Travel, Foreign Languages, Photography, etc.
I finally bit the bullet and bought a second Kindle Paperwhite, this time for my Japanese language library. And I don’t regret it one bit. It has become an incredibly powerful tool for improving my Japanese, because I read more books, faster, with the Paperwhite than I have with any other reading platform.
And I’ve tried a bunch of different ways to read Japanese books.
Juan had a question about how I did the Anki cards for the A+ exam. I started to write a reply, and it turned into a book. So I figured I’d post the reply as a blog post instead.
I’m turning the corner on the cold. My Reason book showed up. It’s awesome~! I’m also agonizing over getting Push or Maschine.
I’m sick as a dog, so no New Year’s going out for me this year. I ordered what looks like it will be a great book on Reason, and I started reading “BasicSynth,” a book about synthesizer programming. Good times. Happy New Year.
I spent Pocky Day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then went to Kinokuniya. Dinner was with friends in Greenwich Village. Tomorrow I go back home. It’s supposed to snow.
I made it safely to Manhattan, went to Kinokuniya, then settled down for the evening.
I finally caved in and bought a Kindle Paperwhite, and a new Nexus 5. I’m still waiting on the N5. I’ll give a review of it when I can.
It seems like everyone is getting rid of paper copies of books these days, and I’m joining the herd. I’ve donated 8 boxes of old books so far, and I probably have another 8 or so I can get rid of. Companies like O’Reilly that let you get DRM-free e-books make the transition a lot smoother.
I picked up some Japanese books on using Blender and Metasequoia to help me get a better handle on those two programs. I also started working on improving my 2D drawing skills, because the 3D stuff was looking somewhat “bleh.” I tried Autodesk’s Sketchbook, and it’s okay. I fell in love with the open-source vector graphics program Inkscape.
I ran around Manhattan and checked out Book Off and Kinokuniya, then burned my tongue on good pizza at Frank’s. After that, I high-tailed it back home. I got back in around 1:30 a.m., and got to bed at 3. Oof.
I made it safely to Manhattan. The trip wasn’t too bad. I checked out B&H and Kinokuniya, and I’ll check out Book-Off and maybe Mitsuwa tomorrow.
Today I went to see the Jackson Pollock exhibit at the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, then went to the Midland Square Building to see some great views of Nagoya. More book shopping after that, then expensive crepes for dinner, and a train ride back to Okazaki. I managed to take some really good photos with my cheap little IXY, too!
In spite of the pouring rain, I went to Nagoya, saw the Tokugawa Art Museum, shopped a bit, and made a full day out of it.
I went back to Nagoya for more wandering around. I found an international market that sells oatmeal, and some fake plastic candy to stick on my phone. I also found the dictionary I’ve been looking for!
Went to Nagoya, got my money back at Bic Camera, found a nice international grocery story near JR Nagoya, got lost, bought more books, had to buy a bag to carry it all, then ate some organic food, bought a blanket, and even found a Krispy Kreme.
I headed down to Aeon Mall in Okazaki for a little shopping. I only got lost once.
It’s Saturday, and it’s raining like hell. I can’t go to Nagoya, but I can go to Wingtown!
UPDATED WITH 2013 INFO! If you have suggestions to improve this post, or have stores you recommend, please add a comment! If you’re like me, and studying Japanese, you probably want to get your hands on some books in Japanese. You may be tempted to just go to amazon.co.jp and buy from them. A lot … Continue reading
Fun day today. I got back on the ol’ Buttbuster 9000 and did some touring around Okazaki. I’m going to miss that bike… okay, no, not really. I managed to send about 20 lbs. worth of stuff home for only about $60. Fortunately, it’s all stuff I won’t need for the next 8-10 weeks, because … Continue reading