Friday April 18, 10:09 p.m.

As expected, Jolly called in to dotakyan. The fact that I didn't hear a major rumble of steps rushing up the stairs at 10 p.m. spoke volumes. However, Miss Disney and The Ace came by. Disney is doing pretty well...coming along smoothly. The Ace told me that his pet dog of 15 years passed on last Sunday; he took the news pretty well. We also got into the topic of whether plants had feelings or not (this wasn't off the top of my head but from one of the questions in the text). I reminisced about my 6th-grade teacher back in the 70s when he had all of us impressionable kids commune with our philodendrons for 20 minutes every Friday afternoon. Yeah, good timing, guy....have us try out telepathy on plants right after lunch. A lot of us ended up taking naps. The 70s were a pretty freaky time. But back to The Ace...he won't be here next Friday since he and his girlfriend will be off traveling in Australia next week. Lucky ol' man....the boss "warned" him not to return with an accent.

I finally got word from The Operator. As hoped for, she was able to buy some silverware for The Flautist for all of us, so all we have to do is to contribute to the price. Saves me a headache although my wallet will be lighter than usual this weekend.

Anyways, I've burned out my voice once more. I think this cough is gonna be with me for a while longer.

Friday April 18, 6:08 p.m.

Rather typhoon-like this morning although the nearest typhoon is all the way down past Hong Kong at the moment. Things were blowing so hard that I was afraid my laundry poles, including the heavy stainless steel one, would lift off. Well, 12 hours later, it's calmer although it's still spitting out there.

Last night, BC and I tried out that new cafe just across from the station. It's a moody one, as they would say in Japlish; back home, it would be called a place with atmosphere. Dim lighting, subdued colour scheme and soft music. Not exactly conducive to having a proper English lesson but we did have a good dinner there. The menu was an Indian fusion of sorts. Curry was the headliner but BC ordered the pasta in kima curry sauce...kinda like the usual meat sauce but creamier. I had the saag chicken which was mild and creamy spinach curry with bits of chicken.
Despite the atmosphere, BC and I managed to pull off a lesson but it's not a place that we can go to every time since BC usually follows The Carolinan, and she's definitely planted at the Ichigaya Starbucks. Plus, since it is more of a sit-down restaurant than it is a cafe, I don't think I could really bring anyone like The Full-Timer there. I certainly don't wanna be asking her to pay 1,200 yen for dinner and my salary. However, I think if BC is the only one on the schedule, then it's viable.
Then, her friend and my new student, The Temp, showed up. I dutifully chatted her up while I checked her strengths and weaknesses. For a woman who's only traveled abroad for vacation and gone only to the other English schools for her language skills, she was quite smooth in her delivery. But she was also stuttery and uncertain at points; so basically, she just needs plenty of opportunity to speak out. Luckily, she'll also be a floater since my nights are pretty much filled to the brim.

It's only the juku students tonight. And I've got a fairly full slate...Miss Disney, The Ace and then Jolly...maybe. So, most of the day I was at home commiserating with the cough that just won't leave. I did get a break, though, at the nearest drug store. They were selling off some of their surplus medicine, including cough medicine. The sign said that they were coming close to the end of their "best-by" date so that's why they were selling them at 50% off. Well, my box said it was good til October. The way my coughs like to hang around, I'm fairly confident that I will get rid of my pills long before the Fall.

I had dinner at the Pepper Lunch near my station. Pepper Lunch is a chain that specializes in hotplate-grilled steaks and hamburgers. I hadn't been there in a long time, so I decided to give that a go. There were two other folks in there. One of them was a ruddy-faced, rough-hewn type who bellowed at the lone greenhorn staffer that the miso soup hadn't come. I had their most famous plate of beef shavings mixed in with rice, garlic, corn and green onions. Fit the bill pretty nicely, although the students may be wondering where that fried smell is coming from.

Tomorrow will be my first lesson with Tully and The Coffeemaker in about a month. Hopefully, The Coffeemaker will show up since she couldn't make it last month due to a cold which I'm now suffering from. Then, it'll be down to Yurakucho for lunch with The Teahouse Ladies whom I haven't seen in a few years. The Flautist is now a newly-married woman, The Argentinian is well-experienced as a wife and mother, while The Operator is still single. But then again, The Operator kinda struck me as being a bit of the spinster type anyways. I'm also hoping that my cough will be suppressed enough by then.

I got word from Chip Guy after several months. The Entrepreneur had told me that he and his new wife had met CG and his family for dinner the other day. So I decided to drop the wunderkind a line. Looks like his two kids have been growing up rather quickly.

The juku boss just informed me that she wouldn't be around next Tuesday since she and her buddies will be catching the local performance of "Man of La Mancha". Considering how cooped up she is over here to her house, getting out for fun on a weeknight must truly be an impossible dream.

Thursday April 17, 2:48 p.m.

Spinning my wheels here before BC's lesson in about 4 hours. I finished up with The Yogist almost an hour ago. She was her usual spritely self...I complimented her on her salesmanship with Mr. Mild the other day.

Just going through Wiki...found out that Barbara Feldon of "Get Smart" fame is 76 (!) years old. She's just a couple of years younger than Grandma 3?! Man, I'll always remember her as the doe-eyed and slinky 99.

The rains have started to come on down as the weather reports had threatened. Could possibly enter the cats n' dogs phase later tonight.

Thursday April 17, 11:41 a.m.

Just had Grandma 3...by far, the most proficient of the three ladies of similar age I've had in the past couple of days. She's a bit of a Renaissance lady, that one...studies English for her mind, goes to ballroom dancing for her body, and has her family for her spirit. And she even attended a few of the sessions at the Tokyo War Crimes Trials in her youth. Not surprisingly, we didn't delve too much into the text...she kinda muttered that she wasn't too interested in the nitty-gritty, so we allowed her to go into some of her regaling.

Had to pull another early wake-up to get over here. Since I wasn't going to risk a second McBreakfast in as many days, I ended up going down the street to local family restaurant Jonathans. Fewer people, more space and plenty of Muzak. Had the Scrambled Egg Brekkie with the usual runny eggs, one wiener, one strip of bacon, a side salad, a couple of hash browns and a thick slab of toast (the Japanese do toast right) with whipped butter and jam. I spent about 2 hours there, but there was no urging by the staff for me to vacate since the place was sparsely populated. And like me, there were a few business types conducting their trade at their tables.

The cold medicine has taken effect although the cough remains. I had to buy another roll of nodo-ame to take care of that problem. The Yogist should be coming by in about an hour; I'm sure she'll have lots to say about Mr. Mild. And then there will be several hours of downtime before I teach BC and her buddy.

Wednesday April 16, 9:37 p.m.

Well, despite the nagging phlegmy cough (I apologize for the description), I still managed to get through the night lessons in one piece, more or less. 001 was her usual bar buddy self...and she'll actually come here next week as well. The Diver kinda had me drawing on my extra reserves; she's an intrepid one but she gets so easily flustered. However, I'm done for the day...only to come back to teach Grandma 3 tomorrow morning before The Yogist's regular lesson. And then I have BC and then a possible new student in the form of BC's buddy. We'll be giving a new cafe a try. It's across the street from the smoke-ridden Doutor's. If it passes muster, I might even place The Full-Timer there.

Speaking of whom...I think I'll be outing her in a sense. As of yesterday, the Full-Timer has been working for the largest airline company in the world...that merger between Delta and Northwest finally came off. I'd been asking her about that. She always looked rather discomfited and stayed silent, so I gather that she was under house rules to stay mum.

Well, it'll be another breakfast outside. However, I think even for me, having two breakfasts in a row at The Golden Arches is asking for trouble, so I will probably hit the nearby Jonathan's instead. Little smoke and far larger table room.

I hear that Pope Benedict XVI will be heading to the White House today. Well, he's gotten the colour scheme perfect anyways.

Wednesday April 16, 3:56 p.m.

As it turned out, Grandma 2 didn't wake up until after her originally scheduled lesson had gone by. Looks like the ol' girl was under the weather. I'm not exactly at 100% with my nagging cough. One of my friends assured me that the oft-searing pain in my throat is just the message that there is a battle going on between the virus and the body's defense system. As if I didn't know my biology...

The Nurse was pleasant as usual. Ended up going 20 minutes overtime and then BC started engaging her in gab as well. Right now, I've got these next couple of hours of down time whilst the bossman is out there shaking the trees for new clients. As far as I know, 001 is still scheduled to come in, and then The Diver.

Wednesday April 16, 11:41 a.m.

Already hitting the big 2,200th entry. Bring out the Veuve Cliquot!

And I'm still waiting for Grandma Two...who Speedy says is never late. Well, she's over 10 minutes late now. I hope there haven't been any major problems. As for Grandma One, well, we've managed to stumble our ways over to the end of the text. But it does prove one thing to me: always accept temporary assignments from other teachers warily.

I got replies from Shrek, TC and Smiley concerning a trip to Brozer's for those hamburgers on the 27th. Hmmm...so far, only Shrek has replied positively. Smiley has got a rugby tournament on that Sunday, and TC isn't too positive about the timing. So, I'll be playing it by ear on that one. Maybe I'll bring out Skippy and even MB.

Now, still waiting for Grandma Two.

Wednesday April 16, 9:56 a.m.

Just about 15 minutes away from the beginning of a large Hump Day. I've got two grandmas to start off before The Nurse, 001 and The Diver. My voice still sounds somewhat scratchy, and I've been downing the Halls en masse.

Did forget to mention that Mr. Mild had finally taken the bait and decided to attend a yoga class on the 29th, thanks to The Yogist's gentle prodding. However, it won't be The Yogist herself who'll be handling Mr. Mild's inaugural trial lesson but an associate of hers. She did say that her friend was pretty...which is a pretty dangerous thing to say to a 60-year-old man.

I see that Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in the most religious country on the planet...i.e. the US of A. President Bush has even thrown convention to the wind and actually greeted the Pontiff at the airport. His Holiness also demonstrated his fluency in English during a small interview session on Shepherd-1.

Well, there was some trepidation in Fukuoka over the last several days about a possible serial killer preying on old women. One elderly woman was stabbed to death multiple times by the psycho. Luckily, he's been caught. Money was the reason for his spree, according to him. And like any other monster, he didn't have the coat covering his head in shame...just stared glass-eyed at the cameras.

Tuesday April 15, 9:14 p.m.

My voice is feeling somewhat like how millions of Americans and Canadians are also feeling right now...crappy. It is of course tax day over in North America. After shredding it last night during my last 3 lessons due to this cold, it's actually better tonight although I still sound like that tough-talking gyaru tarento, Yukina Kinoshita.

Tried the Salaryman's Cure for the cold last night by downing a couple of vitamin drinks after a particularly hot shower, and then hitting the futon wrapped in blankets. Didn't really do much for me this round, though.

My voice was the unfortunate conversation piece for all of my lessons today (as will probably be the case for the next few days). Considering that Mrs. Travel of The Beehive had gone to the trouble of making colour copies of Cuisine in Croatia, most of the talk was on the wonders of Kyoto.

Since 002 cancelled her class again, I had that hole in my schedule. But instead of spending it at the I-Cafe, I went home and cooked myself some stir-fry with the remaining rice from Sunday. Since I no longer have a working microwave, I tried to improvise by putting the rice cooker container full of rice in a hot water bath. All it did was overflow on the range and the rice ended up alternately mushy on the inside and crusty on the outside. Might work if it were a giant gyoza, but I now realize that the microwave oven is the preferred appliance rather than the convection oven.

As for the juku lessons, the boss was alarmed about the state of my voice to the extent that she actually checked me for a fever and then had me put in a thermometer under my armpit. I realize that we've known each other for nearly 4 years, but really.... Anyways, when the thermometer registered 35 degrees C, I kinda knew I was already a bit of a freak.

Mild Jr. returned today and it looks like he's settling into his new position quite well. But Jolly once again dotakyaned due to some wining n' dining he had to do with a client. The Milds were the latest recipients of my regaling about my success with homemade butter. Ironically, when I was at the supermarket, there was a new supply of butter on the shelves but how long that will last nobody really knows.

Well, the next two days will have me teaching the grandmothers early in the morning...not great for a fragile voice like mine. It'll be a long day.

The Teahouse Ladies contacted me about this Saturday. The Operator suggested a belated wedding present for The Flautist. Hmm....I'll have to check the size of my wallet. Anyways, it's set for someplace in Ginza. The Argentinian will also be there. I'm sure she'll have lots to talk about her 5 years in the homeland of Evita.

Monday April 14, 10:37 p.m.

Managed to get through the Monday gauntlet at the expense of nearly shredding my voice completely. By the time I finished up with Medicine Man, my larynx was barely emitting wheezes and whistles, let alone anything coherent. Luckily, my student is a fairly understanding sort, since he is a doctor and all.

Yup, I'll be getting a couple of bottles of Tough Man or Ripobitan D. The stuff tastes like Jack N' Jill Cough Syrup, so I'm not sure how really effective the vitamin drinks are, but if I'm gonna survive this week, I'll try anything.

Everyone from today is coming back for next week. And on top of that, The Tippler will be back. So that'll be a six-pack Monday.

Monday April 14, 7:15 p.m.

Well, ended up with a cold since yesterday. I've got that phlegmy, metallic feel in my throat which demands a heavy dose of Hall's. And of course, there is the alternately runny and stuffy nose. I've used up my Benza Block so I'll need to get another batch of meds tomorrow morning on the way to The Beehive. However, I may try The Salaryman's Cure of taking a shower, taking two hyper-powered vitamin drinks and then wrapping myself tightly in blankets to try to sweat the cold out. It worked once before.

On the healthier Saturday, I did have a chance to go to Akihabara once more a few hours before meeting up with Automan and Shrek there. I can understand The Anime King when he says that he can easily spend an entire day in Otakuville. I was just browsing around and I could easily wile away two hours. I did take a look inside Yodobashi Camera Akiba in some light research concerning my future microwave oven. I did find some intriguing models, including a convection oven. While it would be great to actually roast or bake something, I think ultimately it comes down to the need to warm up things such as bento, so I'm afraid I'll probably have to stick with the nuke unit.

The Maids were out there in force although there were no signs of the Caucasian variety that I'd seen a couple of weeks previously. Plenty of otaku there as well. The little walk around served me well...I actually found yet another Burger King branch. I hadn't been able to patronize one since the franchise came to these shores a year ago. I ended up having a Whopper Jr. set; there is something to be said about flame-broiled burgers. That huge new mall was still not open. I'd thought that it would be but actually it's supposed to be opening up this Wednesday. I should be expecting huge lineups. No Krispy Kreme there but there will be a Baskin-Robbins.

But finally I met up with my old friends from the old country at JR Akihabara. Automan brought his new girlfriend and Shrek brought his family. Plus, there was a new friend from the University of Toronto...really smiley fellow. He'd actually gone to that shindig at the Canadian Embassy last Wednesday with the former Premier of Ontario, David Peterson. All of us ended up going to the Mansei Building, one of the few venerable buildings that actually served food (at least, until the current evolution of Akihabara) in the area. Mansei is the chain that specializes in all things beef, whether it be as Korean as yakiniku or the Japan-Western fusion of hambaagu. We went up to the 4th non-smoking floor (we did have kid with us) which has the iron plate specials. It'd been a good long while since I had anything purely beef, so I was quite happy to have a mess of fried beef and rice. Dem's good eatin'.

Shrek reminded me about our talk during the Holidays about Brozer's, the hamburger joint in Ningyocho...just where he works. So I said I would try to set something up with him, TC (who couldn't make it out that night) and Smiley. As it turned out, the latest issue of TOKYO METROPOLIS had the annual pullout section on the best burger joints in the Big Sushi. Apparently, there's a guy who has his own blog about all of the burger places he's visited. I've dutifully informed the guys about it, and even MB and Skippy for future reference. From looking at the various hamburger shops out there, it looks like they are here to stay and in very big forms.

Yesterday was a quiet day, the first full day without any classes in a couple of weeks. To address The Great Butter Shock of '08, I decided to produce my own butter. Picked up the tiny carton of 200 mL heavy cream and used the remaining 3.6% milk and just threw them into the blender and just whacked away. Within 5 minutes, as the recipe had predicted, the mixture just globbed down to this proto-butter. Then, I drained the buttermilk out of it and continued to further mash it up with a potato masher until it was pretty solid. I added a bit of salt to it; it still tasted pretty light compared to the regular stuff, but I can say that I now have a supply of butter.

Today was back to a full day Monday. I actually ended up waking up at the early hour of 3 a.m. much to my surprise. A head cold can do that to me. I had my breakfast pretty darn early and just watched through all those Pet Shop Boys videos on the DVD. I caught up on some sleep on the subway. I had The Class Act for the first time in a couple of weeks. They were rather surprised on hearing about The Great Butter Shock; I guess they don't do all that much with the stuff. As for SIL, we talked about the death penalty before going into an article on the Samurai Detective from LA, Jimmy Sakoda, the fellow who's been doggedly going after Kazuyoshi Miura, the eccentric who was accused of murdering his wife for the insurance money all the way back in 1981. SIL and I thought that Sakoda had that look of Lt. Gerard, the intrepid cop after Richard Kimble in "The Fugitive".

Ended up cooling my heels at China Quick for half an hour over a hoi koro don and half a ramen bowl since there was no one at Speedy's. Apparently, the daytime person couldn't make it in and Speedy had an outside appointment. No problems, though. I could see The Full-Timer for the first time in 3 weeks. And in about 45 minutes, I'll have The Manhattanite and then Medicine Man to wrap up. Hopefully, my voice won't give out. 002 has had to cancel her class for tomorrow due to her continuing ravages with her own little cold. So once again, it's another Lopsided Donut Day.

From last Wednesday's Pimple Day since I only taught The Diver then, I've got a Mega-Hump Day this Wednesday. I have to sub for the bossman here at Speedy's and teach the grandmothers, The Nurse, 001 and The Diver. It's quite a switch from the relative quiet of last week. Just hope that I survive it.

Saturday April 12, 10:27 a.m.

Here to teach just The Bostonian, and it looks like it'll be the only class of the day. Although the lass is a nice lass, it's a bit of a pity to spend the electricity on just one student.

I met the Ace for the first time in a few weeks last night. He's doing as well as usual. He had his O-hanami in Sumida Park right by the river of the same name in Asakusa. He and his buddies had to suffer as would be the case for a cherry blossom viewing on the weekend. That is, to say, the organizer had to grab a spot along the river in the wee hours of the morning. As it turned out, the park didn't really get crowded until the afternoon, but that is more an aberration than usual reality. Afterwards, they went to a famed ramen restaurant called Jiro which a 30-minute wait in line. The Japanese are very patient people when it comes to good food...or at least famous food.
We also talked about his trip over to the local branch of Kua'Aina, the Hawaiian hamburger chain that pretty much launched the era of big hamburger shops in Tokyo. This branch was in Expery, the mall right across from Tokyo Disneyland. He said his girlfriend could only finish 2/3 of her burger, which means that she wouldn't pass muster (or mustard) with us in our 2-year-old Burger Tour. She would probably have a heart attack on seeing the Chianti Burger next door to us. If I ate many more of those, I would have a heart attack regardless.
Speaking of that place, it's been closed for well over a month despite a sign saying that the staff is taking a hiatus until April to re-jigger the menu. Speedy and I think that the Chianti Burger will probably be taken off. No mere mortal can handle that much beer in this country...with the exception of me and Gyaru Sone.

Friday April 11, 7:26 p.m.

Back from one school over to another one. I'm at the juku now. The Nurse was fine. I told her about my somewhat disappointing trip for The Mega McMuffin. She was rather surprised that I would be so. However, afterwards, the appetite suppressing ability of my breakfast wore off with some grumblies from my stomach so I had a small dinner at the nearby China Quick. 500 yen got me a bowl of ma bo do fu...more satisfying. But I haven't been getting my veggies over the last couple of days, so I just downed a salad from the conbini. It was the juku boss' turn to be surprised at that sight. She said that I would probably be begging for something by midnight. I'm afraid that she might be right. Still finances and a nagging sense of guilt may help prop up my sagging willpower.

Friday April 11, 2:06 p.m.

Back to Spring-like weather after the storminess of midweek....which means I'm back on the hay fever meds and mask-wearing.

Man, I guess I really missed out on a commuter's worst nightmare yesterday. That little problem at Kokubunji Station screwed over half a million riders on the JR, or about 5% of daytime population of Tokyo. And I found out that this was the third time this year that such a thing has happened. So, once again, one of the higher-ups at JR East had to go to the Ministry of Transportation to bow his head...televised, of course. The Chuo Line, one of the major crosstown trunks for the Big Sushi, was shut down for 7 hours. Folks were trapped in rush hour conditions for some of that, and one trainload had to get off between stations and walk back to the station. I think Tokyo is getting that dress rehearsal for the big quake now. These things seem to be happening on the west side so I've been grateful that I live in relatively uneventful Chiba.

Unlike the last time, The Carolinan and I weren't seated next to a potential spree killer. In fact, the table next to us had another foreigner-Japanese pairing. She and her sister, The New Yorker, did do that O-hanami in Yasukuni Shrine last week after The New Yorker's lesson with me. It went well with them...no idea if they had a running conversation with any ultra-right wingers...but The Yogist and a friend had a similar event at Ueno Park last week. She wasn't too thrilled with that walk since the park smelled of beer and things.

I'd almost gotten my schedule wrong this morning. I'd thought that I would have The Nurse's lesson at the usual time of 10. Luckily, both BC and Speedy corrected me to say that I would have her in about 45 minutes instead. I had been looking forward to trying out that Mega McMuffin at the Golden Arches since the coupon season is in full swing. So, even with the late start, I decided to make my way out over to my neighbourhood McDonalds at the hour of 8 this morning to try out the third member of the Mega Triumvirate which consists of the Mega Mac, the Mega Teriyaki Mac and now the Mega McMuffin.

All I can say is that 8 is the perfect time to hit my neighbourhood McDonalds. Since it's located in the residential area, the place is deserted. As I was walking up there, I witnessed the biggest daily mass movement of humanity. The working masses walked and ran toward the station like water toward a drain. At the same time, fleets of yellow-capped elementary school students and pristinely-uniformed junior high school kids were migrating toward their respective schools. The latter group is looking slick now since this is the first week of classes. Give them a few months; they'll be looking pretty shabby with undone ties and shirt flaps out.

As for the Mega McMuffin...I guess there is really a concept of having too much of a good thing. It was kinda like when I had that Mega Mac all the way back in February of 2007; I was able to somehow devour but it wasn't too satisfying. And in fact, I paid for it some more with a longer trip than usual to the can. The Mega McMuffin consists of two sausages bracketing a slice of cheddar and that egg on top. Then there is even a slice of floppy bacon on top of that with ketchup. The muffins were added as an afterthought. It was OK but just a bit on the overwhelming side....like listening to a favourite song at way too high a volume. I'll stick with the unmutated version from now on.

Well, as I said, I've got The Nurse in about 30 minutes. And then, I have The Ace for the first time in 3 weeks later tonight. One thing about the McMuffin...it makes for an excellent appetite suppressant. Not hungry at all and it's been 6 hours since the devouring.

Thursday April 10, 11:43 a.m.

I seem to have the envy of Speedy since I now have the sleekest computer in the school...as compared when I had the pokiest one which crashed at the most inopportune times.

The Diver last night seemed to be feeling a little more buoyant in her post-test phase. I'm not exactly comparing her to the rarefied heights of The Beehive, but she's come a good way since her first class.

The rains have come back and apparently the Tokyo rail transport system has shown its fragility once again. One little flaming cable near Kokubunji Station has wrecked up the schedules for just about all of the major lines. I seemed to have avoided the worst of the problems since I got in mid-morning.

I got a reply to my message to the old gang back home about the Great Butter Shock of 08. The Doctor got somewhat preachy about the state of a post-capitalist nation that cannot supply its people with the necessities of good hotcakes. Again, I may not have the churn but I have a blender and the ingredients to go for some homemade butter. The elimination of butter may have some interesting effects, though. Tomorrow, I go for the Mega McMuffin at McDonalds; the normal Sausage McMuffin has the distinctive taste of butter on the bread. Will that taste be gone forever? Inquiring minds wanna know.

Just got the Yogist and the Carolinan tonight. Hopefully, there won't be any Bickersons or psycho sales agents sitting beside us.

Wednesday April 9, 5:16 p.m.

Ah, yes....did forget to mention one thing. Japan has no butter. Not anymore. Due to the prevailing economic conditions, all the milk produced in this country has now gone into making yogurt instead. All we have is edible plastic...i.e. margarine. I can just see those talking Parkay containers giggling in glee now. I kinda wonder how the bakeries are gonna cope. As for the individual consumer, there is hope. A number of shows have been giving out recipes on how to produce your own butter through a mix of cream, milk and a good food processor. The juku boss told me about a recipe that she got last night, and so with my usual scientific curiosity, I just downloaded a couple of recipes.
I told Speedy and BC, and the latter showed genuine shock....almost as if Xmas were cancelled.

Wednesday April 9, 4:40 p.m.

The cancellation parade continues. I just got word that The Dentist has cancelled her lesson (I don't think I've seen her since this year started) for Saturday. So it's just the solo with The Bostonian in the morning. Then, later in the evening, I've got Automan's gig. He sent me word that he would like to have the venue in Akiba for some reason. Even with the trendiness pervading Otakuville for the past couple of years, Akihabara has still not struck me as being an area for wining and dining. He has gotten me the usual tribute of Reese's Pieces, though.

I've been reading the 2003 edition of "The Best American Travel Writing" by Ian Frazier for the past several days on the commutes to and from work. In the foreword, Frazier says that despite some of the stories' bleakness (bits of bodies in Afghanistan, hostility against a female canoeist in Africa trying to free two slaves), there is hope to be found. I guess I need stronger existential lenses...didn't see anything remotely looking like hope in those stories. Some interesting stuff on Ambrose Bierce and squid-rigging in Seattle, however. Then, there is the latest story about a day in the life of Puff Daddy...which kinda shows a different type of hopelessness from the other end. Mrs. Travel on Tuesday saw the book and asked if there were anything on Croatia. There was nothing on the country but probably something in one of the other editions.

I guess that storm yesterday really did a number on us in the Kanto. It was an experience for commuters in Chiba, but I saw a CNN report which showed that it was really one for the record books in Tokyo.

Tuesday April 8, 5:21 p.m.

Well, my umbrella became the latest casualty of the storm...and to add insult to injury, the storm was pretty much over when the fall came. I was walking over to the juku and the rain was pretty much gone. Just as I was about to close it, a sneak attack by a gust of wind assassinated my cheap brolley....broke a few ribs...not mine, its. This sort of thing would've called for a teary farewell speech but instead I've just dumped it by the front door.

Came in to see the newest student of the juku boss...a tow-headed little urchin with the largest eyes this side of anime. I could just imagine some of the women I know seeing her and getting this extreme urge to pinch her cheeks and squeal "Kawaii!" I didn't debase myself like that but I did offer the kid some chocolate that Mrs. Perth had given me from Hokkaido.

No surprise here....the boss told me that Jolly had sent her an e-mail yesterday to say that he wouldn't be coming in tonight nor next Tuesday as well due to the stresses of work. And apparently, he is stressing out. Well, lose 3,200 yen but at least I don't need to put on my psychologist's cap. So, it'll just be Suzanne and The Milds tonight (almost sounds like a 60s band).

Speaking of 60s bands...I've got yet another soundtrack song pounding away at my brain. I went over to YouTube and listened meself to that catchy tune by April March called "Chick Habit" which ran over the credits of "Death Proof". A lot of the comments on the site were saying that it was just the weirdest and the wackiest. I guess they were too young to hear typical French pop of that era. And I also listened to the whole 9 minutes of the "Cloverfield" opus.

Before the I-cafe, I did have a tonkatsu lunch at my local Tonki. Yes, I realize that I did have the same dish at Hirata Bokujo...that's the name of the tonkatsu restaurant that Skippy had taken us to on Sunday after "Cloverfield". However, I thought it was the cheapest way to get more protein, carbs and veggies at the same time. For dinner, it was just a half-can of Pringles. Remember, it's a pretty quiet week this week...so not a whole lot of income.

Well, gotta contact Automan. He's got that party on Saturday which I have to find out about.

Tuesday April 8, 1:00 p.m.

The rains continue unabated. In fact, the winds were just blowing everyone around this morning, although things are much steadier now. However, I'm seeing a lot of umbrella graveyards on the JR platforms. The bad weather should continue on for the rest of the day...better luck tomorrow. Over here, umbrellas are just like tissue...most people either have the cheap foldables or the cheap full-size ones made of transparent plastic. I couldn't see anyone in their right mind having, much less owning, one of those luxury brands here.

Mrs. Perth, ex of the Beehive, came down from her perch in Hokkaido to visit us at The Beehive this morning in Tsudanuma. Still smiling and inquisitive as always. She even made up an organized itinerary of the upcoming Croatia trip. She didn't bat an eyelash at the fact that none of the ladies gave me my usual envelope of payment; either she hasn't been told or, the more likely situation, she has been told and has kindly stayed quiet about it. In any case, my Debtor's Prison sentence will last two more weeks. Basically, we all talked about the English names for fish...not surprisingly, Mrs. Tee was more excited about this topic (although I recall that we'd gone over this topic months or even years ago) since this is her area of expertise. They were impressed about the different types of salmon and trout I introduced to them. As a person who was weaned on Clover Leaf Sockeye Salmon Sandwiches, I would consider myself an expert.
The surprise with the ladies today was seeing Mrs. Travel with a hugely bandaged middle finger. I had initially assumed that her grandson decided to test his chompers, but it turned out that Mrs. Travel had gotten herself accidentally impaled on a spiny fin of a fish that she had been eviscerating for dinner last night. Only in Japan.

Since 002 cancelled her lesson for today, I've got another lopsided Donut Day....a big hole between The Beehive and the juku classes. And even tonight has got its own hole...Mild Jr. won't be making it because of his new posting at Tokyo Disneyland. Not sure if Jolly is gonna make it either. He's been AWOL for the past week. Usually I would be commiserating over the fact that I have to work until late tonight and then wake up pretty darn early on Wednesday morning due to The Nurse's class, but tomorrow is looking like one very empty day for me. The Nurse switched her class over to Friday morning this week, and 001 has to pull the night shift at her lab tomorrow night. So it's just The Diver. Hopefully with her good score on the test last week, she'll be coming brimming with confidence from now on.

Speaking of "Death Proof" yesterday, I gotta admit that Kurt Russell has come a long way. From his debut on "Gilligan's Island" back in 1964 as a marooned jungle boy, through all of the 70s Disney movies, and Snake Plissken and his harder-edged roles, all the way to his role as a hit-and-run psycho in the Tarentino flick, this guy has done just about everything.

I got my latest translation pay in the account this morning. That will go a little way in balancing things after last week's culinary debauchery. Paddy's friend sent word about it.

Looks like I'm not the only one who was impressed with the closing credits of "Cloverfield". I found out from the Net that quite a few people enjoyed listening to the bombast of Michael Giacchino's "ROAR!" Doesn't look like it'll be coming out anytime soon, though.

I was surprised to see as the top story on the CNN webpage about those male Japanese hosts. I guess it must've been a very slow news day...at least to CNN. I would've thought that attacking the Olympic flame instead of cheering it would've superseded that puff piece. My two yen? Power to the protestors. I was watching "The Situation Room" and Jeff Toobin hit it on the head...the Olympics should've never been given to China. But then again, 8 years ago, who knew that this would happen? Still, it is disgraceful.

Monday April 7, 8:48 p.m.

Well, the Tippler came in and gave another lively performance. Her listening comprehension isn't as top-notch as I thought it would be, though. But she's definitely a keeper. Too bad she won't be coming in next week.

Looks like my schedule continues to evolve. BC just contacted me to say that she wanted to re-schedule her lesson for the next Thursday.

It's raining pets out there. The Amazon told me that she and her umbrella were fighting a losing battle with the winds. Lucky I hung up my laundry inside.