I think some song says something about being born on the 4th, which ishwhere I got that idea.
Anyway, this is one of the days that makes me miss my childhood most profoundly. I'm reminiscing on those incredibly hot, sticky days when we'd sit outside sucking down overpriced ice cream and dogs, warding off no doubt dangerous bugs, and listening to pop! pop! pop!
Even though I couldn't see the fireworks of course, I was still amazed by the whole spectacle of them. They give off a very definite smell, and it was kind of amusing listening to people oo-ing and aww-ing constantly. Those days are long gone though. They probably won't be back until or unless I have a family of my own, and goodness knows when that might be.
My blind cousin has been gone with his woman all day, so the sighted cousin did whip up some delicious shrimp and cheesy noodles. Not the traditional burger, but I certainly couldn't complain about that.
This weekend really hasn't been much in its entirety. I sat outside reading a pretty good chunk of The Shining. It is indeed one of King's stronger works, although it very much has the feel of many of his novels, which is to say that the main characters seem to exist in an isolated bubble far removed from everything else. Of course, given the setting of a snowed-in hotel high in the Colorado mountains, this is inevitable.
Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, I took the dog for a walk on Thursday and she managed to take me way out of the backyard and somehow across the street to someone else's door before I really realized it. It turned out to be an elderly man who, using his cane for balance, managed to guide me back to my place as I dragged along the slightly protesting pup. Her collar came off twice, and each time she just sat in the grass and waited for me to put it back on. I was amazed by that. She got a little upset with me once though because I had my knee on one of her paws, so she administered a small bite to my wrist. It didn't draw blood or really hurt even. I think it was just her saying "hey, back up!"
And lastly, since I didn't get to go to the convention of the American Council of the Blind as I had last year, I've just been following it and that of the National Federation of the Blind on Twitter. I suppose most clients can do this, but with Qwitter it's possible to set it so that it automatically drags in tweets that match the item for which I've searched. I just think that's cool! I'm also listening to a radio show that's being recorded at one of the parties in the Orlando hotel in which the convention is taking place.
So nothing exciting or earth-shattering, but hey what can one expect. I'll probably listen to this a bit longer, then go ahead and tune into my NPR. At least I do have a store-bought brownie to chomp on.
Well, today has been just about as strange as they come. From before I woke up?, if in fact I did, till the end it's been filled with unexpected twists.
First of all, I usually sleep with my cell phone in my pocket as I've noted before. I felt it vibrate four times and chose to ignore it, thinking it must have been something I couldn't identify. But then it occurred to me what I was doing and I!... snapped awake? Checked the time and it was only 3:16. Ah, dreams that are so real their scary.
Next exhibit in today's oddness: my cousin and I were busily completing our morning preparations and chatting as we often do. We still had 20 minutes before the bus was to arrive, however someone suddenly showed up at our door pounding and ringing the bell like she was trying to escape the cops! I figured it must be one of my cousin's nutty friends so I continued to organize cereal things, but I stopped when I heard him say "uh could you hold on a minute? You're a bit early." No way!
So it turns out that for some truly unknown reason, she'd come to collect us first on the route. Then we went to get everyone else, taking just over an hour and a half to complete and resulting in us still being late to work. Needless to say this was not the kind of start I'd envisioned.
The third oddity occurred shortly before the morning break. "May I have your attention please," someone's voice said over the PA system. "We're having our employee meeting at 9:45, only this time it won't be in the break room but rather we'll all stand in the pants department." Pants is the biggest moneymaker in the plant and thus gets the most clout from bossman.
With that strangeness, I started to think I was still stuck in that crazy dream. I was thinking now why on earth are we to stand up for a whole meeting! And unluckily for me, I got there too late causing me to be way back on the lind and resulting in an inability to hear near any of it. Not to mention that area had absolutely no accoustics to speak of. I just think they're incredibly fortunate that none of the older folks or ones with more severe disabilities fainted or anything, as it was pretty hot over there too. He really could've had a problem on his hands.
Fortunately, things were pretty much sane from then on. I did hear an excellent podcast on iPhone accessibility, in which the host gave a demo of Voiceover. It sounded kind of complicated, and some of the applications she opened weren't all that accessible, but I suppose one could indeed learn to use it. She also spoke about Zoom and the ability to make it white on black, features that could make it more workable for people with some vision.
If you're curious how it sounds and want to hear about the gestures you must use to make it work, I recommend you check that show out. And Apple fans will like her anyway; it's Shelly from Shelly's Podcast, and I've enjoyed her show for years.
Well hopefully that's enough craziness for one week. I can't help but to wonder what's in store for the rest. I hope you can stand it! Meanwhile, I'll be sitting down.
So this one isn't much of a surprise, as I said it would probably be coming next. It's The Shining, by Stephen King. I suspect many in this audience have already read it, but here's the summary anyway.
Jack and Wendy Torrance come face-to-face with terror when they become caretakers of a haunted old hotel in the snowy mountains of Colorado. Their five-year-old son Danny, who appears to have psychic powers, is the first to sense the evil in the building.
I'm in chapter 11 or so, and I have to say it's better than I thought. The characters seem more like people I can connect with than they have in anything other than the Green Mile. Well I guess I felt that way about the folks in Duma Key too, but of course the Phoners of Cell were all nuts anyway.
We've already seen King's ever-present big black man in Dick Halleran. I just find that to be an odd fixation that has appeared in every one of the books I've read by him.
I remember when this came on as a mini-series in the 90's. I couldn't get a whole lot out of it then, but man were my sisters glued to it! Maybe I'd have a greater appreciation for it once I complete the novel.
Other than that, not a whole lot. I've been watching a lot of Major League Baseball, as many of the gameday audio stations have suddenly become a whole lot clearer. I can follow it on the TV of course, but it just seems that radio annuoncers know how to inject just that little bit more excitement into their calls. I'm gonna close the day by watching some of the last game of this year's subway series between the New York Mets and New York Yankees.
Supposedly my cousin will grill something later, but given that I just polished off the last three slices of a pizza I ordered earlier this weekend I don't care if he actually does. Not saying I won't eat it if it arrives, though. Heck, I could eat all day! Guess it's about time to find out what's to happen next week. Should be an interesting one, for sure. Out.
A hot, smoky car. I'm cowering low in the back as we bounce along the highway, with my parents arguing about whatever they've come up with tonight.
Those first chords come across the radio. Then he says "I'm gonna make a change, for once in my life". My ever-sarcastic sister grabs the volume and jacks it way up. "Daddy, you need to listen to this!" she says. Not a lot could shut him up, but he definitely loved his Michael Jackson.
Probably the only reasonably enjoyable times we had with my biological father centered around this performer. He'd turn on the Thriller tape and dance full-speed around the room, clutching me high over his head as I yelled in terror. But you know how it is as a child; even though I was afraid of this to some extent I secretly loved it!
Bad was the album with songs like Another Part Of Me and The Way You Make Me feel. That's the one I really got into as it was the first I could halfway try and sing along to. It reminds me so intensely of walking to our area grocery with my late Aunt, who would often ask us perfunctorily if we had homework to do as we stumbled off the bus. She'd usually make us do it, but every once in a while she'd say "Alright, long as this don't get back to your mom we can go ahead and eat now." Then we'd carry my four-track tape player (blind folks, you know what I'm talking about) down to the park, because it didn't need to be plugged in, and pop in the Michael! Didn't take long before we had an audience of people partying.
Ah, I could go on and on about those days with Michael. I don't really know if it's possible to pick one "favorite song". The whole experience was something that had to be taken into account. I'm not sure there are any artists around who re-create that, either, and especially not in this era of iTunes and single song purchases.
I know there are more important things in the news that should be noted, and with which we should be concerned. Anybody fuzzy on that has only to look at the craziness still unfolding in Iran, the good friends all around losing their jobs, and the like. However I do believe Michael's passing is noteworthy because he brought so much to so many people's lives. If you were a child of the late 70's and early 80's, I can't see how you weren't effected in some way by his presence. May he rest in peace.
This day reminds me of one like it that happened a little over three years ago, except that day was quite a bit more embarrassing. I think I'm just not meant to get it right, or something.
Because I'm tired of having sandwiches for lunch and we don't have much in our fridge that can be quickly prepared, I decided to take a waltz down to our neighborhood convenience store. I'd slept till just after 10:30, leading me to believe that much of my difficulty this week came from sheer exhaustion.
As soon as I stepped outside, I realized just how hot it was! Wow, I think we're headed for 95 today. I was a bit worried about dehydrating midway, but pushed on despite this concern. after bouncing off of a car that was parked in the street, I finally got to the store.
As I came to the door, I heard flip flops approaching. I know this usually means a woman is coming, but I didn't say anything and went on in to ask the guy at the counter for help retrieving what I wanted. She followed me in though, and when I asked the guy for one of their microwavable peparoni pizzas she asked "those pizzas any good?" I said they were ok. Realizing this question was an attempt at starting conversation I asked her name. She told me and we shook hands. Hers were very small. Then she said "so, how old are you John?" I still didn't dare asking her this question, which is a real pain as she had a voice that could've belonged to someone from 15 to 40 years of age.
I think we all know what the next question was. "Have you been blind all your life?" "Yup, was born blind." "Ah, well that seems like it would be a challenge." "Nothing I can't handle. The way I feel is you do what you have to." "Well I think you're doing well then." "Yeah, but this life is and can be quite difficult anyway." "Don't worry," she said squeezing my arm as she headed for the door with her stuff: "It ain't hard for just you." Then the guy showed up and told me to come over to the counter to pay for my things as she slipped away.
Oh gravy. I don't think I'll ever come up with a good strategy for deciding if I'm talking to someone I might wanna get to know more. If you read the linked entry, you'll see why the age question is so difficult for me and why it causes me to hesitate too much lately. She sounded attractive though, and I guess all I can hope is that our paths cross again.
So where have I been all week? Well, in a state of catatonia. I'm still trying to handle all this grad school stuff which is now descending in a delluge, and I will have to try and make some real progress tomorrow. I'm almost sick with stress, and we ain't even got to the good stuff yet! Need to learn better coping techniques, me thinks.
Anyway, this won't really be about that. I've downloaded the latest in accessible Twitter clients: Quitter. Of course this pertains mostly to blind folks who use screen-readers, but it's cool.
It's much like Jawter, the previous client I had, except it can be used with any screen-reading software. It also has a lot more functionality. I like the fact that it makes different sounds that tell you if you have a reply or just regular tweets, and it also donks the number of times that correspond with those new ones that come in.
There's another client called McTwit that has gained far more popularity, but I just don't like the way it handles the ATI on the Twitter site. It kept maxing out, and thus I could no longer download new tweets for an hour. I also had issues getting only the newest tweets whenever I tried to check, as it would pull down 300 again and again.
(Note: I just figured out that I could get it to sopy a link without actually having to click it, which was relavent here as the McTwit link goes to an executable file that runs as soon as you click it. Cool! I've still lots to learn about this stuff.)
It took some doing to get Quitter (now there's a positive name if I've ever heard one) to work, because it uses many of the same keystrokes as Jawter. Figuring this and the other things out will probably make me more proficient though, which might well be a good thing indeed. If I want to someday be able to help others master this stuff, I need to first grasp as much of it myself as possible.
And that's all really. I am grateful for that little confidence boost to end this day. I hope your day and week have been less stressful. I'll be back with more when I have it.
So, I've finally gotten the assurances I was waiting for, and thus have booked my flight to Boston. They had some with one stop that were slightly cheaper, but I remember what happened to me when I went to the ACB convention last year in Louisville. I ended up getting stuck. And the fact that I knew it would happen from the time I purchased that ticket does not bode well. So now, I'll try to avoid late-day connections whenever possible. and besides, we're talking about a price difference of $20 or so. Ah well, now I just better hope nothing happens to interfere with my trip between now and then. I wish it weren't coming in so close to the start of grad school, but ah well.
And speaking of that, I just got a whole ream of paperwork that needs to be filled out by August 24th. It's mostly just immunization records and the like, but still. Yeah, I really do think I should hire an assistant for all this stuff. I did have a professor from the university write me on Friday who informed me that he's willing to help me get things set up on his end. I'm actually thinking of trying to take a couple days to go up there, using my cousin's apartment in Raleigh as a base. I need to bounce that idea off of everyone involved and see what I can make happen. Things are just happening, even if very slowly.
And of course, today is Father's Day. So, I called my dad and we had a nice 30-minute long conversation. We talked about the mess that was the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic NBA playoff series. We also talked about the oddity of dreams: I had one recently where I had to wake up like four times before I was back in reality, and each time I did so I was in a different house of my childhood. That one kind of creeped me out, actually. Then he happened to mention that they'd been watching the X-files movie the other day, which prompted me to mention that I'd suddenly heard the theme music to that show even when everything in here was off and quiet. No, don't ask.
And that, folks, is pretty much it. I should quickly get done with my NPR so that I can start reading more of this book. I'm definitely enjoying it so far. How was your weekend?
Ok, so I'm going to read the Stephen King book next. This is mainly because I want lots of variety in my selections, something which I think I've pretty well achieved this year.
Someone on NPR did a piece on three books that were fitting to read for Father's Day. She included To Kill A Mockingbird as an example of a good father, and The Shining, which I might well be reading soon, as an example of a bad one. I'd say The Secret Life Of Bees might have qualified as well, for even though its focus was mostly on Lily, Rosaleen, and the three calendar sisters (May, June, and August), with whom they lived, the story's end involved how Lily's father responded to an intense situation. I think it showed that, even in people we generally take to be bad, there are usually deeply embedded reasons for their actions.
It was an excellent story though, and I think it very much captured the slow, languid pace of a Southern summer, which we are now sliding into. This intense heat is about to make me insane! It was 95 easy today, causing the second straight day of headaches. I do like it hot, of course, but I think I need to try and take it easy till after 7 PM so I don't end up passing out. It makes living in this crazy household a little more difficult, too.
Next up, I'm reading a tried and true Southern author, and a favorite of many. John Grisham. The last book of his I read was A Time To Kill, back close to this time last year. This one is a fairly recent edition, called Appeal. I wonder how many more courtroom titles he can come up with?
After a Mississippi jury returns a guilty verdict against a chemical company that dumped carcinogens into the water supply, the company's owner, Carl Trudeau, appeals to the state's supreme court. During judicial elections Trudeau tries to plant his own justice on the bench.
So this one starts off with the end of the trial, wihch is an odd way to do things. It gives the immediate feeling that the story is actually wrapping up. I do kind of like the climactic feeling right out of the gate, though.
It's pitting Southerners against Northerners, too, with the people in the large corporation hurling insults from their Manhattan offices at the Red Necks in Mississippi who dare to complain about contamination of their water. I think it should be a decent story.
And with that I'm off. Not sure what I'll do to entertain myself tonight, but it'll probably involve podcasts and NPR. I'm so predictable, ain't I? Have a good weekend, everybody.
Ok, so when I found the Monk Kidd book, I was actually searching for something by Stephen King. I'm teetering on the fence as to whether I like him: Cell was ok, Duma Key was better, and The Green Mile was fantastic. So, I need your help. They had a couple other options than the ones outlined below, but those were short and didn't look all that interesting to me. So, I want you to tell me: Poll #1417920
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All
Which of these novels do you think will solidify me as a King fan?
Can you believe this season begins, for those of us on the right side of the equator that is, before the week is out? Wow. I'm kidding Aussies, and you know it.
Right now, the perfect summer vacation would be anywhere other than here! Dealing with a job that is cutting back so far that I'm now done with work for the week, still lots of uncertainty regarding grad school, and many other things just leave me feeling wrung out to dry.
I long for those days of watching the school year rapidly receed as we broke out the water mellon, plastic swimming pool and loud bladed fans. (Yeah, it was a long time before we had AC). One of my favorite things to do was to lay sprawled out on my sister's bedroom floor all day long watching something like Charlotte's Web. What? I loved that movie! So?
Anyway, since I'm an adult now, sadly, I guess my vacations should also be more adultlike. I wish I could get a condo for a couple weeks by the ocean. I could sleep till 11:30 AM, scarf down a quick breakfast, and take myself outside to get lost in the waves. I had a taste of this living when I took a trip with the blind beep baseball team on which I played in 1999, and it was lovely. We even got to eat at a nice restaurant with a pier that jutted out a few feet over the Atlantic. This was at idyllic Ocean Isle Beach, just off the coast of North Carolina. Well idylic so long as you avoid those nasty hurricanes. This is why I could never live there, but to have a bit of time to enjoy it would do me a lot of good, I think.
I'm still awaiting news on the only vacation I'm likely to take: a trip to that conference in Boston. I hope it's on, as if they aren't going to have it then I'd have liked to go to the convention of the American Council of the Blind. It's too late for me to plan that now though, so I might well be out of luck on both counts. I guess I'll have to wait and see.
Do you have any vacations set up for this summer? I know it's less likely this year with the monetary crunch everyone's experiencing. I'd like to hear about some interesting stuff though, as we all know how much I dream about travel.
I chose this one, because it has some local flavor. I'd heard of it, and that it was supposedly a very good read. It's The Secret Life Of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd.
South Carolina, 1964. Fourteen-year-old Lily rescues her African American housekeeper--and substitute mother--Rosaleen, from the hospital. Rosaleen had been beaten for trying to register to vote. They flee to a safe place where Lily's battered late mother had also fled--a beekeeping operation run by three black sisters.
I've already zipped through the first chapters. It is mentioned in the introduction that the full-length novel was expanded from a short story, and in a way I can tell that this was the case. Not that this is bad, it just has to do with the way the action sequence develops.
One of the first things we see is Roseleen preparing to register to vote, after celebrating President Lyndon Johnson's signing of the Voter Rights Act. Am I mistaken or doesn't each new president have to renew it. I think it must at least be renewed occasionally. I find that hard to believe that this would even be a question in our current times.
And speaking of elections and voting rights, I have someone on my Twitter feed who is rebroadcasting live action from Iran, where they just had extremely controversial elections the other day. It sounds as if things are getting quite scary there. She says students in dorms are being attacked and dragged out into the streets, and that anyone who is planning to show up at Monday's 4 PM march to protest the results is being placed under arrest. Things are perilously close to dissolving into chaos. Just one more reason why I'm sad for and about the state of humanity. Why we feel the need to treat each other this way I'm afraid I'll never truly understand.
And so I begin the hated wind-down of my Sunday. At least it was a relaxing one though. I'm watching a bit of this baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cleveland Indians in the hopes that cleveland's pitcher won't do well. If he doesn't, I'll defeat the toughest fantasy team in our league! I'm the Swinging Sticks, and the team I'm trying to take down is the undefeated 9-0 Grass Creek Grizzlies. I'm only 3-6, so it'd be an upset. Hopefully I can hold on.
Have a great Monday everybody. No telling what mine holds, but I think in the back of my mind I'm still waiting for some other shoe to drop. We'll see on that, though. Out!
Gah, what happened to my ability to write powerful, wrenching narratives? Well ok, who says I ever had such power? Anyway, here's my life.
For one thing, I'm listening at the moment to a very odd sounding song called If You Got The Money I Got The Time, by Lefty Frizell. Why do I have the feeling I got that from somebody on my friends-list. I know I've heard this guy's name before, but I can't say why or when.
I've booked my hotel room to attend this conference in Boston that takes place August 13-16. It's the one on Norrie Disease that I'd first written about in February. Now I'm just awaiting confirmation that they've applied the grant I was awarded to the cost of my room before I book my flight, since that is the only part of the trip I cannot have refunded should I need to.
The sister who found me on Facebook decided to give me a call today. It was a nice conversation, although my ability to understand her clearly seemed to decline at the end. Some people are just harder to hear, and so while I can pick things up well initially, my brain just eventually becomes exhausted. I'm sure others with hearing difficulties can identify with this.
Speaking of which, my cousin says he's gonna have to get hearing aids as well. He went to Charlotte Speech and Hearing to see if the imbalance he's noticed lately was all in his head, and I guess his audiogram suggested the need for them. Ah. I guess it's what we should expect with our condition, but sometimes that doesn't make it any easier to accept.
And now I need to finish this and catch what, according to the score, looks like an exciting conclusion to the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic. LA still leads the NBA finals series 2-1, but Orlando currently leads this game 85-82. Come on Magic!
Then there'll be an hour of NPR listening. Lot of cool stories contained therein. Yeah I know, my life is so exciting. I'm already 75, if ya didn't know. More tomorrow.
Man, I've not missed this many days consecutively since I started writing regularly in January, 2006. But then I've not really had so many things going on either. Just hoping to hold myself together through all these changes.
Today I had a friend, the same woman who helped me obtain a new coat, assist me in completing the Fafsa, the financial aid form required for grad school. I know I know, I should've done it a long time ago. But ah well, I hardly knew what I was doing! I hope everything is right on that thing.
I had her take me to the public library, since using a computer there would be easier than trying to deal with the craziness that goes on in my apartment. Her child was along again, and it was obvious that he'd aged since I last saw him. He was much more talkative, even attempting to count in Spanish as per instructed by her. It was very cute.
As soon as we entered the library, I saw my long-lost eldest sister. It was truly odd, given that I almost never see anyone in my family these days. I guess she had some kind of business that needed taking care of in there.
Has anything else noteworthy happened to me? Well I suppose not. It was just another boring work week. After being placed back in my section for a short time, we again ran out of cheese cloth shortly into Monday. This time, they made me go back to mattress covers, and we all know how much I despise those. It's so brutal trying to get that paper to fit around material it was clearly cut too small for. I was treated to someone's delicious smells all day, I think it was a woman sitting right in front of me. She wouldn't talk to me though, which I didn't find all too surprising.
Thankfully, I was able to return to my section today. But man was I sleepy for some reason! I kept dropping packets onto the floor, thinking there was a box beside me, and jumping when I turned on my MP3 player and realized that I hadn't put my headset on. Yeah, I don't know either.
And that's really all going on in these parts. My life is getting going in slightly unexpected ways. I hope this continues, but that things don't get bad or insane as they are likely to. We'll see what happens.
So, today was just what the doctor ordered in response to yesterday. Excellent weather, as well as lots of time to just relax, read, and sort through things.
I feel better now, because I have a friend who said she should be able to help me with some important stuff. I am still by no means in the clear, but every little step helps, right? Just gotta force myself to break it all down into little bits, focus on getting through each day.
An odd thing has happened. First, my next eldest sister's ex-husband, the guy I talked about in the Memorial Day entry, found and added me on Facebook. "Hmmm, I wonder how long it's gonna take for her name to bounce across the screen?" I thought. Well, it didn't take more than fifteen minutes. Talk about odd. Those folks really haven't done much dabbling on the Internet. I think she just got a new laptop though, and so I guess she's trying to master this stuff now.
We actually chatted on the site, which felt even odder. I like Facebook chat because it's relatively accessible.
And that's been about all for this day. Not very exciting I know, but very much what I needed. Goodness, I still hope I can make it over these rough waters that are to come. I guess all I can do is to keep trying, and to make use of all the resources I have available to me. We shall see what actually happens.
Hmmm, I'm not entirely sure what to put here. Today was... interesting, to say the least.
It is, in my mind, never a good sign when I wake up to rivers of rain flowing audibly past my window. I tried to shrug off the bad feelings though as I headed for the shower.
I hopped out, went into the living room and made small talk with my cousin some before he departed for work. He told me the Lakers had smoked the Magic in game one of the NBA Finals, a game I'd not even bothered watching with all the other stuff I had going on last night. It's all good though. I'm sure Orlando is more resillient than that.
I stuffed all the other paperwork I would need into my bag and stepped out onto our little porch to wait. It was still mad pouring as my driver rolled into the lot and tooted his horn. I bolted to the van and bounced up and in, and we immediately backed away. He said a couple things to me, but remained quiet most of the way. If you remember my previous trip with him though, then you know he couldn't go without giving me some valuable piece of advice.
"Do you smoke?" he asked. "Heck nah, never will. My cousin does, which I know you know." "Well good, don't! And stay away from that second-hand stuff, too. I stopped 26 years ago, and I'm just now coming down with emphasima. Once you do that damage to your lungs, it can't be stopped. It's a poison, I tell you. And it's sanctioned by the United States government, which makes them the largest dope dealers in the world. But they don't care about that. All they care about is taxes."
So we get to the office of the Division of Services for the Blind, and the woman I'm to meet hasn't yet arrived. I just took a seat in a fairly comfortable chair and tried to fight sleep for almost 30 minutes. She showed up pretty much on time, at approximately 8:30. She was a large, African American woman with the personality to match her voice, which is to say she demanded respect.
The only problem is, when we got in her office she talked very softly! She finally saw my hearing aids and said "Ah, now I see why I keep having to repeat myself. Is this a real problem?" I explained to her my disease, and I do believe she googled it even as I sat there. "Well, I'm gonna have to refer you to the deafblind specialist," she said: "it's mandatory for all who come through here with hearing problems." Ok, that was fine.
My time with her was just stressful though. She let me know my rights, informed me that they would be searching near to every record on me there ever was, and very probably had me sign away my life. Goodness, I know it couldn't have been any less than eight forms! I'm still missing some critical paperwork though, and if I can't get it done soon then this whole thing won't happen. Once again, I'm called upon to do some serious soul-searching and to decide if this is the right course of action for me. I do know that just going through this process alone is exhausting. I have a real fear that I'll never quite make the right set of decisions that gets my life going in the right direction.
So, that torture session over, I was finally released to the office lobby where I called Special Transportation to pick me up. Only I soon discovered that their lobby was too far inside of the building, and I needed to be in the building's main lobby. They therefore missed me on the first attempt, and I had to wait an additional hour. There were lots of people streaming through there, and I kept hearing an elevator bell dinging. I'm not sure which other businesses were housed in there.
A cleaning lady who sounded Asian said "Hi sir, I get you drink." Then she handed me a sprite. I certainly hadn't asked her to do this, but that unexpected gesture of kindness did lift my sagging spirits.
The bus finally showed up, and the driver came in squeezing my arm to get my attention. As soon as I got on, she started chattering away. Only I didn't hear a response. I think she was on her cell phone! What on earth is wrong with people, really? It wasn't raining anymore, but there were still large puddles in the road. I guess sighted people just don't feel that it's dangerous to talk on those things while driving, but it sure makes me nervous as a passanger.
And that was all the substance of my day. I've spent the rest of it sleeping, reading, and in deep thought. I guess we'll have to see what I come up with. Thanks to all the folks on Twitter and Facebook who lent me support throughout, as it really did help. We'll see what comes next.
It seems all I really have interesting to update about lately is books. Is that sad, or what?
I hadn't intended to finish Mockingbird on Tuesday night, but I was too intensely drawn into the ending to stop. I like the depth and complexity of the characters: we were able to see the widely varying positions regarding African American people in the 30's. Some, like Aticus and Jem Fench, felt that they should be given a fair trial and not cheated, and yet they still clearly felt that blacks were not capable of being as intelligent.
Scout, after getting over her initial fear of Boo Radley, becomes incredibly open-minded. She actually has fantasies of hanging out with him and getting to know how he thinks. She feels the same about her black maid Calpernia, asking after they attend a church service together at the black church if she can come and get a first-hand look at Cal's culture.
Finally, Scout points out the hipocracy of denouncing what Hitler was doing to the Jews, (this did take place in 1935), and insisting that African Americans had no place in her society and should be treated as second-class citizens. I can see why high schoolers are made to read this book now, and I wish I'd given it more of a chance at that age. Great stuff.
I tried to read The Pilot: A Tale Of The Sea, by James Fenimore Cooper. I don't think I even got to the beginning of the book though, as there was a lengthy and boring intro paper. I may attempt slogging through it one day, but it's probably not my cup of tea.
so, I've started another one called Quicksilver, by Judith Reeves-Stevens and Garfield Reeves
The testing of the new super weapon QUICKSILVER goes terribly wrong. Then a busload of midshipmen is ambushed and killed on the way to the Pentagon. Now the Pentagon is under attack by terrorists. It is up to two people, one inside the building and one outside, to insure America's survival.
It's ok thus far. Fairly long, which I need. I've only read a couple chapters though.
And so tomorrow should be interesting. I'm headed over to Services for the Blind, our local Rehab agency, to see what they can help me with regarding grad school. I'm not really sure how it will go, but hopefully this will be a step in the right direction. Either way, I have to get up pretty early. I'm having Kelly, a guy who drives a van and charges blind folks a cheaper rate, come and pick me up. He says he'll be here at 7:45, as I'm to be there at 8:30. Sounds like fun, don't it?
And that's all I've got for ya. I'm trying to catch back up on LJ, as I was just zonked yesterday and didn't get around to reading any of it. Thankfully, I now feel as if I'm recovering a bit. I'll have more news shortly.
I know it might appear that I've skipped two days in a row, but I hadn't intended to. I'd whacked out a fairly nice entry yesterday, but it got swallowed when I had the bright idea of trying to embed Tim McGraw's Don't Take The Girl. I'd previewed it and it showed that the code was gonna cause me to lose a couple paragraphs, but I chose to believe that this wouldn't in fact happen. Well, it did.
I tried frantically to relocate those lost paragraphs, and when I couldn't I ended up just deleting the whole thing. So, if you saw an apparition on your friends page, that would be why.
This frustrated me more than it should have, actually. I had a really hard time settling down for sleep afterwards, with my brain continuing to whirl like a top. These days, I'm having more difficulty finding the light in life, seeing where my positive traits lie. So when I manage to produce fun, light-hearted work, I don't wanna lose it. Ah well, it is what it is.
So what did you miss? Well only that I'd been reading Mockingbird pretty much all weekend without much stopping, and that I'm now very close to its end. The trial is on and is reaching a fever pitch. I was kind of upset at having to stop for a sleep that still never quite showed.
I also had some delicious food. For whatever reason, my cousin felt like cooking even though it was just this side of 90 degrees out there. For lunch, he made a kind of chicken stir fry over rice. I also enjoyed a glass of lemonade iced tea, which I've drank often since I had some at Starbucks in Denver. Dinner was slightly charred but still yum meatballs, along with tons of corn and greens. This isn't exactly a smart meal to consume at 10 PM, but ah well.
And now I'm off to work. Better hope the ol' podcasts do their job and keep me awake. I'd thought about resetting my alarm and sleeping till 6:20 after having completed shower and dressing, but I decided I might well not wake back up so had better just focus on keeping the engines running. I'm also running low on clean clothes, and am not really sure what to do about it. After the great disaster of 2009, I'm nervous about using that stupid washer. Maybe I'll have to venture down to the laundromat? We shall see.
Well, I hope you all somehow manage to have a good enough Monday. I'll try to, despite outward appearances to the contrary. Oh, and welcome to June! Wow, already approaching the halfway mark of this year. That's scaring me a little. Well ok, a lot. OUT!
Well, I reached the climax of The Kommandant's Girl, and it was, in a word, heart-stopping. Oh man! I seriously thought I'd get physically sick dealing with that strain. That was a horrible war, and it really brought out some of the worst in humanity. I hope we leared something from those attrocities, at least.
The next one I've chosen, I've no doubt you've heard of it. Though I was supposed to have read it long ago, I never had for some reason. It's To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. I'm sure you know what it's about, but...
Classic tale of injustice, friendship, and coming-of-age in 1930s Alabama. Six-year-old Scout and her friends are fascinated by the mysterious Radley place and its reclusive occupant. But their focus shifts when Scout's attorney-father is called upon to defend a black man accused of rape.
Scout seems incredibly intelligent, at least the version of her that's narrating the story. This makes me wonder if she's telling it as an adult. It's also odd to see how the interaction between her and her brother changes as they age and their other male friend becomes more a part of their lives.
I saw this as a play, with my cousin playing the preacher in the small town church. I vividly remember that day, because I then joined him and his actor friends at the casting party, which went into the night and saw me get hit on by a drunk woman, told more than I wanted to know about somebody's drug habit, and left to fall asleep coverless on a couch in a very cold room with the door open. In the middle of November.
Speaking of plays, I'm kind of hoping to see one of my high school and college friends in some sort of local production this weekend. But getting good ol' special Transportation to come and pick me up at or after 10 PM is unlikely. I again wish I could just hop into a car and go wherever I want whenever I want.
And that's basically all. Nothing terribly exciting, but then what can you expect? I guess I'll listen to the NBA game between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers. Denver must win tonight in order to remain in the series. but the game does take place in the Mile High City, so that should work in their favor. I hope they do pull it out.
We'll see if I do indeed get to do something this weekend. In any case, I shall enjoy the very warm weather. Hope you are able to also.
As most of you know by now, I enjoy listening to NPR. Particularly, I usually close my night by tuning in to Morning Edition and All Things Considered. It's an insane routine that I've clung to, I guess for comfort? consistency?, since 2002.
Anyway, I logged onto the site today and they had links following each story that would allow you to download them as files. They've had a playlist feature for a year or so now, but it's inaccessible due to that evil Flash. So this change is great.
It took me a good fifteen minutes to get all the stories I wanted loaded, imported into iTunes and gathered onto a playlist there. I'm sure that as I get used to this, I'll be able to get my stories together much more quickly.
I like this, because it means that I can just disable my screen-reader's speech and turn the speakers way up. This makes the stories feel more continuous and limits distractions, and thus I get a lot more out of them. Not to mention that I can just hear them better.
I'm not sure if this feature is set in stone yet or if it's just a trial. If they do keep it though, then I can probably go to some shows I might not otherwise listen to and download them as podcasts.
The Internet age continues to amaze me, although I'm pretty certain that people's need to make money while producing this content will at some point cause a change in the amount of information we currently have access to. They're already talking of charging for newspaper articles, but as my twitterfolk mentioned, this will just be difficult to do. Even the guy speaking of it on the show said that it would be like "trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube". Ok? Well, I guess we'll just have to see how far this revolution can indeed go.
Well ya coulda fooled me. The day wasn't so bad, I guess, just what I've come to expect out of my first day of the week.
At work, I'm still in the bags into bags area. No idea how much longer I'm gonna be over there, or if my other job will ever be revived. I've finally learned how to sit in that chair without nearly breaking myself, thank goodness. I just have to sit on the extreme edge with my back pressed as far back as possible. And yes, this makes for a long day.
The bad of working in that section, aside from that already mentioned, is that I have to eat lunch at 11:30 again. It's funny; I used to hate eating at 12, but now I realize that it makes the day go by so much faster to do that.
I think the woman who'd come over for sandwiches was trying to get me to stop so that she could reimburse me for them, but I didn't process what she'd said until I was out of earshot. Sometimes, it's a pain having less than normal hearing. And especially when I'm already blind.
The good of working over there is that I can actually read during the day! Since my hands aren't getting all sticky, it's much easier for me to pull out the Pac Mate and plug in my headset. I know I mentioned that in the voice post, but nobody actually listens to that do they?
Anyway, this book is awesome! Well aside from some ridiculous errors that look like things any run-of-the-mill editor would catch. There were some problems with the dialog, where the character would suddenly be saying the wrong thing. There were also obviously misspelled words. I know how easy it is to make these mistakes, but I'd think a published book wouldn't show any of them.
One thing that's neat is how the author weaves some of the Polish words in that they are using, in ways that make their meaning clear so that no translation is needed. For example, I think "tak" means what. "Pani" seems to be a term of respect when referring to women, like Miss. And I've seen the word "dobry" used quite often, usually in conjunction with a greeting as if it means good. Like good morning, good night, etc. That's kinda cool.
Well, I suppose I'll catch the last of this game if it's still worth listening to. I really wanna lay down and dive back into this book. I've no idea how many days I'll be working this week, but I guess I'll find that out tomorrow. And, I must finalize some other stuff this week too. A lot on my plate! Maybe, hopefully, I can find a little time for sleep somewhere in there. Peace!
Well, since I've not had the misfortune of losing someone close to me at war, at least not that I'm aware of, I thought I'd recount some of the experiences associated with this. All of us have probably been touched in some way by those who serve in our nation's military.
My biological father went to Vietnam in the late 60's. I don't actually know much about his experiences there, since as with many who've gone before him, he doesn't much like talking about them.
My cousin used to have a fascination with war as a child. Because of this, we'd have improvisational skits, which we called "playing something" that could last for hours. They were usually set during World War II, the Korean Conflict, or the Vietnam War. Much of what I learned about these incidents was picked up that way, through him. We'd have an amazing interplay in which we'd act out the roles of some 20+ characters without really stopping to ask questions.
To get some of our information, my cousin would pick my dad's brain. He'd talk about how they had to grab quick knaps in the field whenever they could, and be ready to move on command. He also spoke of having best friends pass on in his arms, and the incredible pain and anguish that caused. After a while, he said "ok, I just don't wanna talk about this anymore!" So, we stopped asking.
My next eldest sister's now ex husband spent time in Kuwait in, I think 2003? He had a different reaction to this than I'm used to. When he spoke of powering tanks and taking out some bad guys, it almost sounded as if he were speaking with glee, like it was one big video game. "Yeah, I saw a tank bounce right over somebody!" he said with an almost manic laugh.
I don't think he was actually being mallicious. What was more probable is that he was using this as a kind of coping mechanism. Of course it's hard for those of us who've never been amidst such horror to imagine, but I guess if you let it get to you too much you'll find it difficult to do your job effectively.
I do remember my sister spending many a frightened night glued to the TV screen, and getting jumpy every time any violence against American troops was mentioned. It definitely made me nervous.
In closing, I hope we get to a point where this kind of action to maintain our freedoms is no longer necessary. I know it's wishful thinking, but if we stop believing that peace and cooperation are possible, then what will we have become? Hopefully, in these next years we'll learn to engage each other with dialog, rather than with bullets.
I'll tell you when that loss became real to me. I made a trip to Washington DC in the early 90's, and walked the length of the Vietnam Memorial, feeling all the names engraved along the wall. There were still people weeping openly and placing flowers. I just couldn't fathom that so many people had been killed. And for what? What reason is there ever to act so heinously?
And it's now 3 PM, the time that has been designated as a moment of silence in honor of those who are still acting on our behalf. This is my tribute.
So, I ended up pulling something close to an all-nighter as I reached the climax of the previous novel. Real good stuff! It would help to understand it if you have any knowledge of the markets and how they work, which I most certainly do not, but I think I still got the jist of the story. Oh, and I said that author's name was Lee Vince, when it's actually Lee Vance. I should go back and correct that, shouldn't I?
Anyway, I suppose it's not surprising that it had a financial focus, as the writer once worked for Goldman-Sax, (however that's spelled). At the end, he said they weren't having the sorts of problems this fictional company did. But if I'm not mistaken, they were right in the midst of this whole collapse? I could be wrong about that, but I don't think I'd have heard of them otherwise. Interesting.
For my next piece, I've fallen back on an old favorite: historical fiction. This one's entitled The Kommandant's Girl, by Pam Jenoff.
World War II, Poland. Newlyweds Jacob and Emma become separated during the Nazi invasion. Jacob joins the Jewish underground, and Emma moves in with a Catholic aunt. Posing as a gentile, Emma works for a Nazi Kommandant, risking her marriage--and her life-- to help Jacob's cause.
I finally managed to get it started, and I'm liking it thus far. Again, we have the present, or what was present as the story unfolded, written in first person present tense, with a lot of reflection sprinkled throughout. I suppose this style of writing is becoming popular, so I'd better get used to it.
The story is compelling thus far. Even as I write this entry, I'm anxiously awaiting the completion of my Pac Mate's recharge so I can dive back into it. It really does make me sad that people had to go through that though, just because they were so hated by one man and his followers.
Just as I tried to settle in and read some while outside, it started pouring madly! I mean goodness, I really thought we were going to be washed away. Thankfully it's stopped, but it's pretty cool out there right now. I know that makes the ol' PC happy.
And speaking of that, we had a work friend come over to visit yesterday. She hooked a brother up with something like 1500 songs using her external hard drive, which makes me happy as my collection had become a bit stale. ITunes had to convert a lot of those WMA files into MP3's though, and I thought that was going to make my computer explode from overheating.
We then ordered sandwiches from Dominoes. I used the 20 I'd planned to save for lunch at work to pay for them, but oh well. I guess I'll cross that bridge when it's time.
Well I'm out. Gonna see if this Pac Mate's done and try to read some before catching what should be a great game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic in game 3 of the NBA playoffs. Let's see if LeBron will drain anymore last-second shots. I just hope it's competitive!
Well today hasn't been anything spectacular. The one thing I did was catch up on my sleep.
I did have to wake up early to make a grocery run. I already knew this, so I'd turned on some music at 8:45 and relaxed for 45 minutes or so as I cycled through my thoughts. My sighted cousin departed somewhere in there, and the dog decided she'd come and lay with me to hear some music, too. I'm not sure how she got in here, as the door was entirely shut. I think she has a secret means of entry.
Anyway, I finally, grudgingly showered and dressed. It was a really warm day, maybe mid 80's or so. I suppose I can now pull out my shorts again, and hopefully I won't be putting them away till September this time!
I actually tried to sit outside and read around 2, but once my head bounced off the chair handles I was forced to give up.
I then came in and passed out till 4 with yet more music. Yeah, I have it going almost all the time I'm in here.
It was better out there at 5, except my cousin's gang of thugs showed up right around then and made lots of noise. It was all good, though.
The night has been all about sports. I caught a little of the baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets. I don't know why, but I still enjoy interleague play. It just adds a different flavor to things. I can't ever watch for long though, as MLB.TV tends to overheat my computer, especially when they go on commercial. That's very odd, and I don't think I recall that happening last year.
I finished up watching a great game between the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA playoffs. Just as they had in their first match-up, Cleveland took a huge lead early and squandered it coming down the stretch. Orlando had hit a huge shot to go up two with a second remaining, but Cleveland's LeBron James managed to nail a three as time expired to give them the win. He wants to be the next phenomenon, or rather the NBA wants him to. Doing stuff like that will go a long way toward making that happen.
Well, I'm done with my boring ramblings. I just wanted to write something in here today, and I'm still not getting Writer's Block questions I can really work with.
Oh, and I'm having a whole lot of fun on Twitter these days too. So if you have an account and haven't yet, consider following me. That is all. Hope you had a great Friday. And to my American friends, I wish you a safe and happy Memorial Day. Yay for the unofficial start to summer!
Ah man, my life has been too serious lately. So, I'm bringing you a little something different.
First, I got the podcast I'm about to talk about from the Amateur Traveler Podcast, a good show in its own right. This guy interviews people in different locales of the world or those who are experts in those locales. He asks about things such as dining, touristy stuff, and unusual places within. He pretty much has a set of questions that are only slightly varied, depending on the destination. I believe the actual subscription is iTunes enhanced, which means you can see pictures as you're listening on your computer or iPod. However, I have to convert them to MP3 in order to play them in my little player.
Anyway, he introduced this show by a flight attendant called Betty In The Sky With A Suitcase! She recounts some of the silly anecdotes she's heard from passengers, as well as the hard to believe things that passengers do while onboard. In her latest episode, for example, she had a clip where the pilot, in his description of the scenery below, felt it necessary to highlight the weaponry he and his co-pilot and head flight attendant were carrying. After saying that this gun could pierce armor from 20 feet away and tear a whole into human bone the size of the Grand Canyon, the natural wonder they happened to be flying over, he said "so sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of your flight". I know they get a bit nutty up in that cockpit, but...
I've only listened to one of her shows, but it seems fun. She laughs throughout, and I could easily imagine that her personality would be similar if I were onboard her airplane.
Anyhow, I thought some of my traveling friends might enjoy this. I'm sure I will for a while. She seems to put them out somewhat infrequently, but there are a few to listen to in the archives already. It just whets my appetite to go back up into that wild blue yonder!
No folks, there's no point in asking what's wrong with me, because I hardly know myself. I do know one thing though: I'm tired of being so tired after work! Maybe it's my fault?
I was awake by 4:30. Well more precisely, my body ditched the sleep idea at 4 AM and I accepted this inevitability 30 minutes later. I decided why waste time? I'd go ahead and get some things done.
So, I showered first, then headed back to my room to put the finishing touches on these scholarship applications for grad school. And perhaps this is somebody showing me that he's happy with my progress, but when I arrived back home from work, I suddenly found that the professor at the university as well as someone from Division of Services for the Blind had finally gotten back in touch with me. They're gonna help me sort things out within the next couple weeks, hopefully. That would be a relief!
So anyway, it was off to work. The mandatory timewaster. First, the paratransit bus didn't arrive till 7:30, almost a full hour later than it should've been. A really mean sounding man was driving, and he yelled at the dog when she tried to say hi as he collected my cousin and me.
As it turns out, if I'd decided to just stay home nothing would've really been wrong with that. I discovered that there was no work in my section, and no one else from my section had come in. "Did they tell us we were to be off?" I asked someone. "No, I don't think so," he responded. I don't know how everybody else communicates then, but I'm just not supposed to be in on it apparently.
So, I spent the entire day doing some even more demeaning job, putting what looked like baby backpacks into plastic bags and then boxing those. The chair I was sitting in leaned at an extremely uncomfortable angle too, gouging into my legs and throwing my back out of line. I really could hardly walk all day, and was and am quite sore as a result. I guess this was just one of those Monday's you get through, huh?
And after that start, I only hope I don't have that to look forward to for the rest of the week. Once they run out back there though, it takes them a while to get replacements. I suppose it's mostly amazing that this hadn't happened in a good long while.
Well I hope you all had a better, less painful Monday than I. Now I'm off to do the usual: listen to NPR then read some. I like this book well enough, aside from the fact that it's written in the present tense. I read a couple chapters once I got home, before the cold winds drove me back inside.
Ok, so I was about to start typing ten minutes ago, but then the chat windows all popped open at once. Not that that was a problem; it was pretty fun actually.
So, I finished the dog book, as I've taken to calling that one. It was cute, but a bit unrealistic. It had a little of that Accidental Tourist thing going, minus the travel. There were a lot! of dogs featured throughout the story, and most of the character interactions revolved around these four-legged creatures. I enjoyed it for what it was, which was nice, light, furry reading.
So, onto the next already. This one's not quite as short as the previous two, but I suspect it still won't take me long to finish. It's called Restitution, by Lee Vince.
Wall Street businessman Peter Tyler becomes the main suspect after his wife, Jenna, is murdered during a home robbery. Tyler flees and searches for his friend, Russian business tycoon Andrei Zhilina, who might help Tyler clear his name. But Andrei has disappeared.
I've not even started this one, so I obviously haven't gotten to form any impressions of it just yet. But since I'm noting it in the record, I will be required to complete it.
Soon as I came in from reading about dogs, our resident of that species informed me that she needed attention. I took her out and told her to make it quick, as the rains were coming. And we know how fussy she can get about the rain!
Then I decided I needed to go procure some junkfood to go with my cousin's leftover pizza, as he'd gone to goodness knows where. So I set off for the store. Only my rain prediction turned out to be correct. Luckily, I'd planned for this possibility. I sheltered my hearing aids with my hands as I crossed the street, since I knew I'd need full hearing to do so safely, and then I took them out and put them in my Pac Mate's bag. I'd left the actual machine at home, smartly. It was kinda fun running through the drops, the world a bit softer than it usually was. I didn't get all that wet, if at all, and it was pretty warm still.
So, that fun over with, I came back in to relax for a while before speaking with someone on blindness and race. She'd presented herself in the blindpeople community, and given my research background I decided I was up to the challenge. Only I have a tendency to ramble a lot, especially when I'm thinking on my feet like that. I hope something I said in there and over the noise of low flying aircraft, car engines firing up and the basketball game blaring through our open door could be understood.
So, it was actually a halfway decent Saturday. Now I'm off to eat some hot fries and watch some baseball, before NPR and bed. I hope all of you had a good day as well, and that Sunday is even better. Oh, and welcome to laurele. I hope you enjoy my little corner of the Net, and I look forward to learning from you as well.
I actually know many songs by heart, not a surprise given my joy for singing. Most of the ones I am able to remember are perenial favorites: songs I find myself humming to pass time during the boring workday or very long commutes to and from. Oh, and let's not get into the torture I put anybody else in the house through while showering. Ha ha.
I'm kind of sad though, because I'm not as easily able to learn new tracks as before. As my hearing has steadily decreased, I really don't get most of the lyrics of a song no matter how often I listen to it.
This is where the Internet comes in handy. There's almost nothing better than unlocking a song whose music and harmonies I already thought were beautiful, and finding the full story buried within. I guess it's all a part of adjusting to my hearing loss: learning to accept this new way of gaining insight.
In some ways though, it's actually richer than before. It really does cause me to view every track as a piece of poetry.
I'll sing and enjoy music as long as I'm able. In fact, I think wearing my hearing aids has probably made me a better singer, as for the first time I can really hear my own voice.
I need some good, new tracks to learn though. Sadly, there just doesn't seem to be as much quality music put out these days. but I suppose that, as with everything, that is strictly a matter of opinion.
I don't even entirely know what's gonna come out of these fingers right now. My life has been full of it's usual blahness, but hey! I'm doing a good job of dealing with it and just trying to hang.
The weather has been absolutely perfect these last couple days, with very nice days and cool enough nights that sleep came easily. I think rain will march back into the forecast tomorrow though, and will remain there till Monday.
Mostly though, I've just been playing online. I listened to the Blind Cool Tech podcast at work, and heard an episode on the new Twitter client for the blind called McTwit. I'm sure most of the people who would want to know about it already do, but still I think it's pretty cool. I'd kind of messed up Jawter, the other main client for the blind and one that only works with the JAWS for Windows screen-reader, and thus I had to manually type in reply names and such. Now that is no more. And I like this because I'm not risking my screen-reader's functionality as I was with Jawter, which you had to place within the JAWS scripts.
Yesterday was kinda crazy, actually. Right after I finished reading my Lj friends-list, the computer suddenly stopped speaking. Thinking nothing of it initially, I just got up and dressed. Nuttily though, the power had failed! I started trying to remember if I'd paid the latest electric bill, which I had, but even if I hadn't it wasn't yet due. So needless to say I was not happy. Then my cell picked that time to die. It was therefore a long workday. Luckily they got it back up and running around 11, so we didn't end up losing any food. I'm so tired of this ghetto apartment! I say again.
Oh, and I'd like to welcome gnomeangel: we'd known each other before but just recently had fun conversations on Twitter and Skype. I hope eventually I can come up with something that interests you. Till then, stay tuned!
You might not believe this, but I hadn't known who James Taylor was until my freshman year of college. Oh sure, I must've heard Shower The People sometime while in a doctor's office, (doesn't he have that waiting-room voice?), but I was unaware of the artist behind it.
It was a cold, leaky November day way back in 1997. I'd just returned from a class on Music Appreciation. Yeah I know, but you'd have liked this one! That professor was so cool, because he had it in his mind that we should like all music, not just the stuffy classical stuff. We'd sit in there jamming to Marvin Gaye, and then he'd throw on a Country track to show us how everything was interrelated.
Anyway, I'd just returned from that class on a high, because a woman I'd talked to a few times was really starting to enjoy being around me. It took place in one of those large auditoriums of 250 people, and because I'd gotten my hair cut she said "it took me three scans of the audience before I recognized you!" I was amazed that she'd tried to so hard.
I turned on our local easy listening station and they were playing Little More Time With You. Those lyrics so well captured how I felt at the time.
To this day, I have a deep love for that song. Which is why it surprises me that so few people seem to have heard of it. I was unable to locate it or even figure out which CD it might be on until the goodness that is iTunes came along. After slogging through dozens of possible matches in the store, I finally managed to snag that title. I often turn it up before heading off to my boring job, just to give me that boost that I need.
I like many other songs by him as well. Of course, there's Carolina In My Mind. I think he actually has some connection to the Carolinas? (In fact, the Wikipedia article says that he was raised in Carrboro, N.C; interesting). I do know that the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce gave him an award for that song, along with country singer Jodee Messina's Heads Carolina Tails California.
Another mainstay of mine by him is a relatively recent one, at least by James Taylor standards. You've Got A Friend It reminds me of my 2004 trip to New York City, and more specifically eating at The Red Flame Coffee Shop, which was located very near the hotel. I wonder if that place still exists. It seems as if that song played each time I visited.
And of course I like its message as well. We all need to feel that we have someone to whom we can turn, no matter how crazy things get.
I've finished that relatively short book on the Arch Builder planet, and well, it was odd. I wasn't entirely sure what had happened in the end. It had the feel of something that may have taken place in sixteenth-Century America, which I suppose the author was going for as the humans looked to establish settlements on another world. And writing this, I can kind of see more clearly what it was about. How the humans, or some of them at least, regarded the arch builders as savages and were afraid of what they would do to the human children. Interesting, and fairly well told.
I'm not sure about this book I've started, but I was drawn to it by talk of dogs. It's called The New Yorkers, by Cathleen Schine.
On an unfashionable street near Central Park, neighbors form a bond because of their dogs. Jody adopts elderly Beatrice from the ASPCA, and divorced Everett falls in love with them both. Polly takes an apartment that comes with an abandoned puppy, while Jamie admits canines to his restaurant.
I've read the first couple chapters, and thus far it doesn't seem to have much of a plot. It's as short as the previous one though, so whether I'm truly feeling it I should be able to complete.
And of course, I had to call my mom. I'm glad that this time when I said Happy Mother's Day she didn't retort with "you too!" She likes doing that to see me turn red. Ha ha.
Anyway, she says my sister just called her out of the blue from Raleigh, NC, saying she's run off to some hotel to be with a man! We've always known she was a bit off her rocker, but wow. I just hope she's ok. She's the next youngest after me in age.
And that's basically all for today. Already time to head back into the hole. I did complete one of the essays I must write for this scholarship, which is a very good thing. I'm also pretty sore from all that cleaning I did yesterday, which kind of makes it a good soreness. I hope I can get up tomorrow, though.
I'm wishing all the mom's on my list a Happy Mother's Day, while also acknowledging that this day is a real struggle for some. For those of you in the latter category, I offer hugs and hope that you're ok.
Well, today has been insane, to say the least. I'm trying to deal with what feels like a thousand things at once.
Let's start with the beginning. Ha! My cousin, (the sighted one), came to wake me at 11, informing me that he was headed out to an all-day construction job. This meant that I'd have the apartment to myself for the entire day, a very good thing as I could finally tackle laundry without having to hear them moan and groan about the noise of the machinery.
Because I know this thing pumps water through the sink as it empties, I set out to wash the dishes first. This didn't take all that long, and I made it more fun by singing to the top of my lungs. I then cleaned out that microwave as it needed that badly, then finally loaded the wash. I hope the stuff on that dryer was indeed liquid detergent, because if not, my clothes are probably now a different color.
When I came back into the kitchen about halfway through the load, I heard a frightening sound. The darned sink had managed to flood! I think this is because there was some stoppage clogging the drains. It did this during both the hot and cold cycles, causing me to zip around the kitchen trying to minimize the damage with thousands of towels and many an unpleasant word. That whole fiasco led me to question my competence, although I did get in here and do this room a good de-dusting too. Sometimes, I just don't know.
And speaking of questioning everything, my Aunt has somehow been in communication with a blind student at the University of North Carolina. This student, through my Aunt, has sent an e-mail listing her concerns about my decision to attend that university. None of them really surprises me, as I was already pretty much aware of them, but the message just makes me nervous. Check it out, if you want.
And that's been all for my Saturday, for the most part. I did take a walk to the store, during which the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) bus pulled alongside me and stopped, I believe thinking I intended to board. I had half a mind to just hop on and do something adventurous, but I had no idea where I might go.
I need to get away from this place and feel truly free, and yet I fear it at the same time. How will I deal with all these issues? I sometimes feel like Will Smith said he had on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air: like I'm the kid on the skating rink trying to stay caught up with everyone while wearing just one skate. Maybe I missed some critical piece of advice that would help me get this thing down without making so many mistakes. Just pray for me or hope I can figure this out somehow. And I'd better get outa here before the on-coming storm zaps me into oblivion!
But first, an addendim to my Ocean post. I heard an interesting bit on Here And Now about a robot glider that was set to "fly" from New Jersey to Spain. It's actually more like riding underwater using the Gulf Stream, and it's going to collect data and send it back to an on-shore lab as it makes its seven-month journey.
They said they've tried this before, but the last experiment met an unfortunate end. It seems a shark got a hold of the machine and bit it! The woman who spoke about this said they were crying when they heard this, but it was kind of amusing in a way. Like he knew what he was doing.
Why do we have these annoying periods of endless rain! It seems as if the stuff has been coming down since last Friday, and to add to the fun, we've had tornado warnings posted the last couple days. Thankfully, I've not yet been caught up in any storms quite that bad.
This reminds me of a Spring long ago, I think maybe it was in 1992? It was back in the days when our family had little, and we quite litterally depended on our trek to the local Boys and Girls Club for their greasy bagged lunches. Ugh, the lines with all those ghetto kids!
Anyway, so it rained ferociously everyday that week. We had this path that we'd walk through in which the plants actually would try to grab you if you were too slow. It was very narrow, and I'd feel fortunate any time I could emerge without some serious scratches.
So every day, my blind cousin, five sisters and I would arrive at the club soaking wet after slogging through the rainforest. And what was worse is that I had zero desire to be there! Especially given that I was looked upon as the truly odd one by those folks who just couldn't understand me anyway. I think this memory is the best antidote to my endless desire to return to childhood I've ever conjured.
And one more odd thing I remember about that week: my eldest sister's boyfriend had rented the movie The Five Heartbeats. We loved that so much that, once we'd managed to navigate the floodplains and re-enter our townhouse, we'd pop it in. Watched it no less than six times that week. Well? It was spring break and we couldn't go outside. What else was there to do?
I just hope this is the last day of our "April?" showers. I doubt we're running below normal this season, as we've been seemingly for the last six years, although honestly I wonder what "normal" is to begin with. To me, it's dry and sunny!
And since I've not yet had the chance to escape our atmosphere and visit outer Space, I suppose I've had to be content with the inner depths. That's right, the large body of water that makes up nearly 70% of the Earth's surface, and very likely made life possible on this planet.
This fun fact: we actually don't even know as much about the oceans as we do the skies, because of where we've placed our priorities. There are doubtless still huge creatures rithing just below its surface that we've not yet discovered.
It's odd: in our description of the sea, we often use such violent terms as monster, tempest, uncaring wild thing that can and will attack without mercy. There's ample reason for these terms, as we've seen with horrors like the 2004 tsunami and the endless destruction rought year after year by hurricanes and other coastal phenomena.
However, land along its shores is still regarded as some of the most prime real estate there is. We repeatedly construct big homes, hotels, and luxury resorts to which we can come for extensive relaxation. I don't think that this belief in the restorative power of the waves is false either. Studies are proving that the longest living people are those who hug the waters, in what are called blue zones. And while I don't plan to actually live in such an area myself, there will never be a greater thrill than visiting.
I still remember that first trip. My inept family turned what should've been a four-hour ride to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina into something over eight hours. The first thing I noticed as we piled from that hashback on that warm September night in 1989 was how the air smelled. I'd never known anything like it.
After a night of restlessness in an old motel room that smelled of feet and featured flying cockroaches as one of its amenities, we piled into our swimwear and headed out. The water was crowded with people, but quite comfortable temperaturewise. The thing that amazed me was how it kept sliding down around my ankles, then rising quickly to lap at my shorts. It almost felt as if it were alive.
"I can see England from here!" my sisters proclaimed. While this statement surprised me, given that I knew how far away England was, I supposed it was possible. This is because, standing in that shifting sand, I felt for the first time the interconnectedness of everything. I wonder if this is where the quote "no man is an island" in fact comes from.
Sadly, only a week after our return to Charlotte, that beach was devastated by Hurricane Hugo. That name still sends chills through anyone who happened to be residing in the North Carolina/South Carolina area at that time, as it did significant damage even this far inland.
As humanity continually degrades its environment, it will come up with ever more ways to punish us, much of that originating in the oceans. Therefore, I hope its beauty will be enough to move us more rapidly toward change.
I actually spent most of the day reading a book that I just had to scratch, because I couldn't get into it at all. It was High Noon, by Nora Roberts. I guess she's kind of hit and miss with me anyway. I liked one of her books, well a couple, but sometimes she can be way too sappy.
So, I ended up sticking with the Space theme, surprise surprise. I chose one called Girl In Landscape, by Jonathan Lethem.
When a global disaster blights the Earth's environment, fourteen- year-old Pella Marsh and her family escape to another planet where her father, a failed politician, hopes to restart his career. Pella assimilates into the alien society and discovers a terrible threat that could doom the Earthling colony.
I've only read one chapter thus far, but it seems like it should be decent at least. I've not read a good Science Fiction piece in a long time, despite listening to Escape Pod, a podcast that runs sf short stories, on a regular basis. It's sad to see what has happened to the environment as this novel begins, but what's more frightening is that these things seem absolutely possible.
And even though it's the third of the month already, I thought I'd still post my comment report. I know some people have fun with the numbers. I think this is going to be a big, scary month for me, so please do all you can to generate positive thoughts! I can't remember the last time I wasn't worried about something. I guess that's kind of sad. I just hope I can work it all out. Anyway, enough rapsodizing. Enjoy the numbers.
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I just finished watching Game Seven of the NBA playoff series between the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls. I hadn't really been paying attention, because I couldn't really get into the playoffs these days, but that was a pretty good game. I'd hoped the mighty Celtics, who've pretty much bought greatness, would get knocked off. But alas, it wasn't to be. They lost by eight, I think.
Today's been fairly nice. Was sitting outside, entranced by this Jodi Picoult book when I suddenly felt "drop, drop". This caused me to bolt back to my apartment, metal chair in tow. And not twenty minutes after that, I heard a pop in my hearing aid then the house rattled! This makes me wonder if I could possibly get fried that way. It does make lightning audible though, which is a first.
And speaking of that book, I can kind of see what's ruffled feathers with some people in the end. I'm not all the way finished, so if there's some major surprise I'm not yet aware of don't spoil me! But what I will say though is I think it's typical Picoult. I guess she really likes to get under your skin in a way that will make you think a lot about what you've read. Is it over the top? Probably. I certainly felt that way upon finishing My Sister's Keeper. I do still like her, though.
One of the things I'm liking about this Norrie Disease Association is that it's presenting me with an opportunity to help others by sharing what I've experienced. I'm on a mailing list, on which I'd posted my stories, and now some individuals are starting to ask me further questions. I actually get a high off of this. It's one of the great things about the Internet: those of us with rare disorders no longer feel as if we are the only ones suffering them.
And that's really all to report on this day, as it winds down. I felt a bit glum earlier, but all is well that ends well, right? Out!
As a child, I had a really hard time conceptualizing exactly what the phrase "the earth is round" meant. I still thought it was a two-dimensional circle, looking much like a map would, rather than its actual spherical shape. So when people talked of floating away if there was no gravity, I really had no idea what they meant.
The first time I heard of an object being blasted into orbit that I could actually remember was the tragic Challenger mission. We were fascinated by it, particularly because a regular school teacher would be onboard who planned to beam information about what she learned and encountered to us. So, of course we were all crowded around the TV when it happened: that horrible explosion that instantly snuffed out her life as well as many others. That was when I was first made aware of the dangers of Space travel.
Over time, though, I became entranced by the notion that our planet was really one of many floating in the Heavens and making a regular pass around the Sun, which was actually just a normal star. I loved watching films on the Solar System, and I even had my Vision Resource Teacher help me to construct a model one using styrofoam balls of different sizes and popcicle sticks on a foam board so that I would know how it felt. Of course, that version had nine planets, though it has now been accepted that there are actually only eight. Poor Pluto!
One of the books that really made me wonder if long-distance Space travel might one day be possible, and don't laugh, is the Sequel to Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. I don't remember what it was called, but in it, Charlie and Willie Wonka made that elevator blast into space and got to some other planet on which they came across creatures called Vermitious Knids. It was silly, but it definitely awakened my sense of adventure.
After reading that one, I told my mom that I wanted to be the first blind man on the moon. "Well, you know I support you in anything you wanna try," she said, "but I won't be watching that on TV!" I sometimes still wish I could dream that big.
My obsession now mostly manifests itself in movies. I have Armagedden and Deep Impact, both of which are about the earth potentially being destroyed by asteroids, Independence Day, in which aliens attack, and Apollo Thirteen, which documents that failed mission in 1970. I love that noe, because Tom Hanks is in it! I've worn all of them out, though.
If I could see for five seconds, I would just like to get a good look at the night sky. I've of course been told what it looks like, viewing phenomena such as lunar eclipses, shooting stars, (which I think are actually meteors being torched in Earth's atmosphere as it passes through them) and other things, but I'm sure I just can't truly imagine it. Perhaps this is a good thing though, as it means I will always have something that leaves me in true wonder.
I thought that to get the juices in my brain going, I'd revive my interests feature from a couple years ago. And to kick it off, I chose five ones that I think are pretty cool, and will now put it to you to help me pick one. This should be fun. Goodness knows I need the topic variation. Poll #1392775
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All
Which of these interests would you like to see me tackle first?
“Hello folks. Assuming that this faggity(?) cell phone actually transmits the call because I think the signal in this room has to hick. In fact I have I gotta use it wake up. My alarm and on weekdays using the signal the cellphone and kinda missed twice this week which has never happened before. I accidentally missed one so I know or not were gonna way back in last June. So I don't know what's going on with that. Maybe Verizon is just tearing down that tower or something but anyways I'm just sitting here looking at old entries on today years ago and time has passed which were slightly more exciting it seems like my life is just now I'm just bouncing along, going through every day doing absolutely nothing, but watching baseball and talking to the occasional person and playing on the computer and it's just that I don't come too serious. I find that fun side again. Get out and go somewhere and just but anyways it actually seems to be getting hotter as the day goes at the time this night I wanna go in to my daddy's too. Today the weather outside today was perfect. I mean it was like the sun will come out for like 5 mins and then it will go away for 5 mins and it will come back. So I never got really hot. I could have sat there for hours and hours and live and love every second of it and then the wind was going slightly I think tomorrow sorts of rain which I'm not entirely happy about but I guess we have to get it sometimes and I was just sitting here and something I got to go to the grocery store anyways because we don't have any more food really but that will be taken care of and I don't miss here going to happen but I thought you know need to get I figured ___ filling in and I guess that is all for this incredible call but I thought maybe people like to hear me talk or something at some point. Have a good day. Bye.”
I think my writing ability Has all but desserted me, But please don't leave Cuz I still read!
It's national poetry month, so there. Yeah, I know, but I just heard this silly story on NPR where a woman takes famous poems and makes them "kid friendly" by altering the words within. It was pretty cute, actually.
So what have I been up to. Well, not a whole lot sadly. I'm still kicking around this grad school thing, and hopefully major progress will be made before week's end. Also, this Norrie Disease conference in Boston announced its grants, and I applied for one as well as filling out the registration form. They only have five, so I'm hoping I can get the assistance. I would love to get to visit Boston when it's actually hot!
Still enjoying this weather, too. I've finally lost my usually ubiquitous coat, which has caused my co-workers to pick on me without end. "Hey, where's that jacket!" They just don't understand what it's like to be constantly cold. And I don't understand why that is always the case. I'm digging these 80's though, and glad I don't yet see the end of them on Google weather.
Alright, I'm off to read some before sleeping yet more. I guess that is one thing about the initial heat; it throws my sleep schedule way way! out of whack. I took a knap when I got home, because I was just so tired. Only the dog had decided she wanted to hop in my bed and do the same, so as I stretched out, she got a swift kick to the head! I apologized though, and I think she accepted as she just laid back down beside me and curled in close. Out!
And I started to fear I'd never be saying that! Almost a month later, I've finally wrapped up that darn book. I'm guessing it was the fourth longest I've ever read, behind Gone With The Wind and the Ken Follett books Pillars Of The Earth and World Without End. It was well worth it, though.
The essence of its end, the attack on Pearl Harbor, wasn't much of a surprise. But wow, it really made you feel the way those folks felt at that time. No one was really surprised that something like that happened; most of the folks in the military were anxiously awaiting the action that would draw the US into war, which I'd already known from studying history. But they didn't really react to it well, as happens in most any war.
I think now I'll tackle this Jodi Piccoult book Handle With Care. I've already written written what it's supposed to be about but in a nutshell a kid is born with a rare disability, and the parents sue medical care providers based on the fact that they hadn't known this would occur. I've heard mixed reviews on it, so I'm eager to form my own impressions.
And wow! Now I think summer has arrived. As I write, it's still a balmy 75 degrees out. I actually cranked up the AC to try and cool it down a bit, but that ol thing hanging on the kitchen wall will do only so much. I wish we had Central Air. I'm glad it is hot, even still. Bring it on! I hope we won't drop off again, but it wouldn't surprise me. Now it's time for me to make my way over to Micky D's or Dairy Queen to procure my traditional hot fudge sundae.
And not much else. I'm in a nip and tuck affair with the toughest opponent in this Fantasy baseball league. I keep going down by 20, shooting up by 20, and then having the score nearly tied. I'll be dizzy by game's end. I don't know if I've got the firepower to pull it out tomorrow, but man it's been entertaining to watch.
Hope everybody else is having a great weekend. And stay hydrated! I must've drank a gallon of water between yesterday and today.
Well. I wish something like this had come across my desk when I was actively seeking employment. It sounds good though, and especially if you're willing to live in the Washington DC area. I thought some of my blind friends might well be interested in this, so I'd pass it on. It says in the e-mail that it's ok to distribute this to others.
And the organization looking for these people, the National Industries For The Blind, is the same one that runs the workshop I currently work in. So, I am grateful they exist, and that they are trying to help some of us to live a better life.
Well, this week has been ok I suppose. Nothing to write home about, but I thought I should get in here and post something just because.
The best news is that it seems as if we're finally about to hit a stretch of truly warm weather. Yay! I want to wilt away to nothingness in the sun, and to enjoy every minute of it.
Work just is. I hadn't felt like talking to people much this week, as a million thoughts ate at me. I'm still very much wondering what my fate is regarding grad school, and I've not really been able to get in touch with anybody there. It occurred to me though that they're probably locked in the throes of shutting down this year. So I'm thinking a couple more weeks and things should get jumping again. In the meantime, I'll try and finish applying for financial stuff and looking around for other sources. I guess all I can hope is that things work out in the end.
I did decide that today would be a good day at work, and guess what? It was. I really need to understand how much power I have over my own mind sometimes. We almost got in trouble because we were having so much fun back there. The boos came back, but I think ultimately he was just laughing at us. Even as my hands raced along, folding, wrapping, sealing and boxing material, he asked "Are you awake?" My question is this: if I'm still performing the job, does it really matter? Because I'm pretty sure I could do that job while asleep, as it's so utterly routine.
It helped to have some lunch too. My cousin had gotten some microwavable peparoni pizzas from the store, and he let me have one. I still wish they'd re-institute the policy where we could order food! I didn't realize how grumpy not eating was indeed making me.
I think the biggest challenge for me is that I feel as if I'm fighting this battle to grow up pretty much all alone. I know that all of you are going through similar though, so all I can really do is suck it up and try my darnedest to figure enough out that I'm not eaten alive. Can I do it? Stay tuned.
I'm sure most of you have by now heard of the controversy going on with Amazon.com's Kindle 2 player. If you haven't, as far as I understand it (and corrections are welcome) this version was supposed to have the ability to read ebooks out loud using a computerized voice. However, the Authors Guild immediately asked that they be allowed to decide whether a text would have this capability for fear of loss of more lucrative audio book contracts.
Upon first hearing of this, I wasn't exactly sure what to think. Though the money-money culture that seems to pervade everything in this society does drive me crazy, I could understand why people would be concerned about getting their fair share.
On the other side of that, though, you have the sudden opening up of so many more books to those, like me, who aren't able to read the printed page. We've already seen a revolution in the level of access we now have to books, thanks to sites such as Web Braille and Bookshare, which allow subscribers to quickly grab any book in their collection without having to wait for days for the bulky Braille copies to arrive by mail. However, we are still limited by what these folks can scan, not to mention the bureaucratic process one must go through to subscribe in the first place.
With this newest twist, we could purchase a book from Amazon and read it right away. Certainly, that would have given us a lot more flexibility.
Beth Case, host of the Disability 411 Podcast, has made me aware of a petition that asks the Authors Guild to reconsider their position. I've read it, and it suggests that employment, education, and other sectors of the economy are likely to suffer if this technological advance isn't allowed to take hold. It is endorsed by many blindness organizations, as well as others dealing with print disabilities, spinal cord damage, etc. Their goal is to reach 20000 signatures, and at the moment they're a little over 6000. Visit the site ReadingRights.com, which provides a link to said petition and a lot of other information on this controversy. Take a look at it for yourself, and decide if it's something you support. I will place my signature as soon as I post this.
Ok, so I just tried to make a voice post, which some of you may have heard. But my piece of junk cell phone had other ideas, or rather the area of the city in which I live. I still fantasize about a phone that will get great reception anywhere, dang it.
Well, before I was rudely interupted, I was ruminating on this very long book that I'm still reading: From Here To Eternity, by James Jones. Some shocking things happen as the story unfolds; things that are a bit surprising and sad now but would've been unspeakable in the 1950's. I think his main objective is to show that, despite their tendency to act all tough as if things have just rolled off of them, many soldiers are deeply hurt by the kind of bully bully culture that goes on in the military. And of course, this happens in many other places as well. Take a look at college fraternities and sorrorities. I think many different types of organizations' members go through this. People who try to address these issues even now are often harassed, which is quite sad.
While I was in the process of typing this, a song came on that caught me just so that I had to stand up and sing it to the tops of my lungs. Whoever's out in the living room is probably thinking I'm a little crazy at the moment. So? I don't care.
And speaking of crazy, I wanted to warm up food for supper this evening. No wait, this is going somewhere! So, I'm unwrapping the contents and placing them on a plate. I start thinking of a song and begin to sing it while I walk over to the trash can to dispose of the package. Then, I walked back over to the microwave, closed the door and whacked "Start". "Hmmm, why isn't it doing anything?" I press clear, then try inputting the time again, and bingo. I stand there for a minute or so, and it dawns on me that no smell is immenating from the machine. Odd? I feel a plate there and thing "I guess somebody just left this here without putting it in the sink as they should have. Only then do I feel its surface to discover my cold food, still anticipating entry into the microwave. Ha ha ha. I don't know what's wrong with me lately.
And that's about all for this day. My fantasy baseball team appears positioned to take a whacking this week, although I do still have a day to make something happen. I suppose that's bound to occur at some point anyway. I'm still enjoying the heck out of it, though.
And I got my chocolate, thanks to one of my cousin's friends. I think she got me the wrong thing and not what I requested, but it should do I guess. Peace out folks!
Ah, having fun using song lyrics as subjects. I should do that more often, perhaps it'll re-inspire me.
For whatever reason, I found myself today reminiscing about the good ol days. That's right, my college freshmen year. Hard to believe that's been twelve (12!) years ago.
Even though I certainly did enjoy it in the long run, it was very nearly a disaster. One amazing person saved it for me. It was one of those deals where someone comes into your life for a specific reason, and disappears when she's done serving her purpose.
It all began in a huge General Psychology class; a sea of over 200 people in which I couldn't have felt more alone. I just sat, held my machine close to me, and prayed for the hour and a half I'd be sitting there to move quickly. I was actually quite sure I'd be transferring from that university by close of semester, due to its shere size. Oh, and let's not mention that I'd gotten lost for 30 minutes while trying to locate the building where that particular lecture hall was housed. Not fun in 90 degree weather, not fun at all.
"Hey," I heard a voice call as I zipped down the hall upon conclusion. "Can I walk back with you? I stay in your dorm." "Uh, yeah sure" I replied. It was a woman, and well I've always been very shy when approached by them initially. She and I yacked about any and everything as we bounced along, and I barely noticed the fifteen minutes it took to arrive on the other side of campus. I thought that would be the end of that, though.
That first, miserable Saturday came, and I'd managed to get lost in the hall of my dorm while trying to find the restroom. I somehow made it back to my room, and was too embarrassed to ask my roommate for assistance, so I just stood there bouncing in the floor, needing very badly to pee. I somehow mustered enough courage to venture back into the hall again and this time located the bathroom, but I definitely was not going down to the cafeteria for a while.
Because of this, I missed breakfast and lunch. By dinner, I absolutely had to chance it and walk out on shaky legs. And what do you know, the person I'd met in my Psych class was working behind the counter. "Hey, you ok?" she said. "Not really," I stammered "but I hope to be once I get some food in me."
Since the counter was clear at that time, she came over to my table to chat with me. That was the first of many conversations we had; she was an amazing person who possessed the ability to lift my mood without even seeming to try.
As that semester wore on, I became so unstable that she actually recommended that I seek counseling. I wasn't about to go for that though, insisting that I was ok, until I'd very nearly decided to end it all shortly before Thanksgiving. I never did receive actual counseling, but my friend stuck closer to me than ever and somehow pulled me through those dark days.
Right before the Psychology final, she and I were having a chat over lunch and trying to de-stress. Half jokingly, I said "I don't even have any faith that I can pass this exam." For some reason, I've always had an irrational fear that anything I try I'll fail at. "Well I have faith in you" she said with all seriousness. That inspired me so much that I easily got the highest grade in the course.
I saw her only sporadically after that first semester, but her work had already been done. I definitely hit a couple rocks during the spring, most notably not obtaining any printer paper when I'd run out because I didn't want to ask where the book store was located, but overall it was a much better experience.
As I've noted before, I'd located her on MySpace way back in 2007, and we'd exchanged numbers and made plans to meet. That never quite happened, which made me kinda sad. I guess people change though, and even though she tried to reinvite me into her life again it just wasn't to be.
I can definitely say though that her intervention with me had a lot to do with my desire to help others avoid going through similar difficulties. I became a mentor to other freshmen with disabilities, making sure they got in some social time and did things beyond the four walls of either the dormroom or academic building. I just hope that somewhere, someone is reflecting on my contributions to them in the same way that I do my friend. And I sincerely hope to get another chance to lift others up.
Why did I use that as my subject title? No particular reason, except the song just happened to pop into my mind. One of my all-time favorites, despite the fact that my dad once turned on that CD and left it playing for five straight hours as he sobbed into his beer over my mom's departure. Ah, those were the days.
I'm worried about a lot these days. For starters, I can't seem to finalize this grad school enrollment. I went to the website to try and fill in the immunization form as instructed, only it said my social security number was invalid. I hope I'm still in, and they haven't just up and changed their mind. I guess I'll have to call and ask about this tomorrow, bugging them even further. I can't imagine what I'll do if this doesn't work out, but as my cousin told me I have to keep trying to come up with ideas.
I finally gave in and ordered another cane, since it seemed to be taking them forever to deliver one to me at work. Another 30 bucks down the drain! But I couldn't keep using the death trap my co-worker had loaned me, nice person though she is. And what do you know, the supervisor finally walked over with my new cane today at 2 PM. Ah well, it's good to have a spare, and especially with my track record. I could've used that money though.
At least the Spring is starting to take a firmer hold. It was still only upper 60's today, but that temperature is stabilizing and far better than the 30's of a month ago! Hopefully the real warmth is just around the corner. I think that would significantly help my mood as well.
And that's just about all the news from these parts. Hope everybody else had a good Wednesday.
Because I think it'll do me a little good to write about something other than my situation.
Well, they might be fancier, but I think video games just don't have the feel they did back then! But then what does? I'm probably just old already, but so what.
I remember that Christmas back in the late 80's when we got our first Nintendo system. And you can bet that I was just as excited as the rest for having it!
Some of you younger folks might find this hard to imagine, but in those days the games came on these big, plastic cartridges. For something like three years, the only one we even had was the classic Super Mario Brothers which came with Duck Hunt. In order to play Duck Hunt, you had to unhook one of the two controllers and plug in the gun.
I loved Mario Brothers, because of the music, and the odd sound it made when he jumped. Oh, and the "pluck-a-duck" sound the fireballs made upon contact. The out sound, whenever something bit him or he was otherwise dismembered, seeped into my nightmares.
My sisters coached me for a good while on how and when to jump, often getting mad at me whenever I got myself attacked. Amazingly, I got to where I could actually pass the first level with relative ease. Well ok, so I entered the skip pipe and pounded all the coins I could get, but hey, that was allowed!
I could actually do Duck Hunt relatively well. I just had to listen to it flapping its wings and guess when to pull the trigger. I got quite a few perfect scores.
Finally, when we moved, somebody let my sisters borrow their Mario Brothers III cartridge. Only, being the ghetto kids we were, that poor person never saw her game again. I really liked that one, because the music was scarier. I was much less adept at playing it, though.
We got our hands on some others as well. I remember there was one called Paperboy, where you would ride a bike down the block and shuck newspapers at the houses. I used to miss, fall off in the bushes, and do all sorts of other stuff.
We also borrowed one based on the Goonies. I can't remember much about that one, except that I was pretty sure that the music it made when the character died was probably, in fact, the sound of death.
Mostly though, I just liked to lay huddled in the floor and listen to my sisters as their fortunes swung about wildly. Yeah we did spend hours at it, but we also had a life beyond those games, something I'm not sure today's children really have anymore.
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