Holizz versus the Web

Hehe, I’m becoming rather obsessed with language at the moment. It can only be a good thing, considering my final year project is, after all, a language learning tool (well, a library with several prototype interfaces). I think I can allow myself to spend a day doing exactly what I want to do every once in a while, as long as I do my work eventually.

1. Read news (/., BBC News, OS News, etc.) for two hours
2. Shower, eat, etc.
3. Read some of Beginning Syntax
4. Go to the library to borrow The French Experience (BBC book on the subject of the French language) and Understanding Semantics
5. Read a chapter of The French Experience and a chapter of Beginning Syntax for about three hours (I’m thinking more and more about the similarities between human languages and computer languages - that is, languages designed as an interface between humans and machines - I’m not especially interested in assembly or byte-code)
6. Talk to Davina while mostly reading a resource I found today: Nihongoresources - grammar - an excellent book that teaches Japanese grammar using the Japanese terms (I still don’t know which verb group (I or II) corresponds to 一段 and 五段, and I don’t care to)
7. And now it’s nearly midnight. Bonne nuit!

Last Friday I suddenly got the feeling that I wanted to learn a language (possibly because I started reading How to Learn Any Language: Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and on Your Own by Barry Farber - rather interesting*).

* He appears to take a somewhat different approach to Jack Seward in Japanese in Action, especially towards learning the rude words. I personally believe that knowing the vulgar terms as well as the polite is important, but certainly it would be a mistake to start with the curses. My favourite piece of advice comes in the phrase I spill more than you drink!

I started with Russian on Friday (okay, I just learnt the Cyrillic alphabet), French on Saturday, Korean on Sunday evening (mostly just learning Hangul, which is indeed a great writing system), then a little Mandarin on Tuesday.

In the end I chose French. Partly because Davina speaks it, and maybe to prove a point about compulsory foreign language education (I learnt it for three years before choosing GCSE German for the sole reason that it wasn’t French).

Salut.

I started my year by eating おせち料理 (New Year food), watching anime (魔法騎士（マジックナイト）レイアース - Magic Knight Rayearth), and counting-down on xclock -update 1 (of course my clocks are set by OpenNTPD - I wish my mobile and large-display LCD clock could do the same).

I ate 年越しそば (year-crossing soba), もち (mochi), and 梅干し (umeboshi). Super-yummy.

前に大掃除した。部屋の全部を掃除した。そう言う事はなかった。

じゃ、もうすぐ練らなきゃ。

Lately I’ve been seeing lots more police officers around than usual. It’s gone from seeing a couple walking about each week to seeing many walking or driving every day. This is generally around where I live (which is in the general area of the university).

And this afternoon there was suddenly a huge gathering of police officers on Laisteridge Lane. I seemed to have missed the action and nothing’s appeared on the news yet, but something must have happened.

I talked to somebody at Acer, and they said that they sell the laptop and the OEM software as a package and so I can’t return my OEM copy of Windows XP (which I already deleted).

The EULA I downloaded from microsoft.com says “IF APPLICABLE”, and was not for an OEM distribution, or even for the correct distribution of Windows XP. So Acer and Tesco are probably within their rights to not refund me.

At least I tried, and gained telephone XP in the process.

本当によかったと思う。It really finished the series off nicely. It’s a shame there won’t be any more (until the 電車男 SUPER DX MEGA SPECIAL) because I loved the series so much. 電車男のドラマと愛していた。

Where do I buy the olives without the milky milk? THEY ALL CONTAIN LACTOSE!

Turns out I was a week behind schedule for, well… everything.

I discovered earlier today that the Sports and Societies Fair is this coming Thursday, not the Thursday after next.

Just this minute I discovered that I’d agreed to help out the union this week (they still want help next week, but I’d agreed to help this week).

So as it turns out, I could have been doing things all week. I missed the archery social on Thursday too because it slipped my mind.

But I have something to do tomorrow, so that makes me happy. And then Sunday I have two things to do: swimming in the morning and helping people move in to halls (assuming I don’t forget that too). In theory I should be able to make myself useful to the union at other times in the week (assuming I am able to find out how to do this without excessive effort on my part).

I did part of a practice test for the 日本語能力試験(JLPT) ３級 and gave up when my lack of understanding got to me. As it turns out I came fairly close to the pass mark. So it might be possible to do ３級 this year. I have until the end of the month so I have more study time before I make the decision of ３級 or ４級.

ふー

I may well have done this one before, but it’s not like it matters; surveys are always fun.

Name

Tom Adams.

Birthday

1986-02-19.

Birthplace

Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Current Location

Bradford.

Eye Color

Black. But my irises are brown.

Hair Color

Brown.

Height

Unknown.

Right Handed or Left Handed

Right.

Your Heritage

My ancestry is British.

The Shoes You Wore Today

I didn’t wear any. But then the furthest I went was the shop next door.

Your Weakness

I’m weak to fire and shadow.

Your Fears

Level twenty-four dwarven tourists.

Your Perfect Pizza

I haven’t had pizza in ages. Well as a start it would have to be vegan, and not include any junk. Make it taste nice and I’ll think it’s the best pizza in the world.

Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year

I think I’d like to have a real conversation in Japanese. That would be a nice milestone to pass.

Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger

I don’t think I overuse any phrases on IM.

Thoughts First Waking Up

I hope the person who wrote this quiz is not a native speaker of English or types very, very quickly (without proof-reading). Anyway: I’m not sure I have any thoughts in particular; I just get up and switch the computer on. My first thought would probably be along the lines of which operating system?.

Your Best Physical Feature

I don’t know, my nekomimi?

Your Bedtime

I generally try not to go to bed too early or too late. Both are dangerous. So any time from about 11pm till 1am is fairly good.

Your Most Missed Memory

If I missed a memory, does that mean that said memory is no longer with me, and thus is forgotten? This was alliteration for alliteration’s sake, wasn’t it?

Pepsi or Coke

I consume neither.

MacDonalds or Burger King

Step one: find an adequite quantity of chloroform.

Single or Group Dates

When I eat dates I tend to eat them by the half-box.

Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea

I’m not sure if I’ve ever tried Lipton Ice Tea. Nestea isn’t an option.

Chocolate or Vanilla

I consume neither in great quantity.

Cappuccino or Coffee

No thank you.

Do you Smoke

No.

Do you Swear

On occasion.

Do you Sing

Only to the karaoke at the start and end of anime.

Do you Shower Daily

Every day between exercise and breakfast.

Have you Been in Love

I’ve been in love with things like languages (utterly infatuated), but not with people.

Do you want to go to College

I’m living the dream (assuming that college was the American English usage, although I’ve attended college for evening classes).

Do you want to get Married

Not right now, and probably not any time in the forseeable future.

Do you belive in yourself

I don’t understand the question.

Do you get Motion Sickness

Apparently so. But only on boats it seems.

Do you think you are Attractive

Probably not. I’m just counting on meeting a cute Japanese person whom is inordinately attracted to men with overgrown beards.

Are you a Health Freak

I act a bit like one, but I’m not.

Do you get along with your Parents

I get along with my parent.

Do you like Thunderstorms

Yes.

Do you play an Instrument

No.

In the past month have you Drank Alcohol

No.

In the past month have you Smoked

No.

In the past month have you been on Drugs

No.

In the past month have you gone on a Date

No.

In the past month have you gone to a Mall

You know, I might not have.

In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos

Funnily enough, no.

In the past month have you eaten Sushi

No.

In the past month have you been on Stage

No.

In the past month have you been Dumped

No.

In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping

No.

In the past month have you Stolen Anything

No.

Ever been Drunk

Yes.

Ever been called a Tease

Possibly.

Ever been Beaten up

Yes.

Ever Shoplifted

No.

How do you want to Die

I’ve always said I want to go out with a bang.

What do you want to be when you Grow Up

The scary thing is that I might be grown up.

What country would you most like to Visit

OMFG JAPANZ!!!

In a Boy/Girl..

Favourite Eye Color

Black. Ha!

Favourite Hair Color

Probably purple, or maybe blue.

Short or Long Hair

As long as it takes the form of well-animated curls I don’t care!

Height

157cm. No other height will do!

Weight

Same goes for weight. If you’re not exactly 40kg, don’t even think about it!

Best Clothing Style

Anything that wouldn’t look out-of-place in Harajuku is fine with me.

Number of Drugs I have taken

For the sake of not being pedantic all the time, I’ll assume illicit drugs are the subject: 2 (yeah, I know I suck; I’ll do better if I ever decide to try drugs again).

Number of CDs I own

Well I own (and am in possession of; and hense can easily count) a total of three audio CDs. I have lots of blanks, and lots of distros (especially live ones).

Number of Piercings

Six. I haven’t worn my earrings for a long time, but they haven’t healed up (I wonder why that is!).

Number of Tattoos

None. And I’m not considering any.

Number of things in my Past I Regret

This is out of the scope of a questionnarie such as this, I think.

Look what I found via /.: Captain Copyright

Reading the comics I notice that the superhero decided to become a superhero. It’s just not possible to choose. Superman was born that way, Spiderman was bitten by a radioactive (or GM, if you like) spider, etc..

You can’t be greedy and ask a superhero to help you; they should do so out of the goodness of their own heart and discover your plight by word-of-mouth or super-hearing; textbooks are grossly overpriced so they should find something more appealing to whine about like the fact that the moon in Canada apparently looks like the moon of the Southern Hemisphere.

Notice how Captain Copyright looks out for Captain Copyright and fixes the moon at the same time. He truly is a great superhero.