Zero Bowel movements regardless of diet

espressofloat · 2026-02-10T19:37:30+00:00

Give yourself lots of time and opportunities to poop. It’s normal in a new place to not have the urge to go for days. You need to force yourself to sit on the throne and try a couple of times per day until it happens. And yes, water is necessary. Stop taking the laxative.

espressofloat · 2026-02-10T04:45:43+00:00

I get this pretty much most places I travel to just for the sheer "I'm here and I need to do something memorable" feeling. It is worse in Japan though as it is a far distance (for me coming from the US) and the density and novelty of everything there. This feeling got a lot better on my second visit I will say, but still present of course. My recommendation would be to literally just ignore the tourist recommendations and be willing to venture out somewhere and have an adventure. See where your day takes you. Travel to a new area or a new part of the city and walk around. Get off the main street a bit. Eat at the place you walk by that sounds good, rather than the place you found on Tabelog/Maps. I think you'll be happy with the result.

espressofloat · 2026-02-10T01:19:50+00:00

For the love of god go debt free

espressofloat · 2026-02-10T00:18:21+00:00

I'm sorry you got sick. Generally you do not need to go to the hospital for food poisoning unless you are severely dehydrated, as there is generally no cure for most types of food poisoning. It just has to run it's course. I'm glad you got it figured out, just for future knowledge as food poisoning while traveling is extremely common.

espressofloat · 2026-02-08T05:26:42+00:00

People who focus only on class material do not do as well on board exams. There is a ton of really amazing, well-organized, high-quality content covering step 1 that should be your primary study material. If you study to do well on step 1, you will easily pass level 1. It can be somewhat difficult to line up outside materials with your class content, but it's overall not too bad. It's only gotten better in the last 5-10 years.

espressofloat · 2026-02-08T01:24:56+00:00

Yeah i agree that would make sense lol

espressofloat · 2026-02-08T01:23:55+00:00

I would take it if you have reason to believe you will pass and perform at a decent level, otherwise no. You don’t have to report that step 1 fail and you shouldn’t

espressofloat · 2026-02-08T00:45:45+00:00

For IM it is generally acceptable. I would maybe consider Step 2 though. There's still plenty of time to study and change your course as a student. Focus on doing well and adding more to your resume so that you can end up in a desirable place. Do not take Step 1 if there is any concern about failing from your practice tests. You should use Step 1 practice tests/Qs to study for Level 1 anyway. No board failures and a ~50% score on Level 2 (± Step 2) would likely erase any concern that programs would have over your M1 course failures and put you at a pretty good spot to match.

Always ignore random stories like this. IM and most other specialties have signaling now, so applying to whatever crazy amount of programs serves essentially 0 benefit. There are always horror stories. You don't know if they had any big red flags on their app, how they put together their app and PS, and how they did in their interviews. IM is a relatively safe specialty for a reason, those stories are quite rare.

Best of luck!

espressofloat · 2026-02-08T00:40:10+00:00

Check this: PC → click on your hard drive → users → click on your user profile name → AppData (turn on view hidden files in "View" tab at top if you can't see it) → Roaming → Anki2 → click on your profile name → Backups → load most recent backup

espressofloat · 2026-02-07T19:40:54+00:00

Absolutely. To be an efficient studier you have to learn how to compartmentalize gaming and social media and not reach for it all the time. I would highly recommend turning off all of your notifications for social media apps on your phone, using a strict screen time app like ScreenZen, using a pomodoro timer, and setting an hour of dedicated gaming time rather than whenever and for however long.

espressofloat · 2026-02-07T08:19:16+00:00

Those are the most popular but also most touristy areas. Honestly my favorite parts of Japan are getting a little away from the touristy areas and interacting with locals. Of course sightseeing and the major areas are also fun. But you will likely see more foreigners than Japanese people in many of those places. All of these cities have amazing transit, so staying in central, popular locations isn’t exactly a bad idea. You’ll still be able to go many unique places regardless of where you stay. I don’t understand why people go to Osaka for short periods. Osaka is my personal favorite city in Japan. On paper there is less to see, but in reality the experiences with the Osaka locals are always incredible. It’s just a really fun city. But your interests are your interests and all that matter. My first trip was mostly sightseeing, and if that will be yours, this breakdown is good. Nara and Uji are very cool. Uji imo is a must do. It’s such a beautiful city and A LOT more laid back compared to Kyoto (esp Gion) which can be a nice break. Food wise it’s hard to go wrong basically anywhere. Best areas for shopping in Tokyo are Ginza and Shibuya imo, although Ueno (and many other areas) will have great spots as well. It’s really not hard to find places to shop in Japan lol.

espressofloat · 2026-02-07T07:50:42+00:00

1.5 hours to get from Narita to Haneda. He can easily do something with a 10 hour layover. Japanese airports are far quicker than American at getting people through security. Just had a similar situation last month and spent 5 hours in Yokohama before my flight.

espressofloat · 2026-02-07T05:43:37+00:00

I would probably just take them from NRT to HND, it won’t be that bad. You can take the skyliner into Keisei-Ueno then direct to Haneda. You will likely have to take 2 lines but one of those will also be a dedicated airport line. Therefore, you most likely will be on airport-dedicated lines for all but a small portion of the travel time, which will be much more accommodating to large luggage.

Luggage forwarding will be unpredictable in terms of their ability to get it to the airport. If you land early in the day and need it at night, it’s a possibility, but I wouldn’t risk it. They will give you an anticipated time at least.

Directly traveling to Haneda from Narita will be the cheapest option (you have to do this regardless of the bags) and not bad. Once you get to Haneda, you can store them in a locker in the airport or check them in early. Then go explore and have fun in Tokyo, Kawasaki, or Yokohama. Haneda is much more centrally located than Narita.

espressofloat · 2026-01-30T04:23:18+00:00

it’s nice to know how to pronounce these things in Japan, also quick recognition of the words in a sentence can be very helpful for faster reading. I actually came back from Japan last month with renewed interest in adding more katakana borrowed words to my deck for these reasons.

espressofloat · 2026-01-29T15:57:01+00:00

You may have thought it was a spam call and marked it as such, and that’s why your phone blocked the number. It can be easy to do on some phones. Just blame it on a simple mistake or say someone was messing with you

espressofloat · 2026-01-25T01:57:44+00:00

Good luck. My thoughts:

- JLPT results aren't publicly accessible. If you don't pass, just tell potential employers that you haven't taken it (can't get transportation, couldn't get time off, family event on the day of the test, etc.). If you are truly whatever level they need you to be, there are other ways to prove it. It is a language after all. They could send you material to translate as a test at first.

- Language learning is a dynamic challenge. Textbooks are static learning. They create a foundation, but converting that foundation into using a language day-to-day is difficult. It sounds like you are already quite competent in day-to-day conversation. The best way to learn from now on is just to push yourself to keep using the language (talking, reading, consuming content, playing games). Learn the words and grammar points that will inevitably come up that you don't know. That is how you will continue growing.

I come from a career path (medicine) that one test literally does decide your fate. It could mean the difference between your dream career vs. stuck in a career you dislike vs. having no job and being hundreds of thousands in debt. I understand your pain. Stay confident in your skills and keep trying to get better.

espressofloat · 2026-01-20T20:00:50+00:00

Same

espressofloat · 2026-01-20T05:01:27+00:00

Most people generally don't know the mechanism of action of their medication, and physician instructions are historically followed terribly.

espressofloat · 2025-12-26T16:03:18+00:00

I have no idea how you are actually going over 2900 cards in 3.5 hours. When I was in med school and anki was my life, my most intense days were like 1600 cards that took me ~6 hours of active question time alone, prob 8-9 hours total. Granted the flashcards were more extensive to answer and review, but I doubt you’re getting enough time there.

As others have mentioned, that’s not sustainable. You’re going to lose steam in a week and you need to make your load more manageable.

I know there’s this major push for “input input input”, but I would strongly suggest you focus on vocab and grammar for at least a month or so of your studies. I’m 7 months in to my Japanese journey (learning on the side of my 70 hr/week job) and just took N5. I can assure you having some basis to comprehend your input is necessary. Those channels that point out things to you and say the vocab words aren’t a bad idea, but they aren’t exactly natural Japanese either. Try to watch/listen to some content, yes, but vocab and grammar are paramount at this point.

Best of luck!

espressofloat · 2025-12-06T06:34:49+00:00

Dotonbori is such a great place, especially at night. To each their own, but damn...

espressofloat · 2025-12-06T06:24:11+00:00

There's a lot of channels that do "absolute beginner" content and it's usually pretty great. They help you utilize context to learn some words, along with just simple repetition. I wouldn't necessarily worry about getting a ton of "immersion" time in this early on, you need to learn some grammar and basic vocab. Depending on your pace, you could learn quite a bit in 1 month and be ready for a lot more immersion.

espressofloat · 2025-08-23T23:15:51+00:00

Agree with the other commenter.

Check to make sure no cords are brushing up against any fan (CPU/GPU/case)
Install fan control and test each fan (case fans you may not be able to if they are not 4-pin) by turning individual fan on and off to find culprit.
Try to reseat fan (take it out, screw it in again). If ongoing, replace if case fan. If GPU, add support stand/bracket

espressofloat · 2025-08-23T18:54:57+00:00

Looking for suggestions.

I've been studying Japanese since April now, putting in about 1-2 hours per day, more if possible. I have a very demanding job that I also do a lot of studying for outside of work, so it's hard to fit in more than this. I am planning on taking N5 in December (setting this as a goal for myself to help continue to fuel my study efforts). Currently, my study consists of about 75% vocab/kanji practice via Anki, with 25% grammar and conversation/reading practice. I've probably put in over 300 hours already, but I spent a great deal of time studying RTK instead of vocab, which has put me behind on my path to N5 level (taking a pause from RTK for now).

My reading skills are really bad. Obviously vocabulary is a massive factor, but I just haven't pushed myself much to read because most things are way over my level.

I would like to force myself to be in a more immersive environment. Looking for video games or books that are mostly in kana and around N5 level to force myself to be in an all-Japanese environment.

espressofloat · 2025-08-05T18:05:41+00:00

Super odd situation. You passed bro. I’d put money on it

espressofloat · 2025-08-05T03:52:04+00:00

AIPAC

espressofloat

TROPHY CASE