free web tracker soliloquies: 05/28/2006 - 06/04/2006

soliloquies

so・lil・o・quy/- n. [C,U] a speech in a play in which a character talks to himself or herself, so that the audience know the character's thoughts.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

@faculty lounge

A writing workshop specialized for the participants of the Downing College summer school program was held at Raiosha today. Many of the things my teacher pointed out today was familiar from the writing classes I took during my high school ages. Even today, I still adore those fabulous, practical English classes of SFC High. Still, I deemed that today's class was really helpful in reviewing many of the essential aspects of English writing.

As the student leader, I have planned a social meeting after this class today. With assistance from my teacher, I was able to book the Faculty Lounge in Raiosha building which is an exclusive restaurant for the professors and faculties of the university.

30 out of 60 members of this program were there and we talked about various things...I think. I assume that I have made an error in seating: most of the girls were concentrated in one of the tables and apparently, their solidarity is a lot more difficult to disband.

There were people of all sorts at my table and it was difficult to find a topic that interested all of them. After a while, we ended up muting ourselves from incompatibility. However, I guess everyone got to know each other a lot better on some aspects and about 2/3 of the participants today moved on to a second "meeting" in Hiyoshi.

My faction had 11 members, most of them deriving from my table, but our locations were shuffled in the restaurant we went in. I was able to have a smoother conversation at the restaurant, since many people there had similar interests.

Overall, although I did make few mistakes today, I was adequately satisfied from today's meet. Our next meet which I am planning to do in about 2 weeks, I wish I can handle this task with more precision and confidence.

friday

After I came home last night, or better said, this "morning", I was able to successfully finish my assignment in a record time: an A4 essay in 20 minutes. Fulfilled by the amount of accomplishment I was able to achieve today, I went straight to bed. Unfortunately, I failed to wake up this morning and ended up being 15 minutes late for my class. A minor fault, but acceptable...right? lol

Fridays' classes are relatively easy and less critical compared to those on other days, so I am a lot more relaxed in a good way. Following the usual classes, I went to an electronics store in Yokohama to do some chores for my mother. 7 years are about to pass ever since my family moved back to Japan and a lot of home appliances we purchased upon our new life in Japan are in bad shape.

Since our electronic water heater thingy broke down the day before yesterday, I bought a new one and brought it back all the way home. This new one's got a lot of new, high-tech features that we didn't have on our old model. Interesting...lol

Friday, June 02, 2006

farewell?

I had an awkward day today...in a great way. Things were completely normal until 16:15 with usual classes, usual faces, usual lunch, usual scenery and so on. With an exception of temperature, it was a typical Thursday in sunny June for me. As I have written before, I was really sick of my repetitive life and I was looking for something interesting to do.

Like always, I made a promise with my friend in Linguistic Science class today to go home together. After class, I was waiting at the Yukichi Statue in the front of library and there came my friend with his friend, who also happens to be my friend. She was busily trying to persuade my friend Y to join her in this Farewell Party that was taking place in Shibuya today. Apparently, there were these people from the States who were touring around Japan and were going to leave tomorrow.

Of course, I had no idea whatsoever on who these people were or what they were discussing about. But the longer I listened to her "advertisement", the more interested I had become. So, for some reason, I joined her in this party in which I was a complete stranger to while my friend Y chicked out and went home. What's more, it was my second time seeing her.

I must confess that my decision was right today. I had a wonderful time together with these unknown Americans in the Outback Grill in Shibuya, talking about various topics. For some reason, I ended up in a mature table and I spent most of time explaining Japanese history to Sky. As I have mentioned a couple of times before, I believe explanation is the toughest aspect of English since you have a higher necessity to use longer, more complicated vocabularies.

After enjoying the party, we moved on to a local karaoke bar. This too was a bit awkward, but it provided a favorable environment for intercultural communication. We sang many songs that were famous in both Japan and the United States and all of us enjoyed that short hour there.

Troubles happened after we said goodbye to each other, but this sudden, unexpected interaction with these nice, American southerners reemphasized the importantness of English. My motivation was lowering a bit since I recharged it in New Jersey in February. I really appreciate my friend for providing me with a great opportunity. I can't thank you enough...

Last but not least. This graduate student from Indonesia I met today on the train there was quite a character. I was also fascinated by his knowledge and intelligence. He was a pleasure to talk to...I wish I can see him again.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

dual

While my will to write in my Japanese blog is diminishing, my interests toward English is greater than ever before. Believe it or not, I get about 50 access a day on my Japanese blog, but seldom receive comments. It's quite disappointing, really.

It's getting harder and harder to go to school...my everyday life is really boring. I don't have any particular interests, I don't have the money to do anything...nostalgia again. S**T.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

z100

There's nothing worse than a sudden day off from school. This sort of occurrence only reverberates boredom in your daily life. With the sudden cancellation of all classes from the finals of Tokyo Big6 Baseball League, I stayed home all day cleaning today. I should have filled in one of the available shifts at work instead. Only if I have known before work ended yesterday...tough luck.

Basically, I disgust weird, unreasonable traditions that are exercised only because of its history. If I was a full time worker or something, I would have cherished this sort of day off, but I am a college student for crying out loud! I have already got enough spare time I am having difficulty consuming...even if you do have things you want to do, you need certain amount of expenditure in order to do so.

With a tight budget in preparation for my payment of Cambridge program, I don't have the leeway to spend my money on stupid stuff, even my balance is fulfilling momentarily. As long as you are home, then you won't have to use your money, right? Besides cleaning, I cleaned my house, listening to Z100; a radio station I always listened to when I was in New Jersey. They aired some new hits I wasn't really familiar with and it was helpful for me to catch up with the latest trends in the music industry of the United States.

Not as productive as I have hoped, but was interesting...sort of. On the news, the DJs were talking about this British radio station that stopped airing songs of James Blunt from its repetitiveness. Weird story, huh?

Sunday, May 28, 2006

toeic

I went all the way south to Miura City to take TOEIC today. I remember all those memories I made in this town when I was in preschool. It was the place I went digging for potatoes. It was the place I went to grab some tangerines. It was the place I went field tripping to a marine park in Aburatsubo. Yes, as you can see..all my rural memories. Inconvenience is the one and only word that can explain my way there. I wonder why the administration began setting up testing centers there.

The test itself felt a lot easier than my last try in 2001 which is probably one of the signs confirming maturity of my English skills. TOEIC uses a lot of business letters and phrases for its problems and that was the part I had difficulty in 5 years ago...I was a middle schooler then. But now, I understood most of the expressions I found in their problems. The only difficulty I experienced was the listening. No, it wasn't like I was totally screwed with it, but some of the accents introduced in this renewal was pretty to comprehend.

Overall, I think I did quite well this time...I may not need another round after all. I did double check all of the reading problems and didn't recognize any errors in them. If I answered all the listening problems perfectly like last time, than I would get a 100%. Hehe.

By the way, are TOEIC scores as widely accepted in other English speaking nations as in Japan??