The past few days of my life have been going pretty well, if I do say so myself. The previous week was not so grand.

With the end of the quarter always comes a bulk of last minute assignments and tests. Of course, I had that placement test that I was worrying about hardcore. Well, I was right to worry about it. It was HARD, and there was stuff on the test that we haven’t even touched on in class. I went in there feeling anxious, and during the test I felt like my education in the language thus far has been pretty inadequate. Granted, it could be that I was taking a test that is meant for student who have completed two years of study, and I’m at the point where I have 1.33 years of study. Although I know I didn’t do very well on the placement exam, I now know what sort of things I should be studying for prior to leaving for Japan. That way when I get there, I can humbly ask (or beg) to retake the placement test.

My final exam in Japanese class was extremely easy, which was awesome for me (grade-wise). Though, I am the type of person who learns much more through mistakes than being self-taught. Things stick much easier.

Overall, this quarter was pretty mediocre. I had some really awesome classes, I had some really bad classes (which I dropped), and I had some “eh” classes. Grade-wise, I did not do as well in one class as I had thought; but it’s good in such a way that I now won’t be extremely anal over getting perfect grades. A little bit of stress has been taken off my chest.

I have to admit, though, I’m glad I took the class that I’m not getting as good a grade in. I was able to mend a friendship with an ex, and I now have an extremely awesomely fantastic new friend to hang out with, someone who I can talk to about my writing and not have to be afraid that he thinks I’m weird or nerdy (not that I’m ever afraid of being nerdy). It’s more like… he has a greater appreciation for what I’m telling him than most people, because he too is into creative writing. It’s extremely refreshing.

I can’t wait to see what the new year will bring me.

Desert Bus is a game on Sega Genesis that was created in the 1995 as part of a game pack by Penn & Teller.

The objective of the game is to drive a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada in real time at a maximum speed of 45mph, a feat that would take the player 8 hours of continuous play to complete, as the game cannot be paused.

The bus contains no passengers, and there is no scenery or other cars on the road. The bus veers to the right slightly; as a result, it is impossible to tape down a button to go do something else and have the game end properly. If the bus veers off the road it will stall and be towed back to Tucson, also in real time. If the player makes it to Las Vegas, they will score exactly one point. The player then gets the option to make the return trip to Tucson—for another point (a decision they must make in a few seconds or the game ends). Players may continue to make trips and score points as long as their endurance holds out. Some players who have completed the trip have also noted that, although the scenery never changes, a bug splats on the windscreen over halfway through the first trip, and on the return trip the light does fade, with differences at dusk, and later a pitch black road where the player is guided only with headlights.

Last year, four guys created Desert Bus for Hope, a charity event to benefit Child’s Play. The more money you donate, the longer they have to play the game.

The second annual event is going on THIS weekend. If you’re a sick, twisted, sadistic person (like I am), go to desertbus.org to donate to this super amazing charity and bring a little bit more pain to these fantastic guys!

It’s quite obvious that I failed my NaBloPoMo task. Oddly enough, though, I’ve written about 20,000 words over about 4 days - one of those days I wrote 9,500+ words. If inspiration had hit me sooner, I’m pretty sure I could have written 50,000 words this month. But the words don’t come when I force them. Even if I had tried sooner, I probably wouldn’t have ended up with my new cool character and a fantastic story to go with it. All in all, I’m pleased with what little I’ve accomplished.

I find it strange that I can’t do any sort of daily routine, not even writing in a blog. Oh well, such is my life.

Today I spent my thanksgiving in the kitchen with my mom, watching VH1 classic marathon on Pink Floyd and trying very hard to forget that I have a Japanese placement test one week from today, in which I found out about only yesterday.* I discovered that there was a lot about that band that I had no idea about. Now I want to pull out Dark Side of the Moon or Animals and chill out. Did you know that Dark Side of the Moon has been on the billboard chart for 1633 weeks? That’s over 31 years … Geezes!

Reading the last post I wrote here makes me laugh. It almost seemed like I jinxed myself in regards to the placement test.

Don’t forget about Child’s Play! I had one super awesome random person donate some money, and now I love him for it! It’s so easy to get me to love you! Whether is $1 or $20 or $75, any amount will bring on the <3<3<3’s.

I’m going to get myself away from the TV now and try to fix this trainwreck of a piece that I started writing last night.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

*This gave me a nervous breakdown. It would have been nice to been given a little bit longer than one week to know about this!

The JLPT is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. There are four different levels based off of how much you know. At this point in my Japanese language career, I should be able to pass level 4 and know some of level 3.

Well… that’s definitely not the case.

I was looking through the vocabulary list today, and I definitely would not be able to pass. There’s so much I don’t know! What I don’t understand is why classrooms just don’t teach things according to the JLPT level, or in accordance to elementary school. I mean, last year I learn some pretty useless things that will probably never come up while I’m in Japan. Furoshiki, for example. Somehow that word was drilled into my head and I can remember it, but I’m just NOW learning how to say shirts, pants, shoes, etc. in second year.

“Just do self study!” That would be fantastic, except for my lack of self-discipline. I had this huge plan laid out for how I was going to study so much Japanese during the summer. Yeah, that didn’t work out AT ALL. I need guidance. And I would prefer if I could actually understand a Japanese children’s book written for 5 year olds than knowing how to say, “I have no cards on hand” (meaning business cards). In case you’re wondering, it’s “meishi no mochiawase ga nai desu.” So useful, right? For all those business cards I’ll be handing out to business people when I’m in Japan.

So many words I should know. So many words I’ve forgotten. So many words that I’ve never been taught but will be expected to know. I feel a bit overwhelmed. I’m supposed to be at level 3 JLPT in five months. FIVE MONTHS. And I can’t even do JLPT 4. I am absolutely TERRIFIED.

I’m going to try my very hardest to do 2 hours of study every day over the next five months…. but man, I’m so easily distracted. I don’t know how I’m going to get myself to maintain focus!

I guess I’ll just have to try my best!

Yeah, the title pretty much says it all. I like to think that maybe my lack of Japanese vocabulary has a lot to do with why I don’t understand some of the things my Japanese teacher says. But I think that even if she were to use all words I know and speak at normal conversation speed, I wouldn’t be able to understand her. This phrase will end up being my very best friend: mou ikkai hanashite kudasai. Please speak a little slower. [Evidently Japanese text does not work in this editor.]

I know I’m behind in my studies of Japanese, especially since I will be (hopefully) going to Japan in a mere 5 months. FIVE MONTHS. I do decent on my Japanese tests, but that’s because I cram it all in the night before or the day of the test. And then… I forget.

It’s so difficult to learn a language without daily reinforcement. Maybe I’m just being whiney in that regard. It’s my own fault if I’m not reinforcing what I learn in class. Sadly I’m not the kind of person who has enough self-discipline to do something like learning or reinforcing a language on my own. I can’t even get myself on a normal sleep schedule, or do 5 minutes worth of daily exercise. It’s not that I’m not motivated - it’s that I lack the discipline.

How does one learn to discipline oneself? “Give rewards. Take away pleasures.” That stuff doesn’t work for me. If I want something, I just go out and get it. I don’t work for it, though I probably should. Maybe I should pick up a book on self-discipline. Hm.

At any rate, my goal (which honestly may not be met) is to work on my listening skills. Writing isn’t so bad - though I need to learn more Kanji. And my speaking is… mediocre. But if I can’t understand what someone is saying, how am I supposed to be able to respond? I guess I could do listening and speaking training at the same time. In theory.

Off to work on Kanji. If I don’t get distracted by a Neil Gaiman book I’m reading. =X