Finally had a solid block of reading time so I could finish chapter 2 of ユージニア (13% → 16%). As expected that was a better experience than reading in little chunks so I’ll try to see if I can read full chapters in the future… I’m probably two slow for that now so maybe just half… we’ll see.
Also played like 15 min of BU$TAFELLOWS. I’m just starting chapter 2 so I better up my playing time if I’m to keep up with the club.
So the good news is I’m really enjoying everything I’m reading right now, the bad news is it’s very hard to find solid blocks of time to dedicate to them.
Same series today but will change it up over the weekend!
New words:
泥棒 (どろぼう) thief, theft
犯人 (はんにん) offender, perpetrator
Replies
Thanks for the words of encouragement @ChristopherFritz ! Will definitely be joining the next ABBC and I’m excited for the results to come out this coming Saturday!
A few of my other concerns in reading outside of Satorireader was also covered by @emiri_learns_jp (the many pauses in reading to look up stuff and whether to create additional set of flash cards for new vocab encountered when reading). The responses to that were useful too so thanks for sharing!
About upcoming book clubs, Komi-san seems interesting. Yotsuba-to! is interesting too, but digital copies seem to be nowhere to be found (other than sample chapters on the website).
Interesting words
バタつく = to panic. Also, バタバタ.
かたじけない = grateful. Kanji form is 忝い. Bad 形?
のんべんだらり = doing nothing. Probably のんびり + 怠い.
のさばる = to do as one pleases; to domineer. のせる + 張る perhaps.
名だたる = famous. Probably creating (祟る) a big name.
紛れる = to get mixed up with / to do something under cover. Not directly related is 紛れ = fluke.
零す = to spill. Related is 溢す / 溢れる (?).
連なる = to stretch out (e.g. east to west). Looks like sound changes from 連れる.
見積もる = to make an estimate
溝浚い = cleaning out mud form a drain. 溝 + 浚う.
神代 = Age of the Gods
行方 = whereabouts. Dropping Furigana confuses me a little.
湯浴み = taking a bath. The verb though, is usually 浴びる, not み.
貧相 = looking shabby / looking poor
結託 = conspiracy
界隈 = vicinity; neighborhood
憧憬 = adoration; yearning. First Kanji is from 憧れる. Second Kanji seems to serve the same meaning as the first.
蓬髪 = disheveled hair
俸禄 = a pay; a salary
暗躍 = secret maneuvers
隠密 = covert; secret (operation). Uses おん, where I confuse with 平穏.
朝廷 = Imperial Court. 朝 sounds like Chinese Dynasty.
三重苦 = triple handicap
大捕物 = rounding up of criminals = large 捕り物.
破落戸 = thug. Vocabulary was known, but not the Kanji form.
武勲 = feat of arms
七輪 = charcoal cooking stove. Yeah, 7 rings.
吟味 = closely examining
濾過 = filtering
不摂生 = neglecting one’s health
ストレス解消 = stress relief
恩に着る = to be indebt to
質が悪い = bad nature; nasty
安請け合い = promising without due consideration
SFX
ガシガシ = clattering noise / swaying and shaking / broken down
Kanji
隈
deep recess
ワイ
界隈
隈
禄 (祿)
stipend
ロク
俸禄, 高禄, 秩禄
濾
filter
ロ
濾過, 濾紙
濾胞
憧 (Level 59)
long for; yearning
ドウ
憧憬
憧れる
So many people’s birthday in not even a week of the new year. HBD
Only than I am not sure about my timezone and Discourse.
these posts are getting later and later in the day for me oh no asdfghjkl
read another 24 pages of 蟲師 which is just over half a chapter. i feel like i’m getting into the rhythm of it now, but it’s also very fun to read which helps, they really do feel like folktales, this chapter is about 蟲 who feed on sound and silence and inadvertently deafen the townspeople. one of the characters spoke in a very honourific/old-fashioned way and used おらぬ at one point, which is fun
January 5th
新書太閣記 progress: 00.31% // Volume I: 03.64%
That’s the first chapter complete, onto the next tomorrow!
This is a bit easier reading, sentence-wise at least. I get held up a lot with looking up all the words and history stuff (but that is a lot of fun).
Words found under the kotatsu
仄「ほの」ー Faintly; dimly; barely がやがや ー Noisily; jabbering; chattering (like the noise of a crowd of people) 皆の衆「みなのしゅう」ー Everybody 盆地「ばんち」ー Basin (geography) 浅黄「あさぎ」ー Light yellow 既往「きおう」ー The past 手押し車「ておしぐるま」ー Handcart; wheelbarrow 心棒「しんぽう」ー Shaft; axle キイキイ ー Sharp creak/squeak/screech (the thing it’s describing here is a squeaky carriage) 容貌「ようぼう」ー Looks; features; physical appearance 糺す「ただす」ー To ascertain; to confirm; to verify 蘆荻「ろてき」ー Reeds 便船「びんせん」ー Available steamer (boat) 水楼「すいろう」ー Tower/castle facing the water (or a watchtower but not like a lighthouse) 櫓「ろ」ー Japanese scull (the oar attached to the back of a boat) 舷「げん」ー Side of a boat; gunwale (also: 船端「ふなばた」) 艘「そう」ー Counter for small boats 苫「とま」ー Woven mat 耳環「みみわ」ー Non-pierced earring; helix
Character Kanji-Name List
for easy referencing later, because these will take some remembering
Main Hideyoshi: 豊臣秀吉「とよとみ ひでよし」// 豊太閤「ほうたいこう」
Volume I Characters
五郎大夫 「ごろ だゆう」// 祥瑞「しょうずい」(Goro’s Chinese name)
– Servant of Goro: 捨次郎「すてじろう」
– Mother of Goro’s child: 梨琴「りきん」
– Rikin’s & Goro’s child: 楊景福「ようけいふく」
Historical People – 阿倍仲麻呂「あべ の なかまろ」ー Japanese scholar & poet (around 700AD) – 白楽天「はく きょい」ー Late 700s Chinese poet (Bai Juyi / Bo Juyi) also known as: 白楽天「はく らくてん」in Japan. – 道元「どうげん」(or 道元禅師「どうげん ぜんじ」ー Japanese Buddhist Priest, writer & poet (Early to mid 1200s) (also known as 栄西禅師「えいさい ぜんじ」) – 空海「くうかい」ー The one and only Kukai or Kobo Daishi - a Buddhist monk. Posthumously given the title of: 弘法大師「こうぼう だいし」born as: 佐伯 眞魚「さえき の まお」(late 700s to early 800s)
@lucylavelle, happy birthday!
(same day as Hayao Miyazaki!)
Card Captor Sakura volume 5 – progress report Yesterday: Finished chapter 20, continued up to page 112. Today: Continued up to page 141, finished chapter 21.
The plot is slowly moving towards setting up the last trial by Yue. I thought that the trial would be at a later point in the series. But now that I think of it, I’m almost halfway in and I remember that the whole deal with Eriol once the trial is over also needs to be addressed, so never mind!
One more person whose birthday is in early January?! Happy birthday to you, @lucylavelle, I hope you had a pleasant day!
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Word or expression of the day:
判断 - (はんだん) - judgement, decision, conclusion; divination
Honourable mention(s):
棲む - (すむ) - to live (of animals), to inhabit, to nest
Today’s DrDru story was really mean, everyone asks the bakery owner if he has broccoli cupcakes, but when he has them they say it’s disgusting… So rude! Not sure why the story is called “Cucumber Tart” though?
The next story is a wall of text, which is rather jaring after all the other nicely formatted stories. It’s also just a description of the Lord or the Rings. I guess the one interesting thing here is the grammar? I haven’t gotten to read up on the te-form yet.
Unfortunately, we had a pretty big wind storm last night, which knocked out our power, internet, and cell service for a significant portion of the day. Our tree in the front yard was also a casualty
So, I spent most of the morning reading stuff in English, not like I really had all that much else to do without internet . Knocked out a philosophy book that I’d been meaning to re-read, and also got a really good chunk of “Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon: a Geopolitical PreHistory of J-Pop” done (I picked this up after finishing “Quit your Band! Musical Notes from the Japanese Underground” last month but hadn’t gotten a chance to really start it yet. This one has a significantly more theoretical/historical approach, as opposed to the more experience driven style in Martin’s book. Both good, they compliment each other well). This book also contains a lot of references to non-fiction about music/history that are written in japanese so I’ll have to check some of those out… eventually
Eventually, power and internet came back, so I got a little bit of JP study in too.
Read:
ホリミヤ ch 55, 56, おまけ vol 8 done! halfway done with the series now! Turns out progress goes a lot faster when you aren’t just doing 1 chapter a day lmao
マジック・ツリーハウス１ pg 33 - gonna be honest by the time I got to this I was extremely tired and had a hard time focusing. Glad I did it at least a little bit, though.
Good Words
当番「とうばん」ー being on duty, one’s turn
定休日「ていきゅうび」ー regular holiday, regular closing day
シカト ー ignoring (someone)
汗「あせ」ー sweat
購買「こうばい」ー school store
Treen't
Thankfully it fell basically the only way that it could fall without seriously damaging anything, cars and the house are fine. Did take a lil chainsaw work to get the car out from all the branches, though
Boy, am I pooped. Had to get up at 6 today and couldn’t read before I left. I don’t think it’s sustainable to read in the mornings for me unless I want to go to bed even earlier (I was in bed by 10 last night why is being an adult so boring and why do I not live closer to my workplace? the answer is CAPITALISM and INFLATION)
Anyway, I’m over halfway done with the first volume of volleyball boys and I thiiink I might be able to do the last 50 % before the book becomes unavailable. I won’t have time for the second volume but I think I’m fine with that. No hate to those of you who enjoy ハイキュー！！ but it’s not my thing.
A Japanese dilemma?
I’ve just learned that I can take a Japanese class at my workplace. The only issue is that it’s a beginner class, and even if I’m still hesitant to rate my Japanese skills in any way, I wouldn’t consider myself a beginner anymore. I think there’s an advanced course too but that would probably be TOO advanced. It’s a great opportunity to get some guidance from someone who’s A) a native speaker and B) a certified and experienced language teacher. But I’d have to buy Genki and it’s expensive lol. Much to think about
I am blabbering but I also wanted to wish a happy birthday to all the early January kids!
And the plot gets more complicated by the minute.
I’d have read more, but I spent much of my reading time …looking for more books to read.
what’s wrong with me?
Made it through two stories today, both of which I quite liked! The first one, 裏サンタとユメ, is about an elementary school girl who does a ritual to summon 裏サンタ. From there, she wishes for her comatose brother to wake up. However, only after making this request does she learn the true nature of 裏サンタ: whatever you may wish for, he asks to receive something of equal or greater value in return, including the lives of others. I thought this was a unique concept, and I like that it try and “fix” things for the Yume by the end of it. The story was bittersweet, but I think that makes it stand out more from the rest of the collection.
The second one I read is called 冬のポケット. This one felt more like a literary short story in its approach. The ending’s open to some interpretation, which I think makes it more interesting than some of the more straight-forward stories in the book.
The cover says you can read these stories in 3 minutes, and this whole time I’ve never actually timed how long it takes me. I’ll try timing myself tomorrow, though my guess is it’ll be over 3 minutes.
5/1
Hello! Today when I woke up, I read a bit from the Du Chinese app, some 10min.
All good, no unknown words or difficulties!
Also started a manga called 花野井くんと恋の病. First chapter was long, read for about 40min. But it seems like a cute story so far, so I’ll keep reading.
A good day.
Words
理解不能 = impossible to understand
バッサリ= (cutting) with a single stroke;(cutting hair) short
幻滅 = disillusionment
露程 = little bit
縁遠く= unconnected; far beyond (one’s means, ability)
角煮 = stew of cubed meat or fish (esp. pork belly or tuna)
found because of 豚角煮マン which is apparently this, which looks like it needs to get in my stomach
Day 5: January 5th
What did I read?: おでかけ子ザメ2
How much did I read?: 11 pages
How long did it take me?: 10 min
I worked late today and I didn’t have a ton of time, so I thought, why not just read a few pages of the smol shark manga? In one of the chapters, a guy saw smol shark for the first time and his reaction was a whole entire mood:
For added context, the guy was in the middle of trying to design a new character to represent the neighborhood - luckily for him, the best character ever just walked right up to him
Thoughts: Continuing with the trend of not having to look up that many words feels good considering that I consider myself still very beginner at the language. Sure, just reading about Yotsuba and her father waking up and having breakfast is simple, but it’s nice to be able to understand the easy parts~
I also attempted to read some song lyrics today. Sure, I wasn’t able to translate a single line fully, but it felt great being able to understand a piece of it and hear it in the song too.
@MissDagger Thank you for showing me how to do a spoiler! Now I don’t have to talk all vague about what happened.
January 4
happy birthday 
The Tanuki Kotatsu Reading Den 
Happy birthday to you, 
１月５日 
. Knocked out a philosophy book that I’d been meaning to re-read, and also got a really good chunk of “Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon: a Geopolitical PreHistory of J-Pop” done (I picked this up after finishing “Quit your Band! Musical Notes from the Japanese Underground” last month but hadn’t gotten a chance to really start it yet. This one has a significantly more theoretical/historical approach, as opposed to the more experience driven style in Martin’s book. Both good, they compliment each other well). This book also contains a lot of references to non-fiction about music/history that are written in japanese 
so I’ll have to check some of those out… eventually
why is being an adult so boring and why do I not live closer to my workplace? 
.
ラストで君は「まさか！」と言う 冬の物語 (32% → 40%)
