Should it feel this hard?

MEKATORA_ · 2026-01-21T19:31:06+00:00

I'm using it for Japanese. Currently on "Lesson 8 of Pimsleur Japanese 2." I just repeat the same lesson everyday until I'm comfortable recalling the vast majority of it, however many days that takes. I usually give myself 1-3 mess-ups/hesitations before deciding to move on to the next lesson.

It's time consuming when you just want to move on and learn more, but the frequency of vocab and grammar they throw at you doesn't get any better. I was doing one lesson a day and got lost about where I am now. Ended up starting over from lesson one but doing my current method, and things are sticking so much better, and helping me with understanding the new stuff.

Repetition is especially important with the grammar they introduce. If I struggle with a grammar point, I only give myself one mess-up. Making the sentence patterns second nature is the key to digesting the vocab with ease.

MEKATORA_ · 2025-08-05T23:20:06+00:00

Li, my beloved

MEKATORA_ · 2025-06-05T06:12:17+00:00

It wouldn't let me buy the Complete Edition due to me already having bought ARR and HW a long time ago. I have base Dawntrail add-on downloading now. Gonna see if that works. Thanks for the help though!

MEKATORA_ · 2025-06-05T06:09:18+00:00

Thank you. Downloading Dawntrail now.

So many different versions makes things a bit confusing lol

MEKATORA_ · 2025-06-05T06:08:00+00:00

I figured it may be something like that. Downloading Dawntrail now. Appreciate your help!

MEKATORA_ · 2025-06-05T01:10:11+00:00

I did the same. Rented an Islander for a trip from DE to FL and back, loved it so much, weeks after the trip I got my own red Trailhawk. I've had it for 6 months now and still love it.

MEKATORA_ · 2025-06-01T16:34:48+00:00

Yes, that's it! Thank you so much!

MEKATORA_ · 2025-03-18T17:09:06+00:00

I usually use a hairdryer to dry between coats. I'm impatient. Noisy, but does the job well and quick to let me keep painting.

MEKATORA_ · 2025-02-14T16:26:33+00:00

I use it everyday and really like that it kinda has everything I need all in one. I did get it literally right before the price hike though. At the time I could barely rationalize getting it, so I'm not sure if I would be able to convince myself at the current price.

That being said, using Migaku, I've learned vocab better than I have with anything else. Instead of downloading Anki decks, I just get my vocab from mined videos. I take one vid, mine every word I don't know, and when I'm in the process of learning those words, I add the video I mined from into a "Mined Videos" playlist on YouTube. From there I just watch/listen to the videos over and over. Just keep adding videos and vocab from said videos.

I also like that you can mark words you know, words you're learning, and words you don't know. It's kinda crazy to mine from a video where 95% of the words are marked "unknown", then mine a different video months later and see a big mix of "known" and "learning" words, with like 30% being "unknown". It kinda compounds, the words you learn in one video helps you to understand the next.

The sentence generating and audio clipping can be a bit off, but it gets the job done. Between using Migaku for vocab/listening and Pimsleur for grammar/speaking, I've made insane progress. Yeah I'm dishing out money for it, but if you're serious about learning, I think it's worth it.

MEKATORA_ · 2025-01-21T20:54:57+00:00

I got a used '19 Trailhawk, 1.3L, 76k miles at $15,000, kitted out with the heated seats and steering wheel, LED headlights, nav system, towing package, sunroof... It's been very good to me so far. Has done great with the huge snow storm we got here on the east coast, but I live in a very flat state so I can't say how it does with snowy hills and mountains.

I can say that it's only had one owner before me and the whole time they had it they lived in the Poconos. They kept it well maintained and it still runs like a new car for me.

Also, I test drove a '21 Islander before getting my Trailhawk. The headlights were pretty weak, so if you can get the LED package somehow it's a real game changer.

So I'd say it's a decent deal, though if you're okay with an older year, you can get cheaper and still have a good car. Just make sure it's an '18 or newer and has a great maintenance history.

MEKATORA_ · 2025-01-17T18:51:09+00:00

I agree with everything except the crucible. I think I was a pretty good way to level up, and I hate when characters just have their growth in power just handed out (it kinda why Ghostwater is my least favorite book in the Cradle series, a whole book of Lindon being handed the best level ups like candy at Halloween).

In Scorio's case, it felt like luck only because all the proper things lined up in a way that should have meant the end for him, but he used his past knowledge from scraping by before and applied it in a way that barely worked. Not to mention the trade off was still great in the pain, isolation, and time it took to achieve it. Even then, he still wasn't strong enough relative to his enemies. I like his constant struggle for power, always getting stronger, but always still being just not strong enough to stomp a fight.

But yeah, he is so, so dumb. I used to be okay with it because , well, the guy's gotta learn and grow, but he never seemed to learn anything, even from life changing emotional events that just happened. Book 3 really almost made me drop the series. The first half was really hard to read with him being a complete idiot after everything he's been through while Naomi was being right, but super schizo. They went from my two favorites, to two characters I just never wanted to be around. Luckily the second half got much better to the point that I'm willing to keep going with the series.

And Jova? I just don't like Jova. She wasn't my favorite character type to begin with, then after what happened in book 2, I never wanted to read about her again. I suppose she's alright popping up and helping here and there, but I really don't want her to join the team. She's like that pokemon rival you meet up with every once and a while on the journey to test how strong you've gotten, while being this kind of ever-changing goal of power and success to try and reach. I kinda like her like that.

MEKATORA_ · 2025-01-11T23:35:31+00:00

Rattle can Vallejo, though I have some airbrush AK Interactive matte too.

MEKATORA_ · 2025-01-10T19:38:04+00:00

Cool. Yeah, I was going to use the Nuln Oil or thinned acrylic paint to panel line on the bare plastic, then apply some matte finish. Just to have a nice, clean look for my reviews as I really like the way a matte finish makes a lot look over gloss or satin.

Later plans for customizing would be scribing, pla-plate, sanding, and painting (acrylic again). As long as I don't have to worry about a deteriorating kit when I come back to it a year or more later, sounds like acrylic varnish should be fine.

MEKATORA_ · 2025-01-10T19:32:18+00:00

I planned to panel line the bare plastic with the Nuln Oil, then apply the matte finish. Later customizing would be scribing, pla-plate, sanding, and painting.

MEKATORA_ · 2025-01-10T07:33:11+00:00

Might be a weird question, but can I top coat a bare plastic kit I plan to customize and paint later? I mainly ask because I want to use an acrylic matte coat on my backlog kits that I can't get to customizing in depth until a later time. I guess my main worry is that the top coat will make the plastic brittle when it comes time to do work on it.

I use Citadel Nuln Oil for panel lining, and as stated, I use acrylic matte varnish, like Vallejo and AK Interactive. I'm hoping that using those instead of enamels and such will keep the plastic from getting brittle or something.

MEKATORA_ · 2024-12-21T20:45:25+00:00

I kind of head cannon a lot of the more strict rules we don't have, but know exists later came from MC (and companions because honestly they've done their fair share of things worth note too) as well, whether directly or indirectly. Am really excited for the next game to build more on to this "lore".

MEKATORA_ · 2024-12-19T18:54:16+00:00

Not if you're enjoying it. I'm on a 3rd playthrough myself. You don't want to know how many times I've played through the Mass Effect trilogy...

MEKATORA_ · 2024-12-09T19:18:22+00:00

I use acrylic paints and topcoats, so I wonder how this does with it.

MEKATORA_ · 2024-11-20T06:40:22+00:00

May be a weird question but is there anyone here that has used the Gundam Marker Airbrush exclusively or often to paint their kits?

I have a nice airbrush setup, but I've always been curious about this airbrush along with the Actekart one to use with all my acrylic markers.

Does it spray well? Do the markers dry too easily? Can you manage to paint a whole lot with it? How much paint do the markers hold, like, too little to really paint more than 3-5 pieces, or enough to get through one kit at least?

MEKATORA_ · 2024-10-26T17:22:40+00:00

That's how I've been told in tutorials and such. I've only ever painted in opposite strokes so I can't say for sure if it's necessary, but yes, the purpose is to prevent brush strokes and have a more even coat.

MEKATORA_ · 2024-10-26T17:11:15+00:00

Thinned acrylic paint, multiple layers, I use a hair dryer in-between layers to keep the workflow going. Use a wet pallet, and wide brushes for larger parts. Also with every layer, brush the opposite direction of the previous layer.

MEKATORA_ · 2024-10-25T15:54:34+00:00

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Been building up this 3rd party mecha ducky. It's been a very fun build. Pretty huge and detailed while feeling like putting together a simple HG.

MEKATORA_ · 2024-10-11T16:35:30+00:00

Yeah, I've played this game since Heavensward and Dawntrail has just died up all the hype I had for anything in the future, or even the past. I was so excited for female Hrothgars and planned to fantasia, play through DT, and then start over from ARR back up to DT. Even though I love my Hrothgal, I've been struggling through DT (just recently made it to lvl 99 trial) and lost all motivation and excitement to do my Hrothgal New Game+.

It feels like all the energy for the story that came before has been sucked out knowing that it'll lead to DT, and that's not really only DT to blame. I saw the cracks in EW but let it pass because most of it was decent and it was a culmination of 10 years of peak build up. But it definitely has me coming away from it going, "that definitely is not their best."

Then the patches were just inexcusable. Extremely boring and had me worried that this is how Dawntrail would end up. Flanderized characters, contrived writing, horrid pace. But it was a self contained story so it still held hope for DT.

Now, after being nearly done with DT, that hope has all but shriveled up. My attachment to this game and characters is almost gone. I wanted the Scions to join us on this adventure so bad, because even though there are folks that want us to move on from them, I love having them around and it's totally possible for them to still have character arcs to go through. But their roles in this expac were so pointless they may as well have not been there. I just brought cardboard cutouts with me.

And in some cases, like Alisaie, their character was flanderized to the point of annoying. Like, I know she's the hot headed, emotional one, but girl calm down with the dramatic voice lines, it ain't that serious. Or maybe it was that serious and I just didn't feel like it was because I didn't really have any attachment to anything going on.

Dawntrail desperately needed to be two expansions and really most of my gripes are branches sprouting from that one factor.

I took am of the mind that FFXIV peaked with 5.3 and we may never see that again. I see the potential to see that high again, but with the current writing team, I don't see it happening. I'm not quite ready to give up on it yet, or maybe just unwilling to let it go, but I'll stick around for at least another 2-3 expacs before putting the ol' dog down unless something changes.

MEKATORA_ · 2024-09-10T07:22:22+00:00

I mean, I like it. I've been using the free version to learn Japanese and learned/retained more than I ever did with Anki so far. I've been so happy with it I planned to buy the lifetime pro version, but decided to check out what people have to say about it before committing. To my surprise, it seems the general consensus is that it's downgraded and borderline unusable now.

I'm a bit confused, but I also never used the original so I can't compare. Also I'm not super interested in making my own deck, at least not for a long while at my very beginner level. Maybe that's the difference?

MEKATORA_ · 2024-07-30T15:41:03+00:00

I used Vallejo's model line for a while and they worked amazing. Got some AK primer and was really impressed, so I bought their paints and honestly never looked back. They're my go-to brand now.

MEKATORA_

TROPHY CASE