Friday Feb. 13, 10:59 p.m.

Another long day and another event comes to an end. The Pancake party came off without too much of a hitch although I had to do some quick shopping and quick running to a supermarket that wasn't too close because the coordinator conveniently forgot to get some of the ingredients. Reminder to self: don't rely on her again. Movie Buddy was there but he seemed a bit out of sorts during the party...just kinda staring through people although he was willing enough to gab with the rest of us. The Songbird came in briefly but had to miss out on the pancakes because of a class. Senior student Skippy was doing her usual happy-go-lucky stint cooking up the fondue and the pancakes. She's also gone on the plan for the second party after the official grad party on the 21st. By the end, I was giving away the remaining bottles of syrup to whoever was left. I also got some Valentine's Day chocolates from one of the students as well.

I ended up staying in the lounge for a full hour after everyone had left just doing my crosswords. I needed to warm down...after the events of today, I felt a bit of lingering post-event letdown. Strangely enough, our resident weirdo student for this year dropped by briefly. I can only imagine what he will say for his grad speech...ina way, I'm kinda dreading it.

Finally, I got myself home. Once again, I didn't bother to cook anything since I wasn't in the mood. I ended up going low-end by just grabbing a burger set at the neighbourhood Lotteria. I couldn't even bothered to cross the street for the superior McDonalds.

Well, I did catch a repeat of Men In Black tonight on Nippon TV. It is by far the more superior of the two MIB flicks that have come on. Man, that sequel pretty much drowned out any hopes of a third movie. The so-called franchise joins the ranks of Star Wars, the Matrix and Rocky in terms of the Law of Sharply Diminishing Returns.

I gotta do a relatively fast clean tonight and tomorrow morning since Movie Buddy will be crashing at my place after The Return of the King. For some reason, I'm not nearly as enthused about catching it as he is. I guess it could be because of the long wait ahead. Also, I've got that new kid to see before I meet up with MB.

Thursday Feb. 12, 11:37 p.m.

Well, happy birthday to my Dad. He's 67 today. Speaking of old age, I was rather surprised to hear on the news today that some 73-year-old was given a second warrant on top of his first one for armed robbery in which he seriously wounded a guard at a UFJ Bank in Nagoya about a year ago. This time, the oldtimer got it for owning a whole ton of guns and ammo illegally.

I was initially a bit depressed when I did my books just now to find out that I made a loss this month. However, I do have to realize that it was a lean month in terms of work at my school, and this is the first loss I've ever incurred in the 13 months that I've kept books. And considering how much I lost, my other friends would probably laugh at me in envious derision. Frankly speaking, if I had curbed my spending a bit here and there, I probably would've even broke out even.

Well, on this workless day, I found myself taking a bit more equipment over to the school in preparation for tomorrow's Pancake Day. It was the periodic level check day for the students, so as the afternoon hours passed, several of them came in to chat before and after their inteview tests and the follow-up counseling chats with one of the staff. I noticed that the manager didn't give me the time ofday when he came by. He can go to Hell! Otherwise, I had a pleasant time talking it up with the kids and the teachers while I constructed a few props. The Songbird was there for the first hour of checks and then Music Guy came by. I hadn't seen him since the Xmas party so it was good to talk with him again, since we like to talk about, as his code name would indicate, music. He shares parallels with Chip Guy though they have never met in that they both have the same first name, they are both good friends of mine and they both have recently arrived baby daughters.

I once again decided to eschew making dinner and instead went out to another subway mall restaurant...this time, it was TONKI, the tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet) place where I had the B Set. It consists of three juicy slices of the pork, two slices of chicken cutlet and a single breaded prawn with a little tartar sauce on the side and mounds of shredded cabbage, the de rigueur side veggie of choice for tonkatsu. With a bowl of rice and tonjiru (pork soup), it's a huge bargain at a mere 880 yen.

I came home and vegged a few hours before I finally got on the e-mail and sent that little message to one of my longest and best students to see if she would be my apartment's guarantor. Odds are that she will reject me since it is a pretty heavy responsibility. But I just have to try.

Also, I packed up my hotplate into the suitcase to transport over to the school. I was even thinking of bringing a pan and the portable gas stove but with the suitcase and my regular bag, I figured that I would punishing myself more than I would be benefitting the party plans. I don't really know how this party will turn out and if there may be an outing tomorrow night. Basically, in previous years, we had the pancakes and that was it. Plus, I do have my kids the next day and then my first meeting with my latest new student. All that happens before I meet up with Movie Buddy in Shinjuku for the premiere of The Return of the King.

I kinda learned a new aspect of student culture today at the school. I had bought a bag of mini Kit Kats for myself and anyone else who was in the student lounge. A number of them got pretty happy on seeing the famed chocolate brand. Apparently, students have a tradition of munching on two bars before a major test since KIT KATS sound roughly similar in Japanese as "I will win!" Also, another food that the kids usually nosh on the eve of an exam day is the aforementioned tonkatsu because th e last two syllables of the word mean "to win". Go fig.

I recently started a regular dialogue with a student about jazz. She was the one from whom I borrowed The Great Expectations video a couple of weeks ago. Although she's not been the most proficient of students, we've had a chance to link up in our mutual interest in Diana Krall and Bill Evans. We exchanged e-mail addresses, so hopefully even when she graduates next Saturday, we may still continue our dialogue and perhaps even hit a couple of jazz bars someday...something that never came to fruition with the now estranged Madame.

Classmates.com contacted me once again in my e-mail to inform me that I had a few more entries from my high school days. I originally signed up back in 2002 just as a lark but quickly forgot about it. In fact, when I went to take a look at the site out of curiosity, I realized I had forgotten my password. Well, one e-mail solved that oversight and I logged in. I could only ooh and aah as I saw a number of old names listed there. I could have contacted them immediately but I was never a popular student at my high school, and frankly, the happier side of my life really didn't start until I entered university. And even then, I've burned a lot of bridges.

Wednesday Feb. 11, 10:36 p.m.

It is the national holiday that noone knows or remembers here in Japan: Constitution Day or, more banally, Japan's birthday. I think the one reason for the apathy is that Japan is so old, well over 2000 years, that the meaning of anniversary has basically become meaningless. Canada is a mere babe in comparison, although I wonder how many Canadians realize that our country will be celebrating its 137th b-day this year.

Aside from that one class, it was of course a day off for me. I was a bit annoyed at my Wednesday afternoon student, although I didn't let her know, since she didn't realize the significance of today (see what I mean?) until she woke up this morning. I had asked her last week about the possibility of this lesson today because of the holiday. She apparently didn't hear me. Well, I guess she must have been a bit apologetic since she gave me some DAIFUKU, or bean-filled rice cakes (they actually do taste pretty good despite the description). And besides, I made a bit of money. However, she also said that she and her family would be off in Hawaii from the 24th for possibly an entire month. Her father had just gone through a pretty bad bout of cancer so he needs a lot of rest and relaxation, so I think I can understand the month-long stay there, but still the paranoid part of me is wondering if she's just telling me softly that my services will no longer be needed. Yes, it does sound paranoid, but in this country, face-saving is paramount and giving the most transparent of lies is not at all uncommon to get out of something. Heck, the staff at my old school routinely tells company students that a teacher has either gone mad or destroyed his or her health when that teacher quits or refuses to teach the class.

It looks like though that my gripe about having to go all the way out to the west of Shinjuku may just be sour grapes since my juku boss left a message stating that my Thursday night student has once again cancelled out. I realize that he is a company cog and that this time of year is especially tough on cogs, but he should have considered that before taking the plunge for English classes. He isn't a high student by any means so the extended absence will not help his retention any.

So I find myself with 2 days without classes starting from tomorrow. I'll just be taking some more ingredients and equipment out to the school for the Pancake Day before taking the heavy stuff on Friday.

Tuesday Feb. 10, 11:57 p.m.

Well, it looks like I have another legal headache to consider. I knew it was coming but it's still not great looking at the real thing. My real estate company sent out the lease renewal form for me to fill out since I'm approaching the end of my 2-year lease. I don't mind paying the extra money to pay for the renewed lease, but there is the pain of the guarantor. In my first few years here, I relied on my uncle whom I don't have any contact with anymore. The last few years here I didn't worry about guarantors since my then-real estate agency took into consideration my long tenure at the same apartment and waived the need for my uncle's stamp. However, last year, another agency took over control and so I now find myself in the unenviable situation of having either to contact my uncle (who probably has a healthy dose of resentment against me), hat in hand, for his stamp or to talk with one of my senior students for her help.

On the good side, I did get my package of books and CD from Amazon. The books are on maple syrup gathering which will help me a lot on Friday. I have to do a bit of prep work on that during the holiday tomorrow. By the way, it is a rare national holiday Wednesday. It's Japan's birthday.

I also got my first Valentine's Day chocolate from my first batch of students at the juku tonight. Always nice to get. And I got another free lunch from my Tuesday morning ladies. We went off to the same little local restaurant...great food.

I have one class on the holiday. In a way, it's a bit of a waste since I have to travel all the way out past Shinjuku for just a one-hour lesson, but the student is very good. Plus, it'll get me out of the apartment.

Monday Feb. 9, 10:36 p.m.

Had my first class with the ladies thi s morning. It's starting to look my maple syrup crusade is picking up as much speed as John Kerry's campaign. I think I may be making pancakes for the ladies next Monday. One of them was left flabbergasted by the fact that maple syrup is actually healthy.

I did another pit stop at my school after class to drop off some more supplies for Pancake Day. The kids were in the middle of their practice TOEIC tests so I just quietly munched away on my lunch and worked on the lesson plan for the class at the Iconoclast's company. Later, I had a nice chat with the Songbird about her life and times at the school. She told me about some sort of tax receipt she had received from her ward office for some money that she was supposed to have received from one of her public schools. When she asked the mealy-mouthed assistant manager, she got some doubletalk about keeping things quiet. I think she's being shafted out of some money.

My class at the Iconoclast's company was good if tiring. Certainly, one of the two students who did show up was looking pretty spent. The Iconoclast and I did our usual dinner at Fufu. Yes, I admit that it's my second time there in as many days, but when the food is good and spicy there on such a cold day, I think I can be forgiven for risking a little monotony. And especially since two of my favourite restaurants have gone down the wayside, I need to appreciate those class acts.

Sunday Feb. 8, 11:26 p.m.

Another chilly day today. I made another run for Pancake Day. I returned to th e Canada Centre in the Sunshine 60 Building. I couldn't believe that there was a jug of Dark Grade maple syrup for 2500 yen. I could've just been happy with a small bottle of the stuff but a jug was all they had. Plus, I picked up some maple popcorn and maple butter. Perhaps I'll buy some bread for the kids to spread the stuff on. I'm still waiting for those books I ordered from Amazon concerning sugaring off. I also picked up a package of DARE blueberry cream cheese cookies. Resistance is futile.

I met up with Chip Guy and family at Tsutaya in Shibuya. Apparently, there is some major construction going on around the Hachiko statue. It hasn't stopped the young ones from collecting around the dog but it's even more crowded there now, and I know that the Chipster hates personal congestion. The four of us (or should that be 3.5 of us) went to a pretty trendy Korean BBQ place called Toraji in the PARCO Department Store. I'd been there a few times before with Chip Guy and even with some of the students. Good stuff but it didn't come cheap. Afterwards, we dropped in at TGI Fridays down the street for some dessert. We each ordered a half-sized version of the Brownie Sundae. It was still plenty heavy for me.

Got home and did some ironing. After that, I checked my e-mail. One o f the messages was a response from the husband of one of my students at the school. He's a huge movie fan, and is especially a fan of Star Trek, The Matrix and Lord of the Rings. So I gave him a congenial Star Trek quiz composed of 10 questions. He didn't do too badly...he scored on six of them. There's potential for him.

Saturday Feb. 7, 10:45 p.m.

Tiring day...after my kids' classes and then lunch at Fufu, I started the shopping for Pancake Day. The big load was at Kinokuniya Supermarket where I bought 9 bottles of 3 different grades of syrup. Luckily, I had the bright idea to lug it back to my school where the coordinator was holding model lessons. There, I met up with an old student of mine whom I hadn't seen in a couple of years. She was in the same year as my ex. She hasn't changed much since her graduation and is now a part-time freelance announcer. The coordinator often calls on her help to sell Berkeley to prospective students. Unfortunately, she had a bit of a weirdo on her hands. We always have one such person in the year-course. Our current resident weirdo has been coming to class in very high geta, supposedly to strengthen his leg muscles for his martial arts. I'm not sure if he is getting strong leg muscles but he is getting attention.

The Cop, one of our teachers, was also there to teach one of the model lessons. He was sporting just a sweater and slacks which apparently sounded a fashion alarm in the coordinator's eyes and a call to the deputy manager. He confided to me that he greatly resented that. I told him that the coordinator is occasionally mercenary and unpredictable in her ways and it was best to keep a certain distance from her. I certainly learned that lesson a few years back.

I got home after my arduous journey through Tokyo and made myself some gratin for dinner. I'm also watching the TV premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring; much to Fuji-TV's credit, they're showing it uncut.

Chip Guy sent me a message concerning tomorrow's activities. I'll give a call in the morning since he's crashing early tonight.

Skippy, one of our soon-to-be grads, sent me a message stating that she got a job as a kids' English teacher at another school. She'll also be taking care of holiday events which pretty much matches what I do at my school. With my old student, the Ballerina and now her, I realize that after their one year with us, they go on their way with their English ability to carve themselves new opportunities. I sometimes feel like a cop at a way station. I get to know them well over the course of a year and then they fly off.

Friday Feb. 6, 10:56 p.m.

Well, it looks like I may have to cut down on my Internet and e-mail scanning. I got my latest NTT bill, and it's still pretty high although it still doesn't even compare to what some of these kids must ring up on their cells. I'll probably keep it to just once a day and see how that goes although that will probably I'll have to filter about close to a hundred messages for spam.

An atypically busy Friday. I met up with the Curry Master at First Kitchen for lunch to talk about her potential lessons. I can squeeze her in on alternating Thursday nights; she also told me about a TOEIC student of hers from IBM whom she would like me to teach on the same night at her apartment. I automatically put out a yellow flag when someone pops me some further information that didn't pop out easlier. She told me that she had been teaching him for 3 years and yet she couldn't recall his family name. Go figure! I also noticed that she kept a laser-like stare on my hands whenever I used them for gestures. Hm.

Then, it was off to my regular Friday afternoon gig at the Tea Room. It was pretty good except that she forgot to pay me. I realized it before we left the place but I didn't say anything since I thought it would be a bit gauche to mention the fact. She did send me an e-mail message apologizing for the oversight.

Finally, it was off to see my regular Wednesday nighter at the Toranomon Starbucks. The class went well and she paid me. However, next week will be a scratch. In fact, I won't have any classes at the school next week because it'll be the final testing week for the students before graduation. Plus, there's the fact that Constitution Day is coming up next Wednesday.

Tomorrow ought to be a busy one with me doing some major shopping for the big Pancake Day festivities on Friday. Happily, I've got a budget and funding to pay for all the syrup. I should be properly exhausted by the time I get home, though. I've gotta entertain 24 students.

Friday Jan. 5, 1:15 a.m.

It's gotten chilly again. No classes yesterday but I went in to discuss the Pancake Party plans with the coordinator. It looks the last party of the year before the graduation has gotten a lot of interest...a good three-quarters of the student body have signed up.

Afterward, me and a couple of the students went off to the local Tully's for a couple of hours to chat. During that time, one of them tentatively asked me about the possibility of teachng them after they graduate. It is possible but I'm gonna have to scour the schedule.

Then the three of us went downtown to COCA where we met our 4th member for dinner at Yurakucho Station. The talk was flowing very easily as we spent a good 3.5 hours there while we munched and drank away on good food and drink. We got into some rather bizarre, certainly unsuitable topics over the dinner table for some reason. We got into that German cannibal case which sparked speculation on what humans taste like. I also discovered that the husband of one of the students is a fellow Trekkie so I sent him a simple Trek test over the e-mail. I also advised another student about her interest in joining NOVA once she graduates from the school.

Well, I should hit the hay since I've got a fairly busy day later today. I'm meeting up with that high-level lady in Urayasu. Then, I'm meeting my regular Friday afternoon student and then I have to rush off to Toranomon to see my regular Wednesday nighter. Plus, I gotta get ready for my kids on Saturday morning. Perhaps if I've got time, I may drop in on the school and give my fellow jazz buddy the Diana Krall DVD and my own Bill Evans CD.

Wednesday Feb. 4, 11:45 p.m.

Another long day comes to an end.

I met my newest student at Oimachi Station, just next to the hotel district of Shinagawa on the Keihin-Tohoku Line. It's one of those typical sleepy centers that got roused by the building of the station so that there is this hub of commercial activity surrounded by little shops and restaurants. My student is the owner of a tiny beauty salon recommended to me by my current Starbucks student who also happens to be the owner's regular client. I did my usual level check/interview with her. Her knowledge of grammar is quite good but her structure is shot to hell. She'll need lots of drills, that's for sure. What also struck me is that she looks quite young but she told me that went into hairstyling straight from high school and that she's been doing it for 20 years. This would peg her around my age which floored me.

After her inaugural lesson, I started looking around for some lunch. I went up to the restaurant floor up on the top floor of the Marui department store by the station but since it was 12:30, not surprisingly, all of the places still had lineups, so I ended up patronizing the Golden Arches again, and then taking a pit stop at the local Starbucks for an hour before heading out to my regular Wednesday afternoon kid out around Shinjuku.

After I was done with the Shinjuku assignment, I had to drop by my Monday company to pick up a package that I had inadvertently left in the Iconoclast's fridge. That's all I meant to do, but I ended up doing some impromptu translations when the President and one other staff member wanted to bend my ear along with my friend. So although I just had two classes, I still ended up snoozing on the subway home. I seem to be doing a lot of my napping on the subway recently.

It was good to get home early, though. My Starbucks student moved her lesson to Friday because of overtime tonight so I was able to hit the apartment around 6 p.m. so that I could get some home cooking into me. I started getting some of that Pancake Day planning under way; I'll be heading into school tomorrow to talk with the coordinator about it before I meet up with some of the students for dinner at COCA.

I also got a call from Movie Buddy tonight to talk about next week's plans to catch The Return of the King. It'll be opening day when we see it so we figure that we'll be waiting for a few hoursat the theater in Shinjuku, but it'll just remind me of the days when my brother and I waited 2 hours at the old University Theater in T.O. for The Empire Strikes Back. Also, in our conversation, I found out that the teachers may be lacking classes this week. We sure will be lacking classes next week because of the final testing of the kids and the Constitution Day national holiday next Wednesdays. I joked that some of us will be panhandling outside of the train station with signboards saying, "Will Teach for Food". Never a dull day.

Looks like the government computers have been having a bad day. One guy in the tax office got nailed for hacking into government sites. Apparently, he got a bit carried away while he was trying to prove to his bosses that there are holes in the computer security systems. Also, there was the laughable situation of a malfunction in the Internet-based income tax return system which caused personal information to be sent to other people. Your tax yen at work, I see.

Speaking of government craziness, I'm rather intrigued to see that Super Channel has started showing reruns of The Prisoner. Welcome, Number Six. If Twin Peaks ever had a father, this show would be it.

Tuesday Feb. 3, 1:37 p.m.

It's Setsubun Day today here in Japan. February 3 is the day when the locals drive out the devil from their homes by throwing small hard beans at him. You might consider a more hands-on approach to the Jack O'Lantern tradition. In any case, you couldn't ask for a "better" day to hold such a festival since it is truly gloomy out there. Not nearly as miserable as it was yesterday with the cold rain/sleet, but I could imagine a lot of SAD sufferers hiding under their futons.

So far, the work day has gone pretty well. I just had my regular Tsudanuma folks where I had my usual little snack thanks to the ladies. This time, it was better-tasting gumdrops. I've just come home for a small respite before heading out for my Urayasu classes. It will be an hour shorter tonight since the last student cancelled his class. No complaints here.

Looks like there was more hoopla at the Super Bowl other than the fact that the game was exciting. Janet Jackson decided to pull off a diversionary tactic for her embattled brother, Mike, and had her breast flap pulled off Considering that she's done a number of risque shots for magazines and CD covers, could one really be susrprised by her antic?

Monday Feb. 2, 11:22 p.m.

I'm not sure if Punxatawney Phil the Groundhog found any reason to extend Winter another 6 weeks back Stateside, but it looks like he may have sent the Japanese weather gods a good indication of what he thinks. It was just miserably cold with drizzle today. About the coldest I've felt this year so far.

To add onto this so-called luck, I came home tonight to see that the hose linking my washing machine to the tap out on the balcony popped, and as a result, water was streaming like a river down to the drain. No damage inside of course, but I do wonder how long ago it occurred. With my luck, the hose probably popped just a few minutes after I had left the house at 9 this morning. I am not looking forward to seeing the water bill.

On the plus side, my little research for Pancake Day came up with some interesting potential realia at Tokyu Hands, the all-purpose households goods shop in Shinjuku. The woodcrafts floor actually had cross-sectioned slices of trees for sale at a pittance. That will definitely help my presentation. They also had plastic tubing as well on big coils but I'll probably see if I can get the stuff at the local Daiei.

My classes were rather so-so in execution. My first class with the ladies this morning again got majorly sidetracked, and my night class was competently handled but with not too much enthursiasm. Luckily, the Iconoclast took me to another great Chinese restaurant deep in the bowels of West Shinjuku. I'll never find it again without his help but I'm sure we'll make at least one more visit before he finally takes off for home on the 26th.

I'm feeling pretty exhausted...I guess with all the walking today plus the extra shivering from the cold tapped my energy reserves even with the influx of food and drink. I got another relatively early wake-up call for my regular Tsudanuma class, but at least I have a huge gap of time between that and my Urayasu classes.

Sunday Feb. 1, 8:57 p.m.

Well, got most of what I wanted to do done. I got the present for my Monday student, a box of cookies from one of the more famous department stores. The trip to the Canada Centre wasn't a total waste of time. I couldn't find any paraphernalia for maple syrup...at least, nothing that I could purchase. There was a mock maple tree with a spile and bucket as a display. I would've taken a picture of it if I'd had a camera. I did purchase a Mr. Big chocolate bar, though.

It's Super Bowl Sunday back in the US. The Pats vs the Panthers. It ought to be a national holiday there considering all of the parties and the hoopla surrounding it. Now, it's also an official National Security Event, thanks to 9/11. The show also gets televised here either on satellite or on cable, but it's really just for the foreign population. The biggest audience for the game, boys and men, are off on their way to school or work when kickoff begins, thanks to a 14-hour time delay. I did read in the local foreigners' mag, METROPOLIS, that one enterprising pub in Shinjuku will be showing the game live with the offer of a hearty breakfast. If I were really into football, I would take them up on their offer. But I hear that it will probably be another one of those dull outings since both teams are very defensive-minded.

Sunday Feb. 1, 11:41 a.m.

It's been a pleasantly quiet weekend. Not too cold but my nose can sense the hay fever season coming in, although reports say that the pollen count will be lower this year because of the cool summer last year.

The kids were a bit more on the ball yesterday, and I received some more leftovers snacks and stuff from the mother who always seems to get loaded down with food gifts. Aside from that, it was just straight home and crash. I also had time to cook up some fried rice and warm up the minestrone. Then, I just whipped up another audio tape (I haven't gotten into the CD burning technology or even i-Pod) of jazz stuff.

I made my monthly call to Mom. It looks like the whole family is there watching Hockey Night In Canada. Just my luck...in the decade that I've been here, the Leafs just decided then to aspire for the Stanley Cup. They're doing a good job of it this year...they're one of the top teams in the league. I told her that I'm still waiting for that birth certificate processing to come through; apparently, 70,000 Canadians have made that section of the government a living hell by throwing them their applications. At this rate, I probably won't get my passport made up until late Spring. I also informed her that I got the mail from Toronto-Dominion. One was just asking me about my dormant account back home and the other was just a report on my mutual fund. My last request before I finished off was just for a box of Aunt Jemima.

Speaking of pancakes, I'll start in earnest for the planning for Pancake Day at my school. I still have a little under 2 weeks to get everything together. I gotta do the usual purchases of the different grades of maple syrup and see if there is any paraphernalia about the production of it I can use. That stuff from the Embassy is just so hoary. One is a video tape all the way from 1958 on sugaring off; the students a couple of years ago were having a laugh at all the brushcuts on those kids. Last year's literature consisted of a large crumply piece of construction paper with somewhat forlorn pictures and enlarged photocopies of the sugaring off process. I'll be heading out today to the Canada Centre in Ikebukuro to see what they've got in terms of literature. I'm not too hopeful since I went there last year without finding anything, but I know that I can pick up some syrup and other types of food there. Mind you, Amazon had a couple of books that looked interesting in terms of maple syrup.

Along with my trip out to Ikebukuro, I have to head out to Ginza and Nihombashi to pick up a birthday present for one of my Monday students and a birthday card for my dad respectively. I haven't received any calls from Chip Guy this week about doing anything so I'm just gonna assume that it'll just be one big shopping trip today and then back home for leftovers.

It looks like I'm not gonna have any classes at the school this week since I haven't received my usual fax of my schedule on Friday. It's not a big worry right now but if this lack of classes keeps up (and it probably will since the kids graduate in a few weeks) for another half-year, I'll have to think of finding some more privates during the empty patches.

It also looks like I've got another interpreting session at the Monday company tomorrow. But again, it won't be too bad...it just concerns the president's nephew's trip to Toronto. Perhaps that dinner after the class will be concerned with that.

Friday Jan. 30, 1:03 p.m.

Well, just another day and then January 2004 will be out of the way. One down, another 11 to go. The speed at which this month has gone by probably means if times flies by any faster, then I should be doing my Xmas shopping within a couple of days.

Looks like the big international news for me has been the BBC crisis and the US Democratic Primaries. It was interesting seeing the BBC talking heads calmly reporting that their company has just gone on one knee in front of Tony Blair's government. I've always seen the BBC as this monolith of journalistic integrity...and also the station which brought us, through PBS dollars, Monty Python and Doctor Who. It's going to be fascinating how the BBC will change because of this sordid affair. It needn't worry about its reputation worldwide, though. The news only merited a small report and space on the running red ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen.

As for the primaries, it looks like John Kerry is in the driver's seat for now. But one of my students pointed out that he looked exhausted. The two of us think that G.W. Bush will probably keep his job for another four years.

I got that rubdown today at the neighbourhood clinic. I finally got my favorite masseur for the first time in several months. He's now the clinic director so he's pretty much in demand. Then, I did a splurge at the supermarket. I bought my first sack of rice in a while since the stuff is now pretty expensive, but I figure that if I'm going to spend the yen to make a good pot of minestrone, I might as well go whole hog.

Thursday Jan. 29, 9:41 p.m.

Another pretty normal day. Just had the conversation class and then a couple of those students who had wanted to go to the now defunct Chinese restaurant caught up with me. We have arranged to hit COCA this time next Thursday. It'll probably be the Thai hot pot again.

Then it was off for that guy at the juku. As it turned out, he was pretty much under the weather with a cold but he was game enough to come for one hour. I also got a nice cup of coffee and a dish of rice curry for my efforts; makes me regret having the Big Mac set at Urayasu Station. Speaking of which, the cost of one of those sets suddenly dropped to just 390 yen, about a 200 yen drop. I wonder if that BSE thing has anything to do with that.

Well, I'm off for the weekend. I'll probably get that rubdown and then actually make some minestrone. I've been lacking of veggies recently.

Thurs. Jan. 29, 10:14 a.m.

I had a rather interesting sight on train into work yesterday. For the firrt time in my decade in Chiba, I actually saw Mt. Fuji all the way from my little burg. And it was only just for a moment before the smog obscured it again. They say that over here if a person's first dream of the New Year is of Mt. Fuji, then he will have a prosperous year. Well, I'm several dreams late but I did think it was rather remarkable.

Having said that, I still had a rather exhausting day with three classes. Great students, mind you. Today will most likely be my last work day of the week since my Friday student has to clean up the accounting books tomorrow. I have a regular conversation class at the school and that new student at my juku tonight. He'll probably drain me since he's pretty low and I've got him man-to-man.

Tuesday Jan. 27, 11:34 p.m.

An interesting class this morning in Tsudanuma. One of my more emotional students got into a major crying jag on revealing that her bag had been stolen in broad daylight in front of her house....6 days ago, and even though she froze all of her accounts 20 minutes after the theft. Mind you, I can understand the violation that she felt from personal experience, especially when her phone book was one of the items taken. Most likely, though, the thieves just went for the cash. Why anyone would carry a thousand bucks in her bag, even in this country, in this day and age stuns me. As one of her fellow classmates rightfully pointed out, Japan is no longer a supremely safe country and really hasn't been for some years now. Robberies are a sad sign of the times, and bizarre violent crimes are doing volume business.

On the other hand, by the end of the class, everyone was smiling, and since I had no class in Tokyo this afternoon, the ladies took me to one of those places that only the locals know. I had a great lunch set of raw yellowtail, deep-fried flatfish and broccoli covered in ground beef sauce. It's always nice when I get these opportunities in a life where McD's and Subway are often the norm.

Got home tonight to get that call from the prospective student's mother. Looks like I'm set for Saturdays after my regular gig with the doctor's kids. I'll have to give Movie Buddy the heads-up that I won't be able to catch the afternoon viewing of The Return of the King on the 14th.

I also got e-mail from The Curry Master, the buddy of Movie Buddy's girlfriend. She was the one who got me my current gig on Tuesday nights. She wants to also set up English lessons with me which I'm surprised about since her level is very high. I don't think I can really do anything for her, but I agreed to meet her for coffee next Friday. However, according to MB, she also has a habit of cancelling out at the last minute so I'll be keeping an eye on this one. As my nickname for her would indicate, she did make a mean curry when I first met her.

Well, the nominees came out for the Oscars. No particularly big surprises although CNN is buzzing about the fact that Cold Mountain got snubbed except for Renee Zellweger. For me, I'm waiting for LOTR to get the brass ring.

Busy day tomorrow. I've got three classes to take care of but all of them should be pretty good.

Monday Jan. 26, 9:41 p.m.

Pretty cut-and-dry Monday. I just had that lone company class out in Shinjuku tonight. Earlier, I picked up the package from my friend back home. The class itself just had the lone student but it went well. I told the Iconoclast that I didn't have time for our seemingly regular post-class dinners tonight, but we still had some time for a bit of tea at a tea bar in the HALC Department Store. It looks like I've also got a dinner with the president and the Iconoclast next Monday. The conversation with the Iconoclast once again centered on the seeming ineptitude of that one employee. He even secretly taped the President chewing out the hapless man just an hour before my arrival. I could take a couple of seconds of the secondhand abuse.

Well, it looks like I'm on my way to consolidate a couple of new students. One, a hairdresser, will be meeting me for the first time next Wednesday morning. However, my greeting call to that mother of the propsective kid fell on deaf ears for some reason. I'll have to let the mother of my regular kids about the aborted attempt. After going through my schedule, it looks like these two will be last two students to fill the slots unless someone decides to permanently pull out.

I'm watching CNN and seeing the snow coming down hard on Washington DC, and I'm getting a sense of wistfulness. Wouldn't it be nice to get a whiteout just about now?

Good to see "Lord of the Rings" get the Golden Globe award, although I've always thought that prize to be the poor man's Oscars. One of the three pundits, a cheerfully irascible grump, slagged "Lost In Translation” for demeaning the Japanese. Oooh, boy...I wasn't thrilled with "Kill Bill" for the same reason. I wonder if I should also let Bill Murray's latest go by the wayside...if it ever gets here.

Sunday Jan. 25, 9:53 p.m.

Movie Buddy came by the house today to see The Two Towers for the umpteenth time, but with all of the extra scenes which he proceeded to point out to me. Not that I minded at all. It was good to banter out a commentary.

Then I went out to see another couple of former students for dinner in the Ginza. One actually was the person from Friday's get-together at El Torito. The other was a more recent graduate who got her current position thanks to the efforts of the first woman. We had a Thai hot pot at COCA; the older grad and I had been there a few times before for the regular Chinese fare but this time we decided to go for the hotter stuff to warm up our bones. It definitely did the trick since the two ladies were perspiring up a storm by midway through the meal. They even decided to get the coconut milk shake that I was drinking to cool their tongues off. At the same time, it seemed like fate wanted to have a bit of fun at my expense. I committed a faux pas with my chopsticks by almost tapping them to the older grad's ones in an attempt to help her with some of the ingredients. Over here, the tapping of chopsticks is reminiscent of the Japanese ritual of passing bones after a cremation. And then, I dropped my chopsticks which necessitated the waitress getting me a new pair. Plus, I forgot a few key facts which involved the older grad's meeting with other people. In any case, things calmed down after that.

It ought to be a quiet day tomorrow. I only have my regular Monday night class. On the housekeeping side, I've gotta go to the tax office to prep up for the annual procedure in March, and then pick up a package.