Turning Japanese

[paulak_rumin8]

Today I bought "Japanese For Dummies." As usual, any new interest of mine becomes an all-consuming project until I've pretty well exhausted it, or myself (whichever comes first). The only thing I enjoy more than researching and pondering a new interest is sharing it with the other persons in my life. In this case, it means my children are gaining an appreciation of Galileo (they already like to sing along with the theme song at the end) and my husband is subjected to many a lengthy discussion about the character similarities and differences between Manabu Yukawa, Austin James, and Sherlock Holmes. I told him, it seems I have a peculiar fascination with skinny, eccentric geniuses with a science bent. He says it's because I am one.

Yesterday, I managed to put in an order for Subject X on YesAsia.com. Looking forward to that.

Now, aside from my Japanese interests, I have two writing projects to mull over. One is a Probe fanfic. Probe Leader on Yahoo groups sort of extended a challenge to write something pertaining to Austin James' childhood. I'm still thinking about that one. The other project is my own original fiction, the piece that is supposed to propel me into the ranks of the immortals (shameless Probe reference, sorry). Well, at least it's supposed to get me going the route of Mary Higgins Clark, right? I have a great idea for a murder mystery set in an assisted living community. Okay, not too original, given I work in an assisted living community, but what can I say? It's what I know.

Just finished up another work week, and I have to say, between this job and the one I had up until June 25, I have a wealth of crazy characters to populate a roomful of novels. Actually, my in-laws alone supply a good deal of material. Speaking of which...tomorrow I get to visit them. Should be an interesting start to the weekend.

And I'm off to tuck in my 1/2 dozen little ones...

Comments

[actiaslunaris]

Good luck on learning Japanese. The sentence structure still baffles me.

I'm incredibly amused by how you've introduced your family to the show. Is your husband tolerant or genuinely interested?

[paulak_rumin8]

Poor husband. The first day I made him go on a date with me, he signed on for a lifetime of following my varied pursuits. Actually, tonight he was re-reading "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" and discovered that there really was a famous, Nobel prize-winning physicist in the mid-1900's named Professor Yukawa from Japan, and Richard Feynman met him personally. He offended him by not following proper etiquette while taking a Japanese bath at a hotel in Japan.

It's cute how my school-aged boys are really into episode 10. They love the bomb.

One thing I've learned about Japanese so far is the disuse of the pronoun "you", or "anata." Apparently, it's considered insulting to call someone that. I thoroughly enjoy Yukawa's use of the pronoun now in ep10, part 3. Adds a little something, I think.

[actiaslunaris]

Manabu means "learn," which I found out from another fan, and yes, it seems like the character was named after that Yukawa. I can't imagine what his parents were thinking.

Your husband sounds like he's well-read and enjoys your company. And your boys sound duly appreciative of the universal appeal of things that go boom. I did read your blurb in your bio, and I'm impressed that you home-school with six children. I've only got the two and home-schooling the one that is school-aged is a challenge.

There's a number of nuances in Yukawa's speech like that. He's very formal and very polite (almost to ridiculous levels, but not very unusual even so). I've heard that dialogue in Japanese television isn't an exact match to real-life dialogue, so frequently I'm listening with a grain of salt.