The Tea Tree Lake

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Just in from the beach here, is a tea tree lake. When the tides get very high, the sand is washed away that separates the lake from the sea and an amber stream of tea tree oil infused water flows to the ocean. This week that happened and my mind clicked. I contracted a toenail fungus on my right foot many years ago. It has remained only on that foot. It spread beyond my toenail to the sole of my foot. Twenty odd years ago, my doctor gave my different external treatments that didn’t change it. So, he gave me an internal medicine that I was to take every day for six months. After four weeks, I was so ill that he took me off it. I totally screwed up my system and it wasn’t until I was treated by a herbalist that I stabilized again.

Tea tree oil is a natural anti fungal agent. I figure that a few minutes a day walking in this tea tree water won’t hurt and it maybe will help. I’ll let you know in a few months.

Cheers

Barefooting

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I live only a block from the beach. Most of it is through a nature strip. I was wearing these clunky sandals to the  beach and, then, taking them off to enjoy the sand. A couple weeks ago, I asked myself, “Why am I doing this?” My route to the beach is through a nature strip, a small park and a short path. It is mostly grass and dirt with a few short stretches of stony earth or gravel. So, I started to leave the sandals at home. Ah, the freedom.

I soon discovered other benefits than loosing the weight of the sandals. My feet soon became accustomed to the rough surfaces. Sure, there is a bit of discomfort when walking on gravel or stony ground, but, it isn’t that much. What’s great is that my I am feeling the bottoms of my feet as I walk. Also, the irregular surfaces are massaging my feet and causing them to flex in small ways that can only be good for them. I mean, why do we have so many bones in our feet if not to give them a wide range of flexibility?

This has become a real joy for me. I am also walking differently. My feet are coming down more evenly than when wearing shoes. You can see this especially when you watch barefoot runners as opposed to people running in shoes. I read that there was a study that showed that barefoot running allows your feet to transmit the quality of the surface better to the rest of your body and that your joints are better able to prepare for the jolts. They actually found that there was less wear on joints of bare foot runners than shod runners.

I will still use my clunky sandals and my shoes but I continue to go barefoot much of the time.

Japanese Learning Apps for my Ipod Touch

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I have some applications for my Macbook and some apps for my iPod Touch that I use for studying Japanese. In this post, I’ll tell you about the apps that I use on my Touch.

The first that pops to mind is called Kanji Fuda. It has sixteen tiles and when you touch a tile it flips to reveal a kanji (chinese based characters) or the meaning in English and Kana. If two match, they stay up. Otherwise, they turn back over and you have to search. It’s a great game. Helping me to refresh my memory and learn some new kanji. Right now the number of kanji is limited but the creator is going to post more.

Next is sticky study. A flashcard app for studying hiragana and katakana. The two phonetic alphabets used in conjunction with the kanji. My hiragana is pretty good, but, my katakana has a ways to go.

For a more full on study, I use an app called Japanese Flip. It is a flash card program with the Kanji arranged in four levels. You can have the kanji show by itself or with kana below it. I have it set for both. You then tap to show the answer. You tap to indicate if you were correct in your answer. It keeps track of your answers to present you with the ones that you missed more often.

Japanese Study

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I have discovered an online Japanese “textbook” called Textfugu. The guy who created it does these great videos on YouTube about learning Japanese. He is very funny and sincere. People were always asking him to recommend a textbook and he was always recommending texts that he felt were “ok”. He got laid off from his job and decided to write a textbook himself. What evolved is an online textbook with all of the advantages of video and such. I am beginning with the free lessons. In the first lesson he has you write down why you want to study Japanese. Then, he goes through the excuses. I am now beginning my language learning log.

I began this voyage a long time ago. I am above survival level, and, have floated there for a long time. I want to get to where I can easily converse with native speakers in Japanese. Next!

Dysfunctional Government

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One of the reasons that I vote outside the two party system is the concept of an “opposition” party. The present Australian Coalition is an unfortunate example. They lost the election by a slim margin and, instead of helping to get the business of running a country happening, their sole objective is to oppose anything that the Labour party proposes. They believe that if nothing gets done, then, the electorate will blame the governing party and elect the coalition. They have become attack dogs instead of mature adults.

The Coalition is still attacking the roll out of the National Broadband Network even though their opposition to the scheme was pointed to by the Independents as one of the principle reasons that they sided with the Labour Party to form a government. Is this insanity?

( I should point out that the Republican Party in the USA are doing the same thing. Also, I suspect that the Labour Party would be doing the same if they were out of government.)

This is all very discouraging. Members of Parliament are meant to represent the interests of the whole country first of all. The fact is that there will never be complete agreement on any issue. What should be happening is the forging of the best solution no matter who proposes said solution.

Heavenly Bodies

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Looking at the photo of my mother and myself, I wonder. There is this myth about heaven that so many people subscribe to. My feeling is that most people have this vague idea but don’t really look very closely at their belief. If there were a heaven, would you have a body? If so, would you have the one that you had at the time that you left this physical realm? If so, why? I would bet that most people who have reached an age where their bodies were breaking down or filled with disease, would want a different body. I like my body but I sure would like to let go of a few of these aches and pains that I live with. It might be nice to have that blond hair back again…. So, does that person that you remember look the same as you remember? Even if you have a photo.

By the way, for me, the photo is there to remind me of the qualities of my mother that I remember fondly. She lives on in my heart, that is enough for me. Perhaps, one day, I will continue where this is leading me.