Re: PM’s French Re-entry into the Matrix - Phase 1: 500 Hours Extensive Reading

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PeterMollenburg
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Re: PM’s French Re-entry into the Matrix - Phase 1: 500 Hours Extensive Reading

Postby PeterMollenburg » Tue Mar 22, 2022 4:46 am

I've decided on 500hrs.... that is, 500 hours of French extensive reading.

I've been doing that thing though. You know when you avoid the task at hand by organising or collecting resources? The problem with many of us, and certainly me included, is that I've no time for anything more in my schedule, so it's either drop almost everything for a while, organise it all and then get back to the mission.... or chip away at the organising over time. I opted for the former.

My books, particularly my electronic ones, have been in a shambles for quite some time, so I've been organising all that. My kindle has a very decent amount of storage capacity and with my collection having been in a shambles I'm trying to put a dent in it's internal capacity swhile tidying it all up. This includes converting e-books, getting my head around the program necessary for all that and tidying up my books in other languages too. You need other languages in the Matrix. Using Globish ensures seeing the world through the prism of that language only. You know what I say, "More prisms, less prisons". No, actually I don't say that. To top off the organisational tedious process, the occasional really annoying glitch appears as a Kinder surprise to deal with that I'm yet to resolve in some instances :x If I'm going to do an overhaul of this mess, may as well do it properly.

I know it will likely go on for longer, but I'm giving myself to the end of the month to organise things, then I'm commencing my mission on April Fool's Day. Further organising will have to be chipped away at from then on. My 365 Day Challenge is also in a shambles and I'm considering dropping out. And what kind of a fool would re-enter the Matrix? Only a fool is a fool and a fool who re-enters the Matrix is extra an extra foolish fool :shock: ....and is either a fool who wishes to return to ignorance or a fool who has a mission to accomplish. Could I be both? Fool or no fool I'm pretty keen on this mission. So as the world is crumbling around us and the matrix seems to be falling apart, wish me luck.

Signing off,
Me-o
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Re: PM’s French Re-entry into the Matrix - Phase 1: 500 Hours Extensive Reading

Postby genini1 » Tue Mar 22, 2022 2:49 pm

I've always found organizing my own collections (language or otherwise) to be therapeutic. Something about making order out of the mess calls to me and I've spent more than my share of what would be learning time to just swapping books and deleting samples from my kindle.
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: PM’s French Re-entry into the Matrix - Phase 1: 500 Hours Extensive Reading

Postby PeterMollenburg » Tue Mar 22, 2022 11:58 pm

genini1 wrote:I've always found organizing my own collections (language or otherwise) to be therapeutic. Something about making order out of the mess calls to me and I've spent more than my share of what would be learning time to just swapping books and deleting samples from my kindle.


For me it's an OCD-like thing. I feel out of sorts somewhat until it gets sorted. Doing the organising I feel guilty of not attending to other potentially more important things, because it's true. It's like I'm saying this to myself; "I will do all this sorting, get back on track and not do this crazy kind of organising over several days/weeks with late nights (and early mornings) while avoiding other responsibilities again". It's a nervous somewhat unpleasant experience for me. The thing is, if I don't do it, it's like not doing enough study during each session or spreading myself too thin, I'm not going to accomplish what I feel I need to (organising everything) nor will I reach a level of fluency (understanding how all this stuff works - organising electronic library, converting, using the features of the kindle) without really digging into this stuff.

The reason I ask others for help at times with this kind of thing or that I am a bit lacking in tech-ability nowadays is that I know what a time sink they can be. And while I know I can proceed with these kinds of tasks, I lack the patience - or the desire to lose so much of my time. When computers arrived on the scene they were often touted as a time saver and yet we continue in my line of work at least to use both computers and paperwork. Some things have changed and become more efficient but I'm a big believer in life being (harder but) better when technology was not around. And yet ironically I want all the benefits of the technology. It's like I admit to the problem(s) but am not willing to solve them because I rather like the benefits. Were I not organising all these books I'd be studying.

And yet, what are these emotions I experience? I'd suggest trained responses (or trained expectations) based around previous experiences that have been either pleasant or unpleasant. Eckhart Tolle in so many ways aims to teach us that we are not our emotions, and I tend to agree. They are there, they are real, but they are trained. Thus, my unpleasant (not entirely unpleasant, its not all negative) experiences around organising my books is a matter of perception and trained response(s). And I will agree, that there is an element of therapeutic goodness involved, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it. Yet most of that will be the antcipated benefits of an organised collection of books and e-books. I'll be ready to murder French with all these books, i'll be happier when it's all organised ;)

Anyway, in finding a happy medium I must admit that technology has made language learning much more accessible and an e-book reader is part of that picture. Without technology, pure and simple, my French would not be where it is. In the past, I would've had to have moved to France, I feel. And now e-readers are extremely portable. To carry the books around that are contained within would simply be absurd, ridiculous and unless I employed a lot of people or spent outrageous fortunes on transporting them, it would be utterly impossible. In my current situation it would be impossible.

Still, as I heard someone recently say.... hang on, I'll find his name... Mark Boyle, the man who gave up money, anyway he said/explained in a video somewhere that we are often told of all the benefits of technology as we are being sold something (marketing), but we don't hear the negatives and often don't consider them. I tend to think we are sold things from the angle of two main benefits - technological wonder and efficiency. In other words, look at this wonderful advanced device and look how much better your life will be with it. If we consider why these things are sold to us, we'll also not only know that these companies, like any company or individual involved in the objective of making (more) money, are quite simply out to make money, but we'll also consider that there could very well be other objectives. And what is the cost to the environment? To us?

Motor vehicles = transportation, travel, exploration, exchange of goods, tourism, access.
Motor vehicles = destruction to build roads, to make cars, pollution, noise, waste when vehicles no longer functional, accidents/injuries.

Computers = information, learning for individuals, connection to others, exploration.
Computers = information gathering (surveillance), learning about individuals (surveillance, marketing), disconnection to others due to engaging directly with a screen as opposed to directly with a human being, environmental costs of producing products and powering them.

e-book reader = portability, ease of access to loads of books, learning, education, personal growth, LANGUAGE LEARNING!!!
e-book reader = destruction to environment to produce, to power and discard, surveillance, distraction.

The above list is very brief, not exhaustive, and not necessarily completely in line with what others might assess. We pretty much know all this stuff. I'm not claiming to be special here. Perhaps some of us are more willing to look at/believe/acknowledge the negatives than others. For now I'll continue to drive, continue to use computers (right now I am), continue organising my e-books. I think in due course however the tables will turn because we have been forced (by government regulations or environmental disaster or something else) to change or we will have chosen to change. If I stop being so pessimistic (not necessarily my self assessment there), then perhaps technology or those who develop it will help, as it does now, for the environment, patients, and so on. Still, I think it will collapse and being able to survive in a world without it is not a bad concept.

I believe from a conspiracy angle that we are lured into technology and convinced it will solve our problems while often the objective is to distract and trap in order to remove focus and to gather information and to increase control. There might be a good deal of truth to technology providing solutions to our problems but I do think we are less independent of our thoughts and conclusions than what we like to think we are. Problem - reaction - solution. Have your solution ready, present the problem, direct the unsuspected (and force those in the know) to adapt to the new way of living. We are led astray from our true nature, our true reason for being and while we live in stark contrast, practically against nature, as Mark Boyle also said, we are a part of nature. As we destroy it, we are destroying ourselves. But don't make me feel guilty so that you can take away my freedoms. Don't scare me so you can push me into your planned objectives. Don't steal my cash for carbon so you can sloth around and control me. I ought to be the change, and yet for now, I'm gonna continue reading on my Kindle. Take away my perceived freedoms and I will still find a way, but you know what, stop telling me how to think, I'm tired of it.

Back to organising...
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Re: PM’s French Re-entry into the Matrix - Phase 1: 500 Hours Extensive Reading

Postby luke » Wed Mar 23, 2022 12:45 am

PeterMollenburg wrote:Back to organising...

I hope you're listening to easy French things you enjoy as you organize.
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: PM’s French Re-entry into the Matrix - Phase 1: 500 Hours Extensive Reading

Postby PeterMollenburg » Wed Mar 23, 2022 12:53 am

luke wrote:
PeterMollenburg wrote:Back to organising...

I hope you're listening to easy French things you enjoy speaking Dutch to your kids as you organize.


(DELIBERATE MISQUOTE ABOVE - my creative correction)

Why yes I am speaking Dutch to my kids! Thanks for your concern, Luke :lol:
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: PM’s French Re-entry into the Matrix - Phase 1: 500 Hours Extensive Reading

Postby PeterMollenburg » Tue May 03, 2022 1:01 pm

A drastic failure on my phase 1 French mission. Le projet est tombé à l'eau. For an update on what I have been doing, you'll find it in another place:

https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=16398&p=207965#p207965
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PeterMollenburg
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PM’s French Re-entry into the Matrix - Phase 1: 500 Hours Extensive Reading

Postby PeterMollenburg » Tue May 17, 2022 7:18 am

Since French is no longer my sole language of focus and I'm sharing my languages with my family, I decided to create a new log. Here's a link: PM's Multilingual Family Adventures in a Monolingual Wasteland
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