Hints on how A.E. Graves spends her imaginary spare time
Yes, I’ve been studying for TWO THOUSAND TWENTY FIVE DAYS.
Yes, I am now doing this as lazily as possible: I’m in one of the lower-achievement leagues. And I’m comfy there.
My katakana (Japanese alphabet for foreign words) is slowly improving… But I’m studying so slowly that I’m forgetting kanji (more complex characters representing entire words) that I learned a year ago. (Ooops.)
Yes. 2000 Days. I’m not putting as much energy into my studies as I need to, but I am doing at least a brief practice every day.
Am I still studying? Yes. Am I putting a minimal amount of effort into my Japanese lessons, waiting for my brain to come back online and take this more seriously? Also yes.
This German meme was just brought to my attention and I feel obligated to reshare it here Frohe Weihnachten
— Niléane (@mastodon.nileane.fr) December 24, 2024 at 9:15 AM
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Most of my friends in this time zone decided that 9am was the correct time to begin exchanging Christmas texts/emails, and I love them for it.
It wasn’t too early, it wasn’t too late, and I was already on the computer replying to one when the other messages arrived, so it was CONVENIENT.
I feel like I’m somehow both succeeding (because I’m really good at multiple choice) and failing (because I am mentally exhausted from work and can’t communicate basic concepts coherently). This isn’t anyone’s fault but my tired brain’s.
I appreciate Duolingo for giving my language anxiety an outlet, and for making me practice my weakest alphabet, Katakana.
I have some plans that may keep me from being able to maintain this streak through the end of the year, but in the meantime, here’s to celebrating my language obsession! [clinking of virtual glasses]
Yes, I’m back to Japanese. No, I’m not very good at it.
I had to ice my arm, but I do think starting over beginner-level practice in writing hiragana (one of the Japanese phonetic alphabets) will help me with my language study.
My recent studies remind me too much of what I do NOT remember, while I disregard things that I recall as ‘easy.’ (Yes, I am a terrible self-critic.) Yes, I do want to get back to a ‘decent tourist who can read a little’ skillset!! And perhaps even to have my niche art supply vocabulary back, which has served me so well in museums during my other travels.
It is exciting to have a trip planned to Japan. It’s also fun to speak regularly with the colleague who encouraged/coerced me into booking my trip. Our meetings on other topics eventually (or immediately) turn to sharing what he most liked during his recent visit, and I share what I plan to see and do during my upcoming 3rd visit to the country. The venn diagram of these things are two minimally overlapping circles, but the differences sound fun, so we are each developing lists of things to do on our NEXT trip. We are basically providing each other an encouraging feedback loop of fun things, and I joke that we will each have to go annually to cover all of this delight.
I could see that being a happy habit!
But meanwhile, I’ll study fiendishly.
I am… diligent.
This weekend through September 22nd, there are pianos with talented pianists playing music in the SF Botanical Garden at the Flower Piano celebration. The pianos are out in the elements, but several of them have a canopy to protect them from above this year – hopefully they’ll stay in shape!
I visited yesterday and heard everything from Beatles covers to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue from pianists of a wide range of ages.
きゃーーー！(Me screaming, “kyaaaaa!”)
Sure, I got 14k in experience points in Japanese during the COVID safety era; sure, I made it to Section 2 / Unit 32… but I don’t feel like I remember a thing.
きゃーーー！