El diablo susurro en mi oído,
no eres lo suficientemente fuerte
para resistir la tormenta.
Yo le susurré al oído,
“YO SOY LA TORMENTA”
—Azara Garcia de los Salmones Marcano, Ultra runner extraordinaire.
Translation:
The devil whispered in my ear,
you are not strong enough
to resist the storm.
I whispered in his ear,
“I AM THE STORM”
David Epstein’s book Range educated me on the value of interleaving and spacing for better learning. (Chapter: Learning fast and slow)
One of the places I immediately applied it is in my daily Spanish lessons on Duolingo.
Previously I used to start with one skill in Duolingo, say present perfect, and then complete it from start to finish. I only moved to the next skill once the previous skill was golden, or on the rare occasion when I gave up on it for being too hard.
The screen looked like the one on the left: all golds above the current skill.
Now I have six skills in progress at the same time. Every day I complete just one test from at least three of them. The next day I start with the other three. If I want to practice more, I use the dumbbell button in the bottom right—it tests me randomly from any of the dozens of skills I have already completed.
This mixing provides me with a bit of range. Each test daily is from a different skill; any skill reappears only after 48 hours; forcing me to remember, forcing more mistakes, and, hopefully, resulting in better learning.
Continue reading Duolingo + Range—Learning with interleaving
I want to live in Spain some day. Not visit. Live.
The only two cities I have considered for living in are Madrid and Barcelona.
Barcelona is my favourite but they don’t speak Spanish.
Madrid is a close second, but they don’t have the sea.
Valencia has both, but it’s not Barcelona or Madrid 🙃
Batiburrillo
Noun.
Meaning: hodgepodge.
Examples:
“Un batiburrillo de gente.”
A real mix/hodgepodge of people.
“Menudo batiburrillo de cosas que hay en esta caja: Cables, lápices, pilas, llaves…”
What a mix/hodgepodge of things we have in this draw, cables, pencils, batteries, keys…
I love this word :)
Discovery, and quotes, courtesy of Ben y Marina.
There were lots of setbacks in 2018 – some of them enough to drive me back into depression just by themselves. So I am not going to pore over them. Instead I am going to take note of some of the successes…
I averaged about 23 floors/day, with a peak of 154 floor equivalents* on a day when I went for a long hilly run.
I climbed 10 floors even in the days after injuring my ankle. Neighbours noticed as I hobbled up and down (down was worse) our steep drive way to get those 10 floors.
I finished my step target every day for the later 6 months of the year. I started on 1st July, half way through the year, and a month and a half after the injury so the foot could manage 5K+ steps without discomfort.
100 consecutive days of learning Spanish on Duolingo.
100 consecutive days of climbing at least 10 floors1 a day. Average daily floors climbed over the period: 33.
100 consecutive days of recording weight (Google forms) and food intake (Myfitnesspal).
100 consecutive days feels like a good number to celebrate streaks.
