Damn it! I can’t solve any problems in mathematics. What will I do?
Now I’m trying to solve a test in math, for a reason. There are ten problems but I haven’t been able to solve this one problem. I have to solve them all by February 1st, if I want to get a new job.
I knew it was not so easy for me, but I thought I would manage to solve them. I’m too optimistic in my outlook! I should have known that it was hardly possible to solve a math test easily for the first time in over thirty years!
This is no time for writing this blog, but I never feel like doing it...
This won't do, well, I’m going to try again!
I bought a pair of glasses yesaterday. The cost of glasses is a lot lower than it used to be, so it was the second time in 6 months that I bought glasses.
I have been very nearsighted since I was a junior high school student. When I was an elementary school student, I liked reading and used to read books in bed with dark lighting. Consequently, I became nearsighted, I think. When I was young, I didn’t like wearing glasses but now I have several pairs of glasses and enjoy wearing my favorite ones, depending on my mood.
There were many types of glasses in the shop. It seemed I would wonder which to choose, but surprisingly I focused on two types of glasses at once, and I could choose one pair after trying them on. The one I chose was black with black and red striped arms on the inside. They are so lovely, aren't they?
Well I was really satisfied, but was a little shocked. The cost was supposed to be just 5900 yen, but actually they cost more. That’s because the lenses for very nearsighted prescriptions were very thick and heavy, so I got the thinner and lighter ones which were more expensive, by 4200 yen! I exceeded my budget by quite a lot!
Yesterday was a bad day for my dog because my husband shampooed him. He hates getting shampooed.
My husband and I think differently about my dog’s shampooing. He thinks we should shampoo him every week, actually he really wants to do it everyday, while I think it is better to shampoo him once a month. It’s because dogs basically don’t need to be shampooed, but we keep him in the house and we sleep with my dog in our bed, so we need to shampoo him sometimes to keep ourselves clean.
Of course, this is not the only reason. It is really annoying to shampoo him in my place. While he is being shampooed, he gets wild and trembles, so I have to take care when I'm doing it. Furthermore, a lot of his hair falls out and I need to clean the bathroom afterwards. Oh, bother!
So when I shampoo him, I prefer to take him to a vet where, after they do a check-up, they shampoo him, cut his nails and clean his ears. It costs five thousand yen, but it is not expensive when I think about how annoying it is to do at home.
Anyway, how angry his face is!
Yesterday NEC announced that they are going to cooperate with Lenovo Group in the personal computer business and build a joint corporation. This news was leaked several days ago, so I knew about it. However, it was announced formally today, and I was a little shocked because I had worked for NEC's PC business for twenty years. My former company will undergo a great change, although they said that the NEC brand will continue.
On the other hand, I envy people who are in the company, because they will be able to experience the big change. I'm really interested in such a revolution. It must be hard but I can get a great deal from a cooperation with another company.
Actually, I missed another chance. The company that I worked for after NEC was combined with another company, two years later after I had left. My old colleagues mailed me saying that they were facing a different culture and working hard, but I wish I could have been there to tackle those problems. That is easier said than done though.
Bingo! Japan beat Korea in the Asian football cup! I was so excited. Next is the championship game on the 29th. I'm convinced that Japan will win the finals.
Today I will introduce a delicious salad, my favorite. It's a 'hijiki' salad. I don't know how to say 'hijiki' in English. When I look it up on the Internet, it seems that there is no word meaning 'hijiki' in English, but someone said that they say 'seaweed' in English. In Japan we eat many kinds of seaweed so we distinguish them clearly. Don't you westerners have a custom of eating seaweed?
Anyway let me introduce a recipe. If you can get hijiki, please try to cook it.
Ingredients:
250g of raw hijiki or canned hijiki
2 Japanese onions
2 celeries
1/2 carrot
2 pieces of deep-fried tofu
For dressing (A)
2 tablespoons of sesame oil
3 tablespoons of vinegar
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
a little pepper
Directions
1. Cut the Japanese onions, celery, carrot and deep-fried tofu into fine strips, 3 centimeters long.
2. Douse hijiki briefly in hot water beforehand.
3. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients (B). Whisk together A. Stir dressing into B.
4. Better to serve after chilling a few hours.
I met my friends from my college days yesterday. There were six women in our department and four of us have had a long friendship. We usually meet two or three times a year and after I moved here, three of us live along the Tama monorail by coincidence so we sometimes go for lunch.
Yesterday we met at Iidabashi where our old college is located. We talked about a lot of things and had a really good time as always.
The funniest thing from yesterday was about a picture. One of us brought a picture of the old boys. It would be an exaggeration to say that they seemed to be our fathers, but they were our seniors by a year at the college! Unbelievable! They were completely old boys, Oyaji, but they were only one year older than us. So people consider us old girls, Obasan. We were really really shocked at this fact, but we soon forgot it. We can't worry about it forever. Everything depends on how we look at it!
Yesterday my husband, our dog and I went out for a drive. We suddenly left after brunch and at that time we had no plans of where to go. We sometimes enjoy a carefree journey like this.
First we headed for Shizuoka prefecture and drove along the Tomei - Tokyo-Nagoya - Expressway. On the way we wanted to have good seafood so we left at the Numazu interchange and went to a famous seafood restaurant, Maruten, in Numazu. I had Kinmedai-no-nitsuke, an alfonsino cooked and seasoned with soy sauce and sugar, as always. It was really delicious! We like the restaurant very much not only because of the good taste but there is a good atmosphere. Many vigorous elderly women work there at all times. I guess they are wives of the fishermen in the town.
Afterwards we had to walk my dog that had stayed in the car while we were having the good food. We walked him in a park on the coast and I gave him a treat of tuna flakes which I had bought at the restaurant. He ate them up in an instant.
Well, we all three were satisfied and the journey had come to end so we hurried home.
I had not been interested in any beauty care. But now I have a facial massager and look after my face every week at home. Recently, I don't feel comfortable if I don't do it, just like an athlete cannot help exercising every day. It is the thing that I can't believe of myself! How did I change like this?
I met a friend six months ago. When I met her, I was surprised that her face had become smaller. The contour of her face had become sharp. I asked her why her face was so slim? Her answer was that she had been using a facial massager. Actually she waited to be asked about it by me. She bought it six months ago and has been taken care of her face since then. The facial massager has five functions; accelerating turnover, cleaning, patting, hot-cold and activation. (It's a poor translation.) The "patting", especially, made her face slimmer. I used to doubt such a massager, but her face showed me the efficiency. So I bought one, too. It was not cheap, I cant tell my friend how much it cost, but I can do it at home and forever. It's not expensive!
I have been using it for six months. I really feel that my face has become slimmer and slimmer, but no one has noticed yet...
NHK broadcast a program that said the train boom has broadened recently, especially among women. I'm not surprised because I have been a train buff for years. I LOVE riding trains. But, unfortunately, I haven't been able to go riding trains since I got a dog. I wanted to conquer all of the JR lines, but I had to stop at 50%! I'm so disappointed.
I have a memory I can never forget. Once I planned to ride the Twilight Express that operates between Osaka and Sapporo. This is a sleeper express that runs the longest distance in Japan. So it was very popular and getting ticket was very hard. However, finally I managed to get a ticket. I was happy and excited but this train didn't run through the Kanto area, I had to go to Sapporo or Osaka to ride it. One day I flew to Sapporo and stayed at a hotel in preparation for riding the train the next day. The next morning I turned on the TV in bed and I heard the news. Then I saw that information of the train service had appeared on the screen. Oh my God! They said the Twilight Express was out of service! Why? Why? Why? My mind went completely blank. Suddenly I realized the reason. There was a big earthquake along the line a week ago. But I didn't think these two things would be related to each other because I had bought the ticket a month before. I was really stupid! I went to the station against my will and got a full refund. It was extremely hard to get the ticket... I felt completely frustrated, but I changed my plans immediately and enjoyed riding trains around Hokkaido.
Last year I went to Sapporo and happened to meet the Twilight Express at the platform. Tears welled in my eyes. I hope I can ride this train some time.
Today I'm going to try to describe my sister's dog.
My sister's dog is male and is about three years old. We're not sure of his age exactly because he was an abandoned dog. My sister got him through a foster-parent system.
He is a mongrel and she guesses he is a mixture of a beagle and a Shiba. His body color is light brown but his face, neck and chest are white. His tail rolls up like a Shiba. His ears are not so big and droop like a beagle. He has lovely, round, brown eyes. And he has his own unique character in his face. There is a mountain-shaped boundary line between the light brown part and the white above his eyes. It creates an indescribable funniness. We all love his charming expression.
Overall he is a good boy, but there is one problem which is that he barks at strangers, especially men, furiously. Maybe he had a bad experience with men. This is difficult to overcome, but now he has completely become a member of my sister's family and has spent a really happy life.
The place where I live now is splendid. I moved here two years ago. Before I moved here, I lived in Chigasaki, a town on the coast. I had a great view from my apartment, so I hesitated a little to move. But now I am really satisfied with my town because there are a lot of beautiful parks around here and I have a splendid view of the mountains, including Mt. Fuji, instead of the sea.
Now I'm reading a book about the history of my town. I've learned about the architecture as it is for my homework at the college. Then I became to know our town's big history. My town was one of the biggest new towns in Japan. It was called "a gigantic experimental town". When they developed this area, they removed all of the farms and built houses and commercial buildings. Now my town is very beautiful because of the city planning but I knew that this town was built on a severe conflict between the farms and the administration. Now I am deeply impressed with the history.
When I study English, my friend asks me malicious questions.
Hey, how do you say in English, 行かないわけにはいかない in Japanese?
It means roughly like this, I've not admitted not going. In short, it means that I have to go. I think that we sometimes use double negative ways of speaking like this in Japanese. I use it when I want to speak euphemistically because I don't do it readily or don't agree completely. Another example is, お金が無いわけではない, it means that I don't have any money. Umm, it is difficult to translate the nuance. In short, I have money, including the feeling 'but I don't want to use it'.
Do you also use the double negative way of speaking in English?
How do you say 'I have to go' in the double negative way?
I've been reading a novel by Patricia Cornwell. It's the latest novel of a popular series featuring the heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner. I like this series very much and I had read all of them. Last month when I was on the train, I saw a billboard of this book. After getting off the train, I went to a bookstore and bought it straightaway.
Actually I hadn't read a long novel for ages. When I thought about it, I realized the reason I haven't read any books recently. I quit my job two years ago, so I haven't had time to commute by train. I tend not to read at home. My reading time equaled my commuting time. Now I've been reading the book but at a very slow pace. I read it in the bathroom! LOL. I can read a few pages at once. When will I finish reading it?
The day before yesterday I met my best friend. I have been worried about what I would say to her. That's because her sister suddenly died last month. She died of a heart failure, so my friend didn't prepare herself mentally at all. I had no idea what I should say to her in such a sad case. But she looked livelier than I thought, so I felt a little relieved. She said that she has been up and down. I have a sister, too, so when I think about her sadness, I really feel it must be unbearable. Today, she told me a lot of memories of her sister. Yesterday she emailed me and thanked me for listening to her a lot and it helped her to become comfortable. That is the only thing I can do for her now. I am going to visit her sister's grave next month.
I’ve been participated in a photo club since last November. It is a club for members who live in the area around here. My dog friend invited me to the club. When I took part in it first time, I was really shocked because all members were seniors over seventy maybe. It was a senior club! I’m fifty so I’m not young, but I am a runaway young woman! I thought that I came to a serious place and what will I do? However when I saw their photos, I changed my stance completely. Their pictures are absolutely wonderful. They are photographers of many years’ experience. I’m glad I can learn a lot from them.
Today we had a meeting and an instructor who is a pro-cameraman commented on our pictures as always. I like the meeting because our meeting is really pleasant. Seniors’ took their time in doing everything, so the pace is very slowly. I like watching it.
I was really shocked! I just took an English test, CASEC - Computerized Assessment System for English Communication. Actually I felt a little confidence today. But my score was only a little higher than last time. Only seven marks up! Why? Why? Why? I've been studying English every day and I felt that I could understand much much better than last time. Someone says that it is OK if I can understand, but I want to get a high score because I have worked hard for years! Certainly, I don't work now and don't need a high score for the job, but today's result takes away my motivation. I know there is no point saying so, but how disappointing! Nevertheless, I like learning English. I changed my mind and I'll keep at it. Good night today!
I love walking my dog. It's my routine to walk my dog twice a day. It takes about one hour a walk. I want to do it more really. But actually I always have a pain in my foot because of my disease. When I told my doctor that I had a dog, he said that I should have had a cat! No way! I like dogs much better than cats. And when I moved here two years ago, my life-long desire to walk a dog had been realized. On top of that, my good health is due to the fact that I walk my dog every day. If I didn't have any pain, I would walk my dog as long as I can and run with my dog.
In the meantime, the expression, my good health is due to ¡Ä, is the sentence that I found in the smart.fm. I can never express that by myself. If I continue to study English, I wonder if I will be able to express myself in that way someday.
I've been hooked on Dr. House, an American TV show. When I learned English conversation, I told my teacher that I like the American TV show, so he showed me some. Dr. House is one of them. At first I was not interested in it because the name House seemed to be very strange. I had no idea that the House was a person's name or a metaphor about something. Anyway, I started to watch them. I loved them! He, Dr. House, captivated me! So I recommended them to my good friend. In Japan, they publish DVDs from season 1 to season 4 and run season 5. Sadly they don't run season 6 yet. I don't know the schedule for running season 6. I can't wait to watch it. But yesterday my friend who had lived in the U.S. mailed me that she had finished watching season 6. Oh my God! She could understand the English version! Damn!
I had used a computer based on Microsoft Windows. I had not been interested in the Macintosh. I don't know why but I didn't have a good impression of Mac. But after I quit my job, I started to study architecture and I bought my first Mac. I was really amazed at the time I first used the Mac. They have a good user-interface, lovely screen images and excellent applications. I really liked Mac and I haven't used Windows recently. But there are some times that I need to use Windows. I don't want to use my Windows PC although I have one. Then I installed Windows on my Mac. Now my Mac has a virtual Windows environment and it works comfortably. I'm deeply satisfied!
At the end of last year, I was absent myself from this blog. I really reflected on myself. The first of my new year's resolutions is to continue this blog! I'll do my best. I think I say this every year. But it's better than doing nothing.
It started a little bad this year, because I had an argument with my husband at 2 a.m. on the first day. We were supposed to go to a shrine, but I was very sleepy and I let him go alone. He was awfully angry. It was natural that he should be angry so I apologized to him and treated him to Sushi that night. Now we are in good standing.
Today I visited my parents' grave with my sister's family. This is an annual event and I really look forward to this every year.
Oh, I have to go and see my friend tonight. Time is up.
