pains in the neck
Jan. 8th, 2021 05:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnozomiDaily life: ・ It’s cold here, or as cold as it gets in this pseudo-winter region. I keep tensing up like there’s railroad cable strung down the back of my neck.
・ America, what the fuck. This is not how my civics textbook said it was supposed to be. I don’t even know whether to be hopeful or aghast (I mean, definitely aghast, but…). Apropos of nothing, I want New York City to permanently ban that man from residency ever again, let him fuck off back to Florida or straight to hell.
・ In more frivolous/cheerful news, I was in an electrical appliance shop the other day and, on one of the TVs for sale, thought I caught a glimpse of Shen Wei's face; a closer look confirmed that yup, they were indeed showing ads for Guardian on a streaming service, Zhao Yunlan and the Black-Cloaked Envoy right there amid the electric blankets and fancy rice cookers.
・ I've been spending a lot of time in a park in Tokyo, without leaving my desk, courtesy of an ongoing translation job--bits of documentation on historical materials about the park, including "Melon Cultivation Reports" and "Golf Ball, possibly hit into a pond by the Emperor when he was still the Prince Regent" and "Chrysanthemum Fanciers' Practices in the North" and "Strawberry Catalog from England." I'm having a lot of fun with them, and enjoying the ongoing prevalence of the word "cultivation" in my work life in all its possible meanings.
Music: What have I been listening to lately...? More German Romantics, I think, better cold-weather music than the Impressionists. The Schumann piano quintet, a favorite from way, way back that never gets old.
Books: Between the big bang thing and…I forget the name of the other one?...there’s been lots of lovely Guardian fic lately; I’ve been really lousy about commenting but I’m enjoying it a lot.
Chinese: ・So starandrea and I were saying it would be fun to have a Chinese DW where the various people around here studying the language could chat in Chinese--not so much actually for-purposes-of-communication as like a Chinese version of write-every-day? Drop by, write one sentence or more if you feel like it on any topic, comment on other people's comments likewise? Would anyone be interested?
・Also, along with Duolingo, I’ve been watching a bunch of Liu Chang’s livestreams, with half my attention while I do other things; even when I can’t understand most of it, it’s very soothing to keep an eye/ear on him playing some strange Chinese slice-of-life video game, sometimes on his own (with a lot of mumbled commentary, singing along with the background K-pop without actually knowing the Korean lyrics) and sometimes with hishusband friend Wa’er, doing a very funny double act.
Writing: Trying, when not headachy, to get at least SOME words down every day on Book II. (Come to think of it, Book I still doesn't have a title. That could be a problem.) Unlike Book I, which started very slowly on purpose, this one is pretty much starting off in medias res and there is a lot going on and it will be fun once I hit my stride, but it's hard getting there.
Photos: A photo of a white/pink lantana that came out weird, but I like it because lantanas that color are such a rarity; and two others that are cute because they're so anthropomorphic, or maybe...um...aviomorphic?
Be safe and well.
・ America, what the fuck. This is not how my civics textbook said it was supposed to be. I don’t even know whether to be hopeful or aghast (I mean, definitely aghast, but…). Apropos of nothing, I want New York City to permanently ban that man from residency ever again, let him fuck off back to Florida or straight to hell.
・ In more frivolous/cheerful news, I was in an electrical appliance shop the other day and, on one of the TVs for sale, thought I caught a glimpse of Shen Wei's face; a closer look confirmed that yup, they were indeed showing ads for Guardian on a streaming service, Zhao Yunlan and the Black-Cloaked Envoy right there amid the electric blankets and fancy rice cookers.
・ I've been spending a lot of time in a park in Tokyo, without leaving my desk, courtesy of an ongoing translation job--bits of documentation on historical materials about the park, including "Melon Cultivation Reports" and "Golf Ball, possibly hit into a pond by the Emperor when he was still the Prince Regent" and "Chrysanthemum Fanciers' Practices in the North" and "Strawberry Catalog from England." I'm having a lot of fun with them, and enjoying the ongoing prevalence of the word "cultivation" in my work life in all its possible meanings.
Music: What have I been listening to lately...? More German Romantics, I think, better cold-weather music than the Impressionists. The Schumann piano quintet, a favorite from way, way back that never gets old.
Books: Between the big bang thing and…I forget the name of the other one?...there’s been lots of lovely Guardian fic lately; I’ve been really lousy about commenting but I’m enjoying it a lot.
Chinese: ・So starandrea and I were saying it would be fun to have a Chinese DW where the various people around here studying the language could chat in Chinese--not so much actually for-purposes-of-communication as like a Chinese version of write-every-day? Drop by, write one sentence or more if you feel like it on any topic, comment on other people's comments likewise? Would anyone be interested?
・Also, along with Duolingo, I’ve been watching a bunch of Liu Chang’s livestreams, with half my attention while I do other things; even when I can’t understand most of it, it’s very soothing to keep an eye/ear on him playing some strange Chinese slice-of-life video game, sometimes on his own (with a lot of mumbled commentary, singing along with the background K-pop without actually knowing the Korean lyrics) and sometimes with his
Writing: Trying, when not headachy, to get at least SOME words down every day on Book II. (Come to think of it, Book I still doesn't have a title. That could be a problem.) Unlike Book I, which started very slowly on purpose, this one is pretty much starting off in medias res and there is a lot going on and it will be fun once I hit my stride, but it's hard getting there.
Photos: A photo of a white/pink lantana that came out weird, but I like it because lantanas that color are such a rarity; and two others that are cute because they're so anthropomorphic, or maybe...um...aviomorphic?
Be safe and well.
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Date: 2021-01-08 01:59 pm (UTC)Hee! That's awesome. :D
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Date: 2021-01-08 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-08 03:02 pm (UTC)Pretty sure that's because textbooks are full of lies.
they were indeed showing ads for Guardian on a streaming service, Zhao Yunlan and the Black-Cloaked Envoy right there amid the electric blankets and fancy rice cookers
This makes me unreasonably happy.
Those flower photos are beautiful! Thank you for sharing them.
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Date: 2021-01-08 11:14 pm (UTC)Seriously, I stood there in the electrical store feeling like I'd just met a friend in a foreign city.
♡
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Date: 2021-01-08 07:34 pm (UTC)That sounds absolutely amazing. What ARE the Chrysanthemum Fanciers' Practices and how do they differ from those effete, spoilt, stuck-up fanciers in the sunny South??
Also man, what a thrill to see Shen Wei's face in a store like that! If that happened over here in Holland I would have some kind of conniption fit.
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Date: 2021-01-08 11:18 pm (UTC)and yeah, I kind of squeaked in the electrical store and stood there gazing earnestly at the TV, the poor store clerk must have been very confused.
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Date: 2021-01-09 03:03 pm (UTC)I can imagine, about repeatedly having to type chrysanthemum, oof.
This is probably a useless tip, because I have no idea if it would be handy for translation work etc, but I use Scrivener (desktop app) for writing fic, and it has a handy option to autocomplete words if you type the first two or three letters. It is an absolute godsend for Guardian fic, because I never have to worry about typos in all the names, and I also added things like Black-Cloaked Envoy to the list.
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Date: 2021-01-09 10:23 pm (UTC)Excellent question! I suspect mostly the latter, but who knows. I think I've seen edible nasturtiums on salads in the US once in a while...
I will keep that in mind about Scrivener! I actually downloaded a trial version for original fiction stuff, got intimidated because I'm lazy about actually, you know, reading the docs, and haven't touched it since, but I should go back to it. This particular translation job happens in Trados (specialized translation software) for other reasons of convenience, but if I took the trouble to do so I could actually teach it to autocomplete "chrysanthemum," maybe I should... thanks for the good idea!
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Date: 2021-01-10 06:32 am (UTC):D :D :D :D :D
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Date: 2021-01-11 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-10 10:08 pm (UTC)Well, at least you had one. *g* I talked to my friend greyathena last night, and she said they stopped properly teaching civics in the eighties. (Amongst other things, she blames the bad education system, and I can't disagree.)
Chrysanthemum Fanciers
That makes me think Pervy Hobbit Fancier. :D The word Fancier is definitely one of those that will never get out of that association ever again. (Oh, and that's gotta be my answer to your question about words from last(?) week. :D)
starandrea and I were saying it would be fun to have a Chinese DW
I don't have time for it, but I think it's a neat idea!
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Date: 2021-01-11 02:40 am (UTC)Wouldn't surprise me. If I remember correctly, I did my half-year Government credit as distance learning in high school so I could take other classes: this meant I actually had to read the textbook, which was surprisingly well written.
The word Fancier is definitely one of those that will never get out of that association ever again.
lol ;)
Also I'm gonna bundle two replies to you in one, please forgive! W/r/t Liu Chang and his livestreams.
I found some great ones where they're taking Xiao Yu places, and the language is very much at her level (how old is she, four?). The frustrating thing is that I *still* don't understand anything. ... (And some of those have Hanzi subs, which.... :D)
The Xiao Yu ones are so cute oh dear. Also they're the ones with subtitles, it looks like, so I can actually understand a little (my listening comprehension is unquestionably a lot worse than yours). At least I have no trouble hearing the word for the snack he likes to buy her, 棒棒糖, thanks Zhao Yunlan ;)