn't show up so the waiter didn't have to throw us out. Cygnus actually didn't go for the menu's largest item but her Roast Beef and Mashed Potatoes Sandwich was no slouch in the size department either. I could see why Speedy was so impressed with her eating abilities. She polished everything off like a real pro. And 75% of us even went for the dessert and coffee. Looks like we've got a good team for future outings.
I did cause one of my usual foot-in-mouth incidents. The ladies talked about their current boom, which is this website community called MIXI. Apparently all three women have set up their own pages there to illustrate and gab with each other. Speedy had also told me about this site and encouraged me to join up as well since there were so many communities including one for the school. Cygnus even admitted that she belonged to a sister community in which she and her fellow villagers shared pics of feline mouths....uhhh, yeah. In any case, I kinda told everyone that I had no intention to join the conversation, perhaps a bit too forcefully which rippled the ladies into brief silence. Oops...I didn't mean to say that I disdained the site (although it seems to share qualities with the notorious Channel 2) but considering that I've kept this blog largely secret for the past three years and I'm using code identities for everyone concerned, I think MIXI would be the least likeliest place for me to hang out. Still, I would be interested in checking it out as a lurker. I did send a bit of an apology to Y afterwards, though.
It was back to work again. I saw The Class Act. It'll be the last time that I see the pair intact for perhaps a few weeks since The Matron and her family will be heading to Seoul this weekend; apparently, the hubby was so impressed with the trip that resistance would be futile. This time, though, the family will be taking a bit more time with Korea than the three of us did a couple of months ago. However, The Lady and SIL will be here next week.
With SB gone to bigger and better (?) things, Speedy's got four new assistants (SB should be impressed that it took four people to take her place) of whom I met half today. One is a motherly type who is point of fact, just a few years older than Speedy and therefore younger than me. The other is a young and quiet university type who would probably get some of those pervert teachers at my ol' school slavering like wolves by the sheep enclosure. I found out from Speedy that my schedule is gonna be filling up this Saturday. I've got my new biweekly student and another EIC student and even the second video student. Then I may also be picking up a Wednesday morning EIC gal; it'll be a bit of a pain commuting here, though, but money is money, and with the government trying to get my taxes in advance, I need every yen I can earn.
Well, tomorrow, I've got that farewell party for Mrs. Tulip at that hotel in Makuhari Messe before heading off to the juku classes. I've shifted The Teacher to this Thursday afternoon. I just hope that The Salaryman can settle in better now that McGirl is history from the class with The Milds. I still don't know whether he's gonna last that long.
I'm in that lull between Canada Day and Independence Day. Not that it would mean too much here in Japan. However, there is...or was...an anniversary of sorts to be celebrated yesterday. 40 years ago on July 2nd, The Beatles arrived in Japan for their only concert here on these shores, and basically one of their last concerts, period. To commemorate the invasion of the British, there was a contest held amongst all of the Japanese Beatles tribute bands in the same room of the same Capitol Tokyu Hotel where The Fab Four had held their press conference (considering how glib Paul and the boys were during media scrums in the States, I can't even imagine how bemused the Japanese press were). NHK News even showed some of the musical (?) highlights. The winning band will now get to spend a night in the same suite that The Beatles had stayed in. The rep from that band said that they would breathe in the same air that their idols had taken in from 4 decades back. Considering that those same molecules are probably now scattered throughout the entire globe...I will snicker lightly.
It was good then that SIL made her comeback today. I got the call from The Lady that she would return to the fold after several weeks away to care for her ailing mother. SIL, being one of the big teenage fans here for both The Beatles and Elvis, had some good stories to regale me with about her near-miss with musical legendry at The Budokan. Apparently, she did have tickets to see Paul, John, George and Ringo at The Budokan but her school disallowed any opportunity on threat of expulsion for her or her classmates to step anywhere near hedonistic debauchery. So, the kids were forced to scream gleefully as the police armada escorting the boys passed by their school on their way to the arena. Their teacher wasn't amused....must've been a Pat Boone fan. As for her thoughts on PM Koizumi's brush with greatness at Graceland, she was half-envious and half-scornful about the antics of Japan's No. 1 Elvis fan. I did get some interesting trivia in that the Prime Minister's brother happens to be the President of Japan's leading Elvis fan club.
However, speaking of Japanese Prime Ministers, I was surprised to find out this morning that former PM Ryutaro Hashimoto had passed away a couple of days ago (shows you how much local TV I was watching over the weekend). He was well known as one of the ministers who had gone mano-a-mano with one of the States' toughest Cabinet secretaries over trade policy. Hashimoto left this mortal coil fairly young. He was only about 68 years old. So, unlike the joyful effervescence of last week, the current PM got back and got sober to prepare for the funeral of one of his predecessors. Most of the morning news shows were dedicating a good part of their time to the passing of one of the big lights for the LDP. As usual, sentimentalism came to the fore in the form of tinkly piano music while past footage of the man with the slicked-back hair was shown.
This past weekend was basically two days with SB, late of Speedy's. Saturday, after my class with JJ (an even noisier affair than usual thanks to the attendance of apparently most of the child population of eastern Tokyo), I headed out for the school and after a few hours, Speedy and I made our way to Shin-Okubo, and therefore Koreatown, where we met one other staffer and went to this restaurant called Matsuya. After 40 minutes of waiting in the sweltering heat, SB and Speedy's wife joined us and the five of us went to our table in a thankfully cooler part of the restaurant. Despite the name, Matsuya is solidly Korean in fare so we tucked ourselves into the old favourites such as kimchi, chijimi and namuuru. The main dish basically consisted of pork bones with some bits of meat and jellied collagen. We were gnawing at them like cavemen. As you might detect, I wasn't too impressed with that dish so luckily we finished it all off with some bibimbap.
Then the five of us walked down a block into the seedy neighbourhood of Kabukicho for some darts. Yep, even dart clubs have started up now in pop culture-happy Tokyo. The place we went to is part of a chain known for some pretty sophisticated decor. In fact, the establishment is half-darts bar and half-English pub. We had our drinks at the bar for about 20 minutes before we got our place in front of those computerized dart boards with an underlying sensor board to automatically score our hits. The darts were made from plastic as opposed to the classic metal points. To be honest, if it hadn't been for Speedy's wife's very beginner level at darts, I probably would've been a candidate for the booby prize.
Sunday was another morning with the kids before racing down to Sangenjaya Station, west of Shibuya, for my second trip to Baker Bounce, that burger place. The lineup was different and unexpectedly shorter. That petite lady who could outeat me and the entire New York Giants lineup (I guess I can call her Cygnus...after the galactic black hole) showed up of course, along with SB and Y, one of our students. Y's buddy showed up but decided to bug out due to a stomach problem. A pity since it was she who had started the ball rolling for this plan at Mr. Influence's party a few weeks ago. And Skippy never showed up which was very unusual for her; I later found out that she was also conked out of action with a cold. So it was just the four of us but that would make it easier for us to get a table at the small restaurant. We got squalled once during our 40-minute wait outside Baker Bounce but we were armed with our umbrellas so we were spared much misery. Once we got in, the same waiter seated at the same table just inside the front door. This time, instead of risking my health on The Double Burger, I went for the relatively smaller Bacon Cheeseburger. And my choice was a good one; I appreciated the flavour much more. And the others also enjoyed their selections. We stayed there for a few hours but luckily the hordes didn't show up so the waiter didn't have to throw us out. Cygnus actually didn't go for the menu's largest item but her Roast Beef and Mashed Potatoes Sandwich was no slouch in the size department either. I could see why Speedy was so impressed with her eating abilities. She polished everything off like a real pro. And 75% of us even went for the dessert and coffee. Looks like we've got a good team for future outings.
I did cause one of my usual foot-in-mouth incidents. The ladies talked about their current boom, which is this website community called MIXI. Apparently all three women have set up their own pages there to illustrate and gab with each other. Speedy had also told me about this site and encouraged me to join up as well since there were so many communities including one for the school. Cygnus even admitted that she belonged to a sister community in which she and her fellow villagers shared pics of feline mouths....uhhh, yeah. In any case, I kinda told everyone that I had no intention to join the conversation, perhaps a bit too forcefully which rippled the ladies into brief silence. Oops...I didn't mean to say that I disdained the site (although it seems to share qualities with the notorious Channel 2) but considering that I've kept this blog largely secret for the past three years and I'm using code identities for everyone concerned, I think MIXI would be the least likeliest place for me to hang out. Still, I would be interested in checking it out as a lurker. I did send a bit of an apology to Y afterwards, though.
It was back to work again. I saw The Class Act. It'll be the last time that I see the pair intact for perhaps a few weeks since The Matron and her family will be heading to Seoul this weekend; apparently, the hubby was so impressed with the trip that resistance would be futile. This time, though, the family will be taking a bit more time with Korea than the three of us did a couple of months ago. However, The Lady and SIL will be here next week.
With SB gone to bigger and better (?) things, Speedy's got four new assistants (SB should be impressed that it took four people to take her place) of whom I met half today. One is a motherly type who is point of fact, just a few years older than Speedy and therefore younger than me. The other is a young and quiet university type who would probably get some of those pervert teachers at my ol' school slavering like wolves by the sheep enclosure. I found out from Speedy that my schedule is gonna be filling up this Saturday. I've got my new biweekly student and another EIC student and even the second video student. Then I may also be picking up a Wednesday morning EIC gal; it'll be a bit of a pain commuting here, though, but money is money, and with the government trying to get my taxes in advance, I need every yen I can earn.
Well, tomorrow, I've got that farewell party for Mrs. Tulip at that hotel in Makuhari Messe before heading off to the juku classes. I've shifted The Teacher to this Thursday afternoon. I just hope that The Salaryman can settle in better now that McGirl is history from the class with The Milds. I still don't know whether he's gonna last that long.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Saturday July 1, 5:35 p.m.
Happy Canada Day! 139 years old. The Quarterback had sent one of his mass e-mails inviting everyone to a Canada Day picnic somewhere but since he sent it during one of the periods that I don't have access to a computer, I only got it some three hours after the picnic had already started. Ah, well. In any case, I did have JJ for her regular before coming here to the school. Speaking of JJ, it seems that every family with children under the age of 5 had come to the Starbucks where I teach her. Therefore, the noise level was almost mindnumbingly loud, and a lot of our conversation was liberally peppered with "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
The week leading up to Canada's birthday has been appropriately steamy here in Japan. It looks like all that doom and gloom about summer being cancelled has now been swept aside. I've got the air con on regularly now so that should bring up my TEPCO bills for the next few months. It's been a pretty light week for me. Tuesday was the usual busiest day of the week. The Beehive had its last regular appearance of Ms. Tulip before she heads off to Canada, and that was just for a few minutes since she's been running off her feet getting preparations done. However, we will all be meeting on the 4th for a farewell party for the lass. I met The Teacher for her regular afterwards. I was able to stay up a bit better this time around; I guess the conversational topics were a bit more stimulating.
The session at the juku was a bit of hello/goodbye. The hello belonged to my newest student, HJ. He actually had come to the juku for a model lesson some months before but never got back to us, but he either had a change of heart or he must've been really busy. In any case, I've got him for a mere 30 minutes each week between Seven and The Milds. Speaking of Seven, she's been coming along very nicely. She initially left the impression of being one of those typical airheaded Shibuya gals but she's actually become my fastest-progressing student. Go fig. The goodbye student was McGirl. She was here for about a year. Nice gal but she was a bit of a disappointment in progress. But she was nice enough to bring The Milds and myself a little goodbye gift. As for the newest addition, The Salaryman, I'm getting the feeling that he's not going to stay too long...at least in a group setting. But now that McGirl is gone, perhaps things will go a bit faster.
From Wednesday onwards, it felt almost like a holiday. In fact, Hump Day was indeed a day off for me. I made sure that I didn't touch anything remotely connected to English teaching. So I put myself into relatively hard labour by cleaning up the apartment. I don't think I lost too much in the way of calories but things look a bit sleeker now. The gas man also did his triannual check of my gas meter and the stove. Just 5 minutes...of which over half was spent outside and then a minute more just to turn on the gas cock. I do look forward to his next visit in 2009...or maybe not, since I don't plan to be in the same apartment after this lease is up.
Thursday only consisted of The New Yorker. Man, the unpredictability of students. Just when I thought she was finally breaking through the barrier, she comes up with one of her old molasses-slow attempts to speak. Too bad, too, since she came out all the way from her house in the boonies to see me. Then again, I came out all the way from Chiba to teach her. Friday was the time for the UL. Here was another slightly sloggy class although the effort was there. The UL has been seeing some pretty busy days so she was exhausted with a slight throbbing headache. It was timely then that our lesson just happened to be on ailments and remedies.
Before the UL, I met up with The Madame for the first time in a couple of weeks. We went to Wolfgang Puck Express above Shinjuku Station. We were seated at the same table and just about ordered the same lunch. Since The UL had a later appointment time, the two of us managed to just nosh and chat for a few hours. Looks like she was able to get that money passed onto her "mentor" for her education in spiritualism. Man, I hope it's worth it.
Looks like I'm still at 007 at Speedy's. That prospective student for writing probably dumped us. From the way Speedy mumbled the explanation to the usual "suddenly got busy" excuse, I think the lady decided I wasn't the teacher for her. Just as well...I didn't particularly want to spend a long night on Mondays anyways.
In the "Perfect for Anderson Cooper" department, it looks like CNN has been having a lot of fun televising footage of PM Koizumi's dream-like trip to Graceland. Here's Junichiro playing air guitar...here's Jun wearing his Elvis glasses...here's Jun breaking into song every few minutes before a bemused George Bush, Priscilla Presley and her daughter. This could rival even "Seamanship". Well, what can I say? The soon-to-be-ex Prime Minister has been a huge fan of the King for decades, so why shouldn't he act like a schoolkid in the palace of his hero? I'm just glad that he didn't do the choreography for "Heartbreak Hotel".
Happy Canada Day! 139 years old. The Quarterback had sent one of his mass e-mails inviting everyone to a Canada Day picnic somewhere but since he sent it during one of the periods that I don't have access to a computer, I only got it some three hours after the picnic had already started. Ah, well. In any case, I did have JJ for her regular before coming here to the school. Speaking of JJ, it seems that every family with children under the age of 5 had come to the Starbucks where I teach her. Therefore, the noise level was almost mindnumbingly loud, and a lot of our conversation was liberally peppered with "WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
The week leading up to Canada's birthday has been appropriately steamy here in Japan. It looks like all that doom and gloom about summer being cancelled has now been swept aside. I've got the air con on regularly now so that should bring up my TEPCO bills for the next few months. It's been a pretty light week for me. Tuesday was the usual busiest day of the week. The Beehive had its last regular appearance of Ms. Tulip before she heads off to Canada, and that was just for a few minutes since she's been running off her feet getting preparations done. However, we will all be meeting on the 4th for a farewell party for the lass. I met The Teacher for her regular afterwards. I was able to stay up a bit better this time around; I guess the conversational topics were a bit more stimulating.
The session at the juku was a bit of hello/goodbye. The hello belonged to my newest student, HJ. He actually had come to the juku for a model lesson some months before but never got back to us, but he either had a change of heart or he must've been really busy. In any case, I've got him for a mere 30 minutes each week between Seven and The Milds. Speaking of Seven, she's been coming along very nicely. She initially left the impression of being one of those typical airheaded Shibuya gals but she's actually become my fastest-progressing student. Go fig. The goodbye student was McGirl. She was here for about a year. Nice gal but she was a bit of a disappointment in progress. But she was nice enough to bring The Milds and myself a little goodbye gift. As for the newest addition, The Salaryman, I'm getting the feeling that he's not going to stay too long...at least in a group setting. But now that McGirl is gone, perhaps things will go a bit faster.
From Wednesday onwards, it felt almost like a holiday. In fact, Hump Day was indeed a day off for me. I made sure that I didn't touch anything remotely connected to English teaching. So I put myself into relatively hard labour by cleaning up the apartment. I don't think I lost too much in the way of calories but things look a bit sleeker now. The gas man also did his triannual check of my gas meter and the stove. Just 5 minutes...of which over half was spent outside and then a minute more just to turn on the gas cock. I do look forward to his next visit in 2009...or maybe not, since I don't plan to be in the same apartment after this lease is up.
Thursday only consisted of The New Yorker. Man, the unpredictability of students. Just when I thought she was finally breaking through the barrier, she comes up with one of her old molasses-slow attempts to speak. Too bad, too, since she came out all the way from her house in the boonies to see me. Then again, I came out all the way from Chiba to teach her. Friday was the time for the UL. Here was another slightly sloggy class although the effort was there. The UL has been seeing some pretty busy days so she was exhausted with a slight throbbing headache. It was timely then that our lesson just happened to be on ailments and remedies.
Before the UL, I met up with The Madame for the first time in a couple of weeks. We went to Wolfgang Puck Express above Shinjuku Station. We were seated at the same table and just about ordered the same lunch. Since The UL had a later appointment time, the two of us managed to just nosh and chat for a few hours. Looks like she was able to get that money passed onto her "mentor" for her education in spiritualism. Man, I hope it's worth it.
Looks like I'm still at 007 at Speedy's. That prospective student for writing probably dumped us. From the way Speedy mumbled the explanation to the usual "suddenly got busy" excuse, I think the lady decided I wasn't the teacher for her. Just as well...I didn't particularly want to spend a long night on Mondays anyways.
In the "Perfect for Anderson Cooper" department, it looks like CNN has been having a lot of fun televising footage of PM Koizumi's dream-like trip to Graceland. Here's Junichiro playing air guitar...here's Jun wearing his Elvis glasses...here's Jun breaking into song every few minutes before a bemused George Bush, Priscilla Presley and her daughter. This could rival even "Seamanship". Well, what can I say? The soon-to-be-ex Prime Minister has been a huge fan of the King for decades, so why shouldn't he act like a schoolkid in the palace of his hero? I'm just glad that he didn't do the choreography for "Heartbreak Hotel".
Monday, June 26, 2006
Monday June 26, 8:39 p.m.
During my long digestive process, I received a call from Mom. Looks like Grandpa is hanging in there well enough so that she won't have to make an emergency flight to the home country in July. But she's still planning on coming over in late October. Dad is rather ambivalent about the whole thing...but what else is new? But he did ask me...via Mom of course...to get a bottle of Seirogan. Say wha-? Seirogan is this noxious stomach medicine with the subtle hint of brimstone which pretty much manhandles any gastrointestinal problems to heel...along with pretty much every other system. It's noticeable for an orange-and-red box with the logo of a bugle...probably because once you take the stuff, you run for the toilet where you...continue to run...in another way. It's kinda like post time at the racetracks. After many decades of literally scouring out your insides, the producer of Seirogan decided to pull a New Coke and put out a version of the stuff which was coated in a white candy shell; it didn't even smell. And the new form was put into a creamy-white box...ahhh, how soothing. Well, Dad won't have any of that stuff. He wants the killer treatment. So I'll be searching for the stuff.
Bringing my bloated self back to work, I had The Class Act for their usual. The Lady made that repeat trip to Seoul...this time, with her demanding hubby. They didn't go to that wonderful yakiniku place but they did hit the reimen restaurant at the top of the Hyundai Department Store that the three of us had visited after checking into the hotel. In a couple of weeks, The Matron will do the same with her family, since her husband is so rarin' to try out The Park Hyatt. During the lesson, she got a call from her daughter. She could be heard loudly bleating like someone far younger than her 18 years of age that she had a fever and wanted permission to hit bed. And this is the same kid who's got the soul of a cranky 60-year-old and who often sasses back without fear of retribution from her indulgent parents. I'd like to introduce her to my Dad in a bad mood.
SIL was again away taking care of her mother so it was off to Wendy's for lunch (I am literally a glutton for punishment after last night's feast), and then a little search through HMV. I took a nap on the Marunouchi Line, which I seem to be doing regularly after a meal, before hitting Speedy's. Speedy told me that I'd missed another great cooking performance by Mr. Influence with his cheeseburgers basted in herb butter. I would have liked to have tried them but that and The Perths' shabu-shabu meal would have made me into the first victim from "Seven". Speedy is no longer worried about income flow since we've had quite a good month. Now his problem is trying to find that teacher and that new administrative assistant to replace SB. I was on greeting and catering duties as well as teaching ones with The Part-Timer.
My week will be pretty light. I haven't heard anything about that model lesson from last Wednesday so I assume that I'm gonna have the entire day off then with 001 and 007 off on trips. On Thursday, I may just have The New Yorker. I'll be seeing The Madame on Friday for our occasional lunch together. Once again, she resisted my kind offer to try out one of our Burger Tour destinations....a repeat trip to Baker Bounce. And this is after the official sendoff to SB the night before. My weekends are just defeating my attempts to trim my waistline during the week.
During my long digestive process, I received a call from Mom. Looks like Grandpa is hanging in there well enough so that she won't have to make an emergency flight to the home country in July. But she's still planning on coming over in late October. Dad is rather ambivalent about the whole thing...but what else is new? But he did ask me...via Mom of course...to get a bottle of Seirogan. Say wha-? Seirogan is this noxious stomach medicine with the subtle hint of brimstone which pretty much manhandles any gastrointestinal problems to heel...along with pretty much every other system. It's noticeable for an orange-and-red box with the logo of a bugle...probably because once you take the stuff, you run for the toilet where you...continue to run...in another way. It's kinda like post time at the racetracks. After many decades of literally scouring out your insides, the producer of Seirogan decided to pull a New Coke and put out a version of the stuff which was coated in a white candy shell; it didn't even smell. And the new form was put into a creamy-white box...ahhh, how soothing. Well, Dad won't have any of that stuff. He wants the killer treatment. So I'll be searching for the stuff.
Bringing my bloated self back to work, I had The Class Act for their usual. The Lady made that repeat trip to Seoul...this time, with her demanding hubby. They didn't go to that wonderful yakiniku place but they did hit the reimen restaurant at the top of the Hyundai Department Store that the three of us had visited after checking into the hotel. In a couple of weeks, The Matron will do the same with her family, since her husband is so rarin' to try out The Park Hyatt. During the lesson, she got a call from her daughter. She could be heard loudly bleating like someone far younger than her 18 years of age that she had a fever and wanted permission to hit bed. And this is the same kid who's got the soul of a cranky 60-year-old and who often sasses back without fear of retribution from her indulgent parents. I'd like to introduce her to my Dad in a bad mood.
SIL was again away taking care of her mother so it was off to Wendy's for lunch (I am literally a glutton for punishment after last night's feast), and then a little search through HMV. I took a nap on the Marunouchi Line, which I seem to be doing regularly after a meal, before hitting Speedy's. Speedy told me that I'd missed another great cooking performance by Mr. Influence with his cheeseburgers basted in herb butter. I would have liked to have tried them but that and The Perths' shabu-shabu meal would have made me into the first victim from "Seven". Speedy is no longer worried about income flow since we've had quite a good month. Now his problem is trying to find that teacher and that new administrative assistant to replace SB. I was on greeting and catering duties as well as teaching ones with The Part-Timer.
My week will be pretty light. I haven't heard anything about that model lesson from last Wednesday so I assume that I'm gonna have the entire day off then with 001 and 007 off on trips. On Thursday, I may just have The New Yorker. I'll be seeing The Madame on Friday for our occasional lunch together. Once again, she resisted my kind offer to try out one of our Burger Tour destinations....a repeat trip to Baker Bounce. And this is after the official sendoff to SB the night before. My weekends are just defeating my attempts to trim my waistline during the week.
Monday June 26, 5:21 p.m.
I just saw a headline on Yahoo stating that Japan will consider exporting "octopus dumplings". I gather that it's referring to takoyaki. Hmmm....I'm not sure if "octopus dumplings" will have quite that zingy attraction in the Americas. But then again, the name is better than "octopus balls" (I can just imagine Beavis & Butthead snickering at that). I'm also wondering if this export is a "let bygones be bygones" gesture for that US kerfuffle with its beef or a revenge.
My Sunday was one of huge caloric proportions. I had my usual lesson with JJ. And then I headed on out to Omotesando where I met up with MB and The Sylph, The Satyr and Samwise with his little clan on the main intersection...the one with the Condomania store on the southwest corner. Odd...I thought I noticed some distinctly underage folk entering the place. I guess they do start early nowadays.
Our first stop was at a new place on a side street called Zip Zap. It's in the mold of a Fujimamas or Roti (the former being just a block away). It was the 3rd in the Great Burger Tour created by Movie Buddy. The restaurant was one of those trendy little places which opened out in the front. MB was grumbling a bit about how the waitress wasn't too cooperative about seating the seven of us (or I should say 6.5, considering the baby). But I was a bit more understanding of her side of things since they were in the midst of closing up shop due to a party of sorts a couple of hours later. And since she was a waitress, she probably wouldn't have had much of a say in the matter. However, by some miracle, the bunch of us managed to get a couple of tables. Strangely, I didn't order the burger plate since it was rather hefty in both price and mass. 2100 yen for 225 grams. I got my 300 g at Baker Bounce for a lot smaller 1500 yen. However, I did go for the brunch plate of sausage, scrambled eggs, sliced turkey and mashed potatoes. I gotta say that I wasn't too impressed with the results. The eggs were basically lumpy soup, the sausage was something that I could have gotten at any supermarket, and the mashed potatoes were hidden under the two slices of turkey. However, there was a bit of compensation in that afterwards, the remaining five of us just turned the corner and went to Fujimamas for dessert. Much better there and the waitress was refreshingly American and saucy.
It was just as well that I didn't have the burger plate at Zip Zap since I rushed out to Tsudanuma to meet with Ms. Perth's family. I did get my nap on the various trains headed back to Chiba. I got there just a minute after 5 and the car was there to pick me up. In the car, I met Mr. Perth and their son. The son is a budding stage actor. He was suitably self-effacing as I think a lot of actors over here are. He's also at the starving actor stage. He just started working as an izakaya waiter until that big break comes.
The reason I mention that it was just as well that I didn't have the burger plate is that the Perth family and I ended up having shabu-shabu. Shabu-shabu for the uninitiated is thin slices of marbled beef seared in boiling water very quickly. Mrs. Perth mentioned that the restaurant had only been open for just a few months but was already gaining a good reputation. I could see why...for a suburban eatery, it had a touch of class with its waitresses all dolled up in kimono. Initially, we were seated at one of the regular tables but Mrs Perth did a bit of quick negotiating with the head waitress which got us transferred to a private room. Good on her! I don't have shabu-shabu all that often...I think Clinton was still in office the last time I had it (I'm not sure if it was before or after the cigar got stuck in...ahem). My experiences with the heavy meal though involved being with a lot of students and teachers gouging through literal mountains of semi-frozen beef in ever-greasifying water. This restaurant was a few levels above that. For one thing, we got a couple of courses before the plates of red meat arrived. One was chawanmushi, a personal favourite. The best I could describe it is savory egg custard. That came in a small cup but then came in this huge platter of sashimi for which I wondered if we had ordered the wrong course. With that Omotesando meal, I was already heading for gastric overload but for the sake of retaining good relationships with my benefactors, I kept silent and enjoyed it. And to add further to my cholesterol levels, there was even a small basket of tempura.
The one thing that vaulted this shabu-shabu restaurant way above all of the other similar places I'd visited in the past was that when the plates of red meat arrived, the polite and pretty waitress in the kimono proceeded to cook the first round. I did learn a bit of shabu-shabu etiquette. For one thing, the marbled beef didn't come in huge semi-frozen mountains; more like a flat pressed flower of beef with the fat quickly starting to melt. With shabu-shabu, one is given two bowls of dipping sauce: a thick sesame sauce and ponzu which is soy sauce flavoured with mirin (sweet rice wine) and yuzu (a citrus fruit native only to Japan). I'd been led to believe that I could dip the seared beef in both sauces. Uh-uh-uh. Nope, only the sesame gets that privilege. The ponzu gets the boiled vegetables that accompany the shimofuri (the name of the beef). In any case, I thought that the service here was attentive to the point of anal-retentiveness. But the food was good.
Conversation was also very cordial. Talk went to the very reason that I was there with them in the first place. I'd lent Mr. Perth my crutches when his Achilles' Tendon made a rather dramatic snap during a tennis game. Hmmm...lend crutches...get a free expensive tasty meal....I'm gonna have to save this into long-term memory. In a way, Mr. Perth reminded me of a more cordial version of my father. His son reminded me of a far more handsome, thinner and more talented version of myself. He was also more of a listener than a talker...which is actually what is needed in the Meissner technique....which is definitely more my way as well. In fact, I had to consciously draw him into the conversation myself unlike his more vocal parents. I almost felt like the male half of an omiai meeting. At least he was impressed that I knew quite a lot about the art of acting...well, from what little I could glean from all those Biography specials.
On my way to the ultra-modern washrooms, I saw one of the head waitresses admonishing her young charge on protocol. It wasn't the usual berating that happens between teacher and student or between a section chief and a hapless staffer. It was one of those tut-tut type of criticisms. Cute. After she got out of work, the younger of the two probably wanted to shiv her. A woman can probably hide quite a lot of small sharp objects in the folds of a kimono.
The dinner was fine and Mrs. Perth kindly drove me back to Tsudanuma Station. I did the usual thing of holding a 5,000 yen bill so that at least I could give the impression that I wanted to pitch in my share. But of course, the entire family insisted that it was their pleasure so I quickly stashed it back into the wallet. It is the usual custom to offer payment twice before finally "reluctantly" accepting their generosity. I think I fulfilled my part of the bargain. In any case, I went back home feeling much more enormous than I did 24 hours previously.
I just saw a headline on Yahoo stating that Japan will consider exporting "octopus dumplings". I gather that it's referring to takoyaki. Hmmm....I'm not sure if "octopus dumplings" will have quite that zingy attraction in the Americas. But then again, the name is better than "octopus balls" (I can just imagine Beavis & Butthead snickering at that). I'm also wondering if this export is a "let bygones be bygones" gesture for that US kerfuffle with its beef or a revenge.
My Sunday was one of huge caloric proportions. I had my usual lesson with JJ. And then I headed on out to Omotesando where I met up with MB and The Sylph, The Satyr and Samwise with his little clan on the main intersection...the one with the Condomania store on the southwest corner. Odd...I thought I noticed some distinctly underage folk entering the place. I guess they do start early nowadays.
Our first stop was at a new place on a side street called Zip Zap. It's in the mold of a Fujimamas or Roti (the former being just a block away). It was the 3rd in the Great Burger Tour created by Movie Buddy. The restaurant was one of those trendy little places which opened out in the front. MB was grumbling a bit about how the waitress wasn't too cooperative about seating the seven of us (or I should say 6.5, considering the baby). But I was a bit more understanding of her side of things since they were in the midst of closing up shop due to a party of sorts a couple of hours later. And since she was a waitress, she probably wouldn't have had much of a say in the matter. However, by some miracle, the bunch of us managed to get a couple of tables. Strangely, I didn't order the burger plate since it was rather hefty in both price and mass. 2100 yen for 225 grams. I got my 300 g at Baker Bounce for a lot smaller 1500 yen. However, I did go for the brunch plate of sausage, scrambled eggs, sliced turkey and mashed potatoes. I gotta say that I wasn't too impressed with the results. The eggs were basically lumpy soup, the sausage was something that I could have gotten at any supermarket, and the mashed potatoes were hidden under the two slices of turkey. However, there was a bit of compensation in that afterwards, the remaining five of us just turned the corner and went to Fujimamas for dessert. Much better there and the waitress was refreshingly American and saucy.
It was just as well that I didn't have the burger plate at Zip Zap since I rushed out to Tsudanuma to meet with Ms. Perth's family. I did get my nap on the various trains headed back to Chiba. I got there just a minute after 5 and the car was there to pick me up. In the car, I met Mr. Perth and their son. The son is a budding stage actor. He was suitably self-effacing as I think a lot of actors over here are. He's also at the starving actor stage. He just started working as an izakaya waiter until that big break comes.
The reason I mention that it was just as well that I didn't have the burger plate is that the Perth family and I ended up having shabu-shabu. Shabu-shabu for the uninitiated is thin slices of marbled beef seared in boiling water very quickly. Mrs. Perth mentioned that the restaurant had only been open for just a few months but was already gaining a good reputation. I could see why...for a suburban eatery, it had a touch of class with its waitresses all dolled up in kimono. Initially, we were seated at one of the regular tables but Mrs Perth did a bit of quick negotiating with the head waitress which got us transferred to a private room. Good on her! I don't have shabu-shabu all that often...I think Clinton was still in office the last time I had it (I'm not sure if it was before or after the cigar got stuck in...ahem). My experiences with the heavy meal though involved being with a lot of students and teachers gouging through literal mountains of semi-frozen beef in ever-greasifying water. This restaurant was a few levels above that. For one thing, we got a couple of courses before the plates of red meat arrived. One was chawanmushi, a personal favourite. The best I could describe it is savory egg custard. That came in a small cup but then came in this huge platter of sashimi for which I wondered if we had ordered the wrong course. With that Omotesando meal, I was already heading for gastric overload but for the sake of retaining good relationships with my benefactors, I kept silent and enjoyed it. And to add further to my cholesterol levels, there was even a small basket of tempura.
The one thing that vaulted this shabu-shabu restaurant way above all of the other similar places I'd visited in the past was that when the plates of red meat arrived, the polite and pretty waitress in the kimono proceeded to cook the first round. I did learn a bit of shabu-shabu etiquette. For one thing, the marbled beef didn't come in huge semi-frozen mountains; more like a flat pressed flower of beef with the fat quickly starting to melt. With shabu-shabu, one is given two bowls of dipping sauce: a thick sesame sauce and ponzu which is soy sauce flavoured with mirin (sweet rice wine) and yuzu (a citrus fruit native only to Japan). I'd been led to believe that I could dip the seared beef in both sauces. Uh-uh-uh. Nope, only the sesame gets that privilege. The ponzu gets the boiled vegetables that accompany the shimofuri (the name of the beef). In any case, I thought that the service here was attentive to the point of anal-retentiveness. But the food was good.
Conversation was also very cordial. Talk went to the very reason that I was there with them in the first place. I'd lent Mr. Perth my crutches when his Achilles' Tendon made a rather dramatic snap during a tennis game. Hmmm...lend crutches...get a free expensive tasty meal....I'm gonna have to save this into long-term memory. In a way, Mr. Perth reminded me of a more cordial version of my father. His son reminded me of a far more handsome, thinner and more talented version of myself. He was also more of a listener than a talker...which is actually what is needed in the Meissner technique....which is definitely more my way as well. In fact, I had to consciously draw him into the conversation myself unlike his more vocal parents. I almost felt like the male half of an omiai meeting. At least he was impressed that I knew quite a lot about the art of acting...well, from what little I could glean from all those Biography specials.
On my way to the ultra-modern washrooms, I saw one of the head waitresses admonishing her young charge on protocol. It wasn't the usual berating that happens between teacher and student or between a section chief and a hapless staffer. It was one of those tut-tut type of criticisms. Cute. After she got out of work, the younger of the two probably wanted to shiv her. A woman can probably hide quite a lot of small sharp objects in the folds of a kimono.
The dinner was fine and Mrs. Perth kindly drove me back to Tsudanuma Station. I did the usual thing of holding a 5,000 yen bill so that at least I could give the impression that I wanted to pitch in my share. But of course, the entire family insisted that it was their pleasure so I quickly stashed it back into the wallet. It is the usual custom to offer payment twice before finally "reluctantly" accepting their generosity. I think I fulfilled my part of the bargain. In any case, I went back home feeling much more enormous than I did 24 hours previously.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Saturday June 24, 3:55 p.m.
Just finished my model lesson with another potential 008. She's quite pretty with a somewhat anachronistic Farrah Fawcett mane a la her Charlie Angels' days. And she looks like she works out quite a bit; her arms look phenomenally chiseled....yep, I notice those things. In any case, I've got the impression that things look pretty good since Speedy has just come out to get some further propaganda for her. I am pooped. A model lesson coming after my two kids will never amount to a full tank by the end...or even a half-full tank. But I've just been told that I've got the contract so I'll be taking care of the new 008 as of the 8th.
Speaking of Speedy, he's had a fairly tough time of it trying to find a new teacher and a new staffer to replace SB. At least with the staffer, it's a matter of pick & choose but with the new teacher, he isn't even that lucky. Pickins' are pretty slim in that department. But that's been a no-brainer...when it comes to the English teaching industry in Japan, we're frankly a dime a dozen. There are just simply more fly-by-nighters than dedicated professionals.
My must-see TV show was on last night. Now I don't have a regular show that I'm passionate about....especially when one considers the pap that regularly infests Japanese television. And in fact, this was a one-off on SuperChannel. It was one of those E! documentaries on none other Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. After having heard about all the slings and arrows thrown at him by his former fellow castmates on "Star Trek", I thought it would be interesting to hear his take on the feud. Not surprisingly, the feature was pretty biased for the good Captain. None of the other folks such as Jimmy Doohan or George Takei (the unhappiest of the bunch, I hear) were interviewed. And certainly the man himself wasn't particularly apologetic about what he has been accused of on set. He just thought that all the bricbracs about him being a scene hog and an uncaring man to his fans were an "idiotic" way for the other cast members to sell their autobiographies. And I have to admit that part of the reason for me to catch the show was to hear about this very topic. It was sad to hear his 911 tape, though, when he had called up Emergency to report that his 3rd wife had been found at the bottom of the pool.
Speaking about sadness, that story about Ms. Hatakeyama, the woman who murdered a boy because she had lost her own daughter some weeks earlier, is attaining Greek proportions in terms of tragedy. One morning news report told about her old high school yearbook getting signatures from her classmates such as "I hope I never see you again" and "I'll kill you if I ever see you again". Yeowch! I was never all that popular at school but I never received psychotic stuff like that. I did notice that there were more friendlier comments on the signature page but I don't think I would ever see that type of stuff. As much as I dislike the intrusive nature of Japanese tabloid journalism, I wouldn't mind seeing the rottweilers track down some of those punks who had written those comments and see if they've regretted any of them.
Now that the Japanese soccer team is now dead and buried after their early ouster from The World Cup, I wonder what's going to happen next. The Blue Samurai should be returning to Narita sometime this afternoon if they haven't already done so. It's a foregone conclusion that Zico will be on his way out; the newspapers have already been publishing possible successors for coach, and with the only exception of Team Japan winning the whole ball of wax, Zico's departure was pretty much assured. The print media have been treating the entire debacle like a "Dick & Jane" story: the newspapers were printing headings such as "Nakata gets really pissed off", then "Nakata cries on the pitch". I'm now thinking that the newspapers will next write "Nakata heads back to making millions of dollars hawking digital cameras". Still, I'll be looking at the rest of the survivors until the final game on July 9th.
All I've got tomorrow is JJ. However, I've got a couple of outings afterwards. One is that little lunch in Omotesando with MB and then last night, I got this call from Ms. Perth of the Beehive. She and her hubby wanted to thank me for lending him my crutches during his convalescence from a broken Achilles' Tendon so they're taking me out for dinner. Nice to be wanted.
Plus, I've got the gasman coming over to the apartment for his triannual inspection of the gaslines. He'll probably be heading over on Wednesday when I don't have any classes at all, the first time I can say that in over 2 weeks.
And finally, it looks like the government really wants my money. Since I am a freelancer, the powers-that-be have decided that they would figure out my income tax burden for Fiscal Year Heisei 18 in advance, and I'll have to make two payments of over 50,000 yen each by the end of this year. I'm now seriously thinking about getting that cardboard box in Shinjuku Park as my new shelter. On the good side, Speedy informed me that I'll be getting my highest payment from his school since I started due to the fact that I spelled for him last month.
Just finished my model lesson with another potential 008. She's quite pretty with a somewhat anachronistic Farrah Fawcett mane a la her Charlie Angels' days. And she looks like she works out quite a bit; her arms look phenomenally chiseled....yep, I notice those things. In any case, I've got the impression that things look pretty good since Speedy has just come out to get some further propaganda for her. I am pooped. A model lesson coming after my two kids will never amount to a full tank by the end...or even a half-full tank. But I've just been told that I've got the contract so I'll be taking care of the new 008 as of the 8th.
Speaking of Speedy, he's had a fairly tough time of it trying to find a new teacher and a new staffer to replace SB. At least with the staffer, it's a matter of pick & choose but with the new teacher, he isn't even that lucky. Pickins' are pretty slim in that department. But that's been a no-brainer...when it comes to the English teaching industry in Japan, we're frankly a dime a dozen. There are just simply more fly-by-nighters than dedicated professionals.
My must-see TV show was on last night. Now I don't have a regular show that I'm passionate about....especially when one considers the pap that regularly infests Japanese television. And in fact, this was a one-off on SuperChannel. It was one of those E! documentaries on none other Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. After having heard about all the slings and arrows thrown at him by his former fellow castmates on "Star Trek", I thought it would be interesting to hear his take on the feud. Not surprisingly, the feature was pretty biased for the good Captain. None of the other folks such as Jimmy Doohan or George Takei (the unhappiest of the bunch, I hear) were interviewed. And certainly the man himself wasn't particularly apologetic about what he has been accused of on set. He just thought that all the bricbracs about him being a scene hog and an uncaring man to his fans were an "idiotic" way for the other cast members to sell their autobiographies. And I have to admit that part of the reason for me to catch the show was to hear about this very topic. It was sad to hear his 911 tape, though, when he had called up Emergency to report that his 3rd wife had been found at the bottom of the pool.
Speaking about sadness, that story about Ms. Hatakeyama, the woman who murdered a boy because she had lost her own daughter some weeks earlier, is attaining Greek proportions in terms of tragedy. One morning news report told about her old high school yearbook getting signatures from her classmates such as "I hope I never see you again" and "I'll kill you if I ever see you again". Yeowch! I was never all that popular at school but I never received psychotic stuff like that. I did notice that there were more friendlier comments on the signature page but I don't think I would ever see that type of stuff. As much as I dislike the intrusive nature of Japanese tabloid journalism, I wouldn't mind seeing the rottweilers track down some of those punks who had written those comments and see if they've regretted any of them.
Now that the Japanese soccer team is now dead and buried after their early ouster from The World Cup, I wonder what's going to happen next. The Blue Samurai should be returning to Narita sometime this afternoon if they haven't already done so. It's a foregone conclusion that Zico will be on his way out; the newspapers have already been publishing possible successors for coach, and with the only exception of Team Japan winning the whole ball of wax, Zico's departure was pretty much assured. The print media have been treating the entire debacle like a "Dick & Jane" story: the newspapers were printing headings such as "Nakata gets really pissed off", then "Nakata cries on the pitch". I'm now thinking that the newspapers will next write "Nakata heads back to making millions of dollars hawking digital cameras". Still, I'll be looking at the rest of the survivors until the final game on July 9th.
All I've got tomorrow is JJ. However, I've got a couple of outings afterwards. One is that little lunch in Omotesando with MB and then last night, I got this call from Ms. Perth of the Beehive. She and her hubby wanted to thank me for lending him my crutches during his convalescence from a broken Achilles' Tendon so they're taking me out for dinner. Nice to be wanted.
Plus, I've got the gasman coming over to the apartment for his triannual inspection of the gaslines. He'll probably be heading over on Wednesday when I don't have any classes at all, the first time I can say that in over 2 weeks.
And finally, it looks like the government really wants my money. Since I am a freelancer, the powers-that-be have decided that they would figure out my income tax burden for Fiscal Year Heisei 18 in advance, and I'll have to make two payments of over 50,000 yen each by the end of this year. I'm now seriously thinking about getting that cardboard box in Shinjuku Park as my new shelter. On the good side, Speedy informed me that I'll be getting my highest payment from his school since I started due to the fact that I spelled for him last month.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Wednesday June 21, 9:56 p.m.
Just finished my model lesson. Not sure if she took the bait, though. She was fairly button-down about the whole affair, and over here people will just give the generic "Yes, I enjoyed the lesson" without giving away their true feelings about it. I wager it's 50/50. So if she indeed decides not to become 008, I'm gonna have a day off next week since both 001 and 007 will be out of the country. Well, at least I can watch "The Fountain of Trivia" for the first time in several weeks.
There's just something about handling new students that saps me of a lot of energy. Luckily, I've only got The Carolinan tomorrow so I can sleep in. All these years of teaching and I still haven't figured out why some students stick with me for so long while others just give up the ghost after a few tries.
Well, my first attempts to succeed in my diet of no sugar and snacks have already crashed and burned. Speedy offered some luscious apple pie that his wife had gotten. Resistance was indeed futile.
Just finished my model lesson. Not sure if she took the bait, though. She was fairly button-down about the whole affair, and over here people will just give the generic "Yes, I enjoyed the lesson" without giving away their true feelings about it. I wager it's 50/50. So if she indeed decides not to become 008, I'm gonna have a day off next week since both 001 and 007 will be out of the country. Well, at least I can watch "The Fountain of Trivia" for the first time in several weeks.
There's just something about handling new students that saps me of a lot of energy. Luckily, I've only got The Carolinan tomorrow so I can sleep in. All these years of teaching and I still haven't figured out why some students stick with me for so long while others just give up the ghost after a few tries.
Well, my first attempts to succeed in my diet of no sugar and snacks have already crashed and burned. Speedy offered some luscious apple pie that his wife had gotten. Resistance was indeed futile.
Wednesday June 21, 4:14 p.m.
Well, the first day of Summer has arrived, and it certainly feels like the beginning of the hot season. Mind you, we're still in the Rainy Season as well so we've still got a lot of precipitation on the way.
Not just the seasons are changing for me, though. I've got personnel changes coming up. Ms. Tulip of The Beehive will be heading for her new home in Toronto in about a month. And at the juku, The Salaryman started his first lesson with The Milds and McGirl last night. Not really sure if he enjoyed it or not although he said that the class was "interesting" to the boss. His temperament quite matches the demeanor of the Milds, though. So, whether he'll stay or scoot is anyone's guess right now. But just as soon as he gets in, McGirl said that she would be pulling out of the class at the end of the month since she'll be heading for fashion school. It's just as well since she wasn't all that serious for the year that she was with us. It was lucky that she had two kindly folks in the form of the Milds. The Siberian was nearly dead with fatigue last night in the last slot. He was weaving in and out of slumber all throughout the "lesson"; I kinda understand how he felt, though. I also get that way during my time with The Teacher since I see her after lunch.
Much to my chagrin, Student 007 pulled off a dotakyan an hour ago so I've got no lesson with him, but I still get paid since he did it at such a late hour. I've got 001 for her usual, but it will be her last one before she heads on out for that South Africa trip next week. With the fact that 007 will also not be here next week due to work, I may be facing an empty Wednesday except that if my model lesson tonight works out, I may get my lone student 008 for 8:30 p.m. I've also got another model lesson this Saturday for a lady who'll be coming for biweekly sessions. Since SB is no longer with us, I may have to be pulling greeting duties since Speedy will still be talking with interviewees for SB's old position. So far, Speedy hasn't found the right person yet. A lot of these young'uns apparently have never used a computer before...other than for first-person shooter games.
Unlike the Americans, the Japanese are currently sighing a big burst of relief right now. The SDF personnel who have been deployed in Iraq for several months got their marching orders to come home as of today. Always good to hear.
Tom Cruise has once again popped onto our shores again...this time to promote M:I III. He came in his speedboat through Odaiba in front of an adoring crowd of 3,000 fans. Considering that Odaiba is built on garbage, I'm surprised that the ground under those fans didn't sink below the water table. Then he and they had that sneak premiere of his latest movie at the Mediage theatres in the area.
I've been enjoying the World Cup matches on the telly at night for the past couple of weeks now. I can imagine that all of us will be seeing Zico's boys coming home to Narita on the weekend, unless the most miraculous of miracles hapens. But at least the other games have been fun to watch. The Sword of Damocles will be over Team Japan early Friday morning. And the executioner? The Boys of Brazil. Japan basically has to trounce Brazil like a bunch of nerds playing the beautiful game for the first time for it to have any chance of going ahead...which is kinda like me becoming rich and handsome by the weekend. Ain't gonna happen.
Skippy has given her regrets about not coming to Mr. Influence's cooking fest on Sunday. She said something about having to see her grandmother...which I think is a bold-faced lie but over here, people do that to save face. One does have to pay a little bit extra for Mr. Influence's class, no matter how economical Speedy says it is. And I think Skippy wouldn't take the bait. So, since she ain't going, I ain't going....which means I will actually make some money teaching JJ and then I may meet up with Movie Buddy for yet another session of burgers.
I guess all that built-up stress from meeting new students and saying goodbye to old faces is getting to me. My back and shoulders feel no less different that a block of mahogany.
Well, the first day of Summer has arrived, and it certainly feels like the beginning of the hot season. Mind you, we're still in the Rainy Season as well so we've still got a lot of precipitation on the way.
Not just the seasons are changing for me, though. I've got personnel changes coming up. Ms. Tulip of The Beehive will be heading for her new home in Toronto in about a month. And at the juku, The Salaryman started his first lesson with The Milds and McGirl last night. Not really sure if he enjoyed it or not although he said that the class was "interesting" to the boss. His temperament quite matches the demeanor of the Milds, though. So, whether he'll stay or scoot is anyone's guess right now. But just as soon as he gets in, McGirl said that she would be pulling out of the class at the end of the month since she'll be heading for fashion school. It's just as well since she wasn't all that serious for the year that she was with us. It was lucky that she had two kindly folks in the form of the Milds. The Siberian was nearly dead with fatigue last night in the last slot. He was weaving in and out of slumber all throughout the "lesson"; I kinda understand how he felt, though. I also get that way during my time with The Teacher since I see her after lunch.
Much to my chagrin, Student 007 pulled off a dotakyan an hour ago so I've got no lesson with him, but I still get paid since he did it at such a late hour. I've got 001 for her usual, but it will be her last one before she heads on out for that South Africa trip next week. With the fact that 007 will also not be here next week due to work, I may be facing an empty Wednesday except that if my model lesson tonight works out, I may get my lone student 008 for 8:30 p.m. I've also got another model lesson this Saturday for a lady who'll be coming for biweekly sessions. Since SB is no longer with us, I may have to be pulling greeting duties since Speedy will still be talking with interviewees for SB's old position. So far, Speedy hasn't found the right person yet. A lot of these young'uns apparently have never used a computer before...other than for first-person shooter games.
Unlike the Americans, the Japanese are currently sighing a big burst of relief right now. The SDF personnel who have been deployed in Iraq for several months got their marching orders to come home as of today. Always good to hear.
Tom Cruise has once again popped onto our shores again...this time to promote M:I III. He came in his speedboat through Odaiba in front of an adoring crowd of 3,000 fans. Considering that Odaiba is built on garbage, I'm surprised that the ground under those fans didn't sink below the water table. Then he and they had that sneak premiere of his latest movie at the Mediage theatres in the area.
I've been enjoying the World Cup matches on the telly at night for the past couple of weeks now. I can imagine that all of us will be seeing Zico's boys coming home to Narita on the weekend, unless the most miraculous of miracles hapens. But at least the other games have been fun to watch. The Sword of Damocles will be over Team Japan early Friday morning. And the executioner? The Boys of Brazil. Japan basically has to trounce Brazil like a bunch of nerds playing the beautiful game for the first time for it to have any chance of going ahead...which is kinda like me becoming rich and handsome by the weekend. Ain't gonna happen.
Skippy has given her regrets about not coming to Mr. Influence's cooking fest on Sunday. She said something about having to see her grandmother...which I think is a bold-faced lie but over here, people do that to save face. One does have to pay a little bit extra for Mr. Influence's class, no matter how economical Speedy says it is. And I think Skippy wouldn't take the bait. So, since she ain't going, I ain't going....which means I will actually make some money teaching JJ and then I may meet up with Movie Buddy for yet another session of burgers.
I guess all that built-up stress from meeting new students and saying goodbye to old faces is getting to me. My back and shoulders feel no less different that a block of mahogany.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Monday June 19, 3:52 p.m.
Well, the Japanese soccer fans are not crying in their beer, but neither are they crying for joy. They're in limbo, so to speak. But it's the sort of limbo or lull that usually precedes an execution of sorts. After the total collapse of Zico Japan last Monday night to the Aussies, the team managed to pull off a scoreless tie with Croatia, another Group F team in dire straits, last night. A scoreless tie? That's like kissing one's sister...the one with the mass of cold sores all around her mouth. And guess who the next opponent is? Just Earth's greatest team...Brazil. For Japan to pull off a berth in the next round, the team would need George Lucas' hopeless optimism, a Steven Spielberg round of direction and a John Williams soundtrack. If Zico and the boys pulled this one off, there would be mayhem in the streets of Tokyo later this week.
Back in my own little world, my weekend was a foodie extravaganza with the prices to match. On Friday, shortly after my last entry, the bunch of us at Speedy's held an unofficial goodbye party for SB at a nearby Taiwanese restaurant. It's an unassuming eatery but it does have a great deal in the form of a 3500-yen, 2-hour all-you-can-drink thingie with an 8-course meal. Not bad at all. The minimum number of people to take part in this Asian smorgasbord is 3, but even with us 5, we barely made it to the finish line (mind you, Speedy and I were the only two guys there and the bossman himself had downed 2 or 3 croquettes earlier in the evening). Still, the four of us treated SB to the free dinner so our shares of the bill were duly inflated.
Then, on Saturday night, I met up with Skippy in the trendy neighbourhood of Shimokitazawa for dinner. It had been several years since I last stepped into this area, popular with the university crowd, southwest of the teen Mecca of Shibuya. I got there about 90 minutes ahead of the 5 o'clock meeting time so I did a bit of a recce around. It's a pretty compact neighbourhood but as is usually the case with special Tokyo neighbourhoods, Shimo is packed with a lot of small shops and eateries. Just for big laughs, I took a look at the front windows of some of the real estate agencies. Sure enough, apartments with my sort of rent only offer half the space that I have. I don't think I'll be moving anywhere near there for a long while, if ever.
When I did meet Skippy, the two of us first made a beeline into the other side of Shimo. By the way she was navigating through the crowds and narrow streets, she was a veteran. She told me that her father had once lived in the area for around 5 years before tying the knot. She took me to a bakery that had the usual pastries and breads but had become famous for its curry-filled buns in the various forms of media. Getting oneself immortalized in the variety shows and on the pages of TokyoWalker is as good as gold...for a while. The bakery staff made sure everyone knew about the buns' fame through little signs on the trays. I bought one of the buns while Skippy bought about 12 which brought a few stares (and some grumblings, I imagine, from other customers); her father has a special love for the stuff. Then, Skippy led me to our destination for dinner....an okonomiyaki restaurant called Otafuku. Otafuku usually means "mumps"....I'm not sure if the name refers to the condition of one's mouth after stuffing a whole bunch of savory Japanese pancakes. In any case, there is a sweet sauce which has the same name and which is poured onto them. The restaurant Otafuku was a small place, just several seats by the counter behind which the chefs do their cooking magic, and then one long wooden table just by the door. We got two by the counter so we ordered one order of Hiroshima okonomiyaki (more on that later) and a mess of tonpei. Of course, Skippy got her beer while I got my glass of Calpis. I'm sure the waitress assumed that I would be the alky with my gut.
Tonpei is kind of a mix between an okonomiyaki and an omelette. It's a disc of fried egg enveloping fried pieces of pork and slathered in stripes of mayo, ketchup and otafuku sauce. There's also a wide swath of Japanese mustard that adorns one side of the dish. It was the first time I'd ever tried it and I was a happy camper. Our Hiroshima okonomiyaki was frying up right in front of us. The Hiroshima variety consists of a thin disc of batter on which a ton of shredded cabbage and yakisoba noodles are placed with a mix of seafood and pork. Another thin disc is placed on top. At first, the entire pile looks rather unwieldy and threatens to fall over but then the chef takes two of his metal spatulas and proceeds to press the life out of the pile. All that water in the cabbage gets squeezed out and sizzles away. I'm glad that the sound is sizzling and not screaming since it probably would've broken several clauses of the Geneva Convention. After a few minutes and some slathering of otafuku sauce with ground nori, we were able to eat the concoction right from the grill. Skippy boasted that this style of okonomiyaki was very healthy due to the large amounts of cabbage although I wonder if the amount of oil, noodles and sauce largely offset the so-called health benefits. In any case, it was delicious.
The two of us were surprised when The Satyr suddenly rang up on Skippy's cell. He hadn't made any contact to the girl's original invitation but called up to see if it weren't too late to join the party. Skippy was more than happy to pick him up from the station. In the meantime, the older waitress had us moved over to the bench since there was a party of 4 waiting in the wings. The Satyr and Skippy returned where we ordered one more order of okonomiyaki since The Satyr had already eaten a little something with his girlfriend back in Shibuya. Otafuku was another restaurant which had found some fame in the mags and on telly. In fact, that's how Skippy, her ears and eyes forever open for the latest in culinary fame, found out about it. There were autographed cards on the walls by various tarento who had come knocking.
There would be a fourth person joining us but it would be for coffee and dessert. She was one of Skippy's classmates at the old school, Gabby. She was also friends with that disappearing act, Jazz Buddy. Gabby had had her own set of adventures over the past couple of years. She went to school for about a year in Santa Monica and roomed with a number of folk before returning to this side of the Pacific earlier this year and getting a job at some sort of architectural design firm here in Tokyo. Not surprisingly, her English gained a slight Valley Girl-like quality. The four of us then found a dessert place called Waffle something-or-other. We were seated next to a couple of Shibuya gals who either glared or sneered at us....ahh...why do I get the feeling that the renowned Japanese attention to good service and politeness will be extinct in another generation? The four of us shared a large waffle concoction covered in slabs of yogurt and berries. Gabby, during our wide-ranging talk, also spoke about Jazz Buddy. The last time she had heard from my former private student was back last Fall; apparently, she's still in depression mode. Still, it was good to have the chat although the entire night set me back about another 4000 yen.
Then there was last night. I met The Bohemian for the first time in a few months. We went to our default izakaya in Shibuya, En. Talking of depression, The Bohemian wasn't in too chipper a mood. He wasn't even attempting to flirt with the waitresses. His side business of daytrading hasn't been doing too well....although, I think that's usually the case with most folks who risk their savings on this Net venture despite what TIME and other journals might write about. And he's been busy going to school trying to get his certificate in teaching Japanese. He's been in limbo himself for several years: still living at home with his folks and not sure about his direction in life. He did mention something about getting an interest in opening up a club in the big city but that's even riskier than daytrading. We did our usual 3 hours at En. It was still just 7 p.m.; however, the two of us were just yawning by the end so we cut our night short. Not sure where the two of us will be the next time we meet. I know that my wallet was feeling even lighter. En cost me 6500 yen without breaking a sweat.
So that was my foodie weekend. Next weekend could also be a bit heavy in terms of calories and yen. Movie Buddy contacted me for a bout next Sunday. But Speedy asked if Skippy and I could occupy a couple of spaces in Mr. Influence's biweekly cooking sessions on the same day. It's pretty rare for one of his sessions to have empty spots but I'm not sure if Skippy is gonna jump at the chance. One spot costs 4900 yen. Mind you, that includes the instruction and the food. But 4900 yen is 4900 yen. So I've got some decisions to make by midweek about what I'm to do for the weekend. BTW, MB and his girl saw "The Da Vinci Code"; as expected, they were bored. So, probably I'll just wait til the DVD comes out.
I'm finishing this up just as Speedy is going through his list of interviewees for SB's old job. In fact, he's had so many of them that SB is still here doing extra duty manning the phones.
Well, the Japanese soccer fans are not crying in their beer, but neither are they crying for joy. They're in limbo, so to speak. But it's the sort of limbo or lull that usually precedes an execution of sorts. After the total collapse of Zico Japan last Monday night to the Aussies, the team managed to pull off a scoreless tie with Croatia, another Group F team in dire straits, last night. A scoreless tie? That's like kissing one's sister...the one with the mass of cold sores all around her mouth. And guess who the next opponent is? Just Earth's greatest team...Brazil. For Japan to pull off a berth in the next round, the team would need George Lucas' hopeless optimism, a Steven Spielberg round of direction and a John Williams soundtrack. If Zico and the boys pulled this one off, there would be mayhem in the streets of Tokyo later this week.
Back in my own little world, my weekend was a foodie extravaganza with the prices to match. On Friday, shortly after my last entry, the bunch of us at Speedy's held an unofficial goodbye party for SB at a nearby Taiwanese restaurant. It's an unassuming eatery but it does have a great deal in the form of a 3500-yen, 2-hour all-you-can-drink thingie with an 8-course meal. Not bad at all. The minimum number of people to take part in this Asian smorgasbord is 3, but even with us 5, we barely made it to the finish line (mind you, Speedy and I were the only two guys there and the bossman himself had downed 2 or 3 croquettes earlier in the evening). Still, the four of us treated SB to the free dinner so our shares of the bill were duly inflated.
Then, on Saturday night, I met up with Skippy in the trendy neighbourhood of Shimokitazawa for dinner. It had been several years since I last stepped into this area, popular with the university crowd, southwest of the teen Mecca of Shibuya. I got there about 90 minutes ahead of the 5 o'clock meeting time so I did a bit of a recce around. It's a pretty compact neighbourhood but as is usually the case with special Tokyo neighbourhoods, Shimo is packed with a lot of small shops and eateries. Just for big laughs, I took a look at the front windows of some of the real estate agencies. Sure enough, apartments with my sort of rent only offer half the space that I have. I don't think I'll be moving anywhere near there for a long while, if ever.
When I did meet Skippy, the two of us first made a beeline into the other side of Shimo. By the way she was navigating through the crowds and narrow streets, she was a veteran. She told me that her father had once lived in the area for around 5 years before tying the knot. She took me to a bakery that had the usual pastries and breads but had become famous for its curry-filled buns in the various forms of media. Getting oneself immortalized in the variety shows and on the pages of TokyoWalker is as good as gold...for a while. The bakery staff made sure everyone knew about the buns' fame through little signs on the trays. I bought one of the buns while Skippy bought about 12 which brought a few stares (and some grumblings, I imagine, from other customers); her father has a special love for the stuff. Then, Skippy led me to our destination for dinner....an okonomiyaki restaurant called Otafuku. Otafuku usually means "mumps"....I'm not sure if the name refers to the condition of one's mouth after stuffing a whole bunch of savory Japanese pancakes. In any case, there is a sweet sauce which has the same name and which is poured onto them. The restaurant Otafuku was a small place, just several seats by the counter behind which the chefs do their cooking magic, and then one long wooden table just by the door. We got two by the counter so we ordered one order of Hiroshima okonomiyaki (more on that later) and a mess of tonpei. Of course, Skippy got her beer while I got my glass of Calpis. I'm sure the waitress assumed that I would be the alky with my gut.
Tonpei is kind of a mix between an okonomiyaki and an omelette. It's a disc of fried egg enveloping fried pieces of pork and slathered in stripes of mayo, ketchup and otafuku sauce. There's also a wide swath of Japanese mustard that adorns one side of the dish. It was the first time I'd ever tried it and I was a happy camper. Our Hiroshima okonomiyaki was frying up right in front of us. The Hiroshima variety consists of a thin disc of batter on which a ton of shredded cabbage and yakisoba noodles are placed with a mix of seafood and pork. Another thin disc is placed on top. At first, the entire pile looks rather unwieldy and threatens to fall over but then the chef takes two of his metal spatulas and proceeds to press the life out of the pile. All that water in the cabbage gets squeezed out and sizzles away. I'm glad that the sound is sizzling and not screaming since it probably would've broken several clauses of the Geneva Convention. After a few minutes and some slathering of otafuku sauce with ground nori, we were able to eat the concoction right from the grill. Skippy boasted that this style of okonomiyaki was very healthy due to the large amounts of cabbage although I wonder if the amount of oil, noodles and sauce largely offset the so-called health benefits. In any case, it was delicious.
The two of us were surprised when The Satyr suddenly rang up on Skippy's cell. He hadn't made any contact to the girl's original invitation but called up to see if it weren't too late to join the party. Skippy was more than happy to pick him up from the station. In the meantime, the older waitress had us moved over to the bench since there was a party of 4 waiting in the wings. The Satyr and Skippy returned where we ordered one more order of okonomiyaki since The Satyr had already eaten a little something with his girlfriend back in Shibuya. Otafuku was another restaurant which had found some fame in the mags and on telly. In fact, that's how Skippy, her ears and eyes forever open for the latest in culinary fame, found out about it. There were autographed cards on the walls by various tarento who had come knocking.
There would be a fourth person joining us but it would be for coffee and dessert. She was one of Skippy's classmates at the old school, Gabby. She was also friends with that disappearing act, Jazz Buddy. Gabby had had her own set of adventures over the past couple of years. She went to school for about a year in Santa Monica and roomed with a number of folk before returning to this side of the Pacific earlier this year and getting a job at some sort of architectural design firm here in Tokyo. Not surprisingly, her English gained a slight Valley Girl-like quality. The four of us then found a dessert place called Waffle something-or-other. We were seated next to a couple of Shibuya gals who either glared or sneered at us....ahh...why do I get the feeling that the renowned Japanese attention to good service and politeness will be extinct in another generation? The four of us shared a large waffle concoction covered in slabs of yogurt and berries. Gabby, during our wide-ranging talk, also spoke about Jazz Buddy. The last time she had heard from my former private student was back last Fall; apparently, she's still in depression mode. Still, it was good to have the chat although the entire night set me back about another 4000 yen.
Then there was last night. I met The Bohemian for the first time in a few months. We went to our default izakaya in Shibuya, En. Talking of depression, The Bohemian wasn't in too chipper a mood. He wasn't even attempting to flirt with the waitresses. His side business of daytrading hasn't been doing too well....although, I think that's usually the case with most folks who risk their savings on this Net venture despite what TIME and other journals might write about. And he's been busy going to school trying to get his certificate in teaching Japanese. He's been in limbo himself for several years: still living at home with his folks and not sure about his direction in life. He did mention something about getting an interest in opening up a club in the big city but that's even riskier than daytrading. We did our usual 3 hours at En. It was still just 7 p.m.; however, the two of us were just yawning by the end so we cut our night short. Not sure where the two of us will be the next time we meet. I know that my wallet was feeling even lighter. En cost me 6500 yen without breaking a sweat.
So that was my foodie weekend. Next weekend could also be a bit heavy in terms of calories and yen. Movie Buddy contacted me for a bout next Sunday. But Speedy asked if Skippy and I could occupy a couple of spaces in Mr. Influence's biweekly cooking sessions on the same day. It's pretty rare for one of his sessions to have empty spots but I'm not sure if Skippy is gonna jump at the chance. One spot costs 4900 yen. Mind you, that includes the instruction and the food. But 4900 yen is 4900 yen. So I've got some decisions to make by midweek about what I'm to do for the weekend. BTW, MB and his girl saw "The Da Vinci Code"; as expected, they were bored. So, probably I'll just wait til the DVD comes out.
I'm finishing this up just as Speedy is going through his list of interviewees for SB's old job. In fact, he's had so many of them that SB is still here doing extra duty manning the phones.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Friday June 16, 6:57 p.m.
Back at Speedy's again, this time in a purely off-duty capacity. SB is having her last day here before she goes onto bigger and better things next week. But a few of us are gonna share a drink with her. She and Speedy sent out the ad searching for her replacement and it looks like there have been a lot of nibbles out there. Speedy will be swamped with interviews next week.
It's been a slightly easier week for me. There have been some changes in the juku lineup. It seems as if The Fortune Teller will be wrapping up things with me this month. I asked the boss if it had anything to do with a bad lesson since I hadn't been made aware of any temporary status. She reassured me that he was fine with the lessons but that was about it. I think it's just that he came to the realization that all of his lessons would probably be the same ol' translated fortune telling sessions. However, The Milds and McGirl will be getting a new classmate as of next Tuesday. I did a model lesson with The Salaryman. He's a fairly fluent fellow which makes me a bit nervous about how he'll fit in with the other three since McGirl is still hopeless as a self-starter and Mrs. Mild easily succumbs to nervousness.
With Speedy, I actually did start with Student 007 this week, just before 001's regular lesson. He's a nice old guy...a chairman of his own company. I was a bit nervous since Speedy gave me his usual "pep talk" about him being the buddy of the school's financial benefactor. However, 007 seems to be a congenial hard worker...the best kind of student to have after a slogfest with the kids. In other good news at this venue, 002 officially gave her OK to start her home lessons from July.
Last night, I only had B2 and B2B. Actually, the lesson went well but I think it'll always be a a bit of a land mine with them.
The rainy season continued to make its presence known. This morning, we got walloped with a huge deluge which drenched my shoes, socks and feet thereby necessitating a quick change at home after my lesson with The Fortune Teller. Just lucky that things have dried up considerably since the afternoon. Not sure what tomorrow will be like but next week looks like more of the wet stuff. At least, Saturday will be fairly easy with the ever-dependable if at-times-fragile JJ, and then I meet up with Skippy in Shimokitazawa for that curry bun fest.
Back at Speedy's again, this time in a purely off-duty capacity. SB is having her last day here before she goes onto bigger and better things next week. But a few of us are gonna share a drink with her. She and Speedy sent out the ad searching for her replacement and it looks like there have been a lot of nibbles out there. Speedy will be swamped with interviews next week.
It's been a slightly easier week for me. There have been some changes in the juku lineup. It seems as if The Fortune Teller will be wrapping up things with me this month. I asked the boss if it had anything to do with a bad lesson since I hadn't been made aware of any temporary status. She reassured me that he was fine with the lessons but that was about it. I think it's just that he came to the realization that all of his lessons would probably be the same ol' translated fortune telling sessions. However, The Milds and McGirl will be getting a new classmate as of next Tuesday. I did a model lesson with The Salaryman. He's a fairly fluent fellow which makes me a bit nervous about how he'll fit in with the other three since McGirl is still hopeless as a self-starter and Mrs. Mild easily succumbs to nervousness.
With Speedy, I actually did start with Student 007 this week, just before 001's regular lesson. He's a nice old guy...a chairman of his own company. I was a bit nervous since Speedy gave me his usual "pep talk" about him being the buddy of the school's financial benefactor. However, 007 seems to be a congenial hard worker...the best kind of student to have after a slogfest with the kids. In other good news at this venue, 002 officially gave her OK to start her home lessons from July.
Last night, I only had B2 and B2B. Actually, the lesson went well but I think it'll always be a a bit of a land mine with them.
The rainy season continued to make its presence known. This morning, we got walloped with a huge deluge which drenched my shoes, socks and feet thereby necessitating a quick change at home after my lesson with The Fortune Teller. Just lucky that things have dried up considerably since the afternoon. Not sure what tomorrow will be like but next week looks like more of the wet stuff. At least, Saturday will be fairly easy with the ever-dependable if at-times-fragile JJ, and then I meet up with Skippy in Shimokitazawa for that curry bun fest.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Wednesday June 14, 9:42 p.m.
Well, it's almost 48 hours after the fact but I've yet to put in my two yen in about that first game of Team (Zico) Japan against the Aussies. Man, what a turd of a match...for the Japanese, that is. The Aussies almost fully deserved their win against the Japanese Zeroes...the boys somehow forgot that soccer also includes an offensive component as well as a defensive one. I knew they were in trouble when I saw the rather lopsided shoot count. There was a brief glimmer of hope when the Japanese got the first goal of the match but the reality of an offenseless team caught up when Australia got their first goal which apparently was a signal for Japan to also let their defense go home for the day. It's not totally hopeless yet but a lot of that giddy excitement in the country has quickly dissipated like flat champagne after that loss. I figure that if Japan doesn't scrape a win this Sunday, we'll be looking back at sumo and baseball again.
Well, it's almost 48 hours after the fact but I've yet to put in my two yen in about that first game of Team (Zico) Japan against the Aussies. Man, what a turd of a match...for the Japanese, that is. The Aussies almost fully deserved their win against the Japanese Zeroes...the boys somehow forgot that soccer also includes an offensive component as well as a defensive one. I knew they were in trouble when I saw the rather lopsided shoot count. There was a brief glimmer of hope when the Japanese got the first goal of the match but the reality of an offenseless team caught up when Australia got their first goal which apparently was a signal for Japan to also let their defense go home for the day. It's not totally hopeless yet but a lot of that giddy excitement in the country has quickly dissipated like flat champagne after that loss. I figure that if Japan doesn't scrape a win this Sunday, we'll be looking back at sumo and baseball again.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Monday June 12, 2:57 p.m.
Instead of doing this entry free at Speedy's, I'm paying my 1300 yen for access at the Shinjuku Kinko's since I don't have any classes there today. Say what? I could just go there and still access the Net...? Well, let's say that I don't particularly want to take the services there for granted. If I don't teach there, I don't go there.
My weekend was a bit of a mild rollercoaster. On the work side of things, I could've been excused if I had harboured thoughts of pediacide after my kids on Saturday morning. Ugh...both sisters were dead to the world. Hey, I made my 7000 yen. But luckily, JJ shored up the side. She's always good for effort. Then I went out to Speedy's to head out with him to Mr. Influence's place a few stations away for his gourmet party. However beforehand, we met 002, my once and future student for the first time in several months. If all goes well and she doesn't chicken out, I'll be heading over to her place every week starting from July to teach her lessons. Y'see...she has a bit of a phobia about being taught at cafes.
Then, Speedy, SB and I made it over to Mr. I's place. He already had quite a few people there in his 2-floor apartment. And he basically stayed in his kitchen all night cooking up his trademark goodies. I would've felt badly for him (in between bites of his chicken wings, French fare, and other stuff) except that I know he really likes to stir and slice. Considering my growing dislike of parties, I actually did enjoy myself since the folks there were pretty open and friendly. In fact, I may have started yet another future excursion to that first stop on MB's epic burger tour: Baker's Bounce in Sangenjaya. I may be dragging three young ladies, and perhaps even Skippy there early next month. One of the new faces there is apparently a huge fan of US pop culture which includes the culinary fare. One of the other new ladies I met there was a rather unique young lady: petite, button-down and conservative in dress but I could sense there was something more lurking underneath her staid exterior. In any case, Speedy told me that she could rival even me for large amounts ingested. I could surmise that she has a black hole as a stomach. And so, I've recruited her for the second trip to Baker's Bounce. I stayed there until about 10:30 after the World Cup game between England and Paraguay had been under way for half an hour and then made my way back home.
Speaking of the World Cup, I have a feeling that there will be some bleary eyes and yawning faces at work tomorrow for the Tokyoites since Team Japan led by former WC champion himself, Zico, will be going up against the Aussies at 10 tonight local time. Well, at least, the game won't be starting at 1 or 2 a.m. I'm not sure how far Nakata and the rest of the team will fare this time around but I figure if they can make it into the top 16, it won't be a loss. Speaking of Nakata, apparently the supposedly coolest Japanese soccer player will be staying in a swanky suite room in a hotel instead of deigning to bunk with his teammates. I'm sure morale must be great.
Sunday was one of my rare days with no classes whatsoever. I met The Madame at JR Shinjuku and had some lunch before the movie. She's now showing a few cracks in her armour when it comes to her status as 21st-century out-of-body spiritualist; she said that she'd like to come back to Earth and just be a regular housewife someday. Will ones never cease?
"Poseidon" was just one of those harmless blockbusters masquerading as a Chinese dinner. After an hour, you won't need to remember it. It copied some aspects of the old version with Gene Hackman in terms of death scenes and characters, as well as movies like "Armageddon" and "Titanic". Kinda hard to believe that Kurt Russell is now playing fathers of adult women, since I used to remember him as the go-to teen in those throwaway Disney comedies or as Little Tarzan in an episode of "Gilligan's Island". Come to think of it, it's hard to believe Richard Dreyfuss as the old guy. Relentless pacing and mayhem must have been the two catchphrases during the direction of the movie. Things were going at pretty frenetic speed since a couple of potential sources for friction amongst the survivors were swept aside like the ship after the wave hit.
The trailers before "Poseidon" were interesting. The one for James Bond caught me off-guard. It started off rather quietly before the famous theme song came on. I'm still not quite sure what to make of the new guy. And then there was the new one for "Superman Returns". After that great fan-made one on the Net, the official one doesn't seem to do the movie justice.
Afterwards, Skippy met up with us and the three of us headed to a Vietnamese place for dinner. It was the usual fare of Fresh Spring Rolls and Pho. Since both ladies are into the spiritual cause, a lot of the conversation focused on that. And after Skippy had all of us do a special cellphone-based fortune telling, she discovered that all three of us shared a lot of things (no snickering, please). As usual, Skippy was always keeping her mind rolling for new things to do with us. It looks like this Saturday will be a go for this trip to Shimokitazawa, and then she wants to have her second otaku tour in Ikebukuro in early July.
After all the hijinks this weekend, I called up Mom. Apparently, Grandpa may be ailing a bit so if he sinks further, she may come here a bit earlier than scheduled. But I'm hoping that it'll be later in the year so that both she and Dad can come over.
Well, in any case, time is just about up for me here. So time to go home and have a very rare Monday night dinner in my apartment.
Instead of doing this entry free at Speedy's, I'm paying my 1300 yen for access at the Shinjuku Kinko's since I don't have any classes there today. Say what? I could just go there and still access the Net...? Well, let's say that I don't particularly want to take the services there for granted. If I don't teach there, I don't go there.
My weekend was a bit of a mild rollercoaster. On the work side of things, I could've been excused if I had harboured thoughts of pediacide after my kids on Saturday morning. Ugh...both sisters were dead to the world. Hey, I made my 7000 yen. But luckily, JJ shored up the side. She's always good for effort. Then I went out to Speedy's to head out with him to Mr. Influence's place a few stations away for his gourmet party. However beforehand, we met 002, my once and future student for the first time in several months. If all goes well and she doesn't chicken out, I'll be heading over to her place every week starting from July to teach her lessons. Y'see...she has a bit of a phobia about being taught at cafes.
Then, Speedy, SB and I made it over to Mr. I's place. He already had quite a few people there in his 2-floor apartment. And he basically stayed in his kitchen all night cooking up his trademark goodies. I would've felt badly for him (in between bites of his chicken wings, French fare, and other stuff) except that I know he really likes to stir and slice. Considering my growing dislike of parties, I actually did enjoy myself since the folks there were pretty open and friendly. In fact, I may have started yet another future excursion to that first stop on MB's epic burger tour: Baker's Bounce in Sangenjaya. I may be dragging three young ladies, and perhaps even Skippy there early next month. One of the new faces there is apparently a huge fan of US pop culture which includes the culinary fare. One of the other new ladies I met there was a rather unique young lady: petite, button-down and conservative in dress but I could sense there was something more lurking underneath her staid exterior. In any case, Speedy told me that she could rival even me for large amounts ingested. I could surmise that she has a black hole as a stomach. And so, I've recruited her for the second trip to Baker's Bounce. I stayed there until about 10:30 after the World Cup game between England and Paraguay had been under way for half an hour and then made my way back home.
Speaking of the World Cup, I have a feeling that there will be some bleary eyes and yawning faces at work tomorrow for the Tokyoites since Team Japan led by former WC champion himself, Zico, will be going up against the Aussies at 10 tonight local time. Well, at least, the game won't be starting at 1 or 2 a.m. I'm not sure how far Nakata and the rest of the team will fare this time around but I figure if they can make it into the top 16, it won't be a loss. Speaking of Nakata, apparently the supposedly coolest Japanese soccer player will be staying in a swanky suite room in a hotel instead of deigning to bunk with his teammates. I'm sure morale must be great.
Sunday was one of my rare days with no classes whatsoever. I met The Madame at JR Shinjuku and had some lunch before the movie. She's now showing a few cracks in her armour when it comes to her status as 21st-century out-of-body spiritualist; she said that she'd like to come back to Earth and just be a regular housewife someday. Will ones never cease?
"Poseidon" was just one of those harmless blockbusters masquerading as a Chinese dinner. After an hour, you won't need to remember it. It copied some aspects of the old version with Gene Hackman in terms of death scenes and characters, as well as movies like "Armageddon" and "Titanic". Kinda hard to believe that Kurt Russell is now playing fathers of adult women, since I used to remember him as the go-to teen in those throwaway Disney comedies or as Little Tarzan in an episode of "Gilligan's Island". Come to think of it, it's hard to believe Richard Dreyfuss as the old guy. Relentless pacing and mayhem must have been the two catchphrases during the direction of the movie. Things were going at pretty frenetic speed since a couple of potential sources for friction amongst the survivors were swept aside like the ship after the wave hit.
The trailers before "Poseidon" were interesting. The one for James Bond caught me off-guard. It started off rather quietly before the famous theme song came on. I'm still not quite sure what to make of the new guy. And then there was the new one for "Superman Returns". After that great fan-made one on the Net, the official one doesn't seem to do the movie justice.
Afterwards, Skippy met up with us and the three of us headed to a Vietnamese place for dinner. It was the usual fare of Fresh Spring Rolls and Pho. Since both ladies are into the spiritual cause, a lot of the conversation focused on that. And after Skippy had all of us do a special cellphone-based fortune telling, she discovered that all three of us shared a lot of things (no snickering, please). As usual, Skippy was always keeping her mind rolling for new things to do with us. It looks like this Saturday will be a go for this trip to Shimokitazawa, and then she wants to have her second otaku tour in Ikebukuro in early July.
After all the hijinks this weekend, I called up Mom. Apparently, Grandpa may be ailing a bit so if he sinks further, she may come here a bit earlier than scheduled. But I'm hoping that it'll be later in the year so that both she and Dad can come over.
Well, in any case, time is just about up for me here. So time to go home and have a very rare Monday night dinner in my apartment.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
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.
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 07, 2006
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...
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 05, 2006
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.
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.