In about a week, I’ll be finished all of the new cards in Core 2000. I’m not going to keep updating about it here anymore. I need to be writing in Japanese on a regular basis so I’ll be doing that on Netlog (There’s one entry!) Need to get over sounding clever. Spending the rest of November with the JLPT stuff on jpod101. I feel like this test is either going to real easy and I’m worried for nothing or I will mega-bomb it and totally blank. Either way it’s kept me focused on studying so no regrets there. The blogging also helps. It’s my damn blog I can hijack it for whatever. It would be really easy to give up on the Anki right about now. Shit just piles up like crazy. I don’t think you can do more than 3 at a time and really be learning. I am just powering through all these new cards, it’s stuff I’m supposed to know already anyway. It really tricks you into thinking it’s going to easy when it starts out—I’m just saying this for the noobs—do not try to start 10 decks at once. And really, if you really are starting out, I don’t think self-teaching even saves you that much money. Go to a class, make some friends or something. I have just doomed myself with this thing, it’s ridiculous. でも。。。fuck it. It couldn’t have worked out different for me. I should have done something different 10, 15 years ago not last week. So whatever. Gotta keep focused on what to do right now. %

Not even screencapping this time. Thought about cramming for a few hours and then doing it but then realized I am a complete asshole for even thinking that and really even for people that read this blog these entries are of almost no value to anyone but me, so one day I can look back and think, “remember when you kinda cheated on your own blog? awesome times.”

The only way I could impress someone with my language studies at this point is in a similar way you might be impressed by the guy who finishes the marathon three days after it’s over. “Wow, he just wouldn’t quit. Why didn’t he quit exactly? Three days? Does that even make sense?” Besides, the screen numbers don’t tell you much, over than I’m really good at screencapping. I think I’ve proved that point. We’re over it.

Couldn’t stick to the 2hrs/day this month, so I had to decide to concentrate on the first 5 of the 2000 series. Then I’ve got the 1st and 5th of the 6000 at the bottom of that list there, mocking me…once I finish the first 5 I can start the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of 6000. I guess. At most. There’s no way there should be more than 10 decks with new cards going at the same time.

You can follow Anki on twitter, btw. They’re trying to improve the system. Maybe they read whenever someone blogs about them (probably do). If any of my feedback is useful and helps other people that’s great. But I also think the system is good enough for me. I just need something to tell me everyday that I’m fucked if I don’t study more. Because if it’s a book, or even a class with weekly quizzes, on a day-to-day basis, without a constant outside reminder I’m just checking my own brain to see if I’m fucked, and the answer will always come back, “nope! doin’ fine.” Which is rarely the case. Then suddenly it’s the day of the test. But there was nothing sudden about it, I just couldn’t prioritize it until it was too late. Don’t think I’m that special in this regard, so keep that in mind, Anki people. It might bum some people out to see the the stuff pile up like that, but you can’t make it too easy. No matter how good a system is, you really tend to learn when things overlap. That’s why immersion works, you’re getting many, many sources of the same words. That’s when the repetition kicks in and it becomes long-term memory. The best system can only try to give the widest circle possible for other exposure to overlap onto. (The great thing about a free open source program is that is doesn’t have to pretend it’s the One and Only Thing You Need.) That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.

The List:

• 2000 step 01 – 0 (-497)
• 2000 step 02 – 0 (-373)
• 2000 step 03 – 440 (-100)
• 2000 step 09 – 540 (-81)
• 2000 step 06 – 541 (-59)
• 2000 step 04 – 560 (-103)
• 2000 step 08 – 566 (-50)
• 2000 step 10 – 584 (-52)
• 2000 step 05 – 594 (-46)
• 2000 step 07 – 701 (-43)

August:

• 2000 step 02 – 373 (-240)
• 2000 step 01 – 497 (-298)
• 2000 step 03 – 550 (-181)
• 2000 step 09 – 621 (-185)
• 2000 step 08 – 616 (-200)
• 2000 step 06 – 600 (-240)
• 2000 step 10 – 636 (-208)
• 2000 step 05 – 640 (-220)
• 2000 step 04 – 663 (-217)
• 2000 step 07 – 744 (-169)

Damn, I’m glad I’m doing this. (ATTN Anki: maybe add something like this to the thing.] Cleared out a lot more in those first two than I thought. Plus I had no idea I’ve been consistently skipping step 7. The rest are not as bad as I thought either, all below 600. I think I had the math wrong before, I’m not reading through the old entries right now, but 600 can be done in a month if you hit every day. I was more depressed about this before I checked on it. I’m going to concentrate on finishing them and keeping them all up to date, and checking out the sample tests. Then, suddenly, the test is in the beginning of December. I got in application in and approved so I just gotta show up and all this will have to be enough. Then I’ll go for the harder stuff through 2012. Hopefully the world holds together long enough for a trip. And I should get some actual novels. Probably more useful vocab than I lot of business terms I will not likely need. Or maybe I could get a real job with all that, who knows. I’m a believer in free will, but when you don’t decide, at some point the decision is made for you. So I better decide something.

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Yeah, I need to get better at this. Kinda bein a dick with it. The whole thing I mean. What can you do.

I’ve applied for the N4 level of the JPLT. Turns out the grades are pass/fail. Hadn’t looked that far into it before, I was thinking about get a good score on the thing (or very bad score). But I won’t really know, I’ll just do well enough or not. Well, shit. There’s old tests floating around . Pretty sure I can pass the N5. I figure it would be crushing to fail the N5, but less so the N4. Which I shouldn’t, but N3 would be pushing it. You gotta factor in the taking of the test itself, which I’m totally unfamiliar with, is a handicap. But I’m also thinking, you start something like this, you wanna go to the top level. Since it’s a yearly test I gotta knock off one year if I can. Better to take the 4 twice than waste a year of the easiest one.

So that’s what I’m thinking. I’m not getting back to where I want with Anki, but I’ve now got it stuck at a max of 2 days. I can keep it there easy at this point, but it’s got to get down to a max of 1 day and stay there to make good progress. Been going back to Jpod101 too. (I have several old Berlitz and Pimsleur courses but they don’t get very advanced.) I joined Jpod a while ago and for a while I was hating myself for paying for the premium service but if I hadn’t I doubt I would be going back to it and it is kinda good if at times grating.

Signed up for a travel alert and got a dead cheap price today, but not cheap enough. That’s not happening any time soon. But thinking long-term I feel I’ll end up living in North Jersey somewhere and visiting from there. I don’t think I could do the moving to Japan and teaching english thing. Pretty sure I’m too old for an entry level position and would be terrible teaching kids. Maybe I could teach in North Jersey, like ESL tutor. Maybe do freelance translation or other writing but I’m thinking it’s not going to be enough. That’s almost the same as trying to make a living off art/music. I still have this idea of getting a restaurant/bar job right away and say fuck it for a while because I need to be living on my own asap, but I’ve never been able to get that kind of job. One time in art school out teacher laid down the harsh reality that most of us would give up art of have to work as bartenders and just do art on the side if we were so serious about “real art”. Now, I wish he had said “work in fast food…” because then I’d think, maybe advertising isn’t that bad. I thought ‘bartender’ sounded pretty punk. Seems a lot of people though that. But I digress. つづく。。。

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It continues.

Looks like I did pretty well. Did for a while. This past week I’ve hit the wall. I could blame the hurricane, but it was not that bad in my exact area. Didn’t even lose power. It was mostly distracting; couldn’t stop watching the unexpectedly uninterrupted newsfeeds. Thought it would be worse, but not much worse. (It was plenty bad for a lot of people, jerks.)

Anyhow, right before that I figured out that 2 hours a day is the exact right amount to do everyday. Less will not get through the whole list each day, more will cause burnout and then the next day you wind up doing less and figure it all evens out and of course it doesn’t. Things get out of hand real quick (tho I kept all the decks under 3 days…they can still pile up.)

Pretty confident that my JLPT attempt will be total crash & burn but I gotta do it. It’s the only way things sink in for me.

Let’s just look at the list compared to last time: (I’ve skipped both 6000 decks this round.)

T.& I. Verbs – 0 (-173)

2000 step 02 – 373 (-240)
2000 step 01 – 497 (-298)
2000 step 03 – 550 (-181)
2000 step 09 – 621 (-185)
2000 step 08 – 616 (-200)
2000 step 06 – 600 (-240)
2000 step 10 – 636 (-208)
2000 step 05 – 640 (-220)
2000 step 04 – 663 (-217)
2000 step 07 – 744 (-169)

Should all be 20 lower but I bailed today. Needed a break so I guess I can get 1 day a month. Tomorrow I apply for the test.

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