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.

Ny kids for Obama!

Earlier today I saw a folding table at the
corner of 120th and Amsterdam ave thinking
it was someone selling stuff like a garage
sale or sumthing. But imagine to my surprise
it was 3 little girls holding a bake sale for
Obama to raise money for his campaign. I
brought 2 cookies and donated an extra
dollar to their cause. They were such a
cute bunch and when I went back to work,
I told others about them so they too could
go across the street and see that patriotism
knows no age bounds! I gave them this
website and told them that Mom and Dad
should help them navigate to this website.
(Mom and Dad if ur reading this- Id be curious
to know how much money the girls raised
today? There's a comment section below)
Thank you girls for being you and showing me
the American spirit is alive and well!

One for the money, two for the show

One for the money, two for the show So 'round and 'round and 'round we go Take a look at what-a you might need You better hurry To get a piece of me...

Sometimes when I am real tired like I am today, I wake up with a song stuck in my head and today is Skid Row's song, A PIECE OF ME. I don't know if subconsciously I feel pulled in many directions or? But man it brings back the days of high school where my walls were plastered with Bon Jovi, Guns-N-Roses, and Skid Row graced my walls. I don't think there were that many "metal heads" when I first started at MSSD. I stuck out with my black tees and my "bad ass" attitude which was really a lot of hostility built up from all the years of abuse from my former hearing school environment. So arriving at MSSD I had a chip on my shoulder a mile high. I would cut the pretty preppy dressed girls a look of contempt. And I would try to be "one of the guys" thinking it would make Aubrey Lowry who I was madly in love with my freshmen year noticed me but instead I drove him away by winter time with my puppy love crush that was obvious to EVERYONE. It was a heart breaking experience. I spent the remainder of the school year trying to win my way back in his good graces but it never really happened.

Why? You wonder? Because he "found" Christ and from what I have found out over the years became a priest or preacher, I am not sure which? Anyhoo the little amount of time he did give me after cutting me off for months and giving me the silent treatment was all based on converting me to Christianity. I remember telling Baba about it and her being worried I would be turned over to the mediocre side of religion but I never was swayed. I think I wanted to badly please him and would listen to whatever bull he was feeding me that day. In the end it didn't matter because he transferred to WPSD (Western PA School for the Deaf) in Pittsburgh, which is where I think he was from or near there?

To this day, when someone I love gives me prolonged silent treatment, it really messes me up. I am not talking about a few hours or even a few days but for weeks or months at a time. Although as an adult its highly unlikely I would put up with that shit ever again but I know I would NEVER treat someone I love or cared about that way after being on the receiving end of a silent treatment. I still don't know what "terrible" thing I did to him. Probably nothing but get on his nerves to the point he couldn't stand me anymore? I don't know. I do know our circle of friends felt bad for me and made their best efforts to include me in social gatherings but it was hard.

Anyhoo speaking of MSSD, I will be going to Gally's HC in 3 weeks yay! I will stay with my awesome friend Karen and see Knob too. I am SO ready for a mini getaway. Originally I planned to attend my 15 year hs reunion but the person in charge of it recently announced last month that he was dropping the plans due to family obligations that were planned the same weekend. I am not ready to give up on my 15 year reunion. After vping with Knob last night she suggested I use Facebook and pick a location for all of us to meet up. My next step is to look up Gally's HC weekend info and see which night, Friday or Saturday night would be more ideal for everyone from class of 1993 meet up. It doesn't cost anything to simply suggest a location and a time. I will ofc bring my camera and snap away. I am just extremely happy to know I will be seeing good friends and on my old school grounds. I also plan to contact MSSD alumni dept and see if I can do a small tour of MSSD on Friday Oct 17th? see see.

Whatever happened to the Hippocratic Oath?!?

Every day I take time to catch up with the news via cnn.com and I was appalled today to learn about a 12 year old boy name Deamonte Driver, who had dental disease which lead to a brain infection and ultimately killed him! He was under the medical assistant/medicad program and his family couldn't find a dentist who would treat him. It bothers me a lot, because he looks just like so many of my former students from Baltimore city or here in NYC. It breaks my heart and I thank god my grandparents especially Baba always made sure my teeth were cleaned 2xs a year all my life.

This article has hit close to home because my Mom who has state assistance is losing her teeth and I asked her why she didn't see a dentist? Her response was no dentist in Lancaster will accept her medical assistance and she would have to travel to Philly to get help. Or go to one of those dental schools where people who don't know what they're doing, practice their skills on you. Thats crazy! Lancaster is full of dentists. I am horrified by how poorly our country takes care of the poor and disadvantaged population.

So then I decided to google whether or not dentist take the Hippocratic oath? And what I found so far is something more like an informal pledge during a graduation;

(excerpt taken from studentdoctor.net)

We take the Dentist's Pledge, or at least that's what we did at UCLA. We had to recite it at our graduation, but I haven't talked to people from other schools so I'm not sure if this is universal.

It goes something like this:

I, as a member of the dental profession, will keep this pledge and these stipulations. I understand and accept that my primary responsibility is to my patients, and I shall dedicate myself to render, to the best of my ability, the highest standard of oral health care and to maintain a relationship of respect and confidence. Therefore, let all come to me safe in the knowledge that their total health and well-being are my first considerations. I shall accept the responsibility that, as a professional, my competence rests on continuing the attainment of knowledge and skill in the arts and sciences of dentistry. I acknowledge my obligation to support and sustain the honor and integrity of the profession, and to conduct myself in all endeavors such that I shall merit the respect of patients, colleagues and my community. I further commit myself to the betterment of my community for the benefit of all of society. I shall faithfully observe the Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct set forth by the profession. All this I pledge with pride in my commitment to the profession and the public which it serves.

Hmm, and where in this pledge does it say, I will become a money grubbing a-hole that cares more about my checking account balance and my golf tee-offs, than helping a 12 year old boy avoid death?

Lately I've been so disgusted with our country's affairs and how people have very little common decency to be kind to one another. In my experience, most dentist I've met except my current one, have the God-complex, not much different from a regular doctors. I don't know where or how along the lines of becoming a doctor, this develops but I sure wish there was a shot we could give them to ease the swelling of their egos. And I hate how this country your health is depended on your wealth. I know some people think I am talking like a communist but I do believe in socialism when it comes to our health care system. I believe all employers should be required to provide health insurance to all employees whether or not they work full time. I think anyone who works more than 20 hrs a week (part time) should have health benefits.

The past 2-3 years I have had no health insurance because I've worked several pt jobs and I've been blessed that I haven't been seriously injured or stricken ill for months at a time. I have had to rely on walk-in clinics where I am treated like a 2nd class citizen and spend hours and hours waiting to be seen. Or I buy otc meds and hope it does the job. I even have had to use patient assistant programs sponsored by the drug making companies so I could get the meds I needed, even tho sometimes it would take weeks and months for the process to be completed.

Anyways back to the boy who died, can you imagine being his parents and when someone asked why he died, the answer they have is, no one care enough to make sure this young man with his whole future ahead of him, would had a chance in life. Tsk tsk, the state of Maryland, you should be ashamed!

Calling all reality junkies

Heads up! On Oct 10th @ 8pm there will be a deaf couple featured on the Super Nanny show. And for those of you who don't already know but there's a deaf guy Martin Ritchie on the Janice Dickson Modeling Agency show as well. There's a great article about him from deafqueer.org. They don't show him a lot in the footage but I do see the show making an effort to have 1 on 1 time with him where he has a chance to speak his mind to the audience at home. Nothing very exciting happens with him compared to some of the other models on the show. Which is kind of good because he comes off as well mannered and quiet rather than loud and obnoxious. Thats the kind of image more deafies in the media need to show. That not all of us are uneducated and drama infested.

I don't know about you, but I am ga-ga over reality shows. Right now I watch regularly the following shows;

New York Goes to Hollywood (VH1) which sadly just ended. I can't get enough of New York! She reminds me of my old roommate in some ways, a beautiful Black woman who dresses sexy.
Brooke Knows Best (VH1) Ok, I admit, she's not the brightest bulb in the pack but when its been a long day and I don't want to think, this works well for that.
America's Top Model I just enjoy watching the behind the scenes

Chef Ramsey Kitchen Nightmares or any of his series

I Love Money (VH1) I can't get enough of the backstabbing, drama and the lies this show has! Plus its made up of all former reality contestants from other shows which is kinda cool too.
How do I look? I like this show because its more down to earth than What Not to Wear
True Life (MTV) depending on the topic, some are interesting, others just plain stupid or boring so this is deafinitely a grab bag.

I enjoy also watching Dog Whisper but only if I am with Baba, so we can discuss the folks shown on that series and how they treat their dogs. If I am by myself, BORING.

Jack can't understand my obession with these shows but what can I say, I am so into watching how other people live and yeah I know its edited and we only see what the producers want us to see but nonetheless still captivating.

And now more and more deafies are popping up. I thank Christy Smith who appeared in Survivors for opening Hollywood's eyes to the potential of having deafies on their reality shows.

What I would LOVE to see is the TLC channel devote a show on a deaf family. They already have a show called Little People, Big World so why not have one on us deafies? I think it would be a real eye opener for the world to see how deaf families work and their everyday lives. I just hope they don't pick a family from Frederick, MD. Their kids are such brats! I can't stand that circle of deafies and when I worked at MSD CC, I had to deal with some of the kids from Frederick and they were rude imps. No manners or respect for anyone including their parents, ugh!

For several years when I still lived in MD, I would audition for Big Brother but I never got in. I finally gave up. But I would love for me and Jack to audition for Amazing Race. Hmm, I think I will deafinitely look into that!

High School All Over Again

I recently arrived at work and decided
to order a quick cheap dinner b4 my class
starts @ 530. The last few weeks I
waited till after class to eat (830pm)
that I was getting "hunger headaches."
Anyways I arrived to the campus and
went to my mailbox to check for any
important papers, nada. Next door is a
common office for all adjunct professors
within the linguistic dept. To check emails,
print out things, etc., etc.. Anyhoo there
wasn't anyone there but a few index
cards and a book or two so I put my
stuff down and went back to pick up
my order *chilli dog and onion rings* and
when I return there were 2 women in
there and I immediately apologize and
added I didn't think anyone was using the
room. This was met with skeptical looks
and then I asked to sit down at one of
the big desk to eat and the woman acted
like I was committing a federal offense
and gave me a nasty look. I decided to
move to the lobby area even after she
said I could stay and eat there. Nah, no
thanks. I don't wanna stay in a room w/2
uptight b*tches and I certainly felt it
was 'cliches' feel to it. I wasn't one of
them so how Dare I assume I could use
an office that's suppose to be shared by
all of us. As michelle from Full House
used to say "How Rude!"

This past weekend was a nice one. On
Saturday I met up with a former student
of mine, Jasmin. She is oral and doesn't
sign or have a deaf identity. She wants
nothing to do with the Deaf world. I'm
ok with that bc she only 20 (will be 21
this weekend). And she is a strong muslim
which I think would overshadow any other
cultural ties she may have. Such a sweet-
heart. She and I met up at a mall in Queens
for lunch. Then we went to Macys to use a
$50 gift certificate in which I brought 2 nice
tops and a new black belt. Jasmin was a
pleasure to be with. I plan to see her again
next month

Saw a crappy movie "No Country for
Old Men." By the Cohen brothers and
what a disappointment it was, the
pace was so slow I swear I saw atoms
and particles of time float on by as
I tried to watch this movie. What a
bummer. I LOVE the Cohen Brothers
but this wasn't one of their better
movies.

I'm having trouble with my thesis already.
First I had to take a certification exam
online sponsored by NIH. Now I have to
draft up a proposal for the IRB (Independent
Review Board) on my thesis topic. Plus
I'm still not sure how to go about
implementing the 2 different teaching
methods. So I will meet with Rusty on Wed
to discuss further. The IRB won't meet
till Oct 15th so the deadline is Oct 9/10th.
This means I can't start until I receive
the approval and thus means I will have
already taught 2 units and into the 3rd one
by the time I get the results. I'm wondering
if I should just start it 2nd semester so
that way I will have more time to prep
and a whole semester to analyze. Maybe
Rusty will have some ideas?

All in all it was a good weekend. After I
took the 2-3 hr online certification exam
yesterday, I headed to Eddies for dinner
with the girls. It was good, we ate chicken
with pesto and angel hair pasta as well
as green beans with almonds. For dessert
key lime cake with strawberries, delish!
Everyone seemed very low-key and just
mellow. I don't know if it was bc it was
Sunday night or if its due to the economy
or? The economy has EVERYONe worried.
Everyone I talk to complains about how bad
things are or will get. To me its not different
then when Ronald Regean was president, and
we had the recession. I mean really what do
people expect when they let the republicans
in office for as long as they have with the
Bush dynasty? Come on, when you elect a
retarded monkey for president and the
economy goes to shit, why be surprised?

Deaf Idol Winner 2008

Here's a cute picture of me, Russell Harvard and Szymanski


I also forgot to mention the founder of Deaf Idol is Aparna Lele who went to MSSD with me. I want to add how proud I am of her for doing something this cool for the deaf community, Aparna you RULE!

Deaf Idol Rewind

Last Saturday night was Deaf Idol sponsored by DeafNation!!! Szymanski and I met up at Blondies' apt sans Blondie (much to our disappointment but she had other commitments-boo hoo). Anyhoo we met up at 6pm and promptly went to the website to pull up Deaf Idol and prepare for the start at the show which started at 7pm. After downloading a needed file in order to view it on Szymanski killer mac laptop we sat down to eat our dinner in which she cooked up grilled cream cheese sandwiches with tomatoes and bacon, delish! Kudos to Szymanski's originality in cooking.

As we waited we were able to download the program booklet, very cute layout. I was happy to see John Collins was the technical director (an awesome photographer). He and I have worked many events together such as NYTD, MICA, etc., etc.. Anyways the show opened with John Maurcere of Deafywood as the host. He did an EXCELLENT job, I absolutely felt he was the equivalent to Dick Clark or Pat Sajak. He had a great personality and charisma. I kept remarking how much he reminded me of a different host name Ant from Celebrity Fit Club and the Last Comic Standing, only our Deaf version was better! The only complaint I had for him was during the breaks after each round of performances and it was time to vote, he never explained to the Internet audience how to vote back home.
ANT Instead the cameras panned to the judges who for 5 minutes we watch them watch I guess John M on stage or the audience voting I am not sure but Collins, come on, never leave the camera on dead air :( the same thing happened the 2nd time we voted, instead of explaining, the camera rested on the stage with NO ONE on it and occasionally you could see someones reflection on the stage floor.

Szymanski and I decided to create our own forms in which we had 4 criteria. I was Judge #1, she was just Judge Bitch.
the following criteria were the following;
1- Execution (how well the performance was done and was it consistent?)
2- Creativity
3- Originality
4- Entertainment factor (did it entertain me?)

Contestant #1 Laurie Anderson

She decided to sign and dance to a song by Paula Abdul (she lost points on that alone, I mean how outdated!) It was a cute performance. I would say the last 1/3rd of it was the best. She really took it up a notch with the gymnastic and unusual dance movements. I had seen her perform before for Rathskeller in the past. She also maintained excellent stage presence right up to the end of her performance.

Contestant #2 Robert DeMayo

He choose to sign a song and I wasn't overly impressed with it at all. It didn't captivate me and I was kind of disappointed he didn't choose to do an ASL story or some kind. Apparently he's a well rounded actor but it just didn't come across for me.


Contestant #3 Jasmine Garcia

Jasmine appeared on stage dress like an old woman, completed with the gray hair wig and flower mumu. She begins to talk about the past, saying how she wished there was a Deaf Idol similar to American Idol. It goes on and in the background they show footage of her from school performing in different productions and she continues to talk about her love for Lexington School for the Deaf (this is where the show took place). I kept expecting any minute for her to rip off her old lady getup and perform for us something fresh but she never did. It just ends on kind of a flat note if you asked me. While I gave her points for originality it wasn't very creative. I mean so what, you performed on and off your whole life. So have I. You love your old school, so do I. I mean it just wasn't special or memorable as it could've been.

Contestant #4 Russell Harvard!!!

I love Russell Harvard. He's a doll and a big heart to match it! I had met him previously in June for MICA runway 2008. His performance was TERRIFIC. He opted to do what I refer to as the "Deaf Cheer." Basically its a type of performance usually done before or during sporting events in Deaf Schools. What the signer does is follow the beat of a huge snare drum and claps rhythmically. He decided to focus on patriotism, RED, WHITE & BLUE. It was sooo cool to see it performed live and with such enthusiasm. Russell is so like the energizer Bunny, he keeps going and going... awesome job! I gave him thumbs up in all categories especially ORIGINALITY, I don't think anyone else came close to him in that category except for 1 other performer Roger Vass who I will write more about later. (photos show were taken by John Collins during MICA event, but you can see what kind of intensity he displays when performing!)

Contestant #5 Aidan Mack

Ugh where to start? She choose to sign a song and it was in my opinion HORRIBLE. She neglected to make eye contact with the audience. Her choices of signs and how she implemented were not to my liking. The only credit I can give her is her commitment to the song itself, she NEVER WAVERED. But that doesn't make it a good performance. What's more she's a filmmaker, but I've never seen her work except for one or two Vlogs and if her performance is any indication of her filming skills, we are in deep trouble.

Contestant #6 Chase Nolan (Kristy Ann's dad- I went to MSSD with her)

I HATED this performance so much and only because of 2 things. His choice of clothing was atrocious and the stupid doll he carried with him. His focus was on the perks of growing old. But he dressed like a toddler and I felt bad for anyone who is a senior citizen watching him because he looked so undignified and had he worn something age appropriate instead of looking like he was senile I might have been able to focus on his performance itself but due to the MAJOR wardrobe malfunction, this piece went down the toilet. I applaud the fact he was the only older contestant and again had he dressed dignified, then I would've felt differently. But dressing like a stroke victim only hurt his chances.

Contestant #7 "Q" Jeremy Quiroga

I met Q last June at MICA as well, when he was there prompting his artwork (mostly sculptures made from various materials, excellent work). I was very curious this time to see him as a performer. He choose to do Malz' version of Jabberwocky from Alice in Wonderland. Unfortunately for me, I do not know or understand Jabberwocky even tho I have seen it performed several times in the past 2 decades. He had great stage presence and had he picked a piece that the mass audience including myself could understand and appreciate. I am sure he would've been in the 2nd round but he screwed himself by picking a piece that most people couldn't understand. I found out later through gossip he has the actor ego complex. Apparently during the rehearsal he was was quite uncooperative especially for the tech set up such as the lights etc, etc.. Come on Q, leave your ego at home and bring your skills to the set! I hope to see him perform again in the future in a piece that I can actually follow :)

Contestant #8 Doug Ridloff

Man his performance in my opinion was the BEST of all! He did an ASL story about Cochlear Implant and how it affects different people in different ways. His story-telling was mesmerizing and I was just captivateded by the whole thing. I know Doug through my student teaching gig from last year. He's a nice guy and always makes time for other people. I was actually in the computer lab the day Joe Joy filmed his audition tape for Deaf Idol. He did the boxing ABC story, the same one from the 2nd round. He (on the right) and Jason Norman (on the left) host ASL in the RAW *warning sexually graphic ASL* Which I have never been able to attend because it usually take places on Monday night and I work Monday nights. My friends who have seen the show have given me mixed review. The biggest criticism with ASL in the RAW is some of the skits are too long and tedious. But anyhoo as for Deaf Idol, I felt he should've won.

Contestant #9 David Rivera

I like David Rivera. I've worked with him in the past for the Rosen Project (ASL Curriculum). He's a good guy generally. Unfortunately for me, his ASL story telling was a lot of fluff and no substance. Too tiresome and uninteresting for me. Its kind of like reading a Stephen King book. That author has a knack for taking up pages and pages with descriptions of the most mundane actions or surroundings which runs parallel to DR's story telling bit from the 1st round. I just tuned out and it was bad too because the camera kept freezing up on him as dramatized his way through his story-telling. Szymanski joked that even the cameras rolling fell asleep! I think there's more to ASL story-telling then just heavily relying on classifiers, as if that makes the story. Later at the bar one obvious ASL terp student when I asked her what she thought of his performance. She remarked at how phenomenal she thought it was! Then I replied how superficial the whole performance truly was. Its obvious she has a long way to go in order to identify when a person is actually saying something that's not drivel. Any ways David, if you're reading this, pls do not take my review personally. I think if you had help with the actual story or gotten to the point sooner, I might've enjoyed it. But as friendship goes, you're a cool guy in my book. Unless you're trying to get me to go to an "investment" meeting where the minimum is $10K ;)

Contestant #10 Regan Thibodeau

Regan choose to do a song and some dancing. I was frustrated by this act. I know she could've done a whole lot better and I was so surprise to see it lacking the fierceness I usually associate her with. But I also know that everyone has an "off" day. Maybe I highly doubt it, but so was Aidan Mack? I am aware too of the fact that this woman works non-stop in real life and I have no doubt that time was limited in rehearsing for this show. Anyways at the end of each performance, the 3 on stage judges gave feedback. Karl Ewan being our "Simon" remarked something to the effect of "I thought summer was over." Because her song had been based on summer love. I quickly SK emailed her saying I wanted to slap him for being so nasty to her and that it was unnecessary. She replied Its ok ;) I'm enthralled he was willing to be blunt ;) I know he didn't like it and thats ok ;) This is why I am crazy about this girl! I've never met a more honest one! Plus I give her props because before each performance they showed clips of the contestants responding to how they feel to be on Deaf Idol and she made it clear she was more about the opportunity to be a part of something bigger and meet new people. And lastly I give her an A- for costume/outfit. She was the only one who even dressed the part next to Jasmine Garcia as grandma for reasons unknown to me.

Contestant #11 Roger Vass Jr.

His performance was an ASL story in which he used a headgear microphone and made special sound effects. I wasn't wearing my hearing aid so I have no idea how good these sounds came out or if they added any real meaning to the performance itself but apparently to the people who were there in the audience, it made a major difference and was considered very creative even tho hearing people have been doing it for years. Remember the guy Michael Winslow from SpaceBalls who did the sound effects when Dark Helmet asked what happened to the radar and it had been "jammed." This is sort of what Vass' performance was like, although I doubt it was as good as Mr. Winslow's ;)

There were also 3 judges. The first judge was Frank Dattolo who currently works at Lexington School for the Deaf. I would say that Frank offered no real feedback or criticism to the performers where as the other 2 judges did. He did nothing to add to the show and I found myself wishing him gone. The 2nd judge was Laurene Simms works at Gally. I have never had her as my teacher but have seen her name over the years. It was a bit disturbing to see her next to Karl as they were both bald, with shinny heads and I felt like it was the attack of the Coneheads...But at least when she made comments, they were generally meaningful and well said. The 3rd judge was Karl Ewan of the Ewan family, if you ever went to MSSD or Gally you would know that the Ewan family is interwined with both schools, his mom or aunt worked in the post office, I went to school with his sister and his cousin. Karl was our "Simon" for Deaf Idol, not only is he huge and slightly fat but he had the bitchy attitude and a way of saying things that were in between the lines. He was entertaining to watch!

In the end Russell Harvard won! And it couldn't of happened to a nicer guy! In my mind he deserve 2nd place and Doug first but I guess the rest of the Deaf community disagreed? Or else like me and Szymanski we were not able to get thru to vote the 2nd round and perhaps the network was overloaded with so many deafies trying to vote. I would be very curious to know how many of us watched this event and how many people voted? Some people said that RH won because he is well known for being in the movies and has a bigger fan base. Others disagree. I would've liked to have seen the audience reactions to the performers and that instead of all that dead air time, they could've had the host asking various audience members who they were or did vote for and why?

I sure hope they continue with this event yearly or every 2 years. It was a blast to watch and for the 1st time in my life it felt as if I were watching a channel just for us deafies. I mean theres BET, Lifetime, Spike etc etc, where our Deaf programming? Its ridicoulus because in England they have 3 different tv channels devoted only to deaf programming and England isnt that big, at least not the size of this country.

After it was all said and done, Szymanski prettied ourselves up and went to the bar where all of the performers and attendees went to and met up with a lot of friends. Including Russell himself who gave me a great bear hug and was in wonderful spirits. I congratulated him and Szymanski and I had our picture taken with the Deaf Idol winner (I am waiting on her to send me the photo). I also saw Doug who I flat out told he deserved to win and he was "robbed." but he won 3rd place. 2nd place went to Vass Jr which I thought sucked because his 2nd performance was all toilet humor. what is up with deafies and being majorly gross. If Jack only knew how graphic us deafies can be he'd appreciate me a little more when I am gross to him which is rare like an occasional fart or burping. I am nothing compared to that guys graphic description of using the toilet while taking a shit, come on. Thats jr high school not for grown ups!

All in all, if you somehow missed it *tsk tsk!* you can catch it again on Sept 25th and 26th, they are running a 48 hour marathon so now its your turn to write up a review of Deaf Idol, I want to see what YOU think :)

The perks

Of working an event Friday night for media
can be awesome. For example tonight's event
is actually a fancy schamancy dinner with a
guest speaker and I've set up 6 microphones
for the speaker and the audience. Now I'm
sipping merlot and stuffing my face with brie
cheese, grapes, bread and tasty walnuts.

Finally got a different classroom at my
teaching job. I have AC! And technology!
What more could I ask for???

Tmw is Moms bday, I hope she has a
wonderful 1. And I will also see Szymanski
to watch Deaf Idol and have dinner together.
We will meet up with Ronnie afterwards
at the bar where all the deafies will be.

Todays a rainy day, slept in guilt free.
Did some cleaning b4 coming to work and
here I am.

Settling in

This is my 1st real work week and
already I'm tired. It doesn't help that
I'm pmsing so it makes me even more so.
Right now we're understaffed at 1 of
my jobs where I work as a media tech.
Today in a span of 1 hr, I did over 15 jobs!
Hopefully next week there will be a new
part timer, see see.

I'm a bit frusturated with the transportation
options going to NJ late afternoon by the
DeCamp bus sucks ASS! I saw online this bus
service has many poor reviews and now I
know why. For example, last thurs was the
1st night of class and I made sure to arrive
at Port Authority (42nd st) and brought my
ticket using my reduced fare care that
screams DISabled. That's fine by me, any
way to save a buck cuz most of the time
I'm FINancially DISabled anyways ;) so I
asked the ticket guy if the bus went to
the school and he assures me, yes oh yes.
So I board the bus and look out periodically
and see no sign of my drop off location,
finally after a LONG time I walked up to
the driver (who gave me a hard time when
I boarded using the reduce fare ticket)
and he informs me I'm on the wrong bus!?!
3 buses later I stumble to the campus and
I was to start teaching at 5 30, but barely
made it by 5 50 so 1/3rd of my class had
left. I was a mess, sweating (swearing in-
wards...) Plus my classroom is awful!
Its oblong, not deaf friendly, not a hint of
modern technology except a dusty over
head projector (who uses those anymore?)

Well I decide to give DeCamp bus #66 1
more chance on Monday. Bad move, again
the ticket guy assures me the 430 bus
goes to the campus and ill be fine. Deja
Vu, the bus driver looks at me like
I'm from mars when I show him my reduce
ticket and ID. Then I ask does this go to
X campus? He replies in broken English he
cannot understand me, but apparently can
understand the 2 nearby French men. They
tell me I can be dropped off a few blocks
away from the school. I anxiously ride the
bus and when we get to this magical corner
of Valley Rd/Dr whatever I exit the bus
and somehow figure out where to go. Its
not exactly a few blocks. I'm done with
DeCamp bus #66. You won't get another
penny from me! Instead my boss at media
is willing to let me leave an hour earlier
so that I can take the Nj train, much nicer
and no one gives me a hard time about the
reduce fare.

Last Friday night I went to DPHH and
had a GREAT time. I'm so glad I decided
to volunteer as the photographer for
the website. Having a reason to go
makes it even better. I met the nicest
couple from PA, got to see King and some
others.

I am a bit bummed, I planned to buy my
ticket for Deaf Idol on Friday but was
waiting on 2 different people to see if
they plan to go so we get the tickets
together but they aren't and now the
tickets are sold out! At least there will
be a live feed of the show. I can always
go to the bar afterwards and meet up
with Ronnie. She was the only reason I
had planned to go and give support. As
well as SSP for my friend Martin. So
unless Deaf Nation makes an exception
for Martin to have me there to SSP, ill
probably watch it with Szymanski on
her laptop. And its going to be exciting,
the audience votes, the judges votes and
the viewers from the computers we get
to vote too! Just google deaf idol for
more info!

This Sat is also my Moms bday! Happy
early bday Mom. I would NEveR forget it!