再生…

Yeah…
So my thought was to revive this blog.
Blogging kinda lost the charm it had for a while (at the beginning it was like “oh yay, I’ve gotta write about this!”, but then it got boring, and I took a break), but I’ve decided to try and start over (probably not gonna be that active, but at least this blog will see some use again (other than a personal image hosting site xD)). I could probably have written a short book of the stuff that’s happened since the previous post, but I decided to drop that thought, and just focus on stuff that’s going on at the moment.
Oh, and for those of you who don’t read moonspeak, the title means revival (figured it’d be fun to include that since this blog was made with my Japanese progress in mind).

I guess I should start with a small update on my Japanese progress. I did manage to finish RTK, and I did start on the sentences. However, the sentences kinda felt a bit too much like studying, as well as the fact that I managed to learn English fine without them, so why not with Japanese too?
Anyways, I’m trying as best as I can somewhat half-heartedly to immerse myself in Japanese. Right now, I’m gonna be lame and blame it on the fact that I was at my parent’s place all summer. For reading, I’ve been reading mostly manga in bookform. As for audio input, I’ve been going with (mostly) currently on-going anime (which in turn has become my preferred method of watching anime, instead of the “marathoning series when they’re done airing” style) due to a couple of reasons. For one, they’re easy as hell to get RAW (most older series are either impossible to get raw, or they’re in hardsubbed format.. Some are soft-subbed though <3). I can usually get the RAWs before subs come out, which is another plus since I get to watch it before those waiting for subs =D. There's also a bunch of nice series currently airing, so it's not like there's any trouble watching them.

This post was orignially planned to be posted about 2 weeks ago, while I still was at my parent's place (started doing the draft for it then), but due to my laziness I haven't bothered with it since. Since then I went back at my messy appartment. It might also be worth noticing that the appartment building that I live in is currently seeing some reconstruction, so it's quite noisy during the weekdays. For the time being, they're rebuilding the appartments on one half of the building (appartments 1-12 on each floor), while the other “half” (appartments 13-20 on each floor) is still inhabited by people. I happen to be living in 613 (6th floor, appartment 13), and I'll be moving into the other half 612 (yep, the one next door xD) some time in October, so I guess some pictures are to be expected by then.
Oh, and school started again on Wednesday. The original plan was to go through with Computer engineering, but since most of the computer classes are linked together on my school, I decided to switch over to the “Bachelor in Information security” studies, which seems more interesting (and I don’t have to take classes in chemistry and physics =D). For now, my only subjects are “Basic programming”, “Introduction to information security” and “Mathematics for computer science”.
We’ll see how it all ends up. =)

Another important thing that has taken a lot of my time lately (and also during random parts in the summer, although not as much as now) is Mahjong. More specifically, Riichi Mahjong (the Japanese version). How? Why? My interest in Mahjong started after watching the anime Saki, which, since I watched raw, I didn't understand a thing of in the beginning. So I decided to at least learn how the game works, you know, learning the basics of how the game is played, how to win etc., and from there it just kinda snowballed. Since then, I've gotten past the "what the hell are they doing", and now I can enjoy the series, as well as the game. Right now, I'm still at the beginner stage though, but I feel like I'm improving. What I'm struggling the most with at the moment is the scoring system, but I'm getting better at that as well. With all the basics of the game down, I guess it's all just a matter of time before I know the scoring tables too ;D. Oh, and I've also ordered two sets of mahjong tiles. I’ll probably add some pics once they arrive too (one of them has already been sent, hopefully arriving in a few days).

Lol, this ended up being pretty long after all…. (Those goddamn parantheses keeps popping up everywhere >_< (even here =D))

Meh, long time since last time

After finishing todays round of kanji reviews, I thought I’d make a new post, since it’s almost a month since the previous post. So what has been going on for this past month?
Well, last week I was moving my RevTK kanji-stories over to an anki-deck instead. Now, this wasn’t particularly hard, it was just pretty boring. It was, after all about 800 cards, of which I had to make stories for around 50 of them. I also spent some time doing the initial reviews that comes with the adding of 800 (816 to be correct :3) cards, and yesterday (I think it was) I finally started adding new cards to the deck, and today I added some more (ending at just below 860). It’s slow, but it’s progress. =)

Recently, I’ve also been thinking abit about how to best immerse myself while going through the AJATT-method. Another thing that I talked in the last post, about the music.. Well, during the winter holiday I had a few weeks back, I actually transferred all the “western” music that I had on my laptop over to my family’s shared external HD (Note: I only use my laptop). Living away from my family, I don’t have access to this HD, and so I’m left with all the Japanese music that I already had/have. In some ways, that’s good, and in some ways, it’s not (See previous post for more info). Another thing that I’ll do to stay immersed, is that once my Japanese gets a little better (probably around the time I finish RTK1) I’ll be buying some various Light Novels (in Japanese of course) that have been adapted into animes that I like. This means that i know the gist of what’s going on (at least for the first book in each series ^_^), plus it’ll be immersion.

I think I’ll keep posting small ones like this, over long ones like last time from now on.
That’s it for now. Take care!

Just a “little” update

It’s been a while since I posted… So, what have I been up to since the last post? Well, in short, I’ve been doing 3 things (exept the nessecary stuff like school etc.).

1. Watching 銀魂 (Gintama)
2. Watching ハヤテのごとく (Hayate no Gotoku)
3. Doing new kanjis in RTK

Sounds fun, eh? Well, it was. For a while. I was doing great, untill I, on friday got very very discouraged, and was thinking of quitting doing RTK altogether. I decided however that I wouldn’t stop here, but I only did my reviews that day. Then, on saturday, I was still feeling a little down, so I decided that I’d read some more of the AJATT blog (those posts are always very motivating). The post that got me back on track, was the Are You a Three-Day Monk? post. I really don’t know why, but when reading through there I decided: “I’m not gonna be a 三日坊主 (a “monk for three days”, someone who gives up easily (or something like that..))”. So I sat down, removed 130 cards from the RevTK deck (the 130 cards from lesson 23, the longest lesson in RTK, if anyone cares). I had, on Friday failed most of these, which also was part of what discouraged me. So, instead of giving up, I started dividing that huge ass lesson into smaller parts, whereever it felt natural (like right before a new primitive is introduced). I then tried a new approach to the kanjis in the first group, by thoroughly making up a story in my head, connect it with the keyword, and then associate it with the kanji. This worked great, compared to the old method I used. So anyways, now I’m back on track at least, though I’m still not yet done with the 130-kanji-long-chapter. I will probably be done today or tomorrow.
I did crush my original goal of “finishing” the RTK1 before the end of February, but instead, I feel like I’ve made the learning process a bit easier, and hopefully it will make the kanjis stick better.
Anyways, next week I’ll have winter holiday, so I’ll probably get some nice numbers in RTK then. The goal for before the winter holiday, is to be at around 1000~ (in other words, halfway), but we’ll see.

Still on the topic of learning Japanese, I’ve been thinking abit lately. As Khatzu writes in the AJATT blog, you’re supposed to do full immersion. I really don’t think that’s possible at the moment for me.
On one hand, there is a metalhead inside me that says “No, you must stay true to metal!! Don’t go there!”. Then there’s the lazy person inside me that’s saying, “No, you can’t actually do something to learn! STOP RIGHT NOW, and go back to being lazy!”. Well, for the most part, that lazy guy is pretty much ignored, but I really can’t say no to the metalhead inside. I did try to check out some Japanese metal band, but it’s all like power metal, and that’s not really the kind of metal that I like. Of course, even the metalhead has been shoved away quite abit over the last 2 years, from when I downloaded the first opening to One Piece. However, there is a tendency in the Japanese music that I download, to be at least somewhat rock-ish, sometimes close to metal. Most of it is opening/ending themes to anime too~~.
Then there is a problem with pretty much everything else too. I’m not changing my OS to Japanese yet, I won’t throw away all of my manga, and certainly not any of the books either. Friends? I hardly have any (quality over quantity), and I’m not throwing them away either, just because I’m gonna study Japanese.
Well, of course, I don’t have to learn Japanese in 18 months, like Khatzu, but still. Then there is the problem of getting unsubbed anime. I’m not buying an american release, just to watch it in Japanese. Might be that I’m looking at the wrong sites though.
I also tried that listening in my sleep thing. Yeah, no. I had a headache for several days, by sleeping with the Lucky Star Radio Bangumi in the background.
Like I said, full immersion might be too much, but doing stuff like changing my youtube setting to Japanese will be done in the future (though I’ve already set my youtube settings to Japanese =D). I’ll most likely start “hanging out” on more Japanese sites as my level increases (and other stuff like that). I also have a couple of visual novels wating for me (on my external hard drive. And no, not all of them are エロゲ xD). Hmm, when my Japanese skill is high enough to start doing output(writing), and not just input(reading/understanding) I’ll probably also make a blog that will be all in Japanese. Still, that’s faaaar away at the moment.

Lol, I better stop writing now, else this post will be too long. And yeah, this post went pretty much off in a random direction as I was writing (no need for TL;DR comments). :3
Sorry for a messy post, and untill next time, take care~~. =]

(Added for the lulz. The song is awesome too~~)

Slacker!

Right, so I’ve been slacking with posting lately. Well, up untill today actually, I had some school stuff I needed to do, else I’ll fail in English (the subject at school, ok?), and we don’t want that to happen, do we? ^_^

Ok, so I managed to get to the Final Fantasy event, and return safely. I didn’t get as many pics as I hoped for though, but it’s ok. I had fun. Acutally, most of the pics is just from the cosplay contest (lol). Anyways, they can be found here.
I also got my hands on some more pocky (yey!) through the stand Neo-Tokyo had there. I also took a chance, and bought one of those “Final Fantasy Trading Arts mini”-figure-box-thingy. Out of the 5 possible from that box, I actually managed to get the one that I wanted the most from that package! (Rikku <3)

Cute, right? =)

In other news, I started with RTK on Thursday, where I got to #34. Then on friday, I did 70 more, totalling up to #104. Although some were pretty easy (as in, I knew them already), there are some that’s troubling me when I’m reviewing. Ah well, nobody’s perfect.
Which also reminds me. I changed the “main purpose” of this blog. It’s no longer mainly a RTK report thingy, instead its mainly a “whatever happens in my life that’s worth sharing goes here”, and secondly a RTK report thingy now. Today, I also did my first reviews since after I “learned” them. Indeed it seems that I need to work some more on my stories (Stories to help you remember the kanji. They often contain keywords that are related to the parts that make up the kanji).

Another thing (that might not be that interesting, but I’ll share anyways) that happened, is that I finished the first book in the “De Fire…” (long name) series, and started on the second part while I was taking the train towards Oslo on Friday.
I also finally have my microwave up at my appartment, so now I’m gonna go make me a pizza and enjoy that with some Pepsi~.
There’s also the possibility of subscribing to the RSS if you don’t want to check in every day (lol ^_^).

Pics! :O

Right, so I figured I’d post some pics today. I would’ve added them to the post yesterday, but then the post would be too long. Also, I didn’t want to post another post straight after, since to me that looks like spam.
Now, onto the pics. Click on them to see them in full size (They’ll open in a new tab/window, and they’re all pretty large in size)

That’s the wall next to my bed. Yarr!

That’s my usual sitting spot right there. Ohh, it’s also my bed..

There’s my water boiler (<3), some random kitchen stuff that’s never been used (lol), and an all-in-one printer that’s rarely been used.

Moving along that bench, there’s the so called “desk”. It’s more used as a storage space for any random papers that I don’t necessarily need right now though. Oh, and it’s also a storage space for schoolbooks that we don’t often use.

Here’s more of the “desk”. (That hiragana table in the back there is pretty old and messy. I write prettier than that now =D )

Here’s a bunch of awesome stuff (books, CDs, DVD boxset and manga).

Ahh, my fridge! Gotta love it, always giving me cold Pepsi/Urge~~~ (and soon, I’ll also be using the freezer part as a pizza storage).❤

My computer table. Yep, just as messy as the “desk”, but that’s how I like it!

Now, onto the figures:

Somewhat of a group pic (though Clare is pretty hidden behind Konata).

To save some space, I decided to put Konata and Kagamin~ in the same picture (the way I intended with their current poses).

Saber doing an unsheathing-ish pose. One of the better poses I’ve done for a figma. ^_^

Ohh yeah, CLAYMORE! :3

Pose 1/3 of Fate.

Pose 2/3 of Fate.

Pose 3/3 of Fate.

That’s all for today~. ^^

It’s monday soon…

Yeah, that’s the encouragement we got from our teacher every Thursday and Friday.. And from Monday to Wednesday, it was “It’s weeked soon~”.

Right, so today I was gonna rant abit about the weather in Norway during the winter(not particularly Gjøvik, just the weather in general).
To put it simple, it’s very unstable during the winter. One day it snows ~40cm, the next day it would stay. The third day however, is when the crap begins. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the weather tips _JUST_ above 0 degrees (Celcius), enough for the snow to melt slightly, and make the entire place covered in ice. A day or 2 later, the circle repeats it self (more snow), but this time, it’s on a layer of ice, making it dangerous to go outside. I don’t know why, but I just felt I needed to share this hate for the weather here. :3

Up untill now I’ve been asked a few times, about why I choose to study Japanese in my spare time. I never really thought about this untill recently. For one, I do like the sound of the language. For some reason, I think it just sounds so naturally awesome. Being the geek that I am, it also opens a whole new world of stuff to read/watch, including several Light Novels (ライト・ノベル, or the short version ラノベ), and also I get the chance to read more original manga. I also won’t have to deal with finding subs for my anime =D.
As it turns out, I usually preferr to watch/read/listen to whatever in their orignial language, as I feel it looses abit of the natural sound when translated.

Now, it’s basically just one week untill an event I’m looking forward to. By basically I mean, it’s past midnight, so technically it’s Saturday (caturday lulz) now, which means it’s just a week untill the event. This event that I’m talking about is a social event, that mainly got brought to my attention through a forum, and the main theme for this event is the Final Fantasy game series. There will be quite abit of cosplay there, though I’m not going to participate in that (meh, maybe next time ^_^). After the event, there will be a sleepover at one of the organizers’ appartment. It’s a small 16 sqare meter appartment (or so I’ve heard), and there will be 10 (?) people coming there. Won’t be very spacious to say the least (my appartment is 14 sqare meters~, so I have a general idea). On this event I will be bringing my camera, which also brings me to the next part of today’s post.

Two days ago, I went by the local Claes Olson (a hardware store) and bought some new re-chargeable batteries for my camera. The old batteries that I had for my camera was starting to get borked (only lasted max 5 mins), and so I needed to get some new ones. This ended up with me taking quite a few pics of my appartment. I was thinking of adding them to this post, but seeing as there’s even more crap that I’m gonna talk about, I’ll save those for another day. I also have a small gallery of my figures (yeah, anime figures), which I’ll probably share at the same time. I’ve also ordered quite a few more figures, that will be released later this year, and I’ll most likely post pics of those too when I get them.

In other news, the books that I ordered a few days ago (De Fire og Han som Gjør Galt Verre: Begynnelsen and De Fire og Han som Gjør Galt Verre: Slutten (see the previous post for translation on the names)) arrived today, so I went to the bookstore and picked them up. The reason why I bought all 3 of the books, and not just the last one, is that its a long time since I read them, so I barely remember the story. I just started reading Begynnelsen when I got back from the bookstore. It was just about as awesome as I remembered it to be. Ah, guess I never told you what kind of book it is.
It’s simply a fantasy book, but with lots of comedy, often aimed at older youths, or young grownups. The main characters of the book are animals with pretty weird names (I’m not gonna go into anymore details on that).

That’s pretty much it for this time. I’ll also leave this here for now:

more animals

First post! Wohoo~! Small introduction…

Yey, first post. I’m not sure where to start lol.

Guess I’ll start with the main objective, which is to finish RTK (no specific time or anything, just finishing it). As of now, I haven’t even started yet, however, I have ordered the books (but I’m still not sure when I’ll get them). For those of you who don’t know, RTK stands for Remembering the Kanji, a book series by James Heisig. The goal of these books is to learn the kanji (Chinese characters used in the Japanese language). The first book covers writing the 2042 most used used kanjis called the Jouyou kanji (常用漢字, also called general use kanji), the second books covers the on-readings (Chinese readings) for these 2042 kanji, and the third book adds another 965 kanji, split in 2 parts with first learning the characters, and then learning the on-readings. This totals to just over 3000 kanjis, which is a good start. :3
When I’m done with this, I plan to continue with the AJATT-method, though I’m still uncertain about the details.
For now though, I’m just gonna keep studying Japanese through the Japanese in Mangaland books untill I recieve the RTK books.

Since this is also gonna be a blog, I’m also gonna do some small reports on the happenings in my life.
For instance, last week I went to “Yrkes- og utdanningsmessa” (a convention where a lot of schools and companies had stands, to try and recruit young people who are still unsure what to choose for their career path). This was rather dull for me, since I more-or-less already have decided what to do in the future, though I’m still abit uncertain about the details. :3 Anyways, after we left the convention center, me and 3 other guys went to Oslo (15-20 mins with car away from the convention center) where we visited several stores, and just generally having fun. I also bought some books that day. Those books were The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide (a collection of all the 5 Hitchhiker’s Guide books, and a bonus story named “Young Zaphod Plays it Safe”), The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Rituals.
Right now, my main focus is to finish The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide, since, well along with the RTK books, I bought/ordered the Norwegian fantasy triology “De Fire og Han som Gjør Galt Værre” (loosely translated to “The four guys, and that last guy that makes bad worse”). They only had the second book, “Fortsettelsen” (“The continuation”), so they had to order “Begynnelsen” (“The beginning”) and “Slutten” (“The end”). These 2 will arrive sometime next week, so I feel like I have to finish “The Hitchhiker’s Guide” by then.

Guess that’s it for now, I’ll update the about info and some other stuff too, so we’ll see how it plays out.

Also, I’ll leave this here for now: