JeffStray

Long time gone. Here's where I am: Level 21 75/75 pokedex 14 evolutions (that I don't already have) waiting on 1-2 more catches or hatches (yes, it's infuriating) EPL season started today, which means I now spend at least 2 hours per week sitting in range of 2 pokestops (compared to the zero at home). I haven't caught anything in a week because I was almost out of balls and was saving for something interesting. Have over 300 now between regular, great and ultra. Gonna be a good winter.

Streak intact, still cheating like crazy. I've just accepted that I'm going to keep on doing so until something clicks. I have started typing out my guess before checking, though. I'm taking more time, but finding that I can eventually come up with more than I was getting before.

Both Ryoshis absent, one gun missing from a Bishop. Other than that, every part accounted for.

Day 121, no idea what half the verbs they're throwing at me mean. I think that my cheating (hovering over words) deprived me of a lot of vocab for many of the sessions.

I mean, some things I'm good with. There was a BBC story about an 8-year-old kid who invented a new Italian word (petaloso = full of petals; adj. describing a flower) that I read today, and there was an accompanying screenshot of an official government tweet that started "Aspettiamo la primavera..." and, without thinking/pausing, I'm all hell yeah we're waiting for spring. So it's not all of the things. But...I mean...jewelry is something like gioeiolleria (that is wrong...I can't remember what is right), which makes sense looking at it, but remembering all of the excessive vowels in the right order is an exercise in madness.

I've definitely reached a point where I'm not retaining the new info. I'm maintaining the streak, but have to check the hints too often. I might backtrack and try out the journaling method, starting with lesson 1. I'll probably kick that off on a weekend, and spend a solid few hours on the first batch so I don't get too discouraged/too behind. In the meantime, I think I'll stick to hitting my daily goal via practice sessions of all covered material to date, just to see if I can get through even 1 session without "cheating".

I work for a company based in Italy, and there are Italians all over the place. After I started working on the program, I learned that said Italians prefer that their employees don't know Italian (so they can talk about restructuring/layoffs without finding a soundproof conference room). I'm hesitant to put it out there.

"You earned 10 lingots for reaching a 100 day streak!" If only I could speak the language...

I had my first situation where someone made a statement at work, and I shot it back without thinking in Italian. It wasn't anything complicated, but it was reflex instead of effort, so that probably means something.

According to the algorithm bosses at Duolingo, I'm 41% fluent in Italian now. I'd argue against that in Italian, but I don't know enough of it.

Yes, but then this.

Forget hunger. I'm having flashbacks of the Barrens.

Does the Timed Practice option give you a permanent button, or is it a 1-time deal and you have to buy it every time you want to try?

But both of those things were only clear to you while watching the movie. So, for people who have not yet gotten to that point, those would be spoilers. If you were expecting to learn that a 2-digit number was the secret to life, the universe and everything, I'm afraid you'll have to wait for Episode VIII. Or maybe that's a different narrative.

You're kind of preternaturally great at stuff. I've gotten that compliment regarding spreadsheets and boring work things, but man I wish I could get it about anything creative. If you ever decide to be a spirit animal, I'm calling dibs.