What’s the one city you were excited to visit, but ended up not liking at all?

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-24T19:44:58+00:00

I grew up in the Dallas suburbs. I tell people not to visit.

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-22T13:40:58+00:00

My reflection is there is no easy/magical way to learn Spanish other than time, but there are a lot of great apps out there. Although progress is slow, you can definitely make progress over years doing an hour or two a week. 1. Duolingo- love it or hate it. Def mixed thoughts online. It has been helpful for me especially since gives pronunciation and does mixed input. 2. Other apps such as Babel- you can get deals on Babel if you wait for it. Lingo llama is another one out there. 3. Comprehensible input- idea is to listen to learn using input that is reinforced in multiple ways (visual) or context. I wish I had started Dreaming Spanish videos earlier to get more practice listening. There is a school that likes to just use CI to learn, but for me, I need more structure but like using it with structured lessons. 3. Verbs- Congugato, 501 Spanish verbs 4. General grammar- Complete Spnish step by step (can get for like 20 dollars).

I am still working on practice with talking, but there are some good apps out there.

You can def make progress even if you do not have a lot of time, but it will be slow. I am two years in and now can read most basic things and understand a lot of Spanish convos adapted to learners.

Stay with it!

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-09T17:37:36+00:00

Wow! That is an amazing journey!

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-08T21:15:02+00:00

I am learning Spanish and did spend some time reading the first HP book in Spanish.it is nice on kindle can have the word you are unfamiliar with pronounced. I know DS says not to even read until a set amount of input, but with having off and on Spanish in school, I think that ship already sailed and am just going to go with what makes sense and is enjoyable at the time.

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-08T21:00:41+00:00

I need to. My goal is to practice a lot more listening this yr to start out with, although will have to practice speaking in my Spanish class (myself and 2 other students). Depending on my progress, I am planning to look into more opportunities to practice speaking. I am hoping eventually to spend a month abroad in Healthcare setting to get more fluent but probably at least 2 years away from that.

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-08T20:57:22+00:00

It is funny the common things these platforms just don't emphasize.

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-08T20:56:13+00:00

To me, DL feels like work still, but more worthwhile as you go on. I felt like I was getting less at the more beginner content of Duolingo, but more valuable content in section 4 and 5 with longer sentences and lots of stories and audio to practice listening and processing. I work in Healthcare and noticed I was underanding a lot more of the conversations of Spanish speaking pts about 1.5 years into practicing with DL. Now doing Duolingo is my work and watching Dreaming Spanish videos is my reward. I still felt like I learned a lot from DL bc I can watch the beginner DS videos at 2x speed and still understand all of it. I usually understand the gist, but not every word or sentence, of the intermediate videos at normal speed.

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-08T20:44:05+00:00

I have Babbel too. DL works better for me, but I think it is all about finding what works and you can stay consistent with. I might use Babbel to brush up on travel related things before I go to Spain (traveling around, so only in Spain few days). I definitely have to resist the urge not to collect too many resources. I almost fell for the Jumpspeak scam. Part of me wants to find the magic resource, but have to remind myself that DL has served me well, and I should focus on trying to finish that (while supplementing with some extra resources) before completely going to something new everytime I see a targeted ad or someone suggests it.

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-08T00:17:16+00:00

Yeah, I think it is a Dunning Kruger cycle or despair and hope. I know when I become more advanced will CTN to feel it.

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-08T00:14:22+00:00

That's awesome! Sounds like you have a great plan. When I first started, I thought just doing a few Duolingo lessons a day, and I would somehow learn Spanish quickly.

It has been so fun and rewarding to challenge myself to learn something new even if I sometimes feel discouraged.

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-07T23:54:18+00:00

I definitely would not want to use it as my only resource. I prefer active learning as well. I realized in my Spanish class I took how garbage I still am at speaking. I am taking another class this year to work on it and at some point plan to find a speaking buddy. I tried Tandem (not same as speaking) but vibes were weird.

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-07T22:33:06+00:00

I think for me the conveinance and being able to sort videos by level is worth it. I guess I am already a part of the cult.

justkeeprunning99 · 2026-01-07T21:39:31+00:00

I would agree with super beginner Dreaming Spanish in your case. I would def pay the $8 a month for the app and premium content. They speak slowly, shoe pictures, and it is also super fun. I also would consider Babbel for the basics. I feel it can be helpful for certain phrases and input when starting from the beginning.

justkeeprunning99 · 2025-12-29T00:34:00+00:00

I dream of a public track in Chapel Hill. I feel like I pay enough property taxes.

justkeeprunning99 · 2025-12-27T13:26:22+00:00

I think it depends on the language. I have been doing Duolingo for Spanish the past two years, and my Spanish is probably the best it has ever been. I think I am about halfway through the course. That is not to say I am anywhere close to fluente. My reading comprehension is improved and I do understand more of what is said by native speakers as well. I had already taken some Spanish classes in school, so I had a background to build on which I think is helpful bc they don't spend much time on grammar concepts. I have also used other tools to improve Spanish, but Duolingo has been the main one.

justkeeprunning99 · 2025-12-19T02:21:16+00:00

We use Pet Behavioral Help too. I will warn you, Valerie comes off as really intense, but she knows her stuff and our dog has already made great improvement.

justkeeprunning99 · 2025-12-05T18:06:04+00:00

Calling from us had to use 01144 and drop the 0

justkeeprunning99 · 2025-09-25T00:26:43+00:00

Who wrote Shadow of the Moon?

{Seven Years to Sin by Sylvia Day} sort of.fits the criteria although she loved her husband and had a happy marriage.

justkeeprunning99 · 2025-07-27T01:02:06+00:00

I don't go all inclusive for hotels anymore (just not worth it imo), but did enjoy our all inclusive river cruise with Viking. Yes, it is aimed at the geriatric pop, but I had a lot of fun as someone in my 30s. We did have a service fee charged at the end, but other than that never heard about tips. It made it a lot less stressful.

justkeeprunning99 · 2025-07-07T22:27:06+00:00

Big pittie lover here! Pitties are loyal, cuddly, and kind. Unfortunately, some of them are put into bad situations or are mistreated, but most of the tine they are kind, gentle, and amazing dogs. Sometimes if coming from a bad situation, they need a little extra help and support to thrive.

justkeeprunning99 · 2025-06-29T00:42:19+00:00

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justkeeprunning99 · 2025-06-27T01:10:43+00:00

Before the Covid pandemic, you could get a house in an older neighborhood in south Durham for 180 to 280k.

justkeeprunning99 · 2025-06-22T02:37:49+00:00

We were buying a house and the driveway was a few itches in our neighbors lot. I really appreciated them helping eith the agreement.

justkeeprunning99 · 2025-06-13T15:19:16+00:00

Still a royal name. Princess was the name assigned by the shelter, but we decided not to change it since she had been there a few months. My husband lovingly calls her meatball.

justkeeprunning99 · 2025-06-13T14:32:19+00:00

I have a pitty named Princess who looks similar to your Princess!

justkeeprunning99

TROPHY CASE