How do I learn Kana

Seriously, the little fucking drawings are driving me insane.

I'm usually quite good at learning things: I can speak fluently in a second language* I've only been immersed in through the internet and I learn stuff in my field** in a breeze.

 but this hol

*
** computer science of course

I sat there with a pad of paper and a pen, and tried copying all the characters on the あ line multiple times until I could write them without looking at the book. I remembered that I had to do A I U E O in that order. I then moved on to the か line, then the さ, etc. By the time two days had passed, I had learned all the kana.

What better way to spend two days when you're on vacation, sitting in your grandmother's trailer in Florida, with the rest of the family out doing something you didn't want to do, and sweating your ass off cause the air conditioner was busted? I sat there and listened to CDs and read a book I'd bought on Japanese. I would sleep next to the damned thing.

Now I can read most of the first 3 or 4 grades' kanji without even thinking about it. This was six years ago, and I've only had one year of "real" Japanese classes, at college. I got the highest grade in the class, both semesters, and never studied for anything.