22nd april
read a full 36 pages of すきとも which was probably slightly too many but i got really into it. kind of curious where it’s going to end up cos it kinda seems like it’s not really going to end up anywhere 
as part of that ended up reading this article on the difference between 最中 and 最中 (and 最中 but that was just a happy accident).
today’s nhk article was this one, plus the entry on ところが and とも in aDoIJG
words that stood out
すきとも：
平生 - usual, ordinary
初老 - past middle-age, nearing old age
シャボン玉 - bubble. was used in シャボン玉セット which seems to be for blowing bubbles
ギャザー - gather (dressmaking, e.g. gathered skirt)
いざゆかん - now, let us go (formal, literary. was in a newspaper article headline)
怪訝 - puzzled, perplexed. something else with the 怪 reading!
あたたか - warm, mild, genial. yes as in あたたかい
厚底 - thick-soled (of shoes)
くちい - no jisho entry but daijirin gave a definition of 腹がいっぱいである。
yikes 
hopefully you can get that dealt with soon and safely 