And so...

It seems most deafinite that I will be roommating with one other girl here in Manhattan :) I is the HappIeeee. I plan to meet her tmw at 1pm, finalize everything (ie monetary transaction with reciept).

All weekend was mostly two things, the Tin Man and editing. I spent Sunday doing two different voice overs. I was pleased with the results and effort made by the two women that showed up. This was the 2nd time I did this. My technique as a rare deafie who dabbles in the audio world in her little deafie way, is to break up the scenes that contain dialogues. That way the sentences can be spoken seperately. But if it was long spoken pieces I would leave the scene as intact as possible without compromising the scene itself. I had already read somewhere that sound quality can make or break a movie. Meaning if my audience is primarily hearing or if my work is at all intended for that audience. I must step up to the plate and start asking for sound persons on upcomming productions.... which as of now are all on hold until these two movies are edited and the www is up and running.

Today I did set dressing preperation for a Columbia student film project. I will help again as a set dresser this wed, thurs. Its a story about an immigrant and obtaining photo ids that would make him a legit american.

This weekend I am helping out a different friend by being a pa (production assistant). Its for a semi-known director who's works has recieved attention at the Sundance festivals. Its a spec for a perfume commericial, very high budget. I wonder tho esp when it comes to specs, whats the ideal expectation of a budget used in these kinds of shoots? So far I did a campy comedy, a music video, several student films and now a spec. Yay! Fattening up my resume, knowledge, friends, networking and making use of this free time before the fall kicks in.

After I am done this week working, next week I plan to visit the folks in PA. (Yes, of course I am thinking about all of you! and MISS YOU all too).

Tonight the Tin Man is coming by. Cain, the Tin Man and I will be hitting some friend's party downtown, west side by the water. I havent been to a party in so long! I plan to spend most of tmw with my sweetie! I've gotten hooked on Chess! Like any other games, once you know the rules, and the probability of various moves it becomes more engaging. Maybe I sound nerdy, don't care!

Hearing and Deaf relationships like many of you know are often more difficult due to communication differences. Imagine not only having a different belief system but a different language on top of that! My understanding of English in many ways is still poor. I am reminded how phrases I say, are out of date but to me, they are often new. For example if I watch any tv shows/movies from the 70s and 80s I didn't have closed captioning so I had no clue as to the story line. Now thanks to Nick @ Nite, I can catch up and learn pop cultural phrases of America during those decades.

I don't know who said it or signed this quote but they were right; "Deaf people are foriengers in their own land." Meaning most minorities of what have yous, are not born in America. Immigrated, etc etc. But as deafies, we grow up in the hearing community, (a large % of us do, exclude deaf families) so we are familair with what works in the hearing community as Americans. But for adaptation needs we require more visuals than hearing people need in the area of communication. I am not suggesting that hearing people don't need visuals, that we deafies need more is all. Its a fact we exist in a world where the majority is born one way (hearing) and we were born that way (deaf), or pathological incidence caused our deafness.

The point is, cultural clashes are not fun when you're dating someone new. There s so many rooms for misunderstandings, communication breakdowns and frusturations. But then I look at him and I know deep down this is a short lived adjustment period for us both. You have to work out the differences in a way that is acceptable AND satisfactory to both. Some days are harder than others. I know this is all so foriegn to him. I grew up "hearing" and I remember the shock of seeing large numbers of deaf people at the age of 15 at MSSD. I didn't WANT to be one of THEM. I seriously felt I was in the wrong place. The first few months, went bad for me because I couldnt understand much. I didn't want to learn ASL anyways! I couldnt understand why the others bothered with closed caption options. That WASn'T me in my mind.

The turning point came in an ironic way. After being treated like shit for most of my time at Township (hearing school), my gaurds were way up! I was told I had anger problems. Gee do you think? Yea I was angry. But the point here is, I was at the HC game and some girl from my dorm who was DEAF in all sense of the word, was giving me a hard time. I couldn't sign worth a damn. So I gave her my middle finger and said "can you understand this?!" then it hit me, she didn't like me, me. Unlike the kids I grew up with, I was the girl with the hearing aid that made noises and had cooties etc etc. So I knew WHY they didnt like me. Here at MSSD this other girl was trying to be my friend but frusturated because I wouldn't give her the attention or acknowledge my own deafness. Thats when things began to improve in regards to my place in the world and how I felt about it. Owning up to who I am has made my life meaningful. I am fortunae because along the way I have met many nice hearies and lots of them signed or at least tried. I know I cannot be in one or the other all the time 24/7. As long as there is range, variety, diversity, I will be happy!