Music & English

A person I know plays acoustic bass, or some may call it contra bass. Call it what you like but I think you all know what I mean. She played in the orchestra in her high school and she took lessons from 7th grade through high school. But one thing she didn’t do was practice. She was even a music major in a U.S. college. Although it wasn’t a very good college she did study music. I don’t think she practiced much there either because she still doesn’t have much technique. But one thing she has is a great feel which is most important. I believe that is something you’re born with. If you don’t have it then you may never be able to get it and you can never be a great player.

Anyway the point I’m getting at is that most young people today have no ambition. I don’t mean all young people but generally speaking. They have no drive to reach a goal. They just don’t seem to care. Like the bass player, with a little steady practice she could get enough technique to be working steadily at live houses or whatever instead of doing the part time job that she’s doing. More future.

Well I guess it’s just a different society and maybe we should accept the fact that people are influenced by the ways and times they grow up with. Maybe there’s too much choice in the world. So I realized that no matter what people of my generation say it probably can’t change the thinking of today’s generation. You have to go with the flow.

皆さんこんばんわ。今月31日はHalloween Day. 日本ではふつうの日です。アメリカでは子供
たちのためのとくべつの日です。近所の大人たちからおかしをいっぱいもらいます。

学校からもどって、おやつ食べた後4時ごろ、コスチュームきる。いろんなhalloweenコスチュームがあります。がいこつ、あくま、ドラキュラ、フランケンシュタイン、ま女、（コスチュムきないとなにももらえない）。5時ぐらいから近所のうち行って子供たちはふくろだしながら大きなこえで“tirck or treat”言っておかしをもらう。2時間かけて近所を回る。家に帰った後どんなおかしもらったか見るのがたのしみです。

Halloweenはケルト人からはじまりました。わるいれいがイタズラしないためにドアの前にプレゼントおく。trickはイタズラ、ｔreatはごほうび。だからtrick or treat.

皆さんこんばんわ。あなたのうちの電気料金は高いですか？たぶん高いでしょう。アメリカでは日本みたいに高くはないです。今日の新聞（Daily Yomiuri）に、おもしろいきじがありました。いろんな電気製品のいろんなつかい方アイディアについてでした。

夏のあつい日は家の前に水をまけばかなりすずしくなります。そうすればクーラーはいらないかもしれません。クーラーがひつようなら温度は２８℃にすれば電気はそんなにくいません。うちではじょしつにしてます。じょしつじゃたりない時はランドリーにしてます。へやの電気にはなるべくけいこうとつかった方がいいです。今つかってないへやに電気がついてたら、けした方がいいです。食事おわったら電気がまのスイッチけします。テレビ見てない時はけしましょう。ばしょうあれば、ノートパソコンではなくデスクトップの方が電気くわないです。つかってない時はスタンバイにして下さい。せんたくは毎日しないで、一日おきでいいでしょう。ちなみに、うちではせんたくにはふろの水をつかいます。

ほかにもすることはたくさんあるとおもいますが、上に書いてあることすれば電気料金は１０％－１５％下がります。やってみて下さい。あまったお金で家族といっしょにたのしいことできます。私は家族といっしょにこうきゅうレストランで食事します。

Today I taught the CEO of a human resources company. You know those companies like Manpower or Tempstaff that introduce employees to other companies on a contract basis. The term could be 2 weeks or 1 year, whatever the company needs. Although the pay and the benefits have improved over time, (the pay is ¥1500 per hour and you get social insurance) I do not approve of these companies. They are making a fortune. The man I met today is very very rich. These companies are a dream come true to the big corporations. They can save a lot of money. They get employees with no strings attached which they pay about 2,000 yen an hour for. They can say “see you later” to the employee anytime they want. With the large number of human resource companies around today it means it becomes more and more difficult for young people to find regular jobs for which they can get bonuses and security. Human resource companies are making a fortune at the cost of ruining the real employment situation for today’s young people.

People over 35 should be dead. Here's why ..................

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even maybe the early 70's probably shouldn't have survived.
*Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.
*We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.)
*As children, we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
*We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!
*We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
*We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
*We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode
down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times , we learned to solve the problem.
*We would leave home in the morning and play all day , as long as we were
back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. NO CELL PHONES!!!!! Unthinkable!
*We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, DVD's, no theater size TV's
personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.
*We had friends! We went outside and found them. We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.
*We fell out of trees , got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us.
Remember accidents?
*We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.
*We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.
*We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.
*Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Horrors!
*Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion ofinnovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And you're one of them! Congratulations!

People under 35 are WIMPS