February 06, 2003
I just got back from the
OneDay TV Deaf Film &Video Festival Tour 2003
I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was about 4 hours of short independent films (with a 15 min intermission) aimed at a multi-lingual and multi-cultural audience. I felt comfortable on both sides of the fence throughout the entire ordeal The first half was much much better than the second half. I want to describe some of the films... but it's just not coming out.. I'm ecstatic. One thing is for sure I've realized I need to go back to my first love : Video production. It's all coming so clearly to me now.. heck in Junior High I made crude "movies" with HyperCard on a monochrome mac.
Here's a bit of FJ trivia: This blog itself owes its existence to my interest in film. It was my high interest in film and computer assisted art that caused me to meet Merc, Ong, Manda et al. Merc introduced me to blogging, and has been somewhat of an inspiration to "Follow your Fire".
The first film was titled "Chronic Embarrassment" This movie as well as so many others hit home on so many levels. For me it was so refreshing, I can't begin to describe it. In addition I also felt a similar feeling making small talk. For the first time in my adult life I was able to make small talk with others without painfully concentrating and using up all my attention and mental capacity just to get the gist of what was going on. As I mentioned, the people in my ASL class (including myself) are required to see one of the showings. I saw them and it gave me a weird feeling to see so much talking (voice). A guy from my class sat next to me, we usually talk during class, we're both Eagle Scouts (and in OA), and are computer.. um.. geeks. He speaks to me... and I only sign to him, he then begins to sign.. the point I'm getting at is that it's obviously so natural for him to just speak. To so many people in my class, this is something they're learning just to complete a course. I guess I have a bit of a "passion" to embrace this language. I implore anyone who reads this to learn ASL. It's the 4th most common language in North America. I remember thinking to myself tonight, that even though I'm not all that fluent yet, I stumble a bit with ASL, I need it to have a mentally healthy existence. I've already felt that it would be best to date a girl that knows sign. Now I'm quite reluctant to consider dating any girl that doesn't know sign already OR willing to take it up. In my mind I'm replaying the first film after the break. "He Says, She Signs" It was only 10 min long but it was great. Not only did I love the story, the film was beautifully filmed and edited. I was a bit shocked at first with the amount of voice in it and the absence of captions. As soon as it was over I decided that maybe it was just as well without them. The more I think about it the more I think this was my favorite piece.
I still can't get over how much I enjoyed going. It didn't cost me (or any one else) a dime to attend... guess the best things in life are still free.
I'm thinking maybe I should stay with my Major in Comm Studies, and minor in Psychology (or vice versa),.. I don't think I'll grab Film as a major. I was talking with a guy online not long ago and the topic of good colleges came up. We talked a bit about Gallaudet, and he reminded me of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) They have the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). I went to the website, and RIT has a neat graduate program I'll need an undergraduate GPA of 3.00 to get in .. hmm It's not so much that my grades are bad but that I have so many credits under my belt now that I don't know if I can creep it up there. We'll have to see.
Well, now I need to cram for a Psych exam... bleah.
OneDay TV Deaf Film &Video Festival Tour 2003
I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was about 4 hours of short independent films (with a 15 min intermission) aimed at a multi-lingual and multi-cultural audience. I felt comfortable on both sides of the fence throughout the entire ordeal The first half was much much better than the second half. I want to describe some of the films... but it's just not coming out.. I'm ecstatic. One thing is for sure I've realized I need to go back to my first love : Video production. It's all coming so clearly to me now.. heck in Junior High I made crude "movies" with HyperCard on a monochrome mac.
Here's a bit of FJ trivia: This blog itself owes its existence to my interest in film. It was my high interest in film and computer assisted art that caused me to meet Merc, Ong, Manda et al. Merc introduced me to blogging, and has been somewhat of an inspiration to "Follow your Fire".
The first film was titled "Chronic Embarrassment" This movie as well as so many others hit home on so many levels. For me it was so refreshing, I can't begin to describe it. In addition I also felt a similar feeling making small talk. For the first time in my adult life I was able to make small talk with others without painfully concentrating and using up all my attention and mental capacity just to get the gist of what was going on. As I mentioned, the people in my ASL class (including myself) are required to see one of the showings. I saw them and it gave me a weird feeling to see so much talking (voice). A guy from my class sat next to me, we usually talk during class, we're both Eagle Scouts (and in OA), and are computer.. um.. geeks. He speaks to me... and I only sign to him, he then begins to sign.. the point I'm getting at is that it's obviously so natural for him to just speak. To so many people in my class, this is something they're learning just to complete a course. I guess I have a bit of a "passion" to embrace this language. I implore anyone who reads this to learn ASL. It's the 4th most common language in North America. I remember thinking to myself tonight, that even though I'm not all that fluent yet, I stumble a bit with ASL, I need it to have a mentally healthy existence. I've already felt that it would be best to date a girl that knows sign. Now I'm quite reluctant to consider dating any girl that doesn't know sign already OR willing to take it up. In my mind I'm replaying the first film after the break. "He Says, She Signs" It was only 10 min long but it was great. Not only did I love the story, the film was beautifully filmed and edited. I was a bit shocked at first with the amount of voice in it and the absence of captions. As soon as it was over I decided that maybe it was just as well without them. The more I think about it the more I think this was my favorite piece.
I still can't get over how much I enjoyed going. It didn't cost me (or any one else) a dime to attend... guess the best things in life are still free.
I'm thinking maybe I should stay with my Major in Comm Studies, and minor in Psychology (or vice versa),.. I don't think I'll grab Film as a major. I was talking with a guy online not long ago and the topic of good colleges came up. We talked a bit about Gallaudet, and he reminded me of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) They have the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). I went to the website, and RIT has a neat graduate program I'll need an undergraduate GPA of 3.00 to get in .. hmm It's not so much that my grades are bad but that I have so many credits under my belt now that I don't know if I can creep it up there. We'll have to see.
Well, now I need to cram for a Psych exam... bleah.
February 04, 2003
I can't belive roughly 4 weeks have gone by since the last time I posted to my blog. So much has been going on.
I think I'll go in chronological order.....
On the last Thursday in January my grandfather had his 85th birthday. The previous Sunday the family got together and celebrated with him. He's living in the home now, He's sharing a room with my grandma. He's a bit happier now. I remember him saying he never thought he'd live in an 'old folk's home'. He's worked hard all his life, always took care of himself. This has been a change that is not easy for him. I don't know if he know's that he's not going to get any better. His attitude doesn't show it. We all know that this is good for him and don't give him any reason to think otherwise. We all know that if he thinks he's going to die he will just give up and it will be a self-fulfilling prophesy. Speaking of giving up, I belive that if my grandmother dies first, my grandpa will die shortly after. He loves her more than words can describe and can't stand the thought of being alone. It's possible that looking after her has kept him alive this long. His life has meaning. As I may have mentioned before he needs major heart surgery, but he most likely wouldn't survive the operation. He was diagnosed in April of last year, the doctors didn't expect him to live this long even if he had the surgery.
Jumping ahead a bit, my great great aunt Clara turned 100 years old this week. (This is my father's mother's aunt) I don't know her that well and I don't recall if I have ever met her, only briefly if I have. My father grew up knowing her, and they went to visit her over the weekend to wish her a happy birthday. She is quite coherent yet, she's in a wheel chair, living in a nursing home, but she recognized my dad and still sends out Christmas cards (actually she had some one else do the actually work for her and she was worried that some people wouldn't get them)
School has been heck lately. I feel like I am totally swamped. On Friday I have an exam in my Psych class. It is worth 20% of the final grade!!! I don't feel like I'm ready for it. It's multiple choice.. 60 questions, only 50 min. Luckily I don't have any other classes that day. On Thursday I have to go to the film Deaf film festival that's touring. I will be in the brand-spanking-new state of the art Ross Film Theatre I was going to go anyway but it turns out that I'm required to go for my ASL class, and on top of that I have to write a 4 page paper about it. bleagh. It's worth 10% of my final grade in that class. Admission is free, but you have to sign up and reserve a seat. Showings are Thursday night and Saturday night, this week only. It's likely to be sold out by now. The independent film "Nicholas Nickleby" is also showing at Ross Film Theatre right now.. In high school we did a shortened version of that play in the One Act competition. I'm thinking about going to see the movie but I don't know if I will.
Over the weekend I fixed a computer for some people I know in Beemer. I took the machine back to Lincoln with me and they picked it up last Sunday. I upgraded the ram and replaced a dead CPU fan. I was paid well for my services :) I also tried getting my printer to work. No luck. I am so fed up with it. It is a Lexmark Z51. It's a piece of crap. Don't buy a lexmark printer. I also did a little bit of work with my server. I noticed today that some one from Lincoln looked at my blog, and it wasn't the first time they had been there. (the response was 304 for those of you in the know) I just happened to look through the access log mere seconds after the hit, so I did a trace route and that's how I know it's from Lincoln.. It traced back to Digital IMS inc. I had never heard of them before but it looks like they do web design. So, whoever you are, Hello.
I think I'll go in chronological order.....
On the last Thursday in January my grandfather had his 85th birthday. The previous Sunday the family got together and celebrated with him. He's living in the home now, He's sharing a room with my grandma. He's a bit happier now. I remember him saying he never thought he'd live in an 'old folk's home'. He's worked hard all his life, always took care of himself. This has been a change that is not easy for him. I don't know if he know's that he's not going to get any better. His attitude doesn't show it. We all know that this is good for him and don't give him any reason to think otherwise. We all know that if he thinks he's going to die he will just give up and it will be a self-fulfilling prophesy. Speaking of giving up, I belive that if my grandmother dies first, my grandpa will die shortly after. He loves her more than words can describe and can't stand the thought of being alone. It's possible that looking after her has kept him alive this long. His life has meaning. As I may have mentioned before he needs major heart surgery, but he most likely wouldn't survive the operation. He was diagnosed in April of last year, the doctors didn't expect him to live this long even if he had the surgery.
Jumping ahead a bit, my great great aunt Clara turned 100 years old this week. (This is my father's mother's aunt) I don't know her that well and I don't recall if I have ever met her, only briefly if I have. My father grew up knowing her, and they went to visit her over the weekend to wish her a happy birthday. She is quite coherent yet, she's in a wheel chair, living in a nursing home, but she recognized my dad and still sends out Christmas cards (actually she had some one else do the actually work for her and she was worried that some people wouldn't get them)
School has been heck lately. I feel like I am totally swamped. On Friday I have an exam in my Psych class. It is worth 20% of the final grade!!! I don't feel like I'm ready for it. It's multiple choice.. 60 questions, only 50 min. Luckily I don't have any other classes that day. On Thursday I have to go to the film Deaf film festival that's touring. I will be in the brand-spanking-new state of the art Ross Film Theatre I was going to go anyway but it turns out that I'm required to go for my ASL class, and on top of that I have to write a 4 page paper about it. bleagh. It's worth 10% of my final grade in that class. Admission is free, but you have to sign up and reserve a seat. Showings are Thursday night and Saturday night, this week only. It's likely to be sold out by now. The independent film "Nicholas Nickleby" is also showing at Ross Film Theatre right now.. In high school we did a shortened version of that play in the One Act competition. I'm thinking about going to see the movie but I don't know if I will.
Over the weekend I fixed a computer for some people I know in Beemer. I took the machine back to Lincoln with me and they picked it up last Sunday. I upgraded the ram and replaced a dead CPU fan. I was paid well for my services :) I also tried getting my printer to work. No luck. I am so fed up with it. It is a Lexmark Z51. It's a piece of crap. Don't buy a lexmark printer. I also did a little bit of work with my server. I noticed today that some one from Lincoln looked at my blog, and it wasn't the first time they had been there. (the response was 304 for those of you in the know) I just happened to look through the access log mere seconds after the hit, so I did a trace route and that's how I know it's from Lincoln.. It traced back to Digital IMS inc. I had never heard of them before but it looks like they do web design. So, whoever you are, Hello.
