masaaki's third piece

author note:
this is my third piece about me in elementary school. i was in the period of rebeliousness.
i easily got angry at my mom because of a tiny thing.


As every child has the period of rebelliousness, I was not an exception.


It came in elementary school.

In my first period of rebelliousness, I easily lost my temper.
Now, I can say that I, in elementary school, did not make sense.
I will never forget those silly days.


My dad owns a small company and my mom also works there.
Dad's company is next to my grandparents' house and my house is next to my grandfather's house.
So there are dad's company, grandparents' house, and my house in a row.

Because both my parents work at dad's company, I took the house key to school.
Always I went back home, opened its door with the key, and went for playing with my friends.
I was a so hasty boy, so I forgot to take my house key to school.
But it was okay because my mom was at her office and always I could asked her for the house key.
Even if mom was not at her office, I could stay at my grandparents' house.
But I needed the house key when I promised my friends to play after school.

This is a story, which happened many times in elementary school, when I did not take my house key to school.

Probably that was before summer.
As usual, I slept over.
Mom woke me up once, twice, three times...
I woke up at 7:30.
I had to go in 15 minutes.
I swallowed breakfast, changed my clothes, and


So I couldnt get my house key and had to stay at my grandmother's house which is next to my house.
When I couldnt get my house key, had to stay at my grandmother's house, and couldnt play with my friends, I got really angry.
I always got mad at my mom who came back from her work and was tired.
I said to my mom, "Why were not you at office!? I couldnt play with my friends because of you!"

When I think back, I always feel sorry for her and also I feel that it is so hard to raise a child because of the period of rebelliousness.

How was SE? What did I learn/discover from this class?

              I feel Sophomore English was good. But I wanted more discussion time about how we think about certain topics which hold a big part of us, in a small group with three or four people. It would help us understand not only ourselves but also the others. Listing to the others and knowing them would help more understand “who I am”.

              Ive leaned that it is a good way to know myself to output “me”: my thoughts. Probably it is the very first step to know oneself. Showing who I am and comparing with others helped me understand what kind of person I am.

My partner

              I have a girlfriend dating with from about 2 months ago. she listens to me well and knows me well. She is the first person who I can show myself. I can do whatever I want in front of her. I can show my strange face, suddenly do strange dance, or suddenly sing a song which I made at that time. I can show real “myself”. She is very different from my ex-girlfriends.

I want to get married to her, but I don’t say that yet. That’s because we are still college student. also, Ive had only 3 girlfriends including the previous girlfriend. So I feel I don’t know much about “love.” And if I say that, we tend to think about marriage consciously. I think it is not good. Because I really love her and really want to be with her in the future, I want to avoid even a small thing which thought as a discouraging matter from marriage.

ICU

             I think ICU is a great college which Japanese students go to. One of the things which makes the college “ICU” is the study program called “later specialization”. I feel most Japanese high school students study just for the entrance exam. They do not think about after entering the college. Also, I think it is hard for them to think about it while they are in high school. they have little time for it. so colleges in japan should be like ICU, or they should give students the time to consider what they really want to learn in college. This is why I think ICU is a great college.

Part time job

              I work at yakinikuya as a part time job. Ive been working there for 11 months. This is my first time to work part time job. Before I started to work, I thought college students don’t have to work because their priority is studying. But now I don’t think so. Ive learned a lot from part time job and I think it can be a kind of practice for real working coming up after 4 studying years. So I strongly recommend college students to work part time job.

“Hoshiimo”

Hoshiimo is my favorite food. I can live for a week eating only hoshiimo. Hoshiimo is dried sweet potato. Some friends even did not know what hoshiimo is when I speak of it. Maybe hoshiimo is not that popular to young people. But I love it! My favorite eating style is to just heat them for a few minutes. Hoshiimo itself is good, but heating them makes them better. Ibaraki prefecture is famous for hoshiimo. So I want to travel there for a lot of Hoshiimo while I am in ICU.

Addiction to cell phone

A few years ago, there was much news about addiction to cell phone. TV said that people are addicted to cell phone and showed the evidence that some people could not stay the place which cell phone couldn’t be used. And TV said its not good.

But I think its normal that people are “addicted to cell phone”. We need to think about what sell phone is. Now cell phone is a must because it is the only tool for communication. We cannot communicate with others without cell phone. So we are not addicted to cell phone, but we just cannot ignore our friends.

What do I want my obituary to say?

I want my obituary to say that he accomplished something big and he was a great person. But to tell the truth, I wont do something like that. So I just want it to say that he did not accomplish a big thing, but he was a tolerant person, and he was kind to everyone. Also, he listened to others in old age.

I think humankind get more obstinate because we make our opinions clear as grow up. So I want to be a person who listens to others. I don’t want to be a grandfather who always speak to others and is disliked to be with.

Studying Abroad

              Ive been to Australia for almost 1 year to study English when I was 16. The exchange student life has changed my view on things.

              I went to a public high school there and I lived with host family. Meeting with those people who were from a lot different background from my Japanese friends or my family has changed my view. My view was from only Japan. But now, I feel that my view on things is from my original background and my exchange life.

What is my view about religion?

              To me, religion is a worth that everyone has. Even though there are some people who do not believe religion, I think they still stand on a place. I mean they have their own worth and they live following their own “religion”. So “religion” is a thing everyone has. we build up our own “religion” unconsciously as we grow up. Therefore we need it for deciding something.

What kind of people do I dislike?

I don’t like the people who do not accept other opinions and who think his/her opinion is the best. I cant help it. People make an idea standing on a point of view. For example, there is a person who is a teacher and has a family. In that case, his ideas come from two viewpoints: teacher and father. Its hard to consider from students’ viewpoint or children’s viewpoint. I don’t like the people who do not even realize this fact.

What does “love” mean to you?

To me, “love” is to be patient and to listen to my partner. Every one of us is somewhat different. there is no one who is the same as me. For example, there is no one who has the completely same opinion about everything. So sometimes we will not agree with our partner. Its natural. But at least we have to listen to our partner even if he/she has a different idea. We need to be tolerant to our partner and admit the idea. I think we need to listen to partner in order to be with him/her.