The days are long and the years are short

I have finished arranging one chapter of biology notes. I am knee-deep in the second chapter (and I can't tell if I am getting deeper or shallower).

I need to get some of the easier things off of my to-do list.

Tomorrow is the first Spanish class in a while, since December.  It will be nice to see the teacher and my classmates again.

Well, the example  (NY Times, registration required) given is from the Depression. The Depression lasted SUCH a long time, that it is a bit special. I have no idea whether this dismal economic spell will last as long. Did people have self-improvement as a goal in the 1970s?

Interesting. I love learning about new things. Other people love to exercise. I feel the same way whatever the economic climate. I may be more or less persistent depending on other activities going on in my life, such as the number of movies that T would like to see with me.

First, this news story from the NY Times. Another English-only statute. In general, those are enacted because members of the population don't want Spanish translations used.

I would want Spanish recognized as the official second language of the United States. Not like Canada, where everything has to be both in English and French (two official languages). But a requirement to consider Spanish-translation. So in areas with a known percentage of Spanish-native speakers (let's say greater than 10%), a certain percentage of hand-outs would be available in Spanish. A public relations team would have a bilingual member.

One of my goals for the coming year is to spend 200 hours on Spanish (and write down that I did it).

Probably some of my other goals will be/ should be clutter-related.

In Spanish class, we are studying the history of Mexico. We're still knee-deep in the Conquest. We've been learning about the translators, La Malinche and a certain priest. La Malinche translated between two native languages (and was a native of Mexico).

We are all confused how the priest (who arrived with Cortes) learned Mayan so quickly. Prior education in Latin and Greek would only help a tiny bit. Maybe he was highly gifted at languages.

I have a lot of podcasts.

Futures in Biotech---These are really inconvenient to listen to, since they are an hour or more long.
Great Speeches in History---I never listen to this.
Just Vocabulary---For professional reasons. 4 mins usually.
Learn Spanish with Coffee Break Spanish---I have actually listened to all of these. I have a few episodes on topics that I have difficulty with.
Learn Spanish with Rojas Spanish Language---He hasn't updated since August.
Notes in Spanish Advanced---Too advanced for me.
Notes in Spanish Intermediate---Just right, I probably listen to these the most. From 10 to 20 minutes long.
NPR: Al Grano con Maria Hinojosa Podcast---All from the summer of 2007. NPR was planning to continue news in Spanish but it didn't happen.
One Minute Russian---10 1-minute episodes of politeness words in Russian.
podictionary - for word lovers----I also have this for professional reasons (although it is an etymology podcast). about 6 minutes long.
The Princeton Review Vocabulary Minute---Professional reasons
Science Elements---the American Chemical Society puts this out. It's from 6-10 minutes long. Very convenient.
Show Time Spanish---The continuation of Coffee Break Spanish. Once a week for about 20 minutes. I usually listen to each episode twice.
A Spoonful of Russian---I actually don't listen to it now. This isn't regularly updated.
Storynory - Stories for Kids----Vetting for Emily.
A Taste of Russian---Emily actually likes listening to this. I don't know why. In case she understands Russian, I won't let her listen to the most recent one (which refers to Beslan).
UCSF Science Cafe---Only 4 episodes were ever made. Hmmm.

I have 252 which I have not listened to. I like it when I can make that number smaller. As you can tell, I have dreams of glory with foreign languages.

Not getting it tonight, unless I leave the house. Or find some noise-canceling earphones.

Emily and T are trading jokes. And pretending to *be* Ruff Ruffman. They are setting up a show.

I really need to do more Spanish tonight. But I need some quiet.

I am slowly seeing an improvement in so many things.

Emily's reading. The sight words method works better for her than phonetics (or phonics).

The house. I am digging into old boxes from our last dump-it-in-a-box and put it out of sight cleaning. Although, just a few days and I'll have to dump my current mess in a box.

T's schedule. I am steadily seeing more of him and he is more relaxed when I do see him. I don't know if that is a trend or just a small break.

My Spanish. Well, I am certainly putting in the hours. I made very few (but a few) errors on the homework. Although, it was definitely more than three hours of homework, and I only did about 1 hour (or an hour and a half) of it.

I got to talk to one of the mothers of a Spanish-speaking child in Emily's class today. We were both late(ish) and watching the children walk down the corridor. So we tried to introduce ourselves in English and it really started working when I tried in Spanish. I mentioned that my name came from Denmark (I don't actually know the Spanish for Denmark, so I said Denmark in English). I then described Denmark as "Un penqueño pais al norte de Alemania".
She offered me a ride home, and I took her up on it. I gave her the directions in Spanish, but didn't do very well with the word "sigue"--which means to continue what you were doing. I also totally don't know what the word for stop sign is.

I am going to hope that she tells the other Spanish-speaking parents that they can talk to me in Spanish (if slowly with lots of hand gestures). There is nearly always a Spanish-speaking bunch and an English-speaking bunch at the pick-up line. More mixing might be useful.

In case you were interested, Coffee Break Spanish has started their second level, Show Time Spanish. It has the most annoying jingle. There are still three more episodes in Coffee Break Spanish before the end of it.

I am stymied a bit on my essay. I want to go from talking about tapas containing meat or seafood to a recipe for potatoes with garlic mayonnaise. I think I need a sentence about vegetables in tapas, first.