(no subject)
I have both an LJ and a Facebook page and can't seem to get myself to update either on a regular basis. I usually don't have anything to say that's exciting enough to be worth a full LJ essay and I can't quite seem to master the art of the Facebook post. Any subject that a rambler like me can fit into a brief remark is by default not note-worthy enough to post in the first place. The line between too mundane and too much information eludes me.
Anyhoo, I may not have anything epic to share, but it's been so long since I've posted that I figure the shear number of topics make it worth a try. I've been really bad about keeping in touch with my remote friends and a couple more are moving away so I really want to be better about staying connected.
For the most part things are the same- still at the same job, still living at home, still renting out the house, still going to NJ on Saturdays for lessons, etc… Stable is good, but things have been so routine that I've been finding it hard to stay motivated. After all, if tomorrow is going to be the same as today, then I might as well push off my chores til then, right? (Well, except for finishing off that box of cookies. I mean, you can't push everything off, right?)
A couple weeks ago I was watching a random Japanese show and thought, as I often do, "I'd sure love to go back to Japan someday…" and suddenly the brilliant idea struck me that I should replace "someday" with "next spring." (There was a commercial for a movie I want to see that comes out around that time). At first I wasn't really serious about it, (international travel to see a movie is a bit crazy even for me who would use almost any excuse to go to Japan) but I found myself thinking things like "That's plenty of time to lose 30 more pounds…" and "Oh! If I cut out coffee at work in the mornings I could probably save $30 a month…" and suddenly I was feeling motivated to diet, exercise, save, etc... and I realized that I wasn't lacking the desire to do things like study and lose weight- I was lacking a goal and timeframe. The idea of a trip to Japan as a reward doesn't hurt either. So that's the plan! If all goes well I'm going to go to Japan again next spring! Woo hoo!
Suddenly the year ahead seems crazy busy! First of all, I'm volunteering at Richter again. I'm going to assistant stage manage for Carousel. I'd rather be on 42nd Street or Guys and Dolls as far as musical goes, but the cast and director and stage manager for Carousel are all great, so I'm happy. And since I'm not planning Japan until next year I should have the vacation time to help me survive tech week and the performance schedule.
I also officially decided to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test again this year. I think I need the deadline and the structure of a standardized test to help keep me focused. The fun days of learning new grammar elements and phrases are behind me and there's a seemingly endless wall of vocabulary ahead. Vocab is definitely my weak point. I'm a conceptual learner, so grammar rules come easy but I have a hard time with the rote memorization for vocab. I find it much easier to remember words from songs or tv shows where there's some sort of situational context. Unfortunately that means that I've developed a huge vocabulary of random/dramatic words like flabbergasted, but tend to forget common words like surprised. lol Obviously I've got some holes to fill, but just telling myself "learn more words soon!" is waaaaay too vague and daunting, so I figure "learn a specific list of intermediate level words for a test in December" is a better place to start. It also gives me a specific list of kanji to tackle next and since kanji link meaning to sound they're the key to learning new words. I've been much better about studying kanji recently (up to about 900, only 1100 to go!) so hopefully I'll actually make some progress.
In other news, I helped Kaytee move down to DC. The drive wasn't fun, but it was really nice seeing her new house and meeting her roommates and it was great spending time with her. I was seriously brain dead and exhausted by the time I got back (I actually napped through most of Wednesday afternoon- very rare for me) but there's a three day weekend ahead so hopefully I'll get some much needed R&R then. Yay for time off.
Ok, I'll shut up now and let you guys get back to your interneting ^_~