Big Masterpost Of Fun Things To Do This Summer

how i take pretty and efficient notes ☕️

*disclaimer: what works for me may not work for you! this is just a process i’ve discovered through trial and error*

math / science

if you’re like me and need color in your notes, here’s how i do it:

i write the header of the notes in a colored highlighter - no fancy calligraphy or anything

i use color for things like important symbols on figures or lines on a graph

to save time, i write the whole thing in pen/pencil first and go back and add highlights according to the key i made

i make a basic key i can stick to !! ^ 

for example, concepts can be highlighted, formulas can be boxed, examples can be underlined, etc.

whenever i go through example problems in my notes, i always write down the steps next to it so i don’t forget

when studying - i always make a small reference sheet where i write all the formulas / conversions / how to do certain processes from memory the day before the test

history

i use the cornell method! if you’re not sure what that is, here’s a link explaining

i also use colors as well:

one basic color for writing my notes in 

one color for key concepts or events that come attached with a date

one color for key people / organizations / groups

this is just me because i do my notes digitally and like variety ™, but one color for every separate textbook heading (not to be confused with subheadings)

absolutely do not restate the textbook - try your best to put it into your own words

when studying - i’ve recently got into the habit of making an events timeline so i can easily reference them in dbqs or saqs, and just merely taking notes on the textbook helps me remember some random bits of information

click “keep reading” to see an example picture from my math notes :)

Keep reading

‘Man shouldn’t be able to see his own face – there’s nothing more sinister. Nature gave him the gift of not being able to see it, and of not being able to stare into his own eyes.

Only in the water of rivers and ponds could he look at his face. And the very posture he had to assume was symbolic. He had to bend over, stoop down, to commit the ignominy of beholding himself.

The inventor of the mirror poisoned the human heart.’

— Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet (1982)

Collocation anon here! I was referring to phrases that use specific words that just kind of “sound right” to native speakers but they’re different from what we would say. Like “tomar una decisión” instead of “hacer una decisión” when we would say “to make a decision” in English

Ahh okay gotcha

When I hear collocation I think "verbal phrases" or "noun phrases", words that kind of become joined to form a new word or phrase like compound nouns or specific idioms but okay!

I think a lot of times it comes down to people putting their existing grammatical knowledge onto the language they're learning.

It's very common to bring our own knowledge and experiences into learning so it becomes something you have to understand and break or recognize.

I personally struggle with formality because in English "you" is all we have, regardless of formality. When I say "you" I typically use tú as my first instinct because it's taught more than usted

That's sort of what I mean by bringing our frameworks into other languages

-

Though I will say "to take a decision" is sometimes used more in British English and in some more formal contexts!

Every so often an odd-sounding literal expression will have a British or older English antecedent... or ancestor is maybe a bit more accurate.

There are times when I'll be hearing something in an English drama and I'm like "ah that makes sense now" connecting something in Spanish.

It's not a collocation but for example aquí is "here" and acá is "here", but acá is a direction word and it could be "over here" or "nearer"... in older English it is understood as "hither" like "come hither" is directly ven acá "come here / come over here"

-

I think an earlier more confusing one is llamarse for names.

In English we're so used to "I am" as in soy but you hear me llamo Ana or me llamo Marco for introducing yourself.

It reads as "I call myself" literally

Another big one is when people want to use qué instead of cuál

As in "What's your name?" in Spanish is ¿Cuál es tu nombre? literally "which is your name?" ... not that qué isn't understood, but the implication is that you obviously have a name, so which one is yours?

Same thing with surnames, phone numbers, addresses (and email addresses which are "electronic addresses")

This also (to me) kind of makes more sense in an older feudalistic society. In Catholic societies people tended to take names from the Bible or the names of saints or angels. And not everyone had a last name, so it was like "Which house do you belong to (if any)?" so there's a bit of a historical aspect there too, especially when surnames could be given by place names or cities, or by geographic terms. It got a bit messy.

-

People also struggle with reflexives and body parts when it comes to autonomy of body parts

As in me lavo las manos is literally "I wash myself the hands", and that makes sense in most Western languages, even German, that particular construction

In English we say "I wash my hands", we don't often use reflexives like that, so people who are learning reflexives with body parts like "I wash my face", "I shave my legs", "I brush my teeth", "I comb my hair" are very tempted to use the possessives

In Spanish the reflexives mark autonomy already, if it's "I wash myself" or "I shave myself" or "I brush/comb myself" then it couldn't be anyone else's body parts.

You could say something like "I wash her face" but that's a direct object one subject acting on another... not reflexive where the subject and object are the same. In Spanish me lavo la cara is "I wash MYSELF" so I am doing the washing and I am being washed, it's just la cara that's the thing being washed... but in Spanish grammar, your body parts ARE also you, which makes sense

But it's a little confusing for English-speakers because we phrase things differently in our grammar

-

The other one that trips people up a lot is gustar in the context of "to like". We say "I like" as if it were a simple verbal construction

In Spanish with the indirect object me gusta(n) comes out as "it pleases me" or "they please me"

Don't even get me started on "I like you" which is me gustas literally "you please me"... and "you like me" te gusto literally "I please you"

That trips a lot of people up and, honestly, same. To me it feels weird and unnatural to phrase it that impersonally because I'm so used to treating it like a direct object in English

-

Oh gosh let me think there are a lot, and not just idioms, but I find a lot of the main issues I personally have are prepositions:

enamorarse de alguien = to fall in love with someone [lit. "to fall in love OF someone"]

soñar con algo/alguien = to dream of something/someone [lit. "to dream WITH something/someone"]

parecerse a algo/alguien = to resemble something/someone [lit. "to look like/to appear TO something/someone]

Prepositional verbs are really difficult

-

A few could be like special verbal phrases like ponerse or echar(se) when used with actions. The verb ponerse has a lot of uses but it's often "to become" or "to set to", and echar(se) literally reads as "to fling (oneself)"

But for example:

ponerse a llorar = to burst into tears

echar a perder = to waste / to go to waste

For English-speakers we would be tempted to use reventar "to burst", but literally ponerse a llorar is like "to set oneself to crying"

echar a perder comes out a bit weird because it's "to throw to loss", and we'd be tempted to just use the simpler verb forms malgastar "to waste" [lit. "to spend badly"], or desperdiciar "to waste"

echar a perder can also mean "to spoil" or "to ruin", which most English-speakers would take arruinar "to ruin"

Other times echarse comes out in like "to take a nap" or "to lie down" depending on the region, where it seems very literally "to

-

Now I will say there are a few verbal phrases that translate a bit differently literally depending on your intention:

1. beber café = to drink coffee

2. tomar café = to drink coffee

Both of these are correct grammatically and linguistically, but in a conversation they come across differently

beber as "to drink" reads as more of the function

tomar as "to drink" [where it literally means "to take"]; if I read tomar café or especially tomar un café I interpret it as "to have a cup of coffee" which can include the idea of relaxation or enjoyment

The same exists with "water", "tea" or any kind of alcohol or shots. It can imply literally "ingesting", but it can and often does imply some kind of enjoyment, usually like private relaxation or public social engagement. There's a bit of an unspokenness in there.

I kind of think of it similar to how comer with food can read as mechanical like "to eat/feed", while comerse with food is often what native speakers use for something you are eating for more than just nutrition. In English we kind of say "to have" for this, like "have some cake" instead of "eat some cake"

tomar also gets used in other contexts where it can be "to take in"

tomar (el) aire = to get some air, to get some fresh air

tomar (el) sol = to sunbathe, to bask in the sun

In these cases, specifically tomar el aire I would say there's a bit more of an emotional component where it's not just "to breathe" like "to take in air"

It's similar to tomar un respiro which is "to take a breath" but it could also come out like "to take a break". If I read tomar el aire I kind of get the impression that someone is either just enjoying some time by themselves, or they're overwhelmed and need a break but it's more of a translation thing I suppose

-

The most confusing collocations are the expressions with hacer, tener, and dar because they're so common:

tener hambre = to be hungry

tener sed = to be thirsty

tener X años = to be X years old

tener gracia = (for something) to be funny

tener suerte = to be lucky

tener miedo = to be afraid/scared

tener razón = to be right

tener que (hacer algo) = to have to (do something)

tener calor = to be hot (internal feeling)

tener frío = to be cold (internal feeling)

tener sueño = to be sleepy [lit. "to have sleepiness" where el sueño could be "dream" or "sleepiness" or "drowsiness", and in some cases could be understood as a noun "sleep"]

Especially because tener means "to have", and we interpret ser as "to be". Age is a big confusing one for English-speakers obviously.

But again, older English, tener razón sounds a whole lot like "to have the right of it", though it literally is "to have reason" so you can make some connections here and there

-

hacer is probably the most idiomatic of these in that it can be extremely confusing when you're first starting out to see "to do/make" used with weather

hacer calor = to be hot (weather)

hacer frío = to be cold (weather)

hacer viento = to be windy

hacer fresco = to be chilly

hacer sol = to be sunny

Not to mention when hace/hacía can be used as "ago"... like hace dos años que no te veo "it's been two years since I've seen you" / "I haven't seen you for "two years"

Literally that's "two years it makes that I don't see you"

The idea of "ago" trips people up a lot

Also connected is llevar in the context of "to spend time"... llevo muchos años estudiando español "I've been studying Spanish for many years"... Literally "I carry/spend many years studying Spanish"

You could use he estado estudiando español por/durante muchos años but it's a little wordier

-

dar can be difficult because it means "to give" but in some cases can be "to strike" or "to hit (against)"

dar pena = to make someone feel bad/ashamed [lit. "to give pain/sorrow/shame"]

dar miedo = to be scary [lit. "to give fear"]

dar asco = to disgust, to repulse [lit. "to cause revulsion"]

dar a luz = to give birth [lit. "to give to light"]

darse prisa = to hurry, to rush [lit. "to give oneself haste/hurry"]

dar las 12 (doce) = "for the clock to strike 12"

If you're reading Cenicienta "Cinderella" al dar las doce is like "at the stroke of midnight"; we have to remember that dar here is likely referring to the action of "hitting" a bell which would ring out the hour. When a clock "strikes" or "chimes", that can be done with dar but we tend not to think of a physical strike

dar en el clavo = "to hit the nail on the head"

darse con alguien = "to run into someone", to meet someone (often by chance), to encounter [lit. "to hit against (with) someone"; it carries a literal meaning like "to run into", and darse con algo might mean "to hit up against" or "to run into (a thing)" often a wall or an obstacle]

dar en el blanco / dar en la diana = to hit the bullseye [lit. el blanco here is not "the white" it means "the target"; and la diana is "a bullseye", most likely related to Diana, goddess of the hunt in Roman mythology; just like in English it could be to literally hit a bullseye like archery, or it could be "to be right" or "to get it right"]

-

This one I think does make some sense but nos vemos is often translated in the future tense; it comes out like "see you" or "we'll see each other soon", but literally it's "we see each other"

It can be a bit hard to explain but present tense can be short-term future

Secondly, nos vemos gets translated a bunch of different ways as a default goodbye - "see you", "see you later", "see you soon", "bye" etc. so that also doesn't help

But many languages have this kind of reflexive notion, sort of like Italian arrivederci where literally that ci is an "us/we" marker for reflexives in Italian

-

And there are others I could list and probably will when I think of some to put in a list as a reply

I was talking to my therapist about some anxiety symptoms --- "In my mind, I know I'm going to be perfectly okay, but my body doesn't listen and reacts anyway" --- and she recommended TIPP as strategies to keep in my toolbox of dealing with distress in the moment. I really appreciate having more than one option to try in moments of overwhelm!

Transcription below:

If you're feeling overwhelmed by anxiety or other strong emotions, TIPP is a set of techniques that use the body's natural physical responses to bring you back into balance.

TIPP stands for

temperature

intense exercise

paced breathing

progressive muscle relaxation

Temperature:

The body naturally lowers its heart rate in response to cold. If anxiety is making your heart race, try an ice pack, a cool washcloth, or a walk outside in cool weather, and it should help you calm down.

Intense exercise:

Anxiety is typically a symptom of your body going into fight/flight mode. If your body is coursing with nervous energy, burn it off with 10 minutes of jumping jacks, dancing, climbing stairs, or another cardio activity to complete the stress response cycle.

Paced breathing:

Deep, slow breathing from the belly can also help signal the body to come out of fight/flight mode. Try inhaling for a count of four and exhaling for a count of six until you feel more relaxed. (I like to hold the breath for a count of two between each inhale and exhale.)

Progressive muscle relaxation:

If anxiety makes your body tense up, try this. Start by squeezing the muscles in your toes and feet for five seconds, and then intentionally relax them. Move up to the calves, up your legs, and every region of your body to purposefully let go of extra energy.

When you're feeling overwhelmed, try one or more of these to see what works for you.

some PDFs you might find useful:

- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

- Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation by Suzette Boon

- Trauma and Recovery by Judith L. Herman

- Toxic Parents by Susan Forward

- Depressed and Anxious by Thomas Marra

- You Can’t Just Snap Out Of It: The Real Path to Recovery From Psychological Trauma by J. Douglas Bremner

- Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson

- The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook by Glenn R. Schiraldi, Ph.D.

- Why Does He Do That by Lundy Bancroft

disclaimer: I have not necessarily read all of these or agree with everything within them I’m just making them available. What I find useful is not always what you will find useful. Take your time when reading because healing is not something you can rush.

Death of the author: Treating the author’s stated interpretation of their own work as merely one opinion among many, rather than the authoritative Word of God.

Disappearance of the author: Treating the context and circumstances of the work’s authorship as entirely irrelevant with respect to its interpretation, as though the work had popped into existence fully formed just moments ago.

Taxidermy of the author: Working backwards from a particular interpretation of the work to draw conclusions about what the context and circumstances of its authorship must have been.

Undeath of the author: Holding the author personally responsible for every possible reading of their work, even ones they could not reasonably have anticipated at the time of its authorship.

Frankenstein’s Monster of the author: Drawing conclusions about authorial intent based on elements that are present only in subsequent adaptations by other authors.

Weekend at Bernie’s of the author: Insisting that the author would personally endorse your interpretation of the work if they happened to be present.

HONEYDEW BRITECHESTER

Lot size: 20X15

Lot type: Residential

Bedroom: 2

Bathroom: 1

Additional: Furnished 

Expansion Pack: Snowy Escape, Discover University, Island Living, Seasons, City Living, Get Together,

Game Pack: Dine Out

Kit: Blooming rooms kit.

Download: MediaFire || S4S || Gallery: Miwisimsie

when ur culture puts everything on romance, u start to feel like an outsider if you dont experience it… 

sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

Guys please check out this google drive folder full of amazing PDFs that sociologist anon set up, there is so much good reading in here

There’s stuff on black feminism, disability, transgender history, sex & consent, and so many other things, it’s genuinely just so much holy shit please just look at it