Brainfailings

I've decided that because there is interest both here and on Facebook for the interview, I'm going to go ahead and share the videos (computer has a crappy mic so I basically just leave my Flipcam aimed at the great room while the voice recorder plays, so the vids are divided up into 10 minute chunks because my Flipcam is first generation and only holds that much) but they will be hosted remotely and they will be password protected.  If you want the link and password, email me. 

The sun rose today and it wasn't as cold as it's been.  Which is unfortunate because yesterday when I didn't have time to stop, the orange trees were frozen over and big dramatic icicles were hanging off the branches, entrapping a few oranges and therefore ruining the crops.  I tried to go back to see if I could grab a photo today but naturally everything had melted.  

Then again, no more freezing my balls off.

The 99 had bags of six bell peppers, and Willie has been on a bell pepper kick as of late so this pretty much made his day.  He's invented a stuffed bell pepper recipe using only ingredients from the 99, and according to everyone else it's pretty damn good.  I wish I ate things like that but I don't like peppers, though I think it would be neat and classy if I did.

I love going to the 99 with him.  He's ridiculously creative with cheap food.

I had a fantastic time in my first official Popular Music Appreciation class.  It was canceled Monday because of "unforeseen circumstances" but today there was a tall man who has a German last name that he pronounces as if it were Italian but that he likes to shorten to just the letter B.  He normally teaches at our sister campus, but they called him yesterday and now he teaches our class.  The original professor is explained away with "he never showed up."  Dead.  To.  Us. 

Thank god for tape recorders.  He's kind of all over the damn place with what he writes on the board.

Timbre                                  Classical

                     Chuck Berry                                  Tin Pan Alley                         Latin

                                                                     Royalties

                                      Intro

                                                                                                     Professor B.  

I'm not an expert notetaker yet.   In high school the teachers usually used slides that we just copied from the projection screen.  In math last semester the notes didn't make any sense for me, though I've since learned to do one half of the paper with the number symbols and the other half with the instructions written in English.  But that guy didn't really give a lot of explanations on the Why of it so it didn't work for me.  In Macro there was a ton of notes, but they never ended up relating to what was on the tests.

Even though this class seems like maybe I'll just get the concept and pass it, I still want to do well and keep up good habits.  We're dissecting music, and in class we listened to big band and some early Latin and I Dream Of Jeanie.  Not the bitch in the bottle, but the one with the light brown hair.  And I had my tape recorder going so I can go back and listen to the parts I spaced out on. 

I hate how I space out.  Hate it.  I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get anything done. 

But I've calmed down, relaxed, and got all of 30 minutes worth of study time in before succumbing to a headache and laying down, and then taking the rest of the day off because I can't get anything done with the boys around anyway.  I'm knee deep in a Monet project that the other adults were supposed to be responsible for.

PS, this is how you properly execute a school project, as opposed to appearing to be on one of your benders.

Proper execution of school project:  Have kid recreate famous paintings by the artist.  Type words and glue it all to poster board.  Materials required:  Paint, glue, posterboard, sobriety and giveafuck

Improper execution of school project:  "Here's some markers, I'm going to go poke my smot."  Materials required:  obvious lack of supervision, idiocy, neglect, and whateverthefuck is wrong with Jamie. 

Speaking of responsible adults, David has gotten a lot of credit card offers and pre approved loan letters at my address.  Likely his credit has recently been run, which has sparked a flurry of loan spam.  Likely it has to do with that truck he's been driving around.

Likely he never changed his fucking mailing address at the post office, which is how I ended up with his driver's license from the casino.

Likely, repo men will show up to my house and I'll have tea with them and tell them exactly where he stays. 

Anyway...

There is no interpreter in the ASL class.  That was just for day one.  And this is going to be a smidge of a problem.

Now that I know what is up with my brainfailings I can recognize where I am having a problem, which is part of what they actually expect of you at the Disabled Student Services office.  They want you to be your own advocate.  And how on earth are you your own advocate if you don't know what is wrong?

My sister would likely say "they put a name to your pain and now you're exploiting it," just as she has done any time I've had any remote kind of problem.  (Be sure to run and tell her.  Go on.)  However, because I understand that I have a slow visual processing disorder, I can pick out instances where my trouble grasping or understanding a lesson may have to do with this problem.  As opposed to being called "lazy" and "so stupid that I will drop out of the 9th grade."

Hiya closest blood relatives!  Glad you could make it.

How this issue becomes a problem in my sign language class is that she called roll with fingerspelling and I missed my name three times.  I know how to fingerspell.  I know what my name looks like when fingerspelled.  I did not recognize it the first three times even though I was trying.  And throughout the whole roll call I only recognized the names "Brandon" and "Joe."  It takes me a minute I guess.  Which is not okay because now there's no interpreter and she's signing questions to me.  And I don't immediately know how to respond.

How she teaches us is she will put up slides on the projector.  Like a Power Point.  And she points to the words, signs them, and we practice.  Today we learned the words Homework, Blackboard, Email, Practice, and Test.  She also taught us "Hi, my name is -----.  What is your name?  Pleased to meet you" along with who, what, when, where, why, how, I don't speak, I don't understand, I do understand, I know, I don't know, Please repeat that again, slow down, too fast, this shit is way over my head, boy, girl, woman, and man.

Guess what I did?

Well, we broke into partners.  And then we went outside.  We all introduced ourselves to different members of the class through mingling and wandering around.  "Hi, my name is J-e-s-s-i-e.  What is your name?  Pleased to meet you." 

Only I was not signing "pleased to meet you."  I was signing "pleased to taint you."

Pleased to taint you.

Hi, I'm J-e-s-s-i-e, pleased to taint you.

Fuck.

Glad I got that cleared up before I went to one of these deaf events and embarrassed the crap out of myself or offended someone.

Pleased to make your acqutaintance.

All the vaginas.

But just like maths, where I'd fail the nightly quiz but then do okay on the homework, I was able to come home and teach everything to Willie just fine.  I can't do it on the spot, but I can sure as hell apply it later.  Unless I'm under pressure and being tested because then I will fuck shit up very very very badly.

Symbol processing is a weakness of mine.  As was recreating the pictures by rearranging the colored blocks during my assessment.  So recreating signs is just going to give me a bit of trouble.

I've never taken a language before.  In my district I was not required to take one because I was in a fine art, which I guess counts as Italian or something, plus 90% of my non school time.  The thing about ASL is it's not English.  The book says not to speak while signing, to not even get into the habit.  Like with any language, there's stuff that doesn't translate.

They translated the word Taint just fine.

I didn't.

My bad.

PS, thank you for the continued support with my Chipin campaign.  I have not yet replaced the worst of the two tires due to not having time as of yet, but I did pay my electric bill.   Keep it coming if you can, and I do have something supplemental in the works but I'm not likely to discuss it here.

Sincerely,