Podcasting with Shashi

Shashi in London and I in Japan had a skype talk. Shashi recorded and uploaded it on http://www.filelodge.com/files/room20/529051/Linguivocal/podcast%2010.mp3

If you have time and if you have nothing to do (laugh), please drop there by. We talked about English learning.

It was interesting to know that we have very different ways to be involved in English. Shashi learned academic and bookish English in the first place. I learned only casual English. His English is British and mine is American.

Anyway, please check it out if you don't mind my bad English! Any feedbacks are welcome! lol

Too long rainy season

My son's summer break has already begun, but he is saying that "this is not like a summer break!" Usually, at this time of year, the rainy season has already ended, and we have a scorching hot and humid summer. This year, we still have rain almost everyday. The temperature is low. I like it because it is easier to function, but like my son said, this is not like July.

My son has been asking me every now and then since last month, "Dad, how many days more until the summer break begins?" "Hey, you are already in the sixth grade. You can calculate that!"

Way back in my childhood, I was the same as my son. I couldn't wait for summer because it is the big thing for kids. In Japan, usually primary school's summer break is a month and ten days. I envied the kids in western countries when I heard they have a much longer vacation.

When the vacation began, I was happy, but after the middle of the vacation, gradually I became lonely. "Oh, I have only two weeks more. Oh, I have only ten days more. Oh, my goodness! I have only five days. Give me a break!" My son also says the same every year!

I want my son to have a great time in the summer. He should make a lot of great memories.

Talking to a guy on Skype

I talked to a guy on Skype tonight. I met him in a Linguist discussion months ago. That was the first and the last time I talked to him online. It is because I downgraded to an economy membership a few months ago. Economy members are not entitled to participate in discussions.


At the discussion, he asked me if he might list me on his Skype. I accepted, of course. However, we haven't tried talking to each other until tonight. Actually, I haven't used Skype lately. Tonight, I ran Skype just for curiosity, and found him online. I called him, and he got the call.


It was fun talking to him. He is an Indian who lives in the UK. I am a Japanese man who lives in Japan. Our backgrounds are totally different, but we are both English learners. We talked about our English learning.


He proposed a great idea to me, that is, recording our conversations and podcasting them. I said we should pick a theme each time and talk about it. That would be fun.


We are going to launch it sometime in the future. It would be cool, wouldn't it?

Good old days!

I got to my destination early today. The place is near the university I graduated from. I had 30 minutes or so until my work, I decided to hang around there. My graduation day was long ago. I really felt old!

Some buildings have changed a little, but the main one was the same. I could feel like a student again!

Students seemed happy. I like watching young guys. Some people say they are insolent or crazy, but that is their privilege. It is only natural. I don't like the older minded young guys. They should be reckless! Watching youngsters with crazy outfits and hairstyles makes me happy!

I walked thru the campus and the cafeteria. It brought me back memories. I was not a good student, but I have good memories there. It is something like...... bittersweet.

I started living in the new city. I started living all alone. I started making new friends. Anticipations and fears. It was really exciting to come into the new world. I remembered that I had studied in the library until dark with my friends. I remembered that I had fallen in love with girls.

My thoughts went back to when I was an eighteen-year-old boy. I surely was young......Good old days!

Jogging solo is bad for your health!

New research with rats suggests that jogging solo raises a person's stress level and slows down the growth of brain cells.

The brains of rats act and are stimulated when they think, talk and touch.

However, this might not apply to human beings. Our lives are much more complicated than rats', right? What if you do not like to mingle with people? What if people are not kind to you? It would cause big stress.

Basically, I prefer to be alone. That is one of the reasons I didn't chose regular jobs. I am totally useless working with a big groupe of people. However, I know I need to work with people. Two heads are better than one. I need more ideas and need to be subjective. That is why I try to work with other people.

Titles are important for some Japanese.

Some Japanese students are too much cautious about details.

On a bulletin board system of English Channel, one of the teachers wrote about the complaints of the students that the titles of their levels are not accurate. She wrote, "You cannot please everybody". This comment explains a lot. She must be fed up with them.

At EC, all of the students are sorted into categories such as "beginner" or "advanced". Some students claimed they did not deserve to be upgraded to the next level, and asked teachers to downgrade them. Asking for upgrading is understandable, but asking for downgrading is funny.

This is "very Japanese", and that is my impression. As a teacher, I have encountered the same kinds of complaints.

It is impossible to judge if the student is a beginner or intermediate accurately, but so what? The title of the level has nothing to do with the student's English skills. I want to say to the guys who complained about this, "You should concentrate on what you are studying. It is a waste of time and energy to think about your titles! Life is very short. You are going to get old while you are murmuring."

Evelyn Blakey Live!

I went to see a gig of a jazz singer called Evelyn Blakey's tonight. To tell the truth, I didn't know her until last week. She is the daughter of a legendary jazz drummer, Art Blakey. One of my friends found a new jazz club in my town and she brought me there.

The pianist of the band used to be my jazz tutor, Mr. Fujii. I learned jazz theory from him long ago. I haven't seen him for a long time. I could talked to him before and after the show. He is a great jazz pianist and teacher. He has taught more than 1000 students, I believe.

A few years ago, I met a pianist who also used to be one of Mr. Fujii's students at a famous jazz club called "Birdland" in New York City. He is a member of the famous "Duke Elington Orchestra". We talked about how Mr. Fujii is a great teacher.

The gig was nice. Evelyn was a laid-back old lady. The sax player was excellent, of course Mr. Fujii, the pianist was great as well! My friends and I had a great evening with nice jazz music.

Three Jacks!

We went to Yodo Riverside Park on Sunday with our dog, Indy. This park is a really nice place for relaxing. People were barbecuing, jogging, playing ball games and of course walking with their dogs. Our dog Indy's breed is a Jack Russell Terrier. This breed is not so common in Japan. They are from England or Australia. Indy actually is from Australia. We have not encountered this breed very often, but we met two Jacks at the same time on that day, for the first time! Both of the owners said that they are naughty. Yes, that is true. Indy is naughty as well. However, since we hired a trainer last month, he has become a better dog little by little. He has taken just four lessons, but obviously it has worked! The trainer is going to take a summer break for two months, starting this week. Indy's next lesson will be in September. I hope he will be a good boy soon!

Three Jacks! The picture on the right is Indy. The dog on the left looks like smiling! Don't you think so? Please click on the picture. You can see the bigger one!