101 things update

[juliet]

Full list.


007. Finish all currently ongoing sewing/knitting projects 27.12.2007 - finally!
008. Make candle(s) from old candle-ends - Marna got me candlemaking kit for my Xmas!
011. Photo frame with photos of family 01.01.2008
022. Be a non-rubbish vegan for a month 22.12.2007 - actually this was surprisingly easy. Also uon demonstrated his loveliness by having pizza without cheese when we went to dinner so that I could try some of his :-)
027. Keep track of my reading for 3 months. - RIGHT am restarting this TODAY.
029. Read Ulysses - still going!
030. Get 10 book recommendations from friends, read them, & review them. - 1 down, 1 nearly finished, 8 not started.
039. Get into work for 9am every morning for a month. - Started 19.11.2007, but failed towards the end of Dec. It's v useful in terms of getting work done though, so back on this as of Thu when I return to work!
042. was to read a book in German, now is to learn Mandarin, enough to get by in October. - started over the last week.
054. RRTY (Randonneur Round The Year i.e. one 200+K ride every month for a year) - only did 70k last weekend so this now won't happen (because I'm away for 6-7 months next year). However, I'll carry on trying to get a 200k ride in as often as possible. Over this year: Jan, Mar, Apr, May, June, July, Sept, Oct, Nov. (not all of these were audaxes, but all were > 200k.)
056. Build a wheel 04.12.2007 - also finally put it on the bike last week, and attached the dynamo light, and it all WORKS (with lots of electrical tape...). Went for first ride on it today. V pleased with myself.
065. Write a proper letter once a week for 3 months 27.12.2007 - really enjoyed doing this & intend to keep it up.
061. Do my back exercises daily for a month - yes well.
071. Catch up with someone I've not seen in a while for dinner/lunch monthly for 6 mths - time to start doing this. Anyone want lunch/dinner?
074. Learn to beatmatch - doop & I were discussing this last night!
091. Cycle into work before breakfast (& eat breakfast at work) every day for a week - this worked v well, will carry on doing it.
097. Go to Australia - still hurrah! I have lots of guidebooks now!



365/1001 days, 35/101 things done, 12/101 things in progress.

Comments

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

Let me know if you want help learning Mandarin.

[juliet]

Oh, do you speak it too? Fab! (I can just about say "hello" & "goodbye" so far. Also "innit" which made me laugh immoderately.)

Also: any interest in dinner sometime?

Chinese lessons

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

I actually have a BA in Mandarin so I could probably teach you enough to get by. (In the states it's the qualification to teach at the high school level.)

And dinner would be nice, though I feel like I've seen you loads in the last month (and this has been nice, too!). It will have to be after my houseguest has left, though!

Re: Chinese lessons

[juliet]

Wow, I didn't know that was what you did your degree in! Neat :-)

Dinner another time, then :-)

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Xie xie is thank you!

The only other stuff I know is Cantonese though! And it's mostly words for meat!!

And I can write you numbers but only because I think the kanji in Japanese is the same as standard chinese characters but I don't know how to say them in Chinese! I like to be helpful don't I!

[i-ludicrous.livejournal.com]

Are you taking your bike away with you? If so, you could continue your RRTY in other countries, couldn't you?

[juliet]

In theory, yes, but a) do not wish limited time in Foreign to be dominated by audaxing (or looking for audaxes, or whatever), & b) bike will be being shipped to Aus, which takes 9 weeks, so at least one month will be missed (& I'm taking 6 weeks to get from here to there, during which time audaxing not feasible).

[i-ludicrous.livejournal.com]

b) Does seem to rather scupper the idea.

As for a), if, like me, one of the things you like to do when in other countries is drive around looking at hills, then you could probably do worse than find some permanents in interesting bits...

[(Anonymous)]

On learning Mandarin - definitely get a native/fluent speaker to help you at the start with pronuniciation. The ChinesePod podcasts are really good once you're past the basics but I'm not sure what they're like for complete beginners.

We're planning to come along to your party I think - if you'd like to borrow any of my books/tapes do say and I'll bring them along. On the whole the standard of books teaching Chinese for beginners and near-beginners isn't great and there's not a wide range but there are some that are definitely better than others.

[juliet]

The Chinesepod podcasts seem pretty good for beginners as well. Also they're 10-15 min which is about right for listening to of a morning while I'm cooking breakfast / packing bag; and they provide dialogue transcripts with English, pinyin, and proper Chinese characters.

The thing I'm after at the moment is a book that teaches you how to actually write characters. Because printed is a bit different.