I'm far from being a shopaholic, but I definitely have a weak spot for electronic toys.  I've made quite a number of dumb purchases in my life (most often electronics), but these particular ones reverberate in my wistful memories.  Thank God for Ebay!

The Cotton Candy Machine
I once beheld a home cotton candy machine for sale in a catalog specializing mostly in useless, single-purpose home appliances.  I just had to have it.  This purchase would change my entire life--friends would flock to my lively cotton candy parties, and princess-like model-esque girls would swoon at the sugary goodness served by yours truly.

My ultimate goal was to put my arm into the machine and encase it in cotton candy.  Unknown at the time was the

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Just as living with LA traffic day after day made me hate cars, living with central Tokyo's population density makes me hate people.  Tokyo is so crowded with people that even an uncomplicated excursion is exhausting.  Train stations, shopping malls, cafes, restaurants, bars--people ooze out of every possible orifice.  Over the years of living in one of the most crowded cities in the world, I've developed certain skills and tendencies to cope.  Some of them are embarrassing, but all of them greatly relieve the annoyance caused by living under such people pressure.  Consider this advice on becoming a Tokyo hermit if you happen to share in my frustrations.  Consider it me-deprecating entertainment if you do not.

Stay At Home
The most easily-executed is to

I learned in my psychology classes that memory is most deeply encoded when associated with concrete imagery.  That is, memories are strongest when they appeal to all the senses and can readily recreate an imaginable scene or context.  Rote memorization (e.g. reviewing flashcards over and over) is considered a weak encoding technique because it relies solely on repetition to encode memory.  Herein lies the problem with remembering new vocabulary, especially new vocabulary in a second language.  Is there some way to study it using "stronger" memory encoding techniques?  Rote flashcards are boring and don't work very well.  The memory of them is literally gone in a flash.

Mnemonic Devices
Mnemonic devices are

Being an IT guy and a student of Japanese, I'm expectedly a fan of using software to study.  I've tried just about every type of Japanese learning software there is, so here I've compiled a list of my favorites:

The Rosetta Stone (PC / Mac) - www.rosettastone.com
The Rosetta Stone is the Ferrari of language learning software.  It's fun and extremely interactive, engaging all the senses to maximize retention.  It's automatic lesson review feature quizzes like a real teacher, and it's the only software I've ever found that supports voice recognition, making speaking practice possible.  It's by far the software that