New glasses are here!!

Well, I picked up my glasses today from the OSU Opthamology Center just a few minutes ago. They look pretty good if I do say so myself. You can't even tell these are bifocal lenses because they are blended in with the rest of the lens.

Once more, they were absolutely free! My exams were free too. How? There is a program at OSU called Vision Care Fund. They help those who don't have insurance and meet financial guidelines to get free eye exams and glasses. I was lucky to find such a thing because I could tell my eyes were getting worse.

I like them a lot. There were a lot of frames to choose from too. Of course, I couldn't get Transition lenses like I'd like, but I'm not going to balk about that when I get a complex prescription pair of glasses for free.

I can see better, that's for sure. I cannot see things very well up close, so when I looked through the bifocals for the first time, I was amazed at the difference. I kept lifting the glasses off my nose and putting them back on to see the difference when I was reading. Everything is so clear and I never noticed how bad my eyes were up close.

I'm glad to have them...yay!

What???? College Break? 3 weeks of nothing to do? HELP!!

OMG!
I just realized something. I've studied so hard and been to busy to plan anything for the three weeks I'll be off school!!! I know I'm going to my sisters for Christmas and to Indiana to visit my girls and college buds for New Year's. That is set in stone. But, what do I do in the meantime?

Let's see how much money do I have? Oh, great...not much. And let's not forget a leaky tire on my car. Ho ho ho....tis the season, eh?

Well, money is tight because I paid off my last checksmart loan(YAY). I was so caught up in that mess and glad to be rid of it. $258 later though I have little left for the rest of the month. I have food and all the necessities, but man....I wanna go have some fun or something. Oh well. I'll find something to do.

Maybe I'll do some reading. The main library is only a block away. There are a lot of books about deaf culture I can read, plus I can work on my sign language skills with my deaf friend, Jon.
There are websites I can go to where they have quizzes to help you stay up to speed on fingerspelling and signing skills too I can take advantage of.
Or, I can practice my fingerspelling technique and get better at it. I have a fingerspelling class next quarter, so there is nothing wrong with letting my fingers do the talking..ha ha...yeah, I know...bad joke.

So, there are a few ideas. I may write a few articles on gay issues. I've been doing that off and on. I wonder if I can get one published? I should find out how to do that. I dunno if it's as easy as calling a local rag and having them read it, or what. Anyone have ideas on that?

Oh well. I'm getting hungry so I'm gonna stop writing for now. Toodles!

Ahhh...final exams are OVER!!!

I'm very happy I took only ASL courses this quarter. The Final Exams were pretty intense. Luckily, I was able to study a lot and I have a feeling I did really well. I know I went into the Final Exams having an "A" in my classes thus far, so even if I didn't do well, I would still pass. But, I am hoping I get good grades so I can keep my GPA at 4.0.

For ASL 1, the Final Exam had 3 parts. Parts 1 and 2 are completed one day, and part 3 is completed the following day. This was day #1:

1) Video taping yourself signing 10 sentences like asking a classmate questions and telling them about fictitious family members signing names, ages, and their jobs.

2) Culture and grammar. This was a written test taken from the assigned readings and grammar rules in ASL. This was hard. You have to think like a deaf person to answer the grammar questions. Also, you need to know about basic Deaf history.

And Day #2:

3) Receptive. This is where the professor signs something and you write down what is signed. This can be very intense, as the professor doesn't pause while signing the sentence or whatever to give you a chance to write things down. The professor does pause between repeating each sentence though. At that time, you're to write what was signed if you can remember it all. After the repeat, you fill in what details you missed the first time. My writing suffered because half the time I was writing while watching her sign. LOL...

The Receptive part is usually 5 pages long. For example, The first page will be her signing about going to the food store, what she buys and how much she pays. The second, where she travels and how she gets there. Third is family members and ages. Fourth can be where things are located at school. And lastly, she will throw in names of animals and names of basic items around the room that we should know. WHEW! That is a lot.

My other class, Introduction to the Deaf Community was harder than I thought. For one thing, they combined two courses into one starting this quarter. So, we had a lot to learn in one quarter. Part of our grade was based on our participation in class discussions, so I made sure I piped in and gave my two cents worth once in a while. The class was actually very interesting and lively. The only problem was, we had very few quizzes and only one test the whole quarter. The rest of the grade was the discussion portion I mentioned earlier, and papers/projects. GOD....those projects/papers were tiresome, but interesting and informative. I mean, they weren't super-hard, they were time consuming though because they required A LOT of research. Tons of it. We were given three projects in three days if that gives you a clue. The class was easy before that was plopped in our laps.!

Then the final exam..WOW. It was comprehensive. There was no book for this class either. It was based solely on notes you took, films we watched, the two quizzes and one test we had. That's it. So, the professor gave us a study guide....with 44 acronyms of organization names we had to know. There were laws, by-laws, medical terminology, questions about films we watched in class, what educational interpreters were and how they become licensed, 15 people's names and who they were...blah blah blah...I about went crazy. The study guide was 8 pages single-spaced.

You know what though? I studied for a solid week and weekend and the final was a piece of cake! Wow, I was glad when it was over!

Anyway, we'll see what my grades are for the two classes and then I'll celebrate. I hope I get all A's!!

More articles of gay importance from slapupsidethehead.com

The American Library Association released their annual list of most challenged books on Tuesday. Topping the list for the second consecutive year is And Tango Makes Three, a true story about a couple of male penguins at the New York Central Park Zoo.
The story is actually pretty cute; the penguins pair off as a couple and begin incubating an egg-shaped rock as if it were their own. Eventually the zoo-keeper takes notice and replaces the rock with a real egg that another penguin had abandoned. The two penguins take turns sitting on the egg until it hatches into an adorable baby chick, which they raise together.
The book, complete with really sweet, colourful illustrations, generated more formal complaints and was pulled off more library and school shelves than any other book since 2006.
Complainants charge that the book leads impressionable children to accept the penguin lifestyle.

Troubling news from Malaysia, as Canada’s latest gay deportee is now being sought by police in his home country.
Amirthalingam Kulenthiran, who applied for Canadian refugee status in 2003, was deported three weeks ago because he failed to prove he was gay. His refugee claim was based on the fact that homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia, saying that police there had beaten him while in custody.
Now that Amirthalingam is back in Malaysia, police stations across the country have been ordered to stay on the lookout. Ismail Omar, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, said that the search measures are merely to investigate his claims of police brutality:
What was his offense? That’s just it, if he did not commit any, how could the police arrest him? We are sad that he had accused us just like that.
Homosexuality in Malaysia carries a prison sentence of 20 years, or caning. Just before he was deported from Canada, Amirthalingam filed an emergency pre-removal risk assessment, but was rejected.
I wish Amirthalingam the very best of luck. While it’s sad that gay Malaysians must stay closeted, hopefully this situation will help draw attention to the problem there.

And now for Sports..take it away, Luciano!
Luciano Moggi, the former managing director of Juventus, Italy’s largest soccer club, went on a bizarre tirade against gays this week during a televised interview. The controversial official, who is currently being tried for corruption scandals, said that…
Well, actually, I think I’ll just let you read it verbatim:
"There are no gays in football. I don’t know if players are against having them in their team but I definitely am. In the teams where I worked there were never any. I never wanted to have a homosexual player and I still wouldn’t sign one.
I’m old school, but I know the ambience of football and a gay wouldn’t be able to survive within it. A homosexual cannot do the job of a footballer. The football world is not designed for them; it’s a special atmosphere—one in which you stand naked under the showers."

So, there you have it: Gays don’t like soccer, and even if they did, any latent athletic ability would be invariably foiled by their beacon of gayness. Which is alright, I guess, since us gays couldn’t handle after-game showering without, presumably, violating all our teammates anyway.
Incidentally, while former professional soccer players have come out as gay in the past, no current players are openly out of the closet. I can’t help but wonder why that is…
Thanks to Slap reader Kathrine for this gem, with an extra hat tip to The Offside

And in other news:

Jamaica is marketed as a vacation paradise, but for gay people, the danger can be shocking.
Gareth Henry, a Jamaican gay activist, has had 13 of his friends murdered by lynch mobs in the past four years, and has now fled to Canada to seek refugee status.
Sadly, Canada has an atrocious track record of protecting endangered gay refugees. Alvaro Orozco was ordered to be deported to Nicaragua in October because his adjudicator didn’t believe he was gay. Leonardo Zuniga, a Mexican claimant, also had his refugee plea rejected last summer despite the threat of anti-gay violence in his home country. With Jamaica’s popular image as an easy-going tourist spot, Gareth Henry might not have better luck.
Jamaica’s perception needs to be challenged; the country’s most popular musicians habitually call for the murder of gay people, and the public acts accordingly. Montreal Simon regularly reports on Jamaica’s horror stories (I’m borrowing his recurring zombie island motif), but very little attention is paid by the mainstream media—and Jamaican police are often mob members themselves.
I wish Gareth the best of luck with his claim and hope his stories will gain the attention they deserve. If governments become aware enough of the issue to put out traveler warnings, Jamaica may finally be forced to stop the madness.

Three men in Cameroon have been sentenced to six months hard labour for being gay. (This is in addition to six months already served in jail before the trial.)
Being gay is a crime in Cameroon, carrying a maximum sentence of three years in prison. While the three men in this case aren’t serving the full sentence, they weren’t caught doing anything gay in particular either. I guess the judge just has some kind of super, acute gaydar.
Hey, how about that? Gaydar pings are now admissible trial evidence

Here is a toon I thought was funnier than hell..ooooh, Did I write hell? Ahhhh!!!

Gay article...

How about this...Geez:

Yahya Jammeh, the president of The Gambia, Africa, announced last week that he will introduce laws “stricter than Iran” in dealing with homosexuality. He said that gay people in the country have exactly 24 hours to leave, and that he will “cut off the head” of any gay person he finds left.
Jammeh said that he wants to make The Gambia “one of the best countries to live in,” adding that he has spent over $100 million US dollars since 1994 to help promote the country’s development.
While I guess it’s nice that he’s giving gay people a day’s head start, the comments were immediately condemned by human rights groups. Carey Johnson of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Council was appalled by the mass death threat:
What president Jammeh fails to realise is that there are a significant population of Gambians who are gay, and he has no right to ask them to leave.
Jammeh made international headlines last year when he announced that he had discovered the cure for AIDS: A mixture of herbs to be eaten and rubbed over patients’ bodies.

And another:

Italy’s Ministry of Transport has been found guilty of discrimination after they told a gay man that he must re-take his drivers test due to a “sexual identity disturbance.”
Danilo Giuffrida, a 26 year old from Catania, Italy, was told that if he didn’t take his drivers test a second time, his license would be revoked. After successfully passing the drivers test for a second time, Danilo’s license was renewed for one year instead of the ten years for heterosexuals.
Imagine that. I didn’t think my driving was so inherently dangerous. Though, really, if the Ministry of Transport wants to think that being gay is a disability, that’s not too bad of a trade-off for one of those parking tags.

Here, we gays are compared equally with the destruction of a tsunami:

http://blogs.mississauga.com/blogs/surjitsinghflora/2008/08/27/same-sex-marriage

Why am I surprised by all this? Because it is 2008 people!!

Gay Blog I found

This blog, http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/ shows us what's REALLY going in the world around us pertaining to gay issues. Wow...I was appalled and laughed at the same time. I will include more articles and pics soon.

A tiny church in Backlick, Ohio (very close to Columbus, OH)has drawn some ire from local residents over its illuminated sign out front: “I kissed a girl and I liked it. Then I went to hell.”
The text is, of course, a reference to a hit song by Katy Perry, though I’m not sure why they don’t share the world’s enthusiasm for mass-manufactured pop music. When asked about the sign, Reverend Dave Allison said that the message shouldn’t be a shock to anyone, saying that the sign was posted “as a loving warning to teens.” Aww..I feel loved, don't you?


A refugee claimant in Winnipeg is set to be deported to his native Nigeria after failing to prove that he’s gay. The anonymous refugee said that, as a gay man, life for him was not safe in his home country. Indeed, homosexuality is illegal in Nigeria, and violators can face lengthy prison terms.Judge Yves de Montigny, however, rejected the refugee’s claims, saying that since the man couldn’t describe the function of EGALE—Canada’s largest gay rights organisation—and confused the names of two Winnipeg gay bars, he mustn’t be gay at all. This new legal definition of “gay” now puts most of Canada’s gay men in danger of deportation

A 73 year old Catholic exorcist, Father Jeremy Davies, has warned that gays are at serious risk of demonic possession, if they aren’t already controlled by Satan.

Four schools in Auckland, New Zealand, have barred students from taking same-sex partners to the prom unless they sign a contract declaring they are homosexual, according to the New Zealand Human Rights Commission.
Sarafin Dillon, an education officer for Rainbow Youth, was disappointed by the reports, saying that forcing students to sign contracts would only increase “the ridicule and the whispers” that gay students face.
A spokesperson for the schools responded by nervously wielding a torch and backing into a corner, stuttering “Reveal yourselves! Where are you? Show yourselves! GAAAAH!”

A few cartoon-only's I thought were funny:

Event Heart Monitor...sigh

So I went to see my family doctor to check on the cyst on my heart that I had drained a couple years back. After a CT scan, my doc said it was still small and nothing to worry about. Okay..fine with me. But, I keep having these heart flutters, missed beats, and out of rhythm beats. They sometimes wake me up and that's a little unnerving to say the least.

A little history:
As a teenager, I kept having pains in my chest and the flutters, missed beats, and out of rhythm beats. I was tested again and again and nothing was found. They couldn't catch my heart doing these things because when my heart would act this way, I was always away from the doctor's office. They didn't bother to give me a heart monitor to wear either, which is odd. It turns out it may have been from the large cyst on my heart that no one seemed to catch on the x-ray or cat-scans at that time. I had to have had the cyst since birth because a big nerve runs across the cyst and that's why they couldn't remove the cyst, only drain it. I did have the cyst drained back in 2007, but the symptoms were still present. We decided to give my heart some time to heal and wait a year to see if the symptoms were still bothering me. Well, they are.

Back to the present:
I spent this past Thanksgiving with my dad and sister in Zanesville. When I arrived home, I saw a UPS package by my door. "Hmmm...what's this?" I thought. "I hope I won something!" Ha ha ha...nope, it was a heart monitor. I remembered then that my doctor said she was going to send for one and I would have to wear it for a month. What this contraption does is monitor your heart and when you have an "event", that's when you notice your heart doing something it shouldn't, you press the "record" button and it records from 45 seconds before you hit the record button to 15 seconds after you pressed the button. Pretty cool. So, it keeps about a minute of your heart beats in storage at all times. I guess this is called "looping".

If you've ever had an EKG done at the doctors or hospital, you know what I mean when I say there are electrodes, I have two I wear, on my chest. There are like 10 on an EKG, so me having to wear only two is great. I stick the electrodes on my skin, one right below the clavicle on my right pectoral muscle, and the other electrode just below my left pectoral muscle. Now, I have no muscle tone at all there right now, so we can assume they mean "man-boob"..LOL There are two buttons on the electrodes where you snap corresponding wires, and they are plugged into a little black box that has a belt clip on it. Looks like a little Walkman (showing my age here), except there are wires going to your chest, not your ears. (smile)

I can shower with the electrodes on(not the wires, of course), but I have to change them every other day. The total time I need to wear this thing is a month, so this is a great way to "catch" my heart doing what it shouldn't be doing since I cannot ask it to act crazy for me on a whim.

Oh, funny thing..I need to send the recorded information every couple days. How is this done? Well, you need a landline, first of all. Then you call the tech people at some 800 number, they tell you to place the phone on the black box and press send on the box. There is a screeching noise that sends the data to the tech's which prints out as an EKG. Pretty cool, huh? Now, can anyone guess what the screeching sound is? Yep....a modem baby!! Remember modems?....deedrrrrrdeeedrrrrrquaaaaaaahhhhhhhdeeedrrrdeeedrrrrquaaaahhh!!. I have to listen to that for a solid minute while the little black box sends the information. Why isn't there like a USB plug or something in it to send over the Internet. Hello? It is 2008 people!!
Ugh...oh well. Maybe they'll find something and maybe they won't. It could just be a genetic thing passed to me by my mother's family or something since they have a history of this happening to their hearts. (according to something my mom mentioned a long time ago). It's worth checking out though. I'll keep ya posted.

Eyeglasses...here we go again!

A few of you may remember me having glasses in college and in my early youth. At about 8 years of age, I started having a lot of headaches, and after doing CT scans of the brain and some other tests, they found nothing in particular except the right side of the brain was bigger than the left side. The doctor said maybe the right side of the brain may be pressing against the skull and I would grow out of it. After Mom and Dad thought about it, they took me to see an Opthamologist. He found that I had Esophoria for both eyes and Amblyopia in my left eye. This means that my eyes have a tendency to turn inward and the point of focus happens in front of the object I'm looking at, not right on the object. So my eyes are constantly trying to focus and fighting with eachother to maintain focus. So, I had to get glasses as well as do eye exercises using different lenses to look at cards I was given. I think I wore a patch too for a while to help my left eye "learn" to focus.

While in in high school, I got glasses with bi-focals and prisms in them. The prisms helped my eyes to pull outward and therefore my eyes focused on the object and not in front of it. The headaches went away and all was well....until I left them in a booth at a restaurant in Chicago. Oops...I never did go back to get a new pair. The headaches returned, but not as often and not nearly as bad. I meant to get glasses again, but never got around to it.

Remember the eye exercises I did as a child? Well, they helped my eyes and the glasses kept the benefits of those exercises intact. But, when I lost the glasses and didn't get new ones...for 15 years..I undid all the benefits those exercises gave my eyes.

So at the present time, after having headaches about everyday and my eyes getting so tired after starting college again, I went to see an Opthamologist. After 5 hours of testing, he concluded I have significant Esophoria and Amblyopia in the left eye, plus the vision is bad. Not real bad, but enough. So, I'm getting glasses again..with bifocals and prisms. I better not lose these pair! I should get them this week, so next time I come visit y'all, I should be 4-eyes once more...LOL

In the mood for more swing? (pun intended)

Here ya go!! These are fun!

I would write more, but I'm getting ready to head out to school. Then, it's off to Dad's for Thanksgiving! Yay!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thanksgiving is almost here!

Ah, Thanksgiving...memories of good food, family fun, and traveling to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Gotta love it!

My best memory is going to my Grandma and Grandpa Black's house to visit during Thanksgiving vacation from school. Every bit of food was so delicious. Buttered home-made noodles were my favorite. Putting black olives on my fingers one year has been a story told every Thanksgiving and gets lots of laughs. Who HASN'T done that? I remember sitting in an old-fashioned white metal high-chair that could be used for babies or older boys. I wanted that chair everytime until I eventually got too big for it, then I'd stare at it longingly while eating at the table..that was MY chair. Oh, and speaking of eating at the table, we kids all sat at the "kid's table". No one liked that table because we all wanted to sit with the grown-ups.

Afterward, all the men went hunting, although they never came back with anything. But they had their fun. I wanted to go so bad, but I was too young. My brother, Kevin, got to go, but I didn't...humph!! Grr....
My cousins, sisters, and I would play games inside before going out into the cold weather. There was the magic tin of buttons Grandma had that held our attention for hours. Then, there were the coloring books that appeared one year, and were there for years and years, with messages from the past written on the pages such as so and so "stinks" or someone loves someone..cute stuff like that. There was the ostrich string puppet, chinese checkers, a regular checkers game, cards, and a whole lot of other stuff. Everyone would play cards too in the evening before bed...that was so much fun. Especially when I'd get to sit on dad's lap and "help" him decide what cards to lay down. There was the piano in Great Grandma's room I was never allowed to play, but the older kids could which pissed me off every year. LOL Ahhh...I'm having fun writing this...

Ohhh ohhh!!! There were the BEADS...God, how could I forget the wall o' beads!?! My Grandma Black made jewelry, bells, and all sorts of things with fishing line and beads. It was magical. So, we put beads on everything and we had this crazy notion that we invented Friendship Pins. If you don't remember Friendship Pins, well then you missed out. They were safety pins with beads on them. You made them for your friends. Well, Grandma had a wall where she mounted a cabinet of like 50 drawers of beads. We had the time of our lives making things with those...such fun..

I remember the smells of the house very well, it seemed like each room had a different scent. They were comforting..not nasty. Every corner of the house had some sort of mystery about it. My favorite things in the house though were the clocks. 2 parlor clocks and one mantle clock. I fell in love with them. They were all key-wind and the chimes were beautiful. The mantle clock stopped working after a while, but it looked so cool...it was very, very old.

As for the outside activities, all of us kids would tell make-believe stories about something haunting the outside buildings or some sort of nonsense. But it was so much fun. We'd go exploring to see what treasures we could find. There was the coal pile outside...cinders really that we would play on and get very dirty. Then, I got to ride this special tricycle that was stored in the attic. I had to ask permission to ride that for some reason. Plus, you could only ride it on the front porch, not on the gravel driveway near the road!

After playing outside, we had to get ready for bed. Taking a bath at grandma's was an experience. The tub was cast-iron and the water smelled like iron. The tub filled ever so slow, and the soap was some kind of white soap..maybe Ivory, I dunno. I always felt sqeaky-clean after the bath and got to slip into my warm jammies. We'd play a bit more, then it was time for bed.

We'd head upstairs....oooooohhhh..it was a scary, exciting place to be!!! You opened the door to the hidden stairs leading up to the bedrooms...."Watch that 3rd step!!" was always heard before you ascended the stairs. The 3rd stair had a board missing in the middle running horizontally you had to watch out for. But, the stairs had that carpet on them...you know...the old fashioned kind where it was just stapled to the wooden stairs. So, you'd flick the light on and the ceiling was soooo high, but when you got to the top of the stairs, the ceiling kind of sloped so you had to duck your head...I felt like Alice in Wonderland every time.

The kids room(our room to sleep in) was to the right. Now it was so dark in there, and you had to go to the middle of the room, reach for the light switch chain and pull it to turn on the light. Okay, imagine 3 kids(me and my sisters) daring eachother to go to the middle of the room. Sometimes Grandma would come up with us and she'd go in the room. Funny thing is, she couldn't see the famous "stoplight pull switch"(we'll get to that in a moment) and would wonder about the middle of the room, hand grasping in the air for that pull switch. Then, she'd start to giggle because she couldn't find it. I just remembered she brought a flashlight upstairs with her sometimes to find it. Then CLICK! The room was lit. A BIG bed and dresser was in the room, along with some pics on the wall and always a towel with a 1973 calendar printed on it on the wall. I'll always remember the year on it because I wished it was from the year I was born, 1972. But suddenly, one year, it changed to 1982!! That was a surprise.

Oh, I almost forgot about the stoplight pull switch for the light in our room. Okay, this was awesome to us kids. It glowed in the dark. That's right...really cool, huh? So, we would get ready for bed, jump in, and one of us would stand on the bed, reach for the switch and BLINK! The light would go out. But behold! The white stoplight glowed..brighter at the top since it was closest to the light, and dimmer at the bottom. I'm colorblind, so I don't remember seeing the red, yellow, or green colors of the stoplight, I just remember staring at it and loving it so much. It would fade and disappear into the dark just before we went to sleep. But wait! What was that? In the distance, a train whistle would be heard. It was like the countryside was saying "Goodnight" to us. That was comforting.

But, as our eyes got accustomed to the light, we'd see the closet door directly across from our bed. That was the scariest thing about that room. We'd huddle under the covers and stare at the closet, whispering to eachother horrible ideas of what was in there...and the occasional "Did you hear that?!? and the slight giggle. "Okay kids, go to sleep", we'd hear from mom or dad in the next room. Superhearing....parents always have it. Damn....so we'd eventually go to sleep. I always slept so good in that bed.

Sadly, we stopped going after a while. Family squabbles I guess. Anyway, I'm glad to have those memories. Great times....

This year I'm going to my sister, Shelly's house to celebrate with her family. My dad's going to be there too. Shelly got a 20lb turkey..um...leftovers much?? I know I'll be taking some home and making turkey, stuffing, and mayo sandwiches....my mouth is watering thinking about it...yum! More good memories will be made there, I'm sure

Anyway, get out your feed-bag and eat all you can! I know I am!! Woot!!
By the way, here is a super fun Thanksgiving clip. Enjoy!!

ASL with a new buddy who is deaf

There is a guy who lives in my apartment building who is deaf. For a while now, we have exchanged pleasantries via sign language when we'd see each other. When he heard I was going to college to be an interpreter, he smiled and said he would help me with practicing sign if I wanted. I thought that was cool that he offered to help me.

So last night was our first meeting. I was a bit nervous, but that quickly went away as we chatted via sign and written communication. Since I have little knowledge of sign, written communication was the primary form of communication for some of the night. Then, as the night wore on, I became more comfortable asking questions on how to sign this or that. After a while, we were no longer writing, but signing exclusively! I'd just ask how to sign something when I'd get stuck on a word. He was more than happy to assist me and did not get frustrated one bit. How cool is that?

We're going to meet a couple time a week to practice and he wants to be my friend because we had such a great time together sharing ideas and some family history. I think he's a good guy too and being friends with him would be a nice change from the bitchy gays. He is straight and doesn't mind that I'm gay, which makes me feel even more at ease.

He invited me on a drive to get take out for he and his girlfriend to eat later on. I was okay with that. Then, I thought, "Wait..how does a person who is deaf able to drive?" I was, of course completely ignorant. Whether or not he sensed my question I'll never know, but he said that deaf people are better drivers because they have to focus hard when they drive. Hearing people have their radios blaring, are talking on their cell phones, or just not paying attention. That made perfect sense to me. I felt completely comfortable with him driving and we even chatted (signed) some during the drive.

I tell ya, I learned so much last night. My Professor, who is also deaf, said that if we hearing folk hang out with deaf people, we'd learn more from them in a shorter amount of time than with taking classes. From my experience in just one evening...I know that to be true.

My new friend's girlfriend is nice too. I only saw her last night for a very short time, but she seems cool. I hear she is a very, very good artist and is going to the Columbus School of Art and Design. My friend goes to my college for Landscaping Design and has his own landscaping business.

I think becoming friends with them will turn out to be a great experience for me.

I'll keep ya posted!

Keiko: The new Karen Carpenter

This YouTube video is of an Japanese woman named Keiko who has a voice so similar to Karen Carpenter's that it's barely hard to distinguish the two. I was blown away by this performance. I love this song so much. She sings at various talk shows and entertainment shows across Japan and the people love her. She doesn't know English at all, so pulling off this song and the other Carpenter songs she sings is amazing.

In this video, she meets Richard Carpenter for the first time and as you can see at the end of the video, she is overwhelmed by his comments and his presence on the show. It's definitely a tear-jerker!

I love Karen Carpenter's voice. It's so clear, full, and her tone is just perfect. Keiko's is too. Is this Karen reincarnated? :)

Deaf culture vs our own...a beginning.

I've just finished the second week of classes at Columbus State, and already, I am learning so much about the deaf culture. We know that deaf people are visual, of course. However, I learned that they are also a very "touch-friendly" people. They always hug when they greet each other or say good-bye..always. If someone is facing away from someone else, they touch his or her shoulder to get their attention to converse, and there are other ways they use touch I don't yet know but am going to learn in this quarter. We, the students, have been warned that we are going to be touching one another and anyone uncomfortable with will have a problem passing this course. Touch is that important. Visual cues are equally, if not more important. You always look at the person's eyes while signing, not their hands. Also, expression in the face is very important. You can sign the exact same word or sentence and by just raising an eyebrow, it can mean something completely different. So, there are a lot of things to be mindful of when conversing with a deaf person that I am only beginning to understand. How neat is that?

Now on to something I was thinking about when I was walking home from school. As I passed by people, I got no head-bob, no eye contact, no "Hello", or even a smile. Now, do you people over the age of 30 or who live or have lived in a small town remember when people used to greet one another as they passed by? Do you remember the words "How are you and how is your family?"How about eye contact? Who really looks into our eyes anymore as we pass people on the street, between classes, in class, or even in our own circles? I've noticed hand-shaking is going away. Hugging is reserved for women and the gays..like me..hee hee. Even the occasional "head-bob" that says "Hey, how ya doin'?" would be nice to see. Common courtesies like that are going away like a leaf in the wind. It is even considered rude now-a-days if you look someone in the eyes and smile as you pass by them on the street. They want to know what the Hell you want? Wow...Soon, it seems, we will no longer acknowledge each other as we strive to be "left alone." I will say that in a tiny percent of US cities, these courtesies still happen, Thank God. The rest of the country, however, is turning into a lonely place even though we are surrounded by people.

My point...people who are deaf HAVE to look at one another or they might miss something..always. They need to touch each other. Not shaking hands kind of touch, but other kinds that would seem rude or "whoa!..whatchya doin?" kind of thing to us hearing folk. When I see people who are deaf run into each other on the street or at school, I get a little jealous. I mean, they smile, hug, ask how they're doing are and mean it...and go on to have great conversations. They show genuine interest in the other person. Now, that could be because they have had to and still have to overcome adversity and discrimination. They ban together and fiercely defend their culture. They believe in themselves and that is very, very cool. Now, some of these conversations I see are between two friends who already know each other and that's why the conversation is so lively, but I've seen folks who aspire to be interpreters like myself approach people who are deaf for the first time and fully..I mean fully engage in great conversation. People who are deaf appreciate that hearing folk want to learn ASL for interpreting. I say for interpreting because learning ASL for reasons other than becoming an interpreter or conversing with a deaf family member isn't really welcomed in the deaf community. There are real and strong reasons why..more on that in another blog entry.

So, I found out I have a deaf neighbor in my building a few months ago. I approached him and signed "Hi, how are you?" He signed back appropriately and asked if I was deaf. I signed "No." His next question was, "Why did you learn sign language?" I signed back "To be an interpreter, I'm attending college now." He immediately smiled and we chatted a bit. At that time, I knew only a few signs, but he helped me through our conversation and we shared a few laughs as I would screw up a sign here and there. Anyway, he signed that he would help me practice my signing anytime. How about that? We just met and he wanted to help me with something. Now, where do you see that happening in a hearing world? So now, whenever I see him, there is always a warm smile and a "Hello" and "How are you?" He always takes time to chit-chat. At first, I was nervous that he wanted to chat beyond the "Hello" and How are you?" because people just don't do that at first, but oh yeah....he's deaf and that's what they do. I found that pretty awesome.

Anyway, I'm starting to see things differently about the hearing population now that I am learning more about the deaf culture. I don't think bad thoughts about us hearing folk or wish I were deaf, but what is our culture? Do we have one, or are we split into so many cultures because we think this or that about him or her or that group or that part of the country? I think because we as hearing folk have it so good, we don't care about anything as a population. Or, maybe our population is so big that we really can't ban together with "hearing" being the sole label. I dunno. I just wish that we hearing folk could be nicer, really listen to each other, be a little bit more understanding, and give each other a hug now and again. I cannot think of a single individual who deep in their heart would argue with me on that one.

I remember when September 11th happened and what did we see? Firemen breaking down and hugging one another, people banning together and helping every person they could find, the pride in our country grew to heights I've never seen, and we all cried and felt a sense of connection. Where did that go? Why did it have to go? No....why did we LET it go? Are we so into ourselves that something so terrible has to happen AGAIN to bring us back to sharing that kind of connection with one another? If we would just look into another person's eyes with genuine concern, touch them with a kind hand, listen intently to what they have to say, laugh and speak to them with warmth in our voices for no reason but to connect, maybe things would change in our lives and in our country.

I don't wish I were deaf, but I wish we as a hearing population were a bit more courteous and willing to reach out to one another. We've shared experiences in the past that have taught us how to connect and be a better people, but we've let that slip through our fingers as we go about our lives... just wanting to be left alone. But we don't have to be alone, make a different choice next time you pass someone on the street or see a neighbor. A smile will definitely come and you'll feel better, and who knows? Your smile could make their day go differently and they may decide to make a different choice when they see someone.

Realization...and a question

Y'all know I'm studying to be an ASL interpreter, right? Well, something happened to me today that made me appreciate the fact that I have the ability to hear.

Because the hearing population can for example, walk and hear at the same time, they don't need to keep and eye out for danger. They can hear something first before their eyes are drawn to it. People who are deaf, however, need to pay close visual attention to their environment to avoid dangerous situations.

Now on with my story:

I walk around my neighborhood for about 40 minutes a day, sometimes twice a day, for exercise and just to get out of the apartment. Most of the streets where I live are lined with trees on both sides. Pretty nice, right? Even though some have damage from the Hurricane Ike windstorm we had a few weeks back, the trees are still nice to view while walking.

So, I was looking down at the sidewalk while walking and really deep in thought when I heard a strange noise above me. It sounded like leaves rustling, but really loud. I smiled as I imagined it was probably a few squirrels running around. (We have a lot of those here). The sound grew louder, and now it sounded like something really heavy was falling out of a tree. I heard limbs snap and I looked up just in time to see a huge branch falling down out of the tree right above me. I yelped in fear and surprise as I dodged out the way and it crashed to the ground. It barely missed me. This was followed by leaves falling all over me and the sidewalk which were knocked off the dead limb as it fell down the tree. I stood there in disbelief as I looked at the size of the limb in front of me.

This limb was big...I mean BIG. If it had hit me, It would have definately knocked me down and I would've been hurt. This was a limb that had broken off the tree during the Hurricane Ike windstorm we had, but it hadn't fallen completely down the tree. I know this because the leaves on it were almost dead. It looked like the limb had been damaged at it's base from an earlier time, so I guess it was an easy target to be torn off the tree from the windstorm.

As I brushed the leaves off my pants, shirt, and hair, my immediate thought was, "What if I hadn't heard the branch falling from the tree"? "I would've been hurt and possibly need to go to the hospital". Wow...that thought was unsettling.

Suddenly, I heard someone shout if I was okay and I looked up to see a few people coming out of the nearby homes. They had heard the tree limb fall from inside their homes! It was that loud. I explained that this branch came down from the three and almost landed on me. We talked about how lucky I was and so forth, then we hauled the branch to the side of the road for city pick-up. A guy said he'd call the city to pick it up. I thanked them and I walked the rest of the way home, looking carefully at each tree before walking underneath it. Needless to say, I was glad when I got home.

So, I know first hand that the ability to hear in this particular situation is a blessing for me. Don't get me wrong, people who are deaf are blessed as well in that their other senses are hightened and they use them to avoid dangerous situations everyday. However... I wonder if a deaf person would've seen the dead branch in the tree and avoided it?

Thoughts??

Candyman Swing

Here is yet another video that has some swing dancing in it. It is an excellent song to swing dance to!! I can't help it..I love it!

This is "Candyman" by Christina Aguilera
Enjoy!

Kellie from liamshow.com...FUNNY!!!

Okay, there is this guy who started a cam show on youtube.com. He got so many hits that he expanded to a website and now is part of a TV show called "I Hate My 30's" on HBO. I guess he's making loads of money now...asshole. lol.. One of his best alter ego's is Kellie. She likes shoes a lot and is a smart mouth. She has a bit of a speech problem. She says "Deck" for "Dick" and "Betchslap" instead of "Bitchslap". You get the idea. Too bad she lives with her parents and grandmother. Liam plays Kellie, her brother, the dad, and the grandmother. He's pretty talented.

Anyway, his webite is liamshow.com. Check it out for lots of funny clips and info!

Here are a few clips I absulutely LOVE. They're short, so watch them all. The Betchslap Cereal one will leave you rolling in laughter! There's a Betchslap in every bite!! On the others, listen closely to the family conversations...hilarious! They have some swear words and the last one is a bit adult oriented, so don't play at work!

Let's Google my last name

I was sitting here at the computer just fiddling around when I thought, "Hey, why don't I google my last name and see what I find"? I knew my last name is very, very different, so there couldn't be much out there, and whomever I find would definitely be a relative. So, this is what I found...WOW... pretty cool, eh?



Kanka Settlement:
Property names are listed in the language in which they have been submitted by the State Party.
Uzbekistan (Asia and the Pacific)
Date of Submission: 18/01/2008 Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)(vi) Category: Cultural Submission prepared by:National Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan for UNESCO State, Province or Region:Tashkent Region, Akkurgan DistrictCoordinates: N41 12 E68 59Ref.: 5286
Description
A site of ancient settlement of Kanka in the territorial and administrative attitude is located in 80 km in the southeast from Tashkent, in the southeastern outskirts of Eltamgali settlement. It is the ancient and one of the large city centers of Tashkent oasis. Kanka is the first capital of Chach state, small estate of Kanguy. Monumental fortification walls with towers surround the huge territory of more than 160 hectares. There are three cities inside, allocated into each other, and each of them by own fortification, curtains and ditches. Inside-small town typical of antique plan, once it has affixed with other suspension bridge. In its northeast part rise the most powerful construction of the city-citadel-arch, with the height more than 40 meters with palace of governor, man-sided bastions and house temple. The total area is 220 hectares. Kanka divides into three parts - citadel, shakhristan - town territory and rabad - trade and commercial outskirt.
Here is a map of the city of Kanka: http://www.maplandia.com/senegal/diourbel/kanka/



Ever heard of Megan's Law? Well, her last name was Kanka! Read for more info:
Megan's Law is a federal law passed in 1996 that authorizes local law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living, working or visiting their communities.
Megan's Law was inspired by the case of seven-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed by a known child molester who moved across the street from the family. The Kanka family fought to have local communities warned about sex offenders in the area. The New Jersey legislature passed Megan's Law in 1994.There is a foundation set up in her name. Here is the website: http://www.megannicolekankafoundation.org/

Here is a distant relative’s photo portfolio:
http://www.jaroslavkanka.com/

Here is a distant relative’s sports page:
http://kankasports.blogspot.com/

Here is a relative who is a director/writer for film:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1597581/

Here is an interesting note:
“Kanka” is a funny (sometimes shady) way of saying bro in Turkish slang, which literally is the first letters of Blood Brother mashed together

A Hockey Player relative:
http://www.eurohockey.net/players/show_player.cgi?serial=15377

A musician named Michal Kanka:

http://www.emusic.com/artist/Michal-Kanka-MP3-Download/12059490.html

A song “Kanka” (not in English):
http://www.lyricsandsongs.com/song/653738.html

And..let’s not forget this handy medicine for mouth sores :)

http://www.drugstore.com/qxp15811_333181_sespider/kanka/mouth_pain_liquid_professional_strength.htm

I may add more later as I find more information. I was pretty impressed with how much information I could find.

Another Swing!

I found this on youtube.com. This is a "swing jam session" put on by high school teens. Yep, I wrote high school teens. Turns out Swing is coming back! There are high schools that have Swing Dance Competitions. I couldn't believe it either, my friends...but it's true. Now that some kids have something to do where they can show off and dance wherever they are. Maybe it will keep them out of trouble!! Small towns sure could use a dose of this medicine!!

Now about the video. Because they are teens, they have boundless energy and they show it!! Wow they can cut a rug!! I could never move that fast or do those some of those aerials. Anyway, they are fantastic. AND...these moves are not rehearsed. The great thing about Swing is all the subtle cues the lead gives the follower to prepare them for the next move. If you notice, some dancers pick different partners each time. They'd all have to be extremely comfortable with leading and following. There are even guys dancing with guys!!

Gay Pride Parade 2005

I was looking for something in my box o' memories and pulled out this picture and just laughed. Wow...that was three years ago. Boy I look good..heh heh. This pic was in the local paper and I'd forgotten all about it. Geez...

The harness I'm wearing is one I designed and had made by a company in Florida. I like it a lot, but don't wear it very often. It pulls on my chest hair. A design flaw for sure..lol. It's very heavy too, but it looks great!

Anyway, I just had to share this pic. I had a lot of fun being part of the parade that year.

First day of ASL Classes!!

Well, today was my first sign language class at Columbus State Community College. Talk about intimidating from the get-go! Oh my gay stars, I felt like running out of there as soon as I found out I was the only man in the class! Then, I saw our instructor is deaf herself and needed an interpreter to speak to us. If that wasn't enough, she was signing one hundred miles an hour. I couldn't keep up. I caught some of what she was signing, but I had to rely on the interpreter to get it all. This is the first day of class and already I was scared to death!

Well, my fears were quickly put to rest when I found out that almost no one in the class knew any sign language. I know sign fairly well, but not enough to carry a decent conversation. So, I'm ahead of the game a bit, which is nice. Anyway, the instructor turned out to be a very easy-going woman who signed over and over that learning sign should be fun. So we spent the class time playing games involving gesturing, not signing, to get us used to looking at our hands and faces. We split up into teams of 4 and tried to guess the name of everyday objects written on 3X5 cards that we were given earlier. Those were fun games! One of the rules was not to sign, but one of my words was "book", so I did the sign for book. I got teased by the teacher a bit, which was funny, but she said that for some words, the sign is simply what anyone would gesture to refer to the object. Hmm..cool!

The coursework isn't going to be that bad, and there are lots of opportunities to sign with partners in the class or deaf tutors who can help in a lab room. But what is most exciting is a class camping trip October 17-19 at Hocking Hills(a beautiful place to camp and hike). This trip is called "Silent Weekend" . We are to only sign or gesture the best we can while on this trip--NO speaking is allowed. This has been going on for about 20 years and there will be students there from all stages of learning ASL, plus deaf volunteers to help us with anything we need. While there, we're going to the Circleville Pumpkin Show. That will be fun, but we are still not supposed to speak while at the Show. Our instructor signed that we will learn more that weekend than in all this quarter about signing, emoting the signs, and gesturing. I would love to go. I have to get a tent and a few things first, so wish me luck. I really want to go to this thing. It's not mandatory, but I think it would be fun and so educational. I really shouldn't miss it.

Throughout the quarter, though, there will be all kinds of events posted where we students can "meet and greet" with the deaf community here in Columbus. So, I'm sure I'll be going out a lot. I love signing and want to excel at it!

So, while in class, I was signing to the instructor a bit and the gal sitting beside me said she was jealous I knew so much sign language. I said that I didn't really know that much, but you know what? I think I do and don't realize it. Hmmm..well, kudos to me, I guess!

Here is a great website I found for learning sign. Check it out if interested:

http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm

Have a great day!

Shirley Q Liquor

You know, I heard an audio of Shirley Q Liquor a while back and couldn't stop laughing. I mean, here's a straight white male entertainer, putting on make-up to look black, and doing comedy as a black woman...and getting away with it. Both Blacks and Whites love her and some hate her, but you have to admit, she is funny. Here are two of her audio clips acted out by a gay guy in Australia. I tried to get the real Shirley Q Liquor, but I couldn't find ones where the video was good quality. Anyway, I think these are funnier than hell.

Swing Time!!

Swing dancing is one of my passions. I love to watch it and do it when I can. I wish I could learn how to swing dance better. Maybe I should find someone willing to take a class with me. There is a place in town that offers lessons and a hotel where one night a week is totally devoted to swing dancing. Hmmm..I should do it!! Trouble is finding someone as a partner... anyway, here are three swing dance clips and one Balboa clip I love.

Nostalgic day...

I was going through a box and found some pictures from college at IPFW. I just had to post a few for those who also remember those good ole days in the basement of the CM building. Enjoy!

Freemasons Video

Here is a video I love: "When You Touch Me". Who said swim caps, fringe dresses, and 60's dance moves were out of style? Enjoy!

OH GURL!!!

Hey all!
Being a gay man, I love queers in comedy. I wanted to share a video that is really over the top funny. Ever heard of "Girls will be Girls"? That was a movie of drag queens trying to live life and always ending up in a mess. It's a comedy with a bit of raunch. Totally funny and not right. um...well, here is an additional clip not in the movie. DO NOT PLAY AT WORK...just a warning because of bad language and content that is hilarious...um..I mean, not work friendly.

Visiting my girls

I went to see my girls this past weekend. Here is a pic. They are sweet girls. Their names are Madelyn, Celeste, and Audrey(left to right).

We went to a festival and had a great time. Madelyn got a ceramic bird call in the shape of a bird. It is loud, so that will make her mother happy..lol. Celeste got a hand-made Asian fan, and Audrey got a few toys she liked. We then went to see a movie called "Space Chimps". I thought it was okay, but the kids loved it, so that's all that matters.

I'm divorced and live 3 hours away, so I don't see them as much as I'd like. We have a great time when we're together though, so distance and how many times I see them doesn't matter much.

Their mother is a great mother to them and I am completely confident the kids are being brought up with great care and love. My ex-wife and I get along pretty well, and I'm glad of it. It makes seeing the girls a lot easier.

So, there they are...my sweet girls. Aren't they adorable?

My first posting...

Well, it's about time! I've finally gotten up the nerve to start a blog. It wasn't that hard really. Just a few clicks and here I am!
I'm excited to see what all I can do with this blog and if others will really read it and reply to my posts. I thought about doing the MySpace.com thing, but that seemed a bit much for me. I'll start with this for now and go from there.
I have to thank my friend Sarai for the blogspot idea. Her page is pretty cool and is a great way to link friends together and share neat ideas. I'll include her link on my blog.
Anyway, I start college for the fall quarter tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm going for American Sign Language Interpreting. This should land me a great job with great pay. If I work as an independent contractor with an interpreting agency, I will get to pick my own hours and have freedom to choose what assignments I take. Whoo-hoo!
As for now, I am going to relax today and see what else I can do with this site. Wish me luck!