I've been guided, but I've been able to choose which way do I want, even the way may against the guide.
This is the biggest gift I got from God or something, free will.

I've been guided for all the time!!
How happy to know this...

Harry Potter!

Today, I ordered four Harry Potter books and two CDs to Amazon.ca.
The four books are from the first to the fourth which are in adult format (book 5 haven't been released yet). I wanted to have that edition, because the size is much smaller, the pictures are cooler and the price is much cheaper than the normal paper back or hard covers. I also had a ten dollar promotional code which I had to use before new year's day. So I decided to use it for Harry Potter books.
I wanted to buy book 5 as well, but I have to wait for six month. It will come on June 2005; Amazon said. And I guess I have to wait one or two more years to buy book 6 on adult pocket edition. I wish the publisher releases it earlier than now.

Play

For the victims of the massive earthquake and tsunamis,
wish a peaceful lest.
For the survivors of this disaster,
wish a calm mind.
For the chaos in those area
wish the returning of calm and peaceful energy.

The stories

"Genesis has not ended yet."
This is one of the phase I like; it is a saying from Native Americans.
Thousands of years have passed since early civilizations were born yet we are still in the time of genesis.
There is one more phrase like this, "We humans were born a minute before the midnight, if we assume the whole Earth's history as a single day" from historical Geology.
So the stories continues... I only feel the great great power of energy.

I wish all of you have a nice Christmas!!!

Santa Clause

Do you believe in Santa Clause?
At least this is the Christmas time, this question will be nice to start.
Well, do you believe?
When I was a little child, I believed Santa. (Japan is not really a Christian country, but as I remember, we already had the Christmas custom.) I remember that my little brother and I used to called out in a laud voice to the night sky to let Santa know what did we want. I completely forgot what toy did I want, and what did I get on the Christmas day, but I still remember the joy of that morning. A present was just appeared next to our bed, and it was one of my big wonder and joy to find it.
I remember I even wrote a letter to Santa to the address which I found from a kid's monthly magazine. That address was somewhere in Finland. There was (and I bet still is) actually an organization which responded to the letters from kids all over the world. So I send a letter to the Santa and got a response from "him." Though I received it about a half of the year after I send, I still was grad for that.
Those were so warm memories I have with Santa Clause. I now know there is no actual Santa, but I still believe there is a spiritual Santa Clause who gives warm and happy feeling in this season.
I think you'll agree with this.

Courses

Today I checked my new time table for the next semester and rearranged it.
I added one course and dropped some other courses. The course I added was Computer Science (again through) and dropped ones are Chemistry and two Math courses. At the beginning of this term, I registered three Math courses because I wasn't sure which one I should take. But now it's clear, so I dropped the two courses. Then, for the coming semester, I'm going to take three courses again. ... It seems very few, but I've heard that the next Math course would be much harder than the course I just finished. So three courses for one semester would be enough for me.

A beautiful picture of us

There is no competition at all in this world. The only thing there is the great great diversity.
You may oppose this idea, but, this is true. People are arguing, racing, or comparing from their point of view, but think of the time span which stretches hundreds, thousands, or millions of years. From this point of view, all the competitions we make will simply be washed away; none will be left. You know this feeling too. When you looked up the star studded night sky, when you watched the boundless ocean, or when you gasped at a spectacular ground view, you must have felt the human frailties.
There is only the great diversity in this world. And to make this diversion, one must be tall like a tree, one must be short like a grass, one must be clear like a crystal, one must be dull like a rock, one must be passionate like fire, one must be calm like water ... and so on. Then, with all this diversity, this world will appear a beautiful breath-taking picture of God.

One relief

I also had a registration problem, which is (of course) for an English course.
I had thought that I'll be expelled from the university after the next term. So today, I went to the registration office to check whether this will really happen or not. Then find out that I'm still hanging on a thread. I can register the summer courses and the next winter session (2005 winter session). But in the winter session, I have to take one English course. If I don't register it but take other courses in the session, then I'll be kicked out. However, if I don't register the next winter session at all, then it will be postponed ( I still have to make sure this about this information though).
I'm on the verge to be failing, but I've got some time to improve my English to register a better English course. So it will be OK.

Finally

I finally be able to write my blog.
I've been having a computer problem. I couldn't connect to the Internet; I can't check emails, and any web pages from my computer.
But today, I partially fixed this problem with a help from my friend. So now I can use the Internet and can write this post.
The problem was that just after I connected with the Internet, my PC was continuously attacked by some network viruses. Then after that, I couldn't be able to open any web sites even though viruses could come to my PC. But we find out that these viruses particularly attack Windows XP and doesn't attack ME which is the initial OS for my computer, so now I'm staying with Windows ME.
For now, this is OK, but I wanted to upgrade ME to XP, so this computer problem will continue some more days... or weeks.
I hope I can fix this problem before next semester begins.

Shortcut

There is no shortcut in the way of improving some skills.
To improve my English, I'm writing this blog (it's fun though), and there is no shortcut to be good at writing. There is no way to be good at Math without solving many problems, and also there is no way to be playing violin well without practicing.
But sometimes I still dream that I become good at everything without practicing hard.

A phoenix

Sometimes we can see a large phoenix on the sky at sunset,
especially in a very beautiful sunny day like today.
We had rains in this several days, and yesterday was rainy all day. Then suddenly today, we had a very beautiful sunny day and could see the so clear blue sky.
So I went out for a change and to a grocery shopping to the store where almost an hour from downtown by bus. Then when I got off the bus, I saw a beautiful afterglow of the sunset. The reddish orange clouds were trailing like a bird's wings extended.
I wanted to watch the phoenix as long as possible.

You are genius.

Have you ever thought yourself as a genius?
I always think so. Do you surprise?
I am genius if I compared with someone who never leaned characters, because I can read and write.
I am genius if I compared with someone who never studied multiplication, because I can recite the times tables.
I am genius if I compared with someone who never practiced musical instruments, because I can play violin (a bit though).
So, you are also genius! You just never notice that your ability is special.
Things are always relative.

phew...

Finally,... I can connect with the Internet.
For this five to six hours, I can't open any pages on the Internet, and the computer was making strange sound. I don't know why, because now I can open Blogger.
....... but wait a minute, my PC started to make that strange noise again!
I guess now I can't open any pages now. ..So it's better to copy this daily and paste in word to publish later...
... ... ...
How about now (to publish)!!

Next is Physics

Two days after is now Physics' final test!!
I have only two days again! My Physics' midterm was worse than Math. Wow... this is like action movie or something. One crisis over but just after that next one come which is more dangerous than the first one.
...Am I saying too much?

Math was over

The Math's final was over.
After I wrote yesterday's blog, I started study. I slept about two hours, then took the test.
During the test, I had a clear thinking and can solve all the problem that is not so difficult; Some, however I can't solve, but the test was all multiple choice. So if I'm lucky enough , I'll get some marks (Only 10% of probability for each question though).
Anyway, one big final was over, so I went skating with friends!

Broken day

Tomorrow is a Math's final test which worth 60% of the whole mark, ........ but, I didn't study Math even a minute!! I know I'm broken today. May be I can study from now... ( But I studied yesterday!)

Only two days!

I realized that I have only two days (today and tomorrow) to study Math. Dang, that's too soon!

A goal

Yesterday, I read an article "How to achieve your goal." It stared from this question, "What's your a goal?" Then, " If you answered instantly, you can achieve the goal with high percentage, but if you think a while, it would be little difficult to achieve this. " I couldn't answered instantly, so I decided to have a clear goal.
Then, my new goal is "To graduate an university." Since I felt this is more difficult than I once thought, it would be a nice clear goal. Then the small goals which support the big goal would be "To get at least C+ in Math and physics, B+ in Computer Science"
Now, my goals are so clear and can be answered instantly, so the percentage becomes high; I think.

Last day of classes

Today was the last day of classes. Then from the next week, the final exams are begun. My finals are Math, Physics, and Computer Science. Math and physics' exams are coming week, and Computer Science is following. After that we have two weeks off, and then the spring term begins. Sounds like studying, studying, studying? Well I sometimes feel so too, but I expect this is still much easier than some other people's work or life. I can study. This is lucky.

A music stand

Today, I bought a music stand.
I've been learning the violin from this year April, but I didn't have it. Because I always went Victoria Conservatory's a practice room, I didn't need it. But in these days it's getting very cold, and I was also busy for the school work, so I sometimes practiced at home. But then, without a stand, I had to bend down to look the score while I'm playing. So I felt its need. But today I bought a good one! So no more crouching for practicing.
I'm so happy.

ENGL 099

Today, I got a result of the English test, LPI, through on-line score report.
The result was good! My essay level became "3" which was "2" a month ago. So, now I can take the course, English 099.
The course is still non-credit, but if I take this in the next semester, then I won't be locked. ...I've been said "You'll be locked further registrations unless you take an English course." But the level of the course I had to take was one more below from English 099. Though the tuitions of the non-credit courses are much cheaper than the normal ones (I heard it's almost one-half), I still didn't wanna pay. That's why I've been taking LPI. Then today I successfully got the better result. So, tomorrow, I'm going to show this result to the English department and ask to allow my registration to English 099.

A parcel

Yesterday, I got a parcel from my mom.
She send me lots of food such as dry noodles, retort pouches, round donuts (Okinawan donuts), and some warm cloth like a jersey, a cape, a neck-warmer, foot-warmer.
...The mother's present is always warm.

What kind of bird?

Today, I saw one kind of birds which I've never seen.
There were four black birds flying together in a cloudy sky 20 ~ 30 m ( about 66 ~ 99 feet) above and the color of them appeared black. They were very similar to crows. But there were some differences between them. First I realized the size difference. They were much bigger than crows. Then the shape of their tail (?) . They all had clear fan shaped tail which was also bigger than crows. But the most different part was their calling sound. It was like a eagle or hawk calling.
From these differences, they are clearly not crows. They may be a kind of eagles... but I don't really know. So, if you know about them, please write a comment.
Anyway, it was very interesting to see those birds.

Math

After I started to study Mathematics in English, I felt that it is really a subject which mainly developed in the Western culture.
I feel so, because I can understand many rules of Math more easily by studｙing it in English than in Japanese. One reason of this could be the word order. Japanese has almost the opposite word order from English. We make a sentence in this order; subject, object, then verb. This system could be not suite for explaining Math.

Yesterday, I went to a friend(Japanese)'s apartment and spend whole night for reading comics. The total hours for reading would be 24 hours!! I think I'm little strange.

Firefox -- my new web browser

The day before yesterday, I installed Firefox, a web browser.
Then, I started to use it from yesterday. It's great!! It downloads pages much much faster than Internet Explorer, and from yesterday, I haven't seen any popup ad! I also like the tab system for pages. (I like the name "Firefox" too! It's cool.) Only thing I wanna request or want to find a way was to move folders in bookmark freely. I wanted to place a personal-tool-folder at the top, but I couldn't do it. My PC is still little strange, so it may be because of this.

Kindness

I sometimes think myself as not so kind.
Today, when I was in a bus, a blind person was getting on the bus, then, he was searching a closest seat to the front door. But, at that time, I was sitting on the seat. I should've moved to the other seat at the instant he got on, but I hesitated for foe seconds, because my stuff were on the board next to the seat. But while I was hesitated, a person who was sitting next to me called out、"Here, the seat in the middle is open, here." So, he sat on the seat.
... After his words, I realized my coldness.
I'll do better in the next time!

Boomerang Comes Back

Have you ever had the feeling of stupidity to yourself?
I often have this kinds of feeling when I find that someone who I thought is more stupid than me is actually smarter. Then I feel myself very stupid.
This is one kind of the law of boomerang, I guess.

an Internet Problem

I've been having an Internet problem.
When I start the Internet, Windows XP becomes unsteady, and the hard drive makes a strange noise.
And the most important, I can't update Windows XP. When I tried to update, it continuously downloads something and it never stops, even after I shut down the computer and turned on several hours later.
What's wrong with my PC? I may have virus? But I just finished checking it by through Virus Vaster yesterday (the software is trial version though).
In either there is virus or not, I have to solve this problem as soon as possible.

an Old Wheel-char Man

There are many homeless people in downtown Victoria.
One of them is an old wheel-char man who always sit(?) in from of a church and yelling in a loud voice, "Spare your change!" His voice is loud enough to be heard about 20m (about 66 feet) across the road.
When I heard this voice in front of him at first, I was a little scared. But after hearing it many times, I got used to it.

Then today, when I heard the voice again from across the road, I suddenly thought, "That's good. I still hear this voice. This means, he is fine. His voice is still strong enough to be heard across the road. He's been yelling over one year. I remember I had heard this voice a year ago at the same place same season. He's been treated by someone..."

I still don't have the courage to give him a change, but the fear is completely disappeared. It was good to know that even the people like him aren't given up by entire people.

16 and 1/2

Today, I slept sixteen and half hours!!
That was so good. I slept this much because I didn't sleep on Thursday night and Tuesday night (I slept Wednesday night for about twelve hours though); I worked whole night for the Math midterm-3. Then on Friday, I took the test, and felt that it would be so bad if I hadn't had study. The test was hard.

Blow the Language

There is a stream of thinking (or say consciousness) which doesn't involve any word.

We usually think in the most familiar language, but before our thoughts are expressed in the way, we already have its images in one below the language level. If I describe these thoughts in this level visually, they are like lightning. So, the speed of the currency could be as fast as light.
Most people don't recognize this currency clearly, but everybody knows its existence instinctively as we often use the expression, "It's difficult to say in words."
But if you can think in that "one below the language" level all the time and can express these thoughts in words clearly, you'll be a genius.

Take it easy.

"Break a leg!" in Japanese is "Ganbare! "
Though this is a very positive word, sometimes it gives an impression of order, especially when we are depressed. So,for that time, "Take it easy." or "Have a rest." be the best words.

Break a Leg!

What do you feel from the word, "Break a leg!" ?

When I wrote this word in Japanese while chatting with a classmate, he asked me to write it in his folder by pen.
This word often gives courage and eliminates fears. So it must be one of the gift-words from heaven.

To Get Help

I sometimes hurt other people's feeling,
when I feel a little tired and seek somebody's favor instead of doing my best.
This is a bad habit.
I do this unconsciously, but when I try to rely on somebody without doing my best, I always fail to get his or her help. The person who I asked immediately notices that I just wanted to suck his or her work result without paying a price. Then he or she is displeased.
So, first, I need to do my best and ask a favor. In that case, I usually not hurt the person's feeling, and can get useful help.

Clear Speaking

I've been wondered why I couldn't understand some people's English even their pronunciation don't have strong accents. So, I also have been comparing the differences between the two; the people whose English is very clear, and the people whose English don't clear.

Then I found some important factors for the clear speaking. That would be; the pronunciation, the volume of the voice, the intervals between the words, and the sentence structure. For native English speakers, the main cause of confusing English (mainly to international students) would be the last two; the intervals between the words and the sentence structure.

It's difficult to understand if one speaks long long sentences with almost no intervals. Most radio personalities use long and short phases or sentences evenly, and put intervals very effectively, so even they speak very fast, I can understand their words.

...May be I also should train my speaking too, because I often fail to express my feeling to the others.

a Happy Life

How am I happy and lucky now.
I don't have to worry anything about my life itself.
I don't have a fatal disease right now, I have a place to live, there are enough food and cloth and there is almost no possibility of a bomb coming from the sky.
I just need to worry about my grades and some other daily stuffs. I spend a day attending classes, chatting with friends, doing homework, listening music, reading articles, cooking supper, and (sometimes) watching TV.

In three or four years, when I start to work, I may have to worry about food, or cloth. And also just right now, there are the people who are suffering with foods, cloths, houses, diseases or bombs. But just worrying about the future or these people doesn't produce anything. The only things I can do right now are; playing for them, improving my head and enjoying the daily life. I'll do these until I can do something practical for them.

One More Day

The reading break was finished on yesterday, and I had an English test, LPI, again today. Then, from Monday, the university starts as usual. Though I have one more day to rest, I'm already starting to feel impatient, because I have Math mid-3 on this Friday!
I had expected this feeling already, but I still thought I should've studied more in that break.
Well, ... it always happens.

a New Fridge

I got a new fridge today, because the old one was broken (The fridge is part of the apartment's equipment, so actually it's not mine).
About 7 pm yesterday, I noticed that all of the staffs in the freezer were melted and the inside of both fridge and the freezer weren't cold. But the noise from the fridge had been normal, so I hadn't noticed about this.
Anyway, I called a building manager this morning and he replaced the old one to the new one in the very afternoon. So it's now OK.
(Only one problem is that the new one is a little tricky to use, because it opens to a wall, the opposite direction to the kitchen.)

the Gap

"I can read Japanese 8 times as fast as English."
I discovered this fact several days ago, and finally understood why I couldn't do well in class.
I hadn't recognized about this simple fact and suffered each time when I compared between me and the other students. But now I understand how large the gap between me and the native English speakers is. The difference in total ability is not only 8 times, but far more than it.
..But could I read English as fast as Japanese in some days? ... ... May be.
Language is important.

Being Lazy

From yesterday, (Nor. 9) I've been so lazy.
I was up all night (not for study), went to bed 7 am and got up 5 pm. It’s not good for health, but that was fun.

Gyoza

Today I went to a friend's apartment and ate "Gyoza (jiao-ji)."
It was delicious. So I'm glad to have some of it as a souvenir.
Reading break is from tomorrow, which is good too!

the Processing Speed

For these 2 or 3 days,
I restored my computer several times to resolve one problem, so now the computer went back to the point where the Norton Antivirus had not been installed. The initial problem hasn't been resolved yet, but I was amazed at the increase of the processing speed.
Before, I had to wait for at least 5 minutes from the boot, and also the start or the close of each application was so slow (includes web's downloading). But now it doesn't take more than 1 minute to actually use and web pages show up almost instantly.
There may be other causes to make this to happen, but I guess it's because of the open space used to occupied by Norton.
Mmmm...... would I better to keep this?

Getting Behind

I’m now doing Physics' assignment.
It’s difficult. But it’s just because I’m getting behind for the class (both Math and Physics). I guess those questions are the basic ones. Oh, I need study. (But reading break is in this week. Yey!)

Scorn

There is a kind of people who is liked by all, regardless of man, woman, old, or young.
One of my friends was like this. She was always smiling and laughing happily, and surrounded by many friends. So, be honestly, I sometimes felt jealous to her. But being friends for a long time, I found the key fact that would explain why all liked her. That is, ‘She had never looked down someone who she talked.’
So, I’m now trying to eliminate any small scorn in my feeling and trying to find some good aspects of others.

the University Bunnies

There are many bunnies in Uvic.
Their size is about 20 cm (8 inches) long and colors are: complete black, white with black patterns, complete brown, brown with white patterns. Seemingly, black is the most dominant color. The next is white with black patterns and least one is brown.
They are always eating glasses or lying happily. Sometimes they get snacks from humans and rarely they fight (I've never seen, but I heard.)
My aunts called them "the University bunnies" ; ... sounds very smart.

Clothing

It’s getting very cold in these days.
Today was only 2 ℃ (36 F). And so I wear lots of cloth; two pants ( one more under jeans), high-neck sweater, wool socks, ski jacket, fleece scarf, and lined gloves.
I wear this much, but I still see few Canadians wearing short-sleeved shirt.

One Regret

I've been regretting one thing.

When I was in an ESL (English as a Second Language) class, I had a presentation about the Internet in developing and developed countries. That was the best presentation I've ever done. But, there was one phrase I didn't say in class, only because I was too afraid to get lower mark by saying that.

That was like this, " But, you know what? When I first heard the words 'developing' and 'developed,' I thought 'developing' sounds much much better. Because it sounds lively, but 'developed' sounds dead."
We had been held up to use the phrase, "You know what?" so I hadn't said, but if I had said that phrase, I could have given some pleasure to the classmates who were from 'developing' countries.

I learned that any restraint doesn't require to give a pleasure.

Teachers

Today, I noticed one thing.
A teacher who teaches a subject easily, gives easy (I mean not too difficult) tests to students. However, a teacher who's teaching is hard to understand gives difficult tests.
The later teacher could be said that he or she isn't good at teaching. ...... Or, is it the feeling only I feel?

Halloween

Yesterday was Halloween.
On last year's Halloween, I went to a party, but this year, I just slept. But even I slept all day and no child came to my apartment suite, I enjoyed looking people in costume. From Friday, I saw many kinds of costumes: a spider woman with a big black spider (like a pet), two cowboys on small stuffed houses, John Lennon with music books, nymph, witch .... etc.
And today, I got some leftover chocolates from a classmate too.
Halloween was fun.

about LPI

I was too tired yesterday, so I didn't write about the test, Language Proficiency Index.

I took the test because I need to have some curtain score to take an English course at Uvic. This test is for the one who aren't well for English and need to have its score for a university or some institutions in BC.

The full score is 5 and there are 4 parts in the test.
The first 2 parts are the questions about English grammar and usage. There are ten sentences in each part, and these sentences may have an error. If there is an error, we need to darken a circle under that part, but if there is no error, then we should darken a correct mark locating the right side of the sentence.

In part 3, there are five short paragraphs.
We need to answer the questions about 2 paragraphs and write a summary for other three paragraphs.
Then in part 4, we need to write an essay which should be between 300 and 400 words. We can choose a topic from the listing (usually there are three topics to choose).

I didn't do well for the essay, and I don't have enough confidence for the first 2 parts either. So I need to work more hard for next LPI in two weeks.

Came Back

I finally came back from Vancouver!
It's only yesterday afternoon we left Victoria, but I feel like that it already past 2 days.
Since I didn't sleep a lot, I'll sleep tomorrow.

All Night

It's 4:40 am--
I've been sitting up all night solving a PHYS' assignment which due on today. But I guess it will be like 30~50%, since I didn't understand half of the questions...... Oh well, it's still better than 0%.
Anyway, I go Vancouver today! Yay!!

LPI

Tomorrow, I go Vancouver to take an English test called Language Proficiency Index (LPI).
The test is actually on Saturday, but because it takes 3~4 hours by bus and ferry, I chose to go there one day before the test. So that, I can avoid the tiredness by the move, and because I had chosen morning to take, I can go shopping after that!!
I'm already looking forward to it.

a Pastime

I had a PHYS' midterm today, and I did so bad on it!!
I couldn't solve almost half of the questions! The level of the questions wasn't so high, but because I didn't practice for the test, it took time to figure out which formula should be used.
Too shock to remain in school and study, I went to the downtown's library, and read several Japanese comic books. That's one of my way to forget it all. So, I'm now OK. I'll study more for the final exam!!

The Moon

Today is one day before the full moon.
At first, I thought it was the full moon, but then I realized that the shape wasn't a complete circle.

There are lots of interesting stories about the moon from old folk tales, like werewolves to modern scientific one, like the relationship with life's birth and death.
In anyway, the moon gives people the feeling of uncanny.

Wave After Wave

For the first time, I didn't take back the PHYS' lab notes to home!! (Still not within the class hour though.)
But I have CSC (Computer Science)'s midterm tomorrow, and PHYS' the day after tomorrow, so I still have to study!
(an English test is on this Saturday too)

Correct

Yesterday's blog was a little "showy," I guess.
I have this aspect within my character, so I'd better to correct it; may be little by little.

The Sense of Beauty

If you are wondering whether a plan or a thing is correct or not, you can check it through your sense of beauty.

There is a book called "The Message from Water" which teaches me how our sense of beauty is the reliable measure to check our activities. This book is about water crystals researched by Dr. Masaru Emoto, and there are many pictures of water crystals; some are very beautiful and some are not. Usually the water resulted by "the Nature" and "good" human activities have the "beautiful" shape of crystal, and "bad" human activities have "ugly" shape of crystal. These shapes completely correspond with our fundamental sense of "Good & Bad," and "Beauty & Ugliness." It means that we already have the perfect measure within us.

So if you are not sure whether an act you've made or a plan you will is good or bad, you can check it through your own sense of beauty. If you feel some beauty for your action, then, it would be the good(correct) action; if you don't, then it would be the bad(wrong) one. Every person has a different sense of beauty. So everyone can make his/her correct decision correspond with the one's character through him/her perfect tailor-made measure.

The Old TV

One of my favorite things in my room is my TV.
This old TV came from my pre-host-family and it is one of the earlier model.
So that, first of all, this TV doesn't have any channel button, instead, it has a dial. There are 1 through 13 numbers on the dial, so I can choose any of its 13 channels. Then, an on-off switch is also not a button. It's a knob combined with a volume controller. Pull up the knob to turn-on, and turn right to make the volume bigger.
Because all of the 13 channels are available with beautiful color images, this TV always amazes my friends who first look it.

The Sounds

There are many sounds around me.
When TV or radio is not on, the biggest (or the noisiest) sound in my room is the refrigerator sound. Then next is the ticking sound from a clock. After that, it comes from the outside road. I can hear cars and buses passed by, and because a hospital is near, I often hear an ambulance siren too. (Sometimes, it's too noisy)
I also hear the noises from people living around my apartment suite; some footsteps, knocking sound, water sound, door closing sound, and piano sound.
The later sounds fills my loneliness.

One Note

I realized about one fact about my capability and my world.

My ability of studying or say problem solving skill is surely rising as time went. For example, I learned addition, subtraction, multiplication and division at elementary school, and the world of minus and trigonometry at middle school, then the beginning of calculus at high school. At each stage, my ability to solve math questions are rising. However, my grade at tests or at the end of a semester, is decreasing. (Used to be I often got 100%. Then 90%, 80, 70, ... now the average is about 60%)

What this means is that the world I choose rises its difficulty much faster than my ability to absorb new things. That's why I feel so much pressure. So, I wish my capability to be increase before the world, ........but I know it never happen. (Only in this way, the one can improve fast, right?)

CSC

Mid-terms are coming.
I have Math mid-term II on Friday, Computer Science (CSC) mid-term on next Tuesday, and Physics mid-term on next Wednesday.
Though I don't feel any confidence for all of these three subjects, the least one is CSC. Today we solved some sample questions during the class, and I didn't understand about 90% of it. ......Uh-oh, I really need to study CSC, do I ?

The Buds

Today, I noticed some buds on my plant (African violet) which is on my desk and thought to be no more flowers until the next summer.
When I found these, I was so surprised and delighted, just because most of the flowers were already gone and there were not much light in these days. But this plant is stronger than I expected. It's very interesting. Hope I could see the blooms.

Today (Sunday, in my feeling), I slept a lot. In addition, I don't have any class on Monday morning.
That's why I'm getting up this late (4:00 am) and doing PHYS's assignment. I really got a strong concentration for study in these days. A year ago, I could never study like this. But even I spend that much time on study, my grade would not be A+. ...Oh well, this is normal for most of the non-native English speakers (especially whose first language is totally different from English), so I'll keep this pace.

A Mirror

Today, when I was walking down on a street, I saw a badly dressed woman (looks like 30s ~40s) yelling at everyone. She was walking up the street and shouting like, "I'm tired on this world. Everybody in this country is shit!! The entire Canada is shit!!! ...(etc.)" She was so mud, so keeped yelling. I don't know what stroked her hair up, but I guess her "world" is surely bad.

The world acts different to everyone. If one is in a bad mood all the time, then people give back a bad acttion. Likewise, if one has a smile all the time, then people give back a smile. The world around you is a millor of you. So, let's keep smiling and laughing all the time!!

The Start of Winter

Time flies like an arrow.
It is so fast to have only two more weeks to finish this month.
Although I do many things in these days, I'm still amazed how fast time flies.
Around there, it's already near to winter; the autumn colour is already close to finish, the times of the cloudy days increases and the wind becomes very cold.
These things make me feel the start of winter.

Finished!

I finally finished my Computer Science's lab assignment!
It took almost 6 hours for today. I had expected to finish this about 2~3 hours, but it took twice as long. But the consultant office in the building helped me a lot. Without them, I've never finished this assignment.
I will put this assignment in my homepage when I have time. Since I worked so hard on it, it's better to use it!

Ten Hours!!

Today, to do my computer assignments, I sat in front of a computer over 10 hours (about noon to 11:00 pm)!!
That was stupidly long, but how amazingly I became strong! I've never had such a long time to concentrate on only one thing (Though I went out for questions several times, it can be included, right?).
But even I spent such a long time, I still haven't finished yet. I really amazed for the cleverness of those programmers who created any software.

Mid-term Make Up

Today, I got Math's first mid-term exam back.
And that result was very bad. I got only 45% for this mid-term. While doing the exam, though it was far more difficult than I had expected, I thought I got at least 70%, because I could manage to solve most of the questions. But, as always, I missed my guess. It often happens for me to miss the guesses for exams. For Math test, it's often because of miner mistakes; for other subject, it's often because of misunderstanding of the question's point.
Anyway, since most of the students got very low marks for the mid-term, tomorrow we'll have a make up exam. The teacher said he'll use the same questions for tomorrow, so I GUESS I can get a high mark for this time.


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I got the result of the make up test yesterday(Oct. 16), and again, I missed my guess. Again, I made very minor mistake for that test, so I couldn't get 100%.
I'd better correct this bad habit.

Today, I finally succeed to put Windows XP Service Pack 2!!!
I can see the pages in my favorite folder, and check emails I got. This is great! I don't know what happened to the 1st time, but anyway I can use the Internet with no problem this time, so I don't mind that anymore!

The New Calendar System

Today is Sunday, the first week of Sunday, so tomorrow is Monday, the second week of Monday.

I decided to organize my calendar like this. Because I always couldn’t remember what day is today and how far the next exam date is, I create this to organize my plan. When I wrote “1,2,3,4” for each week and started to remember the date as “1st Monday, 1st Tuesday, 2nd Monday, 2nd Tuesday… , ” my thoughts became so clear for the next thing (note; my student calendar starts from Monday). It’s like this, “Today is 1st Sunday, and the Math’s mid-term exam is on 3rd Friday. So I have about two weeks to study.” Isn’t it clear?

Of cause there is a discrepancy between this system and the Gregorian system. If you continue putting 1~4 for each week, this discrepancy became so big. Like when I set “1st” for the week of Oct.4, I got the “4th” week of January finishes in middle of the month. So, to overcome this, I put “5th” for the last week of December. Then it works well for the next several months. (Having 5 weeks for December feels good too.)
You can try this system too!

A Diamond

Do you know?
Everything in this world has a story of its own, even in a small stone on a road.
If you try, you can hear; the stone starts talking.
The story of such things may be boring, but if you hear closely, you will find some interest things about it; the stone starts glowing.
If you find some fascinating facts on that thing, you begin to enter the world with more joy and excitement; the stone increases its glow.
Then you’ll find some very important rules of this world which illuminate you and everything around you, and you will find that the stone was actually a diamond.

A Sudden Close

Today, I installed Norton AntiVirus, because I've expected to have a virus in my computer. But I didn't have any ... which is good!!!
I still have a problem with Internet, but it's getting better.
Yesterday's problem is like this;
A pop up or a web page suddenly showed up and it closed the blog page while I was still writing! It happend many times. (I finished by writing in Word and pasted in here.)
Today, it didn't close the page, only tried to do. And it happen only once.
I hope it don't happen tomorrow.
If you know something about this, please let me know.

Efficiency

It’s always good to think about the priority.
When I have many tasks, mainly assignments, I always compare the importance between those.

Today, I had two assignments due by tomorrow. One is from Physics (PHY) and the other is from Computer Science (CSC). The due time for PHY’s assignment is 10:30 am, and the CSC’s one is 1:00 pm. But the percentage weights of the the final marks of these assignments inverse the importance of the due time. The PHY’s one is worth only about 0.4%, but CSC’s one is worth 2.9%. The importance of CSC’s 7 times of that of the PHY’s! What a huge difference!! So, I decided to put much effort to the CSC’s assignment.

Every time I feel better when I figure out which is more important and which isn’t. It’s always good to have this kind of clear view of the order of priority.
(Wow -- today’s daily is more like an essay; don’t you think?)

Windows XP Service Pack 2

Today (actually that's yesterday's evening because now is 3:00 am !),
I installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 to my computer. The installation was not difficult like other software, so I was doing it while talking on a phone. The only one difference was that it took almost one hour to complete.

Then after several hours, I turned on the computer and tried to open some home pages ...... Then the problem was discovered. I couldn't open any web pages!!! even a single page of Google.
It might be because of my carelessness; I might missed some serious information while I'm chatting, or any other cause I would never guess?
Either way, it looked better to remove the Service Pack 2, so I did it.

And now, I can open any web pages.
I was so grad when I looked "Google" logo.
It's always feel good after we come back to a normal state from some troubles.

A Different World

This morning was very foggy.
When I was waiting for a bus at about 7:40, I hardly saw 50 m (about 160 feet) ahead. Everything stayed very calm, and existed in the delicate shade of the white fog. It was very mysterious, and I felt that I was in a different world. At that time, I thought, 'This is like a beginning of some kind of fantasy novel, like Harry Potter.'
May be like this, "That morning was covered by the very tick fog. And that mysterious scene of the houses and roads made people calm and gave the feeling of strangeness ..."
How's that?

The Terrible Lab

Monday is a Lab day.
It lasts for three hours, and always I couldn't finish writing the Notes.
To overcome this, I decided to prepare more. So, yesterday, I read the instructions carefully, understood it and even practiced how to write the Notes. Then today, I had some confidence to finish writing the Notes bit more earlier than the last week.
Then, when we started the class, I found a terrible fact that today's experiment No. was different from the one what I've prepared!!!
I was so shocked!!!
No preparation at all for the experiment No.8, I couldn't finished the Notes within three hours again.

Today's lesson,
"Prepare for the NEEDED one."

My first blog

Hi, I just started this blog so everything in here is new to me.
I started this because I was inspired by some of my friends who are already writing blogs, and to train my English composition skill (My first language isn't English). I wanna express my thoughs in English more and more clearly and hear how the other react. It will be a great experience for me.
So, if you find English mistakes in my blog, please let me know.
Thank you.