I read two more pages of ごんぎつね. I didn’t realize I finished chapter 2 the last time I read, so it was a nice surprise to read the beginning of chapter 3. The chapter begins with ごん lamenting how sad and alone 兵十 looked, so ごん decided to steal some sardines from someone selling sardines and threw the sardines into 兵十’s house as an apology. This doesn’t sound like it’s gonna end well, ごん…
Today was very productive in terms of studying neurology and ocular anatomy. The same can’t be said for the Japanese side of stuff, unfortunately Found a great channel on youtube called Ninja Nerd, so I’ve been watching a couple of their videos. Simple explanations and in great detail at the same time.
(If I can binge-watch a let’s play for a whole day, I can binge-watch actual study material too, right? )
Random 2:
I’ve managed to memorize the 10-11 layers of the retina, but I still don’t know what’s up with layer 5-8, the “plexiform” and “nuclear” layers. Current (personal) mystery that needs to be investigated
Tuesday to Saturday was devoted to Flesh&Blood 5, which I finished on Saturday. And today I just wanted to check how the new volume started, hehe…
On Monday I also returned to 大聖堂 as my Japanese friend somehow revived his interest in reading and we decided to chat about the next bit on Monday evening. But he did not let me know how far he’d read, so I read as much as I could on that day. (Turned out I was pretty safe anyway )
I threw in some German reading for good measure (I really don’t recall what or when was the last time I read a German fiction book…).
The German reading is only reflected in the times, not in the page numbers of course. (I’m happy to report that I can still read more than 12 pages of German text in half an hour )
For my plans for this week, I should read a bit more of 大聖堂 as we’re planning to have another chat on the 31st, and this time we made a plan regarding the chunk we want to discuss, and I haven’t read all of that. Then, we’re seeing the start of the new IBC pick おばちゃんがいるところ on Friday! And I would like to continue Flesh&Blood 6 of course
Unfortunately there is still 海辺のカフカ looming above my head. At the moment it feels pretty dragged-out and boring to me, as if the author just needed to fill x many pages , which does not exactly motivate me to continue reading it… so I’m still stuck in the middle of chapter 37 (halfway through the second volume). The book club ends on Nov 4th so maybe I should make an effort to try to catch up on the club last-minute? We’ll see how it goes.
So 21st and 22nd I didn’t read Japanese. On the 21st I did read some English fiction and last night I probably should have because it took a while to fall asleep.
But today, better late then never I tacled this week’s Orange chapter. It was good.
Alas Kiro laid on my left forearm for part of the writing of this post until he wanted to write himself, so moved him to my chest and now I can only type with one hand instead. He is super cute but waaaaay too fascinated by my computer. xD
I read Chapter 26 of Shadows House. Like yesterday, I found it a bit tougher than usual but I’ve had a super busy weekend so I think its just because I’m tired!
Welcome to your new life as a cat owner. My cat is 11 years old, and while he doesn’t chase my hands while I type any more, he still spends a lot of his time trying to sit on my keyboard
Super long chapter! In the interest of improving my listening, I’m trying out a strategy where I first read through the transcript of the podcast, and then listen without looking at it. Ideally, this will help my brain connect the sounds to the kanji that I can recognize due to WK by seeing them before and having an idea of what’s coming.
Has anyone tried something like this before, and does it seem like it works?
Read some more ブルーロック today! I meant to read more but then sleepy mode hit haha. I’ve still been way more consistent than I have been for most of the semester so feels good to get back to it
Managed quite a bit with the travelling - had it edit it slightly as at some point realised it was morning but I forgot to change day. Only slept 3 hours on the plane then a cat nap when I got home, so I’m struggling now and just slowly reading bits and pieces.
23/10 16 pages 耳をすませば (to end of this week), 10 pages Spy Family (same), 17 pages シャドーハウス, 夜カフェ4 pages to end chapter 8, plus 8 pages of chapter 9; 12 pages orange.
Made it through two chapters of Conan before bed! I have a little over a week to finish the volume before I lose access to it, so I want to focus my attention on it and then return to Kiki’s world.
Conan and company are trying to solve a kidnapping case. He’s still very used to being front and center during investigations, but Ran’s father will have absolutely none of that (meaning none of Conan’s incredibly valid questions get answered). Still, he discovered a workaround to get Ran’s dad’s attention to where it needs to be in order to solve the case. Conan does end up losing patience and peaces out on a guard dog to try and find where the kidnapper and victim are hiding. He successfully finds them, but with just his now 10-year-old self to take the perpetrator on, can he really save the young girl, or will they both be killed?!
(I mean, there’s another hundred volumes after this, so…)
I’m still having a good time reading this. The characters are charming, and the way Aoyama-sensei draws them sometimes is very cute.
Yesterday I felt I needed a break from the mountains, so I had a look through some manga I had gotten for free when they were on offer on Bookwalker. 准教授・高槻彰良の推察 captured my attention from the very first pages - the main character, still a young boy, wakes up to the sounds of taiko drums, and sneaks out of the house to join a mysterious festival. Only, apparently he should never have been there, and there is a price to be paid. Years later, that boy is now a student who can perceive lies as a warped voice, and is suffering from it. He attends the lecture of a professor of the folklore who is very enthusiastic about urban legends and folklore stories. All things seem to point to them teaming up to investigate the occult. Quite interesting so far. Looking it up on Bookwalker, it seems it’s listed as 女性向け, but I don’t see why. But I never understood this categorizing by gender anyway, so…
First I git sick, and then I went on vacation with no internet access. Still managed to do some textbook work, which I declare as counting for this challenge.
I’m excited to get back to more interesting stories! I want to get to the Tile Chronicles soon, so I think I’ll up my speed. Maybe I’ll get there before next month? We’ll see.
Got to do something today that I’d been feeling like I could do for a bit, but just needed a good chance to try. Read a whole volume of manga from start to finish in one sitting! Read all of よつばと!volume 11, so chapters 70-76. Took a little under 2 hours, counting taking some short breaks to find some music, grab a drink, and to copy over my word list so I had more room for more jisho tabs. I think chapter 74, where よつば gets her own little camera and goes running around taking pictures, is one of my favorite chapters in the whole series.
That’s probably objectively more than enough reading for today, but I still feel really good and might do some more textbook work later.
Good Words
ご迷惑「ごめいわく」ー trouble, bother (i feel like i’ve seen at least 10 different ways to say this)
チラシ ー leaflet
天丼「てんどん」ー tempura donburi
会計「かいけい」ー bill (restaurant)
吐く「はく」ー to throw up
寝袋「ねぶくろ」ー sleeping bag
泊「はく」ー counter for nights of a stay
ラッパ ー trumpet
順番「じゅんばん」ー turn (in line)
イガイガ ー burr (on a chestnut)
凹む「へこむ」ー to be disheartened, to feel down (neat kanji)
壊す「こわす」ー to break, to destroy
勝手に「かってに」ー without asking
贅沢「ぜいたく」ー luxury
臭い「くさい」ー stinky
水防「すいぼう」ー flood prevention (here something like waterproofing?)
乾く「かわく」ー to get dry
お見舞い「おみまい」ー visiting someone who is ill
くっつき虫 ー burr
Posting super early today. I’m about to go make me some lunch. But because a certain kitten decided to sleep on me for a couple of hours (or however long it was), I didn’t have much choice in what I was gonna do, so I read early today. Read this week’s portion of 耳をすませば that ended on a cliffhanger, so I went on and read next week’s part, because that was also the end of the story.
Woohoo! Another thing finished this challenge. Well, mostly finished, in my edition there is an extra short story for 耳をすませば, not entirely sure if it is a short story sequel or what, but I’ll read it soon. Maybe even tomorrow.
I’m so less excited about reading 夜カフェ these days. I’m not entirely sure why. In fact, I’m technically a chapter behind. But maybe I’ll remedy that after I finish off the whole volume for 耳をすませば (short story, essay, interview and atogaki left). I’ll see what I feel like reading tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised if 夜カフェ got to wait a little longer.
Now why would the volume end on a cliffhanger? Not fair at all! I’m considering getting the next volume, because I did enjoy it a lot, and it’s sort of exactly what I’m looking for right now, creepy, (supposedly?) supernatural phenomena that are handled in a lighthearted and ultimately rational way. And the two main characters are very interesting. The student has this dark mysterious moment in his past, but the professor, enthusiastic in a puppy-like way most of the time, has hidden depths too, and possibly an equally mysterious (even traumatic?) past experience.
Apparently the same exact story comes out in novel form too, and it’s not clear to me whether the manga is an adaptation of the novel or the other way round.
And now I present the weird word of the day:
丑の刻参り (うしのこくまいり)- cursing ritual where one visits a shrine at 2am and nails a doll representing a person to a tree, praying for said person’s death
丑の刻 is the hour of the Ox (around 2am, 1-3am, or 2-4am), which is an entirely different kanji from ox/cow 牛, presumably because it’s the Chinese Zodiac Ox rather than the animal.