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By kilax, October 10, 2014 7:56 am

Have you ever tried to learn (or re-learn) a foreign language as an adult? Which one? What worked for you?

Like many people, I took four years of español in high school. I enjoyed it so much that I took a semester of it in college, but didn’t keep it up once I got in to the architecture program and had to focus on design work. I did have two friends from Puerto Rico who would let me translate letters they received from family, for practice though. I have maintained some capability to read the language!

When I lived in Rome, we had to take a crash course in Italian. I was the one always getting scolded in class “no español, Kim!” Hee hee. The languages are similar enough that it was helpful and a hindrance at the same time. 

I picked up enough Italian to get by there for eight months, but was never able to read it – I learned it mostly by ear. I can’t recall much of what I learned. 

And… that has been the extent of my foreign language use since then (sigh, despite this 2011 gift* we still haven’t used). Except the words I use all the time at home – sí, puta, gracias, grazie, ciao, hola, no me gusta…

Well, xaarlin told me about the (free) Duolingo app (and desktop site, too) that allows you to learn many different languages, so I have been using that for about 26 days with spanish and have been really enjoying it! I feel like the language is easily coming back to me, and I like how it challenges you in many different ways – listening and repeating, translating (both ways), speaking, flash cards, quizzes, and so on. I hope I stick with it! 

*After clicking on that link I realized I was asking the exact same question in this post. Oops. I know a lot of my content is not new, for me. But seriously, there is a post I have been thinking about writing and I found that I already wrote it a few years ago. Sigh. At least I am consistent in some of my thoughts?!

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By kilax, August 29, 2014 10:31 am

Do you donate blood? Do you know your blood type?

In the past week several blood donation and blood draw stories have come up, and it’s got me thinking… I really need to donate blood one of these days! I never have! I’ve only had it taken. 

Hopefully when I do it, it doesn’t give me a story to tell like the ones that inspired me asking the first question. 

I’ve definitely asked the second question before, because it surprises me how many people don’t know their blood type. Of course, I have no idea how I learned mine, but it’s A +, which apparently, is the second most common for Caucasians. That is Steven’s blood type, too. I found this page from the Red Cross site really interesting – it shows which blood types are most common and how blood types can be matched for transfusions. 

Now someone hold me to it that I actually donate!

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By kilax, August 22, 2014 6:02 am

Have you ever been in a play or musical?

From Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at the community playhouse

I was really in to theater my freshman and sophomore year of high school. Maybe a little in middle school, as well? I remember taking acting classes at the community playhouse for fun. I remember being DEVASTED when I did not get a role when I tried out for the fall play my freshman year… then elated when it turned out someone had to drop out and I got their spot. I was in the fall and spring play both freshman and sophomore year, as well as in a community playhouse play during fall of sophomore year. I remember going to the school rehearsal then straight to the playhouse one!

Then I lost interest the last two years of high school. Womp womp. 

Lately I keep having dreams that I am about to be in a play (to play a character from Downton Abbey, ha ha) and don’t know ANY of my lines. And that my acting partner won’t help me out. And my acting partner is someone from high school. Brain! Quit regressing back fourteen years! These dreams make me wake up all panicked, and it’s so weird I am fretting about this, because I never had a problem memorizing my lines (or everyone else’s). Of course, I also never have a problem showing up places without shoes or clothes, which are also things I dream about. Ha ha. 

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By kilax, July 25, 2014 7:05 am

Do you use certain text or ring tones for specific people? Who gets their own? Or do you just use the default on your phone?

I recently wiped my phone clean to start fresh with a new OS, and before I did, I took note of all the special ring and text tones I use, so I could set them up again. For whatever reason (my innate anxiety?) I feel better if I know who is calling or texting, when I hear my phone doing something. When I hear the default noise, I am all “WHO IS THAT AND WHAT DO THEY WANT?”

Just me? Ha ha. 

Of course, I keep my phone on silent most of the time anyway. But on the off chance I don’t have silence turned on…  

And… TwoThree other random things!

1. This is a week of two anniversaries for me! July 21 was my blogiversary, and today is the anniversary of when I got my ACE personal trainer certification! Woo hoo! I have my continuing education already done (for the two year period) and have my eye on another certification. 
2. My mom called me this morning, very excited, because she saw Lance Armstrong’s support RV in our hometown. He must be doing RAGBRAI this year?
3. And as an update to the last Friday question… Steven and his family gifted me a GoPro as an early birthday gift! I can’t wait to use it during RAGBRAI!

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By kilax, July 18, 2014 11:46 am

When did you get your first digital camera? Do you still shoot on actual film, or all digital now?

Backing up some photos recently, I realized it’s been 10 years since I got my first digital camera (as a gift, from Steven)! And of course, in those ten years, I’ve had three digital cameras, and several phones that take photos too. It’s fun to look back through all of the photos and see how the quality has changed. I wish I took photos more on a daily basis, back then, like I do now. But the phone leads more to that than the camera. 

I wonder what the future of digital photography will hold for me! Ever since Steven got his DSLR, I rarely use my point and shoot. In fact, I took it with me for Bobbi‘s hang gliding trip and found out it has a mark on the lens. And wasn’t even upset. I just thought to myself “Whatever, I’ll photoshop it” (since it’s only larger when you zoom out on the lens).

I am interested in my future including one of these, so I can take action shots during some of my outdoor adventures… 

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By kilax, June 27, 2014 6:55 am

What do you think someone else would say the most daring thing you’ve done is? Answer from as many perspectives as you like!

During our run this am, Bobbi was asking me what I didn’t like about hang gliding (if all goes as planned, she’ll be trying it for the first time tomorrow – check out her comment on my hang gliding post – I held true to my response!). I told her that I felt frightened after the plane released us and we were free gliding without the assistance of a motor. Oddly, I was more frightened than when skydiving or anything else I’ve done. 

That got me thinking… I think of those activities as somewhat daring, but I bet to some people, they wouldn’t be at all. And to others, they would consider other things I do to be more daring, compared to the comfort of their lifestyle. Afterall, the definition of daring is simply: adventurous courage; boldness. It’s definitely different for everyone! Hence… the question!

I can think of different people who would probably name these things I’ve done as “most” daring (or just plan stupid):

• lived in a foreign country, alone
• traveled to foreign countries, alone
• taken a ride from a random stranger in Europe
• driven in Chicago traffic
• jumped out of an airplane
• gone on a helicopter ride
• tried trapeze
• traveled by myself to do a race
• moved away from home

You may read the list and think “what the heck, those things aren’t daring!” But that is the thing… everyone perceives it differently. And I bet you’ve thought of a friend or family member as doing something daring that was “nbd” to them!

So, tell me your list! And maybe think of your family/friends and the things they’ve done that you’ve perceived as daring… and let them know it!

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By kilax, June 6, 2014 12:11 pm

Do you talk with your hands?

Ha, I don’t mean using sign language! I mean speaking with your mouth, but making gestures with your hands. 

I sure do it. Um, rather animatedly. 

I never understood why I gesture, because I have been told my gestures do nothing to help along my story telling. In fact, I have been told it makes my stories more confusing. Ha!

But this article (pdf here) I stumbled across when writing this shed some light. It theorizes that one of the reasons we gesture is because it helps us organize our thoughts as we speak. I can believe that. Something about it feels natural and does help me tell a story, even if it doesn’t help the story itself. 

The article also suggests that teaching children to gesture when doing math problems could help them learn new problem-solving skills, and says other studies say gesturing could help us remember information and even empathize. Interesting stuff!

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By kilax, May 9, 2014 6:37 am

Do you have a lucky number? What is it, and what is the story behind it?

For whatever reason, I have always been drawn to the number 33. Even in high school, I considered it my “lucky” (really, favorite) number. My team did not have enough players to have numbers that high though, so I went with 3:

We picked up our Cats with Bats shirts yesterday (I love how they turned out!) and as I was sending the photos of them to people, a few asked, “Why 33?”

I responded that it’s just always been my lucky number, and thought nothing more of why they were asking. 

Then this morning, when I was talking with teammate Pete about the shirts after our Efit workout, he asked why 33, and I told him, and he said his number was 34, based off of a favorite player. 

Oh. 

Ha ha. Maybe that is why people were asking?

So I have to google 33 to see what I should tell people I am basing this number on! Pete suggested Scottie Pippen. But I think since I know so little about sports, I should probably just keep saying it’s my lucky number. Hee hee. 

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By kilax, May 2, 2014 6:06 pm

What kind of milk did you drink, growing up? And now?

Ha ha ha. I know! Soooo completely random. But I think it’s interesting to find out… we drank skim cow’s milk in our house as kids, so anything heavier than that always tasted extremely gross to me! But! I know that people who are used to 1%, 2%, or whole would think skim was n-a-s-t-y. Hee hee. 

Now I drink vanilla almond milk in cereal, or bake with it or soy milk. I am not the type to drink a glass of milk. It’s not appealing to me, and it upsets my stomach (even though it’s not from an animal). Even eating a bowl of cereal with milk gives me an upset stomach. Bizarro! Luckily, I can have small amounts of it in smoothies, baked goods, chai lattes, etc. TMI. Ha ha.

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By kilax, April 25, 2014 6:26 am

How do you keep track of all your passwords? Do you make your passwords super complicated and change them often, or use the same ones over and over?

Hopefully, none of your passwords are on this list (pdf here)!

At work, I have to use many different applications that require many different passwords that be changed frequently. My favorite is the one that has to be at least 16 digits, changed every 2 months, be completely different each time, and contain capitals, characters and numbers. 

Fun times. 

This has caused me to create some super random passwords that mean nothing at all. They are just sequences of letters, numbers and characters. Which, has actually been a good thing, because it’s gotten me in to the habit of using completely random passwords for personal stuff, too!

But I still have to keep them jotted down somewhere for both work and personal, which I know is a bad, bad habit!