✒️ giga’s study log 🖋️

[gigazol]

８月２４日 （月）

• WK reviews (161) and no lessons
• anki
• renshuu
• 8 pgs of ARIA 第１３話

８月２５日 （火）

• WK reviews (174) and lessons (23) and レベルアップ！！
• anki
• renshuu
• the rest of ARIA 第１３話

今日のパネル

Whew! Yesterday I spent my last workday packing up my office and kind of lazing around – the office is pretty empty on Mondays and there wasn’t much to do. Though it was the first day back from maternity leave for a colleague of mine so we went out to lunch, which was nice. I’ve missed having her around – and of course now I’m leaving lol.

I had soooooo much shit in my office my (not small) car is full. Highlights include one box of tea, two boxes of teaware, a gumball machine, and a fuzzy blanket. Of those only the teaware and the gumball machine have left the car…!

After work some coworkers and I went to a local restaurant that was having trivia later in the evening, ate and chatted a bit. Two of my former (well I guess they’re all former now) coworkers that I’m close with came too. It was nice. And then two of the guys from softball that I really want to be friends with appeared!! They were definitely more there for the trivia than me, but I was quite pleased. I got to talk to both of them a good bit, 嬉しい。And then we won trivia kinda handily!!! I got home a bit after 23:00 and was pretty much falling asleep on my feet, which is why I didn’t get much reading or posting done.

Today I slept in but I’m still like dead tired. I lounged around and played a bunch of No Man’s Sky. It’s nice to leave my brain for a while and bop around a weird planet instead.

Oh and I successfully registered for the JLPT!!! Aaaaah!! 勉強タイム…

@pocketcalamity

Have a good last day! Sounds like life is full of life for you right now, enjoy it!!

Thank you pocket!!! Hopefully now that things are slowing down slightly I can take it in a little better!!

[pocketcalamity]

@gigazol

Thank you pocket!!! Hopefully now that things are slowing down slightly I can take it in a little better!!

Sounds like exploring alien worlds in No Man’s Sky is a step in the right direction!! Glad you were able to connect with a few of your former colleagues as well. Every once in awhile I manage to truly convert a work friend into a life friend and it’s lovely.

Read a bit more of アリア today and I’m enjoying it so far. I should have seen the 社長 bit coming, but it’s a welcome bit of fun to an already lighthearted read.

[gigazol]

８月２６日 （水）

• WK reviews (185) and lessons (21)
• anki
• renshuu
• ARIA 第１４話

今日のパネル

@pocketcalamity

Read a bit more of アリア today and I’m enjoying it so far. I should have seen the 社長 bit coming, but it’s a welcome bit of fun to an already lighthearted read.

Oh goody!!! I’m so glad you’re liking it too. I did not see it coming and thought he really was the boss…like maybe he wrote notes or was telepathic…Amano gets some good expressions out of him though

@pocketcalamity

Sounds like exploring alien worlds in No Man’s Sky is a step in the right direction!!

Well I played like 6 hours today, so there’s that I am quite liking my のんびり life this week !

[gigazol]

８月２７日 （木）

• WK reviews (129) and lessons (15)
• anki
• renshuu
• 10 pgs ARIA 第１５話

今日のパネル

Welp, I played about eight hours of No Man’s Sky today. That’s probably too much NMS…tomorrow I need to try and do anything else i am up so late lol

The app I use to read manga on my ipad has been having a conniption this week, and today I had to just un- and reinstall it for it to work. It’s moments like these where I kinda wish I had an android tablet!

[gigazol]

８月２８日 （金）

• WK reviews (117) and lessons (18)
• anki
• renshuu
• rest of ARIA 第１５話

今日のパネル

Well, “only” like six and a half hours of NMS today. I think I need to ban myself from playing it after 21:00…it’s so late again…

[gigazol]

８月２９日 （土）

• WK reviews (190) and no lessons
• anki
• renshuu
• 18 pgs 変な家
• 11 pgs 君と僕のアシアト 第１話

今日のページ

Well, I’m officially reading too many books. Just felt like I wanted something different today…but I really should get it back down to at most two books at once. 君と僕のアシアト was recommended by this game translator I follow on bsky, seems interesting so far.

Did not play all that much NMS today…two to three hours? Discovered that taking a screenshot with photo mode just completely crashes the game. Pretty bad considering there’re a number of (optional) missions that are just taking pictures via photo mode!

Today I’m up late because I was futzing with a computer. i found a 2023 acer laptop at town dump months ago and finally today I decided it was time to see if it worked or not. When I found it it had everything except storage, so I liberated the nvme from my PS5 (I’m not really using it at this point). Installed LMDE and wow! I usually use (including right now) a uhhhh 2011 macbook running lmde and let me tell you, they’ve made laptops go faster since then. Only problem is, the wifi card isn’t working, even after a kernel update to 7.1.3. Bah. Instead of banging my head against the wall I thought it would be better to just spend $20 on a new card. Should come in the next few days and then we’re golden! I need a laptop with decent battery life for grad school, this will hopefully do the trick. (They have also seemingly made laptop BATTERIES better since 2011. who would’ve thunk)

[pocketcalamity]

As a serial tech scavenger, I wildly approve of your accomplishment!!! $20 for a wifi card for a 2023 laptop is a badass find!!

Just waiting to come across the perfect abandoned laptop to rejuvenate with a lean linux build for my spouse to use for DnD…

[gigazol]

８月３０日

• WK reviews (50) and lessons (3)
• anki
• renshuu
• 8 pgs 変な家
• ARIA 第１６話

今日のパネル

ほぼ日 day approaches…sumo’s back in a few weeks…my first class is on Thursday (!)…Wow!!

@pocketcalamity

As a serial tech scavenger, I wildly approve of your accomplishment!!! $20 for a wifi card for a 2023 laptop is a badass find!!

Just waiting to come across the perfect abandoned laptop to rejuvenate with a lean linux build for my spouse to use for DnD…

The dump has sooooo many wonders!! People will just leave stuff there that still works??? (which is how I now have…six CRTs.) I’ve also gotten lucky asking the work IT dept for stuff that they’re getting rid of.

[gigazol]

８月３１日 （月）

• WK reviews (238) and lessons (15)
• anki
• renshuu
• ARIA 第１７話

今日のパネル

(I had to be really selective…there are a lot of great Akari faces in this chapter.)

As is now an annual tradition, the ほぼ日 website was verrrrrrry slow at launch time. Unlike last year, though, I was able to add everything to my cart relatively quickly (still hung a lot). But then I went to checkout and it was just loading loading…so I gave up and did WK and read ARIA for a while. Just tried now and it worked! Woo! Planners secured.

Typing this from my freshly wifi-enabled rescue laptop. Thought I would have to download drivers or something but no, the card was completely plug and play. I have installed FFXI so this baby is totally baptized now.

Going to campus tomorrow to get my id…! Excited.

[gigazol]

９月！１日 （火）

• WK 152 / 15
• anki
• renshuu
• ARIA 第Special Navigation話

今日のページ

I’d wanted to take the 09:15 train into the city today to go to campus to get my id…so of course I woke up with a migraine I took the next train after lying down for a little while in order to gather enough power to leave the house. I meant to drop my car off for inspection before I left, but I ran out of time (due to lying down). The commute to campus by train is pretty long, like an hour 20 min (one train switch), but it’s doable. I went bagless mode today, which meant that I didn’t have a gaming handheld with me — extremely rare occurrence — so I was very bored. Not making that mistake again lol. At some point I do need to actually drive there to get the route down, though. Driving is only half an hour…!

Getting the id took two seconds. I wanted to walk around campus a bit but I wasn’t feeling great and got a little overwhelmed when faced with the prospect of being near a bunch of people. Back home I went…except when I got to the station, the next train home wasn’t for another 45 minutes. America!! I killed time by getting lunch (a surprisingly good poke bowl) and felt a bit bad about it. I need to not be spending money since I am not making any! But in hindsight if I hadn’t eaten something then I would’ve probably suffered greatly later. I also got myself a pistachio cannolo as a reward, hee hee :3

[pocketcalamity]

@gigazol

As is now an annual tradition, the ほぼ日 website was verrrrrrry slow at launch time.

Congrats! Those seem really nice, but I’m never consistent enough with using a physical notebook to ever justify them. What do you like to use yours for?

@gigazol

except when I got to the station, the next train home wasn’t for another 45 minutes. America!! I

Ugh, right?? Hey, at least you even have access to trains where you are; most Americans don’t at all. What handheld gaming devices do you have?

Hope grad school is starting off nicely for you!!

[tip]

@gigazol

Planners secured.

Have you seen/used the Aura Estelle Daily Magnet? It’s got me tempted.

[gigazol]

９月２日 （水）

• WK 193 / 23
• anki
• renshuu
• ARIA 第１８と１９話
• watched 名探偵プリキュア！episode 1

今日のパネル

It’s winter in Neo Venezia…I think it should be winter here, too

Today in ARIA we meet the third selectable class, the Gnomes (?!), who control Aqua’s gravity (?!) using some spherical stones and an organ (?!) deep underground. (I will admit I didn’t really get the stones…I think they get sent into or removed from the planet’s core as needed to adjust the gravity?)

This is a super cozy slice-of-life manga, but around every corner there’s some idea that’s a whole SF book in and of itself. And makes it like so much richer / better that we’re only told exactly what we need to know about the world, because whenever you get a new data point you go Oh! Huh… and then you start having lots of questions. The limited view you get into this world makes it that much more interesting.

An anime / manga journalist I follow on bsky mentioned this Precure show, so I gave it a shot. It’s cute! It’s a kids show, and really not my typical speed. If the episodes were any longer I would get fed up lol. But 23 min is doable, and largely understandable w/o subs, and I do quite like the art style.

@pocketcalamity

Ugh, right?? Hey, at least you even have access to trains where you are; most Americans don’t at all. What handheld gaming devices do you have?

Hope grad school is starting off nicely for you!!

I know, I am grateful to at least have train access, even though they kinda suck lmao. The train I take to get home only comes once an hour, if that. Like I have a Monday class that’ll end at 21:00, and I’ll have to take the 22:30! When I took the train here for the first time after coming back from japan I genuinely made this face

I have (an illness): gba, ds lite, dsi, dsi LL, 3ds, 3ds xl, switch / switch 2, psp, steam deck, ayn thor, playdate, analogue pocket. (…listing them out makes it seem even more ridiculous lol.) one day I’ll bite the bullet and get a vita since it’s pretty much the only “modern” console I don’t have. I would’ve put a ds in my pocket since I didn’t have a bag, but it was raining and I didn’t want to risk it.

Thank you!! My first class is tomorrow afternoon It’ll probably be a steam deck day.

@pocketcalamity

Congrats! Those seem really nice, but I’m never consistent enough with using a physical notebook to ever justify them. What do you like to use yours for?

I am a VERY inconsistent planner / notebooker (adhd is so powerful). I’ve been getting these ones for a little over 10 years (???!) now, and I’ve gone through a lot of different setups.

planner deets probably tldr except for pocket

For the last few years I’ve been using the A5 size one as my daily journal / media log / health log, the weekly one as my work planner, and the A6 size one as a logbook in the Austin Kleon mold. But I never really used my work planner – I just didn’t have enough to keep track of! For 2027 I’ve consolidated a little – A5 as daily journal / various logs and weekly as my planner. the secret for me is I have to have the notebook or whatever at hand at all times or I will not use it. I’m still working on it, but the weekly planner is slim enough that I can stick it in a pocket and therefore have it on me. I actually have things to keep track of now so I have def been using it more. It’s going to be weird to not get the A6 size this year though.

@tip

Have you seen/used the Aura Estelle Daily Magnet? It’s got me tempted.

I hadn’t heard of this one! Same (great) paper as ほぼ日, it seems. at this point though I do think I’m a ほぼ日 lifer

[gigazol]

９月３日 （木）

• WK 158 / 15
• anki
• renshuu
• 20 pgs ARIA 第２０話

今日のパネル

Waahhhh I’ll do a proper update tomorrow – I’ve another migraine and my head is exploding lol. Really wanted to finish ARIA 2 tonight but I guess not…

[pocketcalamity]

Really long discussion about notebooks and note taking that I decided to write instead of going to bed

@gigazol

I am a VERY inconsistent planner / notebooker (adhd is so powerful). I’ve been getting these ones for a little over 10 years (???!) now, and I’ve gone through a lot of different setups.

planner deets probably tldr except for pocket

For the last few years I’ve been using the A5 size one as my daily journal / media log / health log, the weekly one as my work planner, and the A6 size one as a logbook in the Austin Kleon mold. But I never really used my work planner – I just didn’t have enough to keep track of! For 2027 I’ve consolidated a little – A5 as daily journal / various logs and weekly as my planner. the secret for me is I have to have the notebook or whatever at hand at all times or I will not use it. I’m still working on it, but the weekly planner is slim enough that I can stick it in a pocket and therefore have it on me. I actually have things to keep track of now so I have def been using it more. It’s going to be weird to not get the A6 size this year though.

Ugh, ADHD is so powerful.

I’m a little weirdo who just loves neat pens and fancy notebooks but I’m so inconsistent in using them. I’ve never really been able to keep up the drive to be a daily journaler, though I have read many times about the benefits of doing so. I also tend toward the convenience of digital and enjoy typing on a keyboard.

My work is a hybrid of desk work and work on my feet, so I carry a small notebook around to jot tasks down, take feedback, and take notes in meetings. I recently picked up a Maruman Mnemosyne A6 Dot Grid notebook for that purpose and I really like it as an easily portable option.

I also have a Kokuyo A5 soft ring lined notebook I use for D&D notes, and another A5 grid notebook that I sometimes use for writing practice and the like. I used to try to have a multi purpose notebook for all of these things, but it was really hard to find the information I was looking for while looking back through it.

The other thing I’ve been doing lately is using a note-taking software called Obsidian. It’s kind of hard to explain, but more or less it’s a way to make your own personal wiki. It uses Markdown, just like these forums, which is nice, and it syncs between my devices. It’s highly extensible and as complicated or simple as you’d like it to be. I’ve been using it to track my reading progress lately using a plugin, and it’s definitely been my favorite way to do so thus far!

I’ve still got a bit to learn with it, but I like that I can pull my phone out and take a quick note and then sit down and elaborate on it more later. I used it to organize my research when bicycle shopping, and I’m starting to put together a D&D one shot and organize things that way. I’m also using it for my to-do list, which is the only way I can get anything done.

All that said, those ほぼ日 notebooks sure look nice…

[gigazol]

９月４日 （金）

• WK 131 / 4
• anki
• renshuu
• rest of ARIA 第２０話 and 終わり！
• rest of 君と僕のアシアト 第１話

今日のページ

Okie, so yesterday I had my first class! It was at 14:00, and it takes ~1h20m to get there, so I wanted to take the 11:21 train to give myself some time to walk around. But America struck again and my train was inexplicably canceled! So I went back home, ate some lunch, and took the 12:21 instead. I got there a little early, but not early enough to look around much.

Class itself was fine – it’s a technology class, so it’ll be stuff like HTML and CSS and Python etc. Since it was the first class it was just going over the syllabus and an overview of the course, so a little boring. I thought my fellow students would be older than they seem to be – I thought more of them would be my age-ish, but I think most of them are recent grads. I felt old

Got myself a celebratory boba afterwards (the class was three hours!) but that did cause me to miss the 17:30 train. Fine, I’d brought dinner, but the next one is at 18:30! There is nooooo leeway there, I’ll have to go right from class to the train. I did bring my steam deck along, so I played some Ys: The Oath in Felghana on my train rides.

notebooks!

@pocketcalamity

I’m a little weirdo who just loves neat pens and fancy notebooks but I’m so inconsistent in using them.

Same!!!

@pocketcalamity

I’ve never really been able to keep up the drive to be a daily journaler, though I have read many times about the benefits of doing so.

I had kind of a rough period a few years ago and I started then, I needed somewhere just to spill my mind out – I was never able to be consistent with it before. I keep it up now because I do think it’s good for me. I like keeping track of the stuff I’ve read / watched / played too.

@pocketcalamity

I recently picked up a Maruman Mnemosyne A6 Dot Grid notebook for that purpose and I really like it as an easily portable option.

A fellow yoseka fan I see…I have a million field notes that I’ve been using as pocket notebooks lately. But the weekly planner is kind of taking over that role at the moment.

@pocketcalamity

The other thing I’ve been doing lately is using a note-taking software called Obsidian

I’ve actually used Obsidian!!! I swapped the native apple notes app out for it. I hadn’t considered it for reading tracking …it is reaaaaaaaaaally customizable, which I like. You can twist it into all sorts of shapes. My problem is I’ve never liked digital notes in pretty much any format lol. Something about me needs the tactility of pen(cil) and paper I guess. Plus I have a bunch of fountain pens that need using haha!

ほぼ日s are really nice. Best paper in the biz. They make blank notebooks and day-free planners now too! Though as a 10-year (still shocking to me) user I think I might be biased!