1. I don't think there's a special meaning here. 2. In conversation, "back up" means to return to a previous topic. Here's an example: A: How's Jim? B: He's doing okay. He took a trip to Europe after his mom died, to clear his head. I think he has a new job now. A: Whoa, back up. His mom died?! 3. A 'logical leap' is another word for 'inference'. In other words, it's the connection of two ideas based on some kind of evidence. For example, if $200 was stolen from me, and my brother came home the next day with a new computer, I could make a logical leap and infer that my brother stole the money. 4. This is a reference to the book 'Moby Dick', which is a story about a sea captain's lifetime obsession to find a whale that bit off his leg. Calling something a person's 'white whale' means it's something that he or she is focused on chasing, finding, etc. It usually carries a negative connotation.

This is Desperado! :) In American songs, words ending in -ing are often shortened to -in' The song Desperado invented the term "riding fences", I think. Imagine a cowboy, riding his horse around the fences of his ranch, alone, making sure the fences are not broken and that everything is okay. It's a bit of a lonely lyric. Pleasin' is pleasing. "These things that are pleasing you" means "These things that you like a lot".

"He stood before me" is a pretty old-sounding sentence. Native speakers don't really use the word 'before' like that except in very serious or formal situations. ex) He was brought before a judge. [very serious!!] ex) She defended her thesis before a jury of her professors. [extremely formal!] Generally speaking, if you're talking about LOCATION, use "in front of." If you're talking about TIME, use "before." ex) The cat is in front of the dog. ex) He stood in front of me. ex) There is a mailbox in front of the gas station. ex) I woke up before my wife. ex) Before you take the test, please write your name. ex) I was a teacher before I became a zookeeper.

If I buy a ticket, how much will it cost? 

If I'm going to buy a ticket, how much does it cost?

 

Check out some information on first and second conditionals. This site seems to be pretty good:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conditional2.htm

 

Basically, first conditional is constructed like

if [present tense], [future tense]

 

...and second conditional is constructed like

if [past tense], [phrase using would / could / should]

 

So, you could also say "If I bought a ticket, how much would it cost?"

Also, don't worry about third conditional for now. It's very complicated.

Family and life

Today, I would like to talk about my family and life.
About a year ago, my grandfather passed away due to cancer. ['due to' is usually how we talk about cause of death] And Just a couple months before that, I came back from New Zealand just because of him. ['a couple months ago' would mean November or December 2014. also, using 'just' twice is odd] He was my biggest reason to return from New Zealand and start my university life in Japan. He made me realize how much my family means to me and reminded me what I should care about most. [Keep the subject "I", since that's the subject at the beginning of the sentence.] At that time, I did not know that he had cancer. ['at this moment' means right now] For that reason, returning to Japan and seeing his last moment was like a feeling of following a path which had been already decided. [decided in the past, right?] I wish he could have seen my entrance ceremony. And now, even my mother has a serious sickness. [because you used the word 'now', keep your verb in the present for a more natural sound.]
Do you really care about your family? I respect that we all have different cultural backgrounds and customs, but it’s little bit sad for me to see my friends treating family with disrespect. [or 'disrespectful attitudes']
This might be a heavy theme for you, but this is my title for 2014, Family and Life.