My Future College Plans

After a year of being away from school, I’ve decided to go back next year. I’ve realized that I truly love American Sign Language and enjoy teaching it. But I won’t be able to teach more than basic level classes without a degree. I’m also interested in becoming fully fluent.

So I’ve decided to apply to Gallaudet University in DC, one of the few universities in the world geared for deaf students. I would study either ASL or Deaf Studies. Getting in as a hearing student is extremely difficult. Only 5% of those who apply are accepted, so I’ll have to really step up my game in the next year by attending more deaf events, working on my signing and receptive skills, volunteering, and maybe enrolling in another ASL class.

If I don’t get into Gallaudet, my backup is studying linguistics at Georgia State. You can take ASL as a foreign language. I might also be able to do a visiting semester at Gallaudet.

Both plans will get me where I want to go. Each has it’s pros and cons. I’m excited for this new path and I’ll be knee deep in college and scholarship applications this next year. Stay tuned for more updates; I plan to visit Gallaudet in the fall!

Back from my Blogging Vacation

Hi there. I took an impromptu blogging vacation. I started a new waitressing job on the weekends and it’s taken some time to get used to my new schedule. Here’s what I did while away:

• Started a garden! I planted onions, garlic, lettuces, and spinach. The lettuce seedlings and one garlic are beginning to sprout, but no action yet from the other plants. I plan to add herbs, tomatoes, potatoes, and maybe a few flowers in hanging baskets. I’m really excited to turn my back porch into a green garden.
• I modeled for my first and second sculptures. They look awesome. I’ve been working with artist Basil Watson for a while now and I really like his work. I also have been modeling for some painters and one student let me have his oil painting of me!
• Read The Hunger Games series. OMG. I haven’t been so absorbed in a story for a long time. I love stories about future dystopias and how they work, so thee novels were right up my alley. I’m tempted to read them over again because they are that good. Thanks so much to Kelly for recommending it and to the Dragon*Con librarians who told her about it.
• I did karaoke for the first time at a friend’s 40th birthday party. It’s a lot more fun than I expected and not as embarrassing. We had a crazy mix of songs from Johnny Cash to Kanye West to Iron Maiden. It was one of the best parties ever. It makes me really pumped for my 21st birthday next month!
• I’ve been playing Miss Moderator for the Atlas Shrugged Reading Group for ATLOS. It’s been going well and another ASRG has sprung up. So my group will now be ASRG 1. I really look forward to getting farther into the novel and digging into deeper discussions about the characters’ psychology and overarching themes of the novel.
• I completed teaching my second session at the local homeschool co-op. ASL class has been fabulous and I’m constantly surprised by the kids memory and ability to catch onto the language. Each class is energizing and fun. We have a great little group going. Next year I plan to break up the class into ASL 1 and 2, so I’ll spend the summer doing a lot of research on teaching higher level ASL.
• Had an awesome idea that relates to the blog and might turn a profit in the long run. More on that later.

Inspiring ASL Sign Songs

I’ve been drooling over this girl’s sign songs lately. Her interpretations are so well done. Her performances are concept driven and very ASL, versus an English-y word by word translation. She also signs along really well to the music, matching her signing to the beat and vocals. And best of all she puts so much emotion into the performances, which I think a lot of people leave out when they do song interpretations.

Watching these songs and digging into the cocept translation has really inspired me to get back to signing. I hope to go to more deaf events (which is difficult given they are so far away) and look into taking more ASL classes next semester. I’ve definitely plateaued in the past year with my signing, and I’m dying to do better.

Enjoy the videos. Although you may not understand the specific signs, I think the average person can understand her expressions and glean meaning from many of the signs. Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear what non-signers get from these videos.

(Sorry, but you’ll have to click through to see the videos. It’s well worth it. Promise!)

My Future Plans

After several months of living in panic- I hate my job! Now I don’t have one! Where am I going to live?! Am I wearing out my welcome?! Am I going to have to go back to Kentucky?! What the hell am I going to do?!- things have finally settled down. I have my own apartment, a steady(ish) stream of income, and the confidence that everything is going to be ok. Now that I’ve gotten the basics of food and shelter out of the way and I’m not an emotional wreck, I can move onto other concerns.

My original purpose for quitting college and moving to Atlanta was to discover what I wanted to do with my life. That process was set aside while I got back on my feet, and now I’m ready to go after it again. Here are my interests and possible options at the moment:

• American Sign Language: I love ASL. I love the energy and emotion of the language. I love interacting with deaf people and I ache to sign more. (Especially since moving because I don’t know anyone here who signs.) Of all the subjects I’ve studied in school, ASL was my favorite. I never missed class and I would frequent as many extra-curricular signing events as possible. I was a deaf camp counselor and I became great friends my ASL professor and my classmates. (Team Awesome!) I constantly sign without realizing it and I’m eager to get back to signing regularly. And although I enjoy trying to interpret songs, I don’t think I want to be an interpreter. I’m more interested in the language than playing communication middle-man.
• Photography/Video: Photography has been a long-time passion for me. I started sophomore year in high school and by senior year was known as “the girl with the camera”. I was Miss Journalism, spending half the day (and many evenings) in the newsroom working on the newspaper and yearbook. I was absolutely sure that I was going to be a photojournalist and work for a newspaper. I went to Western Kentucky University, which boasts one of the best PJ programs in the nation. It was in the program that I realized I wanted nothing to do with journalism (I hate hunting and invading people’s personal lives). I did however love my studio and multimedia classes. I often dream up portrait and video ideas. I realized I wanted to work the business side of photography, using the craft to promote businesses. I’m still pretty new to video, but I’m just bursting with ideas.
• Working with Kids/Teaching: This one is a bit more vague. I like kids, but it seems I can only work with other people’s children in certain capacities or my brain melts. Nannying? No way. Teaching at a homeschool co-op? Totally! Chaperoning high schoolers? Oh god. Shooting photos with high schoolers and helping their technique? Completely satisfying. Herding a large group of deaf kids through their camp schedule? Oh dear. Interacting with deaf kids one on one about their interests? Love it! I think I like talking and interacting with kids, even teaching and guiding them, but I absolutely loathe disciplining kids. That’s the mommy’s job! (Especially because I feel closer in maturity to the kids sometime more so than the adults.) I’d much prefer to hang out with a kid and talk about awesome stuff.
• Pretty Things: I like pretty clothes. And pretty decorations. And pretty knitting patterns. And pretty crafts. And pretty photos. And pretty page design. I notice a large bulk of my free time is spent looking at pretty things on the internet, in thrift shops, in knitting books, and just imagining things in my head. I have no idea how that translates into a career path, but damn do I think about pretty stuff a lot.
• Blogging: I really enjoy blogging. There are slumps and dry spells, but I do enjoy thinking up posts and the pride I get from publishing them. It’s been a great way to track progress in my life over the years and to meet new people. In fact, blogging is what led me to Atlanta. (That is reading Jenn’s blog, meeting her and the Atlanta people, then deciding this was the place to be.) I really want to devote more time to it so I can produce more creative and consistent material. I’m constantly inspired by the fashion/decorating blogs I read and I want to be as successful as they are.
• Art Modeling: I’m coming to really enjoy it. I love meeting the artists, seeing the artworks progress, and knowing I had a part in it. Modeling is also revolutionizing the way I view my body. And the pay is great.

So, I’ve got a lot on my plate. Having too many options was one of the reasons I left school. Now it’s time to dig through them and see which ones work best for me. At the moment, this is the plan for each:

• American Sign Language: Take classes at Georgia Perimeter College and possibly get the interpreting certificate there. It’s not a degree and it doesn’t qualify me as an interpreter, but I don’t think I want to be one. It’s a great way to keep up with ASL, meet other signers, make contacts in the deaf community, and test the waters in ASL-related fields. If at the end of the certificate I do want to interpret, I can always transfer the credits and finish up a bachelors, which is what I’d have to do anyways to be a nationally certified terp.
• Photography/Video: I hope to push myself creatively by working on a personal project relating to Atlas Shrugged and doing promotions for the Atlanta Objectivist Society. I might try doing some regular videos fro the blog too, if I have time. I also want to get out of the motivational rut I’ve been in since college and start taking pictures regularly again. Not sure how to do it yet, but there’s a post in the making about it.
• Working with Kids/Teaching: I’ve been teaching ASL and photography at a local homeschool co-op. I don’t know if I’ll be teaching again next year, but I hope to offer more classes in the future after working on the curriculum a bit. I’m also interested in doing some baby-sign classes with local mommies. That’s more of a long term goal. I plan to do deaf camp again, but hopefully more as a photographer and less of a counselor.
• Pretty Things: I’m going to focus on prettying up the apartment, working on my various knitting projects, and my photography. I also want to work on honing my style, so lots of visits to the thrift store!
• Blogging: I hope to be working from home soon, which will allow me the flexibility to blog when the mood strikes, as opposed to having to wait till work is over. I plan to try to expand my readership, create more in depth posts, and post more of my photography. I hope one day to get sponsors and monetize the blog a bit. I have no idea how that would work, since most of the blogs I see making money are fashion blogs with accompanying online shops. I have nothing to sell and I have no desire to post pictures of my daily outfits. But I figure that working hard to create a better blog will lead to the solution of creating wealth from it.
• Art Modeling: Working from home will also give me the flexibility to book more modeling gigs. I’ve been pretty successful so far and next year looks promising. Till then I plan to network among local artists and possibly set up a website for myself once there are more finished paintings of me.

That’s the plan. There’s a lot in the works and I’m very excited. I’ll update as things progress. Please leave any suggestions for the blog or pursuing my interests in the comments. I’d love to hear from my readers and get a dialogue going.

Music Monday: “RE: Your Brains” by Jonathon Coulton, Signed by Stephen Torrence

While your working off that sugar hangover, enjoy this cute Halloween sign song:

My First Deaf Social at the Mall of Georgia

Okay, so I’ve been a bit down lately. My current job as a secretary is monotonous, routine, and uses very little of my brain power. And since it’s only part time, I’m still in the job hunting phase, trying to find a second job to supplement my income and get me back on my feet. It’s a lot of rejection and it sucks. When I do have free time, I feel so tired and beat down that I don’t have the motivation to do much of anything. Then I feel horrible for not pursuing some larger purpose, and it all cycles around and around leaving me in a big negative funk.

And I haven’t felt like myself. It’s a cycle I’ve been trying to break and this Saturday I made a step towards that. I, mostly unwillingly, drove out to Buford for the monthly deaf social at the Mall of Georgia. Going into it, I wasn’t optimistic. I’m all by myself. Who will I talk to? I’ll be too sad and lifeless for anyone to want to talk to me. I’ll just end up bitching about crappy situation. I really don’t want to go. But I went anyway because I got some tough love the night before from a friend who told me that just sitting around feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to do anything. And he was right. So I dragged myself out there, not hoping for much. And I’ll admit, I circled the social a few times and even pretended to shop, biding time, avoiding the situation, and staying in my sad, sorry bubble. But I had spent the time and gas to go, and had even told people I was going. If I backed out now, I would forever be lame. So I finally went up to someone, told them I was new to the area, and wanted to meet people in the deaf community.

And you know what? Everything was fine.

Better than fine. It was great. I quickly got back into the flow of translating my thoughts into rapid fire signing. Far from the sad, unsociable lump I thought I would be, I was meeting people left and right, flowing in and out of conversations. I even had to stop myself a time or two because I was signing so much. I had forgotten how easy it is to socialize with deaf people and other signers. I had forgotten how much I love the language, and how good I am at it. At the social I had 3 different deaf people ask me if I was deaf. The significance of that is that my signing was so clear and understandable, people thought it was my natural language. That’s a huge deal! It was nice to be complimented on my signing since I’ve often wondered at my skill level. Back in Kentucky I mostly signed with students below my skill level, so I rarely got decent feedback.

All in all I had a great time at the social. I’m really glad I forced myself to go. I came back energized and happy. Those feeling stuck the next day as well. After feeling passionless, ineffective, and without purpose, connecting with my passion was just what I needed.

So please, if I’m like this in the future, do give me a good whack on the head and remind me to get out.

The More You Know: Deaf Driving

Ever wondered how deaf people drive? (Yes, they do drive.) I’m not at all an expert on it. I’ve only ridden with a deaf person once. (What a memorable trip that was!) But here’s a few videos from people who know more about driving in the deaf and hearing communities.

A Special Kid at Deaf Camp

I just got back from deaf camp this past Friday. This year was rougher than the last. Maybe it was that there were more little kids or maybe that the poor organization hasn’t changed much. I was really stressed. But I keep coming back for the kids, one in particular. Let’s call him George (like Curious George).

I think George is about 7, but I can’t be sure. He doesn’t communicate much, except to ask a kajillion times a day when we’re swimming or to poke fun at me. He’s profoundly deaf, but can hear me yell for him with his cochlear implant. George is not a bad kid, I just think he’s misunderstood and doesn’t receive the individual attention he needs.  He loves to run off and check things out, often examining the same soda machine or combination lock again and again. He has a problem with hitting other kids, but when I correct him he genuinely doesn’t seem to understand why it’s bad. I met him for the first time last year. This was my experience, which I posted on the Positive Discipline network:

I was a camp counselor for a deaf and blind camp last year (and I should be this year too). I was just beginning to read about Positive Discipline and tried to use what I knew at camp.

There was a profoundly deaf six-year-old who kind of became my bud for the week. He had a habit of running off from the group and not paying attention to the counselors. Many of the other counselors became frustrated with him, but I tried to use Positive Discipline to help. I assumed positive intent and watched just why he was running off. Turns out it wasn’t because he was trying to freak out the counselors, but because he was an intensely visual and curious child in a new environment. He would wander off and look at all the new stuff around him. Once I reframed the problem it was much easier to let him have a minute to explore, then take his hand and lead him back to the group. We were often in the back of the group because of it, but I wasn’t stressed. Towards the end of camp I could almost guess why he would bolt in a certain direction. So when he suddenly ran down the hill alone one day while everyone else was climbing up, I could calmly tell the other yelling counselors, “He’s just going back for his craft he left down the hill.”

And because I wasn’t freaking out about him or constantly yelling, I got to see this kid do some pretty amazing things. I usually carried my professional SLR camera with me and slung it across my torso. The boy would often come up to my hip and pretend to play with my camera. At first I was frustrated, but then I realized he was curious and actually trying to photograph what he saw. When I would pull the camera away and say, “No, that’s mine. Please don’t touch,” he would excitedly point to what he was looking at and tell me to take a picture. This happened all the time. He would often pose a few people, point at me to take the photo, then look at it and comment. (It was so cute!) The last day I put the camera round my neck and let him take a few pictures of his own. He led me around the whole camp, taking photos of buildings, people, signs, trees, etc. When I looked at the photos later on I was impressed. They all had good composition and were in focus. (The camera thing also worked in my favor because he would follow me while playing with it. Redirecting his curiosity to something I could control helped me get us where we needed to go.)

I don’t think I would have experienced all that without Positive Discipline. I would have missed seeing the excitement this little boy had for seeing the world around him and getting to use a camera to capture it. Camp would have been much more frustrating and less rewarding. I’m looking forward to using what I’ve learned in the past year again at camp and do better than last year.

George had grown up a bit this year. He would willingly hold my hand when we walked and would come find me when it was time to go somewhere. At one point I actually let go of his hand to grab the hands of two boys who kept running ahead of the group. This was a bit of risk because knowing George, he might have taken off. But instead I watched him sign “No running, you need to walk,” which I had just said to the boys. It was a sign that his communication was improving and that he was more disciplined. He was also much more vocal this year, able to say things like “Thank You”, “No”, and “Go, go, go, go, go!” And although he refused for the second year in a row to dance with me on the last night, I really love the kid. It’s kids like him that make me want to get into working with children, especially deaf kids. I’ll definitely be coming back to see him again and watch him progress.