Written by My ASL teacher responded to my video yesterday with a video of her own! I’m not gonna lie, it took me about 7 tries before I realized what she was saying in the second half… Part of it I think is that her “P” looked suspiciously like a “Q,” but she’s the expert, not me! Anyway… here is her response – see if you can figure out what she says!
ASL class and my homework.
As I mentioned in my facebook a few days ago, I have decided to take an Intro to ASL (American Sign Language) class on Ureddit.com. My class started this week – it includes a few online instructional videos, some practice, and some assignments. I’ve decided to post my assignments online because – well – it took me awhile to make the video and if I don’t post it for you then the teacher is the only one who will see it. I got to crack open my movie making software and I learned tonight that my webcam sucks the big one – at least in lamp light it does. I will try again in the daylight and if it still sucks I guess I can figure out how to use my phone instead. I hesitate to buy a nice webcam for this purpose since I am only making 12 videos.
So, lesson #1 was letters and numbers. We learned how to finger-spell the alphabet and we learned numbers from 1 to 1,000,000,000. For those of you who have learned how to finger-spell ASL, see if you can pick out what I am saying here. The first one to get it right gets internet cookies from me!
Curiosity
My son and I watched the first episode of Stephen Hawking’s “Curiosity.” It was about the origins of the universe and in the show Stephen Hawking blatantly states that the universe was created without the need for a God or gods. I was interested to see how my son would respond since he is a self proclaimed Christian. So, at the end of the show I asked Seth what he had learned.
“I learned that there is no God,” he said. “But I still believe in Him anyway.”
I thought it was so cute, it melted my heart a little bit. I told him he can believe in God all he wants.
You know, the other day I had a whole post thought out. It was interesting, clever, funny… and then I got pissed at Keith and posted about that instead. And now I can’t even remember what it is I was going to post about in the first place. I said I was going to write about what had been going on in my life, but that has mainly consisted of eating popsicles and reading Reddit.com so I’m not sure what else I can say about that really.
Follow up to last week’s drama
So – after deciding to send me random, nasty text messages for a few days, Keith has decided that it’s OK to be friends again. He messaged me on Facebook the other day asking me to call him. He also attempted to add me back to Facebook as a friend. Well, for some reason I haven’t been getting my message notifications through Facebook, so I didn’t even see his message until a good 7 hours after he sent it. It wouldn’t have mattered if I did see it in time – I still wouldn’t have answered him. You know – you don’t blow up on me, tell me I’m a bad friend, delete me from Facebook for no damn reason and then turn around a week later and decide everything is fine. I’m sorry, but I missed the part where he actually fucking apologized to me. Perhaps a message saying “Sorry for the blowout, can you please call me so we can talk?” or “I don’t want to lose you as a friend, let’s work it out.” would have me re-thinking my decision to cut him out of my life. But a Facebook message saying “Call me”? I don’t think so. I’m not exactly sure what he expects from me, but sure as hell know what I expect from him if we are ever going to speak again. And I still don’t get this “you have to call me or it doesn’t count” bullshit. Does he have a damn phone, or not? Dumb, childish drama. Not needed and not welcome. In fact, this is how I feel about the whole damn mess:
You know, I had a whole post in mind about what’s going on in my life and whatnot, but I just got sidetracked by this silly garbage. I don’t want to post about two completely different subjects in one entry, so I will save the other stuff for a different day.
Dropping like flies
I’ve gone my whole life without ever “breaking up” with a friend. Now here I am, breaking up with two in the space of a couple of months. (To be fair, I never really liked the first friend all that much. You can read about that breakup right here.)
I met Keith when I was 21. I was the maid of honor in a friend’s wedding, he was the best man. We hit it off at the wedding and became instant best friends. Keith and I were inseparable – we were with each other all day, every day. He watched my idiot boyfriends come and go and he was there for me through all of the stupid shit 21-year-olds go through. He knew me for who I was deep down inside and he loved me for it. It was a wonderful time in my life.
My favorite gift
I’ve decided to answer an LJ “writer’s block” question today. Here we go:
What was the best gift you’ve ever received? Who was it from and what was the occasion?
Well… I wouldn’t say “best” gift. I’ve had so many wonderful gifts over the years that I couldn’t possibly choose the best one. However, I will tell you about one of my favorite and most memorable Christmas gifts.
My Mom:
My mother is crazy. Anyone who has met her will attest to this fact. I didn’t always know which Mom I was going to get on any given day. It was either the sleeping, exhausted Mom (saw her most often), the pissed off at the world Mom (a close second), or the upbeat, cheery Mom (I like her the best!) That said, this crazy woman had the uncanny ability to get the perfect gift for me, no matter which personality was picking it out. Come birthdays and holidays, I was never disappointed in the presents I got from her. (Unfortunately, I did not inherit this ability. I am the worst gift-giver ever.) So, one year for Christmas I was shocked to find that she had only gotten me a few piddly little things – nothing that I even really wanted. I know it sounds like I was a selfish brat – I probably was – but I was really upset! I was probably about 14 years old at the time and I came to conclusion that I must have gotten too old for Christmas gifts. I resigned myself to the fact that this is all I would be getting from here on out: a book or two, a pair of socks, possibly a CD (who am I kidding? It would have been a cassette tape.) I carried on with my day and waited for my parents to wake up.
When my mom and dad finally got out of bed, they called me out of my room to ask how I enjoyed my new gifts. I was as polite as could be expected for a disappointed 14-year-old; I smiled and shrugged and said everything was “ok, I guess.” My mom seemed a little puzzled by my response. She asked me what I got and I told her. Then she told me I was missing something.
I got excited! “What am I missing? Where is it?”
“You will have to find it,” she said.
“What am I looking for?!”
“You will know when you find it.”
Well, this was interesting! I wasn’t too old for Christmas, after all. I had another mysterious (probably amazing!) gift hiding somewhere. I tore apart my house, searching high and low. No gift. I was starting to think they were fucking with me – that they didn’t get me a big, amazing gift after all – when they finally broke down and told me where to look. “Hiding” right out in the open around the corner from the tiny little Christmas tree we had was a big, beautiful, shiny new Casio digital keyboard/synthesizer. This thing had to have cost $500 if it was a penny.
It. Was. Amazing.
I didn’t really know how to play much; I had a toy piano when I was a kid that I used to teach myself a few songs on, then I graduated to a tiny little electric keyboard that I played with all the time. I played by ear – I didn’t know where to put my fingers “correctly” and I knew nothing about reading music, but I could play “Moonlight Sonata,” “Song of Swans” from Swan Lake, and a few other things that I picked up by listening. That instrument was my pride and joy. It was one thing that I never got sick of. I had it for years upon years. Once when I was broke and living on my own, I contemplated selling it. I really needed the money! The used instrument store offered me a couple of hundred bucks for it, but it turned out that I just couldn’t part with it that easily. I’m not sure what happened to that keyboard, actually. I think I may have eventually given it to a friend when I got a new one.
Teddy bears and Las Vegas.
I had two people tell me today that they loved my blog. TWO? In one day?? Now that is enough to give a girl a big head, y’know? Especially since I only have 2 people who actually read this blog. I’ve actually had this blog since 2006, but I only have a handful of entries. I am a terrible blogger. I have absolutely no motivation to write on a regular basis and I don’t have a specific topic to write about. Those are the two most basic requirements in being a blogger! Most girls blog about cooking, crafts, motherhood or how to build a house out of mud and make all of your own food and clothing and other basic hippie garbage. I guess I’ll continue writing about everyday crap and maybe post some more pictures of my jewelry and crafts and junk. Perhaps I can get up to five readers someday! One can only hope…
I have always enjoyed writing – when I was much younger, I wrote (what I thought was) a really good short story. I don’t really remember what it was about, but I do remember it was really sappy and had something to do with wishes and four-leaf clovers. I bet it was horrible. It sounds horrible. I have no idea what happened to that story. When I was in my early 20′s I actually wrote most of a book. It was about drug addiction and lost love and Las Vegas. There was a ceiling fan in the opening paragraph. Riveting stuff, people! I never did finish the book, and again I have no idea what happened to it. I am sensing a pattern here… I never was very good at keeping track of stuff. I’ve lost tons of shit over the years. When I was 18, I got my first apartment. I lost my childhood teddy bear, Dennis, in the move. I cried buckets over that bear. I even placed a “lost” ad in the local newspaper to no avail. Sigh.
Well, you two… thanks for reading once again. I’m heading off to bed now to dream of teddy bears and four-leaf clovers. It will more likely be a dream about drugs and Las Vegas. Or teddy bears in Las Vegas. That’s cool, too.
WordPress Crosspost utility works!
I’m a bit impressed that this facebook crossposter plugin for my blog (Wordbooker) actually works! I am writing a quickie entry here just to test out it’s various functions. I apologize for hijacking your News Feed with nonsense. You may return to your everyday Facebooking now. Thanks a bunch and have a great day.
Hobbies and Rambling. Mostly Rambling.
I have to say – quitting my second job (web design) made a huge difference in my life! It started as a hobby – something I did because I liked doing it; something I gave away for free. Then I started charging a little bit here and a little bit there… then I got a huge client that gave me work for years on end; consistent work, time consuming work, soul eating, mind-numbing, oh my Dog I want to fucking kill myself now because I don’t have time to do anything else in my life fucking work. My client tried to be accommodating. He knew I had a life, a family, a full time job. But he needed work done, too. So in the end, we finally parted ways amicably. I was not treating him fairly and he was irritated with me. My quality of work was great, my quantity was terrible. I’m so glad I worked with him for so long. The experience taught me many things, but above all I can now truly appreciate the free time in my life (I have free time!!) and I try to find quality things to fill those hours with.
The Hubs and I are religious T.V. watchers. We record about 10-15 shows on a regular basis that we watch together, and I myself record another 5-8 or so. On top of that, we also get 3 movies at a time from Netflix (changed it to 2+streaming recently) and I watch YouTube videos and documentaries incessantly. It sounds like a crazy large amount, but we usually only watch T.V. about 2 – 2.5 hours a day, in the evening before bed. By recording the shows, we skip all the commercials and can fit a 30 minute show into 18/20 minutes. I watch my own shows, You Tube, etc after he has gone to bed.
So, in the midst of all of the T.V. watching and during all of the amazing free time I have now, I squeeze in crafts and hobbies. Right now I am into making jewelry. I tried to sell it on Etsy (See my store), but I honestly am too damn lazy to take all the pictures and upload everything on a regular basis. I have tons of jewelry to list; each piece more elaborate than the last. Lately I’ve been working with tiny crystals and metal wire – bending, shaping, wrapping, hammering and generally creating great callouses on my hands. I’ve been doing this for about 4 months now. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on jewelry making supplies. And I’m about over it. Usually my hobbies last roughly a year. Cooking, crochet, polymer clay, knitting – all lasted about that long. Other things are around for a much shorter period of time. Painting – 1 month, max. I really, really wanted to paint but I suck at it. I can’t make the brush do what’s in my head. Guitar – didn’t even last a week. It hurt my hands too much and I wussed out. The sad thing is, that is the one thing I really, really, really want to know how to do!! Graphic arts – made it through one round of “artwork”. I made a sheep. And a giraffe. The giraffe is adorable, if I do say so myself.
I’m thinking now of getting into video production. I’ve been watching videos lately, I have all of the tools I need in order to start out… but I don’t really have anything to say. I suppose I could re-tell popular parables or fairy tales in a modern-time setting using my sheep and giraffe just to practice the art. One guy recently uploaded some animated versions (ala South Park style) of a Richard Dawkins conference. That was pretty interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPJQw-x-xho Meh, I don’t know what I’m going to do next. It will come to me.
A little this, a little that
So, I started to write a new post and then I was interrupted by my email (see post below.) The email didn’t contain anything worth mention, so I am moving on now…
My 11 day vacation is almost at an end and that makes me sad. I am lucky to have the job that I have and I truly love the company I work for, but… I’d rather be at home all day (and getting paid the same! And 401K. And pension. And insurance. Fuck it, looks like I need to work.) The hubs and I are going to scope out a pop-up camper tonight. I would love to have said camper, but I have no idea where I will keep it if I buy it. We will have to work something out, I guess. Maybe I can pay someone to store it for me? *batting eyelashes real pretty like*
I got back from camping on Wednesday. It is now Sunday. I have literally spent every day since I’ve been back watching videos on YouTube or Netflix. Most of the videos have been religious in nature – some “pro” religion, but most “against” it. The more I study, the more I read, the more videos I see, the more I realize that religion is fucking retarded (no offense, of course). Note that I don’t say “belief in God” is retarded – although I think it’s completely unrealistic – but religion itself. In fact, religion can be downright harmful. If you don’t believe me, just ask the millions of people that lose loved ones in religious wars, or ask the families of the almost 3000 people that died on 9/11. I don’t want to be one of those atheists that come across as an arrogant prick (and boy, there are a lot of them) so I will refrain from “preaching” my lack of faith on all my blog entries. I only have 4 people that read this as it is and I don’t want to alienate all four of you. Just suffice it to say that I am secure in the decision I made a few weeks ago and I’ve never felt better.
