Reading Update

Here's what I've been reading in April (hint - not much):

- I started "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman and have so far read about a third of it.
- I started "Ki im täglichen Leben" (Ki in Daily Life) by Koichi Tohei and have so far read about half of it.
- I started "Powerkurs Japanisch" (Power course Japanese) by PONS, if one can speak of starting a language coursebook. I have so far leafed through it excitedly and remembered some things, but not done anything structured yet.
- I started "Dov'é Yukio?" (Where is Yukio?), a beginners level mini book in Italian - you know, those small books where you only need to have a certain amount of vocabulary and have tests you can do for each (very short) chapter. I so far managed to more or less fluently read chapters 1-3.

What this may tell you is that I went a little wild and dropped a lot of money at the bookstore (I also had to buy some expensive Goethe books for a university course, but *ahem* have not yet started on those...) and that I may finally be getting serious about studying Italian and Japanese. I was in a bit of doubt whether I shouldn't get better at Italian before I attempted to learn a completely new language (completely different to the languages I know so far), BUT as I am currently once again deep within my obsession with Japanese things, and am at this point extremely curious about how Japanese really works and have been trying to figure out things on my own, I thought - why not work at both of them at the same time? I know enough about Italian and have a certain level of knowledge not to be completely clueless (two *new* languages at once might be a little mad, yes) and not to have it interfere with my beginners fascination with Japanese. I think that learning two languages at a different level might also have some positive side effects: maybe being able to read some Italian (as well as understanding spoken Italian and being able to write and speak a little myself) will be a good motivation to get better at Japanese too, for example.

What the reading list may also tell you is that I have been spending my time doing other things, and that is knitting baby stuff. My sister's baby boy should arrive within the next week or so, and after already giving her the two jackets I have finished so far, I am now working away like a madwoman at the beautiful (if I say so myself) green baby blanket I want to give the little boy. Know this - knitting structured patterns, as simple as they may be, still takes much more effort and much longer than plain stockinette. Much more. It is *pretty*, but it just goes on and on and on...

What the list may also tell you is that my mind is all over the place. Again. As if that were unusual, I know, but right now I find it rather unhelpful. Exam on Monday, and I almost can't be bothered. :P Maybe I should just sleep a little more...

March Reading + Food Update

Here's what I read in March:

Midnight's Children (I started this in October, but read only to about page 80 - finished it now)
Things fall apart
Disgrace
A bunch of short stories (Simple Recipe (Madeleine Thien), Swimming Lessons (Rohinton Mistry), Land Deal (Gerald Murnane), Pension Day (Archie Weller), Ismini (Beverley Farmer), Brackley and the Bed (Samuel Selvon), The Man (Austin Clarke))

...these were all for my exam,  which went very well indeed. :) And yes, I read those texts above in less than a week. Phew. But it was worth it. My mind went a little funny, reading all those rather sad stories in such a short space of time, but yeah. Life goes on. :)

And then, for something completely different:
One Piece #1-61

... I love them so much. I've been reading them for around 10 years now (I started after watching parts of the anime together with my brother, way back when). As I see it, they will continue for a long while yet, I would guess easily to around #100. I hope they will. They're the best. <3
Thankfully, my boyfriend has joined me in being a fan, and we can now talk about them endlessly. And watch the anime together. And share the cost of the books. Isn't it great when things work out like that? :D

Food Update:
I'm still keeping up my daily lists of what I consume, but one day I just stopped posting them - I wanted to add more commentary but was too tired, and it just continued from there. Maybe I'll post them later just like that, maybe I'll add some more explanation yet, I don't know.
Anyway, I told myself that up until Easter, I would try eating some things containing sugar again to see what that would do, and then after Easter I'll probably go back to eating none, with a book on fructose intolerance to help me some more. At least by now I'm pretty sure my problems are tied to fructose/high sugar in general. A good step in the right direction. :)