i also don't really do new years resolutions but i do plan to take an actual B2 French course this year. i really practiced and brushed up in 2024 before our first European trip and i was pretty proud of how well i did for the two weeks we were in France...ive continued with just following folks and doing online tutorials and i'm at the point i can literally read very well (with context clues) and i can follow a verbal conversation much better but speaking is still kind of halting, my confidence always interferes. plus the bulk of my syntax and vocabulary is from 8 years of French that ended 35 years ago so i know my speech is pretty old-fashioned ๐ but next time we visit i want to be truly relaxed and fluent! ๐ ๐ซ๐ท
i think it was on here but can't remember where, but i cannot get this quote out of my brain... America isn't like this because Trump is president, Trump is president because America is like this.
speaking of German people...enjoy! ๐ a pastor friend shared this... https://open.substack.com/pub/thehumanityarchive/p/i-dont-care?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web (how do you embed shit?? anyway...)
no... it's simple HYPOCRISY. these people don't and never did have any ACTUAL principles about anything. moral and ethical consistency is for pussies dontcha know. quoting myself from a few months ago...
random and meaningless but sad irony... watching the USFS men's finals and the names of our future Olympians (however many go) will be from Torgashev, Naumov, Hiwatashi, Sanchez, and Malinin. in Trump's America even our figure skating will suck. eta or maybe not i guess? they are mostly white ๐ guess i was just struck by ALL of their immigrant origins. ugh.
yeah i mean anecdotes are meaningless but i am fairly good friends/in regular contact irl with (counts) 13 alums, 11 of which have been progressive/liberal since we met and 2 recovering republicans like me ๐ and i was in the Young Reps at Texas so it's not like i was self-selecting when we met ๐ otoh, as mentioned elsewhere last night, an entire branch of my extended family tree are almost all Texas grads, frat/sorority types, very well connected in Texas...are all on board with Abbott/maga.