Everyone says you should write a journal in whatever language you're studying.

They also say that running marathons is a good idea, which I find hard to believe.

But anyways, if you're a superhuman student, you might want to write your own awesome daily Japanese journal.

My original plan was to give you a list of phrases that you might want to put into a journal.

But, well, that was boring.

Instead, let's look at...

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The Journal of Our Imaginary Friend Tom

Tom is an English teacher living in Tokyo.

Here's what he did the other day...

トムの日記：２０１６年０６月２６日（金）
とむ　の　にっき： にせんじゅうろくねん　ろくがつ　にじゅうろくにち （きんようび）
Tom's Journal: June 26, 2016 (Friday)
Literally: "Tom + の + journal: + 2016 year + 06 month + 26 day + (Friday)."
Note: （金）is just an abbreviation of （金曜日〈きんようび〉）. When reading this aloud, a Japanese person would probably just say the full word, 金曜日.

（月）＝月曜日（げつようび // Monday）
（火）＝火曜日（かようび // Tuesday）
（水）＝水曜日（すいようび // Wednesday）
（木）＝木曜日（もくようび // Thursday）
（金）＝金曜日（きんようび // Friday）
（土）＝土曜日（どようび // Saturday）
（日）＝日曜日（にちようび // Sunday）

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今日は６時半に起きた。
きょう　は　ろくじはん　に　おきた。
Today I woke up at 6:30.
Literally: "today + は + 6:30 + に + got up."

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起きてすぐコーヒーを淹れてナッツを食べた。ウマっ！
おきて　すぐ　コーヒー　を　いれて　なっつ　を　たべた。 うまっ！
Right after I got up, I made coffee and had some (mixed) nuts. Delicious!
Literally: "get up (and) + immediately + coffee + を + make [insert] + nuts + を + ate. + delicious!"
Note: I always thought that 淹れる（いれる // to make tea, coffee, etc.）just used the verb 入れる（いれる // to put in; to let in; to insert）but apparently 淹れる is used, too. Or sometimes just hiragana: いれる. Also, ウマっ！ is just an abbreviation of ウマい！

Pointless Note: Like Tom, I too love mixed nuts with coffee. I have a feeling we'd get along.

So when I first wrote the above sentence, I wrote:

起きたらすぐ
おきたら　すぐ
right when I woke up

The ～たら form, 起きたら, translates to something like "if / when (one) wakes up."

Then Rei changed my sentence to:

起きてすぐ
おきて　すぐ
woke up and right away

With the te-form, it's like saying, "I woke up and right away..."

At first, I was worried that I'd been saying messed up Japanese all this time, but luckily both of these would be acceptable in this case.

You'll often hear someone say something like:

起きたらすぐ電話してね。
おきたら　すぐ　でんわ　して　ね。
Call me right when you wake up, OK?
Literally: "when you get up + immediately + phone + do + ね."

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その後急いで準備して８時に大嫌いな仕事に行った。
その　あと　いそいで　じゅんび　して　はちじ　に　だいきらいな　しごと　に　いった。
After that, I hurried up and got ready, and then at 8 I left for my job, which I hate.
Literally: "that + after / later + hurriedly [hurried and] + preparations + did (and) + 8 o'clock + に + hate + job / work + に + went."

When writing a journal, you may also find yourself referring to the time you left your house quite a bit.

For that, you can say that you "house を exited:"

８時に家を出た。
はちじ　に　いえ　を　でた。
I left the house at 8 o'clock.
Literally: "8 o'clock + に + house + を + exited."

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仕事も嫌いだけど通勤はもっと嫌い。
しごと　も　きらい　だ　けど　つうきん　は　もっと　きらい。
Although I do hate work, I hate commuting even more.
Literally: "job / work + も + hate + is + but + commuting to work + は + more + hate."

This construction is pretty cool for talking about degrees of liking or disliking something:

[thing] + も + 好き／嫌い + だけど + [other thing] + は + もっと + 好き／嫌い
I like / dislike [thing], but I like / dislike [other thing] even more.
Note: Just in case you forgot these kanji's readings: 好き＝すき、嫌い＝きらい.

１）サーモンも好きだけどマグロはもっと好き。
２）納豆も嫌いだけどセロリはもっと嫌い。

１）サーモン も すき だ　けど マグロ は　もっと すき。
２）なっとう も きらい だ　けど セロリ は　もっと きらい。

１）I like salmon, but I like tuna even more.
２）I dislike natto, but I dislike celery even more.

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東京の朝の電車はほんとに地獄。
とうきょう　の　あさ　の　でんしゃ　は　ほんとに　じごく。
Morning trains in Tokyo are truly hell.
Literally: "Tokyo + の + morning + の + train + は + really / truly + hell."

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Yikes.

Sounds like Tom had a rough start to his day.

I have a feeling it will get better later on, though.

We'll find out in the next lesson! (Don't get too excited--it's just a Japanese lesson.)

By the way, you should know (or learn!) every single word in this lesson. They are all extremely common words.