Monday, Feb 4th.   “Kids on video games”

These days, kids are on video games all the time. They never take a break from it. They play it night and day. Call me old-fashioned, but I feel parents should take away video games from their kids. Kids need to play outside with their friends. I think that kids gain nothing from playing video games.
I think there are only 3 things that are important for kids to do in their childhood; play outside with their friends, read tons of books, and sleep. By watching kids nowadays, it makes me worried about their future. The reason I thought about this is that I saw an essay that my student’s granddaughter wrote. She’s only in elementary school, but It was written so well it blew me away. I asked my student if her granddaughter plays video games and she said no. Her granddaughter only reads books whenever she has time. What a difference between kids that read and kids that play video games all day. The difference will be even a lot bigger in the kid’s future.

old-fashioned 古い考え方 アナログ人間

blew me away 圧倒された

Wednesday, Feb 6  “Skeptical of flu shots”

The flu is spreading like crazy.  I hear many stories from students that their spouses, children, and grandchildren got the flu.  Fortunately, I have never had the flu in my life.  The funny thing is I’ve never even had a flu shot.  I’m extremely skeptical of the effects of flu shots.  The reason is, every time I meet a person who has never had the flu, I find out that they’ve never had the flu shot either.  Is this just a coincidence?  

You can say my body’s immune system was able to beat the flu 17 times since I’ve experienced 17 flu seasons in Japan.  In other words, my immunity is doing a super job.  I’ll keep trusting my immune system to work for me in the future.  My point is, I think it’s important to let your body do its job of keeping you healthy. 

skeptical 信用できない

the effects 効果

coincidence 偶然

immune system 免疫

Sunday, February 10. “Skin care products”

When I was in my 30’s, I never cared about the condition of my skin.  In my 40’s I started to notice that my skin was not as young as it used to be.  I felt the need to take care of it.  I began to do some research on skin care.  Basically, what I found out was that expensive skin care products and cheap products don’t make a difference. 

For men, it’s just enough to keep your skin moist.  I found two products that are effective for this.  One is Vaseline (ワセリン). The other is glycerine (グリセリン).

Glycerine is thinner, so it’s easy to put on my face. That’s why I put it on first.  Vaseline is thicker, and it keeps the moisture in.  I put it on after glycerine.  The effect is amazing.  It keeps my skin smooth and young.  Maybe I can pass for 30 something. Haha 

make a difference   差を生む

effective 効果的

I can pass for 30 something.   30何歳で通るかも