Shadowing Practice: alone but not lonely | taking myself on a solo date - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Hey guys, it's Syd.
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Hey guys, it's Syd.
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Wow, these videos make me seem like I literally have no friends.
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I actually do.
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Today I'm spending yet another day alone.
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One of my favorite things is to be alone.
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Basically this is just us hanging out together.
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It's kind of how I think about it.
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I woke up this morning,
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made some yogurt for breakfast.
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We'll see how long this yogurt bowl situation lasts.
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I give it about a month until I'm bored of it.
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all right let's go get coffee i don't know what's come over me
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but the past month i have been
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so obsessed with city biking nothing can come between me
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and this bike like even in times where i don't need to take the bike I could easily walk.
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I choose the bike.
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It's just so fun.
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So I'm gonna bike to,
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I don't know, I think I'm gonna try this like new coffee shop that I found on TikTok as always.
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Ignore the earbuds.
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I really need to like elevate my production system around here.
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I'll do an iced latte with vanilla and skin, please.
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Okay, guys, so I'm trying a new coffee shop today.
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Guys, I can't make videos anymore.
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I'm going to blow away.
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This is the last you're ever going to see me.
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I'm having trouble conceptualizing the fact that seven-year-old girls just went to get an iced matcha.
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They went on an iced matcha date.
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I don't think I knew what matcha was until I was like 16.
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But I support it.
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It was cute.
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This coffee tastes great.
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It's almost like a little bit nutty.
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I love it, minus the hair that I'm also tasting.
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I love finding new coffee shops.
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I would say it's a hobby of mine.
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When people ask, what do I like to do?
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This is what I like to do.
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Recently, I've been really wanting to have a picnic.
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I don't know why, but I've asked a few friends.
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I've like tried to make it work and it just hasn't.
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And obviously, I don't know.
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I always think if you want to do something,
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you should just do it,
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even if it's by yourself.
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So I'm going to take myself on a little picnic date,
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I think in Central Park.
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Oh, look at the dogs.
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But I don't have really anything for the picnic.
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So I think I'm going to go to Marshall's.
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They always have the best selections for like such a great price.
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So I'm going to head there now.
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Thank you to Marshall's for working with me on this video.
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It feels so nostalgic for me because I remember going to Marshalls with my mom so much growing up.
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And they have so many cool things,
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like so many nice designer finds too.
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Basically, I'm taking myself on a little date today.
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I've been loving these like sequin type bags for summer.
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Like this is so cute.
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So I have a lot of stuff.
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I'm kind of in between a few things.
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I just found this navy blue cardigan.
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I love the material on this.
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I also love this short sleeve sweater.
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I just love how every The Marshall store is different.
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There's always different things that you can find at all of them.
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I also love looking at all of the different designer stuff that they have.
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It's one of my favorite things about Marshall's.
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There's so many great brands at like such great prices.
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They also have tons of snacks.
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So I might get some for the picnic and just like make it really cute.
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I want it to be really cute for literally just myself.
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One of my favorite things to get here are their candles because they have so many.
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I'm gonna try to find a new one and smell every single one because I'm indecisive.
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Shopping spree complete.
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I made it back home.
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I wanna show you guys some of the ones I got because I'm so excited about them.
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Should I do a little try on haul?
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All right, starting off, I got this blue navy tank along with some linen pants.
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I love a good cozy pair of linen pants for summer.
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And then I also saw these beautiful braided sandals,
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which I thought were so pretty.
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I don't have any brown sandals like this in my closet.
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I'm trying to figure out what to wear for my picnic.
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Guys, look, I'm wearing color for once.
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I feel like brunettes look really good in blue.
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No hate to blondes.
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Is it, am I even right about that?
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I love this little blue cardigan.
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Kind of like to tuck it like this.
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Also with these linen pants and sandals, so cute.
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The past like six months,
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I've been on the hunt for a good cardigan.
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I saw this one, which I thought was such a nice staple piece.
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I loved it so much.
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I got it also in white because I need the same thing in every color for some reason.
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At the end when I was leaving,
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I saw this white button down top and I loved this little texture that it has.
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Ooh, I kind of like this.
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I like the white and like the beige.
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Ooh, I also got this bag that I think would go with this so well.
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I think this is the outfit guys.
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Anyways, it's time for my date.
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Kind of nervous.
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Just kidding.
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I also forgot that they have snacks there.
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So I grabbed some little orange slices
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which i already started to eat first date kind of nervous
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so i'm
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at my picnic say hi to everyone
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i feel like i'm turning into like a dad joke person
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and i hate that i have my snacks that i laid out
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so beautifully oh
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when i was at marshall's earlier i picked up a new notebook i filled my other one up
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so i thought it was time to get a fresh new
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journal i love how marshall's has literally everything stationary clothes even
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these snacks like i never need to go anywhere else ever again i did want to say to you guys
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that a lot of the times in these videos,
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I feel like I watch them back
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and it makes it look like I have my whole life together and like I'm so good at being alone.
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But that is not the case.
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For example, last week I was so lonely.
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I kept calling my mom and like crying on the phone because I don't know,
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just like one of those weeks where I felt just like alone in a big city especially
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when you're friends
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and everyone's like super busy with work it's no one's fault
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it's just like part of life sometimes there's seasons where you're
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gonna be alone more of the time than not i would also say
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that just
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because you're in a relationship you should still make sure you
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do things alone i love my boyfriend i've been with him for like a year
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and a half now i still think it's important as much
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as i love spending time with him to also enjoy my
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time alone do things alone maintain my relationship with myself on
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top of it all it gets harder I think as you get older I'm sure as you have kids
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so who knows I might be just super naive saying that
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but it's something
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that I think has actually even helped our relationship being able
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to have a little bit of independence makes coming together like
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even better somehow am I yeah I'm yapping now see it's
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in seven minutes I need to stop welcome to our sterile
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kitchen I always say I'm gonna like fix the lighting in
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here it's just you guys accept me for me I'm about to make the same meal that I always make,
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my taco bowls.
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If you have recommendations of things that I can try that are healthy but also easy,
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I'm gonna ask that you please let me know
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because I have a feeling this is gonna run its course pretty soon and then I'm gonna be needing something new.
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I have been cooking a lot more though and I've been really starting to like it.
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What happened to me, I don't know.
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Never did I think I'd see the day.
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I used to absolutely hate cooking.
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Maybe that's just getting older.
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I don't know but whatever, I'm gonna cook.
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as you can already see i'm cooking the ground beef i
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always make sure to add a taco seasoning packet though my mom taught me
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that they make the world's difference i also have some jasmine rice cooking
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while that's going i start making the guac some ripe avocado onion tomato all chopped up with some cilantro lime
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and salt trust me it is
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so good guys like i promise you all right guys dinner
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is served i went into a little bit more detail than usual
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when i was making this
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because I wanted you guys to be able to have the recipe
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if you want and I forget the last time that I showed you guys.
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It is so simple.
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The main thing is making the guac.
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Wow I'm really whipping this around like Disney Channel.
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What makes these bowls good in my opinion is really the guac.
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You can kind of customize it how you like.
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Personally I love a lot of onion and cilantro and lime.
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Pretty much everything.
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I also always have crackers on the side with the extra guac
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because it's probably my favorite thing that I make
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and my boyfriend's told me it's also his favorite thing that I make if that says anything.
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Foolproof meal, really.
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For those of you that can't cook, I've been there.
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Actually, I'm still there.
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This one's pretty, pretty hard to mess up.
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I'm not gonna lie.
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Like, if you mess this up, you're bad.
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I made a groundbreaking discovery this week.
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I thought that anyone who ever cuts tomatoes would experience,
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like, itchy fingers because this has always happened to me.
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And then I found out that's not normal.
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It apparently means you're like allergic or have contact dermatitis with the tomatoes,
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but you can still eat them.
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Until I asked someone, I thought everybody experienced that.
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And that's why I hate cutting tomatoes,
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especially my hands itch like uncontrollably.
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Anyways, I felt like I needed to share that because if anyone else has this problem,
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they deserve to know like I did.
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join me for a getting unready video i am feeling very asmr right now maybe
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because the candle it's like putting me in a mood
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that is the candle i got earlier at marshall's i had
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to burn it immediately you guys know what time it is
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advice time it's been too long it's actually not been too
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long it's been literally i think one video i also changed into this tank from earlier
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because i just wanted to be cozy hey sydney i have a scenario i'd love your advice on in your next video.
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I get in these random phases,
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sometimes two times a week and sometimes multiple months,
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where I simply don't feel like being social.
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Not for anything my friends did wrong,
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but I often accidentally end up ghosting them.
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Even though this isolation is my choice,
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it still makes me feel like crap and is no good for my mental health.
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Thoughts.
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I also used to be bad at texting people back and I realized as I got older,
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the people that are important to me,
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I really need to prioritize responding to.
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Not immediately, like I totally get things happen,
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but I was getting like pretty bad.
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Guys, I was just lazy.
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I was being lazy.
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I don't know.
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It's just not a nice thing to do
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And I think i've worked hard to get better at that
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And I just think of being in the other person's shoes How
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that would feel like not getting a response for weeks from
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someone even though nothing's wrong I feel like the best thing you can do though
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If you do get in these phases is to like communicate
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with your friends even just shooting them literally A two-second text being like hey, sorry.
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I've been so busy.
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I promise i'll get back to you later this week That's like all it takes
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and that's something that i've been doing a lot more just so I don't feel so bad,
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like not responding to people.
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People usually understand, even just like a quick short memo,
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like letting them know will probably mean a lot.
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So that way they're not left completely hanging.
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Since you said that this makes you feel bad,
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if there's a way to like proactively prevent this from happening,
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maybe a close friend you could trust,
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you can tell them, hey,
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I get in these funks sometimes.
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If I don't respond, can you like call me out?
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Or even like planning in advance,
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like a few hangouts, like a month in advance,
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couple of weeks in advance if it's possible.
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I feel like one of the biggest things I've learned,
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just like through any scenario,
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is preventative measures or what helps in like so many life situations.
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I also get in these phases and I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
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If for a couple of weeks,
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maybe I'm just feeling like,
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maybe I'm feeling antisocial and I don't really see a lot of my friends.
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I mean, that's like kind of normal,
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but obviously if it's not making you feel good, then that's another story.
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Do I look insane?
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Did I get my, whatever, I don't even care.
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Time for bed.
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I love you guys.
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Thanks so much for watching.
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Also, thank you again to Marshalls for working with me.
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This was so fun.
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I love you guys And we'll see you in my next vlog.
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Bye
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, learners will practice English speaking skills through the engaging context of a solo date. The lesson encourages students to embrace solitude as a positive experience by exploring various activities that can be enjoyed alone, such as biking, visiting coffee shops, and going on a picnic. This focus not only boosts vocabulary but also enhances conversational fluency, making it a perfect opportunity for IELTS speaking practice and general English speaking practice.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Solo date: Taking time to enjoy activities by oneself.
- Obsessed: To have an intense or overwhelming interest in something.
- Picnic: A meal taken outside, often in a park or nature setting.
- Coffee shop: A place where coffee and light refreshments are served, ideal for socializing or relaxing.
- City biking: Riding a bike in an urban environment as a means of transportation or leisure.
- Iced latte: A coffee drink prepared with iced milk and espresso.
- Hobby: An activity that one enjoys doing in their spare time.
- Nuts: A flavor often describing a robust or rich taste in food, especially when enjoyed in coffee.
Practice Tips
To effectively practice speaking and enhance fluency, try the following techniques while engaging with this video:
- Shadow speak: As you watch the video, repeat the sentences exactly as they are spoken. Pay attention to the intonation and rhythm of the speaker. This technique is known as shadowspeaks and can significantly improve your listening and pronunciation skills.
- Slow it down: If the pace of the video feels too fast, consider adjusting the playback speed to 0.75x. This can help you catch every word clearly while still allowing you to practice the flow of natural speech.
- Record yourself: After shadowing, record your voice. Compare your pronunciation and intonation to the original speaker. This will help in identifying areas that need improvement and aid your English speaking practice.
- Engage with the context: Try to visualize the solo date activities mentioned in the video. Imagine yourself in those scenarios and describe them in your own words. This not only builds your vocabulary but also boosts your confidence in using new phrases in casual conversation.
- Use new vocabulary: Make a conscious effort to integrate the key vocabulary from this lesson into your daily conversations. Practicing these phrases in various contexts expands your linguistic range and prepares you for real-life interactions.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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