A bloody mess

The theme of my week has been quite bloody so to speak. Let's break it down to the WHYs?

1st off, I am ga ga over my new phone (Samsung Epic 4G Andriod Smartphone)- is that a mouth full or what? There are all these crazy and fun apps that I've been torturing my friends with, mainly the photo apps.

For example, I can zombify you using the Zombie Booth


An undead girl like myself wouldn't be complete unless she bit her best friend and zombified her as well!

I can turn you into the wolf when the moon is full by using Wolf My Face, yes its a bit hairy but doable...


If you're in the mood to just fool around I recommend PicSay

For media/commercial purposes, I would use photofunia as I did with my friend Jasmine


So back to this phone, it is AMAZing!!! There are so many bells and whistles, its like have a small computer in your backpocket. I never would've imagine 10 years ago we would have these smart phones! The other day I turned on my old SK3 phone to get some information off of the phone and saw how cumbersome it feels and looks and pales in comparison to my new baby Epic 4G!

I love all these different apps like one for my period tracker, another reason why this blog posting is called a bloody mess, cuz Aunt flo came and made herself at home and there was nothing I could do about it!

Also this week for A&PII lab we studied blood, blood types, blood cells etc etc. At one point, we would doing a lab exercise on identifying blood type and if it was positive or negative? It was a fake blood kit, don't I wish we could've identified our blood type for real. Anyhoo, I accidentally hit the little testing tray and promptly announced I was making a bloody mess which garnered a lot of laugh. So you see, blood doesn't have to be bloody bad but bloody fun!

Hit & Run, no fun!

So yesterday morning as I was headed to work, I found this to greet me....my poor car! Luckily Jack was around to replace the tire with the spare. Still, its not cool this happened or that no one reported it.
it is also not cool that my class last night, the terps never showed up! It was not my usual terps which both are CODAs and real sweethearts. But the coordinator of disability services isn't exactly on top of things and I had to spend 3 hours trying to lip read and follow along. I really like my new teacher and think this class will be great. Just wish I could've catch more than 50% of what was going on. Ive already sent an email to find out why the terps never came. No reply. I better HEAR something by tmw via email. Or I am going to file a complaint.

Today was a lot better, still tired and also today was the last day of teaching till Sept! whee, now all I have to do is grade exams and figure out course grades on Sunday.

Next week I will JUST be a student, wheeeeeee!

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*

My fortune cookie reads

"You will become more and more wealthy."
Hmm I sure hope so :-D

A little "cellular out"

I enjoy my A&P I class, the anatomy of the body is fascinating but as
I've come to learn. With each passing body systems we learn, my
professor or this area of science/medicine focuses on the cellular and
at times molecular levels of each body system. Ugh its a bit of a drag
sometimes. Honestly a contraction of a muscle with what happens with our
myofribils & the pivoting of the myosin head to expose the active sites
to I think its Ca2+ ions is a little boring. Also we are learning about
CNS (Central Nervous System) the spinal column and cerebral hemisphere's
gray and white matter, the ventral horns, afferent, efferent,
association neurons. It is awesome to be learning all this but its just
a lot of information to have to absorb at once.
Yeah I am a little stressed by work, school, life. Hurry up, 1 month
from now this will all be over, yay!

I'm nuts about Blue Diamonds!

Lately in the food stores I've noticed a new line from Blue Diamond's Bold Flavor Almonds. Delicious! Granted its a salt-intake nightmare but damn tasty! I've tried 3 flavors so far
-Salt & Vinegear
-Carolina BBQ
-Lime-Chilli
I gotta say Lime-Chilli was the best followed by Salt & Vinegar. The BBQ one was good too but not as addictive at the other two!
So I should be studying, and I should be grading or doing a lesson plan but frankly I am tired. Didn't get enough sleep last night. Funny it was the 1st night of difficulty falling asleep since moving the new apartment. I am in LOVE with my car and new apartment. Seriously I feel extremely lucky and grateful for all of my good fortunes for the people in my life who make it possible.
The weather today was beautiful. Drove with the sun roof down and my driver side window down on my way home from NJ. So nice. I enjoy familarizing myself with different highways and driving routes. I am beginning to grasps the driving landscape of NYC, its flow and ebb. When traffics bad where? I learned a big lesson on Saturday, do NOT park downtown. Its insane, 50 cents for every 10 minutes! Crazy!

Damn its too late to nap and I am overwhelmed by the apartment right now with all the unpacking left to do. But I am not gonna dwell on that right now, instead going to chill and watch an episode of Lost from season 4. Which by the way I feel is when the show has taken a serious nosedive, I hope season 5 & 6 are better??

Park Ave Roses

Pah after reading in the NY Times last Jan
about the flower sculptures by artist
Will Ryman being displayed on Park
Ave, I got to see them today. I was only
able so snap photos of 2 of the
sculptures because I was driving downtown
admist the many NYC taxi drivers. So
pretty! Its things that these that put a
smile on your face. The exhibit
which ends May 31st, starts at
59th street and ranges for 10 blocks.
Be sure to check it out if ure in the city!

Someone got the Easter Spirit!

So cute! I had to snap some photos before my A&P lab.

How reasonable am I?

Could my new urban view be any
better than this? I LOVE my new
apartment! I can MOVE around and not run
into things like walls. Amazing, Jack & I can
now enter the bed on our respective sides.
Such a difference. I used to not like a lot
of space but now I feel the opposite. The
ability to move around in a home was
more important than I realized. Live and
learn eh?

The move at 1st did not go well. I did get
into an argument with one of the movers
about the fee of the move. I just wouldn't
accept his outrageous prices after being
told via email the original price.
At one point he asked to speak to my
"husband" [Jack] who had already left
to transfer all of our vital electronics
to the new apartment. I told the man he
has to work with me. He said I wasn't
being reasonable and I replied, "how
can I be to your unreasonable actions,
backing out of the original agreement."
He kept pointing to the email which were
in chronological order and trying to make
it seemed his new rate quote was based
on a 2nd email but it wasn't true, it was
on the 1st email and so what if I forgot
2 items in the 2nd email. In the 2nd
email I also added that I knew I was
forgetting things but the rate quote
was given after the 1st email. I
am so stubborn I threatened to
cancel the move. I gave him a price
I was willing to pay for x amount of
service. I felt like all he could see on
my forehead was the word Sucker!
10 minutes later he agreed.

It was more than the original rate quote
but it was fair because I had more things
for them to move that wasn't in the 1st
email. Plus they had to hike a queen size
up 5 flight of stairs because the elevator
wasn't big enough. The move after we
agreed on the moving price went very well.
I offered them both bottled water in the
middle of the move. The movers seemed
surprised after me standing my grounds
earlier. I think they thought I was very
angry but I wasn't. I was firm about how
"reasonable" id be. They appreciated it
and I thanked them for a good job.

The move

Ugh I hate the stress of moving. Yes I
am excited to move to my new home but
the packing and prep is a pain! And I am
still waiting on the movers to confirm for
Sunday or Monday. Plus in the morning
less than 8 hours I will start my Saturday
morning 9am class. So you can imagine
I am all happy dory, not. Rather I am tired,
that's all. Not upset but tired and stressed
that there's not enough time to do grades,
study, my laundry, finishing packing and
MOVE over the weekend. And Jack's idea
of packing is shoving things into plastic
bags so I sent him out for the evening
so I could get into a packing zone which
I did. Not finish. And where did all these
things come from?!? I am glad I will
have 3 closets to work with at the new apt.
Got to get to sleep soon but I rather be
watching episodes of Lost. That show is
addictive. How the heck the show writers
kept coming up with new twists and
surprises ill never know? And I am only
near the end of season 2. Now I understand
why Blondie salivated every weekend
before Sunday night when the show aired.
Thank you Blondie for making me give
Lost a 2nd chance! Go Hurly, Sawyer,
Locke, Charlie and Mr. Ecko!

The "Blown Away Guy"

Early tonight after spending the day packing up the apartment, Jack and I went out to a store and came home with this kick-ass rug. It will make our new living room pop! I tried to explain to Jack at one point that I think our view of the city is like that poster from the 80s by Hitachi Maxwell known as the "Blown Away Guy." Do you remember it?


To me this is one of the few images that defines the word Cool. And our new place is urber wickedly cool!

In case you missed

Having snow, here's some more! Made possible by your local old man
winter!

Dunno who the artist is

But I've always liked this art piece

"Off with her head!" The Queen of Hearts

Here in NYC, there's a small chain of
Alice's Tea Cup cafes, very darling to
go to. Best to go during the week days
because on the weekends, these places
places are packed with an hour or more
wait.

Blondie and I went and had a lovely time.
As "we're all mad here."- Cheshire Cat