Why do I think podcasts are great for language learning First off, most of them are just sound, and therefore can be “consumed” while doing something else: I often listen to them when going for a walk during a break at work. If it was a video or a text I would spend another hour starring at the screen instead. I listen to them in public transport while getting to work using otherwise “dead” time to learn English. Even if I am very busy and can’t study during the day I still always have my transportation time. I subscribed to some podcasts for learners that have easier but still real spoken language. I found some great shows for natives also, and I'm still motivated to listen because of the interesting content. Podcasts are easier to produce than video, and because of that some authors release episodes more often. Furthermore, comparing to video many of them a less commercial and have more useful content. Using podcasting software it’s really easy to subscribe to shows I like and get notifications when a new episode is released. I like that podcasts are decentralized and don’t depend on one big company such as Google or Apple.

What beliefs to choose In my previous notebook entry I wrote that we can choose our beliefs. A probable conclusion from this could be that we can believe whatever is convenient. But I don't like the idea. If we choose to believe something that is convenient but not rational this can cause problems in the future. For example, we can waste all our income and don't try to save or invest, believing that the government or a company will take care of us when we become older. So, I prefer to choose beliefs that are at least not lies, better if they are based on facts and thought through. Sometimes the best thing to believe, if we care of long term happiness, is not convenient at all and takes courage just to realize it. For example, sometimes bad traits of character can prevent us from moving forward if choose to believe that we are good and try to hide them from others and even ourselves. Another example, is some important decision that was made in the past and that turned out not to be good later. It can be very hard to confess that you have been wrong for such a long time. So, for me, the key is the long term result of a believe and how truthful it is for us.

Choosing beliefs Snow was falling, and two snowflakes were talking. One said: Look, now we are dancing in the wind. And after we reach the ground and the sun starts to shine we will melt, turn into a stream and unite with all our sisters and brothers. Isn't this beautiful? The other one replied: Idiot! Why are you so happy? Our life is so short and very soon we will fall down and die in a dirty puddle. For a while I didn't understand the idea of choosing beliefs, that is taught by some modern gurus. Shouldn't our beliefs reflect the truth and the reality? Or at least what we think is true and real? This metaphor illustrates the fact that many times there is no one right answer, especially, when it comes to such things as the meaning of events in our lives or the meaning of life itself. We can think one thing or another, and both of them can be true from someone's perspective. But beliefs determine our thoughts, reactions and feelings, and eventually our life. And if it's so, why not to choose ones that will help and motivate us?

A ghost at the postoffice Many years ago I worked as a night watchman at the post office. It consisted of several rooms: a big one where clients were served and some others for staff only. Usually, after all workers went home I remained in the rooms for stuff, and turned off the light in the main room. One day in my shift I went to the main room wishing to do something. And before I managed to turn on the light on, I saw a black cat sitting on one of the tables and starring at me. I turned on the light and to my big surprise the cat was gone! I searched the room thoroughly, but with no luck. I couldn't hear any sounds of the cat also. I turned off the light and went to my place. I returned to the main room again several hours later, and saw the cat's eyes glowing in the dark before turning on the light and no cat after that. I was a little bit scared and spent the rest of the night thinking of the ghost and why it had appeared to me. Nonetheless I had some doubts and decided to go to the main room one more time in the morning. I searched the place yet again and this time I finally found a normal cat sitting between a large cabinet and the wall. Somehow it managed to sneak in the post office without being seen by anybody and was sitting very quietly all the time leaving its refuge only when there was nobody in the room. So do ghosts exist? Maybe, but I haven met one yet :)

Time is precious Nowadays life of many ordinary people is not that unpredictable as it used to be a few hundred years ago. The same cycle repeats every day: wake up, go to the office, do work, return back home, sleep. Although we are accustomed to such life and it is easy and safe for us, often we are not totally satisfied. Sometimes thoughts of big changes come to our mind (start a business, become more healthy, travel more, etc.). But it is all to difficult and requires time, and we are too busy at work right now. So why not do this a few months later when we will have more time? What's going to change? A few months later the same mental process repeats again. And one day we may end up realizing that we are not young and energetic anymore and even don't want changes that we desired in the past. We were slowly getting older all that time, but didn't notice that being busy and thinking that everything would stay stable and we would have time. And we may find that all this business has not brought enough value to our life. It's known that Steve Jobs used to ask himself everyday would he has lived this day the same if it was the last day of his life. And if the answer was No, he changed something. I think by that he forced himself to think that there was no time ahead, got rid of less important things and focused on the most important. So, it's good to remember that our every day time is precious and we should not delay the most important goals even if they are difficult to achieve. I'm not perfect at this myself and I'll try to be better.

My cat One day in the basement of the office where I worked then a stray cat gave birth. One of my colleagues and me made a decision to keep a kitten. We were afraid that they could die, so we hadn't wait for a long time and decided to take them home at age of a few weeks. When I tried to pull my new pet from under the stand in the basement where he was hiding he hissed at me and I replayed that I was very frightened. As all kids Barsik (that's how we named him) didn't behave well all the time. Once he tried to drink out of the toilet, fell there and couldn't get out for a while. But except for several minor issues, he has grown as a very smart and civilized cat. Seven years have passed since then. Barsik is still very energetic and playful. He loves human company and doesn't miss any activity in the house. He likes guests also and always meets them. Many people in Russia have cats, and some believe that since life in our country is tough, it is our way to find comfort.

My learning style I read articles and books, listen to podcasts and audio books. Some of them are made for learners and some are for native speakers. I prefer content in English rather than Russian materials about English because it gives deeper immersion and trains to think in it. I choose materials about interesting topics and not about language itself for the same reason. Nonetheless I don't think studying grammar is bad and occasionally refer to grammar explanations. I believe, It's good to know the basics of grammar, especially it helps in the beginning. But speaking a language is a skill that need immersion and training and can't be achieved by studying theory only. I think is important to study every day. My language learning software helps me in that by notifying of a daily plan and rewarding me if it's achieved. Also it allows me to save words and phrases into a personal database and repeat them lately. Not only a word can be saved, but also a phrase where it comes from and that's great! I only save words from materials that I study, and not from word lists because they lack context that we need to use word properly. I try not to worry about mistakes, because they are natural and help me to get better. Perhaps one important component that is missing for me is communication, that's why I'm here. I enjoy learning English and benefit a lot from knowing it even at my level. In my opinion fluency in a foreign language is totally achievable with the right attitude.

Is it a correct sentence "the parameter is exist"? I think we cannot write something like 'it is exist' or 'it is exists' because we should put some description or the state of an object after "is", but "exist" is a verb (action). Am I right? My colleague says that he encountered phrases like that. I would say "it exists" or "it is present" instead. If you need context we want to describe pieces of data in computer memory, each of them might be stored or not depending on a device model.