that era when i was one of the only people i knew toodling about the internet has long since passed and i've been aware of it for a long time, but a fairly recent development is that more and more people i know have online presences. last week i noticed that a few people i know or am related to have entries in wikipedia. now i just had the particularly odd feeling of discovering that most of my ex-boyfriends have online presences now too except for one significant person who never was too computer-savvy, bless his heart (the rest are certified geeks of various stripes).
my mom uses an expression i think she came up with herself, "this is shot out of a cannon day" when things are going at high speed for her. this week was like that for me. had to keep checking to make sure i wasn't about to run into a wall, literally and figuratively. managed not to. work was very challenging and demanding but also exciting. that's what i love about IT -- it's never boring or static and you are always, always learning and growing. to counterbalance the heavy work focus that my life is going to have for the next six months and beyond i'm now entering a period where i'll be taking both calligraphy and kanji classes. this takes a big bite out of my discretionary time but i think it's actually better for me. although it's a tighter fit schedule-wise i thrive when i'm active and know that i'm on a path i want to be on. discretionary time doesn't actually mean a lot when you're sitting at home watching tv and wishing you had something better to do anyway.
so here i am. for calligraphy i just bought some new brushes and an attractive brush rack and now that i'm at shodan level i'm trying to grow into the rank to which i've been promoted. this means more practicing at home of course, but also thinking more creatively and independently about what i can do with the skills that i have acquired thus far. at the end of my last practice session i did some free-form more zen-style calligraphy and what came out of the brush and my hand startled me. there's always room for improvement but i didn't know i could do what i did. i'm going to keep on with it and see where it goes. and i'm going to fill out the form for the teaching certificate received when i reached shodan so if i ever want to teach basic calligraphy in the future for any reason, i can.
for kanji i have a lot of work to do, plain and simple. grunt work, first and foremost. since the sudden downpours last friday stranded me in queens and i wasn't able to get to japan society for the first class i was stuck with trying to make sense of the homework they'd mailed me without any context and i wasn't as prepared for last night's class as i would have liked to be. still, it went fairly well and it's a great group of people. i'm glad to be around other people studying japanese at my level. that in itself is invigorating. some of them are beyond my skill level in certain areas and that too is motivating because it shows how you can improve. also, i know what it takes to get where we've gotten so i already have respect for they've accomplished going in. it isn't easy. anyway, now that i know the basic framework of our class i'll work extra hard on coming prepared next week. i will be looking up every last word or character i don't late at night, just like last summer when i was studying for level 2 of the japanese language proficiency test. i was burning the candle at both ends but in the process of using so much energy i was discovering sources of energy i didn't know i had.
oh, by the way, the teacher remembered me from before -- i'd emailed her last summer inquiring about a classs which i'd heard was intended for level 2 test-takers but later learned was for level 1 instead (level 1 is the highest level you can take). i was disheartened to discover there were no classes for someone at my level of study but she encouraged me to pursue a course of self-study with the materials i had, saying i could pass. with my study partner's help that's what i did, so it was nice to be remembered by my teacher last night and upon being asked "how did the test go?" to be able to say "i passed!"
this year i'm going to take level 1 with the same attitude i had going into level 2. i'll just take it and see what happens. i'll demystify the test. i don't know if i can pass but it would be such a waste if i could have passed it but didn't take it because i was unsure of myself. i'll just go for it. and as before, there is a chance...
last night after class i met up with christy and we went to our favorite cheap and cozy sushi place in the village to catch up on all our stuff. it's nice to have her here, a close friend who i don't get to see that often but feel right at home with when i do. later today we're going to the beer garden for a big birthday party (this is birthday weekend for me) and then a bunch of us are going out to an izakaya, then to karaoke later tonight. i can't wait. it's going to be fun.
christy's still catching up on her zzzs and i'm up earlier than i intended to be with no chance of falling asleep so i think i'm going to do some early-morning calligraphy.
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