Long Time Expat In Japan
Took some night shots in my neighborhood, this time on the ground. Night shots are hard đ Looking toward the station across the park. Here is the entrance to the town. Click on all images to enlarge. Again, since the two shots turned out well. And here are the towers, not where I live, but … Continue reading Makuhari From the Ground
Flew my drone over the town tonight. The future is now. Of the eight people that read this blog, six of them are my good friends from school. The rest are family. I am blessed. These friends and family know me well, some more than I would like to admit đ Some know of the … Continue reading Makuhari From the Air
Played board games with my friends from college today. Eclipse, a game I played for the first time last November. On the surface this doesn't sound too unusual. After all, these are some of my best friends, we're gamers, it's the Fourth of July weekend. Normal, right? Only, I was in Chiba, Japan, while my … Continue reading Board Gaming Weekend
Finally made it up one level in kanji. It has only taken me... gulp, 7 months to get here. Kind of a long time, but I can feel a big difference in my ability. This last week at my lesson, I had to write a month's worth of kanji, kana, andpenji. While it wasn't great, … Continue reading Kanji – level 9 !
Surprisingly, I leveled up in the kana section of Shodo! Again! This was doubly unexpected because it is both hard for my classmates, or so I'm told, and also because I have never had any formal education in Japanese. I studied Kanji in Chinese, and even took a couple of lessons in Shodo (which they … Continue reading Level Up! Lvl 8 Kana
I'm sure you've heard about getting outside of your comfort zone. It's where you learn, stretch, grow. I've often thought of Bilbo's famous quote when I hear it, "I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread." That's the stretch part. But where is the grow part? It might have something … Continue reading Comfy Chairs
In February I was really pleased to say that I was, again, not last. As you can see below, I'm plugging along well enough. The first is kanji. https://bsdonovan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/janfebkanji.jpg Then here is my pen submission. I must admit, I'm kind of struggling here, but still not last. https://bsdonovan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/janfebpen.jpg But below is the really exciting part. … Continue reading Level up!
Many years ago, when I was a college student, and barely conscious - I was not a party animal, just self centered - I studied Comparative Literature. Comp Lit was where I could basically take classes in film, science fiction, vampire fiction, foreign languages, almost anything liberal arts related, and it would count toward graduation. … Continue reading Blogs are Commonplace Books
Image from Mr. Nimoy's Twitter Like many of you, I was saddened to hear of Leonard Nimoy's passing. While he will be remembered for his many achievements, the one for which I will remember him the most is as Spock, ambassador to a brighter future. Star Trek was before it's time in many ways. The … Continue reading Change is the Essential Process of All Existence
This week, my kanji submission for shodo is onko chishin. See below for a picture. Roughly translated, it means "know history's mistakes." https://bsdonovan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/img_0464.jpg The kanji we need to submit is often a four word idiom, what they call a Yoji Jukugo. Yoji = four word. Jukugo = idiom. So there's no real mystery there. But … Continue reading 渊ć çĽć° – Know History’s Mistakes
B.S. Donovan 
