Real English 52-rally

How many times did you rally this year?

I rallied quite a bit.  Or I should better say, I had to rally quite a bit.

That means, that I was tired or down or behind the eight ball (=in a difficult situation), but I didn't give up and found some energy deep down to try again the next day.

Sometimes the next day is better than the day before, sometimes it isn't.  It is impossible to know which, good or bad, unless you get to the next day and live it.  One thing is for sure, your luck, both good luck and bad luck,  can change in a flash, in a blink of an eye, in an instant!! 

Examples of "rally":

1.  In the beginning of this month, there were many election rallies.

2.  I didn't expect it, but the Tokyo Stock Market really rallied these last few weeks         of December.  Great!!! 

3.  Sometimes when I watch my favorite baseball team the Philadelphia Phillies, and they are losing late in the game, I wear a rally cap and hope they come back and win the game!

4.  He didn't feel too good in the afternoon, but he rallied and went out at night with his friends.

I hope everyone rallies together and 

helps each other out in 2013.

Happy New Year and Thank you!

Below is my favorite photo of 2012!

Real English 51-good to go

This is the 51st Real English post of the year.  Do you remember my New Year resolution?  Well, so far I have kept it!!  And after next week, the last Real English of the year, #52, I will be able to say "I kept my new year resolution for 2012.  How about you? Did you follow through and keep you new year resolution too, or did you break it?"

Many people are busy recently with End-of-The-Year Parties.  Some have them with friends, family members, clients...And many often sadly say  "I feel like crap.  I have a hangover" the morning after the festivities.

Last week, I had one of these parties with my friend after we both finished work.  My friend promised to call me when he was done, and then we planned to meet up in Kita-Shinchi.  Here is the dialogue of our phone conversation before we met .

Friend: Hey g, I just finished work.  I busted my tail and finished a little earlier than I expected.  

Glenn:  Nice going!

Friend: Are you ready?

Glenn:  Yep, I am good to go.  Meet ya at the usual spot!

Friend: Cool.  See you soon!!

Some advice:  

If you don't want to get a hangover and feel crappy the next day, 

DRINK IN MODERATION!!!

Real English 50-go through the roof

Mr. S had some flight trouble.  His was still furious, steam was actually coming off of him,  when he told me about the incident in class 4 days after the fact on Tuesday.  In fact, he said, "I was so angry I wanted to punch someone!"  The below is our dialogue from class the other day:

Mr. S:  Listen to this Glenn.  You'll never believe it!

Glenn:  What happened?

Mr. S:  I had to go to Hokkaido on a business trip last Thursday, and I wanted to get the most out of the day, so I lined up many appointments with various clients and booked the earliest flight out of KIX on a LCC.  

Glenn:  Which one?

Mr. S:  I am so angry that I can't even say the name....ahhhhhh!!  The Fruity one!  

Glenn:  OK, got it.

Mr. S:  The flight was scheduled to depart at 7am.  So I woke up early, and arrived at the airport around 40 minutes before departure, at 6:20am.  When I went to the check-in counter, the lady at the counter told me that the flight was canceled due to weather conditions.  I was like "What?!  When was this decided?" Then she told me that they informed all everyone of the cancellation by email last night around 7pm.  But I left my office at 5pm so I didn't see the email.  So I asked, "Why didn't you call me?" And she said "I don' t know...Headquarters is in charge of all matters related to cancellations. I am very sorry for the inconvenience..."  Then, she said the next flight was at noon, and if I want I can get a seat on that flight.  I said, "Noon!?  What are you kidding me?! I have an appointment in Sapporo at 11am!!"  And after that, needless to say, I went through the roof and went off on her!!

Glenn:  Take it easy Mr. S!!  Calm down and take a few deep breaths...So what did you do next?

Mr. S:  I went to a different terminal, and got a 9am flight with another airlines, a real one, ANA.  

Glenn:  That was lucky!

Mr. S: Yeah, but, In the end, I couldn't make my appointment at 11am, so I had to cancel it.  Other that that, everything was OK though.

Glenn:  I am  glad to hear that. I have also had the unfortunate experience of flight trouble...It sucks, I know!

Mr. S:  Thanks for the sympathy. But let me tell you something. I will never fly any  LCC ever again!!!

Have you ever flied a LCC?  

If yes, which one? How was it? 

 What are the basic differences between regular airlines and an LCC?

If no, do you want to try it one day?

Now, let's all breathe slowly while looking at the beautiful photos below...

Take three deep breaths...One...two...three. That's it!

Real English 49-Play it by ear

Last Saturday night, I got a call from my brother-in-law out of the blue.  I haven't spoken to him since the summer of 2010 when I visited Kyushu so I was surprised when I answered the phone.

The following was our dialogue:

Glenn:  Hello.

B-I-L: Hey Glenn, It's HIG.  Long time no talk.  How have you been?

Glenn:  Alright, thanks. What's up?

B-I-L: Actually, I have a meeting in Nara on Monday, and I was wondering if I could stay at your place on Sunday night...maybe we could go out in Osaka in the afternoon or something...

Glenn:  Sounds great! I'd love to show you around Osaka.  Have you ever been to Osaka before?

B-I-L:  Yeah, about 10 years ago...

Glenn:  Well, a lot has changed since then.  How are you coming?  By train? Plane?  What time are you gonna arrive in Osaka?

B-I-L:  I am taking the Bullet Train.  I haven't made a reservation for the train yet,  but maybe I will arrive around noon.  Where should I meet you?

Glenn:  After you get off at Shin-Osaka Station, change trains and get on the Midosuji Subway Line.  Meet me in front of Exit Number 4 of Honmachi Station.  From there, we will play it by ear!

B-I-L:  OK, then I will leave everything up to you!  Really looking forward to it!  Ciao.

On Sunday, I gave him a special "Glenn Tour of Osaka" and we had a great time!!

And to change the subject,  for those of you interested in business/political English, the term "fiscal cliff" is a MUST KNOW!  "Fiscal Cliff" is in the newspaper and on TV, both American and Japanese, every day.  If you haven't seen or heard the term in English or in Japanese then I would be surprised.

According to the Atlantic Journal Constitution, "The fiscal cliff refers to a series of enacted legislation which, if unchanged, will result in tax increases, spending cuts, and a corresponding reduction in the budget deficit at the end of 2012."

If you separate the two words, you have "fiscal" and "cliff."

Do you understand the meaning of the words separately below?

1.  The fiscal year for ABC Company is from April to March.

2.  I was scared when I looked down from the cliff.

Some nice photos! Thanks e!

Al Sodo

My wedding anniversary is  November 25th.  To celebrate, we decided to go to a new place which I came across the other day when I went for a walk.  I told the boss about it and after she checked it out on the net, which she always does, she approved it and gave the go ahead!  It was our first time out together in a while, and we both had a great time and liked the place a lot.

So after dinner I said to my wife, "I haven't written a restaurant review on the blog in a long time so I think I will write an in-depth review about this restaurant..."  But she swiftly vetoed that idea and said, "You know what, I have to be honest with you.  You always write a review without any photos of the food or any pics of the restaurant's interior or anything...Let me give you a piece of advice!  Restaurant reviews without photos SUCK!"

So, I quickly changed my mind... and decided to write a very short review.  Simply put, I liked the restaurant, the food is delicious, the portions are big, the atmosphere is nice, and it is not perfect, but not many things are, so I recommend it!!  On a scale of 5 stars with 5 stars being the max, I give Al Sodo 4 stars!  

For more, check out the site: http://www.alsodo.com/

Below are some photos which are completely not related to the above text.  Ms. F is in the middle of changing jobs, so while in limbo, she decided to take a 10-day trip to San Francisco.  Actually, she used to live there for 10 or so years.  She went to a nice Thanksgiving dinner at her friend's house, ate some of the big turkey, walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, and ate something she was dying for...a burrito!!

Real English 48-showrooming

Have you ever heard of the word "showrooming"?

Well, if not, then you should listen up.  "Showrooming" is the new buzz word.

Please refer to the definition I found on Wikipedia:

"Electronic items are among those frequently examined by customers in a retail store prior to their online purchase.

Showrooming is when a customer visits a brick and mortar retail location to touch and feel a product and then goes online or to a low-service big-box retailer to purchase the product at a lower price.[1] Online stores often offer lower prices than brick and mortar stores because they do not have the overhead cost.[2] Showrooming can be costly to the retailers, not only in the loss of the sale, but also due to damage caused to the store's floor samples of a product.[3]

Showrooming was said to be behind Target’s decision to discontinue carrying the Kindle.[2]

Combatting showrooming

Many retailers have tried to compete with showroomers by slashing their own prices. Independent businesses, however, are advised to counter showrooming by adding value via included services and other tactics.[4]

Some major retailers, such as Target, are attempting to combat showrooming by selling products exclusive to their stores. Walmart is allowing customers to avoid the shipping charges of online purchases by picking up the items in the stores.[5] "

Have you ever done this?  I have never bought or even tried to buy anything online (I am very behind the times, but that is besides the point), so I haven't.  However, I bet that many of you have.

Last week in America, on November 23rd-the day after Thanksgiving, it was Black Friday.  One of the headlines I saw on money.cnn.com was;  "Black Friday shopping hits a new record"

Do you know what Black Friday is?  If not, ask me in class and I will explain it.  (FYI, I wrote about it in 'November 2009' on the blog...Just click!!)  And since it was Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year in America, many shoppers did showrooming.

To change the subject, the temperatures dropped recently and I am thinking about getting a new winter jacket.  Maybe I will think about it for a long time...I often do that.  It takes me forever to buy things...

When winter comes, I always dream of jumping on a place and going to Hawaii for a quick getaway!

Good times!!

After work on Thursday, I met up with a bunch of friends/students at Edobori Blues(=EB).  It was a late start, around 10pm, because everyone did overtime and finished work late (except for Mr. M who finished work at 4pm).  EB is a bar/restaurant which is in Higobashi, about a 10-minute walk from the classroom.  To be exact, it is in between Honamchi and Kita-Shinchi, one street east of Yotsubashi Street and behind a fairly new and beautiful condominium tower.  I forget the name...Anyway, there was a 7th Year Anniversary Party being held that night at EB, and it was only 1500yen for all-you-can-drink and all-you-can-eat.  On a usual night, EB is quite crowded, but because of this unbelievably cheap price, as you can imagine, that night it was PACKED!!!  Standing room only!!  So we got some chairs and sat at a make-shift table outside.  

In our group there were 9 people including me;

Mr. M, who is triathlete a graphic designer

Ms. K, who is into yoga and presently works for a company which manufactures and sells powder used in diapers

Mr. K(not related to the above Ms. K), who used to be a baseball star at Nishinokyo High School in Nara Prefecture and currently works in sales for a wine importer

Mr. N, who is a former boxer and now works in a real-estate company

Ms. T, who works for a Chinese-run company and lives in that condo across the street and also ran the Kobe Marathon the following Sunday 

Ms. K's colleague

Mr. N's two female drinking buddies

Mr. K's long time gf

Quite a diverse bunch!!

At EB, everyone drank a lot of beer and ate some finger food.  The food wasn't enough to satisfy my big appetite, but it was enough to hold me over.  It was a lot of fun, but because we had to eat outside... it was cold!!  As a result, my hands were numb,  but luckily for the ladies, they had gloves so their hands were toasty!

Around 11:30pm, the intelligent and responsible people left to catch the last train home.  The remaining four people caught a taxi to Kita-Shinchi and went to Dojima-SeiNiku-Ten(=DST).  While we were drinking at EB, I called in advance to reserve 4 seats so we didn't have to wait.  Smart thinking!!

At DST, another guy Mr. Ko (who ran the Osaka Marathon last Sunday with his wife and works in a prestigious restaurant in Kita-Shinchi, and also looks exactly like the catcher for the Tokyo Giants, Mr. Abe.) joined us. I was pretty hungry because I hadn't eaten any real food all night, so I ordered a bunch of food for us.  Mr. N said many times "This is really delicious!!!" , and everyone nodded or said something like "Yeah!! Thanks for introducing this place to us Glenn!", so I think it is pretty safe to say that everyone liked it.  I was glad.

Regarding the topics of conversation, let me fill you in a little.

First, I remember Mr. N telling Ms K about the history of Southern Osaka.  Ms. K is from Kyoto so she doesn't know so much about Osaka.  Mr. N was born and raised in Southern Osaka according to him he knows a lot about Southern Osaka.  He said, and this is a quote, "I am a Southern Osaka Expert!!!"

The next topic's dialogue went something like this:

Ms. K:  Recently I put on a few pounds.  What is a good way to lose weight?

Mr. M:  Why don't you take up swimming?  Or how about join a gym?

Glenn:  Yeah, that's a good idea! I belong to a gym and I work out three times a week.  

Mr: N:  I know Exercise is important!  But if you ask me, only exercise is not enough.  You also have to watch what you eat, and cut down on drinking alcohol.  How often do you drink?

Ms K:  About 5 times a week...

Mr. Ko:  Me too...So, even though I have been training a lot for the marathon, I actually haven't lost any weight...

And we talked on and on and on...until the wee hours of the night, when finally, the most responsible person left in the bunch, ME, said,  "Hey, it's been a blast!!  Really thanks a lot!  I had a great time! But it is getting late (that is an understatement)...so let's call it a night!"

After that, Mr. K ran back to his shop to get umbrellas for all of us because it was raining.  It was very nice of him!  After he gave them to us, he said "Goodbye" and went home.  Then, first we got Ms. K a taxi, and next Mr. N got me a taxi (as he promised to do!) because it is nearly impossible for an American to get a taxi in Kita-Shinchi late at night, and I went home.  I don't know what Mr. M and Mr. N and did after that, but they both contacted me the next day, so I know they got home safely.

Real English 47-big on

Recently, because she doesn't want to catch a cold, my DW is big on gargling and washing her hands with special disinfectant soap.

"big on" means "to really be picky about something" or "to really like something a lot."

"not big on" means "to not like something so much" or "to not be picky, to not care, about something so much"

Other things she is "big on", and "not big on" are the following:

She is real big on sweets, cleaning, and doing the laundry!!  (Just like her mother...)

She isn't too big on cats or smokey restaurants.

As far as I am concerned, bad service is unacceptable so I am real big on customer service.

In general, I am also big on greetings, for example, saying "Good morning" or "Good afternoon" or something like that every time you see someone.

When I am relaxing at home, I am not too big on the sound of the vacuum...

I am also not too big on tardiness or disorganization.

My brother is crazy big on fitness.  And that makes sense, because he is a personal trainer.  On the other hand, he isn't too big on slackers.

When I was a child, my mother was big on education, which I can understand because she is a teacher.

And when I was younger, to be exact when I was twenty-something, she wasn't too big on my shaved head and go-tee.

My father is and has always been big on being honest, and always telling the truth.  However, he isn't too big on Japanese-style pasta with shavings of dried seaweed on top.

What are you "big on"?

What are you "not too big on"?

And to change the subject, I wrote about the below restaurant a few months ago on the blog.  Do you remember?  The ham-cutlet and sliced beef is to die for!!

Real English 46- tweeps

Do you have any tweeps?

I don't.  That's because I am in the minority and don't do twitter.  Neither does my OH.

"Tweeps" are a person's followers on the SNS Twitter.

Do you have a Twitter account? 

 If yes:

What do you like to tweet?

Are you a tweep of someone(=Do you follow someone's tweets)?

If no:

Why not?  

Do you think that you will open a twitter account someday?

If you had a Twitter account, what would you tweet? Whose tweets would you like to follow?

As I said, I don't have a Twitter account.  But I would like to get one someday because I would like to follow some people's Twitter accounts.  The downside is it could be a waste of time.  However, the upside is that it might be interesting and maybe I could learn something...Anyway, I think I have nothing to lose if I get a Twitter account, so what the heck(=why not.)...

For those of you interested in what tourists think about Japan, the below survey is interesting.  You might be surprised to see what foreigners think is overrated?

And I will add my own question.  What's the most underrated place in Japan?

From The Japan Times Online

"What's the most overrated place in Japan?"

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/print/fl20121016vf.html

Thanks for the nice photos e!

Real English 45-  do-or-die

The American Presidential Election is tomorrow, Tuesday November 6th.  The Presidential race is  a tight one, and the candidates are neck-and-neck in the polls.  It looks like it will go down to the wire...That means it is do-or-die time!

If you were an American, who would you vote for?

Have you ever had a "do-or-die moment"?

To change the subject to a lighter topic, it is November, and that means it is "Foliage time"!!

Have you seen the beautiful foliage yet?

If not, do you have any plans to go see the magnificent red, yellow, and orange maple leaves?

Mr. M went to Mt. Norikura in Nagano Prefecture a few weeks ago.  

Have you ever been there?  

I haven't, but after looking at the photos he sent me below, 

Norikura is now on my "Must Go List."

Spontaneity

I like Spontaneity.  I like to be spontaneous, which means I like to do things suddenly, on the spur of a moment, without planning it in advance.  In other words, I like to wing it.  Have you done anything spontaneous recently?  

Ms. e wasn't exactly spontaneous, but I think she was courageous and brave and adventurous when she took a ferry to Kyushu last weekend to see some cool waterfalls.

Tomorrow is a national holiday, Culture Day, which means I am off.  

Hope everyone has a good weekend!!

Real English 44-unprecedented

Did you see the news about Hurricane Sandy?  

She slammed the East Coast of America yesterday., specifically New Jersey, Delaware, New York, and my hometown and my parent's home, Philadelphia.

I got the below email from my father yesterday morning:

"Sandy Update

it has been raining for about 8 hours now.

rain is much worse south of here.

we have had over 2" here with much more expected through Tuesday.

winds have picked up and gusting winds have definitely increased.

city is closed again tomorrow.

worst of storm is starting now.

eye of the hurricane is coming ashore right around Wildwood, New Jersey

next 8 hours will tell the story but winds will continue for hours more.

lights are flickering now.

will keep ya posted.

love, dad"

When I check Philly.com which I often check for local news about Philadelphia, I saw some of the following headlines:

"Flooding, outages hit Jersey Shore hard"

"Sandy will make Shire history"

"Sandy moves on, but region stands still"

"3 dead in wake of Sandy's violent tear through Pa"

"Crews from afar help battle outages"

"Volunteer rescuer 'Can't force 'em to go'"

This storm was unprecedented for that area.  This area of America has never experienced such a storm before.  It was a first.  

Earlier this year, another part of America was hit by an unprecedented drought...

Basically, "unprecedented" means "never before experienced, never before happened."

For example:

an unprecedented event

an unprecedented number of people...

an unprecedented increase/decrease...

And, today is Halloween.  Did you know that?  I wonder if many children in my old neighborhood will be able to dress up in a costume and go trick or treating like I used to do when I was a kid....Because of the aftermath of Sandy, I doubt it...

Have you ever seen such a big pumpkin in your life?  

That is an unprecedented pumpkin if you ask me!

Real English 43-splurge

38 years ago today I came out of my mother.  So, because I want to celebrate this event, I will splurge and get the "Deluxe Lunch Set" today.  Usually I order the "Regular Lunch Set."  After that, I will eat my favorite dessert, and tonight I will indulge in my favorite shochu.  It is raining today, but that doesn't mean it is a bad day.  

I have learned a few things in my 38 years on the earth.  Two of them are:

One, spend the extra money for comfort if you can.  For example, spend the extra few bucks for a direct flight instead of one with a layover or two.  On occasion, take a taxi.  

Two, I know it is boring, but if it is 10pm and you have nothing "real" to do, go to sleep. Just go to sleep!! You will thank yourself in the morning the next day.

Real English 42-procrastinate

When I was a student, I always used to procrastinate.  

I was the King of Procrastination.  

"procrastinate" means "to put things off, to delay doing high-priority things for lower-priority things."

For example,  when I was a student, even though I had ample time to study for a test, let's say the teacher told me about a test two or so weeks in advance, I didn't study at all during that time.  Instead, I waited until the last minute, and then on the night before the test, I pulled an all-nighter.  However, after I graduated University, I grew out of my procrastinating ways.  

If you want to try to live a healthy life, let me give you two pieces of advice. 

Don't procrastinate and eat a lot of vegetables!!!

Do you procrastinate?

Do you eat a lot of vegetables every day?

Real English 41-ripped

In class this morning I was talking to Ms. K about "Soushoku Danshi."  (Directly translated, "soushoku" means "vegetarian" or "someone whose diet consists of only vegetables", and "danshi" means "boy" or "guy." So on the net and in many articles, this term is translated into English as "Herbivorous Men, " but I don't like this translation and it doesn't really make sense.  Some other expressions you could use, which I prefer,  are "Feminine Guys" or "Girly/Girlish Guys.")  

Simply put, you could describe "Soushoku Danshi as:

 1. guys who are extremely sensitive

 2. guys who spend more time, energy, and money on their clothes, appearance, and hobbies           than on girls (but are NOT gay)

 3. guys who like staying at home more than going out 

 4. guys who like cooking, and love sweets

After discussing the causes and reasons and history of "Soushoku Danshi" in length, we talked about their counterparts "Nikushoku Danshi," ("nikushoku" means "meat eating," so this term can be translated to"Macho Men" or "Masculine Men" or "Manly guys.")

At that time, Ms. K said, "I like ripped guys!!"  

Do you understand the meaning of "ripped"?

Check out the below examples.

1.  When I was a high school student, I wore ripped jeans.

2.  Kohei Uchimura (the gold medalist in gymnastics) is ripped!!  Did you see his six-pack?

3.  At his 21st birthday party, my buddy Mike got ripped.

4.  The ripped guy wearing ripped jeans was really ripped last night.

Anyway, what do you think about "Soushoku Danshi"?  How about "Nikushoku Danshi"?

Below is a photo of Mr. M's fish.  He just finished cleaning the tank and changing the water when he took the picture.  I wonder who likes fish more, "Girly Guys" or "Manly guys"?

Real English 40-Game Changer

Recently it is getting cooler.  The afternoons are still hot, but at night and especially in the morning it is much cooler.  On Monday I wore a long-sleeve shirt and pants instead of my usual summer attire of shorts and a tee-shirt for the commute. On Tuesday and Wednesday and also today, I did the same.  Next weekend, I am planning to put away my summer clothes and take out my fall/winter clothes.  One good thing about fall is that there is a lot of food which is in season.  Saury is one of them.  I like saury a lot, especially grilled with grated Japanese radish and soy sauce.  

Have you ever eaten saury?  

If yes, do you like it?  

How do you like to eat it?  

Any good recipes?

If no, why not?  Don't you want to try it?

To change the subject, last weekend I watched The Emmy Awards, which is an award ceremony for the best TV shows of the year in America.  It is the equivalent of The Grammy Awards for music, The Academy Awards for movies, and The Tony Awards for theater.  "Game Change", a TV show,  was nominated for and won a lot of awards.  Then, the next day when I was reading Time Magazine, I read, "This could be a game changer for Republican Presidential Candidate Romney."  And then, last night on CNN, I heard one announcer lead a segment titled, "Possible game changers of the Presidential  election."  

In the past 5 days, I have seen or heard or read the term "game changer" at least 3 times.  You can't get more "Real English" than that.  

So, do you understand it?

I define "a game changer" as "someone or something that changes the way something is done or thought about,   or changes the momentum of something, for example a game or an election." 

Example sentences:

1.  I-pad was a game changer for the world of wireless technology.

2.  The Eagles' running back's fumble in the 3rd quarter was the game changer.  After that, the Eagles lost momentum and never recovered.  In the end, they lost the game 24-16.

3.  The electrifying speech given by the Presidential candidate could really be a game changer in the election.

Below is Saury in many shapes and forms!