Read 36% → 41% of モテ薬 tonight. This chapter was kind of boring (one sided press conference), but I’ve finished the first section of the book so maybe it will pick up from here.
Also, some folks might remember this sentence which @Naphthalene helped me grasp the meaning of a few weeks back:
I finally remembered to ask one of my tutors about it (earlier this week, and forgot about it, heh) and he was absolutely baffled by the にて in 運動したることありたりというわけにて and had to look up ありたり which he then informed me was another way of saying ありていに (ありのままであること / “frankly, as it is” from my dictionaries).
He then asked if I had trouble reading old language like this in English which I thought about, and no, I have no trouble reading anything from the 1920s, but sometimes I read things from the 1800s and depending on content I sometimes have to puzzle out meaning. So I suppose this writing has reached 1800s English levels of distance.
I realized today that reading N3-level stuff (or at least I assume most of what I’ve been reading is N3 lol I don’t actually know) is getting easier. It just kinda struck me today that… I’m actually reading Japanese! Aside from the occasionally trying to decipher short things with some strategic (or not-so) Google Translating since college, I started reading 9 months ago (though I’m not sure how well my early attempts could really be called “reading”), and now I can actually understand a lot of it? When I look up lyrics, rather than only recognizing a handful of words and understanding a line here and there, I can more or less understand most or even all of it. Reading manga and even novels, there are still a lot of words I gotta look up, but I have less difficulty piecing together how everything fits together. There are still times where I only understand the gist, and also still times where I’m like, “Well that was. Um. A sentence,” and have no idea what the hey I just read, but I’ve made a lot of progress in the 9 months I’ve been reading and 7 months I’ve been using WK et al. It feels great.
Anyway, I think I have some hang-ups about reading クールドジ男子 because then it’ll end. Even though I’ve still got a whole 'nother volume, and then the novel, and then vol 5 whenever it comes out and then probably more after that, and the anime in October. Even though I can reread it whenever, I don’t wanna be finished with it. So I just keep flipping through this volume without really reading any of it. And I can’t bring myself to start anything else, either! And I’ve got バッテリー and SPY x FAMILY out so it’s not like I can’t. Also, in the next chapter, we start getting more of Mima’s and Igarashi’s background, which I’ve been looking forward to! And elementary-schooler Mima is adorable af! …But I still wasn’t able to get myself to read it today.
Anyway, on to the actual reading I did today. Aside from that one page I posted and the summaries of a handful of manga on Amazon, it was really just a bit of ゼルダ無双. I did one side quest and the story quest to unlock Mipha. I’ll have to look up sometime what the difference between 守る and 護る is. At first I thought it was just the game’s penchant for using less common kanji, but Mipha used both, so I think it may be more than that. Imiwa has them listed under the same entry though and doesn’t distinguish between them, but I’m going to bed soon and don’t have time to look at a monolingual dictionary right now.
Rinze answered the 果たし状 in today’s chapter. Her feelings seemed to be wavering in the previous one and while they were prepared to fight, they were able to talk things through and she granted them freedom.
However, there are still two chapters left so things could not end so easily. There was one person watching from afar and it seems like they did not like the resolution and the chapter ended on this note
The nice thing about the events in this game is that they’re broken up into 8-parts usually, so can usually read a chapter at a time and not have it take too long (think each chapter is usually around 1.5k characters or so). I only started to play the game recently so I’m trying to read the events the beginning and then later on the new ones; apparently the newer ones are much longer in length (I think the current one I’m reading is about 1 hourish long if played on auto all the way through while newer ones are closer to 2 hours). The game has a decent sized cast too with their own individual stories outside of their idol unit, I think I read somewhere there is currently over 200+ hours of reading content in the game in total so it should be fun to eventually go through them all even if it takes a long time.
(ignore how late it is ) Well I’ve been wanting a bit of a change of pace lately so I started playing Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town! I continue to be a chaotic presence it’s been a lot of fun so far though! It’s super cute obviously, and it’s a pretty easy read where I feel comfortable just looking up a word here and there when I get the urge. Given my track record with things like Stardew Valley I can see myself getting sucked into this fast haha. I’m absolutely not abandoning ZTD or anything though, just a different kind of vibe for when I’m in the mood!
Today I read about the Totoro Forest! aka, another place to add to the ever-expanding list of places I want to go to in Japan if and when I finally actually get to go there.
It’s numerous little woods and forests in Saitama and Tokyo where they are growing and protecting woodland as a preserve for nature.
Japanese found in the tall grass
New Things
寄付金「きふきん」ー Donation; contribution 点在「てんざい」ー Being dotted around; scattered 棲み処「すみか」ー Dwelling; house; residence 散策路「さんさくじ」ー Walking path; a path for walking 可憐「かれん」ー Sweet; touchingly lovely 公共交通機関「こうきょうこうつうきかん」ー Public Transport マナー ー Manners; etiquette 動植物 「どうしょくぶつ」ー Flora and fauna; animals and plants
Places 狭山丘陵「さやまきゅうりょう」ー Sayama Hills, Tokyo and Saitama
Today I finished Flesh&Blood Vol. 1 So this was 300 pages in 3.5 weeks, which is a nice pace for me.
Up to the point when I posted last time, I found the story interesting enough to keep me reading, but right after my post things really got into motion, and I was simply dragged along. Very nice! Now I need to make @eefara read it quickly because in the last chapter I was a bit confused about the timeline and it would be nice if we could discuss this and hopefully get it sorted in my head
Now, what to read next? I’d like to read がばいばあちゃん today to stay on top of my own book club, hehe. Unfortunately she could not stand a chance compared to the cutesie pirates but now that I finished it, that’s not a problem any more. Other than that, I still have 雲をつかむ話 on my plate. But I’m also considering reading at last the first story of 穴 as we recently had a bit of a discussion regarding its difficulty, and I’m curious to check it out for myself. Also, maybe an Akutagawa winner can help me cleanse my palate
Read 2 pages about 北海道 from 都道府県のおはなし as part of ABBC. Was suprised to learn that lavender grows there. I though it needed relatively hot climate, like south of France.
Oooh. I’m hoping to finish 薬屋のひとりごと this weekend/next week, which will be one book off my plate. I’m thinking I might go ahead and slot F&B in after that; I’ll be reading it and Alicemare, and Alicemare’s a pretty easy read, so once I finish that I can start 薬屋2… Anyhow, I’ll send you a ping when I’ve started F&B~
告白 ~ 58-64%
(Also one chapter of 夜カフェ for the BBC)
New chapter, new narrator, and this one is again much easier to read that the first chapter, thankfully. The narrator is a person whose point of view I desperately wanted to see. No huge surprises so far, but given the pattern set up in the previous chapters, there’s no way I won’t learn something that once more changes my perspective until the chapter is over (at the very end, most probably).
It’s funny, the main character in 夜カフェ is only one year younger than the students in 告白 (first vs second year in 中学), yet their world couldn’t be further apart. Hanabi from 夜カフェ may feel like she’s drowning in problems, but those problems are so wholesome compared to the pure evil in 告白. Guess which one I’m enjoying more.
I suddenly remembered someone was looking for practical everyday vocabulary in books, and a quick search for “cleaning” brought up this post. The last chapter in 夜カフェ was focused on instructions on how to clean dried mud off things, plus lots of sewing descriptions. This chapter was all about cooking, with detailed step by step instructions. I can’t say I find the book fascinating (I’m much older than the target audience), but it’s quite a pleasant read nonetheless. I suspect we’ll get even more practical vocabulary in the coming chapters, as the main character grows and gains confidence in herself and her abilities. Others may be able to confirm, I know there are people who have finished the book or at least have read ahead.
For example, here’s some vocabulary from this chapter that I really should have known before, say, potassium cyanide (青酸カリ if you must know):
まな板 - chopping board
大さじ - tablespoon
小さじ - teaspoon
さじ加減 - manner of seasoning/ making adjustments based on experience/ measured amount of medicine
和える - to dress (eg salad)
半熟 - soft boiled, half cooked
I’m also very curious about 穴 and was thinking I might pick it up after 告白.
(But what if the book club picks it after all? Should I wait? I don’t know…)
Hmmm… have you read 博士 yet? We read it in the Intermediate club some time ago. It’s pretty much slice-of-life with a sprinkle of mathematics, I liked it a lot but I don’t blame you if that doesn’t sound appealing to you
Yeah, the struggle is real OTOH, you could then read something else in the book club time while still particpating in the discussions
I know it’s just an amusing observation, but I prefer to think about it this way: you’re doing it exactly right, because stories about potassium cyanide tend to be a lot more interesting than stories about teaspoons
That’s very true
And it’s always possible I will come across a mention of a “teaspoon of potassium cyanide” after all!
(Wrote my comment before I saw yours and then edited to add the quote - just mentioning because the edit doesn’t show for some reason. Love how we thought the exact same thing!)
Oh you’re still logged as a like by the way! If you click the number, you can check. It’s just kind of broken right now, mine keeps removing the hearts too. But the likes DO seem to count!
) Well I’ve been wanting a bit of a change of pace lately so I started playing Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town! I continue to be a chaotic presence 
it’s been a lot of fun so far though! It’s super cute obviously, and it’s a pretty easy read where I feel comfortable just looking up a word here and there when I get the urge. Given my track record with things like Stardew Valley I can see myself getting sucked into this fast haha. I’m absolutely not abandoning ZTD or anything though, just a different kind of vibe for when I’m in the mood! 
Japanese found in the tall grass 
So this was 300 pages in 3.5 weeks, which is a nice pace for me.
but now that I finished it, that’s not a problem any more. Other than that, I still have 雲をつかむ話 on my plate. But I’m also considering reading at last the first story of 穴 as we recently had a bit of a discussion regarding its difficulty, and I’m curious to check it out for myself. Also, maybe an Akutagawa winner can help me cleanse my palate 
Oh and I almost forgot, but maybe 
