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For the record...
I haven't posted much lately at all, but I still lurk from time to time.
In May and June I did a language challenge with Russian, and I am very proud of my progress.
In July, I met an uncle my mother hasn't seen since they were children. I also reconnected with ajroaldIn August, I did a Camp NaNoWriMo to finish this old novel-length Harry Potter ( Read more... ) -
April wrap-up, May thoughts
I thought I would make a quick post while it was still April in my time zone, though not for much longer.
This month I did a 30 day writing challenge via the cool (and free) website 750words.com. I managed to write every day, and almost all of it was something I used for my fiction story that I have new enthusiasm for writing. There were a few ( Read more... ) -
Wrap up of a French challenge
On February 1st I started a Six Weeks Challenge (6WC) to learn French. I have never officially learned French before, but I did have a high level of passive understanding. I wanted to make that conscious and real. So here's a summary of what I did and what happened ( Read more... ) -
Ilona Andrews, Hexed and a quiz
Yesterday I read my first Ilona Andrews story, the novella Magic Dreams from the Hexed anthology. I really liked this little story. It was the first Andrews story I've read, but it may not be the last!
I went to their website, and here is the results of a quiz I took there.
Covens
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Piano challenge, day 2
So the thing of the day today was transposition. I got to one page in my old book asking to go back and transpose all the songs with block chords used to that point into the keys C, F and G. I was going to skip it because I know I can transpose, but then I told myself to just do it. I want to be conscientious with this ( Read more... ) -
Piano challenge, day 1
Yesterday, New Years Eve, I spent the day rearranging my living room. Because I live in a one bedroom apartment, though spacious for what it is, that also involved changes to my bedroom and dining room/kitchen area. The thing I wanted to do was move my musical instruments, piano included, out of my bedroom and into the living room.
I am really ( Read more... ) -
Some goals for January 2012 and beyond
Sometimes when I think of this year, I wonder what I've done if anything at all. Then I realize that I've been very busy this last year and quite successful doing it. I started learning a new language, I wrote not one but two novels, I took and passed two major tests. And those are just the big and easy examples ( Read more... ) -
Japanese and JLPT (my language year)
Exactly 11 months ago, I started learning Japanese. I wanted to write about my journey so far since it has been one of my big projects of 2011, and I took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test on Sunday, December 4th ( Read more... ) -
My bird died yesterday.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am owned by cockatiels. It's part of the equation as much as being a musician or language enthusiast is. For over seven years I have been owned by a flock of three birds. Sunny, a female, was the oldest, born in June of 2000 or so. Next was Arthur, born sometime in the spring of 2001. He was her mate. Then was ( Read more... )