Concert

The annual concert was held tonight at across Fukuoka Symphony Hall tonight and I was on the stage!

Many people told me that the Symphony Hall is very special for its quality and so it was. Our voice was totally different from that we had in a small room when we normally practice. It was just like the upper space of the hall absorbs and amplifies the voice to make it last long. That was amazing and great.

I had a great time there especially when I sang the chorus songs such as "Seagulls" and "Daichi-sansho". It was very very nice that I was able to hear my voice mixed with the soprano because I was standing next to a soprano lady. Not only soprano, but also alto, tenor and bass, everybody was great. I really like singing.

I hope the audience enjoyed our performance too... I would like to thank all of my friends for coming and other friends living outside Kyushu for cheering me up!!

幕末？

福岡大名に、寺田屋発見！ 龍馬さんが二階からひょっこり顔を出しそうです。

Totally fine

Sad feeling has now disappeared... remembering that I still have very good friends who accept what I am and support me when I feel hurt. I would like to thank them rather than hate someone who bullies me.

Someone told me "You are too honest and I think it is a stupidity" the other day. It shocked me so much that I cried in the restaurant with the presence of other friends of mine and strangers. It was an insult to me, and I was not able to take it as a joke. He was going to give me some advice or something (I guess), but it was going too far. He does not know how boorish his words always are and how deeply his behavior hurts other people's feelings.

It made me sad and furious especially because I talked with my friend a few days before about our relationship with other people. We reached a conclusion that we might be able to make a good friend who shares the same values with us if we are going be a little bit more active when we mingle with new people. This time the trial failed, but it reminded me of what she told me; "It may be very cruel of me as your friend to encourage you to do something which might hurt you, but remember, you have a lot of good friends who accept what you are and support you when you feel hurt".

Other friends also sympathized with me and cheered me up by telling me that they like my honesty. I thank them so much...

Got connected!

Finally my friend got the Internet access today. It was a bit complicated procedure and so I have a certain feeling of achievement.

The personnel told us that the construction would be at 2:30 but the engineer told them they were coming soon at 12. What if my friend was far away from there at that time? There was a great possibility of postponement of the construction because of them again...

He and his brother was going to share the Internet, which means they need a router to split the signal of the Internet using the Wi-Fi. It was difficult for us to have their laptop connected to the router because it required the UserID and Password in the default, which we did not know. We tried and tried to find them to change the settings of the Wi-Fi and finally it worked!

It was much more difficult than the usual because we did not have the special knowledge on computers or Internet and the OS they were using were English versions. The instruction of the installment was not readable so we had to guess what to do next. It was very difficult for me to explain and translate such techy things in English. That is why I had a good feeing after they got the Internet connection...

They thanked me a lot and it made me feel that I was able to do something for them.

Mistake

I am just wondering why I am so careless??

I did some experiment using a membrane to copy the result of SDS-PAGE gel. However, I used two plastic cards instead of the membrane!! Those cards are slipped in between the membranes to protect them and I thought that card was the membrane and took them (actually I even did not notice that they were two).

It is very silly of me because I have done the same experiment for many times though the last time was in July...

Will I be really ready to work in less than half year in a laboratory...? It makes me worried and depressed very much.

At long last?

Finally my friend and I found that a certain Internet provider already built the line to his apartment and they told us that he would be able to have the Internet connection within a week. That company, called A, was different from the provider B that the real estate agency cooperates.

I am wondering why that real-estate company tied up with B, which has no line in his apartment. If you want to get the Internet connection through B, it takes a lot of time to get the permission of the construction from both the management company and the city hall(!). Using A, on the other hand, it is easy to have the connection because the line is already in the room.

Despite the slightly expensive monthly fee, he made up his mind to get A and cancel the contract with B because A has the faster processing speed and the faster construction. At that time it seemed that A would be perfect, but the problem popped out again...

When I first called that company, the personnel said that an employee who speaks English would call him first and then come to his apartment to have the application form filled out. However, a man called ME and said that he would come to the apartment but he does not speak English. Why do they keep telling us a different thing each time? My friend was already tired of that kind of treatment and so was I. Fortunately, however, the construction will be on Saturday, so it is going to be true that he would be able to get the Internet connection within a week.

I strongly hope that anything will not betray him and his brother anymore...

Long way to be connected to the Internet

Is it a Japanese custom to hand something to others and avoid being responsible?

My friend, who moved in a new apartment on Sep 24th, has yet to have the Internet connection because the personnels of the internet provider keep handing the contract to other people all the time. "I do not know what the person in charge is doing with your contract now... Let me make him call you back." the operator says, and the person in charge says "I do not know much about the technical problems of your apartment. So could you wait for the engineer to call you later?" and finally the engineer told him that "I still do not know whether you can get the internet connection (!) or when the construction will be held."

It seems to take just for ever. I made a phone call for him and they did not seem to think the contract so important. My friend has been waiting for almost a month and is still treated like that without getting any information on the internet connection. The person I talked over the phone sounded polite, but he also kept saying he does not know how the engineer is handling the contract. One of their problems is that their jobs are too independent and not shared with other workers in different sections. I felt so sorry for him and his brother, both of whom are frustrated and angry.

One of my friends told that it was a bad custom of Japanese. I am not sure if it really is... It differs company to company I guess. One thing is sure, though; the workers in that company should communicate more so that they do not have to pass the business to another personnel, or they may end up losing a lot of customers.

Very very basic, isn't it??

Laptop

Recently I bought a new laptop, HP, with intel core 2 duo 2.0 GHz, 320GB of HDD and 4GB of memory. It is super faster than my old computer which has only 0.8 GHz and 60 GB of HDD. When choosing a new computer, I learned a lot about technical words and how the processer works. Although I use my laptop almost every day, I knew little about it. I now feel embarassed that I chose my old computer just because of its color.

My laptop has an English OS (in other words, it is not intended to be sold in Japan)! I wanted to improve my English more, so I ordered an English version from a shop in Akihabara, where is very famous for abundant computer goods. After I looked at all the websites carefully, I finally made my mind to buy a HP notebook pavillion dv4-1280. It is much faster than I expected, so I am very satisfied with it.

I had a problem, though... Although I ordered silver one, what I received was a bronze! It is strange because I called that shop beforehand and made it sure that they had silver ones. However, the shopstaff told me that they did not have any silver but only bronze ones when I called them again just after I received the laptop. I was a bit disappointed, but told them OK anyway. It is funny that I still care about its colors... Besides, I found the bronze color rare, and cool. I try to take things in a good way.

Here are some tips to have your laptop work faster and to extend the life of your computer;

1. Desktop; Try not to put too many icons on the desktop. It makes the processor work unnecessarily harder.

2. Organize files; Put files in right folders. Music files should be kept in the music folder, documents should be in the document folder, and videos in the video folder in your laptop. It makes it easier for the computer to process.

3. External HDD; If you have a lot of heavy programs and bulky files, it would be a good idea to buy an external hard disc drive. Store those files in that HDD, and your laptop will be free from the burden.

4. Cooler; The processor is sensitive to heat, therefore it has a fan inside. Still, it would be better to place your computer under a laptop cooler because the built-in fan is sometimes not enough to prevent the temperature from rising. The cooler has several fans inside and gives off wind in order to cool the processor of the computer.

5. Keyboard cover; The keyboard cover enables you to keep the keyboard clean and new, but it makes it difficult for the laptop to release the heat. With a laptop cooler, you can place a cover on the keyboard, but do not lock it. Leaving a little space to radiate heat helps your computer a lot.