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 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.