Brian_N Pro Member Canada Joined 5769 days ago 200 posts - 202 votes Studies: English*, Russian Personal Language Map
| Message 193 of 248 31 May 2009 at 3:56am | IP Logged |
Day 109
Well if you told me a week ago that a week from now Iād be living in Winnipeg Iād probably would have laughed at you...but here I am, living in Winnipeg. I shouldn`t be surprised though, I`ve been moving around from place to place for the past decade, I shouldāve guessed that it wasnāt quite over yet.
Yeah, I took that job with that construction company. They pay too much money for me to pass it up...it solves the issue of how to pay for University and that bit about having to blow 7K on a little bachelor pad for myself.
It also means that I can start saving up for a nice trip to Russia. I figure 10K-15K should get me a decent place in some Russian city and some one-on-one teaching. Thereās only so much I can learn from drilling words and grammar study. I canāt see there being any substitute for being surrounded by native speakers.
And howās my studies going lately...there kinda not lol. In general life is much better that it was last week but it is still quite unstable. I figure itāll be another week before Iām fully re-established here in Winnipeg and my previous study routines re-emerge. Hopefully Iāll have a place here soon. The room service and swimming pool at my current residence is quite nice...the daily rent though kinda sucks.
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Brian_N Pro Member Canada Joined 5769 days ago 200 posts - 202 votes Studies: English*, Russian Personal Language Map
| Message 194 of 248 01 June 2009 at 4:19am | IP Logged |
Day 110
Transfer Complete, I am now established in Winnipeg. Day and a half to find a place...not too shabby. 2400 square feet, 3 floors, 2 guys, 1 girl...all my age....can you say sweeeeet. I think iām going to be getting into wayyyyy too much trouble lol.
A perfect possible outcome, beautiful.
Iāve had many good things happen to me in my short life...but on this scale, itās definitely something new. Everything came together sooo...perfectly. The future is still murky, but soon enough Iāll be able to see the possibilities once again.
In the mean time however Iām going to take this unexpected success as a sign that my current direction in life is the correct one and it just so happens that learning Russian is part of that direction. I know all of this happened because of my natural effectiveness at exploiting my opportunities but what if learning Russian had something to do with it. I know it is sooooooo damned superstitious, but the only thing Iām really doing differently lately IS learning Russian...its the āwhat ifā that makes me wonder.
No matter what has to be sacrificed, Russian stays. This is the right path for me...come what may...the horizon awaits.
Edited by Brian_N on 01 June 2009 at 4:19am
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Brian_N Pro Member Canada Joined 5769 days ago 200 posts - 202 votes Studies: English*, Russian Personal Language Map
| Message 195 of 248 07 June 2009 at 12:03am | IP Logged |
Took me awhile but I finally found an unsecured wireless connection I can use until I get my own... sweet, I can finally start updating again.
Still settling into my new place, itāll probably take almost another month before I can actually say Iām fully settled in...still have quite abit of stuff that I need to pick up. But thatās what I get for moving to the city with a pillow, 1 change of clothes, and a laptop lol. Luckily I just happened to have a few thousand lying around or I never wouldāve been able to relocate this quickly.
Russian is still coming along, I set aside some time for it tomorrow I want to get back into my studying ASAP before that habit of doing something daily begins to degrade.
Oh hey, guess whoās being Transferred and replaced by a someone who was actually born in Canada? Lol, bye bye Portugal. I found out Friday from the big boss, Portugal doesnāt even know yet that heās gone. He pissed me off pretty good about a week ago, he was going on for about 5 minutes, talking crap about Canadian Aboriginals and this time...I didnāt hold my tongue. I kinda comment that āatleast they were born hereā and then I asked him what his problem was with them anyways considering heās a non white immigrant who 9 times out of 10 would be lumped in the same category. He got pretty offended and started going on about how heās just playing and āhe has a bunch of native American friendsā and blah blah blah...I looked at him and said āwell if thatās how you talk about your friends it says alot about youā. For the first time since I met him...he actually shut up for more than 5 minutes. I will agree that about 80% of Native Americans are a pain in the ass, (and I will also admit to punching out about a dozen), but there a few that I call friends, and to hear such intolerance directed towards them...I couldnāt let that go, right then and there I decided that he had to go.
Its like I said before, understanding of power structures is my gift and knowing how to subtlety influence the opinions of those around me is very much a part of that. The odd joke here and a little comment there...just enough for my peers to internalize the opinion without consciously realizing what Iām doing. I got him good yesterday, I asked him to do something...knowing full well that it wouldnāt work and that me and the boss would be waiting on him, and once the boss starting swearing under his breath...I kindly volunteered to ātake care of itā lol. Portugal thinks Iām his ābest budā, heās even going out of his way to pick me up and drive me to and from work everyday...little does he know. Smiling to his face, laughing at his jokes and listening to his problems...all while Iām sharpening the knife that is going deeper and deeper into his back. Sorry guy you pissed of the wrong person. Itāll be nice to see you go.
As for me, things are going great at work...just by the way the bosses look at me I know thereās talk about a promotion and a raise in my future lol.
Anyways though all this interest in another country has me kinda curious about myself, particularly my origins. Apparently Iām from a British family, but our knowledge of our origins goes back only about 150 years...and infidelity is kinda common in my family lol. Thereās a genetic test Iāll be ordering when my next cheque comes in...I want to know who my ancestors were and where they came from.
Edited by Brian_N on 07 June 2009 at 12:05am
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Brian_N Pro Member Canada Joined 5769 days ago 200 posts - 202 votes Studies: English*, Russian Personal Language Map
| Message 196 of 248 07 June 2009 at 3:43am | IP Logged |
Well the cash is flowing in and once again iāve returned to civilization. Now letās see what I can do about putting a native Russian speaker on payroll. Thereās over half a million people living in Winnipeg so Iām hopeful.
I figure $25 dollars an hour is fair wage for a few hours a week. Not looking for much just someone I can chat with who can teach me some spoken basics.
Well since I seem to be 2 for 2 on perfect outcomes, the move being 1, and Portugal being 2, I might as well go for the Hat trick, 3 for 3 lol.
And what would be a perfect possible outcome here? A native Russian exchange student who is my age...a poor Russian exchange student would be even better lol.
Anyways though, the search has begun and now the only thing I can do is wait. Itās Saturday night, I figure Iāll go buy a 24 and get my roommate to bring over some of his buddies to play poker...even after paying for 24 I should still be up about 30 bucks after I take their money.
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Brian_N Pro Member Canada Joined 5769 days ago 200 posts - 202 votes Studies: English*, Russian Personal Language Map
| Message 197 of 248 08 June 2009 at 6:20am | IP Logged |
Day 117 - Tier 1
2 hour committed => (Tier 1 ā 1 hrs to vocabulary expansion, 1 hrs to active listening)
------------------------------------------------------------ -----------
Declan's Russian Flashcards
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1000 Most Common Russian Nouns
-Successful verbal identification: Consolidation in progress - (8 groups of 50 words completed @ 90%+ => 12 to go)
-Successful visual identification: Consolidation in progress - (8 groups of 50 words completed @ 90%+ => 12 to go)
600 Most Common Russian Adjectives
-Successful spoken identification: Under Review
-Successful visual identification: Under Review
500 Most Common Russian Verbs
-Successful spoken identification: Pending
-Successful visual identification: Pending
200 Most Common Russian Adverbs
-Successful spoken identification: Pending
-Successful visual identification: Pending
------------------------------------------------------------ ----------
Tier 1 - Focused Listening Hours Completed - (+1 hr)
(13:15 of 250)
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Brian_N Pro Member Canada Joined 5769 days ago 200 posts - 202 votes Studies: English*, Russian Personal Language Map
| Message 198 of 248 08 June 2009 at 6:21am | IP Logged |
Well, almost won poker. Lost in heads up to a flush on the river, the SOB he took out three people exactly the same way. Horseshoe up the ass. It was fun all in all though. We had about 15 people over, 9 at the table and others just chilling on the couches listening to tunes while we played. Itāll get bigger especially once we get the pool table and that 60 in plasma t.v. set up.
Pretty sure my roommate has a crush on me...just the way she touched my arm and looked at me with...that look. Sheās hot too lol, but sheās also my roommate. If I do let something happen and it goes sideways...oiy. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
A typical guy would just go for it...but iām not your typical guy. 1) I have options, 2) I play strategically.
And what does grand strategy have to say?
-A potential lay is not enough to justify the risk of potential instability inside my own household
-Sheās hot and hot girls tend to have hot friends, friendship will allow me to be āintroducedā to these friends.
-She is a young lady who has options and is looking to have fun, i.e. she would be expensive and high maintenance.
Recommendation => Just Friends.
There is one girl though at our āsocial gatheringā that caught my interest. She was chatting on the phone with one of her girlfriends and I heard ānyetā come out of her mouth. Iām thinking...potential Russian girlfriend lol. Native Russian is doubtful because her āsocialā English is flawless...Iād guess 2nd generation ethnic Russian. Meh...Russian. Good enough for me.
Still working on getting myself a dedicated net connection. I canāt wait till that is up and running again. Soon enough Iāll be able to go to sleep listening to beautiful Russian again...
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Brian_N Pro Member Canada Joined 5769 days ago 200 posts - 202 votes Studies: English*, Russian Personal Language Map
| Message 199 of 248 10 June 2009 at 12:55pm | IP Logged |
Day 118 - Tier 1
1 hour committed => (Tier 1 ā 1 hrs to vocabulary expansion)
------------------------------------------------------------ -----------
Declan's Russian Flashcards
------------------------------------------------------------ -----------
1000 Most Common Russian Nouns
-Successful verbal identification: Consolidation in progress - (8 groups of 50 words completed @ 90%+ => 12 to go)
-Successful visual identification: Consolidation in progress - (8 groups of 50 words completed @ 90%+ => 12 to go)
600 Most Common Russian Adjectives
-Successful spoken identification: Under Review
-Successful visual identification: Under Review
500 Most Common Russian Verbs
-Successful spoken identification: Pending
-Successful visual identification: Pending
200 Most Common Russian Adverbs
-Successful spoken identification: Pending
-Successful visual identification: Pending
------------------------------------------------------------ ----------
Tier 1 - Focused Listening Hours Completed - (+0 hr)
(13:15 of 250)
1 person has voted this message useful
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Brian_N Pro Member Canada Joined 5769 days ago 200 posts - 202 votes Studies: English*, Russian Personal Language Map
| Message 200 of 248 10 June 2009 at 12:55pm | IP Logged |
Day 119 - Tier 1
1 hour committed => (Tier 1 ā 1 hrs to vocabulary expansion)
------------------------------------------------------------ -----------
Declan's Russian Flashcards
------------------------------------------------------------ -----------
1000 Most Common Russian Nouns
-Successful verbal identification: Consolidation in progress - (9 groups of 50 words completed @ 90%+ => 11 to go)
-Successful visual identification: Consolidation in progress - (9 groups of 50 words completed @ 90%+ => 11 to go)
600 Most Common Russian Adjectives
-Successful spoken identification: Under Review
-Successful visual identification: Under Review
500 Most Common Russian Verbs
-Successful spoken identification: Pending
-Successful visual identification: Pending
200 Most Common Russian Adverbs
-Successful spoken identification: Pending
-Successful visual identification: Pending
------------------------------------------------------------ ----------
Tier 1 - Focused Listening Hours Completed - (+0 hr)
(13:15 of 250)
1 person has voted this message useful
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