Jack's Diary
- Thread starter jackbenimble
- Start date
jackbenimble
New member
I've been playing for decades, M2M. So, while I can strum along and sing tunes and know a few licks, I'm nowhere close to being where I'd like. I jam every few weeks with a friend, and sometimes we go out busking, and have done open mics in the past.
Lately, I've been focused more on Japanese, but I would like to get 1/2 to an hour a day in. I dream of retiring and having time to get good at both of them, lol.
Lately, I've been focused more on Japanese, but I would like to get 1/2 to an hour a day in. I dream of retiring and having time to get good at both of them, lol.
jackbenimble
New member
It's cool you play, M2M. I really had a breakthrough, about 8 years ago when I took a group guitar lesson. I was wondering why it was so darn hard to press the strings down. I finally said I'm gonna get a really easy guitar to play. So I found one and had it set with light gauge strings and low action. After that, it was much easier to play. It was around then that I learned how to play "Every Rose has its Thorn" off youtube, and it was really the first popular song that I manage to sing all the way through and not screw up the rhythm. I just kept at it, and finally it happened.
Back to reality - my weight was back down to 165 today, which is nice. Any day at 165 or below is good. I actually worked out at the gym tonight, too, including a 1/2 hour fast walk on the treadmill, and was down to 163 when I got home. It's been ages, what with my toe and the winter and all that. So, I'm going to get to the gym more regularly.
Good day at work, too. I figured out how to get the 32-bit version of the Windows emulator running on Redhat. So all that's left is getting the UPS working. I'll have something going on when I visit the other company on Tuesday.
Back to reality - my weight was back down to 165 today, which is nice. Any day at 165 or below is good. I actually worked out at the gym tonight, too, including a 1/2 hour fast walk on the treadmill, and was down to 163 when I got home. It's been ages, what with my toe and the winter and all that. So, I'm going to get to the gym more regularly.
Good day at work, too. I figured out how to get the 32-bit version of the Windows emulator running on Redhat. So all that's left is getting the UPS working. I'll have something going on when I visit the other company on Tuesday.
jackbenimble
New member
So, it was a combination of guitar and Japanese this morning.
Every time I run across one of my borrowed, uncredited stories on mnemonics at the kanji site, I find it troubling. I mean, there's not much you can do to control it. But this it's like, man, I accomplished something with those stories. The original author, obviously, is the guy who gets the most credit, deservedly so. But, he's also the one who threatened to sue me unless I completely revised my stories to take out any of his references, which just killed the business. Anyway, that site was coming out, so I guess my stories were going to get pulled into it regardless.
Every time I run across one of my borrowed, uncredited stories on mnemonics at the kanji site, I find it troubling. I mean, there's not much you can do to control it. But this it's like, man, I accomplished something with those stories. The original author, obviously, is the guy who gets the most credit, deservedly so. But, he's also the one who threatened to sue me unless I completely revised my stories to take out any of his references, which just killed the business. Anyway, that site was coming out, so I guess my stories were going to get pulled into it regardless.
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jackbenimble
New member
I should mention that I'm benefitting greatly from that site and all the stories that people are freely and anonymously contributing. I just don't know what could be gained by making a stink about it. I can't use the stories commercially. In the grand scheme of things, it's good for the karma to, instead of being bitter, be glad that you could do some little thing to help others - especially if you don't do a lot in that direction, anyway. If some people are helped by it, great. I've certainly been helped by all the free stuff on the internet. I just have to chill out. I had a good week at work last week, got a visit to another company on Tuesday, it's local so I don't have to fly or anything.
Happy weekend Jack. Life's short. Somehow it seems that the easiest way to generate human kindness is to do what makes you happy and that happiness ends up spilling into other areas of your life. When you are healthy and vibrant it becomes so much easier to be a positive support for others. It's wise to just let go of being upset about healthcare...it sucks, and for now that's just how it is. The kanjii site also. You've got it. Spending as little time and energy as possible on the negative things we can't control seems to be a good strategy. 
jackbenimble
New member
So, I did a really deep dive into Japanese today. I'm narrowing down my goals. At this point, the number one priority is to be able to hear and understand better than I do. Hand in hand with that is building up vocabulary.
To that end, I've signed up for a couple of sites. One, iFluent, give cuts from videos and films and translates them. You don't just hear the Japanese, you see it as well, plus the English. It has tools for adding vocabulary and reviewing and stuff. But, after the trial it will be expensive. Actually, I found an anime series on there that I liked, and I signed up to view it on another site. I'm power-viewing it right now. I wish I could see the Japanese, but they do have the English subtitles.
I read a couple of articles on how to learn Japanese fast. It turns out that if you repeat what they say (impossible to figure out sometimes), it's very helpful. So I've been trying that. It's more work, but you definitely get more out of it.
I went to a nice party for my brother's 60th yesterday. Kind of a gang's all here kind of thing, so that was nice. I was flirting a little bit with my sister's friend, who was a real cutie back in the day. She still looks good. Then suddenly my wife wanted to go home. Strange how the timing worked out on that. I remember one time she got mad at a work party, kind of dragged me out of it. You know how it goes, they feed you lines and you just kind of roll with it. I wish I had hung in there for a few more minutes. It was fun, though.
But, I went for a piece of cake, which my wife kindly brought to me. Also a cookie. So, I was back up to 167 today. The cake wasn't that great, either. Ah, well. Plus, today, I got so into the Japanese that I didn't work out.
Man, I would love to retire. Just work on the Japanese and guitar all day. What a life that would be. I wish I had a little bit more in the bank. Maybe another year or two...we'll see.
To that end, I've signed up for a couple of sites. One, iFluent, give cuts from videos and films and translates them. You don't just hear the Japanese, you see it as well, plus the English. It has tools for adding vocabulary and reviewing and stuff. But, after the trial it will be expensive. Actually, I found an anime series on there that I liked, and I signed up to view it on another site. I'm power-viewing it right now. I wish I could see the Japanese, but they do have the English subtitles.
I read a couple of articles on how to learn Japanese fast. It turns out that if you repeat what they say (impossible to figure out sometimes), it's very helpful. So I've been trying that. It's more work, but you definitely get more out of it.
I went to a nice party for my brother's 60th yesterday. Kind of a gang's all here kind of thing, so that was nice. I was flirting a little bit with my sister's friend, who was a real cutie back in the day. She still looks good. Then suddenly my wife wanted to go home. Strange how the timing worked out on that. I remember one time she got mad at a work party, kind of dragged me out of it. You know how it goes, they feed you lines and you just kind of roll with it. I wish I had hung in there for a few more minutes. It was fun, though.
But, I went for a piece of cake, which my wife kindly brought to me. Also a cookie. So, I was back up to 167 today. The cake wasn't that great, either. Ah, well. Plus, today, I got so into the Japanese that I didn't work out.
Man, I would love to retire. Just work on the Japanese and guitar all day. What a life that would be. I wish I had a little bit more in the bank. Maybe another year or two...we'll see.
jackbenimble
New member
You start flirting and suddenly your wife wanted to go home...
...imagine that
Yeah, I know, M2M. But it wasn't like it was some kind of long thing - just a couple of minutes, if that...anyway.
So, I was 165 today, so that's good, hanging in there. I really don't have any excuse for not going to the gym, though - my toe is pretty much healed at this point.
That vending machine at work, though - I must have bought Cheez-itss at least 3 times already this week, at $1.25 a pop. It's kind of rude for them to put it there. Does the company get a cut? Is it out of "consideration" for the employees - tempting them with that crap that's in the machine, plus taking your money at the same time? I just think it's a terrible idea. It should be in the kitchen, far away from where I am - but it's like 15 feet away. I don't understand the thinking behind it.
Oh, my wife and I just watched a slick little movie on Netflix - it's called "The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun." It's French - it's kind of a whodunnit, but it's also an excuse to show off a sexy, shy redhead with glasses, long legs, a short skirt, and heels driving around in France in an old Thunderbird to a punk soundtrack. Quite stylish. Plus it reminded how cool of a language French is. And how easy, compared to Japanese.
Speaking of which, I've started listening to Japanese lessons on my commute, which it's crazy why I haven't done this earlier. Today I think I found a good site, Japanese Pod 101 or something like that. I picked the lower intermediate track, and it seems just about right.
I've also started on level 3 (of 5) of a set of vocabulary flashcards for the official Japanese Language Proficiency test. So, I'm hoping the vocabulary will start kicking in soon enough, at long last.
I've also found a site which prints the subtitles for anime in both English and Japanese. Having the Japanese is fantastic because it makes it soooo much easier to figure out what the exact words were in Japanese.
I lowered my review count on the Kanji flashcards to 100 a day, because the 200 was just too much to get through every day. And I haven't done any flashcards today at all, yet, and I might blow it off because I was up till 2 last night and I'm kinda tired. There's always tomorrow.
My visit to X company went ok, although we were blocked on a certificate error from the RedHat site. But they have that sorted now, so I'm going back on Tuesday to get our software installed.
I met with my bosses yesterday, and they're going to put me on a similar project, this time for our own company. Essentially, we need to run on RedHat Enterprise, which is a later version of the Centos 6.10 we run on now. So what I learn for X company is directly applicable. So, that ought to keep the contract moving for a bit longer, I hope. Ideally, it will get through August, when I turn 62. That's one more year down on the road to retirement.
Ah, the stock market had a good day today. I'll check the old portfolio...not it makes that much of a difference, but it's fun to look at when there's been a good day.
jackbenimble
New member
So, I took the day off today. Hey, you need one every once in a while.
So, I ended purchasing Japanse Pod 101, the conversation lessons I was talking about. They have one of those sneaky ways of selling that advertise "$4/month", but when you go to pay - they charge you for two years! $96 bucks. But, I bought it anyway because it's pretty much exactly what I need for when I'm in my car - they give the Japanese conversation in full, then the translation with each sentence, then review the vocabulary, then grammar points, have a little bit of discussion in Japanese English. Plus there are tracks (I'm in lower intermediate) which you can follow along, so I kind of needed this. Heck, I was listening to it in bed this morning after I decided to take the day off.
Today, I'm going to
1) go to the gym
2) got to the plaza and get Bluetooth headphones
3) Call Verizon to increase the internet speed for my mom
4) Do my kanji review
5) do my vocabulary review
6) Got to see my wife's concert tonight. There's always a bit of an after-party.
7) Also, on Sunday, I'm going to one of her friends' kid's concert's, so there will be a lot of Japanese people there, maybe I'll practice some Japanese.
8) Play a little guitar - I've been neglecting it lately, but I'm committed (for now) to dedicating my spare time to Japanese
9) Call Charlie just to catch up.
So, I ended purchasing Japanse Pod 101, the conversation lessons I was talking about. They have one of those sneaky ways of selling that advertise "$4/month", but when you go to pay - they charge you for two years! $96 bucks. But, I bought it anyway because it's pretty much exactly what I need for when I'm in my car - they give the Japanese conversation in full, then the translation with each sentence, then review the vocabulary, then grammar points, have a little bit of discussion in Japanese English. Plus there are tracks (I'm in lower intermediate) which you can follow along, so I kind of needed this. Heck, I was listening to it in bed this morning after I decided to take the day off.
Today, I'm going to
1) go to the gym
2) got to the plaza and get Bluetooth headphones
3) Call Verizon to increase the internet speed for my mom
4) Do my kanji review
5) do my vocabulary review
6) Got to see my wife's concert tonight. There's always a bit of an after-party.
7) Also, on Sunday, I'm going to one of her friends' kid's concert's, so there will be a lot of Japanese people there, maybe I'll practice some Japanese.
8) Play a little guitar - I've been neglecting it lately, but I'm committed (for now) to dedicating my spare time to Japanese
9) Call Charlie just to catch up.
Hey, great news on the contract getting extended! Woo hoo!
It's good that you have prioritized Japanese for the time being. Having too many competing interests is a way to get nothing really accomplished (said from the person who lives this issue every day. lol...need to listen to myself.)
Enjoy your long weekend!
It's good that you have prioritized Japanese for the time being. Having too many competing interests is a way to get nothing really accomplished (said from the person who lives this issue every day. lol...need to listen to myself.)
Enjoy your long weekend!
jackbenimble
New member
Hey, Mols, thank! Yes, you're right, I just remembered that. Puts me in a better mood.
On the competing interests - I really think it's true. Sometimes, if you want something, you have to make hard choices. The fastest and best way to get there is to go all in. I constantly struggle with this, but it is *clearly* true. Obviously true. This means other stuff has to fall by the wayside, at least for now.
But, I'm going against my own discovery/knowledge and am going to sign up for a guitar course, probably, and sign up for a beginner guitar course. The reason is 1) it's local 2) it's cheap ($80). But I'm def. not a beginner - it might be a waste of time / boring and a bit rude. Starts this week coming up. Leaning against it right now.
I have to start working out again. So today I'm going to drive up to the Bose store which is about a 40 minute drive to pick up a couple of wireless earphones. My headphones mess up my hair, and get a little hot during workouts. I'll work out when I got back.
Having a new phone which actually functions (web, Bluetooth) is pretty cool. I signed up for a Japanese online course which teaches you by listening only. It cost $100, but I know it's what I need for in the car/working out. It's structured pretty well - although I will miss the music.
The facial recognition is awesome - no more putting in your pin - although I had disabled it on my old phone, before. But now nobody can just pick it up and go through my texts or whatever. Not that there's anything in there of interest, but still. Better safe than sorry.
It's nice and sunny out there. But, it's 37, so I'll work out at the gym (sorry Mols, I know you were running around in sub-zero temperatures all winter
On the competing interests - I really think it's true. Sometimes, if you want something, you have to make hard choices. The fastest and best way to get there is to go all in. I constantly struggle with this, but it is *clearly* true. Obviously true. This means other stuff has to fall by the wayside, at least for now.
But, I'm going against my own discovery/knowledge and am going to sign up for a guitar course, probably, and sign up for a beginner guitar course. The reason is 1) it's local 2) it's cheap ($80). But I'm def. not a beginner - it might be a waste of time / boring and a bit rude. Starts this week coming up. Leaning against it right now.
I have to start working out again. So today I'm going to drive up to the Bose store which is about a 40 minute drive to pick up a couple of wireless earphones. My headphones mess up my hair, and get a little hot during workouts. I'll work out when I got back.
Having a new phone which actually functions (web, Bluetooth) is pretty cool. I signed up for a Japanese online course which teaches you by listening only. It cost $100, but I know it's what I need for in the car/working out. It's structured pretty well - although I will miss the music.
The facial recognition is awesome - no more putting in your pin - although I had disabled it on my old phone, before. But now nobody can just pick it up and go through my texts or whatever. Not that there's anything in there of interest, but still. Better safe than sorry.
It's nice and sunny out there. But, it's 37, so I'll work out at the gym (sorry Mols, I know you were running around in sub-zero temperatures all winter
jackbenimble
New member
So, I have to go back to this company on Tuesday, but I should be ok. I took the day off Friday, but I still have a day to prepare. Hey, if it doesn't work, I will just go back again. It's all good - what are they going to do - fire me? They're going to do that anyway, it's just a question of when.
I found a great website which plays the subtitles in both Japanese and English - it's a powerful combination. It's like learning from reading. But, the site's selections are a bit limited. So, I've found another site which has the subtitles in Japanese for pretty much every anime ever made kitsuneko.net - Japanese and English anime subtitles - now my task is to figure how to use them. I'm subscribed to a site which included "crunchyroll", which has a ton of good animes. I'm trying to figure how to use it there.
This afternoon, I'm going to a recital of one of my wife's students. There will be a lot of Japanese people there, so I'll try to speak a little bit of Japanese with them. They all speak English because they live in America, but I'll give it a shot.
Ugh, we started our taxes. It looks like it's going to be a big bill, up to 3k probably. Gross.
I found a great website which plays the subtitles in both Japanese and English - it's a powerful combination. It's like learning from reading. But, the site's selections are a bit limited. So, I've found another site which has the subtitles in Japanese for pretty much every anime ever made kitsuneko.net - Japanese and English anime subtitles - now my task is to figure how to use them. I'm subscribed to a site which included "crunchyroll", which has a ton of good animes. I'm trying to figure how to use it there.
This afternoon, I'm going to a recital of one of my wife's students. There will be a lot of Japanese people there, so I'll try to speak a little bit of Japanese with them. They all speak English because they live in America, but I'll give it a shot.
Ugh, we started our taxes. It looks like it's going to be a big bill, up to 3k probably. Gross.
jackbenimble
New member
Yeah, the taxes are going to be about 2K, which isn't too bad - it's what we've been paying for a few years now since we don't have the deductions like interest on the house, having a child at home, education costs and my side business.
Oh - we finally got tickets for the Japanese trip. Cost - $4,000. We could've saved a thousand if we didn't take the direct flight on JAL, but flying on that is such a superior experience to flying American or Canadian. It's not just the pretty flight attendants, it's the "customer is king" mentality the exists throughout Japan. The tourist-class seats are larger than industry standard, for example. And it's nice to be treated like you've just spent a few grand. You won't see customers getting beaten up and dragged off of flights because the airline screwed up the seating assignments.
I should really consider being a freelancer in my next job, then I could deduct the trip. But that comes with its own set of headaches. Getting paid is one, as in my experience companies tend to drag their feet on that, which is a nightmare. The rules the IRS has now are pretty strict. Basically, if you show up at the same place every day, or even work all of your time for the same company, you're considered an employee. Plus, the lack of a subsidized medical plan. Nah, it has to be a side business.
The problem with that is that I'm kind of devoting most of my free time to Japanese right now. The Celtics have had a disappointing season, so that's been a good excuse to stop watching them. That frees up my evenings. Yeah, it's been great as far as I'm *finally* not wasting my free time on idiotic stuff like sports forums and watching games, for the most part.
What I am "wasting" my free time on is watching silly animes. But the difference is, these ones are subtitled in both Japanese and English. So, I can follow along with the dialogue using a combination of the subtitles and audio. It's a nice mix, because I can get the listening practice along with building up vocabulary *and* watch a show that actually has a plot and is actually interesting. It's a pretty compelling combination. I'm sure I'm spending way more time on it than if I were basing my studies on textbooks. Although, it lacks the structure that textbooks give, which I feel a bit guilty about. But who cares? If it was the textbooks, I wouldn't be putting the time in.
Anime tends to be either "slice of life" or action/fantasy, or maybe a combination. There is a ton of it to choose from, and as the action doesn't appeal to me at all, I tend to the slice of life stuff. The so-called "fan service" doesn't hurt, either.
As far as work, the only issues right now with that are the lack of days off and the cost of medical care. The estimate I submitted last week for the project takes me into June, which is beyond the current estimate. Maybe I'll finally be let go after that project is done. Just in time to go to Japan, then find a job with a real health plan.
Oh - we finally got tickets for the Japanese trip. Cost - $4,000. We could've saved a thousand if we didn't take the direct flight on JAL, but flying on that is such a superior experience to flying American or Canadian. It's not just the pretty flight attendants, it's the "customer is king" mentality the exists throughout Japan. The tourist-class seats are larger than industry standard, for example. And it's nice to be treated like you've just spent a few grand. You won't see customers getting beaten up and dragged off of flights because the airline screwed up the seating assignments.
I should really consider being a freelancer in my next job, then I could deduct the trip. But that comes with its own set of headaches. Getting paid is one, as in my experience companies tend to drag their feet on that, which is a nightmare. The rules the IRS has now are pretty strict. Basically, if you show up at the same place every day, or even work all of your time for the same company, you're considered an employee. Plus, the lack of a subsidized medical plan. Nah, it has to be a side business.
The problem with that is that I'm kind of devoting most of my free time to Japanese right now. The Celtics have had a disappointing season, so that's been a good excuse to stop watching them. That frees up my evenings. Yeah, it's been great as far as I'm *finally* not wasting my free time on idiotic stuff like sports forums and watching games, for the most part.
What I am "wasting" my free time on is watching silly animes. But the difference is, these ones are subtitled in both Japanese and English. So, I can follow along with the dialogue using a combination of the subtitles and audio. It's a nice mix, because I can get the listening practice along with building up vocabulary *and* watch a show that actually has a plot and is actually interesting. It's a pretty compelling combination. I'm sure I'm spending way more time on it than if I were basing my studies on textbooks. Although, it lacks the structure that textbooks give, which I feel a bit guilty about. But who cares? If it was the textbooks, I wouldn't be putting the time in.
Anime tends to be either "slice of life" or action/fantasy, or maybe a combination. There is a ton of it to choose from, and as the action doesn't appeal to me at all, I tend to the slice of life stuff. The so-called "fan service" doesn't hurt, either.
As far as work, the only issues right now with that are the lack of days off and the cost of medical care. The estimate I submitted last week for the project takes me into June, which is beyond the current estimate. Maybe I'll finally be let go after that project is done. Just in time to go to Japan, then find a job with a real health plan.
jackbenimble
New member
Had a nice time out last Friday with my college friends/wives. One of them plays in a band, and we went to see them. They were pretty good, with a long acoustic first set with a lot of oldies. We all got up and danced, or three of us, and it was really fun. J said after all these years it was the first time we danced together, and that was true. My wife doesn't really dance, but the other two were pretty good, as women tend to be more so than guys (white guys?) in my opinion. But they were surprised at the way I dance, which is a pretty energetic, kind of rapid bouncy thing I evolved into over the years. I like the bounce, it's more like a vibration, I guess. Feels good. A random guy even said he liked it, he was smiling. The only problem is, my knee gets sore pretty quickly nowadays when I do that, and it stays that way the next day. Sigh. I really need to get that fixed.
jackbenimble
New member
Rough week at work. The upgrade I was doing for the other company on their system worked, fine, but when I tried to restore the image it was corrupt. I turned out none of the backups were any good back to the initial image. That's a killer, when your backups are bad.
So I sent an email to the company telling them that on Tuesday, that I would have to go there another day, but they haven't responded yet. I have a feeling they are going to try to get out of it, and do it on their own based on what I showed them (I even gave them the documentation - bad move).
It turns out they gave me the wrong system and wrong size hard drive, so it would've had to have been done anyway, But I'm not sure they get that - I only hinted around about the hard drive size, and didn't know it was the wrong system till later. So we'll see.
Plus, there was a sudden deadline for today to get a new image for Windows 10 + our product out to a company. So in a way it was good the other company didn't respond. At least I got that out of the way, but it was a real hassle. Plus I ended up with an extra ethernet port which I had to put into the instructions to delete. Well, when you make people rush when they're unfamiliar, what can you expect? At least it's a viable image.
I wasn't able to get much time in with a third company's system, but at least I validated which version of Java they're using and that I could install using the old version of our product. I already know I can upgrade the Java and mysql from there, so that should be ok. But it just feels so disorganized and unplanned. Plus I hate multi-tasking.
Oh, yeah, I had to delete my todo/habits app because Amazon starting dumping bills on me. I turns out that if you create something under Elastic Beanstalk, even if you terminate the EC2 instances, it will create new ones. It's like zombies coming alive from the dead. Scary, so I just deleted everything. now I have to redeploy with*out* the effing beanstalk. At least it's a new buzzword on the resume.
Oh, yeah, and my kanji app, which I've installed locally, just keeps bombing now. I was maybe 8 or 9 hundred words in. So, I'll need to figure that one out.
So, a tough week all around. But, could be worse. The stock market was decent at least.
I have to get the gym, soon.
So I sent an email to the company telling them that on Tuesday, that I would have to go there another day, but they haven't responded yet. I have a feeling they are going to try to get out of it, and do it on their own based on what I showed them (I even gave them the documentation - bad move).
It turns out they gave me the wrong system and wrong size hard drive, so it would've had to have been done anyway, But I'm not sure they get that - I only hinted around about the hard drive size, and didn't know it was the wrong system till later. So we'll see.
Plus, there was a sudden deadline for today to get a new image for Windows 10 + our product out to a company. So in a way it was good the other company didn't respond. At least I got that out of the way, but it was a real hassle. Plus I ended up with an extra ethernet port which I had to put into the instructions to delete. Well, when you make people rush when they're unfamiliar, what can you expect? At least it's a viable image.
I wasn't able to get much time in with a third company's system, but at least I validated which version of Java they're using and that I could install using the old version of our product. I already know I can upgrade the Java and mysql from there, so that should be ok. But it just feels so disorganized and unplanned. Plus I hate multi-tasking.
Oh, yeah, I had to delete my todo/habits app because Amazon starting dumping bills on me. I turns out that if you create something under Elastic Beanstalk, even if you terminate the EC2 instances, it will create new ones. It's like zombies coming alive from the dead. Scary, so I just deleted everything. now I have to redeploy with*out* the effing beanstalk. At least it's a new buzzword on the resume.
Oh, yeah, and my kanji app, which I've installed locally, just keeps bombing now. I was maybe 8 or 9 hundred words in. So, I'll need to figure that one out.
So, a tough week all around. But, could be worse. The stock market was decent at least.
I have to get the gym, soon.
jackbenimble
New member
It's still the weekend Grace a Dieu. I spent all of yesterday studying Japanese, except a beach-walk and workout at Planet Fitness. Actually, I was listening to my Japanese lessons during those.
I'm encouraged because I took an N3 JLPT Listening practice test and did ok. I'll try a few more because my what I fear most is not being able to understand the spoken word. N3 is the middle of five levels. I'm not really planning to take the test, but then again it kind of organizes your studies and makes sure you're covering all your bases in grammar, vocabulary, listening, reading and kanji studies.
I'm encouraged because I took an N3 JLPT Listening practice test and did ok. I'll try a few more because my what I fear most is not being able to understand the spoken word. N3 is the middle of five levels. I'm not really planning to take the test, but then again it kind of organizes your studies and makes sure you're covering all your bases in grammar, vocabulary, listening, reading and kanji studies.