spare time

September 29th, 2005

It's cool weather these days. So I can sleep well everyday.

In summer season, my sleep time was exactly too little. But now, I want to sleep more...
I don't have enough spare time in the result. The time to access the Internet, too.

On the other hand, that's good for my health. I thought that I should change my life style and cut out unimportant things I have done once.

I'm going to sort out the things to do myself when I get home today.

Come again ? You said, "You have to cut down your evening drink time." ????
ha-ha. You're right ! I agree with you.
But it's my the most important time. :-p

"curry and rice" and my weight

September 26th, 2005

"Curry and rice" is one of the most popular foods in Japan.

Most Japanese like it. Of course me too.
We had it last night as dinner, which was cooked by my wife.
She always cook it in plenty to have the leftovers in the next day.
It is said that "curry" improves taste after letting stand for a night.
I think so, too.

Therefore, I had curry and rice for my breakfast. It tasted pretty good ! :D
Is it strange to have curry and rice as breakfast ?
But I'm a factory worker, so I have to have a large breakfast to work hard !
I was able to work hard thanks to having the great meal today. (^o^;

After I came home, I took my weight after a long time....
Wow ! Oh, My God !!!!!!
I gained 4 kilograms !!! My weight was 63 kilograms on this June.
I guess I have had too much beer this summer. I'll bet ! (ToT)

Which should I say ?

September 25th, 2005

I have been confused...

My eldest son is a 12-years-old elementary school student.
I have said "He is sixth-grade elementary school student." before.
But one of my English teachers said to me...

You should say "My son is a grade sixth student".
When I(the teacher) hear the word "sixth grade", I imagine low level school student.

After that, I checked my dictionary...
I saw the word "sixth-grade" as a correct language for my eldest son.
Also I saw the word "sixth grader" in my dictionary.


Which should I say "sixth-grade student" , "grade sixth student" or "sixth grader" ????
I've been confused....(@_@)

Of course I'm not a native English speaker and not looked like so.
I guess most native English speakers would be able to imagine what I want to say if I said such wrong words.
That's a small thing, isn't it ? :D

Higan(equinox)

September 24th, 2005

September 23rd(yesterday) was a national holiday, Shubun no hi, in Japan.
It was the day when nighttime and daytime are almost equally long. Around March 21st(Shunbun no hi) too.

We call the day "HIGAN" in Japan, which means "the next world for Buddhists".
Buddhists believe that the spirits of the dead cross the river which exists between this world and the other world, on the day of equinox the sun rise from the exact east and sets in the exact west.
That brings many Japanese people to their family graves and they offer prayers, flowers and incense for their ancestors.

On the other hand, there is a Japanese common saying on HIGAN.

"Summer heat or winter cold doesn't last after the HIGAN(equinox)."

Yes ! HIGAN brings fall and spring to us. :-)

PE(physical education) festival

September 23rd, 2005

I went to the elementary school my children attend today. There was the PE festival at the school.

It's too hot to hold the festival today. I got a suntan...(a - necessary ?)

All students had so much energy and gave a lot of good performances ! That's a heartwarming scene, isn't it ?
I was given so much vitality by them. Looking on such good performances of children is exactly good for everyone in my opinion.
They make me feel bright future whenever I look on their energetic plays.

My children took part in footraces, throwing balls into baskets, and more.
Also, I took part in a three-legged race and my wife in a tug of war. :D

In almost all Japanese elementary schools, we have box lunch together when PE festivals.

By the way, my eldest son is going to participate in the qualifying 31-legged race by elementary school students live in Osaka prefecture next weekend.

I'm looking forward to seeing it !

Did Windows exist 20 years ago ?

September 22nd, 2005

I wonder whether Windows existed 20 years ago when I saw the following article.

Gates on Google: What, me worry? (CNET)

Gates' mantra hasn't changed much in 20 years: The PC is the center of the computing universe, and Windows, along with Office and other products, represents the best platform for new software development.

What ? WAIT !!! That's funny !

If I remember correctly, 20 years ago....

• MS-DOS was competing against CP/M-86.
• IBM released PC/AT.
• NEC's PC-9801 was going mainstream of PC market in Japan.
  

Mr.Gates COULDN'T say that exactly on such a time ! :-p
Because..

• Windows didn't exist 20 years ago.
• The newest Intel's CPU was 80186 20 years ago.
• Nobody could develop OS/2 or Windows on the CPU.
  

Sorry to post the stupid article like this. :-)

What brings you ... ?

September 21st, 2005

When you met a foreigner in Japan and ask him or her why you are here, how do you say ?

"Why are you in Japan ?"
"Why do you stay in Japan ?"
"Why did you come to Japan ?"
"Why did you decide to come to Japan ?"

There are so many patterns of this question.

I've been taught a nice phrase by a native English speaker before.

"What brings you to Japan ?"

That sounds cool for me ! And I thought the phrase is very useful on so many scenes.

For example:

What brings you here ? ( when met friends at unusual places )
What brings you to this company ? ( when ask a new employee )
What brings you to this jail ?
( What a terrible situation ! Just joking. Sorry. :-p )

Why Lizard is Lizard ?

September 20th, 2005

I've just studied the English word "Lizard".
It means one of reptile, you know.
It sounds similar to "Wizard".

I've known the meaning of "Wizard"... It means a kind of "Magician".

I thought lizards look like wizards. Because they can reproduce their lost tails.
That's a really great magic !

I don't know why lizards are named lizards actually. But I guess the ancient people named them lizards after looking like wizard.

Do you have any idea ?

I'm tagged meme

September 20th, 2005

I'm tagged the stuff called "meme" by RU a few days ago.
I think "meme" is similar to "baton" on Japanese blogs and
"tagging" means giving somebody the baton.

Let me start.


Songs I'm Fully Digging Right Now

I'm into old British Heavy Metal / Hard Rock.

1. Prowler/ IRON MAIDEN - The song is the origin of my handle name.
2. Wickerman / IRON MAIDEN
3. Child in time / DEEP PURPLE
4. Stargazer /RAINBOW
5. Sacred heart / DIO
6. Painkiller / JUDAS PRIEST
7. Red sky / Micheal Schenker


7 Answers to 7 Questions

7 things I plan to do before I die:

1. borrow huge money under a false name
2. have a lot of sushi and steaks
3. buy a Ferrari
4. try to have some girlfriends :-p
5. go abroad ( everywhere I want to go )
6. hide the rest of the money
7. tell my children where the money is


7 things I can do:

1. make sushi
2. wake up early morning
3. work at the scorching factory
4. type well (touch typing)
5. drive forklift very well
6. built web sites written in HTML
7. speak Japanese fluently hehe...

7 things I cannot do:

1. sleep enough every night ( I alway sleep for around 5 hours. )
2. work as a computer system engineer any more
3. quit to drink alcohol
4. do housework
5. take days off on weekdays
6. run fast
7. speak English fluently

7 things that attract me to another person:

1. good job
2. challenge spilits
3. soulful songs
4. excellent web sites
5. knowledge
6. kindness
7. positive thinking

7 things that I say most often:

1. Aa, Shindo. (I'm tired.)
2. Nemi-. (I'm sleepy.)
3. Harahetta. (I'm hungry.)
4. Sya-naina. (What's done is done.)
5. Honmakaina ? (Is that true ?)
6. Eekangennise- ! (Have done !)
7. Maido ! ( Hi ! )

7 celebrity crushes:

1. Ronnie James Dio
2. Steve Harris
3. Sayuri Ishikawa
4. Mayumi Ono
5. Akiko Yada
6. Waka Inoue
7. Youku Hata

7 bloggers I'm tagging:

I have no idea whom I should tag... Sorry.
If you like, post your meme on your blog freely.

Tsukimi - a Japanese custom

September 19th, 2005

Yesterday was "Tsukimi-day" in Japan.
"Tsuki" means "the moon" and "mi" means "viewing".
I have heard that the custom was originally introduced from China.

Tsukimi is one of famous Japanese customs. The custom of viewing the moon is held on August 15th on the lunar calendar.
The view of the moon on that day is exactly beautiful.

In olden days, Most of Japanese actually love to view the beautiful full moon.
This time of year is a busy harvest season, so the light of the full moon was helpful for the farmers who had to work late. And they prayed for a good harvest to the moon.
"Full moon" is called "Harvest moon" on the other hand, right ?

Today, many Japanese enjoy viewing the beautiful full moon and offer it dumplings and Japanese silver grass.

A farewell party

September 18th, 2005

I went for a drink after a couple of English lessons with my English teachers and the other students yesterday.

One of the English teachers quit the English school yesterday. So we had the farewell party !

The teacher had a lot of beer, of course stronger than me. But I drank a lot too. I don't remember how many jugs of beer I had... :-p

Anyway I'm very glad to have such a good time. All of the party participants are much younger than me. :D
It was fresh to my tough brain.

The end time of the party was over AM 2:00 if I remember correctly.

By the way, I took some pictures at the party. But I didn't ask their permission whether I can post them on my blog or not. So I've given them some atmospheric effects. :-)

Thanks a lot ! > Mr.G and the others.

I've changed my handle and address.

September 18th, 2005

I got an advice yesterday.

My English teachers told me that I should change your handle(nick name).
Because the name - Prowler7010 has very bad meaning.
Almost all the native English speakers must feel fear from the name, they said.

But I named it from a song of my favorite band - IRON MAIDEN's debut album....


So, I have decided to change it ! My new handle is plow7010 !

My new blog address is http://plow7010.blogspot.com/

I gave up...

September 17th, 2005

I decided to grow beard and mustache last week. But I gave up it.
The reason I gave up is that my wife is very frightening. :-)

I've never known she really dislike the men with beard and mustache until now.
We sometimes quarrel each other for many reasons. I don't want to increase such situations. he-he.

But I was taught how to grow cool bread by my English teacher who has beard last week. It's a shame....(ToT) I'll have to say sorry to him.

The following picture is the one when I was working with a beloved vehicle(forklift). :-p

Kishiwada Danjiri festival

September 16th, 2005

A very famous festival was held at Kishiwada city in Osaka, Japan.
It's called "Kishiwada Danjiri festival" !

A Danjiri is made of zelkova - a kind of wood.
There are many carvings which illustrate Japanese old histories in a Danjiri. Almost all carvings describe the histories of the age of provincial wars, so there are a lot of carvings of samurai.

The structure of Danjiri is very interesting. It's made without any nails. But it's actually firm. Danjiris sometimes overturn by errors in the operation. But they usually aren't broken.

I think the festival is one of the most dangerous festivals in Japan. It's as dangerous as bull-running festival in Spain. :-)

I live near Kishiwada city. But the festival days are September 14th and 15th... These days are week days....I have to work.... I thought I wouldn't be able to see it. All local workers in Kishiwada city don't need to work during the festival. I'm jealous ! :D

But my brother, who works with me, had a terrible stiff neck. We decided not to work yesterday. I came up with an idea after that. "I'll go to Kishiwada Danjiri festival with my children after they come back from their school !" So, I asked my brother to stay at our factory just in case because sometimes there are some calls from our customers.
After my children came home, I asked them whether they wanted to go to the festival. They didn't want to go there, contrary to my expectation. They told me they had to do their homework. What !? They are TOO SERIOUS exactly ! I missed the opportunity to go..... I'm so sad....(ToT)


Anyway, there are so many festivals in the Sensyuu area in Osaka during September and October.
All of the festivals which is held at Sensyuu area are harvest festivals to thank the farms and the seas for their blessings.
Almost all festivals are really dangerous but exciting !
I'll take part in the festival which is going to be held in my city on October.
Then I'll post the article later.

regulations of diesel cars

September 15th, 2005

Old type diesel cars have been regulated by Japanese government recently.
The cars aren't implemented any exhaust emission control devices.
So if you wanted to take the cars to garages for inspection, you wouldn't get through it.

But there's a strange rule in Japan.

You could get through it if you lived in country sides.
I guess there isn't pollution in the sides, so the regulations in the sides aren't tight.

One of my acquaintances has such a old type diesel car.
He's decided to take his car to a garage in another prefecture( country side ) for inspection.
He has a friend in the prefecture, so he'll be able to take it with his friend's name.

His car can go through everywhere in Japan !
There isn't much point in regulating..... :-p

Matsutake Gohan - rice cooked with matsutake-mushrooms

September 13th, 2005

I had some rice cooked with matsutake-mushrooms. It called "Matsutake Gohan" in Japanese. Gohan means cooked rice.

Matsutake is very expensive mushroom in Japan. We can't breed it if we could use all of the latest technologies.

Most of Japanese like a lot Matsutake, but the other country people never have it. I've heard that it's popular only in Japan. That's strange....WHY ? It smells terrific !

By the way, fall(autumn) is coming soon. There are several exciting festivals in Sensyuu.
Sensyuu is located in the south of Osaka prefecture and near Kansai international airport.
The most famous festival is Kishiwada Danjiri festival hold on September 14th and 15th.
In my city, on October. Many people are busy at the preparation of the festival. :D

SOGO department store in Osaka city.

September 12th, 2005

At Shinsaibashi in Osaka/Japan, A big department store reopened.
The name is SOGO - one of very famous department stores in Japan. You know ?

One of my e-mail friends, who lives in Tokyo, has opened her temporary shop in the department store.
The shop looks like Japanese old style shop, kind of antique shop.
She's a great artist of knitting rattan, and has published the book which is written how to knit rattan. I went to SOGO to visit her shop yesterday. She promised to send me her book with her autograph. :-)
She isn't so famous and the rattan art isn't too. But I get interested in the art. I've decided to try it. Of course, I'm a old type Japanese man, so I'm not good at knitting. :-p

Anyway, all artists can make their own art. An artist is ONLY ONE person. All creation they created are only one each in the world. So we hold admiration for them.
I was very happy to see her arts in my hands. :D


As I told on the previous post, I want to change my image and lifestyle. Her arts are fresh to my tough brain( stubborn ).

The figure(looks like a cat) on the right is one of her creations.
That's a good-luck charm. :D

I'm going to grow ..... ?

September 11th, 2005

I've decided to grow beard and mustache. :D
I want to change my image. I haven't tried to do it before.

What ? Why do I want to change ?

I'm getting old...ha-ha. I'll be able to refresh if I could change my image.

But my wife said to me, "You look a little dirty with your growing mustache and beard, like a bear...."
I was shocked to hear that...
And she got angry a little and continued to talk, "If you would actually grow them, I would dislike you." I didn't realize she dislikes a man with mustache and beard.
I might stop growing it....My life is really scary when get angry. LOL


By the way, I'm 42 years old now. What do you recommend to change my image ?

A Traffic Accident

September 10th, 2005

There was a traffic accident near my house the day before yesterday. A boy on his way from school was hit by a car.

He is my eldest son. Yes! My eldest son was hit by a car !

But he luckily escaped with a minor injury. All his bones weren't broken. And the result of CT scanning was good. I felt a sense of relief.

The policeman, who has investigated the spot of the accident, told me.
"The front of the accident car got dented terribly. I guess the dent was left by your son's bag. His school bag fortunately acted as cushion to protect his body".
Most of Japanese elementary school students carry their school bags on their backs. The bags are called "LANDSEL" in Japan. Should I call it "satchel" ?

Thank you so much ! >> The LANDSEL ! (SATCHEL?)

The driver of the accident car is the young girl who lives in the same district. When I got to the hospital that my eldest son was taken by ambulance, she was apologetically crying... She said to me, "I'm so sorry, sorry ,sorry...." again and again... I felt sorry for her reversely...
So, I said to her, "Get a grip.(Chill out.) Don't worry. My son will be fine soon. Thank you for calling an ambulance quickly after the accident. What's done is done. It's important to think what you should do after that. You are really a honest person."
I guess I was able to say composedly because my son wasn't seriously injured.

Be careful when you drive.

Why do you have the blog ?

September 7th, 2005

"Why do you have the blog ?"

I've been practicing my English on this blog as for me. And I wanna communicate with people of different nations. After that, I'm much happier if I could make friends from all over the country.

On the other hand, I have another blog written in Japanese. If you can browse the web sites written in Japanese, browse it.
I deliver several kinds of information on it. For example, English tips, sushi, and joke. :D
I sometimes receive spam trackbacks and spam mails on it. I show my Gmail address "prowler7010@gmail.com" on it and this blog. The Gmail service is very convenient for spam mails. Gmail automatically categorize whether received mails are spam mails. But it sometimes categorize correctly. :D Oh well, All the programmed process are not perfect. I know why are not because I used to be computer programmer. :-p

By the way we got to invite 100 people to Gmail service.(50 people, before) What does it mean ? I don't know why they increased the number.

typhoon season

September 6th, 2005

I sincerely feel sorry to hear the news of Hurricane Katrina.
And I thought that we should prepare for typhoons. Many typhoons will hit Japan from now to October. It is said that about 80% of storm and flood damage in Japan is caused by typhoons.

And we have to do something for global environment. It is said that the frequency of abnormal weather is increasing nowadays and it's caused by worsening global environment.

A Different Culture - new school year

September 4th, 2005

I went to take some English lessons yesterday. The female teacher, who is from Canada, asked me, "The summer holiday for kids ended. Your children have had a opening of a new school year, haven't they ?" --- Maybe she said like this. :D

I was really confused. The opening of a new school year is in April.

I figured out why she told such a thing. That's just a different culture !
In North America, The opening of a new school year is in September, you know.
That's all ! ha-ha...

Also, she asked me, "Do you know why the opening is in April in Japan ?"
Um... another student and I thought for a couple of minutes. And we replied !

"In Japan, there are so many cherry blossoms in April."
"It's the best season to open a new school year. The blossoms smell so fresh to us."

I was really tired from the thinking. :D

I'm confused about "Let me know".

September 3rd, 2005

I often login mixi, Japanese SNS. SNS stands for Social Networking Site, you know.

I sometimes see the awful topics which have abstract topic title. For example, just "Let me know."
I really cannot expect the content of the topics by just looking the titles.
If I want to ask someone something, I would name the title to describe the content. For example, "I'd like to tell me about ....."

I've decided to ignore such topics. I want to spend my time effectively.

Would you like to do SEO ?

September 2nd, 2005

I gave my factory's website SEO today.
You know, "SEO" stands for "Search Engine Optimization".

When I was doing it, I had a telephone call.

The calling person said, "I was wondering if we could build your website. Of course the cost would be cheap."

I replied, "No thank you. I've already built myself my factory's website."

He continued talking. "I understand, sir. Also, we would be able to deliver SEO. After giving your site SEO, the rank of your site at any search engines would go up. For example, Google, Yahoo...."

I additionally answered, "I've already done it. And my site is displayed as No.1 at Google, but not No.1 at Yahoo. So, I'm doing it myself for Yahoo right now. No thank you, SEO. By the way, I used to be a computer system engineer. Why don't you send me e-mails as the approach ? You're computer system company, you should approach it on the Internet. That's the ordinary method as website developers in my opinion. Anyway, I really hate such sales approaches by phone. Because, phone calls sometimes interrupt my time without thinking a convenience. I've decided not to buy anything approached by phone."

He got off the line after replied in a small voice, "I'm so sorry...."

After that I thought I had to say, "Thanks to your providing the idea of this diary." LOL

What do you think about telephone sales ? :-)

A strange(?) British custom

September 1st, 2005

I've heard a strange(?) custom about beer from a British before.
Most of the British who likes beer request barmen to pour beer with a bit of foam or without foam.
They want to drink beer as much as possible...

In my opinion, foamless beer tastes bad... I prefer beer with about 20% foam to foamless.
The foam matches up well with the bitter taste of beer. The harmony always makes me feel happy.

It's not too hot in Osaka, Japan nowadays. I'll decrease opportunity of drinking beer. ha-ha.

Wow ! I have to make out bills for August. I'll start EXCEL.....