Friday March 21, 6:20 p.m.

Ironic....we had days last week and early this week which were very Spring-like, and then when the big day came yesterday, it was back to feeling wintry and rainy. Still, it was a holiday so I enjoyed a good 8 hours' worth of sleep and nothing to do with teaching. Even re-watched Tom Cruise's "Minority Report" on DVD. As much of a tribute to Film Noir as it was (or should it be Film Bleu, considering the colour filters used), I kinda noticed all the little Indiana Jones-like touches of humour that Spielberg tried to tap in, such as the scene where John Anderton accidentally drops his eyes. Definitely had that Kubrickian feel to it and more successful than "A.I.", the actual Spielberg-Kubrick fusion.

Today has also been basically a day off. I just have Miss Disney for her 60 in about 90 minutes. Just gotta do some worksheet prep. Really, the next couple of days will be rather relaxing. I've only got Tully & The Coffeemaker tomorrow, and then it's The OL followed by M+M for our long-delayed meeting at The Keio Plaza. Hopefully, the winds will finally die down by tomorrow so that I can get some laundry done. It was a virtual typhoon in Chiba last night and this morning.

Next Wednesday will be a big Hump Day. I've got no less than 6 lessons. The latest addition came from BC's call today about a model lesson sandwiched between The Nurse and The New Yorker.

CNNj, the Japanese distributor of CNN, will be making a few changes to its lineup. For the past few years, we've been getting the lion's share of the US programming such as "The Situation Room" and "Larry King Live". Well, it looks like from April 1st, they may be dropping Lou Dobbs and throwing Larry King to the dinner hour. Maybe ol' Lou's shoutouts were starting to wear thin with the audience here, or the Japanese fans of Barack Obama decided to declare war on the independent populist.

Well, Matsuzaka and his Boston Red Sox did make it over here after all. There had been some concern that a boycott by the Bosox was looming since the management had basically welched on a deal to pay the coaching staff for the trip over to Japan for a few games. Crisis averted, apparently.

Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of The Iraq War. Well, yesterday was also the 13th anniversary of the sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo Metro. And there are still plenty of victims suffering from the gas.

Wednesday March 19, 9:00 p.m.

Well, I'm beyond the donut now, and I'm not alone. As for the first point, I finished up with The Diver about a half-hour ago. It was another one of those struggles with some basic grammar; she just tries so hard. I gave her some homework which she'll do after she gets back from her Okinawa vacation.

As for the "alone" part, there had been a possibility that I would have to hold down the fort all by my lonesome since The Amazon could've been bogged down at her day job, and Speedy wouldn't have returned for the rest of the evening due to some schmoozing around for business. After The Admin's departure, I was alone for about 30 minutes but then The Amazon did arrive...and in heavy rain. And then during my lesson with The Diver, I heard Speedy come back as well. So it's kinda back to normal now.

Got word from The Entrepreneur. He's made his first mass e-mail for me, The Doctor and The Dancer this year. It looks like he and his bride of 6 months are still very much in the honeymoon phase. They even dined on heart-shaped sushi. Awwww.... Can't even imagine what married life would be like now.

I'm not all that perked to head back home right now since it is raining steadily out there. I'll take a bit of a wait-and-see for the next hour or so. Plus, it's a holiday tomorrow.

Wednesday March 19, 5:41 p.m.

Nearing the end of the donut. The Diver should be arriving in less than 2 hours. It's been quiet as expected. A few hours earlier, The Admin and I shared some coffee and discussed a bit more about any potential lessons together. Looks like she'll be another floater like The New Yorker, and we may be heading for another family restaurant. It'll be a fair challenge to teach her since she's pretty high as an English student...some passive errors, though.

True to an imminent transition in the seasons, when I went out about 45 minutes ago, the day had gone from sunny to pretty cool and rainy out there. At least, my nose won't be bothering me today. Just bought a couple of rice balls and a small salad. Trying to keep my purchases down until I get my next cash payment from Tully & The Coffeemaker this Saturday. I know that it'll be corned beef and cabbage tomorrow. Speaking of which, it'll be a national holiday to celebrate the Vernal Equinox. I'll most definitely be sleeping in as late as possible to catch up on the sleep. It'll be good, too, since the weather will probably be dreary then as well.

I got word from The Carolinan. She and her sister, The New Yorker, got back from Bali last night. They had a good time. Unfortunately, that revised date of the 29th for Spyros in Roppongi won't take with the Sisters of State due to other plans. I've asked for other possible Saturdays and even proposed one of their Thursday nights, provided that The New Yorker has the night off then in April.

Basically, spent the time just looking through those Time Lord files, and then just Wiki'ed. Another new fact from the I-Encyclopedia: I learned that it was director Barry Levinson of "Rain Man" fame who had been that enraged busboy who attacked Mel Brooks' psychiatrist character, a la "Psycho"'s famous shower scene, in "High Anxiety". I also attempted to play I-go on the computer, via Facebook. Lost pretty badly...but no surprise there.

Wednesday March 19, 1:04 p.m.

Well, finished up wth those grandmothers that Speedy usually teaches. Man, nice ladies both but they really took the energy out of me. The first grandmother is the prototypical nice little ol' lady but being in her early 80s, the listening comprehension just isn't there anymore. As for the second grandmother, she has a tendency to digress from the text...kept me on my toes. So any effect from the coffee has now largely been nullified.

Now, I'm in the empty zone...the "hole" of Donut Day. It's just The Admin and me for the next several hours until The Diver shows up. By that point, I hope to be filled with some food to keep me going. Speaking of The Admin, it looks like she's still holding out hope for me to teach her privately. It's possible that late April could be the earliest available time for us to meet. Nice to have another customer....and she's very willing to pay transportation money.

Wednesday March 19, 9:33 a.m.

Hump Day once more. Feeling buoyed by the Mac coffee but that should pass by the afternoon. Yep, it was another late night with Jolly followed by 6 hours of sleep and then out the door once more. Jolly was feeling lighter in spirits after about 2 weeks of corporate horror. At one point, he'd been wondering if he would be on a flight to China to investigate some problems concerning his company's products but that crisis was averted.

Will be diverting from my usual lesson with The Nurse since she came on Monday morning, and will be having the grandmothers. It won't be quite the Donut Day that Monday was, but I'll still be having several hours before the last lesson of The Diver. I'll see if I glean some more info from the Time Lord database.

Speaking of epic sci-fi, I just heard that Arthur C. Clarke of "2001: A Space Odyssey" fame has passed on, at the ripe old age of 90. Perhaps instead of just going to Heaven, he's evolved into the Starchild and gone on to a far better place.

Tuesday March 18, 9:30 p.m.

Waiting for Jolly who'll be 15 minutes late. Great...and I've got an early start to Wednesday. However, anyone who's willing to learn from me at such a late hour deserves the best. I had The Milds...Mild Jr. from 7-8 and then the parents themselves afterwards. Mr. Mild has been wondering about how he'll occupy his time now that he's one of the millions of retirees in this country. I extended one potential option...I gave him The Yogist's business card, and he may just give her a contact for a lesson. He's a bit trepidatious but that's not too surprising. Hope the two connect into a new student-teacher pairing.

Tuesday March 18, 6:45 p.m.

Well, had the penultimate class for Chip N' Dale just now. Looks like they're leaving me at the right time. Dale just got her first cellphone...a shiny Softbank number with e-mail, Internet and digital camera. It's like giving a psychopath his own fully-loaded AK-47. She's already talking the girly talk with her buddies. Of course, neither of them bothered to do their homework, so which means I'll be quite happy to see them go next week.
The reason Dale got her first keitai is that she's not only having a birthday tomorrow, but she's heading for junior high school next month. She's taking that first step into adolescence; meaning that she'll be getting increasingly insufferable. Again, good to see her go. No, I mean she's an alright kid but when it comes to the student-teacher relationship, teens and I will never mix.

Didn't have to worry about dinner tonight, thanks to the juku boss. She was kind enough to make me some leftover curry. She was worried that it might be a bit too spicy, but heck, I can handle my chili. And this dish was no exception. Certainly saved on the money front as well.

Chip N' Dale were the big hurdle. Now it shouldn't be too bad...got the Mild family followed by Jolly...perhaps.

Tuesday March 18, 4:39 p.m.

Thought I would be going through another day of Hay Fever Hell, but the meds kicked in a little later than usual. So, the fellow coffeedrinkers at the Tsudanuma Becker's had to deal with my sniffling for a bit before Mrs. Travel showed up. But afterwards, my nose settled down nicely. Mrs. Travel was indeed the solo Bee to show up...not often that happens. But out of all of the Bees, she's the one I chime with the best. Looks like Croatia isn't the only big destination for her this year; just a few weeks after that big tour, she'll be headed for the ruggedness of Arizona...that's right, John McCain country for a few days. Man, she can give 001 a run for the money in terms of air miles.

But there's also another one. My old friend, DTE, who used to be one of our fellow teachers at the ol' school has been doing her tour of Asia. And guess where she ended up in a few days ago...embattled Tibet. Well, she couldn't stay all that long since the Chinese security forces made traveling a tad difficult. Still, I'm glad that she's safe...she even Superpoked me on Facebook.

002 was also suffering from hay fever when I did my weekly house call. Otherwise, she was her usual jovial self. I won't be seeing her til April Fool's Day for her next lesson, though. And in about 75 minutes, I've got the usual juku gang. So far, we haven't heard anything from Jolly about whether he's gonna make it or not.

I got a much-belated present of chocolates for The Admin tomorrow when she does one little favour for Speedy and help out at the school tomorrow. She's now officially unemployed from our school since she needs to help out her hubbie, but she was kind enough to pitch in for the 19th.

I heard that SMAP heartthrob, Takuya Kimura, will be playing the Japanese PM in the next round of Spring dramas that start next month. So, fans can look forward to another scintillating rendition of Angry Snarly Young Man. I shall pass and stick to CNN, thank you.

Monday March 17, 9:55 p.m.

Amazing how quickly I've reached the half-century point of the 2,100s. Just burning those entries.

Well, I've finally reached the other side of the donut day. I just finished with Medicine Man and he's off to do his test of the first three chapters. It's been a day and night of just looking through various homepages...I think it used to be called "surfing" back in the day...most notably through the history of the Time Lords. Yep, extremely geeky of me, I know. But the guy who wrote up the stuff beats me several times over in his encyclopedic results. However, I actually did get some planning done for Tuesday's lessons. Not sure if Jolly will be showing up, though.

001 called in to say that she'll have to cancel this Wednesday's stint. It's gonna be a pretty light week overall. I'm just lucky that I'll be having Speedy's grandmothers to make up for the shortfall, although it'll be another repeat of Donut Day. Speedy says that it's gonna be light for the entire school schedule this week since this Thursday is also a national holiday.

M+M called up to ask about changing the venue for this Sunday. The Elder M suggested a cafe inside the Keio Plaza Hotel, my old stomping grounds in the JET days. It's possible that I've even frequented the place back then. I gave them my approval. I just hope that they remember that they usually pay for my coffee.

I bought some more Benza Block for my hay fever although I'm not having any major sneezing fits right now. However, the bossman noticed that my left eye is looking pretty livid. Just another sign that Spring is around the corner.

Monday March 17, 11:59 a.m.

Finished up with the lesson with The Nurse. As usual, we ended up going 20 minutes overtime. But that's a good thing...the last lesson seemed a bit tense; she struck me as being nonplussed about something. I gave her the White Day present for which she was duly appreciative. And now, I have about 8.5 hours of nothing but there will always be things go to.

Because of The Nurse's lesson, it was another early commute on the subway. It is always an interesting subway ride early in the morning...quite unlike the commutes home. At night, there are always gaggles of folks, fueled by alcohol, cigarettes and stress, gabbing away; especially on Friday nights, the subway could almost be mistaken for a moving party lounge.
Not in the mornings. The subway has a near-cathedral silence, a lot of it due to the fact that a lot of the commuters are in still in sleep mode. It's much easier to squeeze into the seats between folks; they just tend to conform to the shape of my butt entering their space instead of getting all huffy. Still, I'll be happy not to the morning commutes if possible...I would prefer to sleep in my comfy futon at home. However, although The Nurse came in for this morning, I'll still be required to come in on Wednesday morning, The Nurse's usual slot. Since the bossman will be off on one of his study-abroad conferences, I have to teach his pair of grandmothers.

Monday March 17, 9:34 a.m.

Ahh....yes, it is St. Patrick's Day, isn't it? Leprechauns, Pots O' Gold, and all that Irish. Well, it's a Monday so I don't expect any more major celebrations. All that was done over the weekend, but I'm sure some of the more enterprising establishments will still offer green beer on tap tonight, and there will be enough barflies to try them out, I'm sure.

Yesterday, it was just The OL for her 60 at the cafe in Nihombashi. She gave me a book report on "Jane Eyre". She didn't really like it since she thought noone in the book was all that sympathetic, although her sister (and my former student), The UL, had a very different take on it. My only exposure to the Bronte Sisters was the SCTV parody, "Jane Eyrehead".
We did have the same opinion on "Catcher in the Rye"...which was that it was more of a novel of its time than a timeless classic. Nowadays, we can see Holden Caulfields all over the world.

Took me a few minutes but managed to pick up something for White Day (although that was back on Friday) for The Nurse, since she got those bath salts for me on Valentine's Day. They were labeled "Long-Life"...not quite sure what she was getting at, although she knows about my habit of eating McBreakfasts whenever she's slated for the morning lessons. In any case, I mirrored her choice by not getting chocolates but a couple of scented candles at an oh-so-trendy store called Serendipity in the Coredo mall where The OL's cafe is located. Speaking of The Nurse, I've got her in a few minutes. In fact, I've got a bit of a donut day...not that I'll be heading for Krispy Kreme...the lineup there is probably still snaking its way around the corner. What I mean is that I have one of those days in which I've got several hours of nothing between classes. This is definitely one of the biggest scheduling donuts I've ever had: 8.5 hours between the end of The Nurse and the start of Medicine Man's class tonight.
Well, I will be keeping busy...or trying to, anyways. BC was kind enough to send me a couple of revisions to her stuff from last week, although I think since they are second drafts, there won't be as much to correct. I'll also be doing a bit of hard drive moving on the computer here, and of course, planning for Medicine Man and for the Tuesday lessons. I do have Chip and Dale for two more lessons.

Saturday March 15, 6:11 p.m.

Managed to get through the gauntlet of lessons with sanity intact. In fact, all three students were in fine fettle: The Bostonian practiced writing a request letter, the EIC student was a bit on the mousy side but she did fine in her last lesson before her debut tomorrow, and although The Businesswoman was half an hour late, she breezed through the last of the exercises.

Now, just gotta figure out what I'm gonna have for dinner with the bountiful cash I've gotten from Tully and The Coffeemaker this morning.

St. Patrick's Day has become the latest foreign holiday to infiltrate these shores. There was a spate of parades today, most notably one in Omotesando. And of course, all the bars are planning big parties involving lots and lots of Guinness. I think it is rather natural for the Irish holiday to make a big hit here

Saturday March 15, 2:29 p.m.

A beautiful day and the pollen is flying. But I've got the meds in me and the mask on me. Looks like a lot of my compadres are going through the same Hell: Speedy, Tully, The Bostonian and BC.

Tully did show up for today's lesson since he got that report done. He and his classmate, The Coffeemaker, had a pretty good time going through statistics in English...these are pretty committed students. Then I had The Bostonian for her 60; yep, she's a hard worker but still gets a tad skittish on herself. All that furor over who was gonna get that 8:30 Wednesday slot between her and The Diver was all for nought, though. It looks like that for the next month at least, The Bostonian can only come on Saturdays due to the rigours of her job. So, The Diver can now rest easy.

In about 10 minutes, I've got that EIC student for her last lesson before her debut tomorrow at cooking with Mr. Influence. And then to wrap up, it's the Businesswoman.

I found out that butter may actually become an endangered species here in The Land of the Rising Sun. Because of all of the problems with oil and milk supplies, the sticks may no longer be all that available. So, goodbye Western omelettes, hotcakes and steaks (yes, for some bizarre reason, the Japanese love their steaks served with a pat of butter on top). And of course, the lowly toast may also become a thing of the past...the Japanese may find themselves ingesting miso soup, fish and rice again for their breakfasts. However, they may find that artherosclerosis may also be an endangered species.

Friday March 14, 9:17 p.m.

A couple of hours ago during the model lesson, a lightning bolt struck down within a kilometre of us. Man, kinda shook up the neighbourhood...along with a few neighbours. However, it doesn't seem that there was any major fire because of it. Haven't heard any sirens so far.

Speaking of that model lesson, the young girl is pretty good in terms of fluency. She's gonna be doing a homestay in Oz in a few months so I'll probably give her a good does of PASSPORT and some higher grammar for starters. In terms of her makeup and temperament, she reminds me somewhat of a pint-sized version of that tarento Suzanne (who's really full Japanese although she looks like a halfie), so I guess that's what her name will be. Suzanne will be replacing Chip N' Dale from April.
Miss Disney was much more on the genki side tonight, though she got drenched from the downpours hitting Chiba right now. Let's hope that last Friday was merely a sophomore jinx. I'm just waiting for Jolly...hopefully, he does show up. He's had a small habit of doing a no-show without calling us.

Got word from BC that most likely The Manhattanite will not be coming in tomorrow. Will lose out on some income but gain some sanity from the loaded schedule.

Friday March 14, 6:27 p.m.

Yeah, yeah...still blogging. This time, though, I'm at the juku instead of the I-cafe. Had my dinner at Subway's for the second time this week. I do like the place but the other reason is that I was able to fill up my point card to get that medium sandwich and drink for just 200 yen. And I did use that lousy coupon for free cheese...cheese indeed.

The juku boss is downstairs with her good friend from Kyushu. Apparently, her friend is an accomplished pottery expert. We were briefly introduced before I went up to my post here. I've done some prep work for tonight's lessons. That model lesson student for tonight is an old student of the kids' teacher from way back. Could be like Miss Disney.

I hear the rains coming down. Not a good night for White Day enthusiasts. But I'm sure some of those young folks are enjoying themselves at some romantic candlelight dinner in Ginza or Omotesando. The barber this morning was bantering with me as usual, and the topic of March 14 came up. He opined that nowadays, women start kicking up a fuss if they don't get only the finest of chocolates. In other words, if their candies don't come with the Godiva or Maison Du Chocolat stamp, that candlelight will probably blow out quickly and coldly. Well, I hope that really isn't the case...it wouldn't impress me much about women here, and my opinion of the twentysomethings hasn't been too great of late.

Speaking of female twentysomethings, that woman who has now joined the ranks of Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinski has been outed. Alexandra Youmans, aka Dupree, is pleading with the world not to think of her as a monster. I don't think that will happen, although I'm kinda surprised that her family isn't kicking much of a fuss over the fact that their daughter is a high-priced call girl. No...I think Eliot Spitzer is the one who should be doing the duck n' cover.

Friday March 14, 4:40 p.m.

Was going through YouTube's round of scalp massage videos. Yup, I'll have to admit it...I've developed an addiction to those things...kinda like my addiction to Pringle's. But I'm pretty convinced that watching vids such as "Indian Style" comes a fairly close second to actually experiencing the thing. And for someone who has to commute through Tokyo traffic nearly every day and deals with a variety of students every day, it's no surprise that massage clinics rival McDonalds branches in number.
So, it was with great anticipation that I had my first haircut of the year today at the neighbourhood salon. I didn't bother with the New Year greetings...it would've just looked silly. However, the guys there were their usual fine selves. It isn't so much the haircut that's thrilling, but the extras such as the shampoo with the massage, and then the extra rubdown on the scalp with the menthol tonic along with some stuff done on the shoulders and the back that makes the 5,000 yen worthwhile. Yup...even in my financial dire straits, I would still pay that much for good service and banter...and that's considering there is a discount barber closer to my apartment for 990 yen. I don't go that often to the barber...at this rate, I figure that I'll just be going three more times this year, so I think I can handle that.
However, watching those Indian barber videos, it would seem that India may take the crown in terms of tonsorial services. I don't think I've ever seen barbers anywhere else that intensely occupied to ensure their customers leave smiling. Even my barber looks like he's slumming compared to these folks in Mumbai. Still, I'm happy to be getting the tonsorial that I get here since North Americans would never expect such things back home in their barber shops. And it's a pity, too, since it does make sort of sense....you wanna keep your follicles nice and happy and sprouting hairs?...make sure they get rubbed down once in a while. I've had past barbers tell me that massaging the various nerves leading via the neck into the scalp ensures that your hair stays longer on your head.

Friday March 14, 2:06 p.m.

Well, finally got the last of FY 2006 big bills paid off...my income tax one. Despite the two trains and 15-minute walk to the tax office, the whole thing took just 5 minutes to complete. When the government wants your money, you'd be amazed at how quickly service can be. Feeling considerably lighter in the wallet, but heavier in the soul, I decided to walk down to Colton Plaza, one of the very first megamalls in the Kanto. Maybe its only claim to fame is that back in 1999, during all the hoopla surrounding "The Phantom Menace", the guy who played Darth Maul made an appearance there to sign autographs...of course, he charged folks for the courtesy.
I found a cheap Chinese eatery which serve chuukadon for 750 yen. It's a bunch of veggies, shrimp and pork cooked up in the usual thick cornstarch sauce and thrown on top of a bowl of rice. That stuff could also be easily found in any of the greasy spoons of Chinatown but I'm sure it's still about half the price there that it is here.

I then ended up walking all over the place for an hour...naively thinking that I could actually walk all the way back to my neck of the woods. Forgetting that Ichikawa covers a massive amount of land with 2 rivers and a wide expressway cutting through it, I plodded through a lot of suburban wilderness. I saw a lot of my adopted city that I hadn't seen in my fourteen years here. Not that it was really worth seeing again, mind you. I realize now that Ichikawa is definitely one big plate of corporate subsidiaries, government buildings and auto dealerships with a liberal sprinkling of plops of residential neighbourhoods. I managed to come across a map in front of the Ichikawa Police Department HQ and saw how far I actually was from my neighbourhood, and then decided to make the beeline back to the nearest JR station. Ironic that I made the realization in front of the cops...they do say "Nothing to see here" quite a lot.

Last night, I made it over to Ichigaya Starbucks. Sure enough, I had to line up for a table for about 15 minutes. But the corporation knows how to provide good service; the barristas gave all of us squatters small free cups of black coffee...presumably so that we wouldn't collapse. I was phenomenally lucky, though. The same barrista who gave out the free java also got me a table for two right by the glass corner overlooking the main intersection. It was in the midst of the hustle and bustle inside but also isolated enough.
The Carolinan was grateful as well for not having to endure through the smoke of Tully's. She and her sister got their White Day gifts from me, and I think at this moment, they're probably boarding their plane for Bali where they'll enjoy their few days of sun and massages. Must be nice not being poor. Then, BC showed up and we discussed her resume and covering letter. No particular problems outside the fact that she needs to do a bit of cropping and editing...just a bit too much information.

Got home last night to watch that "Doctor Who" tape that The Entrepreneur had kindly sent me. Mind you, it took several tries and minutes to get the ol' VCR going. It's very much on its last legs. The Entrepreneur sent the last 3 eps of Season 3...the big epic involving The Master. Sir Derek Jacobi had just a few minutes of playing the villain before he regenerated into the next actor, but he sure did make the most of them, chewing up the scenery like he did. It was a good watch although the resolution in the final episode dangerously skirted "Kum-Bah-Yah" territory.

It'll be quite an atypically busy Friday night and Saturday. I've got a model lesson student at the juku to start before Miss Disney shows up. The Ace actually cancelled but his class is just half an hour; and then, Jolly shows up. When he cancelled his class on Tuesday, the boss told me that ol' J had told her that things may be even worse when he had to chew linoleum for a sales screwup a few weeks back....which may mean he might have a whole lot of time on his hands from now on. However, I'm sure he'll let me know. I may have to put on my psychiatrist's hat tonight...something that I do from time to time.
Then, Saturday will be chock-filled with classes. Tully (maybe) & The Coffeemaker, The Bostonian, an EIC student, The Businesswoman and maybe even The Manhattanite to finish things off.

Thursday March 13, 2:41 p.m.

Finished up with The Yogist. She cruised through her test at 92%. Also managed to get her name card from her so that I can give it to Mr. Mild, who has expressed an interest in learning yoga. Looks like that trip to India a couple of weeks left quite an impression on my newest retiree student. Not sure if I'll get a finder's fee if Mr. Mild decides to sign up with her, though.

I'll be taking off in about an hour and a half for Ichigaya to teach The Carolinan and BC. The venue will be shifted from Tully's to Starbucks since The Carolinan had expressed a desire to no longer have her clothes smell like coffee and cigarettes, and since all of Starbucks is non-smoking.... However, it is only half the size of Tully's which will make finding a table that much more difficult. I've got my White Day chocolates for The Sisters of State since they were kind enough to give their old teacher some giri choco last month. I can guarantee that my contribution will be far cheaper than the delicacies they jointly gave me.

I found out from CNN that Dawn Wells who had played the girl-next-door castaway, Mary Ann, from "Gilligan's Island" got busted for marijuana possession. Well, I guess that definitely refutes the theory that age and wisdom go hand in hand. Try to imagine....Mary Ann gets some Mary Jane. Hope that the ghosts of Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer aren't rolling too hard in their graves right now. I saw her mug shot; she certainly had that "Ooops...I kinda goofed" look on her face. Well, at least, she doesn't look as bad as Nick Nolte.

Thursday March 13, 12:05 p.m.

Started the morning watching the continuing fallout from the Eliot Spitzer debacle (that must be some dinner table scene in their household these days) while I was proofreading BC's resume and covering letter.

Of course, I'm now here at Speedy's awaiting The Yogist for her regular lesson. I might ask her about Mr. Mild's earlier interest in yoga. Not sure if she does house calls for lone customers, though. Plus, I'm not sure about how Mrs. Mild may feel about this.

Got a letter and photos from The Cat following my visit to her home last month. And I finally got that "Doctor Who" tape from The Entrepreneur after that first abortive attempt. Strangely enough, my two long-distance friends had met a few times years and years ago; The Entrepreneur's friend was an elementary school teacher in Toronto who was looking for someone to give a presentation on present-day Japan, and The Cat (during her freewheeling days as a working-holiday student) decided to assist me in the event.

I also received a "personal" invitation from former Ontario Premier David Petersen to some sort of light reception at the Canadian Embassy in Akasaka on the 9th. It's apparently involving the U of T Alumni Association. I actually had a second of his time....again, years and years ago...when, for reasons that I forget now, he was traipsing through the Koffler Student Centre in the main campus. I'd heard that he and his father had done dealings with various Japanese companies. There was no security cordon whatsoever around him, so one of my very first students and I just cordially went up to him and greeted him. He gave the usual vacuous smile and acknowledgement that all politicians learn to give the unwashed masses.
Unsurprisingly, I will not be attending the event, since: 1) I'm working, 2) I hate parties, 3) frankly, English teachers don't exactly occupy a high place on the totem pole here, and 4) I had a rather uninspiring time at the last Alumni reunion a decade ago.

Wednesday March 12, 8:18 p.m.

Just finished with 001. Her Alaskan adventure was quite successful. She showed me her photos straight from the digital camera. Couldn't quite get the actual aurorae (I think it would challenge even a professional) but could show me a lot of the wilderness there. Got some souvenirs in the form of chocolate and smoked salmon. Gonna have to get some bagels and cream cheese now.

Waiting for The Diver to show up...