Recapping the Week

I really don’t know what to write about for this one.

Most of the city-wide restrictions have lifted here this week and a number of businesses are open again.  Nail salons being open again is the most exciting part of it for me, as it’s been a long while since my last manicure.  I did my own nails once during the interim, and they turned out fine, but I still hate doing them and am impatiently waiting for my appointment next weekend.  My N95 mask will be on and my nails will be flawless.

Anyway, I’m blathering, because not much has really changed for me this week.  I’m reading and watching the same sort of stuff while staying indoors and working.  Last week’s blog about the flow of time continues to be true and my routine kept the week rolling by at a normal rate, but that doesn’t mean anything changed over that time, not really.  If there was anything remarkable about the week, it was how normal it felt, which is both comforting and concerning.  It was really nice to not feel anxious and sad at every waking hour, but I don’t know that I want this world to be the New Normal, where I’m numb to it and just accepting everything that happens at face value.  I don’t think that’s happening, but it certainly feels like a risk that it might happen.  It’s so easy to get inoculated to awful crap if it’s something constant because you just start tuning it out as part of the background pattern to life.

The end result of all of it is that I just attempt to keep my head down and stay busy.  It’s certainly a weird world to try and make plans in, but I’m working on making the best of it where I can.  With things opening up again, stuff that was on hold can start to get done again (I’m overdue for a laser hair removal appointment—dear god, I’m becoming a Karen, aren’t I?), which leads me to think more about the things I’d like to do.  May is going to close out year 2 of this blog, and I’d like to end on a strong note, so I’m staying focused on my routine, but I’m also looking ahead at what I’d like to do in year 3.  There’s something I’ve had the idea of doing for a while which I think I might experiment with in June.  Further news on that if it comes to pass.

Until then, I’ve still got a few weeks to go, and ought to try and have some content to fill up that time between now and then.  I’m okay with this week feeling a little on the thin side.  I’m feeling a little on the stretched thin side myself.  The New Normal has a habit of doing that to you.

Anyway, let’s look at the actual numbers for the week.

Tuesday 5/05

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 7% of Estirpe de Reyes, ~90 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Kiwillius, 1 episode of Plano de Juego, 1 episode of Arte Divierte, ~60 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

Wednesday 5/06

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 7% of Estirpe de Reyes, ~90 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Kiwillius, 1 episode of Plano de Juego, ~60 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

Thursday 5/07

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 9% of Estirpe de Reyes, ~120 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Kiwillius, ~60 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

Friday 5/08

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 7% of Estirpe de Reyes, ~90 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Kiwillius, 1 episode of Calex MP, ~60 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

Saturday 5/09

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 2% of Estirpe de Reyes, ~30 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Kiwillius, 1 episode of La Zona Cero, ~120 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

Sunday 5/10

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 2% of Estirpe de Reyes, ~30 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Kiwillius, 1 episode of Plano de Juego, 1 episode of Andrea Ga, 1 episode of Daniel San GMR, ~120 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

Monday 5/11

• Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
• Reading: 7% of Estirpe de Reyes, ~90 minutes
• Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Kiwillius, 1 episode of Plano de Juego, 1 episode of Andrea Ga, ~60 minutes
• Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes

• Total Duolingo: 140 XP, 0 minutes
• Total reading: 2/5 books read, 540 minutes
• Total watching/listening: 21 YouTube episodes, 540 minutes
• Total speaking: reading out loud, 210 minutes
• Total Time: 18 hours 0 minutes

This sorta-goal of ending year 2 on a strong note is on track.  I’ve fallen back into a pretty consistent and comfortable routine with my numbers these last few months, which has been aided well by general work volume returning to how things were pre-craziness.  Work can still be a heart-breaker, but it’s feeling easier to remain productive throughout the day on both business and personal pursuits.

I crossed the halfway mark on Estirpe de Reyes this week, which means I’m at 1.5 books remaining on what’s available of Riftwar in Spanish.  This may line up absolutely perfectly with my secret plans I mentioned earlier, but we shall see for sure on that later.

I’m hitting an interesting stride with the number of Youtube channels I follow in Spanish to where it’s becoming more and more common for daily releases of videos and streams to equal out to my soft target of watch-time.  It isn’t there yet, but that is an ideal situation I have for myself, where there is no ‘seeking out’ of material to hit my Spanish listening goal at all because those goals are always met by the things I consume daily.  We’ll see if I ever actually get there, though.

Anyway, that’ll about do for this one, such as it is.  Even when I’m keeping things brief these blogs waffle on for a while regardless of what I do.  TTFN.