Kung Fu Fighting With Myself

[pshaw_raven]

*ahem*
IT RAINED LAST NIGHT!

After a long stretch of dry weather it finally rained, and it dumped nearly two inches on us in half an hour. Not only has it been not-raining, but the humidity has been very low, too. It's the time of year when we worry about wildfires starting, especially living in the middle of hundreds of acres of woods made up of what's known as "lighter pine." I don't know if Fox is going to take advantage of the dampness to light up our trash pile, but he might.

I have an eye doctor appointment in Orange Park this morning, fun fun. I go all the way out there because the optometrist allows me to skip the glaucoma test. I know that no one likes the air puff test, but considering I'm jumpy enough that I have trouble putting my head to ANY of the machines, it's a courtesy I and my nervous system appreciate. I get extremely anxious and twitchy when anyone or anything is near my face. Anyway, I'll get fitted for new contacts, and hopefully also get a new set of glasses. The ones I'm wearing are two or three prescriptions out of date, but I typically only wear them around the house, and if I need to go anywhere, I put my contacts in.

I'm having a lot of distressing troubles with my comics. I started a few stories and now can't finish them. I mean, my brain would rather do literally anything than just pick up the fucking stylus, boot up Clip Studio, and just. fucking. draw. And I want SO badly to do it, but can't. I can't just flake out every time I get into the middle of a longer piece - I have a lot more stories about my world that I want to draw up and share, and the fact that I'm bogged down halfway through one is disheartening. My brain doesn't seem to care about any threats or bribes I devise and the only thing I can think of to do is literally try to force myself. Why should I have to force myself to do something I want to do? This is dumb.

Anyway, I've gotten my kanji and kana flashcards back out. I think my Japanese is better than I'm giving myself credit for. I just don't have a good way to practice speaking, and conversation is always my weakest point in language learning. I read French very well, but if you were to drop me in the middle of Paris, I'd likely forget every single French word I know if I had to ask someone for directions. I mean, in Tokyo I can at least remember "sumimasen." LOL

I think it's both funny and very telling that most of the kanji I recognize are related to food.

I don't have a running workout scheduled today but I do need to lift when I get home. My legs are still a little stiff and sore from Tuesday's workout, so I'm going to do mainly upper body lifts. My long run this weekend isn't that long, so hopefully I can get outside and run it instead of needing the treadmill, but if I do have to treadmill it, I can at least watch Assassination Classroom.

Comments

[theradicalchild]

I tried studying Japanese for a decade or so mostly for the JRPGs that will very likely never see English translations but eventually gave up since I never actually became fluent (though there are some things I know well like katakana, and I can occasionally make a Japanese pun), so I've just stuck with German (which I studied in high school) and Spanish (which is useful since I live in Texas), but I'm still not fully fluent in either despite understand things about each very well, but I could only respond to questions in either language in English. And rain but low humidity? I sort of envy you since where I live it's been hot and humid.

[zefyr]

Regarding languages, my French is among the most proficient, but I haven't actively used it in so long that I'd probably be the same if dropped in the center of Paris. Although, when I was last in Belgium, I did use it just fine surprisingly. Also, I studied Japanese for years in school, as in those days there was this idea that Japan would be the next "big global player" or something like that, which resulted in a lot of schools teaching it as the foreign language, but like pretty much all subjects, I did miserably in it and learned very little despite all those years. Later on in life, I'd come to study it independently and picked up quite a bit (it's a beautiful language!), and can read a (very) basic level, but these days I very rarely encounter Japanese, so it's not particularly useful or anything (although delightful when I do and still can read something or other!).

Apologies if you've written about it earlier, as I haven't gotten around to reading your earlier posts, but what kind of comics do you create?

[theradicalchild]

Japan's population is in sharp decline, so yeah, their influence on the world will go as well, and they've made their contribution to culture and such (i.e., Japanese RPGs, excellent game music, etc.). Not that I mind, as that's just the direction the world is headed in, for better or worse.

[zefyr]

The contributions of the Japanese people to human culture are incredible for sure! I've read a few comments online from Japanese users speaking of the 80's and 90's as their golden age, at least culturally. Although I'm aware of the so-called Lost Decade(s) of the 90's and 00's when people in Japan were experiencing economic difficulties, their cultural influence was at its strongest point ever. I'm really grateful that people of that country created things that gave me such joy as a boy, as there was so little else for me then.

[theradicalchild]

I grew up mainly on Japanese video games (I was born in 1984) but have a lower tolerance for overly unfair and cheap games today. I'm glad that most modern games within and without Japan have become more accessible to mainstream audiences (which is a big stickler for me as a disabled gamer), and it seems that Western and Eastern games have learned well from one another.

[pshaw_raven]

I didn't really start trying to learn any Japanese until we planned a trip to Tokyo in 2018 and I began to try to learn some basic phrases. I enjoy learning about languages, so I wound up getting some flashcards and study guides for Japanese, though trying to learn kanji feels pretty overwhelming. I did have a chance to use my French a little when I lived in Louisiana, but Cajun French is VERY different.

I don't think I've posted any links to my art or comics in a while, so here you go!
https://www.deviantart.com/ravens-roost

Some are just one or two panel bits, but I'm trying to do more ongoing stories within a fantasy world I created, and you'll see several of those. "Lora" is the one I'm agonizing over being able to finish.

[zefyr]

Japanese is a twisted beast, as the grammar is actually very logical and orderly, not too difficult to learn at all (especially if you've studied other languages before), but due to Kanji especially, it's a whole other kettle of fish to simply learn how to read. There are a few books from not long after the Second World War which teach Japanese via Romaji, and I know that there are those who scoff at learning the language via Romaji, but I find their reasoning against it to be lacking much basis. If you want to learn how to speak or even learn about how Japanese grammar works without having to take on the beast of the Japanese writing system, such books are invaluable. Although, I'm certainly not making any value judgements or anything; I'm just saying that while I find the writing system to be a thing of beauty, my knowledge of Kanji is severely limited, so in the past I've also just enjoyed studying grammar and so on.

I've heard a bit of Cajun French, and it sounds charming! So many cute anglicisms in it, but I don't really have all too much experience with it in general, so I can't say much else.

And thanks a lot for the link to your works! I'll take a good look. By the way, what kind of tools due you use to create these? I have a Wacom Intuos tablet (I got this one specifically because it works well GNU/Linux), but I'm not much into drawing as I once was. I tend to use it mostly on the odd occasion I want to write something and make it into a digital image.

[pshaw_raven]

I find I'm learning some basic kanji, like directions and locations, but I doubt I'll ever be fluent in reading it. I also pick up words for things like food and everyday items. The first kanji I recognized "in the wild" so to speak was at Haneda Airport where I noticed "disaster" on a big red box, which turned out to be a fire extinguisher. So I felt like a person of the world, learned and fluent, so very intelligent. I also hadn't slept for sixteen hours, so I was loopy as hell.

I'm going to try that Romanji thing - it might be a real help. I'm not trying to become fluent enough to pass for citizenship (yet) but just to be able to speak to people and have a good chance at understanding what I hear.

Cajun French is amazing to hear spoken, but the native speakers I was around all tended to talk very fast. I sometimes have a hard time keeping up in English.

[yarrowkat]

my new eye doctor doesn't do the puff test for glaucoma - she uses some kind of scanning device that takes an extremely detailed picture of the interior of the eye - you just look into the machine and she says things like "watch the green dot, watch the red dot" for a minute or two while this happens - and they can tell all kinds of things from that, including if you are showing any indicators of glaucoma. it's so much nicer than the puff test, and does not involve dilating the eye!

[pshaw_raven]

That machine sounds great! I hope some people around here get those. My doctor even mentioned that the retina scan showed no signs of glaucoma, so I know they don't exactly NEED the air puff. The retina scanner has also done away with the need to dilate your eyes, so that's cool, too. For me it's a slight upcharge but I don't mind.

[cdayzee]

Yay for rain!

Yeah, I love those glaucoma tests :/ I really have to psych myself out to keep my eye open & my face still.

At least my eye dr doesn't insist upon dilating my eyes. That's a whole other problem. Even when I'm given a 'child's dose', my eyes stay dilated for literal days.

[pshaw_raven]

Happily with the fancier scanner, they don't have to dilate my pupils anymore. I haven't had it done in years, since these retina machines became popular around here.