No more class!! No more classes until January 18!! No more Japanese until next fall!! I'm free for a month!!
I'm so ready for this break. I'm gonna take a day to do nothing and then I'm gonna start trying to get some stuff done that I haven't had time and energy for, like learning Inform and conlanging.
Like. Obviously not "no more Japanese", "no more Japanese classes". I do need to keep up on it. But I'm excited to switch to some self-study now actually, and use this foundation I've built to learn more at my own pace and by focusing on things that catch my interest
Hand-graded up to 87. Expected a few more points than that, but whatever it pushes me back into A territory
Aaaand skit graded, 19/20, and participation grade in, 30/31. Seems like she literally has one point for every day you participated in class, so since I missed one day that makes sense, but also I hate it, it's very ableist
But! That means my final grade is 93.09%, which is lower than I'd like but hey, it's still an A. It's that thing I was complaining about, about my grade only ever being able to go down, I wish very much the system started at 0% and as you progressed through the semester it increased with assignments graded! But that would require professors upload all their assignments in advance and that is never going to happen. (The system, in fact, can do that, with the 'calculate based only on graded assignments' toggle, but, again, requires the professors to have uploaded all their assignments in advance)
I was gonna check my GPA but the eservices site seems to be down, but I'm either at a 4.0 or a 3.9, which means I can continue taking classes for free at this school (unless the grant goes away).
I have not been checking my email much recently, mostly because a while back google decided that I wasn't allowed to use the email app that came with my phone, anymore, and I haven't been assed to figure out a workaround; and also because I've been very meh, mentally. Part of that is because I stopped taking my pills, and that is because I don't like to take them on an empty stomach and I do not eat breakfast predictably enough to hinge taking pills on it. So, a couple days ago I set an alarm for the evening, and started taking pills then.
And last night I also went through all of the emails I've gotten since November, and discovered one letting me know that the California E-Bike Incentive Project is opening their first application window tonight at 6 PM, which is kind of a wild coincidence. I looked into it and got together everything (I think) I'll need to apply, and unless I've misunderstood something I definitely qualify, so it's just a matter of being one of the 1500 first-come-first-served applications. If I miss that window, they hold on to applications and prioritise them for the next window in a few months, so it's not even a matter of getting it in or I miss it, it's a matter of getting it in or having to wait.
What it is is it gives approved applicants a voucher worth $1750-$2000 for an ebike and any qualifying accessories (helmet, lock, etc) that are purchased at the same time as the bike. I found a place that accepts the vouchers and will deliver, assemble, and safety-test whatever bike you buy from them, and also a folding cargo e-bike that only costs about $1400 and has firmly okay reviews.
Now, there is a reason why I don't ride bikes anymore. It's because my knee is known to dislocate and I'm terrified of that happening while I'm on a bike. But, maybe an ebike would be gentler on my joints? Maybe if I keep up on my physical therapy? I do really miss biking. And it would be very convenient to be able to ride a bike to the store. Or even just, around.
Speaking of joints, this morning when I stood up something in my pelvis or very-lower-spine was out of joint, and that was a fun few seconds while I figured out how to stretch in a way that would pop it back into place without dislocating it more. I have been noticing that area trying to cause problems, I'll have to keep an eye on it. Don't know if there's anything I can do about it, but!
Shoulder feels better today at least.
A little annoyed! I was a couple minutes late getting into the queue because the site isn't working with firefox. Ah well
Welp, application window closed and I didn't get in
Right, so. Options are to wait until March or April for the next window, which I may also not get in, or just buy it myself on a payment plan. My credit reports all have freezes on them so I've started the process of thawing those temporarily just to be able to explore my options
There's clearly a lot of demand for the vouchers so possibly they'll open a window up sooner. They're supposed to announce the next window within a few days, I think. There are some requirements to getting the vouchers, like having to take surveys, but it is essentially a free bike if you jump through their hoops. But I could get it for ~$130 a month, which is pretty within my monthly budget, and not have to wait for months just to find out whether or not I'm even going to be able to apply (plus another couple months for the application to be reviewed).
I can't do anything with it tonight, except research if there's a different bike somewhere that I'd prefer over the one I found yesterday. We'll see where I land in a few days
Oz, sitting right next to her food, clearly miserably hungry, but it doesn't occur to her to eat it until I put a kibble right under her nose
So! I did a lot of research and found a bike that fits my needs better than the one I'd been looking at getting through the voucher, and pulled the trigger on getting it on a payment plan. $90/month for a year and a half. Also got a few necessary accessories, like a bike pump and a good lock. I'm excited to get it! Unfortunately it's supposed to get delivered some time next week and also it's supposed to rain all week, so. Womp womp, as they say.
Going to go to dad's tomorrow to see him before Christmas -- I would push it a bit if it weren't for the rain, especially if I might have been able to take the bike over. But timing is not working out, there.
In a little bit I'm going to go jump in the shower, but first I'm going to sit for a bit and have some caffeine. After ash is done doing project stuff we'll have dinner and watch some things -- we are almost through Jetlag season 7 together, which I watched a few days ago and is hands down my favourite season of the show. We'll probably wrap up the night with some youtube.
I did find out that the reason I couldn't log in to eservices is proooobably because my password expired, because apparently they expire after a year and it would have been about a year ago that I made that password for the last spring semester. Nice of them to give me a generic "couldn't log in" error instead of anything useful! Thought it was some kind of system error, but no.
Alright, doing the chilling before showering thing.
I'm delighted by the ya particle and tari-tari-suru grammatical structure because they just can't be smoothly translated into English. They both mean 'this, that, and things like it', so it could be translated as "I did such-and-such, etc" or "I did such things like such-and-such", but neither of those sound very natural. You'll see it translated as just, the things without the etc, but that leaves out information. So it's the first grammar point I've come across that just, straight up, can't be cleanly translated.
休みは釣りをしたり、温泉に行ったりしました。
I did things like fishing and going to hot springs on vacation.
On vacation, I went fishing, visited the spa, and so forth.
フルーツサラダを作りたいから、りんごやバナナやオランじを買いました。
I want to make a fruit salad, so I bought apples, bananas, oranges, etc.
Like it gets across the meaning fine. And in context you could absolutely find ways to translate it that fit the flow of the rest of the statement. But it takes that extra work to massage it into fitting English-speaking sensibilities, you know? You can't one-to-one this one without losing something.