Girl, no. Our Alabama is most definitely Roscommon.

What’s GGG in this context? Good guy Greg??

Edit: it means Good, Giving and Game!

Thanks for these!

You know it’s funny, I live in a place with no extreme temperatures but that’s really wet and I’ve realised that we don’t have shoes to match our climate at all. Lots of people have recommended boots to me (which is a great shout, don’t get me wrong!) but I already have a lovely pair of waterproof winter boots that I have already gotten resoled once by a brilliant cobbler. I’m specifically looking for sneakers that are waterproof because boots are too warm and life’s too short to hang around all day in a pair of wet canvas shoes (remember it doesn’t have to be raining for feet to get wet - one step in long grass or a puddle will do it).

It’s why I love my eccos and have bought so many pairs (now on my fifth). It just seems so wasteful to drop them in the bin when the stitching goes on them.

These are great! Thanks superkret :)

I haven’t used calm in a long time but my favourite ones to start were the body scans because they’re so simple. I used to set the timer to something really short like 3-4 minutes to start and I did them on my break in work in a call centre job.

Sometimes it helped, and sometimes it was frustrating, but it acted like a temperature check on my emotions. If it was frustrating I knew I was more sleep deprived or stressed so it let me know I needed some more self care, like an early night or some time to myself.

I’d like to echo another commenter’s advice of looking into therapy if you can afford it. At the same time as I was getting into meditation I also got CBT therapy from a fantastic therapist and it was one of the best things I ever did. If you have any questions about it feel free to ask.

Best of luck OP 💕

I love esponjitas! May I ask which country this is used in??

Best of luck with all your language learning endeavours!

This is not what anyone wants to hear, but the truth is as an adult you can’t perfect a language without studying it. Obviously there are exceptions to every rule! Some people pick up language more naturally than others. But in my experience it’s the students who put the work in outside of class that progress faster.

It’s also true that we have strengths and weaknesses in language (sometimes even in our native language). A person who aces an oral exam might do terribly in their writing exam. A good student is aware of their own flaws and practices in the areas they find hardest.

In terms of how to study, it depends firstly on your level and secondly on the area you want to work most on: reading, writing, listening or speaking.

If you are at A1 level, you will benefit most from being exposed to language aimed towards that level, i.e. grammar books, language learning podcasts etc. When you reach around a B1 level I recommend looking at real life target language examples such as TV shows, books, news articles and so on. There’s not much point coming to them too early and being discouraged by how little you understand.

If oral language is what you struggle with the most, try to find a conversation circle to practice with. Many of these can now be found online thanks to Covid!

Writing is one of the hardest areas to progress in, in my opinion, because realistically you want someone going over anything you write with a fine tooth comb to point out any mistakes. If you need to get better at writing in your target language I highly recommend hiring a tutor or trying out a class that focuses on writing.

Sorry if this isn’t the fun answer you want to hear! But don’t worry, my students think I’m a buzzkill too 😅

I’m a language teacher and I’m using Duolingo to keep me humble! Every language sounds like gibberish in the beginning.

That being said, it overstates its own benefits. I only learn when I take detailed notes alongside the app. When I don’t, nothing really sticks

This pizza place opened in an area that is flush with well established takeaway spots. We ordered from it once and it was BAD. The bases were frozen and the meat was clearly sandwich meat from a supermarket. Whenever we pass it by, it’s open but there are NEVER any customers.

The online reviews are bizarre, they’re either one star reviews with detailed explanations of how shitty the food is or 5 star reviews with no comments.

Yet somehow this place is STILL open despite being surrounded by superior competition and always being empty. There is absolutely no way it’s not a front for something.

Do men not usually do this? Where were you leaving your medication before? Did you never bring a water bottle with you?

I’m a woman and one of my biggest stressors is my bag, it hurts my back to carry and I still forget tons of stuff that I need. I don’t have a car so I don’t have anywhere convenient to leave things when I’m out or at work.

Oh god this is depressing. I used to immediately go on reddit to see if anyone else had read it and read what they thought 🤣

Apart from that I wear the ear off my partner about the writing and the themes and the cultural context and how reading it in the 21st century changes the text. I rarely write down what I thought of a book, but that actually sounds like quite a nice thing to do.

I would not have picked up that book if it weren’t for seeing this thread so thank you! We should make this a Bloomsday tradition. A different chapter every year.

Update 5: the book fell off my lap and startled me awake. It’s been a long night! This was fun and hopefully educational x

Update 4: my eyes are drooping now and finding it hard to keep up with the sheer pace of conversation here!! I’m going to put it down for now, but my biggest takeaway from this part so far is, despite the lack of punctuation and paragraphs, how accessible it is! It sounds like a gang of women gossiping!

Update 3: Jaysis this is a dirty aul book wha, people padding up their arses to excite men and confessing to the priest about where the boys touched them. One of them even wants to embrace the priest. Fleabag vibes.

Update 2: it mentions “Dignam’s death” being in a newspaper of some sort. Oddly poignant, as Christy Dignam, a famous Dublin singer, passed away during the week.

Update: I’m one page in to the final chapter and you’re right. It is a wild ride. But it’s so DUBLIN. It reads like I’m overhearing one half of a phone conversation with loads of gossip.

The last chapter is missing any kind of punctuation as far as I know, so that has to be a wild ride

Just got in from some pints in town myself, I’ve decided this is the perfect time to take a look at this mythical beast of a chapter. It’s what Joyce would have wanted. Will report back!

I love Bloomsday! But I must admit I still haven’t finished Ulysses. I’ve heard its best read with a companion book. Once I finish Dubliners I might try tackling it again.

What I love about Joyce in general is the geographical accuracy of his portrayal of Dublin. It’s mad that it has hardly changed over the hundred years since Ulysses and Dubliners were written.

A good memory I have from last year’s Bloomsday was walking past a crowd of people in period dress holding pints of plain and talking loudly over a guy reading out a chapter of Ulysses on a podium outside Davy Byrne’s. It’s not just about the literature, Dublin is all about the atmosphere. It’s a pity the weather isn’t great for it this year.

the quotation marks are missing

I’m pretty sure that’s a stylistic choice by the author himself. All the dialogue is mixed in with the stream of consciousness. A delicious mess.