Learning Hiragana

I refuse to only learn spoken language, but daaang. Hiragana isn't sticking for me. When I was a child, I got bumped from the "slow" class to the "advanced" class in elementary when they realized I *wasn't* slow. In the new class, I couldn't read a word on the board. My old class hadn't even STARTED cursive writing. The new class had. The scribbles on the board made no sense to me. I was given a handbook for cursive on Friday, and by Monday I knew cursive. I could read it and write it. Why the hell can't I get hiragana to stick? I haven't even *begun* with Katakana. I know a few Kanji, but I know them by their Chinese names which I studied before, and the Japanese names for the Kanji aren't sticking.

Found at least one fun resource for Hiragana / Katakana practice, though. Try Kana Invaders. It is at least entertaining for a few moments, even if it still doesn't get me past this roadblock.

Japanese

Considered starting a new blog. What the heck, why yet another new blog?

Anyway, I'm learning Japanese now. Yeah yeah, I know, another language. If you know me (which you probably don't) you know I'm a language flirt. I never commit. I've studied German, Spanish & Latin all in school. Can't speak much of any of them, though I could probably survive in a Spanish speaking country if I had to. I've self-studied Mandarin very briefly, and now I'm studying Japanese.

I believe Japanese is going much better than Mandarin was. I just find it easier in some respects. The writing system, well everybody complains about that. Hiragana is supposed to be the easy part, right? Well I've learned about 1/4 of the Hiragana and now seem to have hit a brick wall. There are some that I just cannot get down. I review them over and over, and my mind remains blank when I see them. もみにまぽぱばにねぬ, all random characters that share one thing in common for me: I *CANNOT* remember any of them.

This too shall pass, I am sure, but I think I am going to have to take a different angle. I've been following the advice of many and using Spaced Repetition (SRS) study, but I don't feel like this method imprints new ideas AT ALL, it only reinforces what you ALREADY know. Initial learning doesn't come from flashcards. I think I'll have to go back to the methods I used with Latin and simply fill up entire notebooks WRITING what I'm trying to learn.

And, then, of course there's vocabulary, which almost seems to take a back seat!

With my current job, my mind is constantly frayed. I don't even socialize like I would like because I'm spending so much time trying to unwind. How can I expect to learn anything like this?

NEW POEM: Sorrowful Relief

Sorrowful Relief

Going on the last train
You left your bags at the station
Fogged up doors slide between us suddenly,
I hope you saw our waves goodbye.
The empty tracks still echo
the clatter of your passing.

Information Addict

For me, as a writer, the internet is the worst thing that could ever have happened. I am obsessed with information. I don't just read rumors and cool sites, I check sources -- something I learned to do well in college -- and dig deeper to find out who is telling the truth and who isn't.

I now know a lot about a lot of things -- but I don't write. Not liked I did before the internet. The lure of the information drug is too heavy. It's like I get a dopamine fix by finding out new things!

Podcasts made it worse - now I can listen AND read both at the same time. There must be some solution to this addiction.

Reading

Is reading a valid alternative to writing? By reading, I am researching "the competition". Just like an engineer spends time going over textbooks teaching him how to engine.... Erm, if Welders weld, why don't engineers engine?

Anyway, I'm reading Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling. Pretty fun read, but it does suffer from a bit of the "Hetero Apocalypse Fantasy".

The "Hetero Apocalypse Fantasy" is the syndrome wherein the characters in a story are suddenly thrust into a savage world. This can be due to nuclear winter, famine, jumping across the galaxy, etc. In the case of Island in the Sea of Time, it is due to Nantucket being plucked out of 1998 and dropped intact into 1250 B.C.

The typical characteristics of such a fantasy are that ordinary people suddenly find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Well, not quite ordinary. Typically the main characters will be intelligent, shy, and somewhat bookish. They will have been living a quiet life beforehand. Almost no career bureaucrats or politicians will EVER survive into the Hetero Apocalypse Fantasy. Governments and social systems will be rebuilt - to be run by the previously underachieving hero / heroine.

Additionally, it is a Hetero fantasy because it elevates lonely individuals into a place of importance in society, which typically comes with free access to BOOBS and other attached benefits. You can't have an apocalypse in this genre without a sudden increase in sex and subsequent jump in the birth rate. The sex lives of EVERYONE gets more interesting when the world is turned upside down. Of course, the bad guys have a better sex life, but you know the author (and readers) are cheering the bad guys on for it.

Can such an experimental novel be written - and be interesting - without falling into the Hetero Apocalypse Fantasy trap? Maybe. Probably not - it would be boring.

Followup on Driftwood

Way back in 2005 I posted a story titled Driftwood here on the Ethereal Cafe. Ultimately, Driftwood is going to make its way into my book Sleeping Past Noon. Don't think I've mentioned that project on here.

Sleeping Past Noon is my magnum opus. Which, of course, means it is perpetually in the planning stages. One might call it autobiography, but it isn't - not really. The struggle to differentiate the story from my own life is why the work has yet to be written. If it were merely autobiography, that would be easy. I have 60,000 words of autobiography already written - but not for publication.

What is holding me back on Sleeping Past Noon is that I cannot separate it enough from myself, and that's a problem. I need to know my protagonist, and need to know where he is going to end up. I do not know this about myself - so how can I claim to know it for my protagonist?

Current Word Count: 2190

Writing Update

I wouldn't call this so much an update, since there hasn't been much in the way of actual writing going on. I've been proofreading. Making an attempt at graduate school (and I'm not motivated in the least).

Why do I still keep a writing blog then? Because there are still stories boiling around under the surface waiting to be told.