I have a forty-day streak on duolingo learning Finnish. True, I know many more Finnish words than I did forty days ago, and have a better understanding of its structure, though I am certain that there are a lot of things that duo is keeping from me until l am better invested in it all. However, I'm moderately pleased with how I've gone so far and I feel good that it is kind of moreish (though sometimes you feel really patronised by duo - the times where it asks you to translate a word and gives you one word as an option - and other times it's like a word game because the route to translating things is essentially a logical choice. It's easier than wordle in that sense.*
Still, there is a lot to enjoy about learning a language and all the - not exactly false friends - actually real enemies - of comprehension (in Finnish, 'ja' means 'and', not 'yes'; 'on' means 'it' not 'on'; and so on). I'm reminded constantly what a literal, positivistic dullard I am by my inability to remember words for abstract concepts.
It's also really interesting to me how I ebb and flow in actual capacity - so in the morning, I can really hit a 'winning' streak, but by the afternoon I am just flailing. It's in there somewhere, but I can't access it.
Anyway really what I've decided is that it's boring to be the person who is just interested in what they can't do, and why it can't be done, and instead, I'm just going to do it. I'm not just looking at duolingo constantly like a dweeb. I'm also reading an old teach-yourself-finnish book. I have a car trip coming up and I have t-y-f stuff on audible. Soon I'm going to start translating some Finnish materials I have lying around, via a dictionary (i.e. not typing/photographing big wads of text into google translate).
So inspired was I by my Finnish successes (I am doing pretty well, or so duo says) I got my guitar out again and when I stop writing this blow-by-blow account of how magnificent I am, I'm going to go and play with that again for a short time. I have the amp in the bathroom I don't use, and it sounds good playing in there. I can sit on my bed and do it.
Third success, if you don't mind, is to have finally not exactly but nearly mastered the drone I bought in, um, probably August and was unable to use in WA because it was always raining or blowing a gale. Plus I was a bit scared of it and didn't have propellor guards. Now I do, and with the help of others (Laura in particular but also Jason and Lenny) I've got a reasonable handle on it. I know at very least by the law of averages - you know like you do with your phone when you take 50 pictures a day - I'll get some good results from that thing.
In other news, here's a funny thing. I have my name down on discogs for a few records I want, not many, but a few rarities. Two Pintandwefall CDRs (CDRs!) came up today, both the same price, this is one of them:
* I assume, have never tried that.
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