Oh, I'm sure it will, but the plants should be fine, they're pretty hardy. Only about two inches of growth has come up. Which is... actually pretty impressive, all things considered. But that gives me faith in them, they should be fine.

Back in November or December we had a warmer week and it confused our lilac bush so thoroughly that it bloomed a little, while the other half of the bush was still dormant. :lol: Although that did mean I got some pretty-smelling lilac clippings for a vase next to my computer.

If only we could trade weather!

Yeah. :( But I do like the location at least. It's just sucky since according to locals, this past year has been both unusually hot in the summer and unusually cold in the winter. And I swear spring and autumn are so short they hardly count. :lol:

Blurgh, that sucks. Weather's just been crazy everywhere.

It rained today. That was not the kind of precipitation that I wanted. :illgetu:

Okay, I feel like I can't say much more about the weather without sounding like a broken record, so... seen any good movies lately?

Wooo! I finally updated this. I need to add details in certain parts, but at least I got my new stuff posted.

I don't remember this one! It's fantastic!

@Cherry: Thanks! I made that one for a dragon-themed round for the underwear contest. But someone else made a really awesome Chinese dragon that totally deserved the win.

Annnd I feel bad that I never replied to your post from ages ago. I haven't seen any new movies lately, but I've been continuing my challenge to watch a new cartoon (mostly Disney movies) in Japanese once a week. Also, I've been catching up on TV shows like Person of Interest and Game of Thrones.

---------- Post added 09-25-2012 at 09:39 PM ----------

GASP! I just realized that I can't find one of my old favorite avatars. For some reason I don't seem to have a copy saved anywhere. I do have a piece of avatar art for it though:

Well I hope yours placed!

That sounds like a good idea to improve fluency. I've always thought that when I try for a second language, I'll read children's story books in that language to help, since they use simple words. Then TV shows and movies once I get better.

Oh man, I hate when I forget to save an avatar of mine, especially when I really liked it and kept it for a while. But at least you can use the art for reference and remake it soon.
I had an avatar I really liked where I was a bodyguard for my How Now?, but I forgot to save that one. >< But we have dark sunglasses now and we didn't then, so I need to remake it anyway.

Hmm... I can't remember if there were places or not.

Yeah, it's a good way to increase my listening skills and learn words in a fairly natural context. The drawback is that when I watch movies where I know a lot of the English lines by heart (as is the case with a lot of Disney movies) then I tend to only remember the English lines, not the Japanese ones.

Children stories can be surprisingly difficult too. Mostly because they often use childish words and idioms that a native-speaker would know, but aren't stuff you'd learn from a textbook. Or they use a lot of sound effects or fake words (like Dr. Seuss). Ideally I'd like to find a book that's meant for adults but written using simplified language. But those aren't so easy to come by. I really need to practice reading more.

Oh, yeah, good point, that could be difficult then. I hadn't considered that. Languages are hard.

Yeah, they're hard but it's the messy parts, the quirks, and the nuances that make them interesting. Yes, it sucks since I probably will never truly master Japanese, but at the same time I really enjoy playing with words and we'd be so limited if languages were more uniform, wouldn't we?

I'm just super aware of it since I teach English as a second language. There are so many strange rules and preferences we have for "correct" English that I never realized until I started studying TESOL.

---------- Post added 09-26-2012 at 05:46 PM ----------

Success! I think I managed to faithfully recreate my cyclops alien avatar:


I decided to add the shoulder pads from the event shop though. A lot of the new items match, so I think I might make a revamped version or a sibling if I buy a bunch of the event commons. I like them, but I don't know if I can afford them... I only have 12 event currency so far, so I may need gold to buy the event rares.

Yeah, I've been thinking about stuff like that in my math class. Our grammar rules are so complex. If it weren't for the fact that I "just know" them, I'd have no hope of learning them. I wish people would keep that in mind when they're harsh people whose English isn't very good due to it being their second (or third, or fourth) language.

The shoulder pads are a nice touch! And yeah, the new commons definitely complement that look.

*Rolls around in thread*

Ooh, the altar looks so cool paired with the snow and that storm background!

Thank you <3

Your avatar looks like it has a story behind it. Did you have a particular theme in mind while making it?

naw I just put things on till it makes sense, or I have to scrap it. When I try doing themed avis they usally bome

Well, it has a cool look to it.

Thank you so much <3
Yours kinda reminds me of Star-trek

Yep, I'm a dead redshirt.

Originally Posted by Cherry Who?

Yeah, I've been thinking about stuff like that in my math class. Our grammar rules are so complex. If it weren't for the fact that I "just know" them, I'd have no hope of learning them. I wish people would keep that in mind when they're harsh people whose English isn't very good due to it being their second (or third, or fourth) language.

The shoulder pads are a nice touch! And yeah, the new commons definitely complement that look.

Yeah, a lot of rules are really arbitrary. And in many cases it's not really a rule, it's just that over time we've formed associations so we'll use certain words connected with each other. We know them because of exposure, but because there's often no logical connection it's hard for non-native speakers to learn and use them properly.

Like... why is it that we say "sore throat" when pretty much every other ailment uses "ache"? (Headache, backache, toothache...) One of the English teachers at my old school would always say she had a "throat-ache" even after I politely informed her we don't say that.

I've gotten good at interpreting incorrect English, but sometimes I'll slip up and say things grammatically incorrect when I'm trying to speak in simple English. I now use "See you!" as my greeting to just about everyone since that's what kids learn here in school, despite pretty much never using it back home.

Originally Posted by Fiona_Watergate

*Rolls around in thread*

Hey, Fiona! How goes it?

And yeah, I love the combination of the altar and snow. For whatever reason, it reminds me of Game of Thrones.

I thought of something Game of Thrones-like too, even though I've never read it or seen it. Epic fantasy-type look for sure.

Yeah, I notice stuff like that sometimes, like on poupee and places were I see English as a second language more often. Like "that's wrong! There's no reason... it's just wrong!"

Needless to say, I see it all the time. "Let's enjoy [noun]!" is said so much that I'm starting to say it unironically now. We don't really use "enjoy" that much but it's used all the time in Japanese. I see a lot of "She has a good head" a lot too, since that's a literal translation of "intelligent". Which grammatically isn't really wrong, but...

Everyone seems to like the alter with snow <3 thank you Ferra.
Cherry I knew it. lol I <3 star-trek <3

Ahhh, yeah, I see "let's enjoy [noun]" on poupee a lot. So close, but not quite!

Funny how things like that start to seep into your brain, isn't it? I pick up so many things without trying (or particularly wanting) to. I keep doing that word-shortening thing that's... a thing lately. Totes, awks, that sort of thing. It sounds so dumb, but I can't stop!

Yeah, I have the same problem! XD I don't even live in the US anymore, but because a lot of my FB friends and online posts use new slang trends, I've been slowly picking up on it. It annoys me too though, so I hope it's not here to stay.

Another thing about Japanese that throws me is that you have different ways of speaking depending on gender and social status/age. So someone asked me "Are you coming to dinner tonight?" in a very masculine way, and I replied, unthinkingly, using the same masculine phrase in the affirmative. So it would be like if a guy asked "Sup? Goin' to dinner?" and I replied "You know it bro!!" but unironically.

(But that's mostly an issue when speaking really casually. At work I get thrown because I'm not being polite enough. Luckily I get a pass since I'm foreign, so I don't think I've ever offended anyone. XD)