Brun Ugle goes to the Gathering (ES, EO, DE)

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Brun Ugle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2273
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:48 pm
Location: Steinkjer, Norway
Languages: English (N), Norwegian (~C1/C2), Spanish (B1/B2), German (A2/B1?), Japanese (very rusty)
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Re: Brun Ugle goes to the Gathering (ES, EO, DE)

Postby Brun Ugle » Tue Dec 08, 2015 12:48 pm

Iversen wrote:"A doily (also doiley, doilie, doyly, doyley) is an ornamental mat, typically made of
paper or fabric, and variously used for protecting surfaces or binding flowers, ..."


What do doili monks do in your dreams, and what do doili monks actually look like?



I don't know. It was like something out of some Kung fu movie or something, only they had magic doilies. Yes, those lacy things old ladies have on their end tables, except these were black and had some kind of magic powers, but I don't remember what. I just remember they were after me and I was trying to hide, and then I saw it --- A DOILY! :o

Even stranger is that after I finally got to sleep again, I had a relatively pleasant dream about three human skeletons and a dog skeleton. We found them in the basement of our old house (my ex and I). It was the house where he grew up and they were ancestors of his.

So what does it say about my subconscious mind that it interpreted monks with doilies as scary and a basement full of skeletons as pleasant?
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Brun Ugle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
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Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:48 pm
Location: Steinkjer, Norway
Languages: English (N), Norwegian (~C1/C2), Spanish (B1/B2), German (A2/B1?), Japanese (very rusty)
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Re: Brun Ugle goes to the Gathering (ES, EO, DE)

Postby Brun Ugle » Tue Dec 08, 2015 1:09 pm

Elenia wrote:Still, it is very easy to not do the things that you know will help you feel better. You are taking a very proactive approach, and sorting out what you can, so I still think you're doing well. About the noisy gyms - would doing solitary outdoors exercise help at all? I can only think of running/jogging right now, but things along that line. That way you can pick quieter places - hopefully prettier places, too.



I do walk and I suppose I could try longer walks, but at the moment I'm usually so tired. I can't run or jog. I never could and the bottom disk in my back is almost gone, so it probably wouldn't be a good idea. Also winter makes it a little difficult. It's always rainy or icy and it's already almost dark now at 2:00. I do walk even in the dark and the rain, but it doesn't really help the depression much. The other problem is that my body really only responds to fairly heavy and intense exercises. And my back is also a problem there since I'm having trouble doing heavy lifting and such. Anyway, I'm going to look at the other gyms in my area and see if I can find a quietish one. Also my therapist suggested going to an audiograph (if that's the right word in English) so I can get some earplugs specially made for me. The ordinary earplugs help with things like ticking clocks and lights buzzing, but they aren't enough to keep out music and other louder noises. Specially made earplugs are probably extremely expensive, but they might be worth it.

The other thing is that I need to learn to avoid things that bother me even when they don't bother me in the moment. That's a difficulty I've had. When I'm not depressed, ordinary noises, for example, don't appear to bother me much, but when I'm depressed they are extremely bothersome. Painful even. It's a typical problem for people with autism that we don't notice something bothers us until it's really the last straw. That's why people think we have fits for no reason. It's not really no reason, it's just that we don't react at all until the problem becomes extreme.

So that means I have to try to be more careful about avoiding too much noise and things even when I'm "up" and they don't bother me so much.
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Brun Ugle
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Location: Steinkjer, Norway
Languages: English (N), Norwegian (~C1/C2), Spanish (B1/B2), German (A2/B1?), Japanese (very rusty)
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Re: Brun Ugle goes to the Gathering (ES, EO, DE)

Postby Brun Ugle » Mon Dec 14, 2015 7:19 am

Update for week 50

I’ve had the week off, and after a week of hardly talking to anyone and wearing earplugs whenever I wasn’t trying to listen to something, I’m starting to feel pretty good again. I have some energy at last! I suppose I just need to remember that I’m autistic and even when I feel OK, I need to block out as much noise as possible and not be too social. Otherwise, I’ll end up in the same condition again.

The 6WC is over and it feels a little weird now studying without a stopwatch. I ended up in a respectable fourth place both overall and on target language, so I’m content with that. I don’t think I could have studied much more given the circumstances. I ended up with exactly 80 hours and 6 minutes in both Spanish and German (not sure how I managed that), and I did just over 27 hours of Esperanto and a tiny bit of dabbling. I’m already looking forward to next time.

I took the day off from studying yesterday to do some other things that needed doing, like cleaning the house. I’m not a total slob; I do vacuum and wipe down the kitchen and bathroom now and then, but it’s been a while since I’ve cleaned inside of cabinets and behind the refrigerator and stuff, and I also tend to have books all over, especially after a study-binge. I didn’t get as far as I’d like to have yesterday, but the apartment is at least neater and the kitchen is unusually spotless (for the moment). I also did my household accounts. That’s a holdover from the days when I really did have to keep track of every øre, but now I can’t really stop. It took me several hours because I hadn’t done it in months. I also did some other paperwork that should have been done a while ago. All in all, a fairly productive day, but not as much fun as studying.

I’ve decided to take my progress bars out of my signature for now because there’s not room for everything I want to put. Maybe I’ll come up with something else for my signature later, but for now, I’ll just put my progress bars in my log. They’re too cool to abandon entirely.

Spanish
FSI Basic: 17-19
Gramática de uso del Español (A1-A2): 83-87

I haven’t been watching anything or reading so much. I need to get back to that. And to vocabulary work. I’m considering something other than Memrise. Memrise is fun and addictive, and when you don’t feel like doing anything else, Memrise is still pretty easy. But it’s not fast. I feel like I could find a faster method. Rdearman made a spreadsheet based on Smallwhite’s method and I thought I might try it. I thought I’d also try searching for where she explained her method. So far, I haven’t seen that. It could be useful.

German
Assimil passive wave: 50-54
Assimil active wave: 1-5
FSI Programmed Introduction: 21-25

As you can see, I’ve skipped a couple of days on Assimil. Yesterday was a planned break, and on one of the other days, I was just too exhausted to do a new lesson. I’ve also started the active wave, but it’s still too early for me to form an opinion on it. I managed to do the entire FSI Programmed Introduction during the 6WC. It’s much shorter and more elementary than the FSI Programmatic Spanish, but I found it reasonably useful. I’m thinking of trying the Basic course now as well. I like FSI. I know people find it boring, but I guess boring suits me. Really, I probably like studying languages as much or more than actually knowing them. (Probably a good thing, considering I never really get anywhere.)

Spanish
: 34 / 50 FSI Programmatic
: 19 / 55 FSI Basic
: 87 / 107 Gramática de uso del Español A
German
: 54 / 100 Assimil passive
: 5 / 100 Assimil active
: 25 / 25 FSI Programmed Introduction
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Brun Ugle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2273
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:48 pm
Location: Steinkjer, Norway
Languages: English (N), Norwegian (~C1/C2), Spanish (B1/B2), German (A2/B1?), Japanese (very rusty)
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Re: Brun Ugle goes to the Gathering (ES, EO, DE)

Postby Brun Ugle » Mon Dec 21, 2015 2:11 pm

Update for week 51

A strange noise in my apartment was driving me crazy all week. Now, after a week of searching, I’ve finally figured out what it was. One of my houseplants was making it. It’s very dark this time of year and the plant keeps turning to look for whatever light it can find, and it would scrape against the wall. Anyway, I moved it, so now it’s quiet again. And I guess you can see why I find the music at the gym too loud, since I’m even disturbed by the sounds my houseplants make.

Spanish
FSI Programmatic: 35-36
FSI Basic: 20-21
Gramática de uso del Español (A1-A2): 88-94

I had a short chat in Spanish today. It was so hard. It seems like if I manage to speak well one day, then the next time, I’m guaranteed to sound like Porky Pig. I keep telling myself it will get better. I’m hoping my vocabulary work will help and I’m also considering joining the output challenge, but I can’t make up my mind. I should really work on Esperanto a lot more too, but you can only join for one language. I’m afraid if I join, whatever language I join with will get a good workout, and the other will get ignored. On the other hand, if I don’t join, I might end up ignoring both --- like I’ve been doing.

I mentioned vocabulary work. I’m using the spreadsheet rdearman made, but I’ve made a few modifications of my own. Anyway, I’ve decided to make it my goal to learn 10 000 new words by the end of next year. I took a test to find out how many words I know now, but it said about 20 000 and I don’t believe that. The test included some scientific and medical terminology and I think that skewed the results somewhat because those are often the same in both English and Spanish, so they’re pretty easy. Anyway, it said I have the vocabulary of an advanced, non-native speaker. I know I’m not that. I’m very much intermediate and according to the website, an intermediate speaker has a vocabulary of about 6 000 words. So, I’m guessing that I probably lie in that range and that the scientific jargon threw off the results. Anyway, another 10 000 words should do wonders, if not for my speaking, for my Scrabble-playing. This week I learned 200 words, and if I can keep that up for a year, I should make it, as long as I don’t get bored.

German
Assimil passive wave: 55-60
Assimil active wave: 6-11
FSI Basic: 1

I don’t know what to say about German. One day it’s easy; the next day, it makes no sense whatsoever. In addition to Assimil and FSI, I try to do one new lesson set in Duolingo each day. I’ve also worked out that if I can get five Assimil lessons done per week, I’ll get through it before the Gathering. So, I can let myself take a day off now and then. Sometimes Assimil makes me nuts. I’m not saying it isn’t a good program. I just sometimes want to throw the book at the wall.


Spanish
: 36 / 50 FSI Programmatic
: 21 / 55 FSI Basic
: 94 / 107 Gramática de uso del Español A
German
: 60 / 100 Assimil passive
: 11 / 100 Assimil active
: 25 / 25 FSI Programmed Introduction
: 1 / 24 FSI Basic
Esperanto
: 6 / 15 Teach Yourself
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Elenia
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Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 1:22 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), Swedish (C1), French (Massively Atrophied) German (lowly beginner, somehow learnt to read)


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Re: Brun Ugle goes to the Gathering (ES, EO, DE)

Postby Elenia » Tue Dec 22, 2015 12:08 am

Brun Ugle wrote:Update for week 51

A strange noise in my apartment was driving me crazy all week. Now, after a week of searching, I’ve finally figured out what it was. One of my houseplants was making it. It’s very dark this time of year and the plant keeps turning to look for whatever light it can find, and it would scrape against the wall. Anyway, I moved it, so now it’s quiet again. And I guess you can see why I find the music at the gym too loud, since I’m even disturbed by the sounds my houseplants make.


This is terrifying! I used to hate it whenever I was home alone and a plant would move slightly - I can't begin to imagine what that would be like all day long. Glad you managed to find it and move it!

Your numbers are looking great, by the way. I understand your misgivings about the output challenge. I'm lucky, because Swedish is my clear priority right now, but I often find my study becoming imbalanced during challenges. I haven't really worked out a way to stop this happening, although I like the Monthly challenge, because the goals are really manageable and there are no rules about languages. Perhaps try just doing the monthly suggestions for the challenge in both Spanish and Esperanto, and use a progress bar to log your progress? You won't be part of the challenge proper, but that doesn't mean you can't benefit for it. Otherwise, you can enter with one language, but try to match your word count in the other, or do the suggestions in the other language?
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Brun Ugle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2273
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:48 pm
Location: Steinkjer, Norway
Languages: English (N), Norwegian (~C1/C2), Spanish (B1/B2), German (A2/B1?), Japanese (very rusty)
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Re: Brun Ugle goes to the Gathering (ES, EO, DE)

Postby Brun Ugle » Tue Dec 22, 2015 5:49 am

Yes, I was thinking about maybe skipping the challenge and just making progress bars to keep track of writing. I'm still deciding though. The other problem is that once I get back to work and everything else, I'll probably be too exhausted to do anything within a week or two. I still have to figure out how to fix that.

The plant was scary when I didn't know what it was, but now, I don't think it would bother me as much. It's probably less scary if it moves many times a day (if you know it's just the plant) then if it's only once in a while because you get used to it.
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Brun Ugle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2273
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:48 pm
Location: Steinkjer, Norway
Languages: English (N), Norwegian (~C1/C2), Spanish (B1/B2), German (A2/B1?), Japanese (very rusty)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=11484
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Re: Brun Ugle goes to the Gathering (ES, EO, DE)

Postby Brun Ugle » Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:14 am

Update for week 51

Spanish
FSI Basic: 22
Gramática de uso del Español (A1-A2): 95-96

German
Assimil passive wave: 61-64
Assimil active wave: 12-15
FSI Basic: 2

I decided before Christmas that it would be a good idea to take it easy and not stress about studying during the holidays, so I worked a couple of very light weeks into my schedule. Mostly, I’ve been eating and reading comics.

New Year’s will probably be the same – lots of food and not much study. I made sure to get some black-eyed peas this year though. Last year I didn’t eat beans on New Year’s and I didn’t have such a great year. I’m not really superstitious, but you don’t have to believe in luck to have it. ;)

Spanish
: 36 / 50 FSI Programmatic
: 22 / 55 FSI Basic
: 96 / 107 Gramática de uso del Español A
German
: 64 / 100 Assimil passive
: 15 / 100 Assimil active
: 25 / 25 FSI Programmed Introduction
: 2 / 24 FSI Basic
Esperanto
: 6 / 15 Teach Yourself
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Brun Ugle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2273
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:48 pm
Location: Steinkjer, Norway
Languages: English (N), Norwegian (~C1/C2), Spanish (B1/B2), German (A2/B1?), Japanese (very rusty)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=11484
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Re: Brun Ugle goes to the Gathering (ES, EO, DE)

Postby Brun Ugle » Mon Jan 04, 2016 3:35 pm

Update for week 53

Spanish
Gramática de uso del Español (A1-A2): 97-99

German
Assimil passive wave: 65-69
Assimil active wave: 16-20

Well, it was an exhausting vacation and between organizing the TAC, my boyfriend, and his crazy neighbor, I didn’t get much studying done, but I kind of figured that, so I’m not too disappointed. I’m looking forward to getting back into my studies though. I have big plans for 2016, but I think I’ll start a new log for that. It’s kind of nice with a clean slate.
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