Happy Leap Day!

It's good to have an additional day in February because it passes so quickly!!

What on earth was I doing this month? Can't really remember and surprised to know that March is at the corner. It's astonishing.

A week is long, but each day passes very fast.

Hawaiian dinner

ずっと行きたかった福岡のハワイアンレストラン！ 在学時代から行きたいなと思っていてそのままになってしまったけど、夢が叶いました(^.^)
サラダにマヒマヒ（明るい色で大きな魚）、ロコモコパスタをいただきました。メニュー多くてみんな美味しそうで、決められなかった…また来たい！ 今度はランチに:D

このあとは友達のライブを聴きに行った。すごかった…歌詞が深い。自分で作詞作曲して、自分でギターを弾きながら歌う、多才すぎて違う世界の人みたい〜 すごい人達と友達になってしまった。出会いに感謝。

安心院ツアー2

This village is named Imori dani because it looks like a newt from the top. It's a quiet and peaceful area and you can smell the wood they use to make fire. Nothing else, just the rice field.

安心院町ツアー

超田舎にあるパン屋さんと、納豆屋さん。
パンはすごくもちもち！ もう普通のスーパーで売ってるパンとは全然違う！

XXX out of 990!!

My colleague who just came back from one-year stay in the US got an amazing score on TOEIC test!!! He emailed me from Los Angeles and seemed so happy. He often goes to the US, improving his English more and more. I have never talked with him in English but I think he must be quite good.

There's even a rumor that they would establish a branch in NY or somewhere in the states and he will be going to stay there as a sales representative. I know working in the foreign sales division is tough, but it is interesting.. That is something I'm not suitable for, so I respect him for his sincere attitude and great amount of effort.

So.. once someone got the exact same score as mine (though it expired a year ago), what should I do now? Get a better score than his? Not really.... I still have a long way to go... so much more to be perfect... so much more be able to express myself in English without any difficulties.

This news surprised me, and made me truly happy for him, and motivated me a lot...!

Notes and thoughts2

"All decisions you make in your life are right as long as you are yourself. "

This statement makes me relieved, but at the same time, it makes me feel I'm still so immature being trapped by so many selfish ideas and desires. After all, it makes me relieved because it says it's OK to be yourself and just forgives your all childish thoughts.

It can spoil me, as I am not a small kid any more, whose presence should be accepted no matter what. With more responsibilities and duties, being allowed to be yourself can be distracting. But acting, pretending to be somebody else do not work, of course. I may be just confused because of so many things to think about, so many choices and possibilities, as well as many possible regrets I might have later on.

Like somebody said, I may be thinking too much and making myself sad. No.. I'm not, I deny, however, I know it is somewhat true, and I need to get rid of this never-ending question.

It is impossible to live without any regrets, but any decision can be a wonderful one if you think positively, after all.

Malaria, still a big problem worldwide

The Lancet reported that 1.24 million people died of Malaria in 2010 and the figure is twice that of the 655,000 deaths that WHO estimated for the same year. In the new study, the researchers included more factors in calculation, such as the availability of bed nets and health care, how fast the disease spreads in an area.

The problem is that WHO's estimation has found to be too far away from the actual figure, if the newly published data is correct. To make matters worse, it has underestimated the number of deaths caused by the disease, and they may have lost their credibility of its publication.

So what makes a certain figure trustworthy? The research should include large number of data. It is important to take various conditions and detailed information into consideration to make it inclusive.

The report also says that the deaths is decreasing since 2004, when it reached the highest of 1.84 million. Thanks to the scaling up of international effort to control the disease, more and more people have been treated. The time may come when malaria is totally eliminated, but it sounds difficult. However good medical intervention becomes, it won't save everybody if they cannot afford it. Medical treatment is still costly after all. The health care system is a problem worldwide not only in Japan but also in other countries.

To make the health care system work properly, the government should be stabilized, politicians should get rid of corruption, and people should pay tax, trusting and supporting their leaders, which seems... a very very long way to go for some countries.

Day off

woke up at 10.30 and did whatever I felt like to do... managed to wash the car and get a new shampoo!

3-day holiday is nice especially when you had a lot of activities during weekend and stayed up late on Sunday night!!!

I had a strange dream of Gackt taking shower and I happened to see him half-naked.. I'm not his fan though. I saw him washing his hair probably because I was excited about the new shampoo I just bought.

有給最高～～

A wonderful day!!!

Today was a fantastic day! We drove to Oita city, had Roumanian food for lunch, watched an Australian movie which gave us the opportunity to learn, and had Thai cuisine for dinner. Time flies and it's already 1 am.. I'll stay up late a bit more because I took a day off tomorrow! It's just the perfect timing.
I'm going to clean my apartment, go to supermarket and cook something for the rest of the week. It's really good to have a longer night without the pressure of gettin up early. It's actually the first paid leave I take in four months.

福岡と雪と修論

修論発表を間近に控えた同級生に会いに福岡に行ってきた。今年一番の雪…すごかった。大粒で顔に積もる…。やはり日本海側は違う。

指導してもらった先生にも会えて、ラッキーだった(^_^)

オカラケーキ

小麦粉、バターなし、レンジでできるおからケーキ！！ 普通のカップケーキとは明らかに違うけど、カロリー控えめ、食物繊維のかたまりが取れて良い感じ。
メープルシロップがたまらなく合います(^.^)

Girls' party

Good food, good drinks and beautiful company. I had a great time tonight. It's so nice to have some casual friends who listen to you and understand your feelings. Thank you all for encouraging, it's going to be a great weekend!

広東風チャーハン♪

早く帰れたので、前々から作ってみたかったチャーハンを作って食べました。白ご飯はそのままでも食べられるので敢えて手を加えることは少ないんだけれど、やはり本場ソースだけあって美味でした！！ タイ米なら完璧。

米一合は炊いたら330グラムになると調べて、ソースに書いてあるご飯必要量が630グラムだったので、四合か…多いな、二回に分けて作ろう、と思い、ご飯二合にソースを半分だけ使ってえらく味薄いな…と感じようやく計算ミスに気がついた。もはや計算ミスとか呼べるレベルでもない…。。実験でもこんなことしてたりして。恐ろしい…簡単な計算ほど、確認しないからなぁ〜

美味しかった〜

近いうちに豆腐ケーキも焼きたい！ 料理熱再来中☆☆

-1C

sooooo cold... freezing both inside and outside the room.

I wonder how long will it be like this.. Two more months?

So many things to consider and so many to do but just not in the mood.

One more day for the weekend!

I want to rest so badly! Too cold to take shower.. Too cold to take off my thick jacket..

I'm into baking..

These contain soybean curd refuse. It smells really like beans. I'm going to have them for breakfast tomorrow morning:)

週末の友

I'm trying to write a report analyzing the data I have collected so far. It feels as if it was my master's thesis!

The kind, respectable man

It's no good news.

A man I got to know in Australia has been diagnosed cancer and his life is only a few months left.

The news astonished me.

Although I met him just once, more than a year ago, I still consider him as a friend and respect his skills and experience as well as his warm, generous personality. So, it was just hard to believe. How is he feeling now? How on earth would it feel to know that you have only several months?

I wanted to send him a message, but I didn't. What could I say to him?

"I heard you are sick"? "Are you feeling better now?" "I hope it is not too painful"? They all sound so inappropriate. It's nothing but torture for him. But is he going to leave without contacting anybody? Maybe his close friends are visiting him?

He still reports to the office, doing work as if nothing was wrong. I have heard a similar story from my mum about one of her ex-colleagues, who also suffered from cancer with some months left and went to work normally until two days before he passed away. So doing the same daily routine might give patients relief, that is totally understandable.

It makes me want to cry when I think of him. Even though I cannot say anything to him directly, I always care about him, and wish his days will be filled with comfort.

It taught me that we might lose somebody all of a sudden, or things might change drastically out of the blue, and our normal peaceful life is so fragile and easy to be disturbed. It is truly valuable that we can end the day without any problem.....