Entries this day: first-lesson good-time-in-japanese-class soml-of-sorts 日本語を勉強しました

first lesson

12:23 Wednesday 03 June 2015 JST

Today is my first lesson with TEM in Lazona. Apparently low level so I brought Side by Side.

14:14

Lesson went well I think, but she said 難しい instead of 楽しかった so I hope she enjoyed it!

good time in japanese class

22:43 Wednesday 03 June 2015 JST

Just attended Japanese class in 80's Cafe. It's the third time リサさん has attended, and the third time I've sat next to her. I like her piercings and smile. :-)

Today she asked me if it rained much in Houston, and I showed her the pictures of recent flooding there. I actually didn't really know just how bad (and quickly) it flooded. wow. I hope everyone is okay, though I know flood damage suuucckks. A lot of other students saw the photos and were like, oh shit!

Today I wrote a few new sentences.

1. 青森には急な形の屋根があります。　　　The roofs are steep in Aomori.
2. 日本の食べ物と飲み物は量が少ない。 Food and drink portions in Japan are small
3. 東京よりヒューストンの方が湿気が高い。 Houston's humidity is higher than Tokyo's
4. ヒューストンの湿気は東京より高い。 Houston is more humid than Tokyo.
5. アメリカでは野球が有名です。 Baseball is famous in the US.
6. ヒューストンで育ちました。 I was raised in Houston.
7. お桟橋と言うふとうはきれいな形でした。 Osanbashi pier has a beautiful shape.

soml of sorts

12:26 Wednesday 03 June 2015 JST

State of my life address

1. I recently received two Dell laptops. One had Windows 7 on it, so I've left that. The other had no hard drive, so I bought a new 700GB drive and put Debian on it. It didn't have wifi, so I bought a USB nano wifi dongle. Still couldn't wifi, so I installed Debian again to see if it would pick up the wifi automatically. Nope, so I installed Linux Mint, but didn't like it, so I'm back to Debian, but this time trying to get the internal wifi card to work. No luck yet, but I'm still confident in my plan get it working.
2. Today I met new student TEM. It was a trial lesson, so we'll see if she joins.
3. Recently I've been entering sentences in to my new anki flashcard type. Basically sentences using the word in question, and then the word itself. then pronunciations and translations of each.
4. Recently my right elbow has been hurting. I'm sure it's due to too much mousing. I thought I had my mouse close enough to a neutral position, but apparently not.
5. We regularly let Jennie outside now. Lin has come to realize that Jennie will come back after not too long. Thus far I don't think she's spent the night outside, though she's been outside at night.
6. S has moved on from the toy store and seems to have gotten a manager position or something at a different branch. Great for her! M now chats with me when I go to the toy store. Recently we've been playing with tops, and yesterday we flew a styrofoam airplane.
7. Tariq and I are working in Unity3D to make our version of pong, which is sorta kinda ready for its version 1 release.
8. There are a few different design competitions that I've entered recently. Who knows what will come of those?
9. I've been attending Japanese classes at 80's Cafe in Akihabara 2 or 3 times per week. Along with my Thursday GG class, that puts me in Akiba 3 or 4 times per week! It's allllmost enough to warrant a teiki.

• - - -

It's the beginning of the month and I happen to have written to my old i-group:

Yesterday while walking through Ebisu, who should I see, but E; what a surprise! We had a nice chat and I thought it was high time for a group check-in.

Lin and I are married, living in Kawasaki. We have no kids, but we have a cat!

Lin's super busy with work, enjoying her job as a real estate agent. She's off today, and we just had a heart-to-heart discussion about the challenges of juggling career and relationship. At the end of the discussion we agreed it's a struggle and worth it to persevere.

I'm working a variety of jobs teaching English and programming websites and apps with the goal of making passive income.

About once per month, I've been attending ET Contact events... basically using meditation and consciousness to invite benevolent extra terrestrial intelligent beings to engage in mutually beneficial dialogue. We haven't really "met ET" yet, but have heard and seen some interesting anomalous sounds and lights.

In my free time, I must say I've been mostly attached to my computer, sometimes for too many hours at a time! Part of that goes to creating mazes for my website https://www.amazeaweek.net/, but a lot of it goes down the proverbial tubes, watching cat videos and porn (not at the same time).

Some of my time wasting is due to not taking care of myself when Lin is working long hours. I judge I need to learn to take care of myself a bit better.

Sometimes I miss having a partner with whom I can speak easily. Lin and I use English, but she's self taught, and has a few rough spots. I feel sadness/anger if I judge I'm not being heard, so when she can't understand me, it's a nice opportunity for me to be aware of those feelings.

On the golden side, I've started studying Japanese to help a bit with communication, though it's a challenging language (as you may know)!

Studying Japanese also helps me feel joy (what's the opposite of shame?); I feel/felt some shame each time I tell people how long I've been in Japan (12 years) and how terrible my Japanese language still is (but getting better step by step).

日本語を勉強しました

12:28 Wednesday 03 June 2015 JST

There are probably errors in the Japanese notes below!

1. 後、好きな具材を混ぜます。 あと、すきなぐざいをまぜます。 and mix in ingredients you like
2. 夏に食べ物あまり温めません。 なつに、たべものあまり　あたためません。 don't heat food during summer
3. 冷蔵庫に牛乳を冷やします。 れいぞうこにぎゅうにゅうをひやします。 refrigerate milk
4. ラーメンを煮る ラーメンをにる cook ramen
5. パンケーキの形にして、焼きます。 パンケーキのかたちにして、やきます。 make a pancake shape and fry it.
6. オーブンでパンを焼きます。 おーぶんでぱんをやきます。 bake bread in the oven
7. りんごの皮をむいて食べます。 りんごのかわをむいてたべます。 peel then eat an apple
8. てんぷらを揚げてあげる。 てんぷらをあげてあげる。 make and give tempura
9. ごはんを炊きます。 ごはんをたきます。 cook rice
10. うどんを湯でる うどんをゆでる。 boil udon noodles
11. 具材 ぐざい ingredient(s)
12. 温める あたためる heat up
13. 冷やす ひやす refrigerate
14. 煮る にる cook (soup)
15. 形 かたち shape
16. 焼く やく bake/fry
17. むく peel skin
18. 揚げる あげる deep fry
19. 炊きます たきます cook (rice)
20. 湯でる ゆでる cook (noodles)
21. 青森には急な形の屋根があります。　　あおもりにはきゅうなかたちのやねがあります。　　The roofs are steep in Aomori.
22. 日本の食べ物と飲み物は量が少ない。 にほんの　たべもの　と　のみもの　はりょうがすくない。 Food and drink portions in Japan are small
23. 東京よりヒューストンの方が湿気が高い。 とうきょうより　ひゅうーすとんのしっけがたかい。　 Houston's humidity is higher than Tokyo's
24. ヒューストンの湿気は東京より高い。 ひゅうーすとんのしっけはとうきょうよりたかい。　Houston is more humid than Tokyo.
25. アメリカでは野球が有名です。 あめりかでは　やきゅうがゆうめいです。　Baseball is famous in the US.
26. ヒューストンで育ちました。 ひゅうーすとんで　そだちました。　　I was raised in Houston.
27. お桟橋と言う埠頭はきれいな形でした。 おさんばしというふとうはきれいなかたちでした。　Osanbashi pier has a beautiful shape.