Month-in-Review Highlights: February 2020
Do small humans get any more adorable than my niece and nephew? No, they do not. Wrestling the babies. Miami, Florida. February 23, 2020.
I postmortem each month shortly after it ends, reflecting on what happened in general and, more specifically, in the context of my goals. Though I don’t share all my insights here, I have made it a practice to share at least one key highlight or insight. (To read previous months’ reviews, click here.)
February felt like a mélange (bonus-points note: French word!) of little other than work alternated with language learning.
However, my depiction misleads a bit: We managed to have two weekend escapes (one to see a friend and an art exhibit in Belgium and another to get into the Swiss mountains during the winter season) and a week of combined work-and-family time in Miami.
A lot got packed into one of the shorter months of the year.
All the French
Everyone following along on my life adventures has read my laments: I live in a Francophone region and cannot communicate in French. My inability to speak and understand French with any real fluency have greatly limited my ability to enjoy and settle into Lausanne. (If this comes as news to you, I invite you to read a bit of background here and here.)
Changing this language deficiency is one of my major goals for 2020. I threw my shoulder into French learning over the holidays, as mentioned, and I continued as well as I could through February, given a heavy workload at FrogDog. To give myself a near-term target for motivational purposes (otherwise, this amount of effort would feel even more disheartening and frustrating given the limited payoff to-date), I aim to have at least a basic conversation with Arnaud’s mother during her eightieth birthday celebrations in March.
Where has this work gotten me?
Language learning divvies up into alphabetized tiers, I’ve discovered. The A classes get beginners started. Classes marked with a B aim to get learners to an intermediate ability at the level’s completion. The C-level classes cater to advanced learners.
By the end of February, I’d progressed more than halfway through the second level of intermediate French classes (the B levels). In short, I can now communicate with a highly patient, truly kind person willing to put up with someone who speaks with about the fluency of Jackie Chan in the “Rush Hour” movies costarring Chris Tucker.
To get anywhere with this language, I have a lot of work to do. Painfully, I trudge along. However, if I somehow get assigned to a high-pressure investigation with the French equivalent of Chris Tucker, I’ll manage some level of mutual comprehension. I’ll try to take consolation in this.
Maybe I need to learn karate next.
And None of the Writing
Given my limited free time in February (following on my limited free time in January), I had zero bandwidth for personal writing.
Brainwise or timewise, I’ve had no capacity to create for this website. I haven’t even had the juice needed to draft the articles I’d outlined before the onslaught of work and French—including an article reporting on an interview that I completed in the fall. (Update: Interview published!) I have some travel adventures to document still as well.
The fiction idea I mapped out in the fall of 2019? I haven’t managed to budge it from its stopping point ahead of the holiday season. I haven’t even had the time to visit the writing group I’d discovered back then. A French class always seems to intrude at the set meeting time.
Sure, I’ve had time to write in at least one capacity: We create a lot of great stuff at FrogDog, and I’ve contributed heavily to our articles on marketing and branding and to our overall marketing efforts (which require no small amount of copywriting). Also, as I have wont to do on occasion, I’ve done some of the creative copywriting needed for client campaigns.
However, I do truly miss the energetic boost I get from purely creative endeavors. I’ve really enjoyed writing and researching the articles I’ve put together over the past year for Observing Leslie, and conducing the interviews for my Stakes project, and editing my videos, and cobbling together the infographics I’ve featured.
I’ll have finished my B-level French courses by mid-March, and I’m looking forward to having more time for the fun creative stuff.
A Lot of Hard Work and Some Rewards
Though I can define February accurately as an onslaught of work and French learning, both have their rewards:
By the end of the month, the FrogDog team launched a fantastic national brand-awareness campaign for a client that we’d only gotten started in January. (How’s that for quick turnaround?)
And even a modicum of ability to communicate in a new language—despite the nagging feeling that I shouldn’t have this much difficulty after this much effort—feels good.
Even better: In February 2020, I got to spend time with family and friends.
Onward, March.