It's probably because of lack of sleep again... though I guess reading too many Japanese web novels and manga raws might have made it worse (oops). Language fatigue, maybe? I don't really want to stop now when I'm very excited about reading them but.... haaaaah... I'll slow down... maybe read the ones that got fan-translated first or something. 

They are videos of manga chapters (some full, some partial) with voice actors reading out the dialogues -- IT'S FUN! It's not like I'm watching a bunch (I'm really just going with the YT recommendations here) but recently I'm kind of in love with Kimura Ryohei-san's voice in this one XD... yeah, you probably guessed it right, the recommendations are of the isekai-themed kind of stories, and they seem to keep on coming after I watch one and more (good job, YT!).

Besides getting to see/hear to some good acting performance, it doubles (triples?) as Japanese reading and listening practice, which is why I say it's fun~ 

Usually this type of videos are region-locked so I'm going to watch as much as I can before they realise they need to lock them! 

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I've been reading so many web novels recently it's starting to scare me a bit. 

*sigh* 

I'm half-reflecting on it. I don't think I'm going to quit cold turkey but...  I might need to limit the time or chapters or something. It's a bit hard sometimes because it's so addicting. The effect is similar to when I binge-read manga in the past, I would start abandoning books I'm currently reading *haaaaaah* :|  ...which is kind of what is happening now. It's almost like a reading slump but at the same time, I'm still reading actively [on my phone]... Haah, I guess it is just me getting distracted like usual~~~

The only positive side of this is I get to learn more Japanese vocabulary...? Of course, I'm referring to the web novels that I'm currently reading in its original language on Syosetu. Been using the highlight -> Gtranslate feature more lately (such a very useful feature!). I don't usually translate the whole page because oh boy can you imagine how problematic the translation would be??? I only did a few paragraphs and that already got me laughing out loud silly because the translation was so funny XD

Anyway it's me again... I can't stop reading this (I'm reading the fan-translated web novel version btw), it's stuck in my mind all day, it's crazy! I think I just got a glimpse back into the past where I was attempt-reading HZGG3 novels feverishly whenever I can... I guess this can still happen now??? As long as I'm super interested and crazy curious about it...? I don't really want to be that one person who gets extra a bit obsessed when it comes to things they like, but *sigh* I guess- I mean I've always known I'm one- What am I even saying? I've always been that kind of person lol... It's just that I don't always have the chance to encounter "triggers" like that so when it appears again I got a bit surprised *sigh*

I can imagine I'll go ahead and read the Japanese web novel after I'm out of fan-translated chapters (at least the ones I have access to) because I'm already doing that for another series (I started from the manga version and now curiosity has brought me to the original source)... 

...Reading is fun!

One post (from Nov 2005) included this sentence:

...and that's one of the best before-after thing you can get in life (at least for me). I think I started self-learning the language 5 years after that, around the time I became an Ohno Satoshi fan XD

Not done with "The Silent Dead" yet but I really want to watch the series again (and there's even a new [reboot?] version??? I don't remember reading about that lol). Ah... I wanna see Kikuta again~~

No new book from the jar today. 

Others might call it obsession but I don't think it reached that level...? (Is this self-denial?) That was just me acting as usual when I found a new toy I really, really love to play with. I think it was also a distraction from life problems. It was fiction books when I was having a hard time studying (if you can call that studying) for SPM exam in Form 5. I wanted to escape so badly I was able to focus on reading classic books (which might be a bit hard for me at that time). Then in uni, my greatest distraction was Arashi. Who got me into Japanese stuff including learning the language itself. It's a win-win situation. I gained something from it.

The point of this post is me admiring my old fangirling posts for their colourful vocabulary. Which is a stark contrast to my posts nowadays. I struggle to recall words more now (is it because of lack of sleep?). I've been doing more [book] reading because I know that can help me remedy that problem. I'm afraid that I'll lose my mind so I guess reading helps me escape and stay sane.. or something like that.

Mind you, I was a few months short of 17 years old at that time and I just started blogging.. Unfortunately, I'm still plagued by mood swings at present. I try to manage but yes, I still feel I have the problem. Sometimes I just feel too lazy to live.

Current day
So here's another draft post finally published today. I've been re-reading old posts again recently (because I was editing the labels and search description *just realised I can edit that too now*)... and as expected.

"WHO ARE YOU, PAST-ME?"

Haha. It really felt like re-reading my old diaries. Some of them I can recall and some surprise me "Eh that happened?"... and I'm a bit embarrassed of posts that showed my fangirl side XD. Hey! FYI, this blog survived at least three fandoms - I'm proud of those obsessive moments! I might not like them as much as I did before but I sometimes I revisit them. Sometimes. I think it's not an exaggeration that they shaped some part of me today. For example, my interest in foreign languages. Being a fan of Alec Su made me learn to understand Chinese and read Traditional Chinese (I'm bad at reading the simplified version). I don't have much chance to practise using them lately but I still watch chinese/taiwanese dramas... sometimes. And then later I became a fan of Ohno Satoshi & Arashi, which again made me learn to understand Japanese... Knowing how to read chinese helped me pick up kanji quite quickly (sometimes I will know the meaning before I know how to pronounce it). That was a big help to me nowadays because I play japanese mobile games daily.

My method of learning is haphazard but I enjoy using the skills now whenever it suits me. Used to buying chinese magazines from before, I'm not afraid to attempt-read japanese manga... it's easier nowadays because we have more resources to learn languages available online.

At this moment, I want to get better at French which I took up in University. Of course, at the same time I wish to expand my Japanese vocabularies and learn more Japanese grammar.


Don't you just love how this post turn from "re-reading old posts" into my adventures in learning foreign languages?

Like manga series (this sounds like I'm cheating but hey, it's still reading!) ...and [mobile] visual novels. Oh yes. I've been to that world already and I can't find the way back to the world where I haven't read VN anymore.

Hmm.. and my Japanese reading comprehension progressed so much (because I'm reading articles, manga and VN in Japanese too, out of desperation, mind you) although my kanji reading still need major practice. Yup, so I can't say I didn't read anymore during my reading slump.

I also did a lot of sight-reading in music (but this is a different kind of reading so I cheated haha)... oh, but I read theory books and such (which are normal books) so yeah.

2019 addition...

If you ask me now, I will say that I still have a reading slump. It's more like physical books reading slump...? Because I play games in Japanese daily (yeah that VN thing I mentioned up there.. Well more like mobile otome games...), which helped expand my Japanese vocabulary (it's amazing how I end up there haha).. I still count that as "reading".  

Anyway. I went to the first ever Big Bad Wolf Sale in Kota Kinabalu months ago and that kind of jumpstart my wish to get back to reading physical books. 

During my SPM year, I was so thirsty for books (which probably was just me running away from the stress) that I started reading classic novels. 

I want to be that person again.

Had a group presentation instead during tutorial class... My group were worried & nervous because we just finished doing everything (report & presentation slides) yesterday! Last minute work, of course... Anyway.. working with this group was relaxing! Though we didn't hold any meetings for our assignment, everyone (or most of them..I hope) was very understanding of the situation and just do what we could do... no yelling, crying, pushing or anything that gives out negative vibes! 

We even had the time to talk about unrelated things XD.. One of the members is my junior. She saw me once at my music school (dunno when) so there's a brief conversation for topic like "Oh, you take music classes? What instrument do you play?" LOL Small, random conversations makes me happy

That's not the only thing that made this day a GREAT day. In fact, it was already decided early on that it's a GREAT day when I read about the news of Ohno's New Year Dorama SP....!!!

Yes. It's compulsory for me to blog about this not only on my LJ, but here and also my review blog XD.

It's not a full-length dorama... but these points here are enough to convince me that it will be a worthwhile dorama SP.

• Adapted from a novel (2008) by the same bestselling author of "Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de", Higashikawa Tokuya
• Renowned list of casts : Sato Ryuta, Narimiya Hiroki, Kanjiya Shihori, Takahashi Katsumi, Kitaoji Kinya (just typing back what's put in the article lol.. )
• Ohno Satoshi. oh lol this is very obvious... but as I've been waiting for a new dorama (=character) of him for over a year, this is good enough for me already! It's time to leave the Kaibutsu-kun persona behind! (The character's description reminded me of UtaOni's Kenta-kun though...maybe a happier version of Yano Kenta?) 

What I love about the announcement article (there were various sites reporting on this) was this:

or... (I love reading the "offered" part in the original news XD)

My failed attempt at doing a "Thursday Thirteen" blog meme. XD

I don't have anything to tell about what happened today because I didn't go out today :P (no class!)

I'm happy that my piano practice is going well (at least for the "5x10" song I want to play well before the end of this month). I mean, I can hear the difference after repeating the same problematic phrases... it sounds better! I never could believe it could improved this fast. I don't know why I'm not convinced before... but they do say practice makes perfect. Hmm. I think my piano teacher told me the same thing too months ago when I tell her I can't [make it sound good] with practice. Haha... obviously I didn't do enough practice on the piano [or I just didn't like the song(?)].

Got bored with doramas already. So, I'm re-watching Arashi's TV shows XD. This, of course, doesn't sound healthy for my university life. But considering that I hardly watch TV anymore... and I don't exist on facebook (which I heard is a big distraction to university students :P), I think it's OKAY. As long as I don't sacrifice my sleep hours. Watching them help me improve my listening too. But I always get influenced by the male-only speeches. Lol. Oh well, can't expect everything to be perfect all the time.

Went to Times bookstore (Suria branch) to check out some Japanese language learning books. There are many new ones!  I saw a very, very thick Kanji dictionary (added to my will-buylist  <3) & some one or two more books that I think can help my self-study. UWA. The prices!!! The dictionary is almost RM300… the other books are in the RM70-90 range. Arrgggrrhrh.

Bought one book that teaches how to read/construct sentences.