Up too soon this morning, but I took the subway to work which was nice and lazy... I spent the morning working on the Hawaii article, and also kind of the diamond one, although that got shelved for another day, as just as I was about to start cold calling jewelry stores to try and find one who spoke English to interview, Jen mentioned that she knows someone who works for Harry Winston, so she contacted her, and that woman should be getting back to us tomorrow with a PR contact to get a hold of, hopefully - the article is basically due tomorrow (if by tomorrow I mean today, but anyhow...)...

We also got the new Weekender, which was cool, I haven't actually read my bits yet,
I'm worried they'll have mistakes in them, but the rest of the magazine looks pretty good - I'll have to read it properly when I get a chance, I only had time to skim it today, but I got sent home with an armload of copies practically so I can start my clippings collection...

Jen and I walked to Soup Stock Tokyo for lunch, which was so good - you get two kinds of soup + bread or rice in your set, and apparently, the types of soup change almost constantly. I went with cheese and potato chowder and chicken and 'rainbow' vegeatables and they were both really good-definitely a good choice for winter!

The afternoon was busy - since I wasn't able to work on the diamond article anymore, I helped Arina with BAB distribution (sending samples to her advertising clients), fact checked a travel article for Anthony, and then about 20 minutes before it was supposedly time for me to go (not like I've been following it, anyhow!), got asked to compile the 'what's on' section for the new Weekender. I stayed an hour past when I usually leave, slipping out at 5 just in time to still get to my lesson, but I didn't get everything quite compiled, and I don't have any photos sorted yet, so it looks like I'll be going back in tomorrow for a few hours, which is fine - I'd rather get it all done now, before the weekend, then come back on Tuesday and be trying to finish things crazily as they try and get the magazine to print!

Went straight from the Weekender to teach, snacking on the way, and again managed to understand the math at hand which was good(!), we got quite a bit done today. Its hard, because they are at very different levels, and the Dad wants me to work the older brother harder, on more math and things, which means I can't help the sister so much. I think I will suggest one day be for one, and the other day be for the other, it can be much more efficient for everyone that way!

Anyway, back home on the train, I'm reading a good book right now, which I have to renew tomorrow as it's due back and I'm probably not going to quite have time to read 250 pages in the next 24 hours, called Dog Days. I got home at about 8, and have done nothing in the last hour, except have a brief nap with Venus, which was rudely ended by one of those weird dreams where you think you're falling off a cliff and jolt yourself awake. I think that's some kind of sign that falling asleep this early is pathetic, which is clearly is, so I'm planning on being up for a few more hours now, and then a fairly early bedtime since I volunteered my sleeping in time away - tomorrow is also the Canadian Rock and Rule Concert, which I'm SOOO excited about and I want to have lots of energy for that!

I think I scared one of the people I teach with the letter I sent out earlier in the week about my cancellation policy (you cancel w/ in 24 hours, you still pay, I cancel within 24 hours, your next lesson is free). I wasn't angry at all in my note, just pretty straightforward, since some of the people getting it have fairly low language levels, etc. Anyway, this guy writes back:

" Hellow. I acceptted your condition.I'm going to pay 100% of cancellation fee,if I dare to cancell your lesson. And I'd like to owe you 500Japanese yen more as cafeteria fee from next lesson."

Sweet, spontaneous raising of fees on his part, not going to complain there, but the part I really liked was when he says 'if i dare cancel...' which just makes it sound so much worse than it actually is, or like I've yelled at him and said something like 'don't you dare piss me off and cancel', which of course, I haven't. Language is a funny thing, given the number of misunderstandings between native speakers who misinterpret, or use not quite the correct word and cause a rift over that, its amazing that any cross cultural relationships manage to exist and even flourish at all!- you'd think so many inadvertant toes must get stepped on!

Anyway, I'm rambling, and since there's no word limit on this (sorry guys!!) I'll shut myself up, wish everyone a happy evening, and go reassure my student...

D