A Long Awaited Update

Hi dear readers. I know it's been much longer than I planned. Now that I'm back, I'll tell you what has been going on recently. So I updated last on Veteran's Day. Well, I went to the Baha'i Center that evening because the next day was the birth of Baha'ullah. Heads up to blind readers, JAWS is way off on pronunciation. bahha-oo-lah. That's about as close as I'm going to get to a phonetic pronunciation. And even that's not very good. The next day was one that I wasn't supposed to work because of the Holy Day, but since my assistant wasn't there, I decided to come anyway. As far as I recall, it was uneventful except for the fact that I finally got my furniture moved in. Thursday the 13th was choir as usual except I took 1 and a half hours on Access to get there so I was really late. Friday I took off for San Francisco for a certification test. That was okay. I stayed in the hotel Friday night and took the test for 7 hours. The brailler test was two hours. I finished that in half an hour. That was easy. The slate was an hour. I finished in 50 minutes. It was really tense. I had to do that 5 times before I got it right. Then we had a break for lunch. Then we had a proofreading test for two hours. We had to circle the answers that were the mistakes. How infuriating! There was a reference passage in grade 1 so we could look and see how it should be written, but there were mistakes in that too! So we all did the best we could. I came home that evening. Joe came and picked me up since I took an earlier flight. Then Kristin, Ana, Mikey, or however it's spelled, and I played spades. Then Ana got sick and had to leave the game. Kristin and I played Text Twirl which is a game on Facebook. We were really worried about Ana. Kristin said she was taking her to the doctor the next day. I went to work and she went to the doctor's office. In the middle of my day, I got an e-mail saying they'd gone to the hospital. Kristin wasn't home all week. She and Ana were at the hospital because Ana had appendicitis. I went to visit Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Tuesday I went with Joe and I came out of there really sad. I'm not a big fan of hospitals. The last time I was in a hospital was when I was dealing with That One. Any loyal readers will know who that is. Anyway, I came back on Access on Wednesday. That day, being at the hospital was okay but scary. I rode for three hours before I got to the hospital so I could visit for half an hour. When I got there, the guy at the desk was so ignorant. I told him I wanted to visit Ana. He asked if I knew how to get there and I said no. He apparently had the pass held out to me, but I didn't know that. He goes, "Hello! Take the pass and put it on!" It's funny how three hours on Access can put you in one of those moods where God help you if you mess with me. It was one of those times. I said "Sir, I cna't see that." in a rather rude voice. I asked for help and he told me to give him my cane. I got really frustrated. I said, "No, I'll take your arm." And the dumbest thing was he seemed to know how to do sighted guide well! It didn't make sense. Ana was happier and joking around with us, especially our friend Tim. Thursday I went and endured another choir rehearsal. I was early on Thursday. So I went home and went straight to sleep. Friday was a nice day. I brought brownies to work for the staff. We worked one period and played uno for two periods. Then since I didn't have anyone fourth period, I entertained the students in ILS while Marie worked. Then I just read the end of Cyrano. Sorry Celine, it wasn't the French one. I loved it though. Then i went to Joe and Allison's house for Ruhi. Joe and I went again to visit Ana. She was just about to get a tube disconnected and she was really happy about that. One of the girls came with her family. I mean onje of the girls from Children's Theatre. Her brother was in it too. I'm really out of it. I'm trying to write correctly and it's not working. Thank God for the backspace key. Well, we went back and had Indian food and pumpkin pie. Yay! It was great. We had our study circle. I felt dumb because I forgot my book again. There's a reason I have the Braille books. I have been using them, but I also keep forgetting aobut Ruhi. Saturday I went to Anne's house. That was awesome. I brailled lyrics to a bunch of songs. I helped Anne with her final. It's a take home so she could consult with people. It's come full circle. Now I'm the teacher. Well, she'll allways be the teacher when it comes to singing. It's a given. We went through the national anthem because I'm singing at a fundraiser for fallen and injured veterans. I am singing that and a mariachi song called Amor Eterno. That, I'm really nervous about. My friend Mario from Ruhi offered to help me learn it so I might take him up on it. Heck. It gives me an excuse to have him over and see him more. Anyway, Sunday i went to Anne's church and sang in the choir. Then we had a choir retreat to prepare for her Christmas concert which she wants me to sing in. It was fun. Then, the Access of Evil was late again as usual. I went home and just kinda relaxed. Oh! Saturday I got to make cornbread and we had that really good chili Anne made last Christmas. I got some vitamins to help with my low iron issues. Yesterday I got here late because, guess what? Access was late again!! And we had two ride shares. I live 2 miles from work. How stupid is that? I had CPR and first aid training. It was okay. At least I'll know what to do if something happens. God forbid! Today I came in to record lessons for my students on the Victor Stream. I had training for about an hour and a half and then recorded a few files. Then I had lunch. I went back and recorded more files. My voice is somewhat sore right now. Tomorrow is team building stuff. I don't know what. Then I have a decision to make. This is why I love having readers to give me opinions and advice. Smile. My family wants me to go to Lancaster for Thanksgiving. Well, I'm so sick of my family's drama about me not being a Mormon and I hate Lancaster and my dad allways cusses my mom out for the stupidest stuff ever. I also got invited to a celebration wth Joe and Allison and some of their friends. I'd love to go, but I don't really want to hurt my family. Besides, ana is coming home tomorrow and I'd rather be there to see her and Kristin. What's the consensus here? I should say, part of it is my parents, but the religion thing is my other relatives although I don't feel like I can tell my parents that I'm Baha'i. I told them I'm "nondenominational." Well, anyway. I haven't made official plans. Oh! I'm showing the apartment to a bunch of people today. It's going to go to whoever can provide the deposit to hold it. I hope it goes away soon. Well, wish me luck and I'm really going to try to not wait so long between updates, but as I've seen, I can't promise anything. Take care and peace to all.
Leena

The Shampoo Fiasco and Other Misadventures

Hi readers. I'm so sorry for the long absence. I've just been really busy. So I'll start with Saturday the 1st since I already wrote on Friday. I was supposed to move all my stuff into the new house officially. Well, that didn't quite happen. I hung out at home most of the day and then went with my couch and some clothes and clock and some other important stuff. There was a big gathering there after the teaching work had taken place. Then Ana, Kahlil, Carlos, and I went to the Baha'i Center for the play. Kahlil and Ana are Kristin's kids. Carlos is a friend of mine. I met him on the first day because somebody made a special effort to make sure I knew there was another blind person there. I forgot who it was now. He's cool, but our generations have different concepts of the abilities of the blind. I think the time I'll remember most is when we both ordered from the Baha'i Service for the Blind. He ordered six tapes and I ordered what turned into like 20 Braille books. I remember carrying the books in two bags while Carlos wanted to get the six tape cases later. I have to say though that he gets around with a cane in the Baha'i Center better than I do. I still use sighted guide. People keep asking if I have ROP because I have such a terrible sense of direction. My compass is a good friend. LOL. ROP is an eye condition and often it's harder for them to have spatial concepts. So anyway. After the play, I took Access to Pacific Inn. Well, let's back up for a second. You know how I said before that I was having difficulties deciding whether or not to tell Tasha not to come? Well, I'm sad to say I did and she was furious. What a shock! So Celine and Cristina met me at the hotel. We stayed up and had fun talking and listening to music. Sunday we got up early to get ready to go to Celine's church performance. I was getting up to take a shower. I reached my hand into my bag to get my shampoo and conditioner, and came out with a really slimy hand. Then, I found out that my shampoo had opened inside the bag and spilled over every single thing! What a disaster!!! So I had to use the crappy hotel shampoo and conditioner. Then I had to wait for someone to come and get my stuff to the laundry. They actually called Cristina's sister which I feel terrible about, and she came out to help me. The clothes ended up getting washed at Cristina's house and her mom brought them back. I felt like crap. We had to go to the play of course. It was cool. We ordered some Mediterranean food which was great. If only we didn't have to eat on Access and there were a few ride shares so we got to the theatre late. Well, the play went well and we went back to Pacific Inn. We went to sleep too soon after and I had to leave really early. I left at 5:15! I had a new paper bag with all my clothes and things in it. Well, when I went to pick it up, it ripped right down the middle! I was carrying the bag to the elevator and trying to use my cane at the same time. Well, it worked for the most part until I got to the elevator. I couldn't use my cane well enough to pinpoint the elevator which I knew I was almost directly in front of. So I panicked a little. I heard a luggage cart or something that I originally thought was housekeeping. I called out for help and this really nice woman took my bag and helped me to get to the front desk. They put my stuff into plastic bags. The bags didn't have handles though so they were hard to carry. I waited for a little while for Access. They were, of course, late. So she and her friends offered me a ride to work. I was really nervous, but I decided to go with them because I wanted to get there on time and I didn't know what I would do to get into the building with those bags. Anyway, they gave me a ride and clearly I'm perfectly fine. So I went to work and taught. I was exhausted. I thought the performing was over. Well, it wasn't. I went to the Baha'i Center that night for a collective feast and found that we were performing again. So Tuesday was election day. No need to tell anyone on the blog that I was really excited and expectant. Well, I went to work. I think that was the day the computer decided that Windows was something that wasn't necessary so it kicked it off of the hard drive. Yep. It was because I was trying to verify my polling place and get a free ride to the polls and that didn't work. Well, it kinda did because I took a cab to get there and the driver gave me a free ride because he wasn't a citizen and he was very glad that I was voting. So after that we went to an election party. Kristin and the rist of us went to her mother's house to watch the results come in. As everyone knows, Obama won!!!! Yay! So Wednesday was fairly uneventful I think. I'm not actually sure. Oh! Duh. We went to a recording studio to put the Children's Theatre stuff on CD. It's official! The recording studio is really awesome. That was the first time I really liked my voice recorded. Sound Forge couldn't hold a candle to that kind of sound. So Thursday I had an appointment with Rehab where I thought I would get the Next Generation Brailler. Well, I got a new old model. I'm still waiting to hear from Martha to see if I can get the new one. So Access got me there late. Then, while I was in the appointment, Access came and left. So I ended up almost being stranded in Koreatown with this really heavy box. Anyone who's seen a brailler knows what I'm talking about. So I had to call a cab. I decided to go home. I skipped choir rehearsal because I'd made Access from where I would have been. I was going to just be at my old place and get a car pool. Well, that didn't work so well and I wasn't too sad to miss. Friday I worked and then we had a gathering that night. Kristin made really good spaghetti. We watched Freaky Friday and had a lot of fun. Saturday I went to do some teaching work for the Faith around the neighborhood. Some people seemed interested and then others got mad at us. We even had this huge debate in Spanish. The guy kept talking over us and not letting us finish our sentences. I guess it's cultural, but it was still rude in my opinion. Then I went to Anne's house. That was fun. Well, all except for going to her neighbor's house for a meeting. That was extremely boring. Then we had dinner and played guitar and sang and learned the choir music. Anne brailled the lyrics to the choir music. That was cool. She made hot chocolate that night and chai tea in the morning. Yum! Then we went to church and then I went to the Baha'i Center for Sunday worship. Then we did some more teaching. It wasn't as interesting because only two people were home. The good thing was that one woman was interested in learning. We were supposed to have devotional gatherings that night but nobody came. We were just fine because we wanted to relax. Yesterday I had a voice lesson and talked to Tasha and ate and cleaned up my room. Well, what could be cleaned besides the boxes and stuff. I should have brought my clothes hamper but I had thought it was a good item transporter and it hasn't been used as one so it's still at the apartment. Well, It's about two minutes before I have to leave. I'm gonna go because I have to get to the back gate since that's the only one that open. Stupid holidays that we don't get off. Sigh. Well, I'll talk later. I won't leave it this long anymore. Access is here. Bye.
Leena