nnozomi

Daily 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 his ~~husband~~ 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?