Pi pi pi pi Pizza!

Something to brighten your Friday night. Thanks to Tracy, it brightened mine!

(Though I feel bad for the base :( *sniffs*)

Chocolate Buddha, Federation Square

One advantage of going to meetings interstate has to be trying the different restaurants they take us out to!

Fed Square was packed on Friday night for the men’s semi-final for the tennis.

The year we were booked into Chocolate Buddha in Federation Square Melbourne. They technically don’t do a banquet, but the very attentive waitress organised one for us. She was also vey good at paying attention to those with food allergies and intolerances – including among the group MSG, peanuts and dairy.

The stated us off with the beans, which we munched away on. So much green!
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So much language!

A very language filled day. Stretching my brain to figure out things it’s not used to, things I take for granted. Like the l sound at the end of words. How do YOU end the words ball, bell, apple, girl, and any other l-final word you can think of. Do you say the l? Do you get your tongue into position for it and stop there? Is it more of a w? Or dropped completely?

Or the schwa, that Principal Skinner made famous. The “neutral” vowel… or the one that we hear in NZ English, or our un-emphasised syllables. Like in banana after the b… “Discussing” this in a room full of 26 or so speechies, trying to figure out the best transcriptions for our speech assessments. Having people say it slightly differently, or claiming to say it differently. Then trying to find it on our little vowel charts as to what the phonetic transcription should really be. And how it’s changed since people were in uni!

Fun, tricky. (Nerdy!)

Then we get to a similar thing in Japanese, trying to figure out the katakana transcriptions for the “foreign” words and names we want to use. Similar process, just different symbols. Still nerdy and fun. As is when the grammar just clicks for me and I figure out the rules for myself and then could apply it. If only my vocab was bigger.

You Don’t Know Me

Long meetings today at work, generating more work to do, somehow I’m going to fit it in, a few more early starts I think so I can get things done before other people show up to distract me, annoy me, give me more work to do. Could have easily stayed at work way too long today.

But I had my first Japanese class for the year instead. Needed to switch the brain to that, turn from all the reports to write to talking about things like finding the supermarket. Bringing my language levels closer to that of the kids I work with.

:p

*sigh*

(ps – is there an easy way to type hiragana and katakana into wordpress?)

Ahead of Myself

Really, I can’t get too excited about doing a masters or even some coursework when i come home feeling blah after having a headache for much of the the day, coupled with a sore throat… thank you Dimetapp cold and flu for at least keeping the sniffle away and the cough down.

My Burlesque course got cancelled due to poor enrollment. Maybe next semester. Hopefully Japanese will run. It’s all or nothing it seems!

Lay down to half an hour when I got home, zoned out for awhile before I did the grocery shopping. At least Woolies is closer now, even if it is a smaller store! :) Chicken for dinner, which is a put in and leave in the over until done, turning if i really wanna kind of meal. Easy for a night like tonight.

Will hit the gym tomorrow. And Wednesday for round two of P&F.

Japanese. Burlesque.

Just got word that there’s going to be a “Continuing” Japanese course running next semester (Feb onwards) at the ANU CCE. *dances* Now to (a) remember to enroll; (b) buy the text and (c) brush up my reading at least over summer.

THere’s also going to be a beginners burlesque dance course running through the sports union over summer break. Question on that is whether I can get in early enough to enroll before it’s filled :p Otherwise I may take on poll dancing. We shall see. *grins* (I need something to do, it looks like I’ll not be taking more leave than Christmas Shutdown at this stage)

On that note? A corsetry link (yeah, not all safe for work) that Rish sent me this morning in order to slow my getting ready for work. Damn him! *drools*

Head-first

So, I think I’m going to achieve some sort of sticker-based goal before I head away. Which is nice. Yes, the target number of gym/running sessions has been reduced, but have thrown myself into it head-first for June – hoping to come out of it with better fitness and a reward of a nice out with Rish. Which I’ll earn if I do today, Friday and Saturday. Doesn’t have to be running, or a particular exercise, but I do have to get myself going pretty much every day. Thursdays don’t count – Japanese in the evenings makes it a long enough day without tacking a morning gym session on. Maybe if it was summer I could cope.

Maybe if I wasn’t staying up way past my bedtime chatting online, I could cope, too :p

Why I make the Japanese cry

I don’t know my blood type.

This revelation was such a shock to my Japanese tutor in last week’s class. We were continuing with basic conversation things, and got to horoscopes, and then to “blood type” and personality based aorund this.

I tried to give blood once, and passed out. It was hoped that I would find out my blood type then, but since that was a failure, I haven’t gone back.

This morning I went for the blood tests reccommended by my doctor when I was sick the other week…. skipped breakfast, because fasting was required for one of the tests, and proceeded to black out… didn’t fall off the chair, it just all went black. I could still hear the nurse saying to me “just one more” as she took the blood for the fifth tube… just one more I repeated back as it went black…

I made it though, drank a foul-tasting Coles orange popper…. and then drove to work.

Itadakimasu!

Just finished my first Japanese lesson since year 11 (1999)… it’s starting to come back to me! And I’m feeling so tired, but exciteable… kinda like I’m doing somehting new, but at least I know that I can be capable at it if I keep trying!

The tutor was talking about whether we need to get text books or not – she suggested that if we want to know the grammar etc, then texts are the way to go, and if we just want to travel, phrase books are better. But I’m a nerd/ speech pathologist who NEEDS TO KNOW exactly what each little particle is for… then I can manipulate it more :) I want to control my language, not be restricted. Long way off, I know… but yay!

Oyasumi!