careful of falls

[nnozomi]

・The weather forecast says that as of tomorrow the temperature is supposed to fall ten degrees (Celsius) clunk and stay that way. Here's hoping. Certainly the barometer is dropping like a stone today, my neck and shoulders are killing me.

・A little in advance of the weather, I made my annual batch of 栗の渋皮煮 (chestnuts stewed in syrup). It takes a full half a day, peeling and boiling and simmering and repeating, there's a good reason why I only ever do it once a year but the end result is tasty. As it well should be, given the ungodly amount of brown sugar involved (see photo below). (Also the process is made bearable every year by finding a nice angsty longfic to read throughout.)

・Best AO3 username I've encountered lately: hathawaysendabus.

・Chinese uses 借 for both "borrow" and "lend," which is confusing (reminds me of an Alaskan college friend who used to say "Could you borrow me a pencil?"). You have to look at clues like 给 or 向 to figure out who's lending to whom, especially confusing when 向 is toward something in Japanese and from something in Chinese.

・Writing grumbles: so I have three protagonists, R, K and A. All three books (okay, book 1 written, book 2 outlined and making slow progress, book 3 still a gleam in my mind’s eye) use the points of view of all three of them in turn, but in terms of a) quantity of POV and b) forefronting of character arc, the books belong respectively to R, K, and A in that order. One of the reasons I’m struggling with book 2 is that I find K more difficult as a main protagonist than R. He has less angst—or at least, his angst is a lot quieter, calmer, and way further under the surface—and much less hurt/comfort, which means I have to look elsewhere for things to enjoy about writing him, and I’m not as comfortable inside his head in general. I do have an idea about the main (character-related) thing driving his arc, and I'm looking forward to working with it, but it's hard. (Thank you 龙哥, parallel musings on the intersection between professionalism and risks to self are genuinely useful here.)

・Reading the latest 大振り manga volume, high school baseball slice-of-life, which I love so much for its combination of down-to-earth realism and genuine, subtle emotion. (Also FUNNY: the instant silent concurrence that Abe and Mihashi can't be sent off alone to visit other schools, and Izumi taking one for the team.)

・Photos: a temple cat, two kinds of fruit, two kinds of flowers.



Be safe and well.

Comments

[laireshi]

Those chestnuts look SO GOOD.

Chinese uses 借 for both "borrow" and "lend," which is confusing
So does Polish xD

*waves pompoms for writing* It's really interesting to see your musings on the process!

[nnozomi]

Wish I could send you some chestnuts!
So does Polish xD
Oh, interesting. English and Japanese both have separate words for borrow/lend, so it takes some brain resetting to deal with the Chinese version.
It's really interesting to see your musings on the process!
Thank you! Grumbling/wondering in public is a way of motivating myself to think through problems, so I'm glad if it's even a little interesting for anyone else to read. (And you know the backstories of course ;) )

[umadoshi]

especially confusing when 向 is toward something in Japanese and from something in Chinese.

That seems just unfair. Why, languages? Why?

[nnozomi]

That seems just unfair. Why, languages? Why?
I know, gosh! And I've now looked up 向 properly and found it can be both toward and from in Chinese, oh dear. I think I just need to memorize the relevant phrases and stop trying to translate word for word.

[luzula]

In Swedish, "låna" = "borrow", but "låna ut" = "lend". The preposition makes the difference here too...and we have the same thing in "lära" = "learn" and "lära ut" = "teach".

[nnozomi]

Oh, that is interesting! Is the "ut" a cognate for "out"? (Also, I have a feeling if I studied Swedish I would spend a while saying "can I learn your pencil, I've forgotten mine" or "the teacher lent us a new word," getting låna and lära confused...)

[luzula]

Is the "ut" a cognate for "out"?

Yes! And "låna" is a cognate of "loan", and "lära" of "learn". : )

[nnozomi]

And "låna" is a cognate of "loan", and "lära" of "learn". : )
Oh, of course! I got disconcerted by the diacritics and didn't look hard enough at the consonants. ;)

[luzula]

Hee. Of course it's hard to tell when you don't know what å and ä sound like, but actually the vowels are very like, too.

[chestnut_pod]

Chestnuts yissssss… I am so terribly jealous of people who live where non-horse chestnuts grow! I have been shopping at the local Korean market this month exactly because they have chestnuts seasonally, and I can buy bags of them from people who appreciate them as they ought!

They are my favorite thing, as my UN might be able to tell you. Do you have other chestnut recipes you like?

[nnozomi]

Chestnuts are so great! The only other thing I can make with them is 栗ご飯, rice cooked with chestnuts, and I cheat--the supermarket sells little sets with prepared chestnuts and flavoring that you just dump into the rice cooker. (Your Korean market might have some?). I also eat 甘栗, chestnuts roasted in their shells, as a snack all winter, they are VERY addictive.

[clevermanka]

That use of borrow happens in certain parts of the US, too. I've known a few people who say "can you borrow me this?" I kind of love those little grammatical transgressions, although coming across them in a language that you're learning would be annoying at best.

Best wishes with the writing! I hope you find a way into K's head soon!

[nineveh_uk]

Northern England, too.

[nnozomi]

Did not know! (Huh, I am trying to write at least one character from fantasy!Manchester, maybe I'll have him say that?).

[clevermanka]

It makes me even happier that the use spans continents and oceans!

[nnozomi]

I kind of love those little grammatical transgressions, although coming across them in a language that you're learning would be annoying at best.
Yes, what a good way to put it! In Japanese where I'm more confident I love sorting out weird bits of dialect, I'm just still floundering in Chinese.
I hope you find a way into K's head soon!
Thank you! <3

[alessandriana]

I looove the Oofuri anime-- it's one of my comfort re-watches. Haven't read the manga yet though!

[nnozomi]

Oh, isn't it lovely? I haven't watched the anime in a long time, but if I remember correctly it's pretty faithful to the manga. (There's that scene when they play against Mihashi's old school, right, where Abe takes him out back to reassure him and takes his hand...? That always makes me cry.)
The manga is on volume 35 and they haven't reached their second year of high school yet, so I have no clue if it will ever end, but I love it.

[china_shop]

The weather forecast says that as of tomorrow the temperature is supposed to fall ten degrees (Celsius) clunk and stay that way.

From? To? (Approximately.) Yay for an end to the Heat! <3

I do have an idea about the main (character-related) thing driving his arc, and I'm looking forward to working with it, but it's hard.

Good luck! *pompoms*

That's a beautiful temple cat! <3 And I love the way the gleaming chestnuts echo the layout of the flowers and fruit in the other photos. <3

[nnozomi]

From? To? (Approximately.) Yay for an end to the Heat! <3
Average high this past week, 28; average forecast high next week, 18. yay indeed! Conversely, I hope it's nice and springlike where you are.

Good luck! *pompoms*
Thank you! <3

And I love the way the gleaming chestnuts echo the layout of the flowers and fruit in the other photos. <3
Oh, thank you! Mostly I wanted to bear witness to the pitch black syrup, which contains more brown sugar than I'm willing to admit in public, lol <3

[china_shop]

Average high this past week, 28; average forecast high next week, 18. yay indeed!
Oof, yeah, average of 18 is much better! Yay!

Things here are a bit stormy, but the temperatures are slowly coming up. Today's forecast high is 16, so I think we're going to meet in the middle soon. :-)

[tinny]

chestnuts stewed in syrup

Oooh, that sounds good! Do they last long, like jam? Because around here, the only way to eat them is roasted, and that's really hard to get right at home and also only ever a one-time thing.


especially confusing when 向 is toward something in Japanese and from something in Chinese.

Muauahaha, did nobody say it was easy. :D (German only uses one word for both directions, too, so having to learn two for English was a challenge.)

(Thank you 龙哥, parallel musings on the intersection between professionalism and risks to self are genuinely useful here.)

Is that rebel-related? You're not going to starve yourself to become a better writer, are you? ;DD

[nnozomi]

Do they last long, like jam?
You know, I don't know? They never last long around here because they get eaten right away ;) (they're such a pain to peel that it's hard to make a huge batch unless you can enlist several people to help out).

(German only uses one word for both directions, too, so having to learn two for English was a challenge.)
Did not know that! I wonder which is more confusing, going from one word to two or the other way around.

You're not going to starve yourself to become a better writer, are you? ;DD
lol no, no worries on that score! I definitely write better when I have snacks handy. (I'm just going to ramble at you for a while, pay it no mind). I was thinking of Zhu Yilong's unfortunate habit of getting hurt on set and saying 我没事, I can keep working, and the way people praise his professionalism. In my novel that's Rowan's style, willing to damage his health to get the job done there and then, while Kit's idea of professionalism (and mine, for the record, Z1L please take note) is taking care of your health over the long term so that you can do your job for longer. To some extent they have to see the other's perspective at some point...

[elenothar]

... I just spent the last five minutes trying to figure out if hathawaysendabus is a Lewis reference or if I'm missing the reference entirely 😂

I'd already encountered 借 and am still a bit (unrighteously) grumbly about it. Much like I'm grumbly about 'sell' and 'buy' being so similar, though at least that one does have slightly different characters and different tones. I'm just still... pretty bad at distinguishing tone in actual speech vs the kind of careful sound you get on learning apps.

[nnozomi]

I just spent the last five minutes trying to figure out if hathawaysendabus is a Lewis reference or if I'm missing the reference entirely
Hah! I'm not a Lewis person (it's a TV show? I think?) so I never thought of that, but I can't say what the AO3 person had in mind. The original reference is to a line from Archer's Goon by Diana Wynne Jones, which also involves a character called Hathaway.

Much like I'm grumbly about 'sell' and 'buy' being so similar, though at least that one does have slightly different characters and different tones. I'm just still... pretty bad at distinguishing tone in actual speech vs the kind of careful sound you get on learning apps.
Me too on all points, oh dear. I have kind of given up on tones (I do try to memorize them so I know theoretically what they are, but...). I figure if I ever have occasion to be immersed in Chinese my ears will pick them up somehow, and if not I'll keep on relying on context.