FanFuckingTastic!

I am blown away and ashamed to admit it but I PAH watch See What I am Saying. Man this was so well done and I am reeling from how good it was!

I have met and worked with CJ several times. He is a doll and a ball of energy. To me he is the Deaf version of Bill Cosby but he is CJ Jones, one of a kind in many ways. I enjoyed his earlier DVD What Are You Deaf? I watched it with Jack and laughed a lot, but Jack didn't. I guess you have to be Deaf to understand???

And I think many Deafies out there really envy TL. I remember back in MSSD I wrote and helped out with a Deaf band known as Night Hawks. We even peformed at Gally! I remember the drummer Dale was gung ho about drums. I seriously thought he would do that for a living. I wonder what ever happened to him? Many Deafies such as myself ENJOY siNGing and siGNing Songs! We can relate to hearing people the fun of singing, it feels GOOD. Granted we may not sound as good as hearies do but we don't care. TL you rock and as a former metal head (still am inside) I loved your drive!

Beethoven Nightmare is just like all the other hearing bands I've grown up around. My friend Adam (pronounce Ad-Damn!) still rehearses with his band every week. I got to hear them jam last summer. I asked how often do you perform? Its been over 2 years, Ad-Damn explained that he doesn't want to perform until they're ready! I liked that anyone like me who's ever been around a rock band can see Beethoven Nightmare is exactly alike except they're Deaf. I appreciated that aspect.

Lastly Roberto DeMayo while did not get good reviews from me for Deaf Idol a few years ago, is a terrific performer. He makes me want to adopt him. So much fun. I see why now when Blondie explained about the homeless part, I am glad he didn't have to suffer for too long and that he triumphed. As a big supporter of the LGBT community, my heart went out to him when he shared about his mother and her refusal to learn or use ASL. Very heart wrenching. I sincerely hope he has seen better days since the release of this awesome documentary!!!

If you are a bad Deafie like me and haven't seen this film. REDEEM yourselves now and DO IT. I commandth thee to shut up and rent it from netflix or watch it via on demand, you don't need the caption silly, its in ASL. The caption is for the signing impaired ;P

Happy Bappy

My aunt Nancy says some really funny things at time. "Happy Bappy" is one of them. So after spending a day on my computer, 1/2 on a research paper that I am still not finished with. About 2/3rds done. The other half on lesson plans I have a little time to think about what makes me happy. It seemed like for a while there being buried with work and school I couldn't really do the things that make me happy. So I sort of forgot and decided, wait a minute, I gotta make a list. Cuz lists make me happy bappy!

-traveling; nationally or international or 1 block over, I love to travel and meet new people!
-camping
-film making
-photography if done creatively or with a purpose
-sharing experiences especially new ones
-meeting my friend's families or their friends
-playing pool, shooting darts, arcades
-any type of carnival or festival
-doing things you can only do in NYC
-being kind, volunteering or just being a good friend or family member
-spending time with my bastard kitty Tom and other pets that I like such as Eddie's cat Mia. Or feeding wild animals like birds or squirrels
-attending some live performances *plays, dance, music concerts, art work...*
-attending some sporting events be it local, college or professional level, I am all about team spirit and getting into the moment
-reading or learning new things on my own or in a class or with others
-collaboration in any form that helps me or the another person achieve common goals or each others' individual goals. I feel lucky I have many people here in this city to do that with!
-playing board games, cards, or doing jig saw puzzles
-learning new phrases or words in other languages be it spoken-(if I can?) but more likely can learn to write it or other sign languages. I still get a major kick out of the sign Knob picked up during her stay in Ireland and taught me how to sign FANCY such as I FANCY YOU. You use the LIKE sign only instead of on the middle of your chest, you do it on your throat. So cute! And while Uno Gestures is not a language but a communication system, I enjoyed learning and using that one as well.
-being an advocate in what I believe in and doing my part to the best of my abilities
-my friends and family make me very happy just because they are who they are. Life to me is like a book, each person adds character and enriches my world.
-seeing people around me who I care about succeed in their own challenges or goals
-chocolate
-parties
-seafood
-sleeping in
-saving money, its such a rush to see the bottom of my store receipts and see the total amount I saved. Bonus points for the receipts that tell me my total yearly savings! Yes yes yes!
-going back to school for a 2nd degree in OT, while the science classes are very hard, I am loving that I don't let that stand in my way at all. I earned that hard A- in my A&P I class which makes me VERY HAPPY!

And with this free time, I am reaching out to friends that I couldn't do before with the yoke I was wearing. Its such an ahh feeling right now. I sure hope the summer doesn't rush by me. I am only just beginning to relax. This memorial day weekend will be really awesome because I will spend it with my family who I haven't seen in about 2 months! Which as most of you know is too long of a time for me. I see peanut butter whoopee pies in my near future (and Baba don't you dare wear yourself preparing for my visit, I can get those whoopie pies on my own). I am coming to see YOU and Mom and the family :)

Trial and error

Last of the work related stuff for the spring semester is DONE. Happy is the I.

I never knew how easy I had it being just a teacher before this semester. Being a teacher & a student is a whole other playing field and way more tiring than I could've imagined. Thank god for the car! Otherwise between the commute times and work and school I probably would've collapsed!

Now I am just a teacher again. You will not find me complaining about my work load any time soon. My new students are a good bunch. Makes time fly right by.

I have also learned that I do NOT like renting books but at the same time I prefer it over being stuck with a book at the end of the semester. But renting books is a little problematic right now because I still haven't really unpacked and I have 2 books due in a week. Must find them this weekend and mail them back. Honestly I guess I shouldn't mind but take my advice if you ever rent books, be sure to keep them all together in one place and their rental information nearby. I had to make a trip out north of the city to return 1 book that I didn't even use this semester. That's another thing I learned, better to see what the teacher wants you to buy. Don't follow whatever the book store says. They don't know. You will save yourself money and time. Disadvantage is you don't have the books as soon as you need them. I guess perhaps to email the teacher before class starts and find out what books they plan to use. Trial and error my friend, trial and error.

Lately the news...

has been so depressing or outrageous that I wonder if I should continue reading it at all?

Seriously 1 man who won the Michigan lottery is still collecting food stamps. Come on, you're kidding me?! This is absurd, why has common sense gone out the window? I don't get it.

Another example of how rude our society has become is when a woman spends 16 hours on her cell phone and rather loudly on an Amtrak train. And here's the kicker, she was sitting in the designated and highly coveted "quiet zone" of the train. Good news is, she was escorted off the train via police officers. This makes me happy. Perhaps there is a little hope. But it is still pathetic we the public have to put up with this level of rudeness of a few others.

About a week ago I came across one story about an idiotic woman who parked where she shouldn't despite the many warning signs. I love the local official response to the woman's outrage, which was simply put "We have signs. Respect the signs." Yep exactly.

So maybe its not so much the news that I mind reading about. But its the large number of people who are blatantly inconsiderate of others and sadly apathetic to the world at large. Its like so many people out in the world forgot we all share human similarities despite any cultural differences. We are someone's child or partner or parent. We all have a fundamental desire to live and create lives for ourselves. We all have the ability to chose how we treat one another and I just can't grasp why people have become so mean and cold to one another. I see examples of this behavior every day and I still don't get it. Why not be nice and kind? Kindness doesn't cost you money and if anything its contagious because when you take a moment to acknowledge another human being in a non threatening way, you become more human. And they often do too, both people leave each other after sharing a pleasant moment or two. I just cant go through life looking at everyone I met or encounter as a possible threat or as someone I probably wouldn't like. I rather try to find some similarities about the other person and sometimes the exchange is so rewarding. Other times I am glad it ended. Anyhoo maybe its just my age catching up with me? It seems every older generations can never fully understand the younger ones. But this probably isn't the case here because I see this selfishness among all ages. Alrighty this is why its so depressing to think about.

On to other somewhat boring news, my life is starting to settle down some. I look forward to June when it really happens. I'll be done teaching and can take a breather for a few months. I'll just be a student in June, July and part of August. Seems like I will never escape school. I've been in school either as a student or teacher probably 3/4th of my life now. If I succeed and get my MS in OT, will I still work for the school system? I wonder...

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mothers Day to my Mom, Baba, Nancy, Maria, Ronnie, Karen, Erica and many more!

An end in sight? Sort of...

Tonight was my lab exam. It was tough. I spent 4 hours today and several hours yesterday prepping for it. I really struggled with the spinal cord & brain anatomy specifically in regards to the nervous system at a cellular level. The ventral root, dorsal root ganglion, archnoid mater, gray and white matter. So hard! I found the muscles both axial and appendicular based to be more pleasing to learn about and easier to remember visually. But damn the spelling! One muscle in your neck is called the sternoncleidomastoid, another one in your leg called seminmanbranosus and runs parellel to another one called semitendinosus. Don't even ask me why one leg muscle is spelled gastrocenmius. Many are two letter names like latissimus dorsi (dorsi means back, as in dorsal or posterior). Do I sound like a science geek or what? I joked to Blondie and Eddie that I feel like I am a walking encyclopedia of medical terms. Imagine what I will know by next x-mas? I will have completed 3 anatomy courses by then. Hope there's enough space in my cerebrum for it.

Tomorrow night I go to school to take a final exam for an online class I've been taking. It will be nice to be officially done with one class out of three in time for the weekend. The other 2 classes I will finish next week. My poor students were informed that while they took their exams earlier this week, not to bother me till next week Wednesday. I haven't even taken a peek at their exams. I can't at this point with my last lecture exam on Tuesday and a major paper/presentation due Saturday the 14th.

I just got to get through the next 9 days and then I can truly celebrate the end of the Spring semester!

2 Paws up

For this bummer sticker I saw tonight
"Wag more
Bark less"
*wagging my tail*