Audio Notes #392 Inspiration

daily routine


Can you tell me about your daily routine?

A daily routine is something you do on a daily basis. Daily means every day. A routine is something you do again and again. Notice the following:

  1. What is your daily routine at school?
  2. My daily routine always consists of preparing classes, teaching lessons and grading homework.



I paint in my atelier.

An atelier is a small studio for artists where they create work. See the sample sentence below.

  1. I usually can only be creative in my atelier.

go straight into (to)


You sketch a painting and then go
straight into oil painting?

When you go straight into some activity, that means you go from one activity to another activity with no breaks, rest or preparation period. Here are a few sample sentences:

  1. After stretching, I go straight into my exercise routine.
  2. I go straight to my part-time job after school.



I put on stretchers. They are made of wood.

A stretcher is some device that stretches things. For an artist, this would stretch the canvas a painting will be on. You also hear the word stretcher to refer to cloth stretched by wood used to carry injured people.

initial idea


How long does it take, from initial idea
to the completion?

When you have an initial idea, you have an idea for the first time. Initial means first. Notice the following:

  1. I liked the initial idea, but then I changed my mind about it.
  2. All great inventions start with an initial idea.

take up to


It can take me up to two hours.

If something can take up to an hour, that means sometimes it might take two hours, but no more than two hours. If something takes at least two hours, that means it always takes two hours, and sometimes more.

  1. It can take me up to a month to finish, but I often do it in two weeks.
  2. If traffic is bad, it can take up to an hour to get to work.