August 3

I had my monthly call from Mom last night. Most of the calls are cordial but once in a while, she gets into ultra-mother mode and ends up annoying the hell outof me. Partially because part of what she says is true.

Once again, she got into her harangue about thinking about my future and marriage. She comes from the generation where marriage is a no-brainer; one gets married and that's it. She even said that my sister-in-law has offered to introduce me to one of her friends...which really steams me. After breaking up with my ex, getting into another relationship falls somewhere between eating raw liver and having a procotological exam. I'm starting to think that I really have no interest in having a "normal" life of wife and kids. But I kept my cool, though she knows that I have a bad temper.

The other thorn to stick into me was about my financial future. Here in Japan, as an alien, I probably would not get any access to an old age pension if I did stay that long, and since I'm not in Canada making any income, I'm not accruing any pension there either. Basically, there is no nest egg for me provided by the government. I am bothered by that...although I and most people both in Japan and Canada are of the opinion that old age pensions probably will not exist by the time I reach 65. However, my mother asked me whether it wouldn't be wiser to return to the Great White North and find a job with a computer company.

Once again, my blood started to boil. My parents just won't get it into their heads that I have very little interest in becoming a systems engineer or a doctor or a lawyer. And returning home would leave my career in tatters over there. I will not work for any Board of Education at home; I have no love for kids and most likely I would miss life here in Japan. I would end up wondering about how life would be like here. Maybe I'm being closed-minded but I know what I don't like.

So, I'm left at the proverbial fork in the road but a fork with roads leading possibly to dead ends. I stay here in an uncertain economy and future for Japan or head eventually back home permanently but have verylittle opportunity to pursue much of anything.

Why do I feel that my life seems to have more bitter than sweet? Great...I can go to bed grumpy.

Several hours later...

Well, I'm awake again. The grumpiness is largely gone although a lingering sense of UGH remains. Another sign that the typical Tokyo summer is here? I went straight to the air conditioner for relief, and sure enough, that sweat stain is on my futon.

Last night, I went through my increasingly neglected DVD collection (notable by the growing layer of dust) and found the South Park movie. Now that's a view into the pop culture looking glass. Back in the late 90s, the infamously crude Comedy Central series was the talk of the town. Wicked toilet humour, celebrity skewerings and quotable catchphrases ("Oh My God...they killed Kenny"; "Beefcake...BEEFCAKE!") were helping it become the latest challenger to The Simpsons.

The movie itself to me was the peak of the South Park phenomenon. Its "Jump The Shark" moment. And what a moment. The movie relentlessly went out of its way to shock and offend just about any group out there, and the result was a huge outpouring of laughter at the audacity of it all. And on top of that, its ode to musicals was unbelievably good. I could say that the movie was the last great musical of the 20th century (although I could imagine the Gershwins rolling in their graves).

I have a number of movies that I regret not having seen at the theater. Minority Report is one. The South Park movie is another. I would've loved to have been in the audience when all of the mayhem was being spewed. I heard that a number of people left the theatre in horror...with their kids, thinking that this would be a regular cartoon. I'm pretty sure that the kids were dragged kicking and screaming.

Since then, South Park is apparently still running but the glory days are over. The Simpsons are still unbeaten. I saw a recent episode of SP and found out that Kenny was PERMANENTLY dead, as non sequitur as that may sound. Now, the main challenger to Bart, Homer and the Springfield gang for respect is King of the Hill, a much less raunchy show but still very funny.

August 2

Another hot day and yet people are still wondering when the rainy season will officially close. Hello, McFly!

Decided to do a little Saturday enjoyment in the neighbourhood. Went over to thelocal massage clinic for a rubdown. I didn't get my favorite masseur, the chief, but his spunky second-in-command. She did a pretty good job.

Then it was off to McDs for a Big Mac set and Coke. I deserved it. After a bit of grocery shopping, I'm back home where I'll probably be sweating all of my Big Mac set over the next few hours while I clean the place. The wonderful thing about my apartment is that it retains heat in the summer and it loses it in the winter. Yes, you read that correctly.

More proof that there may be a god after all. The Ben-Jen vanity project, Gigli, is being slow-broiled by critics and rated a perfect 0% on the Rotten Tomatoes website. People that rich and beautiful should get some cloud with their silver lining.

August 1

A long hot Friday. The summer is definitely here...although it may be too late for the rice farmers to get a decent crop.

I had several hours of break time between my lone class and the dinner with my old students so I ended up heading for Ginza and getting a CD plus magazine. Then, I went up to the roof garden of the Mitsukoshi department store and just read my Entertainment Weekly outside for a couple of hours. It wasn't too hot there; the winds helped to cool things down.

Then, I walked over to Shimbashi Station to meet up with the four oil company students and the lone Friday night circle student (the other is in Switzerland, and my ex has pulled herself out). One of the oil company students found himself a new job with Mazda out in Hiroshima, so it was a goodbye party for him. As usual, we went to the Farm Grill. Of course, with the evening menu, we had access to the good stuff. And of course, I overindulged. Goodbye diet.

Tomorrow will be a rare Saturday off since my kids won't be available then. So I hope to wait for a package to be delivered and then do a bit of cleaning up at home since I probably won't be home on Sunday for most of the day.

July 30

Summer is just about on our doorstep. Now, the nights are starting to feel humid. Looks like I'll be burning up the yen overnight via my fan. It's that or end up with a huge sweat stain on my futon the shape and size of my body.

I made the easiest 3000 yen tonight when my student popped into the Starbucks at Toranomon to tell me that she wanted to cancel tonight's lesson because she wasn't feeling too hot. I tried to refuse the money since it wasn't earned but she insisted that I take it if only as an apology that I had to go downtown for nothing. After doing the culturally acceptable two refusals, I finally took the yen. I'm not gonna look a gift uma in the mouth.

Movie Buddy left a message on the machine today saying that he may have another group of students for me. Always nice.

Last night at my newest gig at that lady's English conversation school on the 2nd floor of her house, she first asked me how much rent I was paying for my apartment and then she shifted her attention to a potential house a couple of stations away that she was planning to get for a second school. She even mentioned that she was gonna try to bring the rent down to an unbelievable 50,000 yen a month; the original cost was 95000 yen for a 3-room, 2-floor place, still a good bargain. The catch is that it is located beside a cemetery, and the Japanese, despite all of their technological savvy, are still very superstitious, and so most people would rather eat cockroaches than move next to a final resting place. From what she was saying, I was wondering if she were thinking about me being the new resident.

I must admit that it would be tempting after nearly 9 years in my 2K. And my ex had always wanted me to get a house for us, but that's pretty much a moot deal now. However, I would wonder about having to be at home AND at work at the same time. The superstitious angle doesn't bother me, though. I'm the guy who can always find an empty spot on the subway platform where the label marked "4" (designating the area where the 4th car would be stopping) is located. Even on a crowded platform, it seems that noone native here will go to that spot since the Japanese pronounciation for 4 is a homonym for "death". However, as I write this, I'm knocking on my wooden table.

Well, I've got my early Thursday morning to look forward to

July 29

Back from another exhausting Monday. I feel very sticky all over, and it's just going to get worse once the rainy season ends officially on Friday.

Looks like August will indeed be a fairly lean month for me. My Monday morning class announced that they will be going on summer hiatus for the next 4 weeks. And along with the fact that my in-school classes and my Tuesday morning private class will be doing the same thing in the next couple of weeks, I may have to look forward to a lot of tofu meals.

After the morning class, I decided to catch a movie. Unlike most of my choices, this was a homegrown production called "Odoru Dai Sosasen 2" or as it is translated, "The Big Investigation". It and the first movie back in 1998 are the only Japanese movies I've ever caught in nearly 9 years of life in Japan. I never even bothered to catch the magical "Spirited Away" which I may regret.

Now what's so special about this flick? Well, to be honest, I first got hooked on the theme song, a kinetic techno number which has become as famous as the Hawaii Five-O theme song. And strangely enough, the movie is based on a cop show which ran for 12 weeks on the local Fuji-TV network back in 1997 before releasing the two movies.

"Odoru Dai Sosasen" will never really compare to American fare such as NYPD Blue or Hill Street Blues. Our cultures are just too different. However, both countries share a love of police dramas and this show has become the recent standard to beat. It stars Yuji Oda (those of you who are into Japanese trendy dramas may remember him from the 1991 hit Tokyo Love Story, as Kanchi Nagao) as Detective Sgt. Aoshima, a salaryman-turned-cop who fights the good fight. The show is notable for its mix of Keystone Kops-type comedy or probably the same level of comedy allowed to exist on The Love Boat and drama based on the eternal rivalry between the local police grunts and the arrogant elite detectives in Tokyo.

This rivalry was what got me further hooked into the show. Apparently, the police hierarchy is separated into two parallel forces: the aforementioned elite cops on a national level, and the grunts occupying the small precincts and police boxes all over the country. Of course, the elite look down upon the grunts which is the heart of the story.

The sequel, whose story revolves around not only the main plot of murders committed by disgruntled laid off salarymen but also on the open battle of police procedure between Aoshima and a new witch-like elite police superintendant and three very small subplots, was entertaining enough although there was very little innovation in the story. It basically followed the same formula of the internecine rivalry, a serious injury to one of the main characters which sparks a closing of ranks and Aoshima's coming to the rescue. However, the Japanese prefer this formula; just take a look at the Tora-san series or the Mito Komon TV show. Formulas rule!

Several hours later, I had my usual late-night class with my real estate agency students. However, I wasn't too impressed with my performance. I felt like I slacked off today; mind you, the one woman was simply exhausted and not in any sort of shape to learn English. However, when I'm doing my own business, slacking off will just lead to being fired off. So I'll have to smarten up next week.

I'm just glad that I just have my new Tueday night class considering how late I've stayed up.

One thing to note, though. And this will fall into the life lesson category. I've known for a while now that my circle of friends is getting very small now. In some instances, it is due to a change in family circumstances; for example, my good friend, Chip Man, has just become a father. His interaction with me, and a lot of other friends for that matter, will understandably be curtailed for the next number of weeks while the new family unit coalesces.

In other instances, though, I've intentionally let go of large groups of "friends". You notice that I've put the last word of my last sentence in quotations. Well, the fact of the matter is that I've stopped considering them my friends. I let go of one group a number of years ago; the last straw was at a Xmas party. I just found that I simply didn't mesh in with those people anymore. I rarely spoke to them, I didn't feel particularly comfortable and I knew a few of them didn't particularly chime in with me either. So it was simply a matter of not answering any invitations. There may be one group right now that I might do the same to. In both groups, none of the people involved are really bad sorts but they and I are just on different wavelengths. Frankly, as I get older, I'm getting less and less patient with accepting being the quiet listener all night at someone's house or at a restaurant.

And strangely enough, I don't feel all that bad about it. I just appreciate the relatively few friends I have all the more, and I understand that as time passes, one's circle of friends does get smaller. Sorry, but I'm not buying George Bailey's final scene of the whole town of friends bit. I liked "It's A Wonderful Life" but it's just another case of Capra-corn fantasy. Finally, I think I'm just more content being alone or being with very close friends. The rest will be kept at arm's length. If this makes me a cold fish, so be it!


Nine hours later....

I woke up to CNN to find out that Ol' Ski Nose, Bob Hope, passed away. In the past few decades, he had largely been seen as a hoary old cornball relic or just a name barely remembered from the Golden Age of Hollywood or as part of a golf tournament. And no doubt to anyone, his TV specials had largely been reduced to barely naughty rimshot jokes and appearances by buxom women who were young enough to be Bob's great-granddaughters.

However, being born in the last few years of the Baby Boom era in the middle of the 20th century, I did remember catching some of his frequent NBC specials as a child, and though, I can't remember things in detail, I do remember the huge TV in front of me and laughing my lungs out at his quips. The man was a master of delivery and timing.

The specials were of course my first exposure to Bob. But then as I grew up, I discovered the Road pictures with him and Bing Crosby, and found out how manic he had been in his ad-libs and his willingness to break the 4th wall. Probably he could be called the Robin Williams of his time.

Being a bit of a comedian myself, I've had a number of influences. Bob Hope is one of them.

I gather that this year will definitely be the one for the passing of the Golden Age celeb. So many have left in the past few months: Kate Hepburn, Gregory Peck, and Buddy Ebsen.

July 28

Just woke up to painfully realize that my backache is back, no pun intended. At least, I know what my pain is like so I'm semi-accustomed to it. But I've taken the Blitzkrieg approach to it. I slapped on liniment, and then applied a mustard patch that I had received from my massage clinic. And I'll probably swallow a couple of aspirin for breakfast.

Japanese baseball set a dubious record thanks to the antics of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks and the Ichiro-less Orix Blue Wave. The latter team must be really feeling the ghost pain of their best ever player 3 years after his departure, after it got shellacked for 32 hits and 26 runs. The Hawks "only" got killed for 7 runs. I guess someone forgot to tell them that the final score was more appropriate for a lopsided American football game. The game was pretty much over in the bottom of the first inning when the Hawks got 11 runs. Methinks that the Blue Wave will be doing extra jump-squats today.

And in the world of entertainment, another Musume bites the dust. Yet another original from the 1997 Group of Five, Natsumi Abe, will be "graduating" early next year. She will be the fourth girl...oops, sorry...I should say woman to leave which leaves current leader, Kaori Iida as the sole charter member. Right now, Morning Musume is at a hyper-inflated 16 females, including Abe. The announcement was made last night a t a concert via the MM's guru, Tsunku on video screen (no doubt to evade any flying bottles from the almost exclusively male audience). You could've heard a pin drop when Tsunku dropped the bombshell.

Hmmm....is it me or did President Arroyo of the Phillipines smiled very vindictively after defeating that mutiny of 296 of her soldiers in Manila?

Good golly, it's been a violent weekend. There have been a rash of these random stabbings in Japanese neighbourhoods. Crime may be low here but what few there are, they've been of the psycho variety.

Off to breakfast, I go...that is, if I can stand up.

July 27

A quiet Sunday for a change after some previous socially-influenced ones. Just did the usual home maintenance and lazed around.

Looks like those quakes in northern Japan were quite a bit more serious. There were a lot of wrecked homes and stores. Three quakes of Shindo 6....those are pretty unlucky odds there.

According to NHK, today is Eel Day. Could've fooled most of us in Japan. When I went to the supermarket today, there wasn't all that much fuss over eels.

Tomorrow will be the start of a slow-as-molasses week...luckily I should have my two most profitable classes on Monday. I may catch a movie in between classes.

July 26

The kids were good today...thank heavens. Plus I met that former student at Starbucks near my school.

We've had a few tremors today sprouting up in the northern Tohoku area. They were pretty strong suckers as well...up in the 6s according to the Shindo scale. For comparison, the quake that leveled Kobe in 1995 was a Shindo 7. But true to the Japanese technology protecting us from the big ones, there was damaage but not any injuries. Without gloating, I note that there have been many casualties in other countries from smaller quakes. NHK has been giving some major attention to the quake for the past hour.

I'm trying to figure out what I'll do for the next week. Since my regular school-based classes will be on hiatus, I have huge patches of time. I may just decide to catch up on some movies or explore a little. There is that modern conference area, Makuhari Messe, not too far from my place that I've been wanting to take a second look at. Plus, they've included quite a few more places since my last visit years ago including two megamarts, Carrefour and Costco.

I forgot to mention about that new Tuesday night class nearby. This ball of energy has been running this combination tiny English school and juku (cram school) for 3 years from the second floor of her house. I teach four students in two classes. The first sclass has three very low people including a traditional couple; I almost forgot that people like that still existed. The second class has just one businessman who want s to head overseas to work. It's pretty laid back; I've basically been given carte blanche as to how I teach them and which texts to use. I would've liked more structure....case in point, the students are just given photocopies of the lessons I want to teach. Hmmm....not too pro but if they don't mind, then I'm OK. Well, it is a new challenge.

July 25

Well, the week has once again come to an end. I just taught my regular morning oil class, had the regular kaffeeklatsch with the teachers up on the 6th floor before heading out to the Farm Grill for the first time in a month. Got my fill of food although I wasn't too impressed with the servings this time around.

I checked out my phone messages after lunch and got one from my ex. Apparently, her time with my Friday night English circle will cease because of her work schedule. I'm disappointed and admittedly, a bit suspicious. I'm ashamed to admit that since she was always up front with me during our relationship. However, my suspicious nature is sadly a permanent part of me; that part thinks that she's pulling away from me of her own volition or has found a new boyfriend. Of course, I will not dare tell this to her.

Feeling somewhat grumpy, I took a long walk in the spitting showers through Ginza, Yurakucho and Marunouchi. I finally came up to the new Maru Building complex, another one of the new vertical commercial behemoths growing in Tokyo, although it has been overshadowed by the complexes in Shiodome and Roppongi. Looked like your usual glass-and-metal ode to 21st-century conspicuous consumption.

I even decided to traipse through the Imperial Hotel. I had gone to the basement before with a friend of mine a year ago but it was the first time in the lobby. It had that classic flavor. Even the bathroom stalls were fitted with real oak-and-brass doors with lights that turn on and off automatically. Now, that's class.

I finally gave into temptation and bought that issue of Entertainment Weekly from the Yurakucho HMV. First, it had a goodly-sized tribute to Katherine Hepburn, and it was only 799 yen plus tax....the lowest price for a foreign magazine anywhere in Japan.

Then, I returned to Ichigaya to the Tea Room where I waited for my lone visitor for 2 hours of English banter. Happily, the talk went pretty much non-stop without any major embarrasing lapses.

When I got home, I had my schedule faxed over to me. They needn't have bothered. I basically have nothing next week except for the oil classes due to the fac t that the regular classes are having tests almost all week. I'm just lucky that I've got my privates to prop me up. But the lack of income for that week will hurt. Perhaps I shouldn't have given in to temptation.

Anyways, it looks like my social calendar is building up. This weekend is fairly dead but the next couple of weekends could get busy with a grad party, a movie buddy outing, an outing to a Chinese restaurant with some students and a goodbye party for a former student.

At least tomorrow is Eel Day. Eel is great to build up stamina. All of the supermarkets should be having barkers yelling everybody to grab some grilled eel on rice. Also, the annual Sumida River Fireworks Festival will be held in Asakusa. This brings up the next mystery. For the past 7 years, I had been invited to a former NOVA student's apartment right next to the river itself for fireworks viewing. However, I didn't hear a thing this year. I hope everything is alright with my student.

July 22

Feeling pretty sleepy right now although I think a combination of vitamin drink and caffeine is propping me up. And of course, when I'm sleepy I also get rather down with life generally. Hopefully, the feeling will pass since I'll be starting my new gig in Urayasu later tonight. I've got very little info about this class outside that they're using American Streamline. Hmm...I just hope that this isn't a fly-by-night operation.

Yesterday I had a pleasant afternoon at the Tokyo Hilton with a friend of mine for that cake buffet. Good, friendly staff and a wide variety of food helped the experience. I'll definitely have to try it again and perhaps I'll even go for the other buffets they have. They're all very reasonably priced.

Just glad that I've got most of the day off tomorrow.

July 20

A very pleasant if humid day today. I taught my kid and her father. It worked out very well and the doctor was OK if somewhat less able than his wife.

Then, it was off to see T3 with Movie Buddy and his friend. We had a bit of a glitch at the beginning though when the three of us had entered the wrong theatre (the one we wanted was next door) and only realized the error after the staff had clipped our tickets. Movie Buddy almost went into a fit but luckily the staff taped the tickets together; they seemed rather nonchalant about it as if this were a common occurence. MB fumed a bit about how the staff should've realized that we had walking into the wrong theatre when we entered the place just a half-hour after the movie had already started. However, I kinda think we should've just kept our eyes more open.

In any case, we were able to rectify the error quickly enough so that we could scoot over to the right theatre and get some decent seats. The movie itself was OK but a shadow of T2. It kinda had that Star Trek "Odd Numbered Movie" syndrome; it had potential but it just ended up being a prelude for something more. For that reason, I would like to see a T4.

Afterwards, we had some coffee at the local Starbucks followed by dinner at an Aussie pub in Shinjuku. It was sure nice to chug down a Crown Royal while tucking into delights such as fish and chips, meat pie and swordfish. I rather enjoyed the outing today so much that I just sent an e-mail to some of our soon-to-be grads to see if they want to be part of the Movie Buddy system.

And I finally got that CD I had been searching for. No liner notes but I'm not complaining after 15 years of looking.

July 19

Well, we're into a 3-day weekend...not that it matters a whole bunch to me since I'm half on holiday, it seems, anyways.

I had my usual oil company class yesterday morning followed by the usual lunch in the lounge with the teachers. It was quite bustling today there. We had no fewer than 7 teachers gabbing away. I kinda wonder if the Teachers' Room on the 4th floor will go fallow once more. However, it was nice chatting with the lads.

I stayed for another hour there and ended up helping a few students in the senior class while the assigned teacher was talking with the other students before heading out to Akihabara. I basically went out there really just to kill time more than anything else since I had my regular English circle in Ichigaya. The clouds were looking pretty threatening at that point. However, I indulged in some massage, courtesy of the showroom massage chairs in the Yamagiwa appliance shop; gave myself a good 20-minute treatment for free. Then I decided to spend most of the next 2 hours just scouring around for old CDs. But alas, it looks like the days of the late 80s and early 90s stuff may be coming to an end. A lot of the stuff I saw there yesterday were used copies of fairly current artists.

I returned to Ichigaya and headed over to the Tea Room almost 90 minutes early for the session, so I just indulged in my crossword puzzles and had my dinner until the first person came...a good 20 minutes late. Both women who came had just come back from trips, one to Vietnam and one to a local hot spring. The custom of bringing back souvenirs reaped good dividends for me as I got a pack of instant Pho noodles and chocolate from one lady, and then some more chocolate from the other.

After I got home, I got the notice from the neighbourhood post office saying that my CD had arrived. My 15-year search will soon be over. Actually, I received a most cordial letter from the distributor responsible for getting me the CD ove r the Net today. He seemed impressed that I would choose such an obscure artist amongst all of the current hitmakers. Well, I bent his ear a bit with my explanation. Maybe this will reap dividends for me here as well.

In any case, I gotta head on out for my kid class, and then I meet Movie Buddy and his friend to see Terminator 3.

July 18

My last class was a bit frustrating. I had a girl who had always been a bit of a problem with the other teachers, and up to that point, I really didn't have too much of a problem, but today, she completely shut down on me. The other women assured me that she's just a kid and that all teens act like that. Problem is that she's NOT a kid but a 20-year-old, and most teens don't join up with an English school for a whole year.

Caught The Bourne Identity last night. It was a good quiet spy flick much on the level of Ronin. I'm sure Robert Ludlum would've liked the way it was filmed although I had heard that there was some contentiousness during filming. Matt Damon may not quite have the charisma of a Tom Cruise or a Brad Pitt, but he can hold a film. As for Chris Cooper, I'm not saying that the Oscar winner phoned his performance in, but I think any number of actors could've had his part.

July 16

Ugh....had to battle an allergy which my medicine couldn't fight for me, and have my lesson with my Wednesday nighter. Nothing worse than teaching with a runny nose. The worst thing is having the allergy finally fade AFTER the class.

On the way down to the Starbucks to teach my student, I decided to pop by the new Shiodome complex, yet another high-rise entertainment emporium built in the last year. It 's located next to the salarymen-and-pub soaked area of Shimbashi; quite a contrast. Looking into it, I see that it follows the Roppongi Hills example of lots of restaurants including the Oregon Bar and Grill but not a whole lot of shops.

Speaking of Roppongi Hills, my students told me that the complex may already have peaked in popularity. One of them said that her daughter had visited the place recently only to find a relatively small number of people going through the labyrinth-like nooks and crannies of the complex. My feeling is that having Mr. Mori design his baby like an amoeba may be counterproductive for the commercial residents. The place already has a reputation as a ritzy, exclusive mall. I don't think people would be all that willing to explore all of the cul de sacs if they knew of the expense. I could imagine some stores pulling up stakes in the not-too-distant future. At this point, th e only successful places seem to be the Virgin Theaters and the restaurants.

On a totally different note, my yeasr-long search for a CD by a certain artist may be coming to a happy end. I managed to find an online CD service which has a copy. I have the original vinyl album but since record players are pretty much a rarity these days, I had almost given up hope.

Let's see, I did decide to also purchase The Bourne Identity on DVD last night. I had caught it on the plane on the way back from Canada last year. The viewing experience on a plane is never that good but I did enjoy watching Matt Damon kick ass so I'd been waiting for th e past half-year for it come out. Will probably watch tonight after work.

July 16

I hadn't intended to check my e-mail so soon after my last check just last night, but I unconsciously activated the Outlook. There have been times that I've done things just on a hunch which ended up becoming meaningful for me, so I decided to follow through. Sure enough, it was one of those times. My good friend, Chip Man, and his wife had just sent the message that they're now the proud parents of a baby girl.

A nice slow Wednesday today. I won't be doing my class until tonight so I can afford to laze back a bit.

July 15

Another binge fest last night. In fact, I ended up at McD's twice, a breach of a personal rule not to visit the Golden Arches more than once a week. But I just needed a place last night to hang out before heading to mylate class. And sure enough, just by this poky little station, there was a McDonalds. Of all the places... Also in between visits, I visited my student's Chinese restaurant in the Kanda area. It was a pretty good place not spectacular, but the service was very good, thanks to my student. However, I did notice that somewhat concealed icy look from the first waiter who had met me at the door. I guess I just struck him as a typical lousy oyaji in for a quick bite.

That was the bad news. The good news is that I actually saved some yen on my new, supposedly rarefied, lifestyle. Even with a wedding and some outings, and the expenses that come with them, I actually netted something.

July 13

Woke up this morning earlier than desired because I was getting that distinctly dreaded feeling of throwing up. Well, not that far ahead but nausea was present. So I downed a bunch of baking soda with water to neutralize the acid that must've been bubbling in my poor stomach thanks to the 2 kg of beef I had ingested the night before with the students in Shibuya. Then I sat down in the doorway of the bathroom for about 10 minutes just to make sure that I was over the hump before getting back to bed. Luckily enough, it did the trick but I ended up feeling drowsy all day.

A few hours later and some rushed cleaning afterwards, Movie Buddy came by and we saw Angelina Jolie's TOMB RAIDER on DVD. The movie itself was OK but not a huge spectacle for me. There were just too many draggy exposition scenes interspersed with the action plus some herky-jerky pacing near the end for me to give it a thumbs-up. Hopefully, things will be better in the sequel.

Then, MB and I met up with his girlfriend a couple of stations over to go over to her friend's place for curry. Marilyn was chastising herself about her curry contribution all throughout the afternoon despite our encouragment. She even went so far as to say that it was a bunch of horsestuff. To be honest, in a way, it did have that color and certain chunkiness but it was actually pretty good when poured over rice. She was so relieved when we gave our compliments. Her friend made a somewhat more lighter and more vegetable-laden curry which was no less spicier. I unfortunately had the misfortune of chewing down on one of the green chili peppers which rendered my tonsils radioactive for a short while. It was a bit of a feast since we also dove into a giant fruit tart that MB had bought, and then we finished off with some takoyaki (deep-fried octopus balls) at the nearby mall.

I may have also scored another job lead although I'm not sure what the asking price will be thanks to the help of Marilyn's friend. Keeping my fingers crossed.

My weekend has been a feast. 2 kg of beef which threatened to blow me up and then curry. But it doesn't end today. I'm heading out tomorrow to a Chinese restaurant in Tokyo where one of my students is working at her invitation. I kinda wish I didn't have to go alone, though. It's always so limiting when there is only one to order stuff from a Chinese restaurant.

Joly 12

Well, as I said in my last report, I should be pretty tired after my day and night of debauchery today. Actually, I don't feel all that bad; things were pretty calm although the conversation was starting to approach the salty area.

Yep, it was another hot and humid one as I started my day by teaching those kids. The younger sister was fine but the older one was rather out to lunch for some reason. I figure it was the usual annoying teenage emotional roller coaster. I kinda mentioned to the mother that the daughter was a bit "sleepy" today for which I received a very profuse apology. I think I should've just given the usual bland "No problems" instead.

I managed to speed over to Shinjuku after class to see Movie Buddy and watch Charlie's Angels 2. The sequel to the 2000 hit had more of everything: more unbelievable stunts, more skin (the Terminator-like emergence of the Angels in their birthday suits was a nice touch)....and more dumbness. This was absolutely a movie to not just suspend your disbelief but also to take that disbelief, put it into a catapult, launch it and blow it out of the sky with a high-powered rifle. A lot of the critics will take issue with me on this point, but CA2 made itself so dumb as to render it bulletproof from any harsh reviews. As MB pointed out, anyone giving this a bad review didn't come with the right attitude.
The movie also continued to add to its custom of pop culture riffs by spoofing CSI, the aforementioned Terminator and Cape Fear. And it took a little from Austin Powers' Goldmember by having a goodly amount of stunt casting. Luke Perry and that guy from Friends were back along with creepy Crispin Glover. However, Bruce Willis, Robert Patrick, John Cleese, Demi Moore and a nearly unrecognizable Carrie Fisher also popped by for a spell.
In a bit of a contradiction of my contention that CA2 is criticproof, I think that the movie suffers from Return of the Jedi syndrome in that McG tried to stuff in too much in less than 2 hours. Only Bernie Mac's outsized talent managed to keep him above water but having no less than 4 villains pretty much sublimated what could've become 2 interesting subplots involving Drew's character and Demi's Fallen Angel. All in all, I'm pretty certain that CA3 is inevitable.

Well, after that flick, Movie Buddy and I hit a Becker's burger joint for a little respite where he told me that his ruse to set me up with his friend at tomorrow's party was itself a ruse. He just wanted to keep quiet the fact that I would be meeting one of the staff members from my school at the party because she's been going out with MB. There's nothing wrong with teachers and staff per se but knowing that the grapevine at our school is especially ripe, the news just had to be kept quiet.

Then, I finally met up with two other teachers and five students for dinner at a hot pot restaurant. I managed to down a good 2 kg of beef so I'm feeling quite bloated right now. Breakfast will therefore mean just a lot of fruit. MB's prudence was quite wise; a lot of the talk centered around various possible relationships. I stayed sober and tried to listen. However a couple of the ladies decided that their little talk was so private that they just moved themselves to another table for a short while. However, I think I'm pretty much in the know as to what they were talking about since a former teacher let me in on a secret some months earlier.

Anyways, time to take my shower and hit bed.

July 11

Well, didn't have to wait long before the heat and humidity came roaring in. My air conditioner is now on full power. Luckily, today was a short day in that I just had one class in the morning and my Friday night circle was cancelled. I just had lunch with the full-timers in the school lounge and then went off to Kinokuniya to find a couple of t exts before getting home in the form of a limp dishrag.

Tomorrow, I've got a pretty full schedule. After my class with the doctor's kids, I'm catching Charlie's Angels 2 with the Movie Buddy in Shinjuku. With it being out for 2 weeks and T3 hitting the shores tomorrow, I think we should be able to get in with little fear of huge lineups. But then again, in this burg, one can never tell. Then, I'm off to have dinner with some students and teachers at an all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu place. Don't know how long that's going to last but with the fear of the cost having been bandied about and the fact that it's pretty hot, I have a feeling that we'll probably break up early.

That's all well and good since on Sunday, Movie Buddy will be hitting my place early for us to watch Tomb Raider on DVD and then go to a party near my place. MB is trying to set me up with a woman who just can't seem to grab a boyfriend. Hmmm...I'm frankly not too hopeful about this one.

Well, the big news on the front pages these days in Tokyo has been that murder of that 4-year-old toddler by the 12-yeas-old kid. Plus, there has been news from Okinawa of the murder of a teen by his classmates. I had been thinking for some time that the reputation of Japanese kids has been largely overrated. I just wish that fate hadn't proven me too right.

I caught part of an old Spielberg movie last night on satellite.: 1941. It is the first of his relative failures, and the movie has all of the sheen of his 70s/80s whimsy. I only saw the first half hour since I had an aerly start today and because the movie was a horrible print which managed to slash a lot of footage. I have very little patience for "Edited for TV". Anyways, from what I saw last night, I think the Bearded One was trying to go for a farce on the level of a "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" but didn't quite make it. Doing a farce even back in those days was hard to pull off and even "It's...Mad World" has dated rather badly.
The movie got slagged critically and fans stayed away but nowadays, it is seen as an underrated flick. Then again, even Spielberg's failures are fascinating to watch (check A.I.) I enjoyed watching it just to see who popped up. I knew about Dan Ackroyd and Robert Stack, but there was also Treat Williams, Ned Beatty and Dianne Kay (from Eight is Enough....good lord, what's she up to now?). Of course, John Williams' score was a perfect match for the movie. And to see Christopher Lee and Toshiro Mifune bickering like a couple of old ladies was worth the price of admission. Hmmm....I wonder about that next DVD purchase now. Speaking of which, I am also considering The Bourne Identity.

Joly 9

The weather here has been surprisingly cool. I can live with that but Ido wonder what is to become of this year's rice crop. Maybe we'll be having more of the Thai variety this year. I don't mind myself but I'm sure the more rightwing elements will be going nuts.

I had a heart-to-heart yesterday with a fellow full-time teacher who similarly has little love for the upper echelons of our school. He's also thinking about jumping over to the part-time side. Financially, he shouldn't have much to worry about since he's been saving much more than me. And he ought to enjoy the down time. We just talked about when he'll be pulling the trigger since he does have some holiday time coming up and he doesn't want to sacrifice that.

I just have the one private today and then two tomorrow.