Growing up as a Christian Deaf in a Hearing Oral World. Life stories and experiences being Deaf. Sharing about eBay and my Christian faith. Learning ASL American Sign Language
That is why I love Facebook! I think of Facebook as a coffee house. There are groups of people sitting here and there... people coming in and coming out...some stay for awhile and some just pop in to say hello, look around and leave again. These are all people I know. Each group is having its own conversation and at any time, I can "butt" in and participate in the conversation or I can "lurk" around the edges and just "listen" to the others chat. I can even start my own conversation and see who comes and joins in.
I love Facebook because I can HEAR/read every single word same as every one else. I am not missing snatches of conversations. I am not laughing a fake laugh and not having a clue what I'm laughing at. I am not adding a comment to a conversation only to find out they are now discussing something else. I am not attempting to lipread conversations bouncing from one person to another and each time it "bounced", the subject changes. I am not frustrated with feeling "left out". This is my experience being the only Deaf in a hearing group.
With Facebook, I can be as active and participate as I want to.I LOVE hearing/reading the little comments of my friends and seeing what they are up to that day. Are they having a good or bad day? Can I rejoice with them over a blessing? Can I give them a virtual hug if they need or maybe some counsel? Can I just smile and laugh with them for a few minutes?
I've been on Facebook I guess 6 months or so now. A friend or two got my started and then I learned how Facebook would benefit my business so many business friends became my "friends". I have hearing and Deaf friends on Facebook. I have church friends and business friends on Facebook. I even have a few friends from high school and college on Facebook. Just recently... starting last week in fact... my family - both on my husbands and my side... joined Facebook. WOW. I had suggested this to them months ago but at that time, they were not so keen on the idea. I'm happy to hear that something caused them to change their mind. Now I can finally participate in conversations with my family... something that is not always easy to do in person.The fact that my side of the family is scattered in 4 different states and I'm the only one here in Michigan means we don't see each other in person much. I can finally say I have family on Facebook too!
Best of all... I love Facebook because it allows me to be myself... doesn't matter if I'm hearing or deaf... on Facebook...we are ALL equal!
While only people I know can become my friend on Facebook, I do invite you to become a fan of my business page....BienleinDesign Finds
I often do newsletters for church or clients so I am familiar with proofreading mistakes that sometimes happen. I got this list of proofreading gaffes in an email today and it just makes me laugh! Thought I would share and give you some chuckles too. I do not know who originally put this together so unable to give proper credit. Enjoy...
Proofreading is a dying art, wouldn't you say?
Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter This one I caught in the SGV Tribune the other day and called the Editorial Room and asked who wrote this. It took two or three readings before the editor realized that what he was reading was impossible!!! They put in a correction the next day. ------------------------------------------------
Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says No joke, really? Ya think? ------------------------------------------------
Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers Now that's taking things a bit far! ------------------------------------------------
Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over What a guy! ------------------------------------------------
Miners Refuse to Work after Death No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-so's! ------------------------------------------------
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant See if that works any better than a fair trial! ------------------------------------------------
War Dims Hope for Peace I can see where it might have that effect! ------------------------------------------------
If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile Ya think?! ------------------------------------------------
Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures Who would have thought! ------------------------------------------------
Enfield ( London ) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide They may be on to something! ------------------------------------------------
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges You mean there's something stronger than duct tape? ------------------------------------------------
Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge He probably IS the battery charge! ----------------------------------------------
New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group Weren't they fat enough?! -----------------------------------------------
Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft That's what he gets for eating those beans! -------------------------------------------------
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks Do they taste like chicken? -------------------------------------------------
Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half Chainsaw Massacre all over again! -------------------------------------------------
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors Boy, are they tall! -------------------------------------------------
And the winner is.... Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
Did I read that right? -------------------------------------------------
Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread the stupidity and send this to someone you want to bring a smile to (maybe even a chuckle). We all need a good laugh, at least once a day!
How Great Thou Art is one of my top favorite songs. I can never get through it without tearing up and just sobbing. The third verse especially is extremely powerful.
This video was done by Ronaldo Feliciano. Ronaldo is the Deaf pastor of Tampa Baptist Deaf Church in Florida. Even if you don't know ASL, you can "see" the music in his soul!
Pause a moment from whatever you are doing and stand in awe of the Almighty God we serve!
wow... I didn't realize I haven't been blogging in too long of a time. I need to get back into the habit. Its interesting how summer brings new routines and habits. For instance, since I work from home and have my own business... www. bienleindesign.com... I do not have set hours that I have to go to bed or wake up. I'm SO blessed!
My kids are teenagers so they are pretty much on their own and share many of the same habits I have... stay up late and sleep in in the morning. Unfortunately, my husband MUST wake at 3am as he starts work at 4am so all years around, he is the only one who still has set hours.
I rarely watch TV and even when I do, I am often doing something else at the same. I am reading a book or I am doing business related stuff on the laptop or maybe ironing. I just can't seem to SIT and DO NOTHING. To me, that is a waste of time. But... during the summer, I change.
Since I don't have to be awake at a set time to get the kids up and off to school, I have been doing the following routine for about a month now... I work on business related stuff until about 10 or 11pm. During that time, I'm not normally on the computer but I could be cleaning up or reorganizing my inventory.. I'm selecting the items I plan to post the next day...I take photos of those items or I pack up sold items for shipping the next day. Always something to do. I'm normally on the computer only up until about 3 or 4pmish.
So, anyways... at around 10 or 11pm, I force myself to stop. Now is my downtime. I find the remote and just browse through the Guide until I come across a movie that looks interesting. I try to pick one I haven't seen before, that has at least 3 stars rating and that is closed captioned. It really bums me to find a great movie and then discover it is not captioned or the captions are so screwed up, its not worth it.
I watch almost anything but I'm not a fan of the overly violent, gory or incredibly stupid movies (most of those DON'T get 3 star ratings!) or westerns. I like science fiction and most of anything else! I especially love Turner Classic movies - those in black and white! I try to do nothing else but just watch the movie. So far, I have not fallen asleep during a movie. I go to bed when its over and that is normally around 1am.
Of course, all this will end starting September when my kids are back to school and I need to get up at 6am again. Thus the routine changes with the calendar. No more late movies until the next June rolls around. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy catching up with old movies while I can.
I want to add that I never go to watch movies in the theater - mostly because none in my immediate area offer captioned movies. We don't often rent or buy movies either so I am years behind in watching the movies that won all the awards and such. That is not a big deal at all to me.
It was almost a last minute decision to fly out to Tucson, AZ to spend the holiday weekend with my college roommate Grace. They are constantly telling us to come out to visit them and we try to at least once a year. John was supposed to go with me but that didn't work out so my 13 yr old daughter went with me instead. We are blessed to be able to fly free as John is an employee of Delta airlines.
Grace knows a limited amount of sign language but she is one of those I normally have no problems lipreading so I'm comfortable being around her and we have a good time together. Her husband, Charlie is a little harder to lipread but I can manage. If necessary, Kayla will interpret what they say if I get stuck. It works out.
They have 9 horses on their mini ranch so I got to go horseback riding twice. My horse, "Chief", is so patience and tolerant of my inexperience. Kayla enjoyed riding "Ben" and she does a good job.
While we had a super relaxing weekend with Grace and Charlie, there were a few testing, stressful moments for me - all of which involved groups.
I do not do well in hearing groups. Put me with 3 or more people who do not sign and I'm lost. I am not able to follow conversations that bounce back and forth as the subject matter keeps changing...people don't keep their bodies in my line of sight...people are laughing and its pretty much impossible to lipread talking while they are laughing or smiling big... people are not looking directly at me... the lighting is not good... mustaches and beards (ugh... a deaf person's nightmare)...etc etc.
The first happened Saturday night when we attended an Open House for a friend's son who graduated. That was not too bad as that was also my first evening with Grace so it was our first chance to catch up with each other so we mostly sat at a table and chatted the whole time. I am pretty good with a one to one conversation as long as I know the subject we are discussing.
The next occasion was church on Sunday. They normally have an interpreter. I was there before with an interpreter so we all expected the same... except the interpreter did not show up. ugh... that meant I had to sit there for an hour and attempt to lipread everything. Not good. My lipreading skills are no longer as good as they once were. Since I learned ASL and spend most of my time around Deaf people, I don't depend on lipreading as much as I once did growing up. When I am sitting "deaf" within a hearing group, I tend to have "pity parties" for myself.
I hate that and I struggle with that. I really should have stopped feeling sorry for myself and just had a private worship and ignored what was going on around me but I have a hard time doing that. I tried SO HARD to lipread the pastor and it frustrated me so much that I had no idea what he was saying. I'm curious if any of the readers also feel this way. I spent more time trying to hold back tears than anything else.
The third occasion was Memorial day when Grace had 2 other couples over for a BBQ. I had met these people during previous visits with Grace so I knew who they were but never really related to them. We all sat around the table and the conversation just bounced from one thing to another. Grace would occasionally voice interpret what someone said. As long as she was talking directly to me, I could understand her. It was interesting to note that my daughter who was also there and knows sign very well, did not attempt to interpret except if I couldn't understand Grace. I never asked her to and would never put her into that position. That would have to be her choice. Just because she is a CODA, doesn't mean she is my personal interpreter. Perhaps when she gets older, she will feel more comfortable. That is fine.
I might be seeing these very same people again next month as we were invited to join them when they travel to Mexico and stay at their summer house on the beach. This time John is coming with us. While I won't force him to be my personal interpreter, I know he will be willing and I'm looking forward to the chance to get to know Grace's friends better as they are all very nice people.
Overall it was a very nice weekend and I'm glad I went. It forced me to take a break from work and do different things...even if sometimes they are out of my comfort zone!
Hello. My name is Brenda. I am deaf although I didn't always consider myself deaf. I considered myself a hearing person with a hearing problem. But life experiences changed my concept about that and now I'm happy to have the identity of a deaf person.. however...as I grew up in a hearing world...completely oral...I have a foot in both worlds!
Thank for checking out my blog and I talk about my experiences, my business on eBay, my Christian belief, my family, ASL, Deaf life, and just life in general.
