Quote:The Colbert Show, which plays in the room I'm in, is actually becoming so incredibly stupid, as it becomes politicized in order to bolster Clinton and to push down Trump at every turn. I don't even care about the elections anymore.
Along with almost every single other outlet, and people on facebook. Like they are just told to hate him and go along with it, like it's the 'cool' thing to do. I see so many posts and memes about him and few about hillary.
I'm not even in america but I like Trump.
Day 40 (Aug 28, 2016),
Hating my life; I want my voice to improve so that I can get on with my life. It isn't.
I went to a bar with a friend of mine; it was fun, but I was not interested in talking to any girl. It seems that there were half-decent women, but they didn't take care of themselves. I take care of myself, so I'd expect at least that much.
Day 41,
Goal #3:
The Chronicle of the 20th Century; year 1952
A System of Logic by John Stuart Mill; page 479
A Story of Philosophy by Will Durant; FINISHED
EDIT: I had a dream in which it was the end of the night, and we were outside. All of the women were interested in the various men that were there, and then there was me. alone lol
Day 43,
Goal #3:
The Chronicle of the 20th Century; year 1957 (having a strong focus on finishing this first)
A System of Logic by John Stuart Mill; page 479
A Story of Philosophy by Will Durant; FINISHED
Goal #4: Putting all my car time into playing Singing Success audio, and doing the exercises. I'm finding my mix-voice, but it's difficult to do outside of the pervue of the exercises. It's quite promising, so I'll keep doing it.
This has been taking over Goals #1 and #2. I figure that once I finish my book list, I'll be able to create some sort of habit or routine that I can employ daily to take care of my German and Arabic skills little by little, without requiring huge swathes of time.
Goals #5 and #6 are more or less taken care of (recall for communication, and focus), and they'll be strengthened when I use BASE.
I'm tempted to cut it off at 60 days, depending on how quickly I finish the books; the utility of the goals was to create a time-barrier, and to prevent me from prematurely ending this program. I'm thankful that I took this approach, as the temptation to change programs is, as the name suggests, tempting.
I have been listening to MLS 5G for about a week..I have issues with focus and motivation. Deep down I known I can do it but I can't. Every day I open my book and after 10 mins I loose focus and concentration.
Hope it helps me in this area.
(09-01-2016, 07:03 AM)zainuu163 Wrote: [ -> ]I have been listening to MLS 5G for about a week..I have issues with focus and motivation. Deep down I known I can do it but I can't. Every day I open my book and after 10 mins I loose focus and concentration.
Hope it helps me in this area.
It will. The point isn't about having complete, unwavering focus - though that is the ideal. The point is to catch yourself at any point you look away from your task, and to place yourself back on track.
I was able to shorten the amount of time to pull myself back on track from minutes to seconds, which increased my throughput.
Day 45,
I spent a few hours after work, aggressively going through the history book. I really want to finish this book as an easy segue towards finishing my MLs run. I still need to finish the book on logic. In any case, I want to be able to set up habits for my two languages, which are easy and automatic.
I'm in a hurry, since hours will shoot down considerably after labour day (I'm in the restaurant business), and my job interview did not lead to a hire.
I'm currently just entering year 1962 (of 1988)
Day 49,
I've been delaying the goals of the program, by going into a songwriting mode. I had this idea of creating a Christmas album of 100% original material, so that would differentiate it from the other albums. It's an interesting selling point, if you ask me. I have ideas for 3 songs already, and in one 30 hour block of time (6pm one day to midnight the next), I wrote out the entire melody, progression, and lyrics for a song. I'll probably work at this in a recording studio, one song at a time, stripping down the production to make it easier to accomplish.
Day 51,
I did 2.5 hours of Ju Jitsu today; 1 hour at 6am, and 1.5 from 6:30 to 8pm. My joints are sore. The evening class was very busy, so I was rolling with various people.
Got further ahead in the history book; 1974. I might get to 1975 tonight (I reached 1976), which puts me at 14 years until I finish the book. This will be a big deal. I also have 180 pages left in that book on logic.
With singing, I've been reaching my mix voice in C4, but not in B3, so I'm thinking that my 'primo passagio' is either of those notes. If this is true, that could make me a bari-tenor (which contradicts what my teacher says I am), a dramatic tenor, or a spinto tenor, but with a heavier voice (like Mario del Monaco). I've been passing through the mix voice, and I can do it moderately well.
I also completed a day's worth of German flashcards (lowering new daily cards to 20, instead of 55). Lowering my daily output might be slower in the long term, but I see it as less of a daily challenge and less of a consumer of time, which makes it easier for me to begin each day. Note that I haven't touched my German flashcards for a couple of weeks, while it was set at 55 new daily cards.
Day 55,
Goal #3:
The Chronicle of the 20th Century; year 1988 FINISHED
A System of Logic by John Stuart Mill; page 490
A Story of Philosophy by Will Durant; FINISHED
Let's add a couple of updates.
#1: German abilities: I used the Michel Thomas Vocabulary Builder, and that really helped. However, I entered a brief hiatus. I've started back on the 4000 word frequency list flashcard deck, (8000 cards in total). I've completed 11% of it. What helped me is to reduce the daily load of new cards (20 down from 55). Fifty-five was unrealistic, and it created an pressure to invest 1+ hours a day for something with little yield. The remainder of the cards will take me a little over a year, and so as long as I work on this 20-25 minutes a day, I'll be in great shape.
#2: Arabic Abilities: I got through CD4 of the Foundation Michel Thomas course. I will compile a 1000 word flashcard system, based on frequency lists. These are actually easier to make than I thought, given that Anki supports Text-To-Speech, and it supports Arabic. I may figure out the italicized version, which will require more time.
#2.5 Punjabi Abilities: my co-workers are Indian, and they keep wanting me to learn more and more Punjabi. I've just recently created a 400 word flashcard set that I can word on. Pronouns, Prepositions, 100 most common nouns, 100 most common verbs, 100 most common adjectives, and numbers. I've used the Text-to-Speech technology, but the audio sounds a bit stilted.
#4: I hit an easy E4 today, and even braved the F4 today on unstable ground. My voice teacher tells me that I'll be able to have very comfortable Fs by Christmas (within the next 3 months). This is what I've been waiting for; I'd really like a comfortable F# or G, and then I'd feel comfortable traveling with these abilities.
#5: I have enough focus to get the job done, but I don't have enough motivation or purpose to go hard on a topic.
#6: My recall is as good as it could ever be; I'm not reaching for words or concepts like I used to. I'm very satisfied on this front.
I've been doing a lot of Jiu-Jitsu; Yesterday, I did 1 hour. Today, I did 3 hours. I might do 1 hour sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. Total of 6 hours for this week.
Have you tried Pimsleur as well?
(09-13-2016, 06:41 PM)wolverine_i_am Wrote: [ -> ]Have you tried Pimsleur as well?
Pimsleur sucks. I've used it, but it doesn't give any word-by-word translation, it only teaches pronunciation and token sentences. I wouldn't recommend it for any serious language learning.
I use frequency lists, Michel Thomas, and LingQ.