Entries this day: Dream Test ayana up_down_up_down zzzz

Dream

6:53am JST Friday 25 April 2003

I had a dream in Japanese!

Homer Simpson knew Japanese; he was wearing glasses and asking Ned to fill out a form with the prompts written in Japanese. Between them, a woman who could read hiragana was trying to help Ned.

Homer knew English but didn't translate anything for Ned cause, being Homer, he didn't think about it and realize this would be helpful. He just let the woman stumble through reading the hiragana and wondered why Ned was clueless not understanding anything.

Test

7:14am JST Friday 25 April 2003

Oh cool. I can write ひらがな slightly more efficiently now. Still not perfect, but... workable.

More testing: わたしはロブです。

ayana

11:49am JST Friday 25 April 2003

Just had my first paid Japanese lesson with あやな.

I found that if I release my mind, the words flow more easily. Don't think; just speak. "Untie your tongue," me-an-Wende's Spanish teacher would say.

A couple of times I untied my tongue; just letting the words flow like a heartbeat. (*)

I learned shit like これ, それ, あれ, どれ are used to mean generic this, that, and that (various distances away from the speaker) and この, その, あの, どの are used when specifying a noun "this dog" "that dog" この　いぬ or その　いぬ. I'm still not really certain about the uses of どれ and どの, though.

Also learned some numeric stuff like hundred, thousand, ten thousand: ひゃく, せn, まn.

And more more more.

(*) silly Vanilla Ice thinks harpoons flow.

There was one more thing... um...................... Oh, I think I'll create a pronounciation guide on my site somewhere.

up down up down

10:09pm JST Friday 25 April 2003

up:

Grrrreat Voice Room today; we yammered a bit and then I introduced the Opposite Game with them. "What is the opposite of red?" "Green." "What is the opposite of blue?" "Yellow." (close enough) "What is the opposite of an eraser?"

This is a great game for high level students. Dammn it's the best game ever. Incredible super duper thanks to Wende for inventing it with me!

I came up with a cheesy one. What is the opposite of an Air Conditioner? Shampoo. Why? I added an H before Air. Terrible pun. Not even an opposite really. But whatever; they liked it.

- - - -

down:

Soon as I got into work Steve was all, "what's going on with your shoes?" cause I'm wearing some oh-god-say-it-isn't-so!!! light brown leather shoes. Man fuck that. I lied something like, "oh, I didn't have a chance to get home and change; I chose to be here on time than to have my other shoes." Bite me.

- - - -

up:

On the way home Clayton got on the train with one of his friends. I tried a little bit of Japanese conversation with him. Stuff like what is your phone number and how old are you?

- - - -

down:

Fuck!

I've been blessed with the opportunity to live without my bike for an unspecified length of time.

Fuck fuck fuck!

I went to the cops and they were all, "oh no pahking zone"

WTF??? There's 50 fucking bicycles there right now where I parked mine this morning and mine got jacked and those all stayed? What the fuck is up with that? No signs?

You mean this isn't a bicycle rack ????? What the hell is it then? A length of pole to sit on? I don't think so.

I'm quite interested to know what my bike did so differently from the other bikes.

They gave me a sheet of paper indicating a phone number and bankers' hours that it's available. I wonder what adventures are in store for me and my bike.

And it's not even my bike!!! Argh!!!!!

- - - -

up:

I got ice cream on the way home to indulge myself.

- - - -

up:

I arrived home (which took nearly 25 thousand times longer without a bike!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and found a letter from janette. :-)

comments

Name: nooj

Quickly: Where are you living nowadays?

Subject: not meaning any offence...

Comment:
> Soon as I got into work Steve was all, "what's going on with your shoes?" cause I'm wearing some oh-god-say-it-isn't-so!!! light brown leather shoes. Man fuck that. I lied something like, "oh, I didn't have a chance to get home and change; I chose to be here on time than to have my other shoes." Bite me.


Dude, I have to make the hateful suggestion. Your coworkers at Nova probably don't read your journal yet, but IMO you have to assume that they will eventually as they come to know you, since it's such an integral part of your life. You have to assume that eventually, uncool people will read your website, and, eventually, people will see how much you disdain Steve. Steve is not he kind of guy who will support your freedom of speech, and may have the power to mangle your career.

I can't suggest any more that you "be a good boy," because clearly Steve is a micromanager who isn't capable of letting you make decisions for yourself.(*) I can only suggest that you find a way to get away from him as soon as possible, because the longer you work under him, the more you will hate Nova specifically and your Japan experience generally. None of us want that. Find the cool important people and impress them. See what magic they can work for you. In the mean time, I think you should make private the things you say about him, lest they make trouble for you in the future. I know you hate to censor yourself, and I'm sure you've done an admirable job so far--I'm sure that in your private journal there are things so poisonous as to get you fired. I think you need to go further and, yes, censor more.

I've been thinking of suggesting this ever since you started talking about Steve. This entry seems to take things a step further than you really want to go.

(*)I suggest that you think of it like this: His criticism of you simply demonstrates his own inability to be a good manager. He comments on every little detail the same way Karen does because he is incapable of helping people grow the way you have been doing for six years and counting. I know it grates upon everything you base your life upon, and I'm sorry.

I hope you are getting enough satisfaction from your interactions with your students to overshadow your boss' poor management skills.

Love,
g

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zzzz

12:59am JST Saturday 26 April 2003

Crud. I didn't realize how late it is.

I've been reading/writing email, listening to iTunes (working on a playlist for a CD I'll burn for work) and I did laundry. Didn't study Japanese tonight.

I'm kinda stuck in that mode of oh-god-I-have-too-much-to-do-so-where-do-I-start and instead of starting just get sidetracked. Ah well.

But I gotta go to bed so I can get up and embark on a new adventure at Nova with the correct shoes which of course I'll need cause my bike is awol. Sigh.

Good night.