#me doing duolingo: am i actually learning any language here or am i cheating by being decent at taking a multiple choice test | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

apparitionism · 4 years

Text

Run

This is a pointless AU, a little idea from elsewhere that’s in the process of turning into a story-esque thing, not a comedy or a drama as such, just a “here’s another way two people might find their way to each other” tale. Also I’ve never deployed a Giselle character, really, and I figured I might as well try. She’s not a bad guy, mind you, nor even an obstacle; the only obstacles, at base, are misunderstandings and circumstances. Conventional ones. They might accurately be called clichéd. Anyway, this is some kind of starting line. Bang. (That’s meant to be a starter’s pistol, by the way; don’t be getting any ideas.)

Run

At four in the morning, Myka Bering sat three steps from the bottom of the dark staircase in her apartment’s foyer and pushed her feet into new running shoes. They looked like nothing special: a standard navy blue faux leather, with their manufacturer’s stylized “Z” logo embossed in silver on the sides. The pristine white of both the slim soles and the no-tie laces pleased her, despite the fact that their just-out-of-the-box luster would of course start graying at the first exposure to the city.

Myka stood up in the shoes and bounced on her toes, her ritual commencement of every day’s run.

The instant her heels left the ground, she understood just how difficult her life was about to become.

For this decidedly unspecial-seeming shoe—the Deceit—represented the latest attempt by the Zelus athletic corporation to gain an insurmountable advantage in the sport of running.

Myka’s job was to stop them.

At her desk at work later that morning, Myka revised, for accuracy, her overly dramatic thought of the morning: a small part of her job was to help stop them. Her actual job was to co-direct certification and compliance for Athletics Authority International, the globe-spanning organization that governed running, jumping, and throwing events. The organization regularly dealt with issues of equipment inappropriately boosting performance; thus Deceits, understood one way—nondramatically—were just the latest technological challenge to the idea of a level playing field.

But based on her morning’s run, Myka did not think Deceits could be understood nondramatically.

“Did you try the Deceits yet?” she asked Pete Lattimer, her co-directing partner. They had taken to joking that in their area, he was the “athletics”—an Olympic-team-alternate decathlete—while she was the “international,” for she’d got her job based largely on her wide-ranging language fluency. Myka suspected that today, athletics aside, his answer would be “no”; they’d received the shipment of test shoes only a few days ago, and Pete was focusing more on language than sports lately anyway, Duolingo-ing his heart out in Spanish so as to one day be able to impress Kelly Hernandez, head of Latin American outreach, such that she would first agree to go to lunch with him and then, swayed partially by his language skills but mostly by his charm, acknowledge that they were destined to spend their lives together. Myka wasn’t at all sure Kelly was going to persuaded by Pete’s bilingual (or “bilingual”) flirting... though he was also concentrating heavily on vocabulary related to sandwiches, so he’d probably end up with at least a food-related happy ending.

“Nah,” he said, confirming her prediction about the shoes. “I’m guessing you must’ve, though. They as crazy as those trials records make ’em seem?”

“Crazier,” Myka said. “To me. But I want to know how they really feel. To a real athlete.”

“Somebody needs a real athlete? I see why Lattimer’s not up to it,” remarked a tall woman as she approached Myka’s desk. Myka looked up and smiled.

“Same goes for you, Giselle,” Pete said, but with cheer. “How’s communications?”

“Turn those children over my knee if I could,” Giselle replied, equally cheerful. “That’s where you can help: how’s your javelin these days?”

“Why don’t you just run away? I thought you were supposed to be fast or something.”

Giselle Wade was fast—Myka knew it, and she knew Pete knew it too. Giselle was a legend in East Texas, where she had shattered high school track records, particularly at the longer distances. She’d done the same to NCAA times, placing some out of reach for what would probably be generations. U.S. bests had fallen to her too, though worlds had been elusive... but she had some impressive Olympic hardware all the same.

“Outran you,” Giselle said, which was true; her 1500-meter times were faster than Pete’s had ever been.

They would have gone on for a while before they wound down, but their jabs gave Myka the opening she needed. “Speaking of running,” she said to Giselle, “did you try the Deceits?”

“I did.”

“And?”

“And exactly what you think,” Giselle said. Before Myka could get her to clarify, she went on, “And this very morning I heard Zelus wants to push a version with spikes for sprinters.”

Myka objected, “But the thin soles!” Sole height was a major issue. The Deceit’s predecessor shoe, the Zelus Induct—which had also given runners a clear advantage—had been recognizable due to its oversized sole, packed with lightweight foam, that effectively lengthened a runner’s legs. The sole contained within the foam a carbon plate that acted as a spring, enabling a stride that used less leg energy and thus translated into distance runners having more kick over an entire race. AAI had rapidly banned that shoe, but the Deceit upped the ante because it somehow managed to do all the Induct’s dirty work, and apparently even more, in a standard-sized sole. Sprinters’ soles were basically flat, though, so how could the foam and plates fit? Not to mention: “Why would Zelus want to start a fight on another front?”

“Some other company rolls out skinny little cheat spikes first if Zelus doesn’t get on it? Old story about the toothpaste and the tube? You know.” Giselle shrugged. “All we can do is try to slow it down.”

“Ha!” Pete barked. “I see what you did there! Slow it down! Fast shoes!”

Giselle shook her head and murmured “that man” mostly to herself, but a little bit to Myka, who nodded in sympathy a commensurate little bit. Then Giselle said, “Thank sweet Jesus I don’t have to run in Deceits or against them. Glad I’m out of that part of it now.”

“I’m glad I was never in it,” Myka said.

“You know you got the discipline,” Giselle said. She’d told Myka this before.

It was a real compliment, but: “I don’t have the gift,” Myka responded, as she had in the past.

“Discipline counts. Makes up for a lot.”

“Those Deceits do too,” Myka said. “I barely even broke a sweat this morning.”

“That’s a shame.”

Myka offered a “huh?” expression, though she was pretty sure she knew what was coming.

“You, all hot and sweaty?” And Giselle sighed, a parody of infatuation. “Yes indeed...”

Myka rolled her eyes, and then they both laughed. It was a ritual: Giselle “flirted,” Myka “suffered,” they laughed.

Some months ago, not long after Giselle had been brought on board by AAI, she’d asked Myka out.

“I have a boyfriend,” Myka had said, because that was what she almost always said, as a learned reflex, in situations like that.

“Well,” Giselle said. “Look at me, getting the wrong impression. Sorry, Myka. Guess we’ll keep it professional.”

Giselle tended to put a drag on the last word of every sentence, a vocal habit that kept a listener hanging: would she say more? It might or might not have been intentional, but it was effective, particularly when combined with her linger of a Texas drawl. Thus her “professional” came out “pro... fess... io... nal.” Myka half-expected her to follow up with “or not.”

“Well,” Myka said back, when it became apparent that no more was in fact forthcoming, “not totally professional. We can still get coffee, right?” Because she did like Giselle.

Ah, there it was: Giselle gave her a still-flirty head toss and said, “Not to make the same mistake twice, but I did ‘get coffee’ with a lady one time and it turned into three days in Monaco. So we’ll see...”

Myka rolled her eyes, but then she laughed, and Giselle did too: the start of the ritual.

That should have been that.

But an international athletic governing body was apparently like every other semi-hermetically sealed social environment: a school, a team, a lab. Things got around. Mere hours after that conversation—which, granted, had taken place in the 40th-floor elevator lobby, the transit funnel for every employee of AAI, which occupied the entirety of that skyscraper level—Pete had marched back into their area from lunch and confronted Myka with, “I heard Giselle asked you out.”

Myka had tried not to respond, because really, what was there to say?

He went on, “And I heard you told her you have a boyfriend, which is what you said way back in history when I asked you out.”

“History? That was less than two years ago.”

“Anyway, I heard she believed you. Just like I did.”

“That was the idea. With her and with you.”

“I still don’t see why you didn’t just say ‘Pete, I don’t want to go out with you.’ It would’ve been fine.”

“I’d barely met you. I had no idea if you’d be a decent guy about it.”

“But I am a decent guy. About everything! So it would’ve been fine.”

“But I didn’t know you were a decent guy.” She had barely started at AAI; all she’d known about Pete Lattimer was that he’d been a decent decathlete. And that was no help at all, for every new coworker she met was a former Olympian or member of some national team or at least a famous ex-coach. It all made her feel as if she had no business working for the organization in the first place. They should have said that “athletic” was a requirement... each successive introduction seemed to drum with more force into her that a law degree and several languages were nothing against a sub-four mile.

Given that insecurity, she hadn’t needed any additional inputs or variables, so when Pete had said, “We should get dinner after work sometime,” she’d said what she almost always said, as a learned reflex, in situations like that. It had become a reflex because regardless of any other complicating circumstances—such as a new job where her body itself didn’t belong—it was easier. It was almost always easier than whatever might follow her saying anything else.

Pete said, “You didn’t know I was a decent guy, so you lied about having a boyfriend. And now you’ve lied about it again.”

She’d winced at the word “lied.” It was accurate, but she didn’t like it. Then you probably shouldn’t do it, her conscience told her. She told it to shut up. Then she told Pete, “I know that and you know that. Giselle doesn’t need to know that.”

“But you already like her better than you would’ve ever liked me.” At that, Myka started to protest, but he waved her off. “You know I mean because she’s a lady. Why didn’t you say you have a girlfriend?”

Speaking of what was easier: “boyfriend” was easier than “girlfriend.” It raised fewer questions, and it raised fewer... thoughts. And that was easier too.

It was supposed to raise fewer thoughts, anyway.

Fortunately, Pete hadn’t waited for an answer, or for Myka to start thinking any thoughts, instead moving on to what he clearly found most important: “And lady-wise, don’t you think she’s hot? I think she’s hot.”

Myka sighed. “Yes, I think she’s hot. In fact I know she’s hot. I have eyes.”

“So go out with her. She’s hot, you’re hot. Sizzle!”

“I just don’t want to.”

“Then why didn’t you go ahead and tell her that? Do you think she isn’t a decent guy?”

“Pretty sure she’s not a guy at all,” Myka had said, trying to joke him into just... stopping.

She didn’t want to get into the complicated conversation that would have ensued if she’d admitted to having genuinely, if fleetingly, regretted her reflex—because he certainly wasn’t wrong about Giselle being a woman, and he double-certainly wasn’t wrong about her looks. She was stunning; she’d had that wildly successful athletic career, then transitioned with seemingly no friction at all into modeling, at which she was even more wildly successful. Her legs were as long as the miles she used to run, and Myka was certainly, in that sense, human.

But Giselle had already developed a reputation at AAI, despite her brief tenure, for what could charitably be called a... short attention span. Maybe it was the inevitable result of her having been able to have just about anything—and anyone—she wanted, in not one but two elevated realms, or maybe it had always been Giselle’s personality as a romantic socializer, but while Myka had no trouble observing it from the outside, as a characteristic of her friend Giselle, she didn’t particularly want to be subjected to it. What if she slipped and overinvested? Exactly the kind of difficulty she didn’t need, regardless of any other complicating circumstances. Exactly the kind of difficulty she had never needed, and if she had slipped and fallen into it in the past? Well, that was the past, and she certainly didn’t need to revisit any part of that, much less repeat it.

These months later, however, some days Myka had a vague sense that a day should come when she should talk herself into telling Giselle she didn’t have a (nonexistent) boyfriend anymore. A day, that was to say, when she should ask for Giselle’s attention, if only for a short span. It seemed normal, human, to think that a short span of time, even if it led to a complicating slip and overinvestment, might—should?—be better than nothing, and so some days, Myka tried to want to talk herself into that.

But on different days, she’d think, definitively, I don’t want to. Because talking herself into it felt dishonest. Even if Giselle subscribed solely to Pete’s “she’s hot, you’re hot; sizzle” theory of the case, even if both of them might have enjoyed much of that short span of time: dishonest. Inauthentic. Deceitful.

“You’re not very good at having fun, are you?” Pete had asked her once, when she’d told him, in response to his sincere inquiry, that she had never actually dreamed of having Disneyland all to herself for a day. She’d agreed that no, she really wasn’t very good at having fun, and he’d said, “You need to get out more. Maybe not to Disney, but you need to get out more.”

You need to get out more. She’d laughed at him, because the most out she ever got, away from work, was for her 4am run. That, she could talk herself into without feeling dishonest at all. Far from it: she reveled in the discipline required for that strict self-persuasion every day, which was probably why she’d found that she could, ultimately, work well—reasonably well—with athletes. Athletics at its highest level was discipline, and Giselle and Pete and most of the others could see that Myka got that, even had that, as Giselle kept telling her.

But as Myka always told Giselle in return (not that Giselle needed telling), for real athletes, that discipline had to be kissed by the divine, and Myka had no access to such physical divinity. None at all. She was an exercise runner, lowest of the low in terms of athletic esteem. She knew because that was how the athletes said it, with a twist of pity: exercise runner. That was what she was, and she knew it.

Until she ran in the Deceits.

They were named, of course, for their unassuming look and for the illicit advantage they gave the world-class athletes. But for Myka-the-unesteemed, they were differently deceptive: they made her feel like A Runner. Giselle and her peers had been born with the kind of legs these shoes changed Myka’s into, springing from the ground with power, creating a feeling of “this is my body; this is what it can do, and if I push, still more,” and miraculously—deceptively—there was still more it could be pushed to do. Myka felt like her body before the Deceits had been Clark Kent, like it had been waiting for the chance to reveal that it wore the suit and had superpowers, like this had always been how she could run.

It wasn’t real. But it felt real.

So she understood why Deceits were breaking records—speed records now, but eventually, they would break sales records, too.

She also understood, very clearly, that they should be banned.

Even for exercise runners like her: deceiving oneself, Myka felt, was worse than deceiving others, regardless of whether they were fellow competitors or the outside world in general. Just as she didn’t want to talk herself into Giselle, she didn’t want to run every morning in those shoes. If she did, that self-deception would become a habit of mind, and Myka deep-knew that being clear-eyed about oneself was essential. A moral duty, her inner rector told her, and even though she would probably have been happier to not live her life quite that ramrod-straight (to, for example, be better at having fun), it had been her thought as she’d begun that first run in the Deceits. She’d kept on thinking it, throughout her entire route, as she devoured the miles with her newly athletic strides. Clear-eyed, mor-al, du-ty. Right-left, right-left, right-left.

Administratively, the world of athletics moved at a speed inverse to that of the track. The relatively “rapid” ban of the Deceit’s predecessor had taken six months to work out and implement, so it was no surprise that several weeks elapsed before AAI even scheduled negotiations with Zelus reps over the new shoes. They would be delicate, the negotiations, for Zelus money was essential to the sport. It was imperative not to make any penalties too prohibitive or too “insulting” to the company or its affiliates. Could already-ratified world records set in Deceits be voided? Would that lead to Zelus-sponsored athletes boycotting competitions? Could Deceits be banned? Would that be at all enforceable?

Myka knew that Dan Badger, the president and CEO of AAI, would be scrutinizing everything she and Pete and their team proposed. Newly appointed to show that AAI was turning a regulatory corner, he had made clear that his watchword was “integrity,” and that applied not only to the sport as a whole, but to every athlete who participated in it, every piece of equipment they touched, every employee under his purview, every official action they took. Unofficial actions, too: there was, as far as Myka could tell, no ethical give in Badger’s worldview. Where prior heads might have made a handshake deal of some sort with Zelus’s own CEO with regard to the Deceits—and Myka suspected something along those lines had occurred for the Inducts, most likely involving a wink-nod to the already-in-the-pipelines Deceits—Badger would have considered the mere suggestion of such a thing a personal affront.

“Why doesn’t Badge like you more?” Pete once asked Myka. “You’re exactly like him.” Myka wasn’t, in fact, exactly like him, for Badger was an athlete’s athlete, a hurdling champion from a decades-ago golden age of British track and field. That gilded aura was a carapace around him, deflecting whatever might have been directed his way from beings he considered lesser, including nonathletes like Myka. It wasn’t actively insulting or cruel, just... clear. The athletes called him “Badge,” among themselves and to his face, while Myka had the sense that if she uttered that collegial syllable, no one, and certainly not the man himself, would even perceive that any sound had escaped her lips.

Pete wasn’t entirely wrong, though; Myka had enough consonance with Badger that she couldn’t quite bring herself to resent him. His absolutely unimpeachable reputation was supplemented by the fact that he looked exactly as an athletic lion of his age and era should: face appropriately tanned for health and creased for character, hair silver and full, height calibrated as if to the millimeter to be imposing but not incongruous. He was the ideal figurehead for an organization that wanted to burnish its standing as a virtuous guardian of all that was competitively good in athletics.

In the end, Myka’s own inclinations aligned with her need to fulfill Badger’s expectations, yet neither she nor he could change the underlying economics of the sport. She might have been moved, under other circumstances, to restore her single-run-sullied Deceits to their silver Zelus box and push that box to the back of her closet, but instead she spent an inordinate amount of time looking at them. Was there any way at all to tell, just by looking, that they could do what they did?

Enforcement was a matter of measurement and testing, but these shoes were a drug for which no test existed. AAI had hired a group of materials engineers to take them apart, so Myka now knew how they did what they did: even newer foam, plus two carbon plates, set at angles to each other. They really might as well have been springs—invisible to the outside-shoe naked eye, but springs all the same.

AAI could nominally ban double-plate soles, but it couldn’t possibly dismantle every Zelus runner’s footwear at every event to ensure that the ban was being respected. Myka saw no way out other than to ban Zelus shoes across the board (for she’d been thinking, too, of what Giselle had said about spikes), but that brought her back to financial impossibility. And around she went again. And again. And again.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the rest of athletics administration proceeded without heed for Deceits, no matter how long Myka stared at them, no matter how many negotiating scenarios she tried, unfruitfully, to game out. Meets and championships and trials all continued, requiring level upon level of authorization and accompanying paperwork...

One morning, Myka was concentrating, squint-eyed, on a spreadsheet when she felt a tap on her shoulder. “Pete,” she began, still squinting at her screen, “I told you if I don’t approve the new certification tables for posting this morning—”

“I’m so sorry,” said an English-accented female voice, “but I’m not Pete. And I seem to be lost.”

Myka looked up. No, you’re not, was her first thought, which resolved into: You’re not Pete, and you’re not lost. You belong right here.

TBC

A few notes, just because:

I made up the governing body; it’s intended to be vaguely like the real organization World Athletics (formerly IAAF), which determines what’s allowable in track and field competition, but I’m not trying to replicate its structure at all. Further, the actual organization maintains that it doesn’t consult with shoe companies before making regulatory decisions... whether you believe that claim is of course entirely up to you.

Two passages from Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents are in some sense guiding my thinking here (because I’m like that). The first is this: “Man has, as it were, become a kind of prosthetic God. When he puts on all his auxiliary organs he is truly magnificent; but these organs have not grown on to him and they still give him much trouble at times.” He’s talking about cars and eyeglasses and such things, but obviously the idea is applicable to athletic tech. An idea from a little earlier in the book seems relevant as well: “What we call happiness in the strictest sense comes from the (preferably sudden) satisfaction of needs which have been dammed up to a high degree, and it is from its nature only possible as an episodic phenomenon.” Right? We’ll see about that latter part though, Dr. Freud.

Finally, as that rude anon suggested some months ago, I’m obviously speaking to a community that’s mostly inactive now. But I’m a keeper of faith: one of the things I do best is wait. So one point of this story is that it exists. I’m waiting. C’mon and wait with me, if you like.

#bering and wells #Warehouse 13 #fanfic #Run #AU week

77 notes · View notes

callioope · 5 years

Text

Questions Meme!

Hello, yes, this HAS in fact been sitting in my drafts for ages and ages. Thank you to both @crazy-fruit and @ruby-red-inky-blue for tagging me and for waiting forever for me to answer (oops)! I’m sorry I took so long, but y’all ask really good questions and I had to think about some of them!

Question Set 1

1. How are you?

Oh, I’m doing alright! Thank you for asking. The earlier part of this year was rather rough, but therapy has been helping. I’ve been rather busy these past few weeks with traveling, and my schedule going forward is rather busy, too, so while I’m excited for those things, I’m also excited for the eventual moment I can just relax.

2. What would you say are your talents?

Writing. Making fancy color-coded spreadsheets. I’ve been told that my super power is getting random (annoying) songs stuck in other people’s heads. Does that count as a talent?

3. If you had the chance to start your life again, would you take it?

NOPE. No thanks. I like where I am at right now, and I would not want to relive my awkward years. Er, at least, my more awkward, younger years. Cuz I’m totally still awkward. Just less awkward. I hope?

4. Which language would you like to speak instantly?

HMM. ALL OF THEM. It’s really hard to choose!

Language fascinates me, and in another life I feel like I would have devoted a lot more time to learning more of them. Unfortunately, I really hated German class in high school because of the teacher’s tendency to put people on the spot -- I think that is sort of inherent in a language class, but I get anxiety speaking in public.

Anyways, I suppose I’ll answer Turkish to this question, since spouse and I keep saying we’re going to try to learn Turkish via Duolingo. For the record, my HS offered six languages, which was the most I’ve ever heard of an American school offering, and I was always quite happy with my choice of German. (The others were Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, and Latin.) I do wish I had maintained my German better, and I that I had more time to learn Spanish.

5. Where would you like to be right now?

Honestly? I’m pretty happy when I’m at home. But if I had to answer where “else” would I like to be right now, out of the whole world? Being back on safari in Botswana is a top contender, as are a variety of places in Turkey, and also Munich.

6. What name would you give yourself?

I’ve always liked my actual name (Elizabeth). I know I go by Liz; one of my HS friends was quite stubborn and I’m a bit stuck with it now, but I don’t mind it. There are worse nicknames that come from Elizabeth. I used to go by Fiona online; I’ve always been fond of that one.

7. What is something you’re currently learning?

OOF, what a good question. I sorta blanked on this at first, and my first thought was uhhhh learning how to cope with my OCD??? I’m doing exposure therapy right now, ish. Emphasis on the ish. Also mindfulness. Does that really even count? I started a beginner’s knitting project several months ago that I never finished, does that count? (I just need to seam it, that’s what I’m putting off. I have knit plenty of scarves; however, this is my first hat.) I’m sort of teaching myself ukulele although I haven’t really learned any new chords or songs in awhile. I would very much like to take more photography classes with a focus on wildlife photography. That involves buying a new camera and... signing up for classes.

Question Set 2

1. What is a detail in a piece of art/a text that you like that you really admire?

This was very difficult, at first because it was like looking at a bin full of loose things and just seeing an assortment of color and being overwhelmed by it all, and then because once I did start digging around, I kept finding different ideas and it was too hard too choose.

Character-building: In the A Song of Ice and Fire series, when Arya starts working for the House of Black and White, Martin stops using the name “Arya” as she dons different identities. For example, he uses “Cat” for a bit, among other names. It shows she’s trying to be someone else, but the caveat is that there are still little mannerisms and such that show she hasn’t really left Arya behind (I think maybe she bites her lip or something? I don’t remember specific examples because it’s been over 5 years since I read these books, but I do remember really appreciating the general technique at the time).

Music: In The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” I love those repeated arpeggios, over and over, building, intensifying, as the white noise comes in and you can just feel the heaviness of desire, of want... (and then I love how it just breaks so suddenly! And I know it wouldn’t have been intended this way because that’s the end of side one, but since I listen to the whole album on spotify, then those bright chords of “Here Comes the Sun” come in and god Abbey Road is the best Beatles album)

Writing: the poetry of Florence + The Machine’s “All This and Heaven Too,” obviously, since literally the title of my blog comes from that. I’d quote that whole song honestly. There’s something that speaks to me about the incapability of language to fully encompass just... everything. I mean, love in specific here, but also just everything. Words are just these little boats we put meaning on and we hope they make it to the other side but everyone takes ‘em a little differently.

Like, look at this:

And the words are all escaping, and coming back all damaged And I would put them back in poetry if I only knew how

And this:

Words were never so useful So I was screaming out a language that I never knew existed before

Anyways, there’s also something just incredibly soothing about the music, too, and how she sings the song. There’s another line, from Sara Bareilles’ “Miss Simone” that goes “How does she know what a heart sounds like?” which pretty much sums up how I feel about “All This and Heaven Too” (and also many of Sara Bareilles’ song, especially that particular album, but I digress).

Anyways I did have some art examples, but I think I’ve rambled long enough.

2. Is there an idea that you really liked but had to discard because you couldn’t get it to work?

If I really like an idea, I don’t really “discard” it so much as put it on the shelf to attempt later. Out of recent fic ideas, I’ve really struggled with “How to Lose a Spy in 10 Days.” I first thought of this in late spring 2017, and for awhile I couldn’t stop thinking about it, but I was working on Whatever I Do at the time, and wanted to wait before starting another WIP. By the time I got to writing this, the inspiration well had sort of dried up.

I really like the idea of a fun cat-and-mouse rom-com idea where Jyn and Cassian keep outsmarting each other, with a whole lot of competency kink, some “oh shit we actually work well together!” and maybe some battle couple. And I was really looking forward to both the moment when they both finally let their guards down around each other and the big confrontation when they actually find out each other’s identities. But it involved more mission writing than I was prepared for, and I really struggled with it. I think I need to start over but that involves a lot of working, so it’s unfortunately shelved for now, and I’m working on a “You’ve Got Mail” concept instead.

3. Is there something fandom-related you would like to be able to do (i.e. I’d like to be able to make gif sets but can’t)?

Oh, yes, absolutely! Really anything that’s not writing related, lol. Gif sets, art, etc. But most of all, I have a music video idea for the song “So Close” from Enchanted--like I have a whole story board plotted out in a google doc. But I don’t have any video editing software, don’t even know how you get the scenes for a music video, etc. I have made videos before, but not since high school, and I don’t even have the cheap, basic video editing program I used back then. Sometimes I think I should just attempt make a gif set instead, but there are so many lyrics! and scenes that go with the lyrics! that I don’t know how to consolidate it into that format anyways.

4. What is a skill you’ve acquired through fandom work?

Hmm, this was tough. I’m going to say HTML. I’m not up-to-date on webdesign at all, but back in my early fandom days, I ran a few fansites. I still sometimes use HTML while leaving comments or to edit posts on dreamwidth or w/e. It’s super basic, but it has helped me at work at a variety of jobs. I take it for granted that people my age should know basic HTML, but a lot of them don’t, and then a lot of people I work with now are older and definitely not tech savvy.

5. Do you think anyone can learn to create great art, or does it take talent?

Well, I’m going to cheat a little. I do think think that anyone can learn to create great art, but I also think that everyone has a talent at something, and part of learning to create great art is recognizing your skill sets and honing those. If that makes sense? I’ve sort of seen both sides to this. I’ve seen naturally talented people create great things, but I also think that they’re probably cheating themselves if they’re not learning and honing their craft and trying to get better. But I’ve also seen people who started out making things that maybe you wouldn’t call great, but they worked hard over and over again, and looking at their work now, you’d say they were talented without ever knowing the difference. Great art = talent + learning + passion. Did that even answer the question? ...moving on

6. Do you prefer AUs or in-universe? Why?

I prefer to write in-universe, for sure. I find modern AUs more challenging, mostly because--and I feel kinda bad saying this--it’s very difficult for me to tap into Jyn and Cassian’s characters without some kind of tragic background. Their experiences and how they coped with them shape their personalities, and it’s really hard to separate them from those. My WWII was easier because, hey, it’s war, not so different from in-verse. But I initially tried to write Learning Curve in a modern AU and I was just totally bored. Putting it in universe made it more interesting to me, especially having to finagle a happier plot inverse. IDK, it might even be that I generally struggle to make up any conflict in modern AUs that feels interesting.

THAT SAID, lol, I definitely read either. So it’s probably strange for me to be hung up on it because I’ve read nice fluffy modern AUs and found them perfectly engaging.

Tagging: @theputterer, @magalis, @allatariel, @mythologicalmango, @threadsketchier MY USUAL DISCLAIMER APPLIES: no pressure if you just don’t wanna, AND if anyone sees this and was like “aw hey i wish she’d tagged ME” well guess what, I wish I did too! so go ahead and do it and let me know and then i’ll know to tag you next time, too :-)

Questions:

When you suffer a setback or a series of setbacks when creating (writing, drawing, knitting, any kind of crafty project thing you work on... even work), what are some strategies you use to cope with that stress and move forward?

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to create/make and what did you learn from it?

What part of a bicycle would you be?

What’s a helpful writing (art/crafting/work) technique you’ve learned?

What’s a piece of art that made you see things differently?

You’re a new addition to the crayon box. What color would you be and why?

What was the last board game you played and what did you like or not like about it?

*sorry these came out rather writer heavy!

#about me #tag meme

4 notes · View notes

lalka-laski · 4 years

Text

do you have a favorite sibling? Not at all. We’re all equally close and I talk to both of them daily. I might spend more time with my younger sister but that’s only because our work schedules are more aligned with one another’s.

apple or android? I have an iphone but I’m not loyal to Apple over any other brand. I like having imessage but otherwise, I don’t really care.

what color is the blanket/quilt on your bed? White comforter with a pink quilt

any languages you want to learn? I know a decent amount of Polish but I’d love to be fluent. Maybe I’ll pick that back up again, hmm...

is math easy or hard? It’s absurdly difficult for me. Like even very “basic” addition and subtraction can trip me up.

do you play basketball? Nope

ever tried carrot juice? No, and I don’t plan to!

what’s an unusual/weird food combo you like? I’m sure I like a food combo that others consider strange but I can’t think of one off the top of my head. French fries and mayo, maybe? Although I think that’s pretty common.

favorite milkshake flavor? Chocolate malt!

favorite type of milk? I mean, is there anything better in this world than chocolate milk?! Let’s be real!

would you rather wear a suit or dress? I love dresses!

best year of your life? 2019 was pretty spectacular for me. I would say 2020 also but I feel too guilty considering the loss my family suffered and the tragedies the world is facing...

how loud do you like your music in the car? Not very loud at all actually

prefer to write or read? I love both!

favorite apps? Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat

how do you like your eggs if you like them at all? Scrambled, mostly.

ever seen snow? I live in Rochester, NY. I see nothing BUT snow for 80% of the year.

ever gone sledding? Of course!

favorite holiday? I love Fourth of July for some reason. And Easter. Which is weird because I’m neither patriotic or religious.

is your hair long? I’d say so

do/did you play an instrument? I played clarinet for a few years but abandoned it when it got too tough for me

do you have a nintendo switch? Nope. But Glenn does, so there’s one in my home

ever skipped class? Mhm

ever skipped a whole school day? Yep

what is a fruit you refuse to eat? Melons of any sort. I love almost every other fruit possible but for some reason just can’t do melons!

would you rather gain weight or lose weight? I’d love to lose a little more weight. Though I’m comfortable where I am, I’m not at my ultimate goal juuuust yet.

would you rather gain height or lose height? I wouldn’t mind being a little bit shorter

when was the last time you ate cotton candy? Couldn’t tell ya!

are both your eyes the same color? Mhm

do you prefer to carry a backpack or a purse? A purse

do you like glittery things? I do! Although it can be annoying when glitter gets stuck on every damn item you own.

ever watched a play in the theater? Oh yes, one of my favorite outings!

are you naturally blonde? Yep

do you have a pet rabbit? I had 3 growing up. And my sister has 2 currently!

do you have a pet fish? Nope. Maybe I’ll get one though?

do you have a pet cat? Nope

do you have a pet chicken? HELL FUCKING NO. I’d rather die.

best thing that’s happened today? It hasn’t been a bad day, but nothing particularly *great* has happened either. I’m looking forward to going home later and being cozy on the couch.

opinion on brussel sprouts? I like ‘em!

what color is your country’s flag? Red, white, and blue.

are you studying any languages? Not currently. Although as I said above, I’d like to pick up Polish again. Maybe I’ll download Duolingo.

how many followers do you have on instagram? I only have a “finsta,” so I have like....25 followers. I really wasn’t supposed to have ANY real life friends as followers but somehow word got out. My friends are nuts :P

how about twitter? Between 250-300 I think

are you brave? HA HA HA. No.

how much would i have to pay you to get you to do karaoke? I’ve done it a few times, only while heavily intoxicated of course!

would you rather watch a movie from home or at the movies? Definitely at home, where I can pause and resume as I please. And be on my phone as much as I want...

last time you went ice skating? It’s been too long!

have you cheated on a test? Yes..

painting or drawing? Drawing. I’m not great at painting although I do enjoy it

art or science? Art, no question.

dancing or singing? I’m mediocre at both but it doesn’t stop me from doing either. I’d love to be able to sing “properly” though.

history or geography? History

favorite season? Spring

do you watch supernatural? I’ve seen a couple episodes here and there but that’s it

if you could change your eye color would you? I actually like my eye color. I might like them to be a bit more on the greener side but otherwise, I’ll keep them as is.

what color would you change it to? ^^^

what is your religion? Ehh...

are both your ears pierced? Neither of them are

0 notes

assigned-knives-at-birth · 6 years

Text

5 OTPs and 10 Facts About Me

Thanks so much @gaysparkler for tagging me!

I’m just trying to get some things done right now so I’m not going to tag anyone, but feel free to do this if you want!

This got a bit long, so I’m going to put a read more here :)

5 OTPs

Dorian x Inquisitor- Dorian is one of my favorite characters in DA, and his romance is one of my favorite ships, too. It’s just so sweet, and his character and dialogue are just so powerful and heart-wrenching.

Alistair x Warden- Alistair was the first person I romanced in Dragon Age. My love for Dragon Age grew from that first play through, and even now, Alistair’s romance and character are just so important to me. I know he and his relationship have flaws—just like any character and romance—but it will always have a special place in my heart.

Arizona Robbins x Callie Torrez- Okay, after the plane crash, their relationship kind of sucked. I know they had their problems, but they were a canon gay couple. On a tv show that even my mom watches. It’s so big. I love both of the characters so much (maybe a certain orthopedic surgeon a little bit more than almost every other character), even if they just weren’t meant to be in the end. At least all of it ended on a civil note, though, after everything.

Amanita Caplan x Nomi Marks- They are great in so many ways. So many ways. They are in a wonderful, healthy relationship, and they care about each other so much. Nomi is a trans woman and Amanita is a black woman, both of which do not get enough representation in the media, especially with the two combined. Just… I love them so much.

Tristan x Yvaine- Stardust is one of my all-time favorite movies. The ending, man. Ugh. I love them.

Honourable mentions- Isabela x Hawke, Leliana x Warden, Liara x Shepard, Garrus x Shepard, Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers, Jack Harkness x Ianto Jones, Lexie Grey x Mark Sloan, Meredith Grey x Derek Shepard, Meredith Grey x Nathan Riggs (though I haven’t seen the latest season so maybe that’s a no), Meredith Grey x Derek Shepard x Callie Torrez (let me have this), Sam Winchester x Gabriel, Hernando Fuentes x Lito Rodriguez, Kaidan x Shepard, Zevran x Warden, Fenris x Hawke, Anders x Hawke, Iron Bull x Dorian, Josephine x Inquisitor, Cassandra x Inquisitor, Sera x Inquisitor, Michael x Jane (from Jane the Virgin)

10 Facts about me

1. I’m learning Spanish right now. I’m absolutely terrible at it and DuoLingo says I’m only 30% fluent, but I’m slowly learning it. I want to be completely fluent in Spanish and another language besides my native one—probably Portuguese, French, or Russian.

2. I plan on majoring in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. I’m not exactly sure what kind of career I’m going to pursue, but writing several books is in my life plan. So is traveling.

3. I have a half-brother (eleven years older than me), a sister (exactly fifteen months younger than me), a stepsister (six years older than me), and a stepbrother (I’ve only seen him like twice, he’s kind of estranged from my stepdad and idk anything about him other than his name is Kaidan and he was out of high school a few years ago). The half-brother is from my dad’s son from a previous relationship, and he lives in California. My sister and I have the same parents and have lived together our whole lives. My stepsister lived with us for like three years before she said graduated high school.

4. I played sports in elementary school. I (cheerleaded? cheered? cheerled?) for a year, I played basketball for two, and I played softball for six. I sucked at everything, except for cheerleading I guess. We won third place in this weird competition, and I want to say there was some scandal and bribing going on because I vaguely remember my coach telling my team that someone cheated or something and we should have had first or second. I just…stopped going to cheerleading practice my second year because my cousin quit and it was way too hot outside for me to be the only one out of my cousin, my sister, and me to still be in it (my sister dropped out of football, too). My basketball team my first year only had five people (you needed five to have a team), and we usually always at least one of the five people not show up to a game, so we had to borrow people from another team so we could play. We didn’t win a single game. I had a different team my second year, and they were way better. I made my first foul that year, and my coach was so happy. He thought it was a sign that I was actually going to participate, that I would be a valuable member of the team. Angels came down from the heavens and played their little angel trumpets while he cried and said prayers of thanks to whatever gods above there were. That was the best day of his life. (I didn’t make another foul or a single basket after that day. He eventually stopped trying and only put me in the court because everyone had to play at some point.) With softball, after the first year, the team was spilt into two: the kids who had a future in softball, and everyone else. I was on the “everyone else” team. I practically lived in the outfield, even after that. It was really boring tbh and whenever a ball did get near me, I either shyed away from it or I was too busy daydreaming to see it. Also I went to third base once instead of first and still made it to the base before they could tag me out. I thought it was pretty great but my coach still wasn’t happy. My coach for the first five years a.k.a. my uncle stopped coaching after my cousin didn’t want to play anymore, so I had to join a new team. We were called the Skittles. I was a fifth grader playing softball with a bunch of middle schoolers. I ended up with two black eyes that year because I got distracted during the practice before two different games. That was my last year of sports. Oh, and I’m still afraid of things flying towards my face.

5. I have four cats and two dogs. Until recently, I had four dogs, but one of them was like sixteen years old and passed away this year (we got him after his owner, a close friend of my mom and stepdad, died in 2015) and the other, attacked our fifteen year old dog who we’ve had since I was like three. My mom and my sister are very protective of the feeble old man dog, so the one who attacked him was given to one of my stepdad’s friends within hours.

6. I am from the United States. Unfortunately x) Okay, it wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t have people like the Great Big Orange mucking around or people who,,,don’t know what compassion is. But yeah. I feel like it could be a really good place, but there are just some people who don’t want that to happen (America has never been great, stfu).

7. When I was about eight, I tried cleaning a Cambell’s chicken soup can and cut the side of my thumb. My mom (who’s a nurse) had to superglue it back together. I still have a faint baby scar on my left hand from it. (Also I would like to add that I did it because my grandmother would keep pencils and stuff in this giant soup can at her house. Idk why it worked for her and not me but oh well now I have a weird-ass story I can put on “ten facts about me” so I guess it worked out for the best)

8. I’m such a procrastinator guys. I was tagged in this like a month ago. I even do it with things that are important to me, like writing. I’m going to psycho-analyze myself for a minute and say that it’s probably because I have a fear of failure and a fear of people not liking me/making fun of me/etc. If I don’t ever finish writing That One Thing then that means I can’t ever post it, and if I don’t ever post it that means it won’t only get three likes and one rebloob and no one will criticize it or say that it sucked. I’m trying to work past it, but it’s not like I have a great amount of self-esteem x)

9. I have an unhealthy obsession with dragons (but I didn’t start playing Dragon Age because of it)

10. When I bought an Xbox 360 my freshman year (in 2014), I was trying to find some games to try, and my friend, Tony, spoke very highly of Dragon Age. I also remembered my cousin (whom I’ve always regarded very highly) talk about it with my sister a year or two earlier, so I decided to buy Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Origins, along with a few others. I didn’t actually play Origins for a few months and it took me a few months to finish my first play through, but by the time I finished the game (with a little over 80 hours), I was hooked.

#unless you just really want to know things about me i would just...skip this whole post tbh #i'm way too indecisive with the ships #and i wrote an essay on practically every fact about me #especially number 4 #to anyone who reads the whole thing #i'm sorry #tag meme #not dragon age but also dragon age #it's so late #and i didn't even get half of my ships #i just kind of said fuck it at some point #also i ship everyone with meredith because i'm in love with her #i'm also in love with callie #and the episode where callie lived with mere and derek was so cute

5 notes · View notes

eurolinguiste · 7 years

Link

Italian.

One of the first languages I tackled, and one that as of late, was long neglected. It is also one that I worked on when I had absolutely no idea how to study a language.

Italian is one that I thought a course and a certification meant I knew it. One that I continued to study for a few short months after school in language exchanges that were mostly in English.

But I’ve learnt a lot since then.

I haven’t looked at Italian in several years. Okay, yes, I did the first Language Hacking mission as a part of Benny’s book launch, but aside from that, I put Italian (along with German) aside as I pursued Croatian, then Chinese, Russian, Korean, and Spanish.

There’s a lot of time and a lot of new languages that rest between Italian and I.

Why Am I Giving Italian a Refresh?

Holly, one of my friends over at Fluent in 3 Months, asked me to chat with her in Italian to give her the chance to gauge her level after using a product.

I decided to take things further and do more than just prepare for the conversation.

How Did I Refresh My Italian Language Ability?

First, let’s talk about the tools.

As I mentioned, I only like to work with a limited number of tools at a time. It helps me stay focused and go deep rather than broad. I had no idea what Holly and I would be discussing prior to the conversation, so it was a bit of a gamble, but I figured our discussion would not get too complex.

So here’s what I used: * LingQ * Language Hacking Italian * Memrise * Duolingo * Everything Italian Practice Book

Preparing to Do My Italian Language Refresh

The first thing that I did, was read through my previous Italian notes and skim each of Benny’s Italian specific language hacking blog posts.

Another important part of my strategy was to create a video each day as a part of my refresh to document my progress and force myself to speak the language.

I also put together a quick cheat sheet for my actual conversation with Holly (which you can download for free by clicking the image below).

Day 0

Holly emailed me around 7:30 PM asking if I’d be up to chatting with her. My music training persuaded me to say yes, so I did. And then I panicked.

My music teachers always taught me to say yes to music opportunities and then figure out what I needed to work on to be able to accomplish them. And by work, I mean dedicate every spare minute working my butt off.

This mentality stuck with me and I’ve transferred it to a lot of other things that I do. And it really works. It pushes you to stretch, grow and improve in other ways not having that pressure would permit.

Of course, I would never say yes to things that were absolutely out of my reach. If someone called and said, “hey Shannon, we need someone to play tuba in our polka band next week – do you think you could do it?” I’d definitely say no because 1. I don’t play tuba and don’t play anything closely related to be able to pick it up relatively quickly and 2. I’ve never played polka music before so I’m not familiar enough with the style or repertoire.

The same goes for languages. If someone asked me to do a presentation in Swedish in a month, my answer would be no. Picking up a language I haven’t visited in five years in three days? That’s closer to being right up my alley.

Being willing to take on a challenge, however, doesn’t mean that I won’t be nervous. The video will be seen by a lot of people and five years is a long time.

But as I said in my Day 1 video, being nervous isn’t a reason not to speak (or make an effort). In fact, it’s a great reason to get out there and speak. Because that discomfort is an incredible learning opportunity.

Challenge accepted.

Day 1

I decided to use two books to tackle my language refresh. Benny Lewis’ Language Hacking Italian and the Everything Italian Practice Book. Benny’s book is geared towards speaking Italian, so it offered me a lot of relatively quick ways to get conversational in the language.

The Everything Italian Practice Book, in contrast, provided me with a quick review of Italian grammar so that I could remember how to do things like change articles, use different tenses, remember conjugations, and make words plural.

On Using the Everything Italian Practice Book

I truly believe that you can make almost any language learning resource work for you. The Everything Italian book isn’t something that I would choose for myself today. But it is something that I chose back when I didn’t know what I was doing and just grabbed whatever I could at my local bookstore.

Since this was just a quick refresh, I didn’t want to invest in any new products. At least not while I already had products on hand.

This project was a great opportunity to revisit some of the resources I used to use to reevaluate them as a more experienced learner, test my theory on making what you have work for you, and finally put those unused (or barely used) resources to work!

Here’s What I Completed on Day 1:

4 Chapters of Language Hacking Italian

100+ points on Duolingo

34,000 points on Memrise

75 pages in Everything Italian Practice Book

481 Known Words, 174 LingQs, 1,575 read in LingQ

Day 2

By Day 2, I started to once more get a little comfortable with the Italian language. A lot of what I had learnt in the past came back to me and the amount of material I moved through allowed me to have quite a few, “oh yeah, that sounds familiar” moments.

Duolingo, however, quickly became a time suck for me.

Why I stopped using Duolingo on Day 2

Duolingo could have been an excellent tool for me if I had previously unlocked the entire tree. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case and I found myself spending too much time learning words that I didn’t need (clothing, etc.) in order to get to the modules that I wanted to review (prepositions, etc.).

I think that Duolingo is great for review and getting a shallow but wide overview of a language. It was exactly what I needed for my refresh. If I could have selected with lessons I reviewed (which wasn’t an option for me since I was only two levels into the tree). I just didn’t have the time to unlock everything, so I had to put it aside since it wasn’t a good use of my time.

Here’s What I Completed on Day 2:

6 Chapters of Language Hacking Italian

30 points on Duolingo

51,400 points on Memrise

150 pages in Everything Italian Practice Book

650 Known Words, 264 LingQs, 5 LingQs learned, 3,119 read in LingQ

Day 3

Day 3 was conversation day and my chat was pretty early in the day. It was at 10am, and while that’s not super early, I didn’t have much time to prepare because most of the hours leading up to the chat were spent getting ready for work, driving to work, answering work emails, and participating in a con call.

I maybe had 20 minutes that I could use to do a quick Memrise review session. If that.

Here’s What I Completed on Day 3:

21,500 points on Memrise

[Video Coming Soon]

What I Was Able to Accomplish in 3 Days of Italian Language Study

In the past, my Italian speaking ability was always low relative to my reading, writing and comprehension. I believe that I was able to get my speaking back up to the same level (if not a little better) with this refresh.

My reading and listening comprehension also skyrocketed. I don’t remember where I was at a few years ago, but by Day 3, I was able to understand 90% of what I heard and read on most topics.

My primary language the last few months was Spanish, so I was sincerely worried that it would affect my performance in the Italian language. When I was reviewing I often confused the two.

What I Wished I Had Done Differently

The conversation I had with Holly went a little bit differently than I had envisioned it. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. In fact, that’s typically how conversations go. You rehearse them in your head one way and they turn out another.

It’s one of the best ways to truly learn a language.

Watching the video, I feel like I’m concentrating so hard that I’m not doing as well as I could have if I just stopped worrying about making mistakes.

But it is what it is and it can only get better from here. If I put in the work, that is.

And now that I’ve seen what I can accomplish in 3 days, I am more than willing to give my old languages another look and a whole lot of love.

I won’t be able to dedicate as much energy to refreshing my various languages in such a short period of time. But I am definitely encouraged that it’s worth doing the work after the overall results of this challenge.

That’s it for me for now. Let me know in the comments below if you’d like to see more breakdowns like this, another update on my Italian refresh in the future, or other fun language missions!

Don’t forget to download your free Italian Phrase Sheet! And if you’re learning Italian, you can take a look at my favorite resources for the language.

What about you?

What are you doing to maintain the languages you’ve learnt?

Leave me a note in the comments! I look forward to hearing from you!

apntag.anq.push(function() { apntag.showTag('ga_os_8544222'); });

The post My 3 Day Italian Language Refresh + a Free Bonus Phrase Sheet appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

#IFTTT #WordPress #language learning #travel #eurolinguiste

0 notes