Graduation???

So yeah, I think I'm the only one of us who apparently has no life or nothing better to do at the moment because I am blogging again. So, I was just getting sad again because I'm thinking...wow, four more days and it will be officially the last day of class and then the next day is graduation. Hold up, graduation? I've been in denial that it's actually happening. Exhibit A that I'm in denial: I forgot to take the day off from work. Exhibit B: I have no idea what time I'm supposed to be there or where I'm supposed to go. Exhibit C: I haven't picked up my cap and gown yet and almost forgot about doing that. Okay, so, enough exhibits, I'm still kinda in denial. It just doesn't seem like I should be graduating. And...even though I'm technically still going to be in school, this is the graduation I'm walking in because I love you guys! Can't imagine walking with the education people, just not really close to basically any of them. But anyway, Jas, you better not make me cry again on Friday.

So, practicum was nerve-wrecking and good all at the same time. After I got a little more comfortable with interpreting, I think it went a lot better. Every day though I went home and thought, why didn't I sign that different? I have a feeling that I'm going to be thinking that for a long time, no matter what I'm interpreting. Hopefully it will lessen after some time and more experience. It seems like practicum went by really fast. Doesn't seem like it should be over yet. Well, anyway, I guess I'll stop here. There was no real point to this blog except that I felt like writing something. I got lonely in my head all by myself. I will see you all soon! Oh, btw, you all better be there. I mean, come on, it's the last time.

Tip of the week...

I sent April a text the other day saying we should have done our song videos to 'I Will Survive.' That's pretty much how I felt last week. I interpreted Tuesday and Thursday by myself. And I don't just mean that I was interpreting in the room, I mean that I was the only interpreter in the room. The interpreter I'm working with had to attend a conference last week so guess who that left? Your one and only. I was a nervous wreck the first day but am glad to say I feel like I did better the second day. If you ask the student, you might get a different story but... at least I felt a little better.

The initial sitting in front of a class who is used to seeing one interpreter and then I get in the seat and they're all like, huh, a different interpreter, let's watch her and see what she does. Even though they had no clue what I was signing, I felt like there were that many more Deaf students in the class and all critiquing (sp?) me. But, as Jas was saying, it's helpful to be encouraged. And, I'm fortunate enough to have an encouraging interpreter to work with but also an encouraging student to work with. Oh, get this too. I totally signed 12 instead of 22 the other day. The student corrected me, cuz I didn't even know I did it (that was disheartening) but was totally kewl about it. So, it's nice to have a student that is helpful without being really criticizing.

THEN...after my second day of interpreting on my own, I was headed back to Fairmont to work and all was well in the world. Until...I turned on to Locust Ave. I was sitting at the stop light and all of the sudden...BAM! Yeah, that's the sound that comes when someone crashes into the back of your car and then there's another BAM! when you hit into the car in front of you. That was my other big event of the week. Wonderful whiplash and pain in the shoulder continues. How ridiculous is that? I have physical therapy to look forward to. Again, how brilliantly ridiculous is that?? And what does the girl say caused the episode? Her flipflop got stuck under the gas pedal.

What's the tip of the week, kids? If you're going to wear flipflops while driving, make sure you're not a blonde and know how to get it unstuck from your gas pedal! How do you do that anyway? Does it require skill? Well, at any rate, it's a skill I don't want. Too much damage results. Sorry for the blonde part to any who are and who aren't as stupid as this girl.

Survive, All!

I hope you had the time of your life...

I'm not sure exactly why that song came in my head but I guess it's because I'm about to write about the technically last class of the semester and the program. That is an immensely scary thought. I didn't post on Friday because 1. it was my birthday, sorry to all of you who said you didn't know and wanted to but anyway I'm glad I got to spend some of it with you guys and we're totally having me a party this summer 2. I was either on the road or far down in the woods and away from the internet for most of the night 3. I was too freakin sad. Why must all my friends go away? Well, maybe not all of my friends, I don't want to sound too pathetic, but come on, I miss you guys already! We laughed, we cried, we had a ball! And now, it is the end of an era. (That's a slight 'Friends' reference)

So, besides the fact that I still kinda want to cry again because of not seeing you all, I'm trying to think what we did. I'm too traumatized...but I'll try. New videos! They really are seriously kewl though. The whole predictive questioning concept helps, at least to a degree. It still doesn't help if you have a question that says 'After Denver, where did you go next' and then you miss that they went to Bob's Road and had a brilliant picnic of caviar and crackers. I'm not sure where that came from either. You'll have to excuse me, I just got home a little while ago from spending the entire weekend in the woods. Oh! I almost caught a fish! Yeah...that was an almost. Stupid me forgets to pull first, then reel. Smart fish. I saw it and everything but, hey! maybe that's what went wrong. It flipped out of the water and saw me and decided anywhere would be better than outta the water with me. Well, at least it has a kewl scar and former lip ring to tell it's friends about. On the next episode of 'Scarred': Fish Edition...

Hey dude, I just had a lip ring for like two seconds. Want proof? Just look at this awesome scar.

-To camera: Yeah, I was just swimming along and chillin out in the creek. The next thing I know I saw this awesome worm squirming in front of me. I just wanted a bite but then it was like BAM! I got a lip ring. I felt it pop through and everything. I didn't get an x-ray but look at this wicked kewl scar!

But really, what fish wants a permanent lip ring? Yes kids, it can lead to death. Just think of the fish.

World peace & puppies for everyone...

Oh my gosh, does anybody realize what day it is? It's freakin Wednesday already. That's a scary thought. I was going to try to blog in ASL but I don't think my mind's going to work enough for that today. So, this morning...that video was much harder than I originally thought. I knew the information was pretty complex but I thought I had most of the concepts down. I guess I did but I put them in a different way. I voiced for the first part of the piece and it said about oralism and the different affects it has if used in replace of sign language. I voiced it more from the emphasis that sign language is important and shouldn't be overlooked and that it is important for the children. Well, that's kind of the point but not told in the right light. So my confidence went a little down from that.

We finished all the idioms? Yup, I guess so. Will I remember all 10-? of them? I doubt it. Ruby needs to get cracking on the webcam. April, stop being bored enough to read our ramblings and go help her. Haha, just kidding. No, but that would be great if it could be up for us to see them again to go over them. That's a lot of idioms to put in like three or four days. But I'm glad we finally got the chance to go over all of them. And, I'm pretty excited for our skit on Friday! I'm sure I'll be nervous as all get out but it's going to be so much fun.

We did our skits for April's class just a little while ago. I feel like I did so horrible on that. Rachel, please forgive me for not catching things the first time. I'm surprised you weren't just like screw this, give me another interpreter. Your patience was greatly appreciated. And Charlie, thanks for not letting me hyperventilate. I thought you were going to have to get me a paper bag. Yeah, April, I don't know why but I was so nervous. AND THEN...I was still nervous when all I had to do was read the script. Yeah, the reading part, I wasn't even signing. So, thanks for that for our final project. No, I'm glad we got to do another scenario though. It's good practice. Charlie! World peace and puppies! Or a baby on your hip, you know. Whichever.

I think we need to go ahead and plan a moment of silence or prayer or whatever on Friday for all of us going to practicum. Let us all bow our heads so we can survive and live to tell the tale...

Selective amnesia?

Can someone please tell me what happens in my head that I can't remember what happened three days ago? I'm really seriously trying to think but geez...and...all of ya'll who didn't post on Friday to give me a hint...post something and give me a hint! Okay, I don't know but I do know that as of today we have two more classes left! TWO!!! Oh...I do know one thing we did was the interpreting piece on 'The Jungle.' I remember learning about that in school and someone saying that if you ever read the whole book, you probably won't want to eat meat for quite some time. I hope things are different now. For some unknown reason I felt a little more confident or comfortable with this piece than I have some of the others lately. That's not to say that I probably did a good job on this one but I felt a little better. I'm glad that we've been signing more in class because let me just throw out there the fact that I got a phone call from my mentor saying she will be at a conference next week and wants me to interpret. Ahhhh!

Okay, I think I am a little calmer now. Why? Because I remembered Jasmin's video that I just watched. Jasmin, you're a lifesaver sometimes, or at least a sanity saver. And, as I wrote on a comment to you, I'm so glad I got to see the live performance of 'A Whole New World.' It was superb!

As for today...we tried to get more things planned out for the trip to Columbus. I'm glad we'll get the chance to just get away for a day or two. Hope it will be as fun as it is in my head. We got to see more videos of other ITP students. Some more interesting than others. Kinda makes me wish I put things on the web but then again I remember how much I loathe watching myself on video. I won't put the world through that yet. Ruby's skit...ahh! Ruby's a bear! Yup, we have turned her into one. You'll find out on Friday if you haven't figured it out yet. It should be fun. I guess there is really nothing more to say for today. I think this is quite enough. Sorry I have nothing more clever to write. Maybe later...

Close but no cigar...

I'm actually blogging on the right day today. I'm proud of myself. Well, we got our grades for the group project and our recipe assignments. I thought I did somewhat better on the group interpreting than I really did. My biggest problem with that assignment, I forgot the expansions! I think I was trying to focus so hard on the message and getting the point across that I forgot those key tools to use when switching to ASL. I must give kudos to Jasmin and Rachel for thinking outside the box and making the assignment pretty hard. If you would have asked me to give them kudos on the day we did it, umm...sorry. It's a time lapse thing. But seriously, I'm glad it was something challenging to see how we would really do. As for the recipe assignment, it's the opposite, I did better than I thought. Completely not complaining about that! I'm glad I did good, even though my confidence wasn't up very much.

The video that we had to interpret for today was challenging too. The vocals on it were so loud and I guess there were so many other noises on it that it was hard to tell what the teacher was talking about. Once I did understand some of it, it wasn't any easier really to show the right way to show the concepts. We can show things visually a thousand different ways but to really show it in the right way is difficult.

Ruby's class...'Later Gator'...is that an idiom? I'm not sure but somebody just said it to me so thought I'd throw it in there. I guess I never really thought about making things idiomatic when we're signing too. We focus on making things in the most idiomatic way when we're voicing but we haven't really been taught and exposed to ASL idioms as much. We've picked up a few here and there but never sat down and said, 'Hey, these are idioms. Use them.' Okay, so we only have about 96 more to learn. YAY! We'll all be shedding some more 'crocodile tears' while we're trying to learn these the next week and a half while we're getting 'down to the wire.'

Mutant centipedes...

SO...yesterday's class...We got more practice interpreting random things from youtube today. Apparently you can find a video about just about anything on the web now. Who knew? People have a lot of time on their hands. I think one of the good things from the second video was that it used a powerpoint in the instruction. Like April said, more and more teachers are utilizing the technology and we have to adapt to it. Even though it can probably sometimes complicate things more, I think in general it will be a good resource for our interpreting if we do come across it in a setting. Sometimes we get completely lost or off the topic and it could be a way to get us back to where we should be with our message.

BUT...while I like the concept of a computer class powerpoint, I have found that I do everything from my point of view. Apparently I haven't gotten the concept of really switching things yet. Again, I'm supposed to feel a little better about the fact that I at least know that it's something I do but...really? How am I supposed to feel better if I only know my problems but can't fix them? How do I fix them??? Okay, at least I know they're there. Work on them and practice fixing them...okay. I feel like I need to reprogram myself sometimes. Start all over and learn again. But no, I must keep what little I know and keep adding.

That's all I will write for now. Except I will say that on a totally irrelevant subject, I had a mutant centipede in my bathtub yesterday when I got home. That's right ladies and gentlemen, I did say a mutant centipede. Oh, imagine the possibilities that a mutant centipede could do with a zillion legs in an interpreting assignment. What picture you could create and how many things could you set up in space and keep there when you have a zillion legs to work with. Would it only be interpreting for one other mutant centipede or a bunch of them since you have so many legs? ...Hmm.....

Woosah...

Well, I'm late again in writing for Friday. I will backtrack and make a slight amendment to my previous blog. Okay, so, interpreting two hours should be doable by yourself. But, I still think you should be able to rely on your team if they're there for that purpose. And, I still think most interpreters do need to keep practicing and working on their receptives as well as their expressives. After a ton of discussion, I was glad to see that I wasn't the only one who was disturbed by the lack of respect shown by other people. I think that was the hardest thing for us all to handle. I was never saying the interpretation was perfect or that there couldn't have been improvements but I still hold that there should be some respect shown for the job that was done, especially by students who are going into the profession and will be in those shoes one day. That was just the one thing that really struck me from the other night.

And as far as the presentation being relevant, I think anything that has to do with the Deaf culture and community is relevant to our interpreting and our learning. We need to get as much knowledge as possible about our clients so we can best serve and represent them. If we don't understand anything about the culture, there's really no way that we can appropriately portray their thoughts and ideas to other people. We'll probably always be exposed to new and diverse things about the Deaf culture and it's important for our jobs. I don't always agree with everything but at least we're being put in situations where we can learn the differences and at least see where people are coming from.

As for our recipe assignment.....again, I think my internal noise got the best of me. It is so true that when you have a thousand things running through your mind, it is that much harder to concentrate and really be able to interpret accurately. So many little things kept going wrong while I was trying to do the assignment that when I finally got it done, I just stopped and thought, geez, I wish I could do that again. But, the assignment was supposed to be pretty much based on the fact that we haven't heard the information before and are not supposed to re-do the interpretation. And so I ended up turning in a, less that satisfactory for me, assignment this time. I hope I can do better next time around and can learn more ways to not let the internal stuff affect my interpreting. There's always going to be things going on and I need to learn how to put all that really aside enough to do the assignment and then worry about it again later.

Huge handbook necessary...

Okay, so, I have no clue why I didn't write anything for last Wednesday. Oh.......so I can't forget to put really quick about my voicing. I chose the CD with Brianna. I was kinda torn between doing one of the longer ones that I wasn't sure about the terminology or the shorter one that I thought I could probably know all of it. And let me just say how stupid the reason was that I didn't know if it was ballerina or ballet class and that was the deciding factor. I think I did okay and got the general message expressed but felt I could have done better. Maybe that's how we'll always feel and maybe in some ways that's a good thing because it makes us remember that we always need to improve. I'm trying to think of something else I should write for Wednesday but too much stuff is in my head right now to remember more of what we did.

ANYWAY...as for today's blog, I think the biggest majority of this will be focused on the presentation from tonight. And I have a feeling that I'm not the only one. To start...I thought the presentation was interesting and it gave us a different, more in-depth view of the gay community. I just had to put it out there to start that the presenter did very well and it was interesting.

Now...I must vent. Let me just say...I, along with probably most of the class, am disgusted with the majority of the first year students. By the end of the two hours, I was pretty much fuming, and that sign came in handy. Whoever thought that one up was pretty much a genius. And, before I start completely complaining about that, I have to give huge kudos to Stephanie for interpreting pretty much two hours straight BY HERSELF.

I think there should be some kind of informal handbook to pull out and hit people over the head with. In no particular order - - - Number One: Do not correct an interpreter who you are not teaming with! You are an audience member. You are a student. Sorry, but that's the reality. Need a wake up call? We about gave it to you. Number Two: Do not think you know what interpreting in a real-life freakin two hour session is like if you don't have a clue. We're in the second year and we still don't have a clue about what it's really like. We only have the advantage of a bit more of a glimpse into the interpreting world. Number Three: Do not think you can do a better job of interpreting and put someone else down when you seriously couldn't. Wow, congratu-freakin-lations. You got a fingerspelled word. I'm so proud of you all. And I hope ya'll caught the sarcasm. Number Four: When you are team interpreting, please pay attention for your team. Hey, maybe they need your help. -Maybe that one goes against a previous one but seriously...help a girl out when she could use it. Number Five: Do not ask a gay person, in a room full of gay people, why they chose to be gay? Okay, that one shouldn't be in the handbook maybe but I had to throw that in there for Kim. Next time ya might need a few bodyguards to get ya out.

That's all for now I think. No one said this was a long handbook yet but we need to make it longer so we have a thicker book to hit people with. These were just a few glaring things that hit me over the course of two hours and God help us if we do the same things. Maybe someone needs to write a book to hit us with too but...I hope we've learned a little more than that over the past two years. I guess no one ever said learning was easy or painless.

Two weeks!?!

Where exactly did the spring break go? It was nice to have a break to just clear the mind for a while, even though that doesn't take me very long to do sometimes. A week can feel like an eternity though, too. I feel like I haven't signed anything in forever. I really feel like I need to pull out some more of our old books or at least the consecutive and simultaneous dvds that let us practice interpreting for people. I'm so nervous when we do interpreting for the most part in class but I feel like I need it. Practicum is two weeks around the corner...yeah, two weeks. By the way, how did that happen!?!

So today's class...we watched a video that discussed some things with Deaf culture. It was pretty interesting and was a review of some things that we haven't outright discussed for a while. It's important for us to remember all the culture portions of the interpretation and the situations we're going to be going into. Another part of that was kind of in Ruby's class today, too. Our video in there was about storytelling and as we watched those, you could see the attention to details and the expressions when telling a story to someone. I think my receptives are still improving, which I'm glad of because then I'm not just staying the same. There are still a ton of little things that come up though that I don't comprehend or just don't catch sometimes when they're signed. The same goes for vocabulary though. There are always little signs that we are used to seeing one way but can represent various words. Where was a thesaurus today when we needed one?

Always an open chair

While it is officially spring break, as of today I guess, I still need to write about Friday. I don't know why I can't remember to blog every Friday it seems. Actually I do know why I didn't this past Friday. Let's see, was it that the portfolio was due, we had a performance test in Ruby's class, we went over a ton of stuff in the blue book, and oh yeah, what was the other one? Oh, we had a six hour workshop afterwards. No, all that wasn't that bad in the end, I'm just sounding dramatic.

The portfolio.....I was a little worried about this one, if you have read any of my previous blogs. The biggest reason for the anxiety was just because I've never really put a true portfolio together. But, after it's all said and done now, I am glad that we were required to do one. It at least gives us a pretty great basis for taking with us for possible employment and that's a really great thing, even if we were somewhat stressed about the grade part of it. We can now say we have something professional-looking to have in our hands when we walk in to see someone about a job. There truly is a rhyme and reason to our madness. haha.

Okay, on to Ruby's performance test. I sat and signed what I was going to present over and over in my head and before we went in there. And then...I get up in front of everyone and thought I was okay for a minute, that is until my mind went completely blank. Overall I think I did alright but I just kinda froze up there. I think for me sometimes, it is easier for me to sign something when there is a message being voiced or when there is at least a smidgen of noise in the room. It's the dead silence that gets me every time.

The workshop was pretty good overall. Again, it was finding some reason to the rhyme I guess. I understood the general concept but it just wasn't sinking in my head the way I was wanting it to. As April said and I think I do categorize things to some degree when I'm interpreting and signing but it can always be improved upon. It was definitely an interesting method of categorizing information in the message. And we were able to do some more of the play on word sentences. You never really think how many different ways one word in the English language can be constrewed until you get ten different examples of the same word with ten different meanings.

And lastly for tonight, for any of you who have an idea of the dilemmas I've been making myself face here recently, I still have a LOT of thinking to do but I think I am closer to a decision than before. That may only make sense to a very few of any of you who may be reading my blog but...I hope you all know what your near future holds and if not, start thinking because it creeps up fast! Thanks again April, for your advice, and for you and Ruby always having a chair open. I'm sure it will be occupied again.

.............

Okay, first I must say that I am much relieved about the blue book test being later than this week and a take-home. That's a burden lifted. I'm glad that we're still discussing the chapter because it's some important information, but we don't have to worry about every little detail to learn and remember for the test this time.

As for the second class, I didn't get to voice yet. In some ways, I wish we were doing more signing too. I just feel like it's been a long time since I have. I told Jeana today that the semesters should almost be switched. I need to start going over the consecutive and simultaneous videos again to practice that more. But, as I usually write, I am glad for any experience and being able to watch and listen to other people voice just gives us more of an idea as to how each interpreter is different in their own ways.

One other thing I found out today is that the future is so uncertain. I hope that everyone else knows and has everything figured out as to what they want to do after we graduate because let me just say that as of today again, I have no idea. I feel like I just graduated high school and don't know what to do with my life. So.....yeah...

What to write? Another day, same worries

I really don't even know what to write today. I guess the biggest thing I'm worrying about right now is having my portfolio finished and how it should be. I feel like I keep writing about it now but I just want it to look professional and be a good start for something we can take to a future employer. Even the thought of a future employer is a daunting idea.

I guess the other biggest thing on my mind today is practicum. I'm supposed to start observing this week and I just keep thinking, I hope I can just do the best job I possibly can and that I can learn a lot from the experience of the situation. I feel like I should have went to the workshop this past weekend as well. It's hard to take off work right now when it's paying for me to be in the program. I wish I could attend more workshops than I have. That's why I'm thankful for the workshop we're having on Friday. Like we've been saying, even learning one new thing is an accomplishment. We may feel like we should learn a whole lot but everything helps if we really absorb the information. I'm sure there will be more to write later when I'm starting to observe and worrying then about the time I'll be interpreting. Experience is key, we just have to get past the fears and concerns in the meantime.

So simple, yet so complicated

After class on Friday, I finally got home through all the snow and started working on my portfolio. While I still don't have my resume part finished, I did get some more things organized and that makes me feel a little better about it. I know that time and experience will make our portfolios better but for now it just seems a little meager.

Started discussing chapter thirteen in the blue book. Some of the topics so far are on educational interpreting. And yet again, the more we discuss things for this setting, the more questions arise. There are so many different situations that can occur in a classroom setting and it's hard to know what we would do in those situations. Even something as simple as where to stand can be a complicated decision. And again, we are reminded that we should not be in a really young classroom if we're not skilled. Kids need all the language models they can and a less skilled interpreter with limited vocabulary is only detrimental to their learning.

We watched another video today to voice. I realized that in the end, if I had the chance to watch everything twice, I would get the majority of the information. However, when in real life are we ever going to be able to watch everything twice? Never. Sometimes I think I focus too much and don't let it come as natural as it should and sometimes does. I'm glad though that we're still learning things every day. One thing learned today: teepee. How simple and yet complex is that?

Which Friday??

Okay, so I may be the first to say that while Fridays are typically looked forward to, I'm not sure if the next couple are going to be. Maybe we'll be more thankful for a Monday. So, the first class I think we all got kind of a slap in the face about the portfolio. I have been trying to think of different things to put in my portfolio but I feel like I don't have anything worthy to put in there. I will definitely be going home this weekend and looking around for any of my certificates/awards I can put in there to hopefully make it look like something. I guess it won't be so bad when we get everything organized and put together but it's kind of daunting at the moment.
I again was nervous today in the second class. I think my biggest thing was that I felt like I hadn't signed in ten years. And again, my non-manuals made my interpretation even worse because...there were none. For the most part, I'm just one of those people not used to showing many emotions and I need to really get over that. Still one of my biggest obstacles. Wait, where is the comfort in knowing your problem but it still not being fixed? I think that's a very miniscule comfort.
And, for the last class, I seriously think, the more we discuss things the more I have no idea what I would do trying to interpret in an educational setting. Also, how can one question lead to so many others? But, that's definitely how it is. I hope I'm not the only one here who is asked one question and fifty others come to mind. There are just so many different situations and possibilities that can go on in an everyday classroom. So, maybe we'll all survive these next couple Fridays and go on to the next.....

Hello Hairy Man?...

Well, I just got back home from the 'Wiley and the Hairy Man' play and first and foremost, I must say that I was so proud of everybody signing. It was funny because I was sitting in the audience like five minutes before the play with Rachel and I told her I was so nervous for them and I didn't even have anything in it. But, everyone did sooo well with everything. It was awesome to be able to watch the signers for the whole play and to not have to miss anything going on onstage. It just makes you think how great it will be for the Deaf audience to watch the signers/actors the whole time. So, bravo everyone!
As for class, we watched some more videos today. We watched some that were sample for the old national testing and then some with kids. Both were I think harder than we're used to but it was good to see how the testing is. And, we find out again that kids are harder to read typically than adults. But, it is so interesting to see the differences. And again, everyone was nervous to try to voice but we really need to get over that. We've learned a bunch that most interpreters are usually a lot better at expressive than receptive. We need to break that mold. None of us are really skilled yet, I think we can generally agree on that, but we can keep improving on both sides of interpreting.

Tangents, we all have them...

So, what am I writing about today? To write or not to write, I guess that's the semi-frozen question of the day. Well, first off, I got my expansion video back today, which I was kinda nervous about getting back. I did better than I thought (I tend to say that a lot...confidence - another thing to work on) but I so need to work on my non-manuals. I think that's one of my biggest challenges right now. Maybe part of it is just not being so outgoing, haha, right?
And, we had our last book test on the red book today. I literally sat trying to think of the one question and all of the sudden I thought, this is the last test from the book and I can't think of the answer and I can't even study more and do better on the next one because there is no next one. Performance testing is a scary thought but one that we need to do so...
We talked about different certifications with the blue book. So, how confusing is all of that? I'm not sure which test I'll really want to try to take but I hope that I'll eventually be ready to get certified in something. Oh, and, April keeps saying people told her she wasn't ready to take her test yet so where does that leave all of us? Maybe years from now we'll be ready too.

Two blogs, glad the days are done...

Monday
We had our test for the blue book on chapter ten. I just wasn't focused on this test and so I hope I did okay. It wasn't that I hadn't studied or whatever but just that I was kinda stressed out I guess. Oh no, the rest of the class has sucked me in with their stress. I hope for the next test I can just put everything else out of my head, at least for that hour anyway. We went through another chapter in the red book too. There were some tips about how to keep our skills up and different things that we're supposed to do during our interpretation, like breathe. I think we do put a good deal of pressure on ourselves and sometimes we need to just breathe and calm down a little and we could do better sometimes. April came in and taught Ruby's class again today. It is interesting to see the different ways that things can be taught. But, I think any time that we're exposed to signing and using our receptive skills, the better we'll be at it. Any and all exposure is great for us and I think we all learn something new from April and Ruby every day.

Friday
Well, today I voiced for a video of Ruby and while I must say I was about scared to death to do it, I'm really glad I did. It's one of those things where you realize that if you never try to do something, you never will. That sounds cliche but it's pretty much right. And, it made me realize again that I need to work on my fillers. I guess it's just something I do until I can get some more information together in my head to put it out there but they're unnecessary and, like we've learned a thousand times, they tend to make the speaker sound less powerful. So, yeah, I really need to work on that, especially if I try to voice for Ruby again, who we all know is an extremely powerful speaker. But, I guess it's at least something that I know I need to work on.

Another day, another video

In the first class today, we talked more from the book about some of the different things that we have to analyze and change in order to make the message we put out but equivalent and culturally appropriate. Again, we're reminded exactly how hard the entire process can be.
After we finished from the book, we basically had another ITP meeting, this one being extremely more structured, the way it should have been from the beginning. I'm glad that April is making the decisions right now since we obviously couldn't come up with anything as a group. Hopefully we will come together for the fundraiser and really make it work.
We watched another video today in the second class and had to write down what we got from it. The first time I watched it, I got some of the points, but I got so much more out of it the second time we got to see it. It would be nice to have that opportunity every time but there's no way that's going to happen in real life unfortunately.
So, yeah, Ruby's class scared me. I think it wouldn't have been so nerve-wracking if there would have been some sort of noise in the background. I get nervous when we sign for videos and things in class but at least there's someone talking for us to interpret. Every day there seems to be another challenge and it forces us to learn how to deal.
I recently found out a little more about my practicum and the more I think about it, the more I'm excited but nervous. There are so many things to do to get ready and I just hope that in the end, I can interpret to the best of my ability. I think we're going to learn so much while we're in practicum and I am excited, just getting over the nerves is the hard part...

It's too cold...where's my blanket?

Monday
Our first class was cancelled today...way too cold! We did...tried to voice some videos in the second class. We're so used to seeing certain people sign that when we're supposed to voice for someone else, we can't do it. I was glad that I could understand some portions of the videos that we watched though. I know that the things we learn from the books are important because of the concepts we learn from them but at the same time, I'm glad that we get to do the real-life things too. The concepts are important to apply but I think it's really good for us to actually see people signing on a regular basis; it's the only way that we can be somewhat prepared for the different signing styles that we'll come across when we're interpreting. While we all may wish that our clients signed exactly like April or Ruby or someone else we're used to, that's only a fantasy land unfortunately. But, just like all of us have different ways of saying things, so do the Deaf community have different ways and styles of signing things. And yes, Rachel and Sarah laughed at me today for saying 'writ' but hey, that's my different way of talking - haha.

Friday
Well, I need to remember to start writing this immediately after class because then I forget what all we've done. After finishing the red book test on Wednesday, we have started into a new chapter. This one discusses things about transitions in a conversation. It points out different signs that can be used to transition from one idea to another and some of them are really subtle. These signs let the conversation flow more easily and provides a connection between the ideas. It's like writing a paper and using certain phrases to move to another paragraph. In Ruby's class today we talked more about how to describe a house. By making us tell a lot of details about something, it gets us in the habit of doing this in everyday conversation. The details given are important to the deaf culture, even though it is typically against our nature in the hearing culture.

Everyone needs a little meditation...

Okay, well, today seemed like everyone was stressed out. We had our red book test today on chapters 7 & 8 and everyone was soo worried. I think most of us worry for nothing because when we get our tests back, they're not so bad. And while I still think everyone needs some yoga or meditation or something, I guess that's how some people have to study. But, while the test wasn't easy, it went better than I thought it would and I am more relieved too.
In the first class, we started into chapter 10 which basically seems to just go in more depth with the process of analyzing the message to interpret. It just shows how much we need to do, all within a really short time. There is so much to think about and process and to put back out to our clients. There was a comment made about how interpreters need to be intelligent and need to have the ability to process all the information. It makes you stop and think if we really can do all of these things at one time and I guess we just have to keep practicing and learning all the time.
A bunch of us went up to the office during lunch again today and they were practicing fingerspelling. Rachel made the comment on her blog that she's envious or something of the way I can look at fingerspelling and numbers and understand them. They told me today to just keep it in my head instead of telling them the answers. Sometimes this is hard for me to do, it just comes a little more natural to me in certain situations and I just want to tell them what the word is. All of us have different strengths and weaknesses and I'm always still trying to get better on things, even though they think I'm good. I'm sure if you asked someone more experienced, they would be glad to tell you I still know nothing. Maybe we'll all be enlightened one day.

Let's try this after a semi-stressful day...

Today I finally decided I might as well give this a shot and maybe I'll be able to remember to do this easier than writing every day. It was, as I've titled, a semi-stressful day. I have found out though, that I can't really let myself get too stressed or else it just makes me forget everything. So...I studied some more this morning for our blue book test. Chapter nine I must say, seemed to last forever. But, I did get through it and a lot of it was similar to the red book stuff about the expansions. I was glad to already know some of that. The test went better than I expected but it always seems like there's something we should've known and didn't. Today was also the first day of a silent second class. The idea of this is intimidating to us I think but I am really glad we're doing that actually. It never seems like I get enough practice with receptives, as well as expressives, so I hope this will help. I was glad I could understand mostly everything that was signed to us, at least for today. And...in the last class we discussed a bunch of different scenarios in educational interpreting. The more we talk about things, the more questions come up. It's hard to know what we would do considering we've not experienced that situation yet. I'm nervous about going to practicum, but excited at the same time because we will be getting that experience firsthand. Well, I think this is about all to process for today. More on Wednesday if I'm doing this right...we'll see.