Just got back from a Wing Chun lesson with Robert Cheung (I think... his card doesn't have a last name =/) It's been about a year since I've last trained... it wasn't all that fun getting grilled the way I got grilled... but that's all fine and dandy because he covered a few of my mistakes that i need to fix. It did however make me want to get in touch with my sifu to get counter arguments to certain things.
Japanese:
Completed Pimsleur 5
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Habits
This is kind of an extension to the New Year's Resolutions since I'm struggling to actually adhere to them ha ha (go figure =P)
As noted previously, my stumbling upon FSI helped remotivate me to continue my foreign language studies. Although I'm starting again from the beginning, I don't mind too much. I've managed to get a copy of Pimsleur's Japanese 1, and I have the first book of Heisig and a good set of flash cards (I have to print them out though =/) so I'm all set to go. I've also found the blog of a guy in Brazil who did something similar and it seems he managed to get pretty fluent over the course of a year. I hope to be able to do the same so I'll go ahead and emulate his method, which basically involves an online progress report. He started doing it in a forum and eventually moved it to a blog because it was pointless to keep bumping the thread when no one was reading. For the few people that actually read my blog... I can set up a second blog if you so desire because its unlikely I'll write anything meaningful.
Like all my other self-motivated habits, we'll see if this one actually sticks. Who knows... maybe I'll actually write meaningful things along with the progress reports.
Here's where I stand this morning:
Canto:
FSI 1
Japanese:
Completed: Pimsleur 3/Heisig 100
Flash Card Statistics
Group 1: 25/32 (78%)
Group 2: 19/19 (100%)
As noted previously, my stumbling upon FSI helped remotivate me to continue my foreign language studies. Although I'm starting again from the beginning, I don't mind too much. I've managed to get a copy of Pimsleur's Japanese 1, and I have the first book of Heisig and a good set of flash cards (I have to print them out though =/) so I'm all set to go. I've also found the blog of a guy in Brazil who did something similar and it seems he managed to get pretty fluent over the course of a year. I hope to be able to do the same so I'll go ahead and emulate his method, which basically involves an online progress report. He started doing it in a forum and eventually moved it to a blog because it was pointless to keep bumping the thread when no one was reading. For the few people that actually read my blog... I can set up a second blog if you so desire because its unlikely I'll write anything meaningful.
Like all my other self-motivated habits, we'll see if this one actually sticks. Who knows... maybe I'll actually write meaningful things along with the progress reports.
Here's where I stand this morning:
Canto:
FSI 1
Japanese:
Completed: Pimsleur 3/Heisig 100
Flash Card Statistics
Group 1: 25/32 (78%)
Group 2: 19/19 (100%)
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Old Friends
Bumped into some old school friends today... some of my closest intermediate school friends actually, Steven Ly and Brenda Hao. I'm not sure how we became friends, but I eventually got roped into Steven Ly's posse of friends and as he was he quintessential politico-nerd of the school (being a geek was cool back in those days because of all the gang affiliations) I got caught in a bit of crossfire with the rest of the school. But we were all kids and we were all stuck together so it didn't stop me from making friends at least superficially (it was my intention those days to not get too close to anybody back then). Brenda was... that really cute girl that sat in front of me during social studies. I don't remember much besides that (like what we talked about exactly because we did talk...), but for awhile I looked forward to class just because of her. Guess its not surprising she didn't remember (or recognize) who I was. It's been practically 8 years since I've seen these people anyways.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Work
I got a job offer today. Looks like I'll be headed back to San Diego... yay. The not so hot part about today... I'm still sick...
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Race
Now the question arises... was it really that bad back then? At least I never got lynched... How much of it was racism and how much of it was really kids being kids? Kinda hard to say now seeing as I don't remember much anymore.
I do remember being chased around campus by the entire class. I was presumably running away from my problems, likely coming from the fact that I looked different from everyone else. My comrades were... the fat kids, the nerds, the... well she wasn't an orphan but she was living with her grandparents and great grandparents cuz her parents were missing for various reasons, and the other outcasts. But I usually went home on the bus, cuz I lived outside of the housing communities. Things were a little worse there. The children were usually from migrant worker families, a lot of which found their daily bread at the local dairy farms. That's mostly where I got the name 'Chink'. Most of the other nicknames I got were racial in meaning. But was it really any worse than what the other kids were facing? At that school? How about here in Rosemead? Or... the inner city schools? It's hard to say... I managed to escape that reality when I came here.
BTW... the day I learned the word melancholy... I thought it was a flower. It was sunny that day and I was standing in line for lunch because my dad didn't have time to make lunch for me like some of the other kids.
I do remember being chased around campus by the entire class. I was presumably running away from my problems, likely coming from the fact that I looked different from everyone else. My comrades were... the fat kids, the nerds, the... well she wasn't an orphan but she was living with her grandparents and great grandparents cuz her parents were missing for various reasons, and the other outcasts. But I usually went home on the bus, cuz I lived outside of the housing communities. Things were a little worse there. The children were usually from migrant worker families, a lot of which found their daily bread at the local dairy farms. That's mostly where I got the name 'Chink'. Most of the other nicknames I got were racial in meaning. But was it really any worse than what the other kids were facing? At that school? How about here in Rosemead? Or... the inner city schools? It's hard to say... I managed to escape that reality when I came here.
BTW... the day I learned the word melancholy... I thought it was a flower. It was sunny that day and I was standing in line for lunch because my dad didn't have time to make lunch for me like some of the other kids.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
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