Hi David,

Today is the last day of your ‘thirties’! Yes, it's a big day for you and tomorrow is also big day, isn't it? What are you planning to do for the big days?(本当に、無事に誕生日が迎えられて良かったですね。　いっぱい楽しんでください＾＾）
You have done many, many things for the past ten years. I can't believe it! But that's great! You are really adventurous and always positive. I look up to you. Your life is not crazy but amazing.
And I'm looking forward to talking about each other's children in the future. You don't think so? You never know. But in that case, I am a ‘先輩’of bringing up children. Maybe I can give you good advice. So you can count on me, anytime!(Just joking(笑))

Anyway, I've finished the task 3 "My best friend", and here is my report.

The first take:

『Her name is ○○. She is three years older than me, so she is 37. She is tall and ... long brown hair. ...We've been friends for about 20 years. ...I like to go shopping ... shopping ... with her. we used to talk about boys, ... but now ... we often talk about ... our children.
we often eat ... eat dinner ... together. ... That's all.』

毎度の事ながら、最初のトライは思いつく英語が少なくて、うまく言いたいことが言えないし、「・・・」が多い。　‘our children’じゃなくて‘each other's children’というべきだったかな。　これだと私と彼女の子どもみたい？(笑)

The latest take:

『My best friend's name is ○○. She is three years older than me, so she is 37. She is tall and has long brown hair, and she has lovely eyes.
We've been friends for about 20 years. I like her because we understand each other very well. When I have a problem, she always gives me good advice and helps me, and vice versa.
We used to talk about each other's boyfriends and hang out together. But now, we are married and have children, so our lives have changed. But we still like to have a lot of fun together, like to go shopping, visit each other's houses and we have dinner together at least once a week.
Actually, she is my older sister. And she is my best friend. That's it.』

今回私が本から真似した表現は、‘when I have a problem’。　「困った時はいつも力になってくれる」と言いたかったのだけど、私が最初に思いついた表現は‘when I'm in trouble’でした。　でもDavidの解説によると、‘in trouble’は「誰かに怒られたり、責められたりしている」ようなニュアンスがあるということなので(知らなかった！)、‘when I have a problem’「問題を抱えているとき」に変えました。　それから、‘each other's ～’と言う表現と、‘we like to have a lot of fun together’「いろいろと一緒に楽しむのが好き」と言う表現を学びました。　こんなに簡単な文なのに、自分では作れなかった一文です。　あと、後半の‘together’の繰り返しはちょっとしつこいかな・・？

David, how is this? If there are some mistakes, please help me!

次のtask は‘Describing a room’です。　これは特に難しい・・。　部屋を眺めてどう言おうか考えているのだけど、う～ん、何も浮かばない・・！

Speak to you soon,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2007年5月15日 14:15

Oh, I forgot to write one more thing. I'm very happy about that you've become an English teacher and living in Japan and you started this blog. Please keep it up as long as possible!

•  Tomo
• 2007年5月15日 14:36

It is interesting that the day before birthday is a big day. But it would be so if you are turning 20,30,40….(How can I say in English??) You will hear many “Happy birthday” tomorrow.
Compared to your life, mine is ordinary. I have experienced a lot of things my last ten years such as marriage, changing jobs, having a child, having my own house…and all of them are not unusual. I feel as if I could imagine what I will be doing in ten years. But I agree that nobody can be sure about that. A year ago, I couldn’t imagine myself even a year later. If I let myself know that I live in a new house now, I would have been so surprised! (I had no plan to own a house at that time.)
May I ask you a question about your last comment on the last entry? You wrote “this would be a great bike to do it on”. Is “on” necessary? It sounds OK to me even without “on”. What does “on” mean in this sentence?
And if you have time, could you re-write my English? It is the first time I have asked you for re-writing since you gave us the chance to get re-written. I’m not confident with my English especially this time.

•  Blue Dream
• 2007年5月15日 18:36

Hi David,
It's a big day today rather than your birthday(?). As Blue Dream said, when we reach our birthday of 20, 30, 40, we feel it's like a event which is the change of life. Especially for women, the life changed greatly after we get married and have child. But David, You are enjoying your changeable life even if you aren't married and don't have child.
When it was my 20th birthday, I was very happy "I'll be grown-up lady!". When it was my 30th birthday, I'm unhappy "young age are gone!". When it is my 40th birthday・・・, I can't imagine at all! But I'm looking forward to meeting the 40 year old me. I wonder where I live and what I do at that time. "Life begins at 40." This is good one! That means, I'm very raw youth, is that right??
Anyway, enjoy your last thirties! :-)

•  ayako
• 2007年5月15日 21:03

Hi, everyone.
Long time no see!

Hi, David.
I'm just in time to say this. As I said before, I'm same age as Vick. So I'm in my 40s. You'll be surprised how fast time gose by in your 40s. A year feels like a month!
Anyway, welcome our age! (^-^)/

•  tea
• 2007年5月15日 23:33

Hi David,
Today’s your big day??? Is that big difference between 39 and 40? I understand a little bit. But it sound strange for me because you seem to be unhappy to be 40. Am I wrong? I see you spend great time and have great experiences. I’ve never met you, but I can guess how much you get older with something necessary. Do you know what I mean? So I really want to get older like you.
By the way, people, especially men have seen me like “you are young, so you are cute”(I kno I was just young and 若ければみんなかわいいと思っている人がいる)” and they treat me kindly when I was around 20. Now people started to see me like my age female “You are not young anymore”. 年をとる毎に世間の目は冷たくなる傾向があるような気がします。 But I don’t agree with this idea. Because I know a lot of beautiful and powerful women who are older than me. If you learn something and keep to try something, you are going to be better than when you was young. That mean you are going to be more nice person as you get older. (everybody’s meat are getting liking ground instead of sky, though.)

•  m.n
• 2007年5月15日 23:56

♪Happy birthday, David!!♪ Your new life has just started! How are you feeling now? I hope that lots of good things will happen in your forties!

•  Tomo
• 2007年5月16日 00:00

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
♪ Happy birthday, Dear David! ♪♪
♪ Happy birthday to you! ♪♪♪ *applause* :-D

•  Lily
• 2007年5月16日 00:00

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪Happy birthday to you ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

I hope you spend great time today!

•  m.n
• 2007年5月16日 00:01

Hi Tomo, m.n,
I knew you were waiting too!! :-D

•  Lily
• 2007年5月16日 00:05

Hi Lily,

I also knew you would post 00:00. I was 1 minites late, though (lol). My competer works very slow...I hate that.
tomoから、順番に♪の数が増えているけど、私のだけおかしくなってる（涙）

Hi tomo,
You have a great friend!!! You are lucky♪

•  m.n
• 2007年5月16日 00:17

わ！すごい!　大合唱！ねらってたのね！みんな。Tomo, Lily, m.nったら！
私は音痴だから星にし～ようっと！

☆☆☆Happy Birthday, David! ☆☆☆
How did you spend the very last night of your thirties?
There was a song, of which I don't know the title, and it goes something like, "I don't wanna be wise. I just wanna stay young.” That’s what I think now. To be honest, I’m very afraid of getting older. Maybe because I’m a woman?
But when you become 30, and even if you think you’re not young anymore, a 40-year-old would say, “A 30-year-old is very young.” When you become 40, a 50-year-old would say, “A 40-year-old is really young.” And you would realize that you were really young when you were 30. When you become 50, a 60-year-old would say, “Come on! A 50-year-old is really young.” And you would realize that you were really young when you were 40. When you become 60,… well, life goes on like that.
No matter how old you are now, you are much younger than you in ten years. So I try not to say, “If I were ten years younger, I would do this, or do that…..” Because it’s now when you can do this or do that.
I wish you good luck in your forties and hope this blog will continue to the next decade.

Hi, tea!
Looooog time no see! How have you been? Hope all is well. Nice to hear from you.

Hi, m.n!
Yes, I did! And the mirror said, “Don’t even think about it.” So I’ll stick to むらさき, anyway. やれ、やれ．．．。

•  むらさき
• 2007年5月16日 00:20

Here is the first blog comment of my forties...

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the birthday messages - It's a beautiful day! Murasaki, you are right about the different feelings you have when you are different ages. 30 seems very young to me now, but I suppose 40 will seem very young to me in 10 years time.

Tomo, Lily and m.n. - thanks for the song. I wish I could hear you sing it live for me!

Tomo - your English is perfect. I'm glad you are learning lots of new expressions. I think you will learn them much better this way than if you just read them in a phrase book.

Blue Dream - yes, the 'on' at the end of the sentence is necessary. Another way of saying the sentence is 'This would be a great bike on which to do it'. If you took 'on' out of this sentence, it would sound strange, right? The sentence I wrote is really just the same thing rearranged, so you still need the 'on'. Here is my re-writing of your English.

It is interesting that you think of the day before your birthday as a big day. I guess this would be the same whether you were turning 20, 30 or 40. You will hear 'Happy Birthday' many times tomorrow.
Compared to your life, mine is ordinary. I have experienced a lot of things my last ten years such as marriage, changing jobs, having a child, having my own house…but none of them is out of the ordinary. I feel as if I could imagine what I will be doing in ten years. But I agree that nobody can be sure about that. A year ago, I couldn’t imagine myself even a year later. If someone had told me then that I would be living in a new house now, I would have been very surprised. (I had no plans to own a house at that time.)

Hope that helps.

See you all later.

•  David
• 2007年5月16日 08:17

Happy Birthday!! And welcome to my generation. I'm in my 50s. So you are soooo young!!
When I became forty, I felt I got old. My concern was almost about my children--their marks at school, entrance examination to senior high school and etc. My forties passed very fast. Now I'm in my 50s. When I became fifty, I didn't feel I got old. These ten years, I've experienced many things--good or bad. But the older I got, the deeper I was able to think about things. I was supported and influenced by many people--my husband, my sons, friends and the teacher at the community college. I was lucky. I don't want to be back to my 20 or 30. I love what I am even though my lines became deeper. I am responsible for what I did and I do. I do not want to complain about my own life and blame others for that. I do something with a little effort.(Doing in a full speed doesn't last long.) If I couldn't do it( even though I couldn't join the party or such kind of things), I think this is not a right timing for me. This is the stance on my life at present. You've been living possitively and nicely. So I think middle-aged is never a bad thing for you. " Life begins at forty" This is exactly what I feel now. I hope you have a nice and special day today!!

Anne

•  Anne
• 2007年5月16日 08:34

Hi Lily and m.n,

Thank you for re-writing my article. I understand re-writingwas tough work you made my day.
From your re-writing, I could notice many things. For example, I used "as a whole ". When writing about my family,I was obsessed with the expression「家族として」in Japanese too much.I need to learn natural English.
By the way,you two and tomo's birthday song were so cute. I could imagine which you were singing( How I visualized is my secret!!).I love all of your songs.

Anne

•  Anne
• 2007年5月16日 09:15

Happy birthday David in your forties!!
I hope you enjoy your life and find new interesting things same as your last 10 years.

Hi, Tomo, Lily, m.n, むらさき,
You had the birthday party of David last night, right?
At first I found Tomo’s comment. You are so thoughtful that your comment is just like you. And next I read Lily’s one that have more♪with *applause*. How nice!! It’s as if I could hear sound of your applause. I thought the birthday party seemed to worm up. And then I read m.n’s one with more more more♪ and 私のだけおかしくなってる（涙）I enjoyed it very much. You are so quite!! And finally I found むらさき’s one. You said 私は音痴だから星にし～ようっと！I laughed out loud. Is seems like you gave a performance at the party. I have really good sense. I love it.
All of you are so thoughtful and sweet.
Have a nice day!!

Nao

•  Nao
• 2007年5月16日 09:48

↑
m.n you are so cute!! の間違えでした。quite　じゃなかった。MsWord　のスペルチェックで間違えました。ごめんなさい。
Ｎａｏ

•  Ｎａｏ
• 2007年5月16日 09:59

Hi David and Everyone!

Tea- Welcome back! A year feels like a month?! That's scary!(笑)

Lily and m.n- We were doing the same thing at the same time! さすがブログファミリー！

むらさき- ハイ、ねらってました(＾＾ゞ “If I were ten years younger, I would do this, or do that…..” Good point, I'll try not to say this, either!

Anne and Nao- Thanks for your kind words! You two are sweet, too;-) The party has just begun. So everyone, let's celebrate together more and more and more!!

Hi David, Thanks for your help. Yes, I'm learning lots and lots of new expressions. Thanks for giving me(us) this good chance! Enjoy your birthday and have a great day!!

See you later,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2007年5月16日 10:31

Hello.
I had learned English....a month ago.
But now I'm relly interested healing.
So I've learning healing.

初めまして。
少し前まで、英語学習に燃えてましたが、挫折。。。。
今では、スピリチュアルにハマっています。
英語熱復活？の為に、時々訪問させてください。
（応援「ポチッ」押しときました～）

•  feel
• 2007年5月16日 16:09

☆ Happy Birthday , David ☆

Your forties life is starting today.
How do you feel?
I hope you have great days more than ever.

•  Ｋｉｙｏ
• 2007年5月16日 18:36

David! Our blog is accessible by cell phone! Yay!

•  Tomo
• 2007年5月16日 19:18

Dear David

★☆Happy Happy Birthday to YOU☆★
I hope that you'll spend your days in happiness and fun!!

•  nami
• 2007年5月16日 19:21

Hi むらさき
I made a mistake in my previous comment this morning. I wanted to say ‘You have really good sense’, but I wrote ‘I have……’ I’m so embarrassed. I’m really careless person.　ホント、いつもあわてん坊でお恥ずかしい・・・

Nao

•  匿名
• 2007年5月16日 19:36

Yes!!
I am writing this comment @ the page for cell-phone. The page is very simple, so I can read this blog without worring than before :-))

今は、ＰＣから投稿していますがこれからは携帯から見れる！！
でも、パケ放題に入る必要がありますね。このブログがとてもactiveなことがパケ代にはつらいです(笑)

•  nami
• 2007年5月16日 20:54

Hi Team,

Yes, the blog is now accessible by cell phone. I was going to tell you tomorrow. How did you find out?

PS Thanks for all the birthday wishes, welcome to Feel, and welcome back Tea! I think a lot more people will be reading our blog now that we can check it from our phones. I will give you all the information about how to do it tomorrow.

Bye for now,

David

•  David
• 2007年5月16日 21:42

Hi David,
ブログの最初のページの左側、Davidのプロフィールの下に‘携帯電話版について’というのを見つけたのですよ～＾＾

•  Tomo
• 2007年5月16日 22:02

Hi everyone,

LONG time no see! (remember me??)

Hi David,

"Welcome to 40s!!" I hope everything will be going very well with you! I am 47 years old. I was at a shelter on my 40's birthday, as a volcano errupted one month before. I don't remember what I felt at that time, sorry. As tea said, "A year feels like a month." So keep an arrow not to FLY! (Does it make sense??) Anyway, ☆HAPPY BIRTHDAY☆

Maki

•  Maki
• 2007年5月16日 22:15

Happy Birthday, David!
I understand why you feel strange today, because I'm turning forty the day after tomorrow! That is hard to believe but maybe we have reached middle age. Oh my gosh!! dare I say it, my mental age is 15 years old yet, and my appearance is 25 years old yet!! (うそつけ）

Anyway, your philosophy and mine are the same. I am always following my heart, and ready to explore new life. So, it is not easy to imagine that I will have settled down at some future time. It is OK, Just going my way. You only live once!!

See you then.

•  Yuki
• 2007年5月16日 23:11

David and Everyone,
I’ve done Task 3. I don’t really have anything to share this time but there are a couple of things David says in Task 3 that I want to comment on. I'm in bit of a "language geek" mood ;-)
-「三単現のs」： He points out that even advanced learners often make mistakes in using third person singular forms. It’s really a difficult point for Japanese, because we don’t have it in Japanese. When we speak in the past tense, for example, our mental signal light turns on and tells us we need to adjust the form accordingly. But when we speak in the present tense, the switch never trips because it doesn’t work that way in Japanese. (Am I making sense?) Even though everybody understands the concept, it takes a lot of time until it starts to come naturally.
-「ごまかす技術」： As a speaker gets used to communicating in English, they learn to get around expressing precisely what they want to say. If they don’t make conscious effort, they end up always using the same expressions they know and their English development will stop there. That’s what he says ... I think. (Is my translation right, David?) I totally agree!! That’s one of the lessons I leaned myself and I’ve also seen a lot people like that.

Tomo,
Your speech about your best friend was great! You do have a wonderful friend. There are a few points that I noticed and like to hear David’s or other people’s opinions.
- “We talk about our children.” : “Our children” sounds okay too me.
- “Actually, she is my older sister” : Doesn’t it sound like she really is your sister, does it? I would say, “ She’s like a big sister to me.”
What do you think??

Murasaki,
> No matter how old you are now, you are much younger than you in ten years. So I try not to say, “If I were ten years younger, I would do this, or do that…..” Because it’s now when you can do this or do that.
Great, great words, Murasaki! That’s so true. I’ll keep it in mind.

Lily

P.S. This blog is now accessible by cell phone? That’s great!

•  Lily
• 2007年5月16日 23:33

Hi Lily,

I may be wrong, but I think Tomo is actually talking about her sister ...

BTW, has anyone figured out how to write comments on a mobile phone yet? I can see the blog, but I can't figure out how to make a comment.

•  David
• 2007年5月16日 23:50

David,
I thought so too at first, but she said they've been friends for 20 years... ah, not "have known" ... maybe you are right, then :-)

•  Lily
• 2007年5月16日 23:59

Hi, Nao;
Please don’t worry about the mistake. And it was not a mistake, because you do have really good sense.
Your comment about “my performance” was much funnier! I laughed out loud!

Hi, feel;
Welcome and thank you for your 応援「ポチッ」。今度は絶対に挫折しませんよ、きっと。

Hi, Yuki, Maki!
Looong time no see! How have you been?
Maki, how can we forget you? You’re a regular!

Hi, Tomo, Lily,
なんかすご～く偉そうなことを言ってしまいましたが、A few years ago, I met this woman when she was 37. And I can’t forget what she said :
When I was 27, I used to think, “ If I were ten years younger, I would study abroad.” But I didn’t. Now I’m 37, and I still think, “If I were ten years younger, I would study abroad.” But for me now, “ten-year-younger-me” is 27-year-old-me who used to say, “If I were ten years younger”
あれ?なんか変．．．。あの、要するに、－今の私にとって、「あと10年若い私」とは、「あと10年若かったら」といつも思っていた27歳の私のことなんですよね。－というお話でした。
う～ん、いろいろ考えてしまいました。My life is also full of 'should've', 'could've', 'whould've'...

•  むらさき
• 2007年5月17日 00:29

Hi,all

Nice to meet you!
it's my first time comments from the my cell-phone.

David,this blog requires to input your e-mail address when you want to type some comments here from a cell-phone.
携帯から打ち込むのは意外と疲れます。
and,Happy Birthday!I hope your 40's(40代) will be the more exciting and amazing adventure life.

see you!
iun

•  iun
• 2007年5月17日 01:24

Hi all !
I've been pretty busy, so I just want to say "Hi" and happy birthday David! You're no longer "Oniisan" in Japan. But you're still a good looking middle aged-man!! This is absolutely a compliment!!

See ya!
Pink NY

•  Pink NY
• 2007年5月17日 03:56

Hi David and Everyone,

Good morning, how are you? It's rainy today but I feel nice because I slept a lot. Last night, I went to bed after I posted my comment, ha ha ha..

Lily- She is my real older sister. We were not friends until I became a junior high school student. We were just 'a big sister' and 'a little sister' when I was a small children. After I became a teenager, our relationship has changed. We started to pour out each other's heats and I started to call her name, not ‘お姉ちゃん’. That's why I wrote ‘We've been friends for about 20 years’. Does it make sense? Sorry I made you confused.　ちょっと説明が足りなかったかな?
By the way, ‘Our children’ sounds okay? Thanks for your help!

Feel- Welcome to the blog!

Maki- Of course I remember you! You've been busy with your new job?(インストラクター） 頑張ってね＾＾

Yuki- You are always following your heart? I think you are like David. I want to try doing it, but I can't do it ‘always’.　今度生まれ変わったら、そういう生き方もしてみたいです。

Pink NY- Nice to hear from you! How have you been?

See you soon,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2007年5月17日 09:08

Sorry, I made a mistake.

each other's heats → each other's hearts

•  Tomo
• 2007年5月17日 09:49

Hi David and everyone!

I thought about "older , big sister" from Tomo and Lily's talk. Both of them are available in the same meaning,right? And we can say "elder",too. I didn't know the expression "big". So thank you,Lily.

As for "our children", I think it depends on the situation. Tomo's case, she mentioned her friend, I could understand smoothly. If we would express「お互いの子供のことを」in other way, how about this one "each other's children"? I borrowed it from David's book Task 3, level 1. I'm not sure I could use in right way.
I'm doing Task 3.

Talk to you soon

Anne

•  Anne
• 2007年5月17日 10:54

A belated happy birthday to you, David! I wanted to say “happy birthday” yesterday, but I felt so sick. I’m sorry.
Thank you for re-writing my sentences. Of course it helped. You wrote in your third book that when learners are getting advanced, they tend to use the same patterns of sentences. I think of myself as one of them. I unconsciously use the same expressions without knowing it’s unnatural. Your re-writing makes me notice different and natural expressions. I’d like to ask you for rewriting once in a while.

Thank you for explaining about “on”. It reminded me that I was not good at this kind of sentences at school. And I haven’t mastered it yet.
・a great bike on which to do it →　a great bike to do it on
Here is another example,
・a place in which to live → a place to live in
In this case, you can omit “in” at the end, can’t you?
・the way in which to do it → the way to do it
You don’t say “the way to do it in”, do you?
Why can’t you omit “on” from your sentence? I’m still confused. Would you help me some more?

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