June has come and gone and it’s bizarre to think we’re already halfway through 2021. This last year and a half has been such a bizarre experience in general, with the ebb and flow of the spread of COVID changing so much of the status quo for everyone. My own personal journey through all this has added onto the weirdness, as I started my medical transition mere weeks before my job sent everyone to work from home, making my own “wait” through this even more strange. So much of everything has become an exercise in treading in place, and I’ve felt that in my bones so many times over 2020 and 2021.
These last few months, however, have been odd in their own way, as the restrictions of the world and myself slowly lifted post-vaccination, I’ve started seeing people I haven’t seen in ages again, and I could start doing the things I’ve been putting off. June had been a blur for me, with every weekend filled up with stuff I was trying to do now that I can. The bulk of the pre-work in getting my name change official everywhere is finished now, with my birth certificate fully squared away and everything submitted to the social security administration and pending approval. After that’s finished, I just need to walk into the DMV and get a new driver’s license, and then for all intents and purposes it’s done. I’ll be spending the rest of the year submitting for updates with everything from my bank accounts to updating auto-pays once credit cards are replaced, but with drivers license in hand, my documents will declare me as who I am.
And as big of a cheer as that sort of thing is, it’s amazing how much it’s just a drop in the bucket in terms of stuff I’m dealing with. Most all of it’s good, mind you, it’s fulfilling and gratifying to be able to go out into the world again and do these sorts of things, to be able to fill up my time like this, but an unfortunate side-effect of all this is how much this project has taken a hit from it, as I’m sure is sort of apparent looking at it lately. My actual Spanish studying is still managing to stay together for the most part, as it slots in well around my job, but blogs with actual content in them are getting few and far between, with this being the first one since the end of May and, well, not really being about language learning, more just being a summation of my life this last month, explaining why I’m so dang busy all the time.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m considering how my shifts in priorities are impacting this project and what it’s going to mean for the future of this blog, and the unfortunate truth is that I just don’t really know where things are going or what all I ought to do with this project. The structure of the Spanish studying continues to be rewarding to me, and there are lots of things I’m invested in reading at this point, so I’m not exactly running on empty in that direction. And if I’m studying and have this space available, documenting my progress seems natural. I think the question really comes down to what expectations I should be placing on blog content at all.
It’s been a long time that content blogs have been limited to the start and mid-month updates here, and the last couple months I begged off the mid one, with the plan of doing a mid-month, drafted in Spanish blog “next time I had a good topic for one.” I almost wrote this blog in Spanish to serve as making up for that, but as I thought about it, it felt better to get this down in English instead. I’m just not sure what I’m doing with this project anymore, other than keeping up the recaps for the time being.
So…yeah, this one here might be the last blog that’s more than just the recap for a bit, at least until something or other shifts in a way where I feel like writing a more content-heavy blog. It feels weird to disengage from something I’ve kept up through rain or shine for over three years now, but my life and the world is in a vastly different place than it was those three years ago. Mayhap the change is necessary.
Well, let’s get to this week’s numbers.
- Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
- Reading: 2% of Cielo en Llamas, ~90 minutes
- Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Amphibia, 1 episode of Daniel San GMR, ~60 minutes
- Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes
Wednesday 6/30
- Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
- Reading: 2% of Cielo en Llamas, ~90 minutes
- Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Amphibia, 1 episode of Daniel San GMR, ~60 minutes
- Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes
Thursday 7/01
- Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
- Reading: 2% of Cielo en Llamas, ~90 minutes
- Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Amphibia, 1 episode of Daniel San GMR, ~60 minutes
- Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes
Friday 7/02
- Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
- Reading: 2% of Cielo en Llamas, ~90 minutes
- Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Amphibia, 1 episode of Voltron, 1 episode of Kiwillius, ~60 minutes
- Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes
Saturday 7/03
- Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
- Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Voltron, 1 episode of Kiwillius, ~60 minutes
Sunday 7/04
- Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
- Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Voltron, 1 episode of Arte Divierte, ~30 minutes
Monday 7/05
- Duolingo: 20 XP earned, ~0 minutes
- Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Voltron, 1 episode of Daniel San GMR, ~30 minutes
- Total Duolingo: 140 XP, 0 minutes
- Total reading: 1/10 books read, 360 minutes
- Total watching/listening: 7 YouTube episodes and 12 television episodes watched, 360 minutes
- Total speaking: reading out loud, 120 minutes
Total Time: 12 hours 0 minutes
A reasonable week as a whole, little wonky since Monday being observance for the fourth of July meant I didn’t have to work and got a longer weekend out of the deal. I finished up the second season of Amphibia this week, then returned to Voltron. For the former, I enjoyed the second season a lot more than the first overall, and am excited to see season three when it comes out. For the latter, I am enjoying it for what it is so far, but feel like it might be the sort of thing I’ll set aside here and there for other things that interest me more. I’ve been waiting for Disney+ to add the Spanish dub to the third season of Ducktales, which they’ve been extremely slow in doing, but one of these days I might be able to finish that series, and there’s a new season of Beastars set to come out soon. I’m sure seasons of Voltron will fit well between those things, whenever they see the light of day.
This week, barring unforeseen catastrophe, I’ll be finishing up El Cielo en Llamas, based on how much of the book is left to go. After that, it’s back to the refresher of a Memorias de Idhún book to do something new for a bit, then I’m excited to go right into the next Rueda del Tiempo book. I’ve had my little complaints about the series thus far, but things definitely feel like they’re picking up as we go through the conclusion of this one.
As June also finished up this week, let’s look at the month as a whole.
- Total Duolingo: 600 XP, 0 minutes
- Total Watching/Listening: 37 tv episodes and 41 youtube videos watched, 1,650 minutes
- Total Reading: 2/5 whole books read, 1,890 minutes
- Total Writing: 0 words written, 0 minutes
- Total Speaking: reading out loud, 660 minutes
- Total Time: 59 hours 0 minutes
And here’s the breakdown for money spent.
- Netflix Subscription Standard HD Plan, Television and Movie Streaming, $10.99 per month, $10.99
- Disney+ Subscription, Television and Movie Streaming, $6.99 per month, $6.99
- Amount Spent on Services: $17.98
- Total Spent: $17.98
A relatively normal month, too. The numbers are lower than they have been at the height of me working on this project, but they’re fine for what they are. I’ve yet to fall off the wagon on this project, keeping it extremely consistent through my life, whether that’s been for a little or a lot of time each day. Don’t plan on changing that if I can help it.
Writing, on the other hand, has not proven to be all that consistent since I finished the novel that took up my time from December through May. In June I did finish the subsequent novella that I’ve had fits and starts on the last few months, but since then I haven’t really written anything, and my mood has suffered as a result. I definitely know I ought to get back into the swing of things, but I’m dealing with a bit of choice paralysis right now, I think. Something I’m definitely going to work on sooner rather than later, try and get back into the swing of things with writing as quickly as I can. Despite the challenges and lack of writing, I did manage to get down 10,250 words to finish the novella off, which is kinda terrible, but here we are. Hopefully July looks better again.
Anyway, I think that ought to do for this blog. TTFN.
Fumbling Toward Fluent 