maiko-san

As a member of the family, one of my chores is to go shopping. Yesterday I bought four rolls of kitchen paper, 6 rolles of toilet paper and a pile of non-woven cloth for the kitchen sink at a drugstore on the Tenjinbashi Suji shopping street. Then I headed for my apartment. It was a windy day. I dragged the large plastic bag behind me. I sometimes faltered along the way. As I got inside the apartment, a woman at the front desk said cheerfully, "Welcome back, Sir!" and then she giggled. I was a little bit ashamed. After that I wemt up the 20th floor to meet my wife. She smiled at me and said, "Hi, Pochi! Sit! You're the most valuable servant I've ever seen." Now I've decided to be obedient to her for the rest of my life.

(A test of courage) Showman-Ladies and gentlemen, I will proceed to enter the cage of this wild untamed lion. Intoxicated man-Thatsh nothing, ole fel. Just you tackle my wife's mom, and then you can brag. (Strengthening memory) A-My memory is getting weaker and weaker every day. B-I can't give you a remedy. A-What is it? B-Lend me fifty dollars. Wife-Do you really think that marriage is a lottery? Husband-No, I do not. Wife-(somewhat surprised) Why don't you? Husband-Because when a fellow has once drawn a blank, he can't go and purchase another chance. Student: Why are Middle Ages called the Dark Ages? Teacher: There were so many knights.

It's been three years since I started writing a blog about ringing in ears. But I made an announcement that I would quit writing it by the end of this year. Then I got feedback from a strange  chap who allegedly had sleeping diseases. (Quote) Hello Min-Min-Onkel, I have been suffering from insomnia for a long time. Looking back on the onset, it was induced by ringing in ears. At that time the medicine by the name of "Stomin" turned down the noise to some extent. In the course of time the doctor prescribed "Lendormin" which also worked out. It had a pleasant effect on my sleep. All of a sudden the ringing sound is so loud that drives me crazy. I can't sleep a wink night after night. I rushed to the doctor and begged him to get my my problem settled. To my surprise he got angry and yelled at me like Yakuza, "I can't give you medicine anymore. Call on some other practitioners, if you want to. You should be satisfied with the fact that you can sleep

Last Staurday I dropped off at Ojikoen Station and walked through the residential area to AA Plaza where a monthly meeting of a Toastmaster Club was held. There were 25 participants including two Americans and one British. I'm glad to see the president of the club again. All in all I enjoyed the meeting and could brush up on my English. First of all the president called on me to stand up and say something. I introduced myself and told her why I was there. I just wanted to get a feeling of the toastmaster club again. An interesting part was a table topic session. The table topic speaker called on a member to stand up and ask a question. He or she has to answer the question off the cuff and it should last about 2 minutes. The topic was about "If you could ride on a timemachine and relive the incident in the past, what would you like to see?" After that five members gave a speech. each one for 5-7 minutes, which is followed by the evaluating session. In this sessi

Singal number one: "I will not waste  your time" Thank you, Tim for that gracious introduction, and good morning everyone, I'd like to begin (signal) my brief remarks (reinforcing signal) by asking all of you to consider where we'd be today without modern, computerized banking. Good evening. I know you are all anxious (signal) to hear from our guest speaker tonight, so I'll just tell you one or two things (reinforcing signal) I don't think you know about him. As you know, my subject this morning is fire prevention. In a few seconds (signal), I'm going to give you the three cornerstones of good fire safety (reinforcing signal). But first, I'd like to tell you a true story about a boy, a dog, and a box of matches... Signal number two: "I know who you are".At first Widget Bank, we have many retail merchant clients (signal) who, like you (reinforcing signal) have severe cash-flow problems. Signal number three: "Here's how my spe

Last Saturday I visited Japan-Germany Association in Kobe to brush up on my German. As usual about 10 participants gathered and sat at a table ( "Stammtisch") to speak German freely. The topic was about "Where in Germany would you show Japanese tourists around, if you were a tourist guide?" Wow, Most of the participants travelled around places like Berlin, Muenchen, Heidelberg, Bremen and Hamburg.  Popular sightseeing places for the Japanese are "Neuschwanstein Caslte" in the romantic street, Berlin Wall and  Oktoberfest in Muenchen. As far as Neuschweinstein is concerned, it is interesting to know that it took 17 years for Ludwig der zweite to build the Neuschwanstein castle. But he actually  lived there only for one year. According to a middle aged German woman, one of the participants, most Germans won't visit these sightseeing places where the Japanese hang around. Unlike the Japanese, they enjoy visiting a Christmas market in Nuerunberg, Toy M

Drafting your speech You will never give a good speech if you don't first reduce everything to writing. That means every sentence and every word of every sentence. Your all important starting point is a fully-written text. Why? There are three reasons. 1). You must have the incentive to think the speech through word for word. 2). You must have the opportunity to edit what you've started with. 3). You must have the confidence that comes only after you know that every word has been mapped out in advance. 1. Starting your draft 2. Adding further development 3. The first reading 4. The edit reading Preparing the delivery " Thank you, Martin, and good afternoon everyone. I know you book pros have heard evry ovrblown adjective in existence, but "The Overnight Guide to Public Speaking" is really a unique book- nothing like it is out there on the shelve at this moment. but before I give you a short tour of the contents, I need about a minute and a ha

-Capital: Bern -Official Languages: German, French, Italian, Romanisch -Area: 41,284 kilo sqaure meter(one tenth of Japan) -Population: 7,593,500 (20 % of the population: foreigners) -Currency: Swiss Franc (1 Franc=89 Yen) -Misc: In 1815 European Powers recognized Swiss neutrality permenently Young Russians whose fathers are wealthy came to Siwtzerland. They make car races on our highways with expensive cars. Recently they inquired an old man. They came free throgh a bail. One father flew his sons back home with his private jet. The rich Russians are not liked here in Europe. They lodge in expensive hotels and behave awfully.

Today I'd like to tell you about my bittersweet memory. When I joined a medical appliance company in 1998, I worked like a horse.But I was sick and tired of my job. Actually I was considering leaving the company. By the same token one of my colleagues living in America told me that he's left a chemical company in Atlanta, Gerogia and signed up for a Japanese-American company by the name of "Lord Warrior". Let me introduce the company to you. (Quote) "Lord Warrior" has been providing Advisory Management Consulting and Executive and Professional Placement Services in the Automotive, Manufacturing, Construction and Technology Industries for over 20 years. In our 21st year in business, we are pleased to extend our expertise to these industries as they accelerate thier need for Renewable Energy Innovations to meet the today's challenge and the future." (Unquote) I was fascinated by the company's　rhetoric. In December 2003 I visited the company in P

Remember the first time you attended a Toastmaster meeting?　Almost immediately someone stepped forward to greet you, ask your name and introduced you to other club members. Within moments you made a decision: This is a friednly group of people! In this evening's presentation, we're going to learn more about those special "moments of truth" and how we can use such episodes to strengthen and improve our club. This presentation is part of the Toastmasters International's Successful Club Seiries. The Successful Club Seiries is a set of programs addressing the subject of how to plan and conduct quality meetings. Today's presentation will be givien by CTM, ACB CL the captivating Susanne Braun. Please join us in welcoming TM Susanne Braun. Thanks in advance See you later

Abba Eban; Better to be disliked than pitied Decartes: I think, therefore I am Anti-human person: The more people I meet, the more I like my dog Intelligence Agency: Alcohol is a good fluid for preserving almost everything except a secret Oscar Wilde: The proper basis for marriage is a mutual misunderstanding

1. Cognitive Behavior Therapy -Effective for depression, a multitude of anxiety disorders, and a vast array of other medical conditions, including diabetes, irritable bowel disorder, and chronic pain conditions -Provides skills to reduce internal attention and improve coping by divising alternative thinking and behavior patterns that help in distracting 2. Thinking Distortions -"All" or "Nothing" thinking * I've noticd my tinnitus, now my whole day is ruined * I have tinnitus, therefore life is rotten -To overcome thinking distortions, patients need to create alternative thoughts *What about the fact that It's a beautiful sunny day today? * Yes, I have tinnitus, and it's a beautiful sunny day 3. Create a list of pleasant activities -Write down items * Walking * Concerts * Movies * Sporting events * Gardening * Dining out * Excercising * Attending English Classes 4. The main goal -Having the thought, "I'll never get better