silver lining

every cloud has a silver lining.

Friday, September 29, 2006

New Life in Tokyo


I moved to Tokyo last Wednesday.


My shared flat is located just in front of Koishikawa Botanical Gardens in Bunkyo ward.


I have to go up and down this slope called "Goten-zaka" everyday. I moved from "Gotemba" and here "Goten" again...


Lots of uphills and downhills... I can't live here without a bike.


I found strange monuments in Kaiserslautern plaza near Myougadani station.


I like this Hakusan and Koishikawa area.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

The 43rd Phoenix English Festival

Here is the timetable for the 43rd (not 43st!) Phoenix English Festival.
Come and see our fun-loving entertainment!!
http://www.eigozuke.co.jp/

☆Saturday, October 7
12:00-12:30 *We should promote Otaku Culture.
12:40-13:10 *Income Gap Society
13:20-13:50 Mary Poppins
14:00-14:30 Corpse Bride
14:40-15:10 *Whe shoud give young criminals the same punishment as adults.
15:20-15:50 ANTZ
16:00-16:30 SISTER ACT Ⅱ
16:40-17:10 Coming To America
17:20-17:50 Les Miserables
18:00-18:30 Always - Sunset in Sanchoume
(* mark means Dramatic Debate presentations. The others are Drama presentations.)

☆Sunday, October 8
11:00-11:30 *We should promote Otaku Culture.
11:40-12:10 SISTER ACT Ⅱ
12:20-12:50 Corpse Bride
13:00-13:30 Mary Poppins
13:50-14:20 *Whe shoud give young criminals the same punishment as adults.
14:30-15:00 Coming To America
15:10-15:40 ANTZ
16:00-16:30 Always - Sunset in Sanchoume
16:40-17:10 *Income Gap Society
17:20-17:50 Les Miserables
18:30-20:30 Awarding ceremony & 1 min. presentations

Here is the map to Phoenix English School.
http://www.eigozuke.co.jp/address.html

Friday, September 15, 2006

The Last Day

















Thanks everyone!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals










AFI, American Film Institute, revealed the top 25 movie musicals of all time on September 3.

http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/musicals.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years_of_Musicals
http://www.moon-light.ne.jp/weblog/archives/2006/09/25_1.html

It is one of the series of AFI's 100 Years which is listed and unveiled once a year celebrating and promoting interest in film history. The top 5 titles are...

1. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
2. West Side Story (1961)
3. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
4. The Sound of Music (1965)
5. Cabaret (1972)

Well, they're standard famous movies. It can be a guide for watching movie musicals. The list on AFI site includes each memorable song! I want to check it whether I can sing those songs when I go to karaoke next time!

These days I'm so busy with lots of things to do. Tomorrow is the last day at my office. Next week I'm going to Yakushima island with my friends. In the meantime, I have to make a rough script for the dramatic debate presentation and revise it again and again with classmates. I have to study for the Basic System Administrator test next month. Above all, I have to move to Tokyo! I guess I can't upload any articles before move.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Debate Competition on National Sports Day

The next autumn English festival is going to be held on October 7th and 8th. At the last spring festival, I had to work on Monday, the next day of the festival. It was so tough for me to get right back to Gotemba to meet a weekly deadline with a little sleep after the presentation. But this time, we have a holiday, National Sports Holiday! How lucky!

Last year after the autumn festival, I went to National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi to see the ESUJ (The English-Speaking Union of Japan) University Dabating Competition 2005.
http://nabocha.blogspot.com/2005/10/university-debating-competition.html
The competition 2006 is going to be held on October 8th and 9th this year.
http://www.esuj.gr.jp/debate/jp/contents/debate_2006_univ.htm

I'm going to watch it again this time. I'm sure I can't follow their debate, but I'm also sure I'll be motivated and study English harder!

Monday, September 04, 2006

Witty remarks 15











*Life is desire not meaning. (Charlie Chaplin)

*The choice is ours, in every moment. (Mary Jane Ryan)

*One of the basic facts about language is that no word ever means exactly the same to two different people. (Rudolf Flesch)

*Contrary to the opinion of many people, leaders are not born. Leaders are made, and they are made by effort and hard work. (Vince Lombardi)

*Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who has a low opinion of himself. (Anthony Trollope)

*Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory. (John Kenneth Galbraith)

*The best way to predict the future is to create it. (Peter Drucker)

*The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. (Ernest Newman)

*The family you come from isn't as important as the family you're going to have. (Ring Lardner)

*If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late. (Lee Iacocca)

*To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research. (Murphy's law)

*If you help a friend in need, he is sure to remember you - the next time he is in need. (Murphy's law)

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Hectic Saturday again

2:00 Woke up

3:00 Studied Intensive Input

4:00 Read newspapers to find an article for Current Affairs class

5:00 Studied for Dramatic Debate class

7:40 Got on Gotemba Line

11:30 Asked Mr. I some questions about Dramatic Debate
I'd rather say I was asked about our topic and I couldn't explain it at all... embarrassing. But I've got 2 points:
*Presentation first (not debate first). He put debate elements into Presentation in order to make us think about one thing from 2 different points of view. So the propostion and the plan by Affirmative side is important.
*Anticipate questions from the beginning and try to put all of those questions and answers into the script.

13:10 Took Intensive Input and got B!

14:30 Talked with my advisor about the leader's meeting

15:40 Current Affairs
Last week we had over 10 members, but things got back to normal this week. I don't know why some members attend suddenly, and suddenly disappear...
My topic was GSDF annual drill at Higashifuji firing range in Gotemba. I'll give a summary here again... Oops, I forgot to do last week.

16:50 Dramatic Debate & extra meeting
Gradually I began to understand what Dramatic Debate is. But we've got two difficult questions from Mr. I. "What happens?" and "So what?" I'm not sure we could answer those questions and put them into the script.

20:00 Drinking Party at Huongviet (Vietnamese restaurant)
Last time we didn't have Robert, so I was invited the party again. He told me some problems regarding Otaku culture. Thanks! And also he told me a Japanese man, Nigo, who started a clothing company, "A Bathing Ape", or "Bape". He was chosen as one of Asia's heros 2004 by TIME. Hmm, Japan's King of Cool he is... I know Cool Japan fascinates many people, but so what? If we couldn't find any serious problem in it, and persuade the audience to think about it, it's just a fiaso, meaningless, no need to debate!... Anyway, I had a good time and perhaps I need this kind of time for a change.

23:40 Arrived at Gotemba Station

00:30 Went to bed

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Drama Reminds Me

Yesterday I learned some memorable words from a Japanese actor in N.Y. (Special thanks to Linnie! I was so impressed by your words!)

*One line, one breath, one meaning.
In other words, rhythm is important when I speak English. I have to listen over and over again, and get the voice, sound, tone, etc instead of memorizing sentences.

*Being is between doings.
I'm sure some people agree that I'm a natural worrier. Don't be afraid, don't think too much. Anyway take a chance always!

*React before act.
*Don't do anything unless something happens to make you do it.
I remembered I practiced "Talk and Listen" again and again when I belonged to a drama class.

Friday, September 01, 2006

New Dictionary










Last weekend when I opened my electronic dictionary, it looked different. It doesn't work! Oh my gosh, I broke it? Then I remembered I dropped it after school. I was shocked because I really liked this dictionary. It was so helpful and I really need an electronic dictionary when I write something in English like now! So I looked for a new one immediately.

I like Seiko's one because its keyboard is almost same as PC's. I wondered which is better, SR-E8500 or SR-E8000FR. In the end I choose SR-E8000FR. I'm going to study French! It seems more useful than the last one because it has Oxford Collocations dictionary and Mypedia, Hitachi's encyclopedia. Okay, I use it up as much as I can!