Today’s Accomplishments (February 15, 2025)

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. Over the past few weeks, all I seem to have done is hang out on social media, talk randomly with my staff and lie in bed. That isn’t entirely true, since I’m still managing to close all of my activity rings on my Apple Watch everyday this month. However, this month so far feels horribly unproductive. I think in part this may be my mindset, so to turn the tide, today I’m once again listing my accomplishments for the day.

1. Showered even though it wasn’t one of my designated shower days. Like I said in my post on spoon theory, showering costs me a lot of energy, so it’s actually quite an accomplishment that I did it on a day I wasn’t required to.

2. Went for an hour-long walk. This isn’t a huge achievement, as I walk most days, but still, I shouldn’t downplay it either.

3. Completed the friends quest with my partner on Duolingo with me having done only slightly less than my spouse. The quest was to complete 50 lessons with 90% accuracy. The accuracy isn’t the problem for me, as I’m doing intermediate English and early B2 is still quite easy. However, over the past few weeks I’d only done a lesson or two a day.

4. Created a “bull in a china shop”, as I call them, out of polymer clay. It’s an elephant that sits on top of a cup. I had been planning to make it for a few days, but always procrastinated on it even though it turned out I could finish the thing in half an hour. No picture yet, as it still needs to have its eyes painted.

5. Wrote a few thoughtful (if I can say so myself) comments on Reddit. I go there everyday now that Facebook is no longer safe, but I try to actually have something meaningful to say too.

6. Wrote this blog post. Does that count? Yes, if I say so, it does and it’s probably the greatest achievement of the day given I had hardly come on WP over the past few weeks.

It’s October

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. It’s October. Several years, I’ve at least tried to participate in blog challenges, such as #Blogtober and #Write31Days. I saw that #Blogtober is running again this year, but I’m not officially participating. Still, I’m challenging myself to blog more this month. I did okay’ish in September.

Generally speaking, I don’t like October. It’s not as bad as November, but it’s not a fun month. Unfortunately, this year so far is no exception.

The weather’s bad, so I didn’t walk today except to a staff’s car to drive to a DHL service point to pick up a slow juicer I’d ordered online on Sunday. It’s a Chinese brand, so I may at some point regret having bought it because of the risk of microplastics in my juice. In fact, I’m already putting a good juicer and blender (my blender is not Chinese but it’s a cheap one) on my wishlist should I decide juicing and smoothie making is a true keeper hobby for me. I’m not buying either until I’ve waited a few months to make up my mind though.

I did start off this month with a new course on Duolingo: intermediate English. So far, most of it is ridiculously easy. Then again, the option I selected on the start screen to determine my skill level made the app think I’m at the early B1 level in the CEFR classification system. My spouse said my writing skills are probably C1 level at least but I’m pretty sure I miss some B level vocabulary. Let’s hope the course will aid in teaching me that.

#WeekendCoffeeShare (July 13, 2024)

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. I’ve once again not been blogging, but this time it’s not because I’m struggling. Well, I still don’t feel the greatest, but the main reason I haven’t blogged is that something else has caught my attention. I’ll talk about it in a minute. Want a coffee? I’m joining #WeekendCoffeeShare once again. It’s past 10PM, so no coffee for me, but since this is a virtual get-together, you can have whatever you like. Let’s have a drink and let’s catch up.

First, if we were having coffee, I’d share about the weather. It’s been all over the place. On Tuesday, it was hot and humid with a daytime high of 30°C. Then we got this giant thunderstorm. Wednesday and Thursday were still okay with daytime temperatures of around 22°C. Yesterday though, it was not just raining all day, but it was freakin’ frigid with a daytime high of 16°C. Today is slightly better.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that, despite having my new Apple Watch wristband, I didn’t meet my movement goals each day this week. I blame the weather. I thankfully no longer care as much as I used to and can sit back and relax every now and again rather than having to keep up with my activity rings. I did try to walk each day (except for yesterday) and went swimming on Thursday too.

If we were having coffee, next I’d tell you that, yesterday, I went to an Eye Association meeting for young people who are blind or visually impaired (and a few who have an eye condition but can still see quite well). I originally thought I’d be too old to qualify as a “young person”, but the target age group is 18-45. I had a good time, but towards the end got quite overloaded. I had a near-meltdown when the taxi driver called me but I couldn’t hear him over the noise in the cafe in which the meeting was held. I for a bit thought I upset the entire group and wouldn’t be welcome anymore, but thankfully it wasn’t this bad according to several people.

If we were having coffee, lastly I’d tell you all about my latest obsession. I originally wanted to write a separate post about it on Thursday, but got distracted by the actual thing. It’s learning Spanish on Duolingo. I’m currently still at the early A1 level of proficiency. My spouse and mother-in-law have both been learning Spanish on this app for several months. What got me into it though was a conversation in a Facebook group about language learning. Some people said Duolingo isn’t always correct, but I’m not sure whether they were referring to a specific language. I can see why though in a way, as for example early on in the Spanish course, you’re learning the word “elegante”, which Duolingo claims translates to “elegant”. Now I’ve never heard an English-speaking person use the word “elegant” in everyday conversation. I honestly couldn’t care less though, as if I ever get to a point where I can actually talk in Spanish outside of the app, I’ll teach myself the finer details of conversation.