The Brain Dump

Here we go again . . . on our own . . . :

Monday

快 - kuai4 (lump, clod; a measure for dollars)
相 - xiang1 (mutually, each other), xiang4 (face, appearance; to examine)
想 - xiang3 (to think)
得 - dei3 (must), de2 (to get), de (a grammatical particle)
共 - gong4 (all together, collectively, joint)
尢 - you2 (still more; a family name)
就 - jiu4 (then; only; to go to; to go with)

Tuesday

历 - [no pronunciation] (radical 22); This is just the top and left slope-y part
历 - li4 (to pass through, to experience; calendar)
后 - hou4 (back, in back of)
直 - zhi2 (be straight; to keep on; be a certain length)
真 - zhen1 (be real, be true; truly)
歹 - dai3 (chip)
现 - xian4 (present, now)

Wednesday

在 - zai4 (be at, in, on); "现在" means "now"
食 - shi2 (food; to eat)
两 - liang3 (two; a tael [ancient unit of weight equaling 50 grams])
俩 - lia3 ([colloquial] two; some, several)
车 - che1 (car; family name)
辆 - liang4 (a measure for vehicles)
反 - fan3 (to turn back; to rebel)

Thursday

饭 - fan4 (cooked rice, food)
板 - ban3 (board; printing plate; a measure for editions; be "wooden" [lifeless])
片 - pian4 (slice, to slice, piece; an expanse), pian4, pian1 (card)
糖 - tang2 (sugar, candy); A very important doodle. . . .
话 - hua4 (speech, language)
舍 - she4 (home), she3 (to give up, to give charity)
事 - shi4 (affair, event)

Friday

歌 - ge1 (song)
各 - [no pronunciation] (follow/slow radical 65); Just the top part (not the box)
各 - ge4 (each; various)
客 - ke4 (guest)
乞 - [no pronunciation] ("top of 每 radical"); Just the top part
吃 - chi1 (to eat)
兴 - xing4 (happy), xing1 (to begin; family name)

Another week, another set of doodles. Here we go:

Monday

嗽 - sou4 (second syllable of "ke2sou4, "cough")
学 - xue2 (to study, to learn)
姓 - xing4 (surname/to be surnamed . . .)
名 - ming2 (name)
字 - zi4 (written character)
叫 - jiao4 (to call; to be called; to order a person to do something)
牛 - niu2 (cow)

Tuesday

告 - gao4 (to inform)
斤 - jin2 (ax)
诉 - su4, song4 (to inform); Evidently, you're supposed to use this one together with 告 to form "告诉," which means "to inform"
知 - zhi1 (to know)
首 - shou3 (chief; the head)
道 - dao4 (road; to say; the Way [as in Taoism/Daoism])
些 - xie1 (few)

Wednesday

位 - wei4 (position, standpoint; seat; a polite measure for persons)
支 - zhi1 (branch [of a tree]; to prop up; to draw [money])
技 - ji4 (skill; expertise or specialized training)
千 - qian1 (a thousand; a family name [rare])
英 - ying1 (be bold; flower [bookish]; a family name)
黑 - hei1 (black)
占 - zhan1 (to divine), zhan4 (seize; constitute)

Thursday

站 - zhan4 ([taxi-/bus-]stand, to stand)
店 - yan3 (lean-to), guang3 (be broad; a family name); This one is actually just the top dot and the top and left lines (without the "占")
店 - dian4 (store; inn)
点 - dian3 (dot, drop [of liquid]; to drip; a bit; feature; to light)
雨 - yu3 (rain)
零 - ling2 (zero; tiny bit)
页 - ye4 (head; leaf [of a book or notebook], page)

Friday

齿 - ling3 (to lead; neck, collar; main point)
半 - ban4 (half)
多 - duo1 (be numerous)
少 - shao3 (be few), shao4 (be young)
句 - ju4 (sentence; verse-line; measure for sentences and verse-lines)
够 - gou4 (be enough)
夬 - jue1 (archer's thimble), guai4 (to divide)

Doodle studies continue . . . My lack of grammar knowledge is beginning to weigh on me. I, of course, have no one to blame but myself, but I instead choose to blame pandas (lazy bastards). Christina and I have also designated Friday as our doodle study day, during which we'll try to retain all the things our tutor Cathrine has been giving us.

On a side note, Mandarin grammar is proving to be way easier to learn (when I bother to learn it) than, say . . . English grammar. For instance, I asked Cathrine how you change a verb to the future tense ("I will have") or the simple past ("I had"), and she replied, "Pfft . . . changing the verb . . . you just indicate the time to denote the 'tense' (e.g. "Yesterday, I have three books.")." Mandarin grammar really makes English grammar look like an asshole.

Anywho:

Monday

勹 - bao1 (to wrap)
的 - de (a suffix to nouns and pronouns: A 的 B means "A's B, the B of A;" a grammatical particle), di4 (bull's-eye)
包 - bao1 (to wrap; family name)
跑 - pao3 (run)
报 - bao4 (to hold in your arms, to hug; to have your first grandchild; to adopt a child; to cherish; to sit on eggs to hatch them; a measure for armfuls; [dialect] to consort with, to hang out with)
袍 - yi1 (gown [side-gown radical]); Just the left side of this one
饱 - [no pronunciation] (side-food radical); Just the left side of this one

Tuesday

饱 - bao3 (to be full, to have had enough to eat)
火 - huo3 (fire)
己 - ji3 (self; the sixth "heavenly stem" [used to enumerate headings in an outline])
已 - yi3 (already; to end, cease)
巳 - si4 (the sixth "earthly branch")
纪 - ji4 (write down; record; year; discipline), ji3 (to order, a family name)
记 - ji4 (to remember; to record; mark, sign)

Wednesday

吧 - ba (a sentence-final particle; indicates supposition [". . . , I guess"] or suggestion ["Maybe you should . . ."]), ba1 (snap! [onomatopoetic]; to draw [suck] on [e.g., a tobacco pipe]; bar [drinking place])
把 - ba3 (to grasp; a handful; to guard; a particle used to bring direct objects in front of the verb; a measure for things with handles [knives, teapots] or that you grasp [chairs, handfuls of rice, bunches of flowers])
爸 - ba4 (papa, father)
爪 - zhao3 (claws); The Wolverine doodle
爬 - pa2 (to crawl; to creep; to climb)
本 - ben3 (root; volume [book]; capital [money]; principal [money]; a measure for books)
对 - dui4 (to face; facing; to match; be correct)

Thursday

说 - shuo1 (to speak), shui4 (try to persuade)
姑 - gu1 (unmarried daughter; father's or husband's sister; temporarily; be lenient)
故 - [no pronunciation] (Knock radical); Actually just the right side of this one
故 - gu4 (be ancient; to die; cause; intentionally)
苦 - ku3 (be bitter)
重 - zhong4 (be heavy), chong2 (do over again, to repeat by mistake)
懂 - dong3 (to understand); "我不懂" is possibly the most useful sentence in Chinese

Friday

疋 - pi3 (bolt [of cloth])
是 - shi4 (to be, am, is, are; be right); This one's a tad important . . .
先 - xian1 (to precede; late [deceased])
生 - sheng1 (to bear [to give birth to])
亥 - hai4 (the twelfth "earthly branch," used in enumerations and to name two-hour periods of the day)
孩 - hai2 (child)
咳 - hai1 ("Depressing!" or "Regrettable!" or "Astonishing!;"), ke2 (cough, to cough; first syllable of ke2sou4, "cough")

I'm taking a rain check on tonight's doodles. I'm tired. I'll post them tomorrow.

This is not a cop-out . . . only a postponement.

Monday

谢 - xie4 (thanks)
橘 - ju2 (tangerine)
结 - jie2 (to tie together; knot), jie1 (to bear fruit)
熹 - xi3 (to enjoy, to give enjoyment to); This one actually doesn't use the four dots on the bottom, but I couldn't find that version of the character
欢 - huan1 (be pleased)
足 - zu2 (foot; be sufficient)
跟 - gen1 (heel; to follow, to go with; with)

Tuesday

青 - qing1 (be green or blue)
请 - qing3 (to invite; please . . .); Yes, that's how it is in the book, ellipsis and all
情 - qing2 (emotion; circumstances)
清 - qing1 (be clear; to clear)
晴 - qing2 (clear sky)
睛 - jing1 (the pupil of the eye)
问 - wen4 (to ask for information)

Wednesday

闻 - wen2 (to hear)
间 - jian4 (space; be separated from; to separate, "drive a wedge between," sow discord, Yoko Ono), jian1 (between; a measure-word for rooms); I may have embellished this one. . . .
别 - bie2 (to separate, to part; Don't . . . !)
朋 - peng2 (friend)
友 - you3 (friend)
父 - fu4 (father)
毋 - wu2 (don't!)

Thursday

见 - jian4 (to see, to perceive)
亲 - qin1 (relatives; to hold dear; in person), qing4 (relatives by a marriage)
母 - mu3 (mother)
哥 - ge1 (elder brother)
吊 - diao4 (to pity)
弟 - di4 (younger brother; family name)
姐 - jie3 (older sister)

Friday

妹 - mei4 (younger sister)
纸 - zhi3 (paper)
长 - chcang2 (be long), zhang3 (to grow; be senior)
张 - zhang1 (to open out, to open up; a measure for objects coming in sheets; a family name)
画 - hua4 (to paint, a painting)
臼 - jiu4 (mortar)
白 - bai2 (be white; a family name)

Here they are, as promised. The doodles I am studying for this week (I'm pretty stoked as some of these (like the numbers) seem actually pertinent to my life):

Monday

都 - yi4 (city); Just the right side of this guy, looks like an ear . . . has nothing to do with an ear
都 - dou1 (all), du1 (metropolis, capital)
廾 - gong3 (clasped hands)
廿 - nian4 (twenty); Picture of two tens stuck together . . . though most just say "er4shi2" . . . which means twenty
或 - huo4 (perhaps; or)
匚 - fang1 (basket)
四 - si4 (four)

Tuesday

五 - wu3 (five)
六 - liu4 (six)
七 - qi1 (seven)
九 - jiu3 (nine)
什 - shen2 (the first syllable of shen2me, or "what?")
么 - me (the second syllable of shen2me, or "what?")
桌 - zhuo1 (table)

Wednesday

椅 - yi3 (chair)
东 - dong1 (east)
戋 - jian1 (to be thin)
钱 - qian2 (money; a family name)
浅 - qian3 (be shallow, superficial; be mild)
个 - ge4 (a "measure" used to enumerate nouns in the construction "number + ge4 + noun;" be individual)
文 - wen2 (pattern; language, literature, culture; civil (opposed to military); a family name)

Thursday

这 - zhei4, zhe4 (this)
那 - na4, nei4, ne4 (that [opposite of "this"])
合 - he2 (to join, to bring together)
给 - gei3 (to give; to allow; for [someone] . . .), ji1 (to supply)
有 - [no pronunciation] ("Top of 左"); Just the upper and left parts here--not the rectangular part
有 - you3 (to have; there is; there are)
干 - gan1 (shield; have to do with; be dry, be dried; be empty; emptily, futilely), gan4 (trunk, main part; to do)

Friday

走 - zou3 (to walk)
厂 - chang3 (factory)
刊 - dao1 (knife [side-knife radical]); Just the right side here
殳 - shu1 (club, to club)
没 - mo4 (inundate), mei2 (negates you3 and other verbs)
身 - shen1 (torso)
寸 - cun4 (thumb; inch)

Everybody still with me? So we can now count to ten, which means we can string 'em together and count to a hundred (Woo!). Actually, with this batch, I'm getting a little more optimistic on the whole "reading a single sign" front. More next week.

Alright, alright. I promised to post the other set of characters that I'm running through on Friday of last week and I didn't. So I'm a big, fat liar-face. Not that I imagine any of you are exactly vibrating with joy to see me list another thirty-five doodles. Well, whether you like it or not, today is Doodle Day, and to make up for my liar-face-ness, you'll get the rest tomorrow.

Here we go:

Monday

刀 - dao1 (knife); I'm told it looks like a knife . . . maybe if you're Chinese
分 - fen1 (to divide; a fraction; a very small part), fen4 (a component; a share, one's lot); This one's a picture of the knife cutting something in half
皿 - min3 (dish); I try to think of a dish drying rack . . . you find what works for you
立 - li4 (to stand; to cause to stand, to set up; to be standing; be upright, vertical; to exist, to live; immediate [right away, instant]); Yeah, I still have trouble with this one . . . I try to work the vertical thing . . . this doodle sucks
里 - li3 (village; lining; inside, in), li (1/3 an English mile)
理 - li3 (grain [e.g., of wood]; principle; reason, logic, truth; [by metonymy] natural science; to set in order; to speak to; to pay attention to); Mmmm . . . good luck with this one, too
中 - zhong1 (middle; Chinese), zhong4 (hit the middle, fit perfectly; be hit or affected by); This one's easy enough, and, since it means "China" when combined with 国, it's friggin' everywhere

Tuesday

钟 - zhong1 (clock; family name); A metal zhong . . .
表 - [no pronunciation], this one's actually just the top part, and is called "top of 青"--I like a language that's practical
表 - biao3 (to show; be on the surface, be external; list, form; meter, gauge; watch [timepiece])
国 - guo2 (nation)
羊 - yang2 (sheep, goat; a family name); Supposed to be a picture . . . whatever
外 - wai4 (outside; relatives of one's mother, sisters, or daughters); Still wrapping my head around this one
看 - kan4 (to look at), kan1 (to look after, take care of); This is the character for hand on top of the character for eye . . . that equals "to look at" for the doodles

Wednesday

西 - xi1 (west)
贵 - gui4 (expensive); *shrug*
更 - geng4 (still more), geng1 (to change; a "watch" [two hour period of the night])
便 - bian4 (be convenient), pian2 (first syllable of pian2yi [be expensive])
祖 - [no pronunciation] (side-hand radical); This one is actually just the left half of that doodle
且 - qie3 (further); just memorize it
祖 - zu3 (grandfather; ancestor; a family name); See above

Thursday

租 - zu1 (rent, to rent; hire, lease)
组 - zu3 (to organize; a unit of organization, such as a section or department)
宜 - yi2 (be appropriate)
要 - yao4 (to want, to ask for; be "wanted," be important, essential)
署 - wang3 (net); Actually just the top part, kinda looks like a net . . .
头 - tou2 (head; a suffix used to form nouns and noun-phrases; a bulb [of garlic]; a measure word for certain animals)
买 - mai3 (to buy)

Friday

卖 - mai4 (to sell)
日 - ri4 (sun); like the moon with less strokes . . .
老 - [no pronunciation], actually just the top part, some radical or another . . .
老 - lao3 (old)
者 - zhe3 (a sufix for verbs [verb + 者 = "a person who . . .", compare with English suffix -er])
猪 - quan3 (dog); Actually just the left side (side-dog)
猪 - zhu1 (pig)

I have decided that Monday will be Doodle Day--that special day when I share with you the thirty-five Chinese characters I will be learning this week. I have fallen horribly behind on my doodle studies, so I'm hoping this added obligation to do it will keep me a little more on task. Yeah . . . we'll see how far that gets me.

Anywho. Though I have fallen behind on studying, I've still studied more than I have told you about. So, at least for this week, I'll have two Doodle Days, until I catch up to where I am in my doodle book. It won't take long . . .

So here we are:

Monday

矢 - shi4 (arrow; to vow)
矮 - ai3 (be short [not tall])
忙 - mang2 (be busy)
心 - xin1 (heart)
您 - nin2 (deferential "you")
元 - yuan2 (first; "dollar;" Japanese yen)
[chuo4] - chuo4 (to halt) . . . it's the left side of the next character.

Tuesday

远 - yuan3 (be far away; family name)
云 - yun2 (to say; a cloud; family name)
运 - yun4 (to transport; fate, luck)
[fu4] - fu4 (mound) . . . left side of the next character
院 - yuan4 (public building; courtyard)
园 - yuan2 (park, garden) . . . tired of the yuans yet?
不 - bu4 (a negative prefix for verbs and adverbs)

Wednesday

太 - tai4 (extremely)
高 - gao1 (be tall; to tower; family name)
搞 - gao3 (to do, make; to manage, to get; to purge)
又 - you4 (again)
月 - yue4 (month; moon)
可 - ke3 (can, may; to suit; certainly)
啊 - a1 (a sentence-final particle--for questions, exclamations, commands, warnings, reminders, emphatic pauses, enumerations, direct address, impatient statements, and any-fucking-thing else the Chinese want. . . .

Thursday

聿 - [no pronunciation] (OK . . . technically, I'm only studying the radical here, which is this character without the bottom line . . . it's called "the top of 聿" and has no other definition . . . I do not know what 聿 means . . . I do not know why I need to know this . . .)
书 - shu1 (book; letter; document; to write)
节 - jie2 (technically, this is just the bottom part of this character . . . the "seal ring" radical)
报 - bao4 (to announce, report; newspaper; to requite)
毛 - mao2 (hair, fur, feathers; wool; mildew; semi-finished; gross [not net]; a measure for dimes; family name) . . . a measure for dimes? . . . sigh . . .
笔 - bi3 (brush, writing instrument)
玩 - wan2 (to play, to amuse oneself)

Friday

钅 - jin1 (gold, metals; family name)
山 - shan1 (mountain
钢 - gang1 (steel); also gang4 (to sharpen, whet)
八 - ba1 (eight)
铅 - qian1 (lead [the metal])
米 - mi3 (rice)
目 - mu4 (eye)

Ahhh . . . so that's all of them. I'll update again, probably Friday, with this week's other list. Fun and informative (I still can't read signs)!

Let me tell you about last week.

OK, so it's Tuesday. At least it ain't Monday, right? I wake up and . . . oh, I can barely open my eyes without wanting to scratch them out of my face. Allergies, how I love you. But that's pretty par for the course (thank you, springtime), and I have medication for it.

I walk dogs this day, as I do all that week and did the two weeks before that (one reason I found little time to post here) and so I set out on Christina's bike, Calexico, which she was kind enough to lend me. It is not the first time I ride Calexico to the puppies, and I find the exercise, fresh air, and lack of four dollar gas needed to get from point A to point B refreshing. And so I pedal my way down Clark St, a busy road that runs much of the length of the entire city. Here I am, cruising down the bike lane, when a man in a parked car on the side of the street flings his door open without a care for anyone who might be biking up beside him.

A choked, "Whoa—" escapes my lips, then Calexico's handlebars collide with the door and I fly off, land on my back, and thunk the back of my head against the asphalt. Luckily, I am wearing Christina's helmet. Luckily, there are no cars driving in either direction. Luckily.

So I find myself sprawled on my back in the middle of Clark St. staring at the sky, thinking such Zen thoughts as, "That's the sky," when the man scrambles out of his car saying, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm from New York. I'm sorry. Are you OK? I'm really lost . . ."

Somewhere in there I think to pick myself off the ground and realize with joyous glee that I still can. So I do. My right leg stings, along with my left elbow and my right shoulder, my head doesn't feel great, but Calexico's OK and all I can think is, "Well, it could've been worse." Plus, there are cars coming. I seem relatively fine so I tell the guy to be more careful and continue down the street.

In the coming days I will find all manner of happy bruises across my body allowing me to recreate what actually happened. As far as I can tell, the force of the handlebars jerking sharply to the right pulled a muscle near my right shoulder and I think that shoulder hit the door, giving my a huge bruise there. The handlebars hit my right thigh hard enough to give me a big scrape (and bigger bruise) and making it a little difficult to walk. I twisted in flight so I landed on my back, probably whacking my left elbow on the asphalt, along with the back of my helmeted head. That's what I've pieced together. I felt like shit the next morning.

But Tuesday isn't over. Oh no, no it isn't. I continue to the first two puppies, explain my tardiness to the owner, and walk the two dogs. I lock Calexico to her gate and when I return to him afterwards, I pull out the lock key, insert into the keyhole and twist . . . only to watch the key snap in half. Glorious. So now my girlfriend's bike is locked to this woman's gate and I still have four dogs to walk with no bike or car to get to them. It also hurts to be alive.

I call my boss. I explain what happened, everything that happened, and tell her that I'm stranded in Lincoln Park with no bike or car. She's very nice. She tells me I can use her bike but I have to take a cab to the office because she's late for an appointment. The office is on Irving Park, which is . . . I think seventeen blocks north of me. So I get a cab. She gives me her bike and I have to ride her bike all the way back down to Lincoln Park. I'm loving life, I'll tell you.

My boss's bike: In some circles, this bike is known as The Most Annoying Fucking Bike in the History of the World. First of all, it is smaller than Christina's and hurts my back to ride. Second, the chain constantly wants to jump to the neighboring gears, regardless of how carefully you set the gear shift. Third, it has this fucking bell on it that ding-a-lings every time you go over a fucking bump. This is what I rode for the rest of the day.

I ride back down to Lincoln Park, taking Lakeshore this time, a bike/jogging path on which cars are not allowed, even though it adds a few blocks to my journey. I go to my next dog (number three of six—halfway done). She's excited to see me, jumps up on my aching body, etc. I give her a walk and take her back. My boss had warned me that this dog "gets fussy" when people leave—abandonment issues, I guess—but not to worry because she's all bark.

Wrong.

Bitch fucking bites me! Clamps right down on my right forearm. Luckily, I'm wearing a coat, and so it just hurts like hell and doesn't actually break the skin. Luckily, I let go of the doorknob out of shock and the dog, upon seeing this, lets go of me. Gets fussy, does she? All bark, is she? She'll growl when I try to go? Jump up on me? Fucking bite me?! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I beat her back with Christina's helmet and scurry out. Gahhhhh. It is then that a thought I occasionally have pops back into my head and causes me to pause and ponder the metaphysical nature of our universe. The thought is this:

Maybe there is a god after all, and, in addition to many other things, it is and ever shall be omni-mischievous.

To recap: My eyes are raw from allergies, my body aches from getting thrown off Calexico, Calexico hates me and is locked to a gate in Lincoln Park, my boss's bike blows, this one dog is a super-bitch, and I'm tired and hungry and all I want to do is cuddle into the fetal position with Christina.

I finish the day out, my body growing ever-achier over the course of the remaining dogs. I make the twenty-seven block bike ride back to my apartment and collapse on my bed, falling into the merciful hands of my subconscious. I wake up a few hours later and take the train to a pizza place called Crust where I meet Christina and my two friends, Anthony and Richard, for dinner. The pizza is good, the drinks, sedatives, and I'm able to vent about the events of the day.

That was Tuesday. Wednesday was a confrontation with the brutally fragile nature of the human body. I ached, I was bruised, the scrape on my leg opened back up. But I didn't get bit by that dog, so I guess it was a pretty good day. I also drove my car to the dogs. Thursday was much the same. Friday finally saw my body getting some relief. The bruises turned yellow, like someone spilled highlighter all over me, and my shoulder and elbow hurt a little less.

All in all, I'm gonna say it was a pretty good thing I didn't have access to an uzi.