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Diary

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【No. 0392】Three Events

Jan 14, 2016 18:56
There were three events yesterday and today, so I will write them together in this diary.

First, I got an official job offer (the occupation is correspond to an assistant professor) yesterday.

I'm so happy.

Second, I took a TOEIC Speaking Writing exam today.

The speaking section was very tough for me because my practice was not enough.

Finally, I finished learning 12,000 words.

It took around 200 hours.

Although it brought a sense of accomplishment, I no doubt forget many words, I'm planning to start the similar learning from the beginning.

By the way, the 12,000 th word was "twitter."

It was very easy thank to a SNS, haha.

【No. 0388】Age of Mario

Jan 10, 2016 16:06
Mario (proper name: Mario Mario) is the most famous game character in the world, which is created by Mr. Miyamoto.

According to Mr. Miyamoto, Mario is around 26 years old.

I had played various Mario games when I was a child, but I exceeded the age of Mario insidiously.

The age of Dr. Mario hasn't been revealed, but it seems to be thought that he is a little more elder, because he is a doctor.

The age of Princess Peach also hasn't been revealed, but her age seems to be similar to Mario's age, because when Mario is a baby in Mario & Ruigi RPG 2, Peach is also a baby.
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【No. 0384】First-time Job Interview

Jan 6, 2016 22:13
Today, I was interviewed for an assistant professor.

Since it might decide my life, I was very nervous.

Unfortunately, my preparation wasn't enough, so I was bewildered by some questions, and wasn't able to answer them well.

I am depressed now.

However, I will no doubt resurge tomorrow.

Actually, I drove more than 500 km for today's job interview, so I am super exhausted and I will sleep soon.
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【No. 0382】Holiday

Jan 4, 2016 17:26
Today, I was playing with my nephew and niece at a park.

Since both of them were very energetic, I was fun but also tired.

Then I went to shopping for such as suits for job interviews with my mother.

I was going to pay the price for the suit, but my mother paid and presented it to me as New Year's gift.

I appreciate it very much.

Today's dinner is yakiniku (roasted meat).

I'm looking forward to eating yakiniku.
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【No. 0381】Homecoming

Jan 3, 2016 23:29
Today, I was return home because I could pack up my work.

I arrived at my home in the evening, and gave my nephew and niece a New Nintendo 3DS as otoshidama.

Then we ate dinner, and after that, my mother and my brother-in-law and I went to watch Star Wars Episode 7.

Actually my mother and I didn't watch episode 4, 5, and 6, but we really enjoyed it.

There were some difficult parts to understand, but my brother-in-law explained it to us.

I am a little tired today.

Good night.

【No. 0380】First Dream of the Year

Jan 2, 2016 16:25
First Dream of the Year is called Hatsuyume in Japan.

Japanese people often forecast the year's fortune from the contents of Hatsuyume.

There is the saying "Ichi fuji ni taka san nasu," which represents highly auspicious tokens in Hatsuyume.

This means that the most auspicious one is Mount Fuji, the second one is a hawk, and the third one is an eggplant.

Also, dreams of death, disaster, excrement and blood also seem to auspicious.

On the other hand, dreams to be encouraged by oneself and to be chased seem to be bad.

In my Hatsuyume, I was riding my road bike with old friends.
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【No. 0379】Year Resolutions in 2016

Jan 1, 2016 16:20
Happy new year, everyone.

My year resolution in 2015 was to improve my English, but I don't know whether it was achieved or not.

Therefore, I will set a specific year resolutions of 2016:

・Perform a dissertation presentation in English and graduate from doctoral course.

・Submit at least two papers to an English journal.

・Participate in at least one international conference.

・Continue to post articles on Lang-8.

I'd like to devote myself to my work.
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【No. 0378】MacBook Air

Dec 31, 2015 15:11
Today, I finally bought a MacBook Air.

I ordered the MacBook last week, but it arrived today, because I added the memory and changed the keyboard layout, and the product had to be imported from Shanghai.

From now on, I can make presentation slides even if I'm staying at home.

At presentation venues, no longer need to use iPhone.

It's an early New Year's gift for myself.

I'm sorry this topic is unrelated to New Year's Eve.

Best wishes throughout the coming year (良いお年をお迎えください).
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【No. 0371】Christmas Cake

Dec 24, 2015 14:00
Today, I got Christmas cakes from my acquaintance.

There were various cakes, such as a shortcake, strawberries, a caramel, a chocolate, green tea, oranges and a Mont Blanc.

After lunch, my laboratory members and I ate them.

It was delicious.

Unfortunately, there is no other event in this year's Christmas Eve and Christmas.

【No. 0370】The Emperor's Birthday

Dec 23, 2015 12:02
Today, December 23 is a Japanese national holiday called "The Emperor's Birthday."

The date changed since 1989, and we celebrate the emperor Kinjo's birthday on this day.

Various events will take place in the emperor's court and the Ise Jingu Shrine.

However, most Japanese will spend the day freely as a mere holiday.

I will spend leisurely in this morning at my apartment, and go to my university in the afternoon.
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【No. 0366】Premium Registration

Dec 19, 2015 13:48
Today is just year 1 since I started Lang-8.

I've thought that I would register a premium account if I could continue to post on Lang-8 every day for a year.

Therefore, my account became premium from today.

The most useful function for me is probably "Personal Journal Search."

Also, I'm happy if the line speed of Lang-8 improved in even the slightest terms due to my small offering.

Anyway, I will continue doing my best.
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【No. 0352】Sundry and Various

Dec 5, 2015 17:11
Today, I'd like to ask you a question about the word sundry, which I learned a little while ago.

According to my English word book, the meaning of sundry is almost the same as the one of 'various.'

Also, the Internet says that sundry means various in modern English.

Is it natural that using sundry instead of 'various'?

For example, I often write sentences like "various methods have been proposed," but can I rewrite this like "sundry methods have been proposed?"

I would really appreciate it if you could let me know about the nuances.

【No. 0351】Insect Food

Dec 4, 2015 14:56
Have you ever eaten insects?

My hometown of Aichi Prefecture don't have a culture of insect food, while those living in Nagano Prefecture where now I live sometimes eat locusts and hachinoko(which means bee larvae).

In fact, cooked locusts and bee larvae are sold in grocery stores.

I have an experience of eating such insects, but the taste wasn't too bad.

However, only the taste of silkworms was hideous for me, so I will never eat them again.

In the former Nagano Prefecture, since these insects were valuable protein sources, eating them was very important.

【No. 0347】November 29

Nov 30, 2015 18:40
Yesterday was November 29.

It represents an ii (11, means good) niku (29, means meats) day.

I've forgotten it.

In this day, butchers and beef barbecue restaurant in Japan seemed to conduct various campaigns.

November 29 represents also ii (11, means good) fuku (29, means clothes) day.

I think that clothing shops conducted various campaigns too.

However, I don't know about them because I had withdrawn into my laboratory.

By the way, November 29 is the 333rd day of the year.
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【No. 0340】Preliminary Review of Doctoral Degrees

Nov 23, 2015 16:34
Today, a preliminary review of my doctoral degrees was held.

I performed my presentation of my study for 30 minutes in English, then answered to questions for next 30 minutes.

It was quite tough.

In particular in the question-and-answer session, although I understood reviewer's questions, I couldn't answer smoothly.

The final examination will be held in January.

Now I'm thinking about attending to English conversation schools until the exam.
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【No. 0339】10000 words

Nov 22, 2015 14:25
Lately, I have learned 40-60 English words everyday using an online learning site of my university.

And yesterday, the number of words that I learned finally reached 10000.

There remains only other 2000 words.

However, as the number increases, the difficulty also increases, so now the learning takes a lot of time and is a little painful to me.

Today, I try to make a sentence using some words that I learned a little while ago so as not to forget them.

"The dingy and abominable bureaucrat spat out hackneyed epithets in a circumspect way."

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【No. 0331】Buying a Dolce Gusto Manufactured by Nescafe

Nov 14, 2015 14:36
Today, my associate and I bought a Dolce Gusto that readily makes coffee manufactured by Nescafe.

By setting a capsule and touching a button, we can brew a variety of drinks such as coffee, cafe au lait, or cappuccino.

After buying the Dolce Gusto, we immediately placed it in our laboratory, and I tried drinking coffee and cappuccino.

Although I don't have a thorough knowledge of coffee, I felt they were mild and delicious.

In the days ahead, I will be looking forward to drinking a cup of coffee after lunch.
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【No. 0327】Ring Alert

Nov 10, 2015 09:16
I had set alarm on my phone for early this morning.

And this morning, as soon as the alarm rang, I stopped the sound by pressing the power button.

However, after the sound stopped, I thought "hmm? Was the sound the ring alert?," and I got into a flurry.

Then, I immediately called someone back from the list of received calls, but the person at the other end of the line seemed to be confused..

I was still only half awake, and dreaming.

The ring alert and the alarm sound were just the same, and there was no calling.

I was a little embarrassed.
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【No. 0326】Bought an Electronic Notebook

Nov 9, 2015 10:53
Yesterday, I bought a gadget "Boogie Board Sync" created by KINGJIM.

This is a simple electronic notebook, and you can save what you wrote with one touch of a button.

Immediately I used it, then I found that it was a little difficult to read what I wrote on account of the contrast, but it was not a big problem.

However, after a short time, I noticed that the drawing color changed to dark blue on regions far from the center (especially on the upper part).

Since the background color of the board is black, the dark blue color is really hard to read.

Now, I'm making an inquiry to the company to see whether this is a specification or not.
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【No. 0312】Suspicious Individual

Oct 26, 2015 10:51
Yesterday my physical condition was bad, so I slept after I went shopping and ate lunch.

Then the intercom rang, and the door opened while I was going to the entrance.

No doubt I forgot to lock the door.

I was very surprised because a stranger tried to enter my room.

The man also looked surprised, and he said "sorry, I made a mistake," then he left.

I was a little scared.