剛看完施定柔的《結愛·異客逢歡》， 感覺心裡悶悶的，索性跑來寫部落格。想了想，還是分不清心裡鬱悶的原因。說實在的，我並不太喜歡這本小說，故事人物不怎麼討喜。也許是因為作者也沒有深刻的勾畫出每個人物。看完了故事，感覺對他們還是很陌生。人物的設定雖然有趣，但就是少了一些什么。
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一个人在家的午後總是寧靜的。沒有無謂的喧鬧，整個人也能靜下心來。趴在沙發上，打打字，算是一個過得比較愜意的下午。只希望下午的時間能過得慢一些，這片刻的幸福能夠再久一些。就很知足了。
很多事情，都需要持之以恆的努力。部落格寫了十年，以為不常打理還是會有一定的讀者。但是剛瞄了一下訪客數據，這裡算是成了一片荒地。（笑）另外，雖然我的日文一向來也不能說很好，但至少看小說還是沒問題的。但這一兩年完全把它擱在一邊，現在看小說還是非常吃力的。
這種需要重新建起的感覺真的很不好，也不容易。它時時刻刻的提醒我 — 是我放手了，是我不努力，是我沒有持之以恆。這樣的認知是殘酷的。但我還是必須面對，告訴我自己，我可以從新再來。：）
沒有什麼是永恆的。好的，壞的，終究還是會過去的。
It has become a routine of some sorts, to post about TOPIK results every two years or so! 🙂 It was my 5th time (starting to lose count!) taking TOPIK and I think it was my 3rd level 6 pass! Well, I know there are a few camps of thoughts on TOPIK. It’s debatable how accurate it reflects “real” proficiency, whether there’s any “use” in the exam and if it means anything. Personally, I treat TOPIK as a milestone, to remind me that yet another two years have passed since learning Korean and it serves as a fun way to test myself and to see if I’ve made any numerical improvement in the scores (just for fun!). I enjoy taking language tests so much that my friends think I’m crazy. But I also think that it’s a blessing to see it as something fun, and not something stressful!
Writing the post a few days after I’ve received the results, so I can’t replicate my happiness accurately (lol), but nevertheless I must say that I’m pretty happy with the results! It was the first time that my writing component score was in the 70s (it used to hover in the 60s range). The last time I really studied for TOPIK was probably in 2009 and 2012 ><, but I took the effort to read a couple of model essays for both the long essay and the statistics description portion and I think it helped! 🙂 I need to write more, so that I can hit the 80s range next time 😛
Really pleased with the reading score. I mean, what else can I say right? 😛
Didn’t do that well for listening, and I had a feeling that I lost marks in the earlier (and supposedly) easier questions hahaha. ><
Overall, really pleased!
The blog is celebrating its 10th anniversary in a couple of days. 🙂
Thank you for sticking with me all these while!
It’s the mandatory TOPIK experience post again. Probably my 5th! It’s so surreal how fast time passes and it’s already my 5th time taking TOPIK. For readers who like to ask why I would spend money to re-take it every two years, I just like to keep my certificate valid as I would never know when I need it. It’s also an activity that I look forward to every two years (ya I love taking language tests!!), and more importantly, it’s a timemarker for me. Reminding me that yet another 2 years have passed 🙂
For those who are keen to read about the details of TOPIK II can refer to this post.
TOPIK was more fun this year cos Weixin took it with me 😂. HSK last year and TOPIK this year. Heh we are language test buddies.
Don’t think I did very well at the start because it took me a while to ease into the exam mode, so I kinda spaced out in the beginning. But as usual, I found it very helpful to read ahead for the questions when the dialogue repeats for the 2nd time. So I would read two sets ahead to make sure that I have a sense of what the next (next) dialogue is about, as well as what to look out for even before the audio.
It was definitely worth it to prepare for the “graph description” section. I found it a lot more manageable after reading several sample essays. Usually you will start off by stating which organisation conducted the survey (and what is it about), followed by 결과에 따르면 LOL.
Reading was pretty .. dare I say.. easy this time round. Must caveat that it doesn’t mean I would do well. 😂 At least I didn’t have any 멘붕 moments. Given past experience, I knew that I would definitely be able to finish the reading section within time limit, so I didn’t deliberately rush and speed-read my way through. I tried to make the effort to read through all options to reduce the possibility of careless mistakes.
Overall, thought it was a manageable paper. (:
Rediscovering my love for Korean novels 🙂
What better way to start than to re-read my favourite novel! It’s been 5 years or more since I bought the 3-novel set, and actually I think I’ve only finished the first two books, and was halfway through the third novel.
Seems like just yesterday when I was writing about how much I love these books. It’s quite interesting to re-read again. I still stumble over pretty much the same words that I highlighted a few years ago, but I’m also a much faster reader than before.
Perhaps it’s because I read non-fiction more often, but I do find myself being unfamiliar with a lot of the descriptive verbs and onomatopoeia that’s common in novels. Time to build up the vocabulary bank again 🙂
Listening to Sodagreen while typing this (and taking a short break from the novel). Feeling happy and at ease 🙂
Taking TOPIK again this coming Sunday. It’s become a time marker of some sort, reminding me that two years have passed yet again. If I look at things positively, I think I’ve come a long way to push my limits and take on different challenges. A less positive way of looking at things… I’m getting further and further from where I envisioned myself to be. That is something for another post 😛
Right now, I just want to immerse myself in the book and enjoy reading.
Till the next post.
To the silent reader, yes that’s you, maybe it’s time for a comment? 🙂
A dream come true.
Those who know me or read my blog may know that Kang Dong Won is my allllll-time favourite actor. One thing on my bucket list is to see him in real life. I got v close to doing it in 2015, when a Korean friend managed to get premiere screening tickets for the movie군도 when I was in Korea. But it was cutting too close to my return flight so I had to give up the opportunity. And there’s always that lingering sense of regret.
So it was extra special this time that I got to see him in a small fanmeeting here in Singapore and managed to get front row seats too!!! Kudos to UWeekly and Zaobao for organising! And the host was great too (: A good host is v important!
Seeing KDW in real life is just so … cool 🙂 I’ve always read fan accounts of how his proportions are so out of the world/how he is sooo good looking etc, so it’s nice to finally see him in person. And yes he is v handsome 😂. But what struck me was probably how good his English was and on top of everything, suddenly he became a language inspiration to me too. 😂
Seeing him in real life actually triggered a lot of memories. I was acutely reminded of how hard I was working towards my dreams a couple of years ago. Of my younger and more motivated self. I was strongly reminded of how I was trying very hard to read his interviews in Korean last time, searching up new words and how I always felt so excited whenever he was featured in High Cut (with all the lengthy and in-depth interviews!). ☺️☺️☺️
I received a lot of positive energy yesterday and I am very glad I went for it. Hopefully I’ll get to see him in real life again someday, maybe in Korea this time.
Welcoming another new language to my life 🙂
I started Korean in 2008 and re-started Japanese in 2012. Can’t quite believe it’s been 10 and 6 years since then.
When I mentioned on Insta that I was going to learn Russian, I was quite surprised by how the main reaction was “HUH THIS IS SO RANDOM”. Actually, it’s not that random. I’ve always wanted to learn Russian someday, just that I didn’t get down to doing it till now.
It was probably on a random whim that I actually got down to learning half the alphabet on my own a couple of months ago, but I realised that I really couldn’t find the motivation and discipline to do all 3 languages on my own. So I contemplated taking classes and one fine day this week (lol), I decided to Google for suitable classes and woohoo I found something that fit perfectly (must be fate!). So I signed up the very next day and went for my first Russian lesson a few days later! Hahaha talk about spontaneous decisions 🙂
While I do believe in making measured decisions, sometimes it’s really all these spontaneous decisions that turn out to be awesome choices in life. That was also how I got into Korean and Japanese language. Random decisions. 🙂
Thanks Gil for the notebook! 🙂 I used it immediately!
I have two notebooks for Russian now – one for class and one for self-study. Although I’m taking classes, I’m not planning to rely entirely on them to progress and hopefully I can still find some time to self-study 🙂
Till next time! 🙂