Not all those who wander are lost

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
Adrianslont
Blue Belt
Posts: 827
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:39 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), Learning Indonesian and French
x 1936

Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby Adrianslont » Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:40 am

sfuqua wrote:We have a fire about 7 kilometers away. It blew up during my first half hour reading French tonight. It is not burning toward us, and it hasn't chased anybody out of their home yet, but my eyes are burning indoors. It is visibly smoky outside. Firefighters are making progress on it, but it stinks, and it gives us a little taste of what is coming.
It's near Cisco, if you know Milpitas, but it also jumped Coyote creek into San Jose.

I wish it would rain...
I really, really wish it would rain...
I really, really wish it would rain over the whole state...

Good luck, sfuqua.

I don’t want to assume that you don’t know what you’re doing and I don’t know your exact location and I know you have lived in a fire prone area for a while - but I’ll give you advice anyway.

1. Make sure your insurance is up to date
2. Leave early.

Hopefully the fire will lay down overnight. If it picks up early in the morning or any day soon I would head to a big shopping mall with a cinema some distance from the fire front and have a nice day out. I define leave early as 8am if the weather forecast is bad.

I hope you’ll excuse my unsolicited advice. I have worked in emergency services, including on the phones dispensing last minute advice to people who didn’t leave early. The panic in their voices has stayed with me. The lack of preparation of some/many people who have lived in fire prone areas startles me.

Driving in thick smoke is incredibly dangerous.

A shopping mall is a good way to get some clean air even if the fire stays in the forest - unless the smoke overwhelms the aircon.

How do you get warned if the fire turns in your direction in the middle of the night?
8 x

User avatar
sfuqua
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1642
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:05 am
Location: san jose, california
Languages: Bad English: native
Samoan: speak, but rusty
Tagalog: imperfect, but use all the time
Spanish: read
French: read some
Japanese: beginner, obsessively studying
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9248
x 6299

Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby sfuqua » Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:02 pm

Our fire seems to be calmed down this morning. Smoke is much better. The particular direction it would burn through to get to us means it would go through a lot of town, which means a lot of fire breaks, as I understand.
I am very chicken and will be first to leave.

This fire was surprisingly low key by last night. It wasn't burning trees and just seemed to be burning out brush. I think they have this one knoxked down.

What scares me more is the next one, and the next one, and the next one. There is a lot of fuel around the city right now and some of it is pretty close. I always go outside and ch ck the situation in every direction before i sleep. I check at night too when i wake up. It is strange, but our local news media is pretty poor about reporting San Jose news. The Bay area is huge, and the media obviously sees San Francisco down theough Palo Alto as the important part of it. More people live in San Jose than San Francisco, but I guess we're not as rich. I like to check the horizon, sniff the air, and check the wind direction myself. Unless the fire is burning Google or Cisco, we barely get a mention in the nedia.

I certainly am no expert on climate, but everything seems to be changing rapidly here the past few years. The weather seems alien.

Im going to go for my walk in a shopping mall today.
11 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

User avatar
sfuqua
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1642
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:05 am
Location: san jose, california
Languages: Bad English: native
Samoan: speak, but rusty
Tagalog: imperfect, but use all the time
Spanish: read
French: read some
Japanese: beginner, obsessively studying
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9248
x 6299

Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby sfuqua » Wed Jul 28, 2021 4:46 pm

The fire is completely contained at this point, but it still stinks outside.
I have a lung condition which shows up on CAT scans, which may even be caused by an oversensitivity to bad air. I'm going to be very careful with what I breathe during this fire season. I would like to keep my lungs where they are right now -- no disablity at all.

I've thought about my problems finishing the Superchallenge using a mixture of Spanish and French. The main problem is the schedule, not the activity. I can read whatever I want in French, even hard stuff that makes me slow down a lot, as long as I ignore the deadline.

I always seem to mess up whenever I have a deadline. I also have a big tendancy to overschedule myself. I stupidly take the fun out of learning. I've decided to make a strict schedule for myself, an easy one. I need to try less, not try more. I know better. I talk like I know better, then I get obsessed and drive myself crazy. I know that I do better when I just relax and let the learning happen than I do when I drive myself. I used to have a rule about keeping my study time down to one hour a day, so that I would have proper energy and attention for being father, and husband, and teacher. Well I'm retired, but maybe I need to restrict myself anyway in order to have sufficient time and energy for being a father, and husband, and for goofing off and staring into space. :D

Perhaps I can wander in all directions at the same time without tearing myself to pieces. I'm just fooling around anyway.

I have also been thinking about working on adding a couple of languages to espeak NG. There is an old implementation of Old English for the old espeak project. It doesn't look to me like it would be terribly hard to add a "better than nothing" version to espeak NG. Some people have been threatening to add a Tagalog espeak voice, I would need a native speaker to work with on this, and it would be best if a Filipino did it, but perhaps I could help.

I probably need to install Linux on my computer again. I had to use Windows during the school year because of the school district's software requirements, but I don't work there any more...
Last edited by sfuqua on Thu Jul 29, 2021 2:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
11 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

User avatar
Adrianslont
Blue Belt
Posts: 827
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:39 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), Learning Indonesian and French
x 1936

Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby Adrianslont » Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:17 pm

It’s good to hear your fire has calmed down, sfuqua. Hopefully all that burned brush constitutes a good reduction of the fuel load in your area.

And also very good to hear that you have many city blocks between you and possible fire fronts - though embers are still a thing!

Location is such an important factor in assessing your level of risk. Do you have a fire service with a community engagement unit that does that kind of thing? Does your fire service update progress/warnings on current fires on their website? Is there an app to follow the progress of fires and their danger level?

We are lucky to have all of these where I live and they work really well - as long as people pay attention to them!

Smoke! Another reason to wear a mask! Our fire season was so bad a year and a half ago. A few dozen lives were lost directly but an estimated 400 plus were estimated to have died indirectly from smoke.

I live in a place that will never be reached by forest fire but the smoke from fires 80,100,150 kilometres away was thick at my place on a majority of days for two months. Visibility was often much reduced. It was hazardous. I have never seen anything like it despite decades of experiencing fires on the cities perimeter.

Keep an eye on your lungs!

Enough fire talk from me! I haven’t visited your log for quite a while and now I see you are retired and back on French!

Good luck with both. Enjoy both!

It took me a year or so before I got into the swing of retirement but I managed! I can’t wait for covid to get out of the way of my travel plans!
5 x

User avatar
sfuqua
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1642
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:05 am
Location: san jose, california
Languages: Bad English: native
Samoan: speak, but rusty
Tagalog: imperfect, but use all the time
Spanish: read
French: read some
Japanese: beginner, obsessively studying
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9248
x 6299

Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby sfuqua » Mon Aug 02, 2021 10:02 pm

Well, I'm having a particularly good day, so I thought I would share it. :D

The weather here is glorious, as long as you don't like rain, and the temperature is near perfect -- a little cool in the mornings and a little warm in late afternoon. I walked with my wife and daughter this morning. My daughter gave up first, and my wife quit the next lap. I finished alone. Company is nice, but walking alone is nice too.

After a year of high school German, my daughter is starting to get crazy about German. Maybe it runs in the family. Anyway, she carefully chose a language that I know nothing about. :-) Now, she wants to spend a year abroad... :D

I decided to go back to not worrying about what I am accomplishing, and instead just do what I enjoy each day. Maybe I will get somewhere; maybe I won't. I decided that I should immediately begin to have fun, so I reconnected my Old English deck, parked my French and Spanish decks, and proceeded to goof off for a few days. Nice, I forgot how much I get a kick out of runes and reading long arguements about which scribe wrote what in Beowulf. Was that one scribe actually a woman? Why is this important? Which font do I want to make these cards? Wow, Old English is a fun mixture of familiar and utterly alien! If there were huge invasions of Germanic folks into Britain, why isn't there an even bigger genetic footprint? If there wasn't a huge invasion, why did the Germanic culture/language take over so completely, and why are the only scanty records of the time full of stories of huge invasions and wars? And where was Mons Badonicus? How big a battle was it? Which side should I cheer for?
Anyway, I've been gently studying Old English and reading a bunch. It's my idea of fun. I have no idea how long this will keep me amused. I would love to level up my French and Spanish, but maybe I don't have the drive to do it today. Maybe tomorrow.

I've been thinking about a big project for my retirement. Getting another degree would be fun, but it would be expensive. There are plenty of volunteer positions; maybe, but nothing leaps out at me.

I have some ideas, though, based on what I have been reading about the world, and the state of the country where I live.

I think I should learn flint knapping. I'm at least a little bit serious; it looks very cool.
Or perhaps I should learn how to brew beer. I would have to check my product, which might be fun.

Those might be fun, even if the world doesn't collapse.
10 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

User avatar
IronMike
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2554
Joined: Thu May 12, 2016 6:13 am
Location: Northern Virginia
Languages: Studying: Esperanto
Maintaining: nada
Tested:
BCS, 1+L/1+R (DLPT5, 2022)
Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
x 7265
Contact:

Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby IronMike » Tue Aug 03, 2021 4:07 pm

sfuqua wrote:Or perhaps I should learn how to brew beer. I would have to check my product, which might be fun.

If you seriously choose this, PM me. I've learned a lot about how to prevent infection and make really good beer. Cheaply.
4 x
You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
My swimming life.
My reading life.

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1968
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... &start=200
x 4050

Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby DaveAgain » Tue Aug 03, 2021 4:47 pm

sfuqua wrote:Nice, I forgot how much I get a kick out of runes
I read the reading sample bit of Neil Gaiman's norse mythology book earlier today (German edition :-)) it tells the story of how Odin learnt the secret of runes:
The highest and the oldest of all the gods is Odin.

Odin knows many secrets. He gave an eye for wisdom. More than that, for knowledge of runes, and for power, he sacrificed himself to himself.

He hung from the world-tree, Yggdrasil, hung there for nine nights. His side was pierced by the point of a spear, which wounded him gravely. The winds clutched at him, buffeted his body as it hung. Nothing did he eat for nine days or nine nights, nothing did he drink. He was alone there, in pain, the light of his life slowly going out.

He was cold, in agony, and on the point of death when his sacrifice bore dark fruit: in the ecstasy of his agony he looked down, and the runes were revealed to him. He knew them, and understood them and their power. The rope broke then, and he fell, screaming from the tree.

Now he understood magic. Now the world was his to control.
1 x

User avatar
sfuqua
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1642
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:05 am
Location: san jose, california
Languages: Bad English: native
Samoan: speak, but rusty
Tagalog: imperfect, but use all the time
Spanish: read
French: read some
Japanese: beginner, obsessively studying
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9248
x 6299

Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby sfuqua » Wed Aug 04, 2021 2:43 am

I'm kind of serious about knapping and brewing. It would be nice to have a skill where after the collapse, the youngsters might say, "Lets keep feeding that old guy. He can brew and knap." :D

I'm in a weird mood these days, as the reality of retirement is taking hold. So far it has been summer vacation, but my daughter and wife are starting school again next week.

And I am retired.

Which is great, but it is a big change. :D

I'm still fooling around with Old English, Irish, and Norse, which is a nice bunch of hard languages...

I've got to get my programming setup going so I can start to work on an espeak NG Old English voice. I wonder if I can produce something that will be accepted by the project... :?

I've got to get the brewing and knapping going too.
8 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

User avatar
IronMike
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2554
Joined: Thu May 12, 2016 6:13 am
Location: Northern Virginia
Languages: Studying: Esperanto
Maintaining: nada
Tested:
BCS, 1+L/1+R (DLPT5, 2022)
Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
x 7265
Contact:

Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby IronMike » Wed Aug 04, 2021 11:21 pm

sfuqua wrote:I'm kind of serious about knapping and brewing. It would be nice to have a skill where after the collapse, the youngsters might say, "Lets keep feeding that old guy. He can brew and knap." :D

Then you can't go wrong with Charlie Papazian's book. If you have a Kindle, it's on a deal now for 2 bucks.
1 x
You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
My swimming life.
My reading life.

User avatar
sfuqua
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1642
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:05 am
Location: san jose, california
Languages: Bad English: native
Samoan: speak, but rusty
Tagalog: imperfect, but use all the time
Spanish: read
French: read some
Japanese: beginner, obsessively studying
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9248
x 6299

Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby sfuqua » Thu Aug 05, 2021 4:26 pm

I got the book on brewing, and I have a lot to learn. Like many things, I wish I had started 30 years ago. I'll PM once I know enough to ask an intellegent question. :lol:

I made a stupid little change in my anki configuration that has increased my relaxation in reviewing a bunch. First, I set up my decks with the settings from the Refold site https://refold.la/roadmap/stage-1/a/anki-setup. I hope that newbies who are actually trying to learn a language find this site, as it appears to me that it has good advice, and it is presented without claims of divine inspiration. :D I never thought of setting the starting ease low and setting the interval modifier high to avoid ease hell. Very cute.
One of the things that they advocate is setting up anki so that you don't see what the next interval will be on a card. I did this, and I went one step further, I turned off the notification about remaining cards on each card. Now I only see the card, and my choices about how well I know the card. I only use pass or fail. I never know how close I am to getting finished or how I am doing. No stress! If I need a ton of reviews, so be it. I just find out how I am doing when I am done.

I like this setup a lot. :D

I'm adding this later:
I like it because I only have to think about the current card. There is no future and there is no past. Just the current card. No stress about cards remaining, no stress about cards I missed...

Just the next card, and the next card, and the next card...
16 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests