THE URGE to be able to read, speak and write fluent Japanese has hit me again. I've always wanted to speak Japanese, since my mid-teens. Despite poor progress (in life as much as any foreign language) I never gave up on this goal, and it's one thing I want to achieve before I die...
So I phoned the Waterstones booksellers branch that serves the School of Oriental and African Studies in town and checked whether Teach Yourself: Complete Japanese was available. He said no, they only had Fast Track Japanese. If I wanted to make an order, I'd have to come in, hand over the cash, then wait however long it takes (three days to three weeks depending on availability and obscurity). So I told him I'd check that my local WH Smiths couldn't order it in for me.
An ordinary bookseller can order in any title in print in any language. WH Smiths, however, only order from a shortlist of titles they actually stock. So I seriously doubted they'd be able to help me. Imagine my shock when I entered the store not only to find Complete Japanese (1 book; 2 CDs) on the shelf, but that it was discounted £10 cheaper than the £39.99 recommended retail price. In American money I paid $45 for my linguistic distraction from the lure of the Devil's Drug Heroin!
Oh yeah, and a ghost tried to enter my head through my right eye last night. That's what happens when you're overexposed to computers. You hear voices and the ghouls try to get you. I'm very upset with my Seroquel for not protecting me from psychic apparitions. Also I'm still prone to extreme bad moods. Quetiapine is meant to even out the moods. But it doesn't. All it does is stop me going manic. It doesn't appear to defend against depression at all. Doesn't stop psychic voices coming into my head. Which don't bother me, except that I know that they're considered a sign of madness by the big bad world I live in. The only good thing about quetiapine is the lovely drowsy feeling it induces 1-2 hours after popping the pills. Then you get really nice sleep. But over time immunity develops to most of most drugs' effects. My friend Pinky is on four times my dose and it barely touches the sides with her. She's on clonazepam (Klonipin) for anxiety and zopiclone for sleep ~ on top of maximum dose Seroquel for paranoid psychosis. Seroquel, the drug that knocked me sideways the first weeks I was on it.
Well that's boring old me for another day. If anyone else has seen a ghost recently,
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