Many Moons Ago
HALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Greetings Friends and Family and Friends who are Family and Family who are Friends.
A few of you over the last little bit have mentioned to me it's been many a moon since I have been here and posted anything so I thought I'd take a few minutes. Why not? Well, more on that in a few, until then, this --
This morning when walking to the library from the parking lot, I was struck by an ephiphany. November is almost over.
While this is quite obvious, it struck me not so much because I haven't done any Christmas shopping, or even because finals are in 2 weeks. No, what hit me over the head, dear readers, it is almost a new year and *THAT* means it is about time for my anual reread of Amber.
I can hardly believe it is time to revisit Corwin and his siblings in their various adventures through Shadow. Can it be that this year really is over (or nearly so)? Do I really get to visit that magical realm? Are the Courts of Chaos really plotting to overthrow everything?
Anyhow, the more I think about it the more I am anticipating it. Not that I would have forgotten. Believe me, it's hard to forget. Amber has been my first read of the year for many years running. What it really tells me is that I've been really wrapped up in school (and World of Warcrack).
And now for why I ought not take a few minutes to write this -- I should be spending every waking min when not eating, showering/dressing/grooming, working, reading the sticks, et al. going over Japanese. But I know that's not going to happen so why pretend?
This week will be a rough one, methinks. I basically have to learn the entire 3rd chapter of Japanese before... Thursday. Alright, that sounds bad. It isn't quite that dramatic. I understand when and where to use many of the grammar points. The problem I am really having is that several of them involve transtive and intransitive verb pairs. (32 of them in this chapter.) And alas, i am seriusly struggling with remembering these pairs. I have been over them again and again. I have been using them in my workbook (looking them up each time). I have tried flashcards. I attempted to write my own silly sentences so I might remember them better. All to no avail. The vast majority of these verbs are just not sticking with me. And frankly I don't know what to do with them. Alas, I need to know a much larger portion of them by Thursday.
I apologize for this in advance, it's something of a downer:
It could be because from the end of Chapter 2 to the present, I haven't really cared. I got SO frustrated at the end of the last chapter when Sensei introduced a section for the test she wanted us to do. It involved translation. She wants to see if we really understand Japanese sentence structure. Fine and dandy. But while working on the example in class, when nobody in class knew how to do it right, we couldn't get a "right" answer. I still have no clue what some of the sentences we had to do were supposed to be. It was so bad that when someone had a sentence that she liked and someone else phrased it in their own words (and it sounded good to all of us), Sensei said no and yet we couldn't get a reason why. When that happened, I just cumpled up my paper and sat there.
Anyhow, that frustration has stuck with me. I've stoped trying to learn Japanese. I'm just trying to get the grade. I don't like that. I don't like feeling this way. I don't like going to school just for a grade. It's really quite sad because I've put a lot of effort into Japanese and I am (or was) interested in it. Alas, I am still putting effort into it, but it's short term. If you were to ask me the vocab from this morning's quiz I might get half of what I got this morning. I'm not retaining anything. Which makes remembering 64 verbs rather difficult. Alas, I'm going to get dinged badly on this exam because of it. (Which is another thing -- got nailed on the vocab quiz that used them, 2 grammar quizzes that use them and now the chapter and oral test which will use them. So heck yeah I'm concerned about my grade, blast it all!) Anyhow, I somehow need to catch the spark of caring and wanting to learn this dastardly language again... and SOON because I don't have many days to do it before it seriously affects my grade too.
Otherwise -- life's just kind of there. I moved (mostly). I have no social life at all finding being a hermit much easier than actually doing things with people. I did write a young lady in Russia a couple of letters. Alas, even those letters were dull and boring. Maybe I have some sort of social blockage that stems from an incident like the translation section in Japanese that just keeps me from being able to communicate with people. Ha.
Anyhow, for many months of nada, that's life in a nutshell (pistachio sized it seems) for now.
~G
Greetings Friends and Family and Friends who are Family and Family who are Friends.
A few of you over the last little bit have mentioned to me it's been many a moon since I have been here and posted anything so I thought I'd take a few minutes. Why not? Well, more on that in a few, until then, this --
This morning when walking to the library from the parking lot, I was struck by an ephiphany. November is almost over.
While this is quite obvious, it struck me not so much because I haven't done any Christmas shopping, or even because finals are in 2 weeks. No, what hit me over the head, dear readers, it is almost a new year and *THAT* means it is about time for my anual reread of Amber.
I can hardly believe it is time to revisit Corwin and his siblings in their various adventures through Shadow. Can it be that this year really is over (or nearly so)? Do I really get to visit that magical realm? Are the Courts of Chaos really plotting to overthrow everything?
Anyhow, the more I think about it the more I am anticipating it. Not that I would have forgotten. Believe me, it's hard to forget. Amber has been my first read of the year for many years running. What it really tells me is that I've been really wrapped up in school (and World of Warcrack).
And now for why I ought not take a few minutes to write this -- I should be spending every waking min when not eating, showering/dressing/grooming, working, reading the sticks, et al. going over Japanese. But I know that's not going to happen so why pretend?
This week will be a rough one, methinks. I basically have to learn the entire 3rd chapter of Japanese before... Thursday. Alright, that sounds bad. It isn't quite that dramatic. I understand when and where to use many of the grammar points. The problem I am really having is that several of them involve transtive and intransitive verb pairs. (32 of them in this chapter.) And alas, i am seriusly struggling with remembering these pairs. I have been over them again and again. I have been using them in my workbook (looking them up each time). I have tried flashcards. I attempted to write my own silly sentences so I might remember them better. All to no avail. The vast majority of these verbs are just not sticking with me. And frankly I don't know what to do with them. Alas, I need to know a much larger portion of them by Thursday.
I apologize for this in advance, it's something of a downer:
It could be because from the end of Chapter 2 to the present, I haven't really cared. I got SO frustrated at the end of the last chapter when Sensei introduced a section for the test she wanted us to do. It involved translation. She wants to see if we really understand Japanese sentence structure. Fine and dandy. But while working on the example in class, when nobody in class knew how to do it right, we couldn't get a "right" answer. I still have no clue what some of the sentences we had to do were supposed to be. It was so bad that when someone had a sentence that she liked and someone else phrased it in their own words (and it sounded good to all of us), Sensei said no and yet we couldn't get a reason why. When that happened, I just cumpled up my paper and sat there.
Anyhow, that frustration has stuck with me. I've stoped trying to learn Japanese. I'm just trying to get the grade. I don't like that. I don't like feeling this way. I don't like going to school just for a grade. It's really quite sad because I've put a lot of effort into Japanese and I am (or was) interested in it. Alas, I am still putting effort into it, but it's short term. If you were to ask me the vocab from this morning's quiz I might get half of what I got this morning. I'm not retaining anything. Which makes remembering 64 verbs rather difficult. Alas, I'm going to get dinged badly on this exam because of it. (Which is another thing -- got nailed on the vocab quiz that used them, 2 grammar quizzes that use them and now the chapter and oral test which will use them. So heck yeah I'm concerned about my grade, blast it all!) Anyhow, I somehow need to catch the spark of caring and wanting to learn this dastardly language again... and SOON because I don't have many days to do it before it seriously affects my grade too.
Otherwise -- life's just kind of there. I moved (mostly). I have no social life at all finding being a hermit much easier than actually doing things with people. I did write a young lady in Russia a couple of letters. Alas, even those letters were dull and boring. Maybe I have some sort of social blockage that stems from an incident like the translation section in Japanese that just keeps me from being able to communicate with people. Ha.
Anyhow, for many months of nada, that's life in a nutshell (pistachio sized it seems) for now.
~G
posted by Godzilla at 3:26 PM
2 Comments:
Hi, dear. Speaking of difficult interpretations, I found out that Marina misunderstood your two letters--the parts that described how busy you are sounded to her like you were too busy for . . . a penpalship? I don't know what else to call it. Seh was worried about being an intrusion on your time. Don't worry, my friend Irina gave her a sufficiently hard time about that and let her know that you were disappointed not to get a response. Irina's been mocking her somewhat good-naturedly and has been laughing with me about how the psychologist overanalyzed this one. Anyway, your letters weren't boring, by any account but your own. I think it won't be long before you hear from your now-sheepish Russian correspondent.
I'm sorry you're having such a rough time learning the Japanese. I think I know some of why that would feel like devastation. I hope it comes to you, the drive and the vocabulary, etc. If no one in your class is feeling the spark or getting it, I have to wonder some about your teacher's skills and/or methods. INsiration shouldn't be such a stranger in the classroom, particularly in a language class.
Loving and praying for you,
your cuz
Ah HA! I had NO IDEA that this thing came with a comment section. I didn't know how these worked, till my sister got a xanga site. I haven't got a user/pass, so I'll have to log in "Anonymous"ly. You need to seriously update your blog. Inquiring minds want to know, and are wondering, what Casey Bowen is up to.
Brandon
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