Battaglia dei Libri

[theodinspire]

Gee, these challenges are fast and quick this year, aren't they?

 

I did alright in my last challenge, only falling off the boat in terms of eating more whole fruit. I did it in the assassins, but didn't fall into the community there; so, because you guys are so much fun, I'm gonna come back here though the challenge is pretty much the same.

 

Exercise:

1. Continue with the /r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine on Thursdays and Sundays. I wish I could get more in, but with full time work Mondays through Fridays, night class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and sword class on Saturdays and Mondays, I don't have the time for the work out and rest days at three a week. But I have been making improvements in the past four weeks: I've been able to hold my foot-supported L-sit for 30 seconds in a go for all three reps, my shoulders have gotten a lot stronger in terms of the wall plank, and my inclined row has been approaching the horizontal. My one stagnation has been at the diamond push-ups: I feel that all my weight is on the ulnar side of my hands and this makes my bad wrist uncomfortable.

2. Continue with wrist exercises. I tried experimenting with dynamic stretches instead of band-resistance with my wrist, but I think this is setting me back. I'll have to mix between resistance and stretching. Maybe I'll be able to have above average wrists at some point.

 

Diet:

1. More produce. At least one serving of whole fruit or of fresh(ish) vegetables. I don't really have any weight goals, right now. I did have the nice surprise of finding out that my jacket measurement went up a size since I was last measured, though my weight has more or less decreased. My drop is now more than six inches, which will make suit shopping easier (suits usually come with a six in drop), though no considerable increase in budget will probably keep those purchases down to zero. However, I don't really want to go down a weight class, as that would make me undesirable for demonstrations during the grappling classes, which is one of my favorite things. However, fresh produce is pretty much always a good idea to have in one's diet.

 

Life:

1. Keep up on class reading. I have been keeping up on my copious class readings. However, we took a shift in cognitive science from survey and history to modelling of emotional reasoning, which doesn't really get me going. I keep wanting to focus on the biology and evolution of it all. However, it's a seminar class, so I will have to keep up to get that A.

2. Keep studying Italian on Duolingo. I want to be able to start reading Fiore's Flos Duellatorum to improve my art, but it's written in medieval Italian. Luckily, medieval Italian is very close to contemporary Italian (much more so than contemporary English is to Middle English), so learning that will get me much of the way. It's been interesting. This time learning feels harder than any other attempt at learning a language that I have had, but I wonder if it's because of a lack of proper instruction, too close a familiarity with French and Latin, or just because I've gotten old. But if I keep at it, I may have a fighting chance.

 

 

[Kishi]

Hey there, boss, welcome back! Good to see you alive and kicking. I'm sorry that you didn't get to mesh so well with the Assassins, but at the same time I'm glad we get to hang with you again.

 

I'm glad that the program has been helping you, and it looks really good! As far as wrists and such, I've found that working on fingertip push ups and bar hangs has been really super-helpful in terms of mitigating pain. If you're so inclined, Convict Conditioning 2 has a good progression for that kind of thing (or at least, it's the one I've been using).

 

Anyway, good luck with everything! Italian looks like a fun language to learn, and also to swear at people in.

[MintyFresh]

Hey Malcontent, welcome back to the Monks from a new recruit. Those bodyweight exercises look fascinating, I'm going to start using the Phrakture joint mobility exercises in the morning. Good luck on your challenge!

[theodinspire]

I signed up for this Abrazare workshop today: Hugging the Lion, Slicing the Griffon. I'm rather excited for it; hopefully we make the number of guests to make it happen. I suppose I should put it out to all the people who can make it to Chicago for a weekend to join.

[Kishi]

Ooh, that looks fun! Good luck!

[Erick the Red]

I am following the r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine as well.  Of all things, the L-sits are what is killing me right now.

 

I participate in SCA sport combat, both armored and rapier.  We don't have any HEMA schools in the area here, so that event (and the organization sponsoring it) looks fantastic.

 

How are you coming with adding vegetables to the diet?

[Tkal]

2. Keep studying Italian on Duolingo. I want to be able to start reading Fiore's Flos Duellatorum to improve my art, but it's written in medieval Italian. Luckily, medieval Italian is very close to contemporary Italian (much more so than contemporary English is to Middle English), so learning that will get me much of the way. It's been interesting. This time learning feels harder than any other attempt at learning a language that I have had, but I wonder if it's because of a lack of proper instruction, too close a familiarity with French and Latin, or just because I've gotten old. But if I keep at it, I may have a fighting chance.

Good luck with it. As a native speaker I can say that is not an easy reading. Doable, especially if you speak also other romance languages, but not easy.

In any case, if you have questions, need help or want to practice just let me know

[theodinspire]

How are you coming with adding vegetables to the diet?

 

Not much better than before, but on the way home from the gym, I was getting the munchies, so I swung in the Whole Foods between the gym and the train (I like to call it the Swole Foods for that reason), and bought a bag of apples instead of buying a cookie at a sandwich stop that's between the train and my comic book shop. So whoop.

 

Good luck with it. As a native speaker I can say that is not an easy reading. Doable, especially if you speak also other romance languages, but not easy.

In any case, if you have questions, need help or want to practice just let me know

 

Grazie! I've been doing fine, but it still feels really early. Some of the words are transparent, and I understand the inflections on verbs easier than in French because of the Latin, but then forming them is harder because I'm not forced to learn them to know them.

 

The one question I have to begin with is: can you describe what happens with your tongue when you pronounce 'gli'? And be very descriptive. I don't know any native Italian speakers, and I know no Andean Hispanophones so I haven't been able to ask anyone.

[Erick the Red]

Not a native Italian speaker, but I dated one for a while, and I speak Portuguese, so I know how hard the soft L is for English speakers.

 

If I have the Italian pronunciation right (admittedly the assumption I am running with), I feel that "gli" softens the L in the same way that "lasagna" softens the N. If you can feel how your tongue slides forward on your hard palate to your teeth for the soft N, then you can take that movement and rather than use the mass of your tongue, ride along the palate and the teeth with the tip of the tongue.

 

Alternately, say the words "shall ye", especially slurred together. The L gliding into the Y is very close to the same tongue motion that I make with soft Ls to the long I.    

[Tkal]

If I look (feel?) the position of my tongue, it is almost completely flat against my palate, with the point not touching the teeth. The air should pass on the sides of the tongue.

 

Pity that you don't know any Spanish speaker (is that the meaning of Andean Hispanophones, right?), they have almost the same sound when they write "LL"

 

Don't worry if you don't get it perfect: there is a lot of variation between regions.

I agree with Erik the Red,  what you get with "shall ye" is a very good approximation

[The Shogun]

If I look (feel?) the position of my tongue, it is almost completely flat against my palate, with the point not touching the teeth. The air should pass on the sides of the tongue.

 

Pity that you don't know any Spanish speaker (is that the meaning of Andean Hispanophones, right?), they have almost the same sound when they write "LL"

 

Don't worry if you don't get it perfect: there is a lot of variation between regions.

I agree with Erik the Red,  what you get with "shall ye" is a very good approximation

 

Hi! Spanish native speaker and also Italian speaker (languages major). As far as I know, Tkal's got it right with the tongue position *eyebrows up and down* . It is indeed a similar sound to "LL" in Spanish but the tongue goes a little bit down in that sound instead of just before the upper front teeth.

 

* flies away * 

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

I signed up for this Abrazare workshop today: Hugging the Lion, Slicing the Griffon. I'm rather excited for it; hopefully we make the number of guests to make it happen. I suppose I should put it out to all the people who can make it to Chicago for a weekend to join.

That reminds me, that I really should save up some money and bock one of the workshops of my local HEMA school. Although this year the topics don't seem to be as intresting as last year.

And I enjoyed reading the discussion about the 'gli'. I learned Italien as a pupil. It's a pitty I forget almost everything by now. Is Latin really helping you to grasp the language? I didn't find it that helpful. Ok, you got a feel for Declinations and some vocabulary is similar. But for me the grammar was not similar enough to use the similarities.

On the other hand I have to admit, that I wasn't very good at Latin. More the other way round.

[Shaylavan]

Good luck with the language learning!  I also was not aware that Italian martial arts were a thing, but that seminar looks super cool - enjoy!

[theodinspire]

If I look (feel?) the position of my tongue, it is almost completely flat against my palate, with the point not touching the teeth. The air should pass on the sides of the tongue.

 

Pity that you don't know any Spanish speaker (is that the meaning of Andean Hispanophones, right?), they have almost the same sound when they write "LL"

 

Don't worry if you don't get it perfect: there is a lot of variation between regions.

I agree with Erik the Red,  what you get with "shall ye" is a very good approximation

 

 

Hi! Spanish native speaker and also Italian speaker (languages major). As far as I know, Tkal's got it right with the tongue position *eyebrows up and down* . It is indeed a similar sound to "LL" in Spanish but the tongue goes a little bit down in that sound instead of just before the upper front teeth.

 

* flies away * 

 

Thanks, it feels weird, and awkward, but I guess that's what I get without having it in my native consonant inventory.

 

And I enjoyed reading the discussion about the 'gli'. I learned Italien as a pupil. It's a pitty I forget almost everything by now. Is Latin really helping you to grasp the language? I didn't find it that helpful. Ok, you got a feel for Declinations and some vocabulary is similar. But for me the grammar was not similar enough to use the similarities.

On the other hand I have to admit, that I wasn't very good at Latin. More the other way round.

 

The big thing that Latin helps with when studying contemporary languages is the vocabulary. As you learn the vocab, you get a feel of how the Latin morphed over the centuries and you can pick up new words quicker and even make guesses at what they should be. This is what I found with French, and Italian is supposed to be be even closer to Latin (but then French is also closer to English, so…).

 

Anywho

 

I slipped and didn't get my skill work in this weekend. I went to the gym on Sunday morning after going to a masquerade party at the sala on Saturday, which went until 1 AM. I started tired and a smidge hungover and so I skipped the handstand and support practice. I even started with lighter versions of the exercises, but then I quickly discovered that having skipped the skill practice, I was stronger on the rest of the exercises, and in particular the inclined row: I got nearly to horizontal! I was going to do the skills practice last night, but altering my plans for an early work day ruined it.

 

I've been good on the language practice, and I've caught up on my reading after having lagged a bit. I've discovered how to get my phone to read the assignments to me, so I can do chores or walk while studying.

 

I've also broken out my PokéWalker. Everyone else has these fancy pedometers, why shouldn't I?

[Teirin]

Neat language discussion!  Sugar snap peas are super tasty for something fresh and easy to carry with you.  Or little oranges?

[theodinspire]

Hmm, peas. I do have a bag of Mandarin oranges at my desk for when I finish this last Cara Cara orange. Citrus is fairly easy because it keeps well. Bananas would be nice too. Now I need to convince myself to reach for them when I'm hungry.

[WhiteBeltBrowncoat]

Thanks to you, now I've started down the rabbit hole of /r/bodyweightfitness I've been trying the warmups for it (mainly because that is what I have time for inbetween everything) and discovered that wall extensions are devilishly hard. Like the spanish inquisition, I really hadn't expected that.

[theodinspire]

Thanks to you, now I've started down the rabbit hole of /r/bodyweightfitness I've been trying the warmups for it (mainly because that is what I have time for inbetween everything) and discovered that wall extensions are devilishly hard. Like the spanish inquisition, I really hadn't expected that.

 

inorite?! Eeek, I've been doing it with my back arched too much. I might have to try the floor variations of it. Hopefully the body weight stuff, especially the support stuff, will help my art: even if a sword is less than five pounds, it can be tiring holding your arms up for that long.

[theodinspire]

Frustration rant time

 

Today is the going away party for one of the professors at work. She's really awesome and cool. It's also gym day. The party is near the office, it's from 5 to 7. I get off at 4:15, however, my gym is 20 minutes away, and given an hour gym time and extra for showering, I'd be back around 6:15, 6:30. Since she's covering the bill of the party, I thought it would be cool if I spent $10 for a day pass to a nearby gym, but I can't seem to find any that offer anything! All I need is a shower and a locker and a squat rack. UGH.

[Kishi]

It's surprising, isn't it, how little most gyms have to offer people who are earnestly trying to make something of themselves.

 

I'm sorry, man. Do you necessarily need the gym for your bodyweight work?

[theodinspire]

I'm sorry, man. Do you necessarily need the gym for your bodyweight work?

 

I at least need the shower—it's still a workout after all, and I'm not going to show up sweaty—and something to do my incline rows and my support training from, like a squat rack and dip station, or rings). Heck, someone's apartment would work, but I don't know anyone who lives in the neighborhood I work in. And I feel really awkward about doing it at work, because, y'know, it's an office (also no shower)..

[Teirin]

Double up tomorrow?  Not great, but it sounds like you really can't work around this.

[theodinspire]

I did it! I know I was complaining, but it was fine. I went to the gym and then showed up to the party late, but I still stayed out until 8:30. I probably could've stretched more but I'll just do that when I get home today.

[Teirin]

Excellent :-)  How are things otherwise?

[theodinspire]

It's going well. Mostly. I've got a cold/bronchitis, which sucks. I stayed home from work today, but my coughs have only gotten more productive if you know what I mean, and depending on how I sleep tonight, I might stay home again tomorrow. However, since these are nights that I have school, I'm not missing out on fitness or swords, yet. I just pray that it passes by Saturday so that I can do that wrestling seminar.