A Fun-Filled Day Free of Tasks

Yesterday was a Saturday, and I had a relaxing day doing things I truly enjoy. Normally, on weekends, I run a few errands, such as getting a haircut, shopping for groceries, or having a part-time helper clean my apartment. However, yesterday I had the whole day free of tasks, which really felt like heaven.

Having gone to bed rather late the previous night, I didn’t wake up until around 9 in the morning. I spent some time watching YouTube videos while trying to get fully awake. I came across a video of the American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth’s rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner, performed at the Super Bowl in Los Angeles last Sunday. Being fond of the melody of the American national anthem, I pressed play out of curiosity, not knowing what to expect as I hadn’t even heard of a Charlie Puth before.

Within a few seconds I was blown away by his performance. Before singing the actual lyrics, he hummed for a fleeting moment as he tinkled a few notes on his electric keyboard to set the tone for the song. It had a gospel feel to it, somewhat reminiscent of the organ intro to Whitney Houston’s Jesus Loves Me. Those few bars were immediately refreshing, resulting in me getting goose bumps all over.

The rest of the song was equally enchanting. Charlie Puth’s mostly soothing yet at times powerful and explosive voice blended seamlessly with his mellow organ music, along with the voices of a gospel choir and a cameo appearance by legendary saxophonist Kenny G, made for a perfect mix of delightful audio sensations for viewers.

Aside from this outstanding music, what made the performance visually striking was the flyover of US Air Force fighter jets that was choreographed to occur at the exact moment the song ended. It was something miraculous to behold, leaving an indelible impression.

I read on the Internet afterward that Charlie Puth sang the Star-Spangled Banner partly as a tribute to late Whitney Houston’s Super Bowl performance in 1991, largely considered the best rendition ever of the US national anthem by a professional singer. I’ve watched that performance countless times and fully agree that her voice is truly unparalleled and impeccable—it will likely remain unbeaten for decades to come—though this time Charlie did a fantastic job that will go down in history in its own right.

In addition to Whitney and Charlie, singer and guitarist Chris Stapleton also delivered a truly memorable performance at the Super Bowl a few years ago, as I discovered in a related YouTube video. I can’t seem to get tired of watching and comparing various versions of this historical song by different artists, and will surely continue checking out new ones as they get posted on social media.

After having fun watching YouTube, I went to a cafe in my neighborhood for a change of scene, where I did some reading over a cup of delicious latte. I started reading a gay-themed comic series by Japanese manga artist Gengoroh Tagame titled Our Colorful Days.

I am reading the French version, bought during my previous trip to Paris. Inside, there are numerous words and phrases I don’t know, mainly in colloquial language. I mark them with a highlighter so I can look them up later. Although I currently learn French vocabulary mainly from my Larousse French-Japanese dictionary, comic books can serve as a great supplement for my study, especially as it relates to learning informal spoken language.

I ended the day by watching the latest Japanese movie titled This is I on Netflix, based on the autobiography by the transgender comedian Ai Haruna. It was a part-drama, part-musical film, interspersed with famous Japanese pop tunes from the 80s and 90s. Having grown up listening to those songs, the movie brought back some old memories from the past, filling me with nostalgia.

This is I is a heart-warming story revolved around the lives and struggles of Ai and Koji Wada, the doctor who performed her gender-affirming surgery, showcasing exquisite acting by 18-year-old Haruki Mochizuki in his movie debut. As most of the story takes place in Osaka, the dialogue is mainly in the Kansai dialect of Japanese, adding a distinct flavor to the drama. I’m glad I watched it with the original Japanese audio in that sense.

What a fun-filled day yesterday turned out to be! It enabled me to fully recharge my batteries in preparation for the upcoming work week. My profession and study surely give me a sense of purpose, but it needs to be balanced with relaxation and entertainment for me to have a well-rounded life. I hope to stay mentally active for the coming decades by continuing to draw new inspirations from books, cinema, and the arts of all kinds.

No Secret Other than Studying, Exposure, and Practice!

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I am currently reading a book which deals with the topic of how tiny nations like Denmark, Luxembourg, and Singapore have become successful and affluent over the past few decades by deploying strategic macroeconomic policies, developing industries best suited to today’s global economic needs, and cultivating a population that continues to retrain and reinvent itself. 

Japan used to be highly prosperous and was the envy of many in the world economy, but its advantages have waned significantly during the past 30 years or so. Nowadays, it’s placed behind dozens of nations in global rankings of competitiveness. It’s reminiscent of the trajectory taken by Argentina, which used to be one of the wealthiest nations at the beginning of the 20th century, but has since declined into mediocrity due to bad politics and severe mismanagement of its economy.

Since I don’t know much about economic theories, I can only approach this issue from the perspective of language learning. One of the common denominators allowing the aforementioned tiny economies to thrive and prosper is a workforce that’s well versed in the English language.

I don’t believe there is anything inherently superior about English in relation to other major languages such as French and Chinese, but since it has effectively attained the status of the sole lingua franca of international commerce, proficiency in the English language has become a must in terms of being on top of the latest trends in the world economy and thereby staying competitive.

In terms of outstanding English proficiency, Nordic countries like Denmark, Norway, and Sweden come to mind, along with the Benelux countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Curious about their advanced levels in English, I asked ChatGPT about what makes people of these nations so fluent in English, and it came back with some very informative answers.

According to ChatGPT, people in these countries have more ample opportunity to consume native English content—such as TV series, movies, and novels—compared to people in countries like France, Spain, and Italy. In the former, Hollywood films are normally released in original audio with subtitles, whereas in the latter, they tend to be dubbed into the local tongue in cinemas. Constant exposure to native content allows viewers to develop familiarity with vocabulary and sentence patterns of English, leading them to consume even more content.

In another comparison, schools in the Netherlands tend to start teaching English as a subject at a younger age than in Japan, and their class hours are consistently more numerous from elementary school all the way to university level. Without even considering the linguistic proximity of the Dutch language to English, the sheer amount of English education they receive affords Dutch students an overwhelming advantage over their Japanese peers.

Much closer to home, Singapore offers schoolchildren an immersive environment in which they learn English and effectively grow up as its native speakers despite coming from households that speak Chinese, Malay or Tamil. In Singapore’s education system, English is the medium of instruction in all subjects except for the Mother Tongue Language class administered according to each student’s ethnic background.

In my opinion, most ordinary Singaporeans speak English in a form that deviates from what’s considered standard in British or American English, committing tiny grammar errors here and there, but that doesn’t prevent them from being effective communicators in English, allowing them to convey their ideas clearly to their interlocutors from around the world. This, combined with their knowledge of their respective mother tongues, put them at a great advantage in international commerce.

The success in developing fluency in English—or any other language—ultimately comes down to the amount of exposure, studying, and practice. Ignoring this rule and hoping to become fluent by some miracle is simply a pipe dream that will never come to fruition. I need to remind myself of this fact whenever I feel lost in my language-learning journey.

No One Can Have a Perfect Life!

 

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A few weeks ago, I went to the Apple Store on Orchard Road and bought a new MacBook Air. This replaces my previous laptop, a MacBook Pro bought in 2018, which was having some battery problems. According to the sales staff who inspected my old device, the batteries were an old model that was no longer manufactured, and as such, could not be replaced. Given the situation, I bought a new device on the spot.

Nevertheless, as my previous laptop was still in working condition as long as it was plugged in for power with a charging cable, I continued using it for more than a month. Since I bought my new laptop, I’ve been busy with my work and studies, and couldn’t be bothered with installing it for the longest time. This afternoon, I finally succeeded in resisting my inertia and got my new MacBook Air set up in my living room.

Right off the bat, I had a bit of a problem on my new computer trying to access an Excel spreadsheet I had saved on iCloud Drive from my old MacBook Pro. Much as I tried to refresh the data on iCloud, the new machine wouldn’t display my existing files.

Feeling a bit exasperated, I turned to ChatGPT for help. Thanks to this excellent AI chatbot, I learned that the issue was caused by the discrepancy between the Apple IDs used on the two devices—my old machine was logged in with a Singapore-based ID, whereas my new one was logged in with a US-based ID. As soon as I used the same login profile on both laptops, I was able to access my previous files on iCloud Drive immediately.

I wouldn’t characterise myself as technophobic, but my IT literacy isn’t that spectacular, either. Until today, I didn’t know the difference between Apple’s iCloud Drive and Microsoft’s OneDrive, as I only use Google Drive and Dropbox as far as cloud services go. I’m a reasonably proficient user of Microsoft Excel, but I don’t know how to code.

Recently, I had to move my Anki flashcard decks for my French studies from my laptop to an external drive due to the lack of storage space, and I had to rely entirely on ChatGPT for the steps necessary to carry out the move. Because I have no knowledge in coding, I didn’t understand the script generated by ChatGPT, and had to go through hours of trial and error before finally gaining access to my flashcards from the new location on my external drive.

I’ve felt the need to study basic coding skills for at least a few years, but I’ve always put it off due to my other priorities, notably my English and French studies. As English is my primary language of communication in my career, I can never relinquish my learning activities, especially my writing practice.

That leaves me with only my French studies available to be discontinued if necessary, but the problem is that I don’t want to give them up now, not due to the sunk-cost fallacy on my part, but because I genuinely enjoy learning this beautiful language. Knowing myself, I’m sure there will come a time when I will finally relinquish studying French, either because I get bored or because the temptation to study something else—such as coding, or even some other language—grows stronger than my interest in the language of Rousseau.

Either way, I’m acutely aware that I only have so much time available in a day to pursue my personal interests. I need to stay focused only on things I truly enjoy, even at the expense of something that appears highly relevant and important for me. No one can have a perfect life, and as painful as it may be, we need to accept compromises and sacrifices from time to time.

Keep Barreling Ahead in 2026!

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Happy New Year!

About four months ago, I started taking lessons online with Lucas, my French teacher. Up until now, I’ve already taken 14 lessons with him, with each one lasting an hour. Even though it’s supposed to be a “lesson,” we don’t follow any specific structure to strengthen my pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary—we just talk randomly in French about whatever topics that come to mind, such as what has happened recently in my private life, what books I have read, and the latest international news.

One might think that having random chats is unsustainable for a conversation practice, as the student can quickly run out of topics to talk about, thereby putting a substantial strain on the teacher to keep the conversation going and avoid awkward silences. But luckily for Lucas and me, this hasn’t become an issue yet, as we always have a plethora of things to talk about.

It also helps that Lucas is fluent in English: although throughout the lesson he doesn’t speak a word of English, he does allow me to switch back to English whenever I have difficulty expressing a complicated idea in French. In such instances, I would verbalize an idea first in English and try to rephrase it in French using words I already know, whereupon Lucas would point out and correct my errors. 

What’s more, I don’t have to make any preparations before the lesson or be burdened with homework afterward, making each session a relaxing and enjoyable event rather than a strenuous and draining grind. The point of having these conversation lessons is so that I can get used to speaking French with a native speaker—something I never get to do otherwise in Singapore.

The other aspects of French proficiency—including vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar—can be largely learned through self-study, so I shouldn’t waste my precious talk time with Lucas trying specifically to improve those areas. Through these lessons, I’ve recognized that my grammar is still relatively weak, so I plan to reinforce this area by completing a few grammar drills in the near future.

Besides having conversations with Lucas, I’ve recently implemented a major change in my study of French. As I commute to and from the office every weekday by foot, spending 25 minutes each way, I began saying out loud some of the French sentences I’ve memorized during the past few weeks, without relying on my flashcards and based solely on my memory.

I memorize about 75 sentences containing new words during the week using flashcards, adding up to around 300 over a month. During my walk to and from the office I recite in random order whatever sentences I can recall. Although I don’t have a photographic memory, I can still come up with enough successive sentences to last me throughout my 25-minute journey.

I’ve been practicing this active recall method since December 15 of last year, and can feel that it greatly helps me consolidate my memory of the words I’ve newly learned. As forgetfulness is one of the biggest factors that hampers the progress of a language learner, I believe that this method can boost my efficiency in a meaningful way.

It’s been more than two full years since I began learning French vocabulary in earnest with a dictionary. Even though I still have a long way to go before I can read French novels without needing a dictionary, there’s no doubt that my overall French proficiency has grown immensely. As persistence is key to success in language acquisition, I will keep barreling ahead in my French studies in 2026.