Merry Christmas!

来年もよろしくお願い致します。m(__)m

Another year, another birthday...

0x26 years old!

0x26歳になりました！（笑）


バラ鍋！

Birthday "rose" hot pot!

Monyo Holiday Recital

My daughter's Preppy-K classes held a holiday recital.

They sang holiday songs in English, Spanish, Swahili, and Hawaiian.

娘の幼稚園の発表会。

英語、スペイン語、スワヒリ語、ハワイ語の歌を歌いました。

Superflex

Looks like my daughter's school is using Superflex in Preppy-K.

(disclosure)

Here's how she explained what she has learned.

Superflex - Nice, polite, and the unthinkable thinker.
Mean Jean - Not Nice, do mean things to your friends.
Glass Man - Screams.
Rock Brain - Not listening to directions.
Space Invador - Pops your bubble.
DOF - Breaks stuff.
Worry Wall - Stops thinking.



When she feels one of them is inside herself, she counters by saying "Go away, ___!".

For example, she screamed when she was playing, and immediately after, she said, "Go away, Glass Man!".

In-laws

My in-laws were visiting for a couple weeks, and we had lots of fun.  :)

USS Midway Aircraft Carrier

Let us out!

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

In some kind of egg, I think...



San Marcos Double Peak Park

Discovery Cube

My mother-in-law has no hesitation in trying something new, definitely a trait to admire.

She pulled herself up with 1:6 and 1:4 leverage, but couldn't with 1:3.

Months of the year

Monyo sings the months of the year.  :)

月の名前を覚えましょう。（笑）

ThinkPad T60 fan

Started making a very loud noise.

So I bought a new fan on Amazon for $15.86 including shipping.

(Screwdrivers not included.  :))

(disclosure)

This video was most helpful in changing the fan.

Be sure to watch the whole video first, or you may break the modem like me.  :(

Here's what a T60 looks like inside.

Swap the fan with the brand new one.

The whole process took less than 1 hour from bringing down the laptop to bringing it back up again.

Hear how quiet it is now.

This should last a couple more years.  :)

Could be just me, but I think my laptop's become faster than before, too.

Savi Ranch COSTCO gas station opens!

The gas station finally opens!

Here's a quick comparison of gas prices from yesterday.

Savi Ranch COSTCO $2.959

Closest Chevron $3.199

Fullerton COSTCO $2.889

Cypress COSTCO $2.899

COSTCO rocks!  :)

Bubbles

Pon just loves bubbles!  :)

シャボン玉大好き君。（笑）

He can blow them by himself now.

自分で吹けるようになりました！

Cathedrals of Sound

Went to the Pacific Symphony concert last Saturday night.

Paul Jacobs and one of the Norbertine Fathers were interviewed in the pre-concert lecture.

One fun fact we got from Paul, is that there is are pipe organs with a bird whistle attached to it!

He also said the pipe organ here has a darker character.

People with various musical backgrounds join the Abbey.

It takes a couple years to learn all the chants.

You may be asked not to chant in the beginning, if you can't do it in unison.

So if there's a newbie chanting, he may by lip-syncing.  :)

This concert will be broadcast on KUSC on February 15, 2015.

I'm not sure if the prelude is also going to be aired.

Denial of Service Attack

Pon performed a DOS attack on our server.  :O

So I went and bought a wireless mouse at Fry's for less than 5 bucks.

FYI, it cost $14.41 right now at Amazon.

You can see it has horrible reviews, but I only use it up to 5 minutes a day, so I don't really care.

(disclosure)

Bird feeder

Monyo made this bird feeder at school.

もとからあるエサはよく食べるけれど、

食べ残しのパンにはあまり寄ってこない。

Reading Pon

本大好き君。

くいしんぼうのどんぐりくん

まつい のりこ

The Gingerbread Man (Easy-to-Read Folktales) (disclosure)

Karen Schmidt

ひとまねこざるときいろいぼうし

H. A. Rey

光吉 夏弥 （翻訳）

Joshua Bell

Went to see the Pacific Symphony concert on Saturday and Sunday.

This concert was broadcast live on KUSC, and will be recast on February 8th next year, at 7 PM PST.

Too bad this is the only live concert, and the recasts probably won't include the intermission interviews with Rich Capparela...

I was able to see KUSC president Brenda Barnes live on stage, which is a first.

Alan Chapman interviewed Joshua Bell and Christopher Rouse in the pre-concert lecture.

Here are some fun facts I got out of it.

When applying for the conservatory, you need to submit two works of your own.

Christopher Rouse wrote his first two compositions, a simple piece for male choir, and his symphony No. "2".

So if you are going to pursue a career in composing, you can try skipping some opuses to impress people.  :)

Joshua Bell did another metro performance, this time at the Union Station on Tuesday.

Last time, he made $52 in 40 minutes, so if you own a Stradivarius and are very good at playing it, you may fare better than minimum wage.  :)

Bees!

Recently, we noticed lots of bees flying in our yard.

Turned out that they made a hive underground, right next to our home!

We notified the community's on-site liaison, and she got the management company to take care of it.

大量に蜂が発生していると思ったら、すぐ外の地下に巣を作っていた！

管理者に連絡したら、早速退治するように手配してくれました。

Let's go fly a kite

Flying a kite after a free train ride at with the Orange County Model Engineers.

These are from earlier this summer, but it's way hotter right now in mid-Spetember...

Ducks!

Encountered during a walk...

散歩中に鴨と遭遇！

Tchaikovsky Spectacular

Went to the last summer concert by the Pacific Symphony.

 

The 1812 overture, equipped with canons and fireworks!

Too bad they didn't have church bells.  :)

Also included some Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky.

Our kids knocked out during the Rachmaninoff.

Monyo wanted to see the fireworks, but she slept through it.

Summer Festival

立夏幼稚園の夏祭りに行ってみました。

御神輿担ぎ。

Carrying the Omikoshi.

蝶々見つけた！

Butterfly!

COSTCO Gas Station

They are building a Gas Station at our nearest COSTCO!  :)

Before, I heard they couldn't do it because of a river near by, and they couldn't get permits or something.

Anyways, it will be really good for us because all of the gas prices near by are so expensive!

Skytypers

マルカイの駐車場から、、、

From the Marukai parking lot.

I think it was targeted towards the Orange Fair.

It costs $1500 per message.

Cleaning Pon

掃除大好き君？

お庭を掃いています。

お姉さんは掃除機怖かったけれど、、、

Home Depot Kids' Workshop - Bug House

Home Depot has a free workshop for kids every month.

This Bug House is from last month, and took a little more than an hour to complete.

Monyo did 95% all by herself!

Hammering nails...

Smoothing edges...

Painting...

Done!

Family Friendly Stores

子供エリアで遊ぶの大好きです。

In Brea Mall.

In IKEA.

Sleepy Pon

ねむねむ、、、

Zzz...

Gyoza!

友達と餃子を作っています。

Sliding Pon

Going down...

... and up!

Swinging Pon

Pushed by his sister.

超楽しそう。（笑）

Monyo Graduation

Went to attend Monyo's last day at Tiny Tots.

There was a good-bye song, a portfolio of her activities, cake, and drinks.  :)

Carmina Burana

Went to the Pacific Symphony concert on Sunday.

With the 70th anniversery of D-Day around, the piece was paralleled with a story of a Jewish family taken to a concentration camp on a train.

This produced a very heavy atmosphere, and made me cry.

You wouldn't notice the difference if you just hear it on the radio, on August 3, 2014.

Dancing Monyo

本日のお題：アンパンマン

ドレミファ アンパンマン
作詞：やなせたかし
作曲：TSUKASA

アンパンマンたいそう
作詞：やなせたかし
作曲：馬飼野康二

Richard Nixon Library

Visited with free admission on Memorial Day.

I had an interesting experience.

There is a room with statues of world leaders in Nixon's time, and one was Japan's then prime minister Shigeru Yoshida.  (Grandfather of current Minister of Finance, Taro Aso.)

An elderly lady asked me, "Why is there a Japanese person here, aren't we enemies?  We dropped the a-bomb on them."

She laughed at herself after I reminded her that the war ended in 1945, and Nixon became president well after that.

History was never my favorite subject, probably due to the nature it is tought in school.

You memorize a whole bunch of events and the dates they took place.

Now, I view history as how cultures are shaped, and cultures shape how current people think and behave.

I think that understanding history is a critical part of social interaction.

Too bad I didn't realize that back then, maybe I would have gotten a better score in my exams.  :)

Anyways, I checked Wikipedia later on, and found out he actually became president in 1969.

Yoshida Shigeru actually passed away in 1967.

So he's not even alive during Nixon's presidency, which makes me wonder why he's in the Nixon Library, too.

Pon de Car Seat

Occasionally, Mom drives the car and I get to see the kids from the back seat.  :)

時々、ママが運転します。

食べ物はあげられませんが、、、（笑）

Pacific Symphony Youth Orchesrta Season Finale

Went to the PSYO Season Finale, where our baby-sitter plays the double base.

Very talented young people!



Pon was too active to listen from the seats, so he enjoyed the first half in the lobby.



I think the rate of graduates pursuing music has gone up since the last time we attended.

Must be a sign of the economy improving!

Monyo gave her sitter a rose.  :)

Dancing Monyo

BGM:  Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez"

Singing in the Bubbles

Ants vs Some Bug

Nature at work, right outside my home.

弱肉強食ですね。

Lunar Eclipse

The lunar eclipse from my cell phone.

Half way there.

Very blurry, but you get the idea.  :)

With Venus, and some other bright star.

Strawberries!

Went strawberry picking at the Tanaka Farms last Sunday.


Monyo ate a whole bunch of carrots, and Pon ate half a stick of celery!

Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 & A Hero's Life

Went to the Pacific Symphony concert last Saturday, and my wife took our daughter to the Sunday concert for "girls day".  :)



The Chopin is a piece I've wanted to listen to for a long time.

One thing I learned from the preview talk with Alan Chapman.

Film music is like program music, minus the counterpoint.

This is mainly because the composer has very little time, since the music is one of the last parts of a movie that get taken care of.

Little Drummers

♪ Pa ra pa pum pum!  :)

Growing Pon

Capable of doing more and more stuff!  :)

どんどん成長しています！

Dinosaurs!

Took the kids to the Pacific Symphony Dinosaurs concert last Saturday.

The program featured the search for a mystery dinosaur, which was named organoceratammatis (or something like that).

Dakota the triceratops was there from the National History Museum of Los Angeles.

Brea mall kid's section

Right below CPK, this is an awesome (and free) facility if you have little kids.  :)

しばらく行っていない間にこんなのができていました。

子供たちは超楽しそう！（笑）

La Traviata

Went to the Pacific Symphony opera concert on Tuesday.

So Verdi wanted the opera to be in a contemporary setting (1850s), but the premier set the time in the 1700s due to the censors.

The Pacific Symphony set the stage in a very current time frame, while still honoring Verdi's intention.

The prelude takes place in a modern hospital room, where Violetta is watching "Camille" on a TV set.

She is dreaming the first and second acts (I guess it is around 1850), which is depicted by the green hospital band on her wrist.

The third act also takes place in the hospital room, but her imagination is mixed with reality.

Borrowing Alan Chapman's words, "Ingenious"!

Verdiは初演のキャスティングにも不満がありましたが、

そのキャスティングも一部再現されているという声も聞こえてきたり、、、（笑）

Cello or Violin?

Answer: 1/4 size violin.  :)

Still so big for a 4 year old!

Pacific Symphony on KUSC!

So I blogged about the Pacific Symphony airing on KUSC before.

I had a chance to ask a staff member of the Pacific Symphony, and apparently the decision to no longer broadcast the concerts live came from KUSC.

The first broadcast was last Sunday.

As it turns out, they also cut the intermission interviews by Rich Caparella!

That was another part about the broadcasts that I liked very much.

How else would I have known about violinist's bows, and the such?

There is always great disappointment when something is taken away, but I still get the enjoy the concerts again, and listen to the ones I didn't attend.

Toradze Plays Shostakovich

The Pacific Symphony had a concert in part of the Shostakovich festival last Saturday.

Alexander Toradze played the Piano Concerto No. 2.

This is the second time I experienced his playing.

I think he lost some weight, and power.

Last time, he was using his full body, and leveraging gravity to play the fortes.

This concert will air on KUSC on March 16, 2014 7PM PST.

Pon Birthday version 1

Mommy baked a banana muffin birthday cake.  :)

Story time with Monyo.

りんごがたべたいねずみくん
作：なかえ よしを
絵：上野 紀子

なんとなくストーリーを覚えていて、

臨機応変に語っているみたいです。

(disclosure)

Nadja plays Mendelssohn

Went to the Pacific Symphony concert last Saturday.

The book end pieces were done without a conductor.

I'm guessing this is what an Orpheus Chamber Orchestra concert looks like.

Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg was leading from her concert master seat, gesturing, grunting, and hopping in her chair.

It was entertaining to both the ears and the eyes!  :)

一曲目は打楽器と弦楽器のための現代曲。

オープニングのメロディーを聴いて松村禎三の「暁の讃歌」を思い出しました。

The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto was conducted by the symphony's assistant conductor, Alejandro Gutiérrez.

It was probably one of the fastest tempo Mendelssohn I've heard.

Her playing was very crisp, and it felt good.

Can't wait to hear it again on KUSC.

It will air on March 9, 2014 7PM PST.

Story time with Monyo.

Curious George Goes to a Movie.
By Margret and H.A. Rey.

日本語では「ひとまねこざる」です。

Story time with Monyo.

Some Winnie the Pooh counting book.

Green Eggs and Ham.
By Dr. Seuss.

No recordings please!  :)