tinywonder

Ach! No! I was driven away by BUREACRACY! But also, fun to mention I am moving from Hungary (so many puns, but pretty hunger-based to be fair) to THE CZECH REPUBLIC.... so many more pun options, so many puns I say accidentally. "Let me check." "My Czechs mix" (that one was intentional and no one understood it). "My Czech book" (meaning my textbook for language learning, but... you understand...) BUT! BUT!!! Okay so I've done nary a yoga move, possible because I have to keep the mat rolled up on the shelf or a certain cat baby will tear the ever living shit out of it... but I have failed at yoga. Fine. But I have NOT failed at walking every day. My crows, and now pigeons greet me when I enter the park. They know me. They wait for me. It's amazing. I will miss them so much when I leave. AND FINALLY. I have been vaccinated. I should have full efficacy in another week. The rebellion faction of my school (yes, I am serious) organized with a sympathetic doctor and was able to get a bunch of us the Janssen (J&J) vaccine last Friday. Incredible. We did it. They did it. For me. It was done. Incredible. I am going to go for another walk soon, and maybe I'll do some yoga when I return, but probably not. I'm in full job-finding mode, but was offered a position teaching online at a Chinese school, and I will probably take it, and build a freelance business around it... but for now... Oh I don't know what for now... I think resting might be my next goal. I am seriously lacking in the rest department.

YES! I was hoping you'd find me, because I had no idea what your handle was in here!!! Now I am following you and feeling a little guilty for having not done any yoga yet today, (oh, goals, I knew ye...) BUT THAT'S BECAUSE I JUST REGISTERED FOR VACCINATION! Which is.... still complicated, I'll likely have to turn down the first two appointments, I am certain they will try to give me Sputnik or Sinopharm before that sweet, sweet, AstraZeneca, Jansen, Moderna, or Pfizer... I am thinking AZ is my ticket, because while not approved in US, it is approved in EU and I think this country (why am I so protective of calling it out? It's HUGARY and sometimes it makes me VERY FRUSTRATED!) has quite a bit of it, so while everyone is scrambling for Pfizer which I am not eligible for here (only second-shots and 16-18 year olds can get it now), I'm gonna try for AZ and just GET VACCINATED. UGH.

Oh, I need to make goals... Wow I've not been here in a while, it looks a little different. So, I've up and moved to faraway during a global pandemic, for the best more amazing program/job, and long-story short, it was taken away from me. Not because of Covid, even, but because of a government takeover of the school... Things are weird out here in Eastern Europe. So my priority is mostly "move forward", whatever that looks like, and "pick up the pieces." My main goal is to GET VACCINATED. But that's super complicated here (currently: impossible), and it's really not even a goal, because once I am able I will absolutely do it, it's not like I have to "work towards it". I need the government to work towards me (according to them I can register now, but turns out that's a lie. So... I am stuck). Then there's the option of moving back to the US for a short undefined period of time, to get easily vaccinated, but managing insurance while I'm there, plus being sure I can still get back here (though to a different country), is turning out quite a chore. So I don't know. But I do know that is my goal number one. My stress levels are off the gosh darn charts, so I am going to try to make manageable goal number two something yoga-related. I messed up my shoulder here, so I've avoided my long beloved push-ups for stress management routine, but maybe yoga and stretching will help it heal (it seems like a torn rotator cuff or tendonitis) So my goal is to get on the mat every day, doesn't matter what time, just put in the 20-30 minutes of yoga. It would really be good for me, I think, but for some reason it's nigh impossible for me to motivate in that direction. Still, putting it on the list. My second goal beyond that is to maintain a ritual I've made up while I'm here, which is a 4km or so walk to (and return from) an island park. I've been going every day and feeding crows there. Religiously. And I have befriended a few who will check on me and eat out of my hand. It's the best therapy, honestly. That's all really... yoga, try not to get overwhelmed by nonsense I can't control, and feed some birbs.

Aw, thanks! Yes, it's good to remember the difference between fructose and sucrose, and I think my tolerance has already gone down quite a bit, I had something over the weekend that was handed to me, coconut chips of a sort, and it didn't occur to me that it might be a sweetened thing, but oh my goodness it was way too sweet for me, I felt miffed for a moment that I didn't think to ask, but then decided I rather liked checking in with how sweet things taste to me, and watching that tolerance slip. Then I go back to drinking this kale, protein, orange and mango chia smoothie that I just water down all day, and it's pretty good! Still haven't gotten to read the RBG workout, but I went kayaking and stretched before and after, so I did some good physical engagement this weekend, and today I am planning on getting back into my 5K training, so while I'm floating a little off course from my stated goals, I am glad I am succeeding where I am.

The show!　It's up! Or the cute bootleg version is. At no point does anyone need to watch 40 minutes of me doing this, but I am proud of the accomplishment, and it took 7 hours to upload to youtube, so... if anyone is interested: HOLY POOP! It just pops in like a big ol' embedded video... we'll, okay then. As for the workout, my shortened version is okay I've still had no time to *read* the book about the workout, so I've been sort of picking from the basic Nerd Fitness workouts. The book I am referencing is this one: https://www.amazon.com/RBG-Workout-How-Stays-Strong/dp/1328919129/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1528309792&sr=8-9&keywords=ruth+bader+ginsburg I can't recommend it yet, as I've not read it, but I think it was a worthwhile 2$ digital book purchase. I actually found that the "diet" worked well while I was in the stress of all this. I made smoothies with veggies, fruits, and protein powder and kept a package of Soylent (plantbased powdered food) if I needed it. And the venue makes a great cashew and kale salad. I know fruit has sugar (heck, veggies too), but I am really liking how I feel almost mentally and emotionally when I cut out sugar. I'll enjoy it when I am done with this month, but I don't miss it yet. Been snacking on dried unsweetened unsulphered mangos from Trader Joes which are my sort of designated weakness. <3

Ouuf! So far so set back! Not *really*, just had a buncha loose ends to tie up, in the form of a big show, which I did, and is over, so hooray! We did it! Or I did it... but now I can focus back on Japanese, and working out. Workout is set for tomorrow, as I am playing D&D tonight (what? this is a rarity for me!). Going to do some basic stretches now, though. The show, while mostly music based, still made my body feel like it got tumbled around on spin cycle in a washing machine, but in a good way? Time blocking. That I will do when I am home today. I tried to do it this past weekend, but my life was dictated by the show, the tech, that sort of thing, so blocks were abstract. This time I hope to make it stick. Throughout I've had no processed sugar (obviously there is sugar in fruit, but nothing added), or bread-stuffs. Feeling good. I've not given Japanese the proper study time either, but I've not dropped any of my study streaks. I'm in the 120's on Duolingo and 8 or so Memrise tracks, so I am still studying at least a half hour a day, but I want to up that this week and onward. How is everyone else doing?

I am a little late to start this challenge, but I sort of started it yesterday... when I bought the e-Book of the RBG Fitness Routine. If Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg can do it at 85? Damnit, so can I. But baby steps, yeah? I'm starting a shortened version twice a week, 30 minutes, as I don't have the time to do more right now, but yeah, it's a cute book, and why not? Which brings me to.... TIME BLOCKING. As I get closer to my trip to Japan, my time is more and more valuable. I have two major puppet builds to do this month, a day job to keep on top of, and learning Japanese throughout. So I need to make a nice obvious easy to follow time blocked schedule and then I need to STICK TO IT. Wish me luck. But I need to EAT to have the energy to do all this, so I figured I'd try a vegan/vegetarian version of Whole 30. I've been vegan off and on, and was thinking to keep that up, but I might being in eggs from the local farmers here, as they are local, good for me, and cruelty free. It depends how I feel about eggs at the time, I guess. So far I've been starting my day with frozen fruit, kale, protein powder, and chia blended to death smoothie, lunches seem to be lettuce wrap based, and dinner I've been making insane fusion tacos that are kinda brilliant. I will mix things up, but I'm going to try to do Whole 30, but the vegetarian version (so lentils, peanuts, tofu, that sort of thing are okay as protein sources.) That's about it, besides massively studying Japanese. Which I'm doing alright with. I am going to start using tutors to talk to in June and July, as I leave end of July and need to be able to base level function in conversation. That and I'm making a delightful puppet to accompany me, and I will share him with you all when he's done!

Why, hello abject poverty for good reason, how you doin? I am so. broke. That's fine, because I have rice and a prius, and a fellow Townie who is lending me a conduit bender to make hoop houses for my incoming garden. This is fine, but damn, I am broke. I get paid Thursday, so just waiting it out, trying to spend as little money as possible... and politely poking the scholarship committee about the scholarship money that I've already spent. But JAPANESE, right? I am making ANKI flashcards, and I am learning! I started reading a grammar book before bed, but holy damnit that was a lot. So, I am breaking it into chunks, and hopefully will be making more ANKI flashcards for grammar specifics as I do. ANKI is great because while I include kanji and kana for the words, I have native speaker recordings and photos (no English) so I am trying to boost audio communications and bypass translation... it's too soon to tell, but I am learning bit by bit, it's just such a slow process, but I am dedicated, and I am learning. I'm teaching a puppet and prop building panel at a Doctor Who convention at the end of the month... because of course I am <3! I need to figure out how that's going to go... I mean, I can ramble about puppets indefinitely, but maybe I should make some focused points. .......... ganbatteru.

やった！ 日本にの私のきっぷを買った！ それはばかげて高価でした でも、しあわせです。 また、これを書きました。 (I bought my tickets)

Hard for me to explain, but ending a sentence with "yo" is sort of like saying "don't you know." but when the listener didn't know. I think it's a little casual, like colloqial... But I am not sure. I am pretty sure it's kind of like "ne' (ね) which gets tacked on to the end of sentences when you want approval like "ですね” basically translated to "it is, ne" or "it is, isn't it?" That's my guess, though it is a fairly well educated one. I've been hitting the books and fashcards and NHK podcasts pretty hard of late.

For those of you playing along at home...

日本語出来ます！ (にほんごできます） Nihongo Dekimasu! That's what it was called! And I found it! On an old dusty harddrive. It's such delightful low quality video that the kana subtitles are a little hard to read. It's less weird than I thought and I am just going to watch a few episodes a night to see if it helps. It can't hurt. However this will have to wait until tomorrow because tonight I am in Atlanta to work on a TV show <3 I am very pleased about this, and it's been eating up all my free time, I am glad to get it done and have the experience land on my CV. It's been an awesome week. 今週はすごいでした。

This post is one of the best I've had on this forum. I absolutely agree with you! Any tips for programs that push spoken/listen language? I'm going to be making digital flashcard decks (with audio) but want to put the emphasis on audible linguistics as much as possible. There was a Japanese TV program designed to teach Japanese to foreigners via immersion... And I am sure it had "nihongo no" in the title (maybe) but I heard about it years ago and don't know if I still have the files, and looking for it now, nothing is coming up.

頑張ってる！ Though I do heavily rely on my keyboard to translate into kanji. Like... I didn't write that. I wrote "ganbatteru" (in kana). I am learning it, but slow. I know many radicals, but smashing them together... oh my. Also, I am focusing on speaking and understanding the most. I can ask for help with reading, etc. But I need to be able to speak more than read at the moment. I ordered a copy of "fluent forever" a an audiobook (I literally have no time to read right now), which I plan to burn through and then apply to my learning. I'm trying to figure out Anki flashcard decks... it oddly reminds me of programming Linux, but that's more an aesthetic thing.

Okay, after a very brief playing around, this seems to be super intense and great for individual words, but less for phrases. I tried to check myself to see if there was a better was to say "I did not know it", but it wasn't able to translate that phrase (0 Results). Still, I was able to get very specific puppet terminology which is invaluable for what I am doing, so this is a great tool to add to my tiny arsenal! I am obviously (I hope) not criticizing this tool, I am just wondering if you have any tips for using it? I am woefully unable to read kanji (though I am learning it, but learning it is far from knowing it), which slows down my ability to read through the page very quickly. I also saw it has an app version, I will be grabbing that today and tooling around with it. Thanks for the help!