Just another manic Tuesday...

[elfs]

So, anyway, Tuesday after work I wandered over to Yamaarashi-chan's house to pick her up. She's really gotten into Dance Dance Revolution (yay, a physical activity), and man if that isn't a humbling game to watch: she's pretty good, but after finishing up a level the meter at the bottom read, "You burned 18.3 calories." Great. What does it take to actually lose weight?

I stopped by the house and picked up Omaha and Kouryou-chan and took them out to a Japanese restaurant, where Kouryou-chan chanted "Ewww" when I ate raw octopus slices. The girls dug down on deep-fried ice cream. We wandered over to the bookstore but didn't buy anything; money's tight this month. I wish I'd remembered to bring the stack of books to give to Half-Price Books, since they'll give me a cash card good for their books, and I've developed a sudden interest in T. Coraghessan Boyle's work.

I've also revived my gum habit, now that I've chewed my way through a twelve-pack of pens. In a moment reminicent of Calvin & Hobbes, I must say that Hershey's can't make a stick of gum worth chewing. All of their line has a mealy and unpleasant texture compared to Wrigley's. And why the heck do so many brands have phenylalanine in them, anyway? There's no reason for JuicyFruit to have it.

Since I can't write with my laptop (and I tried one of those PDA keyboards-- too small, and no Dvorak driver for it, not good for my wrists at all) I've taken to driving in to work more often. If nothing else, it gives me study time and books-on-tape.

I also made it all the way through the introductory course in Japanese, all four CDs. I'm rather pleased-- I've never made it to the end of a lesson pack before. I suppose having a private study space has made a big difference in my attitude towards the material. Now I have to decide if I'm going to finish the long course-- all 70 lessons worth.

Current fiction book, e-type: At The Mountains of Madness, by H.P. Lovecraft.

Current fiction book, paper: Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters.

Current non-fiction: Modern Japanese.

Comments

[lucky-otter.livejournal.com]

The calorie meter in DDR is horribly inaccurate. It bears little resemblence to reality.

[shadowfey.livejournal.com]

Really? Which way does its inaccuracy slant? In the user's favour or against? (Ie, do you actually burn more or less than what it claims?)

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

I think the recent trend towards using the artificial sweeteners in gum is the same reason why Coke uses corn syrup--it's cheaper than sugar.

I can't tolerate phenylalanine--it gives me migraine headaches--and aesulfame K tastes nasty, so I'm limited to Carefree and Trident Kids. The Trident only comes in one flavor, though, so you have to like generic berry.

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

sorry the PDA keyboard idea did not work elf.I should have figured it would be hell on your wrists.wasent thinkin to much.just lookin for a quick solution. Cant really think of much of a solution for you laptop problem right now besides save up some money and fix it in the long run. I can wait for more journal entries. It gives them a chance to percolate a bit in your head for a while and lets you develop more plots/storylines/"interesting scenes".

[lucky-otter.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the answer is "neither". Think about it. The only information it has is when buttons are pressed. It doesn't know how hard you're working to press them. It doesn't even know how much you weigh! It can't possibly be accurate with that limited data set. I guess it could possibly always overshoot or always undershoot, but based on the values I've seen from it, it's neither. I've seen someone get hundreds of calories for a *single song*. You can't use 300 calories in 3 minutes. I've also seen someone work their butt off, fail the song horribly, and get a calorie rating of around 5.

[rukatiger.livejournal.com]

I have been toying with the idea of learning Japanese for a while now and was wondering what self-study course you used. Do you have anyone to practice with or do you just speak aloud with the course?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I'm just following along with the course. It's the Pimsleur Speak and Learn Japanese I, the full course of 30 half-hour lessons. Very nice for the car. I found mine at a used bookstore for about $60 a long time ago; I see that the current version of the course is selling for $240 on Amazon.