BloomBloom -the Journey to a Second Career-

I bought a power plug for a junk pc which I bought for training repairing pc. The pc was sold without a power plug. So I bought the plug, however  it was incorrect. The plug size didn’t match the pc. I checked the amount of power but missed the plug size. At last, I bought a connector between the pc and the plug. And it costs additional money. I learned that I should have enough check when I buy something.

I bought a set of repair tools. It includes over a hundred screw heads and various items for repairing electronic devices such as PCs. I also bought a junk PC to practise on. I’ll need to repair laptops in my host country as a volunteer, so I want to get in plenty of practice before I go. I hope my skills will help the people there. The Tools set

Today is my birthday. It’s a holiday called “Midori-no-hi” in Japan. I’ve come back to my parents’ house, so I’m celebrating with my relatives. My birthday is on the same day as my nephew and niece’s — they’re twins. So the three of us are being celebrated together at a big party.

I’m planning to travel to Hokkaido. My family and my parents are going to visit Asahikawa and Biei in Hokkaido. There aren’t many hotels or holiday flats, so I’ve booked a slightly more expensive flat than I expected. Also, there are hardly any rental cars available. I think many people will visit Hokkaido in the summer.

I went to the hospital because the middle finger on my right hand was hurting. It had been swollen for a week. The doctor said that it was just an inflammation caused by bacteria, so he gave me a prescription. I’ll take the pills and see how it goes for a week. If my finger doesn’t get better or gets worse, I’ll have an operation to fix it.

Today, I made a reservation for a yellow fever vaccination. It’s scheduled for one week from now. My host country isn’t in a yellow fever risk area, but if I travel to certain countries, a yellow fever certificate will be required. That’s why I decided to get vaccinated. Japan Institute for Health Security

Today, I sent my retirement documents to my company’s accounting department. They relate to my retirement allowance and taxes. Although I still have about two months left before I retire, I sent them well in advance. The only step left is to return my employee ID card to the company after my retirement date.

I went to Akihabara with my best friend to buy an electric tester for repairing some PC. We met up at thirty to twelve. First, we had ramen for lunch. It was really delicious, with many kinds of herbs and spices. After that, I found the electric tester and bought it. It was a great day to meet my friend and have a good chat with him. 

Diamond Tournament, so I received a special status badge. I’m excited about it and feel relieved because I had been checking the app constantly for a week. I was getting tired of it. Now, I’m free from the pressure. 

Today, we had a barbecue at my wife’s family home. It’s a beautiful sunny day, perfect for a BBQ. I was in charge of the grilling. We had all sorts of ingredients, such as beef tongue, kalbi, shrimp, corn, and mushrooms. I especially recommend the beef tongue — it’s really juicy and thick. We had a wonderful time.

I had a chicken wrap for lunch. I went to the KFC that opened two or three weeks ago at the nearest tube station. The chicken wrap and small fries cost 390 yen with a mobile coupon. It was really cheap, wasn’t it?

Today, my wife is having dinner with her colleagues, so it’s just the three of us – my daughter, my son, and me – spending the evening together. However, my wife has kindly left us a dinner she cooked. We really appreciate it. Also, we’re having mapo tofu for dinner.

In today’s news, I saw an article saying that four pandas in Wakayama Prefecture are going to be sent back to China in June. After that, there will only be two pandas left in Japan, which are at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. I imagine that China wants Japan to return them because, from an economic point of view, it’s no longer worthwhile to rent them.

I bought advance tickets for Minecraft: The Movie at a nearby cinema. A few days ago, the children’s tickets were sold out online, but adult tickets were still available. So, I went to the cinema in person to buy them. I realised that sometimes things unavailable online can still be found in a physical shop. My daughter, son and I are really looking forward to seeing the film, as we often play Minecraft together. A Minecraft movie

I registered with Upwork, which is a crowdsourcing platform. At first, I filled in my profile, uploaded my portfolio, and so on. I’m wondering if I’ll be able to earn some money after I retire. Specifically, I’m planning to work during my days off in my host country, Africa. Additionally, I believe that working with English-speaking people will improve my English skills.

It was 27 degrees Celsius today, so I felt quite hot. Our oil heater was still in the living room. I packed it away in its box. It wasn’t easy to carry it down to the first floor — our living room is on the second floor — because it’s quite heavy. I was worried that my wife might have to carry it without my help. She’ll have to move heavy things on her own when I live abroad.

Today, I built an app that provides me with flashcards. I can use it on Google Chrome on my iPhone. I wrote the code with the help of ChatGPT.  I just explained the functionality I wanted, and it generated the code for me. It also guided me on how to use GitHub, Google Cloud, and so on. To be honest, I had no prior experience in coding or web development, but I still managed to build it. I believe this app will help improve my English learning.

Today I finished the series of “How to” by BBC learning English. There are fifty-two sessions in this program. I have been hearing a session per day until today, every day. At first I only heard the audio. Secondly I heard the audio with reading the transcript. Finally I checked the words or idioms which I am not sure that mean and recorded them.  I am going to try again from the first session tomorrow. BBC learning English

Lately I started running for my health. I run about three kilometers every day. At first I got hurt my knees soon but nowadays I didn’t worry about it.  I’m going to have a health check two or three months after. I hope my blood test results will be better than before.

Today I read that book, “How can we stop  conflicts ?” I agree with that statement below. “  Differences in ethnicity, religion, and ideology are not the fundamental ‘causes’ of conflict, but rather the ‘means’ by which conflicts are exploited.” I think that  Catastrophic tragedies occur when actors seeking to achieve their own aims exploit these means and draw in people belonging to those groups. I believe there’s nothing that should be gained at the expense of another’s happiness. How can we stop  conflicts ?