I had a car accident last week. My car was broken and it will be scrapped. I was so shocked because it was still new. My grandmother bought it for me last year so I’m very sorry for her.
But I did not get any injuries at all in the accident. I’m thankful for small mercies.
Now all I have to do is wait for the result of a raiting blame between my adversary and me. I think that I should fall back on my insurance company.

February 14th is Valentine’s Day. Why do we celebrate this day?

One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius got so angry and Valentine was put to death.

He fell in love with a young blind girl while in prison. He sent a letter to the girl and he signed “From your Valentine” in the letter before he died. After she read the letter, she recovered her eyesight. She and her family expressed their most heartfelt thanks to Valentine and converted to Christianity. People think this story is romantic and Valentine was a heroic person. It is widely thought that the letter Valentine sent is a representation of the power of love.

In Japan, White Day is March 14th. Men who was given chocolates by women on Valentine’s day give something back on that day. However, I was surprised that there is also Orange Day. Orange Day is April 14th. On Orange Day, one visits his or her partner with an orange present. The day is called Black Day in South Korea.

There is a flu going around. Winter is called the flu season. I caught flu for the first time. I thought I caught just a cold because I did not know the difference between a flu and a cold. So I was shocked when I heard the fact from my doctor.

Mysterious eruption of bird flu was a big news and bird flu problem is still serious.

I was surprised at the map. It shows the level of the spread of flu by prefectures. You can know Mie is the ninth most dangerous prefecture. I found why I can see more people who have the flu than usual. But I cannot understand what this map shows. Matsusaka and Kumano don’t issue a flu alert. Is it a mere accident? Come to think of it, I don’t know people in Kumano who have caught a flu though I know some flu-stricken patients in Matsusaka…

Horumon is not hormone. It means innards of beef or pork. We sometimes enjoy eating horumon when we have a barbecue .

I thought the word horumon was borrowed from English word because it is written in katakana. But it is wrong…

There are two theories about the etymology of horumon.

First theory is that horumon derives from the dialect word horu (“to throw away”) and mon, a dialectal variant of mono (thing). In previous times, innards are thought as a part to be thrown away after cutting other edible muscles. Horumon is very popular part of meat but it was not some time ago.

Second theory is that horumon was a name caught onto the popularity of Hormone that was a catch-phrase after the end of World War Ⅱ. The word Hormone was popular because it means physiologically active substance and it was regarded as a good word in the high economic growth period. As above, horumon had a bad image because the shape is grotesque and it is cheaper than other part of meet. But now people think that horumon is good for building energy.

I was surprised at the second theory. I don’t have a good image about hormone because some hormones are referred to as carcinogens like EDC (endocrine-disrupting chemicals).

I started to play the guitar last March and I’m a member of a beginner band. We practice once a week. We often play Japanese pop or rock music and sometimes play original songs. We have appeared on stage in Kameyamashi Nouryo Taikai last summer.

I visited a Live Journal page named J-ROCK Guitar&Bass Tabs and posted a comment. It is a community of guitarists. They write their questions, experiences about playing the guitar. After that, other people comment on the posts. It may seem just a bulletin board but it is an interesting page for me. I can get tips to improve my playing skills by reading and posting. Some people record their original guitar tunes and post them. When I listened to one of the numbers, I got motivated to play the guitar. However, some technical words are difficult for me because I am a beginner…

If you like Live Journal, it is convenient to join the community as a member. After you register, you can post easily.

I want to look for communities about other subjects.

I went to Mt. Hiei lying lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga prefectures last Sunday. There are some famous temples called Enryakuji. It is famous for the main temple of Tendai sect of Buddhism founded by Saicho. It was burned in a fire by Nobunaga Oda in 1571 but it was rebuilt.

I can’t say I really know much about Buddhism but I knew the name of the place. However, I felt the silent beauty when I stepped into one of temples in Enryakuji. I cannot explain the feeling but I think old and holy temples make the atmosphere. I’m sure that other tourists didn’t talk loudly and remain silent. I think it is natural that many famous writters cover this temple in their novels. Maybe it’s my imagination, but I got the feeling that resident priests glared at me with a grim look in his eyes because I am a lighthearted university student and I was not used to the formal and holy place.

By the way, the view from the mountain was so beautiful! We can look over a glitter of Lake Biwa from the snow- covered mountain. I paid high tollage to get on Okuhiei Wrive Way but the view was worth paying. Though it was terribly cold, I got out of my cay several times and took some photos. I did not have my degital camera and a camera with cell-phone was broken so it’s too bad I cannot post the pictures on this blog. When I got to Mie, I felt Mie was so warm and comfortable.

I read the biggest sports news.
The world link said

The Seattle Mariners’ All-Star right fielder will play for Japan in the inaugural World Baseball Classic next March, said a person within Major League Baseball who requested anonymity because an official announcement had not been made.

The most famous athlete in Japan today has accepted an invitation from the country’s most famous athlete of yesteryear. Sadaharu Oh, the Japanese League home run king, will coach the national team in the March tournament involving international players and major-league players competing for their home countries.

I think it’s great news for my friends and me. My favorite baseball player isn’t Ichiro but he is the most famous Japanese player in Major League. I want to compare his performance with other Japanese player’s. Maybe some people have no great opinion of his play in Japan because some friends of mine say Ichiro’s attitude toward Japanese reporters has got worse.

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I went to Tenri city in Nara prefecture with friends at night. Ryohei who is beginning driver took me there.

I was invited to eat dinner with him because he got his own car but I didn’t expect to go so far! He was so glad to get his car that maybe he wanted to show his great driving skill. In addition to it, there are some famous ramen shops and he loves ramen more than anything.

I was very scared because night is too dengerous to drive and he got on the expressway. When I came back to Tsu, I was so relieved but it was not the end of the trip. I had to play bowling until two thirty, for fellow passenger could not disobey the driver.

The trip was so tiring for me but it gave me a enjoyable night and a brand-new experience.

Along with my fellow seniors, I presented an interim report on my graduation thesis on Wednesday. I felt nervous about making my presentation in front of teachers and students because I am not accustomed to public speaking in English. My topic is “A Study of Creating Internet Materials for Weak EFL Junior High School Students”.  Using a piece of free software called “Hot Potatoes” to create them, I made a few vocabulary, spelling and grammar exercises and showed them with a a computer and a projector.  
I practiced reading my script several times but I still made some mistakes. As you’d expected, I made some pronunciation mistakes, but I also made unusual mistakes: I left part of my script where I was sitting and didn’t notice until I was in the midst of the presentation. I was so embarrassed. Another mistake was how to use the computer in the presentation. I didn’t plan it so I was confused. I think that I should have moved around and pointed to the whiteboard onto which I projected the exercises.

After the presentation, I couldn’t answer the professor’s questions correctly. I had some predictions of the questions but teachers’ questions took me by surprise.

Though I could not make my presentation well, I think that it was a valuable meeting. I could find my fault about my use of English, my thesis and my attitude towards the presentation. I know that we must not hesitate to use English because we are students of English. Most importantly, though: the presentations given by my fellow students gave me more motivation to finish writing my paper.

Non-Japanese readers may not be able to read Japanese characters, and sometimes Japanese characters even show as garbage on their screens. Therefore, it’s not a good idea to use kanji when setting one’s name in an e-mail program: only alphabetic letters can be read by everyone. I can tell you how to make the change if you use Yahoo Mail.

You first have to log into Yahoo Mail. Then you can see a メールオプション (Options) link towards the top right corner. On the next screen, you should click {詳細設定ï½?(General Preferences) in the {カスタマイズ} (Personalization) category .You should then see your name at the top of the entry field. At this point, all you need is to delete the kanji, re-type your name in Roman letters, and you’re done!

Happy international e-mailing!