Last updated 9 weeks ago? Okay, well, here's an update. Instead of goofing off and getting A minuses (or gasp, B pluses!), I actually worked pretty hard and got an A in both of the business classes I was taking. Unfortunately, the direction I'm headed in at the moment won't take me to an MBA anytime soon.

I've always felt like a move to Japan was imminent, just "a year or two away," and then it continued to not happen for various good reasons, but it's for real this time! Or at least, I hope. Pat joined the Air Force. He's taking Japanese classes at UNC these days, so we're feeling confident that he'll be placed at one of the bases in Japan. Possibly Okinawa? Possibly that one north of Tokyo? Possibly that one way up north where it's cold? So in conclusion, a move to Japan is maybe certainly happening. In two years.

So rather than starting an MBA now and being interrupted in two years, my plan is to go to school in Japan. I might just do grad school instead of business school; to be honest, it's not really an issue for me at the moment. (My parents might disagree.)

This summer, I'm keeping myself busy tutoring. Two of my students are taking summer school courses - Geometry and Physical Science. I'm grateful to be teaching math and science stuff; it makes the time go by faster.

I'm reading the Japanese translation of To Kill A Mockingbird. My mother started a book club, and I joined since she didn't have many members. Our book for June was Watership Down. I started reading it in Japanese, but I only got about a quarter of the way through by the meeting because I was berry, berry busy with other stuff and I started it late. Now I'm making great progress with TKAM, and I should have it finished in plenty of time. I'm also reading a manga series that one of my student's mother lent to me, but I'm not totally into it. I guess I'm just kinda reading it to get through it.

Pat and I have both been exercising this year. I started out as a worthless gooey couch potato, and now I can run a 5k without stopping. As soon as I got to being able to run the 5k, the gym where we were going promptly closed. Fuck.

Thanks for reading. :D

I'm at about 1790 kanji right now, and I seem to have hit a wall. I haven't learned any new ones for the past couple of days. It's probably because the repetitions were becoming overwhelming (after "learning" a kanji, I enter it into Mnemosyne, the SRS - spaced repetition program - I've been using so that I don't forget it). Once the reps go over 100, it gets a little bit daunting, and I was going at such a fast speed that some days went over 200. I'll probably take a break until they're under 100 again.

Classes are going well. Everything's kinda calmed down now; it's an eerily quiet period between the most recent exams and the upcoming final, like the eye of a storm. I also had last week off from tutoring because it was spring break for the middle and high schools, but I'm back to work this week. So all in all, I'm feeling pretty relaxed.

I hit the 1500 kanji mark today, finally. I'm tired. :(

I think I'll write a LJ post today. I haven't had the urge to write here in over a month.

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I decided that 2009 is the year for mastering Japanese.

Japanese is something I've been dragging around with me like a heavy suitcase. I keep thinking, you know, I should do something about that, but I'm invariably distracted by other things, like working or writing my thesis or studying something or other. I wonder why I didn't do this in 2008; I wasn't doing anything except tutoring and buying a condo. Instead, I for some reason decided that 2008 would be the year for reading a bunch of books. I mean, that was nice and all, and I got a lot out of it, but damn, I wish I'd at least read books in Japanese. (I'm doing that now, for what it's worth.)

Okay, so here's what I'm doing. I'm learning to write about 3,000 kanji and working on creating an immersion environment. (This is a completely different, and most certainly a much more valuable, approach than my plan for passing the JLPT, which has been scrapped for practical reasons.) To do this, I'm using James W Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji," a book that I had originally shunned for being seemingly useless. I came around, and now I see the method in its madness. I spent a lot of money buying Japanese DVDs, and I pretty much watch Hollywood movies dubbed in Japanese whenever I'm at home. Sometimes I listen to the Yomiuri podcast when I can't watch TV, like when I'm cleaning or cooking. I also listen to pretty much nothing but Momosu and Do As Infinity (and now, AAA as well, thanks to one of my students who recommended it), but I did that before anyway. I read Japanese when I have time and I don't have the energy to learn more kanji; usually that happens when I'm on the bus.

It's fun. It's tiring. It's forced me to do some real time management for the first time in my life. I am also taking two classes at UNC, and they are fairly challenging, so I have to force myself to do all the homework and reading and studying over the weekend because my weekdays are just packed. I'd probably feel busy even without this crazy immersion thing I'm doing.

If I don't fail, I'll be fluent before I'm 25. And then I can finally move on with my life and learn Chinese or Spanish or something more useful. (Not that I'll abandon my Japanese; I'll keep reading and I'll probably live in Japan for a while or something; the point is that I won't have to actively study it anymore.)

My method is working. I've noticed level ups. But there is still room for improvement. I need to be listening to more Japanese. For example, I'm not listening to Japanese right now. (I'm working at the desk at Granville Towers at the moment. I need to start bringing an ipod and nice headphones to listen at work or something. That's one of the many things I just haven't "gotten around to doing," and it's holding me back.) If I play my cards right, I think I can be fluent by the end of the year.

I was clearing out my student email account when I ran across a peer review I had received for one of my essays. It's from one of UNC's online classes, Asian Religions. Here is most of it, emphasis mine (I cut out some really boring parts):


The thesis sets up you apporpriate action that you plan and do take during your paper. I feel that something you might want to think about adding/changing is something grabs the reader's attention. Really just put the argument out on the table. What you have now explains what your doing and is fine but I think it could be just a little more assertive in grabing the readers attention.

Oh dear... I never could stand the phrase "grab the reader's attention." The funny thing is that I usually try to make my essays engaging for people who want to read about the subject. But I can't force someone into wanting to read Asian religion scripture if he/she just doesn't give a shit.

As mentioned above, you might want to consider making your thesis alittle more concise. The paper is great because it covers such a vast amount of material while bring it back to focus on one topic but you could possibly consider break it down to 2 sentences.

Change my thesis from one sentence to two? Meh.

"while taking remarkably different interpretations of what precisely this relationship should be." -I feel like this is a good point in your thesis. This idea should be repeated in some form or another through out the argument/plan of action. You do a great job of setting the reader for what is about to follow

It is repeated, but not with the same phrase.

There is for the most part a good flow in the paper with connections to the evidence you can use. Once again, I feel by adding in information to set up a time and place for the scripture it would greatly increase your paper. For example not all of the religions your mention in your paper are from the same time in history or country. These all have different reasons for feeling the way they did. A brief background information would help to make the flow much better.

Oh dear. I can't give the historical contexts for all the religions in a 5 (2? 3? I don't really remember) page paper. I do believe, however, that I included any relevant information for people with little or no background.

I know that you, Mr. musselwhite, and I find Asian religions interesting but not everyone might not find the topic so interesting (i don't know why not). If you work on really just grabbing that readers attention I know your going to have them hooked the whole essay. Try thinking of something that will really jump out at you when reading the paper.

Oh, that's right. I knew there was another cliche besides "grab the reader's attention" that I also didn't like.

The conclusion does summarize what has been said previously. By making sure much of the same language is the same the reader will be more ingaged in your last final conclusion.

LOL @ ingaged and "last final conclusion."

In General, I thought the paper was excellent. However, the great thing about this is that its only a rough draft. I know there are place for improvement. Your diffenetly off to a great start. Just follow some the advice I have given better and ask Mr. Musselwhite if you have suggestion and I think your be in perfect shape.

This is why I hate peer reviews. Nothing in this review helped me improve my essay. UNC professors: enough with the peer reviews! >:(

I hate it when people call me Elizabeth in emails. I don't care if you mess up my name in person, but I always sign email with at least my first name, and I usually sign it with my first and last name. When you reply, you don't have to guess my name. It's right there! It's sad that this has happened more than once.

As an update on a previous post, I've been thinking about my current classes and the JLPT, and I've decided I'll probably take the JLPT next year, not this year. (In fact, I might even wait until Pat and I are living in Japan.) I'm only taking two classes this semester (Business Law and Operations Management), but I've found myself more fascinated by the topics than I thought. I want to get a lot from these classes, so I'm going to have to sacrifice some Japanese study time for that.

However, I'm still going to maintain a more rigorous study pace for Japanese than I've had previously. The last thing I want to do is to procrastinate indefinitely. In fact, I feel like if I take more time, I can have a more solid understanding of the JLPT level 1 material than if I crammed it all in a year.

Maybe I'll start Chinese this year, too. :O

When I work at the desk at Granville Towers, I usually choose to order Jimmy John's to be delivered rather than take a lunch break. It works out awesomely for me because it's fairly inexpensive, fast, and delicious. Today, though, my sub took soooo long to get here. I didn't take note of the time when I placed the order, but my best estimate tells me it had been somewhere between 45 and 60 minutes when I decided to call and check on it. (Usually the food arrives in 10-15 minutes, but I waited plenty of time in case they were busy.) The guy who answered said the delivery person called the number I gave, but the person who answered said he/she didn't order Jimmy John's. My first guess was that the girl who took my order got the phone number wrong, but the guy read it back to me correctly. So I can only assume the deliverer misdialed, as I've been the only person at the desk all day. I hadn't even left to go to the bathroom or anything like that. Anyway, the sandwich was successfully delivered the second time. Unfortunately, it hadn't been remade, but it tasted better than I expected for a nearly-hour-old sandwich. So today's service was not good, not bad - just "meh

Dessert was a Twix bar. Excellent service from the vending machine. A+++++++ would buy again.

Why is it 5 degrees outside?

I bought myself an Eee PC!

It was bound to happen.

maikeru_desu recently took and may have passed (*crosses fingers*) the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, reminding me that I should probably do that at some point, too. My goal is to study for level 1 and take it next December. I have a lot of time to prepare, but I'm so behind in kanji... and grammar... and, well, everything that it might not be enough. I've been so complacent and haven't been studying Japanese at all. @_@ We'll see how it goes this year, I guess.

Patrick got an EeePC for Christmas from his parents, and I am insanely jealous. Until then, I thought I had the best laptop ever. I'm a bit disappointed in myself, honestly, because it's so materialistic to be dissatisified with my awesome laptop just because someone else has a cooler one. If I start to feel jealous, I just remind myself how silly I'm being, and then I feel better.

Patrick and I both got 3-year memberships at Peak Fitness, the gym near our condo. So, um, maybe I'll be getting in shape. We'll see how that goes.

Visiting the gym has shown me how good my health has been recently. Previously, running on a treadmill or swimming even for a short time was enough to cause an asthma attack, but I haven't had one so far. In fact, I don't think I've had an asthma attack since last winter. I'm not sure what the reason is, but I do know that stress is a factor. My asthma has always been worse when I'm in an unhappy situation (for example, high school). I'm hoping the asthma stays away, as now all my inhalers are empty or expired. >_>

I went to the doctor yesterday because I had a UTI. I knew I had a UTI, and I even knew what kind of antibiotics I should take. It's too bad I can't just get them myself without having to waste two hours and a $30 copay at the walk-in clinic. Yeah, I know that if people could prescribe themselves antibiotics, they'd overdo it and breed huge scary resistant infections, but knowing that doesn't erase my frustrations toward the middle man.

When I've had a UTI in the past, most doctors just talk about peeing after sex and drinking a lot of water, etc etc. The doctor I saw yesterday, however, started going off about masturbation and Kegel exercises. I think he was just a perv. :o

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stupid_free used to be one of my favorite LJ communities, but I don't think I can read it for a while. It seems to have been taken over by some really crazy liberal-types. There was a post about California's Prop 2 ("Beginning in 2015, state law would prohibit, with certain exceptions, the confinement on a farm of pregnant pigs, calves raised for veal, and egg-laying hens in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs.") Most stupid_free members are supporters, and the post being mocked was anti-Prop 2. Well, the person who wrote it was really crazy, so I agree he sounded stupid. But more than the OP's offensive rant, some comments really bugged me:

the only thing i read about this prop was what was in the voter handbook. i voted yes because i try to buy cage free organic eggs and organic and humanely treated meat (when i purchase meat) anyway, so i figured this would make it easier for me to do this and it would create a healthier market when all suppliers are competing to offer the same product Link.

This person prefers to buy humane meat, so he comes to the conclusion that everyone else should be forced to buy humane meat, also. Unfortunately, this attitude seems to be rampant among commenters. Also, the last part about a healthier market seems to be nonsense. Wouldn't the market be healthier if the consumers could choose between expensive humane products or cheap inhumane ones? Would forcing all farmers to comply, and thus raising meat prices across the board, make the market any "healthier"? (Edit: I reread this comment (again) and I understand what the guy is trying to say now. He means that if all meat products had to be humane, there would be more companies producing humane meat, so humane meat prices would go down. He's right, but I think he should realize that if it was economical for more companies to enter this market, they would. Right now, though, demand for these products is too low for there to be more competition. I'm glad that I understand his point, but I still don't agree with him. I don't buy humane meat, but I do buy expensive, specialty dog food that doesn't have any grain in it because I believe grain is harmful for dogs. This costs $60 a bag instead of $10-20 a bag for normal dog food. It would be beneficial for me if all dog food companies made grain-free stuff so there would be more competition and thus lower prices, but I certainly don't feel that legislation to this effect is appropriate.)

How strange that the crazy anti-Prop 2 person said that this comment was the "best in terms of logic and insight." My guess is that the OP just saw that the commenter said something about the economy and thought it sounded smart. 9_9

Hmm... there was another comment that I wanted to link, but now I can't remember what it was. That's okay, though, because I'm sick of thinking about this issue.

What's really bothering me is that I used to go to stupid_free as a voice of logic. Now it seems to be taken over by a herd of uninformed left-wingers.

;_;

Another quote from the Internet (emphasis mine):

Since Adam's phone is 2 years old and literally a piece of shit, this upgrade came at a nice time


Well, I can't blame him for wanting an upgrade. >_>

I generally don't like to leave negative comments on posts, but I'm bursting at the seams to snark this one. Therefore, I'm posting it here. Here is a link to the post, but it's locked.

Normally spelling and grammar errors aren't noteworthy, but this person plans to charge money for editing essays.

Here's the game: Find as many mistakes as you can and leave a comment. Grammar errors = 5 points. Spelling errors = 4 points. GO GO GO!!

( text of the post )

ps- I think "ok" is acceptable, given that this is informal writing. Everything else is fair game, though.

I haven't seen any episodes of Sex and the City, but I just watched the movie and I enjoyed it unironically. Where did my cynicism go??? :(

anacoluthon's recent post gave me an idea for a name change. This change is long overdue, as the screen name I've been using was something I made up in middle school when I used to watch Sailor Moon and I knew like five Japanese words. Ick. Time to move on. Now that my name no longer has any Japanese influence in it, I can feel better about mocking Weeaboos on the internet.

I was considering applying to business school, and I made the mistake of telling my dad about it. I've since decided to put it off, and now he's disappointed. I haven't explained my reasons clearly, so I'm thinking I should send him an email about it or something. Essentially, I feel like my situation right now is good, and I don't want to change it. My jobs are only temporary and will be over in a year or two in any case, so I feel like it would be better to enjoy this while I can and apply to school later. Additionally, I don't need an MBA to open a business. It would be nice to have, and it's something I want to do, but I feel like now is not the time. Unfortunately... every time I want to explain my reasons to my dad, I sound like I'm just procrastinating. (Maybe I am...?) @_@

If I study Chinese every day for one hour, I'll be fluent in six years. I might as well start now. But here's the real question... can someone who is tone deaf learn Chinese? I think the answer is no. :o

I could survive for 38 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

If anyone was planning to chain me to a bunk bed with a velociraptor as an experiment to see how long I would last, I have saved you the trouble! :D