Day 19: Something New

I was over at the cousins' the day I was drawing today's drawing(s), so I asked my littles for advice. I thought it should be something new to me, but one of them had a great idea that wasn't something I myself  had recently acquired/experienced. But I had to use it! Not only was it going to be cute, it was easy to draw, and I knew exactly how I'd do it as soon as the word had come out of her mouth.

"A baby!" Swaddled in a precious pink blanket with a little curly-q of hair and big, pink lips. I wish I knew people having babies! I want to hold one so badly just looking at this!

The second drawing was one I came up with myself pretty easily. The night before is when I experienced that 5.6 earthquake. There had been two other earthquakes in Oklahoma while I was here before then, and there were three in California the week I was there a few years ago, but I had never felt one! I felt so left out from all the Facebook statuses and the feeling of an earthquake in general. So I had to draw that, too :]

I think it might be hard to know what this is if I hadn't already told you, but it's perfect for what I had in my mind. As Laura was talking about the baby drawing, this is the picture that kept popping up in my head as something new for me. It was fun to see something so clearly in my mind and then get it out on paper, and pretty closely to what I was imagining at that! There was another earthquake the day after I drew this, but I didn't feel any shaking again, I just got really dizzy. The fluid in my semi-circular canals must move around a lot when the earth shakes. Gotta love those anatomy classes ;]

On a completely separate note, I went to see a play tonight! It was so funny! I didn't know the theater program at OSU had such good actors and actresses! If you ever have the chance to see the play Noises Off, snag it, for sure! It was honestly the funniest stage show I've ever seen. The best part was that it was interpreted into ASL by some of the students who are working toward certification for interpreting! ASL is a full of expressions anyway, but watching those students interpret something else that is always full of expression was amazing! It was even more funny watching the interpreters and really exciting when I knew what they were saying! Sorry for all the exclamation marks (another one's coming), but it really deserves it! I had a great time and I learn so much at every event I attend where there are plenty of deaf people for me to converse with. I'm sad that the last Silent Dinner of the semester is on Monday :[

I hope your Thursday was as good as mine and that you'll have a fantastic Friday! It's initiation night for the Phi Lamb babies! I'm super excited to spend some time with my g-little and the rest of the family just for fun.

Has something really interesting happened to you recently? What 'something new' would you draw? Have you seen any awesome stage shows? I want to know! Tell me in the comments, please :]
L

Day 12: Most Recent Achievement

I am 20 years old. I live in a different state than the rest of my family. I am in college. I have goals. I have dreams. I have a lot to be proud of, and a lot of achievements to be had. Learning is something that I'm just good at. If someone can intelligibly explain something to me and I'm awake enough to pay attention, I will learn what they tell me, and probably keep that information in my head for a long time. There are some things that I learn better than others, though, because I really want to learn them. I have wanted to be a speech pathologist for eight-and-a-half years and I am finally getting to really see that career and learn about speech and language! It's definitely a big achievement for me, and I am really excited to continue on that path. But I've been learning something even more awesome that I've wanted to do for even longer, and am really really proud of myself for:

Pictured are just a handful of the words I have learned to sign!

I never knew you could fall in love with a subject, or a language, but I've done it. I absolutely love ASL, Deaf culture, Deaf people, and all of the friends in class with me. It has been such a great experience and I've learned so much, besides the vocabulary and grammar. Interpreting is now something that I want to pursue, along with my Cs (the term for certification from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, ASHA) for speech pathology. I am experiencing so much frustration with learning the language because I want to use it all the time, but I really don't have the vocabulary yet to do so. I do experience a lot of funny situations, though-I used the sign for "I don't know" with someone today who doesn't know any sign language; and sometimes people who talk with their hands unknowingly use dirty signs, which is always entertaining. It's been great and I am so excited to continue learning and meeting more Deaf people.
I could talk about this for days, so if you have any questions please please please leave it in the comments or send me an email! And let me know if you know anything about ASL or what kinds of relationships you have with deaf people (there's a reason that one isn't capitalized. You should tell me if you know why!)
I am so happy, even just writing about this! I love it so much!

Hump day tomorrow! And then it'll be the weekend, and then I'll have just 5 weeks of school left (and that's including the two-day week of Thanksgiving)! :]
L