The new design is clean, bright, and even more streamlined than before. You can easily access all the types of lessons from one spot: the sidebar. When you select one of the categories, you can choose to add certain courses to your dashboard, follow a course through RSS, or explore the curriculum of the course. You can expand sections to see more info, or collapse them to see less.

The downside to all of this new stuff is that there is a bit of slowness when switching between categories and while arriving at the actual lessons because of the time it takes to load the lists and the audio player, respectively. But the audio player is one of the best parts of this new update, so I don’t mind that much. You can now skip ahead without having to wait for buffering, and manipulate the audio in other ways such as speeding up and slowing down. The skipping ahead part is what really makes me happy, because I don’t want to sit through explanations of words or phrases I already know well–something I used to do, which made tuning into the podcast a little less exciting. But today I did three lessons and was quite excited to do them!

In lessons, activities are now divided into three “steps” consisting of an introduction, lesson materials, and a review. As a premium member, I have it set to the lesson materials tab (Step 2) and immediately have the line-by-line audio right there underneath the audio player, defaulted to kanji so I don’t have to try to ignore romaji! (You can choose to view in kanji, hiragana, romaji, or English, but kanji is default.) I don’t necessarily have to download the PDF this way either.

This update is just SUPER nice because it’s so easy to find where everything is now!

I definitely think I will be returning to JapanesePod101.com more often thanks to this! I need to do a proper review of it for sure.

I’ve been asked several times how I juice or what recipe I use, so here’s how!

The juicer I use is the Breville. I juice for four days on Mondays and three days on Thursdays.

——————–

Ingredients:

-25 lb. bag of carrots (one bag is roughly equal to five days’ worth of juice)
-one bag of apples (or eight LARGE apples)
-one large piece of ginger
-two cucumbers
-one bag of kale (or two LARGE bunches)
-Young Living Lemon essential oil (or the juice of two lemons)
-Young Living Celery Seed essential oil (or one bunch of celery)
-tomato juice

1. Prepare the carrots by cutting off the tops and bottoms, as well as any undesirable parts such as bruises. DO NOT PEEL, unless you’re peeling off a “bad” part. Dirt is fine; it will get washed off. Set aside the carrots.

2. Wash the cucumbers and apples. You can use a vegetable cleaner; I use another Young Living product called Thieves mixed with water. Often, just rinsing with clean water is fine too, especially since you’ll be cutting off any bad parts later.

3. Now, cut each apple into quarters (four pieces). Cut or peel off any bad spots.

4. Rinse off the ginger to remove the dirt and set aside.

5. Obtain the kale! What I do now (different from in the video) is use a larger container and put the cucumbers, ginger, and apple quarters on one side and then dump out the kale on the other side.

6. Juice the kale and the apples at the same time on the LOW setting. The apples help get more juice out of the kale, I think. It’s also good to start out with because it warms up the juicer and gets it moist. (You may have to empty the pulp catcher once during this, so just empty it into a bag you can take out to compost–or just put it in your trash can.) Evenly distribute among the jars and rinse out the juice container (pitcher).

7. Switch the setting to HIGH and juice the cucumbers and the ginger together. The cucumbers help keep the ginger from getting stuck. Evenly distribute among the jars and rinse out the pitcher. Empty the pulp catcher.

8. Now, if you’re using the Young Living essential oils, put one drop of Lemon and one drop of Celery Seed oil into each jar. If you’re using whole lemons and celery instead, you’ll have to cut the lemons in half and squeeze carefully over a strainer to keep the seeds out, and cut, wash, and juice the celery on the HIGH setting.

9. Evenly distribute the tomato juice among the jars. I do this by counting to three (pretty quickly), but you can use a measuring cup if you prefer.

10. Now, rinse the carrots! I just use my hands, but you can use a vegetable brush or something to help you scrub them clean~ You don’t have to rinse them all at once; you can rinse some of them, then juice, rinse more, juice, etc.

11. Juice on the HIGH setting again. Stop when the juice level reaches the MAX line or just below it (make sure not to count the foam in this equation). Evenly distribute between TWO jars. DO NOT pour the foam in. Rinse the pitcher, empty the pulp catcher, and repeat until all eight jars are filled.

12: Put the lids on the jars securely, using a paper towel to clean off any juice you may have spilled. Shake well and refrigerate.

Don’t worry about getting an exact amount every time you juice. It’s more fun to have it taste slightly different every time, I think. It doesn’t get boring that way. ^o^

NOTE: If texture is a concern, first juice as normal, filling up the jar. Then take the lid off of the pitcher and use a handheld strainer to strain the juice back into the pitcher. Put the pitcher lid back on and pour back into the jar. Now you have smooth juice! ^o^

——————–

- Do I have to use [this] in the recipe?

Of course not! You can modify the recipe however you like. It has to be juice you will enjoy drinking, after all. When I juice for myself, I just use carrots, Lemon oil, and Celery Seed oil! Find what blend tastes best to you. ^^

- How is essential oil sufficient for juicing? Isn’t the actual thing better?

It all comes down to your preference! The oils don’t replace the full benefit of the juice, but they are good to supplement your juice. I use them in this recipe because it gives me more time to do other things in my day, and it saves money because we don’t have to buy celery and lemons every week hoping they don’t go bad before we use them. There is zero mess (unless you miss the jar!) and the oil is so concentrated one drop per jar is enough. For more info, click here.
(Warning: Not all brands of essential oil are the same, and not all of them are safe to consume. Young Living essential oils are therapeutic-grade, and many of Young Living’s oils ARE safe to consume–including Lemon and Celery Seed oils.)

- How to freeze

First, it’s important that you don’t fill the jar all the way to the top. The level I have shown in the video is ideal. Shake well and refrigerate for several hours. Then remove, shake well again, and put into the freezer. Make sure the lid is somewhat loose to allow the air to escape as the juice expands during freezing.

What blends of juice do you like best?

I’m doing pretty well for Tadoku so far, at least in that I’m reading every day and reading more than just a couple of Tweets per day. The past few days I’ve only recorded an average of three pages per day, since I’m not counting every Tweet or headline that I read (that would be too troublesome XD).

I have noticed that I’m less and less intimated by the Japanese I encounter daily, which makes me happy because what used to happen was I’d see a page of text, get tired instantly, and choose to not read it or to “read it later”–meaning “not read it”–and then wonder why I had trouble reading. ^^;

Along with that, I have been wanting to listen to more spoken Japanese and have been finding various videos on Youtube (I recently looked at Dailymotion too, since a friend mentioned it to me) that feature Hello!Project girls and have, well, a lot of spoken Japanese. I like to find longer videos and either watch them with full attention or have them playing while I’m working on prints. Longer videos are nice because you don’t have to stop working to change or look for a new video.

I’m subscribed to the SS1422 (S/mileage Station) podcast, but I did that directly through the program’s website when it was first announced and I can’t find any other H!P podcast… Oh, I am also subscribed to 佐藤亜美菜 (Sato Amina)’s podcast “この世に小文字はいりません！” because I found it in an earlier podcast search, even though I’m not a fan of AKB48. It’s fun to try to shadow what she says because she talks really fast and has a tongue-twister corner, which is…how do you even do those, Amina!? XD

Hm~ So yeah, I’m actually not worrying too much about my rank in the Tadoku contest because my goal of 175 pages is the first priority! I’m already in at 35-ish pages in the first week, which is already better than my first attempt during the last half-round of Tadoku, so I think I’m doing pretty good so far! Especially considering this month is one in which I have quite a bit to do ><

Oh! So if anyone has some podcast recommendations, let me know~

A status update on my quest is first good–last week, that is–and then poor, as my battle skills were required elsewhere I majorly slacked this week. >< Anyway, in this post I’m going to briefly go over the items in my bag, which coincidentally doubles as a post about Tadoku prep! Enjoy~ ^o^

Items

Generally speaking, I am armed with my laptop and my phone! Oh, and many of these resources I’m currently using (and more!) are listed on my Resources page, which can be found in the sidebar.

I’m using TextFugu, WaniKani, Anki, Denshi Jisho and Yahoo!’s Japanese dictionary, Evernote, Imabi, Tae Kim’s Guide, Youtube, iTunes (podcasts), Lang-8, and various reading “resources” online including Twitter, blogs, and websites.

For Tadoku, I’ll be reading what I have on hand (the text in S/mileage’s first photobook), as well as:

• N4 and higher articles from ChokoChoko (printed out)
• Info packets I requested from some manga/anime colleges in Japan
• blog posts, every day
• Tweets
• one book from the Bible, translated into Japanese (PDF)

I don’t know if I’ll be able to right away, but I’d also like to get Pokemon Black 2 in Japanese, along with some Hello!Project-related magazines or books to read. ^^

Japanese Learning Log

This is what I use to record my adventure data, much like a Pokedex. XD It’s just a notebook in Evernote that contains notes and corrections I get on Lang-8. ^^

It occurred to me this week amidst all the chaos that since I seem to have problems consistently studying Japanese grammar, I should set it aside and instead read, listen, and speak (shadow) more. After all, I learned so much of my native language by reading–I’m sure of it. Especially since I read through almost the entire school library in second grade. :3c

On that note, let’s 多読! (´∇ﾉ｀*)ノ

Oh! Something funny happened today~

There was a package in the mail from AIS, and naturally we all thought it was my next lesson, right? But I haven’t sent in the ninth assignment, so there’s no way that was possible, since they only send your next lesson when they receive an assignment from you. So…what was it?

Actually, it was another copy of the ninth textbook! XD It turns out they had made a printing mistake and left out four pages. (Which is why I couldn’t find anything in the textbook about what one of the questions in the back was asking!) Lol~

Anyway, I’ll send it in Monday and get started on Lesson 10! I want to get that one done by the end of next week at the latest, because I want to start working on my contest entry!! I haven’t decided yet whether I want to do one panel or an actual comic page… HMM. We’ll see! I want to have fun with this~  (≧∇≦)/

In this first post, I’m just going to introduce Akemi with her stats and other info, and follow up hopefully with weekly progress reports as she makes her way from my desk to Japan!

Let’s meet…Akemi!

「はじめまして。あけみです。よろしくお願いします♡」
(Just a sketch for now.)

Current Rank: Lv. 16
･*☆Strength – 9 / The easiest foes to defeat are daily reviews (Anki and WaniKani), vocabulary, and grammar.
･*☆Magic (Real-time Recall) – 7
･*☆Skill – 7 / I have a good memory and a wonderful imagination to assist memorization, and I like to be organized, efficient, and productive.
･*☆Defense - 8 / Defense against discouragement and stronger foes, like application, critical thinking, and writing.
･*☆Stamina - 10 / Currently, I can intensively learn Japanese for ~1-2 hours at a time, or in 30 minute bursts.
･*☆Immersion – 18

･*☆Special Ability – I am an artist. I love to draw, write, and learn!

-Weekly Stats-

Crabigator Kanji Apprentice Lv. 17/50
Speaking – ✿✿✧✧✧
Reading – ✿✿✿✧✧
Listening – ✿✿✿✧✧
Writing - ✿✿✿✧✧ / Handwriting – ✿✧✧✧✧
Immersion – ✿✿✧✧✧✧

Explanation

Now for the method to all of this! I’ll explain what I’m thinking so hopefully anyone reading can understand what the heck I’m talking about, and if you want to do a similar thing, go for it! (´ω｀★)

Strength/Attack: – [Strength]
The aspect of Japanese that you are best at, the “enemy” that you do more damage to when you are faced with it.

Magic: – [Real-time Recall]
In terms of Japanese, this stat could be used for “thinking in Japanese” or having to do with pulling Japanese out of your head to use in a conversation or writing or whatever (your recall ability). A higher level of this stat means that when you are in a live conversation, speaking Japanese, you can recall terms and phrases very quickly and don’t spend a lot of time having to think about what you’re going to say, whereas a beginner with a low “magic” stat would likely try to spend more time putting together sentences in his head before he speaks.

Skill
This stat refers to the things you do well that can help give you the edge in learning Japanese. For example, perhaps you have a supreme memory, great handwriting, or an excellent grasp of Japanese pronunciation. Or perhaps you have successfully learned another language and thus have an advantage because you are already familiar with how to learn a new language.

Defense
This is your ability to withstand hits/blows/attacks. In this case, your enemy can be elements of learning Japanese that aren’t your forte, other people, or even yourself if you’re too hard on yourself. This stat reflects the things you do on your own to reflect discouragement away from you, as well as when you bring in other people to help you (encouragement).

Stamina
This stat reflects how long you can last in intensive learning and during study sessions. Have fun in the process and it won’t feel like a chore!

Immersion
This stat goes up or down depending on how much Japanese surrounds you at any given time. If you live in Japan, this stat will be much higher than someone who is outside of Japan and does not have a lot of Japanese around her. But! If the person who doesn’t live in Japan (person A) surrounds herself with Japanese books, DVDs, audio, etc. and the person who lives in Japan (person B) spends most of her time interacting with other foreigners, most likely the one who will learn Japanese is person A, because she has made more effort! This is especially where your stamina, skill, and defense stats come into play.

Special ability (different from Skill)
This doesn’t have to have anything to do with learning Japanese; it’s just something that you’re good at and/or really enjoy doing.

How to calculate stat gain

1. Stat gain occurs upon level up. You level up when you have accomplished 90% or more of your mission for that level.
2. Each level has up to four mission goals (that is, objectives). The mission is considered a success when at least 90% of it has been reached.
3. The number of points you get per stat varies, depending on mission success, overall performance, and the individual’s strengths and weaknesses, of course. Akemi’s stat gain table is below:

(All max stats are 100 points. Minimum stats are 0 points.)
Strength – did well on mission (+2); did somewhat well (+1); slacked too much on weak points (+0)
Magic (Real-time Recall) -  did well on mission (+3); did somewhat well (+1); slacked too much on weak points (+0)
Skill – relative to progress
Defense – did well on mission (+2); did somewhat well (+0); slacked too much on weak points (+0)
Stamina – did well on mission (+3); did somewhat well (+1); slacked too much on weak points (+0)
Immersion – relative to surroundings, but try to keep this stat fairly high!

Special Ability – no stat information

Additional info

Partially inspired by JALUP (Japanese Level-Up). The Level Guide is here. Also check out the walkthrough.

As I mentioned before, Section 2 starts out with inking techniques. I’m excited because Lesson 10 is over cartoons and I can create my own character in the style I want!! All I need to do is decide if I want to use an existing character or create a new one… The character has to fit into one of four stereotypes, and I need to do Lesson 9 first (lol), so I’ll think about it~

…I’m just happy. Lol.

On one hand, it’s probably a tactic. If I keep myself “too busy” then I won’t interact with many people and I won’t have to face that fear.

On the other hand, I know that if I talk to someone on Skype (for example), I won’t get much done because I’ll have to keep stopping to reply! It’s not much different over the phone or in “real life” (face to face) either, because focus is more on the person rather than the thing I want to get done. Yes, I can draw and talk at the same time. I can look up info and talk at the same time. But that’s using my voice. It’s difficult to draw and keep stopping to type in a response on Skype. ;_; Is that why I don’t get on Skype much? Maybe. But then…what have I been doing? It’s already May and…I don’t know.

It’s not like I haven’t drawn things. I have and I’ve had a lot of fun!~ I’ve done translations and other things too, so I think the main problem is that I still don’t know what to do about blending everything I want to do together.

I don’t like being sad… Well, let’s not be! c:

I guess the biggest thing to take away from this repeated experience is perhaps the fact that I simply can’t rely on myself. ^^; I can only rely on God. That kind of hurts, I think, since one of the things I REALLY want to be is reliable. ^^;

I’ve been resting my chin in one hand a lot lately… I don’t like doing that. I should sit up straight.

…

At first, I froze up a bit because something in the back of my mind screamed, “This stuff will take up too much of your day! You’ll have no time for anything else!” So I calmly told myself that the majority of the things on the list I already do as a part of my daily routine, and that since I read so fast, going through a section of x, y, and z won’t take me very long at all–and I don’t even necessarily have to take notes unless I really feel compelled to. I still feel apprehensive, but hopefully success will squash the fear!

These things aren’t done in any order; just whenever I feel like doing them (except for WaniKani; I review that multiple times a day):

1. WaniKani reviews (already doing daily)
2. Anki reviews (already doing daily)
3. one section of Nihongo Resources grammar
4. one section of Tae Kim’s grammar + exercises
5. one podcast while doing AIS assignment (already doing almost daily)
6. a few minutes of Shadowing: Let’s Speak Japanese! Beginner-Intermediate, first repeating after the girl, then the guy; alternate between listening and following along with the book (currently done a few days a week)
7. spend at least 30 minutes reading Japanese (already doing daily, though not in a concentrated effort)

I’ll add TextFugu back in once Koichi pushes out the next big update… Though I think for the moment I’ll skip ahead to Season 8 and go over the time and date stuff since I’ve already made Anki decks for those things and I’ve been reviewing them (also because I really do want to get back to TextFugu lol). I don’t know. Still trying not to freak myself out with the volume of stuff that really isn’t all that much… It’s a matter of dealing with and in Japanese all day, but not feeling as though it’s “taking time away” from other things.

Two more things to include would be the translations I’m doing (again, already doing almost daily! Lol)  as well as writing entries on Lang-8, both of which happen as I feel like it, though the translations happen far more often since I have to put out at least three a week. It’s very good reading practice though! I’ve noticed on several occasions that I understood what I read without even converting it to English in my head first. That’s pretty exciting.  (*≧▽≦)

Maybe Youtube videos with a lot of talking or audio dramas would be good to listen to while drawing. I do need to get more listening practice in, anyway… Anime isn’t really ideal for that because I end up watching the anime instead of drawing. (/ω＼)