A few quick notes

So, i tweaked anki a bit today. One problem I'm having is that if I fail a card, I'll often want to go look up a story, or write one down . This is pretty time consuming, and takes me out of the rhythm of doing the cards. I would like to be able to do all my card edits at the end of my anki review, rather than during review. I thought if I set the "failed" interval high, i would be able to see which cards I failed during that day's review at the top of the edit window, and then go back and edit them all at once. Unfortunately, this means I don't get a quick review after I've failed a card. Does anyone have a better solution to this problem?

Here's another editing issue: when I close the edit window, it shows me the same card again, usually, because until now I've been doing this: see card, hit answer button, edit card, close edit window. I would like to be able to answer that card (if I need to edit it, its usually a fail), rather than have to see it again right away. Is there a simple solution to this? It seems like if there was some like, update button in the edit window that could update the card without having to close the edit window, it might be one solution to the problem.

Another issue: I'm rocking a Mac, but the keystroke I use to switch between Japanese and Englsish is apple+1, which does something else in Anki. Or at least, it won't change between Japanese and english while anki is open. Any solution to this problem (that doesn't involve me changing my keystroke settings)?

Ok, here's another issue: Say i fail a card. It comes up again in a few minutes. How should I answer it? My current recollection of it is pretty strong, but only for the moment because I just saw it. Obviously, my longer-term recollection is weaker. I'd like to answer it using the same "grading standard" i use for all other cards, but i worry that that will space it out too long. Is this a problem to be fixed with the "failed interval" and the "again" duration? Or do I need to have different grading standards for cards that I've failed? I hope my questions make sense...

Ok nevermind this was just a rant for the Anki forum.

Tommy

More Japanese notes

So, i pretty much set aside the whole day for studying, but, relative to days at school, I didn't get much done. I got some other stuff done, which is fine, but i guess the studying got pushed to last. Its weird, like on days when I'd put studying first, it goes last, but on days when work should be first, sometimes work seems to come last. I don't intend to do it that way, it just kind of happens like that. hmm... action + intention have a very interesting relationship.

My studying today was to go through last year's JPLT. I haven't graded it yet. Some stuff was easier, mostly the vocab part, but the reading was still pretty fushigi.

umm what was i gonna write? About mnemonics... well i should ask the forums at RevTK, but anyway, going through the test today I saw a bunch of kanji i had learned in RTK. Some of the older ones i kind of glanced over.. not really noticing them, or taking into account their "meaning" or trying to actively remember the keyword. Some, the keyword came out and it was the same kind of "synasthetic" type of understanding that I hadn't ever really felt with Japanese before - i.e. some shapes on a page have an image-a story-meaning linked to them like never before. That, i think, is the ultimate goal of RTK. But then, with a bunch of newer characters, either the stories wouldn't come at all, and I may only recall the primitives. Or, I recall the primitives and the story, but not the keyword. I have a suspicion, that if I had seen the keyword first, i could have gotten the character. I guess I'm still fighting against the Keyword>kanji only study method. Well, i suppose its part of the process

So, I just wonder what makes a good story? I think one reason i have trouble with some characters is with weaker stories. I think, when I'm making my own story, i tend to shortcut it, and just come up with an image that links all the elements of the kanji together- the keyword and the primitive all kind of jammed together in a single idea. I think it may be important that each primitive has an image-and that each image is linked together with the story. That's a little abstract, but what makes a good story?

And maybe more concretely, how much of my reviews should be aimed at producing the story, in addition to producing the character? I guess the book is called "remembering the kanji" not "remembering the mnemonics" but it seems like if I want to remember from Kanji>keyword eventually, I should focus on remembering the story more. That is to say, with Kanji I'm good at, I'll just skip the story entirely during Keyword-kanji review. But that seems to lead to less recollection when I see the kanji in context.

ok thats all

well its well past bedtime and i still haven't done a single review.

Bells

The temple bell next door is ringing. One thing that i've noticed recently, maybe it's happened because I haven't been meditating at all recently, is that I've been much jumpier. Like super jumpy. Anytime some loud sound happens its like a little surprising. Maybe it's just my state of mind. I've got all these alarms in my life nowadays. Class bells, wake up alarm, go to sleep alarm, not to mention that I've been giving this "timeboxing" thing a try-i.e. setting time limits for various tasks (especially for flashcarding/studying, but it can also be applied to other stuff-washing dishes, showering i suppose). as for timeboxing, i think im going about it the wrong way, i think im doing something wrong with it. right now, its just a good idea, but i don't really understand the principle behind it, so the execution is sloppy. another reason for the jumpiness might be that when im missing all these alarms-i always do-wake up late, go to bed late, late for class, i always beat myself up for it-feel bad about it. so i think, like pavlov's dog, my self-deprecation (or whatever) has led to me being, in a sense, afraid of alarms- and by extention loud sounds in general. yeah. it makes me wonder if these productivity tools are doing more to damage me than to make me more productive? hmm...

Thanksgiving

Its been two days since thanksgiving. I was gonna write something on the day of, but my internet shut off right as i was in the middle of it. I have my internet automatically shut off at 10:30 to prevent me from staying up late dicking around on the internet. Self-discipline/restraint can be frustrating. You know, i like dicking around on the internet late at night. Anyway.

Thanksgiving passed without incident. I at tofu stirfry that was ok, but not exactly turkey with stuffing. I was also thinking about having a party this weekend, like I did last year, but it seems like everyone has other plans, and it's too late now anyway. I'm just gonna spent the weekend studying. It was a bit tough calling home on thanksgiving. Yeah, I cried a bit. I guess that's natural.

Korea

I went to korea this weekend because it was a long weekend. Just on a whim. last minute.

Korea was cool. food was good, very spicy. no girls for me. met a bunch of english teachers. went a couple of temples. saw james bond. i did so many things that ended up being very giri-giri. so here comes the part where i beat myself up about it... yeah. like i missed the boat on monday because I didn't check the time. 14:00 does not equal 4:00. Earlier i went to a temple but didn't bother to wake up and get out until very late so like there was about an hour of sunlight left. then i went to see james bond and i got to the movie theater like maybe 2 minutes before, which isnt really that bad, but i remember rushing to get there for some reason. fortunately i didn't check the time for those either, and i say fortunately because it actually started 10 minutes after i thought. and then finally on the last day, yesterday, i wanted to go see another temple before i left, but i stayed up late and didn't wake up until later, and after an hour commute i had only like 20 minutes to actually see the temple. plus ended up spending a bunch on a taxi to get there and back. plus even though i was only there for like 20 minutes, i still managed to be late for my ferry. fortunately i was able to get on the next one, but i was still on the wait list.

i really like to beat myself up over my petty personal faults. i should really stop beating myself up for them. and when i don't stop i will beat myself up for that as well. ugh.

cricicism is unproductive, despite what scholars tell you.

another frustrating thing

the frustrating thing is that as i write such depressing things about this country, i become depressed in response. a self fulfilling prophecy. if i write "i don't like my job" or "i can't be a real teacher" or "i don't like living here" it just becomes reality. on one hand, that's my real feelings. On the other, that's not the reality I want to create. I want to be a real teacher. I want to like my job. i want to like living here. so maybe i should write "I do like my job" I am a real teacher" and "i love living here." See, just writing that makes me feel better.

today

today was not that great for no particular reason.

a pain in my ear

i have this incredible pain in my right ear.

i have had pains like this before. it comes and goes, apparently with the use of q-tips. i unfortunately used a qtip to clean out my ears a few days ago. it's been going on for over an hour now.

異文化

at the seminar last week, all the kencho alts were asked to redo the "goals management sheet" to conform to our individual schools "educational goals" set out by the head of school. My old goals were to finish my ESL course, make OC1 better, and continue to study japanese. This is probably the seventh revision of my goals. My new goals are to foster student’s will and attitude to learn, promote myself and my school to be a part of the community, and teach so that students make the most of and acquire English abilities. Well, vague to say the least, but maybe less self-serving. Plus nobody will ever say i promised I would finish that ESL course. (I still intend to).

right before class, my supervisor told me today were were talking about the topic of "nationality." Something I actually give a shit about. five minutes to prepare what to say in the face of bad social science. in japanese. to say what I want, why I am in this fucking country doing this fucking job. Five minutes. Thank you very much.

Obviously i wasn't completely prepared. But thank you, at least, for telling me what was going on before class.

Fuck this job.

Input in the classroom

So one of the foundations of AJATT is the idea of "input," and "input before output." That is, the words got to be in you head before they come out your mouth. They get in your head with reading (and in the AJATT method, loads of flashcard review). But how can this idea be integrated into a classroom environment that is more than just saying "ok, read this..." or "listen to this..." teaching esl seems to rely on output, before the input has been properly established. Maybe i should consult the guru...

AJATT rocking

I fucking kicked ass studying today. All my reps. A bunch of listening (which reminds me...). 70+ kanji. I had like two classes, neither of which I did anything in and then freedom for the rest of the day.

Anyway, here's some notes. two things on primitives/keyword relationships. it might be better to make the keyword is the most prominent image in the story, and that the primitives modify the story or explain the details. One practical thing, that helped create better stories, was to learn to re-arrange the order of the primitives, not just use the order that they are presented on the page, which i think i had a tendency towards. i mean any story is fine, but you want the keyword to be stronger so that the character becomes linked to it (i.e. the meaning is primarily the keyword, not just the "meaning" of the primitives).

also about reviewing, i should start thinking, not only about the story in addition to the writing of the kanji, but that I should be able to construct the story both backward and forward. That is to say from both the keyword to the character, but also from the character to the keyword. I suppose this could be integrated into the same review, as Heisig suggests. It could also be useful to review from the kanji to the keywords. This may come when I get to the sentences part, i.e. after I finish RTK, and in that case i wouldn't bother to review them alone.

I also wish that in RTK the position of the kanji and the position of the keywords in each frame were switched? maybe.

also need to bring my timer from home, and buy batteries for my mp3 player.

I changed some settings in anki. i think i want to know more about the formula, and how exactly reviews are spaced. I guess just trust the system, but... you know... doubt. i guess its that last 10% that I want...

I gotta figure out a lesson for friday. I want it to kick ass so maybe I'll do that most of tomorrow, or tonight.

Tommy

J. Go journal

i think ima start keeping a journal of my japanese studies. what problems I encounter, etc. i might start making it in japanese, because that would be better.

so the first entry

basically i realized that i was forgetting kanjis very easily on the first review, so i decided to do a first review quickly after reading the page in RTK. Basically, flash card it by covering up the character and just showing the keyword. This is normally a crappy way to review, but since its just a first review immediately after having studied it, its fine i think.

also i need to be focused not only on producing characters when reviewing, but also stories. this will be even more and more important as i move away from characters I know.

New vocabulary

バストアップ (Basuto-Eppu) (Eng. Bust Up) When one's bust gets pushed up
このブラーは凄いバストアップがあり！
This bra has excellent bust-up!

Japanese TV

千年あかり

Last night I went to the annual "sen-nen akari" festival in Hita. I went alone and took pictures. It seemed like everyone was with someone on their arm. Friend, family or a lover. Taking pictures is a good thing to do alone. I'll post some at some point. The theme of this post is "loneliness."

A good day

Today I got my drivers licence. Gentsuki chari (50cc scooter). first try with the paper test. I kick ass.

Today Barack Obama won the Election. first try. no paper test. he kicks ass.