MAASU

At MAASU, not getting much work done.
So much was going on this weekend, that I wanted to make this trip worth it. So far it's amusing, but not like I had imagined...

Most of the people, even from my own college I don't really know, and I've been again more watching from the sidelines than actively participating and meeting new people, or even simply asserting my presence in conversation circles, especially when I don't intend to say anything (that I'm really bad at, and most people aren't as attentive to these things as I am, or at least they don't act on anything when they realize it...)

Read through most of the English stuff for Norinaga -- he really blows my mind!! But really complicates my project, and I have really lost the focus I thought that I had for it. The same thing goes for reading the beginnings (~25 pages) of The Shiga Hero; he went through and beasted on both Haha no shi stories and even two more related ones that I didn't even think could have existed... so again, rather than really contributing anything, my work will be more of a 補注 than anything if left in its current state, and I still need to find more stories to work with...!

Even saying that though, having made time to read these (instead of last minute or not at all) really brings out how fascinating this stuff is!! Still not sure if I could or want to make a career out of it, but... (and that offer of help from the Google guy is looking especially tempting, but it will make the rest of my goals difficult, as far as travel and language acquisition, etc in the short term).

Norinaga single-handedly (OK, with the help of the translators/summarizers/criticizers from all three works) destroyed my upholding of Confuscianism as the perfect answer to our social disorder... In other words it's no longer supreme, just a way to try and fix a broken society, and as long as we think there is something to fix there's no way to fix it... It's also kind of amazing how some of the same arguments/problems that I saw in Christianity were brought up by this guy in the 18th century talking about the perils/wrongness of Japanese Confucianism and his belief in the supremeness of ancient Japan. Interesting that the major weak point of his argument, as seen from a modern perspective, is his trust that the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki were real/true-to-life depictions of how things came about (another similarity to the Christianity debate et al.)

Afterwards I will have to translate one of the Murakami stories -- they were pretty amusing, and the one about sort of cheating with a widow was pretty titillating (wonder if I'll ever forget that word...). Haven't attempted a written translation in a while, hope that it won't prove too difficult and entering the translation contest will be easier than I have imagined...

Speaking of which there was a guy here from Whitewater college or something like that, who is studying Japanese and going to Kwansai Gakuin next spring -- he was only in Japanese 2 and when I asked him どうして日本語を勉強していますかと聞いたら、来週日本に行きましたって答えられた。It was kind of funny but only drove home how few speaking partners I've made for myself at school, and the definite tendency that I have to seek out and converse with people who are understand less than me or are at about the same level...

Because of that I feel myself getting worse and worse, especially on those days when I go in to talk to the teachers... I'm kind of amazed that I can do the TA job still, but maybe that's just because it's in English... really need to brush up, instead of limiting my Japanese exposure to songs all day find time to watch dramas and classes, read more books for fun (Kinokuniya!! I have like 6 books I'll hope to finish before going to Tokyo again, and buy more to last me for a while in China this summer, although I really hope we have access to the library there!), and practice speaking more, both informal and stupid everyday life stuff and in terms of elevated speech. Right now I wouldn't do too well on an OPI, I feel. Also need to try that swap translating service thing, I forget the name but I have it somewhere on my to-do list.

There are so many things on that, I don't even remember what most of them are. One is a Japanese politician's speech on the dumping of the nuclear waste water though, so I think I will listen to that before going to bed with episodes of Hawaii podcast playing through my ipod. I'll have to roll the freshman over before I can take a spot in the bed though...

Waking up at 7 or so for breakfast, then shower, then off for a full day of MAASU. Not sure I'm up for partying (tonight was pretty amusing though!).

Gotta remember to run, work out, lift weights, watch food intake, enough to look and perform decent at SOK this coming weekend...

Also, something to look into: Japanese poetry. Medical Japanese and Business Japanese by partnering with people in the MBA programs and at the Med school campus... Will probably be around so I can benefit from it too! Also, need to get signed up for the tutor position. Teaching Japanese could be fun, and it will get me some experience if I do decide to go for the language school... TEFL, and talk to Julie about options for the future... book a place to stay in Tokyo too...

http://www.mm-labo.com/culture/WiseSaying/a/amenimomakezu.html

Quote from Norinaga (there's a lot I could quote...):

"A comparison may be made: gifted people do not assert themselves -- only the mediocre argue about minute details and take pride in doing so as though these matters were of importance."

Now that was strictly about Confucianism, but I feel like that's one reason why I find it so hard to relate to the average American... so many of the Asian-americans here (at MAASU) are super American too so it's been interesting trying to contrast my interaction with them and with my friends at school... And of course this is a little of my vanity showing, calling myself gifted. Oh, how I long for those days where I was fit and building a dancer's body, and enjoyed the sight of myself in the mirror.... I want my bike T___T

Have to remember to 出す my phone to 修理 when I 日本に着いたら.....