I read that edition because I know the area*, which adds interest to the local news - eg the long-running controversy of the contournement de Beynac. If you drive down the hill through the town, the left turn onto the main road is a royal pain in the ass even in late September. But man, put some traffic lights there, don’t ruin the valley with an elevated bypass!
I assume you must know that you can get free browser add-ons which allow you to hover over/click on a word for an on-screen translation box? That helps enormously.
Even with all that - being invested, easy translation tools, a fecking global pandemic that left me with soooo much time on my hands - I’ve been struggling to keep going.
And there’s more free stuff to help - TV5 Monde have a huge learning section with hundreds of teaching videos. More free tools - and still I struggle. Pathetic. (It doesn’t help that I’m still stuck at the lowest level - I just find French spoken at full speed very hard to follow. It’s dispiriting.)
(Hi @panache45 - you might find these resources useful as well.)
j
* - Actually, being English, by international law I have priority access to all things Dordogne; and indeed Dordogneshire.
I’ve been studying Spanish and French for decades, and can speak them fairly well, but still have room to improve. I’ve been dabbling in Arabic for a few years, but haven’t gotten far.
I play chess against my phone. It tells me that I’m about a 1200. Obviously, a lot of room to improve there as well.
I would like to become a better writer. I take it up several times a year but I always get discouraged. Everything I do and study relies on my writing and communication skills. Reading very well written posts has been one of my main attractions to The Straight Dope.
Start now because you are going to run out of time. Last night I opened a wonderful 2 year old Caerphilly. It had a lovely color, a nice rind, crumbly texture and delightful bouquet. Tomorrow I’ll start another one* and let it go for 5 years. I don’t have enough time left in my life to consider aging cheeses for longer than 20 years though.
*I print off a copy of the recipe I’m using and write down everything that happens during the cooking process so that now, two years later, I know what I did and what to do or not to do next time.
Good idea. And that’s really what I do. I have rearranged some things in the house so I have a bit more space to practice. We have a perfect room for it.
Just pick it up every day is my goal, but it often turns into a longer time then I intended.
My Wife is one of those that must pace when on a long phone call to friends, so I’m gonna go practice right now.
I’m 61. My personal motto has been to never stop learning. By the time I was an adult, I was a pretty good baker, but I needed to learn how to cook well. I knew the basics, but I am a much better cook now, not just due to practice, but because I started trying to find out the best way to prepare foods and to trust my flavor memory. I also started canning and improvising my own jam flavors.
When I hit about age 30, the gardening bug bit me so I’ve learned a lot about that too. I hate that I no longer have a real garden but I still play with combining flowers and vegetables in a pottery garden outside my door. With luck in weather and an understanding of microclimates, you can grow quite a number of plants not recommended for Zone 4, while living in Zone 4.
You all have tried to get better at things as an adult, even without setting out personally to do so, because your jobs require it. Or because your children, spouse, house, car require it. Never stop learning.
Since the pandemic started, I’ve learned to solve 3 varieties of Rubik’s cubes. (3x3, skewb, and megaminx. I could already do the pyraminx intuitively.). I not currently trying to get better, just trying to solve them often enough that I don’t forget how.
I’ve also taken up recurve archery for target shooting. For a while, I was shooting 100 arrows per day to dial in the instinctive aiming.
Now I do it more occasionally, but I still am trying to work on my form and improve.
I have an ukulele, and I’ve worked on learning to play. I’ve tried and failed in the past at saxophone (in school) guitar, and bass (college). I made progress for a while, and really pushed to get better so I would get more out of a seminar I signed up for. But I wound up getting very sick and couldn’t go to the seminar. I got discouraged after that and I haven’t picked it up for awhile, but I think I’m getting the itch to start working on it again.
I’m also constantly working on being a better parent and partner. Trying to listen better, not lose my temper, focus more on understanding than being understood. Communicating clearly what I want rather than being indirect or blaming. Therapy.
Ha, same here. Was my Wife’s office when she was working from home. Very sunny with a door to the outside, and another door into the house. If it’s a nice day, I can just step outside and annoy the wildlife with my ‘music’. Works very well.
Ours was a brick addition. When we bought the house, it’s auxiliary heating system was broken and obsolete. So we used it as a 3-season room. During Covid, we installed a ductless heat pump/AC. We recently moved our piano down there. Out we usually have 1 of my uprights, at least 1 of my wife’s fiddles, my banjo, and an old Martin she restored. We bought enough music stands and lights so our quartet sets up very comfortably in one end of the room. The mix of hard and soft surfaces and a tray ceiling give the room INCREDIBLE acoustics.
About three years ago I took up martial arts, after about a thirty year gap in studying. I’m 57 and am well on my way to earning a black belt (brown belt now). I’ve lost 15 lbs, gotten lots more flexible and gained strength and balance. Obviously with belts as a means of measuring progress I have gotten better!
One more thing I hope to get better at is woodworking. I have a bunch of tools, a plan to start simple: build a nice wooden box with a false bottom, and go from there.
