In the time of my school days, women in Japan were mostly housewives. It was considered that women quit working when they get married. One of my mother’s old female classmates stayed single and had an administrative job at IBM in Tokyo, which was so rare at that time. To me, continuing to work after marriage was more natural than being a housewife since my mother went to work every day. Only, I didn’t want to be like her who worked as a farmer in a country. I would rather have become a sophisticated businesswoman like her old classmate at IBM. It was necessary to graduate from the first-class university to be hired at a large famous company like IBM. I started to study for the university's entrance examination when I was a freshman at high school. My daily life had inevitably changed. I had gradually distanced myself from my cool friends with whom I used to hang out all the time, and spent much time with my new would-be-a-doctor friend. She introduced me the whole new world. She was sincere, courteous and refined, and respected her parents who were both doctors. My study days were troublesome. Because I tended to listen to music instead of studying in my room at home, I studied at the library as much as possible. There, I spent the time solving math problems that I loved to do so much. Although Japan used to have a stupid system for the university entrance exam that the high average mark of all the seven subjects decided the school, I didn’t feel like studying other six subjects beside mathematics. I just studied math day and night, even floating a sheet of a problem in a plastic bag in the tub while I was taking a bath. I knew I needed to study other than math, but I didn’t realize my biggest weakness back then - I can’t do anything I don’t like. As the exam drew near, pressure had begun to seize me. I pulled out the plug of my stereo not to listen to records and stuck the plug to the wall with a note of ‘Patience!’ A small thing provoked my fury toward my sister with no reason one evening, and I found myself gripping her by the throat. I came to myself when I realized I was choking her. She told my father that I tried to kill her and he suggested to me that I should see a psychiatrist. Every practice examination showed I wouldn’t pass the university I was applying to, but I relied on my IQ heavily. I believed that if my brain ran at full blast on the very day of exam, my high IQ would wring out a high score by recalling what I didn’t even remember. Otherwise, it would be proved that my high IQ was a worthless, useless, decorative-only nothing although my whole life had depended on it. I couldn’t possibly accept that kind of notion. I refused, by any means…
Blog Search
Blog Archive
- July 2019 (1)
- June 2019 (1)
- May 2019 (1)
- April 2019 (1)
- March 2019 (1)
- February 2019 (1)
- January 2019 (1)
- December 2018 (1)
- November 2018 (1)
- October 2018 (1)
- September 2018 (1)
- August 2018 (1)
- July 2018 (1)
- June 2018 (1)
- May 2018 (1)
- April 2018 (1)
- March 2018 (1)
- February 2018 (1)
- January 2018 (1)
- December 2017 (1)
- November 2017 (1)
- October 2017 (1)
- September 2017 (1)
- August 2017 (1)
- July 2017 (1)
- June 2017 (2)
- May 2017 (2)
- April 2017 (2)
- March 2017 (2)
- February 2017 (2)
- January 2017 (2)
- December 2016 (1)
- November 2016 (2)
- October 2016 (2)
- September 2016 (3)
- August 2016 (2)
- July 2016 (2)
- June 2016 (2)
- May 2016 (2)
- April 2016 (2)
- March 2016 (2)
- February 2016 (2)
- January 2016 (3)
- December 2015 (2)
- November 2015 (2)
- October 2015 (2)
- September 2015 (2)
- August 2015 (2)
- July 2015 (3)
- June 2015 (3)
- May 2015 (2)
- April 2015 (2)
- March 2015 (2)
- February 2015 (2)
- January 2015 (3)
- December 2014 (2)
- November 2014 (2)
- October 2014 (2)
- September 2014 (2)
- August 2014 (3)
- July 2014 (2)
- June 2014 (3)
- May 2014 (3)
- April 2014 (4)
- March 2014 (4)
- February 2014 (3)
- January 2014 (3)
Comments
-
Hidemi WoodsMay 7, 2019
-
May 7, 2019
-
April 30, 2019
-
April 30, 2019
-
April 30, 2019