Finishing the challenge trying out a new podcast I've seen from some people here on the log. I really like the voice, and I understand around 75-80%, sad I didn't catch it before, but I'll probably keep listening to this rhythm for a while.

大人的Small Talk
EP114 學習一定要親身經歷嗎？為什麼你需要花錢請一個好老師？ 26min
EP112 為何買「PS5」要假裝「空氣清淨機」？另一半曾因為你買的東西而生氣嗎？38min
EP102 我們該如何面對憂鬱症｜李旻珊醫師 專訪 32min

Apart from that, some Chairman Bao, the 6 free weekly articles (18min)

DuChinese's new free articles available, 2 times each, one with text and one without text

Da Peng
#32宝岛 - 台湾 14min
#33 时下最流行的化妆 - 口罩妆 20min
#31 东南亚最大城市 - 印尼雅加达 (15min)
DCE-83.「心里有数」3min

Slow Chinese (Once each)
29 - 光棍节 4min
30 - 中国的教育系统 7min
31 - 粉丝爱好者 6min
32 - 圣诞节在中国 5min

Logging Friday's listening
LCTS 2.2.32AB《常回家看看》34min
LCTS 2.2.33AB《东郭先生和狼》52min
2.2.2AB《拔苗助长》4min
3.1.8A《丑小鸭》9min
Yesterday I broke the 20 day walking+podcast everyday streak, but I just had too much work ha ha

故事FM
E451.2020，故事FM 的故事 (33min)
LCTS
3.2.10A+B《除夕夜，我在武汉》1 (61min)

故事 FM day, doing chores and walking a lot.
故事 FM is definitely a great resource, though my comprehension was just about 70%
Stories are narrated by different voices and the background music selection definitely stands out
E460.我在美国做「代孕中介」，见过各种中国客人和美国代母 (23min)
E461.做艾滋干预的 20 年：我帮助过的吸毒者、恐艾者和逝者 (33min)
E462.疫情下我的回国之路：惊险与心酸 (38min)
The stories can get pretty dark and sad very fast, CW if you're sensitive to those.

And then, now, before bed, Ivan's ASMR. I've been abandoning him a bit since it didn't make much sense to use it for running.
睡前小故事～快樂森林 10min (still awake, just like a normal lesson)
詐欺催眠師 16min
好久不見！近況報告 7min
煮咖啡給你喝 18min (Repeating this one, one of my favourites from him)

Walking and LCTS:
3.2.12B《红豆》6min
2.1.31语法Grammar《还是》26min
3.2.11A 《除夕夜，我在武汉》2 (10min)
3.2.11B 《除夕夜，我在武汉》2 (48min)

Doing chores:
Melnyks Chinese #092 (15min time adjusted for explanations)
Mandarin Monkey #168 (40 min time adjusted for Chinglish)
Walking:
Slow Chinese 25 - 同一个世界，同一个梦想（三）：见证奇迹 (x2, 14min time adjusted for one very nice song) The whole Olympics trilogy from Slow Chinese is pretty nice to listen to.
Slow Chinese 26 - 痛苦的信仰 (x2, 14min)
Slow Chinese 27 - 吴语 (x2 13min)
Slow Chinese 28 - 风声 (x2 11min)

A long walk with SlowChinese stories and sat afterwards to read while listening.
18 - 七夕——东方的情人节 (2 more times, one with text) (18min)
19 - 很囧的“囧”字 (3 times, one with text) (12min)
20 - 数字“九”的魔力 (3 times, one with text) (12min)
21 - 中秋节 (3 times, one with text) (15min)
22 - 南京！南京！(4 times, one with text) (28min)
23 - 同一个世界，同一个梦想（一）：百年缘分 (3 times, one with text) (18min)
24 - 同一个世界，同一个梦想（二）：期待辉煌 (3 times, one with text) (21min)

Walking:
2.1.33AB《咖啡》33min
2.3.11A《看破财富》26min
Sitting:
Slow Chinese #15 学习雷锋好榜样 (20mins, about four times with transcription)
Slow Chinese #16 说曹操，曹操到 (10 mins, 3 times)
Slow Chinese #17 盘古开天辟地 (12 mins, 4 times with some transcription)
Slow Chinese #18 七夕——东方的情人节 (20 mins, 2 times with some transcription) (I might listen to this one more time being a bit longer than the others)

Another walk & listening session
- 台瓜夫妻 podcast (Sometimes bilingual Spanish-Chinese, but I go for the monolingual ones) #63. 「自學」語言，成功的關鍵是？16分鐘 (Interesting themes, but the audio quality could be better)
- Sensing Chinese #2: 你喜欢独自旅游吗？22分鐘
- 面包吐思 podcast 元培说：关于性教育 (16分鐘, time adjusted for music)
- ChinesePod 职场抱怨王 Part 1 & Part 2 (35分鐘, time adjusted for ads)
- ChinesePod 夜生活，夜经济 (20分鐘)
- SlowChinese #14 - 杭州西湖 (7分鐘)
All of these have only been attentive listening while walking, but I need to find some room for some more transcripting.

An over two hour long walk listening to podcasts + another hour doing chores
大鹏说中文 #34 贝鲁特大爆炸 16min
大鹏说中文 #89 你钻过法律的空子吗？ 5min
大鹏说中文 #90你当过电灯泡吗？3min
大鹏说中文 #35 德国柏林 13min
大鹏说中文 #91 打下手 4min
大鹏说中文 #1 考拉 43min (Da Peng can be really good, but sometimes there's some sound mixing problems)
LCTS 2.2.1A & B 成语故事 守株待兔 13min
LCTS 2.1.3B “雪孩子”解读 5min
2.1.12A & B 故事《小伙伴》33min
2.3.10A & B 《巴塞罗那的王子–––梅西》34min
BreadToast Chinese 面包吐思等我音乐 #4 35 min (Good, but maybe too much intro)

Long LCTS session while driving
3.1.9A《我的父亲》7 min
3.1.9B《我的父亲》61 min
2.3.17A《拳王阿里》16 min

Logging something additional from yesterday
LCTS 2.3.17B《拳王阿里》

宇宙兄弟 台配國語版 #04
宇宙兄弟 台配國語版 #05 (Only audio)

3 episodes from Serious Chinese Conversation (On Skydiving, on fraud and on Tik-Tok & funerals) 40 min
3 stories from Twinkle Twinkle Story Time (Little Red Riding Hood, Peter and the Wolf and Saving The Little White Rabbit) 22 min

Funny thing, at the beginning of listening to the Peter and the Wolf one, since I left it playing automatic I didn't see the title, so I confused 狼 with 冷. So I thought they were saying 冷來了! 冷來了!

Very long walk listening actively to three LCTS episodes, tripped about three times and almost got run over, but at least that was good input

3.2.12B《红豆》37 min
3.1.10B《李子柒》50 min
2.1.30AB《小小少年》19 min

Listening to the podcast I'm still not sure if the man is half foreigner or not, he seems to miss things I know? Or is that acting as well? Haha

Updated goal to 40 hours, I'll try to blend this more into my exercising routine.

Mixed listening
1) Mandarin Monkey #174 (Very very interesting, but mostly Chinglish, time adjusted to about 30 % of the actual duration) 35min
2) Two short stories from the 晶娃子說故事 podcast (stories for children) 12min
3) Tried some additional 5 mins from Eileen Chang's audiobook, but it was sort of working as ASMR, I was falling asleep and I was driving, so I had to switch (5min)
4) 5 chapters from a Spotify podcast called 中文不轻松 (Serious Chinese Conversation). This was actually the one I liked the most. Very casual conversation in Chinese between an advanced learner and different natives. Themes are usually a bit more grotesque than usual: terrorism, serial killings, the sad story of an old nanny, paranormal activity, schizophrenia... What I like the most is that there's almost no English at all, the learner tries very hard to search for the words in Chinese and gets corrected many times. (60min)

Today was ASMR Sunday, but I still haven't decided which one, so meanwhile
1) Some 35 minutes of Eileen Chang's 傾城之戀 in audiobook. Understood about 50%. (I can't help but notice that most audiobooks in Chinese are read by men or women with deep voices, curious thing. It might be some marketing trend?)
2) Melnyks Chinese #071, time adjusted for Chinglish (about 28 mins)
3) Slow Chinese #13 (twice) (about 10 mins)

慢速中文 SlowChinese #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12
Around three times each, no text, with text and then no text again

Logging Friday's 3 episodes of a donghua, time-adjusted for fight scenes ('round 50 mins)
+ Today's active listening of Slow Chinese #4 #5 #6 about four times each, with a without text, with earphones and with speakers as to practice contextual listening. (60 mins)

Today I'll be watching a show, 漢子英雄 1.

PD: Is anybody listening to audiobooks? Any recommendation? I've already listened to some of Mandarin Companion's, but I'd also like to listen to something popular among natives.

1) Watched 漢子英雄 1, sometimes a bit complex to understand with all the nuances about some obscure characters, but I find the program very entertaining. I can follow the little kids' test very well (70min)
2) Clicked on a random 70min audiodrama I found while looking for 有聲小說 and tried to hear semi-actively while doing some chores. About halfway through I realized it was an erotic audiodrama, those were not normal chewing sounds. Well, everything's gotta be learnt. Time adjusted removing moans, 'bout 65 mins.
3) Decided then to watch 3 episodes of the Chinese dub of 宇宙兄弟 (Space Brothers), which is one of my favorite anime. Surprised by an actual very good voice acting on this one, the main character sounds just like the Japanese one. I might make a whole re-run of it since I have some background knowledge to rely on having watched the series already before. Time adjusted removing opening and ending song, 'bout 20 mins each (60min).

Today's my "Drama" Friday, but I've started with some regular listening and transcripting.
First listened entirely without writing, then writing down some words and then listening as many times as possible to transcribe everything. It got around 90% transcribed correctly from Melnyks. Around 95% from Slow Chinese.
Melnyks lesson 97, 98 and 99
Slow Chinese #2 (你Q了吗？) & #3 (在饭店吃饭).
Both are very good listening for beginner-intermediate.

Transcripting Thursday. Testing out Melnyks Chinese podcast, lesson #100, on 溫泉. Short stories repeated many times, with few English explanations and a side by side English translation at the end. First listened to the whole podcast without writing anything down but super focused, then listened a second time writing down main ideas of the dialogue and looking by their sound words I didn't know how to write. Then just focused on the short story as many times as needed (4-5 times) to be able to transcript as much as possible, getting around... 90% down. Podcasts are free, but not the transcripts, so I can't get a precise review but that helps to work on getting around only recognizing sounds.

Melnkys has a very high-quality sound, I liked it, although it might get a bit unnatural and repetitive.

Mixed up the following words in my first listening:
泡湯>保湯
泳衣>用衣

Logging Listen & Summarise Wednesday practice. Mandarin Monkey #172 & #173 (and also some of #174). Passive listening (counting only 1/3 of this since it's in Chinglish many times). Then focused on the two Chinese-only stories, listened to each one about three-four times writing down everything I understood. Then tried to make a summary of the story and checked with the podcast's explanation.

Chinglish might be a bit tricky, but I actually learn a lot from the short explanations in English, it helps me to instantly check if I understood correctly what had just been said (because of the way the other host answers). I'm even surprised I can sort of process Chinglish for about 90 % percent, it's really strange.

Watched "Nezha" with only ZH subs. Time adjusted removing fight and silent scenes, though the film actually has a lot dialogue! Around... 70-75%ish understood. Not extremely hard, but not extremely easy. The belly man sometimes seems to speak in a dialect I don't recognize. A lot of 啥.

Warming up for today's intensive session. Semi-active listening of Oh! Chinese podcast (Lesso 4, 5, 6A, 6B). I'm liking it better this time, the host talks about some cool and not usually found on books vocabulary, like 人迹罕至的地方 (Off the beaten track).

Listened to another podcast semi-active while cooking, repeating aloud words and structures I recognised. This time it's been four short episodes from a podcast called "OH Chinese 哦！中文" found on Spotify. The host is a girl with a very nice voice, she sometimes even sings at the beginning of her programmes. Many episodes are centered on fixed vocabulary learning, which is repeated and used in context many times. I'm not too fond of the background music, but could be a good resource for beginners/intermediate. https://open.spotify.com/show/2jQzj7DsUgIJFav0Z3lhGL

Warming up for intensive listening practice with some semi-active podcast listening while doing chores.
I've seen CriticalOwl listen to BearTalks (狗熊有话说) so I wanted to give it a try. He's got a very good speed and diction, I like it. Episode 001 (工作，生活和苹果，大狗熊有话要说, 15 min) was really accessible, being an introduction. Episode 2 (如何使用数码设备求生？, 50 min) got a little bit more complex, I had to rewind a bit midway because I was a bit lost, I'd say 60% understanding.

Transcription Monday. Worked with Hacking Chinese's recommended material "Slow Chinese" (https://kitchenknif.github.io/SlowChinese/) with the first story, 端午节. Listened about 2-3 times without any text or interruption to see how much could I grasp. Then listened again 2 times writing down words and structures I understood and looking up words I didn't know, by their sound. Up to there, I'd say it was about 50-60% understood. Then listened and read the original script at the same time, that went up to 90-95%. Then looked up words I misunderstood and those I just didn't know. Finally, I listened again with the text and without it one more time. Now I'm hungry for some 粽子.

Words I mixed up on my first listening:
起源>資源
河裡>合理
習俗>世俗, 急速

Heating up for today's intensive transcription practise with some passive/not-so-passive listening of news. First 15 minutes of pure passive listening then watched CCTV4's 30 mins news trying to sort of understand everything (I'd say I understood around 60%). CCTV's anchors are a bit too monotonous at times.

This time around I've also planned the whole thing in a spreadsheet. Today has been ASMR Sunday. A mutual from twitter said it was her secret for Korean input, because people tend to speak slow and vocalise, so I'm giving it a try. I've watched three videos from Ivan's ASMR (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaYMOU3PLFLfIl8FzUppgMQ) A taiwanese ASMR youtuber. I've noticed it's particularly hard to find male voice Chinese ASMR on the net. I listen to him and type what I understand at the same time.