I have nearly ZERO critical thinking skills...

"You need to be able to reflect about it in a logical and objective way, recognising all the pros and cons that there might be."

My original definition of Critical Thinking was like "always disagree and bash the other person's opinion completely."

I think that's why I couldn't write something constructive in the previous China post. I read the comments after writing that post and was actually really surprised that there were lots of various opinions about the things that the speaker said. The smallest statement was examined and commented.

And I now know a partial reason why Elka and KC's podcasts are so interesting to listen to---because they critically watch the show and comment on it. They have opinions on most of the scenes and predict what's going to happen next. I'm a passive audience---they are active audiences.

This is probably one of the most important skills that should be taught at school.
And this is probably one of the skills I will gain in the UK.

And the lack of this skill is probably why the Japanese media sucks so fucking bad. (Start watching this from 4:30)

China

I just watched this.

I have no knowledge whatsoever about the topic. I watched it to practice note taking which will be essential in the UK according to this site. I was trying to find out what preparation I should do because I'm just wasting time right now. And I've forgotten most of the stuff I've learned in high school like maths. Would I be in trouble for being really stupid?

Anyway, this is the note I took from the 20 minute lecture.

I never thought about the REASON why China is becoming more and more economically powerful. I just thought of it as just one of those things that will eventually happen. DevelopING countries grow up and become a developED country, right?

I guess China is growing rapidly because they have the right rare metal (which they are keeping to themselves, assholes!) and people are hard working.

I'm not knowledgeable enough to know why!! Gawd!!!!!

All I know is Lady Gaga rules my pants. Born This Way ftw!!!

Reading and Understanding

I was reading a book that my dad bought me like 10 years ago. A Dr Dolittle book. The vocabulary is easy but the content wasn't amusing to me. So my mind wondered off like so many times it has when I'm reading. I started thinking what it means to be able to read and things you read actually goes in your brain. My eyeballs follow the line and I understand the words. But I'm not sure I understand the whole thing. Sometimes I have to read the sentence several times to understand it. I forget what it said in the beginning of the sentence when I'm reading the last part of it. Am I just lacking in concentration or am I dumb or something? I'm not even sure if I understand what understanding means.

Northstar Unit 1

Write a paragraph describing an advertisement and explaining whether or not you think it is effective.

The small ad on the bottom of many YouTube videos are not effective. The whole point of watching a YouTube video is to watch it for free and not waste money. The ad only annoys viewers for it takes up 20% of the screen. I bet most viewers just click the x on the top right and hide the ad before reading what it's advertising. I do. I don't think about buying an apartment when I'm watching Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss A Thing. I understand that it's necessary for the uploaders and YouTube to earn money but I think it would be better if they do effective ads rather than annoying ads.

Pebble

Sometimes good children do bad things against their intention. It happened to me during my stay in London at my cousins' house when I was about 6 years old. Usually, our stay at their house would be packed with plans of places to go and things to do. We would go to museums, castles etc and have many exciting experiences. On that day, however, there was nothing planned. My mum went shopping with my aunt and my uncle was downstairs reading the newspaper. My cousin Felix was outside with his friend Martin and my other cousin Alex was with me upstairs.
Alex and I were playing Mario Cart. I was greatly absorbed by the video game because I didn't own any games at home and this was one of my rare occasions that I could play cool hi-tech (I thought it was) games. I was in deep concentration when I was distracted by a strange noise---Felix and Martin were throwing pebbles at our open window. Irritated by the distraction, I found a pebble that was thrown into the room, picked it up, and threw it back at them. I really couldn't see where the stone landed because the front garden, which was the direction I threw it, had many leafy trees. I could see the two boys' faces among the trees, looking somewhat shocked. "That serves you right" I thought, and triumphantly went back to the video game.
Less than a minute later, my uncle came stomping up the stairs and shouted "what on EARTH are you doing!?" After a horrible moment, I realized I had done something wrong. My uncle continued "the car window's broken!"
I felt my face turn white as a sheet. My uncle's car was parked on the street in front of the house and the stone I threw had hit the window and smashed it. The car couldn't be seen from upstairs because of the leafy trees. I clutched my security blanket and began to cry. I felt afraid. I was a good, sensible kid (still am) and I wasn't used to getting into trouble(still am not). I peeked from upstairs and saw my uncle who had gone downstairs. He saw me looking at him. I said in a little but audible voice, "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." I don't remember what he said to me.

I'm now only glad that the pebble didn't hurt anyone. That would have been far worse...

The Log

It was a cloudy Sunday morning. There was a rule in my apartment that at least one person from one household has to participate in the monthly weeding. This was one of those weeding days. My dad and I got up early. We wore long sleeve shirts and trousers. We went outside at exactly 10 a.m. and many people were already gathering in front of the shed. I got a sickle and my dad got a scythe.
After weeding in front of my apartment for thirty minutes, I went to a nearby park to do some weeding there. As I approached the swings, I noticed a long, dark, think log lying on the path. I wondered why there was a huge log in the park. There weren't any big trees around the area. Only young thin ones were there. I walked towards it. I suddenly realized what it really was and froze. It wasn't a log. It was a huge snake! It was moving from one side of the path to the other side. I watched it slither before me, unable to move. As soon as it disappeared into the bushes I run back to my dad and told him what had just happened. My dad and one of our neighbors same to the park to see only to find nothing.
This happened when I was 6 years old or younger. It is such a peculiar memory that I'm not even certain that it really happened or not. It could be those dreams that you remember vividly and never forget. Whether it is real or not, it was a memorable experience.

Animal Farm

I'm on chapter 5 right now. I'm taking notes of words that I don't know the meaning of as I read. There are lots of words that I've heard before but don't know the meaning.
My mum was delighted about the 1984 video, by the way.

It's embarrassing to admit but the book I'm reading now is Princess Diaries which is totally girly. I just like it because it's HILARIOUS and the content is crappy. :P And it's the second time reading it!
I tend to read a couple of books at the same time. I was reading a Gerald Durrel book before but now I'm on Princess Diaries 4.
Reading the same book over and over and over again is something I do too.

About the Speech Thing

When: November 10th
Register starts at 9:00
First speech stars 10:10
Ends: 14:00
Where: Ibaraki-ken-ritsu library 3rd floor Mito
Who: me and 12 other people will talk about shit.
Why: because we don't have anything better to do.

Taking photos or videos are prohibited.
We can't practice before it starts.

Am I going to this thing on my own? If so, I am sure I will get lost going there. :)

The Hundred Years' War (1337-1453)

Story...

The war began because:

• England wanted France's land and France wanted England's land.
• France didn't like the fact that England ruled a large part of France.

The Battle of Crecy(1346)
This took place in northern France. Historians consider this battle as the beginning of the end(終焉の始まり) of classic chivalry(騎士道).

The Battle of Calais(1347)
After winning the battle of Crecy, the English army marched(行進) to Calais and began a siege(包囲攻撃) which lasted a year. England turned it into a military base(拠点) and it remained in England's hands until 1558.

The Battle of Poitiers(1356)
This happened because Edward and the Black Prince attacked France. King John II of France chased after Edward and this caused two forces to meet outside Poitiers. France nearly won but England won in the end.

The Battle of Harfleur(1415)
Henry V landed in France with about 10,000 men in the summer of 1415. This battle lasted for about a month. Although England won, the army was severely depleted(枯渇した) mainly from illness.

The Battle of Agincourt(1415)
Henry marched his force of about 6,000 knights(騎士) and archers(射手) towards Calais. During this time, the French army of 20,000 managed to position itself between Henry and Calais.
Joan De Ark(1412-1431)
Around 1429, Joan appeared at the court of Charles VII. Charles allowed Joan to lead a relief force(援軍) in April to Orléans. In May, Joan attacked the English at Orléans. She drove the English from their positions. The next day they abandoned the siege. This meant that military advantage now lay with the French.

Newest Speech Contest Script

LGBT. Perhaps many of you here know what it stands for. It is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. I am a bisexual transgender student and I would like to make it clear that sexuality and gender do not always fall into a simple categorization. Thus, I think it is very important that conversations about sexual and gender minorities be more open so as to increase understanding. I personally feel that such conversation is a taboo around me and lack of understanding causes a negative impact to the attitude against sexual and gender minorities from an early age. You can easily find examples of the negative attitude in our everyday life.
For example, when I was in elementary school, I liked a girl so I told her. All her friends who found out that I liked the girl said I was gross and a freak. I was upset to learn homosexuality isn’t acceptable for some people. Also, there is a data from a survey done in 2008 in Japan saying that more than 50% of the gay men who answered said that they were called names when they were in school. So, it is clear that there is a negative attitude towards LGBT people. As I said in the beginning, I believe the way to change this is by talking about it more openly and understanding it. This is because I think it will cause people to think about it more seriously. But how and where should it start? I say schools. I know for a fact that there are clubs and meetings for LGBT people at universities. However, not many non-LGBT people are involved in those groups so it is not an effective way to educate people about LGBT issues. I think it should be talked about from elementary schools onwards because the only way to stop prejudice is to grow up in an educated prejudice free environment. Next, I will talk about how we should be talk about sexuality and gender in the early stage of schooling. I have never heard LGBT people being mentioned during sex education in Japan. It should be taught that sex and gender do not always fall into neat categories. Children should know there are diverse sexual orientations and gender identities and it’s perfectly normal, healthy and fine to be that way. Sex education generally starts at the age of about 7 with the introduction of human birth, and if education about LGBT issues is taught, the views of young children will be more open minded and less prejudiced. Also, the number of bullying incidents against LGBT youth will hopefully decline.
Actually, I have read in the newspaper, The Times, that, in 2009, compulsory sex education will include discussions on gay unions and civil partnerships in the UK. Also, the Spanish Government declared that “diversity education” will be a compulsory part of the school curriculum from 2007. According to LifeSiteNews.com, this education will train children to overcome homophobic prejudice and reject discrimination with regard to gender. These changes have raised a strong opposition because some think that it will promote or “convert” students to LGB or T. I think this opinion is the result of lack of knowledge. If people have the correct information, they will realize that homosexuality and transsexualism is not contagious. Some also say that it goes against their religious beliefs. While I respect others religious beliefs, I strongly think that everyone should have the correct knowledge. Religion shouldn’t be an excuse for being ignorant since there are LGBT people who are religious.
I don’t know the outcome of these movements but I‘m sure this is a firm step to a better world. I hope the changes suggested here will happen in Japan soon.

School Festival and Other Shit

First things first. I won the Speech contest and got a big ass plastic trophy and a pen and a certificate. I will move on to the next level-speech at Tokyo.

The next big thing is that I registered to a Child Sponsorship run by World Vision. It's a program to help children in poor countries by sending money monthly. What's exciting about it is I get to write letters to the person I'm helping! I may even get to meet them! Maybe that's what I'll do during the period after I graduate high school and before going into university. I'm excited already.

I found out about this because there was a booth and a talk during the school festival about children in Africa. I was really honestly sad to realize so many very young children live difficult lives. I don't want to be someone who talks about war like my crazy weird "friend."

I'm getting really annoyed by him. I have to stick with his bullshit racist talk until graduation because I have lunch with him everyday.

Yesterday, he said "I saw the Australian English teacher just now. I wonder why he's here in Japan." It didn't sound like he was wondering out of curiosity. It was like "why the hell are you in MY country? Why don't you go back to Australia?" So I said "Why don't you just ask?" although I knew he wouldn't because he never talks to someone who is not Japanese. Anyway, he went on and on about why the teacher lives in Japan and I got so fucking irritated so I said "That's not your fucking business! Now just SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

...OK maybe I didn't say "shut the fuck up" but I got the hell out of there. Jeez. He's hopeless.

Depression

I sometimes listen to music I listened to when I was little. Here's what I've been listening to lately. I think it was published in 1999 or something like that. It's the soundtrack of a children's English TV program. I looked at Wikipedia (Yes, I always refer to wiki! It's the fastest way to get info.) and found out that both the lady and the old guy are dead. The woman died of lung cancer (aged 30) and the guy of pneumonia (aged 79). I was sad to learn this.

Most of the songs on the CD are kids songs like Humpty Dumpty and BINGO. They are all happy songs. We are all special. You've got a friend.
I was an optimistic kid. I didn't believe the songs.



I remember starting to cry at the dinner table one day when I was 7 years old. My mum who was eating dinner with me asked why I was upset but I didn't tell her why. I guess I said I was just sad.
I knew exactly why. The thought of living and all the trouble I will go though in the future was making me feel depressed. I was thinking of killing my parents everyday. Why did they have me? Why should I go on any more? I was planning to kill them when they were sleeping with the knife in the kitchen and then I would be arrested and put into prison and be executed. That was what I was thinking everyday when I was 7.
Obviously, I didn't do it since both my parents are alive. I think the occasional depression I go through started when I was really young.

The most life threatening depression I had so far was when I was 15. It was when we were preparing for entering high school and I think the fact that where I was applying for wasn't decided made me feel unstable and got depressed.
I had a perfect plan to kill myself. I planned to go to the supermarket and get dry ice in a bag and cover it over my head.
I was going to a cram school at that time which the teacher taught the student 1 to 1. The teacher was a university student and sensed something was wrong with me. If she hadn't kept me after class that day, I would have killed myself within a week.

The long depression I had in high school was from 2008 June. I'm fine now but I got so fucked up when my girlfriend dumped me. I couldn't stop cutting my upper arm for 5 months. The scars remain.

I need to find a way to cope with depression. Nothing is making me depressed now, thank goodness. I just make fun of the English teacher. I'm surrounded with everything I love.

English Books

As I was tidying up my room, I found 3 of the English text books I used when I first started learning English. My dad got them from somewhere and I remember doing it everyday. I hated it. I came home from elementary school and had to do 1 page a day before going out to play football. Can you see that the top of the page is ripped a little? I was very short tempered then.
Now that I see what it's like to study English at a Japanese school, I'm REALLY relieved that I had these books. I'm grateful to my parents for making me do the studying when I was little.

Speech Contest Script

Just a draft... I've just typed it out and not read it out loud yet so I don't know how long it will be. White I was writing this, I thought "fuck it. I don't care if I get a prise or not as long as everyone actually listens to what I'm saying."

So... Here it goes. Please leave a comment if you have any opinions.



LGBTI. Perhaps many of you here know what it stands for. It is an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex. Before I start my speech, I would like to make it clear that sexuality and gender cannot always fall into a simple categorization but I will use the term LGBTI to avoid confusion.

Being a transgender and a bisexual myself, what I think about most is LGBTI issues. Among many topics that come into mind, I would like to take this time to talk about the importance of conversation about sexual and gender minorities be more open. I personally feel that such conversation is a taboo around me and this is causing a negative impact to the attitude against sexual and gender minorities.
You can easily find examples of the negative attitude.
I will give some examples from my own experience.
When I was in elementary school, I liked a girl so I told her. This was when I was living as a female which made me a lesbian. All her friends who found out that I liked the girl said I was gross and a freak.
You may think this happened because they were children. Here’s a data from a survey done is 2008 in Japan. More than 50% of the gay men who answered the survey said that they were called names when they were in school.
So, it is clear that there is a negative attitude towards sexual and gender minorities. As I said in the beginning, I think the way to change it is to talk about it openly. This is because I believe conversation about such topics will cause people to think about it more seriously. But how and where should it start? I say schools. I know for a fact that there are clubs and meetings for LGBT people at universities but not many non-LGBT people are involved in those groups and it is not an effective way to educate people about LGBT issues. I think it should be talked about from elementary schools onwards because the only way to stop bias is to grow up in a bias free environment.
Next I will talk about how it should be talked about in the early stage of school.
I have never heard about LGBT people being mentioned during sex education. It should at least be said that they exist to let children know there are a diverse values ad it’s perfectly normal and healthy and fine to be that way. Sex education normally starts at the age of about 7 with the introduction of human birth, and if my proposition should be realized, the view against LGBT for them will .be open minded. As an extent, the number of bullying against LGBT youth will hopefully decline.
I don't have the power to realize my plan but I hope my message got thorough to you. Thank you for listening.

Emperors Report: Deocletian

Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (244-311) was a Roman Emperor from 20th November 284 to 1st May 305. He was born to a Illryan family of low status (his father and himself are even said to have been a freedman!) but gradually became powerful.

He succeeded in organizing the tax system with a high tax rate, enlarging the army and establishing a well-organized bureaucratic government. However, some of his plans didn't work out well-- his attempt to take care of inflation by controlling prices was ignored and the tetrarchic system (four people governing) was successful only while Diocletianus ruled. He also tried to get rid of Christians which is said to have been bloody did not succeed in destroying the Christian community. (Christianity became the most popular religion from 324.)

He is significant for stabilizing the economy and the military of the huge Roman empire which made the empire to survive for another 100 years.

He decided to step aside from the imperial office because of illness. He was the first person to abdicate from his position voluntarily. It is said that his despair and illness made him commit suicide.

Speech Contest

The teacher put a notice on the wall about the up coming speech contest the other day. From what I read, I got the feeling it was kind of just a "read the script" speech. Maybe that's not true. I don't know what the contest is really like because I didn't participate last year and the year before.

This year, the circumstances are different. If I do it (and possibly win), I could write it in my CV which will make me look like a bright kid. Haha! And maybe I could get a prize if I win! Oooohhh that's exciting!!
I will first write the script and then hand in the application.

Learning English

I had to do this today in the "after school class."
This is what you have to solve in order to show everyone you can use English. I think it is simply RIDICULOUS.

Choose the correct ending to this sentence:

I do not understand
a) why Mother should object to my playing the piano.
b) why Mother tries to discourage me to play the piano.
c) why Mother opposes to the idea of my playing the piano.
d) why Mother should disagree to me in my plan to play the piano.

War

Here's a vid from The L Word. Tasha (who is in the US Army) and Alice are talking about Iraq war and the US army. The scene before that was about people wearing t-shirts with war related quotes and so Tasha is pissed off.

I don't know how accurate this scene is but there are things only people who are actually in the army know.

I think life in the Roman days was a nightmare. If I had a time machine and was taken to that time and place, I would probably just kill myself. But maybe if it was trouble all the time since you were born, you get used to it. I don't know. I'm lucky to be living in a peaceful time and place. (although there are some difficulties... Stress and pressure)

And there are things so fight for. Like this...

Transgender student attacked in campus restroom, “it” carved into chest

A transgender student was attacked in a campus bathroom on the California State University, Long Beach campus. The attacked reportedly carved the word “it” into his chest with a knife.

On April 15, 2010, a 27-year old transgendered CSULB student reported that he was attacked in a restroom on the college campus, according to the LA Times.

The suspect addressed the transgendered student by his name. He pulled his shirt over his head and pushed him into a stall. He then used a knife to slashed the victim’s chest.

LBPOST.com obtained a Facebook posting about the incident:

“A [transgendered] student left class [Thursday] night to go to the bathroom and on the way there was assaulted by someone who knew him by name but whom he didn’t know. He beat him and threw him against a wall then carved “It” on his chest with a knife.”

The attacker fled and the student was taken to a hospital.

Police were able to sketch the suspect based on the information given by the victim (pictured above). Earlier reports claim the police have not said whether the attack was a hate crime.

UPDATE: According to existing reports, police have not confirmed that the incident was a hate crime. These earlier reports do not reference the information about “it” being carved into the victim’s chest.

IELTS Test Report

April 24th. On the 7:28am train to Hongou 3chome. I got lost going to the place but managed to get there on time. I took this near the station.
All the candidates (there were around 80 people in the room) looked over 20 years old. They probably were taking it to go to graduate school.
About the test... well...

One word: Fucked.

I was so nervous that my hands were all sweaty and couldn't do well like the practice test. Listening and speaking were OK but I don't think I will get what I want in reading and writing. :-(

I did listening, reading and writing on 24th and speaking today at a different place. I didn't get lost going to the speaking test because my grandad came with me and the building was right next to the station.

When I finished the test on 24th, I went to Myogadani where my grandparents live. My grandad was waiting for me at the station and because he didn't let me know beforehand, I didn't notice him and neither did he. I went to my grandparents house on my own to find I had left him at the station. He came back after waiting for 2 HOURS!!!! Hope he hasn't got a cold...

My aunt and uncle were with my grandma and my other aunt came at 3:00 and the other uncle at 6:00.

I ate all sort of things that night. Sushi, tempura, Haagen-dazs vanilla ice cream, monaka, chawan-mushi, cream cheese, premium calpis etc. I was full and tired by the time everybody went home at 9:00pm.

This is where the speaking test was taken place. I came up with things I could have said on the train coming back.Many teenage girls were lining up for a model audition. They all looked stupid.

One thing I now know.

I LACK VOCABULARY

giRL in BeD

OK this one is about the English language.

R and L. That's what Japanese can't pronounce. If someone in my class had to read a part of"The curious incident of the dog in the night-time" (which is the book I started reading yesterday), they would read it like this:

And then I placticed maths for the lest of the morning and...

No, I won't write anymore because it's ridiculous but nobody can pronounce L and R right. I think it's all right as long as it's understandable. From my limited vocabulary, I think the only word they should pronounce right in order to not have and embarrassing experience is "election" and "erection."

B and D. I had trouble when I was little with that one. My grandma suggested that i should think of a bed when I use the letters b and d. I sometimes mess it up when I'm typing on the keyboard like I'm doing now.
I also couldn't write walk(歩く) and run(走る) in Chinese characters for a while for a while. I wonder how Chinese people cope with their language... There must be thousands of letters they have to know!