Hi All!
My weekend started off wonderfully. I swam on Friday (Saturday I ended up sleeping through my alarm) and then got right to work on Saturday on cleaning the next room on my Spring cleaning list - the laundry room.
Since we have never really deep cleaned the laundry room - it took some elbow grease. The baseboards had collected a bunch of "gunk." Unfortunately, the "gunk" wouldn't just wipe off with a dust cloth. It wouldn't even budge with a wet cloth. No dice on the cloth with the cleaner on it. No - I had to get out the old toothbrush and scrub!
Around the room I went with my little toothbrush scrubbing the baseboards and . . . they did come clean!
Hubby swept the carpet for me and even got out the crevice tool to really get into the corners!
After everything was done - the room looked great!
Next up is the kitchen!
However, after cleaning the laundry room, I started feeling some pain in my chest again (don't worry - not heart attack pain - the pulled muscle from a couple of weeks ago pain!). The pulled muscle had gotten so much better that I barely noticed it but . . . apparently the toothbrush scrubbing was something that the muscle didn't like.
I spent Saturday evening, Saturday night (Hubby had nightmares again and that woke me up - then I would have to turn over and that HURT!), and Sunday morning trying really hard not to anger my chest muscles so they wouldn't hurt. That isn't too much fun!
Luckily, Sunday evening, things started to get better.
Hubby and I watched the season finale of The Celebrity Apprentice to see Marlee Matlin and her interpreter. Even thought Marlee didn't win, she did make it to the final two and no doubt brought a lot of awareness to Deaf people and their ability to do anything they set their minds to.
During the end of the show John Rich (a country music star) and Marlee sang a song John had written for his charity (St. Jude's Hospitals). It was neat to see so much focus on Marlee actually "singing" the song in ASL! In addition to Marlee signing, there was a group of students from the New York School for the Deaf who signed in the background as a chorus. Very nice to see ASL getting this much coverage on prime time television.
Even more touching was the fact that after the song was done, you didn't hear one clap. Instead, the entire audience, including the Trumps, applauded in ASL - that is holding up your hands and wiggling your fingers. It was amazing to see an entire audience applauding like this!
I had goosebumps!
Anyway - today I walked (I didn't swim since we had rain and a cold night last night and I didn't want to upset my chest muscles by hitting cold water again!). It was 74 when I started out and, let me tell you, that is a good temp to work up a sweat. Especially with 65% humidity!
Happy Monday!
Trisha
Voice Update: Still doing really, really well. Thankfully!
Showing posts with label ASL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ASL. Show all posts
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday, January 25, 2010
Keith and Crochet
Hi All!
Thankfully, I was able to get a lot of rest this weekend so I almost feel refreshed this morning! I am not sure that I will ever feel totally refreshed but . . . for now, I feel good! I am looking forward to another full week of work, class, and, joy of joys, jury duty on Tuesday! I can hardly wait!!!
Speaking about class, I must admit that I am a bit apprehensive about the whole class thing. I "turned in" one assignment via the computer already and still have one more to complete prior to class on Wednesday. I have also read my two chapters and taken notes in my overly cautious style. So, why do I still feel like I won't be prepared for class?? I really think that this is the path I want to go down - the whole ASL interpreter thing - but . . . the teacher makes me wonder about myself.
Speaking of ASL, this weekend I joined up with a group of friends (Hubby calls us "the gals") to take in Keith Wann. If you don't know him, he is a CODA performer. What is a CODA, you might ask? Excellent question! A CODA is a Child of Deaf Adults. That means that both of Keith's parents are deaf and he is hearing. Technically, a CODA can be deaf also but traditionally, CODAs are hearing children of deaf parents.
Keith is a comedian who travels around and performs with the hopes of broadening understanding between the hearing and the Deaf worlds. He is funny, funny, funny. His humor is particularly funny to both people who are deaf (as shown by Beth's boyfriend, Zach, who is deaf and who was laughing the entire time!) and people who are involved in ASL such as interpreters, CODAs, and people who know deaf people.
You can check out some of his videos on uTube, I do believe. He gives hilarious insight into living with Deaf parents.
Despite the fact that I had to travel about an hour to get to the show, it was well worth it.
The ride home was interesting too since I saw an accident where a car ended up on its roof with the driver side window in the next lane of traffic. Everyone was okay - which is what made the accident interesting and not tragic!
This is our group posing with Keith. Keith is in the center back. Mark is the guy hiding behind Beth's head for some reason.
The other thing I have been doing this past weekend is crocheting. Once again I had to take a number of rows out to redo them but, I feel like I am making progress! I am finished with 20 out of 27 rows! Yeah!
Have a super Monday!
Trisha
Voice Update: Doing well, doing well.
Thankfully, I was able to get a lot of rest this weekend so I almost feel refreshed this morning! I am not sure that I will ever feel totally refreshed but . . . for now, I feel good! I am looking forward to another full week of work, class, and, joy of joys, jury duty on Tuesday! I can hardly wait!!!
Speaking about class, I must admit that I am a bit apprehensive about the whole class thing. I "turned in" one assignment via the computer already and still have one more to complete prior to class on Wednesday. I have also read my two chapters and taken notes in my overly cautious style. So, why do I still feel like I won't be prepared for class?? I really think that this is the path I want to go down - the whole ASL interpreter thing - but . . . the teacher makes me wonder about myself.
Speaking of ASL, this weekend I joined up with a group of friends (Hubby calls us "the gals") to take in Keith Wann. If you don't know him, he is a CODA performer. What is a CODA, you might ask? Excellent question! A CODA is a Child of Deaf Adults. That means that both of Keith's parents are deaf and he is hearing. Technically, a CODA can be deaf also but traditionally, CODAs are hearing children of deaf parents.
Keith is a comedian who travels around and performs with the hopes of broadening understanding between the hearing and the Deaf worlds. He is funny, funny, funny. His humor is particularly funny to both people who are deaf (as shown by Beth's boyfriend, Zach, who is deaf and who was laughing the entire time!) and people who are involved in ASL such as interpreters, CODAs, and people who know deaf people.
You can check out some of his videos on uTube, I do believe. He gives hilarious insight into living with Deaf parents.
Despite the fact that I had to travel about an hour to get to the show, it was well worth it.
The ride home was interesting too since I saw an accident where a car ended up on its roof with the driver side window in the next lane of traffic. Everyone was okay - which is what made the accident interesting and not tragic!
This is our group posing with Keith. Keith is in the center back. Mark is the guy hiding behind Beth's head for some reason.
The other thing I have been doing this past weekend is crocheting. Once again I had to take a number of rows out to redo them but, I feel like I am making progress! I am finished with 20 out of 27 rows! Yeah!
Have a super Monday!
Trisha
Voice Update: Doing well, doing well.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
How Much Do You Know?
Hi All!
As you probably know, I have been taking American Sign Language classes for a couple years now. This initially began because of my inability to speak due to Abductor Spasmodic Dysphonia. I wanted to have some method for communicating if my voice should never return.
Thankfully, my voice DID return but, I have continued to take ASL courses. Why? Frankly, it is because I like learning new things and ASL and Deaf culture fascinate me. The fact that I learn languages pretty easily doesn't hurt either!
Now, you should know that prior to taking ASL classes I had never met a Deaf person. I knew absolutely nothing about Deaf culture. In fact, I wasn't even aware that there WAS a Deaf culture!
In class last night we were "talking" about Deaf culture and the conflict between hearing culture and Deaf culture. Our teacher, Henry, is Deaf. He is the head of the ASL/Interpreting department. He has been around for a while and has faced a lot of interesting situations. Our discussion had me wondering . . . . how much do people really know about Deaf people?
Did you know that there is a difference between deaf with a lowercase d and Deaf with an uppercase D?
Did you know that there is a very strong Deaf culture with its own customs, rules, and traditions?
Did you know that 90% of all Deaf children have two hearing parents?
Did you know that American Sign Language (ASL) is a real language?
Did you know that children who grow up with ASL can learn to read and write in English through ASL?
Did you know that Deaf people can do pretty much anything hearing people can?
Did you know that Deaf people were considered to be intellectually inferior simply because their ears didn't work?
Did you know that many Deaf people were forced to go through HOURS of speech therapy each day as children in the effort to teach them to talk and to lip-read?
Did you know that the hours of speech therapy replaced instruction in things like reading, writing, math, and history?
Did you know that most Deaf people who are "expert" lip-readers can still only understand between 30 - 40% of a conversation?
Did you know that most hearing parents of Deaf children refuse to learn ASL to communicate with their children or only learn the very basics of ASL?
Did you know that cochlear implants - which are touted as being able to make deaf people hear like normal - don't work like "normal" hearing?
Did you know that children who get cochlear implants need to go to therapy to learn to be able to identify what they are "hearing?"
Did you know that "normal" hearing has hundreds of different "channels" of sounds while an implant only has something like 20?
Did you know that many children who get implants get the implant before they are two years old?
Did you know that when the exterior part of the implant is removed (for baths, showers, swimming, etc,.) the person with the implant can't hear anything?
Did you know that Deaf people have wonderful stories to share if you only take the time to interact with them?
Did you know that Child Protective Services has been known to remove hearing children from their homes simply because their parents are Deaf?
Did you know that there are probably Deaf people in your neighborhood or city who you have never seen? They look just like you and me!
Trisha
Voice Update: Doing okay. I work today so we will see how it handles the phones!
As you probably know, I have been taking American Sign Language classes for a couple years now. This initially began because of my inability to speak due to Abductor Spasmodic Dysphonia. I wanted to have some method for communicating if my voice should never return.
Thankfully, my voice DID return but, I have continued to take ASL courses. Why? Frankly, it is because I like learning new things and ASL and Deaf culture fascinate me. The fact that I learn languages pretty easily doesn't hurt either!
Now, you should know that prior to taking ASL classes I had never met a Deaf person. I knew absolutely nothing about Deaf culture. In fact, I wasn't even aware that there WAS a Deaf culture!
In class last night we were "talking" about Deaf culture and the conflict between hearing culture and Deaf culture. Our teacher, Henry, is Deaf. He is the head of the ASL/Interpreting department. He has been around for a while and has faced a lot of interesting situations. Our discussion had me wondering . . . . how much do people really know about Deaf people?
Did you know that there is a difference between deaf with a lowercase d and Deaf with an uppercase D?
Did you know that there is a very strong Deaf culture with its own customs, rules, and traditions?
Did you know that 90% of all Deaf children have two hearing parents?
Did you know that American Sign Language (ASL) is a real language?
Did you know that children who grow up with ASL can learn to read and write in English through ASL?
Did you know that Deaf people can do pretty much anything hearing people can?
Did you know that Deaf people were considered to be intellectually inferior simply because their ears didn't work?
Did you know that many Deaf people were forced to go through HOURS of speech therapy each day as children in the effort to teach them to talk and to lip-read?
Did you know that the hours of speech therapy replaced instruction in things like reading, writing, math, and history?
Did you know that most Deaf people who are "expert" lip-readers can still only understand between 30 - 40% of a conversation?
Did you know that most hearing parents of Deaf children refuse to learn ASL to communicate with their children or only learn the very basics of ASL?
Did you know that cochlear implants - which are touted as being able to make deaf people hear like normal - don't work like "normal" hearing?
Did you know that children who get cochlear implants need to go to therapy to learn to be able to identify what they are "hearing?"
Did you know that "normal" hearing has hundreds of different "channels" of sounds while an implant only has something like 20?
Did you know that many children who get implants get the implant before they are two years old?
Did you know that when the exterior part of the implant is removed (for baths, showers, swimming, etc,.) the person with the implant can't hear anything?
Did you know that Deaf people have wonderful stories to share if you only take the time to interact with them?
Did you know that Child Protective Services has been known to remove hearing children from their homes simply because their parents are Deaf?
Did you know that there are probably Deaf people in your neighborhood or city who you have never seen? They look just like you and me!
Trisha
Voice Update: Doing okay. I work today so we will see how it handles the phones!
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