mDuo13

Today's 3 new kanji all sorta go together:

• 道 - michi, dou - "street" as in 歩道 (sidewalk), 坂道 (hill road), 剣道 (kendo). Or any art ending in -do.
• 駅 - eki - "train station" as in 駅 (train station), 各駅停車 (all-stops train), 駅員 (station worker).
• 店 - mise, ten - "shop" as in 喫茶店 (coffee shop), 店員 (shopworker), 商店街 (shopping mall).

By the way, I'm keeping track of my goals on a dedicated kanji page.

This is just a quick update to say that I haven't forgotten about the fact that I'm studying kanji. I have been slacking a bit (I blame Spiritsnare for that) but I'm going back to looking up, practicing, and blogging about the kanji I'm learning, starting now. To start, 6 kanji I knew but needed to really clarify and define:

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Yesterday I finally finished watching Chi's Sweet Home, a series of 104 three-minute-episodes by Madhouse about a kitten who gets adopted by an ordinary Japanese family in an apartment complex that doesn't allow pets.

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Today I was left to fend for myself for dinner (usually I either eat out with friends, eat at work, or eat my mom's cooking) and had planned on getting a delicious, spicy, and relatively healthy falafel sandwich at the famous Falafel Drive-In, but when I got there around 6:45, I found that on Sundays it closes at 6. That being the case, my Plan B was to visit Safeway (which is directly on the way back from Falafel Drive-In) and pick up something to make. I wandered around the store for a while, eventually deciding to boldly cook without a recipe. I picked some ingredients I liked, popped in the CD Re:MIKUS by livetune ft. Hatsune Miku, and set to work. The result, while not perfect by any means, fit my criteria nicely: spicy, not horribly unhealthy, and tasty.

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Talking with my friend Dakanya for the first time in a while, I heard that he's been studying for the JLPT2 in December, which is a pretty lofty goal. It does, however, make me feel like I should at least be aiming at something. I had planned on taking the JLPT anyway; I just needed to decide on what level. Being as Appu passed JLPT4 last year and I at least feel like I know more Japanese than he does, the JLPT3 should be within my reach. I just have to learn something like 300 kanji...

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So today on my way home from work I stopped at SVGL, where I was planning on meeting Spiritsnare for some DJ Max Technika. As it turns out, he was at dinner so I had the machine to myself. I figured I'd play a game or two and wait for him to come back; Matt's an abnormally fast eater, after all. Well, something like 8 games later, neither he nor anyone else wanting to use the Technika machine was on the premises, and it had gotten quite dark. I was riding home, so I left (and made great time, taking a trip that normally costs me an hour in 45 minutes flat), but not before beating Stop, Blythe, and a few other things. I planned on throwing some money in the Pop'n machine, too, but that didn't happen. As it was, I'm nearly too tired to blog about today's kanji.

• 車 - kuruma, sha - "car" as in 車 (car), 自転車 (bicycle), 救急車 (ambulence).
• 学 - gaku, mana - "science" as in がっこう (school), 科学者 (scientist), 学ぶ (learn), 学生 (student), or just as a suffix meaning the study of (e.g. 文学, literature).
• 教 - kyou, oshi as in 教会 (church), 教える (teach), 仏教 (Buddhism). This one looks kinda hard. I'm gonna have to study it more when I'm more awake.

But as I can barely keep my eyes open as it stands, it's goodnight for now.