MELANCHOLY

recovery is the process through which you learn to live with your symptoms/problems/triggers/issues/etc, to deal with them with as little self-destruction or other-destruction as possible. and it may never be over! because human life is full of stressors and hardships, especially in today’s society, and for a lot of people there will always be triggers to manage and episodes to cope with and harmful urges to redirect.

My two brain cells suddenly knowing nothing about my own personality or existence:

Here’s a 20biteen moodboard for y’all because it’s just under two weeks until the new year!

Sometimes we discuss current events in our Japanese class. This Thursday, our sensei gave us disaster related vocabulary due to the horrible events in Hokkaido this week. Naturally, our thoughts are with everyone affected, and we hope that things get better soon. 

自然災害 　しぜんさいがい　natural disaster

地震　じしん　earthquake

震度　しんど　Japanese earthquake scale (1-7, from weak to strong)

台風  　たいふう　 typhoon

洪水 　こうずい　flood

土砂崩れ　どしゃくずれ　landslide

死亡者　しぼうしゃ　the deceased, deaths, persons killed

怪我人　けがにん　wounded or injured person

重傷　じゅうしょう　serious wound or injury

“Tokyo has adopted an anti-discrimination ordinance to help protect the LGBT community.

The move, aimed at tackling hate speech ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games, was approved by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly and will come into effect in April.

As part of the ordinance, Tokyo will regulate the use of public spaces, such as city parks, to prevent anti-LGBT groups from promoting discriminatory rhetoric.

It will also improve access for same-sex couples in situations such as hospital visits.”

Studying Japanese: Resources! 

In lieu of a ‘how to study’ Japanese post, here’s a few online resources which have helped me with studying Japanese throughout the years. 

The resources listed below;

Range from beginner’s level to advanced level

Are appropriate for studying for the JLPT (N4- N1)  

Are appropriate for self study

Most are free, or come with a free trial period! (excluding textbooks. but trust me, i’ve got your back)

Essential Websites and Extensions

IN RIKAIKUN WE TRUST

Rikaikun:The one-stop shop for all your browsing needs. Hover over any kanji compound and this app will do all the translating for you. I found this incredibly useful for reading practice (esp. on news articles etc.).

Jisho.org: One of the best dictionaries out there. Sorts most kanji according to JLPT level.

Tofugu: A good general starting place to find resources and read interesting articles about Japanese culture, ex-pats working in Japan and Studying in Japan. They also have a special series on applying for the JET Program! 

Grammar

Particles? Verbs? Subjects? Conjugations? 

JGram: All grammar is sorted by JLPT Levels. A good overview of common grammar structures. 

Tanos: Also JLPT sorted  

Introduction to Japanese Syntax, Grammar and Language: a comprehensive overview for beginners

NHK World: Lessons from the Japanese Public Broadcaster NHK. Largely Beginner’s Level.

Dictionary of Japanese Grammar (beginners) (advanced)

Handbook of Japanese Verbs: Beginners guide. Very handy pocket size so great for revision for the beginner-intermediate level.

How to Tell the Difference between Japanese Particles: Comparisons and Exercises: something to help with those pesky particles! 

Writing (Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji)

Learn your alphabet(s) gdi! 

Japanese Lesson

@ryohkei is a Japanese calligrapher who handwrites beautiful characters + stroke order and definitions. Very informative, given that handwritten kanji may differ from their typed counterparts. 

@kanji-a-day​

Practice Writing Sheets  

Charts (hiragana, katakana)

Networks

Get you in touch with other native learners!

Lang-8 

Hi Native 

RhinoSpike 

Forvo 

Renshuu.org 

Textbooks

Genki: perfect for beginners

Sou Matome: easy daily lessons and weekly review. All levels (sorted by JPLT level)   

Kanzen Master 

Tobira: highly recommended for those who are in the awkward intermediate - advanced plateau! Traditional Textbook format. 

Tanki Master 

500 Essential Japanese Expressions: A Guide to Correct Usage of Key Sentence Patterns: really useful for revision and to bridge the intermediate-advanced gap. 

This blogspot: Lifesaver. Just, trust me on this. Please. 

Multimedia (Youtube, Podcasts)

…because heck, learning a language is more than memorising charts and structures! 

Bilingual Chika! One of my favourites. She recently published her own textbook!

 Japanese Podcast 101

Watch Japanese TV at Jpopsuki

More?

A masterlist of free resources by @nihongogogo

This resource post by @study-ings

A list of N2 resources by @learningkakumei

This beginner’s resource post by @solarstudy​​

Stay tuned for later parts to this series incl. going on exchange, studying japanese, “wtf this kanji looks like a scribble”

All the best! 

- fuckstudy 

Masterposts are posted every other Sunday (asia pacific)/ Saturday (everywhere else). See previous masterposts here. Feel free to request topics here. 

蕁麻疹

Hives

Bro: You can’t say you’re pan if you’ve only dated cis-boys Jess..

Me: Then you can’t say you’re straight since you’ve never had a girlfriend

Bro: touche…

____________________________________________________________

Bro: so you like girls?

Me: yep

Bro: so youre gonna get a girlfriend?

Me: maybe

Bro: NOW I GOTTA COMPETE AGAINST YOU TOO?? 

____________________________________________________________

Bro: wanna bet on who kisses a girl first?

Me: sure… $10?

Bro: okay

Me: sweet…cough up the money because i already kissed three

Bro: WHAT?? WHO?? you whore…No but seriously who because we only have like 2 lesbians in our school….

____________________________________________________________

Bro: I SWEAR TO GOD IF I HEAR ONE MORE PUN ABOUT YOU AND KITCHENWEAR IM KILLING YOU

____________________________________________________________

Brothers friend: so your sister is pan?

Bro: yeah?

Friend: what’s that?

Bro: basically she’ll date anyone

Friend: think she’ll date me?

Bro: ew no, dude she has standered still..

____________________________________________________________

Bro: so…how was narnia?

____________________________________________________________

Mother: i dont want you going to (insert friend)’s house because you’re pan and they are too

Bro: shes 18 mom AND you had no problem with it before jess was out

Mother: yeah but-

Bro: and they’re both girls so its not like even if something DID happen she wouldn’t get pregnant or anything

Mother: yeah but-

Bro: just let her hang out with the one friend she still has

____________________________________________________________

Bro: *is complaning about something* Thats so ga- OH MY GOD IM SO SORRY IT SLIPPED

____________________________________________________________

Bro: *shows me a picture of a girl* do you think shes hot?

Me: ew no

Bro: I AM TRYING TO GET YOU A GIRLFRIEND STOP BEING PICKY WOMAN WE LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE THERE ARENT THAT MANY OPTIONS 

____________________________________________________________

Me: *is complaining to my brother about this dude on campus* -anyways hes so not my type

Mother: but youre pan and ‘youre attracted to everyone regardless of gender’ so you dont have a type

Bro: thats like saying because i’m straight i like every girl mom…she can be pan and have types you limp lettuce

____________________________________________________________

Bro: do you think grandma will freak out when she finds out you’re queer?

Me: hopefully

Bro: sweet…..can i tell her??

Me: no?

Bro: dammit…

____________________________________________________________

Bro: *is playing COD online in his room* Guys seriously stop saying the F slur

Bro: Seriously i dont care about your kill streak, i will shoot you

Bro: NO SCOPE! I warned you!

____________________________________________________________

Bro: you know what my favorite part of you being pan is?

Me: what?

Bro: you’re no longer grandmas favorite…now i get all the money/food

____________________________________________________________

Bro: aw fuck

Me: what?

Bro: what if you get a girlfriend one day and she breaks your heart? i can’t punch a girl! 

Me: no thats okay-

have you ever seen a junebug get to grips with a window screen? it’s remarkably persistent, but not very focused. all that matters is location.

how to junebug: choose the location you feel you can probably get some shit done on today. be specific. not ‘the bathroom’ but ‘the bathroom sink’. you are not choosing a range, you are choosing a center; you will move around, but your location is where you’ll keep coming back to. mentally stick a pin in it. consider yourself tethered to that spot by a long mental bungee cord.

go to your location. look at stuff. move stuff around. do a thing. get distracted. remember you’re junebugging the bathroom sink and go back there. look at it some more. do a different thing. get distracted. get a sandwich. remember you’re junebugging and go back to the bathroom sink.

nt’s will go crazy watching you, and if they demand to know When You Will Be Done you will probably have to roll them in a carpet and stuff them up the chimney. you’re done when you feel done, or you’re too bored to live, or it’s bedtime, or any number of other markers, you get to pick. but the thing is, by returning repeatedly to that one spot, you harness the ‘hyperactivity’ part instead of wasting all that energy battling with the ‘attention deficit’ part.

not only will the bathroom sink almost certainly be clean, and probably the mirror and soap dish too, you might’ve swapped in a fresh toothbrush, a new soap, you might’ve unclogged the drain – you will probably also have cleaned or fixed up several things in the near vicinity, or in the path between the sink and where you get the fresh toothbrush, or maybe you did your grocery shopping cuz you were out of soap, or maybe you couldn’t find a clean hand towel and ended up doing laundry.

this is good. you got shit done! it wasn’t necessarily Cleaned The Bathroom in the way nt’s think of it, but screw ‘em. things are better than they were.