Year Three in Review

And so another year has passed since my last review. It’s been a busy year of learning a new language in my equally new country of residence, changing jobs (and everything that entails) and, of course, writing 200 posts here on Lone Gunman (and thanks again to you: there’s been hundreds of comments… and 49,810 spam comments).

The passing of another year can mean only one thing… Lone Gunman is three, and this is Year Three in Review.

Lone Gunman Keywords (Year Three) - Wordle.net
Visualisation of the 50 most frequently used keywords on Lone Gunman in year three.

Items definitely not to miss are highlighted (probably not through an RSS feed reader). [LG] denotes my original post.

First, the three most read and shared posts from the past year: Scientifically-Proven Ways to Improve Creativity, Statistical Literacy Guides and (the infrequently updated) Rules of a Gentleman.

Creativity

Sleep

Happiness

General Personal Development

Physical Health and Fitness

Persuasion

Business and Entrepreneurship

Technology

Books

Education

Other (Typography, Psychology, Writing, etc.)

Thanks!

Now that my life is starting to resemble something close to “normal”, expect a much more regular posting schedule over the next twelve months.

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Comments

6 responses to “Year Three in Review”

  1. Thank you, thank you for creating this amazing resource– both this post and the blog more generally.

  2. fintoe

    Hey, love the site. Here’s to 3 more years.

    But I’m curious about your Dutch situation. I’m an English speaker learning Dutch all the way down here in Flanders.

    Apart from the obvious rolling up your sleeves and attending lessons, what other sources have you been using for learning the language? And how do you grapple with everyone switching to English the instant you slightly mispronounce one word?

    Anything from the archives on language learning?

    Also, the density of dialects in these low-lands is mental.

  3. Justin — Thanks for the compliment.

    Lone Gunman is a labour of love, but it makes it even more worthwhile when I hear that others enjoy it too. I truly appreciate it.

  4. fintoe — Thanks and yes, here’s to three more years.

    As for learning Dutch, I’m in a lucky situation:
    – I’m in a work environment conducive to learning (all my colleagues speak Dutch fluently and speak to me in Dutch as much as possible)
    – I have a Dutch girlfriend to answer those tricky grammar questions
    – My company pays for lessons with an excellent teacher in extremely small groups (max. 4 people)

    I don’t yet know enough vocabulary to use Dutch in many social situations (I’ve only very recently started learning the language), so I haven’t had a chance to experienced the “switching to English the instant you slightly mispronounce one word” problem. Is there a way to deal with it other than being brave and saying, in your best Dutch, “I’m sorry, I’m trying to learn the langauge, so may we continue speaking Dutch?”? If so, let me know.

    The archives are slim on this topic. There are these: posts tagged language+learning. Some not relevant, some possibly.

    My own methods? Apart from lessons and practice, I’ve found childrens’ books and (on those rare occassions I find myself in front of a TV) Dutch subtitles to be absolutely fantastic.

    I’ll search around for some langauge learning resources and post soon if I find anything.

  5. Hey Lloyd, congrats on reaching three years! Always enjoy your posts, here’s to year 4 🙂

  6. […] UWS, instead you get short summaries chocked full of pertinent prose. And then, once a year, he summarises the best of all those posts. That’s when I grab a glass of wine, set aside the next hour or two, and […]