News today

The good news is that Daisuke Matsuzaka's deal was finalized today and it looks like he's going to be the 1000th MLB player from Japan. The bad news is that I seriously doubt that he'll do better than Nomo. In my view, Nomo was one of the best pitchers Japan has ever seen, and D-Mat (sounds much better than his full name, which only reminds us of high-priced beef) is as good or slightly worse because, despite being so young, he relies much more on slow pitches than Nomo as if he's a tremendously seasoned pitcher, although his straight balls may be a bit faster than Nomo's. Ichiro once commented about him: "He pitches like an old man," adding he was pretty disappointed to see how often Matsuzaka counted on his slow breaking balls instead of his trademark straight fastballs. He's the kind of pitcher who loses as much as he wins, and gives up quite a high percentage of homers per inning, ------ and this with Japanese players who obviously have much less power on average than American counterparts. So chances are that he's going to be another Irabu, or still another Irabu after Ioka in Yankees. Anyway I bet even if the Red Sox make it to the World series in the years to come, he won't be among starters. So it's going to be like déjà vu all over again for American people to see.
By the way, I once lived within walking distance of the home stadium of Seibu Lions, Matzuzaka's team. I watched Ichiro playing there. I remember he looked so petit because we were seated at the top of the stadium. But even at that distance, I was impressed how fast he stole second, though I couldn't really distinguish him from the base umpire from our position. He hit a homer while I went to the bathroom and a double while I went up to buy sushi, California rolls.

I'm just sitting here wasting my time thinking I'm really learning English

It's discouraging to realize that I've made little progress in writing and/or reading English over the course of this year despite the fact that I've been writing here for almost a year. Sometimes it all strikes me as nothing but a waste of time. Just as disheartening is the thought that I might have gotten used to rather inefficient ways of learning language in the process, or learning anything for that matter, due to the complete lack of concern over how best to learn effectively. Maybe this is pretty much the same as saying that when you do things without prior planning, you'll very likely end up wasting your time. I think probably I need a tutor who's good enough to help me figure out how to learn more effectively. That's a real good idea. If only I could afford one. As I write this, it occurred to me that self-education needs at least two things: One is just spending as much time learning something you want to learn as you can and the other, no less important, is figuring out better ways to spend time and energy and money for that goal, which I think need to be reassessed on a constant basis. As the proverb goes, it may be true that if there is no pain, there is no gain, but it may also be true that if you just endure pain without thinking about how to get out of it, it could be worse. And even worse is trying one expensive painkiller after another believing they are the saviors you're looking for.