Gotta Go. Catch Ya Later.
As I've written before, I have a loose arrangement to skype once a week with my skype partner. I say "loose" because we might go as long as a month without skyping each other. We used to always skype on a Wednesday night, but now we skype on Monday or Tuesday nights, depending on our schedules. This is because my daughter started high school this year and joined the school band. Normally she walks to school, but on Thursday mornings, she has an early start because of band practice, so I drive her there. This means that I have to get up earlier than normal on Thursday mornings. Since, on the nights that I skype, I don't end up going to bed until after 1am, I asked my Skype partner if we could change our arrangement to another day. He kindly agreed, but the problem is that he sometimes has work commitments on Monday and Tuesday nights - the only other possible times that we can both Skype - and so our arrangement changes week-to-week.
Of course, at the end of each Skype session, I should make a note of our next meeting, but because I'm tired and just want to crawl into bed, I never do. So, usually, by the end of the week, I've forgotten when it is we're supposed to skype next, and so then I have to email him to ask. In fact, so predictable has this occurence become that at the end of one Skype session, my Skype partner waved his smartphone ostentatiously in front of the webcam, laughing, and then said pointedly, "I'm going to make a note of it now so that I don't forget" in a tone which suggested I should do the same.
Anyway, embarrassed by my forgetfulness, and not wanting to waste his time, I make my emails brief and to the point. They often have no greeting except for his name, and have sentences like, "Look forward to talking", "See you then", "Hope you're better". Reading over them recently, I realised something. Can you guess what it is? I realized that even though I was writing in English, I was omitting the subject (usually "I") from some of my sentences. And I wondered if he - being a Japanese speaker and therefore completely cavalier about such matters - would even notice this fact.
And just in case you're wondering, I'm not omitting the subject because learning Japanese is having a detrimental impact on my English, but because even in English there are times when you can get away without putting a subject in your sentence.
OK, Gotta go. Catch ya later.
