Shadowing Practice: We Went on a Date in LA - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hello friends, there is a lot for us to catch up on.
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I'm gonna try and speed run all the major events in my life as quickly as possible.
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Starting with number one, I've moved out of New York City and now I live in Los Angeles.
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Well, that's a little bit dramatic.
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I have a six -month lease in LA and we're just gonna see where that goes.
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Number two, I am single again.
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I know it's taking me a while to address this publicly
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and for that I do apologize especially as someone who posted about my relationship publicly.
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Now I feel like I'm in a place where I can kind of talk about it
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and I wish there was drama that I could tell you guys but sometimes things just don't work out.
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I've been single for about seven months now and that leads into topic number three.
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Tonight I'm going on a date.
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I'm excited and I'm nervous but there's one really big problem.
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This is what my apartment looks like right now.
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Yeah, so let's go do something about that.
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The couch is fully assembled.
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Check this out.
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I'm not gonna lie, this couch was one of the easiest things ever to assemble.
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It's made up of seven different pieces.
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They just stack from each other and then boom you have a couch.
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If you're curious This is a Danish brand.
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It's called Oh Me Chiu and then I got the Teddy Soba.
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Isn't watching me build furniture so entertaining?
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No, I'm just kidding.
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You might be wondering why I decided to try LA
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and it's mainly for two reasons The first one sounds a little bit silly
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But I just wanted to see what the other coast had to offer
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and the second reason is my parents are in Seattle
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And it's getting harder to see them post grad so it's nice to be closer to home
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okay i don't know if this means that i'm like an adult now
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or something because i'm getting super excited over my furniture
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but you have to check this out this desk is actually
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like really cool this right here is my flexi spot it's
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so big look how many things i can fit on this
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and then check this out check this out right there is this button
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that lets you move the desk up holy crap That's kind of sick.
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Then you can move it down.
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Then you can save the height number into these settings so that you can just easily click to whichever one fits you.
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It's so fun, look.
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Whee!
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And then you're back down.
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I'm finally getting settled in and it is so nice seeing everything come together.
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Now that I have all the main furniture assembled, I feel like my place is lacking a little bit of life and it needs some color in it.
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So I'm gonna check out a local plant nursery and see if there's anything I can find there
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Before I head out I've been getting asked a lot of questions about what I use the film with
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and I primarily film with two cameras The first one is this one, which is the Sony a7 IV
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and lately I've been really really liking this camera right here
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Which is the Insta360 Go Ultra
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So the first reason why I really like this camera is first of all It's really small
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and it's perfect for shy people
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and even though I post on social media I still get really shy when I film in public.
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This is my favorite camera to just bring outside and film really good clips with.
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The second reason why I really like this camera is because even though it's small it comes with a lot of functionalities.
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Okay check this out, ready?
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You can pop this in and out.
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This is the camera, this is the main body, and just pop it in and out.
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You can flip this and then when you're recording you can see what's happening on this viewfinder.
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So I could set my camera up somewhere else
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and I can see exactly the kind of shot that I need to get.
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And then for For reference, this is a normal sized fork and this is a camera.
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One, two, three, four, four and a half.
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Four and a half of these cameras fits one normal sized fork.
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This camera right here on the back is magnetic.
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So you can mount this on literally anything that has metal on it.
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It also comes with a stand that you can mount on any clean surface so you can get some really great shots.
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One could be a solo walking shot, one could also be just a shot from a really high angle or the opposite, a low angle.
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or even if you want a shot of you from the ceiling.
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Insta360 also comes with this magnetic chest pendant right here that you can just put under your shirt.
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And then you can attach the camera like so.
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I'm sure you can imagine how useful this is because it frees up both your hands and you can do literally anything.
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To be completely honest, one of my biggest concerns when I first got this camera is, oh, it's so small, the quality is probably not going to be that good.
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This shoots up to 4K 60fps guess and I'm going to insert some footage
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that I shot with this camera and you can be the judge of how good the quality is.
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It also has pretty darn good low light.
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So if you're shy and you still want to use a camera
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and you want to film I would highly recommend checking out the Insta360 Go Ultra.
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You can check this out in the description below
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and these spring sales happen to run out so get it while you can.
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And even though they did sponsor this video this is one of my favorite mini cameras to take around with me
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Wow look how pretty these flowers are It's also so peaceful here
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Look at this one Kinda looks like a Pokemon I'm not gonna lie, I didn't know there were so many pants
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I honestly don't know which one to get from my place It's really pretty actually.
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What is this?
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What the heck?
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It looks like a butt.
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Oh good choice.
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I think that's so pretty.
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Thank you.
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It'll be indoors, so you want a little saucer to go underneath?
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Ah, that'd be great, yeah.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Yeah, no. Yeah.
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Thank you so much.
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Isn't she so pretty?
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I was debating between this plant and like a more normal plant, like a golden pothos plant or something.
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But, I don't know.
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I like the red color.
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It looked nice.
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So I decided to get this one instead.
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Now it's time to get ready and change for my date.
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Hey, hey, hey, you're freaky.
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You know how to hit a volleyball?
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Sup guys, today we're in Los Angeles at the pink wall with...
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Whoa, I thought you were a chick.
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Hey everyone.
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Hey.
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Hey, hey.
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Hey.
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My new stem isn't the tongue out to the side, it's not this, it's an out.
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Bro, that's worse.
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Yeah, that's awful.
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You know what's crazy?
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It's 90 degrees and it's March.
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It's so freaking hot.
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I mean, it's 90 degrees and it's.
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The most beautiful girl you ever laid eyes on.
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Top one billion, I think.
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What's your name?
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Angie.
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Today, Andrew and I are just gonna be doing like some LA stuff.
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We're going on a date today.
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Really?
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Yeah, we're going on a date today. Is that the Insta360?
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This is the Insta360.
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It's tiny!
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I know, it's actually so small, right?
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I've heard that before.
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I mean, they always say I'm so big and busty.
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Wow!
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It's kinda sick, right?
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Yeah, that's awesome.
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The quality's pretty good for how small it is.
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Yeah, it's hard.
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Failed a squat PR.
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Yeah.
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I had Barland on my back.
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You wanna see?
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Wait, yesterday?
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Yeah.
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Holy!
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This is all there is to do in LA, I heard.
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They're bringing my car, Valet's bringing my car over.
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Oh yeah?
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Look, yeah.
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Here's my new car I just picked up.
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Everyone, here's my car reveal!
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Car reveal!
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Car reveal!
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You can park it over there.
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I'm right here.
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He's right there.
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You can just, you can leave it there.
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We're at the pink wall.
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People drive here just to see this.
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Yeah?
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Oh, okay.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're not supposed to touch it below.
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Oh.
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I'll do what I want.
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Hump the wall.
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Kiss the wall.
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We just got called LAPOS.
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Piece.. of mind. Of...
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Piece of sexy?
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That's probably what they meant.
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Nah, I'm pretty sure it stands for piece of shit.
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Someone AIS kissing in front of this pink wall.
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Whoa, why'd that be crazy if someone just did that?
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I'm hearing a lot about this sec.
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Community goods.
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Community goods this, community goods that.
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Sometime I got called a community good.
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Whoa, that's kinda crazy.
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This is your store.
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Yeah.
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So similar with the homeless issue in California, there's an unemployment issue.
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Here we have tons of unemployed people waiting to get a matcha.
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I can say it's a little embarrassing, but I think we're going to go embarrass ourselves and sit in line with them.
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If you could have any superpower in the world, what superpower would you choose?
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Superpower?
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I could be invisible, go in, make a matcha, and leave.
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purely just for community goods I'm gonna serve this community well I'm gonna keep everyone protected
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and safe that's why he's called the community good You know how mean that is to me
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Sideburns I don't know if this is worth the wait We'll give it 5 more minutes Okay, 5 more minutes LA people are really patient Yes,
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they're very good at waiting Why attack the day when you could wait for something to happen?
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Top 10 things to do in LA is jaywalking.
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Number two is waiting in line at community goods.
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We look like twins.
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Really?
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Yep.
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Almost identical actually.
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Guys, we're bilingual twins.
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Yep.
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Let's go to In -N -Out.
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Is there an In -N -Out nearby?
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I'll watch this.
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Yeah, Andrew and I are just parked in some really sus places.
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Could potentially get our car seat towed.
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Thank you so much.
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Actually, smart idea.
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In LA, I get in my car and I get in my car
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and then he sits in his car and then I look inside my car.
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Is LA the best place in the world?
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My favorite.
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Wow I'm full.
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Oh you're so skinny.
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We got double double protein style with the whole grilled onion inside. So hangry.
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Poor little baby so hangry.
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Oh, real cheese cuz I'm celebrating Lent so no meat on Fridays.
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Yeah, yeah, only his boyfriend's.
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Wow bread and cheese.
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Guess 78 please.
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Time to level up and go to Air One.
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Holy crap, let me check how many dollars I have.
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Dude, we were going to Air One.
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Guess 86 please, guess 86 and 84 please.
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We teleported outside of Erewhon.
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I'm so Hollywood I've gone sunglasses.
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Holy crap.
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Are you Andrew Alexander?
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No, I'm incognito.
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Oh shoot, you're Angie.
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Go get a smoothie.
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And then we're gonna go shop around, right?
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You're gonna buy me a new bag?
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Yeah, I'll buy you a new Birkin bag.
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I love LA.
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$20 smoothie, check.
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$20 smoothie, $25 parking, two hour drive.
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Awesome.
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All good.
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All good.
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All good.
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No bad.
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Want me to take photos of you like that?
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No, I was thinking more provocative bohos.
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We can do that after our date.
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Do you think that they think we're twins?
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Or do they think we're a couple?
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That's your question.
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POV, you're the menu.
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Ew, what the f* is that?
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Should we get the Gabriella?
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Gnarly.
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I'm feeling gnarly.
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Gnarly.
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Gnarly.
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We're gonna get a smoothie.
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What's the plan after this?
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I'll go buy you a Rolex watch.
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Is that considered love bombing?
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No, no, no. That's just love.
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Okay.
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That's just love.
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Okay.
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Gabriella drink.
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Gnarly. That was really romantic.
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A little tension.
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I give it a gnarly out of 10.
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Dude, we cook them in K -pop bands.
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Should've asked my mom for double eyelid surgery.
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That was a gnarly date.
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Gnarly.
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Gnarly.
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Andrew and I are just going to go shopping and go buy him a Rolex.
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Yeah, we did some off -camera shopping.
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Yeah.
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We got the goods, but yeah, that was a chill bro date.
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Yeah, thanks for watching.
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Maybe we'll bro date again.
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Bromantic again.
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Yeah, we'll get bromantic with it.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “We Went on a Date in LA”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: camera, gnarly, date. This video has 272 sentences and 2120 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:50. The speaker talks at a natural 165 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| gnarly adjective | /ˈnɑɹli/ | Having or characterized by gnarls; gnarled. |
| smoothie noun | /ˈsmuːði/ | A smooth-talking person. |
| superpower noun | A sovereign state with dominant status on the globe and a very advanced military, especially the United States or formerly the Soviet Union. | |
| assemble verb | /əˈsɛm.bəl/ | To put together. |
| whoa | /woʊ/ | Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down. |
| couch noun | /ˈkaʊ̯t͡ʃ/ | An item of furniture, often upholstered, for the comfortable seating of more than one person; a sofa. |
| embarrass verb | /ɪmˈbæɹəs/ | To disrupt someone's composure or comfort with acting publicly or freely. |
| matcha noun | /ˈmɑ.t͡ʃə/ | A type of powdered green tea, traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies. |
| fork noun | /fɔɹk/ | A utensil with spikes used to put solid food into the mouth, or to hold food down while cutting, or for serving food. |
| magnetic adjective | /mæɡˈnɛtɪk/ | Of, relating to, operating by, or caused by magnetism. |
| eyelid noun | /ˈaɪ.lɪd/ | A thin skin membrane that covers and moves over an eye. |
| flexitime noun | An arrangement that allows employees to set their own working hours within agreed limits; normally must include certain periods (core time) when they must be… | |
| freaky adjective | /ˈfɹiː.ki/ | Resembling a freak. |
| incognito adverb | /ˌɪnkɒɡˈniːtoʊ/ | Without revealing one's identity. |
| jaywalk verb | /ˈd͡ʒeɪ.wɔːk/ | To behave as a jaywalker; to violate pedestrian traffic regulations by crossing a street away from a designated crossing or to walk in the part of the street… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| back down verb | To take a less aggressive position in a conflict than one previously had, or has planned to have. | |
| come together verb | /ˈkʌm tʊˈɡɛðɚ/ | To assemble; to congregate; to combine. |
| head out verb | To leave, depart; to go on ahead. | |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. | |
| put under verb | To anesthetize someone or render them unconscious through the use of narcotic substances, usually either alcohol or pharmaceutical drugs. | |
| run out verb | To use up or consume all | |
| work out verb | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | To calculate. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Isn't watching me build furniture so entertaining?
- It'll be indoors, so you want a little saucer to go underneath?
- You know how to hit a volleyball?
- You're gonna buy me a new bag?
- Do you think that they think we're twins?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've moved · I've been · I've heard |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | someone who posted · one, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 89 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, gonna, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: smoothie /ˈsmuːði/, pothos /ˈpoʊθoʊs/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/
- Long words — get the stress right: incognito /ˌɪnkɒɡˈniːtoʊ/, provocative /pɹəˈvɒk.ə.tɪv/, invisible /ɪnˈvɪzəb(ə)l/, apologize /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like gnarly, smoothie, superpower.
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.