Well, work was a bit crazy today, as we had the March BAB going to print, and the Mar 02 Weekender (Ireland) coming into the office for distribution today...Crazy! I spent the morning first proofing an article for next month's BAB (I really want to go to Malaysia now!), but then the Weekender came in around 11, so I was starting to do my part of the distribution (I make sure all of the companies who appear in Weekender get a copy takubined to them, basically).

I hadn't gotten too far though, when Helen pulled me off that and asked me to do a final look through the BAB she'd just printed off, so I quickly read the entire magazine doing a copy edit for major issues. I found a few which needed to be corrected, so Helen got that done and then got it off to the printers... I spent the rest of the afternoon on distribution, which I didn't quite get done before I had to leave to teach, poor Helen is going to be finding a lot of addresses for me!

At the very end of the day, the proofs came back from the printer, and I caught one quite big mistake which we'd seen but managed to not change earlier, so I'm happy about that! I'm actually surprised at how much I enjoy copy editing; I used to hate the 'let's find what's wrong with this sentence' questions on the provincial in gr. 12 English, but I've been enjoying it at CPI a lot! I'm surprisingly not terrible at it either (I don't think anyway!), although I do tend to spread out a ton of resources while I'm working - our style guide, the Chicago manual of style, a listing of proofreaders marks, and a guide to the differences between British and American English...I blame being a Canadian for basically thinking either way looks correct :).

Our new intern came in today, and while none of us really met her except Helen, she seems nice though, and will be working similar hours to me starting next week...

I left work with just enough time to get to teaching, which was good- the girl got 100% on her spelling test which we studied for together on Tuesday, and together we read 'Curious George Goes to the Hospital', which I SOOOO clearly remembered from reading as a little kid, it was crazy!

After I taught, I raced out of there and back over to near the office to see 'Ka Gu Wa' with Anthony for work. (I quote the brochure here): "We are traditional show cabaret restaurant built in the style of a red - light establishment dating back to the MEiji era. Our shows are a spectacular combination of Meiji-era themes and modern twists, including dancing, upbeat music, and even flying performers. Performers are professional dancers and beautiful men and transsexuals dressed in women's clothes. You can also enjoy the ever-changing stage which incorporates a unique new technology systems."

It was quite the show! I had no idea what to expect, but when we walked in, it was a multi level dinner theatre with a variety of kinds of seating. We were sitting on a bench with a long counter in front of us, just behind the tables which had a front row seat - it was a great location actually. Many people had food, but we opted just to get a drink and take in the action.

The show was a crazy mix of kimonos (of varying levels of traditional appearance), and then just about any other kind of flamboyant and colorful costume you can imagine, including a rather kawai stuffed turtle, sexed up flight attendants in physcadelic aqua blue mini skirts, a cinderella type gown, lacy robes which happened to come off a bit, etc. It was crazy! Highly entertaining, but rather ludicrous at the same time, I've safely never seen anything like it! I think woven somewhere in there, there might have been a love story, but I really don't know - the music was really up beat for the most part, with a Broadway esque vibe, but some of the songs were very random - I think I detected some Evanescence in there at one stage! They also had a flying harness thing they used occasionally, and a random clown type jester character flew in and out a couple of times, against the backdrop of a HUUUUGE blow up pirate ship which had approximately nothing to do with anything! (And appeared quite impressively out of nowhere while we were distracted by another number). The stage itself was pretty cool though, it was hydraulic, and had tons of levels and pieces, so it moved around, and re organized itself constantly, making for some very interesting choreography possibilities. I certainly spent the hour enjoying myself, but I'm not going to lie, it was weird! Hilarious at some junctures, but not intentionally on their part I don't think; but honestly, what was with the transsexual frumpyish girl in the seventies dress on the fake plane, giving birth to a kewpie doll out of a velcroed bag under her dress while surrounded by flight attendants in shimmering blue mini skirts and huge light sticks?

Anyway, a good time was had by all (especially the neighbour on the other side of me from Anthony, who loved it!), and then I headed home and stopped for a salad at McD's since Peter wasn't going to be home, and I didn't feel like scrounging food. While I was at the station, I saw this guy, wearing a fantastic aluminum foil suit (and hat) in the choco cro. I'm not sure what the story was, but maybe he was protecting his head from an alien invasion?

Came home, and very excitingly, found out that The Shins are coming to Fuji Rock! I wish I could actually go to Fuji Rock, but I think that's going to be a bit hard to pull off, I'm hoping that if they're here anyway, they might do a couple of stand alone shows in the Tokyo area, and I can go catch them then. Other early lineup announcements include Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Fountains of Wayne, and a bunch of acts most of whom sound vaguely familiar but that I don't know...

Off to curl up with a leaping Labrador and a book, it was an busy day today!

D