Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Self-improvement for the pleasure and profit!

I'm learning Swedish with an audio-course to and from work. I'm also trying to pick up bits of BSL, which could conceivably be useful at work (I have a short contract that could be extended if they can afford me and I prove how amazing I am and I'm cautiously optimistic). I'm planning on putting myself down for every single free course they waft my way to make myself useful.

I've also toyed with the idea of picking up Welsh again. I only know fragmented bits and pieces (dwi'n trio siarad cymraeg dwi'n hoffi sglodion), but I have always kind of wanted to learn it.

So, PPKreepers, what are you learning at the moment?

I'm half-assedly trying to learn Spanish. I think I'll just go do a month+ in Ecuador or somewhere so that I actually learn it.

Other than that trying to improve my climbing so that I'm ready for the outdoors, bass guitar (an ongoing process), and as much as I can about motorcycles so I can make a more educated purchase for my 2nd bike!

what a fun thread! learning is so exciting.

I am always learning and studying more about yoga. It's my favorite thing. I have a teacher I study with, and I also read and study a lot on my own.

also, I got some CDs out from the library to help me stay up on my Italian. I used to speak really excellent Italian, but over the years it has been slowly deteriorating. These CDs are helping me catch little lazinesses that have crept into my grammar skills, and are also helping to refresh my vocab. It's super fun.

I love the Teaching Company mp3. I've been listening to the on one Ancient Greece off and on. I've had it before; interesting stuff, and the lecturer has the sexiest voice.

yoga via weekly beginner classes

meditation via daily practice, a book called The Presence Process, and a weekly meditation group

how to be a mental health counselor as a 1099 private contractor at a group practice via learning as i go along (i know the counseling part - i don't want you to think i'm not competent! just the billing, insurance, and new ppwk stuff has a learning curve)

knitting via self-teaching, books and tutorials (very occasionally and sporadically)

I'm teaching myself to knit socks.

My neighbors have a pottery studio, and they've been letting me come by on Fridays and join two little kids who are in the class, and I can make whatever I want for a couple hours. I really like making coiled pots and smoothing them out, and adding ears and faces. I made a pretty cute owl, a decent cat, and a pig that is cute but kind of lopsided. In 15 minutes I get to go over there and make some more!

today while slacking off at work (web marketing) I was teaching myself html, so... i guess i kinda was working?

Ooh I love this thread! Totes jealous of those of you learning languages.
Right now I'm learning how children learn to read and how to support them in doing that. It's a lot of work and it's not easy but I love it. Literacy!

I'm taking a class on the history of feminist theory (it's for college credit though, does that count?). It just started but so far it looks really good. Lots of reading.

I'm also trying to read up on Seattle in the hopes of transferring there this year. I want to know ALL ABOUT IT.

I am slowly teaching myself to sew.

I'm learning to play cribbage. I mean, I guess I've learned but it's still confusing. Until biker boy thinks it's fair to play cut throat against me I'll say I'm still learning.

I'm taking a Wilderness Basics Course through the Sierra Club so I am learning about topo maps and weather and some basic camping and backpacking stuffs and going on outings. Thats the yay part; unfortunately the course takes place on the same night I was going to Buddhist meditation (sangha). Still, I am trying to learn about mindfulness practice and meditation via podcasts and that is going pretty well, but I look forward to being able to go to sangha again.

Python. (A programming language.) It shouldn't take long to learn at all, it's very similar to ones I already know.

Aspiring language learners, keep an eye out on groupon- sometimes I see offers for Rosetta Stone, if you're into that sort of thing. I had the best luck learning a language taking classes at the community college.

I'm not exactly learning anything new, but trying to advance my skills and knowledge of crocheting as well as deepen my study and practice of Buddhism. Exciting times!

I'm always learning yoga too. I'm not presently in a class (my desired class was full when I tried to register last round but I just registered for the April session) but even when I'm not in a class, I self-teach though DVDs. I have some yoga books that I like to read, too, that have some theory. And recipes! Yoga is like an endless learniing process and I feel like I'm on its path for life in some way or another.

I am a late adopter to scrabble. And learning bass to play in a punk beach boys cover band. Slowly learning bike repair shiz. I should probably be more ambitious.

Banjo! I took classes for about 6 months last year and learned a lot, then took the winter off from classes and haven't been playing enough the past few months. I've been dabbling more in the last month or so than I have since about September, and I just signed up for another session starting in a few days. Yay music!

I've also been reading a lot lately about making cigar box guitars and am thinking about picking up the things to make one tomorrow.

Mindfulness. But it's hard. If anyone has any great resources, let me know.

Plus a ton of stuff for school, which is still really interesting. I will be spending six weeks on placement at a school for children with autism spectrum disorder and/or sensory processing disorder, so I've got a lot of reading to do on sensory integration, social skills training and emotional regulation.

building teh apps on Android :[

Studying for my GRE's. I. Hate. Math.

How come you want to learn Swedish, Gulliver? It's not a very useful language outside of Sweden, is it? Unless you spend a lot of time at IKEA, perhaps.

I'm learning Spanish through Duolingo, I've been working on it for six weeks or so, pretty much everyday. It's real fun but it's starting to get more challenging now.

And I'm also learning yoga. I tried it for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I'm hooked. Will never stop now. I do it at home using youtube videos.

I'm learning how to play mandolin. I was shocked to discover that even after playing guitar for 10 years my fingers hurt like mad after practicing mando....ick.

I just started ashtanga yoga lessons here, which is awesome. And I'm rereading one of my favorite Sanskrit texts (in 3 languages: Sanskrit, French and Italian) which is great because I understand completely different things depending on the language in which I read the text. I'm also following 2 coursera courses just for the fun of it: Astrobiology and US Public Health 101. AND kinda sorta learning how to lead sing bhajans, or play along on my flute.

I should be studying R, Matlab or Dutch (for work-related purposes) but whatever. This is way more fun.

Haha, I came here to post the same thing! I'm enrolled in a Coursera class.

I'm also learning how to make tofu.