2024 is certainly the year when I read the least since I started this blog. But one of my biggest achievements of this year was to take my Chinese study to the next level. It’s crazy to think that I can now play my favourite game in Chinese, even though it tends to be very wordy with a lot of text and dialogues to read.
December has not been the greatest of months because our cat has been sick and had to be hospitalised. It’s not the first time (it’s a recurring health problem), but it’s always a lot of stress, and it has drained a lot of my energy this month. (He is okay now, but still under treatment.)
I’ve managed to continue cycling, but not as much as I wanted to. With temperatures close to 0 celsius or NW wind with gusts up to 10ms, one hour on the bike is the maximum I can do without feeling like I’m losing my feet and my hands (and that’s with good shoes and gloves). Water also gets too cold to drink, and it’s difficult to take breaks and enjoy the ride…
In terms of book, I finally got around to reading 十角館の殺人 by Yukito Ayatsuji (綾辻行人), and it was a very entertaining and suspenseful read. It starts a bit slow maybe, but it soon picks up the pace, and of course, there’s a trick and a surprising ending for the reader. Overall I liked it, but not as much as I expected to. I guess the book is so famous that I had unfair expectations.
This book is the first one in the 館シリーズ and I plan on reading the other books of the series next year!
I also went to the theatre to watch a play called 701호, it’s a crime comedy about a couple who recently moved in an appartement, then get corpses delivered to them. Some scenes were very funny, but the end becomes more serious as we learn more about the culprit’s motives.
It’s strange, but I watched another play earlier this year that had a similar ending, so I quickly got an idea of who the culprit was. Still, it was a really good play, the actors gave everything and the stage was excellent.
(I have to mention that rape and animal abuse are suggested in the play).
What I am the most proud of in December is my Anki streak. I did miss December 31th lol, but otherwise, I had a nice 6-weeks streak. In total, I have a little over 900 cards right now.
I am also thinking of some reading goals for 2025, I do think it helps me to stay motivated, even if I end up not following them in the end.
That’s it, nothing much happened in December, here’s hoping that 2025 will be a good and peaceful year.
Happy New Year!
About
I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to read mystery novels and play video games in these languages.
Learning languages has always been one of my favourite hobbies, but I’m not a social person, I don’t like to meet new people and make friends, this is just not me. I keep hearing that languages are meant for communication, that we have to actively use them, talk with natives, etc. and for a long time, I thought it was weird to learn languages just to read books, with zero interest in communication.
Now I don’t really care what people think, and this blog helped me a lot to stop doubting myself and just do what I enjoy doing.
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