guitar player's journal

[Jossstick]

@guitarplayer: congrats to the promotion! Couldn’t help to see that parallels of cycling, music and gardening

@ertyu: I never thought about that approach to learning languages. My response to something like this is that I won’t work but the structure your idea gives seems like a very good idea

[ertyu]

@ertyu: I never thought about that approach to learning languages. My response to something like this is that I won’t work but the structure your idea gives seems like a very good idea

It depends on your psychological make-up. Choosing X date on which you'd sit the exam for "lowest level" then aiming for a certificate is for a person who wants a lot of structure and a definite "plan and deadline," and who will be motivated by "the blue ribbon" - getting the cert. Taking a test is also energizing to a certain type of person. For another type of person this literally sounds like torture to avoid at all costs.

[guitarplayer]

Thanks all for the congrats! Sometimes I struggle to communicate with folk at work that I am into working on interesting stuff rather than for 'money' or 'job security' (these still to some small extent though), but I manage to find my way.

On Spanish, the thing is I should have it better integrated if I want it to stick. @ertyu I have been thinking about doing a certificate yes, or at least simulating doing a certificate (like that youtube guy from ultralearning or some similar name). Equally, immersion would work but the reason I mention 'reading Stoics in Spanish' is that if I just did simple immersion, I would be talking about watching movies, shopping and going to restaurants and cafes, none of which I do. So it is not compatible with my lifestyle. Best way I can think of really, is to speak more with DW, but then there has to be something in it for her as well. So I need to make it either funny or informative for her (which I try doing), or something else.

I can translate the ERE book to Spanish for DW's family

Have been revisiting @mF's beginning of journal for that, to gather a few goals and piece together a system for the time being.

@theanimal I take the point of changing devices settings to Spanish!

@thef0x, well done for getting on the Erasmus bandwagon! I did mine in Turkey it was great.

Glesga accent / dialect and generally English in Scotland is a thing of its own for sure!

On exercise, yeh I've had a routine for a while changing it slightly every so often. I am probably now highly specialised in what I do and if I were to branch out to some other activities there would be some learning required! Recently I added standing on one leg at my standing desk, or when tying/untying shoes. I would like to do a pistol squat and need these muscles for it (and some more flexibility)

@Josstick yeh I think there is a lot of potential in each cycling, music and gardening to hit 4 design rules of the emergent movement design

[ertyu]

I can translate the ERE book to Spanish for DW's family

Now this is a brilliant idea -- culminates in actual output and is an actual project one can chunk and complete + meaningful to others

[guitarplayer]

Hi!

I went to the Polish Tatras a few days back, staying at the touristy spot in the said mountains. However, since this was outside of season there were not that many people. Still some snow on the peaks which we managed to tackle with Scarpa boots. Thinking I would get a few pairs of these boots, they truly deliver and the only thing I do to them is to treat them with lanoline every so often.

Big expense, DW got herself a down(like?) jacket and a rainproof jacket to compliment her Didrikson winter jacket. Don't know how much it was, never asked.

I have learned DW has a technique similar to some people on the forum but wonderfully offline in that she has a piece of paper that is now maybe 8 years old and she writes with pencil stuff she wants to buy on that paper. If she changes her mind about an item she erases it, and stuff that remains is something she will eventually buy.

We walked up and down Kasprowy Wierch, went to the five Polish lakes valley as well as hala gasiennicowa with associated lakes; also some minor peaks.

Missed walking, for sure!

Free time made me recalibrate on long term planning which I think I was in a bit of a glut recently - think because I was pushing a lot of mental effort in various directions. With this in mind, I look forward to the European ere meetup which will be my next time off.

[Egg]

Nice. I used to stay in Zakopane at least once per year. Lovely bit of Poland

(Morskie Oko was always a favourite for me)

[guitarplayer]

Hey @Egg, nice to see you pop in

We went to Morskie Oko as well actually. DW is impressed with the lakes and peaks down there. For me it was a reminder after I went there as a child.

[guitarplayer]

2024 update 21/52

Physiological

I am experimenting with relaxing my routine in that I take Sundays off and do not do the usual burpees and pull-ups. Today is the first Sunday I am doing this. Instead, I slept longer, did sun salutations and went for a 1h cycle (in the rain, it was warm though), to get 1.5kg of gourmet mushroom ragu sauce someone was giving away.

Intellectual

I wrote a Python function that calculates optimal route (in straight lines) as a solution to the travelling salesperson problem for up to 27 places (given table with x and y coordinates) with a self imposed hard stop at 30 min of computing time on my laptop. I am tempted to try this on a virtual machine I am using at work to see how much further I could go.

Otherwise, I get a lot of intellectual stimulation from my new work.

Economic

The ragu sauce I got from someone has a market value north of $30.

I am getting my first higher salary this month.

Reconsidering paying the remaining circa $50,000 of the mortgage later this year as I read opinions in the Financial Times that FTSE might be picking up later this year - I think this is the main source of discomfort for me that I know too little about investing. I mean, guided by opinions in the FT? Frustrating (it's okay, that is how progress happens).

Emotional

I recorded a song for my mum for mother's day - mum got touched by this.

Social

Went to a family event recently, saw various family members.

Also, went with DW to the Polish Tatras and this was great social outing with DW.

More recently, we went for a cycle to Kelvingrove together.

Technical

I might be getting a macBook for work to work on a machine learning project.

I got I hope the right tool to swap the front chain set in my bike. But like explained earlier, I might just run down the current chain set as I have noticed that I can utilise 3 gear at the front (not worn off) with lower gears at the back to get the same effect, and the chain is then not skipping.

Ecological

DW told me that she had noticed many plants / flowers that are summer ones in Scotland are spring ones in Poland.

Slugs are eating some of our plants at our raised bed.

Upon our return from Poland, Scotland is in high teens, low 20s. This temperature is optimal or near optimal for lots of things, i.e. lots of overlap on an activities venn diagram.

[delay]

Thanks for your journal update! It sounds like you're doing well. As for investing, I doubt reading the FT makes for good decision making. Now that I'm old, I think I should have taken more risk when I was younger (age 25-45), I should not have gone after investments based on their past performance (that's like fishing in a pond were all the fish have been caught), and I should have avoided financial intermediaries. But then who knows if that holds true for the future!

After I got my first MacBook I never went back. It's so comfortable never to have to think about the battery, OS or drivers.

[NewBlood]

Congrats on the new job gp! Your progression from your old career has been inspiring to read about. Glad you like the new position and can spend more time on interesting stuff.

Equally, immersion would work but the reason I mention 'reading Stoics in Spanish' is that if I just did simple immersion, I would be talking about watching movies, shopping and going to restaurants and cafes, none of which I do. So it is not compatible with my lifestyle.

Re: Spanish, I'd like to make an additional case for watching/listening to content in Spanish (Spanish from Spain. with Spanish subtitles. Or english subtitles first, and then rewatch with Spanish subtitles). It's really the easiest way to habituate your ear to the sounds and melody of it, but especially to get familiar with all the colloquial expressions and swear words (aka punctuation ). If I remember correctly, DW is from South America, right? No doubt you both know it already, but Spanish from Spain can be quite different.

Even though watching TV shows or movies is not part of your normal life, a one month Netflix bootcamp could be very valuable. It's not about learning to talk about movies, it's getting used to the most common expressions and slang people will use around you in every day life, which makes it easier to integrate in a new country.

When I first moved to the US, my written English was actual better than American students' (according to an internship advisor), but I understood less than half of what people were saying, and understood very few jokes. Formal language learning usually doesn't teach you the way people actually talk.

Best way I can think of really, is to speak more with DW, but then there has to be something in it for her as well. So I need to make it either funny or informative for her (which I try doing), or something else.

I've found that once you start a relationship in a language, it's really hard to switch, even for the native speaker of the other language. It feels very unnatural, and obviously much slower.

I hope you find something that works for you both, good luck !!

[Jean]

we were both speaking each others language quite fluently when we started our relationship, but with my gf, we keep switching beetween german and french, depending on who is more tired.
Wouldn't your wife appreciate the possibility to talk in spanish when she could use the extra mental juices it takes to speak english for something else?