New Year's Eve

I'm going to a New Year's Eve party at a friend's house now.
Yeey!
I'm sure that I'll come back around midnight, so that I'm writing today's post now.
I hope you have a good New Year's Eve and great New Year's Day too!

First of All

There are lots of things to do, but the most important and the first thing I have to do is to calm my mind.
Anything good can not be done without calming my mind...
Oh, the fridge noise stopped just now. Good timing.

Strong Wind

It's been windy at night in these days.
I don't know why but the strong wind at night somehow makes me nervous.
Maybe it's from the animal-like instinct.

The Phone Charge

What did I want to write today?
I had some idea but suddenly my head becomes blank.

...

Oh, I remembered!
I wanted to write about telephone.
Today, I got phone call from my aunt in California.
She sometimes calls me since she is the closest relative in North America, and since she don't have to care about the call charge. She said that because her husband works at a phone (or a cable) company, they have some advantages for the plan. It said that the calling charge within U.S. and Canada is free.

In general, the phone charge in these days is getting really cheap, so in the near future, it might become totally free on the house phone.

At Every Meal

In these days, I say not only "Itadakimasu (I gratefully accept it)" but also return thanks at every meal.
I feel better when I do it, and also I feel the meal is somehow tastier than before.

Five Days Left

Christmas is over, and now we have only five days left for this year.
When it comes to the end, even though I thought that some days were very long, I really feel that time passes like an arrow.

Did time change its speed?
Maybe yes, ... inside of me.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas!
I wish you have great holidays.

New Year's cards

Today, I set many New Year's E-cards for the New Year's Day.

I made so many mistakes, so it took about one hour and half, and I still have some more people to send to. However, it's still much much faster and easier than writing by hand (and in anyway, I can't get Japanese New Year's cards in here.).

Rewards

The people who like nurturing plants seem to be very happy people, and it's the same as the people who like taking care of animals or children.

When we love something without seeking any reward, we already have enough rewards in our minds.

Thunder

Just about an hour ago, when I was curling up on my small couch with a book, I saw lighting flash over the page. Then, within some seconds, I heard the rolling thunder.

This is the first time in about a year (I guess), we have had thunder.
How amazing the sound was!
We, humans, would never be able to produce such a huge, ferocious, and gorgeous sound.

Nature is certainly great.

Art Pack

Today, when I went to the book store in the university, I found some interesting playing cards.

It says "art pack" on the package with the drawing of famous Mona Lisa. All 54 cards has different paintings on their faces, such as Da Vinci's Mona Lisa (as I mentioned already), Botticelli's Birth of Venus, David(?)'s Napoleon Crossing the Alps, Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, etc. The back of the cards is Monet's Waterlily Pond.

It's so exciting to have this pack.

The Evidence

We all have some worries, but it could be said that these worries are the evidence of living.

English 099

I failed that English 099 course.
Oh, well. My gut was telling this result when I got the thick paper dictionary instead of my electronic one.
Anyway, I'll try to meet my English teacher.

Sayaka Shoji

There are so many great people in this world.

Today, I learned about a Japanese violinist called "Sayaka Shoji."
It said she is younger than me, but already a professional violinist who won the Paganini International Violin Competition (? ...I'm not sure for the English name of this contest), and she seems to have a very strong and deep mind.
I may search for her CD and listen to her music.

In Every Person

Every person has its own music in him/her.
Some one plays rock and another plays classic.
But these are all music.

Handel's Messiah

Today, my friend and I went to a concert, Handel's Messiah.

I had gotten a 2 for 1 ticket, which allows me to choose any concert during a specific period, from my violin teacher, so last Saturday when we were talking by phone, we chose today's Messiah.

This is the first time I saw The Messiah, and I was very moved by the soprano and bass. Their voice were really really nice. This was the first time I ever heard such a good soprano in person.

My friend was also delighted by this concert. She said like this Messiah was much better than the one she had seen last year at a church.
I was graddened by her words.

Ecards

Today, I wrote many greeting Ecards for Christmas.
Ecards are very convenient and interesting.
It has animation and music, and we can even set the exact day for delivering.
Oh, I give thanks to the people who conceived those cards.

The Bible

Today, I bought the Bible which has both old and new testament together.

I've been wanted to read the Bible in detail, because it's the longest seller in this world. I read the child version when I was about Grade three or something, but I've never read the thick one.
The Bible I bought today is written in today's English, so it's very easy to read compared to other Bible that written in old (?) English.

I'm sure that by reading it, I can understand the Western culture more deeply.

Christmas Illumination

In these days, the sun goes down around 4:30 pm, and at 5 o'clock, it's already dark.
But because of the Christmas lights, my heart doesn't become dark,
so I give thanks to Jesus.

Visual Image

Today, I found the Manga that I used to enjoy reading it several years ago in Japan.

I found the title at the international section of the central library downtown, but it was not in Japanese but in Chinese. (I heard that Japanese comic books are very popular in China.)
I couldn't read Chinese, but I enjoyed reading it since I remembered many of the lines with those drawings.

I'm sure that it's very effective to remember something with its visual image.

The Abacus

The day before yesterday, I also bought a small book about abacus.

I've been wished to learn abacus for a long time.
I once learned it for about one month when I was in Grade 2, but I had to quite the after school because of moving. Then, after that I didn't go any such school for abacus.
But now, with this book, I can learn to calculate all of these: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

It's said that if someone trains really hard, the person can have a marvelous calculation ability such that he/she can perform more than 5 figures of addition or subtraction really quickly in his/her head. (Of course such person can do multiplication and division at sight too.)

But I, at least, want to be able to perform addition and subtraction of 3 figures in my head.

A Tuner

Yesterday, I bought a very interesting thing, a tuner.
I readily went to a music store after the exam, and bought it.

It's really interesting because it shows the note of the sound around me.
For example, I found that my phone sound is G#, the refrigerator noise is about C, the buzzer of my radio clock is F, my analog clock ticking is A, etc.

I played with this about half an hour, I guess.

Finished!

Today, I finished my last final!
Now, I can check every emails, clean my room, and do some practice for violin!
I'm so happy that I can practice violin for more than five minutes.
(I've been playing only five minutes these days.)

Tomorrow's Final

Tomorrow's final is the last one!
This week was like the longest week in this term.

A Globe

There is a globe that my friend gave me in front of my PC, and now, it's facing Japan toward me.

When I was glancing casually at the globe, I realized that the size of Japan is not as small as I had thought.
It's interesting to look at the globe.

Eat Chocolate

Well, I'll eat chocolate and study a little more.
Tomorrow's final is Math!

English 099 Final

Today, I took English 099 final alone in a small room.
I took the exam earlier because I have another exam, Math, on the same set day.

I thought I wrote well, but there was a problem about my electronic dictionary.
In class, we were often told that we are allowed or actually encouraged to bring our electronic dictionary on the final essay writing. (Maybe because this class is a non-credit course and mainly for the International students.)

But today, when I asked about this to the English department people, they said that I'm allowed to have a paper dictionary but not an electronic one. They didn't know about the English 099 course. I strongly argued with them, but because the teacher had already gone for the extra class and I didn't remember what was the classroom number was, I couldn't win in this argument.

Therefore, putting aside the big heavy paper dictionary they lend me, I wrote the essay. I thought that if I had the time, then I would have checked the spelling with this," but in the end, there was no time for spell checking. I didn't open that dictionary at all.

I should've remembered about the dictionary when my teacher introduced me, but now the only thing I could do was to have some hope for allowances made for my misspelled words (because at least I explained this matter to my teacher when I finished the exam.)

I really hope they will discount one or two wrong spellings for me.

Heavily Illuminated Trucks

Yesterday, about 7:00 pm to 7:20 pm, there were lots of lots of gorgeously illuminated heavy trucks running slowly in front of my apartment building road.

The load is one way, and it's heading toward downtown, so I guess those gorgeous trucks were going to attend some Christmas parade at there. But I still don't know whether the parade were actually held or not. (May be I should ask a friend.)

Anyway, Christmas illuminations makes me very happy.

A Bubble Gum

When I went to a Japanese food store yesterday, I got small snacks that brings back memories.
It's called a "Fusen (bubble) Gum." I always saw its small square package (about one inch square) in a small candy store, and I often enjoyed eating it.

When I found the same packages in front of the cashier, I blurted out "Wow, what a familiar thing!" and then the clerk said, "Yes-- It's very familiar right? It's a present we give to our customers right now, so please take one or two."

So now, there are two of these gum on my coffee table. And because these were free, one of them will go to one of my Japanese friends who seems to be really delighted by having this.
Um... but who is the best to give this...?

Classes Are All Finished

Today, we finished all of the classes.
And, by exactly in one week (on next Friday), I finish all of my finals.
A bit more to go, then I'll enter the winter break--- Yay!

Just After

Just after I decided to fess up and respect a person, she said good things to me.
How interesting.


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December 1, 2:10 pm.
The first snow in this winter.