Osmosis would be better

Despite the fact that I love learning other languages, and can probably get away with studying less than your average Joe, it still has special little ways of reducing me to tears. Especially Japanese. Never before have I pulled out more of my own hair over a language (figuratively, not literally - that's called trichotillomania, and to my knowledge I don't have that).

I mean, looking back at all of the other times my head has exploded, they seem rather quaint in comparison. Like when I found out they conjugate adjectives. Like we conjugate verbs. Only they're adjectives SO WHY DO THEY NEED A PAST TENSE?? JUST BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BE VERBS DOESN'T MEAN WE HAVE TO LET THEM -

Breathing, breathing, breathing. I am centered, I am in my Happy Place. I have accepted the adjectives for who they are in all of their various conjugations. And I can't waste any more grief on them, because I'm much too occupied being miserable over the things I'm currently learning. The new verb conjugations aren't too bad. Confusing, yes, but they are verbs and they are SUPPOSED to be conjugated so I can deal.

But a long time ago, I learned how to give a reason, or state a cause. Meaning, I learned how to say "because". So I have been marching bravely on with my power to make a sentence and then link another sentence using "because". I even learned a couple different ways to say "because" - hoo-RAY for me! Only I have just learned that there is yet another way to say "because" and that the previous ways I had learned are only correct in certain situations. Meaning that I have been saying it WRONG for god knows how long. Sure, I mean, one in every ten conversations were probably correct, but still. Why was this not brought to my attention sooner?? Ho ho! Stupid me, thinking I had learned how to say something, but Japanese sure showed me!

I'm actually starting to avoid reading the footnotes in my textbook, because it's always some horrible little nuance that I thought I understood but really didn't.

I also have to - errr, get to - take a kanji test when my lessons resume. That's a different battle.

And here's some nitty-gritty details for funsies:

Current reading: Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein. Interesting overall and I like how he plays with religion, but he has his moments where he's a crotchety, prejudiced old geezer and it can become mildly infuriating.
Next book: Five Odd Honors by the lovely Jane Lindskold, or The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Current watching: Project Runway! The judges need to step up their judging though, and stop sending home the wrong people. No more of this "styling" fooleywang as a reason. Send people home for making ugly-ass clothes, not because they chose the wrong shade of lipstick for an otherwise passable garment. Yeah, I'm looking at you Nina and Kors. If things don't get better I may go so far as to suggest that you're getting too long in the tooth to judge fashion adequately.

Also, Futurama. Yay. Love it.

Future Travel: Hong Kong? Anyone? And Okinawa.   

Back to the books for now. Gotta learn how to use "because" again.