sigh
I want to be like you, and start getting through my tsundoku
but apparently, that requires sitting down and reading in Japanese!
And I can barely manage to get my daily (self-imposed requirement of) studying done 
WELL DONE!
よいやった!
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dont remind me shannon im still so caught up on the fact i read five times faster in english than in japanese xddd
congrats on the hartas! C:
im not commiting to the bit yet, but i got a notification on bookwalker that the volume 131 is coming out and i was like “UuUUuuuUuUu”, but more 積読 might not be the correct vector xddd
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Not trying to make trouble here but
You could start reading them as they come out. Then they technically wouldn’t be tsundokus! And you would be insta-caught up! Maybe I’m just saying this because I’ve committed to the idea of making it all the way through the digital backlog and I’m jealous of the idea of being caught up and reading them as they come out. xD
But, ack, you can read like a thousand pages of manga in a day!!! … Can you read five thousand pages of manga if it’s in English. O.O
I also think it’s funny you mention reading faster in English at this particular moment because I just started reading this book that I read JUST AS SLOW AS BOOKS IN JAPANESE! (It is called Archangels of Funk, and it is about an apocalyptic world that feels very similar to today, and I really like it but it is somehow just so dense to me!) (I’m thinking about making a t-shirt described in the book that says on it “thank the trees for the air you breathe”.) It takes me like 5 minutes a page.
I believe in you Shannon! If you just do a tiny little bit every day it will snowball eventually. 
On the other hand, if you’re enjoying and/or being served by your other studying better then 100% do that! ^^
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February 21, Saturday
Well, last week I was all gung ho about reading ahead on the IBC pick, but then when I got to the end of the week’s assigned reading I was all ‘… Orrrrr I could read more Harta!’ and read three chapters in one morning. Ehehehe …
Kiki has been so sad lately! 
She lost her mojo, she keeps fumbling deliveries and having to apologize, this little girl USED Kiki to scare her friends who she was having a fight with (macro-aggression), Kiki and Jiji are fighting … The next chapter is twice as long as the average chapter in this book, so hopefully that means some resolution is coming …? I’m still only halfway through the book though, so maybe not. This part of the book actually feels a lot more similar to the movie, even though things are happening in a very different way.
More tariff shenanigans around here … I don’t know the details, but I really hope this doesn’t delay delivery of Bonbon! I need that corgi witch-puppy energy stat! Oh, I should explain that Neokyo finished packing my parcel and I paid shipping and it was not exorbitant! Altogether I paid less than $60 for 9 books. I’m super happy with that and (assuming everything is fine with delivery, which I’m not particularly worried about aside from stupid customs) will almost definitely do more orders through Neokyo in the future.
Here's my tracking of last week's IBC reading
| day | time | pages | m/p | day total | notes | vocab |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/15 | 16 | 2 | 8 | 2 | Wow, Edogawa-sensei really went all out with the description of how ugly this man is. | ようぼう (容貌) == 人の顔立ち。。野蛮人 == 昔の、まだルールもマナーもない人。。りこう (利口) == 賢い者。。しまりなく。。あつぼったい (厚ぼったい) == ふとくて、ずっしりしている。。ひしゃげる == つぶれて平らになる。。どんぐりまなこ (どんぐり眼)。。かつら。。おし (唖) == 物が言えない人。。傍若無人 (saw this one before in this book, but couldn’t remember the meaning! behaving rudely as if no one is around)。。うしろ手 (reading: うしろで)。。差し向かい == 二人で向かい合って話すこと。。 |
| 2/16 | 8 | 1 | 8 | - | It’s funny how, no matter how many times Zoku evades them in (to them) absolutely unthinkable ways, they never think that he could pull the same trick again. |
とほうもない (途方もない) == とんでもない。。いつわる == 騙す。。口のききかた (口の利き方)。。だらしのない。。あめざいく == あめを作って、人や動物の形を作る。。 |
| 2/16 | 9 | 1 | 9 | - | My attention span has been so short lately! | 親方 == ベテランの職人さん。。なんなら == もしよかったら、もしそうなら。。わらいぐさ == みんなを笑わせるきっかけになること (JP definition changed the implication vs the English!)。。でたらめ == いい加減なこと。。ひるむ == 怖気づいて気力が挫ける。。ひきょう == 卑怯。。 |
| 2/16 | 24 | 3 | 7.7 | 5 | Alright! Three pages in one go! | 卓上 == 机やテーブルの上。。 |
| 2/17 | 12 | 1 | 12 | - | Stopped mostly because it was the end of the chapter, but also because it’s nice to quickly set up the data points at the beginning of the day so I can look at the graphs and want to make the numbers better.  |
まちどおしい … I don’t know why I always have to look this word up。。一騎打ち == 二人だけで勝負すること。。そめる … |
| 2/17 | 16 | 2 | 8 | - | This place sounds irresistible to a certain vain Zoku we know … | おびただしい (夥しい) == 非常に多い様子。。みぞ (溝) == 水を流すために地面に細長く掘られたもの。。 |
| 2/17 | 13 | 2 | 7.5 | 5 | … It might actually be good for this 老人 to have all his shit stolen. … Zoku actually a philanthropist at heart, trying to teach rich people to live a little?? |
老眼鏡。。しなびる == 水分を失って縮む。。牢獄 == 捕らえた罪人を収容する建物。。戸外 (こがい) == 家の中じゃない場所。。古今 == 昔と今、昔か今か。。おくまる == 奥のほうになる。。したがって == だから。。交際 == 人と人と互いに付き合うこと。。ねてもさめても == 寝ても覚めても。 |
| 2/18 | 13 | 2 | 6.5 | - | He’s gonna call Boy Detective? Let’s find out … | すべ == 手段、方法。。運のつき == 運の尽き、もうだめになること。。陰謀 == 人に知られないように企む良くない計画。。逃亡 == 逃げて隠れること。。 |
| 2/18 | 13.5 | 2 | 6.75 | 4 | Oh What A Coincidence! That The Famous Detective Just Happens To Be Nearby! Finished the reading for book club week 7. |
It’s too late in the evening for vocab! |
So this week I broke my not-finishing-things streak with one Harta and one IMBC finished. I feel like I’ll be able to make really good progress on Harta this year. And if that means that I don’t progress quite as quickly through my physical tsundoku … well, I think that’s okay. Reading things that I can share with other forum denizens and connect with folks over is really motivating. Reading things that I can create long detailed records of my experience with is motivating. Building a Harta review post oeuvre is motivating.
And if when I catch up on Harta I will 1) suddenly free up lots of reading time 2) have leveled up my skills so I can probably tackle anything in my tsundoku with aplomb (whatever that is ).
The only problem is … if I read a ton of Harta then will I throw off my tsundoku point balance? Will I suddenly be tsundoku point wealthy and end up with crazy tsundoku point spending habits? 
Actually, I think I’ll be pretty well able to hold myself back from buying anything unless I’m really planning on reading it soon. And if I end up with a ton of points then I’ll probably end up “paying” for my book club books. So maybe it all works out fine …
On a completely different topic, I’m not feeling as excited about my other hobbies this weekend. 
I hurt my right pointer finger tendon with too much knitting and flute playing and I really should rest and ice it. I’ve had a headache probably 3 out of the last 4 days. I haven’t worked out at all in the last week. My partner hurt his back (which is part of why no workouts cause we usually do them together) and it’s gonna take a while for him to heal. I started new treatments for the chronic issues, which is fine so far, but also possibly the reason for my headaches (just cause I’m stressed about it). All of this is kind of telling me … go back to bed and read some more.
Anyway!
No deliveries yet, so tsundoku points holding steady at 7.
More soon.
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Agreed, I read so many things because other people have read them and it’s fun to share and talk about things. And building the Harta posts is really fun.
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amazing thought
3rding this 
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Hopefully you got to go back to a nice, comfy bed and read some nice, comfy pages and had a nice, comfy rest of your weekend and are not yet getting irritated reading nice, comfy words.
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I got some stuff off Neokyo last year, pretty good experience (including a few Mercari buys I couldn’t get elsewhere). I really should have sat down and checked if it was worth it though. (Didn’t mind the time wait though)
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Bad news: Kiki’s book is still super sad!
Good news: Bonbon arrived!
I didn’t take a picture, because I’m silly, but this is what the covers look like. (Adorable.)
So, tsundoku -7 brings me to 0.
Other good news: I finished 波うららかに、めおと日和 1, tsundoku +1! (And it was absolutely lovely.)
Also, I got 午后のあくび for a book club, and because it would make me go negative it is free!!
So, after all that tsundoku points = 1!
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Even more tsundoku updates:
(At the time I thought I already owned Cuprum 1, so I didn’t buy it, but actually I don’t, ack!)
So, I bought Nicola and Isabella Bird (-2 points each), bringing me to
tsundoku = 2!
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March 16, Friday
Great news. I read three more chapters of Kiki and things are so much happier and cozier, so happy to see Kiki and Jiji getting along again, and Kiki and Tonbo learning and getting more “grounded” and a great and wild New Year’s celebration as well! Only one chapter left in the book, I will probably finish it soon if not today.
Less great news. Energy is scarce at the moment and I’ve fallen slightly behind on the Intermediate Book Club. I took a look at the upcoming mystery club reading and it’s … concerning? If I’m going to have even a chance of keeping up I’ll definitely have to adopt a very liberal extensive reading attitude. That is how I managed the Silent Witch club, so it could work … but it is daunting. And the fact that I haven’t had energy will make it probably pretty unlikely that I’d succeed.
I’m on a trip at the moment, in the middle of some snowy mountains, but just enjoying the fact that I can stay in bed and don’t have to go anywhere or do anything. The view out the window is lovely.
Also I might have (mild) altitude sickness.
More soon.
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Oof! Look, I’m not one to talk… I’m still in the first chapter of Silent Witch, I think… And was only “aspirational” in my other book club reads this far.
… It sounds lovely where you are. It’s OK to just be a bit, and scale back on the do sometimes …
…I hope your energy regenerates
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Enjoy the snowy mountains! 
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ahhh WINTER SUPREMACY hope you have a great trip, minus the altitude sickness ^^
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don’t overwork yourself, #TeamSnail 
is cheering on you. But it’s cool you’ve read Kiki 
!
You better show us some pictures. We demand pictures!
(No, but jokes aside, vacations are great and I’m happy you get some time to recharge and relax)
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Picture delivery! 
My snowy morning view out the hotel room window on the first day!
The fireplace in the lounge is one of the best places to be.
On the second day I went on a snowy morning hike with my partner! I don’t have immediate access to pictures from that since my partner took most of them (and all the ones I took on my phone are mainly of him). But I can say that it was very ホテルメッツァペウラへようこそ-coded. Then after lunch spent a lot of time in front of that fireplace.
Today I’m supposed to ride a gondola up to a view, my partner goes tubing and I read books with a view! Will try to share a picture!
#SnailPower!!
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Hohoho…
That sounds like a lovely place in that case.
Enjoy~ if you find random blond haired boys, bring them to the hotel to work and heal their heart 
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Picture delivery その２
The place I thought I’d be able to chill and read a book was not quite as conducive to that as I’d hoped so I only read for a bit, but I got lovely views and the additional altitude felt … refreshing actually? Maybe because it kept the snow colder and cleaner than lower down.
I went up to the tubing place with my partner and watched him do it, realized it was the bunny slope of tubing courses, decided to see if my ticket included tubing and it didn’t but the woman watching the tubes let me do one go anyway. It was fun. Exactly the right level for me.
And as we walked back down to the gondolas we watched the little kids (and a healthy smattering of adults as well) learning to ski on the bunny slope and we both decided maybe we’d be interested in skiing after all. (Both of us had skiing baggage, me from one time I did it like 20 years ago, and him from an injury during his first time.) I don’t have any ambition beyond the bunny slopes and maybe a green, though. XDD
I liked the ride down (wee!) on the gondola a lot better than the ride up (
).
Oh, but also!
I finished Kiki’s second book! It was lovely. Especially the way it ended.
I am excited to get back to the slightly more reliably upbeat Bonbon, though. Maybe I’ll alternate between Kiki and Bonbon in the future …
Anway, so +2 tsundoku points = 4 tsundoku points!
Also, a useful word came up several times towards the end of this book: 春分! Vernal equinox! Which is coming up! Which means … it’s readathon season! 
I’ve been thinking of using readathons to work through my remaining graded readers. It’s kind of a fun thing to read which I don’t normally build into my day to day reading habits. And I’ve got quite a few left that I was excited for.
Anyway, that’s all for tonight! Tomorrow is our last day before traveling home. I hope to go ice skating!
More soon!
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I love the winter vibes and those skiing gondolas and so on 
Hope that you have a great time with your partner aND THAT YOU ENDED UP GOING ICE SKATING :DDDD
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