IRON MAIDEN motivates me

I often listen to the new CD of IRON MAIDEN these days, to prepare for the concert that is going to be held in Osaka on October thirtieth. They are reportedly going to play most of the songs in their new album, so I have to memorize them before I attend their performance.

I saw interesting lyrics in the first number in the CD, whose title is "Different World".

I would like you to know...
When you see the simple things...
To appreciate this life...
It's not too late to learn...

This phrase consists of only easy words but it makes me feel alive, especially, the last part "It's not too late to learn" sounds great to me.

It's not too late to learn, I'm already on the wrong side of 40, though.

I've just got an exciting news! Apparently, LAUREN HARRIS - the eldest daughter of STEVE HARRIS, the IRON MAIDEN leader and one of founding members - is going to support the greatest heavy metal band on the planet on their Japan tour with her solo band.
Sounds super great! I've just been presented an unexpected pleasure! Here is her myspace address.

Result of TOEIC

Yesterday I went to the English school branch I belong to, in order to take some free conversation classes and get the result of the TOEIC test I took last month.

The score was better than I expected, actually. As I've posted an article on this blog space before, I guessed my points would be 500 at best. However, my teachers told me that I could get more than 600 points before I took the test. They guessed right! Only professionals could do that! Anyway my listening skill is still bad as the mark indicates me the ability. In fact, I often feel how bad it is because I can't catch most words in IRON MAIDEN's songs, even though I'm used to listening to them and they're my favorite rock band. :(

Return to Analog

I've just decided to write down "review of lessons", "collection of words and phrases", "collection of expressions", and "collection of idioms" in an ANALOG METHOD. I mean, I'll write them down by hand in a notebook. Of course I have to type English sentences when I send emails and post articles on my blog, though.

I bought a loose-leaf notebook the day before yesterday after a long interval, which I often use in my school days. Let me write down a massive amount of contents in the notebook from now on!

I've just realized my writing is worse in both English and Japanese than it used to be after I wrote down some sentences by hand after a long time. Besides, I can't write down some Chinese characters(kanji) so I have to use Japanese dictionary.... haha. However, it's also a good way for studying Chinese character to write down sentences by hand.

Yeah! That's a way of "Killing two birds with one stone."
I'm so lucky! :)

What? You ask me, "Why have you decided to return to the analog method?", don't you? Actually, I feel I can't memorize any words and phrases by typing them into my PC. It's convenient if all contents are in my PC when I want to search them out, though. In addition, I sometimes see a nice guy in my English school who often write down many sentences in a notebook and looks so cool, so I want to copy the person. :)

I would be happy if I could build up my supreme notebook. Anyway, as the proverb goes, slow and steady wins the race. - In Japanese, 急がば回れ isogaba maware.

| Japanese proverb |

Cool Picture

I had a barbie, which means "barbecue" in Australian English according to my dictionary, with some of my ex-coworkers, who are a newly married couple, in the garage next to my house, which used to be my factory.

Umm.... nowadays my sentences tend to be longer than they used to be.


Anyway, we had tons of meat and shellfish - such as top shell and scallop. We had a great time. :) It was comparatively COOL in the last evening thanks to the typhoon No.13. :)

Talking of COOL, I took a cool picture this morning. Let me introduce the story to you. :)

My mom came to me with a blue face and said, "Ta, Takashi! I need your help!"
Apparently, there's something near a fence around my house...

Wow! I found out a cool animal, a kind of reptile! :) I rarely see them these days. In fact, I saw a snake last week but seeing it is the first time in a couple of years.

It looks about two meters long. What a cool experience! It's so cool to see it in such a hot summer. :)
I took some pictures of the snake as driving it off... Perhaps I might be strange. haha. I should have taken some videos of the cool guest.

Great! MAIDEN!

The new CD of IRON MAIDEN has just been ranked in the top 10 of Billboard Album Charts.
Great! IRON MAIDEN! You made my day! I have few words to say any more....

As, as, as! and a paper tiger

I feel I'm still a low level English learner once in a while... no, no... very often. :)
To tell the truth, I'm often confused about the usage of articles(a, the, no-articles) and which I should choose, the singular form or the plural form. Besides the usage of the word "as" is very difficult for me because it has so many meanings and the part of speech often changes - such as adjective, adverb, and conjunction. However, I may as well tell myself that I don't have to care about those things. If the sun were to rise in the west, I wouldn't become a native English speaker. :)

Anyway, I'm extremely busy this month and next month because of so many festivals!

For instance:
The sports day(Field day, PE festival) in my daughter's kindergarten(preschool)
The sports day(Field day, PE festival) in my third son's elementary school(primary school)
The sports day(Field day, PE festival) in my eldest son's junior high school
The yagura festival in my city - a kind of harvest festival

They are killing me! But I'm a little bit lucky since my job doesn't wear me out as of now.

By the way, let me write down an interesting expression I found out on the Internet or somewhere recently.

A paper tiger:
According to my dictionary, it means that an enemy or opponent who seems powerful but actually is not. Sounds interesting! In Japan, we have the similar expression, which is "張子の虎(はりこのとら hariko no tora). hariko is sort of a doll made from paper. I also found out the similar one, which is "have no teeth". Apparently the meaning is the same as "a paper tiger".

New CD of IRON MAIDEN

I've finally gotten the new CD of my favorite rock band, IRON MAIDEN, whose title is "A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH"! They are reportedly going to play all songs recorded in the CD in their concert. I MUST put this CD on loud as many times as I can, until they come to Japan!

Ah... My wife is telling me something.... What? Too loud? She seems to be angry at the loud music. I'm in trouble now, but I want to listen to this CD! Ummm... sort of a matter of life and death...

How lucky I am!

I bought a two-monthly VOICE pass which allows me to take VOICE classes as many as I can. "VOICE class" is conducted in free conversation rooms called "VOICE rooms" in NOVA, a very famous English school in Japan. Actually, I prefer taking VOICE classes to taking regular lessons plus I'm not so busy at work this month and next month, in addition, the branch of NOVA to which I belong provides some VOICE classes every Tuesday evening, Friday evening, and Sunday afternoon of this month. So I decided to buy the pass to have many opportunities for my practice.
I took some VOICE classes when there aren't many students in the room. Only me, or a student and me! How lucky I am! I was able to speak much more than usual! Of course I spoke strange and funny English, though. For me, it's a little hard to take them after work because I usually tend to be tired at that time. However, I had a lot of fun! Let me ask my teachers to correct some articles on my English blog from next time if there're no other students in the room. I'm so lucky that I could improve my speaking skill easily!.... I wonder if it can be true... hehe.

To tell the truth, I'm a little bit worried that my wife get angry at me because of often going out alone. I speculate that she doesn't get angry as usual from now on. I haven't smoked for 10 days so far, luckily, she's been in a good mood. How lucky I am! I've just gotten 4 good effects thanks to no smoking. :)

I will be able to ...

• keep my brains fresh.
• get healthy.
• save money.
• often go out alone because my wife looks happy.

What I decided to quit

I've post an article which has no contents before.
Let me introduce what I decided to quit to you. :) But I have to tell you a long story to describe the background. Thank you for taking your precious time. m(_ _)m

Last month I took a TOEIC test, a very popular and famous English test all over the world, in order to know how bad my English skills are. As expected, I didn't do well because of no preparation. I meant to know my real skills with no preparation, actually.
After the test, I realized my weaknesses - such as the speed of listening and reading, and vocabulary. Therefore I decided to study English MUCH HARDER from then on. But any difficult phrase or word passes through my old and tough brains as soon as I memorize. I had considered for a while if there are good ideas to keep my brains fresh as well as possible. So that's why I decided to stop smoking. I haven't smoked any cigarettes for one week so far, but I'm not sure I'm able to quit smoking perfectly. Ah... I also may have to cut down my drinking, though.... But I personally think it's a good way for keeping my youth to drink appropriate amount of alcohol everyday. hehe.
Anyway I must be so lucky! Because, not only I've realized my weaknesses but also I've had a good chance to quit smoking thanks to the TOEIC I took last month.

Educated Mother

This morning my wife asked me to take our third son and daughter somewhere so that our eldest son could get down to his study and she could look after him. She orders me anything as if she were a teacher of mine anytime she gets our children to study.

Anyway, I took them to a small amusement park in the southern part of Osaka prefecture, whose name is Misaki Park, while our eldest son was studying for the test which he's taking next week. I don't know why most Japanese women tend to be education-minded mothers. :(
On the other hand, we had a good time in the park today :) - such as dolphin show and seeing lots of animals, but we should have prepared swimming wear. Because I noticed that the swimming pool in the park had opened until today when I arrived there.

Speaking of education-minded mother, I saw an interesting English sentence on the Internet the other day, which is how to remember the order of our solar system.
That phrase is "My Very Educated Mother Just Serves Us Nine Pizzas." This is a mnemonic for the order of our solar system(Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto), according to some web sites. Now that Pluto, only one found by American, however, has deleted from the system, so there are eight planets in it as of today. Needless to say, this phrase is needed to change right now - for instance, "My Very Educated Mother Just Serves Us Noodle.", which is actually said by an English teacher of mine this past Saturday. (^_^;)

Here are some videos of the dolphin show I took in the park.