Varmints

The film "Varmints" is a story about a rabbit-like creature who lives in a heavenly world with grass field and trees.

Then, the world starts to collapse and becomes distopian with garbage all over the place.
The rabbit-like creature tries to save a plant which he grabs when all the plants are being killed.

What I think about this film is that it looks similar to what is happening on earth right now.
It really made me think of environmental disasters.
Although the plants seemed difficult to survive in distopia, the heavenly world was eaten very quickly.
It shows how precious nature is and how easily the beauty is taken away.
It made me think that we should pay more attention to our environment and keep it as clean as possible.

Reunion

In two hours, Imma meet with my friends who went to the same high school. Pretty excited. Btw it's been a while that I am coughing. I just want you to be healthy. Don't drink and amok too much dude.

To Bryan regarding recent grammar post

My thought: "The boss wants to see you. . . I thought I'd tell you before you saw him." is incorrect. I agree with your thinking, Bryan, that it feels odd to use past tense here, since the event has not yet occurred, BUT remember that lots of wrong usage may still be commonly used, depending on age, education level, regional variation, cultural preferences (Ex. British English/American English conventions), etc.

Almost everyone agrees that "ain't" is nonstandard and wrong and an uneducated over-extension that attempts to fill the gap in English of a first person negative ("they aren't" . . . "she isn't" . . . "I amn't"???) but people use it constantly, either naively or ironically . . .

Also, if "wrong usage" gets used for long enough, it eventually becomes an "irregular" feature of the language. English is filled with these historical blips that defy grammatical rules . . .

British English: I've got to go. (have got to)

American English: I gotta go. ([have] got to)

Message: It's good to learn the conventions and rules of English grammar but don't be too worried if there are many variations. Grammar rules are made to be broken!

Good morning everyone

Good morning everyone! I know this is very last minuet and I apologize. Recently I had work and dance and I'd come home so exhausted however, home work must be done. Since last week I haven't been sleeping much and even if I did not a very rejuvenating sleep. Because of the lack of sleep and energy I haven't been doing well at school as well. However, the priority is my studies so I hope to balance my daily life with my school life and try harder to succeed in school.
 Another subject I would like to talk about is dreams. Do you dream when you sleep at night? I usually never dream. I have heard before that people dream in the subconscious part of the brain. This means you do not sleep deeply. Studies say it usually occurs when you go to bed with a lot on your mind  or when you are physically exhausted and restless. However, I feel like it's the opposite for me. I usually dream when I sleep for a long amount of time. When I'm restless or in lack of sleep I never dream! Ha! I wonder sometimes so many things are different or opposite with me. Maybe I am alien.

Circle activity

After going through three sections ESS has which are discussion, speech and pronounciation(they are guiding foreign tourists) the rest is debate I was looking forward to and it has just started yesterday.  We, freshmen just saw and wrote what senior were debating which was really complicating and tough to catch up with even though they were speaking Japanese, for starters.  So, today is the second day but, we are going to keep debating from like 9p.m.-5a.m. because we should be well prepared for the competion coming on 27th. Many schools will take part in that. Until that day it must be a really hard time, but I'm sure it would be great experience.

the notebook

This Wednesday, I saw a movie called The Notebook for the upcoming book report. I knew the outline of the story, because some people wrote about it in the previous book report. However, I was really moved by this movie. This movie begins where Noah, the main character, reading a notebook about a love story. I realised that the love story he was reading was his own love at the middle of the moviw. I was especially moved where Noah was so in to one girl called Allie that he never stays away from her even though she doesn't remember him. I liked this movie very much and I am lookig forward to reading the actual book.

shopping

recently I'm going shopping a lot, and buying too much clothes...
i know i shouldn't have bought them to save money....
but once i find a very nice one, i cannot just stand and watch them. I simply can't.
it's like girl's trait that guys can't understand.
 last 2 weeks, i guess i spent over 40000yen for clothes.
way too much. gotta save.
I don't wanna be a kind of person who are addicted to "shopping" to distract from pressure and stress they have.

so from now on,  I swear to god I will not buy anything but just necessary daily stuff.

anyhow, sleep tight everyone!
good night^^

In Miyashita Park

Hangin' with Yamada and Rei right now.

These guys are really cool and chill.

Yay

Cooking

Hey guys! It's Umeka :)

This weekend, I spent most of my time at home. Suddenly, as I was surfing on the Internet and looking at some Facebook pages of my German friends, Nostalgia hit me. Back in Germany, me and my friends used to cook and bake together just for fun. I recalled how we made some "Gebratene Mandeln" which are roasted Almonds coated with caramel. You can only buy them during Christmas season at traditional Christmas market in Germany. I have never heard of someone who detests them! They are super delicious and one of my favorite foods:)
So, during this weekend I made some non-Japanese food. 

I will bring the roasted Almonds to IE Core class tomorrow because I promised to let Mizuki taste some of them. If you'd like to taste some as well, come to tomorrow's class and just ask me ;)

Puppy:)

 Recently, I've been watching YouTube daily vlog channel that one of my favorite YouTuber uploads everyday and she recently got a male corgi puppy named Ken. 

 Since the moment I saw her getting Ken, I felt like I really want a puppy too. My favorite kind of dog has been Miniature Dachshund since I was in a kindergarten. 

 If anyone has recommendation, let me know:)

What I'm into these days

 I know this sounds so childish and ridiculous for my age, but recently, I've been into disney channel show called "K.C. undercover". I was actually watching all the episodes so far on the weekend.

 This story is about a 16 year old teenage spy K.C.(acted by Zendaya) pretending to be a normal teenage girl, but being on several missions as a teenage spy to capture those who are guilty. I really love her fashion style and how she has cool spy kits such as laser lip stick, handcuffs earrings, talking heart bracelet, darts heels, and more. 

 I feel that disney has no age limit and I admit that I'm childish for my age, but I'm still going to watch the shows. 

Wasabi potato chips

I ate wasabi potato chips four days ago. It was too spicy for me, and I finished eating it crying. I'll bring it to school someday so my friend could try it. Next time I eat potato chips, I'll try another spicy potato, and I'd like to find out which is more spicy.

I've finished my homework

I've finished my homework, so I can do wahtever I like from now. I don't like study, but I can get a sense of accomplishment when I've finished my assignment. I like this moment!

Today's lunch

I ate hiyashi chuka (cold Chinese noodle?) for lunch. I don't have an appetite in summer, but if it is a cold food, I can eat a lot as usual. Hiyashi chuka is perfect for summer. I love it so much.

a book for the book report?

I haven't decided what book I'm going to read for my book report! does anyone have any idea? I suck at reading English books because of my limited vocabulary and slow reading speed. every book I'm interested looks too hard for me and I don't know what to read:( 

Dear Umeka

How adorable your new pet is!

Pets always heal us, and at the same time they impose us a responsibility.

Umechan, please remember that you're the only one she can rely on.

I'm sure you'll build a good relationship with her and spend more meaningful days than before.

This weekend

 This weekend I went to driving school. This time, I had a class of driving in highway. In highway it was so different from normal road and everything was so fast! It was scary at first, but when I get used to the speed, it was very easy and fun driving because of no passenger walking in the road and no intersection. I can`t wait to get my own licence and have a drive! :)

My weekend

I had such a busy weekend this week! First Friday,  I don't have work so I go to dance practice with my dance circle. We have a show case next month however, days where we can practice with all the members together are very limited. So we had an all night practice. The next day I went all the way to odaiba to see a street dance championship. After that I was invited to a birthday party from the evening. I met many new people and it was very enjoyable. After that from night time I went to a salon to do a photo shoot. On Thursday on my home home from work a hair stylist lady asked me if I could model for her. I've been meaning to go to the salon to get my hair done anyways so I consented.   I got to have my hair treated, trimed and styled for free! Yay! The next day I met my quater Latin American friend and we went to the festival Vietnam Face in yoyogi park. We walked so much! First from shibuya to harujuku then in yoyogi park then back to walking around in shibuya. Although it  was tiring it was so much fun because  we have been planning to meet for such a long time. However, our days free were never the same. Well, I had work later the same day but I'm so glad we were able to meet in the daytime. After that I had work. I'm slowly getting used to the job however, still make so many mistakes. My manager is always yelling at me. I need to learn to be accurate and speedy. It gets so crowded at dinner hours even on week days! I'm naturally a slow person and regularly cannot do two things at once so my job is difficult for me. However, I hope I can become quicker to think though my part time job experience.

Homework

Taking care of kids is tiring but fun as well.
There is one little girl who is from Costa Rica. Her parents speak Spanish, and so I try to speak to her in Spanish using what little knowledge I have from middle school. I was happy to find that she understood some of the things I said, and smiled when I said that her sticker was pretty. She can't speak yet, but nodded and smiled at my weak Spanish.
Oh yes, I didn't know what "Dolphin" or "mammal" was in Spanish, so I just said "pescado" which means "fish." I looked it up.
Dolphin--> delfín
mammal--> mamífero
They are so similar!
I know some people would be furious for me to describe a dolphin as fish.
She seemed to get what I was saying, though.

Yukata

I forgot to add, that originally, the yukata was used for bathing. The kanji of "yukata" means bath clothes. It ks said that it was originally used like a bathrobe.

New Pet

Hello everyone! It's Umeka :)

On Friday, I went to a pet shop to buy myself a hamster. I have loved animals since young and now that I live by myself spending much time alone at home, I felt that a hamster's companion might be a good change. But before that I asked Bryan, whom I'd like to call the hamster master here, how to keep the hamster during summer and many other things. He's a real expert! At the pet shop I couldn't decide between a grayish Djungarian Hamster or a white one. Eventually I chose the white one. I named it Gizmo after the character from the movie Gremlins.

Isn't she so cute sleeping calmly and peacefully?♡

Wish you all sweet dreams as well! Good night!

Hi Ryosuke

Hi Ryosuke,
a yukata is a summer kimono and is much more simpler compared to the kimono. Although the main structure is the same, it is easier to wear, and so is used for casual occasions. It is also a lot more lighter than a kimono, making it cooler to wear and fit for the hot summer season.

Kimono and Yukata

Can you exactly describe the differences between Kimono and Yukata? I got some parts but not everything. Talking about Japanese traditional things is unxpectedly difficult, though,  I am becoming into Japanese culture than before. Today(sunday), our circle is going to guide people from English speaking countries around Jinguji. I'm looking forword to and worrying about being asked about Japanese culture which I don't know.

The lost thing

Characters: A boy and a lost thing
Setting:  Future in an Austraria
Point of view: First person
Conflict: The boy vs the society
Symbols: Being careless toward lost things is a symbol of workholic people
Climax: The lost thing go back where it should have been
Irony: People don't care about lost things even though they are really weird
Theme: Be aware around you

Spain, Austria and Netherlands

Eveybody loves the summer

People get great excitement when they think of plan for summer vacation 

SO AM I !!!

I already booked the flight to Switzerland and stay there for about 3 weeks at my boyfriend's house.

But we also thinking to visit other European country since it's cheap and easy. I know his family gonna take me to Italy during holidays, but I and boyfriend consider to travel one more country.

After some research, we narrowed the possibilities into 3.

1 Spain, valcelona

2 Netherlands, Amsterdam

3 Austria 

We know Spain is great country for Sommer. There's a lot of beach, hot parties, clubs, alcohol. Full of amusement.

But Netherlands and Austria are also beautiful. Have friends there to visit 

Hmm which to choose... 

Farewell songs

I have a few songs in my library that represent parting with or saying goodbye to something. One of these is "たんたんたん" (Tantantan) by Mass of the Fermenting Dregs, enclosed in a 192kbps MP3 file. One of my favorite bands, Mass of the Fermenting Dregs (called マスドレ for short) made their debut with a self-titled EP (sorry about the low sound quality) and went on to release another mini-album and a full one before they came to an abrupt stop in 2012 ("they" is an overstatement; only one of the original members remained by the end). "たんたんたん" is a farewell gift from the last member, Natsuko Miyamoto, and she wished for the song to be spread across the world. Here's a link, since YouTube compresses data and lossy-to-lossy compression is something that I would rather not risk.

Another Japanese artist that I like, Kinoko Teikoku (きのこ帝国), made a five-song EP with songs focusing on the concept of saying farewell/losing things. The band, around the time they made this EP, were in a transitional phase. Amid their increasing popularity, they also were in a time when they were experiencing changes in their human relationships and environments. I remember listening to this plenty near the time of my high school graduation, which is one of the reasons why this EP left a really strong impression on me.

My masterpiece

       I have only one class on Thursday, so I had much free time yesterday. (I know I should have done my HW, but please forgive me I love free time!) On my way to home it suddenly occurred to me to bake some cake. Yeah, I did it:)

It's pound cake mixed with tea leaves. It was a great success. Maybe I should have decided to be a confectioner.....

This week.

This weekend, my two years younger junior from cheerleading is having their first competition alone at yoyogi and I am planning to go watch it with my friends. I had an opportunity to do cheerleading with them and be in the competition with them in Feburary this year so I'm excited to see them do cheer again. I honestly wanted to watch their practise but because of all the classes I couldn't and that disappoints me a lot. I still can't believe it has already been 4 months since I cheered with them. This is one of the photo for the February competition I did with them.

After that, me and my friends are planning to do a birthday surprise for two of my friends from High School so I am excited for that too. (:

Hunger Games

I have chosen the book 'Hunger Games' for the second book report. The reason why I chose this was because I remember enjoying myself reading this when I was in middle school. I enjoyed reading this book because it wasn't only about romance but it had action scenes in it. This book was one of the books I got into that I read all the hunger games series. I haven't watched the movie so I am planning to make an evaluation on the differences on the movie and book again.

the lost thing

characters: the boy and the ”lost thing”
setting: some kind of old place maybe in Australia
point of view: first person
conflict: the boy and the lost thing vs society
symbols: the color red is a symbol of vividness
climax: when the lost thing finally found a place where he belongs
irony: he wasnt accepted from many people before he goes to the place where it belongs to
theme: every thing or a person has a place there they belong to.

swimming

About a month ago, I got my rib cracked.
Although I am in the swimming team, I wasn't able to swim.
But on Monday I went to see a doctor and he said I can swim from the next day:)
I was so happy because swimming makes me get rid of my stress and things like that.
I really appreciate that I can swim... but the problem is that we have the practice in the morning, from seven o'clock, meaning that I have to wake up at about 4:50 and leave home at 5:25.
Even though I have to wake up early tomorrow, I was doing my homework and still awake...
I'm so not sure if I can wake up on time...


Good night

So much to do and so little time

I recently started a part time job waitressing. It's actually my first real job because in high school I belonged to the dance club and didn't have much time after school. I have done some English teaching jobs on weekends in the past for some friends english school however, it was my friend so although I got paid it was more like doing a favor. Back to my main subject, I had work today as well. And my friends from IE came to my work place today! I was happy but a little embarrassed. Thank you for coming though!
 Monday and Tuesday were horrible because it was so busy and I get very nervous so I made many mistakes. However, though it was busy today as well I din't make that many mistakes. I think I am slowly getting used to the job. What I need to work on now is along with accuracy,  is speed. Dinner time becomes very crowded so I often get flustered especially because I am the only waitress there. However, although I make mistakes and have to check with the customers about their order so many times they are all so nice and understanding. Many costumers leave saying thank you for the meal or good luck. That is probably the highlight of my work. It's so reassuring and I feel I can work harder to do better. It is very stressful for me because I am a slow learner and i get very very nervous. Also I am so tired and cranky at school almost everyday now because of less sleep and late night hours. It's is not good because it is affecting my school life as well. But it's life so I have to deal with it so I wull  take this as a chance to grow and become stronger!

Manga Cafe

Today, I felt a little tired, so I decided to go to manga cafe for the first time.
I chose a flat room which you can lie down and enjoy reading mangas.
I could also charge my phone and use the Internet.
It was very quiet and comfortable.
I enjoyed reading my favorite manga called Inuboku.
I'll definitely go there again.

Karaoke

I started a part time job at a karaoke.
I really nead money right now !
I need the experience of working too!!!

the beginning of the third month

Its been more than 2 months since we, the first graders, entered AGU.  I made many friends and got to know many seniors. I'm really glad that I was able to enter this school and to be able to meet many of the people here. I learned many new things during class and outside of class. I wish to continue on and make it a good time here.

Learning a new language

Today I have Spanish class which is the most difficult class for me to catch up.

I never knew that learning a new language is so difficult. Since I learned English and Japanese naturally, this is my first time to learn a new language academically. I'm sure that I'm gonna struggle at the end of the term test....

I'll try my best not to fail.

club music

I listen to club music recently especially deep house.
I'm practicing DJ for our next performance.
It is coming up next week on Saturday.
I haven't created a disc for my music so I'm going to work on it now.
I hope I'll be able to throw parties like other DJs in the future.

Ramen

I have been eating a lot of ramen recently.
I've been going to a restaurant called hidakaya!
It's cheap for its taste.

To Rei Akutagawa

I hope your eyes are getting better but, if not, relax, the "byojaku face" look has become rather popular recently . . .

Re: Bryan's Grammar 2

"He thought he'd meet Drake before he moved away."

My friend asked me if it's appropriate to use this sentence when Jim meets Drake before he moves away. Here is an example that my friend created:

Drake: "What are you doing here, Jim?"

Jim: "I thought I'd meet you before you move away."

My thoughts: Yes, I think the consistent past-perfect first one is more common, but in that case there is really no choice. You can't say "He thought he'd meet Drake before he move away."

The word "meet" is also a bit confusing here to American English speakers. Are they meeting for the very first time? That's what it sounds like. Otherwise, I would say "meet up with" or "get together with" (there's also the business sense of "have a meeting with") . . .

A follow-up to the grammar post

I found a perfect example on the internet about what I was trying to say in the last post. Take a look at this:


"Mr.Dilger wants to see you." Mr. Bruce went on to say. "It's about the same thing. I thought I'd tell you before you saw him. A little bit easier facing the Big Boss if you're wised up beforehand, you know." I thanked him and went down the long aisle of desks to Mr. Dilger's office, the directory manager.


and this:


“I thought I'd tell you before you get to the office tomorrow"


Do you see the difference? The first quote and the second quote are both talking about the present time, yet the first quote has the verb "see" in past tense, while the second one has "get" in present tense. They both seem to be okay, but how? The first quote is obviously taking place before the main character "sees" Mr. Dilger. So why would it be in past tense? I'm not trying to be a grammar Nazi, I'm just extremely curious. 


Sorry for the boring posts.

Any thoughts?

French

French is very difficult. I studied about 2 hours for today's small test, but I couldnt mark good score. I'll study harder from now on. I hope I could visit France someday!

I'm almost done reading "The Great Gatsby"

I started reading it just a few days ago, shortly after we turned in our book reports. If it helps with anything, I did my book report on Fitzgerald's debut novel, This Side of Paradise and I can clearly tell the difference - I'm sure that anybody who listened to my oral presentation of it would be aware of what I mean by that. For those who haven't: This Side of Paradise was written/put together in haste from manuscripts and short stories Fitzgerald wrote during his Princeton years, so the stories/arcs feel a bit disconnected.

Although The Great Gatsby's a much smoother ride when it comes to structure, the two novels are pretty similar in their tone and are descriptive, too. They owe their richly detailed environments to Fitzgerald's incredible ability to recall/describe such places. I guess that's why I like the first half of Chapter VIII so much. For some reason, it feels sort of dreamy and hazy to me as Gatsby relates his youth with Daisy and his life during and after the war to Nick Carraway - maybe a side-effect of me trying to imagine this happening during the morning twilight?

Minnesota

2years ago I went back to my hometown to play tennis. Since I came to Japan at the age of 6, I didn't have a friend to meet there. But at the tennis camp, all the people greeted my and made great relationships with the guys at the camp.

I with I could go back and meet them this summer!!

Decopon

Last night, I went to a welcoming party of an outdoor circle called Decopon in Aogaku.
I already had some friends there so it was a lot of fun.
The people in my grade were very nice.
I felt like continuing to join the activities here.
I'm looking forward to joining a camp in Okayama.

American snacks

Few days ago, my friend who live in America has sent me boxes of snacks which I can`t find in Japan! Its American taste is so different from Japanese snack, lol I almost laughed how sweet it is!

the lost thing

setting  during rapid economic growth in some country in Asia

conflict a guy and the lost thing vs. other poeple

climax the lost thing goes back to where it belongs, the place no one seems to know exists 

theme there's something magical in this world, but people are now too busy to notice them 

irony the lost things do exist, but they are in the place that can't be seen by busy people 

symbols the lost thing is the symbol of a creative mind

on sunday

On Sunday,  I went to Omiya to play a escape game on Conan.
I went there with my friends from high school who like Conan.
We were close to escaping, but we couldn't.
It was more difficult than I thought.
It is very regretful for me now so I want to try it again.

After that, we went for dinner.
We of course talked about the game, but we were most of the time talking about our high school. It was really fun and I want to meet with them again somedays.

My eyes!!!!!!!!!!

My eyelids have been red recently.
I have no idea why!
I've been putting different kinds of medicine but none of it seems to work.
I won't go to the doctor.
It takes too much time and it costs too much money.

The lost thing

The story is about a man who found a lost thing that looks like a crab octopus hermit crab jar thing.
Setting : A futuristic strange city.

Conflict : a guy against himself if he can take car of the thing.

Climax : when the thing was leaving him to a better place.

Symbol : I thought the thing was a symbol of his imagination

Irony : The irony is when the man had to let go of the thing .

Theme : People have to grow up someday.