New Year Eve

I don't have anything to write about around me this morning as usual.

Today is new year eve. I woke up late intendedly and did daily routines without a usual pattern. I'm feeling dizzy a little with no reason. Maybe there is no reason.

Maybe tomorrow is not special as usual.

I'm tired

I have nothing to write about around me this morning as usual.

I'm feeling tired this morning. Nothing special happened even though my ability of the English language is improving. I want to do nothing but my habit made me wake up at 5 a.m, wash the bathtub and read a book in English. I want to be lazy more. I want to wake up late. I want to spend time with Twitter and Whiskey the whole day.

-2 degrees

I don't have anything to write this morning as always.

It's especially cold this morning, -2 degrees C. I want to walk outside early morning but it's too cold to walk. I already experienced several bad conditions in my body after walking in a cold air this winter, and I decided to do a walking exercise above 5 degrees C for my health.

I'm tired of reading English book this morning. Sometimes I think that I must be more mentally lazy in daily life, like waking up late. But the habit is the horror. I can't easily change to unhealthy direction once fixed the life.

I'm reading the New Digital Age

I'm reading the New Digital Age, published in 2013.

I thought that the book doesn't have the latest information, but it has a still very interesting issue. So I decided to finish reading the book.

The book's difficulty in English is not so high for me. But at the first time, I wasn't able to read the meaning in my mind. I don't know the brain's behavior but after a while, it was getting easy to read.

By the way, I'm planning to visit Kinokuniya bookstore in Shinjuku while someday in a new year holiday. I already have many books to read, tsundoku, but I want to check recent books directly.

Warm morning

I don't have anything to write this morning as usual.

This morning was 6 degrees C, according to AppleWatch. So I walked out as I have done before. It was warm enough to leisurely walk and I had an iced coffee at the convenience store as always.

My nephew was recovered this morning and went to his ping pong club in his junior high school. It will be the last day of his club activity for this year. He will need to commit his homework for a week, and I need to help him to plan the work, he can already do almost all of that alone though.

feeling dull

I don't have anything to write this morning.

I drank a little and I'm feeling tired this morning. Morning reading made little progress and it's difficult to read an English book. I want to do nothing till a week later. Alcohol is bad for my health.

I'm feeling difficulty to read an English book, but I can read the news which appears on Twitter. So I can say that I'll never lose my reading ability in English. Is that a problem of my motivation?

My nephew staying my house is also something wrong this morning. He canceled his ping pong club. Of course, he never drinks.

My nephew is staying

My nephew is staying during a winter holiday.

He was given a room in which his father was as young. Actually, I was using the room as storage, but my mother and I made tidy and clean for him. He put his PC on the table and played Minecraft or something. He went to the ping pong club this morning.

I stopped reading the Courage of Hopelessness because the vocabulary is a little difficult for me (it contains French words too). And I changed to The New Digital Age. This book published in 2013 and the information is already well known. But I'll finish the book.

Planning to be a translator

I don't have anything to write this morning as always.

As I wrote on this blog, I was pondering to become a translator, and I ordered an entrance document from a translator school. But learning translation at the school is probably time-consuming. So I decided to learn it alone, same as learning English itself. And I'm planning a relatively easy and local business of translation.

I don't write the detail, but considering the job is not too hardworking and keeping me above the water next year. I'm not sure I would succeed, but I need to do something to survive.

Finished Social Intelligence, started Hopelessness

It's warmer than usual this morning.

I finished reading Social Intelligence. In English learner's perspective, the book has a moderate level of difficulty for me. I need to read books on this level more, maybe. The notorious thing about this book is that the calm mood of workplaces is important for workers performance, and the angry boss is harmful.

I'll start reading The Courage of Hopelessness next. I haven't read the book yet, so I can't write about the difficulty of the English of the book. I bought it when I went to the library in Odawara Castle.

Shinsekai

I don't have anything to write this morning as usual.

I read a book in Japanese named Shinsekai. It was totally easy Japanese enough to read for a few hours, but written about an interesting thing, like crowdfunding and online saloon. It's saying that if you are honest and credible, money comes after your human trait. It's a fascinating thought.

changed my daily routine

I don't have anything to write this morning as usual.

I changed my daily routine. I woke up at 5 as always, and spend the time to read a book in English. My daily quota is 10,000 words or 25 pages of the book per day, but I left 5 pages to read for later. Simply I wasn't able to read in enough speed in the early morning. I'll do walking exercise around 10 o'clock AM, according to the plan.

I ordered a document of a translator school. I'll die if I don't do anything to earn money after cutting off my income. So I decided to do something before death. I don't know that to be a translator is the best way to live, but it's better than doing nothing.

Too cold, too cold

I decided to change the schedule of daily walking exercise.

The coldness of early morning reached the unbearable level. I'm feeling a headache because it was too cold. It's too hard. I'll reschedule my daily routine and I'll walk around 10 o'clock AM when it's warm enough.

I'm something wrong with my body thanks to coldness. I need to take a bath right now or I couldn't lead a decent life today.

Walking in cold air

I don't have a particular thing to write this morning as usual.

It was 3 degree C in my town. Walking in the chilly weather was very tough for me. I met an old lady on the way, one of a pear who I had met every morning till autumn. I heard that they decide to walk each pace and schedule about a month before. I guess that they also quit drinking coffee at the convenience store where I stop by on the way of walking exercise. It's O.K. for me if they are fine.

a kind of sociophobia I am

I have nothing to write this morning as usual.
It's a sunny day today. It simply made me happy.

There are no special things recently. There are no hindrances of my daily routine. I can decently read the book in English which I'm reading now. But I already know that the next year will be the most unstable year in a decade. Simply the matter of income.

I have been protected as a mentally disabled, but I'm getting better, compared to several years before. So I may need to leave from the kind of social insurance. But I'm still a kind of sociophobia thanks to terrible bosses in my past job. so I'm thinking that it's too difficult to work for a fixed job. The healthier I'm getting, the harsher the life is.

I concentrated to horn my English ability for a few years, but it's difficult to find a job related to the English language simply because I don't know how to find the kind of jobs at home. English itself doesn't make me happy maybe.

lump on my underarm

I have nothing to write this morning as usual.

It rains today. I wasn't able to do walking exercise this morning. But I did strength training, according to my schedule.

I found a lump on my underarm. It's a little itchy. I thought that it's something wrong with my lymph nodes, I'll go to a clinic to see it.

... I checked my underarm directly just now with a mirror. I'm not sure, but it can be an insect bite. I'll wait a while, and I'll go to a clinic if the lump weren't removed naturally.

I took a practice test

 I took a practice test of TOEIC, whose result was terrible.

 I felt a need to prepare the TOEIC test in January. So I tried a practice test of TOEIC, which is presented the past actual test. The test book was published in Korea and written in English and Korean but I don't know the Korean language at all. But at least I can know how I mistake in the test from English scripts.

 The result was 83 out of 100 on the listening section. If I'm really 900 points holder, I need to get over 90% of the score. But I failed it. I don't know why I was able to get 900 points at the actual test in September.

I'll check the mistaken question today.

I need to prepare

I don't have anything to write this morning as usual.

It's chilly recently. Too cold. Once it was warm to want to plant banana trees in my father's garden, and I'm feeling the difference of temperature. I want to go to warm countries like South East Asia.

I remembered that I applied the TOEIC test in January, and thought I need to prepare the test. But I'm reluctant to do. I have thought that the higher the score rises, the higher my social reliance will be. But in the end, I concluded that I need additional skill like high-level coding or specific knowledge that can earn money. I already have an excessive score to work in English in Japan. I needn't improve the score itself.

I sometimes think that it will be better to work as a translator and that I need to enter the kind of school. But I haven't been able to push myself toward the direction.

My ability is still improving

I don't have anything to write for this blog this morning.

I checked a textbook for English vocabulary which I stopped reading to make the time for another textbook. And I found that I could expect the words of the level of the textbook for the beginner of Eiken 1st grade test. Not memorized, but expected. It indicates my English ability healthily improved, probably. It's great progress for me.

I don't know the brain behavior, but exposing to English for a long time is good for my English ability anyway. This discovery is maybe a norm for many masters of language, but I can be proud of myself.

Finished Stiglitz, Started Social Intelligence

I finished reading The Great Divide and started reading Social Intelligence.

I found on The Great Divide that a well-known liberal economist is approving Abenomics in Japan, while liberals in Japan hates Shinzo Abe. I can see that is the story when he wrote the article, but it can be said that Abe's policy at the time was good for the Japanese economy.

The book's difficulty in English was a little high for me, but I need to read books at the level of difficulty to retain my English ability. Too easy books are not good for me.

After the book, I started to read Social Intelligence. This book's difficulty in English isn't especially high so I can read this book without special effort. But the book is packed with words. it's about 400 words a page. Average books have about 300 words a page. So it takes a little longer time to finish the book.

If you want to beat AI...

I don't have anything to write as always.

I found that the AI for advertisement on the internet is weak when it comes to guessing a rare pattern. Maybe I'm totally minority among Japanese society and it's difficult for AI to expect who I am. It's interesting.

I see that that is the weak point of AIs or deep learning. If you want to beat AIs, you should be too unique for AIs to guess who you are. On the other hand, if you want to amicably live with AI, I need to be a completely average person. Of course, it's boring, though.

I'm not Korean

I'm thinking that I had to take a screenshot for this blog.
The ad on BBC is saying, "you must be Korean."

I read a BBC's news article at the turning point of the walking exercise with a coffee, and I found an ad on it with Hangul sentences, Korean language. I don't know the Hangul, but I was able to understand from English part of the ad, saying, "Live Japan", and a picture of sushi. Maybe it's an ad for Korean interested in Japan.

Sometimes, AI of the internet ads is showing strange behavior when it comes to guessing who I am. Once the ad on YouTube was saying that I'm the president of a small company. I'm confusing the AI because I'm not a normal citizen?

I bite my tongue

I don't have anything to write as always.

Recent weather is getting tough because of the steep difference between warmth and coldness. It's cold this morning.

About a week or two before, I bite my tongue while I'm eating. After three years of English training, I'm suffering from biting my tongue or the inside of my mouth. I'm not sure why, though, when chewing without thought, I usually bite my tongue, and it makes me very annoyed. In addition, after that, my tongue hurts by the level of wanting not to eat foods anymore.

But it usually gets better after a few days of writing about it on my blog or Twitter. So I'm doing. Of course, I'm taking several treatments, applying ointment, for example.

Getting slim. But...

I don't have anything to write as always.

My body fat was once over 21% or 22%, now I'm under 19% after reducing sugary drinks, and eggs.

I have been drinking sugary drinks like energy drinks while visiting the library to read my books in English. Sugar made me relatively tough to read books, but I was getting fat. So I decided to reduce sugar, especially energy drinks.

In addition, I found that eating two eggs every morning is too much for me, and I decided to reduce to one egg every morning.

I'm getting slim, according to my body fat. But I found that when I'm feeling something wrong is when the body fat is reduced. My body fat is fluctuating and when feeling good was over 20% and when feeling wrong was usually under 19.5%.

Being fit is good anyway. But I don't know what to do in this situation.

I'll have a rest.

I'm tired. I'm dizzy. I don't really have anything to write.

So I'll have a rest this morning.

I tried PayPay

I tried PayPay at a convenience store.

PayPay is the mobile payment system by SoftBank and Yahoo Japan. They launched 10 billion yen cashback for PayPay users. I found that I could get 500 yen after making the account. In addition, I could use other cashback and point-back coupon and something at the same time. I made the account anyway.

I'm doing walking training in the early morning and reading the news articles in English with an iced coffee at the turning point of the walking route, which is convenience stores. I used PayPay at the timing.

The payment system is simple, showing my smartphone to the cashier, but less sophisticated than Apple pay with AppleWatch. But the most important thing to them is familiarizing with a cashless payment system in Japan. The attempt will succeed, probably.

I'm tired

It was warm yesterday, but it's cold this morning.

I decided to read 15,000 words a day, and I'm clearing my daily quota. But I'm feeling tired of reading a lot. By some chance, I will be familiar with this situation. But I need a rest now.

Last night, I saw a dream that I was a pilot and handling a big plane on the winding road to the runway. The speed was too terrible to control the plane. I guess that it probably suggests that I'm trying to deal with a heavy thing for me. Maybe it was reading a lot.

Stock market is plunging

I don't have anything to write as usual.

It's very warm recently. It's not a winter type of the atmosphere around Japan. I don't need Gokudan t-shirts when I walk in the early morning.

The stock market is plunging, and my stocks will be loss cut this morning maybe. But it's my strategy that I'll loss-cut when the prices wouldn't take off. Lately, there is many oops in the Tokyo market, and it's difficult to trade in the short term.

I realized, I already know though, that the economy next year will be colder than this year. And I'll invest to stocks at the bottom of prices next year or later. I can explain that with Elliot Wave Principles. See over 10 years of the monthly chart of Nikkei225.

reading over 15,000 words a day

I don't have anything to write for this blog as usual.

I'm recently aiming at reading over 15,000 words a day. A little before, I woke up earlier, one and a half hours, and I read around 10 pages of a book then. It was easy to read over 10,000 in the day, which was my then aiming. Now I finished reading the amount of reading in the morning. So I wanted to read furthermore in the afternoon, and I had done. So I decided to read more.

But that was mentally heavy for me to read 15k words for a while. So I sometimes think that that is too much for me. But I'll try it anyway as I can.

By the way, I'm still worried about not to get a decent score on TOEIC test. I'm coming to the world where I don't need to think about the score, maybe. But I'm still thinking about improving the score. I applied the test in January, though, I come to think that taking the test isn't necessarily a good way to improve my English ability.

useless ads for me

I have nothing to write for this blog as usual.

Ads on the web seem to be for Japanese, after writing on this blog that I'm seemed to be a foreigner living in Japan. The recent most devastating ad was the one saying, "you seem to lose what you wanted to say, we can help you." I already cut the ad, though.

The other noticeable ad for me is saying that I can work for a company which runs the foreign branch. But that won't realize because I'm taking a prescribed medicine. I can't go out abroad for a long time.

Seeing the ads for me is very fun for some reason. But most of those are not for me actually.

many mandarin oranges

I have no special things to write as usual.

My parents and I picked a tree of mandarin oranges at a small orchard which my uncle has. It was a heavy burden for us to do, but all of which we picked is ours. My house now has many wooden trays of mandarin oranges, looking like a fruit merchant.

I'm feeling tired this morning, though. I need some treatment like energy supplements.

As I wrote, I started reading The Great Divide. The book's difficulty was not too tough for me. I have gone a long load to improving English ability. But The pages of the book are over 400, so it probably takes over two weeks to finish it.

Finished Drucker, Started Stiglitz

I don't have anything to write as usual.

I finished reading The Essential Drucker. I reached four million words reading in English.

The book is very difficult for those who haven't been a manager and I had a tough time to read in the first part of the book. But after changing the story to professional work thing, I can understand well what he wants to say. This book needs a previous experience of working like that kind of occupation.

And I felt that it wouldn't work even though many people in a company understand what he is saying if the manager would think a malicious thing to treat his subordinates like Japanese evil managers do. So I don't all in the book.

This morning, I started reading The Great Divide written by Stiglitz. This economic problem is already known well, but I'm curious about what a famous economist said.

Reading is the ultimate solution

I don't have anything special to write this morning as usual.

I come to strongly think that reading extensively is the best way to improve my English ability and I want to recommend it for everyone who wants to improve their English.

Japanese are known to be not good at English, so was I. But about three years of training of English made me a relatively decent English user. At least my input skill of English is highly improved. I was thoroughly reading NHK's English text aloud till extremely tired. And recently I'm reading books written in English every day. My daily quota of reading is roughly over 10,000 words, and which will be 15,000 words probably. And I found myself getting better at reading and listening even now. It's also listening.

And I'm becoming mentally sharp thanks to reading a lot. If you are suffering from mental health issues, read anyway.

I changed my wake-up time

I have nothing to write as usual.

I changed my wake-up time again. In summer, I always wake up at five o'clock, and recently at six o'clock because waking up in dark is a little depressing. But yesterday, I found that reading pace was great if I woke up early and read a little early morning. So I decided to wake up at the same time as I did in summer.

It was about a week ago when my new iPad pro arrived. I'm getting familiar with it, and it's-too-big problem is solving. But it's still difficult to type Roma-ji (an input method of Japanese) on a screen keyboard with Nintendo typing because of my short thumb. I hope that the on-screen keyboard would separate and near to both corners of the screen.

AI sees me as no Japanese

Google AI seems to look at me as a foreigner in Japan who can speak Japanese well.

After writing this blog entry, I check whether the blog could display well and what kind of AD is on my blog. Of course, the AD is different from everyone's one, but it's important because it indicates how Google AI sees me.

Recently I sometimes found the AD is not for Japanese. A few days before, one of that was "a Japanese experience", maybe it wanted to appeal to foreign travelers who love Japan. And sometimes I found it the AD for Japanese language learners, Japanese language texts. I'm Japanese who speaks Japanese as a native language.

I guess that Google AI is thinking that I'm a foreigner who lives in Japan and that I'm simply good at Japanese as a foreign language. Do I have to positively think that my English is becoming too good to distinguish?

Gokudan is nice

I went to Uniqlo and bought Gokudan underwear.

I don't know how to express the Gokudan in foreign shops in English, but Gokudan means "ultimately warm". Now Uniqlo also has Cho-Gokudan, that means "super ultimately warm". (I found this is my mistake. Extremely is better than ultimately.)

I'm walking every early morning and it's a little tough to walk in the cold weather. So I had some treatment for me, that was Uniqlo's fleece wear. That was nice, so furthermore, I bought warm undergarments, Gokudan turtleneck long T-shirts and Gokudan suteteco (Can I say it's loose tights to wear as underpants?).

I tried them and found it's very good to spend time outside in winter. I sometimes reluctant to walk in the cold weather, but I can resist that with Gokudan.

Virtually free magazine articles

I have any news to write this morning as usual.

I was reading The Economist. At least I canceled the subscription, and I'm reading an old issue I got when I had a subscription. I'm reading non-subscription version of Harvard Business Review too. I found that many interesting articles in English are available on the internet, so I don't need to subscribe to a particular magazine to read English for now.

I also read HighTimes this morning. A kind of "Cannabis is good for anxiety" article is interesting for me. I'll search for other magazines to read. If I liked them, I'll subscribe.

Ammo is over

I don't have any news to write this morning.

I'll probably buy another stock of Tokyo Nissan Computer System. I don't have special meaning to hold that. Simply it's cheap. At first, I checked Nissan Motors, the search word was "Nissan", and I bumped into the TNCS. I'm also considering to hold Nissan Motors because the dividend is relatively high now.

So I'll buy two stocks, Nishimatsuya, and Tokyo Nissan Computer System. After that, Nissan motors. And ammo will be over.

Going further

I don't have anything to write as usual.

I found that The Essential Drucker is the way more difficult than the reading portions of the 1st grade of EIKEN test (an English exam in Japan). I judged that from my reading drill book of the EIKEN test. So if you are able to read The Essential Drucker, by some chance, you can pass the exam easily.

If I could clear the reading portions, I need to improve my writing ability for the test. But I don't know the best way to do that. I'm writing this blog every morning and I'm able to write more smoothly than before. But I need to write an academic style of that, so I need to get additional knowledge from a book or something. I could pass the test of a blog writing in English, though.

I thought that after getting 900 points on TOEIC test, I couldn't get the further skill of English anymore, at least very difficult to get it. But my English ability is getting much better after the test. I can probably will more.

Another stock

I don't have anything to write this morning as usual.

I'll buy another stock, Nishimatsuya. I don't see this is the perfect deal, but I can check their popularity from a nearby shop. In addition, the stock price is at the bottom, probably. That means a higher chance to get revenue.

I'm reading The Essential Drucker, and I find it's a little difficult for me. But I don't have wrong symptoms like strange feeling in my head, so I'll continue to read. I'm reading 30 pages a day, and I'll finish reading after 2 weeks or so.

Finished Willpower, started Drucker

I finished reading Willpower. I started reading The Essential Drucker.

I finished reading Willpower the day before yesterday. This book is very readworthy and I find this thought directly related to my daily life. I reduced my calory intake recently and I became reluctant to use my brain after reading a book yesterday. Reduced calory influenced my willpower. That was the saying which the book had said. I recommend it.

And I started reading The Essential Drucker. This book is a little difficult to understand the contents. Management things are far from my understanding. In addition, this book's expression is so complex that it's hard to read. But I need to read difficult books sometimes to improve my English ability. And, by some chance, I could get the new insight which helps me live with society.

iPad Pro 2018

iPad Pro 2018 arrived. Apple pencil is good.

As I predict, iPad Pro 11 inch is a little big and heavy for my daily use. I was using iPad mini4 for about 2 or 3 years. But Apple pencil is good because I can add my thought to my Nikkei 225 charts. Thinking with my hand is effective to improve my thought.

It was chilly this morning. I wear one more shirt for walking exercise.

iPad Pro is coming

iPad Pro 2018 which I ordered will arrive today.

Actually, I come to think that I don't deserve to get the device. But I already ordered it so I'll accept it anyway. In addition, my concern about iPad Pro 11 inch is that by some chance it may be too big compared with iPad mini4. But I already ordered it.

A friend who isn't yesterday's one needs to get a specific TOEIC score for his company. TOEIC is the English exam especially for those who are not good at English like Japanese. For people in one's 40s, it's very hard to start learning a foreign language. I'll do what I can do for him through Line app.

about my old friend

I don't have anything to write this morning.

I met my old friend's father during walking exercise. I didn't notice who he is for a while. He said that the friend returned from Thailand and now he is living in Kyoto where his company's HQ is. And he is going on a business trip to India to consult something complicated. And He's considering to return to our town or around here now that he has his own family.

It's no fun at all.

I went to Odawara

I went to Odawara to read a book outside where I don't usually visit.

At first, I went to a coffee shop which I usually stop by when I went to the hospital. I read about 20 pages there with iced coffee. And I ate a salmon bowl at the other place whose employees is handing out the flyers in front of the restaurant.

After that, I headed to the old library in Odawara Castle and I found this in the parking.

Maybe this is the town office's car in Hakone but I'm not sure about that. I read about 20 pages at the library. I finished daily quota of the book.

I stopped by a bookstore and bought another book named the Courage of Hopelessness. The store is selling English books but those were almost novels. At that time I found they are selling non-fiction books and I felt that's for me. So I bought it to support them anyway.

Otoshidama

I don't have anything to write this morning as usual.

I need to prepare some cash for new year otoshidama for my nephew. It needs around 3,000 yen for one nephew. Otoshidama is something like "yeah, I'm feeling good I'm drunk of otoso (the sake of the new year in Japan), I'll give you some money, kids, buy something."

But my family traditionally never buys anything and save money. It's not a fan for me. I want to see what he buys, though it's good for a monetary education for young kids. Keeping cash in your pocket is a basic strategy of living well.

On the other hand, Uncle Toshio ordered an iPad Pro 2018 impulsively.

Healthy body is valuable?

I don't have anything to write this morning actually.

As I wrote, I take an annual health check yesterday. And I found that I'm taller than last year, 5 millimeters more. It's slite thing to talk about, but I heard somewhere that those who are in one's 40s begin to shrink their body (I'm not sure that's correct). So keeping my body length is a very valuable thing.

But, on the other hand, the healthy body is something boring and it has no meaning if I'm suffering from mental illness. Having a perfect body and mind is very difficult. Especially being mentally healthy is a long journey to Gandhara (I wanted to say that that has huge difficulty).

Anyway, I need to live my daily life healthily. It leads me to mental healthiness, maybe.

Annual health check

It was an annual health check today. I've already finished it.

My pulse and urine were good, and I need to revisit the clinic next week for the result of a blood test and an antibody check of rubella. I think that the antibody check is my social responsibility for future newborn babies, but I was reluctant to do that.

Recently I have something to do every day. So it was difficult to control my daily routine. But it was all finished maybe. I'll concentrate to do my daily things.

finished Life 3.0

I finished reading Life 3.0. It was a little difficult for me.

I know about computer related things from my experience as "a system engineer", so I was able to understand the first part of the book. But after the part of the Universe things, I was far from understanding. I need more familiar with the broad range of knowledge, or I can't read highly intellectual issues.

I woke up at midnight, and I started reading a book named Willpower. I come to understand a kind of self-help books like this so I can read this. After finishing the book, I have a book named Willpower Doesn't Work so I'll read the one, probably. I read Willpower for about an hour and got to sleep again.

It was a little chilly for me this morning. But it's warm in the south Kanto region in the daytime during winter. Kanto (including Tokyo and Yokohama) is easy to live.

I have nothing to write

I bought two shares, but one will be a lost deal.

I additionally bought Sekisui Kagaku and Yon Doshi yesterday. But Nikkei Future is tumbling so Yon Doshi will be loss-cut. It's fine for me.

I don't have anything to write this morning.

Netflix movies are becoming good materials to learn English for me. I can listen to the sound of English of that (that's too tough for many Japanese), and I'm having difficulty to listen to the meaning. In my experience, I will be able to listen to the meaning someday if I watch those movies a certain period of time. I also need to read books in English a lot, of course.

tsurezure diary

I don't have anything to write this morning.

It was rainy this early morning and I didn't walk outside. But now it stopped rain, so I'll walk sometime today.

I'll buy another share this morning. My aim is buying "small amount of", " shares of a cash-rich company", "which has not bad earnings", "at the bottom". That's all. When I was able to get solid revenue was when holding anyway in a long-term or when I bought at the bottom in a mid-term. And short-term or swing didn't give me decent revenue actually.

I'm feeling tired of reading aloud training. I thought that I need to pronounce English sentences but after reducing that training I felt no wither of speaking ability. So I come to think that I stop reading aloud. I'll continue the training with NHK English text till March, but I'm not sure after April.

Japan is the worst place

I think that Japan is the worst place for engineers.

I sometimes remember when I got ill at the workplace when I was in my 20s. I think why people there never helped me. I think that that was the result of the worst management and that management's irresponsibility caused that. That's why I decided never to return to the workforce, especially for system integrators.

Now that I'm 44, I will never be able to return the workplace even if I wanted. I never forgive the historically worst management in Japan, and I'll revenge them by something, saying "Japan is the worst place for engineers" on the internet, for example.

Studying deep learning

I'm studying deep learning things.

I'm reading a book named Deep Learning From Scratch which is written in Japanese and I'm writing some python codes along with it. I understood about perceptron yesterday, the primitive form of neural network(?). I already know information mathematics and the logical circuit, so I didn't tumble at the starting point. I'll continue to learn the book if I weren't caught a boredom or excessive difficulty.

I applied the TOEIC LR (Listening and Reading) test in January. I'll also apply the TOEIC SW (Speaking and Writing) test in February. Maybe I won't get a disappointing score on LR, but it will be fine if I keep A-rank score (over 860 points).

Buying stocks

I'll buy a Kagome share.

I've bought the share about 15 years ago and I get the revenue. But I don't remember when that was. I'm thinking this time a long-term investment, but I'll sell shortly when the price wouldn't take off. I guess that this year and next year is good timing to buy stocks for long-term investment.

I almost understand short-term or swing trading but these have no different from having a daily job. So I'll switch to investing in long-term. Kagome isn't necessarily good for getting ten baggers, but I want to back to beginner's mind once I had.

LR and SW

I don't have anything to write as usual.
Nothing is coming in my mind.

I wrote that I can't take both of TOEIC test, LR and SW. But I'm becoming confident at LR more than when I got 900 points. So I'm thinking to take LR in January and SW in February. I can probably clear the monetary problem of that.

Honestly, there is no difference to get 900 points or higher in Japanese society, I guess. But it's better for me that I can get more decent score than ever, and I'm feeling that some stimuli by exam are good for my English ability. So I'll take the TOEIC LR test.

AI related skills as a hobby

I ordered some books of deep learning.

I'm reading Life 3.0 now. The book made me curious about AI, and I thought I need to manipulate AI tools. I found Sony's AI tool with GUI and ordered the beginner's book of it at Amazon. Therefore, I guess O'Reilly's book of deep learning written in Japanese is great for me, and I ordered it too.

I don't intend to be competent for my future jobs, but for simply my hobby. Of course, if I could get the AI skills, as a result, I'll be competent to work for AI-related jobs. But I want to focus on living well in my daily life, not in corporate Japan.

whether to work and TOEIC test

I have nothing to write this morning.

I met a social worker (a case worker?) to talk about my job seeking or not. The conclusion is that I can't work the job in a company and that I need to say wrong things about me to the doctor more than before. The doctor is overestimating my whole skill to work.

By the way, I'm becoming a good reader of English, so I come to think of taking TOEIC LR test in January, on the other hand, I'm considering taking TOEIC SW test in the month. LR = Listening and Reading, SW = Speaking and Writing. I won't be able to take both of them, so I need to choose which to take. I will probably get a decent score on SW because I'm writing this blog almost every morning. SW will also be fine.

Mecha Samurai Empire

I don't have anything to write as usual.

I finished reading Mecha Samurai Empire. This book has less poisonous things than the previous book, United States of Japan. You will like the story if you like a Japanese light novel named Full Metal Panic. MSE has many anime-like features like school life and the battle of gigantic mechs.

MSE's English expression is not difficult for those who have over 400 points of the reading score on TOEIC. Sometimes I found the words around from 9000- to 12000-word-level, but that'll never disturb reading the story.

The setting of the story is that imaginary Japan, which won the WWII, occupied the West Coast of USA. If you can't accept the settings like that, I don't recommend the book. But I enjoyed the anime-like story which Japanese have never made.

Tsurezure diary

I have nothing to write this morning.

I'll work as a disabled, on the other hand, I'm seeking a way to work at home as a translator, I can use English and Japanese. I don't have many things to talk about that. I'll meet a social worker at the prefecture office. After that, I'll decide how to do.

I was usually drinking iced coffee at Seven-Eleven when I take a walk every morning. But recently too cold weather made me drink hot coffee eventually. I also considering change the time to walk because the rising sun is becoming too late. Walking in the dark is very depressing. But two old lady who I see at Seven-Eleven will miss me. And I need to think about the morning reading there.

I need to work?

It's a cold morning today.

I'm feeling the pressure to work as a disabled. My doctor is implying that I'm a little smarter than other patients and that I can do something great without their help.  Getting 900 points on TOEIC and Having gone to Singapore alone are making him confident about me, which makes me worried.

Actually, I'm lacking a decent social experience, compared with other 40s. So I guess that I will not be able to do beneficial things to earn money. And a social worker is saying to work as a disabled and to get helps officially.

Psychologically, I'm stuck in the status quo. I'm reluctant to do feel like "I'm recovered" things.

The Economist magazine

I don't have good magazines in English to improve my English ability.

I'm feeling that the Economist is getting easier than when I started subscription a year ago. It isn't my progress in English but a whole difficulty of the magazine. I checked older issues of it, and I found that the older is more difficult than the recent one.

On the other hand, I'm reading two or three articles every morning, and the new issue come before I finish. It's wasting money.

So I canceled the subscription and I'll buy new issues when I finished the whole articles because I need morning readings. Or I'll buy kindle books for a morning routine.

Or search for other magazines.

Apple's not-good point

I tried the voice recognition input method in iPad mini4 in English. It worked at a certain level, but the sentences suddenly changed after the input and it made a whole different one. So I quitted using it.

I also used Google Assistant in my iPad in English. The system is probably an extension from Google Search. But I was able to listen to several short news (Reuter, BBC, Bloomberg) from it, so it's changed in a short term. The quality of the voice input system is pretty great.

I don't know why I can't find a decisive progress from iOS's voice input system. I guess Apple isn't aiming at that kind of peripheral technology. But I also think that Apple's strength is the quality of trivial function and that Apple is losing that.

Studying English

It's a holiday. And I'll do as usual.
I don't have anything to write as usual.

I started reading the reading portions of 1st grade of Eiken test (English exam in Japan) yesterday. It was warming up section and its difficulty is the same as the book which I'm reading now. It'll gradually be more difficult to read maybe.

And I'm doing the vocabulary drill book for Eiken. I felt a need to practice a listening portion too. But it will be too much for me, so I'll keep the amount of study.

Actually, I don't have a need to pass the 1st grade. I won't have the job related to teaching English or translation or interpreting, so English qualifications I have now is enough. But I'll lose the ability if I stop the learning, so I'll try the exam anyway.

being lazy

I woke up at 5 a.m. as usual.

After I finished my strength training, I went to bed again. It was rainy at that time, and I felt sleepy. I slept for about two hours, had a bowl of oats, and I forgot writing this blog.

I'm feeling listless. I thought that I have to forget about waking up at 5, doing strength training and English training, and I felt that I have to go to 24h izakaya early morning. But I have no raison detre for me except for those, so I need to continue to do them.

I did transcript training with Hear the Wind Sing and didn't with Pros and Cons. I'll be a lazy guy today. But I don't have especially tough training every day.

Twitter is hard to live with

I have nothing to write as usual.

I started to study the vocabulary portion of the Eiken test (English exam in Japan). I have about three months till the test. I'll do what I can do, though I will not able to pass the exam.

I'm feeling that I got a strange influence on Twitter about learning English. So I need to stop saying something offensive for other persons who need to earn money from teaching English in Japan. Everyone has their own teaching method and belief, so maybe I'm always offensive for someone if I say something about learning English. I'm not an English teacher, and I’m not aware of their stance every time when I tweet. Twitter is becoming hard to live with.

I checked 1st grade

I need to improve my reading ability of English more.

I checked the passed portions of 1st grade of Eiken test. I printed the six set of the passed portions from this month's test. And I read the reading passages in January 2017 yesterday.

I can solve the questions slowly pace, and those are almost right answers, but I was not considering the time limit. And I found that the writing portion is a little difficult to build the opinion. So I guess that I will not be able to pass the exam, as I wrote before.

I'll try to read the drill book of reading portions every day, after reading books as extensive reading training. I read part7 of TOEIC test before taking it in September, I'll do the similar thing.

Eiken test

I have nothing to write this morning.

I got a drill book for the vocabulary portion of Eiken test. I'll take this after another word book.

I'll take the 1st grade of Eiken test probably. The tuition fee is too high for a nonemployed like me. But TOEFL's tuition fee is over the twice of Eiken's. It's a wise choice for me.

I won't pass the test. But I came to think that the experience of taking the highest test of Eiken is a must for me. I'm not sure about life after next April. So I should do what I can do for now. I know that I'm not special, but I need to go to where I can go.

My vocabulary as a non-native of English

I don't have anything to write as usual.

I'm mentally unstable recently. I guess that I need to increase my intake of Vitamin Bs and protein again. I'm already doing strength training every day, and I need to improve my nutrition.

I tried a site named Test Your Vocabulary again to evaluate my vocabulary as an English learner. I found that I have 11,700 words of English (http://testyourvocab.com/result?user=10708909). I aimed 12,000 words and almost reached now. I see that I can get a not bad score on the 1st grade of Eiken test (English exam in Japan). It needs, I read somewhere, over 15,000 words at the maximum, but I probably have the right to challenge it.

For Japanese learners: You can read about around that on Eiraku, Yaduki's website. https://ei-raku.com/2017/11/exam-eiken-comparison/ Its analytical insight is helpful for many.

I’m considering aiming over 20,000 words now that I get almost 12,000 words.

What I hate

I need to write something anyway.

Twitter says "You aren't special in English language," as I wrote. Twitter's intention is probably "I'll show you those who are higher than you, you need more effort." I began to consider quitting Twitter if he/she has sent me that sort of message again. I'm already making efforts to improve my English ability. That's too heavy for me.

If I haven't had an unfortunate experience, I would maybe have had a wife, some children, a job to proud and some money to live now. Why do I suffer from being alone and making a vacant effort to improve my English ability which doesn't need for my real life at all?

Mecha Samurai Empire

I have nothing to write as usual.

I finished reading The Tipping Point. It's interesting to read. Especially as a former smoker, the story of being nicotine addicted or not is a great insight for many young people.

I started reading Mecha Samurai Empire. This SF isn't difficult in English and has not too terrible scenes for Japanese people, compared with United States of Japan. So I was able to read it without irritating for now. But I'm still at the starting point of that so I can't guarantee that this book is for Japanese yet.

This book has more anime-tasted situations like a classroom or a game arcade. So I will perhaps recommend it for English translated light novel readers if I finished it without suffering from tribble scenes which expresses imaginary Japan.

Inner soles and transcript training

I don't have anything to write in my mind.

I probably wrote that my foot hurts and that I bought a pair of inner sole for my jogging shoes by Doctor's advice. It worked for me. I bought another pair of inner sole, and put them in my walking shoes.

I forgot to remove inner soles which are already in the walking shoes, but I noticed that in the earlier timing. I walked a little and found it worked.

My foot pain is reducing after the purchase.

By the way, my transcript training is already four months. As I wrote, I added Pros and Cons recently, and I passed a bit tough period to embrace the burden. This training is great for me to improve my input ability of English. Furthermore, I sometimes think in English after a while of the training.

I've been driven by negative emotion from Twitter

Twitter is saying "you aren't great at all."

I'm searching on Twitter about TOEIC or other English exams. I've usually found someone's tweet saying that "Your score of xxx points is not great. It's outdated." I first found that kind of tweet when I got over 700 points  at the first time.

After I got over 800 points, Twitter (the tweet which someone mentioned about TOEIC) said that in recent corporate Japan, 800 points or so isn't evaluated.

I finally got 900 points. Twitter never said anything annoying about my score on TOEIC test. I'm reassured. But recently a translator (I can say that he is probably professional of English) said something annoying for me (I don't specify on this entry about that). Maybe Twitter said "Your new enemy's here! Let's overcome him!"

I fed up with that sort of thing. I'm tired of English hierarchy among Japanese English learners. Twitter fostered that.

Walking habit

I usually have nothing to write. I'll write by my way to do.

I overslept. Precisely saying, I woke up as usual, and went to bed again during my morning routine.

The time when the sun appears is getting later and later. When I open the storm-shutter, it's still dark. I came to think that I need to wake up later because waking up in dark is a little depressing.

During my walking exercise, I see two old ladies walking the street for exercise like me. They recently shifted their time of exercise for rising the sun. I have seen they are praying to rising sun on the street. Maybe praying to the rising sun is common for elderly persons in Japan. I'm not doing so.

We exchanged greetings and I passed them. They are slower than me, and I have something to do at the turning point, at Seven-Eleven. I'm usually reading some articles of the Economist with my iPhone at the Seven-Eleven with a iced coffee.

While I'm reading the articles, they reach there. They join me at the counter, and they talk something about their neighbors. I'm listening them in Japanese while reading in English. It's too confusing.

After reading the articles, I say good-bye to them, and get back to home.

Getting English ability

I have nothing to write this morning. I'll write what pop up in my mind.

I'm doing transcript from English books to my notebook. I've already done What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and I'm doing Hear the Wind Sing.

Recently I felt needs to know more academic writing than novels by Haruki Murakami, so I started transcript Pros and Cons, a debater's handbook. It's a little burden for me because I'm familiar with Haruki Murakami's novel translated to English, but not with a kind of academic one. My brain will be able to accept that sort of thing, though.

I'll change the theme of the entry.

I, and some Japanese English learner, know that listening in English has two levels. The one is listening sound of English, and the second is listening the meaning of English. I'm beginning to accept the sound of English in Netflix movies. It's a great progress for many Japanese English learners. For those who are solving grammar quiz every day, it's a little tough thing to do. I will be able to accept the meaning of English in Netflix movies completely in relatively near future.

Go physical, not mental

I find that I need to go to physical thing, not to mental, spiritual way.

I haven't been doing strength training during summer because it's too hot with my muscle. Muscle generates heat in body. But this made my mind down. So I restarted strength training now that it's cool enough to deal with heat generated from my muscle. Everyday protein powder is increased again.

I'm becoming better minded thanks to that. About a year trial, I find that I have to think physical thing rather than mental or spiritual. And I need to intake more protein, meat, soy and oats. Oats has protein much more than rice.

I have recently read a book saying that like-Asperger-syndrome (includes not being completely in that criteria) must go to physical approach and never try mental or spiritual approach. That backs me up.

I don't need to try to strengthen my mental or my soul. I improve my body and I'll be stable minded.

My foot problem

While I decided to write this blog in English, I have anything to write today.

My foot have hurt for a month, and I wrote on Japanese blog that I would go to the clinic. Doctor said that I need to buy insole for my shoes.

I bought a pair of insole at Amazon and put them in my jogging shoes. When I walk for training, I felt no pain at all, and it's very fine on barefoot  for a while after walking. Solving problem without no medical treatment is great. I can say that he is highly professional.

By the way, I'm still pondering to take 1st grade of Eiken test (English exam in Japan). After 900 points on TOEIC test, I felt void and no pleasure. So I thought that even if I pass the 1st grade I never satisfied at all by that. I'll make effort for the 1st grade, but I'll avoid the test by any chance.

Restart again

I'm considering to write this blog again.

I'm writing a main blog in Japanese. But I want to train my writing ability of English for 1st grade of Eiken test(English exam in Japan). So I'll suspend the main blog in Japanese and restart this blog in English again.

My attempt to output in English isn't doing well. I made a Twitter account for English writing, but that wasn't work. And writing this English blog sometimes when I want is not working too. Making something daily habit is the best way to study something. So I'll change my habit of writing blog in Japanese to writing in English.

Mixture of language on blog is, however, not good for readers. So I made this English blog before. There is no reason not to use this blog again.

English language never made me happy

As I wrote on Twitter, I'm becoming a good English user, which made me read books in English, like Sapiens or Homo Deus, and watch TV shows with AppleTV.

But that's never made me the positive one. I've never changed my fundamental mentality of life, even if I'm learning English. The negative never becomes the positive.

Studying English never made money for now, and nothing special happened.

Making money online

I watched a Youtube video that says making money online is;

1. be a influencer
2. sell something
(I don't write the detail of that)

I never bother to be a influencer that fights against who dislike me. I have seen many influencers (and wannabe) attacked by their haters. I don't want to be such a person at all. So I can't make money online because I can never reach the first step.

I envy those who never feel offended by their haters. I'm afraid those kind of menace. If I'm completely alone, I can do like what make me hated, but I have my parents, brother who works as employee, and his family. In the worst case scenario, They will be influenced their life because of me. That's the nightmare.

So I can never do such a thing.

YouTube is waste of time

I have nothing to write for this blog article, actually.
Just I wanted to evaluate my improvement of English ability.

I have been watching YouTube video recently. The videos are both in Japanese and in English. But yesterday was almost Japanese. I watched what I want to watch, again and again, and I found the recommends full of chaos. The recommends contains a kind of conspiracies, like "June 21th, earthquake comes!".

Recently I'm enjoying what YouTube's AI recommend me after I choose a video. I, of course, know that it's ridiculous thing. That's wasting of time, and I need to read more books, instead of that.

I'm doing transcript training recently. That's to read a book and to write that down to my notebook. I guessed that makes me good English writer. And actually I can write this article more decently, great!.

Thinking in English

I've not been writing this English blog for a while.

I come to think that "thinking in English" or "speak in English in my mind" is great way to practice to generate English sentences. But the most tough point of this method is that you tend to think in your native language. It's unavoidable, though, thinking is free, so you can think in English anytime.

I tried this method about for 5 days and I come to think in English sometimes naturally. And I improved to listen to English recently. This is good way to train yourself, and it's free anyway.

In good shape

I'm in good shape.

---

I had habits to do strength training and to intaking protein powder, and to have a breakfast every morning. That made me healthy recently.

I'm not too fat, not too thin. And in good status in my mind. I'm in good shape except for hay fever recently.

doing lazily

It's holiday today.
I'll spend time irresponsibly.

---

I don't have any schedule for language training. So I'll do lazily today.

I'll go Starbucks and read the book in English that I'm reading now. And watch Netflix videos in my room. After that I don't come up with what to do.

Yesterday, I thought that I have to do TOEIC official practice test. But I reluctant to do that today.

Finished reading Blink

I finished reading Blink. And started reading The Upside of Stress.

---

I finished reading Blink. This book is strange because at the first part it shows "how pre-perception works" and after that It shows "how pre-perception doesn't work" to the end. I confused what the book wants to say. But I thought the conclusion is totally right.

I began to read The Upside of Stress. Within where I read, it want to say that stress has good point if you believe. In language learner's perspective, English in this book is easy for well read nonnative speaker.

I changed my routine

I changed my routine.

---

It's sometimes hot in daytime. So I changed timing of my exercise. Walking without breakfast was a little dizzy thing. But if I change the timing of intaking protein, I can adopt it maybe.

Sugar shortage

Sugar is bad for your health, but I need it maybe.

---

I felt wrong with my forehead after reading aloud in Mandarin. I suffered with something wrong, not headache, for a hour. It was solved after drinking a bottle of Dodekamin, cheap energy drink in Japan.

Maybe It was sugar shortage, I thought. So I bought some gumi for today.

Audio guided reading in Mandarin

I don't have to write in this blog.

Mandarin GR (Graded Reader) is interesting. I bought 10 books of Mandarin GR, and restart to read. The books have CDs and you can listen and read at the same time.

For Japanese, the most difficult point of reading Mandarin is that you tend to read Mandarin in Japanese pronunciation in your mind. So Audio guided reading is very beneficial for Japanese.

Of course, nonnative of kanji character can effectively improve your reading ability by reading a lot.

Blink and GR

I started reading Blink, and will restart reading Mandarin GR.

---

I stopped reading King's IT, which I can't intake in my mind smoothly. and I started reading Blink. I've already read over 60 pages before breakfast this morning. The book is relatively easy for me, although I felt it difficult to read smoothly before.

From today, I restart to read Mandarin GR (Graded Reader) to improve my Mandarin ability. I have bought over 10 of GR, which costs over 10k yen, so I need to complete them anyway regardless of whether I like or not.

I talked with a young woman.

I talked with a young woman, and our mothers.

---

As I wrote, I met a neighbor. She is tall like a fashion model, and I found her only 27 years old. I've been 44 years old this month. Where we talked was the living room in my home with our mothers. It was a strange situation.

She talked about two trips, NewYork and Singapore. She said both of them was stand alone trip. She seemed to be fee-minded person. I envy her because I lost my professional life by too much stress when I was her age.

She, and her mother, literally talked about her travel and left our home after about one hour. A interesting person is near my home.

Meeting a neighbor

I'm going to meet a woman, who is neighbor.

---

Suddenly, I was asked to meet a woman by my mother. She is running English school for kids and she loves going abroad. But she has nobody who talk with about those things.

My neighbor A know that I went to Singapore recently through my nephew. And her mother B talked Mrs A that she traveled Singapore about 1 month before me, and also talked her suffering. Mrs A said Mrs B that I have been to Singapore. Right after that, Mrs B went to my house, and asked my mother to ask me. How complicated that is.

I don't know whether a young woman, at least younger than me, appreciates talking with middle-aged man. What will happen?

Fine weather

Actually I was in bad shape in my mind the day before yesterday. But it was fine weather yesterday, and I had some walking outside, and then I got better.

I don't have anything this morning. I don't literally have anything to write.

Yesterday, I completely returned to my usual life. Learning languages, have a walk, reading books. Japan is peaceful spring, and a little colder than Singapore, where it's always hot. Singapore was nice, but life in Japan is great for me anyway.

I want to go somewhere.

The Life Project

I don't usually have anything to write this morning.

I finished reading a book named The Life Project. It's written about cohort study in the UK. And I was moved their effort to improve national life.

I began to read a book named IT, written by Stephan King. I guess that it's famous around the world. It has over 1300 pages, and I wonder I could finish reading it.

My recommendation in learning languages

I don't have anything to write this morning because I have already written what I want to write.

I bought a series of Mandarin GR (Graded Reader), and I'll receive them today. I began to think extensive reading is crucial after reaching a certain degree of language skill. So I want to say that you need to read a lot after you reached A2 or B1 in each languages.

Happy reading

I usually read English book this morning. And I found that I got about 2 times of reading ability in English.

I usually read 10 pages a hour in the early morning. And I read 18 pages a hour this morning.

I got it with a trip for a week. But yesterday was more incredibly great. So I'll lose the skill sometime maybe. It's SIKATANAI matter of course. It's not Dragon Ball.

improved

I'll restart daily English and Mandarin training.

---

Interestingly, my reading ability is improved after trip to Singapore. I had hard time to read English book there, though. In Singapore, I found myself struggle to read book in English that I bring from Japan, but I'm now reading aloud in my mind very fast.

I returned Japan on Saturday, and then I had a rest watching videos with AppleTV. I found that my listening ability is improved. Going abroad improves English ability anyway.

But my Mandarin wasn't improved at all.

At home

I get back from Singapore.

---

I'm home now. I arrived at Haneda airport around 6 AM.

Singapore was totally great experience for me, except for dehydrate by heat. I lost a day, but I could see all where I wanted to see. My English was enough to convey what I want to say, so I had a confidence of English as a tourist. But Singlish was highly difficult for me.

Joyful trip was ended. I'll return daily life in Japan.

Singapore 3rd day

Yasterday was a little tough.

I walked from Marlion Park to Singapore Flyer. It was too hot for me. Afternoon I walked around Fort Canning Park. And I caught scole. Consumed energy was over 800 kcal yesterday.

I’ll have a rest today. I’ll buy souvenirs for everyone in Japan.

Singapore, 2nd day

After 7 hours of heavy flight, I reached Singapore.

I’m staying a hotel near Orchard road. Here is a mixture of Ginza, Harajuku and Odaiba in Japan (of course it’s my feeling). People are energetic and looks very happy. Dinner was a little expensive for rural Japanese like me.

My English works here in Singapore, but listening thier English is a little tough. It’s my problem of English ability, of course. But my so-called ‘customers’ English’ works anyway.

I'm a happy man

I'm going to leave home tomorrow.

---

Finally tomorrow. This time tomorrow, I'm at the airport, and finished check-in maybe. I'm going on a trip for about 1 week. I'm a very happy man to experience new thing at my age.

Maybe I'll not update this blog tomorrow. But by some chance, I could.

Extensive reading is great

My reading ability is improving, even in my native language.

---

I've been reading English books every day. Recently I'm reading The Life Project. I get up at 5 AM, and start reading until 6 AM. After walking exercise around 10 AM, I continue to read. Usually I finish to read about 30-50 pages everyday.

Surprisingly, reading English books improves Japanese reading ability. Japanese is my native language. I could lately read 2 books in Japanese very fast. Maybe it's so-called reading fast (sokudoku, 速読）. But in Japanese, it's tough to read vertical sentences, because my eyeball is optimized to read horizontal sentences for reading English books.

Anyway, extensive reading improves unexpected aspect of human ability. I recommend it.

What hard working needs

I don't have enough time to write English entry, because I took much time to write Japanese entry.

I lead a hard working day, mainly studying English and Chinese. And I can't continue these if I can't have decent sleep, nutrition, working out. I remember when I worked for a system integrator, which was terrible.

GR, listening while reading

I found good method for GR.
I know that's not special.

---

I'm reading Chinese GR, Wrong Wrong Wrong. It's still tough for me to read. I'm reading aloud in my mind, and after 2 pages, I tired. Then I read the book while listening the book. (I don't have appropriate expression) I found it's great way to read Mandarin correctly.

The method is already famous by Amazon English, which is out of service. And I slightly come to think that one of the best way to learn language is using this method after becoming A2 or B1 level with some method.

Of course, simple extensive reading itself is great way to develop your language ability. I'm amateur of SLA, I don't know certain thing.

I got GR

I'll read Chinese GR.

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I received the Chinese Graded Reader(GR) which I wrote yesterday.

The book has CD and found MP3 in it. Maybe they're saying "listen while reading". The kanji don't have pinyin at all but have notes lower part of pages, so you can also reading aloud. I thought that the book is a little thin, but after reading a few pages, I found that it's appropriate size.

I'll read this book anyway. And I'll get another if I liked it.
I got this↓

Chinese GR

I ordered Chinese GR.

---

Yesterday, I suddenly thought that I also need extensive reading in Mandarin. So I ordered a Chinese GR, which was named "Chinese Breeze Series". I chose level1. Level1 needs 300 words vocabulary, which maybe equivalent to HSK 2Q. I'll get more Chinese GR if I like it.

Thinking next week

I have no particular thing to write this morning.

Next week, I'm going to be at airport. I want to admire myself, saying "You really go abroad alone?". For many people, it's not special, though.

I've recently been speaking in English since Eiken test. So "can I speak English?" again. Sometimes I simulate talking in English at several situation in my mind, and it's probably good. So I never worry about speaking English in Singapore as a tourist.

I'll spend daily life this week, like reading aloud English and Chinese, extensive reading English books and watching videos with AppleTV.

Finished The 100-year Life

I finished reading The 100-year Life, and started reading Zero to One.

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I forgot to write this blog entry because of holiday.

I wake up at 5 o'clock, and finished reading The 100-year Life. It's curious for middle-aged like me, saying about growing longevity and changing life planning and society and company. Changing I-have-to-be is reassuring for me, because I already failed my life in my 20s, and because by some chance I can restart my life again in a new value. Anyway I finished it.

And I went to Starbucks near my home, and began to read Zero to One. I already read 30 pages there. It seems to be interesting, but a little thin book for me. I've been gradually familiar with extensive reading, and come to think 'the thicker the better'. Being able to finish early is good or bad for each people, of course.

Mandarin training

Japanese can be good at Mandarin.

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I can say my Mandarin Study is progressing, but reading aloud method is depressing. Reading aloud is too tough and less fruitful now. So yesterday's after-1-week review was postponed.

Quick response training is good for me to study Mandarin. I can say easy Mandarin sentences naturally, for example 你吃早饭吗？( Did you have breakfast?) When it comes to Mandarin, practical training is suited for me.

My training period of Mandarin was about 3 month now. I'll take HSK Level 3 in June, which I heard is about B1. Mandarin is relatively easy for Japanese like me. Japanese know Japanese 漢字 (Kanji), so we can recognize Mandarin's 汉语 (han yu) a little. So beginner level of Mandarin is very easy. Instead of not being good at English, I can be good at Mandarin.

Of course, Japanese is terrible at pronunciation and listening.

Where to visit

I began to think where to visit in Singapore.

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I watched YouTube video of Singapore, most of them are Japanese YouTuber's vlog. And I found that Singapore seems to be very urban city. I thought that I would avoid to visit those kind of part of Singapore. Because I'm not afford to spend money there. But after watching the video, I'm very keen to see them.

Actually I've not still decided where to visit, except of Merlion and Singapore Flyer. After that, I'll walking around China Town or something. And I want to see bookstores in Singapore.

Prepared for a trip

I don't have particular thing to write this morning.

As I wrote in main blog, I'll go on a trip to Singapore next next week. I already prepared most things, except for packing items just before leaving home.

I'll write this blog if I could exchange SIM in my iPad mini. I won't bring my MacBook while this trip. I'll do all with iPhone and iPad.

Chinese language is tough

My Mandarin text is too tough.

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My Chinese text isn't designed by amount of reading aloud, so sometimes I have to struggle to finish read-aloud training. That's why I'm tired even in the morning. Of course I'm doing other trainings, so only the textbook isn't wrong.

In addition, Mandarin is difficult for me to control breath. I heard that Chinese people is loud. The reason is their language which I'm studying. Mandarin needs berry muscle to generate the voice, or you can't say proper meanings. Japanese, which is my native language,  is opposite side in that regard. So I need to change my own body by the training.

So learning Chinese language in my method is too tough to master by physical reason.

I'm tired

I'm tired.
I bought Japanese book.

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I'm feeling tired. Until Sunday night, I lead a relax life without reading aloud training. But yesterday was too tough to read textbooks aloud. I'm still tired in this morning. I got aged.

Recently I haven't read books in Japanese, so I bought a light Japanese book about how to retain your memory gotten by reading. In the Amazon review, I heard that this book is very easy to read.

My younger nephew is catching a cold yesterday. so he couldn't attend the first ceremony of his kinder garden. The first day is crucial because he might fail to make friends without self-introduce in the first day. I hope it were only my opinion.

The 100-year Life

Actually, I don't have anything to write after writing in Japanese.

I began to read The 100-year Life. This book is interesting for me. I'm going to be 44 soon, and this kind of book is very insightful for middle-aged man like me. I spend about 15 years to cure my illness. I'm thinking how to restart my life, and I'm sometimes depressed about how to survive this harsh society. I want to intake new thoughts from this book how to live well.

My English skill was...

My English ability was terrible. And I decided to write English entries.

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I rechecked comments in tosh-jp.com (main blog). And I found that I couldn't decently read in English. And my reply was terrible. At that time, I thought my English ability was relatively good. How embarrassing it was.

And I began to see my own English sentences too childish. I'm recently reading English books every day, and my English ability became unbalance. So I decided to write English entries as much as I can.

I reuse this blog

I haven't written articles for this English blog for a long time. I sometimes write entries in English on tosh-jp.com.

I'm considering to revive this blog as my doodle pad. I wrote this anyway. It hard for me to write decent sentences after a long time.

Recently I'm studying Mandarin. I already took level 1 and 2 of HSK test, and I'm going to take the level 3 in June. I'm reading aloud and writing Mandarin sentences on my notebook every day. It's very hard for me. I take about 3 and a half hour for English and Mandarin study, and 3 hour of that is some kind of reading-aloud training.