#this was... long

[etto-etto]

I was so focused on clearing out my to-do list on Saturday that I blanked on posting a study update and a new KotW. 🙈 My bad. I did update my study log, though! And I learned relatively few new kanji last week, so I will save my next KotW for later. Anyway!  

These are some pics of recent notes that I took. I remember when I first started I loathed to write in kana because I thought it would look too horrendous, so I stuck with romaji at first. Thankfully I’m more comfortable now, and actually prefer, writing examples in Japanese (minus kanji I haven’t yet learned). I reached a point, too, where I am finally referencing the katakana chart less and less since I use and see it more in my studies---which I made a nice dent in last week; albeit, a small one. Which is fine by me, since I am happy to make any progress at all when it comes to grammar.

I touched on all the main points in review of how my week went per my study log, but there are a couple things I’ll note here: 

Changing my goal from ‘reach this section in the text by this date’ to ‘spend this amount of time on these specific days’ is a big, big deal. It relieved me of pressure, as well as from feeling disappointment for not meeting my own expectations. I’m more relaxed, working at a pace that best suites my level of understanding, and search out additional resources and explanations when they are needed. I might be progressing slowly, but that’s okay. As long as I understand what I learn!

My trouble kanji is still giving my trouble! Aha. But rather than slam pause on learning new kanji, my solution is to keep those characters (and readings, if necessary) in my line of sight. I have them written and lined out on my desk, which is an easy reminder for quick studies a couple or few times daily (as well as when they come up in SRS reviews). My hope is that this kind of small but frequent exposure will help them stick a little more..

The Fifty Hours Club is amazing.  It keeps me motivated with d a i l y(!) self-studies, and I’m not sure if I’d otherwise be as consistent as I have been were I not taking on this challenge. I am also loving the act of writing out daily goals in the Discord server --- really, it keeps me feeling accountable, but I’ve learned how to fine-tune the day’s language goals based on how the previous day of study went. I believe I am a self-driven person, but I’ll credit Fifty Hours for the extra oomph I have in my study zeal.  (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

(Currently at 15 hours and 25 minutes for Japanese, btw~! Coupled with my Deutsch hours, that around 30/50 so far.)

May this week be as productive as the last. Here’s my outlook:

1. Read Tae Kim for one hour at least three days this week. I’ll aim for: Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. 

Thursday will be a long day, and that will leave me feeling tired for Friday, but I also realize that Saturday won’t leave me a lot time to indulge in Japanese. So, if there is one thing I can get done on Friday, I want it to be grammar. 

2. Kanji upkeep! 

Remember to do my Kanji Koohii reviews, and add in the new kanji I’ve learned through Heisig. Familiarize myself with readings, but don’t stress too much over it.

Review and learn kanji (with readings) daily via Kanji Garden 

3. Level up my Anki game

I considered doing sentences, as I am doing this with German, but I’m not at that level with Japanese yet. Intead, I imported a vocab Genki deck that I hope try this week by Tuesday or Wednesday!  

I should set at least 30 minutes aside on the assigned days. If I feel this deck isn’t working for me by the end of the week I will search for a different one. 

📚Current study materials:

Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide

Youtube (Misa, JapanesePod101, JapanSociety, l3reezer stuff etc)

Remembering the Kanji 1

Kanji Koohii/Kanji Ryokucha

Kanji Garden

Quizlet

Jisho

Anki

[presteblodbad]

What is the worst book you have ever read?

Last year, during my Scandinavian literature class in the Danish section, we had to read this book called "Dobbeltgænger eller Den korte, inderlige men fuldstændig sande beretning om Klaus Rifbjergs liv" ["Doppelganger or The short, heartfelt but completely true account of Klaus Rifbjerg's life] by Klaus Rifbjerg.

I had no clue what I was getting into when starting this book.

I don't know much about the author himself — and despite the title, I promise you, I don't think you will learn much from it either. I think I can recommend reading this book only because it's short, but if you're sensitive... Just be careful.

It made me really really sick. I understand that it was supposed to be grotesque and have shock value, etc. So, maybe I just can't... appreciate it — and someone else will, I don't know.

I don't really want to spoil why exactly it was so bad, in case someone wants to read it and shock themselves too, but I also don't really want to leave this title without any further explanation. So I'll spoil it a little under the cut.

The book is from the 1980s but it takes place in the 1930s-1940s Denmark.

It's basically written like an autobiography, the author states that he remembers every single thing ever since he was born — his birth included. The child character also has the thoughts and clearness of mind of an adult.

I don't want to describe the entire plot of it, but the "shocking" part of it is the amount of child sexual abuse described from the perspective of the child. And not only is the literal toddler (the character gets older as the book goes, but all sexual intercourses are happening to them when they're 2-9 years old, I think) describing it. It's also written in a way that the child enjoys it and encourages it a lot. Except for the last sex scene where, as far as I remember, the child gets r*ped by a nazi soldier.

I think there's some place for interpretation, that you can stop and give it a moment — if the character really experiences those things or is it just their imagination? At least I assume so, because it does have quite positive reviews.

But honestly, I wasn't able to think about it nor am I able to think about it now, because of how disgusting and explicitly described it was.

So, I think — excluding whatever context it had at that time and the author's intention — it's the worst book I've ever read.

[mrdinglesugden]

I like Robert and Aaron, I really do, but I think they are wasted in stupid stories like the Joe Tate feud. Dull, far-fetched and makes Robert look like a cartoon villain and Aaron like the village idiot sitting next to him adding nothing to the scene. Meanwhile, there is so much they could do with the Seb story in terms of conflict and character development for Robert, Aaron and even Liv, but instead we get 20 minutes of this rubbish.

My (slowly more annoyed) response to this is looong so I’ll put it under a read more 

I respectfully disagree? Sure if you’re not enjoying the Joe/Robron story right now that’s fine, you’re entitled to not enjoy something, but we’ve had months of ‘good guy’ Robert and I think they needed to do something to show he can still be snarky and awful, but in a fun way? Like how every now and again they do a story to show Cain’s bad side, and they’re definitely evolving Robert into a Cain kind of bad boy, someone the audience roots for even when they’re doing terrible and illegal things, rather than a straight up villain. Joe is finally a worthy adversary for Robert; his scheming against the Whites got tedious because it was so one sided, they were too gullible and naive, whereas Joe and Graham are the opposite. They used Robert as a villain at times last year, but they’ve redeemed him and vastly changed his role in the show since then, so I don’t think we can say he’s a ‘cartoon villain’ in this plot, especially since we’ve only seen 1 episode of Robert VS Joe, and even from this one episode I think it’s clear that if anyone’s the panto-villain here it’s Joe, using lines like “I’ll make him pay” and targeting Robert for almost nothing. 

How exactly does Aaron look like the village idiot? Seriously I’m so confused how you got to this conclusion? They’re having Robron put up a united front, and when Aaron told Robert to stop winding Joe up, he stopped. Aaron’s pulling the strings with this whole thing really, because if Aaron said “destroy him” Robert would, and if Aaron tells him to stop we’ve already seen that he will. They’re a team, and Aaron being by Robert’s side in this is to show that Joe is going up against both of them. Aaron lets Robert do the snarking for one episode and somehow he’s a village idiot and adding nothing? You’re saying it’s dull, but we’ve seen only 1 episode. You think it’s far fetched, but we’ve seen only 1 episode. You’ve decided the characters look bad in this plot, but we’ve only seen 1 episode.

Personally I’ve seen more than enough conflict about Seb to last a life time, and Robert’s had months of character development with Seb already. Do I want to see more of Robron and Seb? Absolutely, loads more. But you only have to read spoilers to see that we’re getting more Robron+Seb, and I love that they’re going to contrast Robron as loving husbands and dads alongside this feud with Joe, it seems like it’ll show the complexity of their characters really well. Also Liv’s storyline is unfolding and we know it’ll involve her family, what you’re asking for is literally about to happen. 

I know I started this saying ‘respectfully’ and it may not have come across as respectful, but I don’t understand writing off the storyline after one episode? How many times have we watched an episode and collectively been like ‘meh that was pretty shit’, but we don’t assume it represents the whole story arc, and I truly didn’t see the issues with the episode that you did anyway. Robron are currently involved in the Rebecca/Lachlan/Seb storyline, the Liv storyline, the Chas storyline, and the Joe storyline. They have so many different roles right now and we’re seeing so many sides of their characters, so reducing them to ‘cartoon villain’ and ‘village idiot’ feels purposefully obtuse. Honestly if you’re not enjoying the range of content we’re getting for Robron right now then I fail to see what kind of story would be good enough for you.