This is not a review of Samurai 7
My plan was to write about yesterday's show and Shinjuku Fun Times, but I feel lazy. Maybe later.
* * *
You know those days where things that weren't much on their own suddenly add up and you feel so heavy that the only thing that sounds good is going home, downing a glass of wine (or two) and zoning out in front of a silly tv show?
Today is one of those days. And I'm taking a risk, because while even the cheapest white wine is generally drinkable, cheap red can be really, really bad. So far this one seems all right... And I'm drinking it out of my Winnie the Pooh glass, which makes it more cheerful.
It's also a damn big glass. XD
Still, I have to clean up my apartment and take some pictures and video of myself (for the Super Seekrit -- okay, not really -- Educational Video project).
* * *
The 日本語能力試験 practice test was a mixed bag. The first part (writing/grammar) totally kicked my ass, but I think I did fairly well on the reading and listening parts. The writing section was first, and my confidence was quickly shot down when I kept coming across not only kanji I didn't know (I'd expected that) but words I didn't know and was positive I'd never learned. Once I started the reading section, however, I was fine, and realised that the probable cause of all this was that I was doing level 3 -- of the new test.
They're redesigning the test to have 5 levels instead of 4, so I'm guessing that since I signed up for 3, I could have been sent to do either 4 or 3, and ended up doing the more difficult one. My suspicions were confirmed at the end, when we had to fill out a survey. One of the questions was, "How would you rate the difficulty of this test?" and you could choose either "Like level 2", "Like level 3", "Between levels 2 and 3 but closer to 2 (or 3)", or "I've never taken the text before, so I have no clue."
I found it a bit strange that the writing section seemed to be much more difficult than the others. I don't mean just the kanji, but the grammar itself. Of course, it was mostly short sentences, which are more difficult to understand out of context than when you have a paragraph (as most of the reading questions did); however, there was a lot of tricky vocabulary, as well as several 2x2 words (those 2-syllables-repeated twice words, like kirakira or perapera or sorosoro) that often throw me for a loop, for some reason. The listening section, on the other hand, was mostly casual conversations in plain form.
* * *
I hope the next few nights won't be too chilly, because they were out of the space heater I wanted at Yodobashi and my order won't arrive until Thursday.
* * *
I've given up NaNoWriMo as a lost cause, though I do want to finish my fic. Oh well, at least I tried, this year!
* * *
You know those days where things that weren't much on their own suddenly add up and you feel so heavy that the only thing that sounds good is going home, downing a glass of wine (or two) and zoning out in front of a silly tv show?
Today is one of those days. And I'm taking a risk, because while even the cheapest white wine is generally drinkable, cheap red can be really, really bad. So far this one seems all right... And I'm drinking it out of my Winnie the Pooh glass, which makes it more cheerful.
It's also a damn big glass. XD
Still, I have to clean up my apartment and take some pictures and video of myself (for the Super Seekrit -- okay, not really -- Educational Video project).
* * *
The 日本語能力試験 practice test was a mixed bag. The first part (writing/grammar) totally kicked my ass, but I think I did fairly well on the reading and listening parts. The writing section was first, and my confidence was quickly shot down when I kept coming across not only kanji I didn't know (I'd expected that) but words I didn't know and was positive I'd never learned. Once I started the reading section, however, I was fine, and realised that the probable cause of all this was that I was doing level 3 -- of the new test.
They're redesigning the test to have 5 levels instead of 4, so I'm guessing that since I signed up for 3, I could have been sent to do either 4 or 3, and ended up doing the more difficult one. My suspicions were confirmed at the end, when we had to fill out a survey. One of the questions was, "How would you rate the difficulty of this test?" and you could choose either "Like level 2", "Like level 3", "Between levels 2 and 3 but closer to 2 (or 3)", or "I've never taken the text before, so I have no clue."
I found it a bit strange that the writing section seemed to be much more difficult than the others. I don't mean just the kanji, but the grammar itself. Of course, it was mostly short sentences, which are more difficult to understand out of context than when you have a paragraph (as most of the reading questions did); however, there was a lot of tricky vocabulary, as well as several 2x2 words (those 2-syllables-repeated twice words, like kirakira or perapera or sorosoro) that often throw me for a loop, for some reason. The listening section, on the other hand, was mostly casual conversations in plain form.
* * *
I hope the next few nights won't be too chilly, because they were out of the space heater I wanted at Yodobashi and my order won't arrive until Thursday.
* * *
I've given up NaNoWriMo as a lost cause, though I do want to finish my fic. Oh well, at least I tried, this year!