A Funny Story (^_^) 第四章，再次 (Chapter Four, Again)
我开始学习中文。我几年前开始，但我没有通过第四章。我开始一章一，认真研究，第四章。然后我停止，因为我觉得无聊。一两个月后，我开始学习中文了，但我觉得我忘记了我已经学到，所以我从第一章开始了。到时候我到第四章，我感到厌烦了。这种模式重复一遍又一遍。 5年之后，我没有通过第4。史诗失败。
这一次不一样！我将通过第四章！
我只知道吴语拼音，我将集中于中文写作这个时候。请祝我好运！我希望你能理解我的中文。
再见
Dì sì zhāng, zàicì.
Wǒ kāishǐ xuéxí zhōngwén. Wǒ jǐ nián qián kāishǐ, dàn wǒ méiyǒu tōngguò dì sì zhāng. Wǒ kāishǐ yīzhāng yī, rènzhēn yánjiū, dì sì zhāng. Ránhòu wǒ tíngzhǐ, yīnwèi wǒ jué dé wúliáo. Yī liǎng gè yuè hòu, wǒ kāishǐ xuéxí zhōngwén le, dàn wǒ juéde wǒ wàngjì le wǒ yǐjīng xué dào, suǒyǐ wǒ cóng dì yīzhāng kāishǐ le. Dào shíhou wǒ dào dì sì zhāng, wǒ gǎndào yànfán le. Zhè zhǒng móshì chóngfù yībiàn yòu yībiàn. 5 Nián zhīhòu, wǒ méiyǒu tōngguò dì 4. Shǐshī shībài.
Zhè yīcì bù yīyàng! Wǒ jiāng tōngguò dì sì zhāng!
Wǒ zhǐ zhīdào wúyǔ pīnyīn, wǒ jiāng jízhōng yú zhōngwén xiězuò zhège shíhou. Qǐng zhù wǒ hǎo yùn! Wǒ xīwàng nǐ néng lǐjiě wǒ de zhōngwén.
Zàijiàn
(In simple English as I cannot translate to complex Chinese ha ha ha)
“I study beginning Chinese. I began years ago, but I have not passed chapter four. I began with chapter one, and diligently study to chapter four. I then stop because I feel bored. One or two months later I begin to study Chinese again, but I feel I forget what I already learned, so I begin from Chapter one again. By the time I reach Chapter four, I am bored again. This pattern repeats over and over. After 5 years, I have not passed Chapter four. Epic fail.
This time is different! I will pass chapter 4!
I only know “hanyu pinyin” (Chinese written phonically with English letters), and I will focus on Chinese writing this time. Please wish me luck! I hope you can understand my Chinese.
See you later”
– Dedicated to my old buddy Qin (thanks for trying to teach me! ha ha ha)
——————————
Sent from my iPhone
Writing Japanese Haiku, in Japanese
ぼけはなや さかりをせんぼつ はやいふゆ
– Rodney Johnson
I love Japanese haiku poetry. I’ve decided to start writing them in Japanese. The hard part for writing in Japanese, while thinking in English words, is the Japanese on (special way how syllables are counted in Japanese words) does not always translate to English syllable counts. In other words, a 5-on Japanese phrase may be more than or less than 5 syllables in English.
This means I must tailor my English-word thinking to correspond to Japanese words that may be used in the Japanese haiku. Also, while haiku are written as 3 lines in English, in Japanese they are written as one line (normally in a vertical line, but this is the 21st Century, so…).
Anyway, hope everyone else is happy in life.
Cheers
————————
Posted from my iPhone
iDidn’t Know!
I took off the screen protector, held my breath and pressed a fat, oily-from-hand-lotion finger on the naked screen and…
OK, I’ll start from the beginning.
I’ve been rocking an iPhone for about 5 weeks. Like a good newbie owner, I got a protective case and screen protector for it.
I hate screen protectors because they show every finger print as well as oily smudges after holding the phone against my oily-skinned face. But, I rather have scratches, oil and fingerprints on the protector and not the phone’s naked (and expensive to replace) screen.
This morning I read Apple will not sell any more screen protectors in their Apple Stores or online. Evidently because they “hurt” the iPhone. Huh???
I just learned the iPhone 3GS has special coatings that already protect the screen and NEVER shows oil or fingerprints!
Kyaaaaa. I spent $14.94 for some sticky plastic that shows every fingerprint and smudge, when the naked screen does not????
Here we are; I took off the screen protector, held my breath and pressed a fat, oily-from-hand-lotion finger on the naked screen and….. NO FINGERPRINT!
Yes, I love Red ^_^
The Screen cleans 10x easier and looks crystal clear even after pressing it to my oily face!
Dang! iDidn’t Know!
——————————-
Posted from my iPhone
Plants vs. Zombies vs. Earphones
I am happy to say I now have a car: a Nissan Versa that is the color of blue M&Ms. Before getting the car, I was riding to and from work with Jackie. When waiting for Jackie to pick me up, i would play games on my yummy iPhone. My current favorite game is “Plants vs. Zombies”, which is so fun lor! When Jackie arrived, I quickly stuck the iPhone’s earphones (which are specially made with microphone and remote control) into my pocket.
On Sunday I did laundry as normal and discovered in the dryer a white knot of plastic with turquoise tips. It was my iPhone’s earphones!
Yes, the pic above is exactly how they looked when I found them in the bottom of the dryer, along with two dimes and a penny. I forgot they were in my pants pocket and washed and dried them in detergent and fabric softener! Kyaaa! The wasabi green tips are now turquoise in color with tiny tears in the foam. *Cryyy!!!*
After untangling the mass, the thin cables are as curly as pig’s tails. I will have to stretch them out to make the cables straight again. :-S
But all seems to work at least.
—————————
Sent from my iPhone
Definitely Lost in Translation!
Greetings, Humans! I’m currently in Taipei! I can say this is an interesting place, even though I’ve seen so little of it. It’s really too bad that my friend Janet (aka Interplanet Janet aka My Sista from another Mista) is still stuck working in Vietnam! 
(
How often do you guys travel internationally? I’ve done a lot of travel over the years to a lot of countries, and I’ve come to recognize one thing: when traveling to Asian countries, where the languages are not based on what Americans refer to as the English Alphabet (A-Z, a-z), one becomes instantly functionally illiterate!
When you enter the airport, every intercom announcement is in Japanese or Chinese or Korean; you are just lost. Every sign posted is in a non-English Alphabet language. Even my TV remote control’s button labels (e.g., “volume up/down”, “channel”, etc) are written in Traditional Chinese! (and having studied Chinese, I can tell you, Traditional Chinese is much harder than Simplified Chinese!).
Ok, in airports, maybe there will be English under the native written languages, but sometimes not! Thank God for the Men/Women toilet pictures–pictures are universal!
Ok, as I’m traveling, I cannot approve comments for this blog for a few days. So please forgive me, and do not think your comments were lost! As always, when you comment, the comment will appear on your browser window to show how it will appear, but in fact it is in a holding queue waiting for my approval, assuming it not auto-go to spam.
Some people don’t believe me (why?? it’s my blog: I should know how it works, yes?). Here is a test for you: make comment…see it in the browser…close the browser, reopen the blog, and….it’s gone! (because it is in the holding queue waiting approval).
Normally I’m pretty fast for approvals (a benefit of having Blackberry, and constant internet access). But, as I am traveling…please be patient!
Take care and be happy!
Ready For a New Decade!
No, that is not my photo, but I hope to shoot one like it!.
After 28+ trips to Singapore, this is the first one I will get to see the fireworks at the Singapore Flyer!! I can’t wait!
I’m all checked in at the hotel. I’m now enjoying some free WiFi at my fav cafe, while waiting for my friend to get off from work. It will be another stroll along orchard for their great holiday lights and then we head to the flyer!!!
Please have a great New Year’s Eve!
Dork Tower
HiHi, Everyone! If you like fun, geeky cartoons, check out Dork Tower. Just click the Cartoon Above. >_<
Posted using ShareThis
Wookiees Exist!
I am convinced Chewbacca lives in the room next to me. I share a bathroom with 2 other roommates. Every time a particular roommate showers, there is tons of long hairs clogging the shower drain!
The house boy cleans the showers in the afternoon, but after Chewbacca showers in the evening, more clogging long wookiee hair is there! The poor house boy cleans up again afterwards.
I swear that roommate sheds more hair than a golden retriever!
^_^
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
This is my table at Batan Waru, a cafe near my home in Ubud, Bali. Notice I can only afford a hot chocolate. I go there for the Wi-Fi. But, what’s wrong with this picture? What seems out of order? Go ahead and look: I’ll wait. *~ waiting ~*
No, the spilt sugar is not what is wrong. Let me give you a hint: why is my Uber-Sexy BlackBerry taken apart? Why can you see its front AND its back cover AND its battery at the same time??? Because it got soaking wet!
Here’s the story:
I carry my BB in my hand everywhere I go. After two bottles of water, I had to go to the men’s room. To free my hands, I was holding BB between my chin and neck and DUNK!
BB fell into the toilet (the water was CLEAN, thank goodness)! I fished my phone out of the toilet and wiped it dry as fast as I could. I tried it out to see if it worked, but the screen now is blinking on and off, and the far 1/5th left side is entirely dim while the remaining 4/5ths was nice and bright. Water stains were all inside on the LCD. Now entire thing is blinking like a lightbulb that is about to die. When I tried the buttons, none did what they were supposed to: water has saturated BB’s inside.
After lots of CrackBerry.com forum searching, I found that the fastest and best way to dry it inside is to actually place it in a container of uncooked rice, which absorbs water even faster than silica gel!
So here it is, just before being covered over with rice, like King Tut’s tomb is covered by Egyptian sand….
But it will rise from it’s rice grave (probably in 1 or 2 days) like a vampire. Maybe I should name my BB “VampBerry” 
Don’t worry, everyone. This is not turning into a BlackBerry blog. It just seems a lot of drama these last few days has been involving my BlackBerry. I’m still thinking of a name for it. Any Ideas?
More Way Cool Japanese Toys…
Hihi, everyone! I’m in my hotel room enjoying the wifi (man, this city wide wifi is so damn addictive!). As promised, here are 3 more weird cool Japanese Toys I’ve come across while looking for cheap small souvenir items to bring back to friends in Jakarta. Take it back. Now I am at Starbucks at Vivo City, because I lost track of time to meet Yensi. hahaha.
You cannot talk about weird cool Japanese Toys without talking about Takara’s very popular Rocobo Interactive Robotic Pets. These things are VERY fun actually! I am considering ordering one! These electronic pets have screens for faces that show a variety of emotions, depending on what is happening around it and to it. After a while, they become annoying, even more annoying than the legendary (for being sickening) Tamagotchi toys. If you yell at it, it will throw a tantrum, and yell back at you! *bitting nails in fear*
Want to see it in action? Take a look at this cute 15 second YouTube video from Takara:
Next on my list of way weird cool Japanese Toys is Japanese Look-A-Like Dolls, the perfect gift for the narcissist! For a few thousand Yen (around US$210) you can get a doppelganger made, immortalizing you for all eternity. It seems cool at first, but it’s also a little on the creepy side.
“I Shall Call Him ‘Mini Me’… “
I have to assume clothing is included with the dolls, since the clothing seems to fit so perfectly. Actually, this is not too bad a gift, if you have the cash. But I’m looking for cheap small items for friends, oh well…
Last, but certainly not least for today is Shimajiro, the toilet training tiger! He is extremely popular in Japan, and teaches all the little boys and girls how to pee and poop. He encourages and rewards you with sweet words when you use toilet paper, and when you “finish” your “business.” There is a hularious YouTube video for this character as well. 
Ok, enough for today, Bye Bye!