Don't Get Nervous Lots of people feel fear which sparks extreme tension when they speak in public. Although they are not standing in front of audiences to speak, if they have to speak in a foreign language, they could be strained as well. Back in the beginning of learning spoken English, I completely got nervous when I talk face to face with a native speaker, even though I believed that speaking one foreign language is quite challenging for everybody. My English speaking skill has been obviously improved for the past 6 months and I believe that I have a decent amount of confidence now, but still, sometimes I get strained when I speak in English. Why? I guess that one primary reason I was tensed up is the gap between the reality and the ideal related to my spoken English. In particular, when it comes to the conversation topic that I get used to, it usually was in Korean not in English and the fact got me thinking seriously. It is important that precise awaring my skill rather than setting a lofty goal to take in myself and to overcome the tension. I do not have to make myself hard to impress others.

Pet peeves at my office I have a few office pet peeves that occasionally happen around me. One of the worst pet peeves I've been encountering is a sound of someone else typing on his/her keyboard. I am a little bit of guilty of making that kind of noise, but what bothers me is the sound of the special keyboard. There are different types of software engineers around me and a few of them are stuck to their own keyboards which are able to make loud clacking sounds. The worst of all I can not understand, at times, they work quietly during working hours and break a silence at lunch time! Actually, this may not that serious annoying thing in the workplace and it is not holding a high rank in the list of biggest pet peeves when I typed in google.

Doing Nothing Just relaxing or doing nothing has been pretty hard for me since I had two of adorable kids and had to more work than before. That so unnerves me that I need to do anything instead of doing nothing. One reason I guessed in a positive way was that the value of spending an hour is totally different than I had when I was a just student or a single. The last week was the great chance to take annual leave for alternating holidays in Korea. I had been longing for the week floating on air with building a bunch of plans for spending my free time. Best of all, my family enjoyed a memorable excursion at the east coast of my country and it had been a while after I communicated with them enough. Obviously, it was worth to make me feel refreshment enough, however, I was still ungratified a bit after having fun though. Then after a while, I came to realize myself was eager to relax. Honestly, I believed doing nothing is just wasting time and unproductive, but it actually makes me be more creative and productive in a long term.

Goosebumps While I was watching the live stage performed by a famous female singer a few months ago, I was mesmerized by her enchanting voice and her powerful high note. Back then, I used to get goosebumps without sick of listening to the singing over and over again, though. In the last weekend, I experienced aesthetic chills again watching the video. I've wondered why I get to experience that kind of bizarre phenomenon. According to an article I found out, some scientists have suggested that goosebumps are an evolutionary holdover from our ancestors and human beings keep themselves warm through endothermic layer beneath the hairs of their skin. When we feel a steep change in temperature, we have goosebumps as we temporarily raise and lower our hair to reset the layer of warmth. Granting the idea, Do we feel rapid temperature difference when we listen to the music that contains unexpected high notes or emotionally touching stimuli? To be honest, I don't wonder its exact reason but think it's just wonderful. In particular, this experience is also known as "skin-gasms" which is actually the lovable expression to me.

Boiling Frog A few weeks ago, my wife got scalded on her shin after falling asleep with an electronic heat stone, which is the device that is able to warm human body. Back then, I realized the low-temperature burn is one of the really severe injuries. After the incident, she used to go to see the dermatologist regularly in my neighborhood, but her wound's recovery was too slow. Even the doctor seriously recommended the operation called "dermatome-autoplasty", the way to graft her own skin from her butt. Fortunately, one of my best friends got me know the innovative treatment called "Platelet Rich Plasma", which is to inject extracted platelet from her blood gathering. Best of all, he is a dermatologist as well! Now she's gratified with the recovery progress due to him and any operation is not necessary. I'm not intending to advertise that treatment but letting you aware that you can get burns from a low-temperature heating tool such as medicated heat patch. Take care!

The Dog Cafe A special cafe for dog people has opened in my neighborhood. As soon as my family went into the cafe, a bunch of different dogs rushed to us and barked loudly. Being surprised with such an extream welcome, I had to have my kids take it easy. Some of the dogs were so big as if they could gulp down my children, but they seemed like asking for my caressing. To look after more than 10 dogs from tiny poodle to hefty Labrador hanging around the cafe, employees had to feed the pooches and clean the floor constantly. Besides, they should provide some beverages to guests and are able to groom visitor's pet dog. The best thing at the dog cafe is to meet various breeds of pooches. In particular, touching the heavy Labrador is a fascinating experience for me having lived in an apartment supposed not to afford a big dog. On the flip side, however, the cafe was too confined to breed the dogs feeling like stuffy.

Video Addiction A lot of Youtube videos made in English are truly beneficial materials for many English learners. Thankfully, there are a plenty of free lesson videos teaching grammar and useful phrases for them. However, eye-catching videos are kinds of vlogs or social experiments. They're really fun and give me a kind of insight as well, but sometimes I'm unaware how time flies watching them. Now it's becoming a bad habit as if seeing TV absent-mindedly, so I need to keep away from watching some sorts of videos. Accordingly, I'm going to download the videos which are regarded as must-sees and watch them.

I Will Treat You If you're eating at a restaurant in Korea, you're able to commonly see that some Koreans in a group of people are arguing to pay for everything they ate. I simply thought this culturally happens in Korea when someone gets to have good things and favor his/her acquaintances. However, I realized that implicitly means the one will going to be a protagonist at the event while I was listening to the lecture from Tae-gyoon Heo, a rising Korean psychologist. Although I hadn't been conscious of the idea, but it quite so. When Koreans find a job, get married or have a baby, they mostly invite their relatives or friends to a fabulous dinner for being the main character of the day. On the other hand, entertaining clients at work is totally different. Needless to say, the protagonist of the day must be the person who's invited so that the host of the meeting is supposed to be humble and pay for the dining in a quiet manner in contrast with the previous case that the host celebrates the event and shows off the payment.