Autumn appetite(食欲の秋)

2007年10月28日(日曜日)
Sunday, October twenty eighth, two thousand and seven

日本では、『食欲の秋』『読書の秋』そして『スポーツの秋』と言われます。だから、最近、私の体重が増えているのは、仕方のないことなのです。だって、秋には日本全国に美味しい食べ物が沢山ありますから。さらに、次の日曜、日本人の友人達、外国人の友人達と一緒に、海岸かどこかでバーベキューパーティを計画中です。大量の肉のせいで、全員が太ってしまうに違いない。(^^♪

In Japan, it's said that autumn is a good season for eating, reading and sports. In Japanese, they say "Syokuyoku no aki", "Dokusyo no aki" and "Supo-tsu no aki". "Syokuyoku" and "dokusyo" means appetite and reading respectively. So it can't be helped to gain my weight these days because there are so many kinds of delicious foods in autumn all over Japan. Besides, I'm planning a barbecue party on the next Sunday with my Japanese and foreign friends at the beach or somewhere. Everyone must put on weight then because of tons of meat. :)

Wedding and NOVA(結婚式とNOVA)

2007年10月27日(土曜日)
Saturday, October twenty seventh, two thousand and seven

今日は、親戚の娘さんの結婚式のため、大阪市内に出向きます。大阪はあいにくの雨模様ですが、若い人の門出を見るのは、とても新鮮な気持ちになるので、年寄りの私にも良い気分転換かもしれません。(笑)

ところで、私が通っている英会話スクールのNOVAは、昨日、社長を解任し、「会社更生法の適用」を申請しました。1ヶ月以内に支援企業が見つからない場合は、破産手続きをするそうです。仕方ないですね。既に支払った私のレッスン料がどうなるか不安でもありますが、それ以上に外国人の先生達・日本人スタッフの方々の生活が心配です。彼らになにかしてあげることはないか、日々頭を悩ませています。もちろん、それは私の仕事ではないけど、先生達と一人の生徒という関係以上に、とても仲良くなった人もいるので、何かしてあげたいのです。一番よいのは、私自身が新しい英会話スクールを経営する、というアイデアかもしれませんね。(^^♪ 土地と資金は、なんとかなります。一番の課題は、その運営と内容でしょうねぇ。事業計画をまとめる時間をなんとか作りたい。日本の諺に、『災い転じて、福となす』というのがありますが、そんなにうまくいくわけないですよね。(^_^;

I'm going to Osaka city today in order to attend a wedding reception held for a young lady of my relatives. It's a pity it's raining in Osaka now, however, it will make me feel fresh to see a departure of the youth, so it would be a good change of pace for old me. :D

By the way, an English school NOVA, at which I sometime take English lessons, removed the company president and applied for "assistance under the Company Resuscitation Law" yesterday. If the company can't find supporting organizations within one month, they will commit an act of bankruptcy. It can't be helped. I'm anxious about my lesson fee already paid but really worried about non-Japanese teachers' and Japanese staff's livings more than my money. I have been considering what I can do for them everyday. Of course it's not my business but I made friends with some of the teachers, I mean, the relationship between us isn't only the one between teachers and a student. That's why I'd like to do something nice for them. It might be the best idea to manage a new English private school by myself. :) I guess I can prepare the fund and the land somehow. The most important issues would be how to manage and the contents. I want to make the time somehow to write up the business plan. A Japanese proverbs says "Wazawai Tenjite Fukutonasu", that means "to turn the potential disaster to one's advantage", "to turn a misfortune into a blessing", or something like those, however, the new plan would never go well like that. :p

Yen Doen't Make Sense

Sunday, October twenty first, two thousand and seven

Although I had booked a couple of lessons at NOVA for yesterday, one of them was canceled because many teachers didn't come to the school due to its recent bad financial situation that the company hasn't paid them the paycheck yet. Besides, there weren't enough substitute teachers, so it can't be helped... However, I went out with some teachers last night actually. One of my study buddies, who is 65-year-old Japanese guy and has studied English for nearly 10 years, invited them and me to his house, which is very close to the school, because some of them are going to get back to their respective countries soon. It's kind of his tradition to invite them over before teachers' leaving Japan. After that, some teachers and I hit a bar near his house without him as he had to work in the night. Since I made a pun with the word "yen" yesterday, I asked the native English speakers if the sentence makes sense or not. According to them, they have never used the word "yen" as "a strong desire" before and didn't know the meaning. So I realized that the word "yen" is a correct English word because it's contained in my dictionary, but that's not to say it's used by native speakers. I mean, all words in dictionaries of any language aren't necessarily used in real life. At the end of the conversation they taught me another word that has the similar meaning of "yen". The word was.... "yearn".

yearn: 熱望する

Pun with Yen

Saturday, October twentieth, two thousand and seven

Since I'm Japanese, I've thought "yen" only means the currency in Japan for years. However, I found out another meaning of the word "yen" the other day.
As far as I know, there are many expressions that means "to hope strongly" in English - such as "be eager to", "be keen to", "be anxious to", "crave" and "long" etc. I saw an article written about "yen" has the same meaning as those words last week. That's interesting! Let me make a pun with "yen".

I have a yen to earn a huge amount of yen! :D

IRON MAIDEN Coming!

Thursday, October eighteenth, two thousand and seven

IRON MAIDEN, my favorite British heavy metal band, is going to come to Japan in February of next year as a part of its 2006 world tour, which is called "SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME", according to the official web site. However, they are planning to hold some concerts only around Tokyo. Since I lived in Osaka, it's sort of expensive and tough for me to go to Tokyo and see their gig, that's nearly impossible, I guess. (ToT)
The web site says that they are going to play the songs that they released in 1980's. I'm anxious to see the performance but I won't make it unless they modify their decision. The way I see it, the reason they are going to have concerts only around Tokyo would be that they wasn't able to make a good profit last year in Japan. I'm terribly sad to hear the news. (ToT)(ToT)(ToT)(ToT)(ToT)

be anxious to do something: ～することを切望する。
(= eager, keen???)
(cf. be anxious about something: ～のことを心配する。)

Why don't I quit NOVA?

Wednesday, October seventeenth, two thousand and seven

Many NOVA students are eager to quit NOVA and be refunded their lesson fees, but apparently the stupid president's company cannot afford to pay them back the money so far. Some friends asked me why I don't quit NOVA soon actually. However, I won't quite it as long as the school exists. One of the reasons is that there are many nice teachers at the branch I belong to now, and another one is that I tend to behave differently from other people, that's to say, I'm sort of perverse. (^_^) The other one is that I'd like to observe how NOVA would get through the recent tough business situation if the airhead could. Actually, I'm in charge of my factory's business management, so I might have such kind of serious circumstance someday, I mean, I'd like to learn lots of ways to get by in poor business environment. I must be lucky that I'm a NOVA student now, because I can study not only English but also how important corporate managements are!


perverse: ひねくれた、あまのじゃくな

Half-body Bathing

Monday, October fifteenth, two thousand and seven

These days Osaka's climate is cool and comfortable for me, that's easy to work hard, but on the other hand, I sometimes feel a little cold at night actually. So, I take a bath for relatively longer time nowadays compared to summer. Some experts in human health say that half-body bathing for at least 20 minutes would help us get healthy and maintain the skin's youthful appearance, that's to say, the way could help me look younger. I recommend that you guys, especially women, take a half-body bath as a good habit. Let me go on the custom for a while.

half-body bathing: 半身浴

Got Lessons at New Place

October fourteenth, two thousand and seven

Since I had to move to NOVA's another branch because of Kishiwada's closing, I took regular lessons at Wakayama for the first time yesterday. One of five lessons I took there was about humor - such as puns, satire, and anecdotes. Because I like "Oyaji gag", which means "Middle aged men's jokes" and tends to play on words, the lesson made me happy, that's to say, I had a ball with interesting teachers at the new place. Besides, there are at least four female teachers in the branch actually and many cheap restaurants and Japanese style bars nearby. How lucky I am! I'm eager to visit the place very soon. Let me check out whether the bars near the school is suitable for dating or not, in case I get a nice girlfriend. :p
Speaking of friends, right after I had had dinner at home, a femail friend emailed me why I didn't show up at the bar we often go get a drink. Since I'm kinda her slave, servant, or subordinate, I had no choice but to obey her order. :D As we were having much alcohol in the bar, she was getting smashed and behave a lot of something funny. I had a ball not only in the English school but also in the bar yesterday. (^^♪

pun: 駄じゃれ、語呂合わせ
satire: 風刺、皮肉
get smashed: べろべろに酔っ払う

Early Bird

Tuesday, October ninth, two thousand and seven

I usually wake up naturally at the crack of dawn, therefore many people say I'm definitely a morning person(early bird). When I was young(Should I say "when I was younger"? :D), I was a night owl(night person) as most young people are. Since I'm already on the wrong side of 40, maybe it can't be helped to awake early morning. Anyway, the time from when I awake until when I leave for work is an important for me to study English actually. However, too much noise made by my kids and the mother of them often gets in my hair, especially her loud screaming toward the kids really drives me bananas. Some of my friends say, my wife is so nice that I must be very happy. In a pig's eye!
Anyhow, they usually get up around 6 am, so I came up with a good idea dealing with the matter, that's is being off to my factory around 6 am with some books, that's to say, I can study English at home from when I get up until 6 am and at my factory from 6 am until when I start working.

"quotes from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
get in somebody's hair (informal): to annoy someone, especially by always being near them
in a pig's eye [American English] (spoken, informal): used to show that you do not believe what someone is saying

Sports Day

Monday, October eighth, two thousand and seven

It's a national holiday today in Japan, which is called "Sports Day". It was established to commemorate "Tokyo Olympic Game" held in 1964. The holiday used to be October tenth but was changed into the second Monday of October after "Happy Monday Law" had been enacted, that's instituted to make consecutive holidays.
The harvest festival , which is called "Yagura Festival, is held on the previous day of Sports Day and the day every year. There's an interesting video on my home page in MySpace. Take a look at it if you have interests with the festival.
Although today is Sports Day and the festival's day, I don't want to use my body that much because of a terrible backache. I'd better just watch the festival with my children or else I won't be able to work as hard as usual from tomorrow. :<

"quotes from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
commemorate [transitive]: to do something to show that you remember and respect someone important or an important event in the past
enact [transitive]: to make a proposal into a law
institute [transitive]: to introduce or start a system, rule, legal process etc
consecutive [adjective]: consecutive numbers or periods of time follow one after the other without any interruptions

Relatively Cool

Wednesday, October third, two thousand and seven

Finally this autumn has just come in Osaka, Japan. Since it's cool compared to last month, I can work in my factory sort of comfortably and feel little stress. I have tons of back-orders still, though. :-<
Anyway, autumn could be the best season for any activity - such as sports, hiking and having a BBQ! I'm dying for having a BBQ or else I wouldn't have enough energy to live! Actually these days I can't have dinner with my family on week days due to the recent busy situation. Honestly, I really like to see my children eating with a smile. Because I'm the breadwinner, it's a responsibility of mine to work for feeding them. Anytime I see them digging in, that makes me think working hard is worth it and pays off. On the other hand, it's one of my pleasures to go out alone for a drink. If my physical condition allows me to go out this Saturday night, I WILL go get a drink after chatting in English at a branch of NOVA!