This week I started a programming class! My book even came on time, which was a surprise. I haven't done any assignments yet, but I managed to install everything and play all the videos so that's at least a relief. The class focuses on Python which seems to be very basic. So far I've only used the command "print" and "x = 2."
The class starts at the most basic level, but even the easy textbook assumes things about how computers work that I don't actually know what they're talking about...Hopefully everything will become clear bit by bit.
Unfortunately this week I also caught a cold so that doesn't increase study motivation. "Learning Python is a lot like learning a human language..." And I'm like NO! I'm already learning a human language--that's trouble enough, thank you!
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Friday, September 26, 2014
7 Ways to Title Your Blog Post
Want to write something for your personal blog but are stuck on the title? Use these time-honored ways to clue your readers in as to what will come next.
1. In Which...
Followed by a sentence. The goofier the sentence, the more it contrasts with the Victorianesque tone and therefore the greater humor. Best for recent life events but fine for discussions too. ("In which I discuss...")
2. An Open Letter to...
To someone who would never give me the time of day in real life so I have to blast them through cyberspace where everyone else can see. This is the equivalent of Marnie writing "Why do I even bother, she'll never read this," in the infamous Thanksgiving email.
3. ...A Response
Someone else said something stupid on the internet, but it's technically my area of expertise so I've got to mention it or people will go nuts in the comments section. Sections of text will be quoted, but you only have to read the bold parts. The general tone should be, "Here are the big obvious important issues you missed when writing your original post."
4. Why I...
People have been giving me flak about this thing since forever so once and for all I HAVE A GOOD REASON. Now leave me alone.
5. When...
Followed by sentence describing a current issue in the most click-baity terms possible. If the rest of the sentence couldn't be in a movie trailer after the words "In A World" then it needs to be more dramatic.
6. Is...? (any yes/no question)
If you don't know the answer to the question without reading the actual post, then...No, actually there is never a situation when you don't have at least an inkling of how this will go down. Even if you've never read the blog before.
7. Two to Three Apparently Random Words
But the secret is they're all actually related! Muwhahahaha! But you have to do it in a certain order. Word #1 is be a current event or famous person. #2 must be a catchphrase of some kind. #3 will either be "me" or a gerund.
But the real question is, what on earth should I call this post? Here are my ideas:
In Which I Blog About Blogging
An Open Letter To My Fellow Bloggers
Everyone Else's Blog Titles: A response
Why I Can Never Think of an Original Title
When All Blogs Are Equal
Are We Running Out of Blog Post Titles?
The Blogosphere, "Genre," and Me
Wait!!!!!!
I forgot the classic "X Ways To Do Something!" Now I'll have to start all over again...
1. In Which...
Followed by a sentence. The goofier the sentence, the more it contrasts with the Victorianesque tone and therefore the greater humor. Best for recent life events but fine for discussions too. ("In which I discuss...")
2. An Open Letter to...
To someone who would never give me the time of day in real life so I have to blast them through cyberspace where everyone else can see. This is the equivalent of Marnie writing "Why do I even bother, she'll never read this," in the infamous Thanksgiving email.
3. ...A Response
Someone else said something stupid on the internet, but it's technically my area of expertise so I've got to mention it or people will go nuts in the comments section. Sections of text will be quoted, but you only have to read the bold parts. The general tone should be, "Here are the big obvious important issues you missed when writing your original post."
4. Why I...
People have been giving me flak about this thing since forever so once and for all I HAVE A GOOD REASON. Now leave me alone.
5. When...
Followed by sentence describing a current issue in the most click-baity terms possible. If the rest of the sentence couldn't be in a movie trailer after the words "In A World" then it needs to be more dramatic.
6. Is...? (any yes/no question)
If you don't know the answer to the question without reading the actual post, then...No, actually there is never a situation when you don't have at least an inkling of how this will go down. Even if you've never read the blog before.
7. Two to Three Apparently Random Words
But the secret is they're all actually related! Muwhahahaha! But you have to do it in a certain order. Word #1 is be a current event or famous person. #2 must be a catchphrase of some kind. #3 will either be "me" or a gerund.
But the real question is, what on earth should I call this post? Here are my ideas:
In Which I Blog About Blogging
An Open Letter To My Fellow Bloggers
Everyone Else's Blog Titles: A response
Why I Can Never Think of an Original Title
When All Blogs Are Equal
Are We Running Out of Blog Post Titles?
The Blogosphere, "Genre," and Me
Wait!!!!!!
I forgot the classic "X Ways To Do Something!" Now I'll have to start all over again...
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Piercing again--Revenge of the Pierce!
Back in June my ear got super red and swelled up, and though I eventually got it sorted out, my only attempt to put the piercing back in was a dismal failure. With blood. In the end I just had to wait and get the holes opened again at the pierce shop because they had started to close up so fast.
Which meant a good hour of lying on my back while a Japanese hippie first poked around in my ear with a needle and then wedged increasingly thick metal rods through my ears until the hole was dilated back to the original position. Every time I reached my limit and said, "It hurts! It hurts!" he would stop, but he wouldn't take the rod out, so I just had to lie there with the rod in place until I could continue. Eventually he just told me, "Just endure a bit more, 'kay?" and tried to finish quickly.
This week I noticed that my right earlobe had gotten swollen again and instead of waiting for it to get really bad, I removed the piercing the same night. There was a lot of puss. To make matters worse, my other piercing had gotten stuck and didn't want to come out of my ear without taking blood with it.
Once the piercings were out, it was already late at night so I considered whether to try to fight to put the temporary plastic things in or wait until tomorrow at the pierce shop. I decided to give it a go and surprisingly was successful on the first try! This time I found the holes easily and was even able to get the backs on afterward. The left ear was a bit tighter but I found out I could stretch the hole a bit by tugging on my earlobe while inserting the pierce. Tampons have given me some expertise in this area.
The pierce guy said I should wait another week or so before putting metal piercings in again so maybe then I'll try some of the new piercings that Hannah gave me!
Which meant a good hour of lying on my back while a Japanese hippie first poked around in my ear with a needle and then wedged increasingly thick metal rods through my ears until the hole was dilated back to the original position. Every time I reached my limit and said, "It hurts! It hurts!" he would stop, but he wouldn't take the rod out, so I just had to lie there with the rod in place until I could continue. Eventually he just told me, "Just endure a bit more, 'kay?" and tried to finish quickly.
This week I noticed that my right earlobe had gotten swollen again and instead of waiting for it to get really bad, I removed the piercing the same night. There was a lot of puss. To make matters worse, my other piercing had gotten stuck and didn't want to come out of my ear without taking blood with it.
Once the piercings were out, it was already late at night so I considered whether to try to fight to put the temporary plastic things in or wait until tomorrow at the pierce shop. I decided to give it a go and surprisingly was successful on the first try! This time I found the holes easily and was even able to get the backs on afterward. The left ear was a bit tighter but I found out I could stretch the hole a bit by tugging on my earlobe while inserting the pierce. Tampons have given me some expertise in this area.
The pierce guy said I should wait another week or so before putting metal piercings in again so maybe then I'll try some of the new piercings that Hannah gave me!
Friday, September 19, 2014
Back to studying...
Japanese class started up again this week! I tried to study at least somewhat (about twice a week?) during August so I wouldn't be left behind. Looks like I'm doing ok. Several people seemed happy to see me again, which was nice. The teacher was a new lady, and I could understand her Japanese pretty well.
However, class was a rather grueling experience because we got stuck on a grammar point for FOREVER, and it was like I just cannot, right now...
WE STUDIED THE SAME THING TWO MONTHS AGO!!!! Essentially, the section that threw a bunch of people was the transitive/intransitive verb thing. And I didn't understand this tense for nearly two years because I thought I was just using totally different verbs that happened to share kanji.
(There's not really an English equivalent where we can slightly change the pronunciation and suddenly the verb needs a direct object. Either the verb can only be used with a direct object, or it's the same verb. Like "I fried fish in the pan." "The fish was frying for about ten minutes.")
Anyway, the point is, even before I knew the rule, I could use the verbs no problem. And the concept is not too difficult so when it did come up in class I just went "Ok, I'll remember that." At least, anyone can notice that all the verbs with E in Japanese happen to be transitive verbs.
So we had to all sit through an explanation because SOMEONE forgot what a transitive verb is, and then we looked at the example of four verbs with the kanji 広.
Hirogaru--when an object widens or spreads out
Hirogeru--when you spread something out
Hiromaru--when an object, idea multiplies
Hiromeru--when you multiply an object, idea
At this point all hell of misunderstanding broke loose, and after I caught on to the nuance of the words, I could only sit there trying futilely to help convey to my classmates that the forms with E were transitive and had the exact same meaning as their intransitive counterparts.
Somewhere around here the voice of Jeremy Irons' Scar started playing in my head and wouldn't stop...That can't be a good sign.
When I'm not in class I try to study some vocabulary using these flash card sets. They're pretty small so I can fit them in my purse or my pocket. They're on a key ring so cards won't get lost, and I can change the order whenever. The shape isn't symmetrical, so they don't get flipped around the wrong way.
During work I read through a few at at time to practice. I start with the Japanese side and try to remember the English, and at the end of the stack I flip backwards with English-to-Japanese. There's 80 sheets in each, so If I word hard, maybe I can learn over 300 new words!
However, class was a rather grueling experience because we got stuck on a grammar point for FOREVER, and it was like I just cannot, right now...
WE STUDIED THE SAME THING TWO MONTHS AGO!!!! Essentially, the section that threw a bunch of people was the transitive/intransitive verb thing. And I didn't understand this tense for nearly two years because I thought I was just using totally different verbs that happened to share kanji.
(There's not really an English equivalent where we can slightly change the pronunciation and suddenly the verb needs a direct object. Either the verb can only be used with a direct object, or it's the same verb. Like "I fried fish in the pan." "The fish was frying for about ten minutes.")
Anyway, the point is, even before I knew the rule, I could use the verbs no problem. And the concept is not too difficult so when it did come up in class I just went "Ok, I'll remember that." At least, anyone can notice that all the verbs with E in Japanese happen to be transitive verbs.
So we had to all sit through an explanation because SOMEONE forgot what a transitive verb is, and then we looked at the example of four verbs with the kanji 広.
Hirogaru--when an object widens or spreads out
Hirogeru--when you spread something out
Hiromaru--when an object, idea multiplies
Hiromeru--when you multiply an object, idea
At this point all hell of misunderstanding broke loose, and after I caught on to the nuance of the words, I could only sit there trying futilely to help convey to my classmates that the forms with E were transitive and had the exact same meaning as their intransitive counterparts.
Somewhere around here the voice of Jeremy Irons' Scar started playing in my head and wouldn't stop...That can't be a good sign.
When I'm not in class I try to study some vocabulary using these flash card sets. They're pretty small so I can fit them in my purse or my pocket. They're on a key ring so cards won't get lost, and I can change the order whenever. The shape isn't symmetrical, so they don't get flipped around the wrong way.
During work I read through a few at at time to practice. I start with the Japanese side and try to remember the English, and at the end of the stack I flip backwards with English-to-Japanese. There's 80 sheets in each, so If I word hard, maybe I can learn over 300 new words!
Okayama
Due to a bad wifi connection I haven’t been able to blog
about my trip to Okayama. It was sort of a weird “Japanese teacher knows some
people who are filming a DVD and happen to be looking for foreigners”
connection. So I thought “Why not? This is the closest I’ll ever get to being
on a real piece of media.” However, when I got the schedule it turned out I had
to get up at six, which almost made me want to quit. But by that time I had already
agreed, so…
We did two events. In the morning it was going to a shrine
and getting a prayer for safety, and in the afternoon it was doing bizen
pottery. The prayer was the weirdest thing ever because the ceremony was so elaborate. I had to follow this priest down to a special room where they burned incense and sang a prayer.
I had the most fun doing the pottery, even though it was really difficult. There are some funny pictures of me trying to make a bowl or coffee mug while the teacher is looking on critically!
Initially I thought there would be other foreigners but it turned out they were on different days and at different locations. So in the end it was just me and the three Japanese dudes who were the film crew. Which was kind of awkward because they didn't speak much English, but I've gotten surprisingly chill about speaking Japanese lately.
For some reason the top bar of the "chi" in my last name disappeared and they at first wrote my name as "Sutefani Ghana" instead of "Gatchi." The sad part is that probably sounds better than the correct version...
Sunday, August 24, 2014
The Beach and Marnie
This weekend I went to the beach for the first time this summer! And even though my skin has gotten pretty pale, I didn't get sunburn. I met a guy from Okcupid who works in a hostel near Miyajima and we hung out and had a good time.
When we swam out to the raft we were joined by a British father and his two adorable British kids. (Who probably would resent being called adorable as they were teens, but they were so freakin' beautiful and had accents to die for. I'm totally jealous.) We talked together for a while, and then they swam off. But later we saw them again in the shopping area on Miyajima, this time with Mom too, and the six of us went to have dinner together! It was super fun hanging out and I taught the daughter some Japanese phrases. They were an interesting family and all seemed to really enjoy hanging out together. I was feeling a bit nostalgic for when I traveled with my family and was also thinking, "Someday me too; I'll get married and have some cool kids and take them cool places...."
Today I went to Hatchoza theater downtown to see 思い出のマーニー. This is the first all-Japanese movie I've seen, and I saw it by myself. However, as there was no version with subtitles the choices were either to see the Japanese version or not see it in theaters at all. And I didn't want to let summer go by without seeing it.
There was a lot I couldn't understand, especially for some of the adult characters, but I could understand a lot of short sentences and the children's dialog. Luckily the main story is the same as the book so when people started talking for a long time about something complicated I at least knew what the topic was based on the animation and a few key words. If you know Anna's backstory and Marnie's back (future?) story then it's not too hard to follow what's going on.
I think fans of the book will mostly like the movie because even though the story's Ghiblified and a few things are changed or moved around in the plot, the main story is the same, and more importantly the emotion of the story is the same. You really feel what Anna is going through and her redemption.
Maybe the book leans more toward "It really happened but don't ask how" and the movie is more "It was all in her head" but I have to watch it again to decide. :)
However, this is definitely not a movie to watch alone. There may have been some tears...Any story about a character who's lonely really gets to me.
When we swam out to the raft we were joined by a British father and his two adorable British kids. (Who probably would resent being called adorable as they were teens, but they were so freakin' beautiful and had accents to die for. I'm totally jealous.) We talked together for a while, and then they swam off. But later we saw them again in the shopping area on Miyajima, this time with Mom too, and the six of us went to have dinner together! It was super fun hanging out and I taught the daughter some Japanese phrases. They were an interesting family and all seemed to really enjoy hanging out together. I was feeling a bit nostalgic for when I traveled with my family and was also thinking, "Someday me too; I'll get married and have some cool kids and take them cool places...."
Today I went to Hatchoza theater downtown to see 思い出のマーニー. This is the first all-Japanese movie I've seen, and I saw it by myself. However, as there was no version with subtitles the choices were either to see the Japanese version or not see it in theaters at all. And I didn't want to let summer go by without seeing it.
There was a lot I couldn't understand, especially for some of the adult characters, but I could understand a lot of short sentences and the children's dialog. Luckily the main story is the same as the book so when people started talking for a long time about something complicated I at least knew what the topic was based on the animation and a few key words. If you know Anna's backstory and Marnie's back (future?) story then it's not too hard to follow what's going on.
I think fans of the book will mostly like the movie because even though the story's Ghiblified and a few things are changed or moved around in the plot, the main story is the same, and more importantly the emotion of the story is the same. You really feel what Anna is going through and her redemption.
Maybe the book leans more toward "It really happened but don't ask how" and the movie is more "It was all in her head" but I have to watch it again to decide. :)
However, this is definitely not a movie to watch alone. There may have been some tears...Any story about a character who's lonely really gets to me.
Friday, August 22, 2014
Tokyo--Again!
During Obon vacation I went to Tokyo again for two days. Unfortunately I manged to catch a cold two days before I went, so I didn't have as much energy as I had hoped. To make things worse, I managed to deactivate both my available cash cards (don't ask how) and was left with very little money until I could go to the Japan Post head office on the second day and get my cash card reactivated.
In spite of these setbacks, I was able to see both Tokyo Tower and Meiji Shrine (in Harajuku) and have a nice dinner with my friend Akiko, who was an excellent host for my stay. I'm glad we got to meet up again because she's going to Germany this month. I wish I had such an exciting life....
 |
| This is why most of the pictures I took do not show my face... |
In spite of these setbacks, I was able to see both Tokyo Tower and Meiji Shrine (in Harajuku) and have a nice dinner with my friend Akiko, who was an excellent host for my stay. I'm glad we got to meet up again because she's going to Germany this month. I wish I had such an exciting life....
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