2016-11-20 05:42 Summer in the Subtropics
Y (Kuma's owner)
I live in Queensland, Australia which the state refers to as the "Sunshine State." It sounds tropical and beautiful, doesn't it? The area I live in is subtropical and even in winter it is not so cold. The blue sky, coloful birds and palm trees, it's full of natural beauty here. If you love hot weather, this place is paradise, I reckon.
In my case, honestly I am not good at hot weather. Five years ago when I came to Australia, I thought I was able to get used to the hot climate, but I still haven't got used to it. I remember that my neighbor who came from New Zealand said that they couldn't get used to the hot climate either. It seems my natural constitution won't change so easy. My ancestors lived in a snowy area and I am not sure but I guess that this is one of the reasons I am not good in a tropical climate.
It is November now. That means the temperature is going up day by day. Summer started only two weeks ago but I have already started counting the days when autumn comes.
2016-11-18 23:51 Nobody can resist hassles
Y (Kuma's owner)
There are many obstacles in our life. Can you think of any of them? Money is one of those obstacles. I'm very sure that everybody has an experience that you couldn't buy what you want because you didn't have enough money to buy it. This is an economical obstacle.
Depending on purpose, your physical condition can be an obstacle. For example, you like basketball but if you are very short, you have less chance to be a player in a famous team. If you want to be a jockey and you are very tall, it might be difficult to ride on a horse. These obstacles are very difficult to overcome.
However, I know an obstacle that is more common and stronger, that is a hassle (troublesome). People don't like hassles.
One day, I bought an electric fan. There was a manual of it. When I saw it, I didn't feel like reading it. It was filled with small letters and looked complicated. Therefore, I assembled it without reading the manual.
Like I did, people tend to do the same because we don't like hassles. It annoys us and it's awkward. Reading a manual doesn't seem fun. It's not only reading, there are many other hassles in everyday life.
What about time? People don't like to waste time by waiting in a queue. Long ago, I went to The Tokyo Disneyland with friends. It wasn't a special day but it was crowded. We wanted to ride on a roller coaster, "Space Mountain", this attraction is one of the most popular attractions. We had to wait in a queue otherwise we were unable to ride it. I knew it but I still felt it was a bother.
There is another example, I use online shops often. When I find something I want, I press a shopping cart button and then several columns which I fill in with my name or address will appear. Usually the procedures are almost the same at each shop. However, some shops ask me to fill in other personal information or register as a member of the shop. It makes me feel really annoyed, and most of the time I don't buy it. You know, I don't want to do extra work for shopping, I simply want to buy it.
I sometimes see websites that have no information what customers want to know. For instance, I want to buy a bookshelf and search on the internet. I find a good one but there's no size instruction on it. My room is small and I need to know the size. Maybe I am able to ask the shop but you know, it takes time and also that's a bother. If there was the instruction of the size on the web page, I could simply click the shopping cart button as I always do and buy it. Actually, things like this occur frequently. The shop owner seems to not realise that hassle is one of the biggest obstacles to selling products.
If you want someone to do something, you better make sure that there are no hassle procedures on it. People love easy things or something that they have got used to doing, or simple procedures. Don't expect people to read instructions which are written in small characters or don't expect people to follow a procedure that they have never experienced which takes time.
Come to think of these matters, I think an agreement of an insurance company is really elaborate in an ironic way. Usually, an insurance agreement is printed in small characters. I have seen a commercial film on TV, it said that aged people are also welcome. If so, why don't they print agreements with larger characters? Everybody knows that an agreement is very important and they have to read them all but I don't think most of us can concentrate such a long time as reading all the agreement to the end carefully.
Oops, I wasn't going to write for long but I did.
Life is short, we don't have time to do hassle things, don't we?
2016-11-16 04:22 My Favorite Movie "The School of Rock"
Y (Kuma's owner)
I love comedy movies. Watching Japanese comedies are not issues to me, of course, but watching movies that were made in English-speaking countries are difficult. The most difficult thing is jokes. I have to know English, and moreover the background of the society in which movies are made. That's why I don't think I really understand most English-speaking comedies.
However, there is one that I could understand, it's "The School of Rock." The story is about a man named Dewey who was fired from the rock band he established. He lost his job and looked for a job which is related to music but it didn't work well. One day, he received a phone call for his friend from a school and he pretended to be his friend who was going to be a teacher, and got a job as a school teacher without telling his friend.
In this movie, Jack Black plays a man who always thinks that being a musician is his vocation job and encourages his friend, Ned, who lives in the same apartment to become a musician. In contradistinction to the funny story, I was impressed by Jack Black's guitar playing. I have seen him in the movie "The Big Year" but I didn't know he could play instruments and sing well.
The other characters are nice too. A school principal who is played by Joan Cusack is funny and really a well-cast role. Dewey's friend Ned who looks timid makes Dewey more funny. Some of the children in this movie play instruments really well. The movie script was written by Mike White who plays Ned in the movie. So many talented people are in the movie and I really enjoyed it.
I hoped a little that someone will make a sequel but maybe this movie has concluded itself.