Fluent Forever and our Utah trip

Ryan and Angeles got me a great book for Christmas called "Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It" by Gabriel Wyner. He is an opera singer who at age 30 could speak 6 languages fluently. He shares many of the tricks he learned along the way in his language studies. I have been using his system since Christmas and it really is helpful.

He gives several helps, but the biggest one involves a flashcard system called a Leitner Box, which is a spaced repetition system (SRS). The basic idea in a SRS is that you go through longer periods of time between looking at your flash cards again to help the info really sink into your brain.

Of course, in the video below, it is being used to study a language, but when Angeles first came across this idea, it was from a college professor who recommended the system to study vocabulary, so it can be used for anything you want to study. Besides language cards in my box, I also have some hymns to practice on the piano and I added in some music theory, too.

This past week was our annual UTA trip (Utah Theatre Association). Glen's been taking his drama students for over 2 decades. Each year a different college hosts the conference. This year we were in Odgen, Utah at Weber State. I stayed in my hotel room during the day mostly doing my Chinese studies while everyone else was attending workshops. It was heaven.

Thursday evening we saw the musical "Newsies," which I had never seen before. The talent was AMAZING. They had a cast of at least 137 and there were a few scenes that most, if not all, were performing at the same time. Wow. Loved it.

photo from Weber Sentinel News

Friday night we saw "Seussical," which I had seen before (as Eric was in it and play Yertle the Turtle...maybe in 2006?). In Fremont High School's version, they actually had 4 aerial silks with at least 8 aerial dancers performing in different scenes. The costumes were gorgeous.  Once again, I was totally wowed by the phenomenal talent displayed.

I tried to find some pictures online and found a promotional video they had made. Since they were still rehearsing when this was put together, the scenery isn't complete, but this still gives an idea of what the play was like.

 So, we had a wonderful week. Glen and I are looking forward to another good week as today is the anniversary of our meeting 31 years ago (playing Bunco at our Young Single Adult ward in Vegas). Tomorrow we celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.

Happy Anniversary, Glen! Thanks for marrying me!