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I’m feeling pretty perked up today – my enthusiasm to learn new things doubled up when two Japanese grammar books I ordered from Amazon.co.jp (on an online friend’s recommendation) arrived today at about 12.30pm (which I ordered two days ago, and arrived just two days later (today) via Fed-Ex, which was also pretty pricey in the first place at about RM60+). I had a talk with my Japanese/Chinese teacher yesterday (after my Chinese class) regarding my future Japanese studies, and when she asked why was I adamant in wanting to pass JLPT 2, I told her instantly without thinking that it was “personal satisfaction”. For some reason, since then, I felt this immense desire to want to improve the two languages that I’m currently taking up.

There really isn’t a reason that I can think of that can cement my sudden blooming enthusiasm concretely – there’s a great deal of satisfaction to be had to be able to understand a song/movie in a foreign language, in communicating with native speakers (I think it’s fucking brilliant when you meet fellow backpackers who are natives and you could actually talk to them), in reading things that sometimes are hard to translate because a great deal of cultural nuances are in it. (This whole paragraph sounds vaguely familiar, like from an old entry wtf.)

Another foreign language that I feel like taking up is French. Honestly, if there are cheap French classes nearby, I’d have signed up for them already.. if only I’m not so constrained by time and college workload. Insomuch that I feel like studying these foreign languages full time instead of wasting precious time practising how to solve financial questions using a financial calculator or remembering historical facts of Australia’s financial markets, whose usefulness in life is quite questionable.

That, plus I’ve a few friends who are learning French or are planning to take it. :) With useful online resources in the form of Frenchpod, among others, maybe I could strengthen some basics before actually going to classes for real.

Languages, writing, photography, travelling – these 4 are the main things I thrive on, and are the backbones of my life. In retrospect I’ve actually been spending a lot on each of the four areas (with the exception of writing.. which I may have to spend some amount if that self-publishing thing takes off), and I don’t regret them one bit.

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I remember being teased a lot when I was in my primary school for listening to ABBA (can’t remember how I started listening to them, probably from some compilation of oldies that my parents were listening to), back when my peers were listening to Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys and 911 and The Moffats. I was the only one in my group who was listening to such eloquently tasteful songs from the past, and even had my parents buy their album for me, which I listened to enough to memorise the lyrics on most songs. Super Trooper, Dancing Queen, Chiquitita, Fernando, Thank You for the Music, Mamma Mia. Sigh.

I can’t wait for Mamma Mia!, the movie musical to be released.

I didn’t expect myself to like The Beatles’ songs, but after watching Across the Universe last Friday night with my parents at home, a musical based on the aforementioned band’s songs, I’ve fallen in love with the song of the same title, sung by Jim Sturgess (..unfortunately I prefer the cover version to the original) – love the elegant lyrics accompanied by strings of violins.

There were also a few other Beatles songs from the movie/musical that were pleasant to listen to (Dear Prudence, Hey Jude, etc), that made me realise that that is why some oldies are considered evergreen – their songs are just as relevant now amidst the modern oversaturated genres of hip-hop and RnB and pop.