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Did you know that in Japanese the dogs say "wanwan" when they bark?

This is part of what I'm studying for my Japanese exam.  Other highlights include how to say a fraction in Japanese, and another 'set phrase':

論より証拠 / ろんよりしょうこ
Run yori shiyoko
Proof rather than argument (roughly - the proof is in the pudding)

Which at this point is pretty much a guiding principle for me. All this practice and studying that I do? Doesn't really make a damn bit of difference if I can't take the tests and write the papers. Oh end of semester how I love thee, truly I do. I am trying to my damnedest to stay on point and work on Japanese since my final is 4 days away and I really want to get a good grade on it.  But I'm also supposed to be researching for my paper, and I'm having some serious motivation problems.  It will happen though, because it has to, that's how these things go.

And as far as the other exciting things of life in the last week? 

I ate a celebratory supper with my theory class at a Korean restaurant and discovered that, while it's not a cuisine I would choose over Thai or Japanese, it was good.  Not a fan of kimchee though, just not.  I do love Korean chopsticks though - they're flatter, and stainless steel, and when I was in undergrad at Santa Cruz I totally stole a pair from a Korean restaurant there (mostly because I didn't realize you could go buy them from a restaurant supply store, really).

I sat in on the presentation of a chapter from one of our PhD students' dissertation - she's working on the art displayed in Japanese department stores from 1910s - 1920s, and all these really cool notions the avant-garde artists had of doing found art WORK, and how they saw the showings as a way to actually reach the *real* public (as opposed to those closed off spaces of galleries).  The notion of a department store as an arbiter of artistic taste, or working in conjunction with those who are trying to fight the bourgeois notion of art was really kind of entertaining.

I discovered I'm sensitive to sunchokes (also called Jerusalem artichokes) by eating three helpings of them over the course of three days and then having stomach pain for 6 days afterward.  Yesterday was the first day I could actually feel a drastic improvement.  They were tasty!  But not worth it.  Apparently if you're not used to eating them, some (but not many) people can have a bad reaction to them.  Of course I would be part of that some.

Thankfully managed to take my oral Japanese exam before the school was closed down because of a bomb threat.  Is it coming up on finals time?  I think it is!!  The only lesson that should be learned about this?  Calling in fake bomb threats in order to miss a final is a bad idea, ok?

And yes, finally, today is the opening of sign ups for summer_of_giles.  While I may not be making a crap ton of Buffy-verse art every single day, he's still the closest Watcher to my heart, and I'm so glad it seems like there's interest in another summer of goodness.

Did you know that in Japanese the dogs say "wanwan" when they bark?

This is part of what I'm studying for my Japanese exam.  Other highlights include how to say a fraction in Japanese, and another 'set phrase':

論より証拠 / ろんよりしょうこ
Run yori shiyoko
Proof rather than argument (roughly - the proof is in the pudding)

Which at this point is pretty much a guiding principle for me. All this practice and studying that I do? Doesn't really make a damn bit of difference if I can't take the tests and write the papers. Oh end of semester how I love thee, truly I do. I am trying to my damnedest to stay on point and work on Japanese since my final is 4 days away and I really want to get a good grade on it.  But I'm also supposed to be researching for my paper, and I'm having some serious motivation problems.  It will happen though, because it has to, that's how these things go.

And as far as the other exciting things of life in the last week? 

I ate a celebratory supper with my theory class at a Korean restaurant and discovered that, while it's not a cuisine I would choose over Thai or Japanese, it was good.  Not a fan of kimchee though, just not.  I do love Korean chopsticks though - they're flatter, and stainless steel, and when I was in undergrad at Santa Cruz I totally stole a pair from a Korean restaurant there (mostly because I didn't realize you could go buy them from a restaurant supply store, really).

I sat in on the presentation of a chapter from one of our PhD students' dissertation - she's working on the art displayed in Japanese department stores from 1910s - 1920s, and all these really cool notions the avant-garde artists had of doing found art WORK, and how they saw the showings as a way to actually reach the *real* public (as opposed to those closed off spaces of galleries).  The notion of a department store as an arbiter of artistic taste, or working in conjunction with those who are trying to fight the bourgeois notion of art was really kind of entertaining.

I discovered I'm sensitive to sunchokes (also called Jerusalem artichokes) by eating three helpings of them over the course of three days and then having stomach pain for 6 days afterward.  Yesterday was the first day I could actually feel a drastic improvement.  They were tasty!  But not worth it.  Apparently if you're not used to eating them, some (but not many) people can have a bad reaction to them.  Of course I would be part of that some.

Thankfully managed to take my oral Japanese exam before the school was closed down because of a bomb threat.  Is it coming up on finals time?  I think it is!!  The only lesson that should be learned about this?  Calling in fake bomb threats in order to miss a final is a bad idea, ok?

And yes, finally, today is the opening of sign ups for summer_of_giles.  While I may not be making a crap ton of Buffy-verse art every single day, he's still the closest Watcher to my heart, and I'm so glad it seems like there's interest in another summer of goodness.