Jane, get me off this crazy thing!!

Well...no sooner as the tunnel had lengthened by a fathom I have been lurched forward so that now I can see a pinhole of light at what seems to be the end. So the rollercoaster of emotions is going around and around. I know what part of the interpreting that I'm having a problem with.

Here how a typical interpreting process goes (Simplified for my wee brain):

1. Source Language (Speaker) says "blah blah blah"
2. Brain takes it in and changes it from English to ASL
3. Hands put out the signs in ASL (target language)

Now, that problem for me comes when the "blah blah blah" is something I'm not familiar with and there is very little prosody. If it were about a half of minute of "blah blah blah" sure..my internal audio memory can remember 30 seconds, if it's anything longer than that I drop concepts. Which means my Deaf consumer isn't getting the intent of the message. That is where I'm having my problems.

Now I have to increase my audio memory....that should be...fun? ok...maybe not...

Accepting Failure

Alfred Pennyworth: "Why do we fall, sir? So that we might better learn to pick ourselves up."

Just like Batman I'm having my own struggles. Mainly with how to be an interpreter. Getting my first major interpreting critique back I have failed. Now, this is a learning process and as our professor stated tonight. "I expect most of you to be at a "D" level." she informed us. Well...I was below that. I wasn't alone. Most of my peers were right there with me. This is a new thing for me. I have been blessed by having things come easy to me. Maybe even spoiled by it. It's not that I haven't worked hard for this. I have sweated, cried, worried over these past two years. Am I good enough?

I came home tonight from class feeling very defeated. Thank goodness Jerry is as wonderful as he is. He looked at me as I told him that I might not pass and basically said that it would be okay. There was always other chances.

Can I do that? I mean I know lawyers who have failed their bar exams numerous times and are still lawyers. Can I actually fail a class and pick it up again? This is a huge test for my ego. Am I grown up enough to realize that sometimes it takes a few times to get things right?

I have my first of three written exams in this class on Thursday. While I wish that written exams were the bulk of the grade they aren't. It all comes down to me doing some actual Interpreting. Heck if it were bookwork, I would be set! Suddenly the light at the end of the tunnel is gone! I'm not lost yet...just delayed...hopefully...

Sorry for the ramble...I need to just get it out there. Makes it real!

TV Seasons and other stuff

As Jerry had mentioned, Veronica Mars has been cancelled. While I keep hoping another network will pick it up, I highly doubt that will happen. Pretty much all of "my" regular shows have finished their seasons. I know Jerry and I have wondered lately why networks only have a Fall season. Why not do it based on the seasons of the year. I just know I shouldn't be stuck watching 5 nights of CSI, Law and Order or Deal or No Deal. (I don't actually watch any of those). The Networks suck..yes..there..I said it. They have cancelled wonderfully intelligent shows like Veronica Mar, Andy Barker P.I., Studio 60 (although for some reason there is a new episode next Thursday) and The Class (although they really couldn't go on with that much more, but it was clever). I wonder who their test market is. Do people really want 7 days or reality shows and game shows?

Ok, enough of the small screen... We went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End today. I loved it. I thought it was better than the second one. I actually caught myself laughing out loud and smiling at all the little jokes. While it was a little darker than the first two it had a good ending. Which by the way left the door open for future Pirate movies if Disney should want to beat a dead horse. Although I doubt they would be any good without the original ensemble of actors. Anyway...good flick!

Feedback

Got my first feedback from my Interpreting II class. I did...well...not great..not bad..well. She said she was going to push us this semester and I believe it. A little background, we are going from interpreting a sentence which takes about 15 seconds to interpret to doing a 3 1/2 minute and a 7 minute piece. So yeah...brains on overloaded just a little bit. What's funny is that after I was done interpreting I couldn't remember any specifics of what I signed. I hear that is normal. It was a little strange to have the teacher review the actual script and vocabulary and then it being triggered in my memory. I guess remembering will improve with practice/experience.

Random thing I learned for this class: American Gothic, the painting by Grant Wood, is actually a man and his spinster daughter depicted. I always thought it was a man and his wife.

Fraud

GRRR..

I'm going to a conference in June in Orlando so I called the hotel and booked my room. Typical with reservations you need to leave a credit card to guarantee the room. So I give my number to the human reservationist and get my confirmation. Because I am a little OCD I check our bank account online about every other day. OK..sometimes twice a day... Anyway, I proceed to check and see that there is a charge for $1,073.31 from The Florida Hotel and Conference Center. Freaked out I call the hotel and come to find out that my "son" has a reservation that was made over the phone and there was a note that this was "mom's" credit card. Here are the things wrong with that:

1. I have no son.
2. If it was made over the Internet why would there be a note about "Mom's" credit card on the reservation.
3. No way is my stay going to cost that amount of money.

After talking with three people, I finally get to the Manager on Duty who finally understands that I do not have a son and that possibly his employee has just committed a crime by stealing my number that I had given her over the phone. Jerry thinks its an honest mistake, like someone just transposed a number or something, but I think something is fishy. The hotel is/has returned the charge, cancelled "my son's" upcoming stay and advised me to cancel my card. So card is cancelled and I'm stuck with out my Check/Visa card until the bank can send me another one. People are trouble. Needless to say I'm not really happy about staying at their hotel for the conference. I mean they already tried to steal my money once, why should I give it to them willingly.

Shades of Gray

Today I was looking in the mirror and it's time for me to cover the gray, but do I want to keep doing that? I mean, maybe I should embrace them? Be Authentic!

What do you think?

Neat!

Tonight a few of my classmates and I went down to St. Augustine to see the FSDB (Florida School for the Deaf and Blind) Dance Troupe. What a fun evening. The music they picked, their choreography and most of all their smiles were wonderful.

Two of my favorites were Thriller (Michael Jackson) and eBay (Weird Al). They had thriller down. It was perfect. And eBay..well...if you haven't heard the Weird Al parody than you are just missing out all together

If you ever get a chance to see one of these performances in your area, I highly recommend you attend. It's visually wonderful and a good time is had by all.

Ok..I'm tired. Nighty night

_\,,/

Press 1 for english...

Ever frustrated by "phone jail" when trying to get to a live person on the phone? Well gethuman might just be the website that helps keep your sanity.

Genius!

Barenaked Ladies are one of my favorite bands. And to see Ed Robertson singing in his bathroom just makes the BNL that much better! You can catch them on Youtube or head over to http://bnlmusic.com/video/. By the way, this is one of my favorites of theirs. Don't know why..I think the haunting melody just gets to me.

ABC's of Jeanne (aka Gknee)

Alright..I don't usually do these but because Lisa tagged me, I'll play nice.

A- Available or Single: Happily Married

B- Best Friend: Lisa my favorite thumbody

C- Cake or Pie: CAKE!

D- Drink of Choice: Water or Vodka Martini - Dirty

E- Essential Items: Internet connection

F- Favorite Color: Pink or purple or green

G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Bears – have to eat off their little appendages one at a time. MUWAHAH

H- Hometown: Lansing, MI

I- Indulgence: French fries and chocolate

J- January or February: February – one month closer to my birthday!

K- Kids: None

L- Life is incomplete without: A kiss from my Jerry

M- Marriage Date: October 12, 1996

N- Number of Siblings: Two brothers and one sister

O- Oranges or Apples: Apples

P- Phobias/Fears: Heights.

Q- Favorite Quote: ""Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -Mark Twain"."

R- Reasons to smile: Jerry, Tabitha, Starbucks luscious drinks, being alive!

S- Season: Autumn

T- Tag Three: Jerry, Amanda and Lisa - Fun Guv (That’s right..get a blog!)

U- Unknown Fact About Me: I have all my toys from when I was a kid

V– Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: Meat! The rarer the better.

W- Worst Habits: Spending on frivolous things that I don’t end up using. Oh..and Jerry would say that I ask too many questions that don’t really have answers.

X– X-rays or Ultrasounds: Whatever is the best for whatever ails me.

Y- Your Favorite Foods: Fajitas, French Fries, Chocolate, Cake (even better if it’s Chocolate cake)

Z- Zodiac: Fishy Fishy - Pisces

First Class of the new semester

4pm until 6:25pm every Tuesday and Thursday for the next 12 weeks. Plus I need 10 contacts (Deaf Events) completed as well. Oh yea...did I mention the additional 12 hours of video logged time studying ASL tapes. Aren't summer terms supposed to be fun and light?

Rain, rain, rain.

We need the rain! So the dark clouds were a welcome site today.

Jerry and I went to see Spider-Man 3 today. Pretty good stuff. I won't give away anything but I do have to say that "Emo Peter Parker" was funny. Looks like half the kids at college. The other half try to look like thugs...

Saw some great previews. Should be a fun summer of movies. Here are some of my thoughts on the upcoming movie season.

• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - Arrr, hey thar, How can you not lo'e Captain Jack Sparrow? Gar.
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - It's classic comic book fun!
• Rush Hour 3 - I secretly think these movies are fun. Don't know if it's worth the $ to see it in the theater. We'll see.
• Underdog - One Nation Under Dog....eh..might be fun
• Across the Universe - At first I thought it was a Baz Luhrmann film..but its not..but it still looks like a "yes" to me.
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Duh!! It's Harry Potter. I have to go see it.

If I were a betting girl, I'd say that we'll probably really only go see three of those films in the theater and wait for the rest to be on cable or Amazon Unboxed/TiV0.

Happy Cinco De Mayo

Hola mis amigos. Apenas deseo desearte un día maravilloso. Happy Cinco De Mayo. Mi día ha sido hasta ahora bastante bueno. Jerry y yo han estado colgando hacia fuera junto. Él se está recuperando después de que el movimiento de la oficina. El fella pobre es cansado. ¡De todas formas, bastante de ese… goza!

How to make a geek smile!?!

Ok..so I was just checking myspace and a friend sent me a message that totally made me smile. So, I'm passing it on!

May the 4th be with you!

::lightsaber noises::

Piggies!

I went and got a pedicure today. It's been awhile and my feet were really "out of shape". I actually hate getting pedicures because my feet are so ticklish but the results are worth the uneasy gulping of my giggles in the massage chair. My toes look cute, my heels aren't a cracked calloused mess and it definitely boosted the endorphins. I think everyone should have a pedicure. It's amazing how 30 minutes of pampering can boost a persons mood. Heck, even now as I look down at my little french manicured toes I smile.