I’ve been reading the ongoing manhwa, but I recently read the novel translated into English.

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Spent most of the day in bed, watching stuff and reading and playing games. Started Fake Fact Lips, and it was highly entertaining just like the manga. Did also flick through the manga again. Finished off ぼくたちん家 after a very long time. Tears of Themis has a cute event going (magic school) and I haven’t finished reading the story of the most recent NU: Carnival event rerun. Also watched the most recent episode of やたらやらかしい深見くん which is entertaining but kinda weird because there’s so much smut in the original and that can’t quite be done in live action. Yesterday I caught up with スモークブルーの雨のち晴れ as well, which is really such a fave.

I feel all tired and my arm hurts loads after the vaccine, but this is the price of protection. I hope I feel better tomorrow. I would like to be able to spend the time off work writing and enjoying the break if possible.

I might do a bit of Korean, but I know my brain is operating at limited capacity. It’s not a full fever, but my temperature is definitely elevated. Not a productive situation for anything creative or involving my mind. I wouldn’t dare knit feeling like this, it would be too taxing. It’s in some ways annoying that my current project is a complex one so I have to always keep my wits about me. Sure it’ll be gorgeous when it’s done, but it is taking forever.

The site of the vaccine looks red and swollen like usual. I can’t imagine it’ll be much improved by tomorrow but I can hope.

It took me a long time to watch the final episode. I’m not great at watching things, and maybe there was a sense of not quite wanting it to be over, but it’s not really a story with much ending in that it’s all about life continuing.

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So I started learning Korean (properly) about 3 weeks ago.

Admittedly, I’ve dabbled in it here and there a few times over the last decade or so (lol) but never really done much, and learning some Hangul to just forget it doesn’t really count.

Obviously, my vocabulary is seriously limited, but I did nail Hangul pretty quickly and grammatically it is straightforward. I’ve already read a section of a novel, even if I did have to look every word up.

It’s weird. I’ve been reflecting a bit now, that I keep seeing Korean. When I see Japanese, it’s so natural, so I know it won’t take that much to force my brain to also just accept Hangul, and it is coming. It does help an awful lot that there’s so much similarity with Japanese, both grammatically and also some of the words I just need to read aloud to realise what they likely are.

There are some things I’m curious about. Is there truly just 나 and 저 for ‘I’? Coming from Japanese it seems so surprising. Also, the Korean for 先生 is 선생님 but can you use that to refer to yourself? Surely not. Maybe just 선생? Or is there an equivalent to 教師 that would be used?

It also shows me how natural Japanese is to me. I’m learning Korean from Japanese because that makes the most sense.

I had a moment the other day too at work, where we were just talking and joking and of course it was just so natural. There’s so little effort or strain. Just like how I regularly watch dramas and the like in Japanese and never feel the lack of subtitles.

Even this, which I’m writing in English, I know is being filtered through both Korean and Japanese because of the nature of the topic. And maybe because I’m tired. I just had my shingles vaccine and my arm hurts and I should probably sleep.

Audiobook read by Billie Fulford-Brown. 4th in the Mr Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery series.

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"Tantei-san, Ryukku Aitemasu yo" (Winter 2026, TV Asahi) is a drama about a detective and inventor in a hot spring town who solves bizarre cases in a laid-back manner. Matsuda Ryuhei plays Ichinose Yosuke, a detective/inventor who took over his father's detective business after his father disappeared, while also dedicating himself to inventions. He uses his family's abandoned hot spring inn in the small rural town of Nishigaya Onsen as his detective office and residence, but it's filled with Yosuke's bizarre and surreal inventions! In fact, he once successfully conducted research in America to convert "negative emotions" into energy. With Yosuke's return to Japan, Nishigaya Onsen has become a slightly unusual hot spring town where strange requests come in from a variety of unique clients. Yosuke is busy trying to solve numerous bizarre requests in unpredictable and eccentric ways.

Listened to the audiobook read by Leighton Pugh. Book 5 in the James Marwood and Cat Lovett series.

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