Moon Country

A Year Without Drink #4

Aidan — Tue, 29 May 2012 14:05:47 +0000

It’s been nearly five months since I stopped drinking so I have had plenty of time to think about the pros and cons of living without drink. On the plus side of the equation it definitely helps not having to deal with hangovers. As many will testify, hangovers get much worse once you are over thirty and the fact that a fragile temperament and kids do not mix well adds to the pain. Another very positive outcome of going for a lengthy time without drink is a reduction in my anxiety. Gradually I have stopped having that feeling of dread when I have to back to work after the weekend or some days off and I am much more rational and calm about everything. That is something that I would like to maintain because it really is pointless getting stressed about work even when I have lots of pressure.
The bad point about not drinking is that a few drinks makes life a lot of fun at certain times. When I with a mixed group I can get along okay without drink but it does start to get pretty boring if other people start getting tipsy. Another thing is how it can add to the fun if you are watching something like the Eurovision, you just don’t get so animated when you are stone cold sober. You could say that you don’t need drink in these situations and you would be right but it’s a bit like with money, drink doesn’t give happiness but it does give life a bit of an escapist buzz.
Perhaps the biggest change is the fact that my body weight has not increased significantly even after I let my diet go a bit before reining it in again. Drink really is the biggest factor for me in weight increase. I can only eat so much even in a binge but drink is just way more calorific and triggers eating rubbish, fatty foods. I still haven’t reached anything like the physique I would like to have and I may never do but I am in reasonable shape for my age so I can’t be too critical of myself.
The other big activity in my life recently relates to my OU study and the pretty crazy decision to study two modules in parallel. Thankfully one of them will finish soon so I will be back to a manageable burden but I am not sure that I could have done this if I had not have had my sober head on. It’s boring to be so focused and serious but it makes a big difference if you need to delivery quality essays. I have been able to study at all times of the day when I am not working, stealing half-hours here and there. Drinking basically destroys time. It does it in a nice way quite often but you can’t really have a few beers and then study. The effects of drinking remove productive hours from your life. Many people would have been cum laude students if they had have drunk less in college.

OU Diary #13 – Crunch

Aidan — Mon, 21 May 2012 08:42:39 +0000

My blog has been in a state of permanent neglect along with many other aspects of my life because of my decision to undertake two second year OU courses in parallel. It wasn’t a mistake but it’s something I would need to think twice about doing again.
The literature course I have been doing, A230 Reading and Studying Literature, is extremely interesting and has really challenged me intellectually. As a result I think that I have improved as a reader, an analyst and a writer and my marks have gradually improved to the point that I got 90% on my last assignment. At first I wasn’t sure if I would ever get to those heights so it has been good for my confidence.
The language course I am doing U214 – Worlds of English is a lot easier as I have read so much about linguistics over the years. Funnily though I don’t find it as interesting as literature and it is more of an exercise in just working though the material and delivering appropriate essays. I was expecting to love this side of my English studies but I am not really inspired even though there are many aspects of the course that rhyme with my everyday life.
I will have an exam in June to finish A230 and then I will just need to work through U214 in the summer months which should be no issue as it is not really demanding. I need to do three more modules to finish my degree and I am quite perturbed by the choices I need to make. I think that I will go with 20th Century Lit., The Art of English and Creative Writing.
I really miss learning other languages but I just do not have the time right now. It is hard to accept these limitations but I just don’t have a choice right now. In an ideal world I would move onto studying Japanese or French Literature next but I am not sure what the future will bring. One thing is clear though my brain needs the exercise that study provides, the question is if I can give it that exercise without being attached to an educational institution.

Addicted to Bread

Aidan — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:49:53 +0000

My year without drink is going by without a hitch. I only miss alcohol when I see the happy, the young and the beautiful but that’s only when I catch certain adverts. There isn’t any chance that I will drink this year because the memory of my drunken self is enough of a deterrent.
My weight went all the way down to 74kg before creeping up a bit after a few days in Ireland for a funeral when moderation was not really so important and denial was senseless. I got straight back up onto the bike but something has changed in my mind. There is a restlessness there now. My mind wants to me to go astray. It’s hard to keep the diet clean; there is danger everywhere when everything is addictive.
I try to understand my own psychology to try to keep control. One thing is certain when my will breaks then things fall apart. The answer seems to be bread. Bread is the most dangerous trigger I know. I can go a week following a very strict and regulated diet, three meals, no sweets, no exceptions, just rules. Then I allow myself to eat bread and the consequences are frightening.
I eat bread for breakfast on those days. Fresh bread from the bread machine, three slices say. That’s all well and good but the bread seems to trigger an uncontrollable reaction. It’s like a furnace awakes in my digestive system and I can’t wait until lunch for my next feed. All rules go out the window. There is no stopping the urge for more and sweeter. I hate it but there it is. I am addicted to bread.
I do 35 x 5 sets of press-ups six days out of seven. I swim 50 lengths breaststroke twice a week and do forty minutes cardio in the gym three or four times weekly. There isn’t much danger that I will start piling on weight when there is no beer to send me down the slippery slope but it’s not like I am really changing my body either. I’m slim but not toned, not what I’d like to be but also not what I would hate to be.
It’s bread now, who knows what it will be next.

He talks to the animals

Aidan — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:30:11 +0000

I was having a discussion with my wife about the words we use to talk to animals. In particular I was wanted to know how she would try to attract a cat in Polish. My way of getting cat to come to would be to say ‘pish-pish-pish’. In Poland the way to do it would be to say ‘kiss-kiss-kiss’. I asked a Dutch colleague for comparison and he gave me ‘poes-poes-poes’. When I asked about chickens both my interviewees were at a loss (not enough time spent on the farm) but my way would be to say ‘cheek-cheek-cheek’.
When it comes to animal noise there are amusing differences I have come across from language to language. In English the cow says ‘moo’ (even Frisians!) but in Dutch he says ‘boe’ and in Japanese he does a ‘mau’. If you run out of conversation with your international friends animal sounds are the gift that keeps on giving!
Anyway, as is wont with these things, somebody else (at the University of Adelaide) has put a very fine collection of international animal sounds and commands on to one web page. You can even e-mail the creator and he might add your language if it is missing. Not to be missed by any aspiring Doctor Doolittle out there on the interweb.

A Year Without Drink #3

Aidan — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:47:21 +0000

January went by alcohol-free without any bumps in the road. As with most things in my life it takes a lot for me to deviate from my intended course. I had ordered in some Barry’s Gold Blend tea from Ireland before Christmas so I have been enjoying a healthy relationship with a good, strong brew especially since the cold snap started.
Mentally I feel very strong because I don’t have any of the anxiety that I feel when I have been drinking too much. I feel very focused and that has come in very handy with my OU studies since I am doing two modules in parallel now. That demands more discipline but I am not having any issues so far.
As you would expect the disciplined nature of my regime is reaping its rewards on the weighing scales. I am weighing in at 76kg which is some 7kg down from January 1. Many would say that that is excessively rapid weight loss but it’s more that my body is returning to its normal, healthy weight. I am sure to plateau somewhere at around 74kg. When that happens I will switch my fitness regime from cardio to weights.
In terms of push-ups I am doing very nicely too. I decided to just do them every day when I wake up as it is easier to keep up a daily routine. Right now I am doing 5 sets of 25 push-ups every morning which makes 125 push-ups more than I would be doing if I were my previous, slob self. But that guy has left the building.

Dreaming the gymnast

Aidan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:43:28 +0000

This Saturday we have a really big day sports day for our family. Luna will have her debut performance in rhythmic gymnastics competition. She will be up against girls from four or five other clubs in Category 5. Most of the competitors will be performing both with ribbon and without material. Luna will just do her routine without material. We are really looking forward to her big day and we have bought her a beautiful RG leotard.
As she only started at the beginning of November and many of the girls will have two or three years of training behind them we are not building up our hopes too high. The main thing is that she really enjoys herself and gets used to competition especially since we have a bigger event coming up in Belgium in March. She is brilliant at many of the technical aspects of RG but she is not good at the presentation yet or at following the music. There is a big chance that she will go too fast due to nerves but we will keep our fingers crossed and be happy whatever the result.
Daisy is also doing artistic gymnastics training on Saturday for her club’s big jubilee performance. She has only been in the club since December but she is doing really nicely. She is finally getting the hang of the cartwheel and she is getting used to the asymmetric bars and the other apparatus.
It’s hard to envisage a life without gymnastics for our family. Gymnastics brings everything together you could want, athleticism, art, choreography, grace, elegance, application, poetry, glamour, fashion, dedication, joie de vivre! Long may our girls’ dreams last.

OU Diary #13 – When Language Calls

Aidan — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:12:35 +0000

I haven’t made any bones about the fact that I am finding ‘A230 – Reading & Studying Literature’ a bit of a slog so what does a wise man do to juice things up? Why he starts another module in February is what he does. I have received the materials for ‘U214 – Worlds of English’ and I am already licking my lips in anticipation.
As preparation for the course I have been reading “The Stories of English” by David Crystal and a lot more of the ideas I had about the linguistic history of English were thrown on their heads. It really is fascinating to learn more about how a minority language formed out of an amalgamation of Germanic dialects went on to spawn different versions of itself and gradually achieve global domination. I study English as one of the defeated, whose would-be language was washed away in the inexorable expansion of English, but that doesn’t stop me having great admiration for its achievements.
In terms of the Language/Literature divide in English studies I am much more comfortable on the Language side where I think that I will be able to deliver high quality work. In Literature studies I don’t have real confidence in my ability. Even while writing my essays I am admitting defeat, I cannot and I will not write the perfect essay. In other subjects of study I have had absolute confidence in my ability and understanding so it is humbling to say the least.
For the rest of my degree I am going to focus on Language modules with the exception of the Twentieth Century Novel. I am thinking of doing that last, giving myself a couple of years to read all of the set books. That is the most draining part of literary studies; the preparation just takes so much time.

Why language mixing might not be so bad (after all).

Aidan — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:27:08 +0000

As our children have gotten older we have gradually relinquished any semblance of control over their language environment. At the margins we can make a difference (e.g. by deciding the language of the television shows they watch or the language of books we read to them) but where they choose for themselves we are powerless to enforce a certain language.
In our case the choice of Dutch language schooling for our children automatically granted that language uncontestable prestige. For children it is obvious that the language of school and play will take preference over parental languages. At the same time our languages, Polish and English, are holding up surprisingly well.
Yesterday my wife told me about how an Anglophone friend had minded Nadia (3) at the swimming pool for a few minutes and made the comment that Nadia sounded really grown up in the way she spoke. What was interesting for me was that I assumed that my wife’s friend must have been speaking Dutch. After all, this is Nadia’s first language and I really didn’t imagine that she was speaking English in a grown up way. However, it was indeed English and I realized that I might have been too quick in my judgement.
In our conversations at home we are continually correcting the children when they use Dutch words in English or Polish sentences. For a parent of multilingual children language mixing is a threat! You start envisaging the horror scenario of your child dropping one of your languages.
Thinking about it more rationally though we have to take into account that language mixing is often just the most efficient way of speaking. Does it matter if you use the Polish word for shop (sklep) if the person you are speaking understands it e.g.
Daisy: Waar is mama? (Where is mama?)
Luna: Zij is naar de sklep gegaan. (She is gone to the shop.)
I have never heard our girls do not use Polish words when speaking Dutch to native Dutch kids but they often mix English and Polish words in intra-sibling communication:
Daisy: Luna, je moet nu brush your teeth. (Luna, you have to brush your teeth now)
If we know that the kids are able to speak clean Dutch in the right context then we shouldn’t about this (and we don’t). Where do worry is when they are mixing speaking our languages but is that really worth worrying about?
To be honest my wife and I also mix languages to a limited extent. For example, there are certain words that are shorter in Dutch so we just use them for convenience. An example of this is that we say ‘turnen’ instead of Artistic Gymnastics and ‘ritmisch’ instead of Rhythmic Gymnastics even when speaking English. We don’t translate words like vla (cold custard sold in cartons), stroopwafel (syrup cookie) or chipkaart (chip card). We use Dutch verbal forms in English, e.g. ‘Did you pin that?’ (paying with your PIN card) or ‘I SMSed him.’ (I texted him).
Basically we can hardly expect our kids not to mix at all if we do it ourselves! The question is if it is damaging to their ability in the other languages. What I have learned from my linguistics studies so far is that vocabulary is the least stable part of a language but things like syntax and morphology are stable. Our kids understand Polish and English perfectly. They speak Polish to a very high level when speaking to Polish speakers and their English is good enough, if imperfect. My eldest daughter Luna (7) can now read English quite well without ever having been taught. Reading Polish is not so straightforward because the orthography is quite different to Dutch and English. I presume that Daisy (6) will follow in her path next year as she can already read Dutch. Reading English can only reinforce their knowledge.
Basically we have got this far on our multilingual journey without anybody falling off the wagon. Nadia is the only one of the three to have had Dutch as L1 from an early age but if even she is being complimented on her English I don’t think that we need worry too much about her mixing languages.

The Muesli Diet (Reprised)

Aidan — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:02:27 +0000

alcohol-free so far in 2012

muesli diet

A Year Without Drink #2

Aidan — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:20:52 +0000

My Dad used to always say that the first ten days were the hard part when you give up the booze for a while. That might be because he is used to having wine with meals but that is something we never do unless we have company. My drinking habits are a lot more mundane, largely consisting of cans of beer in front of the box sometimes accompanied by (unhealthy) snacks.
Habit is the right word really because it is just a kind of routine I slip into if I am in a drinking phase. Weekend nights especially merit some liquid refreshment. My wife drinks more wine than beer but she is a very moderate drinker. She likes the taste of wine and enjoys the sensation of relaxation you get when drinking. For me drinking is not really about moderation. I would prefer not to drink that to only have one or two. I like the feeling of intoxication so I would always drink more than her. Having said that I also have a limit. If I drink five half liter cans of beer then I conk out.
Drinking is an extremely unproductive hobby. While drinking it is hard to do anything serious like reading or studying. Hangovers are a great demotivator that make you less likely to exercise and more likely to eat poor quality food. They also make it hard to concentrate on study and make me irritable around my family. Drinking has a big plus in terms of escapist enjoyment but this is counterbalanced by the minuses.
Anyway, all of these things make it relatively easy to just cut out drinking altogether so my A Year Without Drink challenge has been progressing swimmingly. I haven’t even been tempted to have a drink since Day 1.
The good news is that these efforts have resulted in twelve euro going to a cancer chraity and my overall health has been improving. I started on my museli diet again and I have already dropped a couple of kilos. I have also done one hundred press-ups (over five sets) on practically every day since the New Year. That means that I am getting my muscular strength back gradually. I have been exercising for at least one hour every day so my cardio fitness is improving again too.
There will be challenges ahead when I am in social situations where I am pressured into taking a drink but as it stands now I think that this is a challenge that I can fulfill without any hiccoughs.