#and i'm feeling really comfortable when i've got dolly on point

[despair-tea]

okay, I did two 20min sessions just drilling the Fortune BnB.

22x + 31x. Phewwwwwwww. We're starting to get there. Now I'm gonna need to start practicing on live dummies.

[luckydoeslanguage]

🎏Immersion, its quirks, and tips for language learning this way!

its the 5th of May, so happy children's day! 🎏 I got a question in one of my posts asking for some advice on immersion learning! i thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about immersion in general, my current study(?) routine and perhaps give some useful advice! As the name suggests, Immersion language learning is done primarily by consuming media in your target language. Immersion can seem super intimidating to us learners, mostly cause we can't understand most of the stuff available to us. But! its not impossible to start out using immersion right out of the gate. i think people tend to get scared or go "I'll immerse when i get better at my TL!" But the truth of the matter is, your not going to get used to, or better at your target language unless you consume actual content. (in my opinion.)

Honestly, a lot of immersion learning is being able to tolerate that i probably wont understand everything right away. I will someday, but for now i have to be comfortable with not understanding a lot. which is okay! So, what is my current study routine?

right now, my routine consists of:

doing vocabulary cards on Anki from a premade anki deck.

playing about an hour of Animal crossing everyday

watching 1 - 3 episodes of an anime

watching Youtube videos

weekly (ish) grammar done by reading Imabi, and watching Cure Dolly videos on Youtube.

The bread and butter of my routine is learning vocab, and occasional grammar studies. I'm using the core2k/6k deck. which as the name implies, is an optimized vocab deck that contains the most common 6k JP vocabulary. i currently take 5 new vocab cards a day, and try to get my reviews in everyday. my anki deck has contributed a lot to me being able to immerse so early in my language journey. learning and then reviewing new words everyday lets me recognize words in my immersion. As time has gone on, i can recognize more and more words, and even some words I haven't encountered yet in my deck. Immersion, while still uncomfortable, (especially with complex media) is the other side of the coin. i try to spend double the time i spend on anki, immersing. Mostly because i enjoy what I'm immersing in, but also because i get more out of it the more time i spend immersing.

"that's all well and good Lucky, but what advice would you give to someone who wants to learn this way?"

Well! first of all, and this is very important:

Be comfortable with ambiguity. you may not be able to understand some, or maybe most of the thing you are immersing in. that's okay! Your brain is already looking for patterns to see in your TL, and is growing more accustomed to it. I got a lot of headaches in the beginning, i still do actually. but i know that's my brain working hard! (take a break if you get a headache!!)

Second, and probably just as important:

Follow your interests. make immersion fun! whats the point of immersing if its torturous?! I'm a lot more likely to continue immersing in something if i actually enjoy it. there are a lot of easier anime to immerse in, but if I'm not having fun, I'm not going to learn anything. you should do the same! even if its too difficult to understand. I'm currently watching someone on YouTube play a dating sim, and even though its waaaay above my skill level, I'm really enjoying myself watching it! I've even recognized some words i know. whole sentences, even.

Third:

Be Consistent! This is probably advice you've already heard, but it bears repeating! even if you do something small like listening to a song in your TL, that's immersion babyy :) consistency is key, above all.

Lastly: Track your Immersion. a problem with immersion is it can feel like you are going nowhere. tracking how much time you spend doing an activity, (watching videos, reading, etc) is a great way to make immersion more tangible. lots of people reccomend toggl, but i personally use polylogger. its built with language learners in mind, and is stupidly easy to use. i also keep personal logs in an online diary, as well as here on my blog to measure my progress. it helps!

alright, i think thats everything i have to say for now! if you've made it to the end of this long post, hello! and thank you <3 hope you've had a good day so far! I will leave you with some links to more reading on the subject under the cut, they go into more detail than i have here.

take care for now! またね！

this article by Refold about tolerating ambiguity:

The Moe ways guide to immersion:

Making the leap to Immersion, Video by Cure Dolly:

[the-thieves-gambit]

Something about the nickname he had come up for her made her beam. It was a unique one, she would give him that. The thought of Orion, Charlie, and Anna living on the island and having Orion have a set group of friends to be around sounded like a great idea. Especially with the way they all got along during Easter and at the center. It was something that she wanted for him, friends but she also accepted that she was not his mother. While she was trusted to look for his best interests, the decisions lay solely on his parents. After the switchblade incident, she thought that Charlie would never want to speak to her again. It did though make her feel nice that Wally would point out the fact that she was valued. So she found herself simply nodding at his words, his pointing out of their trust in her.

And then there was his trust in her. He didn't even know her, not truly. So why was he so willing to let her take Dolly? Guilt crept in, feeling like an imposter, whoever he believed her to be was someone that he could trust. Whoever he believed her to be, she'd like to be her forever. "I don't mind the furball. She and I share a lot in common so I wouldn't mind the company on walks."

Playfully rolling her eyes, "I'm sure you are when you're not talking someone's ear off." The thought of spending more time around his family was something that made her anxious, a part of her wanted to another part of her said that she shouldn't and that it wasn't something meant for her to do. She had only imposed upon their Easter because of Orion, she wouldn't want to impose further again.

"We haven't even finished hanging out today and you already planning luau's and field trips to a penguins exhibit?" A chuckle and a slight shake of her head as she took another sip of her drink. She wanted to say yes, to just be the kind of person who spent time with the man who seemed to actually listen to her and like her company. But she knew she couldn't. She would never be able to get close to anyone without having to hide the truth of who she was. "I'll have to think about it. I have a big case I'm working on right now that I need to do a lot of work on. So let's stick a pin in that for now, the penguins do sound like a thing I need to check out."

Extremes over germs? That made her smirk. "Ah, the people aren't the best, I'll admit it. But I wasn't there for the people so it wasn't bad." Thinking about her time on the boat, she felt her heart twitch a bit but that was another life. Another chapter in her life that she had hoped would have been the ending. An ever after. She hadn't meant for it to slip out, but she had felt so comfortable for a moment there. "It was nice. Not really, but once I was on land, I missed the sea. It's a catch twenty-two." She shook her head at using the pirate thing as a party fact. "Again, it was just a story my dad said, not a fact. It's not like I'd ever been able to figure out if it was real or not. He was a bit of a tall tales man, liked to see the world with mythical and fantastical proportions instead of how it was." A small hint of bitterness sunk in there.

Being this close to Wally didn't feel weird. Physically she hated being so close to people but as she closed the space between them and leaned closer so they could look at her phone together, that same comfort that had snuck in earlier made her say things she would have been better at concealing, snuck in again. It was the same reason she had taken the water from him without thinking twice about the contents of it. She trusted him. "Yeah, it's nice. It's full of shops and things, it reminded me of California, actually. There's a nice cafe in there, oh the bar is a nice place to unwind. Especially at night when the lights are on and ships are going by, but I've only been there like a handful of times."

The fact that it might take that long to cross off all the lighthouses made her frown slightly, looking more like a pout. "And you never mentioned it?" She asked as she looked back up at him with a mock incredulous look on her face. "I'm going to have to rethink this friendship if you keep things like this from me, Wallaby." But then also muttered to herself as she turned her attention back to her phone and zoomed into where the lighthouse would be. "I can't believe I didn't notice it myself actually."

“Ah,” Elizabeth looked up at Wally, about to say some stupid quip about how he wanted to go everywhere. Instead she found herself smiling at the reddening of his cheeks. Something enduring about it, she could see the shy kid that would come here with his aunt as a child. She had to force herself to look away. “So, there’s a lot of places you’d like to see.” Taking another sip from her drink, she decided t pretend to not notice how flustered he become at the thought of all he wanted to see. It was nice to see. “Not nerdy at all. Hearing people talk about things they like, know about or what to know about is a lot better than having someone prat on forever about something they hate. There’s nothing nerdy about learning, ‘an investment in knowledge pays the best interest.’”

Her smile spread as he said he liked lighthouses too. It was silly but she felt like a kid who got told they could have a cookie before dinner. “Yeah, some of them got used, some didn’t, some are cared for and still ran. Others have fallen to disrepair. But to think of the people that used to run them, the boats that saw them in the distance, heard the foghorns and knew that land was near.” She sighed, thinking about the times she spent on the bow of the boat in the dark night, nothing but darkness for miles until suddenly a light would cut through it all. Shrugging she thought it over. “I don’t know, just like them a lot. I guess it is my top one. Maybe even over books but I’ll deny it if you ever tell anyone.”

Finishing off her drink, she smiled. “I’m ready to go when you are, wallaby.” Excitement evident on her face about where they were going. “No rush if you’re not ready yet!” She added hoping she wasn’t being pushy or forcing him to eat faster. “I’m fine with sitting around a bit longer if you need to. How many lighthouses have you seen? Besides their history was there something else that made you like them? Also Alaskas northern lights are nice, but not as nice as Iceland’s.”

The narrowed eyes made him gasp out gleefully. He had just gotten something right. "Playing coy now are you, miss lila." He understood where she was coming from. "That is always the hope. If they lived here he'd go to the Y with my nieces so he'd have friends. Though, I think Annie grew attached to him since the first moment she met him." He hummed as he watched her sit back. "I think they value your opinion," he didn't know for sure but he felt the need to say it. "Wouldn't think they'd let him come all the way to the islands if they didn't trust you or your judgment."

"You sound so surprised. I really wouldn't mind if you take her. There's no catch here just making it clear. If you want to hang out with her go ahead. Might give Lenny a break from dogsitting too. As long as you don't mind the furball." His voice was soft almost like they were whispering. "You say the word and she's yours to take. I'll say new places she loves to sniff around. She's curious like that. Is good with children and other pets too. Strangers she won't bite but people have to ask before they pet her. Sometimes she can get grouchy."

"Maybe one day. I'll have you know I'm a great travel buddy. I need to take you to our luaus." Wally teased as a small little smile overtook his features. "They are the cutest. Not going to dispute that. Speaking of since we're on the topic of penguins. There's a new exhibit coming soon about penguins. Did you want to go? I mean, with me. Go with me?" He heard himself and even that was painful. Give him anything in the world he'd do it. Give him asking someone who he didn't think would ever look his way in a romantic aspect and he turned into that five year old who got tongue tied. Either way it was casual if she busy or didn't want to go then he'd find some time to go with his nieces later on in the year.

Shaking his head he responded no. "You want to laugh don't you? We've never done that. But it's also because there's a bunch of germaphobes in the family and we usually go for extremes. So like, rock climbing, hikes and what we call speed racers. But, laser tag sounds fun. Paint balling uh might have done it once a very long time ago. Talking about it I'm about to tell you let's go."

"We went to Maine once and it was probably the worst experience. The townspeople weren't as nice as they advertised. But we also didn't stay long enough to see any of their lighthouses. That may change if we go." It was said casually like he was talking about the sky being blue. Eyes widened at the tidbit. "You spent a year in a boat? What was that like? Did you miss land?" He chuckled softly and couldn't help but find her even more interesting. "Pirate Elizabeth. Hmm. That's a neat party fact you can bust out at these functions." His mind couldn't help but to think of scenarios where her family line would have been descendants from a blackbeard type. "Cool if it turned out to be true."

Having her so close was intoxicating, he felt drunk. Being so close to her felt like a dream. He made some room for her while his elbows laid on top of the table as his eyes looked down at her phone. There was a moment where he stole a second to look at her features up close. Her nose had that tiny dip that looked like a small heart shape and her eyelashes fanned across her cheeks, her lips looked enticing and subconsciously made him lick his own. He breathed in her sweet scent which couldn't tell if it came from a perfume or her hair. Either way he was a fan. Half of him heard what she was going on about while the other day dreamed what it'd be like in a world where the woman he wanted also wanted him back.

He couldn't help the smile after she said she loved lighthouses. This was something she was sharing with him and gave him an insight into who she was. "You've gone to Aloha Tower? Did you like it?" Wally smiled back and blinked away his inner thoughts. "Realistically we can cross off most of them if not all. It may take a year or two."

"We should go to Lahaina Lighthouse. It's not only close to where we live but also Hawaii's first one. That is easy to knock out first since it's not even a mile away from the house." For all that his Lahaina home was remote and away from the main island, it held tiny treasures like the first lighthouse that graced the island.

"I've always wanted to go to Graceland. You know the one I've always wanted to go to but never gone but there's a Sinister NOLA, it's a true crime and murder mystery tour. There's visiting the Pyramids of Giza, Machu Picchu, Petra, Northern lights in Alaska." He stopped himself and tried to control his semi blush. "Nerdy. I know but I like to learn. And have found these places so interesting. Since I've been in Hawaii, lighthouses have grown on me. Especially considering all the history they come with. I like hearing you talk about them. Are they your favorite topic or top three for sure?"

[real-bjd-recast-community]

Okay, someone sent me this so, regardless of the morally reprehensible behavior of the person organizing the meet (I've sadly learned not to expect much from the antis and elitists), I'll point some things so people doesn't have to pass on the same (bad) experience.

First off, we still are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic of an airborne deadly virus that not even the ones making the vaccines are %100 sure if any vaccine works against newest strains of the virus. So as an old and precaution person, I would say, it's still NOT (health wise) a good idea to go out to do dolly meeting or "small convention thingy" with other people, EVEN if you wear a facemask, EVEN if you do it on an open area, EVEN if you take all precautions. Seriously. Not a great idea.

People TALK, you usually don't know them (or if they're infected), dolls are touched around, food it's usually in every meet, and even if you're vaccinated and think you're invincible, you can still get the virus and pass it on to anyone else in your life (newsflash, the current vaccines don't prevent you from getting the virus even if you get 3 shots, but, what they do, it's that when you get the virus, your body it's prepared to fight it; so you don't get "seriously ill" and require hospitalization. Therefore, GET the vaccine, BUT, don't think you're invincible because of it, you still need to avoid situations were you're putting yourself and others at risk, therefore, maybe, we should just postpone doll meetings at least until 2023 or 2024..?, The pandemic it's NOT going to end, but by that time we might have better understanding or methods to actually be safer on closed spaces eating and touching each other's stuff? ... just an idea, all I'm saying is, if you want so bad to socialize in person in the middle of a pandemic, well...)

But sure, let's just pretend it's still mid 2019.

So I'll just talk about the doll issue here.

It's absolutely not excusable how the host of the meet acted towards customizable vinyl dolls and recast. But let's see how to avoid getting stuck in such place were you really feel unwelcome.

1 ) If you know that a doll meet it's held by a person who it's NOT OK with the type of doll you got. Well, basically, don't go. If they value friendship based on the material or origin of your doll, then I'm guessing they won't be good friends to have, besides, pretty sure there's a recast friendly, or a "all dolls friendly", meet for you to go out there!

It's not a shocker since the OP apparently knew beforehand that the meet was hosted by a person who didn't consider vinyl dolls real BJDs, and, hated recast. So regardless of how much you want to share with others, how about you share and befriends people in the hobby who's actually recast friendly and onboard with vinyl dolls??? What's the need to go to a situation you mostly knew beforehand wasn't going to be comfortable for you?

2 ) If you want to be part of the anti proartist elitist group. Be prepared for it (or don't even try).

It's well known that this things are not bound to end up well. If (for some reason I can't think of) you want to be part of that group, don't show up at a meeting with a recast, a vinyl doll, a plastic doll, or basically anything else that's not made of resin and purchased from a legit company or dealer (like Allice Collection's ?).

It's a though crowd (to say the least), is the equivalent of being at hischool and try to be on "the popular girls group", it's carnage, you got to know what you're going to do 50 steps before you do it, and there's %0 room for mistakes. It's madness. And, that being said, you're about to be skinned alive because sooner rather than later the antis of the meet will see your name, your face, and the picture of your dolls.

So it's not "you being smart" because this person "praise your doll not realizing it was a recast" (many people do it, they don't post public pics in their facebook page about it), your little shenanigans about taking a recast to an anti proartist elitist meet will get you cyber-bullied big time, and I can't say it wasn't obvious.

3 ) Find one of the many many MANY places full of wonderful people who actually care about you and accept your dolls and you FOR WHO YOU ARE. those are real hobby friends that will not let you aside.

This people (antis proartists elitists) literally cut ties with their years long friends and even family because they get a doll "it's unacceptable" by their moral standards. Are you seriously telling me that this people it's the kind of people you want in your life???

4 ) Recasts DON'T cause cancer.

*(can't believe I'm clarifying this in 2021 because some people haven't gotten a 🧠 in the last decade). I can give a full explanation of how antis proartists invented this myth to try to get people scared from buying recasts, but if recasts were causing cancer, MANY people would be far dead by now (or at least sick, given that recast are around since 2011, so do your own thinking).

5 ) You ARE a REAL doll collector if you consider yourself one. AND, -NO-, they're NOT "entitled" to "their opinion" if their opinion it's in any way harmful to others (specially about dolls).

Let me rephrase this on a different context: If a guy believes that pigeons shouldn't be on his yard, and place poison glue all over his property to kill the poor innocent birds (in stand of just using an ultrasonic pest repellent), it's this person "entitled to an opinion" that harms innocents? Or overall creates a toxic environment for the kids who might unwillingly ingest the poison glue on his yard? - I'm not going to escalate this to: "wasn't then A dolf H. entitled to his opinion?" thing, but harmful behavior it's bad, and no, people it's not cool to act like it's normal.

So congratulations if you read all the way down to here. You're a champ.

[andrxsmarty]

Luce smiled not helping it as she heard Elizabeth talk. "You know more than I do and that alone is fascinating. Talk my ear off on it all. Everything you know. The special part is that it's your story no one else would have that so I'm all ears." Slowly she wanted her to feel comfortable and not truly doubt her own experiences or make them smaller. She was truly an interesting person. It went further than just being her brother's girlfriend.

It took her a moment to look at Liz and nod as if asking her if she was sure. "Okay," she took out her phone and scrolled to the different activities. "Annie and Gael have gym. Andy usually takes them but since he's home with the triplets he's spread a bit thin. That's Wednesdays at four. The fun part is that you can sit and watch they're different age groups but they are in the same class. Thursdays is Annie's ballet. She is fussy everytime she has to go but she needs to complete the last three classes to move on. Then Jack and Deli have swim. Do you swim? If not it is okay. They can opt out. Rock climbing is their Friday treat and it's indoors. Takes about an hour then you're free. The week after I'm back so I can take over."

Luce made a face and waved it off. "You know the truth now," she laughed. "We have different teams but football we've got the Chargers and the Panthers. My brother in law and husband are really into soccer and we root for the Mexican team. Clearly," she pointed out since they were half. Nope. Never been. Most times either I was pregnant or Dee was. So, couldn't get our waddling butts down to a stadium. It's fun?"

"Oh, yes. So many doubts. I never doubted that I loved him but I was scared and terrified of the future. Sex was the second biggest hurdle. To give someone everything you have is scary. If you ask how I got over that? Little secret, never did. I'm still scared and terrified but I know I've got him by my side. We're both terrified. After losing our last kid," it was the first time she had talked about this. "Our marriage suffered quite a bit. It got to the point where I selfishly said I was done. That was my own grief talking but still not something I could take back. I know its intimidating to hear us all know each other from childhood but that doesn't mean we aren't still learning and crossing hurdles. We haven't had everything figured out yet. No matter the time that has passed. So, in a way I can understand why you were scared. Jumping in is the most terrifying thing you'll do."

She made a face and chuckled. "I knew it. What kind of things has he made Dolly do when you guys are home? I'm curious. The only thing aside from candy and the fruit snacks for the kids are oranges and grapes. We didn't get that last time. If you could add that to the list I'd appreciate it. Okay, how's the flour coming along there?"

Glad that her joke had the intended affect, a wide smile graced Elizabeth's face. The wide one that showed off her bunny teeth, Wally had dubbed them. "Not technically, I spent time on a crabbing boat and when we stopped at different docks on the coast I'd look at the tie pools and see the small ones. But never shrimping in the broader sense. So I might not be the best one to answer questions about it."

Taking a moment to put her notepad down, she stuck her pen behind her left ear for a moment as she pulled out her phone. Opening up her calendar she began to add memos and events, with Theo and Mai around she could be free more often. "Yeah, I can be and no worries." Holding her hand up, she shook her head. "It's okay, tell me when you need me and," she sent her an invite to her personal calendar to her phone. "What the kids have going on and I'm your girl. I can handle it. "

"More like say he didn't look it up that he just knew them." Shaking her head at the memory. "Football I understand the basics but I just never could really get into it. It's something my dad loved, he filled me with love of the sport, some of the memories I still have of him are of me on his shoulders at a game. There's just something about it that I enjoy to this day. What are your teams? Or do you all root for one team? Been to a game?"

Sighing, she shrugged her shoulders. "Honestly," she began to fidget with her bracelets. "I wasn't in a very good place and the fact that I actually had fun that night and was a little happy, scared me. I don't know how much he's told you about my upbrining after my dad died, but being happy like that scared me. It wasn't something that I thought I ever deserve and so I left before I could really process what it meant." Looking back up at Luce, her curiosity got the best of her. "Wally said you all had met each other when you were kids, basically were together since then. Did you ever have doubts?"

Focusing on the reason she had initially come over, she nodded and began to do as instructed. Nervous but determined to learn this. "Okay," she began to pour waiting for her cue to stop.

Giggling as Dolly passed her to Luce, she knew what she was doing. She was here on a task, much like she was. "Sometimes?" Sarcasm dripped from her words as she arched an eyebrow at her, a smirk on her face. " I'll help restock your snacks later, I have to get some groceries anyways, let me know if you need anything else too."