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NEED A FATHER?
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- 2007/10/31(Wed) -
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In the U.S. several widows who’d lost their husbands in Iraq war got pregnant by using their dead husbands’ sperm and produced children.
Special discounts offered by a leading sperm bank to servicemen going to Iraq might have played a big role on these pregnancies, though servicemen had stored sperm just in case they might get wounded or exposed to chemicals that could cause fertility deficiencies. Certainly not the backup plan for their death. Eventually those mothers have to face their children to tell them the truth, which makes me wonder how the children would react to it. Or, I’m just curious how they feel about their fathers. Would they feel they are somehow attached to their fathers? Or would they feel attached anyway regardless of the process? Natural or in vitro? Sad thing is, as a man, whenever I read this kind of story I just can’t help wondering if a man is really needed to produce a child. All a baby needs from one’s father is, technically speaking, his sperm, not himself. Years ago, there was a couple in England whose daughter was going to die unless there was a donor to go on her born marrow transplantation, like Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). For years the couple hadn’t been able to find any donor who was compatible with their daughter, and the time was running out, so they finally decided to have another child since a brother or sister has a higher chance to be compatible. So the second child was born, but the baby wasn't, and the couple tried again. The third child was born, and this time the baby was perfectly compatible with the girl and the baby saved his sister’s life. Some people argued that it was unethical to have a child for that sort of purpose, saying there should be no purpose involved when you plan to have a baby. But I thought it was a great story. Some people plan to get pregnant, while others get pregnant more or so ‘accidentally'.. But in both cases, pregnancy doesn’t involve with any purpose other than keeping one’s heritage or adding another member to one’s family. This child was preemptively planned to save his sister! And I think it is beautiful. ◆ JOE ◆ |
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SLIPPERY
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- 2007/10/30(Tue) -
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James Watson, who had caused an uproar over his controversial racial comments, retired as chancellor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Dr James Dewey Watson is a Nobel Prize winning American molecular biologist. He is best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA. He has dedicated his life for deciphering DNA and fighting against cancer and mental illness. The uproar came shortly after his comments on the Sunday Times Magazine published on Oct. 14, 2007, in which he states that he is “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really.” While hoping that everyone is equal, he stated “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true.” He denounced discrimination based on color since “there are many people of color who are very talented, but don’t promote them when they haven’t succeeded at the lower level.” Doctor Watson’s spins;
Well, saying “. . . some of us are great musicians and others are great engineers” is like a fancy well-veiled way to say “Blacks aren’t good at anything except music and sports,” don’t you think? At least it sounds to me, yeah. ◆ JOE ◆ |
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RELIGIOUS
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- 2007/10/29(Mon) -
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I wonder how many Japanese people know how religious Americans are.
According to various polls, roughly 80% of American adults consider themselves as Christian. About half of them don’t believe the scientific theory of evolution. Roughly 70% of Americans prefer creationism to be taught in schools along with the theory of evolution. Moreover, about 45% of Americans want ONLY creationism to be taught. (Creationism is a religious belief that God created everything, such as humanity, life, Earth, universe and etc.) The Newsweek poll conducted in March 2007 showed 91 percent of American adults believe in God. And Time magazine reported that 61% of American have no doubt about the existence of God. The Newsweek poll also revealed that, as for the prospect of next year’s presidential election, 62 percent of registered voters in the U.S. say they wouldn’t vote for a candidate who rejects the existence of God. So there might be a female president or African-American president, but there’ll be no atheist president. ◆ JOE ◆ |
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SUDDEN FAME
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- 2007/10/27(Sat) -
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So I was reading Irvin Welsh’s The Acid House at Starbucks. Reading his books had tended to end up spending more time on ‘deciphering the language’ and unexceptionally I was having a hard time deciphering it.
Anyway, this store is located very close to all sorts of clubs and hostess bars, and through the glass walls you see a lot of them walking by, fully in their battle gears. So at first I hadn’t paid much attention to a girl who sat on the table next to mine. She was around twenty or much younger with that super-sized-triple-Osaka-bomber hairstyle, wearing too much makeup and too much perfume which was following her like a shadow in the air, and all those accessories she put on made a crunchy, disturbing noise as she moved , yet somehow she pulled together to possess a traditional beauty type of air around. Probably ten twenty minutes after her arrival, I realized a Caucasian guy, sitting three or four tables from mine, was staring at me. (BTW, a foreigner/Japanese ratio is pretty high due to so many language schools around here.) He had those dead eyes of a dope-head surfer who forgot, because of too much dope he sucked in, to go back home after the typhoon season was over. Or he must have had the worst hangover ever! He wasn’t happy, and he looked very disturbed. And I thought that he could be a N0VA teacher. Anyway, I realized what he was staring wasn’t me but the book I was holding, and when our eves were finally met, he did something I hadn’t expected. He gave me an approving nod, which confirmed my speculation that he was nothing but heavily intoxicated. Then his eyes landed on (it seemed like) the girl, and stayed there for a while. He had the same disturbed look on his face, and again, what he was looking at wasn’t really her but the book she was reading, which was, so amazingly, Irvin Welsh’s Trainspotting (and that girl was taking notes!!!). Moreover, there was a book right beside him. With that super conspicuous pink cover page with a picture of bold man on it, that was, no doubt, Irvin Welsh’s Ecstasy! Well, this can happen, like, several people on the train have the same author’s different books, but . . . Y’now why he looked disturbed? By the way, I met the same girl again, about two three days after that, in the city an hour from the Starbucks store. She was alone sitting on the bench in front of Seven Eleven, with medium-sized Osaka bomber, and wearing no makeup, and SO HAPPILY eating ODEN! And yeah, she was holding the same book in one hand. ◆ JOE ◆ |
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BOOKS
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- 2007/10/27(Sat) -
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What are you guys currently reading?
Imagine this: you started reading, say, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code for your English educational purposes, and after 100 pages or so you just stopped reading it, and now it’s been untouched almost for a year. Do you feel guilty? Please don’t! The way I see it is, reading five pages of the novels that I really like helps me so much more than just doing those grammar exercises, and sometimes even reading reviews would just cut it fine! (Yes, I know, Karen, I wouldn’t bring that up here! Relax!) I believe that you learn so much more from reading five pages (or one chapter) over and over than reading 500 pages once. I don’t think I’m bookish, though I love reading, and nowadays almost all the books that I read are written in English. Above all I like literature, but I also read those thriller writers, such as Stephen King, Dan Brown, John Grisham, and Thomas Harris. I’d say John Grisham is the easiest, and Stephen King is the hardest (and usually the longest). And as I said above, I read the ones I like repeatedly for my educational purposes. I guess I’ve so far read Thomas Harris’s Hannibal more than 10 times. Anyway, I also think the acclaim (acclaiming comments) on the cover and very first few pages are very educational. For instance, from Thomas Harris’s Hannibal From Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code Now you guys know what I mean by ‘educational’! And if you have English novels that have been untouched for months and years, why not just start it with reading those comments? JOE |
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NEWS BY JOE
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- 2007/10/26(Fri) -
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Marion Jones admitted she had taken steroids!
She ends up facing up to six months in prison and getting her 2000 medals stripped out. In addition, her relay teammates lose their medals. Jones also pleaded guilty for her perjury charge, though claiming that she thought it was mere flaxseed oil, which was how she was told by her coach, and that she was trying to protect the coach, and she was panicked. Some can’t help wondering how the hell she thought it was just flaxseed oil while her coach kept on telling her ‘not to tell anyone about it’! I’m very sorry to hear what she’d done to herself, like taking steroids and lying to her fans for all those years, y’know, she was the best among all even without steroids. Marion, blame the coach and blame all the men in your life! Providing birth control pills to girls aged 11 to 13 in middle schools in two cities has made some parents uneasy. In Baltimore and Portland, ME, parents against the provision are denouncing it for violating parental rights and encouraging premature sex. All in all, they claim, having sex with 13-year-old is illegal! Those who say ‘nevertheless’ fight back arguing that protecting girls from dropping out middle schools due to their pregnancy should be the number one priority, and kids are having sex anyway. Let’s face it and smell the teen spirit! A 72-year-old man donated his sperm to get his daughter-in-law pregnant The couple, this old man’s own son and his son’s wife, so desperately wanted the baby to be genetically related to its nominal dad (the old man’s son), and the old man stood up! So the baby will be a son or daughter of, genetically speaking, one’s grandpa! And that makes the nominal father, genetically speaking again, the baby’s half brother! (BTW, three women so far have given birth to their grandchildren!) Well . . . so the grandpa is the baby’s biological father, and aside from some speculations that the kid will freak out when he or she finds it out, or some rebuttals that the old people’s sperm might cause genetic disease, my concern is . . . what the hell is he to his daughter-in-law? Father-in-law to her and a biological father to her son! Also, isn’t this like the act of reproduction without intercourse? But now we are all on the edge where we have to admit and say ‘WHY NOT!’. RIGHT? |
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Dear my friend
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- 2007/10/25(Thu) -
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This is Karen. I'm talking about my friend.
I started this blog about six months ago. Since then, there has been some phrases under the blog title. I don't mind not knowing what I'm headed for. You can take me to the skies... I guess some people might know these sentences. Those are from the lyrics of the song Lost In Your Eyes by Debbie Gibson. I love this song. I think those lyrics are so girlie, fantastic and way too romantic. But I found another meaning in them. I really want to have a good command of English. I want to speak English like a native English speaker. My friend, who knows my dream, just recommended me to start to keep a diary in English six months ago. He didn't say this acutally, but I felt he said, "Anyway, keep going, Karen. You'll see." That's why I've kept this blog until now. I always feel a little bit ashamed to show my English to everyone, even if they don't know my real name. But I'm aware that the best way to improve my writing skills effectively is to write English more & more often. I don't know how long I can keep maintaining this blog. I don't know how many pieces I can write here. I don't know what my destinaion is, but I don't care. I believe SOMEONE can take me to the skies, even to Heaven. That's why I put these phrases under the title. I don't mind not knowing what I'm headed for. You can take me to the skies... As you notice, I share a blog with some guy. He's been absent for a long, long time, like, no less than 5 months! Contrary to the proverb "Long absent, soon forgotten," I had never forgotten him, EVER. I had just been waiting for him to write something in English again. It's like, Wherever you go Whatever you do I will be right here waiting for you --- Right Here Waiting (Richard Marx) I'm so weak that I've thought of closing this blog so many times. I need someone who can discourage me from shutting this site and can whip my butt, shouting, "Don't stop writing! Keep writing!" I feel I finally understand what Madonnna been singing about. What you need is a big strong hand To lift you to your higher ground --- Express Yourself (Madonna) I'm no longer a child. I'm a grown-up woman. So I should become more independent. But sometimes I need... I'm not talking about when, where & how we met each other. Anyway, he and I share a blog now. I think it's like that we share an apartment. I feel so honored to have such a cool & lovely 'roommate' like him. It might be too late, but let me say this, my friend, "Welcome home, Joe." I'm participating in ranking.  I'd really appreciate it if you could vote for this blog, which cheers me up so much! |
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AGAINST ALL ODDS part1
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- 2007/10/23(Tue) -
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This is Joe again to write about those weird things keep on happening to me.
One night, probably 15 years ago, I met one Japanese girl at a party in NYC. She was a student in LA, staying just for a week to visit her friend in NY. We talked all night, and the next day we went out for dinner. Nothing romantic happened between us. We just talked about ourselves, and all those stories about our families and childhood experiences on which we found we shared many things in common really fascinated us. She was born in Japan but raised in Brazil. She went to a Japanese grade school there and then an international junior high & high school where she learned English, then moved to LA to go to college, and such and such. Anyway, somehow we both failed to keep in touch; she was staying there only for a week and I was moving around, and then I forgot about her. 10 years later, I was on a vacation, sitting on the stool at the bar in Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport Schiphol), drinking Heineken, trying to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do for the next four hours till the plane scheduled to London. One Asian-looking girl sat next to me and ordered a glass of Heineken with a pretty decent British accent. She took a big sip, and our eyes were met. I said somethinglike "Heineken does taste different here, doesn't it?" She just smiled, and judging by the way she looked at me, I assumed she didn't mind my company, so I introduced myself, telling where I came from and to where I was heading, and stuff. She spoke to me in Japanese, saying such and such about her flight schedule, the detail of which I forgot, moreover, one thing I noticed was that she had this peculiar unknown accent in her Japanese. I asked her very politely where she was from, and she replied "Well, I was born in Japan but raised in Brazil . . . ." Well, I thought about it, but she didn't look like the girl I met in NYC, moreover she sounded too British. So I said "I used to know a girl also born in Japan and raised in Brazil. She is about your age, and went to college in LA, and she speaks Japanese, Portuguese, English, and Spanish, . . . her name is XXXX." She was freaked out, and almost spit beer on me, but somehow she managed to gather herself to say "I know the girl!" I thought she was just kidding, OK, but she then started to describe the girl in detail, like how she looked like and mimicked the way she talks. "In fact, we went the same grade school! What a coincidence! I've never thought anything like this would ever happen to me!" |
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ON THE TRAIN
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- 2007/10/22(Mon) -
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In the beginning was just the word and it was with 'My God!', and it was then 'Oh my God'.
Something really strange keeps on happing to me. The other day on the train, one girl, probably her late twenties, sat right next to me. She wore no make-up, no perfume, and pulled all of her hair back in one bundle that didn't resemble to the tail of any creature as far as I knew. Her attire wasn't really bad, but as someone going to work, she needed to primp just a little by today's standard. Right after she sat down, she hurriedly and abruptly pushed her hand into the cotton bag to rummage out two items, a book and headphone, and started reading the book and listening to the music at the volume which was loud enough to make it possible to tell the name of the band she was listening to. What made me uneasy was the book and the music. She was reading Umberto Eco's The Name Of The Rose in English. Yes, IN ENGLISH! Umberto Eco isn't so unpopular in Japan, and also the novel is a masterpiece and might be popular to some extent especially among those who have seen the movie, but the question is, HOW MANY PEOPLE IN JAPAN HAVE HAD GUTS TO READ THE NOVEL IN ENGLISH! Besides that, she was about to finish the novel. YEAH, the question again, HOW MANY PEOPLE WHO HAD GUTS TO START READING THE NAME OF THE ROSE IN ENGLISH HAVE EVER FINISHED IT!!! And she was listening to Meat Puppets! MEAT PUPPETS! How many people in Japan have ever heard of the name of this band? Once I was a big fan of Meat Puppets, and I'm still a bit fan of Umberto Eco. I wonder, yes, I wonder how many people in Japan the combination of the two would slash out! Isn't it stunningly coincidental? Or shocking to some extent? |
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My son left a note behind.
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- 2007/10/18(Thu) -
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This is karen. I'm talking about my daughter's sports day.
My husband & I videotaped my daughter's event in the front row. When we came back to my place, we found a piece of paper on the mat. That was a note my son left behind. The note said; I drank some tea. from ***** I got hurt. Don't bother yourself about it. My husband & I looked at each other and then burst into laughter. There was no conjunction, like 'and' or 'but.' Sentences were so simple. I would've put the word 'P.S.' before the sentence "I got hurt"... He wanted to say about getting hurt, but he wanted to act like an adult. That made him say, "Don't bother yourself about it," I guess. We looked around to find him. He was playing dodgeball with his friends far in the distance. His face told his happiness. We felt relieved. At the last event, my daughter and I were dancing together to the music. After the closing ceremony, her teacher gave each child a gold medal, on which the word 'Well done!" was carved. We got a little tired, but we had a great time. I was so glad to feel the fact that my daughter & son had grown. I'm looking forward to next sports day already. BTW, when you read the sentence, "Don't bother yourself about it", what kind of Japanese sentence did you imagine? Actually, my son wrote 「おかまいなく。」 on his note. That was so hard to translate in English. "Never mind," "Don't mind me," or "Don't bother." might be possible? I'm not so sure. In my opinion, おかまいなく means, "I got hurt, but I'm okay. So you don't have to worry about it." But what he said was not ご心配なく but おかまいなく. I tried to convey the nuance he had intended. I don't know if I chose the right expression. I often talk about my children here on this blog. I think children's words or expressions are so funny and interesting. Since they don't know a lot of words like adults do, the words they chose are unexpected and make adults laugh. So it is so hard to translate their words into English precisely. I am aware that it is next to impossible to translate their expressions perfectly in English, but I won't stop trying. I'm participating in ranking. I'd really appreciate it if you could vote for this blog, which cheers me up so much! |
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patience and tolerance
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- 2007/10/13(Sat) -
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My daughter really enjoyed throwing some balls into her team's basket at the top of a pole on her sports day （This means 玉入れ）. Her class won. She and her friends were jumping hand in hand, shouting, "Banzai! Banzai!"
However, after throwing balls, she became grumpy. She seemed to get tired & sleepy. She said to us, "I'm so tired! I'm so sleepy! I wanna go home!" We tried to encourage her, but she wouldn't stop complaining. Then her teacher came and said to her, "What's wrong? I believe you can DO it. Because you are very strong. If you do your best, you'll be able to get a gold medal in the end. So, do you wanna get it?" "A gold medal? Great! I really want it!" Her teacher lifted her easily and said to us, "Don't worry about it. It's gonna be okay." I admired her skillful handling of children. "I'll never be able to become a kindergarten teacher. Even if I became a teacher, I would get fired soon," I thought to myself. I'm ashamed to say this, but I don't have even a 10th part of her patience and tolerance. My son, who is 7 years old and a graduate from my daughter's kindgergarten, met a lot of old friends there. They also came to see their siblings participate in events at sports day. "Do I have to stay here and watch my daughter playing? Or can I hang out with my friends?", my son asked. I said, "You can be with your friends." He left our place, where we put our box lunch & some bottled drinks on a mat. After several minutes later, we also left our place in order to videotape my daughter's event. To be continued... ☆NOTE☆ sibling: (formal) a brother or sister (from LONGMAN dictionary) I'm participating in ranking. I'd really appreciate it if you could vote for this blog, which cheers me up so much! |
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Dancing like a cheerleader
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- 2007/10/09(Tue) -
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We went to see my daughter's sports day （運動会） a few days ago. That was her first sports day. My daugher, who is still 3 years old, participated in several events.
At first, she danced to a samba. She jumped & turned like a cheerleader with her face beaming with smiles. I was so proud that she had learned those complicated movements in such a short period of time, like about a month. We have to thank her teacher for teaching dancing to her & her classmates, which required lots of patience, I guess. Next, she carried a portable shrine （おみこし） on her shoulders with her friends. (Strictly speaking, that was not a shrine but a replica of a shrine, though.) She wore a happi （はっぴ） with a twisted towel worn around her head. She looked like a dashing (I-NA-SE) girl in a Happy-Happi. To be continued... ☆NOTE☆ dashing [adj]: a man who is dashing wears nice clothes and is very attractive and confident. (from LONGMAN dictionary) Well, considering this definition, it might be wrong to use the word 'dashing' to describe my daughter. But... I'm sure you understand how I felt when I saw her in a 'OMIKOSHI' outfit. BTW, it's not that I coined (=invented) the word 'Happy-Happi'. I heard the word on ボウケンジャー (super rangers series) about a year ago. Bouken Red wore a Happy-happi, which enabled him to break the curse. Funny, huh? It's like a bringer of good luck （縁起物）. I'm participating in ranking. I'd really appreciate it if you could vote for this blog, which cheers me up so much! |
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Enjoy your motherhood!
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- 2007/10/03(Wed) -
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My daughter and I were taking a nap together the other day. It was a comfortable afternoon. A gentle breeze came through our bedroom. She loves to cuddle up to me in bed, which gives me some heat, but I was also happy.
When she reaches the age of ten or so, I'm so sure she will not want to sleep with me. Now I can touch her soft cheeks, chubby arms & legs like a doll. Her sleeping face gives me peace of mind. I couldn't resist the attractions of falling asleep with her in my arms. I said to myself, "You can post your article on your blog anytime you want. Now you should enjoy your happiness to the fullest..." I fell asleep before I knew it. When I woke up, it was about 3 o'clock. Shortly after I got up, my son came home from school. He said, "I didn't make an appointment with my friends today. I'll stay home. You are so happy to hear that, aren't you?" "Absolutely yes!", I replied. I found another happiness: the happiness of loving and being loved. I guess I should enjoy my motherhood right now as much as I want. I'm participating in ranking. I'd really appreciate it if you could vote for this blog, which cheers me up so much! |
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