Week 49, 2023
✱ We did it! During this whole week me and my family successfully completed watching the John Wick saga again. We did so by starting last week with the first movies, and this week by watching John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum again, so we could finally watch John Wick: Chapter 4, released earlier this year. That movie was... superb. I read a lot of bad reviews about it, but whomever wrote them probably didn't understand the end (which I won't spoil here in case you haven't watched it yet). The thing is,
now that four chapters have finished, there's a lot of controversy online about a fifth movie: with some sources saying Lionsgate confirmed it is in the works, whereas others not so sure about it. Personally, given what's happened so far, I'd really enjoy seeing more movies, but realistically speaking, I guess that'll take at least a couple of years until Keanu Reeves hits the big screen again, as the general consensus is that the (many) ideas the writers and directors have for continuations still don't quite close around a proper story. So let's just wait.
✱ I've come to think of my work colleagues as a real family as, in these 20 months since I've come back to the company I've always worked for, we've developed a strong friendship — something that had never happened to me on such level before. So this week it made me very sad to learn that one of my best friends at work, one that is a real mentor and teacher in so many ways to me, decided to leave the company, effective on the second week of January. He has his personal reasons and career decisions and path, of course, and I'm sure we'll keep on talking with each other and he'll be able to yet teach me much. Still, I'd be lying if I said I'm not feeling blue. It's been hard to process all of this, yet I know my thoughts and feelings will eventually settle down.
✱ Although my Japanese learning is currently down to a halt, my boss surprised me this week with what I can only call a special gift. He knows about my son's efforts to conquer his scholarship to go studying in Japan and how I'm trying to study and learn the language as much as possible so I can try to communicate successfully once I go visit him in Japan in the future. So he called me this week, saying we'd be holding a meeting with one of our Japanese customers, and invited me to participate, what I readily accepted. The meeting took place last Friday and I must say that I really, really, really enjoyed it so much. It's true that I didn't speak Japanese beyond はじめまして (hajimemashite, or “nice to meet you”), おはようございます(ohayou gozaimasu, or “good morning”) and ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu, or “thank you”). Still, being able to be around native Japanese and to immerse a little bit into their culture and customs was not only priceless, but also served as both a reminder and an incentive for me to keep learning and studying 日本語 (Japanese).
✱ Speaking about Japanese, Kanshudo is currently promoting their Holiday Sale. I know this site — which I found by happenstance sometime ago and that intends to teach Japanese to anyone with an approach revolving around how to read kana and kanji, but in parallel grammar and vocabulary — isn't the top one in the minds of many who've been trying to learn Japanese on their own, as it is considered to be not very easy and intuitive. But from what I could see, it's just a matter of getting used to it. So, I'm really interested in taking advantage of this promotion... yet I haven't completely made up my mind. Let's see if I think it over during the upcoming week. If you know Kanshudo or any other resources for self learners of Japanese like myself, I'm so very much inclined to hear tips from you.