Quite a while ago I embarked on a project to put together some IKEA furniture to clean up the bookshelf we have upstairs, and lo and behold – it actually worked! I always feel like we have too little storage space in Japan, but at least now all the papers and books are somewhat hidden. It looks a bit cleaner with the white doors and baskets, no?

“As external conditions change, it becomes tougher to meet the three conditions that sociologists since the 1950s have considered crucial to making close friends: proximity; repeated, unplanned interactions; and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other, said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology and gerontology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This is why so many people meet their lifelong friends in college, she added.”

Friends of a Certain Age, by Alex Williams

My iPhone is getting pretty old and slow, so obviously I needed to get a new charm to freshen the poor old trooper up. I found this cute budgie-piercing (What on earth do you call them in English? In Japan everyone just calls them ピアス (piasu)?) over at Village Vanguard in Shimokitasawa. It seems like the piercings for phones are getting quite popular in Japan lately, since the iPhone doesn’t have any hook or hole that you can attach regular cell-phone-strap-bling. The piercings just plug right into the mic.

一ヶ月前に目黒寄生虫館に行った。色々な寄生虫が見えるし、古い寄生虫の本も見た。怖いけれど、一番不思議な見えた物はイルカの胃だと思う。// About a month ago we went to Meguro Parasitological Museum. You can see a lot of different types of parasites, my favorite one was the dolphin stomach, infested with some kind of worms. 虫館は小さいのに無料なので、もし目黒に行ったら、行ってみてください！// There museum is small, but there is no entrance fee, so if you are in Meguro, you should check it out! www.kiseichu.org

Language special:

1. Japanese sound symbolism on Wikipedia. Most languages have such words; for example, “bang”, “zap”, “ding”, “slither”, “pop”, etc. in English. Sound symbolic words occur more often in Japanese than in English—they are found in formal as well as vernacular language.
2. Learn Japanese through immersion – interesting article.
3. All the vowels in the English language – a chart.
4. Japanese doesn’t have syllables in the typical sense, instead they have mora – explained on Wiki.
5. Words made in Japan which can not be translated.
6. Ghoti is a constructed word used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling. It is a respelling of the word fish.
7. Benny writes about “The smartest decision you will ever make to achieve fluency”.
8. A list of ALL the jōyō kanji.
9. Youtube videos showing different applications for Nintendo DS to help study Japanese. Everything from writing beautiful characters to an electronic dictionary.
10. Age no excuse for failing to learn a new language!
11. 10 Things I Wish I Knew About Japanese Learning When I Was First Starting Out on Tofugu.

Goofy fun stuff:

1. The Oatmeal have the greatest cartoon ever about why Nicola Tesla var super awesome.
2. On days when you feel like everything is going straight to h**l, click the make-everything-ok button.
3. If the button above is not to your liking, you can always head over to youfaileverything.org.
4. And then you can waste time popping bubble wrap.
5. Instant cosy evening in three tabs!!! It is summer, it is hot and it is humid, but if you want to get into that cosy fall feeling, open a new tab in your browser and listen to this piece of calm music, open another tab in your browser to light up the fireplace and a third tab to make it start raining.

一ヶ月前イケアに行った。北欧の心なので、ミートホールを食べなければいけないと思った。北欧の伝統的な食べ物も買ったよ〜
We went to IKEA a month ago, and because I have a Scandinavian heart, I had to eat meatballs. I also bought some Scandinavian food to bring home.

そうして、一番好きな野菜の写真だ。青梗菜が大好きだ！毎日食べれば食べるほど飽きられない。
And this is my favorite vegetable. I think it is called baby bok choi? I could eat it every day and not get tired of it.

カキも大好きだ。仙力と言う新大久保にあるレストランで食べた。
Eating oysters. This was at a restaurant in Shin-Okubo called Senriki.

食べ終わった刺身だった。// Already eaten sashimi.

ノルウェーに住んでいた時海胆があまり好きではないが、日本に引っ越した後でドンドン好きになった。
When I lived in Norway I never cared much for sea urchin, but after I moved to Japan I have come to absolutely love it.

イカ刺し！私にとってそんなに好きではないが、相手にとって大好きなので、頼んだ。
Squid sashimi! I don’t actually care for it that much, but my partner loves it, so we ordered it.

海胆、飛子、穴子とキュウリ巻きだった。すごく美味しかったよ〜
Sea Urchin, flying fish roe and eel-cucumber-maki. Super delicious!

Breakfast ala Madeleine back in May. That girl knows how to cook. // 友達と朝ご飯を食べた時。美味しい。

Wine with Kristin and Madeleine. 友達と一緒にワインとチーズパーティー // I win the challenge for the most Japanese fast food breakfast. 伝統的な朝ご飯かも

Scribbling on paper. 文字を描いている。// View from the Tokyo apartment. 東京の空がきれい。

Indian food in Tokyo is absolutely awesome. 東京のインド料理が大好き。// More sky and less skyscrapers in Tokyo. きれいな空。

Takadanobaba. 高田馬場。// Senriki – great fish resturant in Shin-Okubo. 仙力は新大久保のあるとても良い魚レストラン。

Well, I have no idea what happened to June. I have pictures ready to post, and I just need to find some time to keep this blog alive. Be back soon, promise. Until then, here are pictures of a Chinese lunch set I ate. I love cheap lunch sets.  // 長い間更新しなくてごめんね〜　六月はとても忙しかった。写真を撮ったけど、更新の時間がなかった。七月に頑張ろう！今回のポストは中華料理の写真だ。安いランチセットが大好きだ！

Even though I have posted a couple of pictures lately, I haven’t been writing much at all. Maybe I have lost my words, maybe I am more reluctant than before to wear my heart on my sleeve and write about anything remotely personal, Idk. Last week I started something which is incredibly scary to me. I started working out and eating better. I haven’t worked out or cared about what I stuffed in my body for the past three years. Three years. Yes, that is pretty embarrassing, but it is better to start late than never, right? Maybe I am scared because it requires a real effort. It’s hard to cheat your way to better longterm health. No shortcuts will last long term, and to be honest, that scares the shit out of me. But here I am, the running shoes are bought, and I am ready to put in what it takes. At least I hope I am. (& things are being tracked at myfitnesspal.com and runkeeper.com) Go go go.