Learning Japanese
Today, by some miracle and an inordinate amount of practice, I’ve managed to recognise all the basic katakana. It’s still an insanely difficult task to translate works in katakana to english, with an assorted array of gotchas to catch you out. But it’s not different to English really… probably simpler than English when you really think about it…
It’s been a very long time since I’ve had to actually work at a subject. School had usually been easy, so having to practice regularly has been interesting. Next up will be learning to read hiragana, but I figure another week focusing on katakana will be more beneficial than trying to rush through too quickly.
Overall, I’m impressed that I have progressed this far. I was always being negative and telling myself it’s too hard. But with a handful of good and encouraging friends, and a neat little robot to quiz me at my whim, I’ve been able to overcome the barricades I had placed in front of myself.
Push Ups Program
I randomly arrived at one hundred pushups a couple days ago from a link in comments to a post on Life Hacker. After reading through the website, I decided to follow their well-thought out program.
Completing day one of week one, the program feels entirely achievable. Doing pushups until failure is extremely tough, leaving my body trembling after the intense exertion. I’m constantly surprised how such seemingly simple exercises easily push the body to the limit, reminding me of Pilates-type exercises—despite doing only stretches, I’m left pouring in sweat, thoroughly exhausted.
The program lasts about six weeks, and I highly encourage all of you who read my journal to challenge yourself to complete the program too!
Falls to Climb
Coming home today, I over-steered on the slight rise whilst dipping through the short tunnel for the cycle path with the back end of my Scott sliding out from under me in a strange twisting motion. Slid about a metre, with a solid thunk of helmet to concrete before coming to a standstill. There was only superficial damage: a graze to my right hip, and my bike a little out of shape but otherwise functional.
The thing that sucks most is that it’s two weeks out before the 90km race for the Feilding Festival of Cycling. Trying to pull tight, slick lycra shorts over my grace about the size of the bottom of a mug will be rather excruciating if I want to get out on the road to train some more for the race. Instead, the order of the day will be rest.
It’s definitely the annoyance of the incident that pisses me off the most. Sure, it’s awkward trying to walk after laying down reading an enthralling book or sitting at the computer for a while; but there are emotional pains in my life that cut far, far deeper than physical pain. It’s shaping up to be an awfully bad weekend…