What I'm Doing Now
It's a beautiful Saturday and I'm at home in Manchester. It's been 6 months since my last update, so here's what I'm doing at the moment:
Extending "Boring Phase"
The past 6 months have been my "boring phase". I've been focused on work, with almost every other second directed at developing new skills, projects and health goals.
The original plan was to stay in "boring phase" for 6 months, but I'm extending it the remaining 6. I have a lot more to do, and the energy all this progress is giving me is still far outweighing the costs.
Barcelona
I spent last week in Barcelona, a city I have come to admire since spending lots of time there during the pandemic. This visit was a flying one, but it was great to catch up with friends, test my slowly-improving Spanish, and feel the unique vibe of the city again.
Vlog
One of the skills I'm interested in developing this year is the ability to feel comfortable on camera, tell a story, create and edit videos. So, creating a vlog seemed like a good idea.
As a connoisseur of fine cinematography on YouTube, I knew the bar was high, and that it would take a lot of work.
Well, I can safely say it has been at least 10x more work than I imagined. I'm so far out of my comfort zone I'm going to need a map to find it again. I love it, and I'm really enjoying doing something completely new and challenging.
I've made two videos so far.
Podcast
I've been on a few podcasts in the past, and the idea of hosting my own has always been there in the back of my mind.
Just like the vlog, I knew it'd be a lot of work and would push me outside of my comfort zone in new ways – especially considering I wanted to do it in another language.
So, I'm also doing that. The podcast is called Umado Kun Martin. I sit down with cool people I've met in the wonderful world of Esperanto to chat about language, life, philosophy and everything else.
Yakk: Final Touches
I've finished the last technical bits of work on my language-learning app, Yakk. I've been working on this thing for almost two years. That takes a lot of belief, energy and sacrifice.
It feels amazing to reach this point. The next challenge is to create learning content so folks can actually use the app to learn a new language. That's my focus now.
The next time you hear from me here, it'll be because you can start learning a new language on Yakk. I'm very excited for that moment.
Brita Kongreso
A few weeks ago I spent the weekend with a bunch of Esperanto friends at this year's Brita Kongreso. It's always a great experience to escape the world of English to make new friends and catch up with old ones. If you want to know more, you're in luck – that's exactly what my latest vlog is about.