Starting a close reading of 《这样学：唐诗宋词》in prep for the pronunciation challenge next month. Can’t wait!

Reading 《望天門山》and the supporting text for the poem from 《這樣學：唐詩宋詞》

📚 Finished:《漫畫·巴萊》📚

Finished the last four pages during nap time. And enjoyed the 賽德克族文化小事典 at the end of the book for an even deeper look into the research and process that went into making this graphic novel.

This tragic retelling of the 賽德克族人 and their battle with Japanese occupation was a part of Taiwan’s history that I was largely unaware of when I lived in Taiwan. Glad I finally read this book, and can’t wait to rewatch the film Warriors of the Rainbow with a newfound knowledge and appreciation for the bravery and courage of these people.

Final score: 10/10.
Language Difficulty: 7/10

I give this book a 7/10 because overall it was pretty smooth reading. However, there are lots of proper nouns and historical events that I needed to lookup using outside reference materials (beside Pleco) to fully appreciate and understand, which made it more difficult than a standard novel or short story.

Coffee and serious 《漫畫·巴萊》 reading this morning, but I had to stop at 10 am to get a move on with the day. Literally have four pages left at this point.

Knocking out more pages of《漫畫·巴萊》this evening to make sure I finish the book this weekend. About 40 pages to go at this point.

Knocking out some Du Chinese reading

A few more chapters of《漫畫·巴萊》. Things are getting intense!!!!!

Single Focus Keeper session this morning for some《漫畫·巴萊》reading

Knocked out a few pages of 《基地》（Foundation), and then did 40 minutes of Du Chinese reading.

More《漫畫·巴萊》

Coffee and《漫畫·巴萊》

Finished 《頭文字D》(第十四卷)

More《漫畫·巴萊》

《頭文字D (第十四卷）》

42 pages of《頭文字D（第十四卷）》

Two chapters of《漫畫•巴萊》

Started 《漫畫·巴萊》this morning, which is a graphic novel version of 《賽德克·巴萊》（Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale). I was living in Taiwan when the movie came out, and some of the actors were my 「車友」(biking friends) in Taiwan so the film has a special place in my heart. I knocked out 48 pages of graphic novel this morning, and looked up a lot of interesting words that I pretty much needed for the book to make sense— things like 紋面 (face tattoo); 游擊 (guerrilla warfare); 出草 (headhunting expedition); 生番 (barbarian; aboriginal savage tribe (dated pejorative, btw... so please don’t say this crap to others)), etc.

Finished 《頭文字D（第十三卷）》

Finished 《履歷表（The Private Me)》！

《頭文字D（第十三卷）》quick dead time reading session.

《頭文字D（第十三卷）》

Morning coffee and some more 『履歷表（The Private Me)』reading. I’m 70% done with the book and should finish with plenty of time to start the next one before this challenge is over.

Hour of reading 頭文字D (第十三卷）while my daughter watched some 小豬佩奇

Morning coffee and 「履歷表（The Private Me)」reading session.

Morning coffee and more progress on 「履歷表 （The Private Me)」

Finished up 頭文字D (第十二卷) and I’m now 25% done with the entire Initial D collection!

頭文字D（第十二卷) reading session. Will finish up the book before bed

Coffee and 「履歷表 (The Private Me)」to start the day. I’m now 53% through the book!

Wrapped up 「安末」(was way closer to the end than I thought last night) and started reading 頭文字D (第十二卷)

Single Focus Keeper session of 頭文字D (第十二卷)

30-minute reading session on break during work. Would have loved to get an hour in this morning, but sometimes you gotta shift the scheduled around a bit. Important part is not breaking the chain!

Two Focus Keeper Pomodoro sessions while doing a bit of graded reader research and reading Mandarin Companion’s 「安末」. Finished up to chapter 9 this evening, and I’ll probably finish the book tomorrow at some point.

Morning coffee and reading 「履歷表」while my kids enjoy some Sunday morning cartoons. Win win! About 50% through the book. Taking a bit more time for close reading in the morning, because I really enjoy the way this author writes.

A little bit of Du Chinese reading for the evening.

Two Pomodoro sessions using Focus Keeper to wrap up 頭文字D (第十一卷).

Single Pomodoro session using Focus Keeper and reading 「履歷表 （The Private Me)」

Single Pomodoro session to make some more progress on 「履歷表」(The Private Me).

Three 25-minute reading sessions using the Focus Keeper app on my iPad while reading Du Chinese. Finished “Witches’ Loaves” and “The Human Chair” short stories and a few random lessons. Fun stuff!

Single Pomodoro reading session to prep for Chinese class this afternoon.

Two more Focus Keeper sessions. Finished 頭文字D vol. 10 and made it to pg. 32 in vol. 11

Morning coffee and reading 「履歷表」. I’m now about 24% done with the book, and will continue to read it every morning until I’m done.

25-minutes of reading 頭文字D before bed (but still on 2020-11-12). Now about 3/4s of the way through episode 10, and will finish the book tonight.

Shifted over to TCB for some articles for the evening and knocked out a bunch more reading while listening to Chinese version of Peppa Pig with the kiddos in the background. Haha

60-minute analogue reading session from 「履歷表」. Happy that a lot of the words I had highlighted in the past are easy to understand these days (I started the book over since it’s been almost a decade since I read it), and while I’m not reading at 100% comprehension, I’m also not getting to bogged down by mastering the material. I have selected a few pages of text that I’d like to go through with my Chinese teacher at my lesson on Friday, and I’ll circle-back to various areas of the book when I can block out a bit more time for more extended Chinese studying on the weekend.

146 pages of 頭文字D（第十卷）

A few Du Chinese articles before picking up the kids. I don't even remember the levels, I usually just sort by category and just choose things that look interesting. Today I learned the word 充電寶 (mobile charge pack)

Read 104 pages and finished 頭文字D (第九卷) to kick off the challenge

A morning session of Du Chinese articles in bed to kick off the day.

Coffee and 「履歷表」(The Private Me). Single 25-minute Pomodoro session to make sure I stop and get to work!