High Speed Mario

Because this blog hasn’t been quite geeky enough, with Comiket, Gundam concerts and amateur manga translations … I’m now linking to Nico Nico Douga videos.

This might be old news for some people, but here’s the first in a series of fourteen videos of High Speed Mario. Some poor soul plays Super Mario 3 at four times the regular speed and commentates the results.

JLPT2 Epilogue

240 to pass

It was a year ago that I began studying for JLPT2, and not long before that I couldn’t read a single kanji. I’d gone a whole year as a functional illiterate in Japan, convincing myself it was too hard, and that speaking was most important in daily life.

JLPT2 Verdict

In July, I took the Japanese Language Proficency Test at level 2 for the second time. Results came in today -

JLPT2 Autopsy

BUT I STUDIED SO HARD

It was better than last year, and that’s about all I can say. I can always get a passing grade in vocabulary, listening, and grammar, and it’s always the reading comprehension section that does me in.

JLPT2 in three days

I’m not sure exactly why I put in my application for this test when I was clearly unwilling to give it the time it needed to be worthwhile. If I didn’t want to study, and I didn’t want to fail, I should’ve given it a miss this time.

JLPT2 in two weeks

(This blog is something of an echo chamber right now, but what the hell. If you’re reading, come on in.)

Less than two weeks now until it’s JLPT test again, and faster than usual. It’s being held for the first time this year in July as well as December. I’m not sure exactly why I’m taking it again (level 2), given that this time I’ve barely studied at all. And should I succeed, I’m not entirely sure what I’d use it for.

I think I only just got over the resentment of the results taking so long last year, so long that once I found I’d failed, I had to start studying almost immediately. That’s no way to enjoy your study. And by enjoy, yes I do mean “not study”.

But if you never really took classes like me, at the very least it’s a good way to structure your aimless study. It also feels eventful enough to put alongside other things in your calendar, and opening that results envelope is legitimately thrilling, as is watching other people open theirs. I think it’s best experienced studying with other people in an “all in this together” kind of way.

… except when you fail, and almost all of them move on without you.