"What the hell is an electrometer?" & How some American subcultures destroy things.

An electrometer is an electrical instrument for measuring electric charge or electrical potential difference.

This is my facebook URL name as well as, obviously, the URL name for this blog as well. I would use it as a YouTube name, but EWilsonLife seemed more suited because it's a username I can't possibly get sick of. That's the thing about YouTube, I've had to change accounts numerous times because I got sick of my username. Like, tennisloverew for instance. This was the account I made my sophomore year, but none of my videos were about tennis or even semi related to sports in general, and it didn't make sense. BassChik509  bugged me when I stopped playing the bass and none of my videos had anything related to that, either. So on both youtube and facebook, I picked names that I couldn't possibly outgrow. Electrometer means nothing. It's just a funny, obscure word that nobody uses except for weird science nerds.  : ) That's how I like it.

Meh, tonight is pretty slow, and I'm actually considering going to bed. It's been a long day. I'm proud, studied Japanese for a whole two hours. Yet I still don't feel any more prepared for this て form and ている stuff more than this morning. 

I'm just having a hard time focusing in Japanese class, honestly. I feel like I've lost interest, and the thought of going through another quarter of studying my ass off to continue to get A's on the tests is pretty unappealing. I explained this to Sean this morning-- In college, they don't recommend you take ALL your classes in your major because you get burnt out on it, and that's how I feel. Burnt out. Being so into Rammstein now, German sounds more appealing. I WANT to learn a second language, and be fluent in one someday, yet sometimes in Japanese I feel like what I've learned so far is a crumb in comparison to the whole cake. Two quarters of this... two quarters of studying this on a daily basis, yet I still feel like I can barely speak it at all. With spanish, I barely put any effort into it, aside from cramming, yet I can still understand A LOT of what people say when I hear it in spanish today, and can even make very basic sentences when working out in the cherry orchards. If those Mexicans were Japanese, I wouldn't be able to say anything, haha.

My friend Andrew said that oftentimes, when people suddenly find out that they don't like something that they've liked for an extended period of time, it's a phase and i will find interest in it again. Maybe that's true. Maybe it's not. The weeaboo thing really sucks the air out of it... 

BUT, I cannot judge a culture based on how American subcultures personify it! This is the problem with Rammstein as well, in a sense. There are many Japanese culture obsessed Americans, and I'm one of them. I mean, I can't by hypocritical. Yet, I still respect my own European roots as well as the fact that I AM an American, and I AM PROUD TO BE CAUCASIAN. The people that bother me are the idiots that try so hard to LOOK Asian and wish they WERE Asian. It's very... obnoxious, and it really deteriorates my interest, but at no fault to the Japanese people themselves. I think if I go to another anime convention my interest in Japanese culture will completely be lost. 

Not a real poster that was made with the band's consent. 

Then of course there's Rammstein. In Germany, they are not a Neonazi band, they are a hard rock band. They were never thought of as Neonazis over in Germany, but when their music became popular in the United States, these white supremacists that consider themselves "Neonazis" thought it would be cool to personify Rammstein as being their anthem. So now, when people hear that I love Rammstein I know that some might be thinking that I'm racist.  

What's keeping me from learning German, and trying to be trilingual (haha) is this:

1. I'm already learning Japanese, and I don't think my mind would be able to take trying to learn two languages at once. Though, because german is so different, I wouldn't get the words mixed up like I did sometimes with Spanish and Japanese words (It's said that Japanese sounds the most like Spanish, but sounds NOTHING like German).

2. My Mom's heritage is Jewish. My Grandpa's family is full Jewish, my mom is half. My Grandpa had a friend that's relatives were musicians during the holocaust that were hired to entertain in concentration camps during soldier's meals to stay alive, and their names were on Shindler's list. The holocaust makes Germans look like horrible people, which many of them in political power at the time and were involved in the horrendous concentration camps were. However, EVERY country had a part to play in World War II, though some more than others. During war the Japanese were known for being ruthless and heartless as well, and I'm sure we Americans were said to be the same thing. What I'm saying is, EVERY culture is known to be politically corrupt at one time or another, Germany being particularly bad.

3. Just thinking the guys are hot and loving a German rockband isn't enough of a reason to learn a language. I know nothing about their culture except for the fact that they're the fattest country after America. The same thing could be said about learning Russian. I really did consider it when me and Aleksandr were talking all the time. Russian guys are incredibly hot, but the country is dangerous and scary. Not worth it, haha. My interest in japanese culture has been an ongoing thing for years. 

yours,

Emily