regeneration

Hi, hope things are going well.

I’m finished with Part One of Remembering The Kanji, which means I just covered 276 frames (260-something kanji plus some ‘primitives’ that are not kanji but are common elements). Well, I’m sort of finished. I’ve been reviewing using Khatzumemo and just today started reviewing using RevTK. I’m at a little over 80% retention rating, which is OK, but I’m getting better. The main thing I have to remember is to commit the characters to imaginative memory instead of visual memory. If you’ve read the introduction to the book (it’s in the sample), you’ll know what I’m talking about. If not, and you’re interested in learning Japanese, please do go read it! :)

My girls and I have fallen in love with Chi’s Sweet Home, a short children’s anime series about a lost kitten who gets adopted. The episodes are only about three minutes long, which makes them perfect for the little ones’ attention span, and they are hilarious. You can download them via BitTorrent from Yoroshiku Fansubs. Yoroshiku just released four more episodes last night, so we’ll enjoy those this weekend, I’m sure.

Tonight we went to Bruster’s for ice cream, for the first time in…probably forever. Pookies’s room mom gave all the kids $2.50 gift cards to Bruster’s, so we decided that was a good reason to visit! Pookies and Peanut got italian ices. Mommy and Daddy went for the waffle cones, of course. Double chocolate chunk…nom nom nom nom nom…

I have to catch up on several weeks’ worth of family pictures. I still have pictures to upload to Flickr from Pookies’s birthday party last month! Some really cute ones are forthcoming, hopefully tomorrow, including, for the FIRST TIME EVER, Peanut’s grumpy face recorded on camera. It’s precious!

This weekend I am hoping to finally get some stuff sold on eBay that I had promised to sell for a friend a long, long time ago. I am also planning to take pictures of all my NASCAR collectibles. Rather than trying to figure out how to sell (or NOT sell!) and ship them individually on eBay, I’m planning to sell the whole lot…some $500 worth or more of diecast cars and other collectibles…for $200 on craigslist Atlanta, and the buyer has to pick it up. No shipping, no fuss, hopefully it goes to a dedicated NASCAR fan, we get a less-crowded room, and I get some of the money I need for Japanese language learning materials.

As soon as I have the money, I plan to buy a Nintendo DS and purchase 美文字トレーニング, a ‘game’ Rich recommended that helps you practice your Japanese penmanship. I was hoping to be able to get it from amazon.co.jp, but they don’t sell it outside Japan for some reason. I’ll have to find a seller. Of course this won’t be useful until I’ve learned all the kanji I need, but hey…I need something for inspiration.

My wife and I are planning to rent National Treasure 2 this weekend, and next weekend, which is my birthday weekend, we’re going to see Speed Racer in IMAX. I’m not expecting a whole lot out of the plot (it’s not like the Wachowski Brothers had a lot to work with!), but the visuals look trippy, so seeing it in IMAX should be a fun ride.

I turn 30 on May 30th this year. That’s weird to me. One of my friends told me that that’s the only time that will happen. Maybe that’s significant. Or maybe I’m just tired.