(no subject)

As most of you are probably aware at this point, I twink around with Japanese. I don't read or write or speak it much above the level of yer average fangirl, but it's something I do to while away the hours here in my Castle of Infinite Doom. Anyway, I keep after it, when the mood strikes, and I've been... er... getting better. (Yeah, I know. Comes as a shock to me, too.)

Today's instance of "Hey, I can kinda read this crap" is brought to you by the particle を and the kanji 色. Text is from ハリーポッタと賢者の石:

ウッドは箱に手をつっこんで、四つ目の、最後のボールを取り出した。クアッフルやブラッジャーに比べるとずいぶん小さく、大きめの胡桃ぐらいだった。まばゆい金色で、小さな銀色の羽をヒラヒラさせている。

In my limited literacy world, the text above says "Wood reached in the box and brought out the fourth, and last, ball. Compared to the quaffle and the bludgers, it was a lot smaller, about the size of a walnut. (I did have to look up 胡桃 because that isn't a compound I know.) It was gold, with little silver wings that began to flutter."

Dang. That's almost like reading, there. Er. Yay. I don't do that well on unknown material -- part of the reason I can read Harry Potter is that I've read it in English and thus have some idea of where the book is going -- but it's better than nothing..

At this point, I'm grinding my teeth because I have words that I know/read but don't know/say (for example 比べる, which I'm damn sure is the verb "to compare" but I don't have what it sounds like. I'd have to look that up to discover that it's くらべる.) and I have words that I know/say but don't know/read (like ごかいじょ, which I'm sure you all remember from HnG as "commercial Go parlor" like the one Touya Meijin owns. Left to my own devices, I would not be able to parse 碁会所.) These unmatched words are like having unpaired socks in the laundry basket, very frustrating.

(no subject)

I think I need to have a word with my local post office. See, many days there is nothing at all in the mail for me. Some days there is mail, but it's a phone bill or a credit card bill or the electric bill. (I don't have any other monthly bills.) Some days I get a check or a bank statement and those are better than bills. But surprise mail, exciting mail, mail that I actually want -- that I don't get every day or even every time I get mail. That shit is few and far between, but today I got three pieces of good mail.

( Read about the mail... )