Feeling lonely

After school, I was waiting for a person in cafeteria. Since it was the day just before Aoyama Festival today, a lot of people were preparing for it. There was no friend around me, so I was just alone. What's worse, it was sooooo cold day. I felt really cold even in F building. What I could do was read a book or sleep. Of course I read a novel of THAT novelist. You can easily guess who he is, I think. I've finished "kangaroo Biyori" and started reading a new one, "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World." I've read only a little of the book, but I'm sure it is a great work and I can have a fun reading it!

We'll have Aoyama Festival tomorrow. Let's have a good time. Enjoy it.

See you.

A Regular Customer

Today, strictly speaking yesterday, I had a part-time job and worked in cafe as usual. A regular customer came and ordered a cup of coffee as usual. He is over 80 year old gentleman who was really fashinable. I saw him for the first time today, so did he. He noticed a new staff, which was myself, and talked to him about many things. The most interesting topic that we talked about was jazz. He said he was a sax player when he was young and can understand feeling of playing jazz as a band. Though I was in working time at that time, we had a good time talking about music. What was lucky for us was I was not so busy only at that time. That's why we could freely contact each other. Anyway, he is our regular customer, so I will be able to meet him again soon. It became one of good points to work for my job place.
And here is one of the most famous big band song we talked about. When he were a sax player, he played an arranged one in his band. It's Glenn Miller's "In the Mood." Watch the video of the legendary jazz music below.
↓↓↓


Good night with a good old jazz music...

IE Writing Outline

Should University Students be Required to do Overseas Volunteer Work?

Yes:

Students can learn other countries’ culture including their languages.

Students can understand the importance of lives.

Students would have interest in international relationship.

No:

Students can be in danger during their volunteer works.

Life style of the country students go may not fit them.

Students’ belongings can be stolen in some developing countries.

Point Outline

Introduction: The world is internationalized rapidly these days and it is clear that some countries need help of developed countries.

                           Two views: education, danger

Thesis Statement: Overseas volunteer work should be done by university students if it is possible.

Body: Education: if students go abroad to do overseas volunteer work, they can feel different cultures and learn them so they should do overseas volunteer work

      Also, they can learn other things such as how important one life is or what the international relationship is and why it is required.

      Danger: some countries are not safe in some ways so people should never let students go there to do volunteer works

      There would be many dangerous situations such as attack of native tribes, diseases and stealing or robbery.

Conclusion: Overseas volunteer work will be a good experience for university students, but before they start it, they have to know:

            Whether the place they are going to visit is safe or not

            What the people there are like; food, customs, languages, etc

IE Writing 2nd Draft

Should University Students be Required to do Overseas Volunteer Work?

     The world is becoming internationalized rapidly these days. Now it is clear that there are developed (rich) countries and developing (poor) countries in the same world. Some of the developing countries need developed countries’ help, especially that of young people. Aoyama Gakuin University is one of the universities that have a volunteer circle. Although there must be some danger circumstances in poor countries, university students should actively join the overseas volunteer work because their help is needed.

     One thing students can expect is attack, stealing or robbery by native people. People in poor countries tend to be starved for food and expensive things and sometimes get aggressive to attack and rob volunteers. Especially in a country at war, attack is so dangerous that volunteers are killed or held hostage. According to an online article, it reported, “In August, Mr. Kazuya Ito, a Japanese volunteer worker, was kidnapped and killed in eastern Afghanistan” (The Japan Times Online, 2008). Volunteers may get closer in their volunteer group, and then they can be careless. At that moment, natives easily attack the group and take their belongings. If students are planning to visit a developing country to do volunteer work, they must know well about the country and during their stay there, they must watch their belongings every moment.

     Another negative thing is diseases. The climate can cause serious diseases. What’s worse, most developing countries are unsanitary. Because volunteers don’t get used to those situations, they easily contract bad diseases such as cholera and dysentery. There is no facility and treatment tool, so the possibility that the diseases kill volunteers is extremely high.

     In contrast, overseas volunteer work gives students great experience and they can learn a lot of things from it. There are two important points. One of them is “to find opportunities that reflect your interests, call on your skills and capabilities, go with your lifestyle, and suit your personality” (ABC News, 2007). Students can learn something in their own ways and the experience they can have will be a part of you after finishing volunteer works. Any experience will greatly improve them. Students will be able to make use of what they got in their volunteer works in different fields someday. The other important thing is learning the culture of the country. By learning it, they can break stereotypes of the country and find good points. It leads to making a good relationship between the students’ country and the country they visit. This can be the first step for world peace that is needed in this complex world.

     Overseas volunteer work gives another lesson to students. The lesson is that nothing is so precious as life. However poor the people are, however dirty the people are, even if the country is at war, there is nothing more important than one life. It also can lead to a good relationship because no one tries to beat other countries if he or she knows the importance of life.

     Overseas volunteer work has both good points and bad points. It would be bad and dangerous if volunteers are careless. On the contrary, it can be good because they can understand the essential things for their lives. Although bad things can be expected, university students should do overseas volunteer work.

Works Cited:

“Afghanistan in Trouble.” The Japan Times Online. 16 Dec. 2008.

<http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20081216a2.html>

Wine, Bill. “Volunteers Gain While They Give Health Article.” ABC News. 17 Oct. 2007.

     <http://health.abcnews.go.com/sw/wl-volunteers-gain-while-they-give>

Book Report #1

BOOK REPORT                                      11310108 Hisataka Kuzumi

Gram, Dewey, Gladiator, New York: ONYX, 229 pages, 2000.

RESPONDING TO THE PLOT: (c) Was there a character in the story especially inspiring, depressing or even frightening ? Explain why.

     The character who inspired me the most was the hero of this story, Maximus. He was one of the leading generals in the Roman army. He was so sincere that he was loyal to the elderly Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who had a great virtue, and he loved his wife and son that longed for him. The Emperor had a son, Commodus, who would kill his father and become the Emperor himself. He tried to make Maximus obey him, but the general refused because of his murder. After that, Commodus ordered his soldiers to kill Maximus and his family. They killed his family, but Maximus fled from them. Then he became a slave, and then a gladiator. He fought as a gladiator to achieve revenge on the tyrant for killing his family and his emperor .

     There are two points why I think Maximus inspired me. One of them is his sincerity. He was loyal to Marcus and Rome and worked without sparing his life. Therefore, Marcus always trusted him. Also, he was so sensible that when Commodus killed Marcus and became the emperor, he wasn’t loyal to the tyrant though he knew that it would make Commodus angry and execute him. I was moved by this sincerity with devotion and no ambition. I want to be a man with reliable sincerity to be of help to anybody around me. The other point is his courage. When he was fighting as a gladiator, he could be a leader of a gladiator team and deserted none of his gladiator friends. Sometimes, he saved his peers at the risk of his own life. If I were him, could I be a leader to bring my peers together and save them? Maybe I couldn’t. People tend to escape from dangerous situations when they are facing a matter of life and death. On the contrary, Maximus bravely faced the difficulty and win the honor. That’s why I can say Maximus inspired me the most in this story.

ANALYZING 7 LITERARY TERMS:

Setting: Rome in the age of the Imperial Rome Empire

Point of View: This story is told from the third person

Conflict: Maximus was in the conflict with other gladiators and his mind. He had to fight against gladiators for citizen’s entertainment against his will.

Climax: The climax of this story is Maximus’ fight against the emperor, Commodus in the last part of the story. Though he was damaged by Commodus in a cowardly way before the fight, he won the battle and finally achieved his revenge.

Symbol: Swords and shields are the symbol of this story. As a gladiator, Maximus used swords and shields when he was fighting. They express his strength and kindness. He beat many soldiers against him with his sword and protected his peers with his shield at the Roman Colosseum.

Irony: The irony of this story is when he finally beat Commodus, he also died. He wanted to make Rome better respecting Marcus’ dying wish after the struggle with Commodus. However, he couldn’t transfer the power in Rome to the Senate by himself.

Theme: “The importance of life” is the theme of this story. Through this story, Maximus love his family and emperor, and hated those who made light of life. However hard the situation he was in, he fought against his enemy who sighted life and protected his friends who honor their life. His strong will attracted people in Rome.

REFLECTING ON THE STORY: (h) What is something you learned from the story?

     What I learned from this story is “people sometimes have to fight against their wills.” Just like Maximus in this story, we originally want to avoid a struggle, but sometimes have to dare to face the difficulty and overcome it to achieve our own purposes. We can find a lot of examples in our daily life. Job hunting is the one. We have to find the job, be interviewed, take a test and then win promised employment. That means some of people who were interviewed failed to get a job and we could get the job. We have to get a job at the expense of other people. It’s one of the hard struggles that most of us will face. We have to fight against it with courage.

     What’s more, we have to make some changes in a good way after we win a struggle. Maximus won the struggle with Commodus and died, but he could show his and his emperor’s will that the power in Rome should be transferred to the Senate. The story after his death is not told, but I think people in Rome were moved by him and tried to change Rome better. When we win, we have to understand there are those who lose. We must try our best to improve something for not only yourself but also the people who lost a struggle.

Oversleep

I rarely oversleep and be late for classes. I don't like to keep anyone waiting even for a minute. So I do my best to be on time or a little earlier. In this point, I can be a bit confident. However, this morning, I overslept and could't attend the first period. I know the reason for this. It's all because of a novel. A novel is often a big enemy when it comes to waking up in the morning. This time, the enemy was "Sputnik Sweetheart" as you know. But I've almost beaten it. A few pages are left.


Sometimes, I lie awake in bed for along time though I want to sleep. It is a hard time. Many of you have had faced similar situations, I guess. When I am in the situation like this, I listen to this song below these days.



This is a song of Kaiser Chiefs called "Ruby." This British band is one of my favorite bands in the world. However, most of my friends don't like them. I like bands that play not so rock, heavy, fast, noisy music like Kaiser Chiefs. They plays unique, cool music. Well, I listen to any kind of bands, though. More information on their official web site below.
http://www.kaiserchiefs.co.uk/
Hope you like it.


Gonna study Chinese!
再見!!

Assignment

Good afternoon. I have too many things to do now. You guys also have many. The essay for IE Writing class, which all of you LOVE, 1st book report, which is so EASY and this blog. Some of you have extra things such as preparation for Aoyama Festival. Before I entered the university, I'd thought the life in AGU would be much easier than this actual life. It was completely wrong. I want a little longer free time...


I got a phone call from my family last Thursday and I talked with everbody in my family. They seem to be fine and still a little noisy as before, but it made me feel good and safe though I'm away from them. We talked about many many things. My mother said that she and my two younger brothers would come to Tokyo in late December. My mother and the youngest brother are going to visit Yokohama to join the gig of Masaharu Fukuyama. And another brother asked me to guide around Tokyo if I'm not busy. Then I'm planning to take him into Shibuya, Harajuku, Simokitazawa...etc. Now he is a high school student who have to start preparing for entrance exams, so I hope it will be a good day for relaxation. What is neccesary is that I have to earn a lot to treat him to some drink and food...


I'll work on the book report.
See you.

Things to be done

Good evening. I heard many of my friends caught a cold and a high fever. Are you doing fine? Hope you have healthy days.

I'm becoming busier and busier these days because I started a part-time job. Now I don't have even one holiday in a week. Every day I have to study or work. But I like this life though I can find bad points in it. One of the bad points is that I can't make time to play the drums. It's a big problem. So, I was glad to play the drums today after a long time. I think my drumming has somehow developed a little! Anyway, I'm spending busy days. Especially, studying is hard. I'm planning to take TOEIC and TOEFL test someday. Sooner is beeter, so I'm going to start studying for them tomorrow. As well, I want to study Chinese. Studying Chinese is a great fun for me, so I don't feel pain when I study it. To do efficoently, I have to buy a SD card that contains a Chinese dictionary for an electronic dictionary. And I decided to buy it tomorrow. Tomorrow would be a start of my new challenging life.
So, somebody give me advice. How can I study for two TOE tests efficiently and accurately? Which text book is better for study? Please, please, please give me some advice.

I bought a novel today though I've not finished my bookreport, hahaha. The book is "Sputnik Sweetheart." Haruki Murakami, again! As I said I have to study hard, BUT I want to read a novel as well! Actually, I bought it on impulse. However, I'm happy to have something to read. I'll start to read it as soon as possible, maybe, tonight... Sleeping hours? Who cares!lol




See you soon...

A little story

When I was a high school student, there was a birthday payty of my American friend, and I joined it. I was talking with William, who is also my friend. "Hey, tell me, Hisa, how do you say idiot or stupid in Japanese?," asked Will. He was too much drunken. "Ah.... We have a lot of ways to say, but 'Baka' is popular and simple, I guess," I answered. Then he rushed to his girlfriend, Nancy. She was also too much drunken. "Nancy! Hey, dear, Nancy! You're 'Baka'. You really 'Baka'!!" shouted Will. Of course, she didn't understand Japanese. "What do you mean? 'Baka'? Is it Japanese?," asked Nancy. " It means you're so beautiful! It's Japanese word. Hisa taught me," said Will. "Oh, Will, thank you! It's sweet of you! Hisa, you too!," shouted Nancy. "Ah, well, yeah, no problem....," said I. "Listen! I'm 'Baka'! I AM 'BAKA'!," shouted Nancy to everybody at the party. Dave, who was at the party, could understand Japanese a little. "Nancy, ah, Do you know 'Baka' means? It means stupid or idiot or...,something like that," said Dave. "This is not good," said I. "We must get out of here, right?," said Will. "What!? Hey, Will, where are you!? Hisa!?," shouted Nancy with great anger. We ran away, but were caught and scolded by horrible Nancy.



Nonsesnse, right?
See you.

The aroma of coffee

Hello, guys. I've just finished my new part-time job and come back home. This was the first time to work for a cafe. The cafe is called Den, which is on the fourth floor of Sogo department store in Hachioji. It's a good cafe with jazz, warm lights, good aroma of coffee and tea, sweet desserts and delicious food. My colleagues are all kind and bright. I thoght I chose a good work place for my part-time job! Today I did well because we are not so busy. It was wednesday, the middle of a week, so we had not so many customers today. It will surely be harder on Saturdays and Sundays. However, because it's fun for me working there, I can manage to work well maybe.


These days, I often listen to jazz. I love jazz especially from the view of a drummer. Jazz always makes me feel good while my listening to it. Even now, I'm doing this blog listensing to jazz music. I 'm still a little poor at playing jazz drums, so I really want to practice jazz drumming in earnest. I wish I had a lot of time to practice and play!  The only problem is that jazz sometime makes me so sleepy... I mean, I am sleepy.lol Now, time to take a rest!



See you.
Yawn...

Sagamihara Festival

We had a two-day school festival from October 9th to 10th. Many students in AGU had prepared for this festival. In the festival, there were a lot of branches and shows. I played the drums in a gig on October 10th though I had a high fever. Our band's performance was terrible actually. It was the one of the worst gigs I have ever performed. My performance of the drums can improve if I practice it hard, I guess.



I found a branch of Italian in Sagamihara festival. Italian is the junk food like udon or yakisoba or spaghetti that is eaten only in Niigata. A cafe in Niigata, Mikaduki, made this Italian. It's really Niigata's junk food. When I had Italian in Sagamihara festival, I was disappointed because it was not THAT Italian I and people from Niigata know. It was too much like yakisoba. Again, Italian is not udon, yakisoba or spaghetti! I hope you will have Italian someday though many of people who eat Italian for the first time do not like it... And I show you a photo of Italian below!

Looks bad? Well, anyway, you should try!

See you later.

New things

Last Wednesday, I got a new cell phone. Japanese cell phones are getting more useful these days. What's more, we can use them at extremely low rate now. However, we have to be careful when we use them. Recently, a friend of mine in Niigata had a big trouble over a web site. He was using his cell phone to find a new part-time job, but he clicked a wrong link by accident. Few days later, he was billed massive money by a company that he never knew. Soon he and his parents consulted a lawyer and finally the trouble was settled. Usefulness of electric devices can lead a dangerous troubles. When I heard this, I felt that we had to understand we are facing dangers when we use the Internet with PC, cell phone, or something. Please be careful.



In the last IE Core class, we talked about the video program. Now the outline of our group's work is almost clear. Though the content is simple, I'm sure it will be a great work. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing other groups' works. Let's do our best!



I would like to introduce interesting music videos. There are OK Go's videos below. OK Go, an american rock band, is famous for their interesting music videos as well as their songs. One of their music video, "Here It Goes Again," got MTV Video Music Award in 2006. It's worth watching.

"Here It Goes Again" music video ↓↓↓
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA&feature=related

"This Too Shall Pass" music video ↓↓↓
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w&feature=channel

"White Knuckles" music video ↓↓↓ (Those who likes dogs should watch this!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHlJODYBLKs&feature=related

"End Love" music video ↓↓↓
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2fpgpanZAw&feature=related

They are really interesting ones! I'm sure you like them.



I have to do ReallyEnglish that everyone LOVES hahaha...
See you soon!

How to stay awake when you are sleepy

Hello. First of all, students have to do some assignments at home. But I think you do not do them soon after you get back home. You have to have dinner and take a bath, and there would be a lot of TV programs that you want to watch. You would do what you want to do, and then finaly you realize that you have to do your assignment. Well, I mean, mostly, we tend to do our homework late at night.



How do you stay awake when you are sleepy though you have something to do? Mr. Anderson, our teacher in IE Writing Program, introduced one of his way to wake your brain up. It was simple: just breath deeply. That's good. There are various ways to stay awake: wash your face, jump, shout something, pinch your arms, whatever. These are also quite useful for you, but I strongly recommend push-ups. When you get sleepy, do push-ups until your arms get a little tired. Don't do it too much! Things we fear are often not so hard to deal with after all. Just try!



I 'm really really sleepy, but I have an assignment. Now I want to finish this blog and start my homework.



Bye-bye.

Things for an ordinary life

Good evening. It's a rainy, loneky, boring night. I don't feel it is bad. This is really usual.
Today I took a training seminar for my new part-time job. It was soooooo boring. Our lecturer told us even how to wash hands, how to bow, how to smile, whatever. I know they are important, but I'm no longer a kid in a kindergarten! However, after the seminar, I was able to find that the staff in my work place, that will be my coworkers, were really kind people. I'm looking forward to working with them. Also, I realized that I was the youngest there. I'll try hard. My first working day will be 13th. I have to memorize all the dishes and coffee on the menu till then... I'll try hard...



What do you do when you are free? Listen to music? Watch a movie? Take a walk? Go shopping? That's my trouble now. I know I should study, especially Chinese, when I feel free. But the reality is that I do nothing with my mouth opened, and suddenly find it's already evening. Somebody help me! I really want to make good use of my free time. It's a big big trouble.

I want to introduce this band called The Ordinary Boys. The band has the word ORDINARY in its name, but the songs are amazing! Watch these:)

"Boys Will Be Boys (Live)" here↓↓↓
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGqjrNzDgNs&feature=related

"Lonely At The Top" here↓↓↓
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2f675V0NNo

"Nine 2 Five" here↓↓↓
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSA8YzSrff4&feature=related

Now I'm tired. It was a hard day today...
See you and good night.

An old friend

Last night, I got a phone call from my old friend on Skype.
Do you have an account for Skype? It's really useful. You can talk with people all around the world for free, even using the videophone.
Well, getting back to the topic of my friends phone call, I chatted with him about how my hometown is. He told me that nothing changed around him. It was the greatest news for me. Most of places are changing rapidly as well as people who are living there. I hope that my home town will keep itself as it was.
I have a lot of good memories in my hometown. As I said, I'm from Niigata, but actually, strictly speaking, I'm from Shibata, one of the cities in Niigata. It's different from Niigata-city and also a rural place. But I love it. When I was a Junior high school student, I used to play with my friends in a park, a river, a mountain, rice fields, whatever. Well, I'm a true country-bred boy, hahaha.



When I was in 5th grade, I suddenly started to long to be a drummer because I listened to a British rock band's music. The band was so famous that everyone knows some of their songs. The British band is called QUEEN. Here is the song that changed a contryboy's mind. And the boy started drums and is still trying to be a better drummer. Here is the song I listed to when I was a young kid.

The music video of "Bohemian Rhapsody" here! ↓↓↓
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VXc2eZtPN0

"I Was Born To Love You" here! ↓↓↓
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMGjN8-9IG0

These changed my mind. Do you have anything that changed you?

See ya.