8 posts from 2007

I am happy to announce that my baby was finally born on August 21st!

My doctor had been telling me that the due date was August 15 and there was high possibility that the delivery would come earlier than that since my mouth of the uterus the mouth of my uterus was 3cm wide open. However, my first baby was born 6 days after the due date, weighing 3935g which is about 8.8 pounds. I had never expected such a big baby and was glad that I found out that found that out after giving a birth.

I wanted to let you know the news right after the delivery, but another unexpected thing had happened. My son, Koudai, was born with birth asphyxia. He was soon successfully resuscitated, but he still had a problem with self-breathing and was put in an infant incubator. His condition did not get better even after several hours of treatment and he was taken to a more equipped hospital on the day he was born. All I could do was to see his face only for 30 minutes in total through the glass of the incubator. The doctors did keep me informed of how he was doing at the hospital which he was taken to, but it was not real-time information. I had to spend a couple of days alone at my hospital not knowing what would happen to him. You may wonder how devastated I was, but actually I wasn't. As I had a very long labor, was half unconscious at the delivery, and spent so little time with the baby, all the things happening around me seemed just unreal. I guess my feelings just couldn't catch up with all of them. Anyway, with this situation I did not feel like talking to anybody except my family about the delivery.

Well, Koudai had have me really worried but once he started showing sign of recovering, things went quickly. As he was a big baby, he had physical strength. He came back to my hospital much sooner than we had expected and he and I could get out of the hospital together. It has been 6 weeks since he was born, and I relish the pleasure of being able to say "he is fine" every day.

I have an unforgettable memory with regards to the “L” and the “R” pronunciation. When I first heard of “Lord of the Rings” I took it as “Road of the Rings” without a second thought. It was not until when I went to buy the book a few months later that I finally realized it was not “road” but “lord” of the Rings. When I first told a book shop clerk what book I was looking for, he said, “We don't have such a book.” I was so surprised to hear this that I actually exclaimed to him, “But, it's such a famous book!”
I have heard this title so many times since then; however, I could still take it as “road” if I didn't know the correct title. Not being able to hear the difference between the “L” and the “R” does not really bother me on a daily basis, but I do hope I can recognize the difference one day!

As to whether you NEED to practice pronunciation, I completely agree with what Steve says: Pronouncing like a native English speaker is not important. What matters is if you can make yourself understood or not. I do not believe in spending too much time on pronunciation just because you do not sound like a native speaker. It is probably better to learn new words or phrases to improve your overall English ability.

However, there is a difference between "need needing to improve" and "want wanting to improve". I cannot help but think how I can obtain more native-like pronunciation myself. It is more like wanting to sing better at Kkaraoke. You can sing anyway you like, but some people want to sing like a professional singer, probably to impress people. I do not practice singing to be a better singer, but when I speak English, I want it to be said, “wWow, your pronunciation is good!”

There certainly is a crisis with regards to the global environment. More and more people are concerned about what is happening around the world and feel like doing something to protect our earth. There is nothing wrong with feeling that way, but how many of us know what are the best things to do to prevent the world from further damage?

I believe everyone has heard about the global warming. The governments of several countries have promoted the idea of bio-ethanol gasoline and are pushing the public to use it to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. We jumped to this solution as we are eager to do something good for the environment and there is no harm in changing types of gasoline as long as our cars run on it.

However, we are now facing a new problem caused by this movement. People are starting to cut down trees to make cornfields. They can make much more money by making corns corn than leaving forests as they are, and no one can blame for it no one can be blamed for it.

The problems today are so complicated and they cannot be solved by one big action. What we need is more accurate information so that we can do something that really leads to improve the situation an improvement of the situation. Even though it does not change the situation dramatically, we are willing to do it.

This is probably because I have too much sleep I sleep too much during the daytime, but I cannot fell fall asleep during the night! One of the nurses at the hospital I am going to says this is very natural. My body is getting ready for the life cycle after the baby is born. I am not sure if her story is right or if I've just fallen into my old bad habit of staying awake late... Either way, I'm glad that I am no longer a full time worker and I do not have to force myself into sleeping.

Question: Do you consider yourself a patriotic person?  Why or why not?

I probably am a patriotic person because I am happy when Japanese athletes win a medal at the Olympic!

My favourite pastime is browsing through stores, especially big electronics stores like Yodobashi. Every time you go there, you will be amazed at the progress of technology. I mean not only how quickly it advances, but also how widely it has been applied. The items at Yodobashi vary from gardening tools to computer equipment, and all of them are equipped with leading-edge technology, and you feel like you are in a museum.

Checking out these high-tech gears this high-tech gear is fun in itself, but I usually try to decide the best item for myself which item is best for me, by imagining what I am actually buying. Some items are full of new functions, and it is interesting to see what they can do or how they work, but they tend to be far too expensive to consider buying. I do not spend much time checking their details. After browsing around, I usually choose three or four items based on the price range. Then, I compare each speck specification carefully. If I am in the CD player section, I check the quality of the sound, of course and think about where to place it and check the size, even though I know I am not buying at that time. It is easy to spend two to three hours until I finally decide on the one that I might buy in the future.

The important point about this pastime is that I do not buy the item on that day no matter how much I want it. If I actually buy it bought something although I did not plan it beforehand, then I would be thinking if it is really needed all the way home.  wonder all the way home if I really need it. I would be far away from happy and that would ruin the fun I had at the store.