Persistent disbelief that i'd passed, along with academic curiosity, prompted me to read up more on how the JLPT is scored. there's nothing official from the testing body itself of course, but reddit and a few other sites have suggested that item response theory (IRT) is used in the scoring process. the IRT wiki page turned up a whole lot of maths, so i didn't really take anything away from there. i saw some explanations that IRT takes into account the difficulty of the questions as well, so that more difficult questions are worth more points, as getting them correct would indicate a higher level of proficiency. i also read that at least for the JLPT, point weightages are also influenced by how a native speaker would answer the questions, so a higher score means more native-like japanese knowledge/thinking? well, i suppose i don't need to understand the exact mechanics of it. but one thing's for sure right now, i'm not going to take N1. saw a couple of sample questions, and just no.

submitted the grant documents this week. shouldn't have any major issues, i don't think. nevertheless, i had a kiasu moment and emailed them to check that my documents would be accepted. they said that apart from the cover sheet, all supporting documents could be emailed to them if need be. while that's a relief, i wonder why they don't just allow electronic submissions in the first place! but that's japan's bureaucracy for you.

this week was on the lower side of average, i think. might be due in part to the weather as well...it's harder to keep thinking positive when it's cold and miserable. thankfully, i'm still doing ok. although i'm a little concerned about my weekend routine...i've been getting out of bed around noon on saturdays and sundays. i mean, i wake up at my usual time, but then just go back to sleep. could be because the warm futon is so inviting, but i don't think that's the entire reason. just hope it's not a health issue or anything like that. my right eye is feeling some discomfort and pressure, which gets worse after computer use. incidentally, i read that the incidences of heart disease and stroke increase during the winter. apparently, the cold weather makes blood vessels contract. liquids have a harder time flowing through narrower tubes, so the pressure increases. good to know! i figure it extends to other fluids too, which may explain my eye thing. have to remember to drink more water to keep the viscosities of my various fluids down.

-random thought of the day: Groceries tomorrow!-