2002/11

11/23

それによると、非真面目や不常識が問われる時代になってきているのだという。ただし、不真面目や非常識ではない。

poppyhead

I guess the Mathematics problems of the entrance exam in next year will not be such easy ones ...

It is Science (Physics and Chemistry) and English exams that we took today. I am not much worried about Science, but ... aah, English sure was awful, beyond help. There is nothing I can do about it, but I wonder what on earth I was thinking. I guess I caught what seems to be a cold, so I was sniffling all aroud the exam. It's true and it might be the cause, but I can't think it is all. Unbelievable. I couldn't answer a problem of reordering shuffled paragraphs, despite I spent about 40 minutes out of 120, only for this one problem. OK, it is surely bad, but not the worst. It is horrible that I wrote completely wrong answers while I knew the correct answers ... plus it isn't a few. The result is definitely awful. Please let me know what I was thinking at that time ... ぐあ。

11/16

空、見てますか。

2nd stage

We have a series of mock examinations for Tokyo University from today. We take the first one on today and tomorrow. The subjects of today are Japanese language and Mathematics. First, Japanese language is -- er -- I have no idea about the result, honestly. (I never dislike the language itself, but do HATE exams of it because I can't be satisfied with the marking too often.) The other one, math, is not so difficult as I thought it'd be. I guess I can expect a bit better result than the former ... I guess.

By the way, today I bought new pencil cases and a notebook. The case that I'm using now is my favorite, but its fastener got wrong about a couple of months ago. Today I bought two cases. One is for the main use (my favorite mechanical pencil, eraser, some color ballpoints etc.); the other for other: color markers, the compass, pigma pens of various thickness, and so on. And then, the notebook I bought today is small plain one, and is what I have wanted for many years. It almost perfectly meets my ideal. The only one drawback is its price. How much do you think it costs? Don't be surprised to hear it. \1,500! -- a small A5 notebook for \1,500. It bothers me.

11/10

じゃんけんの語源は中国語。両拳と書いて liangquan と読む。

いんじゃんは拳法や！

That's why today is the day of `Taiyaki.'

Because it's half price than usual, I ate TWO in spite of myself :)

11/08

生きたいなら生きればいいじゃないか。

the last excursion

Today we have an excursion in Kyoto, and it is the last one in the life in the high school. (I guess I've recently been getting much more things named `the last ...' :) Our school, rather, the group of teachers in charge of our grade is as `irresponsible' as usual, so the all we absolutely have to do is no more than to assemble on Nanzen-ji Temple at 9:30 and enter Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, where the special exhibition `Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York' is held now.

I don't dislike the paintings themselves, but I completely lost the will to appreciate them because of the quite large number of people in the small museum. He and I got out of there without any careful appreciation, and soon we went to `the road of Philosophy,' where there are not so many people as I thought, perhaps because of the time and the weather. While we were caught in a little shower and were solicited for a ride on `Jinriki-sha' (who pays no less than \5,000!), we walked up on the road to Higashiyama Jisho-ji (what we call `Ginkaku-ji') Temple. After a worship, we took a bus to Kawaramachi-Marutamachi, the southeastern corner of Kyoto Gyoen.

We walked along the bottom border of Kyoto Gyoen from an end to the other looking for an appropriate restaurant, but we can find none. In the end we settled on Tikuyuan-Taro-no-Atsumori, which I've checked beforehand just in case. In the menu of it are only two items: `the hot one' and `the cold one.' I ordered the former and he the other. The name of what I ordered is `Atsumori-soba'(\820), which tastes more or less well. It was not so bad.

And then, we entered Kyoto Gosho. It is now in autumn put on view to the general public. There I bought a pack of Japanese-style confectionary named `Gyoen no Kiku', which sells only there. It is a standard `manju,' and the Imperial crest (`Kiku') is formed on the top. (And it is made by Tsuruya-Yoshinobu :) After that, we went through it northward and went to Shimogamo Shrine. The atomosphere is my favorite one.

After all, we came to Kyoto Station (JR), because he said that he have never been to there and some exhibitions about Harry Potter are held there. We saw them together, and parted in the station.

I finished the last excursion.

the results of STEP Eiken and IELTS

I got the results of STEP Eiken and IELTS (International English Language Testing System) today, though it is much earlier than I thought.

First, the one of STEP Eiken. I got 88 points out of 100, and eventually passed the first exam. I got the right to take the second exam, speaking test, but on the day the second one will be held I also have a mock exam of Tokyo University. I'm going to give higher priority to the mock exam for now. I heard that the right is valid for some years.

And, and, what I have to say is I got IELTS overall band 6.0! For Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking, I got band 5.5, 7,5, 6, 5 respectively. (IELTS band score is at intervals of 0.5, from 1 to 9) The bias might be a problem, but the overall band 6.0 is what I need at least to study Science at the University of Edinburgh as a junior year abroad student.

The first problem seems to be cleared. Now I must concern the true, second problem -- the entrance exam.

11/04

……女ってのは、ドリーマーなようで実際にはシビアなくらいに現実的で、そして局地的にハイパードリーマーになるのだ。

the last `Mattan Tushin'

There is a mail magazine named `めるまがwebつくろー', which I've subscribed since the first one was transmitted to the readers. It is in several sections, and one column of them is called `末端通信', whose author is ブルボン小林, which is one of pen names of 長嶋有, who won the Akutagawa Prize (he always says: `actergar show') last year. This column came to end on today's magazine.

Aah ... I cannot find any good words. I didn't even believe the annoucement in the former magazine that told us its end. I thought it's a kind of joke. Ha. I've got very very many things from it. It've always provided us with his unique viewpoints, and there are a lot of fan of it -- and him. I visited the office and met him in the summer of last year, when he didn't win the `actergar show' yet. It was a wonderful experience.

He got so famous that he is too busy to lead an easy life and write the column at ease. It cannot be helped, but ... Anyway, there is nothing I can do about it. I really want to say thank you to him. Hey BURUBON, I'll buy the book which will be published by Kobunsya next year! I will!

11/01

僕たちは蛍に似ている。

優秀な凡人

It is Novemver without my knowledge, and it's getting colder and colder. Who said that it would get warmer again?

Urgh, well, I've got a crick in my neck, properly speaking, between neck and right shoulder, while I'm sleeping. Fancy me having trouble even in turning my head right slightly! How deplorable it is ...

In fact, the truth isn't that I have no intention to write this diary (I admit that I have no interesting dope, though :), but it is difficult to allow enough time for myself to. Hey, what on earth should I do?