2021/10/23(土)SMC

President's Remark

The president came up with the phrase, 'a blessing in disguise' to describe the situation we most dreaded about. There were only 4 people in a meeting. But things may turn out to be better later. We may have a lot more time allotted to each other. We may end up being more satisfied with having been able to express our opinions more often. So it may be a blessing in disguise. But personally, I like the notion, 'The more, the merrier.'

SM Kaneko and SM K. Narisawa served as a coordinator and a lecturer respectively.

Here is the summary of his work as a coordinator today;

Yesterday, it was rainy and cold. Today, it's sunny and becoming warm. It seems that we are affected by the weather. In Japanese, the weather is 'tenki' or 'heaven's mood'. Heaven's mood affects us, although our mood doesn't affect heaven. In other words, in a way, we are controlled by something uncontrollable.

By the way, today happens to be my birthday. I turned sixty-four. I don't have any children, let alone grandchildren. Still, I feel neither very unhappy nor lonely. It's partly because of you, obviously!

Today, I took two Beatles' songs with me which I considered are related to my birthday. One is 'When I'm Sixty-Four' and the other is 'Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da'. They are songs about a man happy with their children or grandchildren. So, it's a little ironic to myself. I played them on the speaker and we sang along. It was kind of like a birthday present for me!

Lecture

The lecture was about usual stuff. We read a passage and answer the questions. Plus, he talked about some idioms later on. Some of the idioms he presented to us are as follows.

1 Your guess is as good as mine.

2. If nothing else, I want to avoid doing that.

3. What will happen next is anybody's guess.

4. I am nobody's fool

Table Topic Speech

1 What is your favorite fictional story? ( novel, movie, fairytale, etc. )

2 Real wealth is never measured in money or possessions.

3 The greatest gift we can give others is ?

Prepared Speech

1. Learning goes on throughout life (SM Yoko Narisawa)

After graduating from college, she started teaching English at junior high school.

It's been more than 45 years since then. Even now she is still learning new things about English. When she attends the SMC meeting, she often realizes her lack of knowledge of English. SMC makes her work harder. Learning goes on throughout life.

2. Do what matters! (SM. Eda)

Before he retired, he worked his head off, leaving little time for his family and friends. His relationships with his wife and daughter are not bad, but he doesn't have a very good one with his son. He is a substitute teacher and he doesn't have too much job now. Life is short and he doesn't know how much time is left for him, so he just want to use his time for what really counts like spending quality time with his family and friends. He believes it's vital for him to leave a gift of love and friendship for his loved ones.

Meeting schedule

Nov. 13 (Sat): Oyama Community Center (small) Coordinator: K. Narisawa, Lecturer: Yoko Narisawa

Nov. 27 (Sat): Oyama Community Center (small)

Zoom meeting

Oct. 30 (Sat): Coordinator: SM Koizumi

Nov. 1 (Mon)