A Cure for Writer’s Block
The past couple of weeks, almost a month now, my writing has been stuttering and sputtering. In part this is due to our house remodel but a lot of it has been lack of enthusiasm. The blank page has been looming and every word seemed like garbage. I've loathed sitting down at the computer to write.
Then this arrived in my e-mail this afternoon:
Confidential Info Removed
In layman's terms - this is very awesome. To the Nth degree. It may be months down the road but a request for a full is the highest I've ever gotten in the publishing world.
Suddenly, that blank page doesn't seem so intimidating anymore.
Old Meets New
The house is done. Normally I'd say something witty but after spending all of last night moving things back into the house, rewiring the sound system, and general cleanup plus a busy day at work, I got nothing. So here's some before and after shots.
Click to enlarge any shot.
From the Back Entry - Before
From the Back Entry - After
From the Dining Room - Before
From the Dining Room - After
From the Hallway - Before
From the Hallway - After
From the Hallway - Before
From the Hallway - After
The Pantry - Before
The Pantry - After
Ultimate Measurement
Ever wonder what three games of Ultimate Frisbee looked like?
No? Yeah, probably not but I'm going to show you anyway. I always wondered how much distance I put on during our games and it turned out a few other folks were interested as well. So this afternoon I wore my GPS watch while playing our Sunday game.
Total Distance ended up being 5.59 miles. The first game I know was 1.72 miles and I think the third game was longer than the second. I'll admit I rank among the more active folks on the field but I'm not alone in putting in this much distance. Might even be a few others who run more than me. Pace was about 13:31/mile. A lot of that is walk and jog followed by brief sprints; repeat as necessary.
Here, there and everywhere.
Talking With My Mouth Full
Last evening I headed out to dinner with my ASL class. We were meeting up with the ASL class from our local community college (they were about on par with us knowledge-wise). The dinner had one rule - no talking. Sign language was the only thing permitted.
Er ... yikes.
All told though, it went over really well. I know about 300 signs so conversation was possible if a bit simplified. We relied on the basics - names, home towns, jobs, etc. and grew off of that. Nothing terribly complicated. No one was willing to discuss global political ramifications of anything through finger spelling though someone did tell a story about King Kong squishing his lady friend. Trying to explain *why* I wanted to learn sign language was a challenge, especially when I was asked by the instructor of the other class.
It was interesting to see how the other class did signs that I knew. Stay, for example. Our version involves the Y shape coming down in front of the chest whereas theirs involved the same motion but slapping the palm. That slap motion threw me off a bit until someone finger spelled it for me. They knew some signs we didn't, we knew some they didn't.
The night did reinforce that I need more practice in reading other people's signs. I can't pick up on finger spelling very fast. That's mostly due to lack of practice but Steph's offered to learn ASL so given time I'll get better. I'm thinking about recording myself doing ASL and then finding a way to randomize the videos so that I can watch and figure out what is being done.
I also learned a whole new respect for the way deaf folks have to go through life and the daily challenges they face. For instance, No Talking also applied to dealing with the restaurant staff. That meant we had to point out our orders on the menu. Easy enough. Now try asking for a refill. Or ketchup. Or salt. Or a lemon (as one person did for their fish). Fortunately everyone ended up with what they wanted along with a hearty dose of laughter. The waitress picked up quick and even learned some of our signs. Earned a hell of a lot of tips.
But there was some cheating, I have to admit. We could hear what the waitress was saying and adapt our signs to it. For instance, when it came to asking for condiments, the waitress got in the habit of running down the list - Ketchup? Mustard? Tartar Sauce? and then someone would nod or sign Yes. A deaf person wouldn't have that advantage (even reading lips isn't perfect).
I've only got one more week fo ASL, then the summer off, and pick up again in the fall if I so choose. I do think I will. Last night proved that it was a lot of fun and very rewarding. Besides, if I can teach Steph, then maybe we can have a private conversation anywhere we go.
And since this whole thing is about ASL, here's a music video ... done in ASL. Enjoy!
And now for something completely different …
Since most of my posts lately have been about the remodeling project, I present to you two pictures that are *not* about the remodeling project.
Edward Hopper's NIGHTHAWKS is one of my favorite paintings. So much that I have two versions of it - one by Hopper, the other by Stephen Pastis of Pearls Before Swine fame. This is what you see when you walk into my office.
It's hard to tell the difference.
We also gave Tim Tam a bath today. As you'd expect, he took it well.
This will likely be the last thing I see before I die.