Learning Japanese

A: Answer phone say name of hotel
B: Ask if they have any rooms for tomorrow
A: Single or double?
B: Single
A: Yes we have a single
B: How much are they?
A: 5000 yen a night
B: Book a room for two nights
A: Ask name & phone number
B: Give details, ask if they have a pool
A: Say yes, it's in the basement
B: Ask if they have a convenience store
A: No, but there's one opposite the hotel
B: Say thanks & goodbye
A: Goodbye

In Japanese...

A: Moshi moshi, Royal Hoteru desu.
B: Ashita heya wa arimasu ka?
A: Shinguru desu ka? Daburu desu ka?
B: Shinguru o onegai shimasu.
A: Hai, shinguru desu ne.
B: Ippaku ikura desu ka?
A: Go sen en desu.
B: Shinguru nihaku o onegai shimasu
A: Hai. O namae wa? Denwa bango wa nan ban desu ka?
B: Watashi wa Ben Hall desu. Watashi no denwa bango wa ichi-rokku-rokku-san-nana-kyu desu. Kono hoteru ni puru wa arimasu ka?
A: Hai, puru wa chika desu.
B: Kono hoteru ni konbini wa arimasu ka?
A: Konbini ja arimasen. Konbini wa hoteru no ushiro desu.
B: Ah so desu. Arigato gozaimasu. Sayonara.
A: Sayonara.

B: Ask if they have a convenience store
A: No, but there's one opposite the hotel
B: Say thanks & goodbye
A: Goodbye

I need to go on this site & learn hiragana...
http://www.chipchat.com/NihonGo/protect/HiraganaDrill.html

Earthquake Live Blog!

00:54
"Zzzzzzzzzzz"

00:55
Earthquake hits
"Zzzzzzzzzzz"

00:56
"Zzzzzzzzzzz"

06:30
Wake up, hear mention of Earthquake on the Today programme.

07:00
Watch GMtv going overboard with Earthquake coverage. Turn off sound & read games teletext.

08:32
Arrive at work

08:33
"Zzzzzzzzzzz"

CSI Live Blog

21:05
Nice to see Gil's rocking the Cantona collar. Did you know Gil proposed to Sara in the episode we missed?

21:07
("Flip" - ed) no. That's why she left, kinda answers his question for him. Great! An episode dedicated to Hodges and his mind games. 'Would you let me finish!'

21:11
She said yes so I doubt it was that. I think Eads is enjoying the way he can mess around. 'Whodunnit and how?'

21:17
They should make this into a pub it-box game complete with Eads giving hints. I'd play it!

21:22
Poor guy. Must all these murders be about Henry being sweaty? Hodges seems to be upset when someone joins in with him & Wendy.

21:26
His mind did wander towards Katherine though. Can't blame him for liking Wendy. I like Wendy too. I'm guessing the cast enjoyed filming this. Rather lighthearted.

21:37
Hodges has killed Wendy off now she wants to become a field agent. Why does the gun guy always get collared for the crime?

21:40
Do you think he drops things or tie his shoe laces on purpose so he can sneak a look up her skirt? I'm loving brass giving massages. Hodges! Busted! Ha ha.

21:45
I think Mindy McBoobs likes Hodges too. I thought Gil would end up playing the game. It would be easy for him though.

21:49
Ha ha love it. Mindy McBoobs! Ha ha. Gil can win board games without even trying. Ha ha that autopsy face! 'No sign of sexual trauma!' ha ha.

21:56
Gil's finding the game fun. I reckon Hodges will give the game to Sara as an engagement gift. Another framing for Bobby!

22:01
What a lovely gift. Though Gil will ruin it as he's already played it. Think I'm going to get a t-shirt made up saying I love Wendy on the front.

Day off

It's my day off so I'm digging through my boxes of junk that my Mum & Dad have brought over. In amongst my pictures of Aussie soap stars (ah Isla Fisher, Tempany Deckart and that blonde girl who went out with Lance) - which I will now be getting rid of - there was some good stuff. This map of how Paramount Comedy Shows linked together was something I did because I was bored. However I'm rather taken with it now, especially as I wrote it pre-imdb.

One day the fact that Pete Schumacher from The Garry Shandling Show was once on a episode of Flying Blind will save the world. Hey it makes more sense than stopping a cheerleader being killed.

Reviews Sunday

Tegan and Sara - Leeds Metropolitan University 23/02/2008

It's weird going to see a band you've never really listened to. The songs don't really have the same impact they would if you had spent the whole days leading up to the gig listening to their music (as usually happens with me).

And so it came to pass with Tegan & Sara. I booked the gig despite not knowing much about them & only through listening to their myspace did I decide that they sounded ok. But none of the songs stuck into my head that much so I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it that much.

Things got off to a good start when I saw that at the merchandise stand they were selling Northern State stuff. I remember buying 'Dying In Stereo' and found it to be full of hip-hop goodness. They didn't disappoint either, being exactly what I want in a support act - lots of chatting between songs, not caring about the crowd talking over them, and having fun. Could have mentioned that their new album was produced by Ad-Rock a few less times.

Then Tegan & Sara came out (clever wording I know, cheers). And I kind of felt what it would be like to be at a Take That concert. You see, the crowd for Tegan & Sara was mostly made up of teenage lesbians who gave off an air of indifference, but when their idols came on they screamed like the Beatles at Shea Stadium.

They played songs mostly off their new album (The Con), although I wouldn't have known unless they said. And they sounded pretty good. They had good banter between songs, Tegan appeared to be the more ramblier of the two whilst Sara had the sharp one-liners.

The songs themselves were acousticky-rocky stuff that is rather popular with the younger set (non-emo non-chav division). Certainly nothing to offend the ears and definitely catchy. I shall be checking out more of their music.

Unfortunately we had to leave during the encore to catch our train (the usual excuse of me being tired), so we didn't see the whole thing. I did get to buy the new Northern State album & got it signed by Spero. Didn't ask her why she changed her name from Guinea Love though.

Five out of seven.

(Note: Poorly taken pics to be added tomorrow as my flickr uploaded is on the fritz)

The week in twitters

The curb episode with Mac is now my favourite #
Writing a dull presentation on a dull subject (my job) #
We've not kissed, but have made up #
Just been told off because I don't want a job. I tried to tell him on Thursday but he didn't listen #
Freezing fog. The worst kind of fog. Except for exploding fog #
Hurrah! Teriyaki steak soba was the special at wagamama. #
28 tomorrow. Scary #

Fridays Feast [slightly delayed]

Appetizer
Have you ever played a practical joke on anyone? If so, what did you do and who was your victim?
I neither have the skill nor patience to go through with a practical joke. Either I admit to it before it happens, or it backfires on me.

Soup
What do your salt and pepper shakers look like?
Sophisticated brushed aluminium. You push down the top & it grinds them.

Salad
Where is the next place you plan to visit (on vacation or business)?
Leeds to go and see Tegan and Sara.

Main Course
What kind of lotion or cream do you use to keep your hands from getting too dry?
E45 cream as I have psoriasis.

Dessert
Make up a dessert, tell us its ingredients, and give it a name.
Coma by chocolate. For diabetics.

Japanese Thursday

Luckily for you non-Japanese speakers I won't be writing a conversation today* instead I'm trying to remember hiragana. Hiragana is the intermediate level of written Japanese, with katakana the beginners (used for more English style words) and Kanji the most difficult at all.

I'm having problems as I didn't really learn katakana that well so I'm moving onto hiragana too early in my Japanese career. They're both the same in that they're phonetic ways of writing, compared to kanji's one symbol per word, but I find it really hard to remember which one each symbol relates to.

Currently I can only remember the symbols for 'i' and 'ko'. Which means I can identify carp on a menu, but that's about it.

* Actually it's probably lucky for the Japanese speakers too as my grammar isn't very good

Birthday cake [slightly delayed]

It tastes better than it looks. But I still think it looks great.

Japanese Kayoobi

A shopping conversation:

Me: T shatsu wa nan kai desu ka?
Assistant: Ni kai desu.
Me: Arrigato.
Assistant: Iie.

On the second floor.

Me: T shatsu wa doko ni arimasu ka?
Assistant: Hai, kochira no ho desu.
Me: Arrigato. Sugoi desu ne. Kore ikura desu ka?
Assistant: San man go sen yen desu.
Me: Chotto takai desu ne. Aoi T shatsu wa ikura desu ka?
Assistant: Ichi man yen desu.
Me: Chotto ookii desu. Mo sukoshi chiisai T shatsu desu ka?
Assitant: Hai.
Me: Kore o kudasai? Ii desu ne. Sugoi desu. Kono akai T shatsu kudasai.

Bah

I have the kind of headache where every time I move I feel like my head is about to split open. I think Freya thought I was putting it on to avoid the wedding list that we were doing, but I actually found that interesting. Although I'm still miffed that I'm not allowed to put an Xbox 360 on there, but I can see that it's not really a gift for nesting.

Reviews Sunday

Being 28
It's essentially a sequel to being 27, except with even more worrying about what I'm going to do in the future. And less hair.

Four out of seven.

Employment agencies
They're rubbish aren't they? First they tell you to come over to talk to them so they can see you 'face to face'. This ends up in you leaving work early, taking a train to Leeds & then spending half an hour saying stuff that is already on your cv or something that could have been said in a ten minute chat over the phone.

Then, after telling them you only really want a job that you can get to by public transport, they mention a job which would take a forty-five minute drive to Wakefield. You tell them you'll think about it and will let them know if you're interested. Next day you get a call saying they want to interview you, despite you never saying you actually want the job.

So you send an e-mail saying, you've thought about it but you don't really want to travel that far (even if you got a company car). They ring you back saying they're confused by this (why because you decided that I wanted the job EVEN THOUGH I NEVER SAID SUCH A THING) and why don't you 'suck it and see' what it's like, there's only two other people going for the job.

Foolishly you say that sounds ok, but you're not sure how you're going to get there. He suggest that perhaps you could get a lift with someone. EH? WHO WOULD I KNOW THAT WOULD TRAVEL TO WAKEFIELD EVERYDAY & BE ABLE TO GIVE ME A LIFT BACK AT 12ish?

So I'm going to ring on Monday and say thanks but no thanks. Let's see what he says about that.

(Oh yes it was about me all along!)

One out of seven

The week in twitters

Uncle Carl can't make my wedding. Boo #
Stop calling me Benjamin #
Chris Nibbs, Chris Nibbs #
Hidden some flowers in the house #
Feel tired, but perhaps exercise would help #
Ich habe ein kopfschmerzen. Fur vier tagen. #

Fridays Feast

Appetizer
Name one thing that is unique about you.
I have various skin marks no-one ever appear to notice until the sixth time they talk to me and then they tell me I've got something on my face. I then rub at it for ages until I realise I'll be unable to get rid of it without paying a plastic surgeon top dollar.

Soup
Fill in the blank: My favorite _________ is __________ but I like _________ too.
My favourite Coen Brothers film is The Hudsucker Proxy but I like The Big Lebowski too (and all the other ones, even the Clooney/Zeta Jones one).

Salad
What type of wood do you have for your home’s furnishings?
I have no idea. Partly because we're renting a furnished house and partly because I'm wood clueless.

Main Course
Who do you talk to most often on the phone?
My Mum. I call every Sunday without fail. I do speak to my Dad as well, but that conversation is usually about how crap Forest are & then he passes me on to my Mum again.

Dessert
What level of responsibility do you have in your job?
Hardly any. Which is just how I like it. Unless I don't get a big enough pay rise this year in which case I may ask for a bit more.

Freya's Valentine [Slightly delayed]

Luckily the flowers themselves were not late.

Things that don't make much sense when said to someone who doesn't listen to Down The Line (1st)

"Chris Nibbs, Chris Nibbs"

Twins

Following on from my previous set of change coincidences Freya has come up with another one. She's working with a person called Ben, who is currently 27 and has a birthday on Sunday. And so do I! Spook!

Rather stupid

I just spent over thirty quid on three games. Two of which will cost me more money if I want to continue playing them after one month. I think this means that I am rather stupid, and broke.

Reviews Sunday

This weeks review is of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the Xbox.



It's Grand Theft Auto. But with a control method on the Xbox that's far worse than the method used on the previous Xbox versions.



And I'm unable to do a mission for the blind Chinese guy because I haven't been swimming long enough to get the relevant swimming skills. This is annoying.

However the game itself is alright. It's no The Warriors though. Four out of seven.

The week in twitters

Present deployed early. Was success! #
Work was hell. Japanese lessons less so #
Woke up feeling sick & headachey. Unfortunately now feel ok enough to go to work :( #
Exceptionally dry hands #
Bah! Radio Times has hiked its price by 10% #
Hurrah! I did leave my scarf at work & therefore haven't lost it #
Tired but I have to iron a shirt... #
Hoping I didn't leave my scarf on the train. #
Read 'the filth'. Now feel depressed #
Had to go in the yard in my pj's. It started snowing. Brrrr #

Team Fortress Poo

And Ouendan Poo.

I'm annoyed with my PC. It's so out of date that it takes 10 minutes to load Team Fortress Two and then I have to have it in the worst resolution possible to have even a chance of playing it. And I was enjoying it, until my PC crashed again at the end of the game meaning my game data was wiped. What a swizz.

It's the same with Oudendan Two. My stylus is so unresponsive that I can't get off the 'text message' song of the Elite Beat Divas levels. Gach. Although this might be more to do with my lack of rhythm than anything else.

Japanese lesson Part 1

(before I start I should point out that this is a way of killing two birds with one stone, so I can do some Japanese revision/coursework and blog)

The following is a conversation between myself and a hotel employee.

Me: Konnichiwa
Hotel Employee: Konnichiwa
Me: Puru wa nan kai desu ka?
HE: Puru wa sang kai desu. Nichiyobi wa yasumi desu.
Me: Ah so desu. Konbini wa nan kai desu ka?
HE: Konbini wa chika desu.
Me: Arrigato. Eki wa doko ni arimasu ka?
HE: Hai. Eki wa massugu itte, migi itte, massugu itte, hidari ni arimasu. Koban no ushiro desu.
Me: Arrigato gozaimasu. Sayonara.
HE: Sayonara.

Wedding card

Wedding card
Originally uploaded by uppi17

This is Freya's first attempt at a wedding invitation. She's worried that I think it looks too girly, but as we're saying we love each other I reckon a heart would be the best symbol. Also they're easy to stitch.

Exceptionally late blog

I'm very happy to report that instead of leaving my scarf on the train I actually left it at work. Also no-one stole it so I managed to get it back without any problems. My neck thanks me.

It's especially needed since I shaved my beard growth of about two weeks.

Fun with money

or funey as I like to call it.

I've had some very strange happenings when paying for gifts recently. The first one was when I got given change which consisted of EXACTLY ONE OF EVERY COIN!!!. Which meant I got 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p.

The next was that I went into one shop and got 12p change. Then went into the next one and GOT 12P CHANGE AS WELL!!!

However my favourite change related story of all time was that I once bought 6 items AND THEY ADDED UP TO £6.66 EXACTLY!!! Oh, hang on that story wasn't about change at all. Whoops.

Reviews Sunday

Hello. Today I will be reviewing The Filth by Grant Morrison.

I'm not really sure what to say about this. On one hand it's a good adventure which speeds along at a good pace. On the other hand there were bits of it they made me feel rather ill. Mostly it was the bits that involved sex. Does this mean I'm a prude? Probably.

I liked the majority of it, but I'm not liking the Anders Klimakks bit. That is all.

Four out of Seven.

I will also review Jarvis by Jarvis Cocker. Or, as I agree with everything he said, I will direct you to Matt's comment on a previous entry.

Three out of Seven.

The week in Twitters (slightly delayed)

Blogging at a non work pc. #
Traversed the PATH OF POO! #
Just bought far too many comic books #
It's raining! Managed to smash myself in the face with my umbrella #
Nightmare washing day #
Sharp moves? Cack moves more like #
Hoping the veg shop doesn't close at five on the dot #
Apparently it was "All the presents and the gifts" #
Just ate a really manky apple. Had to swallow it or I would've looked stupid #
Did Alicia Keys just sing "The President's a git?" #
Need to remember 10 lessons of katakana and Japanese by 530 tomorrow. #
Job search 2008 is activated! #

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
What is your favorite kind of cereal?
Weetabix. I used to have the posters of the skinhead cartoon Weetabix characters on my wall when I was a kid. I like how mushy they get in milk.

Soup
When was the last time you purchased something for your home, what was it, and in which room did it go?
Because we're renting a furnished house we never usually get stuff for the home. I guess the last thing we got was a heart shaped photo holder thing to go on the wall.

Salad
What is the funniest commercial you’ve ever seen?
I honestly can't remember a funy advert. That Spinal Tap fake advert for Heavy Metal Memories is funny, but I've only ever seen it on the DVD extras disc.



Main Course
Make up a name for a company by using a spice and an animal (example: Cinnamon Monkey).
Are you sure it's for a company? You're not just using this to get receipe ideas? Hmmm, I'll try some Thyme Polar Bear followed by some Ginger Antelope.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I haven’t ______ since ______.
I haven't filled in a blank since the last time I filled in a blank. Probably.