Describe a treasured object

It is difficult to say the only one treasure for me. I have a lot of very important objects. Basically, I'm no good at throwing something. I mean, I always ends up keeping an object when I think this is needed or not. I feel that everything has a lot of memories. I know that I do not need that any more but I feel as if I will need it some day. That never happen, though. My sister says to me "you can keep your memory in your heart. That is enough." I know it is true but I can not, for the life of me, throw that away.

But if I have to say the only one treasure, it is the letter from my friend. I might have to say my old friend. I do not know where he is now and what he is doing now. He was my friend when I was an elementary school student. I feel that we always quarreled. But it was fun for me. After we went to junior high school, we hardly talked each other. I do not know that reason, though. And then we went to different high school. Since then, I have never met him.

The letter he gave me is not written about special things. It is written about just normal things. I can say he wrote very silly things. The reason why that letter is very important for me is not the text of that letter. It is because that is very important memory. You might say "Memory, again!?" But this memory is very special for me. He might be my first love if I think of it now. I still have the letter from him in my wallet. I might can not meet him again but I won't forget him.

I think that we have some things we can get only in our childhood. We experience a lot of things at the first time in the life in our childhood. Of caurse, We can not go back to childhood. The memories in our childhood are very special because we can not feel things which we felt when we were children.

I got troubled a lot and have a lot of bad memories and of caurse, a lot of good memories too. Including those, I do not want to forget all of memories in my childhood.

Poem - copy, paste, explain

A Friend's Greeting

I'd like to be the sort of friend that
you have been to me;
I'd like to be the help that
you've been always glad to be;

I'd like to mean as much to you
each minute of the day
As you have meant, old friend of mine,
to me along the way.

I'd like to do the big things and
the splendid things for you,
To brush the gray from out your skies
and leave them only blue;

I'd like to say the kindly things that
I so oft have heard,
And feel that I could rouse your soul
the way that mine you've stirred.

I'd like to give you back the joy
that you have given me,
Yet that were wishing you a need
I hope will never be;

I'd like to make you feel as rich as I,
who travel on
Undaunted in the darkest hours

with you to lean upon.

I'm wishing at this time that

I could but repay
A portion of the gladness that
you've strewn along my way;

And could I have one wish this year,
this only would it be:
I'd like to be the sort of friend
that you have been to me.

- Edgar A Guest -

This is the poem I found in a site. I like it because I sympathized with it very much. I like the last phrase, "I'd like to be the sort of friend that you have been to me." He said the same thing in the first place. After he said it first, he told what sort of friend he want to be. Then, he repeated this phrase. I like this way of writing too.

After I left Japan and came to the United State, I realized the importance of friends again. I was helped by a lot of friends many times. When I came here first, I didn't have any friends here. I couldn't even speak English well. At the case like that, I got a lot of mails from friends in Japan. I couldn't stop crying and thought I have to do my best. And I got a lot of friends here. They also helped and encouraged me a lot. Friends are irreplaceable asset to me. As they helped me, I want to help them. As they make me happy, I want to make them happy. I'd like to be the sort of friend that they have been to me.

Things I do not miss about my country

It's very difficult to say about things I do not miss about my country. I miss a lot of things about my country. But even so, I know some bad things in Japan. I found a lot of bad and good things about Japan since I came to the Unites States.

First of all, I think Japan is very unsociable country because Japan is a island country. And also people in Japan are unsociable. Most of them are very scared of talking with a stranger. Especially when they have to use English like languages which isn't Japanese, they suddenly stop talking. It's not because they can't speak English. Of cause, they can't speak English as same way as native speakers. However, they ought to know at least some words. When my friend came here, I took her to a restaurant. I told her to order by herself because she came all the way over here. I thought she should try to speak English at least a little. I taught her how can we order in English. But she adamantly said "I can't, I cannot". I don't know why she wouldn't try. I guess she is afraid of making a mistake or something.

They don't want to get involved in strangers. I heard they don't even want to sit just next to a person in train and bus. I don't like the thing of that sort in Japan. That's why I like the greeting here. People in here always exchange greetings with a person who meet at the first time. That is very comfortable for me.

Secondly, I also don't like Japanese education. It seems that we don't have many choices for subjects. Of cause, we do have a few choices but it's not enough at all. When I was a high school student, we had to choose chemistry or biology. I prefer chemistry so I wanted to learn it. However, very few people chose chemistry. At the result, we couldn't have a choice to learn chemistry. All of us have to learn biology. My teacher told me that when we take a exam for entering university, it is going to be easier to take biology tests than taking chemistry tests. I didn't want to learn something for just going to university.

Our English education is also just for going to university. We learn English at least for six years. However, most of us are very afraid of speaking English and they always say "I can't speak English". We just focus on grammar in English class. We really don't have any chances for speaking English. In general, we can't say that people who do well in English class can speak English well. I think we should need some changes for that.

Every countries have both good things and bad things. It's very natural but we should know both of them. After that we also need to learn from other countries and try to change to good way.

Interview a family member

I had a interview with my sister. She just came to the United States three days ago.

*How do you like the United States?

It was the first time to come to the United States for me. I wanted to come here for a long time. I'm very happy to come here. I came here just three days ago, so I don't know about the United States very much. I guess I like here.

*What do you want to do here?

Of course, first of all I want to study English. I also want to go to all sorts of places and meet all sorts of people. Oh, and one more thing, I want to try to ride a horse. I'd like to go to school for riding horses and know how to ride a horse. It's very difficult and expensive to ride a horse in Japan. I really want to do that! And I want to try a lot of things which I can't try or is difficult to do in Japan.

*You went to a lot of countries, right? What is your favorite country among countries you have ever been to? And what country do you want to go to next?

I don't know... I like every countries, actually. Each of them has a lot of good things.

I want to go to England next. Though I've been to a lot of countries in Asia, I've never been to Europe. I want to have good tea there. And I want to go to Stonehenge. I like history and going to remains. I've visited to a lot of remains in Asia. All of them are very mysterious and interesting for me. I want to visit more ruins in a lot of countries.

*You studied abroad in China for seven years, right? Do you like China? Is it easy to live for you in China?

Yeah, of course I like China and I think it's easy to live there. It's kind of dangerous in some places, though. More than anything, everything is very cheap there. But I prefer to live in Japan, actually. Japan is the best, I think.

********************************************************************************

Yeah, I also think Japan is the best to live. I want to go back to Japan.

Thank you very much for your cooperation. Enjoy yourself in the United States.

A brush with authority [police, parent...]

When I was young, I sometimes fought with my parents. I mean, I was scolded by them. I couldn't talk back to them very much. It made me irritated and I always took it out on things. Even crying in front of them was mortifying for me. I always put up with that and cried in secret. I also thought that I didn't do wrong at all. I sometimes asked to myself why they were so mad. Though I never asked them that, I sometimes took an attitude like "whatever...". Of cause, I knew that it made them be mad more. But it was the only resistance that I could do at that time. And my resistance were always in vain, as they started to scold me more as expected. At the same time, I always thought that I wanted to be an adult instantly, I knew that it was impossible though. I used to think that adults always take children's free and I can be free when I become an adult. I know that it is not true now but I believed that seriously at that time.
A clash between adults and children is very difficult problem. Adults scold children for upbringing and, children dislike that and think that they want to do whatever they want to do. We can't say which is right sweepingly. For adults they have their own opinions and for children they also have their own opinions. I think when we are children, it might be difficult to understand adults' opinions. Actually I, myself, couldn't understand adults' say and feeling when I was young. Now I feel as if I have became to understand that little by little. Though I won't say that all of what I was said by adults is right, I can say that some of those were right.

When we have an argument with somebody, it might be very difficult to listen to what the person we are fighting with is saying. I think that we usually think our opinion is right and end up putting forward a counterargument. Indeed, that might be true. It, however, won't help our argument solve. We sometimes need to listen to and accept what he/she is saying. I'm sure that it helps the relation between us and him/her become better.

How the Santa Clarita Valley came into being and it is changing.

The Santa Clarita is the fourth largest city in Los Angeles country. It was formed by incorporation on December 15, 1987. The original City Council included Mayor Howard "Buck" McKeon, Mayor Pro-tem Jan Heidt and Councilmembers Jo Anne Darcy, Carl Boyer and Dennis Koontz.
In 1989, the City moved into its new City Hall building on Valencia Boulevard where the City government headquarters remain today.

Since incorporation, Santa Clarita has won annual awards for its strong fiscal management and investments. The City's growth in sales tax revenue, outside grant funding and a "good business budget" have helped to keep Santa Clarita a strong city.

Santa Clarita opened its first new park in 1989 in Canyon Country. The 17-acre Canyon Country park was the first of many new facilities and amenities built by the City. Others include Begonias Lane Park, Creekview Park, Circle J Ranch Park, Central Park, Pamplico Park, the Newhall Community Center, the Santa Clarita Sports Complex, including a skate park, activities center, gymnasium and aquatics center, 14 miles of off-street trails, three Metrolink stations, new landscaped medians, new roads, and more.
Since incorporation, the City has increased recreational opportunities by more than 400%. A variety of low-cost classes, sports programs, special events and lessons are offered quarterly through the SEASONS booklet which is mailed to every household. Some of these include: the annual Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival, River Rally, Arbor Day, Marathon and half Marathon events, Concerts in the Parks, Emergency Expo, and the 4th of July fireworks show.
The city oversees a variety of high quality programs and services for residents. Some of these include: free graffiti removal service, free pothole service, free park mobile service, free used oil pickup, free sidewalk repair, free parenting programs, free street tree care and planting, free skate park use, free one stop career center services and more.
Santa Clarita's most famous attraction is the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. It's located just outside the city limits in unincorporated Los Angeles County. I've been there once. It is just crazy... Most of attractions are very scary roller coasters. Actually I like riding roller coasters. But it was too much for me. Once is enough, I think. It was very crowded at the day, though.

The Santa Clarita is very new city. I'm very sure that it will grow more and more. I look forward how it's going to change and be.

An investigation of $100 laptop - can it work?

$100 laptop, I have never met quite so cheap laptop. But even if it existed, I would never bought it. It might work barely but I'm very sure that it is very very slow. It is going to make me irritated very much. There is every possibility to break down soon even if I could turn on the power. There is also some possibility that I can't even turn on the power. It's very awful, if it happen. A $100 laptop is very cheap but actually, we can say that it might be very expensive. Even if I paid $100 and got a laptop, if it didn't work and I couldn't use it at all, it's going to come to much the same thing as throwing $100 away. If I were in that place, I'm sure that I will use $100 for another things than such an useless laptop.

In general, a personal computer is very expensive but it was much more expensive before. It was a thing which we couldn't buy easily. Now it's getting cheaper and cheaper. A computer got to be very necessary for us now. It is not too much to say that we can't live without a computer. I, myself use a computer every day. If my computer breaks down, I'm going to get into a lot of trouble.

A lot of new personal computers with new technology and function are developing year by year. As a consequence, the number of old personal computers, I mean those which were new model before, is also getting increasing. A new model now is going to be an old model three years later. Stores have to discount a little bit on them. Unless they do that, old computers will be unsold. That's why, the decrease of price for personal computers is happening, I think. And when I came to the United States, I was surprised that a personal computer in the United Stated is cheaper than one in Japan. I don't know why but I guess that because everything is expensive in Japan. Anyway It's kind of difficult to buy a computer with less than a hundred thousand yen [about $850] in Japan. But here I think that we can buy one if we aren't fussy about that. The price of computers is decreasing certainly. The day which we can meet $100 laptop might come someday.