On Language Learning

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm addicted to language learning.

A few days ago, one of my former university profs set up a Welsh language learning group, so I look a look, and he posted a link to free online lessons. Out of curiosity, I checked out the site, and they had an interesting approach to language learning: No pens, no paper - audio only until you're comfortable conversing.

They said that speaking ought to come first with no reading or writing at all. In fact, trying to read/write while learning a new language is distracting and detrimental to fluency because when you are looking at letters with a bias of your own natural language, it confuses your brain and the new langauge has a harder time sticking.

I thought that was a reasonable claim, so I decided to take a try at Welsh. My excuse being that if I'm going to live in Bristol, I'll be right next to Wales. And I really did love Cardiff and would want to visit more - and see more of Wales. Also: another language is ALWAYS fun!

So I downloaded the lessons onto my phone and am now listening to them on the bus on my way to work.

So far, so good. Listen, learn, repeat. What I didn't expect was humour!!! After about 15 minutes of learning and repeating "I/I am" with various combinations of verbs (try, like, want, say, speak, do, go, stay, know), the instructor then said:

"Great! You can already say some really useful things! The next time someone's telling you their life story in the office when you just want to pop out for a sandwich, you can say: 'Dw i'n trio mynd!' If they're a Welsh speaker, they'll be surprised enough to shut up for long enough for you to escape. And if they're not a Welsh speaker, they'll be so busy thinking 'I didn't know you spoke Welsh!' that you'll get away just as successfully. See how handy Welsh is?"

Cracked me right up!

So we'll see how long I'll be able to keep to this langauge. I was doing the Rosetta Stone thing for a long time (Italian, German, Russian, Spanish) and I find that while it's great for proper, intenstive study (for a variety of reasons), it's not great for casual learning because it IS so intensive.

If you're at all interested in learning Welsh, check out these lessons: https://www.saysomethingin.com/welsh/

On Bad Days

I'm having a bad day.

I know bad days happen, but this is one of those bad days where I just need to talk (type?) it out.

But I can't talk it out because various people that are involved in the various things that are making me sad have access to this blog.

Suffice it to say that I feel generally stupid. I was holding back tears all afternoon, and just started sobbing as soon as I got home.

Work is going good, plans to move are in place, and I love my friends and hobbies...but that's not the trouble.

For all that *most* areas in my life are doing just fine, there is another couple of areas that just keep dragging me down. And it seems that every time I come out of my shell and try to improve those areas, I end up in worse shape than I was before.

Guh. I can't wait for these sad feelings to go away. I know they will. But for now, I shall deal with them using tears and chocolate.

And possibly Battlestar Galactica.

On Sexy-Times Dreams (NSFW and TMI)

I really really wanted to talk about this dream with my friends...but something tells me they might just respond with "Ack! TMI LEAH!" So I'll tell the internet.

As you probably know, I love talking about my dreams. Not the "fantasies/goals" type, but the "movies in your head when you're asleep" type.

So if you feel like sex is TMI, click away and come back another day, ha ha!

My dream last night started innocently enough. I was at work. But then, I suddenly felt really really sexually tense. Not just horny, but "I need it right frakking now" Now, this doesn't happen to me in reality (thank goodness!) but it was so bad that I couldn't focus, so I went home.

When I got home, I tried....er....soothing myself. But that didn't satisfy me. I was still unreasonably hot and bothered. Then something strange happened. I assumed that nothing I could do to myself would help. So my brain did one of those weird dream things, and I morphed into someone else. Two people actually. A happily married couple that I had seen on TV. Because I guess my brain said that if I was going to be with a man, it might as well be with someone I was in love with. Being single, though, I don't have that someone that I'm in love with, let alone married to, so my brain had to turn me into some fictional character with a loving husband.

But even after fantastic sex, and I was alone and myself again, I was still going mental! Out of desperation, I once again worked on myself, almost to a frenzy. And the split-second before what I assumed would be a mind-blowing climax, I woke up. But it didn't end there. I woke up orgasming. I had been dreaming, and therefore in muscle atonia (your brain naturally makes you not able to move when you dream so that you don't end up acting out your dreams), so I didn't lay a hand on myself in reality. Not a touch. It was all my mind.

And the weirdest part was that it was more intense than my usual self-servicing. Not more intense than actual sex, but still. Noticeably more intense. And that had never happened before. I mean, I've had dreams that were really hot, and I woke up and finished myself off, but never had I ever been there completely inside my own mind.

When I recovered and fully woke up, two things occurred to me. The first being "How the hell did that just happen?", and the second being "Geez, am I really THAT sexually frustrated?"

I still haven't figured either out, but nevertheless, it was an interesting experience. Have any of you had something like this happen?