Wicked Weez of the West

Me Fail English? That’s Unpossible!

9th March, 2010 by Lulu

Correctly quoted Ralphism

I like words. They make me nice. In my pants.

True story.

I’m not sure when my love affair with words started, but it’s been going on for a while. And I have to admit, it’s very, very satisfying.

It’s also probably part of the reason why I’m really enjoying being an English language teacher so much. And I know they say, “a picture tells a thousand words,” but for me, words do so much more.

I also have quite a penchant for rules and order (item #52), as evidenced by the existence of my Game Police badge (item #67). And on numerous occasions I have been called to to confirm the rules, or be an adjudicator, to whichever game is being played by my friends.

So it’s no surprise that I got a little moist after clicking through to a link retweeted by @lukecaporn the other week:

It is a list of ten commonly misspelled words, their meanings, and their correct use. It includes some of my favourites: your/you’re, there/their/they’re, definitely, and its/it’s.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, or if you’re one of those people who needs a little help, I hope you find it educational

While on the subject of misspelled words, how about this double whammy I spotted on a Facebook ad?

Me to smart for poker

Posted in Teaching | Tagged educational, grammar, spelling, words | 6 Comments »

We’re Happy Little Vegemites

3rd March, 2010 by Lulu

When you ask non-Australians what they think of when you mention Australia, they usually say one of the following things: kangaroos, koalas, Crocodile Dundee, or Vegemite.

And this has been no different for me during my time in Japan. So after much discussion on the controversial topic of our nation’s most famous food, I decided to bring some Vegemite with me to work last week. And after stopping by the shop to get bread and butter (in a tube, no less), I warned the staff their taste buds were about to be tested. Continue Reading »

Posted in Food, Japan | Tagged Australia, Food, Japan, Vegemite | 2 Comments »

My Eyes Taste Like Burning

1st March, 2010 by Lulu

Ralph Wiggum

Misquoted Ralphism

I haven’t been sleeping all that well lately, and it often leaves me with sore eyes when I wake. It got quite bad the other week, to the point of having visibly bloodshot eyes several mornings in a row. So after the third day of this, I decided to do something about it.

I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task obtaining eye drops from the chemist using my broken Japlish, so I was more than pleased when, on the way to work last Sunday morning, I bumped into one of the office staff, Nami, at the Starbucks at the train station. I told here my eyes were sore, and asked if she’d help me get some eye drops.

So we stopped in to the chemist (drug store) on the way to work, and she had a conversation with the pharmacist, asking me questions occasionally; do I have allergies, do I wear contact lenses (yes, no). And after a few minutes, she decided on the most suitable brand of eye drops for me.

Posted in Health, Japan | Tagged eye drops, Health, Japan, Rohto Zi:Ø, weird | 11 Comments »

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

18th February, 2010 by Lulu

A two-part review.

I’d been reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (by Stieg Larsson) on my Kindle for the past three months, and finished two weeks ago while on the train in the middle of moving apartments. It was the first book I downloaded after Rich bought me a Kindle in October 2009, but it had been on my “to read” list for over a year (according to Goodreads). I was really excited about reading this book, but hadn’t found time to dedicate to it in the lead up to moving to Japan. And after I arrived, I was pretty busy getting my life sorted out. So it’s only been recently that I’ve had the pleasure of getting lost, once again, in a novel.

I started work mid-January, and suddenly found myself having up to a 90 minute commute to and from work each day which seemed like the perfect time to read. In fact, 1/3 of the people catching public transport here read (books, comics, newspapers), another 1/3 spend time on their phone (text, email, watching TV)/PSP/DS/MP3Player, and the other 1/3 take that extra time to sleep (I’ve done them all at some stage). But almost every time I whipped out the Kindle, I received several sideways glances. Admittedly, it does have a Gelaskin on the back, so that could be it. But even when I was sitting next to people, they would watch in awe as the pages magically disappeared and reappeared as new text.

So the first part of this two-part review is on the Kindle, Amazon’s eBook reader.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged book, Kindle, reading, review | 4 Comments »

Feed me, Seymour

10th February, 2010 by Lulu

Audrey II

I went to the dentist this week. Not something I ever envisaged needing to do while living in Japan for only up to a year, especially given I had a check up mid-2009. But I did, and this is the story.

It started about a week after arriving in Japan, December 2009. On the top left side of my mouth: an inflamed, sore, raised, painful (and infected) gum. It took about 5 days to clear up, after which I noticed that the tooth it was near was now wobbly. *cue alarm bells*. I didn’t do anything about it then, but just kept an eye (and finger) on it to wait and see if it improved.

It didn’t.

And as of last week, I discovered that a few more teeth were now wobbly. Continue Reading »

Posted in Health | Tagged dentist, Health, Japan, teeth | 10 Comments »

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