pantagraph? pantograph? train 鸟居?

[nnozomi]

・I’ve actually been doing some Japanese reading for a change: finished a non-fiction book of essays about the city where I live, very relatable in their delight in city walking and wistfulness about never quite belonging to any given city or neighborhood, and wrote the author a fan email (I don’t know him, but one of his colleagues helped examine me for my MA back when). Now reading a more academic book about Chinese bildungsroman (what’s the plural of that word anyway) written by women, introducing me among others to Chen Hengzhe (Sophia Chen) and her remarkable life. I’m only a couple of chapters in so will probably report more later. (It annoys me, in passing, that the book gives Japanese readings for all the Chinese names, perfectly useless for looking them up in Chinese or English. Otherwise I’m liking it, though.)

・My veranda plants are growing like gangbusters, the tomato plant is doing that thing where I look away for two minutes and it gains two inches. Not many actual fruits yet but it’s still early. The two pansies I picked up from a tray marked “Free, help yourself” in the laundromat are blooming again, yellow and purple, and even the strawberry plant has a couple of bright pink blossoms. Also this thing called eau de cologne mint? bergamot mint? which I thought was more minty than it is, please tell me what to do with it before it takes over my whole veranda?

・I took an (old) HSK4 practice test online and got about 85/100 allowing for writing; however, I think that says more that I’m good at test-taking than anything else. I guess it’s a start. Unrelatedly, watching one of Liu Chang’s livestreams and talking back to the screen thus:
LC: 我在吃什么？我在吃蓝莓。(What am I eating? [a question from a viewer] I’m eating lanmei.)
Me: lanmei???
LC: Blueberry!
Me: 谢谢你看我心里，畅弟！(thank you for reading my mind, hon!)
So now I know a new word.

・I don’t think I’ve been listening to much new lately, but here’s Makoto Ozone doing jazz things to Chopin. My father did it better, but he was pre-YouTube (and probably wouldn’t have cared for it anyway), and I do like Ozone’s work.

・My original thing has been horribly in arrears, mostly because of demotivation due to persistent very minor ill-health—not “I don’t feel well enough to work on it,” more “I’m discombobulated mentally and I don’t want to concentrate,” you know how it is. The health thing might be getting better, or not, but anyway today I said I would write 500 words and I did just that, let’s see if I can write it tomorrow too. I learned something about a particular folk religious belief that I didn’t know that might come in handy, anyway.

・Photos: Some variations on white and pink. A little victory of nature over artifice in the middle of the city. Train pantagraphs (I can never spell that word). A cat by a stream, in two lights. A bird under a bridge.




Be safe and well.

Comments

[luzula]

Good job writing! Reply to this comment tomorrow and report whether you managed to write tomorrow as well. : )

[nnozomi]

I am off to write as soon as I reply to comments here, lol! Determined to make 500 words a daily habit again. Encouragement much appreciated :)

[trobadora]

Now reading a more academic book about Chinese bildungsroman (what’s the plural of that word anyway) written by women

a) That sounds fascinating! Definitely looking forward to hearing more about it.

b) In German, the plural of "Roman" (novel) is "Romane", but I coudlN't begin to guess what English makes of it. *g*

It annoys me, in passing, that the book gives Japanese readings for all the Chinese names, perfectly useless for looking them up in Chinese or English.

Oh now! How frustrating!

我在吃蓝莓。

Oh, fascinating, it's literally blue berry as well! Thanks, that's easy to remember for once. :D

Good luck with the writing!

[nnozomi]

the plural of "Roman" (novel) is "Romane", but I couldn't begin to guess what English makes of it. *g*
Strongly suspect it's just "bildungsromans," but I can't think of anything that feels right.

it's literally blue berry as well! Thanks, that's easy to remember for once.
Yes! a word that makes sense (also I learned this morning that "grapefruit" is grape 葡萄 plus citrus 柚 (like 柚子, yuzu), which...sort of makes sense and sort of really doesn't...)

<3

[chestnut_pod]

Bildungsromen! :P

Congrats on the writing, and love the dappled-shade kit-kat.

[nnozomi]

Bildungsromen!
LOL. Or in a more feminist instance, Bildungsromyn? ;)

<3

[superborb]

Why doesn't it just use the characters to represent the names? I thought that was standard.

[nnozomi]

Yeah, sorry, I wasn't clear--it does use the characters, so at least there is that, but you know how Japanese sometimes uses ruby text alongside the characters to represent pronunciation? It's all the Japanese readings, so for instance 陳衡哲 is marked "Chin Kotetsu," not "Chen Hengzhe."
(To be fair, Chinese pronunciation is really hard to represent in Japanese phonetics, but still.)

[laireshi]

*continued hugs about health, and also pompoms for writing*

Your veranda plants all sound lovely!

[nnozomi]

*hugs back* <3
Thank you! I'm having fun with the plants.

[clevermanka]

The shadows of that bottom middle pic are a-m-a-z-i-n-g

[nnozomi]

Thank you! A lucky chance, I was just trying to photograph the cat and then it went interesting places ;)

[alessandriana]

please tell me what to do with it before it takes over my whole veranda? oh gosh. yeah, uh, mint does that. :p typically the advice is to plant it in isolated containers, i think? but if it's too late your best bet may just be to prune it aggressively and frequently.

[nnozomi]

yeah, uh, mint does that. :p typically the advice is to plant it in isolated containers
Yeah, they're all in their own pots, so at the level of roots I think I'm safe, but there are more fluffy leaves every time I look at it. And it's not even mint mint, so I'm not sure where to start using them up. Tea? Potpourri? Who knows.

[scytale]

What beautiful flowers!

And I want to hug the cat and the bird.

[nnozomi]

Thank you! (I always want to hug stray cats, which is why their standard reaction is to look at me disdainfully and back away...)

[sakana17]

American English apparently uses "Bildungsromans." I wince, but it's probably one of the lesser crimes American English has committed on loan words.

Yay, I learn a new word: 蓝莓!

Also yay for 500 words! Words are words - it's progress!

The flowers are beautiful. The color of the one in the middle is amazing. The dappled light and shadow over the cat is striking. And I love the bird.

[nnozomi]

"Bildungsromans." I wince, but it's probably one of the lesser crimes American English has committed on loan words.
Agreed on all counts, sigh.

蓝莓 is nice and memorable! and I'm glad you liked the pictures. (The top right and middle flowers are azaleas which are absolutely a dime a dozen around here at this time of year, they grow in white, pink, and hot pink in incredible quantity.)

[grayswandir]

watching one of Liu Chang’s livestreams and talking back to the screen thus

Yay for instant translation. :D I feel like that kind of thing always makes words memorable.

Blackberry is easy too: 黑莓. And for some reason raspberry is 树莓. (I learned a few fruit names because my nephew has an abacus with different fruits as counters, and after I taught him Chinese numbers up to ten, I thought we could practice them with the abacus. He got bored of trying to remember the fruit names pretty fast, but at least I got some vocab out of it...)

more “I’m discombobulated mentally and I don’t want to concentrate”

Agh, sympathies. But congrats on getting some writing done!

(Those pink flowers are really pretty.)

[nnozomi]

Blackberry is easy too: 黑莓. And for some reason raspberry is 树莓.
谢谢！ Definitely easy to remember. (Raspberry is 木苺 in Japanese too; I wonder why, it's not like they grow on trees exactly.)

my nephew has an abacus with different fruits as counters, and after I taught him Chinese numbers up to ten, I thought we could practice them with the abacus.
aw, this is adorable!

The pink flowers are azaleas, which are ridiculously common at this time of year, pink/white/fuchsia everywhere.

[elenothar]

bildungsroman (what’s the plural of that word anyway)

The German in me very strongly wants this to be "Bildungsromane" because that's what it would be (though, granted, not a word often used in the plural). I don't know what English does with it, but adding an 's' at the end sounds very wrong 😅

My original thing has been horribly in arrears, mostly because of demotivation due to persistent very minor ill-health—not “I don’t feel well enough to work on it,” more “I’m discombobulated mentally and I don’t want to concentrate,” you know how it is.

This is very, very familiar. I pushed myself to finish a short story submission, but both the novel that needs editing and the second novel that needs writing have been languishing for, uh, years at this stage because my brain keeps flaking out and writing fanfic instead. Hope this improves for you!

[nnozomi]

The German in me very strongly wants this to be "Bildungsromane" because that's what it would be (though, granted, not a word often used in the plural).
chestnut_pod above suggested "Bildungsromen" with tongue in cheek and it tickled me ;)

Hope this improves for you!
And for you! Good for you on the short story submission. I mean, I'm not about to complain about you writing fanfic and the rest of us having good things to read, but I hope we can both get some brain relief and write the things languishing in mental drawers. <3

[tinny]

My father did it better, but he was pre-YouTube

Lol! Also <3<3<3<3

蓝莓 lanmei???

Awesome! I didn't know "berry" yet, but it's also easy to remember, yay!

today I said I would write 500 words and I did just that

Yay! Better than nothing. <3 I'm currently trying to do 100 words every day. I've never done that before, it seems very hard right now.

pantagraphs (I can never spell that word)

I'd never heard of it before. O_O Trust you to teach me two words in one post. <3

Photos

I love all of them! The pantagraphs are very *anime*, and the bird looks like a heron?

[nnozomi]

I didn't know "berry" yet, but it's also easy to remember, yay!
Yes! Also as in 草莓 strawberry. (I wonder if the wild ones we were talking about would be 野草莓?)

I'm currently trying to do 100 words every day. I've never done that before, it seems very hard right now.
I think your time has a lot more structured demands on it than my fancy-free freelance-from-home schedule, so 100 words a day is an achievement! Do it as long as it's fun for you ;) (I have a whole novel outline and I know the characters and the situation, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to come up with 500 words, I just need to be disciplined about it...)

Trust you to teach me two words in one post. <3
My pleasure! <3 Do check the spelling because I'm honestly not sure which is the right one, lol

and the bird looks like a heron?
Your guess is as good as mine, but it's quite likely.

[tinny]

野草莓

Heee, possibly. Although my popup dictionary informs me that 野草 is "weeds" and also "prostitute". (Like you need more derogatory words for prostitutes... weeds, yup.) But this way I have now already learned four berries! \o/

so 100 words a day is an achievement! Do it as long as it's fun for you ;)

Challenges motivate me. I have now successfully completed five days. Twenty-five to go. O_O

Do check the spelling
Tadaa, I looked up all the things. (Not the heron. I didn't need to look that one up. It's a heron all right. :D)

Wikipedia claims that the plural of Bildungsroman is Bildungromane, as it would be in German. So, you can hear all your German flisties sigh in relief. :D (Also, if you ever need to bet on where all the literature-related stuff in German comes from, it's Goethe. You'll have a very high chance of success with that bet. :D)

A pantograph (pantagraph is also allowed, apparently) is the rhombus-shaped thing on top of the train. The things you photographed are actually just called "overhead lines", where the pantograph takes its electricity from.

[nnozomi]

This is one reason I love DW: I say "hm, I wonder what that is, I should look it up" and somebody (often you!) immediately does, and I learn something! Sorry for laziness, but much appreciated.

I have now successfully completed five days. Twenty-five to go. O_O
You can do it!

Glad to hear that the German plural is retained. I wonder if I ever knew that panto(a)graphs are actually the train thing? My brain made the wrong association very strongly and it just stuck...(it's a neat word, sue me ;) ).