A Passive Studyblr

I started using this study method my 2nd month of college, when I realized that it was better for study-life balance and my emotional wellbeing. It makes me feel productive and alert all day, and gives me plenty of free time to pursue hobbies, clubs, and personal interests. It sounds kind of hardcore at first, but it’s seriously wonderful if you give it a try! Here’s the game plan:

After the first few days of the semester, I sit down with all of the syllabi from all of my classes and write down every single assignment for the rest of the semester into my planner. Include exams, readings, lab report due dates, worksheets, essays, etc. Everything.

Every weekend, I set aside however much time I need to knock out every single assignment for the upcoming week that is possible to do in advance. I do my textbook readings, textbook practice problems, my humanities readings, short essays or write-ups to accompany those humanities readings, etc.

Even though I’m doing more work, I generally spend the same amount of time in the library as my friends who only do their work for Monday over the weekend. This is because if you don’t commit to doing a large number of assignments, you tend to spend a lot more time on minor assignments than is truly necessary - do I really need to spend 3 hours on this 1-page essay for my English class if it’s only graded on a 10 point scale? Couldn’t I finish this in 1 hour and then devote more time to the rest of the readings I need to do for that class this week?

I still have enough time to sleep in, have long lunch breaks, go the gym, go to parties in the evening, etc.

You can do this, no matter your workload. I am a pre-med science major taking 20 credits (max course load) a semester, with two labs, and I can get it done. My roommate is an English major with heavy novel reading assignments and she can get it done. (Disclaimer: this mostly applies to undergraduates.)

Research papers and midterm exam studying generally get their own day separate from homework assignments. I like writing essays in 1 or 2 sittings, but if you like to spread it out just break up the essay into manageable pieces and do it over multiple weekends, or do the pieces between classes (see next bullet point).

After blasting through most of my assignments over the weekend, during the week I generally only have to do busy-work that is assigned at the end of classes and continue studying for midterms that week. I easily finish these assignments in the breaks between classes during the day.

With this strategy, I always complete all of my homework well before dinnertime, and often have days when I don’t have any assignments to do. I use this free time for club meetings, hanging out with friends, going to the gym, marathoning Netflix, pursuing hobbies, working a job, whatever.

I also use this extra time to be able to study for exams much more effectively - when you don’t have busywork assignments floating in the back of your mind, it is much easier to focus. You will study more productively and effectively, and with much less stress. Exams are worth way more of your grade than the homework assignments you blast through each weekend, so it’s best to be able to focus exclusively on them Monday - Friday.

The best part about this strategy is that your workload is heavy on Sunday and sometimes Saturday, but you get to relax Monday - Friday. You basically have a 5 day weekend every week, assuming you enjoy going to class.

If anyone also uses this method, I’d love to hear from you or hear your variants/study suggestions! If anyone tries out this method for 1 or 2 weeks and finds that it works for them, I’d love to hear about it! If you try it and hate it with a fiery burning passion and loathe me for even suggesting it, I’d love to hear about it!

8. 3. 21 //

艇「てい」 boat

手口「てぐち」 modus operandi, criminal technique, trick

空賊「くうぞく」 air pirate, air piracy

海賊「かいぞく」 pirate, sea robber, buccaneer, freebooter

沈没「ちんぼつ」 sinking, going down, submersion

撃墜「げきつい」 shooting down (aircraft)

低空「ていくう」 low altitude, low sky

空軍「くうぐん」 air force​

戦友「せんゆう」 comrade in arms, war buddy, fellow soldier​

放埓「ほうらつ」 licentious, profligate, dissipated, riotous, wild

桟橋「さんばし」 wharf, bridge, jetty, pier

着水「ちゃくすい」 landing on water, hitting the water, splashdown

飛行艇「ひこうてい」 flying boat

修理代「しゅうりだい」 cost of repairs

空中戦「くうちゅうせん」 air battle

悪巧み「わるだくみ」sinister design, trick, conspiracy, intrigue

大西洋「たいせいよう」 Atlantic Ocean

地中海「ちちゅうかい」 Mediterranean Sea​

焼夷弾「しょういだん」 incendiary bomb, firebomb

徹甲弾「てっこうだん」 armor piercing ammunition

無人島「むじんとう」 unpopulated island

非協力「ひきょうりょく」 noncooperation

飛行家「ひこうか」 aviator, pilot

整備士「せいびし」 mechanic

伝声管「でんせいかん」 speaking tube, voice pipe

島巡り「しまめぐり」 island tour

水増し「みずまし」watering down​; inflation (of budget etc.)

秘密警察「ひみつけいさつ」 secret police

単独飛行「たんどくひこう」 solo flight

賞金稼ぎ「しょうきんかせぎ」 pothunter, bounty hunter

凶状持ち「きょうじょうもち」 person with a criminal record

お尋ね者「おたずねもの」 wanted man, person sought by the police​

戦争ごっこ「せんそうごっこ」 playing war

運命共同体「うんめいきょうどうたい」 (in the) same boat, (sharing a) common destiny

Finally I’m a onsen master!!!

ついに温泉名人になりました😆♨️💮

The last onsen is “Ogura Beppu”

最後の温泉は“別府　おぐら” です♡

If you go to 88 hot springs in Beppu, you can be a onsen master too♨️

These are all things I took issue with and brought to my employer for further discussion before signing the contract. Most of my coworkers signed without reading, treating it like an internet terms of service contract.

Companies BANK on the fact you’re not going to read it. Then they slip in shit like ‘you can’t talk about your wages’ because they want you to keep quiet, so thy can pay that guy six bucks, and pay the guy over there fifteen and pay you eight. They want you to accept it all blindly. PLEASE DON’T STAY BLIND.

Yes, I’ve lost out on jobs because I wanted to read it and they didn’t want me to. Or they wanted m to resign and I said no to to the things they added that I pointed out were unfair and borderline illegal. 

My Northern California botanical series.

“English Lavender”, “Eucalyptus”, and “California Poppy”.

Hello, intermediate and advanced learners of Japanese! Let’s play a game -  try to match the yojijukugo to its meaning. Want to play, but can’t read all the kanji? The Rikaichan/Rikaikun browser extension for Firefox/Chrome is super good. Check the solutions below the cut - how did you do? c:

MATCH

1)　破顔一笑（はがんいっしょう）

2)　真一文字（まいちもんじ）

3)　無知蒙昧（むちもうまい）

4)　面従後言（めんじゅうこうげん）

5)　夜郎自大（やろうじだい）

6)　 已己巳己（いこみき）

7)　意気揚揚（いきようよう）

WITH

A)　「一」の字のようにまっすぐなこと。わき目降らないこと。

B)　直接目の前にいる時は気に入られるように振舞い、その人がいないところでは、その人のことを悪く言うこと。

C)　自分の力量も知らずに、偉そうに振舞うこと。

D)　にっこり笑うこと。

E)　誇らしげで威勢が良い様子。

F)　互いに似ているものの例え。

G)　知恵や学問がないために物事の道理を理解することが出来ず、愚かなこと。

Sutematsu Oyama (1860-1919): Japan’s First College-Educated Woman

Full entry (with footnotes) here. Patreon here. Art notes behind the cut.

Two click reblog and one click like is why the notes on my posts look like this:

It a hidden feature in tumblr labs, here is where you find it!

It looks like this-

Hi, it’s werelivingarts! Exam season is coming so soon, and some of us might deal with a lot of stress and mental fatigue while preparing for the exams. 

Here are some tips on how to prevent and deal with mental fatigue (before it becomes too serious and leads to burnout). Exams are just ways to test your knowledge and understanding, so please do not expect too high and take care of your health! 🌿

Colors in Japanese

(picture found on Pinterest)

My biggest issues with Japanese colors is the fact that they can be either nouns or/and adjectives. In English, they are always adjectives which simplifies things tremendously. In Japanese, though, depending on the syntax, you have to decide between the noun form or the adjective form.

There are four basic colors which happen to be i-adjectives and nouns. The rest of the colors are nouns

Red  赤い　あかい  (adj)       赤　あか (nouns)

Blue　青い　あおい　         青　あお

Black　黒い　くろい　       車　くろ

White　白い　しろい　       白　しろ

There’s also yellow (I’m not sure if that is a basic color tho) 

黄色い　きいろい       黄色    きいろ

The rest of the colors are nouns and they require the の particle

If you want to say a red car, you can simply say 赤い車 or  赤の車. Google also suggests 赤色の車。

So, with colors that are nouns and adjectives, you have two alternatives.

There is another key difference between these forms. I-adjectives inherently contain the concept of “is”, which is why it is awkward to say ”赤いだよ”, and more natural to say ”赤いよ”. Another way to say this is that ”赤い” literally means “it is red” whereas ”赤” just means “red”.

This is important because if someone asks you “好きな色は何ですか？” (Which color(s) do you like?), you should answer with the noun forms. For example:

  Q: 好きな色は何ですか？

  A: 赤です　　 Correct

  A: 赤いです     Unnatural

(taken from selftaughtJapanese.com)

A red car vs The car is red

赤い車 vs 車は赤です。

When you want to use the first construction, adjective + noun, then you can use either the i-adjective or the noun form of a color. However, when the color is in its predicate function (placed after a verb) you can use only the noun forms of colors.

Fortunately, the rule itself is without exception: when using primary colors to modify a noun, use the i-adjective form; otherwise, use the no-adjective form.　

(taken from japaneseprofessor.com)

Blue vs Green

Fun Fact: in places where English speakers would use “green”, Japanese people would instead use ao.

(taken from japaneseprofessor.com)

Day 19 - Another couple of points that I always remember exist but always forget the meaning of, especially if I see them in a text.

～とみえる 普通形 ＋ とみえる “It seems that” Because of some basis, the speaker believes something to be true, although this is conjecture. Often the speaker sees someone else’s situation and uses it as a guess, although they will not say who. It is not really used by young Japanese speakers anymore.

例）窓から救急車の音が聞こえて、何かあったとみえる。 例）娘は家に帰って何も言わなかった。今日試験の成績を発表されて不合格だったとみえる。   

～に違いない・～に相違ない 普通形 (ナ形だ / - である・名だ / - である) ＋ に違いない・に相違ない “I’m sure; no doubt that” The speaker is fairly sure that something is true and this is based on some sort of evidence. It has a stronger degree of certainty than だろう. Used in formal language, it is usually written but に相違ない is the more formal of the two.

In the saga “coffee pots and productivity”: Busy is not a badge of honor !

You don’t have to be exhausted, overworked, to be worthy of respect.

You don’t need to be in constant search for the sacrosanct productivity to deserve praise.