Nice Dinner, Indians Eating Beefsteak & Friend Becomeing Former Friend

Last Friday (24th), I had dinner with a group of people at a steak restaurant near Conrad. I can say that it was the first occasion in many weeks where I talked and laughed while eating almost totally forgetting about business. The group consisted of three Japanese, including me, two Indians, a German (my friend since 2009) and an Australian, the kind of mixture of people I love. I was very much surprised to find those Indians eat beef. I only hope they knew what they were putting into their mouths.

After the jovial dinner, I moved to “Y” with one of the Japanese guys. Well, I certainly enjoyed my time there (we stayed there until 2:30 am), but there I was asked about “Z” by two women, whom I had known for a decade. I said, “I really don’t know what is happening to him. He does not care about, and pay attention to, small fish like me.” Judging from what they implied, it seems to me that he has established some reputation there too. This was not the first negative comment I have heard about him. (There had been at least a few before.) I also have been feeling for some time that he has changed. He is not who he was that I found when I first met him. Or he has not changed at all. Very sadly, this face that he is now exhibiting may be the real one. It has been that, in any case, most of his talks are regrettably superficial therefore with no depth, boring or lewd. It is so vacuous. There is no grace. Worse, when he has money as apparently he does now and behaves like a scoundrel, people will leave him eventually. Only those who got to know recently stay with him, for now. A good friend is now becoming a former friend. Or I think you should seek consultation for your sex addiction. Ridiculous,

Day of Super Irritation

A day of super irritation. Reasons I can think about this irritation include the phone conversation I had with maman Sunday night (5th) and payments that have not arrived. One of the payments is to be from the company of a man who boasted when asking for my translation service, “We have money now. I will give you money in no time.” Not being a beggar, I have no intention to be given money for poverty. I felt, and do feel still, insulted. This man, whom I have known for some years, asked for my half-day interpretation at a 50%-off price and extended it to a whole day with the price unchanged. And when he came to me for the second time, he delayed his payment making untruthful excuses, that is, lies. Definitely, I will refuse any business with him. And talking to maman, once again I wanted to terminate the blood relations.

StarHub Threatens "Legal Action" against Me

Today, I received a letter, "FINAL DEMAND NOTICE," dated 10 June, from, as I believe, a debt collector with a Chinatown address, acting on behalf of StarHub.
The letter, printed on a nice salmon pink paper, says:
“This is the final notice on your seriously overdue StarHub account. You have been given many reminders and enough time to pay the overdue amount. Please note that if the payment is not received within 5 working days from the date of this letter, we are proceeding with legal action without reference to you. And all legal costs and additional charges has to be paid in full immediately. Please treat this final demand notice seriously and call us at 62XX-12XX to advise us the payment details.
Yours sincerely
(Signed) Managing Director
StarHub/FL/jg
I do not want to repeat this utterly ridiculous MaxOnline story. I am hundred percent sure that I am the party that is rather entitled to a compensation because this is over a service that StarHub could not provide me. And I even paid the fee for several months even when I was receiving absolutely no part of the service. Money for nothing! And as for the reminders, yes, I have received a few calls from StarHub persons over the period of about two years, (it seems every time it was a different person) and I had to explain the same thing every time. Some of them told me that they would refer the case to their manager, but I have never received anything from anyone who can be accountable. Okay, I settled the bill tonight with utmost unhappiness and grudge. Are you happy now, StarHub? I am convinced that this is the way you do your business and collect money.

Hatoyama Retracts His Words about Prime Minister

ハトヤマさんがまたもや前言を撤回した。首相を「ペテン師」呼ばわりしたことを、「今求められているのは冷静な心だ。私も一時、冷静さを欠いた発言をしてしまい、大変ご無礼をした」（読売電子版） 、「今我々に求められているのは冷静な心だ。私も一時、冷静さを欠いた発言をしてしまい、大変ご無礼したことを皆さんにおわびしたい」（毎日電子版）だと。本当なら今は一民間人のはずなのに。美しさも潔さも感じさせない人だ。

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The renovation work that has been going on upstairs now quietened down somewhat though I found a leak from the ceiling of the common corridor last night.

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My second reading of “Demons” has gone into “Part Two: Filibusters. A Fatal Meeting.” “Night,” where a meeting of Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky and Nikolai Vsevolodovich Stavrogin takes place and Kirillov explains himself and also Stavrogin goes to see Shatov to ascertain his attitude, and “Night (Continued),” in which Marya Timofeevna Lebyadkin talks about her prince, can be considered two climaxes of the story.

Ugly Democratic Party & Leaking Ceiling + Air-Conditioner

内閣不信任案が２日、否決された。与党内から造反する議員が続出して、宮沢内閣に対する不信任案可決を思い出させるような状況になるかとみられたが、あっけなく否決された。その後の民主党内のいざこざには深く落胆すべきか、それとも笑いをこらえるべきか。
沖縄県普天間米軍基地の「国外、少なくとも県外移設」、アメリカ大統領への「Trust me」発言、さらに政界引退の決意撤回で知られる前首相は現首相の態度を「男として、人間として、あるまじき態度だ」「許しがたい。『ペテン師』といわれても仕方ない」（産経電子版）と評している。この人に「ペテン師」と呼ばれてはたまったものではない。民主党を自分の手の届かないところにやりたくないというこの人の姿勢から、この政党は公党ではなく、ハトヤマ私党だとの印象がますます強くなった。
また、「市川房江時代」から社会市民連合時代にかけての同志だったという田上等氏は、「『菅が将来、もし首相になったら日本人を辞める』という仲間が周りに少なくなかったことを、ご存じないでしょう」（産経電子版）と語っている。不信任案採決直前の民主党代議士会で首相が「若い世代に責任を引き継ぎたい」と言ったのは、（いつなのか知らんが）自らの退陣とともに、ハトヤマ、オザワを道連れにしようということではなかったか。この３人には即刻退場してもらいたい。
この「若い世代」は何をやっとるのか！

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I think it happened last Wednesday. My memory is somewhat blurred. Late morning when I still had not eaten anything, I heard the sound of water dropping just outside the tiny flat. The ceiling was leaking obviously because of some work being done upstairs. Immediately I went up to complain, but any of the workers did not understand English. From the gesticulation of one of the guy, apparently the manager, and my fragmentary capability of the Chinese Mandarin language, he understood that he was saying that they had cut some pipe and that is why it was leaking. I said to that, “I don’t care what is happening up here. I do care what is happening down there.” Soon the leakage stopped.
The following day, the same man knocked on the door to ask to do some work inside my flat. I knew very noisy dismantling work had been going obstructing my own work. I understood this much only with his gesticulation. He called the man of the management company, “boss” as he described in English, whom I had met many times before, and passed the earpiece to me. He said the work would continue for three hours. I should also have complained about the fact that there had not been any prior notice. But that is after the event and I think it would have made any difference. A worker began dismantling part of the ceiling here for extending a piping from the flat upstairs. For all those hours, I kept silent, sitting on my rocking chair with a fan and not feeling doing anything, work or otherwise. The dismantling guy cleaned up the mess he created. Of course, I had to do more cleaning work afterward.
It seems the work will continue some more. Last night, I brought the shoe rack inside because all my footwear was covered with dust. They don’t know how to take precautionary measures and how to clean up after work. (I miss my country.)
And this afternoon, there was another case of leaking, this time inside the flat. I loudly complained and it stopped after a while.

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Making things worse still, the air-conditioner has also been leaking since around the time when the work started upstairs. I first thought that the leak should be because of a clogged cooling-water drainage, as the piping is crudely designed and tough to clean up. Then I thought it should be because of the piping work upstairs. Funnily, I had no leak yesterday. Then tonight it started happening again. I don’t know if this leakage has anything to do with the work as the drainage seems independently installed. The air-conditioner itself looks very old. Its front cover cannot be opened easily for cleaning. I looked at the filters and they were okay.