ASL name sign for the new President, Barack Obama

As you all know, in the past couple weeks I have been fully involved in learning ASL, and becoming a part of the deaf community. I even find myself signing when there is no reason to be doing so, and no one understands me anyway(you gotta practice sometime). Well today, upon the inauguration of the new president my ASL class was taught President Obama's name sign that will be generally accepted by the deaf community. When you become a part of the deaf community you are given a name sign that describes who you are, and allows a much simpler way to say your name. Mine for example is extending your pinkie and touching it to your left shoulder and then to your right shoulder. This is based on the sign for Cleveland,a reference to where I was born and raised, which is the same motion only with the 'C' hand shape instead of the 'J'. So when introducing myself I would sign "Hi, My name is Julie or (insert name sign). This is helpful because from now on, whenever someone wants to refer to me, instead of having to spell out my name every time(which can be tiring and confusing), they just make my name sign.
Well anyway, President Obama is pretty popular with the deaf community so they honored him with his very own name sign. I think the explanation is very cool.



(Don't worry, there are captions for the signing impaired)

BOOK BLOG!

I have created the blog for my book project. I'm not sure about the background, let me know what you think.

YAY BOOKS!

An Update Of Epic Proportions!

So November and December came and went with no postings. Sorry about that! So I guess I will catch everybody up as much as I can.
Let's start with All Hallows Eve. As you know Athens is supposed to be the place to be on Halloween, but I wasn't feeling it this year so I high-tailed it up to Kent to hang with my friends there. It was a fun time and everybody had a great time.
I don't have too many pictures but my favorite costume for sure was my friend John as himself in High School, and Leanna as Barbra Streisand

We all had a good time just being together and watching movies like 'Silent Night Deadly Night 2' that has memorable scenes like this.

Next thing that happened was finishing school for another quarter. It was alright, but I'm glad it's over. My grades weren't too bad, but not my best. Then there was thanksgiving that I spent with most of the Ohio fam. We ate awesome food at Monica and Matt's house. The next day Cecilia, Monica, and I went out on black Friday, and it was pretty packed. It was fun to see the hoards of people looking for a deal.
I didn't do too much else with my December. I went back to Chillicothe and tried to find an apartment and such and then came back home. I visited with friends and then left for UTAH!!!
I had such a good time visiting Rowie and Gabey! After napping through my first day there we watched Kung Fu Panda, and hung out like woah. On Christmas morning we all got together and opened our stockings and then restrained ourselves from immediately opening presents by making breakfast. We had a cute little Christmas tree that we borrowed from one of Rosa's neighbors.

After we had opened our presents I made some kickin' pizza.

Gabey liked the Pizza, and Rosa did too, but I don't have any awkward pictures of her eating it :)

But I do have a picture of her serenading Gabe and I.

So we had an amazing and generous Christmas filled with presents and chocolate covered oreos! Two days later Rosa and I totally painted these amazing pictures. Rosa did the princess daydreaming about trogdor the burnanator, and I did the fanciful unicorn.


Gabey and I went to Salt Lake to see temple square, it was soo pretty. We got the cliche temple picture, and we look good.

Also, there wer sooo many of these bag things with really detailed and amazing designs poked them with candles inside. They had a bunch of different languages, including brail, so I went on the hunt for sign language, and sure enough, yay!





The rest of the week was filled with good fun, good food, and good times. Rosa was going to take me skiing... but I freaked out and thought I would die so we went bowling instead. It was good and very safe. I pretty much had an amazing time and loved it there.

For New years I have almost no pictures because I left my camera at Christie's house. But yeah, I started out the night at Christie's and migrated to Kent closer to midnight. It was a mixed bag of emotions. It was a lot of fun, but the new year always has a way to make people cry. I have a video of our count down, but it's on my phone and you can't see anything anyway.
Well that was just a summery considering the huge amount of events the past two months, but it will have to do. Right now I am in Chillicothe and I start school Tuesday, and I'm apartment hunting tomorrow. I'll keep everyone updated.
Oh yea, I hate new years resolutions but I made one. I vowed to try and read 50 books next year. I don't think I will be able to do it, but it won't stop me from trying. I'll be blogging about the books and I'll post the website as soon as I make it so you can follow along!
This is where I would normally put a song, but I'll spare you all.

If I Come Without A Thing, Then I've Come With All I Need

So like you have seen, nothing much has been going on. Well nothing that seems important enough to write about. I've been working hard at school, and trying to do as well as possible without losing my mind. So instead of talking about school more I'll mention some other things that I have been doing. I went to Yellow Springs, Ohio for a "hippie" festival. It was really neat and Luke and Michelle made a cool hut while we were listening to a band that was playing.

Another thing that happened, Bridgett and her twin sister Ashley turned 21. That was exciting. Here's a picture of the birthday girl and our friend Chad.

Oh yeah, I forgot that I didn't tell everybody, I no longer have a car. The clutch failed and I figured it wasn't worth fixing it because of the condition of the car.Also, I don't think that it would have been a safe car for the winter, I almost died twice last winter, so I was hoping for a more stable car. Now I am looking for another, and hopefully I can get one next quarter. In the meanwhile I have been using Andrew's car. It has it's own problems, but not nearly as bad as mine and is a very dependable car. I miss my car dearly, and I miss the independence and being able to help people out, but I think I made the right decision. But here is the final moments I got to spend with my car while Hannah and I waited for a ride.

Rest in Peace.
So much more has happened, and I thought of it earlier but now I forget.

This is a new band I started listening to. Andrew really likes them, and I really like their lyric style. I know I say this for every song, but it's one I relate to, and a very good song.
A Sweater Poorly Knit <----- Click Here For Song
By- MeWithoutYou
In a sweater poorly knit, and an unsuspecting smile
Little Moses drifts, downstream in the Nile
A fumbling reply -- an awkward, rigid laugh
I'm carried helpless by my floating basket raft

Your flavor in my mind swings back and forth between
sweeter than any wine,
and bitter as mustard greens
Light and dark as honeydew and pumpernickle bread
The trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead

As you plow some other field and try and forget my name,
see what harvest yields, and, supposing I'd do the same
I planted rows of peas, but by the first week of july
they should have come up to my knees
but they were maybe ankle high

Take the fingers from your flute to weave your colored yarns,
and boil down your fruit to preserves in mason jars
But now books are overdue and the goats are underfed...
The trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead


You're a door-without-a-key, a field-without-a-fence
You made a holy fool of me, and I've thanked you ever since
If she comes circling back, we'll end where we'd begun
Like two pennies on the train track the train crushed into one

Or if I'm a crown without a king, if I'm a broken, open seed
If I come without a thing, I come with all I need
No boat out in the blue, no place to rest your head
The trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead

It's the Only Way to Keep That Last Bit of Sanity

So I haven't updated in a while partially because it has just been crazy with all of this school work. But other than school not too much has really happened. I went through my first wave of testing and I think I did pretty well.
Poli Sci-
97/100 (2 points short of the highest grade in the class)
Interpreting-
Presentation: 92/100
Test: 46/50
Anthropology- 76/87
And I haven't gotten my sign language test back, or taken my Coms 101 midterm. I was really nervous because this has been my worst quarter yet. Everything was(and still is) going wrong, but it looks like I am keeping my grades alright despite the personal troubles. There's more I could talk about but I have to go to class.

Music of the Week:

Paul Baribeau
Brown, Brown, Brown <---Click here for song!
I saw your eyes,
they were brown.
And all the stars
went out.
And the moon got lost,
and it fell in Lake Michigan.
And a tidal wave tore through this town

I saw your hair, it was brown
And the roof flew right off my house
And then my doors broke off their hinges
And all my walls came falling down.

You sipped your pop, it was brown
you gave me a little coca cola kisses
And my heart broke on the night that you(I) left
And there are a few pieces that I still haven't found.

Yay for Birthdays

So it is the day after my birthday and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for everything. I had a really good time at home and seeing everyone was really great. I have a new phone too so you can text me again :) and boy can I text.

I absolutely love this phone and am really grateful.
My actual birthDAY was uneventful, but I like that, I just went to school and stayed with my thoughts and thought about the past year.
Like I said I just wanted to say thank you for the calls and cards.

Here's another song. I know a lot of you won't like it, but I like the words and for some reason it breaks my heart. I was thinking a lot about it on my birthday.

Ohio
By Coco Rosie
Out from my window across from the city
I have what's considered a good view
Two blocks from the subway, three from the fountain
Where I walk to break in new shoes

She stands on the sidewalk just waving at taxis
Like horses in parades in passing
I ask where she's headed she tells me,
"Ohio, I've not seen my mother in ages
It's been a long time, a real long time."

Out from my window "How far is Ohio?"
She laughed and pointed out east
She said, "I grew up there with my dear mother
And I haven't seen her since thirteen.

You see, I was taken while she lay sleeping
By my father's hired man
We moved to city so far from my family
I haven't been back there since.
It's been a long time, a real long time."

Out from my window please hear me Ohio
Your daughter wants to come home
She longs to be with you to hug you to kiss you
To never leave her alone

And I've gotten know her to live with to love her
It's hard to see her leave
She belongs to her mother and the state of Ohio
I wish she belonged to me

See you sometime, see you sometime

I've Got the Weight of the Washing Machine on My Mind

So I am back at school, good ol' Chillicothe. THE PHONE IS STILL BROKEN SO DON'T TEXT ME, CALL ME. But yeah it is good to see everybody again but there is a natural home sickness. So much has happened but yet I never know how to put it into words when I sit down to tell everyone. Well, I'll start with before I left. After that terribly bad week I went to Kent again and had an amazing time. I was so glad to see all of my friends before I left. We just had so much fun, it's hard to explain, it was wonderful and I miss it. This was just a really random sign in Kent. These are some pictures from different points in the summer. This is Brett, Christie, Danielle(barely), and Steve. We were waiting for our turn to get in on some soccer action. Libero and Jeff getting into some soccer. Sammie, Kevin, and Jimmy also playing a little soccer. So these next two pictures need explaining. One night I was sitting alone by myself at 1 in the morning and I thought to myself 'I wonder what Shannon is doing?' so I called her and turns out she couldn't sleep either. So we went to 'my friends', a 24 hour diner, and after two hours or so there and another driving in the metro parks we decide to go to downtown and watch the sun rise. It was really beautiful and we had a lot of fun. Shannon scaring some birds/running around Ah and this is the wonderful Frosty Dog everyone heard so much about. I loved this job and it was always so much fun. I will miss getting visits from Cece and hanging out with my cool co-workers. These are pictures of a show that I went to in Kent. Lauren and I were standing on the couch trying to get a better view... Which we got. My camera malfunctioned but it took a really cool picture, I thought. This is from that same show. This was during Brett's set. You can feel the love between him and Rich. I love this picture. Ah, Shannon and Keith's back hanging out at Phoenix Coffee.

Those are some of the highlights but there were so many other good pictures and so many other good times it would be hard to fit it into a post. Well like I said, I'm back in Chillicothe and so far so good. We play ultimate Frisbee like we did with soccer at home. I have a lot of fun, and I'm trying to convince them to play some soccer as well :)

Well I don't know I start school in two days, yay!

This is interesting, I have a video of the person I wanted to go to the protests at the democratic national convention to see getting arrested. Keep in mind Dave is not a violent person so he did not put up a fight. I doubt he did anything illegal. So lame, he's the last guy in the clip. Poor Dave
oh yeah, I forgot that I always impose my music on everybody. I like this song a lot and I'm cool so you should listen to it. click on the link and scroll down on the list of songs, it's the last song
Mr. Miller's Opus
By: Endless Mike and the Beagle Club
I wear the same clothes for days at a time.
I've got the weight of a washing machine on my mind
with the whole world bouncing around inside of it.

And as I talk about doomsday and bands,
I'm letting the chance of a lifetime just slip through my hands
and land on the floor by the bed that I'm lying in.

I'm having trouble with sleeping again.
I turn to the stack of books that all my friends recommend,
but I can't even focus on the lines,
let alone what's between them.

So I surrender and watch some TV
and just feel ashamed of myself for giving into complacency,
breaking the two packs a day mark days ago.

And I finally paid off the van
then I bought a new car with better gas mileage than the van got
but I know I'm financing a war fought for greed and bravado.
I know where my taxes go while my taxes know nothing about me.

My roommate's boyfriend's a nice enough guy
but still I dread when he's here and I have to say "hi"
even though our conversations never go on much beyond it.

I don't know when I first got this way.
I think that I used to be someone with something to say,
but for the first time in my life,
I feel more lonely than anything.

Because I know people my age with children
and I know people my age with husbands and wives,
even more people my age with high paying jobs,
even more people my age with miserable lives.

So it's they that I take shelter under
and let laundry nor loan payments ever put asunder
but help me stay happy inside of these four smoke-stained walls,
waiting for someone to call,
as I'm waiting to just disappear.

More News Soon

I have news and pictures that I will post soon but I just wanted to say that my phone is broken and I don't know anyones phone number...sorry. I dropped the other night and now the screen and some of the buttons aren't working :(
Email me or call and hope that it rings

Times Are Bad

So everything was going relatively alright this summer, there were some bad times but for the most part I kept it toghether. Well such is no longer the case, everything is bad. Everything.

If Anyone Was Curious

ANTH 101
INTRO-CULTURAL ANTH BENN 103
5.00 M W - 1:10P 03:25P

POLS 270
POLITICAL THEORY
4.00 M W - 05:30P 07:20P

COMS 101
FUND OF HUMAN COMMU
4.00 Tu Th - 01:10P 03:00P

DSI 211
SIGN LANG IV
4.00 Tu Th - 05:30P 07:20P




TOTAL HOURS: 17

Good classes, bad class times