2016-06-12 05:42 Queensland weather
Y (Kuma's owner)
I live in Queensland, Australia. My Aussie friends say winter is a beautiful season in Queensland. It's winter now. Yes, as they said it's beautiful. I love Queensland's winter too!
In summer, it's very hot, but I think Queensland's summer is more comfortable than Japan's, especially Tokyo's summer. The point is humidity. If the temperature is the same, high humidity makes you feel more hot.
My local people believe that Queensland is humid. To me, it's not so bad. Maybe Queensland is more humid than other states in Australia, but it's not like Tokyo.
I can see the differences of humidity between Brisbane and Tokyo by watching insects. Some locals believe that there are many insects in Brisbane. Well, I don't think so, because I haven't seen many insects here. If they come to Tokyo and see insects, they would be surprised.
Most insects prefer to live in an area with high humidity and warm or hot weather. My impression of insects are weak for a dry environment. I thought of the reason why they prefer humidity. Their body is very small and it's easy to loose water in their body. I thought that is the reason. Please do not believe what I wrote, if you want to know the real reason, please ask an entomologist.
I love gardening and Queensland is a good place to grow plants because there aren't many pests compared with Tokyo. Well, it's nice weather today too. I 'm going to take care of the veggie patch.
2016-06-10 04:59 Starting medication again
Y (Kuma's owner)
As I wrote about my oldest cat Moko-Nyan on my blog dated 4th of June, he had recovered from a nasal issue, I thought. However, it was not as easy as I expected. After about 24 hours he took the last tablet, but nasal mucus started coming out from his nose. Oh, no!
I asked the vet and he started medication for Moko-Nyan again.
The first time when my husband and I gave him a tablet, we both had not a lot of experience of giving a tablet to a cat. So I bought a special tool that looks like a pair of scissors. On the tip of the scissors, there is a rubber part to hold a tablet. When we give him a tablet, we have to drop one as deep as possible into the mouth, otherwise he tries to spit the tablet out.
As we have given him a tablet many times, we have got a new idea. We prepare a small amount of tin food before we give him a tablet. Just after we drop a tablet into his mouth, I hold out some tin food in front of him. Before we did not use this method, he sometimes paid attention to the tablet in his mouth and tried to spit it out. If there is food, his attention goes to the food and he swallows a tablet with food. Since we have used this method, we have never failed giving him a tablet.
I hope his nose will be better soon.
2016-06-09 00:44 A gingerbread which deviated from the norm
Y (Kuma's owner)
Everybody is individual and different. I believe that the differences make this world attractive. Conversely, if we are all same, as if we were like cookie dough from a cookie cutter, this would be unattractive. We are not gingerbread which has the same ingredients and shape.
I sometimes think of myself as a gingerbread woman which deviated from the norm.
Since I was small, I have been thinking of my differences from other girls. I was a girl who loved brick toys. I had lots of stuffed toy animals and trains too, but I definitely loved brick toys or toys with which I could make three-dimensional forms, and origami is one of them.
I remember when I was seven or eight years old, a woman gave me a colouring book. There were many pretty pictures in it. A boy was given a book that had printed patterns showing how to assemble a three-dimensional car. I was disappointed because I wanted the book that the boy was given. I wondered why adults assumed what I liked?
When I was a junior high school student, there were parents and teachers who still had old fashioned ideas. One day, I took a class about the Japanese constitution. The teacher asked the students, "Can you think of any unconstitutionality in your life?"
When I heard the question, one thing came to mind. At that time, the girls had to take a homemaking course (such as sewing and cooking) and the boys had to take a skill course (such as woodwork). I saw the boys carrying a small bookshelf at school. That bookshelf caught my eye because I was interested in woodwork. "Did they make that bookshelf at school? I want to make it too!"
Then I said to the teacher, "There are two different courses of homemaking and skill, I think this is an unconstitutionality. I think there must have been some girls who want to make a bookshelf (I was talking about myself) or some boys who want to learn cooking. We should all have a chance to learn both courses." What happened after I finished my talking was lots of laughter. My classmates laughed at me, even the teacher laughed. However, boys and girls in Japan all learn both homemaking and skills at school now. See, I was right! I did not have an insight, I just wanted to do what I was interested in, that was the reason I noticed that unconstitutionality.
And now, a girl who loved brick toys and wanted to make a bookshelf at school still loves bricks, which are called puzzles. I have attended the monthly gathering of the Academy of Recreational Mathematics, Japan (ARM, Japan) a few times. Well, I hadn't realised the gathering's English name. It sounds very academic, doesn't it? Actually, it is a kind of friendship club for puzzle lovers. ARM Japan seems to have about 180 members but I have only met three or four women there. As you see, the members were predominantly men. One of them asked me why I like puzzles. He is a professor, and he said that every year he meets new students and asks if anyone is interested in puzzles but he hasn't met one. No wonder I haven't met women who love puzzles before.
Long ago, a dancing sunflower doll became very popular. When my girl friends saw it, they said "How pretty!". Yes, I agree, it was pretty. However, I was thinking about its internal mechanism. "How does it work?"
My friends are not interested in mechanisms, so if I talk about mechanisms, I would make my friends bored. As you see, I am the type of person who loves to go to hardware shops rather than boutiques.
When I see people, especially women enjoy chatting, they look so happy to me. I am jealous of them. I have not had much chance to talk with women about what I am really interested in. If I have common hobbies or interests, I could have women friends who can enjoy the same topic. Luckily, my husband has the same interests as mine so I talk with my husband about puzzles, science and woodwork.
I hate labeling people, because I was labeled wrongly by school teachers and adults around me when I was a kid. I want them to know that not every girl loves the colour pink, cooking or whatever. Everybody has different tastes and interests. It is not right or wrong.
And then, one question remains. This question is related to my problem.
As an obvious fact, there are some differences between men and women. For instance, when I go to a hardware shop which sells woodworking tools, I rarely see women there. I would like to know why there is a large difference in the gender of the customers depending on the shops? Why have I not met many women at the puzzle gathering? I would like to ask a brain scientist about why.
Well, I know it is pointless complaining about the differences. This is my brain. All right, I am going to try something my brain is good at. I could notice that the two courses of homemaking and skill were unconstitutional because I had a different point of view. I believe if I do not belong to the majority, there is another chance for me to think of new ideas that other people do not think of. Perhaps, a gingerbread which deviated from the norm can do something unique... I hope.