Piko's talk show

It was the second day of the school festival of last year. I went to the talk show with my friends. Piko came to KGU to have a talk show. It was all free so I wanted to go.

Piko is a fashion critic. She apears on TV very often. She's so funny when she's on variety shows. I like seeing famous people. We had to wait for about an hour till the hall was opened. It was chilly outside. Then we entered the place and waited for another 30 minutes inside. After 30 minutes, she finally showed up. She looked exactly same as on TV. I thought she was cool.

Although I thought she would talk about fashion since she's a fashion critic, she mainly talked about her life. She lost her sight of her right eye long time ago because of this difficult ill. It changed her. Her friends were very supportive for her and she thought she had to do something for others too after she recovered. She also said the important thing is not what you wear. She said the clothes are just decoration.

Her story was very interesting. I totally agreed with her. I think I want to do something to help other people. And no matter how beautiful clothes you wear, if you didn't have a good personality, it's not beautiful. And it's important to pick what you're good in. ［234 words］

Happy birth day

Yesterday was my friend's birthday so we had a little party tonight. She became 23 and she's one year older than me. She lives on her own so we gathered at her place. We actually wanted to do yesterday but she was busy with work. It was such a small party with 3 people but we three get together on and off and are very good friends.

After class, I went to KFC and bought fried chickens took them to the party. The other one brought cakes. They were really good. We toasted with non-alcohol wine since we had to drive after the party. We also had presents for her. I gave her a harmonica. Once she said she wanted it and I remembered that. She looked happy to receive it. The other friend gave her something interesting. It goes into the bath tub when you take a bath and it melts in the water. The water will be colored and smell good. I don't know what it's called in English but she looked happy to recieve that too.

After we ate, we watched TV together for a while and relax. At 11 pm we left her home. It was a small party but it was very fun. I like hanging out with my friends.
［216 words］

Book reviews "BABE: Pig in the City"

Babe is a clever pig which works as a shepherd. He is very famous in the country. The farm in which Babe and Mr and Mrs Hoggett lives was in danger because they had to pay money for the men from a bank and if they couldn't, they would have to sell the farm. One day, Mr. Hoggett got an offer from someone to show Babe's work at the party. They will pay a lot of money for that. To save the farm, Babe went to the city with Mrs. Hoggett.

Mrs. Hoggett was misunderstood that she was carrying the drung at the airport so she had to stay in the little room with a detective and missed the next plane. She and Babe couldn't get to the city they wanted to go.

They looked for a hotel and found the Flealands Hotel. In that hotel, many animals lived. They were abondoned animals. There were chimpanzees, dogs, cats, and monkeys. Nobody knew that they were there.

I thought it was a funny story. So many different animals and happenings. Baby is very cute. ［145 words］

One of my past time

When I have nothing to do and am bored, I have a thing I always do. It is called othello. I can play othello with my mobile phone. I just bought it 2 weeks ago. It's a great resource. I play it when I wait for my friend, or when I just don't have anything to do at home, or when I get bored in a class, or sometimes when I'm eating. Maybe I'm addicted to it. I at least play it 3 times a day.

My former mobile had tetris in it. I used to play it a lot when I'm free. I could keep playing it for like an hour. I was totally addicted to tetris. I was shocked when I had my former mobile broken because I couldnt play tetris anymore. But now I can play othello instead. It's fun to do so it's alright. ［148 words］

Book reviews "Give us the money"

Adam Grey works in a bank. He doesn’t like his job and doesn’t like Mr. Smith, his boss. One morning, Mrs. B tells Adam his horoscope. She says “Do something different today”. So Adam turns right at the corner he usually turns left. Suddenly, he sees something. A girl is being rubbed. He tackles the robber and runs with the girl. But it is actually a movie shooting.
At the same time, at the bank Adam works, real robbery is happening. They take bank’s money and run away. At a corner, they bump into Adam wand the girl. They mistake each other’s bags as theirs and don’t notice it. In Adam’s bag there is a lot of money, and the robber’s bag, there are pieces of news papers for movie shooting.
The robbers get angry and go to chase Adam. Adam and the girl run. The girl is an actress and she calls the movie director for help. The director goes rescue her and Adam with a camera. He shot the car chase of Adam and the robbers.
In the end, Adam and the girl are safe and police get the robbers. One of the robbers is surprisingly Adam’s boss, Mr. Smith. He goes to the bank but gets fired because he is late for work. But he is fine because the director asks him to star in his next movie. He will be a movie star.
[237 words]

My favorite store

I haven’t shopped lately but there is a favorite store I used to go often. Its name is Satisfaction and it’s located in Kengun. It’s a clothes store and has many good products. The most of the products there are imported especially from Europe. I really like their taste. It fits my style. Kengun is kind of far from my house which is about 30 minutes by car but I still used to go there to buy some clothes. However, I’ve been very poor these days so I haven’t only bought clothes but anything. [94 words]

Party

Last Saturday my highschool friends got together for a party. I hadn't seen them for a long time so it was very fun. One of our class mate held this get-together and he invited all the class mates but only 10 people out of 38 could make it. I still enjoyed it very much. One of our classmate has been engaged. She looked very happy. The other girl has moved to Osaka and been working there. There were 5 girls and 5 guys. All the girls are working and all the guys are still students. We went to Izakata on shimo-tori and stayed there for 3 hours. We talked a lot. We talked about our highschool lives, nowadays lives, and many other things. We were all drunk and felt happy. I'm looking forward to meeting them next time.

My favorite socks

When I work outside at night, I'm cold at first. As I move more I got less cold and warmer and warmer. However, my toes are always cold. No matter how much I move, my toes stay cold. I always didn't like that. One day I talked about it to my mother and a few days later she bought me a pair of socks. They are in different shape from what I usually where. They have 5 bags for every single toe. She said they keep it warm. I was suspicious at first. Besides when I wore them, it felt something was stuck between the toes so I didn't really like it. But I was wrong. During I was working today, my toes never got cold the whole time. I was so impressed. These socks are amazing. I have seen some people wear those socks including my mother and I sneered of them because they looked ridiculous and weird. They didn't look stylish to me. But now I realize weather it is stylish doesn't matter. I prefer to keep my toes warm. I thank someone who invented the socks and my mother who bought me them.
［196 words］

A letter from Perth

Today, when I got back home from school, I saw there was a big white envelope on the table in the kitchen. And it signed my name on it. I felt excited because I seldom receive any letters from anybody. I picked up the letter and checked whom it was from. I was really surprised when I saw the name on the back of the envelope. It was from my English teacher in junior high school. I haven't seen or heard from her for almost 7 years and suddenly got this letter.
The letter said that she now lives in Perth with her Australian husband for three years. I was glad to know that she still remembers me having had many many students after I graduated the junior high school. It's been already 7 years since after I graduated junior high school and it makes me feel old. Anyway, I'm going to have to write her back with some pictures. It was such a heartwarming surprise for me. The highlight of the day. [186 words]

Bookreviews "Escape"

This story is about a guy in prison and tries to escape from it. He insists that he’s innocent and one day, he finally gets action. When a guard brings him lunch, he sticks the ceiling. The guard thought he was gone. While everybody was looking for him, he ran out.
First, he ran but he gets tired. He finds a camping guy in the mountain and he stole his bike. After the night falls, he sneaks into farmer’s house and sleeps besides cows. Next morning, he wants to change his cloths because he wears the prisoner’s cloths. He stole the laundry hung out side. Farmer’s wife found him. She shouted and shot. He ran away. Eventually he arrived at the airport. He gets in one of the container which was about to be loaded into the airplane, but he got found out. Everybody was chasing him. In the end, he is back in prison again.

I think this guy will try to escape again. It doesn’t seem he gave up. He insists that he’s not a thief and innocent but he actually steals things on his journey. I found it a bit ironic and funny. If I was put into prison and was actually innocent, I would try to escape too. That’s one of the worst things which could happen to me.
[223 words]

I will talk about the summer vacation of mine. I almost had part time job. I work in cram school. I had hard work, and I was very tired. That is because I must work all days.
That is, I taught math to elementary student in morning , then, I taught it to junior high school student in after noon, finally, I taught it to high school student.
However, I had leisure time. I went to Tokyo using " Seishun 18 ticket " It cost me only about 1,2 sauthand yen to go there. The reason that I went there is that I want to meet my friends. I went to Izakaya Shinjyuku with my friend. I met him for the first time in the long time. We decided to go to Yokohama next day. When we saw it, we are very moved because it was very splendid and beautiful. Especially, I think the Yamashita Park is great. We can see many urban buildings, Yokohama bay, and Bay bridge. I want to go there again. [175 words]

About unknown words

When I read a text in a foreign language, I frequently come across words I do not understand. Sometimes I look up the word in a dictionary and sometimes I guess. It depends very much upon the degree of accuracy which you require and the time at my disposal. So I think so, I remember the talking which Prof. Kamimoto said to us in reading class.

If I tend to use the dictionary frequently, I should remember that all dictionaries have limitations and no definition is completely accurate. But I will get an accurate understanding of a word after seeing it in a variety of contexts, so it is good to read many books. Dictionaries which translate from English into Japanese and from Japanese into English are not as accurate as dictionaries which define words in their own language. So I should also consult an English-English dictionary, I think!!

And, in most exams I am not permitted to use a dictionary. Even if I am allowed to use one, it takes a lot of time, and time in exams is usually limited, so I am forced to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words.

There is no need to panic, however, because we can develop efficient methods to overcome such problems. Prof. Kamimoto showed two suggestions.
①- use contextual clues. The sentence and the story itself usually suggest possible meanings for individual wards.
②- The formation of the word itself may tell us a lot. If we look at the parts of the words, we may learn something about the whole words. For example: “ un “ means not, so any words beginning with “ un “ is likely to be a negative word.

We may also find it helpful to compare the unknown word with similar words in our language. [ 302 words ]

My Summer Memory

2 years ago, I went Malaysia with my friend Dimitri. Dimitri is a French man who lives in Tokyo. One day he invited me to join his journey to Southeast Asia. He lives in Tokyo and I live in Kumamoto, so we decided to meet at the airport Kuala Lumpur. I was very excited because I hadn’t seen him for a while. After we got together at the airport, we headed to Tioman Island. It took about 2 hours from the land by ship. It was a very small beautiful island. Many westerners were there to enjoy their vacations. We sunbathed and swam all day at the beach. The local people were very friendly so we made friends with them. We heard many stories about the island from them. We spent 2 nights there and went back to Kuala Lumpur. In Kuala Lumpur, we went to a temple, aquarium, shopping mall and club. We thoroughly enjoyed the metropolitan entertainments. This trip is one of my most memorable ones in my life. I really want to go back there again, but for Southeast Asian countries, I would also like to visit Thailand and Singapore. There are many places I want to go right now. I wish I were rich. ［208 words］

"Everything is Illuminated"

Today I watched a movie called “Everything is Illuminated”. I watched it for the Phonetic class. I’m going to have a presentation next week. I’m going to present about a different kind of English accent.

I picked this movie because there was a character who speaks English with a distinct accent. His name is Alexander. He’s a Ukrainian man and his English sounds a little funny. I focused on his pronunciation intensely so I don’t remember the story very much but it was a funny movie.

I’m going to get prepared for the presentation now. I’m going to use Power Point. I think I will do ok because the movie was really good. [113 words]

I want to go to Europe

I really want to visit Europe someday. Maybe I go there next year. I have a friend in Paris. He's a French guy but speaks Japanese fluently. I think I'm very luckey to be his friend because he says I'm always welcomed to stay at his place and he's gonna me around the city. I don't wanna visit only Paris but also visit other countries in Europe such as Italy, German, and Spain. The only problem is that I don't have money to get the airplane tickets. Why are planes so expensive? They should lower down the price immediately.

Creaning Day

I cleaned my room today. It my little dusty and messy before and now it's clean and I feel good. There is a custom to clean throuout the house or work or school before the new year starts in Japan. I cleaned throughout my room. The weather was perfect for cleaning.

First, I had my huton and blankets hang outside so that there was much more rooms in the room. I put away the things on the floor and used the vacuum cleaner. It didn't take so long because my room is pretty small. I like my room clean but it will be a mess soon again. ［107 words］

"The Squid and the Whale"

Today I was at school but I didn't have nothing to do . I was bored and didn't know what to do so I went to the library and watched a DVD. There are many DVDs you can watch at the library so I sometimes go there when I'm free.I watched the DVD of "The Squid and the Whale". This movie is about a divorce. In the beginning of the movie, parents of this family get divorce and the movie shows how the family deals with the divorce. The couple has 2 sons and they have to go back and forth their parents' houses because they decided to go joint custody. It might sounds like a depressing movie but it was somewhat casual. It takes up a serious issue but the movie itself wasn't so serious. So I thought it was good.I learned the word philistine from this movie.
[145 words]

The importance of lerning English

I have learned English this university. And, I have thinking about learning English.
I think that learning another language enables us to comunicate with people in a different contry and to learn more about their culuture. It also makes us realize the relativity of our own values. And I think we can realize that there are other ways of looking at reality and that there are other value systems in the world. This makes our experience of life more interesting. As we learn a new language, I think that we also discover more about our own language.

I think that speaking only one language is like living in a room with no windows or doors. It is safe, but it is dark and closed. So I think a foreign language brings new light into the room. With an elementaly knowledge, we can look out the window and see the world differently. With a deeper knowledge of the language, we can walk out of the door and explore the world in a new way. When we explore the world with a new language, we discover more of the magnificence that is in hte world. The discoveries we make add interest and wisdom to our life. So we can see that language studies can be the beginning of some wonderful adventures. So I will study English more and more from this. [229 words]

"BABE: Pig in the City"

I was free today. So I went to the library in this university. I read "BABE: Pig in the City". Did you read this book? Babe is a clever pig which works as a shepherd. He is very famous in the country. The farm in which Babe and Mr and Mrs Hoggett lives was in danger because they had to pay money for the men from a bank and if they couldn't, they would have to sell the farm. One day, Mr. Hoggett got an offer from someone to show Babe's work at the party. They will pay a lot of money for that. To save the farm, Babe went to the city with Mrs. Hoggett.

Mrs. Hoggett was misunderstood that she was carrying the drung at the airport so she had to stay in the little room with a detective and missed the next plane. She and Babe couldn't get to the city they wanted to go.

They looked for a hotel and found the Flealands Hotel. In that hotel, many animals lived. They were abondoned animals. There were chimpanzees, dogs, cats, and monkeys. Nobody knew that they were there.

I thought it was a funny story. So many different animals and happenings. Baby is very cute. ［165 words］

My community life

I have been working part time since I was 18 years old. And I can get connected with communities through working. I haven't been working at the same place all the time. I have changed my part-time job for a couple of times. I'm going to introduce what I have done.

First one, I was in highschool and about to graduate. I had been already finished with the entrance examination of the university and had a plenty of free time after school. So I decided to start, very first time in my life, woking. I chose to work at a restaurant in my neighborhood. It was a Korean restaurant. I was a waiter there. I had to talk and communicate with so many people in one day. I always have to be polite and carefle not to offend customers' feelings no matter how busy I was. It was sometimes very difficult because there were so many different kinds of people with different thoughts. Some people may be upset about things I will never be upset about. Some people could be very sensitive and picky while some people could be very friendly and generous. You have to make every customers satisfied by your service. That's what they said. At first I didn't understand this idea. But I eventually I learned that's about being professional. I worked at the restaurant for 3 years.

The next one, I started it when I was 20. I was still working at the first restaurant but I needed more money so I decided to have two part-time jobs. This one was a horse restaurant. It was located on Shimo-tori. Horse meat dish is onen of Kumamoto's specialities so many people from outside Kumamoto came to the restaurant. There were once costomers from Italy. They saw the home page of the restaurant and came Kumamoto to eat horse meat. They came there 2 nights straight. Horse meat is expensive. People came to the restaurant were rich. I had oppotunities to talk with such rich people and foreigners through this job. It was very interesting.

Now I work part time at a drugstore near my house. It is not restaurant so it is different from what I have done before. I have less opportunites to talk to the customers than the two jobs I had before. I sometimes feel it's boring. But I just started it so maybe I should stay and see for a while. [408 words]

Back from Bangkok

Today I saw my friend I hadn't seen for 6 months. He went to Bangkok to study English and now he's on holidays so he came back temporarily. I was surprised when I saw him because I didn't know he was back. He looked a little different. He looked more Thai to me. He said people sometimes think he is Thai and talk to him in Thai in Bangkok. He also said he lost his weight. Maybe that's why he looks different. He said it's fun to be in Bangkok. He also has traveled some islands. Thailand is one place I always want to visit. Hopefully, I will go there before he finishes school there. I asked him to show me some pictures but he didn't have any on him then. It was very good to see him unexpectedly today. ［140 words］

A letter from Perth

Today, when I got back home from school, I saw there was a big white envelope on the table in the kitchen. And it signed my name on it. I felt excited because I seldom receive any letters from anybody. I picked up the letter and checked whom it was from. I was really surprised when I saw the name on the back of the envelope. It was from my English teacher in junior high school. I haven't seen or heard from her for almost 7 years and suddenly got this letter.
The letter said that she now lives in Perth with her Australian husband for three years. I was glad to know that she still remembers me having had many many students after I graduated the junior high school. It's been already 7 years since after I graduated junior high school and it makes me feel old. Anyway, I'm going to have to write her back with some pictures. It was such a heartwarming surprise for me. The highlight of the day. [186words]

"Hairspray"

I watched a movie today. I watched "Hairspray". It's musical. It's fun and energetic and lots of dancing and singing. I really liked it. I felt like I wanna dance after the movie.
I was surprisd to see John Travolta played a mother. He dressed like a woman and he(she) sang and danced in the movie. It was a little creepy for me at first but I became used to it. He was good.

The story about a girl who is passionate about singing and dancing. She dreams about being on the TV show she watches every week. She auditioned for the show and her dream came true. She's fat but she can dance and sing very well.

I think everybody would like this movie. I recommend you watch it too ［140 words］

Grandma came home

My grand mother came back from hospital today. It’s just temporary so she will go back to the hospital soon again. She will stay here for 2 nights. She went in the hospital a few months ago. She has a problem with her back. Today she looked very fine. I guess she’s very happy to be home. I want her to have a good time here.
[66 words]

UNIQLO

Today I went to UNIQLO with my sister. My sister now lives in Fukuoka but came back for this weekend. You may all know but UNIQLO is a clothing shop. It’s cheap and good. We went there by car and shopped. I bought a black long sleeve T shirts and grey sweat shirts. I liked them very much. They were simple and comfortable. What I like about UNIQLO is its design and price. The design is very simple and fits any style and you can get them at very reasonable price. [86 words]

"Memorable experience"

One of my memorable experiences in my life is when I went to New York city 2 years ago. It was February and very cold but I still enjoyed it. I went there with my sister. I always wanted to go to New York so I worked hard part time and saved money. I had 2 part time jobs and worked very hard. I chose February because it was the cheapest month in the year. We stayed at Hilton hotel near the times square. We went to the statue of liberty, the Metropolitan museum, and many spots very famous. I like just waling around the city. There were so many different people walking so fast and the city has a lot of energy. I ate the food at the vender and it was very good. Vender is a booth sells food on the street. It was very memorable trip. I would love to go back there again. [157 words]

About TV

　I like watching TV. I spend at least an hour per day for watching TV. I usually watch TV a few hours before I go to bed. Sometimes I watch TV as eating snacks. I have the favorite TV programs I don’t never miss every day.

One of my favorite TV programs is "Ururun Taizaiki". It is a documentary of Japanese actors or TV personalities or models or artists go abroad and spend a week to homestay with local families. They always challenge new things there. It's very interesting because by watching that show, you can learn a lot about other cultures. Sometimes they are sent into the jungle and stay with unknown tribes. They ofcourse don't know the languages. I'm interested in foreign cultures so I enjoy this TV program so much every week.

　I'm always looking forward to wathing "Grey's Anatomy" on Saturday nights. Even when I cannot be at home on Saturday night, I record it on the HDD player so I won't miss it. "Grey's Anatomy" is American TV drama about the interns. It's not only about their work at hospital but also about their families, romances, and lives. I like this show because of its unpredictable story and good entertaining performances. I also like the music they play behind the story.

　Besides "Ururun Taizaiki" and "Grey's Anatomy", I watch the TV shows on FOX a lot. FOX is a satellite TV station airs many good shows. They are mainly American TV programs and dramas. They air constantly for 24 /7. They often repeat the shows again and againg so if you missed a show you wanted to watch, you will have another chance soon again. My favorite TV shows on FOX are "So You Think You Can Dance" which is American dance competition show, and "24" which is another American TV drama. I think FOX is a very amusing station.

　I can say that TV is essential to my life. I enjoy wathing it everyday especailly "Ururun Taizaiki" and "Grey's Anatomy". I even have a favorite TV station. TV is not only an entertainment but also a tool to learn about things through the programs like "Ururun Taizaiki". I like TV. It is an important thing to me. [371words] [total 9257words]

bookreviews1-10 Mulan

Mulan is a heroine who is acclaimed as the bravest girl in China. She lived in China long time ago. She is said the bravest girl in China because she pretended to be a guy and went to the war to protect her family.

Mulan lived with her younger brother and parents. One day, the Emperor ordered people to send one guy from each family to joing the army to fight in the war. Since Mulan's brother was still a kid, her father had to go to the war. However, he was ill and too old to fight. Mulan decided to go to war as a man. She wore armor and acted and talked like a man. Nobody could tell she was a girl. She join the army and fought with men. She did very good in the fighting so the emperor called her and tried to give her some money but Mulan just asked him to allow her go home. Some time later Mulan came back home, her friend Ye Ming visited her. They met at the war and fought together. He was very surprised when he found out that Mulan was actually a girl. Ye Ming stayed at Mulan's house for a while and he wanted to marry her. Mulan was confused at first but she ended up get married to him. That's the end of the story.

I have watched the movie "Mulan". It's a Diney's animation movie. I liked that movie so I liked this story too. I thought Mulan was very brave. China has a lot of great people. ［264 words] [total 8886words]

1-9 "The Ransom of Red Chief"

2-09 "The Ransom of Red Chief"
I didn’t know what ransom meant. I looked up my dictionary and now I know what the word means. It means money that is paid to somebody to release a person who is being kept as a hostage. This book is about two men who try to get ransom by kidnapping a son of the richest man in town, Mr. Dorset.
Bill and Sam are in town and have only 200 dollars. They come up with kidnapping the son of Mr. Dorset, the richest man in town. But Mr. Dorset’s son, Johnny is a lot of trouble. When they catch Johnny, he resisted strongly. Johnny likes fighting very much. He says his name is Red Chief, not Johnny. Bill and Sam have a hard time taking care of Johnny because he is very perky and strong. They want to let him go as soon as possible. They write a letter to Mr. Dorset requesting the ransom. But Mr. Dorset turns down their request. Mr. Dorset writes them back requesting Bill and Sam paying 200 dollars to Mr. Dorset so that they can bring Johnny home and escape from him. Bill and Sam don’t want to pay him 200 dollars but they don’t want to be with Johnny even more. So they decide to escape from Johnny paying 200 dollars.
I thought this story was funny. They wanted lots of money but ended up paying some to ransom’s father. They picked wrong one. I hope they will succeed next time.

［249 words］

Global warming

Today, we have national disasters all over the world such as typhoon and heavy rain. In twentieth century, we had twenty two national disasters by which we were lost over twenty billion dollars. I am not sure whether twenty dollars or not. Why did phenomenon occur? Scientists think it is global warming. It is broken out by “ green house effect “ Do you know “green house effect”? Green house effect is the effect such as greenhouse. In greenhouse, the temperature in the places rises by which covers the greenhouse.

I want to explain about “Green house effect”. Green house effect is a national effect. If it were not been for it, global average temperature -18 ℃. But recently green house effect is stronger than before. So global temperature is warmer than before. Many countries are in Europe. There are attempt for stopping global warming there. Many countries tried to do it. We have global and same problems. I think we must have cooperation and stop and global warming together.

　By the way, how do global warming rise? I will explain about it. The earth absorbs heat from sun. And the earth puts out ultraviolet rays. But the ultraviolet rays couldn’t be put out. That is because heat-trapping gas disturbed it. By it, heat is collected in the earth. So global warming rises. Do you know Heat-trapping gas? Heat-trapping gas pronounces “ ONSHITUKOUKAGASU” in Japanese. So how is trapping gas made? I will explain about it.

We use many oil by riding a car, make a cloth so on. And using oil make Carbon dioxide. It is called CO２. CO2 has a effect which absorb heat. So increasing CO2 makes Global warming. So I must make a effort to decrease CO2. I think we must consider about global warming more and more for “ future of we humans”　[311words]

The computer I kike

Computer is a very useful tool for us to do whatever you do. You can do many things with computers. You can write an essay, or you can draw a graph, or you can listen to music, or you can watch a movie and of course, you can learn with computers. Computer is now one of the necessary things to learn with. Lately they teach kids how to use computers in elementary school. It's getting important more and more to be able to use computers mainly for students to learn.

Computers are very useful when I write an essay for class so I use computers a lot for assignments. But you need some skills to write essays with computers. Before I started to learn with computers, I couldn't type as fast as I do today. I had known how to type but I used to type so slowly. Now I use computers almost everyday. It doesn’t take so much for me to write with computers. There is a proper way to write an essay and I didn’t know that before. After I wrote with computers, I didn't check for typos or grammar mistakes. Teacher once gave me back my paper with a lot of red marks and taught me how to check for typos and grammar mistakes. Now I make sure that I don’t have any typos or grammar mistakes on my essay every time after I finish writing them. I just didn’t know that it was very easy to do with computers. Nevertheless to say, editing is also much easier when you write an essay with computers than when you handwrite it. It’s troublesome to use an eraser and rewrite paragraphs with a pen, but with computers, you can do it all by dragging clicking. It takes only a few seconds. That’s what I like the most about writing essays with computers.

I had never written blogs before I took Writing IV. For Writing IV, I had to take write something on my blog almost everyday. I had never done it before. To be honest, I was pretty lazy to write blogs everyday at first. It is just like taking diaries. I thought I couldn’t do it at first. I wasn’t good at keep doing the same thing everyday. I didn’t want to do that even for the credit. But as I tried to keep writing it, I became used to it. Whenever something good or bad or extraordinary happened to me in life, I thought “I’m gonna write about this on the blog”. Blog became a part of my life. As a matter of fact, I now enjoy writing blogs very much. I also enjoy attaching the pictures on the blog. After I write a post of the day, I go on to the internet and look for a picture. Blog can look much better by decorating with pictures. When you keep taking diaries on blog, there will be many posts. To organize them, you should label each post so that the posts will be classified in categories and it’s easy to read or find a post you want to read or edit.

The internet is something helpful for us. If you wanted to know about something, you can search for the information on the internet and mostly you can find what you want. There is an internet site called Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online dictionary where you can find various kinds of information. Besides Wikipedia, you can discover so many things if you use the internet. By using the internet, you can communicate with people all over the world. If you install a messenger into your computer, you can chat with people far away. You can exchange opinions or make friends with people anywhere on the earth. You can know what is happening in other countries by using the internet. It broadens your perspective. I have a messenger installed into my computer and I chat with my friends in Canada one and off. It’s very fun and easy. I feel them very close to me even though they’re across the Pacific Ocean.

I think computers help you learn better. It provides you with a lot of things. You can write essays much easier than you do with your own hand and the typed sentences look better. You can learn many things from the internet. And the internet gives you the opportunity to experience other worlds in your room. You can even talk to the people on the other side of the planet. So I think computers are very important.
［768 words］

My favorite novels

I want to read many books. So Today I want to introduce the book which I like the best of I had ever read. It is a “ Bovary fujin” Do you know it ? It is a French novel. And It is a famous novel. I think many French know it. So I will describe i ’s content from now.

This story has five persons. They are “Jeanne” and “Shimon” and “Adelaide” and “Julian” and “Rosary”. Jeanne that had grown up in the monastery in Rouen was a daughter who tended to dream and had pure heart. She left Rouen at 17 years old, and lived in Repupuru with her father’s “Shimon” and her mother’s “Adelaide”. Shimon was a little goodness and the man which have eccentric character. And, Adelaide was a fat woman and was cheerful.

One day, Jeanne and her parents want to church. They met priest there. He was with a cool and rich guy which is Aristocrat too. And the priest introduced him to them. They felt good for him. Jeanne liked him. And he liked her too. Next week, Jeanne and Julian strolled in the park. They talked about many things. And They promised to marriage.

They got married after three weeks. Jeanne thought that she was able to lead a happy married life. But It was completely a different thing that she had thought. That is because Julian was completely another person, compared to what he was. He had become the worst since then.

They employed a maid. She is “Rosary” She is a kind and gentle girl. Jeanne likes her. One day, she brought a baby into the world. There Jeanne knew the baby which was born between Julian and Rosary. Moreover, she brought a baby into the world between Julian and her too. She was crazy. But she loved the baby very much. He was not interested in her any longer. And she forgave him.

However, Julian had an affair with another woman. And he was killed by a husband　of the woman. Finally Jeanne and her baby were left. There are like this a lot of novels on French literature that make fickleness theme. However, I like French novel even so. [371]

Self Introduction

Essay 1-7 2030

Today is my forty seven birthday. my life was so dramatic. I remember the life and thank the miraculous fact that I'm living now. Thirty years ago, I was a high school student. I studied very hard because of the exam for college. As a result I could pass the exam and enjoyed my campas life. One day I met a man who studied archaedogy. As I was interested in remains. I decide to accompany him and travel abrord to research them. When I was twenty-eight, we went to Africa. there being a lot of wild animals, my teacher was eaten by tigers. I was very sad. But I lasted to research becase I thought I had to satisfy his will. Since then, I traveled around the world and touched many remains. Now I am one of very famous a chaeologist. Eventually, I'm living my life by myself. Traveling in the world, I couldn't meet my ideal woman. So I celeblate my birthday along with a glass of dry wine. [170 words]

Essay1-6 Movie Review

“Toy Story” is an animated movie produced by Pixar. It is the first movie with everything is in CG animation. The main characters are toys. Woody is a stuffed cowboy and Buzz is a spaceman figure. And there are many other various kinds of toys appear in the movie which move and talk vividly. Tom Hanks plays Woody’s voice and Buzz is played by Tim Allen. They are both American actors. The director is John A. Lasseter who is also the director of “toy Story 2” and “Cars” which are made afterwards.

Woody has been Andy’s most favorite toys among many toys he has. All of Andy’s toys move and speak only when Andy is out of the room. Woody is also the leader of other toys. They are Mr. Potato Head, Hamm the piggy bank, Bo Peep the ceramic girl doll, Slinky the spring dog, Alex the dinosaur figure and some other. But Andy always plays with Woody.
On Andy’s birthday, he gets the new toy. It is Buzz. Buzz becomes Andy’s new favorite toy instead of Woody, so Woody doesn’t like Buzz. Buzz thinks he’s a space ranger and has a mission to beat his enemy. He is not aware of that he’s a toy. Woody tries to kick Buzz out. One day, the accident happened. Woody and Buzz fell out of the window of Andy’s room. They didn’t die but had to manage themselves to go back Andy’s room because the other toys thought they were dead and couldn’t help.

Next Andy’s house, a boy named Sid lives. Sid also has many toys too. But he enjoys breaking them. Unluckily, Woody and Buzz were found and taken home by Sid. They were taken into Sid’s room and met many creepy broken toys. They were cut apart and converted by Sid. Woody though they he and Buzz would be one of them. But they were actually nice and cooperative to Woody and supported them to escape from Sid’s house.

Andy’s family was moving to a different place. Andy thought he lost Woody and Buzz. He was very sad but Woody and Buzz made it to come back to Andy. They got on the truck leaving from Andy’s house in the end of the movie. All the other toys were there too.

I thought this movie was really fun to watch. I had watched it twice before but still totally enjoyed it. I liked that Buzz misunderstood that he was a real space ranger at first. He is a hilarious character. I think whoever made this movie is such an innovative idea man. [434 words]

My part time jobs

I have finishded my part time job. I work in clam school. the name is "akechi Seminar""Akechi Seminar" has five schools-Kyomachi School, Kamikumamoto School, Simasaki school, Hokubu School, Jyouzan School. I work in Kamikuma School. I teach Math to high school student there. And I have teaches for five years. I think teaching is very fun for me . I sometimes want recess more, because I work there six days a week. but I must get school expense for this university and I want to get experience for teaching skills more. So, I will work hard!!
By the way, the homepage in clam school was compeleted recently. I want watch it!! [113 words]

Bookreviews1-7 "Masie and the Dolphine"

This story was very beautiful. The main character is named Maisie and she lives in the Bahamas with her parents who are doctor and grand father. In the story, you can see oceans and beaches at lot. It made me want to go to the Bahamas.

Maisie is thirteen years old. She lives near the beach. One day, she saw a dolphin hit by a boat driven by American. She took the dolphin to her parents and they took care of it. The dolphin recovered at Maisie’s house and she named it Ben.

The American who owns the boat was an acquaintance of Maisie’s father’s. He wanted to build a hotel so was offering Maisie’s father 200,000 dollars for the estate. His hospital was very small so he wanted to think about it. Maisie knew and was unhappy about it.

Ben liked Maisie very much. Ben ate only food Maisie feed him. But now he’s fine, they had to let him go. Maisie was very sad. Maisie and her grandfather went to release him to the ocean. Maisie cried but after they let him go, he came back. He seems to tell Maisie to follow him. She jumped into the water and followed Ben. Ben led Maisie to a little box under the water. She found lots of gold in it.

Using the gold, they modeled the hospital and turned down the American’s offer. Then can always live there because of the gold.

I like oceans and beaches so I liked this story. The Bahamas must be a beautiful place. I wish I could live somewhere like that someday.
This story reminded me of “Shitakiri Suzume”. It’s about an old guy who saved an injured sparrow. The sparrow comes back to the old guy and brings him a lot of money and reward. Dolphin is very smart and friendly animal. I want to swim with one someday.　　[317 words]

Dinner at Go Go Rock

My friend called and asked me out to dinner at 6 pm.
It was so sudden. Although I knew that she had much expectations of I would say yes, I still had to say no because my wallet has been completely empty since I went Singapore in this summer. She sounded shocked when I refused but she didn't give up. She even said that she would treat me 100% to the dinner. I was a little scared as I wondered what happened to make her want alcohol that much. Anyway, I was in.

Me and Yoshimi met on my previouse part-time job. We used to work together for about 2 years. She's 1 year younger than me and studying to become a nurse. She's just finished her internship at a hospital so she wanted to celebrate it with someone. All of her friends were unavailable on that day so she decided to call me as the final option. She is always too honest with me.

We went to the place called "GoGoRock" which we found on Hot Pepper, the coupon magazine. We went with all-you-can-eat past & pizza course. We ate 3 kinds of pasta and 2 kinds of pizza which made us both too full to move out. It was a bit challenging to eat 3 pasta and 2 pizzas but they all tasted good. The restaurant has unique interior decorations and big TV to show some Hollywood movie. It's a fun place to go. [239 words]

"Brave One"

I watched a movie yesterday. Its title is "Brave One". I liked it very much but it made me think.The story is about a woman who lost her boyfriend. Her name is Eryka and her boyfriend was rubbed and killed by thugs in a park. Eryka was with him then so she was also assaulted and sent to hospital. She was unconscious for 3 weeks and when she woke up, her boyfriend had passed already. She was shocked. She didn't know what to do.

Some days later, she bought a gun illegally in Chinatown. She had it in her bag all the time. Another day, she was in a store buying a drink. A guy came in there and shot the woman at the cashier. There was no one else except Eryka in a store. She was surprised and scared at first but she used her gun and killed that guy. She ran away. She felt she became someone else after she killed the guy. She needed to become someone else to get over her boyfriend's death. She started to walk around the city at night and kept killing people. But only bad people. She felt alive by killing bad guys in the city.

There was a cop who investigated the homicides Eryka committed. He knew Eryka before he started to work on the cases. He had no idea who did this murders but he became suspicious more about Eryka as the investigation progressed. In the end He was sure that Eryka did kill those guys and Eryka was trying to kill the thugs who killed her boyfriend. The cop didn't stop or arrest her. He let her kill the guys. And the movie finished.

I thought the ending was very controversial. Some people would think it is wrong to let her go. I think so too. But I enjoyed this movie. It is a good movie.
[311 words]

"My favorite places"

I like traveling very much. I like visiting somewhere I’ve never been to before. And I have been to many places inside and outside Japan. Among those places, I’m going to introduce the three of my favorite places. Two of them are in Japan, Kamakura and Okinawa, and the other is in US which is San Antonio, Texas.

I visited Kamakura for the first time this summer. My sister just moved to Kamakura from Yokohama so she invited me to her new house during the summer vacation. Both Kamakura and Yokohama are in Kanagawa prefecture which is close to Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Kamakura is a very old city with a long history and you can see that as you walk around the city of Kamakura. It has many temples and shrines all over so I went to see some of them. It also has small modern cafes, shops and bars stands along the streets. It has a mixture of history and modern culture in the city and I love the unique atmosphere. It’s quiet, relaxing, quaint and fashionable. Kamakura is the city which contains good elements of both the old tradition and the new fashion at the same time.

Okiniwa is another favorite place to visit. I went there for the first time when I was in junior high as a school trip. But it was November and it had already been getting colder. And the
weather wasn't really good the whole time I was in Okinawa so I couldn't experience the best of Okinawa that time. I really found how amazing Okinawa was last summer. I went there with my friends and stayed for a few days in summer vacation. The weather was fantastic everyday during I was in Okinawa. The oceasn was incredibly beautiful. I spent all day hanging out at the beach so I got tanned no like before. The food is another reason why I like Okinawa. Soki-soba is Okinawan noodles and it's really good and my favorite. Once you arrived in Okinawa, you would feel like you're in somewhere outside Japan. You will feel very happy and welcomed by the island. You can escape from life in reality and forget your stress. Okinawa is such an attractive place.

San Antonio is the third favorite place to introduce. When I was 16 and 17, I was an exchange student in San Antonio, Texas. I went to school called St. Anthony Catholic High School for one year. I have so many memories about San Antonio. In San Antonio, you will hear many Spanish everywhere in the city as well as English. San Antonio faces the border between US and Mexico, so there are many Mexican people live in San Antonio. They have Spanish radio station, Spanish TV program, and delicious Mexican food. At my school, at least 50 % of the students were Mexican or Mexican American. They sometimes talk to each other in Spanish. The school had Spanish class and many students were taking it. I used to hangout with friends from the dormitory where I stayed the whole time during I was in San Antonio. We often went to movies and a shopping mall together in the weekend, and played pool and watched TV at the dorm. San Antonio has a tourist attraction called “River Walk” in its downtown. It’s an artificial small river and has many restaurants and bars and souvenir shops along the river. It’s a very beautiful place with colorful booths, music from bars and many people from all over the world.

I have introduced my three favorite places. First, Kamakura, I like its atmosphere. Second, Okinawa, I like it because it makes me feel as if I’m in a totally different world. And lastly, San Antonio, I have many special memories of spending my 16 and 17 of life there. They’re all my favorite places. I would like to visit there once again or even more. I would also like to visit more places and find more to be my favorites. [641words] [total 5116words]

Book Reviews 1-6 "The elephant man"

The story is set in 19th centry London. This guy was called Elepahnt Man because he was very ugly. His skin was brown and came down. He looked like an elephant. He was usually locked in a store and people could see him for 2 pences. One day, Dr.Hedrick found teh store and got in to see the elepant man. He was very surprised because the elephant man was very ugly. He diceded to take him to his hospital and examin his body.
He coudln't talk well. Dr. Hedrick could bearly understand what he was saying but he could tell he was a nicehearted man. Dr. Hedrick invited him to live in his hospital so that he wouldn't be tretaed as a thing in the store. The doctore let him read many books and meet many people.
In the end, the elepant man died because he dropped from the bed from head. He broke his neck and died alone.

I thought Elephant man is a poor guy. At begging, he was treated so bad in the store. He always missed his mother who he didn't know where is now. I felt he might have a ugly face and body but his heart is very beautiful. First time he was introduced to a girl by Dr. Hedrick, he cried. Every girls who had ever seen him was scared and screamed but this girl shook his hand and smiled so he was very happy. It is very sad he died in the end of the story but I think he was very happy.
［261 words］

MSN

I have a friend studying in Vancoucer, Canada. We're very good friends so we still have contacts by emailing and chatting. He once suggested me to buy a microphone so that we can talk free on the messenger. Messenger is a software you use for chat. I wasn't really interested at first but I eventually bought it today and talked to him for the first time. It was really exciting! I couldn't believer it was free because it's exactly like using a phone. Phone costs some but messenger doesn't. It was amazing. I felt like he was here with me but he is actually very far in Canada. It was kind of odd. Thanks to the technology, I would try to call another friend in Australia tomorrow. [127words] [total 4214words]

My this New Year

This new year, I went to a shrine to earn some money. I stood up by the stand of masks and sold them. I was pretty surprused by the fact that one mask costed 1000 yen. But the most surprising thing to me was that people still bought it. There were many kinds of characters of masks for kids there. I didn't recognize the most of them and I felt old. Unbelievably, just one Doraemon's mask was sold out of ten. Doraemon was the most popular character when I was a kid but now it can make only one mask. The mask which was sold the most was some girl's pink warrior thing I didn't even know the name.

It was very cold outside. I had to be there for 24 hours. It was the hardest job I've ever had in my life. Just standing by the stand alone, I felt the time passed so slowly so I started to observe peopel in shrine. When they pass by my palce, all the kids get attracted to the masks. The most paernts didn't want to buy it so tried to distract their kids' interest. I found it very funny.
I won't do this job next year because it was very hard. Next year, I want to stay in the house and relax on the new year's day. [224words]

UNIQLO

Today I went to UNIQLO with my sister. My sister now lives in Fukuoka but came back for this weekend. You may all know but UNIQLO is a clothing shop. It’s cheap and good. We went there by car and shopped. I bought a black long sleeve T shirts and grey sweat shirts. I liked them very much. They were simple and comfortable. What I like about UNIQLO is its design and price. The design is very simple and fits any style and you can get them at very reasonable price. [86 words]

Essay 1-4 "A memorable day in my life"

"Yokohama" is memorable place, because I had many memories there. I had lived in Tokyo for two years since I graduated from high school. I was a student in Tokyo. I had many memories there.
I met a girl in university. And I knew each other through a mutual friend. I was compatible with her. Since it, we had made contact with each other by mobile phone and e-mail. We got along with each other. Then I associated with her. My department was different from her department. So we met each other in lunch time , after school and , so on.
And we often went to many places such as Shibuya, Shinjyuku, Ikebukuro, so on in holiday. As she lived in Saitama, her house is very far from my house. After we always met Shinjyuku, we went to some places to play.
There is memorable place which we have ever gone. It is "Yokohama". Yokohama has "Minatomirai" and " Chukagai". And we oftenwent to "Yamasita Park" in Minatomirai in Yokohama. We can see a beautiful sea and " Bay Bridge" there. They wouldn't be better!! I talked with her about many things there. At that time, I really spent happy time there. And we went there many times.
but I left my university, because I thought it is not necessary to study in my department in this university. I specialised in Commerce. but I preferd to studying Commerce to studying English. Besides, returning to Kumamoto, I had to work in my house. I told her " I will return in Kumamoto". But she was able to accept what I said to her. After I persuaded her, she convinced it.
We met each other after I returned back in Kumamoto. She came in Kumamoto to meet me once every two months. and I went to tokyo too. When I went to meet her, we absolutely went to Yokohama. And seeing Yokohama Bay, we talked with each other in Yamasita Park.
However, it was difficult to meet each other, because it cost a lot of money to meet. And we could not meet soon when we want to meet. So we separeted.
Since then, I haven't contacted her. But I sometimes recall Yokohama. (367 words)

Answering the questions

①Is your sidebar organized and have your visited all of your classmates blogs at least once? If not, explain why, if so, give your impression.　（YES）
②Have you labeled all your book reviews and essays? 　（YES)

③Does your blog include pictures and/or videos?　（Only pictures)
④What is your best post? Why? (please also link to it)　　（The best place "Yokohama"　because of memoriarable place for me)　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　⑤What is your best book review? Why? (　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　⑥What are the good points and bad points about this writing class?　（Good point: I can learn many things by using comuputer by my selfe　Bad point: Too take thime)

Essay 1-3 My favorite amimals

My favorite animals
Do you have any animals? I like animals and have many kinds of animals. For example, dogs and cats, and so on. Particulary, a lion named “ Leo “ is the best.
To tell the truth, I have none of parents no brother. When I was young, I lived in a jungle in South East Asia. All the members of the family had been lived a life like primitive people. Whenever they went out to hunt animals, I was alone. But I didn’t feel lonely because I had a lion named “Rio”. So “Leo” is her son and my only family. The others were dead in the jungle because of being eaten by bears. I have been very sad, but I decided to live on my own. I have run a zoo named “Mutsugoro Kingdom” for ten years. A lot of people came and touched many animals there.
Fortunately, the lion named “luo” which is the wife of “leo” impreguates a baby now. I belived the baby is a newborn of my family the lions are not just animals but my best friend. ( This story is the fiction which I make up!! ) [ 200 words ]

Bookreviews 1-5

Rob dates with Cathy and he likes her very much. They are both teenagers. One day, she said that Rob is the only one boyfriend she’s seeing. Rob was very happy to hear that.
The other day, Rob asked Cathy about she didn’t answer her phone on Wednesday. She said she was out with Tom. Rob was confused. He didn’t know who Tom was but didn’t ask her because he didn’t want to have Cathy think he’s jealous.
In the weekend, he called Cathy. Cathy was not at home and he heard she was out with Tom again. He didn’t know what to do. He was jealous.
Next day, he asked her who Tom was, if she’s dating with 2 men at the same time. Cathy laughed. She showed him a picture of Tom. Tom was a kid. She takes after him off and on. Rob was relieved and happy again. But Cathy, in her mind, says “Tom has a 18 year old brother and I like him a lot…” in the end of the story.

I thought it was a shocking story. Cathy actually likes other guy but Rob doesn’t know to the end of the story. I thought this story would be funny and cute but, because of the last word she said in her mind, I felt it was even scary. Girls are scary… ［227 words］[total 3577 words]

Book reviews 1-4

This story is based on a true story. In the beginning of the book, it says "A fictional story has an ending, but a true story does not". I think it's so true. I had never had this idea about a true story and a fictional story.

Karen started to work at the nuclear factory. They take care of fuel rods and uranium at the factory. People are all wearing white gloves. There is a scanner at the factory. The workers have to check their hands in front of the scanner.

One day, when Karen's friend Susan checked her hands in front of the scanner, the alarm went off. Guys white coats came out of a laboratory room and took her to somewhere. Karen followed them. She saw Susan had no clothes on and the men were showering her. Susan was screaming. The shower hit Susan so strongly.

After Karen saw that happened, she began to think it's dangerous to work there. Karen asked Pete, one of the Union leaders for help. He told Susan to collect the evidence. She sneaked into the photography room and stole some negatives. She kept them in her house.

That day, Karen was taking the negatives to Pete. However, she never arrived at the place she was supposed to meet him. Karen's car was found on its side by the bridge. It was crashed into the bridge wall. She was found dead in it. Pete looked for the brown envelop that contains the negatives but it wasn't there. They never found it.

I thought this story was a little scary because it is based on a true story in Oklahoma. I wonder if she was killed by somebody. If so, it is very bad. I also wonder if the factory still exists. The story is made into a movie so I'd like to watch it. ［311 words］

Book reviews 1-3

One day, Steve heard from his friend that there was a new girl in town and he was excited. His father is an editor and always looking for interesting news. He tells his son to find something interesting to write on the newspaper about.
Steve went out. He saw a girl at a supermarket. He wondered who she was. After that, wherever he went, he saw that girl. She has a camera on her all the time and seems to be trying to take some interesting pictures.
Later that day, he heard from his neighbor that Bud Ritchie was back in town. Bud is a writer and used to live in this town. Steve thought about visiting and intervewing him for his father’s newspaper. He went to Bud’s house and asked him questions. When Bud was talking about his experiences, he found a cat on the tree and she couldn’t get off. He climbed the tree and tried to help her but he fell off the tree into the water and got wet. Then, the girl was there taking Steve’s picture. The girl was Bud’s daughter Marietta. Steve and Marietta became friends and the picture of Steve was on the newspaper.

I thought Steve was a nice guy. He works hard for his father. He climbs a tree to help a cat and ends up fall. He doesn’t complain about his embarrassing picture was on the newspaper. ［237 words］

Onsen

I was very tired. I wanted to go to onsen so I went to the public bath. It wasn't a real onsen but still good to be in the big baths. It's only 360 yen so I sometimes go to the bath.

When I go to public bath, I get in sauna bath. I watch TV in there and stayed about 10 minutes each time. It's very hot and you sweat a lot but it feels great after you get out. I repeat getting in and out of sauna at least twice. Right after I get out of the sauna, I jump into the cold water. You have to be a little brave because it's extremely cold. I also like roten buro. Roten buro is a bath outside. I can relax and feel time passes so slowly.

I ofcourse tried both today. And I felt relaxed and great after I got out. I drank a cup of drink and went home.［162 words］

I caught a cold

When I woke up today, my throat hurt so bad. I gargled with the medicine but I still don't feel good. My voice sounds different. It's kind of stuffed and deeper. I actually prefer this voice to my usual voice. I cough a bit so I've been wearing a mask today. Mask is very different from what it used to be. I haven't worn it long time and didn't know that. It is much bigger as it can cover the whole part of your chin and more comfortable. You won't suffocate at all. It was a little surprising. I wanted to sleep and rest all day but I had 2 classes in the morning.

The best treatment to cold is to eat well and sleep well. I ate a lot but I haven't slept much. I'm going to have to work in the evening. I hope it won't get worse. Now it's afternoon so I'm going to sleep for a while before work.


［163 words］

The Korean restaurant I want to recommend

Yesterday I went out eat with my friends. First we planned to go eat nabe so we searched for a restaurant serves nabe. We found some but they were all full so we couldn't get in to any of them. We walked a lot and it was very cold to be outside. We were starving as unbearable so decided to give up nabe and go wherever we could get in. Then we found this place "Seoul".

It was located on Kaminoura tori. It was a Korean restaurant. We ordered a couple of meet for yakiniku and our drinks first. I liked the homey atmosphere of the restaurant in a bit of Korean mode. While we waited for the drinks and meet, we closely looked at the menu. There were many Korean foods such as bibimbup and kuppa. They all looked good. We decided to order Korean style ramen, cold noodle, and kimchi fried rice besides the yakiniku meet. Once they came out to our table, we started to broil them. They sounded so good. The meet was very juicy and delicious. The quantity of the food on one plate was pretty big. The noodles and the fried rice came. Those three dishes were all spicy but tasted so good. We drank lots of water too. ［271 words］

The thing I learned

When I woke up this morning, I found my father still in bed. He's usually the one who wakes up earliest in the family so it was weird. I asked my mother if there was anything wrong with him and she said he had a stomachach and threw up a few times last night. She took him to the hospital and he was diagnosed as having the notorious norovirus. Norovirus is a highly infectious disease and prevelaent for these years so I was threatened when I heard that. I'm very thankful from the bottom of my heart for the fact that there are two bathrooms in the house. I will never use the one he has been using. He's been locked in his room and asleep all day. Every time he uses the bathroom it should be sterilized. It's not nice to say but I really don't want him in this house right now. It is very scary to be in the same house with him. But it's too cold to be outside so I have to stay here.

The virus appeared to come from the oysters he ate last night. They were raw and he was the only one who ate the. Thank god I didn't eat that oyster yesterday!! Oyster is usually my favorite food but yesterday, I just didn't feel like eating it. I'm so sorry for my father but I don't want to even get close to him right now. And I learned another lesson from this experience: get oysters cooked, before you eat them.
［261 words］

Sleepy

I couldn't sleep much last night because I came back home from work at 4:30 am. I finished working at 3 am and went to a public bath after that. That is why I came home a little later than usual. I started to work part time from 11 pm to 3 am until the end of the year. I will soon be in holidays and have much of free time so I decided to use it to earn money. But I still had 3 classes today.

I actually got into bed before 5 and had to get up at 9:30 for the first class which starts at 10:40. Even though I was very sleepy and didn't feel rested at all, I immediately got ready and left for the university by motorbike. I didn't eat breakfast. It is extremely cold when you ride a motorbike in winter. I wear a mask to cover my face so that I can avoid the wind and I also wear a knit cap underneath the helmet so that my ears won't hurt as if they fall down.

The first class was International law. This is very interesting and I usually enjoy it but today, I was too tired. I couldn't concentrate on the lecture. It was hard just to be awake and sit. I tried hard. In the break, I went to library and rented some books to write reviews for Writing 4. I wanted to sleep there for minutes but I still had other things to do. I needed to visit a professor for something but she wasn't in her room that time. I needed to go to Maruzen, the book store and pay 6000 yen and apply for the English test. I had no time to sleep or eat lunch during the break. The next class was Education. I couldn't stand anymore and slept for about 20 minutes so I felt better. My friend sat next to me. He said he's going to buy a computer. The last class was TOEFL. We practice TOEFL in this class. We did writing practice today. Writing doesn't make me sleepy so I was fine during this class.

Finally I'm finished all the classes in 2007 and came home.Once I came home I ran to the bed and fell asleep. It is now 9:35 and I just woke up. I feel good. I think I will be awake all night because I already slept a lot today. But I don't have school tomorrow so I guess that’s ok. ［423 words］

Book Reviews 1-2

Sally is a young woman who lives with her family. One morning, she was woken up by her boyfriend’s phone call. It was only six. Her boyfriend’s name is Andrew and he said her to come to the dinner with his new job that night. He also told her to wear a blue skirt she had and hung up. Sally didn’t want to wear the blue skirt but Andrew didn’t listen to her. He always doesn’t listen to Sally.
That day, at work, she talked about it to her coworkers. They thought it was absurd. They told Sally to buy a new skirt whatever color she likes. At lunch break, they went to shopping together and Sally bought a red skirt. On the way back to office, she bought called at a coffee shop and bought a coffee. When she bought a coffee, she bumped into a guy. He was nice. He picked up her bag and apologized.
Later that day, her phone rang. She picked up and said “Hello” and they said “Is this Paul?” Sally said “No” and hung up. Now she has Paul’s phone and Paul has Sally’s phone. They mistakenly picked up the wrong ones when they bumped into each others. They called and decided to meet up and return their phones to each other.
Paul thought Sally was beautiful and Sally thought Paul was nice. After they exchanged their phones, they went to have drinks. Sally didn’t want to meet Andrew anymore so she didn’t go to the dinner. It was Paul’s sister’s birthday that day so they went to the party together.

I like the way Sally ditched Andrew. It was immediate and no hesitation or sorriness at all. At the beginning of the story, she was concerned about her relationship because Andrew always tells her to do whatever he likes her to. He didn’t care Sally’s feeling at all. She wasn’t happy. So I thought it was very good for her to meet Paul. Paul is very nice and respects her feelings and taste. (341 words)

Essay 2 " My teasure "

I am going to talk about my treasure. I have three people in my family, my mother , younger brother, and me. My father was dead, before I was born. According to my mother, he was very curious "treasure hunter".
One day. I found a diary old coin in drawer of my desk. First, I thought to throw it away. But, I was gradually interested in it. So, I decided to show my mother the coin. She was amazed as soon as she looked at it. I said, “Mom, what’s up” She said, “Unbelievable!! I could see this again!” She was so excited and started to talk. “you know, your father was treasure hunter wasn’t it?” He drowned in Atlantic Ocean. He hunted for the inheritance of Atlantics. But, he died on his way to the research. I was very sad and cried everyday. Weeks later, I got a letter from this friend. There were a letter and coin. The letter said, your father accomplished his task and found very huge remain of Atlantics. So, the coin was very precious treasure.
I was moved to hear the story. Since then, the coin has been my best treasure. Now, it greatly brighten for me. And, I think my father is respectable person. Although he was dead, he exactly got his dream.
Needless to say, the most precious treasure is my father for me.
Of course, this is a fiction I made up. But this story’s father I made up is “my treasure !!”
( 252 words )

Book review1-1

I read "King Arthur" written by Axel rator. I know the name of King Arthur from my introduction of English literture's class and history of English literture's class; but I don't know about King Arthur.This story is the year 650 in England. One night, merlin the magician has a dream, he dreamed wonderful king. His name is Athur.Merlin makes a magic stone, and puts a sword. Arthur can pull out the sword, and he became king of England.Arthur was young man. Then Merlin teaches everyday, and after 4 years he is a strong and good king. Since Arthur become King, in England has no battle. But when he has trouble about his wife and others, in England started battle.I read this book, I know about King Arthur. I want to read "King Arthur" written by shakespear, too. (137 words )

Essay 1

Hello! My name is Eiichi Miyake. I am a Kumamoto Gakuen University student. I major in English. I became the fourth grader this year. As you know, every student must graduate from university in four years. But I hardly came to the school between the first grader and the fourth grader. Because of it, I am the forth grader. Since I went to graduate this year, I want to study hard. And I am twenty five years old. After I graduated from high school, I had lived in Tokyo. I was a student of Department of Commercial Science there. But I was interested in English better than in Commercial Science. So, after I left the university, I returned to Kumamoto to enter this Kumamoto Gakuen University.
Next, I want to introduce my dream. My dream is to a teacher. My grandfather and grand mother were teachers. So, the occupation is always near in my life. Today, the adoption of teachers is less and less. It is very difficult for applicants of teacher to pass the employment test. But I cannot give up my dream. Therefore, I decided to do my best until I graduate from this university. If the dream dose not come true, I will walk my road to Comedian.
Finally, I want to introduce my hobby. My hobby is fishing. I often went to Amakusa in Kumamoto with my friend. But my friend is Iwate prefecture now. So I rarely meet my friend. But He is going to return Kumamoto in goalden week. I can go fishing with him. I look forward to going to Amakusa with my friend. And I have been to Iwate prefecture to meet my friend and to fish. Do you know Iwate prefecture in Japanese? I think that Iwate is very good!! If you come to Japan, I will recommend going there !!
(310 word)

"Self Introduction"

Hello! My name is Eiichi miyake. I am 5 grades this year. I hardly went to this university from 1 grade to 3 grade. So I have come to this university from last year. I will study hard to graduate.
My hobby is fishing . I often go to Amakusa with myfriend. But My friend is in Iwate now. So I rarely meet my friend. But He is going to return to Kumamoto in goalden week. I can go to fishing with him. I look foward to going to Amakusa with myfriend! And I have been to Iwate to meet my friend and to fish. Iwate is good. I want to go to Iwate again !! [115 words]

To next student

This class is very hard. But I think everyone can grow up by this class. Because there are many assigntment such as dairy's blog, essay, bookreview, portforio, so on. To be sure , you think this assigntment is very hard, but it is important to write it everyday. And you must do typing speedtrial. You must write 100 word in spring seminer. So you must practice everyday! And you must do typing speed trial in writing class. If you attend this class, you work hardry, you will grow up!! Do your best!! Fight!!

Months	08	09	10	11	12	01	Totals	fn	Indices
Book reviews
Blog posts
Words
TOTAL	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

1.0. Essays

(See: Note 3, below)

1.1. Showcase	Short titles [+ links]	Dates (yy.mm.dd)	¶	W	C	L	P	M	Notes
Mega- essay 07.10.12
Favorite place(-s) 07.10.26
Movie review 07.11.11
Community life 07.11.25
TV in Japan 07.12.09
Learning w/ computers 07.12.21
Totals	---	---							---

Key:

¶: number of paragraphs three or more sentences in length

W: number of words

C: number of comments

L: number of links

P: number of photos or other graphics
M: number of other media included

1.2. Best Essay

Selection and Assessment: Which of those essays do you feel is the best that you've written this semester, and why? Please remember that a complete answer is better than a short answer, and give at least two reasons to support your assessment.

• [Remove square brackets, including these remarks; identify your best essay, and write out reasons for selecting it here.]
  

2.0. Comments

Showcase	Titles of posts with links	Dates of comments (yy.mm.dd)	Numbers of words in comments	Qualities of comments**
2.1. Your first comment on your instructor's blog*
2.2. Your best comment on a classmate's blog*
2.3. Best comment by a classmate on your blog*
2.4. Most comments on:	Titles of posts with link	Dates of posts (yy.mm.dd)	Total number of words in comments	Qualities of comments*
2.4.1. Any one of your essays*
2.4.1.1. When did you respond to those comments?	---		---	---
2.4.1.2. How did you respond to those comments?	---	---
2.4.2. Any of your other posts*
2.4.2.1. When did you respond to those comments?	---		---	---
2.4.2.2. How did you respond to those comments?	---	---

----------
* Current semester comments on essays and other posts
** Please list the most important qualities of comments on each type of blog post.

2.5. Recent comments display

Does your blog display recent comments from blog visitors in a prominent location, for example in a sidebar, header, or footer widget? Where or why not?

• ...
  

2.6. Additional reflections on comments

• [Remove square brackets, including these remarks; write out your reflections on giving and receiving comments here.]
  

3.0. Typing Speed Trials

Showcase	Numbers of words	Dates (yy.mm.dd)
3.1. Worst typing speed trial*
3.2. Best typing speed trial*
3.3. Improvement (best minus worst)		---
3.4. Average speed for three (3) most recent speed trials**

----------
* Current semester typing speed trials (five minutes)
** Please list all three dates.

4.0. Book Reviews

4.1. Showcase	Short titles with links	Dates (yy.mm.dd)	Words	Comments
Example:	Vampire Killer	07.05.16	39	1
2-01
2-02
2-03
2-04
2-05
2-06
2-07
2-08
2-09
2-10
2-11
2-12
2-13
2-14
2-15
2-16
2-17
2-18
---	---	TOTALS:

Note: Please calculate book review words and comments totals without the example (above).

4.2. Best Book Review

Selection and Assessment: Which of those book reviews do you feel is the best that you've written this semester, and why? Please remember that a complete answer is better than a short answer, and give at least two reasons to support your assessment.

• [Remove square brackets, including these remarks; identify your best book review, and write out reasons for selecting it here.]

5.0. Blog Layout, Labeling, Linking, & Media

Showcase	Yes	No
5.1. Does your blog have an archive?
5.1.1. Does the archive display the titles of posts?
5.1.2. Is the archive organized by month?
5.1.3. Is the archive at or near the top of the sidebar?
5.2. Does your blog have labels displayed in sidebar?
5.2.1. Do your labels include these required labels (typed accurately):	---	---
"books" (plural) AND "reviews" (plural)
"essays" (plural) AND "portfolios" (plural, without "proto-")
"quickposts" (plural, with no space between quick and posts)
"links" (plural) AND "media" (plural)
"movies" (plural) AND "photos" (plural)
5.2.2. Does your sidebar display other labels?
How many other labels have you attached to three (3) or more posts? ___ other labels attached to three or more posts	---	---
Which labels, and to how many posts each? Please list those labels instead of www, xxx, yyy..., and list numbers of posts instead of n, m, o... (in parentheses), below. www (n) xxx (m) yyy (o) zzz (p) ...	---	---
5.3. Links & media	---	---
5.3.1. Does your blog include pictures or other graphics?
Does your blog profile include a picture or graphic representation?
How many of your blog posts this semester include pictures or other graphics? ___ posts including pictures or other graphics	---	---
5.3.2. Does your blog include posts with multiple links?
How many of your posts this semester include three (3) or more links?* ___ posts including three or more links (including this portfolio!)	---	---
5.3.3. Does your blog include other media?
How many of your blog posts this semester include other media? ___ posts including other media	---	---
What kind(-s) of media have you included in posts this semester? Please list them here: ... ... ...	---	---

5.4. Overall presentation

What have you done to enhance the overall presentation of your blog? List and explain the three most important content, formatting, layout, or other presentation changes or enhancements that you have made on your blog this semester.

1. ...
2. ...
3. ...

6.0. Additional reflections on your blog writing

• ...

7.0. Suggestions for your peers and successors

• ...

____________________
Notes:

1. This portfolio template amplifies the template for Writing IIIc portfolios.
2. The overview section (0.0. Overview, above) derives from Proto-Portfolio 2-01.
3. This essays section (1.0. Essays, above) derives from Proto-Portfolio 2-02.

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