2016 is the year of the monkey. It’s MY year. It’s the time to make things really count.
People usually make their resolutions for January 1st. I had ideas about what I wanted to do with the new year around then too, of course, but after having a month or so to reflect, I’m using the Lunar New Year, which I celebrate anyway (sort of), to make that statement to myself. Most years, I make half-promises or vague concepts my ‘resolutions’. This year, I’m going as far as saying “I am resolved”.
Big changes have been going on within me for the past few months (Maybe year? Few years? Tough to say…), mostly in how I view things and, in turn, how I relate to other people. I am working on rectifying to opposing sides of myself: being aligned with the values I hold and worrying what other people think of me.
I don’t mean like I wouldn’t wear a dorky shirt because people might make fun of me, but more so in that I have always felt the need to explain my actions so that people aren’t left to interpret them (incorrectly) on their own. I make decisions to do with my own behaviour that some people may find unusual or not understand so I worry that they came up with some negative reason for doing it (like I’m just a bitch) and write me off because of that. This has happened. Quite a few times actually.
Up until recently, I have done my best to pre-emptively justify myself in order to avoid that. That has it’s own drawbacks. I come across as insecure and needy. And I may still be those things but the whole point is that I WANT people to come to their own conclusions about me based on what I do rather than what I say. I don’t want to feel compelled to explain. And ultimately, I want to be okay with that and stop internally worrying about what misconceptions they might have. (This is where I’ve been the past while – consciously NOT offering explanations but still agonizing over the possible reactions by myself. I think it’s cognitive training. The latter part will come with time. I hope…)
So that is part 1 of my resolutions. I refuse to offer up any justification of my behaviour unsolicited. I am quite ready and willing to give an explanation to anyone that cares enough to actually ask. But no one ever does, do they?
(*As an aside, I will say this much. If it seems my behaviour towards you has changed, whether suddenly or over time, there is a reason. Look at yourself before you just assume I’m a fickle asshole.)
Part 2 is more traditional. I’m almost 36 years old and I have spent most of my life just waiting for things to come to me. There are other changes I would like to make in regards to longterm commitment and stamina as well, of course, but the first part of the problem has always been inaction. There are so many things I want to do but just as many excuses for why I put them off. Some of them are simple, like I wanted to dye my hair green for a long time before I actually got around to it, and others are more complex and involve more planning and various steps to achieve, like learning Japanese. I can still work on those other aspects I mentioned but taking the first step seems to be the key. If I want to do something, I’m going to stop only dreaming about it and just do it (Thank you, Nike.), as much as is within my power and means to do so.
These two things aren’t something I’m putting into place only now, like ‘starting’ my new year. I’ve already been doing this to a point at least since the calendar New Year, like everyone else, and even before that. Since I’ve had all of January to see how these new things are already changing me, I can see their merit and can be assured putting more effort into both will have positive outcomes for me.
Years ago, I posted my “Likes and Dislikes“. I just came across it again and wanted to see what changed. Some things did, most did not.
My Favourites:
colour ~ green
food ~ mashed potatoes, steak
song ~ As if I could pick one!
movies ~ My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away
animal ~ panda
smell ~ clean
salad ~ mandarin chicken (made by me)
cookie ~ chocolate chip
ice cream ~ chocolate chip cookie dough, any with poprocks in it
cartoon character ~ Jiminy Cricket (non-anime)
tv show ~ Supernatural
book ~Twilight
number ~ 8
day of the week ~ Thursday
*article of clothing ~ fat pants RIP :_( (read more below)
album ~ Muse – Drones
singer/band ~ Muse, Weezer, Bobby Long, Sia
My Not-So-Favourites:
food ~ strawberries
song ~ I’m gonna have to ask Hubby to remind me. I hate a lot of things so it shouldn’t be hard for me to think of one but I’m drawing a blank right now. He’ll know.
movie ~ Fifty (Sorry.)
animal ~ spider or really any creepies
smell ~ dirty
day of the week ~ Sunday
word ~ made up/incorrect/mispronounced words
book ~ The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
singer/band ~ Oasis, Our Lady Peace
I’ve mentioned my “fat pants” in quizzes a lot and in an alarming amount of tweets. Perhaps I should explain. Not that any readers care… But when I’m old an rereading all this shit, I may wonder to myself, what the hell are fat pants? Doubt that… But anyway~
Fat pants in general are a pair of looser fitting, comfy pants you wear on those days you are feeling fat. Certain points during the month, women tend to … expand, and normal, everyday pants are uncomfortable.
MY fat pants were a pair of yoga pants that I bought a few years ago at Old Navy when I was, in fact, at my fattest. Even then, they were quite loose and a baggier fit to begin with. I didn’t just wear them when I felt fatter than regular though. They were just extremely comfortable and I wore them around the house more than any other article of clothing I own (except maybe those damn old Triple 5 Soul hoodies of Hubby’s that I am constantly wearing on top of whatever else I have on, which are also referred to frequently).
Devastatingly, I had them with me in Forks (I always travelled with them as pajama pants) and apparently in my hurry to pack up my shit when we were leaving, I guess they got pushed partway under the bed or something after I had taken them off (very unusual behaviour since I normally fold up everything as soon as I remove it when I’m away from home) and they never made it back into my suitcase. I realized I didn’t have them when we got to the next hotel and we called to get them to send them back to me but they said they weren’t there.
I am heartbroken. I’ve tried to replace them, but they don’t make the same ones anymore. Everything is “skinny” now. Such bullshit.
I went out for an after school snack with a group of my new classmates the other night. My favourite restaurant is 9 minutes from the building our class is in. (I timed it! LOL. In the three weeks I’ve had Japanese class, I’ve gone there each time.) Two of the TAs came too. One of them is doing an international exchange program which has her focusing on research into Old English. The conversation bounced around from English and Japanese and linguistics and all kinds of fascinating things.
You already know I love Japanese (if you’ve read anything else on this blog) and I’ve mentioned that I love (English) words and stuff before too. Basically, I am just fascinated by the study of linguistics and communication in a broad sense. English, Japanese and Chinese are really the only ones I’ve studied though so maybe that’s why they are my favourites. …And I’m rambling. Anyway~
She said she had been trying for the last two weeks to come up with an explanation of the difference between crispy and crunchy to no avail and thought she’d ask the group of us what we thought. For the most part, we all agreed that something crispy would be more delicate in texture than something that was considered crunchy. Crunchy means bigger flakes. A few of them decided that crunchy also had a negative idea. I don’t entirely agree with that but it can. We also noted that it didn’t necessarily mean that either had to have ‘chunks’ of any size. An apple can be crunchy. So then it was thought that crunch had to do with sound but crisp was designated only by texture.
Absolutely fascinating. And to me, somewhat …. exciting? Endearing? (I had the word I wanted, but I’ve lost it. LOL. Thrilling, I think.) It’s indicative of what I love most about the English language. We could never completely agree on the subtle differences between words that are so similar. English has sooooo many examples of that. There are many words to express the same thing. (It must be extremely daunting to learn English as a second language!) You can dig through multitudes of words to choose one that means precisely what you want it to. BUT also, connotation is personal. The exact meaning you attach to a word might be slightly different (or in some cases, completely different) than the next person. It’s based on your feelings and experiences. Just like sensing colour is going to be different to each person – blue makes me happy but might make other people sad, for example – the same is true of words.
I recently asked my group of friends what their most hated words are. I’ll have to go back and find that sometime because it was amusing. But of course, we all had different choices and most of us felt quite strongly about why we disliked a particular word, all based on our own frame of reference.
I used to consider myself a pretty empathetic and compassionate person. On the surface, I still seem to be that way. When someone is crying, I automatically cry. When someone I care about it hurting, I want to make it better. But I don’t think these emotions are hitting all the way to the bottom of me. I am consciously aware that someone is suffering but I don’t …understand. I feel sad for them. I feel sad that they are sad. Sympathy. But I can’t feel my own emotions of how I would (should) feel if I were in their place. I feel… unaffected. The two things that are pointing this out to me time and again lately are pets and/or death. I don’t understand the love people have for their pets (or animals in general) and I don’t really understand the grief that death brings.
I completely get and respect that people do have intense feelings for both of these things, but to me, they are abstract and nothing I’ve really experienced. I can’t imagine the way I would feel. The fact that I think I wouldn’t feel the way most people do kind of freaks me out.
Maybe I have even more mental problems that I thought I did. Lol. Am I a sociopath?!
Realistically, I would say this is depression. I know, in a detached objective sense, that depression steals emotions and messes with your reactions. And just the fact that I said I don’t think I was always like that should prove it, right? Maybe I’ll go back to ‘normal’ and feel regular things again. (Although, I don’t think I will ever feel mushy towards an animal.)
Lately, I’ve become increasingly intolerant of attention-seeking behaviour. …Funny that I should be writing my thoughts down on a blog where anyone could read it. That comes across as pretty conspicuous. But I honestly could not give a flying fuck whether people read this or not. Apart from the blog, there are still other instances where I do things that I judge other people for. I’m not exactly sure why. Habit maybe? I really am trying to quash these things in myself so don’t feel so hypocritical.
I find this need to be special that everyone seems to have to some degree (and is probably just human nature), completely abhorrent. Maybe it’s because it’s so flagrant in our society now. It reaches out and slaps me in the face everywhere I look. People post pictures and statuses and tweets of stupid, irrelevant things to collect ‘likes’. To get as many people as possible to pat them on the back for their talent or cleverness or opinions or just for existing. Why? Does the validation of a stranger that probably doesn’t even mean it really make you feel good?
And the hashtags. OMG. Stop.
Okay, some are funny. But in general, the reason people put hashtags on their posts is so more people will see their crap. I don’t use them anymore unless I have to. (Or if it’s somewhere that doesn’t use hashtags, like text messages, and I’m doing it to be a dork… or making fun of people who overuse hashtags.)
Odds are, if our friendship is based on whether or not I like your social media posts, we won’t be friends for very long. The more I feel someone expects it, the less I want to do it. It should be that I scroll through my feed on whatever platform and see something that piques my interest or makes me laugh or feel good and I actually like it. To me, it doesn’t mean ‘I have seen your post and acknowledge that you have been online’. If we are actually friends, just assume I like you. (Amusingly, my niece was watching me as I was checking up on what I had missed on Instagram and said, “No wonder you never like anything. You scroll through so fast that I bet you don’t even see half of it.” This is true. I’m sure I miss a lot. But… I’m okay with that.)
Celebrity worship is another branch of this grievance. Why do we feel the need to make the special people see us, acknowledge us, value us? I say we because I’ve fallen victim to it too and I HATE IT. That’s a whole other exhausting topic and I don’t want to get into my gripes about that now.
Note to the few people who are following this blog and get emails when I post something. I frequently change things after I hit publish. If you read directly from your email (I’m talking to you, Hubby), you’re not getting everything.
Also, I’m about to publish some more that have been sitting as drafts from my old blog in a few minutes. Still in the process of moving things over. Feel free to completely ignore those.
I like Sia. A lot. Her last album 1000 Forms of Fear was amazing. One of my favourite albums from 2014. When I heard she was releasing another new album so soon, I was very happy.
Normally, I do not pay for music. Arrrrrr, matey. Yeah… Anyway, when it comes to my favourite bands and artists though, I like to support them. So on January 29th, when This Is Acting was released, I paid my … whatever $9.99 in Canadian money is right now, and added the album to my collection of Sia songs.
I’ve been under a pop culture rock lately. I haven’t been keeping up at all with the few famous people I actually like and what they’re doing and saying lately. I knew Sia had been making several appearances to promote the release but I haven’t seen any of them. The only thing I knew about this album was that it is comprised of songs she had written for other artists and that, for one reason or another, they had been rejected.
I’m glad I knew that before I listened to it. Had I not had that knowledge, my first listen through the entire album would have been disappointing.
Don’t misunderstand. I like it. I’m no music critic. I don’t know what technicalities make for “good music”. All I know is whether or not I enjoy a song when I hear it or not. That is measured directly by how deeply I am affected emotionally.
I can’t remember now where I read or heard that (about the songs being written for and rejected by others) but the same source said she felt these songs were all hits. And I agree. They are. They all have that catchy, pop-y quality. They are all fun to listen to.
I had heard Alive, the first single and first track on the album, already. Great song. It’s got an “anthem” vibe to it. One of those power songs girls belt out to themselves in their underwear with a hairbrush mic in front of the mirror or while dancing in a club with the the imagined guy who’s done them wrong (or ex-bff, or parent) in their head as they get tipsy to forget their troubles or when they just need a boost. It’s a good mix of that uplifting, pump-you-up hit and Sia’s signature vulnerability woven into the lyrics and vocals. I really like that one.
Then it keeps going. And it’s song after song like that. Take a look at even just the titles. Bird Set Free, One Million Bullets, Unstoppable, Broken Glass, etc. Like I said, I don’t think they are bad. As a whole, the album is quite good. However, this theme… IDK. It’s a little TOO positive for me. If it were anyone else, I would immediately reject it based only on that. But, again, I really do like Sia. She’s amazingly talented and has a unique voice with that vulnerable quality to it that is unmatched, in my opinion. It’s that quality that salvages the collection of songs.
Individually, I like 10 out of the 12 songs. Two I’m still iffy on – one because it’s based on a famous Christian poem I have my own unfavourable associations with but is actually still one of the stronger songs and the other I just haven’t made up my mind about yet. Sometimes these things take awhile for me to appreciate. The fact that I like the majority of them right off the bat says something about them and Sia. That’s rare. My favourite is Reaper.
I am just short of loving the album and each of the songs separately because I actually wish she had just a little bit more of that Sia-ness. Maybe that’s more a reflection of me and my personal tastes towards the darker side of things. But that’s why I like her so much anyway. I related more to 1000 Forms BECAUSE she comes across as a bit of a hot mess. Strong and solid, but scarred, like her vocals. I identified more to that one.
It makes sense that these songs reflect more of the surpassing of struggle rather than being in the thick of it. She did write them for other people. But… she wrote them. They are still her, right?
Interestingly (or not, depending on who you are – ie. just me), my brain works fervently when I listen to 1000 Forms and I was even inspired with a story concept based on the collection of songs that popped into my head early on. (This has only happened to me with one other group. Maybe I’ll get into my whole Muse is my muse thing another time. It’s happened with 2 of their albums actually. Not that it really matters, since I have never attempted to actually write any of these stories down. But I do amuse myself with them.) This Is Acting is an enjoyable listen (and sing-a-long opportunity)… but that’s as far as it goes for me. As ‘inspiring’ as the content is, I don’t feel all that inspired.
I’m sure that’s not the case for most people. I’m sure these songs WILL become anthems for thousands of young women (and men too, of course). I hope they do. To repeat myself, I have strong appreciation and admiration for Sia and all she has to contribute to music.
Hubby loves ramen. It was what he was most excited about for our trip to Japan last year. You can get ramen where we live, but it’s just not the same. His goal was to have a different bowl of ramen for every day we were there and rate them all (using his “arbitrary rating scale” that he applies to his bathroom reviews and our taste test reviews). At some of the places, I had a bowl too, but I didn’t want THAT much ramen, so I either had gyoza instead or just sat by and recorded his reactions.
It wasn’t possible to get one bowl every single day so some days, he doubled up, having two bowls in one day but each of the 15 bowls were from 15 different places.
This is now way after the fact so I hope I have all the info…
Ramen #1~
As soon as we hit Tokyo on our very first night, although we were exhausted from the flight and time change, we wanted to get started. On our first trip in 2010, we stayed the bulk of our time at a hotel right next to Tokyo Tower and travelled back and forth to Hamamatsucho station. On the way, we spotted a ramen restaurant and it ended up being Hubby’s favourite of the whole trip. Since it was late when we arrived this time and a lot of things were closing already, we decided to stick close by to where we were staying this time (our hotel was closer to Tamachi Station) and go somewhere close. I’m sure there were probably a ton of ramen places right by our hotel but the Daimon/Hamamatsucho area was still within walking distance and we thought we’d start off with his previous favourite. He had a bowl of chashumen. I chose to just sample his but kind of wish I had got my own, in hindsight. It was delicious.
We have NO clue what it’s called since the signage is all in kanji, but we refer to it as “Boots” since the workers all wear rubber boots (although this is common at a lot of ramen places). Update: This place is called Fukki. We went there again the first night of our 2019 trip to Japan and it’s still our favourite.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 9.5
Ramen #2~
He had no ramen on day 2, so on day 3, he had two bowls. Both were at restaurants in Tokyo Station Ramen Street, an hour-ish or so apart. The first one was called Hirugao. The restaurant itself was nice. It had warm, somewhat fancy décor. I had a bowl of tonkotsu and Hubby had chashumen.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 8.25
Ramen #3~
The second bowl for day 3 was at another Tokyo Station Ramen Street restaurant called Tonari. It was a lot more bare and sparse-looking than the previous one. It was only about 100 feet away, down the hall. It was also the most cramped eatery I had ever been to and really loud. We didn’t take note of what kind he ordered and I can’t tell from the picture anymore. There is no pork and it’s not that milky looking. Probably just some sort of house broth.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 7.75
Ramen #4~
We finished up day 4 in Harajuku. I was disappointed in the turn of events for myself, having missed the YouTube Hanami party, so I figured I would make Hubby happy instead by stopping at a ramen place. It’s pretty close to Harajuku Station, just around the corner on Omotesando (right past the new, very crowded Garrett Popcorn) called Kyushu Jangara Ramen. It’s speciality is a marinated pork topping (as well as the usual pork). They seem to cater to a younger crowd too with bright colours and loud music.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 8
Ramen #5~
After another long day of sightseeing and shopping, we ended day 5 with more ramen. We were in Akihabara and Hubby figured out, with the help of a store map, that the entire top floor of Yodobashi Camera is all restaurants. The map actually wasn’t that helpful because we couldn’t find it on our own after wandering around the floor several times. We popped into a random place and asked the girl there if she knew where the ramen restaurant was. No clue. Eventually we stumbled across an information lady and she walked us over. (Japanese customer service is awesome.) It’s called Kohmen. We sat at the bar while Hubby enjoyed his tonkotsu ramen and I had some gyoza.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 9
Ramen #6~
Long before I started planning for this trip (maybe even back to when I was planning the first one), I had known about this ramen themed museum in Yokohama. Last time, Hubby had not yet discovered his love of ramen and we didn’t do any side trips outside of Tokyo or Kyoto. This time however, after seeing many, many vlogs and even a few TV show episodes highlighting it, I knew the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum was a must-do. It’s basically a typical museum on the ground floor with an adjoining (non-ramen related) souvenier shop and then two basement floors of ramen restaurants specializing in regional variations from around the country. (Read more about it from Day 6.) Hubby had high aspirations for multiple ramen bowl samplings while we were there. However, exhaustion and a full stomach capped him at two.
The first was from a place called Najime-Tei, located on the B2 level in the left-hand corner (farthest from the entrance stairs). Hubby got tonkotsu and I got chashumen. I was kind of weirded out by the scum that was gathering on the surface as it cooled so I didn’t eat all of it.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 7.5
Ramen #7~
The second bowl from Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum was from Shinasoba-ya, located on B1 just to the right of the stairs.
I wasn’t hungry enough for another bowl so I just had almond jelly while Hubby ate his first bowl of shoyu ramen of the trip.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 8
Intermission Ramen 7.5 ~ As if Hubby wasn’t getting his fill of ramen during our stay, he also discovered the wonder that is Cup Noodle. Of course, we have instant cup noodles in Canada, but you can only buy ‘flavoured’ ones here (beef, chicken, etc.). You can buy flavoured Cup Noodle at any kobini (convenience store) in Japan (although we did not see chicken even once) and seafood seemed to be popular, but what Hubby found and quickly grew attached to was the ‘original’ flavour. We don’t have it at home and we both miss it. It’s not a certain taste after some other food. It’s its own thing. He went through a lot of them, mostly for breakfast. Konbini have hot water heaters (much like the one I bought and brought back home with me and can no longer live without) that you can use on the premises or you can use the kettle likely provided in your hotel room, as he did.
Ramen #8~
There was no ramen on day 7. Hubby’s 8th bowl was at the end of day 8, again in Akihabara. I had no idea what the restaurant is called but it’s located on Chuo dori in Akihabara just to the right of Trader and across from Don Quijote & Tsukumo. Update: Sadly, this place no longer exists. We tried to find it again in 2019 with no luck.
I was thrilled because they had my favourite Japanese side dish item on the menu – korokke (fried potato cakes). I had one and some gyoza while he ate his chasumen.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 8.65
Ramen #9~
On day 9, we packed up and moved over to Kyoto for a few days. We had lunch in the Porta shopping area of Kyoto Station at a restaurant called Kanjin-do Kumagoro. The décor was… amusing. It was somewhat confusing with artistic lighting fixtures and a wooden bear sculpture wearing an Aztec-looking poncho.
I decided I was going to try tsukemen (separate noodles and concentrated dipping sauce rather than in soup – really popular now) since Hubby didn’t want to. I thought we should at least have one of each type of ramen included in the 15. …I wasn’t a fan though. He tasted it and he wasn’t either.
Hubby had a fried rice/gyoza/ramen set – regular house broth and pork.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 7.85 (It went down .05 after the video was done.)
Ramen #10~
Day 10 ended in Kyoto Yodobashi Camera, across the street from the station. Set up the same as the one in Akihabara, the top floor was restaurants. The place we went to was called Chabuton. It’s famous or run by a famous guy or something. I’m not entirely sure.
Anyway, I had gyoza and Hubby had his first ever bowl of miso ramen.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 7.9
Ramen #11~
I knew of the many izakaya and other restaurants under the tracks around Yurakucho station so, at the end of day 11, we decided to wander around there and get Hubby his 11th bowl of ramen. We almost went to 2 different places first but ended up at a place I THINK called Kitakata. (I know Kitakata is the name of a city somewhere else and is famous for a specific style of ramen – so I don’t know if this place is called Kitakata or just serves that style… Sorry, I found out as much as I could online way after the fact.) Anyway, if you are facing the big Bic Camera outside Yurakucho Station, it will be just behind you on the righthand side of the street (right under the tracks).
Once you go in the doors, you walk up a few stairs into the eating area. The décor is interesting. The walls had an old storehouse-style “sea cucumber” lattice pattern and are adorned with primitive looking masks. It’s cool how you can see the curve of the train track archways in the ceiling. They really do use every inch of usable space.
Hubby had a bowl of chashumen, which had the most pork pieces as topping we had ever seen, and I… had gyoza.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 8.75
Ramen #12~
We ended day 12 at back at Tokyo Station Ramen Street. There was only enough time and energy left for only one bowl. This time, the place we tried out was called Ore-Shiki Jun. The decor was as nice as the first Ramen Street place. We both had our owl bowls – tonkotsu for Hubby and chasumen for me. I also had gyoza, which were extremely oily but still pretty good.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 8
Ramen #13~
On day 13, we travelled to Nikko and were too busy going from temple to shrine to various other sites, so there was no ramen on day 13, but on day 14, we were at Nikko Edomura (Edo Wonderland) and ate lunch there. It’s an old-Japan theme park so it was cool to have a hot bowl in the styled eatery of 200 year ago. Many of the food places there have traditional things to eat but I believe where we stopped in was the only place that serves ramen. (It’s next door to the watch tower.) I had soba while Hubby ate his chashumen.
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 8.3
Ramen #14~
Haneda Airport is great. You could spend the whole day there and not even have to go anywhere. It’s a destination in itself. Unlike Narita Airport, all the cool stuff is before the security gates. We did have all our luggage with us though (since the Air Canada desk didn’t open until later) so I didn’t go in with Hubby while he ate his lunch so I could watch the mound of suitcases we had that wouldn’t fit inside (and I ate separately from him somewhere else later on). So without me, he ate at Setagaya, another famous restaurant. They played a video on a loop on a screen outside that touted its attributes, including locations in places like New York City.
Hubby had shoyu ramen. (It’s hard to hear him in the video. He really liked the noodles.)
Hubby’s Arbitrary Rating: 8.25
Ramen #15~
Hubby’s second bowl of ramen for the day and his final 15th different bowl, thus completing his challenge, was from a “fast food” eatery on the other side of security at the departures gates, called Hokkaido Kitchen. It’s located between Gates 108 & 109 in the international departures area of Haneda Airport. He was surprised at how good it was – even better than the ramen we get back at home. It wasn’t that long since I had eaten so I just sat and watched while he enjoyed his shoyu – the last bowl of REAL ramen in Japan for who knows how long…
I decided to post bits of what I’m currently studying, ’cause… why not?
Right now, I’m re-learning how to conjugate verbs from ます-form to て-form. (There is part in here how to conjugate from dictionary form but I don’t really get that. It’s way harder.)
Start with the “て-form Song”.
There’s a ton of examples on YouTube but this guy uses the version our teacher used (to the tune of My Darling, Clementine).
Note: This song is a mnemonic device for GROUP 1 verbs.
To explain that further, this is how to conjugate group 1 verbs from masu-form to te-form:
If last sound is い, ち, り = drop it and add って
ie. かいます -> かって
もちます -> もって
かえります -> かえって
If last sound is び, み, に = drop it and add んで
ie. よびます -> よんで
あそびます -> あそんで
If last sound is し= just add て
ie. けします -> けして
かします -> かして
If last sound is き = change to い, add て
If last sound is ぎ = change to い, add で
ie. かきます -> かいて
いそぎます -> いそいで
The only one exception to group 1 rules is “to go”.
いきます -> いって
Group 2 is super easy. Just drop ます and add て.
ie.あけます -> あけて
みせます -> みせて
食べます -> たべて
おきます -> おきて
Group 3 appears to be the same, but it only contains two verbs – “to come” and “to do”. (Not group 2 because of their dictionary forms.) Drop ます and add て.
きます -> きて
します -> して
This group includes ‘doing’ noun-verbs.
ie. べんきょうします -> べんきょうして
If you want them, these are the rules for conjugating from dictionary form:
Group 1
1. うたう (to sing) – drop う, add って – うたって
まつ (to wait) – drop つ, add small って – まって
とる (to take) – drop る, add small って– とって
“Please do X (下さい).” (giving a command)
ie. カタカナ で ままえ を かいて.
みぎ へ まがって.
まど を しめて.
パスポート を みせて.
しゅくだい を てつだって.
て-form + います = am doing
ie. やべます (eat, will eat) -> たばて います (am eating)
て-form + きます = return and do V (connotes leaving for a short period to do V, then coming back)
ie. いって きます
コーヒーメーカー を つけて きます – “I’m gonna go turn on the coffee maker.”
もって きます = hold/carry + come -> bring
These are 52 verbs that were used in the first week of class, only 15 or so of which I actually remembered.
Group 1
あいます to meet
あそびます to play
あります to exist (inanimate)
あるきます to walk
いいます to say
いそぎます to hurry
うたいます to sing
おくります to send
およぎます to swim
おわります to finish
かいます to buy
かえります to return
かきます to write
かします to lend
ききます to listen
けします to turn off
しにます to die
つかいます to use
つくります to make
てつだいます to assist
とります to take
ならいます to learn
のみます to drink
はいります to enter
はたらきます to work
はなします to speak
まがります to turn
まちます to wait
もちます to hold
もらいます to receive
やすみます to rest
よびます to call
よみます to read
わかります to understand
いきます to go
Group 2
あけます to open
あげます to give
います to exist (live)
おきます to wake
おしえます to teach
きます＊ to wear
しめます to close
たべます to eat
つけます to turn on
とどけます to deliver (*new to me)
とめます to stop
ねます to sleep
はじめます to begin
みせます to show
みます to see
Group 3
きます to come
します to do
Obviously, a lot of memorization study is in my future. I’ve used a lot of flashcards in the past. Hubby decided he would really rather not help me with that, so last night, I found this flash card app that I really like. I recommend it and using flash cards in general. (The one I’m using is called Chegg, but there are a lot of options in the app store.)
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