2022! Logger without a saw & Español with no teeth

[Cerebral_Arbitrage]

Happy New Year everyone. I was inspired by Amanda's (Philomath) and Clara's log organization. Both of their logs feel very accessible and make tracking one's goals a snap. Although I was only logging a month, here's a link to my 2021 entries.

• 2021

Around New Year's Eve, I love to read books about behavior change to inspire self-improvement. So this year, I'm going to try getting into a very solid B2 range in Spanish by using resources that I like every day. I'm going to try to set up monthly goals for myself too! I've joined the 365 day challenge and the Polyglot Fitness Challenge!

Edit: Because I hit "submit" before I was finished!

[Cerebral_Arbitrage]

1. January
2. February
3. March

[Cerebral_Arbitrage]

January Goals

I am testing out the waters, which means these goals may change a bit. We'll see what works. I'll return to this page at the end of this month to see how I did!

365 Challenge
[ ] 30 minutes a day for 31 days.

Polyglot Fitness Challenge
[ ] Read 120 pages
[ ] Watch 20 hours of video
[ ] Review Speakly, Clozemaster, and Anki every day
[ ] Log my food for 31 days
[ ] Do my exercises for 15 minutes a day.

January Goals - End of the Month Update
Well, it was January, so like a lot of people, my motivation was high. I tried to use my New Year / Fresh Start motivation to get a little ahead in case there are months when I won't have as much time. Here's how it all came out.

365 Challenge
[*]30 minutes a day for 31 days.

Polyglot Fitness Challenge
[*] Read 158 pages
[*] Watched 25 hours and 47 minutes of video
[*] Reviewed Speakly, Clozemaster, and Anki every day
[*] Logged my food for 31 days
[*] Do my exercises for 15 minutes a day.

[Cerebral_Arbitrage]

I like to update my log on Sunday or Monday so I’m keeping up with the habit. It has been good fun reading everyone’s updated logs here on LLF. There have been so many! And it’s great to see the different (and similar) approaches people take to tackling and maintaining their languages. One of the posts, “Your Relationship with Anki SRS,” caught my attention and “the hate” gave me a good laugh.

I started Baselang today and will begin logging the amount of time I’m speaking. I don’t have high expectations on the instruction, based on what I’ve read on LLF, but it seems like it will be good practice. I am also trying to write a couple of sentences every day. I’m considering the Reddit ES writing streak but it might be too big of a commitment right now. We'll see how these challenge pan out over the next couple of week.

Challenge Updates this Month

365 Challenge

• 30 minutes a day for 31 days - 2 out of 2 days
  
  Polyglot Fitness Challenge
• Read 120 pages - 10 pages out of 120
  
• Watch 20 hours of video - 1 hours, 25 minutes out of 20 hours
  
• Review Speakly, Clozemaster, and Anki every day - 2 out of 2 days
  
• Log my food for 31 days - 2 out of 2 days
  
• Do my exercises for 15 minutes a day - 2 out of 2 days

[Cerebral_Arbitrage]

This week I started Baselang classes and I’ve been finding them helpful. Even though there are many native Spanish speakers in my neighborhood, I feel self-conscious talking to them in my less than stellar Spanish. Baselang does solve that issue and the DELE exercises are helpful. Because “Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief” was a little advanced for me, I am now reading the first Spooksville book, “The Secret Path.” It is probably similar to Goosebumps in its linguistic complexity, which means it’s a lot easier for me to understand. I’m still learning a lot of words, like “murmured,” “shrugged her shoulders” and “shook her head.” I haven’t read much fiction and it shows. I am still working my way through Netflix’s “Longmire.” Longmire and Spooksville aren’t going to win any awards, but I have to say I’m grateful that neither are boring me and I look forward to reading / watching them. That seems like a victory in itself. I also had a chance to watch “Roma” over the weekend, which DID win awards and rightly so. It is a beautifully shot movie.

This week’s hourly breakdown


• Grammar 3:11
  
• Reading 3:01
  
• Speaking 2:10
  
• Video 7:10
  
• Vocabulary 1:50
  
• This week’s total time: 17 hours, 24 minutes

Challenge Updates this Month

365 Challenge

• 30 minutes a day for 31 days - 7 out of 7 days
  
  Polyglot Fitness Challenge
• Read 120 pages - 60 pages out of 120
  
• Watch 20 hours of video - 8 hours, 35 minutes out of 20 hours
  
• Review Speakly, Clozemaster, and Anki every day - 7 out of 7 days
  
• Log my food for 31 days - 7 out of 7 days
  
• Do my exercises for 15 minutes a day – 7 out of 7 days

[Cerebral_Arbitrage]

I’ve finished 3 seasons of Longmire in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. The murder rate of Absaroka County must be similar to that of Midsomer (in the show Midsomer Murders). The population in both locations dwindles every week. Just like DCI Barnaby, Sherriff Longmire always gets the bad guy/gal, though poor Longmire appears more tormented than his English counterpart. If only he could use his words…

I finished my first book in the Spooksville series this week and started the second. Our three intrepid tweens survived their first trip into a creepy alternate universe and are now going to save someone’s little brother. Go get ‘em tigers.

TSS42 and Stell’s posts about Geronimo Stilton books captured my interest. I had never heard of them before, but I looked to see if they were available in Spanish. I found some, so if I feel like I want a change from the kids in Spooksville, I can try well-educated rats! They look like fun.

Another interesting post was about rolling your RR’s by Luke. I can roll them but only if I concentrate. When I’m using Pimsleur in my car, I can easily forget to trill. I also have to concentrate on the shape of my mouth when I’m trying to improve my accent.

This week’s hourly breakdown


• Grammar 0:57
  
• Pimsleur 0:53
  
• Reading 1:43
  
• Speaking 1:20
  
• Video 6:27
  
• Vocabulary 2:09
  
• This week’s total time: 13 hours, 31 minutes

Challenge Updates this Month

365 Challenge

• 30 minutes a day for 31 days - 7 out of 7 days
  
  Polyglot Fitness Challenge
• Read 120 pages - 98 pages out of 120
  
• Watch 20 hours of video - 16 hours, 6 minutes out of 20 hours
  
• Review Speakly, Clozemaster, and Anki every day - 7 out of 7 days
  
• Log my food for 31 days - 7 out of 7 days
  
• Do my exercises for 15 minutes a day – 7 out of 7 days

[Cerebral_Arbitrage]

This week was more of a stretch to hit my goals. When my routine is upended, I often need the alarms I’ve set in my phone to remind me of my daily Spanish tasks. It was that kind of week.

I found out that two of my elderly Aunties are huge Longmire fans. (Longmire is the show I’ve been watching in Spanish.) Apparently, the two of them binge watched it together over the course of a couple of weeks. It still makes me think of them and smile when I start a new episode. I suspect they had a crush on the good sheriff.

A post that I found reassuring was “have you stopped learning a specific language before.” I am not the only one who has felt this particular pain. My relationship with Spanish over the years has been off and on. Passionate then uninspired. Obsessive and then indifferent. At times, Spanish breaks my heart as I continually break its grammar.

This week’s hourly breakdown


• Grammar 1:15
  
• Pimsleur 1:46
  
• Reading 0:23
  
• Speaking 0:30
  
• Video 2:53
  
• Vocabulary 2:05
  
• This week’s total time: 8 hours, 54 minutes

Challenge Updates this Month

365 Challenge

• 30 minutes a day for 31 days - 7 out of 7 days
  
  Polyglot Fitness Challenge
• Read 120 pages - 105 pages out of 120
  
• Watch 20 hours of video – 17 hours, 54 minutes out of 20 hours
  
• Review Speakly, Clozemaster, and Anki every day - 7 out of 7 days
  
• Log my food for 31 days - 7 out of 7 days
  
• Do my exercises for 15 minutes a day – 7 out of 7 days

[Cerebral_Arbitrage]

I wasn’t using Baselang as much as I thought I would, which is a shame. I liked the DELE curriculum and the convenience of its scheduling. And I liked that I could practice without feeling guilty about subjecting a native speaker to my mistakes. In the end, it was too much money to spend on something I wasn’t using.

I finished the second book in the Spooksville series, which involved a haunted lighthouse and an old shipwreck. It included a dangerous scuba diving scene, a confrontation with a bitter ghost and plenty of bickering between the two tweens who both had crushes on the same boy. I am becoming much more familiar with synonyms having to do with fear, death and spirits from beyond.

Luke posted another interesting survey about ADHD and medication. I have tendencies in that direction. As a child, I was very impulsive and “bouncy.” If I had been born at a different time or had pronounced difficulties in school, I may have been identified. Now those tendencies seem to be evident in my executive functioning: organizing, prioritizing, starting new tasks, etc. I can do these things, but they are weaknesses.

This week’s hourly breakdown


• Grammar 0:47
  
• Pimsleur 0:15
  
• Reading 3:14
  
• Speaking 2:10
  
• Video 4:55
  
• Vocabulary 2:05
  
• This week’s total time: 13 hours, 27 minutes

Challenge Updates this Month

365 Challenge

• 30 minutes a day for 31 days - 7 out of 7 days
  
  Polyglot Fitness Challenge
• Read 120 pages - 158 pages out of 120
  
• Watch 20 hours of video – 22 hours, 52 minutes out of 20 hours
  
• Review Speakly, Clozemaster, and Anki every day - 7 out of 7 days
  
• Log my food for 31 days - 7 out of 7 days
  
• Do my exercises for 15 minutes a day – 7 out of 7 days

[Cerebral_Arbitrage]

February Goals

After living with these goals for a month, I'm beginning to wonder about the number of hours I've chosen for my video goal. Is it realistic for an entire year? Right now, I'm not doing much because of my back injury and Omicron. But as I get healthier, I'd like to think that I'll be able to spend more time hiking or with friends. I think I'm going to reduce it to 120 hours for the entire year (or 10 hours a month). It will be more motivating to go over this goal and crush it rather than to approximate a bigger goal and fall short.

365 Challenge
[ ] 30 minutes a day for 31 days.

Polyglot Fitness Challenge
[ ] Read 120 pages
[ ] Watch 15 hours of video
[ ] Review Speakly, Clozemaster, and Anki every day
[ ] Log my food for 31 days
[ ] Do my exercises for 15 minutes a day.

End of Month Update

I was surprised that I was able to pass my reading and watching goals. I was able to push myself in the video category because I was tired of Longmire and ready for something new. I learned I could read extensively with Geronimo Stilton books, since they are a few levels lower and less of a stretch.

365 Challenge
[X] 30 minutes a day for 31 days.

Polyglot Fitness Challenge
[X] Read 120 pages - I read 135 pages
[X] Watch 15 hours of video - I watched 25 hours of video
[X] Review Speakly, Clozemaster, and Anki every day
[X] Log my food for 31 days
[ ] Do my exercises for 15 minutes a day. Missed 2 days

[Cerebral_Arbitrage]

I lost my Polygot Fitness Challenge "15 minutes a day" Streak, which saddens me. But I’ve already done my Physical Therapy exercises today so I’m hoping I’m back into the swing of things. It was my boyfriend’s birthday weekend, which meant cooking. Every year, the sweet man only asks for one thing: a special meal. It took a bit longer this year with my bad back even though the menu wasn’t complicated. But it was all worth it to see how happy he was to tuck into his dinner. He’s a great guy who deserves to eat well and have a good birthday at the same time.

I started reading the first book in the Geronimo Stilton series. It is much easier to read than the books in the Spooksville series. When I looked up the grade levels targeted with these books, Geronimo was two grade levels lower than our friends in Spooksville. If an elementary teacher were to assess my Spanish reading levels, I would bet they would say that it’s somewhere around 2nd or 3rd grade level (I think Year 3 or 4 in the UK?) based on what I find easy. I can’t wait until I’m at a level where I can read all the escapist teen fiction having to do with space ships or dystopian universes. And I’ll be able to justify (to myself anyway) all the time I spend doing it because I am “working hard” on Spanish.

This week’s hourly breakdown


• Grammar 0:12
  
• Pimsleur 0:49
  
• Reading 0:22
  
• Speaking 0:30
  
• Video 7:32
  
• Vocabulary 2:14
  
• This week’s total time: 11 hours, 40 minutes

Challenge Updates this Month

365 Challenge

• 30 minutes a day for 31 days - 7 out of 7 days
  
  Polyglot Fitness Challenge
• Read 120 pages - 35 pages out of 120
  
• Watch 20 hours of video – 7 hours, 32 minutes out of 20 hours
  
• Review Speakly, Clozemaster, and Anki every day - 7 out of 7 days
  
• Log my food for 31 days - 7 out of 7 days
  
• Do my exercises for 15 minutes a day – 5 out of 7 days