Not Good Enough

Several times I've thought to myself, hmm, I could make a video blog, but I decided not to. There are two reasons. First is that my camera is really sucky and slow. I'm sure you've seen many times that it just keeps failing on me. The second reason is that it seems video blogging has gotten really popular, and I just feel like I'm not good enough, my ASL isn't good enough, and I just get demoralized about it. I feel like I'm just not enough. But I guess I could start again...but really I just feel like so many people are doing video blogs who are better than me, and I'm nothing, you know? I wish I could make a really high quality video blog like Robert Davila's President of Gallaudet blog, that's really awesome, I've seen his studio and it's very impressive. But I...I'm just nothing. I'm worth nothing, my video blog is worth nothing.

So it's possible that this is the last time I'm going to be filming myself, because I just feel like I'm not good enough. By the way, this time I'm using my new camera, my digital camera. I thought it would have a better image, not stuttering and freezing all the time. So I hope that'll be better.

Anyway, I don't want to force myself, to feel like I have to do a video blog. I don't want to force myself. Maybe if I get accepted to Gallaudet I'll start again, take a class in the computer department or something...

[And then the camera battery died.]

Haircut and Agaricus

Hi everybody! A lot of people told me they wanted pictures of my recent haircut, so I thought it would be a good idea to film it. But I think the only person who's going to be able to tell I got a haircut is Debbie. I saw her last Saturday, so she might be able to see that it's much shorter now.

OK, you can see that it looks better, clearer, more straight across without so much tangling and split ends. I was honestly pretty nervous, but I'm happy with the result. We haven't dyed it yet, but we're planning to do that beforee we fly to Las Vegas.

Now I see my cat is sitting there, let me grab him...

Blah Blah, Philadelphia

Hi everybody, I wanted to make a short video blog to let you know I'm not dead yet. Actually, very few people watch my video blog, I use Feedburner - oh, this is Mischa, I don't think you've been introduced to him yet, but he just came in and he's sitting on my lap and - ow, he got me with his claws. Anyway, I use Feedburner for my statistics - OW - and it shows zero subscribers. But I finally found my camera again and I can make video blog entries if I can come up with something to say.

This weekend I'm planning to go to Philadelphia again for an interpreting job, leather interpreting again. And I'm looking forward to it and kind of not, because it's goig to be a long drive for short job. I asked for a hotel room because I'm not really willing to drive home the same night. The event is supposed to end at 10:30, I'm not driving home the same night.

Anyway, that's my short and sweet video blog, see you all next time. Bye now.

High Tea at the Ritz

I decided wanted to tell you about my day, but not by typing it. I'd rather tell you in ASL. Today was my wife's birthday, and she wanted to go to the Ritz Carlton ... that was my wife! Anyway, she wanted to go to the Ritz Carlton hotel for high tea, it's very fancy. The total cost was over $300 for the five of us for high tea. We really did enjoy it, but unfortunately that was the biggest meal I've had since the beginning of 2006! Oh! Excuse me. See, that's what happens when you come when I'm filming. See, that's what happens, you get grabbed. OUCH! Oh that hurt, his claw got me in the leg! Anyway, high tea was great, but it was the biggest meal I've had since the beginning of 2006. When it was over I felt nauseous and sick because I'd eaten so much. We had hamburgers - wait, that's the wrong sign! We had sandwiches, uh...sweets, like scones and cake, champagne, tea of course, a fancy thing with strawberries all over it and whipped cream on it...I really liked it but that was the last part of the meal and I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't eat everything! I really enjoyed high tea, I'd like to go all the time but it's so expensive. The cheapest option for one person was... $25? $30? And that's just for tea and sweets. With sandwiches it's $38, and with the strawberries and champagne I think it was $48 per person. That's why, for the five of us, it was over $300 with tip. So that's the story of my day - whoa, I just noticed on my white skirt a little bit of blood because of the cat. Anyway, that's the end of my video blog for September 10th 2006. See you later, bye bye!

I just realize I signed the same way twice - "[cocktail]" No, I meant champagne. Not cocktails, that was wrong, please excuse me. My brain is loopy, I said hamburgers when I meant sandwiches, and cocktails when I meant champagne! So that's the end after all, bye bye!

Late Night in the Hotel Room

Hi there, this is just going to be a brief entry. I wanted to mention that I'm in Philadelphia, and I came here for a workshop related to interpreting and sexuality. And I'm by myself in a hotel room, the time now is...let's see...it's 2:00 in the morning. But I can't upload this video tonight because of a bad connection in the hotel room, I'm having to use the phone line to connect, it's awfully slow! So I'm just going to put up with it, I'll film this tonight and then upload it tomorrow. My film - er, workshop - let me backup. My workshop is really interesting, but it requires a lot of simultaneous communication because some people are not so good with receptive ASL and others are fine with it. So there's a variety of ASL skill levels in the class. One - one - it's frozen? I think it's frozen. Anyway, one woman in the class is deaf, which means I have to - well, we have to - use sign. Oh, shit - shit! It's frozen again. I should stop for now, my computer seems to be having a hard time here. I - helloooo? Okay. Some of you may have seen me on Archive.org, and I was very honored to participate in that website, it's pretty cool. So that was a real plus for me, to realize that somebody has been noticing my videos! So if you saw me on Archive.org, thanks for watching! I hope you've enjoyed my video. Good night for now, it's time to go to bed! Bye!

Stuck in an Elevator

Hi there. Today I had a first-ever experience: I got stuck in an elevator. I was with a hearing woman and a deaf woman. The three of us waited patiently for half an hour. Fortunately the lights were on, and the air was working fine - well, the fan was running, the A/C didn't work, but the fan was good enough. I had a hard time with communicating with both the deaf and the hearing woman at the same time. The reason for that was the deaf woman wanted to just talk directly with me, so the hearing woman was kind of left out and I didn't know what to do. I try to provide equal access to communication as part of my job, but this situation I was just stuck. So I was stuck in two ways - in the elevator, and with communication. Anyway, that's the first time I was ever stuck in an elevator, and I hope it never happens again! Bye now.

Sorenson Support

I just spent half an hour on the phone with Sorenson technical support. I use software called Envision SL, which is for making phone calls to videophones. I was able to call VRS and see the interpreter, I said I was testing and then disconnected. I wanted to test having a friend call me, but it didn't work. The operator wouldn't take the IP address and I don't have a real videophone so I don't have a VP number. So I don't know how my friends could call me using the IP address. I don't know how to receive an Envision phone call, I don't understand how it works, and the Sorenson technical support was no help.

My Firefox Testimonial

I'm not providing a translation of this video here, because it already has subtitles. I used Ulead VideoStudio to create the subtitles, but deaf vlogger Jared Evans has written instructions for subtitling digital videos. He also created a video in ASL about encouraging companies to subtitle their digital videos.