It has been a long time, and there is much that should be caught up on, but for the moment I will be hijacking this blog and using it as a resource for my current project: Surviving the remainder of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) without going insane from the work I need to do, and my soon-to-be future project of revising my Commonwelth Scholar Thesis proposal, of which I had forgotten, as well as planning for Grad school! Also looking back on the most recent books I have read as well as activities and my Japanese studies! Oh my!
To begin, a book I borrowed from Dr. B, and fell in love with!
This book is really fantastic! I started reading it slowly since I am a slow reader and was intrigued by their description experimentation, regulations and the CIA/CDC in general. Once the action began though, I was a goner. To avoid spoilers, I will state that the end was almost as body numbing as the ending of Sword Art Online (The first part, not the elf-sister-love "second season") Needless to say, I was totally thrilled for the ending.
Another book I read was about Alexander the Great, this one highlighted more of his personality and attitude towards his men, which isn't hinted at too much. Many sources I have seen state how great of a man he was, how benevolent to his troops he was, and how great of a politician he was.... but this book brings in a new idea, one that is also talked about in my current book on Hideyo Noguchi: "where a bright light shines, there is an equally great shadow cast" This is true for Iskandar (Alexander) as he was a total asshole towards the end of his campaign. Sure he was nice to his troops, but for the most part he was a drunken brawler, argumentative and arrogant Asiophile (to the dismay of his veteran troops, he seemed to prefer Persian culture, traditions, laws and governors) Needless to say, he is still one of my favorite historical figures, this book just touched on more of his psychology through the journey, rather then the battles and his teachings as a child.
A book we were required to read is called , How to do Ecology. This book was pretty great to read since it gave a lot of insight into experimental design, practice and publications. I also really enjoyed the communicating science and graduate/continuing education parts, since they helped me decided that I am going to look for a professor who doesn't care too deeply about his/her own research and instead prefers education and interacting with their PhD students. which returns me to another topic of PhDs and RMBL. RMBL has taught me that I do not want to do ecology... at least not plant ecology, pollination biology, climate change, or other environmental researches. It fired me to further pursue my potential microbial career and especially to become a professor!
The book I am currently reading is about one of my idols, Hideyo Noguchi. This man is really cool and, reading about his family's life beforehand actually returned my drive to "do work because that's what needs to be done" which I had forgotten about, much to my mentor's dismay (so I believe). and I was able to tirelessly sit in the field for three hours measuring every part of some 150 flowers. Thanks Shika Noguchi, you are a very powerful woman and will be remembered by me for quite some time! I can't wait to read the book, but first there is way too much that must be done with regards for research etc. I even have a picture of me, at his memorial outside of the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno, holding the new 1000¥ bill which has his likeness on it. His poor hand...
Books aside, I have returned to practicing Japanese, which will be written more about in my other blog, Preparing for Japan... or maybe I won't write in there, since I have already been to japan... indecisive much. Well, for the moment, I am working my way through Hirigana, as per usual, up to the H's now, はひふへほばびぶべぼぱぺぷぺぽ etc. It is quite fun, since I am learning words along with the hirigana, so now I can introduce myself, ask basic questions, identify simple things, and whenever I see a deer, I will yell "師か！" at the poor creature. So, here goes! ヘッロ！アンヂイと申します！世六しくん！わたしのアメリカじんです！the Kanji still screws with me, whenever I type it tries to input it, so I am unsure of what I wrote kanji wise, but I tried to say, Hello, my name is Andy! Nice to meet you! I am american! It doesn't really show off how much I have learned because I'm not talking about cars... but I can talk about cars!!! Here's a question!
あなたのかんじょのくるまわなにろですか。...assuming google translate is wrong, and I am right, I should have asked: what color is your girlfriend's car?
わたしのかんじょのくるまがみかんとむらさきです。くるまがだいすきいです！
...though I don't currently have a girlfriend... nor a orange and purple car... it is still a pretty car
With regards to literature, I have been reading a series of Lite Novels, or japanese light-reading books, usually in a series. These have been translated into english, but I hope to be able to read them in japanese one day. The current series I have been reading is called in english, The familiar of Zero. It is actually really gripping and I laugh and cry at the well-written and well translated work. The best part about a lite novel is that there is about one image per chapter, but other then that, it has great imagry in the text. I found out that this series got turned into an anime and I dislike the anime. It has gone too far too fast in too many places, and one of the major plots has been redirected, ruining the severity of a great war. I have not finished the series nor the anime, but so far they seem to have diverged towards a more slice-of-life like anime and a serious, dark and grim novel.
With my Japanese studies, I have gotten up to the past tense, dates, and the calendar. I figured that, since I have gotten most of the hirigana firmly under my belt, I could begin reading some manga, but it is quite difficult. There is a lot of Kanji, but luckily there is what is called furigana, or hirigana written above the kanji for pronounciation. I, however still do not know what many of these words mean and feel like I am reading Go Dog! Go! Again... Maybe I'll find that book and try to rememebr how I was able to read again. I also have Little Tengu, Little Darumaka as a probably easier source of comprehension. I am also in the process of gettin Naruto, which might be an easier read and Death Note is suposed to be really easy as far as Shounen (Males aged around 10 and younger) manga goes.
