Shive-a-git

My Mom says that term above Shive-a-git, basically a nicer way of saying Give a shit without actually swearing. I am adopting that phrase :-)

My Thanksgiving was wonderful. I always enjoy having it at my Uncle Robs and Maria's house because there's plenty of room and love for everyone. I also appreciate how everyone pitches in with the meal planning. Such as Jack and I made the pumpkin pies (it was his first time! and he did a terrific job) Baba provided the crudities (celerey and carrots); Mom the sweet potatoes, cranberry and an apple pie; Dave & Nancy the awesome corn bread pudding which I can't get enough of and Maria made the turkey, stuffing and gravey! This way the burden of cooking a whole feast doesn't fall on just one person.

After we gobbled down the dinner, I played a game called Bonkers with Maria and her 2 sons Benjamin and Nathan. It was a fun game to play and a delight to play with the 2 boys, especially Nathan who won and was so excited to be the winner! Then Mom and I played 500 rummy, she won. But I will reclaim my honor the next time I come home in a few weeks!

Friday I went to Mom's place and got to visit with my bastard kitty, Tom. He had been a bad boy earlier that day and chewed up Mom's hand and arm pretty good! Mom was not happy and Tom pretty much stayed away from her but by the time we were making dinner, he was all lovey-dovey again. I made spaghetti for everyone, we had invited Nancy, David and Bobby over to watch the Incredible Hulk. I didn't stay throughtout the whole movie, my sinuses were really acting up and I just wanted to be back at Baba's to relaxs.

Yesterday we just hung around watching movies with Baba, making another pumpkin pie because both of us were yenning for it. I got Jack to watch Cube 2:Hyperspace. I love that series. If you like sci-fi, Ray Bradbury, physics then you'll like these movies. Today we went to the place where Jack will store his car while he's away. There was an awesome 1940s car in there as well and made me wish I had a time machine to experience America during the 1940s when my grandparents were teenagers. There's something endearing about back then although probably not for deafies but none-the-less, still attractive.

My sinuses have been bad throughout this visit, I am taking antibiotics but it doesnt seem to alleviate the sinus pressure so I am unable to focus well enough to grade my students papers. Besides today is the last day I get to spend with Jack before he leaves for the next 6 months :( I am going to miss him so much and I keep trying to remain positive but its hard to keep back the tears. I haven't been apart from him in so long that I can't imagine how I will feel tomorrow night when I get home from work to an empty apartment. I just have to stay busy and during my break I will be focusing on my thesis and editing my films. I will have approx 4 weeks off! I am hoping Media will bring me back earlier than when 2nd semester starts so I can make a few bucks, see see?

Funny I have been having a lot of crazy dreams and sometimes Szymanski shows up in my dreams but sadly I am still unhappy with her that even in my dreams I make her either go away or I ignore her till she disappears. I wish she had handled things differently when I got robbed in Oct instead of projecting her issues onto me and when I wouldn't agree to them, she ended our friendship. That's pretty messed up if you ask me and not a real friend. A real friend would've agreed to disagree. Not insist they are right and I am wrong. She never wanted me to treat her as an equal but to excuse her no matter how far she went with things. She wanted me to broaden her "intellectual" horizon and I am like, go back to school and or get a job. But I went to grad school, I work 2 jobs and during my free time I like to have fun. Not have in-depth debates or be expected to her personal psycho-therapist instead of a friend. I long for things to be easier for us both but she won't change and I can't afford to have someone in my life who doesn't respect Jack, we're a package deal. Until she learns to accept that when it comes to couples, you have to respect their partners, you can't expect them to favor her over their uno numeros. Even when she was with Cliff, and I didn't particularly care for him and thought she could've done better, I never went out of my way to bad-mouth him or give her ultimatums about him. I accepted at the time they were together and if she was with him, she had her reasons.

My beef with Simulscribe aka Phone Tag!

Last spring my boyfriend Jack accepted a telecommuting job at Phone Tag formerly know as Simulscribe. For those of you who don't know what telecommuting means, it means a person works from home using technology such as a phone, computer, internet etc etc.. He was reluctant at first to accept this job because he doesn't enjoy working from home. He was told he would have an office within a few months of starting his employment with this company. One of the main reasons he accepted this job was it included benefits, especially health benefits. And the pay seemed pretty good.

The novelty of this new job wore off soon. Jack hated being home all the time. He hated how the company didn't leave him alone during his "off" hours. He was the client service manager. Basically he set up new accounts, assisted with issues on current accounts, or closed accounts as requested. He also bore the brunt of collecting payments from people who didn't want to pay. As time went on he did more and more of this and 9 out of 10 times, he was successful in getting a payment made. I believe during a 2 month period, he only had issued 1 refund, compared to his coworkers who issued refunds on the average of several times a week.

The biggest drawback about Phone tag is they brag about using a computer voice recognition for voice mail left and then transcribed to a txt msg format to be emailed to you. The problem is, it wasn't a computer transcribing the msgs. No it was REAL people from places like Indonesia aka slave workers to listen to the msgs and try in their best way using broken English to translate the voice mail.

Next problem I have with phone tag is they charge a fee for their services while youmail.com does the same service for FREE.

After several months (approx 4 months or so) without warning, the higher ups asked Jack to come in the next day with his cell phone and laptop. He said to me that very night, I got a bad feeling about this, I think they're gonna fire me. I thought it was crazy since he hadn't missed work hardly and every day was working for this company from 8am till as late as 7 or 8 at night! And the fact he hardly ever issued a refund saved this company a LOT of money so I was astonished when the very next day they fired him. The reason was this; someone had made a complaint about him a month ago. Huh? you're kidding me, they waited 4 weeks to fire him based on 1 complaint?! Man if you ask me this place reeks of racism, discrimination and above all else unprofessionalism. Apparently most of the people who worked for Phone Tags have the whole buddy buddy system down pat but Jack wouldn't play the part of a person who enjoys staying home every day, week after week. He would go to meet with the bosses occasionally to inquire about getting an office space and they treated him like an ingrate. WTF, I mean come on, our living room was covered in paperwork, we live in a small 1 bedroom apt and I resented the fact my apt doubled as an office. It made keeping the apt clutter free a nightmare!

The very very worst part of it all was when they fired him for that ridiculous reason, they sent him a letter saying our health insurance would last for 4 more weeks. Jack made his payment and we went to the doctor in June for some tests for me related to a chronic pain I was having in my abdomen area. But do you know what Phone Tag did in reality? They cancelled our health insurance the same day they fired him and my doctor appt was like the day or 2 after he was fired. I am now stuck with 2 different health related bills. One is for approx $900 and the other $200. I was furious and we were lied to by Phone Tag. I couldn't believe they had the nerve to write him a letter which we have at home stating the health ins would continue for 4 more weeks and then they really just cancelled it. I felt it was extremely vindictive and malicious what this company did to us. I am trying to work out a payment plan to pay back both health bills but I resent this company and still contemplate on suing them for these 2 bills.

Lastly this company is starting to fail and I believe the fact that Jack's former position with the company is now being offered only as an internship with lower pay shows this company will do anything to screw a person out of a buck. I regret I ever promoted Phone Tag or James Siminoff. By the way one time Jack had the unfortunate experience of meeting James Siminoff who made derogatory jokes about Gays and Blacks which really ticks me off! How dare you talk about others in such a manner, who are you?! My advice to you if you want a discrimination free company and service that doesn't involve slave labor, then go with youmail and save yourself some money, headache and in my case a hefty bill!

My students rule!

I got a copy of the group photos from DPHH event at the ESPN Zone. The girl next to me, wearing the blue shirt was so bad! She got me several free shots from the bartender. I gave her the sign name Imp/Evil/Mischievous. Now if only I wasn't their professor, I would've enjoyed being their friend on a regular basis.


All of them are my students except for the very last guy on the right, he is a deafie and made the effort to "talk" with my students which was very nice of him.

The decided names

I feel like I have finally settled on 2 names for my turtles. I believe I have 1 male and 1 female. The female, her shell has a distinctive mark and I will call her Morticia from the Aadams Family. But the male will not be known as Gomez. Nope, he will be known as Rygel from Farscape. He is deafinitely the 'scardey cat' one out of the two. He only wants to be out of hiding when no one is around. Morticia she's braver and will timidly hang out in the water where I can watch her but if I move too suddenly or come to close to the tank, she goes MIA too.

I hope when they get older, they're more visible ;-]

Today was a pretty good day. My 1st class tonight was a little hard to control, they're a great group of kids but TOO much talking while the 2nd class, PURR-fect. Let's see what the 2nd semester brings me.

Jealous of North Carolina

Soon NC will have a temporary resident, my Jack Rabbit. Yes you see he will be relocating there for approx 6 months or so to go to school for several certifications. He was unable to get into a program here in the city. Turns out he has family down there, and a favor is being called in so Jack will be leaving after Thanksgiving, the 1st of Dec it seems.

I am dealing with a lot of mixed emotions. On one hand, logically (the vulcan way) is that its for the best for the both of us in the long run. This way he can get the needed training to make a decent living while going back to school next Fall 2009 majoring in pre-law. But on the other hand (the betazoid side of me) is feeling "woe is me." My honey bee will be gone and I am going to miss him so much! I know I can use this time to do my thesis and get the apartment set up so that when he returns next summer, we can move forward. Its just going to be so hard not seeing him everyday, not being able to throw my arms around him and kiss those lips.

I've been spending all my time with him these past few weeks that we're actually getting on each others nerves a little and had a few minor spats this weekend. I think I am more emotional and sensitive because I feel like time is of essence. I feel like a love sick teenager where I want him in the room with me ALL the time but I am sorta driving him insane and myself too. Its weird and Jack tries to remind me to look forward to next summer and all the fun things we will do like camping and taking a vacation some where. I know the tighter I hold on, the more emotional I become and I am so lucky because Jack knows its only because I am mad crazy for him. Some guys would want to push me away but hes willing to hold me and let me know how much he loves me. He's been talking about marriage a lot too and that was one of the fights we had this weekend because I want a nice wedding when the time comes and Jack would be happy to go to a Justice of Peace and start our lives. He tells me it will be up to us to pay for the wedding and I have to be prepared for a small wedding. I am ok with that but it can't be THAT small, small but not tiny. Lavish but not impratical, classy but still fun. I told him finally that I can't think about it till he proposes and I will deal with it when the time comes. And he agreed that the wedding will not be too arid or small. I think he's such a guy guy that he forgets that women like me really place a high value on her wedding day. That its the 1 time you have to splurge because I only intend to marry once. I want to feel special and pampered that day and I want all the people I love and care about there! And he's thinking of how many people we will have to feed and how to be more practical. Ech such a guy!

So while hes gone in NC I have created a small list of things I want to do or goals I want to achieve and here they are;

I want to finish my thesis
I want to fix up the apt and have it all ready and organized so when he returns it feels like a real home and not an ongoing mess!
I want to finish my 2 long films
I want to start researching how I can get married in a manner thats affordable for us and how I can save up for a nice wedding so when he finally pops the question I can defend my "dream" wedding without breaking the piggy bank!
& I want my turtles to be happy!

Right now its late and I've spent the past few days with a bad head cold that seems to be finally out of my system.

[Update: I meant my 87-year old aunt. Its her husband who's 90 something. And I think I hold a special fondness for her because the family says I look the most like her and she is an eccentric person, sort of like me]
Lastly I want to share that my 90 something year old Aunt Miriam fell on Friday and broke her hip and that I feel so bad for her. And for my grandmother, Baba who's worried for her as well. I don't pray but I do send her my love and support from the Big Apple to the easy-going state of California!

Shaving my head!

Whenever I get sick I always have these crazy dreams. Last night I dreamt I was back in my old house on Brookfield rd (hence the name of my blog). I dreamt I got into a fight with Jack so in retaliation I decided to take an electric shaver and shave my head. I started right in the middle of my hair so there would be no turning back. I remember he walked in as I was doing it, I was in the bathroom, the one in the basement with the toilet that never worked looking in the mirror as I did it. It felt so liberating! I was worried Baba would be mad at me because during my time at Gally every year there's an event called 'bald freshmen day' where all freshmens shave their heads. I knew she would be offended if I ever did it, where I would end up looking like a neo-nazi. As well as all the victims of the holocaust and being a Jew you just don't do that.

So it was twilight outside in the yard and I remember looking at the rows of tomatoes that my grandfather, Papa had planted and we were having a gathering of some sort. Nancy and David arrived and Nancy exclaims I LOVE your hair! I had left a long piece of hair in the front and I don't know why. I kept wondering if Jack would still think I was pretty and so I walked over to him and he replied he HATED it! That I looked UGLY. But then Baba came over, by now I am in her bedroom at the old house and she tells me I look beautiful and isn't mad at me for shaving off my hair. I begin to wonder if my head is nicely round or did I have a weird shaped head? But I am quickly reassured I have a perfect round head and that others would kill for my head.

Soon after that it becomes clear that its the weekend and there's a large family reunion that my intermediate family didn't inform me of. For some reason they are not interested but I am. I met Ashton Kutcher who apparently is my cousin in my dream. He doesn't really want to talk to me, even tho I make the effort to talk to him saying he knows my friend Ty from a movie they did together. It turns out that Ty is his cousin which I remark is really cool. Then he walks off, not even saying goodbye to me. My extended family is huge, we're all in a restaurant and I meet a female cousin who's a little younger than me and lives in Pittsburgh and we decided to go out and about. Suddenly I am back in Pittsburgh and we hit a record store with real records. Ironically the entrance is locked and can only open if the people inside buzz you in. The owner doesn't like my cousin who works there and won't let us in. We leave to go and do other things. I remember being so happy to have a family member my own age and to be able to do things with. I invite her to visit me anytime in NYC.

That's about all I remember from this dream. I also remember being excited about how long it will take for my hair to grow back and would it be curly or at least wavy when it does? And I was so happy that I had done it and Baba wasn't mad at me.

Now I don't use a dream symbol book but I do believe that when I dream of my old house, that represents my mind and the past. Shaving my hair could mean that I am trying to shed a layer about myself or something in my life or that I want freedom. I am not sure but it was an intense dream.

Puffs tissues with Vicks

Are the best invention for people with colds. I am gonna buy a box tmw. Yep, woke up yesterday with a sore throat and stuffed up nose and today am sneezing left and right, bleah!

This weekend was pretty good. On Friday I did a research project that involved watching a signing avatar. It was cool experience to finally be able to understand an Avatar because most of the time its verbal and I can't understand them anyways unless there's captioning. Friday night was DPHH. Over 25 of my students came! One girl, boy was she fun! She got me a few free shots from the bartender. I can't make a habit out of this. Otherwise the lines between teacher and students becomes blurred but nonetheless, I had a blast!

Saturday I worked an event for 9 hours taking care of the microphones and other bs and it was worth it because the pay is $25 an hour *cash register dings!*

Sunday I was planning to see Eddie and Blondie but I was just too tired. Jack was a sweetheart and brought the cable box back into the bedroom. This way I could stay in my pjs and watch pre-recorded episodes of Star Trek series such as Voyager and Enterprise. We ordered breakfast for dinner, me I had french toast, and he had pancakes.

Luckily today I am at media so it doesn't require a lot of brainpower. Tmw I will pick up some dayquil and that will help me focus on grading students papers etc etc..

I am READY for Thanksgiving, feels like its so far away this year. I am looking forward to my Uncle David and Nancys corn pudding as well as stuffing with gravy. And visiting with my friend Karen too.

We WON!!!

Now I can finally breathe a sigh of relief! Obama you kicked ass! McCain I will grant you gave a lovely concession speech. Thank god Obama won. Now the American way will finally face some needed changes. No not overnight but overtime. Perhaps this election has allowed us to look more favorable internationally? Only time will tell.

Obama is in the lead!

Since 8pm, I have been repeatedly checking CNN for updates on the electoral vote. Its now 1030pm and I recently arrived home from work. Obama has 207 votes, McCain has 135. But as far as popular votes goes, they're pretty much neck to neck. Virginia is taking its sweet old time as well as Florida what a surprise! In tallying their votes. Wouldn't it be something if California was the deciding state?

On the bus ride home along 125th street, there was a large crowd gathered in front of the The Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building Plaza. I couldn't see what's happening there right now but its PACKED with people. Makes me feel good to be witnessing such an historical moment.

Wordle Fun

Saw this off of Queen Alpos site and it looked like fun. Created my own Wordle. You can too! And if you want to use more than one word, simply format it by doing this

Example; Hard of Hearing you would type ~Hard of Hearing~

If you want the word to be bigger, the more you repeat it, the bigger it turns up.

Example DEAF DEAF DEAF DEAF DEAF ASL ASL ASL DEAF will appear bigger than ASL.

Here's the link for mine. Now go make your own!

What a "Marvel" weekend

This past weekend, Jack and I got our fill of Marvel inspired movies! On Friday, during the day we watched the Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton playing David Banner. And man was it good! I was on the edge of my seat through most of the film. It was a 100 times better than the 1st movie that came out about 8 years ago. Better story line, gripping effects, just an AWESOME movie if you're a Hulk fan like me and grew up watching Bill Bixby play David Banner and Lou Ferrigno play the Hulk (he has a small cameo in this one too!). Near the end of the movie Robert Downey Jr. made a cameo as Iron Man. We decided right there and then we would rent Iron Man and watch it Saturday night. Jack had heard it was 2xs better than the Hulk.

After we ate dinner with Baba and her friend Millie (Baba made a delicious brisket with "smashed" potatoes, carrots and gravy, YUMMY!) We also encountered some trick or treaters, so cute. Jack and I headed to Jason's Woods for the Haunted Hayride. I made sure to hardly drink any liquids that day, I wanted my pants stay dry! We brought tickets for the hayride and their "haunted" museum of freaks and oddities. I figured the museum would be a good warm up before I was really scared. Already within minutes one woman in a costume came up and said "boo!' and I stumbled backwards. Then another guy who was standing with the other props, and I leaned to Jack that I thought he was a real person and he began to follow me which caused me to become jumpy. I immediately said "Jack! Come HERE!" while this guy who said nothing continued to follow me menacingly. Jack watched me literally jump to his direction and he replied "The guy wasn't even saying anything." I of course didn't care, I wanted my man to be with me non-stop!

Next we went on the hayride, there wasn't any lines to wait in. I was a little surprised at how uncrowded it was. Then again this year Halloween was on a Friday so I am sure some people were with their kids trick or treating, others hosting or attending parties. It boded well for us because we didn't have to wait around. They sat us in the front of the bed of hay, right behind the tractor. I refused to sit in the corner, I knew that would be a prime spot for the cast members to scare me. The ride began and it was so much fun. I shrieked, screamed and buried my head more times than I could count into Jack's arm or lap. They usually went straight for me. It could've been due to the fact I looked scared every time and I was. It was so nice of Jack to let me CLING to him for dear life when they uttered things like "You don't belong here. We need brains, blood!" Lots of growling and groaning, moaning, fog smoke, strobe lights, an excellent set up! I was so happy when it was done. I let out a sigh of relief followed by a huge grin. I immediately asked Jack if we could do it again next year? He said of course. We will probably go to Field of Screams, another haunted site in my home town.

We came back in good spirits, and also hit Hollywood videos where one of the cashiers dressed like a priest recommended we fast forward through the credits of Iron Man, because there was a small bonus materials at the end. We headed home and chilled out for the rest of the night.

Saturday we got up and while I was in the shower my Uncle Rob and his 2 sons, Benjamin and Nathan stopped by for a visit. It was so nice to see him. My nephew Benjamin was such a good boy, sitting quietly while we all talked, Nathan too. I was suppose to meet David, Nancy and Bobby at 2:30 but we wanted to visit with Rob a little longer, so I ended up meeting them closer to 3:15. We all met up at Nancy's house and her friend Josie (I think that's how you spell her name or Jody) joined us too for the Greek Bazaar. Bobby rode in Jack's car with us. We talked about his school year, and classes he was taking. He seems to be a major fan of American Culture, aka American History. Has a 110% average in that class. I gotta say, Bobby gets cooler and cooler as each year passes. His hair is as long or maybe longer than mine. I asked him how long he planned to grow it. He says at least a foot and than plans to donate it to Locks of Love. I told him I just did that last spring and how great I thought it was he was doing that!

We arrived to the Greek Bazaar and man there was a line outside the church. We waited an hour and it was so worth it. During that time we chatted about how much we enjoyed the Hulk from the day before and invited them to watch Iron Man with us after the Bazaar. Bobby was so thrilled to be going to Baba's to watch the movie. And David who hadn't seen the Hulk, I told him to borrow our copy and WATCH it! By the time we got our food and sat down, I don't know about the rest, but I wolfed down the chicken and devoured the pastitsio. We also met the priest's wife who introduced herself to us and explained about how all members of their Greek Church help with the annual Greek Bazaar. Little kids ages 4, 5 carry buckets of honey balls to and from the kitchen, eating a few along the way. I don't blame them, you know how Homer Simpson drools for donuts, that's me for honey balls. Then when the kids are in 4th grade, they move up to taking group orders for drinks. By the time they are in middle school, the girls serve and sell pastries and the boys bus and clear the tables. The adults take care of the cooking and serving and organizing the event itself. This year was their 50th anniversary! One Greek man, a church member gave out brochures and pins that read "I was Greek for a day." Both Bobby and Jack only ate their chicken and rolls. Bobby also ate the Greek olives and grape leaves filled with rice. The rest of us ate their left overs. I was glad to eats Jack's pastitsio that he picked at some. I was stuffed but not too stuff not to order some honey balls before we walked around and browsed the shops in the other corridor. By this time Bobby was anxious to leave and go directly to Baba's to watch Iron Man but Nancy told him to be patient. Besides I wanted Jack to have the full experience of this event. In the brochure it explained that this event has an average of over 10,000 visitors a year! I believe it, its too good not to go. We shmyed around and of course Nancy, Bobby, David and I enjoyed the "attic room" which is more like a garage sale where they sell whatever the members donated to the church. I brought a book, Sony CD player and a lamp for $2.75, how sweet is that? I also picked up some food items for Baba and Mom per their request. By now Jack was just as antsy as Bobby to get out of there. Jack doesn't like crowds which ironic considering he was born and raised in NYC. I quickly snapped some photos and the 4 of us, David, Bobby, Jack and I went back to Baba's house. Nancy would be by later after she and her friend were done at the Bazaar and had time to visit.

We got to Baba's and immediately popped in Iron Man the dvd. Baba joined us and it was a packed living room. The movie began and it was pretty good. It had a lot more humor than the Hulk did, Robert Downey Jr and Gwenth Paltrow did a wonderful job with their characters as Tony Stark of Stark's Industry, a weapon's manufacturer and Miss Potts as his assistant. As the movie progressed I suddenly realized that character Obadiah Stane was played by Jeff Bridges!!! I love him. He was in the movie Star Man as well as the Big Lebrowski. I idolizes Bridges. I think this was the 1st time I had seen him play a bad guy. Not bad, but I still see the "dude" from the Big Lebrowski whenever I see him. I thought the story-line for this movie wasn't as good as the Hulk but still pretty damn good overall. I had a hard time seeing the scenes that took place in the caves. Either it was the tv it was being played on or else it was based on sounds in which hearing people can enjoy those scenes better than us deafies? We even turned off the living room lights to see it better but to be honest I just read the captions.

Nancy came by right at the end of the movie and we all sat around and talked. It was a great night!

Sunday I met up with Mom. Lucky for us we had an extra hour due to daylight saving times. You know how it goes, Fall back, Spring forward! Mom treated me to Red Lobster. My god was it good! I of course ordered snow crab legs, and stuffed myself. I was kind of tired on Sunday, lucky for me, Mom was cool and we only went to Walmart after lunch to pick up a few things and then went back to Mom's place where I got to visit with Tom my bastard kitty and nap some.

Jack and I decided to return to NYC Monday afternoon. It was a wonderful weekend. I can't wait to see them all again in a few weeks for Thanksgiving! My friend Karen will be joining us for that. She'll be driving up from MD and staying at Baba's for a few days.

Get out there and VOTE!

[Update] Jack and I got to the polls at 6:40am. We waited almost 2 hours to vote. Imagine they ONLY had 3 booths?!? How crazy and asinine is that! If you ask me, I think it was deter voters from voting. I saw 2 different white women give up and walk out. If the election wasn't as crucial as this one, then Jack probably would have walked out too! The rest of us, just waiting patiently, talking with the voters in front and back of us about how ridiculous the lines were. I don't know about downtown if they only had 3 booths per polling sites or if its just because we're in Harlem? I mean come on, this is one of the most populated cities in the world! Anyways, we ambled on home around 8:35 am. I went back to bed, cuz I had to be at work at 2pm. Interestingly enough, half of my co-workers voted, the other half said they NEVER vote. I of course scolded them as its our patriotic duty to do so.

And yes my turtles lived while I was gone this weekend, whew :)

The polls open in less that 7 hours! Jack and I are getting up super early to get to the polls before they open at 7am. I don't expect to be "awake" but this election is TOO important not to VOTE!!! I already secured our voters registration cards, neatly tucked under a magnet on our fridge. No matter how long the lines are, or how shitty the weather may be where you live, its our duty as American citizens to vote during the presidential election. I have been fortunate to vote the last 3 elections, all as a democrat. My vote will go to Obama. No more of the same, we need that change.

I went nuts looking for photos to inspire YOU to get out there and VOTE! Deaf or hearing its all up to us to make a difference. Our country's affairs depend on this crucial presidential election. May the best candidate win. Which of course is Obama!