No DeeCee 4 Me :-[

Due to a few unexpected bills such as my SK2 dying and Jack's car being vandalized over the weekend I realize this isn't the right time to be going out of town. As much as I wanted to see my friends at Gally in the DC/MD area I decided to be the responsible adult that reflects my chronological age. But it still sucks. On the flips side, I kinda already knew that deep down inside I would've felt worse going there. And having all my "responsibilities" hanging over my me. Luckily for me Karen was totally understanding about me cancelling. She will see me anyways for Thanksgiving, so no biggie. I am bummed tho not to see Knob or get a chance to tour the Gally or MSSD campus with all the new upgrades and renovation. But what more, I wanted to experience the pulse of Gallaudet as it is today, 2008. Its been a while since I spent any time there in the past 5 years other than Tent City I (Spring 2006 protest of JKF).

Last Friday night Blondie, Szymanski and I all watched Super Nanny at Ed's place. It focused on a deaf family with 4 hearing childrens (CODAs), set in Nebraska. It was so cool to see this and for once, I didn't have to rely on the captions and could just watch the parents sign. To me, they were no different then any other parents seen on that show. They were overwhelmed with 3 younger girls all closed in age. The oldest was 18 years and the man on the show I think his name was Kip was her stepfather and the other 3 younger girls her half sisters. Boy did she the oldest one look like a CODA!I don't know how to explain it, but they say there's a "deaf" look, the same goes for CODAs. I swear, she could've been Adamos twin, same big eyes and saucer face with a perpetual scowl. I have seen cases where deaf parents with hearing children do place too much responsibility on their kids. I remember when I went on a deaf cruise, it always bothered me that some of the deaf parents would just leave their kids unattended in the staterooms while they were out and about at the bars/clubs etc., etc.. This is not true for all deaf parents but it does happen. I won't lie.

Also last Saturday night I decided to go to Dave and Busters in Farmingdale, Long Island. Apparently there's a monthly get together by the LI deafies and I wanted to check it out. Jack and his friend Gabriel joined me.

Here's a pix of Gabriel and yes he knows how to smile :)

It was an hour drive but well worth it.

Here's Jack getting some of his aggression out after finding his car vandalized

Aren't the graphics amazing?

When I arrived I saw some deafies outside but didn't know them. I ended up only knowing Joe Pal and Tony (who I knew from Gally and hadn't seen since 1999). So I mostly stuck with Jack and Gabriel. This Dave and Busters was HUGE. They had a pool table area, game room, bar and restuarant as well as a small bowling alley. Gabriel had never bowled before and Jack only 1 or 2xs. Gabriel decided the 3 of us should bowl and so we did.

A proud new bowler is born!

Go Gabriel! Oh no, gutter roll :(

Here's Jack, showing Gabriel how to unleash the beast

Go Jackkkkkkkkk! STRIKE!

Here's me, showing not only do I have brains and beauty, but some muscles too. Ok, ok, I admit it. It was only a 10lb ball. I had wanted an 8lb ball but they didn't stock those. It was good for me in the long run anyways.

They totally had the glow in the dark theme going on which ofc makes it even more fun!

Our first game, Gabriel and sometimes Jack was struggling to keep their balls from going into the gutter, me on the other hand bowled my best game EVER in my entire life. Funny I thought guys would know their way around balls considering they come equip with 2 of them ;-)

Here's the evidence, I beat TWO BIG MUSCLE GUYS *nah nah!*

Here's me being so excited getting a strike and they MISSED my glorious moment, grr!

But by the 2nd game, I was losing my momentum and bowled a typical score for me which is usually in the 80s, 90s. I consider breaking the 100 mark a good score for moi.

Here's Gabriel determined to reclaim his honor in the world wide sport of bowling.

Both of the guys did a much better score than the 1st game. 83 for me was much more normal. As you can see Gabriel scored a few strikes and Jack became the master of spares!

This experience makes me want to bowl with them again. Another game I really enjoyed while we were there was shooting hoops. Jack and I teamed up and made a lot of 3 pointers. I made sure to hit the board as I learned when coaching basketball it doesn't count unless it hits the board.

All in all, Dave and Busters was a lot of fun. Even tho I didn't meet any new deafies except for one girl (deaf) who's hearing boyfriend worked there and signed to me when we were getting our bowling shoes, I didn't make any new deaf friends. Still it was just nice to look around and see other deafies there, signing away mixed in with the hearing crowd.

Also in the main game room by the entrance, they had a photo booth that allowed the two of us (Jack and me), photos be taken and then makes a baby photo morphed by our individual profile. It was the 1st thing I saw when I walked into the gaming area and proclaimed to Jack, We have to do this! Hours later when Jack couldn't find any new games he wanted to play, I dragged him over to the photo booth and got him to sit still and do it with me. For the baby photo option, we had a choice of a boy or girl and what color hair we wanted. We picked a boy with brown hair. Several seconds later and viola, our imaginary baby picture came out. I thought the baby looked adorable but Jack thought it was UGLY and fake looking. The baby had my eyes and I think his nose? I will try to post a copy of it later. Of course it tugged at my maternal strings but no, not now. I can't afford a baby!

It was also a nice opportunity to get to know Jack's friend Gabriel better. He's a nice guy, I can't always hear or understand him but I still enjoyed his company nonetheless.