A new roommate joins in

I didn’t know what drove me to do it during Golden Week this year. It was a sunny day at that time. My subordinate and I were getting on booking for our subsidiaries in our office. I found we ran out of some stationery, so I left the subordinate and went out to a hardware store to get them. I’m not sure what kind of goods and how many tools hardware stores in other countries carry, but those of Japan do a lot of things: appliances, tools, stationery, flowers, plants, and animals.

Some squeaks just attracted me once I entered the building. I made my way to the direction of the sound before I bought some stationery. Parrots, tropical fish, golden fish, rice fish, parakeets, dogs, cats, turtles, a lot of animals welcomed me. Particularly, one animal totally stole my heart at first sight.

Chipmunks.

They were running around frantically in the cage instead of sprinting in a running wheel. That was so cute! I couldn’t help saying to a shop clerk,’I want a chipmunk.’

I’ve had several kinds of animals before; dogs, stag beetles, loaches, parakeets, termites(my mother extremely raged at the moment she saw me holding a bunch of termites in a thick branch in my hand) etc., but it’s the first time that I’ve had a chipmunk. The clerk instructed me how to have chipmunks. No feeding a lot of sunflower seeds in a day. Keeping the room temperature constant. No touching them for at least a week after you get them in your room. They are so timid that they can die of shock. They are diurnal, not nocturnal. It means it’s not good to make noises at night. Staying up late at night, of course, you’ve got to refrain from it. Oh, crap. I’m a nighthawk!

Anyway, Chip-chan(her name) and I have been living in my room ever since then. I put several goods like a running wheel in the cage. Cleaning up the cage, especially getting rid of feces, is sometimes annoying me, but her cute and adorable actions can make me relaxed. It’s so painful when she bites me, though. Yes, she is a rodent.

I just uploaded a footage of her. So pretty, isn’t she?

Fictional incidents about my brain

Although my skin is extremely sensitive, luckily I haven’t had a serious disease so far. It’s essential to keep being healthy, isn’t it? Some say you need to regularly take medical tests so that doctors can find out the badly medical points early that you have to cure. Speaking of the tests, let me tell you a topic about my CT check for the first time in my life.

About two years ago, I was bothered with some headache that I didn’t know what caused. Sometimes I became dizzy while working and felt like my back was gone. I could’t stand it and finally decided to consult with a doctor that I often go to see. The doctor at first said to me with a smile on his face, ‘Nothing to worry about your brain. Your stiff shoulders have been producing a headache. Starting with exercise should be the best way to get rid of your headache.’ Maybe he was right.

But at the time I was really suffering from the headache, so I insisted on taking a CT check. The doctor’s face was keeping showing ‘Hmm’ until the last minute but accepted it.

It was the first time for me to have a CT test. Of course I knew it wasn’t horrible and it took just a little time to finish the check. However, there were two things came up in me: considerable anxiety and a stupid idea. The former was that what if there was something seriously wrong with my brain. The latter was that what if my brain turned into something like those of people in Tiphares which is a restricted area existing high above the ground in the manga: Battle Angel Alita. The original title of the manga is Gunnm, and the name of the city, Tiphares, is Salem. I like the manga.

Here’s the official site of the author.

Let me show you what the brains of the people in Tiphares are. Here, it is. So disgusting, isn’t it? One senior scientist went crazy at once and fell to his death right after he saw the device in the brain and knew he had the same one in his brain.

Another idea just sprung up in my mind; what if the shape of my brain changed like this? Maybe I could have become stronger and people would have respected me. lol

Baki, a prominent martial-arts master in the manga ‘Baki’, has a strangely shaped brain that looks like a face of an orgre. ‘Orgre’ is his father’s nickname originated from his father’s extremely big muscles in his back. Rippled vigorously, the muscles change the form into something terrible but attractive like a face of an orgre.

Incidentally, there was nothing to worry about my brain. What’s more, a friend of mine who runs his own business as a masseur just got rid of my stiff shoulders. Thank God.

The ticket for the UK blown away

ALC, a famous publisher for English learners in Japan, sought some people last month who were able to visit the UK, have an interview with a producer at the BBC, and collect material for journals of the magazine:ENGLISH JOURNAL. One of my friends gave me the information and encouraged me to apply for the event. She and I spontaneously came up with an idea to attract judges and clear the first hurdle at the same time: telling a rakugo story in London.

The applicants had to fill out an online form at the first stage. Maybe you might think you would be required to be a fluent English speaker. Luckily, you didn’t need to be. Two essays in Japanese: “How come you want to become the UK correspondent?” and “What would you do in London?” Those were what you had to do at the first stage. It was easier than you expected, wasn’t it? Fortunately, I cleared the first stage with the idea.

The mail saying ‘how about coming to Tokyo to have the interview with us?’ reached me in the middle of May. The blog that the editors of the magazine told me that 23 candidates were chosen from 635(they told me in person that 653 people applied for the event). I arranged the schedule to go to Tokyo and informed my boss that I probably visited the UK for a few days as the correspondent. ‘There’s no problem as long as you deal with your tasks’ was what he answered. All the matters were dealt. Just the interview left.

Sadly, I failed to pass the interview. 😦

Two people(I haven’t known who made it) were chosen from 23 candidates at the interview. I should have at least told my rakugo during the interview. Maybe I’m too old to be the correspondent. However, if only I had had much more attractive characteristics to turn the interviewers around, if only I had acquired much more fluent and impressive English skill. Something different might have happened.

I once suggested one of my friends whose dream is to become a professional writer that he keep writing journals and show them to a lot of people. I think I’m the one who must follow the advice.

They are the gift that the interviewers gave me.