Sunday November 26, 2:03 p.m.

The holiday Thursday, Labour Thanksgiving, wasn't much of a holiday for me but at least my students were two of the good ones: The Polynesian and The Carolinan. The Polynesian had met MB the week before for the first time in a couple of years. MB was later to tell me that she'd broached him on the topic of doing some language exchange but he never heard back from her. So I gather that some of the flightiness of her past self was still there. In any case, there has already been a slight change in plans between us. Poly got herself a full-time job at an accounting firm in Shibuya starting from December so it looks like she'll be sharing the same day with the kids since they all live in the same neighbourhood.

As for The Carolinan, it looks like the Tully's not too far away from Ichigaya Station may become the new base of operations for at least some of my lessons. I met her at the station and brought her in. Since Ichigaya is a commercial area, the holiday meant that the basement of Tully's was barely occupied so it wasn't too difficult setting up a lesson there although the interior reminds me of something of an underground laundromat. As for the old Tea Room, strangely enough I took a walk past my late haunt before meeting up with The Carolinan. The place still had all of its furnishings despite the fact that it had closed its doors for good a couple of weeks ago.

Friday was back to a fairly full schedule. I met up with 002 and then scooted over to Otemachi where I was to meet another Tea Room refugee, The UL. She picked out Cafe Croissant (love the name) in the Asahi Seimei Building since Otemachi was central for both of us. However, the place was obviously a smokelovers' paradise and so my jacket just absorbed the smoke like a desperate nicotine freak during withdrawal. Cafe Croissant was more like Cafe Emphysema. What complicated matters was that The UL was dead tired; she couldn't even absorb a bit of English (although I'm sure her clothes could pick up the smoke). We're gonna give Cafe Croissant another shakedown next Friday but I did see another Tully's down the corridor along with other choices. No smokeless Starbucks though. I then went to my last class of the evening at the juku where I was to teach The Ace. I also had to contend with the boss' choice of sub teacher on Saturdays. Since I'll be heading back to The Great White North next month, the boss wanted to get a teacher to do a couple of those classes that otherwise the students would be short on in December. I'm a bit sensitive on the matter. Of course, there is the natural overprotectiveness that a teacher gets when an interloper comes in. But I'm also a bit worried about Mrs. Mild who's just a bit overly nervous with new faces. However, I've been in e-mail contact with the guy so I'm giving him as much ammo as I can when he does his first session with them next weekend.

Saturday was my biweekly session with Tully and The Coffeemaker. Hmmmm....I think things are going fairly well with them but I was wondering if Tully wanted something a bit more leaning on the business side of things. So next time, I'll bring over the telephone conversations. Then it was off to Speedy's to take care of The Ramen Lady and that new EIC student. The Ramen Lady was her usual jovial self but I think she was fading out near the end. As for the EIC student....well, she should be going through her first class with Mr. Influence at the school right now...not sure how she's doing.

I sped off back home last night to meet MB and The Satyr for our final DVD outing at my place for the year. We did our usual Domino's dinner. The menu for our eyes was: "Transporter 2", "Nightwatch" and "After the Sunset".

"Nightwatch" was that surprise hit movie from Russia a few years ago about these two sides representing Light and Dark battling it out over and under Moscow. It had garnered quite a bit of attention since not only was it an effects-heavy movie from the land of Lenin and former Communism but it wasn't a movie about the glory of totalitarianism and tractors. The three of us thought it was somewhat overrated, though. The story had a lot of potential but the execution kinda lacked. We kinda did double takes a few times at some of the twists and turns in the plot and just shrugged that it must be a Russian thing.

"Transporter 2" was (or should've been) a straight-to-DVD feature. I could hear the Career Freefall Warning Siren for Jason Statham after watching this overly CG-stunted flick. It just seemed to emulate Denzel Washington's "Man On Fire" a little too closely with worse acting and stunts. As for the stunt casting of 80s relic Matthew Modine, I think his Career Freefall Warning Siren exploded from overuse.

"After The Sunset" was by far the best of the 3 which made me feel a bit bad for The Satyr since he had to run for his final train back home halfway through this flick. Pierce "post-Bond" Brosnan made a good foil for Woody from "Cheers". Some good laughs, sunshiny locales and Selma Hayek lifted this movie considerably.

MB did his usual sleepover but we had to actually race out of the apartment fairly early this morning since I did have the kids today. We went over to the Skylark near the station. I hadn't been to the family restaurant for breakfast in years although MB and I have made a fair number of lunch visits on Sundays. There was no more breakfast buffet like back in the old days but we still had our access to the drink bar. We had our umpteeth talk on what was right and wrong about "Superman" and "X-Men 3". As I'd predicted, "X-Men 4" is on the board.

I'm sure MB and Frodo are somewhere not too far away in Akiba since MB said that he was supposed to be meeting his compadre for some software shopping. As for me, I'll soon be heading home to make some dinner and then getting ready for the week's lessons.

I just have to finish off this entry with talk on an "Untouchables" episode that I'd caught last week. As I've mentioned before, the Robert Stack series is now showing its overall inferior 4th season. The show was actually the one that had started off the final season, "The Night They Killed Santa Claus". When I saw this title, I just thought that it would be the cutesy/comic show with plenty of schmaltz. Boy, was I wrong! Folks who are looking to get as far away as possible from the saccharine-sweet stuff of "White Christmas", "It's A Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Carol" should watch this show as a very ice-cold bracer. It is almost unbearably bleak and shows a very helpless Eliot Ness. In the ep, Ness' men look at him mopingly for being torn away from their Xmas' dinners, all of the characters' are just plain losers or evil sociopaths, and the guy in the Santa outift who was supposedly a kindly ol' buddy of Ness' posthumously turns out to be just as bad as the rest of them much to Ness' shock. Heck, not only do the last few minutes of the unrelenting gloom show the main villain just laugh and laugh at Ness as he gets off the hook but maybe there were tears filling up in Ness' eyes as he drove the thug away to the police fully knowing that the bad guy would get away with the murder of Santa. The episode took place in 1929...early in The Untouchables days, so it kinda served as the glimpse of how Ness became such a hard man. It was even reminiscent of the early scenes of Brian DePalma's "The Untouchables" in which Kevin Costner's naive Eliot Ness majorly screws up a raid before Sean Connery takes him under his wing.

Well, on that note....

Wednesday November 22, 4:53 p.m.

Quite at the ol' Speedy corral. Looks like the school is only gonna have 007 tonight so Speedy's hoping that once he's out of here, we're all out of here. Then again, he's done a dotyakan about an hour before showtime so we may be out even sooner.

Earlier in the day, I met up with The Anime Chamberlain for yet another buffet...this time, right by the main intersection in Ginza, known as 4-chome. We went to The Siam, a Thai restaurant up on the 8th floor of one of the buildings. There was a huge gaggle of middle-aged women lining up at the elevator. But I didn't have any qualms that they were invading our space. They were all going for some wa-fu eatery on either the 4th or 5th floor. It had been several years since I've been to The Siam; actually, today was just my second visit there. My first time there was with Betty Boop and a couple of other former students. I enjoyed the buffet there but for some reason, I'd never got the opportunity to head there again until today. Since The Chamberlain and I got there at just a few minutes past 11:30, we were pretty much the first ones to hit the trays and fill them up with Green Curry, Pad Thai and Tom Yan Kung. It was all suitably spicy and by the time our first hour came and went, the restaurant filled up to the rafters. I realized that The Siam wasn't just for the salaried drones of the surrounding companies since it stayed packed beyond 1 p.m. Once again, my eating companion mentioned that the Thai food here was a little unlike the stuff back in Toronto's Thai restaurants but that's no surprise. Pretty much any culinary import here gets the Japanese twist.

Speaking of food, MB has also started the planning for the next and last burger outing of the year in Kasumigaseki, strangely enough, the central business district in town. Looks like he, The Sylph, The Satyr and I will be game. I haven't heard anything from Skippy and of course, The Madame politely declined the invitation. She will be meeting me the next day for something easier on her delicate palate.

I got those photos finally developed yesterday. The one at that tarento's house came out pretty well. She actually looks fairly pretty outside of the small screen; on it, her trade du guerre is to distort it as much as possible to make people laugh. I also found out why she had re-scheduled my presence there from last Sunday to last Saturday...as I was having my dinner on Sunday in front of the tube, there she was live on a cooking program trying out the latest foodstuffs with her fellow panelists.

Well, I reached another musical milestone recently. After years and years of searching, those nice folks at MySpace gave Chas Jankel his own forum and there I found and heard the legendary "Questionnaire". Better yet, it looks like the singer has released a disc of his best hits. Hopefully, I may be able to find that somewhere here before I head back to The Great White North. Still haven't come across the weird video which accompanies the song but I'm sure that'll be just a matter of time.

I had The New Yorker this afternoon after my Thai binge. This time, instead of going to the noisy Starbucks over Ichigaya Station, the two of us opted for To The Herbs, an Italian place across from the cafe. I had to wonder again why she has lasted this long with me. After 18 months of steady teaching (she's yet to cancel a class), she's still low and slow. I've got her sister tomorrow...it might be To The Herbs also or I may just drag her to the nearby Tully's.

Looks like that Seinfeld curse can truly be malignant. Michael "Kramer" Richards' career has taken an even steeper nosedive than those of his former comrades, Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I saw that really squirmy piece of film of him going into racist stage rage after some hecklers got under one layer of his skin too many. To his credit, he did apologize live on "The Late Show" but considering the content of his rage and the country he went ballistic in, he may just as well end up only doing KKK gigs.

Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in America and Labour Thanksgiving Day in Japan. Both places will be offering places to serve turkey although I won't be frequenting any of them. Plus, I do have my two lessons tomorrow. At this stage, I need all the cash I can get before I head on home.

Monday November 20, 10:32 p.m.

Had a bit of a surprise with The Part-Timer when we tried to enter that cafe...our supposed new base of operations...and we couldn't. Speedy was even more surprised when we came back up like lost puppies looking for a home. Well, at least for tonight, we were able to use the confines of the school one more time. Speedy later found out that the cafe is indeed closed on Mondays. Back to the search again...

008 was her usual happy-go-lucky self. We had a good round of chat and found out that we do share the same experiences...ahhh..if only I wasn't her teacher. Still, I think she's already got a beau in any case.

Got a message from The Anime King. He's now safe and sound in Taiwan...provided there's no imminent coup. I'll be meeting his cohort, The Anime Chamberlain, for another round of buffet on Wednesday. It'll have to be a shorter jaunt though since I've gotta teach The New Yorker later in the day. However, it may be a very short day. 001 is off this week and I found out that that temporary student heading off for Australia won't be on my schedule. And 007 has been rather scarce of late.

The Madame contacted me to see if I were open for an afternoon but I told her that I've got my Saturday classes here at Speedy's and then there's the final DVD outing with MB. Looks like it'll be either the 3rd or 10th.

Time to head on home....

Monday November 20, 5:28 p.m.

Gonna have to be typing this at a slightly more accelerated rate since I gotta go pick up The Part-Timer at the subway to lead her to our new "classroom".

The weather has been another wet one. I got a reprieve this morning when the clouds decided to dry up. My sneakers (more like overdressed sandals now) were grateful but I think the raindrops have started to fall again according to what I'm hearing out of the window.

I had my regular Monday sessions with The Class Act and SIL. The Class Act was once again on gab mode...this time on art. The Lady had just purchased some rather ancient Chinese artifacts and was showing them off. I can believe that she had the moxie and the money to pull this off. She also mentioned that she has a Picasso somewhere in the house...figures. She asked me about my artistic tastes. I don't really have any so I just went with who I knew from my trips to The Art Gallery of Ontario as a lad....Henry Moore. The Lady was quite satisfied with my answer; apparently, Moore has a cult following here, too. As for SIL...well, let's say it wasn't one of our more prolific sessions. She rejected my article on the TomKat wedding although she asked if she could take it home for further perusal. When a teacher finishes up a class with a talk on vomit, it's a pretty dire class. I noticed that although SIL said that she would be available next week, she also landed a caveat that she would tell me if there could be no session. Not a good sign.

I'm still having my Desilu mornings on Super Drama TV. "The Untouchables" is in its fourth and final season while "Mission: Impossible" has entered the Leonard Nimoy years. Both transitions have shown that the shows have "jumped the shark". Robert Stack's magnum opus is no longer all that watchable although this morning's episode, "Blues for a Dead Goose" was a step back to the old days, thanks to the film noirish antihero played by a young Robert Duvall. However, it's evident that Ness and the boys were now taking a back seat; Hobson and the rest of the Untouchables hardly have any lines at all. As for "Mission: Impossible" without Martin Landau and Barbara Bain....well, let's say that Nimoy himself has admitted that even he doesn't remember too much about his time there.

Well, as TomKat have given their Scientology nuptials in Italy, I was given some rather interesting news about weddings on the local scene. Actress/model/pneumatic beauty Norika Fujiwara has announced her engagement to some popular comedian...not the usual company president or handsome thespian or baseball player. I'm sure while Fujiwara is stating that she feels like the luckiest woman in the world, the guy, and many other guys, must be saying that he feels like the luckiest bastard.

I did forget to mention that The Engineer called up past midnight (so of course, I wasn't answering the phone) to ask about my availability during Xmas vacation. He needn't have done it since he had already asked about it via e-mail some weeks ago. Maybe he needed someone to talk to.

Sunday November 19, 3:19 p.m.

After our special lesson with that tarento's kid, Skippy decided to keep going with our regular Burger Tour. She'd asked a few other people such as OA, The Madame and The Kid. The Kid did respond positively to Skip's summons. But OA couldn't make it and, of course, The Madame pooh-poohed the idea since her transition to Asian vegetarianism.

We headed all the way to Ningyocho on the Hibiya Line...a couple of stations away from Akihabara. It was also the first time to visit this area. Unsurprisingly, Ningyocho was more inner-city than Honancho but it still had that down-home feel of shitamachi. Since The Kid wouldn't be available for another few hours, we just whiled away an hour at a nearby Doutor's cafe before we walked into one of the quiet side streets.

This latest burger joint, Brozzer's (and here I thought that Skippy was making a typically Japanese pronounciation error with the word brothers), was located on the corner in the middle of a deserted commercial sector; I gather that the area is a lot more hopping during the weekdays. As we shivered briefly outside in the windy cold, we took a gazer at the menu. Yup, these guys do their burgers...there were two pages of different variations on the American staple which included the de rigeur super burger. Brozzer's isn't a huge place...it only occupies one floor but it beats Baker's Bounce, the very first burger tour destination, in that it's a whole lot more spacious, although it also helped that it was a Saturday night in a commercial area of town. Skippy ordered an Avocado Burger while I went for the Bacon Cheese with an extra patty for 350 yen. I gotta admit...the Bacon Cheese made a very good rival for that burger I had at Village Vanguard almost a month ago, and I didn't have to hear the spiel on how to actually eat a burger. One other thing that shows that Japanese society likes to put its own little spin on imported ideas: along with the regular napkins, there was also a basket filled with wax paper envelopes to put our burgers in. Heaven forbid that any of that combination of meat juices, mustard and ketchup would invade our fingers while eating. Even in these days of J-R&B and hip-hop fashion, licking fingers after a good juicy burger is still verboten. However, I stayed true to the American cause. Even though I used the envelope, my hands were still a regal mess by the time I inhaled my mass of meat.

The Kid would be another hour or so. I cheekily suggested that when he did arrive, we would be honour-bound to order some dessert so that he wouldn't be too self-conscious about eating his burger in front of us. As it turned out, The Kid hadn't eaten a thing all day so he was quite happy to go down to town on a Tartar Burger (don't ask)...I was quite happy to do the same to a slice of brownie with a scoop of ice milk (not ice cream...this definitely didn't have that usual taste of vanilla). Neither Skippy nor I had seen The Kid since our last get-together for those Akiba maid cafes back in March. Skippy reverted to older sister mode again with him.

Not sure as we waddled our way back to the station if I would see Skippy or The Kid again for the rest of the year. In a way, after looking at my bank account, I kinda hope that I don't just so that I can ease the financial leakage but I've got a feeling that Skippy will be calling upon me one more time for a new restaurant she wants to try out.

When I made my way home from the station, I witnessed a couple of examples of some of the dregs of night life. A couple of raucous lads were screaming gleefully at the top of their lungs in the mall under the subway, and there was an angry drunk man hitting anything sticking out of the ground while ambling on the street heading home. I daintily walked across the street so that I wouldn't have to encounter him. No problems obviously in either case but when I got home I was reminded of yet another murder in suburban Tokyo in which the sociopath was able to straddle across balconies and enter an open window to strangle his female neighbour who had been arguing with him about his rather loud entries and exits. The loud screams got the other neighbours calling 110 but it was too late by then. I currently have that weirdo hikikomori type living next door so I locked my bedroom window. My living room window can't be closed due to the washing machine outside so I've braced the sliding window with my old crutches.

I felt rather bloated this morning when I woke up but my stomach is growling something awful now since I haven't eaten any lunch. I got the call from Mom that she and Dad got back home safely. This time, it was my turn to suffer from garbled KDD transmission; Mom could hear me perfectly clearly so I didn't mention anything about my end. In any case, I'm so accustomed to her comments and cadences that I could pretty much decipher everything she said.

That arrival of the Anime King is getting more and more dicey. He's now well on his way to his home country of Taiwan so contact will be more difficult. He's arriving on the afternoon of the 28th, the same day as my juku classes. Timing will be crucial. I hope that the Anime Chamberlain and The Anime Duke will be able to assist.

The biggest worry though is how I'm gonna try to financially survive over the next few months...

Sunday November 19, 2:49 p.m.

I've found another base of operations for Internet...just across from my station. It's a bit more rough n' ready...the cashier was sullen, I hear a lot of annoying giggling near me, and there is no point card system...but it's cheaper than even Ai Cafe. I got the 3-hour pack for just 980 yen. I was gonna go to Ai Cafe but when I updated my bankbook after about a month, I was rather depressed to see the results, so I decided to keep things strictly within the neighbourhood. It isn't much of a day to go out anyways...cold and drippy out there.

Well, yesterday was quite interesting. I had the kids for their usual lessons; I got some persimmons from their Mom. And then I headed out for lunch before my meeting with Skippy. I ended up going to the B1 of the Maynds Bldg near Shinjuku Station. Folks, if you ever want to find some decent uncrowded restaurants in one of the most crowded areas during the weekends, the Maynds Building is the place. The entire B1 is one restaurant alley: Chinese, tonkatsu, ramen, a Subway, Indian. I ended up going for a bowl of chashiu shoyu ramen. That would be noodle soup with large slices of BBQ pork and soy sauce-base broth. For soy sauce, I found it a bit lighter than usual.

After noodling around at Tower Records for an hour, I met up with Skippy at Honancho Station at about 2. We were going to that celeb's house to teach her kid. But first, we stopped off at a nearby family restaurant to have some drinks and talk about the plan. Skip was of course the person in charge so I just listened to what she had in mind for me. I was to be the native English guy for the kid. I'd never been to this neighbourhood before...it was at the end of an adjunct branch of the Marunouchi Line...just 4 stations. Walking through it, Honancho just struck me as being a typical suburban area...not a place where the famous come to roost.

We walked over to the tarento's house at about 3. The house itself was not a huge deluxe mansion that would be typical of The Lady's neighbourhood but it was a nicely apportioned semi-detached townhouse. Meeting the tarento herself was striking in that I wasn't awed by this person. I don't mean that as an insult at all...the lady has been a fixture on TV variety shows and even a few dramas for years and comes across on the small screen as a rather loud and raucous presence...but the lady in person(same face, same height) just struck me as a very regular softspoken housewife and mother. Skippy had told me once that her employer was quite different but I finally got the proof from that moment. The tarento and her mother cordially invited us in to meet her son, a typically 6-year-old bundle of energy, and we had some desserts before the lesson itself. We had a nice little bit of chitchat about me and Canada and about the kid's numerous robots and dinosaurs before we went up to his room. The only thing that tipped me off about the family's well-off status was that this kid is the first ever kid I've ever met with his own large TV and DVD player in his room. The lesson itself was about an hour long but Skippy was made to teach kids; she just has this very natural ability to get along with little ones, but she was able to insert me in through the games like a pro. Really, all I needed to do was just ask the kid some questions that he could answer very well already. The hour went by at warp speed. The tarento herself poked her head in secretly to check on the goings-on. She seemed quite happy at the results.

Afterwards, the son showed me some of his Lego creations. They were definitely not my generation's Lego...they were some pretty complex looking dinosaurs...I wouldn't have identified them as the multi-coloured bricks of yore. I also got a chance to meet the father, a young and handsome actor. Just like his wife, he didn't put on any airs...he could've just been working at a company as a regular salaryman. Finally, we were able to take some pics; I had my last shot on my disposable camera luckily. I hadn't been sure if I would've been allowed to take some pics or ask for an autograph (I didn't) since privacy could have been an issue but the entire family was only too happy to take some poses for me and Skippy. And we even got some baked goods from a nearby trendy bakery. One of the nicest afternoons I'd ever spent.

Thursday November 16, 2:45 p.m.

Unlike yesterday, the sun is out and shining. Got back home last night to see that my hanging laundry was quite drenched but it should be drying nicely now.

Last night, while Speedy and I were putzing away at our computers, I just happened to come across the CNN site stating that there had been a major quake yesterday some 1100 miles away from Etorofu, one of the Kurile Islands, northeast of Hokkaido. Because of the distance, there was no problem from the quake itself but all of the tsunami warnings lit up like a Xmas tree apparently. So, all of the TV stations, including NHK, went on alert for half of the Pacific coast and the entirety of Hokkaido. However, I wouldn't have heard of anything if it hadn't been for that little look at CNN. And by the time I got home, everything was pretty much back to normal. My brother was concerned enough, though, that he sent me an e-mail asking if everything were OK. Also, he wasn't sure when Mom and Dad were coming back to Toronto, so I'm gonna have to try to contact them via Uncle to get the number for Grandpa's ol' house.

Just had The Polynesian today. She and MB finally met after an absence of 2 years. As for MB, I had to let him know that we would have to re-schedule the final DVD outing this year since I realized that I have the kids on the 26th. The 2nd is the only chance we've got.

After The Polynesian, I scooted over to that cafe across from Speedy's for a bit of recon, since The Part-Timer will now have to find alternate facilities for her lessons on Mondays. As true with all of that strange Japlish, this place is called The Cafe in Broom (should it be bloom?). The interior has got that pastel trendy interior with a bunch of coffee-table magazines. I was lucky enough to see an English-language "Esquire" with that fetching picture of Jessica Alba on the cover (too much mascara, though...looks slightly raccoonish) so I had some reading material while I noshed on a 900-yen chili chicken on rice lunch. It was tasty if a bit too shrill on the heat. The place should do rather nicely.

After I get done with the surfing here in Akihabara, I should be heading over to the nearest department store to start the Xmas shopping. Mom gave me a little stipend in thanks for the accomodations so it's time to pick up the calendars. Then, it'll be a nice little night at home.

Wednesday November 15, 10:03 p.m.

Recently, I've been hearing about this new hit show called "Heroes" which has been making its rounds on NBC. I first noticed the phenom (I guess "Lost" has finally peaked?) when I made my visit to Kinokuniya a couple of weeks ago and noticed that an edition of Entertainment Weekly put the cast on its front cover, including the potential new sex symbol in the form of one Hiro Nakamura, a character who can apparently manipulate time. The bad news is that Hiro has a passing resemblance and character traits to me; the good news is that so do millions of otaku in this country. I can still rest easily. However, I do wonder if this show will make its way over to this side of the Pacific. "The Adventures of Lois & Clark" and "Smallville" have done so but not to any wildly successful degree. Mind you, the X-Men series of movies has done fairly well here. Plus, since I'm an old X-fan of 3 decades running, I would also be interested in seeing a bit of this. Ah...I do remember..."Roswell" has a cult following in Japan. So, there is hope.

Anyways, gotta get home and see how wet my laundry got.

Wednesday November 15, 8:51 p.m.

It's been a while. Pretty drizzly out there...in other words, miserable. Kinda reflects some of the cancellations I've been getting over the past few days. Not only have I lost The UL and The Ace for their Friday night regulars this week, but I found out that the juku boss and B2 today have decided to cancel their lessons as well. Also, 007 pulled a dotakyan tonight. And even 001 told me that she won't be here next week since she'll be going over to that huge spa complex next to Tokyo Dome, L'Aqua, for some refreshment. Nice to be wanted. So I guess tomorrow's session with The Polynesian will be my final lesson for the regular workweek. Still, I have the kids on Saturday and even that little assist with Skippy's kid later on in the afternoon.

I actually got an invitation from The Ballerina via B2 on Mixi. Apparently, she's got her own page. I answered her summons although I don't think it'll mean much since I have lost a lot of motivation for it...people don't or can't respond to my English commentary. As for B2, although I'll be out of some fluid cash tomorrow night due to her cancellation, I really don't mind all that much since we had a rather tiresome session two weeks ago.

The Baker responded back about her potential lessons. It looks like she'll probably want to start from the New Year which makes more sense. I'd already told her that nights are pretty much out of the question for her and most likely she'll be busy with year-end stuff. Perhaps the last couple of months may bring a breakthrough. I did tell Speedy about the semi-conflict-of-interest between any private lessons with her and the official Speedy school lessons...y'know, I gotta show some loyalty. Of course, he said that he would prefer her to have lessons with the school for the reason that I charge a whole lot less than he does and that he doesn't want 001 and 002 to defect to my bargain-basement rates. Well, I don't think The Baker will be towing the party line, so to speak. But again, we come to my availability which doesn't look too good.

Well, the parentals showed up at Tokyo Station on Sunday. And I hosted them for a couple of days. It was good seeing them again after 2 years. We spent a quiet night at my place and at the wa-fu family restaurant a block away. Of course, I got caught up on the family matters...all about how the relatives were doing and who had kids. I aged a bit on hearing that my little cousins are now full-fledged parents of their own now. The next day, I took a day off so that I could spend time with the folks. I took them first to Akiba since Dad wanted to get his digital camera. It wasn't too difficult...just took them to Yodobashi Camera. After some poking around and a talk with the knowledgeable staffer, Dad got his device. Afterwards, we headed on down Ginza way to our next destination, Yamano Music, since Dad also wanted to pick up some enka CDs...especially those of a singer whose latest single happens to be about an area in the ancestral prefecture. For lunch, we only had to cross the street to Genkatsu, that place where I've been to twice for mille-feuille tonkatsu. This third time, though, the three of us got in without any waiting so at least I know when to go now. I was happy to see that the parents enjoyed lunch. Of course, at their age, they didn't want to really stick around town so we just headed back home and watched the sumo championships in Kyushu before noshing on some store-bought sushi for dinner. The parentals then retired at the early time of 9:30 p.m.

When I saw them off at my station on Tuesday morning, I actually experienced a sensation that I'd never had when it came to my parents. I actually felt wistful and felt keenly aware of me missing them. Now, before some of you start dismissing me as a real cold fish, I'd like to emphasize the word keenly. Of course, I do miss them. But the night before, my mother remarked that it would probably be the last time she would see her father alive. When I heard that, I realized that my times to see my parents may actually be getting numbered as well. My folks are still pretty healthy although age has definitely brought the inevitable sags and lines to their faces...and they've also mellowed considerably. Because of my money situation, I don't think I can really see them every year so anytime that I do see them will probably get increasingly precious and poignant. It was an interesting start to my Tuesday.

I was also reminded by a remark that The UL made a couple of weeks ago when The Tea Room had still been open. She was rather amazed that I would be willing to live far away from my parents when she had heard about my permanent residency. The UL said that she couldn't ever imagine living away from her family for any considerable length of time. Well, it did make me think that not only are The UL and I are quite different, but it also reflected the similarity between my parents and me. My mother can count on two hands the number of times she's seen her father since she decided to emigrate to Canada decades ago. I guess it's just the nature within our family that there will be one member of a generation that will fly the coop for good. I'm quite happy here and though I will miss my parents and the rest of my family, I know that Tokyo is really the place for me.

As I said, it was an interesting start to my Tuesday. After two days of feeling like part of a family again, it took a bit of temporal decompression to get back into my usual swing of teaching classes. Luckily, The Beehive and 002 were there to make that decompression comfortable. However, I did have a 3-hour interval between those two in which I had time to sit down on a bench on the top of the Seibu Department store in Funabashi to reflect on things. It really wasn't until the juku classes later that night that I was back to English teacher-normal. Mind you, Mom called me when I got back home to let us know that they were back close to Grandpa. I felt kinda sorry for them...this trip has been more of a solemn business instead of a vacation. Our hopes to try a ryokan somewhere were dashed because of the insertion of the memorial service for my long-dead grandmother right smack dab in the middle of their time in Japan. I was somewhat unreasonably angry at first that my relatives had the nerve to disrupt my parents' vacation, especially since they only had less than 2 days' worth of seeing me and a lot more days of staying in Grandpa's long-deserted drafty, TV-less house. Still, there was a bit of balance when I remembered that my parents had gone on those two cruises in two oceans in the last two years.

Anyways, I met up with The Anime Chamberlain today. He arrived last week for a month-long vacation in Tokyo. His buddy, The Anime King will be arriving for his little trip in a couple of weeks. It's possible that even The Anime Duke could join the party but we're still not sure. The Chamberlain and I went to my buffet place, LAST in Shiodome. Looks like the food kept coming in droves even after the lunch time crowd had taken off. It was nice talking with the man; I've always appreciated the mano-a-mano talks instead of the big parties. But it'll also be nice to have two more to add to the mix in a couple of weeks.

It looks like I've finally caught up on things now. Surprisingly, I was able to do it considering Speedy's exhausted exhortations of closing up shop as soon as I finished with 007. I guess he's fallen to the temptations again of answering every little e-mail. Lucky for me...not so lucky for him.

Saturday November 11, 1:25 p.m.

Pretty dreary outside right now as I type this at Speedy's. I've got an EIC session, the first one in a while, with a newbie. For those not in the know, EIC stands for English-in-Cooking, and it's our mini-course for folks who want to try the Cooking-in-English class with Mr. Influence but aren't too confident in their English abilities. I'm the one who designed EIC but I've never been all that comfortable with my brainchild...not quite sure why but I think it's just because it seems a bit dodgy just to teach 3 classes of food-connected English when the student can just pick up stuff in Mr. Influence's classes. I mean, why shouldn't the student pick up the vocab during the regular session? Ach...I'm just griping...mostly because EIC has had its share of growing pains and the fact that a lot of my students only bothered to come to the first two sessions.

Last night, I saw The Ace after all. One call to him from the juku boss got him to come later last night. But he'll be away again next week...which means that I'll only have the 2 hours with the boss herself next Friday. So, with The UL away next week as well, I'll only make half the earnings but at least I can keep things within the neighbourhood..

Then again, The Baker contacted me about potential lessons last night. At last week's party, she had mentioned this topic and was deciding whether to go with me as a private teacher or go to Speedy's as an official student. Of course, that kinda put me into a spot. The Baker has further complicated things by stating that she would now prefer to have me as her private teacher since it would be a pain for her to come all the way up here to the school from her homebase in Shiodome, near Ginza, and Speedy won't refund any money for emergency (namely on-the-day) cancellations. Hmm...gonna have to break it to him gently since he was really hoping for a hat trick with 001 and 002 safely in the Speedy arena. However, I am thinking now whether to have a prelim meeting with The Baker for her lessons on Friday night since I've got those two cancellations. Another wrinkle is that I just don't have any weeknights free to teach her. It's either that she has to become a floater or strictly a weekend student. I don't mind teaching her on either Saturday or Sunday but I wonder if she would be willing to come down to Tokyo all the way from Saitama. I ain't doing house calls all the way up there.

Had The Coffeemaker and Tully for their biweekly. Again, a pretty good session and the lesson seems to be taking on a more formal character than a lot of my other sessions...which is, of course, not a bad thing.

I actually caught the very first episode of The Sopranos last night on Super Drama TV, the SkyPerfect channel. Yep, just when the acclaimed HBO programme is (or has) wrapped up back Stateside, Japan has finally decided to start with it. For years, I'd just been hearing or reading all the badda-bing-badda-boom about James Gandolfini's magnum opus. Now that I finally got to see an episode, I can say that it truly delivers a punch...plenty of swearing and nudity. Not sure if I'll stick with it but it was a fun diversion before bedtime.

Well, gotta get ready for EIC, and then I have to get ready for the parentals' arrival tomorrow afternoon.

Friday November 10, 8:00 p.m.

Well, got over to Toranomon Starbucks for what may be the final time since The UL actually found a more centrally located cafe in Otemachi. Just as well...that branch of the cafe chain had already started belting out Xmas jazz tunes. Yeah, I like my Yuletide songs like anyone else not named Scrooge but having to go through 4 weeks of that...don't think so. In any case, The UL is off next Friday due to some tea ceremony practice.

Friday November 10, 12:46 p.m.

It's been a fairly peaceful couple of days. I only had The Polynesian for her 11:00 yesterday. Unfortunately, I was blindsided by a sudden spate of sneezing which necessitated the medicine. The first half-hour was trying my best, therefore, to direct attention away from my runny nose. Luckily, that herbal stuff kicked in from the second half-hour but I gave her a full 90 minutes of time since those first 30 minutes were lousy.

Today, I've got the juku boss for her 2 hours and then The UL for our first post-Tea Room session. Looks like my nighttime stint at the juku will be a washout though since Jolly has once again canned his lesson, and The Ace has no idea about when he can come here from his conference. I would rather not be waiting for a class that may never be. I can always use another early night off.

Wednesday November 7, 9:08 p.m.

Well, it's been the usual fun n' games during the last couple of days. Yesterday, I didn't have The Beehive but I did see The New Yorker, sans our late lamented venue of The Tea Room. We decided to have our inaugural Tea Room-less lesson at the Starbucks above Ichigaya Station. I was surprised that we could get ourselves a table at the usually packed cafe but the noise level was even higher there than it was during our last lesson at The Tea Room. However, I was relieved that the lass did better than she did last week. It looks like the next time we're gonna go for the Italian restaurant next door, To The Herbs, just to see if we can operate in a more audibly quieter environment.

Then, there was the rather unusual start to my night at the juku. Toonces the Juku Cat was crawling around my room again when he was scratching at the screen window behind me. Since the boss had always let him roam around outside, I simply opened the window and let him loose, safe in the thought that he would return home. However, when the boss was made aware of his meowing outside the window, all hell broke loose. At first, she stormed in on me and demanded to know why I'd let him out, not realizing that she had never told me about the new rule change that Toonces could no longer be let outside due to an incident the day before in which the puss was mysteriously and sinisterly trapped into the covered drainage ditch. Once she realized that I was innocent, we, along with the student that she'd been teaching at the time, ran outside to try and grab him. Toonces is just over a year old which would make him equivalent to a 7-year-old boy. He was certainly as energetic and as rambunctious as one which made him impossible to catch so after some running around like a trio of Keystone Kops, we just let him be until he tuckered himself out and came in from the cold.

Seven had cancelled out and Jolly once again dotakyan'ed so I just had The Milds. We've come to the end of the second book. Once the lesson ended, we kinda gave each other a look which may have had a bit more significance than usual. It's been over 3 years now and though the couple has improved somewhat since their nearly mute days...I'm kinda wondering if they've reached the end of their time with me. The Siberian finally showed up. Had a nice chat on Shakespeare and some of his most famous quotes.

Today was a full Speedy day. I did my usual house call to 002. Looks like the afterglow from that nice party on Saturday was still dimly suffusing the atmosphere. Strangely enough, 002 still had that Jack O'Lantern although it was probably a breeding mold factory by now; but she reassured me that it would be in the trash by tomorrow morning. Then, I made the long commute back to home base to teach this young lady who's doing the crash course in English before she takes off for a 1-year working-holiday programme in Australia. I think it's going to be a regular Pygmalion process. All of us have gotta change this very low lass into a relatively conversant lady in 2 weeks. I think we're still at the beginnings of "The Rain in Spain". Of course, 001 was her usual guffawing self.

Well, it's a new day in America...at least when it comes to the government. I was watching CNN's coverage of Election Day, so it was the whole gang of Lou, Anderson, Paula and Wolf tackling all the number crunches and the grande version of Milton Bradley's Battleship. Democrats must've been partying til the wee hours of the morning since they finally got the House and perhaps even the Senate. But I think even if the Senate is still held by the Republicans, Pelosi and her gang can still celebrate. Besides, I think folks would feel a little more secure with a balance in power.

Monday November 6, 5:45 p.m.

Did also forget to mention that I had met The Madame for the first time in a while for lunch on Friday. We met in Ikebukuro this time, nearer her home. We ended up having our meal in this somewhat trendy little basement Japanese eatery. Prompt service and a reasonably-priced delicious set but the first half of our meal was marred by some shouty mother, misbehaving kids and the ineffectual father. And people wonder why I've stayed single this long... A couple of times when things were coming to a head..I quickly turned my head and did a bit of a glare at the brats but families always seem to develop a Cone of Ignorance during these times.

Looks like Speedy's given The Part-Timer her eviction notice. Things are starting to hop here at the school so since The Part-Timer is my private student and not an official student so Speedy told me that we're gonna have to find new accomodations of sorts. Speedy, being Speedy, was kind enough to recommend a cafe just across the street. He says it's pretty empty so getting a table should be easy (although I wonder how much longer it can stay in business with that type of rep). As for the Part-Timer, she was already given the 2-minute warning about finding a new classroom so she should be OK. Plus the fact that there will be a 1-week absence should cushion things nicely. I'll be sampling the place myself on Wednesday before 001's regular lesson.

Monday November 6, 4:56 p.m.

Been a while. There've been a few social events and my parents have arrived in the home of their ancestry. To start off, my latest class with B2 and B2B wasn't quite as bad as a total crash n' burn but...let's say that all 3 of us were pretty winded by the end. I kinda thought that I should've just cancelled the lesson first off and gone on to The Coffeemaker's party.

Then again, that party and the party I had at 002's on Saturday make for an interesting comparison. I got down to Shibuya on Thursday and met up with the ol' school gang at that same restaurant where over a year ago Scully had stepped on that dead rat. I'm just amazed at how willing the gang was to try that place again after that incident...especially in cleanliness-obsessed Japan. The Satyr, Scully and Tully were there along with a few others. Unfortunately, The Barmaiden and The Okinawan, the two other ringleaders of this latest reunion couldn't make it...the former due to the demands of work, and the latter due to personal problems (ie. the boyfriend, I assume). By the time I got there, everyone had already had their fill of food and drink so I was very much in the role of cleanup hitter. In other words, I just ordered my own drink and little dishes. I guess the digestive process must've already kicked in since the conversation was fairly low-key. And I never really chimed in with some of the guys there even during their school days. Basically, it was just some fairly polite conversation from former teacher to students and vice versa.

On the other hand, the 002 get-together was oh-so-comfortable and nice. I brought the Cabernet Sauvignon (a gift from that Halloween event with The Satyr and Skippy) and the pumpkin for carving. Of course, 002's hubby was there along with The Baker and 001. Speedy was right in that I could've read the telephone book and the ladies would've been rolling in the aisles. The main course du jour was something imoni-nabe; now that the Fall is truly upon us, nabe or hot pot cooking is back in vogue. Imoni is this really starchy potato dropped into the usual mix of broth with carrots, onions, beef and other stuff. All very tasty. Beforehand, we all tried our hands at making onigiri...rice balls with different fillings such as flaked salmon and mentaiko (salty cod roe). As is the case with many a thing that I try to learn, my attempts at making the simple rice ball ended up with me making something to a Henry Moore sculpture. However, the laughter was graciously kept to a minimum. 002 even decided to go Okinawan and made some spam onigiri. Yes, you heard me...the quiet culinary trend in Japan has been to place some slabs of Spam onto a rice ball and wrap it in nori. It's pretty darn good...but then again, I'm quite the Spam connoisseur. MB would probably be heading for the toilet on seeing this entry. After filling ourselves up on nabe and other stuff, we got started on the last pumpkin carving of the year. 001, 002 and The Baker had a ball of a time carving the Jack O' Lantern; as I said, anything could amuse them. Of course, once Jack was ready, the cameras came out to take pics of the lit-up pumpkin. As you can see from the size of this paragraph as compared to the other one for the other party, I think I was much more at ease with 002 and the bunch there than I was with the ol' school gang...not that I like the latter any less but I think things are much easier when there isn't that barrier of teacher and student between me and them.

Sunday was by contrast a very quiet stay-at-home day. Mind you, I did get to see Saddam Hussein finally get his comeuppance live on CNN. With the exception of Fidel Castro, it would seem that dictators' life spans are quite short. But at the same time, they also share the same sociopathic trait of blaming everyone else but themselves for the misery they'd put their populace under.

Thursday November 2, 3:01 p.m.

Back at the Ai Cafe in Akiba. This time, due to a full house, I've been placed in the so-called full flat booth. Instead of a chair, I've got something like a chaise lounge to sit on in front of the computer. I have to admit, it's pretty comfy. I had The Polynesian this morning. She was fine but there was one of those things that happen from time to time between me and students; forgetting to pay me. Before, I used to let that sort of thing go and just gently remind them via e-mail. But today I tried to leave some hints such as asking as innocently as possible, "Uh...did you pay me?" However, try as I might, she just couldn't pick up the hint so I sighed internally and let it go. It was lucky though that the two of us were headed for the same station on the Oedo Line, Tochomae, right in front of Tokyo City Hall. As I was heading up and out and she was heading for her train, I stopped at the top of the stairs to tie my shoes when she breathlessly rushed up and profusely apologized before handing me the fee. Well, better late than never.

I had lunch at the nearby Hansens since it'd been a while since I had hot dogs. I had my usual double dog lunch but also tried the Bacon n' Cheese Fries. Yup, certainly was cheesy...there was a lot of bright orange goo smothering the taters with some generously large squares of bacon instead of the usual burnt bacon bits. Kinda reminded me that it's also been a while since I last set foot in The Maple Leaf. Maybe it's almost been a year. There was a review of it in The Japan Times a while ago...I definitely agree with the reviewer's take on the chicken wings. Their Suicide Wings are the real deal. However, I do protest on charging almost 1,000 yen for Labatt's Blue.

I've got B2 and B2B later on tonight. And quite possibly, I may be heading down to Shibuya for the second party of the ol' school gang. But I got word from The Coffeemaker that they're still not sure whether or not there will be a nijikai. So I've got a feeling that I'll be heading home after the lesson. However, The Satyr will represent the teacher side there tonight. Ironically, the main restaurant will be the same place where the gang had come across that dead rat. Man, these guys are a forgiving lot.

I've been steadily watching Robert Stack's "The Untouchables" fairly religiously for the past several months. Super Drama TV is now showing the fourth and final season, and I am getting the impression that it had "jumped the shark" by that point. Eliot Ness, Lee Hobson, Rossi and the rest of the bunch seem to be heading into the background again and letting the crims have most of the scenery. However, I did get to see the Robert Redford episode, "Snowball". Lest I give the impression that it was a cute little show based on the title, the young unlined Redford plays a handsome sociopath who doesn't mind killing college kids with wood alky to get up in the criminal world. And there was an uncredited "blink-and-you'll-miss-him" appearance by Walter Koenig, aka Ensign Chekov of "Star Trek" and Alan Bester of "Babylon 5", as the buddy of one of the victims of Redford's James Parker. The show plays without commercials on Super Drama TV so at about the 45-minute mark, I was starting to scratch my head at the fact that the story still hadn't reached any big point until there was a very quick climax and denouement in about 3 minutes. A bit disappointing, that. It kinda reminded me of some of the dramatic arcs of the more mediocre eps of "Star Trek: The Next Generation". And it wasn't Ness who wrapped things up, but Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti. I think the show overall though has been a hoot to watch just to see all of the stars who have popped up on it: future Oscar winners Redford, Patricia O'Neal (who did a remarkable Captain Janeway impersonation), and Martin Landau. And there was Peter Falk, Steven Hill, Cloris Leachman, Michael ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding") Constantine, Jack Klugman, etc. But it won't be too long now before the end is nigh, and I'll be able to get an extra hour of sleep in the mornings.

Wednesday November 1, 9:27 p.m.

Finished off with my two classes: 001 and 007. 001's lesson was a pile of laughs as usual, and we had a nice bonus chatting about our favourite anime of yesteryear. Kinda felt like humming the old "Star Blazers" theme again after so long. 001 got quite a kick out of hearing what the characters' names were in the English-dubbed version of "Space Cruiser Yamato".

As for 007, I was left a bit iffy. He has just finished his latest cluster of four classes, and he seemed a little uncertain about his ability to come next week. And he wasn't so sure about the week after that, either. So I gave him an out and just said that he could contact us when he knew what his schedule would be like. Again, the old paranoia has set in and I'm just wondering if he's gonna be doing the ol' pullout. To be honest, he is also one of those folks who doesn't seem to particularly chime in with the programme; his ability is a lot higher than the text we're using to be sure, but his consistency and vocabulary are so all over the place that the text is needed to build a more stable foundation. In any case, I'm not gonna bother telling Speedy of my concerns since he's always Mr. Glass-Half-Full. But if 007 is indeed gonna be the ex-007, I wouldn't be particularly put out.

Well, I'm just about ready to head on home while Speedy does his model lesson. I've got The Polynesian first thing at the neighbourhood branch of Cocos, a family restaurant. Then, it will be several hours before B2 and B2B. Not sure what I'll be doing in the meantime. Actually, I forgot to mention that The Hawaiian called up last week from Australia. She hasn't picked up that typical twang of Aussies but she's certainly gained in the fluency department. Looks like she's gonna be like me and gonna try for a Permanent Residency down under.

Wednesday November 1, 5:11 p.m.

Finished off my dinner of tofu...nothing more blander in taste and ambience.

Looks like there's a chance that there won't be any reunion party for me to go to tomorrow night. The Coffeemaker's shindig is from 7-9...which is about a half-hour longer than my time with B2 and B2B...not even sure if there's gonna be a second party. Well, at least I could save some money.

The Anime King will be heading over here at the end of November. I told him about taking The Egg to Kimu Katsu last month. Speaking of The Egg, I got some Swiss Chalet Debit Cards from him and his wife in thanks for my hospitality back in September. That should alleviate some of the cash flow during The Holidays. Mm-hmm...love Swiss Chalet. For those not in the know, Swiss Chalet is a chain of roast chicken restaurants in Canada. My family's had a long relationship with them...eat-in and take-out. And now that I'm living long-term in Japan, my rare visits to the place have become more precious. The BBQ sauce has been a source of some controversy over the decades. Some (like me) just lick up every last drop while others compare it to well-seasoned dishwater, preferring SC's rival, Ste.-Hubert's Chicken. I've never been to Ste.-Hubert's. Over in the States, one way of finding out what a man is made of is by his stripe of politics: Republican or Democrat. Over in Toronto, it's probably about which chicken restaurant he goes for. I'm solidly Swiss.

However, I'm not crying for lack of good chicken dishes here....and I'm not talking about KFC, either. The Maple Leaf, the Canadian pub in Shibuya, has some really good wings which can actually burn orifices in your throat and stomach. And a more Japanese alternative, Toriyoshi, which is also in the same area, has a scrumptious menu which is totally devoted to the beloved fowl. But when I get back to Toronto next month, I still plan to hit Swiss, along with The Madison Ave. Pub for my wings. I may even hit The Colonel...if only to have my 10W40 gravy on my fries there.

Speaking of food, I'm reminded of a scene from a 1985 Japanese movie, "Tampopo", the first ramen western. The movie was released a good decade before the critical darling, "Shall We Dance?" which introduced cineasts to Koji Yakusho, and was notable for the Pythonesque scattershot comedy of how a struggling ramen owner tries to get back on her feet, and a risque scene combining food and sex (don't think too deeply...no fruit or vegetables were harmed during the filming of this movie). However, I also remember a scene in which a homeless man sumptuously cooked a dish for a young boy. The old codger first sauteed some chicken and onions and then tossed in some cooked rice before adding ketchup. Then, he whipped up some eggs to a froth before putting the mixture into another pan, jolting it with his arms and hands into a softly cooked mound before landing the fluffy thing onto the red chicken rice. And for the piece de resistance, he took a sharp knife, carefully sliced through the pod of egg and the pod opened gently revealing a glistening yellow roof which slowly covered the rice.

It was a magnificent minute of cooking artistry displayed on film. The dish is called omu-raisu (rice omelette) and it belongs to that peculiar intra-Japan culinary genre called yo-shoku, or Western cuisine....but Western cuisine done through Japanese eyes. I know about Spanish omelettes in America and the ground beef-filled omelettes that my mother makes but I don't think omu-raisu has ever made its appearance in the West. And yo-shoku isn't just about eggs and rice. We also have hayashi raisu (Hayashi Rice), the beef stew-like concoction poured over cooked rice, our own version of rice curry (very mild...I don't think the Indians have ever quite forgiven us for making our own type of curry using honey and apples), and perhaps even sukiyaki could even be put into this august group...beef wasn't widely eaten until Commodore Peary decided to break Japan's isolationist policy and throw Japan into The Meiji Restoration.

Wednesday November 1, 3:26 p.m.

As the Peanuts gang annually say, "Christmas time is here..." At least for the department stores in Tokyo, it has. Not more than 12 hours since the last Jack O' Lantern was thrown out with the rest of the garbage, the Xmas trees went up. As I was coming down the huge escalator at the Mark City Mall in Shibuya this morning, there was a huge trimmed tree in gold, and one of the main thoroughfares in the Teen Mecca was already sporting a distinctly Noel look.

However, yesterday was indeed Linus Van Pelt's favourite time of the year and thus, it was Haruhiko's annual pumpkin carving day. It all started with The Beehive. Mrs. Travel came through with one medium-sized pumpkin. Instead of the usual lesson, the Hive and I set up shop at Mrs. Perth's apartment where the ladies couldn't help but already put out all the fixins for another amazing lunch spread with plenty of alcohol. I was feeling quite gregarious by the end of lunch. Mrs. Perth had a great time traveling through Europe with her husband and buddies and had the pics to prove it although she couldn't quite handle the quantities characteristic of a German meal (I think that's more my domain). As for the pumpkin carving, the ladies pulled off the job within 20 minutes which is a record in my history of pumpkin carvings.

Then, later that night, it was the same activity with Seven at the juku. However, there I was more of the navigator since I was given a rather faulty knife and I couldn't really have the lass take the chance of slicing off her hand. However, her pumpkin did look like a proper Jack by the end of our 60 minutes. She gleefully took it home. Once again, she carried on the tradition of giving me some confectionaries; this time, it was a bag of marshmallows which I managed to devour in about 2 hours...i.e. the time that I was at the juku. I also got a nice box of cookies from her. But I also gave her the complementary Halloween waffle from a package that I'd bought at the local Mini Stop. My time was really just half a stint: Jolly no-showed and once again, The Siberian cancelled. So, in my little corner of my world, I had a nicely quiet Halloween as compared to the raucous goings-on at the dance parties in Roppongi and Shibuya.

My Wednesday has been remade into my usual Monday schedule since I saw The Class Act this morning. The Lady has fallen for the "24" trap. Yup, she rented out the first half of Season 1 from the nearby Tsutaya, and now she can't get enough of Jack Bauer. I accidentally let it slip out that Dennis Haysbert's Senator survives to become President but other than that I kinda tortured her about the traitor within CTU.

To continue with that Charlie Brown analogy from the beginning, I actually did buy the latest Peanuts book (1961-1962). The Peanuts gang has finally taken that most familiar shape, and there was a nice intro by Diana Krall.

The foreign celeb sightings continue. I was talking about Scarlett Johannsen hawking Mt. Rainier Iced Coffee. Now, Cameron Diaz is back...this time, she's selling Softbank cellphones. She's made her money and this time, she doesn't have to spout out any of those nonsensical non-sequiturs that other stars have to spit out. She's just gabbing silently away to some music. Plus, Madonna made her way onto the "Smap X Smap" programme starring the SMAP boys; it was as the guest on the Bistro SMAP segment where she has the boys whip up some sort of magnificent dinner. Just glad that she didn't have to do the duet segment where she actually has to sing with them. Mind you, The Black-Eyed Peas weren't so fortunate several weeks ago. Speaking of them, though, Fergie did a surprise appearance on the Fuji-TV noontime variety show, "Waratte Ii Tomo" yesterday to promote her new album. Not sure if she pulled off one of her "London Bridge" dancing gyrations on Tamori.

Lifting a paraphrased quote from an actor from a recent article of "Premiere" magazine, paying the bills is like vomiting: I dread it but when I get it done, I feel somewhat better. I unloaded a lot of yen last night for National Health Insurance, Citizen's Tax (I keep telling myself that I enjoy having my garbage picked up to justify the cost) and my rent (I also appreciate my apartment).

Monday October 30, 9:51 p.m.

Still a bit early to make my way home, so....

Also still wondering when that first Krispy Kreme franchise will be landing here in Tokyo. I've been reading the announcements about it but so far there has been no sighting of those succulent icing-drenched haloes of heart-stopping cholesterol yet. I kinda wonder if KK will make a splash (or a splat, if I'm gonna be onomatopoeically accurate) in the megalopolis. KK donuts are a pretty sweet deal and I'm not sure if the Japanese are quite ready for that level of fat. However, I figure if they've weaned themselves on McDonalds, Hansons and even The Doughnut Plant, they may be ready for the ultimate in guilty culinary pleasures.

I was able to take care of The Part-Timer and 008 tonight. 008 came in some 15 minutes late due to the rigors of work but she was good to go as usual. I even gave a little spiel about Halloween. Speaking of which, I've got my first pumpkin carvings tomorrow morning and night. I hope that Mrs. Travel of the Beehive was able to procure a couple of gourds for carving up; I haven't heard anything from them in the last couple of weeks. And then I've got Seven for hers.

In the D'oh! (as in Homer Simpson's favourite expletive) department, the Japanese education system must be yelling "Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" while knocking their brains to the wall repeatedly. Apparently, almost 200 high schools across the nation are guilty of not teaching the required core courses for their seniors to graduate next March. The teachers and principals basically lied to Monbusho (Ministry of Education...or Propaganda) about what their young charges have learned in the misguided notion of helping them pass their entrance exams for university. After all, there is only so much time in a semester to cram as much info into their brains before the exam hell comes upon them so something had to be jettisoned....and that something was the basics. And now the schools' so-called assistance may ensure that the students will have to cram even more hours of schooling just to be eligible to get out with a diploma. I'm kinda surprised that the students didn't just lynch the faculty right then and there during cho-rei (morning assembly).

As if the government weren't screwing the kids, the incidence of violence toward kids has become front and centre in the news (I knew it...all that media outrage about drinking n' driving has been shoved aside like week-old leftovers). A father beats his two kids to a pulp after they accidentally deleted his notes from his computer...a 4-year-old boy is found dead in a drainage ditch in some suspicious circumstances...a 64-year-old guy goes berserk and uses his car as a ramrod against some elementary school kids for some perceived bullying against his daughter...and two kids hang themselves in separate schools last week due to bullying itself. What's this about Japan having the safest society? Apparently, that fact only kicks in if one survives childhood.