Fantastic Title

I am supposed to be given lots of gifts around the end of a year because this period includes my birthday, Christmas, and New Year's Day in a row. The reality is not always what I am expecting, though.

On New Year's Eve, I bought a book on impulse. While hanging out in the mall with my kids, I ran into this book. All of a sudden, its unique cover attracted me. I remembered the proverb, "Don't judge the book by its cover." However, I could not resist temptation.

The price of $30 did not discourage me from purchasing it although it was higher than I though it would be. Later, I was also impressed to know that each page was as impressive as the front cover.

Given my interests in outer space as well as deep sea, it is no wonder that this book satisfied me. I bet I have good knowledge about universe, but I have to confess that I have learned a lot from it. I am sure, this book differs somewhat from scientific or academic ones.

Anyway, how fantastic the title "HOW TO BUILD A UNIVERSE" sounds! It is not the cover that counts, but it is true that it tells you a lot.

Oops!

I blew it! It was careless of me not to avoid it. I was not thinking of it at all.

Recently, I have come to another hospital every Thursday to learn general internal medicine and emergency medicine. The hospital is far from my residential area. In addition, my jobs start early in the morning ― 6:15 am.

I left my home and arrive there before dawn since it is winter in Japan. My mistake on that day was that I did not turn off the head lights of my car when I got off. As you guess, I found my car lost its electric power when I came back to get something in the car around noon.

All I had to do was call my insurance company. Luckily, it provided everything I was going to need, what's more, for free. I had Ramen noodle while waiting because it would take an hour for the rescue staff to arrive. Soon, my car revived without difficulty. I really appreciated to them.

I got back to my home with caution in order to charge my car's batteries. That is, I DID NOT use air conditioning or audio system. Since then, my car has been doing well, indicating that the batteries are still workable.

This is my second time to have an experience of dead car batteries; it has been more than a decade since my first oops!

Tough but worth watching

Last night, my daughter and I did it. We knew it was quite a tough challenge to achieve but worth giving a try.

It was Kobe Luminarie, a light festival held in Kobe, Hyogo prefecture. To be honest, I have been to the festival. It was about 20 years ago, when I was a resident doctor. I asked my wife on a data; she was a student in music collage at that time. All I can remember is that the festival was incredibly crowded.

Yesterday, my daughter and I spent about 1.5 hours waiting to see the beautiful spectacle in a bad condition. It was freezing cold outdoors. It was not en easy task, as you guess, but we were at lost for words when we managed to reach the light gate of Kobe Luminarie, as shown in the left picture.

It was beyond the description. Awesome and Fantastic! No explanation was needed. We forgot all we had struggled until we arrived here. Simultaneously, the spectacle reminded me of 20 years ago. At that time, my wife and I were extremely impressed by the wonderful illumination. We though as if we were in heaven.

Maybe, 20 years later, I 'd like to visit there again, with my wife and daughter, and possibly my daughter's daughter. It would take me back 20 years ago and 40 years ago.

P.S.
My two sons refused going to see Kobe Luminarie. Instead, they reported that they enjoyed playing a video game, Mario Cart, at home while we were out. Biological differences may exist between boys and girls.

Nose hair to be removed

Today, while I was having my hair cut at a barber near my residential area, I found a new ad under the mirror in front of me, saying "try new service, clean your nose."

I realized that the service is nasal hair removal with special wax. I was really curious about it because not only it is ashamed that nasal hair is showing but I have never had any experience of unhairing. More important, the cost was only $3. How affordable, is it? I decided to give it a try.

First, the staff put some cream around the entrances of my nose holes. Second, he inserted one stick, which was several centimeters in length, into each nose. It was actually smooth and what I expected. However, one minute late, the staff forcefully pulled out the sticks from my nose. It was something that was beyond my thought. I was really astonished, crying out in my mind, "What in the world happened?"

The action was too quick for me to feel any pain. The staff showed me the stick that had been staying in my nose hole for a minute, smiling, "A lot of nose hair, here. Successful!" Then, I was able to figure out what happened with my nose.

After the hair removal, I found myself breathing more smoothly than I was. The problem is that the effect only can last for a month, but it does not matter to me, because I come to the barber every month. Imagination that I would have this thrilling experience every month makes me excited. The stick covered in my short nasal hair does seem really disgusting, though.

Rebellious Period

I found it just before leaving home for work. It was 5:20 AM. It was an unexpected massage to me from my daughter.

The lovely handwriting reminded me of last night's event, when I had gotten upset to my daughter because of her rude behavior to me. She even kicked me in the leg.

I know that she is going through a rebellious period. Now my daughter is 13 years of age, meaning the beginning of so-called teenager. However, I want my daughter to remember that I have been standing with you, and I am 100% sure I will, for ever.

"Dear Aya, you will get married and have teenagers decades later, like my wife and me. You might say it is too far distant to imagine, Dad. I swear, however, time flies and the moment comes to you way much faster than you would think."

I would be happy if I could remember this blog when I see my daughter struggling with her teenagers' kids in the future. It is likely that my future is surely full with something fun. Aging is not bad at all!

My 3rd Book

My third book, entitled "Practical Handbook of Phonocardiography" has been published.

The book has a subtitle, "50 Case Studies with Embedded Audio and Video." What I want to emphasize is the word Embedded. It is true that some medical books have videos, especially in the field of cardiology. This is because seeing is believing, as proven by echocardiographic movies.

I know that books regarding auscultation often include a CD with audio files or a secret number to access Internet contents where you can download audio files.

What makes my book distinct is that both audio tracks and echo videos are embedded. That means you do not have to stop reading the book to listen to audio or to watch echo. How convenient. Don't you agree with me? I created this book since it would be one I've really wanted for years. Nobody dose make it, so I made it by myself.

Whether the book sells like hot cakes does not matter to me because I made this book for education, in order not to make money with royalty. I want medical staff in the world to use this book, so now I am wondering how I can advertise it. Becoming popular by word of mouth would be ideal, although easier said than done. Social media may be available and practical, but I am 100% sure that this blog would not work in this context.

Anyway I am very happy with my product regarding its educational objective as well as its technical achievement.

Orange Picking

The other day, my little son and I went to an orange farm close to my residential area. The fruit park is likely to be kind of a secret place. It has no ad or homepage, but I've known it by word of mouth.

The farm is inconspicuously located in front of a monorail station. The station is not my station but I go through the station twice a day during commute. Recently, I have seen a lot of oranges on trees in the farm.

On the day, when I got up, I decided to go there to hunt oranges with my kid because it was a beautifully sunny day, which is characteristic of Autumn in Japan.

One good thing about the orange park is you can eat as many oranges as you want to eat at a price of $6. What's more, you can take out one kilo of oranges per person, which may be a good souvenir for your family. Don't you think that the price — of course, it includes the entry fee — is really affordable?

My son was excited to pick oranges from trees with scissors. It seems like that he preferred getting oranges to eating them. What was fun for me was to see his excitement with joy.

When it comes to all-you-can-eat, I did not eat so much although I grabbed several oranges. To be honest, I was not hungry at all; I had 3 rice balls before we came to the farm park for no specific reason. I was, however, happy because I spent wonderful hours with my son.

November 11: Pocky's Day

My daughter told me that November 11th  is Pocky's Day.
Have you ever heard of the word Pocky's Day?

I am going to talk about what her classmates including her did on the day, but first, let me explain Pocky because I think that tons of people do not know what Pocky is.

Pocky is a stick-like biscuit with its two-thirds coated with chocolate. No doubt that Pocky is popular among kids in Japan. Grown-ups also like it because it is various regarding the chocolate taste; some have bitter-taste chocolate, which is my thing since it goes well with beer as well as wine.

November 11th is named Pocky's Day because of the similarity of their shapes; 1111 likes like four sticks of Pocky. I do not completely agree with the way to coin, but anyway, the day is likely to be accepted among teenagers.

Aside from the naming, what impressed me is a surprise performance by all peers in the class of her middle school on Pocky's day. It seems like that they stood up suddenly during society class, did a one-minute dance of Pocky (which is also known in Japan), and sit down as if nothing had happened.

I feel sorry for the teacher. If I were in the position, it is hard to say about my response to their unexpected dance. I would freak out because I would think how badly they teased me. Another surprising me is that the teacher showed nothing after the performance and continued the class as usual. On top of that, my daughter said that her classmates did nothing special after that, either.

I am not sure which response is intuitive, e.g., bursting into laughter, just smile, angry, ignorance. Anyway, to me, both look cool on the Pocky's day.

This event will remind me of their surprise performance whenever I eat Pokcy.

I like GIF but dislike GIF

Today's title includes two GIFs.
You know what I am getting at?

The former GIF is a style of imaging, and the latter GIF stands for gastrointestinal fiber, one of medical procedures. The other day, I underwent GIF in my hospital.

I have been asymptomatic about the stomach, but it is a rule for the employees of my hospital to have an annual checkup including GIF once they turn 40 years of age.

Before the GIF, I was given a cold candy, which was kind of a medical drug to make the throat numb enough to swallow the fiber without difficulty. I have to admit that the non-tasty candy worked to some extent, but the procedure was not smooth.

One good thing about the medical device is that it enabled me to see my stomach, as shown in the picture above. The surface of my stomach was almost the same as I would have expected, hoping for good health. I have some knowledge about the stomach since I have seen a lot of my patients receiving GIF in my hospital, although I am not a gastroenterologist (but a cardiologist).

Anyway, I am happy with the GIF because the results were undoubtedly OK. What is more, according to my colleague who performed the GIF, it seems like that I do not need to undergo GIF at least for a few years to come.

Pokemon Go

I was wondering if I had a wonderful time this weekend when I started writing this blog.

What I did this weekend, both on Saturday and Sunday, is that my younger son and I went to a big park called the Expo'70 Commemorative Park and hung around to get Hitokage, Pokemon monster.

According to my little son, 25 Hitokages are required to create Lizadon, which is one of the strongest monsters. In general, it is not easy to capture Hitokage because Hitokage is quite a rare Pokemon. Luckily, the park is likely to the best place to get Hitokage only this weekend.

Yesterday, we got 25 Hitokages and succeeded in having a character called Lizardon. My little son and I were really satisfied with our efforts since the Lizardon actually looked cool. My older son was, however, not happy with the result. He said that we could have gotten a better one. It seems like that the key to get a stronger Lizardon depends on the selection of Hitokage.

Thus, my little son and I went to the park again in order to get additional 25 Hitokages. We finally made it, although it took about 3 hours. A two-day, walking around under the strong sunlight, not typical in Autumn in Japan, made me worn out.

After getting back home, I saw my 2 sons (my big son was studying at home while we were out) talking cheerfully about the new Lizardon, which has a lot of potential to grow more powerful.

Before I finished this blog, it occurred to me that, this weekend, I surely spent a wonderful time with my kids. On top of that, I would say that the tiredness makes it possible for me to have a good sleep tonight.