(no subject)
Sep. 7th, 2004 11:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanI've signed up for the JLPT 一級 level. Commence Spending.
Signup itself costs close to 6,000 yen. Then you have to figure in transportation costs to the test site, as well as breakfast and lunch on the day of (I have to leave way early in the morning.)
I took a practice test a few days ago. Got 100% on the kanji, but in the mid 80%s for gitaigo and grammar. That's fine, I thought at first. I can always take it again next year. And then I thought, You know what? No. I'm gonna wipe the floor with this test.
So now we have begun dropping loads of cash on practice books. As the relative learning value of said books cannot be acertained before purchase, I've got a few duds. (Because, you know, I don't care how much grammar you can shove in my face in 300 pages. If you don't explain it, what's the point?)
Still, I'm gonna take 一級 down, muthafuckas!
Go ahead. Buy an electronic Korean dictionary. In fact, I dare you.
Because I sure can't seem to manage it. Simple enough in Korea, wouldn't you think? Hardly. The models I wanted were sold out at every single store I visited. They still had dictionaries, mind you, but I'd rather not spend $250 on a dictionary that only translates one way, and has no English menues.
Okay, fine, we'll buy one in town. It'll be more expensive, but at least I can get one, right? Right?
Nope again. The electronics chains in my town stock English, Chinese, German, Italian, French, and Spanish dictionaries, but not Korean.
Well, it's time to visit our good friend the Internet. This is where I DARE YOU to find an electronic dictionary. It took the good people at Joshin Pit Electronics 45 minutes to find information on one dictionary, but no way to, uh, order it.
I've got model numbers. I've visited the Sharp and Casio homepages in three different languages. I've been to Cnet and amazon online. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Congratulations, o makers electronic dictionaries. You have just won the 'Must Inacessible Product Known To Humankind' award.
It's Official: The Japanese design houses with the maximum in human discomfort in mind.
Take for instance, my new apartment, in which the windows do not open, the doors are warped so that air conditioned air does not stay put, and the washer must go outside on the open balcony.
Ah, the lovely washer. I've spent close to $50 on water this month, enjoying the fact that after two months, I can now wash clothing whenever I want to.
It's not so bad having a washer outside, aside from the fact that the balcony is set up so that one can't hang lines for drying anywhere (a necessity as Japanese do not use dryers), nor is there room to put a clothes stand on the balcony, as that space is occupied by the door when it opens.
Likewise, there is no drain fixture, so the washing machine water empties onto the balcony floor, where it sits until evaporation. This is a pain in the ass, but my situation is still liveable.
Not so, I just realised, come winter, when the three feet of snow that can accumulate overnight is going to make opening the door difficult, let alone getting to the washer.
And what's to become of the gallons of wash water emptying out into sub-zero degree weather? I hope it doesn't rupture the drainage system on the new washer.
Word to yo mother: If city hall tells me to take my clothing to the laundromat again, they're paying for it out of their own pockets.
Yuu Watase writes bad fanfic. Only it's actually officially published manga.
I'm reading through Ayashi no Ceres, and man, does it bust out every Mary Sue, I can't believe they call this writing! cliche in the book, and is enjoyable for those exact reasons. Observe:
Main character (Aya): "Mom, Dad, Grampa? Why are you trying to kill me?"
Deus ex Machina/Information Dump charas: "Thank god we've saved you. The blood of heavenly beings runs in your veins,Canon Sue Aya, giving you amazing powers of destruction not possessed by non Sues us mortals."
Aya: "Can I go home now?"
DeM/ID: "NO!"
Dark and Mysterious Man: "Your family won't rest until they've killed you."
Aya: "That's nice. I think I'll pop home for a bit. Ta!"
Family: //Tries to kill Aya//
Deus ex Machina/Information Dump charas: "Thank god we've saved you. The blood of heavenly beings runs in your veins,Canon Sue Aya, giving you amazing powers of destruction not possessed by non Sues us mortals."
Aya: "Great. I think I'll pay my mom a visit. TTYL!"
Family: //Tries to kill Aya//
Deus ex Machina/Information Dump charas: "Thank god we've saved you. The blood of heavenly beings runs in your veins,Canon Sue Aya, giving you amazing powers of destruction not possessed by non Sues us mortals."
Aya: "That's the suxXx0rs, LOL. Gotta go save my brother. CYA!"
Dark and Mysterious Man: "Your family won't rest until they've killed you." //saves Aya. then threatens to kill her.//
Deus ex Machina/Information Dump charas: "Thank god we've saved you. The blood of heavenly beings runs in your veins,Canon Sue Aya, giving you amazing powers of destruction not possessed by non Sues us mortals."
And so on. Bad fanfic, my brothers and sisters, but so very fun!
That will be all.
Signup itself costs close to 6,000 yen. Then you have to figure in transportation costs to the test site, as well as breakfast and lunch on the day of (I have to leave way early in the morning.)
I took a practice test a few days ago. Got 100% on the kanji, but in the mid 80%s for gitaigo and grammar. That's fine, I thought at first. I can always take it again next year. And then I thought, You know what? No. I'm gonna wipe the floor with this test.
So now we have begun dropping loads of cash on practice books. As the relative learning value of said books cannot be acertained before purchase, I've got a few duds. (Because, you know, I don't care how much grammar you can shove in my face in 300 pages. If you don't explain it, what's the point?)
Still, I'm gonna take 一級 down, muthafuckas!
Go ahead. Buy an electronic Korean dictionary. In fact, I dare you.
Because I sure can't seem to manage it. Simple enough in Korea, wouldn't you think? Hardly. The models I wanted were sold out at every single store I visited. They still had dictionaries, mind you, but I'd rather not spend $250 on a dictionary that only translates one way, and has no English menues.
Okay, fine, we'll buy one in town. It'll be more expensive, but at least I can get one, right? Right?
Nope again. The electronics chains in my town stock English, Chinese, German, Italian, French, and Spanish dictionaries, but not Korean.
Well, it's time to visit our good friend the Internet. This is where I DARE YOU to find an electronic dictionary. It took the good people at Joshin Pit Electronics 45 minutes to find information on one dictionary, but no way to, uh, order it.
I've got model numbers. I've visited the Sharp and Casio homepages in three different languages. I've been to Cnet and amazon online. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Congratulations, o makers electronic dictionaries. You have just won the 'Must Inacessible Product Known To Humankind' award.
It's Official: The Japanese design houses with the maximum in human discomfort in mind.
Take for instance, my new apartment, in which the windows do not open, the doors are warped so that air conditioned air does not stay put, and the washer must go outside on the open balcony.
Ah, the lovely washer. I've spent close to $50 on water this month, enjoying the fact that after two months, I can now wash clothing whenever I want to.
It's not so bad having a washer outside, aside from the fact that the balcony is set up so that one can't hang lines for drying anywhere (a necessity as Japanese do not use dryers), nor is there room to put a clothes stand on the balcony, as that space is occupied by the door when it opens.
Likewise, there is no drain fixture, so the washing machine water empties onto the balcony floor, where it sits until evaporation. This is a pain in the ass, but my situation is still liveable.
Not so, I just realised, come winter, when the three feet of snow that can accumulate overnight is going to make opening the door difficult, let alone getting to the washer.
And what's to become of the gallons of wash water emptying out into sub-zero degree weather? I hope it doesn't rupture the drainage system on the new washer.
Word to yo mother: If city hall tells me to take my clothing to the laundromat again, they're paying for it out of their own pockets.
Yuu Watase writes bad fanfic. Only it's actually officially published manga.
I'm reading through Ayashi no Ceres, and man, does it bust out every Mary Sue, I can't believe they call this writing! cliche in the book, and is enjoyable for those exact reasons. Observe:
Main character (Aya): "Mom, Dad, Grampa? Why are you trying to kill me?"
Deus ex Machina/Information Dump charas: "Thank god we've saved you. The blood of heavenly beings runs in your veins,
Aya: "Can I go home now?"
DeM/ID: "NO!"
Dark and Mysterious Man: "Your family won't rest until they've killed you."
Aya: "That's nice. I think I'll pop home for a bit. Ta!"
Family: //Tries to kill Aya//
Deus ex Machina/Information Dump charas: "Thank god we've saved you. The blood of heavenly beings runs in your veins,
Aya: "Great. I think I'll pay my mom a visit. TTYL!"
Family: //Tries to kill Aya//
Deus ex Machina/Information Dump charas: "Thank god we've saved you. The blood of heavenly beings runs in your veins,
Aya: "That's the suxXx0rs, LOL. Gotta go save my brother. CYA!"
Dark and Mysterious Man: "Your family won't rest until they've killed you." //saves Aya. then threatens to kill her.//
Deus ex Machina/Information Dump charas: "Thank god we've saved you. The blood of heavenly beings runs in your veins,
And so on. Bad fanfic, my brothers and sisters, but so very fun!
That will be all.
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no subject
on 2004-09-07 05:18 am (UTC)http://dictionaries.pdatopsoft.com/dictionaries/dictionaries/korean.html
(I checked it out, and they seem to ship world-wide, but not sure whether you want to buy online. Also, they seem to have a choice of "economy" and "holy-moly, this'll do everything but brush my teeth!")
And Ayashi no Ceres... I never thought of it as Mary-Sueish, more...boring. Everything was just sooo very...boring. And the two of them having sex more than a little squicked me out. (Gah! Miaka! Tamahome! In different bodies! Doin' it!) I prefer watase's other project, the Fushigi Yuugi gaiden? I take much pleasure in knowing the heroine will end up back in her world, dying a horrible death. Because she's pretty spunky right now. Ehehe...
no subject
on 2004-09-08 01:01 am (UTC)I never got into Fushigi Yuugi. Something about its fanbase just messed that up for me. And as for Ayashi no Ceres
no subject
on 2004-09-08 03:08 am (UTC)An re: voice functions. They are *cracked up.* My dictionary has it, and I sometimes just look up words to snicker in my off time.
no subject
on 2004-09-08 05:25 am (UTC)Yeah, see that's the thing about voice functions. I'm sure they're lovely if you can already manage the language, but are dangerous to new learners. I don't want to end up talking like I came from a straight up educational film or anything.
no subject
on 2004-09-09 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
on 2004-09-09 06:34 am (UTC)Speaking of scary voice functions, I'm toying with the idea putting some mp3s of the 'English Chant' section of my 'Let's Learn English!' cards up online.
Cause the chants make vintage Vanilla Ice seem hardcore.
no subject
on 2004-09-10 05:22 am (UTC)and speaking of: whatever happened to that short video you were gonna make, set to James Bond/Moby theme? ^^
no subject
on 2004-09-10 05:29 am (UTC)The video has long been made (it was the most popular of all the submissions, rawk!) but the slackers in charge of the show have yet to make DVDs of it for the participants.
no subject
on 2004-09-08 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
on 2004-09-08 12:58 am (UTC)But only if it cleans my bathroom too.
no subject
on 2004-09-08 01:15 am (UTC)(p.s. sorry, don't mean to troll your journal but I really am quite bored)
no subject
on 2004-09-08 01:28 am (UTC)On further consideration, however, I think I'd forego the heat your apartment function in favor of an adjust superior's attitude function. But that's just me.
no subject
on 2004-09-08 01:50 am (UTC)Troll troll troll. Did you know my mum is a Pixie?
no subject
on 2004-09-08 05:22 am (UTC)An adjust salary button would be nice, as would an insert weekend function.
no subject
on 2004-09-08 06:50 am (UTC)On a completely different matter, you kwon I was telling you how I wasn't brave enough to go in my local manga shop? Well, earlier this afternoon I was on my way from the postoffice and i thought; "Ahh. It's the middle of the day. All the kids are in school. i'll hit the manga shop now whilst theres no one around". So I'm just pulling up on my bike and I catch a glimpse of my damn kyoto-sensei in there! What the fuck?! I quickly cycle away and hope he didn't notice me. Seems he had the same idea as me.
dictionary
on 2004-09-08 02:10 am (UTC)my cousin has a really sweet one, but it is the $200+ kind.
will you let me know if you find a good one and where (if you get it online)?
thanks.
Re: dictionary
on 2004-09-08 05:26 am (UTC)The one's I'm looking at K-E-J wise are all in the $270-$300 range. Still, I'll let you know if I ever manage to find them online.