I’m really excited to hurry up and finish sorting the Kanji because I think I have a lot of cool stuff I can show the world.

Specifically, I think I can make a better version of Heising’s books Remembering the Kanji 1, 2, and 3.

However, a lot of my analysese are using traditional Chinese characters, not the simplified versions on Japanese Kanji, so it will be interesting to see how they get sorted out.

I’m also excited to start writing keywords to help memorize the Kanji with my data.

With Heisig’s method and most other Kanji learning methods, you just learn how to write the Kanji, and learn the pronunciation later.

I am planning to do that as well, however, there will be a big difference.

I am going to create English “sound keywords” – These are keywords that give a hint to the Kanji’s pronunciation – and I will try to add these to as many Kanji as possible so that it kills two birds with one stone:

As you learn how to write the Kanji, you also learn what “sound group” it is in.

Once you have internalized how to write the Kanji and have the meaning memorized, all you have to do is just remember what “sound keyword” was inside the Kanji and then learn that pronunciation.

These past couple days I have been working pretty well with sorting the remaining Kanji.

I hope that I can keep this pace up.

The thing that is good about these remaining Kanji is that a lot of them have already been sorted from previous analyses.

So I would sort like 10 Kanji and get 5 for free. 

Now I just need to keep up my Korean and Japanese flashcard study.

Ideally I want to study 250+ cards a day, or 1750 vocabulary words a week.

Yeah, it sounds ridiculous, but if I just sit down and cram them for several hours, I think I can do it.

I forgot to mention. 

I’m over halfway done with analyzing and sorting these remaining Kanji!

This is honestly by far the biggest road block and energy-intensive part of my Pahanngana project, since I actually have to go through each character one by one and try to sort them into sound groups.

However, after I’m done sorting them, it will be relatively smooth sailing from there on.

That’s not to say that it won’t be easy or time-consuming, just that everything else is pretty straightforward and I can publish the data as soon as I generate it:

• Rewriting Sino-Japanese words into Pahanngana (By far the easiest)
• Rewriting 1 and 2 syllable Native Japanese words into Pahanngana (Very easy)
• Rewriting 3+ syllable Native Japanese words into Pahnngana (Many, many permutations, hard to decide what the “correct” one is)

Finally, the rainy season is over.

It’s been very sunny the past couple days, and I’ve been feeling great.

I think that may have contributed to me being able to analyze more Kanji the past couple days than when it was raining all day.

In any case, working little by little is really important.

I think I’m going to start using a physical spreadsheet to keep track of my micro-habits.

I’m used to working with data on digital spreadsheets to manipulate data, but I think working with physical paper is a lot better and feels more “real.” 

I think I should have multiple paper notebooks for different purposes, like a student would have different notebooks for different subjects.

I think it’s time for me to start using something that I used to use many years ago – the Pavlok.

This device is basically a shock device.

So the idea is that you can do your bad habit and time-wasting thing, you just have to shock yourself when you do it.

The reason is that you are basically training yourself to associate the pain of the electrical shock to the bad habit, so you don’t do it anymore.

I’ve been spending too much time watching YouTube videos and playing games, even though my conscious mind knows that they’re just a waste of my time.

Time to shock myself!

Today I was able to get a lot of Kanji analyzed and sorted!

I was feeling quite inspired and managed to keep my analysis rolling.

I think that doing a 25 minute Pomodoro for each of my tasks will allow me to at least get one good focused session for each of the things that I want to do.

Today was a bit different since I spent several hours working on my Kanji analysis and managed to get a lot more than usual.

I didn’t get a lot of sleep though, since I stayed up quite late to work on the analysis.

I think I should just try to just finish my list of 25 minute Pomodoro tasks. 

It’s a good goal to aim for to get things going.

My teaching schedule for this week is Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday.
Next week my teaching schedule will be Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

One thing that I really need to address is my outside environment.
I think my outside environment is really affecting my inside environment (my mentality).
There is a lot of clutter, junk, stuff all over the place, laundry that needs washing, things in the wrong place, etc. etc.

So I need to start to tame my man cave and get it in order before it drives me even more crazy.

I think I’ll start with my bedroom since it is relatively small and simple, and it would be a pretty easy win and a big win to get the ball rolling.

All right, Thursday.

The past few Thursdays I have been attending a language exchange to practice speaking Korean, get out of the house so I don’t go crazy from working home alone the whole week, and meet new people.

So far, it’s been going pretty good.

I’ve been meeting new people, speaking Korean, and even discussing my Pahanngana project with others.

It allows me to practice what I would say to others in Korean, because I plan to make YouTube videos in Korean explaining what it is that I’m trying to do.

Interestingly, but not very surprisingly, there are some concepts that are hard for both Koreans and Japanese people to wrap their heads around:
– That there is batchim (받침) in Japanese
– And that it is possible to assign other sounds to letters in Hangul.

Okay, now that I’ve decided what my to-do’s are, I’m going to do them and do the Pomodoro technique along with them.

I’ve used the Pomodoro technique before in the past but stopped using it.

I don’t exactly remember why. 

Anyway, now that I have a much freer schedule and I’m in more control of my time, it’s a great opportunity for me to schedule out 25 minute ‘micro-tasks’ (aka chunking down bigger goals into smaller tasks) .

I just gotta make sure that those 25 minutes are spent very effectively, and that I’m able to focus and get done what needs to get done.

Dopamine.

I think I need a dopamine detox plus a large helping of consistent micro habits. 

Recently, I have been spending a lot of time on YouTube watching a lot of different videos, usually related to comedy, tech, or gaming, 

All of these videos are in English, of course, and I should be listening to media in Korean.

However, I just feel bored.

It doesn’t help that I work from home and don’t get any social interaction.

However, I think I’ve been pumping my brain full of YouTube videos, video games, and random internet browsing  to the point that my brain has become accustomed to the higher level of dopamine stimulation.

So what does that mean for my studies and Pahanngana project?

It just doesn’t “feel” fun to study flashcards and listen to audio, even though many years ago I was able to just sit down and study and focus.

I think I need to do a dopamine detox where I don’t watch any YouTube videos, no social media, no random internet browsing, at least for a day to get my brain back to normal.