How many articles have I written on my blogs?

When I was thinking about new ideas to write articles on this blog, it came to mind how many I have written on my blogs. (^^;

I started writing blogs when I was 40 ant restarted leaning　English. That means I have an experience of a blogger for 14 years. I have used so many kinds of blog services, I haven't used "Ameba Blog", which is probably the most famous one. The number of the blog services I have used 7, including my English blog - such as Seesaa, Yahoo, Blogger. Is that too many? :D

I haven't counted the number of articles on each blog, but there are about 330 on my main blog. Simply 7 times the number over 2000, but there shouldn't be such number articles. The main blog is the biggest one, so I guess the total number is under 2000.

I'm impressed by the long-term experience.

Anyway, I feel that I could improve my English skills by writing blog articles in both English and Japanese. In addition, my writing skill in Japanese would be better. Since I would often write documents when I was a section chief of Research and Development Department, writing lots of documents in Japanese wasn't tough for me. That's why I wasn't disincline to write blogs at all.

Getting older gave me such a chance to benefit from the experience, I think. I mean getting older isn't demerit for people. In the old days, one of former world heavyweight champions, Mr.George Foreman, said like, "Growing old isn't a shame."(I'm not sure if this quote is correct or not.). That must be true.

I will have some more experience with managing an English conversation school in Izumisano city and an fiber-recycling factory in Sennan city for years to come. I bet I'm so lucky. :)

I appreciate your reading until the end of this article.


尚、この記事の日本語版は、こちらにあります。(Japanese Edition) ⇒ http://plow7010.seesaa.net/article/how-many-blogs-articles.html

New Laptop

[Notice:注意]
The English edition doesn't necessarily correspond to the Japanese one.
必ずしも英語版と日本語版は、一致しません。(^^♪

Since I'm very busy at the factory and preparation for a new English school that's going to be opened in March. So, I decided to buy a new laptop because the previous one died last year, in order to make some documents in my factory's office when I have some spare time. To be honest, I wanted to buy a "MacBook Air", but I couldn't wait for the release, so I couldn't help but to get a Windows laptop instead. Actually, it was my first time to use Windows Vista. How short today's diary is.....

工場だけでなく、3月開校予定の新しい英会話スクールのための準備で忙しいです。なので、工場での空いた時間に、ドキュメント作成をするべく、新しいノートPCを買うことを来ました。前のノートPCは去年壊れたから・・・ほんとのところは、MacBook Airが欲しかったのですが、発売を待てませんないので、代わりに、WindowsのノートPCを買わざるを得なかった。実は、Windows Vistaを使うのは、これが初めてです。(^^♪ あぁ、なんて短い日記・・・

Charger

Since I often use my cell phone very often these days, the battery sometimes dies. Actually, I often check emails send to my PC email address with my cell phone and access mixi, the most famous and popular SNS in Japan, when I'm out. That's why it sometimes dies, besides I use it as not only a phone but also a dictionary once in a while as well. So, I bought a charger to bring the battery alive anytime anywhere. I can use the charger with two size AA batteries. It sounds convenient, huh?

最近、しょっちゅう携帯電話を使うので、バッテリがすぐに無くなります。実は、外出しているときは、自宅のPCのメールアドレスに届いた電子メールを携帯電話でチェックしたり、mixi(日本で最も有名で人気のあるSNS)にアクセスしたりするからです。だから、ときどきバッテリが無くなるんですよね。さらに、携帯電話を辞書としても使うときも、たまにあります。そこで、どこでも、いつでもバッテリを充電するために、充電器を買いました。単三乾電池二つで、充電できます。便利でしょ？(^^♪

Quit Subscribing to English Newspaper

[Notice:注意]
The English edition doesn't necessarily correspond to the Japanese one.
必ずしも英語版と日本語版は、一致しません。(^^♪

Since I'm very busy at work these days, I don't have enough spare time weekdays. So, I can't help but to cut down the time to study English everyday, but I'll NEVER cut down the time to drink. Honestly, I like study English, but doing something too much is stressful even though I like it, especially when I'm busy at work.
I mean, I've just decided to call off subscribing to a weekly English newspaper, which is called "Weekly ST." Plus, I changed my this year's aim to focusing on conversation skills, especially fluency. Let me write my diary colloquially as far as possible this year, most of the contents were already written that way though. :p

By the way, I don't know why I can't fall asleep tonight. As a matter of fact, I often don't have a good sleep after I became 40 years old. I really don't know why... However, I'm used to working with lack of sleep, so I think it's OK. Speaking of "lack", it's quite difficult for me to pronounce "lack", "luck" and "rack" correctly. There are also so many tough words in English to pronounce correctly - such as "low", "law", "raw", "row" and "roe." X(


この頃、仕事がすごく忙しいので、平日に十分な自由時間が無い。それで、毎日の英語の勉強時間を減らすことにした。でも、酒を飲む時間を減らすつもりは無い！(笑) 英語を勉強するのは、好きなのだが、たとえ好きなことでも、やりすぎるのはストレスが溜まる。とくに仕事が忙しい時は。
つまり、英字新聞(週間ST)を購読するのをやめることにした。さらに、今年の目標を、会話スキル(特に流暢さ)に集中することに変更。今年は、できるだけ口語調で日記を書いていこうと思う。既にほとんどの日記は、その方法で書かれているけどね。(^^♪

ところで、今夜は何故か眠れない。実際、40歳を超えてから、熟睡できないことが多い。何故だろ？ でも、寝不足で働くことには慣れているから、大丈夫だろう。"lack"と言えば、"lack", "luck", "rack"を正確に発音するのは、すごく難しい。英語にはたくさんの発音が難しい単語がある。例えば、"low", "law", "raw", "row" "roe"など。(ToT)

New Gadget

I got a new electronic dictionary at an Internet shopping site after I had checked out the price on the website of Kakaku.com. It's a sort of birthday present to myself, so to speak. (^^; This one has a variety of functions actually. It allows me to listen to native English speakers' pronunciation. Besides you can use it as a TV to watch one-segment broadcasting programs and a MP3 player as well! Terrific! On the other hand, I don't have a confidence to use all of the functions though. :p
Does anyone want my old electronic dictionary?

新しい電子辞書を買いました。価格ドットコムで値段をチェックした後、インターネットショップで。まぁ、言うなれば、自分自身への誕生日プレゼントみたいなもん。(笑) この電子辞書は、多様な機能を持ってます。ネイティヴの発音を聞くことができて、おまけに、ワンセグのTVとしても、MP3プレイヤーとしても使えます。すごい！でも、全部の機能を使いこなす自信はありませんけど。(爆)
誰か、私が使ってた古い電子辞書、欲しいですか？

Unhappy day

[Notice:注意]
The English edition doesn't necessarily correspond to the Japanese one.
必ずしも英語版と日本語版は、一致しません。(^^♪

I'm so tired that I could sleep for a month... Honestly, I'm really "beat" because of the long holiday. As anyone who took a long vacation for the New Year, it's quite tough for me to work very hard this week. I'm worn out, exhausted, wiped out, super tired, and "dead beat". haha... Actually I just wanted to use the adjective "beat", that I've studied recently on the Internet. According to my dictionary, that's an informal word that has the same meaning as "exhausted."
By the way, do you know what day today is? A super great Japanese guy was born 45 years ago today! So he had been said that he was already on the wrong side of 40, but he will have to say like, "I'm on the right side of 50.", from now on. X(

めっちゃ疲れてます・・・ほんまに、長い休みの後の仕事はキツイわ。まぁ、誰でもそうでしょうけど。しんどい、疲れた、だるい、けだるい、どえらい疲れてる・・・(笑) 実は、ネットで知った新しい単語(形容詞)"beat"を使って日記を書きたかっただけ。(^^♪ 私の辞書によれば、非公式な単語(スラング？)で、"exhausted"と同じ意味らしいです。
ところで、今日って何の日か知ってます？超偉大なる日本人が、45年前の今日に生まれました。(爆) 今まで、彼は『40歳過ぎてます』と言ってましたが、これからは『50歳前です』と言わなくちゃいけませんねぇ。(>_<)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. Be counting on you this year!
May the new year bring you health, happiness and prosperity.

Let me try to go on writing my diary here in both English and Japanese as long as I can this year!

あけましておめでとうございます！今年もよろしく！
新しい年があなたに健康と幸福と繁栄をもたらしますように。

今年も出来る限り、ここに英語と日本語両方で日記を書き続けるように挑戦します！

New Printer

When I was trying to print out some bills three days ago to send my customers after having made them with EXCEL, my printer didn't work! What a shitty machine! Actually I bought it 10 years ago or so, I couldn't help but to get a new one as soon as possible, because I had to print out not only the bills but also new year's greeting cards.

After I took some English lessons at NOVA two days ago, I went to an appliance store near the English school, whose name is Yamada Denki, to buy a new printer. I was going to buy a simple functional one at first, but I've gotten a high-spec machine against my will. (^_^; Because that one was so cheaper than I had expected in spite of high capabilities. It can work as not only a printer for computers but also a color copy machine. Besides, it can print out photographs from SD cards independently, I mean, without turning my PC on. Plus, I got a bunch of free photo paper then. I must have made a great buy! :D Actually, one of the lessons I took at NOVA before I bought the printer was how to negotiate in English when buying something. What a coincidence! (^^)

三日前、お客さんに送る請求書をEXCELで作った後、それらを印刷しようとしていたら、プリンタが動作しない！このポンコツめっ！実は、このプリンタは、10年前か、それくらいに買ったもの。それで、新しいプリンタをできるだけ早く買わざるを得なくなった。だって、請求書を印刷するだけでなく、年賀状も印刷しないといけないから。

二日前、NOVAでレッスンを受けた後、新しいプリンタを買いに、NOVAの近くの『ヤマダ電機』という電気店に行きました。最初は、単純な機能のものを買うつもりだったのだが、意志に反して高機能のものを買ってしまった。(^^♪ そのプリンタは、高機能にも関わらず、予想よりもはるかに安くかったから。そのプリンタは、コンピュータのプリンタとしてだけではなくて、カラーコピー機としても使える。さらに、SDカードから写真を単独で印刷できる、つまり、パソコンの電源を入れなくても、ということ。また、無料の写真プリント用紙を沢山もらった。いい買い物をしたなぁ。(^^♪ 実は、その買い物の前にNOVAで受けたレッスンの一つは、買い物のときの交渉に関する英会話だった。なんという偶然。(笑)

It Hurts!

The day before yesterday I cut myself in my factory actually....
My left middle finger started bleeding terribly, when I was trying to cut an old carpet to be recycled with my big sharp scissors, which is a special handmade one for textile workers. I didn't realize what happened to me at first because of my too busy job. After a few seconds, I found out I had cut the skin and flesh off with the shear(big scissor). X( I lost at least 100ml blood but I think I was very lucky.
As a matter of fact, the scissor can cut human fingers easily, that's to say, my middle finger fortunately wasn't taken off in the accident. Besides, letting my blood off made me feel comfortable because I haven't donate my blood for more than one year. Actually, blood donation is a kind of my hobby although you think I'm strange... haha. I often have a stiff neck but I don't feel it after blood donation, that's why I like letting my blood off. I guess my blood circulation will become much smoother by losing some amount of the blood. Thanks for the good fortune! How lucky I am! :D

実は・・・一昨日、工場で怪我をしました。
リサイクル用のカーペットを大きなハサミ(特別な手製のもので、繊維関係の仕事用)で切ろうとしてしたとき、突然左手の中指がひどく出血。忙しい最中だったので、最初は何が起こったのか気付かなかった・・・数秒後、皮を肉がえぐり取られたいたのに気付いた。(>_<) 少なくとも、100mlくらい出血したけど、とても幸運だったと思う。
実は、そのハサミは、人間の指を簡単に切断できるのである。つまり、私の中指は幸運にも、切断されることはなかったのです。さらに、出血することで、とても心地よいフィーリングがした。なぜなら、1年以上献血に行っていないから。実は、献血は私の趣味みたいなものなんですね、皆さんは変に思うかもしれないけど。(笑) よく肩がこるのですけど、献血の後は肩がこらないんです。だから、血を抜いてもらうのが好きなんですねぇ。私が推測するに、多少の血を抜くことで、血液の流れが良くなるのでしょう。幸運に感謝！俺ってついてるなぁ。(^^ゞ

PC Broken!

Saturday, December eighth, two thousand and seven

My desktop PC has broken down.... The PC wasn't powered on right after I installed 1 Gbps LAN card in it. Actually, I ordered a high-speed Intenet connection service the other day. Today I tried to get much speed by installing the LAN adapter and a special-spec cable. However, the try backfired on myself. X(
The PC maker offers me free fix service, but apparently it takes one week or so to fix the power supply unit.
Therefore, I have no choice but to use my old laptop, whose OS is Windows98, for a while. Surfing the Internet with junk PC is totally too slow and drives me bannas!


2007年12月8日(土曜)

私のデスクトップPCが壊れた・・・１ギガbpsのLANカードを組み込んだ後、電源が入らない。実は、先日高速インターネット接続サービスを申し込んだのです。今日、LANアダプタ・特別なLANケーブルを組み込むことにより、もっと速くしようとしたんです。でも、それが裏目に出てしまいました。(>_<)
パソコンメーカーは、無料で修理サービスをしてくれるけど、どうやら1週間かそれくらい電源ユニットの修理にかかるそうです。
それゆえ、私は古いノートパソコン(OSはWindows98)を、しばらくの間使うしか選択の余地がない・・・このポンコツPCのインターネット接続は遅すぎて・・・私を困らせてくれます。(*_*)

Teacher Accessed My Blog By Chance

Sunday, November eighteenth, two thousand and seven

There was a small party held at a Japanese style bar in front of JR Wakayama station last night. I attended the party with some NOVA teachers, staff and students. One of my friends organized it, so I'd like to say to her "I can't thank you enough."

Right after the party, I passed my name card, which has my email address and blog address, to a teacher who is from England. He said to me that he's had a look at my blog recently when he was googling about NOVA, as soon as I gave it to him. I was sooooooo glad! What a coincidence! Good job, Google! :D

That was exactly a great time to hear he's accessed my blog before. It's my pleasure to hear someone browsed my sites. I hoped he came here and left his comments someday....

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

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

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!

My Branch to Closed

September twenty seventh, two thousand and seven

NOVA, the most biggest private English school in Japan, has a big financial problem now as many Japanese people know. I saw an article in the newspaper, that mentioned the company's future. According to the newspaper, the school was planning to close some branches to slash expenses. I hoped that Kishiwada branch, which I belong to now, wouldn't be shut down. Against my expectation, one of my study buddies, whose name is Hiro*** and who studies English at the same branch, made a phone call the day before yesterday to let me know the branch is going to be closed next month. Holy shit!!! .... Pardon my French. m(_ _)m
Anyway, I have to move to Namba branch or Wakayama branch soon. I'm going to move to Wakayama branch so far. The reason isn't just because it's closer from my house than Namba. Actually I visited there the other day as I've post an article here before. I like the atmosphere in the lesson rooms, the teachers and the stuff. They looked very friendly at that time. Besides there are many amusement spots around there - such as bars, bars, bars and bars.... :D

Got Hair Cut

September twenty fourth, two thousand and seven

It's still too hot working in my factory, so I finally decided to have my hair cut short as the following picture. Looks cool? :D
Actually, I'm going bald terribly now, especially the top of my head. I wanted to do something effective against the problem somehow. I came up with a counter measure last week, which is getting a hair cut; that's to say, I had my hair cut short so that the bald patch doesn't stand out. :)

My Own Pace

Friday, July sixth, two thousand and seven

As a matter of fact, my physical condition has been still a little bad because of the recent muggy weather and my age, 44 years old. :) That's exactly why I don't often write my English diary that I used to.
Anyway, I don't have enough time to study English nowadays, so I have just decided to post articles here only when I came up with interesting ideas and had amusing experiences. In addition, I can't master a lot of knowledge at once because of my tough noodle if I try to write English journals with new words. But I want to try a new approach here. Actually, I sometimes read English newspapers these days after some teachers recommend me to do that so that I can improve my skills. Let me post my opinions here after reading news if time permits. To be honest, it's the most significant to get back my health as soon as possible because my friends and I are planning to have a big BBQ party next weekend. :)