Thank you pocketcat! I agree, streaks can be rough. I do like this challenge though! I feel the motivation to check in every night. I hope I’ll get back into my groove.
Of course quote it all! “value the days you show up.” I like that! I will roll with the ones I can’t. I leeched about 50 of 200 today 
not upset, since I plan on staying on level 7 for a bit, but it doesn’t always feel so great! 
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Days 10 and 11
- よつばと！chapter 6 19pages. Finished my first pass through the book. I know I need to get into more detailed analysis with this one but it had me hooked right away and I just couldn’t put it down.
- ハピネス chapter 1 41 pages. Thought I’d check out the free bookwalker sample to see if I’d want to join its book club here. I only needed 19 pages to decide to join. Can’t wait to see which direction(s) conversation goes in. Things get エッチ. Well, at least compared to anything I’ve read as part of a book club here, which isn’t a ton…
- Eastward ~5 hrs between the two days and I’ll be playing some more tonight. I feel like I haven’t scratched the surface with this game. The language isn’t overly difficult but recognizing some of these Kanji is. The subtitles are a modern font but really bold, the dialogue font is retro and thin. I’ve found that I have to rely on both to sleuth them out. I’ll continue to mention time put into this title but not much more than that until things start to really develop. So far it comes off as a pretty standard: Kingdom is at peace, King dies, the Devil usurps power and locks the princess in a high tower. A knight washes up on shore.
- Animal Crossing chores
I picked up 美少女になったけど、ネトゲ廃人やってます。（１） randomly as something to read until the next clubs start. Its one of the free for a limited time books but I can’t remember when that time elapses. Anyone, could you point out how to check when this type of ‘free’ expires?
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I believe it’s this here:
So until Jan 20th (Thursday), 23:59
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I think that because I’ve checked out with it, it only shows this:
in that location. But, at least I know when now. Thanks for your help!
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That wasn’t me (I think 
). Still, yes, missing a day or even a month doesn’t matter. Just get back to it.
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Day 11: January 11th
365日にっぽんのいろ図鑑
Time spent: 30 min
Today’s color: 天藍 (てんらん) - a deep azure blue
This is officially my favorite color. It reminds me of Lake Tazawa, my absolute favorite place on Earth. The little opening descriptor sentence reminds me of it, too: 蒼天の静寂に内なる心の声を聴く 
To illustrate this color, I have some photos of my own today xD Here is Lake Tazawa~
And here’s a photo I took flying from Hokkaido to Narita (it’s the ocean and the sky, but they look pretty much one and the same)
Now I will stop sharing my old vacation photos and post some words I learned
- 蒼天 (そうてん) - blue sky; azure sky
- 内なる (うちなる) - inner (self, voice, man, etc.); internal (conflict, tension, competition, etc.); interior
- 天藍石 (てんらんせき) - lazulite
- きらびやか - gorgeous; gaudy; dazzling; gay; resplendent (I really love this word)
- 勝るとも劣らぬ (まさるともおとらぬ) - not at all inferior to; compare favorably (with); being even better than; rivalling; surpassing
まいにち暦生活 日本の暮らしを楽しむ365のコツ
Time spent: 11 min
Today is 鏡開き (かがみびらき) - the day when you cut and eat the 鏡餅 (かがみもち), which is a New Year offering of two mochi sitting on top of each other topped with a bitter orange. Apparently you don’t actually cut it though, you just smash it with a wooden mallet until it breaks into pieces.
@Zakarius 
haha
What else did I read?
囀る鳥は羽ばたかない Vol 1
Amount read: 9 pages
Time spent: 25 min
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I’m not sure listening counts for a reading challenge, but everything else absolutely does.
I look up almost everything, even if I know it, just to ensure I’m not wrong.
Over time, knocking out a page has gotten a lot faster, but my escalation sequence is jisho.org, ichi.moe, my stack of grammar books and textbooks, followed by DeepL. I will occasionally ask a question in the よつばと! reading club to which I’m always amazed at the graciousness expressed there.
My perspective is looking up vocab and seeking out learning resources is expected. Don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s all part of the process.
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January 11 
Home Post
Oh man today was a day 
I got my booster shot yesterday and it knocked me out for a good part of the day, so I really wasn’t sure how much reading I’d be able to do. But then I picked up 錆喰いビスコ, remembered how close to the end of a chapter I was, started reading and man it got serious fast. I didn’t realize I’d left off at such a crucial moment… I was not emotionally prepared Like I had a feeling that ジャビ was probably not long for this world but that’s different than him taking bullets for ビスコ!! Wow I was not ready, I have a lot of feelings
Some of the descriptions in this section were just brutal, beautifully written but god, deconstructing stuff like is really powerful. I’m really glad I’ve stuck with it so far! I’m so invested at this point, I HAVE to know what happens to them (and probably be sad about it)
Cool words
弾ける - to burst open, to split open
竦む - to freeze (from fear), to cower
極まりない - extremely, boundless
有りっ丈 - all that one has
無理矢理 - forcibly, against one’s will
飛び石 - stepping stone, stone skipping (this was used to describe a crashing plane like skipping across the desert which is just great imagery)
総毛立つ - to get goosebumps, to have one’s hair stand on end
愛弟子 - favorite pupil
瀕死 - dying, (on the) verge of death
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Tonight I read ten pages from the magazine ちゃお, and two pages of an Animal Crossing (mini) manga from the magazine キャラぱふぇ. There were lots of fun creature names from the Animal Crossing manga.
宿借り------やどかり------hermit crab
馬大頭------おにやんま------Siebold’s dragonfly; jumbo dragonfly
鱰------しいら------mahi-mahi; common dolphinfish
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January 11:
Read first chapter of それでも歩は寄せてくる(pages 1 - 14). This one is definitely a lot less complicated than Naruto. I still need to put things through a translator, but I can at least understand some things. It probably also helps that I’ve already read some of this in English already.
Doing this reading challenge is really making me want to work on my grammar. May need to look into doing Bunpro or something.
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Day 10:
日本語: I read a lot of 伯爵と妖精 30.
中国語
中国語: I read an intermediate entry on Mandarin Bean and one page of 擅长捉弄的高木同学.
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Spiderman keeps multiplying!
That is a real nice shade of blue! I love the photos, the blue gradient of the sea becoming sky from the plane is just so tranquil.
I did a quick look up of Lake Tazawa, and wow that place is seriously beautiful! I noticed there was a folk legend about it too, I’ll make a note for later reading. 
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This is a great perspective! I’m sure some days will be easier than others, of course. And yes, the more I “learn” the more I will probably look up too just to make sure I’m right.
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Today’s article was 気持ちが滅入る…パート先で嫌われ「ぼっち」な私。まだ働き続けたいけど、どうしたらいい？【お悩み相談】 which was about a housewife who took a part time job to support the financial needs of her family once her kid was old enough and is experiencing bullying/people talking behind her back at work because she’s inexperienced with jobs and slower to learn. It’s an advice column, might read more of these, kind of interesting.
I have to start work early this morning so no time to compile a vocab list 
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Day 12. I only read page 160 of Kiki to keep the streak and tick off the checkbox, but I’m just really tired lol. Running on 5 hours of sleep and it’s currently 15 minutes to midnight… I’ll catch up on sleep tonight and reading tomorrow since I don’t have a shift starting at 6am, and will be spending the whole day at home 
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Yesterday-
I was to lazy to read… It’s hard to be interested in a book where you have to search up a bit but idm I just need to find a way to be more into the book. I loveeeeeeeee the book but it takes me so much effort to read . I don’t want to go to a child’s book though as I want to read what natives my age are reading so I’ll be ready when I go to high school in japan!!!
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Homepost - Tigerdate: 20220112 
Tanuki Scroll XII: クッカルとカラス 
Don’t have a lot of time today so just a short story, a folktale from Kagoshima Prefecture!
I really like that prefecture emblem, will have to remember to read about Kagoshima some time
The story’s about why crows have black feathers. Crows used to have beautiful coats of many colours but kingfisher tricked the crow into going to a hot spring and stole the crow’s coat. This is also said to be why crows chase kingfishers.
☆ Learnings ☆
New Words
青緑「あおみどり」ー Blue-Green; Turquoise
クッカルー Ruddy Kingfisher. Though クッカル seems to be a nickname for them. Their proper name is:
赤翡翠「あかしょうびん」and they’re these cute little guys:
嘴「くちばし」ー Beak; Bill
ザブーンー Splash!
(I think, there doesn’t seem to be much on it, but it’s heavily implied that it’s onomatopoeia of jumping into water; also seems to be a make of washing machine 
)
ありゃー ー Oh ; ah
(not really a new word as it’s just a noise but I just loved one of the Jisho meanings: “I’ll be darned”)
ぶつぶつー A mumble/grumble
Forgotten Readings
騙す「だます」(To deceive)
(I encountered this word the other day but forgot how to read it, at least I remembered what it meant)
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January 12
君の名は , 7 pages.
Random words
- 発生 = はっせい ocurrence, generation, birth (of a phenomenon, etc).
- 配置 = はいち arrangement, distribution, disposition, configuration.
- 屈託 = くったく worry, concern.
- 郷愁 = きょうしゅう nostalgia, homesickness.
- 既視感 = きしかん deja vu.
- 懐中電灯 = かいちゅうでんとう electronic torch, flashlight.
I’m so sleepy today. Quick update.
Also today makes 20% of the challenge! 頑張って 
.
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