Another short, short breather
Tuesday, 28 June 2011 13:21![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elusivek*phew*~
Work has been pretty crazy but this is how work is supposed to be. The time passes more quickly when you are busy.
Last night, I actually started studying the Chinese for next week's dictation. I also went through the new book to gauge the level of difficulty of the next book. Still not half that bad, but I guess it's time I start taking the course seriously. Heck, even back in high school I never prepared for dictations a week ahead... But there is just too many vocabs to memorize. The worst part is myself. I feel cocky in that I could read all those characters. It's fine if I read the newspaper, or a read a book. Some characters that I'm not so familiar with, it might take me a bit of time to remember or draw out the pronounciation, but I already know what these characters mean, and I can recognize them upon looking at them.
My problem is the writing part. I can read the character, but I can't write it out for saving my own life. I can remember the general shape of the character, like, it's made up of this and this radical, but once I hold the pen and look at the piece of blank paper, and poise myself to write, my mind draws out blank. That's why I think I myself am the problem here. I think that if these were characters that I don't know in the first place, I would be more serious in studying them. But well, it is what it is, and I can only try to make myself more diligent in studying these characters. Thus, I'm doing drills. Lots of them. So much that I'm getting bored, but I am still doing them.
Reading has stopped this week. I did (unneccesarily) buy a new Kindle book, "The Fixer"... well, the author decided to follow me on Twitter and so I looked at his tweets and found them interesting... and then I checked the book out and it had some good reviews, so I bought it. But still no time to read it yet.
And then this reminds me of the email I received from that Tuff Luv place regarding my Kindle 3 cover. "We have problems using your address. Please provide a complete address with Zip code." I don't know, I don't think Macau has a zip code. I just Wiki'ed it, and no, Macau has no zip code. But OK, I understand that not everyone knows where Macau is, (or what it is, or that it exists, for that matter)... but I don't get it why the USA people are so... geographically challenged. I already write out that it's VIA HONG KONG. I'd guess Hong Kong is a more internationally recognized city? And on the safe side, I also always write that it is, SOUTH OF CHINA... So China is a big enough country, you MUST have heard of China, if not Hong Kong and Macau... so why do parcels to Macau always get sent to Brazil and France, whenever it is shipped from the USA? I just don't get it.
My Mom once ordered some hair products online... again from USA. The package never arrived. We wrote emails, they said they would resend, never arrived. They said they can't resend again, so they will give us a refund. I understand that it's maybe "out of budget" to send by courier (DHL, UPS) but at least register your mail, can't you? So that it's trackable? I did ask them to at least register the replacement parcel, so that it can be tracked, but no, they do not. They say they cannot do that. So they give us a refund. Maybe the postal services in the USA is different, but in Macau, to register a parcel and/or letter... it's just a MOP$13 surcharge... say... USD$1.5 or so... Assuming it's the same in the US, I'd think adding a $1.5 to your postal cost which could potentially safeguard the parcel to reach your client ($80 x 2, +$shipping+$1.5) is way better than losing both your parcels AND refunding another $80 ($80 x 3, + $shipping) to your client. Don't they see that? Whatever. I'm ranting again.
That's why I hope that the Kindle cover does eventually arrive! I don't want to deal with all that drama. Shopping from Japan online stores is a breeze when it comes to delivery, because they always use EMS (another type of courier). With Japan, the trouble is more with payment methods. They don't always accept international credit cards, and an international bank transfer costs too much here. Paypal is an option, but nope, Paypal does not accept Macau credit cards. I read somewhere it's either Paypal doesn't trust Macau banks, or Macau banks don't trust Paypal (whatever). That's why I don't care for Ebay and Etsy as well *shrugs*
This came out sounding more ranty than what I originally planned. I wanted to write about my plans for the weekend and possible plans for August! (going on a cruise?) Also about a charity dinner next week, for animal rights and protection in Macau (we are very backwards in this regard). My shopping plans for the month (honestly, none). In short, life is good!!
Work has been pretty crazy but this is how work is supposed to be. The time passes more quickly when you are busy.
Last night, I actually started studying the Chinese for next week's dictation. I also went through the new book to gauge the level of difficulty of the next book. Still not half that bad, but I guess it's time I start taking the course seriously. Heck, even back in high school I never prepared for dictations a week ahead... But there is just too many vocabs to memorize. The worst part is myself. I feel cocky in that I could read all those characters. It's fine if I read the newspaper, or a read a book. Some characters that I'm not so familiar with, it might take me a bit of time to remember or draw out the pronounciation, but I already know what these characters mean, and I can recognize them upon looking at them.
My problem is the writing part. I can read the character, but I can't write it out for saving my own life. I can remember the general shape of the character, like, it's made up of this and this radical, but once I hold the pen and look at the piece of blank paper, and poise myself to write, my mind draws out blank. That's why I think I myself am the problem here. I think that if these were characters that I don't know in the first place, I would be more serious in studying them. But well, it is what it is, and I can only try to make myself more diligent in studying these characters. Thus, I'm doing drills. Lots of them. So much that I'm getting bored, but I am still doing them.
Reading has stopped this week. I did (unneccesarily) buy a new Kindle book, "The Fixer"... well, the author decided to follow me on Twitter and so I looked at his tweets and found them interesting... and then I checked the book out and it had some good reviews, so I bought it. But still no time to read it yet.
And then this reminds me of the email I received from that Tuff Luv place regarding my Kindle 3 cover. "We have problems using your address. Please provide a complete address with Zip code." I don't know, I don't think Macau has a zip code. I just Wiki'ed it, and no, Macau has no zip code. But OK, I understand that not everyone knows where Macau is, (or what it is, or that it exists, for that matter)... but I don't get it why the USA people are so... geographically challenged. I already write out that it's VIA HONG KONG. I'd guess Hong Kong is a more internationally recognized city? And on the safe side, I also always write that it is, SOUTH OF CHINA... So China is a big enough country, you MUST have heard of China, if not Hong Kong and Macau... so why do parcels to Macau always get sent to Brazil and France, whenever it is shipped from the USA? I just don't get it.
My Mom once ordered some hair products online... again from USA. The package never arrived. We wrote emails, they said they would resend, never arrived. They said they can't resend again, so they will give us a refund. I understand that it's maybe "out of budget" to send by courier (DHL, UPS) but at least register your mail, can't you? So that it's trackable? I did ask them to at least register the replacement parcel, so that it can be tracked, but no, they do not. They say they cannot do that. So they give us a refund. Maybe the postal services in the USA is different, but in Macau, to register a parcel and/or letter... it's just a MOP$13 surcharge... say... USD$1.5 or so... Assuming it's the same in the US, I'd think adding a $1.5 to your postal cost which could potentially safeguard the parcel to reach your client ($80 x 2, +$shipping+$1.5) is way better than losing both your parcels AND refunding another $80 ($80 x 3, + $shipping) to your client. Don't they see that? Whatever. I'm ranting again.
That's why I hope that the Kindle cover does eventually arrive! I don't want to deal with all that drama. Shopping from Japan online stores is a breeze when it comes to delivery, because they always use EMS (another type of courier). With Japan, the trouble is more with payment methods. They don't always accept international credit cards, and an international bank transfer costs too much here. Paypal is an option, but nope, Paypal does not accept Macau credit cards. I read somewhere it's either Paypal doesn't trust Macau banks, or Macau banks don't trust Paypal (whatever). That's why I don't care for Ebay and Etsy as well *shrugs*
This came out sounding more ranty than what I originally planned. I wanted to write about my plans for the weekend and possible plans for August! (going on a cruise?) Also about a charity dinner next week, for animal rights and protection in Macau (we are very backwards in this regard). My shopping plans for the month (honestly, none). In short, life is good!!
