Long Time Expat In Japan
Book Review Annihilation: a Novel By Jeff VanderMeer The fantasy/mystery novel hooked me at the beginning, but failed to keep my interest the whole way through. I did read it all the way through, however. I've decided to stop reading mediocre writing anymore, so it passed that bar. A couple of things pulled me in; … Continue reading Book Review – Annihilation: a Novel
My good friend and partner in blogdom, JT, posted recently that he has "been discovered" by the Russian Spambot Overlords. With 50 pageviews from Russia, where he knows no one (I assume), compared to 28 from the US, where the vast majority of his friends live. I almost never check my own stats; I'm not … Continue reading Spambot Overlords
I am way too excited that I leveled up in Kanji last month. I had been struggling a little bit. When I have to stay within the rules, write textbook style, I tense up and really don't do well. I've been doing this for over a year now (since September of 2014, so 15 months?), … Continue reading Level Up! Kanji ! and Kana, both!
This month's kanji reads hakugan soushin in Japanese, or baiyan shuangxin in Chinese. Like a lot of these four character sayings, it evokes sense imagery and invites you to fill in the gaps. Hakugan (baiyan) means white goose. Sou (shuang) means frost. And shin (xin) means to believe, to know, to inform. Long story short, when … Continue reading November Shodo
I am not a user of Uber. I think it fair to state this up front. My reason for not using Uber has nothing to do with my feelings about the company or the service. I think it is perfectly fine as a service. I have read some controversial things about hiring practices (if you … Continue reading Where is the Open Source Uber?
Book Review The Bone Clocks By David Mitchell Cover Image from Amazon.com As time passes (what I really mean is, as I get older) I am increasingly unforgiving about what I read. If a novel doesn't appeal, I will give it 60 pages to recapture my interest. If, after those sixty pages, it has recaptured … Continue reading Book Review – The Bone Clocks
It is slightly less than a month since I made my public declaration. One month without video games or TV. The fact that I am writing this less than a month on should give you a hint. No, I did not, in fact make it a month without. On the 15th I had what some … Continue reading Screen Withdrawal – pt 2
Book Review Methods of Persuasion By Nick Kolenda Image from Amazon.com This is the second book on marketing and influence I read in the past six months. The first was Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion, which was new to me, but not a new book. The two were quite similar. They both used anecdotes … Continue reading Book Review – Methods of Persuasion
Kanji I wrote earlier about Gan Shinkei (aka Yan Zhenqing) and his writing style. I kind of fell head over heels for this style. Sensei tells me that I will probably rank up with this submission. If so then that would be awesome. Kana has always been better for me, still not sure why. … Continue reading October Shodo
I found myself with some free time early Sunday evening. The kids were out with their mother, and I had a new camera to try out. My Panasonic GH4 is a lot of fun. The ISO on the camera reaches 25,600, which I shouldn't complain about. Even 3-4 years ago, that was the state of … Continue reading Rainbow Bridge Time Lapse
B.S. Donovan 