#Fun Party Tricks

[magicglen]

If you’re looking to learn some simple, easy-to-do magic tricks that are fun and impressive, visit www.kidspartymagic.com.au. Magic Glen is a Brisbane-based kids magician, available for birthday parties, social events, OSHC programs, private and corporate functions. Book now!

[dailycupofcreativitea]

Happy Halloween! Gohan and Cell make some 🎃 spooky shirts 💀

[thatsbelievable]

[potatopassenger]

I am having a lot of emotions about Nami asking Usopp to make her a weapon - she was purposely vulnerable with him because he's the only person who understands her position! And she kicks out everyone else because she can't let them witness her sharing her feelings!

And Usopp is immediately there for her and shows he's got her back! And the weapon he makes is for their style of fighting that relies on them being the smartest person in the room because he does understand her and what she needs and he won't let her down!

[hauntingyourself]

The way you draw Kaz I half expect him to make creepy lizard noises all the time. He probably doesn't blink either (i absolutely love how you depict him if it isn't clear)

Love it when he comes off as not-quite-human

[sainz100]

✨x ✨

[robotsandramblings]

here's a trailer throwback for the 5 Year Anniversary of Clone Force 99 !

they made their onscreen debut in The Clone Wars Season 7 on this date five years ago! (February 21st, 2020)

and WHAT a debut it was!!!!

[iicaru2]

every single time the full moon comes around akutagawa goes “Is it that time of the month again, Jinko?” to atsushi at some point and it always unfailingly pisses him off to no end

[tokidokitokyo]

Cool Kanji Party Tricks

Or “How I Use Kanji to Impress My Friends”

Learning kanji can be daunting, especially for those just starting out in their Japanese studies. There are two thousand standard kanji needed to read a newspaper, but Japanese people know and use many thousands more. There are several methods available to self study kanji (just do a quick Google search to find the most popular), but any serious study of kanji takes time. Lots of time. It can feel like studying kanji over and over is a waste of time, especially since you have the internet at your fingertips to look things up at any time. However, I really believe that having a good foundation in kanji is essential to mastering Japanese, and I wanted to share what I call "cool party tricks" to encourage you in your kanji studies.

What are "cool kanji party tricks"? This is just a list of things I have noticed that having a solid understanding of kanji will allow you to do. I have been studying Japanese for more than 10 years, and most of these things I just noticed one day in an a-ha moment, and even though someone had told me for years that learning and practicing kanji is important, it took several realizations for me to truly grasp what that meant. I would say that many of these require an intermediate grasp of the language to be able to use consistently, but I think that you can start doing any of these after achieving a basic foundation in the Japanese language.

So when your hand is cramped from writing the same kanji for hours, when on'yomi and kun'yomi have become swear words, and when you lost that one little point on the exam because the kanji you were supposed to use was only off by one stroke from the kanji you actually used... I hope you will remember this post and feel a little bit encouraged.

Find the appropriate kanji to use when typing in the romaji/hiragana on a computer/phone

Since I started my Japanese studies during high school, the formal classes I was taking had me writing out kanji for homework in order to remember it and to be able to pass the quizzes and exams. So I spent many hours writing out kanji only to end up with hand cramps and ugly looking written characters. It took ages and the stream of kanji that I had to learn seemed endless. However, one benefit I quickly saw was that I was able to quickly adapt to typing in Japanese on a computer/phone because I was able to correctly identify the kanji that I had practiced, and knew which one to select when several choices came up.

In Japanese, many words have the same sounds but different kanji and meanings (these are called homophones). So when you type in the hiragana or romaji for a word into the keyboard, it will prompt you with a list of kanji to choose from. Being able to correctly select the right one is something I suddenly realized I could do one day, even if I hadn't used the word often. I knew and could recall a larger number of kanji than I thought, and I could eliminate any incorrect kanji for the word I was trying to use. Having a good solid foundation in kanji characters means that you don't have to go look up every word in the dictionary to check that you have the right kanji, and you also don't have to leave the word in kana because you can't guess the right kanji, but rather you are confident enough to pick the correct kanji for the word on your own. This makes typing more efficient and saves time!

Understand the meaning of a word just by looking at the kanji

When you know a significant amount of kanji and what they mean, sometimes when you encounter new compound words you can guess at what they mean. Or if you are like me and sometimes forget how to read words you are already supposed to know, you can magically relearn them by looking at the kanji and interpreting the meaning. So sometimes when I am reading text in Japanese and I see a compound I don't know, I can interpret the meaning from context and from my understanding of the individual kanji, and continue through the text without stopping to look up the word. This helps you to get the gist of a text without having to look up all the words, and is how you can start reading more advanced books or manga.

Guess at the pronunciation of a word from the kanji

On the flip side of the previous cool party trick is being able to guess how to pronounce a word by knowing the on'yomi and kun'yomi of the kanji, and therefore being able to guess at the pronunciation of a word. Unless the word has 人 or 生 in it. This helps most when reading out loud in class or to another person. It will also help you to feel smug about yourself while reading a book that is of a more advanced level and being able to determine the reading of several compound words in a row.

Understanding a new word using kanji clues

As an extension of the previous cool party tricks, I eventually reached the point where I could hear a word in conversation that I had never heard before, and figure out the meaning using kanji clues.

For example, not all Japanese people know English (shocking, right?), and busting out your phone to look up every single word you don't know can become burdensome in continuing the flow of a conversation. So, if I hear a word that I don't know during a conversation (and the continuation or flow of the conversation hinges on my understanding of the word), I will stop the person and either ask what kanji the word is written with, or if I have a guess I will ask "is this using the kanji for X?" This way I can gain clues to the key word without stopping the flow of conversation too much. (It's also a fun way to show off to Japanese speakers.)

For example, if you hear the word jishin (じしん) in conversation, and you aren't sure which meaning the speaker intended:

自信 self-confidence

自身 one's self

You can ask:

"Did you mean 自信 (jishin) with the "shin" from 信用 (shin'you) or did you mean 自身 (jishin) with the "mi" (another pronunciation of 身) as in one's body?"

Then the person can respond:

"Oh, I mean 身 (mi)! As in, 自分自身 (jibun jishin), or one's self."

Then, you can continue the conversation, having an understanding of what the speaker is saying and not having to take out your phone to translate as often. This also can give the person you are speaking to a better sense of your level and help them to tailor the conversation to you.

[I hope this conveys what I am trying to illustrate ^.^]

TL;DR: Kanji is Fun

Honestly, when kanji clicks and you can read words or understand their meanings, it's like deciphering a secret code, and this is one of the things I find so cool about Japanese, and why I have studied it for so long. So if you are just starting out and are daunted by kanji - don't worry. I am still daunted by kanji, but I also find it a useful tool to improve my knowledge of Japanese and to communicate in a way many people cannot. I hope this information was useful and inspires you to suffer through learn more kanji.

[anxiousapplepie]

I really wanna know more about Lapis’s hearing, and how voice sounds/colors work in general!

*happy hand flapping* you guys are spoiling me by asking me questions about my RK world and ocs stopppp!! <333 Okay, so before I get into voices, I gotta give you a small crumb about colors! Color is a MAJOR theme in the RK world, and not only does it represent your personality/emotional health/mental health and magical skills and age, it's also how other people perceive and interact with you on a social level. All color is technically valid, but there's a lot of stupid rules and expectations to follow if you want to be accepted wholeheartedly into any Rose social group. If you don't match up to expectations, you've got little hope of anyone taking you seriously. And presenting the color you are (or the color you want) has to be done in EVERYTHING. Your hair, your clothes, and even stuff like your voice. The color of a "voice" is a little more flexible, though. It's a good social tool, being able to connect with someone more easily or calming someone down by talking in a similar "color". But there's a stigma about being too good at blending in with anybody and everybody. That's a different story, though. "Color" isn't so much of a sound, and more like a vibe. A vibe that every race in the RK world can learn and understand! But if you don't have any inherit magic, trying to 'hear' a color would be like asking a human to see colors like a shrimp. And on that note! Lapis has perfectly normal, very average hearing. So very normal and functional ears. By human standards, anyway. It's a pity she's not surrounded by humans anymore, isn't it? XD

[spenjelly]

I’m always like “I’m just gonna leave this one greyscale” and then I don’t.

Hey so like imagine if Hughes and Nina lived and he adopted her wouldn’t that be great

It would also be great if I could get an accurate picture of my traditional art without having to edit it and still ending up unsatisfied with the result lol

[pureseasalt]

me personally i take anything as a win. the future is bright and the sky's the limit. today, a sydcarmy slow burn miscommunication angst fest. tomorrow, a sydcarmy pussy eating episode. the universe has set out its plans and it wants first and foremost for me to be happy

[multiversal-pudding]

Frank’s absolutely tried paying for his stuff at Howdy’s Bodega with obscure facts at least once, right?

Just.

Frank: [30 minutes into a lecture on the fascinating history of bodegas]

Howdy, with his face buried in his hands: “If I give you the groceries will you leave-“

[spraypaintstainonawhitewall]

Ghoul: who wants to see a trick?

Party: the last time you showed me a trick, it took three weeks for my eyebrows to grow back

Ghoul: ...

Ghoul: so do you want to see the trick?

[so-very-small]

one of my niche skills is that i can perfectly imitate a clown honk with my voice. and if i were a borrower i would so so use that to my advantage. late night borrowing trip but the giant walked in for some water? i just hide and ominously honk and they would haul ass outta there. you don’t fuck with mysterious late night clown honks. thats horror movie 101. the giant would never fuck with me. i’d be the safest borrower in the world.

[thewisestdino]

hey there! i'd like to ask if i can use one of your pieces (a dovewing one from 2022, i believe) as a playlist cover on spotify, with credit given in the description :) if not, totally fine, i'd just like to be sure first! thank you!

For everyone, You’re clear to use all my fanart for whatever icons and banners and edits and Spotify playlist covers, and I’d prefer if ya credit me