Trashed elbow

A mnemonic... is a memory aid. Mnemonics are often verbal, are sometimes in verse form, and are often used to remember lists. Mnemonics rely not only on repetition to remember facts, but also on associations between easy-to-remember constructs and lists of data, based on the principle that the human mind much more easily remembers data attached to spatial, personal or otherwise meaningful information than that occurring in meaningless sequences. The word mnemonic shares etymology with Mnemosyne, the name of the titan who personified Memory in Greek mythology.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

So, the study for December's Japanese test (the pronunciation of which I keep tripping over when I try to mention it) has begun in earnest and I've decided to concentrate my initial efforts on memorising vocabulary. I'm hoping that my listening difficulties are largely down to the fact that I don't know all that many words and not, in fact, because I'm a cloth-eared dunce.

In an effort to aid retention, I've resorted to the oft-maligned technique of mnemonics. For example, the Japanese word for heating, danbou which is just bound to make a speedy getaway through the first unclogged ear: Mike and Dan both need heating.

And even if my ingenious memory aid doesn't help me remember the stupid word, the fact that I've put it on my website may.

Anyway, I'm stuffing words into my brain along with all other manner of random tomfoolery and awaiting the point where something tips the apple cart. With the number of random rhymes, weird word-associations and asinine acronyms pulsing in my cranium like an absinth hangover, the last thing I need is any kind of fly in the proverbial ointment.

By the way, here's a picture of me at school today:



Bear in mind, this was after my first lesson.

I thought that Japanese study might have been straining Mike's grip on reality a bit too when I discovered that he'd put a bottle of whisky in the fridge. As it turned out, he thought this was a perfectly normal thing to do.

Some of us are born to lunacy, others achieve it.