A wee bit o' lollies

Yes, I know this blog title is mixing Scots and Aussie expressions--read on and you’ll see why. ;-)

This morning (it’s Sunday here), we went to a church that has a Deaf ministry. Because American Sign Language (ASL) and Australian Sign Language (Auslan) are each languages completely different from English and from each other, it was a bit of a challenge to communicate with the Deaf at that church. However, I learned the Auslan manual alphabet and a few signs before I came, and many of them knew a little of ASL fingerspelling, so we managed to communicate with only a little trouble. Australian and American Deaf culture seems very similar--I felt very comfortable chatting with them.

Those who don’t have an interest in signing, pardon me while I ramble for a minute--feel free to skip over the next two paragraphs. ;-)

I find the two-handed Auslan manual alphabet quite awkward, but I learned it pretty quickly. Of course, being able to do the alphabet in order and actually using it to spell or read a word are totally different things, but I actually did okay. Just a few of ASL and Auslan signs are the same, and quite a few are the same or similar sign but completely different meanings (which can be a bit confusing).

The two interpreters at the church were volunteer interpreters who didn’t have interpreting training. They did a lovely job. I found it interesting, but not surprising, that it seemed they were using the equivalent phenomenon to a mix of what we call Pidgin Sign Language and Signed Exact English-- which is ASL (or in this case Auslan) signs being used in an English grammatical structure. It’s a common contact language used by hearing or non-native signers who are not yet fluent in ASL.

The church was having a special celebration this morning--it was the twentieth anniversary of an American couple’s Aussie ministry in that church. At one point they set off a huge explosion of streamers. There was a Deaf and Blind lady who has a dog guide, and they actually had to take them out of the sanctuary before they could set off the streamers. I guess legally there can’t be any animals nearby when they set it off.

The guest speaker was from Scotland and he had a wonderful very strong accent. His sermon was on how all Christians are champions and we must never give up. We can’t be “to’l plonkers”, that is, losers, hehe.

After church we picked up Chrissy and went to the outdoors Heritage Market and wondered around the shops of homemade products and little knickknacks. This lovely water wheel is there, so we paused for a pic by it.

There were a number of musicians scattered around, and we stopped to watch and chat with an Aborigine, playing a didgeridoo. It makes a fascinating sound! A didgeridoo is the long wooden pipe with a bulb shape at the end, like you can see in the photo. The musician actually can breath in through his nose at the same time as he’s blowing on the didgeridoo, meaning he can play an unbroken stream of music.

The name of the instrument is an onomatopoeia. The traditional song played by has a melody that sounds like “didgeridoo.” He did all sorts of sounds with it, even telling stories with sound effects. He would tell us what the story was about, and then use hand motions with one hand while he played a melody with sound effects like a truck rumbling by, a horn, police siren, or animal sounds.

There is an Asian Noodle shop in the market that serves gluten free noodle dishes (Chrissy is a celiac). It was delicious! I got a egg noodles with chicken and vegetables, with a light hint of peanut sauce and coconut milk. The servings were huge and I barely made a dent in mine. Will have plenty leftover for lunch tomorrow! Norm was a “guts” and ate all his. ;-)

But best of all, lol, we found a lolly shop. Those who know me, tease me about how much candy I eat, so I had to get a pic in front of it. (I eat so much candy is that it’s one snack I can have without it making me sick--that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! LOL!)
After we got home, Chrissy had a rest as she was quite worn out from walking, and was hurting a lot. Tomorrow we’re renting a wheelchair for a few months, so that will make going out easier on her. While she was resting, Norm took me for a short driving lesson so I could get used to driving on the “wrong” side of the road. It actually wasn’t too hard, and I adjusted quickly. Chrissy has a small car, so that helped. Now I’ll be able to take us places if we need to go out while Norm is out of town or at work.

Here’s a link to a few more pictures:
http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f138/sparrowsflight/Amy%20Down%20Under/

Birds and tumblers and giggles

Today we went out to Chrissy’s favorite place. It’s a lovely walk along Hawkesbury River. I saw a number of birds that are very colorful and pretty, plus a cute sparrow just like the ones we have at home. ;-) We stopped at Gloria Jeans--a coffee house chain. I had a some hot chocolate. It’s a bit different than US hot chocolate--less rich and less sweet. It was very nice, though. I also discovered that what we in the US call a barbeque, they call a webber, and they often call bikes "push bikes".

After lunch Norm and I went to a small circus that has stopped nearby. The animal acts weren’t very exciting, and the animals weren’t very enthusiastic except for one monkey who thoroughly enjoyed his flips and handstands. However, the people’s acts were great. One of my favorites was a sort of Three Stooges type tumbling act. It was also a lot of fun when a six of the gymnasts’ young girls and toddlers came out and did a few tricks.

Chrissy had a rather hard evening--very painful. But she took one of her higher pain killers and now she’s quite giggly, lol.

Tonight Norm and Chrissy’s son, Ken, joined us for dinner and we ate outside with a fire in the outside wood burning fireplace. We made a late birthday cake for me, and then, apparently in Siggee tradition, Norm and Ken sang a very low, off-key rendition of happy birthday while Chrissy and I giggled.

Now Chrissy and I are sitting side by side, working on our laptops and chatting, hehe.

Sparrow's Flight

Tuesday the 21st, 10:35 PM Pacific time

I sit here at the boarding gate in California, tired of waiting already. The flight’s been delayed an hour. Then of course, is more sitting--14 hours of it. I feel like I ought to be doing jumping jacks or something now, while I have the chance. ;-)

The waiting area is filled with a lovely mix of accents, strong Australian, a faint hint of Australian, Pacific non-accent, or various other countries. A few rows over, a mother with a lovely Aussie accent is reading aloud to her daughter. I’m tempted to move where I can hear better, to help polish up my poor attempt at the accent. LOL.

I can’t get internet access at this airport except by paying for it, so I’ll probably add to this a few times before I actually post it.

Oh, they just said they are beginning boarding. Maybe it won’t be that late leaving after all!

Wednesday the 22nd, 10:55 AM Pacific Time

We crossed the Date Line some time back, so it’s really Thursday the 23rd, 3:55 AM where I am. This plane has three lines of two seats. I’m in a small area with only three rows, and one little TV for each row. The larger section behind me has one large-screen TV for the whole area. Even with my food allergies, I was able to eat at least a little of what was served so far for all the meals, so thanks to those who prayed for that.

We’re blessed because the plane is almost empty. The flight attendants encouraged everyone to spread out, so almost every person has a whole three-chair section to himself. It’s not as comfortable as one might think to lay down across them, as they are rather lumpy and the folded-away armrests are rather hard against the back.

Every seat has a pillow and blanket, so that means I have three little pillows (plus my own wrap-around-the-neck one) and three blankets to help make things a little more comfy. Of course, every time we hit turbulence and the fasten seatbelt sign comes on, those of us who are laying down have to sit up and buckle in and try to fall back asleep in some other position. But I did manage to sleep off and on for about five hours.

I think we have about two and a half hours left of flight (and only a few minutes left on my laptop battery). We have yet to catch up to the sun, and it’s hard to even spot the stars. Somehow, no matter what seat I pick online, I always manage to be right over the wings, hehe. It seems to be my fate. For a while I thought we were passing through a lightning storm. I felt rather foolish when I realized that the flashes were only the wing light reflecting off a think bank of clouds. All I can see out my window at the moment is the pale white of the wing, illuminated by the steady flashing of the white wing light, and an occasional cloud drifting by. Perhaps we’ll catch up to the sun in time for me to get a glimpse of Sydney as we land.

Thursday the 23rd, 2:20 PM Sydney Time

I’ve arrived in Sydney! It took me a while to go through customs because of the long line, but I didn’t have any trouble. They took away a trail mix because it had dried fruit in it, but they let me keep my other food and the wooden and shell gifts I had.

Norm met me at the airport with balloons, and took me the scenic route home so I could see the harbor and a couple of Sydney bridges. It's so funny--my avatar is a picture of me looking down, so Norm said he looked for a girl in a pink shirt who was looking down. Sure enough, I was! I got a kick out of that story, because both Deb and Scott from FW thought I was shy because of my avatar. LOL!

Today we’ve just chatted and had a lovely quiet day. Chrissy is in quite a lot of pain today--aggravated from traveling to the doctor appointments yesterday, probably. But good news! The surgery has finally been scheduled for her back, and they’ll only do one surgery, instead of two like they’ve talked about. The surgery isn’t until October, but at least a date is firm.

Australia, here I come!

Two weeks ago I had no idea that I’d be packing right now. I’m packing for a month-long trip to Australia, no less! That’s right--I’m going to Australia! It’s all happened so fast it’s hard to believe. I have a FaithWriter friend who has a severe back injury. I--and my whole family, really--have gotten quite close to her and chat over IM and the phone quite regularly. Anyway, she’s waiting for surgery (which keeps getting postponed thanks to the government-run health care) and doesn’t have much mobility, plus is in a lot of pain.

So just a few days before the FW conference, she invited me to come there. That sent my head into a tizzy! But in-between organizing for the conference, I figured out that it would work with my schedule, got my visa and plane tickets (thankfully I already had my passport) and my parents’ blessing, and here I am with my bags almost packed!

Though I’m not going under the most wonderful of circumstances, I’m very much looking forward to spending time with “Aunty” Chrissy and to seeing Australia! I have a few other FaithWriter friends in the area, so am planning to get a little visiting and sightseeing done on the weekends. This will be the furthest away from home I’ve been, and the longest time away by myself, so it will be quite an adventure.

I’m leaving August 21st and getting back on September 16th--one week before my college starts up again. I fly to California and have a pretty long layover there, then have a straight flight--over 14 hours--to Sydney. Ug. I’m praying that my back won’t bother me too much, and that food won’t be a problem. Because of my food allergies, I have no way of knowing if I’ll be able to eat the meals the airline provides, and I have to be careful bringing my own food into another country.

The time difference makes the flights rather amusing. On the way there, I leave on what is the 21st here in America, and arrive on what is the 23rd in Australia--seemingly a three-day flight. On the way back, I arrive here seemingly a mere five hours after I left there. LOL! Once one of my cousins “lost” her birthday on a flight to Indonesia.

I’ll be journaling regularly here on my blog, so be sure to check back or sign up on the Blogarithm (little box to the right) to receive an email notification when I post.

I’m getting on the plane and chasing the sun in less than 24 hours! I’d love your prayers both for myself, and for Chrissy. Thank you! I’m off to the land Down Under!

A Midsummer's Daydream Come True--FaithWriters Conference

Wow, what an awesome week! Most of you know I've been busy all year planning and coordinating the First FaithWriters Writing Conference. It was last weekend in Detroit and was so awesome! Those who went described it as a family reunion because so many of us have close relationships on the FW message boards--this was the first time we'd met in person. I thought there would be a bit of adjustment needed, as I connected the physical person with the cyber person I knew, but I was wrong. The connection was instant. One man described it by saying that we've gotten to know each other's souls, and the body is just the package of it.

All Friday night and Saturday I was sooo busy. Seemed like I could get about three sentences exchanged with any one person before someone else was calling for me! I was the MC as well as coordinator, and at least one person described me as "pretty much just a blur" as I rushed around. LOL! I must say, it was rather fun being famous for a weekend, though. ;-)

It's hard to believe it's all over. Things went so smoothly, especially considering it was our first conference. Even Sally Stuart, our special guest speaker who speaks at many conferences, commented on how special it was.

It's a good thing I love all the coordinating work though, because it's starting all over! :-) Next year's conference will be in Tennessee on August 8th and 9th. We're working on inviting speakers and finding the exact location, now.

To read a full account of the conference, check it out here.

After the conference, my friend Deb from Australia, one of the other conference coordinators, came home with my family for a few days. It was so special to get to spend that extra time with her, and helped lessen the loneliness of leaving all our FW friends. I loved getting to show her around my beloved Pacific Northwest!

Signing Camp: Interpreter of the Caribbean

I hope ya'll had a wonderful and blessed Independence Day (or regular ol' 4th of July for those who don't live in the US ;-) ). I laided low Wednesday because I caught a bad cold from a couple of campers at total immersion sign language camp, but it was still a good day.

Speaking of signing camp, here's some more about it. :-D

All the campers were divided into groups of four, and each group created a humorous skit and practiced it throughout the week to perform on the last night. The groups were created with varying levels of signing skills put together, making communication a challenge at times. However, our group didn’t have any big problems and the skit came together nicely.

As we were brainstorming, someone in my group mentioned a popular Deaf joke. So I changed it from a bank robber and a backyard to pirates and a desert island (arrrr!) and threw together a rough draft skit in about a half an hour, to see if that was an idea we wanted to run with. Heh, everyone was very impressed with it (including the teacher--who is an actor himself). The others in my team added some great elements to it and it was a big hit on Saturday night. I particularly liked the title, “Interpreter of the Caribbean.” Hehehe.

Basically the story (our version) is about two Deaf people who are shipwrecked on an island. They stumble upon a treasure chest, and just then spot a pirate ship approaching. They hurry to hide the gold, and then try to hide themselves, but the ship reaches the beach before they have time.

The two pirates become angry when they find that their gold is missing, and quickly spot the two trespassers who they deduce must have hidden the chest. In the shouting and threatening that follows (with the very effective means of a sword), the Deaf people finally convince the pirates that they won’t be able to reveal the location of the chest until they have an interpreter.

One of the pirates sail off to find an interpreter and manages to kidnap one and drags her back to the island. Upon the threat of death, given through the interpreter, the Deaf people quickly reveal the location of the buried chest.

They reveal it to the interpreter, that is. The interpreter, however, sees a prime opportunity to make a fortune, and announces that the Deaf person refused to tell where the chest was. Oh my. Needless to say, the pirates aren’t too happy and drag the Deaf person off to walk the plank, forgetting about the interpreter who rushes to fill her pockets with gold coins.

The original joke ends there, but our story has a twist of conscience. As the interpreter rejoices over her wealth, she hears the cries of the drowning Deaf person and gives in, throwing a rope to rescue her. Now the two live happily ever after, rich, friends, and

STUCK on a desert island forever.



..

Signing Camp: No Voice

I just got back from a total immersion sign language camp. It was great! There were about 47 adults and young adults there, mostly from Oregon and Washington, but a few other states as well. The eight teachers are all Deaf and were wonderful.

I have tons to talk about, hehe, so I’ll tell all about my week in a few different posts.

Since it was total immersion, we weren’t allowed to use our voices at all. Before I left, everyone was teasing me because I don’t tend to stay quiet for very long. ;-) But I didn’t have a problem. It was more frustrating for the beginner signers, but my skills are enough that I could generally at least get my idea across and understand what was being said. I really appreciated having five days of full immersion.

On Saturday we went to Saturday Market--an outdoors market with vendors selling all sorts of different kinds of things. We had to pretend we were deaf and interact with the vendors without using voices. I found that everyone was very kind and did their best to figure out how to communicate with me. For most of the vendors, we could use gestures to communicate, and they figured out to hold up how many fingers the cost was. Because of my food allergies, I had to do more written communications with the food vendors. The first one I tried just looked blankly at my paper asking if the meat pockets had tomatoes in them. I realized he didn’t speak or read much English, so I tried someone else and found something I could eat.

A few of the other campers had some funny stories. It’s rather funny to be able to hear what people are saying about you, when they think you can’t. One person was trying to buy something and heard the following conversation between the vendors:

“Hey, doesn’t your uncle know signs?”

“Oh, yeah, I think so.”

(since the uncle wasn’t there, this was hardly helpful information)

“Hmm… Hey! Maybe he can read.”

(LOL!)

They write a note. The camper (he must have some writing blood in him somewhere) then actually edited the English spelling and grammar of the note, answered it, and handed it back. We laughed so hard when he told us about that!

One of the Deaf teachers voices really well, and she was having a bit of trouble communicating with a food vendor at the Saturday Market. So she looked around to make sure no campers were watching and then voiced that she didn’t want onions. Ha! Just then four campers came around the corner and caught her in the act. Too funny.

On the last morning of camp we were allowed to speak. It was so funny to hear everyone’s voices. It was like, “Wow, I didn’t know you had an accent.” Or, “Oh, your voice is deeper than I expected.”

Now that I’m home, instead of being all excited to use my voice, I’m feeling sign withdrawal and keep trying to sign to my family who doesn’t know any ASL. As much as I enjoy seeing my family again, I wasn’t quite ready to come home.

Now THAT was an interesting day...

To set the stage, on Wednesdays we have three two-hour classes. This morning we arrived and were told that the teacher of the second two classes was sick.

The first class of the day went great. Then as the teacher of that class walked out the classroom door, she tripped on a student’s backpack and hit her head on the doorframe. She went home with a minor concussion.

Then when it was time for me to leave for the day to go volunteer at a Deaf School, I somehow missed the 3:00 shuttle (not sure if I was a tad late or if they left early). I was supposed to be at the school by 3:30 and didn’t even get to my car until after 3:20.

So I quickly hopped on the freeway. And stayed on the freeway. For about two hours. Uh huh. The trip from the college to the school is normally about 25 minutes. I made it today in, oh, about an hour and a quarter. There was an accident on the freeway and it blocked it up for MILES. So much for volunteering.

Hopefully that’s the extent of unusual things that will happen today.

Bittersweet Term End

Today is the last day of my Winter term. I’m happy, because it was an incredibly challenging term and now we get a week of break. I’m happy because I can feel I’m improving and my grades show that. I’m happy because it was a good term, with the good memories standing out from the bad.

I’m sad because this was the last class with my favorite teacher. Patrick is a lot of fun and gives great feedback and encouragement. I’m sad because several students, “family” members, will not be back.

I survived finals--six final tests, and several papers all in two weeks or less. One of those papers ended up ten pages long and the other was twelve pages. I’m all done with classes and have one more paper due tonight that I’ve hardly had time to even start on yet. Off I got to whip that up and then I’m free!!!!!


That is, free until Monday when I start work so I can have gas money to get to school next term. ha.

I knew it! (winning concert tickets)

My local Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) radio station has a game called “Sink or Swim” each night, where they play two songs and have people call in to vote on which they like the best. During the voting, they typically give something away to a random caller. Today they were giving away tickets to a concert.

I was listening to them as I drove home from an “Interpreting English Idioms” workshop and as I called in to vote I just knew I was going to be that random caller who won the tickets. You see, I’m not keen on really loud music (which is what most CCM concerts are, I think), and I only like some of the popular CCM music.

So naturally I would be the one they’d pick instead of some teen who was dying to go. LOL! Whadda ya know, I was right! At first I thought I’d ask them to pick someone else who would be more thrilled, but then I thought, “hey, it would be fun to do something different.” Turns out it’s the Saturday after all my finals wrap up, so it’ll be a nice beginning to Spring Break.

I don’t even remember who it was a concert for, lol, but I think they may have said Jaci Velasquez (sp?) was a guest singer, and I like her music. I’m thinking about who to take with me to the concert. Yes, Wren, you are on my list of maybes. ;-) But I’m thinking I may invite a non-Christian classmate (though I decided I better avoid the Lesbian ones lest they get the wrong idea, heh) or someone like that…

Anyway, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never been to a CCM concert before.

Here comes Amy the Sparrow as LarryBoy the Cucumber!!

I pulled an all-nighter last night, working on a college paper. Well, I laid down for about an hour and half, but since I didn’t sleep a wink that doesn’t really count. Amazing thing is, I actually made it through the day and had a good one to boot!

During our second class of the day, we took a field trip to another classroom to see The Illumination Project--A social justice theater project. A group of students write and perform short skits that deal with experiences they have had regarding the current topic. This term’s topic is racial prejudice. The group acts out the skit of the day about a simple act of prejudice that could easily happen on campus, but with no resolution to it.

Then they perform the skit a second time. This time an audience member can call “stop!” and go take the place of on of the actors in an effort to help the situation. We audience members were not allowed to take the place of the main person being prejudice, but could step into any of the other roles. The point of the Illumination Project is both to help people become more aware of prejudice around them, but even more so, to give them practice taking affirmative action in a safe environment where they can experiment to see what works and what doesn’t, making us all more likely to step up next time we see something, instead of just fuming from the background.

And yes, I yelled stop and joined the action. I mean, hello, improv acting and defending someone wrongfully accused? If that doesn’t have Sparrow written all over it, I’m sure I don’t know what does!

OK, so on to LarryBoy. In ASL class at the moment our topic is animation (mainly to give us experience describing and interpreting any odd and unusual thing that might come along). So today we had to pick a famous animated character to describe. Tomorrow we’ll each take turns describing the physical characteristics of a character and then add a little action. Then our classmates guess who our character is!

I considered Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Sully or Mike Wazowski… But then I thought of LarryBoy!! It was someone unusual that was unlikely anyone else in class would pick, and does he have a great outfit or what! So yes, I’m highly pleased with who I picked. And shhh, don’t tell any of my classmates.

By the time I got to the end of the school day and was working on LarryBoy, it had been about 27 hours since I’d slept and I was flying high on adrenaline and decidedly giddy. Rather a fun state to be in when dealing with impersonating a cartoon character, but I knew I had a long drive home and would be crashing hard soon, so I left immediately after class instead of practicing and working on homework like usual.

Sure thing, I’m about beat. So I’m headed off to find a LarryBoy VeggieTale to refresh my memory with and then it’s off to an early bed for me! Singing out, from Sparrow the LarryBoy Impersonator!

Deaf Vietnamese Dance Troupe

That was so awesome!! Great way to end mid-terms blues! I just got back from seeing a Deaf Vietnamese Dance Team. This is their first trip to the US. At any given time there were up to four languages going on: spoken English, American Sign Language, spoken Vietnamese, and signed Vietnamese. I think I saw just about every form of translating there is. There was ASL to English, Vietnamese to English to ASL, ASL to English, Vietnamese Signs to ASL to English, copy signing, whisper translating…I could go on for a while.

One of the dance routines they did was to use their bodies and dance moves to spell their name. It was pretty tricky to guess what the letters were, but some of the Deaf kids got pretty skilled at it as each performer did their name. The six-troupe dancers brought up volunteers from the audience and showed them some learning techniques such as following: One person would be the leader, and another person closed his eyes and put his hand on the leader’s shoulder, then tried to copy all of his movements.

Some words seem to be the same in Vietnamese Sign Language and ASL, but most is different. I could understand, however, why Deaf people throughout the world are typically able to learn to understand each other very quickly.

I learned how to count up to ten in Vietnamese Sign Language. I’ll try to describe it using ASL terms, to the best of my understanding. Of course, I was seeing the numbers on the other side of a dimly-lit auditorium, so no guarantees on minute details. ;-)

1 and 2 are the same as ours.
3 is the ASL six, English three
4 and 5 are the same
6 is ASL “Y”
7 is an upside-down ASL “L”
8 is ASL three
9 is ASL “X”
10 is similar to ASL twenty, but with only the very tips of the thumb and finger touching, similar to the ASL sign for DOT (as in .com)


*Note: there are several different kinds of Vietnamese sign systems and I have no idea what the one I saw is called, so I am referring to it as Vietnamese Sign Language.

I'm in the Newspaper!

I'm in the newspaper!

The article about me and Peculiar People is out in my local paper today! It's just a few paragraphs of a column, but still way cool. I showed the article off to all my classmates and teachers at school today. I'd hand them the paper and it was fun to watch their faces as they glanced at it with a puzzled look and then lit up when they saw my name. My ASL teacher especially got excited.

If you’d like to read the article, go to www.thecolumbian.com and in the right-hand column click on the “Bits and Pieces” Feb. 14th article under Arts and Living, “Lost star helps jewler find profits”. Then scroll down the page (to right under the advertisement picture) to find the sentence: A collective effort. The article starts there. For some reason it won’t let me link directly to the article.

I had a good day at class today. I had a sign language presentation to do that was a bit difficult and had lots of finger spelling, but I actually did my finger spelling fairly smoothly and got a compliment from a class mate saying how much I had improved on my signing skills.

This afternoon I'm going to start my weekly volunteering at a school. I'm excited, but also nervous about my language skills.

Published and Paid!

I got a special book in the mail today. It was devotional compilation by Lorna Owens, Everyday Grace, Everyday Miracles. I think I was more excited about the check inside it than about my name inside it! LOL! I've been published in anthologies before, but this is the first time I've been paid for my writing.

Mom and Dad say I should frame the check, haha! I think I'll deposit it first, though. ;-)

Watch Out World, Here We Come!!

Whoo hoo!!! I’m so pumped!

OK, OK, I’ll start at the beginning. Our local newspaper’s “Life” section periodically will mention a theme and ask readers to respond. A few weeks ago I responded to one with a story about Peculiar People’s novel, Struggle Creek. It wasn’t mentioned in the article, so I figured that was that.

While I was at school today, I got a phone call from an editor of the paper! It wasn’t even the same editor I had submitted the story to originally, which proves what I’ve been saying all along--Peculiar People is unique enough that just the concept will originate interest. We chatted for about twenty minutes and I think I actually talked coherently at least half the time. ;-) My cell phone (I was still at school) dropped him TWICE, though. How embarrassing is that? He was very nice about it, though, said he's used to it (oh the joys of the 21st century).

So PeP’s first bit of publicity will be in a few days, in a newspaper column. Hopefully the first of many. Watch out world, here comes Peculiar People!

Ending with Style

Well, you can’t say I don’t know how to end a bad week with style. Let’s see, last post and last Thursday left me with the flu. Now, eight, count ‘em, eight days later finds me still sick. I missed two days of school, including a test. Today I finally felt well enough to go back in, or got frustrated with missing school, or something along those lines…

To jump to the end of the day, and the finale, I locked my keys in the car. Now you have to understand, my school is an hour from home when traffic is good and by this point it was the start of rush hour. So it’s not like a family member can just pop right over with another set of keys. Be that as it may, Dad was generously going to drive the way anyway. (Besides, he locks his keys in the truck often enough that he doesn’t have much room to tease. ;-) ) However, imagine my delight when I discovered that campus security can break into cars, er, unlock cars. Fifteen minute wait, two second jimmy, and viola! unlocked car.

To fill in the rest of the day, I went on a field trip today. Three of us from my interpreting class went to a soil analysis class to scope it out to see what issues an interpreter would need to figure out if there were a Deaf consumer. It was rather fun.

Then after the field trip the three of us got to talking about religion. We had a rather interesting mix--a Wiccan Priestess, a Seventh-Day Adventist, and me, a Evangelical Christian. I love that we were able to have a fun conversation without anyone getting mad or defensive.

Of course, the day was wrapped up with our Thursday night family movie. It was a lame old, old musical, but it was fun laughing at it together, hehe.

One of those days

It was one of those days. You know, the kind that starts by staying up with homework until 1:15 and getting up at 5:00 and going downhill from there? (Hey, at least I didn’t oversleep.) Actually, the issues started the day before. First and foremost is the fact that I’ve gotten about 12 hours of sleep total over the last three days. That’s not something my unhealthy body can handle well.

Anyway, every week have to video-tape two interpretations, using school equipment. Nineteen of us have to use it and it is available limited hours. I did my recorded interpretation yesterday afternoon. I actually felt that I was improving and did a half-way decent job. Figures. Then I got my tape mixed up with a blank tape of a classmate’s. At first I thought all was fine and we just had two of us on one tape. But late that night I went to do my self-evaluation and discovered that mine was taped over completely. Great.

So I got to school at 7:30 AM (it’s an hour commute) to redo it. The receptionist we have to get the camera from wasn’t there. Double great. So in-between two classes I ran back and did a stressed and rushed interpretation and was 20 minutes late to my next class. So, a badly done tape, but not self-assessment. This isn’t the first time I’ve messed up my homework this week (unusual for me), so I thought my teacher would be upset with me.

Thankfully she isn’t. She actually called it “extenuating circumstances” and is letting me not only redo it when I’m not stressed, but turn it and the self-assessment in next class (normally she doesn’t take any late homework).

All through the day, even after figuring everything out, I was feeling stressed and shaky. By the end of the day I decided I have the flu (confirmed by a low-grade fever). Headed home without redoing the interpretation like I wanted, and discovered that I had forgotten to put my parking permit on my mirror. That’s right, I had it in my car and just forgot to put it up--resulting in a ticket, of course.

On the way home I stopped to get a movie for tonight and retuned some Hollywood videos to Blockbuster Video.

Yeah. One of those days. But, I’m gonna forget about the loads of homework for now, like I always do on Thursdays (no classes on Fri), and go curl up with a movie and then go to bed early!

The Music of 2006

Music is important to me. It’s a big part of my relationship with God, a big part of…well, of my life as a whole. As I’ve been looking back over 2006, I’ve realized that I have a lot of memories attached to music, so I thought it would be fun to use that for my first blog post of the new year.


Aleluia, aleluia, aleluia, aleluia!
Aleluia, aleluia, aleluia, aleluia!

Last spring we had a family reunion in Mexico. One of the Sundays we were there we attended a church that was pastured by my dad’s best friend. Though most of us in the reunion group could not speak much Spanish, there was one thing that crossed the language barrier and drew us all into one family as we worshiped--music, especially the Hallelujah Chorus. I can close my eyes and still feel the goosebumps, hearing the mixed accents of voices raised to God…


God will make a way,
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way, He will make a way.

The last few years I’ve been searching for what God wanted me to do now. As much as I like being able to work for Dad, I knew I didn’t want to do bookwork for the rest of my unmarried life. I applied for a few jobs, but was still a bit at a loss, not sure what to head toward, besides my writing, which wasn’t ready to support me.

Well, over the span of a couple of years, God began letting me know that He wanted me to become a sign language interpreter. There is an intensive program at a community collage about an hours drive from our house. However, it’s the top second or third in the nation, and difficult to get into. I knew that if I was accepted, it was only because that was where God wanted me.

I was accepted! Here I am, one semester into it, and loving it even if it is ever bit as hard as I was told it would be.


Ring around the rosy,
Pockets full of posy,
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down!

I have three nieces now, and what fun we have! One of the last times I was over there the four of us played Ring Around the Rosy and my youngest niece (1 ½ yo) learned to fall down in the right place for the first time. Each time I visit I teach the youngest a new sign language word and she remembers and uses them!


Let my lifesong sing to You
Let my lifesong sing to You
I want to sign your name
to the end of this day
Knowing that my heart was true
Let my lifesong sing to You

I’ve had the honor of singing and signing on the worship team of our church. This is one of the songs we often do, and one line in particular has a double meaning for me. “I want to sign Your name to the end of each day”


Would you go with me if we were lost in fields of clover
Would we walk even closer until the trip was over
And would it be okay if I didn't know the way

I catch a ride to school a couple days a week with one of my classmates. She likes western music and I’ve found a couple favorites. This one brings back memories of hours of gnarled traffic and difficult homework fading away as the two of us belt, “Would you accompany me to the edge of the sea, Let me know if you're really a dream!”


Sunrise, sunset,
Swiftly fly the days.
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears.

My mom’s favorite movie is “Fiddler on the Roof”. We watch the movie a few times a year and listen to the soundtrack as often as possible. Some people have comfort foods. All I have to do to get that warm comfortable feeling is to hear any of the music and it imminently conjures up memories of all the ladies in my house singing and laughing together.


I know the plans that I have for you
Plans for good things and not for evil
If you put your trust in Me

I can only imagine what 2007 will bring. I know that Peculiar People’s first book will be published, perhaps even the second and third! I know I’ll work harder than ever at school. But what else? What other delights, trials, and joys will this year bring?

I don’t know. But I can’t wait to find out!




“God Will Make a Way” by Don Moen
“Lifesong” by Casting Crowns
“Would you Go With Me” by Josh Turner
“I Will Go Where You Go” by Elaine Califf

Watching Movies with a Face Blind Writer

Watching movies with me is interesting. For one thing, I like to talk. I talk to the characters, about the characters, about the story, and about food. A common conversation in our house is:
Amy: What did he just say?
Others: I don’t know. Someone was talking at the same time and we couldn’t hear!

Now that I’m interesting in the writing and production of movies, things get even more interesting. Like during the most emotional scene of the movie, when everyone is bawling, I’m liable to blurt, “I wonder how many times it took the actors to shoot that scene without laughing?” Or during the chase scene, I’m known to make casual remarks like, “That had to have been done with a green screen. The background was dubbed in.”

As a writer, I can often quote the next phrase correctly, before it’s been said, even if I’ve never seen the movie. After all, any writer know that’s what that character has to say.

The other thing about watching movies is that I can't tell all the extra characters apart. All my life I’ve had trouble recognizing characters in movies, recognizing people I don’t know well, and getting completely mixed up people I do know well, but haven’t see for a while, like old teachers. Of course I know that the young teacher with brown curly hair and glasses is not the older teacher with white hair. But the older teacher with white hair I had last year and the older teacher with white hair I had five years ago…well, that’s another story.

Just recently I discovered that it isn’t that I don’t pay enough attention. It isn’t that I don’t care. In fact, it’s that I have a Medical Condition. Whew! I didn’t even know there was such a thing as face blindness, or prosopagnosia. Things make a whole lot more sense, now.

Both my sisters and my dad also have slight face blindness, which means Mom bears the burden of helping us figure out movies. She endures constant questions like,
“Is that what’s-his-name?”
Sigh. “No, that’s Jon’s father.”
“Oh. Well is the lady that one person?”
“Yes. She’s the one from the last scene, remember?”

Movies like Jane Austen’s, with so many characters, are almost impossible for me to follow without help. Mystery/Suspense movies are interesting. Picture this: It’s the climax of the movie. In one quick flash, they finally show the face of the man who’s the murder. Everyone in the room gasps.

Then, from Amy’s corner, you hear a faint voice. “Um, am I supposed to know who that guy is?”

Made it!

PAH! I made it not only through the first semester of SLIP (Sign Language Interpretation Program), but more to the point, through the eight finals of the last week and a half. I got most of my grades back today and did fine on everything, even my bane, fingerspelling. PTL! Thank you all for your support.

Over my three week break I have quite a bit planned. One of my goals is to get some of my old stories that are laying around submitted to some paying magazines. Confession time. I'm scared of writing cover letters! Hehe. Well, I've been brave and actually have sent out two stories already. It'll be a few months before I hear back.

I'll also be doing quite a bit of Peculiar People stuff. This week I'll be giving the final touches to Struggle Creek, then it will be ready to send off for the final edit and formatting for publishing. Last weekend I got to see the oil painting a friend is doing for the cover of the book and I was very pleased with it. It's exciting to see everything coming together! The next PeP project, the Heirloom Chronicles, is not only in the works, but I actually have all the authors lined up and we are beginning work on writing. I'm working with seven other very skilled authors and am thrilled with how things are coming together.

Of course this break also means that I'll be doing office work again, as well as some deep house cleaning. I'll be doing practice groups with some of my classmates, also, so we don't get setback at all by the winter school break.

Hope this finds you all well. My blog is feeling a little lonely here, between me not posting much and ya'll not commenting much. ;-)