My digital version of ‘closing the book to see if my bookmark moved’ is ‘closing the book to see if the percentage went up’ 
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October 28
I just want to get this off my chest.
I'm low on time right now because:
- I still need daily treatment for the illness that reared it’s ugly head rather spectacularly in August 2024(?) (
I threw up from pain in the foyer while trying to get to the car to go to the emergency room) - I was quasi-coerced (more my ex-co-worker’s fault than my boss’) to increase my responsibilities at work starting January 2025 and now I have to work 5 days a week, which was a thing I really never wanted to do on account of my poor health.
My luck in life is astonishing 
. (But no, really, I have wonderful people, wonderful dogs, and a wonderful home in my life. Astonishingly wonderful. 
) Anyway, getting back to my point, the thing I’m trying to get off my chest is that I have all these study plans that I CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT!
Things I want to do for studying (in no particular order):
- Follow ADOJG and Quartet study group resources (currently saved in OP) to fill gaps in knowledge and progress
- Propose ガイコツ書店員 本田さん | L32 to IMC and lead club
- Sign up for group lesson teaching コンビニ人間 | L28 with the teacher I like
- Use Nihongo Jam podcast for listening, vocabulary, shadowing, speaking practice
- See my favorite tutor again
- Read とんこつQ&A | L26 (one of the lowest natively level literary books I’ve ever encountered)
- Finish 日本の歴史マンガ and get offshoot club up and running
- Watch Love Is Blind Japan (at least the intro episodes) with Japanese subs for conversation/shadowing practice
- Continue watching anime w/o subs starting from lowest level, currently 事情を知らない転校生がグイグイくる。 S1 | L17
- Write kanji as furigana in all of 都道府県のおはなし 低学年 おはなしドリル | L19
That’s not even a completely exhaustive list, cause I have other ideas, such as following @mitrac’s example with news articles (which I am still trying to write a response to in their study log, btw), and naturally no matter what else I do I plan to continue to try to work my way through my physical and Harta backlog. And probably continue doing speed run clubs. I’m a lost cause. 
By the way, Japanese broke my brain. This is me trying to write 'mitrac'
- “mitrac” no, no, too plain
- “mitrac-san” too formal
- “mitrac-chan” too childish
- “mitrac-senpai?” we are more 同級生 tho
- “mitrac” sigh, I guess that’s my only option …
Apropos nothing, but
Join the speedrun club, folks!
Some musings on Zen Buddhism
Thich Nhat Hanh writes meditations for all kinds of things. Driving meditation, Washing the Dishes meditation. Yesterday I came up with my own: Thanking the Grocery Store Clerk meditation. You can’t do it very slowly, because cashiers have to keep moving, but you look them in the eyes and smile while being mindful of how good it feels to look someone in the eye and smile genuinely and thankfully. (This meditation is a great reason to skip the self checkout option. Who will you smile at if there is only a machine there? I guess you could smile at the machine, but it’s so much nicer to do with a human.)
This meditation reminds me of my interconnectedness with even people I don’t know. We’re working together to make our world how it is, and when you do this meditation the world (in that moment) is more connected and more full of love. As a person who also works retail, I’m confident this manner of engaging with the person who is at work makes their day a little bit better, too.
Not sure how well I explained that, but there it is.
Other things
Kanji - been keeping reviews around 25/day or lower
Exercise - nothing whatsoever, but i’m not giving up
Music - haven’t played because i had a sore throat last week. sore throat and flute don’t mix.
Spanish - read a picture book at work yesterday (La intérprete / The Interpreter | L20??)
I like this. I’ve started doing it too. 
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Very nice! 
Hehehe… exactly what I say to myself every single day 
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(While my study plans are probably similarly overflowing if I tried to write them all out) this is so much! This would be something close to a full course load if you were taking university classes. Plus you’re working!! While it can be eazy to wonder where you’re going to find the time, I think it’s also useful to just appreciate how much you’ve planned for yourself to do. When you can’t make it on a regular basis, maybe some of it wants to shift to “next semester” 
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And you are an astonishingly wonderful person yourself! 
I’m very sorry about your health problems though – may the Great Cat of Health return to you ASAP! 
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Haha, yes, this is almost all definitely next semester stuff. I’ve thought to myself many times (with regards to items on this list) “we’ll revisit that in January” … I work in retail and we’re already gearing up for Christmas (writing our Christmas lists hehe) so it’s gonna stay busy til probably 4pm on Christmas eve. But!, I started a fun sidequest! The idea is to make time every day/whenever I can to read a new picture book in Spanish at work. Today’s book: Cómo decirle hola a una lombriz: Primera guía al aire libre (How to Say Hello to a Worm: A First Guide to Outside, Spanish Edition) | L16?? I’m pretty happy with how this sidequest does double duty at furthering my study goals and helping me not overwork myself.
Aww!! 
Thank you!
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Thinking of you and sending many hugs and much healing for you. I know what it’s like for that kind of thing to slow you down and eat up time. Just so you know, I’m fighting your corner and hoping for the best
Hard relate. I love your list!! I’m either thinking, yep on the list (or something similar!) I love @shitsurei 's semesters idea
Laughing so hard because I go through that now but also omg that thought process is so endearing
I love how you explained it, and it’s such a good example of how relatable Thich Nhat Hahn is. I don’t think most people realise (at least, it took me a long while to piece it together) he was a big part of bringing meditation to the west. His relatable instruction helped mindfulness enter mainstream and he was a strong influence on John Kabat-Zinn, founder of MBSR and that in turn is the foundation of much of the research on mindfulness and health.
It’s always fun to discover who is the real deal and not just good at SEO
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November 3
October summary on Bookmeter
10月の読書メーター
読んだ本の数：6
読んだページ数：984
ナイス数：0
花野井くんと恋の病(3) (デザートコミックス)
読了日：10月31日 著者：森野 萌
花野井くんと恋の病(2) (デザートコミックス)
読了日：10月26日 著者：森野 萌
乙嫁語り 1巻 (青騎士コミックス)
読了日：10月23日 著者：森 薫
ひとりぼっちの○○生活 (6) (電撃コミックスNEXT)
読了日：10月22日 著者：カツヲ
舞妓さんちのまかないさん (16) (少年サンデーコミックススペシャル)
読了日：10月15日 著者：小山 愛子
自転車屋さんの高橋くん 1 (torch comics)
読了日：10月09日 著者：松虫 あられ
読書メーター
Long story short, 6 volumes read!
Kanji - had to pause on adding kanji in order to keep reviews in check
Exercise - 3.5 mile hike this weekend!
Music - I have been playing in the backyard for my dogs. I’m not sure if they listen to the music at all, but they like for me to be outside while they’re outside sniffing around and digging holes and stuff. And I love watching them dig holes. They’re so cute about it!
Spanish - read a picture book every day at work last week
I feel exhausted today, though. It’s hard even to think about finishing writing forum comments, like my response to @mitrac’s German learning lore (!) or communicate my appreciation for @GolyBidoof’s enthusiasm about the 花野井くんと恋の病 club.
I feel like I need to find some way to force my brain into hibernation.
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Thank you so much 
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November 10
Kanji - resumed adding kanji, keeping reviews at or below 25/day, closing in on 1700!
Exercise - short weekend hike and ABHIIT workout, also did yoga three days in the last week. every muscle in my body is sore today.
Writing JP - started chatting on the discord just a lill’
Zen Buddhism - not so much reading, but when my partner was down this morning I was outside sweeping the leaves off the patio. there were so many though, I started sweeping them into a leaf pile in the middle of the patio just for fun. then I went and asked if he wanted to do mindfulness with me. brought him out to the patio, held hands, then jumped into the leaf pile together. he said good job hehe. – oh, also. I think that mindfulness of noticing and fully experiencing small joys is like a muscle that gets stronger the more you practice. need to keep practicing.
Brain Hibernation - I remembered that crafting is good for the brains. I worked on knitting a sock and de-logo-ing a thrifted t-shirt (sewing). sometimes I forget just the simplest things. then it’s a huge relief when I remember
Over the last week I’ve been reading through comments on Malinkal’s 50 novels post. Some good ideas are surfacing.
- I think I will restart tracking reading, but only timed novel-reading sessions.
- When I start (or restart) reading a novel I will calculate a plan for how long to take on it and how many average pages per day that requires (considering 2 weeks as an ideal timeframe, but recognizing that may not always be possible. may need to break some novels up into parts that I tackle individually and switch off between hard and easy novels).
- Embrace “high baseline and maximizing the peaks” mentality.
- Record “words this book has taught me” while recording time and pages - as a way to help me retain more vocabulary between books.
So, with all that in mind, yesterday and today I did timed reading sessions of 時間割男子 2 消えないで、カンジくん! | L22. Goal is ten pages per day to finish within two weeks.
Words I saw during these two sessions that I learned from 時間割男子: 徹夜、寿命
Maybe/hopefully in the future I will do something fancier for the words-learned section.
I have finished no books in the last week.
Thanks all you internet frens for keeping me company and being super smarties and just being you in general.
Ninja dust!
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Oh, you’re continuing this series too! I’m listening to the audiobooks.
I got this word on WK recently and I was like, psshhhh, I know this so well from textbook boys 
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I still need textbook boy updates. 
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I haven’t finished listening to book 5 yet
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