タグ: English

What I need to Learn for the rest of my life

It has been rainy today. I had worked in my garden for one and a half hours in the morning. But then, the rain started falling. I didn’t go anywhere. I just stayed inside watching DVD for Japanese education until 4 p.m. that is the time for piano practice.

There is one software that I need to learn. That is for writing a music score. Actually, this is not the first score writing software for me. About 9 years ago, I learned another software. But it was limited for its functions, I thought I needed to get a more sophisticated software to write music scores so that I would be able to use for my music playing.

I bought “Avid Sibelius” in the summer of 2022. There was another famous score writing software, which was “Finale”, but I chose “Sibelius” probably because of the name. I like the famous composer Sibelius and his music. That was three years ago. However, I still cannot use “Sibelius”. Although I could use another score writing software before, I have had no idea as to how to use Sibelius. It is impossible for me to do “Intuitive operation”.

But now is the time for me to learn it. Recently I wrote that music is part of my life. Thinking about the rest of my life, learning how to use Sibelius is so important. I am going to learn with so-called “Video Sharing Site” (you know the name of it,) as in the following photo.

Sibelius is running on left monitor and I am referring to a Video on right monitor

A Neighbor gave me Seedlings of Strawberry

I was cultivating a place to plant onions’ seedlings in this morning. Then a neighbor came to my field. He wanted to see how I was doing with my vegetables and fruits trees. At the end of the talk, he gave me seedlings of strawberry as the photo below. Actually, I had also grown strawberry in my field several years ago. But it was a little difficult for me to grow strawberry well. And then I had given up because I was too busy because I was working as a Japanese teacher on line at that time.

Although I thought that working for vegetables in this season would be over when I have planted garlic and onions, now I have got another plant that is strawberry in eight pots. Although they are not many, I need to make a place to plant them and take a care of them. If it’s going well, I will be able to get some strawberry in May.

Can Protein Supplements cure my Pain in Elbow?

I am going to write about one of three major nutrition. It’ not about carbohydrates and fats, but Protein. When I worked as a Japanese teacher in a university, I had lived in a residence in the campus, and cooked almost of all of my meals by myself. A lot of foods were available for me to cook. I could buy many kinds of vegetables and sometimes buy pork and chicken. However, I felt that I needed to take more protein if I cooked and ate foods that were available to me there.

My solution was to bring 3 kilograms of protein supplement when I came back from Japan at the end of summer and winter breaks. It seemed to me that 3kg was enough for one semester. As I expected, 3 kg lasted in spring and fall semesters in 2024 until the end. However, I consumed all the 3 kg one month earlier in the last semester. It was still mid-June. Since I planned to leave there in middle of July, at that time, I didn’t think it’s a major issue. I just tried eating chicken breast more than usual.

But I got a problem. I think it was the end of June or the beginning of July that I got my elbow aching. It’s on right hand. The pain has continued since then. Even though I came back Japan, it didn’t seem to get any better. And then one day in August, I got an idea that perhaps my pain in elbow might have come from lack of protein. Once I noted it, I went to a supermarket, bought chicken breast a lot, and ate them. To my surprise, I felt that pain was eased a little by eating chicken breast which I thought protein rich food. But it was not effective enough and soon I realized that buying a lot of chicken breast every time I go to supermarket was cumbersome because it’s too heavy to carry to my home.

Then again, I bought 1 kg of protein supplement from Amazon. I shake three spoonfuls of white powder and milk, and drink it in every lunch. Still, my right hand’s elbow continues to ache. I wish the pain in my elbow get better soon. My biggest problem is that I cannot play my electric bass. I had not played it since July. I love playing music. It is part of my life. So instead of playing bass, I play piano a little these days. Of course, it’s just a little so that my pain would not get worse.

My one of three basses; The strings are intentionally loosened because I don’t play it for so long.

I went shopping in Sunday Afternoon

Small Park where Kids Hardly Play

Though era of division, everyone can agree that “Traffic Safety is Important”

Straws are piled up by a Rice Field

We have to care about Nature; Farm Grounds and Water are Important

The Board is there; It simply means some People Throw Trashes.

A Farmer is Harvesting Rice using Machine

Droppings must be removed by a pet’s owner.

And this is what I bought in this afternoon.

Oh, by the way, I have just before answered for the national census 2025 through the internet. I could complete it within five minutes. One of the questions was whether or not I am working. Not willingly, but I had to confess that I hadn’t worked at all during the week of September 24 to 30, 2025. Reason? I chose the answer “Children, the elderly, etc.”

Photos Two Years Ago

I don’t have enough energy to write a post tonight. These days I work in my garden in morning hours; cultivating soil, eliminating weed’s roots, giving fertilizer, taking care of fruits trees, and so on. By 11 a.m. (not noon), I get completely exhausted. I have to take a nap in the afternoon. At 4p.m., I practice a piano, from 5p.m. start cooking supper. I usually write a post from 7p.m. in my room. But I cannot compose my thinking for a blog post today.

The following photos do not have to do with my current life in Japan. I took them in October 2019.

That’s all for today.

I took my mother to a local clinic to make a reservation for her health check.

Everyone in Japanese have to pay for health insurance. Thanks to the universal health insurance system, people like me can get medical services by paying 30% of total cost, and old people like my mother only pay 10%. If a healthy person hasn’t seen a doctor for long, he/she would lose most of money for other unhealthy people. But the idea of the universal health insurance is helping each other. And everyone has a right to get a health check once a year.

I have already got this year’s health check in August right after I came back in Japan. At that time, it was too hot. The highest temperatures were like 35 Celsius every day. I thought I would take my mother to health insurance once it gets cooler in autumn.

Now it’s near to the end of September, and it has got cooler a little, wind blow is comfortable. Today I took my mother to a local clinic to make a reservation for her health check. Although I know that my mother would soon forget the date of the check, I didn’t attend in the examination room. I let her go into there alone, because it was better for her to activate her remaining ability to make an appointment with doctor. Probably she would forget the date, but I knew that a nurse would give  me a memo for the date and time afterwards.

She could get several checks, but she refused tests of stomach and breast cancers. Actually, no one has died of any cancers in my mother’s relatives. Her families are very excellent people as for health. So, she is okay, but I am not. Because most of the people on my father’s side have died of cancers. I know that my brain comes from my mother and my body comes from my father. I think, some day in the future, I will be diagnosed that cancer tumor growing inside of me. Once it happens, my life will change forever. I have to spend my precious days until the day like that coming.

Anyway, I have to take her again to the clinic in the coming week. Checks are only for weight, height, blood pressure, urine and blood. It will not take much time.

As they grow, their number need to reduce by picking; Red radish and Carrots

I came back in Japan in July. Since then, I have been pulling the weeds, getting rid of roots of the weeds, cultivating soil, and planting seeds of vegetables in my garden. This work still continues. Though my garden is small tiny one, but there are a lot of things to do. Now in September, it’s the time to thin radish and green leaves. This is to give them a space for growing more by reducing the numbers. In this process, If it’s a small sprout, I just throw it. But now they have grown, I don’t waste them, but eat. Today I picked some red radish and carrots. Since the radish and carrots are still small, I use their leaves. In the supper tonight, radish’s leaves were used in Miso soup, and carrots’ leaves were cut in small and stir-fried with sausage.

Don’t go watching TV while keeping a FIRE on the Gas stove.

I have told my mother the same thing again and again. But the failure repeated.

When she wants to drink coffee or tea, she puts a fire on the gas stove in the kitchen. Usually, it takes several minutes until water gets boiled in the kettle. She can’t wait for it, and then goes to her room to watch TV.

In the case of boiling water, sometimes it ends up drying up in the kettle. Worse is the case of cooking, food inside becomes charcoal, and the pan no longer to be used. Thanks to the modern technology, the gas stove in my kitchen is set to stop in thirty minutes. But quite often these vapor and charcoal happens within thirty minutes.

It is sad to say, but because of her age, my mother can neither learn from the failure, nor to use the knowledge of new experiences in order to avoid repeating the same thing to happen.

Given that situation, I thought I need to do something for the matter. Not allowing her to use the gas stove is one thing. But at the same time, I have to give her a way to drink hot coffee herself so that she can activate her remaining ability.

I know that if a Gas company employee look at this, the person would give me a strong warning. But this is my solution for the time being. I put an Induction Cooking Heater on top of the gas stove in day time between the time I finish cooking breakfast and the time I start cooking supper. Of course, I close the gas valve when putting the “IH cooker”. Actually, the switches of gas valve are right under the switches for burning. But once I close the valve, my mother cannot open it herself.

I made this stuff by myself. By the way, three burners are good for busy cooking.

Pictures of the Campus in which some Water Fronts are

Tonight, I don’t think of what to write. Instead of writing my bad English, let me upload the pictures which I took in September, 2019. I just want to keep the name of the university secret.

I had spent four years to be a Japanese teacher. When I took these photos in 2019, I thought my dream had come true. But at that time, I didn’t know what was coming after the first semester.

It’s Autumn; The air is cooling down, and Ginkgo Smells.

I went to Niigata today. I needed to use an Automated Teller Machine in the city. When I walked a pedestrian road along the wide street in front of the JR Niigata Station, I felt the smell of Ginkgo. It’s not a good flagrance, if not odor. But it is sure that smell makes me realize that the autumn has come.

Just under the JR Niigata station is the Bus Terminal

Toyoko Inn and Bus Terminal

JR Niigata Station

Many Ginkco Fruits were on the Ground, smelled.

After using ATM, I quickly returned home by getting on a Local train.

In the afternoon, I tried watching DVD in my house. The DVD was about teaching Japanese as foreign language. But I slept while playing it. Nothing was left in my memory.