This Sunday I was given back my day off, probably due to lack of customer interest in a free lesson. Eikaiwas are going the way of the dinosaur; I feel it in my bones. I was gleeful at yet another chance to do nothing productive, especially on a lovely sunny day such as this one ( Read more... )

Mom called me this morning on my cellphone. God, that feels good, doesn't matter how old you get. Asked about the typhoon. I told her the bad news--living on a raft--and the good news--really, really fresh sushi. She's begun this language learning night for parents, the whites learn Spanish and the Mexicans learn English in adjacent classrooms. I ( Read more... )

Last night and throughout the early morning, typhoon rains pounded against the roof and my sliding glass door.  I couldn't sleep. T texted me. He sounded so positive and stable. He told me of his new goal of moving out by December and living on his own. He sounded like a grown man. I felt good for him. I thought of those things I've yet to ( Read more... )

Yes,  I've been distant and surly and neurotic and sarcastic and desperately lonely again, how did you know? Today the rain lifted and we had a hot, sunny Sunday. My menstruation ended at last. I also happened to have a good day ( Read more... )

A couple cases of swine flu have been reported in Kawasaki. Of course, I didn't know that until after I'd agreed to meet my friend in Kawasaki today. The whole Starbucks team was wearing masks, and regular items like milk and honey weren't left out for consumers (there was a note in their absence saying this was done as a precautionary measure). ( Read more... )

A small electronic device, requiring me to answer 50-odd questions (and my coworker translating each one, bless her soul) provided me with the following personality and future forecast reading: 1. I prefer to make or leave things unclear. 2. In the future, I will be poor. 3. My life as an elderly woman will be fairly uneventful. 4. My best romantic ( Read more... )

After reading animated postings about the debate, I had to see it for myself. Strangely it took a bit of time to track it down on the the web, but finally... Geeezus, ABC! And will someone tell me, wtf with Charlie interrupting Obama to argue like a bossy schoolboy? "But-but-but.." Shut the f(*& up! On top of that, it really made me not like ( Read more... )

Bopping into the office, I stuck my head into my coworker’s classroom.

"Hey, it’s April Fool’s Day!"

"You mean it’s the first day of April, Apuril Whool?"

"Uh, yeah, April Fool’s Day!"

"The... day we can tell a lie... Apuril Whool."

"Well, yeah!"

"You have the same thing in America?"

"Yeah! You mean it’s the same thing in Japan? Wow, cool!"

"Yes. We call ( Read more... )

Things come out in class ( Read more... )

The grammar of reported speech bothers me. "He walked to the store and was going to chew some gum." I want to say, "He said he had walked to the store and was going to chew some gum." Have I committed a grammatical sin? Need it actually be, "He said he had walked to the store and had been going to chew some gum"?