kwollity

photo credit: sickmouthy

Since I moved this month and was also out of town a fair bit I decided to make this month’s challenge super easy: to learn a new word everyday. All it involved was getting a daily email from dictionary.com.

1. Substrate – A Substratum – something that is spread or laid under something else; a stratum or layer lying under another.
2. Darkle – To grow dark, gloomy, etc.
3. Nebulize – To become vague, or indistinct
4. Braird – To sprout; appear above the ground.
5. Paralipsis – The suggestion, by deliberately brief treatment of a topic, that much of significance is being omitted, as in “not to mention other faults.”
6. Gammon – To deceive.
7. Aplomb – Assurance of manner or of action; self-possession; confidence; coolness
8. Inculcate – To teach and impress by frequent repetition or instruction.
9. Chichi – Affectedly trendy.
10. Bellwether – A leader of a movement or activity; also, a leading indicator of future trends.
11. Elegiac – Relating to the mourning or remembering of the dead.
12. Dilatory – Tending to put off what ought to be done at once; given to procrastination.
13. Panache – Dash or flamboyance in manner or style.
14. Fey – Possessing or displaying a strange and otherworldly aspect or quality; magical or fairylike; elfin.
15. Bacchanalia – A riotous, boisterous, or drunken festivity; a revel
16. Punctilious – Strictly attentive to the details of form in action or conduct; precise; exact in the smallest particulars.
17. Postprandial – Happening or done after a meal.
18. Pleonasm – The use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; as, “I saw it with my own eyes.”
19. Acme – The highest point of something; the highest level or degree attainable.
20. Irrefragable – Impossible to refute; incontestable; undeniable; as, an irrefragable argument; irrefragable evidence.
21. Rapine – The act of plundering; the seizing and carrying away of another’s property by force.
22. Copacetic - Very satisfactory; fine.
23. Lionize - To treat or regard as an object of great interest or importance.
24. Tchotchke – A trinket, a knickknack.
25. Sapid - Having taste or flavor, especially having a strong pleasant flavor
26. Gadabout - Someone who roams about in search of amusement or social activity.
27. Portend - To indicate (events, misfortunes, etc.) as in future; to foreshadow; to bode.
28. Woolgathering - Indulgence in idle daydreaming.
29. Votary - One who is devoted, given, or addicted to some particular pursuit, subject, study, or way of life.

And it looks like a missed a day somewhere? Oops

photo credit: fredericknoronha

Last month I posted how I decided to take on a series of small 1 month challenges. I’ve decided to do a monthly recap of each challenge to reflect on how it went, and to look ahead at the next month’s challenge.

For August my challenge was to play the guitar for 15 minutes every day.

A number of years back I got a guitar for Christmas, took a handful of lessons and learned a few riffs. But, since my son was born the guitar has been sitting under the bed. I’ve wanted to learn to play for a while (its also a bucket list item) so this seemed like a good challenge.

At first everything was going great. I was getting the calluses on my fingers back, and slowly remembering how to pick a few of the old songs I knew (or portions of songs). My son also took a great interest in the guitar, and I discovered something awesome. I could now play children’s songs like Old McDonald’s Farm and not feel like a total dork. Instead of playing kids songs because they are my skill level, I could now justify (in my own head) that I was playing kids songs for my kid.

12 days into the month, however, my son got his hands on my guitar while I was at work and tightened a few strings. That night as I strummed the first chord the bottom string snapped from the pressure.

Being a total newb, I don’t know how to replace strings, and upon trying to do so on my own, managed to make all the strings vibrate off the first fret (don’t ask how) and also snap the replacement string.

So I waited a few weeks until my girlfriend’s Dad was able to come over and kindly fix it up.

And that’s where I am…. The challenge was kind of a bust, but it worked to rekindle my desire to learn guitar. I’m going to make more of an effort to play (even if its the Itsy Bitsy Spider for my son).

September’s challenge:

Since I just spent the last few days moving and still need to unpack, and I’ll also be in PEI for a week, I decided to make this month’s challenge the easiest from my list; learn a new word every day.

My phone has a Dictionary.com widget that nicely displays a ‘word of the day’. This one will be kind of boring relative to the other challenges, but I’m already having fun with it. My stepmother was talking about how fast the lettuce in her backyard grows and I was able to say ‘oh, so it doesn’t take long to braird‘?

After watching the above TED talk by Matt Cutts (Google Engineer) I decided to follow the advice offered and take on a series of 1 month challenges.The video is only 3 minutes and worth the watch.

The idea is that each month you set up a challenge for yourself, and do your best to meet that challenge for the month. These aren’t huge, earth shattering challenges (although they can be) but rather small, simple things that you’ve never tried before, or would improve your life in some way.

My first month was simple enough. My challenge was to run to work and back 1 day each week (although I think doing something only 4 times over the month may be bending the rules a bit). Luckily, my office building has a shower so I don’t scare away my coworkers. After having done this for a month, I’ve decided to continue with this routine of running to work once a week. It’s a great way to get some extra training into my schedule, and forces myself to do a ‘two-a-day’, even if I’m tired at the end of the day (otherwise, how am I getting home?). I look forward to the days where I run to work in the morning, and am glad I’ve started this ritual.

So with a successful first month behind me, here are some of challenges I plan to tackle:

- Play the guitar for 15 minutes every day (August)
- Eat only vegetarian
- Eat only vegan
- No TV
- No caffeine
- No alcohol
- Write down 1 idea per day on how I can earn extra income (October 2011)
- Spend 1 month getting a side-business off the ground (from the above list).
- Take a photo each day
- Run 300km over the month (an average of 10km per day, every day)
- Write 30 thank you letters (an idea I got from this book)
- Learn a new word every day (September 2011)
- Become more optimistic (Before going to bed each day, write down 5 reasons why my day was awesome)

By brainstorming and borrowing some ideas from a Google search, in about 10 minutes I had this list which will last me more than 1 year.

The key to these little challenges is that they force you to expose yourself to something new. It may be something you keep doing (like me with running to work), or something you can’t wait to end (I can’t imagine I will enjoy being vegan for a month). The whole point is to step outside that comfort zone and try something new.